OLD LAMBETH
THE earliest fact relating to Lambeth is the death of Hardicanute, which happened a Kennington, where there was formerly a royal palace, at the marriage feast of Toni Prudan and Gytha, the daughter of Osgod Clapa, two noble Danes.
The old Saxon Chronicle says:-" This year died King Hardicanute, at Lambeth, as he stood drinking .° he fell to the earth with a tremendous struggle; but those who were nigh at hand took him up ! and he spoke not a word afterwards, but expired on the 6th day before the ides of June, 1042."
The day of Hardicanute's death was kept by the English as a holiday 400 years afterwards, and was called Hogstide or Hock Wednesday, that is, the great festival, from the general joy on the final expulsion of the Danes. This was observed in some counties as late as the time of Charles I.
It was certainly observed in this parish, and seems to have been kept on two days, as we read of Hogstide and Hock Wednesday , The chief part of the merriment consisted in stopping the way with ropes, drawing passengers to them, and then demanding money from them, as in the case of the salt demanded at the old Eton Montem. In this case the money was used for Church purposes, and we find the following items:-
King Edward the Confessor, in 1062, granted by charter to the Abbey of Waltham, in Essex, Lambeth or Lambebith, with all its fields, meadows, woods and waters. After the death of Edward, Harold, the son of Godwyn, is said to have put the crown of this realm upon his head with his own bands at Lambhythe.
The next account of Lambeth is in Domesday Book, ,Terra Ecclesiae de Lanchei :-
"In Brixistan Hundred Saint Mary's Manor is that which is called Lanchei. The Countess Goda, sister of King Edward the Confessor, bold it, it was taxed for ten hides, Dow for two hides and a ha# The arable land consists of 12 carrucates (a carrucate-a little cart, carruca-was as Mach land as could be tilled by one plough in one year).... In the time of King
Edward it was worth £10, now £11.
"Of this Manor the 8ishop of 8aieux has one culture of arable land, which before and after the death of Goda, lay in that Church. ",
Countess Goda gave the Manor to the Bishop and Convent of Rochester, reserving the Church.
Harold took it away from the Convent, William I. seized it and gave part of it to Odo, Bishop of Baieux, but William Rufus restored it to the Convent of Rochester, and added the patronage of the Church.
So Lambeth Manor was held by the Bishops of Rochester and the Convent for some years.
Gundulf (Bishop from 1077 to 1105) ordered half-a-thousand lampreys to be furnished from this Manor annually to himself and his successors.
At this time the Archbishops of Canterbury were guests of the Bishops of Rochester, at the Manor House of Lambeth, when they came to London.
Archbishop Hubert exchanged the Manor of Darente (now Dartford) for the Manor of Lambeth, which after this time remained in the hands of the Archbishops. The Archbishop being thus in possession, obtained from King John a weekly market, or a fair for fifteen days, on condition that it should not be prejudicial to the City of London. This was in later years held as the Lambeth Fair, in Palace Yard, near the present bridge.
Archbishop Anselm, in the year 1100, called a synod at Lambeth, to consider the propriety of the King's marriage with Maud, sister of the King of Scotland.
In 1231 Henry III. kept a "stately Christmas " at Lambeth, at the charges of Hubert ae Burgh, his favourite and judiciary.
In 1346-John de Montfort, Duke of Brittany, did homage to the King, Edward III., in Lambeth Palace.
In 1376 Edward, the Black Prince, died (so Caxton asserts) at his manor at Kennington.
In 1381, during the insurrection of Wat Tyler, the rebels not only beheaded Archbishop Sudbury, then High Chancellor, but a party plundered the palace and burnt most of the goods, books, registers, and remembrances of Chancery.
King Henry VII., a few days before his coronation, came from Kennington Palace, and was entertained at Lambeth by Archbishop Bourchier.
In 1543 King Henry VIII. came in his barge to Lambeth to warn Archbishop Cranmer of the designs of Bishop Gardiner. Catherine of Aragon, upon her first arrival in England, was lodged, with her ladies, for some days in “the Archbishop's Inne " at Lambeth.
In 1556 Queen Mary, removing from St. James'-in-the Fields to Eltham, "took her barge, crossing over to Lambeth unto Cardinal Pole's place, and there she took her chariot, and so rid through St. George's Fields to Newington, attended on horseback by the Archbishop and a conflux of people to see her grace.
Cardinal Pole died at Lambeth, and his body lay in state forty days, when it was removed to Canterbury to be buried.
Queen Elizabeth was a frequent visitor to Archbishop Parker, to whom she committed the deprived Bishops, Tonstal of Durham, and Thirlby, first and only Bishop of Westminster, as guest prisoners, both were buried in Lambeth Church.
Fifteen royal visits are recorded in Archbishop Griffith's time, nine from Queen Elizabeth and many also from King James.
During the Civil War Lambeth Palace became the object of popular fury, on llth May, 1641, it was beset by about 500 men. A few months after Archbishop Laud was committed to the Tower.
In 1688 Mary d'Este, the unhappy Queen of James II., fled with her infant son from Whitehall, and crossing the river from the horse-ferry in a tiny boat, took shelter beneath the walls of the old Church from the wintry rain, on the night of December 6th, until a coach was procured to convey her to Gravesend, whence she escaped to France.
J.E.W.