DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0296
156
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
After the death of Sir John Crosby, his magnificent mansion was occupied by
Richard, Duke of Glo'ster, during the period in which he acted as protector of the
realm, and of the person of his unfortunate nephew, King Edward the Fifth. Here,
therefore, most probably those plans were engendered, and those treacherous and
bloody acts resolved upon, which eventually placed the royal diadem upon the head
of that bold usurper. In the hall, which is still standing, he received the address
of the Lord Mayor and commonalty of the city, when they came, at the instigation
of Buckingham, to urge him to accept the crown.* [See Play of Richard III.]
By whom this building was inhabited subsequent to the coronation of Richard
does not appear. Indeed, we do not find it mentioned till the year 1542, when it
was given by King Henry VIII. to Anthonio Bonvice, an opulent Italian merchant.
The title by which the monarch held it is not stated; but from the tenor of the
grant to Bonvice, it seems to have been founded simply upon the fact of its forming
part of the possessions of the monastery of St. Helen. The terms of the deed are
these, " Know you, that we, of our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere
motion, give and grant unto the said Anthony Bonvice the reversion and reversions
of the said messuage and tenement, with the appurtenances commonly called Crosby
Place, and of all the said houses, solars, cellars, gardens, lanes, messuages, tene-
ments, void places of land, and all other and singular premises, with the appurte-
nances, lying and situate in St. Helens, and parcel of the late priory," f &c. &c.
After Bonvice, German Cioll obtained possession of Crosby Place. He was
succeeded by William Bond, a merchant and alderman, who is said to have increased
the "house in height, by building a turret on the top thereof."! This Bond died
in 1576, and was buried in St. Helen's Church. For some years posterior to that
event, the mansion seems to have been frequently appropriated to the use of foreign
ambassadors; and here accordingly was lodged in 1586, Henry Ramelius, Chan-
cellor of Denmark, who came to London on a mission to Queen Elizabeth, from his
master, Frederick the Second. After him a French Ambassador resided here; and
about the year 1590, the house was purchased by Sir John Spencer, who gave it a
* As Shakespeare's Play of " Richard III." is very popular on the London stage, and as some of the modern
managers have evinced a laudable regard to costumatic correctness and propriety, it is much to be regretted that
they are not more scrupulously attentive to the genuineness and fidelity of scenery. Historical events should be
accurately and faithfully represented, both in sentiment, external habits, and scenic delineations.
f History of London, by Strype, and Stow, vol. i. p. 435.
{ Ubi supra.
ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES.
After the death of Sir John Crosby, his magnificent mansion was occupied by
Richard, Duke of Glo'ster, during the period in which he acted as protector of the
realm, and of the person of his unfortunate nephew, King Edward the Fifth. Here,
therefore, most probably those plans were engendered, and those treacherous and
bloody acts resolved upon, which eventually placed the royal diadem upon the head
of that bold usurper. In the hall, which is still standing, he received the address
of the Lord Mayor and commonalty of the city, when they came, at the instigation
of Buckingham, to urge him to accept the crown.* [See Play of Richard III.]
By whom this building was inhabited subsequent to the coronation of Richard
does not appear. Indeed, we do not find it mentioned till the year 1542, when it
was given by King Henry VIII. to Anthonio Bonvice, an opulent Italian merchant.
The title by which the monarch held it is not stated; but from the tenor of the
grant to Bonvice, it seems to have been founded simply upon the fact of its forming
part of the possessions of the monastery of St. Helen. The terms of the deed are
these, " Know you, that we, of our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere
motion, give and grant unto the said Anthony Bonvice the reversion and reversions
of the said messuage and tenement, with the appurtenances commonly called Crosby
Place, and of all the said houses, solars, cellars, gardens, lanes, messuages, tene-
ments, void places of land, and all other and singular premises, with the appurte-
nances, lying and situate in St. Helens, and parcel of the late priory," f &c. &c.
After Bonvice, German Cioll obtained possession of Crosby Place. He was
succeeded by William Bond, a merchant and alderman, who is said to have increased
the "house in height, by building a turret on the top thereof."! This Bond died
in 1576, and was buried in St. Helen's Church. For some years posterior to that
event, the mansion seems to have been frequently appropriated to the use of foreign
ambassadors; and here accordingly was lodged in 1586, Henry Ramelius, Chan-
cellor of Denmark, who came to London on a mission to Queen Elizabeth, from his
master, Frederick the Second. After him a French Ambassador resided here; and
about the year 1590, the house was purchased by Sir John Spencer, who gave it a
* As Shakespeare's Play of " Richard III." is very popular on the London stage, and as some of the modern
managers have evinced a laudable regard to costumatic correctness and propriety, it is much to be regretted that
they are not more scrupulously attentive to the genuineness and fidelity of scenery. Historical events should be
accurately and faithfully represented, both in sentiment, external habits, and scenic delineations.
f History of London, by Strype, and Stow, vol. i. p. 435.
{ Ubi supra.