Note 132d — Chapter VII · THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY. [131a]

The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, otherwise called Knights of Rhodes, also called Knights Hospitallers, constituted an order of military ecclesiastics, of great renown, power, and wealth, before the Reformation. Their prior was esteemed the first baron in the kingdom. It may easily be imagined, that the support of the head of these powerful religious knights, was of no small moment to Margaret. Their chief establishment was at Clerkenwell, and it has given the name to St. John’s Square, St. John’s Street, and to the church of St. John, Clerkenwell. [132f] Of the magnificent priory which they possessed there, the only remains above ground are the ancient and curious gateway, called St. John’s Gate, and a single buttress of the old building in Jerusalem Court, leading into St. John’s Street. This religious body ceased to exist in England and in Ireland, in 1540; the act 32nd Henry VIII. c. 24, having been passed, by which their order was dissolved, and their lands and property vested in the King. Sir William Weston, Knight, was the last prior of that body in England. They are said to have been the last religious fraternity who surrendered their possessions to the grasp of Henry VIII.