A New Source on the Later History of the London Carmelite Convent

Abstract

Even though the London Carmelite convent was one of the order’s earliest and arguably most important houses, only fragments of its history are known because both its archive and its library perished in the years after the dissolution in 1538. There is little doubt as to its location in Fleet Street where a first plot of land was donated by Sir Richard de Grey, sometime constable of the Tower of London and member of Henry III’s household. Grey had accompanied Richard of Cornwall on his crusade and together with Sir William de Vescy had brought the first group of Carmelites to England. In the autumn of 1230 Grey, who served his king for decades as sheriff and in other functions before he ended his life disgraced and impoverished as a rebel, received one of many signs of royal favour, being given the manor of Aylesford in Kent. Here he subsequently founded a Carmelite house. The date of the London foundation is unknown.