heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

He also bequeathed " Unam peciam
"
WALWORTH. 175
(piece) "deauratam, quae
" quondam fuit Domini Willelmi Walworth militis fratris mei defuncti,"
xvhich shews that he survived his brother, who was none other than the
illustrious Walworth, Lord Mayor of London, whose presence of mind saved
Richard II., and indeed the whole nation, from the excesses of one of the
most formidable popular risings which ever took place in this country.
Riley, in his Memorials of London and London Life, i3th and i5th
century (Longman, 1868), mentions two others of the same name, viz.,
Philip Walworth, who was chosen sergeant of the chamber, 1377, and John
Walworth, a vintner, who had a tavern in Fleet Street, near the hostel of
the Bishop of Salisbury.
Stowe, in his Survey of London (vol.
ii.
p. 571), mentions a Thomas
Walworth who in 1399 attended, with the abbot of Westminster, when
Thomas Samestin "did obedience to the Archbishop of York at York
" Place," the ancient London residence of the Archbishops, given to the
see by Walter Gray, and confiscated by Henry VIII. (when Cardinal
Wolsey fell), named "White Hall," and appropriated as a royal residence
in lieu of the palace of Westminster, destroyed by fire.
These memorials by Riley are compiled from the ancient Letter-books
of the city of London ; folio volumes, in manuscript, on parchment, commencing
with the reign of Edward I. and continuing to 1416, when journals
of the proceedings of the court of aldermen supplied their place. Their
quaint, graphic language makes them specially interesting
;
and they
were the sources from which Stowe made the collections which have
immortalized him.*
Riley gives us some very interesting details about the life of this
important historical character. William Walworth was apprenticed to John
Lovekyn, stock-fishmonger (i.e. salt fishmonger), and succeeded him as
next after the feast of
alderman of Bridgeware, London, on " Monday
"St. Martin," in the 42nd year of Edward III., 1368.
In 1370 he was elected sheriff, and his name is mentioned in the
same year as one of the aldermen who, with " an immense number of the
" commonalty, for certain reasons convened in the chamber of the Guild-
" hall, London, assented to the addition of a certain "
sign called a molet
(mullet) " in the common seal of the city of London ;
and the same stands
"or is placed in a small port," (gateway) "which is in the same seal,
" beneath the feet of St. Paul."
In the 3rd of Richard II., 1379, he is represented as living
parish of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, London.
in the
Thornbury saysf that he lived on the spot where Fishmongers' Hall
now stands, at the foot of London Bridge, where he carried on his business
* Loftie's History of London, vol. i.
p. 188. t Old and Nav London, vol. ii. p. I.