The victims of the Black
Death, in 1348, were buried in a piece of ground on the site of the
Charter House, and this ground was known as Pardon Churchyard; and in
the register books of St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, there are two entries
of City magnates buried at different times by "the Pardon Door." Does
it indicate that these particular burial grounds were bought with
money paid for indulgences or expiations?
In the middle of the Pardon Churchyard of St. Paul's was a chapel
of rich ornament, built by "Gilbert Becket, portgrave and principal
magistrate in this City in the reign of King Stephen." He was the
great Archbishop's father. The monuments in it and the surrounding
churchyard are said to have rivalled in beauty those inside the
cathedral. How this cloister and chapel fared, we shall see presently.
[Illustration: A FUNERAL PROCESSION.
_From a MS. of the Hours of the Virgin. Fifteenth Century. British
Museum_, 27697.]
North of the Pardon Churchyard was the College of the Minor Canons,
bordering on Paternoster Row; and between it and the cathedral, in an
open space, which in older times was the authorised meeting-place
of the folkmote, was Paul's Cross.
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