In the
Middle Ages, although there were many noble palaces within the walls of the
City of London, the most desirable location for housing the nobility was the
Strand, which was the greatest part of the ceremonial route between the City and the
Palace of Westminster, where the business of Parliament and the royal court was transacted. Other advantages of the Strand were that a house could have a water frontage on the
Thames, the great water highway, and be free of the stink, smoke, and social tumult of the City of London downstream and generally downwind to the east, and its constant threat of fires. In 1246
King Henry III granted the land between the Strand and the Thames, on which the palace was soon built, to an uncle of
Queen Eleanor,
Peter, Count of Savoy, whom he created Feudal Baron of the Honour of Richmond. Peter willed the palace to the monks of
Great St Bernard Hospice a monastery atop the Grand Saint Bernard Pass in Savoy. The monks sold the estate to
Queen Eleanor. In 1285 she passed the estate to her second son
Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, and his descendants, the
Dukes of Lancaster, lived there throughout the next century. The following extract from the Calendar of Patent Rolls summarises the estate passing from Peter to Eleanor to Edmund. “Aug. 17.[1285] Amesbury. Inspeximus and confirmation of (1) A charter of Eleanor the king's mother, to Edmund the king's brother, dated at Lutegershal, 24 February, 12 Edward I., granting to the said Edmund the houses, garden, plots and rents lately purchased by her of the provost and chapter of the house of St. Bernard, Mont Joux (Montis Jovis), and which were late of Peter count of Savoy, her unele, without the city of London, in the parish of the Holy Innocents, White Church (de albo monasterio). Witnesses: - Sirs Guy Ferre, Robert Pugeys, William de Bluntesdon, Robert de Mahon, Richard Fukeram, Geoffrey de Langele, knights; William de Perey, Hugh de Penua, clerks, and many others. (2) A charter of the provost of the house of the poor of the Great St. Bernard, dated at Mont Joux Wednesday after Palm Sunday 1270, granting the above houses or manor to Eleanor the king's mother, for 300 marks. (3) Letters patent dated Wodestok, 9 July, 52 Henry III., confirming the said grant of the said Peter, count of Savoy.” In the 14th century, when the Strand was paved as far as the Savoy, it was the vast riverside London residence of
John of Gaunt, a younger son of King Edward III who had inherited by marriage the title and lands of the Dukes of Lancaster. He was the nation's power broker and in his time was the richest man in the kingdom second to the king. The Savoy was the most magnificent nobleman's house in
England. It was famous for its owner's magnificent collection of tapestries, jewels, and other ornaments.
Geoffrey Chaucer began writing
The Canterbury Tales while working at the Savoy Palace as a clerk.
Destruction The Palace had already been a target for
riots in London in 1377 by Londoners upset with Gaunt's support of
John Wycliffe and attempt to replace the elected
mayor with a royally appointed captain. During the
Peasants' Revolt led by
Wat Tyler in 1381, the rioters from the surrounding rural areas, who blamed
John of Gaunt for the introduction of the
poll tax that had precipitated the revolt, systematically demolished the Savoy and everything in it. What could not be smashed or burned was thrown into the river. Jewellery was pulverised with hammers, and it was said that one rioter found by his fellows to have kept a silver goblet for himself was killed for doing so. Despite this, the name Savoy was retained by the site. ==Savoy Hospital==