Talk:Whitefriars, London
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Immunity of debtors etc.?[edit]
Something needs to be said about how residents of Whitefriars used to be immune to prosecution from debt. I don't know much about this; I infer it from this passage in Macaulay's History of England from the Accession of James II, chapter 22:
- The ancient immunities enjoyed by some districts of the capital, of which the largest and the most infamous was Whitefriars, had produced abuses which could no longer be endured. The Templars on one side of Alsatia, and the citizens on the other, had long been calling on the government and the legislature to put down so monstrous a nuisance. Yet still, bounded on the west by the great school of English jurisprudence, and on the east by the great mart of English trade, stood this labyrinth of squalid, tottering houses, close packed, every one, from cellar to cockloft, with outcasts whose life was one long war with society. The best part of the population consisted of debtors who were in fear of bailiffs. The rest were attorneys struck off the roll, witnesses who carried straw in their shoes as a sign to inform the public where a false oath might be procured for half a crown, sharpers, receivers of stolen goods, clippers of coin, forgers of bank notes, and tawdry women, blooming with paint and brandy, who, in their anger, made free use of their nails and their scissors, yet whose anger was less to be dreaded than their kindness. With these wretches the narrow alleys of the sanctuary swarmed. The rattling of dice, the call for more punch and more wine, and the noise of blasphemy and ribald song never ceased during the whole night.
--Jim Henry (talk) 11:27, 30 June 2013 (UTC)
Alsatia[edit]
Whitefriars, London is the district around the site of the Whitefriars monastery. Alsatia was a nickname for the same area. The articles should be merged and Alsatia made a {{Redirect from nickname}} and {{Redirect from former name}}.
The Alsatia article says
- It was one of the last places of sanctuary used in England, abolished by Act of Parliament named The Escape from Prison Act in 1697 and a further Act in 1723. Eleven other places in London were named in the Acts (The Minories, The Mint, Salisbury Court, Whitefriars, Fulwoods Rents, Mitre Court, Baldwins Gardens, The Savoy, The Clink, Deadmans Place, Montague Close, and Stepney).
This gives the impression that there were 12 places named in the Act, with Alsatia and Whitefriars listed separately; in fact the text of the Act does not use the word "Alsatia" at all [emphasis added]:
- it shall and may be lawfull for any Person or Persons who have or hath any Debt or Debts ... from any person or p[er]sons who now is or hereafter shall be and reside within the White Fryars Savoy Salisbury Court Ram-Alley Mitre Court Fullers Rents Baldwyns Gardens Mountague Close or the Minories Mint Clink or Deadmans Place upon legal Processe ... to demand and require the Sheriffs ... to take ... the Posse Comitatus ... & enter the said pretended priveledged Places ... and to arrest ... such Person or Persons
jnestorius(talk) 13:27, 9 March 2018 (UTC)
