Savoy (The)

A precinct of the Strand, London, noted for the palace of Savoy, originally the seat of Peter, Earl of Savoy, who came to England to visit his niece Eleanor, wife of Henry III. At the death of the earl the house became the property of the queen, who gave it to her second son, Edmund (Earl of Lancaster), and from this period it was attached to the Duchy of Lancaster. When the Black Prince brought Jean le Bon, King of France, captive to London (1356), he lodged him in the Savoy Palace, where he remained till 1359, when he was removed to Somerton Castle, in Lincolnshire. In 1360 he was lodged in the Tower; but, two months afterwards, was allowed to return to France on certain conditions. These conditions being violated by the royal hostages, Jean voluntarily returned to London, and had his old quarters again assigned to him, and died in 1364. The rebels under Wat Tyler burnt down the old palace in 1381; but it was rebuilt in 1505 by Henry VII., and converted into a hospital for the poor, under the name of St. John’s Hospital. Charles II. used it for wounded soldiers and sailors. St. Mary-le-Savoy or the Chapel of St. John still stands in the precinct, and has recently been restored.