Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cok, John

by Norman Moore

COK, JOHN (1392?–1467?), brother of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, was born about 1392, probably in or near London, as he was apprenticed to Thomas Lamporte, a goldsmith in Wood Street (then Wodestreet), Cheapside, and when a boy saw the coronation of Henry V in Westminster Abbey. In 1417 he was ordained priest, and in 1419 became a brother of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. That venerable foundation was then three hundred years old; its functions did not differ from those which it discharges at the present day, but instead of governors, physicians, surgeons, nurses, and chaplains, its temporal, medical, and ecclesiastical affairs were administered by a master, eight brethren, and four sisters, all following the rule of St. Austin, owning a nominal respect to the prior of the Augustinian canons of St. Bartholomew's of West Smithfield, but independent in estate and in internal regulation. John Whyte, a friend of the famous Sir Richard Whittington, was then master of the hospital, but resigned 19 Feb. 1422, and was succeeded by John Wakeryng, alias Blakberd, a brother of the hospital whom Cok and the other six brethren elected 'per viam Spiritus Sancti,' that is, by acclamation and without discussion. Wakeryng was a most active head during a period of forty-four years, and Cok's expressions show that he always regarded the master with love and admiration. Cok himself became the redituarius or renter, and in that capacity wrote with his own hand in the years succeeding 1456 a chartulary still preserved in St. Bartholomew's Hospital. This large manuscript, of which the whole, a very few lines of later date excepted, is in Cok's hand, contains a copy of every document of importance belonging to the foundation or bearing upon its property or rights. It begins with a record of the details of the estate in London and without, arranged by parishes, and of the chief tenants, from the first acquisition of each piece of property. These are carefully indexed, and are followed by copies of royal charters, papal bulls, and episcopal compositions, by a chronological record of the masters, a short dictionary of legal terms, a copy of the title deeds of each property, a copy of many wills of benefactors, and finally a very short chronicle of the kings of England, obviously abridged by Cok from some longer history. The writing of this book is beautiful throughout; the Latin is occasionally erroneous, but there are few mistakes of penmanship. There is one highly finished illumination representing the exaltation of the Cross, in honour of which the hospital was founded, and this, with all the rubrications, seems to have been done by Cok himself, who has worked his own shield, argent between three cocks a chevron sable, into the ornamentation. The book took many years to write, and at the end of a long bull of Pope Nicholas V is written, 'scriptum per fratrem Johannem Cok in etate declinata, cujus animam propitietur Deus: amen.' Cok survived his beloved master, and Dr. John Needham, Wakeryng's successor, is the last master whom he records. Needham was succeeded by William Bought in 1470, so that Cok's death no doubt took place before that year. In the Cottonian Collection in the British Museum is a small manuscript (Plut. clxviii. c) in the handwriting of Cok, and written by him in 1432 (fol. 1 b). It is in Latin and contains extracts from St. Augustine and several theologians of the Augustinian order and others, hymns, prayers, litanies, a long poem on the theological and moral condition of England, and at the end some curious diagrams of what may be called theological palmistry, or an arrangement of the virtues and vices upon the hands. At the end of almost every section is Cok's signature in several forms, as 'Amen quod Johannes Cok qui scripsit istum librum,' 'amen quod John Cok,' 'scriptum a fratre Johanne Cok.' The sole original work of this laborious scribe's only known by his mention of it, and is a history of the famous actions of John Wakeryng, master of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Stow had seen a finely illuminated Bible, written by Brother John Cok in 1466, and in Stow's time in the possession of Mr. Walter Cope (Stow, Survey, ed. 1633, p. 415). In all probability the hospital library, dispersed in the reign of Henry VIII, contained other manuscripts in his hand. Cok is no doubt buried within the hospital, but his grave is unknown, and his chartulary, to the faithfulness of which a great chest full of the original charters bears testimony, remains his only monument in the foundation to which he gave so many years' service. The manuscripts of Cok are the only authorities for his life. The four which are known are:

1. Theological MS. [Cok's MSS.], 1432, Brit. Mus.
2. 'Acts of John Wakeryng,' before 1456, at present lost.
3. 'Chartulary of St. Bartholomew's, with abstract of Chronicle,' 1456, St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
4. Bible, 1466, seen by Stow, at present lost.

N. M.