was purely political, and there was no intention
to divert the endowments of the Church to secular
uses. Henry devoted a large portion of the funds
thus placed at his disposal to new foundations, the
one a house of the order of St. Bridget at Sion, near
Brentford, the other a Charter-house at Sheen, on
the opposite side of the Thames. In these two
houses he was to be prayed for perpetually;

"when they of Sion rest, they of the Charter-house do
their service, and in like-wise when they of the Charter-
house rest the others go to, and by the ringing of the
bells of either place each knoweth when they have ended
their service." ^*

At Sion there was provision for the daily distribu-
tion of alms, and at the Charter-house a number of
children were always to be kept at school. Though
the charters of foundation were granted in 1416 and
confirmed by Pope Martin in 1418, we may fairly
conjecture that a portion of Henry's time during
his last visit to England was occupied with the con-
clusion of so congenial an undertaking. Another
of Henry's designs was the foundation of a great
college at Oxford; though this last scheme never
reached maturity it may have helped to suggest to
Archbishop Chichele the endowment of his College
of All Souls in memory of his royal master and
those who fell at Agincourt. It was in part realised
when Henry's son enriched his colleges at Eton and
Cambridge out of the revenues of the suppressed
Alien Priories.

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