An earnest desire to make the world better is shown in one foundation deed, dating probably from the middle of the fourteenth century. It concerns Holy Trinity, Salisbury, erected by Agnes Bottenham on a spot where a p090 house of evil repute had existed “to the great perils of souls”:—
“The founders, by means of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have ordained thirty beds to the sustentation of the poor and infirm daily resorting thither, and the seven works of charity are there fulfilled. The hungry are fed, the thirsty have drink, the naked are clothed, the sick are comforted, the dead are buried, the mad are kept safe until they are restored to reason, orphans and widows are nourished, lying-in women are cared for until they are delivered, recovered and churched.”
The aim of pious benefactors was indeed the abiding welfare of their bedemen. The hard-headed, warm-hearted business men of Croydon and Stamford, no less than the ladies of Heytesbury and Ewelme, expressed a hope that the Domus Dei on earth might be a preparation for the eternal House of God. In the words of the patrons of Ewelme, they desired the poor men so to live:—
“that aftyr the state of this dedely [mortal] lyf they mowe come and inhabit the howse of the kyngdome of heven, the which with oure Lordes mouth is promysed to all men the which bene pore in spirit. So be yt.”
- Notes — Chapter VI
[♦] p091
CHAPTER VII HOSPITAL INMATES
“To the master and brethren of the hospital of St. Nicholas, Scarborough.—Request to admit John de Burgh, chaplain, and grant him maintenance for life, as John has been suddenly attacked by the disease of leprosy, and has not wherewith to live and is unable through shame to beg among Christians.” (Close Roll, 1342.)
THOUGH a visit to a modern infirmary calls forth in us, doubtless, passing thoughts of admiration for the buildings and the arrangements, what draws most of us thither is the bond of brotherhood. It is the inmates of the wards who are to us the centre of attraction. Looking upon the sufferers, we desire to know their circumstances, their complaints, their chance of cure. Nor is it otherwise in studying the history of ancient institutions. The mere site of an old hospital may become a place of real interest when we know something of those who once dwelt there, when we see the wayworn pilgrim knocking at the gate, the infirm man bent with age, the paralysed bedridden woman, and the stricken leper in his sombre gown, and realize what our forefathers strove to do in the service of others.
In many cases the link between the first founder and first inmate was very close, being the outcome of personal relations between master and servant, feudal lord and tenant. It was so in the case of Orm, the earliest hospital inmate whose name has been handed down to us. p092 This Yorkshireman, who lived near Whitby eight hundred years ago, “was a good man and a just, but he was a leper.” The abbot, therefore, having pity on him, founded a little asylum, in which Orm spent the rest of his days, receiving from the abbey his portion of food and drink. In the same way Hugh Kevelioc, Earl of Chester, built a retreat outside Coventry for William de Anney, a knight of his household, which was the origin of Spon hospital for the maintenance of such lepers as should happen to be in the town.