LIST OF PLATES | ||
|---|---|---|
[Frontispiece] *Maison Dieu, Dover [Buck’s engraving, 1735.] S.E. view of St. Mary’s Hospital. The restored buildings form part of the Town Hall; the chapel on the N.E. is used as a police-court. | ||
[I]. | Refreshment for Wayfarers [“The Pilgrim.” B.M. Tib. A. vii. f. 90, xv. cent.] | 5 |
[II]. | *Pilgrims’ Hospital, Canterbury [Drawn by J. Raymond, engraved by Cook.] N. view of St. Thomas’, Eastbridge. The windows are those of the chapel, rebuilt circa 1363. | 8 |
*St. John’s, Canterbury [Idem.] The chapel exists, but altered. The hall contains charters, alms-box, account-books, etc. | 15 | |
[IV]. | *Cloister of St. Giles’, Norwich [Photograph, London and Co. Photo Press.] | 24 |
[V]. | *Harbledown Hospital [Drawn by Nelson, 1766, engraved by Cook.] Church remains, dwellings rebuilt; hall contains ancient utensils, etc. | 35 |
[VI]. | (a) St. Bartholomew’s, Gloucester [From Lysons’ Antiquities.] S.E. view. Hospital rebuilt temp. Henry III. | 73 |
(b) *St. Mary’s, Chichester [S.H. Grimm, B.M. Add. Burrell.] | 73 | |
*God’s House, Southampton [Woodward and Wilks, Hampshire.] St. Julian’s Chapel and God’s House Gate. | 78 | |
*Hospital of St. Cross [From Guide, J. Wilkes, 1780.] The southern wing has disappeared. | 81 | |
[IX]. | The Death of Richard Whittington [Life of John Carpenter, by T. Brewer, p. 26; original in Mercers’ Hall.] | 82 |
[X]. | *Hall of St. Cross, Winchester [Woodward.] | 110 |
[XI]. | *St. Mary Magdalene’s, Glastonbury (a) View from the West. [Drawn by E. H. New.] (b) Ground-plan. [Drawn by J. Charles Wall.] | 115 |
St. Giles-in-the-Fields, London [From a map about 1566, B.M. Crace Collection.] (a) Plan of the Leper Hospital. (b) Church of St. Giles. | 117 | |
*Ford’s Hospital, Coventry [Photograph by Frith.] | 121 | |
The Savoy Hospital, London [G.V. 1736, Vetusta Monumenta.] | 122 | |
[XV]. | *Hospital of St. Nicholas, Salisbury [Original drawings by J. Buckler, B.M. K. xliii.] (a) S.E. view; the present chapel is shown, and to the right a former chapel, now a kitchen. (b) W. view; the weathering of the original porch is seen. | 129 |
(a) The Warden’s House, Sherburn [Original drawing by Grimm, B.M.] This residence was destroyed in 1833. | 143 | |
(b) *Gateway, Kepier [Surtees’ Durham.] This fine gateway (1333–45) has a groined ceiling with beautiful bosses. | 143 | |
*The Almshouse, Ewelme [Photograph by Taunt.] “The Pratie Hospitale of poore Men” with its “very fair Welle” was visited by Leland. | 151 | |
*St. Mary’s, Chichester [Photograph by Valentine.] | 158 | |
St. Bartholomew’s, Sandwich [Drawn by G. Maxwell, engraved in W. Boys’ Collections, 1787.] (a) Chapel. (b) Gateway. | 160 | |
[XX]. | The Beggars’ Dole [Gentleman’s Magazine, 1793, from stained glass.] Food distributed to the hungry; one cripple uses a “stool” or support. | 170 |
St. Mary Magdalene’s, Winchester [J. Schnebbelie, 1788, Vetusta Monumenta.] (a) Master’s House and Chapel. (b) Chapel from West. A Norman doorway from this destroyed chapel was removed to St. Peter’s Street. | 179 | |
*St. Bartholomew’s, Oxford [Drawn by Hollis, Gent. Mag., 1833, i.] The chapel and buildings remain at Bartlemas Farm, Cowley Road. | 191 | |
*St. John’s, Wilton [Original drawings by J. Buckler, B.M.] (a) S.E. view. (b) N. view. The “Priory” is still picturesque and ivy-clad. The walls are of flints, with large quoins; the original buttresses and windows remain. The chapel (a) is in use. | 205 | |
*St. Leonard’s, York (ambulatory) | 227 | |
*St. Leonard’s, York (chapel) | 232 | |
*The Almshouse, Abingdon [Photograph by Taunt] Now called Christ’s Hospital. | 235 | |
St. Mary’s, Newcastle [After lithograph, J. Storey, 1844; reproduced by permission of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, from Transactions, 1892.] | 247 | |
(a) St. Petronilla’s, Bury St. Edmunds | 256 | |
(b) *Lepers’ Chapel, Dunwich | 256 | |
The Hospitality of St. Julian [By Cristofano Allori, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, photograph by Brogi.] | 259 | |
(a) Spital-on-the-Street [S.H. Grimm, B.M.] | 264 | |
(b) *St. Edmund’s, Gateshead [Idem.] The chapel was built circa 1247, and restored 1837; now Holy Trinity Church, High Street. | 264 | |
INTRODUCTION
“And to relief of lazars and weak age,
Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil,
A hundred almshouses, right well supplied.”
(Shakespeare: Henry V., i. 1.)
WHILE we are justly proud of our institutions for the amelioration of the lot of the infirm and destitute, we are apt to forget that they are not the outcome of any modern philanthropic movement, but are rather England’s inheritance for above a thousand years.
Much has been written of the regular monastic houses. These are situated, as it were, upon the high-roads of ecclesiastical history; but comparatively little attention has been paid to the existence and development of the foundations known as “Hospitals.” Although it is with some trepidation that we tread the less-frequented by-paths of history, an attempt will be made in this volume to illustrate the place of the hospital in pre-Reformation times, and by this means to secure a fuller recognition of the widespread activity of the Church of England in former days. Hospitals played an important part in the social life of the Middle Ages, and from the study of them much may be learnt of the habits of a distant past.
At the outset it will be well to make clear what the hospital was, and what it was not. It was an ecclesiastical, not a medical, institution. It was for care rather than cure: for the relief of the body, when possible, but pre-eminently for the refreshment of the soul. By manifold religious observances, the staff sought to elevate and discipline character. They endeavoured, as the body decayed, to strengthen the soul and prepare it for the future life. Faith and love were more predominant features in hospital life than were skill and science.
It will surprise many to learn that—apart from actual monasteries and friaries—there existed upwards of 750 such charitable institutions in Mediæval England.[1] To appreciate the relative magnitude of this number, it must be remembered that the total population was smaller than that of London at the present day. The fact proves that clergy and laity were battling bravely with social problems. There existed a sense of responsibility, causing real charitable effort, although mediæval methods may appear mistaken in the light of modern scientific and economic principles.
The study of these ancient charities calls attention to the following points. The first is the extent of leprosy in England. There are, indeed, conflicting opinions concerning the prevalence of the disease, but it is certain that the figure mentioned above includes over 200 hospitals occupied at one time by lepers. Secondly, a number of the early foundations were in the main houses of hospitality for strangers; and this testifies to the widespread practice of pilgrimage. There were also general hospitals in which temporary and permanent relief was given to needy persons of all sorts and conditions. Some were very small institutions, mere cottage-hospitals. It is often impossible to ascertain the character of an ancient charity. As long ago as 1594, it was reported concerning St. Edmund’s, Gateshead: “the poor . . . are and have been indifferently of both kindes as men and women; but whether sicke or wholl, lepers or way fairinge, so they be poore, needie, and indigente, is note respected.” On the other hand, in the case of large towns, hospitals were often differentiated. Situated in the main street, perhaps, was an infirmary-almshouse for the sick and helpless; near a frequented gate stood a hostel for passing pilgrims and others; outside the walls there would be at least one leper-hospital.
It is not possible to be precise in chronology, or even to give approximate dates. In Chantry Surveys there is often a memorandum that no foundation can be shown, this being lost in obscurity, and the house founded “before time of memory.” Probably the earliest authentic fact relating to charitable houses other than monasteries is that concerning the Saxon hospital at York, for although, in the words of Canon Raine, “its beginning is enveloped in an atmosphere of historical romance,” the munificence of Athelstan enables us to date its origin about the year 937.
The year 1547 serves as a useful limit to our period, and may well for the purposes of this book denote the close of the Middle Ages in England. Its selection in no way implies a lack of continuity in the Church with which every hospital was intimately associated,—yet it marks a time of transition. Charity was crippled for a time by the confiscations of endowments designed for the relief of the destitute, until a new generation of philanthropists arose and endeavoured to replace them. Thomas Fuller truly says, “the reformed Religion in England hath been the Mother of many brave Foundations.” To support this he instances certain famous hospitals, as that at Warwick, built by the Earl of Leicester (1571); Croydon, by Archbishop Whitgift (1596); Guildford, by Archbishop Abbot (before 1617), and Sutton’s Charterhouse (1611). There is, indeed, no fundamental difference between the earlier and later almshouses of the sixteenth century. The author of A History of English Philanthropy gives two reasons for using the period of the dissolution of monasteries as a starting-point. “It was then,” he says, “that modern problems began to formulate themselves with great precision; and charity was then ceasing to be under the immediate direction and tutelage of the Church.” For the same reasons, the year 1547 is here used to conclude the earlier philanthropic era.