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“En Rencesvals si est Carles entrez;
* * *
Rollanz remeint pur les altres guarder.
* * *
Halt sunt li pui e tenebrus e grant,
Li val parfunt e les ewes curranz.
* * *
Li gentilz quens, qu’il fut morz cunquerant.”
“La Chanson de Roland,” édition, Léon Gautier.
THE fact that the conventual Hospital of St. Mary Roncevall was founded
at the village of Charing in the time of Henry III, and that it
continued to exist till the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry
VIII, is well known to students of the history of London; but, so far as
the writer is aware, no definite attempt had been made to collect the
remaining records of this interesting medical foundation before 1907,
when the story of the Convent and its Hospital was published
privately.[1] Nevertheless, the influence of the Convent and the
Hospital which it established was considerable during the three
centuries of their existence in England. The name which the Convent in
London received from the Mother House served to revive the memories of
perilous journeys and of timely succour in the minds of many who had
travelled abroad in France and Spain engaged either in warlike or
peaceful affairs, the name of Roncevall in many forms came to be used as
a family designation in various parts of England;[2] and Chaucer refers
to the existence of the Convent in a way that shows that the reference
required no explanation to his readers. After the dissolution of the
alien priories the fraternity owed its continued existence to the
recognition of the charitable assistance it rendered to “the poor people
flocking to the Hospital.”
Footnote 1:
Galloway, James, “The Story of Saint Mary Roncevall,” private
publication; and _Charing Cross Hosp. Gaz._, 1907, ix, p. 43. Cf.
references by Dugdale, “Monasticon Anglicanum,” ed. 1830; Newcourt,
“Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense,” 1708; Tanner,
“Notitia Monastica,” 1744; also by Stow and later writers on London.
Footnote 2:
The records of the painful dispute between the Abbot of Rewley and
John Ronceval and his associates, John, Thomas, and Walter Rounceval
may be yet read with interest.—Calend. Pat. Rolls. 16 Ed. II and 14
Ed. III. (1323-41.)
This attempt to fill up a gap in the history of London hospitals may be
of some service to the students of the history of medicine, and of
interest to the larger number who are unwilling to forget the stories of
Old London.