ST. BARTHOLOMEW
The Hospital and the Priory of St. Bartholomew were distinct and
separate foundations, of which the former was governed by the latter.
The traditional history of this foundation is one of those remarkable
stories which belong to a period when things material and things
imagined were mixed together, and the visions of a brain, disordered
by sickness, or by fasting, or by loneliness, were even more real
than the tangible realities of man and matter. In the time of Henry
the First there lived about the Court one Rahere, who was a knight,
or a minstrel, a gentleman, or a jester, a man of noble extraction,
or of obscure origin, whichever you please, for the histories differ.
Either before or after his “conversion” Rahere is said to have occupied
the stall of Chamberlayne’s Wood at St. Paul’s. It was a time in
which there was a great deal of what modern Evangelicals used to call
“conviction of sin.” Rahere was one of those so convinced. Like many
others at that time, when a wave of religious emotion swept over the
whole country, Rahere yearned to deepen his newly found sense of
religion by going on pilgrimage. The going on pilgrimage, as a part
of mediæval life, has been treated in another place. Rahere, it is
enough to say, followed the common custom of the time when he went on
pilgrimage to Rome. This was in 1120. Now, on arriving at Rome, or
on the way, he was seized with a malarious fever, insomuch that he
was like to die. He therefore prayed to St. Bartholomew, promising to
found a Hospital for the poor, should he by the help of the Saint be
permitted to recover. Now the bones of St. Bartholomew were found in
India, A.D. 1113, only seven years before Rahere’s arrival, and, being
brought over to Rome, were placed on an island of the Tiber, where
had formerly stood a temple to Æsculapius. Probably Rahere had quite
recently visited this place; we remember the eagerness with which
the mediæval folk ran after every new saint, or every new discovery
of relics. However that may be, he had a Vision, in which the Saint
appeared to him, and granted his recovery on the conditions promised
by the supplicant. Rahere, therefore, on his return, proceeded to
found the hospital. But the Saint appeared to him: would he do more?
Would he found also a Religious House? The spot—Smithfield, the smooth
field—was part of the fenny flat that lay north of London Wall: a
barren heath covered with springs and ponds, and set with occasional
clumps of trees. Horse races were held here, a weekly horse fair, there
were stables and grooms and people to look after the horses, they were
a rough and rude folk, living without the jurisdiction of the City,
and they had no Church nor any religious people among them; it was
the place also on which executions were held, and it was accounted
infamous. Rahere obeyed the Saint in this respect as well; he erected
his hospital, beginning the building in 1123, with the assistance of
Richard de Belmeis, then Bishop of London, and the King himself.
[Illustration: CONJECTURAL RESTORATION OF THE BUILDINGS OF THE PRIORY
CHURCH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE GREAT AS EXISTING IN PRIOR BOLTON’S TIME
(ABOUT A.D. 1530)]
[Illustration: PART OF THE CHOIR
_With the REMAINS of the SOUTH TRANSEPT of the CHURCH of S^t.
BARTHOLOMEW the Great_.
IN WEST SMITHFIELD
London. _Published 25 March 1821 by Robert Wilkinson, 125 Fenchurch
Street._]
Rahere next proceeded to found the Priory of St. Bartholomew beside the
Hospital. The House received its first Charter from Henry the First
in 1133. In this Charter the King orders his successors to defend
the House as jealously as their own crown. The Priory has long since
disappeared, with the exception of part of the Church, but the Hospital
exists to this day, enlarged and richly endowed, a perennial fountain
of life and health, while the church of the Priory, such part of it as
still remains, is the noblest mediæval monument left to London. The
Hospital, according to the custom of the time, consisted of a double
Hall, or a single Hall with aisles. Between the aisles, or at the end
of the Hall, was the Chapel. In either aisle were the beds of the
sick: the men on one side, the women on the other. As the patients
were brought in, they were put to bed—two, four, even eight in one
bed—without any regard to the kind of disease from which they suffered,
so that in case of contagion or infection the other occupants of the
bed were certain to catch it. One wonders how, in these circumstances,
any one ever came out of the Hospital at all, and how any one could
expect to recover. But all diseases were not infectious or contagious;
and as for the patient, he was probably, from long experience of dirt
and confined air, secure as regards many things which would now be
fatal; then there was food for him; there was nursing of a kind; if
one were thirsty he could drink; if one were hungry he could eat;
the sisters were gentle and pitiful; the physician was always in
readiness; his remedies were strange and wonderful, but the groundwork
was the old wife’s knowledge of herbs and their uses—lore not to be
despised;—moreover, the chief terror of death was removed, because the
priest was always in the hospital with the last offices of the Church
to fortify the dying. The Hall was spacious, lofty, and well lit—a
paradise to a fever-stricken wretch from a hovel without chimney,
floor, or window; the beds were soft and clean—as cleanliness was then
understood; the way of death was made easy, even if the recovery of
health were denied.
[Illustration: TOMB OF PRIOR RAHERE
In the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great.]
Rahere himself became the first Prior of his monastery; he died
September 20, 1144, and was buried in the Church; the canopied tomb
of the fifteenth century, which still stands in the Chancel of St.
Bartholomew the Great, is said to cover the dust of the Founder, whose
effigy may be twelfth-century work. On the tomb are figured two monks
reading in Bibles open at the fifty-first chapter of Isaiah and the
third verse:—
“For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste
places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert
like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving and the voice of melody.”
It would be difficult to find a more appropriate text. There are four
shields on the tomb, being those of England, London, the Hospital, and
the Priory. The tomb itself was desecrated by workmen in 1864. One of
the leather sandals was taken off Rahere’s foot, and lost for thirty
years; it has now been recovered, and is placed with other things in a
small glass case in the church.
Rahere joined the order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, who were
great builders and architects, and, among other things, practised
medicine.
Those of the original buildings which remain are small portions of
the choir of the church, from which the whole has been restored, and
perhaps a portion or fragments of the transepts. The nave has long
since been destroyed; the transepts are later. Originally there were
an apsidal Lady Chapel and two apsidal side chapels: that on the north
side is dedicated to St. Bartholomew; that on the south to St. Stephen.
When Rahere died there were thirteen canons for the new Foundation,
a number increased to thirty-five under his successor. There can be
no doubt, therefore, of the success of the House. The canons were not
subject to duty in the Hospital. For the service of the sick there was
another Foundation, consisting of a Hospitaller with eight Brothers
and four Sisters, under the rule of the Prior. Rahere’s buildings were
largely extended by his successor. About the same time was built the
gateway into Smithfield, which still, most fortunately, stands, having
escaped vandal, builder, landlord, and every danger. The present west
front is, of course, modern, and the churchyard occupies the site of
the former nave.
In this Priory happened that most disgraceful scene of violence in
which the Archbishop of Canterbury, an alien of Provence, was the chief
aggressor, when he visited the Priory in defiance of the rights of the
Bishop of London and replied to remonstrance by violence. This prelate
was Boniface, uncle of Queen Eleanor of Provence, who had been brought
to this country with so many of his countrymen and preferred to the
highest place that the realm had to offer (see vol. i. p. 29).
We have in this episode a graphic and most suggestive picture of the
exasperation caused by the admission of aliens to the offices and
dignities which, above all, required a knowledge of the country and
its institutions and its prejudices. The rights and privileges of
ecclesiastics and of Religious Houses were defended with the greatest
possible jealousy and tenacity. It was clearly a privilege of this
House that their visitor was the Bishop of London, and that the
Archbishop had no right to intrude himself into the House. That he
did so is proof of an attempt at encroachment, of which an Englishman
would have been incapable. But observe, as well, the arrogance of
the Prelate. He seizes the Sub-prior and hurls him against a pillar;
the Canons run to his rescue, and the Archbishop is thrown on his
back ignominiously, betraying the fact that he is armed beneath his
episcopal robes. And his men, his followers, are themselves strangers
and aliens—men of Provence, like himself.
[Illustration: THE GATE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S PRIORY
From the Grangerised edition of Brayley’s _London and Middlesex_ in
Guildhall Library.]
It may be observed, as well, that the citizens had their own standard
of episcopal duties, if the words are correctly reported. “He is no
winner of souls,” they cry: “he is an exacter of money, whom neither
God nor any lawful or free election did bring to this promotion.” That
the ideal of the people was so far above the practice of the prelates
in such cases as this shows, it might be fairly argued, that the parish
priest of Chaucer, drawn a hundred and fifty years later, existed
already in the thirteenth century.
The restored plan of the Priory is here reproduced by permission of the
Rev. Sir Borradaile Savory, Bart.
In 1410 the church was rebuilt “almost anew.” The apse of the east end
was removed; a square east end terminating with two large windows was
inserted; the Norman Lady Chapel was taken down and the present one
erected with a crypt; the Norman Clerestory was taken down and replaced
by the present one; the Norman capitals were changed; the stone screen
under the North Transept was inserted, probably to give strength to the
piers. A Chantry Chapel was built on the north side of the north aisle.
In wills of this period St. Katherine’s Chapel is referred to, also a
Pardon churchyard. A stone pulpit was put up in the choir. A peal of
five bells was given to the church in 1520 by one Thomas Bullesden.
This is the oldest peal in London, and the bells are dedicated
respectively to St. Bartholomew, St. Anna, St. Peter, St. Katherine,
St. Johannes Baptista.
The last Prior but one was Bolton (1506-1522). He built the oriel
window on the south side of the Choir. His rebus of a Bolt-in-Tun is in
the centre panel. The same rebus is found in the spandril of the door
leading into the Vestry Room, and in the brickwork of Canonbury Tower,
Islington, which was also built by Bolton. This Tower, with buildings
now destroyed, standing in extensive grounds, the boundaries of which
can still be made out, was apparently a summer residence of the Canons.
To return to the Hospital, Rahere’s first Hospitaller was Alfune, who
built St. Giles’s, Cripplegate, also outside the walls. Alfune used to
go into the shambles every morning begging scraps and bits of meat for
the sick men and women. He had under his orders eight Brothers of the
Hospital, who were priests as well as physicians, and four sisters.
A representation of a mediæval hospital shows the double hall, the
priest is administering the last rites of the Church to one patient,
the sisters are sewing up the body of another just dead, mass is being
sung at the altar, a visitor is kneeling in prayer. Such is Rahere’s
first hospital, such was every mediæval hospital.
Little is recorded of the Hospital between the Foundation and the
Dissolution. In the reign of Henry the Third one Katherine, widow of
William Hardell, obtained a grant of a small plot of ground, twenty
feet each way, for the purpose of building an anchorite’s cell next to
the “chapel of St. Bartholomew”—was that the chapel of the Hospital
or the stately church of the Priory? It was the special duty of the
anchorite to pray for the prosperity of the House and for the souls
of those within it. Perhaps he may have prayed for both Hospital and
Priory. In the reign of Edward the Third the Hospital was “confirmed”
by the King. In the year 1423 Whittington’s executors repaired the
buildings; and in the same year we learn that the Hospital possessed
a library, because Sir John Wakening, once a priest in the House,
enriched their library by the gift of a beautiful Bible.
In the _Collections of a London Citizen_[21] is the following notice of
the Hospital:—
“Bartholomew ys Spetylle. Hyt ys aplace of grete comforte to pore men
as for hyr loggyng, and yn specyalle unto yong wymmen that have mysse
done that ben whythe chylde. There they ben delyveryde, and unto the
tyme of purtfycacyon they have mete and drynke of the placys coste and
fulle honestely gydyd and kepte. And in ys moche as the place maye
they kepe hyr conselle and hyr worschyppe, God graunte that they doo
so hyr owne worschippe that have a-fendyde. Amen.”
[Illustration: ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE LESS
From the Grangerised edition of Brayley’s _London and Middlesex_ in the
Guildhall Library.]
Referring to the very copious notes in my hands, I make the following
additions to the history which precedes:—
The Charter of Henry the First, 1133, granting the Foundation of the
Priory, and addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to Gilbert
the Universal, Bishop of London, was printed in 1891 by Dr. Norman
Moore from the copy in the Record Office. The reader desirous of more
detailed information on this House is also referred to Dr. Norman
Moore’s work on the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great. There is
a great quantity of literature on the subject of this House. The
following list is by no means exhaustive, but it will serve:—Papers may
be consulted in the _Vetusta Monumenta_, vol. ii.; in the _Transactions
of St. Paul’s Eccl. Soc._ vol. ii.; _Archæologia_, vols. xv. and
xix.; _Notes and Queries_—see Indices; the _Antiquary_—see Indices;
the _Reliquary_—see Indices; the _L. and Midd. Arch. Soc._ vols. i.,
ii., iii.; _Journal of Brit. Architects_, i., xxx., xli.; _Archæolog.
Journal_, vols. xli. and xlviii.
In 1362 we find a dispute between the Canons of the Priory and the
Brethren of the Hospital concerning the list of the sick. In 1433 the
Bishop of London issues ordinances for the better management of the
Priory. Another dispute between the Priory and certain persons in the
Diocese of Lincoln was thought important enough to demand a Papal
commission, the Commissioners being the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s,
to decide upon it. The Prior and Canons complained in 1310 of the offal
thrown out into the Fleet at Holborn Bridge. They succeeded in getting
an Ordinance, but as to its enforcement history is mute. We find them,
later on, petitioning against the making of holes and ditches in
Smithfield—the petition, referring to some temporary grievance, shows
that the Priory considered itself as in some sort the guardian of
Smithfield. It seems, since the claim is set up in other cases, to have
been a custom, in the election of a new Prior, to grant a Pension to
one of the King’s clerks. John de Herclaston, clerk, in 1316, addresses
a letter to the Prior and Canons claiming such a pension by right of
custom. In the same year a certain Nicholas de la Marche begs the Prior
to admit him into their House, “because he is an old servant of the
King and infirm.” In 1530 we find that one Thomas Cornwall, convicted
of heresy, who had been condemned to wear a faggot broidered on his
sleeve—a pleasing reminder of orthodoxy—was sent to perpetual custody
in the House of St. Bartholomew for disobeying the sentence. The story
opens up a large field for hopeless inquiry. How many prisoners for
heresy were there in the Houses at the time of the Dissolution? Were
they all permitted to go at large? Is there any evidence as to the
subsequent history of any of them? As regards Thomas Cornwall, if he
was placed “in penance,” _i.e._ on bread and water, in a solitary cell,
he did not, probably, survive to see the Dissolution of his Prison. On
the other hand, if he did, it is not very likely that he saw his own
private heresy any the nearer to becoming the creed of the Catholic
Church.
Of St. Bartholomew’s Fair an account will be found in another place.
(See _London in the Eighteenth Century_, p. 465 _et seq._)
On October 25, 1540, Fuller, the last Prior, surrendered the House. The
revenue was then £773: 0: 1-1/2; the net income was £693: 0: 10-3/4.
The nave was destroyed, and the stones were used by the King for other
buildings.
The Priory buildings, consisting of the Prior’s house, the Infirmary,
the Dormitory, the Refectory, the cloisters, kitchens, stables, and
gardens, were sold to Sir Richard Rich for £1064. The site of the nave,
eighty-seven feet in length, became a churchyard, and the choir became
a Parish Church. The King appointed the first Rector, after which the
patronage belonged to Sir Richard Rich as his successor.
Sir Richard Rich, as Lord Chancellor, presided at the trial of Anne
Askew, and, according to report, assisted with his own hands in her
torture. He was also present at her execution.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE GREAT]
In 1516 Queen Mary gave the Priory to the Black Friars, who lived here
until their expulsion in 1559 by Elizabeth.
In _Londina Illustrata_ it is said that the old Parish Church adjoined
the Priory Church; that when the Black Friars were turned out, the
Priory Church, together with the old Parish Church, was made the Parish
Church. In that case the old Parish Church must have been part of the
structure of the Priory Church. The account is confused, because the
writer goes on to relate that the old Parish Church was pulled down,
except the steeple of wood, which became ruinous, and was taken down in
1628, the present tower being then erected.
The Great Fire was happily stopped before it could cross Smithfield.
In 1697 Hogarth was baptized in this church.
In 1863 Restoration was begun. The Lady Chapel had been converted first
into a dwelling-house and next into a fringe manufactory; part of the
factory projected into the church, and was supported by an iron girder
and two iron columns. In the north Transept was a blacksmith’s forge;
in the south the boys’ school.
The following is an account of the most interesting Restoration—may one
who is no architect be permitted to say the most valuable?—as set forth
in the papers prepared for the reopening of the Lady Chapel on May 18,
1897:—
At the commencement of the Restoration in 1863, the floor was lowered
to its original level, the pews removed, a dry area formed round the
outside of the Church, and the walls and piers, which had perished,
were made good. The Apse was also completed on the ground-floor level
by the insertion of the two central piers, the storey above being
occupied by a fringe manufactory. Some £5000 in all was collected and
expended. (Late Rev. J. Abbiss, M.A., Rector.)
In 1884-86 the Fringe Factory, which projected twenty feet into the
east end of the Church, and which covered the remains of the Crypt and
Lady Chapel, was purchased for £6500.
The Apse was restored at the sole charge of the Patron, the Rev. Canon
Phillips. The Church was re-roofed.
The Blacksmith’s Forge, occupying the site of the North Transept, was
purchased. The restored portions were reopened on November 30, 1886.
(Late Rev. W. Panckridge, M.A., Rector.)
In 1887-92 the South Transept.—The temporary Vestry, which occupied the
upper portion of the South Transept Arch, was removed. The Norman Arch
on the north side, and the Transition Norman Arch on the south side,
were uncovered and brought to light, together with much other work
of considerable interest. One bay was added to provide a Baptistery,
and to form a suitable approach on the south side of the Church. The
Transept now covers about half of the site of the original Transept. It
was opened on March 14, 1891.
The Boys’ School was removed from the North Triforium, and new Schools
were built adjoining the Church. A Working Men’s Club was built beneath
the Schools, at the sole charge of the Rector.
A Memorial Screen was erected beneath the Organ Loft to the late
Rector, the Rev. Wm. Panckridge, M.A.
In 1892-93 the north Transept—the Blacksmith’s Forge—was removed, and
a shallow Transept rebuilt, giving abutment to the great arches of the
Crossing, and providing a Morning chapel, and uncovering much old work.
This Transept was opened on June 5, 1893.
A north Porch was built, giving access to the Church from Cloth Fair,
and providing a room for the Mission Worker.
A west Porch was built with a room over. The west Front was newly faced
with flint and stone, and the approach widened.
A new Pulpit was erected, the gift of the late Sextoness.
[Illustration: EASTERN CLOISTER OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S PRIORY
From the Grangerised edition of Brayley’s _London and Middlesex_ in
Guildhall Library.]
A new Organ Case was erected, the gift of Mr. Henry Thomas Withers, in
memory of his brother, the late Frederick John Withers.
The north and south Triforia were opened out. The Peal of Bells was
re-hung, and the Bell Tower repaired.
In 1895 the Crypt was restored and reopened as a Mortuary Chapel.
In 1897 the Lady Chapel was restored, and was opened as a Morning
Chapel by the Bishop of London on May 18, 1897.
Mr. (now Sir) Aston Webb, the Architect in charge of the Work, was
guided throughout by the sound principles: (1) never to remove from its
position any worked stone.
(2) To add no new work except such as is necessitated by the
requirements of the day.
(3) To make new work harmonise with the old, but to differentiate it so
that those who come after may never mistake the work of any one century
for that of any other.
And, finally, to bear in mind the direction contained in Rahere’s
Vision—“Having in Him trust, do thou of the cost of the building doubt
thee nought, only give thy diligence, and my part shall be to provide
the necessaries, direct, build, and complete the work.” (Rev. Sir
Borradaile Savory, Bart., M.A., Rector.)
_The Hospital of Saint Bartholomew’s_, when it was suppressed, at the
same time was valued at a yearly revenue of £35: 5: 7. We make an
observation on this hospital similar to that suggested by St. Mary’s
Spital. How could the House, we ask, consisting of a Master, eight
brethren, and four sisters, be kept on £35: 5: 7 a year? and on what
funds were the sick people received and treated? There must have been
some organised method of getting subscriptions, donations, alms, and
gifts in kind. The story of what happened when the place was taken over
by the City shows that voluntary and organised help for the sick was
surely no new thing.
“Then also were orders devised for the relief of the poor, the
inhabitants were all called to their parish churches, where by Sir
Richard Dobbes, then Mayor, their several aldermen, or other grave
citizens, they were by eloquent orations persuaded how great and how
many commodities would ensue unto them and their City if the poor of
divers sorts, which they named, were taken from out their streets,
lanes, and alleys, and were bestowed and provided for in hospitals
abroad, etc. Therefore was every man moved liberally to grant, what
they would impart towards the preparing and furnishing of such
hospitals, and also what they would contribute weekly towards their
maintenance for a time, which they said should not be past one year, or
twain, until they were better furnished of endowment: to make short,
ever many granted liberally, according to his ability: books were drawn
of the relief in every ward of the city towards the new hospitals.”