ST. MARY SPITAL
Outside Bishopsgate, on the site now occupied by Spital Square, stood
that most venerable and most beneficent House called _Domus Dei_, or
_Domus Beatæ Mariæ_. It was founded by Walter Brune and Rosia his wife,
for Canons Regular, in the year 1197. Walter, Archdeacon of London,
laid the foundation stone, and William, Bishop of London, dedicated
it to Jesus Christ and His Mother, by the name of _Domus Dei et
Beatæ Mariæ extra Bishopsgate_. The place carried on a blameless and
most useful existence for three hundred and fifty years. When it was
dissolved it was found to contain no fewer than a hundred and eighty
beds for the sick poor. Now beds were not considered as intended for
one person only, but for as many as, in case of need, could be crammed
in, so we may reckon that at least three hundred and sixty poor persons
were always received and treated in this House.
The boundaries of the House are laid down by Stow:—
“The Bounds whereof, as appeareth by Composition betwixt the Parson
and Prior of the said Hospital, concerning Tythes, begin at Berward’s
Lane, toward the South, and extend, in Breadth, to the Parish of St.
Leonard, Soresditch, towards the North; and, in Length, from the
King’s Street, on the West, to the Bishop of London’s Field, called
Lollesworth, on the East. The Prior of this St. Mary Spittle, for the
Emortising and Appropriation of the Priory of Bikenacar, in Essex, to
his said House of St. Mary Spittle, gave to Henry the Seventh £400, in
the 22nd Year of his Reign.
This Hospital, surrendered to Henry the Eighth, was valued to expend
£478 wherein, besides Ornaments of the Church, and other Goods
pertaining to the Hospital, there were found standing one Hundred and
eighty Beds well furnished, for receipt of the Poor of Charity; for it
was an Hospital of great Relief....”
“A part of the large Churchyard pertaining to this Hospital, and
severed from the rest with a Brick Wall, yet remaineth as of old
time, with a Pulpit Cross therein, somewhat like to that in Paul’s
Churchyard. And against the said Pulpit on the South Side before
the Charnel and Chapel of St. Edmond the Bishop, and Mary Magdalen
(which Chapel was founded about the Year 1391 by W. Evesham, Citizen
and Pepperer of London, who was there buried), remaineth also one
fair builded House of two Stories in height for the Maior, and other
honourable Persons, with the Aldermen and Sheriffs to sit in, there
to hear the Sermons preached upon Easter Holidays. In the Loft over
them stood the Bishop of London, and other Prelates; now the Ladies
and Aldermen’s Wives do there stand at a fair Window, or sit at their
Pleasure.
And here it is to be noted, that time out of mind it hath been a
laudable Custom, that on Good Friday in the Afternoon, some especial
learned Man, by Appointment of the Prelates, doth preach a Sermon at
Paul’s Cross, treating of Christ’s Passion: and upon the three next
Easter Holidays, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the like learned Men,
by the like Appointment, do use to preach on the Forenoon at the said
Spittle, to persuade the Articles of Christ’s Resurrection: and then
on Low Sunday, before Noon, one other learned Man at Paul’s Cross is
to make Rehearsal of those four former Sermons, either commending or
reproving them, as to him (by Judgment of the learned Divines) is
thought convenient. And that done, he is to make a Sermon of himself,
which in all were five Sermons in one. At these Sermons so severally
preached, the Maior with his brethren and Aldermen are accustomed to
be present in their Violets at Paul’s on Good Friday; and in their
Scarlets, both they and their Wives, at the Spittle in the Holidays,
except Wednesday, in Violet: and the Maior with his Brethren on Low
Sunday in Scarlet at Paul’s Cross, continued until this Day.
Touching the Antiquity of this Custom, I find none other than that in
the Year 1398. King Richard having procured from Rome Confirmation of
such Statutes and Ordinances as were made in the Parliament begun at
Westminster, and ended at Shrewsbury, he caused the same Confirmation
to be read and pronounced at Paul’s Cross and at St. Mary Spittle, in
the Sermons before all the People. Philip Malpas, one of the Sheriffs
in the Year 1439 the 18th of Henry VII. gave 20s. by the Year to the
three Preachers at the Spittle. Stephen Forster, Maior in the Year
1454 gave 40_l._ to the Preachers of Paul’s Cross and Spittle. I find
also, that the aforesaid House, wherein the Maior and Aldermen do sit
at the Spittle, was builded (for that purpose) of the Goods, and by
the Executors of Rich. Rawson, Alderman, and Isabel his Wife, in the
year 1488. In the year 1594 this Pulpit being old, was taken down, and
a new one set up, the Preacher’s Face turned towards the South, which
was before toward the West. Also a large house (on the East side of
the said Pulpit) was then builded, for the Governors and Children of
Christ’s Hospital to sit in: and this was done of the Goods of William
Elkins, Alderman, late deceased. But within the first Year, the same
House decaying, and like to have fallen, was again (with great cost)
repaired at the City’s charge.” (_Survey_, vol. i)
In Spital Square, Bishopsgate Street Without, we have the site of the
cloisters, or perhaps the outer court of the House of St. Mary Spital.
At the Suppression its income was £478; and it contained one hundred
and eighty hospital beds. This means that the hospital contained
accommodation, according to the meaning of the word at the time, for
four or five hundred patients. On an estimate of maintenance at £5 a
head, one asks with wonder how all these beds were kept up, and whether
the Hospital depended partly on voluntary donations. The Hospital of
St. Bartholomew, we know, sent its people to beg meat in the Shambles;
did St. Mary’s also send men on the same quest?
One custom survived the House—that of the Easter sermons. It was the
rule that on Good Friday, in the afternoon, some learned man, by
appointment of the Bishop, should preach a sermon at Paul’s Cross on
the Passion; that on the three Easter Holidays, on Monday, Tuesday,
and Wednesday, other learned men should preach in the forenoon at
the Spital Cross on the subject of the Resurrection; and that on Low
Sunday another learned man should “make rehearsal” at Paul’s Cross
of these four sermons, either commending or reproving them. This was
surely the one single function in the whole of Christendom in which
one preacher was ever invited to criticise publicly the sermons of
four other preachers. These sermons were of great antiquity. In the
year 1398 Richard the Second made use of them for the publication or
the confirming of certain statutes by the Pope. In 1439 Philip Malpas,
sheriff, gave twenty shillings annually; in 1454 Stephen Forster gave
forty pounds for the preachers; the “house” in which the Mayor and
Aldermen, with their wives, sat to hear the sermon at St. Mary Spital,
was a kind of double gallery open in front. If the Mayor and Aldermen
wore their violet cloaks on Good Friday; their scarlet on Monday and
Tuesday at the Spital; their violet on Wednesday; and their scarlet on
Low Sunday, as Stow says, the sermons of St. Mary Spital must have been
very gorgeous and ceremonial functions.