ST. MARY OF BETHLEHEM
St. Mary of Bethlehem, from which we get the word Bedlam, was founded
by Simon FitzMary, sheriff, in 1247. The deed of gift is preserved
among the archives of the Bethlehem Hospital. I am indebted for
the following copy to the Rev. E. G. O’Donoghue, Chaplain to the
Hospital. The name of the principal witness, “Peter Fitz-Alwyn,” is
probably a misreading of “Peter Fitz Alan.” The preamble is omitted.
The deed by which Simon Fitzmary conveyed his land in Bishopsgate to
the Bishop of Bethlehem for the foundation of a Priory in honour of S.
Mary of Bethlehem.
By REASON of my reverence for my Lord Himself and for the same His
most tender mother, to the honour and glory also of my Lord Henry the
illustrious KING OF ENGLAND (may the aforesaid mother of God and her
Only Begotten Son take his wife and children under their care and
protection!), to the benefit in manifold ways of the City of LONDON,
in which I was born, as well as for the salvation of my own soul, and
of the souls of my ancestors and descendants, for the salvation of the
souls of my parents and of my friends, and specially for the souls
of GUY OF MARLOW, JOHN DURANT, RALPH ASWY, of MATILDA, MARGERY, and
DIONYSIA their wives.
I HAVE GIVEN AND GRANTED (and by this present Deed of Charter have
confirmed the gift) to God and the Church of St. Mary of Bethlehem,
all that land of mine which I had in the Parish of St. Botolph without
Bishopsgate, London,—to wit, all that I had or might have there, in
houses, gardens, orchards, fish ponds, ditches, marshes, and all other
things appertaining thereto, as defined by their boundaries. These
extend in length from the King’s Highway in the East to that Ditch on
the West which is called Depeditch, and in breadth to the land which
belonged to RALPH DUNNING on the North and to the land of St. Botolph’s
Church on the South.
TO BE HELD AND RETAINED as alms bestowed upon the aforesaid Church
of Bethlem, free from all secular control, tax, or service for ever,
and especially for the Foundation of a PRIORY there, and for the
institution there of a Prior, Canons, and Brothers, and of Sisters as
well, so soon as ever JESUS CHRIST shall have bestowed His grace upon
it. These shall solemnly profess in the said place the Rule and Order
of the said Church of Bethlem, and shall in the same wear publicly upon
their copes and mantles the badge of a STAR.
AND there shall be celebrated there divine services for the souls
aforesaid, and for the souls of all the faithful dead.
BUT in particular this Priory shall be founded to receive there the
Bishop of Bethlem, the Canons, Brothers, and Legates for all time, so
often as they shall come thither.
FURTHERMORE to the intent that a Church or Oratory may be erected
there, so soon as ever the Lord shall have poured out his grace upon
it, under such conditions that the Ordination, the Institution, and
the Dismissal of the Prior, Canons, Brothers, and Sisters of the
said place, together with the rights of Visitation, Correction, and
Reformation, shall for ever belong to the Bishop of Bethlem and his
successors and to the Chapter of his Church and of his Legates, so
often as they shall come thither, and shall be willing, and shall see
that it is expedient to do so, without the contradiction and hindrance
of any one, save where there are appertaining to the said land the
services due by the Lords Superior.
And for the greater security of this gift
I HAVE PLACED myself and mine outside the said property, and I have
solemnly put in actual possession of it, and have handed over the
possession of all things aforesaid to the Lord GODFREY, one of the
Prefects of the City of ROME, at this time Bishop-elect of Bethlem (as
by our Lord the POPE confirmed), and at this time actually in England,
in his own name, and in that of his successors, and in the name of the
Chapter of the Church of Bethlem.
AND he has received possession of the said property, and has entered
upon it in the form prescribed.
NOW in token of subjection and reverence the said place in Bishopsgate
Without in London shall pay annually in the said City one mark sterling
on Easter Day to the Bishop of Bethlem, or his representative on
account of its property.
AND according as the property of the said place shall by the gift of
God and more increase, in like manner the said place shall pay more, in
proportion to its income, on the aforesaid date, to its mother church
of Bethlem.
THIS DEED OF GIFT and the Confirmation of the present Charter of my
Foundation I have on behalf of myself and of my heirs made secure and
binding.
In the year of our Lord 1247 on the Wednesday after the Feast of S.
Luke the Evangelist.
THESE BEING WITNESSES—
PETER FITZ-ALWYN, then Mayor of London, &c. &c.
This is what the _London Citizen_ (see _Collections of a London
Citizen_) says of the House:—
“A chyrche of Owre Lady that ys namyde Bedlem. And yn that place ben
founde many men that ben fallyn owte of hyr wytte. And fulle honestely
they ben kepte in that place: and sum ben restoryde unto hyr wytte and
helthe agayne. And sum ben a-bydyng there yn for evyr, for they ben
falle soo moche owte of hem selfe that hyt ye uncurerabylle unto man.
And unto that place ys grauntyde moche pardon, more thenne they of the
place knowe.”
This Priory continued for nearly three hundred years, during which
period it never obtained any popularity or any substantial increase
to its revenues. On searching the _Calendar of Wills_, we find a few
bequests left to the House until 1411. After this date there is no more
mention of the House.
Then poverty fell upon it: it received permission to beg for alms;
and the Brethren—were there ever any sisters?—as they died were not
replaced; between the years 1411 and 1538—that is, for a hundred and
twenty-seven years—there is a dead silence in the Wills. We know that
there was a chantry here for Lord Basset, who was a benefactor; and we
know that Henry the Fourth appointed in 1423 one Robert Dale, and in
1471, one Richard Sneeth as Prior or warden. The House was probably
the most conspicuous case in London of a Foundation of which only the
shell was left. Its endowments gone, the “special devotion” of the
Founder to the Church of Bethlehem no longer understood, the respect
for the sacred site of Bethlehem a thing decaying, and, at last, the
very Brethren gone. At the Dissolution one man was found in the House,
the Master, and he had left off wearing the habit of the Order. Was he
quite poor? Did he live alone in the place wandering about the ghostly
cloister, singing matins at midnight alone in the mouldering chapel,
the roof of which was falling off? Or cultivating the little garden
beside the City Ditch for vegetables and roots which formed most of
his food? Strange life! Or were the revenues large enough to keep
him in comfort with servants to attend upon him, so that he lived in
semi-ecclesiastic guise?
There is some obscurity about the conversion of the House into an
Asylum for persons of unsound mind. Stow says that it became an asylum,
but does not give the date. Newcourt says, that “sometime, a King of
England”—which is vague—disliking the presence near the Court of the
Lunatic Asylum which stood at Charing Cross, ordered the removal of
the inmates to Bethlehem, which would show that the place had fallen
into decay some time before the Dissolution. In the year 1523 one
Stephen Jennings gave £40 towards the purchase of the patronage of the
House, and the Mayor took steps toward carrying out this object when
the Dissolution happened, and the place, whose surrender value is not
stated, went to the King. The mad people were turned adrift; one knows
not where they went or how they fared: in 1546, however, the King gave
the House to the City, and the Mayor bought the patronage and houses
and tenements belonging to it and replaced the lunatics.
The church was taken down in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It does
not appear that the House had any property, because the patients were
maintained by their friends, or if these were too poor, by a charge
upon the parish. There was accommodation for sixty patients. Five years
after the King’s gift, license was granted to John Whitehead, proctor
of the House, to ask for alms in the dioceses of London, Ely, and
Lincoln.