THE CARE OF THE BODY
“_Let there be in the infirmary thirteen sick persons in their beds,
and let them be kindly and duly supplied with food and all else
that shall tend to their convalescence or comfort._” (Statutes of
Northallerton.[103])
In considering the provision for material comfort in hospitals, one
must distinguish between residents and sojourners. Board and clothing
had to be found for the leper or the almsman, and the sick needed food
and shelter for a time. Travellers either called for doles in passing,
or required supper, bed and breakfast. Upon every pilgrim, sick or
well, spending the night at St. Thomas’, Canterbury, four-pence was
expended from the goods of the hospital. Bodily necessaries of life may
be classified under the headings food, fuel, baths, bedding and clothes.
1. FOOD
(a) _Food for resident pensioners._—There was of course a wide
difference between the lot of the ill-fed lazar who lodged in some
poor spital dependent upon the chance alms of passers-by, and that of
the occupant of a well-endowed institution. At the princely Sherburn
hospital, each person received daily a loaf (weighing five marks) and
a gallon of beer; he had meat three times a week, and on other days
eggs, herrings and cheese, besides [p168] butter, vegetables and salt.
The statutes laid stress upon the necessity of fresh food, and it was
forbidden to eat the flesh of an animal which had died of disease.
This was wise, for the constant consumption in the Middle Ages of
rotten meat, decayed fish and bread made from blighted corn predisposed
people to sickness and aggravated existing disease. Forfeited victuals
were granted to the sick in hospitals at Oxford, Cambridge, Sandwich,
Maldon, etc. The Forest law directed that if any beast were found dead
or wounded, the flesh was to be sent to the leper-house if there were
one near, or else be distributed to the sick and poor; Dr. Cox in his
_Royal Forests_ cites instances of the lepers of Thrapston and Cotes
benefiting by this statute.
Salt meat was largely consumed, but it was insufficiently cured on
account of the scarcity of salt. Bacon was a most important article
of food; one of the endowments of St. Mary Magdalene’s, Winchester,
consisted of four flitches annually. About Christmas-tide, according to
the “Customal of Sandwich,” each person at St. Bartholomew’s received a
hog with the inwards and all its parts. The lepers at St. Albans had a
similar custom, but they made their own selection for the salting-tub
at Martinmas:—“we desire that the pigs may be brought forward in their
presence . . . and there each, according to the priority of entering
the hospital, shall choose one pig.”
In some households, a meat-allowance was given to each person, perhaps
two-pence a week, or a farthing a day. There were vegetarians among
the residents at Southampton, for the account-rolls mention Sister
Elena who for a time “ate nothing that had suffered death”, [p169] and
Sister Joan, “who does not eat flesh throughout the year.” In those
days of murrain they were prudent, for it is recorded that an ox was
killed for consumption in the house “because it was nearly dead.”
In the later almshouses the inmates received wages and provided their
own victuals, which were cooked by the attendant. It was directed at
Higham Ferrers:—
“That every poor man shall buy his meat upon the Saturday . . . and
deliver it to the woman, and she shall ask them which they will have
against Sunday, and the rest she shall powder up against Wednesday;
she shall upon Sunday set on the pot and make them good pottage, and
shall give every man his own piece of meat and a mess of pottage in
his dish, and the rest of the pottage shall be saved until Monday.”
The remainder was served up on Wednesday by the careful housewife, who
was directed to buy barm on Fridays for the bread-making.
Baking was done once a fortnight at St. Bartholomew’s, Sandwich,
the allowance to each person being seven penny loaves. The exact
provision of brown and white bread is sometimes given in regulations.
Oats “called La Porage” was provided for the poor in the Leicester
almshouse, where there was a porridge-pot holding sixty-one gallons.
Ancient cooking utensils are preserved at St. Cross, Winchester, at St.
John’s, Canterbury, and at Harbledown.
In most hospitals there was a marked difference between daily diet
and festival fare. Festal days, twenty-five in number, were marked at
Sherburn by special dinners. St. Cuthbert was naturally commemorated;
his festival [p170] in March and the day of his “Translation” in
September were two-course feasts; but the first falling in Lent, Bishop
Pudsey provided for the delicacy of fresh salmon, if procurable. Both
at Sherburn, and at St. Nicholas’, Pontefract, there was a goose-feast
at Michaelmas, one goose to four persons. The “Gaudy Days” at St. Cross
were also marked by special fare.
(b) _Food for casuals._—Out-door relief was provided in many hospitals.
St. Mark’s, Bristol, was an almonry where refreshment was provided for
the poor. Forty-five lb. of bread made of wheat, barley and beans, was
given away among the hundred applicants; the resident brethren “each
carrying a knife to cut bread for the sick and impotent” ministered to
them for two or three hours daily. A generous distribution of loaves
and fishes took place at St. Leonard’s, York, besides the provision of
extra dinners on Sundays.
Special gifts were also provided occasionally, on founders’ days or
festivals. At St. Giles’, Norwich, on Lady Day, one hundred and eighty
persons had bread and cheese and three eggs each. Maundy Thursday was
a day for almsgiving, when all lepers who applied at the Lynn hospital
were given a farthing and a herring. “Obits” were constantly celebrated
in this way. The eve of St. Peter and St. Paul, being the anniversary
of Henry I’s death, was a gala-day for lepers within reach of York;
bread and ale, mullet with butter, salmon when it could be had, and
cheese, were provided by the Empress Matilda’s bounty, in memory of her
father. The ancient glass reproduced on Pl. XX depicts hungry beggars
to whom food is being dealt out.
[Illustration: _PLATE XX._ THE BEGGARS’ DOLE]
The Maison Dieu, Dover, kept the memorial days of [p171] Henry III
and of Hubert de Burgh and his daughter. The fare and expenses on such
occasions are recorded, _viz._:—
“Also in the daye of Seynt Pancre yerely for the soule
of Hughe de Burgo one quarter of whete vj. viij_d._
Also the same daye if it be flesshe day one oxe and if it
be fisshe day ij barells of white heryng xx_s._”[104]
Probably the annual distribution of three hundred buns at St.
Bartholomew’s Hospital, Sandwich, is handed down from some ancient
custom on the patronal festival, but almost all these charities came
to an end at the Dissolution. The Commissioners who visited St. Cross,
however, (1535) allowed the continuation of daily dinners to the
hundred poor, on condition that distribution was made
“to them who study and labour with all their strength at handywork to
obtain food; and in no case shall such alms be afforded to strong,
robust and indolent mendicants, like so many that wander about such
places, who ought rather to be driven away with staves, as drones and
useless burdens upon the earth.”
The “Wayfarer’s Dole” still given at St. Cross is the only survival of
the former indiscriminate entertainment of passers-by.
2. FIRING AND LIGHTS
The wood necessary for firing was collected from the vicinity by
permission of the manorial lord. In Henry III’s charter to St. John’s,
Oxford (1234), he granted wood from Shotover “to cook the portions
of the poor and to warm the poor themselves.” He also permitted the
gathering of faggots for St. John’s, Marlborough, one [p172] man going
daily for dry and dead wood “to collect as much as he can with his
hands only without any iron tool or axe, and to carry the same to the
hospital on his back for their hearth.” Early rolls record constant
grants of firewood. St. Leonard’s, York, was supplied with turves from
Helsington Moor.
The supply of fuel was regulated by the calendar. A benefactor (_circa_
1180) granted to the lepers of St. Sepulchre’s near Gloucester, a load
of firewood “such as a horse can carry” daily from November 1 to May
3, and thrice a week for the rest of the year. From Michaelmas to All
Saints, the lepers of Sherburn—unconscious of the coalfield all around
them—had for their eight fires two baskets of peat daily, after which
until Easter four baskets were supplied; on festivals extra fuel was
given, and at Christmas great logs were specially provided. Finally it
was directed that:—“if any leprous brother or sister shall be ill so
that his life is despaired of, he shall have fire and light and all
things needful until he amend or pass away.”
3. BEDDING
In early days, the sick and poor were laid on pallets of straw, but
wooden bedsteads were probably introduced late in the twelfth century.
A dying benefactor left to the brethren of St. Wulstan’s, Worcester,
the bed on which he lay and its covering of _bys_, or deer-skin
(1291).[105] A Durham founder bequeathed money to “amend the beds what
tyme they shall happyne to be olde or defective” (1491). A strange
civic duty was performed at Sandwich. It was customary for the mayor
and townsmen, as [p173] “visitors” of St. John’s House, to examine the
condition and number of the feather-beds, and bedding, and to ascertain
if all was kept very clean. Where travellers came and went, it was no
light task to supply fresh linen. At St. Thomas’, Canterbury, an annual
payment of xlvj_s._ viij_d._ was made “to Rauf Cokker keper of the seid
hospitall and his wif for kepyng wasshyng of the bedds for poure peple”
(1535). The same year, the inquiry made into the condition of the Savoy
hospital included these items:—
“Whether the hundred beddes appoynted by the founder be well and
clenely kept and repayred, and all necessaries to theym belongyng.
“Whether any poore man do lie in any shetes unwasshed that any other
lay in bifore.”
4. TOILET
Bathing and laundry arrangements are occasionally mentioned. The
regulations for the Sherburn lepers direct a strict attention to
cleanliness. Two bath-tubs (_cunæ ad balneandum_) were supplied; heads
were washed weekly; and two laundresses washed the personal clothing
twice a week. In the fifteenth-century statutes of Higham Ferrers
matters of health and toilet are detailed. None might be received “but
such as were clean men of their bodies”; and if taken ill, a bedeman
was removed until his recovery. Every morning the woman must “make
the poor men a fire against they rise and a pan of fair water and a
dish by it to wash their hands.” The barber came weekly “to shave them
and to dress their heads and to make them clean.” When the Savoy was
officially visited in 1535, the authorities were asked [p174] “whether
the bathes limitted by the founder be well obserued and applyed.”
As to hair-dressing, “tonsure by the ears” was commonly used by the
staff. After profession at Chichester it was directed:—“then let the
males be cropped below the ear; or the hair of the women be cut off
back to the middle of the neck.” Among the instructions in the register
of St. Bartholomew’s near Dover is one about the round tonsure, and
there is a marginal note as to the mode of shaving the head. The
visitation of St. Nicholas’, York (_temp._ Edward I), showed that
formerly brethren and sisters were tonsured, but that Simon, recently
master, had allowed them to change both habit and tonsure.[106]
5. CLOTHING
(a) _The habit of the staff._—The dress worn by the master and his
fellow-workers was usually monastic or clerical, but it varied
considerably, for the priests might be regulars or seculars, the
brethren and sisters religious or lay persons. Occasionally the warden
was not in orders; it was directed at St. Leonard’s, York, that “when
the master is a layman, he shall wear the habit of the house.” In an
ecclesiastical type of foundation, the dress was commonly after the
Augustinian fashion, consisting of black or brown robe, cloak and hood,
with a cross on the outer garment; white and grey were occasionally
worn by officials of both sexes. The Benedictine brethren of St.
Mark’s, Bristol, were clothed in a black habit with a quaint device,
namely, “a white cross and a red shield with three white geese in
the [p175] same.” Secular clerks had more latitude in costume; the
sombre mantles were enlivened by a coloured badge, a pastoral staff at
Armiston, a cross at St. John’s, Bedford, etc.
(b) _The almsman’s gown._—The early type of pensioner’s habit is
perpetuated at St. Cross. Ellis Davy, having sober tastes, provided
for his poor men at Croydon that “the over-clothing be darke and
browne of colour, and not staring neither blasing, and of easy price
cloth, according to ther degree.” This stipulation was probably copied
from the statutes of Whittington’s almshouse, which as a mercer he
would know. The usual tendency of the fifteenth century was to a
cheerful garb. The bedeman of Ewelme had “a tabarde of his owne with
a rede crosse on the breste, and a hode accordynge to the same.” The
pensioners at Alkmonton received a suit every third year, alternately
white and russet; the gown was marked with a tau cross in red. At
Heytesbury the men’s outfit included “2 paire of hosyn, 2 paire of
shone with lether and hempe to clowte theme, and 2 shertys”; the woman
had the same allowance, with five shillings to buy herself a kirtle.
The two servitors at St. Nicholas’, Pontefract, wore a uniform “called
white livery.”
(c) _The leper’s dress._—The theory of the leper’s clothing is
described in the statutes of St. Julian’s; they ought “as well in
their conduct as in their garb, to bear themselves as more despised
and as more humble than the rest of their fellow-men, according to the
words of the Lord in Leviticus: ‘Whosoever is stained with the leprosy
shall rend his garments.’” They were forbidden to go out without the
distinctive habit, which covered them almost entirely. The outfit named
in the _Manual_ consisted of [p176] cloak, hood, coat and shoes of
fur, plain shoes and girdle.
The hospital inmate in his coarse warm clothing was readily
distinguished from the ragged mendicant. The brothers and sisters
at Harbledown were supplied with a uniform dress of russet, that is
to say, a closed tunic or super-tunic; the brethren wore scapulars
(the short working dress of a monk), and the sisters, mantles. At St.
Julian’s hospital, the cut of the costume was planned; thus the sleeves
were to be closed as far as the hand, but not laced with knots or
thread after the secular fashion; the upper tunic was to be worn closed
down to the ankles; the close black cape and hood must be of equal
length. The amount of material is recorded in the case of Sherburn,
_viz._ three ells of woollen cloth and six ells of linen. At Reading
the leper’s allowance was still more liberal, for the hood or cape
contained three ells, the tunic three, the cloak two and a quarter;
they also received from the abbey ten yards of linen, besides old
leathern girdles and shoes.
Lepers were forbidden to walk unshod. At Sherburn, each person was
allowed fourpence annually for shoes, grease being regularly supplied
for them. Inmates of both sexes at Harbledown wore ox-hide boots,
fastened with leather and extending beyond the middle of the shin. High
boots were also worn by the brethren at St. Julian’s “to suit their
infirmity”; if one was found wearing low-cut shoes—“tied with only one
knot”—he had to walk barefoot for a season.
For headgear at Harbledown, the men used hoods, and the women covered
their heads with thick double veils, white within, and black without.
Hats were sometimes [p177] worn, both in England (Fig. 9) and in
France. (Fig. 26.) In the Scottish ballad (_circa_ 1500), Cresseid is
taken to the lazar-house dressed in a mantle with a beaver hat. This
was probably a secular fashion.
[Illustration: 26. A LEPER
(With clapper and dish)]
FOOTNOTES:
[103] Surtees, Vol. 56. Gray’s Register, p. 181.
[104] _Val. Ecc._, i. 56.
[105] Giffard’s Register, p. 388.
[106] P.R.O. Chanc. Misc. 20, No. 13.
[p178]