HOSPITAL FUNDS
“_To the which hospitals the founders have given largely of their
moveable goods for the building of the same, and a great part of
their lands and tenements therewith to sustain impotent men and
women._”
(Parliament of Leicester.)
Endowments were to a certain extent supplied by the patron, but were
supplemented by public charity. The emoluments included gifts of money,
food and fuel, grants of property, admission fees, the profits of
fairs, and collections. Receipts in kind are seldom recorded, and the
changing scale of values would involve points beyond the scope of this
volume. Particulars may be found in the extant manuscripts of certain
hospitals and abbeys, in _Valor Ecclesiasticus_, etc. Extracts from the
account-books of St. Leonard’s, York, have been published in a lecture
by Canon Raine. The finance of such an institution, with scattered and
extensive property, necessitated a department which required a special
clerk to superintend it, and the exchequer had its particular seal.
Reports of the Historical MSS. Commission give details of the working
expenses of hospitals at Southampton and Winchester.
[Illustration: _PLATE XXI._ ST. MARY MAGDALENE’S, WINCHESTER
(_a_) MASTER’S HOUSE AND CHAPEL. (_b_) CHAPEL]
1. ENDOWMENTS
(a) _Endowments in money._—The earliest subscriptions are recorded
in the Pipe Rolls, consisting of royal alms [p179] (_Eleemosynæ
Constitutæ_) paid by the Sheriff of the county from the profits of
Crown lands. Three entries in the year 1158 will serve as specimens:—
_Infirmis de Dudstan. xxs._ _Infirmis super Montem. lxs._ _Infirmis
de Lundon. lxs._
At first sight this seems not to concern hospitals; but a closer
examination proves that sums are being paid to sick communities—in fact
to lazar-houses. For the lepers of Gloucester dwelt in the suburb of
Dudstan, and the infected inmates of St. Mary Magdalene’s, Winchester,
were known locally as “the infirm people upon the hill”—now Maun Hill.
The grant was paid out of the farm of the city until, in 1442, the
citizens were unable to contribute that and other sums on account of
pestilence and depopulation. The infirm of London were the lepers of
St. Giles’; and the sixty shillings, originally granted by Henry I and
Maud, was still paid in Henry VII’s reign, for a writ of 1486 refers
“to the hospitallers of St. Giles for their annuity of lx_s._” Between
the years 1158 and 1178 subscriptions were paid to _infirmi_ at the
following places:—
Regular payments—“Dudstan,” Hecham, Hereford, Lincoln, London,
Maldon, Newport, Richmond, Rochester, St. Albans, St. Edmunds,
Shrewsbury, “Super Montem.” Occasional payments—Barnstaple, Barnwell
or Stourbridge, Bradley, Burton Lazars, Chichester, Clattercot,
Derby, Canterbury and Harbledown, Ely, Ilford, Leicester, Liteport,
Newark, Northampton, Oxford, Saltwood, and Windsor.
Of the latter, some were grants on account of a vacant bishopric.
In addition to the above, sums were given to [p180] _leprosi_ of
Southampton and Peterborough, and to hospitals of Gravesend, of
Norwich, and “of the Queen.” These contributions vary from 12_d._
paid to Hereford up to £6 given to Hecham (Higham Ferrers). In some
cases corn and clothing were also contributed. There is a contemporary
representation of one of these “infirm” persons on the seal of the
lepers of Lincoln, dating from the days of Henry II and St. Hugh. The
document to which it is attached contains a covenant between Bullington
Priory and the hospital of the Holy Innocents, Lincoln, concerning a
rent of three shillings from the hospital.
[Illustration: 27. DOCUMENT AND SEAL OF THE LEPERS OF LINCOLN]
Revenues also consisted largely in annual rents arising from land and
house property, some being appropriated to specific works. An early
grant to St. Bartholomew’s, Gloucester (_circa_ 1210), was to be
expended upon the maintenance of a lamp in the chapel, and shoes for
inmates, whilst the sum of 5_d._ was to go towards the provision of
five beds.
(b) _Endowments in kind._—The kings were generous in grants from royal
forests. Henry III granted one old oak from Windsor to the sick of St.
Bartholomew’s, London (1224). He afterwards gave to St. Leonard’s,
[p181] York, “licence to take what they need in the forest of
Yorkshire for building and burning, and also of herbage and pasture for
flocks and anything needful for their ease, as they had in the time of
Henry II.” Food was also supplied by patrons, especially in what might
be termed manorial hospitals, consisting generally of a grant of tithes
on produce. Another form of endowment was to impropriate livings. St.
Giles’, Norwich, owned six manors and the advowson of eleven churches.
When funds were low at Harbledown, the archbishop impropriated Reculver
church, thus augmenting the income by parochial tithes. This disgusted
the parishioners who sought redress, thinking it “ill to be subject to
lepers.”
2. BEQUESTS
The money chest, larder and wardrobe were replenished largely by
legacies. Amongst the earliest recorded are those of Henry II and his
son, William Longespée. Henry left a large sum to religious houses in
England and Normandy, and particularly to lepers. Longespée bequeathed
cows to lepers in the hospitals of Salisbury, Maiden Bradley and
Wilton, as well as to St. John’s, Wilton, and St. Bartholomew’s,
Smithfield (1225). Men in humbler circumstances were likewise generous.
A certain William de Paveli left 12_d._ each to eight hospitals in
Northampton, Brackley, Towcester, Newport Pagnell, Hocclive and
Stra[t]ford (_circa_ 1240).[107] Wills abound in references of a
similar character. Early legacies were made to the hospital as a body,
but when the renunciation of individual property by the staff ceased,
money was given to individuals; a benefactor of St. [p182] Giles’,
Norwich, left 20 marks to the master and brethren, 40_d._ each to other
officials, and 2_s._ to each bed (1357).[108] Gifts were frequently
made to patients; Stephen Forster desired that 100_s._ should be given
away in five city hospitals, besides five marks in pence to inmates
of St. Bartholomew’s, Bristol (1458). An endowment of penny doles
was provided by Lady Maud Courtenay in Exeter, namely thirteen pence
annually for twenty years “to xiii pore men of Symon Grendon is hous”
(1464). Testamentary gifts were also made in the form of clothes,
bedding, utensils, etc. The founder of St. Giles’, Norwich, left to it
“the cup out of which the poor children drank,” probably some vessel of
his own hitherto lent for the scholars daily meal.
3. PROFITS BY TRADING
The fair was a great institution in mediæval England, and the funds of
privileged charities were assisted in this way. At Maiden Bradley the
leprous women and their prior held a weekly market and an annual fair.
The Chesterfield fair was exchanged for a yearly payment of six pounds
of silver from the royal Exchequer, which indicates the value set upon
it. The most notable hospital-fairs were that of the leper-house near
Cambridge (originally held in the close and still held on Stourbridge
Common), and those connected with St. Bartholomew’s and St. James’
near London. The story of the former has been told by H. Morley; and
the “May-Fair” of St. James’ leper-house was also famous. These galas
were usually at the patronal festival and lasted two or three days,
but occasionally these profitable festivities were carried on for a
fortnight. Fairs were held at the following hospitals:— [p183]
Aynho, Bath (Holloway), Bury (St. Nicholas, St. Saviour), Baldock,
Colchester (St. Mary Magdalene), Devizes (St. James & St. Denys),
Dover (Buckland), Harting, Ipswich, Lingerscroft, Newbury, Newport,
Newton Garth, Racheness, Royston (St. Nicholas), Swinestre near
Sittingbourne, Thetford (St. John), Wycomb (2), etc.
This curious and interesting custom survives in connection with St.
Bartholomew’s, Newbury. The fair, originally granted by charter of King
John (1215),[109] still takes place annually on the day and morrow of
St. Bartholomew (_Old Style_), upon lands belonging to the hospital.
A “Court of Pie Powder” is held on the morrow of St. Bartholomew’s
day; the proctor of this ancient charity with the steward and bailiff
attend, and proclamation is made opening the Court. Tolls derived from
stallages are collected, together with an impost of 2_d._ on every
publican in Newbury (the latter due being resisted in a few cases).
The following day the Court meets again, when the proceeds are divided
amongst the almsmen.[110]
4. ADMISSION FEES
A considerable pecuniary benefit accrued to hospitals by the custom of
receiving contributions from newly-admitted members of the household.
In some cases a benefaction was made when persons were received into a
community; thus Archbishop Wichwane as patron granted permission for a
certain Gilbert and his wife to bestow their goods upon Bawtry hospital
and dwell there (1281).[111] [p184]
5. INVOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS
Rates were levied for hospital maintenance on an organized system in
some foreign countries. Sometimes a compulsory Hospital Sunday Fund was
instituted, one penny being demanded from the richer, one halfpenny
from the middle-class, and a loaf from lesser folk. In England,
however, the only obligatory support was an occasional toll on produce,
perhaps first ordered by the feudal lord, but afterwards granted by
custom. The Bishop of Exeter (1163) confirmed to lepers their ancient
right to collect food twice a week in the market, and alms on two
other days,—a custom resented by the citizens. (See p. 54.) King John
conferred upon Shrewsbury lazars the privilege of taking handfuls of
corn and flour from sacks exposed in the market (1204). By charter of
the Earls, the Chester lepers were entitled to extensive tolls—upon
salt, fish, grain, malt, fruit and vegetables, to a cheese or salmon
from every load, and even one horse from the horse-fair. The lepers of
St. Mary Magdalene’s, Southampton, received “from time immemorial” a
penny upon every tun of wine imported.
The mayor and commonalty of Carlisle granted every Sunday to the lepers
a pottle of ale from each brew-house of the city, and a farthing
loaf from every baker who displayed his bread for sale on Saturday.
Their hospital was also endowed “time out of mind” with a corn-tax
known as the “thraves of St. Nicholas” from every carucate of land in
Cumberland. (The _thrave_ is variously computed at twelve, twenty or
twenty-four sheaves.) This county had a heavy poor-rate, for the great
York hospital collected likewise from every plough working in [p185]
the northern Archiepiscopate (Cumberland, Westmorland, Lancashire and
Yorkshire). These “thraves of St. Leonard,” or “Petercorn,” belonged to
the hospital by virtue of Athelstan’s gift, which had been originally
granted to him by his northern subjects in recognition of his
destruction of wolves. The lands of the Durham Bishopric contributed
“thraves of St. Giles” to Kepier hospital. The collection of such tolls
was a constant difficulty, for it was resented by landowners, who had
also the ordinary tithes to pay.
(6) VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS
(a) _Donations._—At first, freewill-offerings were mainly in kind. The
earliest collector whose name occurs is Alfune, Rahere’s friend. While
the founder was occupied at St. Bartholomew’s, Alfune was wont “to
cumpasse and go abowte the nye placys of the chirche besily to seke
and prouyde necessaries to the nede of the poer men, that lay in the
hospitall.” It fell on a day that as Alfune visited the meat-market,
he came to a butcher whose persistent refusal of help grieved him.
After working what was regarded as a miracle, Alfune won him over, and
departed with flesh in his vessel: henceforth butchers were more prompt
to give their alms. Almsmen used sometimes to collect in person. It
was customary for some of the brothers of St. John’s House to “attend
the churches in Sandwich every Sunday, with a pewter dish, soliciting
money to buy meat for dinner on that day.” Another brother was deputed
to travel on an ass through Kent asking alms—“and he collects sometimes
ten shillings a year, sometimes a mark, above his expenses.”
All save richly-endowed houses were dependent upon [p186] casual
charity. In St. Mary’s, Yarmouth, it is recorded “live a multitude of
poor brethren and sisters, for whose sustenance a daily quest has to be
made.” One of the London statutes, enrolled in _Liber Albus_, directs
that lepers shall have a common attorney to go every Sunday into the
parish-churches to gather alms for their sustenance. Lest charitable
offerings should diminish when lepers were removed from sight, a clause
was added to the proclamation of 1348:—“it is the king’s intention
that all who wish to give alms to lepers shall do so freely, and the
sheriff shall incite the men of his bailiwick to give alms to those so
expelled from the communion of men.” It would appear from a London will
of 1369, that special chests were afterwards provided; for bequests are
then made to the alms-boxes (_pixidibus_) for lepers around London.
Alms-boxes were carried about by collectors, and also hung at the gate
or within the hospital. The proctor of the staff went on his mission
with a portable money-box; upon one occasion, a false proctor was
convicted of pretending to collect for St. Mary of Bethlehem, for which
fraud he was pilloried, the iron-bound box with which he had paraded
the streets being tied round his neck. Boxes of this kind, sometimes
having a chain attached, remain in almshouses at Canterbury, Leicester
and Stamford. It was directed by the statutes of Higham Ferrers that
a common box with a hole in the top should be set in the midst of the
dormitory so that well-disposed people might put in their charity; at
certain times also two of the poor men were to “go abroad to gather
up the devotions of the brotherhood,” the contents being afterwards
divided.
(b) _Small Subscriptions._—Some fraternities formed [p187]
associations for the maintenance of charities. That of St. John
Baptist, Winchester, helped to support St. John’s hospital with the
shillings contributed by its 107 members. The modern hospital of St.
Leonard, Bedford, is kept up on this principle.
(c) _Appeals authorized by the King._—The work of the proctor was
not confined to the neighbourhood. Having first possessed himself of
letters-testimonial, he journeyed in England, or even in Wales and
Ireland. A “protection” or warrant was necessary, for unauthorized
collectors were liable to arrest; it was in the form of a royal letter
addressed to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, bailiffs,
lieges, etc. Henry III pleads with his subjects the cause of St.
Giles’, Shrewsbury:—“that when the brethren come to you to beg alms,
you will favourably admit them, and mercifully impart to them your alms
of the goods conferred by God upon you.” Many letters-patent license
the proctors, messengers or attorneys to collect in churches, or, as at
St. Anthony’s, Lenton (1332), in towns, fairs and markets. Sometimes
the collector went forth supported by Church and State; as when the
king issued mandates (1317, 1331) to welcome the proctor of the Romsey
lepers “authorized by John, Bishop of Winchester and other prelates.”
(d) _Appeals authorized by the Church, as Briefs, Indulgences,
etc._—Bishops likewise issued briefs, or letters of recommendation,
on behalf of institutions in their own dioceses or beyond. The infirm
of Holy Innocents’, Lincoln, received from their diocesan a mandate
(1294), ordering the parochial clergy to allow their agent to solicit
alms after mass on three Sundays or festivals each year; later, the
stipulation was added, that the Cathedral [p188] fabric fund should
not suffer thereby. A typical document is found in the Winchester
Register in favour of St. Leonard’s, Bedford (1321). The mandate was
addressed to the archdeacons, deans, rectors, vicars and chaplains,
commanding them to receive accredited messengers of that needy
hospital, to cause their business to be expounded by the priest during
mass, after which the collection should be delivered without deduction.
The brief was in force for two years and the clergy were bidden to help
effectually by word and example at least once a year.
Episcopal Registers include many such documents, some being granted on
special occasions, to make good losses by murrain, to enlarge premises,
or to rebuild after fire, flood or invasion. Some briefs were not
unlike modern appeals, with their lists of presidents and patrons;
for that on behalf of Romney hospital (1380) was signed by both
archbishops and eleven bishops. It was a recognized source of raising
funds. John de Plumptre in making arrangements for his almshouse at
Nottingham (1414), provided that the widows, for the bettering of their
sustenance, should “have and hold an episcopal bull and indulgence
. . . procured from the archbishops and bishops of England, Wales and
Ireland.”[112]
It is curious to watch the increase of the privileges offered. The
earlier bishops remitted penance for seven or thirteen days, those of
a later period, for forty days. Roman indulgences knew no such limits.
The form of a papal brief (1392) was as follows:—
“Relaxation of seven years and seven _quadragene_ to penitents who
on the principal feasts of the year and those of [p189] St. James in
the month of July and the dedication, the usual octaves and six days;
and of a hundred days to those who during the said octaves and days
visit and give alms for the sustentation and recreation of the chapel
of St. James’ poor hospital without the walls, London.”
William, Lord Berkeley directed the executors of his will (1492):—
“to purchase a pardon from the court of Rome, as large as may be had,
for this Chapple [Longbridge], from evensonge to evensonge, in the
feast of Trinity for ever, for pleyne remission to them that will be
confessed and contrite.”
Offerings stimulated by such pardons were in money or in kind. A deed
belonging to the Bridport Corporation sets forth that the writer has
seen letters from famous ecclesiastics—including St. Thomas and St.
Edmund of Canterbury—in favour of Allington leper-house, one being an
indulgence of Alexander IV:—
“Item, to alle thos that gevyn broche, rynge, boke, belle, candell,
vestimente, bordclothe, towelle, pygge, lambe, wolle, peny, or
penyworthe, be whiche the sayde hows and hospitale is amended and
mentaynde, the sayd Pope grauntethe the remission of the vijth parte
of penance injunct[ed].”
Thus the questionable trade of the pardoner[113] was often carried on
by the hospital proctor; moreover, spurious bulls were circulated.
The abuses to which the practice gave rise were recognized by Bishop
Grandisson, who announced that questors collecting alms in the diocese
of Exeter were forbidden to preach, or to sell fictitious privileges,
or unauthorized pardons. A papal exhortation [p190] on behalf of
St. Anne’s, Colchester (1402), forbids these presents to be sent by
pardoners (_questuarii_). Those who bought a pardon from the proctor
of St. John’s, Canterbury, were informed that the benefit of 30,000
_Paternosters_ and _Ave Marias_ was freely imparted to them. But
although indulgences were liable to abuse, it must be remembered that
authorized pardons extended to penitents only—to those who, being
contrite, had already confessed and received absolution and penance.
Upon the indulgenced feast of St. Michael, so many people flocked
to St. Mary’s, Leicester, that a special staff of confessors became
necessary.
7. ALMS OF PILGRIMS
Such visits to hospitals lead to the further consideration of
pilgrimage and devotion to relics, which directly affected charity.
An indulgence was offered to penitents visiting Yarmouth hospital
and the sacred relics therein and giving a helping hand to the poor
inhabitants. The Maison Dieu at Dunwich possessed a holy cross of great
reputation “whither many resorted to adore it, who bestowed much alms.”
When the precious relic was carried away and detained “by certain
evil-wishers” connected with St. Osith’s Abbey, the inmates were
greatly impoverished.[114] The abbot having been prosecuted, came into
chancery in person and rendered the cross to the king, who restored it
to the master and brethren “to remain in the hospital for ever.” Holy
Cross, Colchester, claimed to keep a portion of the true Cross; an
indulgence was offered by various bishops to those paying pilgrimage
visits and contributing to the hospital. (See pp. 248–9.) [p191]
[Illustration: _PLATE XXII._ LEPER HOSPITAL OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW,
OXFORD]
Other treasures visited by pilgrims were of a more personal character.
Anthony à Wood found records of choice things formerly preserved in
St. Bartholomew’s, Oxford, whereby it was enriched:—“they were possest
of St. Edmund the Confessor’s combe, St. Barthelmew’s skin, the bones
of St. Stephen, and one of the ribbes of St. Andrew.” The first and
foremost of the sacred relics was evidently a personal possession of
the local saint, Archbishop Edmund Rich, a native of Abingdon:—“Those
that were troubled with continuall headaches,” (University students,
perhaps) “frenzies, or light-headed, were by kembing their heads with
St. Edmund’s combe restored to their former health.” On high days
and holy days these treasures were exposed to view in the chapel.
(Pl. XXII.) They were of so great value that the authorities of Oriel
College, having acquired the patronage, appropriated them, “which
caused great complaints from these hospitalliers.”
[Illustration: 28. A HOSPITAL ALMS-BOX]
The alms of pilgrims and other travellers were a valuable asset in
the funds, for it was customary for those so journeying to spend much
in charity by the way. On the penitential pilgrimage of Henry II to
Canterbury (1174) “as he passed on his way by chapels and hospitals
he did his duty as a most devout Christian and son of Holy Church
by confession of sin and distribution of offerings and gifts.”[115]
Halting at Harbledown he left the sum of forty marks, probably
because the hospital belonged to the bereaved archbishopric. Long
afterwards, another king—John of France—passed along the road, leaving
at sundry hospitals a substantial proof of his gratitude for release
from captivity. Among his [p192] expenses are included gifts to
“les malades de 4 maladeries depuis Rocestre jusques à Cantobérie,
pour aumosne”; also to the communities of St. James’, St. John’s at
the Northgate, St. Mary’s, and Harbledown, and to the brethren of
Ospringe; whilst the king gave as much as twenty nobles to the Maison
Dieu, Dover, where he was received as a guest.[116] Situated close to
the highway, on the hill which eager travellers were about to climb
to catch their first sight of the grand tower of Canterbury, the
Harbledown lepers benefited by the gifts of pilgrims for three and
a half centuries. Treasured in the hospital (Pl. V) was a relic of
“the glorious martyr” to whose shrine they wended. “This fragment
of his [p193] shoe supports this little community of poor men,” says
Ogygius in the _Colloquy on Pilgrimages_,[117] where Erasmus describes
his visit to Canterbury with Dean Colet sometime before the year
1519. Shortly after leaving the city, where the road becomes steep
and narrow, there is, he says, a hospital of a few old men. One of
the brethren runs out, sprinkles the travellers with holy water, and
presently offers them the upper part of a shoe, set with a piece of
glass resembling a jewel. This the strangers are invited to kiss. (Bale
satirizes this custom where he says, “here ys the lachett of swett
seynt Thomas shewe.”) Colet is indignant, but Erasmus, to appease the
injured brother, drops a coin into his alms-box. The quaint old box is
still kept at Harbledown, and is figured above.
FOOTNOTES:
[107] Madox, _Formulare Ang._, p. 424.
[108] P.R.O. Ancient Deeds, A 11562.
[109] Charter Roll 17 John, m. 8.
[110] Communicated by the Town Clerk.
[111] Surtees Soc., 114, p. 278.
[112] Records of Nottingham, ii. 99.
[113] The word was retained after the Reformation, e.g. 1573, “paid
to a pardoner that gathered for the hospital of Plympton” (T. N.
Brushfield, _Devonshire Briefs_).
[114] Prynne, _Usurpation of Popes_, p. 1137, and Close 34 Edw. I, m. 1.
[115] Chron. and Mem., 67, i. 487.
[116] Soc. de l’Histoire de France, 1851, p. 194.
[117] Pilgrimages of Walsingham and Canterbury—Ed. Nichols, 1849, p. 63.
[p194]