CHAPTER I

HOSPITALS FOR WAYFARERS AND THE SICK “_Founded for the maintenance of poor pilgrims and other infirm persons resorting thither to remain until they are healed of their infirmities._” “_For the poor, for persons going to Rome, for others coming to Canterbury and needing shelter, and for lying-in women._” (St. Thomas’, Canterbury.) [Illustration: 1. ST. JOHN’S HOSPITAL, OXFORD] The earliest charitable institutions of England were houses of hospitality. In sketching the development of these guest-houses we must bear in mind that the hospital (derived from _hospes_, a host or guest) was a wayside shelter for all comers. FIRST PERIOD (_circa_ 925–1170) Travellers were exposed to peril by the rudeness of the times, but in those early days hospitality was regarded as a solemn obligation. To receive any stranger was a [p002] duty: to welcome the passing pilgrim was a sacred privilege. Although the private entertainment of guests was widely practised, some public institutions were required. Tradition tells of at least two “hospitals” or hospices founded in the tenth century (925–940). Both were in Yorkshire,[3] one being in the distant country parts, the other in the populous town. At Flixton in Holderness was a house of refuge “to preserve travellers from being devoured by the wolves and other voracious forest beasts.”[4] The city of York, on the other hand, was so great a place of thoroughfare that it was impossible to entertain all who came. Athelstan, recognizing that the Canons of the Minster were men of holy life, active in helping the needy who flocked to them, assisted them in their hospitality by the foundation of St. Peter’s hospital. Two other early houses of charity are ascribed to the Saxon bishops Oswald and Wulstan of Worcester. In the eleventh century at least we emerge from tradition, for it seems clear that St. Wulstan founded that hospital near his cathedral city which afterwards bore his name. It will be remembered that bishops were especially bound by their vows at consecration to be given to hospitality. In pre-Norman days, the solemn question was in substance what is asked to-day: “Wilt thou shew mercy and kindness, for the name of the Lord, to the poor, the stranger, and all in want?” (_pauperibus et peregrinis omnibusque indigentibus_). To this the elected bishop [p003] replied, “I will.” This formula occurs in the Exeter Pontifical, compiled about nine hundred years ago, and is repeated in Osmund’s Sarum Use. There were, of course, pilgrims among those who sojourned in early hostels. Englishmen have always loved travel. Not only did our Saxon forefathers journey to Rome (receiving shelter by the way in hospitals of English foundation), but they constantly visited their national shrines. Probably a fresh impetus was given to pilgrimage by the coming of the Normans. Monastic life was strengthened, and this was a guarantee of hospitality. “Guests are to be received as if they were Christ Himself,” said the rule of St. Benedict. In the century after the Conquest, as in those which preceded it, the chief works of mercy were done in the monastery. There was the _hospitium_ within the abbey-gate, as at St. Mary’s, York; and the “Strangers’ Hall” at Winchester. Then followed the shelter outside the walls, as at Battle, referred to (_circa_ 1076) as “the house of the pilgrims which is called the hospital.” During the twelfth century more independent foundations became common. All sorts and conditions of men were lodged—wayfarers, invalids, and even lepers. About the year 1148, St. Bartholomew’s, Smithfield, was the resort of sick pilgrims, of whom “many and innumerable were schewid tokynnys of myracles.” The patients who flocked to the famous shrine and hospital were “langwissyng men greuyd with uariant sorys”; one sought “remedie of his akynge hede,” another suffered from “bleriednes of yen” (eyes), and yet another from “ryngyng of his erys.” Victims of the falling sickness [p004] (epilepsy), paralysis, dropsy, fevers, insanity, found relief; deaf and dumb were healed; a child born blind received sight from “the heuenly leche.” Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, about 1141, invited help for “the hospital house of Dover, which two brethren, Osbern and Godwin, are diligently building for the reception of the poor and strangers.” This hospital of St. Bartholomew (Buckland) was also used for lepers. The need of further provision for travellers was felt, and a benefactor made extensive grants on condition that a house was provided for the reception of needy people disembarking from ships: before 1163 reference is made to the _hospitium_ for strangers. It was doubtless frequented by voyagers returning from the Crusades; but before long an event occurred which brought multitudes to Dover, and then the old hospital proving insufficient, became chiefly the resort of lepers, and a new Maison Dieu was built near the quay. (See Frontispiece.) SECOND PERIOD (_circa_ 1170–1270) The year 1170 marks an epoch, ushering in the great pilgrimage within and towards England. When the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury became the goal of pious wayfarers it was necessary to find accommodation for them. The hospitals of Canterbury and Southwark bearing the martyr’s name were among the earliest. Within a few years such houses (often called _Domus Dei_) were founded in most of the southern ports and along the Pilgrims’ Way, as at Dover, Ospringe, and Maidstone. At Strood “the poor, weak, infirm and impotent, as well neighbouring inhabitants as travellers from distant [p005] places,” were cared for “until they die or depart healed.” Norfolk, like Kent, was studded with houses of charity, especially near the highway to Walsingham. Thirteen pilgrims were lodged at Bec, near Billingford. At Thetford there was a hospital near the passage of the river. Among other early hostels we may enumerate those of Newcastle, Hexham, Ripon, Stamford, Aynho, London (St. Mary’s), Bridgwater, and Ledbury. [Illustration: _PLATE I._ REFRESHMENT FOR WAYFARERS] The hospital was a guest-house and infirmary in one. That on the outskirts of Oxford was called in a charter (_circa_ 1194) _Herebergeria Hospitalis S. Joh. Bapt._; in 1233 this was refounded (Fig. 1) “that therein infirm people and strangers might receive remedy of their health and necessity.” The inmates of St. Nicholas’, Salisbury, are described as passengers (_transeuntes_) and as sick and infirm (_egroti et infirmi_). The same two-fold work of charity was carried on at Chichester, as shown by St. Mary’s statutes:— “If anyone in infirm health and destitute of friends should seek admission for a term, until he shall recover, let him be gladly received and assigned a bed. . . . In regard to the poor people who are received late at night, and go forth early in the morning, let the warden take care that their feet are washed, and, as far as possible, their necessities attended to.” There is a MS. in the British Museum entitled _The Pilgrim_. It is an allegorical poem in the manner of the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” and sets forth the adventures of the traveller. The illustration (Pl. I) and description were probably taken from experience of earthly pilgrimage. “Charity” is seen welcoming strangers, [p006] at which work she was always busy in mediæval England:— “And I suppose for my beste There to herborewe and to reste On ther cam and preyed me And her name was _Charite_ To pylgrymes in goodly wyse Sche dyde moste trewely the seruyse With chere benygne and glad uysage She brought hem to ther herbergage.”[5] Among shrines which the pious Englishman visited may be mentioned Bury St. Edmunds, Westminster, Durham, Beverley, St. Albans, Waltham.[6] THIRD PERIOD (1270–1470) [Illustration: 2. A PILGRIM] (a) _Pilgrimage and Vagrancy._—The greatest century of pilgrimage was past, but vagrancy was an ever-increasing problem, and inasmuch as it affected the social life of England, it affected hospitals, directly or indirectly. In the Statute of Labourers, drawn up in 1350, an attempt had been made to restrain desultory wandering, idleness, mendicancy and indiscriminate almsgiving. This was followed by many ordinances, local and general. By a proclamation in 1359 the municipal authorities of London declared that such unworthy beggars “do waste divers alms, which would otherwise be given to many poor folks, such as lepers, blind, halt, [p007] and persons oppressed with old age and divers other maladies.” In 1369 they issued a precept “for mendicants, vagrants and pilgrims to leave the city.” The Statute of Westminster (1383) ordered inquiry concerning vagabonds “wandering from place to place, running in the country more abundantly than they were wont in times past.” The Act of 1388 declared that those who “go in pilgrimage as beggars” when fit for employment, should be dealt with according to the previous Statute. It will be observed that these measures were framed from an economic standpoint, not to check pilgrimage as such. Although pilgrimage was declining, there were still many pilgrims. Some of these were professional palmers, and hirelings fulfilling vows by proxy; for there are numerous bequests in the fourteenth century to persons undertaking journeys on the testator’s behalf to Canterbury, Walsingham, and Bury St. Edmunds, as well as to St. James of Compostella, Rome, or the Holy Land. The special “Jubilee” at Canterbury in 1420 was attended by 100,000 persons, and in 1434 thousands set sail for Compostella. (b) _Provision for temporary relief._—Existing houses of hospitality were kept up, but a growing tendency to discriminate amongst applicants may be noticed. In many cases more beds were reserved for chronic invalids than for casual comers. St. Thomas’ hospital, Canterbury, carried on its old work, but the renewed statutes of Archbishop Stratford (1342) direct “that poor pilgrims in good health shall be entertained only for one night . . . that greater regard shall be had for the sick than for the well pilgrims.” With some diplomacy it describes itself, in a petition to the Pope, as designed “for persons going [p008] to Rome (_Romipete_), for others coming to Canterbury and needing shelter,”[7] etc. The chief building period was over, as far as this particular kind of temporary provision is concerned, but one or two new foundations must be mentioned. St. John’s, Winchester, was built about 1275 “for the relief of sick and lame soldiers, poor pilgrims, and necessitous wayfaring men, to have diet and lodging thereto fit and convenient for one night or longer, as their abilities to travel gave leave.” In 1393, the Bishop of Ely offered an indulgence to persons contributing to the sustentation of a hospital at Brentford, which consisted of a chapel, newly constructed, “with two houses built there, furnished with beds and other necessaries for the entertainment of poor travellers.” The old hospital at Brackley was reconstituted for the same purpose (1425). It was, however, suppressed sixty years later, because hospitality was being neglected. One special form of temporary relief came to the front about this time. The assistance of women in childbirth was named in the Petition and Statute of 1414 as part of the recognized aim and scope of hospital charity. The heading to this chapter alludes to the work undertaken at St. Thomas’, Canterbury, in 1363. The foundation deed of Holy Trinity, Salisbury, sets forth that “lying-in women are cared for until they are delivered, recovered and churched.” The Spital near Blyth was newly constructed in 1446 for the lodging of strangers and distressed women. [Illustration: _PLATE II._ HOSPITAL OF ST. THOMAS, CANTERBURY FOR PILGRIMS] It is recorded that the two London infirmaries of St. Mary without Bishopsgate and St. Bartholomew [p009] undertook this work; in both institutions the touching provision was made that if the mother died, her child should be brought up there until the age of seven.[8] In the year 1437 privileges were granted to the latter hospital “in consideration of their great charges in receiving the poor, feeble and infirm, keeping women in childbirth until their purification, and sometimes feeding their infants until weaned.” William Gregory, a citizen of London, describing in his commonplace book various foundations, says of “Bartholomewe ys Spetylle”:— “Hyt ys a place 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 delyueryde, and unto the tyme of puryfycacyon they have mete and drynke of the placys coste, and fulle honestely gydyd and kepte.” General hospitals for the sick were thus in process of development. St. Bartholomew’s was steadily fulfilling its founder’s vow to provide a place for the “recreacion of poure men.” After three and a half centuries of usefulness, a roll of 1464 records with approbation “works done within the hospital in relief of poor pilgrims, soldiers, sailors and others of all nations.” FOURTH PERIOD (_circa_ 1470–1547) (_a_) It is evident that pilgrimage was no longer an important factor in the social life of the country. The daily resort to shrines had practically ceased, but the special anniversaries were kept. Such pious travellers as there were, lodged chiefly in inns. At Glastonbury a Pilgrims’ Inn was built by Abbot John, about the year 1475, to accommodate those visiting the holy places of [p010] St. Joseph of Arimathæa and St. Dunstan. A later abbot, Richard Beere, writing to Archbishop Warham to defend the genuineness of St. Dunstan’s relics, stated that people had come from far and near to visit the new shrine, especially upon St. Dunstan’s Day (1508).[9] Although the regular stream of pilgrims to Canterbury was no longer seen day by day, the great “Jubilee” celebrations were popular, the last one being kept in