2. THE CHAPEL

The life of the community centred in the chapel. Of the chaplains at St. John’s, Chester, two served in the church and “the third in the chapel before the poor and feeble sustained in the said hospital.” There were three chapels in St. Leonard’s, York (Pl. XXV), including “St. Katherine in the sick hospital” and “St. Michael in the infirmary.” Henry III was present at the dedication of the Maison Dieu, Dover,[101] and again long afterwards when an altar was consecrated to St. Edmund by Richard [p163] of Chichester. Every hospital had one or more altars. Portable super-altars were occasionally kept, these being probably used when the infirmary did not adjoin the chapel. In order to gain an idea of the external side of worship, some account of the accessories of a chapel, such as lights, decoration and ornaments, must be given. Lights were kept burning day and night before the altar. For this purpose oil lamps with rush wicks, and wax tapers were required. The two Sandwich hospitals obtained their supply of tapers thus. When the mayor and townsmen came in procession to St. Bartholomew’s on the patronal festival, many bore wax lights which they left in the chapel for use during the year. St. John’s hospital, not being equally favoured, arranged otherwise, for the inmates agreed that if any one reviled another with vicious language, brawling in ungodly fashion, he should pay four lb. of wax to the light of the church. The altar expenses at Holy Trinity, Bristol, included payments for standards, candlesticks and lamps. The wax-maker received 5_s._ 10_d._ for ten lb. of new wax for the Sepulchre light, and 8½_d._ for a “wachyng tapir for the Sepulcre” (1512).[102] The chapel was adorned with paintings and carvings. The figure of St. Giles now preserved in Lincoln Cathedral was brought there from the hospital of that name. When St. Mary Magdalene’s chapel, Durham, was being rebuilt, the sum of 15_s._ 1_d._ was paid for painting an image of the patron-saint. Alabaster heads of the Baptist were kept at St. John’s, Exeter, and Ewelme. The inventory and valuation of Holy Trinity, Beverley, [p164] enable one to picture the appearance of the sanctuary. The ornaments included an alabaster representation of the Trinity with painted wooden tabernacle, a well-carved and gilded image of the Blessed Virgin and Child (worth 40s.) with sundry small pictures and crucifixes. Books, plate and vestments were frequently the gift of benefactors by will. The founder bequeathed to St. Giles’, Norwich, “the gilt cup which was the blessed Saint Edmund’s” (i.e. probably the Archbishop’s); he left a Bible to the hospital and a missal to the master. Office-books were costly, the manual and missal at Holy Trinity, Beverley, being valued at £4 each. A master of Sherburn bequeathed to that house a richly-illuminated New Testament (_Argenteus Textus_), besides cloths of gold and brocade. John of Gaunt gave to his Leicester foundation “his red garment of velvet embroidered with gold suns.” When festal services were held at St. Mary’s, Newcastle (Pl. XXVII), three gold chalices were seen upon the altar, whilst the celebrant wore one of the beautifully-embroidered garments of the hospitals, which included one wrought with peacocks, another bordered with roses, and “one entire vestment of bloody velvet, woven about with a golden fringe.” Many valuables fell a prey to dishonest wardens. Frequent allusions are made to defects in the books, jewels, etc., of hospital chapels and of their being withdrawn, put into pledge, or sold. The treasures had often dwindled considerably before the final pillage, which partly accounts for entries in Chantry Surveys, etc., “plate and ornaments none.” But as late as the sixth year of Edward VI, some traces remained of ornate services. St. John’s, [p165] Canterbury, possessed ecclesiastical robes of black velvet, red velvet and white fustian, and a cope of Bruges satin. Some of these were removed, but amongst articles left for the ministration of divine service were “one cope of blewe saten of bridgs, one cope of whytt fustyan.” [Illustration: 25. ANCIENT HOSPITAL ALTAR, GLASTONBURY] The fittings of such chapels have seldom survived, but original altar-stones remain in two hospitals at Ripon, as well as at Stamford and Greatham; the ancient slab found in the floor at Trinity Hospital, Salisbury, has this year been restored to its place. The altar (Fig. 25) in the women’s almshouse at Glastonbury (Fig. 23) has a recess in the masonry under the south end of the altar-slab. At [p166] Chichester and Stamford sedilia and stalls with misericords may be seen. Wall-paintings remain at Wimborne, and fragments of ancient glass at St. Cross; St. Mark’s, Bristol; St. Mary Magdalene’s, Bath; Trinity, Salisbury; Sherborne; and Stamford. FOOTNOTES: [88] Close 9 Edw. II, m. 18 _d_. [89] Cited Vict. Co. Hist. _Lancs._ ii. 165. [90] Chron. and Mem., 85, pp. 75–6. [91] Pat. 12 Edw. I, m. 16. [92] Cap. 2, 3, _vide Conciliorum Omnium_, ed. 1567, III, 700. [93] Assize Roll No. 361, 39 Hen. III, m. 28. [94] Hist. MSS., 6th R. 550. [95] Bishop Giffard’s Register, ii. 391. [96] Pat. 6 Edw. II, pt. i. m. 15. Pat. 17 Edw. II, pt. i. m. 10. Compare inscription upon Watts’ Almshouse, Rochester (1579); poor people to be sheltered “provided they be not rogues nor proctors.” The law authorizing proctors was repealed in 1597. Cf. _Fraternity of Vagabonds_. [97] Chron. and Mem., 71, _Historians of York_, iii. 202–3. [98] _Arch. Journ._ 1850. [99] Besant, _London, Med. Ecc._, p. 256. [100] W. Hunt, _Diocesan Hist._, pp. 158–9. [101] Charter Roll 16 Hen. III, m. 19. [102] MS. in Municipal Charities Office. [p167]