A HISTORY OF LONDON HOSPITALS 20. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW The hospital of St. Bartholomew was founded at the same time as the priory by Rahere in the reign of Henry I.^ At first the priory and hos- pital seem to have been regarded as one institu- tion, for the royal charter of 1 133 was addressed to Rahere, the prior, the canons, and the poor of St. Bartholomew's Hospital ; ^ but a separation between them must have occurred quite early, since the grants of Henry II ' and Richard I * were made to the church and canons, that is to the priory, and there is evidence that by the be- ginning of the thirteenth century the hospital was a distinct community ^ with possessions apart from those of the superior house.* It is probable, therefore, that Alfune, the first proctor, was not concerned with the government of the hospital, but devoted himself entirely to finding the means of subsistence for the poor it sheltered, a sufficiently hard task, seeing that he begged food from door to door and in the markets of the city.' The later proctors, how- ever, occupied the position and had the duties of masters,* and in the end took the name. The rights of the priory over the hospital were the cause of much controversy, and the difficulty must have begun early, for the question was argued before Richard, bishop of London, about 1 1 97.' It was then decided that the proctor of St. Bartholomew's should do solemn obedience to the prior and should swear to minister faithfully in the hospital and not to alienate the lands and rents of the house without the consent of the bishop, prior, and canons, nor to admit anyone to a perpetual allowance of food or clothing without the assent of the prior and canons ; he must give an account twice a year of receipts and expenses in the presence of the bishop and the prior ; the proctor was to be chosen by the canons and the brothers from the latter, or from another com- munity if there were not a fit person in the hos- pital, but not from the priory ; if unsuitable, he was to be removed by common counsel of the canons and brothers ; chaplains were to be chosen " Cott. MS. Vesp. B. ix, fol. 46.
- Cirt. Antiq. R. L, I. » Ibid. 2, 8.
- Ibid. 9. ' Add. MS. 34768, fol. 376, 38.
^ Agrant wasmadein the twelfth centur}' by Stephen, the proctor, and the brethren with the consent of the prior. Hiif. MSS. Com. Rep, ix, App. i, 22. In 1230 the hospital is mentioned as holding land in ' Had- feld,' whereas the priory never seems to have possessed anything there. Cal. of Close, 1227—31, p. 301. ' Cott. MS. Vesp. B. ix, fol. 54-5.
- Settlement as to the institution of the procurator.
Doc. of D. and C. oi St. Paul's, A. Box 25, No. 643. » Ibid. by the prior and proctor, and to be removed by them if necessary ; the brothers and sisters were to receive the habit from the prior in the chapter of canons and were to do obedience to the prior ; all the brothers and sisters were bound to take part in the procession in the priory church on the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, and Ascension Day. These ordinances apparently gave little satisfac- tion to the hospital, for the agitation to obtain more liberty led King John in 1204 ^* to declare that he would treat attempts to free the hospital from its subjection to the priory as attacks on the crown, and in 1223 or 1224 Eustace, bishop of London, at the request of both priory and hospital, made other regulations,^^ which settled the matter for a considerable period. They were as follows : — The prior was not to refuse his assent to the election of a master whom the brothers declared suitable ; if he should consider the person elected unfit, the matter was to be referred to the chapter of St. Paul's ; the prior was to give the master the habit in the chapter of the hospital ; the brothers appear to have been excused from attendance at the priory church on the four festivals, but two were to go on St. Bar- tholomew's Day, with two candles of 4 lb. weight; the brothers were forbidden to erect an altar or image of St. Bartholomew in the hospital, and to have a bell tower or more than the two bells they then had, and on Easter Eve they were not to ring before the priory ; they were refused the cemetery they had asked from Pope Benedict ; the allowances of food and the share in the anniversaries of the canons were to be given as before by the priory to the members of the hospital. Henry III, in the early part of his reign at any rate, appears to have taken an interest in the hospital : in 1223 he committed the custody of it to Maurice, a Templar,^- until he could make further provision for it ; in 1225 he gave the master four oaks for fuel,'^ and in 1 229 six more; ^* and in 1230 excused the brothers from the pay- ment of a tallage on their land in Hatfield. Some idea of the hospital in 1 3 1 6 can be gathered from the injunction of Gilbert Segrave, bishop of London,'* who ordered that as the business of the house could not be carried on by fewer than seven brethren, of whom five were priests, there '" Add. MS. 34768, fol. 373, 38. " Doc. of D. and C. of St. Paul's, Lib. A, fol. 14. " Cal. of Pat. 1216-25, P- 37'- " Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 39. " Cal. of Close, 1227-31, p. 212. " Ibid. p. 301. Lond. Epis. Reg. Baldock and Gravesend, fol. 39. 40- 520
