RELIGIOUS HOUSES should in future be that number of brethren" and four sisters and not more ; the difference in rank between the priests and laybrothers should be marked by their costume, the former wearing closed and round mantles, the latter short tunics ; none should be allowed to buy their own cloth- ing ; the sisters should wear grey dresses which were not to fall below the ankles. Inferences may be drawn from certain of the ordinances : the sisters seem as usual to have been treated un- fairly in the matter of food, since provision was made both as to quantity and quality ; discipline was not perfect, or it would not have been neces- sary to order the brothers and sisters to obey the master, to forbid wordy warfare, and to pro- vide for the punishment of manual violence ; the care of the sick poor was perhaps somewhat neglected, since the bishop reminded the brothers and sisters that they had entered the hospital to minister to their fellow creatures, and enjoined them to look after the sick in their turn as the master directed ; he also ordered the master to visit the sick frequently and provide for their needs according to the power of the house ; a difficulty which appears to have often arisen in the conduct of hospitals is shown by the injunction to the master to appoint a man of exemplary character to be doorkeeper, who would allow no one to enter the sisters' abode without leave of the master. Two rolls were to be made of the income and all goods falling to the hospital, of which the master was to have one and the brethren the other, so that they might know how affairs were administered, and accounts were to be given every quarter by those who received and dispensed the revenues of the house. Two years later, Bishop Gilbert's successor, Richard, visited the hospital, and found that its resources had been much diminished through excessive granting of corrodies, and forbade such alienations in future except with the consent of the diocesan. He noticed on this occasion that immediate repairs were needed to the infirmary and other buildings. The management of the finance of the hospital could have been no light task, for its endow- ments were not sufficient for its expenses and needed to be supplemented by an annual collec- tion in churches,^' a source of income abundant perhaps but inconstant because liable to be diverted.^" The house was excused from pay- " This injunction was observed for some time, for there were seven brothers present at the election of William Wakeryng as master in 1386. Lend. Epis. Reg. Braybrook, fol. 282, 287. " Lond. Epis. Reg. Baldock and Gravesend, fol. 39. +o- " The master and brethren had received a papal indult for this. Cal. of Pat. 1324-7, p. 25. '" The king in 1 3 24 and 1 3 27 ordered his bailiffs to arrest persons pretending to be proctors of the brethren and collecting alms in their name. Ibid. 1324-7, p. 25 ; ibid. i327-30,'p. 18. I ment of fifteenths and tenths by Edward I and Edward II because of its poverty,^' and in 1 341 the king ordered the subsidy not to be levied on its goods, on the ground that if it had to meet any further charges its alms must be diminished. ^^ Another attempt to tax its possessions was, how- ever, made about ten years later,"' when it was probably less able to pay than ever, for in 1348 its debts amounted to ;^200 ^^ and the Black Death must have seriously affected the value of its property both in London and in the country. The master, brethren, and sisters accordingly petitioned the king who, in 1352, declared them exempt from aids and ordered proceedings against them to be stopped.^' The foundation of chantries especially in the thirteenth century must have been of considerable benefit to the funds of the house : a chantry of two priests established by William de Arundell and Robert Newecomen in 1325 ^^ was endowed with 37 acres of land in the parishes of St. Giles and St. Botolph without Aldersgate ; the cele- brated John Pulteney gave the bretjiren in 1330 a messuage and four shops in the parish of St. Nicholas ad Macellas to maintain a chantry in the church of St. Thomas the Apostle and another in their own church ;^' and the hospital received in this way, among other property,^' tenements in Holborn in 1339,^^ in the parish of St. Sepulchre in 1346,'" and in Watling Street in 1379.^1 The course of time had again made necessary a readjustment of the relations between the hospital and priory ,^^ and Simon Sudbury, bishop of London, with the consent of both parties made a fresh arrangement on this subject in 1373.'^ He then ordained that the leave of the " Close, 26 Edw. Ill, m. 28, printed in Dugdale, Mon, Angl. vi, 296. An inquiry had been made as to whether the hospital had been exonerated from taxes by these kings, and it was found that payments had been made at certain dates, but that Edward II had exempted it from all tallages and taxes and that its tenements in London were all held in frankalmoign. Chan. Inq. p.m. 26 Edw. Ill (ist Nos.), 55. " Cal. of Close, 1 341-3, p. 1 14. " A fifteenth and a tenth for three years were granted by the Commons in 1 348 (Stubbs, Const. Hist, ii, 398). The petition of the brethren appears to have been made to the king in the Parliament of I 35 1. -* Cal. of Close, 1346-9, p. 542. " Close, 26 Edw. Ill, m. 28, in Dugdale, op. cit. vi, 296. Cal. of Pat. 1324-7, p. 117. " Ibid. 1330-4, p. 22. '* Remainder of tenements in Addlane. Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, i, 523. Remainder of rent in parish of St. Dunstan in the West. Ibid, ii, 44. Bequest by Thomas Morice for a chantry. Ibid, ii, 108. " Ibid, i, 437. '" Cal. of Pat. 1340-3, p. 144. " Sharpe, op. cit. ii, 212. " Lond. Epis. Reg. Braybrook, fol. 285-7. ^ Ibid. 521 66
