A HISTORY OF LONDON of the death of Henry III a thousand poor men were each to receive ^d. The right of appoint- ing the master, of filling vacancies among the brethren and sisters, and of changing the articles of the charter was reserved by the queen for herself and her successors, queens of England. In 1293 Thomas Leckelade who had been made master by Eleanor of Provence resigned, and the post was granted to Walter de Redinges for life.'* His administration appears to have been the cause of the dilapidation and deterioration of which the brothers and sisters complained and which caused the king in April, 1300, to order a visitation of the hospital to be made by John de Lacy and Ralph de Sandwich.^' The hospital was harassed in 1 3 10 by a demand of the Exchequer for a sum due from a former owner of the lands in Kent given to them by Queen Eleanor, but the king ordered the barons of the Exchequer to give the hospital a discharge.^" The right of the queen to make any change she thought fit in the hospital was called in ques- tion in 1333 and the point was decided com- pletely in her favour. Richard de Lusteshull, who had been made master for life by Queen Isabella on 24 June, 1318,°* was removed for wasting the goods of the hospital,^" and his post given by Queen Philippa to Roger Bast. Lustes- hull brought his case before the king and council in Parliament, and at first the king in 1333 ordered the justices to proceed to a trial and judgement even if Bast refused to appear."' Queen Philippa, however, showed that by the terms of the foundation charter the judges had no juris- diction, and the king decided that the matter rested with the queen and her council.^* It is evident that Queen Philippa took a keen interest in the hospital. She tried on two occa- sions -* to secure the appropriation to its use of the church of St. Peter, Northampton, with the chapels of Kingsthorpe and Upton, the patronage of which had been granted to the hospital in 1329 by the king.^^ In 1350 she founded a chantry in the hospital and provided for the maintenance of an additional chaplain by the gift of lands worth ;{^io a year." At this time too she drew " Ca/. of Pat. 1 292-1 301, p. 33. " Ibid. 548. The year before Walter had been ordered to appear before auditors with rolls and tallies and muniments to render accounts for the whole time of his custody.
- Ca/. of Close, 1307-13, p. 285.
" Cal. of Pat. 1 3 17-21, p. 164. " A visit.ition of the hospital took place in 1327, and the visitors were empowered to remove the w.ir- den and any of the ministers, with the consent of Queen Isabella. Ibid. 1327-30, p. 60. " Cal. of Close, i333-7> PP- 47. 48. 63. "Ibid. 171. " In 1343, Cal. of Pap. Letters, iii, 88 ; and 1352, Cal. Pap. Pet. i, 236. '* Cal. of Pat. 1327-30, p. 420. " Ducarel, op. cit. 11. up a number of ordinances ^* to be observed by the inmates : the brothers and sisters were to have no private property except by the consent of the master ; they were not to go out without his leave nor to stay out after curfew ; the sisters were allowed 10s. a year for their clothing, the brothers 40J. ; the costume was to be black with the sign of St. Katharine, and the wearing of green or entirely red clothes was prohibited ; the brethren were to have no private conference with the sisters or any other women ; negligence or disobedience on the part of the brethren and sisters was punishable by lessening their portion of food and drink but not by stripes ; each sister was to receive in her room her daily allowance of a white and a brown loaf, two pieces of different kinds of meat value d. or fish of the same value, and a pittance worth d. ; the portion of both brothers and sisters was to be doubled on fifteen feast days ; the master was to dine in the common hall with the brothers ; the almswomen were to wear caps and cloaks of a grey colour ; they were not to go out without leave of the master ; if their conduct was bad they could be removed by the master with consent of the brethren and sisters. Other ordinances concern the care of the sick and the transaction of business relating to the property of the house. The rebuilding of the church was begun by William de Kildesby the master, in 1343,^' and Queen Philippa had directed that all surplus revenues of the hospital should be devoted to this work.'" Judging, however, from the report following a visitation by the chancellor and others in 1377," the master can have found it no easy matter to secure a surplus. Some time before it had been necessary to give up the distribution to the thousand poor persons on St. Edmund's Day in order to provide properly for the poor women and clerks ; the income of the hospital was less than the expenditure by ^14 1 41. 6<^. without reckoning provision for the master or for the repair of the church and its possessions, and although John de Hermesthorp, then master, had spent ;^2,ooo on rebuilding '^ the nave of the church and other necessary work, much still remained to be done. The petition of one of the ladies of the princess of Wales to have possession of a corrody granted her by the king was refused by the chancellor, who said that no corrody existed there and that the hospital was imable to support one. It seems not unlikely " Ibid. App. ix. " Cal. of Pap. Letters, iii, 88. '" Ducarel, op. cit. App. ix. " Cal. of Pat. 1377-81, p. 507. ^ Bequests to the work of the church of St. Kathar- ine in I 361, 1 37 1, and 1 375, are mentioned in Sharpe, Cal. of Wills, ii, 30, 143, and 189. ^ Queen Philippa had obtained a corrody for one of her ladies by special request, though she must have known the resources of the house. Cal. of Pat. 1377-81, p. 508. 526
