22. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY WITHOUT BISHOPSGATE
The priory or hospital of St. Mary without
Bishopsgate was founded on the east side of Bishopsgate Street (fn. 1) by Walter Brown, (fn. 2) a London
citizen, and Rose his wife, on ground demised to
them for that purpose by Walter son of Eildred,
an alderman. Brown endowed it with other
land adjoining, which extended to the City
boundary, and with 100s. rent from tenements
in Blanchapelton, and in various London parishes,
Allhallows Staining, St. Margaret Pattens, St.
Peter the Little, St. Martin Ludgate, St.
Sepulchre, and St. Martin Outwich. The
foundation stone was laid by Walter, archdeacon
of London, June, 1197, and the building was
dedicated by William de Ste. Mère l'Eglise,
bishop of London, 1199–1221, to the honour of
God and the Blessed Virgin. The house consisted (fn. 3) of Austin canons, whose duties were
religious, and lay brothers and sisters to whom
the care of the sick poor was entrusted, all being
under the charge of a prior. The prior and
brothers acknowledged themselves subject to the
bishop of London, and promised that they would
not make alienations of land without his leave,
which he could not, however, refuse unless it was
clear that loss to the hospital would result. His
permission had also to be asked in case of vacancy
before the canons proceeded to elect. (fn. 4) The
priory had only been in existence a short time
when for some reason it was refounded in 1235, (fn. 5)
and the church was moved farther to the east. (fn. 6)
The all-important question of the water supply
was settled at the end of 1277 (fn. 7) by the gift to
them of a spring called 'Snekockeswelle' in
Stepney by John, bishop of London, who gave
them leave to inclose it and bring the water by
underground pipes into the hospital precincts.
The original endowment must by this time have
been supplemented by numerous grants, but the
income of the hospital up to 1280 evidently did
not keep pace with the expenditure, since at
that date the priory owed £63 8s. (fn. 8) for meat.
Apparently all difficulty on this score had not
vanished in 1303, for the archbishop of Canterbury, after a visitation, expressly stated that in
his opinion the annual revenue of 300 marks (fn. 9)
was sufficient to maintain the accustomed
number of inmates, viz. twelve canons, five lay
brothers, and seven sisters. Judging from these
ordinances the administration of the priory had
become rather lax. The ancient custom of
allotting to the hospital a third of the convent
flour supply, which the sisters afterwards distributed as needed, had been abandoned; bequests
for special purposes had been diverted to other
uses, (fn. 10) and the lamps which at one time had been
kept burning between the beds in the hospital
had been taken away. (fn. 11) The sisters seem to
have received neither their proper portions of
food (fn. 12) nor their share of pittances, and no allowance was made to them for dress, which they
appear to have provided for themselves out of
the legacies (fn. 13) left by their charges to the priory.
With regard to the canons the archbishop ordered
that money was not to be given to them for
clothing, (fn. 14) but that they should be provided with
clothes uniform in colour and quality, and that
on receiving the new they should give up the
old; that those holding offices were to render full
accounts before the whole convent, (fn. 15) and that
the cloistral canons and other hospital officials
were not to go beyond the boundaries of the
house singly or together, nor were they to ask
leave of the prior to do so except for the evident
utility of the priory. Their conduct indeed had
not been exemplary: disobedience was not uncommon, (fn. 16) and scandal and prejudice to the
monastery had been caused by their frequenting
the houses (fn. 17) of Alice la Faleyse and Matilda
wife of Thomas, who apparently lived within
the precinct. That the canons were themselves
not anxious for reform is shown by the fact that
in 1306 they elected as prior a certain Robert
de Cerne, (fn. 18) a notoriously unfit person, and as
such promptly deposed by Ralph, bishop of
London. Ralph then exercised the right he had
in such a case by appointing the sub-prior of St.
Bartholomew's, Philip de London, whose probity
he knew and who he hoped would improve both
the tone of the house and the administration of
its temporal affairs. Philip and the canons
arranged (fn. 19) that the deposed prior should receive
a double allowance of bread, ale, and other food,
40s. per annum for his other necessaries, and a
room near the infirmary, and for his servant a
black loaf, a gallon of small beer, and one dish
from the kitchen every day, and 5s. annual
wages, and that a companion should also be
assigned to him.
The bishopric being vacant in 1316 commissaries of the dean and chapter of St. Paul's
visited St. Mary's and issued some injunctions. (fn. 20)
The canons at first declined to pay procurations,
though it is difficult to see on what grounds,
considering that when they needed to elect a
prior in 1279 (fn. 21) in similar circumstances they
had tacitly acknowledged that the dean and
chapter occupied the bishop's place. However,
after a threat of excommunication (fn. 22) they owned
themselves wrong and paid the sum demanded,
and the chapter of St. Paul's returned it to them
for the use of the sick of the house.
The better administration desired by the
bishop appears to have been inaugurated by Prior
Philip. The convent had been enriched to some
extent between 1303 and 1331: in 1314 a
chantry for four chaplains was erected by John
Tany, (fn. 23) one for two in 1325 by Roger de la
Bere; (fn. 24) in 1306 Edward I (fn. 25) had given to the
priory some land in Shalford and the advowsons of the church of Shalford with Bromley
Chapel annexed, of 'Woghenersh,' (fn. 26) Puttenham,
and 'Duntesfeld,' (fn. 27) and leave to appropriate
Shalford and Bromley and 'Woghenersh'; and
in 1318 Edward II had granted the convent
acquittance from all tallages, (fn. 28) aids, pontages,
pavages, and other payments. When the king
in 1341 ordered the exemption (fn. 29) of the priory
from payment of the subsidy, he certainly said
that its endowment was so slender as hardly to
suffice for the maintenance of the convent and
the poor in the hospital. This, however, may
be another way of stating that the charity dispensed there was very great, as he had good
reason to know, more than one of his old
servants (fn. 30) finding an asylum there. The position
occupied by the priory must have by this time
attained some importance, for the prior was
appointed one of the valuers (fn. 31) of the 9th fleece,
sheaf, &c., in co. Middlesex in 1340.
The house was evidently the reverse of affluent
towards the end of the fourteenth century. In
1394 a sum of £86 10s. 6d. was owing to St.
Paul's Cathedral for obits, chantries, and rents
unpaid in some cases for many years; (fn. 32) in 1399
the prior had to pawn a silver gilt censer for
£10; (fn. 33) and in 1400 it was arranged that in
return for 300 marks granted to the prior and
convent 'in their very great necessity for the
relief of their house which was heavily burdened
with debt,' they would give 12 marks annual quitrent from their possessions in certain London
parishes to the chaplain of the chantry of St. John
Baptist in St. James's Garlickhithe. (fn. 34)
The causes of its poverty can only be conjectured, but were probably the depreciation in
the value of its lands owing to the Black Death,
and repairs to the church and other buildings,
since it is unlikely that they had escaped without
much damage from the floods which in 1373
were said to occur there annually. (fn. 35) The pope
in 1391 granted an indulgence to those who
visited and gave alms to the church and its
chapels and to the hospital at Christmas, Easter,
and other great festivals, (fn. 36) and the benefit derived
may have been considerable, for crowds of people
flocked to the priory on the three days following
Easter Sunday, (fn. 37) doubtless attracted by the
sermons preached at the Cross in the churchyard. (fn. 38)
One of the canons in 1389 obtained a papal
indult to hold a secular benefice, (fn. 39) and a similar
grant was made to John Mildenhale, the prior,
in 1401. (fn. 40)
The ordinances of William bishop of London,
dated 20 June, 1431, (fn. 41) do not disclose anything
very much amiss. They chiefly concern the
sisters, who as usual had been deprived of their
due both as regards food and clothing. Some
scandal had apparently been caused by their
access to the convent kitchen, and the bishop
ordered that a straight and inclosed way (via
recta et clausa) should be made at the expense of
the priory from the door of the sisters' house to
the kitchen window, from which the sisters
could, without hindrance, carry away their own
dishes and those for the sick. To provide
against their frequent visits to the pantry their
allowance of bread and ale was to be given out
weekly, though the good this would do is not
very obvious, as they still had to go for bread
and ale for the sick and candles for watching as
needed. Anyone desiring to become a sister
was to be admitted at a year's probation, and, if
rejected, was to pay her own expenses, which
otherwise were to be paid by the priory. At
the admission and profession of a sister no
exactions were to be made by the prior and
convent; after profession the sisters were to be
obedient to the prior, and were not to go beyond
the bounds of the house except with the prior's
leave and for the benefit of the house. The
houses occupied by the sisters and by the sick
were in need of repairs, which were to be done
as quickly as the priory was able.
When Richard Cressall became prior, in 1484,
he found that the property of the priory in
London, the main source of the income of the
house, had been allowed to fall into ruin, (fn. 42) and
it was no doubt a strain to provide for the
necessary repairs and at the same time to keep
up the charitable work of the hospital. More
revenue was needed, and in April, 1509, King
Henry VII, for £400, (fn. 43) granted to the prior and
convent in mortmain the priory of Bicknacre,
where, at the death of the last prior, Edmund
Godyng, only one canon was left. (fn. 44) Its possessions included the manor of Bicknacre and thirtyone messuages and land in Woodham Ferrers,
Danbury, Norton, Steeple, Chelmsford, Mayland, Stow, East and West Hanningfield,
Purleigh, Burnham, and Downham, and were
estimated to be worth £40 10s. per annum. (fn. 45)
Daily celebrations for the souls of the founder,
benefactors, and King Henry VII were, by the
bishop's orders, performed at Bicknacre by one of
the canons of the New Hospital. (fn. 46) The house
in 1514 further obtained licence to acquire in
mortmain lands to the annual value of £100. (fn. 47)
There is no record of the light in which the
religious changes of the time were regarded here,
but the royal supremacy was acknowledged on
23 June, 1534, by the prior and eleven others, (fn. 48)
and it is unlikely that the king had any difficulty
with the house, judging from the pensions
granted at its suppression in 1538. The prior,
William Major, received £80 a year, (fn. 49) and
payment seems to have been made with regularity (fn. 50) ; the president, an official of whom
there is no other mention, (fn. 51) had £8 per annum;
three other priests, £6 13s. 4d. each; and two
others £7 10s. and £4 respectively; the two
sisters 40s. each. (fn. 52) The small number of brothers
and sisters, and the state of the church, the roof
of which fell before the end of the year, (fn. 53) indicate
either that the dissolution had been for some
time foreseen (fn. 54) or that much of the spirit of
monasticism had departed. Whatever view is
taken of the prior and canons there can be no
doubt that good work was done in a hospital of
180 well-furnished beds, (fn. 55) and Sir Richard
Gresham, the mayor, in a letter to the king,
begged that it might continue under the rule of
the mayor and aldermen. (fn. 56) It would, indeed,
have been no more than just, for the hospital
had not only been founded, but to a great
extent endowed, by London citizens. (fn. 57) The
king, nevertheless, beyond allowing the sick
already there to remain, (fn. 58) turned a deaf ear to
Gresham's request, and in April, 1540, a grant
was made to Richard Moryson (fn. 59) of the infirmary, the dormitory, the waste ground leading
from the churchyard to the infirmary, the prior's
garden and the convent garden within the
inclosure, the stable in the prior's garden with
some waste land adjoining, and the other
tenements of the priory which extended into
Shoreditch.
The income of the priory, estimated in 1318
at over 300 marks, (fn. 60) amounted in 1535 to
£562 14s. 6½d. gross, and £504 12s. 11½d.
net. (fn. 61) Of this the sum of £277 13s. 4d.
was derived from tenements in London and
the suburbs, where the house had holdings
in 1318 in thirty-seven parishes. (fn. 62) It held,
besides the property of Bicknacre Priory,
in co. Middlesex the manor of Hickmans and
lands and tenements called 'Burganes lands,' (fn. 63)
probably those possessed in 1318 in Shoreditch,
Hackney, and Stepney (fn. 64) ; in co. Herts the
manor of Beaumond Hall; in co. Essex the
manor of Chalvedon, (fn. 65) where land had been
given by William Hobruge before 1318, (fn. 66) the
manor of Sabur or Seborow Hall, (fn. 67) evidently the
lands in Mocking, Orsett, and Chadwell, held
by the priory in the fourteenth century, (fn. 68) the
manor of Frerne or Fryern, which came into
possession of the house about 1419, (fn. 69) and lands
in West Tilbury and Mountnessing; in co.
Surrey the manor of Long Ditton, which, with
the advowson of the church, had been given
to the canons by William earl of Essex, (fn. 70) the
rectories and tithes of Shalford and Wonersh,
and a pension from the church of Putney; in
co. Cambridge lands and tenements in Whittlesea. A pension was also paid by the abbey of
Bindon, co. Dorset.
In 1318 the prior had the homage and service
of half a knight's fee in West Tilbury and East
Tilbury. (fn. 71) The plate of the house at the
Dissolution was of no great quantity:—61 oz. of
gilt, 106 oz. of white, and 19¼ oz. of parcel
gilt. (fn. 72)
Priors of St. Mary's Hospital, without
Bishopsgate
Godfrey, occurs c. 1218 (fn. 73)
Geoffrey, occurs 1231–2 (fn. 74)
Warin, occurs 1232–3 (fn. 75)
William, occurs temp. Henry III (fn. 76)
Reginald, occurs 1241–2 (fn. 77)
Robert, occurs 1243 (fn. 78) and 1248–9 (fn. 79)
Thomas, occurs 1265–6 (fn. 80)
Roger, occurs 1274–5, (fn. 81) died 1279 (fn. 82)
William, occurs 1289 (fn. 83)
Roger, occurs 1298 (fn. 84)
Robert de Cerne, deposed 1306 (fn. 85)
Philip de London, appointed 1306 (fn. 86)
William Horton, occurs 1316, (fn. 87) 1318, (fn. 88) and
1325 (fn. 89)
John de Abyndon, occurs 1337 (fn. 90)
James (fn. 91)
Thomas, occurs 1373 (fn. 92)
John de Lyndeseye, occurs 1378 (fn. 93) and
1379 (fn. 93a)
William Helpaby or Helperby, resigned 1388 (fn. 94)
John Mildenhale, appointed 1388, (fn. 95) occurs
1399 (fn. 96) and 1401 (fn. 97)
Roger Pinchbeck, occurs 1406 (fn. 98) and 1407 (fn. 99)
Roger Jurdon, occurs 1428 (fn. 100) and 1432 (fn. 101)
John, occurs 1437 (fn. 102)
John Torkesey, occurs 1458 (fn. 102a)
Thomas Hadley, occurs 1471, (fn. 103) resigned
1472 (fn. 104)
William Sutton, elected 1472, (fn. 104a) resigned
1484 (fn. 105)
Richard Cressal, appointed 1484, (fn. 106) occurs
1498, (fn. 107) 1514, (fn. 108) and 1515 (fn. 109)
Thomas Bell, occurs 1529 (fn. 110)
William Major, occurs 1531, (fn. 111) and at the
Dissolution
The first seal of the thirteenth century (fn. 112) is
dark green, and bears on the obverse a representation of the Agnus Dei to the right. Legend:—
SIGILL' OSPITALIS: DEI
The reverse is a smaller pointed oval counterseal,
and represents the prior, standing on a corbel,
holding a book. Legend:—
S' WILLI' I . CORIS . NOVI . HOSPIH . EX . PTĀ .
ECI . LP .
A seal of 1298 (fn. 113) is also dark green. It is a
pointed oval, and represents the Virgin, crown
on head, seated on a throne, holding the Child
on her right arm, and a sceptre fleur-de-lizé in
her left hand. In the field on the left is a
kneeling worshipper. Legend:—
IGILL': DOM . . . . .
A pointed oval seal of the fourteenth century (fn. 114) has a representation of the Assumption
of the Virgin. She is crowned, and stands on
a cherub, surrounded by rays and cherubs, in a
canopied niche with a small canopied niche on
each side containing a sainted bishop. In the
base, on a carved corbel, is a shield of arms:
a cross moline voided for Brune, the founder.
Legend:—
SIGILLE: CPE: NOVI: HOSPITALIS: GE
MARIE: EXTRA: BYSSHOPPISGATE: TOD