32. THE HOSPITAL OR GILD OF THE HOLY CROSS, STRATFORD-ON-AVON
The manor of Stratford belonged to the
bishops of Worcester from the days of Bishop
Egwin to those of Edward VI. Licence was
granted in 1269 by Bishop Giffard to the master
and fraternity of the hospital of the Holy Cross
of Stratford-upon-Avon to elect one of their
number to administer the goods and alms of the
faithful to the use of the poor of the said fraternity, and of other indigent persons of the town.
At the same time the bishop directed a letter to
his bailiffs of Stratford, stating that he had
specially licensed the building in the town of a
hospital in honour of the Holy Cross, the defence
of which pertained to him as diocesan and patron,
he therefore commanded the bailiffs to maintain,
protect, and defend the hospital and its possessions whenever required by the master to do so. (fn. 1)
The register of Bishop Polton in the fifteenth
century affords further information as to the
founding of this hospital. It therein appears
that Robert de Stratford and fifteen of the fraternity of the Holy Cross—a gild that was
evidently in active operation some time before
this application—petitioned the bishop in 1269
for leave to found a hospital and erect a chapel.
The bishop consented, and appointed Robert de
Stratford the first master, and appointed that the
master and brethren should follow the rule and
habit of St. Austin. (fn. 2)
The next year the bishop issued a licence to
the brethren to collect alms throughout the
diocese for the hospital, promising a remission or
indulgence of forty days' enjoined penance to all
penitents who should contribute. This document,
addressed to the clergy and officials of his diocese,
is of value as showing that the primary object of
this hospital was the support of poor priests who
were ordained by bishops of Worcester, without
any certain title, and after that of other indigent persons. (fn. 3)
On 12 November, 1331, Edward III confirmed to the brothers and sisters of the fraternity
of the gild of the Holy Cross a number of grants
in mortmain of small rents in Stratford, the gift
of a variety of private benefactors. (fn. 4) In 1359
Thomas de Otyngton granted to Thomas
Mollyng, John Lucy, and the brethren of the
gild a shop in Stratford. The deed is witnessed
by John Wytsmith, then bailiff, and by the two
'cache-polls' of the town. (fn. 5)
Certain houses and lands in Stratford of the
yearly value of 6 marks were granted by one
Richard Fille to the fraternity at the beginning
of the reign of Richard II, but no licence having
been obtained for their alienation in mortmain,
they were in 1383 forfeited to the crown. (fn. 6)
Among the gild returns of January, 1389, in
the Public Record Office, is the full and interesting one made by Nicholas Sumer and Walter
Golde, then wardens of this gild. They reported
that the gild was begun at a time beyond the
memory of man: that there are two wardens
who manage and collect the rents, render an
annual account, and see that the ordinances are
kept; that the wardens are chosen by the members and hold office as long as the gild thinks fit;
that many houses and rents pertain to the gild,
the holding of which had been recently confirmed
by a charter of Edward III; that each brother
or sister pays 4d. a year; that out of these payments a great wax taper is made and kept alight
in the church daily at every mass before the
Blessed Cross; that on the death of any gild
member the great wax taper and four smaller
ones are kept alight before the body and carried
to church, and afterwards set before the Cross;
that the brethren, under pain of a halfpenny fine,
follow every funeral of a gild member; that if
any poor man dies, whether of the town or a
stranger, without means to pay for a light before
his body, the brothers and sisters find four tapers,
a sheet, and a hearse cloth; that each member
pays twopence a year for a feast at Easter for the
purpose of cherishing brotherly love and peace;
that every brother and sister brings to the feast a
great tankard, which tankards are filled with ale
and given to the poor; that before the ale is
given to the poor, or the feast touched that is in
the hall, all put up their prayers that God and
the Blessed Virgin and the much to be reverenced Cross will keep them from all ills and sins;
that only those of good behaviour are permitted
to be gild members; that when a member dies,
the officer summons a third part of the brethren,
who watch near the body and pray for his soul
throughout the night; that the affairs of the gild
are managed by two aldermen and six assistants
chosen by the members, absence from a meeting
of this council being subject to a fine of 4d.;
that anyone bringing a guest to the feast without
leave of the steward incurs a halfpenny fine; that
if any brother or sister has been robbed or fallen
into poverty, then so long as he bears himself well
and rightly towards the members, they find him in
food and clothing, and what else he may need. (fn. 7)
Henry IV, on 8 June, 1403, granted letters
patent to Thomas Aldebury, clerk, Nicholas
Sumer, junr., and Thomas Compton and the
brethren and sisters of the gild confirming previous grants, and licensing them to begin a new
fraternity to the honour of the Holy Cross, Our
Lady, and St. John Baptist, and to provide two
priests to celebrate in their chapel. They were
further empowered to choose eight aldermen out
of the fraternity, who were to have the power of
electing a master and two proctors to manage
their lands and revenues.
Disputes having arisen between the master of
the hospital or gild and the warden of the college,
Bishop Polton determined the same by an ordination dated 27 September, 1430. It was then
determined that the fraternity of the Holy Cross
should pay the tithes of their gardens, orchards,
and lands to the collegiate church, as well as all
oblations; that, at the four great feasts, the
master and chaplains and all the members were to
attend the services at the collegiate church; and,
further, in token of their subjection, they were to
pay yearly to the college the sum of 4s. at the
feast of the dedication. (fn. 8)
Hugh Clopton, of Clopton, a hamlet of this
parish, a wealthy mercer of London, and Lord
Mayor in 1492, was a great benefactor to Stratford-on-Avon. He began to rebuild or enlarge
the chapel of this gild on a beautiful scale. By
his will dated 12 September, 1496, he directed
his executors to complete the gild chapel of the
Holy Cross, which was dedicated to the Holy
Trinity. On the north side of the chapel was a
fair house of brick and timber, built by Hugh
Clopton, where he ended his days. Hard by
was the almshouse where the fraternity, mindful
of the early charge of Bishop Giffard's hospital,
maintained ten poor persons. (fn. 9)
Soon after the revision and re-establishment of
this gild by Henry IV, a register was begun for the
enrolment of members, and for the entry of the
gild ordinances and expenses. This most interesting volume extends from 1406 to 1535. (fn. 10)
The payments to the gild, or fines on admission,
were of much diversity; when made in money
the fine varied from 20d. to 20s. As at Knowle
and other large gilds whose records are known,
it was customary for surviving relatives or
friends to enter the names of the deceased persons
to secure the gild prayers. In 1531 six deceased
persons, all the children of John Whityngton of
Stratford, were enrolled for the sum of 10s.
When Thomas Decon, of Stamford, pewterer,
died, seven pewter dishes and seven pewter
saucers were given to the gild for his admission.
The members all wore a livery hood on special
occasions, particularly at their annual feast.
A large number of the members compounded
for their admission fine by payment in kind.
In 1414 John Overton, cook, of Warwick, and
his wife were received into the gild, on consideration of his being cook at the yearly feast during
his life, taking nothing of the gild but his hood
and expenses on coming for the gild's service.
Two years later John Prynce of Warwick, master
cook of the household of the earl of Warwick,
and his wife were admitted in a like fashion, on
his promise to be always ready to give his counsel
and assistance at the common feast. John Smytht
was admitted in 1415, on a promise to make a
clock for the gild and keep it in order for four
years without any wage; In 1426 one John
Sturge gave for admittance four cart-loads of
plaster of Paris and six days' labour. John Uske,
the warrener of Warwick, was admitted in the
same year on a promise to furnish eight couple of
rabbits yearly. Some Bristol merchants were
made members in 1449 on presenting a hogshead of red wine. Others gave as entrance fines
silver plate, vestments, and various other goods.
The most complex admission payment was that
of John Porter in 1416; he handed over to the
fraternity a great pot for frumetty, a broad dish
of 'mascolyn,'one basin, one 'bord-cloth, and
one towayle.'
An entry of 1426 helps to prove that the
original foundation of the hospital of the Holy
Cross for the poor was not forgotten, Thomas
and Alice Elmys, of Berston, were at that date
admitted; but, inasmuch as they were weak and
infirm, it was agreed that they should occupy
one of the almshouses as long as they lived, and
that after their death all their goods should belong
to the gild.
The revised constitutions and ordinances of
the gild, as set forth in 1443, provided, inter alia,
for four daily masses at the hours of six, seven,
eight, and nine; the priests were to have a
common table, and to be in their chambers by
seven o'clock in the evening in winter, and eight
in summer; the priests to attend the parish collegiate church at the four principal feasts in copes
in the procession, and in surplices in quire,
'savynge that on pryst abydyth at home to do
dyvyne servyce to the pore pepull and impotent';
and all the brethren and sisters with the priests
and cross and banner were to fetch the master to
church from his house in procession on the feast
day 'yef the wedir wol schape.'
The most eminent member of the gild in
point of rank was George, duke of Clarence, the
king's brother, who was admitted in 1477, together with Isabel his wife, Edward, earl of
Warwick, his son, and Margaret their daughter,
for which they paid a fine of 5 marks. Among
those who joined in 1479 were Robert Pate,
prior of Worcester, Sir Thomas Littleton, the
celebrated author of the Tenures, and the prior of
Studley. In 1518 the abbot of Evesham and
the prior of Alcester became members, and in
1522 Thomas Skirvington, bishop of Bangor.
The commissioners for gilds and colleges in
their survey of 1546 gave the full annual value
as £51 19s. 8¾d. They reported that:—
The gelde was founded by kyng Henry the iiiith, by
the name of a Mr. ii proctors, and one alderman, and
to elect as many prests as the revenues of the same
wyll extend unto; and there be at thys present tyme
V prests, whereof one, a Scolemaster of Grammar and
celebratyng dyvyne Servyce within a Chappell stondyng in the mydds of the same towne for the great
quyetnes and comfort of all the Parisyoners there, for
that the parysshe churche stondythe oute of the same
towne dystante from the moste parte of the seyde
parysshe halffe a myle and more, and in tyme of
syknesse as the plague and suche lyke dysseses doth
chaunce within the seyde towne, then all such infectyne persons, with many other impotent and pore
people, dothe to the syd Chappell resorte for there
dyvyne servyce. And in the same towne there ys a
Market wekely kepte and havyng in yt aboute M.D.
houselyng peoples together with vii lyttyll hamlets
thereto belongyng and whyche hathe no other resort
but only to the same chapell and Parysshe Churche. (fn. 11)