18. THE TRINITARIAN FRIARS OF
HERTFORD
Who founded the hospital of St. Mary
Magdalene outside Hertford, afterwards a Trinitarian Friary, is not known, but it was in all
probability one of the earlier owners of Hertingfordbury Manor, (fn. 1) possibly one of the Valognes,
whose heiress Christina wife of Peter de Maule
or Maune (fn. 2) held the advowson (fn. 3) in 1247 and
sold it then to Henry de Neketon. The master
of the hospital at one time was accustomed to
receive a rent of 20s. from Christina de Valognes's
water-mill in Hertingfordbury, (fn. 4) presumably
the gift of a former lord of the manor. It is
also noticeable that the hospital among its
small amount of property held in 1263 a rent
of 9s. from land in Roydon, co. Essex, (fn. 5) where
Robert Fitzwalter, the husband of Gunnora de
Valognes, Christina de Maule's predecessor at
Hertingfordbury, had had a manor. (fn. 6)
In 1248 Simon de Cokham, a citizen of
London, complained that the master and
brothers of the hospital had dispossessed him
of 80 acres of land in Stanstead which they
had let to him for eight years from February
1247 at an annual rent of 12 marks. (fn. 7) The
master could not deny the agreement or its
non-observance, and was ordered by the
court to pay damages and a fine, but was
afterwards pardoned the one because he had
sowed the land and the other on account of his
poverty.
In 1255 Avelina wife of Geoffrey le Clerk
sued Walter, the warden of St. Mary Magdalene,
for withdrawing the corrody (fn. 8) granted to her
for life by a former warden, William Peverel. (fn. 9)
Walter's plea was that the wardens, who were
removable by the patron, could not make any
valid charter without his consent. It was
proved, however, that William and his predecessors had let their lands as they chose, and
that masters of the hospital had often granted
corrodies similar to that given to Avelina, who
accordingly recovered hers.
Avelina and her husband (fn. 10) in 1263 sold to
Robert, prior of the hospital, 40s. rent in Hertford.
As the hospital of St. Mary Magdalene was
in the hands of friars of the Holy Trinity in
1287, (fn. 11) there can be no doubt that it was the
leper-house outside Hertford, of which brothers
of the Trinitarian order had taken possession
about 1261 (fn. 12) after removing the lepers. (fn. 13)
The hospital appears to have been under
the direction of the head of the friary at
Easton, (fn. 14) and it is interesting to notice that
Prior Robert's attorney in 1263 was a certain
brother Robert de Eston. Houses under the
Maturine rule were always dedicated to the
Trinity, (fn. 15) and after 1287 the hospital of St.
Mary Magdalene is heard of no more. As the
hospital of Holy Trinity it was receiving a rent
of 10s. from a water-mill in Hertingfordbury in
1355, 1360 (fn. 16) and 1383-4, (fn. 17) and at the last date
is mentioned as holding a fair, (fn. 18) half the tolls
of which it paid to the king's bailiff of Hertford.
There was apparently still a community here in
1448, when the chamberlain and warden of 'the
hospital of the poor of the Trinity and St.
Thomas the Martyr' at Hertford admitted
Walter Devereux and his wife Ann to the
benefits of the order and of masses in the
hospital. (fn. 19)
How much longer it lasted as a religious house
is uncertain. A bequest to 'the chapel of the
Trinity in Hertford' in 1504 (fn. 20) does not necessarily imply that the friary was then no longer
in existence, though it probably came to an end
some years before the general Dissolution, for
it was described when granted to Anthony
Denny in 1540 as a 'messuage' called le
Trynytie in Hertford formerly belonging to the
Crossed Friars in Mottenden. (fn. 21)
Its property consisted of 10 acres of arable
land in the common fields, half an acre of
meadow and a close called 'le Freres Crofte' in
Hertford, 10 acres in Dixwell, 4 acres in Hatfield, and 6 acres of wood in Amwellbury, (fn. 22)
where 5 acres had been acquired in 1300 by the
friars of Easton. (fn. 23)
Nothing is said of the rent in Roydon, co.
Essex, or of the land at Stanstead.
Wardens Of Hertford
William Peverel, occurs before 1255 (fn. 24)
Walter, occurs 1255 (fn. 25)
Robert, occurs 1263 (fn. 26)
William, occurs April 1287 (fn. 27)