24. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN, READING
Abbot Hugh II, the eighth abbot of Reading,
founded a hospital, dedicated in honour of St. John
Baptist about the year 1190. Tanner, followed
by the extended Dugdale's Monasticon, and
others, has made the mistake of naming a
hospital dedicated to St. Laurence, as though
there were three and not merely two hospitals
at Reading dependent on the abbey. The
mistake obviously arose through the headings in
the different chartularies naming the church
or chapel of St. Laurence in conjunction with
the founding of the hospital.
The charter of Hugh II, the eighth abbot
of Reading, recites that the foundation of the
abbey by Henry I was not merely for the sustenance of the monks, but also for the reception
of poor guests and wayfarers, and then proceeds
to state that he (the abbot) had founded a
hospital outside their gates for the double
purpose of relieving the distress of the (local)
poor, and for the help of needy wayfarers.
With the consent of Bishop Hubert Walter
(1189-93) he had assigned the church of
St. Laurence (fn. 60) to this hospital, for the support
of thirteen poor persons (resident) in food and
clothing and all necessaries, and for the supply of
the daily wants in food and customary alms of
thirteen other poor persons. (fn. 61)
The bishop, in confirming this grant of the
church of St. Laurence to the hospital, provided
for the establishment of a perpetual vicar for the
church, who was to receive yearly 20s. for his
clothes; bread and beer the same as a monk;
7d. weekly for meat; suitable lodging, and
legacies not above 6d. The vicar was not only
to serve the parish church, but to act as chaplain
to the infirm and poor of the hospital, giving
daily and assiduous attention to their souls.
The monks were to find the vicar a horse when
he had to journey on the affairs of the church. (fn. 62)
On one of the last folios of the chartulary
there is the entry of the appointment of Philip
as chaplain of the hospital and vicar of St.
Laurence's, in accordance with the ordination of
Bishop Hubert. This occurs towards the end of
long entries as to the rentals and property
administered by the almoner. Towards the
bottom of the same page is an estimate as to the
clothing required by the almoner for the poor,
apparently for the year. The amounts are
large, namely, 300 ells of woollen cloth, 124 ells
of linen, 100 ells of canvas, and 24, or at least
15, yards or serge. This estimate has been
assigned by Coates and Dugdale to a hospital of
thirteen inmates, not realizing the extraordinarily
extensive wardrobe that this amount would
provide for so small a number. The fact is
that the amount was that which the almoner
of the monastery required for the whole of his
important department. (fn. 63)
This hospital stood close to the church of St.
Laurence, and the north chancel aisle served as
the chapel for the inmates, and is still known as
St. John's or St. John Baptist's chapel.
The sex of the poor inmates is not mentioned
in the foundation charter, but probably from the
beginning (as in some other houses of thirteen)
the accommodation was divided between seven
men and six women, the senior brother having
certain authority under the chaplain as subwarden. They were all under celibate vows,
the sisters being often widows of those who had
held some office in the town and had fallen into
poverty. The senior sister was termed the
prioress. Both brothers and sisters were admitted
by a religious formulary in the chapel. The
one to be admitted said certain prayers and the
Veni Creator kneeling before the altar, was
anointed with holy water and given the habit,
with a veil in the case of the sisters. (fn. 64)
The allowance for the brethren and sisters
differed somewhat from time to time according
to the terms arranged with the almoner of the
abbey. A brother who had been a shoemaker
in the Sartuary (afterwards Cobbler's Row) of
Reading, and who was admitted in 1337,
received weekly seven loaves of white flour,
called de chopyn de abbatis, and three of black
wheat (blakwythe, probably rye); he had also
half a mess of meat daily from the kitchen. He
was allowed 3½ ells of russet cloth for his habit
in the year, and 12d. for his shoes. In the
same year there were six sisters at the house;
they received amongst them twenty-four white
loaves and nineteen chopin weekly, and a farthing
each daily for meat. At each of the festivals of
Easter, Pentecost, All Saints, and Christmas, and
also on Shrove Tuesday, the sisters received a
whole dish of meat or a penny. The oldest
sister was termed the prioress; at Easter and
Christmas she received a penny for an oblation,
whilst the other five only received a halfpenny
each. At the feast of the Purification she received
a good candle. Two shillings and sixpence was
the yearly allowance for their habit. The sisters
had a maid servant, who was provided with
seven miches
(fn. 65) weekly. The almoner was
responsible for keeping the building and chapel
in repair, and he provided oil for the lamp in the
hall. Any brother or sister guilty of incontinence was to be expelled. (fn. 66)
Joan Grome, who was admitted to the
hospital in 1376, was to receive daily a loaf
called 'prikkedlof,' and a pottle (two quarts) of
beer, but in other respects to be provided like the
rest of the sisters. Matilda, who became a sister
in 1380, had a weekly allowance of four founders'
loaves and three chopynes. (fn. 67)
In the fifteenth century, laxity of administration suffered this interesting foundation to lapse
into the general fund of the almoner, and the
buildings were let at an annual rent. An
instance occurs in 1368 of Joan Derby, a
widow, covenanting to pay to Robert Uffington
the almoner an annual rent for her life, together
with a fine on taking possession, for a chamber
in St. John's Hospital. (fn. 68)
When Edward IV was at Reading in 1479
he gave ear to the various complaints as to
neglects on the part of the abbey, and caused
an inquiry to be made. In a report that was
consequently drawn up it is stated that:—
Also there was without thabbey-gate a place called
Seynt Johnys Howse wher in were founde and kepte
certeyne relygyous women wydowes in chast lyvynge
in Goddes servyce praying nyght and day for the
Kyng's estate, and for the sowles of their founders and
benefactors, wherin was a feyr chapell of Seynt John
Baptyst, for the seyd women to sey their prayers in
certain seasons of the day and nyght, and wher also
massys were seyd many tymes in the yere, and other
devyne servyce also; whyche women wont to have
out of thabbey every weke certeyn of bred and ale and
also money; and as yt ys seyd oons in the yere,
a certeyne clothyng; and thys was ordeyred for such
women as had been onest mennys wyvys that had
borne offyce in the towne before, and in age were fall
in poverti, or that purposed no more to marye. And
now ther ys nother Goddservyce nor prayour, nor
creature alyve to kepe hyt. But thabbot takethe the
profytts ther of and dothe no suche almes nor good
deds ther wyth. (fn. 69)
This was in the days of Abbot Thorne I, who
was succeeded in 1486 by Abbot Thorne II:
King Henry VII, as Leland tells us, visited
Reading in the year of the new abbot's
appointment. The king desired the abbot to
convert the hospital, which had been suppressed several years previously, to some pious
uses; and the abbot desiring that it might be
made a grammar school, the king assented to his
wishes. (fn. 70) Leland adds:—
One William Dene, a riche man and servant in the
abbey of Reading, gave 200 marks in mony toward
the avancement of this Schole; as it apperith by the
Epitaphie on his Grave in the Abbey Chirch of
Reading. (fn. 71)
There is a cast of a seal of this hospital at the
British Museum, (fn. 72) wrongly assigned to the
imaginary hospital of St. Laurence in the Catalogue of Seals. It is pointed oval, bearing a
mitred abbot. In the place of a legend is a
wavy scroll.
25. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN, READING
A hospital was founded for twelve lepers and
a chaplain at Reading by the second abbot,
Ausger, who ruled from 1130 to 1175. It
was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen. The
abbot provided that each inmate of the hospital
was to receive as a daily supply half a loaf of
bread and half a gallon of middling beer (cervisie
mediocris); also 5d. a month for buying meat.
In Lent the bread was to be of barley. The
scale of clothing was generous; each one was
supplied with hood, tunic and cloak, and with
two woollen vests and under-linen. The hood
or cape was to contain three ells of cloth, the
tunic three, and the cloak two and a quarter;
these were supplied as often as required. Each
inmate also received ten yards of linen yearly,
and one yard of serge for shoes. Fifteen yards
of linen were supplied every second year for
covering the tables. On giving out new table
linen the old was to be returned. The chaplain
was supplied with six ells of russet and ten yards
of linen every Michaelmas; he also received all
oblations made by the brethren of the house, but
other offerings he divided with the brethren.
The almoner of the monastery was to undertake
any new building or repairs that might be
required. The clothes-mender (sartuarius) of
the monastery was to supply them with
leather girdles at Michaelmas and with shoes at
Easter. Their carter was to receive bread daily
from the granarian and 32d. a year from the
almoner. The woman servant was to be supplied with bread and 2s. a year in like fashion.
The chamberlain was to supply the hospital with
provender for a horse, with four loads of hay,
and with the milk of four cows.
The rules of the house were strict. For
incontinence or striking a brother the punishment was expulsion; for defamation or disobedience to the master, fasting on bread and water in
the midst of the hall, the culprit's portion of meat
and drink being placed on the table and distributed
by the master. No one was allowed to leave
the house or stand at the gate without a companion. Anyone desirous of leave of absence
for one, two, or three nights had to obtain permission of the master and of the whole convent,
but if for longer the master's consent was
necessary, and then only with a companion.
The brothers were to prepare to rise at the first
ringing of the bell, and when it rang for the third
time to enter the church. If anyone found anything on the premises it was not to be concealed,
but shown to the brethren and placed in the common fund; but if it was found outside it might be
considered the finder's if he so willed. Alms
given by anyone to an inmate on the roadside
for infirmity were to go to the common purse.
No one was to enter the wash-house without a companion, nor was anyone to send the
servant of the house any long distance without
leave. (fn. 73)
The administration of this lazar-house was so
intimately connected with the general administration of the abbey by the founder that it required
no separate endowment. In later and laxer times,
however, the house had endowments of its own.
Coates cites the Wollascot MSS. to the effect of
the hospital owning a house at Arley Whiteknights, of which they received the rents and a
heriot when due and also two acres of land in
Spittlefields, the gift of one of the abbots. (fn. 74)
In 1413 an inquisition was held showing that
200 acres had been assigned to this hospital, but
that the abbot was not supporting it. Henry V
in the following year assigned the wardenship of
it to John Beck by letters patent; this trust was
apparently hereditary, for the free chapel of Arley
Whiteknights was in the hands of the Beck
family in 1547, according to the chantry certificates return. (fn. 75)
The history of this leper-house seems to be
similar to the majority of such foundations,
namely that as time went on and leprosy became
unusual the house was neglected and the master
or warden usually absorbed the funds.
An inquiry set on foot by Edward IV when
he was at Reading in 1479 as to alleged neglects
by the abbey produced the following memorandum respecting this hospital:—
Moreover an other chapell ther was in the est syde
of the towne callyd Mary Magdelyn Chapell, and
lyvelod therto for to releve therin syke folks, as lazarrs,
and an house for them to dwell in besyde wt feyr
londs perteynyng therto; wherof thabbot takethe the
profytts, and hathe taken downe the seyd chapell and
all the howsys therto apperteynyng. And so ther be
no poor people relevyd therby as now, nother were
not many days. (fn. 76)
26. BARNES HOSPITAL, READING
There was a third hospital at Reading of late
but pre-Reformation foundation. It is thus
described by the College and Chantry Commissioners at the end of the reign of Henry VIII:—
One hospitalle or Almeshouse there founded by
William Barnes to thentent to have certayne pore
people there lodged, and for that purpose he dyde
endowe the same house with certen londes and tenementes, howbeit they have not showed any foundacion
or graunte.
The hospital is reported as being in the parish
of St. Mary, and having an income of £7 6s. 4d.,
employed in lodging poor folk and maintaining
the building. (fn. 77)