Chapter 1

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THE LEPER IN ENGLAND:

WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF

English Lazar Houses.

WITH NOTES.

BY

ROBERT CHARLES HOPE, F.S.A., F.R.S.L.,

_Peterhouse, Cambridge, and Lincoln's Inn. Member of the Royal Archæological Institute of Great Britain._

_Editor of Barnabe Googe's "Popish Kingdome." Author of "Glossary of Dialectal Place-Nomenclature." "An Inventory of the Church Plate in Rutland." "English Goldsmiths," &c., &c._

SCARBOROUGH: JOHN HAGYARD, PRINTER, "GAZETTE" ST. NICHOLAS STREET.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

TITLE 1

DEDICATION 3

CONTENTS 5

FORESPEECH 7

THE LEPROSY OF SCRIPTURE 9

THE LEPROSY OF THE MIDDLE AGES 13

LAZAR HOUSES 16

STATUS OF LEPERS 26

SUMMARY 29

APPENDIX A.--NOTES 39

" B.--ENGLISH LAZAR HOUSES 43

Dedicated TO THE VEN. R. FREDERICK L. BLUNT, A.K.C., M.A., D.D., ARCHDEACON OF THE EAST RIDING; CANON RESIDENTIARY OF YORK; VICAR OF SCARBOROUGH; CHAPLAIN-IN-ORDINARY TO THE QUEEN; SURROGATE; FELLOW OF KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON; CHAPLAIN TO THE ROYAL NORTHERN SEA-BATHING INFIRMARY, SCARBOROUGH, WHO OCCUPIED THE CHAIR ON THE OCCASION, AND AT WHOSE REQUEST, THE LECTURE WAS DELIVERED.

FORESPEECH.

The subject matter embraced within these covers, consists chiefly of notes, made for a lecture delivered in Christ Church Schoolroom, Scarborough, on Thursday, March 5th, 1891, and is published by special request.

No claim for originality is made. The works of the late Sir James Y. Simpson, Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, (Archæological Essays, Vol. II.); Sir Risdon Bennett, M.D., LL.D., F.B.S., "Diseases of the Bible"; Dr. Greenhill, in "Bible Educator"; Leland's "Itinerary"; Dugdale's "Monasticon," &c., &c., have been freely drawn upon, and to these writers, therefore, it is the desire here to acknowledge the indebtedness which is due.

Various Notes will be found in the Appendix, which it is hoped will prove of interest.

THE LEPER IN ENGLAND.

There is perhaps no subject of greater interest, nor one which awakens more sympathy, than that of the Leper; it affords a most curious, though painful topic of enquiry, particularly in the present day, when so much has been said and written, as to the probability and possibility of the loathsome scourge again obtaining a hold in this, our own country.

Much confusion and ignorance exists, as to what true Leprosy really is. I do not pretend, nor do I assume, to be in any way an authority on the disease, nor to be at all deeply versed in the matter; my remarks will consist chiefly in retailing to you, some of the many and curious circumstances connected with the malady, with which I have become acquainted in studying the various Lazar Houses and Leper Wells, once so liberally scattered all over the country, from an antiquary's point of view, and in examining the writings of those competent to express an opinion, from personal and other observations. Your kind indulgence is, therefore, asked for any shortcomings on my part.

THE LEPROSY OF THE BIBLE.

It is necessary at the outset, to state clearly, that the disease known as Leprosy in Holy Scripture, was an entirely and altogether different disorder, to that, which, in the Middle Ages, was so terribly prevalent, not in this country only, but over the whole Continent of Europe.

Sir Risdon Bennett tells us the Leprosy of Scripture was a skin disease known to the medical faculty as _Psoriasis_. The use of the Greek and Latin word _Lepra_, to signify both kinds of Leprosy, has no doubt contributed largely to the confusion existing as to these two disorders. The Leprosy of the Bible was _Psoriasis_, that of the Middle Ages _Elephantiasis Græcorum_.

There are six cases only, which include nine instances of Leprosy, recorded in the Old Testament:--

Moses--Exodus, iv., 6. } Miriam--Numbers, xii., 10. } Miraculously Gehazi--2 Kings, v., 27. } afflicted. Uzziah--2 Chronicles, xxvi., 19. } Naaman--2 Kings, v., 1. Four Lepers--2 Kings, vii., 3.

In the New Testament we have but three cases, involving twelve persons, viz.:--

(1) Man, recorded by St. Matthew, viii, 2; St. Mark, i., 40; St. Luke, v., 12.

(2) Ten Lepers, St. Luke, xvii., 12.

(3) Simon, St. Matthew, xxvi., 6; St. Mark, xiv., 3.

The first account or mention of the disorder in the Bible, is to be found in Leviticus; nearly three chapters, xiii., xiv., xv., being devoted to the examination and cleansing of the afflicted, with the minutest detail.

In chapter xiii., we are told that "if a man has a bright spot deeper than the skin of the flesh, the hair on which has turned white, or the white spot has a raw in it, and the scab be spread in the skin--then shall the priest pronounce him _unclean_." But, if he have all the above symptoms, and "the scabs do not spread, or, if he be covered from head to foot--as white as snow--with the disease, then shall the priest pronounce him _clean_." It should be observed, that whereas the "_unclean_" Leper "shall dwell alone," no such restriction was placed upon the "clean or White Leper," who was free to go about as he desired, and also to mingle with his fellow-men. This is clear from the accounts given us of Gehazi conversing with the King; of Naaman performing his ordinary duties as captain of the host of the King of Syria; we are told he was "a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given victory unto Syria; he was also a mighty man of valour," and also, from the instance of our Blessed Lord being entertained in the house of Simon the "Leper." On no other ground than this assumption, can these instances be reconciled with the Levitical Law.

In the Levitical, and in every other account of the disease, it is significant that there is no mention, or hint, of any loss of sensation in connection with the disorder, of any affection of the nerves, nor of any deformity of the body; no provision is made for those who were unable to take care of themselves, nor is there a tittle of evidence, or the barest hint given, that the disease was either contagious or dangerous. Only two persons in the whole of the Bible are stated to have died from the disease, and in each of these cases, it was specially so ordained by the Almighty, as a specific punishment for a particular sin. Cures were not only possible, and common, but they were the rule. Josephus speaks of Leprosy in a man as but "a misfortune in the colour of his skin." S. Augustine said that when Lepers were restored to health, "they were _mundati_, not _sanati_, because Leprosy is an ailment affecting merely the colour, not the health, or the soundness of the senses, and the limbs."

It is a most curious, and interesting problem which has yet to be solved, why a man should be "unclean" when he was but partially covered by the disease, and yet, when he was wholly covered with it, he should be "clean."

That no argument in support of contagion can be drawn simply from the sentence of expulsion from the camp, is evident from Numbers v., 2-4; for Lepers, and non-Lepers, are equally excluded on the ground of "uncleanness." The laws of seclusion applied as rigorously to the uncleanness induced by _touching_ a leper, or even a dead body, as well as in other cases, where no question of contagion could exist. It appears more than probable that the "cleansing" was merely a ceremonial, ordained for those attacked by the disease at a certain stage, implying some deeper meaning, than I for one, am able to discern. I therefore leave it to the theologian to whom it appertains, rather than to a humble and enquiring layman as myself.

That the descriptions of the various forms of skin disease were intended, not to denote differences in their nature or pathology, but to enable the priests to discriminate between the "clean" and "unclean" forms, is manifest. They were intended purely for practical use.

The first allusion--the only one in the Bible--we have to a Lazar, or Leper house, occurs in 2 Kings, xv., 5, "And the Lord smote the King so that he was a Leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a _'several' house_."

THE LEPROSY OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

The Leprosy of the Middle Ages known as _Elephantiasis Græcorum_, _Lepra Arabum_, and _Lepra tuberculosis_, is not yet extinct. It is very curious that whilst _Lepra Arabum_ is the same as _Elephantiasis Græcorum_ or true Leprosy, the _Elephantiasis Arabum_ is a totally distinct disease. The former is the most loathsome and revolting of the many awful and terrible scourges, with which the Almighty, in his wisdom, has seen fit, from time to time, to visit mankind.

It is, I believe, a singular fact, that the Jews, "the chosen people of God," have a special immunity from the disease, being less predisposed than other races. Dr. V. Carter says that during a period of seventeen years, out of a very large number of cases in Bombay, he had seen only four cases, and but one death among Jews, that is of _Elephantiasis Græcorum_.

Belcher on "Our Lord's Miracles," says that in Tangiers at the present day, the two diseases are found, the _Lepra Hebræorum_ prevailing chiefly among the Jewish residents, and presenting exactly the symptoms as described in Leviticus. On the other hand, in Syria, _Elephantiasis Græcorum_ is unknown among the Jews.

It appears to have been very prevalent in this country; but when, and how it was introduced, is not known. Some certify it was brought back by the Crusaders, being the only thing they ever did bring back. But it existed here long anterior to the days of the _first_ crusade. The City of Bath is said to have originated from an old British King afflicted with Leprosy, who being obliged, in consequence, to wander far from the habitation of men, and being finally reduced to the condition of a swineherd, discovered the medicinal virtues of the hot springs of Bath, while noticing that his pigs which bathed therein were cured of sundry diseases prevailing among them.

The following epigram on King Bladud, who was killed 844, B.C.,--father of King Leir, or Leal, d. 799, B.C.,--was written by a clergyman of the name of Groves, of Claverton:--

"When Bladud once espied some hogs Lie wallowing in the steaming bogs, Where issue forth those sulphurous springs, Since honour'd by more potent kings, Vex'd at the brutes alone possessing What ought t' have been a common blessing, He drove them, thence in mighty wrath, And built the mighty town of Bath. The hogs thus banished by their prince, Have lived in Bristol ever since."

Many Lazar or Leper Houses were built in England during the early part of the reign of William the Norman, who founded several.

The medical writers of the 13th and 14th centuries, which include the names of Theodoric, the monk, a distinguished surgeon of Bologna; the celebrated Lanfranc, of Milan and afterwards of Paris; Professor Arnold Bachuone, of Barcelona, reputed in his day the greatest physician in Spain; the famous French surgeon Guy de Chauliac; Bernhard Gordon; and our own countrymen Gilbert, _c._ 1270; John of Gaddesden, Professor of Medicine in Merton College, Oxford, and Court Physician to Edward II., minutely describe the disease.

It was the custom in those affected days, when a medical man or anyone wrote a book on medicine or a medicinal subject, to call it either a "rose" or a "lily," as "_Rosa Angelica_," "_Lilium medecinæ_."

The following description of the malady is from the _Lilium medecinæ_, by Bernhard Gordon, written about 1305 or 1309. He gives three stages or classes of the disease, viz., the (1) occult, (2) the infallible, and (3) the last, or terminating signs. None of these indications are laid down in Leviticus for the guidance of the Jewish Priests.

(i.) "The occult premonitory signs of Leprosy are, a reddish colour of the face, verging to duskiness; the expiration begins to be changed, the voice grows hoarse, the hairs become thinned and weaker, and the perspiration and breath incline to foetidity; the mind is melancholic with frightful dreams and nightmare; in some cases scabs, pustules, and eruptions break out over the whole body; disposition of the body begins to become loathsome, but still, while the form and figure are not corrupted, the patient is not to be adjudged for separation; but is to be most strictly watched."

(ii.) "The infallible signs, are, enlargement of the eyebrows, with loss of their hair; rotundity of the eyes; swelling of the nostrils externally, and contraction of them within; voice nasal; colour of the face glossy, verging to a darkish hue; aspect of the face terrible, and with a fixed look; with acumination or pointing and contraction of the pulps of the ear. And there are many other signs, as pustules and excrescences, atrophy of the muscles, and particularly of those between the thumb and forefinger; insensibility of the extremities; fissures, and infections of the skin; the blood, when drawn and washed, containing black, earthy, rough, sandy matter. The above are those evident and manifest signs, which, when they do appear, the patient ought to be separated from the people, or, in other words, secluded in a Lazar House."

(iii.) "The signs of the last stage and breaking-up of the disease, are, corrosion and falling-in of the cartilage forming the septum of the nose; fissure and division of the feet and hands; enlargement of the lips, and a disposition to glandular swelling; dyspnoea and difficulty of breathing; the voice hoarse and barking; the aspect of the face frightful, and of a dark colour; the pulse small, almost imperceptible." Sometimes the limbs drop off, piecemeal or in their entirety.

All the writers agree in urging most earnestly that no one ought to be adjudged a Leper, unless there manifestly appears a corruption of the figure, or, that state indicated as _signa infallibilia_.

LAZAR HOUSES.

The period from its introduction into this country, as far as we know, to its final or nearly final extinction, may be embraced within the 10th and 16th centuries. It was at the zenith of its height during the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. As early as A.D. 948 laws were enacted with regard to Lepers in Wales by Howel Dda, the Good--the great Welsh King, who died 948.

The enormous extent to which it prevailed during that period may be gauged from the fact, that there were above 200 Lazar Houses in England alone, probably providing accommodation for 4,000 at least, and this, at a time when the whole population of England was only between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 of persons; being something like two in every thousand.

I have been enabled to compile the following English Lazar Houses, which is however far from being a complete one. These Lazar Houses were founded by the charitably disposed, and were usually under ecclesiastical rule:--

1 Berkshire. 2 Buckinghamshire. 2 Cambridgeshire. 3 Cornwall. 1 Cumberland. 4 Derbyshire. 6 Devonshire. 3 Dorsetshire. 2 Durham. 4 Essex. 6 Gloucestershire. 2 Hampshire. 1 Herefordshire 6 Hertfordshire. 1 Huntingdonshire. 15 Kent. 1 Lancashire. 2 Lincolnshire. 4 Leicestershire. 7 Middlesex. 22 Norfolk. 5 Northamptonshire. 3 Northumberland. 3 Nottinghamshire. 4 Oxfordshire. 2 Shropshire. 6 Somersetshire. 3 Staffordshire. 10 Suffolk. 1 Surrey. 6 Sussex. 3 Warwickshire. 4 Westmoreland. 7 Wiltshire. 1 Worcester. 20 Yorkshire.

Total: 173

They were presumably under the rule of S. Austin or Augustine.

Chalmers' _Caledonia_ states 9 hospitals existed in the County of Berwick alone.

It is said that, by a Bull of Alexander III., exemption from the payment of tithes was granted to all the possessions of the Lazar Houses; this, however, does not appear to have always been acted upon, at least in this country, as at Canterbury, etc.

A Prior--usually a Leper--and a number of Priests were attached to each house.

Where a chapel was not attached, the inmates appear to have attended the parish church for service.

There was a special order of Knights founded very early, in Jerusalem, united to the general order of the Knights Hospitallers, whose especial province was to look after the sick, particularly Lepers. They seem to have separated from the Knights Hospitallers at the end of the 11th, or beginning of the 12th centuries. They were at first designated Knights of S. Lazarus, or, of SS. Lazarus and Mary of Jerusalem, from the locality of their original establishment, and from their central preceptory being near Jerusalem. The Master or Prior of the Superior Order was a Leper, that he might be more in sympathy with his afflicted brethren. They were afterwards united by different European princes, with the Military Orders of Notre Dame and Mount Carmel, and, in 1572 with that of S. Maurice. We first hear of them in England, in the reign of King Stephen, when they seem to have made their headquarters at Burton-Lazars, near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, where a rich and famous Lazar House was built by a general subscription throughout the country, and greatly aided by the munificence of Robert de Mowbray. The Lazar-houses of S. Leonard's, Sheffield; Tilton, in Leicestershire; Holy Innocents', Lincoln; S. Giles', London; SS. Mary and Erkemould, Ilford, Essex; and the preceptory of Chosely, in Norfolk, besides many others, were annexed to it, as cells containing _fratres leprosos de Sancto Lazaro de Jerusalem_. The house received at least 35 different charters, confirmed by various sovereigns. Camden in his _Britannia_, p. 447, says that "The masters of all the smaller Lazar-houses in England, were in some sort subject to the Master of Burton Lazars, as he himself was, to the Master of the Lazars in Jerusalem."

The rules of these Lazar-houses were very strict. The inmates were allowed to walk within certain prescribed limits only, generally a mile from the house. They were forbidden to stay out all night, and were not on any account permitted to enter the bakehouse, brewhouse, and granary, excepting the brother in charge, and he was not to dare to touch the bread and beer, since it was "most unfitting that persons with such a malady, should handle things appointed for the common use of men." A gallows was sometimes erected in front of the houses, on which offenders were summarily despatched from this world, for breach of the rules.

The comforts in these houses varied greatly as the house was richly, or poorly endowed. At some of the smaller ones, the inmates would seem to have depended almost, if not entirely, on the precarious contributions of the charitably disposed for their very sustenance. At Beccles, in Suffolk, one of the Lepers of S. Mary Magdalene's, was by a royal grant empowered to beg on behalf of himself and his brethren. Sometimes, these poor and wretched outcasts would sit by the roadside, with a dish placed on the opposite side, to receive the alms of the good Samaritans that passed by, who would give them as wide a berth as possible. The Lepers were not allowed to speak to a stranger, lest they should contaminate him with their breath. To attract attention, they would clash their wooden clappers together.

In the larger and richer houses, the inmates were well provided for. The account of the food supplied to the inmates of the Lazar House of S. Julian, at S. Albans, c. 1335-1349, is very curious:--"Let every Leprous brother receive from the property of the Hospital for his living and all necessaries, whatever he has been accustomed to receive by the custom observed of old, in the said Hospital, namely--Every week seven loaves, five white, and two brown made from the grain as thrashed. Every seventh month, fourteen gallons of beer, or 8d. for the same. Let him have in addition, on the feasts of All Saints, Holy Trinity, S. Julian, S. John the Baptist, S. Albans, The Annunciation, Purification, Assumption, and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for each feast, one loaf, one jar of beer, or 1d. for the same, and one obolus[a] which is called the charity of the said Hospital; also, let every Leprous brother receive, at the feast of Christmas, forty gallons of good beer, or 40d. for the same; two qrs. of pure and clean corn--which is called the great charity; also at the Feast of S. Martin, each Leper shall receive one pig from the common stall, or the value in money, if he prefer it." The pigs were selected by each leper according to his seniority in having become an inmate; also, each Leper shall receive on the Feast of S. Valentine, for the whole of the ensuing year, one quarter of oats; also, about the feast of S. John the Baptist, two bushels of salt, or the current price; also, on the feast of S. Julian, and at the feast of S. Alban, one penny for the accustomed pittance; also, at Easter, one penny, which is called by them 'Flavvones-peni'; also, on Ascension Day, one obolus for buying pot herbs; also, on each Wednesday in Lent, bolted corn[b] of the weight of one of their loaves; also, on the feast of S. John the Baptist, 4s. for clothes; also, at Christmas, let there be distributed in equal portions, amongst the Leprous brethren, 14s. for their fuel through the year, as has been ordained of old, for the sake of peace and concord; also, by the bounty of Our Lord the King, 30s. 5d. have been assigned for ever for the use of the Lepers, which sum, the Viscount of Hertford has to pay them annually, at the feasts of Easter and Michaelmas.

At the Lazar House, dedicated in honour of "The Blessed Virgin, Lazarus, and his two sisters Mary and Martha," at Sherburn, Durham, which accommodated no less than 65 Lepers, a more varied, and at the same time less complex dietary was in vogue. The daily allowance was a loaf of bread weighing 5 marks[c] and a gallon of ale to each; and betwixt every two, one mess[d] or commons of flesh, three days in the week, and of fish, cheese, and butter, on the remaining four. On high festivals, a double mess, and in particular on the Feast of S. Cuthbert. In Lent, fresh salmon, if it could be had, if not, other fresh fish; and on Michaelmas Day, four messed on one goose[e]. With fresh flesh, fish, or eggs, a measure of salt was delivered. When fresh fish could not be had, red herrings were served, three to a single mess; or cheese and butter by weight; or three eggs. During Lent, each had a razer of wheat to make furmenty[f], and two razers of beans to boil; sometimes greens or onions; and every day, except Sunday, the seventh part of a razer of bean meal; but on Sundays, a measure-and-a-half of pulse to make gruel. Red herrings were prohibited from Pentecost to Michaelmas, and at the latter, each received two razers of apples. They had a kitchen and cook in common, with utensils for cooking, etc.:--A lead, two brazen pots, a table, a large wooden vessel for washing, or making wine, a laver, two ale[g] and two bathing vats. The sick had fire and candles, and all necessaries, until they became convalescent or died.