The Mediæval Hospitals of England

The words “GOD’S HOUSE,” and “MAISON DIEU” were familiar enough in mediæval England. A hospital was the house of God, for therein Christ was received in the person of the needy:...

“_From the benefactions and possessions charitably bestowed upon the hospital, the hunger, thirst and nakedness of those lepers, and other wants and miseries with which they are...

“_Hospitals . . . founded as well by the noble kings of this realm and lords and ladies both spiritual and temporal as by others of divers estates, in aid and merit of the souls...

When the Primate wrote thus to the Lord Treasurer, he added:—“that if any hospitals be abused (as I think some are) it were a more Christian suit to seek reformation than destru...

Early charitable institutions were under a definite rule, either that of the diocesan bishop or of the monastic order with which they were in touch. In the Constitutions of Rich...

“_As to other hospitals, which he of another foundation and patronage than of the King, the Ordinaries shall enquire of the manner of the foundation, estate and governance of th...

“_To the master and brethren of the hospital of St. Nicholas, Scarborough.—Request to admit John de Burgh, chaplain, and grant him maintenance for life, as John has been suddenl...

The hospital family varied widely in size and in the arrangement of its component parts, but this chapter, like the preceding, is concerned chiefly with the type of institution...

“_To the which hospitals the founders have given largely of their moveable goods for the building of the same, and a great part of their lands and tenements therewith to sustain...

“_Many hospitals . . . be now for the most part decayed, and the goods and profits of the same, by divers persons, spiritual and temporal, withdrawn and spent to the use of othe...

The majority of hospitals were for the support of infirm and aged people. Such a home was called indiscriminately “hospital,” “Maison Dieu,” “almshouse” or “bedehouse.” It was,...

The earliest charitable institutions of England were houses of hospitality. In sketching the development of these guest-houses we must bear in mind that the hospital (derived fr...

On the outskirts of a town seven hundred years ago, the eye of the traveller would have been caught by a well-known landmark—a group of cottages with an adjoining chapel, cluste...

While we are justly proud of our institutions for the amelioration of the lot of the infirm and destitute, we are apt to forget that they are not the outcome of any modern phila...

“_Let there be in the infirmary thirteen sick persons in their beds, and let them be kindly and duly supplied with food and all else that shall tend to their convalescence or co...

The daily life in a hospital was essentially a religious life. From warden to pauper, all were expected to pay strict attention to the faith and give themselves to devotion. “Th...

“_He_” [_Lanfranc_] “_built a fair and large house of stone, and added to it several habitations for the various needs and convenience of the men, together with an ample plot of...

Little is known regarding the extent and treatment of insanity during the Middle Ages. Persons “vexed with a demon” were taken to holy places in the hope that the “fiends” might...

(a) _Infirmary._—The early form of a hospital was that of a church. A picturesque fragment of St. James’, Lewes, is figured in _Beauties of Sussex_;[77] the foundations remained...

The ground-plan of the great Savoy hospital was cruciform, which is unusual. It would appear from the [p122] following extract from Henry VII’s will, that he himself superintend...

(a) _Leper-house._—Although originally lepers had a common dormitory, the plan began to be superseded as early as the thirteenth century, when a visitation of St. Nicholas’, Yor...

Of a great hall with separate chapel, Dollman cites one instance, St. John’s, Northampton. Here the hospital was a parallelogram, the chapel touching it at one corner, but not c...

Ford’s hospital at Coventry (Pl. XIII) is placed in a class by itself. This half-timbered house is a perfect gem of domestic architecture. The oaken framework, the elaborately-c...