THREE BISHOPSGATE FOUNDATIONS
A fifteenth century chronicler, William Gregory of the Skinners Company, Mayor of London in 1451, made a list of the parish churches and monasteries within and without the walled city (153 in total). In addition to the mere names and numbers of the churches, he provided descriptive comments about some of the monastic foundations. Three of these were in the area close to Bishopsgate and operated as charitable institutions, or 'hospitals' ― in medieval usage, 'an institution supported by alms or bequests for care of the needy'.
1 Pappy Chyrche in the Walle be twyne Algate and Bevysse Markes
And hyt ys a grete frateryte of prestys and of othyr seqular men. And there ben founde of almys cetayne prestys, both blynde and lame, that be empotent; and they have day masse and xiiij d. [14 pence] a weke, barber and launder, and one to dresse and provyde for hyr mete and drynke.
2 A chyrche of Owre Lady that ys namyde Bedlem
And yn that place ben founde many men that ben fallyn owte of hyr wytte. And fulle honestely they ben kepte in that place; and sum ben restoryde unto hyr wytte and helthe a-gayne . And sum ben a-bydyng there yn for evyr, for they ben falle soo moche owte of hem selfe that hyt ys uncurerabylle unto man. And unto that place ys grauntyde moche pardon, more thenne they of the place knowe.
3 Seynt Marye Spetylle
A poore pryery, and a parysche chyrche in the same. And that pryory kepythe ospytalyte for pore men. And sum susters yn the same place to kepe the beddys for pore men that come to that place.
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1 'THE HOSPITAL OF LE PAPEY IN THE CITY OF LONDON'
1442
The Charter of Foundation.
'Thomas Symminnesson parson of the Parish Church of All Saints [All Hallows] at the Wall of the City of London, together with the Church of St Augustine Pappey of the same city ... and William Cleve chaplain of the Chantry founded at the alter of S. John Baptist in the Church of the Blessed Mary of Aldermary Church of London; and William Barnaby one of the chaplains of the Chantry in the Cathedral Church of S. Paul in London; and John Stafford chaplain of the City of London ...
Henry the Sixth, King of England ... hath graciously granted ... that we three, or any two of us, may begin, make, found, ordain, unite, and establish ... a certain perpetual Fraternity or Brotherhood, as well as ourselves and other Chaplains of Chantries ....
The licence here referred to in the third part of the Patent Roll of the twentieth year of Henry VI [Pat. 20 Hen. VI. p3 m27].
The four above 'have turned their attention to the fact that very many officiating priests without benefices, when depressed by the weight of old age, or labouring under weak health, and without means of livelihood, are by necessity compelled to wander about the roads and streets, in begging miserably for food and raiment, as well as to the displeasure of Him Whose ministers they are, ... to the shame of the clergy and the disgrace of the Holy Church ...
The aforesaid rector proposes to give and assign a certain messuage [house with land] of his, with a garden adjacent ... situated in the parish of St Augustine ... and bequeathed to the rectors of the same church ... by William Cressewyke, late citizen of London in his will [13 June 1407] ... to the housing and maintenance of such poor chaplains.'
Explanatory Notes:
(a) 'The Hospital was founded for those of their own Order whom age or sickness disabled from the active performance of the duties of their function. A large proportion of the secular clergy was then employed in the various chantries founded in almost every church of importance for the remembrance of the souls of deceased benefactors.'
(b) 'The Churches of the time were filled with Chantry Priests, each of whom had to live on the very small endowment of a Chantry ― generally £6 or £7 a year, sometimes less ― in return for a Mass said every day for the soul of the Founder.'
(c) 'The Church and parish of St Augustine had recently been incorporated with that of All Hallows in the Wall. It was therefore a disused church which was first placed at the service of these poor priests. The Rector of All Hallows, in addition, gave over to their use a certain messuage with a garden which had been given to [St Augustine's] by a late citizen.'
(d) 'The actual cause of the union of St Augustine with that of All Hallows on the Wall was that the former was of so small a value that no [parish] priest could be induced to accept it ... That the church and cure of the same and of its parishioners was neglected, and that the church was desolate, deserted, and unserved, and was likely to continue so ...'
Personnel and Property : As at FOUNDATION in 1442
Master (1) John Welles, 1442-1447
Wardens (2) William Hermer, 1442, & David Overton, 1442, 1444
Brethren (24)
Sisters (15)
'The donations of Pappey Church ... by consent, assent, and licence of the Reverend Father in Christ, William [Grey], by God's grace Bishop of London ... the aforesaid Chapel, Churchyard, messuage, and garden, are jointly situate ... in the parish of All Saints, in Aldgate ward, situate at Beausmarkes [Bevismarks], next London Wall; ... '
Personnel and Property : As at SUPPRESSION in 1548
'Certificate of Chantries, City of London, Roll 34, n 88 ... enumeration of the incumbents, with their pensions and stipends ... '
Master (1) Sir Robert Ffoxe, stipend £4/6/8, pension £3/6/8.
Wardens (2) Sir Ric. Bee, and Sir Geo. Stroger, stipend £3/4/4 & pension £2/13/4, each.
Brethren (3) Sir Ric. Birchall, Sir John Barret, Sir John Moredocke, stipend £2/3/4 &
pension £2/-/-, each.
['Cardinal Pole's Pension Book, folio iii b, 1556, enumerating 4 survivors still receiving pensions; last master Ffoxe £3/6/8, last wardens Bee & Stroger £2/13/8 each, last brother Moredocke £2/-/- ... ']
'In a certificate of its goods and possessions, Certificate of Chantries, City of London and County of Middlesex, Roll 34, n 105, it is stated to be worth xxv li., iiij s., viij d. a year [£25/4/8 p.a.], from which are to be deleted a quit rent of ix s. to Sir Thomas Pope, and another of iiij s. to Austen Hynde, leaving a clear remainder of xxiiij li., xj s., viij d. [£24/11/8 p.a.].'
This assessment of only 24 English Pounds Sterling annual revenue indicates a very poor institution even at medieval rates. By comparison, nearby Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital, also valued and dissolved, was assessed to have a yearly income of £562/14/6½ (gross) or £504/12/11½ (net).
Disbursement of Property after Suppression:
(a) the farm of a house or mansion called 'le Pappey House', yearly value lx s.
the farm of a garden adjacent to this house, yearly value xx s.
clear yearly value of premises stated at iiij li., rated at 18 year purchase lxxij li.
i.e. Price £72/-/-.
Purchaser William Nevel esq, 19 July, 2 Edw. VI., 1548.
(b) the farm of a chapel called 'the Pappey Chappell' with a garden [churchyard] adjacent to it,
valued at xl s. a year, rated at a 15 year purchase xxx li.
i.e. Price £30/-/-. Bells and Lead exempt from sale.
Purchaser Will. Nevell Esq., 21 Dec., 2 Edw. VI., 1548.
"The purchaser of the property, William Neville, who was an old offender in the same horrible line, gave for it, as demanded, £102, only a small item among [his] other appropriations in the counties of Somerset and Nottingham to the amount of £1,287/11/4 ...
The church was pulled down, and on its site 'one Grey, an apothecary, built a stall and a hay-loft' ... The priest's house would appear to have been kept standing ... "
Other Property Belonging to the Fraternity:
"Then there were six cottages or chambers in Panyer Alley, in the parish of St Michael-le-Querne; and two messuages in the same alley ...
(a) By letters patent, dated at Westminster, 20 Nov., 8 Eliz., 1565, the Queen granted to John Prestwood the six cottages or chambers, with their appurtenances, in Panyer Alley, in the parish of St Michael at Querne ... for the term of twenty-one years ... at yearly rent of 43 s. 8 d. (b) By letters patent, bearing date at Westminster, 16 Feb., 8 Eliz., 1565-6, the Queen granted to Thomas Porche the two messuages with their appurtenances, in the Panyer Alley, in the aforesaid parish of St Michael at Querne ... for the term of twenty-one years ... at a yearly rent of 46 s. 8 d.
Assumptions: These properties were acquired by the Brotherhood some time after Foundation. They were situated very close to St Paul's Cathedral and some distance from the Priory. They seem to have been retained by the Crown at the time of Suppression and were rented out.
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| From Hollar's 'Exact Surveigh' of the City of London, 1667 |
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2 'A CHYRCHE OF OUR LADY THAT IS NAMYDE BEDLEM'
'Bethlem was not originally intended as a hospital ... but as a centre for the collection of alms to support the Crusader Church and to link England to the Holy Land ...'
"In 1247 Simon Fitz Mary, one of the sheriffs of London, made over his land west of Bishopsgate Street, near the church of St Botolph without Bishopsgate, to Godfrey, bishop of Bethlehem, to found there a priory of canons, brothers and sisters, of the order of St Mary of Bethlehem, whose duties were to be prayers for the souls of the founder ... and others, and the reception of the bishop of Bethlehem, and the canons and messengers of that church when they came to London. The house was to be subject to the bishop of Bethlehem who was to receive from it an annual pension of a mark, to be increased as its wealth grew, and who had the right of visitation and correction. Fitz Mary also provided that the members of the house should wear on their copes and mantles the distinguishing of the order, a star ... red with five rays inclosing a circle of blue."
'During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with its activities underwritten by episcopal and papal indulgences, the hospital's role as a centre of alms collection persisted, but its linkage to the Order of Bethlehem increasingly unravelled, putting its purpose and patronage in doubt.'
In 1362 "the master and brethren were permitted to complete [a chapel in honour of the Virgin and the Nativity of Jesus by the house of St Mary of Bethlehem], have bells rung there, celebrate divine service, and receive offerings ... also [to] bury any who wished to be buried in the chapel or precincts ... at this time their fixed income was only 33 shillings per annum ... in order to swell the flow of offerings they obtained from the pope in 1363 a special indulgence ... to those who at Christmas, the Epiphany, and the five feasts of the Virgin Mary, with their vigils, visited and rendered material aid to the hospital."
'While it is possible that Bethlem was receiving the insane during the late fourteenth century, the first definitive record of their presence is in the details of a visitation of the Charity Commissioners in 1403. This recorded that amongst other patients there were six male inmates who were "menti capti", a Latin term indicating insanity.'
["sax viri mente capti" 'men deprived of their reason']
In 1403 "a visitation by two of the King's clerks" disclosed that " it had already become an asylum principally, though not exclusively ... at that time there were six lunatics and three sick persons there. These people, or their relatives, contributed something for their support ... The hospital had a little property, but was chiefly maintained by voluntary contributions ... collections throughout England [by Royal licence] brought in about 40 marks ... the chapels ... the great feasts ...the box at the door of the house and the two boxes carried around London [brought in 176 shillings] ... a collection throughout the diocese of London for the sick poor [made] roughly four marks annually [total approximately 53 pounds] ...
The management of the hospital appears at this time to have belonged to the office of porter, and Peter Taverner, who had received this post for life, had abused his trust in every way. He had rendered no accounts of the money accruing from the various collections, in some cases for four years, in others for fourteen, nor of bequests and payments made for the inmates. He had not distributed the alms, but with the money had bought fuel and made the poor pay for it ... he had disposed of the beds and other goods, causing a loss to the hospital of about £40...
In spite of the remonstrances of the master he persisted in playing at dice and draughts, and in selling ale at his house within the close.
It is incredible that Taverner's conduct would have been so long unchecked if the master had been constantly resident or really interested in the place, and it may be noted that the statement by one of the inmates that divine service was sometimes withdrawn by the default of the master or his curate was found to be true ... while it was also said to be his fault that there were no brothers or sisters in hospital. The distinctive dress of the order had been abandoned [the master and inmates no longer wore the star of Bethlehem], and with it seems to have vanished most of the character of the original foundation.'
'In 1546 the Lord Mayor of London ... petitioned the crown to grant Bethlem to the city ... Henry VIII reluctantly ceded ... "the custody, order and governance" of the hospital and of its "occupants and revenues" ...The crown retained possession of the hospital [property] while its administration fell to the city authorities. This charter came into effect in 1547 ... from 1557 it [was placed under the management of] the governors of Bridewell.'
By 1547 "it is evident that in one important respect the hospital developed in the direction it had already taken in the fourteenth century, the office of master tending more and more to become a sinecure. Proof of this may probably be found in the hospital being let to farm by its head in 1454 ... In 1523 Stephen Gennings, a merchant-tailor, gave £40 to the City Corporation towards the purchase of the patronage of the house, which, however, was not effected until 1546 ...
As there is no 'Valor' [ the valuation conducted as part of dissolution of monasteries and suppression of chantries] there are no means of ascertaining what property the hospital had at this date, but the income derived from it seems to have been less than £40, and was so inadequate to the demands upon it that recourse was had in 1551 to the old practice of soliciting alms of the charitable, in this instance within the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge, the isle of Ely, and the city of London."
'Having been thus one of the few metropolitan hospitals to survive the dissolution of monasteries physically intact this joint administration [of Bedlam and Bridewell] continued, [but] not without interference by both crown and city ...'
In 1598 "the Bridewell governors conducted an inspection of the hospital and a census of its inhabitants for the first time in over 40 years ... 'to view and p[er]use the defaultes and want of rep[ar]ac[i]ons'." They found "it is not fitt for anye man to dwell in wch was left by the [last] Keeper for that it is so loathsomly filthely kept not fit for any man to come into the house".
The committee of inspection found 21 inmates ... two having been admitted during the previous 12 months ... six had been resident for a minimum of eight years and one inmate had been there for around 25 years. Three were from outside London, six were charitable cases paid for out of the hospital's resources, and the rest were provided for by family, friends, or in one instance, out of their own funds."
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3 SEYNT MARYE SPETYLLE
'St. Mary Spital founded in 1197 by Walter Brunus, a wealthy merchant and citizen of London, and his wife Roisia, stood on the east side of Bishopsgate Street on land where once stood a Roman cemetery. Originally known as the Priory of the Blessed Virgin Mary without Bishopsgate, it was sometimes known as the New Hospital of St Mary, later shortened to St Mary Spital.
Sir Robert Gresham, Lord Mayor of London, in his letter to Thomas Cromwell in August 1535, mentioned:
"Nere and within the citie of London be iij hospitalls or spytells, commonly called Seynt Maryes Spytell, Seynt Bartholomewes Spytell and Seynt Thomas Spytell, and the new abby of Tower Hyll, founded of good devocion by auncient ffaders, and endowed with great possessions and rents onley for the releffe, comfort, and helyng of the poore and impotent people not beyng able to help themselffes, and not to mayntennance of chanins [canons], preestes, and monks to lyve in pleasure, nothyng regardyng the miserable people liying in every strete, offendyng every clene person Passyng by the way with theyre fylthy and nasty savours."
Gresham was attempting to get a stay of execution for St. Mary Spital. He failed.'
... despite this slight respite for the patients, the Priory and the hospital were utterly swept away ― the precincts to become an artillery ground ― with such thoroughness that nothing remains there today except for the remains of a charnel house.'
'The Monastery before the Market : Spitalfields medieval chapter revealed'
"Between 1197 and 1539, the Augustinian priory flourished, developing from a small roadside hospital into a large institution serving the capital's poor and sick ― a story brought to light by almost two decades of excavations ...
There, on the east side of Ermine Street (the Roman road running between London and York), lay part of the northern cemetery of Roman London ...
Moving forward some 700 years, another burial ground was created on the site: an extramural and extra-parochial cemetery that the Bishop of London founded in what was then open fields, just east of Bishopsgate Street, as the road was then known ... [T]he fact that large numbers of people, probably c.3,000, were buried there during the 12th century, some in mass graves suggests it could have been established as an emergency burial ground intended to cope with an unusual number of deaths that had overwhelmed existing cemeteries
[e.g. famine recorded 1124-1126] ...
[A] group of wealthy London merchants (including Walter Brunus and his wife Roisia) founded the Augustinian hospital and priory of St Mary Spital in 1197 ... Very few remains of this first hospital foundation have been identified ... but it was most likely only small, caring and catering for a dozen or so.
It is ... from the time that the hospital was refounded in 1235 that we can clearly chart the development of St Mary Spital ... into a large suburban London monastery ... [T]he refounded St Mary Spital was rebuilt on a large scale ... within the now much enlarged monastic precinct ... [of] about 3ha (7 acres) ... where some 4,500 Londoners had been buried by this time. The new priory church and infirmary were laid out in a 'T' shape, with infirmaries to north and south (one for men and one for women), divided by a central arm forming the church. The scale of these buildings suggests space for 60 inmates, and the sisters who cared for them were accommodated north of the infirmary ...
[T]he main cemetery was used again as an emergency burial ground in the mid-13th century, when around 3,500 people were buried in 200-plus pits; these deaths may have resulted from famines reported in 1252 and again in 1258 ― the latter apparently brought on by the fallout and climatic fluctuation caused by a volcanic eruption in that year ...
Between 1280 and 1400, the site underwent a near continuous programme of construction works ... These improvements included the creation of the first stone cloister to the north of the church in about 1280, a separate new hospital infirmary for sick and elderly laity immediately west of the church, and a new canons' infirmary to the east.
The main cemetery once again served the wider London community in catastrophic times, with another 1,400 people placed in mass burial pits, probably victims of the famines known to have taken place in the 1310s ...
The dozen or so canons and around 180 infirmary inmates who inhabited St Mary Spital in the mid-14th century must have been affected by the 'Black Death' epidemic of 1348-1349, but no mass graves for this period were identified at the site ― probably because a large number of Londoners who succumbed to the plague were buried in the newly created West and East Smithfield emergency cemeteries ...
[T]he aftermath of the pandemic brought [continued] prosperity ... During the late 14th century the accommodation for lay sisters was enlarged on the site, and a dedicated pharmacy ... was added to the canons' infirmary ... excavation revealed a large area of hearths, their peat and charcoal fuel, and evidence that copper alloy and lead-working was carried out here ... From pits both inside and outside this building, discarded ceramic and glass distillation vessels were recovered ... At St Mary Spital, the emphasis seems to have been on physical care and herbal and chemical medicine (the domain of the apothecary) rather than surgery.'
The Priory of St Mary Spital
'The house belonged to the Augustinian order and contained both canons regular and lay brothers and sisters ...
In 1303 the house contained twelve canons, five lay brothers and seven sisters ...
An order of 7 January 1341 ... says it was founded to receive and entertain pilgrims and the infirm who resorted thither until they were healed, and pregnant women until their delivery, and also to maintain the children of women who died there in childbirth, until the age of seven.
On 22 April 1391 a papal relaxation of five years of penance was declared to penitents who visited and gave alms "and those in the solemn hospital of the Blessed Virgin founded within the said monastery in which very many poor women widows, wards (pupilli) and orphans are continually sustained"...
In June 1534 the prior and eleven other members of the house subscribed their acknowledgment of the royal Supremacy ...
In 1535 the yearly income of the priory was £562 14 s. 6½ d. gross and £504 12 s. 11½ d. ...
[T]he first pensions assigned for pensions assigned for payment after the Dissolution at Christmas 1539 were made only to the prior, the president, five priests and two sisters.'
AN IRRATIONAL CLOSURE
If the motives behind reforming the monastic structures had been consistently applied, then the smaller and virtually moribund foundations of Le Pappey and Bethlem would have been dissolved, leaving the better endowed, better staffed, and more efficient 180 bed hospital on London's horizon to continue its mission. Instead Cromwell condemned the best one. Greed for St Mary's roof lead was a factor, as was the king's distrust of the Augustinian Order.
But Le Pappey and Bethlem were so obviously impoverished in resources and manpower that the kindest thing was dissolution. That is not to say that caring for the insane or elderly clergy were not valid ministries. It is only to admit that Bethlem and Le Papey no longer had the ability to perform their role properly. Whereas St Mary's Spital still had the physical capacity, medical skill, and operational integrity to continue serving the City's health needs, and serve them well.
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REFERENCES:
William Gregory, Ed. James Gairdner, 1876, 'Introduction' in The Collections of a Citizen of London in the Fifteenth Century, Camden Society, London <British History Online>
Walter Besant, 1906, 'St Augustine's Papey', in The History of Medieval London, Vol 2, p 377
Rev Thomas Hugo, 1877, 'The Hospital of Le Papey in the City of London', Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, Vol V, Pt 2, p183
'1247-1633' in Bethlehem Royal Hospital, <https://en.wikipedia.org>
'10. St. Mary of Bethlehem', in 'Houses of Military Orders', <https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/london/vol1/pp495-498>
'Bethlehem Hospital', The Map of Early Modern London, <https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca>
sparkypus, 2021, 'The Medieval Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital', A Medieval Potpourri, Blog at WordPress.com
'Chapter II - The Priory of St Mary Spital', in Survey of London: Volume 27, <http://british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol27/pp21-23>
'The Monastery before the Market', 2020, in Current Archaeology
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