A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



Wardens of Domus Dei, Bury St. Edmunds 



Adam, 1 tcm[>. Hen. Ill 



Simon dc Sermingham, 2 1332, 1337 



John dc Serton, 3 137 I 



Reginald Sexter, 4 1394 



Richard Sudbury, 5 14 16 



Thomas Wyger, 6 c. 1425 



William Place, 7 died 1504 



47. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. NICHOLAS, 

 BURY ST. EDMUNDS 



The hospital of St. Nicholas stood a short 

 distance without the east gate. The establish- 

 ment consisted of a master, a chaplain, and 

 several brethren. It was founded by an abbot of 

 Bury St. Edmunds ; but the exact date and the 

 particular abbot are unknown. 



The earliest known dated reference to it is of 

 the year 1224, when Henry III granted a fair 

 to the master of the hospital of St. Nicholas, to 

 be held on the feast and vigil of the Translation 

 of St. Nicholas. 8 



The oldest of several charters at the Bodleian 

 relative to this hospital is perhaps of a little earlier 

 date, f. 1 21 5 ; it is a grant from Richard de la 

 Care, the prior, and the brethren of the hospital 

 of St. Nicholas without the east gate of St. 

 Edmunds to the hospital of St. Peter of all their 

 right in land called ' Holdefader Acre,' lying at 

 ' Dristnapes ' ; for this grant the brethren of 

 St. Peter gave 6;. of silver. 9 Other undated deeds 

 of a slightly later date refer to further transfers 

 between the two hospitals. 10 



In 1325 Edward II granted pardon to the 

 brethren of St Nicholas for acquiring from 

 Hervey de Staunton, the king's clerk, land and 

 rent in the town of St. Edmunds, in aid of the 

 maintenance of a chaplain to celebrate daily in 

 the hospital for the king and his children and for 

 the souls of Abbot John and the faithful 

 departed. 11 



The master and brethren of the hospital of 

 St. Nicholas obtained licence in 1392 for the 

 alienation to them, by Thomas Ewelle and others, 

 of land and meadows in Bury, Langham, and 

 Great Barton. 12 



The chantry of Henry Staunton's founding in 

 the chapel of this hospital seems to have been 

 usually held by one of the obedientiaries of the 

 great abbey. In 1351 it was held by John de 

 Sneylewell, the sacrist, and at another time by 

 Edmund de Brundish, the prior. 13 



1 Arundel MS. i, fol. 8. 

 'Ibid. 14. 3 Ibid. 15a. 



6 Ibid. 1 ja. 



7 Tymms, Bury Wills, 105. 



e Close, 8 Hen. Ill, pt. i, m. 



9 Bodl. Chart. Suff. 33. 

 10 Ibid. 28, 30, 83. 

 " Pat. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 10. 

 13 Add. MS. 19103, fol. 160. 



' Ibid. 16a. 

 6 Ibid, passim. 



Ibid. 



The Valor of 1535 names John Kcall as 

 chaplain of the chapel of St. Nicholas without 

 the east gate. At that time the mastership and 

 the chaplaincy were apparently combined. The 

 clear value is given as £b I <)s. id. a year. 11 



Master Henry Rudde, doctor of Bury, by will 

 of 1 506, bequeathed to the hospital of St. Nicholas 

 'a vestement of whyte satyn and bordrid with 

 Seynt Nicholas arms, to the value of V mark,' u 

 and Anne Buckenham, of Bury, by will of 1534, 

 left ' to the chapell of Sainte Nicholas, of whom I 

 holde my house, a litle chalis.' 18 



Masters of the Hospital of St. Nicholas, 

 Bury St. Edmunds 



Richard de la Care, 17 c. I 2 1 5 

 William Maymond, 18 1343 

 John Gerrard, 19 1396 

 William Stowe, 20 1459 

 John Keall, 21 1535 



48. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. PETER, 

 BURY ST. EDMUNDS 



St. Peter's Hospital stood without the Risby 

 gate, but within the abbey jurisdiction. It was 

 founded by Abbot Anselm towards the close of 

 the reign of Henry I, for the maintenance of 

 infirm, leprous, or invalided priests, or in their 

 absence of other aged and sick persons. 



The earliest deeds in the muniment room of 

 the Guildhall, Bury St. Edmunds, are a parcel 

 chiefly of the reigns of Henry III and Edward I, 

 concerning the possessions of the hospital of St. 

 Peter, which are now attached to the Grammar 

 School. There is one, however, of the reign of 

 Henry II which recites the gift to this hospital 

 by Simon de Whepstede of i2d. rent for the 

 lights before the altar of St. Mary within the 

 hospital church. 



Scientia, widow of Gilbert de la Gaye, gave 

 I Of. annual rent from a building in St. Edmunds,, 

 in return for which Robert de Baketone, clerk, 

 then prior of the hospital, granted her a weekly 

 mass for her soul and the souls of her ancestors 

 and the souls of brethren dying in the hospital. 

 What was left of the rent, after paying for the 

 masses, was to be expended in shoes for the 

 brethren. 22 There are also at the Bodleian a 

 variety of other undated deeds, temp. Henry III, 

 of small grants to this hospital, 23 and several grants 



" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 466. 



15 Tymms, Bury Wills, 107. ,6 Ibid. 138. 



" Bodl. Chart. Suff. 33. 18 Ibid. 105. 



19 Harl. MS. 638, fol. 145^. 



20 Bodl. Chart. Suff. 123. 



21 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 466. 



22 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. viii, 155-6. 



23 Ibid. 29, 31-3, 40, 47, 61, 62, 65, &c. 



!34 



