RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



of rents in the reign of Edward I, 1 and in 

 1324 an annual rental of I2</. from a mes- 

 suage in St. Edmunds, in Scolehallestrete, was 

 granted to Thomas de Swanstone, warden of 

 St. Peter's. 2 



The last pre-Reformation master, Christopher 

 Lant, occurs in a deed of 1538, whereby the 

 master and brethren appointed Edmund Hurste, 

 their proctor, to ask and collect in their name, 

 throughout England, alms and charity for the 

 leprous of the hospital of St. Peter. 3 



Though not originally founded exclusively for 

 lepers, this hospital gradually become confined 

 to such cases. It was ordained by the abbot and 

 convent in 1 30 1 that when any priests of the 

 charnel were disabled by any incurable disease, 

 they were to be maintained at St. Saviour's Hos- 

 pital ; but if they were infected with any conta- 

 gious disorder, they were to be sent to the 

 hospitals of St. Peter or St. Nicholas. 4 



There is a reference in another of the abbey 

 registers to the Leprosi extra Risby Gate. b In its 

 later history, the hospital of St. Peter was al- 

 ways referred to as a lazar-house. The Valor 

 of 1535 gives the gross income of the chapel of 

 St. Peter of the foundation of the abbot of 

 St. Edmunds, of which Christopher Lant, clerk, 

 was then master, as £20 i6j. 8£d. f and the 

 net income as £10 i8j. lO^d. Out of the 

 gross, £4. is entered as paid in alms ' pauperi- 

 bus le Lazares House extra Rysbygate de 

 Bury.' 6 



It is rather singular that the income of this 

 hospital was specially assessed in 1535 ; for in 

 1528 a bull was obtained from Pope Clement 

 authorizing the annexing of this hospital, to- 

 gether with St. Saviour's, to the abbey, the in- 

 come being specially appropriated for hospitality 

 at the abbot's table ; in the case of St. Peter's, 

 however, this project does not seem to have been 

 carried out. 7 



In the first instance, St. Peter's hospital was 

 under the immediate control of the abbey al- 

 moner ; 8 but in the time of Henry III and on- 

 wards it was ruled by a master who was a 

 secular priest appointed by the almoner. This 

 hospital continued after the dissolution of the 

 great majority of kindred institutions, for in I 5 5 1 

 protection (or licence to beg) was granted to the 

 lazars of the hospital of St. Peter nigh St. Ed- 

 munds Bury, for one year ; and George Hodg- 

 son, ' guide ' of the house, was appointed their 

 proctor. 9 



1 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xiv, App. viii, 72, 78, 

 s Ibid. 151. 



90, 91. 



* Ibid. 100. 



4 Reg. Sacr. fol. 86. 



4 Reg. Kansyk, fol. 94. 



6 Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 465. 



7 Rymer, FoeJera, xiv, 244-5. 



8 Reg. Nigrum, fol. 185. 



' Strype, Eccl. Mem. Edu, VI, ii, 249. 



Masters or Priors of the Hospital of St. 

 Peter, Bury St. Edmunds 



Alan, 10 c. 1225 



Gilbert de Pollekot, 11 c. 1240 



Robert de Baketone, 12 c. 1260 



William son of Bartholomew alias Livermore," 



c. 1275 

 Robert, 14 occurs 1280 

 William, 15 c. 1300 



Thomas de Swanstone, 16 occurs 1324 

 Walter Burton, 17 occurs 1439 

 Christopher Lant, 18 occurs 1538 

 George Hodgson, 19 occurs 155 1 



49. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. PETRON- 

 ILLA, BURY ST. EDMUNDS 



Near to the hospital of St. John, or ' Domus 

 Dei,' out of the south gate, stood the hospital 

 of St. Petronilla, or St. Parnel, for leprous 

 persons. 20 It is ignored both by Dugdale and 

 Tanner, but was clearly a separate foundation 

 apart from the Domus Dei, and founded by one 

 of the early abbots. 



Edward Steward was the master in 1535, 

 when the clear annual value was declared to be 

 £10 1 7*. \\d. The income was derived from 

 temporalities in Bury, Whepstead, and Rush- 

 brooke, and from a portion of the rectory of 

 Mildenhall. £4 lis. $d., apparently apart 

 from the just cited income, was paid to the 

 poor of the house of St. Petronilla. 21 



The hospital is referred to in various docu- 

 ments as to land transfers of Henry VIII, 

 Edward VI, and Elizabeth, wherein it is di- 

 versely described as the hospital of St. Petronilla, 

 St. Peternelda, St. Pemell, and St. Parnell. 22 



50. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. SAVIOUR, 

 BURY ST. EDMUNDS 



The hospital of St. Saviour, without the north 

 gate, was begun by Abbot Samson about the 

 year 11 84, but it was not finished nor fully 

 endowed until the time of King John. It was 

 originally founded for a warden, twelve chaplain 

 priests, six clerks, twelve poor men, and twelve 

 poor women. 23 



Abbot Samson and the convent granted to the 

 hospital the place upon which the buildings 



" Ibid. 77. 

 Ibid. 1186. 



Ibid. 151. 



"> Bodl. Chart. SufF. 28, 83. 

 11 Ibid. 66. " Ibid. 76 



14 Ibid. 70, 84, 87. 14 



16 Ibid. 100. " Ibid. 113. 



19 Strype, Eccl. Mem. Edw. VI, ii, 249. 

 K There were considerable remains of it as late as 

 1780. 

 " Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), iii, 461, 465. 

 " Add. MS. 1 9103, fol. 164. 

 " Liber Niger, fol. 24, 30. 



*35 



