RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



three chaplains of the old foundation, for six 

 clerks in minor orders and five lay brothers. 

 The clerks were to serve the priests at mass, and 

 if with the master's consent they took priest's 

 orders they were still to serve each other, for 

 unless the possessions of the hospital increased, 

 the number of chaplains and clerks might under 

 no circumstance exceed thirteen. The Use of 

 Sarum was ordered. The master, chaplains, 

 clerks, and brethren had one common dorter 

 and frater. No secular might eat in the frater ; 

 the master was bidden to entertain guests in a 

 room set apart for him. Those who sought 

 admission to the brotherhood underwent a year 

 of probation. If they were found fitting they 

 were then professed and took vows of chastity 

 and obedience, promising to renounce private 

 property, and to keep all the observances of the 

 house. All the brethren bore on their habits 

 the sign of the hospital, a white cross, and 

 beneath it a red shield with three white geese. 

 The master and chaplain wore black cloaks and 

 amices, and when they went into the town 

 black copes. Two chaplains, six clerks, and 

 two lay brothers managed the daily distribution 

 of food to the poor, which took place before 

 the midday meal in the frater. The chaplains 

 might write anything or set down music for the 

 use of the house with the master's leave ; under 

 the same condition lay brothers who were skilled 

 in medicine might use their knowledge for the 

 profit of the hospital. The house was subject 

 to the visitation of the bishop of Worcester, 1 but 

 Cantilupe granted for himself and his successors 

 that it should be exempt from the payment of 

 procurations and from the visitation of the arch- 

 deacon or his official. 



In 1 268 Prince Edward granted the manor of 

 Winterbourne Gunner in Wiltshire,* and in 1272 

 the executors of William de Rumere, formerly 

 treasurer of Wells, and of a canon named John 

 of Hereford, delivered 80 to the master and 

 brethren, who undertook to pay a yearly pension 

 of 4. y. \d. to the dean and chapter of Wells 

 for the stipend of a chantry priest and the 

 maintenance of services for their souls. 3 



The daily provision of food for a hundred 

 poor people was a heavy charge upon the income 

 of the hospital, which in 1282 was returned by 

 the master at only 20 41. 8<f. 4 When Bishop 

 Giffard visited the house in 1279 he found that 

 for four years past the feeding of the poor had 

 been ' damnably omitted.' * He ordered that 

 the alms should be duly made according to the 

 ordinance of the foundation, and added an 

 injunction that two brethren should be chosen 

 to receive all moneys due to the house, and that 



1 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelscy, fol. 82. 

 ' Briit. and Clout. Arch. Sue. Tram, iii, 246 ; Cart. 

 R. 1 8 Edw. I, pt. i, No. 69. 

 ' Glouc. N. and Q. i, 453. 



4 Wore. Efii. Reg. Glfard (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 143. 

 Ibid. 104. 



they should render a yearly account to the 

 master and three or four of the wiser brethren. 

 In 1281 the master disregarded the summons of 

 Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, to attend a 

 provincial council at Lambeth, and in accord- 

 ance with a mandate from the archbishop, 

 Giffard suspended him from office for a time.' 

 At his visitation in 1284 the bishop again dis- 

 covered that the alms had been wholly with- 

 drawn. 7 On the resignation of the master, 

 Robert of Reading, in 1298, the hospital was 

 involved in a lawsuit with the patron, John 

 Ap Adam, who had married Elizabeth daughter 

 and heiress of John de Gurnay, and now claimed 

 the sole right of presentation. 8 The brethren 

 showed Robert de Gurnay *s charter, stating that 

 they had elected one of themselves, William de 

 Beaumier, and were willing to present him to the 

 patron. They enforced their right. Edward I 

 also instituted an inquiry to discover whether the 

 custody of the hospital during the vacancy ought 

 not to fall to the crown, but the jurors made a 

 return in favour of the brethren.* During the 

 vacancy John Ap Adam and others entered the 

 manors of the house, carried oft' the corn and 

 drove away the cattle, so that the brethren could 

 not make their accustomed alms. 10 John Ap 

 Adam charged them with neglecting the terms 

 of their foundation. 11 He appears to have appealed 

 to Giffard against the brethren, but the brief 

 entry in the register is rather obscure ; as at the 

 bishop's council at Hartlebury on 26 December, 

 1300, the answer to John Ap Adam's petition 

 for changing the habit of the canons of St. Mark's 

 was that they could not be changed without 

 scandal. 18 The disputes were referred to Arch- 

 bishop Winchelsey when he came on his metro- 

 political visitation in 1301." On 24 July he 

 decreed that the master and brethren should 

 begin to feed 100 poor folk on Michaelmas Day 

 and the three days following, but that in con- 

 sideration of their losses for the rest of the year 



'Ibid. 138. For the archbishop's mandate, cf. 

 Regiitrum efiito/arum Peckham Arch. Cant. (Rolls Ser.), 

 ii, 237-8. The cause of the suspension is omitted 

 in the English summary in Giffard, p. 138, but it is 

 clear from the mandate that the master's name was 

 not on the first schedule of exempt monasteries, but 

 on the second schedule sent by the archbishop, viz. 

 the names of the heads of houses, not exempt from 

 visitation, who had absented themselves from the 

 council. Owing to a misunderstanding of the entry 

 in Giffard 's register, it has been recently stated that, 

 although the hospital was exempt from visitation, 

 Giffard regularly visited it ; Reg. Giffard (Wore. Hist. 

 Soc.), Ixxxviii, xcii, xcv. 



7 Ibid. 233. 



" Brlit. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, iii, 247. 



' Ibid. 



10 In 1 300 a commission of oyer and terminer was 

 appointed, Cal. of Pat. 29 Edw. I, m. 35 d. 



" Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 8 1 . 



" Wore. Efii. Reg. Giffard (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 516. 



11 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Winchelsey, fol. 82 v. 



