A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



canopies is a heater-shaped shield, which was 

 probably charged with the arms of the house, 

 gules, three geese argent. In a compartment 

 below the figures are two similar shields, prob- 

 ably containing the arms of the two founders ; 

 the sinister is shown to be paly or, three pales 

 azure for Robert de Gurnay. Between these 

 shields is another niche in which is a kneeling 

 figure looking to the right. The legend is : 



S ' COE ' DOM' ' MARCI ' DE ' SCI ' BILLES VVYK " 

 IVXTA ' BRISTOL!. 



32. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. BAR- 

 THOLOMEW, BRISTOL 



Nothing is known of the foundation of the 

 hospital of St. Bartholomew at Bristol. In 

 1275 the community consisted of brethren and 

 sisters who had the right of free election of their 

 master. 1 There is no evidence that any of the 

 brethren beside the master were priests, and it is 

 probable that both they and the sisters had been 

 appointed at the original foundation to minister 

 to the needs of the sick and poor, and were 

 under vows. The endowment was very small. 8 

 The master was a secular chaplain ; 3 in 1329 

 Robert de Merston was presented to Orlton, 

 bishop of Worcester, as master or warden by 

 John de la Warre, who claimed to be the patron, 

 with the unanimous assent of the brothers and 

 sisters. 4 In 1331 Orlton commended brother 

 John de Merston to the community, to be ad- 

 mitted to the care and guidance of the hospital 

 until he should order otherwise. 6 However, in 

 the latter half of the fourteenth century and 

 onwards, the de la Warres of Wickwar in Glou- 

 cester were recognized as the patrons, 6 and 

 declared the house to be of their foundation. 



In or before 1336 the brethren seem to have 

 disappeared from the community, 7 and in 1 340 

 a prioress ruled over it. In that year Wulstan 

 de Bransford, bishop of Worcester, allowed the 

 prioress and sisters to let on rent for a term of 

 sixty years a piece of land and the old 

 dorter in which they used to sleep when both 

 brothers and sisters were dwelling in the hos- 

 pital. 8 The prioresses maintained their position 

 for over forty years, but when the hospital lacked 

 a ruler in 1386, John de la Warre presented 

 William Badesford to Henry Wakefield bishop 

 of Worcester, 9 who ordered the archdeacon 

 of Gloucester and the prior of St. James, 

 Bristol, to inquire into the vacancy, and report 



1 Wore. Epis. Reg. Gifard (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 76. 

 ' Wore. Reg. Sede Vac. \ 20. 



3 Walter, vicar of St. Nicholas, Bristol, was ap- 

 pointed in 1319. Wore. Epis. Reg. Cobham, fol. 46 d. 



4 Ibid. Orlton, fol. \6d. * Ibid. fol. 45. 



6 Ibid. Wakefield, fol. 58. 



7 Ibid. M on tactile, fol. 41 J. 



8 Ibid. Bransford, fol. 41. 



8 Ibid. Wakefield, fol. 45 d. 



whether the hospital ought to be ruled by secu- 

 lars or by regulars, by men or by women, who 

 was the true patron, and what was the yearly 

 value of the endowment. 10 The claim of John 

 de la Warre to present a secular priest as supreme 

 ruler was then established. 11 The question of 

 the government was again raised in 1412, when 

 the women again attempted to assert their 

 claim to the supreme rule. By order of Bishop 

 Peverell an inquisition was held to discover 

 whether according to the ordination of the hos- 

 pital it ought to be ruled by men or by women. 1 * 

 The jurors declared that the hospital ought to 

 be ruled by men who were secular priests, and 

 not by women, and added that it had always 

 been ruled by men. 13 They were unable to 

 ascertain the value of the endowment proffer 

 grauissimam dilapidacionem. Successive masters 

 bore undisputed sway over both brothers and 

 sisters. 



In 1445, with the approval of the mayor and 

 commonalty of Bristol, a fraternity of mariners 

 was established in the hospital of St. Bartholo- 

 mew. 14 A priest and twelve poor mariners were 

 bound to remember in their daily prayers all 

 4 merchants and mariners passing and labouring 

 on the sea ... to the port aforesaid.' 



In 1531 Lord de la Warre conveyed the hos- 

 pital and all its property to Robert Thorn to 

 enable him to found a free grammar school at 

 Westbury on Trym. 15 



MASTERS OF THE 

 HOSPITAL OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW, BRISTOL 



Walter, 16 1319 



John de Hulle, 1322," resigned 1329 18 



Robert de Merston, 1329 18 



John de Merston, 



PRIORESSES 



Eleanor, occurs 1340 21 



Elizabeth Batte, became prioress 1363 z * 



Joanna Joye, 1368 23 



Matilda Coveley, 1369^ 



MASTERS 



William Badesford, I386, 25 resigned 1389 26 

 John Dauntre, I389, 27 exchanged 1403^ 



10 Ibid. " Ibid. fol. 58. 

 " Ibid. Peverell, fol. 41 d. u Ibid. 



14 Bickley, Little Red Book of Bristol, ii, 186-92. 



16 Dugdale, Man. vii, 774 ; Nicholls and Taylor, 

 Bristol Past and Present, ii, 120. 



16 Wore. Epis. Reg. Cobham, fol. 46 d. 



" Ibid. fol. 30. '" Ibid. Orlton, fol. 1 6 d. 



19 Ibid. M Ibid. fol. 45 d. 



11 Ibid. Bransford, fol. 41. 



" Ibid. Barnet, fol. 27. " Ibid. 



24 Ibid. Whittlesey, fol. 27. 



14 Ibid. Wakefield, fol. 45 d. 



16 Ibid. fol. 58. " Ibid. 



18 Ibid. Clifford, fol. 65 d. 



ri8 



