A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



In 1229 Henry III gave the church of St. 

 Nicholas to the prior, brethren, and sisters of the 

 hospital of St. Bartholomew of Gloucester for the 

 support of the poor, 1 and it was appropriated to 

 their needs. 8 In virtue of that gift, the hospital 

 was afterwards said to be of royal foundation. 

 Soon afterwards the brethren and sisters obtained 

 a licence to elect their prior. 3 The community 

 seems to have consisted of several priests of the 

 order of St. Augustine, 4 and a number of lay 

 brothers and sisters to minister to the sick and 

 poor. 6 It was subject to the visitation of the 

 bishop of Worcester. 6 



Little is known of the history of the hospital 

 except that it suffered greatly from poverty and 

 maladministration under the rule of Nicholas de 

 Hardwick and Walter Gibbes (1329-85). In 

 1333 Thomas Charlton, bishop of Hereford, 

 appropriated the church of Newnham, of which 

 the advowson was given by William de Bohun, 

 earl of Northampton, 7 to the use of the prior and 

 brethren. 8 There were then ninety sick in the 

 hospital, among them the lame, the halt, and 

 the blind, both men and women. 9 In 1344 

 Edward III appointed a commission to make a 

 visitation of the hospital, which was reported to 

 be greatly decayed. 10 Similar commissions were 

 appointed in 1345 "and in I347, 12 and the report 

 of the jurors summoned by the sheriff in 1357 13 

 has furnished the history of the first foundation 

 of the hospital. Nicholas de Hardwick resigned 

 in 1356 ; 14 he had granted several corrodies for 

 life, and had thus so burdened the hospital that 

 its resources no longer sufficed for the main- 

 tenance of the services, almsgiving, and other 

 good works, and for the provision of food and 

 clothing for the brothers and sisters. 16 Sums of 

 money, jewels, corn, silver and brass vessels, beds, 

 and household utensils given by men of Gloucester 

 and elsewhere to the value of 100, which were 

 under the charge of the prior and two of his 

 brethren, had been dissipated and destroyed. 

 After receiving this report, on 8 May, 1359, 

 Edward III appointed five commissioners to effect 

 a thorough reform, and directed all the inmates 

 of the hospital to obey them. 1 ' An almost exactly 

 similar account of the misdeeds of the prior and 



I Cart. R. 13 Hen. Ill, pt. i, ra. 5. 



* Cal. Papal Letters, vi, 395. Vakr Eccles. (Rec. 

 Com.), ii, 488. 



3 Dugdale, op. cit. vii, 689. 



* Cal. Papal Letters, vi, 395. 



4 Cart. R. 13 Hen. Ill, m. 5. 



6 Wore. Epis. Reg. passim. 



7 Cal. of Pat. 17 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 7. 



8 Heref. Epis. Reg. Thomas Charlton, fol. 34. 



9 Ibid. 



10 Cal. of Pat. 1 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 6d. 



II Ibid. 19 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. <)d. 

 13 Ibid. 21 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 8 a". 



13 Dugdale, Man. vii, 689. 



14 Wore. Epis. Reg. Brian, fol. 15. 



13 Pat. 33 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 2 d. u Ibid. 



his predecessor reached Richard II in 1381. 17 It 

 was again stated that the brethren and sisters 

 lacked food and clothing, and a commission 

 appointed on 20 July 18 sent in a more detailed 

 report before 26 October. Contrary to the 

 ordinance of the foundation, the poor had been 

 charged for admittance, and five cases were men- 

 tioned in which bed-money had been received. 1 * 

 Lands given for the benefit of the poor had been 

 diverted to other uses, and a great building in 

 the hospital set apart for the benefit of the poor 

 had been unroofed, and the timbers and tiles 

 taken for other purposes. There were further 

 charges of dissolute living. Another commission 

 was appointed on 26 October, 138 i, 20 and a third 

 on 12 March, I382, 21 and in 1384 a fourth com- 

 mission was bidden to make ordinance for the 

 reformation of the hospital. 23 It is possible that 

 there was some exaggeration in the charges, 

 for the prior, Walter Gibbes, was not deposed, 

 and on his death in 1385 one of the priests of 

 the hospital, John Bulmyll, mentioned by name 

 as an evildoer in one of the reports, was admitted 

 by Bishop Wakefield as his successor, with the 

 king's consent. 23 



On account of its poverty the hospital was 

 exempted from taxation in 1401. In 1407 

 Henry IV confirmed the possessions of the 

 hospital, and took the collectors of alms together 

 with the hospital and its goods under his protec- 

 tion. 24 He granted that upon each vacancy the 

 chaplains might elect a prior without obtaining a 

 royal licence, the electors being only constrained 

 to certify their choice to the bishop for his con- 

 firmation. 28 



In or before 1413 the prior and brethren sent 

 a petition to John XXIII. 26 Although the chapel 

 of Little Dean was dependent on the parish 

 church of Newnham, which had been appro- 

 priated to the hospital for over sixty years, the 

 inhabitants had had the chapel consecrated 

 apparently as an independent church, without 

 the licence of the ordinary or of the prior and 

 brethren, and now withdrew the tithes which 

 were due to the mother church of Newnham 

 for the maintenance of their chaplain. The 

 pope sent a mandate that the hospital should 

 recover its rights. 



In 1423 the hospital was so seriously embar- 

 rassed that Henry VI committed the custody to 

 a commission consisting of the bishop of Wor- 

 cester and five other persons. 17 



17 Cal. of Pat. 4 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 26 d. 



18 Ibid. " Ibid. m. 8 d. 

 80 Ibid. 



11 Ibid. 5 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 23 d. 

 " Ibid. 7 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 17 d. 

 " Ibid. 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 19. 

 84 Stevenson, Calendar of Records of Corporation of 

 Gloucester, 57. 



" Ibid. ; Wore. Epis. Reg. Clifford, fol. 70 d. 

 K Cal. Papal Letters, vi, 395. 

 " Cal. of Pat. i Hen. VI, pt. iv, m. 23 



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