A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



spiritualities and temporalities of the house. The 

 brethren and sisters were bidden to observe the 

 injunctions of the bishop, especially that no 

 brother or sister should be admitted by command 

 or request of any lay knight or burgess, except 

 with the assent of the bishop or his official. 



In the middle of the fourteenth century the 

 burgesses of Gloucester had secured control over 

 the hospital. The commonalty elected one of 

 the burgesses to act as master or supervisor, 1 and 

 the management of the property of the hospital 

 was under his charge. He was appointed per- 

 haps for a year or a term of years, and his con- 

 sent was necessary for the granting of leases. 2 

 A prior, who was perhaps the chaplain, bore rule 

 over the brethren and sisters. Probably he too 

 was appointed by the commonalty of Gloucester, 

 for no collations are recorded in the registers of 

 the bishops of Worcester. In 1518 the mayor, 

 master of the hospital, and burgesses accepted 

 William Ergan and Emmota his wife as a brother 

 and sister, and granted the office of prior and 

 governor to William Ergan, so at that date the 

 prior was no longer of necessity the chaplain. 8 

 The inmates were then apparently almsfolk, for 

 leprosy had greatly declined. In or about 1545 

 Henry VIII confirmed the custody of the hospital 

 to the mayor and corporation. 4 The hospital 

 has had a continuous existence until the present 

 day.' 



37. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY 

 MAGDALEN, GLOUCESTER 



The leper hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, 

 Gloucester, was founded for women, probably 

 soon after the middle of the twelfth century. 6 



It has had a continuous existence as a home 

 for the sick poor. In 1599 Queen Elizabeth 

 granted it to the mayor and corporation of 

 Gloucester. 7 In 1 6 1 7, on information that for 

 want of good governance the revenues had been 

 much wasted, James I ordained that the govern- 

 ment should be in the masters and governors, that 

 they should be a body corporate with a common 

 seal, and should have and enjoy the possessions 

 of the hospital for the benefit of the inmates, 

 and in addition a pension of ^13 from the king, 

 to be called 'King James's Pension,' as was 

 formerly paid by the kings of England. 8 He 



1 Stevenson, op. cit. 351, 355, &c. The names of 

 a number of other burgesses who held the office of 

 master occur passim. 



* Ibid, passim. * Ibid. 426. 



4 Fosbrooke, Abstracts of Records and MSS. relating 

 to Gloucestershire, i, 190. 



6 Kelly, Direct. cfGlouc. (ed. 1906). 



6 Brist. and Gkuc. Arch. Soc. Trans, xx, 1 3 1 ; Wore. 

 Efts. Reg. Giffard (Wore. Hist. Soc.), 381. 



' Fosbrooke, Abstracts and Records relating to Glouc. 

 \, 192. 



8 Stevenson, Cal. of Records of the Corporation of 

 Glouc. 68. 



willed 

 called 

 it still 

 Magdalen. 9 



that the hospital should thenceforth be 

 the hospital of King James. However, 

 bears the former name of St. Mary 



38. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN, 

 CIRENCESTER 



According to a statement of the townsmen of 

 Cirencester in 1343, the hospital of St. John was 

 founded by Henry I and endowed with a third 

 of the tithe of the royal demesne of Cirencester, 

 and three cartloads of underwood from his forest 

 of Oakley every week. 10 They declared that by 

 the king's provision a chaplain should sing mass 

 daily in the oratory of the hospital, and should 

 have a daily allowance of food from the monastery 

 of Cirencester. The abbot and his predecessors 

 since 1155 had appropriated the tithe, had made 

 laymen wardens, and taken money for appoint- 

 ments for life. ' And so,' the townsmen con- 

 tinued, ' they have abated the said chantry of the 

 king a long time ; but that a widow from 

 Cirencester, Aleyze de Weston, gave ^60 to the 

 abbot for having a chantry to chant for herself, 

 as appears by a charter which they could show.' 



It is probable that the hospital was founded 

 by Henry I. 11 In 1222 Honorius III confirmed 

 the appropriation of it to the abbot and convent. 12 

 There is no evidence to show that the hospital 

 had a chapel which was served by its own 

 chaplain from the time of the foundation. In 

 1319 Cobham, bishop of Worcester, notified to 

 the master and the poor of the hospital that, 

 whereas there were many old and feeble persons 

 among them who were unable to attend mass at 

 the parish church, he had granted a licence to 

 them to build an oratory within the hospital and 

 to have a priest to celebrate mass, saving the 

 rights of the mother church. 13 An undated 

 document in the chartulary of the monastery gives 

 the abbot's consent, and provides that the mass 

 in the chapel of the hospital should be celebrated 

 after the mass in the parish church, and that the 

 warden should pay to the convent all offerings 

 made in the chapel. 14 The abbot and convent 

 stated that the hospital was founded and built by 

 their predecessors, and that they had always been 

 in possession of the hospital free from the visi- 

 tation of the ordinary, with full power over its 

 affairs, and the right of appointment to the 

 custody of it. The inmates were supported by 

 the alms of the faithful, and the daily distribution 

 of food by the almoner of the monastery, accord- 

 ing to ancient custom. 



The complaints of the townsmen were fruit- 

 less. On 20 September, 1348, for ^300, 



9 Kelly, Direct, of Glouc. (ed. 1906). 



10 Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, viii, 225. 



11 Ibid. 226. " Ibid. 

 " Wore. Epis. Reg. Cobham, fol. 6 1 d. 



14 Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Trans, viii, 226. 



122 



