A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



three times in the year if it seemed necessary or 

 useful, but openly and with the consent of the 

 prior, and not for too long ; that if any of 

 the brethren or sisters, sound or unsound, 

 broke the rules, the use of the hospital was to be 

 forfeited for a year, and unless willing to be 

 castigated according to the quality of the offence 

 within the year, the offender was to be expelled 

 for ever ; that all the brethren and sisters were 

 to attend daily the seven canonical hours and 

 mass and to pray for all benefactors ; that all 

 brethen and sisters were to have equal shares in 

 all the profits of the house the same as the 

 prior ; that all should attend the general chapter 

 the day after the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, 

 and after chapter the mass for all buried there 

 and for all benefactors ; that all ornaments of 

 the church and treasury were to be placed on 

 that day for the inspection of all the brethren and 

 sisters ; that on the death of any brother or 

 sister the house was to have the best robe and 

 cowl, and the bed and the chest of the deceased, 

 and if there was no chest, Ss. 6d. for wax light 

 and bd. for drink among the inmates ; that the 

 house should celebrate thirty days for the soul 

 of the deceased ; that bd. was to be distributed 

 to the brethren on each of the feasts of All 

 Saints, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, 

 and on St. Mary Magdalen's Day, for prayers 

 for the founder ; that his anniversary was also 

 to be celebrated yearly in the church, under pain 

 of excommunication, and on the same day the 

 chaplain, brethren, and sisters, were each to 

 receive bd. as drink-money {ad potandum) ; that 

 on Maundy Thursday a farthing [lihellum) and 

 a herring should be distributed to each brother 

 and sister of the house and to all mendicant 

 lepers, and that outside lepers should receive the 

 hospitality of the house for that night. The 

 statutes were confirmed and sealed by William, 

 bishop of Norwich in the year 1 1 74.^ 



On 26 January, 1340, protection with clause 

 rogamus (that is for collecting alms), was granted 

 for two years to the master and brethren of St. 

 Mary Magdalen on the causey, Lynn, as they 

 had not enough for their support unless relieved 

 by the faithful in other parts.' 



In 1549 the rebels from Ket's camp at 

 Castle Rising, on their return from trying to 

 enter the town, sacked the hospital and destroyed 

 the chapel and most of the buildings, so that it 

 was henceforth greatly impoverished.' The 

 hospital was seized by the crown under the Act 

 of Edward VI, but the property was afterwards 

 to some extent restored to the corporation for a 

 like purpose. Its post-Reformation history will 

 be given elsewhere. 



' A full trmscript of these st.Ttutes is given in 

 Mackerel!, HmA 5/" Z,^'n« (1738), pp. 244-6. Peter 

 the founder died I I 74. 



' Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 47, 



' Mackerel!, Hiit. of Lynn, 195. 



Priors of St. Mary Magdalen, Lynn* 



Peter,' before 1256 



John Dulman, 1468 



Nicholas Portland, occurs 1477,* 1482 



Henry Burgh, 1482 



Richard Bull, 1487 



Richard Leke, 1520 



Nicholas Bryggs, 1526, 1529 



Roger Adams, 1534 



John Dixon, 1552 



Thomas Hasket, 1570 



77-80. LAZAR-HOUSES, LYNN 



In addition to the hospital of St. Mary 

 Magdalen, which provided partially for lepers, 

 there were four other lazar-houses close to the 

 town of Lynn, namely at Cowgate, West Lynn, 

 Setchey, and Gaywood. 



Stephen Guybon of North Lynn, by his will 

 dated 1432, gave I2d. to every house of lepers 

 about Lynn, namely West Lynn, Cowgate, 

 Hardwick, Setchey, Magdalen, and Gaywood.' 

 Hardwick, in the parish of North Runcton, is 

 described separately, and 'Mawdelyn ' obviously 

 means the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen. 



As no records can be found of these small 

 lazar-houses, it may be assumed that they had 

 little or no endowment, and were entirely 

 dependent, like similar houses in other places, on 

 alms and occasional bequests. 



81. THE HOSPITAL OF ST, GILES, 

 NORWICH 



Good Bishop Walter de Suffield (1245-57) 

 was the founder of the noble hospital of St. 

 Giles. The foundation charter was sealed, both 

 by the bishop and prior, in the Norwich chapter- 

 house on I April, 1246.* The hospital, which 

 was to bear the name of St. Giles, was founded 

 in honour of the Holy Trinity, the Glorious 

 Virgin, the Blessed Anne, and the Blessed Giles, 

 and was to be built on a prescribed plot of ground 

 opposite the church of St. Helen and under the 

 walls of the priory. In this hospital the founder 

 willed that there should be a master, who was to 

 associate with him four devout chaplains well 

 instructed in the divine offices. All were to rise, 

 both for martins and at dawn, at the sound of 

 the greater bell, and to proceed together from 

 the dormitory, entering the church in surplices 



* Blomefield, Hist of Norf viii, 520—1. Blome- 

 field also gives the names of several later masters of 

 the hospital, under its revised form, but without 

 dates. 



' Called predecessor of the present master in 1256 ; 

 Assize R. 567, m. 23. 



' C<j/. Bod/. Chart, p. 193. 



' Blomefield, Hist. ofSorf. iii, 528. 



' The year is not given in the charter ; the hospital 

 is usually said to have been founded in 1 249, but this 

 charter is more likely of the year 1246 or even 1245. 



442 



