A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



(tres fratres infirmos) on his presentation 

 and on that of his heirs for ever. 1 At a later 

 period perhaps, while Bernard was bishop and 

 Geoffrey his archdeacon, Adam son of Robert, 

 the true patron of a moiety of the church of 

 Bampton near Carlisle, gave to the hospital 

 and the sick people (infirmis) there serving 

 God a moiety of the tithe sheaves of Little 

 Bampton, with the proviso that two sick 

 persons should be maintained on the nomina- 

 tion of himself and his successors. If these 

 nominations were not made, five skeps of 

 meal should be distributed to the poor on the 

 Feast of St. Nicholas. In any other eventu- 

 ality, the bishops of Carlisle were authorized 

 to dispose of the tithe as they thought best 

 for the good of the donor's soul. 2 It is evi- 

 dent from the tenor of these charters that 

 the advantages of the institution were not 

 exclusively confined to lepers at the opening 

 of the thirteenth century, for though it had 

 been originally founded as a leper-house, the 

 qualifications for admittance must have been 

 modified to some extent by the conditions 

 attached to successive endowments. That 

 such was the case we shall presently see. 



The early history of the hospital was the 

 subject of an inquest before a royal commis- 

 sion in 1341, when all the available evidences 

 were brought under review and a verdict was 

 returned on the oath of the jurors. 3 It was 

 ascertained by this commission that the insti- 

 tution was founded by some king of England, 

 long before the time of memory, for the sus- 

 tenance of thirteen lepers, men and women, a 

 master in Holy Orders who should be resi- 

 dent and sing mass at his will, and a chaplain 

 who should sing mass daily for the benefactors 

 of the hospital. This king, whose name the 

 jurors knew not, endowed the institution 

 with great possessions of lands for the per- 

 petual support of the master and lepers as 

 well as the brethren and sisters, appointed 

 for them a chapter and a common seal which 

 should remain in the custody of the master 

 and of two or three or four of the lepers, 

 and ordained that the lepers should always be 

 clad in clothes of russet and live under the 

 rules of the hospital for ever. It was also 

 appointed at the foundation that the master 

 as well as the brethren and sisters should have 

 commons together within the precincts, saving 

 this, that the master might appoint a tem- 



Carl. Epis. Reg., Kirkby, f. 303. 



2 Ibid. f. 482. J. Denton says that Gilbert son 

 of Gilbert de Dundraw gave the hospital a portion 

 of Crofton called Gillmartinridden (Cumberland, 



Pat. 15 Edw. III. pt. i. m. 49, 48. 



porary substitute if he had to attend to the 

 business of the hospital elsewhere. 



The original constitutions of the hospital 

 were observed until by lapse of time the 

 greater part of the lepers died, 4 when by com- 

 mon consent of the master, brethren and sis- 

 ters, their places were filled by poor, weak 

 and impotent folk (pauperes, debiles et impo- 

 tentei), which led to a modification of the 

 existing rules. We have already noticed how 

 the bequests of Hugh de Morvill and Adam 

 son of Robert contributed to this change. 

 Other donations followed with similar con- 

 ditions. The commonalty of the city of 

 Carlisle granted to the hospital on every Sun- 

 day for ever a pottle (potellum) of ale from 

 each brewhouse of the city, and a loaf of 

 bread from each baker exposing bread for sale 

 on Saturday, in return for which the master 

 should receive into the hospital, on the pre- 

 sentation of the mayor and commonalty, all 

 the lepers in the city. By virtue of these 

 grants, the donors and their successors pos- 

 sessed the right to present lepers and other poor 

 persons for maintenance in the institution. 



In 1292 a dispute arose about the patron- 

 age of the hospital. 6 The Bishop of Carlisle 

 claimed the right of instituting the master on 

 the presentation of the brethren who made 

 choice of a fit person for that purpose. The 

 Crown denied the right of the inmates to 

 elect a master from their own body, and 

 challenged the jurisdiction of the bishop over 

 the hospital for any purpose whatever. When 

 the matter was referred to the judges of assize, 

 the jury found that the patronage was in the 

 king's hand, for though Bishop Ireton made 

 the last appointment, the king's ancestors 

 always conferred it till the time of Henry III. 

 Besides, the brethren were never in the habit 

 of electing any one. The gross value of the 

 hospital was returned at that time at 35 

 131. 4^., out of which twelve sick persons 

 (languid!) were maintained with a master and 

 a chaplain to celebrate divine offices, which 

 chaplain had the assistance of a clerk. 



The disease of leprosy was not extinct in 

 Cumberland in the fourteenth century. In 1357 

 the Bishop of Carlisle had learned with sorrow 

 that Adam, rector of ' Castelkayrok,' was be- 

 sprinkled with the spot of leprosy (lepre macula est 

 respenus), insomuch that by reason of the horror 

 and loathsomeness of the disease (morbi deformitatem 

 et hoirorem) he was unable to minister the sacra- 

 ments and sacramentals to his parishioners. The 

 rector was cited to appear personally in the 

 bishop's presence at Rose and show cause why a 

 coadjutor should not be appointed to assist him 

 (Carl. Epis. Reg., Welton, f. 43). 



Plac. de >uo. Warr. (Rec. Com.), 122. 



200 



