RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



The verdict of the jury, by which the 

 Crown recovered the patronage, had a mo- 

 mentous effect on the internal observances of 

 the hospital. The master nominated by the 

 bishop resigned or was dispossessed. Hugh 

 de Cressingham, a justice in eyre and ' an in- 

 satiable pluralist,' according to Prynne, before 

 whom the case was decided, was appointed in 

 his place. The new master drew up a code 

 of rules, formed no doubt on the old model, 

 for the government of the house. 1 These 

 constitutions are of considerable interest and 

 may be summarized as follows : All the 

 brethren and sisters on their first entry should 

 take an oath of obedience and fealty to the 

 master and to live chastely and honestly 

 within the cloister and without when sent on 

 business of the hospital ; that they should rise 

 in the morning at the ringing of the bell and 

 come in person to the church or chapel to 

 pray for the faithful departed, all the bene- 

 factors of the hospital, and specially for the 

 royal family ; that they should have a cloister, 

 the gates of which should be closed with iron 

 bars both day and night, and specially by 

 night ; that a general porter should be 

 specially appointed and sworn to guard the 

 gates according to rule, whose business also 

 it would be to keep the well (fontem) and the 

 court within and without the cloister clean 

 from all defilement ; that the brethren should 

 sleep in one house and likewise the sisters in 

 another by themselves ; that none of the 

 brethren or sisters should go out of the cloister 

 wandering about the country or city without 

 special leave of the master ; that the brethren 

 should work as long as they could for the 

 common benefit of the hospital ; that no 

 brother or sister should go out of the cloister 

 under penalty by night by the walls or the 

 gate, or by day from the ringing of the bell 

 in the hall until the ringing of the bell in the 

 church ; that the brethren and sisters should 

 be obedient to the precepts of the master or 

 his deputy in all things lawful and honest, 

 and any brother or sister found refractory or 

 disobedient, for the first offence should lose 

 his or her livery and be admonished, for the 

 second should lose the two next liveries and 

 be admonished to amend, otherwise on the 

 third offence he or she should be expelled 

 from the cloister and be entirely deprived of 

 his or her corrody without hope of return ; 

 that the master should not permit any married 

 man or woman staying within the cloister to 

 pass the night with wife or husband, brother 

 or sister, within the cloister, to commit forni- 

 cation or other offence on pain of expulsion ; 



that a brother or sister making a quarrel or 

 charge unjustly, whereby public or private 

 scandal should arise, should suffer similar pen- 

 alties ; and that none should usurp any office 

 or power within the hospital without the 

 assent of the master and the more discreet 

 part of the chapter. 



When the war broke out in 1296 between 

 the two kingdoms, the hospital from its posi- 

 tion without the walls of Carlisle was open to 

 attack and soon became impoverished and 

 almost ruined. It was found next to impos- 

 sible to observe the rules laid down a few 

 years before. Whereupon Richard Oriell, 

 the custos during the absence of Hugh de 

 Cressingham the master, managed as best he 

 could in the altered state of political affairs. 

 It was arranged by him that each of the 

 brethren and sisters should receive yearly from 

 the hospital by the hands of the master for 

 sustenance two skeps of barley, two skeps of 

 oats, two skeps of flour, three strikes of wheat, 

 if there was wheat enough from the wainage of 

 the hospital, two cart and two wagon loads of 

 wood, a portion of the bread and ale received 

 from the commonalty of Carlisle, and 4*. out 

 of the rents of the hospital for clothing and 

 other necessaries till the house was relieved. 2 



The procedure introduced by Oriell and 

 followed by some of his successors was a great 

 benefit to the house, whereby it was much 

 enriched, and many poor persons other than 

 foundationers were participators in its alms. 

 When Edward II. bestowed the custody on 

 Thomas de Wederhale, the good governance 

 of the hospital began to decline. The new 

 master was not a chaplain and did not observe 

 the rules of the foundation or the constitu- 

 tions made by his predecessors. He wasted 

 the goods in many ways and kept the common 

 seal in his own possession, and charged the 

 hospital with corrodies to divers people with- 

 out the assent of the brethren and sisters. 

 The chapter of the hospital soon ceased to 

 exist under his methods. When an inmate 

 of the hospital died, no other was admitted to 

 residence according to the rules of the founda- 

 tion, those being non-resident who were ad- 

 mitted on the presentation of benefactors like 

 the heirs of Hugh de Morvill and the com- 

 monalty of Carlisle. During the mastership 

 of Wederhale the number of lepers and other 

 poor persons was curtailed, and divine worship 

 and works of piety were wholly withdrawn, 

 except that he retained a chaplain to sing 

 mass daily and eight poor persons who dwelt 

 elsewhere and lived on the goods of the 

 hospital. The affairs of the house went from 



II 



1 Pat. 15 Edw. III. pt. i. m. 49. 



Ibid. 



201 



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