RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Richard Clifford, occurs 1397 "* 

 John Hylyard, occurs 1402 °' 

 John Carlton «'" 



William Ayscough, resigned 1437 *' 

 Robert Ayscough, appointed 1437*°" 

 Richard Baldewyn, occurs 1535-6°' and 

 1546 •» 



153. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY 

 MAGDALENE, RIPON 



At an inquisition held in September 1341 °° 

 the jurors made return that the hospital had been 

 founded by an unknown Archbishop of York. 

 Sisters only, with a chaplain, are there spoken of 

 as belonging to the hospital. They lived as if 

 professed {quasi religiose), and had certain specified 

 duties to perform as to the maintenance of lepers. 

 It was said that they all died, and that then a 

 change was made in the constitution of the 

 hospital, which is more fully alluded to at an 

 inquisition held in the following year. On that 

 occasion '" the jurors stated that the hospital had 

 been founded by Archbishop Thurstan, who had 

 placed in it secular brothers and sisters, with a 

 chaplain. He had endowed the hospital that the 

 brothers and sisters should receive and maintain 

 all blind priests and lepers born in the liberty of 

 Ripon. Ten years later, on 19 November 1352,'^ 

 at another inquisition, the jurors repeated the 

 statement that Archbishop Thurstan was the 

 founder. They had learnt this, not from docu- 

 ments, but from what they had heard from their 

 forefathers and elders. The jurors further stated 

 that an archbishop, whose name was unknown, 

 had altered the constitution of the hospital, and 

 had expelled th# brothers and sisters, on account 

 of ' defects ' he had found at a visitation. The 

 new constitution provided for a warden and a 

 chaplain, or for two chaplans, if the warden was 

 not a priest. They were to celebrate daily in 

 the chapel, and attend to the lepers. 



At the visitation of 1341 '^ the jurors found 

 that the archbishop (or sede vacante the king) was 

 the patron. The founder had endowed it with 

 a plot of land, with underwood, in Ripon called 

 Dunscewith, worth \oqs. a year, on which the 



"Pat. 21 Ric. II,m. 27. 



^ Cal. of Papal Letters, v, 469. 



*" Predecessor of William Ayscough ; Early Chan. 

 Proc. bdle. 11, no. 220. 



"^ Cal. Pat. 1436-41, p. 51. 



^ Ibid. 



" Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 238. 



^ Yorks. Chant. Surv. (Surt. Soc), i, 140. 



^Mem. of Ripon (Surt. Soc), i, 223; Dugdale, 

 Mon. Angl. vi, 620. 



"On 5 Sept. 1342 ; Mem. of Ripon (Surt. Soc), 

 i, 228. 



"Ibid. 234. 



"M//». of Ripon (Surt. Soc), i, 223. 



hospital had been placed, and he had granted a 

 supply of wood for fuel from Northscogh, and 

 certain pasturage there. The hospital was also 

 to receive from each carucate of arable land in 

 ' Ripshire ' a thrave of each kind of grain, which 

 was worth 20J. a year. The sisters were to 

 maintain a priest to celebrate in the chapel, and 

 any leper born or living in ' Ripshire ' coming to 

 the hospital was to receive a garment called a 

 * Bak ' and two pairs of shoes yearly, besides 

 daily a loaf sufficient to sustain a man, half a 

 lagena of ale, an allowance of meat on meat 

 days, and of fish on fish days. 



Afterwards, alms were given by different 

 persons to the hospital. A third part of Ilketon, 

 worth j^4 a year, was given by William de 

 Homelyn to find a chaplain to pray for his soul, 

 and the manor of Mulwith,'' worth 12 marks 

 a year, had been acquired by the hospital. The 

 jurors did not know whether the hospital chapel 

 had been dedicated or not, but those dying in the 

 hospital were buried there, by licence of the 

 chapter of Ripon. They proceeded to say that 

 one John le Waryner gave to the hospital in 

 the time of the then king the manor of Stud- 

 ley Roger, to find two chaplains in the hospital 

 while he lived, and after his death three chaplains, 

 and the hospital was bound to him in 12 marks 

 yearly while he lived. 



The jurors added that, the sisters being dead, 

 the archbishop of that day granted the hospital 

 to a certain Robert de Silkestone, chaplain, on 

 condition that he maintained the alms as regarded 

 the chantries and lepers. They also said that 

 John de Brideling[ton], an acolyte, was master, 

 having been appointed a year and a half pre- 

 viously by Archbishop Melton. One of the 

 chaplains had been withdrawn during all his 

 time, and there was no leper, none having 

 applied, and there were no brothers or sisters in 

 the hospital. Alms were given to the poor every 

 feast of St. Mary Magdalene, and the stock and 

 all else were well kept (except the withdrawal 

 of a chaplain and the demolition of a certain 

 building where the lepers dwelt by Henry de 

 Shirehake, formerly master). Archbishop Mel- 

 ton, in the time of Henry de Shirehake, despoiled 

 the hospital of certain land, pasturage, and fuel. 

 The master had been too short a time in office 

 to recover these rights. The only obligations 

 were those of the 12 marks to John le Wary- 

 ner while he lived, and the salaries of the two 

 chaplains. The master and chaplains were of 

 good report and honest conversation. 



" ' Mulewath ' and Newby, given cum corpore suo to 

 the hospital by William de Winchelcumbe, were 

 confirmed to them 15 Sept. 1 24 1 by Archbishop 

 Walter Gray ; Archbp. Graf s Reg. (Surt. Soc), 91. 

 The gift, however, was considerably earlier, for in 

 1228 the master of St. Mary Magdalene's Hospital 

 was returned as holding in Newby and Mulwith ; 

 ibid. 62. 



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