A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



Monk Bridge Maison Dieu. — There was 

 a small hospital on Monk Bridge as early as 

 1350, in which year Edward III granted pro- 

 tection for the master and brethren of the 

 hospital of lepers of St. Leonard on ' Monkbrig,' 

 who had not suflBcient to live on unless relieved 

 by alms.** It was possibly refounded by Robert 

 de Howm, citizen and merchant of York, who 

 died in 1396, and in his will desired ^ that 

 Robert his son and all into whose hands certain 

 of his lands should come were to * uphold a house 

 near Monk Bridge in Monkgate . . . which I 

 have made into a hospital {ad hospitandum) for poor 

 invalids of both sexes there, for the poor of which 

 sort I have constructed twenty beds in the same, 

 for the health of my soul and the souls of all 

 faithful departed.' The will proceeds with 

 directions that the house was to be maintained for 

 100 years after his death. 



North Street Maison Dieu, York. — 

 This house possibly owed its origin to William 

 de Salley, SherifiFof York, 1397-8, who in 1401 

 occurs as founder or patron. In his will (1408) 

 he bequeathed to his wife a tenement in North 

 Street in St. John's parish, facing the king's 

 highway, with six houses in the lane there, 

 beside the ' Meson Dieu ' on the south side of 

 the lane. ^ 



Perhaps this was really the house founded by 

 Isolda de Akastre, of which William de Salley 

 had become patron. The * hospital of Ysolda 

 Akaster in North Street' is mentioned by Richard 

 Howme, and to the poor of the house he left 

 401. for equal division among them.*' Isolda de 

 Acaster was the widow of John de Acaster, 

 Mayor of York in 1364 and again in 1378-9, 

 and the hospital is ascribed to John de Acaster 

 in the will of Margaret de Knaresburgh, 1398.*° 



OusEBRiDGE Maison Dieu. — Drake men- 

 tions the 'hospital or maisondieu' on Ouse- 

 bridge.*' Allusions to it are frequent, especially 

 in bequests to the poor in it. It sheltered 

 persons of both sexes, and was one of the chief 

 institutions of its kind in York. In 1305, when 

 certain citizens of York were accused of forming 

 an illegal fraternity or gild, the defendants 

 alleged that there was a house of old time 

 foxmded by the citizens and good men upon the 

 Ousebridge by the chapel of St. William, which 

 was known as 'God's house,' endowed with 

 lands and rents for the support of the poor and 

 lepers ; and many citizens who had fallen upon 



^ CaLPat. 1348-50, p. 542. 

 ^ R. Beilby Cooke, 5me Early Civic Willi of 

 York, 34. 



** See as regards this Reg. of Corpus Cirijti Guild, 

 Tork, 238 n. 



" Some Early Civic TFills of Tork, 22, 23. To 'le 

 meysendieu in North Street' William Dnrem in 

 1390 left 5/. (York Reg. of WiUs, i, fol. 20). 



•« Test. Ebor. (Surt. Soc), i, 220. 



*' Ebor. 236. 



misfortime were supported by this institution, 

 but through the neglect and mismanagement of 

 the authorities it had died out many years before, 

 and they, for the good of their own souls and for 

 the soul of King Edward, had refounded the 

 charity in i302,endowing a chaplain and founding 

 a gild to perpetuate the alms.** 



Peter Lane Little Maison Dieu. — This 

 house was founded by John de Derthyngton ** at 

 the end of the 14th century, prior to 1390,'" when 

 Roger de Moreton bequeathed lid. to the poor 

 in ' le mesondieu Johannis de Derthyngton in 

 Peter Lane,' and William Durem " left 51, 

 ' pauperibus in le maisyndew in Petirlane 

 littyll.' In 1396 " Robert Howm (the founder 

 of Monk Bridge Maison Dieu) left 40J, to the 

 poor ' in hospitali Johannis de Derthyngton in 

 la Peter Lane Littyll.' It was in existence in 

 1474, when William Skynner left 31. 4//. 

 ' pauperibus hominibus existentibus in le maisin- 

 dew in Peter lane littil.'"' 



Layerthorpe Hospital. — All that is known 

 of this hospital is Leland's statement."* ' Ther 

 was a place of the Bigotes hard withyn Laithorp 

 Gate, and by it an hospital of the Bigotes 

 foundation. Syr Francis Bygot let booth the 

 Hospital and his House al to ruine.' It is 

 probably the same as the Layerthorpe Bridge 

 Maison Dieu, said to be mentioned in 1407.°' 



Whitefriars Lane Maison Dieu, — This 

 house is said to have been founded by John 

 Holme in 1472." On 7 September 1481 " 

 Archbishop Rotherham granted a forty days' 

 indulgence to all those who, having confessed 

 their sins, contributed to the maintenance and 

 refection of the poor of either sex in a certain 

 house called ' Masyndew in le Whit Friar layn,' 

 York. 



Drake mentions the existence of a hospital of 

 St. Loy on the east side of Monk Bridge,'* and 

 of a hospital or maison dieu of the Shoemakers, 

 near Walmgate Bar.°° A maison dieu in 

 Stonebow Lane occurs in a will of 1362,™ and 

 one in the Little Shambles in 1470,'" and it is 

 possible that there were other small establish- 

 ments of which even the names are not remem- ' 

 bered. 



™ Assize R. 1107, m. 19. 



^ He died in 1402. York Reg. of WiUs, iii, 

 fol. 73). 



" Ibid, i, fol. 143. 



" Ibid. fol. 20. 



^ Cooke, Some Early Civic Wills of York, 23. 



" York Reg. of Wills, iv, fol. 214^. 



" Dugdale, Mon. Angl vi, 782, quoting Leland, 

 Itin. i, 57. 



" Bnt. Assoc. Handbk. (York), 201. 



»« Ibid. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Rotherham, fol. 34^. 



''Ebor. 252. 



" Ibid. 236, 306. 



"" Brit. Assoc. Handbk. (York), 203. 



■"Ibid. 



352 



