A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



place was made over to Thomas Jakes of Berk- 

 hampstead, gentleman, who in January 1536 

 disposed of a gilt chalice, a mass-book, three 

 vestments and other ornaments, and in Sep- 

 tember 1539 sold the lead roof of the chapel and 

 its bells. ^* The existence of the house was over 

 long before the king granted it and its lands in 

 June 1540 to Robert Horderne." 



Wardens of the Hospital of St. John the 

 Evangelist, Berkhampstead 



John de Rasen, appointed 15 November 



133650 

 Henry Q)ws, chaplain, appointed March 



1390-1 ^ 

 John Mildenale, resigned 1423 ^^ 

 William Seyntpoul, appointed 11 December 



1423," died February 1447 ** 

 Walter Osbarn, appointed 24 February 1447*^ 



24. HOSPITAL OF ST. ERASMUS AND 

 ST. MARY MAGDALENE, CHESHUNT 



There was at one time in Cheshunt a hospital 

 of St. Erasmus and St. Mary Magdalene, appa- 

 rently very small and insignificant.**'' The 

 proctor, Thomas Glasedale, when asked by the 

 vicar-general of the Bishop of London in 

 October 1527** whether the king was their 

 founder, answered that they had neither 

 foundation, incorporation nor bills of privileges. 

 The hospital of St. Mary Magdalene mentioned 

 in connexion with Cheshunt in the Prior of 

 Hertford's accounts of 1497-8 ** was no doubt 

 this house. 



25. HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE, 



CLOTHALL 



The leper hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, 

 Baldock, was founded within the boundary of 

 Clothall parish, apparently at the beginning of 

 the 13th century, by Sir Hugh de Clothall, kt.,*" 



** Rentals and Surv. (Gen. Ser.), portf. 25, no. 37. 



" Pat. 36 Hen. VIII, pt. ix, m. 26. 



50 Cal. Pat. 1334-8, p. 336. 



" Through delay in appointing the master, the 

 nomination had fallen to the Archbishop of Canter- 

 bury, the see of Lincoln being then vacant (Lambeth 

 Cant. Archiepis. Reg. Courtenay, fol. 280 d.). 



52 Cal. Pat. 1422-9, p. 163. 



" Ibid. 



" Ibid. 1446-52, p. 42. 



" Ibid. 



5^7 It does not seem to have been known to 

 Tanner. 



^ Consistory Ct. of London, Vicar-General's book, 

 Foxford, 106. 



5' Rentals and Surv. R. 277. The entry is as 

 follows : 'lid. paid to the hospital of St. Mary 

 Magdalene and 121^. to the nuns of Cheshunt for the 

 said hospital by reason of a certain agreement.' 



60 Harl. Chart. 112 A3. 



lord of the manor, the patronage remaining 

 with the owners of the manor." 



In April 1226 Henry III gave the brothers 

 leave to have a fair at their hospital outside 

 Baldock on the vigil and feast of St. Bar- 

 tholomew until his majority, and ordered the 

 Sheriff of Hertfordshire to have the fair pro- 

 claimed throughout his bailiwick,** but as he 

 came of age in January 1227 and the grant was 

 not renewed, they can only have held the fair 

 once. The brothers and those sent by them to 

 preach for the lepers' maintenance were also 

 given royal letters of protection to last for a 

 year from Christmas 1226." Pope Innocent IV 

 in 1244 took under the protection of St. Peter 

 the master and brothers, their house and present 

 and future possessions.** 



A charter of the 13th century concerning a 

 small grant to the lamp of St. Nicholas *5 men- 

 tions that the chapel was served by two priests. 

 This church was inconveniently situated 

 outside the close at some distance from the 

 hospital, and the master and brothers on 

 26 April 1 275 obtained licence from the king to 

 inclose the intervening high road 588 ft. long 

 and 17 ft. broad on condition that they made 

 another on their own ground.*" A few years 

 later the house itself became untenable owing 

 to its solitary position.*' The brothers suffered 

 such damage from robbers, who attacked and set 

 fire to the place, that the patrons, John de 

 Hauvill and John de Poleye and his wife 

 Muriel,** allowed them to remove to another 

 spot in the parish, providing, however, that the 

 chapel should be built on their fee in ' le Bra da ' 

 and that a mass should be celebrated every day 

 at the old foundation for the souls of Sir Hugh 

 de Clothall, his wife and parents.** The new 

 hospital was finished in 1308, since leave was 

 then given by the Bishop of Lincoln for the 

 brethren to dwell there and have services in the 

 chapel on obtaining the rector's consent.'o 



Royal protection for a year was granted in 

 December 1325 to the master, John de Wotton.'* 



*' The descendants of Simon, Hugh's brother and 

 successor (y.C.H. Herts, iii, 222). 



*2 Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), ii, 107. 



*' Cal. Pat. 1225-32, p. 95. 



** Harl. Chart. Ill A 16. 



*' Ibid. 112 C 14. 



** Inq. a.q.d. file 4, no. 7 ; Cal. Pat. 1272-81, 

 p. 85. 



*' It was evidently in a lonely spot, for a pre- 

 meditated murder was committed in the road by the 

 hospital in 1284-5 (Assize R. 325, m. 31 d.). 



«8 Daughter of Simon de Clothall {V.C.H. Herti. iii, 

 222). 



*' Harl. Chart. 112 A 3. Perhaps this meant 

 that these services were not to be discontinued at the 

 old chapel until they could be performed in the new. 



'0 Line. Epis. Reg. Inst. Dalderby, fol. 239. 



'1 Cal. Pat. 1324-7, p. 192. 



4.60 



