RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



The brothers received two papal bulls,*' that 

 of Pope Gregory *« extending the protection of 

 St. Peter to them and their goods and confirming 

 the gifts of Abbot Geoffrey, the King of England 

 and others ; that of Pope Innocent ** granting 

 papal protection and confirmation and for- 

 bidding tithes to be taken of their orchards, 

 woods and animals. 



The perpetual right which the Perots claimed 

 to place a leper in the hospital was disputed in 

 1278. The master refused to admit Ralph 

 Perot's nominee, and a suit was consequently 

 brought against him.^"" However, in the end 

 Abbot Roger came to terms with Ralph and 

 settled the difficulty.^ 



No light is thrown upon the working of the 

 hospital until the 14th century, but in 1305 

 it had as master a certain papal chaplain, 

 Reginald of St. Albans,^ who held three churches 

 and three prebends, so that it is hardly likely 

 that the lepers received much of his attention. 



The events recorded in an undated petition of 

 the lepers to the king ' occurred probably in the 

 reign of Edward II.* It states that the abbot 

 while on a visitation had demanded the keys of 

 the common chest and view of the lepers' own 

 goods. On their demurring he had them turned 

 out of their house, and had broken the locks and 

 carried off their private property to the value of 

 j^6o and more, the greater part of which belonged 

 to two brothers, Walter and Hugh de Aylesbury; 

 he had moreover broken open the common chest 

 and taken away their charters and privileges. 

 They therefore begged the king to appoint 

 persons to inquire into these and other matters 

 which they would then disclose. The confiscation 

 of the money seems sheer robbery, but it is not 

 easy to arrive at the truth in these cases. The 

 brothers resented, and probably resisted the 

 visitation itself, as contrary to their rights,* 



" Cott. MS. Nero, D i, fol. 193. 



'' Probably Gregory IX, and in that case the bull 

 was issued in 1228. 



'' It is dated 4 May, sixth year of his pontificate, 

 and may have been granted by Innocent II in 

 1 135-6, Innocent III in 1203-4, or Innocent IV in 

 1249. 



"» Assize R. 323, m. 31 (6 Edw. I). 



1 Gesta Abbat. (Rolls Ser.), i, 480. 



^ Cal. of Papal Letters, ii, I . 



' Anct. Pet. (P.R.O.), no. 7075, file 142. 



* At the end of the reign of Edward I there was a 

 royal official called Walter de Aylesbury (Cal. Close, 

 1302-7, pp. 67, 404, 484), and although there is 

 nothing actually to connect him with the leper of 

 that name, the latter and his brother were very well 

 provided with money and were apparently the most 

 important inmates of the hospital, for only one other 

 of the six is mentioned. Besides extortion from 

 dependent houses was characteristic of Hugh de 

 Eversden, Abbot of St. Albans 1 309-27. 



' They considered it a contravention of Geoffrey's 

 charter (see above). 



and in this were quite wrong. The constitutions 

 niade by Abbot Michael in 1344 » s^ow that 

 discipline was lacking there, and the author of 

 the Gesia Abbatum ' says plainly that the lepers 

 had hitherto had more freedom than was good 

 for them or the reputation of the hospital. 

 These regulations, after stating that there were 

 often fewer lepers * than could be supported on 

 the hospital property," provided that in future 

 there should be six lepers there who were to be 

 admitted by the abbot or his archdeacon; 

 preference was to be given to monks of St. 

 Albans or persons born within the abbey's 

 jurisdiction, and married men were not to be 

 received except under certain conditions .i" 

 Their dress of russet colour was to consist of 

 a tunic vnth sleeves which were to extend to 

 the hand and were not to be stitched up or 

 buttoned, a super-tunic closed to the ankles 

 with sleeves covering the elbows, and a cowl ; 

 when they went to church they were to wear 

 black cloaks with hoods as of old ; they were 

 to have large boots and might wear hose. At 

 a suitable hour, not very early because of 

 their ill-health, a bell was to be rung, and they 

 were to go to the chapel to hear hours and 

 mass said by the rector, called the chaplain 

 of the lepers ; afterwards they must go straight 

 back to the hospital. They were forbidden to 

 loiter on the high road between the church and 

 the house, or to pass the bounds of the hospital 

 except by leave of the master, who must never 

 allow them to go to the town of St. Albans, to 

 stay away the night, or to enter a brewery, bake- 

 house or grange.^ No women were to enter the 

 hospital but the washerwoman on her business 

 or near relations of the brothers visiting them in 

 sickness, and then only in daylight. When a 

 leper was received as brother he was to make an 

 inventory of the goods he brought with him, one- 

 third of which he might bequeath by will to 

 servants of the place or meritorious persons ; 

 the rest at his death went to the community. 

 By old custom each leper was allowed 7 loaves 

 a week, 5 white and 2 brown, 14 flagons of ale 

 or ^d. ; on certain feasts ^ a loaf, a measure 

 of ale or id., and \d. in money ; at Christmas 



6 Cott. MS. Claud. E iv, fol. 371-4 d. 



'Vol. ii, 315. 



^ Generally not more than three, sometimes only 

 one. 



" In 1254, according to Matthew Paris {Chron. 

 Maj. [Rolls Ser.], v, 452), the revenues had barely 

 sufiiced for the lepers' maintenance. 



1" The wife must also adopt a religious life, so that 

 the husband was freed from the marriage tie. 



11 A sanitary precaution for the protection of 

 others. 



12 All Saints, St. Julian, the Purification of the 

 Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation, Trinity, 

 St. Alban, St. John Baptist, Assumption and Nativity 

 of the Virgin. 



465 



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