A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



40 flagons of good ale or 40^. ; at Martinmas 

 a pig from the store or money ; and during the 

 year a quarter of oats, a bushel of beans, another 

 of peas and 2 bushels of salt or the current price, 

 14J. for firing, 4J-. for clothing, an occasional 

 penny for a pittance and a share of the king's 

 gift of 30J. 5^.1' Instead of the one priest** 

 there were to be five, and more if the income of 

 the place increased ; they must be men of good 

 character^ and were to be examined by the 

 archdeacon and admitted by him or the abbot. 

 Their dress, like that of the priests of Pr^ was 

 to be a tunic, long-sleeved super-tunic closed 

 to the ankles, tabard and hood, aU of black,*' 

 and each was to have a mark a year for clothing, 

 the master 2 marks. They were to have meals 

 together,*^ and were to Uve and sleep in pairs 

 until a common dormitory could be made. 

 Services ** were to begin at dawn, the priest of 

 the week *' saying the hours and another brother 

 the mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary ; then were 

 to come the services for the lepers, to be followed 

 by the mass of the day said by the priest of the 

 week ; all the inmates were to attend vespers 

 and compline ; arrangements were made for 

 festivals, and for prayers for the benefactors of 

 St. Albans and St. JuUan's. The master, who 

 was to be chosen from the chaplains by the abbot 

 and if unsatisfactory was removable by him, 

 was empowered to correct small faults, but 

 correction otherwise was to be left to the abbot. 

 Chapters were to be held twice a week ; and 

 pensions and corrodies ^^ were never to be 

 granted on any pretext whatever. 



" The rest of the hospital income was to be 

 applied to the maintenance of the master and chap- 

 lains. 



'* Certain tithes in the parishes of St. Michael 

 and St. Stephen were allotted to him from the 

 foundation (Cott. MS. Nero, D i, fol. 193). 



" Natives of the districts ruled by the abbot to be 

 preferred to others. 



" They were to wear boots or low shoes with 

 black or brown hose, but were not to be shod in any 

 colour they pleased. 



*' In illness food was to be taken to them and 

 money given for medicine and special diet. 



** Abbot Michael gave beautiful books to the 

 hospital both for divine service and secular use {Getta 

 Abbat. ii, 315). 



*' A table of services and those to celebrate them 

 was to be made, so that all should take their turn in 

 order. 



^ The king often provided for old servants by 

 quartering them on religious houses. In 1 3 1 8 

 Edward II requested the same provision to be made 

 for Simon Plane at St. Julian's as John Giffard 

 lately had {flal. Close, 1 3 1 8-23, p. 1 1 6). Edward III 

 in May 1327 asked the abbot to admit a servant of 

 his who was smitten with leprosy (ibid. 1327-30, 

 p. 199), but when this man died another who was 

 probably not a leper was sent to replace him (ibid. 

 '339-+«. P-46i)- 



In 1342 an attack had been made on the 

 property of the hospital at Park and Tytten- 

 hanger, and th^ common seal, deeds and other 

 muniments stolen,** and usurpations of its 

 possessions, attributed by Abbot Michael partly 

 to the carelessness of the brothers, were 

 apparently not unusual. Edward III made them 

 the reason for appointing a commission of 

 inquiry in 1355, on the ground that there had 

 been in consequence a decrease in the number 

 of lepers in the house, and therefore of prayers 

 for his ancestors, who he assumed were 

 founders.^ The result is not known, but it is 

 unlikely that Thomas de la Mare, then Abbot 

 of St. Albans, acquiesced in this encroachment 

 on his rights. 



This abbot interested himself personally in 

 St. JuUan's, acting as confessor to the lepers 

 in spite of the physical unpleasantness of the 

 task.** He also made rules for the place.^* 

 After a preamble stating that the hospital 

 was founded and maintained by the Abbot and 

 convent of St. Albans, and that to the abbot 

 therefore belonged the control of spiritual and 

 temporal things there, he insisted on the rule as 

 to clothes being kept ; the lepers must wear 

 high boots with three or four lacings, and low 

 shoes were prohibited ; those who wished to 

 become brothers were to be on probation that 

 their ways and speech might be under observa- 

 tion ; the brothers were to love God and show 

 mutual charity ; in church they were to sit in 

 the order in which they entered the hospital 

 and not to presume through pride to take 

 another's place, and silence must be observed 

 during service ; loitering near the high road was 

 forbidden ; none was to pass the bounds of 

 old estabhshed ; only the brother to whom such 

 charge was committed was to enter the brewery 

 or bake-house, and he was never to go near the 

 bread and ale, since it was not fitting that men 

 with their disease should touch things destined 

 for the common use of men ; the doors towards 

 the garden were to be kept well closed to 

 prevent scandals and other evils that might arise 

 from free entrance, and brothers were not to 

 go out without special leave ; a brother passing 

 the bounds should be punished by the with- 

 drawal of his allowance, and anyone absenting 

 himself a day and a night without leave of the 

 abbot or archdeacon should be accounted a 

 fugitive, and not enter again without the abbot's 



" Cd. Pat. 1340-3, p. 554. 



^ Ibid. 1354-8, p. 330. 



^ Gesia Abbat. iii, 406. 



" Cott. MS. Claud. E iv, fol. 375-6 d. In the 

 form of oath to be taken by the rector or chaplain of 

 the lepers the abbot's name instead of being repre- 

 sented by a letter is given as Thomas (fol. 376 d.). 

 After Thomas de la Mare there is no Abbot Thomas 

 until 1 492, when the need for rules at St. Julian's 

 was over. 



466 



