RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



There were further augmentations granted 

 to the hospital during the reign of Henry III.* 



License was granted in January 1331 for 

 the warden and brethren of the hospital of 

 Sandon by Kingston to acquire in mortmain 

 land and rent, not held in chief, to the 

 yearly value of £10.^ In this year the hos- 

 pital found itself in such straits that the 

 bishop issued a commission, consisting of 

 Richard, chaplain of Walton, and William 

 de Holton, constable of Farnham, to inquire 

 into the condition and administration of the 

 house, and to provide some remedy for their 

 wants.' 



Warden Brounchild resigned on 30 No- 

 vember I 331, when the custody of the hos- 

 pital was awarded by the bishop to John de 

 Crokford. The wardenship was kept vacant 

 until November 1333, when the brethren 

 were allowed to elect ; they chose John de 

 Crokford, and the bishop confirmed the ap- 

 pointment.* 



In 1338 the brethren were all dead, save 

 warden Crokford, who was induced to resign. 

 Bishop Orlton collated John Askham to the 

 office ; but Crokford refused to give up pos- 

 session, and both Askham and Crokford were 

 cited to appear before the bishop's commis- 

 sary for inquiry and judgment. The registers 

 do not record the result.^ The terrible 

 Black Death made a clean sweep of the 

 warden and brethren of this hospital in the 

 beginning of 1349,° but the Bishop of Win- 

 chester boldly held an ordination that summer 

 in the chapel of the desolated house.'' 



During the wardenship of William Masse 

 the hospital, as might have been expected, 

 suffered from the non-residence of its warden, 

 and on 27 November 1371 he was cited to 

 appear at the parish church of Waltham to 

 answer interrogatories as to his administration 

 of the hospital and to produce an inventory of 

 the goods.^ John Ware, who succeeded Masse, 

 was also a pluralist. The house was visited 

 in November 1374 by William Lozynge, the 

 chancellor of the diocese, and John de Kel- 

 sey, under the bishop's mandates.* The 

 usual fault in the smaller religious houses was 

 the improper administration of the property. 

 On this account probably at the institution of 



1 Feet of F. Surr., quoted by Manning and Bray, 

 Hist, of Surr. ii. 750. 



2 Pat. 4 Edw. III. pt. ii. m. 10. 



3 Winton. Epis. Reg., Stratford, f. 58. 

 * Ibid.ff. 126, 137. 



5 Ibid. Orlton. i. f. 123 ; ii. f. 68b. 

 » Lowth's Wykeham, 84. 



7 Winton. Epis. Reg., Edendon, i. f. 49b. 



6 Ibid. iii. f. 60. 



9 Ibid. Wykeham, iii. f . 1 16. 



John Carles as warden in 1391 he was 

 pledged to keep an inventory of the goods of 

 the hospital, and to return an annual state- 

 ment of accounts.'" Notwithstanding his 

 pledges however he was cited on 15 June 

 1400 to show cause why he should not ex- 

 hibit an inventory." 



In May 1396 excommunication was 

 pronounced, at the instance of Warden 

 Carles, against certain persons unknown, 

 who had entered the hospital close, and 

 carried off and concealed vessels, utensils, 

 charters, muniments, and ornaments of the 

 house ; at the same time the financial difficul- 

 ties of the hospital are manifested by excom- 

 munication being also pronounced against 

 tenants who were in arrear in their rents.** 



Carles resigned in 1401, and on 26 April 

 of that year Hugh Strenger, ' highly com- 

 mended to us for his virtues and probity,' 

 was instituted as his successor, making oath, 

 like his predecessor, to deliver to the bishop 

 annually a faithful .inventory of the hospital 

 goods.*' It is strange that so energetic a 

 bishop as Wykeham should have been so 

 unfortunate in his choice of incompetent and 

 scandalous clerks to have the rule in this 

 hospital. On 12 December 1401 Strenger 

 had to be inhibited from felling timber for 

 sale,** and in June 1404 a commission was 

 appointed to receive the warden's purgation 

 on a charge of incontinence.*^ 



The financial position of this hospital came 

 to so low an ebb in the time of Henry VI. 

 that on 13 February 1436 the crown 

 granted leave to the Bishop of Winchester to 

 unite it to the hospital of St. Thomas the 

 Martyr, Southwark. The patent states that 

 the hospital was of the patronage and founda- 

 tion of the bishop's predecessors, and gives 

 the dedication as that of the Holy Spirit.** 



14. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. 

 THOMAS, SOUTHWARK 



Within the precincts of the monastery of 

 St. Mary Overy there was a building appro- 

 priated to the use of the sick and the poor, 

 which maintained certain brethren and sis- 

 ters. 



This adjunct of the priory is said to have 

 been founded by St, Thomas of Canterbury, 

 and after his canonization was called by his 

 name.*' At the time of the disastrous fire of 

 1213 this building was much damaged ; 



>o Ibid. i.f. 218. " Ibid. iii. f. 321- 



12 Ibid. iii. f. 289. '^ Ibid. i. 316-17. 



14 Ibid. iii. f. 342. " Ibid. iii. f. 365b. 



18 Pat. 14 Hen. VI. pt. i. m. 4. 

 »' Cal of Papal Pet. (P.R.O.), i. 304. 



119 



