A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



placed an almsman there, who received 2s. a 

 year, a suit of clothes, and a load of firewood ; 

 he was called the ' lazer ' or the ' lazerman ' as 

 late as the 1 8th century.^^ 



Wardens of St. Leonard's 



William Chaundeler, occurs 1358^" 

 John Alestre, died 1 521 

 Thomas Gibbonson, appointed 152 1 ^^ 

 William Lewes, appointed 1534"^ 



33. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. MARY AT 

 WEST BAR, NOTTINGHAM 



Protection was granted for two years by 

 Edward III in 1330 to the leprous men of the 

 hospital of St. Mary atte Westebarre, Nottingham, 

 when collecting alms for the support of their 

 house.'" This protection was renewed for 

 another two years in July 1334.*" 



Nothing more is known of this lazar-house ; 

 it is not once mentioned in the borough records. 

 Most of England's walled towns had small 

 lazar-houses at their gates — sometimes, as at 

 Norwich, '°' at each gate — which were unen- 

 dowed and chiefly supported by the casual alms 

 of travellers or of charitable townsfolk. 



34. PLUMTREE'S HOSPITAL, 

 NOTTINGHAM 



John Plumtree of Nottingham obtained 

 licence from Richard II in July 1392 to found 

 a hospitaler Domus Dei at the Bridge End (now 

 Red Lion Square), to be served by two chaplains, 

 one of vyhom was to be the master or warden, 

 for the support of thirteen aged poor widows. 

 The founder endowed it with a messuage on 

 which the house was built and with ten other 

 messuages and two tofts all within the borough 

 of Nottingham.'*' 



In this case, as in many others, preparations 

 for the establishment of a house of this character 

 were made some little time before the formal 

 legal sanction had been obtained. There are two 

 documents of the year 1390 among the town 

 muniments transferring land to the founder for 

 this hospital.'** 



John de Plumtree was a leading burgess of 

 the community and was thrice mayor, namely 



'" Nortiamfii. Bar. Rec. ii, 332-3. 



"" Deering, Nott 153. 



'^ h'ctt. Bor. Rec. iii, 150. 



'^^ Ibid. 442. 



'" Pat. 5 Edw. Ill, pt. ii,m. 34. 



'" Pat. 8 Edw. Ill, pt. i, m. 7. 



^'* F. C.H.N orf. ii, 449. 



'"" Pat. 16 Ric. II, pt. i, m. 28. 



"■ Nott. Bor. Rec. i, 249. 



in 1385-6, 1394-5, and 1 408-9. This hos- 

 pital, dedicated in honour of the Annunciation 

 of the Blessed Virgin, was founded for the good 

 estate of the founder, of his wife Emma, and for 

 their souls after death, and for the souls of their 

 parents and other ancestors. To emphasize this 

 purpose a chantry was ordained, in the year 

 1400, at the altar of the Annunciation in the 

 chapel of this hospital. By this document a 

 stipend of j^5 was assigned to each of the chap- 

 lains, and the presentation, after the founder's 

 death, vested in the Prior and Convent of 

 Lenton."^ 



Prior, however, to the formal founding of this 

 chantn,', an important special recognition of the 

 altar of St. Mary was obtained from Boniface IX. 

 The pope, in February 1393, granted relaxation 

 of two years and two quadragene of enjoined 

 penance to penitents who on the principal feasts 

 of the year or their octaves, and of 100 days to 

 those who during the six days of Whitsun week, 

 visited and gave alms at the altar of St. Mary in 

 St. Mary's Hospital, Nottingham, in Fishergate, 

 for the construction of the same.'™ 



The first two chaplains entered in the epis- 

 copal registers were Thomas Tawburne, master, 

 and John de Coventry, second chaplain. They 

 were instituted on the same day that Archbishop 

 Scrope confirmed the establishment of the 

 chantry, namely on 22 July 1400.'" 



Boniface IX in 1402 granted to the warden 

 and others of the hospital of the Annunciation of 

 St. Mary the Virgin, at the Bridge End, Not- 

 tingham, exemption for all their houses, posses- 

 sions, and goods, present and future, from all 

 jurisdiction of the ordinary, taking them imder 

 the immediate protection of St. Peter and the 

 apostolic see, to which alone they were to be 

 subject both in spiritualities and temporalities ; 

 with indult to the warden and his successors to 

 grant to the brethren and sisters plenary re- 

 mission in the article of death, and power to 

 choose and depute three or more fit priests, over 

 and above the number of two priests as instituted 

 by the founder, for the celebration of divine 

 oflSces. The pope further directed that the 

 warden and chaplain shall in future, on greater 

 double feasts, celebrate or cause to be celebrated 

 mass and other divine offices in the hospital 

 chapel solemnly with music.'^^ 



Although thirteen widows are named in the 

 foundation of this house, it does not appear certain 

 that the endowments were ever sufficient in old 

 days to maintain such a number. The will of 

 Anne Plumtree, 1403, leaves to the widows of 

 this hospital a dozen of woollen cloth to be 

 divided among them. The will of Henry 

 Plumtree, elder brother of the founder, 1408, 



'^ York Epis. Reg. Scrope, fol. 75. 

 '" Cal. of Papal Letters, iv, 450. 

 "" Stapleton, Rerig. Inst, of Old Nott. 78. 

 '" Cal. of Papal Letters, v, 489. 



174 



