RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



1 8. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. LEONARD, 



LANCASTER 



The hospital of lepers at Lancaster, dedicated 

 to St. Leonard, is said to have been founded by 

 King John when count of Mortain and lord of 

 the honour of Lancaster, 1189-94.^" It is first 

 mentioned in the charter which he granted be- 

 tween those dates to Lancaster Priory.^' In the 

 fourteenth century it sustained a chaplain and 

 nine poor persons, of whom three were to be 

 lepers,^' but it is always referred to in early 

 documents as the hosp'itale leprosorum of Lancaster. 



John's grant included free pasture for their 

 animals in his forest of Lonsdale, and the right 

 of taking fuel and building timber therein with- 

 out payment. Deprived of these privileges dur- 

 ing the civil troubles which followed, they secured 

 orders for their enforcement from Henry III in 

 1220,*^ 1225,^' and 1229.^ From Pope Celes- 

 tine III {119 1-8) they claimed to have obtained 

 exemption from payment of tithes on lands in 

 their own cultivation. This led to disputes with 

 the priory of Lancaster, which owned the rectorial 

 tithes of the parish. The first recorded ended 

 in a compromise about 1245.'^ ^^i 1317 there 

 was further litigation. The prior complained 

 that the master of the hospital withheld tithes at 

 Skerton and Lancaster to the amount of £$, and 

 the oblations of the hospital chapel, worth £1. 

 On the question of tithe the master pleaded the 

 bull of Pope Celestine, to which the prior re- 

 torted that the benefits of the bull were exclu- 

 sively intended for lepers,'^ and that in any case it 

 only covered land newly brought into cultivation, 

 whereas that in dispute had been cultivated from 

 time immemorial. He alleged seisin of both tithes 

 and oblations since the date of the bull. Judge- 

 ment was given against the hospitalonboth heads.'^ 



On the forfeiture of Thomas of Lancaster the 

 advowson of the hospital was taken into the 

 hands of the crown, and one William de Dalton 

 obtaining a grant of the wardenship ejected 

 several of the lepers and poor inmates, and sub- 

 let the wardenship to William de Skipton and 

 Alan de Thornton, who diverted much of its 

 revenue to their own uses.'* A protest was 

 made and the king ordered an inquiry. The 

 jury reported (5 October, 1323) that the custom 

 had been for the brethren to elect one of the 



" Inq. a.q.d. 17 Edw. II (1323), No. 72. 



^ Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 298. 



" See note 25. The lepers were separately lodged 

 in a building known as the ' Spitell house ' ; Lanes. 

 Pleadings (Rec. See), i, 211. 



" Rot. Claus. (Rec. Com.), 414^ ; Finei, Lanes. Inq. 

 i, 88. "C«/. Pat. 1216-25, p. 525. 



^ Cal. Close, 1227-31, pp. 182, 195. 



" Roper, Hist, of Lane. Ch. (Chet. Soc), 305. 



" Who were a minority in the hospital. 



^Hist. of Lane. Ch. 487. 



" Inq. a.q.d. 17 Edw. II, No. 72. 



lepers as master and present him to the seneschal 

 of Lancaster, who instituted him.'" Three years 

 later, however, the crown appointed a warden.'^ 



On I November, 1356, the mastership being 

 vacant, Henry duke of Lancaster gave the hos- 

 pital to the nuns of Seton in Cumberland to 

 relieve their poverty.'' His generosity is said to 

 have been inspired by his servant. Sir Robert Law- 

 rence, kt., of Ashton, near Lancaster, a kinsman 

 of the prioress.'' The grant was conditional on 

 the consent of the burgesses of Lancaster and 

 on the nuns finding at the priory a chantry of one 

 chaplain to replace that at the hospital and agree- 

 ing to continue its alms and dues at Lancaster." 



How long this last condition continued to be 

 fulfilled is not recorded, but an inquiry held at the 

 instance of the burgesses in 1 531 showed that no 

 alms had been done for sixty years, and that the 

 lazar house had been pulled down and the church 

 and other buildings allowed to fall into ruin. 

 The prioress, though summoned, did not appear 

 to answer the allegations of the townsmen.*" 



In the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas the posses- 

 sions of the hospital after allowing for necessary 

 expenses were assessed at 1 31. ^d.^^ The tem- 

 poralities comprised one plough-land in Skerton, 

 with a manor and mill in Lancaster.*^ Accord- 

 ing to the jurors of 1 53 1 they had been worth 

 about j^6 13J. i^d. a year ;*' they were assessed 

 '" 1535 ^t 0^-^ The daily portion of the 

 brethren according to the inquisition of 1323 

 reveals the poverty of the house ; it consisted of 

 a loaf weighing I lb. 12 oz. with pottage on 

 Sunday, Monday and Friday.*' 



Masters or Wardens of the Hospital 



Nicholas,*' occurs 1224-5 



William Dalton,*' occurs 1323 



Richard de Cesaye,** appointed 23 February, 



1326 

 Robert de Arden,*' occurs 1334 



" Ibid. '* See below . " Dugdale, Mon. iv, z 2 7. 



" Lanes. Pleadings (Rec. Soc), i, 212. 



'' The charter as printed in Dugdale requires the 

 burgesses to continue their alms, but the translation 

 in the pleadings takes it as an obligation on the nuns. 



" Lanes. Pleadings, i, 21 1-14. 



*' Pope Nieh. Tax. 309. The income in 1323 was 

 £6 6s. Sd. ; Inq. a.q.d. 17 Edw. II, No. 72. 



" Ibid. ; Lanes. Inquests, i, 294. 



" Lanes. Pleadings, i, 212. This income was in- 

 creased by the alms and oiFerings given by strangers. 



" Falor Eeel (Rec. Com.), v, 265. 



" Inq. a.q.d. 17 Edw. II, No. 72. 



" Lanes. Final Cone, i, 46. 



" Inq. a.q.d. 17 Edw. II, No. 72. 



*' Cal. Pat. 1324-7, p. 245. Cesaye, described as 

 a chaplain, received a grant of the wardenship for life 

 from the crown, to whom the patronage had reverted 

 on the forfeiture of Thomas of Lancaster. Confirma- 

 tion is wanted of the statement made in 1 5 3 1 that 

 the appointment of a warden had to be confirmed by 

 the burgesses. " Coram Rege R. 297, m. 1 1. 



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