124 



St. Nicholas 9 Hospital, Salisbury. 



references in the old deeds. In 1227 a " procurator/' or steward, 

 has been mentioned, and a " chaplain. " In 1239 and 1241 we hear 

 for the first time of a " magister et fratres S. Nicholai." Master, 

 chaplain, steward, and brothers therefore must already have existed 

 in the "vetus hospitale " under Bishop Richard Poore. In 1245, 

 in the charter of the new foundation, Bingham describes in detail 

 the duties of a eustos (or warden) and chaplain, and besides mentions 

 "ministri" or servants; in addition to which he uses this remark- 

 able phrase " benefactores Hospitalis, fratres et sorores." There 

 were sisters then as well as brothers of the hospital, and both sisters 

 and brothers were, or might be, in a position of life which enabled 

 them to be benefactors : or — which is the same thing — the bene- 

 factors might be appointed brothers and sisters, and take up their 

 abode at the hospital. 1 



And now follows the question, what was the status of these 

 brothers and sisters ? Were they, as at present, pensioners ? or 

 were they, rather, brethren vowed to God's service who nursed and 

 tended the poor? To answer this question fully I believe we must 

 look beyond St. Nicholas to the other hospitals established in 

 England about the same time. Archdeacon Wright, in his account 

 of the Domus Dei at Portsmouth (itself dedicated to St. Nicholas), 

 says t( We find these hospitals at Southampton, Portsmouth, 

 Dover, Arundel, &c, because they were there conveniently placed 

 for pilgrims making for the great shrines of Winchester, Canterbury, 

 Chichester, &c. They are generally of the twelfth, thirteenth, and 

 fourteenth centuries, and had a common plan : a long hall with 

 vaulting and divided into bays by pillars. At one end was usually 

 a porch, and at the other invariably a chapel. The central part of 

 the hall was kept free, the occupants being housed in the aisles. 

 Besides being hospitals for the sick and aged, like St. Mary's 

 Hospital, Chichester, which preserves its ancient arrangement with 



1 Exactly in the same way one Martin and Juliana, his wife, who gave land 

 to maintain a chaplain at St. Mary's Hospital, Chichester, were rewarded : " in 

 acknowledgment of their kindness and beneficence the House was to receive the 

 two, -as brother and sister of the Hospital during the rest of their lives," — 

 Swainson, p. 9. 



