Provisions for the sick of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Rochester, c.1235
The text lists the daily provision of leftovers, loaves and ale from the monastery’s refectory, enough for as many as there are sick in the hospital, as well as special provisions on holy days, such as a ham (instead of the usual cheese) at Christmas.
On the Feast of St Bartholomew, which of course was in celebration of the hospital’s own saint, the hospital received ‘every living thing which is offered [to the priory by the laity] except geese’. In fact, on this holy day, the almoner (one of the monks in the monastery) received on behalf of the hospital the entire offering from ‘vespers till vespers’, from evening to the next evening.
The text also delineates the amounts of grain to be given to the hospital, including 20 seams [160 bushels, or 1,280 gallons] of grain from the total owed the monastery by the church at Stoke on the feast day of St Michael.
It also states the wages for the hospital’s priest (2 shillings for each of the following: the feast day of St Michael, Christmas, Easter, the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist and the feast day of St Bartholomew), and ‘the wages of the servants who devote themselves to the sick’, namely 8 shillings annually.
Other special provisions enumerated include the food gifts ‘in respect of the land which lies opposite the monk’s hospital in Strood’, land which had been inherited by the priory ‘from the heirs of Gaufrid son of Wimarche and others’.
The foodstuff which the almoner received were: ‘one simnel loaf [made from the finest white flour], a fair amount of ale or a gallon of wine, and three of the best dishes which are presented to the brothers in the refectory; and on the days of Easter and Pentecost, if possible, a flaco [a flan].’
Transcription
47r (select folio number to open facsimile)
¶1 Hec debentur infirmis fratribus de sancto Bartholo-
meo. Cotidie quot sunt infirmi, tot remanen-
tes de refectorio, et todidem bolle ceruisie,
cum releuio Refectorii, et semper sancta die xiij
panes de pondere panis quadrantis, medie-
tas frumenti2, et medietas ordei. Seruientibus
eorum ij remanentes. Secunda die xi ostripa-
nes3. In uigilia Natalis Domini, unam pernam,
pro caseo ij solidos. In die sancti Bartholomei
47v
habebunt omne uiuum quod offer( )tur, preter a[n]cas4, et ad fes-
tum eorum duos solidos. Diuidunt in communi xx5 summas
de toto blado que debentur de ecclesia de Sto[c]hes6 ad
festum Sancti Michaelis.
C7 Stipendia sacerdotis. Ad festum Sancti Michaelis ij solidos. Ad
Natale ij solidos. Ad Pascha ij solidos. Ad Natiuitatem sancti
Johannis ij solidos. Ad festum sancti Bartholomei ij solidos.
C Clericus eius habet mandatum bis in ebdomada, et sab-
bato v ostripanes, et in cena domini8 mandatum.
C Stipendia seruientum9 qui infirmis deseruiunt viij solidos per annum.
C Elemosinarius habebit in festo sancti Bartholomei totam oblatio-
nem a vespera usque ad uesperas in die. Ad festum sancti Mi-
chaelis habet quatuor summas frumenti ad seminan-
dum de ecclesia de Stoches.
¶ Sartrinarii10 iii ostripanes cum companagio.
¶ Custos locutorii cotidie j remanentem, et j Galun11 cerui-
sie, et matinellum,12 et bis in ebdomada mandatum,
et ea die carebit remanente et ceruisia13
¶ Collector releuii ij remanentes14 et bollam ceruisie de re-
fectorio, et in sex principalibus festis mandatum, et de per-
na infirmorum unum ferculum in uigilia Natalis
domini. Et ad ipsum15 pertinet fodere et colere ortum
de Strodes.16
C Si frater aliquis infirmorum obierit, elemosinarius17 habet
primam missam. Et de oblatione faciet quod ei placue-
rit.
C Nollector releuij, et suportarius, et qui lauat uasa ele-
mosine, debent partiri releuium de seruitoribus.
CDecime, et ecclesie pertinentes ad elemosinariam.
Ecclesia de Kingesdune. Decima de Henherst,18 et de
48r
la Rede de Frendesberi.19 Willelmi de la Dene20 de
Borstalle. ---------------------------------------------
¶ Elemosinarius debet pro terra que21 iacet ex oppo-
sito hospitalis monachorum in Strodes,22 heredibus
Gaufridi filij Wimarche,23 et aliis, in sex princi-
palibus festiuitatibus, Simenellum unum, iustam
ceruisie uel Galonem uini, et tria fertula de-
primis que apponuntur24 in refectorio fratribus,
et in die Pasce et Pentecostes, flachonem25 si est.
De firma tocius anni habet elemosinarius
de blado seruientum xxviij summas, et tres
eskippas, et toluet. --------------------------
Quando furnatur cumba, habet Lv ostrepanes.
Quando iij minas xlij. ----------------------------
Habent etiam infirmi oblationem duorum al-
tarium, scilicet, sancti Jachobi,26 et sancti Egidij,
et ideo debent cooperire alas ecclesie.
Translation
These things are due the infirm brothers of Saint Bartholomew:27 from the leftovers of the refectory, sufficient daily for the number of patients; and the same with the amount of ale as with the leftovers of the refectory; and always on a holy day, 13 loaves of the weight of farthing loaves,28 half wheat, half barley.29 For their servants two leftover dishes. On a secondary/ordinary day, 11 oyster loaves.30 On Christmas Eve,31 one ham; instead of cheese 2 shillings.32 On the [feast]day of Saint Bartholomew,33 they will have everything living which is offered, except geese, 34 and two shillings for their feast day/holiday. They share in common, from the total grain,35 20 seams,36 which are due at Michaelmas37 from the church at Stoke.
The wage of the priest: at Michaelmas, 2 shillings; at Christmas, 2 shillings; at Easter, 2 shillings; at the Nativity of St John,38 2 shillings; at the feast day of St Bartholomew, 2 shillings.
Its [i.e. the hospital’s] cleric has the Mandatum39 twice a week, and on the Sabbath40 5 oyster loaves, and the Mandatum on the Lord’s Supper.41
The wages for servants who are devoted to the infirm are 8 shillings per year.42
On the feast day of St Bartholomew, the almoner43 will keep [for the hospital] the whole offering from the evening before to Vespers/evensong on the day. At Michaelmas he receives [on behalf of the hospital] from the church at Stoke four seams of wheat for sowing.44
The tailors, three oyster loaves with relish.45
The guard/warden,46 daily 1 leftover dish, and 1 gallon of ale, and a light morning meal, and twice a week the Mandatum; and in the daytime he will be without a leftover dish and ale/and [on/at] that day/time will abstain from leftovers and ale.47
The alms-collector, two leftover dishes and a bowl of ale from the refectory, and the Mandatum on the six principle feast days, and on Christmas Eve one dish of the patients’ ham. And it belongs to him to cultivate and take care of the garden at Strood.
If an infirm brother should die, the almoner holds the first mass. And from the offering will make that which is pleasing to him.48
The alms-collector, and the assistant porter, and he who washes the alms vessels, they ought to distribute the servants’ relief.
Concerning tithing and appurtenances of the church to the almonry:
The church at Kingsdown;49 tithing of Henhurst;50 and of La Rede51 of Frindsbury52; of William de la Dene of Borstal.
For the land which lies opposite the monks’ hospital in Strood, 53 [given] by the heirs of Geoffrey son of Wymar, and others, the almoner must [have] on the six principal feast days, one simnel loaf, a fair amount of ale or a gallon of wine, and three of the best dishes which are presented to the brothers in the refectory; and on the days of Easter and Pentecost, if possible, a flan.
Concerning the total annual food-rent the almoner has of grain (wheat) of the servants: 28 seams, and three skeps,54 and a tovet.55
When baking a coomb56 he/it has 55 oyster loaves.57
When 3 minas58 42.
The patients also have the offerings of the two altars, namely of St James and St Giles, and therefore they must cover/clothe the aisles of the church.59
Footnotes
1 ¶ pilcrow mark
2 fruti
3 Scďa ; ‘ostri’= ?of the oyster; = purple
4 qď ; ( )= erasure ; aucas
5 xx has superscription mark: square ‘a’?
6 Stothes ; ‘Stroches’ in Thorpe ; Stoke
7 capitulum mark ‘little head’
8 dñi ; ‘domina’ in Thorpe
9 s’uientũ ; ‘seruentium’ in Thorpe
10 ‘Tartrinarii’ in Thorpe
11 Anglo-Norman galun = gallon
12 light morning meal ; ‘matinell’ in Thorpe
13 ‘remanentem et cervisiam’ in Thorpe
14 remañ [n with super ‘s’]
15 ip
16 ‘Strodes’ in Thorpe ; Strood
17 elemosinarig
18 Kingsdown: near Deal? Henhurst, near Cobham or near Staplehurst
19 Frindsbury ; Rede (now Rede Court, Strood)
20 dene = ‘dean’, i.e. ‘wooded valley’
21 q with macron = que
22 ? Newark hospital in Strood, run by monks
23 Geoffrey son of Wymar
24 aonunt
25 ‘flathonem’ in Thorpe
26 ‘Jacobi’ in Thorpe ; St Giles
27 The implication is that alms and dues are given to provide for former brothers of the monastery. But were there other non-religious who benefitted from the hospital? If St Bartholomew’s was a house for lepers, that might explain why the brothers were separated from those in the infirmary of the monastic precinct, which was some ¾ mile away. In the inquest set up by Edward III in 1342 (post CR), it was noted that there were in St Bartholomew’s nine brethren and sisters and the prior who himself was a leper. This seems to be the basis for referring to St Bartholomew’s as a leper house or hospital/hospice: see Sethina Watson, ‘The origins of the English hospital’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, vol. 16 (2006), pp. 75–94, at p. 76: ‘Within a generation there were leper houses at […] Rochester’.
28 Latin, ‘panis quadrantis’, literally ‘of a quarter [penny] loaf’: a quarter of a penny being one farthing; bread at this time was sold as farthing, half-penny and penny loaves. Both farthing and penny loaves are referred to in the Assize of Bread (dated to 1193–99) copied into CR on f. 27v.
29 Made especially for the infirmary? The monks normally had the ‘finest’ wheat bread. The number, thirteen, perhaps signifies Christ and his disciples.
30 Suggestive of ordinary, everyday bread, suitable for eating cheap and readily available oysters. The number given, eleven, may possibly indicate that the hospital’s capacity was set at 11 patients; compare the nine brothers and sisters in 1342.
31 Literally, ‘on the vigil of the Lord’s birth’.
32 2 shillings to buy cheese; monetary substitute for the original cheese donation: what might this say about cheese as a commodity in the local Rochester community: cheese makers/sellers?
33 August 24th.
34 Latin ‘preter ancas’, ‘except geese’, preter (praeter) being used as a conjunction disjunctively, rather than to mean ‘in addition to, as well as, besides’.
35 Latin bladum, grain, esp. wheat.
36 160 bushels, or 1,280 gallons. Seam: ‘A [measurement of capacity] and w[eight] […]; grain, generally 8 striked or levelled bu[shels] […] of 8 gal[lons] each’, though with some variation: Ronald E. Zupko, A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles: the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century (American Philosophical Society, 1985).
37 Literally, ‘the feast day of St Michael’. September 29th. Marking the ending and beginning of husbandman’s year, the end of the harvest, a time for accounts to be made up and settled.
38 John the Baptist. June 24th.
39 The Mandatum is the foot-washing ceremony practiced by Benedictines (and others) as an act of humility. See ‘Spread and Form of the Mandatum’, unamsanctamcatholicam.com. The context suggests that the monks took seriously their duty to show Christlike humility. It would have been the job of one of the monks to carry out this clerical foot-washing; this was in addition to any acts of the ‘Mandatum of the poor’). The procedure was to genuflect before the recipient, adoring the presence of Christ in him, followed by the actual washing and kissing of the feet and then drying them with a towel. After this the monk would bow his head and touch his forehead to the feet. In the case of the ‘Mandatum of the poor’, a chosen group of poor men would be led into the cloister of the monastery to receive the ceremony, in which they also were served beverages and given two pence each, after which the abbot concluded with a prayer. See Constitutions of Lanfranc.
40 Sunday.
41 On the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the day before Good Friday. See:
unamsanctamcatholicam.com
42 This strongly suggests that the hospital was not run by monks, at least not initially, but paid servants. Interestingly, the amount of 8 shillings is 3 shillings more than for the infirmary attendant in the priory.
43 At St Andrew’s Priory.
44 In addition to the 20 seems above?
45 Perhaps this refers to the tailors’ workshop at the priory rather than one within the hospital, though the latter is possible. In the priory workshop, there was a master and two associate tailors/tanners. There is no mention of wages, so it might be that the daily bread and relish is their renumeration for work carried out for the hospital.
46 Latin, ‘Custos locutorii’, literally ‘guard of the speaker’?
47 The guard or warden works from the evening to the morning. He receives a meal and ale as food and drink during his night-time work and a light breakfast, but nothing during daylight hours as, presumably, he is not working,
48 The almoner will make a donation to St Bartholomew’s.
49 Meaning ‘King’s hill’. Which Kingsdown is being referred to is unclear: there is a Kingsdown on the Isle of Sheppey and also near Deal. There is also a West Kingsdown in the Sevenoaks district of Kent.
50 Probably near Cobham or near Staplehurst.
51 Quite a few quarrels over the manor of Frindsbury and its appendages including Rede: Wikipedia - Frindsbury: ‘Bishop Gilbert de Glanvil claimed Frindsbury back from the monks “as belonging to the maintenance of his table” in 1185. […] In 1[2]48 the manor was confirmed as being in the possession of the prior of Rochester, reconfirmed in 1295. In 1287 the manor, along with its appendages of Chattenden, Strood and Rede, were taxed at £24-6-8’. For more information, including the story of the monks of Rochester being clubbed at Frindsbury whilst on a procession to pray for rain, see: british-history.ac.uk.
52 Known later as Rede Court, in Strood.
53 The Hospital of the New Work of St Mary of Strood (‘Newark Hospital’; ‘Stroud Hospital’) was founded by Gilbert de Glanville, bishop of Rochester (1185–1214), in 1193: british-history.ac.uk; see also Sethina Watson, ‘The origins of the English hospital’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, vol. 16 (2006), pp. 75–94, at p. 91. Worth exploring a connection to the Knights Templar: land was granted to the Knights Templar by Henry II in 1960 [to the church/chapel of 1122?] Bibliography: Richard L. H. Coulson and L. M. Collins, A Chronology of Strood to 1899, Kent County Libraries (1982).
54 Skep: ‘A [measure of capacity] for grain and other dry products, varying in size from 1 or 2 bu[shels] […] to approximately 1 or 2 SEAMS’: Zupko, Dictionary. N.B. 1 bushel = 8 gallons (35.238 litres; 64 pints). Contrast: ‘Skep. Dry measure in the 13c equivalent to a half-bushel. There were eight skeps in a quarter, though the bushel was the unit most frequently used. The skep itself was orig. a basket which came to hold half a bushel.’ A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases, ed. Christopher Corèdon and Ann Williams.
55 Tovet (spelling in ms: toluet): ‘A [measure of capacity] for grain, generally containing 2 p[ec]k[s] or 4 gal[lons] […] and equal to ½ bu[shel]. It arose as a local measure of Kent.’ Zupko, Dictionary. N.
56 Coomb (Latin spelling in ms: cumba): ‘A [measure of capacity] for grain containing 4 bu[shels] […] and equal to ½ SEAM’: Zupko, Dictionary.
57 If we take a coomb as 4 bushels, or 32 gallons, then each oyster loaf required 0.58 gallon of wheat to be made; this is equivalent to approx. 2. 55 litres. If we take the text about the second rank miller into account, then each measure of wheat produces 1.4 measures of flour; so 0.81 gallons, or 3.57 litres, of flour is used for each oyster loaf; if 1 litre of flour equals 4.23 US cups, or 529g, or 19 oz (1.19 lb), of flour, then each loaf required 1.89kg, or 4.25 lbs (roughly double the size of a supermarket loaf).
58 Mina: ‘A [measure of capacity] for dry products sometimes considered equal to 4½ bu[shels] […], but more commonly defined as a vessel containing 3 to 7 SKEPS’: Zupko, Dictionary. However, this definition doesn’t make sense with the figures in the text, which suggest 1 mina is about ¼ of a coomb, i.e. 1 bushel.
59 ‘aisles’: or ‘wings’, referring to where the saints’ shrines were located. The injunction is that these altars must be kept dressed at all times, to attract devotees and increase the offerings to be used for the hospital.
