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 HOSPITALS

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HOSPITALS

hospital funds should be administered by the bishop or some other ecclesiastic. The Council of Paris (1212) took measures to reduce the number of atten- dants in the hospitals which, the bishops declared, were meant for the service of the sick and not for the benefit of those in good health. At the Council of Aries (1260) it was enacted, in view of prevalent abuses, that hospitals should be placed under ecclesi- astical jurisdiction and conducted by persons who would " lead a community life, present aimual reports of their administration and retain for themselves nothing beyond food and clothing" (can. 13). Simi- lar decrees were issued by the Council of Avignon (1336). But the protests of synods and bishops were of little avail against growing disorders. Even the Hotel-Dieu at Paris, which in the main had been well managed, began in the fifteenth century, to suffer from grave abuses. After various attempts at reform, the chapter of Notre-Dame requested the municipal authorities to take over the administration of the hospital (.'Vpril, 1505). Accordingly a board com- posed of eight persons, delegates of the municipaUty, was appointed and, with the approval of the court, assumed charge of the Hotel-Dieu (Lallemand, II,

Great Britain and Ireland. — In these countries the care of the sick, like other works of charity, was for a long time entrusted to the monastic orders. Each monastery, taking its pattern from those on the Continent, provideti for the treatment both of its own inmates who fell ill and of infirm persons in the neigh- bourhood. In the Penitential of Theodore (668-690) we read (VI, 15) : " in potestate et libertate est monas- terii susceptio infirmorum in monasterium", i. e. the monastery is free to receive the sick. According to Harduin (IV, 864) a large hospital was founded at St. Albans in 794. A little later (796) Alcuin writing to Eanbald II, Archbishop of York, exhorts him to have in mind the foundation of hospitals where the poor and the pilgrims may find admission and relief (Had- dan and Stubbs, "Councils", Oxford, 1871, III, 504). The temporal rulers also were generous in this respect. In 936 King Athelstan returning from his successful campaign against the Scots, made certain grants to the Culdees or secular canons of St. Peter's Cathedral, York, which they employed to found a hospital. This was known at first as St. Peter's, afterwards as St. Leonard's from the name of the church built in the hospital by King Stephen. It provided for 206 bedes- men and was served by a master, thirteen brethren, four seculars, eight sisters, thirty choristers, and six servites. Archbishop Lanfranc in 1084 founded the hospital of St. Gregory outside the north gate of Canterbury and endowed it with lands and other revenues. It was a large house, built of stone and divided into two sections, one for men and the other for women.

During the first quarter of the twelfth century (1123 ?), St. Bartholomew's hospital was founded by Rahere, who had been jester of Henry I, but had joined a religious community and secured from the king a grant of land in Smoothfield near London. This continued to be the most prominent hospital of London until its confiscation by Henry VIII. The Holy Cross hospital at Winchester was founded in 1132 by Henry of Blois, half-brother to King Stephen; St. Mary's Spital, in 1197 by Walter Brune, citizen of London, and his wife Roesia. The latter, at the Dissolution, had ISO beds for sick persons anfl travel- lers. In 1215 Peter, Bishop of Winchester, estab- lished St. Thomas's hospital in London. This also was confisc'tted by Henry VIII but was re-established by EdwartI VI. At the present time St. Bartholo- mew's and St. Thomas's arc am" men- tions 460. For their charters and other documents see

Dugdale, " Monasticon Anghcanum", new ed., Lon- don, 1846, VI, pt. 2. That these institutions were under episcopal jurisdiction is clear from the enactment of the Council of Durham (1217): "those who desire to found a hospital must receive from us its rules and regulations" (Wilkins, I, 583). Nevertheless, abuses crept in, so that in the " Articles on Reform" sent by O.xford University to Henry V in 1414, complaint is made that the poor and sick are cast out of the hos- pitals and left unprovided for, while the masters and overseers appropriate to themselves the revenues (Wilkins, III, 365).

In Scotland, 77 hospitals were founded before the Reformation; Glasgow had two, Aberdeen four, Edin- burgh five. St. Mary Magdalen's at Roxburgh was founded by King David I (1124-115.3); Holv Trinity at Soltre l>y King Malcolm IV (1153-1163); the one at Rothean by John Bisset about 1226; Hollywood in Galloway by Roliert Bruce's brother Edward (d. 1318); St. Mary Magdalen's at Linlith- gow by James I (1424-1437). To the three existing hospitals at Aberdeen, Bishop Gavin Dunbar (1518- 1532) added a fourth. The foundations at Edin- burgh have already been mentioned under Edin- BUKGH (vol. v., 286). "The form of the hospital was generally similar to that of the church; the nave formed the common room, the beds were placed in the transepts, and the whole was screened off from the eastern end of the building, where was the chapel .... The hospitals were usually in charge of a warder or master, assisted by nurses. There was a chaplain on the staff, and the inmates were bound to pray daily for their founders and benefactors." (Bellesheim, " History of the Catholic Church in Scotland", Edinburgh, 1SS7, II, 185, 417; cf. Wal- cot, "The Ancient Church of Scotland", London, 1874).

The existence of numerous hospitals in Ireland is attested by the names of towns such as Hospital, Spital, Spiddal, etc. The hospital was known as forus tuaithe i. e. the house of the territory, to indicate that it cared for the sick in a given district. The Brehon Laws (q. v.) provide that the hospital shall l^e free from debt, shall have four doors, antl there must be a stream of water running through the middle of the floor (Laws, I, 131). Dogs and fools and female scolds must be kept away from the patient lest he be worried (ibid.). Whoever unjustly inflicted bodily injury on another had to pay for Iiis maintenance either in a hospital or in a private house. In case the wounded person went to a hospital, his mother, if living and available, was to go with him (ibid.. Ill, 357; IV, 303, 333; -see also Joyce, "A Social History of Ancient Ireland", London, 1903, I, 616 sq.). In the later development, the Knights of St. John had a number of hospitals, the most important of which was Kilmainham Priory founded about 1174 by Richard Strongbow. Other commanderies were located at Kllhill, at Hospital near Emly in Co. Lime- rick, at Kilsaran in Co. Louth, and at Wexford. To- wards the end of the twelfth century, the establish- ments of the Crutched Friars or Cross-bearers, were to be found in various parts of Ireland; at Kells was the hospital of St. John Baptist founded (1189-1199) by Walter de Lacie, Lord of Meath; at Ardee, the one founded in 1207 by Roger de Pippard, Lord of Ardee, the charter of which was confirmed by Eugene, Arch- bishop of .Armagh; at Dundalk, the priory established by Bertrand de Verdon, which afterwards became a hospital for both sexes. The hospital of St. John Baptist at Ncnagh, Co. Tipperarv, known as "Teach Eoin" was founded in 1200 by Theol)ald Walter, First Butler of Ireland. St. Mary's hospital at Drogheda, Co. Louth, owed its origin (thirteenth century) to Ursus de Swemele, Eugene, Archbishop of Armagh, being a witness to the charter. The hospital of St. Nicholas at Cashel with fourteen beds and three