RELIGIOUS HOUSES ALIEN HOUSES 43. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. ANTHONY The brothers of St. Anthony of Vienne established a cell before 1254 on some land given to them by Henry III, in a place previously occupied by a synagogue.^ In the bull of Pope Alexander V confirming the grant the place is not further described. The hospital of St. Anthony when mentioned later was certainly in the parish of St. Benet Fink, but this seems too far removed from the Jewry to contain a syna- gogue. Either the brothers changed their quarters afterwards or at one time the Jews spread beyond the Jewry, and it is possible to give this interpretation to an order of Henry III, 1252-3, that there should be no synagogues except where they existed in the reign of John.** The house was founded for a master, two priests, a schoolmaster, and twelve poor men,^ but there appears to have been no endowment, for in 1 29 1 their whole property' which lay in the parish of St. Benet Fink was not worth more than 8s. a year,^ so that they must have depended entirely on alms. Of the income derived in this way one source was sufficiently curious. Any pig that was considered by the supervisor of the London market unfit to be killed for food had a bell attached to it by a proctor of St. Anthony's, and was then free of the street to pick up what it could. As it was a merit to feed these animals, they often throve, and were then taken by the house.* The privilege seems to have been abused, for in 131 1 Roger de Wynchester, the renter of the house, promised the City authorities that he would not claim pigs found wandering about the City, nor put bells on any swine but those given in charity to the house.* It is not improbable that the brothers were in greater need of money than usual, as they were building their chapel in 13 10.' Over the erec- ' The bull of Pope Alexander V referring to the grant belongs to that year. Doc. of D. and C. of St. George's, Windsor, Reg. Denton, fol. 267. For the information contained in the documents at Windsor I am indebted to Mr. Leach, who kindly placed his notes at my disposal. '^ Close, 37 Hen. Ill, m. 18, given in Tovey, Jng/ia Judaica, 146. ^ Had. MS. 544, fol. 72. ^ In Blomefield, Hut. of Norf. viii, 1 1 8, there is mention of a grant of 40 acres of land and 10/. rent in Felbrigge to the Hospital of St. Anthony of Vienne, in 1273-4, ^"' in the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas nothing is said of a holding there.
- Harl. MS. 60, fol. 16.
' Stow, Sui-z'. of Lond. (ed. Strype), ii, 120.
- Sharpe, Cal. of Letter Bk. D, 251.
' Doc. of D. and C. of St. Paul's, Liber A. fol. 94 and 94^. tion of this oratory they had involved themselves in a quarrel with the bishop of London, whose rights they had disregarded in neglecting to ask his leave to build. The case came before the court of Arches, and the brothers not appearing, judgement was given in August, 13 11, that the chapel was to the prejudice of the bishop and of the parish church of St. Benet Fink, and was to be reduced to the form of a private house within eight days on pain of greater ex- communication. The brothers now found it expedient to give way, and the proctor sub- mitted to the will and ordinance of the bishop. During the wars with France and the schism the hospital was cut off from intercourse with the parent house. The warden, Geoffrey de Lymonia, was excused by Clement VII, the anti- pope, in 1380, from the contributions due to Vienne, which he had been unable to pay for three years because he could get nothing from his preceptory,* so that either Geoffrey had never obtained actual possession or the house had been taken for a time into the king's hands.' In 1385 it was paying a yearly fine of twenty marks.*" It is clear that when the preceptorship became vacant the king would not allow Clement's candi- date to take possession,** and in 1389 he put in as warden one of his clerks, John Macclesfield.*^ Boniface IX agreed to confirm him in the office if he took the habit within three months, but on his failing to do so gave the hospital to one of the canons.*' However, at the king's request, the pope afterwards allowed Macclesfield to hold the house for ten years in commendam, enjoying all its privileges and exemptions.** The hospital was now practically a royal free chapel and this may account for the benefits conferred on it by Pope Boniface IX. In 1392 he granted 100 days' remission of penance to those who during seven years visited the house of St. Anthony on the chief festivals connected with our Lord, the Virgin Mary, and St. Anthony, and gave alms to the fabric of the chapel and the ' Cal. Paf). Letters, iv, 240. ' Tanner, Kotit. Mon. says that it was often seized during the wars with France. '"Cal. of Pat. 1 38 1-5, p. 553. " In 1386 Clement VII speaks of Avallonus Richardi who had been appointed by him to the pre- ceptory of London vacant by the death of Geoffrey de Lymonia as being unable to get possession. Ca/. Pap. Letters, iv, 254. Richard Brighous was master in 1385. Cal. of Pat. 1 38 1-5, p. 553. " Cal. of Pat. 1388-92, p. 124. " Cal. Pap. Letters, iv, 419. '* Ibid, iv, 430. As he still held the house, however, in 1 41 7 the time must have been extended. Cal. of Pat. 1422-9, p. 156. 581
