A HISTORY OF NORFOLK three times in the year if it seemed necessary or useful, but openly and with the consent of the prior, and not for too long ; that if any of the brethren or sisters, sound or unsound, broke the rules, the use of the hospital was to be forfeited for a year, and unless willing to be castigated according to the quality of the offence within the year, the offender was to be expelled for ever ; that all the brethren and sisters were to attend daily the seven canonical hours and mass and to pray for all benefactors ; that all brethen and sisters were to have equal shares in all the profits of the house the same as the prior ; that all should attend the general chapter the day after the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, and after chapter the mass for all buried there and for all benefactors ; that all ornaments of the church and treasury were to be placed on that day for the inspection of all the brethren and sisters ; that on the death of any brother or sister the house was to have the best robe and cowl, and the bed and the chest of the deceased, and if there was no chest, Ss. 6d. for wax light and bd. for drink among the inmates ; that the house should celebrate thirty days for the soul of the deceased ; that bd. was to be distributed to the brethren on each of the feasts of All Saints, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, and on St. Mary Magdalen's Day, for prayers for the founder ; that his anniversary was also to be celebrated yearly in the church, under pain of excommunication, and on the same day the chaplain, brethren, and sisters, were each to receive bd. as drink-money {ad potandum) ; that on Maundy Thursday a farthing [lihellum) and a herring should be distributed to each brother and sister of the house and to all mendicant lepers, and that outside lepers should receive the hospitality of the house for that night. The statutes were confirmed and sealed by William, bishop of Norwich in the year 1 1 74.^ On 26 January, 1340, protection with clause rogamus (that is for collecting alms), was granted for two years to the master and brethren of St. Mary Magdalen on the causey, Lynn, as they had not enough for their support unless relieved by the faithful in other parts.' In 1549 the rebels from Ket's camp at Castle Rising, on their return from trying to enter the town, sacked the hospital and destroyed the chapel and most of the buildings, so that it was henceforth greatly impoverished.' The hospital was seized by the crown under the Act of Edward VI, but the property was afterwards to some extent restored to the corporation for a like purpose. Its post-Reformation history will be given elsewhere. ' A full trmscript of these st.Ttutes is given in Mackerel!, HmA 5/" Z,^'n« (1738), pp. 244-6. Peter the founder died I I 74. ' Pat. 14 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 47, ' Mackerel!, Hiit. of Lynn, 195. Priors of St. Mary Magdalen, Lynn* Peter,' before 1256 John Dulman, 1468 Nicholas Portland, occurs 1477,* 1482 Henry Burgh, 1482 Richard Bull, 1487 Richard Leke, 1520 Nicholas Bryggs, 1526, 1529 Roger Adams, 1534 John Dixon, 1552 Thomas Hasket, 1570 77-80. LAZAR-HOUSES, LYNN In addition to the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, which provided partially for lepers, there were four other lazar-houses close to the town of Lynn, namely at Cowgate, West Lynn, Setchey, and Gaywood. Stephen Guybon of North Lynn, by his will dated 1432, gave I2d. to every house of lepers about Lynn, namely West Lynn, Cowgate, Hardwick, Setchey, Magdalen, and Gaywood.' Hardwick, in the parish of North Runcton, is described separately, and 'Mawdelyn ' obviously means the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen. As no records can be found of these small lazar-houses, it may be assumed that they had little or no endowment, and were entirely dependent, like similar houses in other places, on alms and occasional bequests. 81. THE HOSPITAL OF ST, GILES, NORWICH Good Bishop Walter de Suffield (1245-57) was the founder of the noble hospital of St. Giles. The foundation charter was sealed, both by the bishop and prior, in the Norwich chapter- house on I April, 1246.* The hospital, which was to bear the name of St. Giles, was founded in honour of the Holy Trinity, the Glorious Virgin, the Blessed Anne, and the Blessed Giles, and was to be built on a prescribed plot of ground opposite the church of St. Helen and under the walls of the priory. In this hospital the founder willed that there should be a master, who was to associate with him four devout chaplains well instructed in the divine offices. All were to rise, both for martins and at dawn, at the sound of the greater bell, and to proceed together from the dormitory, entering the church in surplices
- Blomefield, Hist of Norf viii, 520—1. Blome-
field also gives the names of several later masters of the hospital, under its revised form, but without dates. ' Called predecessor of the present master in 1256 ; Assize R. 567, m. 23. ' C<j/. Bod/. Chart, p. 193. ' Blomefield, Hist. ofSorf. iii, 528. ' The year is not given in the charter ; the hospital is usually said to have been founded in 1 249, but this charter is more likely of the year 1246 or even 1245. 442
