The Old Operating Theatre Museum - The History of St Thomas Hospital Part 1 Medieval
T
he Foundation of St Thomas's
``Behold at Southwark an
ancient spital, built of old to
entertain the poor, has been
entirely reduced to cinders
and ashes.''
Thus wrote Peter de Rupibus,
Bishop of Winchester, of St
Thomas's Hospital, following a
terrible fire in AD 1212.
The fire began on London Bridge
where it trapped crowds of
Londoners, over 3000 of whom
were reported to have perished.
The hospital was already described
as `ancient' and was part of the
priory of St Mary Overie. The
priory was founded by Bishop
Giffard of Winchester in 1106, but
legend suggests origins in the Dark
Ages as a nunnery founded by the
love-lorn daughter of a Thames
ferryman.
staffed by a mixed order of
Augustinian monks and nuns.
The Augustinians were an
outward looking order that gave
a high priority to public service,
and were responsible for
founding both of London's
oldest surviving hospitals: St
Bartholomew's (1123) and St
Thomas's.
The hospitals were created for
the benefit of the general public,
originally more as places of
general hospitality, from which
the word is derived.
Sweeter Air
The original hospital
appears to have stood
close to the priory
church, now
Southwark
Cathedral. In 1215, it
moved to the east
side of Long
Southwark, now
Borough High
Street, where the air
was said to be
sweeter. It was to
remain on this site
until 1862.
St Thomas Becket
The hospital was probably founded
with the priory, but following the
canonisation of Thomas Becket in
1173 it was named or renamed after
London's favourite Saint.
A Monastic Staff
Detail from plan of Southwark, c. 1542.
The early medieval hospital was
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First Map of Southwark 1542
The Old Operating Theatre Museum - The History of St Thomas Hospital Part 1 Medieval
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The Old Operating Theatre Museum - The History of St Thomas Hospital Part 1 Medieval
S
t Thomas Becket and the Canterbury
Pilgrims
It happened in that season that one day
In Southwark, at the Tabard, as I lay
Ready to go on pilgrimage and start
For Canterbury, most devout at heart,
At night there came into that hostelry
Some nine and twenty in a company
Of sundry folk happening then to ` fall
In fellowship, and they were pilgrims all
That towards Canterbury meant to ride.'
Prologue of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer,
translated by N. Coghill.
St Thomas Becket
Canterbury Cathedral.
A Healing Saint
In medieval health care terms, the
dedication of the hospital to St
Thomas Becket was a major
advantage. He was an extremely
popular saint, attributed with
miraculous healing powers and born
a Londoner (1118).
chapel, dedicated to the martyr,
on the newly-built London
Bridge.
In the more commercial later
middle ages, pilgrims spent the
night in inns, such as the nearby
Tabard Inn chosen by Chaucer
St Thomas was murdered in
(on the site of Talbot Yard, off
Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 and
Borough High Street). Perhaps
canonised 3 years later. Many of
co-incidentally there was a
the early pilgrims to his tomb may medieval monument in St
have stayed at the hospital before
Thomas's to a certain Richard
they began their journey from the Chaucer.
Copy of Pilgrim's
badge from
Canterbury, depicting
St Thomas, found in
London.
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The Old Operating Theatre Museum - The History of St Thomas Hospital Part 1 Medieval
H
ealth Care at Medieval St Thomas's
Documentary evidence is scanty,
but we know that medieval St
Thomas's performed three
important functions. Hospitality
was given to poor travellers and
pilgrims, a home was provided for
the destitute and aged, and the sick
were nursed. The emphasis
however was generally on
`hospitality' rather than on medical
intervention.
Dick Whittington
In the early 15th Century Richard
(Dick) Whittington extended the
range of medical services provided
by `Thomas Spital ... an ospytalyte'
and made donations for poor men
and women to make `a new
Nurse feeding a sick man, French, 15th
Century
Fund-raising
Funds were provided by
charitable donations. Following
the fire of 1212 all those who
chamber with 8 beds for young
contributed to the rebuilding
women that had done amiss, in
were granted 20 days remittance
trust of a good amendment.'.
of penance. Subsequently, donors
He commanded `that all things
were given the right to
that happened in that chamber
participate in services in the
should be kept secret ... for he
Priory. Generous donations, it
would not shame no young woman was thought, would speed the
in no wise, for it might be cause
supplicant through purgatory to
of their letting (hindering) of their heaven.
marriage.'.
One medieval donation came
from Alice de Bregerake who
donated her property to the
hospital in return for a yearly
rent of a rose. She wrote:
`Know all men,
present and future,
that I, Alice de
Bregerake, moved by
divine piety and for
the welfare of my
soul, as well as of
those of my
ancestors, have given
... to St Thomas the
Martyr .. property ...
for free and
perpetual charitable
uses; rendering
therefore to me and
to my heirs yearly,
one rose on the feast
of St John.''
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The Old Operating Theatre Museum - The History of St Thomas Hospital Part 1 Medieval
S
heltered Accomodation
Some aged people secured their
future by giving over their lands in
return for sheltered
accommodation in the hospital.
For others, shelter in a monastery
was a reward for past service; the
poets Geoffrey Chaucer and John
Gower both spent their last years
in a cloister: Chaucer at
Westminster Abbey and Gower in
the priory of St Mary Overie.
John Gower was a benefactor to
the associated hospital of St
Thomas's. In 1408, he left 40
shillings to the Master, 6s 8d to
Hotel Dieu 'Paris'
each of three brethren, 3s 4d to the
professed sisters, 1s 8d to each
Beds would have
conditions in the hospital, but
nurse and 12d to each patient.
been basic, although
they would probably have been
If other fund-raising sources
probably at least as
considered reasonable for the
failed, the monks could, as those at times, with each new patient
good as the patients
St Thomas's did in 1348, secure a
washed, deloused and issued with were used to at
licence to beg for alms.
home. Feather and
clean sheets.
flock mattresses
Upon discharge their clothes
Hospital Life
would be returned, laundered and were not common
until Tudor times.
Staff numbers at the hospital were repaired.
low, in keeping with Augustinian
Unfortunately, no
practice. There appear to have
records of payments
been three brothers in Holy orders Patients would have received
to physicians or for
good
food
and
kind
nursing,
but
under a master with three
medical supplies
would have had to share beds
professed sisters. The number of
appear to exist to
with other patients (a common
patients probably did not exceed
help elucidate the
practice throughout medieval
40 during this period.
hospital regime.
society).
We have no clear evidence of
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