![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
LATER MEDIEVAL ENGLAND possessed over 300 documented leper hospitals, representing around a quarter of all hospital foundations, but to date a sustained discussion of this archaeological material is lacking. This paper synthesises and explores the present state of archaeological knowledge within the broader context of recent studies in other disciplines. It identifies some current issues and avenues for potential research, with particular reference to the recent archaeological work at St Mary Magdalen, Winchester, one of the most extensive excavations of a medieval leper hospital and almshouse to date.
First and foremost, acknowledgement is owed to my colleague and MHARP co-director Dr Phil Marter and MHARP osteoarchaeologist, Dr Katie Tucker. Both have provided major contributions to current interpretations concerning St Mary Magdalen, Winchester. I would also like to thank Prof Carole Rawcliffe and Dr Elma Brenner for their comments on drafts of this paper. Thanks also to David Ashby, Anthea Boylston, Mike Brace, Dr Paul Everill, Prof Roberta Gilchrist, Dave Grant, Duncan and Michael Green, Dr Chris Knüsel, Alex Langlands, Dr Ryan Lavelle, Dr Mary Lewis, Prof Nicholas Orme, Dr Mike Taylor, Dr Nick Thorpe, Kate Weikert, Dr Julie Wileman and Prof Barbara Yorke. Thanks also to students from the University of Winchester who have worked and trained on the MHARP project as well as staff from the Hampshire Record Office and Winchester Museums Service. The initial stages of the project were part-funded by the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, the Royal Archaeological Institute and the Society of Antiquaries London.
Notes
2 Thomas et al 1997; Price and Ponsford 1998.
3 Jeanne 1997; Niel and Truc 2007; Niel et al 2007.
4 Tabuteau 2007.
5 Touati 1998.
6 Rawcliffe 2006.
7 Lee 2006.
8 Richards 1977.
9 Brenner 2010a; 2010b.
10 Mitchell 2005.
11 Marcombe 2003.
12 Clay 1909; Prescott 1992; Orme and Webster 1995.
13 Gilchrist 1995.
14 Hart 1989.
15 Watson 2006.
16 Satchell 1998.
17 Including arthritic psoriasis. For an early example of this, see Zias and Mitchell 1996.
18 Cf Brody 1974.
19 Cf Touati 2000.
20 Roberts and Manchester 2005, 202.
21 Mike Taylor pers comm. See also Taylor et al 2009.
22 Roberts and Manchester 2005, 202. For a wider discussion of this, see for example Roberts 1986.
23 Eadmer in Bosanquet 1964, 16–17.
24 Watson 2006, 86.
25 Orme and Webster 1995, 41.
26 Roffey and Tucker in prep.
27 Roberts 2002.
28 Reader 1974; but see Redfern 2005, 109 (I am grateful to Katie Tucker for drawing my attention to this alternative interpretation).
29 Roberts 1986; Roberts and Manchester 2005, 203.
30 Equally it is possible that diagnostic criteria of leprosy tightened from the early 14th century and admissions to leper hospitals fell accordingly: see Demaitre 2007.
31 Roberts and Cox 2003; Walker 2009.
32 Orme and Webster 1995, 24.
33 Ibid, 17.
34 Atkins and Popescu 2010.
35 Shepherd Popescu 2009.
36 Ibid.
37 Huggins 1978, 63. However, we should be aware that many monastic institutions would have generally had some provision for the old and infirm.
38 Roffey and Marter 2011.
39 Thomas 2008.
40 Cunliffe 1976; Thomas 2008, 354.
41 Roffey and Marter 2011.
42 Martin Biddle and John Hare pers comm. Here the structure may represent the primary function of the site that was later given over to ecclesiastical usage, or, reoccupation of a pre-existing hospital that later reverted back to its original status. In the latter case it is possible that it related to some sort of short-term occupation of the site during the later Norman period. Alternatively, the structure may represent an ecclesiastic foundation by Winchester’s first Norman bishop, Walkelin, to match his church of St Catherine on the Hill just 2 km to the south-west (Derek Keene pers comm). The question of ecclesiastical function of Anglo-Saxon towers, or otherwise, is currently the subject of PhD research by Michael Shapland: see, for example, Shapland 2008.
43 SK 9 Lab code: Wk 28630; WK 27734.
44 Roffey and Tucker in prep.
45 SK 8 Lab code: Wk 28629.
46 Current archaeological evidence suggests that the chapel existed by 1148 but was substantially remodeled in the 1170s. For an overview of the early documentary sources, see also Biddle 1976 and Keene 1985.
47 Lee 2006, 76.
48 Ibid, 75.
49 Van Ardsell 2002, 189, 197, 213–14.
50 Lee 2006, 60–1.
51 Asser in Keynes and Lapidge 1983; Pratt 2001, 70–1.
52 Crawford 2010, 45.
53 Ibid, 45.
54 Aelfric in Needham 1976, 69.
55 St Benedict, ch 36 (in Hunter Blair 1948).
56 D’Aronco, 2007, 235.
57 Rumble 2003, 25.
58 Roffey and Marter 2011.
59 Keene 1985, 81. I am grateful to Derek Keene for drawing my attention to this.
60 The earliest datable evidence for St John’s is from the early 13th century. Parts of the hospital still survive and are incorporated in what is now known as St John’s House.
61 Nicholas Orme pers comm.
62 Satchell 1998 contains a comprehensive list.
63 This site is the focus of recent archaeological work conducted by the University of Oxford Centre for Continuing Education. Initial excavations in 2011 have revealed evidence for masonry footings adjacent to the 14th-century chapel (David Griffiths pers comm).
64 I would like to thank Elma Brenner for reference to the Normandy examples.
65 Powell 2006.
66 Gilchrist 1995, 38.
67 Nenk et al 1994, 195.
68 Murray 1935, 198.
69 Rawcliffe 2006, 350.
70 Evans 2004.
71 See Roffey 2008 for a general discussion concerning the relationship between chantries and hospitals.
72 Rawcliffe 2006, 347.
73 Stone et al 2009, 73; also see Manchester 1991.
74 Catling 2009, 27.
75 Niel et al 2007.
76 VCH 1973, 197.
77 Ibid, 198.
78 Ibid, 199.
79 Orme and Webster 1995, 90; Gilchrist 1995, 46.
80 Orme and Webster 1995, 127.
81 VCH 1973, 108–9.
82 Satchell 1998.
83 Clay 1909, 106.
84 Hall 1995, 52.
85 Atkins and Popescu 2010; Crossan 2004; Powell 2006.
86 Cardwell 1995.
87 Tanner 1990, 222–3.
88 Rawcliffe 2006, 260–2.
89 Alan Morton pers comm. Also see Birbeck and Morton forthcoming.
90 Colchester: Crossan 2004. Huntingdon: Nenk et al 1994, 194–5; Popescu and Mitchell in prep. High Wycombe: Farley and Manchester 1989. Ilford: Gilchrist and Sloane 2005. South Acre: Wells 1967. Chichester: Magilton et al 2008.
91 Watson et al 2009; Monot et al 2005; 2009; Taylor et al 2009; Stone et al 2009.
92 Ortner 2008, 198.
93 Roberts and Manchester 2005, 195.
94 For more detailed discussion of the affects of leprosy on the human skeleton, see, for example, Aufderhide and Rodriguez-Martin 1998, as well as the skeletal reports from Chichester in Magilton et al 2008.
95 Richards 1977, 115–19.
96 Magilton et al 2008, 269.
97 Shepherd Popescu 2009.
98 As of 2012. This is by far a noticeably higher percentage than currently found in any other British examples (Roffey and Tucker in prep will have a fuller discussion of this).
99 Roffey and Tucker in prep.
100 Ibid.
101 Orme and Webster 1995, 29.
102 The hospital was later replaced in the 16th century by the Palace of St James. Excavations in the 1920s and 1990s revealed evidence for a 12th-century chapel on the site (see note in London Archaeologist 1995, 353).
103 British History Online 1973, 2.
104 VCH 1973, 199.
105 Ibid.
106 Brenner 2010b.
107 Atkins and Popescu 2010.
108 Keene 1985, 1123.
109 Orme and Webster 1995, 99.
110 Richards 1977, 33–4.
111 Rawcliffe 2006, 79–80.
112 VCH 1973, 199.
113 Ibid, 198.
114 Orme and Webster 1995, 69.
115 VCH 1907, 98.
116 Orme and Webster 1995, 52.
117 Ibid, 69.
118 Zias 1991.
119 Constantelos 1991.
120 Waller in prep.
121 Shepherd Popescu 2009.
122 Mays 2009, 642.
123 Linderholm and Kjellström 2011.
124 Leviticus 13:2, 7, 9 and 19, in Radner 2008, 135–48.
125 Leviticus 13:46, 14:2, in Radner 2008, 135–48.
126 Demaitre 2007, 77.
127 Tanner 1990, 222–3.
128 Gilchrist 1995, 40.
129 Reynolds 2009.
130 Daniell 2002.
131 Cardwell 1995, 128.
132 Rawcliffe 2006.
133 VCH 1907, 452.
134 Crossan 2004.
135 Touati 2000, 180.
136 Carole Rawcliffe pers comm. See more generally Rawcliffe 2001.
137 See Clay 1909; Brody 1974.
138 Touati 1998; 2000; Demaitre 2007; Rawcliffe 2005; Brenner 2010b.
139 Conrad and Wujastyk 2000, xv.
140 Demaitre 2007, 139, 144.
141 Brenner 2010b, 139.
142 Rawcliffe 2005, 251.
143 Brenner 2010b, 142.
144 Roffey and Marter 2010a; 2010b; 2011.
145 In 1114 there was a church in Winchester dedicated to St James the Apostle (reportedly buried at Compostela); moreover, New Minster (founded c 901) had a relic of the apostle. I am grateful to Derek Keene for this informa- tion.
146 Magilton et al 2008, 69.
147 Birbeck and Morton forthcoming.
148 VCH 1907, 98.
149 Orme and Webster 1995, 93.
150 Contemporary drawings and descriptions of the medieval chapel exist (see Vetusta Monumenta 3 1796 and Wharton 1773).
151 Clay 1909, 109.
152 Rigold 1964; Hall 1995.
153 Birbeck and Morton forthcoming.
154 Powell 2006.
155 David Griffiths pers comm.
156 Clarke 1993; Evans 2004.
157 Canterbury: Gilchrist 1995. London: Thomas et al 1997. Canterbury: Orme and Webster 1995, 91. New Romney: Rigold 1964.
158 Crossan et al 2004.
159 Niel and Truc 2007; Niel et al 2007.
160 Gilchrist 1995, 47–8.
161 This is adapted from the descriptive forms of general medieval hospital previously outlined by Gilchrist and Sloane 2005, 33.
162 Thomas et al 1997, 70–1.
163 Wilson and Hurst 1967, 280.
164 Hart 1989.
165 Gilchrist 1995, 43.
166 Rawcliffe 2006, 228.
167 Satchell 1998, 146.
168 Youngs et al 1988, 270–1.
169 Marcombe 2003, 1.
170 Rawcliffe 2006, 215–16.
171 Egan 2007, 65.
172 Cardwell 1995, 190.
173 Egan 2007, 66.
174 Ibid (fig 5·1) and fig 47 in Thomas et al 1997, 60.
175 McIntyre and Hadley 2010; Thomas et al 1997.
176 Rawcliffe 2006, 215–20.
177 Cardwell 1995, 232.
178 Current work at St Mary Magdalen, Winchester includes a programme of environmental sampling and analysis.
179 Linderholm and Kjellström 2010.
180 Ie Monot et al 2005; Taylor et al 2009. Sampling and a DNA analysis of the skeletal material from St Mary Magdalen, Winchester, is currently being undertaken in collaboration with Dr Mike Taylor of the University of Surrey.
181 Hall 1995.