The hospital of St Mary within Cripplegate, or Elsyngspital, was founded as a college of priests and a hospital, primarily for the blind, by a London mercer, William Elsyng. He arranged for it to be converted into an Augustinian priory on his death in 1349 and it survived until the Dissolution. Information about the hospital is found in a number of different archive collections, for example the hospital's own records taken by the Court of Augmentations now in the National Archives, the records of the hospital's patrons, the dean and chapter of St Paul's Cathedral, in the Guildhall Library and the wills and deeds of London citizens in those archives and elsewhere. The thesis brings together this scattered material and analyses it to trace the history of the hospital and to set it within the context of its time and location. Part 1 deals with the foundation of the hospital up to the death of the founder in 1349. Chapter 1 focuses on the man himself, his background and motives. Chapter 2 analyses the process of foundation, how support was secured from city, church and king, the successive versions of the founding charter and the founder's will. Chapter 3 covers the endowment of the hospital and how a founder who was neither extremely wealthy nor powerful provided for it. Part 2 deals with the period from the founder's death to the hospital's suppression. Chapter 4 describes and analyses the economic fortunes of the hospital. Chapter 5 analyses the hospital's inhabitants, the priors, canons, sisters, poor and sick, servants and others, supported by appendices giving details of all known priors and canons. Chapter 6 sets Elsyngspital in its external environment, examining its interface with the outside world.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:538317 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Bowtell, A. |
| Publisher | Royal Holloway, University of London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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