Abstract
The founding of Saint John hospital by burgher citizens and the role played by several lay members of the community, from the duke, to the castellan, to the aldermen, led to serious anxieties by the bishop of Cambrai. Fearing that he was losing control and concerned about heterodoxy, the bishop introduced a set of statutes to the hospital guaranteeing his position and assuring proper reform at the institution. This chapter considers why the bishop reasserted his power in the greater context of European affairs, namely the major ecumenical councils of Lateran III and Lateran IV, and the more regional French councils of the thirteenth century. As a result, the hospital became linked to important networks that in turn allowed the hospital to prosper before mid-century.
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Notes
- 1.
It was common for hospitals to be issued statutes by the local bishop. For more on this topic, see James Brodman, “Religion and Discipline in the Hospitals of Thirteenth-Century France,” in The Medieval Hospital and Medical Practice, ed. Barbara Bowers (Burlington: Ashgate, 2007), 123–132. See especially page 126, where Bordman notes that of the twelve sets of statutes from 1162 to 1270, identified by Leon Le Grand in 1901, nine were issued “by the local bishop or his cathedral chapter.”
- 2.
Bonenfant, D’Histoire des Hôpitaux, 27.
- 3.
“These [statutes] deserve special attention because of their uniqueness, their widespread influence, and the fact that they are among the oldest documents of this kind whose texts have been preserved. They seem quite original and cannot be connected with any of those which preceded them. On the contrary they became the prototype of those received by other hospitals of the diocese of Cambrai during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.” Cherryhomes, “Charity in Brussels: The Hospital Saint John (1186–1300),” 77. It is also important to note that medicinal practices typically did not occur at similar institutions at this time, whereas they did at Saint John. Bonenfant, D’Histoire des Hôpitaux, 72.
- 4.
Bonenfant, D’Histoire des Hôpitaux, 28.
- 5.
Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 10, p. 24. The original is lost. Later, Godfrey de Fontaines, bishop of Cambrai, approved the statutes again in 1225. See Analectes pour servir à l’histoire ecclésiastique de la Belgique, Vol. 29 (Louvain, 1901), 7.
- 6.
Cherryhomes, “Charity in Brussels: The Hospital Saint John (1186–1300),” 79.
- 7.
This was normal and expected for a monastic community and thus proves to be a clear hold over from the early Middle Ages: “the community did correct the monks, but the monks described this discipline as stemming from their compassion and fraternal charity.” See Martha G. Newman, The Boundaries of Charity: Cistercian Culture and Ecclesiastical Reform, 1098–1180 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996), 60–61.
- 8.
Bonenfant, D’Histoire des Hôpitaux, 27. The earliest known of the hospital masters was Brother Ludon (1230–1245). Later Masters Frédérick and Gautier also served as provisors. See Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 205, 208, 219 regarding Frédérick; regarding Gautier see Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 100, 101, 119, 122, 171, 172, 180, 191, 195, 197, 198, 200, 203, 204, 207, 210, 215, 216, 218, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226 227, 229, 241, 256, 266. Gautier was in both positions for a long time: 1257–1299. By the time we get to the end of our knowledge of him, he is being referred to as “fratris Walteri de Sancto Johanne.” See Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 266, pp. 321–322. CPAS SJ 45. The documents tend to note his different points of service. See charters 100 and 101 for a comparison. In charter 100, he is listed as “fratri Waltero, provisori sancti ospitalis (sic) sancti Johannis in Bruxella.” Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 100, pp. 138–139. CPAS SJ 38. In charter 101, he is simply listed as “fratri Waltero.” Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 101, pp. 139–140. CPAS SJ 29. At least two other brothers served the hospital: Godescalc (1298–1300; See Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 249, 251, 253, 254, 259–264, 267, and 277) and Guillaume de Rodenbeke (1300): See Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 270, 275, 276. Guilluame is a particularly hard character to pin down. He is not listed as master in document 270 or 275. Yet, document 276 has the name magistro on the back of the document. He may have been the brother to whom the document was referencing: “Notum sit universis quod Franco de Papinghem promisit dare fratri Willelmo, dicto de Rodenbeke, fratri hospitalis beati Johannis in Bruxella…”. Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 275, pp. 330–331. The original is lost. Finally, there were brothers who played administrative roles, such as Brother Gerard Carpentator. More likely than not, Gerard too was a master of the hospital. See Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 121, 128, 131, 132, 139–145, 148, 151, 153, 164, 165, 188.
- 9.
Brodman also explains that “there are other examples for Brussels, Tournai, Mons, and Lille,” of which the statutes of the “Hospital of the Holy Spirit (St. John)” were important “because they were subsequently widely imitated in northern France.” Brodman, Charity and Religion, 229.
- 10.
See Henne et Wauters, Histoire de la Ville de Bruxelles, 48–49. Also, Henry I was noted for his “munificence and piety” toward the hospital of Saint Jean. See H. De Bruyn, “Origine de l’Église et de l’hôpital de Saint-Jean, au Marais, a Bruxelles,” in Analectes Pour Servir à l’histoire ecclésiastique de la Belgique, t. 4 (Brussels, 1867), 31. Over seven hundred years later, an 1846 inscription on the hospital honored this memory: “a la pieuse et perpétuelle mémoire de Henri I, duc de Brabant , au fondateur et au plus grand bienfaiteure de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean.” See Administration Générale des Hospices et Secours de la ville de Bruxelles: Hôpital Saint-Jean, from the collected material of CPAS, Brussels: Belgium, 7.
- 11.
Guillaume had been named a cardinal by Pope Alexander III (1159–1181) at Lateran III. S. J. É. de Moreau, Histoire de l’église en Belgique, 2e ed., t. III (Brussels, 1945), 76.
- 12.
The Third Lateran council was called by Pope Alexander (1159–1181) in 1178 and it was later held in Rome in March of 1179. We do not have the canons of this council, but we do have chronicles and annals that have preserved the acts of the council. See Abbot Benedict of Peterborough, Gervase of Canterbury, William of Newburgh, and Roger of Hoveden. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman P. Tanner (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1990). http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/LATERAN3.HTM.
See also Le Troisième Concile de Latran (1179): San place dans l’histoire, Communications présentées à la Table Ronde du C.N.R.S. (Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1982), 16, 51. The argument here suggests that the council was about progress via continuity.
- 13.
Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman P. Tanner, Lateran III, canon 9, http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/LATERAN3.HTM.
- 14.
Ibid.
- 15.
Ibid.
- 16.
Ibid.
- 17.
Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman P. Tanner, Lateran III, canon 14, http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/LATERAN3.HTM.
- 18.
James Brodman, “Religion and Discipline in the Hospitals of Thirteenth-Century France,” in The Medieval Hospital and Medical Practice, ed. Barbara Bowers (Burlington: Ashgate, 2007), 125.
- 19.
Jacques de Vitry, The Historia Occidentalis of Jacques de Vitry, J. F. Hinnebusch, 148–149, cap. 29, in James Brodman, “Religion and Discipline in the Hospitals of Thirteenth-Century France,” in The Medieval Hospital and Medical Practice, ed. Barbara Bowers (Burlington: Ashgate, 2007), 125.
- 20.
For more specific measures created to protect the institution from abuse, see the discussion of the statutes below.
- 21.
“Lateran IV, canon six,” Fordham Internet Sourcebook. http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/lateran4.asp.
- 22.
Ibid.
- 23.
Ibid.
- 24.
During the dispute between the dean of Saint-Gudule and the hospital of Saint John, Pope Gregory IX granted to Saint John’s hospital the ability to hold mass even when the doors were closed in times of interdict. Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 38, 62. CPAS, SJ 4, fol. 5. The charter is damaged, but an analysis of the charter in 1589 provides the context of the bull. For that analysis, see Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, 62. The prestige that followed in the wake of this privilege was augmented when on June 9, 1232 Pope Gregory IX extended his protection specifically to the prioress, the sisters, and their holdings. Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 41, 66. CPAS, SJ 4. He repeated his extension of protection again on May 21, 1237. The brothers and the sisters of the hospital remained under his protection, as did the hospital and its holdings under his protection. Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 50, 76. CPAS, SJ 4, fol. 7. Furthermore, the allowance suggests that there were cases in which the hospital might have been forced to close its doors. The local and international affairs of the dukes of Brabant and the bishop of Cambrai may have prompted this papal exemption, although it was a typical privilege that thirteenth-century popes often conferred. For information on the Dukes of Brabant, see de Moreau, Histoire de l’église en Belgique; Smets, Henri I Duc de Brabant 1190–1235; and Jean d’Anvers, Brabantsche Yeesten, J. F. Williams, Les Gestes des Ducs de Brabant, par Jean de Klerk, D’Anvers (Bruxelles, 1839). A second document granted the brothers and sisters of the hospital a priest and a cemetery. See Cartulaire, SJ 51, p. 77. The original is lost.
- 25.
The importance of the statutes is profound. In 1963, Rawlins Cherryholmes argued that “these [statutes] deserve special attention because of their uniqueness, their widespread influence, and the fact that they are among the oldest documents of this kind whose texts have been preserved.” Cherryholmes, “Charity in Brussels,” 77. Only a few institutions and their statutes preceded Saint John Hospital: “the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (between 1125 and 1153 and again in 1181), those of Aubrac (of 1162), and those of Montdidier (Somme) of 1207.” Cherryholmes, “Charity in Brussels,” 109.
- 26.
See Moreau, Histoire de l’église en Belgique, t. III, 161.
- 27.
It is also important to note that the charter mentions Duke Henry I: “Henrici ducis Lotharingie munificentia et devotione.” See Bonenfant, Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, 19–25. See also Moreau, Histoire de l’Église en Belgique, t. I, 159–163, and t. III, 678.
- 28.
Today, Leeuw-Saint-Pierre is a small town on the outskirts of Brussels. It is sandwiched between Flanders and Belgium (it is in Flemish Brabant) and thus experiences ongoing problems related to language and nationality. Today, the official name of the commune is Sint-Pieters-Leeuw and the language principally spoken there is Dutch. “…Presentium attestatione notum fieri volumes universis quod, honorabili viro Leonio, castellano Bruxellensi, a nobis postulante ut partem decime quam [ipse in] parrochia de Lewew possidebat de manu ejusdem recipient[tes] fratribus et sororibus hospitalis beati Johannis in Bruxella conferemus, nos eundem sedula ammonitione et exhotatione diligenti ad hoc studuimus inducer ut dictam decime portionem ad opus ecclesie illius resignaret ad cujus parrochiam pertinebat…” Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 14, p. 29. CPAS, SJ 40.
- 29.
De Moreau, Histoire de l’Église en Belgique, t. III, 164. While Godfrey was the only bishop to issue four documents pertaining to the hospital (23.5% of the documents issued by bishops and 1.4% of the total of all the documents), Godfrey’s role was more reserved. Godfrey was just as embroiled in struggle against the commune as his predecessor Jean III. He was even forced in 1223 to leave his bishopric as Jean III did. As the battles between the papacy and the empire also continued with Frederick II and Pope Honorius III (1216–1227), so did Godfrey’s role in the affairs, which may have limited or even dictated the ways in which Godfrey responded to the hospital.
- 30.
De Moreau, Histoire de l’Église en Belgique, t. III, 166. De Moreau alludes to the fact that Godfrey was known for charitable acts, but he provides no other elaboration on the subject before moving on to the next bishop. It seems that the evidence for his charity can be verified in the charters of the hospital of Saint Jean.
- 31.
Soignies is located outside of Brussels.
- 32.
“…Presentium testimonio notum facimus universis quod hospitali beati Johannis in Bruxella indulsimus quod decimam, quam in parrochia nostra de Tornepia Wido de Birthe et Nicholaus, fratres, et Reinekinus possederunt, comparare posset. Hac adjecta conditione quod quandocumque voluerimus eandem nobis redimere, licebimus, dum modo summam pecunie, qua decimam predictam a memoratis comparaverit, eidem hospitali persolverimus…” Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 15, pp. 31–32. CPAS, SJ 45.
- 33.
See Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 20, p. 38. The original has been lost.
- 34.
…Pamellam in capella de Ledeberghe. See Bonenfant, Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, 48.
- 35.
Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 49, pp. 75–76. The original is lost.
- 36.
For more on the hospital chapel, see De Bruyn, “Origine de l’Église et de l’hôpital de Saint-Jean, au Marais, a Bruxelles.”
- 37.
See above regarding Lateran III and IV.
- 38.
For explanation on the date, see Bonenfant, notes to the act, Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 20, p. 37.
- 39.
Quoniam injuncti nobis officii est a predecessoribus nostris salubriter inchoate ad consummationis bonum perducere, que felicis memorie predecessoris nostril domini Johannis, quondam Cameracensis episcope, auctoritate, de prudentium virorum consilio and Sicut igitur memoriati pontificis prudencia et devocione observancie regulars n hopstiali beati Johannis in Bruxella regulariter sunt institute, sic easdem scripti presentis duximus approbatione confrimandas. See Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 20, p. 38. The original has been lost.
- 40.
See Analectes pour servir à l’histoire ecclésiastique de la Belgique, Vol. 29 (Louvain, 1901), 7.
- 41.
“G., Dei gratia Cameracensis episcopus, viro venerabili et dilecto in Christo G., decano de Hal, canonico Cameracensi, salute et sinceram dilectionem. Intelleximus quod vir nobilis Willelmus de Ledeberga miles, in domo hospitalis sancti Johannis in Bruxella pro sua et antecessorum suorum salute perpetuam vult instituere capellaniam de bonis suis, quam petit auctoriate nostra dicte domui confirmari.” See Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 23, pp. 41–42.
- 42.
Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 49, pp. 75–76. The original is lost.
- 43.
Gui is identified as Guiard de Laon by Bonenfant. See Bonenfant, Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 55, p. 82, fn I.
- 44.
Moreau, Histoire de l’Église en Belgique, t. III, 166.
- 45.
See above. Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 51, p. 77.
- 46.
“…Inde est quod vobis mandamus quatenus, ad decanum et capitulum Bruxellense personaliter accedentes, ipsos ex parte nostra moneatis, rogantes eosdem ut permittant predictis fratribus corpora fratrum et sororum ac pauperum, qui in dicta domo decesserint, in cimiterio, quod habere dicuntur, sepelire nec impediant quominus illi qui elegerint in dicta domo sepulturam, sive sint parochiani sancte Gudule sive alterius parochie, ibidem valeant sepeliri, precipue cum dicti fraters, sicut nobis ex parte eorum intimatum est, parati sint et fuerint quoslibet conservare indempnes super jure sepulture predictorum et aliis quibuscumque…” Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 55, p. 82. The original is lost.
- 47.
“…Verum, cum nuper sicut intelleximus, dicti decanus et capitulum corpus cujusdam Jacobi defunct, filii quodam Willielmi de Ledeberghe, qui Jacobus in neadem domo habitum eorum susceperat et decesseit, in prejudicium dictorum fratrum non modicum et gravamen ab eadem domo asportaverint violenter, ita quod dicti fraters corpus ipsius non potuerint ecclesiastice trader sepulture, vobis iterate mandamus, quatenus dictos decanum et capitulum moneatis ut, si ita est, super hoc dictis fratribus satisfaciant indilate, alioquin dictis fratribus deesse non poterimus, quin secundum mandatum apostolicum ipsis exhibeamus juris debiti complementum…” Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 55, p. 82.
- 48.
Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 55, p. 82.
- 49.
“G., Dei gratia Cameracensis episcopus, dilecto filio plebano Bruxellensi…” Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 60, p. 87.
- 50.
“…Cum apostolus ad ipsum pertingere asserat infirmitates quorumlibet aliorum, terror nobis incutitur si, quorum cura nobis committitur, utputa hospitalium et ibidem egrotancium, quorum disposition et defensio nostro incumbit officio, eorum paci et tranquillitati providere negligamus. Ne igitur servitutibus in rebus propriss aggraventur qui defectu virium, paupertate et egritudine opprimuntur, volumes et decernimus ne qlique servitudes in rebus suis, vie, itineris, usus vel usufructus, a rectoribus hospitalis sancti Johannis in Bruxella in nostra diocese constitute, fratribus vel sororibus ejusdem hospitalis, cuiquam concedatur (sic.). Quod si contra fecerint, id irritum habeatur et tam dans quam recipiens indignationem Domini incurrere vereatur. Ad quod exequendum, scilicet quod in hac parte statuimus, te exequtorem deputamus, mandates tibi quatinus quicquid in hac parte contra hoc inveneris attemptari in statum pristinum revokes, attemptantes ad desistendum per censuram ecclesiasticam compellendo, ut sic libertate rerum suarum dictum hospitale ab inquietudine que exinde posset contingere defenduatur…” Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 60, pp. 87–88. CPAS, SJ 4.
- 51.
Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 56, pp. 82–83. CPAS, SJ 35, fol. 49.
- 52.
Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 76, pp. 112–113. CPAS, SJ 36, fol. 56.
- 53.
Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 85, pp. 122–123. CPAS, SJ 36, fol. 20.
- 54.
Léon Le Grand, Statuts d’hotels-Dieu et de léproseries; recueil de textes du XIIe au XIVe siècle (Paris: Alphonse Picard et Fils, 1901), 34. According to Brodman, the collection published by Leon Le Grand, “contains the statutes of a dozen municipal hospitals and another thirteen leprosaries. The earliest and simplest cited text is that of the Pyrenean Hospital of Aubrac, dating from 1162. Another eleven date from about 1200 to 1270; of these, nine were issued by the local bishop or his cathedral chapter, one by a local count, and another.” Brodman, Charity and Religion, 229.
- 55.
Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, SJ 10, pp. 19–25. The original is lost.
- 56.
Bonenfant, Cartulaire de l’Hôpital Saint-Jean, XVII.
- 57.
Of special note in this list is the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris, which was, by this point, about five times the size of Saint John. The hospital at Paris received its statutes between 1217 and 1221 and imitated those of Saint John. Shortly after Paris received its statutes, Jacques de Vitry named the Hospital of Saint John of Brussels as one of the greatest hospitals of its time, numbering it among hospitals like the Hôtel-Dieu of Paris. The connection between Paris, Jacques, and the reform councils seems evident. The Hôtel-Dieu of Paris probably in wake of the reforms of the 1213 and 1214 councils sought out a set of statutes that best met the issues raised at the councils. The fact that Paris chose to imitate Saint John speaks to the quality and importance of the statutes.
- 58.
Mons and Lille have been identified by Brodman. The rest were first named by Bonenfant.
- 59.
For a fuller and varied list of the many institutions that appeared in this period, see James Brodman, Charity and Religion.
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Ziegler, T.A. (2018). On Bishops, Popes, Councils, and Statutes. In: Medieval Healthcare and the Rise of Charitable Institutions. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02056-9_6
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