Since then further information has been gleaned on this family and it is hoped to publish this in the early part of 2005. The following very brief article extends one aspect of the original article not published at the time, because I felt it was largely without its scope, although I touched on the subject. It relates to who founded the Maison Dieu in Ospringe and when. It is largely extracted from my Faversham Biographical Register, the second edition, as yet unpublished. Whilst far from offering conclusive evidence, I do hope this brief article with throw some further light on this topic.
If you wish to read the original article, please click here.
We find an entry in the close roll of 1225-1226(1), being a writ to M(artin) de Pateshull relating to an assize of darrein presentation, which the prior of Ospringe arraigned against William de Cantelupe, concerning the church of Bulewic. The prior is summoned to a forthcoming court itinerant at Lincoln for the matter to be heard. The records of this court do not appear to be extant.Although Braxton was a great admirer of Pateshull, I find no mention in his notes of this particular case. The earliest dated charter appears in the cartulary at St John's College and is that of a Hugh de Somerfeld, dated 1215(2).
We then have the earlier reference of 1191(3), published in October 2003, which I will repeat verbatim here.
In the Pipe Roll of 1191 it is stated under the Hundred of Faversham that a murder had been committed and that it had been amerced at 5 Marks. In the exchequer were 45s 8d and for charters of pardon the brothers of the hospital paid 7s, the church there 20d and the monks of Faversham 12s 3d. The reference to the brothers of the hospital can only relate to the Maison Dieu. Why should they need charters of pardon? Another entry for the same year may supply the answer. It states that the ville of Ospringe is amerced 10 Marks for not raising hue and cry for the murder of a jew. I am sure these two events are linked and point to the expediency of the brothers of the hospital needing a charter of pardon.
Finally, a possible reference to an earlier foundation is contained in a document which I cite below:
Notification by Simon abbot of St Bertin that Henry de Insula (de L'Isle) and Margaret his wife were at strife with St Bertin's abbey, for endeavouring to withdraw themselves from parochial allegiance of Throwley, which parish belongs to St Bertin. In the presence of Herbert (Hubert) archdeacon of Canterbury and master William de St Fide in Canterbury in the chapter house of the priests, they agreed and acknowledged themselves to be parishioners etc. on condition they and their relatives share in all the benfits and prayers of St Bertin and that their obits should be kept annually. In a pledge of peace Henry is to send one of his sons over sea to the abbot, who after being taught letters and carefully educated by the abbot, who after being taught letters and carefully educated in all that is necessary shall, if he will, become a monk.
By the view also of the chapter of Ospringe, in the presence of Master William de St Fide 1176 preciding in the church of St Bertin by my predecessor in blessed memory Godeslac abbot(4). The document is of a date of 1176 or earlier.
I have as yet found no further reference to Master William de St Fide. Could he have been master of the hospital if by chapter of Ospringe the chapter of the hospital is meant? On the other hand he could have been an official of the Church in Canterbury There is of course another interpretation in that the chapter of the Deanery of Ospringe is meant.
Let us now address the matter of who founded the hospital. John Lewis in his History and Antiquities of Faversham (1727) and Edward Jacob in his History of Faversham (1774) both believed that the hospital had been staffed by templars. Southouse, writing in 1671, goes further, in so far as he says it was a house of the Templars where the Templars and after them the Hospitallers reposed themselves in their progress towards their other demeans in the county.
In 1511 Archbishop Wareham's visitation stated that 'Master Woodruff, the warden said that he believed at the first foundation the custos and fellow were priest professed of the Holy Order of the Cross and used to wear a cross on their shoulders. He may have been referring to the re-establishment of the hospital by Henry III, the first master then had been a Templar, Geoffrey de Sutton. Perhaps this was in recognition of earlier service rendered by the order or the simple fact that he was a trusted royal official, having been appointed King's almoner in 1229 and Keeper of the Wardrobe in 1236. The Templars were noted for their administrative abilities.
As far as the order of the Holy Cross is concerned, there has been much speculation in certain quarters about this order. I believe what was meant here was the fact that they wore a cross on their shoulders, in this case that of the Templars.
For me the most compelling circumstantial evidence is that the first seal of the hospital bears the double cross of the Templars. This was no coincidence, but a very purposeful act at the time. The cross lies between four panels, the upper two depicting saints' heads, the lower two the heads of oxen. En passant, it may well be that this is how Ospringe got its name - from ox spring. There is the example of Oxspringe in Yorkshire (see my article - which was often spellt Ospringe). Jacob also mentions the double cross of the Templars, cut in stone, which he spotted in a window during the renovation of the Ship Inn in the 18th century. The Ship Inn was part of the original gate house to the hospital.
Another significant entry offering circumstantial evidence is contained in Beatrice A Lees' excellent book 'Records of the Templars in 12th century England'(5).
Henry II gave the Templars a manor in Strood in 1158/9, referred to subsequently as 'Temple Manor'. In the great survey of Templar holdings, done in c1185, it is shown that a group of five tenants held land in return for acting as drovers of pigs, sheep or oxen, and as messengers to Ospringe or to London, distances of 18 and 28 miles respectively.
Could this mean that they had a presence in Ospringe? Could this support what Southouse wrote? It could, but the manor was in the Royal demesne and a number of monarchs spent quite some time their. King John fir example visited in 1213 on 5th, 6th and 10th June. In the following year he went from Ospringe to Ewell to stay with the Templars. Cole, in his Calendar of Documents Illustrative of English History reproduces the Misae Roll of 1214, showing his expenses in travelling to and from Ospringe, including payments made to men of Ospringe. He visited again in the following year. So it could be that due to the significant dealings between the Crown and the Templars in this period it was deemed necessary to have messengers to travel to Ospringe when the King was there. I some how doubt this though and suspect that they did indeed have a presence there and the most likely place for this to be would be the hospital..
In another Templar manor, Ewell, near Dover, tenants were responsible for fetching withies from Ospringe to string herrings on and for seed for the sowing of the arable. Why collect withies all the way from Ospringe? One would have thought they could be found elsewhere nearer to Ewell. It again suggests either a benefactor in Ospringe, the Crown for example, or a hospital in their own possession. As to who founded it specifically, this still remains to be discovered., but I have every confidence that, with diligent research, it will be.
Kenneth W Jacob
Footnotes to follow