Hospital – Hospitality

The primary purpose of a medieval hospital was to provide spiritual care, medicine was rather down on the list of things that a hospital did.  The word ‘hospital’ derives from hospes, a stranger or guest, & this comes from the medieval tradition of religious pilgrims being given food & lodging at monasteries on their way to various shrines throughout Europe & even into the Middle East.  The distinction between hospitals & religious houses was a matter of degree rather than of kind

In England, “hospitali” mutated into “Spital” or “Spital House,” which was particularly a house for beggars in the later medieval period, the derogation that it was slightly lower class. From 1070 to 1150 in London, 68 hospitals were founded.  Over half of these were for lepers.     [cf. Royal Hospital of Bethlehem – Bedlam]

Ayliffe, William   “St Bartholomew’s Hospital & the Origin of London Hospitals”

 

hospitals were more like hospices for the poor.  Wealthy Christians generally died in their palaces & townhouses, though some joined monasteries at the end in the pursuit of salvation. Rather than healing, the primary purpose of 16^th century hospitals was to relieve suffering, isolation, & dying by setting them in a meaningful framework of consolation & hope. Baldwin, Robert  “Anguish, Healing, & Redemption in Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece,” Sacred Heart University Review  20 (2000) 1

 

The Hospices de Beaune or Hôtel-Dieu de Beaune, a former charitable almshouse in Beaune, France, was founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy, as a hospital for the poor & needy. The original building, the Hôtel-Dieu, one of the finest examples of French 15^th century architecture, was founded when Burgundy was ruled by Duke Philip the Good. The Hundred Years War had recently been brought to a close by the signing of the Treaty of Arras in 1435. Massacres, however, continued with marauding bands (“écorcheurs”) still roaming the countryside, pillaging & destroying, provoking misery & famine. Nicolas Rolin, the Duke’s Chancellor, and his wife Guigone de Salins, reacted by deciding to create a hospital & refuge for the poor.

The Room of the Poors (50x14x16 meters). On the ceiling, the visible painted frame is in an upside down boat-skiff shape & in each beam are sculpted caricatures of some important Beaune inhabitants. On the floor tiling are written Nicolas Rolin’s monogram and his motto “Seulle” referring to his wife, Guigone de Salins. The room is furnished with two rows of curtained beds. The central area was dedicated to benches & tables for the meals.

Jan van Eyck: The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin