A letter from Urban IV (4/1/1264)

Translated letter:

Urban, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his dearest daughter in Christ, illustrious queen of England, greetings and apostolic blessing. Our beloved sons, the prior and convent of the church of the Holy Trinity in London, of the order of St. Augustine, took care to expound to us that H[enry I] king of England and M[atilda] his wife the queen, of illustrious memory, generously conferred the perpetual custody and whatever they had by right in their hospital of St. Catherine, next to the Tower of London, which they had constructed and endowed from their own goods, on them and said church of the Holy Trinity. And afterwards certain kings of England who succeeded them and our dearest son in Christ, the illustrious king of England, ratified and confirmed that donation. Some bishops of London, with the consent of the London chapter, also conceded said hospital with all that pertains to it to said prior and convent and church; and they, as well as certain archbishops of Canterbury, metropolitan of the place, confirmed that contribution or donation, as it is said to be contained in letters composed about it. And said prior and hospital possessed said convent and its custody with all that pertained to it for a hundred years and more up to this time in peace, benefiting and depriving the brothers who took on the profession, habit, and mode of life from them according to the rule of blessed Augustine, living under obedience and fully answerable to them in spiritual as in temporal matters. But now the mentioned prior and convent are said, what we can scarcely believe, to be despoiled by your order of said hospital and what pertains to it and the brothers who remain there are not permitted to show fitting canonical obedience to them, to come to their chapter, and to be answerable to them in temporal things as they used to be. On account of which that prior and convent have had recourse to the providence of the apostolic see. Since it truly befits your honor, we ask your excellency, admonish and assiduously urge that the beneficial and pious concession, reinforced by so many kings and popes, be preserved unharmed, that you have restored with prompt benevolence to that prior and convent the hospital and everything pertaining to it which are said to be detained in your hands, and let them rejoice in peaceful possession of the foresaid; so that you may have the reward of everlasting life from God and worthy thanks from us for this. Dated the old city, the Kalends of April, in the third year of our pontificate.

Original letter:

Urbanus Episcopus, servus servorum Dei, carissimae in Christo filiae Reginae Angliae illustri, salutem & Apostolicam benedictionem. Dilecti filii Prior & Conventus Ecclesiae Sanctae Trinitatis Londonien. ordinis Sancti Augustini, nobis exponere curaverunt, quod clarae memoriae H. Rex Angliae ac M. Regina uxor ipsius, perpetuam custodiam, et quicquid juris habebant in Hospitali eorum Sanctae Katerinae, juxta Turrim Londonien. posito, quod ipsi de bonis propriis construxerant & dotarant, duxerunt eis & dictae Ecclesiae Sanctae Trinitatis liberaliter conferenda. Et postmodum quidam Reges Angliae, qui post ipsos fuerunt, & etiam carissimus in Christo filius noster, Rex Angliae illustris, collationem hujusmodi habuerunt ratam & firmam. Aliqui etiam Episcopi Londonien. de consensu Capituli Londonien. praefatum Hospitale, cum omnibus pertinentiis suis dictis Priori & Conventui ac Ecclesiae concesserunt; & tam ipsi, quam quidam Archiepiscopi Cantuarienses Metropolitani loci, collationem hujusmodi confirmarunt, prout in litteris inde confectis dicitur plenius contineri. Dictique Prior & Conventus Hospitale praedictum, ejusque custodiam cum omnibus pertinentiis suis, a centum annis & citra usque ad haec tempora pacifice possederunt, instituentes & destituentes fratres ibidem, qui ab eis professionem, habitum, & vivendi modum, secundum regulam beati Augustini suscipiebant; vivendo sub ipsorum obedientia, & ipsis tam de spiritualibus, quam temporalibus plenarie respondendo. Sed nunc memorati Prior & Conventus Hospitale praedicto ejusque pertinentiis de mandato tuo, quod vix credimus, spoliati dicuntur, nec permittant fratres, commorantes ibidem, canonicam eis & debitam exhibere obedientiam, ad eorum venire capitulum, & sibi respondere, de temporalibus, ut solebant: Propter quod iidem Prior & Conventus ad Apostolicae sedis providentiam recurrerunt: Quia vero decet honorem tuum, ut hujusmodi salubris & pia concessio, per tot Reges, totque Pontifices roborata, conservetur illaesa, Excellentiam tuam rogamus, monemus & hortamur attente, quatinus Hospitale ipsum, & omnes pertinentiae ejus, quae in tuis manibus detineri dicuntur, eisdem Priori & Conventui, pro nostra & Apostolicae sedis reverentia, facias prompta benignitate restitui, ac ipsos pacifica praedictorum possessione gaudere; ita quod tibi, propter hoc, a Deo vitae perennis praemium, & a nobis condigna proveniat actio gratiarum. Dat. apud Urbem veterem, Kalend. Aprilis, Pontificatus nostri anno tertio.

Historical context:

The pope asks the queen on behalf of an Augustinian church and convent to restore the hospital it has held by royal and ecclesiastic consent since the early twelfth century and which she has seized. The hospital of St. Katherine was greatly cherished by Eleanor, and she continued to protect it and assert her patronage claims over it (Howell, 99, 270, 283). She had asked the bishop of London to investigate the Holy Trinity's mismanagement of the hospital in 1257 and he had removed it from their custody (Howell, 284). The Matilda who founded it was the queen of Stephen, not of Henry I, according to Howell, 284. (Urban's Bull on convent and hospital, Rymer, Foedera 1.787).

Printed source:

Rymer, Foedera, 1.2.87

Date:

4/1/1264