Hospitals in medieval Scotland can be dated back to the 12th century. From to c. 1650 many hospitals, bedehouses and maisons Dieu were built in Scotland.
There are many terms that apply to, or describe a hospital. The origin of the English term, "hospital", is probably from the French or Latin. English and European terms for hospital appear to have a common root. "Hospital" – from the Latin – "a place of rest for guests". Other terms are recognized. Almshouse; bede house; chantry; God's house; infirmary; spital; Domus hopitalis Sancti Spiritus (Latin); Gasthuis (German); Godshuis (Dut); Hôpital (Fr); Hôtel-Dieu (French); Krankenhaus (German); Maison dieu (French); ospedale (Italian); Sjukhus (Swedish); xenodochium (Greek).
Records provide evidence of more than 180 hospitals in Scotland. The term "spit(t)al" or "temple/templar" may also indicate land endowed by churches or monasteries as well as sites associated with the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitallers.Ian Borthwick Cowan, David Edward Easson, and Richard Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland with an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man. 2nd edn (London: Longman, 1976), pp. xxviii, 252p, NB More recent 2nd. Edition 1976 See Reading Below fold plates; and, D Hall, 'Unto Yone Hospitall at the Tounis End: The Scottish Medieval Hospital', Tayside and Fife Archeological Journal, 12 (2006), 89-105. For further details of the way "Spittal" has been used, see McNiven, P (2013) Spittal place names in Menteith and Strarthendrick: evidence of crusading endowments, for a detailed explanation of the links to Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaler establishments and endowments. See also, Mackinlay, J M (1904) Influence of the Pre-Reformation Church on Scottish Place Names, Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, esp Ch. XXVIII (Hospitals) and XXIX (The Templars) Many hospitals were in the north-east of Scotland in the cities of Dundee, Old Aberdeen and Aberdeen and across Aberdeenshire.
Background Close to one thousand hospitals in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland were founded during a period of six hundred years. To begin with the causes for the building of hospitals across Europe and in Great Britain can be found in the Western Catholic Church's teaching related to Charity and Piety together that of Purgatory. In practice, the theologies of charity, piety and purgatory supported each other. Piety had three related meanings. First the sense of showing compassion; second the religious sense of Godliness and devoutness; and third, the sense of duty and respect. Taken together these meanings for piety suggest "a sense of compassion and respect driven by a religious duty". Similarly, poverty was seen as the normal condition of having few materials possessions or wealth. The nobility and royalty had wealth and influence. It was "normal" for others to be "poor". Poverty for many was close to a state of complete destitution. The Church taught that piety was a duty born in religious conviction. Also that poverty was not necessarily a fall from grace, rather it was an opportunity to follow the Christian teaching "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy...." (Matthew, 5:7) In this complex of supporting and contrasting theories hospitals were built by the Church for multiple reasons. In Great Britain, it was not until the Reformation in the sixteenth century that civic authorities had to face poverty, ageing and a revised approach to charity and piety by the churches.
Hospitals in England and Wales Before considering Scotland, the situation in England and Wales provides a relevant context.
Hospital building in England and Wales Dates New Hospitals Existing hospitalsTotal 1080-1150 68 68 1151-1200 191 61 252 1201-1250 164 225 389 1251-1300 152 144 496 1301-1350 101 440 541 1351-1400 71 437 508 1401-1450 69 444 513 1451-1500 69 483 552 1501-1530 67 518 585 Total Hospitals Built 952
Out of 952 hospitals built, some 585 were still in existence when the records were collected at beginning of the "English" Reformation. In England The Great Hospital in Norwichhttp://www.thegreathospital.co.uk/; and Carole Rawcliffe, Medicine for the Soul : The Life, Death and Resurrection of an English Medieval Hospital : St. Giles's, Norwich, C. 1249-1550 (Stroud: Sutton Pub., 1999), pp. xviii, 334 p., p. of plates. and the Bedehouse in Ewelme are well documented.Goodall, John A.A. (2001). God's House at Ewelme. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. pp. not cited. Walter H. Godfrey, The English Almshouse, with Some Account of Its Predecessor, the Medieval Hospital (London, 1955) An important hospital was amongst the Church buildings in York.Carole Smith, The Almshouses of York : Medieval Charity to Modern Welfare Quacks Books, 2010). Rotha Mary Clay provides the most definitive account of English Hospitals in the late nineteenth century. More recent work is by Nicholas Orme, and Margaret Elise Graham Webster, The English Hospital 1070-1570 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), pp. xii, 308 pp. The earliest account is probably Thomas Bishop of Saint Asaph Tanner, Notitia Monastica, or a Short History of the Religious Houses in England and Wales (Oxford: Printed at the Theater, 1695). Care for the poor was not institutionalized by civic authorities until the middle of the nineteenth century.See English Poor Laws and Scottish Poor Laws; See, for, example http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Aberdeen/ for information on the Poor Houses in Aberdeen. The almshouse or poorhouse can be seen as a development of the medieval hospital.See Walter H. Godfrey, The English Almshouse, with Some Account of Its Predecessor, the Medieval Hospital (London,1955).
Scotland It is estimated that between 160 and 170 hospitals were built in Scotland.See D Hall, 'Unto Yone Hospitall at the Tounis End: The Scottish Medieval Hospital', Tayside and Fife Archeological Journal, 12 (2006), 89-105. and Ian Borthwick Cowan, David Edward Easson, and Richard Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland with an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man. 2nd edn (London: Longman, 1976), pp. xxviii, 252p,fold plates. Based on Hall's classification comparable figures to those above can be adduced for Scotland.D Hall, 'Unto Yone Hospitall at the Tounis End: The Scottish Medieval Hospital', Tayside and Fife Archeological Journal, 12 (2006), p105. The nineteenth century survey in Keith et al.Robert Keith, John Spottiswood, and Michael Russell, An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops Down to the Year 1688. Also an Account of All the Religious Houses. A new edn (Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute, 1824), pp. cx, 576 p. lists only 28 hospitals. It must be assumed that Spottiswood was selective amongst the available records.
Scottish hospitals from 1150 to 1600 Dates – by century Almshouse Poorhouse Leper hospitalTraveller's inn/pilgrim's rest Hospice Bede house Unclassified 12th 3 2 3 2 1 3 13th 4 8 4 13 14th 1 4 4 12 15th 10 13 7 20 16th 5 5 3 1 1 12
The data provided by Hall are based on the known date of building the hospital. A comprehensive database of places of worship (churches) provides information on ruined buildings including hospitals. The earliest hospital in Scotland was probably St Leonard's in St Andrews, founded by Bishop Robert of St Andrews in 1144. This was both a hospice and traveller's inn. Another early development was a traveller's inn founded in North Berwick in about 1154. Up to 1400, as many as 60 hospitals were founded. Many of these hospitals also served as leper houses or leper colonies. Cowan & Easson together with Hall identify about twenty Leper Houses.
The best indicator of the remains or site of a medieval hospital is the use of the phrase "spital" in place names. Across Scotland, the Ordnance Survey lists 58 places with the phrase "spital" in a place name.
The north east of Scotland Listed below, in a summary table, are the recorded hospital sites in the north east of Scotland. Some of the locations remain uncertain. Details of the dates founded and "terminated" are provided where known. In some cases the designation (i.e. type) is a composite. Leper houses are included, as they may have had a dual purpose. The designation maison Dieu is generally a description from land or map records. The term is usually synonymous with "bedehouse".See Hôtel-Dieu de Paris
For details of the various sites and notes see Cowan & Easson.Ian Borthwick Cowan, David Edward Easson, and Richard Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland with an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man. 2nd edn (London: Longman, 1976), pp. xxviii, 252p,fold plates.
Hospital sites in the north east of Scotland Location Date founded Founder Type Aberdeen 1363 ? Lepers Aberdeen 1531 Bishop Gavin Dunbar Bedesmen Aberdeen 1179 Matthew Bishop of Aberdeen Sick Aberdeen 1459 Master John Clatt Poor/sick Aberdeen 1459 ? ? Unknown Aberdeen 1632 Unknown Bedeswomen Aberdeen 1443 ?? ? Unknown Arbroath 1352 ? Almshouse/ resident Balgownie 1418 Unknown ? Banff 1560? ? Lepers Banff 1600 ? ? Bedeswomen Brechin 1267 William de Brechin Poor Cullen 1657 ? Findlater Unknown Dundee 1498 Lepers Dundee 1390 Sir James Lindsay Poor/sick Elgin 1360 ? Lepers Elgin 1360? Bishop of Moray Unknown Elgin 1237 ? Poor/sick Fyvie 1427 ? ? Unknown Glen Muick 1732 ? Travellers/pilgrims Kincardine O'Neil 1244 Alan Durward Poor/sick/travellers Kintore 1551 ? ? Unknown Montrose 1245 /1516 Poor Monymusk ? ? Unknown Newburgh 1261 Alexander Cumyn Earl of Buchan Unknown Portincraig 1187 Earl of Angus Unknown Rathven 1224 / 1226 John Byseth Lepers Spey Bridge ? Unknown St Nicholas (Boharm) 1235 Muriel de Polloe Travellers/pilgrims Tarves 1584 ? William Forbes of Tolquhon Unknown Turriff 1272 Earl of Buchan Almshouse/residents
Derek Hall provides some additional data.D Hall, 'Unto Yone Hospitall at the Tounis End: The Scottish Medieval Hospital', Tayside and Fife Archeological Journal, 12 (2006), 89-105. The table below shows the locations for north east Scotland and Dundee hospitals.
Hospitals in the north east of Scotland Description Place Founded TypeHall has provided a classification for each establishment. Some of the hospitals served multiple functions. Grid reference Latitude Longitude St Peters Aberdeen Aberdeen 1179 Hospitals for the care of the sick NJ 94000 07600 57.159224 -2.1008261 St Mary Kincardine O'Neil Kincardine O'Neil 1224 Poor houses / traveller's inn / Chantry NO 59200 99800 57.087379 -2.6748258 St Nichola Boham Boham 1232 Poor houses NJ 31800 51600 57.549345 -3.1411705 Maison Dieu Elgin Elgin 1237 Poor houses NJ 22300 62600 57.646592 -3.3033868 Monkshome Newburgh Newburgh 1261 Almshouse NK 00000 25400 57.319158 -2.00164 St Mary & St Congan Turriff Turiff 1272 Almshouse NJ 72000 49000 57.53028 -2.46923 Aberdeen Leper Aberdeen 1333 Leper hospitals NS 59100 64430 55.852419 -4.2523287 Lazarite House, Elgin Elgin 1358 Unknown function NJ 21000 62000 57.640977 -3.3249631 Nethergate Dundee Dundee 1390 Poor houses NO 39990 29890 56.457324 -2.97532 St Anthony Dundee Dundee 1442 Unknown function NO 41820 30940 56.466986 -2.94586 St Thomas Martyr Aberdeen Aberdeen 1459 Poor housesHospitals for the care of the sick NJ 94100 06200 57.146649 -2.0991392 Dundee Dundee 1498 Leper hospitals NO 11000 21000 56.37289 -3.4425359 St Marys - Bishop Dunbar Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen 1531 Almshouse / bedehouse NJ 93838 08800 57.169998 -2.1035385 Banff Banff 1544 Leper hospitals NJ 68400 63200 57.657582 -2.5312076 St Peter Rathven Rathven 1224/1226 Leper hospitals NJ 44300 65600 57.676796 -2.9355767 Cullen Cullen Unknown Bedehouse NJ 50860 66080 57.681873 -2.8256982 Oyne Oyne Unknown Hostels for travellers NJ 69340 23580 57.301774 -2.5104659
Hospitals in Old Aberdeen and Aberdeen