| Description | Cartulary of St Bartholomew's Hospital, sometimes known as 'Cok's Cartulary' was begun by Brother John Cok, renter, in c1418 and was continued in various hands until 1505/6. The contents of the Cartulary includes: copies of charters, letters patent and royal pardons, 1133-1464; papal bulls, c1175-1453; episcopal letters and acta, c1170-1420; deeds and other records of title, 1137-1505/6; and a rental of properties in London, 1456.
The manuscript has several foliation sequences, but the calendar follows the 20th century pencil foliation in the top right-hand corner of each folio.
The current Volume I comprises ff 1-426, and the current Volume II, ff 427-649(end). Volume II gives deeds for Middlesex and other counties, mostly written in a single clear hand which is apparently of a later date than the ones used for the deeds of City parishes.
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ff7-38: London rental, 1456, including some details of previous tenants, perhaps taken from earlier rentals now lost (Kerling, pp153-174; see also Norman Moore's 'History of St Bartholomew's Hospital, Volume II, pp45-105)
ff43-93: copies of charters, papal bulls, and documents concerning the foundation and site of St Bartholomew's Hospital. (Kerling, pp17-20)
ff68-69: list of Masters of the Hospital, 1123-1466; compiled in the 15th century. (Kerling, pp 175-177)
ff94-440: copies of deeds of London properties (Kerling, pp20-110)
ff441-595: copies of deeds of properties outside London (Kerling, p110-152)
ff596-636: contemporary index and table of contents
ff638-645: duplicate copies of sundry deeds (Kerling, p152)
f646: brief chronicle of the kings of England from Edward the Confessor to Henry VI (for a translation into English, see Norman Moore's 'Cok's Chronicle', in 'St Bartholomew's Hospital Journal', Volume 12 (May 1905), pp114-115, and Norman Moore's 'History of St Bartholomew's Hospital,' Volume II, pp34-36)
ff 94 and 474 have illuminated borders and initials depicting scenes from the adoration of the Cross, attributed to William Abell (Kerling p13; also article at SBHREF/257). The illumination on f94 includes the coat of arms later used by the Hospital; they also appear in an initial on f94v. f78 has a coloured initial. ff7-38, 95-326, 403-405 and 410 are rubricated. ff45-48, 427, 435 and 475-547 have initials decorated with pen-drawn grotesques.
The Cartulary and its contents are further described in Norman Moore's 'History of St Bartholomew's Hospital', Volume II, pp1-110. |
| Administrative history | The cartulary of St Bartholomew's Hospital, sometimes known as Cok's Cartulary, since it was begun by Brother John Cok, was composed according to practice of the time to compile copies of documents relating to properties and rights of an institution in a single ledger. It is thought that one reason for this was for ease of consultation in the increasing number of lawsuits in which religious houses were involved over the medieval period. Cartularies also provided a copy of key documents in case of loss of the original records through negligence or fire, and when the names of donors and tenants mentioned in the rental of properties, 1456 (ff.7-38) are compared with those in the Cartulary, it is clear that many of the original deeds and leases had already been lost by the fifteenth century.
The possession of a cartulary was also also a matter of prestige, and when John Wakeryng was elected Master of the Hospital in 1423, it is likely that he commissioned the cartulary to demonstrate the independence of the hospital from St Bartholomew's Priory following the final settlement between the two institutions made on 31 October 1420. However, work to transcribe the deeds of the hospital appears to have started earlier - the earliest date a deed was copied out is given by John Cok as 1418, so the transcription of deeds may have started under the mastership of John Bury [1415-17] or of John White [1418-23]. |