ally dedicated
by the Bishop of Stepney, on Sunday, 10th May, 1908.

* * * * *

[Illustration: ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS AND THE HOSPITAL GATE
_E. Scamell. Photo._]

CHAPTER IV

ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS AND THE HOSPITAL

Visitors to Rome will remember the Isola Tiberina, which lies in a
curve of the river between the city and Trastevere, and is reached from
the respective sides by the Ponte Quattro Capi and the Ponte San
Bartolomeo. It was to the hospital on this island that Rahere was sent
for medical treatment in his illness; and it is possible that the
disposing cause of his vision, with its practical outcome, may be found
in the circumstances of the place. The island had been dedicated to
Aesculapius on the strength of an ancient Roman legend; and about the
year 1000 the Emperor Otho III, erected a Christian church
there--probably on the site of a temple to the god--which was named
after St. Bartholomew, on the supposition that it contained the saint's
relics.[1] Below the church there are the remains of the old travertine
ramparts which gave the island the appearance of a ship on which the
edifice was resting--a fanciful picture of the "Navis Ecclesiae" as
reproduced in the twelfth century Priory seal. (_Vide_ Fig. C, page 73)
The combination of a hospital with a church, suggested by the island and
the vision, was realized in Rahere's double foundation on his return to
England. Until the time of the Dissolution the corporate body of the
hospital, and the staff for attendance upon the patients, were
identical, and consisted of a master, eight brethren, and four sisters,
all living in obedience to the Augustinian rule. Unfortunately no record
is preserved of the grant of the site, or of the deed of endowment; but
a Charter granted by Henry I in 1133 is extant, conferring certain
privileges on the church, prior, canons, and poor of the hospital.
(_Vide ante_ chap. i.) The annexation of the hospital to the priory was
subsequently confirmed by a Charter of King John in the fifth year of
his reign, which remained in force without material change till the
separation effected under Henry VIII. The connection involved the
presentation of each newly elected Master to the Prior of St.
Bartholomew's, or, if he refused institution, to the Bishop of London;
the assent of the prior and canons being, however, required before any
one could become a member of the Hosp