Charity, alms and almonries: the Templars at Gislingham continued
Following my post on the Templars’ ruined ‘alms-house’ at Gislingham in Suffolk, Dr Paul Webster has pointed out that the kings of England maintained ‘almonries’ from which alms were dispensed. King John maintained almonries at��locations where he stayed on his travels, while����Sally Dixon-Smith, in her article ‘The Image and reality of alms-giving in the great halls of Henry III’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 152 (1999), 79-96, at p. 86, describes King Henry III’s ‘building��and maintenance across the country of almonries’. She continues:
“There are almonries mentioned at Marlborough (re-built 1241-2), Westminster, Kempton, ��Winchester, Windsor, Nottingham, Havering, Clarendon, Guildford, and Woodstock, whilst instructions were issued for the building of new almonries at Hereford, Nottingham, Ludgershall, Rochester, and Gillingham.”
As the��almonry at the Templars’ former manor of Gislingham was ‘broken and ruinous’ in November,��1311,��how were��almonries normally constructed?��Dixon-Smith explains (p. 86) that Henry ordered Robert de Mucegros, the keeper of Ludgershall to ‘make an almonry of 6 pairs of rafters … the walls being made of cob and plaster.” She adds: “Henry’s castle almonries were sizeable wooden structures. In 1233 the almonry at Hereford was built with timber from the king’s wood, whilst the new almonry at Nottingham measured 40 ft x 25 ft, and that at Havering 50 ft x 22ft.” The inventory��gives no indication of the size of��the almonry at Gislingham, but if it were constructed of timber, cob and plaster, this would help to explain why it was broken and ruinous in November 1311, after almost four years out of use.
King Henry III’s almonries were busy places:
“The almonries were probably used for the local storage of the vast amounts of herring, no doubt cured in some way, which were purchased for the king’s alms. It seems likely that the daily distribution to the poor was made from the almonry, some of which had their own oven attached” (Dixon-Smith, p. 87). Henry’s custom was to feed 500 poor per day (p. 86) on a budget of 1 d. (one penny)��per person (p. 87) — ��a cost of 2 pounds, 1 shilling and 8 pence per day, which would��add up to����760, 12 shillings and 4 pence in a year.
How did the Templars’ charitable donations compare to this? King Edward II’s enquiries into the Templars’ assets and liabilities produced some information about the Templars’ almsgiving. For example, the jurors who in 1309 reported on the value of the Templars��� former manor of Foukebridge (now Foulbridge) in north Yorkshire stated that alms were given on three days each week to all comers:
“dicunt etiam quod solebant facere in eodem manerio elemoseria cuilibet pauperi venienti per tres dies in qualibet septimania, an de iure an de gratia sua; tam de caritaria quam de elemosinia predicti iurati ignorant” (they say that they (the Templars) were accustomed to give alms at the same manor to each poor person coming throughout three days in any week; the aforesaid jurors do not know whether this was��done from their rule��or by grace, from charity��and from alms). (From TNA: E��142/16, mem. 15.)
Similar alms were given at the Templars’ commandery at Temple Cressing in Essex:
“Item predicti fratres solebant distribuere per constitucionem tocius Capituli qualibet septimana per iij dies singulis annis omnibus pauperibus ibidem venientis panem et bladem pro voluntate eorumdem et estimata quod eadem elemosina potest fieri per annum de lij s” (the same aforesaid brothers were accustomed through the constitution of the whole Chapter,��in any��week throughout 3 days each year to distribute��to all the poor coming there bread and grain according to their will and it is estimated that the same alms could amount to 52 shillings per year). (From: The Cartulary of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem in England, Secunda Camera, Essex, ed. Michael Gervers (London, 1982), p. 56, doc. 85, from British Library ms Cotton Nero E VI, fol. 304r; see also Alan Forey, ���The Charitable Activities of the Templars���, Viator, 34 (2003), 109-41, at 118 and my article ���Relations between houses of the Order of the Temple in Britain and their local communities, as indicated during the trial of the Templars, 1307���12���, in Knighthoods of Christ: Essays on the History of the Crusades and the Knights Templar presented to Malcolm Barber, ed. Norman Housley (Aldershot, Hants and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7546-5527-5), pp. 195���207.)
If one commandery distributed 52 shillings (2 pounds 2 shillings ) a year, how much did the Templars in England and Wales��give away in charity overall each year? At present, we can only speculate. As I continue to work through the records of the Templars��� estates from 1308���13, I will post further information as I find it.
Many thanks to Paul Webster for his assistance with the first part of this post.
