There
was a time when the name of William de la Pole was familiar to most
Hull people. They knew that he was the first Mayor of Hull, if
nothing else. A statue of him, a fanciful Victorian image of a
medieval gentleman, stood in the old Town Hall. In September 1901
the building was due to be demolished, so the statue was moved to a
spot on King Edward Street. The Hull Daily Mail reported the move,
and quoted from the inscription on the base the “fact” that
William was the founder of the Charterhouse. That sparked several
letters pointing out that this was inaccurate; the founder was
William’s son Michael. The letter-writers were correct; but there
is some truth in that inscription.
There
appears to have been an almshouse or hospital in Hull by the 1340s; a
document in the National Archives dated 17 Edward III (1343-4) gives
James de Kyngestone, the king's clerk, permission “to grant a
messuage in Hull to the warden of God's House there”. Nothing else
is known about this. When William de la Pole retired from active
business he received a royal licence, in 1354, to found a hospital
for poor people. Its income was to come from the rent of lands in
Myton and properties in Hull. The hospital was apparently founded,
but in 1365, the year before his death, William decided to change his
plan. He wanted it to be a convent for nuns of the order of St.
Clare. The change was not implemented. The source for this is the
1378 document drawn up by William's son Michael on his foundation of
a Carthusian Priory.
Whilst we continually
revolve in our Mind, how our most dear Father and Lord William de la
Pole, Knight, (now deceased) whilst he lived, by the Inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, first founded an Hospital for the Poor; and
afterwards, out of greater Devotion, altering this, his Purpose, was
resolved to erect at Kingston-upon-Hull, a certain Religious House of
Nuns, or Poor Sisters Minoresses Regular, of the Order of St. Clare,
for the Enlargement and Honour of the Church of England, and to the
Intent that he might make Christ his Heir: And seeing our said
Father left this World, when he had not yet completed what he
intended to have endow'd; and having, before his Death, most strictly
charg'd us, that we should take such Order concerning the said
Building, as might tend both to its greater Security, and better
promote the Ends of Piety, according to our own Will and Discretion.
This
is already somewhat confusing. William founded a hospital then
changed his mind, preferring a convent of Poor Clares, which he
didn't live to see built. But was the hospital itself ever actually
built? Michael decided that a Carthusian Priory was more to his
taste than a convent, and it was to be “in one of our Messuages,
without the Walls of the said Town of Kingston-upon-Hull”. He goes
on to describe the exact situation.
...the said Messuage,
with the Appurtenances, containing 7 Acres of Land, which formerly
was a Parcel of the Manor of Myton, call'd La Maison Dieu, and which
from this Time, we will should be called the House of St. Michael of
the Order of Carthusians of Kingston-upon-Hull, as heretofore;
together with a certain Chapel, built on the said Messuage; and all
other Buildings standing thereupon, with all the Appurtenances
whatsoever, as it is situated, within a certain Pitfall of Dame
Katherine de la Pole, our most dear Mother towards the West; and a
certain Hospital of ours, now called La Maison Dieu, facing the East;
and a Trench of our aforesaid Mother towards the South; and the Land
formerly belonging to Roger Swerde, towards the North.
So
the Maison Dieu did exist; but Michael intended to replace it with a
Priory. The implication is either that the hospital had never been
occupied, or that it was to be closed. The founding document of
Michael's own Maison Dieu, in 1384, makes the situation no clearer.
Sir William de la Pole,
knight, lately, whilst he lived, moved of divine clemency, did
purpose to found and establish near Kingston-upon-Hull, firstly a
hospital for Minor priests, and poor people, then, altering
subsequently his intention out of increased devoutness, a religious
house for nuns or sisters, Minoresses Regular of the Order of St.
Clare, and for certain poor people.
Yet
he goes on to say that his new hospital will be “set up in two
messuages of ours called the Maisondieu”.
We
may never know. Michael de la Pole, 1st
Earl of Suffolk, rightly takes the credit for what we now call the
Charterhouse, but the originator was his father William.
