Bring up the bodies?

"It is known that several of the de la Poles sought burial in the Charterhouse (which effectively became the family’s northern mausoleum). Sir William de la Pole (died 1366) and his wife Katherine (died 1381) were buried beneath the high altar in the priory church and their son Michael, 1st Earl of Suffolk and his wife Katherine in the chancel."  So says John Cook, writing in 1882.  What happened to the graves of such an illustrious family?

The priory was closed in 1539.  Writing in the early 1540s, John Leland reported (in his Itineraries),"The Charter House of the De la Poles foundation, and an Hospital of their Foundation standing by it, is without the North Gate. The Hospital standeth. Certain of the De la Poles were buried in this Carthusian Monastery: and at the late suppressing of it were found divers troughs of Lead with Bones in a Vault under the High Altar there. Most part of this Monastery was builded with Brick, as the Residue of the Buildings of Hull for the most part be."  [spelling modernised]  The lead coffins indicate high status burials.  But what happened to these coffins?  No one knows.

Carthusians have always buried their own dead without coffins, usually in the cloister garth.  This is consistent with what was found in the early 19th century, when the land which once belonged to the Priory was developed into what is now Sykes Street.  On 3 June 1809 the Hull Advertiser reported that human skeletons had been found, oriented east - west, and that "masses of wall of immense thickness" were discovered when digging for the foundations of new houses.  The skeletons were no doubt those of the monks who had lived and died in the Priory.  But, like the aristocratic remains found many years before, they appear to have been discarded.  Archaeology had not yet developed as a science, and no plans were made of the site.  Perhaps before any future redevelopment of the area there will be an attempt to excavate it properly.

John Hailes, bellman

From the Bench Book, 1571

[In the margin] John hailes appointed to be bell man. & the annuitie he haithe of the hospitall to Sease.
Item the day and yeare abovesaid the said maior & aldermen did give and bestowe the office of the Bell man to John Hailes he to enter to yt at michelmas next. And that from thensfourthe the xls whiche he haithe yerely of benevolence paied him by the maister of the Hospitall shall be paied him no more for that the said office is thought to be a competent Lyvinge for him. (Transcription by Helen Good.)

John Hailes is the first named inmate of the Charterhouse in the records - perhaps.  The 1571 Bench Book is the first to mention the hospital at all, and doesn't call it the Charterhouse, probably because at that stage, only 32 years after the dissolution of the priory, the term was not routinely applied to the hospital.  We can be confident, however, that it's Michael de la Pole's foundation which is referred to.  The only rival at this time, the Trinity House almshouse, was not under the control of the Mayor and Aldermen.

This short paragraph presents us with several unanswered questions.  John Hailes has an annuity from the hospital; can we be sure that he is an inmate?  There was no provision in the founding document to pay an allowance to anyone who didn't have a room in the hospital, so we must assume that he is.  And that allowance was 40 shillings a year.  Presumably he had been awarded his place because he qualified as "aged poor".  Yet here he is being given a job which carried pay of at least 40s.  Did the withdrawal of his allowance also mean that he lost his room in the hospital?
What was a bellman?  (The clerk wrote the term, twice, as two words rather than one, but that seems irrelevant.)  It was unlikely to have been simply the task of ringing a bell to mark the time at the hospital for services.  That would not have carried a salary as large as the inmates' allowances, and it probably would not have required the endorsement of the Mayor and Aldermen.  There are two possibilities in this period.  A "bellman" could be either a town crier or a night watchman.  The second seems more likely.  As with all these questions we can't be sure, but for centuries the job of patrolling the streets of a town at night was given to elderly men.  In the days before police forces the watchmen would carry a bell (and later a whistle) to alert householders to trouble.  Was this John Hailes' new job?
Despite the questions, John Hailes has the honour of being the earliest named beneficiary of Michael de la Pole's foundation.