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| History |
| Legend has it that the Hospital's foundation originated
in a walk that Henry de Blois, a grandson of William the Conqueror, took
in the Itchen Meadows. He was supposedly stopped by a young peasant girl
who begged de Blois to help her people, who were starving because of
the civil war. The parallel with the Virgin Mary was not lost on de Blois,
who was so moved by the girl's plight that when, a little further along
the river, he discovered the ruins of a religious house, he resolved
to use the site to establish a new community to help the poor. How much
of this is fact is unclear, but we do know that Henry de Blois was young,
wealthy and powerful: a monk, knight and politician in one. Appointed
Bishop of Winchester in 1129 at the age of 28, he founded the Hospital
of St Cross between 1132 and 1136, creating what has become England's
oldest charitable institution. |
| The Hospital was founded to support thirteen poor
men, so frail that they were unable to work, and to feed one hundred
men at the gates each day. The thirteen men became the Brothers of St
Cross. Then, as now, they were not monks. St Cross is not a monastery
but a secular foundation. Medieval St Cross was endowed with land, mills
and farms, providing food and drink for a large number of people - don't
forget the water was unfit for drinking so copious amounts of ale and
beer were needed! |
| In the fifteenth century, Cardinal Beaufort added
to the St Cross buildings and is widely regarded as giving St Cross the
look it has today. |
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