The Med­iæ­val Hos­pi­tals of Eng­land,by Ro­tha Mary Clay

PREFACE

WHENthe able author of this book asked me towrite a Preface to a work on Hospitals, I repliedthat I must first see the sheets in proof. This was notdue to any doubt of the ability of the writer, it wasdue to some doubt as to the adequacy of the materialat her disposal. This doubt has been much more thanremoved. The mass of the material collected is remarkable.Still more remarkable is the evidence of the verylarge part played by Hospitals—in the widest senses ofthe word—in the social life of the people of this land inthe earlier Middle Ages. For the fuller understanding ofthe social life of our ancestors, this book contributesinformation of the most luminous character. It willserve also as an example and pattern for young andearnest students of real history, the history of ordinaryhuman beings rather than of generals and of kings.And it must be added that, although the division intonumerous headings leads to frequent repetitions of thenames and characters of institutions of the nature ofHospitals, it has the great advantage of reducing toorder a mass of material which might under less carefultreatment have had a chaotic appearance. As a book ofreference for readers and writers, this treatise on theMediæval Hospitals of England ought to hold a distinguishedplace.