Faith, service and ownership: the life and changing identity of Eastbridge Hospital throughout the Reformation

Eastbridge Hospital (alias Kingsbridge Hospital, and The Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr) in Canterbury is an institution with a long and troubled history. Having been founded in the height of Catholic religiosity and pilgrimage in medieval England, it found itself deeply embroiled in the turmoil of the Reformation. Unable to preserve its Catholic background, the Hospital was transformed greatly by the Protestant Reformers who took control of the English Church. As the Reformation developed, the Hospital faced financial, social, and religious change. This thesis aims to uncover the dramatic transformation that the Hospital underwent which preserved its existence against the odds, and in contrast to many pilgrimage hospitals of its day. By investigating its financial viability, transformed structure, and reformed religious outlook, it is the aim of this study to understand how fortunate Eastbridge was to come out of the Reformation safely and into the modern age. By investigating its existing financial records, it will be important to see how much land it held, and potentially had seized, alongside its income and expenditure – which will, in turn, reveal significant attitudes towards its principle of poor relief. With a new Protestant structure, it is also necessary to evaluate how far this affected Eastbridge’s attitudes to aiding the impoverished and which practises it gained and lost in doing so. Lastly, the religious reforms enforced upon the Hospital will help to show the attitude of a former Catholic institution and how far it was run in line with Protestant theology.