But besides the monasteries there were hospitals. The term hospital was by no means confined to institutions for relieving the sick, but almshouses, orphanages and training homes were often called by this name. St Thomas's Hospital may be taken as a typical institution of the kind[40]. The date of its foundation is uncertain, but, early in the thirteenth century, it was destroyed by fire, and in 1228 was rebuilt on much the same site as that occupied by the St Thomas's Hospital of our own time. In 1323 the brethren were ordered to follow the rule of St Augustine, that is they were to take the vows of obedience and chastity, and to renounce individual property. The hospital consisted of Master, brethren, and sisters, and in the poet Gower's time there were also nurses, for he left bequests to the Master, brethren, sisters, and nurses, and asked from each their prayers. But, although the rule of St Augustine and the prayers for the benefactors belonged to the old order of things, the relief given to the poor was essentially the same from the time of Henry III. to that of Queen Victoria. It was founded for the relief and cure of poor people, and in 1535 there were forty beds for the poor, and food and firing were provided for them. Three years later it was surrendered into the hands of Henry VIII., and under his successor was reconstituted mainly on the old lines, but on a very much larger scale. [40] W. Rendle, _St Thomas's Hospital_. The information in this paper is derived from the Cartulary of S. Thomas, Stow MSS. 942. There were however several drawbacks to the hospitals as institutions for the relief of the poor. There was little security that the funds were well administered or that the appointments were impartially made. The king himself seems to have tried to exercise undue influence even in the case of St Thomas's Hospital: in 1528 he pressed Wolsey to give the Mastership to his chaplain, who, he said, was not learned enough for the king. There were however worse abuses than this, and even as early as the time of Henry V. it was necessary to pass a statute to prevent the maladministration of hospital funds[41]. Moreover at best the hospitals were only isolated centres of charity; they were not numerous enough to deal with poverty as a whole, and they were not connected with each other. The officials of each hospital acted on their own responsibility and afforded much or little relief to the poor of their immediate neighbourhood, but were almost as powerless as a private individual to check the general evil. [41] 2 Hen. V. Stat. I. c. 1. In the _Complaynt of Roderyck Mors_ the writer asserts the existence of a similar evil: "I heare that the masters of your hospytals be so fatt that the poore be kept leane and bare inough," p. 52. Edition of E. E. T. S. [Sidenote: 4. Attempts at Reorganisation.]