Bethlem Royal Hospital

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Bethlem Royal Hospital

Bedlam in 1896
Established 1247 as a Priory
Opened 1330 as a Hospital
Current Status Active
Building Style Pre-1854 Plans
Location London, England
Alternate Names
  • Bethlehem Hospital
  • St. Mary Bethlehem
  • "Bedlam"



Bethlem Royal Hospital is an active hospital for the treatment of mental illness located in London, United Kingdom; and is currently owned and operated by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Although no longer based at the original location of its 1247 founding, it is recognised as Europe's first and oldest psychiatric institution. The Hospital has been closely associated with King's College-London, and remains in partnership with the King's College-London Institute of Psychiatry. The hospital itself remains a major center for psychiatric, neorological and psycholgicla research.

The word bedlam, meaning 'an uproar or confusion', is derived from the hospital's prior name. Although currently a modern psychiatric facility, historically it became representative of the worst excesses of asylum abuses and neglect.


History

Foundation as a Priory

Bethlem Royal Hospital's origins are unlike any other psychiatric hospital in the western world. As a formal organization, it can be traced to its foundation in 1247, during the reign King Henry III, as a Roman Catholic Monestary for the Priory of the 'New Order of St Mary of Bethlem' in the city of London proper. It was established by the Italian Bishop of Bethlehem, Goffredo de Prefetti, following a donation of personal property by the London Alderman and former City-Sheriff, the Norman, Simon FitzMary. It bears its name after its primary patron and original overseer. The initial location of the priory was in the parish of Saint Botolph, in Bishopsgate's ward, just beyond London's wall and where the south-east corner of Liverpool Street station now stands. Bethlem was not initially intended as a hospital, much less as a specialist institution for the mentally ill. Rather, its purpose was tied to the function of the English Church; the ostensible purpose of the priory was to function as a centre for the collection of alms to support the Crusaders, and to link England to the Holy Land. Bishop De Prefetti's need to generate income for the Crusaders, and restore the financial fortunes of his apostalic see was occasioned by two misfortunes: his bishopric had suffered significant losses following the destructive conquest of the town of Bethlehem by the Khwarazmian Turks in 1244; and the immediate predecessor to his post had further impoverished his cathedral chapter through the alienation of a considerable amount of its property. The new London priory, obedient to the Church of Bethlehem, would also house the poor, disabled and abandoned; and, if visited, provide hospitality to the Bishop, canons and brothers of Bethlehem. The subordination of the priory's religious order to the bishops of Bethlehem was further underlined in the foundational charter which stipulated that Bethlems's prior, canons and male and female inmates were to wear a star upon their cloaks and capes to symbolise their obeisance to the church of Bethlehem.

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