Syon Abbey: Its Herbal, Medical Books and Care of the Sick: 
                Healthcare in a Mixed Mediaeval Monastery. 
                             
                           By 
                             
                        John Adams, 
                             
                   Syon Abbey Research Associates 
                             
                   This work may be freely cited as: 
                             
                      ADAMS, J. S.  (2015) 
             Syon Abbey: Its Herbal, Medical Books and Care of the Sick: 
                 Healthcare in a Mixed Mediaeval Monastery 
                     
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                                                     CONTENTS 
                                                             
               Syon Abbey: Its Medical Books, Herbal and Healthcare            Pages     3 to 84 
                
               Medical Books in the Syon Registrum Section B and SS2           Pages   85 to 118 
                
               Details on Donors of Medical Books                              Pages 119 to 122 
                
               List of Manuscripts Consulted or Cited                          Pages 123 to 124 
                
               Text From Joseph Strutt’s, Bibliographical Dictionary (1785)    Pages 125 to 126 
               (to accompany Image of Thomas Betson in text at page 12) 
                
               Select Bibliography                                             Pages 127 to 141 
                                            
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                                Syon Abbey: Its Medical Books and Care of the Sick1 
                                                              
                
               1      Syon Abbey: A Brief History. 
                
                      The reasons for the unlikely founding in 1415 of a Swedish abbey of 60 nuns 
               and 25 brothers to the west of London by Henry V (1387-1422) are to be sought in the 
               bitter struggle between France and England during the Hundred Years’ War. This 
               war had effectively begun in May 1337, with the seizure of the continental 
               possessions of Edward III of England (1312-1377) by Philippe VI of France (1293-
               1350). This act led directly to the Battle of Crécy in 1346, in which Edward III 
               destroyed the French army, killing many of the nobility. It was probably following 
               this battle that Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), a powerful and inspired voice in the 
               Europe of the time, claimed to have received guidance from Christ himself, calling 
               for a dynastic marriage between the French and English royal houses, so that the 
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               dual inheritance would fall to a legitimate heir, and thus end the wars.   
                       
                      This appeal, which was sent to Pope Clement VI (from 1342 to 1352), was 
               transmitted to England by King Magnus IV of Sweden (1316-1374) in 1348.3  But it 
               was, perhaps not surprisingly, picked up and used by English polemicists as 
               supporting England’s claim to France. Bridget’s Revelations had in fact assigned the 
               maiorem iusticiam (the better claim) to Edward III, though both he and the French 
               king were also described as ravenous beasts. The particular Revelations were 
               furthermore incorporated in England into The Regement of Princes, a guide to good 
               governance prepared for the future Henry V in 1410-1411, when he was still Prince 
               of Wales. 
                       
                      Henry V became king of England in April 1413. The Revelations underpinned 
               his failed marriage negotiations with France in early 1415, also motivated his 
               foundation of Syon Abbey.  Bridget of Sweden had added an appeal for the Kings of 
                                                                          
               1
                 I am grateful to Stuart Forbes, also of a member of Syon Abbey Research Associates, and co-author 
               of The Syon Abbey Herbal, for his comments, and for proofreading this paper. 
               2 Birgitta of Sweden, Revelationes, Book IV, Chapters 103-105.  See Alicia Spencer-Hall, (2013) and Neil 
               Becket (1993) for details. The relevant text in Chapter 105 is spoken by Christ: ‘Quod per matrimonium 
               fiat pax, et sic regnum per legitimum heredem poterit pervenire.’  [So that there may be peace through 
               marriage, and the kingdom may fall to the lawful heir.]       A full English text is at: 
               http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Bridget%20(Birgitta)%20of%20Sweden%20-%20Prophecies
               %20and%20Revelations.html 
                
               3 See also Morris (1999), pp.79-80 for details. 
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                France and England to establish religious houses, based on her own foundation at 
                Vadstena, and it was to this model that Henry V turned – the Bridgettine Abbey of 
                Syon. 
                 
                        Another ostensible motivation, for Henry’s founding of Syon was to complete 
                by prayer the penance of his father, Henry IV, for his seizure of the throne in 1400, 
                and starving to death of the rightful king, Richard II.  
                         
                        After Henry V came to the English throne in 1413, he rebuilt one of the royal 
                residences at Sheen. The site was on the Thames at Richmond, and Henry proposed 
                to construct near it three monastic houses of strict religious observance.  The orders 
                chosen were the Carthusians, Celestines and Bridgettines. The houses were to be 
                named Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Syon respectively. The initial building of Syon 
                went ahead on a site near the present Twickenham Bridge in London, and the 
                                                                    nd
                foundation stone was laid by Henry V on 22  February 1415.  The Battle of 
                Agincourt was only eight months away. By 1420 Henry was regent of France, and 
                married to the French King’s daughter.  The throne of France appeared within his 
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                grasp, when he suddenly died, either of dysentery  or pleurisy , in August 1421. The 
                French throne fell to his son, the infant Henry VI of England (b.1421, d.1471). 
                 
                        Henry V guaranteed Syon an initial income of 1,000 marks annually (about 
                £666, or about £500,000 now, an expensive royal investment) and in 1417 he also 
                endowed it with lands seized from ‘alien’ (i.e. French) priories in England.  The site 
                at Twickenham, however, soon proved too small and damp for habitation, and new 
                quarters were sought not far away and still near the River Thames.  The new 
                foundation stone was laid in 1426 and occupation commenced in 1431. The abbey 
                church was however not completed for nearly another sixty years. 
                         
                        Bridgettine monasteries, being double houses of men and women, were of a 
                unique design, and St Bridget’s Revelations were specific about size and layout.  The 
                monasteries were to be plain and simple, and although archaeological evidence at 
                Syon has revealed no more than the footprint for the church and sisters’ 
                accommodation, and perhaps the brothers’ reredorter (communal latrine), this 
                evidence suggests that Syon was closely modelled on the mother house at Vadstena.   
                                                                           
                4 Histoire de Charles VI, Juvenal des Oursins (1388–1473). See 
                https://archive.org/details/histoiredecharle00juv   This version is perhaps influenced by Henry’s 
                reported wish to remove the shrine of St Fiacre (a sixth century Irish monk) from France to England. 
                St Fiacre was the patron saint of dysentery (also called le mal de Fiacre). 
                5 Baker’s Chronicle, p179, citing Peter Basset, Henry’s Chamberlain, who was present at his death. 
                Pleurisy was probably understood as inflammation of the lungs. 
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