Hospitals in medieval Scotland

Hospitals in medieval Scotland can be dated back to the 12th century. From c. 1144 to about 1650 many hospitals, bedehouses and maisons Dieu were built in Scotland.

There are many terms that apply to, or describe a hospital. The origin of the English term, "hospital", is probably from the French or Latin. English and European terms for hospital appear to have a common root. "Hospital" – from the Latin – "a place of rest for guests". Other terms are recognized. Almshouse; bede house;^[a] chantry; God's house; infirmary; spital; Domus hopitalis Sancti Spiritus (Latin); Gasthuis (German); Godshuis (Dut); Hôpital (Fr); Hôtel-Dieu (French); Krankenhaus (German); Maison dieu (French); ospedale (Italian); Sjukhus (Swedish); xenodochium (Greek).

Records provide evidence of more than 180 hospitals in Scotland. The term "spit(t)al" or "temple/templar" may also indicate land endowed by churches or monasteries as well as sites associated with the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitallers.^[1] Many hospitals were in the north east of Scotland in the cities of Dundee, Old Aberdeen and Aberdeen and across Aberdeenshire.

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^ Ian Borthwick Cowan, David Edward Easson, and Richard Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland with an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man. 2nd edn (London: Longman, 1976), pp. xxviii, 252p, NB More recent 2nd. Edition 1976 See Reading Below [4] fold plates; and, D Hall, 'Unto Yone Hospitall at the Tounis End: The Scottish Medieval Hospital', Tayside and Fife Archeological Journal, 12 (2006), 89-105. For further details of the way "Spittal" has been used, see McNiven, P (2013) Spittal place names in Menteith and Strarthendrick: evidence of crusading endowments, for a detailed explanation of the links to Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaler establishments and endowments. See also, Mackinlay, J M (1904) Influence of the Pre-Reformation Church on Scottish Place Names, Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, esp Ch. XXVIII (Hospitals) and XXIX (The Templars)

[2] Ian Borthwick Cowan, David Edward Easson, and Richard Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses, Scotland with an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man. 2nd edn (London: Longman, 1976), pp. xxviii, 252p, NB More recent 2nd. Edition 1976 See Reading Below [4] fold plates; and, D Hall, 'Unto Yone Hospitall at the Tounis End: The Scottish Medieval Hospital', Tayside and Fife Archeological Journal, 12 (2006), 89-105. For further details of the way "Spittal" has been used, see McNiven, P (2013) Spittal place names in Menteith and Strarthendrick: evidence of crusading endowments, for a detailed explanation of the links to Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaler establishments and endowments. See also, Mackinlay, J M (1904) Influence of the Pre-Reformation Church on Scottish Place Names, Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, esp Ch. XXVIII (Hospitals) and XXIX (The Templars)

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