<P> Soon many monasteries were founded throughout Europe, and everywhere there were hospitals like in Monte Cassino . By the 11th century, some monasteries were training their own physicians . Ideally, such physicians would uphold the Christianized ideal of the healer who offered mercy and charity towards all patients and soldiers, whatever their status and prognosis might be . In the 6th--12th centuries the Benedictines established lots of monk communities of this type . And later, in the 12th--13th centuries the Benedictines order built a network of independent hospitals, initially to provide general care to the sick and wounded and then for treatment of syphilis and isolation of patients with communicable disease . The hospital movement spread through Europe in the subsequent centuries, with a 225 - bed hospital being built at York in 1287 and even larger facilities established at Florence, Paris, Milan, Siena, and other medieval big European cities . </P> <P> In the North during the late Saxon period, monasteries, nunneries, and hospitals functioned mainly as a site of charity to the poor . After the Norman Conquest of 1066, hospitals are found to be autonomous, freestanding institutions . They dispensed alms and some medicine, and were generously endowed by the nobility and gentry who counted on them for spiritual rewards after death . In time, hospitals became popular charitable houses that were distinct from both English monasteries and French hospitals . </P> <P> The primary function of medieval hospitals was to worship to God . Most hospitals contained one chapel, at least one clergyman, and inmates that were expected to help with prayer . Worship was often a higher priority than care and was a large part of hospital life until and long after the Reformation . Worship in medieval hospitals served as a way of alleviating ailments of the sick and insuring their salvation when relief from sickness could not be achieved . </P> <P> The secondary function of medieval hospitals was charity to the poor, sick, and travellers . Charity provided by hospitals surfaced in different ways, including long - term maintenance of the infirm, medium - term care of the sick, short - term hospitality to travellers, and regular distribution of alms to the poor . Though these were general acts of charity among medieval hospitals, the degree of charity was variable . For example, some institutions that perceived themselves mainly as a religious house or place of hospitality turned away the sick or dying in fear that difficult healthcare will distract from worship . Others, however, such as St. James of Northallerton, St. Giles of Norwich, and St. Leonard of York, contained specific ordinances stating they must cater to the sick and that "all who entered with ill health should be allowed to stay until they recovered or died". </P>

The first hospitals in the us served mainly