A medieval hospital or almshouse where poor and sick people could receive lodging and care.
Compound from 'bed' and 'house,' literally a house providing beds, though in Middle English this meant institutional housing. Related to the concept of 'bedehouses' which cared for the needy.
A 'bedehouse' was like medieval welfare—communities would fund these places specifically for poor travelers, the sick, and elderly people who had nowhere to go, with a bed being the primary resource offered.
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