Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England Part 22

The precentor also held the Rectory of Longleddenham. The chancellor was also Vicar of Byker, Rector of Highkame, and Rector of Foletby. Mr. Pryn, the sub-dean, seems to have held nothing besides his dignity and his prebendal stall, except the Singing Schools (under the precentor). There were Prebendal Schools under the oversight of the prebendaries themselves, and others "which are maintained by local managers for the instruction of their paris.h.i.+oners in faith and letters."

It may seem a little invidious, perhaps, to add these several sums together and bring out the totals; but it is a part of the work which we have undertaken, and we do not feel at liberty to decline it; it will, at least, remind us that we have in modern times made some economic changes in the administration of cathedral affairs; not altogether satisfactory ones, for, with the usual want of moderation in the minds of reformers, instead of judicious pruning, the cruel knife has left little beyond a bare stem.

To sum up, then--

Mr. George Hennage, the dean, had 196 10_s._ 8_d._ of his deanery; 83 11_s._ 1_d._ of the Dean and Chapter Fund; 95 17_s._ 10_d._ of the Fabric Fund; 42 7_s._ 4_d._ of his Prebend of Biggleswade;[365]

20 as Master of Tatteshall College;[366] 23 11_s._ as Rector of Gedney;[367] 27 3_s._ 4_d._ as Rector of Was.h.i.+ngborough;[368] 22 8_s._ 5_d._ as Rector of Howby;[369] 23 8_s._ 6_d._ as Rector of Benningworth;[370] and 13 10_s._ as Rector of Flyxboro';[371] making a total of 548 8_s._ 3_d._

Mr. James Mallett, the precentor, had only 8 2_s._ 4_d._ of his precentory; 83 11_s._ 1_d._ his share of the Dean and Chapter Fund; 95 17_s._ 10_d._ of the Fabric Fund; he was Prebendary of Empyngham,[372] which brought him 35 6_s._ 5_d._, and Rector of Longleddenham,[373] 29 12_s._ 8_d._ Total, 252 10_s._ 4_d._

Mr. Christopher Ma.s.singberd, the chancellor, had 54 1_s._ 5_d._ of his chancellors.h.i.+p; 83 11_s._ 1_d._ of the Dean and Chapter Fund; and 95 17_s._ 10_d._ of the Fabric Fund; as Vicar of Byker,[374] 15; as Rector of High Kame,[375] 19 16_s._ 2_d._; as Rector of Foletby,[376]

21 2_s._ 8_d._ Total, 289 9_s._ 2_d._

The treasurers.h.i.+p, vacant at that moment, was worth 10 13_s._ 4_d._; with 83 11_s._ 1_d._ of the Dean and Chapter Fund, and 95 17_s._ 10_d._ of the Fabric Fund. Total, 190 2_s._ 3_d._

Mr. John Pryn, the sub-dean, had 35 8_s._ of his dignity; 83 11_s._ 1_d._ of the Dean and Chapter Fund; 95 17_s._ 10_d._ of the Fabric Fund; and of his Prebend of Keton,[377] 29 10_s._ 2_d._ Total, 244 7_s._ 1_d._

It must be borne in mind that these were great dignitaries of one of the greatest and wealthiest dioceses, and had to maintain a certain degree of state in their household and expenditure. Each dignitary had also to find at his own cost everything which belonged to his office; the precentor everything which belonged to Divine services, vestments, service books, etc. The chancellor had to maintain the divinity school of the cathedral--at one time a very famous one, the cathedral grammar school, and was responsible for all the schools in the city and county.

Should any reader have recognized among these dignitaries of Lincoln Cathedral the names of well-known families of the diocese, he must not be satisfied with a pa.s.sing thought on the effect of family influence in the distribution of Church patronage, which may be true enough; he must add the reflection that in those times it was thought fitting not only to give the grandest architecture, the most costly material, and the best art to the material church, but also to dedicate the best blood of the people to its ministry; much as in old times the greatest and proudest n.o.bles held domestic offices--dapifer and the like--at the court of the king, and no one who was not of gentle birth was thought worthy to attend him.

We shall entirely fail to understand the whole spirit and meaning of a mediaeval cathedral if we have not fully grasped the idea that it was not intended to be merely a centre of busy diocesan work; the magnificent building and its sumptuous furniture, the numerous and complex organization of its staff of ministers richly endowed, were all directed to the honour and wors.h.i.+p of Almighty G.o.d. It was the embodiment in this dispensation of the ideal of wors.h.i.+p which G.o.d Himself sanctioned in the old dispensation, when His Temple at Jerusalem was "exceeding magnifical,"[378] and the high priest wore jewels of untold price on his mystic breastplate, and a whole tribe--a twelfth of the people--were set apart for the ministry, and the well-endowed priests came up in the turn of their twenty-four courses to the honour of officiating for a fortnight in a year before the Presence in the Holy of Holies.

There were fifty-two prebendaries, whose canopied oak stalls form the most striking feature of the choir of the cathedral. A prebend was sometimes a manor, more frequently a rectory, rarely a sum of money, which formed an endowment for a canon.[379] For the most part the prebendaries were supposed to reside upon their prebends, to maintain Divine service, and a school, and hospitality there. Every prebendary was required to maintain a vicar choral at the cathedral; he himself came into residence for one week in the year, and during that week took the princ.i.p.al position in the cathedral services. On his Sunday of duty he was expected to entertain nineteen of the under officers at dinner, and to receive others at different meals during the week. The dean was required about thirty times a year to give an "honorificus pastus" to all the choir and vicars, "to make life and work more pleasant to them."[380] One fact is enough to show that the prebendaries of Lincoln were a very distinguished body of men:--of the fifty-two stalls, all but one--some of them more than once--has given a bishop to Lincoln, and from among them every English see has been filled, and many of them twice.

One of the statutory duties of the prebendaries is very little known, and is so curious and interesting as to deserve mention here, even though it requires a few words of preface to make the spirit of it quite intelligible. Among other remarkable designs which entered into pious minds in those mediaeval communities was that of maintaining a ceaseless service of praise--_laus perennis_--or a daily recitation of the whole Psalter. The former was a conventual devotion, and was done in this way: there were always two priests before the altar, night and day, relieved at regular intervals, singing the Psalms. The latter was a cathedral devotion, where it was a rule that the dean and prebendaries as a body should say the whole Psalter every day to the glory of G.o.d. The same devotion was maintained at Salisbury, Wells, and St. Paul's. The task was not a hard one, for the Psalter was divided among them; one prebend said the first, second, third, fourth Psalms, another the fifth, sixth, seventh, and so on; the 119th Psalm was divided between several of them; each made it a matter of conscience to say the Psalms allotted to him; and thus, from the time of Bishop St. Hugh, the prebendaries of Lincoln, wherever they were scattered, were brought together in spirit by this interesting observance, and said the whole Psalter daily to the glory of G.o.d. It will perhaps surprise some of our readers to learn that they keep up the observance to this day.[381]

We shall not trouble the reader with more than a few notes on the value of the fifty-two prebends. Some of them were very valuable, _e.g._ Leighton Manor, Leighton Buzzard, Cropredy, and Sutton, each brought in to their fortunate holders 40, but the majority were between 5 and 10. There are several noticeable ones--the Prebend s.e.xaginta Solidorum, and the Prebend Centum Solidorum, and the Prebend Decem Librarum, _i.e._ the prebends of Sixty s.h.i.+llings, a Hundred s.h.i.+llings, and Ten Pounds. The custos of St. Peter's altar received for commons and wine[382] as a canon 20 a year.

Some of these prebends, as we have seen, were held by the dignitaries; some, as we shall presently see, by the archdeacons. Some of them afforded a comfortable maintenance alone. It is to be hoped that the holders of others--especially of one whose value is returned as "nihil"--had other benefices to help out their incomes. They were not by any means all given to priests in the diocese. A prebend was a very comfortable benefice, which might be held by anybody, and they were given to all sorts of people; _e.g._ two of them seem to have been held by the Dean and Precentor of Chichester.[383]

To a.s.sist the bishop in the spiritual oversight of this vast diocese, which embraced 8 counties, and extended from the Humber to the Thames, the bishop had 8 archdeacons, whose incomes and the sources of them are reported in the "Valor."[384]

The Archdeacon of Lincoln received for procurations, 171 17_s._ 10_d._, for synodals at Pentecost, 29 14_s._ 3_d._, and at Michaelmas, 16 14_s._ 3_d._, and pensions, 5 17_s._, making a total of 234 2_s._ 4_d._ But out of that he had to pay the Prebendary of Ten Pounds 10, and 50_s._ to the Prebendary of Carleton, to his Receiver-General 8 13_s._ 4_d._, and 58_s._ to the three vergers of the Cathedral, leaving him a net income from this source of 179 19_s._ Archdeacon Richard Pate was also Prebendary of Sutton and Buckingham, from which he received 110 3_s._ 6_d._; he was also Rector of Kybworth, which was worth 39 14_s._ 11_d._; so that his total income was 329 17_s._ 5_d._

The Archdeaconry of Stow was worth 24 2_s._ 8_d._, and Archdeacon Darley does not appear to have held other preferment, at least in Lincoln Diocese.

The Archdeaconry of Huntingdon was worth 57 4_s._ 2_d._, and Archdeacon Knight was also Prebendary of Farundon, worth 30 11_s._ 2_d._

The Archdeaconry of Bedford was worth 57 2_s._ 3_d._, and Dr. Chamber the Archdeacon was Prebendary of Leighton Buzzard, worth 40, Rector of Leighton, worth 6 17_s._ 7_d._, and of Bowden Magna, worth 53 8_s._ 10_d._

The Archdeaconry of Leicester was worth 80 12_s._ 4_d._ Dr. Foxe[385]

was the archdeacon.

The Archdeaconry of Northampton was worth 107 7_s._ Gilbert Smith, the Archdeacon, was Prebendary of Leighton Bromeswold, worth 57 15_s._ 1_d._[386]

The Archdeaconry of Buckingham was worth 82 14_s._ 5_d._, and Richard Leighton the archdeacon seems to have had no other preferment in the Diocese of Lincoln.

The Archdeaconry of Oxford was worth 71 6_s._ Richard Coren, the archdeacon, held also the Prebendary of Welton Paynshall, worth 5 11_s._ 11_d._

There were--or should have been--twenty-five _Vicars Choral_, who were paid a stipend, each by his own Prebendary, of 2. The Corporate Body of Vicars also had property which yielded a net annual income of 145 11_s._ 2_d._, which divided between the twenty-five vicars gave to each 5 16_s._ 5_d._, "leaving a remainder of 9_d._ to be divided into twenty-five parts;" and fifteen of them had chantries a.s.signed to them.

At the time of the "Taxatio" there appears to have been only one chantry in the cathedral, for the soul of Bishop Hugh of Wells; by the time of the "Valor" the chantries had grown in number to thirty-six.

One vicar was cantarist of the Chantry of William Winchcome, which, after giving 20_s._ to the poor and other payments, was worth 6 5_s._ 4_d._ The same vicar received 2 for playing the organ at the Ma.s.s of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and also 1 6_s._ 8_d._ for playing at the Jesus Ma.s.s. Other vicars served the following chantries: of Hervey de Luda, worth 9_s._ 4_d._; of Simon Barton, 9_s._; of William Thornake, 4. 2_s._ 4_d._; of Henry Benyngworth, 8_s._ 8_d._; of Robert and John Lacy, 8_s._; of William Hemyngburge and others, 8_s._; of William FitzFulke, 4; of King Edward II., 12_s._, and the same clerk filled the office of succentor, for which he received from the precentor 50_s._, and 6_s._ 6_d._ for wines at the Feast of the a.s.sumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and from the Chapter, 7_s._ 6_d._; for wines at the end of the year _p'pastu chori_, 18_s._ 9_d._; making 4 12_s._ 9_d._ The cantarist of Roger Benetson received 5 12_s._; of Walter Stanreth, 4; of Oliver Sutton, 8_s._; of Geoffrey Pollard and others, 9_s._ 4_d._; of Gilbert Umfraville, 4 6_s._ 8_d._, the same clerk occupied the office called Clerk of the Hospital, for which he received from the Prior and Convent of St. Katharine juxta Lincoln, 24_s._ 2_d._; and from the Chapter for a gown, 9_s._, and other sums amounting to 1 14_s._ 10_d._; of Hugh of Wells, after paying for 2 vicar chaplains, and to the vicars of the second form, and to the servants of the Church, and in alms at the obit of the founder, received 6, the same clerk filled the office of sacrist, for which he received from the Treasurer and in perquisites, 6 17_s._ 6_d._ The 6 clerks who said the daily ma.s.s at the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary received each 13_s._ 5_d._ There were 4 vacancies in the body of vicars choral, and the 4 shares were divided among the remaining 21 vicars.

Besides the chantries in the presentation of the dean and chapter, and divided by them among the vicars choral, there were other chantries, of which a separate account is given. Some of them with more than one chaplain. The chantry of Nicholas de Cantelupe had 2 cantarists, who received 19 10_s._ 2_d._ between them; that of Bishop Henry Lexington had 2 cantarists, each of whom received 8_s._ 8_d._; 14 other chantries were worth various sums, from 8_s._ 4_d._ to 13. The chantry of Bartholomew Burghersh had 5 chaplains, who received 7 9_s._ 0_d._ each, it also maintained 6 poor boys and their master at a cost of 12 7_s._ 4_d._

The choristers had a special fund in the trustees.h.i.+p of the dean and chapter, out of which were entirely maintained twelve boys and the master who instructed them in singing, playing the organ, and grammar, at an annual cost of 34 13_s._ 5_d._

To these ministers of the church must be added a number of officials of another kind, the bailiffs, receivers, and auditors of the various properties; the inferior servants of the church; the constable of the close; the porters of the gates of the close; the searchers of the church or night watch, who had a timber chamber in the choir transept; and the domestic servants of the residents.

Let the reader, who has perhaps wandered through the empty cathedral to admire its wonderful proportions and beautiful architecture, and who has, while so doing, felt the moral chill of its emptiness, try to refurnish it with the shrines, chapels, and tombs, the loft for the nightly watchers of the shrine, the cell of the recluse priest, all inclosed within the vast ground plan and towering height of the main building, reminding us of the many mansions in the House of the Heavenly Father. Or let him place himself in imagination in the choir on the day on which the mediaeval bishop was holding his synod. The stalls at the west end are occupied by the dean and the four dignitaries in their copes, who face eastward and overlook the whole a.s.sembly. The canopied stalls on the sides are filled by their prebendaries in surplice and furred cope; the vicars choral and the choristers are in their places in the subsellae on each side; the long rows of benches in front of the stalls are filled by the clergy of the diocese, so many as can find room; the bishop in cope and mitre occupies his lofty canopied throne at the east end of the south line of stalls; the great nave beyond is crowded with the rest of the clergy and their synodsmen, and the citizens, and the people from the country round, attracted to the imposing spectacle. It is the whole people of a diocese stretching from the Humber to the Thames, which by representation has a.s.sembled in the mother church to listen to their bishop's fatherly exhortations, and to join with him in a united service of wors.h.i.+p of Almighty G.o.d.

Let us adjourn to the chapter-house, which seems so empty and so useless to the modern visitor. See it filled now, with the bishop on the stone throne opposite the entrance, and the dignitaries of the cathedral and the archdeacons seated to right and left of him, and the whole area crowded with the clergy and synodsmen; it is the people of his diocese--the clergy in person, the laity by their representatives--come to report themselves to their bishop, to submit themselves to his jurisdiction, to receive his admonitions and counsels. The House of Lords is a rather depressing spectacle to the visitor who gazes on its empty grandeur; but see it filled on some great day, _e.g._ when the Sovereign opens Parliament in person, and it is not too grand for the meeting-place of the Sovereign and Peers of Britain and for the transaction of the business of an Empire. In the chapter-house it was the spiritual business of the King of kings which was transacted--business which concerned the eternal interests of those present; so the grand and beautiful building, with its soaring central pillar and its overshadowing groining, was not too grand for the spiritual significance of the mult.i.tude which its walls encircled.

So the broad lawns which surround the building were not left only to enable the spectator to obtain a good view of the building. Their use was seen on St. Hugh's Day, when the people of the town and villages came trooping in at every gate, with crosses and banners and painted wands, and needed s.p.a.ce in which to arrange the long procession which wound slowly round the close and entered by the western door.

The magnitude and importance of the dioceses differed greatly, and so did the emoluments of the bishops and of the cathedral establishments. We have given Lincoln as an example of the greater dioceses; we may take the Diocese of the South Saxons, with its See at Chichester, as an example of the smaller.

When the bishop-stool of the South Saxons was removed after the Norman Conquest from Selsey to Chichester, Earl Roger of Montgomery gave the south-west quarter of the city, including a portion of the old Roman walls which protected it, for a site for the cathedral. A nunnery with a church dedicated to St. Peter already existed on the site; the nuns were transferred elsewhere, and the church used as the germ of the cathedral church.[387] Bishop Stigand built a new church of timber, which was soon replaced. The able and energetic Bishop Ralph Luffa was the real founder of the present cathedral. His church was of the normal Norman plan, a cross church with a low central tower and two west towers, all of ma.s.sive construction, plain almost to sternness. It was in the thirteenth century that, among other great additions to the church, the central tower was raised by the addition of another story; and not till the fifteenth century that the lofty and graceful spire was added which was the peculiar glory of Chichester.

The const.i.tution of the cathedral was in the main the same as at Lincoln, the bishop, dean, precentor, chancellor, and treasurer, with twenty-eight prebendaries, twelve vicars choral, etc., and two archdeacons.

The information given us in the "Taxatio" of the finances of the diocese in 1291 is scanty:--

The temporalities[388] of the bishop were valued at 462 4_s._ 6_d._

The dean and chapter had estates, appropriate rectories, portions, pensions, etc., which brought in a clear income of 310 14_s._ 6_d._

The dignities of the cathedral are given as follows:--

The deanery with a prebend, 53 6_s._ 8_d._

The chantry, 53 6_s._ 8_d._

The chancellor with the Rectory of Chiddingly, 53 6_s._ 8_d._

The treasurer, _per se_ 46 13_s._ 4_d._