Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England Part 54

"Sompnour's Tale."

[410] Wert thou not.

[411] Health and strength.

[412] Seal.

[413] Neander's "Church History," vii. 403 and 399.

[414] Lynwoode's "Provinciale," p. 133.

[415] _e.g._ the valuation, in the "Valor Ecclesiasticus," of the Carmelites of Lynn is a clear income of 35_s._ 8_d._; of the Dominicans, 18_s._; of the Austin Friars, 24_s._ 6_d._ ("Valor Eccl.," iii. 397, 398).

At Northampton the rent fetched by the whole friary, with the friar's house and garden, is 10 10_s._; of the Franciscans, 6 17_s._ 4_d._; of the Dominicans, 5 7_s._ 10_d._ ("Valor Eccl.," v. 318).

[416] Except the _trinoda necessitas_.

[417] As a consequence of the Scottish Wars, the northern province was so harried and impoverished that the clergy were unable to pay the tenths demanded, and a new taxation of part of the Province was made in 1318.

[418] St. Botolph, Colchester.

[419] See Appendix II.

[420] The Bishop of Oxford says the whole number of parish churches in the Middle Ages was not much over 8000 ("Const. Hist.," iii. p. 396). There have been very erroneous estimates current. The Parliament of 1371 granted to the king a sum of 50,000, to be raised by contribution of 22_s._ 3_d._ from each parish, there being, according to the common opinion, 40,000 parishes in England. On this the Bishop of Oxford makes a note ("Const.

Hist.," ii. 459) that it is an ill.u.s.tration of the absolute untrustworthiness of mediaeval figures, which, even when most circ.u.mstantially minute, cannot be accepted, except where as in the public accounts vouchers can be quoted. The returns to a writ issued by the king to the local authorities of each s.h.i.+re to certify the number of parishes in it, showed that there were only 8669. Stow, in his "Annals," p. 268, gives the returns _in extenso_. The anonymous author of the famous libel, "A Supplication for Beggars," says there are within the realm of England 52,000 parish churches. Maskell, in his "Monumenta Ritualia," I. ccij, mentions several MSS. in the British Museum which contain memoranda on the subject, Royal 8 B xv., Royal 8 D iv., t.i.tus D 3. In the first, in a fifteenth-century handwriting, is a note _sunt in Regno Angliae Ecclesiae parochiales_, 46,100.

[421] In 1371 the smaller benefices and chantries were taxed by the king (Stowe, "Annales," p. 268).

[422] The following are the details for the several dioceses (except Durham and Chester):--

Diocese. Beneficed. Unbeneficed.

Lincoln--Archdeaconry of Lincoln, Stow, Leicester, and Rutland 2,001 1,660 Lincoln--Archdeaconry of Northampton, Hunts, Bucks, Oxon, and Bedford 1,522 1,313 Canterbury 599 495 Bath and Wells--Archdeaconry of Bath 119 82 Bath and Wells--Archdeaconry of Taunton 139 72 Bath and Wells--Archdeaconry of Wells 335 336 Salisbury--Archdeaconry of Berks and Wilts 461 246 Salisbury--Archdeaconry of Dorchester and Sarum 734 467 Exeter--County of Devon 559 756 Exeter--County of Cornwall 199 487 Ely 358 658 Chichester 473 168 London--Archdeaconry of London 336 427 London--Archdeaconry of Ess.e.x, Middles.e.x, and Colchester 268 241 London--"et predicti Coll." 531 526 Rochester--In the City and Diocese of Rochester 157 54 Rochester--In the Deanery of Iselham 4 9 Jurisdiction of St. Alban 106 50 Winchester--Archdeaconry of Winton 616 305 Winchester--Archdeaconry of Surrey 218 -- Winchester--In Arch. predicti -- 152 Coventry and Lichfield--Archdeaconry of Coventry 272 241 Coventry and Lichfield--Archdeaconry of Stafford 180 321 Coventry and Lichfield--Archdeaconry of Derby 175 281 Coventry and Lichfield--Archdeaconry of Cestr 162 336 Coventry and Lichfield--Archdeaconry of Salop 106 -- Worcester--Archdeaconry of Wigan 425 425 Worcester--Archdeaconry of Gloucester 414 409 York 1,790 1,481 Carlisle 135 97 Norwich 1,844 1,848 ------ ------ 15,238 13,943

[423] The preface to the "Valor," when it was printed by the Record Office, says, "We have here presented before us in one grand conspectus the whole ecclesiastical establishment of England and Wales, as it had been built up in successive centuries, and when it was carried to its greatest height.... So that we at once see not only the ancient extent and amount of that provision which was made by the piety of the English nation for the spiritual edification of the people, by the erection of churches and chapels for the decent performance of the simple and touching ordinances of the Christian religion; but how large a proportion had been saved from private appropriation of the produce of the soil, and how much had been subsequently given, to form a public fund accessible to all, out of which might be supported an order of cultivated and more enlightened men dispersed through society, and by means of which blessings incalculable might be spread amongst the whole community. If there were spots of extravagances, yet on the whole it is a pleasing as well as a splendid spectacle, especially if we look with minute observation into any portion of the Record, and compare it with a map which shows the distribution of population in those times over the island, and then observe how religion had pursued men even to his remotest abodes, and was present among the most rugged dwellers in the hills and wildernesses of the land, softening and humanizing their hearts."

[424]

Rectories. Vicarages. Chapels. Chantries.

Canterbury 225 108 13 23 Rochester 128 56 10 13 Bath and Wells 368 126 33 53 Chichester 279 124 13 39 London 731 201 31 310 Winchester 289 95 21 14 Sarum 540 182 68 72 Oxford 167 64 8 10 Lincoln 1,310 492 30 213 Peterboro 355 92 10 30 Exeter 524 185 43 36 Gloucester 246 106 35 30 Hereford 152 84 27 57 Coventry and Lichfield 466 207 29 106 Chester 197 78 5 127 Worcester 133 47 17 31 Norwich 1,103 276 31 60 Ely 157 80 11 29 Llandaff 143 61 22 12 St. David's 288 120 10 3 Bangor 110 27 45 4 St. Asaph 157 83 4 0 York 581 305 19 424 Carlisle 75 38 0 19 Durham 114 70 1 18 ------ ------ ---- ------ 8,838 3,307 536 1,733

[425] "Const.i.tutional History," iii. 366.

[426] In the Easter account-book.

[427] "Valor," v. 32, 263, etc.

[428] "Valor," v. 35.

[429] Ibid., p. 61.

[430] Ibid., p. 75.

[431] Ecclia de Donecaster divisa est pars que fuit Hugonis p't' pens' in eadem, 43 6_s._ 8_d._; pens' Abbis Be Marie Ebor. in eadem, 5; pars Rogers' in eadem p't' pens', 40; pens' Abbis Be Marie Ebor. in eadem, 5 ("Taxatio," p. 299).

[432] "Valor," v. 45.

[433] Ibid., p. 157.

[434] The chrisom was the linen cloth, or garment, which the priest put on the recently baptized child. It was to be offered by the mother when she came to be churched. It might be used again at baptism, or for other church purposes, or it might be converted into ornaments for the good of the church, but not turned to any profane use ("Const.i.tutions of St.

Edmund of Canterbury," 1234).

In the Visitation of Churches in the patronage of St. Paul's (1249-1252, p. xii.), fifty-six panni chrismales are said to be at Tillingham church, and at Pelham Furneaux several chrisoms were used as _manutergia_--napkins for wiping the hands at ma.s.s.

[435] "Valor," iii. 45.

[436] "Valor Eccl.," iii. 45.

[437] Ibid., iii. p. 38.

[438] Ibid., v. p. 189.

[439] Denar' Missaribz et candel' oblat'. Porcione panis bndict' diebus dni oblat' (see p. 236).

[440] Ibid., v. 157.

[441] For sending his _loc.u.m tenens_ to the synods and processions?

("Valor Eccl.," i. p. 67).

[442] "History of Agriculture and Prices in England," J. E. T. Rogers.

[443] "Annals of St. Paul's Cathedral," p. 145.

[444] Matthew of Westminster, under the year 1249, says of a number of men in the country about Southampton, that they were of such rank that they were considered equal to knights, and that their estates were valued at 40, 50, or 80 a year (Rolls Series, ii. 360).

[445] Ibid., under year 1253, ii. 383.

[446] Agobarth, Archbishop of Lyons, c. 833, complains that there is scarcely one to be found who aspires to any degree of honour and temporal distinction who has not his domestic priests; and that these chaplains are constantly to be found serving tables, mixing the strained wine, leading out the dogs, managing ladies' horses, or looking after the lands.

[447] Lib. ix. ep. lxx. (Migne 77, p. 100).

[448] Thorpe's "Select Charters," pp. 521 and 511.

[449] Under the year 1067.

[450] In Ludlow Castle, the great chapel in the court was built soon after the Temple Church in London, and, like it, with a circular nave and aisles, and projecting choir.

[451] A chapel at Charney, Berks, of the latter part of the thirteenth century, is described and engraved in the "Archaeological Journal" for 1848, p. 311.

[452] These castle chapels were usually dedicated to some saint; as Windsor to St. George, the Tower to St. Peter, Oxford to St. George, Tattershall to St. Nicholas, Toryton to St. James, Barnard Castle to the Twelve Apostles, Alnwick to the Twelve Apostles, etc.