Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England Part 21

In 1283, in the time of Bishop Quivil of Exeter, Barthol le Seneschal, who had been presented to the Rectory of St. Erme, was found to be not in Holy Orders, and not old enough to be ordained; but both difficulties were evaded, for, though not at once inst.i.tuted as rector, "the sequestration and custody of the church were committed to him," and so he was enabled to act as rector in the management of affairs, and to receive the income, and to appoint a vicar or chaplain to do the spiritual work of the parish.[340]

Robert de Umfrenville, clerk, was inst.i.tuted in 1317 by Bishop Stapledon of Exeter, on the presentation of Henry de Umfrenville--very likely his father--to the rectory of Lapford; but the bishop required, under a penalty of a hundred shillings, that he should go to Grammar School, and should come to the bishop at least once a-year, that the bishop might know what progress he was making. The young man would seem not to have given himself to study, and, at the end of three years, to have found the position untenable, for he sent in his resignation by letter, dated June, 1320.

In 1317, a rector of Bath and Wells diocese, on his inst.i.tution, was bidden to keep a good chaplain to teach him, since he was but indifferently learned. As he was the presentee of the king, the bishop had special inducement to be lenient.[341]

But the refusals of the bishops to admit men in minor orders were very exceptional. A large proportion of the rectories were occupied by such men. The canons of the diocesan synods show that the ecclesiastical authorities were continually urging them to proceed to priest's orders; but the bishops had no power to compel them to do so;[342] and the parochial lists of inc.u.mbents bear witness that some of the rectories were occupied by men in minor orders in almost unbroken succession.

Another kindred evil was that of simple _absenteeism_, not because the rector was engaged in other occupations elsewhere, or that he was a pluralist, and could not be everywhere, but simply because he preferred to be somewhere else than in his parish. He put his benefice to farm, appointed a parish chaplain, and departed. He needed a licence of non-residence, if absent for any lengthy period. We have glimpses of the reasons for which licences of non-residence were sometimes given. The commonest is for leisure to attend schools, which we shall have to speak of at length presently. Another reason is that the licensee may go on pilgrimage; for example, in 1225, Archbishop Gray gives a licence to G.o.dfred, vicar of St. Felix, who has taken the cross, to put his benefice to farm for three years during his visit to the Holy Land. Bishop Grandisson of Exeter gives a licence of non-residence to Sir Ralph Kerneyke, Rector of St. Erme, till 2 February 1331-2, to visit the thresholds of St. James in Galicia and the Court of Rome, and then without any delay to return to his church. In 1329, Ady de Tavistock, Rector of St. Gerundus, Cornwall, had a licence to make a pilgrimage to Rome;[343]

and similar cases occur in other bishops' registers. Frequently the absence is said to be granted at the request of so-and-so,[344] very likely the patron of the parish, who thus confirms the reasons which the inc.u.mbent has alleged, and signifies his consent to his parson's absence.

The patron had sometimes a personal reason for his action in the matter.[345] For example, Gerard Mygh.e.l.l (or Mych.e.l.l), Rector of Theydon Garnon, Ess.e.x, in 1507 put his rectory to farm for three years to Sir William Hyll, chaplain, and Francis Hamden, esquire, in order to become tutor to John Hamden during his travels on the Continent of Europe. It appears that Francis Hamden was the squire of the parish, and John was his son, and probably Sir William Hyll, chaplain, was the priest who was to take charge of the parish during the rector's absence, which seems a very good choice of trustees. The rector lets to farm, all his church and parsonage with all manor of t.i.thes, fruits, profits, rights, commodities, and emoluments, whatsoever, with all the lands, pastures, leases, for 8 a year; but he reserves all the whole "lochynge" [lodging] at the gate (of the churchyard), viz. a parlour with a chimney and a larder at the end of the said parlour, and two chambers over a study, and a wyddraughte [?

drain], perhaps to lodge his old housekeeper in during his absence. There is still an ancient house in the churchyard which may possibly be the lodging here mentioned. There is a letter from the rector, from Rouen, relating how he and his pupil are getting on, and very naturally asking for supplies of money and clothing.

We had occasion to deal with the subject of _slavery_ in the Saxon period, concluding with the estimate of Sharon Turner,[346] that, of the population of England at the end of that time, as calculated from Domesday Book, three-quarters of the population of two millions were in a state of slavery.

We may introduce here the statement that, although the Church all along the ages used its influence in favour of the just treatment of the serf population, in the spirit of St. Paul; and encouraged manumission, and set the example; and freely gave dispensations to sons of serfs to enter into Holy Orders and hold church benefices; yet the status of serf.a.ge was suffered to continue among the tenants of the Church after it had almost disappeared elsewhere.[347]

We add a few notes on the subject in mediaeval times. Here is one which tells us the value of a serf. Gregory, Abbot of Whalley, in 1309, sells his _nativus, c.u.m tota sequela sua, et omnibus rebus suis habitis et habendis_, for 100_s._ sterling.[348]

In the Register of Walter Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, is an entry under date 1315--

Be it known to all present and future, that we, Walter, etc., have given and granted "Magistro de la Gale, clerico, Richardum de la Gale, filium Edwardi de la Gale, nativum nostrum, c.u.m tota sequela sua et omnibus catallis suis," so that neither we nor our successors may be able to make any claim for service from the said Richard.

It seems to be the case of granting to a clerk the freedom of a relative who was a _nativus_ (serf).

So late as 1536, the Registers of Chichester supply an example of manumission by Bishop Sherburne. The deed of manumission begins, as is usual in deeds of manumission of that time, with a quotation from the Inst.i.tutes of Justinian, "Whereas at the beginning nature brought forth all men free, and afterwards the law of nations placed certain of them under the yoke of servitude; we believe that it is pious and meritorious towards G.o.d to manumit them, and restore them to the benefit of pristine liberty;" therefore the bishop emanc.i.p.ates Nicholas Holden, a "native and serf," who for many years had served him on his manor of Woodmancote and elsewhere, from every chain, servitude, and servile condition by which he was bound to the bishop and his cathedral, and, so far as he can, to make him a free man.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE CATHEDRAL.

In order to give a complete view of the position and work of the parochial clergy in town and country, it is necessary to indicate, however briefly, both their connection with the cathedral and their relations with the monasteries. In this chapter we attempt the former subject; the latter in a following chapter.

We must glance back at our history and recall the time when the cathedral was the mother church of the diocese, and the bishop and his clergy lived together as one family. Some of them remained always at head-quarters to keep up the Divine service with as full a choir as their circ.u.mstances permitted, and to carry on the schools, which formed so important a branch of their work of Christian civilization; while others were itinerating hither and thither through the diocese preaching the gospel to the people.

Then, we remember, came the gradual organization of the parochial system, by which the great majority of the clergy were scattered over the diocese, each residing permanently in his own rectory-house, and ministering constantly to his own people.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CONFESSION IN LENT. LATE XV. CENT. MS., 25698, f. 9.]

The bishop, however, still retained a strong staff about him at the cathedral, for the honour of the Divine service and for general diocesan work; and the old tradition of an ascetic common life would naturally be maintained there, when it was no longer practicable in the scattered rectories. This staff would need organization. One man would be put in general command during the absences of the bishop on his visitations of the diocese; another would be in permanent charge of the schools; another would have special charge of the services; another would be the treasurer of the bishop's common fund; and thus naturally arose the four dignities of all the old cathedrals--the dean, the chancellor, the precentor, and the treasurer. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, the great chancellor of Charles Martel, organized the clergy of his cathedral into a community, adapting the rule of St. Benedict (which was then being pressed upon all the monasteries) to the circ.u.mstances of a body of secular clergy. After the Norman Conquest some of our bishops attempted to introduce the same organization into England, at Exeter, and Wells, and, with some modifications, at York; but the innovation did not flourish here.

The development of a more settled const.i.tution of our English cathedral bodies of secular canons took the course of giving the cathedral clergy a more independent corporate life. The first great step towards it was the division of the common property into two portions, one at the disposal of the bishop, the other the endowment of the chapter. The property allotted to the canons was then subdivided, estates being attached to the four great dignities; and, lastly, distinct endowments, called prebends, were a.s.signed to the individual members of the general corporate body; still retaining a common dean and chapter fund divisible annually among the canons, or some of them. The concession to the chapter of the privilege of electing its own dean, completed the work, and made the dean and chapter an independent ecclesiastical corporation. The chapter thus definitely const.i.tuted soon acquired new rights and privileges. Already in the eighth century they had obtained the right of being the bishop's council; then they gained the right, to the exclusion of the rest of the clergy, of electing the bishop; then, that of representing the bishop's authority during a vacancy. Lastly, the dean, originally intended to represent the bishop during his absence, a.s.serted his independence of the bishop as ruler of the chapter; and it cost Grostete, Bishop of Lincoln, a long and bitter contest to establish his right to "visit" the chapter of his cathedral, a contest in which he said that he was contending for the dropped rights of all the bishops of England.

We have been speaking of the cathedrals which were served by bodies of secular clergy. But some of the cathedral bodies had adopted the Benedictine rule, and were monasteries in which the bishop occupied in some respects, the place of abbot, but the prior was the actual ruler.

These were Canterbury, Durham, Norwich, Rochester, Winchester, and Worcester, and the two post-Norman sees, one placed in the great Benedictine House of Ely, the other in the House of Austin Canons at Carlisle.

The bishops soon found it desirable to secure the services of one or more archdeacons to help them in maintaining an oversight of their scattered clergy; soon after the Conquest, the archdeacons had their courts of jurisdiction, in which most of the minor cases of ecclesiastical discipline were dealt with.

The practical oversight of the parochial clergy was maintained partly by synods, partly by visitations. The bishop held an annual synod, to which all the clergy of the diocese were bound to come in person or by proxy.

The bishop also went the round of his diocese at intervals, usually of three years. He could not visit every parish, but the clergy met him at several convenient centres, with some of their chief parishioners, and the synodsmen gave in written replies to a set of questions--with which we have already dealt--which const.i.tuted a very searching--not to say inquisitorial--scrutiny into the life and conduct not only of the clergy, but of the laity also.

A Const.i.tution of Archbishop Boniface, 1260, directed every bishop to have in his diocese one or two prisons for confining clerics flagitious in crime, or convicted by canonical censure, and "we decree that any cleric who shall be incorrigible in his wickedness and habituated to committing crime to such a degree that if he were a layman he would, according to the secular law, suffer the extreme penalty, such cleric shall be adjudged to perpetual imprisonment."

The archdeacons held their visitations, making inquiry specially into the state of the fabrics and furniture of the churches and parsonage houses; the rural deans also played a minor part in extending this oversight into every corner of the land.

After this general introduction, it will best serve our purpose of giving a popular idea of the part which a cathedral took in the religious life of the clergy and people, to select an individual example, and treat it a little more in detail.

When Remigius, antic.i.p.ating the policy of the Council of London, transferred his see from Sidnacester (Stowe) to Lincoln, he found the king's new castle already occupying the south-west quarter of the area within the Roman walls of the old Colonia; and purchased the south-east quarter for the site of his new cathedral; a wide open s.p.a.ce only separated the castle-gate from the humbler gate of the cathedral close.

The old inhabitants, reinforced by the new military and ecclesiastical populations, found the northern half of the city too strait for them, and a new walled town sprang up at the foot of the hill, and soon stretched out a long, narrow suburb southward, along the high-road, defended by parallel d.y.k.es. The situation was a fine one. The long tableland to the north here falls steeply to the level of the river Witham, and overlooks another long level stretching southward. From the north, the castle keep and the minster towers (when they were built) could be seen from every yard of the twelve miles of perfectly straight Roman road which ran northwards towards the Humber. Seen from the south, the view of the city was a glorious one. The new buildings of the castle and minster extended in a long line on the brow of the hill; an irregular line of steep street connected the old city with the new town at its feet; the river, enlarged and made navigable by the Romans, protected the approach from the south, and wound through low ground past the monastery of Bardney, and, in later days, the castle and collegiate church of Tatteshall, to the port of Boston at its embouchere. Durham only of English cathedrals occupies so advantageous a site, and, together with its palatine castle, presents as n.o.ble an architectural effect. The church grew century after century, after the manner of cathedrals. A portion of the west front of Remigius still remains surrounded by the later work of Alexander; St. Hugh of Avalon added the magnificent choir; Grostete added the central tower and the parts adjacent; and so at last the Church attained the magnificent proportions which still excite our admiration. The bishop's palace was built on a levelled s.p.a.ce of the hillside south of the cathedral; the ruins of the "early English" halls and towers founded by St. Hugh, finished by Hugh of Wells, and the chapel added by Alnwick, still remain; and the pleasant hanging gardens above and below the buildings. The cathedral close was inclosed[349] by a wall, and its entrances at the north-east, south-east, and west were defended by gates; the "exchequer gate" at the west had a gate-house with a large chamber in the upper story. The princ.i.p.al residentiary buildings of a monastery were grouped in a customary order round the cloister court; but the houses of the dignitaries of a cathedral were arranged as convenience suggested. The deanery[350] stands north, and the sub-deanery south of the church; on the east side of the close still remain two old stone houses with picturesque oriels, which were--and are--the official residences of the chancellor and the precentor; the chancery has a private chapel in it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lincoln, from the Fens.]

In the fourteenth century it became the custom, for their greater convenience and better discipline, to incorporate the[351] vicars choral, and to place them in a court of their own. The vicar's court remains at Wells, Hereford, Chichester, and York. That at Wells, for fourteen priests, is a long inclosure with a row of seven small stone houses on each side, a chapel, with a library over it at the further end, and a hall over the entrance gate, from which there is a picturesque covered way over the public road into the north transept of the church, by which the vicars could go in comfort to their daily duties--like the pope's covered way from the Vatican to the Castle of St. Angelo. There are only some remains of the vicar's court at Lincoln, on the east side of the palace grounds, the old Roman wall dividing them. Every cathedral had a number of chantries, one of the very earliest was that to Bishop Hugh of Wells, in this cathedral. The Burghersh chantry, founded by Bartholomew Burghersh, had five priests, who, with the six choristers and their schoolmaster, formed a corporate body, and all lived together in the chantry-house, which still remains in very perfect condition on the south side of the close. Among the interesting features of Lincoln, the treasurer had charge of a dispensary, which contained his stock of medicines; walls of an apartment in the cathedral are still surrounded by the niches.[352]

The chapter-house of a cathedral, served by seculars, was a very important feature. In monasteries it was always quadrangular, but in secular cathedrals, for some unknown reason, it was always polygonal.[353] It had always a central pillar, from which the groining spread on all sides, like the leaves of a palm-tree; externally it was covered with a tall conical roof. Here the dean and chapter met for the transaction of their capitular affairs, and here the bishop held his synods.

The _camera communis_ (common room) of the canons intervened between the north transept and the chapter-house; over the vestibule was the office of the master of the works. Near by, north-east of the chapter-house, is a well, covered with a little stone octagonal building with conical roof.

When we call to mind that there are wells within several cathedral churches--at York, in which King Edwin was baptized by Paulinus, at Winchester, and elsewhere--we are led to conjecture that the water of these wells may have been used for various ritual purposes.

The date of the incorporation of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln is 1086, and the bishop gave it statutes which seem to have been derived from Rouen.[354] The historian, Henry of Huntingdon, gives a charming description of the members of the original chapter, who were personally known to him, for he was the son of one of them.[355]

"Ralph the Dean, a venerable priest. Rayner the Treasurer, full of religion, had prepared a tomb against the day of his death, and oft sate by it singing of psalms and praying long whiles, to use himself to his eternal home. Hugh the Chancellor, worthy of all memory, the mainstay and, as it were, the foundation of the Church. Osbert, Archdeacon of Bedford, afterward Chancellor, a man wholly sweet and loveable. William, a young Canon of great genius. Albin (my own tutor) and Albin's brothers, most honourable men, my dearest friends, men of profoundest science, brightest purity, utter innocence, and yet by G.o.d's inscrutable judgement they were smitten with leprosy; but death hath made them clean. Nicolas, Archdeacon of Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Hertford--none more beautiful in person, in character beautiful no less, 'Stella Cleri,' so styled in his Epitaph [Henry's father].

Walter, prince of orators. Gislebert, elegant in prose, in verse, in dress. With many other honoured names with which I may not tax your patience."[356]

One of the reasons which Bishop Alnwick gave for a.s.signing large salaries to the holders of stalls was the way in which they "devote themselves to the public service, in self-imposed tasks over and above their daily expositions and constant toils and numerous burdens."[357]

With the help of the "Valor Ecclesiasticus" of Henry VIII., we are able to people the cathedral, and palace, and residentiary houses, and vicar's court, and chantries, with the men who lived and served there at the time of the Reformation, and even to pry into their account-books and tell their several incomes, to the third part of a farthing.

The Right Rev. John Longland,[358] who was the bishop in those troublous times, lived in St. Hugh's stately halls and towers on the sunny slope under the shelter of the minster; and to maintain his dignity, and household, and hospitalities, and various expenses, the annual value of "all the domains, manors, castles, parks, rectories, lands, tenements, and other temporal possessions," of this see was Mccclxxviij, viij, vq', _i.e._ to say, 1378 8_s._ 5_d._; and "all the spiritualities of the said Lord John" amounted, one year with another, to Diiij{xx}iiij, viij, xjq', _i.e._ 584 8_s._ 11_d._; making together an income of mdcccclxij, xvij, iiijob, or 1962 17_s._ 4_d._, equivalent in our money to about 23,554 8_s._ 6_d._[359]

If the reader does not know what the "spiritualities" here mentioned are, he is not more ignorant than some great statesmen have been. For, on one occasion, the late Earl Russell a.s.serted that the bishops received their spiritual authority from the Crown, on the ground that by one of the doc.u.ments issued from a Crown office to a newly-elected bishop, restored the "spiritualities" as well as the "temporalities" to the new occupant of the see. The "Valor" tells us of what these spiritualities consisted: Portions and pensions from benefices, fees for procurations and synodals, inst.i.tutions and inductions, faculties, probate of wills, and such-like.

Temporalities, in short, are real property, and spiritualities are fees and perquisites.

The dean and chapter had, as a common fund, the profits of twenty appropriate rectories; and from these and other sources they derived an annual income; for part of which they were only trustees, and had to pay out of it for the maintenance of the choristers, and the stipends of various chantry priests and others; leaving a balance of Dvj xiij iiij ob'q di q', which means 506 13_s._ 4_d._ and half . This balance was divided among the six residentiary canons, making 83 11_s._ 1_d._ to each, with a remainder of ij ob' di'q', or 2_d._ and half a farthing. The residentiary canons in question were the dignitaries, Mr. George Hennage, the Dean; James Mallet, the precentor; Christopher Ma.s.singberd, the chancellor; John Pryn, the sub-dean; and the others were, John Talbot[360] and Simon Green, _alias_ Foderby.

The dean and chapter were also trustees of a fabric fund derived from land and rents; out of which they had first to pay the stipends of several chantry priests, three and a chapel clerk serving the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and one each at the Welburn and Crosby Chantries; then they had to pay certain workmen constantly retained, a carpenter, "lathonius,"[361] plumber, glazier, smith, cleaner of bra.s.s vessels and candelabra, surveyor of the fabric, organist[362] at the ma.s.s of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and lastly the bailiff of lands and tenements. The balance after these payments was 575 7_s._ 2_d._ and half ; and this balance was divided among the six residentiary canons aforesaid, giving 95 17_s._ 10_d._ to each; it must be borne in mind that they were liable for occasional heavy expenditure on the repairs of fabric, which had to come out of their purses. Each dignity had its own special endowments; the separate estates of the deanery[363] produced an income of 196 10_s._ 8_d._; of the precentory 8 2_s._ 4_d._, of the chancery 54 1_s._ 5_d._, of the treasury 10 13_s._ 4_d._; of the sub-deanery 35 8_s._

Then, again, every dignitary held a prebend of more or less value, which shall be set forth presently in a general statement.

A little research reveals the fact that each of the dignitaries also held one or more parochial benefices; for example, Mr. George Hennage[364] was Master of the Collegiate Church of Tatteshall; he was also Rector of Gedney, Washingburghe, Howby, Benningworth, and Flyxburgh.