§ 80. The chief object of this book has been to explain the position and use of the various buildings of a monastery, and in its course reference has been made to several leading features of the life which was led within them. The sketch may be completed by some brief notes on the arrangements for monastic discipline and the ordinary life of the house. The abbot was the head and father of the house, who presided in chapter and was responsible for the due correction of erring brethren and the treatment of the complaints which monks and canons were encouraged to make publicly in the daily chapter-meeting. His duties, however, were largely delegated to the prior, who was the officer charged with the maintenance of order in the cloister[20]. Where the prior was head of the house, the sub-prior took this secondary position. In monasteries where the number of brethren was large, as at Lewes or Peterborough, the prior was helped in the cloister by other monks, who were known as the sub-prior and the third and fourth prior. An old name for the junior priors was _circae_ or _circatores_: their duty was to make periodical rounds of inspection in the cloister and dorter. But, in addition to these disciplinary officers, there were other officials, each of whom administered a special department of the convent. Their offices, held by commission from the abbot, were called obediences (_obedientiae_), and they themselves were known collectively as obedientiaries (_obedientiarii_). In the great monasteries the abbot had his own household officers, chosen from the monks: at Peterborough in 1440 he had his own seneschal, receiver or bailiff, cellarer, chamberlain, and chaplain[21]. Of the obedientiaries usually found in connexion with the convent, two, the precentor and sacrist, were in charge of the church. The precentor was responsible for the singing, the direction of processions and the repair and proper notation of the quire-books: he also, as at Barnwell, filled the office of librarian (_armarius_). The sacrist had control of the clock, bells, lights and ornaments of the church. They were sometimes assisted in their offices by a succentor or sub-chanter and sub-sacrist. The sacrist at Peterborough was excused from attendance in quire save on certain festivals. The same excuse applied for more obvious reasons to the cellarer and almoner, and to the monks who filled the offices of treasurer and master of the works, the second of whom controlled the repairs of the church and monastery. The cellarer and almoner were invariably found in all monasteries. The cellarer was the chief means of communication between the house and the world outside: he marketed and went to fairs, and bought the necessary provisions and furniture. The duties of the almoner have already been noticed: he and the cellarer were frequently assisted by a sub-almoner and sub-cellarer. The cellarer, whose checker was usually in the