Mediæval London, Volume 2: EcclesiasticalBesant, Walter
History
Mediæval London, Volume 2: Ecclesiastical
Besant, Walter
London (England) -- History -- To 1500; London (England) -- Social life and customs -- To 1500
The endowment of a Chantry generally provided for one priest, but often
for two, in some cases for three, and in one, that of Adam de Bury in
1364, for seven priests. In the fourteenth century there were more
than 70 chantries in St. Paul’s alone. There were also 111 obits or
foundations for occasional masses—making altogether an income of £183:
18: 3-1/2.
In the reign of Richard the Second, Bishop Braybroke found that some of
the chantries had fallen into decay, the endowments having been lost
or wasted. He united some of the poorer ones. He also ordained that
no beneficed priest should hold a chantry, and laid down regulations
for the chantry priests. They were to attend the choir offices day and
night; they were to take part in processions, funerals, and they were
to live in Houses provided for them or in the chambers of Chantries.
These priests seem to have given a great deal of trouble by the
scandals which they caused. It must be remembered that they were not
persons, as a rule, of scholarly habits; that their sole duty consisted
in the daily mass for the soul of their Founder; and that they had the
whole day to get through in idleness. They were also extremely poor,
the average stipend being £5 a year, equivalent to something like £75.
Archbishop Sudbury, in 1378, spoke of them in the strongest terms of
reproach, summing up his enumeration of their vices by saying that
their lives tended “in virorum ecclesiasticorum detestabile scandalum,
et exemptum perniciosissimum laicorum.”
It is not possible, I think, to make out how far the London craftsman
assisted at the Functions of the Church. At least once a year he must
go to Confession. The Pope made that rule in 1215. The craftsman
probably went to Confession at one of the greater festivals. Every
Sunday morning he must be present at mass. That duty was then, as now,
imposed on every faithful child of the Church. This law, doubtless,
he did obey. There were dues to be paid: he had to pay them; there
were friars who came begging: he contributed of his poverty; and he
must fast in Lent and on Fridays and on certain other days—about a
hundred days in all. In this point he must needs obey, because the
butchers’ shops were closed, and he could buy no meat. He had to get
married; to get the children baptized; to pay dues for the Vigil of
the Dead. Another important function performed by the clergy was the
reconciliation of enemies and the settlement of disputes by “love
days.” There are many references to the love days. _Piers Plowman_
constantly talks about them, and with bitterness, as if the Church made
the office of Peacemaker a means of enriching herself. Riley quotes an
ordinance forbidding people to make disturbances by getting up love
days.
[Illustration: EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND RECEIVING MASS
Harl. MS. 1319.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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