THE ANTIQUARY’S BOOKS GENERAL EDITOR: J. CHARLES COX, LL.D., F.S.A. PARISH LIFE IN MEDIÆVAL ENGLAND [Illustration: PASSIONTIDE: OFFICE OF THE PENITENTIARY, THE LENTEN VEIL, ETC.] PARISH LIFE IN MEDIÆVAL ENGLAND BY ABBOT GASQUET, D.D. AUTHOR OF “ENGLISH MONASTIC LIFE” WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS SECOND EDITION METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON _First Published_ _October 1906_ _Second Edition_ _1907_ CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF MANUSCRIPT AND PRINTED AUTHORITIES xi CHAPTER I THE PARISH 1 CHAPTER II THE PARISH CHURCH 21 CHAPTER III THE PARISH CHURCH (_continued_) 44 CHAPTER IV THE PARISH CLERGY 71 CHAPTER V THE PARISH OFFICIALS 102 CHAPTER VI PAROCHIAL FINANCE 124 CHAPTER VII THE PARISH CHURCH SERVICES 140 CHAPTER VIII CHURCH FESTIVALS 164 CHAPTER IX THE SACRAMENTS 187 CHAPTER X THE PARISH PULPIT 211 CHAPTER XI PARISH AMUSEMENTS 233 CHAPTER XII GUILDS AND FRATERNITIES 253 INDEX 275 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT PAGE Thurible, found near Pershore 33 Twelfth Century. Pax 34 _Arch. Journal_, ii. 149. Bracket with Suspended Dove and Cover 37 Viollet le Duc, _Dictionnaire du Mobilier_, i. 249. Sacramental Dove 38 _Ibid._, 50. St. Martin’s Mass, showing Disposition of Altar Furniture--Fourteenth Century 47 Didron, _Annales Archæologique_, iii. 95. Pyx, and Canopy, open 48 Pyx Canopy, closed 49 Shaft Piscina, Treborough 52 Double Piscina, Cowlinge, Suffolk 52 Outside Entrance to Rood-Loft, St. John’s, Winchester 55 _Journal of Arch. Assoc._, ix. 1. Corona of Lights, St. Martin de Troyes--Fifteenth Century 61 Viollet le Duc, _Dictionnaire du Mobilier_. Backless Benches, Cawston, Norfolk 63 Font, St. Michael’s, Sutton Bonnington, Notts 64 Holy Water Stoup, Wootton Courtney, Somerset 65