One of the most regular sources of parochial receipt was the fee for burial in the church or churchyard. To judge from several entries in various accounts, the cost of opening a grave in the nave of the church was 6_s._ 8_d._, which belonged to the parish. Thus at St. Mary’s, Cambridge, in 1515, in the churchwardens’ receipts there are two such items, one for the burial of Calo Fremeston, and the other for that of a “Mr. Wise.” In London, as we might perhaps expect, the fee was greater; in fact, in the accounts of St. Mary-at-Hill, in 1522-3, among the “Casuell Resceites” are entered those “for the buryall of John Colers in the chirche, 13_s._; for the buryall of William Holyngworthi’s child, 2_s._; for the buryall of a stranger in the great churchyard, 12_d._; for the buryall of a priest in the pardon churchyard, 2_s._; for the buryall of Robert Hikman in St. Ann’s Chapel, 13_s._ 4_d._” This same year a regular table of “fees to be paid” to the parish for burials in the church, churchyard, or pardon-churchyard attached to the church of St. Mary’s was drawn up. From this we learn that for every grave opened, in either of the two chapels of St. Stephen and St. Katherine, 13_s._ 4_d._ was to be paid: for every man, woman, and child buried “without the choir door of any of the said chapels ... unto the west door of the aisle going south or north,” 10_s._ was to be paid; and for any burial “from the cross aisle to the west end of the church,” 6_s._ 8_d._ The price of the ground thus varied according to the position, and similarly the clerk’s fee varied for breaking the ground: it was 3_s._ 8_d._ in the first case, 2_s._ 6_d._ in the second, and 1_s._ 8_d._ in the third. These payments, of course, had nothing to do with the fee of the clergyman: this was fixed at 1_d._ as a minimum, but generally more was given according to the means of the family. The smallness of the fee may perhaps be explained by the English custom of “mortuaries,” that is, the gift of the best or second best possession of the deceased to the church. “In some places (says Bracton) the church has the best beast, or the second or the third best, and in some places nothing; and therefore the custom of the place is to be considered ... and although no one is bound to give anything to the church for burial, nevertheless, where the laudable custom exists the Lord the Pope does not wish to break through it.”