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NOTES ON MEDIEVAL SERVICES
IN ENGLAND.
NOTES
ON
Medieval Services
IN
England,
WITH AN INDEX OF LINCOLN CEREMONIES
BY
CHR. WORDSWORTH, M.A.,
Rector of St. Peter and St. PauPs, Marlborough, Prebendary of Lincoln,
and co-editor of '■^ Breviarium ad usuyn Sarum,^^ &'c.
L
LONDON :
THOMAS BAKER, SOHO SQUARE.
1898.
M 1 6 1933
i'^^^
#
c?>'
Lid •■ -' '
buO.ii) k'^'
MEDIEVAL SERVICES
IN ENGLAND.
PAGES.
I — An Enquiry for the Time -Table or
Service Paper of Cathedral and
other Churches in olden time ... 7-102
2. — An Account of some old Lincoln
Customs and Ceremonies, with
notes on the titles of the Altars
and Chapels in the Minster ... 103-308
3. — An Index to the Kalendar of Lincoln
Use ... ... ... 309-313
H Summary of the Contenteof '*Hn 3nqufri?
for the Zme^Za\)lc or Service^papcr
of Catbe5ral an& otber Cburcbes
in ®l6en ZTime/'
INTRODUCTORY.
BQT
PAGE
Reviving interest in the practical utility of Cathedral fabrics and
the true activity of Cathedral bodies exempUfied in the remarks
of Rev. G. Venables at Norwich ... ... ... i
His scheme for engaging residentiary and non-residentiary Canons,
individually or in groups, for special and particular employ-
ment, involves utilising side-chapels ... ... ... 2
Partial disuse — and revived use— of minster fabrics within the
author's lifetime ... ... ... ... ... 2-5
An enquiry, partly practical, partly upon antiquarian grounds,
respecting the Times of Service in earher ages ... ... 5, 6
Part L— CATHEDRAL SERVICES.
MATTIN.S. Mattins was sometimes (i) at night: The peals of bells
for this service : sometimes (2) at early morning : Morning
Prayer Chapels, of Elizabethan times and later, for plain early
Mattins : (3) in the evening : Invitation of guests and other
tokens of brotherhood. Lauds... ... ... ... 7-10
Mattins of B. V. Mary. How far were artificial lights in choir
allowed } or books of service } Mattins of the Departed.
" Lady Ma.s.s." Bp. Grandi.sson's weekly masses at Exeter... 12
Lincoln morning peal. Chantry Masses. Ave-bell and Lady-
bells. Table of masses current at Lincoln cir. 1505-45 (p. 15).
Their number. Morrow masses. Dean of Lincoln's Chaplain's
mass (a) for souls, and (i) for travellers ... ... ... 13-17
Vlll.
Siivnnaj-y of Cojitents.
Prime, (i) Prime in Choir (p. 17). Choristers in attendance : the
choir-boys' customs. (2) Prime in Chapter. The Martiloge,
the wax-brede or service-table, and the devotional reading,
with other proceedings in the Chapter-house ... ... I9i 20
Capitular mass (at Lincoln, Durham, Wells, Ottery St. Mary's, and
Exeter) . ... ... ... ... ... ... 20-23
Preparations for High Mass : procession wdth holy water and
ornaments ... ... ... ... ... ... 23
Terce, etc. How far were Canons and others obliged to attend
Services.'* ... ... ... ... ... ... 27
High mass. Its ceremonies .. ... ... ... ... 28
(Sext and) None, when said [see pp. 22, 28, 43-4)
Ceremonies at high mass (continued) ... ... ... ... 28
Time of high mass. Concluding devotions ... ... ... 34
The Canons' Dinner ... ... ... ... ... 34,35
Meals and Manners of the Choristers ... ... ... ... 36
Peals of Bells. Preparation for Evensong ... ... ... 36,37
At Evensong. The order of censing ... ... ... 37
Evensong of B. V. Mary ... ... ... ... ... 40
(Evensong of the Departed)
Compline. Arrangements for the Boys ... ... ... 42,43
Order of services in Lent ... ... .. ... ... 43,44
Meaning of "Evening Mass" ... ... ... ... 45
** Dirige.''^ *' Collation" or reading in Lent ... ... ... 47
Black copes. Choral habits. Amesses ... ... ... 48
Lenten evensong before noon ... ... ... ... 49
Time of Good Friday service at Exeter, and of evensong at Hereford 50, 5 1
The Curfew ... ... ... ... ... ... 51
Scrutiny by the watchman after curfew ; and in winter again after
midnight mattins ... ... ... ... ... 51, 52
The searcher's supper. The night watchman. Enclosure of
precincts. Condition of the close and its inmates. Gambling.
Feast of Fools. Abuses and misdemeanours ... ... 52, 53
Record was kept of these, where good and orderly behanour was
naturally left imregistered ... ... ... ... 54» 55
Part II.— PAROCHIAL SERVICES.
Scarcity of information relating to times of ser\-ice in smaller
churches before mid-XVIth century ... ... ... 56
The writer's own recollections in a Berkshire parish where there
was no resident squire ... ... ... ... ... 56, 57
Times of bell-ringing in various parishes (i) on Sundays, (2) on
week-days ... ... ... ... ... ... 57-59
Summary of Contents. ix.
PAGE
Curfew. Ave-bells. Pancake-bell. Bells in Lent. (Lenten Mass
and Evensong at Exeter.) Shakespearian reference, p. 6i ;
see above (p. 47). The friars' church and parish mass. Piers
Plowman ... ... ... ... ... ... 59-^2
Mattins and Mass on Simdays ... ... ... ... 63
Undem {Terce) and Evensong (Vespers) all represented by
traditional bells
Saturday service in the afternoon ... ... ... ... 63
Denis Granville (at Durham) and Beveridge (in London) revive
weekly Eucharist, cir. 1685 ... ... ... ... 64
The standard maintained as to week-day services by Sancroft and
Simon Patrick ... ... ... ... ... 65
Daily service not maintained everywhere in mediaeval times.
Communion of lay-folk had become very rare indeed ... 65, 66
Denis Granville's directions to his curates in charge (1669) as to
di^^ne service and instruction ... ... ... ... 66
Directions as to instruction in parish churches given by Bp. Shaxton
and Abp. Lee (1538); by Abp. Peckham (1281); by 13th
century sjTiods ; by Egbert and Bede ... ... ... 68
Times of service at Nonvich... ... ... ... ... 69
Early prayers at Durham (1728)
Litany at Cambridge and Oxford ... ... ... ... 69, "o
Paterson's Pietas Londinensis: times of service in London (i 714) ; at
St. LawTence JewTy, St. Paul's, and Westminster Abbey ... 70, 71
Canterbury (after 1660) ... ... ... ... ... 71
Worcester (cir. 1704)
Testimony of Hamon L'Estrange (1659) ... ... ... 72
P. Heylyn (1636-7) ... ... ... ... ... 72
Ant. Sparrow (1655) ... ... ... ... ... 72
Detailed directions in Peterborough diocese by Bp. Towers (1639) ;
in Noi-wich diocese by Bp. Wren (1636) ... ... ... 72, 73
Cosin's note. Laud's instruction to the Dean of Christ Church,
Oxford. Geo. Herbert's practice (cir. 1630) ... ... 73
Bp. Parkhurst, for towns in Norwich diocese (156 1) ... ... 73
Bp. Scambler, for towns in Peterborough diocese (157 1) ... 73
Bp. Cosin's Devotions for the Canonical Hours in use at Peterhouse,
Cambridge (cir. 1638) ... ... ... ... ... 74
Latin prayer-books in the chapel there (1633) ... ... ... 74.75
Ri. Crashaw and X. Ferrar ... ... ... ... ... 75
Latin prayers on Ash Wednesday (and through Lent) at Oxford in
Laud's time and earlier... ... ... ... ... 75
Scrv-ices at Little Gidding (1625-6), (i) on Sundays, (2) on week-days
Morning Prayer at St. Antholin's, I^ndon, 1559 ... ... 76
X.
Su77imary of Contents.
Arrangement of services proposed in " Reformatio Legum " (cir.
1552) for cathedral and collegiate churches and town parishes;
and in the country ... ... ... ... ... 76
Scheme for YxDrk minster (mattins, high mass, evensong with
compline), Abp. Holgate (1547) ... ... ... ... 77
Draft ^^ Rationale'''' or "Book of Ceremonies," cir. 1540 ... 78
Morning prayer (daily) at St. Edmund's parish church, Salisbury,
cir. 1547-1607. Ringing "None" on holy-days there (cir.
1560). Other records relating to bells there ... ... 79
The Daily first mass, or "Jesus mass " there in 1500 ... ... 8q
Mass, Mattins, and Evensong on Sundays and Holy-days were of
general obligation under Card. Pole (1557) ... ... 80
Lauds included with Mattins. Sermon provided, as well as Evensong. 8 1
Rules for freemasons and others as to standing and kneeling.
Sitting at the Epistle. Old bench boards...
Example of Knights and Kings ... ... ... ... 81
"Meat and Mass"... ... ... ... ... ... 82
The placing of priests and clerks in parochial and conventual
choirs ... ... ... ... ... 82
On the numbers of the clerical staff attached to churches and
chantries in various parishes — in Somerset and Yorkshire — and
their obligations respecting days and hours of service and
other duties ... ... ... ... ... ... 83-88
Office and Mass of the Dead ... ... ... ... 88
Questions as to times of day indicated by " prime " and " undeme." 89
Notes of time gathered from the "Myrroure of our Lady" (1430-
1530 89-91
Rule for parsons to say divine service in the church where they
serve on certain days at least (1452) ... ... ... 91
Endence gathered from the "Vision concerning Piers the Plo^vman,"
etc., as to the change of the time which was called " none " at
various periods, and the common rule to attend mattins, mass,
and evensong on Sundays ... ... ... ... 91
A mid-day bell on Saturdays and Eves. Its significance ... 92
Communion of lay-folk. Sermon and Bidding Beads. Bidding
Prayers for the Departed at chantry masses ... ... 93
Obligation of parsons and chantry priests to say certain offices
before celebrating their mass ... ... .. ... 94
Time of mattins at a " hospital " in Nottingham. Mattins of B. V.
Mary. Order of service in a "college." Mattins of the day.
Prime, and Mass of B. V. Mary. Devotions said by women in
churches on week-days ... ... ... ... ... 95 > 9^
Summary of Contents. xi.
PAGE
Postscript : — Order and times of various Services at Lichfield [circa.
A.D. 1 190-1250), pp. 98-102. Some particulars relating to
the rule of St. Gilbert, of Sempringham (cir, A.D. 1140, etc.),
pp. 100, loi, notes. Note on Mass-time and the fasts called
'Stations' ... ... ... ... ... ... lOi. «
Conclusion of this subject ... ... ... ... ... 102
PART III.— LINCOLN CUSTOiMS, ETC.
The Author's Note ... ... ... ... ... 103-105
His obligations to friends ... ... ... ... ... 104-105 «.
Alleluya. All Saints. Altare Magnum s. Summum. Amictus.
Almitia, almutium. Amitia. Altars. S. Andrew (his altar).
S.Anne. Apertura. Axmibry (j^^ * Piscina '). Aurora diei.
Averium ... ... ... ... ... ... 105-109
Bancus. Beam. Bells. Bellringers. Beneficia eccl., Line. Bene-
factors. Bishop's eye. Bladum. S. Blaise. Board rent.
Books. Borough's Chapel. Boungarth. Brotherhood. ^Bread.
Broad Tower. Buckingham Chantry. Burnet. Bursa Domini
Episcopi ... ... ... ... ... ... 109-114
Calefactory. Camera communis. Camera Episcopi. Candle-
sticks. •' Cantate hicy Capitarium. Cap. Capicium.
Capitulum. Carpentaria Carucata boum. Cerotecse {see
* Serotecae'). Chanter's aisle. Childermas. Choristarum
domus. Christmas. Choir habit. S. Christopher's altar.
Churches in Lincoln. Cimiterium. Cissor. Clock. Collacio.
Colours. Confraternity of the Church of Lincoln. Consistory
Court. Constable of the Close. Cope-bell. Coronation of
Mary. Corpus Christi. Crucifix. S. Crucis. Cruets. Curfew.
Curialitates. Custuraria ... ... ... ... 114-141
Dalderby's Shrine. Day-bell. Dean's aisle. Dean's chapel.
Dean's eye. Defuncti. S. Denys. Dove. Duplifestarii ... 141-145
Edward the Martyr's altar. Egidius ... ... ... 145
Fabrick. Fertory. Ly Ffolcfeste. Flngellum. Fleming, Ri.,bp.
Flute. Forms. '•'■ Frater, ascende superiiis'''' ... ... 145-146
Le Galilee. S. George. Gilds (of St. Anne, Benet, Christopher,
Clement, the Clerks, Cordwainers, Corpus Christi, the Resur-
rection, S. Michael-on-hill, Great Gild of B. V. Mary of
Lincoln, the Fullers, S. George, S. Luke, Shoemakers' Hall,
Tailors, Tylers or Poyntours, Weavers, Company of S. Hugh
and our Lady Bell-ringers). S. Giles' Hospital. " Gloria^
laus et honor.'''' Gradalc. Ly Grecefote. Grates. Grosse-
tcste, Ro. S. Guthlac's altar ... ... ... ... 146-156
' An unintentional departure from strict alphabetical order.
xii. Su7nviary of Contents. fLincobi.J
PAGE
Hearse. S. Hugh's bells. S. Hugh's altar. S. Hugh's tomb.
S. Hugh's shrine. Feretory of S. Hugh. S. Hugh's rehcs.
Little S. Hugh's shrine ... ... ... ... 156-162
Images. The Irons. S. James' altar. The Jesus Mass. S. John
Baptist's altar. S. John the Evangelist. Judas ... ... 162-170
S. Katharine's ALTAR. S. Katharine's Priorj-. Kiss of Peace 170-172
Laundress. Lavatory. Lecterns. Lincoln farthings. Longland's
chantry. S. Lucy's altar ... ... .,. ... 172-175
The Malandery. S. Mary, B.V. Mass of our Lady. Com
memoration of B. Mary. Service of B. Mar}-. S. Mar}-'s
tower. S. Mary's gild. S. Mary's images, etc. S. Mary
Magdalen's chapel. ** Mater, ora Filiumy Maundy. S.
Michael's altar. Ministrations. Missa matutinalis. Missa
Capitularis, missa in Capitulo. Chapter-houses. Lincoln,
Missa pro defunctis. Missa pro animabus episcoporum. Missa
de die. Missa de Spiritu Sancto. Missa pro itinerantibus.
Missa pro Rege. " Missus est Angelus.''^ Morning (Prayer)
Chapel. Mutatio chori ... ... ... ... 175-199
S. Nicholas' altar. '* Non vos relinquam.''^ Nova festa ... 199-201
O (Sapientia). Oblations. *' O Christi pietas .''^ Organ. Orna-
ments. S. Oswald's image ... ... ... ... 201-203
Palls, carpets, curtains. Paschal. S. Paul's chapel and altar.
Pauperes clerici (poor clerks). Peal altar. Penitentiar}',
Pentecostals. Pelhforum, the ''Peltry." S. Peter's altar.
S. Peter's relicks. Pillius, or pileus ... ... ... 203-209
Piscinas and Aumbries : — (i) At Salisbury. At the altar
*• Salve " of Holy Trinity and All Hallows. S. Peter and
Apostles. S. Stephen and jNIartyrs. S. Katharine's and S.
Martin's. S. Mary Magdalen and S. Nicholas. The Vesti-
bulum. High Altar of the Assumption. Altar of S. Thomas
of Canterbury, S. Edmund. Relicks altar of S. John Baptist.
S. Margaret, S. Lawrence, S. Michael. S. Osmund. All
Saints. Our Lady of Gesem (Gesina). Morning Altar. Altar
of the Holy Ghost. S. Andrew, S. Mary, S. Denys and S.
Lawrence, S. George. Altare parochiale ... ... 209-216
(2) At Lincoln. High Altar of S. Mary. Le Irons. S.
Hugh. S. John Baptist. S. Mary's. Chauntries. Holy
Trinity. Our Lady's. Burghersh's. S. John Baptist (2).
S. Nicholas. S. Blaise. S. Peter and S. Paul. Revestry
altar. Lavatory. Capella Fundatoris. (?) S. Guthlac, or S.
Edmund's. (S.Anne.) Jo. Evangelist. S.Anne. S.Giles.
Altar of the Holy Rood. S. George. Altar of *• Jhesus
Mass " (of the Most Holy Name, or Quinque Vulnerum). S.
I
i
Summary of Conients. fLincoln.J xiii»
PAGE
Sebastian. S. Giles. S. Hugh's, or Le Pele. S. Man-'s, or
Tom Tower. Morning Prayer Chapel of S. !Mary ^lagdalen.
S. Christopher. S. Michael. S. Andrew. S. Denys. Dean's
chapel. Camera communis. Domus capitularis. S. Lucy.
S. Edward. S. George. S. Stephen. S. James. S. Thomas 216-255
Note on brackets for lamps or images. Alphabetical
reference index to piscinas and altars ... ... ... 256-258
PiX. *^ PrcBciosa.^^ Processions. Processional stones. Propria
hebdomada. Provost (praepositus). Psalter- recitation. Pul-
pitum. Punishments ... .. ... ... ... 258-266
QUERECOPES (cappae de choro). Quirister ... ... ... 266-268
Re et Ve. ReHcks. Remigius, *' RequiemV ** Resurrexi."
Revestry, see Vestry. Robert [Grosseteste]. Rood tower
and rood altar. *'■ Rorate.^'' Rushes ... .. ... 268-273
*' Salve." Scala. Schoolmaster. Scuerariam. Searchers' Chamber.
S. Sebastian's chapel. Sempstress. Sepulchre (the Easter
Sepulchre). Sermons. Serta. Le SejTiey. Ship (for incense).
Shrines. Smoke farthings. Spices, ^'■Species.'''' ^Stations.
Staves. S. Stephen's altar. Sweepers. S}'nodus. ^Stalls.
Staple-place ... ... ... ... ... ... 273-288
Tabernacles. Tabula. Tailor, see •' Cissor." Tenebrae. Textus.
S. Thomas the MartjT. Throne (ordo stallandi episcopum).
Tombs of Bishops (tumbae). Torchae. Treasury. Holy
Trinity Chapel. Tunicles ... ... ... ... 288-296
Vat (for holy water). Verger. Vestry (vestibulum). Vigil {see
"Watchers") ... ... ... ... ... 296-300
Warectum. Washing al'.ars. Watchers. William the Con-
queror's Chapel. Works chantry house ... ... ... 300-304
Works, — pri\-ileges of benefactors to them (A.D. 1257-1321 ;
1515) 304-308
^ See note on p. zi.
Index of Holy Days marked in Kalendars of Lincoln Use ... 309-313
^^
|:
fIDebta^pal Services.
Hn 3nquir^ for the ^tme^ITable or Service**
paper of Catbe&ral an& otber
Cburcbes in ®l6en ZTime.*
I
INTRODUCTION,
N a thoughtful and earnest paper, read at the
Church Congress in 1895, at Norwich (and
recently published by Mr. Bemrose), upon the
subject of Our Cathedrals, Canon George Venables
made the observation that ^*it is cruel to the indi-
vidual himself, and unfair to the Cathedral, if any
one be chosen a member of any Cathedral body to
whom the daily offices and frequent communions are
not delightful and precious spiritual privileges."
The writer of that paper expressed a strong desire
that the residentiary canons should include in their
number a professor of canon law, that the non-
residentiaries should be recognized as the Bishop's
council for diocesan matters, and that they should
include small bodies (triumvirates) to give instruc-
tion in catechising and religious teaching, in the
• The papers hearing this title were contributed to tlie Church I'itnes, and
appeared in six numbers between June 26th and Au{;u!it 21st, 1896.
B
2 Introduction,
art of conducting schoolroom services, and in such
parish work as preparing candidates for Confirma-
tion, etc., etc. For the lectures required in carry^ing
out such a scheme, Mr. Venables proposed that
the side chapels of our Cathedral churches should
be used. And he suggested also, what is already
effected in some instances, that provision should be
made for the needs of those who desire to find a
secluded place for private devotion. The writer of
these lines remembers well searching one day in
vain, at a momentous crisis in his life, for some such
place of retirement, both in Westminster Abbey and
in St. Paul's. This was under the regime of twenty
years ago.*
Myself born under the shadow of the Abbey, I
had the privilege of being christened in the south-
west chapel, and I remember being present some
years later at the baptism of a child in the font
which, until later alterations, stood there in front of
the place where the m.onumental effigy of Keble
now remains. My Father, who, leaving the head-
mastership of Harrow, became Canon of Westminster
in 1844, established the early communion in the
Abbey on Sundays ; and he was instrumental also in
reviving the plainly recited early mattins on week-
days, which (like the usual choral service sung at
the ordinary hour) was in the quire at Westminster.
That early week-day service, as I recollect, was
attended by Sir W. Page Wood (Lord Chancellor
* St Faith's Chapel was happily found, and re-opened in the South transept
of the Abbey about a year ago.
Introductimi, 3
Hatherley), except on those mornings when he
stayed at home to read family prayers with his
household, so as to give Lady Wood the opportunity
to attend the church service in the Abbey, and by
a few others. And now and then a working man
would slip in quietly about 8 a.m. to say his prayers
privately to the eastward of the congregation, and
after kneeling a few moments on the steps towards
the Sacrariu?n would pass out again to his day's
work. That was a '' day of small things " in St.
Peter's, Westminster, but it was to be followed through
the wise spirit of Dean Church and others at St.
Paul's, London, after an interval of years, by the
fuller realisation of the true uses of a great Cathedral
or Collegiate Church. Meanwhile, in the cities in
the provinces, the Simeons and Annas of the
generation before us were now finding the little
doors, which had been practically closed for many
years, reopened for them in the House of God. In
1869, I^r- Westcott (the Bishop of Durham) became
residentiary canon at Peterborough; and in 1872,
Dr. Benson (the Archbishop), already for some years
a prebendary, became chancellor and canon resi-
dentiary at Lincoln. Then we began to hear of the
old * morning prayer ' chapels in our Cathedrals
restored to their daily use, and frequent instruction
or exposition within strict and punctual limitation of
time. These were attended by workmen engaged
upon the fabric, as well as by the families of the
canons and by students of the theological schools.
I write merely from personal recollection of two or
4 Introduction.
three Cathedral churches, concerning which I had
some natural opportunity for observation, and I
fully expect to be told that there are some two or
three English Cathedrals where side-chapels were
in use and the three w^eek-day services said or sung
daily even in the regency or reign of King George
IV. But it certainly came as a new light to many
in the passing generation, when deans, such as
Trench (Archbishop of Dublin) and Goodwin
(Bishop of Carlisle) with their coadjutors demon-
strated the truth that the minster nave could be
utilised more worthily than as a mere pleasant place
to loiter in, to hear the organ or to study archaeology.
Evening services on Sundays and on special week-
days in the nave, great gatherings of country and
city choirs, many of them with surplices and banners ;
commemoration of benefactors and worthies, mis-
sionary meetings and missionary services, with
children's flower services and the church lads*
brigade at Salisbury, services for teachers and
scholars of church schools and other church workers,
have awakened old echoes in the material fabric,
penetrating in some cases even to the cloister and
the chapter-house. They who have taken part in
some of these gatherings and services, or even they,
I suppose, who may have watched them from the
western gallery or the triforiuvi^ will hardly ask,
** What is the use of a Cathedral church ? " Still
less will anyone who has been present at a funeral
or memorial service of some great hero in the
Abbey, or who had the good fortune to be at a
Litrodudion. 5
national thanksgiving service in St. Paul's, have
failed to receive some impression in his spiritual
character, even beyond the effect ordinarily produced
by any great concourse of mankind.
When men like Butler, of Wantage (not to name
others before him), who had had exceptional
experience in pastoral work and in direct dealing
with men's souls, became deans or canons, it was
the most natural thing in the world that the Holy
Table should re-appear in the side-chapels and retro-
choirs or in the crypt of our Cathedral churches.
From suggestions of such a practical nature it
is an easy step for the mind to inquire of antiquity,
** What was the use made, in earlier ages, of those
side chapels and other nooks and corners which,
at least at no distant date, were kept sedulously
locked, and were only to be visited under a pretext
of historical or antiquarian interest or curiosity ? "
There was, it must be confessed. Vandalism rife
enough to make some such precautions justifiable
and even requisite. And indeed the proper end and
purpose for the construction of certain parts of our
church fabrics was well nigh forgotten. Even in
more recent days we find ourselves strangely un-
familiar with some of the simplest details concerning
them. More than once the question has been put
to mc, ** What can you tell us about the hours
of Divine service in our English churches in the
Middle Ages, not simply as regards the theory of the
eight-fold office and the Christian Liturgy, but as
they were carried out in practice ? "
6 Introduction.
I propose, therefore, in the following papers, to
offer to my readers such scraps of information as
have come under my notice.
Nothing will give me greater pleasure than to find
that others can add more interesting information,
can correct errors into which I may have fallen,
or can fill those gaps, or supply those missing links
or needful explanations which I fully expect to be
noticed in my sketch.
I propose to give, in the first place, the time-table
of services and engagements so far as they were
prescribed or used in some of our cathedral churches.
Exeter, Lincoln, Salisbur}% and Wells have their
records of Divine service more or less accessible.
The monastic churches such as Durham and
Evesham, Westminster and Winchester, and the
Brigittine house of Syon have already in part
unfolded their domestic annals. Antiquaries will
know the sources of my statements if they con-
descend to read what I have written ; and while
my private draft contains many references, I think it
may simplify our narrative if I omit some at least
of them in printing.
In a subsequent section I shall give what little \
I have observed as to the times of service in parish
churches. 1 wish it were unnecessary to warn any
expectant readers that I am myself disappointed
in having but a meagre bill of fare to offer. Let
them restrain their appetites and I will join them in
the hope that a better caterer may presently under-
take the business where I fail.
PART L
'C;imc6 of Service \xi Catbe&ral Cburcbee*
A LTHOUGH the liturgical day (according to
^^ Oriental habit and a custom dating apparently
from creation) begins with Evensong, we will here
take ?vlattins for our point of departure.
Midnight was the time for Mattins on Advent
Sunday at Exeter ; and at Lincoln this service
was at midnight in summer, and at daybreak
in winter. Before this the ringers had their duties
to perform. The first of the ^n^ peals began v^^ith
the great bell knolling for half an hour about an
hour and a half before service. At Wells there were
three peals of several bells {turbce), and one tolling
of the great bell or classicum. At Exeter three
warnings from the bells [signa) at intervals.
First and second peals went for half an hour each,
the doors being opened and lights lit between the
two : then the third and fourth for a quarter of an
hour each ; and the last for such a time as would
allow a residentiary canon to come from the most
distant house in Minster-yard.
At Hereford the **hebdomadary '* (canon for the
week) and other canons, and all the vicars choral,
would rise to Mattins at midnight. Midnight
8 Notes on MedicBval Services.
Mattins was abolished in the autumn of 1548, and
Mattins at 6 a.m. throughout the year prescribed by
the injunctions sent to Cathedral chapters. This
custom of an early service went on with more or less
regularity till the seventeenth century, besides the
ordinary forenoon service in choir. Hollar's plan of
Lincoln in Dugdale's Moiiasticon shows the chapel
of St. Mary Magdalene at the north-west, still
known (and in even the latter part of the eighteenth
century, and again, after an interval, in our own
time, used) as the morning prayer chapel, *' where
prayers are said (1672) at six o'clock.'* There is
likewise a * morning chapel ' at Salisbury, to the
north-east, which is used from time to time when
the Salve or lady chapel is temporarily closed.
In Lestrange's day, before and after the Restora-
tion, Mattins in choir was at 9 a.m. However, in
1559 the chancellor of the church of Sarum was
required to provide a lecture in Divinity in English
in a convenient place at least thrice a week at 9 a.m.,
and all the staff were to attend it. So perhaps
Cathedral Mattins in the time of Oueen Elizabeth
was at 10. The ** minister" who was tabled (an old-
world term carrying us back to the mediaeval *' wax-
brede,'* on which the officiants' names were posted
up in chapter) '* to begin the common prayer in
quire " for one week, was responsible for the week
following for an earlier service in the morning
prayer chapel. This was to be at 5 a.m. in summer
and from September to April at 6. It had in
Elizabethan times an order peculiar to itself:
Notes on MedicEval Services, g
general confession, absolution, **the litanie until the
verse O Lord arise ^^^ before which verse a chapter
from the New Testament in order was read. After
that lesson the said *' verse" w^as begun, with all
the suffrages of the litany following.* Hence we
may gather that in the sixteenth century the prayer,
" O God, merciful Father/' in the litany was under-
stood to end with an Ameji (not printed), and the
versicle, *' O Lord, arise. . . . Name's sake,"
was still recognised as an antiphon to Ps. xliv., and
not, as now, treated as a response to the said collect.
In 1597 Whitgift expressed his approbation of a
visitation article for Canterbury, calling upon ** the
petty canons, singing men, substitutes, or other the
inferior ministers and servants of the church," that
they ** do more daily frequent the first morning
service." In 1665, the loyal Denis Granville, son-
in-law to Bishop Cosin, and at that timiC Archdeacon
and Prebendary, complained that at Durham they
had neglected to have the ** six o'clock " prayers
** for servants in the Cathedrall for Sundays and
Holy Days." But we must return to our account
of earlier times.
At Wells, in 1273, Alattins was allowed in the
evening (in seroj only on Trinity Sunday, the Nat.
of John Bapt., SS. Peter and Paul's Day, and
Corpus Christi.
It is beyond our scope to describe the services at
length, but we may mention that it was the duty of
the bellringer to provide lighted charcoal for the
• See Injunctions of the Queen's VisitorSy for Salisbury, 1559, and those for
Wells eoilt'tn anno.
lO Notes on Meaiccval Services.
thurifers when there was incense to be burnt at
Te Deuvi, etc. And meanwhile, one went round on
double feasts to invite certain assistant ministers of
the church to break bread with the principal cele-
brant at his dinner on the day which was just
begun.* This homely custom of shewing Christian
brotherhood and charity would be said to savour of
irreverence now: but it seemed natural to those
who were accustomed to the Maundy and grace
cup in the chapter, and who spent their days, and
some of them their nights, within the holy fane.
The high altar was censed.
Lauds followed, and some of the vicars-choral
or the choristers sang a melody forganizabantj ,
It was the rule in Sarum choir to recite Ps. Ad te
levavi (cxxii.) after Lauds, for the peace of the
church. At York, in Lent, a penitential suffrage
(pro peccatisj was followed by some psalms for the
Minster Confraternity fpsalnil familiaresj. At St.
Paul's, Lincoln, Salisbury, and Wells, the recitation
of the Daily Psalter distributed among the canons,
inclusive of the bishop as a brother prebendary,
sometimes with Litany and Old Testament canticles
to eke out the number, was a private act of cor-
porate devotion, which at Lincoln dated from the
time, at all events, of good St. Hugh, and has
at no period since been altogether forgotten.
From the year 1408 till the middle of the sixteenth
century all vicars at Lincoln were required to under-
* Archbishop Benson assured me that the invitatio commensalium inter
sacra survived at Christ Church down to recent times.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 1 1
take, upon their admission, to " stand" or attend at
Mattins of the Glorious Virgin in choir after Mattins
(with Lauds) of the day. Two wax candles of half-
pound weight in a basin afforded the light allowed
for both these services in choir. The treasurer
had to find also a single candle on week-days over the
*' beam " of the high altar at Mattins ; but two in
the small altar candlesticks at Evensong, Compline,
and Mass. There was, of course, more light than
this provided for holy days, according to their rank.
But the single light, to burn *' night and day at the
north side, near the altar " at Lincoln, was, if
we interpret the ** Black Book '' rightly, a continual
light. Ver}^ little illumination was provided in the
aisle and doorways. But local customs naturally
varied in different places as to such lamps, or
lanterns and coronas, and even as regards those
candles which might be considered as having a
ceremonial significance. As to light to read by,
the celebrant at the altar sometimes had a taper by
his book ** on the left half" (left side)* of his altar,
which as well as the gospel tapers for the deacon
may have served a practical as well as a ceremonial
purpose. In choir. Dean, Precentor, Chancellor,
and Treasurer were allowed a service-book ; and a
single music book for chants and psalmody was
allowed on certain days when there was something
unusual in the service; and for these, as also for
* " Right " is surely a misprint for left " hand looking East " in SimmonB'
Lay Folks* Mass Book, p. 174, note (i), to judge from his remarks at pp. 190,
20$, 20^;.
12 Notes on Mediceval Services.
the psalmody of ferial nocturns, candles were allo-.ved.
But for Sunday Mattins ** histories," or for an}^ day
in an octave beyond the first, Lincoln vicars choral
were allowed neither book nor light. For they had
undertaken there (as in other Cathedral churches) to
know their services by heart within their year of
probation. The service of Our Lady v/as sung out
of choir on Sundays in Advent, on Passion and Palm
Sundays, Christmas Day, Easter and Pentecost, and
on feasts of B. V. Mary.
At Exeter, independently of any recitation in
choir, the persons whose duty it was to sing Mattins.
and hours of the Virgin in her chapel were summoned
*' at early morn " by three peals of the same bell
which was to sound presently for the Mass which
bore her name ; and again, when the epistle of the
Lady Mass was read in chapel, the first bell for
Prime of the Day in choir was sounded, and, at
Agnus Dei^ the second bell.
In 1336, John de Grandisson arranged a series of
daily Masses in the Lady Chapel so that week
by week there might be a remembrance of the
principal Joys of Mary, her Nativity, Annunciation,
Birth of Christ, visit of the Magi, Purification,
*' Pity," {' Co7npassione^ ) and Assumption. At
Salisbury the Salve, or daily Mass of B. V. IVIar^^
was established by Bishop R. Poore so soon as
ever the first or Eastern portion of his church was
ready, at Michaelmas, 1225.
The Sarum rule in the breviary is to say on three
ordinary ferial or simple days each week, if they can
Notes on Mediccval Services. 13
be found vacant, one or other of the three nocturns
of Dirige, or Mattins of the dead, after Mattins
of the day, so that the whole Dirige should, if
possible, be recited in the course of each ordinary
week.
At Lincoln the day-bell was rung and the Morrow
Mass was celebrated by a chaplain, for whom the
Dean provided a salary, as well as light sufficient to
see to read by. This chaplain was excused attendance
at Mattins in winter. By the time that half the inter-
val before service had elapsed, a great bell rang
the Morning Peal fpellaj in the south-west tower,
known as St. Hugh's. Then the Poor Clerks came
in, to be ready to assist the Chantry Chaplains
whose low Alasses followed in quick succession at
various altars from this time to Terce.
Such Masses were numerous, though they never
approached the multitude (120 per diem, beginning
at 4.30), which Dean Stanley found in the great
church of the Holy House of Loreto (so he tells us
we ought to spell it) in 1852. The number of altars
at York was at least two-and-twenty, and apparently
at one time nearer thirty. At Lincoln, about 26 ;
at Salisbury, about 22 ; at Wells, 13 or 14. The
chantries at Wells were 11 or 12; and these
employed 18 or 19 chantry priests.
The chantry Masses at Salisbury do not appear to
have numbered more than eleven, apart from
occasional obits or anniversaries. At Lincoln there
were more than forty chantries ; and, though these
varied from time to time, we are able to give a fairly
14 Notes on Mediceval Services,
complete time-table of them in the first half of the
sixteenth century. It will be observed that those
among the chantry priests who were also priest
vicars could not begin their chantry Masses until
after the Lady Mass, at which their attendance was
required.
Mass of the Blessed Virgin is described as being
celebrated *' hora prima^'' at the first hour; but this,
we believe, in practice was about 7 or 8 a.m. The
service was preceded by tinkles ftinnitusj. It seems
not improbable that this may have been the Ave bell
or Angelus. It may not have been until 1492 that
Pope Innocent VIII. (or Alexander VI. ?) licensed
the devotion of the Ave bell for England at the
request of Queen Elizabeth of York, consort of King
Henry the Seventh (as the rubric of the Sarum
Prymer tells us), so that folk might say '* Ave "
three times at each tolling of the Ave bell at 6 a.m.,
at twelve noon, and at 6 p.m. Nevertheless, the
signal for such a salutation at least once a day,
i.e.^ just before curfew, by strokes on the great bell
thrice over, almost continuously, was ordered for
Wells by Dean Goddeley's statute more than a
century and a half before, in 133 1 in the Pontificate
of John XXI. XXII. The late Sir C. Anderson
recorded that the six ''' Lady Bells," in the great
rood tower in the midst of Lincoln Minster, were
chimed in the belfry on Lady Day to a chant which
was probably
A ve Ma ri a : O ra pro no bis.
I. 3. I. 2. 4. : I. 5. I. 5. 6.
Notes on Mediceval Services. 15
We will now give the promised time-table : —
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1 6 Notes 071 AledicBval Services.
Thus we find that about the time of King Henry
VIII., between the three " Morrow Masses," as they
were called, at 5 a.m., and the High Mass, which
was sung about 10 or 11 o'clock, there were at
Lincoln every day no less than thirty-seven Masses,
or, inclusive of these four and of the Burghersh
Mass (No. 41), forty- two celebrations of the
Eucharist. To these we must add the daily
Chapter Mass, which I believe to have been sung
at St. Peter's altar, in the S.E. transept, after prime.
It is certain, moreover, that there were at this
period some other chantries in Lincoln Minster
besides those mentioned above. Such, to go no
further, were those of Barton, Gare, and Thornton,
D'Umfraville, Fitzwilliam, and Bishop Russell. It
is possible that these were not commemorated daily,
but only occasionally, as obits. But the number of
such anniversary Masses was at some periods con-
siderable, and would tend to swell the number of
celebrations in the Cathedral church.
The Morrow Mass mentioned above, and cele-
brated at one time at St. Nicholas' altar (and in 1492
at St. Christopher's in the nave, and in 1531 at St.
George's altar) had been instituted in 1252 with the
following series of votive intentions : —
On Sunday, Mass of the day.
M., Tu., and Wed., for souls of Bishops of Lincoln
and Lichfield (on account of the founder, Lexing-
ton's personal connexion therewith). Deans of|
Lincoln, and all Christian souls.
Thursday, Mass of the Holy Ghost.
Notes 071 Mediceval Services, 17
Friday, for Bishops, Deans, etc., as above.
Saturday, of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In the 15th century, this Dean's Chaplain's Mass
had become a Daily Mass for Travellers.
The Chapter Mass, and other Masses celebrated
by the several dignitaries and prebendaries, are
likewise not included in the foregoing table; but
they were all celebrated between 5 and 10 a.m.
At Hereford, St. Nicholas' Mass began at 5 a.m.,
and was followed by others up to the Lady Mass at 8.
We must now return to the choir services, which
were in part sung simultaneously w4th sundry of
the Missce currentes^ which were being said at
altars round about the church.
When Mass of the Blessed Virgin had commenced,
the bell began to toll for Prime. This ringing con-
tinued on week-days till the Lord's Prayer at the
end of the Canon of that Mass was said; but on
festivals, when there was more music and a fuller
ceremonial, the bell would go only till the Gospel
was chanted.
The Lady Mass being ended, on double feasts
^ another peal called '* Prime into Choir," or ** Great
Prime," was rung. This was the signal for the
•rvice of Prime, which, at Hereford, at least, was at
- a.m. At this service the choristers were required
to be present. At Mattins only two of the boys, in
their weekly course, were expected to attend, except
at All Hallows, where there were ^v^^ wearing, for
that occasion, amices ** like nuns."
c
1 8 Notes on Mediceval Services,
At Wells, though only two boys were required at
Mattins on ordinary days (in 1507), four or seven
were expected to attend on festivals of less or
greater rank. Those boys who rose at midnight
were bidden to say their own prayers, and then to go
into choir and there say Mattins of the Blessed
Virgin silently. The other choristers, who stayed in
bed till the ordinary time of rising, were directed to
say Mattins of Our Lady in couples while dressing
and making their beds. Then they went for a lesson
in Plain-song in their school until the bell warned
them to ** second Prime'* or Prime of the Day.
During that peal they had to get their breakfast,
those who were on duty getting into choir before
the bell stopped, and the others going into school
till their hall-time at 1 1 o'clock. The choristers at
Lincoln used to have bread and honey with milk
over it as a treat at breakfast on Fridays and
Saturdays ; but in 1437 some of them complained
that the seneschal allowed them nothing but bread.
The office of Prime being over, ** Prime out of
Choir" rang out, and the choir adjourned (in
orderly procession, according to Exeter rule) to the
Chapter House, and took their places round.
Hereupon a boy (at Lincoln he was the thurifer)
at a desk or pulpit read a few lines from the Martiloge
to announce the date for the morrow, and its list of
saints and blessed persons departed, and to give
notice of any obits or anniversaries of benefactors,
or other local worthies for observance. A priest
stationed behind the reader responded, ** May their
N'otes on Mediceval Services, ig
souls and all Christian souls departed, by the mercy
of God, rest in peace,'' and ^* Right dear in the sight
of the Lord." R. ** Is the death of His saints."
The boy (or, as at Lincoln, the deacon in a
surplice) reads another lection. At Salisbury this
was almost always a passage taken from the works
of Haymo, a gth century devotional commentator
and homilist, pupil of Alcuin. He was a monk of
Fulda and Bishop of Halberstadt. During the
octaves of the Assumption and Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin the homilies, from Jerome and others,
provided in the Breviar}^, supplanted Haymo.
Having read his appointed section, the boy stepped
down to read the notice-board or wax-brede, which
served the purpose of a notice paper or slate. At
Lincoln the ** board '' of readers drawn up by the
chancellor, or his deputy the vice-chancellor, and
then the ** board" of singers made out by the
, succentor, as representing his lord and master the
1 precentor, were read on greater festivals between
the Martyrology and the other reading ; on days of
an inferior grade the board was read after the
lection, the Martiloge, and the publication of any
anniversary. It took the following form : —
Table (or board) for Saturday, 25 April, 1500,
St. Mark being transferred to May.
Rulers of the Choir: (Canon) Trevelyan, and
iVeston (represented) by his vicar-choral.
15/ Respond^ (to be sung by) Roby and Borlace.
2nd Respond^ by Cause and Tregonwell.
Zrd Respond y by the Rulers of the choir.
20 Notes on Mediceval Services.
Celebrant at Mass : Archdeacon of Totnes.
Gospeller: Young.
2nd Lection in Chapter : More.
Sometimes the list or *' table" was much more
full and elaborate.
At Exeter, if not elsewhere, some were specially
told off to represent the society or Brotherhood of
the Cathedral church at Chapter Mass.
The Psalm, Levavi (cxx.) was recited standing at
Exeter (as at Salisbury) for the Church — or, as it is
expressly stated, ** for the King, for familiars of the
community, for relatives and friends " — before the
Chapter proper resolved themselves into a private
business meeting. At one period, Saturday in each
week was reserved for business. Then the capitular
corrections took place in congregatione chori, if any
delinquent needed to be punished, or pardon to be
craved for any offences, or when any arrangements
were to be made and announced for the services of
the ensuing week. A section of the Custom Book
was sometimes read, as occasion served, upon the
Saturday (before the vicars and boys withdrew, and
left the canons to their private business), so that all
might know their duties for the approaching season.
At Lincoln, as elsewhere. Psalm De Profundis
(cxxx.) was recited for any anniversary occurring,
with absolution of the dead, which (at least at Wells)
the Bishop, if present, would pronounce.
Leaving the Chapter House, a congregation
assembled for the Capitular Mass. This perhaps
even more peculiarly than the High Mass constituted
Notes on Mediceval Services. 2i
the family devotion of the Cathedral body. It was
sometimes, i.e.^ whenever it was to be the anniversary
Mass for a Dean or Canon of Lincoln departed*
(after notice given at the previous Mattins),
celebrated by one of the Canons nominated for this
purpose by the Precentor, who in English churches
of the Old Foundation is the senior canon next
in dignity to the Dean, and who possesses authority
over all the musical portions of the service. Deacon
and sub-deacon, revested in albes and amices, were
in attendance.
At Lincoln the Chapter Mass was, as I infer, sung
at St. Peter's altar, which, though situated in a
small chapel, had the distinction of being one of the
older portions of the structure, and was honoured by
having a custodian who ranked next in dignity
to the prebendaries (who alone might celebrate at
the high altar in that church). In Durham
monastery. Chapter Mass was always (Elizabethan
tradition said) at the high altar at 9 a.m. At Wells ^
it was usually at the high altar, but (in 1 240) some-
times *' otherwise than at the great altar.'' At
Salisbury, in the 15th centur}% it was sometimes
("if not always) at St. Peter's {alias the Apostles')
altar, one (the most northerly) of the three earliest to
be dedicated in the chevet (or capiciuvi) if it may so
be called, 28 Sept., 1225.
At Ottery St. Mary* s in 1342 (possibly merely as
a temporary arrangement, because the church was
• Bishops alone (and Kinj^s; had their anniversaries at Lincoln high altar.
And by Sarum rules only those persons who were deemed by the Chapter
jfthy to Ix: entered in the Martyrology had their anniversaries observed at all.
22 Notes on Mediceval Services,
undergoing alterations) funeral Masses were
appointed to be said at the parish altar in the nave
immediately after Prime " as a sort of chapter Mass "
f quasi inissa capitular isj , In many cathedral churches
and for other communities the. chapter Mass was no
doubt celebrated at the high altar within sight of the
ritual quire, or else in some chapel where seats
or stalls were provided for the canons, and other
members of the community who had already said
their own Masses at the other altars, so that they
might attend here afterwards and worship as a united
body. Chapels so furnished may sometimes be seen
in large churches to this day. King Henry Vllth's
chapel at Westminster and the Lady chapel at
Winchester may sei-ve to illustrate this observation.
As priest-vicars in rotation celebrated the vtissa
mpituli at Lincoln on days when it did not happen to
be a canon's duty to do so, and as no vicar might
celebrate at the high altar, it is clear that at Lincoln
the high altar was not the proper place for this
domestic Mass invariably ; and probably it was not
ever sung at the * great altar' of that church. For,
according to the old rule there, the anniversary
Mass, even for a Dean deceased, was not to be at
the high altar, but in capitiilo. \
The Chapter Mass was ordinarily a Mass for the
Dead ; but whenever it chanced that a Sunday (or a
fast) was constrained to surrender its claim to setting
the Mass of the day at the high altar, and was forced
to give way, in favour of some festival of higher
rank occurring, then the displaced Mass of Sunday
Notes oil Mediccval Services, 23
(or the Missa de jejunio, as the case might be)
was said ** in Chapter," and not for the High Mass.
At Exeter, however, only the displaced Mass of
Sunday, vigil, or saint appears to have been
reckoned as a ** Chapter Mass." However, when
the office for the dead had to be sung at the previous
Evensong, Mass for the dead followed chapter
business there. On Sunda3^s, as well as week-days,
there was often, if not always, a Missa in Capiticlo at
Exeter, sometimes for the departed, sometimes a
Mass displaced from the High Mass. The Exeter
MS. gives us a few particulars about week-days.
*' After Chapter and before Terce, Mass in Chapter
is said for the departed with deacon and subdeacon
vested in albs only. And the like takes place here
at all Masses for the dead. Unless, indeed, it be in
the case of Bishops of Exeter, or solemn obits, or
for a funeral in presence of the corse, and on the
morrow of All Hallows'. For then the Mass (of
the dead) is said at the high altar after Sext in place
of the High Mass, which on that occasion is said
after Prime (i.e,, at ordinary hour of Chapter Mass) :
and then let them use black dalmatics and tunicles."
But we must now pass on to High Mass, or to
what more immediately preceded it.
If there was to be a festal procession to High
Mass, steps were taken to call the congregation,
On festivals at Hereford, when St. Thomas' bell rang
to procession, the Dean sent his verger, or sompnour,
to give notice to the Mayor of Hereford to send his
sergeant to the aldermen at the several parish
24 Notes on Mediccval Services.
churches. They in their turn caused the parochial
clerg}' to command all freemen to attend on the
Mayor to the procession before High Mass, or (it
might be) to the lecture which took place in the
chapter house during High Mass in choir.
When the chapter and ministers of the church
returned to quire, holy water was blessed (at Exeter)
at the choir step in the presbytery on ordinary- days.
At Salisbury this was done previously at the altar of
St. Nicholas in vestibulo. (At Exeter, likewise, this
was done out of choir in the vestry on double feasts,
and on Palm Sunday, and sprinkled after Terce.)
The high altar was sprinkled, and likewise the
assistants, clerks, and lay people on either side of
the presbytery. Meanwhile (such at least was the
custom at Lincoln) the two great bells in the central
(or ** rood") tower had been ringing for Terce, and
the ringing went on (Lincoln) till the procession
halted. The procession (Salisbury) then went out
of the quire on the north, and went round the
eastern part of the church sprinkling the altars en
route. Then down the south side of the church,
past the font near the west end, and up the nave,
halting at the foot of the cross to make a station
with devotions before the rood. At this point a
sermon was preached (Exeter) in Advent and
Septuagesima. The procession then entered by the
western door of the quire, under the rood, a versicle
and orison being said at the stool or form in the
midst of the quire (Lincoln). After this the priest and
his attendants went off to sprinkle the canons* burial
Notes on Mediceval Services, 25
ground, praying meanwhile for those whose bodies
rested therein. (A somewhat similar custom, which
visibly emphasised the Communion of Saints and
proclaimed that ** though now divided by the
. . . . narrow stream of death " we are dwelling
as **one family," was in vogue in parish churches,
where when one was lying dead the parson left the
congregation for a space to go out through the
chancel door, and to mark with a cross dug in the
turf the place for the new grave ; and then he
returned into the chancel.)
At Lincoln the holy water was blessed by the
Treasurer, if the Bishop himself were to celebrate
High Mass ; or by the Sub-Dean, if the Dean were
officiating. Other celebrants performed this duty,
usually, themselves.
In the procession the celebrant wore his vestments
ready for Mass, excepting the chasuble, in place of
which he wore the proper processional cope of pall.*
He was flanked by his deacon and sub-deacon, the
second deacon in front carried a precious cross
before his breast, and the second sub-deacon bore
the Gospel-text with Crucifix, Mary, and John
adorning its cover (for, according to time-honoured
custom, the altar ornaments went in the procession,
and were not, as now, ** discovered " on the Holy
Table) ; and, in like manner, young clerks with
relics, surpliced, and thurifers with censers, and
cerofers with ** bearing candles,'' albed clerks also
• On the subject of • ciclatoun/ • baudekyn,' or 'cloth of pall,* see Rock's
Textile Fabrics, p. 42.
2 6 Notes 0)1 Mediccval Services,
with tall crosses, coped; and, in front of all, a
little clerk, sprinkling the holy water, led the
procession.
After the ** orison" (or collect) in the middle of
the choir, where the commodious litany-desk still
stands at Lincoln, over the marble stone with its
mediaeval inscription directing to *^sing here," the
principal celebrant and his deacon and other atten-
dants went up to the high altar, and put down
what they had carried in the procession (text, cross,
relics, etc.), and then went off to the vestry to lay
aside their copes, and otherwise to prepare for the
High Mass, leaving, meanwhile, the Canon, or per-
sonage next in dignity, to say the office of Terce
in choir, with others to respond.
There appears to have been some difference in
different places as to the relative position of the
Little Hours and High Mass.
Thus on Advent Sunday, while, according to
the Sarum custom, the celebrant went out while
Terce was in singing, and came back as soon as
Terce was over and the introit of the High Mass
in repetition, according to the rule of Exeter
Cathedral (in a passage hitherto, I believe, un-
published) he and his attendants go out during
Scxt^ and return from the vestry after Sext is
finished, and when the introit began. It was no
doubt the rule for the priest to have said Terce,
as well as Mattins, Lauds, and Prime, in his stall,
or elsewhere privately, some time before he cele-
brated.
Notes on Mediccval Services, 27
It may be here mentioned that it was the theory
of our early Cathedral Statutes in England that
(apart from Mass) canons would commonly have
other duties to perform besides attendance at the
singing of Divine Service in choir. Therefore
there must have been a good deal of private or
semi-private recitation of their offices. At Lincoln
so late as the fifteenth century it was considered
statutably sufficient (as at St. Paul's from earlier
days) that a prebendary (except when bound to
do more of the public office in some week
of his special duty) should attend one hour
service in quire each day, 07^ High Mass. There
was, however, a belief that midnight Mattins
were of obligation on Canons at Lincoln. The
Vicars were required to attend to the service as
their special duty with far greater regularity. A
Vicar might miss Mattins twice a week at the most,
but this not as a regular habit ; and of the other
** great" services (Prime, High Mass, and Even-
song) he must attend two out of three daily, and of
the "lesser" services (Terce, Sext, None, Com-
pline, Commendation, and Chapter Mass) every oncy
unless, indeed, he had kept all four greater services,
when he might be excused two of the less. Lenten
Compline with the Office for the Dead ranked as a
greater office. An older rule allowed the Vicars
rather greater laxity, e.g,, an occasional week with
four services excused each day. Choir boys at
Salisbury had to attend Prime, High Mass, Even-
song, and Compline and funeral services, but not
28 Notes on Mediceval Services.
as a rule the other offices. One boy had to attend
for his week, because a child's voice was needed,
to sing at Terce and Sext in Advent and Septua-
gesima seasons, and at all the offices in Lent.
On Sundays and semi-doubles at Lincoln Terce
was followed by High Mass; and Sext and None
then were sung after the Mass. On ordinary days,
Sext (and on some feast days None likewise) as well
as Terce would precede High Mass. And during
this Mass (at least at Wells^ in the 14th century) it
was the rule that no other Mass should be celebrated
in any part of the building. At Lincoln^ however,
there was at least one exception to prove this rule
in the cases not excepted, as may be understood
on reference to the table of Lincoln Masses; see
page 15. Among the four which are put down as
all commencing at 10 a.m., or at all events before
1 1 o'clock, the last Mass of the Burghersh chantry
(which was said in the Angel-choir, north-east of the
high altar, and a little beyond the shrine of St. Hugh)
was begun as soon as the Gospel at High Mass was
finished.
To return to the quire and sanctuary. Terce (or
any subsequent ** hour " for that time prescribed)
being ended as we have said, the choir began the
** office" or introit of High Mass (it was thrice
repeated when the choir had ** rulers"), after which
the celebrant came in from the sacristy, preceded by
deacons, sub-deacons, thurifers and vergers. Going
to the altar, they said Coyifiteor with general absolu-
tion. At this point at Salisbury, the cerofers having
Notes on Mediceval Services. 29
put down their tall candles on the step, one of them
went and brought the bread and wine and water to
the '* place," apparently at some distance from the
altar and the choir, where the elements were
arranged for ** ministration" (or preparation), the
other cerofer bringing basins and towel. At Lincoln
the celebrant, having kissed the texts for the
Gospeller and Epistoler, went to the altar to repeat
the introit and Kyrie, while the choir, having already-
sung the former, chanted the latter. The succentor
came up next and shewed the music of Gloria in
Excelsis for the priest to begin it. The celebrant
himself now passed his cap (it is not called a biretta,
but ' pillius^ or ^ pileics ') to the charge of a boy who
expected i|d. for taking care of it till the service
was done.
While the choir took up the chant, the first and
second sub-deacons (on festivals when there were
three)* started on their way by the right (or south)
side of the quire, to prepare for reading the Epistle
to the people from the pulpit (they^^<^e, or loft, at the
choir door beneath the rood). It was the duty of
the principal sub-deacon to read this lection, and of
the other to carry the book, while a third, the junior
sub-deacon, was left to wait upon the altar along
with the deacons, the priest, and the other ministers.
After finishing the Epistle in the ** pulpit " (we
are speaking of a festal Mass) the two sub-deacons
• At Lincoln whenever there was a plurality of ministers for the altar they
were directe i not to wear vestments all of the same suit but to alternate the
colour or pattern.
30 Notes on Mediceval Services,
returned the other way (i,e., by the north side), and
at the quire door were met by a thurifer, who relieved
them of the book and carried it to the principal
deacon, who was to read the Gospel. This looks,
by the way, as if in practice at Lincoln the proper
use of the two separate texts was not, at the date of
these rules, still observed. Some of the ancient
texts in precious binding may have been less con-
veniently arranged for reading, or less legible, or
may have become frail through age. At Lincoln,
however, another rule prescribed that the principal
sub-deacon and the principal deacon should each
carry his several text when they went with a doubled
procession to the reading of the Gospel. In the
meanwhile, the two sub-deacons passed into the
vestry, where either the sacrist or his clerk delivered
to them a chalice with a corporas-cloth and the
bread. It was now the second sub-deacon's duty
to cleanse the chalice finally for use, and then to
hand it to the principal sub-deacon to carry, with a
special napkin (perhaps of striped silk, like those at
the Abbey, and answering to the modern velum
sttbdiaconale) to the altar, while he himself walked at
the side, carrying the corporas-cloth with another
sudary. On reaching the upper step both these sub-
deacons knelt for a moment to say an Ave; and then
they together placed the chalice for a moment
on the altar, designating it, so to speak, for its
use in the current service. The principal sub-
deacon next carried the chalice to the chaplain,
if the Bishop were singing mass, or else to the
Notes on Mediceval Services, 31
celebrating priest, who had been saying his prayers
in his sedile^ after reading the Epistle to himself and
to his near attendant at the altar ; and the second
sub-deacon followed with the cruets with wine and
water. The priest, still at the sedilia, poured in the
(red) wine first, and then a little water, not sufficient
however to take away the character or colour of the
wine. Then he carried the chalice behind the altar,
and placed it in a fit, convenient, and decent place ;
and the secondary deacon unfolded the corporas-
cloth upon the altar.
Next followed a simple and primitive custom of
Lincoln Brotherhood. A clerk in choir habit went
round with an invitation from the canon or dignitary
celebrating to the deacons and all inferior ministers,
down to the two bell-ringers, to bid them dine that
day with the celebrant as soon as Mass and Sext
and Nones should be finished. Certain others of the
community, as we have already seen (page 10), had
been previously invited during Te Deum.
After the singing of the Grail in the pulpit
(by boys at Salisbury, by presbyters at Exeter), the
Alleluia (by two canons in copes in the pulpit), and
the sequence were finished — the last-named having
been signalled by two or three bells ringing in
the Western belfr}^ at Lincoln — the Gospel was read
at \ki^ jubt with still greater honours than the Epistle
had been recited, all the three deacons and three
sub-deacons and the inferior ministers, with lights
and censers, preceding solemnly to the great
** pulpit '* for that purpose, a thurifer and choir- boy
o-
Notes on Mediccval Services,
having got the eagle lectern ready in that place.
The sub-deacon held the text for the deacon while
he was reading, and gave it him to kiss at the
conclusion, and, after the usual ceremonies and rites
of a festal Mass, they returned to the high altar.
On a week-day, when, as the Exeter MS. tells us,
some such Mass as Sahts populi would be said at the
high altar, the deacon read the gospel, not in the
jube^ but at a lectern in the presbytery towards
the north, a cerofer standing on either side, and the
sub-deacon holding the **text" before his face.
The priest censed the chalice and the corporas-
cloth (this would be after the Nicene Creed, when
that was appointed to be said) ; and on Sundays, as
well as on the other days when this was the case,
the two first deacons censed the altar, the choir, and
the tombs. Arriving in due course at the Preface,
all joined in Sanctics with the priest. The principal
deacon, attended by his two fellows, finds the paten
with its napkin; and he hands it ('* with the
offertory veil," as the Saricm directions state)* to
the sub-deacon who holds it (or gives it to the
acolyte to hold," Sarian), till the Lord's Prayer
at the end of the Canon of the Mass, i.e.y even
during the Consecration, until the celebrant says
the petition, **Give us this day our daily bread,'*
when the deacon, accompanied as before, takes the
paten from the sub-deacon (or *patener'), and
* Although I translate it ' napkin' here and on p. 30, I do not question that
the ^ sudarium quoddam'' of the Lincoln customs may have been made of silk,
or that it may have been carried on the neck like a scarf, as the offertorium or
veil is said to have been worn elsewhere, but I have no evidence to show.
Notes on Medmval Services, 33
hands it to the priest so soon as he has said the
embolismus (** Deliver us, O Lord, we beseech Thee,
from all evil, past," etc.).
According to the fourteenth century rule at
Exeter^ the boys attending for the service were
bound to stand in the choir, or near the altar in the
presbytery, while the sacred action of the Mass was
in progress, till the priest crossed his hands and
bowed while saying Supplices te rogamus. Then they
were to draw near to assist at the lavatory. And at
the Elevation of the Host it was their duty to
hold ** two great burning torches and two censers."
Between the Fraction and Agnus Dei came
not only special devotions for the King (at West-
minster, and perhaps elsewhere) when they were
appointed to be said, but the peculiar ceremonial
of the episcopal benediction when the Bishop was
performing a solemn Mass. The deacon first bade
the congregation bow down, himself bowing west-
ward and holding the staff at the Bishop's left hand,
while the chaplain bowed to the right, and the
sub-deacon held the benedictional book open at the
proper place. The Bishop (according to the
pontifical of 1520) rested his forearms* on the shoul-
ders of the chaplain and the deacon while he gave a
threefold (or longer) blessing. As there were three
benedict ionar a among the books entrusted to the
Lincoln treasurer circa 11 50 — 60, it is not un-
• •• Cuhitos suos** : perhaps rather his elbows, as he was to raise his hands.
ITie Pontifical in question is a Roman book (printed at Venice), but the
Kpiscopal Benedictions, though includcMl in the collection, were specifically
ij ''■'] ,1k not being in use in the Roman Church.
D
34 Notes on MedicBval Services.
reasonable to suppose that this rite with its curious
attendant ceremonial was in use at Liiicoln as it was
in other great churches in England when the Bishop
of the place was doing the service.
All repeated Agnus three tirnes with the celebrant.
Having ''finished the sacrament'' (such is the
phrase used), the second deacon folded up the
corporas-cloth, and the second sub-deacon cleansed
the chalice. After *' Ite missa est,^' the priest handed
the cup to the principal sub-deacon, and the corporal
to the secondary sub-deacon, who were holding
napkins in their hands to receive them ; and so the
procession left the sanctuary for the vestr}% the
deacons leading on one side in single file, and,
paired with them, a file of sub-deacons on the other.
The Canon nearest in dignity to the celebrant
remained in quire to sing (Terce, if not done already)
Sext, and Nones, or either of these offices which had
not already been recited publicly. On Sundays at
Lincoln, according to the Black Book, Terce
preceded, but Sext as well as Nones followed High
Mass. At Exeter, as we have said already. Nones
only remained to be recited.
After that little office, it was time for dinner,
except on days of fasting. For folk then kept early
hours, and rose early, and High Mass in England,
according to the Egerton MS. cited by Gasquet and
Bishop, or at all events, at Hereford, '* was in saying
until it was eleven o'clock." And this is like
enough to have been true of LiJicoln also, where, as
we have seen, they began High IMass at lo.
Notes on Mediceval Sei^ vices. 35
One little addition there was (for the priest and
his special attendants had said their special office of
thanksgiving, after celebrating, simultaneously with
the last office which was done in quire after their
departure) at least at Exeter. After Nones, or, in
any case, just before the recess for dinner, it was
usual to recite De profundis with the accustomed
versicle for the Faithful Departed *' in the station of
the boys/' I presume that this means, in the place
where the choristers stand in a line at the quire step
facing the altar for a few moments before with-
drawing. To be told to stand at the end of the row
of the boys (** zVz ultima statione puerortcm^^) was a
part of the punishment of Canons in disgrace.
As regards the Dinner : —
If the Bishop or Dean were host, the Canons, who
had been duly invited in service-time, each of them
took with him his chaplain or clerk, and his squire
with his cup and cutlery. We have lived to see
this good old custom decaying even at school feasts.
Grace was said with some formality before and
after meat (in the manner sketched by the late
Henr}' Bradshaw for the Early English Text Society,
in Dr. Furnivall's Babies Book, or Manners and Meals
in Olden Tiine). Drink was served thrice after the
meat — ale, wine, and then ale again. If cakes,
sweets, pastry, spicery or dessert were to follow, the
wine went round first, then ale, then wine and ale
together. The host at the proper moment when the
meal was over, accompanied his guests to the door
(or, if it were the Dean entertaining, he escorted
36 Notes on Mediceval Services,
them to the entrance of the hall). There was a fire
allowed in the Canons' and the Vicars' halls from
Allhallowe'en to Easter Eve.
The Choristers, as we said, went to their dinner
at eleven o'clock (at Wells) and then back to school
till Evensong. In winter they set to work im-
mediately ; in summer sometimes a short play-time
was allowed.
As to their meals, the boys were to speak Latin,
which, not improbably, was on a par with the French
which (we have heard tell) is spoken at young
ladies' schools under somewhat similar conditions.
Forks, as we all know, are quite a modern luxury,
and these not being in general use in the 15th
century, the choristers were directed — what young
ladies would not require to be told — not to use their
knives as toothpicks. A direction, similar to that in
the first Boke of Curtesy^ was given to the boys
at Wells : —
Don't bite thy bread, then lay it down,
That's no manners to use in town,
Cleanse not thy teeth, at meat sitting,
With knife, nor with none other thing,
While meat is in thy mouth, to drink
A most ill-manner'd trick I think,
Also eschew (without all strife)
To foul the board-cloth with thy knife.
An hour or more before Evensong the Dean
(or the Canon-in-course) went to wash his hands in
the lavatory, for which purpose the sweeper and the
sacrist had put out the necessaries. This was the
signal for the third bell-ringer (who held also the
office of candle lighter) to ring the first of the ^\q
peals, just as for Mattins.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 2>1
Old Wykehamists will remember the various
** peals " which gave them notice for the chapel
services at Winchester, '* first peal," ** bells go
rotten," ** bells go," ** bells go double," ** gates,"
and then *' bells down." How few of those who
remember these customs of a passing generation
could now announce the last of these in ** gallery"
(the dormitory), and yet find himself in '* less than
no time " gliding into his place before the chapel
door is shut ! With a greater variety in size and
number, the bells at Lificoln chimed to Evensong
and Mattins first peal ; for 2nd peal, two small
bells ; for the 3rd, two large bells ; 4th, two
large bells ; and 5th, with large and small together.
Except upon great festivals, the first peal to
Vespers was, at Exeter, the sign for Dirige with
nine lessons.
The sacrist, while the bells were going, had put,
if the day required it, festal coverings on the desks
(or ** forms") before the Dean's, and Precentor's,
and Bishop's seat in Lincoln choir, and on the form
in the midst of the quire for the rulers. He also
decked the altar with its ornaments, and put
out the rulers' copes ; and the seven -branched
candlestick was lighted up, if there were to be
festal Evensong.
In due course Evensong (preceded by the Lord's
Prayer) began ; and if the Dean came in too late,
he struck the desk and caused the service to re-
commence, provided the Bishop was not in choir.
The fifth psalm being ended, the Treasurer carried
38 Notes on Mediceval Services,
the book for the Bishop to read the Little Chapter.*
Three senior canons in silk copes, which were
brought to them by a surpliced boy, went to the
lectern In quire, and, from the music book (placed
by the succentor for this purpose), began the
versicle. Two cerofers also sang at the desk, and
then fetched their candles down from the high altar,
lighting them, and w^aiting upon the dignitaries who
were to go up afterwards to the altar for the censing.
Arrived again at the upper step, they knelt to repeat
an Ave, and kissed the carpet on the pavement. Two
thurifers and the sacrist handed them the censers
and the frankincense. The high altar was first
censed, then the tomb of the founder Remigius
(near the central lantern or **rood tower" at
Lincoln, and in the N.E. of the nave). Then they
said Magnificat as they went into the Angel-choir to
cense the altar (of St. John the Baptist) where the
Lady Mass, ** Salve sancta parens " was sung daily at
the hour of prime, due east of the high altar ; and
then the tomb of St. Hugh, Bishop and Confessor,
which stood behind the centre of the reredos (or
somewhat northward of that point) and on which
the treasurer placed a light on the obit day of each
and every Bishop of Lincoln as the anniversaries
occurred, and two on St. Hugh's own days. Then
the Dean and Precentor, or some other dignitary
(or the Bishop with the Dean when both were
* The Little Chapters were read in the celebrant's stall, and so were the
Collects of the hours, excepting Evensong and Mattins, when the orison was
read at the desk or lectern in quire.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 39
present), and their respective following of attendants,
parted company, the former going to the south, the
other to the north. They went down the church,
censing the altars (where carpets were spread) and
the tombs each on his own side (S. or N.), and then
re-entered the quire simultaneously.
At Exeter the high altar was censed above and on
either side at Magnificat ; then the image of St.
Peter and that of St. Paul, and downwards to the
lower part of the high altar. On double feasts two
small altars in the presbytery there were censed ;
and the altar in the Lady chapel on festivals of the
Blessed Virgin.
In like manner at Wells, after the right and left
parts of the altar, the image of the patron St.
Andrew and the chest of relics were censed. Then
all round about the altar, the tombs of Bishops in
all parts of the church, the rulers of the choir, and
persons in the quire, decani and cantoris. Where
two persons were censing on double feasts at Wells,
they went respectively to the east and west ends of
the church, and not south and north, before censing
the Bishop and one another.
The anthem to Magnificat over, the officiant (at
Lincohi) said the collect at a desk in quire, flanked
by sacrist and canon's clerk. Then some skilled
singers, chosen by the schoolmaster, and habited in
surplices, sang a piece selected by the succentor ;
and Benedicamus concluded Evensong. The prin-
cipal rulers of the choir went out, and secondaries
took their place for the next service, copes being
40 Notes on Mediceval Services.
taken off in the vestry (" capitariu7n*^)'*^, and staves
(the conductors' batons of silver) laid down.
Evensong of the Blessed Virgin was said out of
quire on double feasts. But on holidays at Lincoln
the officiant in his censing cope began Evensong of
Our Lady at the lectern in quire directly Evensong
of the day was over, and then put off his silk cope,
and said the chief parts of the service in his black
choral cope in his stall, if he were on the side decani
or cantoris^ which the singers, or rather perhaps their
headers, happened to hold that day. It has been
supposed that the singing men and boys (though not
so the canons) were usually all grouped on one side,
week by week or (at certain seasons) day by day; but
this interpretation of the old phrase, '''that side on which
the choir is^'' may be considered very questionable.
Perhaps it means that responses, or other portions
of the service attributed to '* chorus''' in the music-
books, were on some days taken decani^ and on
others cantoris. '\ If the canon of the week belonged
to the contrary side, the senior chaplain-vicar took
the principal part in Our Lady's service.
* The writer paraphrases or translates '■^ capitarium^^ here as "vestry,"
because water was to be provided for washing hands in capitaf-io. And the
Lincoln lavatory is in the choristers' vestry opposite the chapel of St. Peter and
St. Paul in the south-east transept, where, perhaps, Chapter Mass was said.
The extant Lavatory, however, is dated circa 1350, and therefore is later than
the regulation cited. But he desires information as to the proper meaning of
the word, which looks as if it might have affinity with ** capicium " and
'« chevetr
t Since I wrote the above I have found in the Myrroure of our Lady :
E.E.T.S., p. xxxviii., some confirmation of what I here advance as the best
interpretation of the phrase, ** on that side on which the choir is " on such and
such a day.
I
Notes on Mediceval Services, 41
Two great bells in Lincoln belfry near the quire
then sounded to Compline, or, on minor festivals, first
one great bell for a while, and then a small one.
This office was said by the same person who had
conducted Evensong. And on ferial days Compline
of the Blessed Virgin followed in quire at Lincoln.
But at Exeter^ Compline of Our Lady was said
privately, outside, though near, the quire, while
certain of the staff sang Evensong and Compline of
Blessed Virgin Mary at her altar, and the choristers
sang an anthem in her honour at St, Paul's altar,
Exeter. There, if it were not a double feast, the
office of the dead with nine lessons was said after the
first bell for Evensong ; then Evensong of the day.
Evensong of Our Lady, and, lastly. Compline of the
day, with prayer (on ferial days) for the Peace of
the Church, Psalm Ad Te Levavi cxxii.
At Salisbury^ at ordinary^ seasons. Evensong of the
day was followed by Evensong of Our Lady, and that
again by Evensong and Mattins of the Dead {Placebo
and Dirge).
Compline at Lincoln always followed Evensong
immediately, except in Lent. Only if a corpse were
present, or if an anniversary of some person departed
was to be observed, the office of the dead intervened
between Evensong and Compline. Ordinarily, like
Lauds of the day and of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Compline at Salisbury itself (like Mattins of the
Blessed Virgin Mary and Compline of the day, when
without rulers of the choir, at Exeter) was followed
by the Psalm, Ad Te Levavi, and other devotions,
for the peace of the Church.
42 Notes on MedicEval Services,
Compline of the Blessed Virgin (says Mr. Edmund
Bishop in his introduction to the Prymer) was recited
out of choir by each one privately after Compline of
the day.
As a general rule, services of B. V. M. preceded
those of the Day, but at Syon under the Brigitine
order the hours of Our Lady followed the others.
At Exeter, at least in Advent, Compline of the
day was said in quire both on Sundays and on
week-days.
After Compline at Lincoln one of the ** little ones
of the choir ' ' brought holy water from the south
side for sprinkling the choir and the congregation.
The Dean in his stall (or the Bishop, if he were
present, in his throne) or else the celebrant of the
day, or the canon who conducted Evensong, per-
formed this final ceremony. At Exeter the aspersion
took place during Nunc Dimittis,
Ere this the choir boys (excepting one or two who
were on duty* in course for Compline, as at Mattins)
had finished their choral duties for the day so soon as
Evensong was done, and therefore they went to sup-
per, having in summer a short play-time afterwards.
At Lincohi the choristers were not allowed to go
walking except two and two with a staid man to
accompany them.
* The writer used the word " Z>m^ " in a half technical sense in his first
paper. An " Old Blue" who wishes to be anonymous, tells him that ♦' duty'''*
was the word regularly used in Christ's Hospital fifty years ago (and perhaps to
this day) for night prayers in the wards. ** Is it time for duty .<" " •* Have you
had duty yet ? "
Notes 071 MedicEval Services. 43
They had some more schooling after supper, and
those who were appointed to take part in Mattins of
the following day, had to read over their part to the
Master or the Usher. Their day ended with
prayers or suffrages in school, with the antiphon
Salve, Regina miser icordiae, without (musical) note.
The Psalm De profundis, and the Collect Absolve
quaesumus.
After this the boys went to their dormitory and
knelt two and two at the bed foot to say the psalm
Miserere (li.), the verse *' Vouchsafe, O Lord," with its
answer, ** To keep us this night without sin," and
the collect *' Lighten our darkness."
The sleeping arrangements at Wells in 1460 were
hardly more commodious than those which were
described to George Primrose by his usher cousin,
or what Nicholas Nickleby experienced at Dotheboys
Hall. When they had slipped off their clothes, the
choristers jumped into bed in threes, two little lads
lying at the head of the bed and a big boy between
them, but with his head towards the foot. Such
were the primitive arrangements prescribed at Wells
in the Fifteenth Century.
In Lent there was some deviation from the order
of proceedings sketched above, and in some points
also there were variations upon other days of fasting
or abstinence.
It has been stated above (page 28) that on
certain Holy Days, Terce immediately [)receded
44 Notes on Mediceval Services,
High Mass,* and Sext and Nones followed the
altar service, and Evensong came after dinner, t
But this order was changed on St. Mark's Day and
the Rogation Days. Then (at Salisbury) mass
having been said at the high altar in the cathedral
church before Sext, a Procession, with relics, was
formed, and the choir walked to a church in the
city where another mass was said ** in procession "
(as the term was) ; and they returned for Litany
to the cathedral quire.
In Lent, and on Vigils and Ember days likewise,
the office of Nones followed Terce and Sext before
High Mass. Accordingly, the Processional offices
for Easter Even begin with None in choir and end
with Missa sine regimine chori. See Sarum Pro-
cessionale ed. 1882, pp. 74, 90.
The arrangement for ferias in Lent was, I believe,
as follows J : —
1. Matins and Lauds of the Day (with Penitential
Psalms Miserere and Do?nine, nc in /iirore,
li. and vi.).
2. Ditto, ditto, of B. V. Mary.
3. Lauds of the Dead.
* My friend, Mr. Clifford Holgate, assures me that " mensam " (not
" missam " as I at one time suggested) is clearly the reading of the MS.
register at Salisbury, and I understand that the office of None is said after
Dinner to this day in a Benedictine House.
t In Salisbury Statutes, pp. 73-4, mention is made of a bell rung "at
None which is said immediately after dinner ^
X It will be seen that my table in this place cliflFers in some slight particulars
from that given by Mr. Edmund Bishop in the Prymer or Lay Folks' Prayer
Book, Part ii., Section i., p. xxx\-i., E. E. Text Soc. for 1897, to which I have
expressed my obligations.
Notes on MedicBval Services, 45
4. Prime of the Day (with Penitential Psalms
Miserere and Beati quorum^ li. and xxxii.).
5. Commendatio Animarum.
6. Chapter Mass. (Brev. Sarum, ii. p. dlxxxix.)
7. Terce (with Penitential Psalms Miserere and
Domine^ ne in furore^ li. and xxxviii.)
8. Fifteen Psalms of Degrees.
9. Litany.
10. Sext (with Ps. Miserere and Deus misereatury
li. and Ixvii., to avoid reiteration of Ps. li.).*
1 1 . Nones (with Penitential Psalms Miserere and
Domine exatcdi, li. and cii.). [Procession
on Wednesday and Friday.]
1 2. Mass of the Dav.
13. Evensong of the Dead fPlaceboJ,
14. Evensong of the Day (with Penitential Psalms
Miserere and De pro/undis, li. and cxxx.).
15. Ditto of B. V. Mary.
After which followed Dinner.
On Saturdays and eves of feasts of nine Lessons
in Lent the three last Penitential Psalms were said
together at Nones.
It was in connexion with such arrangements when
Mass on the fast was followed closely by Evensong
before bodily refection was taken, that the rubrics
inform us that Thus enaetJi the Order for Mass and
Evensong to crethcr. So it was that poor Juliet offered
to come to Friar Laurence **at evening Mass'' on
that unlucky Tuesday {Rovieo and Juliet, IV. i),
presumably a vigil, as the proposed wedding with
• Sec Dr. Scager's Breviary p. xxxv.
46 Notes on Mediceval Services,
Paris was to be on the Wednesday or Thursday not
in Lent.* On the *' still days" in Holy Week a
single orison did double duty as a Vesper-collect
and as a post-Communion for the priest receiving
the Pre-sanctified and Reserved Sacrament. On a
festival in Lent the Mass of the (ritual) festival came
after Sext, and the Mass of the fast as usual after
None, both of them at the high altar, unless the
Bishop himself had celebrated the former of these
* Of course it may be argued that, as the late Sir ' Augustus Harris
introduced the Palm Sunday procession at Easter in order to produce a scenic
effect in Cavalleria Rusticana, so Shakespeare may not impossibly have taken
a poetic or dramatic licence and have over-ridden ecclesiastical rules for the
close time for marriages, in favour of the County Paris' hopes. To such a
suggestion I would reply in the words of Robert Browning, —
" Did Shakespeare ? If so, the less Shakespeare he."
In point of fact there is no need to suppose that, writing in the time of
Q. Elizabeth, he had fallen into an error ; for ' evening mass ' was as regular
on a vigil as in Lent. Dr. Wickham Legg has improved upon my argument,
and has kindly sent me the following lucid proof to identify the dramatic date
of Juliet's visit to the Friar's Cell. This I feel sure will be welcome to
my readers.
" Was it before Pentecost ?
* Come Pentecost as quickly as it \\*ill.'
— Act i. Sc. V, line 35.
No, it was Summer :
* The day is hot, the Capulets abroad.'
— Act iii. Sc. i. line 2.
It was only a fortnight to Lammas (Juliet's birthday being Lammas-eve).
* Lady Capulet. H ow long is it now to Lammas tide }
Nurse. A fortnight and odd days.'
— Act i. Sc. iii. line 15.
Therefore the evening mass was on St, James' Eve, July 24th, the only vigil
or fast day on which they could have an evening mass in the last half
of July.-Q.E.D."
I \\ash I could add that the 24th of June fell on a Tuesday in 1303,
the year ascribed to the tragedy by the people of Verona. But I regret
to say it was a Wednesday !
Notes on Mediceval Services. 47
Masses, for in that case the high altar could receive
no second celebrant that day, and another altar must
be put in use accordingly.
Dirige, or Mattins of the Dead,* was said in the
evenings in Lent (Saturday and Sunday excepted),
and was then followed by collation and Compline of
the day at Lincoln as at Salisbury. But at Exeter,
Evensong of the Dead (PlaceboJ was said as well as
Dirige, and Lauds of the Dead at the same time
after dinner in Lent.
At Lincoln the signal for collation or Lenten
readings was the chiming of a little bell, and after
a pause, a great bell. The book read aloud at
Salisbury was either St. Gregory's Liber Pastor alls,
or else his Dialos^us de Miracitlis Sanctorum Patruin,
According to the Ordinal, as quoted in Crede Mihi
(sec. 75), this reading of Liber Pastoralis (nothing
is there said of any other book) took place here only
when Vigils of the Dead were not being said.
At Exeter sometimes Lives of the Fathers were
read, or a sermon, or a Homily upon the Gospel of
the day, and sometimes St. Gregory's Dialogue, as
the Chancellor of the Cathedral might direct.
This Lenten reading took place in the midst of the
quire, the whole office of the dead {Placebo and
Dirige) having been said at Exeter while the bell to
collation was ringing.
At Lincoln, Bishop Alnwick proposed in 1440 to
give the Chancellor, or his substitute, discretion as
to the choice of the treatise. This was the case
• Lauds of the Dead was said apart from its Mattins in this instance.
48 Notes on Mediceval Services,
also at Exeter, and in our own day there is a rule
for the Chapter at Truro to the like effect. The
reading went on until the Bishop or presiding Canon
bade the reader stop, as the Provost used to termi-
nate lessons in King's College chapel at Cambridge
two or three generations ago.
In the authorities which we have noticed there are
not many direct or specific references to the times of
day, excepting the brief description of the Hereford
time-table, from which we have already borrowed.*
The following may be thought worth recording : —
In a passage where a rule is given for Lincoln
that all canons should wear black choir copes of
plain Deuxsevers woollen cloth over their surplices,
silk copes being worn at the time of procession —
and at Terce and High Mass up to Agnus Dei on
double feasts having a procession assigned — it is
said that these choir copes should be used from ** the
first hour " (meaning either Prime, or less probably
6 o'clock a.m.) on the morrow of Michaelmas, and
onwards until Compline of Easter Even (in one place
the regulation is thus expressed that black copes are
to be worn by canons only at nocturnal Mattins. The
canons were to appear in albs from Easter to Michael-
mas at the day hours, and at Mattins of Trinity
* See above, pp. 7, 17. To this we may add from the Hereford Missal the
direction that on Easter Even the Bishop should go in procession to bless the
Fire and Incense in the Lady Chapel ♦ at the sixth horn-,' p. 97. Holy Water
was blessed on Sundays by the Priest at the lectern in choir before Terce.
— Ibid p. xliv. Some Lichfield notes must be postponed.
Notes on McdicBval Services, 49
Sunday and other holidays, up to the Assump-
tion (Aug. 15), when Mattins was said in the day after
Compline. From Eastertide to the Lincoln Audit
(Exaltation of the Cross, Sept. 14) surplices without
the choir cope were prescribed by the Black Book on
feasts of nine lessons, etc., and over the surplice on
the shoulders in cold weather, or on the arm in the
summer time, a black scarf or amess was worn or
carried. This was lined with grey fur. The canon's
hair was cut round like a wheel (as, indeed,
Dugdale's illustration shows it), and the tonsure sine
sb'ipulo angulari, made neat, no doubt, with some
device such as the curious St. PauFs tonsure-iron
described by Dr. Sparrow Simpson. The Lincoln
choristers and vicars probably had distinctive linings
to their almuces as their co7i/reres had at Salisbury.
The rule proceeds as follows : — *' But for Mattins
when said at 7iight\hey must appear in [black, choral]
copes.* Now Evensong shall be always said with
Compline directly following it without a break
throughout the year, unless the presence of a corse
(of any personage or benefactor inscribed in the local
martyrology) or the occurrence of an anniversary
interferes with this arrangement ; for then the Office
of the Dead shall be said between Evensong and
Compline."
Ferial Evensong in Lent was said before noon.
This is a curious vestige of the ancient discipline.
• " Capis nigrts." So in part iii. of the draft Novum Registrum compiled
by Bp. Alnwick principally from St. Paul's use : the word " nigris " was
however marked for excision when he was discussing the statutes in committee.
See Lincoln Statutes ii. p. 330 margin.
50 Notes on Mediaeval Services.
for in primitive times the fast was not broken till
after sundown, the regular time for Evensong.
But, as time went on, the fast was broken earlier, and
the fact in a measure disguised by anticipating the
hour of the clock and of the sun to say the vespen
service. So the Lincoln rule proceeds : — ** Also on
week-days in Lent, when Evensong has been per-
formed at the sixth hour"*' — here we have clearly
a note of the time of day, meaning at 12, mid-day —
*'let Compline be reserved till the evening along
with the office of the dead, collation being inserted
between that office and Compline, except on Sundays
and Saturdays."
Again, a note of time on an exceptional day is
supplied by the Exeter Ordinate (fol. 45). After
treating of Mattins on Good Friday it proceeds : —
** On this day let the clerks assemble in the church
after the third hour of the natural day ' ' fpost hora^n
diei Solaris terciam^'' i.e., I presume, after 9 a.m.),
** and let them say the hour services of the day
in the quire in silence, with devotion and deliberation
ftracttcmj , viz., for Terce, Sext, and None, on Good
Friday and Easter Even. But let there be a prostra-
tion at the beginning of each hour. Also from the
Lord's Prayer to the Collect in like manner. Let
Evensong also be said at the close of office, privately,
before the Sepulchre of our Lord '' — where the Host
was ceremonially, in a simple sort of Passion-drama,
reserved and laid to rest — '* all being gathered in
front of the high altar.''*
* See Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial, pp. 129-177, by H. J.
Feasey, 1897.
Notes on Medimval Services. 51
These Holy Week services were, it need hardly
be said, exceptional. But on ordinary days — such
at least was the case at Hereford — Evensong was
finished at 5 a.m.
' Although the last service of the day was finished
with Compline, or else with the anticipated Mattins
for the following day, the great church was not left
entirely deserted.
At sunset in summer, and some time after dark in
winter, the curfew was rung. It was tolled on a
great bell in the choir-belfry or rood tower ^X Lincoln^
or (upon great festivals) on all the great bells, the
canons sending their men, and a supply of drink, by
way of assisting the regular ringers. We must
mention Curfew again hereafter.
After the curfew had been tolled, and any extra
ringers had left the minster, it was the duty of
the lay-sacrist, the watchman, and the candle-lighter,
who were ringers-in-chief, to make the first search or
scrutiny, to see that no one was lurking in the church
with any felonious purpose. In summer, when
Mattins was said at daybreak, there was no need for
a second search, as the doors had not been opened,
and the nights were shorter. But in winter time
there was a second search after midnight Mattins.
The three men started from the west door, walking-
through the building, two of them at right angles to
each other, and the midmost searcher diagonally to
them straight up the nave. What course the first
and second were to take when they nearcd the south
or north wall of the nave, whether straight up their
respective aisles, or re-approaching one another, was
52 Notes on Mediceval Services.
doubtless a matter of notoriety in the 14th century,
but we are left to divine it without the book. The
Treasurer provided each watcher with a candle a
day in summer, and a double supply in winter.
After giving Our Lady's bells forty tolls or strokes in
the belfry, the searchers retired to their supper of
bread and beer in a wooden structure in the N.E.
aisle, within sight of St. John Baptist's chapel, where
St. Hugh's bejewelled head was kept (when it was
not stolen), and not very far off from his shrine.
In old times there were two night watchmen
of St. Hugh's, who probably made the Searchers'
Chamber their rendezvous; and after their searches
or * scrutinies ' two of the three searchers took
their rest there likewise. But the night-watchman
had to keep awake, and it was suggested by the
statutes that, if he had the necessary skill, he
should call the hours of the night upon his flute,
so that hearing his flute-calls, and the hour striking
on the clock, the other bellringers (the lay-sacrist
and the candle-lighter) might know when it was
time to ring for Mattins.
At Wells there was an instance of two clerks, who
had no business there, being found in the church
after curfew and being in consequence admonished
for the misdemeanour in 1507. As regards the
exterior of that church, the bishop (as Canon Church
informs us) procured in 1285 a licence from King
Edward I. to crenellate, or raise an embattled wall
round the cemetery of the canons and the ** precinct "
of the houses of the canons. Inside the cathedral
Notes on MedicEval Services. 53
the nave became by day **a place of public resort,
of traffic, and often of tumult. Complaints of the
noise and disorder there occur in the statutes of
1298, which forbid games, spectacles, and buying
and selling in the nave of the church, and enforce on
the sacristan greater strictness in keeping order."
{Chapters in Wells History, pp. 324-5.)
Liiicoln having received a royal visit in 1284,
obtained a license to enclose its Minster yard about
the same time as Wells did their precinct. The
canons of Lincoln represented that the place was
infested by cutpurses and evildoers, and it was not
safe for the clergy to go from their lodgings to the
midnight services. Battlements and towers were
added in 13 19 by the license of King Edward II.
It was the rule for the porter to lock the gates
of Minster yard every evening, and take the keys at
once to the provost, or in his absence to the precentor
or senior canon. But in 1425 the porter was charged
with opening the gates after curfew for his personal
friends as late as 10 or 12 p.m., and for many years
afterwards charges were laid against the Dean's
servants for tampering with him in this respect.
Charges were brought from time to time against the
chantry chaplains for playing cards and dice, one of
them is said to have sat gambling for eleven hours
together. More sympathy may be felt for the vicar
choral who gained some notoriety by public wrestling.
Indeed it is to be feared that there were too many
** idle hands " about the minster : and If ** mischief"
even of a graver kind was found for them to do,
54 Notes on Mediceval Services,
we can hardly be surprised. In the 13th century
Grosseteste had set himself to suppress the indecent
and irreverent ** Feast of Fools," nevertheless we
find it practised by the Lincoln vicars in 1390,
and public drinkings also in the cathedral church.
We have read somewhere of the shaving of a mock-
precentor at the west-front of the church in the
procession at some Feast of Fools ; a performance
on a par with ** Father Neptune's '* on crossing the
Line. In the middle of the 1 5 th century, misbehaviour
such as talking and laughing in procession, and in
choir, and even acts of violence, are charged against
deans and other dignitaries, as well as against those
who sat below them. Sometimes the priest singing
Mass of the Blessed Virgin was left without assistants
and had to read the gospel, and the like happened
once, at least, at the high altar. Vicars and poor
clerks would put in an appearance at the beginning
of Mattins in summer, and go out at Venite ; or
come and be marked at the first psalm, and then go
out again, and loiter about (with or without their
choral habit) chatting in the nave, or drinking in
pot-houses, and slip back for the collect at Lauds,
or Benedictus, or Benedicamus. It was at Exeter,
in 1330, that the men in the higher stalls used
(if the accusation then brought against them may be
trusted) to amuse themselves by pouring hot wax
upon those who sat below.
We may be glad to think that such improprieties
were exceptional, and we may trust that not a few
useful and holy lives were lived beneath the shadow
Notes on MedicBval Services, 55
of our cathedral churches in mediaeval times as in
our own days : for, while offenders gain a notoriety,
the good and orderly are less observed. At all
events such examples of quiet and dutiful behaviour
as there may have been (most naturally), did not get
reported among the records of misdemeanours which
are extant.
The very excellency of the ideal of the constant
round of services and the succession of Eucharists
as it was intended to be shown forth in the mother
church of the diocese, when once the salt had lost
(or nearly lost) its savour, as was the case in the
15th century, made the shortcomings the more
obvious, and, in some respects, the more deplorable.
** Ruined good^^ (as the Latin proverb goes), "" is bad
indeed : " ** Spoilt best, is worsts And in spite of all
our regrets for the long discontinuance of the old
order, and the too close veiling of the outward beauty
of holiness, we can hardly be surprised that to certain
of the men of the i6th century a reformation, even if
inglorious, was thought preferable to a shrine from
which the life appeared to be dying or decaying and
the glory (if not departed) to be fast departing.
I propose to conclude these papers with some
account of Parish Churches, from the meagre notes
which have come within my reach.
PART II ,
parocblal Servicer, etc. : tbetr S^ime^^tablc in
©l&cn 2)ap0.
T F the notes of time regarding cathedral services
^ in mediaeval days were fewer and further
between than we could have desired, our sources for
information about the times of Mass and Divine
Service generally in parish churches are (so far as
the present writer's investigations go) muddy, it
must be confessed, and almost dry.
We are constrained, in this condition of drought,
to dip first into the pools which lie nearest our own
doors, though they may be somewhat distant from
the fount of history. The traditions of the parish
churches were kept up by the old-world clerks and
sextons who tolled their bells at certain hours for no
reason than because it had been done so by their
predecessors from time immemorial. I remember
a large parish church in Mercia, more than forty
years ago, where, until within ten years of that time,
the churchwardens had actually kept the Sarum
Breviary belonging to the church, or to that former
parson who had stuck to his ministrations through
all the changes from King Henry VIII. till he died
Notes on Mediceval Services, 57
in the reign of Queen Bess. There, in my own
childhood, the peasant men and women sat apart by
sexes, they made a leg or a curtsey on entering the
church, they stood up (if I recollect rightly) when-
ever the Lord's Prayer happened to be recited in the
lesson for the day, and one or two bowed at Gloria
Patri. The May games and Whitsuntide feast had
fallen into disuse when Laud fell, but the ** Veast " of
the Title of the Church was still observed by a
small fair; and ''king" (or saint) '* Jaarge," the
Turkish knight and the opportune doctor, and other
mummers, as well as the carol-singers and the
ringers of the fine peal of bells, helped to make
Christmas a marked time for us at Stanford-in-the-
Vale.
The ringing of the bell on Sunday was in those
days, and in that old-world place, at (or for) 7.30,
8.30, 10.30, and 2.30. Besides this» the bell rang
out about noon, after the full morning service, to
show forth — so it was explained — that there was to
be a service and sermon again in the afternoon.
This, until my father, Dr. Wordsworth, became
vicar in 1850, had been a rare event. In some places,
e.g., Soham, Cambridgeshire, this bell came, from
utilitarian considerations, to be known as the
Pudding-bell ! It is just possible, I think, that this
may be a survival of the ** knolling of Avcs after
service,'* forbidden by injunctions In 1538.
Mr. James G. Wood, in an interesting communi-
cation from which we have quoted above, records
his recollection of the times of boll- ringing at
58 Notes on Mediccval Services,
Chepstow (St. Mary's Church, formerly Conventual)
some years ago. Curfew was rung there from All
Saints' to Christmas at 8 p.m. ; except on Saturdays
when it was rung at 9. Allhallow e'en, by the way,
was one of the terminal days or seasons at which
the ringing customs and (according to our interpre-
tation of the 13th century custom book) the fires in
the canons' and priest-vicars' halls at Lincoln under-
went a yearly change. It marked the beginning of
more wintry weather. At Chepstow there was also
a Sunday morning bell at 8.30, known as the
** sermon bell," although any service which may
once have been held at that comparatively early
hour had been discontinued and forgotten before
Mr. Wood's recollection begins.
I remember other places where 7, 9, 11, and 3
were the hours for ringing. Dr. Rock, who took
notice of such matters, observed two bells, but at 8
and 9, in country parish churches. (He lived very
near us, in Berkshire, about 1850. See Church of
our Fathers, vol. iv., p. 146.) And I see that Mr.
T. North, in his essay on church bells, under the
section ** Sanctus Bell," attributes to the doctor the
opinion that the mid-day bell served to call the
people for some instruction usual, as he supposed,
in parish churches in olden time, as it was certainly
usual in the ** Galilee " at Durham on Sundays, at
early afternoon.* Among my old memorandums I
* At Durham the bell tolled at 12 and afterwards to call people to the
Galilee sermon, which was preached " from one of the clock till iij." — Rites of
Durham. Cp., Dr. Rock in Notes and Queries ^ xi., p. 150.
I
Notes 071 Mediceval Services, 59
find "bells rung at Fishlake, Yorkshire, at 6 a.m.,
12 noon, and 6 p.m. ; at Geddington, Northants, at
5, 12, and 8; at 6 a.m. and 8 p.m., at Hawkchurch,
Dorset, in 1828." Such notes, if I recollect rightly,
refer to week-day bells. Pancake bell on Shrove
Tuesday (in numerous places) at 1 1 , and (in several)
at noon. At Cottingham, Northants, the clerk
collected eggs in payment for his services in ringing
daily at 1 1 in Lent. And at Caldecote, Rutland, a
like bell was rung throughout that season. At
South Luffenham the curfew is rung from Sept. 19*
to Lady Day, at 8 p.m., and likewise the day bell dX
5 a.m., known there as **the morning bell." For
this service the clerk has the rent of an acre of
pasture known as ** Bell-ringing close.'' Bow Bell
(curfew) at 9 p.m., gave the signal for closing
London shops in 1469.
Such notes on bells might be multiplied ad nauseam.
But I may venture to comment upon those which I
have mentioned already.
Curfew at 9. — When taverns and shops were
closed at its sound, there was a natural tendency to
make this bell later than its original hour of eight.
Shakespeare, who in ** Measure for Measure,'' iv. 2,
uses the word apparently of some such time, or, at
any rate, before midnight (** 'Tis now dead midnight
. who call'd here of late ? None, since the
curfew rung "), evidently knew some ot/icr use of the
curfew bell. For, when the Capulet household are
• Sept. 19, Eve of Nat. B. V. Mary, Old Style. (J, G. H^ood.J
6o Notes on Mediceval Services.
making preparations by night for the intended
wedding,, the old man urges that —
The second cocke hath crow'd,
The Curphew Bell hath rung, 'tis three o'clock.
So the folio in '* Romeo and Juliet," act iv., sc. 4,
the quarto, I believe, has ''''four o'clock." But in
any case he must be here referring to an early
morning tolling (upon the same bell probably as that
which had tolled the knell of the past day some seven
or eight hours before). It might be a bell for day-
break Mattins, which would be a common signal for
servants and others to get up for their secular
business, and would serve as permission to revive the
hidden fire in the turf upon the hearth, or, like good
neighbour Pierrot, to strike a light with his tinder-
box ** au clair de la Lune.^''
The bells at 6 a.m., at noon, and at 6 p.m., to
which I have referred, I venture to believe were the
Ave bells. Mr. North dismissed this opinion : but he
did so on the ground that (so far as he knew) the
Angelus was never rung at noon in England. This,
as we have seen already (p. 14), was an oversight;
for the English ** rubric primers " speak of the Ave
bell ringing at precisely those th7re times.
The pancake bell on Shrove Tuesday has been often
discussed in The Church Times. I will simply cite
Tom Hearne's observation made at the beginning of
Lent, 1723, that whereas Oxford scholars used to be
summoned to meals at 10 o'clock on Shrove Tuesday
by the pancake bell at St. Mary's, and at 4 p.m. ;
710W at St. Edmund Hall dinner was at 1 2 and supper
Notes on Mediceval Services. 6i
at 6, and no fritters. ** When laudable old customs
alter, 'tis a sign learning dwindles." No doubt the
bell which rang to summon folk to shrift in the fore-
noon that day was a convenient signal also for cooks
and housewives to make certain preparations which
would lead to the seasonable refection of the carnival
being duly ready by the time when the last shrived
inmate should come home from church.
The 1 1 o'clock bell, rung in some places on the
days of Lent, may, I would suggest, represent the
time when Mass was said, after which, if I am
not mistaken, many ** secular " persons would break
their daily fast.
At Exeter ^^ find that '* every week day all through
Lent, whatever the service of the day may be," the
bell was to ** ring to Evensong, while Mass of the
fast was saying. And let Evensong be said directly
after the Mass, and before dinner, except on Sundays
only." In addition to this rule we find at Exeter the
rubric on the " Still Days " of Holy Week, which is
familiar to readers of the Sarum books : — " Thus
(with a post-Communion Collect and ' Benedicafnus
Domino' or, if the Bishop be celebrating, on
Maundy Thursday, * Ite Missa est,' or on Good
Friday without either of these benedictions,) let
(combined) Mass and Evensong simultaneously
conclude." I have in a former passage (p. 45)
referred to this rule as furnishing an interpretation
of Juliet's friar's ** Evening Mass," and I have
given in a note (on p. 46) Dr. Wickham Legg's
interesting observations thereupon.
62 Notes ofi MedicEval Services,
The rule of fasting for men of religion was no
doubt somewhat stricter, and their services accord-
ingly were later. Thus in a famous passage of
W. Langland's ** Vision concerning Piers the Plow-
man" (revised cir, i2>n), William sees in his
dream Reason preaching a mission which is attended
by the Seven Mortal Sins, who come in turn to
confession. Last of them drops in Sloth, a priest of
thirty years' standing, who acknowledges his fault in
these terms : —
Vigilies and fasting days : all these let I pass,
Till matynes and masse be do[ne] : and then go to the freres {i.e.y friars*
church) ;
Come I [only] to * Ite Mtssa est,^ I hold me yserved.
I am not shriven some time (but if sickness it make)
Not twice in two years and then up[on] guess[work] I shrive me.
The explanation of this is that parish Mass was
said before noon, but the lazy fellow knowing that
the friars had their Mass later, with Evensong,
on fasting days, took advantage of it to lie abed till
afternoon and scraped in just in time for the blessing
at the close.* Being convicted of his offence,
Then sat Sloth up and signed him swithe {often crossed himselt),
And made avowe before God, for his foul sloth
*' Shall no Sunday this seven year be (but sickness it let)
That I ne shall do me or day, to the dear church
And hear Matyns and Mass, as (if) I a monk were.
Shall no ale after meat holde me thence
Till I have evensong heard, I byhote to the rode."
* It is curious (as Dr. Legg points out to me) that Sloth speaks of this final
blessing, or, to speak correctly, dismissal by the deacon, as ' Ite Missa est,
instead of ^ Benedica?nus,^—hMi then as he adds, " it is iS'^/A who says it.*^
Grenerally speaking, * Ite Missa est * followed the same rule as 7> Deutn and
Gloria in Excelsisy and would presumably not be said on fasting days, nor on
vigils. The exception to the rule that Te Deum is not said on vigils
{Saruin Breviary i. col. xxx.), viz., * when the vigil of Epiphany falls on a
Sunday ' can hardly be called an exception at all. • Ite Missa est ' was not
said in Advent, nor between Septuagesima and Easter Even (unless it were on
Maundy Thursday). Missale Sarum, cols. 2, 3, 108.
Notes on Mediceval Services. 63
(That is ** I swear by the Cross, no Sunday shall
pass for the next seven years — health permitting —
when I shall not betake me to church ere day-break,"
etc.)
It may perhaps seem strange to our readers that
he says nothing about church-going on week-days.
Mattins and Mass quite early, and Evensong after
an early dinner, once a week, ix,^ on Sundays, was,
doubtless, then reckoned to be good, sufficient,
church-going. And 7 or 8 a.m., and 2 or 3 p.m.,
would seem meritorious for Sloth to keep ; and
Sir T. More (cited by Rock, iv. 142) declared, that
many laymen in his time thought it ** a payne " to
rise so early or to remain fasting so long as to
** hear out their Mattins," although the service in
many parish churches was not begun so early or so
long protracted as it was at the Charter-house.
Mattins (with an early Mass in places where there
were more priests than one), and Vespers in the
afternoon will answer respectively to our 7 or 7.30
a.m. and our 2 or 2.30 p.m. traditional bells. The
intermediate bell at 9 a.m. represents ** Undern "
(i.e., Terce), procession, where there was one, and
the principal (or in poorly served parishes the only)
Mass of the Sunday.
** Dives and Panper^ a popular book once, printed
J" 1536, quoted by Rock and Maskell, speaks of
Evensong ** at afternoon in the Saturday .
and in the Sunday," i.e., ist and 2nd Evensong of
Sunday. It will be remem])ered that the early
Oxford Methodists kept Saturdays holy as well as
64 Notes on Mediccval Services,
Sundays, and this was perhaps not merely the spon-
taneous revival of a primitive observance, but it
is quite possible that there was some tradition
surviving through such good men as Samuel, the
father of the Wesleys. For we have an interesting
record (printed for the Surtees Society under the late
Canon Raine's editorship) of the rules prescribed to
the curates-in-charge of his parishes in Durham, by
a brave and loyal Churchman who was Bishop Cosin's
right-hand man, Archdeacon (and son-in-law) Denis
Granville, whose zeal for the servants' 6 o'clock
prayers in Durham cathedral church was mentioned
in our opening paper. Granville became Dean of
Durham in 1684. Shortly before that date, when
already Archdeacon, he informed Archbishop
Sancroft that daily prayers and monthly Eucharists
were the generally established rule in the parish
churches in his archdeaconr}^ of Durham. A weekly
sacrament was the one considerable point which the
late Bishop, his father-in-law, had left incomplete in
his diocese. Granville's correspondence on the
subject did much to encourage the revival of weekly
Communion. Beveridge (who had been ordained
with him by Bishop Sanderson in 1661) had already
from 80 to 140 communicants (perhaps at St. Peter's,
Cornhill, or at St. Paul's). In 1684 the weekly
Celebration was established in Canterbury, and
April 26, 1685, at York (where, again, after a
relapse, it was revived in 1 84 1 by Archbishop Vernon
Harcourt). At length, about Oct., 1685, Granville
(now Dean) succeeded in introducing this reform at
Notes on Mediceval Services, 6 s
Durham. Sancroft's own recommendation as to
week-day service was (July, 1688), that the clergy
should perform the daily office publicly in all markets
and other great towns ; and even in villages as
frequently as may be .... on Holy Days
and their eves, on Easter and Rogation Days, on
Wednesdays and Fridays in each week, and especially
in Advent and Lent. In 1692 Simon Patrick,
Bishop of Ely, exhorted his clergy to read daily
services ** publicly" in their own families at least, if
they could not procure a congregation in the church.
This, and the similar evidence which Canon J. C.
Robertson adduced [^^ How to Conform ^^), appears
to us who have grown up to value the privilege
of daily offices in parish churches and college chapels,
a somewhat unsatisfactory standard to put forward.
Nevertheless, I believe that it will be found, so far
as public or congregational recitation of the Divine
office went, to differ but little from the general
practice of mediaeval times in England.
The Mass, no doubt, was in many places very
frequently offered, but in some places not more than
three times ; in others hardly once a week, but only
on occasional Sundays. And reception of the Sacra-
ment (one of its principal ends and benefits) was, as
is well known, rare. To quote a well-known instance,
the most devout Lady Margaret, who died in 1509,
was considered quite a wonder of sanctity in that she
"was houselled fullnigh a dozen times a year."
And this infrequency of Communion was so fully
established a defect, that the Devonshire people,
66 Notes on Mediceval Services.
already discontented about secular matters, in 1549
protested that they loved to have it so, and when an
attempt was made under the first Prayer Book to
secure that some should always communicate with
the priest, they demanded that none of the lay folk
should be allowed to receive the Sacrament at Mass
except at Easter.
To return to Archdeacon Denis Granville's direc-
tions to the curates in his parishes of Sedgefield and
Easington in 1669 : — He charged them that " Mat-
tins " be said daily in the chancel of each parish at
6 a.m., Evensong likewise at 6 p.m., as these hours
were *' the most convenient for labourers and men of
busyness." But there were exceptions on special
days :
All Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 a.m. So also
throughout Advent and Lent, and on Ember Satur-
days as well.
Rogation Days, at least an hour earlier by reason
of the perambulation.
Evensong at 3 on all vigils and holy-day eves,
*' also on all Saturday afternoons (which anciently
were half holy-days").
At the Sunday and holy-day afternoon service
there were to be instructions, viz., catechising after
the second lesson, and exposition after the third
collect, for a quarter of an hour or more. This was
sometimes to be a reading from the Canons. The
Homily on Obedience, t. i. no. 10, or that on
Disobedience (and Rebellion), t. ii. no. 21, to be
read; but not oftener than to *' countenance the
Notes on Mediccval Services, 67
book, or assert the King's supremacy." There were
to be readings also in the forenoons, either from the
desk between first service (/>., Order of Morning
Prayer) and Litany, or between Litany and second
service (i.e.^ Order of Holy Communion), or else
from the pulpit before or after sermon, omitting in
that case ' ' the psalm then usually sung ' ' (doubtless
Sternhold and Hopkins). These readings some-
times consisted of such rubrics and canons as were
most neglected, the canon on excommunication in
particular, and such an explanation of the service as
the King's directions to preachers indicated, and
likewise those directions once a year, and excommu-
nication to be denounced (i.e.^ published). Young
persons, as a rule, were not to be admitted to com-
municate before the age of 16 years.
Granville, as we have seen, was zealous for the
Sunday Eucharist in cathedral churches. For his
countr}' parishes he prescribed, in 1669, Sacraments
at Christmas, Easter Day, Holy Thursday, and
Pentecost; also New Year's day, ist Sunday in
Txnt, I St Sundays in July, in October, and Novem-
ber. This arrangement left February (and sometimes
March), August, and September without a celebra-
tion. But ten years later ** at the combustions"
(what were these ?)* he made the Communion
monthly.
• Is this a misreading of " Combination," a word frequently found in Laud's
Instructions, as at CamVjridj^c more recently ? Parishes (or Colleges) combined
to supply a cycle of preachers, whence (it is said) the common-parlours at Cam-
bridge originally took their name of '* Combination Rooms." We shall have
occasion to refer to the Brackley Combinations on page 72, below. Or were
there conflagrations in Durham ?
68 Notes 071 MedicBval Services.
These late seventeenth century arrangements for
teaching bear some affinity to those which were
promulgated by Bishops and Archbishops in the
latter part of the reign of King Henry VIII., in or
about 1538. In the pulpit at High Mass time,
Pater, Ave, and Credo were to be published in
English immediately after the Nicene Creed. And
parsons once in three weeks had to declare what
were the Seven Deadly Sins and the Ten Command-
ments. Shaxton (omitting *' Ave Mary") added the
recitation of Epistle or Gospel, or both, in English,
from the pulpit, and the declaration of the Royal
Supremacy, and he directed the parson finally to bid
the Beads. Edward Lee, Archbishop of York, was
more explicit in ordering recitation of Pater and Ave
**at Mattins time, between Mattins and Laudes " ;
the Apostles' Creed in English, piece by piece, after
Nicene Creed at Mass ; and, for the afternoon, to
** reherse the Ten Commandments everie one by it
selfe, between Evensonge and Completorie '' {ix.,
Compline). He was to hear his parishioners repeat
the same (after the true intention of catechizing) on
each occasion.
Doubtless there was a reforming spirit in these
regulations ; nevertheless they were founded on
earlier precedent. The Lambeth Constitutions of
Archbishop Peckham, in 1281, obliged parsons to
expound once in a quarter in English the Creed,
the Decalogue, the Two Precepts of the Gospel,
Works of Mercy, Deadly Sins, Seven Virtues, and
Seven Sacraments. And the individual teaching
Notes on Mediceval Services, 69
of the Lord's Prayer was insisted on from the days of
Bede and Egbert to the Synods of Norwich, Exeter,
etc., in the 13 th century, as Mask ell shows in a sort
of catena (Mon. Rit. iii. pp. l.-liv.). Some of the later
directions prescribed public instruction on the use of
the Angelic salutation and the sign of the cross, in
addition to the older course of teaching. In 1480,
an Archdeacon of Dorset inquires whether the eight
Beatitudes (as w^ell as the General Sentence of
Excommunication, the Articles of the Faith, the
Ten Commandments, the Seven Deadly Sins, the
Seven Works of Mercy, bodily and ghostly, and the
four Cardinal Virtues), are published quarterly.
But we must carry our record back more gradually.
I have noted from the East Anorlian N. and (9.,
1888, iii., 389, but without recording the date, on
the authority of '' Mr. Kirkpatrick's MS." of the
Order of Funerals, Ringing, etc., at Norwich, that
there were prayers thrice every week-day at the
cathedral — viz., at 6 a.m. (changing to 6.30, and
again to 7, in colder and darker seasons), at 11
o'clock, and 3 p.m. ; the Sunday morning service in
choir ; the Sunday afternoon service in St. Luke's
chapel, or on chief festivals in quire. Defoe, in
1728, found a congregation of 500 people at 6 a.m.
service at Durham.
In a paper written and read in 1730, Fr. Peck
mentioned that long after the Reformation the
Litany was kept as a distinct service ** in the middle
space between Mattins and the Communion Office,"
and was so treated at Queen's Coll., Cambridge,
70 Notes on MedicBval Services.
within times then recent. And it was still the
custom at Christ Church, Oxford, for the students
on Wednesdays and Fridays to go to Mattins at 6,
and again to Litany at 9.
In 1 7 14, the date of Paterson's Pietas Londinensis,
an eighteenth century forerunner of the Rev. C.
Mackeson's well-known Guide to the Churches of
Lo7idon, the general rule for London churches is
stated to be on Sundays, 10 a.m., Morning Prayer
and sermon; 9.45 on Sacrament Day, viz., first
Sunday in the month, and at Christmas, Easter, and
Whitsuntide.
In St. Lawrence Jewry there were daily prayers
constantly at 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. ; Holy Communion
at 6 a.m. every Sunday, excepting the first Sunday
in the month, when it was at noon. In addition to
the 6 o'clock week-day Mattins, there was a second
daily Mattins on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday,
and Saturday at 1 1 ; on the two remaining da3^s this
was at 10, because of the Tuesday and Friday
lectures, on which days T. Morer discoursed, as
also on Thursday afternoons at 3. This lectureship
was at one time held by Tillotson, at others by Sharp,
and other eminent divines. There was also a special
Sunday afternoon lecture at 5. St. Lawrence was,
perhaps, a church above the average. Nevertheless,
daily Mattins at 6 a.m. was quite common in town
till the Hanoverian decadence prevailed. Pater-
son gives also as the rule in 17 14: — Afternoon
service between 2 and 3 p.m., and on *' Sacrament
Day '' a quarter of an hour later than other Sundays.
Notes on Mediceval Services.
71
What a comfortable notion this gives us of a con-
descension to human weakness as to Sunday dinners !
The parson, in his cassock, wig, and band, is dining
with the churchwarden — where else should he live ? —
in the city. The clerk sends in, with his duty, to
know when his reverence will have prayers. Mistress
Gilpin suggests that honest Roger may as well take
a glass of ale to drink to Church and King, as bell-
ringing is such dry work, or she sends Betty down
with a glass of ** the liquor which she loves"
(because, you know, it is Christmas), but leaves a
modicum of " daylight " for fear, of course, of spilling.
Paterson mentions (as many of our readers know)
a considerable number of exceptions to his general
rule. We may instance the great Churches : —
A.D. 1714.
St. Paul's.
Westminster Abbey.
6 (or 7)
Mattins in Chapel daily.
Daily throughout the year.
9
(Nil.)
2nd Mattins, Sundays & Holydays.
10
Mattins in choir.
2nd Mattins, on week-day.
12 noon
Holy Communion every Simday.
Holy Communion occasionally.
3 p.m.
AU days (on Sunday a sermon).
Evensong, on week-days.
3-30
Evensong, on Sunday.
"I am well assured," says J. Johnson, in 1705,
*' that long since the Restauration in the Metropoli-
tical Church of Canterbury, Morning Prayer was
read at 6 o'clock every Sunday in summer, at 7 in
the winter. At 10 they began the Litany, and, after
a voluntary, proceeded to the Communion service
and .sermon. And so it is, or lately was, at the
Cathedral of Worcester."
Scudamore, Robertson, and others help us to
72 Notes on Mediccval Services,
carry the record further back. In 1659, on the eve
of the Restoration, UEstrange remarked that ** the
hour of Morning Prayer with us is 9 in the fore-
noon." Sparrow, two or three years earlier, had
stated that to be the canonical hour for the Eucharist.
In his History of the Sabbath^ 1636, and to the like
effect in his Antidotii7ii Lincolniense in 1637, Peter
Heylyn stated that there had been two services for
the morning on Sundays and holy days, Mattins at
6, or between 6 and 7, the second service or Com-
munion service at 9, or between 9 and 10. He
remarked that people had become now too slothful
to go to church both times in the forenoon, so the
two were done by accumulation, but the old use still
was kept up **in the Cathedral Church of Winches-
ter, in that of Southwell, and perhaps in some
others.'' Also, that in some places, ** while the
litany is saying, there is bell tolled, to give notice
unto the people that the Communion service is now
coming on." In his orders (preserved by Prynne,
p. 379) for the Wednesday Combination sermons
for St. James's Chapel, Brackley, in 1639, J- Towers,
Bishop of Peterborough, directed that from 8.45 to
9 the bell should toll. The Morning Prayer and
Litany, said in surplice and hood, metrical psalm
sung, *' second-service " (ante-Communion), to be
said by the preacher for the day in surplice and hood
at the Communion table, to go into the pulpit, using
only the bidding prayers according to Canon 55,
naming his University and College if he please, and
(if he be chaplain) his patron. Sermon limited to
Notes on Medmval Services. 73
the hour, to be ended with ** Glory be to God " {sidj
etc. Return to the Communion-table for prayer
** for the whole estate of Christ's Church," etc., and
one or two of the Collects which stands [sic) after the
Communion service, and so shall dismisse the
people with that blessing there, The peace, etc."
Somewhat similar directions for a 9 o'clock service
at Bury, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, had
been issued in 1636 by Matthew Wren, Bishop of
Norwich, ibid.^ pp. 374-6. His ideal service seems
to have included all the occasional offices except a
funeral.
It was probably about the same time, or rather
earlier, that Cosin lamented in his note (*^ third
series") that Morning Prayer, instead of being, as
in old times, at an early hour, had come to be said
** towards noon." Laud instructed the Dean of
Christ Church that morning service should be over
by noon ** at farthest " ; ** vespers " strictly between
3 and 5. Isaak Walton says that George Herbert
went to church ** strictly at the canonical hours of 10
and 4." In 1561 and 1571 respectively two Eliza-
bethan Bishops, Parkhurst of Norwich and Scambler
of Peterborough, ordered that morning service in
town parish churches should end by 9, so that the
congregations might resort to sermon in the principal
church. This was a curious inverse development of
the old ** stations" and processions.
It was stated on oath at Laud's trial* in 1644
• On the testimony of •* Mr. Le Grrecse and others." Prynne's Canterbury" s
Doonu^ p. 208.
74 Notes 071 Mediceval Services,
that Cosin's Devotions (printed three or four times in
1627 for the use of Anglican courtiers and persons
of leisure, on the lines of the ** horse''), or, at
all events, the canonical hours in some form or other,
were introduced at Peterhouse in the University of
Cambridge when Cosin was Master {cir. 1638).
But whether these were said at seven times a day
(Ps. cxix. 164), or at the minimtcm, ** at even,
and morning, and at noonday" (Ps. Iv. 17) is not
clear. The college chapel had been consecrated
in 1632 in Dr. M. Wren's mastership, partly on the
ground that, being up to that date dependent on the
use of the parish church of Little St. Mary's, the
college had been driven to have morning service
unduly early, Evensong unduly late, and Celebrations
at inconvenient times. It is remarkable that in the
first year after its dedication the chapel was furnished
with eight service books in Latin (Willis and Clark).
It seems to me hardly so likely that these were
copies of the Preces Pjdvatce printed ** in studiosorum
gratiam " by Seres, with Royal authority, in 1568,
or even of the Horariimi of 1560, which followed the
lines of the Canonical hours more closely, as that
Wren, and Cosin after him, should take advantage
of the Letters Patent issued by Queen Elizabeth
to the Universities, Colleges, and Royal Schools, in
answer to a petition in 1560, whereby the rubrical
permission {or private recitation of the daily office in
any language was extended to the corporate or
collegiate use of the service in Latin, and to Walter
Haddon's version of 1 560 in particular, also including
Notes 071 Mediceval Services. 75
Celebrations at Funerals, and the terminal Com-
memoration of Benefactors. Another version
followed in 1574. In 1632 Richard Crashaw was
still an undergraduate at Pembroke; in 1636 he
went to the *' house" over the way (across
Trumpington-street, in just the contrary direction to
that which was to be taken by another poet, Gray, in
1756), and soon he became Fellow of Peterhouse.
From time to time Crashaw went into retreat with
the Ferrars at Little Gidding, and when he returned
to Cambridge he would keep similar night watches
in Little St. Mary's church (so says Pickard) which,
though no longer serving for the College services,
still had a private door of communication to which
the poet had (presumably) procured the key. Being
deprived of his Fellowship, like other royalists in
1644, he went abroad; and, falling perhaps more
under the influence of Henrietta Maria's friends, he
despaired of the Church of England, and he died
among the canons of Loreto. His **Song" on
''The Bleeding Wounds" was printed in 1646.
The ''Flaming Heart" appeared in 1648 with
metrical versions of the Hours of the Cross and
several of the Psalms and Latin hymns, etc.
Archbishop Laud, when answering his accusers,
pleaded that Latin prayers for Ash Wednesday were
an established custom at Oxford. He was, however,
charged with the innovation of carrying them on
through Lent.
In 1625-26 the Simday services attended by the
F'errar family at Little Gidding (apart from those
76 Notes 071 Mediceval Services,
private exercises which had specially attracted
Crashaw some years later, were morning service at
9; second service, with sermon, at 10.30; Evensong,
with sermon, at 2 p.m. But on week-days^ Morning
Prayer at 6. 1 5 (or at 8, so long ^s they were beholden
to the neighbouring parson coming over) ; Litany
(every day, by Bishop J. Williams' licence) at 10 ;
and Evening Prayer at 4, or 4.15. It seems
probable, indeed, that as they were saying part of
the psalter as each hour struck at home, the church
bells must have begtm at the hour, or after it, and so
all the services were rather later than the clock.
In Sept., 1559, a diary quoted by Str}^pe {Annals
I, 134), records the fact regarding the Prayer Book
of Queen Elizabeth ; ** there began the New Morning
Prayer at St. Antholin's, London, the bell beginning
to ring at Jive ; when a psalm was sung after the
Geneva fashion ; all the congregation, men, women,
and boys singing together."
Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticaimm^ designed under
King Henry VIII., and drafted in his son's reign
in 1552, proposed that in cathedral churches and
colleges (with some relief for students in the latter)
there be daily morning service with Litany on
Wednesdays, Fridays, and on Sundays and Holy-
.days, followed by Holy Communion on Sundays and
Holydays, but with no sermon in such churches lest
people should make excuse to forsake their parish
churches for such attractions. Evensong to be daily
in the afternoon. A sermon at 2 p.m. (probably
only on Sundays and Holydays), followed by prayers
Notes on Medimval Services, 77
at 3. (There has been a sermon at this time in
Lincoln nave from time immemorial, and until Dean
Butler's time, Evensong in quire followed at 4 p.m.)
For town parishes Reformatio Legum designed the
same Sunday and Holyday arrangement as in
cathedral churches, only with addition of sermon in
the morning. Holy Communion in no place as a
rule unless on Sunday.
At I p.m., catechising; and after sermon and
Evensong disposition of alms (from poor-box, etc.)
for ** pious uses"; and exercise of penance or
discipline.
In country parishes, sermon at the Communion in
the forenoon ; and afternoon as in town parishes.
It will, doubtless, be remembered that the Refor-
matio Legum never came into use, and I have here
referred to its provisions not as a sure evidence of
custom, but as an indication of what was thought
suitable and practicable at the time of its composition.
In 1547, Oct. 27, Rd. Holgate, Archbishop of
York, ordered for his Minster : —
Service.
Summer.
Winter.
Mattins
High Mass
Evensong with Compline
6 a.m.
9 a.m.
3 P-m.
7 a.m.
9 a.m.
2, or 2.30
The Third Hour (9 a.m.) is specially named in
Canon Law as the canonical time for Mass. fDe
Consecr. dist. i, cap. ct Jioc., following the 14th canon
of the 3rd Council of Orleans, a.d. 538.)
78 Notes on Mediceval Services,
The English parish priest was required [Const it,
Provinc,, A.D. 1322), to say his office of Mattins,
Prime, and Terce, before celebrating his Parish Mass.*
About 1540, a Rationale or Book of Ceremonies
was drawn up, probably by some member of the
committee on ritual appointed co-ordinately with the
committee on law and discipline which resulted in
the draft Reformatio Legiim ; there is an interesting
statement as to the difference of practice then
existing in English churches. It speaks of ** the ser-
vice used in the church dayly in some places, or upon
the Sundays and other feasts in al places ; that is to say
Mattins, Prime, Hours, Evensong, and Compline."
{Cap. 5-6, ** of Mattins, Prime, and other Hours.")
Of an important parish church in the City of
Salisbury (St. Edmund's) it was asserted in the
time of King James I. that morning prayers had
always been ** about 6 a.m." for the last 60 years,
viz., cir, 1 547- 1 607, i.e., at least, since the time of
King Edward VI., excepting one week, then recently,
when the minister had scandalously neglected this
service. In 1548-9 candles were provided for
ringing at 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. The (? next) year, in
* According to Lyndewode's gloss here, {Provinciale, lib. iii. tit. 23,)
Terce was said to occur at, or in, Mass on Festivals,
On ordinary days. Parish Mass was * in sexta^^
On Fast days, ,, ,, * in Jiona.''
On Ember Saturdays, ,, ,, 'm VesperaJ'
On Easter Even, ,, ,, * in noctis initio.^
Custom allowed private Masses in the early part of the day, and public
Solemn Mass on any day between Prime and Nones in Lent, and on Ember
Saturday ' usque ad Vesperatn.'' Never before day, except on the night of our
Saviour's Birth, and that of His Resurrection.
Notes on MedicBval Services. 79
which the high altar there was pulled down, in the
reign of King Edward, there was a payment for
these candles, and likewise payment for ringing
None on holy-day eves (some 28 in number).
In 1560 ringing **None" on All Hallows' Eve,
Christmas Eve, Our Lady Eve, and Easter Eve is
mentioned.* In 1562 it is '* ringing to morning
prayer, ringing on Saturdays and saints' eves, and
ringers on Monday in Rogation Week." In 1592
we come to ** ringing at noon on Saturdays for the
whole year, 6s. ; ringing on Ascension, Whit Sunday,
Christmas Day, and Easter Day, 2S." Under the
Puritan ascendency in 1650 it was agreed that ** if
there be any need of the bell called the saints' bell
[or Sanctus'], he be made use of to the casting of the
two bells (the 5th and treble), and that the bell
called the 5 o'clock bell be preserved : and to stand
in the same place and to be rung daily at 5 of the
clock in the morning by the sexton." In 1652
''some strangers" pay an ''extraordinary" fee of
IS. "for ringinge for pleasuer ; " but in the course
of the year (on the ground of necessary repairs) the
sexton is bidden to ring no bells except one for
a knell or a sermon, or (by later order) the great
bell to call the people together, and the treble to
ring at 5 a.m. (as before).
• In the accounts for the same year (\iz., 1560 and 6i) there were entered
also payments for •' ryngyng to the momyng prayer," for "a comvnionbooke,"
" ryngers when my lorde byshop cam in," "lone of a book namyd the pharasyres "
(Paraphrases of Erasmus), " holly agaynst crystmas," *' John Alkyns for
cairycng off the latyn bookes to our lady churchc," for " a boke of the homylcs,"
Beckyngam, "for hys kowe that dyed in the poundc," etc., etc., p. 105.
8o Notes on Medmval Services,
The accounts of the fraternity of Jesus Mass in
the same parish church of St. Edmund's in the city
of Salisbury at an earlier date, viz., in 1500, show
that the ** first Mass," or ** Jesus Mass," was said
daily at the altar of the Holy rood at 6 a.m. The
celebrant there was called ** the morrow- mass
chaplain." ''''Salve de Jhesu^'' was sung there on
Fridays in Lent. (Was this the special version of
** Salve festa dies," the rhythm of Fortunatus
adapted, or rather re-written or imitated, for the
feast of the Holy Name, as printed in Henderson's
Processionale Saru7n, ^^, 152-3? Or was it ** Salve
mundi Salutare?" Sequences beginning with the
word *' Salve' are found in such profusion that it
would be rash for me to pretend to decide among
them all. Its name shows it to have been something
different from Salve de B.V. Maria.)
In 1557 Card. Pole had inquired fCardwell)
whether taverns and ale-houses opened their doors
on Sundays and Holy Days in time of Mass, Mattins,
and Evensong, These evidently were the services of
general obligation. As Dr. Rock says {Ch. of F. i.,
70-71 n.), people went to church not only for Mass
daily, but ** on Sundays and holidays at early
morning for Mattins and Lauds, and in the afternoon
for Evensong, and for hearing the sermon after
dinner." He is here speaking of the benches, of an
age anterior to the Reformation, which are found in
some old churches, and these, he tells us, were
required in churches in old time for other services,
but were not (in his opinion) used at the Low Masses
Notes 071 Mediceval Services, 8i
(p. 68) which then had become common. However,
his own authority, a poem wherein ** freemasons ''
were instructed in behaviour at daily mass, not only
bids themi stand for the Gospel, and kneel, generally,
before it and after it, but repeats the instruction
(from Myrk) for young and old to kneel at the
sacring, or consecration. This seems to me to imply
that, in practice, a certain allowance was made,
at least, for the aged and weak to sit, even at Low
Mass, though not at the Consecration. The custom
of sitting for the Epistle is mentioned by Rupertus
Tuitiensis (of Deutsch, near Cologne, a.d. iiii.)
Some ancient English benches look as if they were
constructed for kneeling high, on a sort of broad
book-board, with the toes resting on the seat, thus
giving men in the nave a view of the altar through
the screen. But so many old benches have been
cut away or abolished that it is hard to speak
positively.
Dr. Rock, in the place cited above, does not
actually mention Sunday and Holy-day Mass (where
he speaks of Mattins and Lauds, and Evensong and
Sermon), but he takes that, no doubt, as a matter of
course. Daily attendance at the Eucharist,* when
• Even of William the Conqueror it has been told by Robert of Gloucester
to a later generation that —
*• In Church he was devout enow ; for him none day abide
That he heard not Mass and Mattins, and Evensong, and each tide."
Did he make an exception "upon the Pope Callixtus' day," in October,
1066 ? Perhaps not. The devout example of K. Henry V. at Agincourt before
and after the battle is immortalised by Shakespeare. And in more recent
times it is remembered that our Commander in the Sikh war went down upon
bis knees upon the ground to thank God the moment that news was brought
him that one of biii companies had routed the foe.
G
82 Notes on Mediceval Services.
possible, was, it appears, customar}% if not with
King Arthur's knights themselves, yet, at all
events with those in the fifteenth century who
loved to write or read or hear about them, with
the devout nobility and gentles, with persons of
leisure, and with the *'more noble'' artisans and
plowmen, who would make leisure because they
knew well the adage that ''Meat — nor Mass''^ —
and some would add, ''Manners, nor Medicine —
mar-reth no 77ia7is Matters.''''
In a copy of the Sarum Custom-book,* as slightly
revised for use in parochial and conventual churches,
it is directed that at the choir-entrance on the west
the stall of the chief person in the church should be
on the right hand side (corresponding to that of the
Dean at Salisbury), and on the left, the place of the
second in command, corresponding to the chanter
or precentor. " Next to the chief person on the
right side, let priests and other clerks be ranged,
who as their ages and character demand are
admitted on tolerance {ex dispensatione) in the upper
row of stalls. Next them, towards the east let
other minor clerks stand, and be styled * clerks of
the second form.' If there are any boys in the
quire, let them be set to stand on the floor of the
church and (be styled) 'clerks of the first form.'
And the other side of choir in like manner."
* The Rev. Walter Howard Frere, who kindly lent me his notes on Sariim
Consuetiidines some years ago, is at present engaged in preparing the text for
the Cambridge University Press.
Notes on MedicBval Services, 83
This mention of two principal persons sitting in
the stalls leads naturally to the question, How many
clergy were there in an ordinary parish ?
Taking the returns for Somersetshire and York-
shire at the accession of King Edward VI. we find
that in almost every church where there were
chantry chapels there was a priest for each chantry in
addition to the parson.* Often these chaplains,
var}dng in number from one to five, helped the
priest at the time of the general Easter Communion,
and assisted in ministering sacraments and sacra-
mentals where the parish was scattered, or where
the sick were numerous. In large parishes the
vicar provided an assistant priest to serve the cure
(or, especially if he were himself non-resident, a
second one, and occasionally three). Sometimes
the parson employed one or more of the stipendiary
chantry priests for such purposes, but also in fre-
quent instances a curate independently of them.
To take one instance : in the large parish of Thirsk
there were four chaplains to three chantries. All
these four had to do Divine service ; three of them
• The chaplains then as now were of necessity for the most part in priest's
order. Now and again there is reference to a deacon. Provision was made
for the deacon and sub-deacon for the Lady Mass at Prime in the ordinance of
the Normanton and H. Lexington Chantry at Lincoln. Early in the 15th
century it was the deacon'' s duty '* to see that the holy cake {pain bini or
eulogia) Ix; cut according to every man's degree," and to ** bear the holy bread
to icrve " the people in the north side of the church. (Has the document
detailing the duty of a deacon at Trinity Church, Coventry, mentioned by
Maskell, Afonumenta Ritualia{\2>^2) I. p. cccxx. n.^ as preserved in the vestry
there, ever been printed in full ? )
84 Notes on MedicBval Services.
helped the parson, and one taught in the Grammar
school. It is, moreover, frequently noted concerning
a chantry priest or chaplain that it is his regular
duty *' to maintain prayer'' or '*to do Divine
service" (as well as to say hi^ requiem Masses, his
placebo, and his dirige for the souls, and to keep
obits), and to sing in the high quire on Sundays and
holydays. In York itself the phrase is added,
**inhis habit of a parson," or *' as other parsons
use." In many cases he kept a grammar school for
the children of the parish. At Topclyff the gild
chaplain *'kept" the quire with six children on
holy and festival days, providing the said choristers
with books as well as with instruction. By no
means unfrequently the stipendiary priest was to
pray for the living parishioners, and to say the
Morrow Mass for servants, labourers,* and travellers.
Sometimes he had to attend a chapel of ease, and to
celebrate there for parishioners cut off by floods or
by long distances and bad roads from their parish
church, and sometimes for aged and impotent folk.
In a large church, as at Wakefield, where the
annual communicants were 2,000 (population, say,
3>63o), there were five priests to two chantries, one
of these being the Lady Chapel on the South.
Four of these priests were, however, to sing (Mass)
• At Lichfieldy in the second quarter of the fifteenth centur}', Morrow Mass
was at 5 a.m. (the celebrant there being excused midnight Mattins). In a
poem on the Art of Masonrj' (or, in the Latin, " Gemetria ")— cited by Rock,
i. pp. 68-70, from Halliwell— the craftsman or freemason is bidden to " hear
his Mass each day," or at least to pray at his work when he hears the church
bell, that God may make him partaker of the service to be done in church.
Notes on Mediceval Services. 85
in the high quire once a day, and the other to
** do Divine service there, and to help the curate in
his ministrations." It must not, however, be sup-
posed that there was daily service in every church.
In a small parish, Aller, in Somerset^ where there
were 124 communicants (population, say, 200) on
the roll, a doctor of physic who held the parsonage
provided a curate in charge, and there was a chantr)'-
priest besides. At Wincanton, with 280 communi-
cants (population, say, 465), Lord Zouch, the rector,
found the curate, and there were two chantry priests
beside. At Shepton Mallet there was a staff of four
(parson, curate, fraternity priest, and chantry priest).
At Bedminster, with the free chapel of St. Katherine,
where there was Mass thrice a week, and 320
** houselling people,'* there were five priests (parson,
vicar, curate, and two chaplains).
In Mr. Page's '* Yorkshire Chantry Surveys"
(Surtees Society, 1894), we notice the following
particulars relating to Yorkshire : —
The ** Rookeby " priest to say Mass one day in
the week in the parish church of Scruton.
Lord Scrope's chaplain to say Mass three days a
week in Kirkby Fletham parish church, and three
days in Great Fencote's chapel. Similarly a
chaplain in Wathe parish, founded 1505.
Chaplain of Lord Scrope of Uppesall to say Mass
on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, in St.
Edmund's chapel in Patrick Brompton.
Tadcaster (1505), chaplain to sing at the altar of
86 Notes on Medmval Services,
St. John Baptist in the quire on Sunday, Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday, and on Monday, Wednesday,
and Saturday in the chapel of Todecaster Tonne-
sande.
At Bankenewton, in Gargrave parish. Mass on
Wednesday and Friday, and every second Sunday.
The rood chantry priest at Giggleswick, etc. (and
the like at Tykhill), to be ** sufficiently seen in
Plainsong and grammar," and to sing Mass of the
name of Jhesu on Fridays (at 9 a.m. Tykhill), and
of our Lady on Saturdays (at 6 a.m., ibid).
Our Lady's chantry in the northsyde of Rothwell
church (1494), followed the older foundation of her
chantr}^ on the opposite side (1273), it being the
duty of the * incumbent ' of each of these chantries
to celebrate Mass daily in chantry and other Divine
service, and be in the **high quere" all festival
days at Mattins, Mass, and Evensong, and to help
minister sacraments in the parish.
The gild-priest at Whitgift was directed to say
Mass in the parish church ** at his plesure."
At St. Agnes' chantry, Foss Bridge, in St.
Denys' parish, York, a Mass was founded in 1425
to be between 1 1 and 1 2 o'clock, but was altered in
the time of Henry VIII. " by the advice of the
parishioners there, as well for their commodity as
[for] travelling people," to an earlier time — viz.,
between 4 and 5 a.m.
There was Morrow Mass in St. Michael's chantry,
York Minster, for *' strangers labouring in their
journeys, and other artificers and young folk."
N'otes 071 Mediceval Services, 87
At Doncaster were above 2,000 communicants,
8 priests (including the St. Nicholas' chantry chap-
lain), who had their hands full in Lent hearing
confessions. There then was daily Mattins, Mass,
and Evensong by note, and six other Masses, one at
every hoicr, from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m., after w^hich
probably the aforesaid 7nissa cum nota was sung.
At our Lady's altar in Rotherham church ** divers
well disposed persons" founded a chaplaincy *'to
sing mass of our Lady every Saturday at 8 of the
clock."
At our Lady's chantry in Cawthorne church (1452)
mass on Sunday, Friday, and Saturday.
The rood chantry in Skipton church was founded
for a priest to say Mass ** every day when he is
disposed" at 6 a.m. in summer and 7 in winter, for
the purpose that, as well the inhabitants of the town
as Kendalmen and strangers should hear the same.
Margaret Blade, widow, endowed the chantry of
our Lady in Kildewick parish in 1505 for a priest to
help divine service in the quire, to help the curate
in time of necessity, and also to sing Mass of our
Lady on Saturday and Sunday *' if he have con-
venient help."
The mayor and his brethren at Pontefract put in
a chaplain to survey the amending of the highways,
and to say the Morrow Mass, which was over by
5 a.m. Also a chaplain for the chantry of our
Lady, to say Mass at 8 a.m., and another in St.
Rock's chantr}' to say Mass at 9. Also another in
the chantry of our Lady in St. Giles' chapel-of-ease
88 Notes on Mediceval Services.
there, to sing Mass daily *' for the ease of the
inhabitants." There was also a ** Rush worth chap-
lain " at St. Thomas's chantry in the parish church.
In Wakefield church the parishioners ordained a
Morrow Mass at 5 a.m. for all servants and labourers
in the parish. The three Rood priests in Ripon
said Mass (presumably in rotation) before the image
of the Rood about 4 a.m. and 7 respectively. There
was also a Mass said in St. George's loft by another
priest.
Dr. Rock says concerning the wakes or vigils, as
the Office of the Dead was called in England,
that the dead were buried commonly on the third
day. Over night Placebo (Evensong) was sung ;
on the early morrow, Dirige (mattins and lauds of
the Dead), followed by two Masses, one of the
Trinity, the second of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
accompanied by the organ, and chanted in prick-
song, or, as we would call it, with florid music.
In 1463, J. Baret, of Bury, directed that on the
day of his burial there should be a Mass of pricked-
song of B. V. M. at 7 a.m.
After breakfast the mourners returned and took
their places round the hearse when the third Mass,
a solemn High Mass of Reqtiie7n began.
Chaucer in the Pardoner s Tale tells of three boon
companions in a tavern hearing
*' A bell clinke
Before a corse [which] was carried to his grave,
Long erst ere prime rung of any bell^
Notes on Mediceval Services, 89
As to the season of prime Chaucer's Nun's
priest gives a cryptographic indication which,
perhaps, some astrologer will kindly expound. At
Prime, early in April, as Chanticleer reckons, the
sun has climbed 41 degrees, or more. What time
of day was that ?
Meanwhile, sly Reynard is lying in wait in a bed
of herbs in the kitchen garden, and stays there till
it was past undern of the day. Undern here, as in
nine places out of ten, means hora tertia, and Dr.
Skeat says of it that it means ** a particular time in
the morning — either about 9 a.m. or somewhat
later. (Also applied to signify mid-afternoon.)"
And thus we come to ask about the time of
Weddings. Here and there no doubt you might
find (like Biondello) an **old priest at St. Luke's
church " ready to marry a couple '* in an afternoon "
when the bride is supposed by her friends to have
just stepped out into the garden ** for parsley to
stuff a rabbit." But, whatever was the case in the
times described by Shakespeare, we must suppose
that Chaucer's ** Markis Walter" (in the ClerJS s
Tale) was doing nothing outre when he married
Griseldis at ** the time oi luidcrn'''
It was at the same hour some years later that this
patient wife had got the house ready for her
disagreeable but penitent husband to bring home
(as he pretended) another bride (really their daughter)
to a wedding breakfast.
The Myrrourc of our Lady\ written perhaps in
go Notes on MedicBval Services,
1430 and printed in 1530, though treating-, of course,
of a '* religious" house, mentions incidentally the
diversity of custom about the times of Mattins —
(bed- time, midnight, a little before day, and morrow-
tide). The notes of time in. that treatise are as
follows : —
At Mattins time (some say) the shipments ** Star
of the Sea" rises. These ** are said in the night"
(pp. 90, 150).
Pry7?ie, the hour when our Lord was led to Pilate.
A star appears before the sunrise. ** By morrow,
at the pr}^me time," is apparently intended (p. 12)
to paraphrase '^ mane'^ (at morning) in Ps. 53.
Prime belongs to the first hour of the day after
sunrise (p. 138).*
At the hour of Terce (probably kept at Syon
strictly at 9 a.m.) our Lord was scourged and mocked,
and at Pentecost the Holy Ghost came down. At
this hour ** labourers desire to have their dinner."
(After Terce the Sisters said De p^^ofundis in pro-
cession by a grave dug and left open for the purpose)
p. 142.
At the hour of Sext the sun waxeth more hot.
The time of the crucifixion (between 9 a.m. and
noon). — Blunt, on the Myrroure, p. 341, &c.
♦ A friend asks me whether I think that prime was sung or said in parish
churches under the head of '■'■ Mattins." It certainly was my impression that
prime was a comparatively popular service, but I cannot at this moment cite
any authority. It is a curious fact that where our old-fashioned text of
Chaucer's Personc^s Tale speaks of " general confession of Confiteor at masse
and at prime and at complin," Dr. Skeat's more scholarly text (Student's
edition, p. 687, sec. 22, end) omits the words " and at prime."
Notes on Mcdiceval Services. 91
At the hour of None the sun is highest. The
service of None was said before meat (p. 90).
Before Evensoncr the Sisters said '^ Indtclorete'^
(a special service of mutual confession) in chapel
(pp. 153-5)-
This ser\'ice is said ** after noune *' when the sun
faileth much. (After 3 p.m., towards the end of
daylight. Blunt'' s note on the Myrroure, p. 341.)
Compline is the end of the day (just before bed- time,
id,) which, says Blunt (ibid.), was doubtless (at Syon
in the 15th century) as at Durham (in the i6th)
about 6 p.m., supper being ended by 5, and followed
by collation.
In 1452 parochial clergy were required to say the
office on Sundays and all feasts of the Church in
their own churches ; likewise on ferial days if they
could manage it.
W. Langland in his Vision concerning Piers the
Plowman hears Gluttony confessing that he has
drunk too much, or, as he expresses it, ** forgotten "
himself at his supper, and some time at Nones. Also
that he " hied to the meat ere none, when fasting
days were.*' In vi., line 147, the same poet speaks
of anchorites and hermits, **that eat nought but at
JVoncs.'' On these passages Dr. Skeat has some
important notes from various sources. ** The day's
work was supposed to be completed at the ninth
hour — three in the afternoon, according to our
reckoning. This hour was called high noon, and
92 Notes on MedicBval Services.
the meal then taken was called a noonshun or nun-
cheon [Timbs). It is certain that Nones originally
meant about three o'clock in the afternoon at the
equinoxes, but it was afterwards [advanced to about
two p.m., Haydn, Did. of Dates, cited p. 195,
Skeat, and again] shifted so as to mean midday,
our modern 710071^ (See Wedgwood, s.v. *Noon.')
** There seem to have been two principal meal
times, viz., dinner at about 9 or 10 a.m., and supper
at about 5 or 6 p.m. (Piers the Plowman, passus
vi., li., 262, 265). See Wright's History 0/ Domestic
Manner's, p. 155. But there is here reference to the
one meal at 12 o'clock, to which the anchorites and
hermits restricted themselves. In this they adopted
the rule for fasting-days, viz. , to have dinner at 12
instead of g, and 7io supper"^
Dr. Rock quotes (iv. 141) two other passages
from Langland to the effect that it was the duty of
the plain layman to labour, and of lords to hunt,
but that they ought to desist on Sundays, in order
" God's service to hear,
Both Mattins and Mass ; and, after meat, in churches
To hear their eve-song every man ought.
Thus it belongeth for lord, for learned, and lewed {i.e.y lay),
Each Holy day to hear wholly the service."
And the poet asks concerning the slothful —
** WTiere see we them on Sundays the service to hear,
As Mattins by the morrow^ till Mass begin
Other (? Either) Simdays at eve-song } "
Holy days (says Pauper to Dives, 1536) ought to
* The Vision of WiUiam. concerning Piers the Plowman (revision cir. I377)»
ed. W. W. Skeat for the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1893, p. 150, note on vi.,
»47.
Notes on Mediaeval Services, 93
be kept from evening to evening. And where
people begin to ring the bells at mid-day on
Saturdays and vigils, that is only a reminder of the
coming of the feast in the evening, not an obligation
to leave off working at once. In fact, we may work
till sunset on Saturdays (though not on Sundays),
though first Evensong of Sunday be done on
Saturday afternoon (before sunset).
The time of Communion for lay folk was
(according to Maskell, A?ictent Liturgy, p. 184)
after the priest received the chalice and before
purification or rinsing. Rock, however, says (i v. 169)
that very commonly, if not generally, it was after
Ivlass was done, as Do Best says in Langland's poem :
I ** did me to church
Tho hear wholly the Mass,
And be houselled after."
The Lambeth Constitutions in 1281, while for-
bidding the cup to the laity in parish churches,
apparently left it open for some in the greater
(cathedral and conventual) churches to communicate
in both kinds with the celebrant. (Lyndewoode,
Provinc, tom. 3, p. 27, ed. Oxon, 1679.)
The order in parish churches was for the Sermon
to follow the Creed or the Offertory. (At the
Offertory, according to the Rationale or Book of
Ceremonies, aV. 1538-42, ** the Minister, laying the
bread upon the altar, maketh the Chalice, mixing
the water with the wine.*') After the Gospel,
indulgences, excommunications, and banns of mar-
94 Notes on Mediceval Services.
riage were proclaimed. (Maskell, A. L., pp. 70-73.)
The Bidding of Beads, which in cathedral and
collegiate churches was given out on Sunday at the
procession for sprinkling holy water before the west
door of the choir, was in parish churches after the
Gospel and Offertor}% either from the pulpit, or
from before an altar. The celebrant proclaimed in
English the holy days and the subjects for inter-
cession, ** Pray we for the Church of England,"
&c., &c. (Rock ii. pp. 361-7.) The Bead-roll of
Morebath may be seen in So7nerset Records iv.,
210-218, and others are given by Maskell, Mon, Rit.
ii., 373-8, 412-13.
In 1500, chantry priests about the time of the
'Mavatory" after the Offertory, used to exhort the
congregation to pray for the souls commemorated
by their foundation. The names were posted up
on the south side of the altar. The priest invited
the people to say De profundis and orisons with him,
either before the lavatory or else after the last
Gospel at the end of Mass. {Rock, iii. 129.)
By the Constitutions of Oxford 1322, a priest was
required to say Mattins with Lauds (and if he were
a parish priest. Prime also and Terce before his
Mass). (A synodal of Norwich, 1257, says that
Prime must be over before he begins celebrating.)
Peccham*s "Lambeth Constitutions," in 1281, bids
every priest to celebrate at least 07ice a week ; and the
gloss, in Provinciale (Lib. iii., //'/. 23, gloss *" saltevi
sevtely p. 232, ed. 1679), ^^^s ''on Sunday, if
possible^ By Bishop Cantilupe's '* Constitutions"
Notes on Mediceval Services. 95
(Worcester, 1240) Chaplains were required to attend
Divine offices and Mass in the parish church, and no
priest was to presume to begin Mass before Prime
was canonically done.* Priests were not, as a rule,
to celebrate more than once a day. (Council of
London, Canon 2, a.d. 1200.)
In 1 24 1, Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York,
gave statutes to St. John's Hospital, Nottingham.
He prescribed that Mattins should be sung by the
brethren in time to finish before day-break from
Easter to Michaelmas, and to begin at dawn (ab ortu
aurora;) between Michaelmas and Easter. The lay-
brethren and sisters were to recite 25 Paternosters
in lieu of Mattins, and 7 for Prime : 7 likewise
apiece for None, for Evensong, and for Compline.
Also a Credo and a Pater before Mattins, and a
Pater and a Credo after Compline. Their Mass
came between Terce and Sext. [Monasticon^ ed.
1846, vol. vi., part 2, p. 679.)
In 1300, the chaplains and clerks of St. Elizabeth's,
Winchester, were directed to rise not later than
dawn, and then to say Mattins of the B. V. Mary in a
distinct voice. Then Mattins of the day, citvi nota.
Then (after Prime of the day) Mass of the B. V. M.,
cmn nota.
• An instance (apparently) of High Mass before Terce may be found in the
Exeter Ordinate, fo. 1090^, A.D. 1337, in the Parker MS., in a rule for All
Souls' Day. It was, however, a peculiar case, and it must be read with the
proviso on fo. ico (=■ 76, ed. Reynolds) that "all the Hours be said before
Mass."
96 Notes on Mediccval Services.
In 1096, the *^ Little Office" of B. V. M. was
enjoined on the clergy generally. They induced
the laity likewise to adopt its recitation as a devout
practice. Not only did the Brigittine Sisters of
Syon, near Kew, sing each hour of B. V. M. in
their own chapel, so soon as the Brethren of their
community had finished the corresponding Hour of
the Day in their chapel adjoining, but many pious
women were observed in our churches repeating
Paternosters on their rosaries, while they and their
husbands and brothers were attending Mass on
week-days ; or (if they could read) opening their
Prymers, which they had taken with them, and
repeating the Office of Our Lady in church in a
low voice with some companion, verse and verse,
** after the manner of Churchmen." They always
heard Mass on Sunda3^s in their parish churches,
and gave liberal alms. Such was the testimony of
an Italian who visited England about the year 1500.*
Italian Relation of England (Camden Soc), p. 23.
postscript
nPHE rules or customs of Lichfield Cathedral
-*" Church belong by rights to the former section
of these notes. Having, however, overlooked them
while the earlier sheets were in the press, I will now
give a summary of that part of them which concerns
the subject of this book.
Drawn up originally in the time of Bishop Hugh
de Nonant (1188-1198), they have hitherto been
known to us principally through a much later revised
edition supplied for the information of Cardinal
Wolsey by Bishop Geoffrey Blythe, Dean Denton,
and Chapter in December, 1526, and edited in
Dugdale's Mo7iastico7i, along with other statutes
of Lichfield of various intermediate dates. About
twenty years ago Mr. J. F. Wickenden, then
prebendary of Lincoln, drew my attention to a
14th century transcript of Hugh de Nonant' s Lichfield
statutes which some Lincoln scribe had taken pains
to enter in the register which John de Schalby had
begun.* Though as a composition it shows signs
of some modification at least as late as 1 240, so that
it cannot be taken to represent the customs of 1 190
in an absolutely unadulterated form, nevertheless.
• It has now been edited for the Cambridge University Press in the second
part of the collection of Lincoln and other Cathedral Statutes (from llic late
Henry Bradshaw's papers), pp. 14-25, Cambridge, 1897.
H
98 N'otes on Mediaival Services,
this less known copy differs in some interesting
particulars from that still later recension which, as I
said, was communicated to Cardinal Wolsey in the
1 6th century. Some of the diversities which such a
lapse of time occasioned will be brought before the
reader's notice.
At Lichfield^ then, cir. 1 190-1250 : —
From the Nativity of B. V. Mary (8 Sept.) to
Easter, Mattins are to be said about midnight ;*
from Easter to Trinity Sunday, at daybreak ; from
Trinity onwards, on feasts of Three Lections, Mattins
likewise at daybreak.
From Trinity until the Nativity of the B. V. Mary
(8 Sept.) on Feasts of Nine Lessons, Mattins in the
evening immediately after Compline. f
\Morrow Mass celebrated by Chaplain of St. Chad
at 5 a.m. — (Statutes cir. 1420-47.)]
Bell rings for Mass of B. V. Mary, thus being the
first bell of the day.
Mass 0/ B,V, Mary celebrated.
(Chaplains say their Masses from 6 a.m. to 10.)
Bell for Prime. [During this bell-ringing,
according to Lichfield Statutes cir. 1256-95, there
was on Fridays a Chapter-business meeting.] J
* Another way of expressing this is * In cBstate, quando cenam TnatutincB
pmcedant.*
t The Statutes of Bp. Heyworth, cir. 1420-47, restricted the feasts in the
summer and autumn when Mattins was to follow Compline to the following
seven: Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, Nati\-ity of St. John Bapt., St. Peter
and St. Paul, Thomas the MartjT, Feast of Relics, and Feast of the Assump-
tion. At one period, as will be seen at the close of this Postscript, Curfew
here preceded Mattins.
X It is hard to say whether this was distinct from the Saturday meeting, or
whether we have here the vestige of the varying customs of two different periods.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 99
Then Prime said in choir.
Choir enters Chapter[-house]* and Mm^tiloge is
read there. * Prseciosa' and orisons. Ps. Deus
misereatitr (Ixviii.), Gloria Patri, Kyrieleison, Pater
noster, Versicles. Oratio. Ecclesice tuce^ etc., et nos
/amnios ttcos ab omni adversitate custodi. Per
Domimim.
Memorial for the living. Ps. Levavi (cxxi.).
Gloria, Versicles. Oratio. Prcetende Domifie.
Obits of the departed. Ps. De profundis (cxxx.).
Kyrieleison, Pater noster, Versicles. Then (if it be
an Anniversary Day, Oratio. Deus indnlgentiartcm,
and, in any case, that is to say, with or without the
aforesaid) the orison Fide Hum.
The principal person present first says Benedicite.
R. Dominus. On a Saturday, or on the Vigil of a
double feast, the Board (or service-list, * tabula ') is
read. The succentor orders the service of the
ensuing week in the presence of all the staff. Then
Chapter- business follows.
In Lent :
Commendatio is said * in capitulo, in prostratione.'
Then
Missa pro fidelibus defundis. (Was this the * Missa
in Capitulo ' ?)
Then the clergy go into choir.
• The Chapter-house at Lichfield was built cir. 1240. It may be questioned
whether in this and like instances ' capitulum ' had as yet acquired its connota-
tion of locality. On the other hand these words may be sufjposcd to have been
added in the interval lx;twcen 1188, the time of Bp. Iluj^h dc Nonant, and
1385, the approximate date of the Lincoln transcript.
lOO Notes on Medmval Services.
On ordinary days fprofestisj Bell rings for Terce.
Terce,
Sext (without any bell-ringing).
High Mass. After the Sacring, perhaps about lo
a.m., a chaplain says a Mass for Wayfarers {'pro
viantibusy Stat. Lichf. cir. 1420-47.)
Nones in choir (immediately after Mass).
Bell (classicuvi) after Mass.
Dinner.
On Feasts of Nine Lessons : —
Bell for Terce.
Terce.
High Mass. After which immediately follows :
Sext in Choir, and Nones,
Bell (classicum) after Mass.
Dinner.*
* In the rule which St. Gilbert, of Sempringham, gave to his Canons in
Lincolnshire and elsewhere, circa 1 140, and which his successors revised, (see
Dugdale, Monasticon, ed. 1846, torn, vii.) the festal services at which they
were to wear linen copes are mentioned in the following order : — First Even-
song, Mattins, Prime, Morrow Mass, Terce, High Mass, and Second Evensong.
When the lay brethren of the order received Holy Communion it was to be at
the Morrow Mass if possible, but if that were impossible, then at High Mass.
They and the lay sisters of the order were to communicate eight times in the
year as a rule, viz., at Christmas, Candlemas, Assumption, Nativity of
B. Mary, Maundy Thursday, Easter, Pentecost, and All Saints' Day. Novices
of either sex received the Sacrament three times a year, N-iz., on Christmas
Day, the Dies Absolutionis, and at Easter, as well as at times when they were
ill. The conversi might communicate at different altars as the prior might
direct. A calarntcs argenteus and a chahce of tin were provided for the
Communion of those who might be suffering from leprosy, etc.
The time for funerals varied according to the hour of death in each case.
On holy days Chapter followed the Conventual Mass. On ordinary days in
winter the brethren went back to the dormitory after Mattins. At daybreak
the bell rang for Prime. After Prime, Mass was sung, followed by private
Notes on Mcdmval Services, loi
As to the order of these services in Lent, when
Sext and None did not follow Mass, reference was
made to provisions of the Lichfield Ordinale and
Consuetudinariu7n, which are unknown to me.
High Mass always begins circiter horam terciam,
* about the third hour ' (after 9 a.m.),* according to
the seasons of the year : so says the older copy of
1 190-1390. But the later recension of 1526, as
printed in Monasticon vi., p. 1255, says, * inchoata
semper a7ite horam 7ionam^ secundum anni tempora.'
After Dinner : After Dinner, in Lent :
[Bell {' classicu77i')'\ for Bell rings to call the
one dead, if required.] clerics.
Bells {' pulsatio') for Dirige (Mattins of the
Evensong. The fourth Dead) up to Lauds of
peal ( * classiciwi ' ) for the Dead.
Vespers and Mattins not Collation read in the
to sound until it had midst of the choir (ex-
Masses until the bell rang for Terce. After Terce, Chapter, Refection, Grace
in Church, Office of the Dead, Study in Cloister, Bell for Evensong.
In Summer^ Prime was followed by Chapter, Labour, Terce, Conventual
Mass, Study in Cloister, (? Nones and Office of the Dead,) Refection, Grace
in Church, Mid-day rest, bell for Evensong.
The Lay brethren had an * Evening Chapter * on Wednesdays after Evensong
in Winter, and post cenain in Summer.
• The varying times for mass to which I have more than once referred in
these notes, ought to be compared with varying times [or fasts and ** stations*^
upon certain days in earlier time. * ** Stations'* were fasts till None, whereas
ifiunium was till Vesper {cf. Bona de horis^ cap. iii). Gregory the Great
assigned certain churches at Rome for their observance, and on more solemn
days {statis diebus) ordered stations till Sext. But the practice of Stations was
earlier than Gregory: cf. Tcrtullian de Oratione xiiii, de ieiunio lo, 13, 14
(where stations on Wednesday and Friday till None are referred to) and
Apostol. Constit., 69.' Sacramtntarium Leonianum^ ed. C. L. Fcltoe, Cam-
bridge, 1896, p. 187, n.
t Classicumw=iz clash of bells.
I02 Notes 071 Mediceval Services.
been ascertained whether cept on Sundays, Vigils,
the Dean was to be ex- and St. Chad's Day),
pected. ending with * Tu aute7ii.^
Evensongs so timed as
to finish some while be-
fore dusk.
The bell for Compline,
the last bell of the day,
unless an alarum bell be
required.
Cofnplme in choir.
Cur/ew, Only it comes before Alattins on feasts
of nine lessons in summer. (The copy of 1526
expresses the rule about Curfew somewhat differently,
thus: — It is to be sounded every night at 7 p.m. —
* hora septima post meridiem ' — except on those
holy days on which Mattins are said after Compline,
when it is not the custom to ring Curfew.)
Here I must end this series of my notes, leaving
it to others to supplement them, and where neces-
sary to correct any false inferences which I may
have drawn. I shall be well pleased if any of my
readers who have had patience to peruse what
I have gathered can restore from the heap the true
structure of the Time-Table of Services (i) in a
Cathedral, and (2) in a Parochial, Church.
PART III.
an account of some oIJ) Xincoln Cuetome
an5 Ceremoniee, witb IRotee on tbe De&ica:^
tione of aitare an& Cbapele in Xtncoln
fiDlneter, alpbabeticalli? arrangeb.
T HAVE put here in alphabetical order some notes
^ illustrating old customs of Lincoln Cathedral
Church, or bearing upon the various portions of its
interior arrangements. They have been gleaned
from some of the Chapter Muniments and other
sources.
I had at the outset abstained, as far as is possible,
from entering upon the difficult questions which
beset the task of trying to identify the relative
positions of the various altars, &c., in our Minster.
I simply marshalled under the names of the indi-
vidual Saints or other dedications such facts as I
have gathered. Having reached the middle of my
collection I have (under the head of *' Piscinas, &c.'*)
been compelled to some extent to hazard several
conjectures, though I believe I have always ap[)rised
the reader where I know the ground to be uncertain.
I04 Notes on Mediceval Services.
If after my index is finished, when experts in Lincoln
topography and antiquities have supplemented and
corrected it, I shall be glad if it should prove that
any sound decision can be reached.
Although it has fallen to my lot to handle and
to glance at most of the books and other documents
in the collection of the Dean and Canons, the
number of Act Books and Accounts which I have
hitherto perused from end to end is comparatively
small ; but the result is such as to assure me that,
as others are doing their part towards a thorough
examination of the rest of the collection, knowledge
both solid and interesting is certainly being acquired.
A summary of the contents of at least the earliest
of the 35 volumes of Chapter Acts, which reach
from 1305 to 1876, is a desideratum. It would be
sufficient to make an intelligent summary of the
marginal rubrics which the Chapter clerk has written,
or to supply them for any volume where they have
not been given, with the addition of the dates from
the Acts themselves, and to give a few longer
extracts for the most interesting entries.
I rejoice to hear that the Rev. A. R. Maddison,
F.S.A., Succentor of Lincoln, has been paying
special attention to this branch of the enquiry.*
* I will take this opportunity of recording my obligation to Mr. Maddison
and likewise to Mr. Gibbons for help which I have derived, not only from
their printed writings but from their kind services as correspondents. To Mr.
Freemantle, at Salisbury, and (naturally) still more to Mr. Logsdail, at
Lincoln, I owe several kind suggestions in answer to enquiries which I have
made, and which few (if, indeed, any) are so well qualified to answer. To the
Rev. John Kaye, Junior, for a survey of the Minster and several other
researches and communications, whereby he has saved me sujidry joumies to
Notes on Mediceval Services. 105
For the covipotus Rolls and books of accounts, it
would probably be enough to transcribe one of the
earliest and one of the latest specimens entire,
enriching and illustrating them by additional or
parallel passages from the audit accounts of inter-
mediate years. These range (fairly consecutively)
from 1304 to 1577, 1601-41, and 1661 onwards.
Chris. Wordsworth.
Alleluya. a payment of 6^. is charged (e.g.^
in 1452, 1476) in the attendance Rolls of '' Re and
Ve," claudentibus alleluia, i.c.^ for the singers of
the last Alleluia on Saturday before Septuagesima,
when there was to follow ** a close time " for joyous
singing until Easter. Even so late as 161 7 we
find an entry of the payment, ** pro excludend'
Alleluya, vj.d."
All Saints. At this festival the choir and high
altar were decked with rushes or mats (** in nattez
empt', vnacum cariag' eorundem 115. wd^j.
Altare magnum, majvs, sive summum. The
High Altar. Here High Mass {7iiissa major) was
sung with deacons and sub-deacons. Likewise the
funeral mass of a canon, pro corpore prcesenti ; but
the anniversaries of none less than a King or a
Lincoln or to libraries elsewhere, I desire to express my obligation. Likewise
to Canon Fowler, editor of the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine, in which the
following index or series of notes has been apjx?aring from time to time since
September, 1894. Last, but not least, Dr. J. Wickham Lcg{;, F.S.A., has
•^KK^tcd some of the improvements which I hope may be noticed by those
who read these papers in their ori^^nal form.
io6 Notes on MedicBval Services,
Bishop of Lincoln (including among the latter
Geoffrey Plantagenet, who had been Bp. elect) might
be performed here. Mass at the high altar was
usually celebrated by the Canon in weekly course
fhebdo7nadarinsJ, and none might ever celebrate here
excepting a Bishop or a Canon of Lincoln, or some
other Bishop present on a visit. (Black Book,
PP- 293, 389.) In Jordan de Yngham's accounts,
1 27 1, occurs a payment ** custod* magni altaris
26s. 8^." On the high altar, and in charge of the
said ** keeper," stood customarily in the 15th
centur}^, *' one silver candlestick with [3 branches,
3 * boles,' and: add. 1536] three pricks (*pykes')
for candles, with one knop in the midst, having
figures of Mary and Gabriel, and a pot with a
lily, {i.e., the Salutation) and the Nativity of our
Lord beneath figures of Mary and Joseph, and the
Resurrection of our Lord. Also the images of the
Deity, and of Mary, in the similitude of a coronation
in the midst of the style, silver-gilt, and 8 angels of
silver-gilt above the foot." This, when some-
what broken, weighed 8o;|oz. See below, under
** Candlesticks.''^
Amictus. The Amice, a white linen Mass-
vestment, placed for a moment on the priest's head
while vesting and then allowed to lie as a collar to
his alb and chasuble. I do not recollect the occur-
rence of this word often among Lincoln records, but
no doubt the thing was implied, for example, in the
inventories where they speak of *'albes with all
other apparrell " (e.g. Inventories, pp. 34, 59). But
Notes on Mediceval Se7^ vices, 107
in one instance we have {ibid., pp. 26, 5 1) 'a chasuble
of red, called peace, with one small orfrey of cloth
of gold with two albes,* three ainmesses, without
tunacles,' where the reference must be to aniictus
rather than amitia,
Almitia fAhnutiumJ ^ or
Amitia. a canon's almuce of black cloth lined
with grey fur, worn in choir on the neck and shoulders
or carried on the arm. It was put on, with a surplice,
by the Bishop of Lincoln (as canon) on the occasion
of his installation, before he was led to his stall.
He took also his mitre and staff. He resumed the
same canon's habit after his Pontifical Mass on the
same occasion. Statutes ii. 554, 555. See also
' Choir Habit.'
Altars. For a list of thirty-five altars at Lincoln,
see below at the end of the long article on " Piscinas
and Aumbries."
St. Andrew's Altar. Here was Oliver Sutton's
Chantry. In 1527 Dionisius Brodhed was admitted
as Oliver Sutton's Chaplain. D. ii., 64 (i) No. 28. t
It appears from J. de Grantham's book (cir. 1500)
• a plain instance of the distinction between the (choral) almuce and the
(altar vestment) amice is supplied by a passage in Salisbury Cathedral Statutes
(p. 31), where dignitaries ('personae') and canons are specifically allowed,
when there is danger of taking cold while celebrating, * sub amictu lineo
almuciU suis liberc, cum volucrint uti,' to protect their throats.
t It may be well to explain here at the outset tlial the i)rincipal presses in
the Dean and Chapter's Muniment-Room in Lincoln Cathedral Church are
lettered from A to D : whereof C and D have four compartments each (besides
practicable gables, C.v. and D.v.),— Thus •♦ D. ii., 64 (i.) No. 28 " must be
interpreted to indicate "in Press D., compartment ii., the 64th pigeon-hole,
* Stone's patent ' Ixjx No. i., article packet or document No. 28."
io8 Notes oil MedicEval Services,
that a chaplain celebrated here for the soul
of Nich. Hych, Sub -dean, who died about 1270.
(Grantham makes St. Andrew's altar distinct from
St. John Evangelist's.) At St. Andrew's in 1531
W. Foreman, chaplain, celebrated for the souls of
Geoff. Pollard, W. Aveton, and W. Hemmyngburg,
and received 4/. 135. 4^. But in 1420 these last
were commemorated at St. Michael's altar, and
Hyche, etc., at St. Denys'.
St. Anne. It is said that the dedication of the
southern altar in the south aisle was latterly changed
to that of St. Edward the Martyr. Here was the
Duke of Lancaster's Chantry, and at this altar the
Works' Chantr}^ chaplains said mass at 5 a.m., and
at 10 o'clock in 1531. The festival of St. Anne was
not published for England until 1383. In 1500,
and later, the porter of Lincoln Close performed
some ceremony of ** crowning Mary" (perhaps
placing a garland on the principal image), and was
rewarded for that service, and for attending to the
clock. See below ** Ctcrialitatesy
Apertura. The audit or periodical opening of
money boxes, stocks, or other receptacles for offer-
ings at certain shrines, altars, and images or relics
in the church. Thus in the accounts for 1420 — 142 1
we find: — (i) At the High Altar, opened on the
morrow of St. Denys in October, 755. ; of St. Lucy
in December, 1045. ; of the Annunciation in March,
4/. 175. 2d. ; and at the audit in September, 11 55. in
gold and silver, besides the smaller sums a dividend
from the broken metal, 25. td. ** de pondere croni
Notes on Mediceval Services, 109
auri," which, I suppose, means gold at troy weight ;
silver, is. 6d. (2) Apertura * of the image at the
Dean's tomb/ (3) Opening of the stock {stipitis) of
the Image of the Blessed Mary of Grace, 205. id,
{4) Stock of St. Christopher, 55. \d. Offerings at
St. Christopher, 165. 4^. (5) At the image of
Blessed Mary on the south side of the choir, 455.
(6) Offerings at the tomb of Little Hugh, \o\d.
(7) Offerings on the north side of the choir, \\d.
The late Precentor Edmund Venables has given
us a paper on the Shrine and Head of St. Hugh^ 1893.
Aumbry. See below, ^^ Pisci7ias.'*^
Aurora Diei. See ** Missa Matutinalis."
AvERiuM. An animal used in husbandr}\ Usually
in the plural *averia.' The word [Anglo-French,
aveir faverj^ Fr., avoir, Lat., habere^ is said to mean
** property, chattels, stock, cattle." It has survived
in Scotland and in Northumberland and North
Yorkshire in the forms aver, aiver, afer, haver or
haivfer, and has come to be applied to a sorry, worn-
out, horse. See Dr. Joseph Wright's English Dialect
Diet. s. V. * Aver' and * Average.' The in-coming
Canon of Lincoln was to have on his prebend,
during the year while the estate of his predecessor
remained in possession, a cow-house (bovariamj
where he could stable '* boves suos vel averia ad
arandum vel ad warectandum necessarios." Black
Book, p. 277.
Baxcvs, a bench, anglo-latin. * Bancum in
choro,' Stat. ii. 158. I have often heard workmen
use the term * bank ' for a workman's bench.
no Notes 07i Mediceval Services,
Beam. The beam along the altar [trabs secus
altare) is mentioned in the Black Book, pp. 289-292.
It was an early custom that the treasurer should
provide 16 tapers, each weighing |-lb., to burn
thereon at mattins on principal, feasts, and on Lady
Day, All Saints, and St. Hugh's Day. These, I
suppose, were identical with the ** 16 small wax
candles" which the three Cathedral carpenters were
bound to light and put out there duly. On Sundays,
moreover, and when there was service of the Blessed
Virgin, and when the choir had ** rulers,'' the
treasurer had to provide, besides the two lights **on
the little candlesticks before the altar" for vespers,
compline, mattins, and mass, one likewise ** above
the horn (or corner) of the altar towards the north."
This last is glossed in Bp. Alnwick's MS. ** above
the beam of the altar towards the north." Similarly,
where the old custom spoke of three candles on, or
over, the altar during the octaves of St. Martin, St.
Agnes, and St. John Baptist, and one only on
ordinary days, Bp. Alnwick wished to express this
more clearly, ^^ super trabem,''* in each instance.
The present reredos, or altar screen, is a restoration
by Essex about 1770. The late Precentor Venables
has explained [Line. Die. Mag., ix., p. 160,
Oct., 1893) that this screen represents the eastern-
most of two long parallel walls which made a narrow
but convenient passage, chamber, or sacristy behind
the high altar, and supported the tabernacle on its
roof or verge. In very early times altars were
covered by a solid canopy not unlike an Elizabethan
Notes on MedicBval Services, 1 1 1
four-post bed. See sketch of a cibo7'iuvi at Ravenna
in Diet, of Christian Antiq.^ i., p. 66.
About the time when Remigius built his church
at Lincoln, it became the fashion to remove the
front, and perhaps the side members, of this
structure. Thus the eastward frame remained : —
a beam (over the back of the altar) supported by
two upright posts or pillars. An excellent illustra-
tion of this arrangement may be seen in the early
15th century sketch of the altar, &c., of St.
Augustine's, Canterbury (reproduced for Dugdale,
Mmast., i., 121, and others), where the beam, sup-
porting the tabernacle or reliquary of St. Ethelbert,
and the precious texts or MSS. of St. Augustine,
rests on two uprights at the altar ends, and in its
turn supports a higher tier with other relics and
images. St. Hugh's church contained, no doubt,
such a structure. The Sarum beam supported 8
lights. With a little imagination we may represent
the westernmost beam of the old ciboriiun (which Dr.
Rock tells us was removed from the front of the
high altar about St. Osmund's time) as having
been brought down westward to make the rood
beam between the choir and the nave.
Bells. Black Book, pp. 273, 286, 292, 295 (at
excommunication, 332). Statutes ii., 461.*
• In this work I cite as " Statutes ii." the collection of " Statutes of Lincoln
and certain other Cathedral Churches " which I have recently edited in two
fasciculi for the Cambridj,'e University Press (8vo, 1897) as a continuation to
♦• Liber Niger : the Lincoln Black Book " which I edited from the late Henry
Bradibaw's papers (Cambridge, 8vo, 1892).
112 Notes on Mediceval Services,
Bellringers. Black Book, pp. 364, 387. Statutes
ii., pp. 414, 415.
Beneficia Ecclesi^, Lincoln. See '* Confra-
ternity " and '' Psalter."
Benefactors. By the order of St. Hugh in
chapter, cir. 11 95- 1200, a daily mass and psalter
with suffrage was said for all Benefactors living and
departed. On the stone screen outside the northern
chantry, or Founders' chapel, in the great south
transept is the legend, ** Oremits pro benefactor ibics
istius ecclesie,''^ i.e., Benefactors of the Fabrick. See
* Missa pro Benefactoribus.'
Bishop's Eye. A name for the circular window
in the great south transept facing the Palace, which
may be traced back to the early 13th cent, metrical
life of St. Hugh. See *' Dean's Eye."
Bladum. Growing corn.
St. Blaise (Bp. and Martyr, 3 Feb.). The dedi-
cation of the altar in Bp. Russell's Chantry, about
1495. (See ** Williamson's Guide," p. 92.)
So in the Obit List of 1527 (fo. 31) Bp. J. Russell's
Chantry pays ** to the clerk of St. Blaise's chapel for
finding wax to burn in at least two candles of
sufficient size about the tomb of the said reverend
Father, all the time of his obit, both during the
* exequies' and at mass, 18^." Browne Willis like-
wise identified this chapel with * Russel's Chantry,'
on the authority of MS. Cotton Tiberius ^ E. 3.
Board Rent. The office of Receiver of these
rents was mentioned incidentally as held by T. Lowe
in 1437 at the time of Bishop Alnwick's Visitation.
Notes on MedicBval Services, 113
Statutes ii., 409. Board Rent Rolls of the years
1460, 1733, &c., are preserved among the Chapter
]\Iuniments. Were these connected with the feudal
custom of landlords charging certain lands with the
duty of providing the maintenance of their table ?
Books. Statutes ii.. 404, 424. With certain
reservations, the use of service-books in choir was
forbidden, because the singers were required to know
their service by heart in their year of probation.
See Black Book, pp. 392, 393, 399.
Borough's Chapel. The northernmost of the
three chapels at the extreme east in the retro-choir.
See Sanderson's notes, ap. Peck's Desid, Curiosa,
p. 294. * Borough' and * Burwash ' are among
several forms in which the name Burghersh appears.
The surpliced choristers are called in a document
of 1624, * Burrischantryes.'
BouNGARTH, a Danish name for a homestead
(Bwnde-gaardeJ. It appears at Lincoln as the name
of a piece of property given to the community of
Vicars.
Brotherhood, Brethren. See * Confraternity
of the Church of Lincoln.'
Bread. A loaf or manchet of bread was pre-
sented to visitors, as it is to wayfarers at St. Cross,
near Winchester, but not so much here to bond fide
travellers as to personages of distinction. The
accounts of 1271 have 14 entries *' in pane," e,or.^
presented to the Justices, for the Bishop of
**Dulkend," for the Countess of Lincoln, for Master
de Sempringham ; presented to the Earl of Warren ;
I
114 Notes on Mediceval Sei^ vices,
sent to the Viscount ; the price varying from 5|d. to
7^d. In bread presented to the Justice(s) of our
lord the king on Thursday after St. Peter **ad
wincal " (ix,^ Lammas or ad viiiciila) 26d., wine from
the commune, 12 pitchers (lagenae) to the porter,
aid.
According to the early 13th century custom of
Lincoln the Bishop used ** a loaf or a book '' as the
ensign by which he conferred a prebend ** in his
chamber, or where he would."
Broad Tower. A corruption of ** Rood Tower."
Buckingham Chantry. See ' Altars of St. Hugh
and St. Katharine ' under the heading of ** Piscinas.^''
Burnet. A dark brown woollen stuff, forbidden
as a material for Lincoln choir copes, which were to
be of black Deuxsevers cloth, manufactured originally
at Niort, or some other of the towns in that depart-
ment of western France, in Poitou, between the two
rivers Sevres. Black Book, p. 391.
Bursa Domini Episcopi. The three carpenters
at Lincoln used to receive their stipends (about
18 or 20s.) in half-yearly payments at the synod on
the morrow of Holy Trinity, and at the synod after
Michaelmas Day, *from the purse of his Lordship by
the hand of the Archdeacon or his official from the
farm (firma) of the archdeaconry.' Black Book,
p. 293. Cf. ** Camera Episcopi."
Calefactory. Under the head of ^^ pelves, et
cetera,'^ the Lincoln inventory of 1536 has five pair of
** basyns " and three ** spowtes " belonging to three
of the sets, a holy water *' fatte " and '' strynkell,"
Notes on MedicBval Services. 115
two sawsers, sactyng bell, two sconses with handles,
two **fioles'' or cruetts, and ^^ Calefactory e sylver
and gylte, with leves graven, weyng 9^oz." This
was doubtless like the pila calefactoria at West-
minster, or the ^^ po??iu7n de cupro ad calefaciendum
7nanus" at Lichfield or Salisbury, a **pome" or
metal ball, with hinge and clasp containing an iron
heater, for thawing the hands of the celebrant on
frosty mornings. The Lincoln calefactory was ** in
custodia sacriste " in 1536. It had apparently been
taken away before 1548, possibly in the 4,285 oz. of
silver which went to Henry VIIL ** shortly after his
returne from Bulloygne " in 1540.
Camera Communis. A long chamber on the
right hand of the passage from the Church to the
Chapter-house. In the upper storey is now the
clerical library. Here cloth was stored for distribu-
tion to the poor. Cloth appears to have been sold.
In J. de Fotherby's accounts for 1294-5 we find,
** de 213. receptis de panno vendito, qui prius
emptus extitit per dominum R. . . ." In the
accounts for 1458-9 occur, under the head ** pro
distrib. panni," 20 doz. of linen cloth of the colour
** musterdevillers " (viz., 4 doz. broad cloth, and 16
doz. narrow, **viz., lez streytes") bought of
W. Gale, at various prices, at Sturbridge Fair (near
Cambridge), with 45. paid for the expenses of Rob.
Hide, who bought the said cloth and rode from
Lincoln to ** Stirbrig " and back, 14/. 14.?. 4^. In
1452-3 the cloth bought was of ** moulderusset '*
colour.
Ii6 Notes on Mediceval Services.
Camera Episcopi. This phrase occurs in the
Black Book, p. 303, in the title of the prebend,
' Decern Librae de Camera Episcopi percipiendse.'
No psalms were assigned to this stall of Decern
Librai'-um in the Black Book. Cf ** Bursa.'*
Candlesticks. At the end of the 15th century
there were entered in the inventory two great and
fair gold candlesticks given by John of Gaunt, Duke
of Lancaster, circa 1396-9, weighing together (in
1536) 450 oz. ; two silver gilt candlesticks, weighing
about 70 oz. each, given by Bp. Bokyngham, cir.
1362 — 1397; two large silver candlesticks (averaging
33 oz.), given by J. de Rouceby, cir. 1375 ; two
plain candlesticks given by P. Dalton, Treasurer,
cir. 1405 ; and one silver candlestick with three
pricks, or pykes, for three tapers, which stood on the
high altar, and was in charge of the keeper of that
altar. (Invent,^ pp. 9, 10.)* This three-branched
* *^ Invent J'^ i.e., a collection of Inventories of Lincoln Cathedral Church
reprinted, or extracted as a *' short-copy," from my paper in the Archaeologia^
liii., 4to, Lond., 1892. As some interest has been shown \snth regard to the
three -branched candlestick which in the fifteenth century used to stand on the
high altar in Lincoln Minster, it may be well to give the Latin description from
the late 15th century inventory, together with the corresponding entry in the
English inventory of the revestry taken by Treasurer Lytherland in 1536.
Under the head of * Candelabra ' ; ** Item j candelabrum argenteum cum iij
Pykes pro iij cereis superponendis ; habens ymaginem Marie et Gabrielis ac
umam continens unum lilium, et nativitatem domini sub jTnagines marie et
josephi ac resurreccionem et ascencionem domini necnon ymagines dei et marie ad
modum coronacionis in medio stiU totaliter fabricat. cum uno Knopp, deaurato
et bene inferius supra pedem habet viij angelos de argento deaurato. Et solet
stare super magnum altare sub custodia custodis ejusdem altaris et nondum
fwnderatur." Lf. Tz.=Irwent., p. 10. The English inventory some 40 or 50
years later supplies the weight, etc., as follows : — " Item, a Candelstike,
sylver and (* parcel! gylte ' altered to) gylte wyth one knopp yn the myddest
Notes on MedicBval Services. 117
candlestick which was wont to stand, not on a shelf,
but on the high altar itself at Lincoln in the latter
part of the 15th century was no doubt something
far more dignified than the poor and paltry brass
candlesticks which are sometimes offered for sale.
It was of silver gilt and weighed 80^ ounces
after some of its ornaments had been broken
away.* In the list of candlesticks in 1536 there
were also a pair, weighing about 90 oz. each of
silver, purest gilt, given by Bp. Chadworth, cir.
1470, and a pair in memory of Richard Smyth ; but
Dalton and Rouceby's candlesticks were not noted,
so that the total at both these dates alike is three
pair of ordinary size, John of Gaunt' s large pair,
and the triple light placed on the high altar. (/</.,
pp. 19, 20.)t In 1548 only two pair are left
(Bokyngham's and Smith's) besides the triple light
(p. 46). In the Marian list of nth May, 1557
i^yth dyverse Images, the Coronacion and Salutacion of owre Lady wyth
iij braunches, iij boles, iij pikes, weyng iiij score unces et dimidium, the
hightes (.'highest) bole wantyng two flowres, the second bole wantyng iiij
flowres, and the thyrd bole wantyng halfe the crest wyth the flowres." The
marginal note on this item indicated, I suppose, its destination when the royal
visitors were taking away the Lincoln treasures : ♦' extrahitur per capituluiity''
ms. A.D. 1536. Lf. G.=lnvent., p. 20.
• Sec the note to the preceding entry.
t It may give some notion of the relative weight of silver vessels if I state
that the average weight of the Elizabethan Communion Cups runs from 5 to
6 oz. without the cover. P^ach of the fairly massive silver candlesticks (figured
on plate vii. of Andrew Trollope's Church Plate of Leicestershire , 4to, 1890)
made in 1701, and given to Swithland Church in the reign of George the
S.'cond, measures 9J inches in height, and weighs a trifle over 12 oz. The
more elaborate «ilver-gilt candlestick made in 1654, and belonging to the
Church of Staunton Harold in I^iccstershire {ibid., plate iii), weighs some-
thing over 77 oz., and stands 18 inches high.
Ii8 Notes o7i MedicEval Services,
(Dugd. Monast.^ vi., p. 1290), there are in the
revestry only ** one pare of bearing candylstyckes of
lattyn'' (to be carried by the ceroferarij in the pro-
cession for High Mass, and set down on the step
before the altar). ** Item a nother pare of a larger
sworte standyng of the altare in our lady chore.
Item a nother pare of bearyng candylstycks broken."
(See ** Judas.")
At Ottery St. Mary, so late as 1342, Bishop
Grandisson, of Exeter, ordered one candle to be
provided for every altar. Registr. Grandisson. p. 131.
So John Myrc instructs the parish priest when
saying mass to take his candle of wax and * set her,
so that thou her see, on the left half of thine au/tere '
(line 1876).
At Westminster Abbey there were only four pair
of candlesticks in 1388, afterwards increased to six
pair. In 1540, only four pair. (J. Wickham Legg's
Inventory of the Vestry^ in Archaeologia, p. 34.) And
it appears from the drawings in the Islip roll that the
ornaments were not kept on the high altar there, but
put on specially for Mass. It was never considered
right to celebrate the Eucharist in darkness :* but
the burning of " two candles, or at the least one
and a lamp," at Mass time, became actual English
Canon Law only after the Council of Oxford under
Abp. Stephen Langton, in 1222. It was repeated
by Walter Reynold just a century later, only with
* "A sy byrnende leoht on circan thonne man maessan singe" {semper
lu?nen ardent in ecclesia dutn missam cantet). Laws Ecclesiastical under K*
Edgar (A.D. 967), cap. 42.
Notes on Mediceval Services. 1 1 9
the omission of the lamp. Lyndw. Provinciale iii.,
23, Linteamina, and app. pp. 7, 40. In the Consti-
tutions of Bp. Grosseteste, for his parochial clergy,
parishioners are bidden to do reverence when the
Sacrament is elevated, or is being carried to the
sick, * semper lutnine precedente, cum sit candor
lucis eterne;* . . tintinnabuluvi seiiiper precedat.'' —
E. Brown, Fascic. Rerum Expeteiidartcm^ ii. 410.
Langton's time was that of Bp. R. Poore at New
Sarum, and Hugh de Welles and Grosseteste at
Lincoln. By a curious coincidence we have records
of the ornaments, not only at New Sarum itself, but
in several of its prebendal churches and chapels for
the years 1222-4, ^^ exact period of the Oxford
Council. Out of nine churches visited by Dean Wanda
in 1222, only one (Mere, see Osmund Reg. i., p. 291)
has a pair of candlesticks, and they are of copper.
But two years after the Council the Dean begins to
take notice 0/ the defect (pp. 31 1-3) at Swallowcliff and
Horningsham. At Hill Deverel he finds one small
pair of bronze, and a lesser pair of iron. As for the
Cathedral itself, the Treasurer takes over at Old
Sarum in 12 14- 15 one pair of silver, one pair of tin,
one pair of iron, and nine candlesticks of enamel {id.
ii., pp. 128-9), and exhibits them to the Dean and
Chapter in 1222. He delivers over for the altars in
the rising Cathedral at New Sarum (ii., pp. 139- 141),
♦ Lyndewoode the canonist, who was a canon of Lincoln, has on the words
of Abp. Walter's constitution {♦• tempore quo missarum solennia jjeraguntur,
accendantur duae candelae vel ad minus una") the gloss, ♦' Candela namque
fie ardens sijjnificat ipsum Christum, qui est splendf^r Lucis acternac," with a
reference to the i<.oman canon Liw, which he quotes, thouj^h not Terhatim.
I20 Notes on Mediaeval Services.
for the altar of St. Peter none, for All Saints none,
but Bp. Poore makes up this deficiency by offering-
a silver pair, a legacy from Gundreda de Warren,
on the dedication day, 28th wSept., 1225, and him-
self made provision for keeping the light [Inmiiiare,
p. 39, not on, but) around the said altar; for St.
Stephen's altar a pair of copper candlesticks ; for
St. Nicholas, none\ for B. Mary Magdalene, none\
for St. Thomas the Martyr, one brass pair. Ap-
proaching the subject from another side, we find the
Bishop, in his famous Custom Book of Salisbur}',
requiring the Treasurer to find two candles above the
high altar (the earliest text gives ^'' in stiperaltari^'"^)
* Duos scilicet (in superaltare, altered to) in superaltari, et alios duo in
gradu coram altari, Dublin MS.^ now at Cambridge: 'in sup^?^ltari ' Osjnund
Register, 2LiS2Xis\mxy, fo. lb. The printed editions give an incorrect reading,
or, at least, they misrepresent the MSS., although something may be said in
favour of regarding the reading given by the editors as a possible emendation.
The interpretation is somewhat difficult. The late Henry Bradshaw supposed
the beam {trabs is specified at Lincoln) to be intended by ' superaltare ' at
Salisbury. It is, however, the opinion of some antiquarians that the * beam' ran
right and left, and not behind, the altar. The usual meaning of superaltare is a
movable hallowed slab. One which belonged to Card. Bessarion, to Count
Cicognara, and subsequently to Dr. Rock, of late 12th century work, measures
only about 12-in. by 7T-in. (see Church of our Fathers, i. p. 257) inclusive of the
border. This would only hold two candlesticks with base of 6-in. diameter
placed close together. Although the * superaltare aureum,' which belonged to
Salisbury in the early part of the r3th century (Reg. Osm., fo. 85^), may have
been a little larger than that which belonged to Dr. Rock, it seems highly
improbable that in olden time two small candlesticks should have been crowded
together upon such a base, even if the portable altar were ever placed at the
back of the high-altar as in a position of honour and security. All that we
know is that there was in the charge of the Treasurer of Sarum circa 1214-22,
besides the chest or box (archa) for books and relics, well boimd \^ith iron,
near the principal altar, •* another long box in like manner in which the golden
superaltar used to be laid up in days gone by" {in qua antiquitus superaltare
reponebatur. And Dr. Rock supposes that the superaltare was occupied by the
Notes on Mediceval Services. I2i
and two on the step before the altar (and the like on
some days at evensong and mattins). On Christmas
Day, and when there are processions, eight about
the altar fcircaj, two before the image of our Lady,
six others on high fin eminentiaj before [cora7ii) the
relics, crucifix, and images there, five in the corona
before faiitej the choir step, and five above the wall
behind the lesson-pulpit [super miiruni post pulpitiim
lectiontcm, i.e., the a7Jibo at the rood screen, id. i.,
p. 8). From Whitsuntide to the Nativity of our
Lady inclusive, tapers on a seven -branch candlestick
of brass. On ferial days, one at mattins at the
choir step, and two at mass, besides two tapers at
the Sepulchre for Good Friday,* and the great Paschal
candle ; also a mortar (or great night light) every
evening before St. Martin's Altar (N.E. of the choir),
and another at the W. door of the choir during
mattins.
The directions given to the Treasurer at Lincoln
chalice (northward) and the host (southward), ^calix ad dextrum latus ohlatcz^
at least in Italy [id. p. 261). He mentions such a stone represented as
• standing up conspicuously from beneath the cloth overspreading the papal
altar ' in one of Raffaelle's frescoes, shown in Vaticano Descritto, ed. Pistolesi,
t. vii., tav. xxiv. Du Cange cites Matthew Paris, Vitcz Ahbatum S. Albant,
pp. 71-80, and J. Beka in Egilhodo Episcopo Traj'ectens, 13, as using super'
altare in an unusual sense, equivalent to an ' upper frontil,' as Dr. Rock calls
it, Ch. of our F.^ i. 237«. Happily we are not bound to copy nunutely in
practice every custom that was in vogue in Italy in RaflTaelle's days (in church
or out of it), nor even to attempt to restore every detail of ceremonial which
may or may not have been introduced in the illustrious and Anglican church of
Sarum in the reign of K. John or of K. Henry the Third.
• The second of these Sepulchre lights was to be put out at night, and only
the one to be kept bumin;j through Easter Even until the procession before
mattins on Easter Day. Registmm Osmundi.
122 Notes on Mediceval Services,
early in the 13 th century were no less explicit.
Black Book, pp. 288-90. Ant. Beek's Book, fo. 6.
On the principal holy days, seven candles weighing
I2lb. are to burn on the 7 -branched brass candle-
stick, at evensong, or mass, or both. Also 5 candles
above the altar, and 2 on the bearing-candlesticks
which the boys bring in the procession and set down
on the pavement before the footpace of the altar.
Also one candle (** in a candlestick near the altar"
Nov, Reg^'^ on the north side by the altar, to burn by
day and by night; and 16 on the ** beam " along
(or beside, ' secus ') the altar, to burn only at mattins.
These last were four to the pound.
On Sundays and certain other days, one candle at
the corner or **horn" of the altar towards the
north. The Novum Registruvi subsequently ex-
plained that this was ** on the beam towards the
north, and 2 on the little candlesticks, not on, but
before the altar.
On week-days i above the altar (on the beam),
2 on the little candlesticks.
He had also to provide lights at the tombs on
Bishops' anniversaries, also 2 candles for Chapter
Mass, or whenever Dean, Precentor or Chancellor
were celebrating. When the Bishop pontificated at
evensong or mattins two cerofers were to stand
* Nov. Reg. i.e. Novum Registrum, an attempt made by Bp. William
Alnwick, circa 1439-42, to codify Lincoln rules and customs on the model or
skeleton of Statutes of St. Paul's, London. A convenient edition was printed
for my Father, 8vo, Lincoln, 1873, from such MSS. as were then accessible.
A text from an earlier and original manuscript, subsequently identified by
H. Bradshaw, will be found in " Statutes ii.," pp. 268-363, Cambridge, 1897.
Notes on Mediccval Services, 123
before him, and to walk before him, carrying two
lighted tapers in taper-holders fin cero/arai^iisj It
is possible that the **Iudaces — of brasse " which
remained till 1556 had been used for this purpose.
See below ** Judas."
The Decretals of Gregory iii. ti., 41, cap. 10.
Sane, where Honorius III. says, ** Semper liunine
prcecedente^ cnvi sit candor lucis aeternae^"* referred
originally to carrying the Eucharist to the sick.
These words (as I have said already) occur in the
constitutions issued by Bp. Ro. Grosseteste for his
parochial clergy in Lincoln diocese, where he bids
parishioners to do reverence when the Sacrament is
elevated, or when it is carried to the sick, for which
purpose a bell ftintinnabidiimj is to be carried in
front to give warning. Micrologus, c, 11, and
others cite the Ordo Romanus for lights at mass.
** Cantate hic." a marble stone with this in-
scription in old Lombardic letters marks the place in
choir where verses of responds were sung at Dirige^
and where the Litany Desk still is placed. It is
mentioned in the late 14th cent. MS. of a late 13th
cent, custom book, but with the slight inaccuracy
**Canite" for ** Cantate.'' It is sad to think that
the floor of the nave, once scored over with similar
directions for the procession, in roundels or pro-
cessional stones, had all its ancient landmarks
obliterated in the last century.
Capitarium. Here the sweeper of the church
was bound to provide water for washing hands after
dinner, and likewise for filling the chaplains' mass
124 Notes on Mediceval Services.
cruets. Here the relays of rulers of the choir
changed their silk copes, and put down their staves
when changing over between vespers and compline ;
and the vicars who had to read or sing found their
silk copes put out for Xki^va,-— Black Book, pp. 365,
369, 382. See below, pp. 137-8.
Cap (pileus). The celebrant's cap was handed to
one of the assistant boys at Gloria in Excelsis at
mass, who received i|d. for holding it.
Capicium. The chevet or east end of the church.
(Giraldus Cambrensis, Vita Remigii, cap. 43.)
Capitulum. The chevet, or eastern head of the
church. In later times the name was applied to the
Chapter House, *' the council chamber of the bishop,
the parliament house of the diocese, the daily home
of the chapter, doinus capitularisy (C. M. Church.)
See ** Missa Capitularis." The word is, of course,
used also most commonly for the '* Chapter'' or
body of Canons or Prebendaries who form the
Bishop's Council, and with him as their head {caput
principale, as the Canonists say)* constitute the body
of the Cathedral Church to serve as a consultative
body for the welfare of the diocese. In like manner
with the Dean as their head {caput numeralc) they
transact as a resident body the ordinary routine
business necessitated by their ordinary corporate
existence.
I am inclined to suspect some connexion of the
♦ See De Bouix, Part i. and ii. c. 2, cited by the late Abp. of Canterbury',
in his essay on The Cathedral y its Necessary Place in the Life and Work of
the Church, 1879, pp. 55, 59.
Notes on Mediccval Services. 125
term, Missa in Capitulo with the old ^^ capital maessey
In an antient latin conversation -book, the Colloquium
Monasticu7n of Aelfric, the pupil is made to tell his
master as follows : —
*' I have done many things this night: When I
heard the bell (* cnyll '=sig7tu7n), I arose from my
bed, and went out to church, and sang night service
(* uhtsang '=nocturiiam) with the brethren. Then
we sang [the office] of all Saints, and mattin lauds.
After these, Prime, and Seven [Penitential] Psalms,
with Litany and first mass (* capital maessan '^pri-
7na7n missam). Then terce {* undertide ') ; and we
did mass of the Day. After this we sang Sext
(* middaeg '), and did eat and drink and go to sleep,
and got up again and sang Nones ; and lo now here
we be, in thy presence, to hear what thou hast to
teach us." — Cotton MS., Tiberius^ A. 3, fo. 62^»
quoted in Hampson's Kalendars of the Middle Ages
[1841], ii. pp. 382-3.
Carpextarii. Workmen are mentioned in the
Black Book, 291, 293 ; Statutes ii., 409, 435, 462.
Carucata Boum. a team of eight oxen, /.^.,
sufficient for working a carucate (eight oxgangs). —
Dimock.
Catherine, Saint; — See ** Katharine.'
Cerotecae, Chirothecae, see **Serotecae"
(Gloves).
Chanter's Aisle. An old-fashioned name for
the aisle to the south of the choir, where some of the
Precentors were buried. See Bp. Sanderson's
account of the monuments. (Peck Dcsid, Curios. ,
126 Notes on Mediceval Services.
p. 296.) It is the contrary side to the pars cantoris
in choir ; but in parts of the church other than the
choir, the northern side belongs to the Dean, whose 1
** chapel '' and ** lodgings " are to the north. How-
ever, in the ceremony of censing the Dean took the
south and the Precentor the north. {Black Book,
p. 368.)
Childermas. We have tantalising references to
some obsolete customs relating to various seasons
of the year. That there was a boy bishop at Lincoln
as well as at Salisbury, at York, and elsewhere, may
be inferred from the appearance in the inventory of
1536 of *' a coope (cope) of Rede velvett with rolles
and clowdes, ordenyed for the barne busshop, with
this scriptur, ^ the hye way is besty A pretty full
idea of the ceremonies may be gathered from the
re-printed service books, and from the Camden
Miscellany, vol. vii.
Choristarum Domus. a house in Minster Yard,
next the Chancery, where the boys of the choir used
to live under their master. It is now the Organist's
house. For Ordinatio Puerorum sive Choristarum,
see Black Book, p. 410. There is a cartulary of
their property written about 1400. (A. 2, 4.)
Christmas. We find in the accounts (1406)
** In thak empt. pro choro ad fest Nat. Dni \dy
For gloves bought for the ]Mar}% Angels, and
Prophets on Christmas morning (** in aurora") 6d.
This is a customary payment (** consuetudo ") also
in 1452 and 1531. It probably referred to some
dramatic representation of the Nativity performed
Notes on Mediceval Services, 127
by the choristers or clerks. Straw (stramen) was
bought also by the Chapter for the Church of St.
Nicholas on All Hallows and Christmas Days. In
early times (cir. 1270) it was an established custom
for sailors to resort to Lincoln to ring for the service
of prime on Christmas Day. {Black Book, p. 374.)
In 1420 tithes to the amount of 8^. Sd, were assigned
to Thomas Chamberleyn for getting up a spectacle
or pageant (*'cuiusdam excellentis visus"), called
'^ Rtibtcm que7)i viderat,^^ dX Christmas. An anthem
sung at lauds on New Year's Day, and in the
memorial of the Blessed Virgin at ferial vespers,
begins thus : — ** In the Bush which Moses beheld,
and it was not consumed, we recognise and praise
thy virginity." This, no doubt, suggested the
title of the Representation.*
Choir Habit. Excepting at the time of the pro-
cession, terce, and high mass on double feasts having
a procession, when silk copes were worn until Agnus
Dei, the regular habitus chori for all who took part in
the choir service was a black cope of plain Deuxsevers
cloth over a surplice. This habit was worn also at
mattins in all seasons, and vigils of the dead through-
out the year. At Agmcs Dei they changed their
silk copes for the black choir-cope on procession
days, in their stalls ; and conversely on Easter Even
and Whitsun Eve they threw off their cloth copes at
Gloria in excelsis, and appeared in their white
• A corresponding representation of the Three Maries and the Disciples is
mentioned as Ijeing performed in other places at Easter. Sec Mr. J. H.
Fea.M;y's Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial, pp. 170, 172.
128 Notes on Mediccval Services.
surplices. Black Book, pp. 390, 391. The vicar,
clerk or chaplain, who attends a Canon when he goes
to read or sing, or when he enters choir or chapter
house, wears the black habit, except when silk copes
are ordered for all the choir, (pp. 382, 392). The
officiant began the sacerdotal versicle before lauds
in his black cope (p. 372). From Eastertide to the
Audit (Exaltation of the Cross), in the middle of
September, surplices were worn without the choir
cope on feasts of nine lessons, etc. (p. 391, cf 383).
This choir cope is still preserved at Lincoln in the
black dress of the four choir boys of the cathedral
foundation, excepting that sleeves have been added
in modern times. Over the surplice was worn a
black scarf, the *'almuce" or **amess'' lined with
fur. At Salisbury, canons had a privilege from
K. Edward I. to have their almuces of grey fur
on the outside, with a lining of minever (a kind of
ermine). The Sarum Sub-Dean and Succentor,
when not canons, had theirs of (black) Calabrian fur
externally, lined like the canon's with miniver, while
vicars choral had theirs of black cloth lined with
lambs wool or goats hair, and these were not
to extend below the waist. Sariwi Statutes (ed.
Dayman and Rich. Jones), p. 30; J. Wickham Legg
071 the Black Scarf, in transactions of St. Paulas
Ecclesiological Society, Vol. III., p. 42, 1892; W. H.
[Rich] Jones, Fasti Sar., pp. 255, 266, 277. See
above, pp. 48, 49. In 1437 Chancellor Patrick
desired that Bp. Alnwick should direct that the
canons at Lincoln should as a rule fomni temporej
Notes on Medimval Services, 129
wear only surplices and almuces, and not black
choir copes except when the custom of the church
required them to wear these copes in matutinis de
node. (Statutes ii., pp. 374-5.) The Bishop of
Lincoln wore surplice and amess as a canon when
he was installed. See above, ** Amitia."
The Vicar's dress is not specified in the Lincoln
Nfovum Registrum part 5, only it is implied that
it varied with the season ; so, presumably, they
wore the cloth copes only in summer. And from
the white borders in the front of the chorister's gown
at the present day we may infer that the boys, and d
fortiori the Vicars Choral, wore some kind of amess.
But of the Canons it is said (part 3) that they are to
wear (i) white linen surpliceSy and (2) grey almuces,
almicias de grisco, and (3) black woollen cloth copes, of
reasonable length. Their hair is to be cut round
like a wheel, and the tonsure '* sine stripulo angular i^
St. Christopher's Altar in the Nave. It was
probably near the N.W. door, or at the other end of
the north alley of the nave near the choir screen.
See Maddison's Wills, p. 19, no. 43, cf. id. p. 11,
no. 22.* In 1 53 1 Thomas Alford's chaplain said
mass here at 9 o'clock. An order had been made
19th Oct., 1492, that in future Morning Mass should
be sung here instead of at St. Nicholas' altar
Maddison's Vicars Choral, p. 68. Among relics at
• " St. Christopher's AJtar in the nave " may have been, perhaps, under the
Rood tower : but, at all events, it would in all probability stand in some
conspicuous place. The authority to which I refer in the text is " Lincolnshire
Wills : First Series, A.D. 1500- 1600, with notes and an inlroducloiy skclcli
by the Rev. A. R. Maddison, I .S.A." ; Lincoln, 8vo, 1888.
K
130 Notes on Mediccval Services.
Lincoln was a tooth of St. Christopher in a cr}'^stal
and silver gilt ampulla, and another relic in a silver
gilt double cross floree. See also ** Gilds " and
**Apertura." St. Christopher had a * new image'
about 1399.
Churches in Lincoln. I take the following list
from the late J. F. Wickenden's papers. See also
the map of Lincoln parishes in the Muniment
Room : — All Saints, Hungate ; All Saints, in the
Bail ; St. Anne, Thorngate ; St. Andrew ; St. An-
drew above hill ; St. Andrew ; St. Augustine, or
Austin ; St. Bartholomew (now in St. Martin's) ; St.
Bartholomew's Chapel in the Close ; St. Bavon ;
St. Benedict ; St. Botolph ; St. Clement ; St.
Clement ; St. Cross (** the prebendal church of
Holy Rood" — Venables)\ St. Cuthbert; St. Denys
(^*the prebendal church of Thorngate" — Venables) ;
St Edmund ; St. Edmundi iuxta Minores {Statutes \
ii-, 393); St. Edward; St. Edward; St. Faith
(Fides) ; St. Giles (Egidius) ; St. Gregory ; St.
James ; St. John Baptist ; St. John Evangelist ;
St. John Evangelist; St. Katharine without the
gates ; St. Lawrence ; St. Leonard ; St. Margaret
(in Minster Yard); St. Margaret (**the Chequer
Church"); St. Mark; St. Martin; St. Mary Mag-
dalen ; St. Mary, the Cathedral Church ; St. Mar}%
Crackpole \i.e.^ Creek Pool, Brayford] ; St. Mar)'-
le-Wigford; St. Michael-on-Hill ; St. Michael; St.
Nicholas ; St. Paul folivi PaidinusJ in the Bail ;
St. Peter-in-Eastgate; St. Peter-at-Pleas fadplacitaj\
St. Peter-at-Arches (** the Corporation Church");
Notes on Mediceval Services. 131
St. Peter's Superior; St. Peter stanhegate al's
stantheked ; St. Peter at the Chine Market ; St.
Peter le Wigford ; St. Peter- at- Gowts ; St. Peter ;
S. Petri ad Pelliforum (Skin Market \Statutes ii.,
393]); St. Rumbold, or Rumwold ; St. Stephen in
Newland ; St. Stephen ; St. Swithin ; S. Thomas of
Canterbury ; St. Thomas* Chapel on the High
Bridge ; Holy Trinity above Hill ; Holy Trinity ;
Holy Trinity. Liricoln Prebends are : — St. Botolph ;
Sanctae Crucis, St. Cross or Holy Rood ; St. Martin ;
Omnium Sanctorum, Hundegate; Omnium Sanc-
torum, Thornegate. (Precentor Venables says :
** St. Denys, Thorngate." — Guide, p. 31.)
CiMiTERiuM (Coemiterium). The Cathedral Yard
requires from time to time to be cleared from beasts
depasturing. Stat, ii., 391.
Arms not to be borne there. Black Book, p. 331.
CissoR, or SissoR, or Scissor, a tailor. These
spellings are found in the Lincoln Succentor's book
of 1527. The former is right in this sense, though
our common word ** scissors '' is a mistaken spelling
for ** cisars." (See Skeat, Etymol. Diet,) ** Sutori
sive cissori lineorum, 3^.," on the principal feasts.
** Sutori vel cissori pannorum lineorum pro tota
septimana [sc. S. Trinitatis] preterita, is. 2>d.'' A
•»• In the foregoing list I cannot say for certain whether the names repeated
in duplicate without further distinction (uz., Andrew, Edward, John Evang.,
Peter, and Holy Trinity) were intended by Preb. Wickendcn to imply that he
had found %o many churches of the same dedication, for I do not know precisely
the circumstances under which his list was made. He may, for example, have
meant that he required a supplementary box as a receptacle for more numerous
documents concerning the parishes in fjuestion.
132 Notes on Mediceval Services.
mender of vestments, ** reparitor," was also provided
by the Treasurer : a poor person to repair vestments,
copes, and cloths, the Treasurer finding his thread
(silk, linen, or hemp, as required). Nov. Reg., part 1.
Clock. The old clock being in a sad condition,
the treasurer T. of Louth, 31st March, 1324, under-
took to present a new clock, under the proviso that
he and his successors should not have the charge of
its repairs. It was by written custom the duty of
their office to keep, regulate, and repair the Minster
clock. Black Book, pp. 285, 350. T. de Luda died in
1329. About fifty years later one of his successors,
the beneficent J. de Welbourne, presented a new
clock, which was in existence until the i8th century.
A sketch of it is in the Gough collection at the
Bodleian, showing three quarter jacks or figures of
men, one at the top striking the hour, and two at the
sides for the quarters. One of these has been pre-
served in the Cathedral Library. The original 14th
century clock case (having done occasional duty as
a pulpit canopy at Messingham, whence Bp. TroUope
rescued it) has been restored to its old place in the
north transept for the clock which has been erected
at Lincoln in memory of Mr. Arthur Blakesley, of
Bishop's College, Calcutta, by Miss Alicia Blakesley.
CoLLACio. A reading in choir (at Lincoln)
selected by the Chancellor from some patristic or
devotional treatise, and brought to an end when
Bishop, or senior, gave the word (as almost within
living memory a Provost of King's used to terminate
the daily lessons ad libitum suum in College Chapel).
Notes 071 MedicBval Services. 133
Every evening in Lent (Saturday and Sunday ex-
cepted) when Evensong had been celebrated * hora
sexta ' [Nov. Reg., p. 33 1) the office of the dead came
later, then collation, and compline last of all. There
were also "coUaciones sanctorum Patrum '* read in
the Chapter House. See below ** Prceciosa^' cf.
Novum Registrum, part 3 and 5.
At Salisbury the collatio, after dinner in Lent on
week-days, consisted of a piece from Gregory's Liber
Pastoralis, or his Dialogus de Miraculis Sanctorum
Patrum, or else was superseded apparently by Vigils
of the Dead. T7'acts of Clement Maydestone, p. 48.
See above, p. 47. The Sarum Breviary and Legenda
provide the special Lectio ad Primam in Capitulo
for the Feast, and throughout the Octave, of the
Assumption and likewise of the Nativity of the
B. V. Mary.
Colours. The rule for liturgical colours given
for Saints' days at Lincoln in the latter half of the
13th century in the days of Bishop Gravesend may
be translated as follows : —
(After certain preparations have been made in
quire for first evensong of a double-major feast) —
** Let the Sacrist or his Clerk cause the high altar
to be made ready with ornaments proper for such an
altar for a solemn festival.
Then let him make ready also the silk copes for
the rulers of the choir, and let him see to it that
the copes be such as the feast demands, that is
to say,
If a Martyr (qf whatsoever rank, whether Apostle,
134 Notes on Medimval Services,
Evangelist, or Virgin), let there be copes of red
[* ruble,', i.e.^ rubeae] silk for the main part.*
If a Confessor, green or dark coloured (fuscij :
(perhaps for the latter * brown ' or * russet ' would be
a better rendering.)!
If a Matron or one Betrothed fsponsaj, saffron.
And the said copes ought to be worn by the
principal rulers of the choir, forasmuch as a thing
must always take its description from its principal
[part or feature].*'
The rulers of the second rank ^* secundariVJ might
wear copes or vestments of a different set or suit
f*" sectae'* J , — Black Book, p. 367.
Two out of these three Lincoln rules or customs,
which relate to Saints' Days only, do not tally with
the Sarum colour rubric which may be found in
missals of Sarum use. J In the Sarum rule saffron is
the only colour assigned to confessors, and its prayer
* Red worsted was provided for Somerby Church, Lincokishire.
t Sir T. Cumberworth provided in 1440, for Trinity chapel in Somerby
church a black suit ** to sing in of requiem^ or for Confessors." And ** for
holy days" black bawdekin (brocade) with green work. In other Lincoln
records we find whole cloth of gold for principal feasts. Red velvet on satin
for the * highest feasts of Holy Kyrke ' (in Somerby Church). Another suit of
red velvet for those feasts which are to be ministered in red, next principal
feasts. White for our Lady and Virgins (not Martyrs). For Lent and Vigils
white ♦* demyt." A double cloth of white and red for Lent, with a plain altar
cloth wdth frontlet of the same suit. For ferial days (when prayers were said
flexis genibus) white fustian, with black martlets. For Good Friday red. For
week days bord Alexander ; i.e.^ a. textile fabric of various coloured stripes in
eastern style.
X I ought perhaps to say " do not tally absolutely " for to the ceremonialist
yellow and green were interchangeable ; and, as Mr, St. John Hope has
pointed out, blue * almost certainly ' was in like manner reckoned the same as
violet or purple, and these last might be used for black.
Notes 071 Mediceval Services, 135
books moreover knew nothing of godly matrons as
forming any distinct class, until (at a comparatively
late date)* the church of Sarum undertook more
definitely to cater for other dioceses than its own in
the form of supplement or appendix * de communi
unius matronae.' York breviary prescribes certain
forms for SS. Batild, Anne, Martha and Pelagia to
be supplied de cormnuni matronae,
Bp. Thomas Beck left by his will to Lincoln
^linster in 1346 his purple velvet vestment for the
use of the celebrant at solemn exequies of the
departed. {Testainenta Eboracen/\, 2^, Surtees Soc.)
A complaint brought at Bp. Alnwick's Visitation
in 1437, declaring that some had worn red instead
of white, shows that white was considered at Lincoln,
as in other places, the proper colour for the * Lady
Mass.' Statutes ii. p. 402.
I have given a list of the Minster altar cloths in
* i,e.y when printing was applied to produce service-books. I leave this
passage about the • Commune Unius Matrone ' as I wrote it, because I believe
it to be right in the main, although I find that I was mistaken at the time in
thinking that 15 19 was the earliest book of Sarum use in which this supple-
mentary (non Sarum) office was provided. I find it in fact to be included in
the rare and early printed edition of 1494 (3 id. Feb.) by P. Levet, Paris,
whereof an interesting copy, long in hiding in that neighbourhood, at Sawston,
has been happily quite recently purchased for the University Library at
Cambridge. It contains after the Commune Sanctorum^ besides * Vnius
Matrone^' the ' Commemoratio beati Thome martyris' ; and after the Sanctorale
the three lists of Simdays and of simples with Rulers on which the final
Respond at Mattins, or that at first Evensong, was to be sung by two. Then,
after a blank, the Translation of St. Chad for Sunday before Ascension Day,
and on sig. xxio*i a convenient table De Capitulis dicendis in festis sanctorum
secundum vsum Sarum. Dr. Seager has some observations on the Commune
Vnius Matronae among the notes on ^ 94 (pp. 163-5) of his unfinished Sarum
Brc\iary Annotationes breviorcs (1855), p. xxxij.
136 Notes on Medmval Services,
Lincoln Inventories (Archseol. liii., 1892), and Line,
Dioc. Mag., No. 21, Jan. 1888, p. 136. Cf. id.
No. 22, p. 154. Dr. Henderson's York Missal, I.,
p. xxi., and Manual, pp. xx.-xxv. Dr. J. Wickham
Legg, Notes on Hist, of Liturgical Colours, 1882,
p. 48, reprinted from the Transactions of St. Paul's
Ecclesiological Society, vol. i. W. H. St. John
Hope, English Liturgical Colours (St. Paul's Eccl.
Soc), 1889, pp. 34-5. E. Peacock, EngL Church
Furniture, 1866, pp. 180-185.
* Colours ' (probably in the sense of pigments for
the paschal taper) were to be provided, among
other requisites, by the Treasurer at Lincoln (as
elsewhere), according to Novum Registruni. See
Statutes ii., p. 303 ; cf ii. 98.
Confraternity of the Church of Lincoln.
The title ** confrater et concanonicus " was of old
given to each member or the Chapter in relation
to his brethren. But ** fraternity " was not confined
to those who held a prebend or dignity with stall in
choir and voice in Chapter, nor was the bond of
familiarity confined within the limits of the clerical
order or of the male sex. Canute and his brother
Harold were received into fraternity at Canterbury,
and Athelstan and others at St. Gall. (Rock, Ch. of
our F., ii. 321-337.) As early as the 12th century
obits of *' our sisters " Outhild, Goda, and Merewen,
were entered in the Kalendar of the great Latin
Bible at Lincoln, still visible in the Chapter Library.
A few years after Worcester Cathedral had been
dedicated, a confraternity was started there on
Notes on Mediceval Services, 137
St. Wulstan's Day, Jan. 1225, but it was destined to
last only for seven years. (Anglia sacra i., p. 487.)
The Lincoln brotherhood had greater vitality. We
find, for instance, K. Edward III., with the Black
Prince, D. of Clarence, J. of Gaunt, and E. of
Lancaster and Lincoln admitted in 1343. And there
was still occasion to write out forms of admission in
the two following centuries. Black Book, pp. 408.
409. The benefits of fraternity granted by St. Hugh,
his contemporaries and successors (such as 33 masses
weekly in Lincoln Minster alone — Dimock Girald
Cambr. vii., appendix F) were duly set forth, appar-
ently by Grosseteste.
Consistory Court for Ecclesiastical Suits
AND Archidiaconal VISITATIONS. The large chapel
at the south-west end of the nave was granted in
1609 to Dr. Hill, Vicar Gen. of the Diocese, for his
court. (In Coney's map in th.^ Moiiasticon, 1817-30,
it is wrongly called **St. Hugh's" Chapel.) The
Dean's Consistory Court was in the central chapel of
the S.W. transept.
Constable of the Close. His chamber was
entered by a step ladder and small door in the first
bay of the Chanter's aisle.
Cope Bell. This was rung as a signal for
putting on copes. See Archd. Southam's complaint
at Bp. Alnwick's visitation in Oct., 1437. Vicars
changed their copes in the capitariinn, but Canons in
their stalls. Black Book, 382. See also Statutes ii.,
PP- 355 'fficirgin, 377. At St. Paul's, London,
when there was a procession with copes, the rule
138 Notes 071 MedicBval Services.
(a.d. 1506) was for the vergers to place a table in
the midst of the choir. The copes were laid upon
the table and the ministers came in their proper
order and took each man his cope quietly, without
noise or disturbance. Col^t's Statutes /or Chantry
Priests, &c., edited by Dr. Sparrow Simpson, 1890,
in ArchcBologia, vol. Hi., p. 21. When saying their
chantry masses they were to go in clean surplices
each to his appointed altar, **et super ea sacerdotalia
vestimenta induere," ib,, p. 19.
Coronation of Mary. See above, ** Altare
Magnum," and below, ** Curialitates."
Corpus Christi. This term sometimes means the
consecrated Host. So in the accounts for 1420, 205. is
the annual payment to John Rouceby for making wax
(tapers) for part of the communa, and great tapers
for the elevation (leuacione) of Corpus Christi and
of Blessed Thomas the Martyr at Christmas. Among
the images inventoried by the Treasurer in 1536
was an image of our Saviour, silver and gilt, stand-
ing upon six lions, void in breast for the sacrament
for Easter Day, having a beryl before, and a
diadem behind, with a cross in hand, weighing
37 oz.* There were also among the pyxes a round
pyx of crystal, having a foot of silver and gilt, with
one image of our Lady in the top, having a place
for the sacrament for Rogation Days, weighing
* Compare the account of the like ceremony described in the Rites of
Durham^ pp. lo, ii, as re-edited for the Surtees Society. Mr. H. J. Feasey
has a chapter on ♦ the Burial of the Cross and Host in the Easter Sepulchre *
in Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial (London, T. Baker, 1897),
pp. 129 foil.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 139
2if oz. Item a round pyx silver and gilt, with the
sacrament, weighing lof oz. The festival of
Corpus Domini, originated in 1264, was enjoined
by Abp. Simon Mepham upon the Province of
Canterbury in 1332 (Wilkins, Cone, ii., p. 560). It
is mentioned as of recent introduction in the com-
pilation of Statutes collected in 1523 (? date of
document). The celebration of this feast and its
octaves not unfrequently gave rise to doubts and
difficulties even in the 15th and i6th centuries (see
Clement Maydeston's Tracts, and Wilkins' Concilia
iii., 683), and at Lincoln in 1434 there was appar-
ently some doubt whose duty it might be to read
the Epistle and Gospel. Canons J. Marshal and
T. Ward threw themselves into the breach and read,
lest the high mass should be brought to a full stop,
as in point of fact was like to have been the case
f""^ prout alias de veritate cessaret^^J, and in order to
avoid scandal and an outcry of the people ; but they
subsequently Qune 12 th) protested solemnly in
Chapter that their reading then was not to be taken
for a precedent or an acknowledgment of any
obligation so to do. Of the existence of a Corpus
Christi Play at Lincoln we find the following slight
indication among *' curialitates," charged (among
** allocations ") in 1478-80, ** In commun* canoni-
corum existent' ad videndum ludum Corporis Christi
in camera Johannis Sharpe infra clausum, 175. iid.'^
Crucifix. Lights before the Crucifix in choir
are mentioned. Statutes ii., 403.
St. Crucis. Before the altar of the Holy Rood
140 Notes on Mediaval Services.
Remigius the founder was buried, according to
Matthew Paris. The ^' Rood Tower" has been
vulgarly corrupted into ** the Broad Tower."
fVenables.J The metrical life of St. Hugh describes
the great Crucifix, Mary, and John at the west of the
choir. I suppose the Rood Altar was on the floor
of the '' pulpitum^ or rood-screen, answering to the
present organ-screen. At Durham the entrance at
the west of the choir was not by a single central door,
but through two Rood- doors, right and left, with
the Rood itself high upon the wall between them.
On the western side of the lantern, facing the
Rood, was a Jesus Altar (Durham RitesJ.
Cruets. There were in 1536 '* two fioles of
silver and gilt " in the custody of the Sacrist. One
was in memory of J. Walpole, cir. 1445, the other-
had *'Ihs" engraved on one side, and ** Xps " on
the other. One of these was ** taken out by the
Chapter." Later on, Bp. Longland gave a pair for
this chapel. Invent.^ pp. 21, 72. And in 1566
there were ** Cruettes — ij. of silver and gilt re-
may n in g" {Lincoln Inventories, p. 80).
Curfew. Tolled on a great bell in the choir
belfry or Rood Tower, or, upon great festivals, on all
the great bells, the canons sending their men and
a supply of drink, by way (as it was thought) of
assisting the ringers. This was at sunset in the
summer, but after sunset in the winter. Black Booky
370, 585-
CuRiALiTATES. Thcse payments by courtesy,
not of debt, occur in the compotus rolls and old
Notes on Mediccval Services, 141
account-books at Lincoln. Thus in 1327-8 the said
R. [de Carleton, Clerk of the Communa] accounts
as paid for the work of the poor of Glentham parish
by the hands of John, the present vicar (or in 1334
'*of Mr. T. Beek") 75. Item do. T. de Carleton,
clerk vicar of Lincoln, for divers pains expended for
the chapter, of courtesy, 65. 8</. Item to the men
who carried the spear-staff (**lanceam'' in the 15th
century usually called '*hastam") from Nettleham
(the Bishop's manor) to Lincoln at Whitsuntide, to
drink, 65. %d. Item to J. de Rothewell for helping
at the mass of Blessed Mary at the first hour, los.
To W. Moghan for charge of the organs (in 1452).
To J. Lytyll, junior vicar, for charge and playing
{lusu) of the organs of the said church, 135. /^d.
To Rob. Dove for organ at Christmas and Nativity
of John Bapt., 135. \d. Again, to the verderer
{parcario) of Bytham sending two does, with the
expenses of a man bringing the said venison [ferine)
at Christmas, 35. 4^. (in 1480). And from 1500 to
1 53 1 I find paid to T. Watson (or other), porter of
the Close, as a reward (regard') for the clock, and
for Coronation of [the image of] Mary at the feast
of St Anne, 12s.
CusTURARiA, see ** Sempstress,^'*
Dalderby's Shrine. The late J. F. Wickenden
has written the history of the overtures made for
the beatification of Bp. John de Dalderby, who died
1 2th Jan., 1320, and has printed it with the scheme
for a service in his commemoration. In 132 1 J.
Wisheart, Bp. of Glasgow, granted 40 days' indul-
142 Notes on Mediceval Services.
gence to devout worshippers at his tomb, which is
in the great south transept at Lincoln. The stone
base of his shrine is still to be seen. It is on record
that the shrine itself **was of pure silver, standing
in the south ende of the greate crosse He, not farre
from the dore where the Gallyley courte ys used to
be kepte." (Memorandum relating to the letter of
Henry VIII., 6th June, 1540, written on the inventor}^
book of 1536.)
Day Bell. Called also, in Latin, **campana
diei," and **signum matutinale," thrice tinkled on
a great bell by a clerk in choral habit, after lauds,
as a signal for the morrow mass.
The Dean's Aisle. By analogy to the ** Chanters
Aisle," this should be the north choir aisle,
parallel to the choir; but apparently Peck, in his
addition to Sanderson {Desid, Curiosa, p. 304),
applies it to the great north transept, or ** cross
isle," by which the Dean passes to the Deanery.
However, the context shows that this is a mere
blunder.
The Dean's Chapel. On the left hand side as
one goes from the church to the Chapter House.
Here was formerly an upper storey lighted by
windows which looked into the north-east transept.
There are structural cupboards, or apotheccc, where
drugs for the poor, it is said, were stored. There is
a piscina or drain in the floor, which is sometimes
said to have been used by the dispenser of drugs.
It is however possible that it was used by the clerk
or sacrist for clearing the mouths of cruets fphialccj
Notes on Medmval Services. 143
for the altar service, which (as Mr. Micklethwaite
tells us) was the purpose for which such drains were
intended. I have suggested below (p. 148, n!) that
the Dean's Chapel may have been the chapel which
was dedicated in honour of St. George.
Dean's Eye. A name for the circular window in
the great north transept.
The Metrical Life 0/ St, Hugh has the following
passage on the circular windows known as the
Bishop's Eye and the Dean's Eye: —
Prebentes gemine iubar orbiculare fenestre
Ecclesie duo sxint oculi : recteque videtur
Maior in hijs esse presul, minorque decanus.
Est aquilo Zabulus,* est Sanctus Spiritus auster:
Quos oculi duo respiciunt. Nam respicit austrum
Presul, ut inuitet : aquilonem vero Decanus,
Vt uitet : uidet hie ut salvetur, uidet Ule
Ne pereat. Frons ecclesie candelabra celi
Et tenebras lethes oculis circumspicit istis.
Defunctis. See ** Benefactors," ** Missa pro
Defunctis," and ** Works Chantry."
St. Denys. (Dionysius, Bp., 9 October.) At
this altar was the chantry of W. Lexington, Dean,
who died c. 8 Sep. 1272, and was buried in the
great north transept, close to the entrance to the
Cloisters. Here in 1420 mass was celebrated for
Dean Lexington's soul, and for those of J. Wydynton
and Nicholas Hyche, but in 1500 at St. Andrew's
altar {computus fragment). On the position of this
chapel see WilliavisoiC s Guidcy p. 73.
The Dove. Probably a representation of a dove
let down by a string from a hole in the roof in the
• Zabulus a mediaeval form of Diabolus. Evil was commonly associated
with the north.
144 Notes on MedicBvai. Services,
ceremonies of Whitsuntide. See Hone's Every Day
Book, i. 685, ii. 663.
M. E. C. Walcott's Traditions of Cathedrals, p.
195, cites a reminiscence by the lawyer and anti-
quary, W. Lambarde, born in 1536, that as a child
he had seen at St. Paul's a white pigeon let fly out
of a hole in *'the roof of the great aisle." In the
Whitsuntide distributions, as recorded by J. de
Schalby, Canon of Lincoln in 1330, *'Clericus
ducens columbam " is to receive 6d. E. Venables
tells us that in later times \s. was the fee. So it is
in the Black Book, p. 335- ** Ducenti " may imply
either that he brought or produced a tame pigeon, as
at St. Paul's, or (as I think more probable) that he
drew a live dove, or an image of a dove, with strings.
As Barnaby Googe says :
On Whitsunday whyte pigeons tame,
In strings from heaven flie;
And one that framed is of wood,
Still hangeth in the skie.
Thus at St. Patrick's, Dublin, in 1509, 45. 7^. was
paid for the cords.
DuPLiFESTARii. It was part of the system of
brotherhood in the Cathedral body that invitations
to dine should be sent round by the canons or
dignitaries to the assistant ministers in time of
divine service while Tc Dcuni was sung at mattins,
or while the chalice was being mixed or **made"
for the oblation at mass. Black Book, 372, 378.
Any canon, however, might give to any minister he
pleased a standing invitation, serving for all Double
Feasts in the year, once for all. This was arranged
J,
I
Notes on Mediceval Services, 145
on All-hallow e'en, and his guest was called ''dupltfes-
tarius " (in the vernacular, perhaps, a double-feaster).
Edward the Martyr's Altar. See St. **Anne."
Egidius. See *' Giles."
Fabrick. See ** Works."
Fertory. a portable shrine, a hand-barrow, or
bier on which chests, tabernacles, or reliquaries
(**phylatoria," ** capsule reliquiarum," &c.) were
carried in procession, or were at other times allowed
to stand. See St. **Hugh." Four **feretra" are
noted in the Lincoln inventor}^ of 1336.
Ly Ffolcfeste. a feast at Christmas mentioned
in Canon J. Marshall's complaint at Bp. Alnwick's
Visitation in 1437. Statutes ii. 388.
Flagellum. ** Switches" or ** flails" of timber
(** meremium ") were made by the three cathedral
carpenters, and put on the great bells. They were
of sufficient size or value to be treated as perquisites.
(Black Book, p. 292.) Whether they were *' stays,"
or chiming hammers, or what, some campanologist
will perhaps explain.
Fleming, Richard, Bp. of Lincoln. Ob. 143 1.
Founder of Lincoln College, Oxford. His chantry
chapel is annexed to the Angel Choir on the north
of the church. (On its dedication see Willia?nso7is
Guide, pp. 91-2.)
Flute. The night watchman was allowed, if he
had the requisite skill, to mark the hours **per
fistulacionem." 'Black Book, p. 386.)
Forms. There were four moveable benches
(formae) which the sacrist or his clerk had to cover
L
146 Notes on Mediaval Services,
(? with decent white napkins, ** manutergia") on
greater double feasts before evensong: one before
the Dean, another before the Precentor, a third
before the Bishop's seat, when he was present, and
the fourth — this last a long music stool rather than
a desk — for the Rulers of the Choir to sit on in the
midst of the choir. [Black Book, p. 366.) It was
at the last, or at some other *' form in the midst of
the quire" that the officiant at procession stood to
say the collect or orison in the suffrage, post
introittim chori. (Ibid. 376.) The *' first" and
'* second" forms, below the stalls or higher step,
were occupied by choir boys and vicars; but the
latter seem to have sat in their ** lords'" (the
canons') seats, the stalls, when their respective
prebendaries were absent. (See Bishop Alnwick's
Visitation, a.d. 1437, Statutes ii. p. 409.) According
to the famous Sarum Custom-Book the term '' prhiia
forma'' is assigned to the boys of the choir, and
''' sectinda forma' ^ to men whose age and deserving
had advanced them to the middle rank.
** Frater, ascende Superius." When an
Archdeacon or dignitary is to be installed, he is
first placed in the stall of any prebend to which he
is collated (if none be assigned to his office), and
presently the person installing him (after shewing
him the Psalms of his prebend noted on the tablet
hanging above his head) leads him to the stall of
his office, saying, ** Brother, go up higher." [Black
Book, p. 275.)
Le Galilee. The greater southern porch, built
Notes on Mediceval Services. 147
as an entrance from the Bishop's Palace about the
time of Grosseteste, has a room above it where now
the Chapter muniments are stored, and where
formerly the Dean and Chapter took cognizance of
offences committed in the precincts in their court of
jurisdiction, ^^ curia vocata le Galilee ^ I believe that
the name may have been derived from some incident
in the half-dramatic Paschal ceremonies, such as the
sequence ^'Victimse paschali" (appointed for Friday
in Easter week in Sarum use, and sung in five
parts), containing the jingling metre —
Die nobis Maria, quid vidistis in via?
Sepulchrum Christi viventis, et gloriam vidi resurgentis.
Angelicos testes, sudarium et vestes.
Surrexit Christus, spes nostra : praecedet vos in Galileam.
Missale Saruvi^ 377. See also the Tuesday sequence
** Prome casta contio " (p. 368), which likewise
mentions Galilee, as do the Alleluia verse for
Thursday and the Easter Day Gospel (374, 362).
And compare the first respond at Mattins on Easter
Monday and Thursday (Brev. dcccxxiv., dcccxxxviii.),
the grail verse at the Thursday evensong, the anthem
at lauds on Friday (dcccxli. — iv.), and other references
to Galilee in the Breviary for that week. On the
Christmas and Easter dramatic dialogues, ** Quern
fjuaeritis in praesepe " and ** Quem quaeritis in
sepulchro," see the Winchester Troper^ edited for the
H. Bradshaw Society by the Rev. W. H. Frere,
pp. xvi. — xviii., 17, 145. The name of the court
occurs at Lincoln at least as early as the reign of
K. Edward III. See Black Book, p. 1 10. (At
Durham the "Galilee" is to the N.W. of the
148 Notes on Medueval Services,
lantern. It contained the altars of Our Lady of
Pue,* and Ven. Bede. There, about 1430, T. Langley
founded the daily mass of our Lady with organ
accompaniment. )
St. George. Here, in 1531, Morning Mass was
said at 5 a.m., by a priest of the Works Chantry.
Mass also was celebrated here at 6 by J. Crosby's
chaplain. (Maddison, Vicars Choral, 40, 41.) W.
de Skip worth gave to the church an ivory chest,
with copper handle, containing a relic (**juncturam,"
a joint) of St. George, for which Lady Joan de
Willoughby bequeathed money to make a gold box
or cover. There was also a portion of this saint's
breastplate enclosed among other relics in a small
gold crucifix, and part of his collar bone (**de
service," sic,) in a io| oz. gold and silver double
cross floree.f
* * Our Lady of Pue,* the old name for our Lady of Pity or Compassion.
Thus, Ant. Woodville, Earl Rivers, says in his Will, in 1483, " I ^^^ll that my
heart be carried to our Lady of Pue, adjoining to St. Stephen's College, at
Westminster, there to be buried by the advice of the Dean and his brethren ;
and in case I die south of the Trent, then I will that my body also be buried
before our Lady of Pue." — Testamenta Vetusta, p. 380. A representation of
the Blessed Virgin sitting with the Body of our Saviour taken down from the
Cross and extended in her lap, Madonna della Pieta, was a favourite subject for
Italian painters. The ** ymage of pyte," which appeared as a woodcut, with
an indulgence, in Caxton's primer (circa 1487) and elsewhere, and which is fully
described in Henry Bradshaw's Collected Papers y pp. 89-95, ^^ a different thing,
representing our Lord with the marks of His Passion as He appeared in the
vision known as ♦ the Mass of St. Gregory.'
t Mr. Maddison finds that in 1457 the late Dean Mackworth's chantry mass
was in ** capella sancti Georgii." At first sight it is natural to suppose that this
was near Mackworth's tomb, by the S.E. pier of the nave. But it has occurred
to me that what is commonly known as the Dean's chapel may have received
this dedication in the 14th century, when the cultus of St. George received
an impetus.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 149
Gilds. Miss Lucy Toulmin Smith has edited
her father's account of six Lincoln Gilds (No. vii.
in English Gilds ^ E. E. Text Soc. 1870), and I
gather brief notices of four or five others from the
Lincoln Wills, edited by Mr. Gibbons and Mr.
Maddison.
Gild of St, Anne, Lincoln. Ro. Huddleston,
citizen, bequeathed 35. 4^. to this in 1487. (Gibbons,
p. 195.) ** Gilda s'ce Anne in civitate predicta (Lin-
coln) vocata le great guilde in ecclesia sci Andree
Lincoln," 1545. Chantry Certif, '^1,^0, ^. Pageants
or Sights of St. Anne's Gild are mentioned in
1514-21, etc., 1555, 1568. Leland says, in the
Church of St. Anne.
Gild of St. Benedict, founded (like hardly any
other) in honour of ** God Almighty (and of the
B.V.M. and our Lord Jesus Christ"). Engl,
Gilds, p. 172. Chief days the Purification, and (for
mom speeches) Sunday after St. Michael, and
Sunday after Epiphany.
Gild of St. Christopher. In 1392 W. Wayte left
6.S. %d. to this; and in 14 16 J. de Kele, Canon
residentiary, gave a bequest to the same. {Gibbons,
pp. 86, 127.)
Gild of St. Clement, the Lincoln Bakers' Gild.
Charter 28 May 1523.
Gild of Clerks'*^ of Lincohi. Mentioned 1381.
Ro. Appulby, in 1407, gave a bequest to that gild
" while it lasts; whenever my name shall be recited
• For Qcrks' Gilds see Hone's Every Day Book, i., pp. 753-4. Rock,
Church of Our Fathers, ii., 418 n., 444, 486 n.
150 Notes on Mediceval Services.
among names of the departed, with this antiphon,
Alma Redemptoris^'^ &c. Ro. Huddleston gave
2od. to it in 1487. {Gibbons, pp. 107, 195.) Peter
Efford, citizen and notary public, in 1540, who
desired to be buried in the chapel of St. Peter-in -
Eastgate Church, gave 35. 4^. to *'the Clarks'
Gylde, for to say or sing this antiphon, Doniine
71071 seai7idum actum Tneum Noli me judicare, &c.
Cum [Ps.] De pro/undis clamaui,^' (Maddison's
Wills, No. 61, p. 24.) Stock and plate lately
belonging thereto mentioned 13 Feb., 1549.
The Cordwaiiurs, or Shoemakers, so called
because Spanish leather was supplied from Cor-
dova, were under the patronage of St. Blaise
(3rd Feb.). The Cordwainers' Company and that
of the Weavers were the only trading com-
panies at Lincoln distinguished by having a Royal
Charter. The brethren and sisters accompanied
their graceman yearly in procession from St.
Thomas' Chapel on the High Bridge to the Minster,
each offering \d. fVenables.J In 15 19 it was
ordered that so far as possible every man or woman
in Lincoln should be brother or sister, and that they
should pay for each man and wife at least 4^.
Gild of Corpus Christi. Founded Easter Even,
1350, for folk of middling rank. In the will of
P. Dal ton. Treasurer of Lincoln in 1401, it is
mentioned that he and the Mayor of Lincoln, and,
apparently, Geoffrey Lesthropp, or Le Scroop,
sometime Prebendary of Heydour, who had died in
1380, had been brethren, and had worn garlands
Notes oil MedicBval Services, 151
(probably of silver) when holding the office of
**graceman" of the Gild. [Gibbons^ p. 97.) Gild
of Corpus Christi in St. MichaeFs-on-the-Hill,
1383. Ibid,, p. 12,
Gild of the Resurrection of Our Lord, Founded
at Easter, 1374. This company keeps herce for the
departed, and lights for the Easter Sepulchre. Has
Mass and offerings on Wednesday after Easter.
Grace after dinner with Ant. Regiiia celi, letare.
Pater noster. Recitation of names of brethren and
sisters departed. De profundis. (This Lincoln
grace has more affinity with York, or with West-
minster, than with Sarum use. See my Tracts of
Clevunt Maydeston, p. 155 ; Westminster Mass-
Book, ed. J. Wickham Legg, iii., col. 1379.)
Members of this Gild, and that of St. Benedict,
contributed \d. each to palmers going on pilgrimage
to Rome, or to St. James of ** Galacia," i.e.,
Compostella, in Galicia. Etiglish Gilds, p. 175.
Mentioned 1526.
Gild of St. Michael'On-the-Hill. Founded on
Easter Even, 27 March, 1350, for folk of common
or middling rank. Feast on the eve and day of
Corpus Christi. Ibid., p. 178.
The Great Gild of B. V. Mary, Lincoln. A
semi-religious, semi-mercantile foundation ( Venables,
p. 50). To this Ro. de Sutton, merchant, left
5 marcs in 14 13. This is probably the Great Gild
of Lincoln to which Ro. Huddleston, citizen, gave
35. 4^. in 1487. (Gibbojis, pp. 139, 195.) The
gild-hall, which now goes commonly by the name
152 Notes on Mediceval Services.
of **John of Gaunt's Stables," was built in the
middle of the 12th century, and still stands on the
east of the High Street. It belonged to the church
of St. Anne (Leland). Dedicated to St. Anne,
parish of St. Andrew {Chantry Certif., 1545).
See Venables' Walks through Lincoln^ pp. 32,
50, 51. This *' Great Gild" can hardly be the
same as the Great Gild of St. Anne, mentioned
above, as Ro. Huddleston's Will, 1487, mentions
both the magna gilda Lincoln and gilda Saricte
Anne,
Gild of the Fullers of Lincoln. Founded 28th
April, the Sunday before Philip and Jacob, 1297.
Finds a wax light before the Rood. None to
work on Saturday after dinner, nor on holy days.
Brethren and Sisters going on pilgrimage to St.
Peter and St. Paul (at Rome) to be accompanied as
far as the Queen's Cross without the city, and on
notice of return to be met there and accompanied
to the monastery. Ordinances sealed with seal of
the Deanery of Christianity at Lincoln, 5th Sept.,
1337. They seem to have chosen a ''dean" for
their Gild. Engl. Gilds, p. 180.
Gild of St. George. Mentioned 1530, 1540.
Gild of St. Luke. For the Painters, Gilders,
Stainers, and Alabaster men of Lincoln. Founded
1525-
The Shoemakers Hall. Put to the northward,
18 Feb., 1549.
Gild of the Tailors of Lincoln, Founded in 1328.
Brethren and Sisters to go in procession at Corpus
Notes 071 Mediceval Services. 153
Christ! Feast. To give \d. for pilgrims : ale to the
poor (with prayers) on feast days. Ibid.^ p. 182.
Gild of Tylers or Poyntours of Lincoln fgilda
tegidatorum. Founded in 1346. On each day of
the feast of Corpus Christi prayers to be said over
3 flagons and 4 or more tankards, and the ale given
to the poor. Ibid., p. 184.
The Weavers^ Co7Jtpany. A trading gild in-
corporated by Royal Charter. Most of the others
were only licensed.
For the later Company of St. Hugh and our
Lady Bell-ringers (161 2), see ** Ringers" and (St.)
** Hugh's Bells." And for the Minster Brother-
hood (i2th — 1 6th century), see ** Confraternity.^'
St. Giles (Egidius, abbat, i Sept.). At his
altar, in 1531, Hugh de Walmesford's chaplain said
Mass at 6 a.m. In 15 12, H. Langdell was ad-
mitted Ravenser chaplain in Chapel of St. Giles.
D. ii., 64 (i). No. 26. Two of Ri. Ravenser' s
chantry priests in succession celebrated between
8 and 9. And Ri. Faldingworth's at 10. {Vicars
Choral.) About 1400 J. Grantham tells us that the
chaplain of R. Faldyngw^orth celebrated **in capella
sancti Egidij." (Fo. 42**.) Also Gilbert Thymbelby,
who was a Ravenser chaplain, desired to be buried
1544 at the south end of the altar in St. Giles,
though he was actually laid in the Angel Choir.
Maddison's Wills, pp. 2)1 (No. 88), 149. (Is there
any evidence earlier than Brooke's Guide, 1840,
that the chapel where the Taylboys chantry and
monuments are was named St. Giles' Chapel ?) As
154 Notes on Mediccval Services,
to identification, see the opinion expressed in
** Williamson's Guide,'' 1890, p. 72.
The Hospital of the Poor of St. Giles, outside
Lincoln. This was made over to the Vicars cir.
1275-80. It afforded a home of rest for infirm
Vicars, and supported a chaplain for the souls of
Canon Walter de Welles (1242) and W. de Newport
{cir. 1270). Vicars Choral^ pp. 12, 13, 61. A
'* clerk of the hospital" was to be paid a small
sum for the following obits in 1330-40 and 1527;
H. de Lexington, Ri. de Gravesend, H. de Cicestria
and Colswayn, and Simon de Bamburgh. The
ruins of the hospital are on the left side of the
left-hand road (Langworth-gate) going by Eastgate
eastward from the Minster. See Novum Registru77i
(in fi7ie). Statutes, ii., p. 363, «. Cf, ibid., 193,
376, 2>^2, 393, 470, 806, n., 839.
** Gloria laus et honor." The hymn in olden
time sung on Palm Sunday morning by seven
boys in a high place, at the second station in the
procession on the south of the church, before going
(at Salisbury) through the cloisters to the west
front. {Saruvi Processio7iale, p. 52.) It is the
original of No. 98 in Hyifins Ajicient aiid Modern.
This antiphon at Lincoln was sung by boys in a
procession on Palm Sunday, either at the mediaeval
southern arch which spanned the Bail (until it
was taken down in 1775), or at some other
station where the Cathedral carpenters had hung
a pall, and placed seats decorated with hangings
for the Canons. {Black Book, i.e., Statutes i.,
Notes on MedicBval Services. 155
p. 292.) See Flores Historiarum (Rolls Series) 1.,
p. 418.
Gradale. a grayle or music-book for the
service of the Mass was kept in the choir-seats;
probably one on each side. {Statutes^ ii., 398.)
Ly Grecefote. The bottom of the ** Grecian
stairs" (Greesen, i,e.^ steps). {Statutes^ ii., 395,
396.)
Grates. The carpenters and the glazier were
bound to cover and uncover ** grates " in Lent.
Black Book, p. 291. This was, perhaps, connected
with the ceremony of covering the images, as it
certainly was with hanging the ** Lenten veil"
before the high altar. Perhaps the word is a form
of ** crates," and means the same as herces, or,
possibly, lattices in front of cupboards or recesses
containing relics. It would be natural to translate
it ** without fee," but that there is no other
** object" to the verbs. Moreover, ** grates" is the
English equivalent for the French **^r///^." It is
interesting to find the term ** in the grates" in use
in 1 68 1 (Bishop Ken's time) at Wells, probably
(says Canon C. M. Church) with reference to the
fifteenth century ironwork of Bp. Beckington's
chantry chapel.* See Ducange, 6rr<2//^5=une grille.
Grosseteste. See ** Robert."
GuTHLAc's Altar (St.). This is mentioned in
the list of altars in Re(ristru7n Antiqtdssimum
between St. Stephen's altar and that of St. John
• Tlu Prebendal Stalls and Misericords in the Cathedral Church of Wells.
(A/chacologia Lond., vol. Iv., p. 336.)
156 Notes on Mediceval Services,
the Evangelist. I am convinced that this old-
fashioned saint had to make way for the cultus of
St. Anne.
Hearse. In the Obit-List of 1527 we find — For
Bp. W. Smith, ** To the Treasurer for wax 15^.,"
** pro erectione le hers, id,^' For T. and Margaret
Fitzwilliam, *'pro cera circa le hers, 8^.," and **pro
erectione le hers, 2d.''^ Also, for Dean Flemynge,
"ordinanti et preparanti les hers in die obitus, id''
The ^^herce'' or **hers" was an open-work frame
of wood or iron placed round a tomb. It was
som.etimes wagon-shaped, or arched, at the top (see
Rock, Ch. of Our Fathers, iii., p. 92) sometimes
gabled. It had on the top edge certain perpen-
dicular pricks or spikes for tapers, which gave it
something of the appearance of a harrow (cf.
ericeusy a hedgehog), whence its name. Mr.
Peacock has given a drawing of a portion of such
a hearse which he got in a ruined condition from
Snarford Church. {Engl. Church Furyiiture, pp. 26,
126-8.) It has for the upper frieze a thin plate of
latten, with the inscription, **Aspice quid prodest
transacti temporis euum : Omne quod est nichil est,
preter amare Deum." The term thus applied to
the catafalque and chapelle ardente combined, was
originally applied to the triangular stand for the
24 tapers of the mattins service of Teneb^^ae on the
'* Still Days" in Holy Week, which has the ap-
pearance of a transverse section of a catafalque
with candles. An iron hearse is attached to one of
the Marmion tombs in Tanfield Church, Yorkshire,
Notes on MedicBval Services, 157
and one of brass to the effigy of Richard, Earl of
Warwick (1439). Those at Lincoln were evidently
either temporary structures of wood, &c., or else an
iron framework, transported from one chapel to
another as occasion served. There is a trace of
** a herse of timber to be sett above . . . "in
the Commissioners' return of the Cathedral orna-
ments, to be destroyed or retained, in 1566.* The
elaborate hearse of Abbot Islip at Westminster,
1 6th May, 1532, has been frequently figured {Vetttsta
Monume7ita, iv., No. 48 ; Rock's Ch, of Our Fathers,
ii., 500). One designed by Inigo Jones for King
James I. is in Nichols' Progresses of King James,
iv. — iii., 1049. That for King Charles I., with
a cross on the pall, but no lights visible, at
least in the scope of the picture, in J. Fuller
Russell's Hierurgia Anglicana, p. 12>Z'> from Sylvanus
Morgan's Sphere of Gentry. Neither of these
retained the gabled form.
St. Hugh's Bells. St. Hugh's tower, the
southern of the two western towers, contains a peal of
eight. I have given an account of the ** Companye
of Ringers of Sainte Hughe Bells and our Ladye
Bells," which, no doubt, was started as a con-
sequence of the new interest in bell-ringing when
Great Tom was re-cast (then in the N.W. tower) in
1 6 10. It is in St. Hugh's tower that there is the
Chapel of the ringers, with the list of names,
• The list is but a fragment, one half being torn off lengthwise. A careful
print of the words and letters which remain is given in Archaologia liii. (1S92)
among Inventories of Lincoln^ ^ xi.
158 Notes 071 Mediceval Services,
161 2- 1 725, partially given in my papers com-
municated to the Lincoln Architectural Society in
1889-90, i.e.y so far as they remain legible. See
Statutes ii., 626-7.
St. Hugh's Altar. The southern apsidal chapel
in theN.E. transept is sometimes called St. Hugh's.
He desired to be buried along by a wall of the
chapel of his patron St. John the Baptist, which
was on the north side of the church. [Magna Vita,
V. xvi., VI. XX., pp. 340, 377.) And there his
head was preserved after his translation in 1280.
See below, at pp. 166-7. We read, however, more
than once of an ''altar o{ St. Hugh." '* [Pers]one
de Paxton ab abbat de Edenbro', 12//. de dicta
decima fact' altari beati Hugonis iili, 135. 4^.*'
(Jordan de Ingham's accounts, 1271.) The Bokyng-
ham chaplain said mass at 6 a.m. at St. Hugh's
altar in 1531. {Vicars Choral, p. 41). Was this,
perhaps, in the chapel of St. Hugh's belfry at the
west end ? We read that chaplains of Bp. Hugh de
Welles' chantry said Mass ''at Peal altar'" at
7 o'clock; likewise that they said a Mass *'at St.
Hugh's altar." [Vicars Choral, p. 41.) Are the
two identical ? According to the plan by J. Coney,
in the modern edition of Dugdale's Motiasticon,
" St. Hugh's Chapel " is the name of the Bishop's
Consistory Court. Browne Willis [Survey of Cathe-
drals, ii., p. 34), on the authority of Cotton MS.
Tiberius E. 3, places the chantry of Bp. Buckingham,
which was endowed with Lillford Rectory, at St.
Hugh's Chapel. So also Maddison, Vicars Clioral,
Notes on Mediceval Services, 159
p. 41, from an act of 1531. The chronicle of
Louth Park Abbey, p. 16, after mentioning the
murder of little St. Hugh, i Aug., 1255, says that
a few days earlier (15th July) '*the altar of St.
Hugh was consecrated." See below, " Peal Altar."
St. Hugh's Tomb. Behind the centre of the
reredos. This was solemnly censed at Evensong
and Mass. {Black Book, pp. 368, 380, cf. 393-4.)
The Treasurer placed a light upon it on the anniver-
sary day of each Bishop of Lincoln, and two on St.
Hugh's own day {ibid., 289-90). Offerings were
made at it {ibid., 243, 335). Cf. Precentor Venables'
paper on the Shrine and Head of St. Hugh, 1893.
See an account of its opening, by E. V., in Line.
Dioc, Mag., Feb., 1887, P- 25. In 1401, P. Dalton,
Treasurer, bequeathed iid. each to the two night
watchmen at St. Hugh's Tomb. {Gibbons, p. 97.)
St. Hugh's Shrine. This stood '*on the backe
syde of the highe aulter neare unto" (Sanderson
adds ** north of") **Dalyson's tombe, the place
wyll easlye be knowen by the Irons yet fastned in
the pavement stones ther." It was removed "to
our Jewyll house," by order of Henry VIII., 6th
June, 1540, after which the above account was
written. In 1641, Ro. Sanderson stated that it was
*' of beaten gold, and was in length 8ft., and 4ft.
broad, as is now to be seen. The irons only now
remaining." See Lincoln Inventories, by Chr. W.,
in Archaologia, vol. 53, 1892, p. 92. Peck, Desid.
Ciiriosa, p. 317. W. Stukeley's Itiner. Curios.,
tab. xxix.
i6o Notes oji Mediceval Services,
**Fertur" or Feretory of St. Hugh. John
Welburn, Treasurer, who died in 1381, gave ** one
great fertur {'/eretrum^) silver and gilt, with one
crose lies* and one Steple in the mydyll and one
crose in the toppe, with 20 pinnacles and an Image
of our Lady in one end, and an Image of St. Hugh
in the other end, having in length half a yard and
one inch ; and it is sett in a Table of Wood and
a thing in the middle to put in the Sacrament,
when it is borne ; weighing 1 7 score ounces and
one." This remained till 1548, the other iowrferetra
having been plundered, finveyitories, pp. 14, 44.^
Keepers of St. Hugh's Altar are mentioned in
Vicars Choral^ pp. 51, 52, a.d. cir. 1263-75, 1329.
And on p. 50 '* Adam de Feretro [Sci Hugonis]"
occurs in 1260.
St. Hugh's Relicks. In a 15th century inven-
tory of Jewells, &c. (a fragment), we find noted a
tooth of St. Hugh in a *' phylaterium " of crystal
standing on four feet with a pinnacle at the top
weighing, with the contents, 2 oz. Among taber-
nacles with relicks, an angel of silver gilt, with
two wings spread, standing on six lions, holding in
his hands a fertory (now moveable) containing the
finger of St. Hugh, a little chain silver gilt, 3 1 oz.
A round crystal pyxe ornamented with silver gilt
below and above, with relicks of St. Hugh and
* "One Crose lies" (1536); "one Crosse lies" {1548). The somewhat
earlier latin inventory unfortunately wants the leaf which would have given us
more light as to this phrase. I suppose it means that the reliquary in question
was in structure like the model of a church with aisles, &c.
Notes on MedicBval Services, i6i
others, lo oz. In 1536 only the first and third of
these remained. In the interval ** the hede of seint
hugh, closed in silver gilt and enamelled" (with
3 old nobles and 2 ducats of gold rivetted in it),
** a toyth of seint hugh, closed in byrall with silver
and gilt," and '''oyle of seint hugh, in birrall, closed
with silver and gilt," besides his mitre, pontifical
ring, bede cloth, a book called Cum animadverterem
(possibly Cato de moribus) and several other
'' relikes, jewels, and othe stuff belonging to St.
Hugh head," were delivered to Sir W. Johnson,
27th Nov., 1520. (Inventories, Y^. 11, 12.)
Little St. Hugh's Shrine. The tomb (with
remains of the tabernacle work above it) where lie,
lapped in lead, the remains of ** young Hew of
Lincolne," said to have been slain by a Jewess on a
Friday in 1255, and discovered in the house of
Jopin the Jew, stands in the ambulatory passage
against the outside of the southern wall of the
choir, at the back of the Decani Stalls, opposite the
arcade of the choristers' vestry. (See Chaucer's
Prioresses Tale, Lives of the Saints, Aug. 27th.
Whytford's Syon Martiloge, ist Aug.*) Oblations
** parvi Hugonis" are mentioned above under
** apcrturay The tomb was opened by Dean Kaye
and Sir Joseph Banks in 1791, and a body, 3ft. 3in.
long, discovered, wrapped in lead. An account by
Matthew Paris, Hist. Ano;l., f. 784. A paper on
• Aug, 27th fell on a P'riday in 1255. Aug. ist was Sunday. The date
given in the Louth Park Chronicle is ist Au;;. 1255, and the boy is said to
have been nine years old.
M
1 62 Notes on MedicBval Services.
Little St. Hugh is cited in Wild's Lincoln, p. 27,
from Archccologia. Lethieullier, the writer of it,
visiting Lincoln in 1736 was shown a statue of a
boy, made of freestone painted, about 2oin. high,
with stigmata, and bleeding wound on the right side.
He thought that the shrine given in Stukeley's
Itine7'ariu7n Curiosum belonged to this infant.
Images. Doubtless there was a large number of
images of saints in the Minster. The late 15th or
early i6th century Treasurer's inventory mentions
certain images of precious metal. One '' of Christ,
silver gilt (with a void place in the breast, to hold
the Host at the time of the Resurrection)* standing
upon six lions. A beryl before and a diadem at the
back of the head, a cross in the hand, 37 oz."
One '' of Mary, Mother of God, sitting in a chair,
silver and gilt, with jewels in crown, holding a
figure of her Son on the right, a sceptre with three
pearls in the left, a shield or ouche enclosing the
relick of her hairs, 23 oz." The Child held a ball
with cross, silver gilt, in His left hand. The inventory
of 1536 tells us that this **grett Image" was the gift
of Ro. Mason, who was Precentor 1482-93. {Inven-
tories, pp. 4, 5, 16.) The latter of these was probably
seized as a ** supersticious reliquye" when much
plunder went to the King's jewel house in 1540;
but the image of our Saviour was allowed to remain
till 1548 (p. 45), when it was devoted to the repair
of the Minster. In 1565-6, *' Images — none re-
mayning," was the return to the Queen's visitors
♦ "For the Sacrament on Estur Day." Inventories^ p. iC.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 163
(p. 80). We read in the co7npukis of 1420 of the
'* Image at the Dean's tomb^'' ** Image of our Lady of
Grace y^' ** Image of our Lady on the south of the
choir'' and ** Image of St. Christopher," In the
accounts for 1399-1400, the last named is described
as new. In 1537, J. Burton, Burghersh chantry
priest, desires to be buried "in the northe yle unto
the ymage of St. Christopher." Maddison, No. 43,
p. 19. Ro. Awbray's will, 1535, speaks of an
Image of our Lady, apparently on or over the high
altar. (See below ** Piscinas" No. i.) In 1433,
J. Cotes, Canon, desired to be buried in the chapel
of St. Thomas ** before the image of that saint"
(Apostle or Abp. ?). Gibbons, p. 158. J. Parkyn,
vicar choral, i Sept., 1548, desires to be buried
" before the late Image of St. Oswald of the north
syde of the high altare." {Maddison, No. 103,
p. 38.) In 1537, Ro. Dowffe, vicar, who played
the organ for the Lady Mass and Jesus Mass, to be
buried '* in the north yle before the ymage of St.
Rooke (St. Roch). Id., No. 44, p. 19. The chapels
in which structural brackets (apparently pedestals
for images) still remain at Lincoln are as follows :
St. Nicholas (N.E. of Angel Choir) ; St. Blaise
(Russell's Chantry), two', in Longland's Chantry,
several never completed : opposite the Galilee door
(St. Thomas's [? of Canterbury] altar) ; and St.
Mary Magdalen's (the Morning Prayer Chapel).
The Irons. An altar and chantry, where
Katharine Swynford (mother of Henry Beaufort,
Bp. of Lincoln), Duchess of Lancaster (d. 10 May,
164 Notes on Mediceval Services.
1403) was commemorated by a Mass at 7 a.m.
in 1 53 1.. {Vicars Choral, p. 41.) It will be re-
membered that the tomb of her daughter, Joan of
Westmoreland (d. 13th Nov., 1440), stood parallel
to that of the duchess until it was crowded in at the
foot under the same canopy by Bp. W. Fuller,
dr. 1670. Can room have been found for a minute
altar where the second tomb now stands ? The
panel which her effigy faces may have had a picture
or crucifix in it. Possibly the irons may have
enclosed a small space outside the presbytery at the
south of her monument, so that the celebrant should
be unmolested by passers by. Or, again, it is not
impossible that there should be a second altar in
the choir, though hardly (I think) so far eastward.*
* There were two altars in the choir at Ely (as Dr. Stanton tells me), the
high altar and the ** altar in choir," near which, at the entrance of the present
choir, where the original slab still covers them, Bishop Hotham's remains were
laid to rest in 1337. The stone canopy over his tomb was removed under one
of the arches at the side further eastward in 177 1. It is said of his place of
burial, ♦' Ipse autem sepultus est in ecclesia sua cathedral! apud Ely, et
honorifice collocatus ad partem orientaleTn altaris in choro, versus magnum
altare.^'' Wharton Anglia Sacra, p. 648, Liber Eliensis abridged. In the
ecclesiastical province of Rheims, as Mr. Edmund Bishop informs me, an altar
in the chevet, to the east of the high altar was very common, and the custom
spread elsewhere, through the Premonstratensians. But the more remarkable
arrangement at Ely (and perhaps at Worcester) was due to a different cause.
At Ely the old high altar was only one bay eastward of the east line of the
transept walls, and the monks* choir was under the lantern. In the middle of
the 13th century the building was extended eastward ; a new high altar was
dedicated within the added portion (the cathedral choir of modem times) and
the former high altar stood in the old place, but became known as ** a//ar^
chori.^^ It is, I believe, a moot point among antiquarians whether the princi-
pal or high altar at Salisbury stood, in 1258, at the eastern transept line
beneath the painting of our Lord in Glory, near which is a winch (devised, it
is supposed, for the Lenten veil or for the Paschal taper) ; or whether it stood
Notes on Medueval Services. 165
St. James' Altar. In the Chapter Acts A. 2.
Z2>^ fo- 45^ (Feast of St. Katharine, 25 Nov., 1441),
repairs were needed for ** windows of the western
dove [-cote?, * columbe occidentalis'] near the
pinnacle, which is mounted by the steps hard by
the chapel of St. James." Mr. Maddison suggests
that the altar in question may have been in the
place where fuel is now kept, and the pinnacle will
then be identified as that on the northern turret
which is surmounted by a figure with a horn,
commonly reported to be a representation of the
excellent '* Swine-herd of Stow" who (as tradition
says) contributed a peck of silver pennies to the
minster fabrick. As to the reputed position of the
Chapel of St. James, see Murray's Handbook to
Cathed7'als. Nothing is said of any Mass celebrated
there, in the list of 1531 ; but possibly it was there
that one of the Vicars sang Mass between 8 and 9,
viz., either for Aveton Chantry, Lacy, Rowell and
Luda, or Pollard, or (less probably) for K. Edward
II. and Isabella ; for the altars in these instances
are not specified. Maddison' s Vicars Choral^ pp.
42-3.
The Jesus Mass. This had an organ ac-
companiment, cir. 1520, 1536. . Vica7^s Choral^
pp. 24, 45. Bp. Smyth's will (15 14) provided
in something more near to its present position further eastward. The plan
dated 1733 (fifty years before James Wyatt was allowed to obliterate ahnost
every trace of the history of Salisbury Cathedral Church), which was repro-
duced by J. D. Chambers, shows an enclosed space behind the high altar
(in the last-named position) somewhat as it was at Lincoln and Peterborough,
aod at Winchester and eUewhere.
1 66 Notes on MedicBval Services.
that his chantry priest, with at least one Vicar
choral and the Master of the Choristers, together
with the boys, should every Friday sing '' Missam
de Nomine ^esu, vel de Quin-que Vulneribus^ cum
nota^^'' before the crucifix on the south side of the
church. (Ro. Churton's Lives of Founders of
Brasenose College, p. 516.)*
St. John Baptist's Altar. This altar was
being rebuilt and refurnished by St. Hugh at the
time of his death, and he had once hoped to
dedicate it. By his express desire he was buried
along the wall to the south of it. And here his
head was kept after the translation of his tomb to
the Angel Choir in 1280. At St. John Baptist's
Altar was the chantry of King Edward II. and
Queen Isabella, and Mr. Maddison has recently
observed that in the Chantry Register A. i. 8. ?
fo. I. the viscera of Q. Eleanor were deposited by
St. John Baptist's Altar. (Browne Willis, citing
Cotton MS. Tiberius E. 3, calls the altar where K.
Edward II. was commemorated *'St. Mar}''s Altar."
Survey of Cathedrals^ ii., 34.) In J. Grantham's
book, cir. 1500, I find at fo. 41** a payment to *'a
* At Norwich the ** Jesus Chapel " is an apsidal chapel north east of the
presbytery. The organ over the reredos of the high altar did duty for masses
in this chapel as well as for choral mass. At Durham " Jesus Mass " was
sung every Friday at '* Jhesus Altar," on the west of the lantern there,
opposite the choir door, the Master and the quiristers singing in a loft or
gallery to the north. They sang also ♦* Jesus Anthem " in the body of the
chiu-ch after evensong in choir on Friday night, with another anthem, to the
tolling of the Galilee bells. Rites of Durham, p. 29. Dr. Rock, (Ch. of
Our Fathers, iii., p. 113 n.) identifies "Jesus Mass" with that of the Five
Wormds. I think it was the Mass of the Most Holy Name.
I
Notes on Medueval Services. 167
chaplain celebrating at St. John Baptist's altar for
the souls of K. Edward and Isabella his consort."
Here, according to Grantham, was a Mass for
*' H. Lexington, sometime Bishop" (but see next
entry). Here, in 1531, were the chantry Masses of
W. de Tornaco's and W. de Wynchecumbe's vicars
successively between 8 and 9 a.m. {Maddison,
pp. 42, 43.) The Cotton MS. Tiberius E. 3 (cited
by Browne Willis, Catk. ii., 34), places the chantry
of Simon Barton, W. Gare, and W. Thornton at
"St. John Baptist's altar." According to the
obit list of 1527 (A. 2, 8, fo. 31^) the chantry of
Henry, Duke of Lancaster, ** de fabrica beate
Marie," paid iid, to the priest celebrating Mass
(on his obit) at the altar of St. John Baptist. In
^Z^o^ W. de Belay, citizen of Lincoln, left by will
{Gibbons, p. 2>^) torches to the chapel of St. John
Baptist, &c. Mass of the Blessed Virgin (" cum
nota") with organ accompaniment, was sung here
daily **at the first hour" in 1428, 1434, 1436, 1531,
&c. {Ck. Acts, p. II8^) Thus in the Chapter
Act, of 24 Apr., 1428, it was ordered ** pro novis
organis in capella sancti Johannis baptiste vbi
missa cotidiana beate Marie virginis cum nota
celebratur, et pro emendacione antiquorum or-
ganorum in choro maiori, soluend ix. lib." A. 2. 2,2,
fo. 46, cf fo. 118^ (1436). On difficulties as to
the identification of this altar see Venables' Sliri?ie
and Head 0/ St. Hui^h, Maddison, Vica7^s CJioral,
PP- 31-2.
St. John the Evangelist. The book of J.
t68 Notes on Mediceval Services.
Grantham (fo. 42), cir. 1500, tells us that the
chaplains of Bp. J. de Dalderby's chantry, and
those of Sub-dean Henry de Beningv^^orth and his
brothers, Sir Robert and Thomas, were here. In
1 53 1, Bp. H. de Lexington's chaplains celebrated
at 7 and 9 a.m. respectively, and the Beningworth
chaplain (a Vicar) still said Mass here between 8
and 9. {Vicars Choral^ 41, 42, 43.) Before the
altar of St. John Evang. {cir. 1260) were laid the
corpses of Vicars and junior members of the
Church, attended by the choir. {Black Book^ p. 395.)
From the obit list of 1330-40 it appears that Bp.
H. de Lexington's chantry paid iid. ** to the clerk
of the altar of B. John" {Martilogium).* The
chaplain of H. Lexington's chantry was, in Feb.,
143 1-2, liable to provide candles for the * choir'
where the daily Mass of our Lady, called Salve
sancta parens, is celebrated. {Chapter Acts, 59^.)
Judas. One of the candles in the herce for
teneh^ae in Holy Week represented the traitor, and
is sometimes called the Judas candle, at least by
modern writers. The antiphon sung at lauds
on Maundy Thursday, when the last light was
darkened, was ** He that betrayed Him had given
them a token." {Brev. Sar., dcclxxxii.) But what
appears as *'a Judace," *'thejewes light" (men-
tioned with **the pascall post, the sepulcre," and
* Martilogiutn is the name given to (A. 2. 3.) a register \vritten in the
second quarter of the 14th century by John de Schalby, Canon of Lincohi.
See the indexes to the Lincohi Black Book {ed. Cantab. ^ 1892), and Statutes,
part %* {ibid., 1897).
Notes on Mediceval Services. 169
'*the maydens lighte/' in Peacock's Church Fur-
niture^ pp. 163-4 et alibi, was the forerunner of these
modem dummies and save-alls which are sometimes
reprehensively painted to counterfeit the true
natural wax which, as St. Augustine or some other
early writer says, ** in substantiam huius lampadis
apis mater eduxit." Processionale, p. 82. I cannot
say whether the name for the wooden save-all
was derived from its deceptive character, or from
its connexion with the torches in Gethsemane, for
Halliwell says that the word is used for the handles
or sockets of torches for procession ; but the thing
is sufficiently explained in the church accounts of
St. Mary at Hill, London, 151 1. '' The Judas of the
pascall, id est the tymbre that the wax of the pastel
is driven upon, weigeth 7 lb." Ch. Furn., p. 163.
Rock, Ch. of Our Fathers, iv., pp. 244-5. (Canon
W. Cooke suggests that the derivation is from
Heb. vii. 14.) It was put in the upright branch of
the paschal candlestick or post, which itself was
made of wood, latten, or brass. At Lincoln no
judases are noted in the earlier inventories, but in
1566 are ** Judaces — iij. of brasse yett remayning."
Inv. p. 80. Possibly these were bearing-candles
for the procession at Mass, or more probably for
carrying before the Bishop at pontifical vespers or
mattins. See above, ** Candlesticks." Also, ** now
remayning In the old revistrie j alterstone (black), a
sepulchre, a ( . . . . ivord perished), a crosse
for candelles called Judas crosse, and other furniture
belonging to the same sepulcre, the pascall with the
170 Notes on Medmval Services,
Images in Fote belonging to the same sepulcre
and a candlestike of wodde." (id,^ p. 81.) ''For
Tymb'r and the making of the crosse that beryth
the Tenebre lyght othur wyze cawlyd the ludas
light, xviijV. It' for pycs' of yron for ye sayd lyght,
iiijV. It' for wax for the sayd lyght iij nyghtes,
ijV." (Stanford in the Vale Accounts, 1558-9.)
St. Katharine's Altar. Here chaplains of
the Burghersh chantry said Mass in 1531 at 5 a.m.
and 10; and at 8 o'clock Woolfs chaplain. Here,
too, was Swilingham's chantry. (Vicars Choral,
pp. 41, 42 ; 41. Muniment, D. ii., 50, box 2.)
Precentor Venables (in popular books, not citing
his authority) tells us that here Mass was said for
the Brethren and Sisters of the Confraternity of
Lincoln Church. {Williamsons Guide, pp. 90,* 121 ;
Walk through Minster, p. 42.) Browne Willis,
Cath, ii., p. 34, refers to the Cotton MS. Tiberius
E. 3, which gives the chantries of Barth. and H.
Burghersh, and Ri. Stretton with W. Woolvey (or
Woolney) at St. Katharine's altar. Stretton had
been prior of St. Katharine's, Lincoln. His chantry
(1334) see Muniments D. ii. 51 (box i); and
chantry register (A. i. 8.), fo. 4, 6, et in fine libri.
St. Katharine's Priory. — This was at the foot
of Cross Cliff Hill to the west of the road south of
Lincoln, but it concerns us here as it is mentioned
* I have the authority of the late Precentor (whose loss we feel so deeply,
and that not least in matters relating to the history and antiquities of Lincoln)
for saying that in Williamson's Guide to Lincoln, ed. 3, p. 90, line 16,
"St. Catherine" is a mistake for "St. Nicholas."
Notes on MedicEval Services. 171
in the order for reception and enthronization of a
Bishop. It was a Gilbertine or Praemonstratensian
priory of the foundation of Sempringham. It was
founded by Robert de Chesney, a.d. 1148, and was
endowed by St. Hugh with the prebend of Canwick,
its prior being bound to provide a clerk to follow
the choir in the Minster. Black Book, pp. 81, 252.
The new Bishop spent the night before his installa-
tion at the priory and thence walked barefoot to the
Cathedral Church, cloth being spread for him and
distributed to the poor by his servants after he had
passed. Novum Registrum, fo. i^. Venables' Walk
through Lincoln, 2>^, 41.
Kiss OF Peace and Loving Brotherhood.
After kissing the Altar a new Dean of Lincoln used
to be placed in his stall, where he kissed the Bishop
and all his Brethren. Black Book, p. 280. A
Canon on admission kissed first the Dean, or his
deputy carrying out the Bishop's installation man-
date {ib. 274). A Canon likewise, before his
departure, kissed the Dean and all his Brethren
who had performed the rite of Extreme Unction
{ib. 295). A layman admitted to ** the Brotherhood
and Fraternity of this Chapter and this Church of
Lincoln'* was admitted to the kiss after swearing
fidelity {ib. 409-10).
As regards similar ceremonies, the little boy
(parvus de choro) who came to sprinkle holy water
after compline kissed the Dean's hand {ib. 370).
The two persons who were to cense the altar and
tombs, &c., at Magnificat, first knelt to say an Ave
172 Notes on Mediceval Services.
before the high altar, where carpet was spread at the
upper step, and then kissed the ground. They
likewise kissed the middle of the altar, after censing
it [ib. 368). The return to the Commissioners in
1566 says, ** paxes — none." And so far as I know
in earlier times there had been at the Minster no
osculatoriuvi or pax per se. At High Mass the
Gospeller gave the Priest the Gospel book to kiss,
and the principal Deacon kissed both the ** texts,"
and all members of the choir kissed the crucifix
(possibly on the text; Black Book, p. 375) while the
Nicene Creed was being recited (ib, 379).
Laundress. — According to the Black Book, p.
288, the Treasurer *' debet lotrici quatuor s. per
annum." In the Succentor's book of 1527 we
find such entries frequently as ** Cissori et lotrici
cuilibet, 3^." At Trinity week, ** Lotrici vesti-
mentorum pro septimana preterita, is. 3<3^." The
Novum Registrum, part i, declares that the Chapter
and the Treasurer are to find a laundryman, or
washer- woman, to wash the albes, altar- towels,
towels, or linen. {Statutes ii., part 2, p. 303).
Lavatory. It was the sweeper's duty (1260) to
see that there was a supply of water ** in lavatorio
capitarii" for washing hands, and for filling the
chaplains' cruets when they were about to celebrate
anniversary Masses for the dead. The third bell-
ringer was to wait till the Dean (or the Canon in
weekly course) washed his hands after dinner and at
once to begin ringing the first peal for vespers.
{Black Book, p. 365.)
Notes on Mediceval Services. 173
Lecterns. — There were ** several in choir and
out." These were stripped of their coverings on
IMaundy Thursday and Good Friday. {Black Book,
p. 366.) At the lectern in choir the Succentor
placed a musick-book, and the 3 canons next in
order to him came to sing the Respond at Vespers
with the Verse and Gloria Patri [ib. 367). Then
the cerofers stood by it, having fetched their lighted
candles from the high altar for Magnificat, The
celebrant presently took their place to say the
Collect,* the Sacrist and the Canon's Clerk standing
on either side. After the Orison, the School
Master called some with good voices to sing there
['^ 07^ganizare^')y or on minor doubles the Succentor
deputed some boys for the same purpose (p. 369).
At Mattins two of the 2nd form went after the
lesson to begin the Respond there (p. 371).
At second Evensong three Deacons sang the
verse there (the middle one wearing a silk cope of a
different suit from that which his fellows wore (pp.
382-3). Evensong of our Lady was begun there
by the Canon in his silk cope, but he put it off and
went to his stall with his black choir cope for the
Little Chapter and the Versicle before Magnificat
^P- 3^5)- The 3rd and 6th Responds to the Lessons
at Mattins by two Sub-deacons at the pulpit {viaj^gin)
or lectern in choir, the 9th by two seniors at the
lectern (p. 387). Before it one who was crossing
the choir was to bow before the altar {^' ante
• Only the Collect at Evensong was thus said at the lectern. At the other
hours the Orison was said in the stall (p. 385).
174 Notes on Mediceval Services.
altare, in superiori parte chori, coram lectrina,"
p. 390);
Ro. Awbray, vicar choral, gave in 1535 '*a
carpett to lye upon the banker in the high queare."
(Maddison's Wills^ p. 11, No. 22.)
A lectern was placed at the head of the dead man
for canons to read the 9 lessons in Vigils of the
Dead, and the Verses were read there by pairs and
the Responds begun, only the last Respond was
sung by three canons (p. 393). At solemn anniver-
saries of the Dead the lessons were read at the
lectern in choir, but the Verses of the Responds in
the midst of the choir, standing on the stone
inscribed ''' cantate kic^^ {Black Book, p. 395).
In a weird representation of the conversion of St.
Bruno a picture of reading this lesson in choir is
given in i6th century printed Sarum Horce (1529),
at the 4th lesson of Vigils of the Dead.
Lincoln Farthings. See Pentecostals,
Longland's Chantry. Below the south door of
the choir, immediately to the west of it. Bp. John
Longland prepared a chantry chapel, and when he
died (7 May, 1547) his heart was buried at Lincoln
(his viscera being interred at Wobum, and his body
at Eton). But before that date the Commission of
K. Henry VIII. had begun the work which K.
Edward Vlth's was soon after to continue in
abolishing chantries.
St. Lucy's Altar. In Jordan de Ingham's (or
his successor's) accounts, 1294, '* anno octavo," we
Notes on Medimval Services. 175
find, on the back of an early roll of Re and Ve^
** delivered to Adam Bell, chaplain for the altar of
St. Lucye, 135. 40^." This is the only mention of
this altar which I find.
The Malandrie or Malandery. A hospital of
the Holy Innocents founded by Bp. Remigius for
the reception of lepers. It stood at the entrance of
the South Park. Among J. de Ingham's accounts
in 1 27 1 I find: — ** Item fratribus hospitalis, Lincoln,
2od. Item Leprosis ibidem, iid. Item custodi
altaris Beate virginis, 65. 8^." The Church of
Holy Innocents on the Green had a lepers' chapel
of the Blessed Virgin attached to it, but separate
from it. Lincoln had another lazar hospital, St.
Leonard's, to the north-west; and possibly St.
Giles' had originally the same beneficent purpose.
(Precentor Venables, second Walk throttgh Lincoln^
p. 43 ; first Walk, p. 2>'^.) In Novum Registrum,
part I, the master ** hospitalis beate Marie Magda-
lene de ly Maladrye extra Lincoln," is mentioned.
[Statutes ii., part 2, p. 306.)
St. Mary the Blessed Virgin. The Minster,
or ** mother church of Lincoln," is styled in
William Rufus' confirmation charter (1090) of the
Conqueror's grant of liberties and benefits, ** the
Church of the Holy Mother of God." And in a
charter of K. Henry I. (concerning Biggleswade)
A.D. 1 132, and in numerous other documents the
** church of Blessed Mary of Lincoln." Whether
the high altar here was ever (as at Salisbury)
entitled the altar of the Assumption I cannot say.
176 Notes on Mediceval Services.
At Salisbury the eastern limit of the church was first
built, and the principal altar in that part, though
destined for the Lady Mass, bore the title of ** Holy
Trinity (and All Saints)." The retro-choir at
Lincoln was added 1255-80 (after the new choir of
Ely), in readiness for the translation of St. Hugh,
and here was the altar of the Blessed Virgin.
According to the 4th Injunction of Abp. Courtenay
in 1390 the '' viissa de die'^ was to be celebrated
with due honour (^' honeste'") on occasions when the
high altar itself was given up to the celebration of a
Bishop or a King's obit. The ** keeper of St.
Mary's Altar" was mentioned, as we have seen just
above, in 1271. In 1434 (i8th Dec.) Ri. Ingoldesby
was '' superviser or master of the altar of B. Mary,
and her chapel where the Mass of our Lady is sung
daily with organ accompaniment," and he was
required to provide wax and lights. {Chapter Acts ^
A. 2, 32, fo. 99.) In the 18th centur}' Chapter
Order Book, loth Sept., 1771, the northern apsidal
chapel in the N.E. transept is called ** St. Mar}^'s
Chapel"; and Essex frequently styles the same
*'St. Mary Magdalen's," q.v. (Venables' Archit.
Hist., p. ? 28.)
Peter Dalton, Treasurer of Lincoln, gave a pair
of silver candlesticks, a blue cope and a green
cope, to the Minster. {hiventories, pp. 10, 31,
33.) He was buried in the nave [Dcsid. Cur., p.
312). He died in 1402 al. 1405, leaving the posi-
tion of his burial-place to his dear brother Ri.
Wynnew}^ke and the good will of other my lords
Notes on MedicEval Services, 177
his colleagues,* and made bequests to the high
altar, the altar of the B.V. Mary ubi celebratur
missa Sahie sancta parens, and to Normanby church.
(Gibbons, Wills, p. 97.) Browne Willis, Survey of
Cath. ii. 34, 1742, places at St, Mary's altar the
chantries of Dean W. de Thornaco (? Gilb.
Humphreyville) and K. Edward II. on the authority
of the Cotton MS. Tiberius E. 3. (W. of Tournai
gave a black cope to the Minster.)
Mass of our Lady. It would seem natural to
suppose that this was sung here (as at Salisbury) at
the central altar in the chevet, due east of the high
altar. In Robert Sanderson's time, in 1641, before
the troubles, '* our Lady's chappel " was the name
given to ** the middle of the three east chapels."
[Desid. Cnrios., pp. 294-5.) There is the Q.
Eleanor monument recently renewed with the old
lombardic inscription, ''^ Hie sunt sepulta viscera
Alienore quondam regine Anglie vxoris regis Ed-
wardi, filii regis Henrici, cuius anime propitietur
Deus: Amen ^ Pater noster. (See p. 166, *' St.
John Bapt.") Wherever it was done, the Lady
Mass had organ accompaniment, and the celebrant
was solemnly assisted by deacon and subdeacon.
White was the proper colour for the vestments,
but in 1437 the vicar representing the Prebendary
of Leicester St. Margaret's in Lincoln Church,
at that time a Dean of St. Paul's, complained that
• Wc need some word in English like confreres to express the idea of the
common brotherhoo<l of canons which was asserted in the days of old by the
significant phrase confraUr et concanonicus.
N
178 Notes on Mediceval Services.
red was worn. (Vicars Choral^ pp. 45, 53, 61.) In
1428, 1434, 1436 a Mass of B.V.M. was sung daily
at the altar of St. John Bapt, **at the first hour''
iib., p. 32), (cf. *'at the hour of prime," Black Book,
p. 368). About 1330-40 the obit list in Schalby's
Martiloge (fo. 44) tells us that the chaplain who
celebrated Mass of B. Mary ** hora prima" had to
find i^s. ^d. to pay for the yearly obit of Simon de
Barton. (In 1527 this chantry produced only
185. 4^., unless there is a mistake of v for x.)
He died in 1280, and was buried before the middle
altar in the great north transept. At the same altar
where the Lady Mass was sung the chaplain of
H. de Edenstowe's chantry celebrated at 9 a.m. in
1 53 1. The chantry of W. de Tornaco at the same
period was likewise at the altar w^here the Mass of
the B. Virgin was said ** prima hora" [ib., 42, 53).
Her Mass was to be begun before the bell rang for
Prime. {Black Book, p. 374.) The order for
censing at Evensong in 1260 was for Dean and
Precentor together to cense (i) the high altar,
(2) tomb of the founder, Remigius, then say
Magnificat as they made their way [from the nave]
to (3) the altar where B. Mary's Mass is celebrated
at the hour of prime, (4) tomb of St. Hugh,
(5) Dean goes to the altars and tombs on the south
side in turn to cense them in order. Precentor
meanwhile turning off to the north to do the
like. After which (6) they walk together to their
places, keeping their own side — decaiii and cantoris
{ib. 368).
Notes on Mediccval Services. 179
Commemoration of B. Mary. This, as else-
where, was a **full service" said every week, except
in Advent and Septuagesima ; special evensong,
mattins with three lessons, and Mass ; on Saturday
if possible (with ist evensong on the Friday), or on
some other free day. There is evidence of the
regular observance of this weekly commemoration
in the Rolls of ic*t: and Ve from 1272, the earliest
extant, to the last, 1639-40. When service of
B. Mary was said the Treasurer had to provide 3
candles in a bason (pelvi) in choir. {Black Book,
290.)
Service of B. Mary. The Little Office, said
hour by hour after the several choir services of the
day on all ordinary days, and traced to the 8th
century, duly appears at Lincoln. From 1408 or 9
it was ordered that every Vicar on admission should
undertake to stay to ** mattins of the glorious
Virgin, in choir, after mattins of the day," and the
Treasurer from much earlier times had been bound
to provide two candles in the bason in choir for that
service as for ferial mattins. {Black Book, pp. 399,
^2>Z ^^"> 290.) The Evensong of our Lady was to
be begun at the lectern in choir by the Canon in
course after Evensong of the Day, and her Com-
pline likewise after Compline for the Day {ib. 385).
On a few great occasions such as Advent Sunday,
Passion and Palm Sundays, and in the three great
feasts or weeks of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun-
tide, as on festivals of the B.V.M., the Little
Office was not said in choir {id. 385).
i8o Notes on Mediceval Services.
St. Mary's Tower (the north-west tower).
This formerly contained ** Great Tom of Lincoln,"
but the p7xsent Great Tom (1835) hangs now, with
the quarter bells, in the great central tower. Our
** Lady bells,'' a peal of six, bequeathed by Gilbert
d'Evyll in 131 1, hung in the central tower until
they were recklessly melted down when Great Tom
(having been cracked in 1828) was re-cast. The
company of ringers (16 12- 17 25) whom we have
mentioned above (p. 153) went under a double name
of ** our Blessed Virgin Marie of Lincoln," and
** Sainte Hugh Bells and our Ladye Bells in the
Cathedral Churche of Lincoln." The Lady bells
were rung (2, or, for festal services, 4 of them) by
the black-coped choristers for service from the floor
of the church: they, i.e.^ the six bells, *^were
also chimed in the belfry on Lady Day morning
to a chant, which was probably the Ave Maria,
Ora pro nobis, thus — ist and 3rd; ist, 2nd, and
4th; ist and 5th; ist; 2nd, and 6th." (Sir C.
Anderson's Pocket Guide to Lincoln, 1874, P- 93-)
When Sanderson speaks of Dean Mackworth being
buried S.W. of **our Lady's steeple," he means, no
doubt, south-westward of the great central tower,
the rood-tower where the Lady Bells were hung.
{Desid. Cur., p. 305.)
St. Mary's Gild. This was a trade gild or
corporation. I have no evidence that the corpora-
tion had a home in the Minster, but it is not
a priori improbable. See above, pp. 15 1-2.
St. Mary's Images, &c. In the inventory of
Notes 071 MedicBval Services. i8i
1536 is *'a great image of our Lady sitting in a
chair, silver and gilt, with 4 poles, 2 of them having
arms in the top before; having upon her head a
crown, silver and gilt, set with stones and pearls,
and one bee with stones and pearls about her neck,
and an ouche depending thereby ; having in her
hand a scepter with one flower set with stones and
pearls, and one bird in the top thereof; and her
Child sitting upon her knee, with one crown of (i.e.
on) his head, with a diadem set with pearls and
stones, holding a ball with a cross silver and gilt in
his left hand, and at either of his feet a scutcheon
of arms, with arms : of the gift of Master Mason
Chanter" (who died in 1493). This account is
similar to that in the earlier inventory, which
specifies pearls, diamonds, and other green stones,
and says that the moveable ** scutum " set with
5 gems and 2 pearls, contained a relic, ** Hairs of
Blessed Mary." It gives the weight as 2:^ oz.
[Inventories^ pp. 16, 5.) Figures of St. Mary and
St. Hugh ornamented the two ends of the chanter's
staff and those of a feretory ; and the like appeared
in other jewels in the Minster. [Ibid., pp. 14,
21, 19.)
St. Mary Magdalen's Chapel. Here, ac-
cording to Grantham's book {cir. 1500) three vicars
celebrated for the soul of Robert and J. de Lacy.
(We know that in 1531 one vicar celebrated for
J. and Ro. de Lacy, and three for the combined
chantry- of Lacy, Rowell and Luda, from 8 a.m.
successively, and we may conclude that these said
1 82 Notes 071 MedicBval Services.
mass in that place as in 1490- 1 510.) Here it is
said that Bp. J. Gynewell, who died in 1362, was
buried; and in this chapel the chaplains of his
chantry said Mass at 6 a.m. and 7 in 1531. {Vicars
Choral, p. 41.) Remigius having built the Cathe-
dral Church upon the site of the antient parish
church of St. Mary Magdalen, the parishioners
at first used the nave for their services, and
for baptisms, &c. This was found to be incon-
venient ; and Bp. Oliver Sutton built them a
parish church outside the Minster.* About sixty
years later Bp. John Gynwell (so Leland says,
Collectanea i., p. 98, and Godwin de PrcBsulibiis
follows him) founded a chapel, so that the Penitent
Saint might not be altogether neglected in the
Cathedral Church ; moreover the Bishop was himself
buried there. There is everything a priori in favour
of this statement so far as it concerns the reparation
to St. Mary Magdalen's honour, but it has been
observed with truth that there are no traces of any
chapel added at the date alleged. (1347-62. See
Venables' Architectural Hist, of Lincoln Cath.,
p. 28.) However, the Chapter Act of 1531, cited
by Maddison, confirms Leland' s statement that
there was a chapel of that dedication, and that
Bishop Gynewell was there commemorated. I
conclude, therefore, that the chapel was of a
temporary nature, with, perhaps, wooden screens
* At least two rectors of St. Mary Magdalen's parish were buried in the
nave of the Minster: one, whose surname was De Branspath, 1376, and J. de
Scarle, Sept., some time in the fourteent century. {Desid. Curiosa^ p. 310.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 183
clinging to the western pier of the nave, and that
the *' foundation " consisted mainly in endowing a
chaplain, and providing altar, books, ornaments and
vestments; and we know from Inventories (pp. 14,
44, 64 ; 25, 50, cf. 65) that he gave a chalice and
paten and a red cope to the Minster. The place
of his burial at the west of the nave is thus
indicated by Sanderson, describing the Minster as
he knew it before the Great Rebellion. (Desid.
Cur., pp. 305-7-)
Gynwell n
" (more north) " |
> E
0 ^ Smyth. Alnwick. Atwater. Bevercotes. |
° 55. Moimson. Tilney. s
This description brings Bp. Gynewell's tomb
near the south partition wall of the morning chapel ;
and though architectural authorities tell us that this
was built before his time (cir. 1230-50, I believe),
1 think it on the whole the best solution of our
difficulties to suppose that his Mass was endowed
and established there, and that the chapel had come
thence to be known as *' Gynewell's, " though it
was only through the quatrefoils in the screen that
his tomb was visible from that altar. In the i8th
century the dedications were confused ; and when
Essex, the architect, speaks of ** the chapel of St.
Mary Magdalen,'' he always means the northern
apsidal chapel (by many known as " St. John
Baptist's") in the N.E. transept. (Venables' Archit.
Hist, of Lijicoln Cathedral.)
'' Mater ora Filiuvi.'''' An antiphon of B. Mary,
1 84 Notes on Mediceval Services.
following Salve Regina^ &c., in the Sarum Pro-
cessional, p. 172. Bp. J. Gynewell (who died in
August, 1362, and was buried in the N.W. of the
nave) gave an endowment from Newbo Abbey for
the poor clerks who should sing this anthem.
( Compotus, 1528.)
Maundy. In 1271 we find in an account of petty
expenses a charge for slippers for those whose feet
were washed at the Maundy. ^* Item in sotular' die
cen' empt' 85. 4^." In the 15th century, among
customary payments, a charge occurs for half-a-
dozen or a dozen pairs at 6d, each. K. Henry VII.,
keeping his first Easter at Lincoln as King, in i486,
washed the feet of 29 poor men in the great hall of
the Bishop's Palace. In the Black Book a record
of thirteenth century customs tells us that the
three cathedral carpenters were required to pro-
vide on Maundy Thursday water and vessels for
washing the altars and for washing the feet (by
Dean and Canons, Statut. II. 284), and to warm
the water for the latter ceremony ** de focali
tesaurarii" from the treasurer's fuel (p. 292).
On the same day it was customary, at Salisbury,
for the Bishop to give a compotation in the Chapter
House. Some meal of the kind was provided at
Lincoln : for we read {ibid.) that the glasier is to find
the napkins and cups (**mappas et ciphos"), and
that, with the three carpenters and the sacrist and
ministers, or servant of the church, he is to
have his supper "after the Great Supper." The
treasurer himself was to provide towels and wafer
Notes on Mediceval Services, 185
cakes (manutergia, nebulas, the latter being the
wheaten **obleys") and wine. {lb. 288.) An
account of payments on behalf of the Chapter at a
time when the office of treasurer was vacant and in
commission (in 1406, as I believe) is preserved. It
contains the following items : — ** In iz {i.e. ilb.)
flour frumenti emp' pro obleys fact' contra diem
cene pro le maundy, 25. 6d. Et in expens' circa
facturam de diet' obleys hoc anno ig^d. Et in
focali empt' ad idem tempus 25. Et in 6 lagen.
vini empt. pro cena Domini (prec' lagen' iid.) 6s.
Et in 24 lagen. ceruisie emptis pro dicta cena Dni
35. Sd. Et in thak' empt' pro choro per duas vices
i6id. Et in frankinsens mixt. empt. pro hoc anno
per sacristam, 5^." Hence we see that 6 pitchers of
wine and 24 of beer were provided by the Chapter,
in ordinary years through the treasurer, for the
** potus." On Maundy Thursday and on Good
Friday all lecterns (as well as altars) were stripped,
** to signify the nakedness" of our Saviour's Body
at His Passion. {Black Book, p. 366.) Another
ceremony on Maundy Thursday, the Reception of
Penitents (ejected on Ash Wednesday), was per-
formed by the Dean, if the Bishop were absent.
{S/a/. n. 284.)
St. Michael's Altar. In 1420 Mass was cele-
brated here for the souls of Geoffrey Maudlyn and
Geoffrey Pollard ; also of W. Aveton and W.
Hemmyngburgh. And here, in 153 1, the chaplain
of W. Caux's chantry said Mass at 8 a.m. {Vicars
Choral, p. 41.) It is not said definitely at this last
1 86 Notes 071 Mediceval Services,
date where the Vicars were to celebrate for the
Avetons (p. 42), or for Geo. Pollard (p. 43), which
the poor clerks maintained in lieu of rent ; but not
improbably it was at the same altar as in the
previous century. J. de Grantham mentions {cir.
1500) that the chaplain of Dean W. de Lexington
celebrated here. (A. 2, fo. 4I^) Dean Lexington
was buried in the great north transept, northward.
Ministrations. In the Muniment Room (B.
ij. I, 3,) is a list of ministrations due at Lady
Day, 1799, and an account of ** Vicars' Stalls,"
Michaelmas, 1800. At Winchester '* ministratio "
signified the week or term of duty in course taken
by one of the chief officers of the church. (Kitchin,
Obedientiary Rolls, p. 500.) At Lincoln, a canon
when celebrating in his own turn of duty is
said to be in propria (q.v.) ; but in cursu, if taking
the turn for a non-resident.
MissA Matutinalis. The ** Morning Mass"*
was said daily before morning peal (pella matutinalis)
and prime, by a chaplain whom it was the Dean's
duty to provide. {Black Book, p. 373.) In 1245
Roger de Weseham left the Deanery of Lincoln for
the bishoprick of Coventry and Lichfield, and nth
* Dr. Rock tells us that in early times (A.D. 950) at Canterbury the high
altar stood close up against the east end of the presbytery, and the altar of
the Blessed Virgin at the far west, where the priest, looking eastward, faced
the people, while in the choir between them was an altare matutinale over the
grave of St. Dunstan. The Regularis Concordia, Monasticon i. p. xxxi.,
cf. Kitchin's Obedientiaries Rolls, p. 177, speaks of ''matutinalis missa" (a
daily Mass for the King, or for any need) ; but Rock warns us that in later
times ** the morrow Mass " came to signify *' Mass in black for the Dead."
— Ch. of our Fathers^ i. p. 266«.
Notes on MedicBval Services. 187
Feb., 1252, he made over to Henry Lexington, his
successor, subsequently Bp. of Lincoln, and to
future Deans of Lincoln, certain properties in
Wirksworth, Chesterfield, and Quarrendon, charging
them to provide a chaplain to celebrate Masses
daily ^^ su7n7?zo mane''^ in the following rotation:
Sunday, de die; M., T. & W., pro aiiimabus
episcoporum Lincoln, et Lichf. ac decanoruni Lincoln.
necnon omnium ^^^\mvc\. deficnctorum ; Th., de Sancto
Spiritu ; Fr., pro ayiimabus ut supra ; Sat., de Beata
Virgine. (Ant. Beek's Book, A. 2. 2. fo. 2^^.)
The Morning Mass was a missa pro ithierantibus.
{Novum Registrum, 1440-42, pars i.. Statutes ii. p.
285.) A Mass was said daily in aurora diet : after
which chantry priests not being vicars, used to say
their Masses continuously, occupying the various
side altars up to the time for Mass of B.V. Mary.
Then Vicars became free to celebrate from 8 a.m.
(Bp. Alnwick's N'oviun Registrum, pars, v., ibid, ii.,
360-61.) In April, 1531, the Morning Mass was
between 5 and 6 a.m., and was celebrated by the
priest of the Works Chantry, at the altar of St.
George. Simultaneously two other chaplains cele-
brated a morrow Mass at the altar. ( Vicars Choral,
p. 40.) In the 15th century it had been at the altar
of St. Nicholas, but in 1492 was removed to St.
Christopher's altar in the nave. {lb., p. 37.) At
Worcester also, and St. Alban's (according to
Mackenzie Walcott, Sacred Archaol. p. 21), the
middle or matin altar stood under a rood beam at
the east end of the choir, before the entrance of the
1 88 Notes on Mediceval Services,
presbytery. In some places it may have stood
behind the high altar.
Missa capitularis (Nov. Reg. If. 9^, Stat, ii. 305}
or Missa in capitulo {Black Book, Stat. i. pp. 288,
296, 394, cf. Nov, Reg. 349), Missa capituli {Black
Book, p. 293). It IS now almost universally admitted
that this was not celebrated in the Chapter House,
where no altar existed, but it was considered to be
said ** in chapter." (Cf. the phrase '* in conventn "
applied to a community choral service of Canons^^^
&c., out of choir.) It was the opinion of Mr. F. H.
Dickinson that this mass was so called from the
capicium or chevet, the eastern limb of the cathedral.
[Missale Sartim, p. xiii/^.) Whether there is any
connexion between the chevet and the word
** chapter," as applied to the body of Canons, who
under their ** principal " head the Bishop, know the
Dean as their ** numerical " head, I cannot undertake
to say. But their private meetings for counsel and
correction, followed by the Chapter Mass (a chief
part of those devotions which we may call the family
prayers of the Society of Brethren) were in existence
for some generations before a stately Chapter House
(called likewise capituhcm, as well as domus capitularisy
after the body who used it) was built for the conve-
nience of the business meetings. When at last, cir.
1250, the Chapter House was built, the capitular
body had two homes, the old retired chapel and the
no less secluded but more spacious House. Then,
after the service of ** prime in choir," and the business
meeting, corrections, improving reading, and office
Notes on Mediaeval Services, 189
oi Pretiosa (see that word), all held in the Chapter
House, the meeting adjourned to their united
worship (the Chapter Mass) at the altar, where they
and their predecessors had celebrated it from the
iirst.
It was the duty of Vicars* (as well as Canons)
generally to attend the missa capitularis in their
chapel (as well as to hear the good book read in
Chapter House), and it was reckoned as equivalent
to attendance at one of the little hours (just as High
Mass was reckoned equivalent to one of the horcB
7najores). At Chapter Mass the altar had two
candles. The Precentor nominated one of the
Canons to celebrate it, whenever it was to be the
Anniversary Mass of a Dean or Canon of Lincoln,
departed. The Canon celebrant was attended by
Deacon and Subdeacon ** revested" (probably in
albes and amices). On other days the Priest Vicars
* At St. Paxil's, London, Chapter Mass was celebrated by one of the two
Priest Vicars called there cardinals. (Registnim Statutorum.)
At Ottery St. Mary's, in 1342, there was a Mass to be said pro copore pre-
senti at the Parochial Altar in the Nave *' statim post Primam ante incepcionem
aUarum horarum quasi missa capitularis." (Grandisson Register, ed.
Hingeston-Randolph 1894, pp. 13 1-2). This was consequent probably upon
the alterations then in progress, and may have been a temporary arrangement.
At Durham they went daily into Chapter House between 8 and 9. At 9
a.ra. the bell rang for Chapter Mass, which was (at Durham) always " at the
High Altar." And he that sung mass had always in his Afemento souls of all
those that had given anything to that church. Rites of Durham, p. 82. The
Chapter House there has recently been restored as a memorial of Bp. J. B.
Lightfoot.
At Wells the •* missa in capitulo" was sometimes (perhaps usually) sung at
the High Altar, but occasionally elsewhere, — " alias quam ad maius altare.**
Sec the Statute De Thtsaurario, composed, I believe, cir. 1240, and registered
xn Liber Ruber ca. 1310-20. (Reynolds, Wells Cath. p. 50.)
I go Notes on Mediaval Services.
celebrated Chapter Mass in rotation, in place of
Canons. It may be conjectured, on the analogy of
other cathedral churches, that whenever a Sunday
Mass, or a missa de jejunio, had to give place to the
celebration of some greater festival at the High
Mass, the Mass proper for the Sunday, or the Fast
Day, served for a capitular mass upon some conve-
nient day in the week following. (Black Book, pp.
293,297,394. See also Tracts of Cleijient Maydeston ,
H. Bradshaw Society, 1894, pp. 6, 44, 67, 106, 119,
120, 122, I65/^, 206-210.) Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite,
than whom none can speak with higher authority in
matters of ecclesiology, writes to me: — ''Missa in
capitulo was not in any way connected with the
Chapter House. The English secular chapter houses
have in no case any preparation for an altar. Nor
have those of the greater regular orders. I will not
be absolutely sure about the Carthusians, because no
English Carthusian Chapter House remains. The
Carthusians do now put an altar in the Chapter
House, and they are a conservative folk ; but, never-
theless, I think the custom is modern.''
At Salisbury itself H. de la Wyle the Chancellor,
20th Sept., 1326, gave a house ** juxta scolas gram-
maticales propinquius ex parte australi ad inuenien-
dum quendam clericum tribus capellanis singulis
diebus ad altarx apostolorwn [St. Peter's altar, at N.E.
extremity of the Lady Chapel, now the site of the
Gorges monument] in ecclesia predicta celebraturis,
et ad duas missas ibidem que celebrantur pro anima-
bus dni Willelmi de Eboraco quondam Episcopi
i
Notes on Mediceval Services, 191
Sarum \ob, 31 Jan. 1256-7] et Mag^ Radulphi de
Eboraco quondam cancellarii ecclesie predicte [ob.
14 Jan. 1308-9], et ad omnes missas capitulares
que ibidem celebrantur." (Sarum Muniment Room,
Press 40.) Hence I infer that the Capitulary Mass
at Salisbury was said in the north choir aisle.
The Capitulary Mass, still existing in the unre-
formed Churches, is (says Preb. F. C. Hingeston-
Randolph) **the community Mass, i.e.^ the principal
Mass of the day (not what we call *' High Mass "),
at which the community and the members of the
choir are all supposed to be present. Wherever
there are large communities, the priests, from early
morn, go to the several altars, and each says his Mass,
one priest only excepted, who has been appointed to
say the Capitular Mass, which follows all those
others. All who are able to attend have to attend
the Capitular Mass, ocatpying their stalls. It is
the Mass of the whole community — of the Chapter.
Thus, unless any sufficient cause prevents, it is said
at the High Altar." (Or else, I would add, in some
commodious place, e.g.^ in the nave or in the retro-
choir, where stalls are provided. Chapels thus
furnished may be seen on the continent.) ** The
Chapter House has nothing whatever to do with the
Chapter Mass, There were no altars in Chapter
Houses ; though sometimes a chapel might be used
for a time, as a Chapter House, in which case there
would be an Altar, but it would have nothing to do
with such temporary use of the chapel for the
purposes of a Domus Capitularis.** The usual time
<^vi2L^ Mfo/^T;:^
192 N'otes on Mediceval Services,
for Chapter Mass, says Mackenzie Walcott, was
before 10 a.m. ; but in France the hour is 8 or 9 a.m.
It is sung after prime in summer, and after terce in
winter. But unfortunately he identifies Chapter
Mass, Conventual, Cardinal arid High Mass, without
distinction. [Sacred Archceol. pp. 20, 143.) See
what is said by Gavantus and Meratus concerning
the two Conventual Masses of the Roman Rite,
Conwient in Missaly I. In Rubric. General, xli. et
xliii. ; III. tit. xi. passim.
At St. Paul's, London, in 1339, two altars north
and south of the High Altar were consecrated along
with it, and were called capitularia. Mr. Dickinson
said that these were obviously placed there with a
view to the celebration of the Missa Capitularis.
[Missale Sarum preface, pp. vii., \mn.) Canon F.
C. Hingeston-Randolph has suggested to me that
the St. Paul's altars may have been so called merely
because the Canons usually said their daily Mass at
one or other of them, and could claim preference
over other priests in doing so.
The Chapter House in Old St. Paul's stood in the
ce?itre of the cloisters, an unusual position.
The approximate dates of some of our Domus
Capitulares are — Chester, cir. 12 10, oblong; Exeter,
1224-44, oblong; Lichfield, cir. 1240, elongated
octagon; Lincoln, cir. 1250, decagon; Salisbury,
1280, octagon, on the east side of the (south) cloister,
as is common in monasteries; Wells, cir. 1286-
13 19, octagon ; Hereford, cir. 1360, octagon. There
idence in 1 240, at Chichester, that a **capitulum"
Notes on MedicEval Services, 193
existed and was swept^ and in the first part of
the 14th cent. ** domus capitularis " there is men-
tioned : possibly (says Mr. F. G. Bennett) the
chamber over the treasury. In the 1 8th century the
rectangular chapel of St. Pantaleon, east of the S.
transept was used for Chapter meetings. It is
clear from what is said in the ** Black Book'' at p.
394 (top), that the mlssa in capitulo at Lincoln was
not said at the High Altar. The fact that Vicars as
often as not sang it, is another proof of the same, as
their right to celebrate at the High Altar was denied.
The Chapter House at Canterbury and at Rochester,
as at Bristol and at Gloucester, is an oblong, at York
and Westminster an (irregular) octagon. At Durham
it has a basilican apse, and at Oxford is a square, at
AVorcester a circle (within a polygon). There was
formerly a rectangular Chapter House at Winchester,
built cir. 1080- 1 1 20.
In a fragment of Lincoln accounts of Jordan de
Yngham, 1271, among '*minut' expense," along
with charges for parchment, gum, green wax, &c.,
there are the following curious items : —
" Item in nattis empt' in parvo capitulo. viij. d.
Item in reparacione fenestrarum in Ecclesia propter
ventum, iij. d. ob.
Item in sotular' die cen' empt' viij. s. iiij. d.
Item in puero misso in hosp. xiij. d.'*
The ^'paruiun capituliun^ was perhaps so called to
distinguish it from the great Chapter House; but
u^hcre was it ?
Missa pro JScut factor ibus. By St. Hugh's order in
o
194 Notes on Mediceval Services,
Chapter (cir. 1 195-1200) a Mass, as well as a
Psalter, was said daily *'for benefactors, living and
departed." Black Book^ ^, 100. See above, ** Bene-
factors," and cf. Statut. ii., 321-2.
Missa pro Deftmctis. A Mass of Requiein (see
Sarum Breviary, ii., 521. Mtssale, p. 860*) was
said at the High Altar by the Dean, or principal
Canon, for Kings, Bishops, or Deans, once a week.
Stat. ii. 326.
The Dean, in absence of the Bishop, celebrated
also for Kings' and Bishops' aiuiiversaries. Stat, ii.,
283. The anniversary of a Dean was not kept at
the High Altar itself, ib. ii., 326 margin. Whether
any Canon besides a residentiary might celebrate at
the High Altar was a disputed point, ib. ii., 331
margin. When a Canon died, the Dean (or some
other of his brethren) said a solemn Mass for his soul
at the High Altar on the morrow after the corpse
had been brought to the choir of the Minster ; after
which the burial took place. Before this Mass pro
corpore presenti the ** Commendatio " was said in
choir after Prime. The vigils had been kept round
the corpse the previous night, the members of the
southern part of the quire {decani) reciting the Psalter
before mattins, and the cantoris side after mattins (ib.
ii., 343). A Mass for Canons departed was said
every day (except perhaps Maundy Thursday and
Good Friday, ib. ii., 350 margin) with Placebo and
Dirige {i.e., evensong and mattins of the dead) by
Priest Vicars in rotation, assisted by two junior
Vicars {nondum presbyterati). This was 7iot at the
Notes on Mediceval Services, 195
High Altar. Special collect was used, if the day
happened to be anniversary of the death of one of
their number. An office for the dead was likewise
said (? once) ever}' week in choir (ibid.). See also
** Benefactors " and *' Works Chantry."
Missapro animabus Episcoporum De/tmctortwi. The
keeper of St. Peter's Altar (see ''''Piscinas^'' no. 11.)
said Mass (personally or by deputy) at that Altar for
the souls of all Bishops of Lincoln departed. The
later MSS. say " daily:" and though this appears to
be a mis-reading of the word ** custodie^'' Stat, ii.,
353, still I find in A. I. 8. fo. 217, Ri. Marchand on
his admission, 26th June, 1484, required to say Mass
daily at St. Peter's Altar for the souls of Bishops and
Canons. Besides the ordinary All Souls' Day
** animarum commemoratio," on Nov. 2nd, the roll
of Re and Ve lY. notes on Tuesday before Easter
falling on March 26th, a ** Commemoracio Fideliiun'''
and another on Friday, 15th Dec. (? the day before
*'0 Sapientia"), 1475.
Missa de Die. The chief altar service appointed
for the day. This was ordinarily said or sung (with
deacon and subdeacon) at the High Altar. Some-
times it had to give way, either being transferred to
some vacant day near, or being relegated to the
subordinate position of a Chapter Mass, or being
omitted pro ea vice ; not, of course, that the High
Altar was ever left without some solemn Mass.
Archbishop Courteney, after visiting the Dean and
Chapter in the time of Bp. Bokyngham in 1390,
gave as his 4th Injunction that ** when the obit of
196 Notes oil Mediccval Services,
Bishops or Kings occur in the church, the Mass of
the Day be in no wise omitted ; but that it be duly
celebrated at the Altar of B. Mary in the said church."
{Statutes ii., p. 246.)
Missa de Spiritu Sancto. This was the Morning
Mass for Thursdays at Lincoln in 1252. Also at
the election of a Bishop (cir. 1280) a Mass of the
Holy Ghost is celebrated ** coram cunctis''; after
which follows Veni Creator and the orison ** Deus
qui corda fidelium." They then proceed to elect,
and when the result is announced Te Deum is sung,
and the elect, if present, is led to the High Altar.
{Regist. Antiqtciss. A. i. 5, fo. 189.)
Missa pro itinerantibus. The daily Morning Mass,
founded in 1252 (with other intentions), is said in
Bp. Alnwick's draft Registrum (1440) to have this
character. {Stat, ii., p. 285.)
Missa pro Rege. This is noted for Tuesday after
Lady Day (26th March)* in the Roll of Re and Ve
for 1476. Masses /r^ rege defuncto were celebrated
at the High Altar.
Missus est Angebcs. This is the Gospel (St. Luke
i., 26-38) in Sarum use for the Mass Ro7^ate appoin-
ted for Lady Day, for the (Saturday) commemoration
in Advent [It is mentioned twice in the Black Book
(pp. 385, 388), and in the former instance it is
remarkable that Schalby's MS. (known as ** Martilo-
gium") has the variant ^^ Missus est Gabriel,'^ which
* This was not exactly the date of K. Edward IVth's accession, which was
always reckoned 4th March.
Notes 011 Mediceval Services, 197
is the form as it appears in the use of York*], and
for the Mass of the B. Virgin on other week days at
other times of the year, and for the proper Mass on
the Ember Wednesday in Advent. This was among
the days when (at least at Lincoln) an exception was
made to the general rules (i) that compline of our
Lady follows compline of the day in choir, and (2)
that two (not three) bells were rung for the fourth
(or last) peal at mattins. (The margin, p. 388, says
** at Evensong.")
** Morning Chapel,*' or ** Morning Prayer
Chapel." The names are commonly given to the
north-west Early English chapel in the nave, where
a workman's service has been held at 7.40 a.m. for
the last 20 years. Hollar's plan, 1672, notes that
prayers were said here every morning *' hora 6*^."
About 1780 the prebendary of St. Botolph's under-
took to say them.
Under Q. Elizabeth's Injunctions (1559) it was
arranged, at least for Salisbury and Wells, and pre-
sumably for all Cathedral Churches, that there
should be two daily services in the forenoon. One
of these was to be the regular mattins in choir. In
Lestrange's day this was at 9 a.m. However, in
• In 1416 W. de Waltham, who was Canon of York and Beverley, as well
a.H of Lincoln^ was buried at the last-named, left a breviary of the use of Sarunt
to his clerk. A. Gibbons, Early Lincoln Wills, p. 143. In 1389 Ro. de
Weston, Rector of Marum, or Mareham, left his •• missal of the new use of
Sarum to his clerk if he wishes to be a priest.*' Ibid., p. 87. In 1403 W. dc
Wolstanton, Rector of Bondon Majjna, ^ave his porlos of York use to J. de
ScTopc. {Gibbons, p. 106, cf. 125.) In 1416 J. de Kcle, Canon Residentiary
of Lincoln, Ixrqucaths missal and portos of Snrum use. lb. 128.
198 Notes on Mediceval Services,
1559 the Chancellor was to provide a lecture in
Divinity in English, in a convenient place at least
thrice a week at 9 a.m., which all the staff were to
attend. So perhaps mattins was at 10. The
** Minister " which was ** tabled to begin the common
prayer in quire " for one week was responsible in the
week following for an earlier service in the Morning
Prayer Chapel. This was to be at 5 a.m. in Summer,
but from Sept. to April at 6. It had an order
peculiar to itself: — General Confession, Absolution,
** the Litanie until this verse, * 0 Lord arise,' " before
which verse a chapter from the New Testament in
order was read. After the Lesson the said " verse "
was begun, and then ** the rest of the Litanie, with
all the Suffrages following." {Sarmn Statutes p.
109, misdated. Wells Cathedral, Reynolds, p. clvi.)
I infer from this, that in the i6th century the prayer
** O God, merciful Father " in the Litany was under-
stood to end *' Through Jesus Christ our Lord
[Amen].'' And the verse **0 Lord arise. . . Name's
sake," was recognised as an antiphon to Ps. xliv. i,
and not (as it now commonly is) recited like a respond
to the said Collect. In 1597, Whitgift expressed
his approbation of a visitation for Canterbury, being
desirous ** that the Petty Canons, singing men, sub-
stitutes, or other the inferior Ministers and servants
of the Church, do more daily frequent the first
morning service.*' (Strype's Whitgift, Records no.
38 § 5. from MS. Cotton. Cleop. F. 2.)
Mutatio Chori, The Rev. W. E. Dickson, Pre-
centor of Ely, has recently expressed a wish that the
Notes on Mediaval Services, 199
voices of both sides of the choir might be massed
together, as they are on the floor of some foreign
cathedral churches. It was formerly the custom at
Lincoln (as at Salisbury) to group the singers on one
side of the choir, for one week decani^ and the next
cantoris. On double festivals, however, they always
went deca7ii, provided that Bishop or Dean were
present ; but from Christmas to Epiphany inclusive,
and again in Easter week and Whitsuntide, the
* ' choir ' ' changed sides on alternate days. Psalms,
&c., were sometimes begun in the stalls ** in
parte qua chorus est^'' and the next from the
opposite stalls ; for the Canons apparently kept
their places. Black Book^ pp. 371, 391. Sarum
Consuetud. c.xxii. Such was seemingly the way.
Mr. Micklethwaite, however, suggests to me that
the whole choir did not move, but that the meaning
is that the first verse was on one day started decani^
and on the other cantoris. So in the Rule for the
Brigittine Sisters of Syon, cap. xxvi., it was directed
that ** Every other week, the choir shall vary, so
that it be on the abbess' side one week, and on the
prioress* side another week, beginning evermore the
Saturday at evensong." The stall of the abbess
was at the entrance of the quire on the right side at
the west end, and that of the prioress on the left
side. See Blunt's introduction to the Myrroure of
our Ladye, p. xxxvii.
St. Nicholas' Altar. Here, in 1531, two Can-
tilupe Chaplains celebrated Mass between 7 and 8
a.m. Vicars Choral, p. 41. The chantry of Thomas
200 Notes on MedicEval Services.
and Margaret Fitzwilliam (who died in 1473 and
1463) was here.
Browne Willis, in 1742, on the authority of Cotton
MS. Tiberius E. 3, a.d. 1545 (and we may cite also
Chantry Certificate 33) likewise placed the chantry of
Nic. and Joan Cantilupe, and that of T. Fitzwilliam
at St. Nicholas' Altar. Cathedrals ii., p. 34. Sir
N. Cantilupe died in 1355, ^^^ ^^^ widow, Dame
Joan, founded the chantry of St. Nicholas at the E.
end of the S. aisle. She built (about 1356) the
Cantilupe Chantry House, still standing near the
Sub-Deanery, south of the Minster, as a college or
hostel for the chaplains and choristers of this chantr}'.
Venables, Walk through Lincoln Minster^ p. 43.*
Leland tells us that the College was corruptly called
in his day '^ Negern College ^'^ that it was originally
constructed for a Master and two or three ** Cantu-
aries," afterwards augmented to seven, and that in
the chapel of St. Nicholas lay ** a merveylous fair
and large Psalter, full in the margin of goodly armes
of many noblemen." Itiii, fo. 49*. Previously to
1492 Morning Mass had been said at St. Nicholas'
altar ; then it was removed to St. Christopher's
altar in the nave. Vicars Choral, p- 37- The Fitz-
williams' monuments are in *' the Chaunter's Isle,"
and so is the burial place of W. Turre, keeper of
Cantilupe College 1427. Sanderson, ap. Desid.
Cur,, p. 297. But the Cantilupes are buried in
* The misprint in Williamson's Guide, p. 90, line 16, where we should
read " St. Nicholas," has been mentioned above. PYobably at p. loi, " 1336
given as the date of the Chantry House, is a mis-print for 1356.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 201
"William the Conqueror's chapel '' adjoining, ib,
296.
According to the obit list of 1527 (A. 2. 8, fo. 32^)
the chantry of T. and Margaret Fitzwilliam paid id.
to the clerk of the altar of St. Nicholas.
Non vos relinquam. This anthem was sung at
some church in Lincoln in the Ascension Day pro-
cession, on which occasion the cathedral carpenters
were bound to hang a pall before the said church.
Black Book, p. 293. It w^as, in Sarum use, the
anthem to the Psalms at first evensong of this feast.
Brev. Sartun, i col. dcccclvii.
Novafesta. In 1480 and other years a payment of
45. td, to the Treasurer occurs under the head of
** constietudo solita in ecclesia Lincoln,^'* in the computus
books, as a compensation for wear and tear of bell
ropes, and for extra incense in regard of certain
** new semidouble feasts, imposed by the Archbishop
of Canterbury at his Visitation.'* In one instance I
found the name or initial of the Primate given, but I
have lost my memorandum, and have searched in
vain to recover the clue at Lincoln.
** O.*' The anthems sung to Magnificat at Even-
song on the days before Christmas, ** O Sapientia,'"
&c. See Black Book, p. 388. Mr. Everard Green
has written fully on the subject in Archa:olocria 1886;
vol. xlix. p. 219. ** Facere O'' seems to have
applied somehow at St. Swithun's, Winchester, to
the Chanter and others on all double feasts (Kitchin's
Consuetudinary, pp. 18, 28, 41), but perhaps only as
a convenient term derived from the December rites.
202 IVotcs on Mediaval Services.
There was a Whitsuntide ** Recreation " called ** O,
O, O," mentioned in the Wells Chapter Acts, 8th
June, 15 lo.
Oblations. A memorandum (19th Jan., 1322)
concerning the falling off of the customary offerings
at the tombs of St. Hugh and Ro. Grosse teste may
be seen in Black Book, pp. 335-8, with some account
of the distribution of St. Pelagia's day (8th Oct.).
See also Venables, Tovib aiid Head of St, Hugh, and
supra, p. 108.
** 0 Christi pietas^ The antiphon to Magnificat
at second Evensong of St. Nicholas on Dec. 5th, on
which occasion 1005. (or perhaps only 55.) were
distributed to the choir. Roll of Re and Ve,
Organ. Playing the organ (** cuilibet cantancium
organum, 3^.," "trahenti organa, ts, 8^.") is men-
tioned in the Black Book, pp. 337-8 a.d. 1322. (The
words organizacio, organizare, occur pp. 369, 373,
apparently of vocal music at the lectern in choir by
boys or vicars at the end of evensong and lauds.)
Maddison gives a list of organists, keepers, blowers,
and players (pulsatores, or ad lusus organoru7ii) from
131 1 to 1539. {Vicars, pp. 80, 81.) He mentions
(p. 24) that one of the Vicars received a fee as late
as 1536 for playing the organ at the ** Jesus Mass."
In 1428, April 24th, an order was made for paying
£<^ for new organs in the chapel of St. John Baptist,
where daily Mass of B. Mary is celebrated with
music, and for mending the old organs in the greater
choir. CJiapter Acts, A. 2. 32, fo. 46. On Sunday,
1 6th October, 1446, immediately after the public
J
Notes on MedicBval Services. 203
procession of the day, J. Tiryngton admitted in the
** Re vestry House" to vicar stall of North Kelsey
prebend in the choir, ** ad exercicium et custodiam
organorum in choro predicto, cum vadijs (wages) in
hac parte consuetis." A. 2. 33, fo. I8^ 10 Sept.,
1442, an order for 5 marcs from the fabrick chest
was made for new organs in the great choir, to be
constructed by one Arnold, ** organer" of Norwich,
in the best manner possible. On Oct. 14th Robt.
Patryngton is commissioned to find with all speed
**a scientific man," who has skill to make the new
organs in Lincoln choir. A. 2. ^iZ-t ff- 5^% 6o^
The choir organ was formerly placed under one of
the arches in the north side of the choir.
Ornaments. A notice of ornaments retained in
the Minster in 1553, when Matthew Parker was
Dean, will be found in Line. Dio, Mag,, June, 1889,
pp. 92.3.
St. Oswald's Image. This ** late Image, of the
north syde of the high altare," is mentioned in the
will of J. Parkyn, vicar choral, i Sept., 1548.
Maddison's Wills, p. 38, § 103.
Palls, Carpets, Curtains, and other cloths of
linen, woollen or silk, are mentioned in the Black
Book, pp. 292-3, to be hung up by the carpenters,
e.g., at Bail -gate on Palm Sunday, and before a
Parish Church on Ascension Day. A veil before
the altar in Lent, p. 291. Cloths on lecterns and
desks, see above, ** Ixictern." For a list of silken
cloths (panni) for the High altar, *' frontletts," etc..
204 Notes 071 MedicBval Services,
see my Inventories in Archceologia, vol. Hii., pp.
36-8, 61-3, 76 A.D. 1536, 1548, 1557.
Paschal. The **magnus cereus paschalis," or
great taper which stood from Easter Eve to Ascen-
tiontide by the north (or gospel) avibo at the choir
screen, was made at Lincoln of 3 stone of wax.
Black Book, p. 291. See Rock, Ch. 0/ our Fathers,
i., 212, iv., 98. The **pascall poste" remained
till 1566. {Inventories, p. 80.) The Treasurer had
to find a paschal taper, the weight of wax in it
being 3 lbs., as the draft Novtcm Registrtim says,
P- 303> but the marginal correction was ** 2 stone '*
{'^ duas petj^as^^), and all thereto belonging, such
as colours, flowers, cords, &c. It was probably
decorated with date and ornaments. It was ob-
jected that these items fell under the obligation
of the servants of the Fabrick. The Treasurer
provided also a candle weighing lib., to be carried
on the pole (*' hasta paschalis ") for the ** new fire"
on Easter Even. See Sarum Processionale, pp. 76,
80 (woodcuts).
St. Paul's Chapel and Altar. I do not know
on what evidence or authority it is said that the
northern apsidal chapel in S.E. transept (or, indeed,
any other at Lincoln) had this dedication. It is
so called in Williamson' s Guide to Lincohi, p. 86,
and in the map contained in several of the late
Precentor's useful little works. In the map in the
ne^N Monastico7i, 1846, facing vi. p. 1266, it figures
as ** Lady Joan Cantalupe's Chapel." I should
be grateful for documentary authority for either
Notes on MedicBval Services. 205
of these identifications. I find that St. Peter s
altar is styled, in Registrum Antiqtiissi7nu7)i^ **the
altar of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul," and
this makes it seem less likely that there was any
altar of St. Paul individually.
A tooth of St. Paul was among the relicks at
Lincoln.
Pauperes Clerici. The Poor Clerks were a
college or community of twelve men not in priest's
orders. {Statutes ii., 361-2, 407, 411.) From their
number the Dean appointed ** keepers of the
altares" to assist the celebrants. They had build-
ings (inansuvi) by benefaction from Geof Pollard,
with a charge to provide a light in a silver basin,
and his obit mass in the cathedral church. {Nov.
Reg, V.) They had statutes of their own, revised
in 1526, whereof a fragment is extant. See Statutes
ii., pp. 559-563. Did they cease to be Poor Clerks,
and take Holy Orders, when appointed to a Keeper-
ship ? The Keeper of St. Peter's altar at all events
was, I believe, in priest's orders.
Peal Altar. The ** morning peal " fpella 7natu-
tinalisj was rung in, or under, the south-west belfry,
midway between the mattin chime (signum matu-
tinalej and the hour of prime. Black Book^ p. 373,
and ipiargin ** De Pel la — pele altar." N'ovum Regis-
trum pars 5. Statutes, ii., p. 361. Here in 1531
the chaplain of Bp. Hugh de Welles' chantry
said Mass at 7 a.m. Maddison's Vicars Choral ,
p. 41.
We have an instance at Wells in St. Cross altar
2o6 Notes on Mediceval Services,
(the N. side) of a chapel under a western belfry in
1305- (C. M. Church, Wells History^ p. 420.)
The obit list of 1527 (A. 2. 8, fo. 31^) has a note
that *' Magister sive custos cantarie volgariter nun-
cupate peel awter debet solvere predictum obitum
[Hugonis Wells episcopi]."
At the Visitation of 1437 a complaint was laid
that the musick books in choir, in Lady Chapel,
and ** in capella le peW^ were not consonant. Also
that the vestments belonging to **/<? pele altare "
were torn and shabby, and that John Bellringer
kept a dog ** in cubili juxta altare de peky
{Stat, ii., pp. 404, 407.)
The obit of T. Alford, in the list of 1527 (fo. 31^)
pays ('^clerico altaris le peel, id.''). T. Alford,
preb. of Carlton Pagnel cum Thurleby, who died
in 1485, was, according to Sanderson {Des. Cilt.,
p. 315), buried somewhere in the nave. See also
Bp. Alnwick's Visitation, Statutes, ii., 404, 407.
We read of another and more solemn Mass for
the soul of Hugh de Welles, sung by a Vicar, with
Deacon and Sub-deacon, between 8 and 9 (p. 43), at
St. Hug/is altar, where a chaplain of Bokyngham
Chantry also celebrated at 6 a.m. (p. 41). Were
**St. Hugh's Altar'* and ** Pele Altar" the same?
I am inclined to think not. At all events, there
was an altar of St. Hugh in a part of the Minster
far removed from Le Pele; but St. Hugh's bells
were here. Hence the S.W. chapel also took his
name.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 207
Penitentiary. The sacrist at Lincoln was ap-
pointed to hear confessions within Minster Yard.
It was mentioned in 1437 that the chaplains had
got into the way of resorting to confessors of their
own choice. The Bishop was asked to appoint a
suitable person. Statutes, ii., 404, 342 {Nov. Reg, iv.).
Pentecostals. In the Black Book (p. 307) there
is a letter of St. Hugh, repeated by his successor
William of Blois, charging chaplains in every parish
in the Diocese to induce all householders to bring a
worthy oblation at Whitsuntide to a common centre,
**to the remission of their sins, and for a sign of
obedience and recognition of their mother of
Lincoln." In 1348 Bp. Gynewell issued his com-
mission to the provost to deal with those who
unrighteously withheld pentecostal oblations. {lb.,
361-2.) The offerings were divided at the yearly
apertura siimmi altaris, the Treasurer, among others,
usually receiving thence a compensation for certain
official expenses. {lb., 401.)
In May, 1444, there was a commission appointed
to levy ** le smoke ffardyngis alias diet' Lincoln
farthinges,*' in Leicestershire, for expenses of the pre-
bendal church and belfry of Leicester St. Margaret.
The pentecostal oblations took the form here, as
in Salisbury Diocese, of a chiviney-tax ordinarily
payable to the Mother Church at the Pentecostal
Procession.
Pelliforum. The ** Peltry'* or Skin-market.
St. Peter's ** ad Pelliforum" and St. Edmund's
*'juxta Minores" (the Franciscans' House) are
2o8 Notes on Mediceval Services.
churches mentioned at Bp. Alnwick's Visitation.
{Statutes, ii., 293.) The skin market ** occupied
part of the site of the present Butter Market."
(Venables' Walk, p. 27.)
St. Peter's Altar. Before this altar the Sub-
Dean, W. Bramford (or ** Bramfeld," see Screding-
ton Grants), was murdered by a subdeacon vicar
25th Sept., 1205, not long after its erection.
[Waver ley Annals, Worcester Annals.) The keeper
of this altar sang mass daily, himself or by deputy,
for the souls of all Bishops [and Canons] of Lincoln
departed. He was also usually appointed to the
office of auditor causarum to the Chapter. It was
his duty to recite the invitatory, and to read the
lessons at Mattins of the Glorious Virgin Mary on
feasts of nine lessons. See Black Book, pp. 121;^,
246, 253, 276, 325-330, 347, 352-60. Several
keepers of this altar were buried in the south-east
transept, viz. T. Waltham, 1453, Ro. Newton cir.
1508, and W. Hill, 1556; so also was Ri. Stafford,
clerk of St. Peter's altar, 14 14.
The obit lists of 1330-40, 1527, note payments to
the keeper of St. Peter's altar, not only from the
chantries, &c., of Bishops Sutton, Buckingham,
Gynwell, Russell and Smith, but also from K.
Edward III., Henry, Duke of Lancaster, A. Bramp-
ton, T. de Perrariis, N. Wymbysh, T. Alford,
Gilbert and Gillian d'Umfravill, Ri. Whitewell,
J. Crosby, T. and Marg. Fitzwilliam. And Dean
Fleming and Treasurer Welborne's obits included
payments to the clerk of St. Peter's altar. See also
Notes 071 Mediceval Services. 20g
the Chapter Act of 1290 in Schalby's book, pp.
7% ^2^, Statut, ii., pp. 169, 353. Why was it that
in 1432, 24th Aug., J. Duffield, keeper of St.
Peter's altar, applied for leave to make a door
through the wall near the chantry of Richard
[Fleming], late Bishop, seeing that Bp. Fleming's
chantry was on the north side of the angel choir ?
{^Chapter Acts, A. 2, 32, fo. 65.) Perhaps his
lodging was in Eastgate or somewhere north of the
Minster, and he therefore required a short cut
through the church.
St. Peter's Relicks. The beard and chasuble
of St. Peter are mentioned.
PiLLius, OR PiLEus, a Cap. The celebrant at
the high altar put down his cap at Gloria in excelsis,
and it was handed to a boy (as the Canon reading
a lesson in the choir at Westminster hands his cap
to the verger). The boy had a fee or pour boire
{**vinum": Black Book, p. 377) of \\d. It occurs
only occasionally in the Succentor's collection of
documents in 1527, viz. for Lady Day and Trinity
Sunday, St. John Bapt., the Assumption, and Feast
of Relicks.
Piscinas and Aumbries. The Black Book men-
tions at High Mass, after reading the epistle in
the pulpit, the principal subdeacon, with his second-
ary subdeacon (the third remaining at the altar)
going before him with the closed book on (ex) the
left hand of the choir. At the choir door a thurifer
relieves them of the book (which is thus available
for the principal deacon, who is to read the Gospel),
2IO Notes on Mediceval Services.
and they go into the vestry, where the sacrist or his
clerk is ready to give them the chalice with the
corporas-cloth and bread. The secondary subdea-
con then cleanses the chalice from any spot, hands it
to his principal, who carries it with a special napkin
{sudario quodam^ perhaps of striped silk like those at
Westminster, and answering to the modem velum
subdiaconale), and the other carries the corporas-cloth
with a special napkin, and they walk together to the
high altar. After kneeling at the upper step to say
din Ave, they conjointly place the chalice on the altar.
Presently the principal subdeacon carries the chalice
to the priest (who has been saying his prayers in his
sedi/e after reading the epistle to himself with his
remaining attendants at the altar). The secondary
subdeacon follows with the cruets (p/iio/as) with wine
and water. The priest (still at the sedi/e) pours in
first wine then water, only such a quantity that the
mixture may preserve the quality and colour of wine.
Then he shall carry the chalice behind the altar in
some convenient and decent place. The secondary
deacon was then to unfold the corporas-cloth upon
the altar aforesaid. (Black Book, pp. 377-8.) After
the Nicene Creed the Priest censes the chalice and
corporas-cloth. After Sanctus the principal deacon,
attended by the two other deacons, finds the paten
with its special napkin and hands it (** with the
offertory veil,'* Sartim) to the subdeacon, who holds
it (** gives it to the acolyte to hold,*' Sartcm) till the
Lord's Prayer. Then the deacon takes it, gives it
to the Priest (** kissing his hand," Sariivt) after the
Piscinas, Aumbries, &c. 211
prayer, ** Deliver us, O Lord, we beseech Thee, from
all evils, past,'* etc. When the sacrament is finished,
let the secondary deacon fold the corporas-cloth, and
the secondary subdeacon cleanse the chalice. After
Ite missa est the priest shall give the chalice to the
principal subdeacon, and the corporal to the second-
ary subdeacon, who hold napkins in their hands
for the purpose. All go to the vestry, the deacons
leading on one side, and the subdeacons on the
other.
One point noticeable in the Sartcm rule for the
same ceremonies is the lack of any direction for the
chalice after the mixture being carried from the
sedilia to a fitting place behind the altar. Probably
the structure of the ** room'* beneath the tabernacle
at Lincoln (see above, ** Beam '*) was specially
adapted for this purpose. Then, in the Sarum
account, it is said that ** the elements were brought
into the church after the introit, and put in the place
assigned for them.'* A credence, or table of pro-
position is not expressly named. The chalice was
brought in, during the Epistle, and taken to the
place of administration,* and the corporals spread
on the altar by the acolyte [arrayed in alb and silken
mantle]. The epistle over, the subdeacon, after
washing his hands, made ready the bread and wine,
with the aid of the acolyte, in the place of adminis-
tration. Up to this point the Consuetudinary {cap.
• Dr. Wickham Legp takes '* loco ipsius administracionis *' to be ** simply
the place of preparation, be it [at the south end of the] altar, or at tl>c
credence.*'
212 Notes on Mcdiccval Services,
92) is our authority; but the Missal adds that the
subdeacon makes ready the bread, wine, and water,
after the grail and other liturgical formulae have
been said privately by the priest, the water being
first blessed by the priest, apparently while he is in
the sedilia,'^ So far as I can find, Mr. C. H. Pearson's
statement that cruets and pix with the bread, and
likewise basins with water and a towel were placed
**on the shelf over the Piscina, "f rests upon a mere
conjecture. At least the Osmund Register, to which
he refers us, makes no mention of a piscina, but says
simply, **ad locum ubi panis, vinum, et aqua ad
eukaristie ministraclonem disponuntur ; ' ' and, after-
wards, '* calice in loco debito reposito," and ** in
loco ipsius administracionis." {Cap, 92.)
The arrangement of Piscinas and AumbriesJ for
the cleansing and conservation of the holy vessels
was, at Salisbury, very simple.
(i.) At Salisbury.
In the retro-choir (or Lady Chapel, as it is called
at Salisbury) the ** Salve " altar of our Lady's Mass
at the extreme east, was dedicated 28th Sept., 1225,
to the Holy Trinity and All Hallows, This eastern-
most altar is flanked, or rather attended in the rear.
* Preparation and Oblation of the Gifts^ by J. Wickham Legg, St. Paul's
Eccl. Soc, Vol. III., p. 73.
t Saruin Missal in English^ Ed. 1868, p. 52.
X The antiquated ♦' aumbry," or " ambry " (which sur\ives as a north
country provincial word) is a form of armarium^ armariorum^ the closet, or
place where implements {arma) are stored.
Piscinas^ &c, fSalisburyJ, 213
by two altars, St. Peter and Apostles on the north,
and St. Stephen and Martyrs on the south, both
dedicated on the same occasion as the Trinity and
All Saints altar. Here there are two aumbries in
the wall on the extreme north (by St. Peter's), and
two piscinas in the extreme southern wall corres-
ponding (by St. Stephen's).
Before Wyatt's alterations there were, most prob-
ably, wings, or return walls, south and north of these
altars respectively, and these may have contained a
double piscina for the northern altar, and one or
more aumbries for that in the opposite aisle. As
regards the two transepts, in the eastern transept,
the shorter of the two, there were four altars, two on
each side, St. Katharine* s and St. Martin^ s on the
north, and St. Mary Magdalen^ s and St. Nicholas on
the south. The northern pair have two aumbries
(with remains of original wooden doors in the
northernmost wall) and two shallow recesses with
shelves in the return wall southward. The more
easterly recess has a piscina to this day below its
stone shelf. In like manner in the S.E. transept, the
celebrant at St. Margaret's altar had a double
aumbr}' immediately to his right hand, and his
neighbour at St. Nicholas' altar had a double piscina
to his left.
Further south, opening off the last-named transept
is the vcstibulinn, an octagonal sacristy with a treasure-
chamber above it. In the N.W. side of the octagon
are three large aumbries still in use. In its western
side (now hidden by a press, as Mr. Freemantlc
214 Notes on Mediceval Services,
has shewn me)* is a recess two feet square and
one and . a half feet deep. It is natural to suppose
that the sacristy at Salisbury once contained an altar
and a piscina or drain, but of this I have no proof.
At the intersection of the short eastern transept
with the nave, there was, as some antiquaries think,
in old times the site of the High Altar, dedicated
Sept. 29th (or 30th), 1258, in honour of the mystery
of the Assumption, beneath the painting of our Lord
in glory.t As regards the rinsing of the chalice at
the High Mass, my present opinion is that this was
done partly in one of the basins {^pelves) brought
thither by the acolyte. (In the other basin no doubt
the celebrant washed his fingers ; and this I take to
be the raison d^etre of a double piscina at the side
altars.) And the ablutions, so far as they were per-
formed in the basins, would probably be ultimately
poured away in the Sacristy. J For the disposal of
such things is no public ceremony of the Church,
nor does it belong to the duty of the principal
celebrant to do it, when another is ready to do it
reverently. (See Observations on Ritual Conformity^
* My thanks are due to Mr. Freemantle for giving me the benefit of his
stores of knowledge relating to Salisbury Cathedral.
t The position of the High Altar at Salisbury was discussed by G. G. Scott
in a paper re-issued by his son, Gilbert Scott, in The Sacristy ^ 1881, iii. 249.
Also in JVi'lts ArchcBol. Magazine XVII., pp. 136-47, by Succentor Armfield,
and in XIX,, pp. 336-7, by Canon Rich Jones, who repeated his remarks
in Osmund Register ^ I., p. XXXII. ^
X Here, as elsewhere, Wyatt made alterations and obliterated landmarks.
An ancient lavatory, which is said to have once stood near the vestry, is now
in the " Morning Chapel," in the place of St. Katharine's altar, which I have,
provisionally, called *' St. Martin's."
Piscinas y &c. (SalisburyJ, 215
by J. D. Chambers, late Recorder of Sarum,
1881.)
In the great (or western) transept at Salisbury
there were six altars ; the altar of St. Thomas of
Canterbury the martyr, that of St. Edmund of
Canterbury the Confessor (formerly Treasurer of
Sarum), and the Relicks Altar of St. John the
Baptist — all in the N.W. transept. To the left
(or north) of St. Thomas's Altar some traces of
a double aumbry (filled up by Wyatt) can be dis-
cerned, but all traces of the piscinas are, I believe,
removed. The S.W. transept was occupied by
altars of St. Margaret, St. Lawrence and St.
Michael ; and to the south of the last named, the
two piscinas remain.
Touching other chapels at Salisbury, the Hunger-
ford Chapel, annexed to the N.E. end on the left
hand of the Salve Chapel in 1464), has been
removed (in 1789); so has been the Beauchamp
chapel, annexed, in 1482, northward of the retro-
choir. Of these each may have had its own altar
piscina and aumbry, for such was a common arrange-
ment in the 15th century.* The iron chapel (a
second Hungerford chantry, cir. 1429) has been
removed (1778) from a N.E. bay of the nave to
flank the choir or presbytery on the south, while
the Audley chapel of 1520 still stands on the
• The stone ornaments of the entrances to the Beauchamp and Hungerford
cha()els were worked into the eaist wall of the Lady Chapel, right and left of
the Salve altar reredos, by Wyatt, now replaced by an oaken triptych, behind
v/hich an original painted media:val consecration cross may be seen, corres-
ponding in design to the btonc cr<jsscs mentioned.
2i6 Notes on Mediccval Services.
opposite verge — its original position. An altar of
St. Osmund, erected about 1456, east of the High
Altar, a separate altar of All Saints, an altare quod
vocatiir Jesian {i.e., ** our Lady in Gesem," or
*' Gesina,*' i.e.^ in presepio " or ** in expectatione
partus "), frequented by *' the w}^mmen that ben
in our Lady bondis" {Bidding tJie Bedes, 1483,
H. O. Coxe, p. 34. Cf. Rock Ch. of our Fathers,
iii. 269, n.), which the Right Wor. A. R. Maiden,
F.S.A., now (1896) Mayor of Salisbury, has kindly
pointed out to me among records of the Visitation
by Bp. Beauchamp in 1461, — a morning altar and
altar of the Holy Ghost, have left no traces of
their site. The Fabrick Altar of the Holy Rood
probably once stood in the loft, or ^' ptilpitum'"
where the Epistle and Gospel were chanted over
the west door of the choir.* Altars of St. Andrew,
and of SS. Mary, Denys and Laurence, and
St. George, and the ""^ altare par ochiale,^'' probably
stood against partition screens in the nave at
Salisbury.
But it is time now to pass to Lincoln.
(11.) Lincoln Altars, &c.
The position of the various altars in Lincoln
Minster is not so readily ascertained, but the
arrangement of piscinas, though different from that
of Salisbury, is fairly plain.
* Wyatt removed the old stone screen, or two pieces of it, each measuring
13ft. 3 by "ft. 9), to the so-called '* Morning Chapel," and embedded the stone
doorway of the Beauchamp chapel between them.
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c. fLincolnJ, 217
1. The dedication title of the HicrJi Altar at
Lincoln, where the ** Great" (or High) Mass was
sung, ordinarily about 10 o'clock a.m., is unknown
to me, but it is easy to conjecture that it was of
(the Most Holy Trinity) Blessed Mary (and All
Hallows). I have given reasons above, when dis-
cussing Salisbur}% for supposing that there was no
piscina at the High Altar. Robert Awbray, Dean
Fleming's chantr}' priest in 1535, left ** to the High
Altar of our Lady of Lincoln " (is this the dedi-
cation title, or merely indicator}^ of the whole
Minster ?) ** a crosse of golde to be nayld upon the
Altare besyde the Image ofour Lady to the honour
of her.'' Maddison, Lincoln Wills, No. 22, p. 11.
2. The Irons. The tombs of Katharine Swinford
and her daughter Joan, Countess of Westmoreland,
formerly stood side by side, **sideing the choir"
{Sa7iderson, 1641) ; not endlong together, as when
Hollar sketched his plan, cir. 1672. There was, I
suppose, a space at the foot of them eastward (it is
still enclosed with an iron grate or railings on the
south) sufficient for a small altar, where the
Duchess of Lancaster's chantr}' priest might cele-
brate. Having no room to spare, and being at
no great distance from the revestr}% this altar, very
possibly had no piscina attached to it. The present
canopy to these tombs is not original.
K. Swinford's mass at ** le Irons" occurs in the
time tables of 1 506-7, and 1 53 i . Slatuies ii. p. cclxiv.
Crossing the sanctuary, and going out by the
2 1 8 Notes on Mediceval Services,
north door of the choir, or presbytery, as was done
in washing the altars at Salisbur)% we proceed to
the N.E. transept, which contains two chapels.
3. The ** little chapel" {Sanderson)^ called by
Broii)ne Willis ** Canon Thomas' chapel," (possibly
from J. Thomas, who died Prebendary of Asgarby
in 141 2: unless indeed ** Thomas" be merely a
misprint for Thornaco) from the authority of an
anonymous account in 1771, is said in Brooke's
Guide (1840) to have been ** founded by Canon W.
de Thornaco" [Archd. of Lincoln, Dean 1223,
suspended 1239, buried at Louth Park 1258] and
dedicated to St. Hugh." The Louth Park
Chronicle (p. 16) speaks of an altar of St. Hugh
dedicated 15th July, 1255. The next sentence
following refers, no dgubt, to Louth, but the previous
one certainly relates to Lincoln, and I think we may
be justified in identifying the smaller of two apsidal
chapels in the north-east transept at Lincoln as the
chapel of St. Hugh, which at one time contained an
altar of St. Hugh. Here there is a double piscina
to the S.E., and a double aumbry in the N.E. wall.
4. The northern apsidal ** large chapel" {Sa7ider-
so7i) is, no doubt, the new chapel ** on the north
side," where Sir Hugh was arranging to amplify
the altar of St. John Baptist^ his patron, when he
was on his death bed, in Nov. 1200, and beside
which, according to his desire, his remains were
originally laid. This chapel, as our learned Lincoln
antiquary the late Precentor Edmund Venables has
Piscinas^ Altars ^ &c. (LincolnJ. 219
explained, was enlarged by a rectangular addition
eastward (removed by Essex in 1772); but in
J 2 80 the body of St. Hugh was removed to a
place rather to the north of the centre of the new
Angel Choir, which was still known in 1641 as
** Our Lady's Chapel" (in 1672, ^^ Capella Beatae
Mariae,'' see No. 7 below).*
Browne Willis in 1742, following the Cotton MS.
Tib. E. 3, and the other contemporary chantry
certificate (cir. 1545), places the Barton, Gare, and
Thornton chantry *'at St. John the Baptist's altar"
(where mass of the B. Virgin was daily sung), and
W. Thornaco's chantr}% and that of K. Edward II.
(and Isabella) at **B. Mary's altar" ; and H. Ed-
winstowe's chantry ** in the chapel oi B. Mary within
the church," or, as the time-tables of 1506 and
1 53 1 express it, *' at the altar ?vhere the Lady Mass
is sung." And the table of 1531 implies that the
'^Thornaco" chantry was at the Lady Mass altar,
which (as we see from the case of Salisbury) was
not of necessity dedicated under the title of the
B.V. Mary. See further under No. 7 below.
Now there is a difficulty about these chapels, the
** Chapel of St. John Baptist" and the ** Chapel of
our Lady."
In the 1 8th century the northern one (No. 4) is
frequently called '* St. Mary's" (sometimes St.
** Mary Magdalen's," possibly with intent to get
* So also it is said in Brooke's Guide (1840), that this northern apsidal large
chapel was " dedicatcl to the Blessed Virgin." This statement may, I
think, \iK traced to Hollar's plan of 1672.
2 20 Notes on Medmval Services.
over the difficulty of having two Lady Chapels so
near together), while in the 15th century we con-
stantly read of ** the Chapel of St. John Bapt.,
where the mass of B.V. Mary is said * hora
prima.' " The best suggestion which I can make
(a mere conjecture) is, that some time or other
after St. Hugh's body was translated in 1280, the
letter of his request, that he might lie near St.
John the Baptist's altar, was carried out, by the
simple expedient of interchanging the names and
dedications of the larger apsidal altar and that at
the extreme east. So the altar of St. John Baptist
was in the east central Lady Chapel, where the
mass Salve of our Lady was sung. Apart from
the natural desire of the chapter to comply w^th
the great Saint's last wishes, while they strove at
the same time to give him greater honour, another
slight argument in favour of my suggestion has
occurred to me. Though ** the mass of our Lady
at the altar of St. John Bapt. at the ist hour " is
a description not uncommonly used, we also find
it in another form, — **the altar where the mass of
the B. Mary is celebrated daily at the first hour," —
as if to avoid some confusion which might arise
if the dedication-title of the altar were named. If
there had been no danger of confusion, how much
simpler it would have been to say plainly ** at St.
John Baptist's altar," instead of employing either
of the circumlocutions which are invariably used.
In the chantry certificate :^Ti w^e read of ** Eden-
stow chauntrie in capella beate Marie" (7^),*
* See Statutes (1897, Cambridge Press) part II. p. cchii, whence the
meaning of these references will be plain.
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c. f Lincoln), 221
"Barton, Gare, et Thornton chaunterie ad altare
Sti. Johannis Baptiste " (7//), and " Cantaria vocata
Thornaco chauntrie, ad altare beate Marie*' (8),
where also was that of K. Edward II. (10).
"The Chaplain of the Chantry of H. de Eden-
stowe between 9 and 10 o'clock, at the altar where
mass of the B. Virgin is daily said." 1531.
The vicar celebrating, between 8 and 9 o'clock,
for the chantry " for W. de Thornaco, at the altar
where the mass of the Virgin is said prima horaJ'^
(Ibid.)
There was probably a piscina and aumbr}^ here,
before the twofold alteration in the wall of this
chapel was made.
I cannot say why Simon Barton's chantry was
placed here, rather than in the great north-west
transept where he was buried. Perhaps the altars
in the last-named had not been set up in 1280 when
he died.
5. Holy Trinity Chapel, Bp. Richard Fleming's
chapel annexed about 143 1 to the north side of the
Angel Choir. A piscina is constructed in the south
wall. The Fleming Chantry was at the " Trinity
Altar" according to the list or time-table of masses
in 1 53 1. Maddison's Vicars Choral ^ pp. 41, 42.
But it does not occur so early as that of 1 506. It
is called the chantry of Robert Fleming (dean in
1452-83) "in capella S. et Individue Trinitatis"
in the chantr)' list of 1545. There was more than
one chaplain here. Colynson's and Chedworth's
22 2 Notes on Mediceval Services,
chaplain also said masses at the altar of Holy
Trinity. Ibid, 42. Bp. J. Chedworth was buried
in the north aisle just outside the door of Fleming's
chapel in 147 1.
*^* It will be well here to insert the earliest list
of altars of Lincoln. I saw it for the first time
when I was at Lincoln in November, 1 895 ; and
I now think it may modify some of the conjectures
which I have made in the earlier pages of this
book, as on the other hand it certainly supports
some of the suppositions which I laid down.
A scribe in the Registrum Antiq2nssimii7n (begun cir.
1 2 10- 1 5, but rubricated by the hand of the rubri-
cator of the Black Book, cir. 1338, according to
Mr. Bradshaw), after remarking that before Bp.
Sutton's time the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen
consisted of an altar in the Minster, but had been
removed into the ** atrium," or yard, for the peace
of the choir and security of the church, as well as
to facilitate the performances of occasional offices
for the parishioners, &c., &c., proceeds to note
that the reader would find (what now at least is
unfortunately not extant) at the end of this
volume or register, under the title *' De Altaribus
et Altaristis," full information *' concerning the
other altars [beside St. Mary Magdalen's] in the
church," that is to say. Saints {a) Michael, (b)
Andrew, {c) Denys, {d) Hugh, {i) Katharine, (/)
John Baptist, [g) Nicholas, (//) the Apostles Peter
and Paul, (/) Stephen, {k) Gu[th]lac, (/) John the
Evangelist, (;;/) Thomas the Martyr, and (w) Giles.
Piscinas^ Altars ^ &c, fLiiicolnJ. 223
Thus e, y, g are clearly the three altars in the
retro-choir or Angel Choir ; a, b^ c are in the great
north aisle; d^ in the N.E. transept, its altar dedi-
cated in 1255. (The other apsidal chapel may
have had no altar in it since the Translation of St.
Hugh. It had at one time been a chapel of St.
John Baptist.) // (and possibly /), apsidal chapel
(or chapels) in S.E. transept ; X', an altar with an
East Anglian dedication (St. Guthlac, of Croyland,
Abbat) of which all further trace, I believe, has
perished. I can only surmise that it may have been
near Little St. Hugh's shrine, or else in the re-
vestry; or again (as I think the most probable
supposition), one of the altars in the great south
aisle may originally have had this dedication,
which, at a later date, was exchanged for another
title. In which case : — k^ /, m would be the three
altars in the great south aisle ; and ;/, an altar in
the nave, perhaps at the south-west, or else it
may have been in the S.W. transept, i.e. in addition
to the three others which appear to have been in
that part of the Church.
To resume our circuit of the church : —
6-8. At the east end of the Minster are three
chapels. In the centre ** our Lady's Chapel," as
Sanderson called it (No. 7 below). To the north
of this, —
6. ** Borough's," i.e.^ Burghersh Chapel with
altar of St. Katkarhu. Here were the Burghersh
and W. Wolff's chantries. Vicars Choral, pp. 41,
42. Browne Willis, in 1742, following the authority
2 24 Notes on Mediaval Services.
of Chantry Certificates of 1545, pla.ces here the
'*Stretton and Woolvey's" chantries, besides that
of the Burghershes. The tomb of Bp. Henry
Burghersh (Dec, 1340), and his father, Robert
Lord B., forms the southern boundary of this
chapel ; and the bishop's elder brother Bartholomew,
one of the first Knights of the Garter, lies on the
other side, where in the 17th century the tomb of
Leo de Welles, 1461, is marked. It is called the
** Buckingham chauntrie " for two chaplains at
the altar of *' St. Hugh and St. KatJiarine^'* in
Chantry Certificate, 33, 7<5. Cf. No. 3 above.
The old Chantry Register (ff. 3, 169, 175) places
the Chantry of William Fitz-Ulf, priest of St.
Swithun's, '*in altari S. Katerine." The same
appears as the chantry of ** W. Wolfe " in the
time-tables of 1507, 153 1, and the certificates of
1545. But the last-named mention that Ri. Stret-
ton's chantry was amalgamated with it. Ri.
Stretton was prior of St. Katharine's, 1334. The
supplement to the Chantry Book, f. 392, assigns
masses for J. Bukyngham Bp. (1362-97; d. 10 Mar.,
1398) *'in capella S. Katerine," and here, as we
saw above (No. 3), one at least of his masses was
celebrated in 1545. Another supplement or ap-
pendix added to the original portion of the old
book of Lincoln Chantries (Chantry Reg. f. 334)
places in the same chapel the masses of Barth.
and Rob. Burghersh, ** ubi corpus bone memorie
H. de Burghersch quiescit" And those masses
are said to be at St. Katharine's altar in the time-
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c, fLiiicobiJ, 22^
tables of 1507 and 1531 and the certificate of 1545.
Here, 1 think, are traces of a piscina in the floor,
near the east wall. This appears to have been
fitted with a stone basin, and a pierced shaft or
pipe.
7. The Rev. John Kaye, jun., who has bestowed
diligent attention upon the architecture of the
Minster, writes: — ** It is probable that there were
/wo chantry chapels occupying the space under the
great east window, separated by a partition wall.
That on the north side founded by K. Edward I.,
in memory of his wife Eleanor, whose viscera were
interred here.''
Here are clear traces of a piscina in the floor,
against the east wall, toward the southern end of the
bay. In favour of Mr. Kaye's suggestion, it may
be alleged that St. Hugh's shrine was most probably
not in the centre, but on one side, towards the north.
It seems, however, to me most natural to place in
the centre of the space beneath the window the altar
** where a daily 7nass of the Blessed Virgin was sung
before the shrine of St. Hugh," although the altar
need not have been dedicated by her title. At
Salisbury, where (as at Lincoln) the whole church
was to be known as St. Mary's, her name, or rather
one of the mysteries commonly associated therewith,
was reserved for the high altar, but the daily mass
of the Virgin was always from the first celebrated
at the extreme east, in what w£is then called the
'* Salve'' (and now the **I^dy") Chapel, but at an
2 26 Notes 071 MedicBval Services.
altar which had quite a different dedication (Holy
Trinity and All Hallows). And the like may be so
far true of Lincoln, that the Blessed Virgin's mass
was sung at an altar which did not from the first, or
generally, bear her name in its special dedication.
See what I have said above, at No. 4, in favour of
supposing that, when St. Hugh's remains had been
translated in 1280, the title of the altar was made
"'St, John Baptist' s^ It is clearly called so in the
Chantry Register, where it is said that the viscera
Alienore regine (1290) were deposited "before the
altar of St. John Baptist." These remains are
placed in Hollar's plan (1672) on the north part of
this central chantry bay or chapel. Her effigy,
lately executed in gilt bronze by the munificence of
the late Mr. Joseph Rusten from Dugdale's drawing
and the monument in Westminster Abbey, is now
on the other side beneath the central window.
On the other hand, we find in the records of a
visitation, held by Bp. Alnwick's Commissar}^ in
1437, a complaint brought by W. Shipton, a vicar,
concerning the ** sub-deacon and deacon, ministers
of B. Mary's altar at the daily mass of our Lady."
Statutes ii., p. 394.
It was a foregone conclusion that the altar of the
**Lady J/^55" should, sooner or later, come to be
known as " St. Mary's Altar r
8. ''William the Conqueror's Chapel" {Sanderson)
with the Cantilupe and Fitzwilliam Chantries. Here
was the altar of St. Nicholas, at which the chantries
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c. f Lincoln), 227
of Nicholas and Joan Cantilupe (his widow, who died
in 1358) were placed. See supplement in Chantry'
Book, ff. 2)21, 375. Two Cantilupe masses were
celebrated here at the altar (1507), or chapel (153 1),
of St. Nicholas. So also the Chantry Certificates
of 1545. In Hollar's map (1672) the tombs of Lord
N. de Cantilupe (cir. 1355) ^^<^ Robert Wymbysh,
subdean of Lincoln and prior of Nocton (1478),
''alias Darcy Ab. ," are shown in the northern verge
of this chantr}'. The old Chantry Register itself
(ff. 2, 20, 224) places the chantry of Peter de
Hungaria, canon, at St. Nicholas' altar; and Browne
Willis {Snivey ii., p. 34), in 1742, mentions that T.
Fitzwilliam's obit had been kept here.
Here are traces of a piscina, probably supported
originally by a pillar. There is a bracket (as if for
an image) on the east wall toward the southern
extremity, about 8 feet above the floor. In chancels
the patron's image, according to Dr. Rock, was
placed to the north, and that of B. V. Mary to the
south.
9. Altar of St. Blaise, in the chantry chapel of
Bp. John Russell (1495), annexed to the south side
of the Angel Choir. See the obit list of 1527. In
the Chantry Certificates of 1545 is mentioned **the
chantry of J. Russell and obit of K. Edward IV.
(who died 9 Apr., 1483), in capclla S. Blasii,
Here is a single piscina constructed in the south
wall. There are two brackets, or pedestals for
images in the east wall, right and left of the altar,
about 5 feet from the floor.
2 28 Notes on MedicEval Services,
10. Bishop J. Longland's chapel, annexed about
1547. It is doubtful whether there was ever an
altar dedicated here or a title affixed, chantries
having been abolished, or made over to K. Henry
VIII. in 1545 (37 H. viii., c. 4), and to Edward VI.
in 1547. Several writers, such as Wild and
Mackenzie Walcott, give the dedication as St.
Catharine's, but state no authority. On the screen
is the inscription, ^^ Longa Terra Mensuram eius
(Arms of K. Henry VIII.) Dommics Dedit.'" The
Bishop's heart alone was buried here; his body at
Eton. There is a piscina in the south wall ; several
brackets unfinished are in the west wall.
1 1 . We come now to an apsidal chapel, the
nearest in the south-east transept. This has a
double aumbry in the N.E. face, and a double piscina
in the S.E. It is at present used as the Lay Clerks'
vestry. John Coney's map, cir. 1830, in the modern
edition of Dugdale's Mo7iasticon, calls this ** Lady
Joan Cantelupe's chantry.*' Brooke's Guide, cir.
1844, goes further, and says, ** founded ....
by Joan Cantelupe, and dedicated to St. Paid,'' I
believe this statement may be traced to an anonymous
writer of 1771, on whom Wild largely depended.
However, I have not found any notice of any altar
in honour of St. Paul in the Minster (apart from
St. Peter). The Apostles Peter and Paul are
combined together in the Register at Lincoln, as
elsewhere. Bishop Henry Lexington (d. 1258)
was buried just outside the screen of this chapel
Piscinas^ Altars^ &"€. (Lincoln J. 229
according to Hollar's plan. Unless the authority for
making No. 1 2 the altar of St. Peter be found to be
overwhelming, I should prefer to describe No. 1 1 as
the altare apostolorum^ viz., St. Peter and St. Paul.
12. Another apsidal chapel, with a single aumbry
N.E., and a double piscina S.E., arranged much as
in No. II. Here, according to common tradition,
was the tomb of B. Robert (j,e, Bp. Grosseteste).
J. Coney, cir. 1830, places here *' Bishop de WelFs
Chapel," which Brooke's Guide (p. x.), a few years
later, expresses more precisely* as ^' founded by
Bp. Welles, and dedicated to St, Peter,'' The altar
of St. Peter was one of the most important. Here
mass was sung daily for Bishops of Lincoln departed.
Some keepers and clerks of St. Peter's altar were
certainly buried in the adjoining transept. The
altar of St. Peter, or its keeper, is frequently named
in the Black Book. I am inclined to think that one
of the two apsidal chapels was St. Peter and St.
Paul's, and the other (and if I am not mistaken
this was not No. 11 but No. 12) was St. Stephen's,
which is mentioned next in order after St. Peter and
St. Paul's altar in Registrum Ayitiqiiissiiniun,
After studying the time-tables of viissae ciir^'entcs
(to adopt a term from Salisbury) which our Dean
and Chapter issued for the guidance of Chantry
• The tomb of Huf:jh de Welles is placed in Hollar's plan due south of
Plcming's in the east end of the north cboir aisle. Fraj^mcnts of the canopy
of Robert Grosscteste's sej)ulchre have been preserved, and in the opinion of
Edmund Venables are sufTicient to justify a restoration. Lincoln Cathedral,
p. 60. (Ibister & Co., 1898.)
230 Notes on Mediceval Services,
Chaplains in 1507 and 1531, and for a knowledge
of which I have to thank Mr. Maddison, I cannot
help remarking that nothing is there said about
any use to be made of this Altar e B. Petri by any
of the chaplains. We know, moreover, of no case
of any Vicar celebrating there any of those
numerous chantry masses or obits, about which the
Chantry Book gives so many particulars. We
know, however, that the keeper of St. Peter's altar
undertook as his principal duty to say mass
(** daily,'* some MSS. say) *'at the said altar of
St. Peter for the souls of all Bishops departed,"
and that he was in priest's orders, and that some
keepers and clerks of this altar were buried in one
part or another of this transept in the 15 th and i6th
centuries, as also were some of the most honoured
Bishops of Lincoln in the 13th century — Ro.
Grosseteste (1253), H. Lexington (1258), and Ri.
Gravesend (1279). I ^.m well aware that the altar
itself stands in a somewhat obscure apse, in the
S.E. transept (now used for the men's vestry), but
it is the counterpart of the place in the N.E.
transept, which was most sacred in St. Hugh's
eyes (the altar of St. John Bapt.), and I see not
how to escape the conclusion that here the Chapter
Mass was celebrated. If so, the congregation,
gathered to this homely service of the Lincoln
Minster family, would take their places just where
we stand at the present day for prayer, before and
after Divine Service in choir. We find that
Chapter Mass was sometimes, if not always, sung
Pisc{7ias, Altai's, &c. fLificolnJ, 231
at Salisbur}' at an altar of the same dedication (St.
Peter and Apostles) in a somewhat similar and
not much more convenient place, but, as here,
in one of the oldest (and oldest fashioned) corners
of the Church, which fact at Salisbury is somewhat
in favour of this conclusion for Lincoln.
This may help also to account for the curious
term ^^ lavatoriu7?z capitarii,''^ and the changing of
copes ^^ i7i capitaino'''' (Black Book, pp. 365, 369,
382), the revestry and the lavatory being both of
them near at hand. In the old Chantry Register
(If. 4, 6; cf. '^z^ 217) we read of cantaria pro anima-
bus episcoporiun defunctorinn ad altare S. Petri.
13. The Revestr}^ Altar. This was, no doubt,
used for putting out ornaments and vestments to
be ready for use. The silver-gilt cross stood upon
it (in its socket) when not in use for processions.
Also two great tabernacles with images of ivory and
the Story of the Passion {Lincoln Inventories, pp. 4,
7). Possibly holy water was blessed here privation
in vestibulo on certain days. (See Processionale
Saruvi, ed. 1882, pp. 59, 3.) Near the altar here
those who were not well enough to go into the
choir might say their Divine service in the vestry.
{Nov. Reg., p. 355.) There are several aumbries
and recesses, but under the present wainscots and
shelves it is impossible to see whether any of them
was originally a piscina, as seems likely to have
been the case.
14. The Lavatory, with fire-place and antient
2^2 A'otcs on Mcdiccval Se?- vices.
o
conduit, possibly the successor of the old '* lava-
toriitvi captfa7'h'*^' mentioned in the Black Book, p.
365, in a late 14th centun* MS. of the Custom Book
of 1270. There is a fire-place here, but I do not
see any reason to suppose tha.t there was also an
altar.
15-17. Passing the shrine of Little St. Hugh,
1255, and turning into the great south transept we
reach three chapels, divided one from another by low
arcaded walls : —
15. *' Capella Fimdatoris^^'' sive ^^ pro beyie/actori-
busy Possibly St. Guthlac's or St. Edward's
Chapel of the Works. The title of the northernmost
of the chapels in the south-west transept is wrapped
in obscurity.
Hollar's plan (1672) calls the N. chapel in S. aisle
** Capella Fnndato7'isy^ This, perhaps, was the
ground on which a writer, in 1771, followed by
Wild, Walcott, and others, calls that the chapel of
*'St. Edward the Martyr and Remigius." J.
Coney's map (cir. 1830) calls this " Henr}^ Duke
of Lancaster's Chantry"; and Brooke's Guide (cir.
1844) thus far following Wild's authority of 1771,
adds '* dedicated to St. Edward the Martyr."
Precentor Venables says (in Murray's Hand Book)
— what seems to me, a priori, unlikelyt — that the
* In Schalby's day William the Conqueror was ranked as our "Fundator,'
Remigius our ♦' Stabilitor."
t I mean that I think it unlikely that a chapel or altar dedicated in honour
of St. Anne should have borne that title so early and then have been displaced
by an altar of St. Edward. I should a priori have expected the inverse order.
Piscinas, Altars, &c. fLiiicolnJ. 233
altar of St. Anne was changed to the title of St.
Edward (the Martyr), and was founded by Henry
Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Lincoln, for four
priests, whose effigies (as well as the inscription
^'' Orate pro benefadoribus istius Ecclesie^''^) are carved
over the entrance. The priests of this chantry had
(cir. 1320) a house (formerly the Chancellor's) west
of the Deanery, and near the Treasurer's. It was
pulled down in 1828. It should be observed that
the title of St. Anne's altar is found in 1390 and
1 53 1, and the title of St. Edward (for which the
late Precentor could not recollect his authority), I
suppose, dropped out of use. There is no altar of St.
Anne (nor of St. Edward) in the list in the Registrum
Antiquissi77ium early in the 14th century, but an
altar e Saudi Gu[tli\lad is placed in order between
St. Stephen's and that of St. John the Evangelist.
Possibly a somewhat old-fashioned East Anglian
dedication had to make way for the title of St.
Edward, which may well have been popular in the
14th century.
An impetus to the acltics of St. Anne was given in
1383 when Abp. Courteney received a bull from
Pope Urban VI. on the subject of a festival in her
honour ; but, as we shall see presently under No.
17, the altar or chapel of St. Anne must be placed
at the other end of this S.W. transept. It is a fact
well known to archaeologists that in the earliest
times a ** chantry " was not considered to be a
locality, such as a chapel or an altar, but it implied
merely the foicndatioii of a mass for souls which was
234 Notes on Mediceval Services.
capable, in many instances, of being said on one day
at one altar, and the next day at another, although
the founders of chantries did, no doubt, oftentimes
express their preference for a particular altar, and in
particular instances (especially in the 15 th and i6th
centuries) they would make provision for a new
structural chapel with an altar enclosed within it.
And in some instances the title of some specific
chapel is expressly named in the deed or "ordina-
tion" regulating the duties of the priest or priests
employed to fulfil the engagements of such and such
a chantry, and we come in common parlance to
speak of the Hungerford Chantry when we ought
more strictly to say '*the Hungerford Chapel," or
the Chapel constructed or assigned for the chantry
mass founded by Lord Hungerford or for the repose
of his soul. In the case of the '* Works " or
" Fabrick Chantry," at Lincoln, I think it not
impossible that at the date when the inscription
' ' Orate pro benefactoribus istius ecclesie ' ' was
carved upon the screen of No. 15 it was designed
that chaplains of the Works Chantry should say
mass there regularly to fulfil their obligations to
celebrate on behalf of living and departed benefactors
to the fabrick of Lincoln Minster (according to the
endowment founded by Henry Duke of Lancaster,
or by Treasurer J. de Welborne, who died in 1381,
or some other). But if that may have been the case
in the 14th century, we must bear in mind that at all
events the arrangement was otherwise in the i6th
century. In 1506-7 three priests of the Works
A
Piscinas^ Altat^s, &c. f Lincoln J, 235
Chantr}^ were directed to celebrate mass, the first at
the altar of St. George, the second at the altar of
St. Anne, and the third likewise at the altar of St.
Anne. Mr. Maddison has now proved that the altar
of St. Anne was not at No. 15 but No. 17. It may
then be suggested that the altar of St. George was
at No. 15 in 1506 and 1531. In that case the former
of two suggestions made by me in a note on p. 182
above, and printed before we had learnt about the
true position of St. Anne's chapel, appears to have
been approximately correct.
1 6. The central chapel in the great south transept
is called in Hollar's plan (1672) ** Consistorium
Decani et Capituli." In J. Coney's map (cir. 1830)
it is called '' Bp. " [Henry] *' Lexington's Chapel " ;
but in Brooke's Guide (cir. 1844) it is said to have
been ** founded by Dean Lexington and dedicated
to St. Andrew." *'Dean Lexington" would most
naturally mean William L., who died in 1272.
But Wild's anonymous authority of 1771 says
''Bishop [Henry] Lexington, when Dean" (1245-54).
Mackenzie Walcott (whom the late Precentor assisted
in 1866) evidently felt some misgivings. He says,
*' St. Andrew, or St. John Baptist, with an arcaded
wall (now the Dean's Consistor}^ Court), founded by
Bishop Lexington." Lincoln Memorials, p. 45. It
is not near the tomb of either of the Lexingtons.*
Bp. H. L.'s chantry was at the altar of St. John in
1 53 1. But it was St. John the Evangelist,
• Hollar places Bp. H. de Lcxinton's tomb (1258) in the south-east transept.
236 Notes on Mediaval Services,
An altar of St, John the Evangelist^ where exequies
of Vicars Choral were celebrated, is one of the very
few which are mentioned by name in the Black Book
(p- 395)- I^ is named in wills of 1390 and 1433.
The tomb and shrine of John de Dalderby (13 19)
stood opposite the south-west corner of this central
chapel, and cir. 1485 John de Grantham places John
de Dalderby's mass **at St. John's altar." In 1531
the Henry Lexington and Beningworth Chantries
were so placed.
The *' altar of St. John the Evangelist" is named
next that of St. Anne in the will of Ri. de Beverley
in 1390. So when the Guide Books call the centre
chapel **St. Andrew's (or St. John's)," I should
certainly add ''more probably the latter.''' And the
list in Registrujn Antiquissimum suggests the same
conclusion. Moreover, after I had written my
opinion to this effect, I received a note from Mr.
Maddison, telling me that the circumstance of W.
Shipton, priest vicar, being buried here, in this *
centre chapel (No. 16), and his will (proved in 1465)
desiring that he should be buried '^cora?n altar i S.
Johannis evangeliste'" establishes it past a doubt.
The old Chantry Register places ** in altari Beati
Johannis Evangeliste " the chantries of {a) J. de
Dalderby, Bp. 1300- 13 20, If. i, 6, 12, 150; {b)
W. Ruffus, or Ruphus, de Roveston, physicus, or
medicus ; If. 3, 33, 212 ; and {c) H. de Benyngworth,
sub-dean 1294-1318, who "chose his sepulture
before (coram) this altar," If. 2, 22, 24, 80, 274.
There were two chaplains of the Beningworth chantry
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c. fLincolnJ, 237
celebrating at this altar according to the time-tables
of 1506 and 1 53 1. And these tables mention also
another pair of chaplains celebrating there, and that
of 1 53 1 tells us that it was for the soul of H.
Lexington, Bp. 1254-8.
17. Chapel of St. Anne. **The south chapel in
the cross He" (Sanderson) is rightly called ** Canon
Tailboys Chantry." W. Tailboys, preb. of All
Saints and Nassington, resigned the precentory at
the accession of K. Edward VI., but did not die
until 1572. Gilbert Lord Talboys, of Angos and
Kyme, died about 1540. But the chapel appears
to have been associated with the earlier Lords of
Kyme ; for in Hollar's plan ** Capella et Tumulus
Hmnphreyvelli'''* is marked here. Gilbert d'Umfravill
of Kyme, Earl of Angos, and Gillian, his wife, died
cir. 1308 ; and Gilbert and Maud cir. 1381. Sir G.
Taylboys, Knt., has a monument here. ? 15 14.
He gave a corporas case, embroidered with his
arms, to the minster.
This S.W. chapel is said in Brooke's Guide ^
*' Description," &c., p. 4, to have been dedicated to
St. Giles. A celebration by Hugh de Walmesford's
chaplain at St. Giles* altar is mentioned in the
Chantry Book Supplement, If. 339, and at the visita-
tion of 1437 {Stat, ii., pp. 405-6). Walmesford's
mass (1344) was at St. Giles' altar also in 1507 and
1531, as were, ** in capella S. Egidii," those of Ri.
Ravenser (1386) and Ri. de Faldingworth, i.e.,
Richard, rector of Faldingworth, son of Herbert de
Neuport, cir. 1253.
238 N'otes 071 Mediccval Services,
The Faldingworth chantry in St. Giles' chapel is
mentioned likewise in the old Chantry Register,
If. 3, 108.
But I cannot at present tell on what authority
Brooke names the southernmost chapel after St.
Giles, though it is perfectly plain that an altar and
a chapel in honour of St. Giles was established in
sovie part or other of the Minster as early as circa
1335 and as late as 1530. On the other hand, as
we shall see presently, the title of St. Anne' s Chapel
for the south end of the great south transept rests
on 1 6th century evidence.
On the other hand, the early 14th century^ list of
altars in Registr. Antiquiss. places the altar of St.
Thomas (Becket) the Martyr next after that of
St. John the Evangelist ; and this, if we suppose
the list to proceed in orderly sequence, should lead
us to place the altar of S. Thomas either at No. 17,
or else at No. 15. Perhaps there were four altars in
this aisle. One of them may have been under the
circular window known as the " Bishop's Eye.''
The altar of St. Giles, if we rely upon the order
in which the altars are named in the documents,
must have been either here, or, (just possibly)
accommodated in the Consistory Court Chapel, No.
20, which, I believe, was dedicated to St. Sebastian.
A glance at the records of Wells or York will show
that altars with double dedication were then not
uncommon. Mr. Logsdail assures me that he has
heard on good authority that the Tailboys family
dedicated their chantry altar to St. Giles. I dare
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c. fLincolnJ. 239
say that some of my readers can give me ' chapter
and verse' for this belief, in accordance with which I
have placed the altar of St. Giles here at No. 17,
rather than at No. 20, or elsewhere. [Thus I wrote
in 1896. But I confess that I might very possibly
have written otherwise had I then known for a
certainty what I seem once barely to have, for a
moment, surmised, namely that No. 1 7 was called
the chapel of St. Anne. This appears clearly to
have been the case, for the Rev. Arthur Roland
]\Iaddison, M.A., F.S.A., now (January 1898)
prebendary of All Saints, Thorngate, in reading a
will, dated in the year 1556, has recently discovered
the fact that a testator expressed a wish that he
might have a place for his grave assigned him
opposite ** the quere of the Chapel of St. Anne, now
called Umphreville's, at the south end of the cross
yle by the great steple.** It was called *' Umphre-
ville's " because of the Talboys monument with the
Umfraville arms on it, the Talboys being representa-
tives of the great Umfraville family.]
Here is a double piscina as in No. 15. Above the
altar space in the middle of the E. wall of this chapel
is a bracket for an image, 7 or 8 feet above the
floor, thus facing the Galilee door.
18. Under the lantern in the Rood Tower was the
altar of Holy Rood^ or ^7. Cross, below the ''Crucifix,
Mary, and John." This may have been either
against the choir screen on one side of the entrance,
as there were altars at Wells, Exeter, and many
240 Notes on Mediccval Services,
other places, or (as I think far more probable in the
case of an altar ** before the rood'') upon the '*jube"
or choir screen, which was ascended by steps on
either side for the ceremony of chanting the Epistle
and Gospel at High Mass. , Such, I understand
from Mr. Edmund Bishop, was the arrangement of
the altar at St. Albans ; and Dr. Rock mentions
altars on rood screens, and on other elevated
positions, as not uncommon.
Matthew Paris mentions that Remigius the
Founder was buried before the altar of St. Cross.
19. Hollar's plan (1672) marks (as Mr. Kaye
tells me) Dean Macworth's tomb (d. 145 1) to the
west of the south-western pier of the lantern or
rood-tower. And Mr. Maddison has found a record
of the presentation of a chaplain for the Macworth
Chantry ** in capella sancti Georgii,^'' 9th July, 1457.
If this was near Macworth's grave, we must suppose
that there was once an altar here so far screened
(by some structure now removed) that it could be
called a chapel. No altar of St. George is men-
tioned in the old Chantry Register ; but, doubtless,
the cultus of this saint received an impetics after the
institution of the Most Noble Order in 1344 ; and
Abp. Chicheley's injunction in 1414 points to a
general recognition of his patronage in merr}^
England. It occurs to me to enquire on a mere
conjecture, whether the now nameless " Dean's
Chapel" (No. 28) may not have been called St.
George's in the 15th and i6th centuries. In the
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c. f Lincoln), 241
time-tables of 1507, 1531, we read that the *' first,"
or ** morrow mass/' was celebrated at St, Georgis
altar, by one of the Works chantry priests, and
another mass later in the day by the chaplain of
Treasurer Crosby's chantry. Crosby died in 1477.
The date of his will is given by Hardy ; but I infer,
from Mr. Gibbons' book, that wills are not found
in the Bishop's registry between 1472-80. Crosby
was buried in the Minster, but the place of his tomb
is unrecorded.
19^. It IS possible that there may have been a
** Jhesus altar " by Macworth's tomb at the south-
east of the nave, as there was a mass of the Most
Holy Name of Jesus, or else of the Five Wounds,
to be recited cu7n nota on Fridays, with choristers
singing before the crucifix on the south side of the
church, according to the provisions of the will of
Bp. W. Smyth in 15 14. However, I think it rather
more likely that the reference there is, not to the
great rood, mentioned just above at No. 18, but
to some other crucifix on the south west pier of the
nave^ near the burial place of Bp. Smyth.
20. Altar of St. Sebastian. Attached to the
south-west end of the nave is an Early English
Chapel annexed in 1250. Since 1609 ^^is has been
assigned as a Consistory Court for the Bishop, and
for the Archdeacon of Lincoln's Visitations. J.
Coney's map, cir. 1830, calls it ** St. Hugh's
chapel" (possibly because of St. Hugh's bells in
R
242 Notes on MedicEval Services,
the steeple), and Brooke's Guide, cir. 1844, says
more explicitly '' dedicated to the Holy Trinity and
the Blessed Virgin by St. Hugh." But I think he
has carelessly copied from Wild's statement (1819)
that it was founded by *'Bp. Hugh," possibly
meaning Hugh de Welles. This statement may,
perhaps, have given rise to two other inaccurate
statements, that it was '' St. Hugh's Chapel," and
that it was *' Trinity Chapel." There can be no
doubt that the real Trinity Chapel is Bp. Fleming's,
No. 5 above, though many others may have shared
this as a general dedication (=*' to the glory of
God"). Our architectural authorities date the
consistory chapel as subsequent to the time of St.
Hugh : they now place it, I believe, later than Hugh
de Welles also. In Bp. W. Smyth's will (proved
in 1 514) SL Sebastians Chapel is said to be on the
south side of the cathedral church, and near the
place which this Bishop (founder of Brasenose
College) designed for his own burial. He was
buried at the west end of the nave, rather to the
south side, not very far from the door of this chapel,
and near the great west door. A fragment of his
tombstone is now in the cloisters. A marble tablet
was erected in modern times to his memory near to
the place of his burial by members of the College
which he founded. In the S.W. chapel there is a
double piscina. It is noticeable that though the
chapel (known in modern times as the consistor}')
IS an old structure, we do not find the title of any
chapel or altar of S. Sebastian until after the death
Piscinas^ Altars, &c. fLincolnJ . 243
of Bishop Smyth. Thus it is named as an altar in
1 53 1, but not in the corresponding time-table of
1507. But the chapel (or altar) of St. Giles is
named both in early and late records : the chantry
of Ric. de Faldingworth **in capella S. Egidii,"
Old Chantry Register, If. 3, 108 (and similarly at
the altar of St. Giles in 153 1), that of Hugh de
Walmisford, at the **altare B. Egidii," in the
supplement to the same register, If. 339, and in
1507, 153 1. The chaplains for Ric. Ravenser have
this altar likewise assigned to them in 1507, 153 1.
I conclude, therefore, that the consistory court may
have been always known as the chapel of St. Giles,
and that an altar of St. Sebastian was added within
it, or in an adjoining part of the nave, early in the
1 6th century. It is, however, right to add that
most writers* place St. Giles' altar at No. 17, and
at St. Sebastian's Chapel his mass was celebrated
in 1 53 1. From analogy, and relying on the list in
Registr. Antiguiss., I should have been rather
inclined to place here the altare sci. Egidii, so that the
last altar in the list (that of St. Giles) might balance
the (guondam) altar of St. Mary Magdalen (No. 23)
with which, starting from the N.W. corner ot the
nave, the list began. Here in the Consistory Court,
at the S.W. corner of the nave, there is a double
piscina (without any intervening shaft), not in the
• [Since Canon A. R. Maddison's happy identification of the Talboys
Chapel (No. 17) as being certainly dedicated in honour of St. Anne, some at
least of the writers to whom I have referred in the text might not improbably
be inclined to reconsider the tjuestion.]
244 Notes on Mediceval Services,
eastern, but in the southern wall. The basins are
filled with convex blocks of stone, evidently very old»
21. St. Hugh's, or the Ringer's Chapel, under
the S.W. tower. Here, I suppose, was '^ le pele,'
or Peal Altar, where the mattin bell was rung, and
where one of the two chantries of Bishop Hugh de
Welles (1235) had its place at least in 1531. Pele
Chapel had its own vestments and music books;
and in Bishop Alnwick's time one of the bellringers
kept a dog lying near the altar. In the 17th and
1 8th centuries lists of the "Masters and Company
of Ringers of St. Hugh's and our Lady Bells"
were painted on the walls. The pinnacle of the
turret supports an effigy of St. Hugh. ** Le pele^^
was mentioned at Bishop Alnwick's Visitation in
1437, Statutes ii., 404, 407. There is no trace of
any piscina or aumbry here.
22. St. Mary's Tower. The ** North Tower,
formerly Great Tom's Tower" {Brooke). The
turret is surmounted by the figure of the *' Swine-
heard of Stow." It seems not improbable, as Mr.
Maddison observes, that this may be the chapel
of St. James ** near the stairs leading to the western
tower," mentioned at No. 35 below.
23. The Morning Chapel, or Morning Prayer
Chapel (opposite St. Sebastian's, or the Consistory
Court). Here, as Hollar's plan tells us, after the
Restoration, ** Morning Prayers were said at 6
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c, (Lincoln). 245
o'clock." This custom was continued until about
1790; the prebendary of St. Botolph's for some
time previously performed the duty. On a recom-
mendation from my Father, at his visitation in
1873, the Dean and Chapter once more revived the
custom of providing what has now been for twenty
years the ** Workmen's Service" at 7.40 on week-
days. This was frequently undertaken by the
late Archbishop of Canterbury when Chancellor.
We may identify this chapel with that of St, Mary
Magdalen, mentioned in 1506-7, 1531, and in the
account of Bp. J. Gyn well's will, cir. 1363. Also,
more explicitly in the Chantry Register as **capella
B. Marie Magdalene, ad caput occidentale ecclesie,
ex parte boriali, ubi celebari consuevit missa de B.
Virgine hora prima pro animabus Roberti de Lascy,
Ricardi de Rowell, et Hervici de Luda."
Though the walls of the building cannot really
have been built so late as Bp. Gynwell's day
(1347-63), yet there may be so much of truth in
Leland's statement as to justify our supposing that
the said bishop endowed and furnished a chantry
there. His burial place, in the nave, is just south
of the pillar, which ranges with the eastern wall of
the chapel whereof we are speaking. There is a
large aumbry there, and an old double piscina in the
east wall. These are respectively north and south
of the altar space. There is also a single piscina
(perhaps Norman in workmanship) in the floor just
below the equally plain double one in the wall.
Overhead, 9 feet from the floor, is the bracket for an
246 Notes on Mediaval Services.
image ; below which is a painting (not ver}^ antient)
of a dove. And here I will propound to any who
can answer it, a question by the way : When the
Bishop of Lincoln held a Synod in the Church, did
they say the Mass of the Holy Ghost at the rood
altar, or at a temporary or portable altar, or where ?
The place for the sitting of the synod was left
to official discretion. {Black Book, Stat, i., p. 293.)
24. The altar of St. Christopher fiyi tJu navej.
This is mentioned in the will of J. Cotes, prebendary
of Thorngate, 1433 {Gibbons, p. 158). St. Chris-
topher's Gild, in 1392 and 14 16 {ibid. pp. 86,
128). In the computus of the year 1408-9 we find
among receipts 295. 8^. ** de oblacionibus factis ad
nouam ymaginem Sancti Xpoferi hoc anno.'' (In
1408-9 the receipts '* de apertura stipitis sci
Xpofori " amounted to 165. %d.) And again in
J. Burton's will, 1537, we read of **the north aisle
(leading) to St. Christopher." St. Christopher's stock
{stipes) and his image have been mentioned above
(see pages 109, 163). I suppose his altar to have
been on the N. side, either against the choir-screen,
or corresponding with the (southern) no. 19 in the
bay of the nave next the central lantern, and thus
hard by the tomb of the founder Rem.igius. The
mass of T. Alford's chantry was said at St. Chris-
topher's altar in 1531, and we know that Alford was
buried in the nave in 1485. In 1492 the ** morning
mass " was ordered to be said at St. Christopher's,
instead of at the altar of St. Nicholas. {Vicars
Piscinas^ Altai's, &c, (LmcolnJ, 247
Choral, p. 37.) In 1535 Robt. Awbray, Fleming-
chantry priest, desired to be buried ** besyde Sainte
Christofer's altare, at west ende of Sir Robert
Pecoke's grave." Maddison, Wills, No. 22, p. 11.
25-27. We come now to the great north transept
with three chapels. I would suggest that these
contained the altars of St. Michael, St. Andrew,
and St. Denys ; and the order in the early 14th
century list makes it highly probable that these were
in one group, St. Andrew's being in the middle.
25. St. Denys* altar (Sancti Dionysii). The
chantry in the N. transept, at the end nearest to the
choir, is called " Bp. Buckingham's chantry" in J.
Coney's map, cir. 1830. But there are objections
to this. Browne Willis {Survey Cath. ii., 34) places
the Buckingham chantry at *' St. Hugh's altar," on
the authority of Cotton MS. Tiberius E. 3, a
chantry return of 1545. So also the order of 153 1,
Vicars Choral, p. 41. On the other hand it was,
says Brooke's Guide (1840), following his anony-
mous authority of 1771, ** founded by Bp. Bucking-
ham [d. at Canterbury 1398], and dedicated to
St. James the Apostle." And so say Walcott's
Memorials and Murray's Guide. But the late Pre-
centor Venables says, ** St. Thomas the Apostle,"
Williamson's Guide, p. 73 ("Thomas," perhaps,
was merely a misprint for " James." There
certainly was an altar of St. Dionis, or Denys ; for
a chaplain saying mass for the dead there is
248 Notes on MedicEval Services,
mentioned in a deed of 20th April, 1221, in the
Chantry Register, If. i8i% and W. Fitz Fulk's
chantry there is mentioned, ibid^ 2% 19^, 184. Dean
W. Lexington's chantry was served there in 1420
(with Widington and Hiche's) ; but in 1500 W. de
Lexington's chantry mass was at St. Andrew's
altar {Grantham s Book), and in the Chantry Book
itself {fir. 1330) at St. Michael's altar.
26. St. Andrew's altar. The middle chapel in the
great N. transept is called *' Canon Sutton and
Woolvey's " in J. Coney's map, cir. 1830. ** The
chantry of Canon Richard Sutton and W. Woolvey's,
and dedicated to St. Denis," says Brooke's Guides
following the authority of 1771, on whom Wild
relied. This Richard Sutton is unknown to our
annals. (?) Richard Stretton. Dean W. de Lex-
ington was buried before the northernmost chapel
(No. 27), nearer the Dean's door ; but the computus
of 1420 mentions a payment **/rd? aniinabus Joh.
Wydyngton, W. Lexington et Nich! Hicche ad altar e
sancti Dionisi;,''^ which I take to be No. 25.
At the altar of St. Andrrw, which I incline to
place here at No. 26, in the middle of the three (and
Registrum Antiguissimum bears me out) was the
chantry of W. Aveton. The old Chantry Register
(If. I, 6, 16, 251 ; cf. 332) takes notice of the chantry
of Nicholas de Hiche, subdean, *' in altari S. Andree,
vbi requiescit corpus [eiusdem]." And in the addi-
tions to the same book we find the chantries of
Walter Stanreth, treasurer (If. 357), and of Henr}-
Piscinas^ Altars, &c, fLincolnJ, 249
Beck, lord of Normanby with Ric. de Whitewell
and other friends (If. 374), ** at the altar of St.
Andrew the Apostle." A mass here is noted in the
time-table of 1506-7, but the person commemorated,
as frequently happens in that list, is not specified.
The Aveton and Pollard chantries appear sometimes,
but not, I believe, invariably, at St. Andrew's altar.
27. The altar of St, Michael, The most northerly
chapel in the great N. transept is called in Coney's
map **Fitzwilliam's chantry" : Brooke's Guide Sd^ySy
** founded by Thomas Fitzwilliam, and dedicated to
St. Nicholas": — It is, however, far removed from
the tombs of that family, and the title is, perhaps, a
misnomer. Murray's handbook calls the chapel ** St.
Nicholas or Michael " ; and the latter (as I gather
from the Registr, Antiq.) is correct. Precentor
Venables inclined to St. Nicholas, perhaps on the
authority of Wild and 1771. But that title is
undoubtedly pre-occupied by No. 8, the Cantilupe
Chantry altar, which is, moreover, near the Fitz-
william tombs. In Hollar's plan (1672) the tombs
of Deans W. Lexington and J. Shepey are placed
near the screen of this chapel. There are traces of
a piscina here in the floor near the N.E. corner.
Ric. de Beverley's will in 1390 mentions the altar of
St. Michael in close juxtaposition with those of St.
Andrew and St. Denys, just as the Registrum Anti-
quissimtini had done. At St. Michael's altar in 1531
was the mass of W. Caux. No mention, however,
is made of this in the corresponding time-table of
250 Notes on Mediccval Services.
1507. The old Chantr}^- register places the chantry
of W. Lexington (Dean 1263-72) ** ad altare S.
Michaelis," If. 3, 32.
28. On the western side of that shorter northern
transept in which we began our circuit, outside the
choir, there is a large chapel which at one time had
an upper floor or loft, and which still contains
apothecae or recesses for the drugs of the minster-
dispensary, if not for the stores of cloth {pannus)
which was (or ought to have been) distributed to the
poor. In Coney's map this is the ** chapel built by
Bishop Saint Hugh." Precentor Venables gave it
the name by which it is best known, ** the Dean's
Chapel, said to have been the Pharmacy.'* It is
hard by the Deanery, and in or near it several
Deans of Lincoln have been buried. I have never
heard any saint's name assigned to it as a title, but
it does not follow of necessity that it never had one.*
There is here a single piscina (fluted) in the floor ;
but, as Mr. Logsdail suggests, it is not impossible
that it may have been a drain or sink intended for
use in the Dispenser's craft. Mr. Micklethwaite
however is of opinion that these floor sinks were to be
used for a purpose mentioned in the Rationale of
Durandus (lib. iv. cap. 30 § 20), namely for pouring
out a few drops from the crewets **to clear the
* On p. 143 I have made a suggestion that the title of St. George might
perhaps have been assigned to ' The Dean's Chapel.' But on further
consideration I am inclined rather to place St. George's altar on the south side,
and possibly at No. 15.
Piscinas^ Altars ^ &c. (LincolnJ, 251
spouts of dust before * making' the chalice." The
Oriiaments of the Rubric, Alcuin Club Tracts, No. i.
p. 41, n. (Longmans, 1897.)
29. The ''''camera communis'*'' was never, so far as
I am aware, a chapel. There was a ** Clerk of the
Chamber," and also a *' Clerk Writer of the
Chamber" {Black Book, p. 398); but the exact
nature of the business there, or by them transacted
I have yet to learn.
30. Domus capitularis. I mention the Chapter
House here, merely for the purpose of repeating my
conviction that the capitularis inissa, or missa in
capitulo, was never celebrated in that building.
** The Chapter Mass" (see p. 188) existed some
generations before any ** domus capitularis" was
built at Lincoln, and it is at least possible that the
two (missa capitularis and domus capitularis) have
no direct connexion even in their names ; for it
seems reasonable to connect the term either with
'' capicium'' {chevet), the eastern part of a great
church, or else with ** capitarium.''' Chapter Masses
are sometimes celebrated in the nave of a great
church, sometimes {e.g. at Durham) at the choir
altar, sometimes more privately in the retro-choir.
At Salisbury they were, if I rightly read the evidence,
in the N.E. corner of the Church. As to Lincoln,
I hazard the conjecture that the special mass
mentioned in the old Chantry Register (If 4**) as
celebrated in the important, though somewhat
252 Notes on Mediceval Services,
diminutive, apsidal chapel of St. Peter in the
S.E. transept was the Chapter Mass. Cf. Black
Book, pp. 293-4, 289, 297,394; Chantry Register,\{.
4> 6, zZ-f 217. In most of these the distinction of
Chapter Mass from Mass at high altar is expressed.
There still remain a few titles of altars at Lincoln,
for which I can at present assign no certain site.
31. An Altar of St, Lucy is mentioned in Jordan
de Ingham's computus^ 1294 : — ** 135. 4^. delivered
to Adam Bell, chaplain, for the altar of St. Lucye."
32. The ** altar of St. Edward," mentioned by the
late Precentor Venables as formerly attached to the
altar of (?) St. Anne. See Nos. 15, 17, above.
33. The Altar of St. George, See Nos. 19, 28
above. Morning Mass here at 5 a.m. in 153 1 (the
*' first mass" in 1507) celebrated by one of the
priests of the Fabrick or Works Chantry (cf. No.
15). J. Crosby's chaplain also celebrated here at 6
o'clock. Crosby was treasurer 1448-77. In 1507
one Sir Matthew Blackborn also was directed to say
mass here between 9 and 10 a.m. Mr. Maddison
finds a presentation to the Mackworth chantry (9th
July, 1457) ** in capella sancti Georgii."
On p. 143 I have suggested that the chapel which
contained the altar of St. George may have been
the one which is now known as ** the Dean's
Chapel," No. 28. Further consideration, however,
while these pages are in the press, leads me to
Piscinas, Altars, &c. fLincolnJ. 253
return to my earlier supposition that St. George's
altar was in or near the Chapel of Benefactors,
No. 15.
34. The Altar 0/ St. Stephen, Ro. Aubray, Dean
Fleming's chantry priest, in 1535, gave **to St.
Stephen's altare a vestment of bawdkyn." (Maddi-
son. Wills, No. 22, p. II.) Here was celebrated the
mass of T. Whitwell's chantry in 1507 and 1531. It
was founded for the souls of Ric. Whitwell, K.
Edward III., Simon de Islip, J. de Welborne, trea-
surer, Lady Joan de Cantilupe, and many others (see
supplement to chantry register If. 368). Whitewell,
preb. of Empingham, died about 1352. See Muni-
ments D. ii. 51 (3). His chantry was connected
with that of Robert Chesterfield (who had also a
chantry at St. Nicholas altar in St. Swithi7i's parish
church, Lincoln, whence the chaplain had a dispensa-
tion, in 1423, to celebrate elsewhere, because the
altar was dark. Chapter Acts, A 2, 32, fo. 23^). In
the Registrum Antiquissimum, St. Stephen's altar
is mentioned next after that of St. Peter and St. Paul
(see above, No. 12), and may possibly have been,
like that, one of the apsidal chapels in the S.E.
transept. I have already expressed my opinion
(p. 229) that No. II (the more northerly of the
two apsidal chapels in the S.E. transept) was the
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles,
and that the other chapel in that transept, the one
facing the entrance to the Canon's Vestry, con-
tained the altar of St. Stephen.
254 Notes on Mediaval Services.
35. The Altar of St, James, I do not remember
to have seen any statement about any viass assigned
to St. James' altar ; but repairs of the window ** at
the west columba (?) by the pinnacle, which is
mounted by steps near the chapel of St. James,"
were ordered in chapter on the feast of St. Katharine,
25th Nov., 1441. (A. 2, 33, fo. 45^) It seems
impossible that this can have been the southern altar
in the N.W. transept, the site which some have
assigned to an altar of St. James. But it may very
probably have been in the ante chapel to St.
Mary Magdalene's Morning Prayer Chapel, under
St. Mary's Western Tower. See 22 above.
This is now a coke cellar. The '* pinaculum "
there will be (as Mr. Maddison observes) that
which has the ** Swineheard of Stow" for its
finial.
36. The Altar of St. Thomas ** the Apostle.'^
(?) In 1536 W. Baytman, an ** old " vicar, desired
to be buried within the chapel of St. Thomas
(Maddison's Wills, No. 42) ; but whether apostle or
martyr we have not been told. I have not as
yet traced a chapel of St. Thomas the apostle
except in Williamson's Guide, p. 73. I may here
mention that the late Precentor, shortly before his
lamented death, assured me that he had never
personally investigated the localization of the
chapels and altars, but simply repeated what other
topographical writers had said as to the name
of each.
Piscinas, Altars, &c. (Lincoln), 255
37. The Altar of St. GtUhlac, mentioned in
Registrtivi Antiquissimum, between St. Stephen's
and that of St. John the Evangelist. See above,
No. 15.
38. The Altar of St. Thomas (Becket) the Martyr.
The chantry mass of a Gilbert of Kent (de Kancia),
a vicar's chantry, was celebrated here between 8 and
o a.m. in 153 1. Vicars Choral, p. 43. In the old
Chantry Register the altar of B. Thomas the Martyr
is mentioned as the place for the chantry of W.
Thorenton, Canon, and of W. de la Gare, Arch-
deacon of Lincoln, with whom was associated Ric.
Stretton. (If. 2, 22, 11 9- 141.) Subsequently the
Thornton and Gare chantry was united with that^f
Symon Barker at St. John Bapt. altar. (Chantry
Certificates 1545.) At St. Thomas' altar was also
the vicar's chantry mass for Gilbert Kent (de
Kancia) cir. 1240-45, according to the register. If.
3, 205, and the time tables of 1507, 1531. Here,
likewise, Wcis the chantry mass of W. Thornton and
W. de la Gare cir. 1500. [Gratitham^ s Book.) An
**altarof St. Thomas" (with no further specification)
is mentioned in the wills of Ric. de Beverley (1390),
and J. Cotes (1433). In both of these (as also in
Recr. Antiquiss.) the altar of St. Thomas is named
next after that of St. John the Evangelist, which is
thought to be that in the north transept opposite the
shrine of John de Dalderby. There was an image
of St. Thomas by his altar. (Gibbons, Wills, p.
158, cf. p. 33.)
256 Notes on MedicBval Services,
\B rackets for La7?ips or Images^
The chapels in which structural brackets (for
images or lamps) are now extant are these: — St.
Nicholas (No. 8, N.E. of Angel Choir) ; St. Blaise
(No. 9, Bishop Russell's chantry), two ; in Long-
land's chapel (No. 10), several bases never com-
pleted ; and St. Mary Magdalene's, the Morning
Chapel (No. 23). The only other bracket extant is
in No. 17, opposite the Galilee door, where some
writers would place the altar of St. Giles, but which
I rather inclined to identify with that of St. Tho77ias
the Martyr until Prebendary Maddison brought to
my knowledge a notice, dated 1556, which speaks
of the quire (or * quere ') of the chapel of St. Anne,
now called Umphraville's, at the south end of the
cross aisle by the great steeple, and which ac-
cordingly precludes our assigning any other altar
(be it St. Thomas' as I supposed, or St. Giles' as
others have alleged) to the position directly opposite
the Galilee door. It is, of course, possible that the
title of St. Thomas of Canterbury might be for a
period discredited and suppressed, but not for a
sufficient length of time to account for the difficulties
which meet us.
A brief alphabetical reference to the sections of this
long article, headed Pisciiias^ &c., 209-255, or at least
to that portion which relates to altars and chapels
at Lincoln (pp. 216 foil.), may be found convenient.
Altare summum, i. Andree, 26; cf. 25-27,
Anne, 17 ; cf. 15. 16.
Piscinas^ Altars^ &c. fLincolnJ. 257
Blasii, 9. Hugonis, 21 ; cf. 3, 6,
** Benefactors'," see 15. 20.
'* Borough's {i.e. Burg- *'Humphreyville" (Um-
hersh) Chapel," see 6. fravill) Chapel, 17.
*' Buckingham's Chan-
try," 25. ** Irons," 2.
*' Cantelupe's," see 11.
Capitulum, Capitarium,
etc., see 12 and 30.
** Consistorium Decani
et Capituli," 16.
Consistory Court, 20.
Christophori, 24.
Crucis, 18.
Decani, 28.
Dionysii, 25 ; cf. 27.
Edwardi, 2>^ \ cf. 15.
Egidii (? 17), 20.
Jacobi Qames), (?) 22\
cf. 2S^
Jesus Mass, I9^
Johannis Bapt, 4 ; cf. 7.
Johannis Evang., 16.
Katharine, 6, see also 10.
** Large Chapel," ^^^ 4.
** Little Chapel," 5^^ 3.
*' Lexington's Chapel,"
5^^ 16.
Longland's Chantry, 10.
Lucie, cf. 31.
Fabrice, cf. 15.
*' Fitzwilliam's," 27.
** Fundatoris," ** Ca-
pella," see 15.
Georgii, 15 ; cf. 19, 28,
Giles V. Egidii.
Guthlaci (?), 15, 37.
Marie, B. Virg. (our
Lady's), 7 ; cf. 4, and
I.
Mary's Tower, 22.
Mary Magdalene, 23.
{See also 4.)
** Morning Prayer
Chapel," 2T^.
Michaelis, 27; cf. 25-27.
b
258 Notes on Mediceval Services.
Nicholai, 8 ; cf. 27.
Pauli (?), II.
**Peel Altar," 21.
Petri, II {al. 12).
Pharmacy, 28.
Remigius (?), see 15.
Revestiarii, 13.
** Rood,'' vide Crucis.
*^ Ringers," 5^^ *'Peel."
**Russeirs Chapel," see
9-
Sebastiani, 20.
Stephani, 34; cf. 12.
'' Sutton and Wool-
vey's," 26,
Tailboys' Chantry, see
17.
** Thomas' Chapel," see
3.
Thome ApostoH, 25,
36 (?).
Thome Martyris, 1 7
(37). _
Trinitatis, 5 ; cf. 20.
*' Welles' Chapel," see
12.
** William the Con-
queror's Chapel," see
8.
*' Works," cf. Fabrlce.
No Altars in —
14. Lavatorium.
29. Camera Communis.
30. Domus Capitularis.
Pix. The vessel in which the consecrated and
reserved Host was hung over the altar, in later times
under a canopy. Sometimes the pyx or vessel, was
in the form of a dove, or a pelican, sometimes a cup,
sometimes a palm tree with pendent head, as may be
seen in the north of France at the present day. It
was suspended by a chain, or pulley, over the high
altar. This string snapped ominously one Candle-
mas, while K. Stephen was offering his taper at
Notes on MedicEval Services, 259
Lincoln, where Bp. Alexander was officiating. {Roger
Hoveden, fo. 278.) In the Lincoln Inventory of 1548
{Inv., p. 63) is noted ** the great Cupp that did hang
over the high altar with three knops and other pieces,
all guilt, weighing 53 oz."
**Pr^ciosa." The verse ** Right dear in the
sight of the Lord : R. Is the death of His Saints,"
was part of the Chapter Office in connexion with the
service of prime, which secular cathedral churches
and some collegiate chapters observed in common
with the monastic orders. Before the Mass of the
Blessed Virgin was concluded the bells rang for
** prima in chorum," otherwise ** great prime."
{Black Book, pp. 373-4.) After which the bell
went for ** prime out of choir," all going to take
their places round the Chapter House. The thurifer
in his surplice mounted a pulpit and read a lesson,
i.e., the section of the Martirolog}' which related to
the holy persons to be commemorated on the day
following. If there were any obits or anniversaries
of benefactors or other local personages recited,
a priest behind the reader said, ** May their souls,
and all Christian souls departed, by the mercy of
God, rest in peace." The choir answered " Amen."
De profundis was said for the anniversaries, except
on double feasts. Also the collect Absolve, quesumus.
Then followed ^' Preciosa,'" and pardon was asked for
offences, and, if it were a Sunday or holy day, the
thurifer recited from the wax -covered board {tabula)
a list of readers and singers, and the duties assigned
to them by Chancellor, or Vice-Chancellor, and
26o Notes on Mediceval Services.
Precentor or Succentor. A Deacon in his surplice
read another lesson. Some say that this was the
Little Chapter {capitulum), and thence derive the
term in capitulo, or capitularis. But I am convinced
that this other lesson was a moral or devotional
reading from some book of sermons, or the like.
At Salisbury it was invariably taken from the
writings of Hamo Halberstatensis, a pupil of Alcuin,
except during the octaves of the Assumption and
Nativity of the B. Virgin, when other lectiones ad
Primam in capitulo are provided in the Sarum
Breviary (iii., pp. 696-730, 780-829). See Tracts
of Clem, Maydestony p. 41. ** Preciosa " is mentioned
in the margin of the Black Booky p. 382, and in
Novum Registrum, part 3, near the beginning. At
Sarum at least the Psalm Levavi oculos was said,
with certain prayers and collects, '' after reading the
board.''* See Brev. ii., pp. 54, 56, cf. i., p.
dcclxxxiv., as to Maundy Thursday Prime in Chapter.
It appears from Lincoln documents that the correction
of offences and the recitation of a section of the
Custom Book relating to the divine service of the
ensuing week belonged, in the 14th century, to the
Saturday meeting in ** capitulo chori,'' and that the
Chapter business and correction followed '* Preciosa"
immediately.
Processions. On 21st June, 1438, the Chapter
received letters from Bp. Alnwick enjoining pro-
* 'The Board' i.e.^ ^tabula^ the 'wax brede ' on which was written and
posted-up the list of officiants for the week or for the following day.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 261
cessions in the city and in the Minster on Wednes-
days and Fridays, and granting indulgence of 40
days. Chapter Acts A. 2, 32, fo. 129. In the next
volume of Acts a slip bound in at fo. 28-9, with
others of 1440-42, directs chaplains to attend all
masses, evensong on Sundays and double feasts,
and specially processions. We have, so far as I am
aware, no Lincoln processionale extant, but the Black
Book, p. 290, shews that there were the usual pro-
cessions at Evensong on the three days of Christmas,
in which deacons, boys, and priests respectively took
the leading part (in honour of St. Stephen, etc.) ;
on Palm Sunday also there was a procession outside
the Church, as well as on St. Mark's and on Rogation
Days, id. 285, 292. The Whitsuntide processions
of parishioners to the Mother Church (p. 307), while
the orders of processions on Sundays and holy days
is given 375-95. Processions of honour (venerationis
causa) are just mentioned, p. 273, in the case of a
new Bishop, and I have edited a specimen relating
to the reception of Bp. Longland in 1522, in the
third fasciculus of Statutes, pp. 556-8. A brief
account of the procession for Oliver Sutton's funeral
in 1299 will be found in Statutes II., p. cxxii.
Processional Stones. Circular stones let into
the pavement of the nave, to mark the positions to
be occupied by members of the cathedral staff in the
procession, were visible at Lincoln until they were
recklessly destroyed when the nave was re-paved in
1782. Similar stones are visible in Carter's plan of
262 Notes on Mediceval Services,
Wells Cathedral, taken in 1798, and now preserved
by the Soc. of Antiquaries. In Mr. Reynolds' print
thereof, 11 + 11 stones are shown parallel to the
4 + 4 western columns of the nave. Canon Church's
restored plan (1894) for the 13th century represents
a larger number of such stones,
viz., I + T 7 + ^P-> ^'^"> 5^ stones in all,
occupying" the entire length of the nave. A more
perfect specimen is given in Mr. J. Arthur Reeve's
noble Monograph on the Abbey 0/ S. Mary 0/ Fountains
(folio, 1892), p. 15 and plate i. There two rows of
25 stones, with one for the cross-bearer in front, and
one for the Abbat to bring up the rear, or 52 in all,
occupy six bays out of the 10 or 11 in the nave.
(The choir at Fountains encroaches upon the eastern
bay of the nave.) At Lincoln Bp. Alnwick desired
to be buried at the W. end of the nave, in the place
which he occupied in the procession on the north
side by the third pillar. It was one of the complaints
laid against Dean Mackworth that he would not
walk in line behind the Canon in the last rank. The
place of Alnwick's burial, as marked on Hollar's
plan, in 1672, is slightly to the south-west of the
central point of an imaginary line, bisecting the
Consistory Court and the Morning Prayer Chapel.
This would just leave the actual round stone on
which the Bishop's feet used to rest untouched for
use by his successors.
"Propria" {sc, hebdomada, seu septimana).
Notes 071 Mediceval Services, 263
Each prebendai*}^ had to take his choice between
living away from Lincoln, so as to serve his pre-
bendal church in person, or going through the form
necessary to take his place as one of the Residentiary
Canons. In the former case he paid a Vicar-choral
to attend for him, both in choir and likewise in
processions, but no vicar could do his duty at the
high altar or in executing principal part of the
offices in choir as canon in a weekly duty {hebdoma-
darius). In the latter case, about the time of the
audit in September, at a Chapter meeting, he made
a formal " protestation of greater residence '*
(declaring his determination to reside for two-thirds
of the next few years, after which a * * minor residence ' '
of oiie-thivd would discharge his obligation. A house
or ** lodgings" in Lincoln was assigned to him,
and he invited his con/ratres ** to eat bread'' there
on such a day. Then, besides attending Chapter
meetings, and reading an occasional lesson, or sing-
ing a verse or the like in choir, when ** intabulated "
by the Chancellor or the Precentor, he had to take a
week's duty from time to time as Canon of the week.
This might devolve upon him in two ways. The
theory was that every prebendary took his week's
duty in rotation (only giving place to the Bishop or
Dean at Christmas or other principal feasts). If the
prebendary whose week it is happens to be one who
has ** protested residence," and who is consequently
living in the Close, or ** Minister Yard," he takes it
naturally, and it is styled *'his own" {'* propria'').
But if the week belongs by right to a w^«-resident,
264 Notes on Mediceval Services,
then one or other of the Residentiaries in rotation
undertakes it, loco absentis^ and is said to celebrate
** in course (** in cursu "). It is hardly necessary to
add that he meanwhile pays a country vicar to serve
his prebendal church. See also J. F. Wickenden's
paper On the Choir Stalls of Lincoln Cathedral^ from
Architectural Journal (? 1879). Line. Dio. Mag.
April — ^June, 1888, pp. 188, 204, 220; May, June,
1890, pp. 73, 96; May, 1891, p. 69.
Provost. '* Praepositus.'' A Canon chosen
yearly to act as bursar of the ** common chamber.'*
Nov. Reg., Stat, ii., 354. At one time there had been
a '* Praepositus ad Communitatem'' and a **Prae-
positus ad Fabricam ecclesiae," but in the 15 th
century the two offices were amalgamated. Stat, iii.,
406. There is also a Provost of the Vicars.
The Psalter. The recitation of the entire
psalter and litany by the Canons can be traced at
Lincoln to the time of St. Hugh. See the Black
Book, pp. 274-5, 296, 300, 408. Cp. Novum
Registru7n, part 2. The ** Beneficia Ecclesiae
Lincoln '' are carefully recited by Grosseteste, and
summed in the documents printed by Dimock in
Appendix F to Giraldus Cambrensis vii. as granted
by St. Hugh and his contemporaries and successors,
pp. 217-19. Thirty- three masses weekly in the
Church of Lincoln itself are mentioned in these
documents. W. of Blois, St. Hugh's successor,
directed the like number of masses there for the
I
Notes 071 Mediceval Services, 265
brethren and sisters of the Lincoln Fraternity.
Besides the aforesaid there were 8,400 masses and
8,550 psalters of ** religious " persons not in priest's
orders. The total of the Paters and Ave Maries
** nemo scit nisi solus Deus." And in Grosseteste's
time the psalters of the ''religious'' men available
for the Lincoln brotherhood were 40,000 and 16,330
** psalteria." On the Daily Psalter of the Canons
at Wells see Canon Church's Early History of Wells ^
pp. 20, 340-42, and his monograph on this subject.
It is an institution likewise at Salisbury, and at St.
Paul's, and has been in part introduced recently at
Truro and Southwell.
PuLPiTUM. The lectern where lessons were read
at mattins (the suitable ** responds " being chanted
at the lectern).* Black Book, p. 371. The Epistle
at high mass was read "in pulpito " ; likewise the
Gospel ** in magno pulpito," pp. 377, 379 margin.
No doubt this was an ambon on the rood loft or choir
screen. Sometimes three sang in the great pulpit
in copes of two suits, the senior being vested in his
own suit between the others of a second pattern. A
canon reading in the pulpit was attended by a vicar,
or clerk, in black choir habit, when not in a silk
cope. {Liber Niger ^ Statutes I. p. 382.) The
Treasurer had to provide the candle {mimitam
candelam) in choir, in '' pulpit uniy''^ and elsewhere
when it was necessary. {Ibid, p. 291.)
• ^^ Ad lectrinam in choro^^^ the Uctor ox reader himself having gone *'m
pulpitumy
266 Notes on Mediceval Services.
Punishments. In the 13th and 14th centuries it
was the custom that canons who had been dis-
obedient, or were found guilty of some other open
offence, should be degraded from their stalls, and
placed either at the choir door behind the Dean, or
at the end of the boy's row, to do penance according
to the magnitude of their fault. {Martilo,, fo. 12.)
Likewise, in December, 1434, W. Burn, a vicar
choral in minor orders, is set to stand in his surplice
on the step before the high altar all the time of high
mass for three Sundays, reading upon the Psalms of
David, with head uncovered, and holding a burning
candle of half a pound. {Chapter Acts y A. 2, 32, fo.
99^.) In 1309 it was agreed that there should be a
meeting every Saturday "in capitulo chori," when
the section of the custom-book which detailed the
services for the next week was to be read publickly,
and any offences noted in the past week were to be
corrected. This was in accordance with monastic
customs. Schalby adds that the correction took
place on Saturdays after Praeciosa,
" QuERECOPES.'' Cappae de choro. This term
occurs in an indenture in Norman French, dated 7th
Sept., 1377, in which Gilbert Dumframville (Um-
fravill or Humphreyville), earl of Angos and lord of
Kyme (who had a chantry in the great south
transept), gives certain vestments of cloth of gold,
with his own arms embroidered as orphreys upon
most of them, to ** Herrye de Quaplade, prior, and
the Austin Convent of St. Mary's, Kyme, in
Notes on Mediceval Services, 267
Lincolnshire," on condition that if they were sold or
alienated a fine should be paid to the Minster,
(** au Dean et Chapitre, ou Chapitale, de esglise
cathedrale de Nicole "). The vestments were to be
used at Noel, Pasch, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity,
de Corpore Christi, Nat. Jo. Bapt., ** les cink' festes
de Nostre Dame, la fest de tous seyntes," SS. Peter
and Paul, Thomas of Canterbury, S. Cudberd, S.
John de Beverlee, and other principal feasts, and on
the four yearly commemorations of the donor and
** Maude sa compaigne" and his relatives *'et de
tous cristiens." They consisted of a chasuble of
cloth of gold, with the arms of the Earl of Angos
dumframvill and Kyme for orphreys, a priest's albe,
amice, stole, and phanon (i.e., maniple), with two
albes, tunicles, amices and one stole for subdeacon
and deacon respectively; *' troys quere copes de dit
drape ouesque (avec) les orfrayes des dits armes,
trois amice ouesque les parures de dit drape,"
a corporas case, and corporas cloth therein, two
towels (probably to lie on the altar), **dount lun ad
une fronter de veluet blue enbrode de dites armes,"
— all ''dunesuyte" (unius sectce). The blue velvet
frontal no doubt was arranged like what we should
call a frontlet, but was attached to one of the linen
cloths, of which there were usually three thicknesses
on an altar table. {Munivmits, D. ij., 62, iii.)
QuiRiSTER. This form of the word ** chorister"
is now retained only perhaps at Winchester College.
It occurs, however, at Lincoln in ** a note of (35)
268 Notes 071 Mediceval Services,
double feasts for three Quiresters for one yeare,"
A.D. 1623. (C.V. 6, in the Muniment Room.) At
Salisbury the boys in the foundation were called
''*' canonici pueri'*'' al. ** pueri/' Osmund Register
(ed. Jones, Rolls Series), i., p. iin.
** Re et Ve." a Clerk of re(cedendi) et ve-
(niendi) was employed to keep an account or
roll of the presence or absence of Canons in the
Close, and to mark them, so that allowances for
residence might be correctly paid. The earliest roll
which I have seen belongs to the year 1278- 1279,
and the latest to 1641-42, so it is evident that they
were carried on until Cathedral Chapters were for
that time abolished. In 1888 I communicated to
ArchcBologia (London) a copy of a * Booke to direct the
Roles ^Re and Ve,' for the year 1635-36, with some
account of one for the year 1639-40. More recently
(1897) I have edited a fifteenth century Rottdus de
Reet Ve in Statutes fasc. iii. pp. 812-823 (Cambridge,
University Press), prefixing some account of the
remains of the series of these rolls in general, ibid,,
pp. 800-810.
Relicks. The mass of Relicks of Blessed Robert
Grosseteste, Bp., was said in aurora on St. Pelagians
Day, 6th October. Black Book, p. 337. The
following relicks were said, in a record dated
October, 1501, to have been deposited in what
is called a mamellus under St. Hugh's belfry
(the S.W. tower) : — Relicks of St. Bartholomew,
Notes on MedicBval Services, 269
SS. Marcellus and Marcellinus, martyrs, a bone of
St. Stephen, of St. Hugh, and St. James; a bone of
the finger of St. Thomas, and a stone from Mount
Sinai. (S. Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, p. 3 1 8, 4to, 1779.)
In inventories of the late 15 th and i6th centuries
we find at Lincoln, besides St. Hugh's head, a bone
of St. Laurence, the beard and chasuble of St. Peter;
a part of a tooth of St. Paul, one of St. Cecily, of
St. Hugh, and of St. Christopher ; also one of his
bones. Relicks of St. Edmund, Abp., Anastasia,
Eustace, Agnes, Vincent, Gregory, Clement,
Bernard, Stephen (several). Holy Innocents, Thomas
the Martyr, Machabeus, Alexius, Valeria, Cesarius,
Sebastian, Erkenwald, White (Candida, V.), Remigius
of Lincoln. A finger of St. Hugh, one of St.
Katharine, part of the head (and certain bones) of
St. John Baptist, hairs of the B. Virgin, a head with
bones of St. Ursula's companions, the jaw of
Thomas Cantilupe, Bp. of Hereford, a joint
[jundtira) of St. Sebastian, of Margaret, and of
George, besides part of his breastplate and his
collar-bone. Some links of the chain wherewith St.
Katherine bound the fiend, along with a portion of
the Holy Sepulchre, and of the Table from the
Upper Room at Jerusalem, several portions of the
Holy Cross, besides a part of St. Andrew's. The
schedules of four other reliquaries are mentioned but
not transcribed, while no less than 18 others are
noted in general terms as ** unknown," or of ^* divers
saincts." One of these items was: — ** j. cista alta
et rotunda, panno serico cum ymaginibus cooperta.
270 Notes on Mediceval Services,
continens reliquias lauandas in Festo Reliquiarum."
Apparently, therefore, only a specimen was taken
for the ceremony of washing the Relicks.* The four
servants of the Church were required to find water,
vessels and other requisites for the washing of the
Relicks. Black Book, p. 293.
The *' Feast of Relicks '' at Lincoln was on July
14th. (It was at Westminster on the i6th of that
month, and at Salisbury — after several alterations —
on the Sunday after the 7th.) Precentor Featley,
after the Restoration, gives ''A note to know Relique
Sunday, The 2nd Sunday after the feast of St.
Peter and St. Paul is Relique Sunday.*'
In the rule for processions in the Black Book, p.
375, between the thurifers and the second sub-
deacon come ** three little clerks in surplices,
bearing relicks.'*
Remigius, first Bishop of Lincoln, called in the
antient lists of Obits ** Remigius episcopus, Lmcol
ecclesice Stabilitory (Statutes ii., p. ccxxxviii.)
His tomb, which was in the north-east of the nave,
where its reputed covering has been replaced in
recent years, was to be solemnly censed according
to the ceremonial contained in the Black Book, p. 368.
*' Requiem.'' A mass of the dead (with Deacon
* For the Inventories from which this list of Relicks is gleaned see my com-
munication to the Society of Antiquaries in 1892, entitled ** Inventories of
Plate, Vestments, &c.. belonging to the Cathedral Church of the Blessed
Mary of Lincoln," in Archceologia^ Vol. liii.
Notes on MedicBval Services. 2^1
and Subdeacon assisting. Statutes lii., 410). See
above '^ Missa pro De/unctis,'*^ p. 194.
** Resurrexi." This Easter Mass {Missale
Saru7?i, pp. 359, 381) was ordered for Thursday
after Easter Week (and some other days) in Rolls of
Re et Ve. See Statutes fasc. iii. p. 815.
Re VESTRY. See *' Vestry."
B. Robert. Application was made to Rome for
the canonization or beatification of Robert Grosse-
teste (Bishop of Lincoln, 1235-53) in 1301, but
without success. He is, however, constantly called
** beatus " in Lincoln documents. The obit of J. de
Dalderby (in whose case the same process had a like
result in 1328) paid 4^. to the keepers of the fertory
[? and] of Saint Hugh's head, and the tomb of
Blessed Robert. List in Schalby's Martiloge in-
serted cir. 1330-40, fo. 44^. See below, the article
on ** Tombs," and cf. Black Book^ 335-7-
Rood Tower. The central tower in which the
modern ** Great Tom " now hangs, but formerly the
six small *' I^dy Bells." Hence it was, perhaps,
that Sanderson (or Dugdale)* uses the confusing
term ** our Tody's steeple" in speaking (as it is
• Peck's Desiderata Curiosa ii., 304, where mention is made of the altar
tomb of the famous Dean " Henricus " (surely it ought to be "Johannes")
Maclrworth " by the great south west pillar of our Lady's steeple." However,
I am not quite certain that this, the ordinary interpretation, held by Lincoln
272 Notes on Mediceval Services.
thought) of this great tower, which is now sometimes
also called (corruptly) the ** Broad Tower.'' Dr.
Rock distinguishes the ** perch" {'' pertica'') which
occupied a place in many churches, corresponding to
the choir screen, from the solid **beam" {'' trabs^'^
behind the altar), of which we have spoken at p. no,
under letter *' B." The ** perch " was a thin metal
rod, or a broad lath, depending from the roof by a
rope to about 12 it, from the pavement, at some
distance to the west of the high altar, and on this
the rood was placed in some instances. But at
Lincoln, as in other great churches, there was a
pulpitum containing the two ambones, the one for
chanting the Epistle on the south, the other, for the
Gospel, to the north, having the entrance to the
choir below them and between. Above this structure
probably a rood-beam was supported with the
crucifix upon it, and St. Mary and St. John on
either side. No doubt the Altar of Holy Cross, if
not actually raised upon the middle of the pulpit
stage (or rood loft) as at Canterbury, was somewhere
near it on the floor of the lantern. (Cf. Dr. Rock,
Ch, of our Fathers^ iv., 211.)
At Lincoln, a Rood Altar, near which the founder
Remigius was buried, is mentioned by Matthew
Paris. Is there any evidence that such an altar
existed in the later church ?
topographers, and elsewhere adopted in this book, bidding us look for Mack-
worth's tomb near the central tower, may not need to be re-considered. May
not Sanderson have meant by "our Lady's steeple " the N.W. tower ? In his
notes elsewhere [Desid. Cur. ii.. p. 308) the central tower, or Rood Tower, is
caUed " the lanthora."
Notes on MedicBval Services, 273
In the Metrical Life of St. Hugh six lines describe
the crucifix at Lincoln, and a golden tablet or bas-
relief {tabula) of the life of Christ at the entrance of
the choir :
Introitumque chori Majestas aurea pingit :
Et propria propria cnicifixus imagine Christus
Exprimitur, viteque sue progessus ad unguem
Insinuatiir ibi. Nee solum crux vel Imago,
Immo columpnarum sex, lignorumque duorum
Ampla superficies, obrizo fulgurat auro.
The two ligna may have been horizontal beams,
the upper one supporting the crucifix, the lower one
(forming the lintel of the choir entrance, and
possibly the western support of the pulpitu7n) being
raised on six columns, with the entrance in the
midst.
** RoRATE." This mass of the Blessed Virgin
daily in Advent, as on Lady Day (see Missale Sarum,
761, 726), is ordered for the last Monday in Advent
in Lincoln Rolls of Re et Ve, See Statutes iii.
p. ^2Z.
Rushes. The Black Book (p. 286) requires the
Treasurer to find, among other things, ** naviculas
in choro et coram altaribus, et capitulo stramen vel
iunctum {i.e.^ juncum) in festis duplicibus." This
passage was put on record about 12 14; ** naviculas"
is subsequently glossed **nattulas," Stat. ii. p. 160.
** Salve." This mass of the Blessed Virgin
[''Salve saiuta pare7is^* Missale Saruviy p. 779) is
T
2 74 Notes on Mediceval Services.
ordered for her weekly ** full service " of commemo-
ration in choir on Saturdays, and for daily use in
the Lady Chapel from the Purification to Advent,
in Sarum use, and we know that it was specially
noted as for use at Lincoln on the Wednesday after
Lady Day according to a Roll of Re and Ve, and in
ordinary weeks on Saturdays. It was counted there
likewise as a '' daily mass of St. Mary." At Salis-
bury it gave its name to the chapel at the extreme
east ''''Salve'* Chapel;"* and at Lincoln in like
manner we read in 1 401 of a bequest to " the altar
of the B.V.M. ubi celebratur missa Salve sancta
parens.'^ (Gibbons, Wills, p. 97.) Feb. 23rd, 1432,
W. Stevenot, and three other singers at this daily
mass of our Lady, claimed 2s. from J. Walpole and
Laurence Bagshot, chaplains of Bp. H. Lexington's
chantry as arrears on account of light burning
**in choro ubi dicta missa celebratur," meaning
(presumably) not the **high choir," but the " angel
choir." Lincoln Chapter Acts.
ScALA. Ducange mentions that the ladder was
one of the symbols of ** higher justice" in France.
It was erected by authorities possessing the '' power
* At Salisbury the Daily Lady Mass was instituted by Bp. R. Poore in
1225. There was a certain "singing at Salvc^^ or ^^ Salve de Jhesu^'' on
Fridays in Lent at the parish Church of St. Edmund, in Sahsbury, mentioned
in the accounts of 1477 and 1557. Whether it was the name of a mass or of a
special devotion, such as an antiphon, in that instance, I do not feel certain.
Men from the Salisbury Cathedral choir, apparently, came to help on such
occasions and were regaled afterwards with figs, bread, and drink. Accounts
of St. Edmund's Parish, Salisbury (Wilts Record Soc.) pp. xii., 103, 249, 268.
Notes on Mediceval Services. 275
of the sword ' ' for criminals convicted of serious
offences (bigamy, perjur}% witchcraft, or blasphemy)
to mount, so as to make their infamy and punishment
visible to all beholders. Similarly, when Bishop
Alnwick gave orders to denounce those who rescued
the incorrigible sorcerer, T. Holditch, from justice,
in 1442, it was to be at mass time in Boston Church,
''^ sub scala coiistituta^'' '* cruce erecta, pulsatis
campanis, candelis accensis et demum in eorum
vituperium in terram projectis, extinctis, pedibusque
calcatis." (Statutes iii., 498-9.)
Schoolmaster. By the Lateran Council in 11 79
it was decreed that a Schoolmaster should be
appointed in ever}^ Cathedral Church. This was
repeated in the Lateran decrees of 12 15, cap. ii.
The Constitutions ascribed by Spelman (ii., p. 157)
to Bp. Poore, of Salisbury, in 12 17, order that he
should have a ** competens beneficium " to enable
him to instruct four scholars in grammar. At
Lincoln ** magister scholarum*' is mentioned in the
Black Book, p. 276, next after the canons (and before
the sacrist, succentor, provost and celebrant at St.
Peter's altar) as sharing in a distribution of wine.
A Master of the Choir boys is mentioned in Bishop
Gravesend's order. The order concerning distribu-
tions of oblations in 132 1-2 (ibid., p. 336) assigns 55.
'* Magistro Scholarum grammaticalium,'* but only
\2d. "Magistro Scholarum cantus." The Sacrist
also was to have 55., ** because he works harder than
the rest." On p. 338 the Master of the Grammar
276 Notes on MedicBval Services.
School appears, however, in the same category as
the '* scoparius " or sweeper ! The ** Master of the
Song Schools" is mentioned incidentally also on
p. 369 respecting some special singing at festal
evensong.
ScuERARiAM, ** scilicet claustrum " (the cloister).
Statutes fasc. iii. p. 388.
The Searchers' Chamber. In the '' Dean's
Aisle ' ' north of the choir, towards the cloister door,
and ** north of the Lady Wray's monument is \i.e.,
in 1 641] a chamber of timber, where the searchers
of the church used to lie ; under which, every night,
they had an allowance of bread and beer ; at the
shutting of the church doors the custom was, to toll
the greatest of our Lady's bells fourty tolls ; and,
after, to go to that place and eat and drink ; and then
to walk round and search the church." (Account
by Sanderson and Dugdale, Peck's Desid. Curiosa^ p.
305. Cf **Scrutatio ecclesie," Black Book, f^. 386.)
The place indicated was within sight of St. John
Baptist's Chapel, where St. Hugh's head was kept,
and not far from his shrine ; so, possibly, this had
once been the rendezvous of the two ** custodes
Sancti Hugonis in nocte vigilantes." His head,
set with gems, had been stolen in 1364, but was
marvellously recovered and re-set by the munificence
of Treasurer Welborne. The Treasurer had to find
14 candles apiece for lay-sacrist, the watchmen
(vigil), and the lighter of the candles *'ad scruta-
Notes 071 Mediaval Services, 277
Clones ecclesie faciendas." Nov. Reg., part i.
(Or half that quantity in summer.) See below
** Watchers."
St. Sebastian's Chapel. In Bp. W. Smyth's
will (proved 30th Jan., 1514) this chapel is said to
be on the south side of the cathedral church, and
near to the place which he designed for his burial.
This was at the w^est of Bp. W. Alnwick's tomb,
which was rather to the south side of the nave, near
the second pillar from the west end, and where that
prelate had been wont to stand when the procession
halted. This was near St. Sebastian's chapel.
According to the testator's wish daily mass in Bp.
Smyth's memory was said by the chaplain of his
chantry at 8 a.m. in 1531. Vicars Choral, p. 41.
See Ra. Churton's Founders of Brasenose, pp.
355-360, 512, 514.
Sempstress. The ^'' custuraria,^'* or ^^ custuaria^''
(couturiere), received 35. per annum from the
Treasurer. Black Book, p. 288. Nov. Beg., part i.
We find in 1527 payments, ** Sutori sive cissori {i.e.,
scissori) pannorum lineorum pro tota septimana
preterita, 2s. ^d. Stat. ii. p. ccxxviii. : iii. 303.
Easter Sepulchre. As at Durham, this was a
recess prepared on the north side of the high altar
for the dramatic rites of Holy Week and Easter.
At Durham the crucifix which had been placed on a
cushion at the lowest **greeces" or steps in the
278 Notes on Mediceval Services,
choir for the ceremony of Creeping to the Cross,
after the singing of '' the Passion " on Good Friday,
was subsequently laid in the sepulchre, together
with another Image of Christ, in the breast of which,
as in a monstrance, the Presanctified Sacrament was
exposed, with two tapers which were kept burning
till Easter Day. Between 3 and 4 a.m. on Easter
morning two seniors censed the Sepulchre. They
took out the Figure of the Risen Christ, with the
Cross in Its hand, and the cr}^stal Breast exposing
the Host. They elevated the Image upon a cushion,
singing the antiphon "' Christus resurgens,'" placed
it upon the high altar, censed it, carried it round the
church under a canopy, in procession, and replaced
it on the altar until Ascension Day. {Rites of
Durham, pp. 10, 11.)
Likewise at Li7uoln an ** Image (silver gilt, with
a berrall) void in the breast, for the Sacrament
for Easter Day," is noted in inventories of 1536,
1548. It represented our Lord with a cross in His
hand, and weighed 37 oz. See Inveiitories (in
ArckcBologia, Vol. liii.) pp. 16, 45. I infer from the
marginal notes that this Image of our Saviour was
taken out of the charge of the Treasur}^ in 1536, or
soon afterwards, and that its value was assigned to
the repair fund for Lincoln Minster about the year
1548.
The Easter Sepulchre is (says Precentor Venables)
**of the best Decorated period." The Roman
guards sleeping are represented here in stone as in
the sepulchres at Heckington, Hawton, and
Notes 071 Mediccval Services, 279
Pattrington - on - Humber. {Murray* s Guide to
Eastern Cathedrals^ p. 367.) Mr. Peacock mentions
also Bottesford, Northwold, Holcombe, Burnell,
Southport and Woodleigh {Engl. Ck. Furniture,
1866, p. 28) as having sepulchres, and gives a
drawing of that at Navenby in Lincolnshire (at p. 140).
There was at Lincoln a *' Hospital of St.
Sepulchre in the Quire." Vicars Choral, pp. 63,
64. A '* Gild of the Resurrection" also is mentioned
by Miss Toulmin Smith as existing in 1374. As
recently as March, 1566, there were ** now remayning
in the olde revestrie one alterstone (black), a sepulcre,
a [brass] crosse for candelles called Judas crosse,
and other Furniture belonging to the same sepulcre,
the pascall with the Images in Fote belonging
to the same sepulcre and a candlestike of
wodde." From the fragment in the Bishop's
Registry' in Alnwick's Tower — see Li^icoln In-
ventories, p. 81.
Of eight altar cloths three were sold by the Dean
and Chapter; the other five remained **with one
precious cloth to laye upon the altare, and one for
the sepulcre wrought with Images."
Sermons. The Black Book, pp. 284-5, states it
to be a part of the duty of the Chancellor to find
canons or other responsible persons (viros autenticos)
to preach to the people on all Sundays ; in Chapter
on the three first days of Christmas, the Epiphany,
three days of Easter, the Assumption and Nativity
[of B.M.], All Saints' Day, and St. Hugh's.
2 So Notes on Mediceval Services.
Likewise on Ash Wednesday and five days
when there are stations and processions outside
the Minster, viz., Palm Sunday, the Greater
Litany (i.e., St. Mark's Day), and three Rogation
Days.
The Novum Registrum, Part L, required the
Chancellor to ask the Dean's approval of his
nominee whenever the sermon was to be preached
**choro presente." The Sermon- Sundays were
limited to the four Sundays in Advent, and the
Sundays from Septuagesima to Easter inclusive.
There was to be a sermon also for Ash Wednesday.
The Chancellor was to preach in person on Easter
Day and Christmas Day in Latin ** in capitulo," but
on Palm Sunday and on the Assumption in English.
The Dean was required to ^' feed the preacher " on
Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday, the celebrant
was to do so on the other Sundays, and the Chan-
cellor whenever else any one was found *' able and
willing" to preach. These particulars, as to the
15th century custom, appear to have been furnished
to Bishop Alnwick by Chancellor Partrich himself.
The Bishop added that the Chancellor or his Vice-
Chancellor w^as to give a month's notice to the
Priors of the Friars Mendicants of Lincoln to
arrange sermons in their churches on St. Mark's
Day and Rogation Days, if there were to be stations
held there. {Statutes, fasc. iii. p. 301.) After the
Restoration Bp. Sanderson revised the preaching
turns {dies assignati) for the Canons. {Ibid., pp.
630-635.)
Notes on Mediceval Services, 281
Serta. We read of garlands of roses worn by
Canons and others at St. Paul's, e.g., on the com-
memoration of St. Paul, 30th June, 1405, being the
occasion of Roger Walden' s in thronization . Wharton
De Episcopis Lond., 150. (Rock, Church of our
Fathers, ii., pp. 72-77 notes). But the *'garlondes"
which appear in Lincoln Inventories (p. 36) a.d.
1536, were of silver or silver gilt, and were set with
precious stones and pearls. They were nine in
number, the greater number being broken. It is
possible that they may have been placed on the
heads of images. But in 1401 Treasurer P. Dalton
in his will (Gibbons, p. 97) gives ** to the gild of
Corpus Christi in Lincoln, whereof I am a brother,
my sertum, which I have been wont to wear in the
solemnity of that gild ; and forasmuch as Master
Geoffrey Lesthropp, sometime Canon of Lincoln,
(preb. of Heydour, died in 1380) hath provided a
like garland for the graceman of the gild, I will and
direct that the said garland which I have be kept for
the use of the Mayor of Lincoln, a brother of the
gild."
Seyney. For this word the Lincoln writers in
the 14th and 15th centuries could find no Latin
noun or verb equivalent ; so they wrote, '^ de le
seyneis'' [A. 2, 3, If 30^], and ''potest seyney'*
[A. 2, 7]. This expressed a furlough in the Canon's
residence of two-thirds of the year, a sort of conces-
sion to human weakness like the "exeat" or the
*' half-term holiday" in the school terms of our day.
2S2 Notes on Mediceval Services,
It was an absence from Friday to Monday, which
might be taken once a fortnight without breaking
canonical residence. (Apart from this, a Canon might
be absent two consecutive nights in any week.)
Ship. A navicular or acerra^ to hold incense for
use in the censers. In 1536 and 1548 there was a
silver- gilt ship ** with two coverings" (probably like
a basket with two flaps), having ** a spoon with a
cross in the head," weighing together 33 i oz. There
were also seven pair of censers silver-gilt. In 1557
there were only ** 2 pare of sensers copper and
gydte." Item one shippe of copper. {Lincoln
Inventories, pp. 20, 46, 72.) However, in 1548 the
Sacrist had omitted two pair from his inventory (id.
p. 63). In the 15th century there had been 9
censers and 3 ships (^d, pp. 10, 11).
Shrines. There were until 1540 *' twoe shrynes
in the sayd Cath. churche, the one of pure gold,
called vSt. Hughe's Shryne, standing on the backe
syde of the highe aulter near unto Dalyson's tombe ;
the place wyll easlye be knowen by the Irons yet
fastned in the pavement stones then
**The other, called St. John of Dalderby his
shr}^ne, was of pure silver, standing in the south
ende of the greate crosse He, not farre from the dore
wher the Gallyley Courte is used to be kepte."
[Endorsement in the Invefitory of 1536.)
Sanderson adds that St. Hugh's shrine was to
the north of Dallison's tomb (in other words, in the
Piscinas, Altars, &c. (Lincoln). 283
centre of the Angel Choir), and that it measured
8 feet by 4. (Peck, Desid. Curiosa, p. 317.)
Smoke Farthings, or *' Lincoln Farthings." See
above, p. 207, * * Pentecostals, ' '
Spices. {Species, epices.) Something of the
nature of dessert was served in the Canon's dining
hall on certain occasions not named. Then, after
dinner, the order of the service was (i) wine, (2) ale,
(3) wine and ale. On other occasions it was (i) ale,
(2) wine, (3) ale. (Black Book, p. 381. And see
my note, ibid, p. 75, for the custom at St. Paul's,
London, which throws some light upon this usage.)
Stalls. The terms **gradus superior," **se-
cunda forma," and ** in stallis," occur in the Black
Book, p. 394. On the upper step or rank sat the
Canons, and probably the vicars in priest's order,
or the substitutes of absent prebendaries; on the
south side the Dean occupying the west extremity,
and the Chancellor the eastern end next the
Bishop's throne. The Precentor and the Treasurer,
in like manner, were placed at the west and east
ends of the northern seats. The carved stalls were
given by Treasurer Welbourn, cir. 1350-80. That
Vicars of absent Canons ought to occupy the choir
stalls of their ** masters " was stated at Bishop
Alnwick's Visitation in 1437. See Statutes ii.,
p. 409; cf. " vicarii stallorum suorum," ibid. p.
377. The phrase "occupans stallum " is also
284 Notes on Mediceval Services.
found as applied to the Vicar of a Prebendary. Of
course they did not take the place in Chapter
House, being Vicars choral (not capitular). As to
the terms prima and secunda forma, if I rightly
interpret the lists and the statements given on the
one hand in Mr. Maddison's Vicars Choral, pp.
5, 58, 64, 70, 71, and, on the other, such accounts
of Sarum customs as, e.g., Osmund Register, i.,
p. 22 (cap. xii.), Rich. Jones' Fasti, p. 197, it must
be inferred that Lincoln and Salisbury differed in
their usage as to the relative dignity of *' first"
and ''second" in just the same manner as there
is a diversity of usage as regards the relative order
of the forms or classes in certain of our boys'
schools at the present day. As a rule ist class
is higher than 2nd, but 4th form is lower than 5th.
But I cannot properly verify this point.
At Truro certainly in modern practice, and in
accordance with the provisions of the Draft Statutes
prepared by the late Abp. of Canterbur}^ when he
was Bishop of that See, "the second form" is
next in dignity below the Canon's Stalls. Thus
in cap. 7 we read that " if the Vice-Chancellor of
Truro be not a Canon he shall have his stall in
the second form," and in c. 18 (5), Priest-Vicars,
deputies of the dignitaries, diocesan inspector, and
officers approved by the Bishop and Chapter, as
also by Vicars. ''Such spare stalls of the second
form as are not needed of the choir may be allowed
to students being graduates, or to prebendaries
of Endellion Collegiate Church in choral habit."
I
Notes on MedicEval Services. 285
At Lincobi the senior or old vicars were in
Priest's Orders and occupied the ** First Form "
(next below the stalls of the Canons which were
** in superiori gradu "). In their number were in-
cluded the chief Chantry Chaplains, the Succentor,
Vice-Chancellor, and Sacrist, occasionally as in
13 10, 1407, certain penitentiary coiifessores chori,
as well as the Provost of the Senior Vicars.
Although the Canons in what at Lincoln was called
(I believe) the Canons* Stalls, as Mr. Wickenden tells
us, are and were 62 in all, the row below them is
only 48 (in 1879), ^.nd previously only 46; if I
do not misunderstand, the occupants of the second
Form were '* young Vicars" in Deacon's, Sub-
deacon's, or Acolyte's order; these also had their
own praepositus, the Provost of the Junior Vicars.
Among them were thurifers, and cerofers also to
carry the bearing candles or standard tapers placed
on the altar steps after the procession at mass.
And the chorister boys pueri or parvi de choro were
with them, probably in the '* second" form '' i7i
area'^ Possibly also the minor chantry priests,
clerks and poor clerks.
At Salisbury all the Priest Vicars, and some few
even of the Deacons, sat in the uppermost stalls
or seat with the Canons. Perhaps, in very early
times, before the stalls with canopies were con-
structed, the seat was not exactly subdivided into
separate stalls, and the Canons, etc., who were in
church, not improbably closed up their ranks so
as to leave no gap.
286 Notes on Mediceval Services,
At Hereford there was a ** third form." Statutes
ii., pp. 67, 72, 79, 83. The order of prebendal stalls
at Lincoln at various periods may be seen in the
Black Book, pp. 301-7 ; in Novum Registru77i, part
I., and in J. F. Wickenden's paper in A7xhceol.
Journal, cir. 1879. See also the papers by Mr. A.
Curtois on Secular Fou7idatio7is, Line. Dioc. Mag.,
vi., pp. 72-3, 88-9, cf. p. 96 ; vol. vii., 69 (? E.V.) ;
viii., 71-74, 85-88, and by other writers, iii., 188,
204-5 ' iv-> ^-0> 22^-
Staple Place. In the parish of St. Swithin, at
Lincoln. See Statutes iii., p. 408.
Stations. It was in accordance with primitive
custom that on certain solemn days the Clergy met
in the Mother Church, and went together in pro-
cession to a special service in one or other of the
city churches. Scudamore Notitia Eucharistica, pp.
20^-6nn. Smith and Cheetham, Diet. C/ir. Antiq,,
art. " Statio," §§ i, 3. Mention is made in the
Black Book, pp. 284-5, of sermons at Lincoln **at
the place of the Station on Ash Wednesday, Palm
Sunday and the Greater Litany (St. Mark's Day),
and the three Rogation Days, when there are solemn
processions outside the Minster." And Chancellor
Partrich informed Bp. Alnwick, cir. 1442, that on
St. Mark's Day and Rogation Days ** the stations of
the processions" were not unfrequently in the
churches of the Mendicant Friars in Lincoln.
Statutes iii., p. 301.
Notes 071 MedicBval Services, 287
Staves. ** Rector staves with silver plaites, two
yet remaining," are inventoried in the Commis-
sioners' Return from the Minster in March, 1566.
In 1536 there had been 2 pair of wooden staves or
batons for rulers of the choir, 2 pair of silver ones,
and one (probably for the Precentor's use) given by
Chanter Prowett, cir. 1470. The vergers' silver
maces are what now remain. In the Sarum Pro-
cessionale, 1882, the woodcuts of 1502 and 1508
shew (at p. 76) the places of two pairs of rulers of
the choir by a rough sketch of four tau- headed
staves. Similarly the place of the Sacrist, leading
the procession to turn by their left hand, is indicated
in the drawing at p. 104 by the representation of a
plain verge, just like a short conductor's baton,
without ornament.
St. Stephen's Altar. Here T. Whitwell's
chaplain said mass at 9 o'clock in 1531. Vicars
Choral, p. 43. The chantry of Richard Whitwell,
preb. of Emplngham, is noted in Muniments D. ij.
51 (3). Licence of Mortmain to found the chantry
of Whitwell in the Cathedral, 3 July, 137 1, ibid.
** Richard Whitewell " appears in the obit list, and
he is said to have founded a chantry for the souls of
Rob. Chesterfield and others, cir. 1355, D. ij., 5 (3).
Sweepers. It was the duty of the three carpen-
ters who were among the ** servants of the church,"
Black Book, p. 292, either to sweep the Minster
themselves, or else to employ three others (who
288 Notes on Mediceval Services,
were probably of the class styled '''' gar clones'*'' in
documents belonging to Lincoln and other churches)
in Passiontide, and they were to have \d. apiece
each day pour boire. Besides these three, there was
a scoparius who had to clean up the dirt and rubbish
every evening when the doors were locked, and who
had to see that there was water in the lavatory, and
to act as a supernumerary bell ringer {id. p. 365).
The '"'scoparius'"' received 105. yearly from the
oblations at Grosseteste's tomb, but nothing from
John de Dalderby's {id., p. 337-8).
Synodus. One yearly synod was to be held at
Michaelmas, another on the morrow of Trinity
Sunday. Black Book, p. 293. The carpenters were
to place the seats for a synod when Bishop, Arch-
deacon, or official presided, in whatever part of the
church was considered best [ibid.).
Tabernacles. In the late fifteenth Century
inventory there are nine '' tabernacles with relicks "
entered, two of them being described as standing
on the altar in the vestry. In 1536 and 1548 there
were only six, apparently, remaining. In 1553
(May 1 8th) there were but five, and the entries
were struck out of the list. The fragmentary
commissioners' certificate of March, 1566, has the
two following entries, in part torn away: — ''Item
a tabernacle of wodde in the [a word lost] Item
four boxes for relicks remay[neth]. (See my
Lincoln Inventories, pp. 4, 15, 44, 64, 81.)
Notes on MedicEval Services, 289
Respecting the tabernacle for the Sacrament of
the Altar we have this reference from Sanderson and
Dugdale's account of Lincoln monuments in 1641.
** In the east part [of the Minster choir] stood the
altar. A door into the room there at each end.
Upon the room stood the Tabernacle. Below, many
closets in the wall." S. Peck, Desiderata Ctiriosa,
ed. 1779, p. 300.
Tabula. {a) the ** board," or * wax-brede ' ;
a tablet smeared or coated with green wax, on
which the names and duties pro canttt et ledura were
entered. See under the word ^ Praeciosa,' p. 259,
above, and cf. Black Book, pp. 283, 285, 371, 381,
Z^2>^ 39i» 393- Statutes ii., pp. 142, 159; iii., 219.
In later times the lists were written on some
other writing material at Exeter (and probably in
other places also). See the extracts in Rock's
Church of our Fathers, iv. 127-130, Rev. H. E
Reynolds' Abstracts of Exeter Chapter Acts, pp.
73-5, and my Tracts of Clemeut Maydestone, p. 23 5^.
(b) A tablet recording the title and date of the
dedication of an altar. Bp. W. of Blois directed
the erection of such tablets in his constitutions for
the Diocese of Lincoln in 1229. (Wilkins* Co7icilia,
i., 624), following a similar direction of the Council
of Celchyth, a.d. 816, cap. 2. See Rock's Church
of our Fathers, i. 228-9?^, where specimens of such
tabulae are cited. Compare likewise the inscription
which Inland transcribed in the time of King
Henry VIII., not perhaps with absolute accuracy,
u
290 Notes on MedicEval Services.
from the Lady Chapel at Salisbury. It has, however,
the character rather of a personal memorial to
a famous bishop than of a dedication tablet.*
The *' tabula" belonging to a church at Clee
in Lincolnshire recording a dedication by St.
Hugh in 1 192 is cited in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa,
p. 321 (though the place is not there named), and
in the late Archd. G. G. Perry's Life of St. Hugh,
p. 304-
Tailor. See *' Cissor^' (p. 131).
Tenebrae. This ceremony of Mattins on three
nights of Holy Week is described in the Concordia
Regulai'is of ^th el wold. See Dean Kitchin's
Compotus Rolls of the Obedieiitiaries of St. Swithuns,
Winchester^ 1892, p. 184. Nothing is said there
of a Judas candle (see above, p. 168), and the
number, 24, is explained as bearing an allusion
to the hours of the day, the tenebrae service being
thrice repeated to signify that the Light of the
* Orate pro anima Ricardi Poure quondam Sarum episcopi qui ecclesiam
banc inchoari fecit in quodam fundo ubi nunc fundata est, ex antiquo nomine
Miryfelde, in honorem beate virginis Marie iij. cal. Maij in festo sancti
Vitalis martyris anno Domini Mccxviiij. [29, ? 28, Apr. 12 19], regnante
tunc rege Ricardo post conquestima primo. Fiutque ecclesia hec in edifi-
cando per spatium xl. annorum, temporibus trium regum, ^^delicet ante-
dicti Ricardi, Johannis et Henrici tercij. Et consummata viij. cal. April anno
Domini Mcc. Ix". [25 Mar., 1260]. Iste Richardus episcopus fundavit
missam beate Marie ^'irginis [29 Sept., 1225] solenniter in hac capella quotidie
celebrandam, et appropriauit rectoriam de Laverstoke ad sustentacionem
eiusdem misse Qui quidem Richardus episcopus postea translatus fuit ad
episcopatum Dunelmen : fundauitque monasterium apud Tarraunt in comitatu
Dorset : vbi natus nomine Richardus Poure : ibique cor eius, corpus uero apud
Dureham, humatum est. Et obijt xv. die April Anno Domini M[ccxxx\-ij.j."
See Leland Itin. iii. p. 92, fo. 62=p. 77.
Notes 071 Mediceval Se7' vices, 291
World was for three days hidden. At Lincoln the
Treasurer found 25 little candles, 24 weighing one
pound. IVoviim Registrtim, part i, Statutes iii.
p. 303. The Sarum Breviary rubrick speaks of 24
candles, representing 1 2 Apostles and 1 2 Prophets
whom the Jews persecuted. Cf. Beleth Rationale,
cap. loi. The York Breviary mentions one larger
candle in the midst ** according to our use.''
According to Beleth the midmost candle repre-
sented our Lord Himself. When the tenebrae office
was over, the Sacrist struck his book or desk as
a signal. In some French churches others who
were present joined the Sacrist in this strepitusy
which was explained as symbolising the revolution
of Nature at the Passion. (St. Matt, xxvii. 51 ;
St. Luke xxiii. 48.) Dr. Rock thought that the
ceremony of Tenebrae had its origin here in Eng-
land. Its abandonment helped (it is said) to wreck
the Quignonian rite. The candles (according to
Beleth, D, Officii Explic, s. Rationale, cap. loi) are
extinguished with the figure of a hand made of wax.
Texts. The ancient books of the Gospels —
{evangeliaria, or, perhaps, we ought to distinguish
them as eva7igelistaria) often containing only one
of the four Gospels as a volume by itself, the
portions appointed for various masses being merely
marked in the margin where they occurred in their
biblical order — were kept as ornaments of the
altar, in bindings of precious metals jewelled and
decorated. They were carried in procession to
292 Notes on MedicBval Services.
the altar (compare the '* Lesser Entrance" in the
Greek rite) and were used not only for reading the
missal lections, but occasionally for the taking of
solemn oaths, as at one time also was the drawing
of the Passion introduced in the initial T of Te
ioritur in the Canon of the Mass.
In some places the ornamental plaque or cover
designed for such a book, even without any pages
of the sacred text, served as a pax-brede or oscula-
toriuvi for ministering the kiss of charity. Such a
tabula osculatoria often had a ligtila or strap, to
hold it by, behind. See Dr. J. W. Legg's West-
minster Inventory ^1388, pp. 41, 42, in ArchcEologia,
1889. There remained at Lincoln in 1548 textus
evangelio7'um ** after Matthew" (two examples), and
** Mark " and ** John," besides three texts for
" Lenten and y^ passion." Lincoln Inventories^ pp.
47-8. See also Xh^ Black Book, pp. 131, 215, 274,
276, 375» 379-
St. Thomas the Martyr. The altar of St.
Thomas (Abp. Becket) the martyr is mentioned in
Registr. Antiquiss., cir. 1330. Here, according to
J. Grantham's book (cir. 1490- 1500, fo. 42) a
chaplain celebrated for W. de Thornton and W. de
la Gare. Here also in 1531 Gilbert de Cancia
(Kent) was commemorated by a priest-vicar celebra-
ting at his chantr}^ between 8 and 9 a.m. Vicars
Choral, p. 43. Statutes, ii. pp. Ixx?/., cclxii-cclxvi.
The Gare chantry was founded by W. de Thornton
in 131 1 (Muniments, D. ij., 51), but I believe it was
Notes on Mediceval Services, 293
at the altar of St. John Baptist. See Chantry
Register (A. i, 8), fo. 2. Richard de Beverley,
canon, in 1390, gave a bequest to this altar ; and J.
Cotes, canon, in 1433 desired leave to be buried
there, before the Image of St. Thomas, and to have
masses sung there with collects according to the
use of Sarum. See Gibbons' Early Lincoln JVi//s,
PP- 33. 158.
In Murray's Guide to {Easte^'Ti) Cathedrals^ the
chapel of St. Thomas at Lincoln — which contains
(by the w^ay) ** a large decorated bracket against the
wall," — is marked as being the chapel at the
extreme south of the great transept, and it has been
described (by the late Precentor Edmund Venables)
as '*of St. Giles (or St. Thomas)," p. 350. In the
same volume the southernmost chapel in the great
north transept is marked as the ** chapel of St.
James" (merely a misprint, I presume, for Thomas)
in the plan; but it is described at p. 351 as dedicated
to ** St. Thomas the Apostle." So also in William-
son^ s Guide, p- 73- I have not as yet found any
documentary evidence of the existence of any altar
or chapel of St. Thomas the Apostle, at Lincoln.
To assign the southernmost place in the great south
transept to an altar of St. Thomas (the Abp. and
Martyr) agrees very well with the order in which
altars are mentioned in Registrum A7itiqtiissi7num,
but it has been found (by Mr. Maddison) that, at
least in the sixteenth century, this chapel at the
extreme end of the great south transept was Saint
Anne's.
294 Notes 071 Mediceval Services.
Throne. " Stallum episcopi " is mentioned in
the Black Book, pp. 273-4; ** sedes cathedralis/*
ibid., p. 273. It had a white napkin spread on the
desk or ** form " in front of it {ibid., p. 366).
** Ordo stallandi episcopum " is the term used for
enthronization of a Bishop about 1522.
Tombs of Bishops (** Tumbae episcoporum '').
We learn from the account of the Treasurer's duties
entered in the Black Book (pp. 289, 290), Statutes iii.,
p. 408, and elsewhere, that it was the Lincoln
custom to keep two lighted candles (of \\ lb. of wax)
set up during service- time upon a bishop's tomb
when his Anniversary-day or obit came round, and
a single candle on the Tomb of every other bishop
buried in the Minster. At Magnificat in festal even-
song the Dean and the Precentor censed the high
Altar, then the Tomb of Saint Remigius the founder,
(' stabilitor ' he is somewhere called),* the Altar where
the Lady Mass is said at the first hour, and the tomb
of St. Hugh. Then the Dean censed Altars and
Tombs on the south, and the Chanter those on the
north (p. 368, cp. p. 394).t After the creed at high
mass the priest censed chalice and corporas, two
deacons censed the priest, then the high altar round
about, and afterwards ' the tombs of the saints '
(p. 380). In the list of Vicars Choral Mr. Maddison
(p. 50) notes *' Philippus, de tuviba'" and * Adam, de
* Viz. in the Obit List written in the great Latin Bible at Lincoln, cir. a.d.
1185.
t Bp. Simon of Ghent's and Bp. Roger de Mortival's tombs were censed
at Salisbury. See W. H. Frere's Sarum Customs, Iii. 23-24.
Notes on Medieval Services, 295
feretro.^ The latter no doubt is keeper of St. Hugh's
feretory or shrine. Mr. Maddison says that Adam
was keeper of Bp. Grosseteste's Tomb, but this
is incompatible with the date 1200- 1250 which he
gives on the preceding page. Was there a keeper
of the Tomb of Reviigius ? No doubt a few years
later Grosseteste died and was buried and a custos
tumbe beati Roberti was appointed. There were
oblations of the faithful made at his tomb and at the
tomb and relicks of St. Hugh. See above ' St.
Hugh ' and * B. RoberV ; and cf. Black Book pp. 122,
335-8, as to the falling off of the offerings, in 1322.
ToRCHAE. Large tapers (originally oi twisted ^^3.-^,
' intorticia ' ) * ad corporis Christi leuacionem. ' Statutes
ii., p. 403.
Treasury. In 14 12 Eliz. Darcy left ;^200 to be
kept in some secret place in the Minster, and to be
distributed to chaplains annually for masses. There
is a treasury chamber beneath the canons* vestry,
and likewise a strong chamber above the north-west
chapel in the nave, accessible only by a ladder.
Loans were sometimes effected from the offerings at
the Tombs, or from the treasure-chests, cistae. W.
Gaske * keeper of the Red Chest ' (ciste RubieJ gave
to the Minster a black cope, having in the back a re-
presentation of Souls rising to their * Doom.' This
chest was apparently for the Works.
Trinity. Holy Trinity Chapel. Here in 1531
Bishop Richard Fleming's chaplains celebrated at 7
296 Notes on MedicBval Services.
and 8 a.m., and the chaplains of the chantry of J.
Colynson and J. Chedworth at 9 o'clock. Vicars
Choral^ p. 42. Of Bp. Chedworth' s tomb, Leland
says : ' J. Chedworth, sepultus occidental! parte
ecclesie, prope Sutton' (Itin, ed. 1744, ii. p. 3,
fo. 48^'), and on the next page, ' Byshope Fleminge
liethe in an Highe Tumbe in the Northe Isle of the
upper Parte of the Chirche in the Walle ; and thereby,
under flate Stones ly Oliver Suttoji, and yoh7i CJiad-
worthe, Bysshope.' Browne Willis adds (ii. 34) on the
authority of Cotton MS. Tiberius E. 3, that the chantr}'
of Robert Fleming, Dean (? nephew to Bp. Fleming),
was in Trinity Chapel. This no doubt was the
Fleming chantr}^ chapel annexed to the north side of
the Angel Choir. I do not know what is the authority
to which Venables referred when he said that the
Consistory Chapel to the S. W. of the nave is * said to
have been dedicated to the Holy Trinity,' Murray* s
Guide to English Cathedrals {¥.diStern)^ 1881, p. 346.
It is not in itself impossible that there should be two
or more chapels with the same dedication in the
same church, for such is the case at Wells, where
there were at least three altars of the Holy Cross.
Bp. Richard Fleming died 25th Januar}% 1431, and
Dean Robert Fleming died 12th August, 1483.
TuNiCLES or Dalmatics, worn by Deacon and Sub-
deacon at high mass. Black Book, pp. 375, 383,
* vestimenta leuitica.' Stat. ii. p. 394.
Vat. a holy- water bucket, *5//z^/<7.' In the Lincoln
I?iventory of i^^6 (p. 21) we find, * Item a Fatte of
Notes on Mediceval Services. 297
sylver for holy water with a str}^nkell both ungylte,'
weighing yoi ozs. '' exh^ahitur per capitulu77i.'') We
lose sight of this in 1548; and in 1557 the Marian
Chapter have, for the lost silver bucket, a * holy water
fatte of lattyn,' id. p. 72. In 1566 the return to the
Commissioners says, * holliwater fattes — j with a
sprinkle, bothe of brasse, remayning' (p. 80). The
strynkell (aspersoriumj is mentioned in Novum
Registrum part i.* It is to be handed to the Bishop,
after the altars have been sprinkled, that he may
sprinkle the principal officiants. According to the
Black Book, p. 370, a choir boy fqicidani parvus de
choroj comes in on the south side, after compline, to
sprinkle the choir and the people, after kissing the
Dean's hand. But first the Bishop (or, in his absence,
the Dean or celebrant) sprinkles the choir who come
and stand before his stall or throne fsedesj. In the
procession the holy water was carried a quodam clerico
minore (p. 383). It was the custom for the Bishop
to send across to the Treasurer (or any other in his
absence) to bless the holy water. In the Bishop's
absence the Dean sent to the Subdean or to any other
canon not a dignitary. But when the Bishop and
Dean were absent none of the confratres might give
orders to another, so the canon on duty blessed it
without any bidding, if the Dean had announced
that he should not be in choir (pp. 283, 390). Holy
water was brought when the Dean anointed a canon
in extre7nis, p. 295.
• ** Asprrsonum*^ : Statutes ii., p. 276.
298 Notes on Mediceval Services.
Verger. The book of 1527 enters among Whit-
suntide payments, * sex virgariis, cuilibet 3^.'
According to the Black Booky p. 293, the ' four
servants of the Church ' (viz. the 3 carpenters and
the glazier) were to meet the Bishop with their wands
fvirgisj at the Minster door and to attend him while
he remained in the Church. They are mentioned
ibid. pp. 353, 389. The first bell-ringer (* sacrista
laicus') was to attend the Treasurer with his staff,
like a bedel, p. 365. The * bedelli episcopi' were
to walk before the celebrant on double feasts at mass,
and were entertained by the dignitary who took the
lead in the service on doubles and semi-doubles, pp.
376, 378, 380, 389. At the Restoration, Precentor
Featley had a grievance about the right to appoint a
verger. See Black Book, ed. 1892, pp. 254-5. As
to the silver verges, see * Staves.'
Vestry. The word * vestibulum ' sometimes
meant a porch, sometimes a vestry.* It is used, I
think, in the latter sense in Novum Registrum part
I, 5.t The Treasurer (or, as the corrector says, the
Bellringer) is to find mats * nattas pro choro, capitulo,
€t vestibulo,' and the Sacrist is to open the * ostium
vestibuli ' at the first mattin chime, and the first
* Vestibulum is used as equivalent to the * sacristia * in the title of the
Westminister Abbey Inventory of 1388, which Dr. Wickham Legg edited in
1890, see p. I9«., though it is often used of a porch, as where Leland says
in his description of Salisbury {Itin. fo. 66 — Collectatua iii. p. 81) 'the
Vestibulum on the North side of the Body of the Church.'
t Novum Registrum : See Statutes iii., p. 303, and the marginal note
there.
Notes on Mediceval Services, 299
peal to evensong (or, as the corrector says, at the
cope-bell) that the Rulers of the Choir may come
and look over their office ; and the sick, and those
who have been let blood, may say their divine office
there (*ibi dicere valeant horas suas ').* This last
can hardly have been in the porch. The word
* Vestiarhivi ' is found in the Sarum Breviary III. p.
975 ; also in Alnwick's Novum Registrum near the
beginning. Stat, iii., 275. I rather think it occurs in
the St. Paul's Statutes, i. cap. 6, but I cannot at the
moment refer to Dr. Sparrow Simpson's edition. t
However, the original parallel passage in the Lincoln
Black Book, p. 273, uses the form * Reuestiarium^
where it says that when the Bishop is about to
perform his office, he shall be escorted by the
Dean on his right and the next dignitary on his
left, from the Revestry to the High Altar or to
his throne f' sedem cathedralem ^J. There was an
altar in revestiario, where possibly the holy water
was prepared, as I believe was the case if not
at Salisbury itself, certainly in many places follow-
ing Sarum use, * in vestibulo' (cf. Cavalieri Opera ^
Augsbourg, 1764, t. iv. p. 250^) ; and on the vestry
altar at Lincoln there stood two large tabernacles with
figures in ivory with divers histories and a representa-
tion of the Passion {Inventories, p. 4). There also stood
a silver-gilt foot or socket weighing 30 oz. to hold
• Statutes iii., p. 355.
t ' Ostium VeUiarii^ occurs in an early eighteenth century installation
form at Lincoln. See Statutes iii., p. 726. * Vestiarium ' is found also in
the old Lichfield Customs. Statutes ii., pp. 19, 26.
300 Notes on Medimval Services,
the great processional Crucifix Mary and John,
ornamented with fleurs delices and the Evangelists
engraved as the finials, the head weighing 57 oz.
{id. p. 7). The staff fbaculusj ornamented with
silver measured ' two yards and a half, and one
quarter and a half (pp. 8, 18). The vestr}^ at
Salisbur}^ which is an octagon, has on the right hand
of its entrance three large ambries now in use, and
in its western side a recess about 2 ft. square, and 1 8
inches deep, now hidden by a press. There are several
old recesses in the canons' vestry at Lincoln, but the
wainscot and plaster disguise their original features.
The boys' vestry at Lincoln has a long structural
lavatoriiwt, mentioned in Black Book, p. 365, and
an open fire-place and chimney with a stone hood.
I suppose this was used for kindling the charcoal
(* carbones,' ibid, p. 286) in the censers, for warming
the ' calefactor}%' and the water for washing the
altars and for the pedilavium on Maundy Thursday,
(p. 292). At Bp. Alnwick's visitation in 1437 one
of the choristers complained that the bell-ringers
* non adducunt carbones viuos tempore congruo. '
Warectum, fallow land. Warectare to plough up
(properly with a view to laying down as fallow). Black
Book, pp. 277-8, and Nov. Reg. part 4, apparently
to harrow. When a canon died the incoming pre-
bendar}' during the year of grace was to have a cow
house fbovaria7nJ or other building for his oxen or
cattle (* averia ' connected with * avoi^-,^ chattels or
cattle).
Notes on MedicBval Services, 301
Washing Altars. * Ablutio Altariu7n in ecclesia,^
The Treasurer found wine for this Maundy ceremony.
At Salisbury the altars were washed in order begin-
ning from the high altar, going out by the north
choir door to the altars nearest and so to the retro-
choir or Lady Chapel and right round the church still
keeping to the right. But at Lincoln, after (the
corrector says * before') the Maundy, the Dean with
the principal canon at his side, and the Precentor
with the first canon ca7itoris, took their several sides
(at least so the marginal note in the draft N'ovn77i
Registrum implies) each going round one side of the
Church as they did in censing {Statutes iii., p. 303 ;
cf. 284).
Watchers. The lay sacrist, the watchman fvigilj
and the candle-lighter made two scrutinies of the
church in winter, to see that no one was lurking there
with felonious purpose. The first was directly after
curfew : the second search, after midnight mattins.
In summer when mattins were said at daybreak the
curfew-search was reckoned sufficient, and then
the Treasurer provided each of them with seven
candles per week, but in winter a double supply.
See above, ** Searchers' Chamber." The night
watchman did not go to bed when the two others
retired, but called the hours of the night upon his
flute so that the ringers might be ready with the
mattin-peal. In the ' computus ' or accounts of 13 14
and other years W. Hale receives a yearly payment
of 65. ^d. *pro custodia ecclesie hora prandii.'
302 Notes on Mediceval Services,
William the Conqueror's Chapel. This name
was applied to the most southerly of the three divisions
of the east of the Angel choir, or in other words to
the extreme east of the Chanter's or South Choir
Aisle, where were the Cantilupe and Wymbyssh
chantries.
The Works Chantry House. This stood in
East gate, north of the Cathedral and west of the
Deanery, and was adjacent to the Treasurer's house.
Maddison, Vicars Choral, p. 39. It was originally
the Chancellor's residence, but when Ant. Beck cir.
1 3 1 6 erected the present Chancery the old site was
utilized as a college for the chaplains who celebrated
for the souls of Benefactors to the Minster Fabrick.
The house was pulled down in 1828. See
Williamson' s Gtcide, pp. 11 8-9. The chapel itself is
in the Minster, in the great south transept, next the
organ screen. The stone screen of the Chapel itself
has an inscription, ** Orate pro benefactoribus istius
ecclesie " ; and on either side are little effigies of the
four priests of the chantry college, kneeling, with full
sleeved surplices and hoods, such as the elderly
Anglican clergy of the last generation wore. In the
opinion of the late Mr. J. F. Dimock, Girald.
Cambrensis vii. p. 217 n.) the * Works Chantry' was
founded either by Walter of Coutances (i 183) or his
successor St. Hugh for the souls of the Benefactors
of the Fabric. The late Precentor Venables has
told us that the Works Chantry was founded (for
four chaplains) by Henry Duke of Lancaster and Earl
Notes 071 MedicEval Services, 303
of Lincoln, who died in 1360 or 1361. In Murray* s
Handbook of English (EasternJ Cathedrals, 1 881, this
chapel is marked as **St. Anne's Chapel, re-
dedicated to St. Edward," and similarly, in the
description at p. 350, the Precentor tells us that the
re-dedication title, due to Henry Duke of Lancaster,
is St. Edward the Martyr ; also that arms of England
and France, quarterly, appear on the screen in front.
There is reason to think that the Chantry of the
Fabrick was also largely indebted to, and deserves
to be connected with the name of, John de Welbourn
the munificent Treasurer who died in 1381. His
obit, in the list of 1527, produces 405. * de fabrica
beate Marie Lincoln ' and pays * Clerico Fabrice, 6^.'
In the order of 1531 {Vicars Choral^ p. 40) —
At 5 a.m. Ro. Vincent, priest of the Chantry of
the Fabrick, celebrates Morning Mass at the
altar of St. George.
Towards 6 a.m. one of the Chaplains of the Fabrick
Chantr}% at St. Anne's altar {ibid., p. 41).
Between 8 and 9, I suppose, a third Works
Chanter, if he were a Vicar, might celebrate.
At 10 a.m. another Chaplain of the Fabrick cele-
brated at the Altar of St. Anne. As I do not find
any mention of St. Edward's altar in this list, I am
inclined to think that the Lincoln authorities main-
tained the honor of St. Anne and did not make
themselves parties to the alteration in the title which
the Duke intended. Besides the obit of Treasurer
* Welbume ' there are two Lincoln obits in the book
304 Notes on Mediceval Services.
of 1527 connected with the Works. * Obitus Henrici
ducis Langcastrie, de fabrica beate Marie, 405. Jnde
canonicis residentibus et presentibus toti officio,
265. 8</., etc., etc. Clerico fabrice, 6^.' And,
* Obitus Johannis Crosby de Fabrica beate Marie,
4/. Jnde Canonicis, 185. . . . Clerico subpre-
positi, 3^. . . principali vigili, 3^. Sacriste
laico, :^d, Quatuor virgariis, \2d. Clerico Fabrice,
3^. Clerico de Re et Ve, 8^. Diacono et sub-
diacono, 4^. Janitori portarum, 3^. Custodibus
tumbe sancti Hugonis, 4^. Pulsantibus campanas
tribus, 8^.' Treasurer Crosby died in 1477, giving
a cope of white damask, and a similar cloth for
the high altar, embroidered with a representation of
the Assumption and St. John Bapt. and St. Katharine
on either hand, with linen cloth, canopy, and two
smaller cloths of the same suit. There was also a
green velvet cope with a morse of blue cloth of gold
* ex do7io Dili Crossby, Capellani^ of whose identity I
cannot speak.
In the executors' accounts upon the will of Roger
Sw}^nesheed, yeoman, 1499- 1 501, is a payment of
405. into the hands of *Dom. Will Gaske custodis
Rubie Ciste in Eccl. Cath. Lincoln' ad usum
Fabrice eiusdem Cathedralis.' Gibbo7is, p. 198.
Before the times of H. Duke of Lancaster and
John Welbourne spiritual privileges and benefits
were held out to the Benefactors of the Fabrick of
our Lady. We will give in conclusion a summary
of the contents of a box in the Chapter Muniment
Notes on MedicBval Sei^ vices, 305
Room, D. ii. 61. (box 2), so far as it concerns this
subject : —
1. Bp. H. Lexinton grants indulgence of 20 days
to penitents shrived who shall say three Paters and
three Aves for the good of the Church and Land of
England, and devoutly attend sermons preached by
members of the Chapter of Lincoln. A.D. 1257.
2. Godfrey de Ludham, Abp. of York, grants 20
days to those who attend sermons under direction
of the Dean in Lincoln Cathedral Church. Cir.
1258-66.
3. Ri. de Gravesend, Bp., grants 40 days to
hearers of sermons in the Minster. 1259.
4. The same, grants like indulgence for sermons
by Canons of Lincoln. 1264.
5. Walter de la Wyle, Bp. of Salisbury, grants
indulgence of 20 days to attendants on sermons by
the Canons of Lincoln, who shall say three Paters
and Aves for the souls of Henry de Lexinto7i {pb.
8 Aug. 1258), and all the faithful departed. Sept.,
1266.
6. Walter Giffard, Bp. of Bath and Wells, grants
the like indulgence.
7. W. [? de Breuse], Bp. of Llandaff, grants the
like. 1266.
8. Robert de Chause, Bp. of Carlisle, grants 40
days for the like. 1266. (Seal in box.)
9. Henry, Bp. of Galloway, (Candida Casa, i.e.
Whitehorne), grants 40 days to those who shall hear
Canons' sermons at Lincoln, or shall say three Paters
and Aves for Henry Bp. of Lincoln, and all
X
3o6, Notes on Mediceval Services.
Christian souls, or shall do manual alms.* Datum
apud Mariscum, 13 Nov., 1266.
10. Roger.de Skerwing, Bp. of Norwich, grants
20 days. 1266.
1 1 . Richard [ ? Roger de Molend'], Bp. of Coventry
and Lichfield, grants 1 5 days' indulgence to attendants
at sermons preached by Canons of Lincoln, those
who shall say 3 Paters and Aves for Bp. Henry, or
shall contribute to the Fabrick. 1 266.
12. Robert Stichell, Bp. of Durham, grants 40
days to hearers of sermons, saying Paters, &c., for
Bp. Henry, or doers of manual alms. i2[6]6.
13. Peter, Bp. of Orkneys, grants 40 days. 1274.
14. Robert de Insula, Bp. of Durham, grants 40
days for hearing Canons' sermons. 16 Feb., 1274-5.
15. Archibald, Bp. of Moray, grants the like.
(No date, cir. 1253-99.)
16. [Robert de Stuteville] Bp. of Dunkeld, grants
20 days. 1277.
17. William de Geynesburg, Bp. of Worcester,
grants 40 days for those who attend Canons'
Sermons, and recite Pater and Ave for the Peace of
the King and Queen (Edw. I. and Eleanor of Castille),
and for the faithful living and departed. 1303.
[We have in A. i. 14, fo. 112, a letter from Bp.
Oliver Sutton to the Archdeacons, or their officials,
ordering special prayers and psalms for K. Edward I.,
II Mar., 1293-4. He had also ordered prayers in
* I suppose this means by personally helping in the works, as St. Hugh had
done in an earlier generation, when he shouldered his mason's hod.
Notes on Mediceval Services. 307
all parish churches for the Archbishop, after the
death of Abp. Peckham, and pending the election of
a successor (who was Ro. Winchelsey), in a letter
dated 6 Feb., 1292-3. He likewise ordered masses
for the King's uncle, W. de Valence, Earl of Pem-
broke, 30 June, 129 . . ?]*
18. [Richard de Gravesend] Bp. of London, grants
40 days to those who contribute to the Fabrick of
Lificoln and to the High Altar,
19. ? the same. 1303.
20. [Rob. Wiseheart] Bp. of Glasgow, grants the
like. 1304.
21. [John de Halucton] Bp. of Carlisle, grants the
like. 1305.
22. [Walter de Geynesburg] Bp. of Worcester,
grants the like. 1308.
2^. [Walter Reynold] Abp. of Canterbury, grants
the like. 1314.
24 Bp. of . ... anno pri7no^
1320. [131 9- 1320 was the first year of several
bishops : Haymo of Rochester, Maurice of Dum-
blane, J. Wiseheart of Glasgow, Rigaud de Asserio,
Winton, and David of Caithness. I cannot say by
which of these this indulgence was granted.]
25. [J. Wiseheart] Bp. of Glasgow, grants 40 days
to worshippers at the to7nb of Johyi de Dalderby^ Bp.,
1321.
• The volume in the Chapter Muniment Room at Lincohi marked "A. i. 14"
contains a long scries of little documents arranged and mounted by the late
Prebendary J. F. Wickcndcn and Canon A. R. Maddison. The portion
which occupies leaves 1 12-152 consists of a file of 178 documents relating to
the Archdeaconry of Stowc between the years 1292 and 1300.
3o8 Notes on Mediceval Services,
26. W. Atwater, Bp. of Lincoln, grants 40 days to
persons who will assist in lengthening and widening
the Fosse Dyke. Cir. 15 15.
On March 24, 129 1-2, Oliver Sutton, Bp. of
Lincoln, addressed Dean (Ph. Wilughby) and
Chapter recommending a certain hospital to the
alms of the faithful, in preference to all other charities,
except the Works of the Minster. Sermons were to
be preached in aid of it for three or four Sundays.
(A. i. 14, § 2, No. 135, p. 147.) Bishop Oliver
Sutton's successor, Bishop John de Dalderby, wrote
in 1303 to the Archdeacons of his diocese directing
collections to be made in aid of the minster of St.
John of Beverley, provided that they do not prejudice
the Works in progress at St. Mary's, Lincoln. (A. i.
14, § I, No. 68, p. 68.) In 1302 the official of the
Archdeacon of Stow had addressed all rectors, vicars,
and chaplains, desiring them to commend to their
parishioners the case of the sick outside the Castle
of Lincoln {id, § i. No. 93, p. 95).
Chr. W.
St, Peter's Rectory^
Marlborough.
Feast of St. Philip & Jacob, 1898.
Jn&cy to tbc Ikalcn&ar of Xtncoln TIl6c*
Z. N. = Liber Niger (ed. 1892).
N. R. — Novum Registrum W. Alnewyke Episcopi (contained in our
Cambridge edition of Statutes^ fascic. iii., pp. 268-363).
Agathe, V. M., 5 Feb.
Agnetis, V. M., 21 Jan.
Agnetis Octava, 28 Jan., N. R., p. 304, nmrgin.
Albani, prothomartyris Anglie, 22 June.
Alphege, archiep. M., 19 Apr.
Ambrosii, Ep. C, 4 Apr.
Andree, Ap. M., 29 Nov., Z. A^., p. 289.
Andree Translacio, 9 May.
Animarum Commemoracio, 2 Nov.
Anne, matris B. Marie, 26 Jul.
Aimunciacio dominica, 25 Mar.
Ascensionis Dies, Z. A^., p. 293.
Assumpcio B. Marie, 15 Aug,
Augustini, Ep. Doct., 28 Aug.
Augustini, Anglorum Apost., 26 May.
Bamabe, Ap. M., 1 1 Jun.
Bartholomci, Ap, M., 24 Aug.
Benedicti, Abb. C, 21 Mar.
Bencdicti Translacio, 11 Jul.
Bcmardi, C, } 25 Aug.
[Botulphi, C, 17 Jun.]
Brigitte, v., I Feb., Z. A^.. p. 365.
Birini, Ep. C, 3 Dec.
Brictij, Ep. C, 13 Nov. Cf. Z. N., pp. 280, 3S8.
Caput Jcjunij, Z. A^., p. 281.
Cecilie, V. M., 22 Nov.
Ceddc, £p. C, 2 Mar.
Circumciiiio Dotnioi, i Jan.
3IO Notes on Mediaeval Services,
dementis, P. M., 23 Nov.
[Concepcio B. Marie, 8 Dec]
Corporis Christi festum, L. iV., p. 249.
Crucis Exaltacio, 14 Sept., L. N., p. 289.
Crucis Invencio, 3 May, L. N., p. 289.
Cuthberti, Ep. C, 20 Mar.
Cuthberti Translacio, 4 Sept.
Commemoracio Fidelium. [This is marked on Monday or Tuesday in Holy
Week, and again in the 2nd week in Advent in the XVth Century Rolls
of Re and Ve. See Statutes iii., 814, 823.]
Davidis, Ep. C, i Mar.
Dedicacionis Ecclesie B. Marie Lincoln, 3 Oct., L. N.y p. 281.
Dionysii, M., 9 Oct.
Dunstani, Archiep. C, 19 May.
Edmundi Cantuar. Archiep., C, 16 Nov.
Edmundi regis, M., 20 Nov.
Edwardi regis, M., 18 Mar.
Edvvardi regis, 8 Apr.
Edwardi regis, M., Translacio, 20 Jun.
Edwardi regis, C, Translacio, 13 Oct.
Egidij, abb. C, i Sept,
Epiphania Domini, 6 Jan., L. N., pp. 281, 284.
Exaltacio sancte Crucis, 14 Sept., L. N., p. 289.
Fabiani et Sebastiani, MM., 20 Jan.
Fidis, v., 6 Oct.
Frideswide, V., 19 Oct.
Georgij, M., 23 Apr.
[Gilleberti de Semperingham, C, 4 Feb.]
Gregorij pape, 12 Mar.
Gregorij Ordinacio, .'' 2 Sept.
Guthlaci, C, 11 Apr.
Hieronymi, Pr. Doct., 30 Sept.
Hippolyti, M., 13 Aug., L. N., p. 289.
Hugonis Episcopi Line. Deposicio, 17 Nov., L. N., pp. 281, 284, 288.
Hugonis Epi. Translacio, 6 Oct. [1280], L. A^., p. 335-
[Hugonis parui. 27 {al. i) Aug.]
Innocencium MM., 28 Dec , L. N., p. 290.
Innocencium Octava, 4 Jan.
Invencio sancte Crucis, 3 May, L. N., p. 289.
Invencio S. Stephani, 3 Aug.
Notes on Mediaeval Services, 311
Jacobi, Ap., i May.
Jacobi minoris Ap., 25 Jul.
Johannis Evang., 27 Dec, L, N., p. 290.
Johannis Octava., 3 Jan.
Johannis ante portam latinam, 6 May.
Johannis Baptiste Nativitas, 24 Jun., L. N., p. 281.
Johannis DecoUacio, 29 Aug.
Johannis de Beverlaco, 7 May.
Johannis et Pauli, L. N., pp. 289-90.
Jude, cum Symone, Apost., 28 Oct.
Katharine, V. M., 25 Nov., L. N., p. 289.
Kenehni regis, M., 17 Jul.
Laurencij, levite M. 10 Aug.
Leonardi, Abb. C, 6 Nov.
Luce, Evan., 18 Oct.
Lucie, V. M., 13 Dec.
Marci Evan., 25 Apr.
Margarete, V. M., 20 Jul.
Marie Purincacio, 2 Feb., L. N., p. 281.
Marie Annunciacio, 25 Mar., L, N., pp. 281, 288, 293, 377.
Marie Assumpcio, 15 Aug., L. N., pp. 281, 284.
Marie Nativitas, 8 Sept., L. N., pp. 281, 284.
[Marie Concepcio, 8 Dec]
[Marie Visitacio, 2 Jul.]
Marie Commemoracio hebdomadalis in Sabbato. (In rotutis de Re et Ve. —
Vide Statut. iii., pp. 805, 812-823.
Marie Magdalene, 22 Jul., L. iV., p. 289.
Martini, Ep. C, 11 Nov.
Martini Translacio, 4 Jul.
Matthei Evang. Ap., 21 Sept,
Mathie, Ap,, 24 Feb.
Mauricij cum sociis, MM., 22 Sept.
Michaelis Archangeli, 29 Sept.
Michaelis in monte tumba, 16 Oct.
Natalis Domini, 25 Dec, L. N,, pp. 281, 284, 290.
Nativitas B. Marie, 8 Sept., Z. A^., pp. 281, 284.
Nicholai, Ep. C, 6 Dec, L. N., pp. 289, 381.
Octava Natalis Domini, i Jau.
Octava .S. Stephani, 2 Jan.
Octava S. Johannis, 3 Jan.
Octava SS. Innocencium, 4 Jan.
312 Notes on Mediceval Services.
Octava S. Thome, M., 5 Jan.
Octava Epiphanie, 13 Jan.
Octava S. Agnetis, 28 Jan., L. iV., 289, N. R., p. 304, margin.
Octava S. Johannis Bapt., i Jul., L. N., p. 289, A^. R., p. 304.
Octava Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, 6 Jul.
Octava B. Marie (Assumpcionis), 22 Aug.
Octava B. Virginis (Nativitatis), 15 Sept.
Octava Translacionis S. Hugonis, 13 Oct.
Octava S. Martini, 18 Nov., L. N., p. 289, N. /?., p. 304.
Octava S. Hugonis (Deposicionis), 24 Nov.
Octava S. Andree, 7 Dec.
Omnium Sanctorum, i Nov., L. N., pp. 281, 284, 288.
O [^Sapiencia, &c.) Antiphonse cir. xvi. Decemb,, cantandae, L. N., p. 388.
Osithe, V. abbatisse, 7 Oct.
Oswaldi regis, M., 5 Aug.
Palmarum Dominica [in Rarais], L. N., pp. 281, 292.
Pascha, Z. N., pp. 281, 284.
Pauli Ap. cum Petro, 29 Jun.
Pauli Conversio, 25 Jan.
Pauli Commemoracio, 30 Jun.
Pelagie, V., 8 Oct., L. N., p. 337.
Pentecostes, L. N., p. 281.
Petri et Pauli Apostolorum, 29 Jun., Z. N., p. 281.
Petri ad Vyncula, i Aug.
Petri Cathedra \_forsan antiochena], 22 Feb.
Philippi et Jacobi Apostolorum, I May.
Purificacio [B. Marie], 2 Feb.
Ramis Palmarum, Dominica in, Z. N,, pp. 281, 292.
Reliquiarum Dominica, Dom. proxima post, vii. Jul. (* The 2nd Sunday after
the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul,' supra^ p. 270) Z. iV., p. 281, cf. 255.
Reliquiarum B. Roberti (Grosseteste), 8 Oct., Z. A^., p. 337.
Reliquiarum Stephani, &c., 3 Aug.
Sanctorum Omnium Festum, i Nov., L. N.y pp. 281, 284.
Sebastiani, M., 20 Jan.
Silvestri pape C, 31 Dec.
Simonis et Jude Apostolorum, 28 Oct.
Sixti pape, 6 Aug.
Stephani et Sociorum Inventio Reliquiarum, 3 Aug.
Stephani protomartyris, 26 Dec.
Swithini, Ep. C, Translacio, 15 Jul.
Thome, Apostoli M., 21 Dec.
Thome, Archiep. M., 29 Dec,
Notes 071 Mediceval Services. 313
Thome, M., Translacio, 7 JiJ,
Trinitatis, Dies Sancti, L. N.^ p. 281.
Undecim milium Virginum MM., [Ursule, V.M.], 21 Oct.
Vigilia Pasche (in Sabbato Sancto), L. N., p. 288.
Vigilia S. Johannis Bapt., 23 Jun., L. N., p. 288.
Vigilia Apostolorum P. et P., 28 Jun., Z. A^., p. 288.
Vigilia Reliquiarum (mense Julio), Z. tV,, p. 288.
Vigilia Assumpcionis, 14 Aug., Z. JV., p. 288.
Vigilia Nativitatis B. Marie, 7 Sept., Z. N'., p. 288.
Vigilia Omnium Sanctorum, 31 Oct., Z. iV., pp. 365, 379.
Vigilia Natalis Domini, 24 Dec, Z. N., p. 288.
Vigilia Circimacisionis, 31 Dec, Z. A^., p. 288.
Vigilia Ascensionis, Z. N., p. 288.
Vigilia Pentecostes, Z. N., pp. 281, 288, 293, 377.
Vigilia S. Trinitatis, Z. A^., p. 288.
Vigilia Epiphanie, 5 Jan , Z. N., p. 288.
Vigilia Purificacionis, i Feb., L. N., p, 288.
Vincencij leWte M., 22 Jan.
ad Vincula S. Petri, i Aug.
Visitacio B. Marie, 2 Jul.
Wolstani Ep. C, 19 Jan.
Ypoliti, M., 13 Aug., Z. N.^ p. 289.
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PONTIFICAL INSTITUTE
OF MEDIAEVAL STUDIES
59 QUEENS PARK
Toronto 5, Canada
5888 •