493 British monachism Thomas Dudley Fosbroke 1 ZMT Fos broke LII THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR. LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS B L P. D. Postroke at. 46 M.A. F.S.A. rai & F305. Hillm BRIL MM T.D. Fuck !! T.Tovey Sculp BRITISH MONACHISM; OR, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE Monks and Nuns of England. TO WHICH ARE ADded, 1. PEREGRINATORIUM RELIGIOSUM; OR, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ANCIENT PILGRIMS. II. THE CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. III. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE CONTINENTES, OR PERSONS WHO HAD MADE VOWS OF CHASTITY. IV. SELECT POEMS IN VARIOUS STYLES. BY THOMAS DUDLEY FOSBROKE, M.A. F.A.S. HON. ASSOC. R.S.L. &C. LATE VICAR OF WALFORD, HEREFORDSHIRE. THIRD EDITION. DEDICATED TO THE LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL, &c. LONDON: PRINTED BY AND FOR JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SON. 1843. | 12553TR 1 4 1 X 4 0 4 TO THE RIGHT REVEREND THE LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL, &c. &c. MY LORD, THE kind and courteous manner in which your Lordship has been pleased to accede to my request for permission to inscribe the Third Edition of my late Father's Work on British Monachism to your Lordship, adds to the many favours already con- ferred upon my family. I feel assured I could do no greater honour to the memory of the Author, nor one more congenial to the sentiments of respect which I ever heard him express for your Lordship's public and private worth, than by the dedication of his favourite Work to so eminent a Scholar and distinguished a Prelate. I have the honour to remain, My Lord, with every respect, Your Lordship's most obliged and humble servant, Vicarage House, St. Ives, Jan. 23, 1843. YATE FOSBROKE. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. THE favourable reception of the original edition of this Work in two thin 8vo. volumes, 1802, induced the author to revise and enlarge his composition, (to form the quarto edition of 1817,) under the circumstances, and the manner, described in his own Preface, of which a copy is annexed. It was very gratifying to its Author that this enlarged and im- proved edition was respectfully quoted by Sir Walter Scott, in his novel of the "Monastery ;" and it was also favourably noticed in the "Quarterly Review," and in the other literary journals. The public generally having justified this favourable opinion by the work again becoming scarce, Mr. Fosbroke was induced shortly before his lamented death, to prepare for the press the present Edition, which was one of the latest acts of his laborious literary life. This present Edition has been printed in a compressed manner, as a companion to the new and improved Edition of Mr. Fosbroke's Encyclopedia of Antiquities." 66 J. B. N. vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE first Edition of this Work having been so honoured by the public approbation as to be advertised in sale-catalogues at twice the original price, Mr. Nichols has much gratified the Author by a re-publication very considerably enlarged, enlivened by reflections, and elegantly embellished. The original Work was from various powerful motives almost wholly limited to Manuscript Authorities. But this re-print incorporates the important and copious information to be found in the admirable Glossary of Du Cange, various Chro- niclers, and other works as unknown as MSS. except to some pro- found Literati. Some dissertations upon collateral recondite subjects are added. As a new Edition of the Saxon Chronicle has been announced, by a competent person, the Emendations of Bishop Gibson's Version, which accompanied the first issue of this work, are here omitted. An accurate estimation of probabilities being a chief ingredient in the acquisition of judgment, one intention of the work was to give a check to the Morose and Superstitious, to morbid propensities. Without liberal and enlarged ideas, virtuous zeal will generate much useless pain. The Author however has been misunderstood. Mr. Aikin, in compliment to the few original reflections, in the first Edition, regrets, that this Archæological Dissertation did not appear in a philosophical form, and that a subject, apparently so ample, has been thus compressed. The humble domestic nature of the materials could not, the Author thinks, be generalized ac- cording to the dignified march of the historical style, without either diminution of interest by suppression, or an enormous waste of room by a vague periphrastic text, overloaded with long details in notes, and extracts and translations of Manuscripts, or by a concentration of the whole, which, in the style proposed, the motley form of the " 1 + a Annual Review for 1802. PREFACE. vii matter would render turgid and ridiculous. Nor could it be eligible to convert the work into a Homily, by superannuated confutations of Popery; or to swell it by stale Philosophical discussions already familiarized.ª As to the compression of it, the general habits and duties of all Monks are so analogous, that the distinctions of each Order consist only in trifling peculiarities, which do not extend infor- mation. The hint, however, of Mr. Aikin is gratefully adopted in two new ways, at least suitable to a Divine and an Antiquary. Phi- losophy, so far as concerns history, is only a superior knowledge of the laws of Providence, in the disposition of those events which do not originate in mere physical causes. He professes to illustrate mediæval customs upon mediæval principles, from a persuasion, that contemporary ideas are requisite to the accurate elucidation of his- tory. In the Chapter of Love-Pilgrims, a construction is given of speaking low, which no penetration could possibly divine. Caution, therefore, in the use of reflections, is proper in a work, not profes- sedly didactic. It has been said, that the Monks have been too unfavourably re- presented but here again the Author is misconstrued. Although he is sufficiently vindicated by Dr. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, he begs to observe, that he treats Monks, according to that cha- racter, not simply as men; and that he gives his materials, as he finds them. As those which refer to the morals of the Religious are the charges of contemporaries, and appear in the solemn statutes of General Chapters, he cannot violate the fidelity of an Historian, or the integrity of a Protestant Clergyman, by unnecessary, perhaps dangerous, and silly palliations of gross inconsistency in Religionists, professedly most rigid. It is undoubtedly an original error in all censure, that, while mankind are influenced by various causes, it condemns from pure abstract reason. If intention be regarded, no one is foolish; and Monachism is wise, if the rationale of it could be admitted; but there is an imbecility as much the effect of æra, or circumstances, as of organization and ignorance. Although many Monks were truly good Monks, men of high spiritual abstraction, a In Mosheim, Zimmerman on Solitude, Edinburgh Review for 1813, p. 186, and for 1815, p. 302, &c. viii PREFACE. a yet their virtue was negative, except in acts of charity; although many things were only culpable, as deviations from the Order, still it ought not to be dogmatized, that the austere Monastic System is possible, in an universal view, to be correctly exhibited, in union with riches. The liberal ideas of modern Society are not of course in- cluded in this question. The Monks were wealthy, consequently luxurious, and frequently debauched. The strange means adopted (and in the Middle Age forsooth) for creating models of ascetic seve- rity were independence, celibacy, and luxury; but luxury and inde- pendence have never had so corrective an operation upon the Bat- chelors of any age; nor will they ever be deemed by political econo- mists, the measures suited to produce that bigoted superstition, or morbid feeling, which, except tuition from infancy, can alone effect the result proposed. The complaint is grounded upon the good cha- racters which occasionally appear in the Monastic Annals; and the liberalized, amiable, and benevolent habits of modern Monks, who, influenced by a better state of society, substitute these pleasing qualities for ancient asperities. This is all in their power. Modern thinking only could have emboldened the learned Benedictines of St. Maur, to have tried the experiment of commuting certain tiresome duties of the Rule, as unworthy the reason of the age in which they lived, for learned pursuits, which would enable them to issue frequently some valuable publication. The dispensation was refused, for Popery, afraid of innovation, must of necessity be a consistent whole, although it manifestly implies tenacity of obsolete barbarism. These are objections to be treated with respect by the Author. The book is merely professed to be a work, filled to the utmost of its dimensions with information, upon the subject of which it treats. The public having also kindly received the Poems, they are annexed for the sake of preservation. Walford, on the Banks of the Wye, July 17, 1817. a See the Chapter of Modern Monachism, p. 298. b This anecdote is taken from D'Israeli's "Curiosities of Literature." CONTENTS. Page Page • CHAP. I. Principles of Monachism CHAP. II. Asceticks-Glastonbury CHAP. III. Monachism among the Britons, Scots, Irish, and Anglo-Saxons, till the reign of Edgar APPENDIX TO CHAP. III.-The Egyp- tian Rule of Pachomius followed by the Britons CHAP. IV. Benedictine Monachism, from the reign of Edgar to the Norman Conquest 28 APPENDIX to CHAP. IV.-The Rule of Fulgentius 1 · • 9. Bon Hommes (Augustinians) 82 • 10 10. Brothers of the Sack ib. • CHAP. VII. Monastic Officers: Abbot, Abbess 83 13 CHAP. VIII. Obedientiares 110 · CHAP. IX. Prior 112 • CHAP. X. Cellarer 118 23 • CHAP. XI. Precentor, or Chantor CHAP. XII. Kitchener 120 • 123 CHAP. XIII. Seneschall 124 • · 37 . CHAP. V. Benedictine Monachism, from the Norman Conquest to the Dissolution . APPENDIX TO CHAP V.-Decrees of the Council of Lateran, anno 1215 Constitutions of Benedict the Twelfth, anno 1336 CHAP. XIV. Treasurer or Bursar CHAP. XV. Sacrist or Secretarius CHAP. XVI. Lecturer 125 • 126 · 128 39 CHAP. XVII. Almoner 130 • CHAP. XVIII. Master of the Novices 132 · 59 CHAP. XIX. Infirmarer 135 · CHAP. XX. Porter 136 60 CHAP. XXI. Refectioner 138 • Extracts from Barclay's Ship of Fooles CHAP. VI.-Rules of the Orders which ob- 62 · CHAP. XXII. Hospitaler 140 CHAP. XXIII. Chamberlain 141 tained in England • I. Benedictine Rule 1. Clugniacs 65 CHAP. XXIV. Other Officers of the House 143 66 • CHAP. XXV. Officers among the Friars 145 • 68 CHAP. XXVI. Nuns' Confessor · 147 2. Cistercians. 3. Grandmontines 4. Carthusians II. Three Augustinian Rules: 1. Præmonstratensians 2. Trinitarians 69 CHAP. XXVII. Monks-Nuns, &c. • 148 70 Order of St. Victor at Paris 164 · 71 CHAP. XXVIII. Friars 168 • CHAP. XXIX. Novices 175 · • 72 CHAP. XXX. Lay Brothers · 191 73 CHAP. XXXI. Servants • 195 3. Dominicans · 74 CHAP. XXXII. Monastic Buildings • 197 75 4. Knights' Hospitallers Rules blended, or unconnected with the Benedictine and Augustinian : 1. Knights' Templars. 2. Gilbertines. 3. Carmelites . 4. Franciscans CHAP. XXXIII. Church-Architecture, &c. 198 Classification of Churches and Castles : 76 · British Castles-Anglo-Saxon Castles 198 77 · Norman Castles 199 78 Castellated Mansions • 201 ib. British Churches 198 Anglo-Saxon Churches 199 79 Norman Churches 201 • • 80 Various Peculiarities in Antient Churches ib. 82 . Altars-The Pix-Pall-Corporal-Perticæ 202 ib. Lecterns-Candlesticks 203 5. Franciscan Nuns, Minoresses, or Nuns of St. Clare • 6. Brigettine Nuns 7. Augustinian Eremites 8. Nuns of Fontevraud X CONTENTS. Tables-Roodlofts, &c. Confessionals--Gallilees-Lady Chapels, or Retro-choirs-Cripts • Tapers-Saints' Bells-Towers-Trifo- ria-Pulpits Painted Glass • Page - Organ Piscina Lockers Pensile 204 Page • 205 CHAP. LIX. Sacristy-Vestiary-Costumes 282 Articles of Clothing belonging to the va- rious Orders . Augustinian Canons Augustinian Eremite Nun 286 • ib. ib. 206 Benedictines • ib. ib. Brigettine Nuns and Friers • 287 Attributes of the various Saints • 207 Carmelites ib. • Encaustic Pavements Bells • The Nuns' Church Music - Singing Sermons CHAP. XXXIV. Churchyard CHAP. XXXV. Refectory 208 Carmelite Nun. ib. • · 209 Carthusians ib. • ib. Cistercians ib. 210 Cistercian Nuns ib. 211 Clugniacks ib. 213 Dominicans ib. • 214 Dominican Nuns 288 CHAP. XXXVI. Chapter 222 Franciscans or Grey Friers ib. CHAP. XXXVII. Dormitory CHAP. XXXVIII. Cloister. CHAP. XXXIX. Infirmary. 227 Franciscan Nun, or Minoress or Poor 229 Clare · ib. 233 Friars of the Sacks ib. • CHAP. XL. Guest-hall 238 Capuchin Nun. • ib. • CHAP. XLI. Locutory, or Parlour. . 243 Nun of the Order of Penance ib. · CHAP. XLII. Almonry • 244 Gilbertines ib. CHAP. XLIII. Library-Museum 245 Gilbertine Nuns 289 Remarks on Monastic Literature-Divi- Præmonstratensians · ib. nity-Philosophy, Arts, &c. . 247 Trinitarians ib. Natural History-Medicine-Geography Knight Templars ib. -History Gothic Architecture-Latin Language Classics and Versification 248 249 . 250 Knight Hospitallers ib. Works of Humour-Bulls-Acrostics- Poetry 251 Museum 253 CHAP. XLIV. Scriptorium-Domus Antiqua- riorum • 254 • CHAP. XLV. Studies of the Monks 260 CHAP. XLVI. Prison 261 • CHAP. XLVII. Monastic Courts 262 CHAP XLVIII. Misericord 264 CHAP. LX. Specimens of English Ecclesias- tical Costume, from the earliest period down to the sixteenth century, selected from Sculptures, Paintings, and Brasses remaining in this Kingdom. Drawn and designed by John Carter, F.S.A. CHAP. LXI. Hospitals CHAP. LXII. Modern Monachism. Protestant Nunnery at Gedding Parva, Huntingdonshire • Projected Colleges for the education of • 290 • 297 298 ib. · CHAP. XLIX. Sanctuary 268 young women CHAP. L. Dependant Churches . 269 Lady Mary Astell's College CHAP. LI. Cells-Granges. 271 CHAP. LII. Song School 273 Modern Monks in England Monastery of La Trappe in Lulworth. CHAP. LIII. Common House 274 Nuns of Spettisbury CHAP. LIV. Mints-Exchequer Benedictine Nuns 275 · ib. · ib. 299 ib. · 306 • ib. CHAP. LV. Kitchen 276 APPENDIX. Remarks on the Dissolution of CHAP. LVI. Bakehouse • 278 Monasteries 307 CHAP. LVII. Garden · 279 The Benedictine Ceremonial of the CHAP. LVIII. Abbey Gate-Dovecote, &c. 281 Nuns of St. Cyr 3419 CONTENTS. xi Page Page · 315 • . 319 322 · 325 326 • 330 • 333 · . 337 PEREGRINATORIUM RELIGIOSUM; or Man- ners and Customs of Ancient Pilgrims 313 Introduction-Costumes of Pilgrims Costumes of Crusaders CHAP. I. Antiquity of Pilgrimage-British Pilgrims • CHAP. II. Pilgrimages of the Scots, Irish, and Anglo-Saxons • CHAP. III. Consecration of Pilgrims CHAP. IV. Preparatory Steps to the Journey 328 CHAP. V. Manners and Customs on Ship- board CHAP. VI. Manners and Customs on the Journey by land CHAP. VII. The Arrival at Jerusalem- Consequences of the Crusades-and Mis- cellaneous Observations on Crusaders nito Pilgrimages-Political Pilgrimages- Pilgrims Adventurers - Pilgrims against Heretics • • · Continentes-Vows of Chastity SELECT POEMS (in various styles) by Mr. Fosbroke: 361 CHAP. XIV. Love Pilgrims 363 • CHAP. XV. The Office of Pilgrims in the Church of Rouen · 369 Consuetudinal of Anchorets and Hermits 370 • Hermits 379 Hermitages 381 383 1. Economy of Monastic Life, in the man- ner of Spenser 389 Sir Richard Torkington's account of a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in 1517 CHAP. VIII. Return Home-Palmiferi, or Palmers 2. Triumph of Vengeance; an Ode, in the manner of Gray. • 410 ib. 344 3. The Red Man; or, the Address of Buo- naparte's familiar Damon ;en Ode, in the manner of Gray and Collins 414 CHAP. IX. Pilgrimages of Punishment and Penance 346 4. The last Fifty Years; a Parody on Col- lins's Ode to the Passions 417 · CHAP. X. Pilgrimages to Rome 350 CHAP. XI. Pilgrimages to Compostella CHAP. XII. Provincial Pilgrimages to Shrines, 352 5. On a Lady Bathing, in the manner of The Italian Concetto 420 Wells, &c. 355 • · 6. Epitaph on Charles Hayward, Esq. in the German manner CHAP. XIII. Mourning Pilgrimages-Incog- General Index · 421 423 XL.a LIST OF PLATES. Portrait of the Author Engraved Title-page. Forms of British and Anglo-Saxon Churches Costumes of Monks and Nuns Page Frontispiece. Veil and Wimple, and Hermit's Dress (on the letter press) Habits of Religious, drawn from existing Specimens, by John Carter, F.S.A.: · 198 282 • 281 Class I. . Class II. Class III. 291 • ib. 292 · Class IV. ib. • Class V: 293 Class VI. Class VII. 294 • 295 . Habits of the Monks of La Trappe, at Lulworth Pilgrims 306 · 321 · X1:3 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. THE Rev. Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, M. A., F.S.A., Honorary Associate of the Royal Society of Literature, Honorary Member of the Bristol Philosophical Institution, &c. was descended from a respectable family first settled at Fos- broke, in Staffordshire. Of his more immediate ancestors many were clergy- men, it having been a custom of the family for several generations to have one of the sons educated for the Church. The great-grandfather of the late Mr. Fosbroke was the Rev. William Fosbroke, vicar of Diddlebury and rector of Aston Scott, both in Shropshire. He was imprisoned in Hereford Gaol for praying for the King, during the Commonwealth ascendancy, and otherwise injured in estate. His grandfather, Thomas, seems to have squandered the family estates at Diddlebury, which had been in the family at least 200 years. His father, William, was, agreeably to the family custom, educated for holy orders, but migrated to London. By his second wife, Hester, daughter of Thomas Lashbroke, of Southwark, he had an only son, the subject of this memoir. He was born May 27, 1770; and was named Dudley, after a cousin, a squire of Lebotwood Hall, Shropshire. He lost his father in 1775, and his mother married a second husband, James Holmes, Esq. Ensign in the Coldstream Guards, and afterwards Adjutant of the West Essex Militia. His mother lived to an extreme old age, and died at Walford, in 1831. Her great-grandmother, Mrs. Dodgson, was cousin to Thomas Guy, Esq. the founder of the Hospital in Southwark. Mr. Fosbroke was educated under the Rev. Mr. Milward, of Billericay, in Essex, and at Petersfield, in Hampshire, until he was nine years old, and was then removed to St. Paul's school, London, under the care of Dr. Roberts, from whence he was elected, in 1785, to a Teasdale Scholarship at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he proceeded B.A. 178-, M.A. 1792. It had been suggested, that he was to be a Special Pleader, but it was his father's dying wish that he should be placed in the Church. ⚫ Mr. Fosbroke has given accounts of his own family, in his " History of Gloucestershire," i. 407; in "Ariconensia," p. 168; and in his Autobiographical Sketch, prefixed to the quarto edition of his "Encyclopædia of Antiquities." A more enlarged and elaborate history of the early branches of the Fosbroke family, is appended to the present pages, from an original MS. which he left in the hands of a friend. b 10 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. In 1792 he was ordained Deacon, upon the title of his scholarship; and settled in the curacy of Horsley, co. Gloucester, for which he was ordained priest in 1794, and he held that curacy till 1810. In 1796 Mr. Fosbroke published the "Economy of Monastic Life,” a poem in Spenserian measure and style, written upon the doctrine of Darwin, of using only precise ideas of picturesque effect, chiefly founded upon the sense of vision. The poem is again reprinted in this volume. In 1799 he was elected F.S.A. He then devoted himself to archæology (including the Saxon language), and studied eight or nine hours a day. Deter- mined to publish only records, MSS. or other matters new to the public, he compiled his " British Monachism," from the rich stores of the British Mu- seum and the Bodleian Library, in two vols. 8vo. All the reviewers were flattering; and, the work soon becoming scarce, the author published a second edition in 1817, in a handsome quarto volume, much enlarged, and enlivened by reflections. The original work was almost wholly limited to MS. authorities; but the reprint incorporated the important informa- tion in the Glossary of Du Cange, various Chronicles, and other authorities. This work was respectfully quoted by Sir Walter Scott, in his novel of the "Monastery," and was favourably noticed in the "Quarterly Review." A third edition of this valuable work is now presented to the public. He next engaged in an original History of the County of Gloucester. Being possessed of a copy of the Inquisitiones post Mortem completed to the reign of Richard III. he was enabled sooner to perfect his collections from the public offices and libraries; and the work was published by subscription, under the title of "Abstracts of Records and Manuscripts respecting the County of Glou- cester; formed into a History, correcting the very erroneous Accounts, and supplying the numerous Deficiencies, in Sir Robert Atkins and subsequent Writers," 2 vols. 4to. 1807. On finishing his County History, he engaged with Sir Richard Phillips in an Encyclopædia of Antiquities; but the work was never published, owing to the failure of that bookseller in 1810. At this time Mr. Fosbroke removed from Horsley to Walford on the banks of the Wye. Soon afterwards he had the honour of illustrating the unpublished statues in Mr. Hope's collection. In 1814 he published an "Abridgment of Whitby's Commentary on the New Testament," for which he received the unrestricted praise of Dr. Napleton, Chan- cellor of Hereford, and other dignitaries. In 1819 he published "An original History of the City of Gloucester, almost wholly compiled from new materials; supplying the numerous Deficiencies, and correcting the Errors, of preceding Accounts; including the Original Papers of the late Ralph Bigland, Esq. Garter Principal King at Arms." On this work MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 11 Mr. Fosbroke was engaged by Messrs. Nichols, as a continuation of Mr. Bigland's work; but, by compressing Mr. Bigland's numerous but uninteresting lists of epitaphs, and supplying a large mass of the latent materials concerning the city, and by a judicious arrangement of the whole, he produced a work highly credit- able to his taste, and, what used to be unfrequent in topographies, of a readable nature throughout. Mr. Fosbroke published at least three editions of a pleasing little work, under the title of "The Wye Tour; or, Gilpin on the Wye, with picturesque additions from Wheateley, Price, &c. and Archæological Illustrations." As a companion to this Tour, in 1821 he produced "Ariconensia; or, Archæ- ological Sketches of Ross and Archenfield: illustrative of the campaigns of Caractacus; the Station Ariconium, &c. and other matters never before pub- lished." In 1821 Mr. Fosbroke edited the "Berkeley Manuscripts: Abstracts and Extracts of Smyth's Lives of the Berkeleys, illustrative of Ancient Manners and the Constitution, including all the Pedigrees in that ancient Manuscript. To which are annexed, a copious History of the Castle and Parish of Berkeley, con- sisting of matter never before published; and Biographical Anecdotes of Dr. Jenner, his Interviews with the Emperor of Russia," &c. 4to. Much use of Smyth's MSS. had been made by Mr. Fosbroke in his "History of Gloucester- shire," where that collector's accounts of property were incorporated. In the present work, the principle upon which the selections were formed are, that of preserving every thing of a constitutional, topographical, archæological, or genea- logical bearing. The Biography of Dr. Jenner was at the time novel, and written with a friendly and judicious hand. Mr. Fosbroke's "Grammar of Rhetorick" was surreptitiously published, without acknowledgment, in Pinnock and Maunder's Catechisms. In 1824 Mr. Fosbroke published his largest and most important work, the "Encyclopædia of Antiquities, and Elements of Archæology," in two vols. 4to. This work was most favourably received by his subscribers, and the public in general, as it supplied a deficiency then much wanted by all aspirants in the study of archæology. A second edition, with improvements, appeared in one very large volume in 1840. It was followed, in 1828, by a uniform volume, entitled "Foreign Topogra- phy; or, an Encyclopediack Account, alphabetically arranged, of the ancient Remains in Africa, Asia, and Europe; forming a Sequel to the Encyclopædia of Antiquities," 4to. and abounding with a large mass of latent, curious, and instructive information. In 1826 he published, "A Picturesque and Topographical Account of Chel- tenham and its Vicinity. To which is added, Contributions towards the Medical b 2 12 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. Topography, including the Medical History of the Waters, by [his son Dr.] John Fosbroke." The object of this work was to give some literary character to the account of Cheltenham, by treating the subject according to the rules of great authorities in scenery and archæology. In the same year he produced, "The Tourist's Grammar; or Rules relating to the Scenery and Antiquities incident to Travellers; compiled from the first authorities, and including an Epitome of Gilpin's Principles of the Picturesque,” 12mo, in which the knowledge requisite to form a correct taste upon the subject is brought into a cheap and accessible form. At this time, also, he was solicited by the Duke of Newcastle, to give his assistance in elucidating some difficulties in the Saxon line of his Grace's pedigree; and with extraordinary perseverance he collected sufficient matter from various sources to supply a continuous bio- graphy of the very ancient noble family of the Clintons, filling three large folio volumes of MS. which are now in the possession of his Grace, and highly valued by him. In 1827 Mr. Fosbroke had the gratification of being elected an Honorary Associate of the Royal Society of Literature. He contributed to their Transac- tions, "Extracts from MSS. relative to English History," (vol. i. p. 36,) and "Illustrations of the Constitution of our ancient Parliaments." (vol. ii. 268.) A similar acknowledgment of the literary merits of this distinguished Author was paid him by the Bristol Literary and Philosophical Society, who elected him an honorary member of their institution, and communicated the honour conferred upon him in terms expressive of their admiration of his talents and services in the cause of literature. In 1830 Mr. Fosbroke was presented to the vicarage of Walford (where he had been twenty years curate) by the Rev. Thomas Huntingford, precentor of Hereford Cathedral, and nephew of the late very learned and amiable Bishop of Hereford. To this vicarage is annexed the parochial chapelry of Ruardean, co. Gloucester, of which place Mr. Fosbroke communicated an account to the Gen- tleman's Magazine in June 1831, p. 488. Mr. Fosbroke was for several years intimately connected with the Gentleman's Magazine, and contributed largely to its review department; in which office he always acted towards authors with a fair and liberal spirit. His notices were full of original observations. The connection terminated a few years before the commencement of the present series of that Miscellany in 1834. He had latterly with great labour prepared for the press a new work, as a companion to his Encyclopædia of Antiquities, under the title of a "New and original Synopsis of ancient English Manners, Customs, and Opinions, derived from old Chronicles, local Histories, and other authentic Documents." This may hereafter be published. Mr. Fosbroke was highly distinguished as a Freemason, and had the honour MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 13 of being appointed in three successive years Chaplain of the Provincial Grand Lodges of Hereford, Monmouth, and Gloucester. The MSS. of several sermons, illustrative of the ancient History, Arcana, and objects of Freemasonry, preached before these Lodges, are now in the possession of his widow, and will probably be published at some future period. In 1796 he was married to Miss Howell, of Horsley, and had issue by her four sons and six daughters, of whom seven are now living. His eldest son, John, is a doctor of medicine, and author of several works and essays on pro- fessional subjects. His second son, Yate, is a clergyman, and vicar of St. Ive's, in the county of Huntingdon. His third son, Thomas Dudley, is First Lieut. in the Royal Marine Corps, whose commission was presented to him by Sir James Graham, (at that time First Lord of the Admiralty,) through the recommenda- tion of the Duke of Newcastle, as a mark of his Grace's favour and esteem for his father. His fourth son, Wm. Michael Malbon, is now a doctor of medicine of the University of Edinburgh. Of his three surviving daughters one only is married, Hester Elizabeth, to Charles Ransford Court, esq. of Wrington, in the county of Somerset. A portrait of Mr. Fosbroke, " ætat. 46," was prefixed to the Encyclopædia of Antiquities, and is also given in this volume. This distinguished antiquary and archeologist died at his vicarage at Walford, Herefordshire, on the 1st of January, 1842, in the 72d year of his age. J. B. N. 14 MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. BY THE REV. T. D. FOSBROKE. FORTUNATELY for me, I am able to vindicate the pretensions of my Family (for whom I entertain all the pieties of nature) upon the best legal evidence, and in so doing to add some illustrations of archæological interest, which may be deducible from even dry records and pedigrees. Camden says,b of local surnames, that the bearers of them " may assure them- selves that they originally came from [such places] or were born at them." There is a place still called Fosbrooke in Staffordshire, and, so recently at least as the year of the treaty of Amiens, there were persons resident at it, and named from it. Of the place and them no more is known to me, nor is it to my purpose. It is sufficient to say, that in the Roll of the Chancery, or Antigraph of the Pipe- roll of the 3d of John (anno 1201), under " STAFFORDSH."§ De placitis foreste is an item, "De viii s. de Rad de Dulŷne et Ostão de Focebroc." The general opinion is, that the severity of the forest laws originated in preservation of the game; and, under that presumption, the above fine might have been levied for poaching. But antiquaries know that forests were existent among the Britons upon military principles; and that so indifferent were the people to conscien- tious ideas about the game, that this indifference founded the archaism, still prevalent, that, as the animals were feræ naturæ, poaching violated no law of property; nor was the game the first object of the Norman King, and his suc- cessors, further than as prevention of poaching impeded trespass. The inten- tion of William the Conqueror was to make the New Forest a convenience for landing troops from Normandy; and, besides the amusement of hunting, such a large income was derived from the Royal woods, that they were objects of the first moment to the then Chancellors of the Exchequer. So minute were the regulations, that mere "coppices were reserved for the fencinge and incloseinge of newe woods to be raised, that the number of trees sould might be trebled by plantinge." For what kind of offence, therefore, the said Osbert was fined, is not apparent; nor are all similar delinquents in the Pipe Rolls to be deemed offenders against the vert and venison. It is presumptive that he was of Anglo- ticall brightnesse, or light of the family," occurs in Asser Menevensis ;f and the Remaines, 125, ed. 6th. Rot. Canc. 3 Joh. p. 49, published by the Record Commission, 8vo. 1833. Lodge's Life of Sir Jul. Cæsar, 23–25. e Remaines, 82. Camd. Scriptor. p. 5. MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. 15 name of Walter de Focebroc, brother of Osbert, is also a derivative from the German Waldher. Who and what they were does not appear, further than that they were members of the establishment of William Basset; for, in a benefac- tion charter of his to the Priory of Roucester, occur among the attestators, "Osberto de Fotesbroc, Johanne fratre ejus, Waltero fratre ejus." This charter, as published by Dugdale, shows, among other instances, the inaccuracy of his scribes; for Wodeford, the benefaction, is labelled Wolleford; nor can there be a doubt but that the Focebroc of the Pipe Roll was the Fotesbroc of the charter. John being the favourite Christian name of my ancestors, it seems most probable that we are descended from this John, brother of Osbert, and the continuation of that name in his issue implies that the parents wished him to be imitated by his posterity.h The Basset Northamptonshire estates descended to the Staffords, and when our pedigree commences regularly in 1392, the family are found to be feudato- ries of those hereditary representatives of the Bassets. As all such feudatories or connectives did, they bore, of course, when occasion required, the badge or cognizance of the chief Lord. With us it was the Stafford Knot, and accord- ingly I have placed it above the shield of our arms, or used it singly. How many generations passed with the prænomen John from the first men- tioned John I do not know, and it is evident that, whatever may have been their private worth, they could not have had any historical or biographical conse- quence. In an Inquisition taken upon the decease of Thomas Earl of Stafford in 1392 (16 Ric. II.) Richard Clowne and John Fossebrok are found to hold of him two knights' fees in Barton Segrave, Raundes, and Cranford, co. Northamp- ton. Of course the tenure shows, that this Richard and John were subject to military service, as Esquires. This John presented to the living of Cranford in 1391, as did Margaret his widow in 1403. A Clause-rollk which records a quit- claim from John Towers of the purchase made from Richard Clowne and Agnes his mother, shows a curious instance of the caution used in identifying persons. It is made to John Fossebroke, who succeeded another John, and the son and father are thus distinguished: "Jones Fossebroke, pater pdĉi Joħis fil' Johis." This John the son was presumptively an able man of business- character, for in 1399, as a trustee of the Holt family, he presented with others a John Depyng to the living of Whilton, co. Northampton. If, as Ed- mondson says, in his Dictionary of Arms, the name of Fosbroke was aliased Folbroke, there is in the Agincourt Roll, among the retinue of Sir de Harington, a John Folbroke, Lance, as one of those who were present at the battle, and, as m Monast. ii. 269, ed. 1st. i Bridges's Northamptonshire, ii. 227. Baker's Northamptonshire, i. 234. Camd. Remaines, 53, 14 Hen. IV. m. 10 dors. (Feb. 20, 1412.) Sir Harris Nicolas's Agincourt, p. 21. 16 MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. the same arms were borne by both names, the mere variation of the letter l for s cannot destroy the identity of family. Such was the unsettled state of sur- names, that a testator, in his will, dated Nov. 6, 1336, says, that he was some- times called Russel from his complexion, or De la Clive from the place of his birth." This John Fosbroke died Oct. 7th, 1418, and his effigies, from a brass plate in the chancel of Cranford Church, is engraved in the "Encyclopedia of Antiquities," sect. Monumental Effigies, Fig. 11. He married Matilda, a lady of the noble house of Stafford; she survived her husband many years, and when a widow was dry-nurse to King Henry the Sixth, it being the strict etiquette antiently for royal infants to have a nobly de- scended nurse. Her stipend was £10 per annum, "for decent support of her- self about the royal person" [pro ipsâ circa personam nostram honeste sustent- andâ.] Of this sum she complained as insufficient, and it was accordingly doubled 6 Hen. VI.P Seventeen years [anno 1444] afterwards, when she is styled in the writ "quondam siccæ nutrici nostræ," a she had a grant for life of a dolium of red wine of Gascony per annum. The same formula of wine (com- muted for money) was recently, perhaps now, usual in the royal household; and Mr. George Ellis says of this kind of donation, "In the reign of Edward the Third the value of the mark in our present money may be estimated at £10, and Chaucer's original annuity at £200. The grant of wine was of the same value, because it was afterwards exchanged for an annuity of 20 marks."s Her will, dated Dec. 21, 1447, and proved 27 Feb. following, is still preserved at Doctors' Commons. Some things are noticeable. She leaves to Ann, wife of her son Gerard, among other articles, "unam zonam de serico stripat' argent' et deaurat', et unum primarium" [i. e. a girdle of silk striped with silver gilt, and a primer]. It is singular, that this word primarium does not occur in Ducange, Charpentier, or Lyndwood, nor primer in Tyrwhitt, Cotgrave, or any English Glossary known to me. But as ladies, in subsequent ages, carried prayer-books pendant from their girdles," I think that some liturgical book, perhaps a collec- tion of psalms, was here meant, not a school primer in the modern sense. In the legacies to her grandchildren John and Elizabeth, she limits the benefit of survivorship to below the age of eighteen. Then follows this clause, " Item, lego et volo qd pdča Alic' filia pac' Gerardi habeat unum par lintheam' et pro nutricione sua qualibet septimana per unum annum ixd. et post illum annum n Owen, &c. Shrewsb. i. 540. • Percy Anecdotes, part iv. p. 8. P Pat. 6 Hen. VI. pars i. m. 15. in Rymer's unpublished Collections, entitled, "Capitula Actorum," MS. B. Mus. (Ayscough's Catal.) 4605, fol. 6. a Claus. 23 Hen. VI. m. 17. * In Charpentier Dolium is rendered by cupa major, lacus vinarius. In Seyer's Bristol, ii. 152, the word was applied to shipping, as of 100 tons, in Latin rendered dolia. • Ellis's Old Poets, i. 204. In libr. vocat. Llufnam, f. 34. * See Cowel, v. Age, and Ducange, v. Etas, et auctor. ibi citat, "See Prayer-book, c. ix. MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. 17 habeat qualibet septimana p unum quarterium anni vid. Item, lego eið Alic ad inveniend sibi vestimenta et alia necesaria sibi opportuna xxs." The said Alice was to have for board and nursing 9d. a week for one year, and 6d. a week for the next quarter. The testatrix died in 1447, and was buried at Cranford with her husband. A brass plate with the figures of both was placed over the slab, and had the following inscription: "Hic jacet Joħes Fossebrok, armig, qui obiit vii die mensis Octobris, anno Dãi Mittmo ccccxviii. et Matilda uxor ejus, quæ fuit sicca nutrix Dño Regi Henric (sic) Sexti. Quorum aĩabus propitietur Deus. Amen." y The figure of Ankaret, wife of Thomas Talbot, Esq. who died in 1436, is ir. similar costume. Malliot makes it a frequent practice for females to be repre- sented on their tombs attired as religieuses, possibly from some superstition, like as the interment of men in monks' cowls, and it seems likely that widows, who, as was common, had taken a`vow of chastity, never to marry again, were desig- nated by this surplice-formed robe. [See figure of Matilda, in Plate of English Costume, in "Encyclopedia of Antiquities," fig. 13.] 8 She left a son named Gerard in her will, whereas, in certain old pedigrees he is styled Edward or Gerrard. How this prænomen occurs once, and once only in our family, may be thus explained. It was not unprecedented, for the feudal commanders of military companies, or their ladies, to become sponsors for the children of their retainers, and this name of Gerard seems to have been derived from Sir Gerard Ufflete. In the Chapter House, Westmin- ster, is preserved a presumed Muster Roll of the Agincourt Army, previous to embarkation. That able antiquary and genealogist Mr. Stacey Grimaldi, F.A.S. has kindly communicated the following extract: "Under the command of Sir Gerard Ufflete, chr, are Lionell frať ejus, Nich'us Fossebroke, Jokes Harford, and sixteen others, all Lances, i. e. Esquires." What relative this Nicholas was to John, father of Gerrard, I know not, only that Mr. Stacey Grimaldi says, "that in the Roll the companies of troops are arranged under the leaders' names, such leader being presumed to be the great man of the district whence these young knights, squires, and men, came." "This Gerrard married Anne • • · by whom he had issue John, of Cranford, whose wife was Dorothy daughter of Robert Drewell, of Little Ged- ding, co. Huntingdon.e This was an ancient family, for a John Druell was sheriff of Northamptonshire, 18 Ed. I. [a° 1290.]" Bridges's Northamptonshire, ii. 228. 2 Engraved in Owen and Blakeway's Shrewsbury, ii. 287. ■ Visitat. of Northamptonshire for 1566, in the Coll. of Arms, p. 39. MS. Harl. 1467, fol. 27 b. and 1553, f. 38. b See Rot. Parl. ii. 292. e Visitat. of Northamptonshire, in the Coll. of Arms, for 1566, p. 39. d Will of Matilda Fosbroke, ubi supr. MS. Harl. 5171, f. 22. • MSS. Harl. 1467, f. 27 b.; 1553, fol. 38. 18 MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. As if some superstitious charm, or rather an advertisement of good descent, attached to the christian name of John in the family, a practice which still subsists in the perpetual prænomina annexed to members of certain high families, Robert the son of the last John was aliased with a John by the Har- leian Pedigrees and Bridges. There happens to be in the Records a pedigree from this Robert down to John his grandson, and it states that a marriage set- tlement was made upon an Elena Doveton [not Boveton, as the pedigrees] upon her-marriage with Robert. This Robert died in 1518, having had issue by Elena a John, who died s. p.; a Robert, brother and heir; a Richard, and others. Elena survived her husband, as she did a second one named Ashton, and was living when her daughter-in-law Juliana, the wife of her son Richard (who died 7th Aug. 1541) became a widow also. This appears by the will of Richard, which is to be found in the Inquisition taken at his decease, 33 Hen. VIII. (1541). Juliana, the widow of Richard (and misnomered Judith in an Harleian MS.), was the daughter of William Kynnesman of Lodington, co. Northampton, by Joyce, daughter of Thomas Stokes of Stoke,¹ co. Warwick, her grandmother being Isabella daughter of Fasakerley of Warrington, co. Northamp- ton. Her son and heir John, who was 16 years old at the time of his father Richard's decease,m married two wives, and by Dorothy the first wife had a second son Richard," who settled at Diddlebury, co. Salop, in 1584, his father John being then alive. In their time a circumstance happened, which evinces the oppres- sive operation of Extents of the Crown. The proceedings in Chancery in the Tower of London [Ff. 8, N° 27], show that 4th January, 1583, William Fos- broke of Cranford, co. Northampton, complains, that he bought of Richard Gray, son of Peter Gray, Receiver General of Her Majesty's Revenues, sundry cattle, which after he had so done were seized by the crown, the said Peter Gray having been greatly in her Majesty's debt. With this Richard, the son, Liberat. Dom. Cap. Westm. v. iii. p. 158. h Inq. p. m. 10 H. VIII. i Id. 33 Hen. VIII. ¹ Of which very ancient family, see Dugd. Warw. p. 130, ed. 1st. Index Hered. Nobil Famil. MS. Cott. Claud. C. VIII. No. 1187, f. 53. " MSS. Harl. 1467, 1553. This John Fosbroke died in 1602, about the age of 80, and upon a brass plate in the church of Cranford, embellished with his figure between his two wives, is the following epitaph : "Here lyeth John Fosbroke, Esq. who departed this life the 12th of March anno 1602, about the age of 80, who buried before him two wives; by the first he had issue 4 sonnes and 4 daughters; and the last, whos name was Awdre, [daughter of Robert Lenton, of Woodford, co. Northampton. Harl. MSS. ubi supra.] died in anno 1589, having issue by him four sonnes [John, Parson of Cranford, inter alios. Harl. MSS.] and 12 daughters, being in her life-time bountiful to the poore, and esteminge no time well spent, wherein she did not some good either to poore or rich. He saw issue of his children by both his wives above 70 grand-children; to 18 of his children he gave portions, and relieved his grand-children. Yet he was zealous of God's glorye, loved the saints, relieved the poore, and defended the helples, and hath laid up in store a sure foundation in Heaven."-Copy made by the Rev. B. Hutchinson, Rector of Cranford, May 1820. MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. 19 terminated our connection with the parent Northamptonshire line, which is now represented by the Fosbrookes of Ravenstone Hall, co. Derby." "Stemmata quid faciunt?" One answer is the law of primogeniture, entails, and a soubriquet. A noble- man of the sister island having had many poor relations, it has become prover- bial to designate generically these mourners by that Peer's title, so that if poor relations have no legacies in a will, it is said that Lord ***** gets nothing. Money however among our ancestors was not so omnipotent as now; and the law of hereditary succession did not always supersede superior qualifications in younger brothers. Instances are known in our early reigns [as that of Edw. I. See Trans. R. Soc. Literat. v. i. p. ii. art. iv.] where the King has transferred the descent of a peerage from a senior to a junior son, upon the account alle- gated; and a Lady, writing about a proposed marriage, says, " remembring the wisdome of my seid Lady, and the good wise stok of the Grenes, whereof she is comen, and also of the wise stok of the Parrs of Kendal." The married couples were also expected to be sized like soldiers; for Sir William Cecil says. in a letter (Ellis, ii. 299, 2d ser.), "Here is an unhappy chance and monstruous. The Serjeant Porter, being the biggest gentleman in this Court, hath married secretly the Lady Mary Grey, the lest of all the court," and they were impri- soned in consequence. Blumenbach says, that the qualities of the mind are hereditary: so too our ancestors thought, and there is reason for it; because if the mere bodily consti- tution of our parents decided our characters, then, Old Parr with his longevity would be superior to Alfred with his wisdom, and duration be superior to con- struction. I therefore hope that I do not philosophically err, if I think well of the intellect of these Northamptonshire Fosbrokes, because two authors are found among them of meritorious pretensions.9 The aforesaid John Fosbroke, Esq. had by his first wife "four sons and four daughters; and by his second wife four sons and twelve daughters, making in the whole twenty-four children. He lived till about 80, buried both his wives, and saw issue by their children above seventy grandchildren. To eighteen of his children he gave portions, and relieved his grandchildren." How John Fosbroke, Esquire, the last of my ancestors bearing that title, contrived to portion seventeen children, and relieve above seventy grandchildren, without depriving the eldest of the manor, advowson, and estate, is a subject o Burke's Commoners, ii. 626, where is an account of them. P Whitaker's Richmondshire, i. 387. Sermons by John Fosbroke, B.D. late of Sidney College, Cambridge, Rector of Cranford, co. Northamp. 4to. Cambr. 1633. A Nathaniel Fosbrooke published, in 1605," Falshood in Friendship, or Union's Vizard, or Wolves in Lambskins, &c. &c." See Harleian Miscellany, x. 445. See more of his books in Moule's Bibliotheca Heraldica, p. 70. 20 MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. which presents an opportunity of elucidating the habits of our forefathers in regard to their younger children. Shakspere, in his "As You Like It," has, under the character of Orlando, made actual representations of the painful situations of such post-opulent members of a family; and Mr. Douce has produced instances where they were made menials, and wore the livery of the elder brother. Any other mode of provision for them was in fact promotion above a servile condition. The clown in King Lear (A. iii. sc. 3), among some prophecies in doggrels, has "No SQUIRE IN DEBT, and no poor knight;" and, to show the needy state of country gentlemen, there is a book, "The Mystery and Misery of lending and borrowing," which contains an illustra- tration of the Fool's sarcasm." S Sir Robert Naunton says, that the ancient mode of providing for younger children was to send them to the City to learn trade; and this was done with my ancestor, who migrated into Shropshire, where others of his family were also settled ; and, so far from professions being preferred to trades, Lord Shaftes- bury" mentions a Lady who was going over to Holland, "to settle her son at some school, where he may be best taught the languages and rudiments of a trade; for, though as the eldest child he will be entitled to a moderate estate, yet it being not such as to maintain him properly in the rank of gentry, she prudently resolves to bring him to business, for, if he gains little by it, he may at least learn industry, avoid idleness, acquire a good habit of frugality, and learn to improve what he has of his own." I omit Fortescue's well-known account of sons being sent to the Inns of Court. Thus does it appear that, in conformity to the passage quoted from Whitaker, our ancestors took great pains to make their children wise. As to daughters, Sir William Dugdale sent one of his to be a lady's maid, and yet he was a country gentleman of independent fortune. My great- grandfather portioned his girls off in the following manner. Being an Incum- f Reprinted in the Gentleman's Magazine, June 1829, p. 595. Fragm. p. 104. In two Liberationes in the Chapter House (Pars xiii. 463, 3 Jac I. and Pars xviii. 18 Jac. I. p. 411) are two writs of livery of an estate belonging to the Fosbrookes at Ticklarton in Eaton, co. Salop, to the last of which is annexed the following pedigree: William Fosbrooke.Anne, ob. May 12, 3 Jac. I. [1605]. Thomas Fosbrooke, ob. 7 Sept. 16 Jac. I. Anne, dau. of Edward Blackwey; mar. [anno 1618], æt. 30 3 Jac. I. June, 39 Eliz. [1596]. Francis, aged 20 16 Jac. I. [anno 1618]. Q? if from this family of Blakeway the late learned and ingenious historian of Shrewsbury was descended. " Letters of Locke, &c. 256. X Hamper's Life of Dugdale, 226, 228. i MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. 21 bent of two livings, he says in his will, "as to my whole parsonage of Acton Scott, together with all the goods and cattle thereupon, I have long since bestowed them upon Mr. Richard Baldwyn, as a portion with my said daughter Sarah, upon which parsonage (paying taxes, curate, and repairs), he is to continue until such time as a portion equivalent to what he deserves be raised out of it."z The pedigree in Burke's Commoners, concerning the Fosbrokes of Cranford, being very meagre, I shall give the remainder so far as it appears in the Har- leian MSS.a Dorothy, dau. of Robert John Fosbroke, Esq.Audrey, dau. of Robert Lenton of Drewell, of Little Ged- ob. Mar. 12, 1602. Woodford, co. Northampton, ob. ding, co. Huntingdon ; 1589; 2d wife. 1st wife. William,Agnes, dau. Richard, of of Market Edw. Top- sell, or Tap- hall, Curate Margaret. Eliza eldest and coh. Didle- Bridget, beth. 1st w. Su-John, san, dau. Par- 2d w. Jane, dau. of Sarah. Ann, mar. son and of Rob. bury; mar.John Osith. of Geo. son Rev. Wm. heir. Wolston, of of whom Paget, of Lynn, of of Pelshant, Burton, co. Northamp. postea. Ralph, mar. Walde- South- Cran- grave. wike, co. ford. Bosworth, ton. .... dau. Catharine. Westmor- of Benja- land. min Cow- dry. Margaret, one of the nine William, Robert, John, of Cranford, son and heir; he presented to the living in 1641. daughters of Geo. Lynne, s. p. of Southwicke, by Isabel, dau. of Miles Frost. Margaret, mar. to Rob. Monk, of Thatcham, s. p. Thomas, co. Sussex.b Mary. ob. at London. co. Leic. Lydia, ob. inf. Margaret,mar. to Francis Barret, of Spatwicke, co. Northampton. ר of St. Bo- tolph's, Al- dersgate, both bur. there. William. John. Eusebius. Ann. John. Francis, Henry, 15 years Maud. Catharine. Martha. Mary. Lucy. Sarah. old in 1618. S. P. Of the Fossebrokes this Manor of Cranford was purchased by the family of Maidwell, from whom it came to the Walcots, and was sold to the present pos- sessor, Sir James Robinson, Bart. by Captain Bernard Walcot, of Oundle.c A Mr. William Mansell was his Curate at one time, whose stipend was 137. 138. per annum, pay- able quarterly. Tithe-book, pen. T. D. F. z From his will in the Registrar's Office, Hereford, proved Sept. 13, 1726. a Nos. 1467 and 1553. b It is a law of Heraldry, that where only the same Arms, or mere variations of branches, are borne by persons of the same name, they had one common ancestor. Thus, according to Edmondson, Heraldry, vol. ii.: Monke bore, Argent, three leopard's heads sable; to which a branch made alterations thus, Gules, a chevron between three lion's heads erased argent. According, therefore, to the Heraldic Law, the MONKS of Orchard and Okehampton, co. Devon (Esc. 22 Edw. IV. n. 8), the celebrated Duke of Albemarle, the present Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, and others of the name, are descended from the same common ancestor. • Bridges. 22 MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. LINE OF RICHARD OF DIDDLEBURY. This Richard settled at Diddlebury, co. Salop; and married there Elizabeth Street, June 16, 1584, by whom he had issue Juliana, bapt. at Diddlebury April 3, 1585; Michael, baptized there February 27, 1587, s. p.; and John, bapt. April 11, 1591. This John declined a Baronetcy, when James I. offered for sale his Ulster patents, observing that he had rather be a wealthy yeoman than a poor knight; and the yeomen of those days are described as men of opulence by Shakspere and Hollinshed. The latter says, "Our ancient yeo- men were wealthy, and sent their sons to the University." To this family sys- tem of one member being aiways a clergyman my ancestors have scrupulously adhered; and, by a singular concurrence of circumstances, I had no opening in life left for my second son, but in the Church; and he is now the family repre- sentative in that profession of a long line of good men, Clerks also, for centu- ries past. This John had issue William, matriculated at St. Mary Hall, Oxon, March 31, 1671, and graduated M.A. July 3, 1677. He was Vicar of Diddle- bury, and Rector of Acton Scott, co. Salop; and dying July 10, 1726, aged 75, is commemorated by the following epitaph, still existing. "In memory of the Rev. and Learned William Fosbrooke, M.A. Vicar of Diddlebury, and Rector of Acton Scott, who departed this life the 10th of July 1726, aged 75." He married two wives, one of whom was a sister of Admiral Caldwell (a name well known in the Navy), and had issue three sons, viz. I. William, incumbent of Cold Weston, co. Salop, who married Frances, daughter of Baldwin of Diddlebury, was executor of his father's will, proved 13th September 1726, and died without issue. II. Edward, Vicar of Stirchley and Dawley, co. Salop, who had issue John, Vicar of Childerditch, Essex, and others, all s. p. III. Tho- mas, who was, by the partiality of his father, endowed with a good estate at Diddlebury, part freehold, part leasehold for lives, which had been in the family for at least two hundred years. This estate he squandered. The eldest son became tenant of the father's estate; the second, educated for orders, who migrated to London, was my father: and the only attestation of former note in the native village of my more recent ancestors, is the communion plate of the church, which was the joint benefaction of the Baldwins (a very ancient family, see Collins's Baronetage, v. 43) and Fosbrokes, who had more than once been connected by intermarriages. The Arms of the family are-Azure, a saltier between four cinquefoils argent ; and seem to have been granted or taken up in consequence of the alliance with the Stafford family through the lady mentioned; for a branch of the Staffords bore a saltier between four pears. The tinctures of blue and white were pro- bably derived from the livery of the house of Lancaster, the above Maud MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY OF FOSBROKE. 23 Fossebrok having been nurse to King Henry VI. The name is and ought to have been spelt Fosbroke, for such is the orthography in Glover's Ordinary of Arms, the Cranford brass, and the early Diddlebury register; and the error of amplifying the Anglo-Saxon broc, as putting Pembrooke for Pembroke, alters the accent, from Pembroke to Pembrooke, whereas the English always lay the emphasis on the first syllable if possible. "Vixi, et cursum quem dederat fortuna peregi.' 99 T. D. FOSBROKE. BRITISH MONACHISM. CHAPTER I. PRINCIPLES OF MONACHISM. REAL CHRISTIANITY consists in Pu- rity, Justice, Contentment, Self-com- mand, Philanthropy, and a Faith which produces a sublime disregard of human events. Its virtues and its benefits are only exhibited with justice to its exquisite philosophy, when they are exemplified in the social duties of the Parent, the Conjugal character, the Friend, the Neighbour, and the Citizen. Prudence and Virtue, "the wisdom of the Serpent with the innocence of the Dove," are the real methods of en- joying sublunary happiness; and the hope of a superior state of existence is the best medicine against the numerous evils and imperfections attached to material animal existence, under the stimulation of wants and passions. Unfortunately, there exists a perver- sion, resulting from inevitable states of society, which, on one side, sacrifices the Virtues to Pleasure or Convenience, on the other to Superstition. Illustra- tions of this evident truth, by an Eccle- siastick, will plainly be of less avail than the cool philosophy of ADAM SMITH. It would be injurious not to give at length a passage which elucidates the great principle of Monastick success. "In every civilized society, in every society where the distinction of ranks has once been established, there have been always two different schemes, or systems of morality, current at the same time; of which, the one may be called the strict or austere, the other, the liberal, or, if you will, the loose system. The former is generally admired and revered by the common people, the latter is commonly more esteemed and adopted by what are called people of fashion. The degree of disapprobation with which we ought to mark the vices of levity, the vices which are apt to arise from great pro- perty, and from the excess of gaiety and good humour, seems to constitute the principal distinction between these two opposite schemes, or systems. In the liberal, or loose system, luxury, wanton and even disorderly mirth, the pursuit of pleasure to some degree of intemperance, the breach of chastity, at least in one of the two sexes, &c. provided they are not accompanied with gross indecency, and do not lead to falsehood and injustice, are generally treated with a good deal of indulgence, and are easily either excused or par- doned altogether. In the austere sys- tem, on the contrary, these excesses are regarded with the utmost abhor- rence and detestation. The vices of levity are always ruinous to the com- mon people; and a single week's thoughtlessness and dissipation is often sufficient to undo a poor workman for ever, and drive him, through despair, upon committing the most enormous crimes. The wiser and better sort of the common people, therefore, have always the utmost abhorrence and de- testation of such excesses, which their experience tells them are so imme- diately fatal to people of their condition. B 2 PRINCIPLES OF MONACHISM. The disorder and extravagance of seve- ral years, on the contrary, will not always ruin a man of fashion and people of this rank are ever apt to con- sider the power of indulging in some. degree of excess, as one of the advan- tages of their fortune; and the liberty of doing so without censure or reproach, as one of the privileges which belong to their station. In people of their own station, therefore, they regard such excesses, either very slightly, or not at all. "Almost all religious sects have be- gun among the common people, from whom they have generally drawn their earliest, as well as their most numerous proselytes. The austere system of morality has accordingly been adopted by these sects, almost constantly; or with very few exceptions, for there have been some. It was the system by which they could best recommend themselves to that order of people, to whom they first proposed their plan of reformation, upon what had been before established. Many, perhaps the greater part of them, have even endeavoured to gain credit, by refining upon this austere system, and by carrying it to some de- gree of folly and extravagance and this excessive rigour has frequently re- commended them, more than any thing else, to the respect and veneration of the common people."a : History has ever confuted the pre- tensions of Fanaticism to produce the Golden Age; that is, a race of men without vice or misery. The approba- tion of the vulgar can be no standard; for they believe in quackery and for- tune-telling. Indeed, who can judge correctly of what he does not know? But Fanaticism will ever have success. It treats upon a subject where there is a general feeling and interest; and acts by operating upon Passion, which is always contagious and intelligible; be- cause the sensations of all mankind are similar, though their understandings may differ. Without a common interest, unani- • Smith's Wealth of Nations, III. p. 202, & seq. mity is impossible; and this common interest extends only to religion at large; particular modes of professing it are questions unconnected with the feelings; which, therefore, do not at- tract the ignorant, who expect the senses to be roused, by the inebriating pleasures of what may be called the spiritous liquors of Divinity. Provi- dence, however, favours the liberal system (if it be not abused by Vice or Intemperance); for Wealth of every kind must inevitably be dispersed among the population: interest of mo- ney not existing without a profitable channel of expenditure; and vegetable or animal products being insusceptible of accumulation without decay. "Lux- ury," says Gibbon,b "though it may proceed from Vice or Folly, is, as the world is formed, the only means of correcting unequal distribution of pro- perty, by diffusing comforts and plea- sures among Artisans," &c. The Monks practically, though not scientifically, understood the certain success of the austere system. The Sæcular Clerks were men of family, and worldly consequence. Therefore, the only method of ousting them was by the reputation of a superior sanctity, which the Monks made to consist in the mechanical offices of religion, and personal privations. This they there- fore established by means of rules upon a military principle of automatical`ac- tion; and thus abstracted the people from their rivals of the day. The laity was then, by admiration, attached to ascetic severities.d Pleasure was destruction,e because mortification was deemed the sole means of acquiring the favour of God, and avoiding tem- poral misfortunes.f Aldhelm, in an epistle to his pupil Adelwold, desires him to avoid conviviality, the culpable exercise of riding, or any "accursed pleasures of bodily indulgence." Even the first affection of nature, parental love, if extended to the indul- d b Gibbon, I. pp. 65, 66, edit. 4to. • Eadmer (Vita Dunstani) Angl. Sacr. II. 213. Angl. Sacr. I. 797. e Id. I. 213. Anglia Sacr. II. 133. Id. II. p. 6. " PRINCIPLES OF MONACHISM. 3 gence of children, though only in the natural appendages of station, called for the vengeance of Providence in the in- fliction of future misery upon such children.a Power and Benevolence are the most perfect and conspicuous attributes of Deity; and maxims, which represent Man as a Criminal, and God as a Ty- rant, as in truth nonsense, if not blas- phemy, would in vain be addressed to an enlightened mind. (The gay plumage of birds was pronounced contrary to God's commandment.)b But the igno- rance which renders Barbarians incapa- ble of conceiving or embracing the useful restraints of laws, exposes them naked and unarmed to the blind terrors of superstition. It has been affirmed that these superstitions were necessary in the early ages of the Church, on account of the ignorance of the people; at least, under such circumstances, they were natural, and therefore excusable; but when the world became wiser, these mummeries should have been abolished.d As human means, because we are not to do evil that good may come, such palliations are not tenable; but they have a different aspect, when considered with relation to Providence. The ferocity of a barbarous age, inclined to war, is only to be controlled by superstition; and, in the earlier middle age, Christianity was very considerably extended by means of the sword, by Baptism exempting the Prisoner of War from slavery or death.e In such an age pure reason would have been unavailing. It was the policy of the Papal religion, to force itself into every ramification of existence; and the su- perstition, which prompted these daring innovations upon reason, does not dis- gust the Philosopher, who takes human nature as it exists in various states of society, and conditions of life. When- ever the spirit of Fanaticism, at once credulous and crafty, has insinuated a Angl. Sacr. II. 696, 697. b See Golden Le- gend, cited in Chap. III. Gibbon, I. 279, Ch. 37, v. vi. p. 239, ed. 8vo. VIII. 320. d Warton, Diss. Gesta Roman. xvii. • Solorzanus de India- rum Jure, L. ii. Chap. xvi. p. 263. itself, even into a noble mind, it inevi- tably corrodes the vital principles of Virtue and Veracity.f Pious frauds continued to the days of the well- meaning Fox, the celebrated Historian of the English Martyrs, who published the murders of persons who were long after living. That historical reasoning can never be correct which is not founded upon contemporary ideas. The superstitions of all nations were incorporated in the religion of the middle ages; to which were added the temporal judgments which formed the Theocratick Govern- ment of the Old Testament, and the heretical perversions of the New Cove- nant. This shall be shown in detail. The progress is curious. The Barba- rians, after the conquest of the Roman Empire, were admitted to a share of the estates possessed by the Romans; and Barbarian and Roman were classed to- gether. Afterwards those were called Barbarians who did not speak or under- stand the Latin or Roman Tongue; as all the nations beyond the Rhine, especially the Teutonick. Lastly, the word signi- fied those who did not profess Popery.g Sæcular Misfortunes. The misfor- tunes of Arthur were attributed to his loss of the patronage of Saint Dubri- cius.h If a man died a sudden death, it was thought that he was a bad man, and taken off in judgment.i Robert Duke of Normandy is said to have been unfortunate from the time of his rejection of the Kingdom of Je- rusalem, to which he was miraculously elected by the spontaneous illumination of a taper which he held in his hand.j A tower was thought to have fallen down in Winchester Cathedral, because William Rufus was buried near it.k The Scotch took the plague which raged in England, for a judgment, and, invading the country, caught it them- selves.1 Barrenness, Famine, and other evils, f Gibbon, II. Ch. 22, p. 14, ed. 8vo. Cange, v. Barbarus. Angl. Sacr. II. 659. I. 212, 213. i Angl. Sacr. I. 270. 270, 271. 1 Decem Scriptores, 2600. & Du i Id. * Id. I. B 2 4 PRINCIPLES OF MONACHISM. were supposed to proceed from disfi- guring an image of the Virgin Mary.a The appearance of a Comet foretold pestilence or famine, or war, or change of the kingdom.b Temporal good, or evil, was respective- ly connected with good or evil conduct towards religious persons. Whoever shall enrich Monks shall cause his progeny to prosper, both in this world and the other.c Robert Fitzharding is supposed to have established the foundation of his Castle at Berkeley, and continuance of his family, by building an Abbey at Bristol.d Gerard Try, a Priest, sent Henry Lord Berkeley a Letter of five Texts of Scripture, respecting retention of an estate which Gerard claimed, “lest it should consume the rest of his sub- stance."e William Rufus says, I am certain that I shall go to Hell, if I die while I retain the See of Canterbury in my own hands.f Ill usage of religious persons was thought to bring down Divine hatred.g Pope Paschal adduces the prosperity of Henry the First, and his having a male child by his wife, as a reason why he ought to be quite favourable to the privileges of the Church.h It was believed that Henry the First obtained a victory over his brother Robert in Normandy because he was reconciled to Anselm.i Anselm says, that money extorted from Priests by Lay Authority, not to mention injury of the soul, would not, upon expenditure, be of such worldly service as would recompense the harm which it would effect.j If Kings oppressed the Monks, de- position and loss of life were presumed to be the Providentialk punishments. Founders or Benefactors were to a b Dec. e Dunst. Con- Script. p. Bed. 382, b, ed. 1596. Script. 961. Scr. p. Bed. 512. cord. Regul. Proem. Spicil. Eadm. 156. d Smythe's Lives of the Berkeleys, MS. penès W. Veel, Esq. p. • Ib. p 760. f Eadmer (Hist. Novor.) 62. p. 17. i Id. 85. * Id. 42. b Id. 74. Eadmer 90. Eadgari Constit.-Eadmer 157. expect tranquillity, plenty, prosperity, and longevity here; and future happi- ness hereafter. Spoliators the con- verse evils.1 Tithes were paid with the hope of increased crops.m The ordinances of Religion were made to supersede the moral duties; and its influence supported by the most visionary terrors, and curious frauds. La Tour, who wrote a book (upon Education, for the benefit of his daughters!) in the 15th century, tells the following story in that very book: A knight, who had been three times a widower, took it into his head to en- quire of a holy Hermit, what was the fate in the other world of his three wives? The latter after various prayers and revelations, informs him, that, out of the three, two were damned; one for using rouge, the other for having loved dress. The third only was in Paradise. This last, it was true, was in the constant habit of committing adultery; but, not having done so with a married man, or a Priest, or Monk, or had a child, she was, through confes- sion upon her death-bed, let off for a few years of purgatory." Death without confession and the Sa- crament, was deemed disgraceful. A person who was going to commit a de- liberate murder, thought fit to take the Sacrament first.P When Prince Edward, son of Henry the Third, took the Castle of Glouces- ter, and imprisoned the Burgesses, who expected to be hanged, Robert of Gloucester thus describes their distress, lest they should die without confession: Prestles' hom was wel wo, that hii? nere issrive³. Robert of Caumpedene, that hosebond was on, Vor he was a lute³ clerc, he shrof hom ech on. 1 Without Priests. They. 3 Confess. 4 Housekeeper. 5 Little. 6 Confessed. Clemency and Mercy to enemies was alledged as a reason for the assassina- tion of a King." Eadgari Constit.-Eadmer 158. m XV Script. 379. Notices des MSS. dans la Biblioth. Na- tionale, Paris. t. V. p. 163. Matt. Paris, 279, 511. Dec. Scriptor. 2485, b. 9 Vol. II. 544. Ed. Hearne. Scriptor. p. Bed. 191, a. PRINCIPLES OF MONACHISM. 5 Edgar says of Almsgiving, "Oh, ex- cellent Almsgiving! Oh, worthy reward of the Soul! Oh, salutary remedy of our Sins !"'a It was usual to recom- mend this, as a means of liberation from Guilt.b The Sick were taught to expect cures by the same mode. It was a general opinion, that persons who had no issue should give Alms and found Charitable Institutions. The Papal Bulls often prevented Alms, at last, by dependence upon pardons for the remission of sins. Thus we see that the Rich had no necessity for re- pentance. They, as well as their infe- riors, used to put a written schedule of their Sins under the cloth which cover- ed the Altar of a favourite Saint, accompanied by a donation; and a day or two after, re-examined the schedule, which the virtues of the Saint converted to a blank.f The decorum attached to the proper exercise of the ecclesiastical profession, was not suitably regarded by the Great. There was a Jester who used to pelt the King (Henry III.), Geffrey his bro- ther, and other Lords, with turf, stone, and green apples, as well as squeeze sour grapes upon their eyes; yet to this man the King gave a Church-living, and he was by profession a Clergy- man.g The Devil and Evil Spirits were ac- tively introduced to prevent the opera- tion of Reason, lest the universality of Religion should be invalidated. The delay of Anselm's return to England, though evidently arising from opposi- tion to the King, was believed to be a contrivance of the Devil to destroy all Christianity in that nation. Aymeric du Peyrat, Abbot of Moissac, in the 14th century, pretends that Pope Syl- vester was given to the Devil for be- coming Pope; and that his bones made a great noise in the tomb every time a Pope was at the point of death.i A Spicileg. in Eadmer. 163. 1018, 1263, 2383. Lives, MS. 93. gend, fol. cxvi. clviii. Hist. Nov. 80. 83, 84. In b Dec. Scriptor. M. Paris, 61. d Smythe's Id. MS. 429. Golden Le- M. Paris, 733. Eadm. Chronique MS.-Notices, VI. mischief and riots the Devil was sup- posed to be an active personal agent.k Epidemical Complaints, if they affected the senses, were attributed to the in- fluence of evil spirits. The Patients were bound, and brought to the Churches, by ten or twelve at a time, and left there till cured.¹ Saying the Lord's Prayer backward, was deemed a part of Magick.m William Bishop of Lichfield and Co- ventry was publickly defamed, for having done homage to the Devil, kissed him on the back, and spoken to him." If prayers to God and the Saints were not granted, the Devil was in- voked. In the Romance of Robert the Devil, the Duke and Duchess had long prayed for issue; but, having often been disappointed of a child, "" P. 6.P "The Ladye saide, the Devyll now send us one, For God will not oure petycion heare, Therefore I trowe power hath he none." The result was, that his birth was at- tended with dreadful tempests, and his early life very wicked. It was always understood, that when a man was on his death-bed, the Devil or his agents attended, in the hope of getting posses- sion of the soul, if it should happen that the party died without receiving the Sacrament of the Eucharist, or without confessing his sins. In various wood-cuts these Fiends personally appear, and with great anxiety besiege the dying man; but, on the approach of the Priest and his attendants, they betray symptoms of horrible despair at their impending discomfiture. In the prints, the Soul is represented as is- suing with a stream of breath from the mouth of the dying person, and caught by the Devil in his arms;r and in other old cuts of Christ expelling a Devil, a Fiend issues from the mouth of the Dæmoniac.s It was an old su- perstition; for both Greeks and Jews 1 * Decem Scriptores, 2636. Id. 2609. m Script. Bed. 161. b. n Bulla Bonif. VIII. Rymer II. 932. Script. p. Bed. 358, b. p. P Parents consecrating their children to the De- vil was no novelty. See Golden Legend, fol. clix. Douce on Shakspeare, II. 19. • Notices ut sup. vol. VI. p. 63. Postilla Erasmi Sarcerii, 12mo. 1561, p. 146. 1 EM. PRINCIPLES OF MIYA To the walvis covered Anal rendence by Spinna The Works also manamed the die- of Guardian Angels and varmed her popose at and de Fa under produced astresting m and if is happened – November. ce the Water, it was that to fre cecity, or some treatm Taions were a pretended mode of COLTERIIg information to the Great The Best coarse and durim tions were practised in this firm At the College of St. Omer's in the 17th cent. #as placed as a pop a M. Henry Fairefax, sonne to Sir Thomas Fairefax, who not velling to their inchanting allurements, one night being asleepe in his bed, two Jesuites cad in gorgeous white, as they had beene Angels, appreching his bedside with two good disciplines in their handes. the ends of some stucke with Tey pricks; having uncovered him, they did after so savage a manner rate his skinne, that hee became for a while sericelesse, speaking unto him in Latine, that they were Angels sent from the Virgin to chastise him for some offences by him committed, riz. for resisting the power and reviling the proceedings of his superiors." This they did in imi- tation of the two Angels who whipped St. Jerome.f If a person lay in a Trance, an idea was always entertained that it was for some supernatural communication, as of Heaven or Hell.g Great attention was paid to Dreams, as the means of learning future events; a superstition probably much assisted by a book on the subject, falsely, ascribed to the Prophet Daniel.i Nor was this the only means adopted for ascertaining these. Independent of Judicial Astrology, and brazen heads formed under planetary signs, the study L • Pist. Dial, p 287, ed. 2, 8vo. p881, 899. e Whitby, vol. Angl. Sacr. II. 195, 205. ⚫Script, p. Bed. 372, b. M. Paris, 329. * De- eem Meriptores, 2395, 2410. Wadsworth's English Apanish Pilgrime, p. 20. M. Paris, 186. Dec. Meript. 2424. Dec. Script. 2426, 2530. Cange, v, Somnialia. Du If CUTLET Was supposed to be reward- et by God with theft of Prophecy.k A was deed in enormous rge and the most respectful atten- fun was paid to Some prophecies were usted en Stone Tables, and The force of Omens was not in- Senor. In 152, the City of Norwich was land oder an interdict: and at the paborative of it. it is noted that a very The day was almost turned into night, and a bell in the Belfry fell down and is broken? Erea at the consecra- Die of Bishops the text of the Gospel was held over the elect by the assisting Prelates, and the top of the page exa- mined afterwards, as by Divine inter- ference, applicable to the person's future character, or actions, or mission.P Extraordinary coincidences were deem- ed worthy the gravest notice of His- tory. In the year 1240, while the Bishop of Lincoln was persecuting his Canons, one of them in a querulous Sermon on the subject said (possibly is Acid our tongue, the very stones would made to have said, "If ice were to cry out for us." The stone-work of the New Tower happening to fall at the same time, it was deemed a sad presage. Astrology met with a regard which Acts of St. Sebastian is mentioned a has been often well exposed. In the Chamber entirely of glass, in which the whole of the celestial Globe was con- structed by Art indeed Orreries were not rare. Predictions were reduced to and circulated.s writing in the form of solemn Epistles, particular duties. When the Moon was in conjunction with Venus, it was Every day had its good "to seek the love of women, for Sextile to “take a wife, for women be now they be tractable;" and on the fond." On other days it was eligible * XV. Script. 515. 2541. Scr. p. Bed. 160, 191, 340. 1 Dec. Script. 2393, 2394, 219. Script. p. Bed. 386, 387. Rous, 215, I. 399. 1 • Angl. Sacr. P M. Par. 15. De Foe makes Robinson Crusoe always practise this divination. He both knew the manners of early Anchorets, and was possibly indebted to this source for some of his materials. M. Paris, 468. M. Paris, 1173. ' Du Cange, v. Holovitreum. PRINCIPLES OF MONACHISM. 7 "to sow, plant, and take phisicke," but "bad to journey and marry a widow." Two days after we are recommended "to buy beasts, and seek to widows."a With Astrology was connected Ma- gick. Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, when at Oxford, invented charms for expelling diseases, words for exorcising fiends, and mysterious characters of wonderful power, which were inscribed on valuable gems. Pierre de Boniface, a great Alchemist, and much versed in Magick, who died in 1323, is the reputed author of a manuscript Poem on the virtues of Gems, of which the celebrated Nostra- damus gives the following pretended extract: "The Diamond renders a man invincible; the Agate of India, or r Crete, eloquent and prudent, amiable and agreeable; the Amethyst resists intoxication; the Cornelian appeases anger; the Hyacinth provokes sleep; and various properties are in similar manner ascribed to other kinds. Gems were valuable presents,d and much esteemed by the Anglo-Saxons.e King John was a great admirer and collec- tor of them, and with good reason, for they were supposed to cure diseases, to render a person invincible,f even invi- sible; and, with the properties of animal life only, to detect poison by change of colour. The Imaginarii were Sorcerers, who made images, which they were said to transmit to governing spirits, that they might be instructed by them in doubtful matters.i The speaking Brazen-head was the united effort of Alchemy, Astrology, and pretended Magick; is said to have been actually made by Gerbert, after- wards Pope Sylvester II. and traced by Selden to an imitation of Orpheus's head in Lesbos. Conceding that the Lesbians did consult this head as an oracle,k it rather appears to be of Hopton's Concordancie of Years, b. 1. 75, 77. Angl. Sacr. II. 332, 333. c Notices ut supr. V. 704. XV. Script. 262. e Id. 302. 1 M. Paris, 187, 318, 1010. J. Rous, 206, 207. Decem i Du Cange. Scriptores, 2435. j Malmsb. de Gest. Reg. L. ii. Encycl. des Antiquités, v. Orphée. Oriental origin, introduced through the Arabians in Spain. Naudeus thinks that there may be a head or statue so in- geniously contrived that the air which is blown into it may receive the modifica- tions requisite to form a human voice.¹ In 1287, at a place called Bilebury, near Wroxeter (the famous Roman town), the Devil, compelled by a cer- tain enchanter, appeared to a boy, and showed him urns, a ship, and a house with immense towers.in Here we see a property of the Devil, evidently bor- rowed from the Arabian Genie. There were persons accused of keeping Devils in the form of cats ; but this is of Northern origin, and refers to witch- craft, or direct communication with Fiends, chiefly confined to Jews and women, and very different from scien- tific magick, mostly brought from Se- ville, says John Rous, who adds, " that nothing made by necromancy can de- ceive the sight of those who behold it in water," a perversion of specific gravity. Cups, basons, swords, glasses, mir- rors, and other smooth substances, were used for Divination; and this supersti- tion was fathered upon the Patriarch Joseph, as Dreams were upon Daniel. The ancient Augury was also studied.r Medicine was mostly professed by Clerks, because they alone were capable of reading the Latin works on the art of healing; and Physicians were not, till 1451, allowed to marry, the age seeming to think that a Father of a family could not heal so well as a Priest. From the nature of some of their prescriptions, there appears an evident intention of confining this art, as well as others, to the dogmas of the existing religion, for which rea- son relicks were introduced into the Materia Medica. The hairs of a Saint's beard dipped in Holy water were taken inwardly. A ring taken from the body of Saint Remigius, and dipped in water, m Angl. Sacr. I. 509. 。 M. Paris, 128. Specula. r Decem Notices ut supr. V. 492, 507. 1 Hawkins's Music, II. 40. " Decem Scriptores, 2535. P P. 146. 9 Du Cange, v. Scriptores, 940. M. Paris, 554. 8 PRINCIPLES OF MONACHISM. is said to have produced a drink, very good in fevers, and different diseases. Relicks were also hawked about, and money given to the bearers for access of the sick to them. This pretended property of miraculous healing, no doubt conciliated the vulgar to the su- perstition in a remarkable degree, espe- cially as there was one very convenient rule upon the subject. Limbs, it seems, were as valuable as whole bodies, because the Saint, knowing that he was not entire without the limb, would of course attend to that as much as to the rest of the body.c Saints were not estimated, unless their lives were read by the inhabitants, or Miracles recorded of them.d With these, and a Legend, the Monks of course invested almost every religious man upon his decease. Publicity was easily given to Miracles, for they were cried and proclaimed by Archiepiscopal authority.e Canonization was equally easy. The Holy See granted to the Bishop or simple Prelates the faculty of consecrating, jointly with a synod of their Priests, altars over the bodies of persons who died in the odour of sanctity, and of celebrating Mass there on certain days; and thus they were in fact canonized.f Some of these mi- racles were merely natural phænomena. Mandubnauc, an Irish Monk of Rose Valley, carried off the Bees of that place to Ireland, on board the ship in which he embarked. This Miracle, as it was purposely called, was no doubt effected by secreting the queen bee.g Hugh Bishop of Lincoln used to feed birds out of his hand; and this was a celestial attestation of the sacredness of his character. Sometimes Mira- cles were real absurdities, originating only in the mere propensity and duty, as conceived, of creating them for the good of the Church. Peyrat says, there was a miraculous fountain at Moissac, where Lepers came in crowds to bathe, 8 b Angl. Sacr. II. 416. Script. p. Bed. 23, b. d Eadm. Hist. Novor. p. 78. Script. p. Bed. Du Cange, v. Præconizare, Præconi- Notices ut sup. VII. 61. Angl. Sacr. Decem Scriptores, 2417. 168. b. zatio. II. 636. and were healed by the merits of a Saint, whose relicks were deposited in the Abbey; but the Lepers communi- cated their disease to the Monks, of whom a great part died; which induced the others to shut up the fountain, for their repose and health. Now is it not ridiculous that the Saint should not screen the Monks, while he saved the Lepers, or that the former should not have the same easy method of cure? The most common use of Mi- racles was to whitewash the reputation of popular criminals, by pretending that these wonders ensued at their tombs after death; and to this the women were very prone.k Legislative notice was taken of the practice, which is of Classical ancientry. With better ideas Miracles were presumed to hap- pen in proof of Innocence, and revela- tion of Murder.m It is to be doubted, however, whether Miracles did not sometimes ensue from methods by which the Apotheosis of Romulus was established. I shall close this detail by observing that Baptism was delayed by the Anglo-Saxon Kings and Nobles, in order to indulge in rapine and plun- der of other Countries, until Monastic retirement was resolved on.º Nonsense should be treated with the contempt which nonsense deserves; but when a popular character said, in the event of a contested election, that he should take the nonsense of the People, and leave the sense of it to his adversary, he spoke truth, so far as concerned the influence of certain ideas. Dreams, Ghosts, Fortune-telling, and Empiricism, are not yet expelled; and the Monks were determined to propagate Religion by means which could alone prevail in the ages of their existence. Knowledge is of no general avail where Polytheism exists; and the Roman Catholic Religion has perpetuated the customs of the Heathens, at first in- 1 Chronique-Notices ut supr. VII. 12. J De- * Id. 2552. cem Scriptores, 1591, 2402, 2437. Pat. 16 Edw. II. in Fosbroke's Gloucestershire, I. 289. Script. p. Bed. 166, 167. b. 513. b. n See Malmsb. in Id. 138. b. Script. p. Bed. 192, 193. 221 PRINCIPLES OF MONACHISM. 9 evitably adopted. Existence could alone be retained by such compliances; and Providence, which does not deem it necessary to act by Miracles, knew, that where Christianity exists, civiliza- tion and useful knowledge would fol- low of course. Without Miracles, it could never have been effective by means unsuited to the ideas which it had to influence. It seems too to be a method of Providence, that temporary evils shall produce ultimate good. The state of ideas at the first propagation of Christianity was evidently to under- go a change; and the Roman power would not have fallen for the civiliza- tion of the North and West, if the di- version of the public mind to Christian- ity and controversy, the natural result of a public interest on any subject, had not destroyed the military spirit, which has a tendency to Violence, Luxury, and Pleasure. This pacific, lowering principle, continued to operate upon the fever, rapine, and debauchery of the rude successors of the Romans, with great comparative success; for in certain states of disease, alterative and opposite medicines are indispensable. Purity of mind and body was presumed to result through insulation from the world; and through humility and ab- stinence, self-command and cheerful- ness were deemed easy acquisitions.b In a vicious and rude age, it was justly conceived impossible for any one who mingled with the world, to lead a life sufficiently conformable to the character and duties of a Minister of Religion. Now who could think otherwise, if he were to reside among such a people? Rude as were the methods for pre- serving purity, they were indubitably efficient where they were practised. Much reading, prayers, scanty food, confinement to the Monastery, and im- mersion in water up to the shoulders, even in the most rigorous seasons, till the whole Psalter had been sung through, were, as methods to preserve subjugation of appetite, though rude, Eadmer, 156. b Ibid. yet effectual substitutes, for the happier and more noble methods of principle and honour.c Inducements to lust were less efficaciously removed, in con- versing with women, by singing or at least conning the Psalter.d The inde- pendence of the Monks in point of property, was founded on the principle, that otherwise, for the greater good of the Souls in Purgatory, they could not serve God night and day incessantly.e And as Man is the creature of educa- tion; as they did not invent, but received their system of Religion, which dictated deletion of the vices of others in this form, they were rather passive agents in its promotion, than knaves. If they limited the propagation of vir- tue to mechanical, rather than intel- lectual processes, they only adopted methods best fitted to the mind of the subjects upon which they were to act. Corporeal punishments have ever been indispensable where grossness of cha- racter prevails. As Providence un- doubtedly permitted Barbarism to exist (whether Monks had ever been or not), Luther's reply to Melancthon should be considered. The latter was complain- ing of the times. "Do," says he, "brother Melancthon, let God govern the World as he thinks best." Unless Providence chose to act by miraculous visible interference, the argument is un- deniable, that Religion can exist in no other than a superstitious form among Barbarians. The Clergy of all nations has ever fewer vices than the other classes of People; and their faults exist more in the prevalent states of society, and bad institutions, than in themselves, for no body of men is so amenable to the public for their well-being and happiness. In some parts of Spain, Abraham is represented as armed with a pistol, with which he is going to shoot Isaac. Is such an absurdity founded in fraud? Rude ideas, barbarous so- ciety, Egyptian superstitions, and the Roman Catholic religion, solve all the errors of Monachism. Angl. Sacr. II. 13. 'Bourgoanne, I. 183. d Ibid. e Id. 198, 199. 10 ASCETICKS-GLASTONBURY. CHAPTER II. ASCETICKS GLASTONBURY. In the controversy concerning the an- tiquity of the two Universities, Anaxi- mander and Anaxagoras are affirmed to have studied at Cambridge, and Belle- rophon to have been an Oxford-man. Of the first extraordinary assertion John Lidgate was the author; and he only acted in conformity to a mediæval fashion of endowing favourite places and persons with the most remote pos- sible ancientry, as essential to their dignity. It was a received opinion that St. Martial did not come into France but under the empire of Decius in the third century: this was too re- cent a date for the Limousins, and there appeared towards the end of the tenth century some false acts of St. Martial, fabricated on purpose to establish the position, that this Saint, had been one of the seventy-two disci- ples who had been ordained by Christ; himself, and received the Holy Ghost, and the Gift of Languages, with the twelve Apostles. The arrival of Jo- seph of Arimathea at Glastonbury is supposed by Archbishop Usher to have been a similar fiction, invented after the Conquest; and the preceding in- stances corroborate his opinion. Eusebius, Tertullian, Arnobius, and Theodoret, however, confirm the affir- mation of Gildas, that Christianity was introduced into this island, with partial success, at a very early period; but by whom, is not now to be ascertained upon authentic evidence. Ammonius Saccas, who taught with the highest applause in the Alexandrian School, about the conclusion of the second century, laid the foundation of that sect which was distinguished by the name of the New Platonists. To Selden's Encomium, prefixed to Hopton's Con- cordancie of Years. b Notices ut supr. VII. 400. Antiq. Eccles. Brit. c. ii. p. 7, seq. c ! a monstrous coalition of heterogeneous doctrines, its fanatical Author added a sublime rule of life and manners for the wise: it was to raise the divine and celestial soul above this world, by the towering efforts of Holy contemplation, and the extenuation of the sluggish body by Hunger, Thirst, and other mortifications. To this doctrine, under the specious pretext of the necessity of contemplation, was owing the slothful and indolent course of life subsequently practised by the Monks.d In the same century certain Christian Doctors, either through a desire of imitating the nations among whom they lived, or in consequence of a natural propensity to a life of austerity, a disease common in Egypt, Syria, and other Eastern nations,e were induced to maintain that Christ had established a double rule of Sanctity and Virtue for two different orders of Christians; the one ordinary for persons in the ac- | tive scenes of life; the other for those, who, in a sacred retreat, aspired after the glory of a celestial state. This double doctrine produced a new order of men, who considered themselves prohibited from wine, meat, matrimony, and commerce, and obliged to observe solitude, vigils, abstinence, labour, and hunger. These persons were called Asceticks, and wore a peculiar garb. At this time (the second century) they submitted to all these mortifications in private, without withdrawing from the concourse of men. But in process of time they retired into deserts; and after the example of the Essenes and Therapeutæ, inhabitants of Egypt long before the coming of Christ, formed p. 83-86. d Mosheim's Eccles. Hist. 1765. I. Ed. 4to. 1763. * Winckelman, Hist. de l'Art. I. c. 2. s. i. § 2. p. 54, ed. Amstelod. 1 Σπουδαίοι, Εκλεκτοι, and Philosophers, besides. ASCETICKS-GLASTONBURY. 11 themselves into Societies. The obvious reason of the origin of this sect was the ill-judged ambition of imitating the Heathen Philosophers, whose maxims, habits, and indeed whole plan of life and manners, procured them high re- verence, especially the Platonists and Pythagoreans. The heat of the cli- mate caused a natural love of solitude and repose; the distracted state of the Roman Empire produced numerous fugitives, to avoid military conscrip- tion; and the ancient Philosophers set the example, in the intellectual luxury which they cultivated by elegant re- tirement.d The escape from a state of Slavery was a further powerful means of filling the deserts with these De- votees.e By the early Canons, the Asceticks are forbidden to enter a public house, or to bathe with women, because it occasioned scandal among the Hea- thens.f Upon these Canons, it is fit to note, that baths of the two sexes, at first se- parate, were latterly mingled together. The custom does not appear to have obtained in this country, though the Britons and Anglo-Saxons had baths, and the Monks styled them poisoned hot-beds.h The Gangran Canons observe that the Asceticks used a particular garment, called Peribolæum, probably from in- vesting the whole body; that females, under pretence of being Asceticks, put Mosheim, I. 95, 96. b Id. p. 141. c His- toriæ Augustæ, Script. t. III. p. 630, ed. Sylburgii. d Menagiana, I. 338. Chalced. Canon. 4. f Laod. Canons, 24, 30. Pownall's Provincia Romana, 185. We hear of double baths of this kind in the Middle Age.— Du Cange, v. Geminarium. h Seminaria Venenata, Dugd. Monast. I. p. 88. We do indeed find in their later æras (MS. Harl. 913, fol. 2.) "Whan the somer is dai is hote The zung nunnes takith a bote Whan bi beth fur from the Abbei Hi maketh hem naked for to plei And lepeth dune into the brimme And doth ham sleilich for to swimme The zung monks that hi seeth, &c. A cometh to the nunnes anon And each monke him taketh one." Warton, I believe, has printed this extract; but I copied the MS. on male habits, and utterly deserted their husbands and families; that chil- dren did the same with parents; and that it was the custom to feast upon Sunday, and contemptuously neglect the prescribed fasts of the Church.i The Legend of St. Margaret says, that "soon after marriage, she kept her from the companye of her husbonde, and at midnight she commended her to God, and cutte of her hayre, and cladde her in the habyte of a man, and fledde fro thens to a monastery of monkes."j Theodora and Eugenia also assumed masculine habiliments for the same purpose. The abstinence from meat and wine on festival days, was founded upon an opinion that the Creation was evil, and that the world was not made by the Father of Christ.¹ These passages, indispensable to the elucidation of the habits introductory to Monachism, properly so called, shew the heresy of some Asceticks; and such must have been the first Religious of Glastonbury, if William of Malmesbury was correctly quoted, as to their follow- ing the Egyptian rule. But William only says," that St. Philip, after the mar- tyrdom of Stephen, travelled into Eu- rope, for the purpose of converting the Franks, from whence he sent twelve of his brethren, whom he previously ordained (Asceticks and Monks being in those ages held as Laymen) with Joseph of Arimathea at their head, to communicate Christianity to the Bri- tons; but the barbarous King of the Country withholding permission, only allowed them, from the sacred ideas of Hospitality, the uncultivated tract of Glastonbury, or Inis-witrin, for their residence and support. Here they erected a thatched Chapel, wattled in- stead of walls, according to the known method of the Gauls and Britons, subsequently practised by the Welsh.p n XV i Can. 12 to 19. j Golden Legend, fol. clxxx. * Id. fol. xxxvi. cx. 'Johnson's Canons, p. ii. p. 27. 31. m Eadm. Spicileg. 200. Script. 292. • See the Gaulish Houses on the Antonine column in Montfauc. Suppl. v. III. B. ii. c. 8. P Girald. Cambrens. inter Camd. Scriptor. p. 890. c. 17. 12 ASCETICKS-GLASTONBURY. A pretended representation of this Church, with Gothic Windows, is given by Sammesa and Staveley. The au- thority quoted by William is Frecul- phus, an Abbot and Bishop of the ninth century, who again copied Isi- dore, also a transcriber, in this respect, of the Hieronymian Martyrology. It is there affirmed, that Philip was the Apostle of the French, and both Isi- dore and Freculphus join in asserting the conversion, by means of this Apos- tle, of the neighbouring countries, con- nected by the Ocean, but do not men- tion Glastonbury or Joseph's Mission; for Archbishop Usher has copied the very words of these Authors, and thus proved the mis-quotation of William. No genuine writer has ever brought Philip or Joseph into these parts of the Globe. The charter of Patrick, in which he mentions the names of the second religious of Glastonbury, is known to be forged, and some are Saxon appellations.e The age of Joseph is anterior to the Ascetical; and, if the fact were con- ceded, the Glastonbury Missionaries must have assimilated other itinerant priests, who, under Apostolical autho- rity, propagated the Gospel. Eddius, who wrote in the beginning of the eighth century, observes, that many of the donations to Abbeys were of holy places, deserted by the British Clergy on account of the wars with the Anglo-Saxons.f This passage eluci- dates the foundation by Ina, whose charter refers to traditions, certainly not of coæval invention; and all the early evidence, concerning Glastonbury, a Britannia, p. 213. b Churches, p. 42. d Us- Fuller's Church e Fabricii Bibl. Med. Ævi. t. II. p. 603. serii Antiq. Eccl. Brit. p. 8. Hist. Cent. 5. p. 34. XV Scriptor. p. 60. leads to the opinion, that it was used successively as a place of refuge by various religious persons, on account of local situation (it being the custom of the Britons to seek retreats in marshes), which colonization produced its tradi- tional sanctity. Alfred sought similar security in the neighbouring isle of Athelney; and the Tor is cut into Ter- races, exactly resembling the fortress ascribed to him; both being adapted to the British and succeeding methods of defence. From the lives of the Saints in these early periods, and innumerable autho- rities, it also appears, that it was custo- mary with Devotees to migrate from country to country, until a situation for settlement was found, suitable to inclination and convenience and the site desired was to be solitary, and yet pleasant. : The Druids are affirmed to have been divested of all authority by King Lucius about the year 177,5 by whose means Glastonbury is said to have been re-occupied by twelve new Religious, who resided, as Anchorets, in the iden- tical situation of their predecessors.h This early abbey of Glastonbury was probably a Laura, i. e. a kind of Mo- nastery, of which the name is derived from the separate habitations forming Xavpot, i. e. alleys between the cells, as in towns. These Religious led an ere- mitical life; lived for five days upon bread, water, and in the East dates, and remained silent in their cells. On Sa- turdays and Sundays they took the Sacrament at Church, and then drank a little wine.i Strutt's Horda, I. 12. i Du Cange, v. Laura. h XV. Script. 295. MONACHISM AMONG THE BRITONS. 13 CHAPTER III. MONACHISM AMONG THE BRITONS, SCOTS, IRISH, AND ANGLO-SAXONS, TILL THE REIGN OF EDGAR. THE MYSTICK THEOLOGY, which sprung from the Platonic School in the third century, held that the Divine nature was diffused through all human souls; and that its latent virtues, and power of instructing men in the know- ledge of divine things, were to be eli- cited by silence, tranquillity, repose, solitude, and mortification. This pro- bably induced Paul the Hermit to fly into the deserts of Thebais; such a manner of life being common in many parts of the East long before the coming of Christ. From the Oriental super- stition concerning Demons, and the powers and operations of Invisible Beings, adopted by the Platonists, and borrowed from them by the Christian Doctors, originated in the third cen- tury the use of exorcisms in baptism, spells, frequent fasting, aversion from wedlock, discipline, penance, and non- intercourse with unbaptized or excom- municated persons, because supposed to be under the influence of a malignant spirit. In the next century Platonism, and the fictions which it occasioned, introduced extravagant veneration for departed Saints, purgatory, celibacy of priests, and the worship of images and relicks. At the same time, from the preposterous commixture of Paganism, arose processions, worship of the Mar- tyrs, modelled upon that paid to the Gods before Christ, pious frauds, and sham miracles (tricks practised by the Heathens), lustral water, and decora- tion of churches with images. These professors of Mysticism, so numerous in the deserts of Egypt, from an opi- nion that to elevate the soul to a com- munion with God it was necessary to macerate the body here below, Anthony and his disciples formed into societies. governed by rules, who took the name of Cœnobites. There still continued, however, Anchorets, Hermits, and Sa- rabaites, or wandering Fanaticks, who gained a subsistence by fictitious mira- cles and the sale of relicks. From the East all the classes travelled to the West, where the ability of the Orientals to bear a rigorous and abstemious mode of living, through climate, did not exist; and accordingly differences en- sued in point of austerity. The three orders of Coenobites, Anchorets, and Hermits, obtained in Britain from the earliest periods; and we find imitators of the Sarabaites (besides various no- tices in early national councils) in the itinerant Monks, who travelled about with an ass to carry the books for ser- vice.b Collegiate Institutions existed among the Druids; but with these History has not presumed to connect the Mo- nachism of the Britons, the introduc- tion of which is ascribed to the fourth century. It would be irrational to think that the British forms of the Monastick profession varied from those of contemporary date in other coun- tries; and we find that the Egyptian Rule, according to the Institutes of Pachomius,e apparently introduced by the simultaneous coincidence of fre- quent pilgrimages to Jerusalem and the East, was that professed by the first British Monks. The Monks of the age of Augustine and Jerom professed obedience to a superior, and division by tens and cen- turies, each officer of the last having the nine deans under him. They had separate cells, but no property; and performed a daily proportion of work, which, when finished, they gave to the Dean, who carried it to the Store- c a Mosheim, Cent. 3 and 4. b S. Dunelm (X Script.), 43. Henry's History of Great Brit. I. 142-7. d Id. I. 227. Fifth Pref. Monast. &c. e Reyneri Apostolatus Benedict. p. 119. f Usserii Antiq. Eccles. Brit. pp. 109, 110. 14 MONACHISM AMONG THE BRITONS. house. At three P. M. they assembled at Church, to the number of 3000 at least; and, after singing Psalms and reading Scripture, and praying, they seated themselves, and a lecture was begun by the Abbot. When this was finished, every Decury put themselves at table with their Deans, and took their meal of bread, pulse, and herbs. They never drank wine. After grace, they withdrew to their cells, and con- versed till evening. What remained was given to the poor. Martin, the celebrated Bishop of Tours, introduced the Monastic system into Gaul, and was imitated by his re- lative Patrick, the Hibernian Ápostle.a Martin (whose rule is pronounced by Reyner to be Egyptian) resided in a cell made of twigs interwoven. Many of his disciples occupied caverns. No one had any property, or bought and sold; but all things were common. No art was exercised but writing, in which the juniors alone were occupied; the seniors devoting their time to prayer. They rarely left their cells, unless to assemble at the place of prayer. They took their refection together, after the hour of fasting. None but the sick drank wine. Many were clothed with the bristles of Camels, and a softer habit was esteemed criminal. Among them were several of marriageable age, who, though far otherwise educated, had compelled themselves to humility and patience. Some even of these af- terwards became bishops.b The dress of Camel's hair in Gaul is singular; but Sulpitius is clear and precise in his words (de setis Camelo- rum). Elian mentions a stuff made of such materials; and the Monks certainly wore garments of this kind. Hats were also formed of the same hair;d but by the term Camblet was understood, at least in subsequent times, cloth made of Goat's wool. As Chrysostomf mentions garments worn 4. Joscel. c. 12.-Reyner, 118.-Mosheim, Cent. b Sulpitius Severus in vitâ Martini, L. i. p. 9. Du Cange, v. Camelocum. d Du Cange, v. Camelaucum. e Id. v. Barracanus, Camale, Camalius. Lopez's Epitome Sacrorum Sanc- torum, L. 15. ch. iv. f by the Egyptian religious, some of Goat's hair, some of Camel's, the ana- logy between that rule and the Marti- nian is sufficiently proved either way. Ricemarch, a Welsh Bishop of the eleventh century, in his Life of David, says, that he is concise in his account of the manners and customs of the Monks of Rose Valley, because they were similar to those of the Egyptian Monks. Unfortunately, the Institutes of Pachomius consist chiefly of prohi- bitions and penalties; on which ac- count the conformities of the British Monks can only be illustrated partially. Persons applying for admission to the order were to stay at the Gate many days, be taught the Lord's Prayer, as many Psalms as they could learn, and then be put to the trial of fitness in renunciation of the world, and other ascetical pre-requisites. If found fit, they were to be instructed in the re- maining ordinances. Then, after being clothed in the habit of the Monks, they were to be consigned to the Por- ter, who, at the hour of Prayer, was to put them in the place appointed.b A can- This denial of admission to Novi- tiates, founded upon, or at least similar to, the prohibition of Catechumens, under certain circumstances, from en- tering the Church,i is distinctly marked in the establishment of David. didate for the order was obliged to remain for ten days before the Gates of the Monastery, exposed to rebuke and insult, to prevent pride. If he en- dured it with patience till the tenth day, he was consigned to the Senior, who had the care of the gate, as his servant, and there for a long time con- demned to hard labour, and intellectual suffering, which probation at length in- sured him admission into the society.k All things were common, according to the rules mentioned of the Fathers and Martin; nor did any one dare to call a book or other thing his own, Angl. Sacr. II. 646. h Regula Pachomii ap. Stellartius de regulis et fund. Monachorum, p. 115, seq. i Johns. East. Canons, 52, 53. J Vita Bernardi, L. i. ch. ix. See Devoirs de la Vie Mo- nastique, I. 419-450. Ricemarch in Angl. Sacr. II. 646. MONACHISM AMONG THE BRITONS. 15 without immediate subjection to severe penance.a The precise similarity of this particular rule to the Benedictine,b favours Rudborne's affirmation, that it is the same in substance as the Egyp- tian, but mitigated, and rendered more efficacious.c After the Monastery of Rose Valley was finished, David, who is styled, ac- cording to the Egyptian rule, Father, not Abbot, established the following consuetudinal: "Every Monk was to pass his life in common and daily manual labour, according to the Apos- tolical direction, that he who would not labour should not eat. This labour was that of husbandry. During the employment there was no other conver- sation than what necessity required; but every one performed his task, either praying or rightly thinking."d These are regulations plainly conform- able to the Eastern rules before men- tioned, from Augustine and Jerom. "Upon concluding the rustic work they returned to the Monastery, and passed the remainder of the day till evening in reading, writing, or praying. (This evening was three o'clock P. M.) And then they immediately at the sound of the bell, without a moment's delay, proceeded to the Church in silence. After conclusion of the Psalmody, they remained in genuflexion until the ap- pearance of the Stars proclaimed the close of the day. When they were all withdrawn, the Father alone prayed in private for the good of the Church."e The succession of the ecclesiastical duty to that of manual labour, is before noted. None of the Eastern Monks were allowed to eat till they had said nones, which were then assigned to three o'clock.f The rule of Pachomius mentions attendance, without delay, upon Divine service, and the rejection of any excuse. Aidan, a disciple of David's, when occupied in reading, left it at a moment's warning, when order- ed by a Prior to attend two oxen and • Ricemarch in Angl. Sacr. II. 646. C. xxxiii. Sanctor. Patr. Regulæ Monast. fol. 30, b. 12mo. 1571. Angl. Sacr. I. 222. d Ricemarch, ubi sup. p. 645. • Ricemarch, loc. cit. 'Johns. East. Canons, p. 109. and a cart, sent to fetch wood. In the Monasteries of this æra it was not un- usual to have unceasing Divine service, by means of successive choirs ;h and this Oriental practice is thus alluded to in the fictitious Abbey described in the legend of S. Brandon, " and always twelve of us goo to dyner, whiles other twelve kepe the quere."i After this service in the Church, and its subsequent offices, "they assembled at the table, where the refection was adapted to the age, labour, or state of health of the parties. Bread and herbs seasoned with salt was the food in ge- neral, and accompanied with a mode- rate beverage of milk and water."k Eusebius notices the subsistence of the Oriental Monks upon bread, water, salt, and herbs; which last, Chrysos- tom adds, as a luxury.m "After grace was said they returned to the Church, and there passed three hours in vigils, prayers and genuflex- ions; during which time they were not allowed to cough, sneeze, or spit. The nocturnal recreation of sleep followed; but they rose again at cock-crowing, and prayed till day-light."n Chrysostom says, "At sun-rise (nay many before day-light) they rise from their beds, and, forming a choir, dili- gently praise God with hymns."o The Father (or Abbot) passed the day in attending the sick, schools, visi- tors, poor, widows, orphans, and in other offices of regulation and inspec- tion, and in prayers, and ascetical se- verities. Among these was the conse- cration of the Eucharist, and a succeed- ing immersion in cold water, "to subdue all carnal provocations."p David went to the Isle of Wight to Paulinus, a disciple of Germanus, who received young persons for education ; and this was usual in these ages. He used to sup in the refectory; but had a scriptorium or study in his cell,r Angl. Sacra, II. 634. in Ireland. Reyner, 151. ccxxxi. hAs of Bangor i Golden Legend, supra. k Cres- 1 B. II. c. Ricemarch, ubi sey's Church History, p. 236. 17. m Lopez, ubi sup. Cressey, ubi supra. • Lopez, ubi sup. PRicemarch, ubi supra. 4 Girald. Cambrens. Anglia Sacr. II. 632-655, 662. Anglia Sacra, II. 635. 16 MONACHISM AMONG THE BRITONS. being a famous scribe. When he was a boy his schoolfellows declared that they often saw a white dove teaching and advising him ;a and in this age every person designated for a Bishop or Saint was so attended when officiating, and the dove continued till the service was finished.b In the old wood-cuts of the Golden Legend the Popes are uni- formly distinguished by a Dove, whis- pering in their ears. We have a few further scattered par- ticulars of these Monks of Rose Valley. The situation was chosen because it was solitary and pleasant. Thus also Dubricius, contemporary with Arthur, set up a school, or college, in a spot which abounded in woods. These ancient Monks were instructed from childhood in the Old and New Testaments; and they worked very hard in manufactures and agriculture, even in road-making.c Very superstitious ideas were at- tached to Bells;d and the opposition to the Pelagian Heresy, and the Drui- dical Triads united, probably produced that singular exhibition of veneration for the Trinity, which is thus recorded. Three Clergymen of St. Teliau's three Churches claimed his body when dead; upon which three several corpses ap- peared, and one was buried in each of these Churches. Thus Giraldus Cam- brensis records, that three persons sat down to table in honour of the Trinity long after this age.f The Abbot's licence upon all occa- sions, the Benediction before a journey, and visitations to correct abuses, occur in these, as in subsequent ages. In these early centuries the Monks were not deemed of the Clerical order.h Very few were ordained even in the most numerous houses; but some were necessary to perform ecclesias- tical offices, and these were distin- guished by the addition of Presby- ter, as Jerom Presbyter, Beda Pres- Anglia Sacra, II. 631. II. 629, 655, 662. d b Id. II. 658. e Id. See British Pilgrims. e Angl. Sacr. II. 665. f Ed. Frankf. c. 18, p. 892. Angl. Sacr. II. 629, 636, 658. h Cos- tumes de Maillot, &c. III. p. 5. byter. From Saturday night till the first hour of Sunday, these Monks were engaged in religious offices, except only one hour after mattins. They con- fessed to the superior; and David, like the Oriental Abbots, held "divinity converzacionès;" of which we have specimens in the rule ascribed to Basil. William of Malmesbury says, that stone buildings were deemed miracu- lous by the Britons ;k and the addition of a Choir or Chancel was a great or- nament to the Churches of this age.¹ Thatched and wattled work, no doubt, formed all the offices of these abbeys, as long afterwards. Costume. It was a peculiarity of the early British Monks, that they shaved the head from the top to the level of the ears, and thus did not use the tonsure of either Peter or Paul.m The Egyptian Monks wore the short cloak of the Greek Philosophers ; i. e. the Tribonium, to be seen in statues of Diogenes. Ricemarch says that these British Monks wore common leather jerkins, usual also with the Egyptian Religious.P Reyner adds white cowls.9 In the 5th century the Monks of Gaul had, besides cloaks, girdles and walk- ing sticks.r Chrysostom mentions the hair-shirt as part of the Oriental Mo- nastic habits;s and it no doubt ob- tained here at least for penance, as in the Egyptian rule. These shirts reached from the elbows to the knees, and were made of goat's hair worked into fine threads, and woven by weavers on pur- pose." That worn by Becket was washed by his Chaplain ; but it was rare if there was no vermin in them.y A halter and hair shirt were often worn in token of penitence before death.z The feet and legs were, without doubt, bare; for visitors were received among the Anglo-Saxons by giving them water to cleanse their hands, washing their 1 i Reyner, 129. Angl. Sacr. II. 637, 646. * Script. p. Bed. 155, a. Angl. Sacr. II. 659. m Maillot, 16. "Jortin's Remarks, III. 25. • Angl. Sacr. II. 646. P Lopez, ubi supr. Maillot, ubi supr. a P. 118. supra. t Hoved. 298, a. - Hoved. ubi supr. ved. 354, a. S Lopez, ubi " M. Paris, 554. • Ho- y Knighton, 2433. MONACHISM AMONG THE BRITONS. 17 feet, wiping them with a towel, and inviting them to dine at nine in the morning; and the rule of Pachomius orders that the feet of visitors be washed, even if Clerks or Monks. Of the manners and customs of the BRITISH NUNS, I can give little more than analogous information from the Eastern customs, which of course obtained with the Nuns as well as Monks. Winifred was sent to school to a Saint named Beuno, who instructed her religiously, and afterwards veiled and consecrated her in a Nunnery, where she stayed seven years; during which time she and her fellows made a chesible of silk work for her holy pa- tron. From hence she went to another house, where Religious of both sexes resided, and became Abbess over the sisters.b Paulina, a noble Roman lady, whose life was written by Jerom, visited the Monks of Egypt, and "founded in Bethleem an Abbaye, in whyche she assembled virgynes, as well of noble estate as of mydle and low lygnage. And departed them in thre congrega- cyons, soo that they were depart- ed in werke, in mete, and in drynke.c But in saying theyr psalter and adour- ing were they togydre at houres, as it apperteyned. And she enduced and enformed all the other in prayer and in worke by ensample gyvyng. She was never ydle. And all they were of one habyte. And they had no shetes, no lynnen cloth but too drye theyr hondes. And they myght have no lycence to speke to men; and them that came late to the houres, she blamed debo- nayrly or sharply; and suffred not that oony of them shold have ony thyng, save the livinge and clothinge, • Decem Scriptores, 788. > Golden Legend, ccii. The Acoemiti, Achimitenses, were Monks who celebrated Divine service without ceasing, the society being therefore divided into three compa- nies. Du Cange. : for to put away avaryce fro them. She appeased them swetely that stroof; and also she brake and mortefyed emonge the yonge maydens theyr fleshely de- syres by continuelly fastinges. For she hadde lever have them good, suf- fryng sorowe and sekenes, than theyr herte should be hurte by fleshly wyll. And she chastysed theym that were nyce and quynte, sayen that such nycete was filthe of the sowle, and sayd also that a word sowninge to ony ordure or fylthe sholde never yssue out of the mouth of a vyrgine.-She that so spake and was rebuked ther- fore, yf she amended it not at the first warning, ne at the second, ne at the thyrd, she sholde be dysseveryd fro the other in etyng and in drinkynge, by whyche she shold be asshamed; and thus shold be amended by debonayr correccyon and yf she wold not, she shold be punyshed by ryght grete mo- deration. She was merveyllous debo- nayr and pyteous to them that were seke, and comforted them, and served them ryght besely. And gaaf to them largely for ete, suche as they asked; but to herself she was hard in her sekenes and skarse. For she refused to ete fleshe how wel she gaf it to other; and also to drynke wyn. She was ofte by them that were seke, and leyde the pylowes aryght and in poynt, and froted (rubbed) theyr feet, and chauffed (boiled) water to wasshe them; and her semed that the lasse she did to the seke in servyse, soo moche lasse servyse dyde she to God, and deserved lasse mercy and therfore she was to them pyetous and nothing to herself. In her ryght grete sekenesses she wold have no softe bedde, but laye upon the strawe, or upon the ground, and toke but lytyll reste. For the most parte she was in prayers, bothe by daye and by nyght; and she wepte so moche, that it semed of her eyen a fountayne. And whan we said to her oftymes that she shold kepe her eyen fro wepyng so moche, she said the vysage oughte to be like the fowl, by cause it hath so moche be made fayr and gaye, agenst the comaundement of God; 18 MONACHISM AMONG THE SCOTS. and the body ought to be chastysed that hath had soo moche solas in thys world; and the lawhyngys ought to be recompensed by wepyngis, and the softe bedde and the shetes ought to be chaungyd in to sharpness of hayer." This good lady, a genuine friend to superstition and misery, understood Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French; "redde coursably the Scryptures in thys foure languages," but "sholde her more to the spyrituell understondyng, than too thystoryes of the Scripture.' At her death, "anone all the congre- gacyon of vyrgines made noo crye in wepyng as don the people of the worlde; but redde devoutly theyr psal- ter, not only unto the time that she was buryed, but all the daye, and all the nyghte."a Costume. In France, during the fifth century, the widows of simple in- dividuals took nearly the costume of Nuns. This was a hood and wimple, and a gown resembling a surplice.b MONACHISM AMONG THE SCOTS. The Scottish writers consider the Culdees as the immediate successors of the Druids. It is certain that the Clergy were called Culdees [Colidei, Cultores Dei, i. e. worshippers of God] as soon as there were Clergy among the Scots; but the old pure Scottish Culdees were similar to the inferior Clergy in the primitive Church-itine- rant preachers under the Bishop, not Monks.d They seem to have been those Religious which the Topographi- cal Accounts of Ireland call Canons, in foundations long anterior to the existence of that order. Ninian, the Apostle of the Southern Picts, who had seen Martin, and lived some time with him, founded Monastery at Whitehern, according to Martin's rule. Columba, his contem- porary, in the sixth century, was the first author of Monastic Institutions in " Golden Legend, Ivii. 24, 32. Pl. iii. fig. 7. from Edinburgh, I. 190. C Maillot, III. p. 5, Campbell's Journey d Skinner's Eccle- siastical History of Scotland, Lett. 10. the celebrated Iona, or Hy;e one for Monks, the other for Nuns; the former conformably, says Fordun, to the Bene- dictine, the latter to the Augustinian, rule.f The Rule of this Columb, or Co- lumbkill, was similar to that of the other Columb, or Columbanus, Brendan, Con- gall, &c. according to Fabricius ; and Reyner supports Fordun, by observing that Columb's rule resembled the Be- nedictine, except in the modes of peni- tence and silence, and the addition of the practice of Bangor in Psalmody, which was that of unceasing divine ser- vice by means of successive choirs; a division of Psalmody, which was abo- lished by the Council of Aix in 817, through the variety of practices thus in- troduced in different houses.h Columba died in 597; and Adamna- nus, a succeeding Abbot in the next century, was a Benedictine.i Columba is called the founder of the Culdees [a mistake], who fixed. themselves in isles, upon places sanc- tified by the Druids. It is known that both Druids and Druidesses had oc- cupied Iona. Parish Churches, from policy, were also founded upon the site of Druidical temples.k The Church of Bennachie in Marr is built within a Druidical circle, probably to draw off the new converts from their old super- stitions.1 In Incrallen parish, in Murray, is a stone circle and groves, one of which was in the last age a burial-place for poor people, and is so still for unbap- tized children and strangers.m In the parish of Duthell, in the county of Strathspey, are two circles of stones called Chapell Piglag, from a lady of that name, who they pretend used to celebrate there (as a Druidess) before the Church was built in these parts; and within half a mile of it is a small grove of trees, held in such ve- neration that nobody will cut a branch Skinner's Ecc. Hist. I. 76, 77. Lett. 15. Usser. Antiq. 359. f Id. 361. Bibl. Med. Evi, I. 1125. h P. 151, 2. Columb's rule is printed in Hol- stein's Codex, Messingham's Florilegium, Stenge- lius, and Usher's Sylloge. Fabric. Bibl. Med. Av. I. 14. Ledwich's Ireland, 73, 115. 'Gough's Camden, 1789, III. 421. Id. 430. MONACHISM AMONG THE IRISH. 19 of it; and there the neighbouring wo- men pay their thanks to God after child-bearing. In the middle of it is a well, called the Well of the Chapel, and held sacred.a MONACHISM AMONG THE IRISH. One of Howard's prisons, if the re- ligious offices be excluded, conveys a clear idea of ancient Irish Monasteries, in habits of living and solitude. 66 In the interesting Legend of St. Brandon, which, for ingenious fiction, is nearly equal to the admirable Ara- bian Nights, we have various allusions to the ancient Irish Monks, who were of such holy celebrity, that Paul, the Egyptian Hermit, is, to the astonish- ment of the learned, made to say, "somtyme I was a Monke of Saynt Patrikes Abbey in Yrelonde, and was wardein of the place, whereas men entre into Saynt Patrikes purgatory." Saynt Brandon himself was "Abbote of an hows, wherein were a thousand Monkes;" of whom, in opposition to Anchorets, supported by others, he ob- serves, we be Monkes, and most la- bour for our mete;"d for the Irish Cœnobiarchs, all great travellers, vi- sited and studied the institutions of Rose Valley, which their societies fol- lowed; but, through Patrick, mixed with the Martinian system, both being Egyptian. The pretended Monks of Saint Patrick's Abbey, however, "never spake to each other;" and this is the peculiarity of silence alluded to in the preceding remarks of the variation of the rule of Columban from the Bene- dictine. We also hear of Mervoc, an Irish "Monke of grete fame, whyche had grete desyre to seke aboute by shippe in divers co'tres to fynde a so- litarye place, wherein he myght dwelle secretely out of the besynesse of the world, for to serve God quyetely with more devocyon. And I conseylled him to sayle in to an ylonde ferre in the A e Gough's Camden, III. 432. b Golden Legend, ccxxxii. • Id. ccxxx. d Id. ccxxxii. * Angl. Sacr. II. 632, seq. See. And thenn he made hym redy, and saylled theder with hys Monkes." These institutions of solitary silence account for the frequency of Monas- teries in the small islands upon the coast of Ireland, and the peculiar con- struction of their dwellings, now to be described. [It is to be recollected that in the second Synod, ascribed to Patrick, Monks are designated as solitary per- sons, who dwelt, without earthly pos- sessions, under the government of a Bishop or Abbot. Hence the cells in these fabricks were indispensable; for in fact, these monasteries were Colleges of Anchorets, or Lauræ.] At Inis Murray is an inclosure of walls from 5 to 10 feet thick, rough, and built of large stones without mor- tar. Within are cells covered with earth, thrown up so as to make them in a manner subterraneous (some are found in others alike horrid and A gloomy), having a small hole in the top, and another on the side, seemingly to give air, not light. They have all been vaulted with the same rude stone. cell at the entrance is lighted by the door, and appears to have been the place where the candidate remained before admission into the other close. The entrance into the inclosure is so narrow as scarcely to admit a man to pass. Within are three square chapels, dedicated to St. Melas and Columbkill, built of stone and lime in a rude man- ner, but modern compared with the rest of the building. An altar or sin- gle stone is inclosed within another square wall.h Dun Angus, in the isle of Arran, on the coast of Galway, is a circle of monstrous stones without ce- ment, of which the Monastic appellation is Mandra. Within one of these Man- dræ, or stone circles, stood, among the Orientals, the pillar which Symeon Sty- lites occupied a well-known supersti- tion; for St. Luke of Stiris, the Greek Saint, who lived in the earlier part of the Golden Legend, ccxxx. Wilkins's Concilia, I. p. 3. Gough's Camden, 1789, III. 596. i Ledwich's Ireland, p. 141. C 2 20 MONACHISM AMONG THE IRISH. 10th century, met with at Petræ one of these living statues, then not unfre- quent, ministred to him for ten years, fishing, getting wood, and dressing victuals; preventing him from starving, and enabling him to preserve his foot- ing on his pedestal.a Though the British Pilgrims to Je- rusalem visited Simeon, this ridiculous superstition never obtained in these Irish Mandræ. The appropriation of them to the early Monastic uses, is proved by Bede's description of a re- ligious house built by Cuthbert. The building was constructed around four or five porches, made between wall and wall. The wall on the outside was the height of a man, in the inside higher; so made by sinking a huge rock, which was done to prevent the thoughts from rambling, by restraining the light. The wall was neither of squared stones or brick, nor cemented with mortar; but of rough unpolished stones, with turf dug up in the middle of the place, and banked on both sides of the stone all round. Some of the stones were so large that four men could hardly lift one. Within the walls he constructed two houses and a chapel, together with a room for common uses. The roofs he made of unhewn timber, and thatched them. Within the walls was a large house to receive strangers, and near it a fountain of water.c This large house was the Xeno- dochium, mentioned in the rule of Pa- chomius, and borrowed from the Jews, who had such places near their Syna- gogues. The fountain of water was for washing the feet of the visitors upon their arrival. At the pretended Abbey of St. Patrick's Monks, "the Abbot welcomed Saynt Brandon and his fe- lawship, and kyssed them full mekely; and toke Saynt Brandon by the honde, a Chandler's Greece, 62. It was attempted at Treves, but immediately suppressed. In the East it lasted till the 12th century. Mosheim, I. 254, 255. Ledwich's Ireland, 140. phrase, II. p. 700. d Whitby's Para- and ledde hym wyth his Monkes into a fayr halle, and sette them down a rewe upon the benche; and the Abbot of the place washe all theyr feet with fayr water of the well, that they sawe before." The size of the stones may be traced to the Cyclopean Architec- ture, which prevailed before the inven- tion of the orders; and the absence of cement, and the construction of the cells, was derived from Druidism. The houses of the Druids were without lime or mortar, of as few and unwrought stones as possible, and capable of hold- ing only one person. These little houses were their sacella, sacred cells, to which the people were to have recourse for divining, or deciding controversies, or prayers.f This construction was not the only Druidical or Pagan interpolation. At Kildare, where once stood a temple re- sembling Stonehenge, was a nunnery said to have been founded by St. Bri- gid before 484; and about the same time an Abbey was also founded under the same roof for Monks, but separated by the walls from the Nunnery. In 1220 Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, quenched the fire, called unextinguishable, which had been pre- served from an early period by the Nuns. This fire was however re-lighted, and continued to burn until the total suppression of Monasteries.g In the first synod, ascribed to Pa- trick, it is enacted, that a Monk and Nun from different houses should not lodge together; ride in a chariot from town and town,h or be constantly gos- siping; that a Nun should not marry; and if she did that she should be ex- communicated, her husband dismissed, and neither of them be suffered to dwell together in the same house or town. This Synod shows the inter- e Golden Legend, ccxxxi. f Borlase's Corn- wall, 150. Sir R. C. Hoare's Tour, 161. Festus mentions two persons, sitting together in a benna or car; and hence they were denomi- nated Combennones. Du Cange in voce. i Wilkins's Concil. I. p. 3. MONACHISM AMONG THE EARLY ANGLO-SAXONS. 21 course betwixt Monks and Nuns. As to the Fire, whether it was Druidical, Vestal, or merely Heathen, is not easily decided; for such Fires were kept up in the Temples of Jupiter," and the Pagan Fires continued long after the introduction of Christianity.b At Inismore, or Church Island, in Sligo, in a rock, near the door of the Church, is a cavity called our Lady's Bed, into which pregnant women going, and turning thrice round, with the re- petition of certain prayers, fancy that they shall not die in child-bed.c [Here is an evident commixture of the Druidical Deasuil; and others might be found; but the inquiry is not connected with Monachism.] MONACHISM AMONG THE EARLY ANGLO-SAXONS. The Hypothesis, that Benedict was the last Composer of a Monastic rule,d afterwards so amplified by Reyner, and so ably supported by what he calls ir- refragable conjectures, is sufficiently confuted by the silence of Bede,f and the various rules which were composed long after the age of Benedict by various British and Hibernian Coenobiarchs. "Probably," says an eminent Anti- quary, "no particular order was observed in the Saxon monasteries; but the Ab- bot or Abbess prescribed such rules as they thought best; and were directed in their choice, by regard for those they had been used to in the houses where they had received their educa- tion, or such as were practised and most approved in other Monasteries at home or abroad."g The Anglo-Saxon Monasteries at first consisted of mere assemblages of re- Virgil, En. IV. line 200. De Valancey in Collect. Reb. Hybern. No. II. p. 165. Gough's Camden, 1789, III. 590. 4 Sanctus Benedictus Abbas ultimus compositor regulæ Monachorum. Tractatus de Prærogativ. et Dignit. Ord. Monast. MS. Cott. Claud. E. iv. p. 325. • P. 120. Biogr. Brit. v. II. p. 133, Bentham's Ely, p. 51. ed, 2, ligious people, around the habitation of some person eminent for sanctity, who led an eremitical life, and presided as Abbot. He often acted as a Preceptor of Youth to obtain subsistence. Such was Malmesbury in its origin." Elphe- gus refounded the Abbey of Bath nearly in the same manner.i The first Mo- nastery of Abingdon in the latter end of the seventh century was one of this description. The building was round in the eastern and western parts, and in the circuit of it were twelve habita- tions and as many chapels, in which were a like number of monks, who ate, drank, and slept there. They were inclosed by a high wall, nor did any one go to the gate except from manifest necessity, or the use of the House, and then with license of the Abbot. A woman never entered the place; nor did any but the twelve Monks, and the Abbot, the thirteenth,k reside there. They had a house at the gate for a Locutory, where they con- versed with acquaintance and friends; and on Sundays, and the principal feasts, they assembled at Mass, and ate together.¹ Alfred founded a Monastery with dif- ferent orders intermixed;m and Osbern, a Norman Monk, says, that before the Reformation by Dunstan in the reign. of Edgar, "there was no common rule of living, and that the name of Abbot was scarce heard of;"n but that de- votees, singly, or with companions, emigrated from their native places, and set up Schools (as before observed) until they had obtained an endow- ment." The first Anglo-Saxon Monas- teries in the æra mentioned (as Whar- ton remarks upon the passage) were merely convents of Secular Clerks, who, h Moffat's Malmesbury, 36. Elphegi. Anglia Sacra, II. 124. i Osbernus Vita "For threttene is a covent as I gues," Chau- cer, Sompnoure's Tale. See too M. Paris, 413. Dec. Script. 1807. The idea was borrowed from Christ and the Twelve Apostles; for a founder as- signs this reason in Marculfi Formulæ, L. ii. c. I. p. 12. Tit. de magna re, &c. m Asser Menevens. 1 Dugd. Monast. I. p. 98. "Angl. Sacr. II. 91, 92. p. 29. 22 MONACHISM AMONG THE EARLY ANGLO-SAXONS. though they were bound by certain rules, and daily performed the sacred offices, yet enjoyed all the privileges of other Clerks, and were even married. Exceptions, though not numerous, may be found to this affirmation; but it is sufficient to observe, that the Monastic orders, over every quarter of the globe, before the ninth century, when the Benedictine absorbed all the other orders, followed various rules and me- thods of living, altered them at plea- sure, and were not only negligent in observing them, but were licentious and profligate to a proverb,a though learn- ing and study received encouragement.b These premises are necessary to explain the following passages of Bede and the early Synods. The former observes that it was the fashion in his days for noblemen and others to purchase crown lands upon pretence of founding a monastery; upon which they made themselves Abbots, collected a Con- vent out of expelled Monks, and their own servants, and led a life perfectly secular, "bringing wives into the Mo- nastery," and being husbands and Ab- bots at the same time. The King's servants also adopted the fashion, and the same persons became Abbots and Ministers of State. The following enactments of the earlier Synods are therefore not singu- lar. Bishops and Abbots are di- rected to exhort Abbots and Monks, to set a good example, and treat their families, not as slaves, but children ;c to provide necessaries for them; be vigilant against theft, and inculcate reading both in Monks and Nuns. The latter were not to be contentious, or wear pompous dresses.d Edgar exclaims against the Nuns for wearing ermine upon the bosom; ear- rings, rings, and dresses of linen and purple.e Monasteries were not to be recep- a Mosheim, Cent. V. p. 2. Ch. ii. § 9. p. 245. Cent. VI. p. 2. Ch. ii. § 6. Cent. VII. p. 2. Ch. i. § 1. Cent. VIII. p. 2. Ch. ii. § 13. b Ibid. < Hutchinson's Durham, I. p. 25. a Wilkins's Concilia, I. 95, seq. • Eadmer, Spici- leg. 163. tacles of ludicrous arts, of poets, harp- ers, fiddlers, and buffoons, whence en- sued a vicious familiarity with laymen, especially in less orderly Nunneries.f There were itinerant Musicians, as now, among the Anglo-Saxons for vo- luntary pay. The abuse mentioned in the Synod existed till the dissolution of Abbeys.h Nunneries were also not to be houses of gossiping and drunkenness, and beds of luxury; but of sober and pious livers; of people given to reading and psalm-singing, not employed in work- ing fine cloaths.i Small Houses or Oratories were com- mon in these æras for reading and praying; and the Nuns of Coldingham used them for feasting, drinking, and gossiping. These Nuns also employed themselves in working fine cloaths, dressing themselves like Brides, and acquiring the favour of strange men.k They were not all of this description, for we hear of Anglo-Saxon Nuns writing the Psalter with their own hands.' Monks were not to get drunk: or desire worldly honours.m Drinking after dinner was common with the Anglo-Saxons." Abbots and Abbesses were to be chosen of approved life: not irreputa- ble for fornication, homicide or theft, but leading regular lives, prudent and acute in speech." Several of the Anglo-Saxon Kings and Nobles were notorious for the constupration of Nuns.P But over all Europe in this age Monks kept con- cubines, or were married; and Kings conferred Abbeys even upon Soldiers, who became Bishops and Abbots.9 Concubinage was antiently a kind of legal contract, inferior to that of mar- riage, in use, where there was a consi- derable disparity between the parties; Script. p. f Wilkins's Concilia, ubi supra. Bed. 26, b. Warton's Hist. Poetry, II. 205. III. 324, &c. i Wilkins, ut supra. * Sim. Dunelm. L. i. ch. xiv. L. ii. ch. vii. 1 Dec. Script. 1907. Wilkins, p. 97. 134. XV. Script. 542. ITA • Wilkins, 147, 170. P Malmsb. de Gest. Reg. L. i. ch, iv. 9 Mosheim, Cent. X. p. 2. ch. ii. § 10. EGYPTIAN RULE OF PACHOMIUS. 23 the Roman law not suffering a man to marry a woman greatly beneath him; but he was not to have a wife. In the third century the Clergy took con- cubines instead of wives, the people thinking that married persons were most subject to the influence of malig- nant dæmons, and therefore most unfit to instruct others.b The Danes discouraged conversion, and especially persecuted the Monks, lest the number of their effective troops should be thus diminished, and the converts refuse to fight against their ministers. By this means, in the time of Alfred, none but boys were willing to become Monks, and Monachism was extinct.d Indeed it is said that in the tenth century there were no Monks in England, except at Glastonbury and Abingdon. But I presume that this remark does not apply to Canons of both sexes, who occupied the Monas- teries, and whose sæcular habits occa- sioned their overthrow. The immense Abbey of Bangor, with its three thousand Monks, continued long after the Conquest. Bede informs us, that the Britons would not impart what knowledge they had of the Chris- tian faith to the Angles; and hence, among other reasons, we hear of no such enormous establishment out of Wales and Ireland. It is to be recollected, that Cloisters were not in use till the ninth century, and therefore that cells were not till then superseded by this substitute.g Thus Grose (Antiq. II. 17.), who by the way has borrowed this from Du Cange, v. Viceconjux, a termed used in Inscriptions, and alluded to by Julian. Mosheim, I. 137. Angl. Sacr. II. 132. Spelmanni Vita Alfredi (by Hearne), p. 131, note. * Angl. Sacr. I. 165. Eadmer. Spicileg. 209. See Cloister. Note. Many interesting par- ticulars of Monachism in this æra will be found hereafter, under Anchorets and Hermits. APPENDIX. THE EGYPTIAN RULE OF PACHOMIUSh FOLLOWED BY THE BRITONS. In THE punishment of speaking or laugh- ing during Psalmody, praying or speak- ing in the midst of the lesson, was loosing the girdle, inclination of the head, depression of the hands to the lower parts, a standing position before the altar, and a reprimand from the Chief of the Monastery. The same was to be done in the Convent when assembled for refection. The punish- ment of tardiness when the Trumpet i sounded to convoke the congregation in the day was similar. No one was to leave the congregation without permis- sion. The Monks were to remember orders. On Sundays no divine service was permitted without leave of the Father and Seniors of the House. the morning, after prayers, the Monks were to study the weekly disputations made by the Prelates in their cells. If any one was asleep during these dispu- tations, he was to rise; if asleep in a sitting position, he was to be compelled to rise, and so continue till the Su- perior ordered him to sit. The Monks were to assemble at the signal, but not to light the fire before the disputation. At the dismissal of the Congregation they were to meditate in their cells bareheaded, but to dine covered. When ordered to pass from one table to another, they were to go, and not to hold out their hands before the Su- periors, nor gaze at others eating. Laughter or speaking during refec- tion, and tardiness in coming to it, were forbidden, and silence enjoined. The officers were to have only the com- mon food of the brethren. The Monks Pr. Stellartius de regulis et fund. Monachorum, p. 115, seq. The Jews used Trumpets instead of Bells. Antiq. Vulgar. 15, ed. Brand. The Royal Min- strels among us blew their trumpets to supper. Hawkins's Music, II. 291. The subject might be traced much further. 24 EGYPTIAN RULE OF PACHOMIUS, were not to strike. He who 138 dulciamina vreetments to the retiring Monks, before the doors of the refec- tory, was, in giving them, to meditate something from Scripture Presents were to be divided. The sick were not to enter the cellar, kitchen, or take any thing from thence, or dress them- selves what they wanted, but to have all necessaries from the Governors of the House. The Infirmary was only to be entered by the sick; and the lat- ter were not to Lave access to the Re- fectory, and eat what they liked, unless brought there by the officer. Nothing was to be carried from thence to the cells. Cooks of the gruel or broth (pulmentaria, were to send it to the eaters without tasting. Wine and Li- quamen were not to be eaten out of the Infirmary. Those on a journey, or the sick, who desired such liquamen, were to have it furnished separately by the servants. No one was to visit the sick without leave. Then follows the passage concerning Novitiates given in § British Monks, p. 14. No one was to give eatables to any one, but to send him to the gate of the Xenodo- chium, explained in § Irish Monks, p. 20. When any person came to the gate of the house, if Clerks or Monks, they were to be received with greater honour, and after their feet were washed be ushered into the Xenodochium. If this happened at the time of divine service, the officer of the Xenodochium was to inform the father, and thus they were to be brought to pray. [See this rule practised in the Life of David, Angl. Sacr. ii. 638, and all the subsequent Monastic rules.] Infirm brethren and women were to be respectively received in different places. The porter was to announce the request of visitors to see any Monk, and such Monk was to see him with a companion. If any present This, I apprehend, is the "right thinking" of Rice-march, in Angl. Sacr. II. 645. Stellartins, in the margin, renders it liquor piscibus; but as it is used (I think in Falle's Jersey) for cider or perry, so Du Cange quotes the very passage, and renders it polus ex liquore, which corroborates Falic's definition. was brought, the Porter was to receive it. If any thing proper to be eaten with bread, it was to be taken to the Infirmary. When the sickness of a relative was announced, a companion was sent with the Monk, who was then to eat only in consecrated places, and no cther than the usual food of the house. If any edible was given him, he was to use only a sufficiency for the journey, and give the rest to the In- firmary. The Monks were not to at- tend the funerals of relatives without leave of the Pater. They were not to go out alone upon business, or, when returning, tell what they did or heard. When at work, they were to meditate the Scripture, and say nothing. They were not to sit without leave. They had no power to send any one to any place. They were to wash their cloaths with a companion. They were not to take herbs from the garden without leave of the gardener; not to carry away the palm leaves, of which the baskets were made, without leave; not to eat unripe grapes, or ears of corn, or any thing, before it was fur- nished in common to the brethren. The Cooks were not to eat before the others, nor the Orcharders or Vine- yarders, but to have their portions with the others. The wind-falls of the ap- ples were to be put in a heap, at the roots of the trees. Bread and salt were only for those who affected greater ab- stinence. Nothing was to be cooked out of the common kitchen. They were to have nothing unallowed in the cell, "a little money," nor property. When removed from one house to another, they were to take only what was necessary for daily use in their e Taverns were brothels (Suet. Ner.). A similar prohibition occurs in Apost. Can. 46. Laod. 24, &c. In the middle ages travellers rarely used inns, but sought hospitality from private persons, whe- ther acquainted with them or not. X Script. 910, 1058. M. Paris, 966, 981. Script. p. Bed. 439, a, &c. &c. This was done by the lay-brothers among the Gilbertines, when there were no fullers; but wash- ing then consisted in treading the cloths in a tub (Dugd. Monast. II. 739), as recently in Scotland, See the print in Birt's Letters. FOLLOWED BY THE BRITONS. 25 dress. No one was to walk in or out of the house without leave; nor to carry tales; nor to tell what he saw done, or had heard. They were not to sleep but upon a sloping seat [reclivam sellulama]; nor to speak to any one when they laid themselves down. If they waked, they were to pray. They were not to drink, though thirsty, if a fast day was at hand. No one was to wash or anoint another without leave. They were not to speak to another in the dark, and to sleep alone. In walk- ing, sitting, or standing, a cubit's dis- tance was to be observed between each. They were not to shave their heads without leave, to make exchanges, or add any thing new to their dress. On going to refection, they were not to leave the book unchained. The pro- per officer was to attend to the books after Nones. They who were weak, but not confined to their beds, were to receive what they wanted from the officer. They were not to go to the town unless sent, nor to ride double upon the bare back of an ass, nor up- on the pole of a waggon. The Priors were to go alone to the shops of the different tradesmen. They were not to go to another's cell, to receive presents, or hoard any thing in the cell without leave. The Prior was to delegate his office to another when going out. When making bread, they were not to speak, but to meditate the Psalms. The Bakers only were to This was the Scimpodium, a kind of chair and bed united, the feet resting upon a stool. In the Acta S. Triphillii, Tom. 2. Jan. p. 681, we are told that when he mentioned that text, "Take up your bed and walk," he used to say "take up your scim- podium," &c. Bosius exhibits beds of this kind in his Roma Subterranea, p. 83, 91, 101. Du Cange, v. Scimpodium, ubi plura. This was unknown to the Romans, "Do you think that two can ride upon one horse?" (Mart. L. v. Epigr. 39. Uno credis, &c.) But it was very common in the Middle Ages, especially after battles, to save the wounded. Dec. Script. 2518. Two Templars had often only one horse between them. See Watts's Matt. Paris, § Adversaria, &c. Stowe, &c. In whatever occupation a monk or any reli- gious person, clergyman, or layman was engaged, he was always to have a Psalm in his mouth or thoughts. See among innumerable authorities, Angl. Sacr. II. 261, 695. The Psalter was thought virtually to stay in the baking-place when the flour was to be mixed. If on a voyage the other brethren resting upon the benches and decks, in the inner part of the ship, no one was to sleep, or suffer secular persons to sleep with him.d Women were not to sail with them without leave of the Pater. No one was to make a fire in his house but for the common use. Laughter, whispering, talking, or tardiness in prayer, was to be punished. They were not to talk of secular concerns when at home in the house, but to meditate on such scriptural matters as the Prior might have taught from the Scriptures. There was to be a punishment for breaking any earthen vessel, or useful necessary. If a Monk went to sleep, the whole fra- ternity were to attack (prosequor) him. No one was to go out, speak, or stay without leave. They were to attend divine service at the signal given; not to begin the Psalms till ordered, nor to join another without leave when they were finished. They were not to go out of their rank, nor walk before the Prior. The loss of any thing was to be punished. On finding any thing they were to hang it up three days be- fore the congregation, that those who knew it might take it. No one was to wash his house but by direction of the Prior. Lost rank was not to be re- stored without the order of a Senior. If any one ignorant of his letters en- tered the house, he was to be forced to contain the substance both of the Old and New Testament, and to exceed the Scriptures in expel- ling Dæmons, &c. (Lyndw. 184. Oxf. ed.) The Psalms were not only learned by children, &c. (Malmesb. 148. a. X Script. 136. M. Par. 98); but we find instances likewise of saying over the whole Psalter before eating on Sundays and Festi- vals (X Scr. 2432), and Psalm-singing the common employ of the devout when alone (M. Par. 401, 818); sometime the whole Psalter sung over every night (Id. 519.) I omit many curious passages in See the histories of Musick; and familiar books. § Baker. The sailors used to sleep upon the benches. There was a place at the poop where the Trierarchs slept, on their stragulæ or blankets. Those of the steersman (Gubernator) were merely mats (Casaub. in Theophrast. 338.) The hammock does not occur in Lye, Cotgrave, or Sherwood; though the car- riage-hammock engraved in Strutt's Horda, I. pl, ix. p. 45, is Anglo-Saxon. 26 EGYPTIAN RULE OF PACHOMIUS, learn them. They were not to pretend occupation in Psalmody and Prayer, as if they could not go; or if engaged in any journey or office, to omit such Psalms or prayers. No one was to see the Nuns, unless he had a mother or other relative there. If a paternal estate had belonged to them before their conversion, visitors could see them with a man of approved age. When the Nuns had renounced it, they could be seen with the seniors of the house. There was to be no conversation con- cerning secular affairs. Punishments were to be made of negligence of orders, detraction, anger, false testi- mony, perverting the minds of the simple; murmuring, murmuring, disobedience, disobedience, laughing, playing, and intimacy with the boys; contempt of the commands of the officers and rule; exciting quar- rels; neglect of inquiring the cause of vexation in an Officer or Monk; which Officer or Monk so injured was to be satisfied by castigation of the offend- ing party. They who left the order, returned upon promise of penance, and then pretended to be sick, were to be put among the sick, and fed with them, till they performed their pro- mises. Boys given to play and idle- ness, if incorrigible, were to be corrected for thirty days successively, until fear A Wulstan, Bishop of Worcester, as soon as he had mounted his horse, began the Psalter, and added Litanies, &c. according to the distance. This was done that they might unlearn the vain fables, which chiefly obtruded themselves upon travel- lers (Angl. Sacr. II. 260), for pilgrims used to amuse themselves by telling tales on their journeys (Wart. Poetr. I. 397); and in 1279, when Roger de Mortimer had jousts at Kenilworth, he set out from London with one hundred knights well armed, and as many ladies going before singing joyful songs, a practice mentioned by Virgil, Ecl. ix. 64, 65. (Smythe's Lives of the Berkeleys, MS. 160.) Thus the intention was to avoid secular singing. Sometimes a due portion of the Hours was deemed sufficient. (Angl. Sacr. II. 306). We hear of a bishop and his chaplain singing psalms in turn, when on horseback. (Id. 311). A book of prayers was commonly used by travellers, which began with the song of Zachary (Du Cange, v. Ili- nerarium.) In some religious orders those who could not read the psalms were notwithstanding to carry tables of them in travelling, and meditate upon them (Id. v. Superpositi.) This was called a Tabula Peregrinantium. (Id. in voce.) was excited. Unjust judges were to be justly condemned by others. Con- senting to and abetting the vicious was punishable with the severest reprimand, but pardon was to be extended to igno- rance. Humility, moderate labour, peace, concord, and mutual deference, were prescribed. The Patres were to correct delinquents, and to compel ob- servation of the punishment in every point, either in the society of the house, or in the greater congregation, that is, to subject them to the sentence of all the Patres. The next in rank was to take the office of the Prior when absent. There was to be reproof for borrowing a book from another house without the knowledge of two. The Monks were to live blameless, and to do all necessary business, even without the order of the Prior. They were to make the six even- ing prayers, according to the example of the greater congregation. There was to be no ennui or weariness. If any one went out and was hot, he was not to be compelled to go to church, if the brethren were already gone there. When the Priors taught the brethren "of the con- version of holy life," no one, unless extremely sick, was to be absent. Whatever brother was sent out, he was to have the rank of an officer, and command accordingly. If any dispute arose, the Seniors were to settle it, and reprimand the offender. If it was be- tween an Officer and Monk,the brethren of approved conversation and fidelity were to settle it between them. If the "Father" of the house was a party, and absent, his return, if his stay was not too long, was to be waited for. Superfluous garments were to be brought to the keeper of them, and be under the care of the Prior. If a Monk came too late to receive his portion of work for the next day, he was to have it in the morning; and if he wanted work, the Senior was to appoint him what to do. No work was to be de- stroyed through negligence or other- wise. Punishment was to be levied for a garment spread to the sun on the third day; for contradiction, conten- FOLLOWED BY THE BRITONS. 27 tion, lying, hatred, disobedience, de- traction, and other crimes; for losing or "suffering to perish" skins, boots, and girdles. There was to be a penance for theft, part of which was beating by thirty-nine Monks; expulsion; bread and water; wearing a hair shirt and ashes during prayer-hours. Fugitives were to be punished in like manner. The Prior was to be reprimanded if be- fore three days he did not inform the Pater of any thing lost. If he was a simple Monk, and did not mention it before three hours, he was to be guilty of the loss unless he found it. There was to be a three days' penance for causing a brother to elope. If it was not notified to the father of the house "the same hour he eloped," he was to be guilty of the crime. The Prior was to be reprimanded if he saw the fugi- tive in his house and did not notify it. There were to be six prayers every even- ing in every house, and the psalmody to be completed according to the order of the greater congregation. Disposi- tions were arranged by the Prior every week. No one was to have any thing in his house but what the Prior ordered, who was himself to be informed against if negligent. The Prior was not to get drunk, nor sit in the meaner places "near the utensils of the house," or "csleep in lofty chambers."d The Institutes of Pachomius, accord- ing to Palladius,e were these. Work and food were to be apportioned to the respective powers of the Monks. There We I purposely decline entering copiously into this ample subject, as travelling out of the record. hear of an Abbot who wore a brazen girdle, as be- fore an iron one, in order that if his belly projected, it might not be a pleasure but a torment (Angl. Sacr. II. 45.) The leathern strap was chiefly worn by Monks. Du Cange, v. Mastigia. It is well known that these enormous Societies were divided into portions of two or three hundred monks, of whom one portion was always officiating in the church, while the others were employed elsewhere. • Non inveniatur in excelsis cubilibus. Marg. Note. d Stellartius de Regulis, &c. p. 115–133. • Id. p. 134, seq. were to be different cells in the same "house," and three in a cell. They were to take their refection in one place, and to sleep in a kind of sitting position upon sloping seats. At night they were to wear lebitones (linen tu- nicks), and to eat and sleep in a Me- lotes, or white wrought skin. They were to go to the Communion on Sab- bathsf and Sundays in a hood only. There were to be soft hoods as for boys, with a purple cross. There were to be twenty-four orders of Monks, from the twenty-four letters, each order being denoted by A. B. T. and so on; the more simple having the distinction of an I. the more difficult by E. and in like manner to every order. Visitors from a house of a different rule were neither to eat, drink, or have entrance to them. No one was to be admitted who could not undergo a trial of three years. They were to eat with their hoods on, that one might not see the other. They were not to speak in re- fection, nor turn their eyes beyond the quadrah and table. There were to be twelve prayers in the day; twelve in the nightly vigils; twelve in the morn- ing; at the ninth hour three. Before eating every order was to anticipate every prayer by a psalm.i f Saturday in the ancient canons (Laod. 29, 49, 51, &c.) The Communion was celebrated on that day; Saturday as well as Sunday being anciently a stated feast. (Johns. East. Can. 118.) But the elements were consecrated on the Sunday pre- ceding. g Here seems an allusion to the hearers in the Primitive Church, or to penitents after transgres- sion without necessity. See Nicene Can. 11, and Johns. Note, p. 52. h A Trencher in the usual acceptation, but this is not certain. At Herculaneum (says Winckelman) were found two entire loaves of the same size, a palm and half diam. five inches thick. They were marked by a cross, within which were four other lines; and so the bread of the Greeks was marked from the earliest periods. Sometimes it had only four lines, and then it was called Quadra. The bread had rarely any other mark than a cross (which the first Christians constantly used), which was on purpose to divide and break it more easily. Encycl. des Antiquit. v. Pains. The "Heus! mensas consu- mimus" of Virgil will occur to mind. See Hot- cross buns, Chap. V. iStellartius, ut supra, p. 134, seq. 28 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM EDGAR CHAPTER IV. BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE REIGN OF EDGAR TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. THE Anglo-Saxon Kings were remark- ably prone to Religion-even pros- trated themselves before preachers ;a and virtue among the Anglo-Saxons consisted in abstinence from pleasure.b It was objected to the Secular Ca- nons, that they deputed indigent Vicars to officiate for them, and neglected the services for the dead, who were thus supposed to suffer in purgatory; and that the benefactions of pious donors were not expended upon the service of the Church, nor support of the poor.c Desire of the popularity essential to sovereigns naturally induced Edgar, a great hypocrite, addicted to low plea- sures, to favour the general wish for an exhibition of religion by the more aus- tere Monastic system, suited to the ideas of the age. Accordingly this Prince, and a noble Anglo-Saxon named Alfretli, gave a manor to Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester, on condition, that he should translate the Rule of Benedict from Latin into Anglo-Saxon, which he accordingly did ; and such a version now exists, as well as a short tract of that Prelate's, "of the Rule of the Monks."e From its contents it might be inferred that the Monastick offices consisted almost wholly of singing psalms and the rubrics of the times and services. Among these were "twegen sealmes for tham cynge and C Script. p. Eddius, XV Scr. 46, 55. Bed. 139, b. Angl. Sacr. I. 289, 290. Hist. Eliensis, L. i. c. xlix. MSS. C. C. C. Cant. Cott. Tiber. A. iii. Titus A. iv. &c. Bodl. Archiv. Seld. D. 52. In this MS. is the Anglo-Saxon Rule of Fulgentius : whether the African Bishop who died A.D. 533, or the Spanish prelate who lived in the next century, does not appear from the enumeration of their works in Fabricius (Bibl. Med. Evi. II. 655, 672). As the Rule of Benedict was followed literally only by the Cistercians, that of Fulgentius conveys, in my opinion, a better idea of Benedictine Mona- chism than the institutes of the founder; it is there- fore annexed to the conclusion of this chapter. thære cwene." Two Psalms for the King and Queen. Oswald, Archbishop of York, in the same æra, "enlarged the Rule by his own authority." All these, however, as Junius observes,g were consolidated in the "Concord of Rules by Dunstan," which regulated the practice of the Monks till the year 1077.h For the due understanding of the following customs, it is necessary to premise an account of the canonical hours or services of the Romish Church, a division originating among the an- cient Monks. Because the Jews se- parated the day into four quarters or greater hours, each containing three lesser or common hours, so each canon- ical hour was presumed to consist of three smaller; and the whole night and day was thus divided into the eight servicesk of Mattins, Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, Nones, Vespers, and Completorium or Complin. DUNSTAN'S CONCORD OF RULES.1 For the sake of perspicuity, I shall divide the day according to the inter- vals of the canonical hours. From Unchrang (Mattins and Lauds) midnight, till Primrang (Prime, 6 A.M.) At every season in the nocturnal hours, when the Monk rises to divine service,m let him first sign himself with Malmesb. Gest. Reg. L. 2, c. 8. Bodl. Archiv. Seld. D. 52. MS. b Reyner, 208. * God- i Bingham's Antiq. b. 13. c. ix. sect. 8. win's Moses and Aaron, 103. 1 From Reyner, p. 208; where it is printed at large. Selden (Spicileg. ad Eadmer.) has published the Proemium. The Monks went to bed at 8 P.M. and rose the next day about 2 A.M. Lauds commencing at 3 A.M. or nearly so. "The order of nightly hours" (says John de Turrecremata) "begins from Lauds, TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 29 the cross, and invoke the Holy Trinity. Then, after certain prayers, let him pro- vide for the bodily necessity of nature, and so hasten to the Church, repeat- ing a Psalm with such care and reve- rence as not to disturb others praying; and then on his knees, in the usual and suitable place, repeat three prayers. Let one bell be rung until the Novices enter the Church, who from reverence to the Trinity shall use the triple prayer. This being finished by the boys, let the second bell be rung, all sitting in their seats in order, and singing fifteen psalms, "singly in a triple division; so that the seven supe- rior or former, kneeling after five psalms, at a sign from the Prior, and after the remaining bells were rung and psalms finished, may begin Nocturns, and, these concluded, certain psalms.' After these psalms let there be a very short interval, as the rule requires, and in summer is convenient; during which the Chantor and Choir, and those who need it, may retire for bodily ne- cessities, and the rest continue in the Church praying. Then let Lauds fol- low; Lauds for the dead, and other services. 23 Duties from Primrang. (Prime, 6 A. M.) to Un-On common deprang (Tierce, about 9 A. M.) days. which are called Mattins, because they are celebrated at daybreak" (Comm. in Reg. Bened. p. 180. Tr. 69, in C. xii.); and Hugo a S. Victore fixes the time by observing, that "morning Lauds claim the last part of the night; viz. the fourth watch, which is ex- tended to day-break.' (Erud. Theol. de Offic. Eccles. Lib. 2, c. x. p. 1393.) The watches from the Jews began first at 6 P.M.; the second at 9 P.M.; the third at 12 P.M.; the fourth at 3 A.M. (Godwin ubi supra.) In Ethelwold's Tract, "De consuetudine Mo- nachorum," all the prayers and psalms are specified. It is in Anglo-Saxon. (MS. Bodl. Arch. Seld. D. 52.) The nightly hours are Mattins, Prime, and Com- plin; the daily, Tierce, Sext, Nones, and Vespers (Provinc. Angl. 227, ed. Oxf.) Thus Lyndwood; but others make their Nocturns to be Mattins. (Godw. ubi supr.) "In the time of Mattins in which there is an interval before Lauds." (Dugd. Monast. I. 952.) Carthusian Rule. The Saxon appellations of the Hours are taken from Lambard's Archaionomia, p. 131. If the office of Lauds be finished by day-break as is fit, let them begin Prime without ringing; if not, let them wait for day-light, and, ringing the bell, assemble for Prime. This service and its appendages finished, let the Monks attend to reading till the second hour (7 A. M.); and then at the bell-ringing (and not before, the officiating ministers excepted) return and put on their day- cloaths. Let no one without leave omit this duty. Afterwards let the whole convent, silently psalmodizing, wash their faces and proceed to the Church. Let the Sacrist ring the bell, and the triple prayer being finished by the seniors first, and children after- wards, let every one take his place, the bell ring, and Tierce commence, to be followed by the morning Mass. From Unbeprang (Tierce, On com- about 9 A. M.) to Midding- rang (Sext, about 12.) mon days. After Tierce and Morning Mass, the Prior making the sign, and going first, let them proceed to the Chapter, salute the Cross with their faces to the East, and bow to the surrounding brethren. Then all being seated, let the martyr- ology or obituary be read, and be fol- lowed by [a certain divine service.] Then let the Rule be read to them sitting; or, if it be a Saint's day, the Gospel of the day, upon which the Prior shall make a discourse. After this, let any one who acknowledges himself guilty of a fault, humbly asking pardon, request indulgence. Let every Monk, when chidden, before he speak a word, solicit pardon; and, when in- terrogated why he made this solicita- tion, confess his fault, and afterwards, upon command, arise. Let him, who upon reprimand does not immediately request pardon, be subject to severe punishment. After this let them sing five psalms for deceased brethren. The Concordia Regularum here com- mences the exception on Festivals, &c. hereafter given; and so intermixes the duties, that it cannot be followed regu- d See Pachomius's Rule, note, p. 25. 30 VIKKEISH FROM EDGAR BENE larly in the famiikka of the Aess of the T. TAKSE, JOTErer, vis is 5llows: Few Zubering about 12 % Nocmara Nivet. about 2 or 3, a 2 Afer Charter, the Monks Tent ork or read yet Then, aber the semine, from Easter Hood far. they dined. Then Sloved the men- dan or sleep at noon. anless any one preferred reading. Then Nines. From Nocracy Nies. about 2or? P.M. 1223. Eren- Vesters, Fr Vepers. Luceraz "vun, about 4 deka Common days. From Holmoed day to Lent, Wed- nesdays and Fridays in the simmer, and all the fasts of the order, the Minks did not dine till Nones. Then reading or work till Vespers, if there was time. From Epeorary Tespers 46'clock to Niterorg, Cow-Commen plin, Second Veapers, 7 days. o'clock.s After Vespers followed reading, till Collation; then Compiin: confession of sins, evening prayers, and retirement to rest at eight. Exceptions on particular Days and Seasons. The duties 'proceeds the Concord of Rules, which were to be performed after Tierce on Common Days, were to be done before on Sundays; yet so, that there might be time for confession to the Abbot, or in his absence, his • Bishop Fox says (Rule of St. Bennet, bl. letter, 1516, fol.) “ at Sext, about an hour before noon,' and “Nones about 2." Vespers have been placed at six o'clock; but it was after dinner, among the Monks, about four. A visitation injunction says, “Item quod cuncti cant ad vesperas ad horam quartam et non ante, bam sorbate quam hyeme." Item, that all go to Ve-pers at four o'clock, and not before, both in winter and summer. MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519, Thus Fuller, (Church Hist. B. 6, p. 278;) but Davies (Rites and Monuments of the Church of Durham) earlier. If the Monks were too numerous to mess in that day, they were so do so on the following, without akcepting er the Novices. They vere 11 menfess is at ther times, vien prompted by temptation of body 3 cc Feast Days, on account of the observabon of silence and study,d Prze vis to be so extended, that the chapter being finished (and a succession of allons seres the Monks might after the Peace. reserve the Sacra- ment. When the Mass was finished, the cheating Ministers were to take some what by way of refreshment, while the rest stand in the Church; and, at the bell ringing. Sext commenced; and atervands the Monks went to Linner. On a festiva dar a solemn silence was to be observed during the whole day in the Cloister. After the Chapter, let certain psalms be said for the de- ceased; and if the Monks have no work, a simple Benedicite from the 4 No work 1pen holidays of course. The the Peace the peace of the Lord be ever with you was instituted by Innocent (Walafr. Strabo, de reb. Eccies. Ca. xii. p. 683.) A kiss prohibited between men and women immediately followed the above words, and preceded the com- manien Arılımas. L. 3. Ch. riri. xxxiv. p. 433.) The reason was to shew that we were members of his body, who died, was crucified, and rose again for us Rab. Maurus de Instit. Cleric. L. 1. Ch. i. Additio de Missà, p. 5×6.) In the thir- teenth century the Queen of France when at church happened to embrace a courtezan, whom, by her dress, she mistook for a lady, (Maillot, Cos- tumes, III. 107, and through consequences of this kind. the pax-berd, what Bishop Jewell calls "a little table of silver, or somewhat else," with the picture of the Virgin Mary, was substituted in sub- sequent æras. See § Abbot. A little bread and wine by way of breakfast; but it was given here, lest there should be any re- mains of the Sacrament which could be spit out Du Cange in voce.) It is also a small portion of broth, or similar thing, but not here; for Davies mentions an Almery, "wherein singing bread and wine were usually placed, at which the Sacristan caused his servant or scholar daily to give attend- ance from six of the clock in the morning, till the High Mass was ended; out of which to deliver singing bread and wine to those who did assist and help the Monks to celebrate and say Mass." A Council of Mexico, in 1585, orders Priests not to smoke tobacco before celebration of Mass. Du Cange, v. Picietum. The idle and infirm had work given them. Reg. Bened. TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 31 Prior, and the reply of Dominus ;ª but if they have, certain short prayers. Let the work be done, till the bell ring for "robing themselves for Sext." When Sext was ended, the Mass com- menced, and was followed by the first bell of Nones, and a short prefatory prayer, as usual before every canonical hour. After this prayer, the officiating Monks of the week took their mixtus, while the others continued in psalmody, till another sound of the bell proclaimed the commencement of Nones, and the prayers appended. Dinner immediately followed; and, after this, reading or psalmody; and if any thing remained to be done, the table was struck, and it was directly set about. Vespers were expedited; and after prayer in the Choir, while the bells were ringing, the Juniors were em- ployed in spiritual reading, and the Seniors in divine prayer, sitting. After Vespers, they retired to put off their diurnal shoes [Davies calls them day- socks], and take their nocturnal ones.c If it was a Saturday, they washed their feet, after that their shoes,dand emptied. ■ Houses just after the Conquest, through many of the noble Anglo-Saxons flying to the woods and turning thieves, were obliged to be strongly fortified and secured. Prayers, as in a storm at sea, were said by the master of the house; and in shutting the doors and windows, Benedicite, and the answer Dominus, reverently resounded. This custom con- tinued till the reign of Henry III.; perhaps later. M. Paris, 999. See the explanation postea, Chap. XXIX. § Novices. The Tabula was a wooden hammer, called also Ferula, struck when a Monk was dying, that the rest in the Infirmary might pray for him, and the others hasten to it.-When the breve or obit of a stranger deceased Monk was announced-to assem- ble the Chapter-to proclaim the arrival of a strange brother (among the Franciscans)-at the Maundy -for work-for licence of conversing; and also during the days in Passion-week, when bell-ringing was suspended. Du Cange, v. Ferula, Tabula; who (v. Matratum) makes it a kind of rattle like a watchman's, or a clapper. < Mr. Strutt thinks that these were a thick kind of shoes, made large enough to receive the foot with the common shoe upon it, which was certainly done, though not in this express instance perhaps. Dresses, I. p. 48. d Many people observed Saturday for a fast in ho- nour of the Holy Virgin. It was also usual to make every thing clean on that day (Boccac. Decamer. D. II. Nov. 10.); but Friday was also among us a general cleaning day (Harrington's Nug. Antiq. II. 270.) In Bernardus (de ord. Cluniac.) it is said, " on every Wednesday, if it be a private day, and the vessels, at the ringing of a bell by the Prior. After the washing was finished, the hammer was struck, and the Monks went to the Maundy. After the Maundy was finished, the Collation commenced. At another sound of the bell, they entered the refectory to re- ceive their charities (cups of wine), while the Collation was reading modi- fied in length by the time and inclina- tion of the Prior; and when that was over, the Prior said a certain prayer.h On other days they went to the refec- tory after changing their shoes. The bell was then rung for Comple- tory; after which, at a sign from the Prior, they mutually confessed. The on every Saturday, the boys, after Vespers, wash their shoes; they wash also their patini by custom, before the birth-days of Peter and Paul; but they do not suspend them to dry upon a cord, as the other brothers do, but only lay them on the grass- plat of the cloister." Du Cange, v. Patini (lighter shoes). e "The Church," says Rupert Tuitiensis, "imi- tates that woman who anointed the feet of Christ; i. e. refreshing them with alms, who although they are his lowest members, and, as it were, his feet, so they are esteemed the extreme parts of his great body." (De Divin. Offic. p. 951.) In some monas- teries a Maundy occurred on every Saturday, and the feet of as many poor people were washed, as there were monks. Some Abbeys, after washing the feet, gave linen to the poor. Warm water was used. (Du Cange, v. Aceolum. Mandatum.) At this æra there was a Maundy for washing the feet of three of the poor belonging to the house, and distributing refection to them every day (besides that of Maun- dy Thursday); and this is the Maundy alluded to. Augustine is first quoted for the custom, ac- cording to Du Cange. "As soon as they shall have risen from supper, let all sit in one place, and one read Collations, or lives of the fathers, or anything else edifying." (Reg. Bened. C. xlii.) Late suppers took their name from hence. (Du Cange in litt. C. p. 749, ed. Bened.) Given on Festivals, Anniversaries, &c. to re- mind the Monks of benefits received; and first mentioned in Eddius's Life of Wilfrid, about the year 700. Du Cange, v. Caritates. Let the Abbot say after the drinking, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." After this drinking, let the hour of rest take place. Abbas dicet post po- tum, sit nomen domini benedictum; post hanc po- tationem teneatur hora quietis. Missale de Oseney, MS. Arch. A. Bodl. 73, § De potu Caritatis. So called because it completed the duties of the day; and the service ending with that versicle of the Psalms: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips," silence was strictly observed till the next day. Fuller's Church History, Book 6, p. 289. "Wulstan at- This was usual in all orders. tended the collation of the monks, that, having 32 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM EDGAR Complin was concluded by certain prayers; at the end of which the Hebdo- madary (the officiating minister of the week) sprinkled the Monks with holy water, as was done also to the Dormi- tory. And if any one staid longer for private prayer, he was indulged till the bell of the Sacrist, rung for that pur- pose, warned him to depart. From the calends of November to the beginning of Lent access was granted (in silence) to the fire, and a fit place chosen for that purpose. The same customs were observed here as in the Cloister, where in tranquil seasons the Monks abode. No one went from hence without leave of the Prior. At this season the Monks rose ear- lier to Vigils ;b and after Mattins, Lauds, Prime, and other services. finished, attended to reading. From the feast of St. Martin the bell of Nones rung, which Nones no drinking d followed, till the Purification of the Virgin Mary. This was done on all solemn days; but on others they put on their shoes, &c. as before directed. In Advent let the fat of Bacon e be forbidden except on holidays. made the general confession with them, and given the benediction, he might retire to rest." Knighton in X Script. col. 2367. See Chap. LIII. § Common House. These, says Linwood, (Prov. p. 102) were eves of certain feasts, in which they not only fasted, but prayed and watched the whole night. There were, however, two nightly services on the chief festivals, one in the beginning of night; and this seems to be the Vigils here alluded to. Du Cange, v. Vigilia. The Latins observed three Lents; the greater Lent of forty days, and the two others of St. Mar- tin's and John the Baptist before Christmas, latterly compressed into one. It began upon the octaves of All Saints; and Egbert (De Eccles. Institut.) says, that the English nation, in the full week before Christmas, not only fasted on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, but spent twelve whole days before Christmas, in fasts, vigils, prayers, and almsgiving; which practice obtained both among the monks and people. Du Cange, v. Quadragesima. These were called Biberes, and were usual in summer after Nones. Du Cange, v. Biberes Nonales. • Stocks of Bacon were laid in for winter provi- sion by our ancestors (M. Paris, 527); and this season, being the smaller Lent, it was forbidden, as being a luxury. We are told, that none of the Monks ate meat or blood till the time of Charle- magne, who obtained by devout prayers from Pope In Advent, Vespers were celebrated at the usual time after dinner. On the Vigil of Christmas day, whilst that event was recited by the reader in the Chapter, all, rising together, kneeled down to thank our Lord for the piety of his sacrifice. On Easter-day the Gospel was read by the Abbot. Before Lauds the ministers went out in si- lence, to shoe, wash, and clothe them- selves in haste. After Prime the Chap- ter was held; and, after other spiritual duties, the Monks besought indulgence of the Abbot for their faults; and the Abbot, throwing himself at their feet, did the like from them. After the Chapter they robed themselves for Tierce. On the Purification of the Virgin Mary, they went in surplices to the Church for Candles, which were conse- crated, sprinkled with Holy Water, and censed by the Abbot. Every Monk took a Candle from the Sacrist and lighted it. A procession was made, Tierce and Mass were celebrated, and the Candles offered to the Priest. Palm Sunday was celebrated in a Leo the use of blood; and procured for the Monks on his side of the Alps, the fat of bacon, the others having olive oil. Monachorum nemo carne vel sanguine vescebatur ante tempora Caroli Magni ; qui devotis optinuit a Leone Papa supplicationibus, usum sanguinis Cismontanis Monachis impetrans eis oleum Lardinum, qui non haberent Laurinam, ut Transmontani. MS. Bodl. Wood, II. p. 213, from W. Mapes, de Nugis Curialium. Query, J. Sarisb.? Candlemas Day. The candles at the Pu- rification, says Alcuinus (De Divin. Offic. p. 231), were an exchange for the lustration of the Pagans; and candles were used from the parable of the wise virgins. Du Cange observes, that it was a substitute of Pope Gelasius for the candles, which in February, the people used to carry in the Lupercalia (v. Can- delaria.) Another reason was, that the use of lighted tapers, which was observed all winter at Vespers, and Litanies, was then wont to cease till the next All Hallow Mass (Antiq. Vulg. 221.) The people used to go to Church carrying candles in their hands. In the ancient Danish calendars, a hand holding a torch was painted, in allusion to the day. Du Cange. Branches of box-wood (Palms not being to be obtained here) were carried in procession in me- mory of the Palms strewed before Christ. (Du Cange, v. Dominica Dies. Lignum Paschale.) The Host was carried on an ass, bushes were strewed in the road, cloths of the richest kind spread and hung about (Antiq. Vulg. 237, ed. Brand.), and TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 33 similar manner by a procession, conse- crating, sprinkling, and censing the Palm branches, which were immediately afterwards distributed, and, at the end of a religious service, offered like the Candles at the Altar. In the first nights of the Passion Week,a if Mattins were ended before day-break, they retired to rest, though it was more laudable if they remained watching. After Prime on these days the whole Psalter was gone over in the Choir: after that the Litany was sung in a prostrate position; then they read till the time for shoeing themselves; and after Chapter unshod and washed the pavement of the Church and the Altar with holy water. No Mass was said till this was done to the Altar; after which they washed their feet and re-shod themselves. After Sext there was a Mass, and such a number of poor as the Abbot approved having been collected in a fit place, they pro- ceeded to the Maundayb [which was the heads of children and adults, become dirty, through Lent, washed in preparation for confirma- tion (Du Cange, v. Capitiluvium). See the next Chapter. a The weeks of Lent had their several denomina- tions from certain duties, now obsolete, as the Hebdomada casta (Chaste week); because Chastity was to be observed throughout Lent. Hebdomada Indulgentiæ, the Holy week, when penitents were absolved in it. Hebdomada Mediana, the fourth week, when ordinations were held, especially of Priests (Du Cange, v. Hebdomada). [This con- tains Mid-Lent, or Mothering Sunday, imperfectly explained in the Antiquitates Vulgares. It is founded on the Roman Hilaria, or feast in honour of the Mother of the Gods, upon the 8 Ides of March (of this see Danet. v. Calendar); which Mother of the Gods was converted by Christianity into the Mother Church, whence in the second step the Antiquitates Vulgares deduce the origin.] Heb- domada muta, when the bells were bound up. Heb- domada pænalis, Passion Week, to be passed in the strictest fasting for the memory of Christ. Du Cange. b Bishop Jewell says (in addition made to what has been before said), "The bodies of them that had appointed to be baptized (at Easter), being ill- cherished, by reason of the Lenten fast, would have had some loathsomeness in the touching, unlesse they had been washt at some time before; and that, therefore, they chose this day chiefly to that pur- pose, upon which day the Lord's supper is yearly celebrated." Bishop Jewell's Defence of his Apo- logy, p. 87. done by washing, wiping, and kissing their feet], and giving them water [to wash their hands], money, and provi- sions, and singing suitable Antipho- nars.c After Nones they cloathed them- selves if they chose, and the Sacrist carried to the Church gate a spear with the image of a serpent.d A light struck from a flint was consecrated by the Abbot; and the candle, fixed on the spear like a serpent, was lighted from it.e The Convent then entered the Church, and a taper was lighted from the candle. In the same ceremony on Friday the Serpent was carried by the Dean, on the Saturday by the Prior, after which Mass followed. When con- cluded they took Mixtus; and the Abbot, with certain of his Monks, per- formed his own Maunday; after which Vespers commenced, and was followed by the conventual refection. Monks had then their Maundy. This was succeeded by the commencement of the collation, a certain part of the Gospel was read, and the whole Con- vent with tapers and frankincense, and the Deacon reading the Gospel, went to the refectory, and sat down while the reading was still continued. The Abbot went round with the cup of drink, and kissed the Monks' hands; then, upon his being seated, the Prior and other officers drank to him again. The e Alternate chaunts of two choirs. They origi- nated with Ignatius among the Greeks, and were introduced by Ambrose among the Latins. They were taken from the two Seraphim, and intended to represent the two covenants mutually answering each other. Rab. Maur. de Instit. Cler. L. ii. Ch. 50, p. 615. See too Du Cange, v. Antiphonar. d Du Cange says, that it was a wooden rod made in a spiral form, from whence the name Serpent (v. Serpens). Zosimus first instituted it; the ta- per was Christ, and expressed the column of fire which preceded the Israelites. The new fire lighted from it was the new doctrine of Christ (Gemma Animæ, 1281). In the Holy Church of Jerusalem a pretended Angel descended to light it (La Brec- quiere, p. 12). It was lighted through the roof at Durham. (Davies.) e The flint was Christ, the fire was the Holy Ghost (Rup. Tuitiens. L. v. Ch. xxviii. § de novo igne). See more in the next Chapter concerning the Taper, and the note under Agnus Dei. D 34 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM EDGAR en the Gospel was finished, and z le cups emptied, they unrobed them- lves, and went to Complin. At Easter Lauds were as before. At Prime all were bare-footeda till the Cross was worshipped. On the same rayer, covered. This denudation of the Cross continued until the Sub-Deacon turned to the congregation. Upon this the Abbot and all the Convent of the right choir thrice prostrated themselves before the Cross, and said the seven penitential Psalms, and suitable pray- ers. After these they kissed the Cross.* the Abbot returned to his seat; and the left Choir and all the congregation ay at Nomes," the Abbot and Convent went to the Church, and, after the while he was robed, he came From the Vestry, before the Altar, to ray; and then, silently going to his and people did the same. seat, the Sub deacon began a service relating to the Passion of Christ; and When they came to "they parted my "they parted my vestments among them," the Dea- con stripped the Altar of the silk, which had been placed under the Mis- sals, in the manner of thieves.d was followed by prayers: the Abbot returning to the Altar began others; 1 he first without genuflexion. Then This the Cross was held at a short distance from the Altar by two Deacons, and a short service was performed in Latin and Greek. The Cross was then brought before the Altar, and an Aco- lyte followed with the cushion on which the Cross was put. Then fol- lowed a religious service, during which the Cross was exalted, and then un- . Of this see & Pilgrims, Of this veneration of the Cross, see Angl. Sacra, II. 416, © Because at the ninth hour Christ cried, "Fa- ther, into thy hands I resign my spirit." Rup. Tuitions. L. vi. Ch. iv. p. 959. Because our Lord was stripped of his clothes. Rup. Tuitions. L. v. Ch. xxx. p. 955. 66 At what hours or times among the public services we are not to pray with genuflexion, the Canons mention: i. e. on Sundays, and the greater feasts, and Quinquagesima; according to which Canons, the public penitents are, however, always to kneel." (Walafr. Strabo de reb. eccles. Ch. xxv. p. 686-7.) Lyndwood says, genuflexions are not to be made at the hours from Easter to Pente- cost inclusive, in sign of the Resurrection; nor on any Sunday; but it was otherwise upon Fast-days (p. 298.) See too Justin Martyr, p. 462. Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, who begged our Lord's body from Pilate. Rup. Tuit. L. vi. Ch. xxxiii. p. 967. There were Alleluias, Osannas, &c. i. e. Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, in the Mass; because our Lord's title on the cross was drawn up in these languages. Hug. à S. Victore, Ch. ii. 12. Further, because on that day was the burial of our Saviour, an image of a Sepulchre was made on a vacant side of the Altar, and a veil drawn around it, where the Cross was laid until it should have been worshipped in this form. The Deacons bearers wrapping it in silk in the places where it had been worshipped, brought it back to the tomb, singing certain psalms, and there laid it, with more psalmody. There it was watched till the night of Easter Sunday, by two, three, or more Monks, singing psalms. After this followed the Communion. Every one sung Vespers, as Complin afterwards, si- lently, in the manner of the Canons," in his place, after which they went to the Refectory. Other matters were as h This signified, that, when Christ gave up the Ghost, the veil of the Temple was rent in twain, and from that time all the Mosaic law, and arcana of the Jews, were manifested to the Gentiles. Rup. L. vi. Ch. xx. p. 965. 1. Domine ne in furore. 2. Miserere mei Deus. 3. Miserere mei Deus meus. 4. Deus misereatur nostri. 5. Deus in Adjutorium. 6. In- clina, Domine. 7. De profundis. (Du Cange, v. Psalmi.) They bowed as low as possible at its approach, and then with extended arms took it, and kissed it. Ang. Sacr. II. 316. Because our Lord rested that day in the tomb, and the Disciples passed all the following night in sorrow. Rup. Tuit. L. vi. Ch. xxii. p. 966. Because the Apostles, after they had sung a hymn, and gone with Christ to the Mount of Olives, being oppressed with sorrow, were silent from the common praise. Therefore that deep silence was begun from Complin, because about that hour when our Lord said, "Behold, he is at hand who shall betray me," they began to be sorrowful, and slept from grief. Rup. Tuit. L. v. Ch. xxxii. § Cur horas sub silentio cantamus. A dictate of Gregory in his Antiphonarium. Concord. Regul. p. 89. TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 35 return to the Altar, the Chantor cried Light" (accendite). All the Candles were instantly lighted,d the Abbot be- usual; but upon any vacant time, after the veneration of the Cross, the officia- ting priests or boys shaved and bathed, if the Society was too large for it to beginning "Glory to God on high," and done on the morrow, Saturday. In the Chapter and elsewhere every thing was as usual, except that on these three days all matters in the Refectory were accompanied with benediction.a On the Sunday the same ceremony followed, as before described, respect- ing the Serpent,b with this difference: that after the consecration, two Aco- lytes held lights at the right and left horn of the Altar. A divine service followed, during which the Abbot and convent singing five Litanies, went to consecrate the Fonts ; and upon their Benedictions were taken from Moses. Deut. xxviii. Rab. Maur. de instit. Cler. L. ii. Ch. lv. p. 619. b It was carried before the Candidates for Bap- tism, because the fiery column preceded the Is raelites to the Red Sea, which prefigured Baptism (Gemma Animæ, p. 1281). By others it is said, our baptizates, their past sins being extinguished, are led to the Church, the taper preceding them, whence it is understood that it ought to be lighted for no other purpose in any place, except for ex- citing a recollection of the illumination of the Holy Spirit, whilst they are going to the Church (Albinus de Div. Offic. p. 262). There is a long account of this in the "Ordo Romanus de Divinis Officiis," pp. 80, 82; and a for- mula in MS. Bodl. Barl. VII. p. 32: but I prefer giving matters more archæological than ritual. The greater churches had rooms adjoining to them, in the middle of which was the Bason or Font, into which springs flowed by pipes and aqueducts often of the figure of stags, sometimes of lambs. We hear of Fonts of rich work, supported by twelve oxen, and "Ecce Agnus Dei" (Behold the Lamb of God) inscribed upon them. The Baptisteries had Oratories and Altars in them, and were adorned with various pictures: such as John baptizing our Lord, Peter, Cornelius, &c. There were also grottoes in the middle of church-yards, whence springs burst forth; sometimes mere basons (Du Cange, v. Baptisterium, Deductorium, Agnus fun- dens aquam, Canthari Fons, Nymphæa.) See Ro- binson's History of Baptism. Of Luton Font, &c. &c. I decline speaking; and proceed to matters connected with Baptism, but curious and little known. 1st. of Godfathers. The Ordo Romanus, above quoted, orders God- fathers to hold the children in their right arms, while the priest said the baptismal prayers. Adults placed one foot upon that of the Godfather. A cake was given every year by the Sponsors, on the Vigil of Christmas-day, to the children, until they were all the bells were rung. After this fol- lowed a religious service, a Maundy and Complin, as above. On Easter-day the seven canonical hours were to be sung in the manner of the Canons; and in the night before Mattins, the Sacrists [because our Lord rested in the tombe] were to put the Cross in its place. Then, during a re- ligious service, four Monks robed them- selves, one of whom in an alb, as if he had somewhat to do, came stealingly to the tomb, and there holding a palm branch, sat still, till the responsory was ended; when the three others, carrying censers in their hands, came up to him, grown up (says Du Cange, v. Pompa; whenever they asked a blessing. Cowell, v. Kichell.) Ruf- finus says, that he had a Godfather, who was to him both a teacher of the Creed and the Faith (Du Cange, v. Pater.) We hear of a Godfather sparing the life of a Godson in battle, on account of that con- nexion (Chron. Sax. 58.) The presents of Apostle- spoons are well known. It was the custom formerly for one name to be given by the parents to children after birth, to which others were sometimes added in Baptism (Du Cange). The names were often given from vows of the parents to particular Saints from relatives-from inclination-from their own names-but mostly from the first cause (M. Par. 97, 414, 480, 526, 575, 669. Rous, 204.) As to surnames, &c. it is not my intention to give extracts from Camden's Remains, Du Cange, v. Cognomen, &c. &c. Infants for eight days were clothed in white; and in this dress they were brought to Church every day to be christened, on the Sabbath, at Easter, or Pentecost, with candles: at least this was the custom in some places (Du Cange, v. Capa). Baptism was delayed by the Anglo-Saxon kings and nobles, in order to indulge in plundering other countries; nor were they often baptized till monastic retirement was resolved on (Scr. p. Bed. 192, 193). Upon the principle of illuminations, it was uni- versally known, that the joy of the Church was signified by the light of tapers and lamps. Upon this particular occasion, "all the lights," says Amalarius [except the serpent taper, and another lighted from it] "remain extinguished till the last litany, which belongs to the office of the Mass of the Resurrection. Then the lights of the Church and newly baptized [who carried candles: see the pre- ceding note] are lighted, to show that the whole world was illuminated by the resurrection of Christ." De Ordine Antiphonarii, Ch. xliv. p. 541. Rup. Tuit. L. vi. Ch. xxii. p. 996. e D 2 36 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM EDGAR TO THE CONQUEST. step by step, as if looking for something. As soon as he saw them approach, he began singing in a soft voice (dulcisone), "Whom seek ye?" to which was replied by the three others in chorus, "Jesus of Nazareth." This was answered by the other," He is not here, he is risen.' At which words, the three last, turning to the choir, cried, "Alleluia, the Lord is risen." The other then, as if calling them back, sung, "Come and see the place;" and then rising, raised the cloth, showed them the place with- out the Cross, and linen cloths in which it was wrapped. Upon this they laid down their censers, took the clothes, extended them to show that the Lord was risen, and singing an Antiphonar, placed them upon the Al- tar. The whole was concluded with suitable offices. "On these seven days," says Dunstan, 66 we do not sing."a From the Octaves of Easter, and all summer, after Mattins, there was an interval according to the Rule, and Lauds followed; after which, if they were finished at day-break, as they ought to have been, the Monks left the Church, put on their shoes, washed, said their prayers, and sat in the clois- ter reading till Prime. If it was not day-break, the Prior, if willing, allowed them to go to bed again until morning, when they did as above during all summer, except Sundays and Festivals. After Prime, the Morning Mass and Chapter, they did what was to be done, till the first bell of Tierce rung. After this service they washed their hands and went to dinner. Having dined, they retired to bed till half-past two [the meridian, or sleep at noon, com- mon with all ranks, through the classical and middle agesb], when the first bell This has been before explained; but Mattins were not said, like the hours, in silence, because the latter signified the presence of Christ's passion; but the nightly vigils, the former times, in which the Prophets foretold the approaching sufferings of our Lord, "who were not killed silent," non ta- centes interfecti sunt. Rup. Tuit. L. v. Ch. xxxiii. p. 955. The Romans went to sleep about 2 P.M. after of Nones rang, at which signal they arose, washed themselves, and sang the service. After this, the Biberes, or drinking followed; and then they were to do what was necessary, for the re- maining hours were devoted to reading and silence; as "from the first bell of the evening course" there was no speaking till the conclusion of the Chapter on the morrow, except in the Auditory [Locutory or Parlour], which was so named, "because there was to be heard what was ordered," not that idle talk was to be indulged there or elsewhere. Vigils for the dead, psalms for benefactors, and litanies be- bathing. Lubin. in Juven. p. 69. Nott's Catull. I. 88. XV. Script. 268. Scr. p. Bed. 408, b. Neubrig. L. i. Ch. 3; "writan in my sleeping time at afternone on Wytsonday." Paston Lett. III. 282. 46 This, and the concluding duties of private prayer, confession, and the evening prayer, obtained in all orders. Amalarius says, Complin is so called because therein is completed the daily use of meat and drink, which is necessarily taken for sup- port of the body, or common conversation. Whence the custom is observed among the Monks, from the Benedictine rule, that, after that office, they are silent, and do those things which are foreign from common conversation, till they again return to their labours." (De Eccl. Offic. L. iii. Ch. viii. p. 458.) Lanzo, a Prior at Lewes, had never spoken after Complin since he became a Monk (Malmesb. Script. p. Bed. 97, a.) Among the Dominicans the direction is, " Ante completorium tum legatur lectio in hoc 'Fratres sobrii este'" (i. e. the colla- tion), et factâ confessione et Deo completorio det benedictionem, qui præest, et Ebdomadarius asper- gat aquam benedictam (Decr. Lanfr. Ch. xiv.) et cantent fratres" Salve Regina" (MS. Cott. Nero A. 12, Const. Fratr.); i. e. Before Complin, let the reading be in this, "Brothers, be sober;" and after confession and Complin, let the presiding officer give the benediction, the minister of the week sprinkle the Friars with holy water, and the Brethren sing, "Hail, Queen, blessed mother of our Lord." This Salve Regina (though among the Friars, as above, the prayer was different at different seasons), which Davies calls the Salvi, was, says Du Cange (in voce), the sequence which Peter Bishop of Compostella composed, though in another place he denominates it the Antiphona de Podio, because made by Audemar Bishop of Podia (in voce: perhaps a correction of the Benedictine editors, unless it alluded to its being sung de Podio, part of the seat called Misericord). Jordan, a ge- neral of the Dominicans, introduced it about 1266 (Hospinian de orig. et progressu Monachor. p. 393). However, it was a Gaudium, or common song (Du Cange, v. Gaudia), especially sung by beggars at people's doors. (Hawk, Music, II. 89.) 12 THE RULE OF FULGENTIUS. 37 fore Mass, were then omitted, because there was no genuflection on account of the Resurrection. At the Calends of November, the Vigil [Mattins of the dead] was done after Mattins, which, through the short days, could not be done on the evening, except on the Festivals, in which the brothers were to sup. Then, after supper, they performed the Vigil, the officiating mi- nisters supping in the interim, that, afterwards, according to the Rule, all might meet at collation. This order respecting the Vigil was to be observed till the beginning of Lent; and then, and during the whole summer, it was to be said after supper, or if there was none, after Vespers. The Sabbath was the general clean- ing day; oiling of shoes, washing of clothes, &c.; and no one was to omit his duty at divine service, or do any thing without leave of the Prior. All these customs, though Anglo- Saxon as to us, but really foreign in origin, subsisted till the dissolution, rather enlarged than mutilated by sub- sequent repetitional institutes.a APPENDIX. THE RULE OF FULGENTIUS.-(Latin and Anglo-Saxon-MS. Bodl. Archiv. Seld. D. 52.) 1. Introduction. 2. From the calends of October to Easter, at the ninth hour, till Tierce, eleventh hour, and at all times in the Church, silence. 3. Seniors to call the Juniors breth- ren; the Juniors to call the Seniors Nonnos [equivalent to Uncle]; the Ab- bot Dominus or Pater. 4. To use no oath, but crede mihi (believe me), or planè (evidently), or certè (surely). 5. Voluntary penitence. 6. Obedience. a See MS. Bodl. Barlow, 7; where all the for- mulæ of Passion week, &c.; but the affirmation is proved by Green's Worcester, I. 127, Davies, Anglia Sacra, &c. 7. Juniors to say to the Prior and Seniors Benedicite, whenever they met them, and to rise from their seats when a senior passed. &c. 8. The punishment of envy, malice, 9. To address the Abbot and Se- niors with Benedicite on going, or re- turning, from the Convent, beginning any work, &c. [To be deprived of the Benediction among the Monks was to be sent to Coventry. Du Cange, v. Benedictio.] 10. Voluntary acknowledgment of faults on losing or breaking anything in the refectory, kitchen, cellar, or other place; prostration upon the ground, and holding the thing broken in the hand. 11. To beware of laughter and fre- quent conversation with friends or re- latives; not to speak with any one alone, but in the presence of others. 12. To go in the house only where ordered. 13. To speak low. 14. To do no work without permis- sion or benediction of the prior. 15. To give or receive nothing with- out the Abbot's permission, and to have nothing of their own but what he al- lowed. 16. To have no more of meat, drink, or clothes than the rule allowed. 17. Not to return to past vices. 18. Seniors to correct small faults by private reprimand, large ones from the rule. 19. To be lenient and cautious in correction. 20. To recur to confession for wicked thoughts. 21. To converse humbly among them- selves. 22. To attend the Church at the ca- nonical hour, on the bell ringing. 23. Not to be contentious. 24. Not to eat or drink but at stated times, the sick and infants excepted. 25. Not to calumniate, or notice those who did. 26. To preserve peace. 27. To shun sæcular gossiping (fa- bulas). 38 THE RULE OF FULGENTIUS. 28. To attend to manual labour at the stated times. 29. At other times to read silently in the Cloister. 30. In summer time, after dinner, to retire to bed, or to read. 31. No Monk to call anything his own, but always our, except in faults, then my. 32. Instant obedience to the Abbot's commands. 33. Unison in the Choir. 34. When the hour of refection came, after the service was ended, to wait in the Church silently psalmodizing (ta- cites psallentes). [The Monks do not seem to have understood the rear He- brew meaning of Psallo, which is to sing to an instrument. All other ac- ceptations of the word are corrup- tions.] 35. At the sound of the bell, having washed their hands, to enter the re- fectory, saluting the Cross and look- ing to the East. 36. At the second sound of the bell, all together to say the verse and the Lord's Prayer, kneeling. 37. At the Benediction given by the Prior, all to sit in their seats in or- der. 38. No one to take any meat or drink before the Abbot. 39. Each Monk upon taking the first bread, and first draught of drink, to say Benedicite to his companion, who was to answer Deus. 40. The reader first to ask for the Benediction before the Monks began to eat. 41. The Prior to bless the meat or drink standing. [Thus Grace was said over liquid food. One Anglo-Saxon grace before dinner was by signing the dish with a Cross. Eddius in XV Script. p. 77. The form used by the Clergy in this age is in Alcuini Poemata, 146. Du Cange, v. Benedictio. See the preceding remarks upon the Psal- ter.] 42. The Monks to take apples or fruit as divided by the Cellarer, equally, whether at dinner or supper; and they were to be eaten immediately after other food, at a side table. The read- ing to cease at the termination of the meal. 43. Upon leaving the table after a verse was said, the left Choir go out first, the Abbot last, singing the 50th Psalm; and upon entering the Church to incline themselves and kneel to the glory. 44. After Vespers to meet in the evening Chapter, and read. 45. The reading over all to rise at once, and the Abbot to say, " Adjuto- rium nostrum ;" and the rest to an- "Who made Heaven and Earth.” 46. Complin. swer, 47. Silence, prayer, retrospect (re- cordatio) of sins. 48. The evening prayer. 49. Caution and care in the Church and Dormitory. 50. To remember and con the Rule. BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONquest. 39 CHAPTER V. BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE DISSOLUTION. AFTER the year 1077, on account of failure in the observance of Dunstan's Concord of Rules, through the conse- quences of Danish Invasions, Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, found it necessary to issue new institutes.a Matthew Paris says, that the Church of St. Alban's became the school of discipline and pattern of the rule, through all England; because Paul, the fourteenth Abbot, had brought with him the decrees of Lanfranc.b These, Reyner says (erroneously), were pre- vented from taking firm root by the peculiar circumstances under which the Norman Kings reigned in this country. To remedy this defect of influence in the decrees of Lanfranc, a synod of Lateran issued emendatory statutes in the year 1215. Upon the superannuation of these, Benedict the XIIth, in the fourteenth century, pub- lished constitutions which biassed Mo- nachism till the Dissolution. These are printed in Wilkins's Councils (Vol. ii.) As the two last codes are more visitational than novel, the Anglo-Mo- nastic Consuetudinal is rather to be sought in the institutes of Dunstan and Lanfranc, which the most indubitable evidence attests to have subsisted till the Dissolution, with few or no varia- tions of moment.c ORDINARY OF THE WHOLE YEAR, or DECRETALS OF LANFRANC. From October to Advent. On private days, till All Saints' Day, Nov. 30, the Monks were to return to a Reyner, p. 208. b p. 1001. The Paschal, the Maundy, the Burial service, &c. &c. are all included in Davies's Rites and Monuments of the Church of Durham, published after the Dissolution. their beds after Mattins; and at day- break,the brethren in their night-clothes, and infantsd and youthse with their candles, were to come to the Church, sing Prime, and afterwards sit in the Cloister. The boys were "first to read loudly" (primitus altè legant), and af- terwards, if necessary, sing; and be- fore they read, no one was to read or sing in the Cloister, except silently, or go to confession. Before the warning bell of Tierce, no one was to put on his day-clothes except officers engaged out of the Cloister; nor they, before they had sat there and waited till the children had first read. When Tierce approached, the Sacrist was to ring a small bell, and the Monks to go to the Dormitory, to put on their day-shoes,f and take their knives;g and from thence to the Lavatory, where they were to wash and comb themselves; and then, coming to the Church, take holy water, All under fifteen years of age. Fuller's Church Hist. B. vi. 289. e All under twenty, I infer, from Reyner, Ap- pend. 165. See §§ Chamberlain, Vestiary. Every Monk had a table-book, knife, needle, and handkerchief; and they slept without their knives for fear of injury (Reg. Bened. Ch. Iv. Ful- ler, ubi supr. p. 288). Men used to carry needle- cases (cylindrical and hooped) about their persons, to mend their clothes when necessary. The Beau of the fifteenth century, just risen in the morning, before he has completed his dress, is represented as taking a needle from his needle-case on purpose to sew or baste his sleeves. Strutt's Dresses, II.292, and plate cxxxii. As Acia is sewing thread, and Aciarium a needle case, in Du Cange, probably the former was included. The needle, according to Chaucer, was of silver, resembling probably a bod- kin; but, as the Encyclopædie des Antiquités, by the way, says, that no needle of the classical age has ever been found, it is fit to note, that one exists in the Hamilton Collection at the British Museum. See the Catalogue for Visitors. b Described in § Cloister. 40 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST and lie prostrate a till the children came. When these were washed, and began to comb themselves, the greater bell was to ring for the hour, and the infants to come and take holy water. The bell was then to cease, and all to- gether to begin the triple prayer. After this the smaller bell was to ring, and Tierce commence ; and when the psalm Miserere was begun, they were to rise for the celebration of Mass, make their antè and retròb (a bow to the Altar first antè, and to the Abbot at the bottom of the choir retro), and go to clothe them- selves. After the Mass they were all to sit in the Choir, except some Con- verts, who were to assist the Priest, and those who served at Mass; and, when they had done this, return to the Choir. Then, at the Abbot's order, the Prior was to ring the least bell, and they were to go to the Chapter, two and two, according to seniority, the children last. After the Chapter, the table being struck, the Abbot or Prior was to say Benedicite, and the Monks to converse in the Cloister, and the infants hold their Chapter, and af- terwards go to the refectory. After Sext, no one was to speak in the There were psalmi prostrati, those said on the ground, the same as the penitential. Du Cange. See further on. The antè and retrò was a method of bowing among the Monks when they entered or left the choir, so contrived, that the back was lower than the loins, and the head than the back. Du Cange, in voce. Persons who entered into religion late in life, and Lay-brothers, were both called Converts (Du Cange, v. Conversi.) "In the Lanthorn, called the New Work," says Davies, "hung three fine bells, rung always at twelve o'clock at night, the Monks going to Mattins at that hour. Four men were appointed to ring these bells at midnight, and at such times of the day as the Monks went to serve God. Two of the said men belonged to the Revestry, and kept the copes, the vestments, and five pair of silver censers, with the other ornaments pertaining to the High Altar, and lay in a chamber over the west end of the Revestry. The other two men lay in a chamber in the North Alley, over against the Sacrist's Exchequer they swept and kept the Church clean, and filled the holy water stones every Sunday morning with clean water be- fore it was hallowed, and locked the Church-doors every night," Cloister till the children had gone from the Church, and the youngest said "Benedicite." Then, after a space, during the ringing of the skilla à for warning of Mass, and the signumd for Mass, while the preparatory prayer and a litany was performed by a child, the officiating ministers were to robe themselves. On Wednesdays and Fri- days,e if after Sext and before Mass, there was to be a procession through the Cloister, the Sacrist was to omit the Mass-bell, and ring another when the time of procession approached; and upon this there was to be instant silence in the cloister. They were to unshoe themselves, wash their hands, go to the procession, after Mass say a prayer, the hebdomadaries of the kitchen and reader of the table to take mixtus, and those absent from Mass through the business of the house, with the Abbot's or Prior's consent, to have bread and beer; the others in the interim sitting in the choir, and those who chose it reading. Upon the return of the ser- vants to the choir the bell was to be rung, Nones to be celebrated; and, this concluded, the Prior to go to strike the cymbalum ;f and the hebdomada- ries of the kitchen, and others, to their respective offices. The names of bells. See Spelman's Gloss. v. Campana. e On the calends of November, at midnight, they were to sit in the choir; the children with their lights to remain with their masters in the Chapter singing; or if they rose in the depth of night to rest, "jacentes ad sedilia sua," lying at their seats. At this interval, the Prior, with a dark lantern, was to go through the choir, to see how regularly they sat; afterwards through the altars, and parts of the Church, lest any one should be asleep there. If any one was praying, he was to pass him by in si- lence; if asleep, to awake him, and, by a sign, order him to return to the choir. Then he was to go through the Chapter, and see how the masters and scholars behaved. Then were to follow Mat- tins and Prime; at the former of which, the Sacrist was to take care so to arrange the hour of Lauds, that all should be finished by day-break; but if he was mistaken, and there was any darkness after the Litany, the Monks were so to manage as above di- rected, that none but the minuti (those who had been bled) should return to bed. At daybreak they were to sit in the cloister. The name of a bell. TO THE DISSOLUTION. 41 Festivals between October and Advent how observed. All Saints. The devout visited all the Altars of the Church, and required the suffrages of all the Saints.a All Souls was to be passed in devo- tions for diminishing the pains of the souls in purgatory.b § From Advent to Lent. On the Sunday preceding Advent a sermon was to be preached in the Chap- ter. On the Vigil of St. Thomas the Apostle, if it was a Sunday, the Monks were to be shaved; and those who wished to bathe so manage that two days before Christmas they might all be bathed. If necessary they might do this on the above Saint's day. The day before, the Abbot or keeper of the order was to appoint a Senior, whose office was to give the Monks notice of the time, see how they behaved, observe whether matters were duly prepared, see that the servants were men ad- vanced in years, and give notice, if any thing was amiss, to the Chamber- lain. After this he was to return to the Cloister, inform the Monks, and take care that the Juniors and Novices did not go with the Seniors. The Monks appointed, after they were shaved, taking the fresh clothes they were to put on, were to go to the place appointed for bathing, and there strip- ping, as in the Dormitory, enter every one where he was told, and putting aside the curtain, which hung before them, sit silent. If they wanted any- thing they were to make a sign to the servant, who was to lift the curtain, give it them, and instantly retire. They were to stay no longer than till they were washed, and having put on their shoes, and washed their hands, to return to the Cloister. The children were to go, and return with their masters. Monks might bathe at all hours from Prime to Complin, but no one without leave of the superintending Monk. Gold. Leg. cclxxxxix. b Id. ccii. The Festivals between Advent and Christmas how observed. Of St. Catherine's and St. Clement's days, see Strutt. The Boy-bishop was elected on St. Nicholas's day, December 6. It is too well known to say more of it." St. Thomas's Day. On this day, called Mumping-day, the poor in Here- fordshire go around the parishes, beg- ging corn, &c. Mumpers, in an old Dictionary, are Dictionary, are "gentile beggars." Mumping is making mouths (see Cot- grave, v. Mourd); and in the English Plutarch's Morals, III. 116, we have mercenary Gypsies, and mumping Charlatans." Gypsies in Plutarch! On Christmas day, after the Morning Mass, the bell of Chapter was to be rung later than usual; that, laying aside all occupations, they might as- semble at Chapter, and when the Nati- vity was announced, fall prostrate on the ground. Upon the President of the Chapter (an unfixed officer) having finished his prayer, the Gospel was to be read, and a Sermon preached upon it. On the night of Christmas day, after Mattins of All Saints at the Altar of St. Mary, they were to repair to the Dor- mitory. The Monks robed to celebrate, were to go to an excellent fire, pre- pared by the Chamberlain's servants, and have materials for washing their hands. For this time only they were to comb their heads before they washed. Afterwards they were to celebrate Mass. This and some private Masses finished, they returned to bed; and, on the bell ringing at day-break, all were to rise; and those who were to celebrate, to wash their hands and faces, and robe themselves. When the Mass was over, the Monks were to go to the Dormitory to put on their shoes, and afterwards, having washed, to say the usual three prayers, and make a procession. eSports, &c. p. 270. d See Brand's Popular Antiquities, 4to. &c. From the Shepherds at the angelic vision, in the Gospel of St. Luke, who in old prints lie prostrate. 42 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST FESTIVALS OBSERVED UPON CHRIST- MAS DAY. AFTER the nocturnal office of Christ- mas (i. e. the Vigil), was celebrated at Rouen, and probably here, the Office of the Shepherds. After the Te Deum a stable was pre- pared behind the Altar, and the image of the Virgin Mary placed in it. A boy from above, before the choir, in the likeness of an angel, announced the Nativity to certain Canons, or Vicars, who entered, as shepherds, through the great door of the Choir, clothed in tu- nicks and amesses. Many boys in the vaults of the Church, like angels, then began the Gloria in excelsis. The shepherds, hearing this, advanced to the stable, singing Peace, Goodwill, &c. As soon as they entered it, two Priests in dalmaticks, as if midwives (quasi obstetrices), who were stationed at the stable, said, "Whom seek ye?" The shepherds answered, "Our Saviour Christ," according to the angelick an- nunciation. The Midwives, then open- ing the curtain, exhibited the boy, say- ing, "The little one is here, as the Prophet Isaiah said." Then they shewed the mother, saying, "Behold the Virgin," &c. Upon these exhibi- tions they bowed and worshipped the boy, and saluted his mother. The office ended by their returning to the choir, and singing Alleluia, &c. Du Cange, v. Pastorum Officium. Upon Christmas-day was also cele- brated a Feast of Asses (there being more than one feast so called, as will appear hereafter), which Mr. Warton mentions, as obtaining among our- selves; and his account, so far as it goes, corresponds with the following, complete, except the prayers. (Hist. Poetry, I. 249.) After Tierce the Prophets were dres- sed according to order, and a furnace was prepared in the nave of the Church with linen and tow, A procession then moved from the Cloister, and two clerks in copes from the second seat, directed the procession, singing verses, which were repeated by a chorus. Clerks. Of the glorious and famous. Chorus. Glorious. Clerks. Whose birth. Chorus. Glorious. Clerks. Who was about to be. Chorus. Glorious. Clerks. Of the impious Jews. Chorus. Glorious. Clerks. But the Jews. Chorus. Glorious. Clerks. To unbelieving Israel. Chorus. Glorious. Clerks. From whence the Gentiles. The procession then stopped in the middle of the Church, and six Jews were ready on one side, and six Gen- tiles on the other. The latter then demanded the Vocatores, or Callers. All the Gentiles said, "The Lord is made man." Here the Callers turned themselves to the Jews, and said, Vocatores. "Oh, Jews! the word of God. Your laws prove it." Jews. That we are to govern you. Vocutores. (to the Gentiles) "And you unbelieving Gentiles.' Gentiles. The true King, King of Kings. Vocatores. "Call Moses first-you Moses, the Legislator." Then Moses, holding the tables of the law open, clothed in an alb and cope, and a horned forehead, bearded, with a rod in his hand, advanced and spoke; after which he was led beyond the cauldron. He was followed by Amos, an old man bearded, carrying a wheat-ear. Isaiah, bearded, with a red stole across his forehead. Aaron, in a mitre and pontificals, holding a flower. Jeremiah,bearded, robed like a priest, and holding a roll. Daniel, clothed in a green tunick, having a juvenile aspect, and carrying a wheat-ear. Habakkuk, a lame old man, in a dal- TO THE DISSOLUTION. 43 matick, with a scrip full of radishes, which he ate, while he spoke, and long palms to strike the Gentiles. Balaam, dressed up, sitting upon an ass (whence the name of the feast), spurred (very large ones, says Warton), holding the reins, and spurring the Ass, which a young man with a sword Some one under the Ass then says, "Why do ye hurt me so with your spurs?" the young man then added, "Do not comply with the com- mand of Balak." opposes. Callers. "Balaam, Balaam, pro- phesy." This he did, and was followed by Samuel, clothed religiously. David, in royal robes. Osea, a man with a beard. Joel, dressed in parti-colours, and bearded. Abdias, dressed as Joel. Jonas, bald, dressed in white. Micah, dressed as Joel. Naum, an old man. Sophonias, bearded. Aggai, an old man, or marked as such (senilem vultum gerens). Zacharius, bearded. of Ezekiel Malachi } No distinction specified. Zacharias, dressed as a Jew, husband Elizabeth, like a pregnant woman. John the Baptist, barefooted, holding the Bible. Symeon, an old man. Virgil, a well-dressed young man. [Mr. Warton says, that he spoke Monk- ish verses. Here they are," Ecce polo demissa solo."] Here the ceremony was interrupted by the appearance of Nebuchadnezzar, dressed like a King, showing an image of two armed men, whom he orders to exhibit the image to three youths. They refuse to worship it, and make a reply of "Deo soli digno coli" (God alone is worthy to be worshipped). The armed men then led them to the cauldron, and after being placed upon it, it is lighted; but the youths are immediately liberated, to the astonish- ment of the King. The calling, and replies, recommence with the Sibyll, crowned and dressed like a woman. All the Prophets and Ministers then began a chaunt, with which the feast ended. Du Cange, v. Festum Asino- rum. The custom of ornamenting the Church with boughs is variously ex- plained, but founded upon Evergreens.a In the West of England, the Churches are dressed at Whitsuntide with deci- duous boughs. It seems, from the ear- liest æras, to be no more than a com- mon token of rejoicing, to carry or exhibit branches of trees; and there- fore the explications are not satisfac- tory. The twelve days of Christmas were kept with great festivity, and without limitation of meals or habits. In the Legend of St. Brandon, Judas, on his island of remission, says, "Of ryght my place is in the brennyng helle. But I am here but certeyne tymes of the yere, yt is, fro crystmasse to twelfth daye; and fro ester to whyt- sontide be past, and every festeful daye of our lady, and every satyrday none tyll sonday ye evening ben don. But all other tymes I lye still in Helle in full brennynge fire with pylate, herode, and cayaphas." The fifty days from Easter to Pentecost, were rejoicing seasons from memory of the Resurrec- tion. A brother of the order of the Temple of Syon, writing to Sir John Paston, says, "in which place (Temple of Syon) in this season of the year (Christmas) it is accustomed to be (have) all manner of disport ;"e and what this disport was, may be seen fully in Mr. Nichols's Progresses, the Antiquitates Vulgares, and Strutt's Sports. Homicides and traitors were, at Christmas, indulged with peace and a Antiq. Vulgar. Strutt, &c. &c. b Flowers and Roses have been used upon the vigils of Saints' days. Du Cange, v. Gabia, Gold. Leg. fol. ccxxxii. d Fuller's Church Hist. B. vi. 288. • Paston Letters, III. 422, 433. 42 BENEDICTIN FESTIVALS OBSERVED I MAS DAY. AFTER the nocturnal of mas (i. e. the Vigil), was Rouen, and probably here Office of the Sheph After the Te Deum a sta pared behind the Altar, a of the Virgin Mary placed from above, before the likeness of an angel, an Nativity to certain Cano who entered, as shepherd- great door of the Choir, nicks and amesses. Mai vaults of the Church, lik began the Gloria in e shepherds, hearing this the stable, singing Peace As soon as they entered in dalmaticks, as if n obstetrices), who were stable, said, "Whom s shepherds answered, Christ," according to t nunciation. The Mid ing the curtain, exhibi ing, "The little one Prophet Isaiah sai shewed the mother, the Virgin," &c. U₁ tions they bowed an boy, and saluted office ended by thei choir, and singing Cange, v. Pastorum Upon Christmas brated a Feast of more than one fe appear hereafter), mentions, as ob selves; and his goes, correspond complete, except Poetry, I. 249.) After Tierce t sed according to was prepared in ith linen and t 'arte, Ini . ! ཤེས་ 1 " T. *** . ' .ouble THE DORES 4 su ti the ** Y we celebrated ・ 713. tem Gregori. CERDOTIS" **Canona JOWE: as 2: As its ow : T 1 4 IDA. LIFE - VA - no tetum. 1 SAL མŲམ=pad/7as rm of the on after communaU NA ŽE *** 17ge, ▼ Protum. *One - WMA, weave lessons were re mauartus i.ch. i. 2, p. 57 Jal resina were anciently read in Greek in, “om 10 congregation consisting of both mas insights ther ansupported expira 7. "spus sani) confines it to New • De Repuol. L. x. ch. v. n. 10. TO THE DISSOLUTION. 45 the Saturnalia were ingrafted into Ec- clesiastical ceremonies, though it was admitted that all idolatrous customs were mere inventions of the Devil, the Monkey and Fool, whom the Almighty kept for his amusement.a Epicurus re- commended princes, who were lovers of the Muses, to entertain themselves with the scurrilities of drolls and buf- foons; and when the slaves celebrated the Saturnalia the din was intolerable.b Lucian brings in Saturn, speaking thus: "During my whole reign no public or private business is to be done; but only to drink, sing, play, create imagi- nary kings, place servants with their masters at table, smut them with soot, or make them leap into the water with head foremost, when they do not per- form their duty well." These con- formities to the Feast of Fools, indis- putably prove its just appropriation to the Saturnalia; both terminating in the innocent exhibition of Twelfth-day, and its King and Queen of the Bean, Cake, &c. In the Calends of January it was usual for the sexes to change dress, even assume the form of beasts;d and the custom was so prevalent, that it could not be suppressed by Bishops, Councils, &c. Fasts and Litanies were prescribed to take off the guilt; but even when the laity had left it off, the Clergy still retained it. Hence came the term Feasts of Sub-deacons, not because they were kept by that body of men in particular, but because Dia- cres sauols signified "Saturi Diaconi," drunken clerks. Belethus says, "the Feast of Sub-deacons, which we call of Fools, is performed by some on the Circumcision, by others on the Epi- A Diabolo summi Dei simia et improbo his- trione excogitata. Solorzanus de Indiar. Jure, p. 110, § 94. This version has been blamed, but histrio is the word used, and being coupled with simia, vindicates the presumed meaning. Plutarch de volupt. sec. Epicurum. e Danet, v. Saturnalia. Du Cange, v. Cervelus. Mr. Douce (Archæologia, XV. 227) disputes this etymon of Du Cange. phany or its octaves. But there are four (sic) sports of Ecclesiasticks in the Church after Christmas, of the Priests, of the Boys, i. e. Juniors in age and order, and the Sub-deacon, which is an uncertain rank; whence it happens that this rank is sometimes accounted a holy order and sometimes. not, which is expressly signified by this that it has no fixed period, and is celebrated in a confused manner."f Now as the injunction quoted in the article Friars, that these religious should not, on St. Nicholas's day (the exhibition not being limited to a par- ticular day), put on masquerade, even female habits, or lend theirs to seculars for that purpose, certainly alludes to a Feast of Fools, there is no reason to admit any other acceptation than that of actual Sub-deacons. This folly of Bishops, or rather of Clerks, seems to have been taken from the Greeks; among whom some of the Laymen, who altered their hair into the form of a tonsure, and took ecclesiastick gar- ments, made mock elections, promo- tions, consecrations, &c.; sometimes sharp calumnies and depositions of Bishops. From a passage of Anasta- sius upon this subject, it appears that these mockeries were not then known in the West. Because, therefore, this feast took place about the end of December, it was called "Libertas Decembrica." Belethus, who lived in 1182, says, there are some Churches in which it is common that even Bishops and Arch- bishops should play with their sub- jects in Monasteries at the game of ball [the equality of the Saturnalia]; and indeed this liberty is therefore called the liberty of December; because, for- merly, it was the custom among the Gentiles; and in this month, the slaves, and maid servants, and shepherds, were privileged with a kind of liberty, and put in the same condition with their f Divin. Offic. Explicat. Ch. Ixxii. Strutt's Gliggamena, 260. 46 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST masters, making common feasts after the celebration of Harvests [the Reader will recollect the modern Harvest-home]. But although the great Churches, as that of Rheims, observed this custom of playing, it seems more laudable not to play.a [A King of Fools was prohibited at Beverley in 1391.] On the 17th of December (con- tinues Du Cange) all the petty clerks assembled to elect an Abbot of Fools; upon whose election a Te Deum was sung, and then he was chaired upon the shoulders of his fellows, and taken to the house where the rest were assembled to drink; and put in a place especially ordered and prepared for this purpose. At his entrance all rose, even the Lord Bishop, if he were pre- sent; and due reverence being paid to the elect by his fellows and companions, fruit, spices, wine, &c. were given to him. The drink being taken, the same Abbot, or elder Sub-chanter in his ab- sence, began singing in a ludicrous manner, with bawling, hissing, howl- ing, laughing, clapping hands; each party endeavouring to conquer the other. A short dialogue afterwards was followed by a sermon from the Porter. The Abbot and others then rushed out of the Church, followed by the younger Canons, Choristers, and Bishop's Esquires, into the City, sa- luting every body whom they met. In this visit, which lasted every day to the Vigil of Christmas in the evening, the Abbot was to wear a dress, feather, and mantle or tabard, or cope, with a hood of vair.b [Sir S. R. Meyrick now possesses, by bequest of Mr. Douce, a girdle, reported to have been worn by the Abbot of Fools upon his entrance into office. It consists of 35 square pieces of wood, let into each other, upon which are carved ludicrous and gro- tesque figures of fools, tumblers, hunts- men, animals, and indecent representa- tions.] Very probably also the indeco- rous carvings upon the stalls of Churches Kalendæ. a Du Cange, v. c Archeol. ubi supra. b Ibid. have, in reality, an allusion to this fes- tival; for certain it is, that several carvings on stone in Anglo-Saxon Churches of a bizarre kind, allude to the mummeries of our ancestors. It was the Abbot's place, if any thing indecorous was done in the Choir, to correct and chastise it. On the Feast of Innocents, a Fool Bishop was elected in the same manner as the Abbot of Fools; and afterwards lifted up by the petty clerks, and, with a little bell before him, taken to the house of the Bishop, at whose arrival, the gates of the house, whether the Bishop was at home or not, were to be instantly opened, and in one of the windows of the Great Hall he was to be put down, and standing, give there again his benediction towards the town. The Fool Bishop, at Mattins, High Mass, and Vespers, with his chaplain, was to preside for three days pontifically on the episcopal marble throne, properly adorned; from whence, on the introit of the said hours, he was to be clothed in the Vestiary with a common silk cope, and adorned with a mitre and silk gloves. The Chaplain was to be clothed likewise in a common silk cope, carrying on his head a little cushion, instead of the cap, or birretum. Incense-bearers, and the apparitor, preceded the Fool-bishop to the epis- copal throne. There, with his chaplain sitting at his feet, having always a cross in his hand, he sat as long as the above hours were celebrating. The Sub- deacon, who was to sing the Epistle, or the Deacon the Gospel, with one knee bent, made him a supplication, whom he marked with his right hand. Mattins, Mass, and Vespers, being finished, his Chaplain said with a loud voice, "Be silent, be silent, keep si- lence." The Chorus replied, "Deo Gratias." The Fool-bishop, Adjuto- rium nostrum, &c. Chorus, Qui fecit, &c. Then the Bishop gave the bless- ing, indulgences, &c. The Feast of Fools was celebrated as before in various masquerades of women, lions, players, &c. They TO THE DISSOLUTION. 47 danced and sung in the Choir, ate fat cakes upon the horn of the Altar, where the celebrating Priest played at dice, put stinking stuff from the lea ther of old shoes into the censer, ran, jumped, &c. through the Church. In a MS. of the Church of Beauvais, about the year 500, it is said that the Chantor and Canons shall stand before the gates of the Church, which were shut, holding each of them urns full of wine, with glass cups, of whom one Canon shall begin the Canons of Ja- nuary. The following were assimilations or off-shoots of the Feast of Fools. The Council of Treves, in 1227, says, "Let not the Priests permit vagrant scholars, or Goliards, to sing verses upon the Holy Agnus Dei in Masses, or divers services; because by this the Priest in the Canon is very much hindered, and the hearers offended. The Council of Tours speaks, in 1231, of these ribald Clerks; and the Council of Cologn, in 1300, forbids them to preach in the Church, and carry indulgences to sell. Matthew Paris, in 1229, explains this by saying, that they used to compose ridiculous verses, and were so named from one Golias, a scoundrel who com- posed libels in this kind of verse. In the Church of Roan were certain jesters, calling themselves Conardi, who elected an Abbot by a majority of votes, for which he canvassed the others. He rode dressed in a mitre and pastoral staff, once a year, through Rouen in a chariot; at Evereux, upon an Ass, surrounded by his comrades. He jested upon all persons whom he met, as well as the absent. He issued mock letters-patent electing persons to Cardinalships, &c., and was himself elected upon St. Barnabas's day; be- However horrible was this profanation, I could quote a passage, where in part of a serious penance, actions most indecent were to be publickly per- formed upon the Altar-table; and therefore our ancestors had plainly not the ludicrous ideas of these mummeries as ourselves. They were the mere coarse festivities of the age, which delighted in low humour. cause, as Le Beuf supposes, the Gallic trumpeters were the same as the Co- nardi, who had St. Arnulph the Trum- peter for their patron, and his day was the same as that of Barnabas. Conardi are elsewhere called fools. Du Cange thinks, that these ridiculous spectacles were derived from the Feast of Fools. The above are from Du Cange, v. Kalendæ, Goliardi, and Abbas Conar- dorum, except where other authors are specified. There were games played in Churches abroad with Bertelli, perhaps the French Bretilles. Du Cange, v. Ber- tillus. Dancing in Churches also oc- curred. Id. v. Choreare. Tumblers used to attend burials of the poor, and throw somersets. Id. v. Corbitores. On the Feasts of the Calends, the people gave suppers in the manner of the Romans. Id. v. Festum. Upon the Epiphany was performed the Office of the three Kings; or, Feast of the Star. Three Priests, clothed as Kings, with their servants carrying offerings, met from different directions before the Altar. The middle one, who came from the East, pointed with his staff to a star. A dialogue then ensued; and, after kissing each other, they began to sing, "Let us go and enquire;" after which the Precentor began a respon- sory, "Let the Magi come." A pro- cession then commenced; and as soon as it began to enter the nave, a crown, like a star, hanging before the Cross, was lighted up, and pointed out to the Magi, with "Behold the star in the East." This being concluded, two Priests, standing at each side of the Altar, answered meekly, "We are those whom you seek ;" and, drawing a curtain, shewed them a child, whom, falling down, they worshipped. Then the servants made the offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which were divided among the Priests. The Magi in the mean while continued praying till they dropped asleep; when a boy, 48 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST clothed in an alb, like an Angel, ad- dressed them with, "All things, which the Prophets said are fulfilled." The festival concluded with chanting ser- vices, &c. At Soissons, a rope was let down from the roof of the Church, to which was annexed an iron circle, having seven tapers intended to represent Lucifer, or the morning star; but it was not con- fined to the Feast of the Star. Cange, v. Stella, Stellæ officium. Du On the 14th of January was another Feast of Asses, intended to represent the flight of the Virgin Mary into Egypt. A very pretty girl seated upon an ass, elegantly trapped, and holding a child, was led in procession to the Church, and placed upon the ass, at the Gospel side of the Altar. Kyrie, the Glory, Creed, &c., were then chaunted, and concluded with Hinham. At the end of the service, the Priest, turning to the people, instead of dis- missing them, said three times Hinham; to which they replied Hinham, Hinham, Hinham. Du Cange, v. Festum Asi- norum. On the 21st of January was the Feast of St. Agnes, on which it was usual to make presents. Du Cange, v. Agnecten, Festum. On the Purification, after Tierce, a carpet was to be laid before the Altar, and the candles upon it. After con- secration, one was to be given to each Monk. A particular psalm (Lumen ad Revelationema) was to be when sung they began to be lighted. After which, religious services, procession, and Mass, were to follow. After dinner they were to sit in the Cloister, till the servants had done, and then sing Nones. This finished, the Prior was to ring the bell, and the Monks to go to the Refec- tory. This custom, except on fasts, was to last until Palm Sunday.b See ch. iv. Cowell, &c. say, the candles im- plied the light of the Gospel, from old Simeon's hymn. On St. Blaze's-day (Feb. 3), the people were § From Septuagesima to Passion Sunday. On the first Sunday of Septuagesima they might eat fat (see Ch. iv.); but were afterwards to abstain till Easter. On Ash-Wednesday, after Sext, they were to return to the Cloister to con- verse; but, at the ringing a bell, be instantly silent. They were to unshoe themselves, wash their hands, and go to the Church, and make one common prayer. Then was to follow a religious service; after which, the Priest having consecrated the ashes, and sprinkled holy water on them, was to throw them on the heads of the Monks, saying, "Remember that you are but dust, and to dust must return."c Then the procession was to follow. Festivals, Fasts, &c. Shrove Tues- day and the Monday before were days of sport and pastime;d but the Tuesday derived its name from the confession usual on that day, preparatory to the Lent Fast. Pancakes. The Norman Crispelle (Du Cange) are evidently taken from the Fornacalia on the 18th of February, in memory of the method of making bread, before the Goddess Fornax in- vented ovens. The ashes were Ash-Wednesday. made of the branches of brush-wood, properly cleansed, sifted, and conse- crated, and were worn four times a year, as in the beginning of Lent.e On this day the people were excluded from Church;f and husbands and wives parted beds. The ancient pe- nitents wore sackcloth and ashes.b accustomed to burn lights for their houses and cat- tle, and bestow alms. Du Cange, v. Festum. Rupert Tuitiensis adds, "bare-footed;" be- cause, besides creation from earth, we are deprived of our glory by sin, and are naked among enemies, wanting the grace of God. L. iv. ch. x. p. 917. § Cur cineres capitibus imponimus. d M. Paris, 298. See Strutt. e Du Cange, v. Cinis. f Eadm. 23, XV. Script. 262. Malmesb. G. Pont. L. ii. h Antiq. Vulgar. 225. TO THE DISSOLUTION. 49 The Rule says, "that on the first Sunday of Septuagesima the Monks might eat fat; but were afterwards to abstain." Upon Carnivora, or Mardi- gras, the Thursday before Lent, the remains of meat were eaten, and the Septuagesima Sunday was the first day of Lent fast, according to William of Newborough; i. e. the time before Lent, when they began to abstain from meat. Before the ninth century Lent began upon Quadragesima Sun- day; but afterwards, to fulfil the forty days, four days of Quinquagesima were added.ª Elsewhere we have Sexagesi- ma Sunday called Carniprivium, because they ceased eating meat on that day: Quinquagesima, when they left off eat- ing cheese and eggs. On the first Sun- day of Lent they renewed the worship of the images. From the Sabbath before Palm Sunday, to the last hour of the Tuesday after Easter, the Christians were accustomed to stone and beat the Jews, which the latter commuted for a payment in money.c The Lent fast differed from all the others, because the refreshment was not taken till after Vespers; in others after Nones. And we find instances of fast- ing every day but Sunday until the even- ing; and then eating only a little bread, an egg, and some milk and water:e but this Fast was allowed to be performed by another vicariously.e The most sa- cred ideas were annexed to Lent. Froissart says, there were daily deliver- ed to the Germans in the army ten tons of Herrings for Lent and 800 Carp, without counting different sorts of fish, which cost the King immense sums; so that probably the dispensa- tions so often printed, could not have been obtained even by royal authority for mere convenience; or it was not prudent to solicit it. On the first day of Lent in the even- ing boys used to run about with fire- brands and torches.h a Du Cange, v. Carniprivium. b Id. v. Do- minica dies. e Id. v. Colaphi Judæorum. Dugd. Monast. dId. in litt. J. p. 1299. I. 63. 36. Ed. Johnes. e Dec. Script. 874, 2468. · XII. Du Cange, v. Brandones. Absence from the Church and mar- riage bed, and dereliction of the use of the sword and horse, occur during the whole forty days i among the laity. Because the Scripture was concealed in the Prophets till the coming of Christ, therefore the Altars, &c. were veiled. The removal in the week be- fore Easter was the manifestation by the veil of the Temple being rent in twain.k On the first Sunday of Lent, after Complin, a curtain was to be hung between the Choir and Altar. On Mon- day before Tierce, the Cross, &c. were to be covered. Before they entered the Chapter the keeper of the books was to have the books in Chapter laid out on a carpet, such excepted as had been lent to read the preceding year: for these the bor- rowers were to bring in their hands, according to a notice for that purpose, given the day before by the above Li- brarian; then the sentence of the Be- nedictine Rule for the observation of Lent was to be read in the Chapter, and, after a sermon made upon it, the Librarian read the schedule of the books lent to the Monks on the year past. As every one heard his name called over he was to return the book lent to him; and he who had not read it was to solicit pardon. Then the keeper was to give each Monk another book, and register their names as they received them. If this day was a feast of twelve lessons there were two read- ings in succession, one of the Gospel, the other of the observance of Lent. On that day was to begin the peniten- tial or prostrate psalms, and the car- riage of a lantern at the second lesson. On the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, till Easter, the table was not to be struck after Chapter, nor were they to speak in the Cloister. On the two last days, after Nones, they Id. v. Carena. Rupert Tuitiens. L. iv. p. 916. E 50 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST were to sit in the Cloister; and, after an interval, at the bell ringing, unshoe themselves, wash their hands, and go to Church. This was to be followed by a procession, where every one was to be bare-footed, except the Priest and Deacon; and those who from disease could not go with bare feet, were to stay out of the procession. When they returned, they were forbid to put on their shoes without leave. After the Mass and prayers, antecedent to Ves- pers [and every service], they were to wash their feet and hands, and perform Vespers.b If a festival was celebrated in Lent;e on the day before, the curtain was ga- thered and the forms d taken from up, the Choir. After Mattins of the dead they were to return to their beds. Af- ter Chapter they were to sit silent in the Cloister till the bell of Tierce; and the children, after their Chapter, coming from the Dormitory, sit in school, and read. After Complin, the curtain was to be extended, and the forms brought back to the Choir. Passion-Week. There was to be a procession in the Cloister, as usual on The conversations in the Cloister were after Chapter, and after Nones on certain seasons. These conversations were very licentious (Thorpe's Cus- tumale, p. 235); and therefore the visitors of Ed- mundsbury ordered, "that the common conversa- tions, which were sometimes allowed to be made, relate to the Scriptures, edification, observation of the order, and, as far as practicable, in the hearing of a guardian of the Rule." forbid discourses through the Cloister and Infirmary, And again," Also we as far as the Prior's chamber, as well by Monks as others, that the peace of those in the Cloister may not be disturbed." Communes locutiones quæ in Claustro aliquando fieri permittuntur de Scripturis sint, et edificatione et de ordinis observatione, et in quantum fieri potest in audientiâ custodis ordinum fiat. Item, discursus per Claustrum et per infir- marium usque cameram Prioris tam a monachis quam aliis prohibemus, ne traquillitas Claustralium turbetur. MSS. Cott. Julius, D. II. 157, a. 161, b. b On the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the bells were rung, in honour of the Salutation of the Angel. Du Cange, v. Festum. 46 Thomas (2d) Lord Berkeley used to feast seve- ral Convents in Lent. Smythe's Berkeley MSS. For prostration upon dicentes orationem Dominicam (let them lie on the jaceant supra formas, forms, saying the Lord's-prayer.) Oseney, MS. Arch. A. Bodl. 73. The face was Missale de downwards. Osculantes furmulas, says the Porti- forium sec. usum Sarum, 1540, fol. lxiii. b. this elsewhere. Of Sundays. The Abbot, or Priest, was to consecrate the palms, flowers, and leaves, which were laid upon a carpet before the high altar, sprinkle holy water on them, and cense them. The Sacrists were then to distribute the palms to the Abbots, Priors, and nobler persons, and flowers and leaves to the others. When this was done, and they made a stand in the procession which followed, two Priests were to bring the Paschale in which the Crucifix was laid, and stand still. The banner and cross- bearers were to file off to the right and left of them, and the boys and convent so to arrange themselves, that, after a short service, the Priests, with the might pass between the Monks, who tomb, headed by the banner and cross, were to kneel as they passed. When they came to the city-gates, they were shrine to be put on a to divide again into two sides, and the shrine to be put on a table, covered with cloth. Above the entrance of the gates a place was to be handsomely prepared with hangings. The boys then, and those whom the Chanter had appointed to be with them, were to sing, "Gloria, Laus," Glory, Praise, • The Paschal (see Du Cange, v. Sepultura Crucifixi) was a tomb for the burial of Christ at Easter. Davies describes one; but the most cu- rious is that at St. Mary Redcliff's Church, Bristol, which I give from an original MS. of Chatterton, when very young, in my possession. The furniture of Redclift Church in 1470. Memorandum. That Master Cannings hath delivered, the 4th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1470, to Master Nicholas Pelles, Vicar of Redclift, Moses Conterin, Philip Berthelmew, and John Brown, Procurators of Redclift, beforesaid, a new Sepulchre, well gilt with fine gold, and a civer thereto; an image of God Almighty rising out of the same Sepulchre, with all the ordinance that longeth thereto; that is to say, a lath made of tim- ber and iron work thereto. Item, thereto longeth Heven made of timber and stained cloths. Item, Hell made of timber and iron work thereto, with De- vils the number of thirteen. Item, four knights arm- ed, keeping the Sepulchre with their weapons in their hands; that is to say, two spears, two axes with two paves (pavaches, shields.) Item, four pair of Angel's wings, for four Angels, made of timber, and well-painted. Item, the Fadre, the crown and visage, the well (sic, read boll) with a cross upon it, well gilt with fine gold. Item, the Holy Ghost coming out of Heven into the Sepulchre. Item, longeth to the four Angels, four Chiveliers (Pe- rukes.) [This is printed in Barrett's Bristol, 578, &c. &c.] TO THE DISSOLUTION. 51 &c. After a procession through the city, they were to return to the Con- vent-gate, where the shrine was to be laid on a table, covered with cloth, and a religious service to be performed. They were next to return to the Church, and make a stand before the Crucifix then uncovered. Then Mass was to be performed; and, after they had communicated, the Deacon first and the rest afterwards, were to offer their palms and flowers. The tables of the Refectory were to be covered. After dinner they were to go to sleep, and at Nones to arise, wash their hands and faces, comb themselves, and go to the Choir; and upon the entrance of the infants, after their having washed and combed likewise, make the preparatory prayer, and sing Nones. After this the Prior was to ring the bell, and the Monks go to the Refectory. This was to be the rule all summer, till the Ca- lends of October, except on Fast-days. The Feast of the She Ass, upon which Christ sitting was worshipped by the people, was not kept (says Lind- wood), because the praise was human, and therefore not to be regarded. P. 102. Ed. Oxf. [It was kept: see Note on Palm Sunday before.] On Tuesday the Monks in the Clois- ter were to shave, and on the morrow to bathe; on which day there was to be no procession, and after Complin the curtain was to be removed. On Thursday [Shire-Thursday, which was a general day for communicating], as many candles were to be lighted as there were antiphonars and responses; and at singing each of them, a candle was to be extinguished; the last,b Extinction of the lights. Honorius Gallus says, "On these three days we celebrate the burial of our Lord; but the three days and nights we reckon for 72 hours. And therefore we extinguish so many lights, because we mourn the true light ex- tinguished on these days, and express the sorrow of the 72 disciples, which they had on account of the setting of the eternal day and sun of Justice, whose hours they were. For three hours, to wit, from the 6th to the 9th, there was darkness when Christ hung on the Cross. These three hours we repre- sent by three nights, which we observe by extinc- tion of the lights. By the day illumined by the Sun, Christ-by the night illumined by the Moon, when the Chantor began the Antipho- nar (Traditor autem), "But the Traitor." At one psalm, masters, children, young and old, were to mix together in a dis- orderly manner. Then, after prostra- tion on the forms, and singing certain psalms, at a signal from the Abbot or Prior, they were to make their bow to the Altar and Abbot, and stand in their places till the master brought lighted lanterns and gave them to the children. The Sacrist was then to light the can- dles at the Altar for the children to light theirs at. After lighting their candles they were to return to their beds; and at day-break, that the boys and youths might come out without lights, the sacrist was to ring the bell late (modice). The Monks were im- mediately to rise, put on their night- shoes, and, coming into the Choir, in- cline over the forms till the children came; and while they were coming, after the prayer of preparation, begin a service at a sign from the Abbot, which was to end in confession. After this they were to sit in the Cloister till Tierce, which was to be followed by the Chapter, reading the sentence of the Rule, the sermon made on it, the correction of abuses, and the arrange- ment of the customs and ordinances for the morrow's Chapter, and the whole day. After this was to follow an appropriate service if any Monk was dead, or they had received a breve or the present Church-by the twelve hours of the day or night, the twelve Apostles are signified; because therefore the hours of the day and night are 24, and on feast days 24 Gloria Patries are sung, therefore the 24 lights are illuminated on these nights, which we distinguish at each canticum, be- cause, like the Apostles, we mourn the setting of the true Sun." Gemma Animæ, p. 1279. Ama- larius says, the extinction of the lights signified the sorrow in the hearts of the disciples, while Christ lay in the Sepulchre; and that they were extin- guished when beginning the chant, that in every arti- cle of any unforeseen joy we might be affected with sorrow. De Ordine Antiphonarii, ch. xliv. p.541. Rupert says, the darkness signified the blindness of the Jews, and the darkness of the Crucifixion ; the lights, the saints; the extinction, the slaughter of them. L. v. ch. xxvi. p. 953. b Our Lord himself. Id. ch. xxxiii. p. 955. See further Rup. L. vi. ch. xxix. p. 970; Albinus Flaccus de Divin. Offic. p. 247; and Amalarius, L. iii. ch. xxii. p. 472. E 2 52 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST obit from another house. At the beat- ing of the table they were to talk in the Cloister, and after Sext again. Then was to follow a Mass for the Poor introduced by the Almoner, who were to take the Sacrament, and re- ceive refection; after which Nones were to commence, and the forms, as then usual, to be removed. On these four days no one was to absent himself from the communion without a rea- sonable cause; when the Mass was nearly ended, the forms were to be brought back, and Vespers began upon them. In the mean while the Priest following the procession was to go to the place where the body of Christ was laid, having been censed both be- fore and after its deposition there, and with a light constantly burning before it. This over, they took a mixtus. Upon entering the Refectory they were to bow before their seats, and, sitting down, take a mixtus of bread only, and drink, which was to be put ready by the Refectioners. Then the poor (who washed their feet first) were to be introduced to the Maundy. The Monks who died that year were to have their poor in this Maundy [see Infirmary], as well as those whom the Abbot selected; in this service no Monk, but those deputed to the office, were to interfere. As long as this office of washing the feet and hands lasted, they were to sing ; and those who wished it might sit in the same man- ner as it was usual to sit in the Choir, namely, one between two standing; but when the drinking commenced they might sit how they liked. Then Ves- pers were to follow. If any stranger from without sought benediction on any of these three days [see Hostrey], he was to receive it; the tables of the Refectory were to be covered; at the bell, and over the Abbot's table were to be placed tables with hammers.a Bells signified the Apostles, the heralds of Christ, and were not then rung, because they de- serted him; and there was a wooden hammer sus- pended in a table, and sounding, ("ligneus mal- leolus in tabula suspensus et personans,") because Christ was then solum torcular calcans (see Isaiah, ch. lxiii. v. 3.) solus in ligno crucis, alone on the The verses and benediction in the re- fectory were to be omitted, and the Miserere after dinner read in a low voice. The reader was not to wait for the benediction, and to end without tu autem domine. Whilst the Monks were in the fratry the Sacrists were to uncover all the Altars, and get ready two reading desks (the one in the Chapter and the other in the Church), which were to be carried, before col- lation, into the Refectory. After the Monks rose from table, and, as usual, returned from the Church and Dormi- tory, they were to wash their feet as on a Sabbath, and preparation was to be made for a Maundy in the Chapter, which was to take place after a drink- ing in the Refectory. This Maundy over, the Abbot and others, entering the Chapter, the Convent rising as he passed to his seat, were to go to their places. When the hymn was over the Sacrist was to strike the table for col- lation, and the Deacon to enter with the Gospel, preceded by three converts, carrying the candlestick and censer. Upon their entrance the Convent was to rise till the first verse of the Gospel was read, and, at a proper time, the Abbot nodded to the Prior to strike the table; upon which they were all to rise, and, preceded by the Deacon and the above Converts, go to the re- fectory for a charity. The Deacon was to put the Gospel upon the lectern brought from the Church, and cense both; and, at a nod from the senior Prior, who then officiated in the Ab- bot's room, to begin reading in the place where he had left off. The Re- fectioner was next to strike the table, and the Abbot and brothers, who had assisted him in the Maundy, to go to the place where the drink of charity was prepared, with bottles, or the cups of the Monks in their hands. When these were filled, the reader was to be silent, wood of the cross, and the sole witness to the truth. Rupert Tuitiens. L. v. ch. xxix. b Beginnings and ends were left out, because, "I am alpha and omega, &c.; and he who is our head and beginning Jesus Christ was in these days taken away from us." Id. L. v. ch. xxv. TO THE DISSOLUTION. 53 and they were to go to the step; and till they came thither the Refectioner was to strike the table from the time they had received the drink and began to go; and upon their arrival, three or four times more quickly, and then stop. Then was to follow the benediction by the Priest of the week, and, after this, the Abbot was to give drink to the Prior and others, according to seniority, kissing their hands, those who assisted him in bringing the drink to the step ministering to him. When all the Monks and children were served, the Abbot was to go to the Deacon, who read the collation, and, when he had ended the verse he had begun, give him the drink, and so afterwards to those who carried the candlesticks and cen- sers. These the Abbot's assistants were in the mean while to hold, then to carry the cups of the Deacon and others to the Abbot's table, and when they came to the step, to make a bow, and sit down. Then the like drink, and kissing of hands, was to be done to them. The Abbot was next to go to his seat, the Convent rising as he passed, and the Prior to administer the drink to the Abbot, and kiss his hands. A nod of the Abbot was then to ter- minate the reading of the Deacon, who was to shut the book, make his bow, and lay his officiating robes upon the desk. The Converts were to carry the candlesticks and censer to the Abbot's table, make an inclination, and, with the Deacon, sit down at the table and drink. The Abbot was then to strike the table once, and as many times as the bell was struck on a common sab- bath at the charity after the Maundy, and the Priests to carry the two desks and robes to the Church. Thither the Abbot and Convent were to go in pro- cession, and the wonted confession to be made and Complin said, and after this the three usual prayers. On Good Friday the table was to be struck before Mattins in the Cloister, before the cellar and infirmary, to awake the sleepers, and the service to be the same as on Thursday. At Prime the table was to be struck, and they were to go barefooted to the Church, and so continue till the office of the day was finished when it was very cold the Abbot might order them to put their shoes on, in which case of extreme cold they were only to be barefooted at the office. Afterwards they were to sit in the Cloister; and, the Abbot beginning to say the whole Psalter, after which those who chose it might go to confession. When Tierce approached they were to go as usual to the Dortour, and, being combed and washed, to the preparatory prayers and Tierce. After these they were to go to the Chapter, a verse was to be said in silence, a sentence of the Rule read as on Thursday, a discourse made on it, and matters arranged for the morrow's Chapter. They were next to sit in the Cloister, neither talking, singing, or reading. After Nones the officiating ministers were to robe themselves, and the Priest and Deacon go to the Altar, covered with a single linen cloth. Du- ring the service, at the part they di- vided my vestments among them," two of the robed ministers near the Altar were to draw out two cloths, which before the office had been sent there, the linen still remaining under the Missal. Then was to follow a religious service, and the prayer for all orders of men, except the Jews. When this was over, two Priests, appointed by the Chantor, were to go to the Cross, pre- pared and covered at the Morning Altar, and bear it, advancing by de- grees, and singing (as well as the Con- vent) to the High Altar. They were then to uncover it, begin the Antipho- nar, ecce lignum, and bow the knee. After more religious services, carpets were to be laid before the Altar, and the Abbot and others successively to prostrate themselves, pray, kiss the foot of the Crucifix, and afterwards return to the Choir. If there were any clerks or laymen who wished to adore the Cross,b it was to be carried 66 Because, till the fulness of the Gentiles, no manner of prayer could expel their blindness. Rup. Tuit. L. vi. ch. xviii. p. 964. b At Durham was 46 an image of our Lady, which 54 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST to another place, and the Monks to kneel as it passed. When this Adora- tion was entirely over, the bearers were to elevate the Cross, and take it to its place; the Monks seeking par- don on their knees. Then the Priests, &c. were to go to the place where the host was laid on Thursday, cense it, and give it to the Deacon to carry. As they approached the Altar, the Monks, kneeling, were to adore the host, which was placed upon the Altar, and wine and water mixed in the chalice. After confession and prayer the Priest was to cense the host and chalice. Then was to follow the communion without the Pax, and the preparatory prayer of Vespers. These ended they were to go to the Cloister, wash their feet with warm water, and put on their diurnal shoes. Then Vespers were to be said in silence; and after these they were to take their refection of bread and wa- ter, and raw herbs only, though the usual viands were cooked, but distri- buted in alms. After the refection of the Convent, the Sacrists, assisted by as many priests as were necessary, were to wash the Altars, first with water, then with wine. When the servants, after returning from the Church and Dormitory, had taken their refection, the Monks were to go to the Refectory for the Rule's sake, but to drink water only. Upon their leaving this and sitting in the Cloister, the table was to be struck for collation; after which was made to open with gimmers (hinges) from her breast downwards; and within was painted the image of our Saviour, finely gilt, holding up his hands, and betwixt his hands a fair and large Cru cifix of Christ, all of gold; which Crucifix was to be taken out every Good-Friday; and every man crept unto it that was then in the Church." Davies, &c. Hot-cross Buns. In the life of St. Severus (Abbat. Agath.) ch. ii. we hear of bread sent for presents in the manner of Eulogia [explained in the Chapter of Rules]; which bread was marked with a cross, and the eating of it so marked had a mystical allusion. Du Cange, v. Artona. A By the host left on the Altar, was implied, that Christ lay in the Sepulchre, and was deserted by his disciples. Raban. Maur. de Instit. Cleric. L. i. ch. xxxiii. Addit. de Missâ, p. 586. b Because blood and water issued from the wounded sides of our Lord. Rup. Tuit, L. v. ch. xxxi. they were to go to the refectory "to drink a charity." On the Saturday till Prime all was to be done as on Friday. In the Chap- ter the sentence from the Rule was to be read, and all things arranged till the Easter Chapter. Before and after Chap- ter the Sacrists were to adorn the Church and all the Altars; to put the tapers where they ought to be, and place the one for consecration in its proper place [the Serpent Taper in the Concordia Regularum]. In this taper was to be written the year of our Lord;d and the Cross to be marked with five grains of incense in five places [from the five wounds of Christ]. Then were to follow the censing pro- cession and consecration of the taperf (much as in the Concord of Rules); and a candle was to be lighted in the lantern, to light the taper if it went out; and this lantern was to be carried by one of the masters of the Novices. At this procession the candlesticks were not to be carried. The holy fire which remained in the Cloister was to be collected by the Cellarer's servants; and from this taper all the fires before extinguished in all the offices were again to be lighted. The children, if too little, were not to stay till after Vespers for refection. 46 At Durham, upon the Paschal, besides six branches or candlesticks, three on each side, stood a long piece of wood, reaching within a man's length to the uppermost vault or roof of the Church, upon which stood a great long squared taper of wax, called the Paschal, having a fine convenience through the said roof of the Church to light the taper." Davies; see before, ch. iv. Because Christ is the acceptable year of the Lord, whose months are the twelve Apostles, whose days are the elect, and whose hours are the children baptized. Gemma Animæ de Antiq. rit. Missar. L. iii. p. 1281. This the Deacon did, because the women who came to the burial of Christ brought spices. Rup. Tuit. ch. xxxi. p. 971. The Deacon consecrated it, because the weaker sex announced the Resurrection to the Apostles. Ibid. The fire was extinguished at Sext, and re- lighted at Nones, on account of the eclipse of the Sun during the Crucifixion at those hours. Gemma Animæ, p. 1280. All the tapers were re-lighted from the new fire, because our Lord, on the day in which he arose from the dead, though it was late, standing in the midst of his Disciples, and showing them his TO THE DISSOLUTION. 55 Easter-day and during Easter there was to be a procession to the Crucifix after Lauds and after Vespers through the whole week; on Easter-day in Cappis. Festivals in cappis (rich robes) were in general, not always, the most grand of all. The cappa (or cope, says Ho- norius, is the proper robe of singers, cantorum), which seems to be substi- tuted for the acintine tunic of the law (pro tunicâ acintinâ legis), from whence as that was adorned with bells so this with fringes. By this robe holy con- versation is represented, therefore it is used by every order. It has a hood above, which marks the joy of Heaven. It reaches to the feet, because in good living we must persevere to the end; by the fringes the labour is denoted by which the service of God is consummated. It is open before, because eternal life lies open to the ministers of Christ who lead a holy life. Gemma Animæ, ch. ccxxviii. p. 1238. On Easter-day was performed the Office of the Sepulchre, of which a slight notice was given in the preceding Chapter. The more full service was this; previous to which it is fit to note, that Mary Magdalen, Mary of Bethany, and the sinner of Naim, were three different persons, though often confounded: Three Deacons clothed in dalmaticks and amesses, with their heads in the manner of women, and holding a vase in their hands, came through the middle of the Choir, and hastening towards the Sepulchre, with downcast looks, said together this verse, "Who will remove the stone for us?" Upon this a boy, clothed like an angel, in albs, and holding a wheat-ear in his hand, before the Se- pulchre, said, "Whom do you seek in the Sepulchre?" The Maries answered, "Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified." The angel answered, "He is not here, but is risen ;" and pointed to the place hands and his side, breathed upon them, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Rup. Tuit. ch. xxix. p. 971. Menagiana, II. 98, 99. with his finger. The angel then de- parted very quickly, and two Priests, in tunicks, sitting without the Sepul- chre, said, "Women, whom do ye mourn for? Whom do ye seek?" The middle one of the women said, "Sir, if you have taken him away, say so." The Priest, shewing the Cross, said, "Because they have taken away the Lord." The two Priests, sitting said, "Whom do ye seek, women?" The Maries, kissing the place, afterwards. went from the Sepulchre. In the mean time a certain Priest, in the character of Christ, in an alb, with a stole, hold- ing a Cross, met them on the left horn of the Altar, and said, "Mary." Upon hearing this, the mock Mary threw herself at his feet, and, with a loud voice, cried, Cabboin. The Priest nod- ding replied, "Noli me tangere" (touch me not). This being finished, the Priest again appeared at the right horn of the Altar, and said to them as they passed before the Altar, "Hail! do not fear." This being finished, he concealed himself; and the women, joyful at hearing this, bowed to the Altar, and turning to the Choir, sung "Alleluia, the Lord is risen." This was the signal for the Bishop or Priest before the Altar, with the censer, to begin aloud, "Te Deum." Du Cange, v. Sepulchri Officium. Another office was the Burial of Alleluia. The observation of this ceremony is mentioned in Er- nulph's Annals of the Church of Ro- chester, and by Selden in his notes to Eadmer, as observed just before the octaves of Easter. Austin says, that it used to be sung in all Churches from Easter to Pentecost; but Damasus or- dered it to be performed at certain times, when it was chaunted on the Sundays from the Octaves of the Epiphany to Septuagesima, and on the Sundays from the octaves of Pentecost to Advent. One mode of burying the Alleluia was this in the sabbath of Septuagesima at Nones, the choristers assembled in the great Vestiary, and there arranged the ceremony. Having finished the last : 50 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST Benedicamus, they advanced with crosses, torches, holy water, and in- cense, carrying a turf (Glebam) in the manner of a coffin, passed through the Choir, and went howling to the Clois- ter, as far as the place of interment; and then, having sprinkled the water, and censed the place, returned by the same road. According to a story (whether true or false) in one of the Churches of Paris, a Choir-boy used to whip a top, marked with Alleluia, written in golden letters, from one end of the Choir to the other. In other places Alleluia was buried by a serious service on Septuagesima Sunday. Du Cange, v. Alleluia. Another ceremony, though probably practised only abroad, is given here for its curiosity. A ball, not of size to be grasped by one hand only, being given out at Easter, the Dean and his representative began an Antiphone suited to Easter-day; then taking the ball in his left hand, commenced a dance to the tune of the Antiphone; the others dancing round hand in hand. At intervals the ball was bandied, or tossed to each of the choristers. The organ played according to the dance and sport. The dancing and Antiphone being concluded, the Choir went to take a refreshment. It was the privi- lege of the lord, or his locum tenens, to throw the ball; even the Archbishop did it. Du Cange, v. Pelota Percula. Anthony, the Egyptian Abbot, used to play with his Monks, that he might, as he alledged, be afterwards more strong to serve God. Gold. Leg. fol. xlviii. But the above was taken from a cir- cumstance recorded in the Acta Sanc- torum. Du Cange suspects that there was a horrible custom in the thirteenth cen- tury of seizing all Ecclesiasticks who walked abroad between Easter and Pentecost (because the Apostles were seized by the Jews after Christ's pas- sion); and making them purchase their liberty by money, v. Prisio. In the Easter week the Monks were not to converse in the Cloister: but till the Ides of September on private days, unless when they left the Refec- tory, they were to go to the Chapter, perform a very short service, and after- wards speak in the Cloister. On the Octaves, at the Lections, there were to be Paschal Sermons.a At the Rogation Days, after Mattins for the dead, the Monks were to re- turn to their beds, and those who wished it to sleep longer than usual; for in these days there was to be no meridian or sleep at noon, nor were they to be awakened by any sound, as usual at other times;b but at a proper season the masters were to awake the children as quietly as possible; and while they were reading in the Cloister those in their beds were to rise with- out delay. After the Mass de jejunio, the sentence of the Rule was to be read in Chapter, and the procession ar- ranged. After Tierce, the boys and infirm, who could not fast, took mixtus; from Sext they were to go to the Dor- mitory, as at another time, when they were used to sleep at noon; then, with naked feet, they were to leave the Dormitory, wash their hands, and, going to the Church, say a prayer. This was to be followed by a religious service and procession, in which the Chamberlain's servants were to de- liver stavesd to the Monks to support them; and when they were to come to the Church, where they were going, and Because our whole life is the revolution of seven days, the eighth or octave signified eternity; and this was the mystical reason, why octaves were annexed to festivals. Sparrow on the Common Prayer, 232. Du Cange adds, because our Lord rose on the 8th day (including Sunday to Sunday, says Alcuinus), the octave of a feast was the day on which the whole solemnity closed. v. Octava. Boys used to claim hard eggs or small money at the feast of Easter, in exchange for the ball play before mentioned. Du Cange, v. Roulleta. b Alluding to the state of the disciples, between the passion and ascension of Christ. The Rogations were processions for the good of the future harvest; and the three days before were to be spent in fasting, that the purified soul might ascend with Christ on the Thursday follow- ing. Sparrow, p. 160. "Sometimes we use this staff, sometimes not. When we have Christ at hand we need no support. If he has left us on account of our sins, we have need to seek a support; i. e. the prayers of the saints." Ciampini Vetera Monumenta, ch. xv. p. 119. TO THE DISSOLUTION. 57 the Chantor began a chant to the ho- nour of the patron saint, the Monks, as they entered, returned the staves to the servants, to take them again when they went out.a Then there was to be another Mass de jejunio, a single prayer to be said for the patron saint, and two Monks to go to the gate of the house to sing an Agnus Dei,b and then to come back, taking with them some of the servants to sing the Litany,c which the Convent was to do upon their return. When the procession came to the gate of the Church, they The staff was human assistance, and they did not need it when Christ was present. Expositio Missæ de vetusto Codice, p. 2172. "When we make a procession to another church," says Hono- rius, "we go as it were to the land of promise; when we enter the church singing, we arrive as it were rejoicing at our home (patriam)." Gemma Animæ, L. i. ch. lxx. p. 1200. The churches to which the procession was made were sometimes the Cathedrals, see Provinc. Angl. p. 9. n. 1. voc. minoribus Ecclesiis; but not always these. See Monast. I. p. 212. b This, besides a chant in the Mass, had another signification. Pieces of the Paschal taper, conse- crated at Easter, were given to the people, to make perfumes for their houses, protect them from sor- cery, &c. This custom only prevailed out of Rome; for there, instead of the taper, the Archdeacon used to consecrate some wax, mixed with oil, and distribute pieces in the form of a lamb to the peo- ple. This was the origin of those waxen images of the lamb, which the Pontiffs themselves consecrated in a more august form. Du Cange, in voce. St. Mark's day, says Davies, was commonly kept a fast through all the country, and no flesh eaten upon it. Also upon this, and the three first days of Cross, or the Rogation week, there were processions by the Prior and Monks of Durham to one of the Parish Churches, and a sermon preached at each. Upon Holy Thursday was a procession with two Crosses, borne before the Monks, and each in rich copes; the Prior in one of cloth of gold so massy, that his train was supported. Shrines and relicks were also carried. There were two Litanies performed twice in the year, the greater and the less; the first on St. Mark's day, instituted by Gregory, on account of a pestilence, called also the black cross from the black cloaths, worn from weeping and penance; or "peraventure, because they covered the Crosse and auters with blessed hayres." The smaller Litany was sung three days before the Ascension, and was called the Ro- gations, Processions, &c.; because then a general procession was made, the Cross borne, bells rung, and, in some Churches, a Dragon with a great tail, filled full of chaff, emptied on the third day, to shew that the Devil, after prevailing the first and second day, before and under the Law, was on "the thyrde day of grace, by the passion of Jhesu criste, put out of his reame." Gold. Legend, fol. xvi. a. b. ubi plura. were to end the Litany; after which the two selected Monks were to stand with naked feet before the gates, and sing an Agnus Dei. The Litany was to be followed by the preparatory prayer of Nones; and, after this, they were to go to the Cloister to wash their feet, then return to the Choir, and, at the ringing of another bell, sing Nones. Whitsuntide. This week the fasts were to be begun, which the Rule re- quired on Wednesdays and Fridays, till the Ides of September,d unless there was a reason why the Abbot or Prior should twice grant a license of refection. On a Vigil that fell on these days there was to be a Mass, but no procession. After the Chapter on Fast days they were to sit in the Cloister conversing. After Tierce the servants, and minuti, and sick, were to take mixtus. After Sext they were to go to sleep, and next bring their shoes, barefooted, to the Cloister. Then they were to wash and comb themselves, and go to Church. In this season to the calends of October they were only to converse once in the Cloister, from after the Chapter till Tierce. After Sext they were to go to the Dormitory, and Mass be celebrated after that hour. Presents of roses were made on Whitsunday. Festivals, &c. how observed. Whitsuntide. In some Churches abroad water was let down, afterwards d Benedict prescribed fasting from Holy-Cross day (Sept. 14.) to Easter, and from Pentecost to Holy-Rood day, every Wednesday and Friday. On the fasts prescribed by the Order, the Monks were to make but one repast at Nones (3 p. M.), and on the Church-fasts, not till the evening colla- tions. Reg. ch. xli. This fast was by no means observed. Reyn. Append. 165. The dispensation extended to growing youths, the sick, weak, minuti, and "those who bore the burden of the day." Const. M. Paris, p. 1059. Cap. Gen. Northamp. a. 1225. § Hospitalitate. By the const. of the same place, a. 1444, ch. viii. the Monks were not to sup on any Friday in the whole year, except a Christmas-day fell then. Fasting twice a week was borrowed from the Pha- risees. Pictet. Serm. sur. Matt. 19. Du Cange, v. Rosa. 58 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST wafers, from a hollow place in the mid- dle of the Church, in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Ghost.a The Ordinary of the Church of Rouen says, "Whilst Veni Creator is begun some of the Treasurer's people, being in the lower deambulatories of the tower, shall throw down before the Crucifix, and, as far as they can, be- low the Choir, oak-leaves, unconse- crated wafers, and burning tow, in a large quantity: and, at the Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God on high), shall let fly towards the Choir small birds, with unconsecrated wafers tied to their legs; and continue the above till the Mass, and not cease till the Gospel be said. All this was be at the expense of the Treasurer and Chapter in equal proportions. Elsewhere at the Feast of Pentecost we find, among the so- lemnities of High Mass, unconsecrated wafers, with burning torches, thrown down from the highest vaulting among the Choir."c Lambarde (after de- scribing the Office of the Sepulchre by Puppets, in which was one watch- man, who seeing Christ arise, made a continual noise, like the metynge of two sticks, and was therefore nick-named Jack Snackes) thus describes the Whit- suntide-office: "I myself, being then a child, once sawe in Poule's Church, in London, a feast of Whitsuntyde, wheare the coming downe of the Holy Ghost was set forth by a white Pigeon, that was let to fly out of a hole, that yet is to be seene in the mydst of the roof of the great isle; and by a long censer, which descendinge out of the same place, almost to the verie grounde, was swinged up and downe at such a lengthe, that it reached with thone sweepe almost to the West gate of the Churche, and with the other to the quyre staires of the same, breath- inge out over the whole Churche and companie, a most pleasant perfume of such swete things as burned therein. With the like doome shewes also, they used everie where to furnish sondrie Coryatt's Crudities, I. p. 3. b Du Cange, v. Nebula. c Id. v. Oblatæ. parts of their Church service, as by their spectacles of the Nativitie, Pas- sion, Ascension, &c."d In some Coun- cils of Spain it is enacted, that there be no representation of the emission of the Holy Ghost at this season, during Mass and Vespers, nor mock thunders, which had done much damage.e On the principal Feasts every thing was to be done usual on a holy sab- bath. On the Vigil the whole Monas- tery and all the Altars were to be ornamented to the best ability of the place. The Offices and Cloister were to be cleaned, the seats of the Refectory, Chapter, and Cloister, were to be covered, and rushes strewed on the forms. At the reading of the Gos- pel the Altar was to be uncovered, and all the tapers lighted. Festival cloths were to spread upon the Refectory tables, so that they might hang before, besides the daily ones upon which the Monks were to eat. They were to have towels to wipe their hands with at the first refection only, and late at supper. On the principal feasts of the second class, the Altars, Presbytery, Choir, and members of the Church, on both sides the Choir, were to be ornamented on the Vigil, the bells rung, as on principal feasts, two parts of the tapers of the crown of the Presbytery, all about the High Altar, and the one be- fore the Crucifix lighted. On Ascen- sion-day there was to be a procession in albs (a kind of surplice, the white garment that Herod put upon Christ.)f On the Feast of the Dedication of the Church, the tapers lighted at the Ves- pers preceding through all the Altars were not to be extinguished before the morrow's Complin. A Mass was to be celebrated at every Altar, if there were Priests enough; and after that a procession in albs, either around the Church, if there was a proper place for it, or through the Cloister. On Feasts of the third class the two Altars of the Presbytery, the Presby- d Warton's Poetry, I. 241, &c. • Du Cange, v. Zamborio. f Lewis's Thanet, p. 154. TO THE DISSOLUTION. 59 tery and Choir, were to be dressed on the Vigil. In the Exaltation of the Cross, the service was to be similar to that of the Invention, except that on the latter the Cross was to be worshiped, on the former not. In the latter, after Tierce, the Choir was to be strewed with carpets up to the High Altar. Two Monks were to bring the Cross, covered, to the step nearest the Altar. It was then to be uncovered, and at the ecce lignum crucis all were to kneel, and afterwards prostrate themselves before it, and kiss the foot of it accord- ing to seniority. This ended the two bearers were to begin an Antiphonar, super omnia, and all to kneel. The Cross was then to be returned to its place, and Mass performed. every Christian of age fasted three days on bread and water before the Feast of St. Michael, and went to church to confess barefooted, &c. Leg. Ethel- redi, 2, ap. Brompton. Du Cange, v. Jejunium. APPENDIX. DECREES OF THE COUNCIL OF LATE- RAN, ANNO 1215.a It enjoins visitations and general Chapters-forbids new religions-or- ders no Monk or Abbot to have a place in more than one house, nor to play at dice or draughts. draughts-prohibits players and jesters-mentions Abbots spending almost half the night in su- perfluous talk and dissolute habits, and never performing divine service four times in a year-enjoins the reli- si-gious not to be bail for persons with- On the five principal Sundays (1 Adv. Septuag. 1 Lent, Midlent, and Palm Sunday) the ornaments were to be milar to those of principal feasts. On all the feasts of twelve lessons, and all days within the octaves, the Monks were not to converse in the Cloister. On Trinity Sunday there was at Dur- ham a grand procession, and especially on Corpus Christi Day, instituted by Urban IV., and great pardons granted upon it. All the trades in the city, with banners and candles, and a shrine containing the pix (or chrystal-box en- closing the host), went in procession, and were joined by the Convent, who worshipped it; and had a service in the Choir. Of the play, &c. &c. upon this day, see Weever, Fun. Mon. 405. Strutt, Gliggam. 118. Archæological Library, 161, et alios. It was abolished by James I.; and the citizens, in some parts of England, to make themselves amends, substituted Show-days, and erected arbours in the town-meadows, Philips's where they feasted, &c. Shrewsbury, p. 202. Upon the Trans- figuration of Christ (Aug. 6), new wine, if it could be found, was used in the chalice, or sometimes a ripe grape squeezed into it, and the branches con- secrated. From this they communi- cated. Du Cange, v. Festum. Among the Anglo-Saxons, at least, out leave of the Abbot or Convent- forbids Abbots invading Episcopal Offices by "meddling with matrimonial causes, enjoining public penances, granting letters of indulgences, and si- milar presumptions"-prohibits the re- ceipt of tythes from lay-hands-repro- bates persons deputed to collect alms stopping in taverns or other unfit places-and censures simony. Labbei The Monks cite various constitutions, not to be found in Labbe. Swapham says, "it was de- creed in the Synod of Lateran, that the Monks should fast, as contained in the Rule, namely, from Holy-rood to Easter. The Abbot returning home from the said council, made it known to his Con- vent, and obtained, by his requests, that the afore- said fasts should be observed for the above time." Hist. Coenobii Burgensis, p. 111. Matthew Paris too (p. 1063) insinuates, that an alteration was made in the burial of Abbots after the Lateran Council. But the printed councils are notorious for omissions. See Selden's Titles of Honour, 239, ed. 2. Tythes, c. viii. § 4, 5, 10, 26, &c. bi. e. arbitrarily, without the Bishop's consent. See Selden on this passage. Tythes, c. 6, § 7. The cynical and querulous Barclay is bitter upon this subject. He says, "The Abbot and Prior, and also their Covent, Are so blinded with unhappy covetise, That with their own can they not be content, But to have more they alway meanes devise ; Yea in so much that some have found a gyse, To fayne their brethren taken in captivitie, That they may begge so by authoritie; They fayne miracles, where non were ever done, And all for lucre: some other range about, To gather and begge with some fayned pardon, 60 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST Concilia, sub anno 1215. [See § Monks and Nuns, for the practices alluded to.] CONSTITUTIONS OF BENEDICT THE TWELFTH, ANNO 1336. against Common and Provincial Chapters once in three years-appointment of visitors-general Chapters annually to correct abuses, and audit the accounts of those who had been charged with an office -aids and collections-daily Chapters in Abbeys of more than six Monks- masters to teach the Monks-to send students to the University-to grant pensions to them-against waste of the woods by improper sales, and granting pensions for life against deceitful contracts. "They also, by themselves and others, pretend to have made loans; sometimes in their own names, and their securities; and even make use of the names of others. Sometimes they acknowledge, by pub- lic instruments, to have borrowed from a father, relative, servant, or merchant, wine, corn, money, cattle, or other goods, for the use of their houses, when they never received any such thing"- Abbots to take an oath not to sell, alienate, mortgage, or enfeoff anew the lands destined "to the table of the house"-not to appropriate to them- selves the goods of vacant offices, priories, and benefices-inventories or registers ordered-places not to be let to farm unless from necessity-prelates and officers not to obtain privileges "by which the liberties, possessions, property, and rights of their offices are strengthened," and various valuables And at the Ale-house at night all drinketh out. So run these beggers in company rowte, By streetes, tavernes, towns, and villages: No place can well be free of their outrages. Some begge for buildinges, some for reliques newe Of holy saintes, of countreys farre and strange; And with their wordes fayned and untrue, For cause of lucre about they runne and range, But in a simple village, farme, or grange, Whereat these beggars most simple men may finde, With their false bones, as relickes, they them blinde. Ship of Fooles, 119, b. ed. Seb. Brandt. of their houses transferred to, or held in, the hands of relatives and friends- against Monks having property, scra- ping up money, buying estates, or causing them to be bought in other names, or their own; giving others cattle to keep to produce interest or profit to themselves or another, and driving many various bargains like tradesmen-against money being given them instead of victuals no secular clerks or laymen, or Monks of another house, to farm the kitchen-against of- ficers keeping women, although mo- thers and sisters, in the same house- not to have other horses or servants than office required-suite of Abbots and officers limited, except in case of war or personal danger-punctual- ity in payment of the funds for the - necessaries of Monks at the usual times-fit persons, or those likely to be so, only received as Monks-against deviations in dress-punishment of il- licit absence, a severe beating with a ferula, in Chapter ferula, in Chapter- against Monks dwelling alone in offices or priories, and single Monks being placed in towns and parish churches-the usual hours to be sung in the priories, and the Monks to take their weeks in celebra- ting Mass once a day with note where three or four more, and then one Mass at least every day-to lie in a Dormitory, not in separate chambers - -to obey the Prior-to abstain from flesh, and not to have partitions in the Dormitory-Masses to be celebrated once a week at least, in Priories and Schools, and elsewhere-persons, not Priests, to confess every week, and take the Sacrament once every month -proper provision for the books and necessaries of the Church-no person to be made a conventual Prior till twenty-five years old, and within a year after such promotion to be ordained Priest-Claustral Priora to be a prudent and discreet man-Monks not to hold offices or benefices in other churches or houses ancient number of Monks to be kept up, and the usual procura- a See § Prior. TO THE DISSOLUTION. 61 - tions paid-Presidents of Provincial Chapters to restore decayed discipline in bad houses, by sending them fit Monks for such purpose-Monks who had injured the property of their houses to be sent to others Mendi- cants a claiming administrations, of- fices, and similar privileges, among the Monks, to exhibit the papal au- thority for this assumption-no Monk defaming his superior to be attended to, unless willing to sustain the punish- ment of failure of proof-against con- spiracies concerning the promulga- tion of the constitutions in the pro- vincial Chapters. [For the Regular Canons. None but fit persons, or those likely to be so, to be received-to be instructed by a proper person during the time of pro- bation, "in a place where at least seven canons resided "- creation of them to belong to the Prelate and Convent; to the former, with counsel of a third of the seniors, if the Convent delayed after a month's warning-pro- fession, not clandestine, and with Mass -no clerk to be received to a Prebend or portion, who had not first resigned se & sua (himself and property) to the house a Claustral Prior in every house not having a superior, or more than twelve Canons, or (though usually fewer) having a head-regular Chapters at least once a week, or oftener-annual Chapter of superiors-provincial one from four years to four years -no large suite to be brought there-office of visitors-not to be visitors the same year of those who had visited them- not to stop above two days unless from urgent occasions-not to extort mo- ney by themselves or others, except for expenses b-collections to be made -masters to be appointed to teach • Friers. In the Visit. of Oseney, by Peacham, "procura- tionem visitationis-non in esculentis et poculentis ut assolet exigebat, sed in pecuniâ numeratâ juxta consuetudinem pristinam;" i. e. he required his procurations to be paid not in eatables and drink. ables, but in ready money, according to ancient custom. MS. Wood, in Mus. Ashmol. 8563, pp. 2, 12. So that episcopal and conventual visi- tors were on different footings. - the Canons in the primary sciences, and afterwards in the divine and canon laws-one out of twenty to be sent to study at the university-number to be made up by joining dependent and parent houses-pension to doctors, lecturers, scholars, and others-distri- bution of books among the students- government of them by a Prior-Pre- sidents of the Provincial Chapter to manage the affairs of the students in pecuniary respects-no one to take de- grees without previously engaging only to expend a certain sum-Canons in benefices and cells as the Benedictines before-usual number to be preserved -excess of horses and servants for- bidden-immoderate feasts of superiors and their servants prohibited - Reli- gious to go out with company-Abbots or other Prelates to have two compa- nions with them-beneficed men or of- ficers to be ordained Priests-regula- tion of dress-illicit absence punished as among the Benedictines-no aliena- tions of property without licence of the Papal Seefraudulent and deceitful contracts forbidden as in the Benedic- tine Constitutions-recovery of debts from them only after a consultation of at least two distinct days, with the Chapter or Convent-against unwise and injurious leases (locationes)-to have registers and archives-punctua- lity of payment in money or pensions for aliments and revenues-no flesh to be eaten on Sabbath, and all Advent- on Wednesday and Septuagesima ac- cording to local statute--to reside in the Cloister, and sleep in a Dortour, not private chambers-privileges and moveables as in the Benedictine Con- stitutions-Mass in Convents at least twice a week-in Priories and Cells once in schools or elsewhere at least once in fifteen days-Confession the same-Sacrament every month-Mass to be said, not by running it over, or shortening it, but gradually and dis- tinctly [see the end of this article ¶¶] From the Bullarium Romanum, V. I. p. 242— 274. The deviations alluded to in these and the preceding Constitutions will be severally discussed in their respective places. 62 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM FROM THE CONQUEST -care to be taken of the relicks and Church ornaments-not to be forced to secular courts-against hunting and fowling, "unless they had vivaria a or warrens of their own, or a right of sporting in others, in which case it was allowed, so that they did not keep dogs within their precincts, or lent their personal presence to hunting"-not to have arms without leave-against detraction and other crimes as in the Benedictine code.b] ¶¶ The abuse of the service in Churches under the Monks, Canons, and Clergy is delineated in a very curious and interesting manner by Barclay : There be no tidings nor nuelties of warre, Nor other wonders done in any straunge lande, Whatsoever they be, and come they never so farre, The Priestes in the queere, at first have them in hande, While one recounteth the other to understande His fayned fable, harkening to the glose, Full little adverteth howe the service goes. The Battayles done perchaunce in small Britayne, In Fraunce, or Flaunders, or to the worlde's ende, Are told in the quere (of some) in wordes vayne, In middest of Matins in steede of the Legende, And other gladly to heare the same intende. Much rather then the service for to heare, The Rector chori is made the messanger. He runneth about like to a pursevant With his white-staffe c moving from side to side; Where he is leaning tales are not scant, But in one place longe doth not he abide, So he and other themselves so lewdely d gide, Without devotion by their lewde negligence, That nothing can binde their tonges to silence. And in the morning when they come to the quere, The one beginneth a fable or a historie; The other leaneth their eares it to heare, Taking it in stede of the invitorie. Some other maketh respons, antem, and memory, And all of fables and jestes of Robin Hood, Or other trifles, that scantly are so good.e Ship of Fooles, 182, 183. The behaviour of the Laity in these Churches is also admirably described thus: "And whyle the Priestes also them exercise, In mattins, praying, sermon, or preaching devine, These were mostly fish-ponds or stews, but they mean parks here. See Lyndwood, p. 200. b Bullarium Romanum, ubi supra. e Collins mentions this (Peerage, VI. 419); but an Angel in a vision uses a reed, not a wand. Du Cange, v. Arundinetum. See § Precentor hereafter. d Lewdely, licentiously. Steevens. • The account of St. Paul's Church, as the Mart of News, in Mr. Douce on Shakespeare, well illustrates this passage. TO THE DISSOLUTION. 63 Of other due thinges, that longe to their service Teaching the people to vertue to encline; Then these fooles, as it were roving swine, With their jetting a and tales of viciousnesse, e; Trouble all suche service, that is said, more and lesse. Into the Church then comes another sotte,b Without devotion, jetting up and downe, c Or to be seene, and to showe his garded cote: Another on his fiste, a Sparhauke or Fawcone,d Or els a Cokow,e and so wasting his shone (shoes), Before the aulters he to and fro doth wander, With even as great devotion as a gander. In comes another his houndes at his tayle, With lynes and leases,f and other like baggage, His dogges barke, so that withouten fayle The whole Church is troubled by their outrage, So innocent youth learneth the same of age, And their lewde sounde doth the Church fill, But in this noyse the good people kepe them still. One time the hawkes bells jangleth hye, Another time they flutter with their winges, And nowe the houndes barking strikes the skye; Nowe sounde their feete, and nowe the chaynes ringes, They clap with their handes; by such maner thinges, They make of the Church for their hawkes a mewe, And canell (kennel) for their dogges, which they shall after rewe. There are handled pleadinges, and causes of the lawe, There are made bargaynes of divers maner thinges, Byinges and sellinges scant worth a hawe, And there are for lucre contrived false leasinges; And while the Priest his Masse or Matins singes, These fooles, which to the Church do repayre, Are chatting and babling, as it were in a fayre.5 Some gigle and laugh, and some on maydins stare, And some on wives with wanton countenance, a To Jet is to strutt. Steevens. Cotgrave (v. Fringuer) extends the meaning. Sot, not a drunkard. Sherwood says, "A sot. Sot, fol, bedault, badelori, grue, oison bride, jan- gipon, jobelin, micon, minchon, bedier, bejaune." Here it means a vain trifler. Laced. The English and French nobles never travelled but in a warlike or hunting equipage; the bird upon the fist, and the dogs running before. The bird upon the fist was the most unequivocal proof of nobility in women, and those not yet made knights. Maillot, III. 67. e Though it was usual to carry a Hawk upon the fist, I never before heard of a Cuckow: only that rank was distinguished by the kind of Hawk. f Cotgrave has lesse; a leash to hold a dog, &c. In the reign of Henry III. a law-suit was settled in St. Peter's Church, Bristol; and each party took a solemn oath, and agreed to forfeit ten marks for every article of the agreement which might be broken (Smythe's Berkeley MSS. 119). The people used to come early in the morning on law matters, begging to have Mass first said by the Priest (Sim. Dunelm. 35). This business was mostly done in the Porch. Eadmer (p. 26) mentions persons assembling there on business, which is an extremely ancient custom; the aisles and bodies of the Heathen temples being expressly devoted to such purposes, if desired. Godw. Rom. Hist. Anthol. p. 21. See, too, Livy, I. 30, &c. 64 BENEDICTINE MONACHISM. As for the service they have small force or care, But full delite them in their misgovernaunce. Some with their slippers to and fro doth praunce, Clapping with their heeles in Church and in queare, So that good people cannot the service heare. What shall I write of maydens and of wives, Of their roundinges a and ungoodly communing; Howe one a slaunder craftely contrives, And in the Church therof hath her talking; The other have therto their eares leaning; And then when they all have heard forth hir tale, With great devotion they get them to the ale. Thus is the Church defiled with vilany, And in steede of prayer and godly orison, Are used shameful bargayns and tales of ribawdry, Jettinges and mockinges and great derision; There fewe are or none of perfect devotion; And when oure Lorde is consecrate in fourme of bread, Therby walkes a knaves, his bonet on his head. Whispering, A. Sax. puntan, "called than to him a clark, and rowned with him." State Trials, p. 36, col. i. ed. Fol. 65 CHAPTER VI. RULES OF THE ORDERS WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. In the 13th century Guyot de Provins, at first a Minstrel, afterwards a Monk, wrote, what he has (oddly to us) deno- minated a Bible, though only a poem, religious, moral, and satirical.a It con- tains some curious passages of various Monastick orders, which he often ge- nerally designates, as does James de Vitry and others, by Black Monks, or those who follow the Benedictine Rule; and White Monks, who adopted the Augustinian Institutes, or, in reform- ing themselves, had quitted the black habit for the white. Cistertians. "The Abbots and Cel- larers have ready money, eat large fish, drink good wine, and send to the Re- fectory, for those who do the work, the very worst. These Monks," he says, "I have seen put pig sties in Church-yards, and stables for asses in Chapels. They seize the cottages of the poor, and reduce them to beggary." Carthusians. "I know the Car- thusians," says he, "and their life does not tempt me. They have each habitation; every one is his own cook; every one eats and sleeps alone; and I do not know whether God is much delighted with all this. But this I well know, that if I was myself in Pa- radise, and alone there, I should not wish to remain in it. A solitary man is always subject to bad temper. Thus I call those fools who wished me to immure myself in this way. But what I particularly dislike in the Carthu- sians is, that they are murderers of their sick. If these require any little extraordinary nourishment, it is pe- remptorily refused. I do not like re- ligious persons who have no pity; the very quality which, I think, they espe- cially ought to have." MS. Bibl. Nationale à Paris, marked La Va- liere, 2707, &c. The extracts are from the Notices, &c. vol V. 285, seq. Grandmontines. "Besides fondness for good cheer, they were remarkable for the most ridiculous foppery. They painted their cheeks, washed and co- vered up their beards at nights (as now women do their hair), in order that they might look handsome and glitter- ing on the next day. They were en- tirely governed by the Lay-brothers, who got possession of their money; and with it, buying the Court of Rome, obtained the subversion of the Order."b Regular Canons. "Augustin, whose rule [i. e. the Rule composed by Ivo de Chartres from the writings of Au- gustin, says Mosheim, &c.] they allow was more courteous than Benedict. Among them one is well shod, well cloathed, well fed. They go out when they like, mix with the world, and talk at table." Clugniacs. "When you wish to sleep they awake you: when you wish to eat they make you fast. The night is passed in praying in the Church, the day in working, and there is no re- pose but in the Refectory: and what is to be found there? Rotten eggs, beans with all their pods on, and (boisson des boeufs) liquor fit for oxen. For the wine is so poor (mouillé, wa- tered), that one might drink of it for a month without intoxication." Templars. "They are honoured in Syria, much dreaded by the Turks, and their order would suit me well enough, were it not necessary to fight; but they are too brave.d As to me, if I die, it will never be, I hope, through prowess or courage. I had rather be a living coward than have the most il- lustrious death in the whole world. These worthies (preux) of the Temple b Of this Monastick quarrel, see Fleury, Hist. Eccl. XVI. 73. These were eaten. Du Cange, v. Goussa. They were never to fly. M. Paris, 374. F 66 RULES OF THE ORDERS are very exact in all which concerns the service of the Church; and, re- specting that point, I should yield to them in nothing; but the moment fighting commenced, 'your servant,' they should go without me. A battle is not wholesome (saine). I willingly leave that honour to them; and, please God, I hope to be neither killed nor wounded.' Hospitalers. "I have lived with them at Jerusalem, and have seen them proud and fierce. Besides, since by name and foundation they ought to be hospitable, why are they not so in reality? A Monk in vain leads a very hard life, fasts, labours, chaunts, and reads the Scriptures, if he is not charitable; it is only an uninhabited house, where the spider weaves his web." a Converts of St. Antony. "They have established an Hospital, which has neither funds nor revenues; but, by the abundant alms which they have the secret of amassing, it procures them immense riches. With a bell in the hand, preceded by relicks and a cross, they run over, begging, not only all France, but Germany and Spain. There is neither fair, nor town, nor oven, nor mill where they have not a purse suspended. At the season of the vintage they go into the country to beg wine. The good wives give them linen, rings, hoods (guimper), clasps, girdles, cheeses, gammons of bacon, in one word, all they have got; and every thing comes alike to them. This year their pigs will bring them 5000 silver marks; for there is not a town or castle in France where they are not fed."b "In their Hospital there are fifteen b In the wood-cuts of the Golden Legend, An- thony has a tau cross (called from him Antonius. Du Cange in voce); i. e.. like a crutch, with a bell hanging from one of the beams, a book in his hand, a round hat, long gown, and a pig by his side. Fol. xlvii. b. The officers charged with the oversight of the markets in the City of London did several times take from the market people pigs starved, or other- wise unwholesome for man's sustenance. These they used to slit in the ear; and one of the Proc- Converts, fat and large. There they buy and sell; they are tradesmen. There is not one among them who is not worth 500 marks: some even a thousand. Besides (du reste) each of them has his wife or his kept woman (s'amie); they marry their girls ad- vantageously, leave a good property to their children, and keep a good house; but, in all this, Saint Antony goes for nothing." In the manuscript life of Gerard de Sala, we have the following anecdote of the Nuns of Fontevraud. Having en- tered their chapter to preach, he saw an abomination to God and Man. The Nuns with their hair dressed, and the horned head-dress [common in Strutt] above. Having beheld these reason- able beasts, he began to rave, and they were all soon after shorn.c I. BENEDICTINE RULE. ABBOT to represent Christ-to call all his Monks to council in important affairs, and afterwards adopt the ad- vice he thought best. Obedience with- out delay silence, no scurrility, idle words, or such as excite laughter- humility, patience in all injuries; ma- nifestation of secret faults to the Ab- bot--contentment with the meanest things and employment—not to speak when unasked to avoid laughter- head and eyes inclined downwards— to rise to Church two hours after mid- night-every week the Psalter to be sung through to leave the Church together at a sign from the Superior- a Dean over every ten Monks in large ― -- tors for St. Anthony's Hospital (in London), having tied a bell about the neck of one of them, and turned it to feed on the dunghills, no man would hurt or take it up; but if any gave them bread, or other feeding, such they would know, watch for, and daily follow, whining till they had somewhat given them. From whence arose the Proverb, That such a one would follow such a one, and whine like an Anthony Pig." If one of these Pigs grew to be fat, and came to good liking, as often- times they would, then the Proctor took it up for the use of the Hospital. Maitland's London, 845; from Stowe. d Du Cange, v. Mantica. WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. 67 houses. Light in the Dormitory-to sleep cloathed, with their girdles on, the young and old intermixed. Upon successless admonition and public re- prehension excommunication; and, in failure of this, corporal chastisement. For light faults the smaller excommu- nication, or eating alone after the others had done-for great faults se- paration from the table, prayers, and society, and neither himself nor food to receive the benediction-those who joined him or spoke to him to be themselves excommunicated-the Ab- bot to send seniors to persuade him to humility and making satisfaction -the whole congregation to pray for incorrigible, and, if successless, to pro- ceed to expulsion (vide § CHapter). No person expelled to be received after the third expulsion. Children to be punished by fasting or whipping. Cel- larer to do nothing without the Abbot's order, and in large houses have assist- ants. Habits and goods of the house to be in the hands of proper officers; the Abbot to have an account of them. No property. Distribution according to every one's necessities. The Monks to serve weekly, and by turns, at the kitchen and table. Upon leaving their Upon leaving their weeks, both he that left it, and he that began it, to wash the feet of the others, and on Saturday to clean all the plates, and the linen which wiped the others feet. To resign the dishes clean and whole to the Cellarer, who was to give them to the new Hebdo- madary. These officers to have drink and food above the common allow- ance before the others, that they might wait upon them cheerfully. The Heb- domadaries, both entering and retiring from office, were on solemn days to continue till the Masses; after Mattins on the Sunday to kneel and beg the others to pray for them; then, those going out to say a certain prayer three times, and receive the benediction; the one coming in to do the same, and after benediction go into office.-Infir- mary. Its officer. Use of the baths, and flesh for the sick ordered. Rule mitigated to children and old men, who had leave to anticipate the hours of eating. Refection in silence, and reading Scripture during meals. What was wanted to be asked for by a sign. Reader to be appointed for the week. Two different dishes at dinner, with fruit. One pound of bread a day for both dinner and supper. No meat but to the sick. Three quarters of a pint of wine per day. From Holyrood day to Lent dining at Nones; in Lent till Easter at six o'clock; from Easter to Pentecost at Sext; and all summer, except on Wednesdays and Fridays, then at Nones. Collation or spiritual lecture every night before Complin (after supper), and, Complin finished, silence. Loss of rank, subtraction of wine or their allowance, or sit- ting in the place of disgrace, for tar- diness at Church or table. Prostra- tion with the face towards the ground, without the Church-gate, when the Monks went to prayers, for the ex- communicated. Immediate pardon to be sought for a fault in the chant; faults in other places, or breaking any thing, to be spontaneously acknow- ledged before the Abbot and congrega- tion. Abbot to give the signal for going to Church, and nobody to sing or read there without his leave. Work from Prime till near ten o'clock from Easter till cal. Octob.; from ten till near twelve reading. After refection at twelve, the meridian or sleep, unless any one preferred reading. After Nones labour again till the evening. From cal. Oct. to Lent reading till 8 A.M. then Tierce, and afterwards la- bour till Nones. After refection read- ing or psalmody. In Lent reading till Tierce; doing what was ordered till ten; delivery of the books at this season (vide Dec. Lanfr.). Senior to go round the house, and see that the Monks were not idle. On Sunday all reading except the officers, and the idle and infirm who had work given them. Particular abstinence in Lent from meat, drink, and sleep; and especial gravity. Monks travelling to say the canonical hours wherever they hap- pened to be. Monks staying out be- F 2 68 RULES OF THE ORDERS yond a day not to eat abroad without the Abbot's leave. No other use than that of prayer to be made of the Church.a Strangers to be received with prayer (by them and the Monks); the kiss of peace, prostration and washing their feet, as of Christ, whom they represented; then to be led to prayer, the Scripture read to them, after which the Prior might break his fast (except on a high fast). Abbot's kitchen and the visitors' separate, that guests coming in at unseasonable hours might not disturb the Monks. No letters or presents to be received without the Abbot's leave. Abbot to invite his Monks when he had no strangers. Workmen in the house to labour for the common profit. Novices to be tried by denials and hard usage before admission; a year of probation; rule read to them in the interim every fourth month; admitted by a petition laid upon the altar, and prostration at the feet of all the Monks. Parents to offer their children by wrapping their hands in the pall of the altar, promis- ing to leave nothing to them (that they might have no temptation to leave the house); and, if they gave any thing with them, to reserve the use of it during their lives. Priests requesting Priests requesting admission to be tried by delays; to sit near the Abbot, but not to exercise sacerdotal functions without leave, and conform to the rule. Strange Monks to be received, and if of good intreated to stay. Monks, ordained priests, to be subject to the rule and officers, or else expelled. Precedence accord- ing to the time of profession. Elders to call the juniors brothers; the juniors to call the elders nonnos; the Abbot domnus or pater. When two Monks Thus Theodulphus, Bishop of Orleans, after Bennet's æra, says, "Videmus crebro in ecclesiis messes et fœuum congeri" (we see corn and hay often stored in Churches). Epist. p. 263.-The canon against carrying on "trades in Churches," in Lyndwood, is well known. b There is no satisfactory definition of this word. Cancellieri (Lettera sopra Dominus e Domnus, Rom. 1808) notes, that in Italy, children use Nonno and Nonna to Grandfathers and Grand- mothers. Magas. Encycloped. Tom. V. p. 204. met, the junior was to ask benediction from the senior; and when he passed by, the junior was to rise and give him his seat, nor to sit down till he bade him. Abbot to be elected by the whole society and plurality of votes ; his life and prudence to be the qualifi- cations. Prior elected by the Abbot; deposable for disobedience. Porter to be a wise old man, able to give and re- ceive an answer, who was to have a cell near the gate, and a junior for a companion. If possible, to prevent eva- gation, water; a mill, garden, oven, and all other mechanical shops to be within the house. Monks going on a journey to have the previous prayers of the house, and, upon return, pray for pardon of excesses on the way. Impossible things ordered by the su- perior to be humbly represented to him; but, if he persisted, the assist- ance of God to be relied on for the execution of them. Not to defend or excuse one another's faults. No blows or excommunication without the per- mission of the Abbot. Children might be corrected with discretion. Mutual obedience; but no preference of a pri- vate person's commands to those of the superiors. superiors. Prostration at the feet of the superiors as long as they were angry. Sanctorum Patrum Regulæ Monas- ticæ, Louv. 12mo. 1571, fol. 9-51. Joh. de Turrecremata, Concordia Re- gularum, &c. &c. &c. From this Rule proceeded the 1. Clugniacs. Benedictines, says Bouthillier de la Rance, according to the spirit of the Rule. Their peculiarities were-two solemn Masses every day; on private sccred days no labour allowed, except out of the hours of divine service. Every day each alternate choir "offered their hosts" (singulis diebus suas sin- guli hostias alterni chori offerebant), although five only on Sundays, and three on common days, were used to communicate, the rest taking the con- secrated wafers before their common WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. 69 food in the manner of Eulogiæ.a In solemn masses of the dead, and the three days of rogations, both choirs made an offering. In greater solem- nities the Deacon communicated from the wafer of the celebrating Priest, the rest from the other wafers. The Com- munion was extended to all three days before Easter. If any one on the holy Saturday (Sabbath) wished privately to perform divine service (sacrum facere) he did not use a candle, because the new fire was not yet consecrated (see Conc. Regul. & Decr. Lanfr.), (especial pecu- liarities were used in making the host.) Constant silence in the day-time; al- most death to violate it before Prime; hence the use of signs among them instead of words. From the ides of November the seniors attended to me- ditation in the Church after Mattins, whilst the juniors diligently studied singing in the Chapter. Manual la- bour was accompanied with the repeti- tion of psalms. The proclamation of crimes was usual among them. Strangers were not admitted after Complin, nor leave of refection after that time granted to the Monks who were absent from the common table. A Monk just going to mount his horse to go out, if the bell for divine service happened to ring, was to delay his journey, and proceed to the Church. In the fasts they nearly observed the Rule of Benedict. From the ides of September they ate only once a day; but in feasts of 12 lessons and the octaves of Christmas and Epiphany twice. On those feasts, after dinner and reading in the Cloister, Nones having been said, they went to the re- fectory to drink; but on private days this was done only after Vespers and reading; and when that was over read- These were loaves offered in the Church for alms, and consecrated, from a part of which the host was taken, and they were given to those who, from any impediment, could not take the sacrament. They were given after the Mass by the Priest, a little before the dismissal, and were kissed before eating. Eulogiæ privatæ were loaves consecrated, and sent as presents, by Ecclesiasticks, to each other. Du Cange, v. Eulogiæ. See Hot-cross Buns, Ch. V. ing again; then the spiritual lecture or collation before Complin. The re- mains of the bread and wine were given by the Almoner to pilgrims pe- destrians. Eighteen poor were fed every day; but in Lent an amazing number. The manual labour, says Udalricus, was Udalricus, was "to shell unripe beans, or weed in the garden, and sometimes. make bread in the bake-house" (fabas novas et nondum bene maturas de fol- liculis suis egerere, vel in horto malas herbas et inutiles, et quæ bonas herbas suffocabant eruere, et aliquando panes formare in pistrino). Udalricus Anti- quiores Consuetudines Cluniacensis. Monasterii in D'Acherii Spicilegium, IV. 39. The above is from this writer, and Mabillon's Annales Benedictini, III. 389, seq. The abuses and dege- neracy of this order may be seen in the Appendix to Reyner's Apost. Benedict. and MS. Cott. Tiber. b. XIII.; extracts from which MS. (i. e. from the parts unpublished in Anglia Sacra, vol. II.) are given elsewhere.-[The Rule is ex- cessively voluminous, and defies abridg- ment regularly; therefore the learned must go to the original. I am indebted principally to Mabillon. Ceremonies, not customs, form the mass of the Rule.] A reformation of it in Bulla- rium Roman. vol. 1. p. 101. 2. Cistercians. Benedictines, according to the letter of the Rule, without mitigation ("in quo," says Mabillon, "regula sine ullâ mitigatione ad apicem servaretur.") Their peculiarities I shall give from Dugdale's Warwickshire, which I have compared with Malmesbury and Knigh- ton. "First, for their habits they wear no leather or linen, nor indeed any fine woollen cloth; neither, except it be on a journey, do they put on any breeches, and then upon their return, deliver them fair washed. Having two coats with cowls, in winter time they are not to augment, but in summer if they please may lessen them; in which habit they are to sleep, and after Mattins not to return to their beds. For prayers, the hour of Prime 70 RULES OF THE ORDERS they so conclude, that before the Laudes it may be day-break, strictly observing their rule, that not one iota or tittle of their service is omitted. Immediately after Laudes they sing the Prime; and after Prime they goe out performing their appointed hours in work. What is to be done in the day they act by day-light; for none of them, except he be sick, is to be absent from his diurnal hours, or the Com- pline. When the Compline is finished the steward of the house and he that hath charge of the guests go forth, but with great care of silence serve them. For diet, the Abbot assumes no more liberty to himself than any of his Con- vent, every where being present with them, and taking care of his flock, except at meat, in regard his table is always with the strangers and poor peo- ple. Nevertheless, wheresoever he eats he is abstemious of talk or any dainty fare, nor hath he or any of them ever above two dishes of meat; neither do they eat of fat or flesh except in case of sickness; and from the ides of Sep- tember till Easter they eat no more than once a day, except on Sundays, no not on any festivals. Out of the precints of their Cloyster they go not but to work,a neither there nor any where do they discourse with any but the Abbot or Prior. They unweariedly continue their canonical hours, not piecing any service to another except the vigils for the deceased. They observe the office of St. Ambrose, so far as they could have perfect knowledge thereof from Millain; and taking care of strangers and sick peo- ple, do devise extraordinary afflictions for their own bodies, to the intent their Their manual labour was as follows: "In Summer, after Chapter, which followed Prime, they worked till Tierce, and after Nones till Ves- pers. In Winter, from after Mass till Nones, and even to Vespers during Lent. In harvest, when they went to work in the farms, they said Tierce, and the conventual Mass immediately after Prime, that nothing might hinder their work for the rest of the morning; and often they said divine service in the places where they were at work, and at the same hours as those at home celebrated in the Church." Dev. Vie Monast. II. 337. souls may be advantaged." Hospinian says thus, De Orig. et Progr. Monach. p. 313, of them; a year's probation- no reception of fugitives after the third time-all fasts observed according to the rule-prostration to visitors and washing their feet-Abbot's table al- ways with guests and pilgrims-labour more than the rule required-delicate habits exploded-obsolete and primi- tive fervour endeavoured to be revived by them.-Avarice was the great vice of this order. They were great deal- ers in wool; generally very ignorant; and, in fact, farmers more than Monks. The authors who have writ- ten upon this order (and indeed every other) are enumerated by Fabricius; and I wish the learned may have the good fortune to find them, which I had not (at least most of them), though I tried the best library in the kingdom, the Bodleian.b 3. Grandmontines. Benedictines, with certain exceptions directed against the wealth, luxury, and secular conduct of the parent Monks. By these exceptions poverty and obe- dience were especially inculcated; no lands or Churches were allowed beyond the limits of the house. They were to reserve nothing offered for Masses, nor exercise a right of penance over others. On Sundays and festivals se- culars were not admitted to their Church. Possession of cattle was for- bidden. If oppressed by poverty they were to have recourse to the bishop; and, if he did not relieve them, after fasting two days, two brothers, sturdy in religion, were to beg alms from door to door. Fairs, traffic, and trials were forbidden. Women were not admitted into the order, nor men of another or- der, nor seculars under twenty years of age. Silence in the Church, Clois- ter, Refectory, and Dormitory, and from Complin till after Chapter. Care of temporals in the lay-brothers; even the ornaments of the Church to be b The Usus Cisterciensium is the main book. WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. 71 sold for alms. The flesh both of birds and quadrupeds was forbidden. Re- fection twice from Easter to the Exal- tation of the Cross. From Exaltation to Easter perpetual fast (except Sun- days and Christmas), and then one re- fection after Nones; from Lent to Easter after Vespers. From All Saints to Christmas only Lent food; but on other days out of Lent eggs and cheese were allowed. At the election of the Prior of Grammont, two brothers from every cell assembled at Grammont, out of which twelve were elected to choose the Prior, six clerks, and as many lay-brothers. When elected, he could not leave the Cloister of Grammont but from urgent necessity. The Rule in short turned upon three points: im- prisonment in the house; perpetual silence; and a distinction of the Her- mits, totally absorbed in contemplation, and Lay-brethren, who had the care of the Temporals, and of course took ad- vantage of the others. This silly Rule is in Martene's Anecdota, Vol. IV.; whence extracts are given in this work. 4. Carthusians. Variety of superstitious gestures and ceremonies; as faces totally hid at the canon of the Mass (i. e. words of con- secrating the Eucharist), shewn at other times; fingers not clenched; legs not extended, spread, or crossed. Pri- vate prayer at the Altar once a day; omitted when any frailty had been in- curred. "In the time of Matins, in which there is an interval before Lauds, no one left the Church but from neces- sity. Between Matins and Tierce every day spiritual exercises; from Tierce to Sext, and from Nones to Vespers, ma- nual labour; to be interrupted with short prayers; from Vespers to Com- plin manual labour; reading, however, not excluded at these times. No dis- ciplines, vigils (not of this institution), nor abstinences, except those of the order, allowed. Hours not to be said in another's cell, unless the brother was there at work with the inhabitant; silence in the cell; cell door not open, unless another person was with the in- habitant. To ask for what they wanted after Nones on a talking day. If any brother came to the cell he was inter- rogated, whether he had the Prior's or his substitute's licence; if not, the but- ler or porter was to procure it, other- wise they could not be conversed with. Departure from another's cell or elsewhere after Complin. No con- versation with persons coming up with- out the Prior's licence, but only with those they were working with. Not to enter the cells of others without licence. No letters to be sent or received. Not to leave the cell except to confession or conference by the Prior's order. No pottage or pittance, only raw herbs and fruits to be kept in the cell. Every inhabitant to have two books to read, besides other writing and necessary utensils. In Chapter no speech, but at confession or when the Chapter was held. In the Refectory dining bare- headed; drinking with two hands; bow- ing to those who brought or removed anything; no wiping of hands or mouths at the cloth. Plates not uncovered, nor cloths turned up before the presiding officers. No speech in the Fratry, Cloister, or Church. To go out to common labour only thrice on three days in the year: 1. In the second week after the octaves of Easter; another in the second week after the festival of Peter and Paul; 3d. in the first week. after Michaelmas. A Novice to be re- commended to a senior, who at suitable times was to instruct him in saying the hours and other observances, which he was to take great pains about for a week, or longer if necessary; and, till such Novice could say the hours, no one was to visit the cell but the Prior or Proctor. The summer meridian or sleep. Conversation after Nones, from November to Easter, of the customs of the order; afterwards of the Gos- pels. From Exaltation of the Cross, eating only once a day. General con- 72 RULES OF THE ORDERS fession on the Sabbath; private con- fession besides. From the rule in Monast. Anglic. I. 951-958. ― II. THREE AUGUSTINIAN RUles. Rule I. PROPERTY relinquished by the applicant for admission. Pro- bation by the Prior. Nothing to be taken away by a Canon leaving the order from necessity. Any thing offered to be accepted by the Prior's approba- tion. The rule to be observed from the Superior downwards. Punishment denounced for contumacy, and offences declared to the Præpositus, before whom disagreements were also to be laid. Property detained through ne- cessity as above to be delivered to the Superior.-Rule II. What Psalms, &c. to be sung at the hours and nightly readings immediately after Vespers. Labour from the morning till Sext, and from Sext till Nones reading. After refection work till Vespers. Two to be sent together on the Convent busi- ness. No one to eat or drink out of the house. Brothers sent to sell things not to do any thing against the Rule. No idle talk or gossiping, but sitting at work in silence.-Rule III. Union in one house. Food and raiment dis- tributed by the Superior. Every thing common. Consideration to be had of infirmity; against pride on account of difference of birth. Concord. Atten- tion to divine service at the proper hours. Not to make other use of the Church than that it was destined to, except praying in it, out of the proper hours, when they had leisure or incli- nation. When psalm-singing to re- volve it in the heart. Not to sing but Not to sing but what was enjoined to be sung. Fast- ing and abstinence. Those who did not fast to take nothing beyond the usual time of dining, except when sick. Reading during dinner. Better food for the sick, not to make the others discontented. Better provisions and clothes for those of delicate habits, not to disgust the others. Sick to be treated in recovery as suitable; return to the usual habit when well. Habit not conspicuous. To walk together when going out, and stand together at the journey's end. Nothing offen- sive in gait, habit, or gestures. Not to fix their eyes upon women. Mu- tually to preserve each other's modesty when two together, in a Church where women were. Punishment by the Su- perior for such offences. Receipt of letters or presents to be punished un- Cloaths less voluntarily confessed. from one common vestiary, as food from one cellar. Labour for the com- mon good. Vestments sent by relatives to be stored in the common vestiary. Same punishment for concealment as of theft. Clothes washed, according to the order of the Superior, either by them- selves or fullers. Washing the body in case of infirmity by medical advice, or, on refusal of that, by the order of the Superior. Not to go to the baths but by two or three, and then with the person appointed by the Superior. Sick to have an Infirmarer. Cellarers, Chamberlains, or Librarians, to serve the brethren with good-will. Books not to be obtained but at the stated hour. Clothes and shoes to be delivered when needed. No lawsuits or quarrels, or terminated as quick as possible. Satisfaction to be made for offences, and speedy forgiveness in the offended. Harsh expressions avoided, and an Obe- apology made when uttered. dience to the Superior, who, if he spoke harsh, was not to beg pardon. Obedience to the head over them, but especially to the Priest, who had the care of the whole house. Superior, when his authority was not sufficient, to have recourse to that of the Elder or Priest. Superior to govern in Cha- rity; to be strict in discipline, yet aim more to be loved than feared. Rule to be read in the presence of the Monks once a week. Monast. Anglic. vol. II. &c. &c. To this Rule were adapted the fol- lowing orders: 1. Praæmonstratensians. Novices to be of a proper age; able before profession to read well, under- stand grammar, and know Latin. Ille- gitimates not to be admitted, accord- WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. 73 ing to the decree of Sixtus the Fifth; but Abbots might dispense with this on account of merit. Novices con- fessed to the Masters: not to be pro- fessed before eighteen. The object of the institution pure contemplative life. The Summer regulations were-Daily chapter. Twice refection from Easter to Holyrood, except certain days. From Chapter (after Prime) work. Af- ter Tierce great Mass, immediately followed by Sext, then reading, then refection; after this sleep till Nones; after Nones drinking, then Vespers ; after Vespers reading till collation. On Sundays the same, except reading instead of work. In fasts Mass after Sext; reading till Nones; after Nones refection and sleep. In harvest times Mass early in the morning; same in feasts of twelve lessons "which were not observed in the diocese." At this period working from Prime to Sext, and dining out of the house, if needful, and sleeping, if not above a French mile from the Abbey; if afar off to work till Vespers, and, after singing them in the fields, to return home. Winter regulations.-From Sept. 14, to Easter, continual fast and dining after Nones, except Sundays and Christmas; Tierce after Chapter with- out an interval; after Tierce mixtus for the boys and infirm, after Tierce work till Sext; after Sext Mass; read- ing till Nones; after Nones refection; then reading or work till Vespers ; after these reading till collation. On feasts of nine lessons and Sabbaths Tierce delayed; Mass said after it, and im- mediately followed by Sext; others the same. Sundays same as in Sum- mer, except that Nones was said after refection, because there was no sleep before it. On all festivals, when there was no work, to read instead in the working hours. In Lent the seven penitential Psalms were said by the Con- vent prostrate; Tierce followed with- out interval; Mass after Nones; refec- tion after Vespers ; after refection read- ing, and, in case of any necessity, work. Bibliotheca Præmonstratensis, vol. I. p. 24, 789, 90, where the Rule, filling nearly a folio volume. Their Abbots were never to use any episcopal insig- nia. All the Abbots to meet once a year at Premontre, to consult about the affairs of the order: penalty for non-attendance to be taken off only by the Pope himself. Abbots to have power of excommunicating and ab- solving their Monks. Differences arising to be composed among them- selves, and no appeal to be allowed to secular courts. Not to keep or feed dogs, hawks, swine, &c. Exemption from the Bishop's jurisdiction. Ordi- nation upon refusal of the Diocesan from any other Bishop. No schools. for the education of youth among them. Id. The Præmonstratensian Nuns did not sing in the Choir and Church; prayed in silence. Priests and Clerks dwelt apart, who instructed them in Scripture at certain seasons, and heard their confessions. Launoii Opuscula varia, III. 134. Vow 2. Trinitarians. Government by a minister. of chastity and poverty. Third part of comings-in (the properest term) to be devoted to the redemption of Christian captives from infidels. Of cloaths and shoes, and small matters for use, the Convent to deliberate whether they should be sold or not, in the Sunday chapter; if sold, the third part to be used as above. All the churches to be of plain work, and dedicated to the Trinity. Three clerks and three lay- men in the house besides the Minister. Sleep in their cloaths; no feather beds nor counterpanes, only pillows allowed. Gowns to be marked. To ride upon asses. Wine to be drank so as not to invade sobriety. Fasting from the ides of September on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sabbath (except festivals intervening and Sundays), till Easter on Lent food. Usual fast of the Church. Minister might relax it from age, travelling, or any just cause. Flesh only on certain Sundays. To buy nothing but beans, peas, pulse, pot- herbs, oil, eggs, milk, cheese, and fruit; no flesh, fish, nor wine, except for the sick, minuti, or poor, or in great so- lemnities they might buy and bring up 74 RULES OF THE ORDERS articles of food. Wine allowed spa- ringly on journeys, and fish in Lent if necessary. The residue of presents to undergo the triple division. The whole if they were on a journey to redeem captives, after expenses were paid, to be devoted to that purpose. In towns where there were houses of the Order to eat only in them. Allowed to drink water in creditable houses, but not to sleep elsewhere than above, or use taverns. Same food, clothing, dormi- tory, refectory, and table for Brothers, Clerks, and Laymen. Sick to sleep and eat apart under a lay or clerk In- firmarer. Sick not to require delicate food. Strangers to be received, but no oats, except to poor religious, if any was to be bought in the place. Labour. Silence in Church. Fratry. Dormi- tory. Speech of necessary matters at fit times, in a low voice. Chapter every Sunday. Accounts of the re- demption-money interchangeably set- tled between the Minister and Brethren. Sermon to the whole establishment. No accusation without proof, or the accuser to undergo the punishment the accused had been liable to. The pu- nishment of raising scandals or striking in the breast of the minister. To beg pardon even to three times of the party offended. If it should become public pardon to be solicited at the feet of the Minister, who was to settle the matter ad arbitrium. When the offence existed only between brother and brother, and no other person knew it, private admo- nition, to repent and not do the like again, from the party injured, for three times. General chapter once in the year in the octaves of Pentecost. Debts about to be contracted first canvassed in Chapter. In case of violence done to the property of the house, admoni- tion first to the party from the Convent, afterwards from the neighbours. Elec- tion of the Minister of the order by common consent; to be a priest or clerk fit for orders. Minister of the order to hear the confessions of all the brothers of all the houses; lesser Mi- nister those of his own house. Minis- ter to see the rule observed. Deposi- tion by the greater Minister, and three or four lesser ones: if the greater Minister was too far off, by lesser ones deputed by him. Greater Minister deposed by four or five lesser ones authorized by the general Chapter. Year's probation of Novices, longer if necessary, during which he retained his property. Men received if agree- able to the Convent, and there was a vacancy. No one to be received before twenty years old. Profession in the will of the Minister. No pledges (pig- nora; I am not certain whether it may not have a more extensive meaning), except tithes with the Bishop's consent, or oaths allowed, except on very extra- ordinary occasions, with licence of the Minister of the order, of the Bishop, or any one executing apostolical func- tions. Faults in things sold to be notified to the buyer; no deposits of money, &c. to be received. Sick to confess, and communicate the first day of their coming. Every Monday after Mass, except at certain seasons, absolution of all faithful persons buried in the cemetery. Every night, at least, in the guest-house or almonry (hospi- talis) in the presence of the poor, prayer for the holy Roman Church, all Christendom, pious benefactors, &c. Manner of St. Victor in the regular hours. Tonsure of St. V. Laymen not to shave their beards. Monast. II. 830, 1. 3. Dominicans. Followed, according to the "Scrip- tores Ordinis Prædicatorum," vol. I. p. 12, the Rule of Austin, with severe additions in food, fasts, bedding, gar- ments, and utter dereliction of property. Of the first Dominicans (says Surius, 1. VI. v. IV. p. 544, seq. in August.), the Novices were perfectly instructed. Silence was rigidly observed; and, af- ter Complin till Tierce, praying 100 or 200 times a day. Complin. Salve regina, &c. Disciplines. Confessions before Mass. Wonderful abstinence, as stopping eight days without drink. Vast respect for the Virgin Mary. Frequent preaching. A general Chapter yearly WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. 75 (says Hospinian, de Orig. et Progr. Monach. S92, 3). Long fasts, for seven months together, from Holyrood-day till Easter, and at other times on Fri- days, with some other days. No flesh except to the sick. Only woollen in dress and beds, nor even with counter- panes (culcitris). No intercourse with women. Silence at certain places and hours; that at table first founded by Jordan of Paris, general of the order about 1226. Buildings low, suitable to their poverty. Cloister and in it Cloister and in it cells accommodated for study, and in the cells an image of the Virgin Mary and Crucifix. More particulars of this order may be found in the citations I have given from MS. Cott. Nero A. XII. Constit. Fratrum; which, from the single term fratres, should belong to the Dominicans. 4. Knights Hospitalers. Vows of chastity, poverty, and obe- dience. To have nothing but bread, water, and clothes. Clerks to serve at the Altar in white dresses. Priest, Deacon, and Sub-deacon, and, if neces- sary, another clerk. Light in the Church night and day. Priest with the Host, Deacon, or Sub-deacon, or other clerk, with the lantern and a sponge with holy water, to visit the sick. Knights to go out (not alone) but by two or three, with companions order- ed by the masters, and to stand to- gether at their journey's end. No wo- men to wash their heads or feet, or make their beds. To ask food only in begging alms, and buy nothing else. Not to receive either lands or pledges, but to give an account of what they received to the Master, and he to send it with that writing to the house. Mas- ter to have the third part of the bread and wine and food (nutrimentum) of all obediences; the superfluity to alms. None to go to the collections but those whom the Chapter and Master of the Church sent. In their collections to put up with such food as the other Knights had amongst themselves, and to carry a light, and have that light burning before them in every house (hospitales) they went into. Not to wear unsuitable clothes. To eat but twice in a day, and on Wednesday and Sunday, and from Septuagesima to Easter, no flesh, the infirm and sick excepted. Never to sleep naked, but clothed in camelot (see chap. III.) li- nen or woollen, or some such dress. A Knight committing fornication to repent privately and enjoin penance upon himself; if discovered, he was, upon a Sunday after Mass, in the town where he had committed it, in the pre- sence of all the people, to be stripped and beat by the master and brethren, and then expelled: if, however, he did suitable penance for a whole year, in a strange place, he might be received again if the Knights chose it. The pu- nishment of altercation was seven days dining on the ground, without table and cloth, and fasting Wednesday and Friday on bread and water. Any one who struck another to be in the forty days' fast. If any one eloped from the house or master he had been committed to, similar forty days' penance, besides staying in a strange place as long as the time of his absence, except it was so long that the Chapter thought fit to moderate it. Silence in dinner and in bed, and no drinking after Complin. Brothers incorrigible after a third ad- monition to be sent to Jerusalem on foot. If Not to strike the servants. any Knight took the property of a deceased one (so I venture to render "in morte sua proprietatem habuerit, et magistro suo celaverit, ac postea super eum inventa fuerit"), and the money was found upon him, it was to be tied round his neck, himself severely beaten by the others, and the forty- days' fast enjoined as above. Trental or thirty-days' Mass for the dead: in the first Mass an offering of a candle or money by every Knight, which mo- ney was given to the poor; Priest who sung the Mass, if not of the house, to have a procuration; upon the end of the office the Master to make a charity for him; all the clothes of the deceased. given to the poor; brothers priests to say prayers for him; the clerks to sing 76 RULES OF THE ORDERS a Psalter, and laymen say 150 Lord's prayers. Chapter for deciding on crimes, business, and accusations. Sick received with confession; communion; afterwards carried to bed, and then, according to the ability of the house, charitably refreshed every day before the Knights went to dinner. Every Every Sunday the Epistle and Gospel sung, procession and sprinkling of holy water. If any obedientiary (officer) gave the goods of the house to secular persons, for the sake of governing, to be expel- led. If two or more Knights went to- gether, and one behaved ill, he was not to be exposed, but one of the others was to reprimand him in a friendly manner; and, if he would not amend himself, to get two or three others to join him and chastise him; if this would not do to be punished as the Master and Chapter directed. Not to accuse another without proof. The cross to be worn upon their robes and cloaks. When any one wished to be admitted a Knight, he was to come to the Chapter on a Sunday, ask the con- sent of the house, and, on consent of the majority, be received; after certain exhortations and engagements, to take the missal in both his hands, make an oath, go to the Church, lay the book upon the altar, and bring it back; the person who was to make him a Knight then to take the missal from him, and give him the missal with a suitable prayer. Those who sought the frater- nity only, to take a like oath upon the missal; to promise to love the house and Knights; to defend them with their utmost ability from all evil-doers (malefactoribus); defend the property of the house, and, if not able to do this, make the evil known; to engage that, if they took any religious order, it should be that; and, if they died without, to be buried in their cemetery, and make an annual present to the house. Upon this to receive the peace; and their names, and what they pro- mised to give annually, to be entered in the register. Monast. Anglic. II. 493-7. These military orders, it seems, were augmented by the entrance of many noble persons abroad, after the de- parture of the two kings (Richard I. and Philip of France); which noble persons bestowed all their transmarine property upon them.-Unicum tamen memorabile hoc tempore contigit quod multi ingenui et nobiles viri post regum et principum discessum in terrâ sanctâ permanserunt, atque sese militaribus ordinibus adjunxerunt, omnibus suis bonis transmarinis iisdem attributis. Pantaleon de Ord. Joannitarum, 1. II. p. 63, anno 1193. Rules blended, or unconnected with the Benedictine and Augustinian. 1. Knights Templars. Rule composed by Bernard. Regu- lar service; so many Lord's Prayers instead if they could not attend. Mass for a dying Knight, and 100 Lord's Prayers for him afterwards for seven days; same allowance as to him when alive to a poor man for forty days. Chaplains only to have food and rai- ment. Seven days of support to a poor man for the brothers deceased who lived with them only for a term. No offerings to be made. Not to stand immoderately long during divine service. Eating in one common refec- tory; reading there. Flesh only three times a week except on certain festivals. Two meals on Sunday; the armigeri and clientes only one. Refection by two and two; wine singly in equal portions. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, two or three meals of escu- lents; Friday Lent food. Grace after meals. Tenth loaf to the poor. Col- lation before Complin, whether of water only, or water mixed with wine, in the regulation of the master. Silence after Complin. Not to rise to Matins when fatigued. Same food to all. Three horses to every Knight. One servant to every Knight, who was not to be beaten by them. Horses, arms, &c. to be found for Knights who staid with. them for a term; at going away part WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. 77 To of the price to be paid by the Knight, the rest from the common stock. do nothing from their own will. Not to go to the town without leave of the master. Not to go alone. Not to seek what they wanted by name (no- minatim). Regulation of their bri- dles, spurs, &c. Not to speak boast- ingly of their faults. Not to keep any presents till permitted by the master. Not to make or use bags for their horses to eat out of, but have bas- kets. Not to exchange or seek any thing. Not to hawk. Not to kill beasts with bow or cross-bow. To at- tend to justice. To have lands and property. Necessaries to be given to the sick. Not to provoke one another to anger. Married Knights to be ad- mitted, provided they gave after their death a portion of their substance, and whatever more they had acquired, to the society. Not to have sisters. Not associate with excommunicated persons. Secular Knights to be received into the order if after probation they conformed to the rule. All the Knights not called to the secret rule to observe silence in their praying. To receive the service of servants, except they behaved with theft or indecency. No little boys to be received into the order. Old men always to be respected. Knights tra- velling to observe the rule. Equal food to all. Allowed to have tithes. Expulsion for disobedience, obstinacy, and rebellion. Linen shirts allowed from Easter to All Saints, ex gratia; woollen at other times. Sleeping in their shirts and breeches. To avoid murmuring. Not to give kisses to women. Stellartius de Reg. et Fund. Monachor. p. 469. D'Emilliane (Short Hist. of Monast. Orders, p. 279) says, that their greatness and power occa- sioning jealousy in the Pope and seve- ral Kings, their destruction was re- solved on; and, before execution, several horrid crimes published, none of which could ever be proved. Their guilt, however, is very strenuously in- sisted on by the Abbé Barruel, Mem. of Jacobinism, II. 372-387. 2. Gilbertines. The rule is considered generally as a compound of those of Bennet and Au- gustine; but it seems more accurate and close to say, that the Canons were Premonstratensians, and the Nuns Cis- tercians. This rule had Canons and Nuns separated, but under the same roof. Master of the whole order; chosen by thirteen Electors (four De- puties, five Priors, and four Claustrals); had two Canons for Chaplains, and a Lay-brother for a servant; received persons into the order; heard confes- sion; his sanction necessary to buying and selling; disobedience to him to be considered as incurring the penalty of excommunication; appointed certain officers; Scrutators and Scrutatrices for visiting Monks and Nuns: same of- ficers in the Cloister; four officers in every house, called a Prior, Cellerer, Proctor, and Grangiary, for managing and distributing the goods of the house. Novices not to be readers nor atten- dants at the table, but sometimes at collation and chapter: after Profession, under custody of the Masters forty days, or a little more. Canons' garments washed by the lay sisters. A Canon inspector and superintendant of the work-shops. From cal. Nov. to Eas- ter, sleep or reading after Matins, Prime, then Mass and the private ones before Tierce, if possible, if not, after; after Tierce, the Chapter. From Eas- ter to September Chapter after Prime, and the conventual Mass after Tierce, and between Prime and Tierce labour. After Chapter reading in the Cloister. Dinner. After dinner reading in the cloister, or sleeping in the Dormitory (during Summer.) Collation; Com- plin; Dormitory.-Of the Nuns. Tith- ing of lambs, and the whole substance of the house under the care of the Nuns. Three Nuns to keep the com- mon seal and money. One to cut and distribute the cloth. The same Nuns to take care of washing the clothes, and patching and mending them. Ac- counts of money expended before it came to the Nuns to be notified to the 78 RULES OF THE ORDERS shut in by a Entrance to No presents No conversa- Prioress. Nuns to be ditch and wall, or fence. their court prohibited. or letters sent to them. tion allowed between the Canons and them. Fire not to be begged of them at night. No one to have admission to the Nuns whilst they were singing the hour, or were in the Refectory or Dormitory. If any entered on business to be in a number, and to take care not to see or to be seen by the Nuns. If the grand Prior entered a number of them were to surround him imme- diately, at least three or four, and none to be alone with him, except to confess, and then with others in sight. One cellar and kitchen to all, under the care of a Prioress and Nuns. Shirts or breeches of the Canons not to be cut out or sewed by the Nuns. Place to be appointed in the court for Nuns and Sisters to talk with the Prioress and Cellaress, standing, and two only with her. Maundy. Adoration of the Cross. Lay-sisters to clean the area of the Church at Easter while the Nuns were at dinner; Cloister and Chapter after Complin. No Nun to be re- ceived compulsorily. Nuns not to go out to labour, or to receive shoes of cord- wain, to use or "ad erogandum" (per- haps, let out). To be shaved at Easter, Mary Magdalen's day, and All Saints, at least. To wash their hoods seven times a year. Not to go to another house; punishment of disobedience. Not to be intimate with the lay-sisters. Readings four times a year by the nuns to the lay-sisters, as by the canons to the lay-brothers. Discord to be shun- ned between the Canons and Brothers, Nuns and Sisters. Bath prohibited. Monast. Anglic. II. 699-790. Abridged in the Abridgement of the Monasticon assigned to Capt. Steevens.-It is sin- gular that, notwithstanding the story of the poor Nun in Alfred of Rievesby and Bale, Nigel Wireker says nothing of this order but what observation of the rule implies; but it was yet young when he wrote. As there is a more copious account of nuns to be found -- here than elsewhere, I shall cite largely from this long rule in the course of my work. 3. Carmelites. Rule founded upon that of Basil; but even that is disputed; for Lynd- wood and others say, that all the reli- gious followed one of the three orders, Benedictine, Augustinian, or Francis- can (p. 213). The rule was - Prior elected unanimously, or by majority. To have places in deserts or elsewhere; separate cells; common refectory and reading. Not to change their places without the prior's leave. Prior's cell near the entrance of the house, that he might be the first to meet comers. All to remain in their cells, meditating day and night. At fit hours in church. Cloisters. To stay and walk freely and lawfully (libere et licite). Canonical hours. Paternosters by the ignorant. All things common. Asses or mules allowed, and nourishment of animals or birds. Church in the middle of the cells. Sundays, or at other times, as necessary, the correction of abuses. No flesh but to the sick. To carry with them, to eat on journeys, dump- lings (pulmenta, a very equivocal term among the monks) drest with flesh. Fast every day except Sunday from Holyrood-day to Easter, except the sick and infirm. Chastity; labour; silence after Complin till Prime; might talk at other times moderately. P. Stellartius, ut supra, p. 461.-There is a mitigation of this rule, Anno 1247, in the Bullarium Romanum, vol. I. p. 116. 4. Franciscans. Novitiates to be received by the provincial Priors, and no others, after a year's profession; dereliction of pro- perty and wives. Divine service ac- cording to the Romish Church, except the Psalter, of which they were to have breviaries (excepto Psalterio, ex quo habere potuerunt brevia). Paternos- ters by lay-brothers instead. Fasting from All Saints to Christmas (besides WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. 79 Lent from Epiphany); another till the Resurrection; at other times on Fri- days. In times of manifest necessity not bound to corporal fasting. Not to ride but from manifest necessity. On journeys to eat whatever was set before them. Not to take money. To receive necessaries, not money, as re- wards of their labours. To have no property. To beg lustily (confidenter). For penitence to go to the provincial Priors only. If these were not priests, to get priests to enjoin this penance for them. General elected by the provin- cials and wardens in the chapter of Pentecost held every third year, or a shorter or longer term, as the General thought fit. Provincials always to come there. General removable for insufficiency. Not to preach in any bishoprick without the Prelate's leave, or unless examined and approved by the General. Short sermons, because our Lord's was such. Ministers to visit and advise obedience. Brothers unable to observe the rule to recur to the ministers. If unlearned not to learn. Not to enter houses of nuns, or be godfathers of children. Mission- aries, with license of the Provincial, to have a Cardinal for their protector. Stellartius, &c.-There being great dis- putes in this order about property, and vast varieties or modifications of the rule (at large in Bullarium Roma- num), but since impossible to be men- tioned here, and given in essentials by Dr. Mosheim, it is sufficient to note, that the more austere Franciscans were called Observants. 5. Franciscan Nuns, Minoresses, or Nuns of St. Clare. Novices examined at their reception as to their Catholic faith. A year's probation. Divine service read not sung. Pater-nosters for the ignorant, and those who were unable to attend the hours. Fast all the year. Christ- mas, every Friday refection twice. Dis- pensation of fasting in favour of the young and weak. Confession twelve times in the year, Communion seven ; for which purpose Chaplains were then At allowed to celebrate. No one to be elected Abbess unless professed. To observe the order of the society (com- munitatem servare) in all things; espe- cially in the church, dorter, fratry, in- firmary, and clothing; in a similar manner her Vicaress or deputy. Chap- ter and confession (private) at least once a week. No deposits. From Com- plin to Tierce silence (service excepted out of the house), always in the church and dormitory, and while they ate in the refectory; infirmary excepted, where they might speak in a low voice, and briefly insinuate what they should find necessary. Not to talk in the parlour or at the grate without leave, and at the former in the presence of two sisters, at the latter of three. the grate, a cloth to be put on the in- side, not to be removed but at divine service, or when any thing was said to any body. A gate with two locks, always to remain fast (in the night es- pecially) except in time of divine ser- vice. No one to speak at the gate be- fore sun-rise or after sun-set. At the Locutory, the cloth, which might not be removed, always to remain within. In St. Martin's Lent and greater Lent no one to speak at the locutory but at confession or in urgent necessity. Work after Tierce, which was assigned in the chapter. Same public disposi- tion with regard to alms sent for the sisters. No letters or receipt or gift of any thing out of the house allowed without leave of the Abbess. If any thing were sent by parents or others, the Abbess might have it given to her, and take it to herself if she wanted it, if not, she might give it to one who did. Abbess and obedientiaries to dispose of money for things wanted. Abbess to see into the infirmary. Penitences; bread and water in the refectory for the contumacious after admonition twice or thrice. Chaplain and two lay-brothers for the relief of their po- verty. Chaplain not to enter the house without a companion; upon en- trance to be in a public place where he might be seen by others; might en- ter for confession of the sick, extreme 80 RULES OF THE ORDERS unction, absolution, &c. ; grave-diggers | months, then to return, and be asked, also allowed.-From the rule in Bulla- rium Romanum, vol. I. pp. 123, 124. In a mitigation of this rule it was enacted as follows. Lay-sisters allow- ed to go out on the convent business. All and the Abbess to lie in the com- mon dormitory, and separate beds, the Abbess's so placed that she could see them all around her. Allowed to talk from Nones to Vespers on festivals and certain other times. From Easter to Christmas sleep till Nones unless any one preferred prayer, contempla- tion, or quiet labour. Id. 152, seq. [The remaining parts of this rule will appear in the sections Infirmary, Por- ter, Dormitory, and Cloister.] 6. Brigettine Nuns. No property whatever. Beds of straw; two woollen coverings or blan- kets, bolster and pillow covered with linen. Veil to represent the form of the cross. Speech after Mass of Vir- gin Mary until the table was conse- crated (quod mensa consecratur); after the grace, reading in the church till vespers began; then silence till after supper they had given thanks in the church; speech again till collation; after that, silence till the Mass of the Virgin Mary on the day following. No secular person, male or female, to en- ter the house. Speech, sitting at the window, from Nones to Vespers. Fast on the proper food from Advent to Christmas. Friday before Lent till Easter on common food. Holy-rood- day till Michaelmas fish and white meats (lacticinia). All Saints to Ad- vent same. On certain days only bread and water. On all other days of the year, flesh on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and in the even- ing fish and white meats. Wednesdays, the whole year, at dinner and supper, fish and white meats. Fridays, the whole year, common fast-food. Sabbath fish and milk food. All other fasts according to the rule of the Church. Persons requesting admission to be sent away successively, first, for three whether she continued in the same mind; the like after a longer lapse; then the rule to be proposed, its aspe- rities, contempt of the world, forgetful- ness of parents. After a year, profes- sion and admission; when the Bishop at the gate of the Church put several questions to her; whether she was free from matrimony, from any tie of the Church or excommunication, &c. and whether she desired entrance there in the name of Jesus Christ and the Vir- gin Mary. Upon her affirmative reply, the Bishop introduced her, when the two candles were lighted, which were carried before the standard that pre- ceded the Nun, and burned during the Mass. The Bishop consecrated the ring and put it on her finger, and con- crated the Nun, after which Mass was performed. The Bishop went to the Al- tar, and began the Mass of the Trinity, while the Nun stood at the Altar; who, when the offertory began, went there, and afterwards returned to her place. Then she was called to the Altar by a priest, when they were barefooted, and put off her outward garment in order to put on her consecrated ones. Then the tunic, hood, veil, &c. in which the Bishop fixed a pin, were severally put on and consecrated. She returned to her place. The Bishop began Mass, and, when he came to that part in which the priest at the wedding cere- mony was used to bless the husband and wife, put the crown on her, fixed the pin on it, said a prayer, and she returned to her place till the Mass was over. Then she came to the Altar, prostrated herself upon her face, and a Litany and absolution followed; after which she took the Sacrament, and four sisters brought in the coffin (which at the beginning of the Mass stood in the gate through which the nun was introduced, and had earth sprinkled on it) into the house. Then the Bishop went to the gate, and com- mended her to the Abbess, who made a suitable reply. The nun was then led to the Chapter, for the first eight WHICH OBTAINED IN ENGLAND. 81 days was exempted from discipline, and stood in the bottom of the Choir. At the expiration of this term she be- gan the observance of the order, and sat last at the Choir and table. There were thirteen Priests, who had a hall (aula) in which they resided, from which there was an entrance into the Church, the lower Choir belonging to them, and the upper (roof) to the Nuns; four Gospellers, who were to be priests if they chose; eight servants; all of whom (with the nuns) made the thir- teen apostles and seventy-two disciples (See Fuller's Sarcastic Remarks). There never could be more than twenty- five brothers, who had a form of bene- diction similar to the Nuns, except that, instead of the ring, they laid hold of the Priest's hands, and used a similar ceremony instead of the veil. Their hair was cut in a circle as in other monasteries. The Abbess was elected by the Convent, and the Confessor out of the thirteen Priests, who were obe- dient to the Abbess, and the sisters and Lay-brothers to him. The thirteen priests alone managed divine service, did no secular service, fasted on bread and water on the evening before the greater festivals, and all other days ce- lebrated the vigil by preaching. Con- fession three times a year at least by the Nuns, though one of the thirteen Priests was every day ready to hear it. On evenings preceding the greater feasts fasting on bread and water. Communion on Maunday Thursday; at Easter, the Ascension, Whitsun- tide, Christmas, and every Sabbath, with advice of the Confessor. Chapter every Thursday. A sick sister who had property was absolved, and did penance when convalescent. One in health, who did not confess it, and was convicted before three witnesses, on the first day of the Chapter had the usual allowance, but on the next Fri- day had bread and water, at the time of divine service staid in the Church- yard, did not speak a word to any one, and prostrated herself at the feet of each passing Nun. When the evening of Friday was over, and the Convent went out in due order, the Abbess raised her, brought her to the Altar, the con- vent interceded for her, and she was absolved. If, however, any one died. with property, her body was placed on the bier, brought to the Church- door, the Abbess pronounced a denun- ciation of the crime, Ave Maria was said, and the body brought into the Choir, after Mass carried again to the Church-door, and buried by the bro- ther. Neither presents nor property allowed the Nuns or Abbess. No Monastery to be inhabited till fully built, and they could peaceably and quietly live there. No fewer sisters or Priests to be received than were necessary for divine service, and the number to be afterwards completed. Those who entered the house after the first foundation to bring with them suf- ficient for their maintenance in good and bad times; and when the number was full, and they had revenues enough to furnish allowances of meat and drink annually, no more necessary to be brought in. Vestments of the dead and her daily provision given the poor till another was chosen in her room. All surplus money or food given to the poor, and on this account no visi- tors allowed. Deductions were, how- ever, made from this, in case of appa- rent necessity, for the ensuing year; but as far only as seemed sufficient. Old cloaths given to the poor. Abbess not to build unnecessary or splendid buildings. Presents at admission not to be of permanent revenues; but that they might not come with empty hands before God, it was fit to offer something. Extreme poor received gratis. Such presents not to be converted to private use, but given to "poor Churches " (egenis et pauberibus ecclesiis); ex- ception in case of necessity. Inquiry to be made whether these gifts were honestly obtained; if not, rejected, provided the Convent had no need of them. Nuns not to be admitted till eighteen years old, nor to enter the house before the year of probation. Priests and brothers to profess at twenty-five years of age. Manual la- G 82 RULES OF THE ORDERS. bour at times not devoted to divine service, and the fruits of such labour given to the poor. Disciplines re- jected and reprobated. Same portion of meat and drink. Confessors (and Lay-brothers) not to enter the house unless in company with others to give the Sacrament to a dying Nun. If she happened to die all the Priests and Lay-brothers with the Confessor enter- ed, and carried her to sepulture with chanting and prayers and the usual rites. The Bishop was to be the visi- tor; the Prince protector and advocate; Pope a faithful guardian (fidelis tutor) over both Bishop and Prince. In the house was a grave constantly open, which the Abbess and Convent visited daily, and performed a divine service at. A coffin (whether the same thing as alluded to in the preceding sentence, or not, appears to me rather dubious, I think not) to be placed at the en- trance of the Church, that the persons entering might see and remember death. Hospinian, 506-514. There is too a large folio volume in B.L. with wood-cuts of the "Revelation of S. Bridget." 7. Augustinian Eremites. Of this order I could find nothing. In MS. Bodl. Digby, 113 (Disquisitio Fratrum Eremitarum), it is said, "il- lam non puto fuisse regulam quæ com- muniter apud particulares religiones legitur et tenetur; sed alia cujus pars recitatur in canone n. q. p'ti non dicta- tis." [I do not think that to be the rule which is commonly read and held in particular religions, but another, part of which is recited in the canon n. q. &c.] Notwithstanding this, it is plain that Alexander the Fourth, who concentrated the hermits into this or- der, gave them the rule of Austin, without any such distinction, as all writers agree. 8. Nuns of Fontevraud. Of this rule too I could obtain no information. All I know of them is, that they followed the Benedictine rule amplified: that the several Monas- teries of Monks and Nuns within the same inclosure were subject to an Ab- bess; and that, according to Malms- bury (s. 96, p. 2.), they never spoke but in Chapter. 9. Bon Hommes (Augustinians). Their peculiarities, according to the Monast. II. 357, are to be found in MSS. C. C. C. Cant. Miscell. G. 10. Brothers of the Sack. These were Tertiaries of St. Francis. See Bullar. Rom. I. and Maclaine's Mosheim, in C. xiii. p. 2. C. ii. § 40, n. 9. MONASTIC OFFICERS.-ABBOT, ABBESS. 83 CHAPTER VII. MONASTIC OFFICERS. ABBOT, ABBESS. ABBOT is a Syriac term, signifying Father, and was anciently applied to all Monks, especially those who were venerable for years and sanctity. If authenticity be conceded to the rule of Basil, it should seem to have been first used in the scriptural form of Ab- ba,b a mode of compellation, by which a son expresses his confidence and de- pendence on his father's kindness, or conveys a petition.c Domnus, or pater, was the more recent mode of address.d Among the Egyptian Monks the Abbot was called David; whence, perhaps, the name of the Welch Saint.e Abbots and Priors, as heads of houses, are usually considered, except in Cathedrals, where there were no Ab- bots, on account of the Bishop, syno- nymous terms. But there is an express injunction of a founder, that the Supe- rior shall only be stiled Prior;f and in another place it seems that, if the king granted his charter of liberties and protections, the superior was to have the style of Abbot.g This appears from the speech of Geffrey-Fitz-Peter to the Abbot of Walden, "Oh, my Lord Abbot, you and your Monks have disin- herited me and my heirs, by turning my Priory into an Abbey, and throwing me off, by subjecting yourselves wholly to the royal power." The king's right in Abbeys was considered to extend to the advowson and presentation;i and as Thomas Lord Berkeley, in the four- teenth century, bought the advowson Du Cange Gl. As also to Seculars, who had care of souls. Lyndw. p. 32, whence the modern abbè, abbatè. Reg. C. 33, 38, &c. e Hammond on Luke, c. 8. v. 15. N. a p. 47. b. 4 Reg. Bened. c. 63. The term was at first pro- per only to Popes. Du Cange. Du Cange, v. David. Id. 328. ¡Eadm. 24. ii. 301. 455. f Monast. Angl. h Dugd. Monast, i. of the Abbey of Kingswood, of Richard Chedder, it shows the loss by such practices. Upon the same principle, we find only Prioresses appointed in Nunneries, that obedience might not be withdrawn from the parent house or founder. Perhaps in allusion to this King John confirmed to William Marshall, earl of Pembroke, and his heirs, the gift of a pastoral staff to the Abbey of Nutley, to have and hold for ever, with all matters, liberties, and free customs appertaining to the dona- tion of such pastoral staff. The Au- gustinian Order, says Reyner by mis- take, had no Abbots till the æra of Eugene the Fourth (cent. 15th.), and then with very small authority." There were anciently Lay-abbots, which, it seems, was owing to the laity seizing the church lands, and leaving only the altars and tithes to the clergy.P Lay-abbots were also called Abba- comites, and Abbates-milites, noble Ab- bots, and knightly Abbots. They were great persons, under whose pro- tection the Monasteries_voluntarily placed themselves; but these protec- tors became their oppressors. had another title, that of commendatory Abbots, and often filled the first offices in the court and army,s They During the vacancies of Abbeys, un- less the right was purchased or relin- 1 Angl. k Smythe's Berkeley's MSS. 424. Sacr. ii. 290. m Monast. Angl. ii. 156. n Reyner, 101. See an instance, temp. H. II. Monast. ii. 933. Spelm. Gl. v. Abbas and Comorban. Chron. Saxonic. p. 67, Concil. Clovesho, § 5. P Gir. Cambr. in Ware's Ireland, p. 42, 1. 17. Bede's complaint above might be an additional motive. 4 Du Cange. lot, iii. 52. Notices, vii. 13. • Mail- W. Thorne, c. 34, § i. Knight. a. 1363. M. Par. p. 745. G2 84 MONASTIC OFFICERS. quished, they escheated to the pa- | trons, or, in case of their minority, their guardians, which patrons, at this period, according to their respective claims, placed a man and horse at the gate,d presented the Superior, or re- served only the grant of the congé d'elire, and confirmation, fealty, and homage of the elect. The king's clerks in custody committed great de- predation for themselves and their master. In Nunneries subservient to monks, the Prioress was elected by the Abbot, and he appointed a guardian in vacancies. In houses possessing the right of election, that right, where the number of Monks or Canons was not sufficient, was resigned to the Bishop.i Reading abbey, when vacant, was to be in the disposition of the Prior and Chapter, because the Abbot had no separate revenues,k an arrangement sometimes made on account of the debts they often contracted.] Vacancies were thought to leave the Monks room for secular indulgences, and occasion them to die without con- fession.m The inquiries of the Roman court, respecting the qualifications of the person elected, were directed to his age, profession (monastic), free or servile condition, legitimacy," competency of literature, sobriety, gravity, prudence in spirituals and temporals, zeal for the order, and fair character, and whe- ther before his entrance he was a cour- tier; but it seems, that science and a Monast. ii. 1045, 1047. b Since the reign of Rufus; before they were in the Bishop's hands. e Monast. ii. 326. d Id. 243. Lyttelton's H. II. iii. 247.-Stat. Provis. 25 Ed. III. f Monast. ii. 236. 8 M. Paris, 751. h Mo- nast. i. 489. See the formula, "Rev. in Christo patri hu- miles et devoti filii et legitimi oratores Williem. Whaddon et Joh. Lambe canonici regularis prio- ratus de A. Ord. S. Aug." &c. in MS. Harl. 670, fol. 76. *Monast. i. 418, 471. Reyn. Append. 165. the Canons. So I infer from Eadmer, 24. " From X Script. 2185. (Curialis.) "Sed et alii plures de Anglis causidici per id noble birth were frequent considera- tions,p and simony more than any. The Celts considered beauty and dig- nity of person, as characteristick of nobility and family. Indeed person was enormously regarded by our an- cestors;s and deformity deemed a pro- vidential denotation of crime, as in the question of the Jews concerning the blind man, put to Christ. A poor Abbot afflicted with a hernia, and having a mutilated finger, is thus stigma- tized ;t and person was deemed an important consideration in electing an Abbot." The form of election, to which I have found most analogies, is this. Licence from the patron to elect was read-Hymn of the Holy Ghost sung -all in the Chapter who had no right in the election ordered to depart- Patron's letter of licence read - votes taken separately by three Scrutators— election proclaimed by the Chantor- all approved, except the elect, who tempus in abbatiâ ista habebantur, quorum colla- tioni nemo sapiens refragabatur. Siquidem regis officiales illis diebus hominibus in ecclesiæ posses- sionibus diversis locorum manentibus multas infe- rebant injurias. Cui abbati Aldelmo (he died a° 1084) plurimum auxilii ferebant, duo ecclesiæ hu- jus monachi, germani quidem fratres, quorum major natu Sacolus, junior vero Bodicius vocabatur.” Registr. de Abendone, MS. Cott. Claud. c. ix. "But also many other English curiales at that time resided in the house, to whose maintenance no prudent man objected. For the royal officers in those days did many injuries to the residents in the different possessions of the Church; and to this Abbot Aldelm much assistance was rendered by two brothers, Monks of the house, the eldest named Sacolus, the younger Bodicius." I thought fit to note the above, because curialis has various appli- cations. See Du Cange in voce. P Monast. ii. 700. Vivebas Simeon, sed tu non tempore vivis, Subtractus morti vivere semper habes. Simeon you lived; but still all time survive, Snatch'd from death's claws eternally alive. MS. Cott. Vitell. a. xii. fol. 129ª. de Simone Ab- bate. Macpherson on Ossian, § Sulmalla of Lumon. • M. Paris, 312, 414, 494. Scriptor. p. Bed. 192, &c. Rous. 196 et alii. Du Cange, v. Ruptura. " Angl. Sacr. i. 755, ii. 195. For the election of Priors a verbal consent was sufficient. Reyn. 125. * If each Monk voted singly, the Pope declared the election not universal or inspired by the Holy Ghost. Angl. Sacr. i. 735. ABBOT, Abbess. 85 remained silent--the Monks lifted up the elect, and, singing Te Deum, car- ried him to the High Altar. Here having reclined him, they said the usual prayer over him-the election was pub- lished in English to the Clergy and Laity then in the Monastery-and an- nounced, and accepted in form, by the elect, next day.a At St. Alban's there were twelve electors deputed, no one of whom could be chosen.b In Cathedral Priories (at least some) the Bishop appointed one out of a number nominated, and at Rochester was besides the Scrutator. At Ely, the Prior, after election, was examined by Doctors in Divinity.d In these elections interest was often used, and sometimes in a very bois- terous form. It is recorded of Cocker- sand, that "for as moche as the said howse was many tymes troublyd at the tyme of their allecion of theyr Abbot with the jentylmen of the countre, theyre neghbours, they mad sewt to the kyng, for his mantenance to have free aleccion amongst theymselff, and bound their sayd howsse for that preveley to gyve at every aleccion xxs. to the kyng, and his heyres kyngs." The Abbots so elected were, however, deposeable for various causes, by the ceremony of breaking their seals, as was done at their natural de- mise, by a hammer upon one of the steps before the Altar,h and depriving them of the stole and ring. Some- times they retired upon pensions, or became monks daraigne, quitted their profession and married.i 1047. 673. Barrett's Bristol, i. 259, 601. Angl. Sacra, i. 372, 550. b M. Paris, d Id. e Monast. i. 275, &c. MS. Coll. of Arms, D. 4, North coronat. Convents were very liable to injury from their neighbours: "My lorde attendant dwellyng nigh the said (Abbey of Harwolde), intyssede the yonge Nunnes to breke up the coffer wheras the Con- vent seale was, and John Mordaunt then present ther, persuading them to the same, causid ther the Priorisse and hir folisshe yonge folke to seale a wryting made in Lattyn, nether the Priores nor hir sisters can telle," &c. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. p. 131. & Willis's Abbies in Westm. M. Par. 406. h Id. 1064. Du Cange, v. Stola. This was not always done as to the Seal. X Script. 1872. 1 W. Thorne, c. 23, § 11. Pennant's White- ford, &c. 34, 269. Of these Abbots, so elected, some were exempt from the Bishop, others not; a privilege which, says a most elegant and plausible writer; originated in the excessive power assumed by the Bishops, whose grants of exemptions from temporals had opened the door to this privilege,k "and who, by the meanness of their stile in these grants, seem to have acted under that fear of emperors and princes, to whom, says Mosheim, the Monks fled for refuge from the odious task of collecting con- tributions, which the Bishops, to sup- port themselves in their luxuries, had imposed upon them."m These exempt Abbots, after the decree made to that effect by Innocent the Third, in the synod of Lateran, were confirmed by the Pope, and for their journey to Rome, the fees of which court were most enormous," the convent agreed to pay their expenses.P The penalty of £10,000 was levied upon a Bishop, for invading the privileges of exempt houses; and it seems they occasioned "disobedience, hatred, the inflation of haughtiness, and venom of pride."r By wits they were derided, for, says Nigell Wireker, "Mulus et Abbates sunt in honore pares." ("Abbots and mules are in honour alike."s) Those who were not exempt, made protesta- tions of canonical ˇobedience to the Bishop.t Upon every new election of an Ab- bot (of Gloucester) the Abbey was obliged to maintain one of the king's clerks, whom he thought fit to name, and accordingly a corrody for life was granted to him. In the reigns of kings Hen. VII. and VIII. the value of those corrodies or grants was £5 a year." Jenkins's Fra. Paolo on Eccles. Benef. 34, 35. 1 Marculfi Formulæ, p. 4. m Eccles. Hist. v. i. p. 321, ed. 4to. " M. Paris, 1063. P Monast. • Hutchinson's Durham, ii. 89. i. 299. ↑ Id. 291. "Tumorem elevationis et superbiæ venenum." Petr. Blæs. MS. Roy. Libr. 8. F. xvii. Spec. Stultor. MS. Harl. 2422, &c. &c. and in print. Registr. Hereford in Rudder's Gloucester- shire, p. 449. Junius has a satirical passage about exemptions in MS. Bodl. James, No. 6, pp. 120, 1. "Archd. Furney in Rudder's Glouc. p. 147, MONASTIC OFFICERS. 86 The newly-elected Abbot received a large sum from the monastic tenants, under the name of providing him a pal- frey, for, upon doing homage to the king, the Marshall's fee from Abbots or Priors holding a whole barony, was a palfrey, or the price of it; in ade- quate proportion, from those who held only a part of a barony, and from those who held in free alms nothing; a rea- sonable fee was due to the Chamber- lain also, from Abbots or Priors, hold- ing an intire barony; from those that bold neither the whole, nor part of one, their upper garment or its price. On doing homage to the Patron, Abbots omitted the form of Laymen. The installation feast was very sumptuous, as is well known; but, to spare expense, he sometimes dined with the Convent alone.e Between the election and benedic- tion, the Abbot (at St. Alban's) used the Prior's chamber, instead of the ab- batial great lodgings. No one upon his rising from the celebration of the elec- tion in the Church, as had been some- times the case, was to solicit the mo- nastic habit from him or necessaries of life, as a test of his future liberality. He chose his companions or Chaplains, appointed the messengers whom he wished to send to Rome, and invited those whom he liked to dine with him, who, however, had the Prior's pre- vious leave: nor without this leave could any one but the principal Cel- larer, Chamberlain, Infirmarer, and Sa- crist, go out on horseback. The Elect dined alone in the Refectory on Was- tel bread; but the Prior sat at the high dais, and took the first place, except in processions, where he went last, on the Abbot's side, like another senior,h X Script. 1921, 1939, &c. 5 marks the horse, a mark the harness. Ed- mondson's Heraldry, i. 69, ubi pl. Stat. 13 E. I. c. 42. Only saying I "do homage to you," instead of "I become your man." Spelm. Archæol. 357. X Script. 2152. The desk or canopy over the high table. War- ton's Hist. Engl. Poetry, i. 40, 422. The Abbot's place in processions was "di- rectly after the Convent, and in the middle." Mo- mast, ii, 935. ↳ M. Paris, p. 1069. The affairs of the Abbey were un- settled till the Abbot was confirmed.i The form of the benediction which fixed him in his authority was this: Mass was begun, and before the Gos- pel the Elect entered, and was interro- gated by the Bishop, whether he would "be well" with them, refrain his manners from evil, keep the Rule, pre- serve divine affairs, instruct the others, maintain chastity and sobriety, and obey the Bishop and his successors. Then the schedule of profession was read, after which carpets were laid before the Altar, the Bishop and Elect lay prostrate, and litanies and prayers were chanted. After the Litany the Bishop rose, and pronounced the bene- diction; at the end of which the Ab- bot rose, and the Bishop gave him the Rule, with a suitable exhortation; then the pastoral staff, and if he was to be ordained priest the sacerdotal belt.¹ A hymn followed, and after the Gos- pel, he offered to the Bishop two loaves, and two lighted tapers, and communicated.m Instances appear, where this ceremony was invalid, be- fore the Abbot had sworn that nothing prejudicial to the Royal interest was contained in the bull of benediction," and others, where no money was to be extorted for it." The Sacrist, however, of the Church where the Abbot was confirmed, had a present usually of the copes or of vestments, or of materials to make them.P This was contrary to papal edicts.q Fees too were paid. Eddius says, that Wilfrid was bles- sed Abbot, and ordained Priest after that period;s but Eadmer makes the ordination indispensable before Bene- diction, and adds, that the latter cere- mony alone gave the Abbot full power over the conventual affairs; notwith- standing this, even prior to the Synod 5 Eadm. 93. * Bene esse. stance, Monast. i. 288. MS. Harl. 2866. nast. ii. 937. 1 See an in- Rituale Antiquum. • Mo- "X Script. 2152. Archd. Furney, & Angl. Sacr. in Rudder's Glouc. 143. 9 X Script. 253, 327. X Script. 1798, 2152. P. 92. At least sometimes. Vit. Wilfr. c. 8. ABBOT, ABBESS. 87 of Lateran, when exempt Abbots were to be confirmed by the Pope, such confirmation gave the Abbot full power, and rendered the benediction a mere conclusory ceremony.a The next ceremony was his formal admission. He was to put off his shoes before the doors of the Church, and, with devotion and giving of thanks, proceed to meet the convent,b who were to advance in a procession previously arranged by the Chantor. After his entrance, he was to pray upon a robe put upon a carpet laid upon the upper step of the Choir. The Bishop, or his deputy,d then in- troduced him into the Choir,e and he was placed in his stall. The Monks, according to seniority, even those of another house, kneeling, gave him the kiss of peace upon the hand, and afterwards rising, upon the mouth.f All this time the Abbot held his staff, which he did not either in his admis- sion or introduction. He then entered X Scriptor. p. 1813. b Abbas calceamenta amovebit; pro foribus eccle- siæ calceamentis amotis cum devocione et gratia- rum actione conventui obviam debet procedere. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 183. (Consuetud. de Abendone.) • Quo introducto ad summum gradum chori in- cumbet orationi, pallio, ut prius tapeto, supposito. Thus a commission. Thomas permissione divinâ Wygorniensis Ep's dilecto nobis magistro Jacobo de Cobeham, doctori decretorum canonico- que Wellensis Ecclesiæ, omnem gratiam et bene. dictionem. Ad admittendum nominationem sep- tem monachorum nostri capituli Wygorniensis prioris solacio destituti nobis juxta formam compo- sitionis super hoc editæ tempore bonæ memoriæ Will'i le Bloys predecessoris nostri presentandi ex- aminandique eosdem monachos, et ad approbandum unum ex illis septem, necnon perficiendum eundem debite in priorem; vobis vices nostras committimus, cum ad id vacare non possimus, aliis arduis et inevi- tabilibus negotiis impediti. Dat' London. xi. kal. Decembris anno D'ni mill'o c.c.c.o xlvii. conse- crationis nostræ anno primo." (MS. Bodl. 2508. p. 65.) As the substance is expressed above, a translation is unnecessary. e The Decreta Lanfranci, sect. de abbate, con- form to the MS. ' Postmodum omnes ex ordine post priores, etiam monachi extranei, osculum pacis et amoris porri- gent abbati primo manui genibus flexis reliquis per ordinem subsequentibus, deinde se erigendo oscu- lum porrigent ori. Abbasque quousque omnes ei osculum perrexerint baculum in manu suâ tenebit. Sed in admissione abbatis nec introductione abbas baculum portabit. MS. Cott. ut supra. the Choir with that ensign of dignity, put on his shoes in the vestiary, and the vestments being laid by in the Choir, a Chapter was held, and the Bishop preached an appropriate ser- mon. The Abbot retired to his cham- ber, and the Convent to the Cloister. At the feast of his admission the Convent had every man a gallon of wine, a whole loaf, and three handsome dishes of fish. The day after, the Obe- dientiaries laid the keys of their offices at his feet.h The Abbot, say the Consuetudines, shall sleep at night in his chamber, with the Chaplains whom he shall chuse out of the Convent. The Abbot's bed shall not be transferred from his chamber on account of any one under Royal or Metropolitan rank. One of his Chaplains ought always to be with him. The Abbot shall celebrate Mass on festival days, and dine in the Re- fectory.k The Prior of the weekly Mass, if a worthier person be not pre- sent, shall introduce him to the great Altar. If the Prior be absent, his own Chaplain. It is in the disposition of the Abbot to celebrate Mass in the profession of Monks; and if so, he shall give the benediction.¹ On Sun- days, as often as he is disengaged, he ought to be in the procession, and begin the antiphonar in the entrance of the Church; if he is indisposed, the Chantor. In the processions he shall 81 galonem vini unicuique : placentam integram: MS. Cott. ut tria fercula piscium honorabilia. supra. "In his first Chapter." Dec. Lanfr. i Abbas in camera suâ noctibus recumbet cum capellanis suis quos de conventu eliget. [See Athon, p. 150, who says, that, notwithstanding his sepa- rate apartment, he was never alone, having his ba- julus, i. e. domestick monk (Mabillon Annales Benedictini, iii. 244,) always with him at least.] Nullius auctoritate et reverentiâ cubiculum Abba- tis transferetur de camerâ suâ nisi præ personâ re- giâ vel metropolitanâ-ex consuetudine unus capel- lanorum debet semper cum abbate esse. Id. f. 184, a. The Prior and sub-prior were often put in his room on the table of the High Mass. Cap. Gen. Northampt. anno 1444, Stat. 9. 1 In Abbatis est dispositione in professione Mo- nachorum missam celebrare-benedictionem faciet super monachos professuros. f. 185, b. 88 MONASTIC OFFICERS. enter the Choir with the Convent.a The Abbot, after the triple prayer," made in the morning, shall visit the sick; and when he comes to celebrate from afar; in like manner after pray- ers for excesses in the way he shall visit the sick upon his return from the Church. Three days before Easter, and other festivals, he was to head the procession to the Chapter.d If he made an error in the pronunciation of a chant, he was to ask pardon. He could reprove and accuse a Monk, which was not allowed to the Prior, or any other. In every accusation the Abbot could remit the sentence except in the transgression of silence, and then he could modify it. [It was his duty to attend the Cloister in the morning to hear what the Monks had to say.f] While the boys conversed with the Abbot or Prior in confession, no one could call any of the confessed to confession. If any Monk, after the Chapter, spoke with the Abbot in confession, the Chapter of the boys g was dispensed with that day. All were to incline to the Abbot as he passed by. In every conference, when the Abbot was present, the alone was to sit by his side, and no Prior • Abbas diebus dominicis quotiens expeditus fue rit ad processionem debet esse, et in introitu eccle- siæ antiphonam incipere. Si aliquo incommodo corporis præoccupatus fuerit, cantor debet incipere, in processionibus cum conventu Chorum intrabit. f. 186. a. See Concordia Regularum. Abbas post tres orationes mane factas infirmos visitabit; et cum de longinquo canere veniet; in- emptidem per orationes pro excessibus in viâ sub- ripientibus, fratres infirmos visitabit cum de eccle- sia redierit. Ibid. lum. Anticipare processionem conventus ad capitu- • Abbati licitum est monachum reprehendere eundemque clamare, quod nec priori nec alii licet. In quolibet clamore Abbas sententiam potuit re- laxare, nisi in silentii transgressione; hoc etiam erit in suâ dispositione. 1 Eadm. 8. Held after that of the Monks. See Conc. Re- gul. and Dec. Lanfr. supra. Dum pueri cum Abbate vel cum Priore lo- quuntur in confessione, nulli licet aliquem confesso- rum ad confessionem vocare (i. e. a second time). Si quis monachorum post capitulum cum Abbate loquitur in confessione, magister puerorum non tenebit capitulum illo die. other without his order. Adults and aged persons were to sit opposite upon the form of the Cloister; the younger at his feet.k When he entered the Chapter, all descending one step were to rise and bow to him, and stand on the same step till he sat down. When he was in the Cloister, neither Prior nor other, without his leave, was to speak in the Locutory, or elsewhere, for any business, or to drink in the Refectory. He could make a search whenever he chose; and whenever he, or a Prior, or Monk, except in scru- tiny, passed through the Convent, he was to move his hood.m Before re- fection, after washing his hands, he was not to go to the Lavatory; but his Chaplains, and the other Monks pre- sent, were to minister with basins and towels. In the morning, or other times, he went to the Lavatory. He was not to follow the Convent after re- fection, but with his Chaplains “give thanks to the Lord." He could visit his manors without benediction if for not more than three days. He was to order Monks and Officials to obey the Prior in respect to the admission of visitors and external and internal dis- pensations. When he went out with benediction, the Monks were to meet him on their knees, and give the kiss of charity to his hand first, and to his mouth afterwards, if he offered it. The monks delivered any thing to him on their knees, kissing his hand, if he was seated; if standing, without genu- flexion. He was to give orders to the Prior, when he wished to be let i Dec. Lanfr. * In omni claustriloquio, abbate præsente, solus prior sedebit ei collateralis, nullusque alius sine præcepto abbatis. Senes et maturæ personæ ex opposito super tabulatum claustri sedebunt; junio- res pedibus abbatis se humiliabunt. f. 186, b. Ibid. Omnes uno gradu descendentes cum in- clinatione ei assurgent. Eodemque gradu stabunt donec abbas in consistorium reclinetur. f. 186, b. Quociens abbas vel prior vel aliquis fratrum transierit per medium conventus amovebit capu- tium, nisi fecerit scrutinium. f. 186. Ibid.-Ante cibi perceptionem post ablutionem manuum abbas non ibit ad lavatorium, sed capel- lani sui et reliqui fratres præsentes cum pelvibus et manutergiis ministrabunt. f. 186, b. Decr. Lanfr. ABBOT, ABBESS. 89 blood. When present in the Choir at mattins, he was to shew the lantern to the Prior, if he went to sleep. He could speak when he found it neces- sary, as could his Chaplains, or any other with him. When a sick man was dying, the Infirmarer was to inform him, and, postponing all business, he was to hasten to him. When he went to foreign parts, the leave of the Chapter was requisite. He stood first at go- ing from Chapter, and received the kiss from the departing Monks. He was admitted upon his return as at first, except that he did not pull off his shoes. The Monks too then the kiss of charity.d In the comme- moration of parents he was to sing Mass.e gave him To this confused detail of the cus- toms respecting Abbots at Abingdon, shall now follow the orderly narrative (literally rendered) of other duties and privileges appertaining to Ensham.* Abbate ad matutinas in choro præsente lucu- brum ostendet priori si obdormierit. f. 187. This was a very common request of a dying Monk. The Hebdomadary and certain Priests were to go to him in Decr. Lanfr. Of the King at St. Alban's. M. Paris, 1051. Licet abbati ubicunque viderit expedire loqui; lo- qui licet etiam suis capellanis et cuilibet alii exi- gente necessitate loqui cum abbate. f. 187. Quando infirmus laborat in extremis infirmarius maturè abbati indicabit. Abbasque omni negotio postha- bito ad infirmum festinabit. Id. 188, b. d M. Paris (1051) adds to this, "the acceptation of small veniæ or pardons." In commemoracione parentum abbas cantabit missam. MS. Harl. 209, p. 12. * From MS. Bodl. Barlow, vii. fol. 2-32. Ab- bas in vii fest' et sollempni processione debet utrasque vices, tertiam vel sextam pro tempore can- tare, et missam si vacaverit celebrare. In tabulari etiam debet ad matutinas in prædictis festis, et item in vigilia natalis domini, et dominicâ palmarum, et in tenebris, dummodo in partibus cismarinis existat. In festis vero caparum, in voluntate ipsius, est dic- tum officium implere. Sed et in ceteris festis et in feriis interesse poterit, quandocunque voluerit. Sciendum item quod cum missis in capis, vel in albis interesse voluerit revestiat se, et teneat cho- rum. Dum abbas vesperas voluerit cantare, ponatur in vestiario vestimentum et capa, ad opus ejus aqua in bacinis argenteis, et manutergium, pecten, et mitra, cirotecæ et baculus. Abbas vero pecti- nato capite et lotis manibus in vestiario, revestiat se albâ, capâ, mitrâ, cirotecis, annulo et baculo, capel- lanis ejus in omnibus humiliter ministrantibus. Eo revestito pulsetur classicum cum omnibus sig- pis. Qui ingrediens chorum superius cantoribus, The Abbot in the seven feasts and solemn procession sung both seasons, et priore pro tempore indutis proeuntibus procedat ad stallum suum inferius. Et notandum quod quando stallum sive sedile abbas incessurus fuerit, semper ornetur quarello sive sit revestitus sive non. Post classicum, abbas stans in stallo incipit Deus in adjutorium, et post inceptionem primi psalmi capiat senior baculum ejus, osculatâ ipsius manu, et reponat juxta eum. Et sciendum quod quandocun- que quis aliquid tradiderit abbati sive ab eo aliquid accepit, semper osculetur ejus manus. Sedente abbate, capellanus manitergium ex transverso gremii sui apponat, sicut semper quum est revestitus. Fi- nitis psalmis surgat, thuribulum sumat seniore tra- dente, capellani vero ejus ministrent sibi de capi- tulario et de absconsâ pro tempore abbas dicat capitulum cum mitrâ, sicut semper. Item in vii fest' et in sollempnibus processionibus, et in festis ca- parum pro tempore abbas, præmunitus a præcentore, incipere debet a 'super psalmum Magnificat,' vel psalmum Benedictionem pro tempore, et notandum, quod quicquid abbas cantare vel legere aut incipere debuerit, precentor eum præmunire. Ad inchoa- tionem psalmi Magnificat vel Benedictus, abbas stans in stallo suo ponat incensum in thuribulum, capellano seu priore pro tempore ministrante de a'crat et incenso, et ministro seu capellano pro tempore de thuribulo, et sic procedant ad altare, priore pro tempore accepto thuribulo a sinistris abbatis eunte, et capellano thuribulum abbatis a dextris deferente, dicentes psalmum Magnificat, vel Benedictus, sive submissâ voce psallentes pro tempore. Et flexis genibus super gradus ante altare tradat capellanus thuribulum abbati, et sustentet laciniam capæ suæ ; sicque incensetur altare a dextris et a sinistris, prop- terea feretrum S. Egwini, deinde feretrum S. Wis- tani, præterea tumba S. Wulsini: quo facto tradat thuribulum capellano, rediens ad stallum suum; capellanus vero ejus et item prior pro tempore in- censetur eum. Item capellani ministrent ei de libro, et mitrâ, et absconsâ pro tempore. Post Dominus vobiscum ante Oremus deponatur mitra, et in fine ad Per omnia recipiatur; et hoc servetur ad omnes collectas. Præterea quum ad collectas super horas, quæ semper dici debent cum mitrâ, post Benedica- mus primæ collectæ det abbas sollempnem bene- dictionem, sicut semper post vesperas, post matu- tinas, post missam suam cum celebraverit sive ca- pellanus ejus, nisi fuerit pro defunctis, et post prandium statim post gratias, ante ps. De profun- dis, vel si sit in conventu ante ps. Miserere. Istud observet abbas ubicumque fuerit, nisi legatus fuerit, seu archiep' vel ep'us, cui voluerit deferre. Formå sollempnis benedictionis primo faciat crucem cum pollice super pectus, dicens, "Sit nomen Domini benedictum;" postmodum signans se subjungat, "Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini." Deinde erigat manum signando populum, "Benedicat nos omnipotens Deus, Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus ejus.” Si processio post vesperas facienda sit tunc, finitis commemorationibus procedat abbas ad altare ubi facienda fuerit, cantoribus præeuntibus cum cereis, et conventu processionaliter subsequente. Quo cum pervenit, sumpto thuribulo incenset altare, et incensetur a capellano; et dictis dicendis, redeat ad vestiarium cantoribus præeuntibus, et devestiat se. De officio Abbatis ad collationem et ad completo- rium. Si contingat abbatem collationi interesse, * The Gospel. † a'bra, MS. 90 MONASTIC OFFICERS. P Tierce or Sext, according to the time, and celebrated Mass, if at leisure. He Ce- procedat in medio manicis cancellatis et capite dis- cooperto inclinans aliquantulum usque ad gradus, et factâ inclinatione eat sessum. Ad cujus adventum omnes surgant, et stent super inferiorem gradum inclinantes dum transit. Et notandum, quod ubi- cumque transit abbas per officinas regulares, preter- quam in dormitorium, singuli stando inclinent ad eum. Sedente eo duo juvenes surgant, et discalcient cum flexis genibus: cum autem discalciatus fuerit, incipiat antiphonam Mandatum novum cantore pre- muniente lotis ejus pedibus, juvenes, qui prius, recalcient eum, et sic revertantur ad sedes suas. Postea surgat, lavet manus suas, ministris mandati ministrantibus, et resideat; finitisque omnibus an- tiph' et lectore dicente Jube Domine benedicere, det benedictionem Angelorum custodia, &c. teris vero noctibus dicat Noctem quietam, &c. Post ea cimbâ percussâ surgat, et procedat ad re- fectorium conventu processionaliter præeunte et duobus juvenibus pro tempore cereos coram eo de- ferentibus cum pervenerit ad refectorium, proce- dat in medio capite discooperto, inclinans usque ad superiorem gradum, et factâ inclinatione, eat ses- sum: deinde percusso tintinnabulo a refectorario surgat unus de capellanis abbatis, cum cæteris mi- nistrantibus de potu, et sumptâ cuppâ stet in me- dio ante cæteros. Cetera fiant secundum librum. Notandum quod duo juvenes stent utrumque ad di- gitum, et ministretur sicut semper quum abbas est presens. Et dum biberit unus eorum subministret ei cum cooperculo, sicut semper ciphis coram con- ventu sufficienter appositis. Percutiat abbas men- sam cum palmâ manus et terminetur lectio, et mit- tatur cuppa una lectori. Deinde facto congruo in- tervallo tintet tintinnabulum semel. Et cum con- ventus sufficienter potaverit, tintet vero ter, et surgat. Et stans in gradu mediocri in medio in- clinet ad crucifixum, et erectus dicat Adjutorium, &c. et iterum inclinet et exeat. Notandum autem quod durante collacione inquirant capellani volun- tatem abbatis, si velit remanere de completorio, vel item interesse, in voluntate enim ejus est semper remanere. Si velit remanere, capellani ejus cum accensâ lanternâ divertant sinistrorsum extra hos- tium; et notandum quod quandocunque necesse fuerit, quocunque abbas ierit, preterquam in dor- mitorio, capellanus deferat lanternam accensam co- ram eo. Si ad completorium ierit, capellani ejus procedant cum conventu in ecclesiam, et dicantur quæ dicenda sunt, Priore seu custode ordinis faciente signa quæ ad ordinem pertinent. Et notandum quod abbas nusquam faciet hujusmodi signa nisi in refectorio cum sederet ad digitum.* Finito com- pletorio inclinet abbas, et exeat; ante trinam ora- tionem capellani vero ejus præsto sint extra chorum cum lanternâ pro tempore ut cum ipso divertant. Quod si trinæ orationi voluerit interesse, inclinet solus sicut semper, et hoc stando vel jacendo super formam pro voluntate suâ, postea exeat primus, ceteris processionaliter subsequentibus, et asper- gantur aquâ benedictâ. Et notandum, quod ubi- cumque abbas aspergi debeat, tradatur ei asper- sorium, preterquam si interfuerit completorio. De Matutinis. In septem festis et in sollempni *Digitus is a certain quantity of water; in this MS. it plainly signifies the washing of his hands at dinner. was in the table of Matins in those feasts, and also in the Vigil of Christ- processione Abbas si vacaverit debet matutinis in- teresse, et in primo A° secundam vel tertiam ant' pro tempore inchoare, octavum respons. cantare, et ultimam lectionem atque evangelium legere. Abbas det benedictiones ante lectiones, sicut semper quando est præsens. Cum abbas lecturus sit lec- tionem, procedat aliquantulum manibus cancellatis et capite discooperto, et inclinet. Cui omnes as- surgant et inclinet dum intersit, sicut semper quum intersit per medium conventum; post lectionem præsto sit capellanus suus, qui de manu ejus ab- sconsam accipiat: ipse vero procedat aliquantulum, sicut prius, et capiat parvam veniam, et revertatur ad stallum. Post ultimum responsorium sic inci- piat Te Deum, &c. semper quum est præsens, et inclinet. Notandum quod cum abbas lecturus sit Evangelium, sic. in vi fest. et in process. sol- lempn. post inceptionem hymni Te Deum præsto sit capellanus ejus retro chorum cum lanternâ ac- censâ qui ipsum præcedat in vestiarium. Et posito manutergio contra humeros abbatis, pectinetur, et lavet manus suas, capellanis ministrantibus; postea induatur qui cantaturus missam exceptis sandaliis. Et accepto baculo procedat ministris præeuntibus, capellanus sequitur in frocco usque ad gradus, et accipiens baculum dextrorsum, abbasque inclinans dicat, Da michi Domine sermonem rectum, &c. Postea erectus, deosculetur altare, et signet se. Deinde ponat incensum in thuribulo, et incens (sic) altar', ministro laciniam casulæ sustentante; pos- tea minister accepto thuribulo incenset abbatem, Ppo dico inclinante (q. if ipso [et] diacono incli- nante.) Sicque vadat ad analogium: subsacrista præsto sit cum absconsâ, quam tradat abbati deos- culando ejus manum, libro prius super analogium. Ad Gl'a tibi Domine, capellanus propè stans depo- nat mitram, quam reponat dictâ oratione, evange- gelium et baculum tradat, sicque incipiat abbas Deus in Adjutor. et revertatur in vestiarium. Si laudes cantare voluerit, exutus casula stola et ma- nipulo induatur capâ mitrâ cirotecis et baculo, et ingrediatur chorum superius, ciroferariis proceden- tibus usque ad gradus chori. Si non abbas præsens fuerit, et non legerit, sed laudes cantare voluerit, tunc post inchoationem hymni Te Deum, &c. exeat ut super, et revestiatur, ingrediaturque chorum superius, et eat ad stallum suum inferius, lectoque evangelio incipiat ipse Deus in Adjutor. &c. Et [si] capellanus vero ejus inter ymnum revestiatur ad ministrandum ut supra ad vesperas, alius capel- lanus ejus ministret sibi de capitulario et de ab- sconsâ. Dictâque oratione et datâ bened. si velit exeat, et capellanus revestitus remaneat, et dicat dicenda, aliter capellanus ipsum sequatur. Si vero abbas processioni interesse voluerit, capellanus pro voluntate suâ dicat dicenda, et postea cnm abbate procedat. Si abbas præsens fuerit matutinis, et voluerit interesse laudibus, exeat post inchoationem Deus in Adjutor. capellanis suis cum lanternâ extra chorum præsto exeuntibus. Et notandum quod quotienscumque abbas revestitus interesse voluerit processioni post vesperas, vel post matutinas, seu ante missam, capellanus deferat ei baculum pasto- ralem. De privata missa Abb'is. Si abbas missam pri- vatam voluerit celebrare, capellani ejus ministrent ei cum omni humilitate et reverentiâ in præpara- tione calicis et replicatione vestimentorum, et in ABBOT, ABBESS. 91 mas and Palm Sunday, and in the tenebræ, if he was in inland parts. cæteris necessariis. Et unus eorum legat episto- lam. Si capellanus ejus celebret, abbas dicat Con- fiteor, sicut semper. Ante vero Evangelium ca- pellanus petat benedictionem ab abbate, missâ pro Abbas defunctis dicens, Jube Dompne ben. &c. respondeat Dominus sit in corde tuo, &c. vel aliud quod voluit. Post evangelium alter capellanus de- ferat abbati librum ad deosculandum evangelii, ni fuerit missa Item deferat ei Pacem defunctis. pro Post ora- post Agnus Dei, ni fuerit Prior præsens. tionem Placeat tibi Sancta Trinitas det abbas be- nedict. num ipse celebraverit sive capella' ejus, ni fuerit missa pro defunctis. De sessione Abbatis in Claustro. Abbas, quando voluerit et vacaverit, sedeat in claustro ante hos- tium capituli, et deferatur ei liber ad respiciendum si voluerit; maxime autem ibi sedeat diebus domi- nicis ante primam, vel tertiam, ad audiendum con- fessiones fratrum et precipue novitiorum, qui in initio suæ conversionis diligenter sunt instruendi. Deputet et abbas aliquos fratres, quos viderit sa- pientores, qui una cum Priore confessiones fratrum audiant quando ipse non vacaverit. De Capitulo. Abbas cum voluerit, et aliqua ex- pedienda habuerit, intret capitulum, conventu ibi exeunte. Intret autem ut supra ad collationem ; ad ejus adventum conventus inclinet ut supra. Prior etiam seu præsidens et senior abb'i propin- quior ex aliâ parte accedant ad deosculandam manum ob paternam reverentiam; et notandum quod licet ad collationem vel alias quam horâ sta- tutâ capituli abbas capitulum intraverit, non deos- culetur ejus manus. Post tabulam lectam dicat abbas "Anima fratrum," &c. conventus respondeat Amen, et ille Benedicite, et ille Dominus, iterum ille Loqua- mur de ordine nostro; ad quod omnes inclinent ei, Et ter- et postea tractentur quæ tractanda sunt. minet ipse capitulum more solito, exiens cum capell' dicendo Verba mea. Notandum autem quod in vigilia natalis Domini, die cœnæ, die parascevæ, et in vigilia paschæ et pentecostes, Abbas si vacaverit, ante capitulum veniat in chorum, et precedat con- ventum in cap'lum; cap'lo finito abb' inclinans versus conventum dicat Confiteor; ceteri incli- nantes respondeant Misereatur, et postea Con- fiteor, et abbas dicat Misereatur: et post absolu- tionem, et omnes flectant genua; postea exeat ut supra. De Dominicali processione. Si voluerit abbas processioni in diebus dominicis interesse, ingre- diatur chorum superius dum aqua benedicitur, et stet ibi in stallo suo, capellano à dextris ejus cum baculo propè astante. Sacerdos vero qui aquam benedixit, aspersâ tumbâ sc'i Wulsini, et inclinans et deosculans manum abb'is, tradat ei asper- sorium. Qui aspergat seipsum, et postea sacer- dotem, et retradat aspersorium. Quo facto, capellanus tradat ei baculum pastoralem, et fiat processio, Abbate ultimo in medio gradiente (sic) cum baculo. Cum perveniunt in ecclesiam fiat statio, abb'e stante in medio, subtus fontes. Finite (sic) responsorio vel antiph. procedat cantor ad abbat. et dedicat (sic) cum eo De profundis, et fiat absolutio animarum abbatum ibidem quiescen- tium et omnium fidel' defunct'. Ad introitum in- The nights in the Passion week, when the candles were extinguished. In the feasts of copes it was at his option to perform the above duty, but cipiet abbas responsor. vel antiph. pro tempore præmuniente. Et notand' quod ejus semper inci- pere antip. vel resp' ad introitum quum est præ- sens. Introitu ecclesie abbas divertat dextrorsum capellanis, unus eorum reponat baculum pastora- lem, et alius cum eo procedat. De sollempni processione. Si abbas in aliquo festo caparum ad horam ante missam majorem, vel ad processionem præsens esse voluerit, præmunitus à præcentore ingredietur vestiarium cum capellanis suis; primo pectinetur, postea lotis manibus in- duatur alba stolâ capâ mitrâ cirotecis et annulo, capellanis semper ministrantibus. Deinde sumpte (sit) baculo pastorali ingrediatur chorum superius, et stet in stallo suo. Interim fiat exorcismus aquæ benedictæ si dominica fuerit, et aspersio ut supra, hoc adjuto quod abbas teneat baculum in manu si- nistra, dum aspergit se et sacerdotum. Aspersâque aqua bened. dicatur oracio dominica, priore faciente signa sicut semper item cum sit præsens, et inci- piatur hora. Si abbas præsens fuerit cantet horam, et capellus ejus ministret sibi de capitulario et aliis necess. Horâ cantatâ si sollempnis fuerit proces- sio, fiat thurificatio à Priore more solito, ita quod abbas incensum imponat, sicut semper quum est præsens. Tunc exeat processio, junioribus præce- dentibus, abbas sequatur ultimus in medio, capel- lanus ejus eat post seniores cum manitergio; cum autem processio eat per comiteria, fiat statio in comiterio monachorum cum ps. De profundis, et absolvantur animæ ibidem et ubicumque in Christo quiescentium. Cumque pervenerint in ecclesiam fiat statio, et absolutio animarum abbatum ibidem Si autem re- quiescent. et omn' fidel' defunct. sponsor' cantand' sit ad stationem, sedeat abbas usque ad repetitionem retractus post versum, vel prosam pro tempore, et tunc fiat sermo si fuerit habendus; sin autem, fiat absolutio ut prius. Sta- tim finito retractu abbas præmunitus à cantore in- cipiat ad introitum antiph' vel respons' pro tem- pore, et tunc fiat sermo si fuerit habendus; sin autem, fiat absolutio ut prius. Statim finito re- tractu abbas præmunitus à cantore incipiat ad in- troitum antiph' vel sespons' pro tempore sicut sem- Conventu ingrediente per quum est præsens. chorum abbas divertat dextrorsum usque in ves- tiarium, et præparet se ad missam fuerit celebra- Si vero missam non fuerit celebraturus, et interfuerit processioni, nihilominus divertat ut su- pra, et procedat ad altare cum quocunque missam celebraturo, ibidem more solito Confiteor et cetera dicturus; postea regat chorum cum cantoribus, si velit interresse missæ; sin autem, revertatur in vestiarium, et devestiat se. Et notand' quod abbas semper quum est præsens procedere debet ad altare cum missam celebraturo, et ibidem dicere Confiteor, et cætera ut supra, seu sit revestitus seu non. turus. Qualiter Abbas præparet se ad Missam. Si mis- sam fuerit vii festum, depositâ mitrâ et capâ sedeat et discalcietur, ac sandaliis cum pertinenciis recal- cietur. Deinde lotis manibus tunicâ et dalmaticâ induatur capellanis et ministris ministrantibus et psallentibus hos ps'os...... Hac oracione dicta procedat abbas versus altare, Priore eunte à dextris ejus et capellano à sinistris. Diaconus vero cum baculo pastorali, et subdiaconus cum texto procedat et ceteris ministris. Ad Gloria vero officium in- 92 MONASTIC OFFICERS. in other feasts and common days he was present when he pleased. It is to trent, et procedant usque ad gradus, et diaconus tradat abbati baculum, cæteris circumstantibus, ca- pellanoque mitram deponente, dicat abbas Confite- mini Domino, &c. postea Confiteor, &c. Ad ab- solutionem et remissionem flectant omnes genua. Quo dicta deosculetur abbas [abbis in MS.] tex- tum apertum sicut semper, et reponatur mitra. Postea tradat capellano baculum, et ascendat gra- dus coram altari, dicendo "Domine, exaudi ora- cionem meam, &c." Et inclinet dicens oracionem "Aufer à nobis," &c. quâ dictâ erectus deoscule- tur altare, et signet se in erigendo; dicat Adjutor' nostr' de more solito. Et notand' quod induatur sandaliis solum in vii fest. et tunc solum cantantur prædicti psalmi cum antiph. Item non induatur tunicâ et dalmaticâ, nisi in festis cum solempni process. Cætera vero omnia fiant semper ut supra. Item nullus collateralis cum abbate incedat nisi ad missam. Incepto Kyrie eleeson thurificet abbas altare mitratus. Ad inchoandum "Gloria in ex- celsis" deponatur mitra, et statim reponatur. Post Dominus vobiscum ante Oremus, iterum deponatur, et ad Per omnia reponatur. Ad Epistolam sedeat usque ad Evangel. capellano sustinente laciniam casulæ ex una parte, et diacono ex aliâ. Capellanus et diaconus in vii festis canant submissâ voce co- ram abbate. Item abbas semper det benedictio- nem super legentes et cantantes, ad gradus, statim expletis eorum officiis. Ad inceptionem Evangel. surgat, capellano juvante, et baculum sibi tradente, atque mitram deponente. Post Credo in unum in- ceptum reponatur mitra, factâ offerendâ, colloca- toque calice et thurificato deponatur annulus et cirothecæ lavet suas manus Priore ministrante, si præsens fuerit; et notand' quod quociens abbas missam celebrat in capis, Prioris est conducere eum ad altare, et facere offertorium, et ministrare in ablutione manuum, tam post offert. quam post perceptionem si præsens sit, sin autem præcentor debet. Lotis manibus abbas vertat se ad altare dicendo orationem consuetam. Ad In spiritu hu- milit. deponatur mitra, et peragatur totum sine mitra. Post communionem lotis manibus abbas cirotecas resumat, annuloque digito imposito finiat missam more solito. Post oracionem Placeat tibi, sumpto baculo vertat se ad populum, et det bene- dictionem, ut supra, ad vesperas, nisi fuerit missa pro defunctis. Tunc recedant ab altari usque in vestiarium eodem ordine quo prius acceperant ; abbate tunc baculum in dextrâ gestante et dicente, "Benedicite Sacerdotes," &c. cum priore et capel- lano, et aliis ministris sicut semper, et hoc in capis. De Prandio. Cum abbas in refectorio comedere voluerit, ponantur sex panes coram eo ad prandium de proprio silicet pane, et tres ad coenam. Sex vero ad eleemosynam, et duos ad s'cisiones faciendas in mensa. Ponatur etiam coram eo magnum potum cerviciæ. Et quociens fuerit caritas, vini dimidium sextarium ponatur ad opus suum. Tempore igitur congruo intret refectorium, et procedat ut supra ad collationem usque ad digitum, ubi lavet manus suas, Priore fundente aquam, et aliis ministrantibus de manutergio. Et notandum, quod refectorarii est providere manutergium et bacinos cum aquâ. Ma- nibus lotis faciat inclinationem, et pulset tintinna- bulum aliquantulum morose, et dicantur gratiæ more solito, ipso item dante benedictionem lectori. be noted also, that when he chose to be present at Masses in Copes, or in Albs, he robed himself, and held the Choir. When he pleased to sing Ves- pers, the vestment and cope for his use, water in silver basins, towels, the comb, mitre, gloves, and staff, were placed in the Vestiary. The Abbot then having combed his head, and washed his hands, clothed himself in the Vestiary with the alb, robe, mitre, gloves, ring, and crosier, his Chaplains humbly attending upon him. Upon his being robed, a peal of all the bells struck up; and entering the upper Choir preceded by the Chantors and Prior robed for the occasion, he went to his stall below, which whether he was in pontificals or not, was to be adorned with a carrel.a When the bells had done, the Abbot, standing in his stall, began Deus in Adjutorium; and after the beginning of the first psalm, a Senior, kissing his hand, took the crosier, and laid it near him; which ceremony of kissing his hand was to be always used upon the receipt or delivery of any thing from or to him. When he was seated, a Chaplain was to place a towel athwart his bosom, as was always usual when he was in pontificals. When the psalms were finished, he rose, and took the censer from a Senior, and his Chaplains at- tended him with the Gospel and lantern for the occasion; he then said the Duo juvenes stent ad digitum ex imâ et aliâ parte, et ministrent ei sicut quum est ad digitum. Capel- lanus etiam ejus ministrent de coquinâ sicut sem- per quando præsiderit, uno de ministris digiti, vel ambobus cum necesse fuerit ipsum juvantibus; unus etiam eorum subministret ei cum cooperculo dum bibit, sicut semper. Tempore congruo faciat soni- tum cum cochlearibus suis, et colligantur cochlearia. Cumque omnes comederunt, percutiat ter mensam cum cultello, et colligatur relevium. Quo collecto faciat signum cum manu super mensam, et termi- netur lectio. Et factâ inclinatione à lectore, pul- set tintinnabulum ut supra, et dicantur gratiæ. Post Agimus tibi gratias, statim det solempnem benedictionem, ut supra ad vesperas. Conventu eunte ad ecclesiam Miserere, remaneat ipse cum priore et aliquibus de senioribus in refectorio : finiant gratias. Interim lavet sibi manus, priore et ceteris, ut prius, ministrantibus; postea ducat eos in cameram suam ad potum. * Pew. There is a similar injunction in the Dec. Lanfr. § de abbate (with one or two additions), given in Mr. Tindal's Evesham, p. 178, ABBOT, ABBESS. 93 Gospel with his mitre, as he always did. Also the seven feasts, and solemn Precisions, and in the feasts of copes, Archbishop, or Bishop, to where he the Abbot, pre-admonished by the Chantor, was to begin the Antiphonar after the psalm Magnificat, or Benedic- tionem, according to the occasion; and it was to be noted, that the Abbot was always to be forewarned by the Chan- tor of what he was to sing, read, or begin. At the beginning of the Mag- nificat, or Benedictus, the Abbot, stand- ing in his stall, put incense in the cen- ser, the Chaplain or Prior for the occa- sion assisting with the materials of the incense, and an assistant or Chaplain for the occasion with the censer; and thus they were to proceed to the Altar; the Prior for the occasion, with the censer, going on the left of the Abbot, and the Chaplain, with the Abbot's censer, on the right, saying the Magni- ficat, or Benedictus, or singing with a low voice, according to the occasion. The Chaplain then kneeling upon the steps before the Altar, gave the censer to the Abbot, and supported his train: and thus the Altar was to be censed on the right and left, also the shrines of certain saints: after this, the Abbot gave the censer to the Chaplain, and returned to his stall, and the Chaplain and Prior also for the occasion censed him. The Chaplains. too attended him with the book, mitre, and lantern for the time. After the Dominus vobiscum before Oremus, the mitre was to be laid down, and in the end at the Per omnia resumed; and this use was to be ob- served at all the collects. Besides at the collects after the hours, which were always to be said with the mitre, after the Benedicamus of the first collect the Abbot gave his solemn benediction, as usually after Vespers, after Mat- tins, after his Mass, when he or his Chaplain celebrated (unless it was a Mass for the dead), and after dinner immediately next to the grace; before the psalm De profundis, or, if he was in the Convent, before the Miserere a a Sung upon going out from dinner. the and this he was to observe, wherever he was, unless there was a Legate, whom wished to pass the compliment. In giving the benediction he first made a cross with his finger upon his bosom, saying, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." Then, pointing to himself, he added, "Our help is in the name of the Lord." Then he was to elevate his hand as a token to the people, and say, "Almighty God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless us." If a procession was to be made after Ves- pers, when the commemorations were finished, the Abbot was to go to the Altar, to which the procession was to be made, the Chantors preceding him with tapers, and the Convent following. When he came there, he censed the Altar, was himself censed by the Chap- lain; and having performed the due service, returned to the Vestiary, pre- ceded by the Chantors, and unrobed. Of the Office of the Abbot at colla- tion and completory. If the Abbot happened to be present at the colla- tion, he proceeded up the middle with his arms across,b and head bare, some- what bowing as far as the steps, and having made his inclination, went to his seat. At his coming all arose, and stood upon the lower step, bowing as he passed. And (continues the ru- bric) "whensoever the Abbot passes through the regular offices, except to the Dormitory, every one shall bow to him standing. When he is seated two youths shall rise and pull off his shoes kneeling. When he has his shoes off he shall begin the antiphonar Man- datum novum, the Chantor forewarning him. The feet-washing ended, the young men shall put his shoes on, and return to their seats. Afterwards he shall rise, wash his hands, the servants of the Maundy assisting, and sit down. When all the antiphonars are done, and the reader says "Jube Domine benedicere," he shall give the benedic- b From the customs of the Monks, I follow Pliny's sense of cancello (See the Lat. Dict.) in which sense it is used in the Carthus. Rule. Mo- nast. Anglic. i. p. 951. 94 MONASTIC OFFICERS. tion Angelorum custodia, &c. if it be a, sabbath; but, on other nights, he shall say, Noctem quietam, &c. (Good night, &c.) After this, the bell being struck, he shall arise, and go to the Refectory, the Convent preceding in proces- sion, and the two youths, for the oc- casion, carrying tapers before him. When he comes to the Refectory, he shall proceed up the middle with his head bare, bowing as far as the upper step, and having made his inclination, sit down. The Refectioner then having struck the bell, one of his Chap- lains, with the attendants, ministering the drink, shall rise, take a cup, and stand in the middle before the rest.- It is to be noted, that the two youths shall stand at either side the digitus, and the service shall be that usual when the Abbot is present. Whilst he drinks, one of them shall attend with a cover, as is usual with the cups (when complete) laid before the Convent. The Abbot shall then strike the table with the palm of his hand, the reading shall end, and a cup be sent to the reader. Afterwards, at a proper in- terval, the bell shall ring once. And when the Convent has sufficiently drank, it shall ring three times; he shall then rise, and standing in the middle step in the centre, make a bow to the crucifix, and then standing say "Adjutorium, &c." and again bow and retire. It is to be observed, how- ever, that during the collation, his Chap- lains shall inquire whether he chuses to stay from Complin, or be present at it, for it is at his option always to stay if he chuses it. His Chaplains with lanterns shall turn to the left out of the gate, and it is to be noted, that whenever it shall be necessary, wherever he goes, except in the Dormitory, a Chaplain shall carry a lighted lantern before him. If he should go to Com- plin, his Chaplains shall proceed to the Church with the Convent, and the necessary service be said, the Prior or guardian of the rule making the Add. to Dec. Lanfr. in Tyndal's Evesham, p. 178. proper signs. And it is to be noted that the Abbot shall never make signs of this kind unless when he sits at the digitus in the Refectory. At the end of the service the Abbot shall bow and retire; and before the triple prayer, his Chaplains shall be ready out of the Choir with a lighted lantern for the occasion, that they may go out with him. But if he wishes to be present at the triple prayer, he shall bow alone as usual, either by standing or lying upon the form as he likes, and after- wards shall retire first, the others fol- lowing in procession; who all shall be sprinkled with holy water. And it is to be noted, that whensoever the Abbot ought to be sprinkled, the sprinkle shall be given to him, unless he is present at Complin." Of Mattins. In the seven feasts, and days of solemn procession, the Ab- bot, if at leisure, was present at Mat- tins, and in the first course of anti- phonars, according to the occasion, began the second or third antiphonar, sang the eighth responsory, and read the last lesson and gospel. He gave the benedictions before the lessons, as always when present. When he was going to read the lesson, he advanced somewhat with his arms crossed, and head uncovered, and bowed. All rose and bowed to him, as was usual b when he was present in the Convent as- sembled. After the lesson his Chap- lain was to be ready to take the lan- tern from him; he advanced a little as before, took a small venia, and re- turned to his stall. After the last re- sponsory he began Te Deum always when present, and bowed. It is to be noted, that when he was going to read the Gospel, if it was in the six feasts and in solemn procession, after the be- ginning of Te Deum, his Chaplain was to be ready behind the Choir with a lighted lantern, to go before him to the Vestiary; and a towel being put over his shoulders, he combed himself and washed his hands, his Chaplains as- Du b After the antiphonar was begun. Dec. Lanfr. e Penitential inclination, or genuflexion. Cange. ABBOT, ABBESS. 95 sisting; and he who was to celebrate clothed himself for singing Mass, the sandals excepted. Then taking the crosier, he advanced, and the Minis- ters going first, and the Chaplain follow- ing in his frock, as far as the steps, and taking the crosier from him on the right side, the Abbot bowed, and said, Grant me, O Lord, a right conversa- tion, &c. Afterwards, erect, he kis- sed the Altar, and crossed himself. Then he put incense in the censer, and censed the Altar, the Chaplain hold- ing his train; who afterwards, taking the censer, censed the Abbot, ..... Thus he went to the Lectern. The Subsacrist was ready with a lantern, which he delivered to the Abbot, kissing his hand, the book being first laid on the Lectern. At the Gloria tibi Domine, the Chaplain stand- ing near, took off the mitre, which he put on again, when the prayer was said; and delivered the gospel and crosier. The Abbot then began Deus in adjutorium, and returned to the Vestiary. If he wished to sing lauds, putting off the chesible, stole, and maniple, he was robed in the cope, mitre, gloves, and crosier, and en- tered the upper Choir, the taper- bearers proceeding to the steps of the Choir. If he was not present, and would not read, but wished to sing lauds, then, after the beginning of the Te Deum, he went out, as above, robed himself, entered at the upper Choir, and went to his stall below, and the Gospel being read, began himself Deus in adjutorium, &c. If his Chaplain, du- ring the hymn, was robed for minister- ing at Vespers, as above, another at- tended on him with the text and lantern. After the prayer and benediction he went out, if he chose, and the Chaplain, robed, remained and celebrated what was to be done; otherwise he followed the Abbot. If the latter wished to be present in the procession, the Chaplain, according to his wish, said what was to be done, and afterwards joined the Abbot. If the Abbot was present at Mattins, and wished to be at Lauds, he went out after the beginning of the Deus in adjutorium, his Chaplains at hand, with a lantern out of the Choir, going forth [with him]. And it is to be noted, that, as often as the Abbot in pontificals wished to attend the pro- cession after Vespers, or after Mattins, or before Mass, the Chaplain brought him his crosier. Of the Abbot's private Mass. If he wished to celebrate a private Mass, his Chaplains attended him with all humility and reverence, preparing the chalice, unfolding the vestments, and performing other necessary services; and one of them was to read the epis- tle. If the Chaplain celebrated, the Abbot said as usual, Confiteor. Before the Gospel, the Chaplain solicited benediction from the Abbot, saying, in the Mass for the dead, Jube Dompne ben. &c. to which the Abbot replied, Dominus sit in corde tuo, &c. or any thing else he liked. After the Gospel, another Chaplain brought him the texta to kiss if it was not a Mass for the dead and if the Prior was not present, the Pax after the Agnus Dei. After the prayer, Placeat tibi Sancta Trinitas, the Abbot gave the benediction, whe- ther he himself or his Chaplain cele- brated, unless it was a Mass for the dead. Of the Abbot's sitting in the Cloister. The Abbot, when he liked, and was disengaged, sat in the Cloister before the door of the Chapter, and a book was brought to him to peruse, if he chose it; but he sat there especially on Sundays before Prime or Tierce, to hear the confessions of the Monks, and especially of the Novices, who, in A book of the Gospels, with the image of Christ, or the Virgin Mary, on the cover. The pax was of like use, only of silver, ivory, or even board. Davies says, 66 Ia marvellous fair book, which had the Epistles and Gospels in it; which book had on the outside of the covering the picture of our Saviour Christ, all of silver, of goldsmith's work, all parcel gilt, very fine to behold, which book did serve for the Pax in the Mass." The Gospel was brought to the Abbot, and the Pax likewise, to be kissed; for they were distinct things; the kiss of peace at the Mass was instituted by In- nocent I. in the year 407; the Pax after the Agnus Dei, by Leo II. in 681. The kiss of peace fol- lowed the consecration of the Host, when the Priest said "The Peace of our Lord," &c. but the third day before Easter it was omitted on account of the Passion. Du Cange, v. Osculum Pacis. 96 MONASTIC OFFICERS. the commencement of their conversion, were to be carefully instructed. The Abbot deputed some of the more pru- dent Monks to join the Prior in hear- ing the confessions, when he was him- self engaged. Of the Chapter. The Abbot, when he liked it, and had any business, entered the Chapter, upon the Con- vent's retiring. He entered as above at Collation; and the Convent, as above also, bowed at his arrival. The Prior also, or President and Senior, next to the Abbot, came from the other side to kiss his hand from paternal re- verence; and it is to be noted, that whenever at Collation or not the stated hour of Chapter, the Abbot entered that place, his hands were not kissed. After the table was read, the Abbot said, "The souls of all deceased breth- ren and all believers rest in peace;" to which the Convent replied, "Amen." And he again, "Benedicite," again "Dominus," and then, "Let us speak of the order." All immediately bowed, and the business commenced. He finished the Chapter in the usual manner, by going out with his Chap- lains and saying Verba mea. It is to be observed, that if he was at leisure on the Vigil of Christmas day, Maundy Thursday, Easter-day, and the Vigils Easter and Whitsuntide, he came be- fore the Chapter to the Choir, and pre- ceded the Convent in going to the former place. When it was over, bow- ing to the Convent, he said, Confiteor, to which the others bowing answered Misereatur, and they afterwards Confi- teor, and he Misereatur. After the ab- solution, and all had knelt, he went out as above. Of the Sunday Procession. If the Abbot wished to be present at the Sunday Procession, he entered the upper Choir, while the water was con- secrating, and stood there in his stall, his Chaplain standing near on his right with the crosier. The Priest who consecrated the water, having sprinkled the shrine of Wulsin, bowed, kissed the Abbot's hand, and gave him the sprinkle. He then sprinkled himself, and next the Priest, to whom he then returned the sprinkle. After this the Chaplain gave him the crosier, and the procession began, the Abbot last, going in the middle with his staff. When they came into the Church, a stand was made, the Abbot being in the middle beneath the fonts. The response, or antiphonar, being over, the Chantor proceeded to the Abbot, and said, with him, De Profundis. Absolution was then pronounced of the souls of all the Abbots there lying, and all faithful persons deceased. The Abbot began the responsory, or antiphonar, accord- ing to the occasion and warning of the Chantor at the entrance of the pro- cession, when he was present. Upon entering the Church, the Abbot turned to the right with his Chaplains, one of whom was to put by the crosier, and the other proceed with him. Of solemn Procession. If the Abbot wished to be present in any feast of cape at the hour before the greater Mass, or at procession, according to the warning of the Chantor, he entered the Vestiary with his Chaplains, first combed himself, and then having washed his hands, put on the alb, stole, cope, mitre, gloves, and ring, his Chap- lains always attending upon him. Then he took his crosier,a entered at the upper Choir, and stood in his stall. others when it was to be laid aside, at least in the a There were times when this was to be borne, and same houses; thus the customs of Abingdon say, among other instances :- Abbas si missam pro defunctis celebraverit ba- culum non portabit. Ad matutinas in processu ad altare, nec in pronuntiatione evangelii baculum habebit. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. p. 184. Quotiens abbas in conventu celebraverit vel cho- rum tenuerit aut revestitus fuerit, baculum et ciro- tecas habebit. Fol. 184. b. In processionibus cum conventu chorum intra- bit, sed per medium chorum baculum minimè por- tabit; sed capellanus sinister in introitu chori ba- lum de abbate accipiet, et ad locum solitum re- feret. Fol. 186. a. If the Abbot celebrates the mass for the dead, he shall not carry his crosier; nor at mattins in going to the altar, nor in reading the gospel. As often as he celebrates in the convent, or holds the choir, or is in pontificals, he shall have the crosier and gloves. He shall enter the choir with the convent in processions, but by no means carry his crosier through the midst of the choir; his chaplain on the left hand shall take it upon entering the choir, and carry it to its usual place. ABBOT, ABBESS. 97 In the interim, the holy water was consecrated, if it was a Sunday, and sprinkled as above, with this addition that the Abbot held his crosier in his left hand while he sprinkled himself and the priest. After the sprinkling, the Lord's prayer was said, the Prior making the signs, as was always usual when he was present, and the hour was begun. If the Abbot was present he sang the hour, and his Chaplains at- tended him with the Gospel and other necessaries. The hour being sung, if there was a solemn procession the censing was made by the Prior, except that the Abbot put in the incense, as he always did when he was present. Then the procession went forth, the juniors preceding; the Abbot followed last in the middle, his Chaplain next to the seniors with a towel. When the procession went through the Church-yards, a stand was made in the cœmitery of the Monks, with the psalm De profundis, and the absolution of all souls there and every where sleeping in Christ. When they came to the Church a like stand was made, and an absolution of the souls of Ab- bots there resting, and all faithful per- sons deceased. But if the responsory was to be sung at the standing, the Ab- bot was to sit till the repetition of the retractus a after the verse or prose according to the occasion; and then a sermon was made, if it was so to be; if not, absolution, as before. As soon as the retractus was over, the Abbot, forewarned by the Chantor, began at the entrance the antiphonar, or re- sponsory, according to the season, as usual when he was present. Upon the convent's entrance of the choir, the Abbot turned to the right to go into the Vestiary and prepare himself for Mass, if he meant to celebrate; if not, but to attend the procession, he still turned off as above, and proceeded to the Altar with the person who was to celebrate, to say there, in the usual manner, the Confiteor, &c. and after- wards lead the choir, with the Chantors, The retractus was the return of Tractus in the chant. if he meant to be present at the Mass: if not, he returned to the Vestiary, and unrobed himself. The Abbot al- ways, when he was present, was to proceed to the altar with him who was to celebrate, and there to say the Confiteor, &c. as above, whether in pontificals or not. How the Abbot prepared himself for Muss. If he was going to celebrate Mass, and it was one of the seven feasts, he laid aside his mitre and cope, and put on the sandals and appurte- nances. Then he washed his hands, and robed himself in the tunic and dalmatic, his chaplains and servants attending upon him, and singing certain Psalms. When this prayer was over, the Ab- bot proceeded towards the altar, with the Prior on his right, and the Chap- lain on his left. The Deacon ad- vanced with the crosier, and the Sub- deacon with the text and the other attendants. At the Glory they entered, and proceeded to the steps; and the Deacon delivering the crosier to the Abbot (the others stood by), and the Chaplain taking the mitre off, the Abbot said, "Confess to the Lord," &c. and afterward Confiteor, &c. At the absolution and remission all kneeled. After which, the Abbot kissed the Gospel, which lay open, as usual, and the mitre was put on again. He then gave the crosier to his Chaplain, and ascended the steps before the Altar, saying, "Lord, hear my prayer," &c. When he said the prayer, "Aufer à nobis," &c. he bowed, and, when it was over, kissed the altar, and crossed himself as he was rising. He then said the Adjutorium, &c. in the name of the Lord. And it is to be noted, that he wore his sandals only in the seven feasts, when only the above psalms and antiphonars were sung. Neither did he wear the tunic and dal- matic except in feasts with solemn. procession. All other things were done as usual. No one walked abreast with the Abbot, except to Mass. At the beginning of the Kyrie eleeson the b Addit. to Decr. Lanfr. sect. De Abbate, in Tyndal's Evesham, p. 178. H 98 MONASTIC OFFICERS. Abbot censed the altar in his mitre, which was put off at the commence- ment of the Gloria in excelsis, and immediately resumed. After the Do- minus vobiscum, before the Oremus, it was again taken off, and replaced at the Per omnia. At the epistle he sat till the Gospel, the Chaplain holding his train on one side, and the Dea- con on the other. On the vii feasts the Chaplain and Deacon sang in a low voice in the presence of the Abbot. The Abbot also always gave the bene- diction to those who read and sung, at the steps, immediately after their duty was over. At the beginning of the Gospel he rose, the Chaplain assisting him, delivering the crosier, and taking off the mitre. After the Creed was begun, the mitre was replaced, and (the offering made, and the chalice placed and censed), the ring and gloves were pulled off. He then washed his hands, the Prior attending upon him, if pre- sent; and it was a rule, that as often as the Abbot celebrated Mass in capis, the Prior should lead him to the altar, and make the offertory, and minister in the washing of his hands both after the offertory, and after the communion, if he was present; if not, the above duty devolved to the Chantor. When he had washed his hands, the Abbot turned himself to the altar, and said the usual prayer. At the In spiritu humilitatis the mitre was taken off, and the rest of the service said without it. When the Abbot had washed his hands after the commu- nion, he resumed his gloves, put on his ring, and finished the Mass in the usual manner. After the Placeat tibi, he took his crosier, turned himself to the people, and gave the benediction, as above, at Vespers, unless it was a Mass for the dead. They then departed from the Altar to the Vestiary in the same order as before, the Abbot then carrying his crosier in his right hand, and saying, "Benedicite Sacerdotes, &c." with the Prior and Chaplain and other attendants as usual; and this in capis, Of Dinner. When the Abbot chose to dine in the Refectory, six loaves of his own bread (wassel, the finest sort) were put before him, six for dinner, and three for supper. There were six for alms, and two for cutting from at the table. Besides these, there was a great jug of beer; and as often as there was a charity, half a sextary of wine. At a suitable time, therefore, he enter- ed the Fratry, and proceeded as above at the collation to the digitus, where he washed his hands, the Prior pour- ing out the water, and others attend- ing with a towel. And the rule was, that the Refectioner should provide a towel and basons with water. When he had washed his hands, he made a bow, and rang the bell somewhat late. Then grace was said in the usual man- ner, himself giving the benediction to the Reader. Two young men stood at the digitus from the lowest and other side, and ministered to him as when he was at the digitus. His Chaplain also ministered from the kitchen as always when he presided, one of the servants of the digitus, or both, if necessary, as- sisting him. One of them, too, minis- tered to him with the cover, when he drank, as was usual. At a fit time he made a noise with the spoons, and they were collected. When all had dined, he struck the table three times with his knife, and the fragments were collected. After this he made a sign with his hand upon the table, and the reading ceased. The reader having made a bow, he rang the bell as above, and grace was said. After the Agimus tibi gratias, he immediately gave the solemn benediction, as above at Ves- pers. The Convent going then to the Church with Miserere, Ps. 51st, he re- mained with the Prior, and some of the Seniors in the Refectory, and grace was ended. In the mean while, he washed his hands, the Prior and others assisting as before; after which he took them to his chamber to drink. Besides these high distinctions, dis- cipline was to be always observed in ABBOT, ABBESS. 99 his presence; and in reproof, the de- linquent was to stand till he ordered him to sit, and repeatedly solicit par- don as long as he was angry. The Abbot was, however, to shun this be- fore Seculars. When he was in the Choir, no one was to discipline the children without his orders; and while he was a-bed in the morning, the mas- ter was to wake them at the proper hour, by striking the rod upon their bed-clothes; after which they were to wash, comb themselves, say their pray- ers, go to their school, and sit silent until the Abbot rose. When he sent letters to the Convent, all were to bow and kneel, as to those of the Pope and King; for other persons they only bowed. If he gave a command, the Monk who received it was immediately to kneel. If a Monk came to him, he was to say Benedicite, and then tell the cause of his coming; nor was he to sit in his presence, or depart without his leave; after which he was again to say Bene- dicite, and go. If any thing new was done in his absence, it was to be sub- mitted to his discretion upon his re- turn; and when he staid out a whole night, a Monk, penanced with absti- nence, was, upon his return, ab- solved.b Abbots had separate tables, because living in penitence, and using only the common viands, strangers would be no expence to them. The frugal would there see an example to confirm them in that virtue, and the bon-vivant a condemnation; the presence of the Superior would, too, impress respect, and prevent deviation from bienséance and edification. Very different conse- quences, however, caused the Council of Aix in the ninth century, and Dun- stan after them, to decree that the Ab- bot should dine in the common Refec- tory; and, though the Cistercians, who "When their (the Barons') letters were read upon occasions in any assemblies, the Commons present would move their bonnets." Smith's Lives of the Berkeley Family, MS. 270. See also State Trials, vol. I. p. 25. Fol. Ed. b Decr. Lanfr. de Abbate. professed to follow the rule of Bennet in its literal strictness in reviving the separate table, took precautions to pre- vent the consequence, excess and good cheer, these precautions, whatever may be the elegant and judicious Malmesbury's assertion,d were useless.e Fastred reproaches an Abbot for having himself served in his guest's hall when he had no company, on purpose to have more means of satisfying his ap- petites, for imitating in his dress and furniture the magnificence of Dives, for having exquisite food, fresh fish seasoned in different manners, and bread made out of the house by wo- men. By the injunctions too of the villains, whom the villain Henry & stiled his visitors, the Abbot's table was "not to be somptious or full of delicate and forayne dishes, but honestlye furnished with comon meate, at which table the said Abbot, or some Senior in his stede, shall sit to receive the guests."h Notwithstanding these accounts, se- parate habitations for Abbots are men- tioned as early as the reign of Alfred the Great; and yet Æthelstan, Abbot of Ramsey, is described as dining with his Monks in the common Refectory.k It is plain, by Lanfranc's Decretals or- dering the master of the novices so to wake the children in the morning as not to disturb the Abbot, that he was supposed to sleep in the common Dor- mitory; yet the Synod of London, held in the reign of Henry I. was obliged to order that they should eat and sleep in the same house with their Monks, unless prevented by any ne- e Devoirs de la Vie Monastique, vol. II. p. 307-11. d Who says they never had but two dishes for themselves or others. De W. 2. p. 72. e Dev. V. M. ut sup. f Id. p. 312. Drayton says, that, temp. H. VIII. the worst man in the house was elected Abbot; That, by the slander which from him should spring, Into contempt it more and more might bring. Leg. of T. Cromw. E. of Essex. b MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. p. 22. a. i M. Par. 992. Hist. Ramer. c. lxxxix. 125331B H 2 100 MONASTIC OFFICERS. a cessity. These passages show, that some separate abbatial habitations and tables existed, by the abuse of retain- ing the primary practice previous to the revival of it by the Cistercians. It was expected of Abbots that they should associate with their Monks in preference to Seculars.b The customs of Abingdon enjoined, that before Easter the Abbot should invite, twice or thrice in the week from custom, sixteen or seventeen, or twelve Monks to his table alternately, or any other at a different time, whom he should chuse (though boys and youths were neither to go there or elsewhere at any time without masters); in which case, the Abbot's Chaplain was to announce the invitation to the Refectioner, and he to the Prior, presiding in the Fra- try.c At Croyland, every principal feast three Monks were to dine at the Abbot's table, every second feast two, and on certain days the Prior. It was also enacted, that every day in the year two Monks should dine in the Abbot's hall, whether he was present or not.d This invitation, however, the Abbot was to extend no further than when he had not other visitors. The Monks thus invited used to absent themselves from celebrating Masses on that day; and the preference in point of precedences at the table, of juniors to seniors, through office, or otherwise, occasioned, it seems, dis- Eadm. 68. b M. Paris. (2d) 1048. Abbas quemcunque de conventu ad mensam convivarum vocare voluerit, vocabit; pueri autem et adolescentes, sine custodia, nec ad refectionem abbatis nec alibi aliquando debent esse, vel incedere. Si abbas aliquem vocabit ad mensæ convivium ca- pellanus abbatis indicabit refectorario, refectorarius referet priori qui ad mensæ consistorium sederit. MS. Cott. Claud. B. VI. p. 187. Abbas ex con- suetudine bis vel ter in ebdomadâ senos vel sep- tenos, denos vel duodenos, ad mensæ convivium alternatim vocabit. Id. 188. d Contin. Hist. Croyl. 499. Cap. Gen. Northampt. a° 1444. c. vii. f Ibid. The Abbot promoted Monks by only saying to them in Chapter "go sit next to that person;" after which they always took that rank. Dec. Lanfr. There was a promotion called Emancipation, which released Monks from Obedience. Du Cange, v. Emancipatio. content.h The Monks, too, behaved ill: "not abstaining from detractions, contentions, and vain gossipings." The guests of Abbots, however, no doubt, consisted, at least some, of their secu- lar relatives, whom they had constantly on visits to them.k The power of an Abbot was limited only by deviations from the rule ; and latterly at least, there was no appeal allowed, because it would be to appeal from the law itself. But whatever was his power, if he or any officer was too rigid, the Monks either fled," or made his life uncomfortable ;º accord- ingly, in the latter æras of Monachism, in case any dispute arose between the Prelates of different houses, or the Prelates and their Convents, it was to be referred to the visitors of those houses, or presidents of the last gene- ral Chapter; who were to appoint ar- bitrators, and if they failed it was to be delayed till the general Chapter. But in the reign of Henry VIII. it was lawful to appeal to his visitors; and the Prior of Walsingham says, if he offered correction, his Monks "would rather appeal, as this man did, to the intent that in so doing they may lyve in great liberty." The Monks, too, h C. G. North. ut sup. c. x. i Similiter ita cum fratres ad mensam abbatis vel prioris vocati fuerunt, vel in oriolo comederunt, à detractionibus, contentionibus, et vanis confabu- lationibus, omnino abstineant. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 243. k M. Par. 1100. The number of the Abbot's and Convent's visitors was sometimes settled be- tween them. When he was at home all belonged to him; when absent, all who had more than 13 horses, if they were religious or specially invited by the Prior. Monast. i. 299. (S. Edm. de Burgo.) Whiting of Glastonbury entertained 500 persons of fashion at one time; and upon Wednesdays and Fridays all the poor of the country were relieved by his particular charity. Collinson's Somers. II. 256. The Prior of Durham constantly maintained four old women. Davies, &c. The master of the song- school too, had his diet in the Prior's hall among the Prior's gentlemen. Ibid. 1 Bernard in Dev. Vie Mon. v. I. p. 226. m Du Monstier. 504. "Qui cum eis arctius fræna teneret, cœpit dis- plicere aliquibus, de quorum numero iv. à fugâ non abstinentes, i. e. being too strict four took disgust and fled. MS. Bodl. Wood, II. p. 213. • Monast. from memory. P Reyn. App. 130, 162. 4 MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. f. 101, a. ABBOT, ABBESS. 101 had other modes of vexing the Abbot. He had one key of the place where the Convent seal was kept, and the two others, or more, were in the hands of fit persons appointed by himself or the Convent. This seal could not be applied without consent of the Chapter; and a visitor was obliged to order, "that the Abbot should diligently ex- hort and persuade his Monks, easily and lovingly, to give consent to expose and bring out the common seal to seal the deeds, which the Abbot, with the counsel of the more prudent, thought good to be sealed for the benefit of the house."a Commensurate with the power of an Abbot, were his privileges. At one time to make knights b-to confer the lesser orders to dispense with irre- gularities in his Monks-to give the benediction any where to consecrate Churches and cemeteries, and other Ecclesiastical appendagesd-to appoint and depose Priors of cells to hold visitations once a year, and if there was a necessity oftener to regulate the reception of Nuns in subservient houses, and to give the benediction to subject Nuns.b-Besides parliamentary honours, they were sponsors to the Ut abbas diligenter exhortet et inducat fratres ut facile et diligenter consensum præbeant ad ex. ponendum et perducendum sigillum suum com- mune, ad sigillandum ea quæ abbas in consilio sa- niorum domûs pro utilitate et necessitate mon. duxit sigillandum. MS. in the Ashmol. Mus. 1519, p. 26, a. See too Monks and Nuns. b Hearne's Antiq. Disc. I. p. 82-90. The bishop of the diocese conferred the greater, as in several bulls of privilege appears; but of this see Lyndw. 32. The formula for Abbots making Clerks is in MS. Bodl. Barlow, 7. d Chronol. Augustin. Cant. M. Paris, 1033. f Ibid. In these visitations they received the homage of tenants (Monast. i. 299), corrected abuses (id. ii. 940), and enacted statutes for the re- gulation of their subject Nuns and Ecclesiastics (MS. Cott. Claud. E. iv. f. 369), who then swore fealty, i. e. not to appoint or depose a Prior, receive a Nun, nor grant or alienate territory. Monast. i. 353. Accounts were then also taken of the Monastic property, dues, &c. MS. Harl. 1005. f. 69, b. As to fealty, Abbots also made it to one another. See Gutch's Collectanea Curiosa, p. 53. 33 Ed. III. Thomas de Brownal, Abbot of Croy- land, made to Robert de Camiley, Abbot of Peter- borough, fealty for lands which he held. MS. Harl. 604, f. 3, a. Monast. i. 489. M. Paris, 1035. children of the blood royal. Some of the higher order had the privilege of coining, but that of impressing their own name and effigies was limited (Ruding thinks) to Archbishops only. Bells were rung in honour of them when they passed by Churches be- longing to them. They rode with hawks on their fists, on mules with gilded bridles, saddles,m and cloths of blood colour," and with immense reti- nues. The noble children, whom they educated in their private families, served them as pages. They stiled themselves by "divine permission," or the "grace of God," and their sub- scription was their surnames, and name of the house. They associated with people of the first distinction, and shared the same pleasures with them, being accustomed to visit and dine with them. The Abbot of St. Alban's usually sat alone at the middle of the table of the great hall, [because the i Lodge's Illustrations, i. 27. Monast. i. 160-5. Mitred were not consequently Parliamentary Ab- bots, the summons merely depending upon the te- nure. Cowell, v. Mitred Abbots. Coinage, iv. 163. Ed. 2. 1 X Script. col. 1920, 1923. The reformation of the Clugniacs, A° 1233, forbids their Abbots and Priors riding without a saddle and crupper. Bullarium Romanum, v. i. p. 101. "Warton's History of English Poetry, ii. 330, 395. • M. Par. 1101. When Abbot Whiting went abroad, which he did seldom but to national synods, general chapters, and parliaments, he was attended by upwards of 100 persons. Collinson (from San- ders) ut supra. P Wart. ii. 445. Fiddes's Wolsey Collect. 23. Whiting had near 300 pupils (credat Judæus), be- sides others of a meaner rank, whom he fitted for the universities at home. Collinson and Sanders. 9 Morant's Colchester, 144. Latymer Wygorn. is the signature of the Prior of Worcester, in MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. Brit. Topogr. ii. 461.-In MS. Harl. 913, fol. 8-10, is a song made against the "luxurious Abbot and Prior of Gloucester, in vile Latin Rhythms on purpose." Here are a few stanzas, the whole being in my History of Gloucester City: Quondam fuit factus festus, Et vocatur ad comestus Abbas, prior Gloucestrensis, Cum totâ familiâ. Abbas ire sede sursum, Et prioris juxta ipsum, Ego stavi semper dorsum Inter rascabilia. 102 MONASTIC OFFICERS. Lord's seat was there; strangers of rank sitting above a] where he was served in plate; and when any nobleman, or ambassador, or strangers of eminent quality, came thither, they sat at his table towards the end of it.b Like the nobility too, they had their " privy Vinum (obliter.) Ad prioris et abbatis, Nichil nobis paupertatis, Sed ad divites omnia. Abbas bibit ad prioris, Date vinum ad majoris, Prosit esse de minoris Si se habet gratiâ. Hoc est bonum, sie potare Et conventui nichil dare, Quorsum volunt nos clamare Dura in capitulo. The Prior then proposes going away for a time. Surge, cito recedamus, Hos'tes nostros relinquamus, Pro termino jam precamus, Ibimus in claustra ; Post Completum† redeamus, &c. Dixit abbas ad prioris, Tu es homo boni moris, Quia semper sanioris Mihi das consilia. Post completum rediere, Ad currinum combibere, Potaverunt usque flere, &c. That is, The Abbot and Prior of Gloucester, and suite, Were lately invited to share a good treat; The first seat took the Abbot, the Prior hard by, With the rag, tag, and bobtail below was poor I. [For] Wine [for the Abbot and Prior they call], To us poor devils nothing, but to the rich all. The blustering Abbot drinks health to the Prior, Give wine to my lordship, who am of rank higher; If people below us but wisely behave, They are sure from so doing advantage to have; We'll have all, and leave nought for our brothers to take, For which shocking complaints in the Chapter they'll make. Says the Prior, "My lord, let's be jogging away, And to keep up appearances, now go and pray." "You're a man of good habits, and give good ad- vice," The Abbot replies-they return'd in a trice, And then without flinching stuck to it amain, Till out of their eyes ran the liquor again. *For hospites-guests. F. + Complin, a fine piece of oblique satire, as will appear hereafter. i. e. till the return of day, Archæologia, xiii. 321. Brit. Topogr. ii. 462. See Archæol. xiii.p.321. councils" of certain monks, called maturi fratres. In the very old Rules, Seniors were deputed (as many as twelve in large houses) to assist and advise the Abbot; and they were to be men remarkable for probity and science.d Their secular tenures introduced them into a variety of incongruous offices, as that of going to war,e though substitutes of knights were mostly sent,for tenure in free alms pretended.g Some of them were justices itinerant,h in violation of the Rule; and till the dissolution they were employed to col- lect the dismes, "a shrewde labor " (says the Prior of Bromholm) "for us a grete cost, a shrewde juparde." This office they commonly shifted off upon one of their Monks; and, to prevent malice, they were not to be appointed by any Bishop to collect dismes out of the country of their resi- dences."m Besides skill in writing and illumi- nating, and various arts, we find Ab- bots Physicians." I apprehend they were in general good agriculturists. Thomas Lord Berkeley in the 13th century, when part of his pupilage was spent, was endowed by his father with the manor of Bedminster, near Bristol, not only for his expences, but to initiate him in husbandry, where he continued till he married; the Abbot and Prior of St. Augustine's, and the Master of St. Catherine's hospital, being his in- structors and tutors in it." Many of the large number of pupils, which Whiting, Abbot of Glastonbury, and others had, might have been sent for the acquisition of similar knowledge, if not intended for the Church; for arms and agriculture were in these ages Five of the older and healthier Canons to be a council to the Abbot on business of the house. Barrett's Brist. 265. Du Cange, v. Discretæ. d Du Cange, v. Seniores Monasteriorum. e Dodechini Append. to M. Scot. sub anno 1.110. Du Cange in v. Hostis. f Walt. de Whittleseye, p. 172. Ayloffe in Edmondson, i. p. 72. Brinkeland in Hearne's Antiq. Disc. i. p. 64. 1 M. Paris, 770. * Paston Letters, iii. 406. m Stat. 9 H. V. c. 9. Smythe's Berkeley's MS. 166. 1 W. Thorne, c. 37, § 3. " M. Par. 242. 0 ABBOT, ABBess. 103 the chief branches of Baronial educa- tion. The public dress of an Abbot is known to have consisted of the Epis- copal ornaments of the Dalmatic or seamless coat of Christ, signifying holy and immaculate piety; of the Mitre, emblematic of Christ, the head of the Church, whose figure Bishops bore; of the Crosier, or pastoral care; of the Gloves, which, because occa- sionally worn or laid aside, typified the concealment of good works for shun- ning vanity, and the demonstration of them for edification; of the Ring, as Christ was the spouse of the Church, and Scripture mysteries were to be sealed from unbelievers, and revealed to the Church:a and of the Sandals, because, as the foot was neither covered nor naked, so the Gospel should neither be concealed nor rest upon earthly be- nefits. The Mitres appear to have been worn, like those of Bishops, though, it is said, the Episcopal were gold, the Abbatial argent garnished gold, all of them with Murrey labels,c a mere distinction of the writer or painter. Their parliament robes ["a perlement robe of quite furryd with lettese," says an inventory e] were how ever different from the Episcopal, for they wore gowns, hoods, and cassocks.f The inventory adds, "an abbet lynt with quite (white) sattin; a kirtill of white; a quite abbet furred; a blak gown furred with shanks (the shank of a kidde, says Minshew, which beareth the fur that we call budge) and a hood. The pastoral crooks (called the staves of justice and mercy ) were sometimes barely curled, sometimes more orna- Gemma Animæ de antiquo ritu Missarum, c. 211, 12, 14, 15, 16. b Rab. Maurus de instit. Cleric. L. i. c. 22, p. 574. Fiddes's Wolsey Coll. p. 113. In the MS. Coll. of Arms cited above, the la- bel is in fol. 28. b. Murray; in 34 a. Green; in 37 b. Or; in 47 b. White. • MS. in Mus. Ashmol. 1519, p. 142, a. Let- tice was a white fur, called also Lituit. See Blome's Heraldry, p. 17. Fiddes, ut supra. Du Cange, v. Investitura. Some were of Ivory. Id. v. Crochia. mented, sometimes like beadles' staves, more like maces than crosiers. In the 9th century we have one very short, like a lituus,h but as there is mention of a choral staff, which they carried in the Choir,i perhaps there were two kinds of Crosiers; at least one for state only. Though the ferula Abba- tum was a Crosier, yet a Crosier might not be a ferula, and the wooden pas- toral staff, often found in the tombs of Abbots, might be the common ferula, distinct from the state Crosier,k which would be preserved from value, not bu- ried. The rings worn on various fingers were either of a circular or oval form, and set often with seals of arms and de- vices, and antique gems. The Bull of Honorius, respecting the privileges of St. Alban's, only allows the Abbot to use his pontificals m within his own churches and cells on festival days, and on other times within the house to wear the habit conformable to the rule;" and they did so, though with trifling uncanonical variations. Some Abbots of Evesham clothed themselves from the Monks, common chamber.P The foppish prelate who wore the taberd, which the French called Canis, de- spising the common round robe of Priests, and had double garments of scarlet, crimson, and party-coloured, scarcely reaching to the knees, and boots without a fold, "like the sign of the leg," is a singular instance." Bishops sometimes did not choose to appoint Abbesses, but kept the b Maillot's Costumes, iii. 52, pl. 13, f. 2. Du Cange, v. Baculus Choralis. Du Cange, v. Ferula. 1 Gough's Sepulch. Mon, vol. i, Introd. cliii. clxxi. O Of respect had to revenue in the use of these, see Wilk. Concil. iii. 142, Monast. i. 180. Reyn. Append. 195, 6. P Monast, i. p. 148. 4 Or Camis, a thin gown. See Spens. F. Q. B. ii. c. 3. st. xxvi. Spreverat in sacerdotibus rotundam communis habitus capam, et taberdam quam Gallici canem appellant, induerat: vestes ejus ex scarletâ moretâ variâ duplices erant vix genua contingentes. Ocreas habebat in cruribus, quasi innatæ essent, sine plicâ porrectas. MS. Bodi. James, No 6, p. 121. The last sentence is in print in Tyrwhitt, and Johnson and Steevens. 104 MONASTIC OFFICERS. government in their own hands ; or where there was no competent Nun, would commit the Temporals to one, and the Spirituals to another. Ab- bessess too were deposed by complaint of the Nuns; even for inattention to repairs of buildings, a point very strict- ly impressed upon all governors of re- ligious societies.a Abbesses were distinguished by the pastoral staff,b and veil of prelacy con- ferred at sixty years of age. The dress of an Abbess of the twelfth cen. tury consists only of a long white tunic, with close sleeves, probably made of linen, and a black surcoat of equal length with the tunic, the sleeves of the surcoat being large and loose, and the hood drawn up so as to cover the head completely.d Elmston Abbesses have wimples finely plaited and com- ing upon the chin, and on one of them it covers the sides of the face like a hood; both have the mantle. The Abbess at Goring, in the fifteenth cen- tury, has very little of the appearance of a religious; her mantle resembles those of Lay ladies; her gown is buttoned in front down to the toes; she wears the mitten sleeves buttoned; her head- dress is reticulated and studded; and her tresses fall loose upon her shoul- ders.e We hear of learned Abbesses.f In the Anglo-Saxon æra they attended Provincial Synods.g The great duty of an Abbot was to set the example in the observation of the rule. The Abbot of Feversham says, "The cheyf office and profession of an Abbot [is] (as I have ever taken it) to lyve chaste and solytarilye, to be separate from the intromeddlynge of worldleye thinge, and to serve God quietlye, and to distribute his facul- ties in refreshing of poore indigent per- sons, to have a vigilant eigh to good ordre, and rule of his house, and the a Angl. Sacr. i. 362, 364, 375. ii. 287. Eadmer, 142, 3. c Lyndw. 202. d Strutt's Dresses, i. p. 125. e Gough's Sepulchr. Mon. vol. i. Introd. clxxxvi. XV. Seript. 241. Hutchinson's Dur- ham, i, 31. Reg. Bened. c. 65. flock to him commytted in God."i But both the duties and virtues of a good Abbot, in an appropriate view, will be amply shown by the following character of William Abbot of St. Al- ban's: "Whenever he returned from a journey, he had all the poor brought to the gate to receive refection. Every day he attended the duties of the Chap- ter and the greater Mass; present even on private days, he stimulated the others by his spirited chanting; and on the greater and simple feasts came to Vespers, and to Complin daily. He assisted indefatigably at Mattins of twelve lessons, by reading the lesson, singing the response, beginning Te Deum, standing with those who stood according to their turns, and animating the whole Choir by his example. He was always present mitred in the midst of the Choir at the Mass of Comme- moration of the Blessed Virgin, and on principal feasts always celebrated the Mass at the great Altar. On the double feasts he held the Choir in his Mitre, and on other days, standing in his stall, led the band, and sang the whole service with spirit. When the Convent was in copes, or albs, he sang his response in the Mass, at the nod of the Chanter. He always attended the unction of the sick, not far from his stall, about the middle of the Choir, and performed the funeral service in his own person. He never professed novice but at the great Altar; at- tended all processions (especially those of Sundays), and never anticipated the hour when the Convent was wont to eat.k He lent effectual aid to the fa- bric of the Church, and its buildings and ornaments. He studied books, preached in the Chapter, and was MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. f. 33. b. k See Watt's Gl. M. Paris, in v. Nona, and Econ. Monast. Life, p. 7. Samson, Abbot of Edmundsbury, used to preach English to the people in the Norfolk dialect, where he was born and bred, for which purpose he had a pulpit in the Church. Reyn. Append. 143. In the receipts, &c. of the Priory of Huntingdon : "Item, for our master's costes in Huntingdon 2 Sondays in Lenton after the sermons to drinke with the parishioners." Nichols's Manners and Expenses of Antient Times, p. 292. Of this else- where. ABBOT, ABBESS. 105 kind to the writers and their masters. Both in doubtful ordinances of the rule, and in divine services, he took the previous advice of his Convent, and even instructed the old, and re- moved their doubts. He was always the first speaker upon arduous busi- ness, and an efficacious assistant re- specting the wine, and other matters concerning him; and he was either the donor of it, or a brisk and faithful principal agent of procuring it.a - This Abbot was plainly a Monk in se; but in most others, Monachism was the mere graft of a profession upon a common man, as will appear from their vices, detailed in the inquiries which the visitors of Henry VIII. were ap- pointed to make. To prevent the ef- fects of commiseration in the public mind, every article was insidiously con- trived to have its existence in fact, or to imply the breach of a Canon. The inquiries were,-Whether the Abbot fulfilled the injunctions of the last vi- sitation Whether lawfully elect- Whether simoniacally-Whether born in wedlock-Whether of sufficient li- terature to instruct the brethren- Whether of good living and fame- Whether he had the companie of any suspect person, and what woman was most in his companie-What was his character in the neighbourhood b Whether he preached the word of God sincerely at the time and places con- venient-Whether he came to divine service daily and nightly, as bound to do-Whether he caused the statutes of the house to be declared to the brethren -Whether he himself kept them-Whether he looked into their being kept by others -Whether of - a Et dator, vel principalis auctor alacer et devotus. M. Paris, 1064. He provided it for feasts. Id. 1008. In MS. Harl. 913, f. 4. b. MS. Ashmol. 1519, fol. 28. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. are numerous passages concerning the debauchery of Abbots, but omitted here on account of their indelicacy. The Abbot of Fountains is described thus by the visitors; "Pleas it your mastershippe to understand, that the Abbot of Fontans hath so gretely dilapidated his howse, wasted the woddys, defamed à toto populo, &c." f. 114. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. Prelates were remarkably negligeat. Reyn. Append. 195. - temporal wisdom and prudence Whether he spent the revenues of the house ydelly, or in vaine, as in dysing,e huntinge,ftaverne haunting, promoting his kynne, purchasing lands, costly bancketing, kepyng many ydell ser- vaunts, riding furthe to oft to the In courtliness, prodigality, or liberality. Reyn. Append. 168. There was a bull at St. Aug. Can- terb. that they should not be compelled to pay debts, unless contracted for the use of the house. Chron. August. Cant. "As for the Abbot of Bury, we found nothing suspect as touching his living, but it was detected that he laye moche forth in his granges; that he delited moche in playing at dice and cards, and therein spent moche money, and in buylding for his pleasure; he did not preache openly. Also that he converted divers farmes into copyholds, whereof poor men doth complayne. Also he seemeth to be addict to suche suspicious ceremonies, as hathe been used hereto- fore." Cotton. MS. ut supra, 120, b. At S. August. Cant. the Monks obtained a bull, that the Abbot should not devote the revenues of the sacrist and almonry elsewhere without the knowledge of the Chapter. Chron. Aug. Cant. Similar restrictions at- tended the kitchen (see § Cook); for there are com- plaints of insufficient bread, not of corn or other grain;"" de pane insufficienti, non de frumento et aliis granis." MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519, 126. 66 e The Abbot of Welbeck is accused of spend- ing the whole day and night in games "tabularum et aliorum ludorum," draughts, and other sports. MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519, 286. "Tesseras qua- tere," (to shake the dice) says Malmsbury of the Norman Monks, 118. f 30 Edw. I. an agreement was made between Lord Berkeley and the Abbot of Kingswoode, that the latter should not hunt, nor bring bows, arrows, cross-bows, nor other engines, or dogs, on the ma- nor of Wotton. Smith's Lives of the Berkeley Family, MS. 210. The furniture of a Prior's ma- nor is described to have consisted of carpenter's and agriculturer's tools, partridge and lark nets, purses with counters,* a glass of steel gilt, and fox nets with bellis to take foxes. MS. Harl. 604, fol. 104, a. William de Clowne, Abbot of Leicester, who died 1377, was so intimate with the king, that he asked permission in jest to have fairs for buying and selling greyhounds and dogs of any kind. The king, thinking him in earnest, granted his request, but the Abbot was unwilling to urge it. In hare-hunting he was the most famous of all the noblity; so that the king himself, his son Ed- ward, and many noblemen, were retained to hunt with him under an annual pension. Knighton, col. 2631. Hunting was a science. Dallaway's Herald. Inq. 161. See § Monks and Nuns. The foundation-charter of Waltham orders that no relative of the Abbot shall have the steward- ship or other office. Monast. ii. 15. v. Mantissæ. * Which the Monks used to cast accounts with. See Pinkerton and Snelling. 106 MONASTIC OFFICERS. graunges, manors, &c."a- Whether there were dilapidations—Whether hospitality was kept, especially to the poore, or els for pompe, pride, and mayntenaunce of his own will-Whe- ther he kept up the doles and anniver- saries-Whether he kept a reckoning of his administration dWhether he had sold or alienated the conventual property.e (Other items to a like pur- port). Whether he was sober and modest of his wordes and conversa- tion,f as well towards the brethren as without —Whether he had punished or menaced any of his brethren for de- nouncing or proffering to denounce any thing against him b-Whether he had made a covenant with any of his brethren to conceal any fault in him i-Whether he kept a schoolmaster for the Novices, &c.k-Whether he found of the breth- ― "The general chapter held at Northampt. 1225, and 1444, allows them to be absent only for three months; and Wolsey's decretals for the Augusti- nians but for one. Reyn. Append. 116, 17, 19, and 167. Monast. ii. 568. b"Reædificet claustrum suum," let him rebuild his Cloister. MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519, p. 33, 34, et passim. See Almonry. d He was not bound to this if his revenues were separate from the Conventual. Lyndw. 204. H. Abbot of Buildewas, finding his mother distressed with a large family, granted a certain relative" a certain service, with livery and wages for his life." Monast. ii. 915. f Sub quo mundi climate, sub quo mundi signo, Est Abbas vel Pontifex pectore benigno. Under what climate of the world or zone, Are Priests or Abbots with kind bosoms known. MS. Harl. 978. See too § Cells and Chapter. < Piers Ploughman says of a religious : And but if hys knave knele that shal hys cope brynge He loured on him, and ask who taught him curtesie. f. 50. Ed. Crowley, 2d of 3, 2d Ed. h Thus MS. Harl. 913, f. 10. Tunc exinde tu cavebis, Malum loqui sic tacebis, Prælatorem non spernebis. Juxta tuum regulam. See § Prison. i. e. And if I tell any tales they taken hem together, And do me fast Fridayes to bred and to water. Piers Plowm. fol. xxiii. Juramentis si qua de tacendâ veritate Abbas extorserit relaxatis (the oaths which the Abbot may have extorted to conceal the truth being dis- solved.) MS. Bibl. Reg. 8, F. ix. (no pages.) Ut Juniores insequantur Grammaticam satis ; that the younger may sufficiently follow their gram- mar. MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519, p. 37, a. See Cap. Monks and Nuns, § Ignorance. ren at the University-Whether there be any vertues of holy write kepte or observed in this house, and whether ther ought any such to bee by the fun- dacion, ordinaunce, or custom of this house Whether he provided sufficient necessaries for the house and sick- Whether he took any Novices for mo- ney, friendship, affection, before suffi- cient age, or enticed or compelled them against their free willm-Whether he distributed offices for money, friend- ship, or favour -Whether he made the officers give in accounts yearly and quarterly — Whether there was any faire, market, or pedler's shop, kept within the precincts of the house," or at the Church door on Sundays or ho- lidays by his sufferance P-Whether the doors were shut, and the keys brought to him every night — how much money he spent at his table and chamber.r — - M. Paris gives regularly the faults of each Abbot of St. Alban's. Wulsig, the third Abbot, changed his dress both in shape and colour; used silk ones; hunted much; was choice in his table; courted the favour of great persons'; invited vast numbers of wo- men of rank to dine with him in the house; married his female relatives to great persons at much expence, and enriched others with the conventual property. Wulnoth, the fourth, besides hunting, spent much upon jesters and similar persons. [There is a civil law MS. in Pembroke College Library, Oxon, which mentions Abbots spend- ing half their incomes upon players and prostitutes.] Eadfrith, the fifth, was always in his chamber, seldom in the Cloister, never in the Choir. Paul, the fourteenth, was careless of the conventual property, and, as did his 1 See § Novices. m See id. " See § Obe- dientiaries. • See Parlour. P Trades were not to be carried on in the Churches, unless at fair-times. M. Par. 1096. The Monks were very fond of fairs, see id. 724, and kept shops at them. Wart. Hist. Engl. Poetry, P. 280. i. Fuller's Ch. Hist. § vi. p. 291. The Prior, or other officer, had them, as will appear by and by. MS. Harl. 791, f. 18, 19, v. Mantissæ. ABBOT, 107 ABBESS. Ro- successor, enriched his kindred with it. Geffrey, the sixteenth, besides neglect- ing and alienating it, portioned his sister with one of the manors. Ralph, the sevententh, besides carelessness of the conventual property, persecuted his Prior with inexorable hatred. bert, the eighteenth, alienated part of the estates without consent of the Convent, and wheedled the latter into the grant of others. Symon, the nine- teenth, ran his Convent into debt; and cut down the woods to enrich his re- latives. Robert, the twentieth, fol- lowed his own will exclusively; perse- cuted and dispersed for this purpose the senior part of the Convent; exalted the Novices; relaxed the rule to gain fa- vour with the effeminate; and cut down the woods, for which purpose he had an office, where twenty timber-merchants were more or less every Saturday in the habits of coming to deal; and this money was raised, not for erecting edi- fices for the Convent, but to gain fa- vour with the king and queen by pre- sents, and to spend lavishly. Those who blamed him he sent to remote cells. John, the twenty-first, sent the Monks obnoxious to him from cell to cell, or rather, during his infirmity, his parasites in his name; and enriched his relatives with the Ecclesiastical property. William, the twenty-second, was complained of for associating with Seculars in preference to his Monks. Besides these, they used to turn out the Divines the Bishops had settled in Churches, and employ the Monks on out-door business.b a The inquiries concerning Abbesses, omitting the items similar to those of Abbots, were, whether she saw divine service duly performed: whether all ornaments and necessaries appertain- ing thereto were duly kept and repair- Sim. Dunelm. 253. Præcipimus fratribus tam senioribus quam junioribus quod ad exteriora officia non deputentur. We order that neither seniors nor juniors be sent on out-door offices. MS. Ashm. 1519, f. 65, b. See too Chaucer in the Shipman's Tale. To do divine service duly nythe and daye. In- junct. to the Nuns of St. Helen's. Monast. ii. 895. ed-Whether the ladies resorted to di- vine service at the proper seasons- Whether she taught her sisters the rule-Whether she overlooked them, and set them to work in some honest exercise, and hearing the divine ser- vices-Whether she punished and cor- rected them charitably and impartially d -Whether there was convenient ke- pyng and sustentacion for the sick e Whether suspected of incontinency, and with whom-Whether used to lye at the grange, or to walk abroad, and with what company-Whether she found any auncyent, sadd, and ver- tuous woman, as mistress of the No- vices f--Whether the word of God was preached to the sisters, and how often in the year-Whether the Confessor or Chaplain did his duty, and how many of them there were g دو 66 It seems that Abbots of piety, while in their last sickness, used to be car- ried into the Chapter to receive disci- plines, or to absolve and be absolved by the Monks h in the following form: "Wherefore I seek absolution from you, as much as appertains to you, and benediction, and I absolve you from obedience to me, and give you my benediction." The last Abbot of Per- shore appears only as a simple Monk upon his tomb, perhaps from this vo- luntary humiliation.k ABBOT'S OFFicers, and offices. The office of the Chaplain was, it seems, to receive at the Bowcer's hands all such sums of money as were pay- See Nuns, § Quarrelling. Also we enjoyne you, Prioresse, that ye kepe yowre dortour, and lye therein by nythe, &c. Monast. ii. 895.; and again "to ordeyne a conve- nient place of furmarye, where the seeke sustres might be honestly kepte and relieved." Ibid. A good teacher of the sustres to be kept. Ibid. MS. Harl. 791, f. 20, b. W. Malmsb. M. Paris, &c. 1 Quamobrem peto à vobis absolucionem, quan- tum ad vos pertinet, et benedictionem, et ego vos absolvo à curâ mea, et do vobis benedictionem meam. MS. Bodl. Fairfax, 17, § Lamentatio Gervasii Abbatis. Of their burials, see § Infir- mary. *Gough's Sepulchr. Monum. Introd. i. clv. 108 MONASTIC officers. able by him to the Lord Prior's use for his maintenance, the expence of his whole household, and other necessa- ries. He was to provide apparel for the Lord Prior, and to see all things in good order in the hall, and the furni ture for his table to be sweet and clean; and that every man executed his office diligently as he ought to do; and that no debate or strife should be within the house. He had in his cus- tody all the Lord Prior's plate and treasure, as well for delivering it out, as receiving it again. He was also to discharge and pay all the gentlemen, yeomen, and all other the servants and officers of the Lord Prior's house their wages, and to discharge all other debts of the house whatsoever. His cham- ber was adjoining to the Prior's cham- ber: for he never slept in the Dor- mitory, but in the absence of the Ab- bot; of whom, as stated above, he was to be a constant spy. Part of the service in the Abbot's chamber at midnight was said by the Chaplains by heart, without a candle, a small lamp only shining through a glass window." He was to attend to every conventual service when unoccupied, as well as to take his turn in the weekly service of the Mass." principal Chaplain, from carrying the Abbot's seal, was called Portitor Si- gilli. If the Abbot had two Chap- lains, to comply with the constitution, which, that he might have more wit- nesses of his good life in case of scan- dal, enjoined an annual change of them, he needed only change one; and where the Abbey was not exempt, the Bishop could make the requisite change for a reasonable cause.f His privi- lege of sleeping out of the Dorter was not peculiar to him; for, says a com- plaint, "Ther be certeyn officers, bro- durs of the howse, whiche have all way be attendant upon the Abbot, as a Davies, &c. b M. Par. 1042. The c Capellani Abbatis debent ebdomadarii ecclesiæ, et omni servitio conventûs, cum expediti fuerint interesse, Abbate absente in Dormitorio jacere. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. 184, a. d M. Paris. f Lyndw. 206. Reyn. App. 117. his Chaplyn, Steward, Celerer, and on or two officers more, if they shulde be bounde to the first two articles (dining in the Miserecord, and sleep- ing in the Dormitory), it shulde much disappoynt the order of the house." A council of Paris, held in 1212, or- dered Abbots not to have irreligious Chaplains. The Chaplains were also called Monitores, because they inform- ed the Abbot of every thing done by the Monks.i At Abingdon there were two Monks to ease the Abbot, the Proctor and Cu- riarius.k The former was to manage his revenues. The latter was to have the whole care of the house, and always admit visitors, whose arrival was to be announced to him by the porter, ac- cording to the difference of their rank. He was also to pay particular atten- tion to the parents of the Monks (who were to announce their arrival to him only), coming from other parts. Because the care of souls was a su- perior object to all temporal concerns,m the council of Mentz forbad Abbots to appear in secular causes without the consent of the Bishop, and enjoined them to appoint advocates or agents, an office which several Canons per- mitted a religious person, with the consent of his Abbot, to undertake." Accordingly we find them appointing their Monks attorneys. Several sta- tutes exist, allowing the privilege of appointing attorneys to Abbots, and also their credentials.¶ MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. f. 39. h C. iv. apud Labbe. i Du Cange, v. Bajulus. k MS. Cott. Claud, B. vi. f. 187, b. 1 Curiario incumbit ut curam totius curiæ agat, hospites admittat usque secundum personarum dif- ferentias, in adventu hospitis janitor indicabit cu- riario. Parentibus Monachorum aliunde venienti- bus summa cura à curiario impendetur. Et paren- tum adventus per monachos ei et non alteri indica- bitur. Id. 187, b. 188, b. m Bened. Reg. 24. • X. Script. col. 2078. " Dev. Vie Mon. ii. 47, 8. P 9 H. VI. c. 10. 15 H. VI. c. 7. 9 Attornatum nostrum ad sectas hundredi tui pro nobis faciendas. Alberto de D. Domino Se- nescallo et ballivis hundredi, &c. MS. Harl. 209. fol. 11; but it seems, that the Abbot's consent was not alone sufficient. Faciet abbas attornatum in prædictâ loquelâ quemcunque voluerit coram aliquo qui ad hoc habeat potestatem per breve regis. Rot. Parl. 6 Ed. I. No. 34. Vol. I. ABBOT, ABBESS. 109 The meaner officers appear to have been the Barber, who had 108. per yere wages; the Cook, who used to ride sometime before them, when on journeys, to prepare refreshment for them, and was allowed a horse; the Porters at different gates ;d and doubt- less others for other necessities; for it seems, that their number was so great, that the houses, after their decease, were burdened with an indefinite ex- pence, on account of their wages, on which account it was enacted that they should receive fixed and annual sti- pends.e Though we hear of Abbots going out to sport with servants, carrying bows and arrows, yet while the at- tendants of Laymen carried bugles, it was deemed indecent for an Abbot's servant to blow a horn, however com- mon. The great Hall, which was ascended by numerous steps, was at St. Alban's adorned with tapestry,h at Gloucester with portraits of the kings of England in fresco ; and the furniture of such a place appears to have consisted of four fixed tables, four forms, one table with two tressels at the high bench, a cupboard, a chair, a chaffer.k The Study, or Library, was adorned with curious. painted imageries and divers inscrip- tions.1 There was a Gallery, Chapel, and another; a Fish-house for dry and salted fish; a Brew-house, and Kitch- a Nichols, ut sup. 288. b M. Par. 1032. e Monast. i. d Davies, &c. e Cap. 7. p. Gen. Northampt. a 1225. Angl. Sacr. i. 511. Rous, p. 64. Du Cange, v. Coreizare. i Dallaway's Herald. Inq. 116. k Steevens's Monast. i. 487. ¹ Chauncey's Hertfortshire, 445. en.m Their Chapels were not only for prayer, but celebration ;n and Matthew Paris mentions an Abbot sleeping in his chamber with his Chaplains, while the Monks were at Mattins, and the Chaplains awaking to perform divine service; but the Chapel and Oratory were distinct apartments, the latter being an annexation.P It is well known that the nobility had what were called Secret houses, whither they retired at certain seasons to religious privacy, and declined society; in like manner Wul- stan had an Oratory between his hall and private house, known only to his domesticks, where he secluded him- self, especially in Lent, from morning after Mass, till dinner, or the time of the hours. Gundulf had a little Ora- tory attached to each of his manerial habitations, where his Chamberlain used to put his prayer-book for his re- ligious exercises, during the interval between Mass and the hours.s Ethelwulf, speaking of an Abbot of Lindisfarn, says, that while the Monks were asleep at night, he was singing psalms and hymns.t At Canterbury, over the Prior's Chapel, was a Library for the use of the studious; and next to his cham- berwas a tower called the Prior's Study, it being the fashion to study in towers." Abbesses had a maid, besides as- sistant Nuns, called Discreta.y m Steevens's Monasticon, i. 448. " Lyndw. 234. P. 1042. Sacr. i. 148. Sacr. ii. 262. Odare. * Id. i. 364. P Angl. r Angl. See § Church. 4 Paston Letters, &c. • Id. 282. "Angl. Sacr. i. 145. y Du Cange. Du Cange, v. 110 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER VIII. OBEDIENTIARIES. THESE were all officers under the Abbot; to be appointed to which, inter- est was made, to a great degree, as well as to be kept in them, and have out-door employment;a and they were often conferred by the Abbot for fa- vour or money. The consequence was, that very unfit persons were appointed; for, says Nigell. Wireker, Istud contingit in religione frequenter, Quod major servit, proficiturque minor, Digna sub indignis vivunt; quod rosa saluncis Lilia sub tribulis. Spec. Stultor. MS. Cott. Tit. A. 20. This evil too oft in religion we have, The worse is a ruler, the better a slave- The worthy to unworthy subject ; as grow The rose and the lily wild brambles below. Walter Mapes says, "that the Monks were parasites and flatterers of the Abbot, soothing his ears with honied words, deceiving those above them with cunning, making presents to their infe- riors, and granting every thing the Abbot asked, however impossible; such men, he says, in whose hearts were found deceit and guile, with honey in their mouths, were the persons who were chosen to offices. They preten- ded to be simple and modest in the eyes of their brethren, till they gained their purpose, and then it was 'Hold your tongues, wretches,' to the Monks, you know nothing; we will govern the house; to which harsh language they were in the habits of contemptuously adding Thee and Thou. Without doubt, continues Walter Mapes, some of the brothers are prudent, modest, and moral, but find no favour with the Abbot, because they cannot flatter.d A Cap. Gen. Northampt. aº 1444. c. v. b Cap. Gen. Northampt. a° 1225. M. Par. 1096. Cap. G. North. a° 1444. c. x. De Novitiis. d En adulatio plena fallaciis, Nares prælati lambentes ambiunt, Verbis et mellitis aures reficiunt, Procaci superos fallunt hastucia. Inferioribus præbent munuscula, Among the Nuns it was enjoined that "no sisters be admitted to any office, unless of good fame."e It is not to be admired that the Monks were so ambitious of office; for, says an old song: Altera præpositis, altera regula nobis : Nos infelices vini nescimus odorem, Præpositi vinum, nos digeramus acetum; Nos extra claustrum prohibemur figere gressum, Et dominis cameræ licet ad sua tecta redire; Fit rogus in medio, celebrantur et orgia Baccho, Siccantur cuppæ, spumanti nectare plena. MS. Cott. Vitell. A. xii. 129. a. One law for our rulers, another for us- To us wretches the smell ev'n of wine is unknown, The vinegar's ours-the wine all their own- Not a peg from the cloister must we dare to roam, While the lords of a dwelling withdraw to their home. To a smoking good fire then sit themselves down, And with nectar of Heaven their blest moments crown. It seems, "that they were dishonest persons, who were guilty, to a bare- faced degree, of illicit and fraudulent practices; exercised prohibited and un- just trades; oppressed people with violence or unfair exactions, or made their servants do so; frequented taverns and other indecorous places; had the company of women in private places, and to eat and drink with them in cham- bers within the precincts of their Mo- nastery or Priory, and carried bows, swords, and arms; took persons in, in buying and selling; borrowed money (for which abuse they were limited to Abbas si proferet impossibilia Blandis sermonibus concedunt omnia. Cor dolo plenum est; os profert dulcia, Jacent in animo fraus et fallacia, Hi tales digni sunt obedientiâ. Fingunt se simplices fratrum conspectibus, Set mutant animum susceptis clavibus, "Tacete miseri" dicunt claustralibus, Vos nichil sapitis-nos domum regemus- Set procul dubio quidam de fratribus, Prudentes, simplices, ornati moribus, Omnia non vacant adulationibus, Non habent gratiam coram pastoribus. MS. Cott. Vespas. A. xviii. 168, b. 169. a. and Tit. A. 20. 161, • Monast. ii. 895. OBEDIENTIARIES. 111 100s.); pretended to be engaged in offices, when it was their duty to attend in the Church; kept a vast number of servants, and rode out to the manors, and staid there when they liked with- out a companion,a obtained letters of confirmation not to be removed, and offices or profession in many houses.b The inquiries of the visitors respecting them were, "how many officers, and what their portion-how many tables kept or ought to be kept-what allowed to each of the officers for this purpose -whether any of the said officers be in debt or arrears-whether they give in accounts yearly, or quarterly, as bound to do whether they have spent or pawned any jewels, plate, &c. belong- ing to their offices-how many of them • Precipimus ut semper se honeste habeant, præsertim in conspectu populi, ab illicitis et dolo- sis contractionibus omnino abstineant; mercimonia prohibita vel inhonesta non exerceant. Nullum vi aut injustis exactionibus opprimant, seu a minis- tris operam faciant; tabernas vel alia loca inhonesta intrare non præsumant; consortia mulierum in omni loco penitus evitent, in cameris, vel locis privatis infra septa monasterii vel prioratus non comedant vel bibant. Inhibemus et ipsis obedien- tiariis et quibuscumque aliis fratribus nostris ne arcum (See Lysons's Env. Lond. i. 343,) gladium (See Fuller's Ch. Hist. b. vi. 285.) seu quæcumque arma ubique sine nostrâ speciali licentiâ tenere præsumant. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 245. a. In empcionibus aut vendicionibus et aliis contrac- tibus nullum studeant decipere. Nullusque obe- dientiarius nostri monasterii cujuscumque fuerit status, pecuniam ultra summam centum solidorum absque nostrâ spec. licent. mutuo recipere præsu- mat. Ibid. Quia monachi-quibus officia forin- seca et intrinseca committuntur, fingunt, cum pos- sent et debent in choro divinis officiis interesse, in officiis forinsecis et commissis multociens occu- pari. MS. Harl. 328. p. 5. b. Thus too among the Nuns. "Thus done oft tymes suche remowers about, yat mow not long rest in the silence of the Cloister, and in comune praieries of the quere, but they starte aboute from one office to another, and whan the belle ringith to houres than thei begynne first to occupy them in her offices." MS. Bodl. Laud. D. 52. Alii preterea provecciores, certis officiis deputati, ad maneria et loca alia equitant quum placet, ibidem manentes nullo commonacho itineris in socium assignato. Familiares questum- que quos monachi officiarii et alii, in numero ex- cessivo retinent. MS. Harl. 328. p. 5. p. 10. M. Paris, 1096, 8, Cap. G. Northampt. a 1444. c. v. are removable-how many not-whe- ther they rode forth over-sumptuously with a grete number of men and horses -whether they lye in granges abroad very oft at will, and indulge in banquet- ting, and women resorte to them?"c When they were extremely sick, they were to give in their accounts and resign, because if they died unexpec- tedly, the Monks used to steal the Ecclesiastical property. They were not excused from Collation and Com- plin, but from imperious necessity, and then with the Abbot's leave. Certain constitutions ordered them not to give or receive any thing without leave of the Superior-denounced frauds on the conventual property-the false imposi- tion of crimes upon others-confede- racy to overthrow emendatory statutes -private persecution from hatred or ambition, and personal property.f They were bound to find the students going to Oxford their travelling money, and lend them their horses, which animals they kept, it seems, beyond what was necessary for office. The subordinate officers among the Clugni- acs were only persons sent from abroad to collect money.i The Priors of cells, and chief Offi- cers, were called Master Obedientiaries.k The Monks observed sometimes a gradation in their promotions, with a view to the improvement of the officer.1 c MS. Harl. 791, f. 21. d Cap. North. ut sup. The Abbot might restore them, when well. Ibid. e M. Par. 1095. f Id. 1096. g C. North. a° 1444. c. v. h Nec aliquis obedientiarius equum in stabulo teneat, ni eum pro administratione sui officii equum habere oporteat. MS. Cott. Jul. D. 2. p. 160. i Reyn. Append. 147.-Certain of these officers were allowed gloves and Christmas stockings. Isti debent habere glove-silver contra autumpnum, Prior, hostilarius exterior, &c. Isti debent habere Christmesse stockes contra natale Domini, Wel- lelmus le Wodward, &c. MS. Harl. 1005, p. 53. They also invited friends to dinner. W. Thorne, c. 36, sect. 1, div. 3. Angl. Sacr. i. 753. Ibid. ii. 246. 112 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER IX. PRIOR. IN the Rule of Pachomius, a disputa- tion (i. e. scriptural lecture) is orderd to be made three times a week by the Præpositi Domorum,a for every Monas- tery of the East had Patres or Abbots, Stewards, Hebdomadaries, Ministers, and Præpositi Domorum, or Gover- nors of houses, because those large Abbeys consisted of numerous houses, each containing 30 or 40 Monks, under one of these Præpositi; and from these Præpositi descended the Prior and Sub-Prior (Secundus in the Rule of Pachomius) terms only known from the Pontificate of Celestine the Fifth,b Ao 1294. This officer was next only to the Abbot, and had the first place in the Choir, Chapter, and Refectory. He was censed after the Abbot, could depose malversant officers, and could call at pleasure a chapter of the ser- vants, and punish delinquents. He had a Chaplain, two servants, two pal- freys, a baggage-horse, and two others, at Edmondsbury.d At St. Alban's, says M. Paris, they were provided by the Convent with an apartment, horses, retinue, and equipage.e The greater Prior represented the Abbot, and performed all his offices, except making or deposing Obedienti- aries, and consecrating Novices. Whe- ther the Abbot was present, or absent, he struck the cymbalum, beat the table for work, and monitum in the Dormi- tory, as well as corrected the faults of the readers in the Church and Chapter. The Claustral Prior was his Vicar, and remained always in the Cloister.f Du Cange, v. Disputatio. b Du Cange, v. Præpositus. Prior. • Decr. Lanfr. sect. De Priore. d Ad stabulum Prioris habet Prior quinque equos, vid. Prioris capellanus duos palefridos et summa- rium, qui est tertius. Item duobus armigeris duos equos. Lib. Alb. Edm. de Burgo. MS. Harl. 1005, fol. 44. M. Paris, 1094, 1144. f Du Cange, v. Prior. His privileges and offices at Abing- don were these:* He had one man, *MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 179, 189, seq. Prior habebit unum hominem, ad corrodium in aulâ, et præbendam ad unum equum. Licitum est Priori equos habere, sed Abbas eosdem equos in negotiis suis potuit accipere. Soli Priori licet in scola puerorum sedere, per scolam transire, lecti- onem audire, capitulum tenere, et eos cædere exceptâ magistrorum admissione. Licet Priori omnibus horis canonicis sedere. Priore capitulum intrante omnes in supremo gradu stantes, sine incli- natione ei assurgent, priusquam sedit nullus sedebit. Si Abbas in transmarinis, vel in nimium remotis partibus fuerit, Prior secundum modum culpæ extendet disciplinam in carcere, vel in gravioribus culpis, exceptâ ecclesiæ suæ quantulâcumque abali- enatione, et caputii abscissione. Quando ecclesia pastore vacaverit licet Priori aliquem monachari. Licet Priori cuilibet maturo moribus licentiam dare uno die ire eodemque redire, et instantiâ neces- sitatis transigere spatium unius noctis. Prior nusquam proficiscetur sine uno vel duobus mona- chis. Licet Priori ad consistorium sedenti celle- rario semel vel bis ciphum pro impletione mittere, nec cellerarius renuere debet. Si Prior in ordine suo discubuerit unus puerorum sibi ministrabit. Non Priori, nec alii alicui in ordine suo sedenti, licet ciphum cum operculo. Si clerici vel laici in refectorio discubuerint ob consolationem eorum Prior remanebit. Prior post conventum cum cle- ricis vel laicis remanens, quos de conventu, unum, vel duos, vel tres evocare voluerit, vocabit. Prior ad hostium claustri apponet caputium capiti, idemptidem omnes alii. Sicque Prior, et omnes alii à processione non declinaturi procedent usque ad Dormitorium, quo secessum naturæ sunt petituri. In reditu suo Prior ante lectum suum morose sede- bit, donec major pars conventus discubuerit. Prior primo faciet scrutinium ad locutorium hos- pitum; si hospites defuerint, nisi gratiam monachis quos ibi inveniet conferre voluerit, ostia obserabit. Si hospites præsentes fuerint, cum clavibus per- transibit ad monasterium, et in choro, et in circuitu chori, et si hostia hæc aut illa reserata fuerint, ut videat quid agatur, faciat scrutinium postmodum ad locutorium, &c. Si aliqui de claustriloquio egrediuntur ut in loquutorio loquantur, magna est ordinis transgressio; ne aliquo ingruente negocio, si claustriloquio defuerunt quam plurimi, licet Exploratori eos prosequi. Exploratori incumbit explorationem facere, quociens viderit expedire. Abbate, vel Priore, in claustro præsente, si Sub- prior, vel tertius Prior, in locutorio loquuntur, nec ipsi Exploratori verbo indicaverint, aut signo signi- ficaverint, se liceat loqui, clamabunt. Si Priori in loquutorio loquatur Explorator eo viro pertransibit, sic Sub-prior et tertius Prior, nec illi qui cum illo sunt, clamabuntur. Ac Exploratori explorationem facienti licet signa facere; sed nusquam si aliquis Priorum præsens fuerit sine licentiâ loqui. Prior PRIOR. 113 who had a corrody in the hall, and maintenance for a horse. He was also allowed horses, but the Abbot might take them for his own business. only could sit in the school of the He qui in ordine erit, si in locutorio loquatur, licet Exploratori signum non fuerit, non clamabitur. Prior debet cum primis primus esse, cum ultimis ultimus, &c. In tabula positus ministrabit. In festis quæ celebrantur in cappis, si Prior terciam cantaverit, post terciam cantatam stolâ amotâ, si processio fuerit, cappam induet, et in ordine suo incedet. Licet Priori ad matutinas, si in choro fuerit, alium rogare de officio suo vice suâ minis- trare. Ubivis Prior venerit in loquutorio, vel promptuario, vel ubi licitum fuit Monacho loqui, omnes assurgent ei, etiam collaterales Abbati. Priore in choro præsente, nulli licet inter eum in formam transire. Prior pro voto suo clamorem in præsentiam abbatis differret, sed interventu Con- ventus Prior potuit reclamare commissum secun- dum modum culpæ per se emendare. Priori licet Monachum sententiæ subdere se à cibo potuque abstinentiam, lanternam, custodiam, ultimamque positionem, ignorante Abbate; sed sententiæ car- ceris, vel gravioris culpæ, nullum potuit subjicere Abbate domi præsidente, sed res referetur ad Abbatem, et pro voto suo frater illæ sententiæ subdetur. Abbate præsente Prior potest compe- tenter clamari. Abbate peregre profecto, &c. non licet Priori, nisi ad succurrendum aliquem in monachatum admittere; nisi pro magno commodo ecclesiæ. Priore in locutorio, vel alibi scrutinium faciente, omnes loquentes assurgent, et dicent, quod se ipsius licentiâ loqui.-Prior in ordine suo sedens, si sonum fecerit, vel potum fudit ad pran- dium, puer ei ministrans, ne aliquid malum impu. nitum videtur, pro illâ offensâ ante consistorium veniam accipiet. Si prior cum servitoribus discu- buerit in ordine suo, cum illo quem secum discum- bere voluerit, discumbet, nec licentiam discumbendi à sedente ad consistorium accipiet. Quociens aliquis abbas ad prandium sederit ad consistorium, si dies jejunii fuerit, per vesperas ad potum prior si præsens fuerit in refectorio pulsabit signum. Prior pro voto suo ante lectum suum morabitur; post- modum de dormitorio egredietur, quo egresso donec servitores discubuerint quo voluntas eum direxit ibit. Post servitorum refectionem prior faciet explorationem, et ostia loquutoriorum obse- rabit. Postmodum gratiâ et licentia prioris de meridianâ remanebunt, cum priori ipsi; et omnes alii ad meridianam ibunt. Si hospites cum servi- toribus discubuerint, graciâ prioris per refectionem sine excessu; et minuti etiam remanebunt. Prior si expeditus fuerit ad completorium erit. Prior post completorium scrutinium faciet cum lucis appositione, et in æstate et in hieme lucubrum feret. Item quociens fuerit necesse lucubrum feret cum lucis appositione.-Priore absente ad lectum prioris qui fuerit in ordine. Hoc tantum licet prioribus post completorium, identidem ad meridianam. Si prior morbo laboraverit in infirmitorio recumbet et discumbet ex consuetudine set alibi gratiâ. Intuitu enim auctoritatis ipsius ipsi est condescen- dum, et ab omnibus deferendum. Si prior infirma- tus, aliquis minister notus et in ecclesiâ educatus pro voto suo, præter ministros infirmitorii priori Novices, pass through the school, hear their lessons, hold a chapter of them, and beat them, but could not appoint the masters. He could sit at all the canonical hours, [his stall was at the entrance of the Choir, opposite the Abbot's.] When he entered the Chap- ter, the Monks standing on the upper step, rose to him without bowing, and Idid not sit down before him. When the Abbot was abroad, or very far off, the Prior, according to the fault, could extend the discipline to the prison, or greater punishment, amoval from the Church and deprivation excepted. When the Abbacy was vacant, he could profess Monks. He could give licence to any Monk of good character to go out and return on the same day; and, upon the pressure of necessity, to exceed the space of a night. He could go nowhere without one or two Monks; the Abbot found him his expences, and licence was not to be denied him. When he sat at the table he could send his cup to the Cellarer to be filled once or twice, and that officer was not to deny him. When he sat professedly in office, one of the Novices was to attend him. He was not allowed, nor any other, to have a cup with a cover. If clerks, or laymen, dined in the Refec- tory, he was to stay for the sake of the company, and to ask two or three of the Monks to do so besides, those ministrabit. Omnia enim respicienda ad ordinem debent referre ad priorem et disponi qui fuerit in ordine. f. 192 a. Ad potum per vesperas cum prior vidit conventum competenter transisse, semel cum manu percutiet tintinnabulum, et post illum ictum nullus præsumat intrare ad potum. Postmodum prior sollicite circumspiciat, ut videat conventum perbibisse, et ciphos reposuisse. Deinde trina percussione in tintinnabulo factâ de consistorio se eriget, et ante tercium ictum nullus de tabulâ surget, sed post tercium ictum omnes. Identidem fiet ad potum post collationem, et ad potum post nonam, benedictione dictâ, antequam aliquis præ- sumat bibere, semel debet tintinnabulum tangere, et postmodum omnes licenter potum haurire. Si quis fratrum abbatis præcepto sententiæ cibi aut potus subditus per biduum, vel triduum, aut per majus spacium, prior, si ad consistorium discubuerit, illum fratrem illo die pro voto suo à sententiâ relaxabit, postero die frater ille sententiam reitera- bit, et à sententiâ non relaxabitur, donec in capi- tulo absolvatur, ut sententia compleatur, f. 192 b. Suppidaneis. Dec. Lanfr. I 114 MONASTIC OFFICERS. whom he chose. After Complin, he was to put his hood on at the gate of the Cloister, as were all the others; and thus they were to proceed in procession to the Dormitory; the Prior sitting upon his bed some time, till the greater part of the house were in bed. He was to make his search first at the guests' parlour; if there were none, unless he wished to oblige the Monks, whom he found there, he was to lock the doors. If there were visitors, he was to pass by with the keys to the Church, to see what was done in the Choir and circuit of it; and if such and such gates were unlocked; and after- wards make a search at the locutory. If any left the Cloister-conversation to talk in the parlour, it was a great breach of the Order; if in urgent business there were but few at the Cloister-con- versation, the searcher might follow them. It was the duty of the Explo- rator to make a search whenever it seemed proper. When the Abbot or Prior was present in the Cloister, if the Sub-prior or third Prior were talk- ing in the Cloister, and did not sug- gest to the Explorator,b by a word, The Egyptian Monks had an officer, similar to the Circa, or Circator, who went round the cells of the Monks silently, and listened outside for the detection of abuses. Du Cange, v. Circa. In the Anglo-Saxon and Norman institutes, there was a peculiar officer, called the Circa, or Circuitor. His duty was to search the whole house, and to proclaim the abuses in the Chapter of the next day; to which also he was to bring any books or vestments he found in the Cloister, and to put the lantern before a Monk who was asleep during the lesson; which Monk, when awake, was to beg pardon kneeling, take the lantern, and go round the Choir. In the Norman æra (just before Mattins was his proper time for scrutiny), he was never to speak, but make a complaint in the Chap- ter of the next day. Those whom he found sleep- ing in the Dormitory, he just made a sound sufficient to awake. His complaints were made first in the Chapter, after the veniæ, or voluntary solicitations of pardon for offences. The Gilbertine Nuns had also Scrutatrices. The duties of the Circa or Circator, were to go round the house at the hours when the Monks were engaged in read- ing; to the officer, to notice the abuses of the lay- brothers; to the Cloister if any Monk should be idle; to the Dormitory to wake the Monks, or any where, to collect the Monks for the canonical hours, for which he rang the signum. In the Rule of S. Victor he is ordered to be chosen from the most religious, zealous, and impartial Monks; or a sign, that they had leave so to do, they were to be accused in Chapter. If the Explorator spoke to the Prior in the parlour, he was to pass by that person, and thus the Sub-prior, and third Prior, and those that were with him, would not be accused in Chapter. When this officer was making his search, he was allowed to make signs, but not to speak any where without leave, if any one of the Priors was present. The Prior on duty, if he spoke in the parlour without making a sign to the Explorator, was not to be accused. The Prior was to be first in rank with the first, and last with the last: if absent from Mattins, by disease or otherwise, he was to celebrate at the lectern of the guests. On the days of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, if the Abbot was absent or unable, he was to be put in the table, and cele- brate. In the feasts celebrated in cappa, if the Prior sang thirds, he was to put off the stole, when the service was over; and if there was a procession, put on his robe, and walk in his rank. He could ask another to officiate in his stead, when he was himself at Mat- tins. Whenever he came to the par- lour, or store-room, or wherever the Monks were allowed to speak, all were to rise to him, even the Abbot's officers.d When he was in the Choir, no one was to pass by him to the form. If any contention arose in the Chapter, he could (at option) defer the accusation till the Abbot was present; but if the Convent interfered, he could claim cognizance of it himself. He could and was to visit all the offices, and note breaches of duty. He was to take his walk in so silent and solemn a manner, as to strike terror in the specta- tors; but not to speak, or make a sign to any one. He made his circuit at all times, except during Chapter and Collation, when the doors of the Clois- ter were locked. It was his especial duty to see that no Monk was absent from the hours, or spoke, where and when he ought not. Du Cange, v. Circa, Circator. A board, where the names of the ebdomada- ries, who were to officiate during the week, were set down. See sect. Church. d Any where out of the Cloister or Choir; when he wished to sit in the former, those only near him. Dec. Lanfr. PRIOR. 115 subject a Monk to the penance of fast- ing, carrying the lantern, custody, and last rank, without the Abbot's know- ledge: but he could subject no one to the sentence of imprisonment, or severer punishment, when the Abbot was at home; but the matter was to be refer- red to him, and the Monk be punished with that sentence according to his award. When the Abbot was present, the Prior could be accused. When the Abbot went abroad, the Prior could not, unless for succour's sake, admit any one a Monk, and then with advantage to the Church. If the Sub- prior held the Chapter, the Prior was not to enter, unless asked, or from urgent necessity. When the Prior nade a search in the parlour, or else- where, all who were talking were to rise, and say that they talked by his leave. If the Prior sitting on duty made a noise, or spilt the drink at dinner, the Novice that waited on him, lest evil should seem to be unpun- any ished, was to receive pardon for that offence before his seat. If the Prior on duty dined with the servants, he might sit with him whom he chose should be that person; nor was he to receive licence of doing so from the president of the table. When any Abbot sat at dinner at the high desk, if it was a fast day, the Prior at the drinking during Vespers was to strike the bell in the Refectory. If he found a journey troublesome, he could send the Sub-prior, and release him then from all his offices. After dinner, when the Convent went to the Dormi- tory, he was to sit before his bed until the rest were laid down. There he was to sit as long as he liked, and afterwards go away where he chose, till the servants had dined. After this, he was to make a search and lock the doors of the parlours. Those who had licence from the Prior were to stay with him, and be absent from the meridian; but all the others were to go to sleep. The Prior, if disengaged, • Decret. Lanfr. sect. De Priore. b Ibid. sect. De Circuitoribus. was to be at Complin, after which he was to make a search with a lantern, which he was to carry both in winter and summer, at that time, and every other, when necessary. Whoeverlocked the gates was to carry the keys to the Prior's bed, and in his absence to that of the Prior on duty. To search the Dormitory was allowed only to Priors after Complin, and at the Meridian, or sleep at noon. At the drinking during Vespers, when the Prior saw the Con- vent had sufficiently drunk, he was to strike the bell with his hand once, and after that no one was to presume to enter. Afterwards he was carefully to look round and see whether the Con- vent had all drunk, and put the cups by. Afterwards, at a triple blow of the bell, he was to rise from his seat, and all the Convent with him, but not before. The same was to be done at the drinking after collation, and after Nones; when the benediction was given, he was to strike the bell once, and then and not before, the Monks were to drink. If any Monk, by the Abbot's order, was penanced with fast- ing for two or three days, or longer, the Prior, if he dined at the head of the table, might on that day relax the sentence: but, on the next day, it was to be renewed, and there was further remission, till he was absolved in chapter, in order that the sentence might be executed. no If the Prior was sick, he was to lodge and dine in the Infirmary from custom, but elsewhere by favour; for respect was to be paid to him by all,` on account of his authority. Any servant, known and brought up in the Church, whom he chose, was, except the com- mon servants of the Infirmary, to wait upon him; and all things, respecting the Order, to be referred to the Prior on duty. Notwithstanding these regu- lations, it seems, that they affected to be second Abbots, and did not look much after the Cloister and care of the Order.c The Sub-prior's chamber, says Da- Reyn. Append. 198. I 2 116 MONASTIC OFFICERS. vies, was over the Dormitory door, that he might hear if any stirred or went out. His office was to go every night as a private watch before and after midnight to every Monk's cham- ber door, and to call upon him by name, to see if any were wanting, or stolen out in pursuit of any unlawful business. The Sub-prior also sat always among the Monks at meat, to see that every man behaved himself according to the Order he had betaken himself to. He always said grace at dinner and supper, and, after five o'clock at night, was to see all the doors locked: as the cellar-door, the frater-house door, the Fawden-gates,a and the Cloister doors. He kept the keys of these doors all night till five in the morning, and then returned them to the porters and other proper officers. The Sub-prior (in Abbeys) had the same power and privileges as the major Prior in his absence. When the Abbot was also away, he could permit the sick to retire to the Infirmary, and, if necessary, eat meat. The visitation of the Infirmary was his peculiar care; and, like the Prior, he could punish the servants, but not add to, or turn them away. Every day after Complin, having received the holy water with the others from the hebdomadary, he was to stand, while the Convent pass- ed, to notice those who walked irreve- rently, and without their hoods on. After this, he took a lantern, and searched the whole house.b At Abingdon he was elected by the Abbot and choice of the Prior and more sage of the Convent. At the four days of Christmas, Easter, or Pentecost, when the Abbot or Prior was absent, he was to take his place. If he himself was absent, the Chan- tor. He was to search the Dormitory before Mattins. Before the Chapter he was to observe the gates of the Locutory and other gates. If the a Fald, A. S. a sheepfold, stable, a bishop's stall; viderint Dunelmenses. b Decr. Lanfr. Sect. De Priore. The reader will recollect Trinity Sunday in- cluded in the Pentecost Term. Prior held the Chapter, he was to sound the bell in his stead.d Dean was the old appellation of Prior,e for to every ten Monks there was a Prior. Instances appear where the Deans were actual Sub-priors in office." The rule ordered them to be selected from the best that could be found; "h and the licence for absence from Chapter was to be had from them. In Nunneries, says B. Fox, "If the covent be great, we woll that certeyne of the susters of good proufe and holy conversacion be made Deanes; "k with whom agrees the Anglo-Saxon rule of Bennet, adding that they were "to divide the burden with the Abbess." The Prior and Deans were called Guardians of the Order among the Cistertians; but these Monks had this peculiarity: a Monk who presided pro tempore over a particular study or office, was not to be called Prior, but Provisor, and every where out of his office was to stand in the right Choir, directly after the Abbot.n Prioresses. Among the Gilbertine Nuns there were three Prioresses, one of which presided in turn, and had then the first stall, one of her coadju- tors standing on the right hand, the other on the left. The presiding Pri- oress held the Chapter, enjoined the penances, granted all the licences or allowances, visited the sick, or caused them to be visited by one of her com- panions. She had obedience and res- pect paid to her by all. She could d Cimbam vice suâ pulsabit. MS. Cott. Claud. b. vi. 192. b. Du Cange, v. Decanus. f Wilkins's Concil. ii. 719. "Decanum et monachos quoscunque ad custodiam manerii et ecclesiæ (de Leominstre cellæ abbatiæ de Reading) deputatos :" (Monast. Angl. i. 25.) I render, "The Prior and Monks deputed to the custody of the manor and church," &c. Du Cange, v. Norma. Nam jubet regula decanos fieri, de melioribus qui possunt eligi. MS. Cott. Vesp. A. xvIII. 169. a. Reyner, 120. Cap. gen. Northampt. aº 1444. c. 3. R. of S. Benn. for the Mynchins or Nuns, b. 1. 1516, c. 21. 1 Abbatissæ partiantur onera. MS. Bodl. Ar- chiv. Seld. D. 52. (no pages). m Du Cange, v. Custos. Id. v. Provisor. PRIOR. 117 not depose the Sub-prioress or Cel- laress without consulting the gene- ral Prior. The food was distributed by the Cellaress, but the vestments of the Nuns cut, sewed, and divided by the Prioresses. No Prioress could sit near any man in their houses, without some discreet sister sat between; nor elsewhere, if it could be conveniently avoided. She could send the Sub- prioress into the Infirmary, to take the venic, if she was herself engaged. The Prioress was to endeavour to visit the Nuns, unless she happened to be in the kitchen, or was detained by sickness. If any one wished to confess, she signified to the Prioress, if she was in the Cloister or Church, or confessed to her or any person she ordered. On holidays, she sent some learned Nun with a book to her sisters, to teach them somewhat of the profit of the soul, and rigour of the Order. She herself presided over the Chapter of the sisters, and one of her coadjutors often took their venie in the evening Chapter. On festival days she visited them if she had time, and diligently inquired of their Order and religion. If she left the Dormitory after dinner, or after Complin, she did not go out without Nuns. She was obliged to indicate the cause of her departure to the Prior of all. If she left the Church through sickness, she confessed in the Chapter, and no one stood in her stall, except at Mass, and necessity required it. If she was in the kitchen, she could take the venia of others in her scapulary. When she was serving in the kitchen, and made a mistake in the Refectory, she begged her pardon there. She was to shun conferring with the scrutatrices (or visitors) of another house, deputed to her, or to make search of any thing, except in the common Chapter. If she was in the Infirmary, she was to conduct herself more reservedly, and not speak with more together than two, and that in a bounded place, unless perhaps neces- sity compelled her to talk with more for the sake of consultation, or when she happened to hold the chapter of the sick. She could upon great necessity, hold the Chapter of the Convent, and receive confessions. If she was con- fined by extreme illness, she could, like the rest, talk in bed. Sub-prioress. She could not become Prioress, unless the Prior of all, or Scrutatrices, judged it necessary. She could not enter the chamber of the Novitiates to take their venice, unless called by a sign from their mistress. If in the absence of the Prioresses she spoke of any thing, except of labour, she confessed having done so in the Chapter. If it happened that another spoke in the absence of the Prioress, the Sub-Prioress notwithstanding took the venie in the Chapter and out of it. But she could not go to the gate of the window without a sage companion.a a Monast. Anglic. ii. 760, 1. 118 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER X. CELLARER. THIS officer, who was to be the father of the whole society, had the care of every thing relating to the food of the Monks, and vessels of the cellar, kitchen, and refectory. He was to be careful of the healthy, but especially of the sick. He was to do nothing of greater moment, without the advice of the Abbot or Prior. He was to ask the Chantor some days before, when his sentence of the. Rule was read in the Chapter, and then to solicit abso- lution, and make a handsome refection for the Monks, which, if the sentence of the Rule fell upon an improper day, was deferred by leave of the Prior and Chapter to another.a He was allowed absence from Masses, Completory, and all the hours, except Mattins, Ves- pers, and Prime. He was to be present at the great Mass upon feast days, till the Gospel was read; also every day in Lent, till the verses of the offertory were sung. He was to weigh the bread daily, and in collecting the spoons after dinner he was to carry the Abbot's in his right hand, and the rest in his left. But if there were two or more Abbots at the high table, one of the Brothers, invited by the Refec- tioner, and attending on the left hand with the spoons, was to take the spoons of the Abbots in his right hand, and collect the rest, with the assistance of the spoon-officer, in his left. He was to wait upon the Visitors, Minuti, and Monks returning from journeys. was to take care that no one sat down before the Abbot or Prior, and, when any one asked for bread and beer in reason, was to give it to him.b At a Dec. Lanfr. sect. de Cellerario. He b MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. 201, b. Si autem fuerunt duo, vel plures abbates ad consistorium discumbentes, unus fratrum à refectorario rogatus levâ parte de cochlearibus ministrans abbatum cochlearia dextrâ manu feret, cætera autem coch- Edmundsbury he held his court of thieves and robbers; and had power over the highways, so that no one could dig chalk or clay without his leave. He or his agents had the pre- emption of all food for the use of the Convent if the Abbot was not at home.c There was sometimes a Cellarer for in-door business, and another for out-door.d Davies says, "His office was to see how much was expended in the kitchen, both for the Prior's table, the whole Convent, and for all stran- gers that came. It was his office also to see all things orderly served, and in due time. His chamber was in the Dorter." e The Cellaress was to see, when she came into her office, what was owing to it by different farmers and rent- gatherers; to receive certain sums yearly of the different collectors on the Nunnery estates; to take account of all the ox-hides, inwards of them, tallow, and every mess of beef sold; to charge herself with the hay sold at any farm belonging to her office; to purvey all the provision for the house, and pay certain offerings, wages, and gifts; to hire pasture for her oxen, and attend to the mowing and making of hay, and repairs of building.f The Cellaress of the Gilbertine Nuns was not to talk in private with the yearly visitors from another house, nor with any other concerning any learia cum cocleatorio manu sinistrâ colliget. 202. b. Cellerarius vigilanter provideat ne ante recu- bitum abbatis, vel prioris, aliquis recubet. Id. 201. b. Nulli panem et cervisiam consideranter petenti debet renuere. Id. 201. b.-The keys of the cola- torium or strainer, for straining the beer, were also in his custody. Ibid. c Monast. i. 300. d M. Par. 1096, et alii. e A secular performed this office at Winchester, but was removed by William of Wickham. MS. Harl. 328. f Monast. i. 80, 83. For the reason of the agricultural direction of her office, see sect. Nuns. CELLARER. 119 Canon or Nun (de aliquo vel aliquâ), that the visitors might hear; nor serve in the kitchen, where the Sub-cellaress was to take her place. She was to have a Lay-sister associated with her to help her, with whom she might talk of necessaries openly in the cellar. In the cellar, however, no one was to speak except the Prioress and Cellar- ess, and Fenestraria, or Window-por- teress, Lay-sister of the Hostrey, that of the kitchen, and the assistant of the Cellaress. The Cellaress was not to speak in the Infirmary of the Lay- sisters sitting; and a fault of this kind was to be examined. The bread of the sick and the whole society was to be distributed according to her direc- tion. All the food was too in her disposal, and no one but the Prioress had besides any controul over it. When she left the Dormitory, after dinner or complin, and broke silence, she was to declare the cause of both in the Chap- ternor was to go out without more Nuns.a a Monast. ii. 761. 120 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER XI. PRECENTOR, OR CHANTOR. THE office of Precentor was one of those which could only be filled by a Monk who had been educated in the Monastery from a child. He was only to be set down in the table to the lesson and responsory in the Abbot's absence, in order that he might then take his place. He was to correct all mistakes in the choral service, which was entirely at his disposal, to distri- bute the robes at festivals, and to make the tables of the Monks for divine service. No one was to leave the Choir before Mass was over with- out his leave. His place was in the middle of the Choir, and on the right side. He was censed next to the Abbot and Prior. He began the chant first, and was followed by the right Choir. In all principal feasts which fell on Sundays, he was put into the table of office, with two others whom he chose. On Sundays, and festivals of that kind, another held the Choir, and made a sign to the Chantor when he began the verse of the offering, which salutation was returned by a bow; and, upon the beginning of every verse, he and all the children bowed. In times of manual labour, he either read or showed the master of the Novices where the children were to begin reading. He notified to the Abbot all the chants which he sang or began.b At Abingdon he was elected by the Abbot, Prior, and Convent. *It was Du Cange, v. Nutriti. b Decr. Lanfr. sect. De Cant MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. cantoris est officio cantandi amussim docere et instruer priorem, postmodum o accentu, aut pronuntiat verit, cantor illud du morbo præoccupatus per capellanum suu postmodum officium his office to teach all the Monks to sing and read, to the most exact degree, first the Abbot, afterwards the Prior, and then all the others. If any one hesitated respecting an accent or pro- nunciation, or any thing else, the Chantor was to rectify that doubt. [The officiating Monks were accus- tomed to rehearse the services, and receive the key, &c. from the Precen- tor]. When the Abbot was diseased, and could not be present at Mattins, his Chaplain notified it to the Chantor, cessionibus in monasterio abbas nichil incipiet, nisi cantor præsignaverit. Cantor à nullo officio ebdomadario liber erit. Si abbas præsens fuerit monitu cantoris incipiet ; et si abbas expeditus non fuerit, et in festis quos abbas non incipit, cantor succedet. Cantor negligentes in choro corripiet- quando alicui innuet ut cantet, frater illi inclinare debet. Cantori licet, sine reprehensione horis canonicis et ad missas libros inspicere, exceptis libris ad officium missæ assignatis. Quociens cantor chorum tenuerit quoddam excepto communi de coquina habebit. In festis quæ celebrantur in cappis aliquis fratrum monitu cantoris bacula festiv. in chorum deferet, et cantor concantoribus distri- buet. Quisquis tabulam scripserit cantor ante capi- tulum providebit. A diebus fratrum anniversariis lector martirologii monitu cantoris prout cantor disposuerit, dispositionem in capitulo pronuntiabit. In precipuis anniversariis triduo ante pronuntia- tionem cantor cellerario et coquinario intimabit [the same with the Abbot's anniversaries]. Si quis ad missam sederit, monitu cantoris surgens inclinabit. A depositione alicujus fratris nomen ispsius in martyrologio providentiâ cantoris debet inscribi. Arciva cantori debent assignari, per cantorem eleemosynario tradi. In omnibus festis in quibus processio fuerit cantor processionem ordinabit, et ad ostium chori socium socio parifi- cabit pro ordinatione processionis monachos de choro in chorum transponet. Quae ad proces- sionem sunt ferenda, monitu cantoris ferentur. Cantoris dispositione annuæ disponenter rasturæ. Si quis morbe præoccupatus licentiâ capituli infir- Terium adierit, de quocunque ebdomadarius fue- bit; idemptidem procurabit, si Metione ierit, 194. b. Can- ndacii et negligentiâ in ee eriget, capillos disti- almaria puer conventa eparabit, p eperiet, fractures ange, v, Auscultar juve- ram redcict, T PRECENTOR, OR CHANTOR. 121 He and he made provision for supplying his place. In the processions in the Monastery, the Abbot was to do nothing unless forewarned by the Chan- tor. The Chantor was free from no weekly office. When the Abbot was present, he began at the warning of the Chantor; and if the Abbot was en- gaged, the Chantor took his place, as well as in festivals, which that prelate had not begun. He reproved the negligent in the choral service, and when he nodded to any one to sing, that Monk was to bow to him. could inspect the books at the canoni- cal hours and Masses, those only excepted assigned to the office of the Mass. As often as he held the Choir, he had an allowance beyond the com- mons of the house. On the feasts of Copes, some Monk, by his direction, brought the festival staves into the Choir, and he distributed them to his fellow-chantors. Before the Chapter he made provision of the person to write the table. Upon the anniver- saries of the Monks, the reader of the martyrology, by his direction, pro- nounced in the Chapter how he had arranged matters. On the principal anniversaries (and those of Abbots) he intimated the arrangement to the Cel- larer and Kitchener three days before the annunciation. If any one sat at Mass, he rose and bowed at the direc- tion of the Chantor. At the decease of a Monk, his name, by the provision of this officer, was registered in the martyrology or obituary. The archives belonged to him, and were delivered by him to the Álmoner.a In all the In all the feasts in which there was procession, he arranged the procession and paired the Monks at the door of the Choir; and also transposed the Monks from Choir to Choir. Every thing borne atrocession was under his direc- nal rastureb were dis- ny sick Monk, by went to the om. See Almoner. ale, is the shaving of re, is bread raspings. Infirmary, he provided who should be Ebdomadary; and, in the same man- ner, when any one went out with bene- diction, or for a time. He could lug the ears of the boys, pull their hair, and chastise with his hand, the Novices who told lies, and were negligent in the Choir. He mended the presses or almonries of the Novices, youths, and others, where the Convent books were deposited, repaired them, and found cloths for the library books, and repair- ed their damages. During service the Precentor held in his hand a kind of musical instrument made of bone, called tabula. In a will, dated 837, they are called singing tabu- le, prepared (ornamented) with gold and silver. Amalarius says, he holds them in his hands as a substitute for organs, without any necessity of read- ing, that he may represent that of the Psalmist, "They shall praise his name in the Choir with timbrel and psalter." Among the classical an- cients, the Coryphæus, or leader of the band, not only beat time with his foot and the scaltilla, or crupezia, but with the hand also, putting the fingers of the right hand upon the hollow of the left, for which purpose they sometimes used oyster-shells, the shells of other fish, as well as the bones of animals, &c. The roll of parchment now used, is merely a copy of the Contacium, a stick with several skins rolled round it, con- taining the offices to be recited by the Priest. Some accounts say, that the Precentor held a silver staff while the service was performed, which was taken, says Honorius, from the staff held by the Israelites, who, eating the Paschal lamb, travelled to their coun- try.g *The Subchantor was to be elected by the choice and request of the Chan- tor, whose place he was to fill. The keys of the lockers, where the yearly Du Cange, v. Tabula. d L. 3. c. 16, p. 411. e Burney's Hist. of Musick, i. 75. Du Cange, v. Contacium. Id. v. Baculari Cantorum. * Succentor. Dispositione præcentoris et peti- tione succentor constituatur. Claves almariorum 122 MONASTIC OFFICERS. books and singing books were locked up, were to be in his custody. By the constitutions of Walter de Wickwane, Abbot of Winchcombe, for the govern- ment of the house, it was enacted, that no letter with the Convent seal, what- ever might be the emergency, should be carried out of the Cloister before it was entered by the Succentor, or a per- son deputed by him, in the Landbok, or elsewhere, as the business required. The Succentor or Subchantor pre- sided over the left Choir; the Chantor in quibus libri annualos (sic) et libri cantus reclu- duntur custodiæ succentoris assignabuntur. 194. b. Et quod nulla litera sigillo conventuali (quodcun- que contingat) aliquando extra claustrum deferatur priusquam per succentorem aliumve per eum depu- began, and the Subchantor answered; sometimes (the Precentor having only that one appellation) the Succentor was called Chantor.a Precentrix. When the Precentrix served in the Kitchen (says the Gil- bertine Rule), her companion had the key of the Book-case, which was locked always, except in Reading-time. She and her companion, in the first Sunday of Lent, when the Chapter was over, divided the books at the Prior- ess's order. She was to provide the book for the Collation.b tatum in Landbok seu aliis locis prout negocium requirit scribatur. MS. Cott. Cleop. B. 11. f. 225 b. a Du Cange, v. Præcentura, Succentor. b Monast. Angl. ii. 767. KITCHENER. 123 CHAPTER XII. KITCHENER. AT Abingdon he was free from every weekly office, except the great Mass and the Virgin Mary's. He was never absent from Chapter unless engaged. He might leave the Dormitory before the bell rang, and was to visit the sick in the morning to see what they wanted. The Abbot could not, without his leave, contract any of the manors assigned to the kitchen. He sat on the left of the Prior at meals, and gave the licence to the reader, as well as that of dining and drinking. *After dinner, on what- soever duty he should be, he observed the rank of the Prior by walking last after the servants. When he sat at the table of the servants, any Abbot coming thither might dine there; and the Kitchener, notwithstanding, dining according to his duty, attended no less upon any of the servants with a meal, for change of place was not an altera- tion of rank. A consolatory compa- nion, or solatium, was allowed him. At dinner time he went round the ta- bles of the sick to see what they wanted. The Vacarius, or herdsman, was sub- ject to him. At Winchcombe it was ordered that the Refectioner and Kit- chener, for the time, should shew them- selves ready to deliver to the servants of the Minuti what was necessary, they might not be obliged, on this ac- count, to decline the society, or com- mon table of their brethren.a At Eve- *MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. p. 200, a. b. Post prandium cujuscunque ordinis fuerit, ordinem pri- oris postremo post servitores incedendo servabit. Cum discubuerit ad consistorium servitorum, ali- quis abbas superveniens discubuerit ad consisto- rium: coquinarius in ordine suo discumbens non minus quemlibet servitorem uno ferculo visitabit, loci enim mutacio non est dignitatis alteratio. a Refectorarius autem et coquinarius qui pro tem- pore fuerit, sic se minutorum ministris exhibeant paratos, et sibi liberent quæ debentur, quod non sit necesse cuiquam de minutis pro suis necessariis perquirendis a contubernio declinare. MS. Cott. Cleop. B. 11. p. 228. sham he had a horse allowed him, and used to attend markets. It may be gathered from statutes, that he was sometimes in the habit of distressing the Monks, by giving them always the same dishes. A familiar modern says, the office of chief Cook in Monasteries was never conferred on any but such as had made the art their study:d and another, more antient, says, that they had Lay-cooks able to please the pa- late of Apicius himself. I find that there were at Abingdon, besides the Abbot's Cook, Bo, the Cook of the Monks, and Am, the Cook of the house- hold, nicknames, or names oddly spelt.f Ælfstan, a Monk, who afterwards became a Bishop, was Cook at Abing- don. Alone, and unassisted, he cooked the viands, gave them out, lighted the fire, fetched the water, and washed the dishes, which, as well as the pavement, he kept in the cleanest state.g Cooks. Among the Gilbertines, one of them was to assist the Cellaress in carrying bread and drink into the Re- fectory; all to carry the remains of the pittances into the Cellar, and them- selves serve the Nuns at supper. They were to have their refection after the Nuns, and, as well as the servants, take mixtus.h b Monast. Anglic. i. p. 148. Cap. Gen. Northampt. aº 1444. c. v. De Obe dientiariis. d Andrew's Gr. Brit. vol. i. p. 2, from Croyl. Hist. apud Gale. e Fuller's Ch. Hist. b. vi. f Cocus abbatis ii panes parvos, pro companagio iii ob. et cervisiam in aulâ. Bo cocus monacho- rum, &c. Am cocus de familiâ. (MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi.p. 178.) I am inclined to think from the universality of soubriquets in my own parish and elsewhere, that there were formerly, notwithstand- ing baptism, persons who never were known by any other, because the family denomination was not sufficiently distinctive. Angl. Sacr. i. 165. Monast. Anglic. ii. 761, 762. MONASTIC OFFICERS. 124 CHAPTER XIII. SENESCHALL. THIS Obedientary, often a Layman of rank, whose office was held by fee, was to Loid the courts, to do the Ab- bot's business with the king, by pay- ing money into the Exchequer, and transacting other matters of a like kind. For all this he had certain very valuable fees, and privileges in hos- pitality and other respects. There ap- pears, however, to have been a Senes- chali of inferior dignity. This officer was to be always ready to do the Con- vent business with the Prior and Cel- Jarer, which was to be done out of the bouse. He was to make the presents,c when sent to persons lodging in the town. When at home he was to have the corrody of one Monk, to carry a rod in his hand, and to arrange the matters of those who sat at table in the guests' hall. His annual wages were joz When he rode out with the Prior and Cellarer beyond the gate, for the business of the house, he had a ser- vant, who attended the guests in the hostrey, drew beer for liveries, carried presents at the direction of the Cel- larer, and received every day from the cellar bread and beer, and culinary fare, as persons in the hostrey. This Seneschall had also the Bishop's habi- tations in custody.d The following charter of the Abbey of Winchcombe shows the office and emoluments of an inferior Seneschall. • Monast. i. 290, 302, 361. b Curia. 4 • Exenia. Thorpe's Custumale Roffense, p. 29. 1 As long as he continued in office, he was to have the same commons in the Hall as the Cellarer, or even the Abbot's Chaplain. His servants were to fare the same as other servants. He had provender for two horses; two horses. the same allowance as for the Cellarer's once a year, with lamb's fur, for a su- He had also a robe of Clerk's cloth per-tunick, and for a hood of budge fur, and an allowance for his servant the same as the Cellarer's servant. He had also 40s. sterling every year at Michaelmas. For this he was to hold their man- tend to other business, and even go erial courts twice a year, at least ; at- abroad, if required, upon affairs of the house, in which case his expenses were allowed.b • Videl. quod habeat et percipiat quoad vivit in officio Senescallatus nobis deservienti de nobis et nostro monasterio in victualibus, sicut nostro celle- rario etiam capellano deservitur in aulâ. Et habeant sui garciones sicut cæteri garciones. Habeat insuper duos equos pro quibus habeat in præbendâ, sicut pro duobus equis cellerarii libera- tur. Habeat insuper robam unam de panno clerico- rum annis singulis cum forurâ agninâ pro supertu- nicâ, et pro caputio de bogeto: Et pro robâ unius garcionis, sicut garcioni cellerarii liberatur. Et quadraginta solidos sterlingorum annis singu- lis in festo S'i Michaelis percipiendos. In the Norman æra, a dress like a smock-frock, without sleeves, worn between the tunick and gown (Strutt, i. 94), but varying in subsequent æras. 8 See Abbot's dress, Ch. vii. h Registrum parvum Abbatiæ de Winchcombe penès prænob. Domin. Sherborne, fol. 240. TREASURER, OR BURSAR. 125 CHAPTER XIV. TREASURER, OR BURSAR. DAVIES says, "His exchequer was a little stone house, joining upon the coal-garth a pertaining to the great Kit- chen, a little distant from the Dean's hall-stairs. His office was to receive the rents of the house, and all other officers of the house made their ac- counts to him. He discharged all the servants' wages, and paid all the ex- penses and sums of money laid out den. A yard or fold. A. S. geand. Watson's Halifax, Gloss. Hence Gar- about any works appertaining to the Abbey, or that the house was charged withal. His chamber was in the In- firmary, and his meat was served from the great kitchen to his exchequer." This is all the notice I have seen of this officer, except a denomination of Capsarius in Du Cange, and Bursar elsewhereb, for in many houses the ex- terior Cellarer supplied his place. b Angl. Sacr. i. 767. 126 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER XV. SACRIST OR He was to uncover the Altar after the Gospel in feasts of twelve lessons, to carry the text to the Vestiary, which the Priest bore, as in his robe he pro- ceeded every day to the Altar; to carry a lantern before the Priest in his way from the Altar to the Lectern, and, after the collect, put the text upon the Altar, and to ring the bell, or tell others to do it; for which he was to ask no leave, unless at Prime, or Collation, or at Thirds and Vespers, when the Ab- bot sat in the Cloister with the Monks conversing. He distributed the can- dles for the offices; took care of all burials; washed the chalices twice a week, or oftener, as necessary; and the corporals a before Easter, or when ex- pedient, provided he was a Priest or Deacon, and for this he had brazen vessels used for nothing else, the water of which was thrown in the piscina, or, as it is otherwise and there called, Sacrarium.b He had the charge of preparing the host, and of washing the ampullæ for wine and water on Thurs- days and Sundays, which he supplied every day for the officiating ministers, and furnished the wafers to the com- municants. He lighted the candles. after the collect, at the Lessons and Lauds; and, if any indiscreet delay ensued, he lay prostrate before the step of penanced till a certain part of the service was ended, after which he departed without leave. The intricacy of this office occasioned a recommen- c a Cloths the host was wrapped in. b Hist. of Hampton Poyle, by Mr. Ellis. MS. e Vessels to pour the wine into the chalice with. The ceremony of preparing the host is given at large in Tindal's Evesham, p. 185; but, though verbatim the same as in the Dec. Lanfr. the officer is there the Infirmarer. If the host happened to fall, an appropriate religious service was performed, and whatever thing it touched was cut off and thrown into the Sacrarium, or Piscina (of the va- rious uses of which I shall speak in Sect. Church). Dec. Lanfr. c. ii. The step where the benedictions were received; but see art. Chapter, sect. Penances and Disci. pline. SECRETARIUS. dation that it should be committed to a master and servants.e At Abingdon* the Sacrist was elected in the same manner as the Chantor. When unoccupied, he was in the order, and exempted from no weekly office. He had the care of the vestments of the Church, bells, and banners. He could not give, sell, or pawn any of the official ornaments of the Church, nor even pledge any small matter for a short time, without the witness of his fellows. He could not speak at any time with a Monk, or any other in the Church. As often as any one of the congregation of the servants, or persons coming from other places (not a respectable person) should sit or e Decr. Lanfr. c. 6. De Secretariis, &c. Orna- MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. 195, seq. Eodem ordine, eadem dispositione, quâ Cantor eligitur et instituitur, debet Secretarius eligi et institui. Quo- ciens secretarius expeditus fuerit, in ordine erit, et à nullo officio ebdomadarii absolutus erit. menta ecclesiæ nec aliqua sibi assignata sacrista dare, vendere, nec impignorare potuit, autem [aut] aliquod modicum, pro modico tempore, sine soci- orum testimonio impignorare. Non licet secre- tario aliquando cum monacho, aut alio aliquo loqui in monasterio. Quociens aliquis in congregatione ministrantium, vel aliunde venientium, nisi reve- renda fuerit persona, in conspectu conventus sede- rit, aut steterit, sacrista eum amovebit, exceptâ Nativ. S. Mar. Homo Sacristarii cirpum ad or- natum ecclesiæ in dominio abbatis, et militum, et omnium aliorum accipiet; non illato damno prato. rum aut segetum. Quociens matutinæ tam morose pulsantur ut collecta ad laudes possit sine apposi- tione candelæ vidi et pronuntiari, sacrista ad preces ante gradum veniam accipiet; et ibidem donec in- choetur collecta prostratus recumbet; postmodum surgens ordinem suum adeat. Si hoc fecerit nec ab abbate, nec ab alio clamabitur; sin alias molestè in capitulo reprehendetur. Ne via cenulenta, vel aquosa [fuerit] sacrista locum itineris cantori denun- tiabit. Sacrista habebit totam ceram totius ydro- melli in promptuarium monachorum relati: excep- tis xx secretariis, abbati assignatis. Licet secreta- rio et subsecretario jacere in monasterio, quod non licet aliis, nisi præcepto aut licentiâ abbatis vel pri- oris. Infra septa embrii monachorum nullum con- stituetur stabulum. Sacrista curabit ut urticæ et omnes herbæ eradicandæ ab embrio radicitus extir- pentur, nec equus, aut aliquod animal in embrio frequentetur. Sacrista habebit de granario cotidie præbendam suo palefrido. Licet secretario cum subsecretario unum habere solatium consolato- rium. SACRIST OR SECRETARIUS. 127 stand in view of the Convent,a the Sacrist was to remove him, except on the nativity of the Virgin Mary.b The Sacrist's man was to take rushes to ornament the Church, in the demesne of the Abbot and Knights, and all others, so as no damage was done to the meadows or corn. As often as Mattins were rung so late that the - Collect at Lauds could be seen with- out the use of a light, the Sacrist was to take a small venia at prayers before the step; and there lay prostrate till the Collect was begun; afterwards, rising, he went to his place. If he did this, he was not to be accused in Chapter by the Abbot or any other; if other- wise, severely reprimanded. At the procession of the rogations, lest the way should be dirty or watery, the Sacrist was to point out the road to the Chan- tor, the Chantor to the Chapter. The Sacrist was to have all the wax of the ydromele brought into the store-house of the Monks, except the twenty Se- cretaries d assigned to the Abbot. He was to appoint a Subsacrist, who was to keep the keys in his absence; to take the corn necessary for the guests, and to go out from the Refectory be- fore the Convent, to see that there was no negligence in the time of ringing the bell. The Sacrist and Subsacrist were to sleep in the Church, which was allowed to no one else without the order or leave of the Abbot or Prior. The Sacrist was to take care that no nettles or weeds grew in the church-yard, nor horse or other ani- mal frequented it, or any stable be there. He had from the granary a daily allowance for his palfrey; and a See Church, sect. Lady-chapel. b This was the grand day, for an obvious mysti- cal reason, on which the parents of Monks used to visit them. See Hostrey. • Mead. d The Glossaries have been tried. The Abbot, &c. had a livery of wax every week. Monast. i. 298. I think them candles. In a stall (pulpitum). X Script. 1911. 1. 14. The words are lying in a stall I saw (watching or waking) vigilans." was allowed, with his deputy, a sola- tium, or companion. Besides what is here mentioned, re- specting the wine and candles, Davies adds, "His office was also to lock up every night the keys of every Altar in the Church, every Altar having its several almery, and some two; to lay the said keys forth every morning between seven and eight o'clock, upon the top of the almery, which was of wainscot, wherein they were locked, which stood within the North quire door, that every Monk might take the key, and go to what Altar he was disposed to say Mass at. The Sacristan's chamber was in the Dorter, and he had his meat served from the great kitchen in his exchequer." In the Order of St. Victor, the Sa- crist had a servant, called Matricula- rius, a poor man from the Almonry, who rang the bells, regulated the ho- rologe, wakened the Monks in the Dormitory, shut and opened the Church-doors, and answered strangers who knocked at the Church-door. He assisted the Sacrist in sweeping the Church, cleaning the lamps, and other duties. He slept in the Church, as did the Sacrist, and a third man, whom the Abbot appointed.f Sacrist of the Gilbertine Nuns. When the Sacrist rose at night to ring the bell, she was to have at least two Nuns with her, whom the Prioress as- signed. She was to ring the bell to Chapter, and all the daily hours. She and her companion was to adorn the area of the church in the Vigil of Easter, and the Altar after Sext. She was to light the lamp in the interval at the lessons; to prepare the coals for the censor; to receive the holy-water at the window; and the Pax-bord (lapi- dem pacis), which she was to carry round to the Nuns and sisters, begin- ning always to give the Pax in the right Choir, whether the Prioress was pre- sent or absent.g Du Cange, v. Matricularius. Monast. Anglic. ii. 763. 130 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER XVII. ALMONER. He was to find mats in the Choir, &c. to put under the feet of the Monks in the Vigil of All Saints; also under those of the boys and youths. He was besides to find mats in the Chap- ter, Cloister, in both the parlours, and upon the stairs of the Dormitory. This he was to have strewed with rushes twice a year, at the assumption and nativity of the Virgin Mary; and find ivy leaves at Easter for the Clois- ter and Chapter. He was to provide the rods for the Chapter, Chapel, and boys' school, and brooms, plates, bas- kets, and sweepers for the Refectory. He was to sweep yearly the walls of the Dorter, and three days before the assumption of St. Mary, clean that place with a small circle. He was to MS. Cott. Claud. B. VI. 203, 4. Sub pedibus monachorum inveniet mattas in choro, &c. in vigi. liâ omnium sanctorum; identidem sub puerorum et juvenum; præterea inveniet mattas in capitulo, in claustro, in quolibet locutorio; super ascensorios gradus dormitorii; bis cirpabit dormitorium per annum, sc. ad assumpt. et nat. S. Mar.; inveniet folia hæderæ ad pascha, in claustro, in capitulo, in scolâ puerorum procurabit disciplinas, in refectorio scopas, discos, scoparios, sportas. Scopabit annua- tim macerias dormitorii, et triduo ante assumpt. S. Mar. mundabit dormitorium circulo tenui. Quo- ciens abbas vir aut alius in camerâ discubuerit unus ministror' elemosynar' presentiam suam exhibeat, ut eleemosynam recipiat...... Identidem fiet in coquinâ cotidie.-Baculum boxeum, vel alium magis idoneum de manu in manum sunt assignaturi: idemque ministri cum janitore, vel cum ministro suo processionem huc et illuc anticipabunt, ut viam hominum impedimento aliorumque impedientium expediant. Licet eleemosynario pro negotiis do- mus uno die ire, eodem redire, non petitâ licentiâ. Annuatim contra natale domini pannos sotulares emit, viduis, orphanis, et maximè clericis quos precipuè egere consideraverit, distribuet. Ex con- suetudine non licet eleemosynario per tabulas, aut aliud aliquid colligere. Si quicquid per tabulas sibi porrectum fuerit, licet ei recipere et ad elee- mosynam deferre: post prandium autem conventus de egressu refectorii licet ei tabulas ambire, quic- quid potus de caritate remanserit eleemosyne des- tinare. f. 204 b. • Du Cange says, the Monks used to sleep on mats, pray on them, hold their collations on them, and strew them under the dead. (in voce). Not in Du Cange. It is used for interval. See sect. Servants. At make out the brerias for annunciations of the deaths of Monks), and give them to the Chantor. He was to find the necessaries for the maundy; to send the account of the deaths of the brethren to the neighbouring houses, and to take care that a servant con- stantly guarded the gates of the Locu- tory, and honourably to admit the visitors. As often as an Abbot, or other person, dined in the chamber, one of his servants was to attend to receive the alms; and the same was daily to be done in the kitchen. the Rogation processions, two of his servants were to stand at the gate of the house, and give to every Monk a boxen staff, or other more suitable, from hand to hand; and the same servants, with the porter, or his man, were to go before the procession this or that way, that they might clear the way from people pressing in, or other hindrances. On business of the house, he could go out on one day, and return on the same, without asking leave. He was to buy annually against Christ- mas, cloth and shoes for widows, orphans, and especially clerks, and those whom he thought to need it most. He was not allowed to collect any thing through the tables. If any thing was handed to him from thence, he could take it, and devote it to alms. After dinner, when the Convent had left the Refectory, he could go round the tables, and destine to alms the drink which remained of the charity. At Evesham, it was his office to receive half a mark from the Abbot on Maundy Thursday, to be distributed among the Monks to give to the poor, See MS. Harl. 652, f. 44. b. MS. Cott. Tib. A. m. f. 74 b. same in substance as printed in Conc. Reg. ALMONER. 131 and to have the care of the Monks' garden.a The Almoner was to reserve the nice pieces which were left, for the sick and infirm poor, who were instruct- ed by him to eat them privately apart.b By the Norman Institutes, his office was to find out poor, sick, and infirm persons, for which, when he went him- a Monast. i. 148. Ord. Vict. MS. Du Cange, v. Eleemosynarius. self, he was to have two assistant servants, to send all women out of such house before his coming, and then console the sick, and supply their wants as they wished. Where the sick were women, one of the servants per- formed this office. In the disposition, however, of his alms, he was to give previous notice to the Abbot or Prior, and attend to their directions.c • Dec. Lanfr. c. 9. De Cellario. K 2 132 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER XVIII, MASTER OF THE NOVICES. THE Prior, say the Constitutions of the Friers, shall choose, for the instruc- tion of the Novices, a diligent master, who shall instruct them in the Order, stimulate them in the Church, and where they behave themselves negli- gently, endeavour to amend them as much as he can by a word or a sign, and, as far as he is able, provide necessaries for them. He could grant pardon for open negligences, when they sought it from him, or accuse them in Chapter. He was to teach them to be humble in heart and body, and endeavour to bring them up to this point according to the text, "Learn of me, who am meek and lowly in heart;" to instruct them how to receive disci- plines, and not talk of the absent, even that which was good; how to drink. with two hands, and how to sit; how carefully they ought to guard the books and vestments, and other goods of the house; how intent they ought to be in study, and be reading some- thing day and night in the house and when on journeys; how they should work, how they should meditate, how they should endeavour to get by heart every thing they could; how fervent they should be in preaching in good time.* * Prior noviciis magistrum diligentem in instruc- tionem eorum proponat, qui eos de ordine doceat, in ecclesiâ excitet, et ubi se negligenter habuerint verbo vel signo quantum poterit studeat eos emen- dare, et necessaria quantum potest debet eis procu- rare. De apertis negligenciis, dum ante eum veniam petierint veniam potest dare, vel eos in capitulo proclamare. Humilitatem cordis et corporis doceat habere, et studeat ad hoc ipsum instituere juxta illud, "Discite à me, qui mitis sum, et humilis corde." Qualiter disciplinas suscipient, et non loquantur de absente non quæ bona sunt. duabus manibus sit bibendum et sedendum. diligenter debeant custodire libros et vestes alias- que res monasterii. Quam intenti esse debent in studio, ut de die et nocte, in domo in itinere, legant aliquid; ut operentur, ut meditentur, ut quicquid poterint retinere corde tenus nitantur. Quam Quod Quam By the Norman Institutes, they were to shave the boys, and the boys them. The latter were to wash the heads of the boys too little to shave themselves." By the Benedictine Constitutions, a master was to be provided, who was to teach the Monks the primitive sciences of grammar, logic, and philo- sophy: but there were Lay-teachers;c and Monks themselves used to travel from house to house to teach music or singing.d Lyndwood says, the masters of the Novices were to be old men.e In the Order of St. Victor, the master is ordered to instruct the No- vices how to unshoe or to cover them- selves, and not to enter the Necessary unless with the head covered.f Davies says, "There were always six Novices, who went daily to school within the house, for the space of seven years together; and one of the eldest and most learned Monks was consti- tuted their tutor. The said Novices had no wages, but meat, drink, and apparel for that space. The master, or tutor's office, was to see they wanted nothing; as cowls, frocks, stamyne, bedding, boots, socks; and as soon as they needed any of these necessaries, the master had charge to call at the Chamberlain's for such things. The satire of Nigell Wireker, a Monk of Canterbury, upon the pupil of the middle age, under the figure of an ass, is so piquant, so elegant, and exhibits so fine a state of mind in its author, that I shall here digress to give it: ferventes esse debeant in prædicatione tempore optimo. MS. Cott. Nero, A. XII. f. 160. a Dec. Lanfr. C. 12. See, respecting this vague term, Mosheim's Ecc. Hist. i. 569. Ed. 4to, 1765. Wart. Hist. Eng. Poetry, ii. 429, 435. C d Lyndw. 210. Du Cange, v. Necessaria. • Id. 144. MASTER OF THE NOVICES. 133 Jam pertransierat Burnellus tempora multa, Et propè completus septimus annus erat. Cum nichil ex toto quodcumque docente magistro, Aut socio potuit discere præter Ya. Quod natura dedit; quod sæcʼlum detulit illuc, Hoc habet; hoc illi nemo tulisse potest. Cura magistrorum multum quum diu laborabat Demum defecit victa labore gravi. Dorso se baculus, lateri se virga frequenter Applicat; et ferulam sustinuere manus: Semper Ya repetit: nichil est quod dicere possit Affectus quovis verbere præter Ya. Vellicat hic aurem ; nasum quatit ille recurvum ; Hic secat, hic urit; hinc solvitur inde legatur; Intonat iste minas; porrigit ille preces; Sic in eo certant ars et natura vicissim ; Ars rogat, illa jubet; hæc abit, illa manet: Quorum principia constat viciosa fuisse Aut vix, aut nunquam convaluisse valent; A primo didicit Burnellus Ya; nichil ultra Quam quod natura dat retinere potest. Spec. Stult. MS. Cott. Titus, A. xx, &c. Now a very long season Burnellus had past, And the seventh of years was near ended at last; When of all that his comrade and master had taught, To learn nothing but Ya could Burnellus be brought; What Nature had given, what Time had brought there, That he had; and that none could away from him tear. The masters, when long they had labour'd in vain, No longer the burden would bear to sustain: To his back went the stick, and the rod to his side, And the ferula oft to his hands was applied. Still Ya he cries out; still could only say Ya, And blow upon blow nothing else could outdraw; This pulls at his ear; that twists his nose round; This cuts, and that burns; now he's loosed, now he's bound; This menaces thunders; that stoops to request; And Nature and Art both the matter contest; Art begs; Nature orders; this goes; that remains : Where the foundacion 's bad, 'tis no use to take pains; Nought but Ya from the first had he learned; nor aught Could poor Burnell retain, but what Nature had taught. Of the absurd sciences, which pre- vailed in the æras of which I treat, it is unnecessary for me to say more, than that the tendency of such was, and ever will be, to create not a man of science, but a mixture of the puppy, pedant, and pettifogger, a pert, liti- gious, captious, vain, and ostentatious character, quibbling but not able, quick but shallow. Taste and mind are only to be formed in the school of the Clas- sics. The Mistress of the Novices, among the Gilbertines, when she served at the table, was not to speak in the interim with the Novices, nor enter their cell. She might, however, look through the gate, to see whether they behaved in an orderly manner. She could not grant them licence to do any 134 MONASTIC OFFICERS. work, nor speak in their cell after Vespers, lest they should lose the time of reading. Nor could she take their private pardons, or discipline them without the Prioress's order. In the winter, when it was required, she explained the Rule before Tierce, to the Novices going to make profession; and, if she could not finish it before Tierce, after Chapter. She was very seldom to grant them leave to sit in the parlour, at the time assigned for their instruction in the Order." Monast. Anglic. ii. 770. INFIRMARER. 135 CHAPTER XIX. INFIRMARER. By the Decrees of Lanfranc, he was to have a Cook and kitchen separate (if possible), that he might have every thing ready for the sick in its proper season; to administer all their meals, and sprinkle holy water after Complin on the beds. After making the triple prayer before Mattins, to go round them with a lantern, to see if any able to rise staid in bed; to proclaim in Chapter all negligences; to order his servants to warm the water for wash- ing the corpse, when he saw a Monk was at the point of death. Care and management of the bier was in him and his servants, as well as of the table the Prior struck. After the wash- ing and removal of the corpse, he was to wash the place where it lay to be cleaned, and have it fresh strewed with straw or rushes. At Abingdon,* after the daily office was finished in the Infirmary, he was at all hours to be present in the Con- vent, nor then have the care of the sick. Vespers were excepted. In all feasts of robes he was to be present till Lauds, nor be absent from Vespers. He was to lie constantly in the Infir- mary, and those who lay there were to receive licence of being bled from the Infirmarer. He was to attend to the sick, with two brethren to assist him, * MS. Cott. Claud. B. vI. p. 205. Officio diurno in infirmitorio expleto, omnibus horis erit in conventu, nec curam infirmorum gerat tantum, vesperis exceptis. In omnibus festis, quæ celebra- buntur in cappis, usque ad laudes inierit matutinis, nec deerit vesperis. Jacebit in infirmitorio conti- nuè; in infirmitorio recubantes licentiam minuendi accipient de infirmario.-Si quis angistro, qui ab angendo dicitur, et alio nomine ventosa à suspirio vocatur, minui voluit, infirmario indicabit. Infir- marius ministro illi administrationi deputato opus suum adimplere precipiet, candelamque ad illam administrationem inveniet. Abbas assensu capituli talem infirmarium constituat, ut infirmorum con- fessionem pro inopinatæ rei eventu recipere possit et debeat. f. 205. and to take care that the Monks under his protection went to their beds and rose with regularity. There was to be silence after Complin, a punishment of sloth, and on Sundays the Sacrament. The alms of the sick, till the Prime of the next day, was to be under the cus- tody of the Infirmarer. He was to provide provision for the sick, and to find a light for the Monks who lay constantly in the Infirmary, or who dined or drank there, as often as it was necessary. He was to go to the kitchen daily, and receive what he wanted for the sick. If any one dis- eased with the agistrum, so called ab angendo (from choaking), and by an- other name, windy, from short breath- ing, wished to be bled, he was to announce it to the Infirmarer, who was to order the servant, to whom that office belonged, to do it; and find him a candle for it. The Abbot, with the consent of the Chapter, was to appoint such a person Infirmarer as might be able, in case of sudden ac- cident, to receive the confession of the sick. The Infirmaress had a Lay-sister as an assistant, and neither of them had an office out of the Infirmary when any one was very sick. The Infirma- ress was allowed to be present at the Mass till the Post-communion, unless any necessity of the sick hin- dered her. If she could not indicate, by a sign, what she wanted, the Cel- laress was to come, and, in her hearing, she was to mention her necessities. She never served in the kitchen when she had persons grievously sick. She gave the Peace to the sick when the sick said Confiteor.a a Monast. ii. 776. 136 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER XX. PORTER. THE office of Porter was for the most part committed to men of mature age, and unblameable life.a The Benedic- tine Porter had a deputy, who was never absent while his master took a message to the Cellarer. He only entered the Kitchen, Refectory, Infir- mary, and residence of the Superior, to deliver a message when visitors came, which office the deputy could execute when his master was absent. He al- ways lay at night at the gate, and had a horse, that, as often as the Superior or Cellarer wished, he might attend their summons, and ride with them. He had always a boy, who lay at the gate with the Sub-porter, and took the key, after curfew, to the Cellarer's bed, which he fetched again in the morn- ing, sooner or later, as necessary. In some accounts we find, that as soon as the bell rang for Complin, the Porter locked the gates, and carried the keys to the Abbot. We hear also of deaf and dumb Porters.d Of the Augusti- nian Porter Mr. Steevens gives us the following account: "Adjoining to the said gate (of Oseney), was a little cabin, or cell, for the Janitor to lodge in, who, according to their Rule, was to keep the gates for the most part shut, not to let any in without leave from the Abbot; to have an eye towards the young Canons in their wandering to and fro; to keep out Lay-people and young women, especially men bearing weapons, or suspicious varlets, who not only came with an intent to filch, but also to pry into the actions of the Canons, and so thereby take advan- tage to slander their conversation, and render them odious to the vulgar; he was also to receive poor people, and Du Cange, v. Portarius. b Thorpe's Custum. Roffen. 29. Du Cange, v. Completa. d Gold. Legend. Iv. pilgrims, with love and in the name of God; not to let them abide long at the gate, to the disturbance of the quiet, but send them away with refreshment, for which purpose he had several loaves appointed by the Cellarer to be laid in his cell to distribute to them, especi- ally on fasting days, when there was no offal meat from the Refectory.e Be- sides this bread, the Præmonstraten- sian, i. e. Augustinian Porter, was to sleep by day, if he was a Canon, and also by night, if he was a Convert, at the gate, but not alone. As soon as he heard the bell for the Hour, even though he was a Canon, he was to stay, while the Hour was celebrating, con- ducting himself, as well as he could, like the brethren in the Church. He was to be present at the Chapter, Mass, Vespers, and Mattins, especially if he had a companion; when he was absent, his deputy was to watch the gate, distribute the alms, and perform other his duties. The right of appoint- ing the Porter was sometimes reserved by the founder, in right of dominion, which Porter, at the installation of every new Prior, was to receive five shillings only, or an ox.5 He had also very valuable fees and privileges, as "two corrodies, a Monk's loaf, ii coro- nati,h and two meals a day, and beer; an allowance from the Abbot's store- room, and another from the Refectory cellar; benefits of certain lands; an offering of 4s. d. at Christmas, he and his man, and at Easter 24d.i Du e Steevens's Monast. ii. 120. Bibliotheca Præmonstratensis, v. i. p. 808. Monast. i. 358. h Du Cange has Panes coronati (v. Panis), loaves in the form of a crown. i Petrus portarius duo conredia habet; panem monachi et ii coronatos, et ii fercla per diem, et cervisiam, unam mansuram de promptuario abba- tis, et aliam de cellario aulæ. Scepinga ejus iiii acras (div. in div. loc.) et habet oblationem iiiis. et ob. in natale Domini, ipse et homo suus, et in paschâ ii ob. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. p. 178, PORTER. 137 Cange mentions various Porters, as one at the gate, where the poor ap- plied for alms; the Porter of the court, a Lay-brother; the Porter of the Clois- ter, a Lay-brother also, who was to prevent strangers from entrance or inspection. John de Northwolde, in his tract of Minor Offices, mentions a Porter and his boy, as in the service of the Infirmarer. The White book of Edmundsbury mentions the Janitor at the great gate, and a Portarius, or Porter, for another ;c for, however, as In voce Portarius. In obedientiâ infirmarii officium janitoris et garcionis ejusdem. MS. Harl. 743. f. 209. Tanner notes, the terms Janitor and Portarius might be confused, Walafrid Strabo justly observes, the term janua was proper only to the entrance of a house.d John de Northwolde also mentions a Portership of the Refectory, with all its members and appurtenan- ces, with an annexed serjeanty.e Va- rious Porters are also mentioned by Davies, of which notice will be taken in their respective places. c Janitor, ad magnam portam. MS. Harl. Portarius, 1005. f. 44. d C. 6. p. 666. Quandam serjantiam spectantem ad custodem ostii refectorii, cum omnibus membris et pertinen- tiis. MS. Harl. 743, p. 210. 138 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER XXI. REFECTIONER.* He was to take care that the pots, or noggins, were washed at certain feasts; and the same care was to be taken with regard to the cups. The tables were to be wiped daily. He was to find from his revenues, cups, pots, table-cloths, mats, basins, double cloths, candlesticks, towels, saltsellers. If the cups were broken, they were to MS. Cott. Claud. B. vI. f. 202. Obbæ debent ablui prudentiâ Refectorarii, sc. ad festum Omn. S. ad Nat. Dom., ad Purif. S. Mar., in anniv. Faricii et Vincentii, ad Pasch., ad fest. reliqu. Pentecost. assumpt. et nativ. S. Mar. Identidem omnes ciphi debent ablui.-Refectorarius de redditibus sibi assignatis inveniet in Refectorio ciphos, obbas, mappas, mattas, pelves, duplomata, candelabra, manutergia, salina. Si ciphi franguntur, laminis argenteis cura Refectorarii reparabuntur. Die cœnæ Domini post completorium prudentiâ refec- torarii scopabitur refectorium. Quociens poma distribuuntur in refectorio pomarius dabit xxx poma, excepto communi refectorario. Hostilarius hos- pites in refectorium introducet; sic refectorarius obbas secundum personarum differentias constituet, accubitusque discumbendi significabit. Ter in anno, sc. ad festum Omn. Sanct. ad Nat. Dom. ad Pasch. habebit quinque honera stramentorum de bertonâ fratrum pedibus in refectorio supponen- dis. 5 honera foeni refectorio jaciendi. Quinquies in anno inveniet cirpum in refectorio sc. ad Ascens. D. Pentec. ad fest. S. Joh. ad assumpt. et nativ. S. Mar. Si monacho per tabulas panis apponatur, refectorarius panem et caseum manibus suis cuilibet monacho proponet. Si abbas in conventu discu- buerit, pelves, aquam, manutergium ante prandium poni procurabit ad lavatorium. Identidem in refec- torio post prandium. Ad caritatem cum idromelli, vel aliusmodi potus, sono signi excitabit fratres, ad administrationem caritatis, pulsabitque signum ad benedictionem, identidem ad collationem. Provi- dentia debet refectorarii vinum in promptuario abba. tis accipi, quociens in conventu vinum debet distri- bui, et mensurare sc. quum viderit necesse. In restitutione et donacione caritatum supra ferias semel tacto signo excitabit fratres administrationi potus, sed benedictio non dabitur. Secundum temporis exigentiam refectorarius de prandio surget, ut in cifis caritatem tenentibus potum infundet. Refectorarius præest aliis unà caritate. Abbati, monachis abbatis, monachis infirmariis, monachis pocionariis inveniet caritatem; Abbati autem duas caritates, si in camerâ discubuerit. Minister qui præest aliis in infirmitorio habet caritatem idro- melli et ne'nius (f. err. pro vini.) Nulli exteriori victum de promptuario habenti dabitur caritas idro- melli et vini, vel alicujus poculi, nisi in anniv. Faritii et Innocentii. 202 b. be repaired with silver plates. On Maundy Thursday, after Complin, he was to have the Refectory swept. When apples were distributed in the Refectory, the Pomarius, or apple-offi- cer, was to give thirty, besides the common allowance, to the Refectioner. As the Hosteler was to introduce the visitors into the fratry, so the Refec- tioner was to place the pots according to the rank of the persons, and appoint them their places to dine at. Three times in the year, at All Saints, Christ- mas, and Easter, he was to have five bundles of straw from the Barton, to put under the feet of the Monks in the Refectory, and five burdens of hay for that place. He was to find rushes for the same place five times in a year.a He was to weigh the cheese. He was not to be absent from Mattins nor Prime. He was to be busy at morning Mass and Tierce for cutting and put- ting cheese; and when a person was wanting, to take in the cheese. sent at great Mass, and to go out after the gospel. He was absent from Sext, and also from Nones, when the ser- vants happened to dine at that hour. He was present at Vespers, and at Complin, unless hindered by the pre- sence of visitors, to whom he was silently to attend with his hood on. He was dismissed from the service of the week at Church; and attended on the minuti and visitors at whatever hour they dined. When bread was put before any Monk at table, the Refectioner was to distribute the bread and cheese with his own hands. If the Abbot dined in the Convent, he was to cause basins, water, and a towel before dinner to be placed at the lavatory, and Pre- a In the Rule of S. Victor, the Refectioner is to find mats, snuffers, and cocks for the Lavatory, and clean the Lavatory as often as necessary. Du Cange, v. Muscatoria. REFECTIONER. 139 The in the same manner in the Refectory after dinner. At the charity, whether of idromel or any other kind of drink, he warned the Monks, by the sound of a bell, to the ministration of the charity, and rang the bell for the benediction; in like manner at the collation. Refectioner was to receive wine from the store-house or cellar of the Abbot as often as it was to be distributed in the Convent, and to measure it if neces- sary. In the restitution and donation of charities on week-days, he warned the brethren to the ministration of the drink, but no benediction was given. He rose from dinner according to the exigencies of time, to pour the drink in the cups that contained the charity. The Refectioner exceeded the others by one charity. He found the charity for the Abbot, the Abbot's Monks (or chaplains), the Monks assisting in the Infirmary, and those who attended and helped at the charity;a for the Abbot he provided two charities if he dined in camerâ. The servant who presided over the others in the Infirmary had a charity of idromel, and not of that only. One of idromel and wine, or of any drink, was granted to no person having allowance from the cellar, except on the anniversaries of Faritius and Inno- cent.b a See Dec. Lanfr. in the Charity, ut supra. b Besides the Refectioner, there was an obscure officer, called the Pittancer, or dispenser of allow- ances over commons on festivals; and he was to distribute the charities on certain feasts. Monast. i. 149. 140 MONASTIC OFFICERS. CHAPTER XXII. HOSPITALER.* A LANTERN was found for him by the chamberlain, and candle by the Sacrist. He had annually the taleapariaª of the best of the old shoes for the visitors that wanted slippers, to serve them in a morning. He was allowed to drink with any orderly person, for the sake of sociality, at the direction and request of that person, without asking leave. But he could not, without permission, dine with any persons, except Abbots of the Order, or their vicegerents. By the Norman institutes, he was to have in the hostrey beds, seats, tables, tow- els, table-cloths, cups, plates, spoons, basins, and similar articles; as well as wood, bread, beer, and other viands from the cellar. He was to observe * MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 207. Habebit præterea vetustarum crepitarum quæ meliores fue- rint annuatim taleaparia ad opus hospitum crepitis carentium, ad matutinas crepitas calciatura. Licet hostilario cum qualibet ordinatâ (perhaps it means "in holy orders,") personâ, gratiâ consolationis, precepto et personæ peticione non petitâ licentiâ bibere. Non licet cum aliquibus discumbere, nisi cum nostri ordinis abbatibus, vel vicem abbatum gerentibus, nisi gratiâ licentiæ. Perhaps there was an officer of this kind, sometimes created for extra- ordinary occasions; for I find in MS. Cott. Cleop. B. ii. p. 221, mention of the hospitaler who should be for the time for receiving the parents, guests, and friends coming to the Monks, &c. "Hostilarius qui pro tempore fucrit, pro suscipiendis parentibus, hospitibus, et amicis, ad confratres monachorum venientibus, &c." Talaria are shoes even with the ancles. Du Cange. Talus and Par make the same. the officers, whether they had proper servants, and regular chambers, and to make complaints of their ill behaviour. If strange clerks wished to dine in the Refectory, he was to notify it to the Abbot or Prior, and, upon consent, to instruct them how to behave in the Refectory; and, after ringing a bell, introduce them into the parlour, where the Abbot, or Prior in his absence, was to give them water to wash their hands, and afterwards conduct them to the Abbot's table. When dinner was over, he was to remain alone with the Abbot, or Prior, follow the procession of the Convent with the visitors, and, after it had passed the Refectory door, lead them out of the Cloister, singing a psalm in a low voice. He was to conduct a strange Monk through the Cloister into the Church to pray; and introduce into the Chapter Seculars who sought the fraternity of the house. He was to shew the offices to those who wished to see them, unless the Convent was in the Cloister, or they were booted or spurred; or barefooted, or only in breeches. He was also to bring Novitiates at their first entrance into the house to the Chapter, and instruct them how to make their first petition.b See more of this officer in Hostrey. CHAMBERLAIN. 141 CHAPTER XXIII. CHAMBERLAIN. By the decrees of Lanfranc he was to find every thing necessary for the clothes, bedding, cleanliness, and sha- ving of the Monks. He was to find the glass for making and mending the Dormitory windows; shoeing for the horses; gowns, garters, and spurs for the Monks travelling; and once in a year have the Dormitory swept, and the straw of the beds changed. At Abingdon* he was to find annually for every Monk a pilch before the feast of All Saints, and the same allowance of gowns and hoods; and two pilches, a hood and gown for the Abbot. He attended fairs. Three times in a year, at Easter, Christmas, and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, he was to provide the use of the baths for the refresh- ment of the bodies of the Monks. He was to find the beds in the Dormitory, and straw, pucas,a ropes, and stools. He could, to repel the wants of the Monks, search the beds; and no one *MS. Cott. Claud. B. VI. f. 198. Annuatim inveniet cuilibet monacho pellicium ante festum Omnium S'ctor. idemque de coopertoriis et caputiis inditium; abbati annuatim duo pellicea, et cucullam et tunicam.-Ter in anno, sc. Pascha, ad Nat. Domi- ni, ad Nativ. S. Mar. ad recreationem corporum procurabit usus balnearum. In dormitorio inveniet cubilia, et cubili stramina, pucas, et funes, et sca- bella. Licet camerario lectos, ut fratrum indigen- tiam expellat, explorare in dormitorio. Nulli licet de lecto in lectum vestimenta removere, camerario ignorante. Omne inventum à camerario, datum vel dandum in capitulo, repositum, et annulo cog- nitum, camerario erit depositum.-In admissione novitii vestes camerario debent assignari, et sub ipsius custodia, sine distributione aliquâ donec, professus fuerit, reponi. In amissone cultelli, pectinis, nova dari. Ex consuetudine novitiis novaculas, et manutergia debet invenire.-De cœnæ dominico mandatum pauperes, cum eleemo- synario et janitore, introducet, primo parentes monachorum egentes, deinde clericos, et peregrinos, unicuique tres præbiturus denarios. In usu fratrum balneario camerarius conducet quendam ministrum, cui pertinet administratio balneatoria, cum ministro ablutorum. f. 199 a. "Pewke Angl. is a gown. Perhaps it should be pertica, a beam to hang things on. See Dormitory. It is not in Du Cange or Charpentier. could remove the clothes from bed to bed without his leave. Every thing provided by the Chamberlain, granted or to be granted in Chapter, was laid up and sealed by him, and in his care. At the Maundy on Holy Thursday he was, with the assistance of the Almo- ner and Porter, to introduce the poor, first the necessitous parents of the Monks, afterwards the clerks and pil- grims, bestowing upon each of them three pence. In the admission of a Novice, his clothes were to be assigned to the Chamberlain, and laid up in his custody, without any distribution, until he should have professed. Upon the loss of a knife, or comb, he was to find new ones. He was, from custom, to provide the Novices with razors and towels. Chalk, at his order, was to be brought to the persons employed in mending. He was to hire a servant for the service of the baths, besides the one devoted to the bathed. His servants seem to have been in the habit of extorting money from the Monks for making their clothes.b He had a taylor and two bathers in his service. The Sub-chamberlain* was to be conformable to the will of his immediate superior officer. He was to be present at Mass, and the hours when the Chamberlain was. The Monks b Injungimus camerario quod provideat ne ser- vientes sui à monachis quorum vestimenta præpa- rant invitis, aliquod pro labore suo exigent. MS. Cott. Jul. D. 1. p. 161 a. In obedientiâ camerarii officium unius scissoris et duorum balneatorum. MS. Harl. 743. f. 209. *MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 198 b. Pro voto camerarii fiet instructio subcamerarii.-Sonitu sub- camerarii ad usum balnearum procedent monachi. Camerario absente, licet subcamerario, licentiâ pro- ventâ à priore, usum balnearum concedere. Minis- ter ablutorum feret et referet vestimenta fratrum in dormitorium comitante subcamerario; minister numerabit vestimenta in præsentiâ subcamerarii cum feret, identidem cum referet. Nullus ministrorum sartorum præsumet ire in dormitorium, nisi ductu subcamerarii. f. 198 b. 142 MONASTIC OFFICERS. The were to go to the baths under his direction; and, in the absence of the Chamberlain, he could grant the use of them with the Prior's consent. He was to accompany the servant of the bathed in bringing and carrying back the clothes of the bathed into the Dor- mitory; and that servant, in his pre- sence, was to count the clothes, both in bringing them and returning them. No servant of the menders was to go to the Dormitory but under his guidance. The clothes were to be dis- tributed by his direction, and all the old ones were in his custody. He was allowed to give out girdles, and other matters of that kind. He was to prepare the beds of the Novices, and to light and extinguish the can- dles in the Dormitory at twilight or da day-break. Davies says, "The Chamberlain's office was to provide stamyne, other- wise called linsey-woolsey, for sheets and shirts for the Novices and the Monks, for they were not permitted to wear linen. He kept a taylor daily at worka in making socks of white wool- len cloth, both whole and half socks; and making shirts and sheets of linsey- woolsey in a shop underneath the Exchequer. This taylor was one of the servants of the house. The cham- ber where he laid was in the Dorter." The Taylor's shop was to be without the inner shops of the Cloister; i. e. in a place where the secular servants, if necessary, might be admitted. Du Cange, v. Sartrinum. OTHER OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE. 143 CHAPTER XXIV. OTHER OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE. Terrier of the House. This officer, mentioned by Davies, was to see all the guests' chambers cleanly kept, and all the napery in the chambers, as sheets and pillows, to be sweet and clean. He always provided two hogs- heads of wine to be ready for the entertainment of strangers, and likewise provender for their horses, that nothing should be wanting, when strangers came, of whatsoever degree they were. Four yeomen were allowed to attend strangers. His chamber was in the Infirmary. 66 Granetarius, or Keeper of the Gar- ners. "His office," says the same writer, was to receive all the wheat and barley that came, and give account what malt was used weekly; as also what barley was delivered to the kiln, and what malt received from it, and how much was used in the house. His chamber was in the Dorter." Master of the Common House. "His office," says Davies, "was to provide all such spices against Lent, as should be comfortable for the Monks under their great austerity both of fasting and praying; and to have a fire con- stantly in the Common-house hall, for the Monks to warm themselves at when they pleased; and to provide always a hogshead of wine for the Monks; and for keeping his O, called O Sapientia;a and to provide figs and "Then by reason of these antiphonars, and others which begin with the letter O," says Udal- ric, in D'Acherii Spicileg. iv. p. 100. Amalarius, in his chapter of the Antophonars which begin with O, says, "By this O the Chantor means to intimate that the words following belong to some wonderful vision, which relates rather to the con- templation of the mind, than the narration of the singer. The antiphonar, which is the first of the eight present in the text of the antiphonary, and is inscribed 'O Wisdom, which proceeded from the mouth of the Most High,' is partly taken from the book of Jesus, the son of Sirach, partly from the Wisdom which is commonly ascribed to Solomon, for that wonderfully commends wisdom." Amala- rius de ordine Antiphonarii, C. 13, p. 520. walnuts for Lent. His chamber was in the Dorter." He Virgultarius, or Orcharder.b was not excepted from any of the Church duties; was to have straw from the Barton to lay under the apples, which he was to deliver to the visitors before Complin, after Complin the Refectioner, or the same fruit which the Convent had for refection. Operarius. He could talk with his workmen in the Cloister, Church, and elsewhere, without exclusion of any place, but not with the Monks or others, except in case of necessity. The Collation in summer was to be somewhat delayed, if there were per- sons at work in the Church. The Operarii were not to go through the Cloister, cloked, unshoed, buttoned up, nor any others. A part of his office was to take care that all slippery mat- ters of the glass-shops, and filth of such kind, were carried out of doors. Other filth the master was to look to.c Porcarius. This was an office held by serjeantry at Edmundsbury;d he had for his profit the fructus de caudâ (perhaps the offal, perhaps the dung) of every pig fed in the house; e for Stramenta MS. Cott. Claud. B. vI. 207. a. pomis supponenda et proponenda habebit de Ber- tonâ. Ante completorium hospitibus dabit poma virgultarius, post completorium refectorarius, vel eundem fructum quo conventus reficitur. f. 207 b. Licet operario cum suis operariis loqui in claus- tro, in monasterio et alibi, nullo excluso loco, sed non licet loqui cum monachis, vel aliis, nisi tem- pore necessitatis. In æstate collatio aliquantulum morosè pulsabitur, si operarii infra septa monas- terii operantur. Operarii non ibunt per claustrum palliati, discalceati, fibulati, nec aliqui alii. rabit labinas omnium officinarum vitrorum, sordes- que labinarum ejus curâ et prudentiâ exterius defe- rentur; aliæ sorde (sic) cura magistri. MS. Cott. ut sup. f. 207 b. Procu- d Scriptum de officio custodis porcorum per ser- jantiam. MS. Harl. 743, f. 210. e Idem omni porco qui nutritur in curiâ fructum de caudâ habebit porcarius. MS. Cott. ut sup. f. 178 b. 144 MONASTIC OFFICERS. these animals were of great regard among the Monks. How many pigs 66 the Abbots ought to have in Kinges- frid was settled at Abingdon; a and there are clauses of this kind in nume- rous edited charters. Walter Mapes, ridiculing the Cistertians for their pretences of abstaining from flesh, says, Pigs they keep, many thousands of them, and sell the bacon, perhaps not all of it; the heads, legs, and feet, they neither give nor sell, nor throw away; what becomes of them God knows; likewise there is an account between God and them of fowls, that they keep in vast numbers."b Nigell Wireker says of the hermits of Grand- mont, "that they sent no fat pigs to the woods." Quot porcos debeat abbas habere in Kingesfrid. Id. 173. a. b Porcos tamen ad multa millia nutriunt, bacones inde vendunt forte non omnes, capita, tibias, pedes, nec dant, nec vendunt, nec dejiciunt, quod deveniant Deus scit; similiter et de gallinis inter Deum sit et ipsos, quibus habundant maximè. MS. Bodl. Wood, II. p. 216. "Nec faciunt pingues in nemus ire sues." Spec. Stultor. Besides these officers, there was sometimes the Cancellarius, Registrary, Auditor, and Secretary of the Convent, it being his proper business to write and return letters, and manage the most learned employments in the Mon- astery. The Butler, who at Abingdon ate in the Refectory, and had 20s. wages from William de Cumbe, and a ser- vant that had the same privilege of dinner.d The Lardenarius, or keeper of the larder; Squelenarii, keepers of the baskets; and in short, for every mean employment, proper officers, who had again secondaries, or assist- ants. Among these was the Baker, and sub-bakers,e who in the manu- script Constitutions of the Clugniac Order, are directed not to sing psalms, like the other Monks, when at work, lest any saliva should fall into the dough.f d Dapifer comedat in aulâ, et xx sol. habebit pro stipendio de Will° de Cumbe, famulus suus comedat in aula. MS. Cott. ut sup. 178. Angl. Sacr. i. 343. Du Cange, v. Breiare. OFFICERS AMONG THE FRIARS. 145 CHAPTER XXV. OFFICERS AMONG THE FRIARS. General of the Order. His election and offices the Chapter of Rules and next article shew. Among the Domi- nicans, Hospinian says, that they had at first Abbots, afterwards Masters of the Order, and that the other inferior prelates were called Priors and Supe- riors. The resignation of the General, he adds, was not accepted unless on account of perpetual impediment.a Armachanus says (i. e. Fitz Ralph, the famous Archbishop of Armagh), that, because the Rule of Francis ordered that no brother should preach peni- tence to the people, unless examined, approved, and licensed by the General Minister, that the Friers obtained pri- vileges to get rid of this examination.b In the amoval and appointment of Priors General of the Carmelites bribery and corruption interfered. "In that Chapter," says the syllabus of them, "resigned the reverend Master, bro- ther John Grossi, a most worthy doc- tor in divinity, and he governed the Order forty-two years, and would have continued longer, if money had not interfered." "C In the Heroi-comic Poem of the Nouveau Renard (New Fox), written by Jacquemars Gelée in the 13th cen- tury, the Dominicans perceive, that the poverty which they professed was inju- rious to them, and that, if they were richer, they would be more respected. In consequence, they hold a Chapter; De orig. et progr. Monach. p. 492, 3. b Regula Francisci precipit quod nullus fratrum populo pœnitentiam audeat predicare, nisi à minis- tro generali fuit examinatus et etiam approbatus, et ab eo predicationis officium sibi concessum [fuerit]: et fratres, ut non examinentur à ministro, privilegium procurarunt. MS. Bodl. 2737, f. 14, b. In illo capitulo resignavit reverendus magis. ter frater Johannes Grossi in sacrâ paginâ dignis- simus doctor, et ordinem rexit annis xlii. et magis rexisset, nisi fuisset pecunia. MS. Harl. 1819, f. 108, a. one of them makes a speech; and after having advanced that without Reynardism, they should be always beggars, they propose to send a depu- tation to Reynard, to induce him to take their habit, and become General of the Order, in the hopes that under such a chieftain the Society would not fail to extend itself, and abound in money. Reynard answers, that he cannot accept their offer, but proposes to them his eldest son, who has already exhibited great ability. They agree, and renouncing poverty, go, like the other Orders, to inhabit the castle of Pride. The Franciscans come to Reynard with the same request, and he gives them his second son. In vain does their Rule oppose innovations. They allow latitude of conscience, and miti- gate their austerities.d From this passage we have a full idea what a General of the Order was expected to be, that is, a skilful Jesuit. Prior Provincial had the same pow- er in his province as the Ruler of the Order, namely, in receiving persons under eighteen years of age, and dis- pensing with those who could not competently read or sing; and that without special licence of the Ruler. He was to have the same respect shown to him by the brothers of the province as the General had, who was not to harass his Provincials when present. He was bound to visit, either person- ally or by deputy. Persons particu- larly able and likely to be useful he was to send to places of study, and they were not to be occupied elsewhere.e d MS. dans la Biblioth. Nation. N°. 7615, &c. Notices, v. 326. • Prior provincialis eandem potestatem habeat in sua provinciâ quanti est rector ordinis, sc. reci- piendis minoribus xviii annis, et illis qui nesciunt competenter legere et cantare dispenset; et sine L 146 MONASTIC OFFICERS. The Friers could not give presents to women, nor send them orally or by writing without his leave. A Consti- tution of the Minors, or Franciscans, ordered that the Friers should not take orders without this officer's con- sent.a Diffinitors, says Hospinian, were officers "who had the power of appoint- ing and ordaining, respecting the pre- sident and whole [general] chapter during the sitting of the same, regard being had to the authority of the Gene- ral. Theodoric de Appoldiâ was the author of them."b The Statutes of the Franciscans ordered, that those should not be Diffinitors in the pro- vincial chapter next following, who had licentiâ speciali rectoris. Et eadem reverentia, i. e. quæ fratribus suæ provinciæ exhibeatur, quæ et rectori exhibetur, nec rector præsens exerceat pro- vincias suas. Priores provinciales visitare tenentur, quod si commode non valuerint committere pote- rint vices suas. Curet prior provincialis, ut si habuerit aliquos utiles ad docendum, &c. mittere eos ad studium ad loca ubi viget studium, et illi ad quos mittuntur eos in aliis non audeant occupare. MS. Cott. Nero, A. x11. f. 167. a Munuscula sine licenciâ prioris provincialis mulieribus non dentur à quocunque, nec aure, verbo, vel literis mandentur. Id. 157, b. Item fratres sacros ordines non suscipiant sine sui vicarii provin- cialis licenciâ. MS. Bodl. 1882, p. 52, b. b Of the Dominicans, 392. filled that office in the one preceding.c Among the Benedictines and Augusti- nians, says Du Cange, of societies lately instituted and reformed, and others, the Diffinitors are nine Superiors elect- ed in the time of the general Chapter, who have the principal power of the whole assembly, whether in respect to the elections of Superiors, or to enact and constitute whatever affected the Monastic discipline. In certain other orders the Diffinitors are called assist- ants, or advisers of the Superior, even out of the time of the general Chapter. Wardens (of the Franciscans). The general Statutes say, "We enact, that, in future, the wardens be elected in every place by the Convents of such place. Also, that no one shall have a vote who is not twenty-five years of age, and in holy orders; but where they have wardens, the custom hither- to observed in the election of them shall be retained."d • Qui fuerint diffinitores in provinciali capitulo proximo præcedenti non sint diffinitores in cap proximo sequenti. MS. Bodl. 1882, f. 65, b. Nul- 4 Statuimus ut deinceps gardiani in singulis locis elegantur per conventus eorundem locorum. lus vocem habeat, non saltem qui 25 suæ ætatis annum attigit, et in sacris fuit ordinibus consti- tutus; ubi autem custodes habent, fuerit in eorum electione consuetudo hactenus observata. Idem. 61, b. NUNS' CONFESSOR. 147 CHAPTER XXVI. NUNS' CONFESSOR. ONE officer remains to be mentioned, peculiar to the Nuns, as well as two fe- males, the Portress and the Formaria.a This officer was the Nuns' Confessor, appointed, says Lyndwood, by the Bishop, and who was, where there was no particular person ordained, the incumbent of the parish in which they resided.b This Confessor did duty in the Church, in which he was assisted by the Chaplain or Chaplains.c Whether the Professor was a man of learning and discretion, was one of the inquirenda of Henry's visitors.d Among the Nuns of Sempringham, as soon as the Confessor came, his arrival was announced. If the Pri- oress then found it necessary that any one should confess, she was told to go to the place of confession. When the confession was made in the house, two discreet sisters sat apart from the window to see how the Nun confess- ing behaved. The Confessor too was to shun talking vain and unnecessary things; nor ask who she was, whence she came, and such things; nor to talk to her, about who he was, and whence he came. His behaviour too was also to be watched. No other obedi- ence was due to him than that of confession.e The Brigettine Nun was to confess at a latticed window, so as to be heard but not seen.f It was the opinion of those æras, that "the office of a Confessor and Preacher was that of a midwife, whose duty it was to entirely eradicate sin from the heart, that it might after- wards bring forth a new man ;" but the Aubrey says, that the last priest [at the nun- nery of Kington St. Michael, co. Wilts] was Parson Whaddon, whose chamber is that on the right-hand of the porch with the old fashioned chimney. Britton's Beauties of Wilts, iii. 154. Lyndwood, p. 211. e Const. ii. Monial. de Sopewell, &c. &c. d MS. Harl. 791, f. 21. e Monast. Anglic. ii. 775. f Ex Regula. & Officium obstetricum nil aliud est quam offi- Confessors of Nuns often attended only to the latter part of the injunction in a corporeal sense. Amours of this kind are upon record concerning very ex- tensive powers of absolution for cer- tain vices; writing love letters; inter- views at grated windows, and employ- ing smiths to remove the bars, as well as holy contemplations in the Church at night between two lovers.h The Porteress of the Nuns of St. Clare was, during the days, to reside in an open chamber without the gate; and to have a companion to take her place when necessary. They were to take care the gate never stood open when it was improper.i when it was improper. Among the Gilbertines, two Nuns attended at the Versatile window, who went to Mass and Chapter alternately.k The Formarius was a Fugle-man, or pattern Monk, who instructed the rest by his example. He was also called Titulus. The Formaria was the Nun men- tioned in the Benedictine Rule, "as the senior fitted to gain souls," who was, says Du Cange, (as the Formarius. among the Monks,) "to watch and in- spect them curiously." Thus terminates the account of the Monastic Officers; and such was the effect of Puritanical principles, that the very names became odious; and, at the dissolution, the Dean and other officers of Exeter Cathedral requested to be styled by the scriptural appella- tions of pastor and preachers.m cium confessoris et prædicatoris, quorum officium est penitus educere peccatum de corde, ut postea pariat novum hominem. MS. Gardiner, in Pemb. Coll. Libr. Oxf. (ancient sermons.) h Visitor's letter in Fuller's Ch. Hist. b. vi. 315. ¡Ex Regulâ. Dugd. Monast. ii. 758. 1 Du Cange. m MS. Harl. 604, f. 135. a. This was one of those Genevese Innovations (see Aerius Redivivus, p. 208-14), which terminated (as all religious zeal, except that of promoting the virtues of Chris- tianity, will ever do) in faction, blood, sedition, and harassing, if not overturning, the State,-a direction it instantly assumes, when it has raised a strong party. L 2 150 MONKS, NUNS, &c. and grow angry by discourses, we see very rarely honesty, respect, and cha- rity among them: they divide by dif- ference of sentiment; they contract friendships and intimacies quite human, which are the ruin of holy and true charity; or rather they canvass, when conversing together, the faults of their brethren, which renders them contemp- tible in their eyes, and hinders their esteeming them."a Upon these ac- counts silence was a principal duty of a Monk, the rule of which obtained, during divine service, meals, mid-day, between Mattins and Prime, and after Complin. The Prior, Sub-prior, Deans, Master of the Novices, and Cellarer, had a right from office to speak. On account, however, of the danger of nightly interviews, to speak after Com- plin was subject to the severest punish- ment; and, in some places, the law was so strict, according to Bernard, that it did not permit a person labour- ing under blame, to excuse himself,- or one who entertained suspicions, to divulge them. We are even told of persons who carried stones in their mouths, that they might learn to ob- serve duly this injunction of silence.c Lindwood gives the following curious reason for silence : Silentium. Quod est justitiæ cultus."d In consequence, therefore, of this prohibition from ex- hortation, advice, and every kind of communication, it became necessary that they should do by signs what they could not effect by words.e These signs were not optional, but transmit- ted from antiquity, and taught like the alphabet;f the use of them was, how- ever, prohibited when silence was com- manded; for, says Nigell de Wireker, in his Monita Moralia: 66 Dev. Vie Monast. i. p. 336. b Dev. Vie Monast. ii. 220, 1, 2, 3. Qui lapides in ore portabant, ut taciturnita- tem addiscerent. MS. Harl. 1750, f. 105, b. "Aga- thon the Abbot (says the Golden Legend, ccxxxv. b.) bare thre yere a stone in hys mowthe tyll that he had lerned to kepe scylence." d Prov. 207. e Dev. Vie Monast. i. 308. f Id. ii. 221. "Signa scire studeant omnes ne- cessaria;" (let all endeavour to learn the necessary signs.) M. Paris, 403. See too sect. Novices. Si jubet ut taceas, statuâ taciturnior esto, Nec redimas signis verba negata tibi.s As statues still, if ordered so, abide, Nor seek by signs the speech that is denied. Notwithstanding this, the Monks did so, for they were perpetually making unnecessary signs in the Choir, Refec- tory, and other undue places.h However ridiculous this may appear to us, signs, to a given extent, have, in relation to speech, the expedition of short-hand writing, and might be made language. With relation to the Monks, in part to supply the place of universal they admirably contributed to the pre- servation of order. Du Cange has preserved a catalogue of them; and the following are extracts: Fish. Waive the hand like a fish's tail in the water. Book. Extend the hand, and move it as a leaf is moved. Milk. Press the little finger on the lips, because an infant sucks milk.i There were signs not only for per- sons and things, but actions and qua- lities, as seeing, hearing, good, evil, &c. Crashaw, who seems to have known that the felicity which is so rarely at- tainable in divine poetry, by attempts at the sublime, is well substituted by blending taste and elegance with fer- vour, thus describes the duties of a religious house : A hasty portion of prescribed sleep, Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep, And sing, and sigh, and work, and sleep again, Still rolling a round sphere of still returning pain; Hands full of hearty labours, pains that pay And prize themselves; do much that more they may; And work for work, not wages : let to-morrow's New drops wash off the sweat of this day's sorrows. A long and daily-dying life, which breathes A respiration of reviving deaths. The state of reason among the Monks be ascertained from some may Old Rhymes of the Monastic Life, published by Fabricius.k The mecha- nical modes of avoiding some bad ha- bits are thus pourtrayed. g MS. Cott. Jul. A. vII. Cap. Gen. Northampt. anno 1225, sect. De Hospitalitate. See too sect. Refectory. Du Cange, v. Signum. See also the signs used in the nunnery of Syon, co. Middx. in Aungier's Hist. of, Hounslow and Syon Monastery, 8vo. 1840. * Bibl. Med. Æv. v. vii. 913, seq. MONKS, NUNS, &c. 151 Omnem horam occupabis You shall occupy ever hour Hymnis, psalmis ; et amabis In hymns [and] psalms; and you shall like Tenere silentium. To keep silence. Super hoc orationem Besides this, you shall love Diliges et lectionem, Prayer and reading, Nutricem claustralium. The nurse of cloisterers. Habens vestitum et victum, Having raiment and food, Ut fert Apostoli dictum, As the Apostle's saying directs, Nihil quæras amplius; You must not seek any thing further; De colore ne causeris, Do not talk of the colour, Si fit vilis tunc loteris, If it be mean, then be glad, Et ficeris sobrius. And thus you will be sober [minded]. Cave ne fis curiosus Take care not to be foppish In vestitu, nec gulosus In [your] dress, nor dainty In diversis epulis. In [your] different meals. Sic non eris somnolentus, Thus you will not be lethargick, Nec in potu vinolentus, Nor vinolent in your drink, Nec vacabis fabulis, Nor waste your time in gossiping; Nimis est periculosum It is too dangerous Esse claustralem verbosum, For a cloisterer to be verbose, Cum silere debeat; When he ought to be silent; Joci quidem sunt ferendi, Jests, indeed, must be endured, Nunquam tamen referendi, But never repeated, Quos proferre pudeat. For it may be disgraceful to utter them. Maxims derived from the Vulgate may be seen in detail in Stellartius, p. 351. Some of the Epistles and Gos- pels are unnoticed, and Tobit sub- stituted where these had been better quoted instead. Monachism was an institution founded upon the first principles of religious virtue, wrongly understood and wrongly directed. If Man be endowed with various qualities, in order to be severely punished for using them, God is made the temp- ter of Vice, and his works foolish. If voluntary confinement, vegetable-eat- ing, perpetual praying, wearing coarse clothing, and mere automatical action through respiration, be the standard of excellence, then the best man is only a barrel-organ set to psalm tunes. Sleep, according to this plan, ought to be virtue; but the fact is, that it is not possible to pursue a system exclusively directed to suppress faults, without reducing the character to a caput mor- tuum.a Mere innocence was, indeed, the qualification for a Monk; and the error is, that all its merit was limited to that. The result of such system is the ruin of the public and patriotic character, and the elevation of An- thony and Francis over Leonidas and Socrates; for the consideration was not what sacrifices any one made for the good of society, but how many dinners he could go without in a week? what aversion he had from matrimony? and how many prayers he said in a day? but, alas! superstition has its basis in the will, and therefore Mona- chism never succeeded but when it was an act of volition. As soon as its duties became mechanical operations, the work was performed, and the prin- ciple disregarded, while the heart, left open to the world, was constantly prompting those aberrations, which naturally result from the opposition of will to duty. Shame is of no avail, where security is to be gained from co- parceny, evasion, or secrecy. Hence the vices of the Monks: gluttony, their grand crime, is the natural pleasure of those who are debarred from other en- joyments, whether by physical or moral causes. What these crimes were, in the greater part, the "Inquirenda circa Conventum" of Henry's visitors will show. These were,-of what rule? of what age? what vows? what local sta- tutes? whether of good company and living? whether defamed for inconti- See this position admirably illustrated in the Edinburgh Review for 1813, p. 186. b See sect. Refectory. 150 MONKS, NUNS, &c. and grow angry by discourses, we see very rarely honesty, respect, and cha- rity among them: they divide by dif- ference of sentiment; they contract friendships and intimacies quite human, which are the ruin of holy and true charity; or rather they canvass, when conversing together, the faults of their brethren, which renders them contemp- tible in their eyes, and hinders their esteeming them."a Upon these ac- counts silence was a principal duty of a Monk, the rule of which obtained, during divine service, meals, mid-day, between Mattins and Prime, and after Complin. The Prior, Sub-prior, Deans, Master of the Novices, and Cellarer, had a right from office to speak. On account, however, of the danger of nightly interviews, to speak after Com- plin was subject to the severest punish- ment; and, in some places, the law was so strict, according to Bernard, that it did not permit a person labour- ing under blame, to excuse himself,- or one who entertained suspicions, to divulge them. We are even told of persons who carried stones in their mouths, that they might learn to ob- serve duly this injunction of silence.c Lindwood gives the following curious reason for silence: "Silentium. Quod est justitiæ cultus."d In consequence, therefore, of this prohibition from ex- hortation, advice, and every kind of communication, it became necessary that they should do by signs what they could not effect by words. These signs were not optional, but transmit- ted from antiquity, and taught like the alphabet;f the use of them was, how- ever, prohibited when silence was com- manded; for, says Nigell de Wireker, in his Monita Moralia: Dev. Vie Monast. i. p. 336. Dev. Vie Monast. ii. 220, 1, 2, 3. Qui lapides in ore portabant, ut taciturnita- tem addiscerent. MS. Harl. 1750, f. 105, b. "Aga- thon the Abbot (says the Golden Legend, ccxxxv. b.) bare thre yere a stone in hys mowthe tyll that he had lerned to kepe scylence." d Prov. 207. e Dev. Vie Monast. i. 308. f Id. ii. 221. "Signa scire studeant omm cessaria;" (let all endeavour to learn the n signs.) M. Paris, 403. See too sect. N Si jubet ut taceas, statuâ taciturnior esto, Nec redimas signis verba negata tibi.s As statues still, if ordered so, abide, Nor seek by signs the speech that is denied. Notwithstanding this, the Monks did so, for they were perpetually making unnecessary signs in the Choir, Refec- tory, and other undue places.h However ridiculous this may appear to us, signs, to a given extent, have, in relation to speech, the expedition of short-hand writing, and might be made in part to supply the place of universal language. With relation to the Monks, they admirably contributed to the pre- servation of order. Du Cange has preserved a catalogue of them; and the following are extracts: Fish. Waive the hand like a fish's tail in the water. Book. Extend the hand, and move it as a leaf is moved. Milk. Press the little finger on the lips, because an infant sucks milk.i There were signs not only for per- sons and things, but actions and qua- lities, as seeing, hearing, good, evil, &c. Crashaw, who seems to have known that the felicity which is so rarely at- tainable in divine poetry, by attempts at the sublime, is well substituted by blending taste and elegance with fer- vour, thus describes the duties of a religious house: A hasty portion of prescribed sleep, Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep, And sing, and sigh, and work, and sleep again, Still rolling a round sphere of still returning pain; Hands full of hearty labours, pains that pay And prize themselves; do much that more they may; And work for work, not wages: let to-morrow's New drops wash off the sweat of this day's sorrows. A long and daily-dying life, which breathes A respiration of reviving deaths. The state of reason among the Monks may be ascertained from some Old Rhymes of the Monastic Life, published by Fabricie nical modes bits ha- MONKS, NUNS, &c. 151 Omnem horam occupabis You shall occupy ever hour Hymnis, psalmis; et amabis In hymns [and] psalms; and you shall like Tenere silentium. To keep silence. Super hoc orationem Besides this, you shall love Diliges et lectionem, Prayer and reading, Nutricem claustralium. The nurse of cloisterers. Habens vestitum et victum, Having raiment and food, Ut fert Apostoli dictum, As the Apostle's saying directs, Nihil quæras amplius; You must not seek any thing further; De colore ne causeris, Do not talk of the colour, Si fit vilis tunc loeteris, If it be mean, then be glad, Et ficeris sobrius. And thus you will be sober [minded]. Cave ne fis curiosus Take care not to be foppish In vestitu, nec gulosus In [your] dress, nor dainty In diversis epulis. In [your] different meals. Sic non eris somnolentus, Thus you will not be lethargick, Nec in potu vinolentus, Nor vinolent in your drink, Nec vacabis fabulis, Nor waste your time in gossiping; Nimis est periculosum It is too dangerous Esse claustralem verbosum, For a cloisterer to be verbose, Cum silere debeat; When he ought to be silent; Joci quidem sunt ferendi, Jests, indeed, must be endured, Nunquam tamen referendi, But never repeated, Quos proferre pudeat. For it may be disgraceful to utter them. Maxims derived from the Vulgate may be seen in detail in Steins, p. 351. Some of the Epis pels are unnot stituted who quoted inst onach d ar DS- for using them, God is made the temp- ter of Vice, and his works foolish. If voluntary confinement, vegetable-eat- ing, perpetual praying, wearing coarse clothing, and mere automatical action through respiration, be the standard of excellence, then the best man is only a barrel-organ set to psalm tunes. Sleep, according to this plan, ought to be virtue; but the fact is, that it is not possible to pursue a system exclusively directed to suppress faults, without reducing the character to a caput mor- tuum.a Mere innocence was, indeed, the qualification for a Monk; and the error is, that all its merit was limited to that. The result of such system is the ruin of the public and patriotic character, and the elevation of An- thony and Francis over Leonidas and Socrates; for the consideration was not what sacrifices any one made for the good of society, but how many dinners he could go without in a week? what aversion he had from matrimony? and how many prayers he said in a day? but, alas! superstition has its basis in the will, and therefore Mona- chism never succeeded but when it was an act of volition. As soon as its duties became mechanical operations, the work was performed, and the prin ciple disregarded, while the heart, left open to the world, was constantly prompting those aberrations, wid naturally result from the opposition of will to duty. Shame is of avail where security is to be gained from es parceny, evasion, or secret. Henes the vices of the Monks: gluttony, ther grand crime, is the natural pleasure of those who are debarred from other e joyments, whether by physical or mor causes. What these crimes were, f the greater part, the "Inquirente Conventum of Henry's Ab- show. These were of 2 what age? what you tutes? whether ef living whether ence." incon MS. implying horis et mis- quomodolibet Convent, who is hours and masses, be absent from the but see sect. Church, 152 MONKS, NUNS, &c. nence,a apostasie, padarastia,b heresie, treason, perjury, or any noted crime? Whether possessed of property un- known to the Superior? Whether they carry on any bargaining, chevi- saunce, or such worldlie business for their own profit ?d Whether they use A Very indelicate proofs of this occur in MS. Harl. 913, f. 2. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. 1v. f. 115, b. The principal pretence for the entrance of wo. men was for washing the clothes. Monast. Anglic. ii. 566; and there is a visitation injunction, that they should not take any women to carry pots into the Infirmary, Refectory, or place called Jordayn chamber; "ne aliquas sumant mulieres in Infirmar. Refector. vel domum vocatum jordayn chameram ollas deferre." MS. Mus. Ashmol. 1519, f. 84, a. Women were admitted into the Dormitory. Id. 97, a. Mulieres de incontinentiâ seu furto suspectæ (women suspected of incontinence or theft) are mentioned in the same MS. 25, b. By the order of Henry's visitors, no women were to enter but by leave of the king or his visitors; nor no entrance to the house but by the "great forgate." MS. Cott. ut supr. b Hincmar of Rheims (Epist. 600 B. c.) speaks of "negotiatorem clericum aut inhonestis aut lucris turpibus intuantem." Of superstition, apostacy, treason, incest, adultery, &c. &c. see the above MS., f. 147, 8, 9, et passim. I decline giving the passages. Whatever may have been invented, and much was so no doubt by Henry's visitors, still ancient visitation injunctions (MS. Ashm. ut supra, &c.) say nearly the same; and it would be absurd to suppose, that, in so large a body of men, and in the middle age, instances of vice, in its most gross form, should not sometimes be found, especially as the institution made no provision for satiating ap- petite; and the Monks had fastidious ones, as will soon appear, which occasionally, we know, conquer all restrictions. c Vel sunt furatores, Vel faciunt numismata regni, Proditores. Or they are thieves, Or fabricate the mo- ney of the realm, Traitors. MS. Cott. Cleop. B. 11. p. 59. Invectivum contra Monachos, &c. t. R. II. In the Notices des MSS. are more proofs of coin- ing. A Monk of Peterborough stole jewels, &c. to give them to women in the town. Gunton, 55. Thomas Strutt sold privately the pix of the Monas- tery of Drax (vendidit clam pixidem monasterii, &c.) MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 154, a. Furtum (theft) is mentioned in the general confession of crimes which might happen to Monks in MS. Cott. Calig. A. 1. Henry, Prior of Tupholme, was very ingenious in making false money. Monast. Angl. ii. 629. One William Pigun, a Monk of St. Al- ban's, forged the Convent seal. M. Paris (1st), 1048. Ed. Watts. d Quia nonnulli firmas ecclesiarum maneriorum et aliarum possessionum, quæ mercatoris instar obtinere dicuntur, recipiunt indecenter. (Because some indecently receive the farms of Churches, Manors, and other possessions, which, like a tradesman, they are said to acquire, &c.) MS. any unlawful art, as nycromancye, sor- cerye, alchemistry,e &c.? Whether they leave the house by day or night without leave? Whether they have any children lying with them by night, or conversant with them in the day- times, and for what purpose?s Whether any one of them be a diser, carder,h Harl. 328, f. 7, a. Whether they keep any bake- houses, or farms in hand against the statutes? MS. Harl. 791, f. 25. Ne aliquid emant seu vendant, ni quod erit abbate mandatum, necessitate vesti- mentorum exceptâ; i. e. let them not buy or sell any thing, except clothes, without the Abbot's order. MS. Ashm. 1519, f. 68, a. See the ar- ticle Obedientiaries. Lyndw. Const. Othob. tit. 43, and Stat. 21 Henry VIII. which mentions their tan-yards, dealing in wool (the Cistercians especially), cloth, &c. They used to sell wine at taverns, by deputy, some Lay-brother, or other. Monast. Anglic. ii. 746. It was certain, too, that they used to buy corn, wine, or other moveable goods, that they might afterwards sell them dearer, without the knowledge of their superiors. Biblio- theca Præmonstrat. p. 835. The Benedictine Constitutions given before say more on this head. e W. Thorne (col. 2146) mentions, upon some- thing being stolen, the application of the necro- mantic art, to discover the thief, without success. Chaucer's Canon the Alchemist, &c. &c. is well known. Quia nonnulli monachi etiam juniores oppor- tunitate captatâ extra septa monachorum absque societate honesta evagandi, etiam nullâ super hoc obtentâ licentiâ, se gesserunt pluries indecenter. (Because even some of the junior Monks, watch- ing their opportunity, have rambled alone out of the precincts of the house, and many times behaved themselves indecently.) MS. Harl. 328, p. 5. These Charter-house Monks (say Henry VIII.'s visitors) "would be called solitary; but to the clois- ter-door there be above xxiiii keyes in the hande of xxiiii persons, and it is lyke many letters, unpro- fitable tayles and tydings, &c. comin ther by reason therof; also to the buttery-door ther be xii sundry keyes in xii mens hands." Cott. MS. Cleop. E. IV. f. 35, a. The Nuns of St Helen's, London, were forbidden to have keyes of the posterne door. Monast. ii. 896. To punish this evagation it was ordered, that, after their return, they should take the last rank, lose their vote in chapter, and so continue till pardoned. M. Paris, 1096. They were not to leave the cloister for 15 days in Cap. Gen. Northampt. aº 1444. C. 10, de Prælatis; by which chapter it appears, that the inferior officers took the liberty of granting this licence of going out, and that in these rambles the Monks used to call upon religious or sæculars by the way. 8 Cohibendum est ei pueros nutrire ni ei conces- sum fuit episcopali auctoritate. "He (the monk) is not to bring up children unless by episcopal au- thority." MS. Cott. Jul. A. ix. f. 12, b. (De vitâ Reclusorum.) Barclay says (Ship of Fooles, 91, a.) "The monkes think it lawful for to play, When that the abbot bringeth them the dice." In the Confessionale generale de casibus qui com- MONKS, NUNS, &c. 153 tavern-haunter,a or hunter,b or resorter to suspecte places, or with suspect persons? Whether they sit up late, or be surfett or overlyen with drinke?c muniter possunt accidere monachis. MS. Cott. Calig. A. 1. f. 223, a. is peccavi—in ludo taxillo- rum, scaccorum. "I have sinned in playing at draughts and chess." Rob. Holcot, a Dominican, wrote a book of the game of Chess, and of course played at this game. (Bale, ed. 4to, 1554, p. 148, b.) But, in the Statutes of the Savoy Hospital, it is enacted, "Statuimus, &c. quod nullus magister, vicemagister, capellanus perpetuus vel conductitius, aut aliquis alius minister, vel servitor hospitalis prædicti, pro tempore existens, ad talos, cartas, vel aliquos alios jocos illicitos et prohibitos, infra hos- pitale prædictum, clam vel palam, quoquo modo Judet. Poterint enim omni tempore ludere ad scaccos, et tempore Nat. Dominicæ, per quadra- ginta dies ad tabellas, sine fraude, et blasphemiâ, et magnâ pecuniarum summâ; i. e. We enact, &c. that no master, vice-master, perpetual or tem- porary chaplain, or any other minister or servant of the aforesaid hospital, for the time, shall in any manner, openly or privately, within the aforesaid house, play at dice, cards, or other illicit and prohibited games. But they may at all times play at Chess, and at Christmas for forty days at draughts, so as they do not cheat, blaspheme, and lose much. Cott. MS. Cleop. C. v. xxiiii. a. In the inquiries touching the chaplains and other mi- nisters of the Savoy, It. ii. is, "Whether any of theym be a fighter, a seditious person, a drunkard, a common haunter of taverns or alehouses, or a dicer, carder, or walker abrode by night?" MS. Harl. 791, f. 33. a The Peterborough monks haunted a tavern near the house. Gunton, 55; and in MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519, p. 70, a. is, "Tabernasque frequentando, ad matutinas cum fratribus sæpius non consurgendo." (By frequenting taverns, and seldom rising to mat- tins with the brethren.) The fondness of the Monks for hunting is well known, and ancient, for it is reprobated by Am- brose (Lopez Epitom. ii. p. 4.); but, notwithstand- ing this, it is to be observed, that the purchase of freewarren was made, sometimes at least, on a dif- ferent account, as is plain from the Abbot and Convent of Warden, who bought this right of the king, because the servants of the neighbouring noblemen tore up their fences, run over their ploughed lands, and beat and abused the brothers, who were employed in cultivating them, and the keepers (custodes). M. Paris, 740. But it is fur- ther to be noted, that, though hunting for plea- sure's sake was a mortal sin, even in a Layman ; for health or necessity, or need of body (indigentia corporis), it was allowable in a clerk (Athon. 147.); and accordingly we find that Bishop Juxon was a keen sportsman, and said to have kept the best pack of hounds in England (Acta Regia, 787.) The Monks we should call poachers; for " noctem venaciones et piscationes (huntings and fishings by night) are inhibited in MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519, f. 71, b.; but to stay up all night in this sport is mentioned in Xenophon's Cyropa- dia (B. p. 135.), and Smythe's Berkeley MS., as usual. In MS. Ashm. Mus. 1519, one Wm. Glou- cester is described as staying out all night, “biben- per Whether they sleepe together in the Dormitory, or eate together in the Re- fectory?d Whether they keep silence in the Cloister, Dormitory, and at meat, and observe their fasting and other ceremonies ?f What shete and shirte, linen and woollen, they lie in, and what bed, whether of feathers or wool? Whether they attend the divine ser- vices? how many professed and not professed, and how many the founda- tion required? What wages eche of Ad do et rixando" (drinking and quarrelling), f. 39, a. (See sect. Dormitory.) In MS. Harl. 913, f. 58, is the Passio unius monachi secundum Bacchum, where mention is made of a Monk, who, postquam incaluerat mero (after he had got warm with wine), timens ne per continentiam morbus perrepat ad vitalia, 'fearing lest by continence disease should creep to his vitals,' went out to find some one to cure his languor, and at length meets a woman sit- ting, &c. To the same purpose is the Missa de potatoribus, or parody on the Mass. (MS. Harl. ut supra.) "Intrabo ad altare Bacchi. vinum, quod lætificat cor hominis. Confiteor Deo Baccho omnipotenti et reo vino coloris rubei, et omnibus ciphis, et vobis potatoribus, me nimis gu- lose potasse, per nimiam nauseam rei (sic) Bacchi dei mei potacione, sternutacione, oscitatione, max- imâ mea ciphâ, mea maximâ ciphâ. Ideo precor beatissimum, et omnes ciphos ejus, et vos fratres potatores, ut potetis pro me ad dominum reum Bac- chum, ut misereatur mei. Misereatur nostri ciphi- potens Bacchus, et permittat nos perdere omnia vestimenta vestra, et perducat nos ad vivam taber- nam; qui bibit et potat per omnia pocula poculo- rum." f. 11, b. It does not admit of translation. Nigell Wireker says of the Black Canons: Causa datur vino, debetur culpa bibenti, Cum caput aut membra cætera mane dolent. The fault, due to the drinker, is laid to the wine, when the head aches on the morning.-Spec. Stult. d Aut in domibus sæcularium edent, aut come- dent infra leugam à Monast. [Or eat in the houses of Sæculars within a league from the house.] MS. Mus. Ashm. 1519, f. 93, b. See Dormitory and Misericord. eQuia, &c. comperimus evidenter, quod silen- tium inter vos minimè observatur. MS. Harl. 328. f. 2. i. e. "Because we find clearly, that silence is by no means observed among you,' ,"&c. It was owing to the negligence of Abbots. Reyn. Append. 195. Nigell Wireker says of the Grandmontines, "Ab- dita claustra colunt, et nulla silentia servant." They live in secret Cloisters, and keep no silence." Spec. Stult. MS. Cott. Tit. A. xx. &c. 46 The book of Visitations of Abbeys, in MS. Ashm. Mus. 1519, is full of items, implying breaches of these. Nec licet alicui de conventu, qui horis et mis- sis his interesse tenetur, ab eisdem quomodolibet absentare; i. e. no one of the Convent, who is bound to be present at these hours and masses, ought, on any account, to be absent from the MS, Harl, 328, f. 2, but see sect. Church, same. 2 1 DE LUJ HIL Te iurCULL 2 1. an treun, STERNATI tiem kis via inas ZET VEEL N 2 Ime 2: * TE SUS VATE TUNK • Toure tire e Kare J funny an Inaa Duane & Müller aut Liver of Asset Tues. Sor be get in every Lajuns *un zoo farm was 23 wwn text at 11 man Motar. Augu The mi- Kona vit garrant * money funded a t from twee pares e orie Mwy na we beat that t VI LUV- MOM WTA TAK event and ruowedge of the Åsnor (run. D... hoovid be depease w1 & 2- wearest veney for restments. We Anded to in, vry, Lystx. 966. keemiat the Curwoks was in the habit of gring, and the Mosunod akong may inn of restment Cap. Gin hom aapt. f 1727. wit. De Vestimentis. Ine yenerus chapter of 1956 allowed money to be *** and taken for small numara. Reya. Ap- was $172. "They had also beguin. Lowe's Wigkanam, 491) But, notwithstanding these al- jumandar, there wm a great want of punctuality in the payment of them by the officers. Cap. Gen. Northampt, a 1444, C. v. rest. De Officiariis. * At the visitation of Peterborough it was or- dered that one Reginald Bray should have a due proportion for number of dishes. Gunton, 55. Raavena's Monast. 1. 425. *M** Almonty, 4 The Cistertians professed to follow the Rule of Benedict in its literal strictness, of which ma- nual labour formed a part; and Nigell Wireker says of them, "They make every body work, lest any one should be idle or at leisure among them." Om- mibus injungunt operas, ne desidiosus, aut quando- que vacans inveniatur ibi. Spec. Stult. MS. Harl. 2122, M. MB. Harl. 791, f. 19, 23. Often in print. Ở te I. me if the Cg his Στο The as to be Tremor as quar- ETATI MË regtouch for le sang by the body In a Canon of the Ei se ne mother TEN I CITS" Gradus The things TT rocson; TS DADAS DONE themselves 11 meme wang rections ese cu de tea fàng with DA TE MOS 2 ff boue. CTURE INTO PEt in Augusta it i Turmeln, de ime tank if is Jaket vi a sword." Ter is Lotin having Sementy gamert but some goat's VALL DE Tiered the other. Three Tours Estet iming them in the Year Das Micks that struck one wider, vært to be punished by their respective Aboots, the sea to the Ro- Who The Lim.cy was excessive. does not know the noble mstration of XS. Cie. Cen. E m. £ 146, £. 22. A Vink of ▼CKT & DA recurd, who, hav- me sormed the same hos pares, resided spen 7 dke a LayILEL. Monas. Angle. i. 293. Tw: Cistercian 4G Canterbury were bresting of the miraces of S. Bernard, upon wich John Planeta toul a story of his attempt- ing to cast a devil out of a young man, when the event was, that he pelted the Afoot with stones, pursued him from street to street, and at last, when the people had caught and bound him, kept his eyes sargely fixed on him. MS. Bodl. Wood, ii. p. 219. Reyn. Append. 190. * Nomen Dei sæpissimè in vanum assumpsi (I have very often taken the name of God in vain) is in the Confessionale generale de casibus qui communiter accidere possunt monachis) in MS. Cott. Calig. A. 1. p. 223. * Cap. Gen. Northampt. a 1444, ch. x. De Novitiis, &c. Unum plerumque contingere solet, ut dum potionibus monachi immoderatis indulgent, ad rixas et pugnas persilientes cum ollis ipsis liquore plenis se invicem percutiunt. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. 13. (Gir. Cambrens. contra Excess. Mona- chorum.) m Manum ense fratris Carmelita infortunè ab- scidit dextram. MS. in the Ashmolean Museum, 1519. f. 99, b. » M. Paris, p. 799. • Id. 653. P Id. 405. MONKS, NUNS, &c. 155 Monks? says an old poet: the fame of them has pervaded the whole world: they consume all things, and yet they are not satisfied with the birds of Heaven, and the fishes of the sea; they seek many dishes, and a long time in eating them.a Another adds, "Feed them but well, they care for nothing else."b Nigell de Wireker charges them with hiding many things, and pocketing provisions to eat on fast days. And one of their own body says, "All fowlowe our owne sensya- litye and pleser; and thys religyon, as I suppose, ys alle in vayne glory." They were equally remarkable for the fastidiousness of later æras. "In this present age," says Peter of Blois, "religious men, and persons of the sacred order, contend about the num- ber of their meals. If a religious finds that he has a quick pulse, or an in- flamed urine, or a dull appetite, he consults medical men, searches out spices, makes electuaries, and uses no salt-fish, which are not seasoned with cinnamon, cloves, and other spices. Such a religious is rather a disciple of Epicurus than of Christ. This, he says, hurts the head; this, the eyes; this the stomach;this, the liver; butter is of a con- vertible nature; beer occasions flatu- ence; cabbages are melancholy; leeks inflame choler; peas generate the gout; beans excite phlegm; lentils hurt the eyes; cheese is worst of all; to stand long at prayer weakens the nerves; to fast hurts the brain; to watch drys it."e • Quis nescit quod monachorum nobilis ordo? In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum : Omnia consumunt, nec eos possint saturare Volucres cœli et pisces maris, Fercula multa petunt, et longum tempus edendi. MS. Harl. 913, f. 55. Si bene pascatur, monachus nil amplius optat. MS. Cott. Titus, A. xx. f. 86, a. e Multocies carnes et pinguia sæpe vorare, In feria sextâ sæpe licebit eis, Pellicias portant, et plura recondita sumant, Quæ non sint sociis omnia nota suis. Spec. Stultor. MS. Harl. 2422, and Cott. Tit. A. xx. a MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 161, a. e Hodie viri religiosi et sacri ordinis professores de ferculorum numerositate contendunt; si invenit religiosus circa se aut pulsum velocem, aut urinam incensam, aut hebetem appetitum, consulit medi- "I boasted much of nourishing my person, the bloom of my countenance, and whiteness of my skin," f is one of the articles of Monastic confession; and Simon of Gaunt complains that, "theo thet shculden one leenen hore soule mid heorte bereosunges and fleshes pinunge vorwurded fisiciens and liccomesh leche." i Wicliff charges the Monks with stu- dying the constitutions and physiology of women in books, and thence teach- ing, that to lie with them in the absence of their husbands, was very wholesome against various diseases.k For this purpose, as well as for pro- fit, they studied or professed the medi- cal art; "for to beon so angressful hereafter," says the last ancient writer, "nis nout god I wene, and God and his deciples speken of foule lechekrefte and ypocras (Hippocrates) and galien (sic) of licomes hele (bodily health); the on thet was bett ilered of jhu cristes deciples seid that fleshes wisdom is dead of the soule." Giraldus Cam- brensis describes "two vagabond Monks, who, without throwing off their habit, yet leading a beggarly life, committed various enormities, and en- deavoured to make a trade of the me- dical art, though they had never stu- died Hippocrates or Galen, or heard cos, examinat species, electuaria facit, nullis utitur salsamentis (salted food, I suspect, not salt fish), quæ non sunt condita ex cinnamomo et gariophillo, et nuce muscatâ (nutmeg). Religiosus talis dis- cipulus potius est Epicuri, quàm Christi. Hoc capiti, inquit, hoc oculis, hoc stomacho, hoc epati, nocet; butirum convertibilis est naturæ ; cervisia ventos facit, caules melancholici sunt, porri chole- ram accendunt; pisa guttam generant, faba con- stipat; lentes excæcant; caseus universaliter est pessimus; diu ad orationem stare nervos debilitat; jejunare cerebrum turbat; vigilare desiccat. MS. Roy. Libr. 8 F. XVII. f Gloriabar valde de rostro colendo, faciei can- dore, albedine cutis. MS. Cott. Caligula, A. I. f. 221. s I suspect for bereavinge. h Body doctors. A. Sax. i MS. Cott. Nero, A. xiv. f. 202, a. Not to indulge his person too much is among the duties of Monks in MS. Harl. 103, f. 114, b. The De Hypocrisi ap. Bale, v. i. p. 475. well-known story of St. Louis refers to this pre- tended remedy of disease, which the Monks con- verted into a license for illicit pleasure. IMS. Cott. ut sup. 156 MONKS, NUNS, &c. or read a single lecture on the subject, either in the schools, or elsewhere."a Avarice, accompanied with villany, also characterised them. A certain knight had left 100 marks by will to a certain house, and lay there sick; upon getting well, the Monks, that they might not lose the money, plotted his death by poison or suffocation.b "The Churches of Wales," says the same writer, "are deprived of their parishioners by them, both living and dead;" and he also adds instances of a small house of Nuns being oppressed by them, and of an Archbishop cheat- ed out of his books which he had collected from his juvenile years.e Barclay reproaches their avarice for begging alms over the country, though wealthy; and Nigel Wireker says of the Cistertians, who are elsewhere censured for singularity, avarice, and little communication with the world, thatthey wished their neighbours to have landmarks, and none them- selves." Nor from this avarice can it excite wonder, that, as says an antient poet, "they neither loved, nor were beloved by any one."h a Monachos duos domorum suarum desertores gyrovagantes, et de loco ad locum circumeundo discurrentes, nec tamen habitum abjicientes. Hii vero inter excessus enormes varios et multos, qua- tinus trutannicam vitam suam victumque lucro- sam efficere possent, et pecuniosam artis medicina- lis peritiam profiteri non minus imprudenter quàm impudenter præsumpserunt, cum tum Hippocra- tem aut Galenum cæterorumque librorum faculta. tis illius, nunquam in scolis, aut alibi lectionem unam audissent aut legissent. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. XIII. (no pages.) b Quatinus propter pecuniam tantam, qua domus illorum per ejus convalescentiam fraudaretur, aut venenato poculo militem extinguerent, aut subitis eundem et violentis oppressionibus subfocarent. MS. Cott. Tib. B. XIII. De communi coenobiorum Walliæ vitio per quod baptismales ecclesie parochianis suis sicut vivis sicut mortuis per monachos destituuntur. Ib. d De domo monialium exili et exiguâ per mona- chos opulentos oppressa. Id. See too Monast. ii. 785. e Thesaurum librorum suorum quos à puerilibus annis usque in provectam ætatem tam studiose collegerat. Id. f Ship of Fooles, 119, b. Agrorum cupidi nunquam metas sibi poni ; Vicinis vellent, &c. Spec. Stultor. Monast. Anglic, ii. 61. Dum vivunt monachi, nec amant, nec amantur ab ullo." MS. Harl. 913, f. 55. They were detractors, disobedient, proud, dissatisfied, rebellious, and otherwise criminal. Alas! says Alfred of Rievesby, I am ashamed to say how they get together, and abound in de- tractions and contentions. For, to be silent of lovers of the world, whose whole discourse is of gain or baseness; what shall I say of them, who, having professed to renounce the world, only dispute and converse of the belly, I will not say the delight of it, but burden.i They were in the habits of persecu- ting some of their prelates or brethren, from hatred or ambition, or of malici- ously defending others.k They used to exalt their heads above their Seniors, through the negligence of Abbots.¹ Acharius, Abbot of Peterborough, used often to say in the Convent, "My Lords, my Lords, if some of you had not opposed me, I should have done you much good,"m and visitation in- junctions enjoin obedience to the Ab- bot." They were extremely deceitful, and their society was dangerous through the frauds they practised. Their pride was conspicuous in their treatment of the clergy. Roger, Prior of Lantony, wishing to celebrate Mass at Canter- bury, modestly addressed a Monk whom he happened to meet; the other, turning his head back, and looking at him scornfully and askant, asked him, if he was not a secular clergyman? Yes, replied the Prior's companion; Go, then, said the haughty Monk, and hear or say Mass in some of the Cha- pels of the town. This shows how Bibliotheca Patrum, xiii. p. 16, col. 2. * Cap. Gen. Northampt. a 1225. 1 Reyn. Append. 195. m Hist. Coenobii Burgensis, p. 107. My Lord was the title of a Monk as well as of an Abbot. Chaucer, Gervas, i. 415, 1. 44, &c. n Ut fratres sint obedientes mandatis sui proprii prælati. MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519, f. 71, b. • Rara fides fratrum, &c. Nigell Wirek. Spec. Stult. of the Cistertians. P De monachi societate dolosa. De librorum emptione subdolâ, seu potius ademptione non per abbatis simplicitatem, sed magis monachorum du- plicitatem et dolositatem. MS. Cott. Tib. B. XIII. 4 Qui cum monachum quendam loci ejusdem sibi tunc obvium, super hoc humiliter conveniret; ille statim caput et collum cervicosè retorquens, eumque superciliosè nimis et valde obliquè respi- MONKS, NUNS, &c. 157 absurd the Monastic maxim was, that dif- ferent orders were instituted, that whilst the lesser paid deference to the greater, and the latter returned it with affection, true concord might ensue.a They were flatterers of the rich, and gallant to the ladies.b Sometimes so much so, that, says Giraldus, the townsmen of Lannaneveri, on account of their wives and daughters, which the Monks every where and openly abused, prepared themselves for leaving the place en- tirely, and departing to England.c When they were at leisure they were always revolving temporal matters.d "Sometimes," says an antient sermon, addressed to them, "when a Monk goes into the country under pretence of health, he returns to his place of nati- vity, there to breathe a free and accus- tomed air for some days, and perhaps bring back some present to the bre- thren from their friends. When a Monk goes out under pretence of serving the Convent, he becomes an importunate suitor to great persons, calling profit, however made, piety; and, when he returns, he carefully inquires the hour of the day, lest he should be obliged to go to the common table and Church; and though he pro- fesses to do all this from public good, the true cause is, he does not like the half-boiled vegetables of the Convent, and wine mixed with water, and thinks silence and sitting in the Cloister a prison. He wants to eat better, drink ciens, Nonne vos, inquit, Clerici estis? Canonicus respondit, Utique sumus; et ille, In villam igitur ite, et in aliquâ capellarum exteriorum inter cleri- cos missam audiatis vel dicatis. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. xiii. et ■ Ordines constituit esse distinctos, ut dum reverenciam minores pocioribus exhiberent, pociores minoribus dilectionem impenderent, vera concordiafieret. MS. Roy. Libr. 8 F. IX. (no pages.) b Bernard in Dev. Vie Mon. ii. p. 18. They were often attendants upon the ladies, and rode about with hounds and a servant. Wart. i. 282. c Dicens etiam quod Burgenses hii de castello eodem (Lannaneveri) propter uxores suas et filias quibus monachi passim et palam abutebantur, vil- lam suam ex toto relinquere, et in Angliam recedere jam parabant. MS. Cott. Tib. B. XIII. d Pravæ monachorum mentes temporalium rerum tumultus intra semet ipsos versare non cessant, etiam cum vacent. MS. Bodl. 2401, p. 19, a. more savorily, speak more freely, lie more softly, watch more seldom, pray less. Thus staying in the Cloister, he does not even suppress the vice of curiosity," e a term which among the Monks signified restlessness, and in- vestigation of the lives of others, a common fault. "He who is singular," says the same antient sermon, "despises others, and conceives himself alone able to live piously. He sows dis- cord and hatred among the Monks by whispers; from some he detracts; the advantages he openly depreciates; his hand is against every body, and every body's against him."g Others became negligent in the following manner: For two months, three, or a year, they began to have a certain boldness; after that boldness, security; then becoming negligent, they began first to love their own will, and through this, unwilling to follow that of another. This caused them to ask the reason, when ordered to do any thing against their will. Then they complained of the heat and cold, and how they should fare in that sea- son. When any thing upon an urgency was ordered them, they began to mur- mur, or asked for various articles of good cloathing, or thought others had e Quandoque enim sub obtentu sanitatis egre- diatur monachus ad provincias, ad natale solum redit, ut ibi liberum et consuetum aera bibat per aliquos dies, et forte aliquam refectionem referat fratribus ab amicis. Quandoque sub obtentu utilitatis fratrum egreditur monachus, ad principes terræ rogator importunus, questum quocunque fac- tum appellans pietatem; cum redierit horam ingres. sus sui diligenter explorat, ne oporteat eum ingredi ad communem fratrum mensam, et orationem communem; et cum obtentu boni hæc se facere proponat, verior tamen causa quod olera claustri semicocta fastidit et vinum aquâ mixtum; silen- tium, sessionem in claustro carcerem reputans. Appetit enim edere cautius, bibere sapidius, loqui licentius, cubare mollius, vigilare parcius, orare tenuius. Sic nec manens in claustro vicium curiosi- tatis condit. MS. Harl. 1712, f. 23, a. b. f Nam ille monachus alienum agit negotium, qui curiositatis vitio suam oblitus vitiosam discu- tere, vitam alienam investigare sollicitè curat. Inquietudo ergo quæ et alio nomine curiositas appellatur. MS. Bodl. ut sup. f. 56, a. 8 Qui singularis est aspernit cæteros, &c. Su- surro in fratribus fomitem odii et seminaria dis- cordiæ ministrans. Quibusdam latenter detrahit, quorundam beneficia patenter decolorat; manus ejus contra omnes, et manus omnium contra eum. MS. Harl. ut sup. 23. 158 MONKS, NUNS, &c. better than themselves. They were ambitious and intriguing. An ass is introduced into the Church, says Nigell Wireker, a silly animal, that wishes to have a different and larger tail than nature has given him. Thus a reli- gious, not content with his condition, no more than the ass with his tail, scorns the claustral life, in which he ought to continue to the end, seeking by every method to be plucked away and transplanted from it; that he may be able to increase himself with a new and long tail, lay hold of a Priory or Abbacy, and insert nearer him a long suite of relatives; who, afterwards, wherever he goes, may rejoice in dragging his tail for him.b He also adds, of Abbots, with an allusion to their first state, that they are harassed with envy and ambition; that their first labour is to rise; and that they are next tormented with worldly cares, and that they may gain wealth. Their a Iste aliquando per duos menses et tres et per annum incipit habere quandam audaciam; post audaciam securitatem; post securitatem devenit negligens, discit vel incipit experiri quod dicit sapiens, qui modica spernit paulatim decidit. Incipit primò amare propriam voluntatem, et per hoc incipit esse piger ad sequendam voluntatem alterius. Inde incipit quærere causam quum aliquis ei præcipit aliquod contra voluntatem suam. Tunc de frigore et de æstu causatur, et per quam se nutrierit in isto tempore. Quum aliquod ei pre- cipitur propter aliquam necessitatem, incipit immurmurare, aut quærit bonas tunicas, bona pallia, bonam cappam, bonam cucullam, et incipit semper considerare pannos aliorum, et sæpe putat quod alii habeant meliores quam ille. MS. Harl. ut supr. f. 34, b. b Introducitur ecclesiæ asinus animal, sed stoli- dus, volens caudam aliam et ampliorem quàm natura contulerit contra naturam sibi inseri. Qui non contentus condicione suâ, sic nec asinus caudâ suâ, vitam claustralem in quâ deberet usque in finem perseverare, ut salvus fieret, omnino fastidit, quærens omnibus modis qualiter ab eâ evellatur et transplantetur: ubi novâ caudâ et prolixa possit se accrescere, ut prioratum vel abbatiam possit sibi apprehendere, ubi parentum suorum sequelam copiosam possit proprius inserere. Et postea qui caudam pro se quocunque ierit trahere gloriantur. Præf. Spec. Stultor. MS. Harl. 2422. e Invidiæ stimulis vexantur et ambitiosis Estibus assiduis precipueque tribus : Primus ut ascendant labor est; sequitur peri- turum Indiscretus amor, cura; quiete carent: Hæc omnes ardent; hac omnes febre laborant, Hæc tenet impium postpositura Deum; ignorance was so great, that they did not often understand what they read, were unacquainted with the canonical hours which they sung, and as they were reading, put short accents for long ones.d Among Henry Abbot of War- den's reasons for desiring to resign, was the following: "Item, they be in nombre xv brethren, and except three of them, non understand or knowe their Rule, nor the statutes of ther reli- gion." Nor did they wish to learn; for he says before, "Item, forasmuch as I did perceave ignorance was a great cawse whi that theis my bretherne was thus farre out of good order, and in continuall inquietnesse, to thentent that I wolde somewhat induce them to understanding, I caused [a] boke of gramer to be bowghte for eche of theim, and assigned mi brother to instructe them but ther wolde com non to him but one Richard Balldock and Thomas Clement."e They were fond of Law. Peter of Blois says, "There is not a seat of justice in which religious men have not a concern, and eagerly obtrude themselves; for, deceiving the world with a specious appearance of religion, they are wretchedly deceived; and, while dead to the world, barter for and hunt after what belongs to it." It seems they were in the habit of attend- ing to law concerns for parents and friends, and being bail for Seculars.g Their neighbourhood was dreaded much, perhaps on account of this liti- gious spirit, since they took the pro- perty of others away.h Pawning was Hinc ut opes habeant summâ virtute laborant Possideantque brevi tempore parta diu. Spec. Stult. d Item quia nonnulli commonachi et fratres, non intelligentes quid legant, horasque prorsus ignorantes dum psallunt, ut legunt accentum brevem pro longo ponunt. MS. Harl. 328, f. 3. b. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. 1v. 163. a. Non est hodie aliquod forum judiciale, aut venale, cui se viri religiosi non immisceant, et cui se importunissimè non imponunt. Mundum enim quâdam simulatoriâ religione fallentes falluntur pessimè, et mundo mortui negotiantur et venantur quæ mundi sunt. MS. Bibl. Reg. 8. F. XVII. g Monast. ii. 751. h Voces cunctorum vicinia quos premit horum, deflent atque gemunt quod eis monachi sua demunt. MS. Ashmol. Mus. 8496, p. 133, b. MONKS, NUNS, &c. 159 not an uncommon thing among them.a From the levity of indolence, they indulged themselves in writing lam- poons,b or hunting after news; and, to conclude this catalogue of faults, that they might go on with impunity, per- C De his qui auguria et diviniationes et sacrilegia attendunt.e Nullus sibi percantatores adhibeat. Nullus ex vobis observet quâ die de domo exeat, qua die iterum revertatur : ridiculosas sternutationes considerare et observare nolite. Sed quociens vobis in quacumque parte fuerit necessitas prosperandi, sig- nate vos in nomine Christi, et simbo- lum et orationem dominicam fideliter dicete, securi de Dei adjutorio iter agite. Et quia quando supradicta omnia sacri- legia Deo vobis inspirante contempnere et despicere ceperitis, molestè hoc ac- cepturus diabolus, quod vos videt de amicitia et societate suâ discedere et sacrilegia per quæ vos decipiebat con- tempnere, ob aliquas nequitias vobis factas aut infirmitatem aliquam inmis- surus aut aliquod animal aut per mor- tuum aut pervagationem ablaturus, quia ad vos probandos hoc fieri permittit Deus, ut agnoscat utrum ad ipsum fide- liter venistis.-F. 97. a. Symbolum et orationem dominicam et ipsi tenete et filiis vestris ostendite. -F. 111. b. Scitote vos fide-jussores pro ipis ad Deum exstitisse, et ideo tam illos qui de vobis nati sunt quam illos quos de fonte excipitis semper castigate atque corripite.—Ibid. In ecclesiâ stantes nolite sæcularia expectare, sed lectiones divinas patien- ter audire. Qui enim ecclesiâ verbo- In dispositione fore prælati ad solutionem suorum debitorum et redemptionem librorum per se impignoratorum. MS. Ashm. Mus. 1519, p. 15, b. Wm. Burton pignorasset et in vadum, &c. tres libros. Id. f. 25, b. b Nonvult eum (Benedictus) ad satiras offensas in rugâ nasum contrahere. Nonvult eum ad sati- ras scribendas studium applicare ;-transgressores dne Bernarde ejus instituti existunt qui talibus scriptis ex otio intendunt. MS. Ashm. Mus. 1285, p. 3. · Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, soon after a treaty secuted those who led better lives than themselves. d How superstitious and profane they and others were, appears from a MS. in the Bodleian Library, marked 2401, and entitled "Smaragdus Diadema Monachorum." Of those who attend to auguries, and divinations and charms. Let no one apply to fortune-tellers. Let no one take notice what day he goes out, and what day he returns: do not consider or notice ridiculous sneezings. But as often as you have any neces- sity of prospering, mark yourselves in the name of Christ, and enjoy the Creed and Lord's Prayer, set out on your journey, secure in the favour of God. And because, when from God inspiring you, you begin to despise all the above charms, the Devil takes it ill, because he sees you depart from his friendship and society, and despise the witchcraft by which he deceived you, on account of wickedness com- mitted by you, may send some disease or take away some animal by distem- per or straying, because God permits this to try you, whether you have faith- fully come to him. The Creed and Lord's Prayer both learn yourselves and teach your chil- dren. Know, that your godfathers promised this, and therefore always chastize and correct, not only your own children, but those whom you have re- ceived from the font. While standing in the church, do not attend to secular matters, but patiently listen to the divine lessons, for he who had been made, upon entering a Carthusian mo- nastery, was instantly accosted with, "What are the conditions of the peace?" Gruteri Spicileg. ii. 234. from Surius. d And if that one live well and virtuously, In way of grace, like as he ought to go, The remanent assaile him with envy, And him oppresse with grievous payne of wo, Until he folowe like as the other do. Barclay's Ship of Fooles, 256, b. It appears from the Fathers, in passages too frequent to be cited, that all these superstitious practices were derived from the Heathens. 160 MONKS, NUNS, &c. rari voluerit, et pro se, et pro aliis malam redditurus orationem dum ver- bum Dei nec ipse audit, nec alios audire permittit.-F. 112. a. Omnes viri quando ascessuri sunt ad altare, lavant manus suas, et omnes mulieres nitida linteamina exhibent, ubi corpus Christi accipiant.-F. 114. a. Among their levities was a fondness, quite inconsistent with their profession, for sights and amusements. Giraldus tells a story of a Monk who ran out to see a whale, and who, his feet slipping, tumbled into a pit, and was lugged out with ropes and poles hooked with iron. Minstrels, whom some houses maintained on purpose, contributed to their amusement at festivals and other times; though it is said they were dis- gustful to the severer Orders, particu- larly before the Norman conquest, when they were considered as brethren of the Pagan Scalds. To these are to be added Bearwards.d The Friars Ex vapore pinguedinis monstri illius lubricè magis effecte, lapsis pedibus utrisque retro cadens subito totus in apercionem illam resupinus intra- vit; à qua cum funibus et perticis longis ferro aduncatis vix tandem ferro extractus emersit. MS. Cott. Tib. B. XIII. sect. De Monacho ad mon. struosam belluam inspiciendum occurrente, &c. These exhibitions were probably more interesting than now; for, in the wood-cuts of Ambrose Parey's Works, p. 619, representing the manner of cutting up the whale, a drummer and fifer are standing upon it and playing; drum-beating and bell-ringing being the signal given to the inhabitants of Aquitain, at sight of a whale. The lard was boiled, and eaten with fish in Lent, that gormand- izers might have something to serve them instead of flesh, then forbidden. The houses of the fish- eaters were built with their bones, and orchards fenced with them. Ibid. C b Warton's History of English Poetry, i. p. 92. Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, i. xli. lix. Ed. 2. d Warton, ut sup. The Romans kept bears tame under a keeper, and upon lamps we see show- men leading them; one among others is mounted upon a ladder (Encyclop. des Antiq. v. Ours.) Bearbaiting is alluded to by Apuleius; and it was a pastime in much vogue here, generally upon Sun- days after service. (Strutt's Sports, &c. xxxix.) The maintenance of bears was a tax sometimes imposed upon the Feudal Vassal; and the public ovens paid, at every baking, each a loaf to the Ursarius, or Instructor, for which the tenants were to see the sport upon holidays. (Du Cange, v. Ursarius, Ursorum pastus.) Kings made presents likes to talk in the church must give but a bad account both for himself and others, whilst he neither hears the word of God himself nor permits others to do it. All men, when about to go to the altar, wash their hands, and all the women put on clean clothes when they take the sacrament. Minors of Francis having passed into England, and taking their way towards Oxford, stopped at a Benedictine Ab- bey, where a young Monk, thinking them, by their ridiculous habit, to be some jugglers, ran immediately to give notice of it to the Abbot, who, in hopes of having some good sport, bad them come in. But they having made them to understand that they were poor Friars, who came to implore their cha- rity, the Abbot and Monks commanded they should be turned out of doors.e There were even Masquerades in Ab- beys, as far back as the time of Gre- gory of Tours.f The Inquirenda, in the visitation of Nuns, were these; whether they used to have intercourse with strangers, men and women, without licence, especially in secret places, and in the absence of their sisters; whether used to go any where without the gates ;i whether any The of them, and a Lady sent one to a Tournament, for the reward of him who behaved best. M. Paris, 113, 223. Of sports with bears, see further Strutt's Sports, 182, 193, 194, and Horda, iii. 150. bear formerly existed in Britain, Archæologia, x. 162. Our taste for bear-baiting and boxing was that of the Roman vulgar : Media inter carmina poscunt Aut Ursum, aut Pugiles. Horat. L. ii. Ep. i. v. 185. e D'Emilliane's Monastical Orders, p. 169. f Du Cange, v. Barbatoria. g Items similar to those of the Monks are omitted. h See Monast. Angl. ii. 895. "Item, that non of your sisters bring in, receave, or take any Lay- man, Religious, or Secular, into the chambre or any secrete place day or night, nor with thaim in such private places to commune, ete, or drinke, without lycense of your Prioresse." Monast. Anglic. i. 910. It seems, from the 7th Item of the Constitutions of the Nuns of Sopewell, that the taylors of the house were the persons thus invited into private places. i In Monast. Anglic. ii. 896, is mention of "Nonnes having keyes of the posterne doore," and "moche comyng in and owte unlefulle tymys." The Capitularies of Charlemagne say, "In some MONKS, NUNS, &c. 161 do not use her habit continually out of her cell; whether any familiarity with religious or secular priests, not near kinsmen. Item, whether any of them use to wryghte any letters of lovea or [lascivious fashions]b to any person, or receive any suche, and have any prevye messengers comyng and resorting to them with tokens or gifts from any maner seculer person or other; whe- ther they talked without leave with any manner of persons, "by gratis or backe- windows;"d what sporte or game they used in their playing days;e how often they were confessed; whether any of them were suspected of incontinence ;f small Monasteries, where the Nuns are without Rule, we order, that their Cloisters be well locked, and that they do not write or send Love-letters. Du Cange, v. Winileodes. The Nuus of St. Helen's were prohibited from receiving letters, or sending them, without license of the Prioress, and witnesses to attest the pro- priety of the contents. Dugd. Monast. ii. 895. b Blank in orig. but filled up from MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. p. 19. A very ancient writer says, "Nuns support and exercise their bodies in woollen work (lanificio) (which, and cooking, was of Egyptian origin), and deliver the garments to the Monks, receiving in return what is needful for their support (victui). Isidor. de eccles. Offic. L. 2, C. 15, p. 213 (aº 630). Secular Hence perhaps the custom of presents. women, going backwards and forwards, are forbid- den the Nuns of Sempringham, as likely to be messengers rather of evil than good. Monast. ii. 699. The Gilbertine Nuns were not to make purses except of white leather, and without coloured silk. Monast. ii. 784. See Chapter of "Ancho- rets," &c. "No loking nor spectacles owterwarde, through the wiche ye mythe falle in worldly dilectacyone.' Monast. ii. 805. The 5th Constitution of the Nuns of Sopewell orders, at certain times, "les fenestres devers la cuysine clos." "Also we enjoyne yow, that alle dauncyng and revelling be utterely forborne among yow, except Christmasse, and other honest tymys of recreacyone among youreselfe, usid in absence of Seculers in alle wyse. "" Monast. ii. 896. Itine- rant players, principally boys, used to be admitted, and play mysteries before them. Warton's English Poetry, iii. 324. The well-known instance of Juliana Bernes shows skill in hunting, hawking, and field sports. This crime they committed from the earliest periods; (Charlton's Whitby, 39.) and they des- pised the statutes made to correct it. Athon. 155. A visitor at a Convent of Gilbertine Nuns near Lichfield, "founde two of the said Nunnes; one of them impregnant (supprior domus): anothyr a yonge mayd." Also at another, called Harwolde, "wherein was iiii or v Nunnes with the Prioress, one of them had two faire children, another one, whether stubborn, incorrigible, sedi- tious, a brawler, envious, yrefull, given to voluptuousness and sloth; whether and no mo." MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. f. 131. It is well known, that the Bishop of Lincoln, about 1251, in his visitations, ordered the nipples of the Nuns to be squeezed, that he might be physically convinced of their chastity. Various amulets for pregnant women were common in Nunneries : thus the Nuns of Gracedieu had part of St. Fran- cis's coat, deemed beneficial to lying-in women (partem tunica Sancti Francisci, quæ ut creditur parturientibus conducunt). Nuns of St. Mary of Derby had part of the shirt of St. Thomas, in veneratione apud multoties pregnantes. Those of Wrelsa, apud Mewse, had the girdle of Bernard, MS. prægnantibus aliquando vestitum," (sometimes worn by breeding women.) MS. Cott. ut sup. 147, 150, &c. &c. The Nuns of Yorkshire took potacions "ad prolem conceptum opprimendum." Cott. MS. ut sup. f. 115, b. Sometimes the chil- dren were murdered: "Hic cum juvenis esset decorus formâ, instinctu antiqui hostis sororem suam illico amore concupivit, et ex eâ prolem procreavit;" which offspring "propriis manibus suffocavit ne ad homines incestus ipsius perveniat; et reversus (sic) ad peccatum suum secundo et tertio de eodem fratre concepit atque partus suffocavit." Harl. 2385, f. 56, i. e. The monk, being young and handsome, fell in love with a nun, and had children by her, which children, even to a second and third parturition, she suffocated." Some of the laws against this were as follows: "To carry off a nun was 120s. fine-Leges Aluredi, 1. 31, in Lamb. Whoever indecently handled her breasts, if she was unwilling, double the penalty (58.) of doing so to a Lay-woman. Id. c. 33. By the laws of Edmund, made aº 946, the ravisher was punished like a homicide with the fine of all his fortune (747.) In the penitentiary canons of Edgar, a guilty nun was punished with a twenty years penance (Can. 32.) with perpetual penance and imprisonment among the Gilbertines (of which Alfred of Rievesby relates a shocking instance, copied by Bale), with severe discipline; (MS. Harl. ut sup. f. 55, b.) and by the 13th of Edward I. it was three years impri- sonment for carrying off a nun, besides satisfaction made to the convent. Sir Osbert Giffard, for steal- ing two nuns out of Wilton abbey, was ordered never to enter a nunnery more; not to be in the presence of a nun without leave of his diocesan; to go thrice naked in his shirt and breeches to Wilton church, but not in the presence of the nuns, and be each time beaten; and so likewise in Salisbury market, and Shaftesbury church; not to wear the insignia of knighthood, but russet with lamb or sheep fur, and calf-leather shoes, nor use a shirt after he was beaten; and this until he should have been three years in the holy land, or the king recal- led him. Tit. of Honour, p. 790, and Weever. Bertram Walton says (Invective against Nuns) : "But there was a lady, that hizt dame Pride, "In grete reputacion they her toke, "And pore dame Meekness sate beside, "To her unethys ony wolde loke, "But all as who seyth I her forsoke, "And set not by her nether most ne leste, "Dame Ypocrite loke upon a book, M 162 MONKS NUNS, &c. they do understand first the articles of their faithe, and then the Rule ;a whe- ther surfeit with drink; how many howsholders are in their house, and who keepeth them.c Besides these "And bete herself upon the brest : "I wolde have sene dame Devowte "And sche was but with few of that route, "For dame Sclowth and dame Vayne Glory 66 By vilens had put her owte. "And than in my harte I was full sorry, "That dame Envy was there dwelling, "The which can selth strife in eny state, "And another ladye was there wonnyng "That hight dame Love inordinate, "In that place both erly and late, "Dame Lust, dame Wantonness, and dame Vyce, "They were so there enhabyted, I wotte "That few token hede to Goddys service." He afterwards complains that "Dame Envy, "In every corner had great cure ; "That another lady there was "That hyzt dame Disobedient." MS. Cott. Vesp. D. 1x. f. 182, 3. "By this hede you schall understond suche cloistereris, the whiche thinken that thei ben more discrete, more witty, more kunning, than other; and therfor alle such natural witty cloistereris ben more lothe to be spoiled, and to be made naked from her owen willes than other simple cloistereris, ffor ther suche live witte is ther is ofte moche indignacion, and ofte tymes conflicte multiplying of many wordis, and pride of konnyng, yei have gret indignacion, whan thei ben in any wise withstond from her owen willes, thei weine that thei have grete wrong gif other ben clepid to counseil and not yei." MS. Bodl. Laud. D. 52. (Regulæ inclusarum.) "I forbede not wordis of recreation, yough I forbede noyous wordis." Id. Monast. ii. 895. "where one of the intelli- gent sisters is ordered to teach the other." b The drinking after complin of the Prioress of Rumsey has got into all our familiar books. Among the injunctions to the Convent of Appleton, aº 1489, is one; "Item, that non of your sisters use the alehouse, nor the water syde, where course of strangers dayly resorte." Monast. Anglic. i. 910. In the inquiries touching the Savoy, it was inquired, "whether any of the susters do cherish them moste that hath any money, and causeth them to spende the same when they be within at good ale or otherwise, wherby the same might have any pleasure or profit theymselff. Item, whether any of the susters be comenly drunke." MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 33, b. MS. Harl. 791, f. 22. "Also we ordeyne and injoyne, that nunnes have ne receyve noo schuldrin with hem into the house forseyde, but yif that the profite of the comonys turne to the vayle of the same house." Monast. ii. 896. In the injunction to the nuns of Appleton, they are to have noe per- hendinancers or sojorners, but children and old persons, by which profit may come to the place. Monast. i. 910. No man or woman in a secular habit was to be received to make a stay in the house of Nun-Cotun, unless any one slept there for the sake of hospitality. Monast. i. 925. Item, that the prioresse suffer no man to lodge under the faults, they were finical in their hair- dressing;d fond of tales and gossiping; apt to give the lie, and strike one ano- ther. "Ticle of her tonges," says Piers Plowman, "and must all secretes tell;" fond of flattering, stroking, and smooth- ing themselves;f receiving male visi tors with the salutation of "my love," and adding minstrelsy and dancing;g affected; used to adorn the walls of their chambers with pictures, for such are mentioned by Alfred of Rievesby (see Anchorets), and the Rule of Cæsa- rius for Nuns orders no wax tablets or other pictures to be affixed to the walls ; delighted in keeping dogs, par- rots, and geese, hens, and other birds; for it seems they used to stay at the grange for the nourishment of animals, and that two would eat from one loaf, that they might keep the other whole for their dumb dependants. What- ever, nevertheless, the faults of the dorter, or onn the backside, except such sad per- sones by whom the house might be holpyne, and secured without slander or suspicion. Id. i. 910. Ric. Hagulstad. p. 327-torturâ capillorum et compositione capillorum. e Fol. xxiii. Ed. 2d. of 32d Ed. Ball. and Herbert's Ames.) f MS. Cott. Nero. A. 3. f. 15, b. Wart. Emend. V. i. p. 11. (See Percy's 1 C. 42. h MS. Cott. Nero, A. 3, p. 19, b. * Chaucer's Prioress kept a number of small dogs; 39 loaves of coarse bread to the dogs in every manor per week. Monast. i. 498. 1 Nigell Wireker mentions an unlucky parrot, who had the habit of telling tales: he says, by poisoning him they taught him to die earlier than to speak. Sæpe mala Phittacus in thalamum dominâ redeunte puellas Prodit, et illorum verba tacenda refert; Nescius ille loqui; sed nescius immo tacere Profert plus æquo Phittacus oris habens ; Hinc avibus crebro miscente aconita puella, Discat ut ante mori quam didicisse loqui; Sunt et aves aliæ quæ toto tempore vitæ Relligiosorum claustra beata colunt. Spec. Stultor. Ver Vert, or the Nunnery parrot of Gresset, translated by Cooper, is well known, and modern. in Monast. i. 925. ii. 768. The rage for keeping domestic animals was very strong among our ances- tors. Rob. Betun, Bishop of Hereford, says on his death-bed, "I had in my house a black white footed dog, a domestic tame deer, a four-horned ram, cranes and peacocks, all which I used to feed from my table." (Angl. Sacr. ii. 318.) We hear also of a tame crane who stood before the table at dinner, and knelt and bowed his head when a Bishop gave the Benediction. (Id. 400.) Tame deer MONKS, 163 NUNS, &c. poor Nuns were, says Nigell Wireker, "they have this virtue, which wipes away every thing, incessant tears, that are penitently poured before the throne of God: whilst they are thus contrite, they merit pardon, and obliterate every crime they commit."ab Nuns were sometimes styled "La- dies, Reverend Ladies," but burial entries exist where they are called Dames, as Dame Ann Preston, &c.d In a Monastery at Brabant, the Canon- esses were created Knightesses by some noble Count, with a drawn sword struck upon the back, and the usual words.e To redress these evils in the conduct of the religious,f the expedient was (as in Virgil) were very common among the Anglo- Saxons, and sometimes they wore a collar, and were taught to bow to their masters. (Ibid. and Dugd. Monast. i. 84. ii. 120.) There were some of them, at least, decoy-deer, which hunters sent into the woods, that, mixing with the others, they might draw them into the nets; and they had col- lars, or some other marks, that the hunters might not shoot them with their arrows. (Du Cange, v. Extellarius, ii. p. 276.) S. Gregory kept a cat, and was very fond of it. Ugutio calls it a certain ingenious animal, viz. a mouse-catcher. Tame ravens were kept even by an Earl, and were sometimes supposed to be spirits in that form. (J. Rous, 207.) We hear too of weazels, with little bells round their necks. (Du Cange, v. Pel- teolus.) Parrots are of classical antiquity, as every school-boy knows. Singing birds were artificially taught. (X. Scr. 666. M. Par. 140.) Both par- rots and monkeys were also curiously instructed. Du Cange, v. Mammones. (Id.) Sed tamen illud habent quod cuncta refellit, Ante Deum lachrymas quæ sine lege fluunt; Hiis dum placent semper veniamque merentur His sua cuncta lavant crimina, quicquid agunt. Spec. Stult. MS. Cott. Tit. A. 20. b The Gilbertine Nuns were not to talk Latin unless a suitable occasion required; or to privately hide or steal any thing. Monast. ii. 766. Angl. Sacr. i. 629, 654. Lysons's Britannia, i. 52. Du Cange, v. Militissa. All Monks and Nuns were not of the above vicious description. Pensions were granted at the dissolution according to the characters of the Monks, and the visitors recommended such for preferment, as they did one Randall Wylmyston, Monk of Norton, calling him "a gud religious man, discrete, and well grounded in lerning, and hath many gud qualities." MS. Harl. 604, f. 54. And the Nun- nery of Legborne petitioned to be preserved, saying, "We trust in God, ye shall here no complaint against us, nether in our living nor hospitalitie- keeping." MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. 270, b. adopted of General Chapters and Visi- tations. The first General Chapter was one of the Cistertians in Burgundy, which afterwards became annual, and set the example to the other Orders.g When this first Chapter of the Cister- tians was held, is not mentioned by Mabillon; but it seems it was in 1116.h The Benedictines first assembled for this purpose at Oxford in the year 1219.i When the Friars held a Ge- neral Chapter, sustenance was found them by persons of high rank. In all Orders provisions were laid-in weeks before. These assemblies were meet- ings of the Abbots and Priors, or their Proctors, once in three years, when visitors of the different houses were appointed, and emendatory statutes enacted.m The forms and methods of proceeding in them may be seen in the Appendix to Reyner. n In the year 1232, Gregory appointed visitors to correct abuses. These were in the exempt houses, not Bishops, but Abbots, principally of the Cister- tian and Præmonstratensian Orders, and appointed by the Pope or the General Chapter. Their harshness, insolence, and severity, occasioned fre- quent appeals to Rome; the result of which was the appointment of others. Those who refused to admit the visita- tion were to be suspended by the visi- tors (pay 101. say later Constitutions) ;P but, upon seeking absolution, were to receive it, upon condition of giving security to obey the judgment of the General Chapter, and receive the visi- tation in future. Transmarine Monks were to assign reasons, if they were unwilling to be visited. The visitors were to beware putting the Convent to g Mabillon's Annales Benedictini, v. 617. h See Fabricii Bibl. M. Ævi, iii. 559. Knighton, 2430. 1 Howes's Stowe, 284. k M. Paris, 677. m Athon. 52. Reyner, Append. &c. I have published the full ceremonial of one in the Archæological Library, p. 167, from an Abbey Register. It is not important. • W. Thorne, 2114. P Cap. Gen. Northampt. a° 1444. c. 12. a M. Paris, 1097. M 2 164 MONKS, NUNS, &c. If superfluous expence. They were to order delinquent Monks to be punished by the Abbot, who, if remiss, was him- self punishable by the General Chap- ter; and, till such Chapter was held, if the Abbot was not exempt, his Dioce- san was to find him a coadjutor. one of the visitors could not perform his office, another was to be appointed by the Abbots who presided over the General Chapter.b No one could the same year be the visitor of one who had been deputed to inspect his own Abbey. They were to be suspended from the celebration of divine service if they neglected their duty; and, if a crime was rumoured of any house, they were to send word and visit it as soon as possible. Informers at visi- tations were not to be vexed or perse- cuted afterwards by the Abbot or officers.c Visitors were to reduce to writing what they had discovered in their visitations, where it was neces- sary to have the advice of the President of the Chapter.f The ceremony ob- served was this. Notice was given of the intended visitation; an agreement was made respecting the time; and in the mean while the Abbot promised the declaration of every thing amiss before their coming; all which he would himself, in process of time, amend. On the morrow after the arrival of the visitors, a sermon was preached in the Chapter, and the com- mission and statutes made in the Pro- vincial Chapter read. Then, if after a minute scrutiny of every Monk no offence was found, they departed, having made only a stay of a few days.g These visitations gave birth to many defamatory libels and letters from those who happened to pass by any house and heard the vices of it, and from malicious persons; as well as to confederacies of the Monks to overthrow emendatory statutes. Mat- thew Paris says, that, in consequence of the local constitutions thus made, scarce two houses were found alike in their rule of living; but, as the Canons of Ottoboni were uniformly enforced by them, this may be ques- tioned. Many acts of successive Ge- neral Chapters, the same vices conti- nuing, are nuing, are mere transcripts of one another. ORDER OF ST. VICTOR AT PARIS.k This is the form of holding a Gene- ral Chapter, according to the man- ner of the Order of Saint Victor of Paris. The convent of the place in which the general chapter is celebrated, shall rise early in the morning of that day; and the signal being given in the dor- mitory, the brethren shall go to the church, and there say all the hours of the day and high-mass, and the 25 psalms, if it be Lent, except the last hour of nones, and the service of the Virgin Mary, which all the brethren shall say by themselves, that they may all be present at the general chapter. When this is finished, they shall imme- diately ring for the general chapter. a M. Paris, 405. b Reyn. Append. 97. d C. North. ut supr. c. 12. Wilkins's Concil. iii. 147. c Jd. 103. • Ibid. Hæc est forma tenendi Capitulum Ge- nerale juxta modum ordinis Sancti Victoris Parisiensis. Conventus loci, quo capitulum cele- bratur, summo mane surget illo die, et dato signo in dormitorio fratres ibunt ad ecclesiam, et ibi dicent omnes horas diei et missam magnam et xxv psalmos, si quadragesima fuerit, exceptâ ultimâ horâ none et horis b'e Marie, quas sin- gli dicent per se, ut omnes fr'es inter- sint capit'lo generali. Istis completis statim pulsabunt ad cap'lum generale. g M. Paris, 713. C. North. ut supr. i P. 322. From an Abbey Register at Berkeley. MONKS, NUNS, &c. 165 And when all the brethren have entered the chapter, and are seated, the brother, before he begins to preach the word of God, shall immediately rise, and say, Jube Domine benedicere; and the presi- dent shall say, that all may hear, Domi- nus sit in corde tuo et labiis ad pronun- ciandum sacra Dei eloquia. In noie p. et fr. &c. and all shall say Amen. The sermon being therefore completed, the president shall say Benedicite, and all shall answer Dominus; and he shall say to the proctors, "You conventual proc- tors have somewhat to say," and they shall answer, "Yes, sir ;" and one of the proctors shall say first, "Father, we have the souls of our brethren and friends first to be recommended, if it pleases," and shall say thus: "We of the convent of such a place ask, that you have these souls of our brethren, and the souls of our friends lately de- ceased, to be recommended, to wit, the souls of brother N., and brother N., and brother N., our special canons lately deceased;" and afterwards read our intimates, to wit, Will. N., Rich. N., and John N., and even of our spe- cial benefactors lately deceased: and the president shall answer to every proctor, when he reads over the bro- thers and friends, "Requiescant in pace." Each of these being read over in order, they shall say, De profundis clamavi, and the pater-noster, and three prayers, to wit, Deus venie largi- tor, Deus indulgenciarum, et fidelium Deus. Afterwards the president shall say, in the name of all the presiding officers, "We enjoin all our canons, who are able to celebrate masses, that for the souls here recommended, they each say a mass; and the other brethren not celebrating, a psalter; and every one of the convent brethren a hundred pater-nosters, and as many Ave-Ma- rias." Then the president shall say, "Ye conventual proctors, where are your credentials?" and they shall show and deliver them to the president, to examine if they be sufficient; and, after examination, the president shall return them. Then the president shall say, Et cum omnes fr'es cap'lum sunt in- gressi, et in sedibus suis collocati, fra- ter priusquam ad predicandum verbum Dei statim surget, et coram præsidente inclinabit et dicet: Jube D'ne benedi- cere, et præsidens dicet ita ut ab omni- bus audiatur : Dnus sit in corde tuo et in labiis tuis ad pronunciandum sacra Dei eloquia. In noie p. et s. &c. Et omnes dicent Amen. Sermone itaque completo, presidens dicet Benedicite et omnes dicent Dns, et dicet procurato- ribus: Vos procuratores conventuales habetis aliquod dicere: et responde- bunt etiam Dne, et dicet unus de pro- curatoribus primo: Pater, habemus ai'as fratrum et amicorum primo recom- mendandas si placet, et dicet sic, Nos de conventu talis loci rogamus ut habeatis istas ai'as fratr' nostror' et animas ami- corum nuper defunctorum recommen- dandas, scil' ai'as fratris N. et frat. N. et fratr. N. canonicorum nostrorum specialium nuper defunctorum, et pos tea leget familiares, sc. Will'm N. Ric'm N. et Joh'nem N. et etiam benefacto- rum nostrorum specialium nuper de- functorum et respondebit præsidens unicuique procuratori cum perlegerit fr'es et familiares, Requiescant in pace. Quibus per ordinem singlis perlectis dicent, De profundis clamavi et Pat. Nr. et tres orationes, sc. Deus venie largitor, Deus indulgenicarum, et fide- lium Deus. Postmodum dicet præsi- dens vice omnium prælatorum, Nos injungimus omnibus canonicis suis qui missas celebrare possunt, ut pro istis ai'abus pie recommendatis dicant sin- gli singlas missas et ceteri fr'es non celebrantes unum psalterium et unus- quisque conversorum fr'm C. pr. nr. cum totidem ave-maria. Deinde dicet præsidens, vos procuratores conventu- ales, ubi sunt vestra procuratoria? et ipsi ostendent procuratoria sua, et tra- dent præsidenti ad examinandum si sint sufficiencia. Quibus examinatis o'ia eadem procuratoribus restituet. Tunc præsidens dicet o'ibus assistenti- 166 MONKS, NUNS, &c. bus, fr'es mei ecce in no'ie Dni sumus hic vocati et congregati ad vidend' et emend' defectus et excessus in divinis officiis in personis et rebus, et ad statu- endum per communem assensum super eisdem, quæ Deo placeant, et fratribus ac notis proficeat (sic) ad salutem a'ia- rum et ut in præsenti Capitulo gene- rali possumus sic agere et perficere ea quæ agenda sunt ad laudem Dei et ad honorem oi'um sc'orum et sc'æ ecclie, et ad ai'arum nostrarum utilitatem s'ctum spr❜m in adjutorium invocemus. Et tunc dicent hymnum Veni Creator spr'us, quo dicto dicat præsidens oracio- nem scil. Deus qui corda fidelium, et tunc dicet o'ibus, Habetisne aliqua motiva legitima proponenda super de- fectibus et excessibus in officiis divinis aut in rebus aut in personis quæ per istud cap'lum poterunt emendari? Et respondebunt illi qui habent aliqua pro- ponenda, dicendo Etiam Dne, et tunc legent fr'es præponentes sua motiva in scriptis. Et tunc eligatur unus præsi- dens per communem assensum pro tempore futuro. Quo electo et pro tribunali sedente surget præsidens præteritus, et stans coram præsidente electo, officium suum resignet coram o'ibus dicendo: Fr'es mei dilecti pro Deo rogo mihi parcatis si in officio mihi commisso negligens extiterim vel remissus, nam nomine Dei invocato suscepto præsidentis officio coram vo- bis fribus et testibus illud, pater reve- rende, resigno. Et præsidens respon- debit, Indulgeat tibi Deus, et omnes fr'es dicent amen. Postea elegantur quatuor personæ ad minus per commu- nem assensum, ad via motiva per fratres ibidem proposita examinanda qui reli- gione et discrecione' sint approbati. Qui habito super hiis nactatu diligenti statuant et diffiniant super propositis per communem assensum ea quæ magis cultui divino, et ai'arum saluti sibi vide- rint expedire, et ea quæ secundum Deum et jura canonica approbaverint all assisting, "My brethren, lo! we are here summoned and assembled, in the name of our Lord, to see and correct the defects and excesses in divine mat- ters in persons and things, and to set- tle, by common assent, upon these, what may please God and profit our brethren, and to the salvation of their souls: and that, in the present general chapter, we may be able so to do and perform what must be done to the praise of God, and the honour of all saints, and the holy church, and the edification of all our souls, let us invoke the holy spirits to our aid." And then they shall say the hymn Veni Creator, &c. after which the president shall say the prayer, Deus, qui corda fidelium; and then shall say to all, "Have you any legitimate motions to make upon defects or excesses in the divine offices, respecting either persons or things, which can be emendated in this chap- ter?" And they who have any thing to propose, shall answer, "Yes, sir, and then shall read their motions in writing; and a president shall then, by common assent, be elected for a future time. Who being elected, and sitting before the tribunal, the past president shall rise and standing before the pre- sident elect, shall resign his office, say- ing, "My beloved brethren, I beg you to make allowances for me if in the execution of my duty I have been neg- ligent or remiss for calling upon the name of God. I received the office, and before you, brethren and witnesses, I, reverend father, now resign it:" and the president shall answer, "God be merciful to you," and all the brethren shall say "Amen." Afterwards four persons at least shall be elected by com- mon consent to examine the proposi- tions there made by the brethren, which persons may be approved for virtue and religion. Who, after due delibe- ration, may settle and define upon the propositions by common consent, what may best suit divine worship and the salvation of their souls: and let those things which they shall approve according to God and the canon laws, MONKS, NUNS, &c. 167 be approved by them, and remain per- manent according to the chapter de statu Monachorum, and the chapter which thus begins: In singlis provinciis [They are constitutions of Ottobon, and are printed in Lindwood] and be reduced to writing in due form, that they may be held for authentic, and be sent to every convent of the province under the seal of the president. These things being done in due form, let the visitors of the past time be called to answer for the office committed to them, and if they have any thing to reveal, let them relate what they have to say, yet by no means exceeding the bounds of their office: and if the above visitors shall have been found negligent in the office of visiting, or have exceed- ed their duty, they shall be corrected, and deservedly punished according to their merits, so that their punishment may be an example to others, because their office is especially dangerous, if they have not acted in a proper man- ner. After these things, let three visi- tors be elected by common consent for a future time, who may know how to execute the office of visitation in a due form, as is fit, so that no one may visit in their own houses, but be visited among the other brethren by their two colleagues. Afterwards let the place and day of the next general chapter be named, so that they by no means be protracted beyond the next term, and be written in the end of the statutes, that they may be known to all the bre- thren, and it is to be observed, that as often as a necessity of visiting shall exist, it shall be announced by letter to the visitors, and the convents of the places have due notice. ab o'ibus approbentur, et rata debent permanere secundum permanere sccundum quod legitur capit'lum de statu Monachorum: et cap'lum qui sic incipit, In singlis pro- vinciis: et in singlis redigantur modo debito ut pro autenticis teneantur, & sub sigillo præsidentis singlis conventi- bus provinciæ liberentur. Hiis cum deliberatione peractis vocentur visita- tores temporis præteriti ut de officio. illis commisso respondeant, et si quid habeant revelandum revelent, et quod dicendum est referant: Metas tamen visitationis minime excedendo, et si iidem visitatores in officio visitandi negligentes extiterint vel in visitando in aliquo excesserint super hoc corripi- antur, et juxta ipsorum merita condigni puniantur ita qd pœna eorum sit cæte- ris in exemplum, quod eorum officium est diversimode periculorum nisi debito modo in visitando proceperint. hæc eligantur iii visitatores per coēm assensum pro tempore futuro, qui sci- ant officium visitandi debito modo exe- qui prout decet. Ita vero ut nullus eor' in propriis domibus visitet sed inter alios fr'es a duobus collegis suis visiten- tur ut cæteri. Postmodum no'ientur locus et dies proximi capitli futuri. Ita q'd ultra proximum terminum minime præfigantur et in fine statutorum con- scribentur ut omnibus fratribus valeant. innotescere, et notand' quod quoties necessitas visitandi extiterit per præsi- dentem literatoriæ debent visitatores excitari et conventus locorum suffici- enter premuniri. Post Ex Registro Abbatiæ Sancti Augustini Bristolliæ in Castro de Berkeley, p. ult. 168 FRIARS. CHAPTER XXVIII. FRIARS. THE Sciences of Physiology, Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy, by their stupendous developements of the grandeur of Deity, are the firmest friends of rational Piety; for they exhi.. bit Fanaticism in the light of a Procu- ress, who wishes to palm off a painted Prostitute for a blooming Virgin. They who are not ignorant, will not be cre- dulous; and only because the multi- tude cannot be informed, it is easy to dupe them. The evils of poverty were not, how- ever, felt by the mendicants. Neither physicus præcipuus et regis Franciæ curam gerens. Hic cum ditatus fuisset auro Franciæ, sibi quoddam hospicium comparavit in civitate prædictâ (Paris) penè dilapsum et dirutum, in quod solebant ex longinquis partibus venientes causâ peregrinationis versus Sanctum Jacobum in Hispaniâ divertere peregrini, et ibidem per dies aliquot exhiberi, sed deficientibus redditibus et eleemosynâ subtractâ, est et hospicium desolatum. Emit ergo Johannes dictum zenodochium, et exinde fecit sibi hospitium Qui cum vidisset dictos fratres cotidie missas celebrare, oracionibus instare, et prædicationibus invigilare, motus devo- tione quam pietate, contulit eis prædictum zeno- dochium in habitaculum sempiternum, ex cujus hospitalis vocabulo nomen traxerunt prædicti fratres, ut Jacobitæ vocarentur ab adjecto nomine hospi- talis. Tractatus de ortu ac prioritate ordinis Monachor. MS. Cott. Claud. E. iv. 322, b. 323. a. correspondens fortunæ suæ. Of pious harlotry (for the Scriptures designate false worship by the term Fornication), the most successful agents in the middle age were the Friars. They differed only from Monks, in being by profession beggars. This voluntary mendicity, to a certain extent infringed,a produced, of course, the practice of mean arts. Dread of knowledge, not prejudice, occasioned the persecution of Galileo; and we find from Spain, that whenever, as Swift would say, a country is over-run with religious vermin, an interest is created for perpetuating ignorance, and that grovelling character which annexes no value to the noble and useful qualities of honour, ingenuousness, bravery, patriotism, and high reason, as the governing principle of the whole man. "We never swear, only cheat and lie," is the Jesuitical adage of many who sup- port their characters by abstaining from pleasure; but the Friars, more clever, united both at the public expence. Pontifical edicts restricted the Fri- ars to the four Orders of Dominicans: Jacobites, or Preachers,b Franciscans, Carmelites, and Augustinian Eremites. a They pretended that the property was in the Pope, the use only in themselves. Gutch's Collec- tanea Curiosa, i. p. 80. b The Jacobites were so named from the follow- ing circumstance: Quo tempore, 1198, fuit in eadem civitate quidam famosus Anglicus de villâ Sancti Albani, oriundus magistro Johanne, dictus de Sancto Albano, At which time (1198) there was in the same city a certain famous Englishman of the town of St. Alban's, descended from one master John, and named from St. Alban's, an excellent physician, who had the care of the King of France. Having got rich with French gold, he purchased in the same city (of Paris) a dilapidated and almost ruined hospital, where the pilgrims going to St. James's in Spain were used to resort, and to receive refresh- ment for some days, till decay of revenue prevented it. The above John, therefore, bought the place, and made an hospital of it suitable to his fortune, and when he had seen the said brothers daily cele- brating Mass, urgent in prayer, and diligent in preaching, from instigations of devotion, he gave them the house for a perpetual dwelling; and from the previous name of the house, they were in con- sequence called Jacobites [or Preachers.]* Some writers say there were three sorts of poverty among the Friars; to have nothing either of their own or in common (Franciscans, true only of some branches of them); another, nothing of their own, but something in common, as books, clothes, and food (Dominicans;) the third, some- thing of both, but only necessaries, food and clothes. Speed remarks, that every householder paid to each of the five orders of Friars, one penny per quarter; the amount of which contribution, being £43,333. 6s. 8d. per annum, is equalto a fourth of the gross revenues of all the other religious houses, as given by that author. Taylor's Index Monast. Pref. viii. * "When the Pope was going to write to Domi- nick on business, he said to the notary, Write to master Dominick and the preaching brethren ;' and from that time they began to be called the Friars Preachers." Jansenius Vita Dominici, L. i. C. vi. p. 44. Antw. 12mo. FRIARS. 169 King nor Bishop, says an antient poet, "have any thing done so soon as these esteemed religious;"a and, says Barclay, "the Freres have store every day of the week." To shew how they were obtained, Faustus the country- man says, We geve wool and cheese, our wives coyne and eggs, When freres flatter and praise their proper legges ; to which he adds, that one had two or three cheeses of him for a score of pinnes, and two or three needles, and Phillis gave coyne because he did her charme, Ever sith that time lesse hath she felt of harme. Firing was given them by grant,d and clothing sent by cart-loads at a time.e If an estimate of their conduct may be formed from that of foreign religi- ous not long after their æra, who resem- bled them in other respects, denial of their requests was extremely perilous, If refused, they were in the habits of extracting scandal from the servants, dispersing it, and sometimes fabrica- ting a charge of heresy, in case they had little chance of injuring in the for- mer way. They had rich garments or valuable furniture, and delighted much in having or borrowing moveables of this kind. They took persons with them to collect money, because they could not receive it themselves. Their taxes were paid for them by the nobi- lity; and they obtained mansions and Nec Rex nec Episcopus, ut satis est probatum, Habent opus aliquod tam cito paratum, Quam qui cotidie vadunt mendicatum. MS. Cott. Cleop. B. 11. p. 59. c Id. 5. Barclay, Egl. i. d Morant's Colchester, 152. e M. Paris, p. 718. "Illius ancillas f Buchanani Franciscanus. famulosque accerse loquaces," &c. Poemata, 268. Amstel. 12mo. 1687. See also Notices, v. 408. Non habere debent apparamenta aut preciosa vasa; et fratres in hujusmodi rebus precipue glori- antur. MS. Bodl. 2737, p. 15. Insuper fratres non habeant nec mutuent vasa aurea vel argentea, vel utantur eisdem, vel aliis jocalibus preciosis. MS. Bodl. 1882, p. 49, b. Quod secum ducat ad colligendos denarius receptores. MS. Bodl. 2737, p. 14, b. 66 In the ninth of Edward III. when the houses of the Friars, Carmelites, and other houses of Friars in Bristol and Gloucester, were taxed to pay any 15th or other duty to the king, this lord sent to them either all or most part of the money." MS. Lives of the Berkeley Family, 292. dwellings by sending messengers to the Papal See, to cheat the Monks of them, in which, however, they received a check,k Chaucer's Friar is a pleasant scoun- drel, a religious Falstaff. He was wanton and merry; full of dalliance and fair language; had made full many a marriage of young women at his own cost; was intimate with yeomen over all the country and worthy women of the towns; was licentiate of his Order, and had power of confession, more than any Curate; instead of weeping and prayers, by way of penance, he pre- scribed money to the "poor Freres;" could sing and play well; knew the taverns, hostelers, and tapsters, in every town, but shunned the beggars ;1 courteous and lowly of service when any thing was to be got; gave a certain farm for his grant; could toy like a whelp; lisped somewhat for wanton- ness, to make his English sweet upon his tongue; when begging at the bed of a sick man, he asks him for his money to make their Cloister, and pre- tends that they had fared a long while upon muscles and oysters to raise mo- ney for it; that they owed forty pounds, and if they could not get wherewith to pay it, must sell their books; that the Friars were the sun of the world, which must go to destruction but for their preaching, and that Elisha and Elias were Friars; at last he pretends that they had prayed in their Chapter day and night for his health, and adds that a trifle is nothing parted among twelve. k M. Paris, 354. Hence the satire "Cur vos Nudipedes, ad Papæ curritis ædes ?" "Why, bare- foot Friers, run ye to the Pope?" in MS. Cott. Jul. D. vII. p. 128. And how the Fryers followed folke that was ryche, And folke that was pore at little price they set, And no cors in hir kirkeyard nor kirke was buried But quik he bequeth hem ought or quite part of hir dets. Piers Plowman, f. lxi. They had standing hearses always ready. See Lib. Cotid. Contrar. Garderob. 28 Ed. I. p. 46. And compelled splendid funerals. Bale, i. 664, 5 Ed. Oporin. 170 FRIARS. The Constitutions enacted, that no one should become a General Preacher before he had studied theology for three years. Persons fit were present- ed to the General or Provincial Chap- ter, and an inquiry was made into their characters from the brothers they lived with. When sufficient attestation was adduced of their learning, piety, and fervour of zeal in purpose and inten- tion, the decision was made, whether they should stay longer in study, or whether they should proceed to preach with others more advanced in age, or by themselves. Thus qualified, they began their pernicious office. Matthew Paris describes them as expecting to be received by procession, as entering into noble Monasteries upon pretence of performing their duty, and depart- ing on the morrow; but instead, feign- ing sickness, and making a temporary wooden superaltar, receiving the confes- sion of many parishioners, to the injury of the Parish Priests. In 1246 the Friars Preachers obtained the Papal licence to hear confessions and enjoin penances any where. They called the Secular | Clergy idiots; and those who were restrained from committing sin by unwillingness that their Parish Priests should know it, encouraged themselves by saying, we will confess to some Friar passing this way, whom we have never seen before, and shall never see again.d Erasmus mentions a Parish Priest who refused them hospitality, because, said he, if you should see any poultry in my house, I should be traduced in your sermon to-morrow.e With the great they were the favourite Confessors;f they strove to be inmates at the houses of nobles, to gain favour with whom they suppressed the truth, taught them fables and falsehoods, and often, to extort money, preached matters con- trary to the true faith.g The Pope ordered them, when attending dying people, to persuade them to make their wills to the use and help of the Holy Land, that he might extort money upon recovery, or from executors upon decease. Nor was their preaching practical and useful; for, says Robert Langland, Friars and feli other masters that to the lewd men preachen Ye moven matters immesurable to tel of the trynity That ofttimes the lewde people of their beliefe douten.k They took vows of chastity from women, or induced them to pay obe- dience to themselves; became judges and arbiters; and on St. Nicholas's day, about the time of the Feast of Fools, put on secular, clerical, or female garments, and lent their own to lay a Statuimus ne ullus fiat prædicator generalis antequam theologiam audierit per tres annos. MS. Cott. Nero, A. xii. 171, b. Post hæc qui idonei ad prædicandum ab aliquibus estimantur præsentes capitulo generali, vel provinciali, ubi diligenter inquiratur à fratribus, cum quibus conversati sunt, &c. de studio et religione, et caritatis fervore in proposito ac intentione; utrum ipsi fratres adhuc in studio debeant morari, vel cum fratribus provec- tioribus in prædicatione exeant, vel idonei sint vel utiles per se prædicatoris officium exercere. 168. b. Id. b At St. Alban's a hostrey was built on purpose for them below the gate of the court, and they came there almost every day to dine or preach. M. Paris, 715. c P. 354. This is admirably ridiculed in the Funus of Erasmus. persons for secular games and sports. d M. Paris, p. 607, 8. e Colloq. 269, § Franciscani. "For sith charitie was chapman and chefe to shrive lordes." Piers Plowm. f. i. b. Tu, Carmelita, (Chaucer's Friar in the Sompn. tale was of that order,) mundum deserere quæris, ac nobilium domos frequentare anhelas. Favere magnatibus divitibusque cupiens veritatem taces, fabulas et fallacias doces, et ut sæpe pecuniam extorqueas fidei contraria prædicas. MS. Harl. 1819, f. 120, b. (Sermo Johan. Egidii.) h M. Par. 753. They were very reluctantly the Pope's agents. Id. 696. i Many. * F. lxxviii. 1 Item nullus frater à muliere votum continentiæ requirat, seu oblatum recipiat, seu ad faciendam sibi obedientiam inducat. Item fratres non sint judi- ces nec arbitri. MS. Bodl. 1882, f. 54. Caveant fratres in festo S. Nicholai, &c. ne vestes exeuntes religiosas, seu seculares, aut clericales, vel muliebres ...sub specie devotionis induerent, nec habitus aut vestes ordinis secularibus pro ludis faciendis, aut secularibus velom' accommodenter. Id. 51. b. From this it seems most probable, that the Friar in the morris-dance was not an actuai Franciscan, as Mr. FRIARS. 171 Erasmus says, that he had seen a Domestic Fool, who wore the long gown and cap of a Doctor of Divinity; ob- served a grave look, and disputed upon subjects with as much enter- tainment of great men, as any other Fool. Eating with Seculars, the Canonists decided, was allowable to them as a fit return for the services rendered to them.b They denied that their Rule pre- scribed labour, obtained Papal letters, and glossed the Rule to their own liking. Admitted murderers into their society,d and obtained money to procure par- dons for condemned criminals,e were great liars, and contentious,g fraudu- lent, usurious, simoniacal, rapacious, proud, and domineering over others, epicures, hated long prayers, dreaded penances, haunted suspicious places h Tollet supposed, but a Sæcular to whom the habit was lent. Franciscani Colloq. 277. b Nam qui alterius negotium gerit utilitatis, et ignorantis et absentis licitè recipit expensas; unde satis videtur per hoc quod fratres prædicatores, qui eunt ad raptores ut eos inducant ad pœnitentiam et restitutionem faciendam, excusari [debent] si come- dant apud illos maximè, si non possunt invenire cibos apud alios. Raymundi Summula. MS. Pemb. Coll. Libr. Oxford. e Dicunt esse errorcm, illud quod in suâ regulâ continetur. Dicitur enim in regulâ isto modo. Fratres quibus dedit gratiam laborandi laborent fideliter et devote. MS. Bodl. 2737. Regula Francisci precipit quod verba regulæ non glosentur; et fratres laborant ut verborum sensus tollantur, specialiter de literis à sede apostolicâ non petendis. Id. 14. b. (This was the grand source of conten- tion between the mild and austere Franciscans.) d M. Paris, 775. The motive here was probably not so pure as the Magdalen principle (Ecce ovis errans) upon which a thief was admitted, in MS. Harl. 2385, f. 517. e Id. 792. f "Falsenes for feare then fledde to the Friers." Piers Plowman, f. xi. a. "I am wrath, quod he, I was continually a Fryer." Id. fol. xxiii. Gravis culpa est, si quis inhonestum (sic) in audienciâ sæclariorum cum aliquo contendit; si frater cum fratre intus vel exterius lites habuerit. MS. Cott. Nero, A. xII. f. 161, a. (It is a great fault if there are any disgraceful contentions in the hearing of Sæculars, if one Friar quarrels with another, either in door or out.) h Ceteros vero terrenis inhærentes avariciæ stu- dio, fraudibus, usuris, symoniâ rapinâque loculos et cor (quod insaciabile est) anxiâ cum solicitudine implere concupiscere vides. MS. Harl. 1819, f. 120, a. Alios nempe ambitione superbos videtis aliis dominare velle, f. 120, a. Tu vero gulæ deli- cias quæris, f. 120, b. Video vos præstantissimi fratres oratione longiore affici tædio, f. 121, a to enjoy gossipping, and made idle and useless visits to women, and received presents from some of them of bad character,i for with the women they were great favourites : For when the godeman is fro hame, And ye frere comes to onie dame, He spares nought for synne ne shame. If women seme of hert full stable, With faire behest and with fable Yay can make yer hertes chaungeable. This favour was additionally gained perhaps by their military manners and habit. We have had Bishops famous Generals, as Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester; and Knighton de- scribes one John of the Franciscan Order as "brave in warlike arms;"m and John Giles reproaches the Car- melites with dressing like soldiers in the same stuff and like particularity.n Hence too the irony of these lines: Prieste ne Monke ne no Chanon, Ne no man of religion, Gyfen so to devocion, As don thes holy Frers, For some gyven ham to Chivalry, Some to riote and ribaudry, But Freres gyven ham to grete study.° On the favourable side there appear instances of disinterestedness, in re- jecting a royal present of clothing criminally obtained ;P of their religious zeal, in attempting the conversion of the Jews; of their learning in being Multi nempe religionis poenitentias horrentes nedum juvenes, sed et ætate cani.... in luxuriæ laqueo capiuntur, f 122, b. Insuper firmiter inhibemus ut loca suspecta, fabulaciones, visitationes mulierum viciosas et inutiles penitus caveatis. . . . Prohibentes nihilo- minus ne munuscula à suspectis mulieribus capian- tur. MS. Cott. Nero, A. XII. f. 157, b. * MS. Cott. Cleop. B. 11. f. 62, 63. ¹ See Grose's Military Antiquities, i. 69. Anglia Sacra, &c. m In bellicis armis strenuus. Sub. ao 1381. "Tu ut miles eodem panno eâque curiositate vestiaris. MS. Harl. 1819, p. 120, b. See also M. Paris, 630. "But nothing is viler, nor moving more to wepe, Than a Priest a rayler, disdaining his honour, Or clothed as a Courtiour, or cruel Soldiour, With weapon or armour, as one ready to fight." Barclay, § Preface to "Mirror of good Manners." MS. Cott. ut supr. f. 26. Grete study is perhaps mere irony. See sect. Studies. › M. Paris, p. 718. 9 Tovey's Anglia Judaica, p. 216, seq. 172 FRIARS. collectors of books for literary Prelates,a and referees in heretical matters.b I shall conclude this account with the description of them, given by the revered Wickliff. "And here men noten many harmes yat Freris doen y the cherch; yei spuyle ye peple many weies by ypo- crisie or other lesyngis [lies]; and bi these lesyngis, and bi this spuylinge, yei bilden caymes d castels, to harm of cuntries; yei stelen pore mennes chil- drene yat is worse yan stele an oxe; and yei stelen gladlich eiris. I leve to speke of stelyng of wymen; and yat thei maken londis bareyne, for wyth- drawing of werkmen not aloonli in defaute of cornes, but in beestis and oyir good, for yei reversen Goddis ordynaunce in preceptis of the chirche, yei maken men to trowe fals on hem, and letten almes to be gomin by Goddis lawe [i. e. hinder their being given according to God's law]; and thos yei letten by gabbingis [idle talk, lies] office and luf of trewe prestis, for hei letten [hinder] hem for to preche,f and speciali Christes gospel; yei move londis to batels and pesible persones to plete; yei maken many divorsis and many matrimonyes unleeful, bothe by leesyngis made to parties and bi pravy- leges of the court. I leve to speke of fizting yat yei doen in oor lond and other, and of other bodili harmes yat a Cave's Historia Literaria Prolegom. p. 111. b Spenser's Life of Chicheley, 75. Abbas de Bruere implacitavit fratres prædicato- res Lond' in Gwy Aula de uno mes' ibidem qui dixerunt quod non debeant respondere sine rege qui eis tenementa sua in puram eleemosynam confir- mavit. Et quia dominus rex dictum mesuag' eis non dedit, quod respondeant ulterius eidem. (i. e. the Abbot of Bruere has a trial with the Friars Preachers of London, in Guild Hall, of a messuage there; and the Friars say that they are not to answer to it without the king, who confirmed it to them in pure alms. And because our lord the king did not give it to them, that they answer further to the same.) Rot. Parl. 18 E. I. No 15. (vol. i.) Caym is Cain, a synonym; and by this term Wickliff designated the four mendicant Orders, from the initials C, Carmelites, A, Augustinians, J, Jacobites, M, Minors. See Fuller. There were laws against this. St: 4 H. IV. C. 17. They were to receive no infants into their Order under 14 years of age, without consent of parents. Parliament. Rolls, 4 H. IV. Well exposed by Erasmus in his Colloquies. tung is sufficen not to telle; for as moche as yei dispende, as moche and more yei harmen rewmes. ... but, as spyritual thing is better than bodili thing, that Ihe mai see, so spiritual harm is more yan bodili harm; yei dooen him gostth harm and al man- kinde; whereof yei ben and is thou seist that non be freris; but if yei ben, ye better to God; for holinesse of ther cumpany maketh many goode that ellis wolden be schrewis ; stryve we not when this may falle; but graunte we on tothir side that many wolde be lesse yvel out of these ordris than in hem; and sith they witen not who is beterid by entryng into yese ordris they doen as a blynd man castyth his staff to bring ony to ther ordir. Crist seyth that Pharisees been to blame for this dede, and Scarioth was the worse for beeing in this hooly cumpany he hadde not thus traied Crist and be moost unkinde traitour; and sith coventis of freris ben schrewis for the moest part or moche no wonder yf thei envenime men that come thus unto them for yhei moven to oolde errours yat thei holden among them, as thei tellen to grete avaunt yat thei be charioush to the peple in ther synful begging, and zit yei blasfemen m' Crist, and seien that he beggide thus, to maynteyne ther owne syne: suche blasfemyes be founden and contynued in these sectis, that unethis thei be evir purgid fro' servyce that thei ben browzt in as Crist techyth in his gospel. Now what men shulde snybbe ther britheren in their tymis and aftirward forsake ther cum- pany as venim; thes sectis han fordo the gospel; for nether thei doen thus snybbe their britheren, ne forsake them at the farye time; for yf yei doen yei schulen be deed or enprysoned long tyme; ellis haastily be killed; and whanne synne regneth among grete g Persons of bad temper and habits. Tyrwhitt. It is a loose general term for bad people. See Paston Letters, iv. 22. State Trials, 19, col. 2. hOf some poor freers is made more curiously, Then is some abbey or riche monastery, The first hath their trust in God our creatour, The other trusteth upon their vayne treasour, Barclay's Egloges, Egl. i. FRIARS. 173 men, and thei dreden of worldli harm, thei doen not snybbe men of thys synne leest ther ordir leese worldli helpe; but wher is more heresie than to love this ordre more than God, or to do yvellis for hope of good, that Poul forfendyn men to do. Also yese sectis empugne the gospel, and also the oold lawe, for thei chargen more yer owne statute, al if it be agens God- dis lawe,a yan yei doen the lawe of the gospel, and yus thei loven more ther ordre than Crist; al if it were never so moche nede to go out and preche God- dis lawe, to defende our modir holi churche, zit yer ordir letteth this but if yei han ther priour's leve, al if God bidde to do this; and communli thes privat priours lette ther felowis here to go out, and so be thei never so riche, thei schulen not helpe ther fleshli eldres (erased), for all ther goodis ben ye housis sith they have nowgt propre but synne, and thys errour repruveth Crist in the Pharisees, yat sizen the gnat and swallowen the camel; for yei chargen lesse more harm; also thes Pharisees chargen moche ther fastyngis and other thyngis, that thei han foundun; but kepyng of Goddis mauntementes thei chargen not halfe so moche, as he schulde be holden Apostata that lefe ye abite for a daie, but for levyng of de- dys of charite schulde he nothyng be blamed; and thus yei blasfemen in God, and seien whoso dieth in this abyte schall never go to helle, for holynesse "See Menagiana, i. 302. b There are Limitours, Friars allowed to beg and preach within limits, and Listers, without bounds. • Quidam monachi dicunt omnes esse monachos, qui in paradiso erunt, vel potius nullum ibi esse non monachum. (Certain Monks say, that all are Monks who shall gain Heaven; or rather that there is no one there not a Monk.) MS. Royal Library, 7. A. III. (No pages.) Accordingly, it is no wonder some people were desirous of being buried in their habits; but others took care not to wear it while living. Lewis the Landgrave said, "As soon as I am dead, put on me the hood of the Cistertian Order; but take very diligent care not to do it while I am alive." (Mox ut mortuus fuero cucullam ordinis Cister- ciensis mihi induite, et ne fiat me vivente diligen- tissime cavete.) Many took the habit in sickness, and afterwards left it. Muratori Rer. Italic. Scrip- tores, iv. 316. The Monthly Reviewers for May, 1801, p. 77, have extracted a curious passage from Mr. Gough's Monuments on this subject. that is therein; and so ayens Cristis sentence, they semen an oolde cloute in a newe cloeth, for yer order yei sein is gederid of the old lawe and the newe; and zit thei han founden herto newe thingis, that thei kepon as gos- pel; and thus thei chargen ther owne fasting and other ritis that thei kepen, more than biddyngis of Crist, for thei ben no newe maundementis to them. Suche hid sinnes among freres doen more harm to christen men than ben the bodili harmes, which the world. chargyth more; and thes errours in the world ben hyth maynteynid by freres, for wynning of worldli good or worldli worschip that thei covetin,e as lettris of fraternity, and dowring of other d Sir Thomas More said to his Lady, that the consideration of the time (for it was Lent) should restrayne her from so scolding her servants; "Tush, Tush, my Lord," said she, "looke, here is one step to heavenward," shewing him a Frier's girdle. "I fear me," said he, "this one step will not bring you up a step higher." Camden's Remains, 276. Thus it appears, that Ladies wore Friers' girdles in Lent. e I found ther the fryers, all the four orders, Preached to the people for profite of hemselves, Glosed the gospel as hem good liked. Piers Plowman, Fol. i. b. See too Maitland's London, i. 142. Of getting wills made in their favour, see Rapin, iv. 437. is well known they were great instruments of sedi. tion. Wickliff himself (and others) says, "Yf they seien that it (the host) is goddis body, and many freris seien the contrary." MS. Roy. Lib. 18. B. IX. f. 187, b. It For while Fortune is thy friend, Friers will the love, [beseche And fetche the to their fraternitie and for the To her prior provinciall a pardon to have. Piers Plowman, f. liii. b. There were letters of fraternity, of various kinds. "Lay people of all sorts, men and women, married and single, desired to be inrolled in spiritual frater- nities, as thereby enjoying the spirituall prerogatives of pardon, indulgence, and speedy dispatch out of purgatory." Smith's Lives of the Berkeley Family, MS. iii. 443. Those, however of the Friers had a peculiar sanctity. Piers Plowman, speaking of the day of judgment, says, A poke full of pardon, ne provincial letters Though ye be founden in the fraternitie of the iiii orders. f. xxxviii. b. These letters of fraternity are of the most remote antiquity, and several of them have been published. There were also letters of fraternity between diffe- rent Convents for mutual defence; for, in the year 1251, certain Prelates and Religious, finding that the Popes and Bishops, formerly their friends, became their persecutors and oppressors, combined together, that bearing one another's burthens, they might be less heavily felt (M. Paris, 700;) and a similar thing was enjoined in 1444, on account of 174 FRIARS. prestes al if it be agens himself, is stiflè susteyned bi freris, and so men sufficen not to tell insensible errours that thei susteynen, and zit for privy- lege of the Pope, none othir man dar biame hem, for thei ben exempt fro Goddis lawe bi prevelygees that they general dislike. Cap. Gen. Northamp. ejusd. ann. cap. ix. It seems, that by letters of confederation between different houses (it is not precisely men- tioned of what kind), the Monks bound themselves down to what they could not perform, and on this account a remedy was to be found by the General Chapter. Reyn. Append. 108. W. Thorne men- tions agreements between different houses to receive in hospitality each the other's Monks; also if any Monk, not convicted of a notorious crime, came there, he was to be charitably entertained till con- signed in peace to his own house; and if an Abbot was elected from another house, the brethren of such house were to come to the other to celebrate the election canonically. C. 16, sect. 9. C. 23, sect. 4. C. 28, sect. 8. The object of some of these confederations was, that the Monks, when driven from one place, should have a refuge in another. Ibid. They lapsed into oblivion in many places, though preserved at St. Augustine's, Canterbury. W. Thorne, 1924. The spiritual privileges of the first kind of letters of fraternity were also extended to Monks, Clerks, and Canons; and such perons were called Fratres externi. Du Cange, in voce. The form of admitting a Monk into fraternity was this: he was introduced into the Chapter; and, han getun; but Peter was not exempt fro scharp snybbyng of Poul theiling that John forfendide hath no virtu among these freris; for they saluten often fiendis more than thei doe Cristis children."a after Benedicite, prostrated himself on the step; the question was then put, what he wanted, which was suitably answered by the Abbot, who ordered him to rise, and he received the society of the house by the book of the Rule. The Abbot then gave him the kiss of peace, which he returned by pro- stration at his feet; then he returned to the step, made three genuflexions, and the Monks continued bowing to him till he went to the seat the Abbot ordered. To an Abbot the Convent rose when he entered the Chapter, and he sat next the Prelate of the house, and kissed the Monks when they left the Chapter. A Secular person took the society upon the Gospel, and, if male, kissed the Monks in circuit. Dec. Lanfr. Wickliff takes another opportunity of censuring these letters of fraternity. See Dialogi, pars 4, c. 30, fol. cxlix. seq. of the Ed. 1525, of which, as being excessively scarce, it is necessary to note, there are two later editions, and perhaps more. N. B. The curious reader will find much valuable information of the Mendicant Orders in one of the Chapters of Mr. Warton's History of English Poetry. MS. Roy. Libr. 18. B. IX. f. 186, 7. (Wickliff's Omelies.) They were printed, I believe, in the 16th century at Leipsic. NOVICES. 175 CHAPTER XXIX. NOVICES. THE profession of Monachism was considered as a kind of second bap- tism: a but the main motive for being so baptised, was, it seems, good eating.b Except, however, in the Mendicant Orders, who stole and kidnapped chil- dren, this privilege was by no means easily obtained. The difficulty suffi- ciently appears, by the king's some- times sending letters to request admis- sion for certain persons, and founders and benefactors reserving a right of having a Monk or Nun of their own appointment.d Instances are upon record of poverty and insufficiency, upon examination, being respectively causes of rejection, and of a preference given to noble or at least legitimate birth being complained of.e John, 21st Abbot of St. Alban's, made a statute, that the number of Monks in that Abbey should never exceed 100, unless any person was famous for rank or science, or his admission requested by a powerful man, whom it might be dangerous to offend.f Richard the First complained of the Monks and Canons of his æra, that they associated to themselves tanners and shoe-makers, not one of whom ought, with propriety, or his knowledge, to be made a Bishop or Abbot ; and this complaint, which is re-echoed in the Plowman's tale, erroneously ascribed to Chaucer, re- ceives further confirmation by an injunction [from the Augustinian Rule], that "suche as enter power into Religion [should not] looke with hye contynaunce because they be associat a Calvin, Instit. Theol. 451. bUt bene pascant omnes cupiunt monachari, Moab et Agarem, Gebal et Ammon. All wish to be Monks for the sake of good eating, &c. MS. Harl. 913, f. 55. • Monast. ii. 804. M. Par. 268, 995, 996, 1016, 1019. 1 ! Id. (2d.) 1043. d Id. i. 691. * Gervas, 1595. with theym, unto whom they durste not come, when they were abrode in the worlde." Benedict allowed pre- sents to be made at admission of Monks, provided that the use of them was reserved by the donors for their lives.i Simony, however, was common under the name of the price of their clothes, and customs of the house;k and lands were frequently given, as the purchase of admission. Sometimes only mere interest was used; "Also she had two doughters, whiche bothe were made Nonnes at Catesby in North- amptonshire, by the labor of theyr broder Edmunde." m The age of admission and profession it is not very easy to decide. In some Rules, the boys offered to Monasteries were not to be younger than ten or twelve years, because they did not then require attention, and knew how to avoid faults.n Any Monk, say the Clugniac Rules, can offer a boy, and the Chamberlain then took him to the Vestiary, and clothed him in the habit of a Novice, except that he did not wear a stamin, but a linen shirt. He was then offered in the same man- ner as a boy presented by his parents; and he was professed at fifteen years of age. The Monks of St. Augustine's, Can- terbury, obtained a bull, that boys under fifteen years of age should not be received in the house, because seve- ral Abbots, through fear or interest, had admitted children to the habit who had scarcely left the breast.º In the Anglo-Saxon period four infants, not seven years old, were educated under h MS. Bodl. 3010. Reg. C. 59. Conc. Oxon. a° 1222. Can. 39. Dev. Vie Mon. ii. 497, 501, 4. 1 Monast. i. 39, 42. m Gold. Leg. ccxvii. Du Cange, v. Nutriti Oblati. • Chronol. August. Cant. & W. Tho. C. 12. sect. 13. 176 NOVICES. the Rule of Religion.a Hugh the Lincolne Saint, "whan he was ten yere, was put into a Monastery for to lerne the rules of discypline, and there was made and professyd a Chanon reguler; wherein he lyvid so devoutly that when he was xv yere olde he was deputet for to be a Priour of a certayn celle." One William Pigun, a Monk of St. Alban's, applied to his Abbot for the admission of a nephew; but the Abbot declined it "because he was under age, and therefore unfit;" but he was nevertheless received at Peter- borough. The Canons ordered no one to be professed a Monk till eighteen a Monk till eighteen years old, without a necessity, as a deficiency of Monks for divine service, or utility, as powerful connections, skill in art or science, or temporal wis- dom. This statute, Canonists said, was special in islands, on account of the superior severity of the climate and religion, but they confessed that they did not find it observed even there.d Alexander III. forbad any profession of virginity till the age of fourteen years; the council of Trent till sixteen; more ancient councils till twenty-five; Gregory the First not before sixty; Bellarmin till the age of puberty, fourteen in males, and twelve in females. There was a statute made, that boys under twelve years of age, should not be received by the Mendi- cants into their Orders; which was opposed by William Folville, a Fran- ciscan of Lincoln.f The renewal of the Gregorian statutes ordered no No- vice to be professed till he had attained his fifteenth year, and the Convent of St. Alban's returned "observed," to this as well as other points of the Benedictine Rule on this head, except that they were admitted to profession before the terminations of the year of probation.h A General Chapteri of a Hist. Rames. C. lxvii. They did not become Monks. e M. Par. 1048. Gold. Leg. f. ccxviii. b. d Lyndw. 202. Fuller's Ch. Hist. 297. Le Voeu de Jacob, iv. 29. 1 Fabric. Biblioth. M. Ævi, iii. 432. Decr. Lanfr. C. 18. M. Par. 1098, 1040. I North. a 1225. sect. De Proprietate. the thirteenth century enacted, that unless from commendable utility, Monks should not be received under twenty years of age. The general sta- tutes of the Franciscans, in the recep- tion of Novices, prescribe, that, "they shall be legitimately born, and sixteen years old at least; "k and Henry's visi- tors order, "that no man be sufferyd to professe, or to were the habit of reli- gion in this house, or he be xxiiii years of age; and that they entice or allure no man with skeusacions and blan- diments to take the religion uppon him."1 The lawful age of profession in Nuns was after they had passed their twelfth year; and they were, ipso facto, to be judged professed, after they had passed more than a year in the society, though they were to be con- secrated by the Bishop, at the proper season, when twenty-five years old, and not before.m However, Alan, Canon of Beneventum, was nearly five years a Novice of Canterbury." Paris mentions a person who had lived three years a Novitiate." And among the Clugniacs many were never pro- fessed, and others forty years before that took place, owing to their being obliged to go beyond sea, for such purpose.p M. Novices were of various sorts, as Clerks, Laymen, and those already Monks, of which there were three kinds. 1. Those from other Monas- teries. 2. Those from their own cells. 3. Those from a Monastery of their own Order.q Certain forms of the habit worn were alone sufficient, among other spi- der's webs equally frivolous, to consti- tute, without profession, an obligation to remain in the Order.r It appears, that women were much MS. Bodl. * De novitiorum receptione, ætatem attingens xvi annorum ad minus, legitimè natus. 1882, p. 44. 1 MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. a 1535. m Lynd. 202. n Gervas, 1456. P Reyner, Append. 148, 9. Du Cange, v. Novitii. Lyndw. 202, 203. f. 24. a. See Stowe, • P. 1031. NOVICES. 177 more ready to take the vows than men, especially when in trouble; that a per- son under the age of puberty could not take them without the consent of the father; nor a woman after cohabitation without that of the husband; nor a Bishop, but by papal permission;ª that old persons were advised not to do it, lest after tonsure they should wish to withdraw ;b and that many were deter- red, by dread of having the lives of the Saints, and divine service, to get by heart, in consequence of which suita- ble dispensations were granted. As to making Nuns by force, Peter of Blois loudly declaims against it. The nobility so crowded Nunneries, that Papal prohibitions were often obtained.e By the Norman Institutes,f persons coming to conversions were received where other guests were, and the arri- val announced to the Abbot, who, or a deputed person, spoke on the subject with the applicant. Then, after the opinion of the Chapter was taken, if the Abbot decided upon his admission, the Hosteler introduced him into the Chapter, where he lay prostrate; upon this, some questions were put to him, and the severities of the Order announced.h If after this he persisted, the Pre- Lyndw. 203, 4. b Cumque senex fueris non debes claustra subire, ne post tonsuram fortasse velis resilire. MS. Bodl. 2159, f. 207. c Nonnulli etiam viri hilares religionem nostram ingredi affectantes cum historiarum multitudinem solicite considerant, timore percussi e proposito recedunt; prædictasque historias una cum reliquo totius anni servicio [cum] omnes inter nos religio- nem ingredientes more antiquitus observato, plenè corde tenus reddere teneantur: salvâ dispensatione cum viris multum habilibus, seu in scolis statum habentibus, in toto vel in parte, prout abbas indica- verit facienda: considerantes etiam noctium brevi- tatem tempore æstatis, volumus, et ordinamus, &c. [to dispense with them at given times.] MS. Cott. Claud. E. iv. f. 242, a. (Const. Tho. Abb. S. Alb. a. 1351.) d Adelicia neptis vestra quod eam in monasterium detrudere et claustrali vultis invitam et renitentem custodia mancipare, &c. MS. King's Library 8. F. xvii. sect. Quod non est mulier monachanda invita. e Parkin's Norwich, 298. f Decr. Lanfr. C. 18. De Novitiis suscipiendis. g Those who entered adults. See Du Cange, v. Nutriti. A person newly coming to conversion has sident of the Chapter proclaimed his admission, and the Novice kissing his feet, retired to the Church, and sat down before one of the Altars out of the Choir till the Chapter was finished. Then followed the benediction of the tonsure, shaving of his head, and robing him in the Monastic habit, all which was accompanied with suitable religious offices. Thus prepared, he was led into the Convent; and went last of the Clerks, if a Clerk; of the Laymen, if a Secular; and took rank in the Processions, Chapter, and Re- fectory, according to the time of his conversion. He slept in the chamber of the Novices, or, where there was no such appointment, in the Dormitory; he did not read in the Convent; never sung alone; did not offer at Mass; did not take the peace; sat apart in the Cloister with his master in the place appointed for the Novices; and no one spoke to, or made a sign to him, with- out leave of the Master; but when any one of the Monks conversing in the Cloister wished to reprove or advise him, he could, by leave of the Master, do so. When he was accused of a fault, he immediately rose and solicit- ed pardon, like the Monks in Chapter, nor sat till his Master ordered him to do so. For greater faults, he was either chidden or beaten in the Chap- ter or Chamber of the Novices. He went out daily from the Chapter, and remained in the interim in the Church, except he staid for punishment. He made frequent confessions of the faults he committed, both before and after he took the habit, to the Abbot, Prior, or person deputed by them. After certain days the Master advised him to procure the Prior and some Seniors to intercede with the Abbot for his bene- not an easy admission, but is mocked (deluditur), and proved in various ways according to that text of the Apostle, "Try the spirits, whether they be of God." It then mentions a parent, who was ordered to throw his son into a river, in order to try his obedience, who was however restrained by the Monks. After this he was treated as above. (Of the Cistertians.) Monast. Thuringianum, p. 890. N 178 NOVICES. diction and profession. Upon a fixed day, after the reading of the Rule was finished in the Chapter, he prostrated himself at the Abbot's feet, and made his petition; he was then ordered to rise, and the severities of the Order were announced to him; upon his answer, that he would patiently endure them, the Abbot consulted the Monks upon his request, and if they consented, he went to the Abbot or presiding offi- cer's feet, then returned to his place, and bowing, thanked the Monks for their intercession. Afterwards, upon the Abbot's order, he retired with his master; and, if he could write, wrote out the schedule of profession; or, if he could not write, another, provided by the Chantor, did it for him; and he only made a cross. Then, till the time of benediction, he took off his hood from his gown, and remained out of the Choir; which time, whether before the beginning of Mass, if the Abbot did not celebrate, or after the Gospel, if he did or not, was in the option of the Abbot; though it was his duty to celebrate that office if convenient. The Gospel then being read, he enter- ed the Choir, his master preceding him, and prostrated himself at the step of the Altar, while a psalm was sung, upon the conclusion of which he rose and read his profession (or his master instead, if he could not read), and then laid it upon the Altar. After this he knelt before the Altar, and request- ed pardon; then going to his former place, he said three times, kneeling, "Receive me, O Lord!" which was each time re-echoed by the Convent. At the Doxology he turned round and prostrated himself Then followed a religious service; after which the Novice arose, and the Abbot sprinkled him and his hood with holy water. then took off his gown, as he knelt before him, saying, "The Lord take away from you the old man with his deeds," and, putting on the hood, bade him be clothed with the new man; to all which the Convent returned, Amen. Then, after a prayer, while the Novice. kneeled, the Abbot kissed him, and put He the hood on his head;a then he was led through the Choir for all the Monks to kiss him, and was placed last. For three days he took the Sacrament, and on the third the hood was taken from his head.b Before that time he pre- served a constant silence; left the Chapter after the sentence of the Rule was read, went in no procession, and slept in his hood. In the first Chap- ter, in which he was allowed to speak,c his master solicited licence for him to read and sing in the Convent like the others; to which assent was given, and he could then perform all services except Mass, which he could not cele- brate till a year after, unless by especial commission. When a boy was offered, after his hair was cut round,d he was presented, carrying the Host and Chalice, by his parents to the Priest celebrating at the Mass. The parents then wrapped his hands in the pall of the Altar, and read a written promise, that they would use, directly or indirectly, no inducement for him to leave the Order, or knowingly give him any thing; which promise they laid upon the Altar. The Abbot Novices did not anciently wear hoods at St. Alban's. M. Paris, 1045. b In the Capitula of Theodore (Abp. Cant.) it is ordered, that the Abbot in the profession of a Monk should say Mass and three prayers over his head for seven days, cover his head with a hood, and on the seventh take the veil from the head, as the Priest did from that of infants in Baptism, the susception of Monachism being considered by the fathers as a second baptism. Du Cange, v. Velum. e Novices were to leave the Chapter immediately after the portion of the Rule appointed for the day was read (though some Abbots allowed them to stay), lest, taking disgust at the disciplines, they should decline profession, and expose the secrets of the house. Reyn. App. 196. However, on the third day after profession, they took their first seat, and then swore, [at S. Aug. Cant.] to the utmost of their power, not to suffer the house to be bound for other's debts, or reveal its secrets. X Script. 2062. The Friers never allowed them to attend the Chapter at all. Speght's Chaucer, 617. d Cutting off the hair in the Monks was a sym. bol of servitude to God, slaves being shorn. When Monks were shorn, the first locks were cut off by the King, or great men. To offer a lock of hair to a Monastery was to become partaker of its prayers, &c. In 697, an offerer pulled off his shoes, went to the Altar, and offered a lock of hair. Cange, v. Capilli.) The beard was also consecrated to God, when they became Monks. (Id. v. Barbam radere.) (Du NOVICES. 179 then consecrated his hood, and, after divesting him of his Secular habit, put it on with a preceding prayer. He was then taken out to be shaved and robed, according to the Order. Later æras used this supplication, "Attend, "Attend, O Lord, to our prayers, and deign to bless this thy servant, upon whom, in thy holy name, we place the habit of religion, that, by thy assistance, he may continue devout in the Church, and deserve to inherit eternal life." These Norman institutes formed the basis of all subsequent English Monachism, and, like a great Roman road, are to be conspicuously traced in the later forms of profession. At Abingdon, when the Abbot said, "We speak of the Order," the candidates for profession rose, and went to the reading-desk, and solicited pardon. The Abbot then asked them, what they said? to which they replied, "We ask permission of the Virgin Mary, and our master, St. Benedict, that you would grant us leave to be professed." Then the Abbot spoke what was usual on such occasions; after which, they advanced and said, "By the Grace of God, and the blessing of you and the Convent, we will behave well." This was fol- lowed by prayers, and kissing the hands and feet of the Abbot; after which they went to the place where they had sat in the beginning of the Chapter, made their inclination, and went in the usual Adesto, a Ad pueros sacro habitu induendum. Domine, supplicationibus nostris, et hunc famulum tuum benedicere dignare, cui in hoc sancto nomine habitum sacræ religionis imponimus, ut te largi- ente et devotus in ecclesiâ persistere, et vitam per- cipere mereatur æternam. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. viii. f. 115, b. b Cum dixit abbas, "Loquimur de ordine nostro," tunc surgant qui petunt professionem, et eant ad analogium; sibi capiant veniam : tunc dicet abbas, Quid dicitis? tunc dicet prior eorum, petimus veniam de Sanctæ Mariæ et nostri magistri Sancti Benedicti, &c. ut vos concedatis nobis benedictio- nem monachatus. Tunc dicet abbas quæ dicenda sunt: postquam perrexerint dicent ipsi qui petunt professionem, per graciam Dei et vestram benedic- tionem et conventus faciemus bene. Tunc dicet abbas (prayers to which the Convent answered Amen): tunc osculentur pedes et manus abbatis; tunc ibunt ad locum quo prius sedebant in principio capituli, et faciant ibi ante et retro et exeant more solito et eant ad ecclesiam. MS. Cott. Claud. C. Ix. f. 184. manner to the Church. The ritual from this period thus takes up the ceremony. The Convert was led into the Church, and the psalm Miserere was sung; after which followed appro- priate prayers, then such as were suited to the consecration of the habit; and to putting off the to putting off the secular, and assuming This was succeed- ed by a particular prayer, and the kiss of peace being given by all, the Novice remained silent in Albs till the third day.c At Ensham,d when the Candidates • Permaneat cum summo silentio in albis, usque in tertium diem. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. vII. f. 114, b. Athon says, where the habits of the Novitiates and Professed are not different, the habit ought to be blessed at the time of profession. P. 143. Hac d MS. Bodl. Barlow, 7, fol. 61. De professione Novitiorum. Quando novitii facere debent profes- sionem, inter Evangelium vel ante pro tempore ducantur ad altare S. Petri in vestiario, ubi deponant cucullas suas, indutique tunicis et froccis, habentes cucullas suas super sinistra brachia, ducantur post Evangelium ante majus altare, singuli novitii singulis monachis, ita quod primus à priore. Dicemus in eundo psm. Miserere. Quo finito stantes coram abbate, legant singuli singillatim voce mediocri professionem suam manibus propriis scriptam hoc modo [several of these have been printed.] lectâ tradat quilibet professionis libellum in manum abbatis, et abbas ponat super altare. Quibus factis dicant omnes simul flexis genibus altâ voce hunc versum, Suscipe me secundùm eloquium tuum, et vivam; et non confundas me ab expectatione mea; hic versus à conventu repetatur, et ita usque tertio ab eis dicatur, et à conventu repetatur, et ultimo (sic) cum Gloriâ prosternant se novicii super gradum medium in modum satisfactionis, et sequatur (a religious service). Interim novicii jaceant in curtâ veniâ; hic surgant novicii, et ponant cucullas suas ad pedes abbatis. Abbas vero benedicat eos hoc modo (pr.) Hic aspergat cucullas aquâ benedictâ, er tunc exuat primum novicium frocco, et dicat exuendo, "Exuat te d'mnus veterem hominem cum actibus suis." Et omnes respondeant, Amen. Et cooperiat abbas capud novicii cum capucio, usque ad medietatem faciei, et ita faciat de singulis. tunc iterum prosternant se novicii super gradus in satisfactione; et dicat abbas cum astantibus psal- mum, &c. Hic surgant novicii, et det eis abbas osculum pacis ; et sic semper velato capite ducantur in chorum singuli à singulis monachis osculum pacis recipientes. Quibus peractis sedeant ultimi in choro cum psalteriis suis, dum missa celebratur, et cum ventum fuerit ad Agnus Dei procedant, et recipiant osculum ab abbate, et postea communicent, et redeant ad stalla sua et psalteria. Et notandum quod licet ultimi sunt in choro, tum quicunque procedere debent cum conventu alii eos precedant; et sciendum quod quandocunque fit processio ab eccl'iâ in dormitorium, eant cum conventu ; quando vero in claustrum, remaneant in eccl'iâ. Capitulum non intrent; ante terciam oracionem eant in dormi- torium et ad lavatorium; et faciant trinam oracionem Et N 2 180 NOVICES. for profession were to make it, during the Gospel, or before, they were led to the Altar of St. Peter in the Vestiary, where they put aside their hoods, and, in their tunics and frocks, with their hoods on their left arms, were brought after the Gospel before the great Altar, every Novice being led by a Monk, the first by the senior Prior. In going, the psalm Miserere was sung; after which, standing before the Abbot, every Novice, singly, in a low voice, read his profession written with his own hand, and then delivered it to the Abbot, who placed it upon the altar. After this, all together kneeling said, in a loud voice, the precatory petition for reception, which was repeated three times both by them and the Convent in answer; after which, at the Doxolo- gy, they prostrated themselves upon the middle step of the altar, while a religious service was performed. Then they arose and put their hoods at the Abbot's feet, who consecrated them, sprinkled them with holy water, and stripped the first Novice of his frock, with the preceding form, to which the Convent replied Amen. The Abbot then covered the head of the Novice with his hood, as low as half of his face, and did the same with the rest. The Novices then again prostrated themselves, and the Abbot and stand- ers-by sung a psalm. Here they arose, the Abbot gave them the kiss of peace, and to receive this from the other Monks they were led round the Choir with their heads covered. After these ceremonies, they sat last in the Choir, with their psalters, while the Mass was semper velato capite; et nichil ad diurnas horas altâ voce apponant, sed dimisse (sic) omnia dicant cum conventu. Noctibus vero induti cucullis jaceant ante matutinas in dormitorio; post matutinas vero post processionem in dormitorium ducantur in ecclesiam, et residuum noctis in meditatione sc'a et psalmis, &c. peragant; et ita fiat per duos dies et duas noctes. Tertia vero die veniant ad missam abbatis, sive abbas celebret, sive eo impotente cele- brare alius missam celebraverit; et cum ventum fuerit ad Agnus Dei suscipiant osculum pacis ab abb'e, et communicant; et cum communicant abbas discooperiat capita eorum: et post missam faciat abbas eis sermonem, exponens eis quod talis debet esse prima monachi, qualem jam inceperunt, et postea ducantur in conventum. celebrated, and at the Agnus Dei pro- ceeded to receive the kiss from the Abbot, and afterwards communicated, and returned to their stalls and psalters. Although last in the Choir, those who were to go out with the Convent went before others; and when there was a procession from the Church_to_the Dormitory, they went with the Con- vent; when to the Cloister, they staid in the Church. They did not enter the Chapter; they went to the Dormi- tory and Lavatory before the triple prayer, which they said with their hoods on, and sung nothing at the daily hours with the Convent with a loud voice, but joined the Convent at all services in a lowly form. At nights, before Mattins, they slept in the Dormitory with their hoods on. After Mattins, when the procession to the Dormitory was finished, they passed the rest of the night in the Church, in meditation and psalmody; and this was done for two days and nights. On the third day they came to the Abbot, or who- ever celebrated the Mass, and at the Agnus Dei received the kiss of peace from him, and communicated; upon which the Abbot uncovered their heads; and, after the Mass, he made a sermon to them, explaining, that such as they had begun, so they ought to conti- nue; after which, they joined the Convent.a The professions of the Monks were entered in a book called Pactum.b Their previous duties as Novices still however remain to be shown. a It seems that there was a liberty in some places of sending to what bishop they pleased to make professions and confer orders upon their monks, and that they sometimes selected in this respect with a view to prevent exaction. Hist. Eliens. L. 2. C. 9. However, the usual Rule was for them to be ordained by the bishop of the diocese ; for this is a common item in bulls of exemption. Monast. i. 54, &c. Notwithstanding which, ordi- nation by any bishop was a proof of exemption. M. Paris, 1026. It seems, upon being promoted to priesthood, great feasts were given with a large assembly of Seculars. Monast. ii. 718. After profession, they were named from the places they came from; but it is strange that they should be so absurd as to name a Monk Henricus de Urinaria. Smith's Catalogue of the Cotton MSS. p. 201, under Tiber. A. vIII. b Du Cange, in voce. NOVICES. 181 He Among the Gilbertines they were not set down in the table to any Church duty, or were readers or attendants at dinner, as among the Benedictines (where I suspect the custom crept in latterly. M. Paris, 1045.) though they rose for this purpose when necessary. They performed only certain parts in divine service, nor celebrated Mass, though Priests. They read only occa- sionally at Collation and Chapter; nor went to work constantly till they had learned the whole service. They com- municated (having previously confessed to the master) eight times per ann. was punishable in Chapter for their misbehaviour.a The Prior was to awake the Monks at such an hour, say Lanfranc's decretals, that the boys, after the usual prayers, might read in the Cloister; who, when they began to read loudly, were to sit so far apart, as not to touch one another either with their hands or clothes. No sign, speech, or locomotion, was to be made without the knowledge or leave of the master; and one of these, wherever they went, was to be between two boys. They bowed to the Monks in passing, which was returned by those who were sitting. One lantern was to be enough for two Novices; if there were three, a third carried another; and so in proportion. They neither gave nor took any thing without leave, and in fit places, except from the Chantor, with regard to the books they read or sung in, or when serving at an Altar. They were beaten in their Chapter; and in confession, while one was with the Confessor, an- other sat on a stool, their master being just by. If they were tardy in entering the Refectory or Choir, they went to their usual places, made their bow, and their master took the place of those who were late. Abstinence of meat or drink could not be enjoined on the Novice that attended the Abbot, without his order; in which last case he was either indulged, or, in the interim, removed from his office. When the Abbot was present in the Choir, no one beat. Monast. ii. 718. or stripped them without his leave; but, in his absence, the Chantor might correct them in matters relating to his office, and the Prior where they be- haved with levity. No one but these could make a sign to or smile upon them; or enter their school, or talk to them, without licence. At mid- day they only rested in their beds covered; and at night, till they were covered, the masters attended with a lantern. The boys had breakfast in the morn- ing, and ate meat till fourteen years old. The Rule was explained to them every day, and they sung in the Choir, im- moveably, with their faces inclined to the ground.b Young men brought up in the house, or just come from the world, were treated in many things in a similar manner; sitting apart; never going any where without a keeper; carrying lan- terns two and two, and making their confessions only to the Abbot, Prior, or deputed person; not reading at midday in their beds; not writing; not doing any work; only sleeping covered, the beds being either before or between those of the masters; if they wanted to rise, they awoke their mas- ters; and, a lantern being lighted, they accompanied them for the purpose needed. In their own place, no one sat near, spoke, or made a sign to them without leave; and then the master sat between; nor could they talk toge- ther, unless the masters were between or before them. When they went to sleep, the masters stood before them till they were laid down. In the Church, Fratry, and Chapter, they mixed with the Seniors, without obser- ving rank, if necessary. If they read at the table, or served in the kitchen, they went with the Monks, when they rose from table, to the Church, and, after saying a prayer, returned with their keepers to the Refectory; two together, or more, if possible, remaining of the Convent. In case, however, of a paucity of Seniors, and a great number b Du Cange, v. Comestio, Infantes, 182 NOVICES. of Juniors, sufficient guardians were deputed; and, if the custom of some houses was more agreeable, they sat apart in the Cloister in separate places; every one carried a lantern; and their guardians never left them, unless under the care of another in whom they could confide. Among the Friars, "during silence they were to beware making a noise at others; whenever reproved by the Superior, to ask pardon; to contend with nobody, but in all things obey their master; in processions to wait for their comrade, and not talk at impro- per places and seasons. When any garment was given them, to bow hum- bly, and say lowly [thanks]; if they saw any thing done licentiously, to conceive the bad good, or suspect it done with a good intention, when there was no accusation in the Chapter, or reproof elsewhere."a They were not to have an office till they knew by heart what they had to learn; nor till then be dismissed from custody, or pro- moted to Priesthood; nor were they to sleep or dine out before they had been laudably conversant in the Clois- ter, nor to have a chest, or key, or out-door office, or be sent out of the house till they had been two years well behaved; except in cases of ur- gency or utility, or except they were old men. They had recreations of play, it seems, in the morning, and Ut aliis rugitum non faciant, ubicumque repre- hensi fuerint à prælato veniam petant. Ut cum nemine contendere præsumant, sed in omnibus magistro suo obediant ; ubique ad processionem socium sibi collateralem attendant, et non loquantur locis et temporibus interdictis. Quum quodpiam vestimenti dabitur, profunde inclinantes.... demis- sius dicant &c. Si quæ ab aliquo fieri viderint licenter, videantur mala, bona suspicentur vel bonâ intentione facta; quum nemo in capitulo vel ubi- cumque reprehensus fuerit, sic faciendum. MS. Cott. Nero, A. XII. f. 170, b. b M. Par. 1095. Cap. Gen. North'. 1444. C. 10. • Nec etiam ludendi causâ matutinali tempore, cum aliis egrediendi, &c. MS. Cott. Cleop. B. 11. p. 229, sect. Pro Noviciis, &c. "Sometimes in the week, at suitable hours, by leave of their mas- ters, they were used to alleviate the severities of the Rule by puerile discourse and conversation (loca- tione, orig. it should be, I think, locutione) out of the Cloister. On a certain day, therefore, as usual, going out to play with an attendant, they ran to the perhaps in the afternoon; for, says an old poet, The zung Monkes each daie, Aftur met goth to plai.d Such discipline was observed in some Monasteries, that, in a proces- sion of the Infants, apples were order- ed to be thrown upon the Church pave- ments to allure the boys, but no one, even of the smallest, appeared to attend to it.e According to the scriptural declara- tion, "He that hath said to his father and mother, I knowe yee not, and to his bretherne I knowe ye not, and hath not knowne his owne children, they have kept thy worde;"f they were to forget filial affections, "and this not of any stifnes or hardnes of harte, for if a meere stranger unto them be in miserie, they mourne as easily for him as for another, but the sworde is yt that we spake of, that is in their harte, and hathe cut them awaye from their wonted aquayntance and affinitie, not for that they have to love hem still, that love also their very enimyes, but be- cause they have cast awaie all carnall love which groweth often to meere do- tage, and have converted the same wholly to spirituall charitie." Both duty and affection still however sub- sisted.h To be reduced to the state of a No- vice was a punishment.i This article would be unsatisfactory were there not added some cursory Observations upon the Education of Monks and Nuns, in a brief view; for more would require a volume. Learning the Service and the Rule, was the chief part of the Education of ropes and broke the bell." Hist. Rames. Cap. lxvii. See sect. Common House. d MS. Harl. 913, f. 4. It is possible that this may allude to the conversations allowed after Nones; but it is equally possible that the season of relaxation for Monks was that also of Novitiates. e Du Cange, v. Infantes. f Deut. 33. g MS. Harl. 1805, f. 57, b. (Tract of Novices.) Eadmer. Histor. Novor. p. 8, records an instance of a pension paid by a Monk to his mother, from money given by Lanfranc. See too §§ Guesthall, and Almonry. i Du Cange, v. Novitii. NOVICES. 183 a Nun, as well as of a Monk.a Psal- mody was so urged, that the Novice, when studying in the Cloister, was to make himself perfect in his Psalter, so as to say it by heart to a word.b Bede remarks, that those who knew only their native language, were to be carefully taught to sing; for many became Monks late in life, and were called Conversi, as those who had been brought up in the house, and knew Latin, were distinguished by the term Nutriti.c After acquisition of the Psalter by heart, Latin (common be- cause the language of the Septuagint) was taught by the usual methods of par- sing and the parts of speech.d Though Langland says, that the Latin Grammar used was a Donat, so called from Do- natus, a Grammarian of the 4th century, whose works, together with those of Priscian, were used by Elfric; yet, in fact, there were only three Grammars in use from the 6th to the 16th century. These were, Priscian's, and Ville Dieu's Doctrinale Puerorum in verse, which appeared in the 13th century, and was superseded by Despautiere's in the sixteenth. The Dictionary was from the 11th century that of Papias, which was enlarged by Ugution, and Hugh de Pisa;g and these works were, no doubt, the bases of the Promptorium Parvulorum of Richard Fraunceys, a preaching Friar, the first printed English and Latin Dictionary, which appeared in 1499.h The Cato, the Doctrinal, writ- ten by Sauvage, and other books, were works for construing, consisting of sentences, moralities, maxims of con- duct, and even precepts of behaviour; some were composed of lessons and examples united, as the Chastisement a Dugd. Monast. ii. 895. Du Cange, v. Firmare Cantum. Id. v. Idiota, Nutriti. d Id. v. Partes edere. e of the Donat of Wynkyn de Worde, which was very imperfect, see Dibdin's Ames, ii. 306, where is given a curious wood-cut of a Master and 3 boys. f Notices des MSS. v. 500-513. Mem. de Petrarque, ii. 179. 8 Ibid. Of those preceding, see Preface of Du Cange, and others. h Dibdin's Ames, ii. 416. See other books of the same kind noticed ib. pp. 155, 585. of a Father; but the morals were very insipid. Virgil was used by the Roman children, that so great a genius might not lapse into oblivion.k When the French language was universally taught from the Conquest to the 14th century, and children after learning to speak English were compelled to construe their lessons into French, a Virgil in that language was daily learned in schools.1 In Monasteries, numerous quotations show, that it was familiar in the original. Ovid, Esop's Fables, Boethius, and others, occur as favourite authors; but bibliographical discussion is not within the plan or track of read- ing of the author. Writing was taught by copy-books, called Breviales Tabu- læ;m and Arithmetick, or rather the Compotus, by counters, &c. of which elsewhere.n The Education at Court was so bad, that from thence came first the Anglo- Saxon Eddel-knaven; and from this term, our Lazy Scoundrel. It is not singular then that Bishops should undertake the tuition of youths, whom they made Priests or Monks, or sent when adults in arms to the king;P or that it should be a privilege of founders. for Abbeys to educate their children.9 They were first trained at home religi- ously, by their mothers, and taught a catechism. When sent to the Monas- tery, about seven years old, or above, they were successively instructed in the Psalter by heart, the Septenary Arts, Musick, French, Latin; often Agricul- ture, and the Mechanical Arts.s Hunt- ing, as a science and pastime auxiliary to warlike habits and strength of con- stitution, was understood by all Anglo- Saxon boys, and Monks and Clergy- men of the whole middle age, Asceticks excepted. Notices, v. 159. Augustin. de Civit. Dei, p. 6. Biographia Britannica, iii. 351, 374. in Du Cange. n See Scriptorium and Exchequer. Spelm. Archæologus, v. Adelscale. O P XV Script. 62. S X Script. 1056, 2647. Smythe's Berkeley MS. Script. p. Bed. 171, 509. X Script. 76, 77. XV Script. 256. Script. p. Bed, 13. 184 NOVICES. The Education of Monks, in the early centuries, consisted of Psalmody, Musick, Notation of it, Accounts, Grammar, Writing, Turning, and Car- pentry; but in truth, every art known, especially Embroidery, was practised in Monasteries. Because idleness is inimical to the soul, manual labour was prescribed.b Ednoth, Monk of Ramsey, superintended building, and worked at it. In Jewellery and Gold- smith's work, instances of skill are numerous, from Dunstan downwards. Walter de Colchester, Sacrist of St. Alban's, was an excellent Painter and Sculptor.d Thomas de Bamburgh, Monk of Durham, was employed to make two great warlike engines for the defence of the town of Berwick;e and Sir John Paston requests Harcort, of the Abbey, "to send him a little clokke which was sent him to be mended."f An astronomical clock, made by Light- foot, Monk of Glastonbury, about the year 1325, is still preserved at Wells. The Monks too engaged in civil and external avocations. Among the Clerks of the household to Edw. III. was a Monk of Bury; and they were often Ambassadors.b Henry VII. employ- ed them as Spies. They travelled from Monastery to Monastery, to teach musick.k The courtesies were duly regarded. Every Novice was to be instructed how to incline his head, not with an arched back, as was common to some ungen- teel persons, but in the Ante and Retro fashion, before explained. This ap- plied to the Inclinatio, a salutation made only to the Abbot and Prior.m The Elders approved by the voice, the Juniors by a bow of the head; the a Du Cange, v. Nota Musica. b Theodulph. Aurelian. Epist. p. 263. Hist. Rames, l. 54. d M. Paris, 1054. Liber Garderobæ, 28 Ed. I. p. 73. f Paston Letters, ii. 30. Royal Household, p. 10. J. Rous, p. 73. M. Paris, 844. Henry's History of England, xii. 469. k See Master of the Novices. Du Cange, v. Reverentia. m Id. Abbot nodded in token of assent." Peter of Clugny says, "whenever the brethren meet, the Junior seeks bene- diction from the Prior, by saying Bene- dicite [me] if he should be out of the regular places, and humbly inclines; but he says nothing if he meets the Prior in the regular offices." They used to say Benedicite, and others to answer Dominus, in like sort, as the Priest and his penitent were wont to do at confession in the Church. The reply of Dominus [sit vobiscum] "the Lord be with you," was the usual salutation of Priests.P This may ex- plain a passage before left in doubt. The Punishments and Rewards. Ferule and Rod are Anglo-Saxon, ¶ but where the children were too young for this, the soles of their feet were pared with a knife.r Common Schoolmas- ters used to give their boys even fifty- three stripes at a time, and carry peb- bles in their pockets to pelt them with. Ingulphus however says, that Abbot Turketul visited the school at least once a day, and distributed rewards of fruit and sweetmeats to deserving boys. Notwithstanding what has been said of Arithmetick, it was often a late study, commenced only at the Uni- versity.t Pious Students kissed the bible when- ever they opened it for reading." Education of Nuns. In the Rule of Fontevraud, it is said, that Claustral Nuns knew little more than to sing Psalms, whence it is there ordered, that no Nun of this kind, through inability, should be made Abbess.x If, how- ever, a girl was intended for a Nun, it was a matter of course to instruct her in letters ; and Nuns not only wrote upon parchment, but even works in Du Cange, v. Capitis inflexio. Holinshed, ii. p. 9. (new edit.) P Du Cange, v. Officina-Pax. 4 Angl. Sacr. ii. 102, 103. Vita Alcuini. Du Cange, v. Acra. Hawkins's Musick, ii. 125. X Script. 2433. Du Cange, v. Claustrum. y M. Paris, p. 80. u Id. 2434. X Script. 378. Du Cange, v. Punctare, NOVICES. 185 Latin. Among the duties of Ancho- | resses and Nuns, is mentioned "vorst- ing of her sautre [Psalter], redyng of Englische, oder [or] of French, holi meditaciuns." Henry says, that Nun- nery Education consisted of writing, drawing, confectionary, needle-work, physick, and surgery. Sir H. Chauncy says, that there was taught in them working, singing by notes, dancing, and playing upon instruments of musick.c Tumbling, playing, and dancing, all occur in Nunneries, the two former by professors itinerant.d Aubrey, speaking of the Nunnery of Kington St. Michael, says, "On the East side of the House is a ground facing the East, and the delightful prospect on the South East, called the Nymph Hay. Here Old Jaques, who lived on the other side, would say, he hath seen 40 or 50 nunnes in a morning, spinning with their wheels and bobbins." Fuller says, Nuns with their needles wrote histories also; that of Christ his passion, for their Altar- clothes, and other Scripture (and moe legend) stories in hangings to adorn their houses.f One particular accusa- tion against them was a miserly atten- tion to housewifery.g It was only ascetical asperity to make the remark. Joan Lady Berkeley, in the 13th cen- tury, when she came to the farm-houses, as oft as she did, to oversee, or take account of her dairy affairs, oftentimes spent in provision, at a meal there, the value of 4d. and 44d.; and also a cheese of 2lbs. weight was at each time spent by her attendants. The extraordinary accomplishments of Juliana Barnes are not singular. A young wife is described by Boccaccio as beautiful in her person, mistress of her needle, waiting at her husband's table as well as any man- servant, thoroughly discreet and well bred, skilled in horsemanship, and the management of a hawk, and in ac- a Du Cange, v. Non decem. b MS. Cott. Nero, A. xiv. p. 10, a. Hertfordshire, p. 423. Athon. p. 154, col. 2. note a. e Britton's Beaut. of Wilts, iii. 154. Church Hist. B. vi. p. 298. MS. Cott. Nero, A. 1. p. 2. b. See Anchorels. Smythe's Berkeley MS. 216, 227. The counts as clever as a merchant.i sage reformer Erasmus saw no impro- priety in publishing an obscene word, and says, in defence of it, that though he has put it into the mouth of a pros- titute, it was in general use, even among chaste Matrons.k This passage_ex- plains the indelicacy of the Nun, Juli- ana Barnes; and it was much owing to the vile education-books then in use, which recommended only prayer, fasting, submission to the Church, assi- duity in religious offices, mortification and solitude, as precepts of conduct. The Chastisement des Dames gives very detailed advice how women ought to walk, salute, talk, behave themselves at church, at table, in love tête-à-têtes; and ends with a long disquisition upon love. La Tour, a French gentleman, who in 1371 wrote the first treatise upon Domestic Education, professes to teach by Historiettes, in which he uses obscene stories, and even words. To induce his daughters to say their prayers in a morning, he tells them a tale of two daughters of an Emperor, of whom one neglected this duty, the other never. Both were entangled in love, and had each made an assig- nation with their lovers on a certain morning. The youngest, who said her prayers as usual, was disappointed in meeting her lover, who was compel- led to fly by fancying that he saw armed guards, compelling him to re- treat. The other, who did not say her prayers, fell a victim to seduction. The sad effect upon morals, which for many ages was produced by these tales, SO common in Monasteries, is well pourtrayed by the following story in this very book: "Deux individus ayant insulté à la religion en couchiant (c'est son expression) sur un autel avec des femmes, ils en sont punis d'une façon bien extraordinaire, et restent dans cet état tout un jour, jusqu'a ce qu'enfin l'on vient en procession prier Dieu pour eux et obtenir leur délivrance."l Whoever has heard of the ceremony Decameron, Day ii. Nov. ix. * De Colloq. Utilit. inter Colloq. p. 650. 1 Notices, v. 159-166, 188 NOVICES. was to be made on solemn days, namely, either in the Epiphany, or on the festi- vals of St. Mary, or of the Apostles, or Sundays. The Virgin to be con- secrated, after the beginning of the Mass and Collect, before the Epistle was read, came before the altar, robed in white, carrying the religious habit in her right hand, and an extinguished taper in her left, which habit she laid before the altar, at the Bishop's feet, and held the taper in her hand. The Bishop then consecrated the habit, and gave it her (the veil excepted), say- ing, "Take, girl, the robe, which you shall wear in innocence;" upon which she went to the Revestry, put it on, and returned with a lighted taper in her hand, singing, "I love Christ, into whose bed I have entered." b Then, after the Epistle, Gospel, and Creed, the Bishop said, "Come, come, come, et virgo retro episcopum, et cantetur interim letania à duobus clericis festive choro respondente. Epis- copus vero et ministri altaris cantent interim vii psalm. Post letaniam, surgat episcopus, et incipiat festivè, "Veni Creator spiritus." Post hymnum, surgat virgo, et veniat ante altare; tunc imponat episcopus velamen super caput virginis inclinatæ. Tunc virgo incipiat hanc, "Induit me Dominus," vel quamlibet antiphonam quæ conveniat de historiâ S. Agnetis aut S. Agathæ. Hic episcopus faciat bannum, ne quis præsumat illud sanctum propo- situm violare; postea faciat virgo hanc professionem, si tempus fuerit. Deinde signum crucis faciat in fine professionis, et ponat super altare. His expletis, abbatissa ipsam petitionem accipiat ab altari, et servandam tradat. Tunc professa stet ante altare, et tertio hunc versum dicat, " Suscipe me, Domine, secundum eloquium tuum," &c. qui versus tertio repetatur ab omnibus, et in fine, Gloria Patri," &c. et postea, "Kyrie, et Pater Noster." Interim professa prosternat se coram altare, quo facto dicat episcopus, et ne nos induce, &c. Et subse- quentes psalmos incohet; Domine, quis habitabit ; Dominus regit me, et Salvum me fac Domine, quem intraverunt, quibus ad omnibus decantatis statim subjungat hæc capitula, "Salvam fac ancillam tuam," &c. Post hæc tradat alicui puella cereum ad tenendum, et offerat panem et vinum episcopo, iterumque accipiat cereum, et stet inclinata, usque communicet, et missa finiatur ordine suo. Item episcopalis benedictio super eam. Post missam offerat virgo cereum super altare, et discendat cum MS. Cott. Tiber. B. vIII. f. 120, seq. pace. a Wearing veils originated with the Pontiff Soter in the year 178; and Gelasius, who was Pope in the fifth century, decreed that they should not be veiled, except in cases of extreme sickness, but on the Epiphany, Paschal Albs, or the Nativities of the Apostles. Johnson's Canons of the Eastern Church, p. 320. See the Chapter of Continentes. daughters, I will teach you the fear of the Lord;" upon which the Nun came before the altar, singing, "And now we follow with our whole hearts." When this was finished, the Bishop prostrated himself upon the carpet before the altar, and the Nun behind him; and in the mean while the Litany was sung by two Clerks, the Choir making the responses; but the Bishop and Ministers of the altar sang in the mean time the seven psalms. After the Litany, the Bishop rose, and began the Veni Creator; after which the Nun rose, and came before the altar, when the Bishop put the veil upon her head, as she stooped. After which, she began Induit me Dominus, or suitable antiphonar from the histories of Agnes or Agatha. This was follow- ed by a curse from the Bishop, against all those who presumed to disturb her holy purpose. The Nun then made her profession, if she had time, put the signature of the cross to the end of it, and laid it upon the altar, from whence the Abbess took it, to be laid by. Then the Nun stood before the altar, and said this verse three times, "Receive me, O Lord!" which was each time repeated by all, and con- cluded with the Doxology, Kyrie elee- In the mean son, and Lord's Prayer. time the Nun lay before the altar, and certain psalms were sung; after which she gave the taper to some one to hold, and offered bread and wine to the Bishop; which over, she again took the taper, and stood inclined till she had communicated, and the Mass and Epis- copal benediction was concluded. After the Mass, she offered the taper upon the altar, and descended in peace. The second was the Order how a Nun was e Ordo qualiter virgo faciat professionem, si ante fuerit benedicta sine professione. Quocunque festo voluerit cantabit episcopus missam, et post evan- gelium incipiatur psalmus, "Miserere mei, Deus," cum "Gloria Patri." Quo decantato ab omnibus accedat virgo ante altare, et legat professionem suam, "Ero soror," sicut superius prænotatum est. Tunc dicat episcopus (M.); tunc incipiat episcopus excelsâ voce hymnum. Hic se erigat virgo acce- datque ad episcopum, et episcopus ponet velamen super oculos ejus; quo facto, iterum se prosternat incipiatque præsul hunc psalmum [then, an anti- NOVICES. 189 to make profession, if she had been bles- sed before without profession. Upon whatever festival he chose, the Bishop sung_Mass, and after the Gospel the 51st Psalm, and Gloria Patri was sung by all. The Nun then advanced before the altar, and read her profession, which was succeeded by a religious ser- vice by the Bishop. She then rose, and advanced to that prelate, who put the veil over her eyes; after which she prostrated herself again, and a psalm and antiphonar was sung by the Bishop. The third was the formd how a Nun phonar] ab episcopo. MS. Cott. ut supra, 135, seq. Without profession alludes to its omission for want of time. d MS. Harl. 561. f. 107. 114. b. Forma quali- ter sanctimonialis non virgo, vel alia facere debet professionem suam. Quocunque festo solempni episcopus voluerit, induat se sacris vestibus, vid. sandaliis, superpellicio, sudario, amissio, interim dum se induit percantentur à clericis ad hoc assig- natis preces consueti, &c. [then some religious services.] Et tunc episcopus ponat se in phildis- torio honeste præparato coram medio altaris facie conversa ad occidentem. Et interim mulier pro- fessura accedat præparata per ostium chori inferius, cum duabus vel tribus sororibus ipsam comitantibus, portans habitum, quæ religio sua requirit, super brachium sinistrum, in quo infigatur velamen capitis cum annulo, et in dexterâ manu scedulam habeat scriptam suæ professionis pleno visu continue in eam intendendo. Deinde dum procedit usque altare episcopus cum ministris suis mediocri voce dicat clero vel choro alternatim constrepente, "Miserere mei, Deus," &c. cum "Gloria Patri," et "Sicut erat." Positis autem habitu, velamine, et annulo ad pedes episcopi, et completo psalmo, mulier pro- fessura stans super medium gradum altaris legat professionem suam hoc modo: "Ego soror promitto stabilitatem meam, et conversionem morum meorum, et obedientiam coram Deo omnibusque sanctis ejus, secundum regulam Sancti Benedicti, in loco qui est consecratus in honore S. N. et in præsentiâ domini episc. N. vel abbatissæ N." Quâ lectâ genuflectendo faciat crucem cum pennâ in fine professionis super genua episcopi, et osculatâ manu ejus, surgat et prosternat se super tapetum vel terram ante inferiorem gradum altaris, super quam sic prostratem episcopus stando has sequentes dicat, &c. Deinde erigatur mulier, et remotis velamine et annulo, benedicat episcopus habitumsic dicendo; deinde asperso habitu aquâ bened. induat episcopus professuram cum ea sic dicendo; postea convertat se episcopus, cum ministris genuflectendo ad altare, professura retro episcopum prostrata incipiat altâ voce. Veni Creator, &c. ut supra in benedictione abbissæ; dicto hoc, surgat episcopus et conversus ad mulierem dicat. . . hic erigat se à terrâ sancti- monialis episcopo interim velamen ejus benedicente sic... tunc imponat unus sacerdos et non episcopus velamen capiti mulieris, episcopo interim dicente ; quo dicto, benedicat episcopus amissium hoc modo; tunc tradat ei episcopus annulum sic dicendo; deinde trahit episcopus velamen super oculos ejus not a Virgin, or other, was to make her profession. Upon whatever festival he chose, the Bishop robed himself in pontificals, and while he was doing this, the usual prayers were said by Clerks appointed for this. The Bishop then placed himself in a chair before the middle of the altar, with his face towards the west. The Nun in the mean while advanced through the lower gate of the Choir, with two or three sisters accompanying, carrying the habit on her left arm, in which was fixed the veil with the ring, and in her right the schedule of profession, upon which she kept her eyes fixed. While she was advancing, the Bishop, Minis- ters, and Choir, in a low voice, sung a certain service. When this psalm was over, and the habit, veil, and ring laid at the Bishop's feet, the Nun, stand- ing upon the middle step of the altar, read her profession in this form: "I sister [A] promise stedfastness, and the conversion of my manners, and obedience before God and all his saints, according to the Rule of St. Benedict, in the place which is consecrated to the honour of S. N. and in the presence of our lord Bishop N. or Abbess N." After this, she knelt and made a cross with a pen in the end of the profession upon the knees of the Bishop, and having kissed his hand, rose and pros- trated herself upon the carpet or ground incipiendo antiphonam; deinde dicat episcopus stando super istam prostratam sequentem orationem cum præfacione; si sit de ordine S. S. Augustini vel Francisci sic. Deinde legatur evangelium dictoque officio ac interim dum à choro cantatur professa procedendo offerat genibus flexis ad manum episcopi, manu ejus ab eâdem prius osculatâ. Postea offerant alii qui volunt. Professa continuè super tapetum vel terram se prosternente, usque post receptionem corporis et sanguinis Christi, ab episcopo plene factam. Et tunc ante resuperacio- nem (sic) professa erigatur, episcopus veniens ab altari cum corpore Christi patenâ imposito com- municet eam super gradum altaris superioris devote genuflectentem sic dicendo; tunc osculatâ manu episcopi surgendo ducatur in chorum osculetque sorores tres universas. Ac nichil omnino illorum vestimentorum, quæ in benedictione habuit, exuendo sive mutando, subtalaribus pedum tantum modo exceptis; sed die nocteque psalmis, hymnis, et canticis spiritualibus, magis devocione cordis quam modulacione vocis, domino jam Christo cui se devovit jugiter servire intendat, ultimo etiam stabit in loco usque in tercium diem. 190 NOVICES. before the lower step of the altar, over whom the Bishop standing then said certain prayers. She was then raised, and the veil and ring being set aside, the Bishop consecrated the habit, and, after it had been sprinkled with holy water, put it upon her, with certain prayers. He then turned with his attendants to the altar, kneeling, and the Nun prostrate behind him, begin- ning with a loud voice, Veni Creator; after this he rose, and turning to her, said certain prayers. She then rose, and the veil was consecrated, and one of the Priests, not the Bishop, put it upon her head, while the Bishop said certain prayers. The amessa was then consecrated, the ringb given to her,c and the veil drawn over her eyes, which was followed by certain prayers over her as she lay prostrate. Then the Gospel was read, and while the service was singing by the Choir, she kissed the Bishop's hand, and made her offering kneeling, as afterwards. did those who chose it. She then continued prostrate till the Commu- nion was over, when she arose, and the Bishop brought her the patin to communicate, as she knelt upon the step of the high altar. After this, she kissed the Bishop's hand, was led into the Choir, and kissed all the three a Worn on the head: it signified the rag of linen wherewith the Jews blinded Christ in mockery, when they smote and buffeted him. Gutch's Col- lectanea Curiosa, ii. 179. b A small ring of gold with a sapphire at Ames- bury. Lib. Cotid. contrar. Garder. 28 Ed. I. p. 348. The constitutions complained of their wear- ing several. Though there is a Canon in Lyndwood (p. 206), that only consecrated Nuns should wear rings, yet widows made the vow of chastity, by a ring only, without habit or veil. See an instance in Speed, 616. sisters. She then continued in silence for three days, never changed any part of her clothes, except her shoes, but day and night devoted to psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, studied how she should serve God constantly, and took the last rank, till the third day. The duties of the female Novitiates were similar to those of the male.d When taken sick, the Infirmaress was to follow them, and they were to have no communication with their companions, unless a curtain or wall intervened.e d Monast. ii. 770. • Id. ubi sup. N. B. There is an injunction in MS. Ashm. Mus. 1519. f. 37, a. that a Canon should not be received from the profession of another house. (Nec ullum canonicum ex professione alterius domus ordinis nostri recipiat.) They were refused admission without dimissory letters (M. Paris, 1015,) which assigned as a reason, that they could no longer stay, with quiet of their souls, or a sound conscience or observation of the Rule. "Licentia pro monacho eundi ab una domo in aliam. Abbas sive prior et conventus A. B. salutem. Cum sicut exhibita nobis pro parte tua, &c. peticio, &c. (MS. Harl. 670, fol. 100, a.) continebat quod in dicto monasterio per causas certas et literas nobis ministratas, non possis cum tuæ quiete animæ et sanâ conscientiâ vel amplius remanere, neque dicti ordinis regulam observare in eadem, transeundi ad aliud monasterium ejusdem ordinis indulgentiam nobis humiliter supplicavisti, &c." (MS. Harl. 2179, f. 78, a.) But he might leave his Order, without leave of the Superior, if that he proposed to go into was more austere. (Dev. Vie Monast. i. 243.) If it was to a more remiss one, the papal licence was necessary; unless there was a cause, and the Monk was young or old, and the cause required celerity, and then the Bishop's was suffi- cient. Lyndw. 210. But if he went into the same Order, dimissory letters were taken. Monast. i. p. 41. They might change their Order when the irregularity and bad example of the religious endan- gered their salvation. Dev. Vie Monast. ii. 25. In 1247 the Friars Preachers obtained a privilege, that no one should leave their Order, because many who had entered into it were disappointed. Par. 637. The Abbot's licence was necessary even to be elected Abbot of another house. Id. 1031. M. LAY-BROTHERS, 191 CHAPTER XXX. LAY-BROTHERS. A LAY-BROTHER made his petition prostrate in the Chapter, in this form: "I seek charitably the habit of a bro- ther, for the salvation of my soul." Upon his being raised, the Abbot or Prior said that it was necessary he should swear to observe chastity, to be faithful to the Church, and obedi- ent to his Superiors, as well as to re- nounce property and his own will. Afterwards a brother was deputed to him to teach him his Pater Noster, Ave Mary, Creed, and other religious offices, to serve at the Masses, and graces at dinner, as well as to say the hours, in a form peculiar to themselves.a These were professed Lay-brothers; but there were also Oblati, persons who devoted themselves to servitude by giving four-pence, and sometimes binding their necks in a bell-rope; b and Fratres ad succurendum, assistant brothers, who wore only a short scapula- ry, while the professed Lay-brother had the habit of the Order. Some persons gave themselves, and all or part of their property, to the house, and professed obedience to the Abbot, and received food and clothing. There were infe- riors to these, who, with their families, became vassals to the Church.d Of this kind of persons, or others, they had, it seems, a long train: for the Ab- bot of Feversham, writing to Crom- a Secularis habitum fratrum suscepturus faciat peticionem in capitulo prostratus in hunc modum, "Ego peto caritative habitum fratris pro animâ meâ salvandâ." Quo erecto, dicat abbas, seu prior, quod oportet eum supra textum vovere castitatem, et jurare fidelitatem ecclesie, et obedientiam suis superioribus abrenuntiando etiam proprietati et propriæ voluntati. Deinde deputetur ei aliquis pater qui doceat eum Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Credo, Confiteor, Psalmos de Profundis, et Miserere. Et ad serviendum ad missas et gracias ad prandium. Item doceatur dicere horas hoc modo. Ad quam- libet horam dicat (prayers). MS. Bodl, low, 7. 24. p. Bar- Du Cange, in voce. Bibliotheca Præmonstratensis, i. Du Cange, v. Oblati, ubi plura. See also v. Donati. well, says, "I have sent to yow a paper of suche proportyon of vyttell and other, as the Lay-brothers hyre tellyth me of necessite must be provyd- yde for them; now they not regarding this derthe, would have and hathe that same fare contynuall that then was usid, and wold have like plenty of brede and ale and fishe given to straungers in the butterye, or at the butterye doore, and as large lyveries of bredde and ale to all ther servaunts, and to vagabunds at the gate, as was than usid."e The Gilbertine Rule goes minutely into their duties.f These were, ex- communication (if impenitent) upon transgression; to wash their own cloaths, if there were not Fullers; or else to have it done by some poor person found by the Porter, and to be washed only by the foot; Chapter to be held at the same time, and in a similar form to that of the Canons; Novices to be professed; brothers coming to conver- sion not to be admitted under twenty- four years of age; at Mattins and daily hours to use certain prayers; from the ides of September, till Maundy Thursday, on private days, and such feasts as they worked on, a special bell to be rung to wake them; after Vigils and Lauds to keep silence till Prime, which over, to go to their work; to say the other hours, on the places where they worked. From Easter to Sep- tember, on working days, to sleep till Lauds, because they had no meridian sleeps from the Rule, but of favour, e MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. p. 35, a. Monast. ii. 732, seq. In the Bodleian Cata- logue of the contents of MS. Ashm. 1285, there is mention made of "Institutio Laicorum Fratrum." The MS. contains no such thing, according to my research. Thus the Franciscans enacted, "that no one should be received for a Lay-brother under twenty- four years of age, nor beyond forty-three, unless he was a person very remarkable and famous." (Et nullus recipiatur pro laico omnino intra xxiiii ann. nec ultra xliii, nisi erit persona multum nota- bilis et insignis.) MS. Bodl. 1882. p. 45. 192 LAY-BROTHERS. : namely, those who were in the house from Easter to hay harvest; those in the Granges, from the feast of Holy Cross till the same term. On feasts that they did not work on, to rise to Mattins; and from September to Eas- ter, to both Vespers : on other days to attend to their work, as long as it was light; when the work was over, to strike the table and sing Complin. Those in the Granges from the calends of November till the Chayring of St. Peter;a to watch till the fourth part of the night; and from the chairing of St. Peter till Easter, and from the ides of September till the calends of No- vember, to rise so as to end Vigils and Lauds before day-break; after this, work from Easter to the above ides, to rise with day-break; from the oc- taves of Pentecost to Christmas, and of Epiphany to Easter, every Friday, disciplines; to come to the communion eight times in the year, Novices three; silence in all the offices, except on in- dispensable occasions; no entrance into the offices without leave; work- men of the house, as shoemakers, tailors, weavers, and other artificers, not to speak but standing, and in a place out of their shops of necessary matters. A place within the shops to be only granted to smiths (fabris). The evening chapter to be held every week on Thursday, after Vespers in winter, and after supper in summer, except hay-harvest and August; one or two Canons to assist, and delin- quents be beaten in the next Chapter; no signs to be made, or gossippings, unless for fire, theft, or things of that kind. Necessity excused from this of- fice the brothers engaged with the guests, grangiaries, neatherds, and grooms: on feast days on which they worked, allowed to be present at the Complin of the Nuns; those in the Granges to keep silence in the Dor- mitory, Refectory, and Calefactory in The chairing of St. Peter was the 8 Cal. Mart. 22d of February. b Vigilent circum quartam partem noctis, [per- haps "to wake about the fourth part of the night," i. e. to Lauds.] the appointed limits; but allowed to converse with the Grangiary standing and two together; a brother travelling to keep silence in all the Churches, and in refection; and after Complin to con- form to the Rule, though not to fast, but as the rest in Granges; upon com- ing to a house or grange of the same Order to do in all things like the others; allowed to converse about necessaries with the groom, as of shoeing horses, and when he gave them hay, and in matters of that nature, but standing; if a brother went out with leave. he was to do as ordered; no gossipping, nor carrying tales to and fro; upon en- tering an office, to seek what was want- ed by a sign; none to refuse going in a cart in order that they might ride; shepherds and cow-keepers to return the salutation of a traveller, or inform him of his road, if he asked the ques- tion; but if he asked any further, to inform him they were not allowed to speak; in their Refectory to dine with their Prior or the Grangiary, with similar religious ceremonies as the Canons; not to dine with their clothes off; to lose their beer, if they missed the verse three times, and dine last, and make prostrations, if they spilt their drink or soup, and ask pardon in the Chapter, if they cut their fin- gers; in the Granges after dinner to go to the Oratory; to have no bells, but wooden balls, to assemble them; not to fast but on the principal feasts, and in Advent, and Fridays in the win- ter, when they had every one of them a certain allowance of bread; pittances to the sick persons returning from journeys, and those who had been bled. C The Grangiary or Bailiff was to manage the farms; to converse with the brothers of labour and walking, if needful; not to enter the Court of the Nuns; not to go any where without orders from the Prior; to have a com- panion to watch him in the absence of the Prior or Cellarer; not to take any thing to himself out of things bought • Lignea Balla; not in Du Cange. LAY-BROTHERS. 193 or sold; the Prior or Cellarer to punish those who did not obey him. A Canon to assist the Lay-brothers in buying and selling: the Emptor to be assisted alternately by one of three brethren who was to be a spy upon him, if possible a lettered person; si- lence under certain modifications; al- lowed to talk with their footboy on necessary occasions; not to buy or sell without leave of the Prior, Cellarer, Grangiary, and Proctor; give an ac- count upon their return; punctually to restore every thing borrowed; who- ever went to fairs to buy the things (notified in writing) for the use of the house; which persons to consist of one Lay-brother, two lettered persons, and as many more as the Prior thought fit; their purchases (for the Nuns at least) to be exhibited to the Prior, Cel- larer, and others; not to buy super- fluous fish for themselves to eat, or delicacies, or drink wine unless well watered; to be content with two messes of pottage; not to eat but in places provided by the officers, and then to- gether; no silk to be bought for worldly vanities; no wool to be mixed with that of others; no one to speak offen- sively of another in his presence; the artificers to have chests to put their tools in, locked with two keys, one in the hands of the Prior; no artificer, a guest, to become a brother without consent of the principal Prior; no dwell- ing out of the gates of the house, un- less for animals; bricklayers, carpen- ters, and those who worked aloft, to wear breeches; after autumn, a bro- ther and threshers to be sent to the Granges, to thresh as much corn as would serve the Convent for a year; also another to have the care of the cheese and butter; geese, hens, bees, honey, and eggs, under the care of the hospitalis frater grangia," and assist- ants. Of these the best to be sent to the Abbey, when wanted, by the care of certain of these Lay-brothers; the hospitalis frater to be continually · Housekeeper. Mansionarius. Du Cange. at home, if possible, and keep the keys of the Grange, in preference; if not, a faithful brother in his stead: mea- sures of allowances for persons coming to the granges, and horses, &c. to be established, and to be uniform every where; a check to be kept by an itine- rant brother of the quantities of corn threshed out; the tithes to be regu- larly separated, and no stranger's corn put in their custody without leave; wo- men not to milk in houses, but in fields; not to enter the Granges with- out leave, and, as far as possible, to be neither young nor pretty; the Lay- brothers not to go near them; to be assisted by boys; their refection to be made in a house out of the gate, and the presiding Lay-brother to oversee them silently through a hole, and to have a faithful mercenary to attend upon them, and such a person to over- see them in their work; not to ride or overload their horses, or overwork themselves; to come to the bake-house at the proper season, and the baker to strike the table at the time of mass; punishments to be established for theft and other crimes. Lay-brothers retained their beards, while the Monks were shaved, and were therefore called Bearded Bro- thers; they were also called Viatores, from frequently travelling on the Con- vent business.c Lay-sisters. Not to be admitted to the habit before twenty years old; not to wait for the nuns to begin their work, which consisted of washing, cu- linary employments, attendance, and other menial offices;d not to enter the Church but at the times appointed for them; to hold their Chapter every Sunday, and twice in the week; not to Du Cange, v. Barbati fratres. Du Cange, in voce. d There is a constitution in Lyndwood (Provinc. 207, Ed. Oxon.) which prohibits the services, by Nuns, of females who worked in silk, acted as lady's maids, or prepared baths. These were called vo- luptuous and delicate servants. Others, in matters connected with food, necessary servants. Among these were not only Bakers (Pistrices), but Furna- riæ, whose duty appertained to the oven. 194 LAY-SISTERS. weave (texere) any thing to be sent or sold out of the house; when they rose from their beds to say the nocturnal synaxis before they did any work, but not Prime until the proper season; to finish, however, what they had begun, if it could not be delayed; in a work- ing day of twelve lessons, to rise before the sixth psalm; on entering the church, to sit upon the forms called miseri- cords, and say the usual prayer, though the Nuns had ended part of the ser- vice; from All Saints to the chairing of St. Peter every day before Lauds and Prime, a season to be granted them for attending to devotions; from Holyrood day to All Saints, Prime to be said at such an hour as they might very soon (mox) go to their work. When at their devotions, any one to be allowed to join them after they had said two Pater Nosters; but if more, such to say it by themselves; all to say Complin together except those engaged; after Prime and Complin to sprinkle themselves with holy water; to communicate eight times per annum ; Novices three; the latter to leave the chapter at the "Let us speak of the Order;" and after it was ended, enter again, and take their venia. In their refection (which was attended with prayers like those of the Canons), not to sit before their Prior; those who served at the table in Lent, and others who were not allowed to eat with the Convent, to eat after Nones when they had said Vespers. In feasts, when the Nuns went to their biberes, to go to theirs; to drink with leave after Ves- pers if the brothers or sisters professed on a working day; to take the sacrament on the Sunday following; those em- ployed in brewing to say the hours in their house; the mistress of those em- ployed in offices out of doors to have some old woman to speak in her stead, when she gave orders; the mistress to strike one blow before she said bene- dicite at the table; a Lay-sister to at- tend in the infirmary to dress the vic- tuals, wash the linen, carry the weak, lead the blind, and otherwise assist the sick; intimacy forbidden between them and the Nuns; punishments for crimes; not to receive the sacrament on the Sunday, if they had concealed any crime during the week which ought to have been proclaimed in Chapter. There were persons called Fellow sisters, sisters, being virgins, or wo- men who gave themselves and their goods, or at least a part, to Abbeys, in the same manner as the Oblati among the Monks.a Du Cange, v. Consoror. SERVANTS. 195 CHAPTER XXXI, SERVANTS. ALL those within the house took an oath of fidelity, and not to reveal the secrets of the house.a Instances ap- pear, where they had been brought up in the house from childhood, and were persons judiciously selected. The Abbot of Feversham says: "Yet have I such faithful approved Ser- vaunts, whome I have brought upp in my poure house, from their tender yeares. And those of suche wit and good discresion, joyned unto the long experience of the trade of suche worldly thing, that they are able to furnishe and supply those partes, I know, right well in all poynts." In the time of William Rufus, the Servants at Eves- ham amounted to sixty-five; five in the church; two in the infirmary; two in the cellar; five in the kitchen; seven in the bakehouse; four brewers, four menders, two in the bath, two shoe- makers, two in the orchard, three gar- deners; one at the cloister gate, two at the great gate; five at the vineyard; four who served the Monks when they went out; four fishermen; four in the Abbot's chamber, three in the Hall.c At the Nunnery of Yedingham, there were a miller and boy, shoemaker, car- ters, cowherds, porter, reaper, two gar- deners, servant of the Granges, four maids, maids of the infirmary, keeper of the geese.d Elsewhere are men- tioned a Servant of the parlour, two tailors, in an upper chamber, two Ser- vants in the Vestiary, who rung the bells; the barber ;f one of the fires, C. Northampt. aº 1444. Cap. vi. sect. De In- firmitorio. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. f. 33. a. • Monast. Anglic. i. 146. d Id. 498. • Serviens parlorii; duos cissores in nigro sola- rio ex consuetudine. In vestiario duo servientes qui pulsant campanas (Davies has a similar item of Durham). MS. Harl. 1005, p. 44. f By Lanfranc's Decretals, Prime, Tierce, and Chapter, were expedited, and no Chapter held by the children, but they went to their school, and when every thing was ready in the cloister, the who was constantly every fifteen days to clean the spittings under and near the forms, and strew them plentifully with hay; servants of the laundry, who washed the table-cloths of the Refectory; the Servants of certain of- ficers. At Tewkesbury, at the Disso- lution, there were 144.i The Con- vent of St. Alban's did not return ob- served, to the prohibition that womenk Abbot began a religious service. No one was shaved in his hood; but, like the persons who per- formed the office, both the shaving and shaved were in their frocks. They shaved one another, but the Refectioners first, in winter, when the minuti and sick had mixtus after Chapter, that they might find every thing ready for them. While the psalms were singing, no one was to wash his head, pare his nails, or leave the cloister without leave: but, after the psalms, and a benedicite and answer, they might speak. Then a bason was brought, and they washed their heads. If the bell rung for Church, those went whose beards were either shaved or un- touched. On the shaving day the cloths were changed in the Refectory; on days, when conver- sation in the Cloister was allowed, any one who thought it necessary, might be shaved with consent of the Abbot or Prior. Č. 12. Till the year 1266, the Monks of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, used to shave one another in the Cloister, but frequent injuries ensuing through their awkwardness in that office, secular persons were hired (W. Thorne, C. 25. sect. 3); and it is plain, from Davies and others mentioning the barber's stipend and fees, that this example was followed by other houses. In the Sempringham rule (Monast. ii. 721) the Canons were shaved seventeen times per annum; but one of the Inquirenda of Henry's visitors was, "Whe- ther ye bee wyckely shaven." MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. Shaving the beard began about the year 1200. Le Voeu de Jacob, i. 851. Lest the Eu- charist should be violated by it. 8 Minister focarum continuè circulo quindecim dierum screationes subtus et prope formas mun- dabit, et foenum competens copiosè ibidem ma- gistri distributione curabit jacere, &c. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 197. b. Spenser (Fairy Queen, B. VI. C. xii. St. 24) mentions the dirtiness of the Monks and I think this passage, and one in the ar- ticle Refectioner, sufficiently prove it; notwith- standing Thomas Hearne's indignation (Lib. Nig. Scaccarii, ii. 456) at the charge. h Monast. i. p. 149. See Mr. Dyde's neat and pleasing History of that place, p. 146. k In ministerio reclusi nulla maneat mulier, neque neptis, neque aliena, nec soror, nec mater. [In the service of a Monk there shall be no wo- man, neither a niece, nor stranger, sister, or mo- 0 2 196 SERVANTS. should not be personally admitted in the service of Anchorets."a By the Nor- man institutes, it was enacted, that the Servants should sup in the Refectory, and in their way to the Church, while they passed before the chapter, go bowing till they had passed, and before the entrance of the chapter raise them- selves, and, turning to the east, in the usual manner, make an humble incli- nation. This salutation was to be re- turned by the Monks in the chapter, rising from their seats and bowing.b In Edmund de Hadenham's Annals of Rochester, are long details, by which it appears, that these Servants were married men, not Lay-brothers, and transferred from one avocation to an- other, however different, upon the prin- ciple of promotion and favour only, leaving them to acquire the requisite qualifications successively.c ther.] MS. Cot. Jul. A. IX. f. 12. b. (de vitâ Reclusorum.) M. Paris, 1100. b Decr. Lanfr. c Angl. Sacr. i. 343, 344, 389. Bishop Kennet has been often cited for the blood-coloured liveries worn by the Prior of Burcester's Servants: liveries being anciently general, and families supposed to be guided in the colours, by the tinctures of their armo- rial bearings. rial bearings. This, however, is rather an exception, than a general rule. Donne says, "Nor come a velvet Justice with a long Great train of blew-coats, twelve or fourteen strong." Sat. i. Blue was the colour in which the Gauls cloathed their slaves, and from this British custom, for many ages, blue-coats were the liveries of servants and apprentices, even of younger bro- thers, as now of the blue-coat boys, blue schools in the country, &c. Hence the proverb in Ray. "He's in his better blew clothes;" i. e. thinks him- self very fine; and strumpets doing penance in blue gowns.g d Plin. N. H. xvi. 18. Douce on Shakspeare, 334, Strutt's Dresses, 302, 315. P. 66. · Steevens. MONASTIC BUILDINGS. 197 CHAPTER XXXII. MONASTIC BUILDINGS. MONASTIC Buildings, like Roman temples,a were erected by the gifts of great men, the alms of the people, and the substraction of a part of the annual revenues, devoted to another purpose.c The Abbey of Vale Royal cost the king 32,000l. sterling, and the Abbot drew for the money by instalments. When they were impoverished and decayed by fire or other cause, all the Abbots of the order were to endeavour to re- a Suetonius, in August. c. 29. b Bishop Hooper says, "The people are made so blind by the falsehood of Antichristes minis- ters, that they will rather give a golden crowne to the buildinge of an abbeie, foundation of a chan- trie, or for a masse of requiem, then one silver penie for the defence of their Commonwealth." Sermons, b. 1. 57. b. c W. Thorne, C. 34. sect. 6. d Monast. ii. 928, 9. It is singular, that in- stances appear, where they had no idea of water carriage. "Ad omnia edificia quod fecerat abbas store them; and petitions were pre- sented to the king. Low sites were chosen (absurdly) upon account of convenience for fish :5 and picturesque spots selected.h Several of our English Monasteries were fortified, and capable of enduring a siege. Taylor's Index Monast. pref. iii. who mentions Binham Priory, St. Bennet's and Ewenny Priory, in South Wales, as an interesting specimen. (Faritius) prædictus trabes et tigna de regione Wallensium venire fecit cum magno sumptu et gravi labore. Sex enim plaustra ad hoc habebat, et ad unum quodque illorum xii boves. Sex vel vii ebdomadarum erat eundi et redeundi, nam juxta Salopesbiriam transire oportuit." Hist. Abban. dunensis, MS. in Bibl. Cott. C. G. Northampt. a° 1444. C. ix. f Rot. Parl. 18 Ed. I. No. 89. m. 4. (Vol. I.) Morant's Colchester, ii. See Ray's Wisdom of God. b See Lanthony in Dugd. Monast. ii. 198 CHURCH ARCHITECTURE, &c. CHAPTER XXXIII. CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &c. THE later periods of medieval Ar- chitecture are so thoroughly under- stood, as to render investigation un- necessary: but that of the early ares is by no means established; and as Mr. King's elaborate work upon Castles (though of great merit in elucidating CHURCHES. the inferior parts does not determine the easy acquisition of ascertaining their ara by their construction, the Archi- tecture of Churches shall be classified in one column, that of Castles in the other. CASTLES. British. Gildas mentions strong fortified houses very lofty, built upon the top of a hill ex edito), and Nen- nius arces with gates and Castles, both of brick and stone. This Bri- British. The simplest kind is that of the old Chapel of Glastonbury, made of wattled work, as described by Wil- liam of Malmesbury, and the win- dows excepted, accurately sketched by Sammes. Whoever considers the British Castle, from Trercaeri and other tish houses upon the Antonine column [see fig. 1); knows, that the remains of British houses near Clun Castle are circular buildings, detached from each other, with foundations only, and door-posts of stone, and no windows or chimneys; and that the old Poem in Higden says, that the Welsh build houses of wattle and dab detached from each other; and that Froissart says the same of Scotch houses: will from such knowledge acquiesce in Sammes's design, except that the win- dows should be round-headed and long. Great windows appear in the most ancient Welsh Churches.d Mr. Wilkins, in his Magna Græcia, shows that the Temple of Jerusalem was of the barn-like form of the Parthenon,e and from this Greek fashion of Tem- ples, not Warburton's vista of trees, undoubtedly came the long bodies of our ancient and modern Churches. Very old Welsh Churches are of the Barn form, but without Towers: the wall at one end is raised above the specimens, is known to have been a round hill, hooped with walls, like a churn, within which were caverns, and circular British houses for the garrison, but at the very summit a large Tower, sometimes round, more rarely square, for the habitation of the Prince. Castle Corndochen, and Castle Prysor, as- cribed to the Romans, have a square, a round, and an oval Tower. Launces- ton Keep. Mr. King very justifiably makes a British remain. Anglo-Saxon Castles. However true is Sir William Dugdale's remark, that there were very few Anglo-Saxon Castles, their chief fortresses being earth-works, yet the Keep of Corfe, because called Edgar's Tower, is an undoubted remain. It has the light upper rooms, or solaria, of which the Anglo-Saxons were so fond. Col- chester, considered by Strutt of the same æra, is cased with Caen stone, and only one fabrick raised out of the ruins of another, i. e. a Gundulf Keep, such as Rochester, Dover, Canter- • XV Scriptores, 293. Any other Churches must have been very rare. See Chap. iii. Britton's Architectural Antiquities, ii. 57. 4 Rowland's Mona Antiqua, 158. 1 XV Script. ch. 2. 30, seq. XV Scriptores, 188. • Introd. viii. ix. Gough's Camden, ii. 545. XV. Scriptor. 957. X Script. 750. I believe the direct ascent, as at Conisborough, to be Anglo- Saxon; the side-long stairs to be a Norman improvement. 8 Cent. A Sove 5 3=L A. Soo 8 Cent. KEEC ՄԱՄՄ 000 2 УА. Уус. 3 CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &c. 199 CHURCHES. roof, and has arches, under which hang two bells exposed to the air. At the same time superior Churches, in the style of that of the 5th and following centuries [see fig. 2 from Maillot], might exist at Bangor or Val Rosine. For Gregory of Tours, who lived in the same sixth century, says, "This Church has in length 155 feet, in breadth 60,a in height to the chamber or vaulting 45, windows in the Altar (i. e. Choir) 32, in the Cap- sum (Nave) 20, pillars 41; in the whole edifice 52 windows, 120 pillars, 8 doors, 3 in the Choir, 5 in the Nave." Again, "he made a Church 150 feet long, 60 broad, 50 feet high from the Nave to the Vaulting, 42 windows, 72 pillars, 8 gates." The Naves of Monastic Churches were sometimes far shorter. In the year 709 (see fig. 3, 4, from Maillot) are two Churches, one with the long round- headed door of the British house; the other, a fac-simile of the Anglo-Saxon house in Strutt, whose copies of an- cient illuminations coincide in other respects, as appears by the plate. Anglo-Saxon Churches. A round Tower at the West end, and a semi-cir- cular termination of the Chancel, are admitted to be undisputed denotations of Anglo-Saxon Churches. A modern sweeping position consigns nearly all to the Normans,d because the anterior specimens are rare. (The west front of Malmsbury, still existent, is a work of Aldhelm, and very fine.e) One remark is alone sufficient to show its error. CASTLES. bury, Norwich, &c. was erected, for the opposite materials prove the altera- tion. Corfe, Limme in Kent, and other ugly Towers, often with herring- bone work, especially Coningsborough, are, therefore, as Mr. King in the latter instance thinks, probably Anglo- Saxon. He is supported by strong reasons; for, however similar may be the exterior forms of Oxford Keep- tower, and Hedingham, of later date, as well as others, the entrance in these Norman fabricks is not by a strait flight of steps, but one side-long and flanking: nor has the interior of those Keeps, called Anglo-Saxon by Mr. King, the same conveniences and arti- ficial annexations as the Norman. Dif- ferences, therefore, do exist, though not externally apparent, the staircase excepted, which undoubtedly (from the Keeps in Cornwall, where Norman customs were comparatively recent,) is more ancient when strait than pa- rallel. Besides, there is a rude an- cientry of structure at Coningsborough, &c. aided by the tradition of Saxon proprietors. Norman Castles. The Anglo-Saxon Keep-tower is, besides interior addi- tions, dilated and amplified into a Gundulf-keep, so as to have an addi- tional large central room; or, as at Berkeley, a ballium, with a range of apartments around the inside. This Keep, sometimes octangular, sometimes with circular angular Towers, is mostly square, with whole or demi-towers at the angles. Such are Dover, Roches- Willis says (Cathedrals, ii. 763), that the height of the Vaulting is generally the breadth of the Nave and side ailes; but at Stewkeley, &c. is an upper-croft over the Vaulting. b Du Cange, v. Capsum. From the grotesque animal ornaments of monstrous heads, and interlaced dragons, I seriously believe may be distinguished Anglo-Saxon from Norman Churches; for they abound in our earliest MSS. and Norman figures more resemble Nature. That very curious Anglo-Saxon Church Kilpeck, in Here- fordshire, has no West door; and three compartments, the Porticus, i. e. West end, the Nave, and a semi-circular Chancel. Each is divided by large round arches, upon the pilasters of which are figures of Saints, like Caryatides. There is no staircase to the rood-loft. The intersection of the zig-zag groins, arched roof, and narrow round-headed windows, exhibit the Chancel most pleasingly from the West end. The wall of the Western point-end rises above the roof, to hold two bells under arches. There is a rich South-door case, which had no Porch, full of interlaced serpents, &c. Around the whole Church runs a frieze of monstrous heads, &c.; among which, is a tumbler holding his leg, from the shows of the Anglo-Saxon Gleemen. Others have the hair parted on each side, in true Anglo-Saxon costume. As interlaced Dragons have been found at Hyde Abbey, I believe also, that the Crypt of St. Peter's, Oxford, &c. is not Norman, notwithstanding recent publications. Messrs. Lysons are laudable exceptions; and where are more experienced Antiquaries? • XV Scriptores, 349. 200 CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &c. CHURCHES. Stewkeley, inter alia, has been deprived of its Anglo-Saxon antiquity. Now it has an upper-croft, as has Elkstone in Gloucestershire, &c. &c.; and upper- crofts obtained in Irish Churches, where the first Normans never reign- ed. The Church was the parochial fortress, especially the Steeple ; and the upper-crofts were made on account of the Danes. Wooden Churches were constantly exposed to depredation and fire. "There were no other means of saving the sacred reliques, vestments, &c. of the Churches, and the wealth of the inhabitants, than by hiding them in subterraneous caves. The method, therefore, of building Churches en- tirely of stone, with upper-crofts, was a great improvement, as it gave a place of security to the goods of the inha- bitants, as well as to the sacred uten- sils for the Churches being entirely of stone, could not be easily burnt; and the entrances into the upper crofts, being only by narrow newel stairs, or by ladders, through stone trap-doors, they could not be plundered without pulling down the building, which, in these desultory expeditions, they had seldom time to do."c Here then we have three proofs of Anglo-Saxon fa- bricks: 1. Cylindrical Steeples. 2. Circular East-ends. 3. Upper-crofts. Conceding the similarity of the Anglo- Saxon and Norman styles, it is ad- mitted, that Hexham, built by Wil- frid, was very lofty in the walls, had three tiers or stories, columns, pon- tices, &c. Now in a Church, built in the time of Charlemagne (see fig. 5, from Maillot), it is very lofty, is divided into stories, and plainly shows the origin of the Spire; i. e. the py- ramidal roof of a tower rounded and elongated. So also Strutt's drawings CASTLES. ter, Durham, York, &c. If the Anglo- Saxon Keep-towers occasionally oc- cur, they have side-long, not direct, ascents. Twelfth Century. Berkeley, of this age, has the large high Norman Keep, but is surrounded to prevent mining (the usual method of siege) with a terras walk, exactly conformable to the description of an old Poem in Warton.f There are no walls with Towers; only the Barbican, and Demi-bastions. The ascent to the Keep is sidelong.g Hitherto the test of Castles is re- duced to a very simple standard: the lofty commanding character of the Keep, and the lowness of the walls, and paucity of contiguous buildings. This is well exhibited in the second volume of Grose's Military Antiquities, where is a Gundulf-keep, &c. in perfection (Fortification, pl. 1). The Normans (says Strutt) defend- ed the base-court from the keep, but a defence from many towers must be better than from one. Accordingly, in 1190, towers are ordered to be an- nexed to the walls of Paris ; and, in 1241, lofty towers and double walls occur. The garrison, after defending the walls, upon their demolition, fled to the keep. To augment the fortifi- cations, therefore, so that, in fact, se- veral Towers became Keeps, was a desideratum which appears to have been supplied by Edw. I. in the con- struction of Caernarvon. Others were altered and at Godrich, the old Saxon Keep being retained (Godric not being a Norman owner), a wall and four Towers were placed at the angles; each Tower being a Keep of itself in strength. Accordingly, in the end of the Thirteenth Century, the charac- teristicks alter from a lofty command- Hutchinson's Durham, i. 94; ii. 578. Transact. Royal Irish Academy for 1789, pp. 80-83. e Transactions Royal Irish Academy, ubi supra. Bentham's Ely, 22, 23. I believe, from very ancient illuminations, that grotesque capitals of columns are almost always Anglo-Saxon. A subsequent rule for Spires was, the same height as the length of the Church. Du Cange, v. Turrile, 1 Poetry, i. 84. A guard-room afterwards over the stairs. Du Cange, v. Tornella, 1 M. Paris, 504, X Scriptores 623, CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &c. 201 a CHURCHES. from undoubted Anglo-Saxon manu- scripts. Tickencote Church, without a fac-simile in Grose, through its pro- fusion of carved work, does not assi- milate a Norman specimen. In the county of Berks alone, Welford, with a round Tower, Padworth, Finchamsted, Remenham, (with semi-circular Towers at the East end), Tidmarsh and Aving- ton, are undoubtedly rescued from the hands of those Normans, who altered everything in England, and yet had a similar architecture. The Nor- man fabricks appear to have had less carved work, but much more elegant proportions, and greater beauty and pattern as a whole, than Anglo-Saxon Churches. Luton Church is said to be of conventual fashion, because it has two Porches to the North and South each, and two Chapels adjoin- ing to the East end of the North and South ailes.b That this was not ex- clusively a Conventual fashion, nor was an invariable form of Abbey- Churches, is evident, whatever may be the grounds upon which Dr. Du- carel broached this position. Paro- chial Churches, though not appro- priated, were, if situate upon abbatial estates, at least sometimes distinguish- ed by transepts, though the erection of the Church was at different periods. The splendor of Conventual Churches is thus explained: personal expence, or secular indulgence, was culpable in a Monk; but what was expended in ornamenting the Church, was thought to be glorifying God.c Ancient Churches, most splendid in the reign of the first Edward,d had various peculiarities now unknown, which shall be respectively detailed. As the High Altar represented the Church, and had four corners, because the gospel was extended through the four quarters of the globe,e that shall be first considered. Its dimensions are thus stated by Bishop Hakewill: CASTLES. ing Keep, which designates the whole as an object of import, to a large and conspicuous Tower, commonly at an angle, from greater command every way, and to numerous high Turrets and Towers, with high walls between; all one whole building as to external aspect, not of disjunct parts, as the Anglo- Saxon and Norman Castles. The outer walls too are quite high. In short, the whole Castle is a Keep enlarged into a walled and towered Court. Such is Caernarvon, &c. Fourteenth Century. This is a single Castle, square, with angular towers and machicollated gateways, sometimes flanked by slender round towers. Thus Lumley, built in 1389, Hilton, Boden- ham, and Cowling, in Kent. Mr. King says, that the low flat round Keep of Windsor was found there 18 Edw. III. by William of Wickham; but as another occurs at Leeds in Kent, also built by Wickham, and Queenborough of this age, however modernized, has similar Towers, they also are fashions of this æra. Fifteenth Century. The general cha- racteristick is lightness; light slender machicollated Towers. So Caister in Norfolk. In the rich illuminated Roman d'A- lexandre in the Bodleian Library, are numerous representations of Castellated Mansions. They are like Beverstone in Gloucestershire, built temp. Edw. III.; lofty compact Keeps, but windowy, with angular demi-towers square; the faces diagonal to the build- ing, but differing from Castles, in having pine-end roofs. Hurstmon- ceaux, and the Oxford College, and Quadrangular Mansions, are no more than single-castles housified, begotten, in jockey language, from Gundulph Keeps, whose dam was the lofty old Keep-tower. Sixteenth Century. The Castle adapt- ed to residence and war, occurs at Lysons's Britann. i. 205, 322. Bibl. Topogr. Britann. vol. iv. No. VIII. p. 11. Eadmer, 109. The idea was taken from the splendour of the Heathen Temples. See Hor. Od. 82. d Dallaway's Heraldic Enquiries, p. 36, seq. Ivo Carnotensis, 787, Od. 14. e 202 CHURCH-ARchitecture, &c. CHURCHES. "Allowing then an Altar of three foote and an halfe high, and a rising to it from the lower floore of a foote high; the height of the Altar from the lower floore will be foure foote and a halfe, or three cubits, which is the measure required in the Leviticall Law, and differs little in height from the Altars in forraine parts, or those which are yet standinge with us, if wee likewise take their height from the lower floore; which, by reason of the continued and easie degrees of ascent to them, may not unfitly be counted their basis or foote." The authentic mark of an Altar-table was its five crosses. As no Altar could be consecrated without relicks, there was a small stone, called the Sigillum Altaris, by which the aperture for insertion of the relicks was closed upd by mortar tempered in holy water. What are the horns of the Altar has been doubted by War- ton. They have been called the corners of the Altar. Du Cange says, the horn of the Altar is the side, where the epistle and gospel were read. Sym- machus, Gregory of Tours, and others,h mention the Siborium, an arch over the altar, supported by four lofty columns, in imitation of the Propitiatory, which covered the ark. It was sometimes illuminated and adorned with tapers. Where there was no Siborium, a mere canopyi hung over the Altar, which was most common among us; a fine stone screen full of niches being the back of the Altar, from which the canopy projects. Curtains called the Tetravelum were annexed, and drawn round, that the Priest might not be confused by view of the spectators.k Under this ciborium or canopy, hung the Pix, or box, containing the Host, a Apologie, p. 221. b Gent. Mag. for 1799, p. 860. Lyndw. Provinc. 249. d Du Cange in voce, and v. Malta. • I. 302. Emend. v. ii. f Pictet. Serm. sur Gen. c. xxviii. v. 17. h v. Cornu Altaris. Bishop Jewell's Reply to Harding, p. 311, 312. i Called Umbraculum. Du Cange. Du Cange, v. Ciborium, Cortona, Propitia. torium, Tetra-velum. CASTLES. Thornbury. The range of apartments is affixed to a strong Tower at one end, which flanks and protects them. There is also a large Court, with bar- racks and loop-holes. Mr. King's opinion is, that there is no rule in the construction of Castles, from their different aspects: certainly not, if, instead of taking pure speci- mens, of which the dates are known, recourse be had to mongrel buildings, altered at various times; but, in the construction of all Fortresses, rule and plan are matters of course. commonly a Dove of Goldsmith's work, esteemed so sacred, that upon the march of hostile armies, it was especially prohibited from theft; and Henry the Fifth delayed his army for a whole day, to discover the thief who had stolen one.m A common Altar- piece was piece was a picture of the General Judgement, called Mappa Mundi ;" but others occur, though, I am inclined to think, no subject was admissible, which was not either contemporary with, or posterior to, the passion of Christ. Over the Altar was put the Palla, carried out against fires; and over the Pall,p the Corporal, always made of linen, according to an order of Sextus in the year 133.4 The Ante- pendium was a veil which hung before,r as the Dorsale behind.s Behind and about the Altar were Perticæ, or beams, ornamented at the great feasts with re- liquaries of ivory, silver, &c. Besides Piscinas, hereafter described, were the stalls, where the officiating Ministers retired, during parts of the service per- formed by the choir." Du Cange says, 1 Bp. Jewell, ubi supra. n Tho. de Elmham in Vitâ Henrici V. p. 39, 53. Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, Introd. vol. ii. p. 3. Lysons's Britannia, ii. 117. P Du Cange, v. Palla Altaris. O 4 M. Polonus sub anno. Du Cange. It is the frontale of Staveley, Churches, 187. • Du Cange. Du Cange, v. Pertica. See Dec. Scriptor. col. 1300. u Hoc facto, sacerdos cum suis ministris in sedi- bus ad hoc paratis se recipiat. Missale Antiq. MS. Pemb. Coll. Oxon. CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &c. 203 "The Sedes Majestatis is a seat by the side of the Altar, in which the Minister about to celebrate sits, while the Kyrie, Gloria, and Creed, are sung; from whence, as often as he arose, the Deacon removing his hood, or amess, used to comb his hair; although that office is now done in the Vestiary [see § Abbot] before he comes to the Altar.' The Altar-plate stood upon a side table called Credentia, or Ministerium.a Besides this, were the Altaria Ani- marum, where Masses were said for the dead; rarely attended but by the Priest, a boy to assist him, and perhaps, a relative or two of the deceased.c The Lecterns, where the epistle and gospel were sung, and certain services of the dead performed. Some Lecterns were made in the shape of an Eagle, to de- signate St. John the Evangelist. Analogium was a reading-desk of Spanish metal cast, over which hung a gilt eagle with expanded wings. It was sometimes taken for the Martyro- logy, or Necrology, because that book was always laid upon it, to read from it what belonged to the service of the day.f Candlesticks. The first of these known in the Church were some of the form of crosses, presented to the Arians by the Empress Eudocia, and borne by them in procession. Afterwards in the Choir were candlesticks called Arbores or trees, with many lights rising from the ground.h The Statutes of Clugny say, "On the above festivals in which that iron machine is accus- tomed to be lighted, which is com- monly called Ezra, because it was il- luminated by glass lamps." There were also pendent chandeliers, called Corona.k In different parts of the • Du Cange. b Du Cange, v. Altare. Dugd. Monast. ii. 367. Peck's Desider. Cu- riosa, 229. d Davies, ch. xxi. sect. 10. • Du Cange, v. Aquila. Du Cange. A very fine one is engraved in Notices des MSS. dans la Bibliothèque Nationale, vol. vi. Pl. I. Socrates, 1. vi. c. 8. 1 Du Cange, v. Ezra. Du Cange, v. Arbores. Ibid. At the Chapel of Ford Abbey in De- vonshire, when on a visit to J. F. Gwynne, esq. I Church, sometimes in front of the High Altar, were Herses or stages, de- corated with palls, tapers, &c. in me- mory of deceased great persons.¹ The seats of those who sung in the Choir, consisted of two parts: Antica and Postica. In the Postica were tl.e folding seats, which were raised when the singers were to stand. The fold- ing part afforded a kind of seat, called a misericord. The part Antica made a leaning stock, upon which they re- clined when the Venia was to be sought.m For though Venia was a general term for genuflexion, prostration, or similar gesture, there was the greater Metanæa, very low inclination of the body; the smaller only bending the neck and head." Thus the Oseney Missal says, "Let them raise themselves, and lift their seats, and lye upon the forms, saying the Lord's Prayer."o To un- derstand this, it is necessary to ob- serve, that the seniors only leaned upon the forms; the juniors and the boys lay prostrate upon the pavement opposite the stalls ;P for to be raised to a forma, the word for a stall, was a promotion. Kneeling cushions and hassocks were common.r The Monks bowed at the Gloria Patri, except at the hours of the Virgin Mary; and sat at all the psalms, at least in this service.s The stalls were ornamented with tapes- try on festivals ;t and the whole Church hung with black on funerals of state: as were the houses of the deceased, and black curtains over the pictures. Over the body was put a black pall, with armorial escutcheons." The Naves of Churches were not was astonished to find two beautiful Altar-candle- sticks, exact fac-similes of some classical Cande- labra. There is a very fine specimen in the Prints concerning Abbot Islip, in the Vetusta Monumenta. Du Cange, v. Forma. " Ibid. Erigant se, et levent sedilia, et jaceant supra formas dicentes orationem Dominicam. MS. Arch. A. Bodl. 73. Reyner, Onomast. v. Prosternales Psalmi, See Dugd. Monast. i. 951. 9 Du Cange, v. levari supra Chorum. Id. v. Genuflectile, Genuflexorium, Basse. Du Cange, v. Hora. Id. v. Tapetias. " Id. v. Listra, Scutellum. 204 CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &c. always paved,a whence the use of rushes, according to Cowell,b for warmth and better kneeling. Men used to stand on the right hand or South side; women on the left or North.c Organ. This was of very different form to the modern, the pipes being exposed; and such an organ was, and perhaps is now, at Uley Church in Gloucestershire. The organist was an- ciently no separate officer, but one of the society. We hear of an Arch- deacon playing upon one in the Anglo- Saxon era. The Anglo-Saxon had copper pipes. Wulstan, in his pro- logue to the life of St. Swithin, men- tions one with twelve pair of bellows above, fourteen below, four hundred pipes, and seventy strong men required to work it. In 1450 that of St. Al- ban's was the best in the kingdom.b In the 14th century they were very general in Abbies: Davies mentions more than one in a Church. Piscinas, or sinks, where the Priest emptied the water he washed his hands in, and where flies (because the em- blems of unclean thoughts) and other filth in the chalice, in short, all conse- crated waste stuff that could be so, were poured out.k Du Cange calls it the font, where the Priest washed his hands before he performed the sacred offices, in allusion to the psalm, "I will wash my hands in innocency," &c. We order, says an ancient synod, a font for washing the hands of the celebrating Priests, which may be either affixed to the wall or Pensile, and furnish water with a linen pall." The Lavatory is also called the horn of the Altar, where the Priest washed his hands in the Mass. Nichols's Progress of Q. Eliz. Du Cange, v. Pars Virorum. d Warton's Sir T. Pope, 424. Angl. Sacr. ii. 43. Histor. Rames. ch. liv. b Pisci- v. Cirpus. Du Cange, v. Organa. What clumsy ma- chines they were, may be seen by the prints in Strutt, Hawkins, and Burney. h Warton's Sir T. Pope, 345. Burney's Musick, ii. 376. Lyndw. et Du Cange, v. Piscina. Du Cange, v. Fons Lavatorium, nas are sometimes double; sometimes single.m Lockers, or small niches, held the Ampullæ, or cruets of mixed wine and water for the Altar; and of oil for holy unction and chrism." In the Old Anglo-Saxon Church of Kilpeck in Herefordshire, there are two Lockers, but no Piscina. In a corner, stands a moveable double stone bason, formed like a dice-box, or hour-glass, without feet; used either for a Piscina or holy water, there being a large font besides. Pensile Tables, containing genealo- gies of buried persons ; number of pardons granted to those who prayed for the deceased ;P registers of miracles; histories; and duties of the temporary Priests." Excubitoria, or apartments for per- sons who watched the whole night.s In Lincoln Cathedral is 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, forty tolls; and after, to go to that place and eat and drink, and then to walk round and search the Church.t Roodlofts, or galleries across the Nave, at the entrance of the Chancel, or Choir, where were the images of the Crucifixion, Mary, and John, and some- times rows of Saints, on either side, and where the musicians played. m Lysons's Britannia, ii. 61. Du Cange, v. Ampullæ. • MS. Cott. Jul. F. vii. P Herbert's Ames, i. 420. a Willis's Cathedrals, i. 35. To make these was the Chantor's office. The following was the form of one of them: "Tabula sic fiat, 1. evang. fr. ille. 1. pl'am fr. ille Gr. ille et ille. R. cantores." "Tabula sine invit. fiat. post l'c. et lx lx ponatur mensæ lector." MS. Arch. A. Bodl. 73. Any one prevented by infir- mity or otherwise from officiating, gave notice to the Prior (of Winton), or his substitute, who no- minated another. Lowth's Wykeham, 282. seems, that at Shene, there were no less than thirty-four tables hanging up in the Nave (devo. tional ones). Itin. S. Simeon, et W. Worcest. p. 299. • Custumale Roffense, p. 171. Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, 305, It CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &c. 205 There is a remarkable similarity in the style of Roodlofts. The gallery is commonly supported by a cross beam, richly carved with foliage, sometimes superbly gilt; and underneath runs a screen of beautiful open. Tabernacle work. One at Honiton in Devon, pre- cisely resembles that engraved by Sir R. C. Hoare. Mary and John were not always the images which accom- panied the Crucifix, for we find the four Evangelists substituted instead. At Gilden Morden in Cambridgeshire, the Roodloft is very large and com- plete, having a double screen, forming two pews, about six feet square, on each side of the passage to the Chan- cel; the upper parts of light open Gothic work of the 15th century; the lower part is painted with flowers, and figures of Edmund and Erkenwold, with their names and inscriptions added.c Confessionals. At Gloucester, it is a large chair by the side of a door. At the ruined Abbey of Maig Adare in Ire- land, are stalls with oblong holes cut in them for confession.d Some are arched stone vaults, through which was a passage from the Choir to a Chapel, formerly very dark. Here the people stood, the Priest being within the Altar rails, and the voice passing through a wall made hollow for the purpose. On each side of the Altar, at Crewkerne in Somersetshire, is a door leading into a small room; that by which the penitents entered for confession has two swine carved over it, to signify their pollution; that, by which they returned, two angels, to signify their purity. At Gloucester two angels look upwards: it is more probable that this was a pictorial re- commendation of confession, founded upon the principles of its absolving and saving power, mentioned in the first chapter. Giraldus, Plate 5, f. 3. b Warton's Sir T. Pope, 348. Lysons's Britannia, II. 59. Sir R. C. Hoare's Tour, p. 51. • Parkin's Norwich, 187. ' Collinson's Somersetshire, II. 262. See Sir R. C. Hoare's Giraldus, I. 29. Galilees, where the processions end- ed: places or pews aloft, for the Abbot's family to view processions from ;º lines cut in the pavement to show the room to be kept clear for processions; and circular stones, to mark where each should take his stand at such times. In the Nave of the Church of York are small circles, engraved on the pave- ment, marking each place in the length of this Nave, which, being twelve times repeated, make exactly an English mile. They showed us twelve holes against the great door, with a little peg, which served to mark the miles, to any one chusing to measure them, changing every time this peg into a fresh hole, in order not to misreckon.i Lady-chapels, or Retro-choirs. This Chapel was so called, because, in gene- ral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The sick and strange Monks commonly sat there. In the Rule of the Order of Victor of Paris, it is said, "Those, who from sickness, are in the Retro-choir by licence." Again [ch. xxxix], "As long as a brother is in the Retro-choir, they ought not to be put in the table for officiating. The sick, who are in the Retro-choir, ought to stand, if they can, at the Te Deum, Benedictus, and Gospel." Thus [in ch. lii], "After the glory of the first psalm, let no one enter the Choir without licence. After half an hour, let no one enter at all, but go to the Retro-choir, and after- wards beg pardon in the Chapter." k A deformed child, waiting for a mira- culous cure, lay, on his birth-day, and that following, in the Lady-chapel at Malmsbury. After the Reformation, it was often given to the scholars of free-schools for the purpose of morn- ing prayers, &c.m Cripts, forn clandestine drinking, feast- ing, and things of that kind. Oswald, Or where the Monks were exposed in penance. h Gostling's Canterbury Walk, 203. i Antiquarian Repertory, II. 217. Du Cange, v. Retro-chorus. 1 Anglia Sacra, I. 42. m Phillips's Shrewsbury, 95. n Cust. Roff. 235. The holy-water stones were filled with fresh water every Sunday morning by the bell-ringers, or servitors of the Church, and a Monk conse- 206 CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &C. terrards Ambishop of York ceived from his Abbot a secret place in the Charming that he might hel private prayer. This secret place was à Crist sued a Confessional: before the four of which, twelve poce, al kierku, zied to reserve daily alms; and the Crit had an Altar where he cele- brated Mans.* Tsjerk, omamented with Bowers, used on big, festivals to bam before parimlar images, and be borne in pro- Saint, belu, the use of which was this, says M. Harting. We have com-, monly seen the Priest, when he sped him to say his service, ring the sannice- beil, and speake out aloud. Pater Nos ter, by which token the people were commar.ded silence. reverence, and devotion." c According to Staveley, and Warton from him, it was rung when the Priest came to the - Holv. holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, or Triss- gium, in order that all persons without might fail on their knees in reverence of the Host, then elevated." They then bowed the head, spread or ele- vated the hands, and said, “Salve, Lux Mundi," &c. Hail, Light of the World, &c. In opposition to Barclay before quoted, Erasmus says,f No person ever passed by a Church or cross, without pulling off his hat or bowing. Towers, for the juniors to learn the Church service in.g Triforia, or upper ways round the Church, for the convenience of sus- pending tapestry and similar ornaments on festivals.b Pulpits, which generally faced the West, that the people's faces, in all acts of devotion, might look towards crated it early in the morning before divine service. Davies, &c. * Ang. Sacr. II. 195. b M. Paris, 1056. Bp. Jewell's Reply, p. 133. 4 Du Cange mentions a wheel, appended to the wall near the Altar, full of bells, and whirled round on this occasion. v. Rota. One occurs in an Anglo Saxon Church. Dugd. Monast. I. 104, 1. 40-50. ⚫ Lyndw. 249. Monit. Pædagog. Colloq. 35. Gervas. Cant, 1292. the East. according to the custom of the primitive times: the change to the Souta, or other direction, being a re- form of the Puritans: and Sir Walter Midmar, in the foundation of the Chapel of Emanuel College, Cam- badge which stood North and South out of opposition, first setting the examcie In the annals of Dunstable Priory is this item: la 1453 made a clock over the pulpit. A stand for an hour- giass still remains in many pulpits. A Rector of Bibury used to preach two hours, regularly turning the glass. Af- ter the text, the Esquire of the parish withdrew, smoaked his pipe, and re- turned to the blessing. Lecturers' pulpits have also hour-glasses. The Priest had sometimes a watch found him by the parish.” Painted Glass. Warton says, that the stem of Jesse was a favourite sub- ject. Sugerius thus proves it: “I have caused to be painted a beautiful variety of new windows, from the first, which begins with the stem of Jesse in the Caput Ecclesia [the part where the Altar was erected, Du Cange] as far as that which is over the principal gate."o | Any miraculous events happening to persons, were represented in their Cha- pels and Churches in stained glass, or such as happened within the knowledge of the erector.P Common subjects were, a genealogical series of benefac- tors-arms and figures of donors of lights-the seven sacraments of the Romish Church-many crowned heads with curled hair and forked beards, re- present the Edwards, Richard II. and Henry IV.-whole length figures, with crowns and sceptres, Jewish Kings, connected with some scriptural history, universally so when in profile. The Saints are known by the following at- tributes: i Heylin's Hist. Presbyterians, 329. * Bibl. Topogr. Brit. vol. IV. No. VIII. p. 11. 1 Rudder's Gloucestershire, in Bibury. m Wood-cuts in Hawkins's Musick, II. 332. Manning's Surrey, I. 531. • Du Cange, v. Jesse. h Ibid. 1295. P Joinville, I. 230. Dallaway's Arts. CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE,-&c. 207 Peter. The keys and a triple cross; sometimes a Church. Paul. A sword, sometimes a book, or drawing a sword across the knee. Gabriel. A lily, a flower pot full of which is frequently placed between him and the Virgin. John the Baptist. A long mantle and long wand, surmounting by a small shaft, forming a cross; and a lamb is generally at his feet, or crouching, or imprest on a book in his hand, or on his hand without a book. John the Evangelist. A chalice, with a dragon or serpent issuing out of it, and an open book. James the Great. A club and a saw. Thomas. A Spear. Simon. A Saw in a boat. Matthew. A Fuller's club. James the Less. A Pilgrim's staff, book, scrip, and hat, with an escallop shell in it.. Bartholomew. A knife. Philip. A crosier. Anthony. A rosary on his mantle, a tau-cross, at his feet a pig, with a bell round his neck. Nicholas. A tub, with three or four naked infants in it. Margaret. Treads on or pierces a Dragon, with a cross; sometimes holds a book, sometimes wears a crown. Clare holds the expositorium. Apollonia. A palm branch and tooth. Barbara. A palm branch and book, or tower, wherein she was confined. Mary Magdalen. Dishevelled hair, and a box of ointment. Mary Egyptiaca. Her hair all round her. Elizabeth. St. John and the Lamb at her feet. Anne. A book in her hand. Dorothy. A basket of fruit. Sebastian. Pierced through with arrows. Edward the Confessor. Crowned, a ring on his right hand, sometimes a short spear. Edmund. An arrow. Ursula. A book and arrow. St. John of Beverley. Pontifically habited, his right hand blessing, his left holding a cross. Thomas of Becket. A mitre and crosier; his hand elevated to give the Benediction. Asaph. A bishop with a crosier, hand elevated. Bridget. A book and crosier. Christopher. A gigantic figure, cross- ing a river, with the infant Saviour upon his shoulder. St. John Almoner. A pilgrim with a nimbus, a loaf in the right hand, pil- grim's staff in the left, and a large rosary. St. Flower. Her head in her hand, and a flower sprouting out of her neck. St.Lucy. A short staff in her hand, like a sceptre, and the devil behind her. Agnes. Carries her breasts in a dish full of blood. Eugene, as St. Lucy. Stephen. A stone in his hand, and book. Paul the Hermit. A long robe, and string of beads. Paulinus. The Devil looking her in the face. St. Loy. A crosier and hammer. Seven Sleepers. As many persons praying. Felix, &c. Triple crown and anchor. Lawrence. A book and gridiron. Roche. Boots, a wallet, dog sitting with a loaf in his mouth; Roche shows a boil on his thigh. Exaltation of the Cross. A King kneeling and worshipping the Cross, held by a person in heaven. Invention of the Cross. The cross lifted out of a tomb amidst spectators. Cosme and Damian. One holds a round box, the other a big-bellied round bottle. Michael, in armour, with a cross, or pair of scales. Francis. A Fryer's dress, with a figure half human, half a cross, from which issue lines to his heart, feet, and hands, for the five wounds of Christ. Denys holds his head in his hand. Eleven thousand Virgins. Young women crowned, kneeling. 208 CHURCH-ARCHITECTURE, &c. Crispin and Crispinian. At work in a shoemaker's shop. Catherine. Her wheel, or a spear, with the point downwards. Erasmus lies on the ground while his bowels are extracting, by being wound round a windlass above. St. Lewis, King of France. A King kneeling, at his feet the arms of France, a dove dropping on his head, a bishop blessing. Popes have the triple crown and anchor, or triple cross, and a Dove whispering in their ears. This catalogue is from Gough's Se- pulchral Monuments, aided by the wood-cuts in the Golden Legend, &c. &c. At the Reformation, the pictures in stained-glass, even of benefactors, were removed as superstitious.a It was usual for guests of rank, after a long visit, to give an escutcheon of their arms in stained-glass, to the bow- window of the Hall.b King Charles I. and Queen Mary, being entertained by the Clergy in the Deanery of Winches- ter, his arms and initials, together with those of the Queen, were, as a memo- rial, placed in one of the windows of the Dean's Hall, where they remain to this day. King Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn made a visit to Prink- nash, near Gloucester, and their arms still remain in the windows. Encaustic Pavements. In the Nor- man centuries there is abundant proof, that Mosaic work was adopted, as an embellishment of the High Altar, and before shrines; at first exhibiting scrip- tural stories, painted upon glazed bricks and tiles of an irregular shape, fitted together as the colour suited; and upon the same plan as the stained glass in windows. As an improvement in the succeeding ages, the bricks were made equilateral, and about four inches square, which, when arranged and con- nected, produced an effect very resem- Warton's Sir T. Pope, 199. b Id. 233. e Hist. of Winchester, cr. 8vo, 1761, II. 126. blant of the Roman designs; yet, want- ing their simplicity and taste. The wreaths, circles, and single compart- ments, retain marks of Gothic incor- rectness, and of as gross deviation from the original as the Saxon mouldings. At what period heraldick devices were introduced, cannot be ascertained with precision; but, it is probable, that when they were carved, or painted upon escutcheons, or stained in glass, the floors received them likewise as a new ornament. The arms of founders and benefactors were usually inserted, during the middle centuries, after the Conquest (though doubtless there are earlier instances), when many of the greater Abbies employed kilns for pre- paring them from which the Conven- tual and their dependent parochial Churches were supplied. Some have conjectured, that the painted tiles were made by Italian artizans settled in this country; and, it has been thought, that Monks, having acquired the art of painting and preparing them for the kiln, in the manner of porcelain, amused their leisure, by designing and finish- ing them. Exquisite delicacy and va- riety (though seldom of more than two colours), are particularly discernible in those of a date when this branch of en- caustick painting had reached its high- est perfection. It should be remarked, that the use of these painted bricks was confined to consecrated places, almost without exception; and that all of them discovered since the Reformation have been upon the sites of Convents, pre- served either in Churches, or in houses to which strong tradition confirms their removal. Amongst those of latter date, arms impaled and quartered, as well as scrolls, rebuses, and cyphers, are very frequent; and, interspersed with other devices, are single figures, such as gry- phons, spread-eagles, roses, fleurs-de- lis, &c. of common heraldic usage in- deed, but not individually applied.d It appears, that in some instances, they formed a kind of tesselated pavement, d Dallaway's Heraldic Enquiries, p. 107-109. CHURCH. 209 the middle representing a maze or labyrinth, about two feet in diameter, so artfully contrived, that a man fol- lowing all the intricate meanders of its volutes, could not travel less than a mile before he got from one end to the other. The tiles are baked almost to vitrification; and wonderfully resist damp and wear.a Actual tesselated pavements_once existed. A manuscript Anglo-Saxon Glossary, cited by Junius, says, "Of this kind of work, Mosaick in small dies, is little in England. Howbeit I have seen of it a specimen upon Church floors, before Altars, as before the High Altar at Westminster, though it be but gross." b The bells (of which the ropes had brass, and sometimes silver rings, at the end, for the hand,) were anciently rung by the Priests themselves, after- wards by servants; and sometimes by those incapable of other duties, as per- sons who were blind.d At certain sea- sons the Choir was strewed with hay, at others with sand. On Easter sab- bath with ivy-leaves; at other times with rushes.e The doors were locked till Prime, and from dinner to Vespers ;f Henniker Major on Norman Tiles, pp. 8, 9, 13. b Cowell, v. Mosaick Work. c Du Cange, v. Circuli, Campana. In the clock- tower was a Nolula, or double-bell. Spelm. Gloss. v. Campana. d Davies, &c. "In the Monasterye of West. minster ther was a fayre yong man, which was blynde, whom the Monkes hadde ordeyned to rynge the bellys." Gold. Leg. f. clxxxviii. b. e Vigilia Omnium Sanctorum et Nat. Dom. ja- cietur fenum copiosè in choro et in circuitu chori ; feriâ secunda post dominicam in ramis Palmarum ipsius (cantoris) prudentiâ scopabitur Ecclesia. Eodemque die jacietur fenum in choro, et in cir- cuitu chori copiosè. Sabbato autem Adventu Do- mini et primo die Quadragesimæ in choro jacietur. Sancto sabbato Pascha spargentur solia ederæ. Quatuor sollempnitatibus, sc. Pentecostes, sancti Athelwoldi, assumptione sanctæ Mariæ, et Nativi- tatis, in choro et in circuitu chori cirpus sufficien- ter spargetur. In quatuor solempnitatibus, sc. Ascensionis, sc. Joh. Baptist. sc. Bened. sc. Mich. tantum in choro jacietur. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. 195, 196. f Ad sonitum nec ante primam diluculo pulsatam reserabuntur hostia Ecclesiæ; conventu ad pran- dium urgente, usque ad vesperas obserabuntur. Id. 198. b. See White's Selborne. and the books in the Choir, at least some of them, were covered with cloths.g The Nuns' Church, Lyndwood de- scribes as entirely surrounded by walls,h which answers to Jerom's account of a Nunnery, "That it should be so in- closed, as scarcely to leave an entrance for birds." Visitation injunctions or- der a door at their Choir, "That no straungers may look on them, nor they on the straungers, during divine ser- vice."k The Brigettine Nuns took the sacra- ment through a window, where they could be both seen and heard:1 and the mitigated Rule of the Order of St. Clare directs, that in the wall, which divided the Nuns from the Church, an iron grate, or perforated plate, with projecting spikes outward, should be made, and have a small door of an iron plate, through which the Priest could give them the chalice and paten.m It seems that divine service was very much abused. The Saxon Monks were censured for velocity." The services were not sung in the proper tone and note, and the psalmody immoderate and indistinct.P The prayers were shortened in the manner of persons at work or on a journey; for the Monks even then said their hours." The fes- tivals were neglected. Secular customs were intermingled with the Mass. The hours were not observed through fault Ad pannos abluendos qui sunt supra libros in choro, sive contra Natale, sive contra Pentecosten, sive contra festivitatem S. Mariæ, si opus fuerint, ut laventur cellerarius debet præbere præcentori. Id. 201. b. h P. 153. Lopez's Epit. S. S. p. 405. k Monast. ii. 896. 1 Ex regulâ. Bullarium Romanum, i. p. 155. "In nimia velocitate psallendo Deum potius ad iracundiam inconsideratè, quod absit, provocent. MS. Harl. 652. 0 Præcipimus ut cantent capitula, preces, versi- culos, et collectas, tam in ecclesia quam in caplo, secundum tonam et notam nostri almi religionis. MS. Ashm. Mus. 1519. f. 14. a. P Ut psalmodia in choro moderate et distincte celebraretur. Id. 27. a. Curtæ ad modum laborantium et itinerantium. MS. Mus. Ashm. 1519. f. 27. Monast. i. 876. P 210 CHURCH. of the clock. The services of founders and benefactors were unattended to.b They did not even give personal at- tendance, through the negligence of Abbots.d Some scarcely celebrated four times in the year, though every one in priest's orders was to do so at least once in eight days. There was much disorderly noise, tumult, laughter, gossiping, and disputes, as well as loung- ing about the Church, conversing with brethren, or seculars, and idly turning over the books. The nocturnal office was ill-sung, through those who needed light not having candles.h The Bell which rung to Mattins was called the Fool-waker, in ridicule of those who got up when it rung.i Their music (cantus fractus et divi- sus) consisted of a method of figurate descant, in which the various voices. following one another were perpetually repeating different words at the same time; and it may be inferred, from Bernard's directions respecting psalm- ody, that the latter was very much pro- tracted; the metre and close of the verse not sounded together or dismiss- ed together; and the note held too long or too soon left off; that some began before others, went on too fast, or lag- ged behind; or kept the note too long; and that another's part was taken up a Festa visitationis B. Mariæ, &c. observanda. MS. Ashm. ut supr. 24. a. usibus sæcularibus omnino spretis, f. 35. defectu orologii; f. 81. a. b Negligunt et omittunt fundatorum aliorum atque benefactorum suorum animas. MS. Harl. 328. f. 2. Non licet alicui de conventu, qui horis et missis his interesse tenetur ab eisdem quomodoli- bet absentare. Ibid. But see on the contrary, M. Paris, 1140. d Reyn. App. 195. • Sunt et alii qui missarum solempnia vix cele- brant quat. in anno. MS. Bibl. Reg. 8. F. Ix. Wilk. Concil. ii. 245. g C. G. North. a° 1444. C. 2. sect. De Divin. Offic. Monast. i. 951. In loco benedictionis con- fidentes sacerdotes nullus debet in discretis vocibus perstrepere aut quibuslibet tumultibus perturbare. Nullus etiam fabulis vanis vel agresti risu, (risibus, MS.) vel quod est deterius obstinatis disceptacioni- bus tumultuosas voces effundere. MS. Bibl. Reg. ut sup. h C. G. North. aº 1444. C. 2. 1 Du Cange, v. Evigilans stultum. k Mason's Essay on Cathedral Music. before he had done, instead of begin- ning when and where he stopped.' The service among the Nuns was performed by the Confessor and Chap- lains. Their singing, among such or- ders as did sing, was exquisite." The Nuns of Sempringham indirectly psalm- odized; those who did so stood in one choir, and the rest in another. They began at the direction of the Prioress, and no one did this duty who had not been previously exercised in the Refec- tory and Chapter. An old Nun stood at the further end of the Choir, to see that they did not behave amiss. No Nun in summer, after thirds, when the priest was robed, was to leave the Church. The Nun, who had the care of the Collect, and could do nothing else, did not minister at the drinkings after Nones, but a junior served in- stead. In Lent they sung Vespers in the place where they worked, as also Nones, after Holyrood-day, and Ves- pers in summer. Nuns who could not read or perform divine service, worked at reading time, although they knew the psalter; notwithstanding which, they prayed when the others did. Alí could stand or sit at the lessons of the Mass. If they did not come to prayer before prime in summer, and thirds in winter, on working-days, they were to confess it in Chapter; and if they ex- ceeded the first glory of the hour, on private days, they were to solicit par- don on the ground. If any Nun, ex- cept those who ate after Nones, did not rise in the summer, after the first bell of Nones, she was to confess it 1 C. G. North. ubi supr. m Monast. i. 498. 924. n Vocibus altisonis adeo modulamine dulci Cantant, syrenes quod cecinisse putes. Spec. Stult. MS. Cott. Tit. A. 20. • Besides this humming, if it so meant, (perhaps chanting, or half-singing, which I rather think is the meaning of indirectè psallere,) there was in the ritual cum nota, et sine nota. The cum nota is plain enough; and it seems the sine nota meant celebrating in a low voice, gradually, distinctly, and openly. "Similiter etiam cætera omnia quæ sine nota in conventu sunt agenda voce mediocri, trac- tim, distinctè, et apertè. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 241. a. CHURCH. 211 the day after in the Chapter. The lay- Nuns stood in their stalls at the Masses and Gratiasa only. The Nuns, who had misericords of sleeping, were di- vided into two choirs, of which one slept one night, the second the other. If there were two or one, they slept in the Infirmary.b Davies says, "Every Sunday a ser- mon was preached in the Galiley from one to three in the afternoon; previous to which, at twelve, the great bell of the Galiley tolled three quarters of an hour, and rung the fourth quarter till one o'clock, that the people might have warning to come and hear the word of God preached." The Friars also preached there, and there were ser- mons on saints' days, and other solem- nities. Some of these sermons were very strange and ridiculous, as the fol- lowing extracts will show: "A lark is a bird which sings a song proceeding from recollection of the benefits of God. For the lark, when she begins to mount, lightly sings Deum, Deum, Deum; when she comes a little higher, she sings many times Deum, many times Deum: when she comes highest of all, she sings en- tirely Deum. Thus does the pious soul from gratitude." e Similar instances are before given of the nightingale. In another it is said, that in these two things, the election of a Monk, and keeping his rule, the whole of Monas- a The meaning of this word may be got at from the following passage. Et tam post prandium quam post cœnam seu collationem, adeant ecclesiam gra- tias reddendo; tempore estivali, post prandium, dictis gratiis dormiant more aliorum religiosorum. These are hospital statutes from Monast. ii. 370; and gratiæ of course are thanks rendered in the church after meals, by the lay-sisters. See too the Brigettine rule, and Ch. LX. b Monast. ii. 763, 4. For sixpence a sermon. Warton's Hist. Engl. Poetry, ii. 106. As by the Prior. Gold. Leg. f. clxxxix. e Avis est alauda, quæ cantat canticum, quæ procedit ex recordacione beneficiorum Dei. Alauda enim quum incipit ascendere, leviter cantare Deum, Deum, Deum. Quum venit parum altius cantat plu. Deum, plu. Deum. Quum venit in summo cantat tot. Deum, tot. Deum. Sic anima saneta quæ cogitat beneficia, &c. MS. Harl. 1750, f. 118, a. | tic discipline consists; and is like a great joint in a small dish. They were also enlivened with stories and curious metaphors. "Moreover," it says, "how wholesome is the obligation of profession, you may by a short story learn. A father had a sick son, who could not be cured without the knife and cautery. The father asks the lad, whether he would wish to be bound? Anxious for his health, he replies, that he has no objection to be bound and burned. Accordingly he is so; but no sooner does he feel the knife and file, than he storms, rages, and begs to be loosed; but no, says the father, not till you are healed. In the same manner acts the Monk, who has willingly and knowingly taken the vows." One of their metaphors was this: "You have seen a man carrying a lighted candle in the open air, and guarding it with his hands lest it should be blown out." The Monk's soul was the candle, his body the part illuminated; the three winds liable to blow it out were the world, the flesh, and the devil; the two hands that held the light were alms and fasting. A sermon for the Nuns, upon flowers emitting odour, like the lily,g is a string of allegorical puns. Another, in the manner of the old black-letter story of the "Abbaye of the Holy Ghost," originally in Latin by the famous B. Alcock, says, the first girl is Chastity, the second Humi- lity, the third is Mercy, and she is cel- 66 f In his duobus summa totius monasticæ reli- gionis disciplinæ regularis est, tamque grande fer- culum in vase brevi. MS. Harl. 1712. f. 22. Porro quæ salubris est professionis obligatio brevi exemplo perpendere potestis: Pater filium habet ægrotum qui sanari non potest absque incisione et cauterio. Pater consulit filium utrum ligari velit. Ille sanitatem desiderans rogat se ligari ac uri. Ligatur, autem cum ferrum et ignem incipit sen- tire, clamat, furit, solvi se deposcit, sed à patre non solvitur, donec sanetur. In hunc modum monachus qui se regulari disciplinæ sponte et scienter obligavit, &c. Id.-Vidisti quempiam sub dio ambulantem ceream faculam succensam feren- tum in manibus utque manu circumpositâ custodit eam, ne vi ventorum extinguatur, et si quando aduritur ustionem sustinet patienter. Id. f. 24. Eccles. c. 39. MS. Harl. 52. f. 128. P 2 2 CHURCH-YARD. 213 CHAPTER XXXIV. CHURCH-YARD. were extinguished, and the bells silent. Other ceremonials, besides similar devotions, mention unction of the corpse, upon a stone in the Infir- mary for that purpose; and, with re- spect to Abbots at least, a public ex- hibition of the corpse in the Church.d Davies adds, a chalice of wax was placed on the breast,e and with re- spect to superiors, perhaps of silver or other metal. It seems that the Abbot and others were used to convert to private uses the goods, money, and other articles, belonging to deceased brethren.f THE Church-yard was called Polyan- | As soon as this was over, the lights drium,a and no large Cemetery was anciently made without an Altar to St. Michael, who, in every Mass for the dead, was named Signifer, for the Re- surrection. The ceremonial of bu- rials was as follows: By the institutes of Dunstan, the body was washed and clothed in a clean hood, boots, and cowl (and, if a Priest, a stole), and car- ried to the Church, all singing psalms, and the bell ringing; and, if he died in the night, or early in the morning, he was buried (if possible) after Mass before dinner; but, if they could not attend without intermission to psalm- singing, the body was interred imme- diately. The Norman decretals add to this, a cross at the head of the corpse before burial, and a burning light at the head and feet, constant watching, and psalmody, unless when the Con- vent was at Church; religious services for him ; silence in the Cloister as long as he was unburied; the corpse censed by the Deacon; absolution of the deceased by the Abbot after a ser- mon in the Chapter; a variety of duties postponed and altered on account of the burial; procession to the grave, with tapers and holy water, with which both the corpse and grave were sprinkled; pall (or bed) extended over the grave; burial by persons descend- ing into it; a written absolution laid upon his breast, and buried with him. ↑ And Carnarium, &c. &c. See Du Cange. b Gough's Sepulchr. Monum. Intr. ii. ccxxxvi. A veil concealed corpses from the Pontifex Maximus. After the burial, a Monk was sent with the breve,g or notice of his death, to other houses, and when it was entered in their obituary, he took a copy of the entry, which was called Titulus, and brought it back with him.h In the thirteenth century, Reginald de Homme, Abbot of Gloucester, made the following ordination for the obits. of the Monks: d M. Paris, 1063. Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, p. 244. For more prolix information, I refer the reader to the authors I have cited, and to MSS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. and Bodl. Barlow, 7.; MSS. in their respective walks of information, I have found unique. For Nuns, v. Monast. ii. 779, 80. e This was borrowed from the heathen custom of depositing sacred utensils in Sepulchres (Vetusta Monumenta, iv. p. 3); and the construction of wax, from ancient Gaulish drinking vessels of that material. C. G. Northampt. anno 1444. St. 10. de Prælatis. 8 The form of the Brevia of the obits of Monks, see in Du Cange, v. Precatorium. h Desiderata Curiosa, 242. 216 REFECTORY. CHAPTER XXXV. REFECTORY. Refectory. This room, as described | the master of them, when he had done, by Davies, was a large hall, wainscotted on the North and South sides; and in the West and nether part, a long bench of stone, in mason work, from the cellar door to the pantry or cove door. It had a dresser in it. Above the wainscot was a large picture of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and St. John; but in most places, or there perhaps, the Cross or Crucifixion. Within the door on the left hand was an Almery, where stood the grace-cup, out of which the Monks, after grace, every day drank round the table; and ano- ther large one on the right, with smaller within, where stood the mazers, of which each Monk had his peculiar one, and an ewer and bason, which served the Sub-prior to wash his hands in at the table, of which he sat as chief.d At the West end was a loft above the cellar, ascended by stairs. with an iron rail, where the Convent and Monks dined together, the Sub- prior sitting at the upper end of the table. At the South end of the high table, within a glass window-frame, was an iron desk, ascended by stone. steps with an iron rail, where lay a bible; out of which one of the Novices read a part in Latine during dinner, Du Cange, v. Directorium. Festinent lotis manibus introire in Refecto- rium, salutantes crucem, versis vultibus ad orien- tem [Let them hasten after they have washed their hands, to enter the Fratry, saluting the Cross, with their faces towards the East]. Reg. Fulgentii. MS. Bodl. Archiv. Seld. D. 52. See also Speed, 411. sect. 4. The classical cup, ayabou daμovos, handed round at the end of a feast. Plin. L. 28, c. 2. and not. Pintian. This is plainly the ceremony of the digitis al- luded to in sect. Abbot. The readers at the table were to give ear to the Prior, in case of error; and if they did not under- stand his correction, they were to begin the verse again, even repeatedly, until they comprehended the Prior's meaning. Reg. Vict. Par. Du Cange, Esyrinire. v. ringing a silver bell, hanging over his head, to call one of the Novices to come to the high table and say grace.g At the East end was a neat table, with a screen of wainscot over it, for the master of the Novices, the Elects, and Novices to dine and sup at. Two windows opened into the Refectory from the great kitchen, the one large for principal days, the other smaller for every day; and through these the meat was served. Over against the door, in the Cloister, was a Conduit or Lavatory for the Monks to wash their hands and faces,k of a round form, covered with lead, and all of marble, excepting the outer wall, with- out which they might walk about the Laver. It had many spouts of brass, with twenty-four brazen cocks about it, and seven windows of stone work in it; and above, a dovecoat covered with lead. Adjoining to the East side of the conduit door hung a bell to call the Monks at eleven o'clock, to come and wash before dinner." In the closets or almeries on each side of The Skilla was the appellation of a small bell, often of very sweet sound, rung by a cord in the Dormitory and Infirmary to awaken the Monks, and struck in the Refectory by the Prior with a single blow when the dinner was finished. Du Cange, v. Skilla. 8 A small bell hung at the Abbot's table, by which he, or the presiding officer, signified the conclusion of the Lecture, or of the meal. Reg. Vict. Cistert. &c. Du Cange, v. Nola. See too Du Cange, v. Damadarius. I Water was often conveyed into a stone recep- tacle at the entrance, by subterraneous pipes, for washing the hands. Du Cange, v. Concavarium. At the striking of the Cymbalum, a small bell hung in the Cloister, the Monks went in proces- sion, if they were at Church, to the Lavatory first to wash their hands. Reg. Ord. Victor. Id. v. Lavatorium Cymbalum. Struck with a hammer, not a clapper. Ibid. v. Timpanum. m At other places was, besides, a small stone ba- son on the side of the fratry door. REFECTORY. 217 the Frater-house door in the Cloisters,, towels were kept white and clean to dry their hands upon.a At St. Alban's was an ascent of fifteen steps to the Abbot's table,b to which the Monks c brought up the service in plate,d and, staying at every fifth step, which was a landing-place, they sung a short hymn. After the Monks had waited. awhile on the Abbot, they sat down at two other tables, placed at the sides of the hall, and had their service brought in by the Novices, who, when the Monks had dined, sat down to their own dinner. Fires were ordered from All-hallows day to Good Friday, and the wood was found by the Cellarer.h Pinnafores, or Super-tunicks, to protect the cloaths at dinner, are men- tioned by Lyndwood, and occur in foreign consuetudinals.i Giraldus Cambrensis,k on dining with the Prior of Canterbury, noted sixteen dishes besides intermeals; a superfluous use of signs; much send- * Changed every Friday. Du Cange, v. Manu- tergia, Manutergiolum. b Who only dined there on great days: the Ab- bess of Barking five times in the year. Monast. i. 83. c Elsewhere the Novices. Reyn. Append. 143. d Trays and waiters for the cups to stand on occur (Du Cange, v. Musta, Tabularius). A cup- board of plate. Id. v. Trisorium. See Angl. Sacr. i. 60. e Certain Psalms, called Psalmi Refectionum, were sung, both at laying and removing the table, and adapted to praising God for the food, &c. These were sung on Sundays and Holidays, anti- phonally or with Alleluia. Du Cange, v. Psalmi Refectionum. 1 British Topography, ii. 462. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. 1v. f. 22 b. h Monast. i. 149. i sale. Lyndw. 124. Du Cange, v. Mantellum, Men- Angl. Sacr. ii. 480. "There are certain times and days in which the Convent of Peterborough, and other Monks, were used to eat twice in the day; from Holyrood day to October 1; and from October 1, every 12th day, till Advent, and every day within the octaves of St. Martin; and from Christmas-day till the oc- taves of the Epiphany; and from them, every 12th day, till Quinquagesima; in all which on days of robes, during the above times, the Convent was used to have one meal at supper with cheese. But, on other days, viz. the 12th, a certain intermeal of sixteen dishes, cum servientibus; all which, on ac- count of the alms, the same Abbot enjoined, that what used to be brought up at supper should be so at dinner." Swapham, 111. 0 ing of dishes from the Prior to the at- tending Monks, and from them to the lower tables, with much ridiculous. gesticulation in returning thanks,m and much whispering, loose, idle, and licentious discourse; n herbs brought in, but not tasted; numerous kinds of fish, roasted, boiled, stuffed, fried; eggs; dishes exquisitely cooked p with spices; salt meats to provoke appe- tite; wines of various kinds," piment, claret, mead, and others. Respecting these, Bernard says, it was not unusual m Anciently, when the Abbot dined with the Monks, they used to take the cups with reverence and silence, and did not say, as was afterwards the custom, "Pardon." Du Cange, v. Ignosce. 66 n Monks were to dine without detraction, laugh- ter, secular stories, and gossiping. Athon. 150. As the Monks complained of the hardship of con- tinual silence at dinner, it was resolved, that after the reading was over, which the presiding officer finished at discretion, they might talk in a low voice. Reyn. Append. 102. But it seems, on account of this liberty they had at certain times of talking English, they became so loquacious, that it was one reason why the statute was made, that on all public occasions they should speak only Latin or French. C. G. Northampt. aº 1444. C. vii. As to presents, Acharius, Abbot of Peterborough, 'every day sent his own wassal bread into the Refectory." Hist. Coenob. Burgens. 107. One of the Priors of Durham used to send wine into the Fratry. In the Decret. Wolsey, for August. Ca- nons, "No layman was to attend upon the Canons, nor any one to send out any kind of meat or drink without leave." Monast. ii. 568. See Almonry. The distinction of dishes is thus alluded to: "Also we forbid singularity in the Refectory; and, if any thing be placed before a claustral and obedientiary, besides what suits the Convent, let it be put before the President, to be disposed of by him as he chuses." Item singularitatem in Refectorio prohi- bemus, et si alicui claustrali et obedientiàrio ali- quod fuit in Refectorio appositum præterea quod Conventui convenit, apponatur illud præsidenti, ab ipso pro voluntate suâ precipiendum. MS. Cott. Jul. D. 11. 161, b. 0 Perhaps sallads. Menotus says, "John the Baptist went into the Wilderness to eat sallads, but without oil." Sermones, fol. 64. Du Cange, v. Sallada. John is pretended to have been a Monk. Lopez. Epit. ii. 26. PA plain good Monk is described as "not angry with the cooks, for he is not used to a splendid table." Non iratus cocis, lautioris enim mensæ consuetudinem non habet. MS. Harl. 1712. f. 79, a. 1 Pipere. The younger Monks mixed wine and water for the brethren, when the Cellarer rung the bell, for saying grace over the drink. Du Cange, v. Miscere. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. 13. [printed in Angl. Sacr. ii. 480.] Piment was made of wine, honey, and spices. 218 REFECTORY, to see brought a vessel half full, to try the goodness and flavour of the wine, after proving which, the Monks de- cided in favour of the strongest.a There were always superior dinners upon the feasts of the Apostles.b It seems that it was not lawful to eat the flesh of any animal nourished on the earth, because this had been cursed by God; but this curse not ex- tending to the air and water, birds were permitted, as created of the same element as fish.c Hence the prohi- bition of quadrupeds.d But, notwith- standing this, it was found both im- possible and impracticable for inland Monasteries to have fish enough,e and to eat flesh became unavoidable; me- dical considerations and the augmen- tation of alms by this means, also in- terfered. It was also placed on the table for visitors. However, to the great rule all their articles of food bore relation; which were bread, beer, soup, beans for soup, all Lent; oats for gruel Thursday and Saturday in that season; flour for pottage every day in the same season; fried dishes, wastels, or fine bread for dinner and supper on certain feasts; flathos or cakes in Easter; formictæ, or fine flour cakes, in Advent, Christmas, against Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and certain feasts;h fat things were frequent with the a Videas ter vel quater in uno prandio semiplenum calicem reportari, quatinus diversis vinis magis odo. ratisque potatis, nec tam haustus quam attractus celeri cognitione, vinum quod fortius est eligatur. MS. Mus. Ashmol. 1285. f. 5, 6. b Angl. Sacr. i. 56. Le Voeu de Jacob, 656, 658. d Though otters were eaten by the German Car- thusians, as not included in the prohibition of flesh. Gentleman's Recreation, p. 116. Ed. 8vo. e Fishponds, which flow into one another, so common in Monastick sites, were made on purpose to catch the fish, in the lower pools. Cange, v. Lapsus. f Reyn. Append. 143, 165, 168. Ang. Sacr. ii. 309. h Monast. i. 149. Du See Du Cange, v. Profioli. i Pinguia concedens quæ sunt affinia carní, Sic tamen ut nunquam sit manifesta caro. Spec. Stultor. These fat things, which resembled flesh, appear to have been bacon. Quia carnibus quidam monachi non vescuntur, de bacone tum grandi, tum grosso, quicquid pulchrum est, et pingue non devoratum nichil omnino relinquunt. MS. Cott. Tib. B. 13. Præmonstratensians; black beans and salt with the Clugniacs; k general bad fare with the Cistertians. Drinking with both hands was a fashion peculiar to the Monks.m n At Barking Nunnery, the annual store of provision consisted of malt, wheat, russeaulx (a kind of allowance of corn) in Lent, and to bake with eels on Sheer Thursday; green pease for Lent; " green pease against Midsum- mer; oxen by the year; herrings for Advent; red ones for Lent; almonds, salt fish, salt salmones; figs, raisins, ryce all for Lent; mustard; two-pence for cripsis (some crisp thing) and crum cakes [cruman is friare. Skinner.] at Shrovetide; e; mutton for the vicar; wheat and milk for frimite on St. Alburg's day; bacon-hogs twice in the winter; vi Grecis (fat Jun.) vi sowcys, vi inwards; bread, pepper, saffron for the same; three gallons good ale for besons (besoins, Fr.), mary-bones to Thus too an allowance for anniversaries was beer. [British beer, i. e. Welsh ale, a kind of su- perior quality. See Toulmin's Taunton, p. 25. (Of brewing without hops, Horda Angelcynnan, iii. 73.) M. Paris says the conventual beer was much im- proved by a mixture of oats, of which husbandry Mr. Smith says, "Much of wheat, barley, and oats was yearly made into malt, an husbandry almost lost in this age" (about 1600). Lives of the Berke- ley Family. MS. 266. Oat ale was poor stuff: What though he quaffe pure amber in his bowle Of March-brew'd wheat, yet sleeks my thirsting soul With palish oat frothing in Boston clay. Hall's Sat. B. v. Sat. ii.] Part sweetened with honey, meed, fat cows, wethers, gammon of bacon, cakes, pure bread. Monast. i. 139. A grant in Mr. Rudder's Cirencester, p. 96, mentions the Convent's beer, and Chaplain's beer. Our beer, says M. Paris, consists of barley and oats. p. 1074. Wheat was forbidden to be made into malt aº 1315. Stowe, sub a°. There is a regular history of malt liquor in the Archeological Library, 222, seq. k Esse niger monachus si velim forte Cluniaci Qua fabasque nigras cum sale sæpe dabunt Spec. Stultor. 1 Sabbata rara colunt, malè respondente coquinâ Est ibi virga frequens, atque diæta gravis. Ibid. m Du Cange, v. Scyphus. "If one will have pease soone in the yeare fol- lowinge, such pease are to bee sowenne in the waine of the moone at St. Andro's tide before Christmas." Order and Government of a Nobleman's House, p. 373. 0 Cruma, A. S. crumb. REFECTORY. 219 make white wortys for the Covent. At St. Andrew's tyde a pittance a of fish for my lady and the Covent; eight chickens for my lady abbess against Shrove tide; "bonnes for the Covent; and four gallons of milk for the same time; fish for the Covent on every Sunday in Lent; stubbe eels and shaft eels baked for Sheer Thursday; bred wine on the same day and Easter evening; ale every week in Lent; eggs for all times except Lent; half the quantity in Advent, or money instead, called Eysilver; butter at feasts, pork, pigs sowse, geese, hens, pittance mut- ton three times per annum; eggs for supper; every lady two, and four for the doubles or higher officers; bacon for the time before Christmas; oat- meal. But, as this discussion is not a matter of much novelty, I shall end it, as far as concerns the Monks, with the bill of fare of one of their fish feasts: First Course. Elys in sorry, d Blamanger, Bakoun Herryng, Mulwyl tayles, Lenge taylys, Jollys of Samoun, Merlyngf Sope, Pyke, Grete Plays, Leche burry, Crustade ryal.h A Commons was given to each person upon a plate to each. A pittance was an allowance in one plate between two, and the administration of either was a distinct duty among certain officers, as well as the component materials. Du Cange, v. Generale. b In 1247, mackerel were allowed to certain re- ligious on the third day of the Rogations. Du Cange, v. Mequerellus. c Monast. i. 83. d Were eels and parsley boiled in water, to which were added wine, spicery, sage, grated bread, brothe of the eel, ginger. MS. Bodl. Hearne, 197. • Melwell is asellus, a cod. Collection of obso- lete words. MS. penès me. Whiting. Skinner. Leche is gelatina, jelly in obsolete words. Crustade (singly), chekyns, pejons, small brid- des in a brothe, with poudur of pepur, clowes, ver- jouse, saffron, make coffyns (pies) with rasynges of Second Course. Mammenye,i Crem of Ålemaundys,k Codlyng, Haddock, Fresh hake,¹ Solys y sope, Gurnedd broylid with a sy- ruppe,m Brem de mere, Roche, Perche, Memise fryedd,n Urchouns, Elys y rostydd, Leche Lumbarde,º Grete crabbys, A cold bakemeate.P It seems, that in certain solemnities, the Convent was in the habit of re- tiring with the Abbot, leaving a few in the Refectory, in order to eat meat elsewhere; and that they frequently dined in apartments," where they used to bring women to talk, eat, and drink with them. On the feasts of the de- dications of the churches of the order, they used to eat and drink very intem- perately. t Sometimes money was given to them instead of viands, and S Corance, and ginger, and canell, and raw egges. Append. Ordin. Royal Household. Vernage wine, almonds, ginger, &c. boiled up in ale. MS. Harl. 279, p. 87. kA compound of them with thick milk, water, salt, and sugar. Id. p. 12. A favourite dish. See Gale's Scriptores, i. 498, 9. sup. m Hakot is Lucius piscis. Obsolete words, ut Hyeca. Id. See Johnson and Steevens's Shakspeare, v. 390. 11 Parsley, ale, sause saffroned, &c. with pykes or others. MS. Bodl. ut sup. Clarified honey, ale, grated bread, almonds, ginger, &c. MS. Bodl. supr. P MS. Harl. 279, p. 49 b. The Liber Viventium was a book in which the commons of the Monks were entered. Du Cange. The Meat was cut into commons for each Monk, by an officer called Particularius; Twickere of the Anglo-Saxons. Du Cange, in voce. In Refectorio nullus omnino carne vescatur, nec in quibusdam solempnitatibus, sicut aliquando fieri consuevit. Conventus exeat cum Abbate, pau- cis ibi relictis, ut extra refectorium carnes edant. MS. Bibl. Reg. 8, f. ix. See Misericords. M. Par. 1098. Reyn. Append. 166. t Monast. ii. 752. 220 REFECTORY. the table farmed. Notwithstanding the canons, and the furiousness of the Bishop of Lincoln against cups with circles or feet, they had such cups,d as personal property, besides spoons and other gold or silver trinkets. Se- culars used often to dine and sup with them, and very often low people, g and they took advantage of meal times to receive the visits of women. These too used to come after dinner; and the statute made to correct this abuse permitted them to come with license. of the Abbot, or in his presence, and makes an exception with regard to noble women, as to season and time, as seemed fit to the superiors.i It appears, that there was refresh- ment before dinner in the Refectory,k (for, after leave obtained, they could enter the Refectory at any time to drink, if thirsty); and that a statute was made, forbidding supper on any Friday in the year, except on a Christ- mas day.m Pure wine, or bread dipped • Procurari (perhaps it means obtained by Pro- curation, as the royal table.) C. G. North. aº 1444. c. vii. See Const. B. 12. Kings had numerous pa- laces, in order by short residences not to burden the neighbourhood too much in the supply of provi- sions. Du Cange, v. Palatium. b Athon. 149. e M. Paris, 705. The reason why these were forbidden is, according to M. Paris, p. 1098, because they were conceived too great distinctions for sim- ple Monks. e Sparke's Scriptores, 105. Reyn. Append. 166. Ne sæcularis comedat cum conventu in firma- riâ, nec in refectorio, nec intersit suis collocacio- nibus, potacionibus, et recreationibus. MS. Mus. Ashmol. 1519, f. 14 b. Ignobiles personæ à prandio conventus penitus excludentur. MS. Cott. Jul. D. 2. f. 158 a. Nullus et monachus habeat colloquium cum muliere cognatâ aut extraneâ, in temporibus inde- bitis, sicut prandii, et cœnæ, et horæ meridianæ, aut tempore potûs assignati. Id. 159 a. i M. Paris, 1096. k Monast. i. 296. See Misericords. ¹ Lyndw. 211. m C. G. North. ut sup. Erasmus says of the English, respecting Friday, "The common peo- ple during Lent, have a regular supper every alter- nate day. No one wonders at it. If any one sick of a fever wished for chicken broth, it would be worse than committing sacrilege. In Lent they have suppers without scruple; but if you was to attempt it, out of Lent, upon a Friday, no one would bear it." Icthyophagia inter Colloq. 431. | into it, were allowed upon occasions, and before eating; also on account of labour to the brethren at certain times." The drinking after Nones, or Biberes, as well as the noon-day re- freshment of sleep after dinner in summer, has been already mentioned. A late supper was made after col- lation, which the Monks called Con- solatio. The etiquette of dining was as fol- lows among the Gilbertines. The Prior, or a person appointed by him, rung the bell; the Monks washed and wiped their hands, and entering the Fratry, and bowing to the high table, stood till the Prior came; or, if he staid long, sat down. When he came, they rose to him, and he bowed before his seat, and rung the bell, which con- tinued while the 51st psalm was sing- ing. Then followed a short religious service by way of grace. The Prior then gave the benediction to the reader, and, at the end of the first verse,p they uncovered the food, the prior be- ginning. The soup was then delivered round by the servants, and two plates laid, one on the right, another on the left, and the pittances, if there were any, also carried round. No one wiped his knife with the cloth, unless he had first used his bread for this purpose. They took salt with their knives. What was wanting was required from the servant or cellarer, and when it was brought, both the bringer and receiver bowed. When the Prior sent any thing to another, he bowed to the messenger, and then rising, to that officer. If any fault was committed by a person dining or attending, he begged pardon before the step; and when the Prior made a noise with his knife, rose, bowed, and went to his place. When the plates and " Du Cange, v. Merus. • Ibid. P If a Monk came too late, after the 1st, 2nd, or 3d verse had been said, he was subject to a small venia, or penitence: and this was called Perdere versum, or losing the verse. Du Cange, v. Versus. REFECTORY. 221 spoons were moved, the Prior ordered the reading to conclude by a Tu autem, and the reply of Deo gratias; the reader then bowed, the remaining food was covered; the bell was rung; the Monks rose; a verse of a psalm was sung, and they bowed, and re- tired two and two, singing the Mise- rere. Delay in coming before the be- nediction was punished by a prayer before the step; prostration on the floor; deprivation of wine or beer; for negligent servants, in regard to food and drink, beating. At the Refectory door of the Nuns sat a steady Nun, wh who entered with them when they went to drink; or some other in her stead, with respect to the application of persons who had been bled. After the refection of the Convent, the bell called the servants to dinner, and the Nun reader said the Jube Domine at their table before the benediction." "Monast. ii. 728, 767. 222 CHAPTER. CHAPTER XXXVI. CHAPTER. THIS room had three rows of stone benches one above another," a reading desk and bench,b a place called the Judgment in the middle, a seat for the Abbot higher than the others,d and a crucifix to remind them, during disci- plines, that their sufferings were no- thing in comparison of those of Christ.e There were footstools on purpose for the Venia, by kneeling.f About nine of the clock in the morning, says Da- vies, and others seven,g the Monks seated themselves, and religious ser- vices commenced, which were followed by the sentence of the rule, read from the desk; then the table was read (on certain days), and any person who had omitted an office prescribed to him so- licited mercy. This was succeeded by the commemoration of the dead,h which a Hutchinson's Durham, ii. 266. b W. Thorne, 1815. Chronol. Aug. Cant. aº 1386. c M. Paris (2d), 1045. d Id. 1040. Abbots of another house, if present, sat near the Abbot. Id. 1032. Propterea dilectissimi in capitulis crucifixi imago ante oculos habetur, ut quicunque flagella subeunt quicquid tulerint pro nichilo ducant, pro nichilo reputent recordantes crucis angustiæ, do- minicæ passionis anxietatis. MS. Harl. 1712. f. 137. b. : Du Cange, v. Salutem Mandare. g Econ. Monast. Life, p. 86. There was the Martyrology, in which were re- gistered the names of those to whom the religious granted their letters of fraternity, and the Obituary, which contained the deaths of the Abbots, Priors, &c. Gutch's Coll. Curios. ii. 275, b. The Anno- tatio Regulæ was the description of the names of benefactors, the days of their death, and of the be- nefits received from them, placed at the end of the Rule; viz. in the Necrology annexed to it, for it was usual after the Martyrology and Rule had been read in the Chapter, after Prime, to recite the names of benefactors, and all prayed for them. The Martyrology was, in later ages, taken for the Necrology, or Obituary and Rule, which were gene- rally in the same volume. The Martyrology was also called Liber Vitæ. The custom obtained from the beginning of the sixth century. The Necrology was also called Regula, from being in the same book with the Rule: and all these were included in one volume, because the services in the Chapter were connected with each other. 1st, a portion of ended with "Requiescant in pace," (may they rest in peace!) The reader then gave the book to the presiding officer, and he expounded the sentence of the rule. This finished, the Chantor read the brevia or obits of strange Monks, if any had been sent, which terminated as the commemoration of the deceased. The voluntary solicita- tions for pardon by persons who had been guilty of faults next followed; after which began the accusation or cla- matio of offenders. The presiding of- ficer (which was unfixed)i was not to lose his temper, or "speake greate or harde wordes," k unless "by the ordi- nary observyng of humylite, the aucto- ritye of governinge [was] broken amongst them, which ought of duetie to be subjecte." The Rule of Victor says, whilst the accusation was made, no one was to speak except the accuser, the Abbot, and the accused. The first merely said, "I accuse brother . . . . of . . The other, as soon as he heard his name, made no answer from his seat, but coming before the Abbot, and first bowing, afterwards raising himself, stood still, patiently expecting what the the Rule, read every day to insure remembrance; 2d, the Necrology, for prayers for those admitted to fraternity; 3d, the names of the dead and bene- factors, for commemoration of the days of their obits. Cardinal Bona says, that the custom pre- vailed in many Monasteries, of sending to each other mutually the names of their brothers, friends, and benefactors, to be entered in the Diptichs; but when this custom had ceased, they were en- tered in the Necrology, selected from thence on the day of their decease, and a De Profundis, and suit- able prayers, said. Du Cange, in vocibus. i W. Thorne, c. 35, sect. 4. From the Rule of Basil, because he was not to fall into the sin he wished to deliver others from, and entertain the sentiments of a father and physi- cian. Dev. Vie Monast. i. 432. 1MS. Bodl. 3010. Nor was he to beg pardon if he did. Reg. August. and Const. Fratr. B. Mariæ de Mercede, &c. 4to. Rotæ, 1630, p. 29.-Puppup, whence Pho, Pho, was the Anglo-Saxon term of contempt used by Aldhelm, Du Cange, v. Puppup. CHAPTER. 223 accuser had to alledge against him. The accuser, to avoid exaggeration, simply said, "He did so and so." The other, if he knew himself guilty, imme- diately asked pardon, and confessed his fault. If not guilty, he said shortly, "Sir, I do not recollect to have said or done what brother . . . . . . affirms." Upon this the accuser, bowing to the Abbot, did not repeat his charge, but went to his seat; and if he knew that his charge was true, was allowed to ad- duce evidence. The accused was not permitted to recriminate upon the ac- cuser. Similar forms occur in other orders.a C A Monk reprimanded stood in the middle of the Chapter, and, after the definitive sentence was pronounced, he humbly bowed, and retired to his seat.b A person condemned to receive disci- pline was beaten, according to the Norman institutes, with one single twig over his shirt, clothed and prostrate, or naked d sitting, with a rod, which, in later times, was called a balais, and applied, according to Piers Plowman, to that part where its tingling sensa- tions are still frequently experienced. During the discipline (which could not be performed by the accuser,f) the Du Cange, v. Clamare. b M. Paris, 1031. Disciplines consisted of rods of flexible twigs (Dec. Scriptores, 1190). Hugh Nonant, Bishop of Lincoln, not only flogged his back, but his mouth for lying, detraction, &c. when he was a private man (Angl. Sacr. ii. 333). In times of drought it was thought that no rain could be procured but by this process of flagellation, and then all ranks disci- plined themselves in person, or by proxy. Mem. de Petrarque, i. 236; and Don Quixote, ii. 284. Disciplines were thought to prevent the punishment of the fault in another world, on which account no reply was to be made to the reprover. Du Cange, v. Distringere. Du The place where he was stripped for this pur- pose in the Chapter was called Spoliatorium. Cange. • M. Paris, 731. Gl. Watts and Tyrwh. to Chauc. Quislibet sacerdotum abbatis præcepto discipli- nam faciet in cap'lo excepto priore, vel eo qui loco prioris fuerit et clamante, i. e. Any one of the Priests may, by the Abbot's command, perform the disciplines, unless the Prior, or he who presided in- stead, claimed the privilege. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. p. 186. It is most probable, from what M. Paris says, p. 1045, that the disciplines were performed Monks hung down their heads, and re- garded the sufferer with pity. go Du Cange mentions a hand-bell rung behind the delinquent by the brother who was to chastise him.g It termi- nated at the order of the presiding of- ficer, and was proportioned to the of- fence. In the statutes of the Order of St. Victor of Paris, it is said, the delin- quent shall kneel, and strip himself from his girdle, and so prostrate him- self, or shall only say, "it is my fault: I will correct myself." No one in the interim shall speak, unless one of the Priors intercedes for him with the Ab- bot. If the latter pardons him, such Prior shall assist him to put on his clothes, but he shall remain clothed. and standing, till the Abbot bids him sit down, and then bowing, he shall to his place. He could not be pu- nished by a person of inferior rank.h The whole chapter concluded with a short religious service. These were held daily in most Orders, but only once a week in others.k Latin or French was only to be spoken in it, and all public places, one reason of which was, besides that before alledged, to put an end to ignorance in those languages. No person was allowed to enter the Cloyster, while the Chapter was held, on account of the secrets of it; which besides were never to be re- vealed. It seems that the presiding officers had frequent contentions in it ;n and the statutes insinuate, that the Monks used to grumble at the accusa- tions and sentences, which last they re- probated, to make frivolous appeals, and reproach one another after they had undergone sentence. Those were in a chair upon the place called the Judgement, in the middle. v. Corrigiuncula. h Du Cange, v. Disciplina. i Decr. Lanfr. Monast. ii. 722, 3. * Ordinamus, quod capitulum culparum sicut assuetum est semel in ebdomadâ ad minus cele- bretur. MS. Bodl. 1882. p. 63. 1 See auct. cit. sup. m W. Thorne, C. 1208. C. 2062. n Inhibemus districte tam priori quam cæteris præsidentibus conventus contentiones in cap'lo ha- bere. MS. Mus. Ashmol. 1519, f. 35. a. C. G. North, a° 1444. C. 3. M. Paris, 1096. 224 CHAPTER. especially rebellious who had powerful friends.a The Rebellibus ob suam pertinaciam vel potenciam amicorum. MS. Roy. Libr. 8. f. ix. The Monks divided crimes into leves and graves (small and great), which are respectively defined in various rules, and to which their punishments were accord- ingly apportioned. To the former belonged car- rying the lantern publickly, though when out of penance privately it carried no shame with it. Mu- ratori Rer. Italic. Script. iv. 212. The lantern of penance was called the greater lantern, and not the one carried round the choir at night to awaken the drowsy. M. Paris, 1003. Sometimes an old sack was borne round the neck. Rastall's Southwell, 145. Repetition of a psalm, kissing the feet of the brethren were others. Constit. Fratr. ut sup. p. 77. Fasting (severest) bread and water, (slightest) bread, ale, and pulse. Lysons's Environs, i. 343. But the most common was prostration, and a con- tinuance in that position. Dev. Vie Mon. i. 473, 5. Other punishments for light offences were, sitting alone upon a chair in the middle of the choir. Angl. Sacr. i. 739. Walking barefoot to the Cross. Gold. Leg. clxvi. Standing with the arms expanded in the form of a cross; it is men- tioned in the Anglo-Saxon Canons; and if a per- son could stand so, immoveable, while the Gospel, Lord's Prayer, &c. were recited, he was deemed innocent. Du Cange, v. Crucis Judicium. Disciplina condigna, was either fasting, or castiga- tion, imposed on those who neglected to learn the Creed and Lord's Prayer. Du Cange, v. Dis- ciplina. Fasting on bread, and drinking water de- filed by the excrement of a fowl. Marten, Anecdot. iv. 22. Repetition of psalms and being cuffed. Du Cange, v.Pænitentia.-Penitentiary processions. A charter of the year 1240 says, They ought to be pre- sent at the procession with naked feet, only in their shirts and breeches, and holding rods in their hands, and to come before the Ebdomadary, and there on their bent knees be beaten by him for pe- nitence, sometimes walking with naked feet and shirt only. Du Cange, v. Processiones Publicæ. Repetition of psalms only. Id. v. Pœnitentia Psalmorum. Silence. Id. v. Silentium. Sending to Coventry for theft. v. Sagus. Prostration upon the joints of the hands without motion, for small faults, as forgetfulness in the service. v. Fallacia. Separation from the table, and deprivation of the Abbot's Benediction. v. Mensa. In the lesser ex- communication, when the offender dined three hours later than the others, he lost his rank, per- formed no divine service, except with the others, and at a certain office prostrated himself, and lay there for a time. During dinner, he staid in the Church, and so continued till the Abbot sent a Prior to him, who made a sign to him to rise, upon which he went to that prelate, bowed, and went to his place. Dec. Lanfr. c. 17. For severer faults, after discipline, the Monk was committed into custody, and his keeper led him to and from Church, and secretly enquired of the Abbot how he was to live, and when he was to eat. No one spoke or associated with him, and when the bell rung for divine service, he lay prostrate at the Church gate till the Convent passed, and when that was done, kneeled while the hour was singing, and bowed to every one who happened to pass. When the Convent left the Church, the prostration was The Chapter of the Nuns was simi- lar; b the second constitution of the Nuns of Sopewell orders, that there shall be only three voices in it, of the President (subprioress or other), mis- tress of the rule (challenger), and the person challenged. Their Chapter was strewed on Easter Sabbath.c They who wished to sit near the Ab- bot (among the Cistercians) in the Chapter, or all places except the Church, bowed to him profoundly from their places.d After the Chapter, some staid be- hind, or ought to have done so, to con- fess, which confession was to be short, and of a peculiar relation to certain faults. An old writer says, " After the saying of Sant Bernard, and other holy repeated, and the passing Monks said, “Lord have mercy upon you." He was then led back to his place; received disciplines in the Chapter on stated days; and at last, upon promise of amendment, and by the intercession of the Monks, was par- doned. A contumacious Monk was sent to the prison till he was humbled, and afterwards treated according to his fault. A fugitive Monk was not admitted into the house for some days, but staid in the hostrey, and was afterwards very severely dis- ciplined in the Chapter. Dec. Lanfr. Another penance was, "Dwelling at the gate for a long tyme, and living on a morsel of bread a day," and, " upon re-admission being enjoyned to do all the offyces that were most foulle." Gold. Leg. f. lxxxix. When a Monk was sent to another house for peni- tence sake (which Monks were those who were disturbers of the common peace, and the reason be- cause it was better that one should perish, than the whole society, Reyn. Append. 124), the Bishop or president of the general Chapter was to compel such house to receive him; the term being expired, the Abbot was to recall him. Vestments, among which were bed things, were to be found by the Convent that sent him, food by the other; but on this head there were opposite opinions. Lyndw. 207, 8. By the constitution, however, of certain general Chapters, the receiving-house was to find him necessaries, to the amount of two-pence a day, unless there was any agreement to the contrary. Reyn. 161, &c. App. This dismission did not take place but when the Monk's own house was negli- gent or dissolute. Lyndw. ut supr. An expelled Monk, according to the rule, could not be admitted after a third offence; but Monastic expulsion was the imposition of perpetual penance, viz. exclusion from the common table, chapter, and dormitory, and imprisonment. Athon. 143. Correction, in the first place, belonged to the Ab- bot; and, in defect of that, to the Bishop after- wards; in some cases, the Monks might be held to answer to that prelate. Athon. 148. b Monast. ii. 765. • Id. 767. It does not appear with what, Du Cange, v. Supplicare, CHAPTER, 225 doctours, when any man usyth to con- fesse dayle or ofte tymes he sholde nott make a longe confession, but shorte, of syche as his conscience is most grevyd wyth, and first of dydly sinnys, i. e. those that he is in dowt whether they be dedly or veniall, and secundly of suche venial syns in general, that cannot be expressyd specially as thes be; ydell words; vayne thoughts; nec- ligence; dulness in redyng or praying; losse of tyme; and distraction of hart or wandryng mind in saying his service or other prayers; unthankfulnes of the gudness of God; more besy for the body than nede ware; lyght turbacions agaynst his neghbure; lyght inchinge of other men; lyght suspecion; to be not content with all that God dothe; and nott to use the grace and gyfte that God hath geffyn him; with other suche that cannot be flede, and well for- borne; of a feble and a weak sawle; when it suffers suche agayns its wyll they are butt lyght venial; neverlesse they wolde be confessyd in generall." a Accordingly such sins were confessed in the following mannerb among the MS. Cott. Nero, A. 111. f. 138, b. Ordo confessionis quotidianæ apud Cysterci- enses. Nostrates confitentur super genua coram Confessore. Quærit Confessor, Quid dicite? Red- det, Meas culpas. Erigit eum confessor, di- cens, Surge in nomine Domini. Benedicite. Con- fitens, Dominus. Confessor, Deus sit nobis- cum. Confitens, Amen. Confiteor Deo, &c. quia peccavi nimis. Factâ autem confessione, dicit pœ- nitens, De iis et aliis peccatis meis meum reatum confiteor; veniam deprecor. Et oro te patrem orare pro me. Confessor, Deo gratias. Miserea- tur tui omnipotens Deus. Dimittat tibi omnia pec- cata tua, et perducat te ad vitam æternam. Amen. Indulgentiam et remissionem omnium peccatorum tuorum tribuat tibi omnipotens et misericors Deus. Amen. Dominus noster Jesus Christus te absolvat, ut ego auctoritate ipsius absolvo te a peccatis tuis. In nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti. Amen. Meritum passionis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, in- tercessio beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ et omnium sanctorum, humilitas hujus confessionis, bonum propositum quod habes, et mala quæ pro Deo pa- cienter sustinebis, profuit tibi ad remissionem pec- catorum tuorum. Et si hæc modica venia non sit peccatis vestris condigna, passio Christi suppleat residuum.-Retribuat tibi Dominus vitam æternam. MS. Harl. 2363. f. 7, b. Constitutions enact, that every Monk should confess at least once a week, and besides private confession of daily faults, twice or at least once a year to the Abbot. Quilibet etiam monachus ad minus semel omni ebdomadâ confite- atur, et præter illas privatas confessiones de cotidi- anis delictis regulariter faciendis, bis vel semel in Cistertians: Our Monks, says the or- dinance, confess on their knees before the Confessor. The latter enquires, "What do you say?" the other replies, "My faults." The Confessor raises him, saying, "Rise in the name of the Lord, Benedicite," the Monk returns "Dominus;" the Confessor, "God be with us;" the Monk, "Amen. I con- fess to God, that I have deeply sinned." When the confession is made, the pe- nitent says, "Of these and all other my sins I confess myself guilty. I seek pardon, and beseech you, father, to pray for me." The Confessor returns, Thanks to God; the Lord have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins, and bring you to eternal life. Amen. The Almighty and merciful God grant you indulgence and remission of all your sins. Amen. Our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you, as I, by his authority, ab- solve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. The merit of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the Saints, the humility of this confession, the good intentions which you have, and the evils which you will patiently endure for the sake of God, profit you to the remission of your sins. [For a special penance nevertheless.] And if this small pardon be not sufficient for your sins, the passion of Christ supply the residue." It concluded with an interchangeable religious salutation. and "The Lord grant you eternal life, from the Confessor rising. Some con- stitutions enact, that no Monk should confess to any secular, or man of other order, unless on a journey, or unable to obtain the assistance of a Monk; notwithstanding which, other injunc- tions allow them what Confessor they anno saltem suo confiteatur prælato. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 244. M. Paris says, that daily confession took place when necessary, besides the general monthly one, p. 1095, 1097, 1140. Nullusque monachus sub nostra obedientiâ constitutus confiteatur alicui seculari aut viro alte- rius religionis quin nostræ ; nisi in itinere consti- tutus vel monachi copiam nequeant obtinere. MS. Cott. Claud. E. iv. f. 244. Thus too, Monast. i. 147. 226 CHAPTER. liked, whether regular or secular.b The office of external Confessors the Monks found so profitable, that they obtained grants for five years, on pur- pose to exercise that function, from the papal see. It seems, that the Monks confessed very reluctantly;d and that it was a very difficult duty to young be- ginners. It was a rule, that whatever guilt the Monks had contracted from the hour of Nones, it was to be con- fessed before Complin. Those also who had assembled to sing Prime, after it was over, and before the 50th Psalm [sung by the procession when retiring], used to say to each other, "I confess to the Lord and you, Brother, that I have sinned in thought and deed, wherefore I beg you to pray for me;" Chronol. August. Cant. b Licentiâ ut eligere possitis confessorem ido- neum sæcularem vel regularem. MS. Mus. Ash- mol. 1519, f. 12, b. Reyn. Append. 190. d" Valdè abhorrebam confiteri peccata." MS. Cott. Calig. A. 1. f. 221. Joan. Solorzani de Indiar. Jure, 186. and he answered, "Almighty God have mercy upon you.' I shall end this account of the Chap- ter, with observing, that to be buried in it was an honour, though the view was, for the Monks to retain a fresher me- mory of the deceased's services.h In the Statutes of the Clugniacks, adjoining to the Chapter, were rooms called Trisantiæ, with seats on both sides, where the Monks were to retire after shaving and conclusion of the psalmody. psalmody. Conversation was allowed, and they were to take a book, and cut their nails if necessary. After Complin and collation, some retired there from the Chapter, till the whole Convent had withdrawn. They who sat on one side of the Trisantia began one verse, those on the opposite replied. These Trisantia were places of rendezvous, especially connected with Chapter bu- siness.i Du Cange, v. Completa-Confessiones dare. M. Paris, 1018, 104. Monast. i. p. 456. 1 Du Cange, v. Trisantia. DORMITORY. 227 CHAPTER XXXVII. DORMITORY. "On the West side of the Cloyster," says Davies, "was a large house, called the Dorter, where the Monks and No- vices lay. Every Monk had a little chamber to himself. Each chamber a had a window towards the Chapter,b and the partition betwixt every cham- ber was close wainscotted, and in each window was a desk to support their books." In the ancient Orders, at least some, the Abbot's bed was in the middle of the Dormitory, near the wall, and he made a sound to raise the brethren in the morning. The Prior's bed in the Dormitory, with a study and other apartments annexed.d "On the West side of the said Dorter were " [similar chambers, and on the South, those of the Novices, who had also one each, but neither so close nor so warm as the others were, and without any other light than what came in at the foreside.] "At each end of the Dorter was a square stone, in which was a dozen of cressets, wrought in each stone, being always filled and supplied by the cooks" [in order to afford light]. Adjoining to the West side of the Dormitory was the privy, with separate seats wains- cotted and partitioned, each lighted with a little window. The middle part of the Dormitory was paved with fine tile-stones, the whole length." At Ford Abbey in Devonshire, a Dormi- 66 The obedientiaries used to sell these chambers according to the goodness of them. C. G. North- ampt. a 1444. c. 3, sect. De Dormitorio. Windows in the door; and the latter to have no lock, are ordered. Ut in Dormitorio in singu- lorum cellæ, sive cameræ ostio parvulas fenestras fieri, &c. per quas procedentes fratrum laudabiles, nostri ordinis consuetudinem, introspicere liberè queant, nullusque canonicorum in Dormitorio ja- cencium præsumat ostium cameræ suæ intro quovis ingenio firmare. MS. Ashm. 1519. Du Cange, v. Dormitorium. d Angl. Sacr. i. 143. tory remains complete. It is a long narrow gallery, with lancet windows on both sides, one window to each apart- ment or partition, now removed. Se- veral constitutions enact, that the beds should not be curtained, that they should be without perticæ,e (patibula for hanging things on); that, among the Friars, they should not have coun- terpanes, sheets, or pillows, and that they should not sleep naked ;g an in- junction which the Monks extended only to their shirts and breeches.h It was deemed injurious to sanctity for Monks to sleep with naked legs. They too at least had blankets,k and besides common bed furniture of curtains of red, green, white, or a mixed colour,¹ silk pillows (still to be seen in ancient beds), and coverlids with teasters." The nuns of St. Clare were permitted to have sacks of hay or chaff, and a pillow of chaff or wool, if they could not have religious culcitran of wool. "The keys of the Dortour were carried to the Prefect or Vicar by the servitor be- longing thereto, and by him again at • Et ut omnis suspicio mala tollatur, lecti mona- chorum velaminibus et perticis, si qui fuerunt, amotis, ita sint ordinati, ut in ipsis lectis existentes, sine obstaculo quocunque die nocteque continuè valeant à custodibus ordinis, et aliis transeuntibus intueri. MS. Cott. Claud. E. rv. f. 242, b. Non cortinatos. Cust. Roffens 235. f Super culcitrum non dormiant fratres. MS. Cott. Nero, A. XII. f. 159, b. Item fratres sani in Dormitorio, culcitris, lintheaminibus, ac pulvinari- bus non utantur. MS. Bodl. 1882, p. 48, b. g Ibid. A custom of Egyptian origin. Gruteri Spicileg. ii. 132. Reyn. Append. 166. Du Cange, v. Pedana. kW. Thorne, c. 32, sect. 3. 1 Reyn. Append. 195. mi pulvinar de serico, i coverlit cum tester. MS. Harl. 1005. f. 69, b. The bedsteads were of oak. M. Par. 1054. According to some rules, no one in the time of summer was allowed to sleep out of his bed, except the Prior ordered him to sleep in the open air, for custody of the area. Du Cange, v. Nubilum. n Here it means a bed. Q2 228 DORMITORY. the appointed time in the morning opened; then each Monk receiving their summons to rise,a had half an hour, or thereabouts, allowed them both in making up themselves and their beds.b In some Rules the meridians began on Palm Sunday, in others on the ides of May; and in some ended on the ides of September, in others on those of October. The order of St. Victor says, "In the summer, at mid-day, any one who chuses may read in the Dormi- tory, provided they do not make a noise in turning over the leaves. In that hour the brethren ought to lie in their cloaths; and take care not to ex- tend their feet outside the bed, or ap- pear naked in it. The meridians after Sext on fast-days were very short." c It seems that these meridians, or sleep at noon during summer, were neg- lected by the Monks, in order that they might attend to drinking or gossiping elsewhere; d and that both they, the Nuns, and Friars spent almost half the night in similar indulgences both there and in other places; so that they could scarcely be prevailed on to rise in the morning; that the Friars made great In some rules certain Monks were deputed to wake the others to Matins, which office they took in weekly rotation; and they were called Vigiliarii, or Vigill-Galli, from the wakefulness of cocks. Du Cange, v. Vigiliarii. b Steevens's Monast. ii. 121, of Oseney. The Friars might lie out of the house, for the conveni- ence of the guests. Extra domum etiam jacere po- terunt sicut fuerit eis constitutum, ne hospites mo- lestentur. MS. Cott. Nero, A. xII. f. 159, b. Du Cange, v. Meridiana. Aliquos de Conventu extra Dormitorium pro potacionibus vel vanis confabulacionibus, sicut an- tiquitus solebant, notare, &c. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 244, a.-Comestiones atque potationes in Dormitorio inhibemus. MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519. e Quidam contra commessationes superfluas et confabulationes illicitas, ut de aliis taceamus, fere medietatem noctis expendunt, et sompno residuum relinquentes, vix ad diurnum Conventum avium excitantur. MS. Bibl. Reg. 8, f. 9. "Fratres nolumus vos ignorare de dormientibus, ut non con- tristemini sicut ethnici qui spem non habent." MS. Harl. 913, f. 11. Item quod morosæ sessiones et famulationes post completorium, multa mala et pericula mittunt in religionem, precipimus, ut tem- pestive in quantum possent, cubent. MS. Cott. Jul. D. 11. f. 158, b. See also C. G. Northampt. aº 1444. ch. 2. Item post completorium ex quo signum Dormitorii factum fuerit, aliquis comedere noises in talking; that the Nuns made many useless signs, as did the Monks, who went to the beds of the others to converse; did not rise to mattins; and disturbed the quiet brethren with singing or dancing till the hours of ten or eleven at night-an abuse thus al- luded to by Barclay : The frere or monke in his frocke and cowle, Must daunce in his dorter, leping to play the foole. It also appears that seculars slept there as well as in nunneries, whose dormitories were not much used by the sisters. They were all, except officers, to be in bed by eight o'clock." Among the Premonstratensians they were not to get into bed upright; but sitting down, turn round. A prayer was said by the Senior Prior. The Dormitory was the place for dressing. The Rule of Victor says, of the Brethren going to work, "Let them ascend into the Dormitory, and there preparing them- selves put on woollen tunicks above, small subtalares, or shoes not higher than the ancles, gloves," &c.P non præsumat, nec alicubi in locutionibus remanere. MS. Cott. Nero, A. x11. f. 158, b. Nullus in Dor- mitorio præsumat se a matutinis absentare. MS. Ashm. f. 33, et pass. 'Hortamur enim ut fratres assuescantur ubique religiosè et sine clamore loqui, et maximè in dormi- torio. MS. Bodl. 1882, p. 47, b. Monast. ii. 766. h Nullus etiam fratrum ad lectum alterius acce- dat ad confabulationem, vel signum aliquod facien- dum, nisi hii quibus ex officiis eorum incumbit. MS. Cott. Claud. E. iv. f. 242, b. 1 Gunton's Peterborough, 55; and verbatim from him, Steevens's Monast. i. 485. This Ship of Fooles, 116, a. Ed. Cawood. was uncandid. Fordun mentions dancing and singing till midnight (XV. Script. 678). Aldhelm, when he returned from abroad, was received by the people with dancing (Angl. Sacr. i. 19); and always when Hugh Prior of Durham was at home, the poor of the town used to dance before him, and he ordered them refreshment in the kitchen (Id. i. 740). This could not have been, if crimi- nal ideas had been attached to dancing. However, Orderic Vitalis says, that the Dormitory, Infirmary, and other private places of Monasteries, were open to buffoons and prostitutes. Du Cange, v. Cron- tochium. Ne aliquis sæcularis de cætero in dormitorio nocte requiescat. MS. Ashmol. Mus. 1519. f. 123, a. m Monast. i. 910, ii. 895. n Ut cuncti sint in lectis ad horam octavam, ex- ceptis officiariis. MS. Ashmol. 1519, p. 15, Du Cange, v. Gambesa, Collocare, P Ibid. v. Mainfula. CLOISTER. 229 CHAPTER XXXVIII. CLOISTER. "d SEVERAL antient canons enacted, that cloisters a should be erected near the Church, where the clerks might attend to Ecclesiastical discipline; b and con- finement to it originated in the gossip- ing practices of the antient Monks, which Benedict was determined to pre- vent.c There was a green in the midst of it (sometimes called Paradise)," sig- nifying," says Wicliff, "the greenness of their virtues above others;" and a tree in the middle, which implied "the ladder, by which, in gradations of vir- tue, they aspired to celestial things." Its four sides had also particular desig- nations; the western side was appro- priated to the school; that which joined the Church to moral reading; and the uses of the two others (for Du Cange's extract is imperfect) seem to be con- joined with the duties of the Church and Chapter. The form was square, that the Monks might be secluded from intercourse with the world; f and the idea of the building itself was taken from Solomon's Porch, erected near the temple. Sometimes it had a fountain in the middle, and the doors were con- secrated with relicks.h Davies describes it as having a seat (fastened to the wall, four feet high, with a back of wood, and boarded un- der feet for warmth), on which sat the There were antiently Curie Claustrales, de- pendencies of Cloisters, residences of Canons. Ma- gasin Encyclopedique, vi. p. 195. b Le Voeu de Jacob, iv. 504, 5. Dev. Vie Mon. ii. 14, 15. d Dialogi cxliii. 4to. 1525. For the tree, see also D'Emiliane's Monastical Orders, p. 170. 44 • Du Cange in v. Claustrum, from Peter of Blois, who has in ipsa ecclesia meditatio spiritualis" [omitted by Du Cange,] and "ad Orientem [Ori- entalem, Du Cange] in capitulo correctio [omit. Du Cange] materialis." ! Du Cange. 8 Gemma Animæ, cap. 148, De Claustro. Mr. Warton says it was adorned with carols (texts or inscriptions). See Angl. Sacra, i. 146. Du Cange, v. Atrium. + porter; and, on the same side, a long bench of stone for children at the Maundy, at the end of which were almeries, or closets, of pierced work, to admit air to the towels there kept, with which the Monks wiped their hands when they washed and went to dinner. The North alley, he says, was finely glazed, and in every window were three pews or carrels, in each of which was a desk, where every one of the old Monks had a carrel se- verally to himself, to which, after din- ner, they resorted, and there studied their books till even song; and opposite to these, against the Church wall, were almeries full of books, at all times open to them. In the West alley was the treasury, in the midst of which was an iron grate, having a strong iron door of the same work, with a lock, and great slots of iron ;" and within, a square table covered with green cloth, for telling their money.k Within this 66 i They could either study or sleep. Monast. 11. 730. *Seals of a round form generally denoted, ac- cording to Lewis and Blomfield, "something of royalty in the possessor, or a more than ordinary extent of temporal jurisdiction." Monasteries of royal foundation had commonly round seals. Bishops and superiors of houses had usually oval seals. The former hold the pastoral staff in their left hands; Abbots in their right. The earliest con- ventual seals commonly bore mere rude represen- tations of the patron saints; the more recent were highly finished: the most common device being the superior praying to the patron saint above. From the reign of Edward the Confessor to that of Ed- ward III. that is, from A. D. 1041 to 1327, the Kings of England were represented on their broad seals, sitting upon thrones, but without canopies. From Edward III. down to the present time, they are seated under canopies. Previously to the time of Edward III. the convent seals represented the patron saints and abbots seated upon thrones; but after this period they constantly exhibited these figures sitting or standing beneath canopies and arches. The patron saint subduing and treading upon the dragon being symbolical of his overcoming sin; a star, the symbol of the Epiphany, and a crescent of the increase of the Gospel, are fre- quently introduced into the seals, Taylor's Index Monasticus, Pref. xxi. seq. 230 CLOISTER. treasury was kept the best muniments, the Chapter seal, and evidences of several gentlemen's lands in the coun- try, in three great chests well locked. Opposite to this, was a stall of wain- scot, where the Novices were taught; and their master had a seat of the same kind, upon the South side of the trea- sury-house door, opposite to the stall, where the Novices studied. There he instructed them both forenoon and af- ternoon, no strangers or other persons being permitted to molest the Novices or the Monks in their carrels, while at study in their Cloisters, a porter at- tending for that purpose at the Clois- ter-door. A little South of the trea- See sect. Abbot. In general the custody of it was ill observed. MS. Mus. Ashmol. 1519, f. 34. In the Cistertian and Præmonstratensian Orders it was in the custody of the Prior and four more eligible. Id. 50, a. Through the scarcity of no- taries public, a constitution of Otto ordered Abbots and Priors, whose benefices were perpetual, to have a seal of their own, separate from that of the house, which Dr. Pegge is of opinion was not the case, except where heads of great and opulent founda- tions had indeed their own seals conformable to the regulation, or at least by favour of his holiness the Pope (Essay on the Matrices of Conventual Seals, p. 3.) Abbeys too had not only different seals for different purposes, but these were frequently altered and changed (Id. p. 7); though, from the seal of Hyde Abbey being worth 15 marks (Monast. i. 210;, I apprehend it must have been extremely ex- pensive to have them sculped.-So careless were the Monks of it, that M. Paris mentions its being thrown among a chest of papers (p. 1048). The Abbot's bajulus, or domestic Monk, was also the bearer of this seal (Id. 1051). A silver seal and chain, sigillium argenti cum cathena, is mentioned as a plain Monk's in MS. Harl. 1005, f. 69, b. bOf this see Præf. Notit. Monast. It is well known that W. I. &c. caused the Abbeys to be searched for treasures of this nature. There are in- junctions not to receive secular deposits, on account of the danger of so doing. (Deposita secularia nun suscipiet, quia multus ad pericula varia trax- erunt.) MS. Cott. Jul. a. Ix. f. 12. b. Accord- ing to certain constitutions they were to be received with consent of the Abbot and four Monks of "laudable testimony." M. Paris, 1096. These matters, as they were deposited for security, were also removed, after leave obtained, with the most profound secresy. Paston Letters, iii. 354. The custom seems to arise from the Roman deposits in the Temple of Vesta. At St. Alban's the charters were kept in chests, upon which, withinside, was a table of contents. M. Paris, p. 1035. At a Fran- ciscan Abbey at Donegall, in the Cloister are two narrow passages one over the other, seemingly placed for depositing valuable effects in times of danger. Sir R. C. Hoare's Tour, 191. These carrels were locked, and contained vari- ous things. Cowell v. Carols. sury, he adds, was a convenient room, wherein was established the song- school, for the instruction of boys for the use of the Choir; the song-school in the South aile of the lanthorn being decently furnished with a reading- desk, convenient seats, and all other requisite conveniencies, appropriated to the service of God; where morning prayer was daily celebrated at six in the morning throughout the year, ex- cept on Sundays and holidays. A number of constitutions forbid women to have access to the Cloister, except noble patronesses and others to whom entrance could not be denied, unless on passing through on certain festivals, or going to the Church for devotion, and taking their way through (not talking or standing in the cloister), to the places deputed for the visitors, the hospitia of Abbots, or in great houses, the lodgings of Priors;d but it was confessed only, that such regula- tions ought to be observed. Among the Friars they were allowed to follow processions, and be present whenever there was preaching. It seems too, that the Convent was much disturbed by persons of both sexes passing through, and that the Monks were in the habit of gossiping in the corners in small parties, in consequence of the injunction of reading instead of manual labour.i The Monks had each of them a book, except those studying the divine service, to whom the chantor, or a person deputed by him, attended. They sat side by side, never asked questions except of long or short ac- d M. Paris, 1100. Monast. ii. 566. C. G. North- ampt. aº 1444. c. ix. e M. Paris. f Quum non fuerint processiones eos sequi po- terint; et ubi prædicabitur semper poterint inte- resse. MS. Cot. Nero, A. XII. Item quia transitus communis personarum utriusque sexûs per claustrum, incongruis tempo- ribus exercetur, et potissimè horis illis, quibus fratres de conventu et contemplatione sanctâ studiis quoque ac lectionibus variis inibi occupantur, unde dissolutiones plurimæ pervenerunt. MS. Harl. 328, f. 3. Non bini aut terni seorsim per angulos claustri vacant. MS. Cott. Faustina, B. iv. f. 128. (Dis quis. de Grandimont.) i Dev. Vie Mon. ii. 395, b. CLOISTER. 231 cents, or beginnings of lessons at table, collation, and mattins, which questions were very short. When they found it necessary to go away for a time, they put their books in the case, or con- signed them to a Monk that sat nigh❘ them.a Angry looks and signs were much reprobated. Embroidery, though forbidden in the rule of Cæsarius,b was a common employment of Monks: and others were not rare. The ancient Monks of Egypt worked in masonry, upholstery, carpentry, braziery, agriculture, cloth- making, shoe-making, basket-making, rope and net making, tanning, fulling, dressing and colouring the papyrus, fine writing, indeed every employment, agricultural and mechanical, necessary for the use of life." The Nuns too, as the Monks, sat in their Cloister side by side, with one's back to the other's face, except they were reading in the same book, or sew- ing in the same cloth. No person passing bowed to any one but the Prioress; nor could any lettered Nun, after Prime, be in the Cloister without a book; and, if she sat idle at it, work instead was enjoined her.d But there were peculiarities attendant upon their Cloisters. There was a wheel made in the outer wall, too small for persons to go in and out at, but so managed, that though it precluded vision, necessaries could be administered by it; and on either side of it was a strong door of small size (locked at night, and in sum- mer during the meridians), for the use of the attendant porteress, to manage her business. There was also only one door to enter the Cloister by, made so high, that it was accessible only by a ladder; and this ladder, during the above periods, was fast bound by an iron chain on the Nun's side; and a porteress attended to keep it locked. The grate, or locutory, consisted of an iron plate perforated, not to be opened, and strengthened "Monast. ii. 724, 5. b C. 42. d Monast. ii. 765. Dev. Vie Monast. ii. 406. externally with projecting nails, over which, on the inner side, a black cloth was so placed, that they could neither see nor be seen. There they were allowed to converse at certain times, except from Complin to Prime, eating- time, the meridian, or during Divine Service.e Their processions were to be made within the yards and gardens surrounding their Cloister, with beat- ing of bells, hoods on, walking two and two, and the cross borne before.f The day of the Month was pro- e Mitig. Rule of S. Clare. The versatile window of the Sempringham Nuns, for necessary purposes, was not quite two feet high and broad. That of confession and conversation with parents, &c. once or twice a-year, a finger's length and breadth. Monast. ii. 757, 8. 2. f Athon. 157. Processions were founded upon Christ's ordering his disciples to go forth into Galilee. Rup. Tutiens. L. vii. C. 21. p. 991. In the Nuns' processions (Ord. Sempr.) they were made through the Cloister, and curtains hung at every corner of it, to obstruct vision. Monast. ii. 765. The Sunday procession originated with Agapetus the First, aº 537. M. Polonus, sub aº. The standards of the Church, representing the Trinity, Saints, &c. made in the form of the La- barum, at least sometimes, were, after the proces- sion was over, erected in the Church:† but there was a standard made of hair-cloth for reconciling penitents. After nones was sung, a Priest went to the western gate of the Church, clothed in sacer- dotal vestments, and a red silk cope, with two Deacons in white amesses, without the Sub-Dea- con, and without the cross, through the middle of the Choir, the hair-cloth standard preceding. Thus the penitent was introduced.‡ In all processions the cross was carried before, and when elevated signified temporal dominion. § Relicks were carried upon a fork sometimes. The Cistertian Nuns wore a large and wide hood, called Culla, in pro- cessions.¶ Shrines, containing relicks, were carried in pro- cession with singing and bell ringing, in imitation of the Israelites carrying the ark.** The statio was a stoppage at the Oratories, or other places, and prayers were said, Antiphones sung, and Mass celebrated. They are said to have been taken from a custom of the first Christians to hold meetings at public Churches, or Oratories, to transact business.†† *Du Cange, v. Auriflamma. † Id. v. Vexillum. Missale Sarisb. § Notices des MSS. vi. 83. Du Cange, v. Branchada. ¶ Id. v. Culla. ** Id. v. Scrinium. t Id. v. Statio. 232 CLOISTER. claimed in the Cloister every morning after Prime by the boys.a Books were chained in the Cloister for the instruction of the Novices, of which Æsop's Fables is known to have been one. From a book of tales of this kind, a specimen shall now be ex- hibited of the wrong conclusions of the middle age. These tales begin with the moral, not conclude as is the mo- dern fashion; and one of the stories intended to warn persons against lustb is this. A king's son, till a certain age, was kept from the society and knowledge of the female sex, and then shown every thing in the world ac- cording to its kind, men apart, women apart, houses apart, and elsewhere gold, silver, jewels, and every thing which could charm the eyes of the be- holders. He comes to the women, and asks, what those were? The ser- vant answers sportively, these are de- vils, which seduce men. The heart of the boy began, however, to feel desire; and when the king asked him, what he liked best of all which he had seen? the other replied, "I like the devils Du Cange, v. Luna. b Valde cavendum in viris religiosis, ne superen- tur in temptacione diaboli, &c. unde legimus, &c. MS. Harl. 463. f. 2, 3. which seduce men, better than all the others." c In orders Eremite, the cells opened into the Cloister. That of the Car- thusians, at Shene, contained about thirty cells.d Nigel Wireker says, jocosely, "If I get among them, I must go to bed without a light."e The tendency of perpetual solitude is to produce insanity. Intercourse with society is the regulator of the clockwork of reason. Judgment is the distinction of men of the world. Eras- mus says, that he never knew a Car- thusian Monk who was not mad, or an ideot.f Petrarch says otherwise; but he proves the existence of social in- tercourse in Carthusians. c Omnia quæ sunt in mundo secundum genus suum, vid. viros seorsim, mulieres seorsim, seorsim equos, et alio loco aurum, argentum, et lapides pre- ciosos, et omnia quæ delectare possunt oculos in- tuentium ;..... servus respondit ludendo, "Istæ sunt dæmones, homines seducentes;" cor vero pueri illarum desiderio certis rebus anhelabat. Cumque rex quæreret à puero, quid magis ex om- nibus quæ viderat amaret, respondit, diligo dæmones illos qui homines seducunt, quam Magis omnia alia quæ vidi." Ibid. 66 d Itin. S. Simeon. et W. Worcest. p. 258. e "Et sine luce meum solus adibo thorum." Spec. Stultor. Ichthyophagia Colloq. 439. INFIRMARY. 233 CHAPTER XXXIX. a INFIRMARY. THIS place had a Chapel annexed, where divine service from a Breviary on purpose was celebrated;b a great table, with a bell over it, to assemble the Monks at meals; a stone where the dying sick were washed and re- ceived the extreme unction and sacra- ment,d and where Monks, affected with ennui and languor, were directed to sit and meditate;e wood, coals, and other necessaries, saltcellars, spoons, candlesticks, towels, beds, and the straw of beds, and tables, in the Re- fectory of it; it was also strewed with hay, rushes, straw, or other matters, when necessary.f There were also chambers duly provided with chimneys, a distinction made by our ancestors. A common appendage to it was a gar- den or court for recreation of the sick. At Norwich was a long inclosed gallery for the same purpose.h A Nun sick of a cancer, who disturbed the rest by the smell, was removed by the Infirmaress, into a place called the Antexenodo- chium.i By the Anglo-Saxon institutes, a Monk taken severely sick announced his disease to the Abbot or the whole congregation, and having received the benediction, retired to the Infirmary. To this the Norman decretals added, that, from the day he began to eat flesh there, he should walk with his A little chapel and lobby, or covered gallery for walking in. Du Cange, v. Lobia. b W. Thorne, c. 32, sec. 5. Angl. Sacr. i. 393, 399. M. Paris, 1009. d Id. 1045. e Cum se senserit tædio quodam et languore mentis affici componat se supra petram, in qua la- vantur mortui, et tractet apud se solicité quod vid. tractentur ibidem sepeliendi. MS. Harl. 103. f. 115, a. f MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 205. a. Angl. Sacr. i. 142, 646. h Parkins's Norwich, 163. ! Du Cange. hood on, and leaning on a staff; a trick which young and healthy Monks often played, to get admitted on pre- tence of illness.k As soon as he got well, after being shaved, he was to attend Divine Service at the hour be- fore the Chapter, and, if there was a Mass afterwards, not offer at it. When the Chapter commenced, he was then to enter as soon as the affairs of the Order began to be discussed, solicit pardon prostrate for having eaten meat, and, after absolution from the Abbot and Convent, throw himself at the feet of the Abbot, return thanks to him and the Convent for the assist- ance furnished to him in his sickness, and make three genuflexions. After that he was allowed mixtus that day, and as long as was necessary. If, how- ever, he had not eaten meat, it was in the Abbot's disposition when he should return to the Convent, and how con- duct himself afterwards. At St. Alban's the custom was for them, if they did not get well in three days, to enter the Infirmary, and then to be contented with regular food, unless by accelera- tion of disease they were compelled to eat meat. Medical assistance, though this was much neglected, was engaged to attend upon them, and medicines thus provided.m Phlebotomy was in much fashion in the middle ages; for, in the fifteenth * Bern. Dev. Vie Mon. iii. 48. 1 M. Paris, 1009, but they had an Oriel for per- sons not so bad as to be sent to the Infirmary. Unus medicus de bonis communibus ipsius ecclesiæ debitè procuretur, qui monachis et fra- tribus ejusdem infirmis de medicinis congruis, cum opus fuerit, provideat. MS. Harl. 328. p. 4. As they had no Monk of this description, they were to seek medical aid from elsewhere. Ibid. The Benedictines of S. Vitalis at Ravenna had a depôt of Pharmacy for all kinds of medicines, a complete surgery, and anatomical subjects, and in- struments for all kinds of operations. Observat. sur l'Italie, t. i. 323, 324. 234 INFIRMARY. allowed them in the Infirmary, and that the Monks desired often to be bled, on account of eating meat.b In the order of St. Victor the bre- thren were bled five times a year, in September, before Advent, before Lent, after Easter, at Pentecost, which bleed- ing lasted three days: after the third day they came to Mattins, and were in the Convent. On the fourth day, they received absolution in the Chapter. In another rule, one Choir was bled at the same time in silence and psalmody, sitting in order in a cell. Other rules forbid a stated time of bleeding.i. century, it was the subject of a poem;ª¦ appointed. It seems, that fire was and Robert Boutevylleyn, a founder, claimed in the Abbey of Pipewell four bleedings per annum. Among the Monks, this operation, which was per- formed by a servant, was termed minu- tion. A complete set of surgical in- struments was found at Herculaneum, a lancet excepted, but it is very clearly, described and distinguished from the fleam by William Brito, and perhaps it was the Blod-sex of the Anglo-Saxons. In some Abbeys was a bleeding-house, called Flebotomaria. By the Norman institutes, leave was to be asked imme- diately after Chapter, and the hour declared to the Cellarer; in Winter, after the Gospel of the great Mass; in Summer, after Vespers, having put on their nocturnal shoes, bowed, and turned to the east, they undressed. They were not to speak but from very urgent necessity, and then softly. Ex- emption from the Choir duty was granted till the commencement of the Chapter, on the next day, or longer, if necessary. On the morrow they put on their nocturnal shoes, for two days had mixtus, and performed a short religious service; accordingly, as it was the season when the Convent took refection once or oftener, the Be- nediction was given by the senior Priest, the reading recited from me- mory, and the whole done in the Re- fectory. On the morrow, if any one of them was accused in Chapter, his minution was notified to the Prior, and he might solicit and receive pardon for a small fault; but if it was irremissible, the discipline was to be delayed. There were certain festivals when this bleed- ing was not allowed; as the festival of All Saints, because on the morrow all the Priests were to celebrate masses of the dead, and the rest say the psalms Ayscough's Catal. ii. 833. b Monast. i. 818. Du Cange, v. Lanceola. Phlebotomum. a Du Cange. They did not attend Divine Service even on festivals. Reyn. Append. 165. From Sunday till Thursday, or a week, was sometimes the term allowed. Monast. ii. 274. By the Anglo-Saxon institutes, when a Monk was sick beyond prospect of recovery, it was notified to the Abbot and Convent by the Infirmarer, and they immediately attended him, gave him extreme unction, afterwards the Eucharist, and this continued till his death approached; at which period they went to witness his departure, and begin the commendation of his soul. According to the Norman de- cretals, he was visited at first only by a deputation, consisting of the Heb- domadary, Sacrist, and four Converts, who sprinkled him, confessed him, absolved him (he likewise them), kissed him, gave him extreme unction, and the sacrament. Certain prayers 8 Quia infirmi fratres, et qui opus habebant mi- nui sanguini, igne carebant, idem Abbas Faritius consensu totius capituli concessit omnes redditus eis maneriorum subnotatorum, &c. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 158. a. h Ubi juxta ordinis monastici rigorem in refec- torio carnes, aut in publico non comeduntur longe avidius longeque voracius et immoderancius in pri- vato sumuntur, dum propter hoc crebras monachi simulant egrotaciones, dumque creberrimas ob hoc sanguinis appetunt et affectant minuciones, &c. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. 13. Nec extra refectorium in infirmitorio esum carnium credant sibi licere. MS. Bibl. Reg. 8 F. IX. Du Cange, v. Minuere. The Prior's chaplain only. Davies. 1 Ego auctoritate Dei et beatorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et domini nostri, domini Nicholai Papæ quinti, michi in hac parte specialiter com- missâ, et tibi concessâ, absolvo te. MS. Bibl. Reg. 2, A. 2. Instead of this blasphemous inser- tion of the Pope's name, in the above absolution, (the one used on these occasions,) on a par with that of God, that in Herbert's Ames, i. 310, has only "virtute papalis indulgentiæ." INFIRMARY. 235 were made for him in the Mass: and this was done till he seemed likely to recover; but, if the contrary appeared manifest, he was never without two Monks, who constantly read to him. the passion of our Lord, and the Gos- pels, while he was sensible (and also said their hours there); and when he was deprived of his understanding, never ceased singing the Psalter." As soon as he appeared upon the verge of dissolution, a servant laid a hair-cloth over him, and sat watching d till he was just departing, and then, with the two Monks, ran to the Cloister-door, and beat upon a table, to give notice to the Convent to come to him; which they accordingly did, and began a reli- gious service, after which they again retired, certain of them remaining to say the Psalter. Afterwards they re- turned again to perform the commen- dation of his soul. "Thence," says Davies, whose account agrees with the Norman institute," he (the deceased) was carried to a chamber called the dead man's chamber, in the Infirmary, there to remain till night. The Prior's chap- lain, as soon as he was conveyed to the dead man's chamber, locked the chamber door where he died, and car- ried the key to the Prior. At night he was removed from the dead man's chamber into St. Andrew's Chapel, ad- joining to the said chamber and infir- mary, there to remain till eight o'clock in the morning, the Chapel being a place ordained only for solemn devotion. The night before the funeral, two Monks, either in kindred or kindness, nearest to him, were appointed by the Prior to The Bajuli Obituum were officers in Abbeys, whose duty it was to receive and distribute legacies, and attend to the service of the hours and obits. Du Cange. Perhaps these were the two Monks of Davies. See this in Angl. Sacr. i. 654. It should be under him, together with the ashes consecrated on Ash Wednesday (Du Cange, v. Cinis), from "Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return." d Servientes etiam qui vigilant circa fratrem proximum morti. Monast. i. 149. • First there occurs, positoque corpore in loco, ubi poni solet; afterwards, locato in ecclesia cor- pore. Decr. Lanfr. be especial mourners, and to sit all night on their knees at the dead corpse's feet;f and the children of the Almery, sitting on their knees in stalls on either side of him, were to read David's Psalms & till eight in the morning, when the corpse was carried to the Chapter-house, where the Prior and the whole Convent met it, and there said their dirge and devotion; none being permitted to approach the Chapter-house during the time of their devotion and prayers for his soul.h When their devotion was ended, the corpse was carried by the Monks from the Chapter-house through the par- lour, into the centrygarth, where he was buried.i It was the duty of the Infirmarer to give the communion to the sick, when they wished, especially on every Sun- day, and he had a claustral Monk to assist him in respect to revenues.' The Prior, Sub-prior, Kitchener, or per- son deputed by them, were to visit the Infirmary before Prime,m and such vi- sitations were observed." The Prior, or in his absence the President, twice or once at least in the week, were to visit the Infirmary personally; and the Infirmarer was to certify the Ab- bot, when he could not visit himself, of the state of matters.P Sawing billets in rooms for exercise upon medical principles was a common employment of the sick in these ages, and was borrowed from Galen. f Deputentur aliqui fratres, qui ibi remaneant. Id. Quicquid superest noctis infantes cum magis- tris canendo expendant. Id. h Facto in capitulo sermone absolvat eum Abbas, &c. Id. The last part, of never approaching the Chapter when the Convent was there, was at all times usual. i Confession, absolution, &c. and similar burial for lay-brothers. MS. Bodl. Barl. 7. p. 270, 1. * Ad infirmarium pertinet infirmos fratres com- municare cum voluerint, et precipue omni die do- minicâ. MS. Bodl. Barl. 7. p. 185. 1 Dec. Script. 2113. m Wilkins's Concil. ii. 723. n M. Par. 1099. • Wilk. Concil. ii. 247. P M. Par. 1009. 4 Galen de Sanit. tuenda, ch. 8. v. 2. p. 148. Smythe's Berkeley's MS.217. "In her elder years she [Joan Lady Berkeley, t. H. III.] used to saw 236 INFIRMARY. It was usual for Monks, in chronic infirmities, to spend their remaining days in the Infirmary.a Secular per- sons used to have access (and to eat) there in crowds, so as to be trouble- some, and the place was full of gos- siping and scandal.c Seculars were admitted at all hours to carry necessa- ries to the sick.d The sick did not dine at the common table;e and there seems to have been an excess of ser- vants, besides the usual ones, who never slept out of the place, or ought not to have done so.f It was resorted to for private treats. When John de Whitefeld, Monk of Rochester, preach- ed in the Chapter about his Bishop, it was said that the brethren bribed him in the Infirmary with wine.s The Monks were in the habit of going there, and to the hostrey, after com- plin, and used both to feign sickness, and be loth to leave it. The Monks too, oppressed with old age, the Sempecta, spent their remaining days there;h billets and sticks in her chamber for part of phy- sick, for which purpose she bought certain fine hand sawes, which commonly cost 11d. a piece." Taylor the water-poet says (p. 241), "Now all their exercise is privately to saw billets." a Monast. i. 301. Dec. Scriptores, 1783. Ang. Sacra, i. 299. Injungimus etiam ipsis prioribus et fratribus, ut non permittant tantum ad infirmariam concur- sum fieri sæcularium, exceptis medicis et servito- ribus ad infirmorum curam deputatis. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 245, a. Hoc autem summopere caveatis, ne alicui seculari ibi comedere cum mo- nachis concedatur. Id. Jul. D. 11. 1586. A superfluis et vanis sermonibus abstineant; prohibeantur etiam rumores sæculares in infirmariâ de fratre, et secreta, quæ inter fratres audierint, publicare. Ibid. Angl. Sacr. i. 360. • Statuimus insuper ut nullus infirmus ab infir- morum mensâ communi se subtrahat, nisi tantâ corporis invaletudine sit detentus, quod ad illum accedere nequeat sine scandalo et gravamine corpo- ris evidenti, præter gistarios et illos cum quibus ex gratiâ nostrâ speciali fuerint dispensati. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 245. f Noct. et dieb. in infirmariâ recubabunt et ex- cubabunt. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 205. d. M. Par. 1096. Reyn. App. 127. Angl. Sacr. i. 373. Quod aliquis ad infirmariam vel domum hos- pitum non audeat accedere ni specialiter vocatus. MS. Cott. Nero, A. x11. f. 158, b. Fratres autem infirmi, cum ab ipsorum infirmitatibus, vel alias, quum meliorati fuerint, quum competenter cum cæteris in conventu laborare potuerint; ulterius in and there appears to have been very good living in it; for, says Piers Plow- man, By this daye, syr doctour, quod I, than ye be not in dowel, For ye have harmed us two, in that ye eate the puddinge, Mortreux, and other meate, and we no morsel had, And if ye fare so in your farmery.k This was very illiberal satire, for our ancestors rarely used medical assist- ance. Burton, from Paulus Jovius and Levinus Lemnius, observes, "That there was of old no use of physicke amongst us, and but little at this day, except it be for a few nice idle citizens, suretting courtiers, and staulfed gen- tlemen lubbers. The country-people use kitchen physicke," &c. Matthew Flint, tooth-drawer of London, received from the crown 6d. a day for life, to exercise his art upon the poor without fee or reward. These passages show the reason why there was such neglect of medical aid; viz. because good living or kitchen physick was most in vogue: whence the rich dishes used in the In- firmary. Davies says, that four aged women lived in the Infirmary, who had each chambers, were fed from the Prior's table, and had Mass said to them every holiday and Friday in the Infirmary Chapel, by the master of the Infirmary School, whose chamber and place of teaching certain poor children, called the children of the Almery, were over that place of worship. In the Infirmary of the Order of St. Clare, the Nuns might lie in sacks and infirmariâ residere, aut infirmitates fingere non præsumant. Gistarii (Gista is Jus Hospitii. Du Cange) autem et qui solum senectute gravantur, communibus cibis in quantum possint sint contenti. MS. Cott. Claud. E. iv. f. 245. A rich soup. Tyrwhitt is right in the ingre- dients; add only brawn of fesantes, as well as of capons. See MS. Bodl. Hearne, 197, in sect. Mortraws eweas. k F. lxvi. 1 Burton's Anat. Melanch. p. 368, ed. folio. m Pat. 1 H. IV. pars 6 m. 10. in Vincent's MSS. Coll. of Arms. The toothdrawing instrument is pretended by Erasistratus to have been taken from the temple of Apollo at Delphos; but assuredly is very ancient. Du Cange makes it similar to the present pincers; but his authorities and extracts do not support this affirmation. See v. Dentiducum. INFIRMARY. 237 chaff, but with pillows of feathers at their head. Those who wanted woollen stockings, and culcitra, might have them. They might too converse, con- cisely, with visitors.b The ceremonial, with regard to dying Nuns, was similar to that of the Monks, except that they were anointed on the throat above the breast and chin, instead of the navel and throat in males. The confession and unction in the Order of Sempringham was admi- nistered by deputed Priests; the sick who were able to take the communion with others went to it in common with them, at the window, or had it admi- nistered, as their situation demanded, by two religious and a lay-brother, who had a private way to go to them for this purpose, that they might not be seen. The Præcentrix appointed the sick some task to execute: none of the hours were said in the Infirmary before they were began in the Church, except sext and the evening synaxis in Lent. If any Lettered Nun was sick, another said the hours for her; the use of the lay-sisters was to suffice, if there was no substitute. or as At St. Alban's was an Oriel, apartment for persons not so sick to retire to the Infirmary; and there were regulations among the Sempring- ham Nuns of this kind. The sick . Either quilts or beds; the latter here, I suppose. Ex Regulâ. The Oriel appears to have been sometimes at least a porch, atrium, or pentice. Du Cange, v. Oriolum. d The Rule of St. Victor says, that there were three kinds of sick in the Infirmary; some who kept their beds, others who were recovering and walked, but yet staid there for the recovery of their strength; others lived constantly there, as the old, nfirm, blind, &c. Du Cange, v. Infirmaria. not in the Infirmary attended all the daily hours, but the prayers only of those of the nocturnal synaxis. In case of sudden attack, the sick Nun did not join the labour of the Convent, unless she had before been united with it in divine service. They only ate and drank in the Refectory or Infirmary. They were exempted from offices which had been imposed upon them. They did not enter the Church to pray when the Convent was present. They were prohibited from making signs at the table, either after Complin or before Prime, or at mid-day, unless from im- moderate sickness. While the Con- vent was at refection in summer, they could do any work or read. Those who worked could do so in their sca- pulary, and sleep by day; and at night in their hoods. Woollen mitræ, a sort of hoods like those of the lay-brothers, were granted to the brethren when at work or travelling; as well as to the sick, when sitting before the Infirmary in super pelliceis, [garments belonging to Canons, differently formed in various countries.] Any one who left the Choir from sickness, before the Venite was over, lawfully entered the Infir- mary. The sick who could walk had leave to speak with their parents at the window. Nuns, or lay sisters, conti- nually sick, had periodical indulgences of fifteen days or more at a time, twice, thrice, or four times in a year, of eating meat. All the Sick, able to leave their beds, ate together, in fixed places and hours, and regularly said their canonical hours. The neglect of the Nuns in general, respecting the Infirmary, has been already mentioned. Du Cange, v. Mitra. Monast. ii. 775-7. 238 GUEST-HALL. CHAPTER XL. GUEST-HALL. THIS place was, at Canterbury, forty feet broad, and not less than one hun- dred and fifty long, situated where it is was least likely to interfere with the privacy of the Monks, or business of their servants, and had a covered way or pentice leading to the cellarer's of- fices.a The Guest-Hall was a large room with columns, like the body of a Church, and called Palatium, Palace, anciently meaning a place of short re- sidence. It had on both sides bed- rooms, to each a privy and cloaths' closet. Passages of communication led to staircases, cellars, and the buttery. B. Willis, in his Mitred Abbies, says, that John de Hertford, Abbot of St. Alban's, in 1260, built a noble hall for the use of strangers in that abbey, adding many chambers to the same, with an inner parlour, having a chim- ney with a noble picture, and an entry, and a small hall; also a most noble entry with a porch, and many very fair bedchambers, with their inner cham- bers to receive strangers honourably. Here we see, that this hospice consisted of two sets of apartments, one for com- mon pilgrims and travellers, the other for persons of rank. There was an called Pro-aula, the Greeting-House of Ælfric, or Salutatorium, a place where persons were first received. It appears to have been the same as the visitor's parlour, and perhaps, as the Pulsato- rium, (so called from "Knock and it shall be opened unto you,") where Can- didates for admission to the Order stayed and waited upon strangers, &c. because it adjoined the Hostrey.c Gostling's Canterbury Walk, 152, 3. b Owen and Blakeway's Hist. of Shrewsbury, ii. 50. Du Cange, v. Palatium, Pro-aula, Pulsato- rium, Salutatorium. Cowell, v. Garderoba. Col- lect. Reb. Hybern. No. IX. 680. M. Par. 1071. Britton's Architect. Antiq. ii. 78. In the admission of visitors, as soon as they were disengaged, they made a trifling venia at the gate of the house. At getting up they sprinkled them- selves with holy water. When the Convent sat in the Cloister, or where- soever absent, they made a prayer for excesses on the way in the choir in the presence of the Convent, and did the same before the altar of the vestiary. If the Convent was on the form, they took their venia; if not, they bowed and made their prayer. The hosteler met them in the parletory, and gave the kiss of peace, after the Benedicite, which was properly the Abbot's office; but the officer, if he liked it, could confer it upon any person of note, or, as it is precisely said in the same con- suetudinal, the benediction for excesses was received, the hosteler went out of the choir, and met the visitor; and then, after the kiss of peace, and tender words of love and consolation, returned to the service in the choir. If he came before dinner to the refectory, notice was given to the refectioner. If he was too late to dine with the Convent, he staid in the locutory till the refectory was swept, and then was introduced. The hosteler provided all things fit for mass fo for the visitors; and if he was pre- vented, any one asked by him sung the mass and hours to them, for they had divine service as well as the Convent, They had meat and drink at solicitation, and the hosteler was to fetch the viands, according to the rank of the person; d all which was, however, ac- d In admissione hospitum hospites omnimodo expediti ad hostium Monasterii parvæ veniæ incum- bent. In venia elevatione in introitu ecclesiæ aquâ benedictâ se aspergent. Conventu in claus- tro residente, vel quoquam (f. 1. q. quoquo*) ab- sente orationem pro excessibus in viâ surreptis in choro facient, conventu præsente; ante altare ves- tiarii identidem fiet. Si conventus super formam * See Monast. ii. 769. GUEST-HALL. 239 companied with the unpleasant ap- pendages of a dirty table-cloth, very indifferent wine, grease in the salt, and a clownish servant.b The Hosteler could not introduce them to the colla- tion before the end of the first verse. When this was over, he lighted his lan- tern, with which the visitors waited be- fore the Chapter door. He then intro- duced them into the parlour; after which they had refection, and Comp- lin was sung to them. If they wished to be bled, their inclination was noti- fied by the Hospitaler to the Abbot, and every thing usual on such occasions was done under the care of the former officer. If they desired to see any one of the Convent, the Hosteler took care, with leave of the Prior, that their re- quest should be gratified; and the Monk had liberty to speak without re- mission of the license. They could not leave the Cloister but by permis- sion of the hosteler, who was to guide them out. If the visitors wished to speak with their servants, lodged within recubuerit veniam accipient, sin alias se inclinando orationem facient....Hospite in locutorio intro- ducto, hostilarius dicet Benedicite; benedictione pro excessibus acceptâ; osculoque pacis dato tene- risque verbis amoris et consolationis ad horam hos- tilarius in chorum regredietur. Si in discubitu conventus tam morosus fuerit ejus adventus quod in conventu discumbere non possit, non introducetur, sed in locutorio erit donec scopatio fiat in refecto- rio; postmodum hostilarius eum introducet.... hospitibus expeditis missam celebrare. MS. Cott. Claud. B. VI. f. 205, 6, 7. In the advice of a father to his son (Hawkins's Musick, ii. 465), the son is directed to be careful that his table be covered with a clean cloth. I could add numerous other authorities. b In MS. Harl. 913, f. 58, b. is a short poem entitled, "Hospitalitas monachorum et salutatio de claustro;" of which the only parts of import are, the above" Sordidum mappale; paniscoctus melle; vinum tale quale; oleus in sale; mancipium rusti- cale." • Hostilarius hospites non introducet ad colla- cionem ante primi versus determinacionem. Colla- tione terminatâ prout tempus exegit lanternam ac- cendet. In regressu terminatæ collationis hospites ante hostium capituli cum lanternâ præstolabun- tur. Postmodum in locutorium eos ducet......si hospes minui voluerit hostilario significabit, hostila- rius abbati et indicabit, et omnia consuetudinaria minutionis habebit, hostilariusque curam minuto- riam ei exhibebit. Si hospes aliquem de Conventu venire voluerit hostilarii curâ loquetur licentiâ priore expetitâ. [If refused, the Monk was not to know it. Decr. Lanfr.] Illi licet sine remissione licentiæ loqui cum hospite. Id. the gates of the court, the hosteler caused the keeper of the locutory to deliver the message; if they lodged without the gates, the porter performed the office. If any breach of silence or great disorder was made by a visitor, he was detained till the Chapter of the next day; and, emendation having been made, according to the will of the Prior and Chapter, he made his bow, and departed. When the visitors wished to depart before day-break, or at that time, the hosteler took the keys of the parlour from the Prior's bed, and dismissed them according to the rule and their rank; after which he again locked the doors, and carried the keys back to the Prior's bed. On Sundays, before procession, no one could receive the benediction, or cere- mony of dismission.-[Whence our farewell of God bless you, or Goodbye, i. e. God be with you. The King did not leave England without the bene- diction of the Archbishop of Canter- bury. It consisted in that Prelate's making the sign of the Cross upon the King's head, who stooped for that pur- pose.]d-If necessity urged, they could receive it at Mattins; and guests not re- turning the same day, at Prime and all other hours, except Vespers. Similar regulations obtained with respect to Nones, rung after dinner.e Persons of rank were received with procession and high honours. One of the great bells was struck three times, d Eadm. 25, 41. Hospes claustrum non egredietur nisi licentia ab hostilario detur, ut ductu ejus egrediatur. Si hospes cum famulis suis infra portas curiæ hospitalis loqui voluerit, hostilarius per custodem locutorii eos mandabit. Si portas curiæ transgredietur, idemptidem faciet administratione janitoris. Quo- tiens ante lucifragum, vel die lucescente abire volue- runt, hostilarius claves loquutorii ad lectum prioris accipiet, hospitesque ordinatè, et pro personarum dignitate emittet, postmodum secundum temporis exigentiam hostia reobserabit, clavesque ad lectum reportabit. Dominicis diebus ante processionem nulli licet accipere benedictionem [apres ceo prist il beneyson, et conge de l'Abbé et du covent. Monast. ii. 219.] Si necessitas instat ad matutinas bene- dictionem accipiat. Primæ et omnibus aliis horis hospites non revertentes eodem die benedictionem debent accipere. Nullus ad vesperas benedictionem proficiscendi accipiat. Idemptidem fiet ad nonam post prandium pulsatam. Id. 240 GUEST-HALL. to give the Monks notice of assem- bling in the Church to robe themselves. The Sacrist spread a carpet and a pal- lium above, before the great Altar, upon the upper step, also before the rood. Upon the near approach of the visitor, the two greater bells were rung. When the procession made a stand, at the re- ception of the guest, the Abbot gave him the holy-water sprinkle, afterwards the incense, and the Prior the text, if he was a Bishop; other persons the Abbot sprinkled himself. When they entered the Church, and made a stand before the crucifix, the boys stood between the two Choirs; and the bearers of the holy water and other things advanced through the midst, and stood before the crucifix with their faces towards it. In the mean while the visitor continued praying; and, when he arose, a service was begun in honour of the patron saint. Then the bearers advanced to deposit the respective processionalia as soon as they came to the Altar. The infants and others followed, filing off on each side the Altar according to seniority. The visitor again prayed; and, when the chaunt was over, (if a Bishop, after he had given the bene- diction,) kissed all the Monks; who, however, because in copes, or robed, were not to kneel before him, as was usual with a Bishop, Abbot, or Prince, but humbly bowing, proceed to the sa- lutation. If he was a spiritual person, and the Abbot wished to be expedi- tious, the Monks were unrobed, and sat in Chapter, where the visitor was in- troduced, and requested the benedic- tion. This was followed by a reading from Scripture; after which, if he chose, he preached. If he was an Abbot he kissed the Monks at the entrance of the Chapter, as they retired; and if he did not enter that place, at a fit season, he did it in the Cloister. The flatter- ies and homage paid to great visitors were such, that a dying Abbot said, "Thou well knowest what flatteries and adulations thou hast made, for tem- poral and perishable things, to secular . Decr. Lanfr. persons, not in truth but falsehood, against your conscience." b These flatteries are thus in the most piquant style satirized by an ancient Goliard or Jester, "When it is dinner time, dine with the great man; fill the glasses with exquisite wine. When it is cold, sit at the fire, hold the richest wine in your hands, fill the empty cups; per- suade him to drink and drink again. When he has well soaked, have a bed for him; he will gladly stay with you. When he looks in his purse, throw out a hint how much he has drank: if he has been intemperate, take it kindly: say nothing of what has passed." an exemplification of this satire, we are told of an Abbot who, in order to exhi- lirate the mind of a certain knight, and gain his good will, plied him well with choice liquor, in the English fashion. In order to provoke him to drink better, instead of Wesheil, the Abbot gave for the toast Pril, to which the other was instructed by the Abbot, in- stead of Drinkheil to reply Wril; and thus drinking and toasting with Pril and Wril, and assisted by the Monks, lay brothers, and servants, they went on till midnight.d Thomas Pennant, In Tu bene nosti, quot favores et adulationes pro temporalibus et caducis faciebas secularibus homini- bus, non veritate sed fictione, contra conscientiam tuam. MS. Bodl. Fairfax, 17. § Lamentatio Ger- vasii Abb. Et hora cum fuit, cum ipso prandete. Mero delectabili calices implete. Tempus cum sit frigi- dum ad prunas sedete. Vinum meracissimum ma- nibus tenete. Calices si fuerint vacui replete. Ut bibat et rebibat sæpe suadete. Si bene potavit, lectum tunc habete. Vobiscum moram faciet li- benter et lætè. In bursâ dum reperit stantes mo- nete. De dono haustæ fuerint quindecim metretæ, &c. Modum si excesserit blande sustinete. Quod fit in consorcio pandere cavete. MS. Harl. 978, f. 58, b. Abbas autem ut militis animum exhilararet, ipsumque sibi placabilem magis efficeret, calices ei crebros de potu electo more Anglicano propinari fecit. Ipsemet quoque quatinus ad melius potan- dum militem provocaret, et efficacius invitaret, loco Wesheil ait ei Pril. Ille vero ignorans quid respondere deberet, edoctus ab Abbate, pro Drink- heil respondit ei Wril, et sic provocantes ad invi- cem et compotantes cum monachis et fratribus as- sistentibus et servientibus ingeminare pril, wril, et alternatim sæpius usque noctis ad horam profundio- ris inculcare non destiterunt. MS. Cott. Tiber B. B. 13. [ppixl is reciprocatio; pril,wril, hob, nob.] This was against all rule: Neubrigensis says (154), GUEST-HALL. 241 a Abbot of Basingwerk, is said to have given twice the treasure of a king in wine; and they were profuse of more humble liquors.b The apartments for the reception of persons of quality, as says Davies and others, were furnished in a most splendid style. Visitors were allowed to make a stay of two days and nights; and on the third, after dinner, they were to depart. If by accident a guest could not then go, the Hosteler signified his request to the Abbot, Prior, or Curiarius, for a longer stay. If he was taken ill, his stay was regulated by the disposition of the Prior, and the exigency of the dis- ease. If in health, he was to be present at Mattins, unless he had leave to the contrary, and follow the Convent in every thing. If a visitor exceeded three daysd among the Friars Minors, he mentioned his fault in the Chapter, and, after receiving pardon, departed.e Constitutions enact that hospitality should be shown to all, to religious per- sons, especially those of the order (who were to be consigned to the tables of that prayers were said during drinking, and our Sa- viour's name mentioned. The old Danes and Nor- mans, says James Delmerus, used to drink in ho nour of Odin, Thor, &c.; but after conversion, to the Saints. The form of this toast is given by Christ. de Scala, in the life of St. Wenceslaus, p. 56. Again, sitting in the eating-room, and taking the cup, he says, with a loud voice, let us drink this cup in the name of the holy Archangel Michael, begging and praying him to introduce our souls into the peace of eternal exaltation." To this the vi- sitors replied Amen, and drank the cup. If they were going to part, the kiss of peace, as now shak- ing hands, went round. See Du Cange, v. Bibere in amore Sanctorum, for more on this subject. a Pennant's Whiteford, 33. British Topography, ii. 461. Licet hospiti biduo continuationem duarum noctium morari tertioque die donec discubuerit. Si casu incidente, profectio ejus expedita non fuit, hostilarius Abbati, vel priori, et curiario ejus im- portunitatem significabit. Si infirmitate oppressus fuerit, indulta erit, &c. Si sanitate exhilaratur, matutinis, nisi licentiam petat, intererit, conven- tumque omnimodo sequatur. MS. Cott. Claud. B. VI. f. 206, b. This was the old Celtic period of visits. See Ossian, in Carthon, Colna-dona. Fingal. B. iii. Temora, B. ii. It is explained by Cowell, v. Ho- genhine, Third-night. Du Cange, &c. Ipsi vero hospites in locis ubi ultra tres dies moram traxerint, dicant in capitulo culpas suas, et dictâ culpâ acceptâque pardonâ egrediantur. MS. Bodl. 1882, p. 52, a. the Abbots, or other fit and honourable places), and to the Friars, who were to be excluded the Refectory and private places deputed for the recreation of the Monks. Women were to be received, who came with an honourable suite.g Particular attention was to be paid to the parents of Monks; for whom ne- cessaries and food were to be found whenever they came to see their chil- dren; especially on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, wheresoever they took refection in the town or house; and they were to be honourably received on the vigil.h It seems that the Monks were in the habit of often going to the visitors; i and, as if pitying the miseries of the poor, asking abundance of questions of the peace of the nobles, making speeches of the cruelty of knights, and the superfluity of clerks, interrupting their conversation with sighs, as from compassion; and then, when the bell rung, tripping off, after a previous whisper, that if the Abbot or Prior should come, the visitors would not forget to say a kind word in their fa- vour. It seems too that the sons of donors, when unable to injure the Monks by means of law, would burden them with continual visits and hospi- tality; and that, from the heavy weight C. G. Northampt. a° 1343. c. xvii. and aº 1444. c. ix. g Honestà comitivâ. Custum. Roffens. 235. h Item parentes monachorum ad domum istam (Edmundsbury) divertentes honorificentius solito admittantur; et uberius procurentur, maximè pa- rentes claustralium. MS. Cott. Jul. D. II. f. 160. b. Quociens parentes monachorum eos visitare ve- nerint, omnia necessaria eis et victus sunt decer- nenda. Maximè in nativ. S. Mar. ubicunque co- mederint in villâ vel in curiâ. Item debent recipi honorifice in vigilia. MS. Cott. Claud. B. VI. p. 187. The hosteler sometimes separated them against their will. Monast. i. p. 2. * Crebrius egreditur (monachus) ad hospites, et quasi calamitatibus pauperum compaciens de pace principum terræ quærit, sermones faciens de acer- bitate militum et de superfluitate clericorum, inter- polatis suspiriis, tanquam misericordiâ motus super Ad sonitum campanæ necessarium abire pro- ponit, nec omittit in auribus instillare ut cum vene- rit abbas, aut prior, meminerint apud eos ipsum, commendare. MS. Harl. 1712. f. 236. eos. i Hist. Rames. prol. pars 2. R 242 GUEST-HALL. of the latter, several statutes were made to ease them; and indeed they were not only liable to this expense, but to stabling for horses, the maintenance of sporting dogs, hawks, servants, (claims of founders, and convert Jews.b In the Hostrey of the Nuns, she who received the visitors was allowed to speak to them. Cloths were kept for their feet. The place was inclosed in the Nuns' court, but excluded from their view. No Nun entered the Hos- trey, but the Prioresses and obedien- tiaries. Lay-sisters of the Hostrey in- troduced them into the Oratory pre- pared for them while the Nuns were singing the hours, but brought them back before they left the Choir. Two or three Nuns presided over the Hostrey, and conversed with the bet- 5 Ed. I. 9 Ed. II. c. ii. West. 1 Ed. III. b Monast. i. 18; II. 459. Tovey, 227, 14 Edw. III. st. 4. c. 1. ter sort of visitors; Lay-sisters served them, and slept there when necessary. If the visitors were to be brought any where within the Nuns' courts, they were introduced by Nuns. No meat was given them to eat without the master's especial license; nor was any one permitted to bathe, be bled, or ex- ceed the stay of one night, without that of the Prioress. The Nuns con- versed with the guests or relatives, and none were excluded from their maundy, unless sick; the table for this office was struck after the Convent was gone to the Dorter. The Lay-sister spoke only to female pilgrims, and no Nun entered, if a visitor brought a boy with her.c Monast. ii. 769. All Davies says of import concerning the hostrey is, that it was like the body of a church, with pillars on each side, and a large range for the fire in the midst of it, with chambers and lodgings belonging to it. LOCUTORY, OR PARLOUR. 243 CHAPTER XLI. LOCUTORY, OR PARLOUR. DU CANGE says, that there were three parlours among the Clugniacks and Cistercians; and that in a parlour, the Monks assembled for conversation; and that the Monastic Schools were held there.a-Of these apartments there were two, one for the Monks, another for the visitors. This apart- ment was for conversation, when silence was enjoined in other places. The rule of St. Victor of Paris speaks thus: When any thing required im- mediate discourse, the Precentor led the persons to the Parlour, who briefly explained themselves. No one was to enter it, unless called by the Abbot or Prior. The latter, the Sub-prior, and Officers, came, however, without li- cense to converse upon business, but not the Claustrals. The servants, in- troduced there for any necessary or- ders or information, were not to sit down, or make any stay; and those who had license, were not to sit long, or be more than four at a time. No strange Monk or Canon was to be brought into the regular Locutory to converse, only those of the house, with license, who were not to talk elsewhere. No Claustral could come into the other Locutories, without summons from the Abbot or Prior. There was a forensic Locutory, where Monks and Nuns could converse with Seculars; the Sacrist's Locutory, Lo- cutories in the Church for Confession, and others.b-Davies says, the Locu- tory was the place where merchants used to expose their wares. After dinner was the time allowed for con- versation; but, in consequence of av. Auditorium. b Du Cange, v. Locutorium. Post prandium, supplicandum pro peccatis scil. eorum quorum eleemosynis sustentatur, si forte vocatur ad colloquium secundum regulam, levi- ter et sine risu pauca verba et rationabilia loquatur. MS. Harl. 103. f. 114. b. abuses, for the Monks used to talk nothing but trifles, raillery, and small talk,d meditations and reading were substituted instead.e The Minuti had an indulgence of going to the Locu- tory of the guests to converse imme- diately after refection and grace, and from complin to curfew. Entrance to the parlour, both in Monks and Nuns, was very seldom allowed, except when necessary for taking venice; or to say any thing which could not be explained by a sign. A sign was made at the door, and then, if permitted, they en- tered, and not more than two together, unless it was needful, talked together with the Prior at reading-time. When their business was over, they departed immediately. Conversation was also allowed with visitors of a certain kind. The Nun who took the venia, when many were assembled to confess, sat. Those sat too who talked with the guests and scrutatrices. No one could enter there unasked, when the Prioress was conversing with any one. In the Parlour too the Nuns were taught standing the exposition of the rule. The constitutions of those of Sopewell order them not to converse with Seculars unless their necks and faces were covered with a kercheif and veil. In the Nuns' Parlour was a grating covered with a curtain, not to be re- moved but when a person spoke to them, or they received the commu- nion, which was administered in the Parlour.i d Bern. Dev. Vie Mon. iii. 147. e M. Paris, 1095. "After dinner read or hear somewhat of holy scripture." MS. Cott. Cleop. E. IV. f. 23. a. f M. Paris, 1043, 1045. Pardons for the omission of duties, &c. Monast. ii. 767, &c. &c. &c. h Monast. ii. 731, 769. Du Cange, v. Cratis. 244 ALMONRY. CHAPTER XLII. ALMONRY. THE Almonry was sometimes a stone house near the Church.a This was its proper and usual situation, from the connection of charity and religion.b Alms-houses are still common in Church-yards. Some Abbots have e been reproached for moving it to the gate, in order to get rid of the poor from the Refectory doors after din- ner. We hear of Priests' halls, and various edifices annexed to Almonries.d The alms were, according to Basil, in the application of them, an exclusive concern of the superior; and it seems they thought so; for they bestowed them upon their secular kindred and acquaintance. They were, says Lynd- wood, generally to be given to per- sons unable to work, or kindred, be- cause we are directed to provide for our own house first; according to which principle Henry enjoined, that none of the brethren "send any parte of his meate, or the levynge thereof, to any person;" but that the alms should be collected with special con- sideration of "soche before other as be kinnesfolke to any of the said breth- ren." A preference was also to be made of piety and utility, as well as h ■ Monast. i. 273. b Du Cange, v. Matricula. Grose, under Reading Abbey. Ang. Sacr. i. 143. Dev. Vie Mon. ii. 91. 1 Monast. i. 418, 471. * P. 209. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. 1v. f. 22. a. the degree of connection with the house, whence proceeded the custom of maintaining from them certain poor children, who went there to learn grammar. After all, there was no certain rule, but discretion; and a common religious could give them, if he saw any one likely to perish with hunger, though his Abbot forbid it, be- cause he was to obey God more than man.i Beer was brought into the Refectory to give to the poor; k dif- ferent allowances were made at differ- ent festivals; the distribution of the alms at Glastonbury, and most other houses, on Wednesdays and Fridays.m It seems that the obedientiaries and others were in the habits of thus sup- porting their servants, especially the Almoners, who are charged with giving the alms to their workmen or out-door servants. Certain scholars (the chil- dren alluded to by Lyndwood) had constant residence in the Almonry of St. Augustine, Canterbury; and the poor and sick flocked to it from all quarters. The whole revenues of cer- tain churches, besides the Abbot's alms, were devoted to it. The Tenth of all the Monastic proceeds was to be given in alms to the poor.P i Lyndw. ut sup. * M. Par. 1095. Monast. i. 149. m Reyn. 224. n M. Par. 1094. C. G. North. a° 1343. c. x. & aº 1444, c. vii. • W. Thorne, 1801. P Du Cange, v. Eleemosynarius, LIBRARY. 245 CHAPTER XLIII. LIBRARY-MUSEUM. THIS place was under the care of the Chantor, as well as the muniments of the house. He could neither sell, pawn, or lend the books, without an equal or more than equivalent pledge; he might, however, with respect to neighbouring Churches, or persons of consideration, relax somewhat of the strictness of this rule. It seems that, on a new foundation, the king some- times sent letters patent b to the dif- ferent Abbeys, requesting them to give the new religious theological books; though these were only perhaps for the use of the Church; and he gave them sometimes himself.c Duplicates and triplicates of the same work were imported. The catalogues of their Libraries, of which several exist, were very artificial, pedantic, and whimsical, as will appear from the following ac- count of that of Dover Priory, made in the year 1389. "Note, first, says a Bibliotheca erit sub cantoris custodiâ, omnes ecclesiæ cartæ cantori, &c. assignatæ. Cantor non potuit libros accommodare, nisi pignore, qui tanti vel majoris fuerit reposito, &c. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 191. b. b 55 H. III. m. 24. Monast. i. 936. c Monast. ii. 924. d Du Cange, v. Pandecta. Primo quod tota hæc bibliotheca in novem separatis distinctionibus secundum novem primas alphabeti literas, literas ipsis distinctionibus paten- ter affixas dividitur. Quia vero in multis volumi- nibus plures continentur tractatus, nomina ipsorum tractatuum licet non semper congruè baptisatorum in singulis voluminibus poscebuntur, et figura nu- meralium algorismi ipsis nominibus, designans folium in quo tractatus ipse incipiat, consequenter apponitur, cum A litera vel B, protinus subjunctâ hac parte. Ipsa etiam volumina singula non solum exterius in tegimine verum etiam interius juxta no- mina contentorum in sui principio affixas habent literas suas distinctionales; modica figura algoris- malis includitur per quam quotus sit liber in ordine locationis gradus memorati plenius declaratur. In secundo aut tertio, vel quarto folio voluminum, vel prope illud in margine inferiori, præmissis iterum literis distinctionalibus, et figuris gradualibus præ- dictis, nomen voluminis inseritur, et post modico spacio dimissum quo modo folium illud, quod pro- batorium cognitionis dicetur, incipiat, protinus titu- latur: quotque folia in ipso toto volumine conti- the preface, that the whole of this Library is divided into nine separate distinctions, according to the nine first letters of the alphabet, the letters being affixed to the distinctions. Be- cause, however, many tracts are con- tained in many volumes, the names of those tracts, although not always suit- ably christened, will be required in every volume, and the figure, of the numbers of the Algorism, marking the leaf in which the tract begins, is con- sequently affixed to the titles, with the letter A or B immediately added, so that A may designate the first side of the leaf, and B the second. Each volume itself, not only outwardly in the cover, but inwardly according to the names of its contents, has its dis- tinctional letters affixed to the begin- ning of it, and a small algorismal figure is added by which what the book is in the order of its place in the above gra- dation is more fully declared. In the second, or third, or fourth leaf of the volumes, or near it in the lower mar- gin, the aforesaid distinctional letters and gradual figures being again pre- mised, the name of the volume is in- serted, and afterwards being in a little time dismissed, how the leaf begins, which may be called the touchstone of knowledge, is immediately entitled; the first number of the algorism then following, tells how many leaves are contained in the whole volume; and another number instantly adjoined, the neatur, primus numerus algorismi tunc sequens declarabit, adjunctus protinus ibidem finaliter nu- merus alius figatur [figitur], numerum [que] ejus- dem voluminis contentorum tractatuum pandit manifeste. Præmissis igitur retentis, memoriæ finaliter commendatis, patebit manifeste quibus distinctione gradu loco vel ordine singula volumina totius bibliothecæ debent collocari, quibusque foliis et foliorum lateribus singulorum principia tracta- tuum poterint reperiri. MS. Bodl. 3012, in præf. [Upon every statute that is abrygid in any of the chapyters of this boke be set figures of algorisme.] Herbert's Ames, i. 479, 246 LIBRARY. tracts contained in the volume. When these premises are committed to me- mory, it will plainly appear in what distinction, degree, place, or order. every volume of the Library should be placed, and in what leaves, or sides of leaves, the beginnings of the tracts may be found. Leland's story a of the Library of the Franciscans at Oxford has been often told; it was only accessible to the Warden and Bachelors of divi- nity; was full of cobwebs, moths, and filth; and contained no books of value, the best having been surrepti- tiously carried away. The custom of The custom of chaining books, which I saw retained at Magd. Coll. Library, Oxon, was very ancient. We are told by Euse- bius that the Roman Senate in the time of Claudius, ordered Philo- Judæus's treatise of the Impiety of Caligula, to be chained in the publick Library as a famous monument. The magnificent Roman Libraries were paved with marble, and orna- mented with gold; the walls were co- vered with glass and ivory: the presses for the books were made of cedar and ebony, and carried as high as the roof. Though the books were in rolls, they had elegant fronts and titles.d The booksellers' shops had pillars, on which were inscribed the names of the works for sale, and the books were kept in nidi, drawers or pigeon-holes, the best in the upper, the worst in the lower-Among the Egyptian Monk the books were kept in a window, by which I suppose, is meant a cup- board arched in the wall, which was the depository among the Britons,s and appears centuries after in the frontispiece of Trivet's Annals. The Monasteries had painted presses or almeries. Chests were also used, i and shelves. Glass-globes, like orre- ries, before mentioned (Ch. I.) have been found at Herculaneum, and are mentioned by Inguiphus, as occurring in Monastic Libraries. As from the variety of knowledge interspersed in scholars' books, and the vast bulk and quantity of such books in the world, the merit of every compilation both does now, and must in future, depend much and unavoid- ably upon indexes, I shall, as far as lies in me, present to the respect of the public an Ayscough or Wanley of Antiquity, John Brome, Prior of Gorlestone, who, in the fifteenth cen- tury, put indexes to almost all the books in his library. The proportion in which the Monks cultivated the re- spective sciences appears, from a cur- sory enumeration, sufficiently accurate for this purpose, of the works of authors in Bale, to have been nearly this: Divinity, 175; Scholastic Lite- rature, 89; Epistles, Controversy, Miscellanies, 65; History, 54; Bio- graphy, 32; Arts, Mathematics, Astro- logy, &c. 31; Philosophy, 14; Law, 6. APPENDIX. Disquisitions upon Monastic Litera- ture have been given by Mosheim, Warton, and others, but they are all treated in reference to modern think- ing. The following merely respect contemporary ideas, and taste. They show undeniably that the state of De Scriptor. p. 286. B. 2, ch. 18. Astle's Writing, Introd. vii. L. p. 197. 4 Seneca de Tranquillit. c. 9. mind was very contemptible, as to literature properly so called, though in the mechanical arts there was much excellence but that is no proof of civilization. • Martial L. i. Ep. 118. Regul. Pachom. C. 82. 8 M. Paris, 994. ¹ Du Cange, v. Libellare. Ancient illuminations. 1 Barthelemy's Tour in Italy. Bale, 1st ed. f. 194, h Ibid. 1038. LIBRARY. 247 Divinity. It has been elsewhere noted, that the study of Theology was presumed to confer the gift of Pro- phecy. Divinity consisted in forced and ridiculous allegorical interpreta- tions of the Scriptures; a and these and other religious works of the most bizarre kind were thought to expiate sins. In 1435, a Shearer of cloth in France, and a great lover of Tennis, wrote a ballad upon that game. When he was old and sick in bed, he wished by another kind of writing to expiate his sins, and had his work reviewed by a Dominican. He accordingly alle- gorized the game of Tennis. The wall, he says, means faith, which ought to have a solid foundation, and in other parts of the game he finds the Cardinal Virtues, the Evangelists, active and contemplative life, the Old and New Law, &c. It is a most insipid pro- duction: but not more so than innu- merable volumes of Divinity manu- scripts. Philosophy, Arts, &c. In the 13th Century, Omons, the Lucretius of his day, wrote a singular work entitled The Picture of the World, in which are passages strongly illustrative of the Philosophy of the Middle Age. In the Metaphysical department, by ma- terials borrowed from Thales, Anax- agoras, Epicurus, and Plato, God is made an idle being, who, when he created matter, also created Nature, who, he says, executes the will of God, as the ax in the hands of the carpenter, but sometimes makes deformities, through want or excess of matter, because the more the latter abounds, the more she works; and if it be wanting, she stands still. The Liberal Arts he divides into the usual septenary arrangement, adopted so early as the fifth Century by Marcianus Capella. Alcuinus had done the same in the eighth Century, with no other difference, than includ- The lessons in the Portiforium of Sarum, the proems of the Saints' Lives in the Golden Legend, show, amidst innumerable authorities, that this quibbling divinity lasted for many ages. Notices, v. 157. ing Arithmetick, Geometry, Musick, and Astronomy, under the general term of Mathematicks. Omons makes Arithmetick, not the mere science of numbers, but the knowledge of every thing which has produced any regular order whatever; and Rhetorick in- cludes judicial verdicts, decretals, laws, &c. The term liberal was only applied to an art which exclusively appertained to the mind; and therefore Medicine, Painting, Sculpture, Navigation, the Military Art, and Architecture, though in their theories as intellectual as Arithmetick and Astronomy are, be- cause applicable to bodily purposes, de- nominated mere trades. The term Philosophers means only men versed in the occult sciences of nature, for Plato is called the Sovereign of Philo- sophers, merely because he had dis- covered traces of the Trinity in the Unity of God; and among the later Philosophers, no one was so eminent as Virgil. This was not the Mantuan Bard, but an ugly lame Italian, who performed feats of legerdemain: These were an inextinguishable lamp; a long bridge, which supported itself, without being propped in any of its parts; a speaking head, which pronounced ora- cles, and answered questions put to it; an impenetrable garden, enclosed only by a wall of air; a brass fly, which when it found in the room a living fly, flew upon it and killed it; a brazen horse,d of such virtue, that sick horses, who looked upon it, were instantly cured; and lastly an egg, in which was built a very large town, which fell to pieces when the egg was moved, but in a moment afterwards re-established itself. [These are important details, for they throw light upon the best ex- isting picture of Oriental manners, the exquisite "Arabian Nights," the first tales of fiction in the World.] Our Author says, that whoever thoroughly Ignorance of this distinction has produced in- conceivable confusion in writers upon mediæval subjects. The wooden horses, flying by turning a peg, are fictions, formed upon ships with rudders. The Anglo-Saxons called ships, sea horses. 248 LIBRARY. understood Astrology, might effect things, which though natural, would ap- pear miraculous to the rest of mankind. An adept in this science might have during life all that he could desire.a It is certain, that the Ancients did believe a miraculous power to be conferred upon material substances, by various modi- fications of them under certain astrolo- gical signs. In an old Magical MS. of the 14th Century,b are the following processes. "When you wish to pro- voke a girl to follow you: make an image of a woman, under the second face of Cancer, of tin, and touch the girl you wish with it, and she will fol- low you." And again, "When you wish to enter where there are dogs, that they may not hinder you, make a tin image of a dog, whose head is erected towards his tail, under the first face of Sagittary, and say over it, I bind all dogs by this image, that they do not raise their heads nor bark; and enter where you please." The fallacy of all this is conspicuous; but failure did not produce contempt, because, as ap- pears from Grosthead's brazen head, it was ascribed to error in the astrolo- gical process. It is however certain, that automata were very commonly made in the fourteenth Century; that speaking through heads and statues is a very easy and old trick;d that the construction of whispering galleries shows a fondness for such deceptions; and that the feats ascribed to Virgil, are only hyperbolical exaggerations of mechanical ingenuity or legerdemain! Slight of hand, or Thaumaturgicks, was Notices, v. 246–256. b Presented to me by Edw. Wilbraham, Esq. of Cirencester. In it is a process for raising the devil. Cum volueris provocare puellam ut sequaris te, fac imaginem mulieris sub 2da facie Cancri ex stanno, et tange cum eâ quam volueris, et obediet tibi. Cum volueris intrare ubi canes sunt, ut non impediant te, fac imaginem canis stanncam, cujus caput sit ad caudam erectum, sub primâ facie Sa- gittarii, et dic super id, ligo omnes canes per hanc imaginem, ut non erigant capita sua, nec latrent; et intra ubi volueris. d See Beckman's excellent paper on Jugglers, &c. Inventions, iii. 293–337. called Mechanica, and a part of Necro- mancy.e Jerom Natural History-Medicine. in S. Hilarion, says, "A dragon of wonderful magnitude, which the Dal- matians in their native language call Boas, because they are so large that they can swallow oxen." Hence it should seem, that the boa snake may have given birth to the fiction of dra- gons.f The coup de soleil appears to have been ascribed to a dæmon, called dæmon meridianus. Geography. This abounds with marvellous accounts, from which are borrowed many of the exquisite fic- tions of the "Arabian Nights." In the year 1545, was published at Ant- werp the Cosmography of Peter Apia- nus, expurgated from all faults by Gemma Frisius, a physician and ma- thematician of Louvain. It is suffi- cient to say, that in this correct ex- purgated work, Scotland is an island, of which York is one of the chief cities.h History. The fugitive Trojans, and their descendants, not only com- menced the Empires of Italy and Great Britain, but also that of France. A Priam junior, nephew of the old Trojan King, in union with Antenor, founded Venice, which last shortly afterwards separated himself from his companion, and established Padua. At his death, his troop, like strolling players, removed again, and settled in Germany, where finding a third Priam, descended from the Venetian, they chose him for King. Thus there was no conscientious restriction from mix- ing favourite hypotheses with history, as serious truths. History is in general a dry diary of incidents, and yet, acknowledging the elegant Latinity of Malmesbury, a pro- Du Cange, v. Mechanica. Du Cange, v. Boa. s Du Cange. h Fol. 44. b. i Tresor de Brunetto Latini, MS. Bibl. Na- tional, Paris. Notices, v. 273, LIBRARY. 249 fessed imitator of Livy in his national histories, and the interesting descrip- tions of Froissart, the chivalrous vo- tary of heroic love and pleasure, is rather adapted to reference than read- ing. Except the last author, they are uniformly ill-natured writers. The ap- parent original of their style, in mixing and relating the private affairs of their Abbeys, &c. is the family narrative of the classical Actuarius, or historio- grapher, who was called in to read and recite to the company.a The only qualification required was that of a senior class school-boy, an ability to write grammatical Latin; and even he would not have dared to show to his master the following sentence, that "if night had not terminated the battle, they would have all been shaved with the razor of death." What a frigid unintelligible simile is this! "Fore- thoughts are like gnats." Gothic Ar- chitecture is the only sublime inimitable monument of the Middle Age, but it was a trade, and the Monks did not know, that nothing great in the Arts can be produced without intercourse with society; for solitude and single mind is debarred from the division of labour, is satisfied like Crusoe, having only itself to gratify, with rude expe- dient, nor could have a motive, where superstitious mortification was suffi- cient. What was excellent, was in- tended to bias the public mind, and no other motive is adequate to the pro- duction of the great in any thing. A solitary, though often a mere selfish man, is under numerous circumstances, a wise, a happy, and with reading See the form of these in Petronius, i. 162. Ed. Nodot. Qui profecto, nisi nox prælium diremisset, omnes mortis novaculâ abrasi fuissent. Gemmeti- censis inter Camdeni Scriptores, p. 669. Du Cange, v. Rebones. The An opinion directly opposite has been given. The Chartreux of Ferrara had very fine paintings in their Churches; and excellent prints adorned most of the cells of Monks of this Order. Author regrets, that painting and engraving were not labours imposed on these Monks, because the concentration of ideas in solitude and other results might produce chef-d'œuvres. Observat. sur l'Italie, tom. i. 361. habits, which inculcate only what is good, a virtuous and enviable one, for Book-worms never know ennui. The Monks, however, must not be deprived of the chief merit in this Architecture. In building Roslyn Chapel, the founder caused drawings to be made upon boards, which being carved accordingly by carpenters, were given as patterns to the masons.e This, no doubt, the Monks often did, and after a common practice of even Bishops,f carried mortar, and worked themselves. Latin language. This, always con- sidered a universal language, because immutable, was deemed an essential qualification, but how far with general success, may be determined from the errors condemned in the University by Peacham. These are,- 1. Ego currit is good Latin. 2. Currit, legit, is as perfect speech as curro, lego. 3. Sum ego is as good as Ego sum. 4. Socrates legere: and so in every case.h Who would suppose that such bar- barous words as Honorificabilitudo, and Honorificabilitudinitas, for Dignity or a term of address to Sovereigns, were words in serious use; yet they occur in the twelfth century, at least in Italy.i Philosophers, who accede to the high reason and noble sentiment of the Classical Authors, cannot eulogize the learned languages in the warm style of Linguists and Philologists. If a lan- guage, as is the euphonous and versa- tile Greek, with even the advantage of an alphabet founded upon modifications of the voice, cannot be elegantly or correctly written by a modern, during the study of a whole life, its construc- tion must be as bad as the Chinese, in the opinions of all who consider lan- guage as a convenient means of expe- diting science and business, not a cum- brous, however ingenious machine, • Britton's Architectural Antiquities, iii. 51. f M. Par. 171. Angl. Sacr. i. 761. h MS. Wood. in Mus. Ashmol. 8563. prs. 2. p. 12. Du Cange in vocibus, from Muratori and Ugtrolli, 250 LIBRARY. impeding both. Such, however, is the influence produced by the fine ser.ti- ment of the Greek writers, that deep Grecians are commonly very excellent men. The perfection of the mental powers certainly existed in the Morea; and the steam-engine of their language was easily worked by them: but then only because it was native. It is in- dispensable to construe the Classicks fluently, because mind is not to be formed in any other school. But French, or grammatical literal Latin, better perhaps, as a safer and far easier substitute for universal language, ought to supersede writing in elegant Latin, because it is productive of obscurity, and is confined to scholars. The advantage of using terminations instead of prepositions, though it may be convenient for versification, is far beneath that of juxta-position of the words; and is limited to sound, not sense. The very alphabets of the learn- ed languages have not the ingenuity of the curves and lines of short hand, because founded upon scientific prin-, ciples, much less of the Chemical No- menclature; and Horne Tooke has ex- posed the ignorance of real grammar. Selden has justly observed, that the Monkish Law Latin is better, because more intelligible and preservatory, than idiomatic style; and Professor Stewart adds, "The deranged collocation of the words in Latin composition ren- ders that language an inconvenient medium of philosophical communica- tion, as well as an inconvenient instru- ment of accurate thought."a The Classicks and Versification. Church permitted no ideas that were not dogmas dictated by itself. Study of the Classicks and Mythology were reprobated by Aldhelm as tending to corruption of manners ;b and he is not singular, the Heathen Gods being de- bauchees. In the 13th century, Homer was the only Greek poet known.d A Philosophy of the Human Mind, p. 201. Angl. Sacr. ii. 14. Ibid. ii. 249. d Notices des MSS. v. 502. The Greek lan- guage was never wholly extinct in Italy, but in the 14th century, there were scarcely six persons who In the Chronique d'Idace, a manu- script of the eleventh century, more than 200 verses are extracted from different authors, as Virgil, Ovid, Juve- nal, &c. ranged in order, apparently for no other reason, but to determine the prosodial quantity. False quan- tities are too common to need illustra- tion; but notwithstanding the evident pains bestowed upon the study of con- struction, they terminate Pentameters with adjectives. In the beginning of the 14th century there were only four Classicks in the Royal Library at Paris, Cicero, Ovid, Lucan, and Boethius.s In the catalogues given by Leland of Abbatial Libraries, there are only the following Classicks, Cicero and Aris- totle (common), Terence, Euclid, Q. Curtius, Sidonius Apollinaris, Jul. Fron- tinus, Apuleius, and Seneca. From this disregard of the Classicks, not the shameful destruction only of the Mo- nastic Libraries at the dissolution, probably ensued that loss of the Decades of Livy, &c. which has been so justly lamented.i The extreme ignorance of classical habits is conspicuous by the following account of the Coliseum. Bede pro- phesied, that while the Colisæum last- ed Rome would stand, but when that had even a slight knowledge of it. Mem. de Pe- trarque, i. 405, 406. • Ibid. v. 231. f See an instance in Angl. Sacr. i. 513. 8 Nichols's Appendix to the History of Leices- ter, i. p. 107, n. 6. Collect. iii. 7. 17. 28. 54. 60. 66. 159. 46 i I give here the admirable remarks of Petrarch upon the utility of profane literature in ecclesiasti- cal studies. I know by experience how much human learning may contribute to give just notions, to make a man eloquent, perfect his morals, and what is more, defend religion. If it be not per- mitted to read the poets and heathen authors, be- cause they do not speak of Christ, whom they did not know, with how much more reason ought we to prohibit heretical works; yet the defenders of the faith studiously peruse them. Profane litera- ture, like certain solid aliments, does not hurt a good stomach, only a weak one. Reading, whole- some for a sound mind, is a poison to a feeble in- tellect. I know that letters are no obstacles to holiness, as some pretend. There are many roads to heaven; Ignorance is that which the idle take: the Sciences may produce as many saints as Igno- rance and surely we ought not to compare an ignorant devotion to an enlightened piety." Mem. de Petrarque, iii. 606. LIBRARY. 251 fell Rome would fall, and with Rome, the World. This famous Amphitheatre is described as a place, where were the images of all the provinces, and that of Rome in the middle, holding a golden apple, as Queen of all; which images were so disposed by necromancy, that if any province wished to rebel, the image of Rome immediately turned its back upon that province.a Works of Humour. Irony and Satire are quite common; but otherwise pro- fessed works of wit, turn chiefly upon practical jokes, coarse indecency, or ludicrous adventures. Now and then a good pun occurs, and ingenious quib- bles. I met with the following epi- gram in a MS. of the Ashmole Library, of which I have never seen a copy; but as it was in a collection, made in the 16th century, of Poems, I cannot tell its age. Marriage, saith one, hath oft compared bin Unto a fest, where meet a public rout, Where those, that are without, would fain get in, And those, that are within, would fain get out. Bulls, &c. These blunders owe their use to a warmth of feeling, prompting a rapidity of utterance, by which, time not being allowed for reflection, one idea trips up the heels of another. In print, however, such errors are ex- ceedingly rare. In the Acta Sancto- rum, a narrow place is described, where a person could not stand except by lying.c Poetry. Under this term ought never to be included mere strings of un- idea'd verses; for no sensible man reads poetry in general. It is immersion in a cold bath. The Antiocheis of Joseph Ischam, and the Virgil of Gawin Doug- las, are as admirable in the heroic, as Chaucer is in Horatian vivacity and terseness; though the versification of neither is classical, nor the language pure, nor the taste correct. Poor War- ton,f deprived of preferment, because he had not that ponderous gravity, re- sembling the benumbing property of the torpedo, which Englishmen reve- rence, and enlightened foreigners de- spise, under the name of Tristitia, has the following exquisite passage, given for its beauty. "The customs, insti- tutions, traditions, and religion, of the Middle Ages, were favourable to Poetry. Their pageants, processions, spectacles, and ceremonies, were friendly to ima- gery, to personification, and allegory. Ignorance and Superstition, so oppo- site to the real interests of human so- ciety, are the parents of Imagination. The very devotion of the Gothic times was romantic. The Catholic worship, besides that its numerous exterior ap- pendages were of a picturesque and even of a poetical nature, disposed the mind to a state of deception, and en- couraged, or rather authorized, every species of credulity. Its visions, mi- Acrosticks were known to the Greeks,dracles, and legends, propagated a gene- but the Monks used hieroglyphical kinds, impossible to be divined. In hollow stonework over the kitchen chimney in Kingswood Abbey, Wilts, is a Tyger, heart, ostrich, mermaid, ass, and swan, for the founder's christian name, Thomas.e a Du Cange, v. Coliseum. b The Monks were the most bitter censors of Boccacio, because he exposed them; for it is cer- tain, that the most licentious of the tales in the Decameron, were found in Conventual Libraries, and taken by him from thence. Vannozzi, how- ever, says truly, "It would frighten us to know how many harlots the Decameron has produced." Quia aliter stare non poterat, nisi jacendo. Du Cange, v. Estramen. d Antholog. 1. i. c. 28. • Parsons's MSS. in Bibl. Bodl, f. 91. strengthened the belief of spectres, ral propensity to the marvellous, and demons, witches, and incantations. These illusions were heightened by churches of a wonderful mechanism, and constructed on such principles of inexplicable architecture, as had a ten- dency to impress the soul with every false sensation of religious fear. The savage pomp and the capricious he- roism of the baronial manners were f Mr. Douce has excellently defended this ill- used Scholar, "whose literary body" (to use the expression, from Shakespeare, of the Author of the Pursuits of Literature) "had been punched full of deadly holes," in a very ill-natured way. Minis- ters sneered at Warburton for recommending him for preferment! 252 LIBRARY. replete with incident, adventure, and enterprize; and the untractable genius of the feudal policy, held forth those irregularities of conduct, discordancies of interest, and dissimilarities of situa- tion, that framed rich materials for the Minstrel Muse. The tacit compact of fashion, which promotes civility, by diffusing habits of uniformity, and therefore destroys peculiarities of cha- racter and situation, had not yet ope- rated upon life, nor had domestic con- venience abolished unwieldy magnifi- cence. Literature and a better sense of things, not only banished these bar- barities, but superseded the mode of composition, which was formed upon them. Romantic poetry gave way to the force of Reason and Inquiry; as its own inchanted palaces and gardens in- stantaneously vanished, when the Chris- tian champion displayed the shield of Truth and baffled the charms of the Necromancer. The study of the Clas- sicks, together with a colder Magick and a tamer Mythology, introduced method into composition; and the uni- versal ambition of rivalling those new patterns of excellence, the faultless models of Greece and Rome, produced that bane of invention, Imitation. Eru- dition was made to act upon Genius; Fancy was weakened by Reflection and Philosophy. The fashion of treating everything scientifically, applied specu- lation and theory to the arts of writing. Judgment was advanced above Imagi- nation, and rules of Criticism were established. The brave eccentricities of original Genius, and the daring har- diness of native thought, were intimi- dated by metaphysical sentiments of perfection and refinement. Setting aside the consideration of the more solid advantages, which are obvious, and are not the distinct subject of our contemplation at present, the lovers of true Poetry will ask, what have we gained by this revolution? It It may be answered, much good sense, good taste, and good criticism; but in the mean time, we have lost a set of manners, and a system of machinery more suitable to the purposes of poetry, than those which have been adopted in their place. We have parted with extravagances that are above propriety, with incredi- bilities that are more acceptable than truth, and with fictions that are more valuable than reality." The "Scottish Chiefs" of Miss Por- ter, an exquisite Epic Poem, (though denominated a Romance), which has not been equalled for years, is entirely founded upon chivalrous ideas in war and love. It appears to be a work, which, for a continual support of the sublime in the two leading characters, is superior to any thing ever written: it is the only modern work which shows the elevation of soul produced by Warton's Middle Age ideas. Mil- ton or Virgil do not surpass it in sen- timent. Mr. Nichols has made the following excellent remarks, upon the Library of Leicester Abbey: "From this cata- logue it seems rather doubtful, whether in the Library of this religious house, there might be any one complete col- lection of all the Holy Scriptures. Sup- posing Biblie, in the first article, to have included both the Old and the New Testaments, it was a tome defec- tive and worn. The second consisted of each book of the Old Testament only; and the third of the Gospels, without any mention of the Acts of the Apostles, of the Epistles, or of the Apocalypse. There is however, a se- parate mention of " Actus Aplor' gloss', Apocalyps' gloss', Eple Pauli [of no other Apostle] gloss', Eple Canonice," and among the last occurs the "Can- ticus Canticorum." Perhaps there might be some of those Augustine Monks, to whom the divine oracles in the learned languages would have been of little use; and yet to these was not indulged a translation in English, there being in the Consistorial Acts at Ro- chester, the minutes of a rigid process against the Precentor of the Priory of that Cathedral, for retaining an En- glish Testament in disobedience to the general injunction of Cardinal Wolsey LIBRARY-MUSEUM. 253 to deliver up these prohibited books to the Bishops of the respective dioceses. Knighton, a Canon of St. Mary-le- Pre, has, to his own disgrace, recorded his bitter condemnation of the transla- tion made by his contemporary Wicliff (X Script. col. 2644). "Christ in- trusted his Gospel," says that Eccle- siastick, "to the Clergy and Doctors of the Church, to minister it to the laity, and weaker sort, according to their exigences, and several occasions; but this Master John Wicliff, by trans- lating it, has made it vulgar, and has laid it more open to the laity, and even to women, who can read, than it used to be to the most learned of the Clergy, and those of the best understanding; and thus the Gospel Jewel, the Evan- gelical feast, is thrown about, and trodden under feet of swine." Such language, as an ingenious and learned Divine has justly observed, was looked upon as good reasoning by the Clergy of that day, who saw not with what satire it was edged against them- selves.a Petrarch always carried all his books with him upon extra horses, when he made a long journey.b Towers were the most usual places for studies, and libraries. The Prior of Canterbury's study was a tower, next to his bed-room, but over his chapel was also a library for the use of the studious.d Museum. Adjoining to the Library, says Erasmus, was a certain small but elegant Museum, which, upon the re- moval of a board, exhibited a fire- place, if the weather proved cold; otherwise it seemed a solid wall.e Co- ryatt saw a stuffed crocodile in an Abbey.f Nichols's Appendix to the History of Leices- ter, vol. i. p. 108. b Memoires, &c. iii. 614. Angl. Sacr. i. 145. Convivium Religios. Colloq. 142. e Ibid. 616. f Crudities, i. 182. In Beckmann's Inventions, iii. 43, seq. is a history of Museums. 254 SCRIPTORIUM-DOMUS ANTIQUARIORUM. CHAPTER XLIV. SCRIPTORIUM-DOMUS ANTIQUARIORUM. THIS is commonly called the Writing- room; but by it was sometimes signi- fied a more remote place, not so des- tined to writing, but there was room for other employments. The Abbot, Prior, Sub-prior, and Precentor, were the only persons admitted to the writers. There was an especial bene- diction of the Scriptorium. Writing books as a Monastic employment is to be found in the earliest æras. Among British Monks, David had a study, or writing-room, and began the Gospel of St. John in golden letters with his own hands. The Anglo-Saxon artists possessed eminent skill in the execu- tion of their books, and the character which they used had the honour of giving rise to the modern small beauti- ful Roman letter.f But after the Nor- man Invasion, degeneracy of skill oc- casioned the manuscripts, subsequent to that period, to be of difficult read- ing. The missals, and other books of divine offices, were indeed curiously done, through extraordinary expence laid out upon works of this nature; and in compliance with an injunction, that no books should be brought into places of devotion, which could not be easily read. Such copies as were written in a larger hand were for more aged persons; and those illuminated with extraordinary beauty for Nuns of su- perior quality, and other persons of distinction. Great caution was also observed in writing the Fathers and Classicks; but the execution of books. which concerned the National and Mo- nastic History was an object of small Du Cange, v. Scriptorium. e Gruteri Spicileg. ii. 132. Ibid. d Girald. Cambrens. in vitâ Davidis. Angl. Sacr. ii. 635. e Warton, Diss. Introd. Learning. f Lowthorp's Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions, iii. p. 2. p. 440, 1. concern, unless the books were intend- ed for presents.g "The Antiquarii in Monasteries were industrious men, continually em- ployed in making new copies of old books, either for the use of the Mo- nastery, or for their own emolument. These writing Monks were distinguish- ed by the name of Antiquarii. They deprived the poor Librarii, or common Scriptores, of their business, so that they found it difficult to gain a sub- sistence for themselves and their fa- milies." Thus Mr. Astle; but Du Cange says, that the Antiquarii were those Scribes, who repaired, composed, and re-wrote books, old and obsolete with age, in opposition to the Librarii, who wrote both new and old books.i Eccard junior says, those religious whom he found more dull at the study of letters, he employed in writing, and making lines. It appears, that the Monastic Scribes were certain persons selected by the Abbot.! Boys and Juniors, says Du Cange, were espe- cially employed in writing; the elder Monks on the Church books.m The Boys or Juniors were undoubtedly em- ployed in letter writing, and matters which required expedition." All Monks were in fact instructed to write, if wanted, according to the statutes. In those of the Canons Regular are two verses specifying that they had simple girdles, tablets, comb, needle, thread, Leland's Collect. vi. 77, 78. h Astle's Writing, p. 192. i V. Antiquarius. Neither definition corre- sponds with the classical Antiquarii, who were, I. Inspectors of copyists, and keepers of the Anti- quarium, where the books were kept. II. Cice- roni. III. Purists, who affected old words. IV. Scholiasts. Encycl. des Antiquit. Du Cange, v. Capitanæ literæ. 1 Id. v. Scriptores. in Warton ubi supra. Du Cange, v. Scriptorium. n XV. Scriptores, 153. SCRIPTORIUM-DOMUS ANTIQUARIORUM. 255 a style, paper or parchment (chartas), | feather was certainly common in the ink, and a pen case.a Du Cange men- tions a singular kind of scribes, called Brodiatores, who wrote books, and letters, in the manner of Embroiderers, so lightly representing the object, that it almost escaped the sight. Perhaps Petrarch alludes to such writers in the following passage: "His writing was not wandering, nor loaded like that of writers, or rather painters of our age, who flatter the eye from afar, and fatigue it when near."b The writing instruments were pens, chalk, pumice stones for rubbing the parchment, pen-knives, other knives to scrape the parchment, a punctorium or awl to make dots, a plummet, a weight to keep the parchment down, a ruler, inkstands, a large knife for cut- ting the parchment, and styles made of iron or bones,d for the ancient mode of writing on wax sometimes obtained with respect to the tables of the offi- ciating Ministers of the Choir. It is said that vellum had taken place of waxen tablets in the time of Alfred, and pens consequently succeeded to styles.f Metal pens were used. In a MS. of Nigel Wireker at the British Museum, the vellum has the lines and numeration of the pages, in the same manner as the water-mark in paper. Large estates were set aside for the ex- pences of making books.h The custom of carrying a pen behind the ear, lately common, is ancient. In the life of S. Odo is the following passage: " he saw a pen sticking above his ear, in the manner of a writer."i As to paper, Mabillon says, that he could find no paper books more ancient than the tenth Century: but the pen made of a Cingula simplicia, tabulas, et pecten acumque Fila, stilum, cartas, encaustum pennaculumque. Du Cange, v. Pennaculum. b Memoires, iii. 701. Du Cange, v. Asciatus. Artavus. Calamarium. Cornicularius. Linea. Punctorium. Scarpellum. Scriptionale. Scripturale. d Archæologia, ii. 76. Warton, iii. 151. 1 Archæologia, ii. 76. s Warton, Diss. 2d. Angl. Sacr. i. 278. Du Cange, v. Penna. seventh Century; and though ascribed to the classical Antients, by Montfau- con's mistaking a passage of Juvenal, is first mentioned by Adrian de Valois, a writer of the fifth Century. This rather precedes Beckmann, who places the first certain account in Isidore.¹ Ancient ink had nothing common with ours, except the colour and gum; for instead of gall nuts and copperas, soot or ivory black was the chief ingre- dient.m Some peculiarities are noticeable in the practices of these ancient Scribes. Omissions in the text were to be noted in the margin.n The Monks used to transcribe their bulls of privilege, not only into one, but several books of a various nature, as missals and others, as well as make marginal notes of the affairs of their Abbeys in books of Histories. The Martyrology some- times contained acts of general chap- ters. In the Acta Sanctorum, it is said "Lest the Life and Miracles of S. Francis de Paula should lapse into oblivion, we have dispersed them through these four volumes of S. Jerom, tegminatim;" i. e. on the covers. The Scribes also memorandumed their in- terlineations. In the Processus de Vitâ S. Yvon, in the Acta Sanctorum, the Copyist says, "I have written it with my own hand, together with in- terlineations and erasures, made in seven distinctions ;" and in the Bulla- rium of the Carmelites much greater particularity is used. The Scribe says, "I have signed it with the sign follow- ing, and made a certain interlineation which says Redis, and another which Encycl. des Antiquit. v. Plume. It is to be noted, that the French writers denominate the Century from the first figures, not the next in order, as we do. 1 Invent. ii. 207, seq. Astle's Writing, 211. ubi plura of Inks. "Script. p. Bed. f. 19. • Decem. Scriptores, 1801, 1770. Selden's Titles of Honour, 690. ed. fol. It was the cus- tom of all persons, to write in the book, which they most often read, the things they wished most to remember. In Petrarch's favourite Virgil, is his memorandum of Laura's death. Memoires, ii. 493. P Du Cange, v. Tegminatim. 256 SCRIPTORIUM—DOMUS ANTIQUARIORUM. RATE Ordinis, and another which sams Ordin, and another which says Coats The importance which was annexed to this practice may be seen by referring to the rules of Ruinartins in his Apo- logia, c. for determining interpola- tions in Manuscripts. What is done often is done care- lessly; but to the credit of the Mo- nastic Scribes, very few instances of bad writing have occurred during my researches. In one Manuscript indeed, there is a shocking scrawl, which I think the writing of a Nan; the lines being irregular, and the letters of va- rious size and of rade make. Writing was neglected by the Anglo-Saxons after the Norman Invasion.c In one point they were too careless. Numerous Titles of Manuscripts are very indecisive of their contents. This is remarkably shown, by an instance supremely ridiculous. In the 13th Century, Richard de Furnival wrote a Bestiary, or treatise of the manners of Animals, to which he sometimes an- nexed moral paraphrases, but mostly addresses to his Mistress; these of course turn chiefly upon points of love and gallantry. To distinguish this Manuscript from the Bestiaries of other writers, the Copyists entitled it "Bes- tiarium Amoris," i. e. the Bestiary of Loved a surpassing incongruity of terms and meaning. It is not the intention of this account to reprint the Nouvelle Diplomatique, or the various Authors upon Ancient Writing; but it is worth while to no- tice, that Leonard Wirstlin, Monk of S. Udalrick, describes no less than one hundred different hands, the names of which are given by Du Cange.e A neat running epistolary hand is quite modern except among papers, writ- ten by lawyers. Hamlet says, "I once did hold it, as our statists do, A baseness to write fair." • Du Cange, v. Interlineatura. MS. Cott. Cleop. C. vi. p. 200. Script. p. Bed. 518, b. d Notices des MSS. v. 278. • V. Scriptura. Engressing vs immer Sess nated a neater kind of woning These Dunisation of Muvierists. works admirably show the general tase of the Middle Ares. in matters of in and decoration, that is gorgeous hear Less. the rich laced court-dress of the last Century. Simple elegance and airy lightness never appear in ancient furniture, or works of ingenuity. They perished with the conquests of the Bar- barians, and were revived with the classical taste, introduced by modera artists, within these few years. first painters of the age Laminated Manuscripts.h The In the National Library at Paris, is a superb history of the Bible, of which M. Camus has given an account ex- pressly adapted to illustrate the paint- ings. He compares it with another manuscript of similar rich ornaments,¹ and his remarks apply to illuminated writings in general, matters excepted, which purely refer to the nature of the work. Every painted column contains two pictures; the first represents what is passed, the second, that which is to ensue after the annunciation contained in the first painting. azure. The first initial letters of every ar- ticle are richly adorned with gold and azure. The first letter of the Latin text is gold; that of the translation azure. The Alinea are terminated by strokes (traits) covered with gold and The first letter of every book is distinguished by very multiplied or- naments. The pages have a running title formed of capitals, alternately gold and azure. The initials and the Capi- tals are placed upon a ground orna- mented with extremely delicate touches red and blue.1 Du Cange, v. Grossator. The age of classical taste ends with Constan- tine, say all the works on the fine Arts. 89. h Mem. pour la Vie de Petrarque, i. 402, 403. 1 Both MSS. are marked 6829. The favourite colours of illuminers. Warton, ii. 1 Notices, vi. 109. SCRIPTORIUM-DOMUS ANTIQUARIORUM. 257 the same artist as did the following sheet, on purpose that the disparity of the different styles might not be too perceptible.c The painting is in general a la go- The vellum was left without colour to form the ground of the pictures. The heads, the different parts of the body, the draperies, &c. are designed, and washed with an ink, approaching that which we call Indian ink. The pic-nache. After having drawn the prin- tures are then, properly speaking, black cameos: only in the upper part there is a little azure blue to represent the clouds. Red is used to mark fire; green or blue, water; green for trees, and red to give effect to carnation tints: gold is employed for the crowns, vases, pieces of money, and the nimbi of Saints.a There is no perspective or propor- tion observed. The men are as large as the gates, and as tall as the houses and trees. The figures are commonly slender, but the arms, hands, and feet are excessively long and slim: and the drawing very incorrect in the attitudes. The most original figures are those of devils. They are in very great num- ber, and the artists appear to have ex- ercised their talents in varying them. In general they have made of them beings of black colour, and hairy, arm- ed with claws and horns, with a crook for a sceptre, and sometimes they have attached to their shoulders the wings of a bat: but what is singularly plea- sant, is the form which they have given to the mouth, to make them grin, and the manner in which they have trans- formed into hideous heads, their bo- soms, their legs, and the lower part of the belly; in short, their different atti- tudes. They are always in motion; and of extraordinary vivacity.b In the other Manuscript the vellum is finer, and the pictures, instead of being lines and shading, are paintings; some in miniature, others en gonache, all heightened with gold and azure. The book is divided into sheets or com- partments, each of eight pages or four leaves of vellum, and the last page of each sheet is generally appointed to a Notices, vi. 110. P. 111. Among the costumes, &c. is a hand- organ, carried by a man, but played upon by a young woman. Persons in bed are represented stark naked, as was the custom of the day; of which see Strutt's Dresses. cipal lines upon the vellum, they have put colours of a middling tint, upon which they have laid shades and lightse to form the draperies, and distribute the lights; but some pictures are real miniatures, where they have employed for every part the tints which are suit- ed to them, without laying a first mass of colour. Gold and sometimes silver are employed in two manners, in many of the paintings. Sometimes they have begun by employing a mass, destined to give some force to the colour, which they have laid above, and they have seldom left any parts of their bed of gold apparent. Sometimes they have applied fine gold as a last laying,' either by filets or in masses, by means of a mordant. Further there are parts of gold, which they have polished h to adorn the frames of the pictures. The gold employed to ornament the capi- tals, is equally brightened. Silver is used in the pictures to paint heraldry, and sometimes gold. All these pic- tures are of a dazzling lustre, when held up to the light; because in general, the white predominates, and not being painted in oil, it does not absorb a single ray of the sun, but reflects them all. Antichrist is represented with three faces; one full face, two others in profile; three noses, three mouths, and only two eyes.k The artists who worked at this kind of painting, did not finish each picture separately, but performed successive operations upon the same painting. Thus they bedded at first in gold and • P. 115. d This word is not in the French Dictionaries. c Des bruns and des clairs. En dernier couche. Filet d'or, in Boyer, is a fillet of gold on a book. Bruni, which also signifies darkened. ¹ P. 115. k P. 118. In the History of Ruth is a woman upon her knees, threshing corn with a flail. S 258 SCRIPTORIUM-DOMUS ANTIQUARIORUM. silver, or rather in copper and tin, the parts to which these leaves of metal were to give effect: afterwards they laid on blue, green, or yellow upon many pictures, the whole in masses and flat, to darken or lighten it accord- ing to the lights and shades.a [Portraits were taken upon parch- ment,b and some, excluding the want of relief from proper shades, are very beautiful. F.] Allegorical figures occur, but they are in too bad taste to merit notice.c [Fantastick interpolations show that the gout de singulier may not always proceed from the ennui du beau: the latter, in pure Grecian taste, being ut- terly unknown in the middle age. F.] In a manuscript abridgment of Uni- versal History, the serpent who tempts Eve has the head and body of a wo- man. This Egyptianized painting ac- cords with the text where it is said, that the tempter took the form of a serpent, with the head of a female.d Caricatures are sometimes discover- able. In the Livre de Pierre Salmon, a beautiful Manuscript illuminated on purpose for Charles the Sixth, the French King, John Sanspeur, Duke of Burgundy, is characterized in the illu- mination by his robe (semee de rabots), powdered with carpenters' planes. He had adopted this tool for a symbol, and said, that with his planes he would level France. The heads are portraits. That of Pope Alexander V. has too little resemblance to merit confidence. The line where the nose terminates is much too near that of the eyes, and the mouth too far from the nose. This imperfect resemblance exaggerates the faults of the original; and is therefore presumed to be a caricature. So far M. Camus. a P. 120. b Angl. Sacr. ii. 385. Notices, v. 173, 174, where are specimens. d Notices des MSS. v. 152. • Notices, v. 416. [As this is only presumptive evidence, it is fit to note, that Caricatures have been found at Portici, &c. (Caylus Rec. iii. pl. 76. n. 1.) but they all or most turn upon the figure of an ass or ass's head. Warton (Sir Tho. Pope, p. 58) describes a bitter caricature of our Queen Mary; and see Mr. Douce on Shakespeare. F.] Two motives appear to be conspi cuous in respect to these beautiful Ma- nuscripts; one, that perusal might this be invited; the other, that they might be presents of value, for the art of writing was very unusual. Petrarch, when at Liege, had great difficulty to obtain ink to copy two orations of Ci- cero; and what he did get was as yel low as saffron.f Ervenius, an Anglo- Saxon, was very skilful in writing and illuminating. He committed two books, the Sacramentary and Psalter, in which he had decorated the principal letters with gold, to the care of Wulstan, when a boy. Admiration of the workmanship invited Wulstan to a studious perusal. But Ervenius consulting advantage of the age, as affirmed, with the hope of greater reward, presented the Sacra- mentary to Canute, and the Psalter to Emma his Queen.g Du Cange and various authors men- tion receipts for the colours, which I omit. Where red occurred, to give it effect, an iron colour was laid, as a ground.h Vignettes are not modern. Du Cange supposes that Paginator means a per- son who adorned pages with pictures and vincolis, which he calls vignettes, both terms being evidently derived from the ornaments of foliage, which ap- peared in wood-cuts long after the in- vention of printing. The Gilbertine rule prohibits hired writers, by which I apprehend is meant limners. However, there were such writers, or limners, at St. Alban's, who had commons from the alms of the Monks, and cellar, that they might not be delayed by going out to buy food.k They had the frequent drunken habits of Artisans, who, because every man, says Johnson, is discontented with his avocation, from the obligation to pur- sue it at all times, whatever be the state of his mind or will, too often abuse relaxation. f Mem. pour la Vie de Petrarque, i. 207. Angl. Sacr. ii. 244. h Gemmeticensis, 670. i Dugdale's Monast. ii. 767. k M. Paris, 1063. 1 SCRIPTORIUM-DOMUS ANTIQUARIORUM. 259 Barclay, without knowing that sti- mulants, however injurious in a pru- dential and medical view and never a good means, prevent, by the providen- tial extraction of good from evil, much hypochondriacal influence and tedium, which might end in insanity or suicide, says: But if thou begin for drinke to call and crave, Thou for thy calling such good rewarde shall have, That men shall call thee malapart or dronke, Or an Abbey lowne, or limner of a Monke. Eglogue 2d. The invention of printing occasioned the following results. The scribes hav- ing less employment, there were very few good artists in this kind, and writ- ing lost much of its beauty.a About the year 1546, limners and scribes were reduced to great distress for want of employ; b for besides Printing, Engrav- ing, invented about 1460,c superseded the illumination of initials and margins. The last specimen was the Lectionary d of Cardinal Wolsey at Oxford.e Be- sides the rule, it was inquired "whe- ther the Monks had made, taken, and received the King's age and succession Notices, vi. 113. b Warton, iii. 145. Walpole's Catalogue of Engravers, p. 3. Code of proper lessons for the year. Spelm. Gloss. • Warton, iii. 146. according to Act of Parliament," f for they were obliged to record these, and the births of the Royal Family, as well as other public events.g Bookbinding was occasionally very gorgeous: Gold, relicks, silver plates, ivory, velvet, and other expensive adornments, were bestowed upon the books, relating to the Church service, but not confined to them; h for we hear of a book of poems, finely ornamented, bound in velvet, and decorated with silver-gilt clasps and studs, intended for a present to the King.i Books were written in purple vellum in order to exhibit gold or silver letters; and adorned with ivory tablets.k The most common binding was a rough white sheep-skin, lapping over the leaves sometimes, with or without immense bosses of brass, pasted upon a wooden board; and sometimes the covers were of plain wood, carved in scroll and similar work. There were formerly leaden books with leaden covers, and books with wooden leaves.m f MS. Harl. 791. f. 25. g MS. Cott. Tiber. E. IV. p. 30. Smith's Catalogue, Angl. Sacr. i. 147, 622, 644. Archæologia, xiii. 220, 221. i Froissart, x. 127. Du Cange, v. Membranum. 1 Du Cange, v. Coopertum. Decem Scriptores, 2435. 8 2 260 STUDIES OF THE MONKS. CHAPTER XLV. STUDIES OF THE MONKS. RICHARD Kidderminster, Abbot of Winchcombe, made his house a little University. He studied night and day in a small cell, and had a constant Di- vinity lecture, a The divine offices were moderated to allow time for study; and exemp- tion from learning by consequence of performing the daily services, in some constitutions, and from all Church- duty, in others, were privileges of let- tered persons. The Friars too enact- ed, "that a greater opportunity might be afforded for the study of prayer,c that every day after Complin was said, all the brethren except the infirm, those engaged out, and their servants, should shut themselves up either in the clois- ter, library, dormitory, or necessary, till the first bell of the day following." d Elsewhere, however, there were the superior conveniences of appropriate studies furnished with presses and ca- binets, either over the cloister, or an- nexed to a chapel in the dormitory, or, as is plain from Davies, in the boarded division of the latter place. An Abbot, in Erasmus,f says, "I Hist. et Antiq. Oxon. l. i. p. 248. See more of Studies in § Library. Decem Scriptores, 1935. Willkins, Conc. ii. 723. Monast. ii. 708. C Reading the Psalter through, every day, was called the study of Eloquence, i. e. reading. Du Cange, v. Eloquentia. Et ut studio orationis major præstetur occasio, volumus quod singulis diebus à dicto completorio, fratres omnes præter infirmos ac forenses et eis servientes, infra spatium comprehendens curiarum sevocatarum, (aut quid simile) claustrum, libra- rium, dormitorium, et secretæ naturalitatis locum, usque ad primum signum diei sequentis se recolli- gant et includent. MS. Bodl. 1882. p. 47. b. e Dec. Script. 2146. 1935. Leland's Coll. i. 249. f Abbatis et Eruditæ Colloq. 285. have sixty-two Monks, yet you will not find a book in my bed-room.' That the Monks had books of their own is clear, from William of Malmes- bury's acknowledgement, and Chaucer's Monk, although it was prohibited. Still, however, the studies of the Monks took a pleasurable rather than severe direc- tion; for it seems they preferred Ovid to Augustine, and Ulpian and Trogus to the gospel of Christ; and practised desultory reading, not to instruct them- selves, but to get rid of the day. Even these, it is probable, were not always found the inhabitants of their studies; for we find the appendages of the sports- man filling their prohibited chests,h an- cient great coats, saddles, and spurs. Hearne says, there were seldom more than five or six books in these private studies.i Abbesses had studies.k Hic enim (monachus) in manibus libentius gestat Ovidium quam Augustinum; avidius legit Ulpianum et Pompeium quam Christi Evangelium. Cotidie novas excogitat occupationes, novas lec- tiones divisas non ad edificandum sed ad fallendum diei spatium. MS. Harl. 1712. f. 23. b. f. 138. a. Statuimus insuper ut nullus prorsus nisi pro officio sibi commisso arcam, sive cistam cum clave, sive armariolum, absque supprioris licentiâ spe- ciali detinere præsumat, quæ cum prælatus clavem petierit ei sine difficultate tradatur. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 245. b. Notwithstanding this, be- sides spurs and a saddle, I find, among the property of a deceased monk, armariola. Cistæ duo magnæ et cistulæ cum omnibus aliis sc. argentum et aurum cum jocalibus pertinent. ad thesaurum. MS. Harl. 1005. f. 69. b. Nullus et claustralis capam plu- vialem, (a large cloak, thrown over the other cloaths. Strutt's Dresses, ii. 156.) vel sellam, vel alia, ad equitatum pertinencia penes se retineat. MS. Cott. Jul. D. 11. f. 160. a. i Lel. Collect. vi. 87. * Du Cange, v. Studiolum. PRISON. 261 CHAPTER XLVI. PRISON. THE arbitrary power of an Abbot is supposed to have originated in the selfish considerations of Benedict; but it should be remembered, that the se- verity of monastic duties necessarily required very extensive powers to main- tain them. Of this power they occa- sionally made a full use. Alexander de Langley, a Monk of St. Alban's, who was deranged and behaved sillily and haughtily, was, by order of the Abbot, accused in Chapter, and beat to a plen- tiful effusion of blood; but, as this did not humble him, the Abbot sent him to the cell of Binham, where he was solitarily imprisoned in fetters, and dying was buried in them.a Very use- ful too was this place (though not ap- pertaining to every house b) to vicious Abbots. Christopher Levyns, one of Henry's Visitors, says of the Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, "Those Monks who had informed against this Prior, shall by him be poysoned or murthered in prysone, as the comen reporte of the Monks of the same house, is, that he hathe murthered dyverse other." Davies says, "Within the Infirmary, underneath the Master's lodge, [he kept the keys of it;d and M. Paris, 1051. The prison was called Vade in pace, because those who were put into it were to stay there till death. Du Cange, v. Vade, &c. b Monast. ii. 568. C. G. North. aº 1444. c. iiii. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 124. a. MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. f. 205. Aliquo fra- when any Monk was confined there, the Monk's keepere brought the keys back, and brought and carried him back according to the directions of the Abbot and Chapter] was a strong Prison, called the Lying-house, or- dained for great offenders; as for Monks guilty of felony or adultery, where they were imprisoned in chains a whole year, without seeing any one, except the master of the Infirmary, in letting down their meat through a trap- door by a cord, and that at a great dis- tance from the prisoners." He is cor- rect: the Clugniac Statutes mention. the Prison as a place accessible only by a ladder, without window or door. The fetters were some lighter, some heavier; and there were also a kind of stocks, or boice, handcuffs and iron col- lars, fastened by chains, through the wall on the outside.f "Bishops used to imprison offending clerks there.g But if any of the temporal men belong- ing to the house offended in the pre- mises, they were punished by the tem- poral law;" that is, in the Monastic Courts. tre in ergastulo truso, magister illius fratris claves feret, illumque secundum abbatis et capituli deli- berationem ducet et reducet. Id. In a Visitation of Hales Abbey (MS. Bibl. Reg. E. 14, aº 1241) a keeper of the Prison is or- dered to be appointed. f Du Cange, v. Boga, Boia. 8 Wilkins, Concil. iii. 495. 262 MONASTIC COURTS. CHAPTER XLVII. MONASTIC COURTS. THESE at Canterbury were held in the conventual church. They had all kinds of cognizance of their own men, except judgment of life and limb, in some places; and in others more ex- tensive powers. If in the Abbots' courts justice was not done, the Founder and his heir were to compel it, and this sometimes even in his own Conventual Court; or there was an appeal to that of the King. Sometimes the Monks obtained from a Founder, that, if any of their servants should do any injury to his people, justice should be sought in their Court. There were servants of the Monastery of Hexham, who used to serve summonses, levy distresses, and carry rods. It is singular, that that spirit of equivocating plain lan- guage (which marks modern pleading, which every honest jury should, where possible, overrule, and which had its origin, in my opinion, in scholastic subtlety, or quibbling on weak sides, corrupting the exquisite ratiocination and perfect discrimination of the civil law), should, so early as the reign of the first Edward, have compelled the Abbot of St. Mary's, York, to petition that the general terms of cognizance of pleas, murder, and other crimes, which designated his legal privileges, should be more particularized, on account of the subtlety of the moderns. The Decem Scriptor. 1982. Church-porches are known to have been law-courts. Julius (pontiff a. 340,) enacted that no clerk should be brought to trial in public, except into a church. b Monast. i. 202. 377. 1055, ii. 911. c Id. ii. 92. d Rot. Parl. 18 Edw. I. No. 146. (vol. i.) Of the subtlety of feudal claims take the following anecdote : In the 14th Century the Augustinian Monastery of Windsheim in the province of Overyssel wished to erect a windmill, but the neighbouring lord ob- jected, saying, that the wind in that district be- longed to him. The Monks complained to the Bishop, who gave them permission, affirming, in manerial Courts (and perhaps the others) were held by the Seneschal,e and Wol- sey orders, that the Canon, who sat with the Seneschal in holding the Courts, should behave so piously, and so seriously attend to the benefit of the house, that he should seem rather to regard this than his own recreation.f The author of the Plowman's Tale charges the Monks with slighting their tenants on these occasions, and rejoic- ing the higher they were amerced. It was, I presume, in these Courts, that tenants sought or purchased that li- cence of marrying their daughters,g which was the real marchet tenure, so absurdly made obscene, and was no other than what has been elsewhere called maiden rents.h The King's jus- ticiaries held gaol-deliveries of the pri- soners.i The form of a trial in one of these Courts is thus related by a Monk of St. Augustine's, Canterbury. Certain Flemings were brought into the Ab- bot's Court of Stonor, in Kent, for murder. They were arraigned by the Seneschal and Court, to which they pleaded not guilty, and placed them- anger, that the wind in the whole province (of Utrecht) was his property. However absurd this seems, the Roman Law ruled, that all the air over a person's houses or estates was his own; some Emperors even had tribute for air and shade; and it was decided at Naples, that a criminal was enti- tuled to Sanctuary who hung by his hands from a window which overlooked a Church-yard.t Houses in cities are pushed aloft, as high as the Proprietor pleases, in the present day, but only because it in. jures no one. • Monast. ii. 551. f Id. ii. 569. Memorandum, quod anno, &c. die, cepit Ri- cardus Avystaine de Draitone licentiam maritandi Agnetem filiam suam. Registr. de Abingd. MS. Harl. 209. p. 12. i Monast. i. 242. Watson's Halifax, 268. * Beckman's Inventions, i. 269. + Cujacius, L. 10 Obs. c. 7. Petr. Greg. Syn. tagm. L. 3. c. 10. n. fin. and the Roman Laws quoted in Solorzanus, L. 3. c. 3. p. 387. MONASTIC COURTS. 263 selves upon the town of Stonor. The men of Stonor were then ordered to inquire into their guilt or innocence, and to give judgment accordingly. They returned them innocent, and the Seneschal, in the presence of the whole Court, acquitted them. Goods and chattels of the convicts belonged to the King, or, by charter from him, to the Abbot. Instances appear of the issue of summonses three days before the holding the Court; of records of proceedings; of perquisites; and of numerous thieves being taken and hanged by their authority, as a result of the privilege of infangentheoff; of the Coroner entering their precincts to do his duty; of the responsibility of the Abbot in cases of escape; and of the King's Justiciaries taking cogni- zance of prisoners, in crimes to which the Abbot's privilege did not extend.a a W. Thorne, 1839. 1917. 1919. 1928. 1930. 1933. 2021. If I rightly understand this Monk in p. 1843, men were imprisoned for coming there in arms. The History of Ely, c. xxvii. mentions a large Court held at the Abbey door. W. Thorne also mentions citations, punishments for contempt, &c. as now. 264 MISERICORD. CHAPTER XLVIII. MISERICORD. THIS was a hall in which were tables and a dresser. The word Misericord also implied stated indulgences and allowances, according to circumstances, of food, drink, wine or beer, or cloath- ing or bedding, beyond the rule.a The use of this office is in part ex- plained by the following injunction. Also, that all and singular Brethren and Monks of this Monastery take the refection altogether in a place called the Misericorde soch dayes as they ete fleshe, and all other dayes in the Refectory." b By the constitutions of Ottoboni, two parts of the Convent were to eat in the Refectory; but the sta- tute which forbad flesh being eaten in the Convent, the Monks used to evade, by leaving a few in the Refectory, and eating meat elsewhere, and those who did dine in the fratry also took meat at supper in another place. To this the constitution, or rather permission, just quoted, alludes. But, as the word ad- ditionally implies the relaxations grant- ed to the Monks, I shall take this op- portunity of discussing them. Miseri- cords, established by the authority and dispensations of Abbots, were, says Lyndwood, in some places, exonera- tions from the duties of the Choir and Cloister, granted to the Monks alter- nately by weeks. An account was given in to the Chapter how they be- haved during that time; and they were not to refresh themselves but in the presence of two seniors, who were to go out from the Monastery, return with them, converse with them in the Miseri- cord, and restrain their levities by re- proof, which was the especial privilege Du Cange, v. Misericordia. b MS. Cott. Cleop. E. 1v. f. 22. Athon. 150. and C. G. Northampt. a° 1444. C. VII. See too Erasmi IXOYOÞAгIA. d Lyndw. 211, 212. It of seniors over juniors. Other writers,e misled by the glossarist of Matthew Paris, have called a Misericord a guzzle of wine,f an imperfect definition, taken from the refreshment of that liquor granted during the above period.s seems that a license was thus granted to the Monks of conversing, disputing on learned topicks, talking of business, histories, tales, news of the world, and raillery; and Wolsey, finding that the Augustinian Canons absented them- selves from the Choir for whole weeks, and neglecting the regular observances, mingled in dishonourable games, and the company of suspected persons, ordered that the Canons, not singly, but in a number together, regulated by the superior, and accompanied by one or two elder brethren, should re- create themselves, not in the towns, villages, and taverns, but in sunny, large, and pleasant places, near their houses, where they should be satisfied with religious and modest exercise of the body; not mix with seculars, or go to houses of laymen to eat and drink without leave of the superior, but carry their provisions with them; and, on every such day of recreation, return at night, unless they stopped at Lewis's Thanet, p. 110. f These Charities did not consist of wine only, but Cowell says of beer, indeed of various refresh- ments, for we find a Charity, consisting of a sallad, seasoned with honey. (Du Cange, v. Oxgorafius.) g De vino misericordiarum. Decem Scriptores, col. 2039. 1. 21. h Dev. Vie Mon. ii. 650. i Perhaps there is an allusion here to the Arietem levare, a game among the English Religious, for- bidden in several of our councils. The Ram was raised upon wheels, and the standard of the Church preceded the sport with it. Bishop Kennet sup- poses that it was a kind of Quintain, i. e. a mark at which they tilted with poles. (Du Cange, v. Arielem levare.) Concerning the Quintain, perhaps Strutt has not quoted Menestrier of Tournaments and the Disquisition in the Mem. Acad. des. Inscript. v. XX. MISERICORD. 265 the Granges with the Abbot, then at any of those places.a "Sum is ald and feeble, and is the lesse dread of," b was a Monastic maxim; and accordingly, says the Golden Legend, "when a relygyous man hath contynued in his ordre fyfty yere, thenne he shall be admytted to make hys jubilee, and that made, he is pardonned, and hathe remyssion of many observauntes before he bounden unto." c was Every Convent was divided into three Orders. Juniors, who, up to the 24th year of their profession bore all the burdens of the Choir, Cloister, and Refectory. The next sixteen years they were exonerated from the duties of Chantries, Epistle, Gospel, and simi- lar labours. They undertook the im- portant business of the House. From the 40th to the 50th year they were called Seniors, and were excused from the offices of the Cellar, Almonry, and Kitchen. In the 50th year they be- came Sempectæ.d These Sempectae had a chamber in the Infirmary, with a boy to wait upon them, and a Junior for a companion. They went in and out about any part of the house without restriction; were never, from an elegant refinement, told any thing unpleasant, or received any offence; and thus they waited their dissolution.f The consequences of privileges and exemptions in favour of old Monks were bad: for they took the liberty of examining, judging, and censuring every thing; and there were a Monast. ii. 569. MS. Cott. Cleop. C. vi. fol. 4. a. c F. cxI. a. d Du Cange, v. Sempecta. • Συμπαικται. Du Cange. In Mr. Gough's Second Appendix to his History of Croyland, p. 283, it is supposed a corruption of Senecta: but the authorities cited in Du Cange will best settle the question. The Benedictine Editors were Monks; and they make the word Greek. f Ingulphi Hist. 504. Ed. Savile; in which edi- tion the reader will observe, that the Licentiam habet, &c. belongs to the Prior and not to the Sempecta, as is plain from the Oxford Edition, p. 50, which supplies the defect of Sir H. Savile's MS. (See Præf. Angl. Sac. and Watson's Hali- fax, for an account of Sir Henry's MS.) as many superiors as old men in the Monastery, which banished piety, ruined discipline, and introduced a scandalous irregularity and confusion.5 Favouritism and cynical asperity are often found together in aged persons. 66 Henry's Visitors allowed the Abbot to goe out and take three or four of his brethren with him" at inclination; and also allowed the "said Abbot to give the Prior, Supprior, and other officers, being suche as he shall thinke men of discretion, licence thre or four tymes at the most in the yeere, to goo abrod for their refresse and recreacon, taking to him or them so having li- cense, four of the other brethren at the least." This was a hard consti- tution for Obedientiaries and Monks, who, as before has been shown, took great liberties in this respect; though the Canons, which allowed them to visit friends and relatives, even in fo- reign parts,i with leave of the Abbot, only granted the indulgence very sel- dom (only for once in a year was the request of the articles against them), on good cause, and for a small time, and with a companion.k The Monks mu- tually kissed each other, when going out.1 The Obedientiaries who had horses were then bound to lend them to the Monks, if the request was not made too often. John, 21st Abbot of St. Alban's, wishing to spare the trouble and expences of Monks tra- velling, who did not abound with mo- ney, made a statute, that if they could not finish their journey in time to get to St. Alban's, they should go to any of the nearest monastic farms. By the decretals of Wolsey, for the Augustinian Canons, no one was to go out without leave, and the term of his return ap- pointed; not to have dogs or hawks with him; not to drink in the town, m s Dev. Vie Monast. i. 331. MS. Cott. Cleop. E. 1v. f. 49. Or for study. See Richard of Cirencester's Itinerary by Stukeley, Preface. * M. Par. 1331, 1100. Reyn. Append. 166. 1 Du Cange, v. Osculum pacis. C. G. North. aº 1444, c. v. " M. Paris (2d) 1043, 266 MISERICORD. unless sick or by special permission; to have such companions as the supe- rior appointed, and money found from the common stock; a the well-known pictures of Chaucer's Monk, and Lid- gate, render it unnecessary for me to describe their habits as travellers.b By the Norman Institutes, the religious did not receive both benedictions of going and returning, unless he staid out for more than two days; but either benediction alone, as the circumstances of his going out or return were with- in that period. This benediction of going out was never given at Vespers or Complin; and a Monk, who had received it, if the bell of the hour rung before he left the Cloister, returned to the Church, though, if he had passed the Court-gate, he staid out of the Choir. He did not enter the Cloister, when gartered or girdled, or with a cope on. When they said their hours on their journey, or made a prayer, they kneeled, but never bowed, nor upon a mistake begged pardon, except they were in Church. On such days as the hours in the Convent were said on the Misericords, if on horseback they descended, and having begun the hours, and taken a venia, they pulled the gloves from their hands and hoods from their heads, and re-mounting their horses, finished them. If they had a necessity of speaking, they began afresh when that was over. Until the hour was sung, in an inn, or when they ate in their frocks or hoods only, they said the psalmody, which they could not sing at night on horseback. They also said Complin before going to sleep; and, if interrupted by a necessity of speaking before Mattins, began it afresh, and afterwards observed silence. Where- ever they were they had a light burn- ing all night. Eagerness, says Pe- trarch, to execute your orders has made of me a traveller by night, against my character and principles. Thus it Monast. ii. 567. b Attended with three or four horsemen. Hut- chinson's Durham, ii. 92. • Dum hora canitur. Memoires &c. ii. 142. was deemed irreputable to journey by night. The constitutions allowed a Nun to be absent only from disease; for re- creation; to make or receive a cure; to console sick parents, or attend their funerals; for three days only when absent for the sake of relaxation, and in case of illness for six only, after. cure, unless by episcopal dispensation. A permission of making pilgrimages, and of visiting relatives from their own inclination, or light occasions, wan- tonly granted, is reprobated in visit- ing injunctions.g ing injunctions. An episcopal license on this occasion only mentions the re- quest for absence by a noble female, and enables the Prioress to grant it, adding, that the Nun must have a companion, and might go on horse- back, though in opposition to the customs of the house. The Gilbertine Nuns, in their way to the general Chapter, travelled in carriages, and shunned all hospitia of religious per- sons, unless there was a habitation of women there. They did not talk by the way; and no speech was made unheard by the attendant canon and lay brother.k-Erasmus gives an anec- dote of two Nuns on a visit, at which he was present. They were at the house of a relative. The servant_by forgetfulness had omitted to bring their book of prayers. A great disturbance ensued. They did not dare to eat their supper, without first saying their evening prayers, nor would they accept e Female medical talents, and theirs, among others, are spoken of by Mr. Warton and others. f Lyndw. 212. g Monast. i. 910.925. Forbidden. Monast. ii. 787. iLicentia pro moniali exeundi de domo sua. P. &c. Priorissæ, &c. precibus charissimæ nobis in Christo filiæ Dominæ J. consanguinis Domini Wla militis nostri dioc' favorabilius inclinatus, ut ad eam justis et honestis ex causis, domina M. hujus dicti vestri prioratus commonialis, cum aliâ ejusdem prioratus ipsam associante accedere valeant; va- leant equestri, non obstantibus vestris consuetudi- nibus contrariis, dispensatione, ex causis licitis nobis sufficienter doctis, in quantum de jure pos- sumus, quatinus obedientiam et honestatem disci- plinæ regularis, literarum tenore præsentium duxi- mus indulgendum, &c. &c. MS. Harl. 2179. * Monast. ii. 706. MISERICORD. 267 of any other book than their own. In the mean while, the whole house was eager for supper. What was to be done? The servant returned to his horse, and fetched the book, when night was far advanced. The Prayers were said, and it was ten o'clock (a very late hour in that age) when they sat down to supper.a Farm-houses were anciently used as inns; and there is a grant of a place on condition of paying twelve-pence annually, and finding an hospitium for the Prior and Chapter passing that way; though no further than the space of the house to stay in. William, Ab- Ichthyophagia inter Colloq. 428. Smythe's Lives of the Berkeley Family. MS. • Monast. ii. 818. p. 145. bot of St. Alban's, bought a house at London for the accommodation of his Monks, with a Chapel, numerous beds, orchard, stable, kitchen, court, garden, and well; and a perpetual servant re- sided there to keep it. The punish- ment of exceeding the allotted time of absence, according to the constitutions of Benedict the Twelfth, was a severe discipline. This liberty was very dif- ficultly granted at St. Alban's even after three years continuance in the state of a novice.f M. Paris, p. 1057. • He was led naked from the gate, in his shirt, carrying his cloaths and a ferula, to the Chapter, and there beaten. Wilkins's Concil. ii. 608. (Const. Bened. xii. § De licentiâ eundi extra Monaste- rium.) 1 M. Paris, 1031. -268 SANCTUARY. CHAPTER XLIX. SANCTUARY. THIS was the method by which an- ciently the rigour of common law was moderated. It allowed the criminal time for making restitution, or under the Anglo-Saxon laws, he must have suffered immediate pains and punish- ments.a The old Sanctuary of Westminster consisted of two Churches one over another, in the form of a cross.b Margaret, Countess of Shrewsbury, was said to have hired one Chamber- lain, a Sanctuary man at Westminster, to meet Will. Marquess Berkeley with a great company on the road, and assassi- nate him. As soon as this news, though false, came to the Abbot's ears, he sent for this Chamberlain, and called the Archdeacon and others to exa- mine the matter, and because the story was raised by Chamberlain's as- sent, the Abbot decreed, that he should be brought to an open place in the Sanctuary, on purpose for punishment, and made him to be arrayed in papers printed with signes of untroth, sedi- tion, and doubleness, made him go before the procession in this dress, and afterwards set him in the stocks, that the people might see him.d At Durham certain men lay in two Chambers over the North door to let in offenders whenever they knocked, however late; after which they tolled the Galilee bell, in notice of such * Hutchinson's Durham, i. 39. b Archæol. i. 39. • Some Monasteries had Archdeacons over their own jurisdictions; as that of Worcester, &c. Smythe's Berkeley MS. 539. event. When the Prior heard of it, he sent orders that they should keep within the Sanctuary, Church, and Church-yard, and wear a black gown with a yellow cross, called St. Cuth- bert's cross (a token of the privilege granted to that Saint's shrine); and that they should lie upon a grate made only for that purpose, adjoining to the Galilee South door. They had also meat, drink, and bedding, for thirty- seven days, being only such as were necessary for such offenders,e until the Prior and Convent could get them conveyed out of the diocese. Accounts were given in to the King of the goods of felons,f which, it seems, were some- times distrained by conventual bailiffs, and preserved in the house till their persons were sent to gaol. This pri- vilege, to be granted by the King alone, was not to be claimed without char- ter, and extended only to criminal of- fences. Living in Sanctuary was very expensive, and the demands exces- sively extortionate ;i bawds and whores took refuge there.k e In the Gravamina Eccles. Anglican. art. 22, it is said, "when any fugitive flies to the protec- tion of the Church, Church-yard, or stair-case of the Church, he shall be guarded by Lay-keepers, because he cannot expect to be provided for in viands by the Church." Hence the expence of living in Sanctuary, hereafter noted. f Jones's Index to Records, vol. ii. tit. Beaulewe and Berkyng. s Monast. ii. 348, 9. Staveley on Churches, p. 170. Paston's Letters, ii. p. 10. Maitland's London, p. 771. Pl. in Stowe, 442, &c. and Mr. Pegge on the subject. DEPENDENT CHURCHES. 269 CHAPTER L. DEPENDENT CHURCHES. ACCORDING to the Council of Chal- cedon, a decree of Alexander II. and a general Chapter of the year 1215, Monks were not to preach to the people, under penalty in the latter of deposition to an Abbot, and expulsion to a simple religious. The idea was, however, reprobated by their own body:b and Athone says positively, (very ancient constitutions allow them to do parochial duties so far back as the seventh century,d) that a religious could be instituted in secular Churches by leave of the Bishop, Abbot, and the common law, without a dispen- sation, and that he might live upon his benefice, like another Rector. An or- dinance too of a late general Chapter, ordered that those who were able and fit should preach, and they did so both in their convents and in public.e Vi- sitation injunctions forbid interest being made for benefices; and the dis- mission of a religious from his house to fill one, mentions good life and mo- rals, the consent of the house for his departure, the episcopal dispensation, and superior's license.f Burn says, that Rectors only, not Vicars, were ex- pected to preach; sometimes all who were ordained Priests. As to vicar- ages, it appears that they "scarcely among xx set one sufficient Vicar to preach;" and that in some places Dev. Vie Monast. ii. 21. 184, 5. b Reyner, 245. Malmsb. 112. c P. 146. Reyn. App. 102. Lel. de Scriptor. p. 146, &c. Ne sollicitent seu laborare faciant seculares pro beneficiis. MS. Mus. Ashmol. 1519. f. 26. b. (Ord. Aug.) Vitæ ac morum honestas-de collegio nostro liberum dimittimus quatinus de jure, &c. dispensa- tio episcopi, &c. licentiâ magistri dicti hospitalis in hac parte petitâ primitus et obtentâ. MS. Harl. ut sup. f. 88. a. where the form of the Abbot's writ for arresting vagabond Monks, f. 88, and other for- mula. Angl. Sacr. ii. 487. there was preaching "but ones in a year."h Such Vicars were, in some places, answerable to the Bishop for the cure of souls; to the Monks for temporals. There were often in these Churches peculiarities, (as being in the local site of cells,) thus described by Mr. Hasted :-" At the west end of the Chancel (Lenham) there are six- teen stalls, eight on each side, though of a different size, for the use of the Monks of St. Augustine's, when they visited their estate in this parish, and for such other of the Clergy as should be present at the services of the Church."k Dormitories, &c. were an- nexed to the Rectories, for accommo- dation of the Monks.¹ If the benefice was given to the table of the Monks, and so not appro- priated in the common form, but granted by way of union in full right, it was served by a temporary Curate, belonging to their own house, and sent out as occasion required. The like liberty of not appointing a perpetual Vicar was sometimes granted by dis- pensation, in benefices not annexed to their tables, in consideration of the poverty of the house, or nearness of the Church.m To their vicarages the Abbot presented;" and in those be- longing to the Alien Priories, there was particular neglect of duty.o "Sacra- legious Monks buyers of Churches," Selden's Tythes, 4to. 1618. p. 487. The recall of canons in the Præmonstratensian order, who offi- ciated in cures, is insisted on with vehemence in Biblioth. Præmonst. i. 837. 1 Monast. ii. 854. Hist. of Kent, v. 439. See too iii. 511. Ed. 8vo. 1 Angl. Sacr. i. 146. m Gibson and Burn. n Monast. i. 297, 8. • Selden's Tythes, 106. Henry's injunctions charge the Abbot with taking the revenues of Churches to his own use. 270 DEPENDENT CHURCHES. says Gualo Britannus. Chapels were built on the manerial demesnes from the fear of war.b Pensions from these Churches were common; and, by a synod held in the reign of the first Henry, it appears the Monks so stripped the Churches of their revenues, that the officiating priests could scarcely live. By some regulations it seems, that when Churches were vacant, the keys were brought to the Chapter, and the Re- venues taken possession of by the Ab- bot and Convent; and the Abbot • Sacrilegis monachis emptoribus ecclesiarum, Composui satyram, &c. MS. Cott. Tit. a. xx. f. 105. & Fabr. Bibl. M. Æv. iii. 322. Capellam, quam pater meus tempore Regis Stephani propter metum guerræ construxit. Re- gistr. Abbat. de Winchcombe pen. Dom. Sher- borne, fol. 431. e Eadmeri Hist. Novor. p. 68. bound to present within forty days. By others, the keys were brought to the Chapter, or Prior of the manor; an In- ventory was taken of all the books, vestments, and other moveables; the above Prior was to appoint some Priest to do the duty; to take care of the profits of the benefice; to be present (unless any one was sent on purpose by the Abbot) at the institution of the in- cumbent; and to cite him (upon neglect of so doing, when suspension was the consequence), to come and do fealty in the Convent. Delinquent clerks, at least in exempt houses, were suspended and excommunicated by the Abbot's commissary. The Prior of the manor was to see that no new Chantries were made.d ■ W. Thorne, p. 1956. 1961. 1980. c. xxvii. sect. 7. CELLS-GRANGES. 271 CHAPTER LI. CELLS- -GRANGES. CELLS were either places of recreation, where the Monks used to stop for this purpose by turns; or where Monks of bad character were sent,b and others sometimes by the Abbot in a fit of passion. It was thought a great griev- ance to be sent to remote Cells, or from Cell to Cell; for the people used to say, "this man has done something bad, or the Abbot hates him, and envies him, because he is better than himself, or contradicts his errors, and reproves his excesses.d The Monks resident were to conform to the practice of their Ab- bies in respect to divine service, sleep- ing in dormitories, and other religious practices. It was the custom anti- a Dec. Scriptores, 1937. Leland's Collect. ii. 330. Chapel and Infirmary annexed to them. Lewis's Thanet, 154. Also a Dormitory, Angl. Sacr. i. 146. b The bad behaviour of the Monks in them is sufficiently shown by the following extract: "Mo- nachus quidam Sagiensis Coenobii de cellâ quadam in partibus Angliæ longinquis ad aliam cellam loci ejusdem remotis in Walliæ finibus super mare Mil- verdicum et Hibernicum gyrovagando discurrens, ne solus esset in viâ, quia væ soli,- -non socium sibi, sed sociam elegit; ejus turpitudo terque quaterque turpiter deprehensa fuit. Adeo quidem quod à Castellanis parcium illarum demum captus et in carcerem missus, sociaque ipsius et confusionis causâ ribaldis exposita fuerat et garcionibus prosti- tuta. Tales autem honores et tales honestates ex monachis ad cellulam missis ordine monastico per- venire solent. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. 13. A certain Monk, who was rambling about from a cell in the remote parts of England to another in Wales, lest he should be alone on his journey, took a companion on his way; not a he one, but a she one; three or four times he was most unluckily detected; and at last put into gaol by some Castel- lans of that neighbourhood, whilst his poor lady was exposed to all the indecencies of the rabble among them. Such honours and such graces, says Giraldus, adorn the Monastic order, from the Monks who are sent to cells. CC. G. North. a° 1444, c. x. d M. Paris, 1046, 7. Prior vero in cellis, quanto frequentius com- mode possit, intersit matutinis, nec extra dormito- rium jacere præsumat, nisi ad minus quatuor de fratribus in dormitorio ipso absente remaneant. MS. Cott. Claud. E. IV. f. 242. b. ently, when any of the Monks belong- ing to a Cell went out upon business, not to take refreshment out of the Cell.f The Priories were much sought after even by Novices; and it seems that they were matters of commerce; that the Abbot, in granting a farm of them, received or required securities; that the Priors made dishonest contracts, un- just claims, and sold too dear for a time. Certain Alien Priories chose their own Prior, were entire societies within themselves, received the reve- nues for their own use, and paid only a yearly pension, as an acknowledgment to the parent-house. Foreign Abbies could sometimes compel any Monk of the subject Cells, except the Prior and Cellarer, to come to them when wanted.k They were places of enjoyment for the foreign superiors. William of Exeter, Abbot of Grestain, in Normandy, a house which had property in England, used to stay above two years at a time, upon pretence of Conventual business in this country. A Preceptory or Commandery was a convenient man- sion belonging to the Knights Hospi- talers, of which sort they had several on their different estates, in each of which they had a society of their bre- thren placed to take care of their lands and rents in that neighbourhood. The respective Priors, or Preceptors, ac- counted to the Order in general, for the overplus of the profits of the respective estates; but in process of time, a certain rent called a responsion was paid in- stead. A mark was paid by Cells f Du Cange, v. Responsum. 8 MS. Roy. Libr. 8 F. XVII. sect. Cuidam no- vitio, qui affectabat prioratum. h M. Paris, 1098. 1 Hasted's Kent, 8vo. viii. 180. k Monast. i. 595. 1 Du Monstier's Neustria Pia, p. 532. Collinson, iii. 97. 272 CELLS-GRANGES. sometimes as a token of dependence,a and procurations upon the decease of Abbots. At Santoft, in the county of Lincoln, a Cell of St. Mary's, York, a mastiff was granted to the Monk to keep his house, a croft for out-door animals, and whatever he could gain by the common marsh, and things sold for his use. It is singular, that Giral- dus Cambrensis should say that the Cistercians avoided all the bad conse- quences of Cells in the irregularities of their inhabitants, by having none, and remedying all defects by visitors and chapters. The Monks used to reap and make hay themselves.c In the rules of St. Victor, the bre- thren who staid at Cells were to be three in every place, if possible, or two at least. In food, and clothing, and the tonsure, they did not vary from the common institution. They kept si- lence at table, and did not speak in the Church. They sung Complin at an early seasonable hour in summer and winter, and did not run about the vil- lage or elsewhere.f A good Prior is recorded for paying more money than his farm amounted a Monast. i. 340. c Id. i. 405. b Id. ii. 347. d Circumspectè vero Cistercienses in hiis et simi- libus cavendis sibi providerunt, dum et cellis per totum ordinem carent, et cuncta supervacanea, et honestati ordinis contraria per visitatores et capitula Now resecar icurarunt. MS. Cott. Tiber. B. 13. Kingswood was considered as a Cell of Tinterne, and so de cæteris. e Henry, vi. 175. Du Cange, v. Obedientia. to; for selling the wool well, and mak- ing good Granges. By some regula- tions he was ordered to see that cham- bers and gowns were provided for the use of the Monks who came there by turns for recreation; and not to erect buildings above a certain cost, except sea-walls, and things of that kind. The Nuns too held manors under the care of a Prioress.g Granges were the farms and abbatial residences, and parks were often an- nexed to them. Thomas Lord Berke- ley, 18 Edward I. being ill, went to a Grange of the Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, for change of air, till he recovered. The Abbot's bill came to 2d. which the Abbot received. Upon the Grange at Cuddesdon, in Oxford- shire, there were, it seems, corn, cattle, common utensils, benches, tables, forms, and "a carte, the wheles bound with iron." i The housekeeper, or hos- pitalis frater grangiæ, has been already mentioned. In a Synod of Cologn, held anno. 1300, it appears, that persons hung torches and letters annexed, at the gates of Abbies and Granges, in which they threatened fires, homicides, &c. unless a certain sum of money was given them in a limited time.k W. Thorne, 1931. 2008, c. xxvii. sect. 7. Smythe's Berkeley MS. p. 179. MS. Harl. 607. p. 7. a. Du Cange, v. Teda. SONG-SCHOOL. 273 CHAPTER LII. SONG-SCHOOL.a "THIS school," says Davies, "was built within the Church, and was neatly wainscotted within, round about, two yards high, and had a desk from one end of the school to the other to lay their books on. The floor was boarded for warmness, and round about it long forms were fastened in the ground for the children to sit on: and the place where the Master sat and taught was all close boarded for warmness. His office was to teach the six children to sing and play on the organs every prin- cipal day, when the Monks sang their high mass, and at even song; b but when the Monks were at mattins, and service at midnight, one of them played on the organ himself and none else. The Master had his chamber adjoining to the song-school, where he lodged, and his diet in the Prior's hall, among the Prior's gentlemen, and his other necessaries were supplied at the com- mon charge." Gregory had a whip, with which he threatened the young clerks and sing- ing boys, when they were out, and failed in the notes. They also fasted the day before they were to chant, and constantly ate beans. Erasmus says, ■ Musick was so prevalent in the Middle Age, that even whistling was a fashion and amusement, being asked for by an Archbishop.* b The Faucetum or pitch-pipe was used in some orders. Cowell, v. Faucetum. e Hawkins's Musick, i. 396. * Sir R. C. Hoare's Giraldus, ii. 84. "We have introduced into the Churches a certain elaborate theatrical species of Music, accompanied with a tumultuous diversity of voices. All is full of trumpets, cornets, pipes, fiddles, and singing. We come to Church as to a Play-house; and for this purpose ample salaries are expended on organ- ists and societies of boys, whose whole time is wasted in learning to sing. Not to mention the great revenues which the Church squanders away on the sti- pends of singing-men, who are com- monly great drunkards, buffoons, and chosen from the lowest of the people. These fooleries are so agreeable to the Monks, especially in England, that youths, boys, &c. every morning sing to the organ the Mass of the Virgin Mary with the most harmonious modu- lations of voice, and the Bishops are obliged to keep choirs of this sort in their families." d At the singing and grammar-schools of the Convent of Norwich, the mas- ters, after induction by the Archdeacon, generally published the Bishop's inhi- bition, prohibiting all other persons to teach grammar or singing in the city.e Schools were attached to religious houses, as early as the seventh cen- tury.f d Warton's Sir T. Pope, 427. e Parkins's Norwich, 269. Taylor's Index Monast. pref. iii. T 274 COMMON HOUSE. CHAPTER LIII. COMMON HOUSE. "ON the right hand," says the same writer, "at going out of the cloysters into the infirmary was the Common House. It was instituted to have a fire constantly by day in winter for the use of the Monks, who were allowed no other fire; but the master and officers of the house had their own several fires. A garden and bowling alley be- longed to the said house, towards the water, for the Novices sometimes to recreate themselves, leave being first granted; their master attending to see to their good order. In this house once in the year, betwixt Martinmas and Christmas,a the master of it kept a Dec. 14th. Du Cange says,-"The Antiphonæ majores de 0, 0: the Antiphonars beginning by the interjection O, which are sung seven days before the Nativity of Christ." See too Cowell, v. 0. his O sapientia, a solemn banquet, at which the Prior and Convent were en- tertained with figs, raisins, ale, and cakes, but not to superfluity or excess. Here, with the Prior's leave, they warmed themselves when needful. Du Cange calls Pyrale the Con- ventual Hypocaust or fire place, in which the Chapter was celebrated, and where the rod of discipline was hung up [over the fire-place]. Eckhard has this passage: "being tied to a pillar of the Pyralis, he was severely beaten with rods." The Chapter and Com- mon House were certainly, however, distinct rooms, at least in most Abbies. b Du Cange, v. Pyralis. MINTS-EXCHEQUER. 275 CHAPTER LIV. MINTS-EXCHEQUER. THE Abbatial Mints, of early Saxon origin, had the stamps given them to coin with as incident to that privilege, which in some houses was soon lost.a The Abbot placed a keeper over it.b In a charter of Reading Abbey it seems the money was coined there at the Ab- bot's expence, and sent to the Exche- quer.c Exchequer. At Ely was a chamber with a square table in it for calcula- tion. It was also called Counting- room; or Cubiculum computatorium.e Gervase of Tilbury describes an Exche- quer Table as square, about ten feet long and five broad, covered with a black clock, divided by stripes in the manner of a chess-board. Summing, for want of the Arabick numerals, being a most difficult process, this cloth was for the arithmetical process by count- ers, of which the Monks struck several, still known by the name of Abbey Pieces. Mr. Pinkerton gives some account of the process, but it applies to one method only. One was, where the a Leake's Historical Account of English Money, pp. 17. 50. Dec. Script. 1816. d Angl. Sacr. i. 646. Du Cange, v. Saccarium. c Id. 92. • Id. i. 779. table had six lines. 1. Units, 2. Tens, 3. Hundreds, 4. Thousands, 5. Ten- thousands, 6. Hundred-thousands. Where there were no lines, there were set in their stead, 66 so many counters as shall need, for each line one." In the Merchant's Method, the lowest line served for pence, the next above for shillings, the third for pounds, the fourth for scores of pounds; the space between was never occupied but by one counter, which above the pence signi- ged 6d. above the shillings 10s. above the pounds £10. The Auditor's Me- thod made one counter at the left of a line signify 5, at the right 10.8 Before counters, stones were used, the Augrim stones of Chaucer,h the npo and cal- culi of the Greeks and Romans, and the use of them was the first arith- metick taught to their children. Upon a bas-relief of the Capitol is a Trajan and Plotina; near them is an Abacus in the hands of a young man, upon which are placed ranks of counters.i Mellis's Ground of Arts, b. 1. 1632. The in- structions occupy 43 pages. Astle's Writing, 183. Diog. Laert. Solon, 39. Juven. xi. 131. Cay- lus, Rec. vii. pl. 7. No. 3, 4, et alii. T 2 276 KITCHEN. CHAPTER LV. KITCHEN. GALBERT, in the Life of Charles Earl of Flanders,a says, that the Church of St. Donatian was built round, and high roofed, with bricks and earthen mate- rials only that fire might not burn it. The Kitchen of Glastonbury, and others, was octagonal, had no wood about it, and the smoke escaped, or rather steam, either by concealed chimnies or from a turret in the roof. At Stanton-Har- court were shutters above, which were opened or shut according to the direc- tion of the wind.b Kitchens anciently were much larger concerns than at present; as will ap- pear from the following details of their departments and apparatus. A large Pastery with five ovens new built, some of them fourteen feet deep.c A great Kitchen with four ranges, and a boiling place for small boiled meats.d A Boiling House for the great boiler.e Bellows for in the thirteenth cen- tury there were bellows-blowers in royal kitchens, who were also to take care, when the soup was on the fire, that it was neither burnt nor smoked.f Dresser. A term out of the Kitchen, given to the sideboard, furnished with plate.g Trigoni. Versatile Gibbets for hang- ing cauldrons over the fire.h Perpendicula. Handles or chains, by which cauldrons were carried.i Copper and Brazen Vessels, tinned as a N. 62. b Grose. • Nichols's Progresses, 3. This was the common size of even public ovens. d Nichols, ubi supra. f Joinville, i. 409. e Nichols, ubi supra. Du Cange, v. Dressorum, Dretectorium. h Du Cange. iThus an old Poet in Du Cange, 64 Cum perpendiculo defert ancilla lebetim." now.k The Romans lined theirs with silver. Kitchen Towels.¹ Irons, in the fire-places for a prodi- gious number of spits and stoves.m Large Chopping-blocks." Massy wooden tables, hollowed out into a sort of basons, by way of kneading troughs for pastry." Poker and Tongs. Tongs, as now, but larger: the poker, called fire-forke, ended in a fork.P The process of malting is of classical antiquity; 9 and in the Brewhouses were coppers, mash-vats, leaden troughs (in- stead of wooden coolers), set in the ground or on curbes, &c.r In a Manuscript in the Ashmole Mu- seum, No. 1519. fol. 141. b. is the fol- lowing inventory of the minor culinary articles, viz. "In coquind, two pannes, a kettell, a littil pot, a bassen, a bassen with holis [i. e. a colander], a chawfer, a bras mortar and pestell, a chawfing dish, two spetis, a brandlet [and-iron], a skimmer, and a laddell of latten, xi platters, xi dishes, vii sawcers [sauce- pans], four potts, a great pann, ii rakis [racks], ii gridiryns, bufet, tongs, fire- forke [poker], tray, pott for sauces," Jack [with wheels in Dugd. Monast. Eccl. Coll. iii. 186.] Udalrick, in the customs of the Clugniacks, mentions sleeves used in the Kitchen, lest the shirts of the brethren should be dirtied; and gloves, that they might not burn their hands in moving the caldron on the fire. Ber- * Du Cange, v. Stagnatus. 1 Du Cange, v. Torsorium Culina. Britton's Architect. Antiq. ii. 78. P Id. ii. p. 99. • Ibid. a Du Cange, v. Torra. n Ibid. Du Cange, v. Tap-troughe. Warton's Sir T. Pope, 372. s Consuetud. 1. 2. The Nuns who cooked, had each a glass of wine on account of the work.* * Du Cange, v. Merus. KITCHEN. 277 • nard, speaking of the same Order, says, that the Kitchen was swept clean with brooms every Saturday after Nones or Vespers; and that, when the bell rung for putting on their shoes, the Monks walked into the Kitchen, to wash their hands and faces, and comb themselves.a Visitation injunctions order no one to enter the kitchen or cellar to eat there; b and the Sempringham rule for the Nuns the same, with dispensation only to the Præcentrix, to smooth the table, warm the ink, the Nuns Writers to dry the parchment, and the Sacrist to light the candle, or for other pur- poses (except the Cooks, or Infirmaress on duty); nor the former, when there was fire enough in the calefactory or common house. The wood for the Kitchen, water, herbs, and other neces- saries, were found by certain Lay-bro- thers and the Gardener, and the care of it was in the Nun-kitchener and Lay- sisters, who did the drudgery work.c A visitation injunction directs a hatche a Du Cange, v. Peripsima, Pexere. Et nullus coquinam seu cellarium ingredi audeat, aut in eis comedere. MS. ut. sup. f. 26. b. e Monast. ii. 768. 9. with iron spikes to be made, in order to prevent the entrance of strange people.d A servant of the Almoner's attended here daily to collect the alms.e Fat pigs were killed in the winter as now.f At St. Alban's there were fifty-three farms devoted to the Kitchen, every one of which was valued at forty-six shillings per annum. A certain part was devoted to nine carriers, who brought provisions from London; and the rest divided between the Cellarers of the Monks and the household. To these were added allowances from other manors; the odd or fifty-third week was devoted to the culinary uten- sils. Similar regulations obtained else- where. The above Abbey had also a house at Yarmouth to lay up fish, especially herrings, for the use of the Convent.g Our ancestors at Martinmas salted vast loads of provisions for winter. d Monast. ii. 896. e MS. Cott. Claud. B. vI. 204 a. f. More sues proprio mactat December adultos." Chroniques d'Idace MS. Notices, v. 231. (11th cent.) M. Paris, 1007, 1057. 278 BAKEHOUSE. CHAPTER LVI. BAKEHOUSE THE manner of preparing the Host is curious. The care of making it lay with the Infirmarer. The corn, if possible, was to be selected grain by grain. Then being put into a clean bag, made of good cloth, and used for this purpose only, it was carried to the mill by a servant of good character. When brought there, the servant saw that some other corn was ground first, that the flour for the Host might not be polluted with any fretts from the mill. When the flour was brought home, the Sacrist was to put a curtain round the vessel and place where the flour was to be boulted, and provide a trusty per- son to do this work. One of the ser- vants sprinkled the flour upon a very clean table with water, and moulded and kneaded it. The servant who held the irons, in which the Host was baked, had his hands covered with rochets; and also while the Host was making and baking; silence was also observed during the same processes. The man, however, who held the iron, might, if necessary, make short indica- tions to the servant who made the fire and brought the wood, which was to be very dry, and prepared on purpose many days before, a "The Host," says Du Cange," be- fore consecration was called Oblata " These Oblate, not consecrated, though blessed on the altar, were given by the Priest, before food in the Refectory, to those Monks who had not received the Sacrament. Oblatæ of this kind were in the earliest ages made in an iron mould, called by the French Oblie, of a small pattern, in the form of money: and these, as well as the Host, were a Tyndal's Evesham, p. 185. made of the purest flour by the Monks themselves, with stated ceremonies and prayers, in a mould, marked with cha- racters.b Sometimes pious matrons, whom they used to call Sanctimonia, undertook the office of making them, which was without leaven. These un- consecrated Oblatæ, there is reason to think, were sometimes placed upon the bosoms of the dead. They were baked in a clibanus, or oven. The Oblata was a name from thence given to very fine bread made of flour and water, baked at a fire, in iron presses. The Host, before consecration, was cut in the form of a cross, by an espe- cial knife,d and the vessels in which it was preserved made in the form of small towers." The Host was mys- tically tically divided into nine parts, called Gloria, &c.f It was deemed he- resy to make the Host of fermented bread.g Loaves called Eulogiæ, were conse- crated before taking food, or dinner, by Bishops and Priests, and sent to Friends or Visitors in token of Com- munion; they were also taken when parties had disagreed, and were recon- ciled. At Christmas the people offered loaves to the Priest, from Leviticus (chapter 22), "You shall offer two loaves to the Priest," &c. Loaves made in some countries in the form of a wedge, and composed of finer flour, eggs, and milk, were pre- sented at Christmas by Tenants to their Landlords.h b Ferramento characterato. Du Cange, v. Oblata. d Ibid. v. Lancea. f Ibid. v. Gloria. h Ibid. v. Panis. e Ibid. v. Turres. Ibid. v. Panis. www. GARDEN. 279 CHAPTER LVII. GARDEN. The THIS place had arbours, and abound- ed with fruit-trees and herbs proper for making salves." The Anglo-Saxon Gardens had cabbage-beds, commonly called wyrt-beds,b and the Gardener called Leac-weard, and Orceard-weard; whence leeks were probably much in use, and orchards not infrequent. Gardens made by the Romans were also preserved; d and the Anglo- Saxons much esteemed those in the su- burbs of towns.e Upon new building the latter, gardens were assigned to the tenements. Apples, Pears, Beans, and other esculents grew in them; g and pot-herbs [not allowed to be pick- ed upon Sunday] were plucked up by a wooden instrument. John of Salis- bury mentions Flower-gardens, and others viridaria, where trees and whole- some herbs were planted. Our ances- tors not only promenaded in their gar- dens, but played at chess in them; and slept in them, after dinner, in the open air, upon a pillow.m A walk in them after morning mass, or din- ner, was common. There were grass plats near houses, where the sick walked to have a purer air from the ex- halation of the flowers of the herbs." "This done," (Prime) says an old Monk, 66 we are sent to work in a gar- den, to work and delve for near two hours more ;" and I find orders, "that the Brothers do work in the gardens a Wart. i. 301. 455. c lbid. b Lye, v. Bedd. d X. Script. 1165. e X. Script. 1248. M. Paris, 993. Script. p. Bed. 515. b. Turner's Anglo-Saxons, iii. 63, 64. X. Scrip- tor. 2093. h Dugdale's Monast. i. 91. Du Cange, v. Areola - Florarium - Lilietum. For exercise or pleasure. XV. Script. 426. M. Paris, 682. ¹ J. Rous, 207. Neubrigens. p. 11. Script. p. Bed. 398. b. "Ibid. 155. b. • Desid. Curiosa, i. 231. m But from morning till Vespers."P these were peculiarities of certain orders; and the uses the Monks made of them, foreign to their obvious one, for esculents (and medical herbs), were to walk in; exhibit shows in them; and have drinkings and dis- courses there.s Gardens of Priors and Cellarers are mentioned; t and the Monks of Mailross had private gar- dens. The Visitors say to the Abbot, that they heard he permitted "from the year last past, his Monks to have portions," pensions, and private gardens, against their injunctions." The religious begged a dispensation for these indulgences, and promised to distribute the remainder of their por- tions, as seemed fit for them. Visitors permitted it upon these, among other conditions, that no one Monk should have more than another; that there should be no passage from gar- den to garden; and that they should not keep a servant beyond a year.x The garden had a cross in it.y The best fruit-trees in Scotland are found in the gardens of the religious houses, The P Ut fratres à mane usque ad vesperas faciant opera in ortis. MS. ut sup. 1519. f. 37. a. The house is styled S. Radgunde, of Præmonstraten- sians perhaps. According to the Statutes, adds the Visitation. Hist. Rames, C. lx. Ne fratres ad nuptias transeant (let not the Brothers atten weddings), sive gardinio spectacia de cætero exerceant (of Cokersand). MS. ut sup. p. 121. a. Burial grounds were the most usual places. See Archæol. xiii. 237. • Inhibemus potaciones sive discursus in ortis fieri. Id. MS. f. 37. a. X. Script. 2056. Monast. ii. 936. Parcels of tythes given to farm (Lyndw. 167.) Separate revenues. Monast i. 297. Ab anno jam elapso porciones, pensiones, ac hortos particulares, contra dictæ chartæ tenorem, &c. hoc tamen servato, quod nemo fratrum ultra aunum servitorem retineat. MS. Harl.2363. f. i—vi. y Warton's Hist. of English Poetry, i. p. 3016. 280 GARDEN. and they are all planted on circular causeways of flat grounds." Aubrey, speaking of the Nunnery of Kington St. Michael, co. Wilts, says, "In the old hedges belonging to this Priory, and in the hedge of the Priory Downe, are yet a great number of bar- berry trees, which it is likely the Nuns ■ Newte's Tour, p. 156. used for confection, which art they taught the young ladies that were brought up there: for in those dayes the women were bred at nunneries; no such school as Hackney or ** for women till since the Reforma- tion.b" b Britton's Beauties of Wilts, iii. 155. * ABBEY GATE-DOVECOTE, &c. 281 CHAPTER LVIII. ABBEY GATE-DOVECOTE, &c. THOMAS RUTHALL, Bishop of Durham, repaired the Abbey Gate, with the cell of the Porter, in which he slept, and over them made a Chapel, where all the Lay-men assembled twice a day to hear Mass, which was celebrated by Priests deputed by the Prior and Con- vent, and in the same building was a chamber in which the Priest slept.a This custom of Mass for workmen was not unusual elsewhere. Dovecote. This, at Bredsall, con- sisted of four hollow truncated hexago- nal cones, from a larger to a smaller size, placed one above another, and with a little turret at top.b They were distinct allocations. The Dovecote near the capital messuage of Tatter- wyke, called Turneyes Court, was let separately.c Besides the offices treated of in this a Angl. Sacr. i. 781. b Topograph. Miscel. vol. i. where is a plate of it. Registr. Abbat. de Bath. MS. Harl. 3970. and the preceding chapters, there were, Vaccaria, or Cow-house, under an of- ficer, subject to the Kitchener, where none were to go without the abbatial licence; d shoemakers' and other arti- ficers' shops; necessary and modern offices; stables, of which that for the guests at St. Alban's was large, to con- tain nearly 300 horses, which animals. the Monks kept in excellent condi- tion; (it had a lamp burning in it all night); bathing-houses; kilns, and others, of which the names alone explain the use, and it is needless for me to speak. d Sine abbatis licentiâ exeuntes ad vaccariam, sive ad alium quemcunque locum deinceps apos- tatas decrevimus. MS. Ashm. Mus. 1519. f. 71. b. Cow pastures were of great use in pro- viding aliments for the younger Monks. M. Par. 1002. Si malè administraveri de vaccatione [vac- carius], coquinario incumbit emendare. MSS. Cott. Claud. B. vi. p. 200. b. • M. Paris, 737. B. vi. f M. Paris, 1035. Athon. 143. pl. ap. Fuller, 282 SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMES. CHAPTER LIX. SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMES. DOUBLE Vestries adjoining the Altar are mentioned; in one, the garments and Ceimelia of the Church were pre- served; in the other, the priests at- tended to reading the sacred Books. What we should call Vestries were also the Secretaria or Sacristies, where Councils and Consistories were held, and the Priests sometimes resided. At Gloucester, the ancient Vestiary for the Church-robes is a series of stone closets, formed of Gothic arches front- ed with iron lattices, at one end of a transept; but the clothes of the Monks were, if not in their chambers in the Dormitory, certainly deposited in a place called Vestiaria, perhaps the same as the particular room, sometimes under the Dormitory, called Pisalis, and espe- cially used for a Wardrobe.a Eustathius, condemned in the Gan- gran Council, was the first Author of the vestments of Monks. The Hood and Tunick were intended to represent the six wings of the Cherubim, viz. the hood two, the sleeves two others, and the body part completed the number.c Notwithstanding varieties of fashion, the articles were but few, and by the following description every habit may be easily identified. Mantle or Cloak. A large mantle, like a modern dragoon's cloak, without sleeves.d A hood is commonly at- tached. It was the same in Nuns. (See the Plate, fig. 1.) Cowl, is simply a hood; but is ap- plied by Stevens, &c. to a gown, with large loose sleeves like a counsellor's gown. (See fig. 2.) Rochet. Simply two strips hanging before and behind (see fig. 3), open at the sides. See also Tabard, p. 284. Du Cange, v. Secretarium, Pisalis, Vestiaria. b Le Vau de Jacob, 827. Reyner, 76. D'Emilliane, 223, et alii. d Du Cange, v. Cuculla, culla. Scapulary, a sleeveless tunick, which sat close to the skine (see fig. 4), not- withstanding other definitions of it. It signified armour against the devil, and was given to the Monks that they might spare their cloaks, when at work.g Wimple. A dress covering the neck and coming close under the chin (see fig. 5). Of this hereafter, p. 284. Canon's Cap, see fig. 6. Tunicks. Under garments, in the fashion of shirts (sometimes with sleeves, like those of coats), only sitting closer to the body. They resembled a mail-jacket in form, the longer reach- ing to the ancles, the shorter to the knees. The Anglo-Saxon Monks wore both these under the cowl.h Frock, a long and ample gown with sleeves.i It mystically signified the protection of God.k Stamin. The Benedictines, instead of a penitentiary hair shirt, used what Davies calls Stamins, i. e. shirts made of woollen and linen. Perhaps it was the same same as the inner tunick; for some orders, as the Franciscan, wore only a woollen tunick next the skin.m Breeches. The Highland Campestre, or fillibeg, was probably the Celtick dress of the British Monks, for the Irish in the 14th century did not wear breeches." The fillibeg occurs in later orders, as do Stockings and Breeches in one piece among the Anglo-Saxon Monks, and Breeches. e Specimen Monachologiæ, Tab. ii. fig. 9 to 13. f D'Emilliane's Monastical Orders, p. 223. 8 Du Cange, v. Scapulare. h Strutt's Dresses, i. 65. Kirtles were kinds of tunicks often substituted for shirts. Id. ii. 349. Du Cange, v. Cuculla, culla. k D'Emilliane, ubi supra. 1 Du Cange, v. Staminea. m Specimen Monachologiæ, p. 20. n Froissart, x. 161. Specimen Monachologiæ, plates. O » Strutt, i. 65. Du Cange, v. Infirmitates. Franciscan, or Grey Frien 2.. Augustinian Eremite. 3. Premonstratensian Wonk Benedictine Monk 3. Dominican Tiin. 6. Augustinian Canon. Audinet sailp MONASTICK COSTUME. SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMES. 283 Stockings were usual.a Boots. Leathern Boot-stockings were worn by Cuthbert,b and they ap- pear to have given rise to all boots,c which were first substituted for Sotu- laria, fastened with thongs, in the 12th century at St. Alban's,d from superior convenience in more expeditious dress- ing, not soiling the hands in putting on, &c. The Abbot's boot, like the sign of the leg, was no doubt like that of Henry VI. engraved in Whitaker's Craven Deanery (p. 106), buttoned up the side as now gaiters. Shoes. Socks. Shoes occur in some orders, and Slippers or Socks made of felt, for day or night. The old Irish Monks wore Brogues.h Shoe-cleaning was strictly enjoined, and was done by a man on purpose, called Frico. The process merely consisted in washing them, and then applying soap, grease, or other unctuous materials.k Black- ing is first mentioned in the 16th cen- tury. We then hear of "a pair of pumps on his feet, with a cross, cut at the toes for corns, not nue indeed, but cleanly blakt with soot, and shining like a shoeing horn." It was proba- bly brought from Italy: for it is said, that the shoes of the Neapolitan Fac- tors upon the exchange in London shone with blacking.m Clogs. Pattens or ironed Socks, from noise, were forbidden to certain ca- nons,n ‚n and Bishop Jewel mentions some Monks and Friars stalking upon patens.o Pattens were not usually worn by men.P One Rule orders wooden clogs, lest the bed-clothes should be soiled by dirty feet. Knife. Among the Grandmontines Du Cange, v. Pedules. b Id. v. Tibrucus. e Id. v. Osa. d M Paris, 1044. Specimen Monachologiæ, Tab. iii. fig. 7. f Du Cange, v. Nocturnales, Diurnales. g Sometimes at least. Du Cange, v. Feltrum, Veltro. i Id. v. Frico. h Id. v. Fico. * XV. Scriptor. 260. Du Cange, v. Sapo-Sevum. 1 Nichols's Progresses, ii. 31. m Howell's Letters, 55. n Du Cange, v. Patinus. • Defence of his Apology, p. 322. Antiq. Repert. ii. 275. Du Cange, v. Cuspus. it was worn with a steel, and without ornament.r Folding knives are an- cient.s Comb. We hear of ivory combs,t but the Grandmontine were to be of horn, and the case of small value." Among the Romans they were made of box or ivory; and both among them, and in the middle ages, they were adorned with bas-reliefs between the rows of teeth, which were, as now, of unequal size,y sometimes with only studs. The ancient Germans made combs of horse-tail.aa The Britons had combs.bb The ivory was partly gilt in some instances,cc and that material formed the comb used by the Clerks and Monks before officiating at Mass.dd St. Neot's comb was two fingers broad, made of a small bone, with the teeth of fish, inserted like those of the jaws of the sea-wolf.ee We also hear of a "faire kemb, with a spoonge deintly dipt in a little capon's grease," which made the hair shine, like a mallard's wing.ff Neglect of combing the hair was deem. ed by the Romans a token of military bravery,gg and it was not usual here every day till the Anglo-Norman times,hh except among the Danes, who were great fops in this respect. After- wards it was deemed a great luxury to have the hair combed, and thought essential to have it well done.kk mm Handkerchief Of Roman" and An- glo-Saxon origin, was worn on the left side."n Needle-case, occurs in the Grand- Marteni Anecdota, iv. Col. 1234. Du Cange, v. Investitura. t Id. v. Pecten. u Marten, ubi supra. Martial, Apophor. xxv. Juven. v. s. 14. l. 195. Montfaucon, Supplem. iii. c. 5. Archæologia, Strutt's Dresses, pl. xci. xv. pl. xli. aa Plin. ix. 45. bb Nennius in XV. Scriptor. 108. ce Id. 229. 781. dd Du Cange, v. Pecten, &c. ee Leland's Collect. iii. 13. ff Nichols's Progresses, i. 30. gg Juven. ubi supra. hh Eadm. 23. ii Joinville, i. 350. Froissart, v. 21. kk Du Cange, v. Pecten. Apul. Oper. ii. 57, 59, 60. Ed. Biss. Suet. in Nero, xxii. Juvenal, iv. Sat. xi. v. 193. mm Du Cange, v. Facitergium, Sudarium, Muc- cinium, &c. nn Fuller's Church Hist. B. vi. p. 290. Du Cange, v. Mappula. 284 SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMES. montine rule before quoted. It was usual for all persons to carry them, in order to take up loose stitches, &c.a Girdles, ought to have been leather straps, sometimes mere ropes. There was great abuse in wearing fur or silk girdles, adorned with gold or silver.b Reliquaries. Relicks enclosed in little crosses, boxes, &c. were divided by the Sacrist, among the Monks, to be worn suspended from the neck.c Tippets. Tippets were garments of both sexes, worn about the neck, which, though often narrow, in the end became so large, that they soon sup- plied the place of mantles.d Tabards, were garments covering the front of the body and back, but open on both sides :e it is difficult to distin- guish this robe from the Rochet, which was sometimes without sleeves, and open on the sides. Indeed the Rochet was only a sleeved Tabard sewed up a short way under the arm-pits.f Head-coverings. Among the Monks this was the hood, but Canons had a particular caps or bonnet, resembling that worn by the Scots.h Strutt's Dresses, pl. 132. b Zonam de serico cum apparatu argenteo. MS. Harl. 1005, f. 69. b. Forbidden, MS. Harl. 328, f. 9. and by canons. c Du Cange, v. Nuxa, Capsa. d Strutt's Dresses, ii. 377. e Id. p. 151. f Id. 373 and plates. This was an ancient difference of costume from Monks. Reyner, 76. h St. Louis fastened his bonnet with a ribband, tied in a bow in front; whence originated Cockades. Maillot, iii. 109, pl. xxxv. f. 2. Tonsure. The Tonsure signified the crown of thorns worn by our Saviour, and also denoted humility, and the service of God, slaves being shorn;k but though the Westerns used a small circle of short hair round the head, called the Tonsure of St. Peter, some orders had dropped it in the 14th cen- tury. Various Tonsures appear: 1. The hair preserved with only a bald spot upon the crown of the head. 2. A bristly head with a small circle. 3. Shorn, with a hemisphere of hair. 4. Shorn, with a continuous circle of hair. 5. Shorn, with an interrupted circle.m The Nuns had similar habits, except in some rules. Pilches, i. e. Petticoats, and Veils. Wimples. The first is well known; the latter is the habit which comes up to the chin, and covers the bosom. The two were sometimes united; sometimes one was substituted for the other.o The Wimple, accord- ing to Strutt, appeared about the 12th century.p i D'Emilliane, ubi supra. k Maillot, Costumes, iii. 16. 1 Id. iii. 16. 139. m Specimen Monachologiæ, Tab. i. fig. 1 to 5. See Reyner, 112. From Pellicium, a garment made of skins, or furs, but the skins of lambs or sheep only allowed to the nuns. The same as Tippets in the first co- lumn of this page. Strutt, pl. 40. Cotgrave, v. Guimple. P Maillot, iii. 118, 121, 134, 175. 1 3 2 SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMES. 285 was not observed. See p. 293. In the preceding Plate, Fig. 1, is St. | precious stones for Bishops. This law Radegonde from Mezeray in Maillot (vol. iii. pl. iii. fig. 7), to illustrate the Veil and Wimple of a British Nun in the sixth century. Fig. 2, is St. Bathilde in the seventh century, from the same Writers (vol. iii. pl. vi. fig. 5), for the like illustration. Fig. 3, is a Hermit's Costume, from a wood-cut in the Golden Legend, printed in 1503. In a Manuscript communicated by Mr. Nichols is the following passage concerning Abbots' Mitres. When Ab- bots began to wear the Mitre, the Bishops complained bitterly, that their privileges were invaded by the Monks, and they were shocked, above all, that there was no distinction between them in the Councils and Synods. On this occasion, Pope Clement IV. ordered that Abbots should wear the Mitre embroidered with gold only, and leave There were great abuses of dress among the Monasticks, but two singu- larities shall only be adduced. The first is mentioned by Petrarch, and in part- at least applies to the religious. "Who can see," says he, "with patience, hoods with wings, peruques with tails toupees; men frizzed up with ivory- headed pins, such as the women put in their hair; and bellies confined with stays (ressorts), a species of torture which was imposed on the martyrs?" a Aldhelm, speaking of Nuns, says, that they had not only Acus Discriminales, or Hair-bodkins, but Trinkets hanging from the neck, ornamented with cres- cents, set with jewels, and smelling- bottles, or boxes. The excesses of the Monks are regularly catalogued by Reyner, and the secular Clergy are thus reprobated in an old song: C "Ye poope holy Prestis full of presumpcion, With your wyde furrid hodes, voyd of discretion, Unto your owyn preching of contrary condicion, Which causith the people to lesse devocion. "Avaunced by symony in cetees and townys, e Make shorter your taylis and broder your crownis, Leve your short stuffide doubelettes and your pleyted gownis, And kepe your own howsing, and passe not your boundis."d The names of the Monks were sewed in their frocks, hoods, shirts, and breeches; and the clothes were also pronounced in danger of being cor- rupte and spylte by reason of moths, or any other chaunse, if they were not beaten and layde abrode." The old ones were given to the poor, or sold if the Convent was in debt. According to Wolsey's Decretals, the garments were to be cleaned by some of the Ca- nons, and a fuller on purpose; and the washing was done by a lay-brother, a Memoires, iii. 675. b Olfactoriola Nardi. Du Cange (v. Matricu- larii) has the passage. C Append. 105. d MS. Harl. 372, fol. 113. e Custumale Roffense, 31, 32. f MS. Bodl. 3010 (De vitâ Monachorum). * Lyndw. 205. suited to this work. The admission of women for washing has been already mentioned, as well as the Taylor's shop for mending. By the Gilbertine Rule the washing and mending were to be done by the Lay-sisters.i Instead of ironing, the clothes were polished by a glass cylinder, called a Lischa.k Heated irons are recent. Large stones inscribed with a Scripture text were used about the reigns of Eli- zabeth and the first James.I One of these was in the Museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever. Dugdale's Monast. ii. 566. i Fol. 720, 762. * Du Cange, in voce. Whitaker's Craven Deanery, p. 401. Note. 286 SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMES. Articles of Clothing belonging to the several Orders.a Augustinian Canons. A white tunick, with a linen gown under a black cloak, and a hood covering the head, neck, and shoulders. See the Plate, p. 282, fig. 6.) The costumes of France and Eng- land were the same, at least till after the twelfth century.b In the ninth century the Canons were almost all shorn, and wore a mantle and two tu- nicks, one down to the heels, the upper only to the mid-leg: between the two the stole went round the neck; and in their hands they carried the orarium.c Augustinian Canoness. In the Plate, (p. 282, fig. 5) she has a long cowl, hood, and wimple; a short upper tu- nick or rochet, over a long one. Augustinian Eremite. In the house, a white tunick, and scapulary over it. In the Choir or out of doors, a sleeved cowl and large hood, both black; the hood round before, and hanging to the waist in a point, girt with a black lea- ther thong. (See the Plate, p. 282, fig. 2.) [Thus Steevens: the cowl is the gown, which is the costume of hermits in the cuts of the Golden Legend. (See the Plate, p. 284, fig. 3.) In the Spe- cimen Monachologiæ, they wear a black round quinque partite cap; naked neck; fillibeg, instead of breeches; slippers; black cloth tunick, tied with a black thong; hood, as before, a black mantle down to the thighs, and woollen shirt.]d Augustinian Eremite Nun. A hood black; white wimple; and black long tunick, tied with a black thong. Benedictines. "As for the habits of the Monks," says Steevens, "they were left to the discretion of the Ab- bots, according to the nature of the country, as it was either hotter or colder. In temperate climates a cowl The authority, where not otherwise expressed, is Steevens's Translation of Dugdale's Monasticon. b Maillot, iii. 66. c Id. pl. xiv. d P. 24. and a tunick were sufficient; the cowl thicker for winter and thinner for sum- mer; and a scapular to work in. The scapular was the upper garment during the time of labour, which was put off, and the cowl worn during the rest of the day. Every one had two tunicks and two cowls, either to change at night or to wash them. The stuff they were made of was the cheapest the country afforded. To the end, that no man might have any property, that is, any thing he could call his own, the Abbots found them all with every thing that was necessary, that is, besides the habit, a handkerchief, a knife, a needle, a steel pen, and tablets to write. Their beds were a mat, a straw bed, a piece of serge, a blanket, and a pillow. "St. Benedict did not decide of what colour the habit should be; but it ap- pears by ancient pictures, that the gar- ment the first Benedictines wore was white, and the scapular black. That scapular was not of the same shape, that those of the same order do use at present. It was more like the jerkins worn by mariners, saving that it was not open before, but only a little in the sides. That sort of garment had been long before the common garment of the poor and of peasants." See the Plate, p. 282, fig. 4.) [Thus Steevens: but in the ancient Benedictines, he has for- gotten a coif upon the head. The Specimen Monachologiæ clothes the Benedictine Monk in breeches; a black woollen robe, covering the whole body and feet; hood loose, obtuse, oval, and broad; scapulary plain, of the breadth of the abdomen; girdle broad; a black cowl descending to the ancles; inner tunicks in general black; shirt narrow at the wrist.]e But in the house the Monk lays aside the hood, girds his scapulary, and wears a crested or two- fold cap on the head.f Benedictine Nun. A black robe, with a scapular of the same, and under the black robe, a tunick of wool that has not been dyed; others wear the tunick Maillot, iii. 14. f Id. 15. SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMES. 287 quite white. In the choir, or upon so- lemn occasions, they wear over all a black cowl, like that of the Monks. Thus Steevens. [A black veil and white wimple, as in the Plate, p. 282, fig. 5.]a Brigettine Nun and Friers. The sis- ters had two shifts of white coarse woollen, one to wear, and the other to wash ; a tunick of coarse grey woollen, a cowl of the same, and a mantle made fast with a wooden button, which mantle in the winter was lined with lamb-skins. For their head attire they had a caul or coif covering their fore- heads, and coming down close to the cheeks, fastened on the top of the head with a pin over that coif or hood a veil of black cloth, fastened with three pins, and on the black veil a crown or circle of white linen, with five small red pieces on it [for the five wounds of Christ], which crown was also pinned on. The Friers had two shirts of white coarse woollen, a tunick of coarse grey woollen, a cowl of the same, to which was attached a hood and a mantle on the left side of it. The Priests wore a red cross in memory of our Saviour's passion, and in the midst of the cross a bit of white cloth in form of a host, in memory of the Holy Sacrifice which they daily offered. The Deacons wore a white circle, to represent the wisdom of the Fathers of the Church; and on that circle four red pieces of the form of fiery tongues; and the Lay-brothers a white cross to betoken innocence, in which were five little red pieces for the five wounds of Christ. Carmelites. Their first habit was white, as well as their mantles, of which the bottom was laced thick with many yellow bands; an ornament sup- pressed by Honorius IV. They then assumed the robe of the Minims, and a white mantle. In the Speci- men Monachologiæ, the costume is breeches, a tunick, and white mantle, with loose hood of the length of the a Maillot, iii. 15. b Id. P. 116. c P. 27. tunick, another tunick shorter, a linen shirt, and woollen under-waitcoast. The Carmelite Nun, besides her head, veiled her face, and in the choir wore a longer cowl than the Friars.d Carthusians. Their bed, says Stee- vens, is to be straw, and on it a felt or coarse cloth; their pillow a covering of the coarsest sheep-skins and cloth; their clothing two hair-cloths, two cowls, two pair of hose, cloak, &c. all coarse. Cistercians. Their habit was a white robe in the nature of a cassock, with a black scapular and hood; their garment was girt with a black girdle of wool: in the Choir they had over it a white cowl, and over it a hood, with a rochet hanging down round before to the waist, and in a point behind to the calf of the leg; and when they went abroad they wore a cowl and a great hood, all black; which was also the Choir habit. The Lay-brothers were clad in dark colour, their scapular hung down about a foot in length before, and was rounded at the bottom. Their hood was like that which the Priests wore over their cowl, excepting the differ- ence of the colour. In the Choir, they wore a cloak or mantle reaching to the ground, of the same colour as the habit. The Novices, who were clerks, wore the same habit in the Church, but it was all white. Their scapular was not of the same length in all places; for some- times it reached only half way down the thigh, in others to the mid-leg, or even to the heels. Cistercian Nuns. A white tunick, a black scapular and girdle. In the Choir, most of them wore cowls, others only mantles. The habits of the Lay-sisters were of a dark colour. The Noviciates were clad in white. [Add a black veil and white wimple.] Clugniacks. A large full-sleeved cowl; a hood down to the elbows; a rochet or tabard from the chin to the feet, over a long tunick. Dominicans. A white woollen tunick, d Specimen Monachologiæ, p. 29. 288 SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMEs. bound with a thong; a hood; a white collar; a long black woollen cowl, when they went out, with a hood and pectoral bill, and a dorsal black, covering the inner white dress. Inner vestments chiefly white. The Lay-brothers had no cowl, and never laid aside the hood and black scapulary. except a black The Dominican Nun, veil, had the same habit. The Nun in the Plate (p. 282, fig. 5.) has the arms crossed upon the bosom. This was the posture of a Priest, and occurs in va- rious images of the Middle Age. Franciscans, or Grey Friers, from their habit; a long grey coat down to their heels, with a hood; see the Plate, p. 282, fig. 1.) girdle of cord; and were under an obligation of wearing cloth next to their very skin night and day.d Steevens says, from the Rule, that the Habit of Probation was two tunicks without a hood, a girdle, breeches, and cloak to the waist, unless God upon any occasion thought good to order it otherwise. When the year of Probation was expired, they were to have one tunick with a hood, and ano- ther without a hood, if they would have them. Upon necessity, they were to be shod, but to adopt mean habits, and even mend them with sacks and scraps. In the Specimen Monachologiæ,e they have no breeches, a tunick, a moveable hood, with an appendage, pendent be- fore and behind, hanging below a white linen robe; no scapular; but a cloak, hanging below the loins, fastened at the bosom with a bone fibula. No shirt, only a woollen under waistcoat. The tunick was full of pockets for receiving edibles, &c. for they were called Men- dicants because pretending to Evange- lical perfection, and begged from door to door.f The Franciscan Nun, or Minoress or Poor Clare, wore a black veil, but otherwise imitated the males.g a Sack, says Steevens, was given them because they wore garments made like sacks, or from their scapulary being made of the same sort of coarse cloth as sacks; but their true name was Friers of the Penance of Jesus Christ. Their Habit was made like that of the Capuchins. They went bare legged and had only wooden sandals on their feet. [The head was partially shorn; but they retained the beard and mustachoes on their upper lips. Neck and posteriors naked; a tunick, hood (funnel formed) no scapulary. Thus the Specimen Monachologiæ h of Capuchins; but the tunick in Steevens is surmounted with a tabard of different colours. They are said to have had pockets in the hood, and under the arms.] i The following beastly practices are mentioned of the Capuchins: "Tunica replicata, absque impedimento cacat et mingit, anum fune abstergit." And again: "Aurum et argentum non tangit, sed venatur pediculos, quibus vexatur et quos non occidit."k The Capuchin Nun had an upper veil black; the lower white; naked neck; on the breast a white handkerchief.1 In Steevens, the Nun of the Order of Penance has the veil as above; a narrow half mantle only behind, a girdle, tu- nick, and bare feet with wooden clogs. Gilbertines. The garments of the Canons were to be three tunicks, one coat of full grown lamb-skins, and a white cloak sewed before, four fingers in breadth, and having furs to put on if the cloak were not furred, and hood lined with lamb-skins, and two pair of stockings; a pair of woollen socks, and day-shoes and night-slippers; as also a linen cloak for divine service. At time of work they had a white scapulary. Their beds like the Cistercian Monks. -Exceptions were made in the case of donation of habits. The Prior and Cellarer had boots, Friers of the Sack. The name of the reaching a little above their knees to ride Specimen Monachologiæ, p. 16-18. b M. Paris, 720. Somner's Canterbury, pp. 99, 100. d Collectanea Anglo-Minoritica, p. 2. • P. 20. f Somner's Canterbury, 99, 100. Specimen Monachologiæ, p. 21. in; the Dorterer kept two or three other pairs of boots for the use of such at rode out, who were to restore them at their re- h Specimen Monachologiæ, p. 22. iSpecimen Monachologiæ, 22. 1 Ibid. * Id. 22, 23. SACRISTY-VESTIARY-COSTUMES. 289 turn. All the shoes of the Canons were of red leather, and of a moderate height. Gilbertine Nuns. Five tunicks; three for labour, and two large, i. e. cowls to wear in the Cloister, Church, Chapter, Refectory, and Dormitory, and a `sca- pulary for labour. All had a coat of lamb-skins, and a shift of coarse cloth if they would, and black linen caps. All cloths for their hoods were black and coarse, and so their veils. The Common Premonstratensians. Habit was not inelegant, viz. a tunick girt round the waist, a leaf-formed hood, and head-part to throw back; and a bonnet in fashion at the end of the eleventh century. (See the Plate, p. 282, fig. 3.) Trinitarians. The Rule says, they were to have white woollen vestments; and a pilch and breeches each, which they were not to put off in bed. They were not to have feather beds, only pil- lows. In the Specimen Monacholo- giæ, the costume is a hemispherical tonsure, a fillibeg, white woollen tunick tied with a black thong, a loose white hood, with a short round pectoral hang- ing before, a longer pointed dorsal be- hind. A close scapulary shorter than the tunick. A mantle and hood, besides that of the tunick. The scapulary and left side of the mantle marked with a red and blue cross, a shirt and wool- len vest. When one of this Order went abroad, he fed only upon tripe. "The husband, whose home," says Baron Bozn, "a Tri- nitarian Monk frequented, should re- member the horned stag, who always accompanied the fathers of the species, John de Matha and Felix a Valois, and warned all of their impending danger."c Knight Templar. The following ac- count is from Nichols's Leicestershire, iii. p. 943. "As for their habit on their heads, they wore linen coifs (like to the Ser- jeants at Law) and red caps close over them; on their bodies shirts of mail, and swords girded unto them with a c Maillot, iii. p. 71, 72, pl. xxii. fig. 4. Dugd. Monast. ii. 830. Specimen Monachologiæ, 25, 26. broad belt; over all which they had a white cloak reaching to the ground, with a red cross on the left shoulder, partly to the end that having such a triumphal figure instead of a buckler, they should not flee from any infidel, whilst they were armed with so great a protection, and that to the intent they might be distinguished from other re- ligious persons; and that they used to wear their beards of a great length (whereas most other religious orders shaved), appears from the testimony of King Edward II. made in behalf of an eminent servant in his court. The King, &c. "Since our beloved servant Peter Auger, bearer of these presents, has made a vow, that he will not shave his beard, until he has made a pilgrim- age in a certain place in foreign parts, and the said Peter is afraid that some persons, by reason of his long beard, will take him for a Templar and use him ill; we therefore grant him this testimony, that he never was a Tem- plar, only a servant of our chamber, and only wears a long beard for the reason before stated." Maillot says, "The Templars at first used without distinction all colours in their dress, differing in that from the religious, whom they did not distin- guish from the Templars but by the colour; but the Council of Troyes, in 1146, when they adopted the rule com- posed by Bernard, ordered that they should wear the white cross as well as the cloak, to which Eugene III. added a red cross; which cloak descended almost to the feet. Upon the head they wore a cap, like a salade or bowl- scull cap. The long beard a l'orientale was the distinctive mark of this Order; and their standard was half black, half white.d Knights Hospitalers. Pope Honorius III. assigned to them for their dress, a black mantle with a white cross in the fore-part thereof. The rest of the dress, consists of a chapeau in the he- raldick form, a surcote, and mail, and plated armour mixed, with a long sword and belt round the waist. d Costumes, 123, pl. 38. f. 11. Nichols's Leicestershire, vol. iii. U 290 ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. CHAPTER LX. CURIOUS AND SELECT COSTUMES OF VARIOUS ECCLESIASTICKS. The following interesting Chapter was kindly contributed by an intelligent and industrious Artist; who sedu- lously applied the labours of a long professional life to the study of our National Antiquities, and more es- pecially those which relate to our Ecclesiastical and Monastic Remains. It being understood that I had de- voted much of my time to the study of our ancient Costume, civil, military, ecclesiastical, and regal, by sketches (pencilled drawings taken from the ori- ginals on the spot, and afterwards made into finished drawings,) done from such remains, exemplified in sculptures, paintings, and brasses, I was referred to, by my old and worthy friend Mr. Nichols, in order to make some select drawings for the Ecclesiastical Cos- tumes, with explanations; which are submitted in the following Plates, en- graved by Mr. James Basire, junior, under my superintendence and cor- rections. J. CARTER. SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH ECCLESI- ASTICAL COSTUME, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD DOWN TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, SELECTED FROM SCULPTURES, PAINTINGS, AND BRASSES REMAINING IN THIS KINGDOM. Among the various selections from our antiquities, in series arranged chro- nologically, that of Ecclesiastical Cos- tume has not hitherto engaged parti- cular attention. Whether the pursuit has not interested any exploratory hand, or that such subjects are held as too much connected with the original reli- gion of the country, from an over- zealous study on the features thereof raising an interest incompatible with the present orthodox precepts of the Established Church, it is rather difficult to determine. With impartial minds, not swayed by bigoted impressions, such ideas must give way to more useful study, guided by the opinion that every line of information, whether it squares exactly with our real senti- ments, must impart something that merits notice; no part of science should be avoided, or lost; and surely, that vestige, which once rendered this land magnificent, if it deserves no other appellation, ought to engage attention. On such grounds, therefore, the present Collection is submitted; not alone to exhibit the variety of Habits worn at different periods, but as examples of the Progress of the Arts of Sculpture, Painting, &c. then prevailing. And it may be asserted that our ancestors were conspicuously eminent for more enlightened ideas than those of Laws and Arms, which seem to be all the mental gifts allowed them, though their descending gigantic and splendid works of Architecture are standing in majestic state still before us. Why therefore not give them credit for possessing every other gift enriching the human sense then, as well as now, by those who live? To think or maintain opi- nions to the contrary, is to pass but a cold compliment on the capabilities of Englishmen at any period! Thus pre- mising, we enter on the main purpose of the ensuing objects, which is to re- store, though in the smallest degree, a regular representation of Antient Reli- gious Costume, in aid of historical in- formation, both in Literature and the Arts, before the originals are oblite- rated from the public eye, by disfigure- ment or utter annihilation. CLASS I. 1 cod 10000 Wilmsbury 175 Walmsbury. Winchester 103. Norwich 1100. In Jaxon M. Scerca 1006. In Jaxon M.I British Museur Pastre st CLASS 5600 Rochester lig Peterborough. Peterborough. Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire. Llandaff, 1120. Durham 1154 ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. 291 CLASS I. Figure, Malmesbury, anno 675. among others of the Apostles, in basso relievo, of St. Peter, in the south porch of the Abbey-Church of Malmsbury, Wiltshire. Sketched 1801. Saxon work. The double keys in the right hand (head of the church), book with jewels of the New Testament (suppose) in the left; the robes are becoming, and well disposed; jewels on the border of the neck; feet bare. Malmesbury. Figure of a Religious in basso relievo on door-way at the entrance into the church; the dress is the simple Monk's habit, Hood, &c. Winchester, 963. Figure of a Bishop, in basso-relievo on the fonta (Saxon work) in the Cathedral. Sketched 1790. The Sculpture is not by the best hand: but the Costumic information imparted supersedes that consideration; crosier extremely simple (shepherd's crook); mitre simple also and low; outer robe enriched with beads, and diagonal em- broidery; under diagonals maniple beaded. Norwich. 1100. Statue of a Bishop in a niche on West front of the Cathe- dral. (Saxon.) Sketched 1786.b Cro- sier, meer crook; no mitre; robes not enriched; right hand giving the bene- diction. In a Saxon MS. circa 1066, in pos- session of of F. Douce, Esq. Sketched 1787. Figure of a Bishop; pastoral staff, cross on top has four beads; mitre very high, a few beads and jewels; robes not enriched; the colours express for the outer robe a gold ground, under robe red; extreme under robe white, with a gold fringe; red boots. In a Saxon MS. in the British Mu- seum. Sketched 1810. Figure of a female; the lines in ink tinged with red. Understood to represent St. Mary Magdalene with the vessel of precious ointment: attitude chaste, robes ele- gant, and drawing excellent. The font engraved in Carter's "Antient Ar- chitecture." b Engraved with the niche in Carter's "Antient Architecture." CLASS II. Rochester, 1109. Statue in a niche on West front of the Cathedral. (Sax- on.) Sketched 1783. In this statue the head of crosier, mitre, and right hand restored; neck, border of outer robe beaded; on the breast a broach; under robe ornamented; extreme under robe, reticulated ornament; right hand giving the benediction. Peterborough. Statue lying in South aile of the Choir of the Cathedral. Sketched 1783. Cannot give precise date, as the sculpture is not now dis- posed on any sepulchral memorial or tomb; appears to have been brought from some other situation; supposed however to be of early work, that is, soon after the Conquest, as the sculp- ture is Saxon, therefore introduced in this place. Crosier, the simple crook; no mitre; book in left hand; robes plain. Peterborough. No date. Statue lying with the foregoing; of course to be ac- counted for in the same way. Crosier, simple crook; no mitre; outer robe, embroidered with a centrical cross; rich foliage on the breast; in left hand a book with clasps. No Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire. date; but supposed, from the mode of sculpture, requisite to be brought for- ward at this juncture. Sketched 1803. A Priest in plain robes, but with an inverted cross embroidered centrically; supposed officiating, and holding be- tween the hands the consecrated wafer in the shape of a heart. Llandaff. 1120. Statue on West front of the Cathedral. Sketched 1803. A good performance; crosier, the simple crook; mitre plain, as are the robes; right hand giving the benediction. Durham. 1154. Figure of a Bishop painted on the side of the altar of our Ladie of Pitie in the Gallilee at West front of the Cathedral. Sketched 1795. Crosier, little more than the simple crook, is painted to represent gold; mitre, gold, has a few jewels with de- pending drapery; outer robe red, jewels U 2 292 ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. on neck border and bottom; under robe blue; extreme under robe white; shoes white; right hand giving the benediction. CLASS III. Lichfield. No date. Statue of a Bishop in the Cathedral. Judged, from the mode of sculpture and Costume, to be of the above period. Sketched 1782. Crosier, crook; foliaged dra- pery depending from the staff: robes plain, except a jewel on the breast, though full and graceful; gloves; right hand giving the benediction. 1 York. No date. Figure of a Bishop | painted on the walls of the Chapter- house of Cathedral. Sketched 1790. Since obliterated. Judged, from mode of dress, to be of the above period. Staff has a cross gilded with its depend- ing drapery; mitre, few jewels, gilded; outer robe green edged with gold, open in front and fastened with a brooch on the breast; under robe white, with at- tached brown drapery on each side; white gloves and shoes; right hand giving the benediction. Wells. No date. Statue of a Bishop in the Cathedral. Sketched 1784. Judg- ed to be of the above period; has no sepulchral memorial; said to have been brought from the Abbey-church of Glas- tonbury. Crosier foliaged; mitre plain; outer robe plain; on left arm the ma- niple; right hand on the heart, an em- blem of Truth. Hexham, Northumberland. No date. Statue of Prior Richard on North side of Choir of the Abbey church. Sketch- ed 1795. Judged to be of the above period. Robes are those of a Priest, and plain; hood drawn over the face; attitude, devotional. The statue is laid on a low tomb. Ingham, Norfolk. No date. Figure of a Bishop seated, painted on board in a series of historical subjects in the Church. Sketched 1787. Apprehend still of the same period. Mitre, few jewels and gilded; outer robe blue, and gold edges, with the like foliage em- broidered at neck; under robe red edged with gold fringe; depending gold foliage and tassels; extreme under robe white; white gloves and black shoes. Attitude, devotional. Connington, Huntingdonshire. No date. Statue of a Knight in ring ar- mour, over the armour a Monk's habit. Sketched 1798. The above date going on. Girdle is the knotted cord. Atti- tude, devotional. The singularity as well as the curious turn of the sculp- ture (and it is believed no other exam- ple exists), is that of a Warrior being thus habited; but the intent is obvious; a military man retires into a Monas- tery, where, notwithstanding having taken the order, he is so biassed to his former life, as to be unable to put aside his warlike accoutrements. CLASS IV. Louterell Psalter; circa 1300. most beautiful and Costumic illumi- nated folio MS. in the possession of Thomas Weld, Esq. of Lulworth Cas- tle, Dorsetshire. The variety of dresses, suiting all degrees of persons, are in- finite and interesting; from among which is selected this ecclesiastical ob- ject, a female as a Lady Abbess. Co- pied 1793. Crosier, foliaged crook gild- ed; outer robe, black; under robe, wimple, and shoes white; attitude, giv- ing the benediction, but with the left hand. Query, if such was the practice with religious women? Louterell Psalter. Priests officiating, by chanting part of the service from a book sustained on the Eagle desk. The principal Priest has a blue reticulated outer robe lined with red; white under robe. Other Priests, in white robes. St. Cross. 1382. Brass in the Church of the Hospital of St. Cross, near Win- chester. Sketched 1789. It represents the figure of John de Campden, grand vicar and confidential friend of the il- lustrious William of Wickham, and master of this hospital. The outer robe has an enriched diamond-formed bor- der; attitude, devotional. CLASS 111. 1 111 arte del Fitchfield. York. Wells. Hexham. Ingham. Connington. CLASS IV. Souterell Psalter Fouterell Psalter. St Cros 1382. Dorchester Beer 1 Wensley St Albans. Beverly Exxerer 1397 ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. 293 Dorchester. No date. Supposed, from mode of work, to belong to this class. Small statues attached to the mullions of the South window in Choir of the Abbey-church of Dorchester near Ox- ford. Sketched 1793. They represent a funeral procession, said to be that of St. Berinus, patron of the Church. In order to accommodate the several fi- gures to the space allotted in the plate, they are necessarily brought closer to- gether than seen in the existing sculp- ture. First statue, Priest with holy water sprinkler and ditto vessel. Se- cond statue, bearing the processional cross. Third and fourth statues with books; fifth and sixth statues bear on their shoulders parts of the staves which sustained the body in a coffin, or shrine of St. Berinus, which, of course by ignorant hands, foes to antient art, has been destroyed. Seventh statue, Bi- shop or Abbot officiating, with plain crosier and mitre, in the attitude of reciting some portion of the solemn service. Eighth, ninth, and tenth sta- tues, Priests following with books, &c. This mode of funeral observance has been most scrupulously adhered to, and brought down to the present times among Catholicks, which I have often witnessed, and particularly so, Monday Jan. 28, 1793, being the Monday after the horrid Martyrdom of Lewis XVI. when his funeral obsequies were cele- brated in the Spanish chapel, Manches- ter square. The Bishop of Limoges, who had been tutor to the unfortunate Monarch, read the awful ceremonial.. CLASS V. Sawtry All Saints, Huntingdonshire. Brass half-length figure of a Priest, (with the flagellarium,) in the church. No date. Conceive from the Costume, to be of the period under discussion. Sketched 1798. Durham. Statue placed (as lumber,) in a disused Chapel in basement story of the Bishop's Palace. Sketched 1795. It is crowned, which is an extraordi- nary circumstance, unless it is to be considered as an allusion to the princely jurisdiction which the Bishop of this See maintains. The robes are full and stately; the right arm probably, when perfect, shewed the hand giving the benediction: what object the left hand sustained it is difficult to form any conjecture. * Wensley. No date. Brass figure of a Priest in Wensley Dale Church, Yorkshire. Sketched 1790. Costume appears still in continuation for this æra. Robes express the full officiating detail, and highly enriched, the under one particularly so. Attitude, devo- tional; hands crossed, which uphold the chalice. St. Alban's. Brass in the Abbey- church. Sketched 1783. Supposed of Thomas de la More, Abbot 1396. Cro- sier much foliaged and studded with jewels, as is the mitre [see p. 285]; the enrichment of the border to the robes, maniple, &c. a mixture of circles and diamond forms. Depending deco- ration over the under robe has com- partments of four turns; shoes en- riched. Attitude, devotional; hands crossed. Beverley. No date; yet supposed of this æra. Sketched 1790. Statue of a Priest on a tomb in the Minster. The enrichments to the borders and other parts of the robes consist chiefly of shields of arms, evincing this personage to have been of high birth and charac- ter. Attitude, devotional; hands, crossed. Exeter. Statue of Bishop Walter Branscomb, 1281, (or 1397,) when exe- cuted, in his sumptuous monument on South side of our Lady's Chapel in the Cathedral. Sketched 1792. As we are arrived in due order at the zenith of splendour, the reign of Edward III. when every power of the human mind seemed so pre-eminently conspicuous, more immediately in Laws, Arms, and Architecture, of which such extraordi- nary documents are on record, and in actual existence, particularly the latter subject; it is not to be wondered at that the sculpture of the statue before us is so excellently brought forward in the crosier, mitre, and robes: how ele- gant in disposure, how gorgeously en- riched! From this specimen of eccle- 294 ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. Mastical magalicence an opinion may be adduced what extreme volendour per- vaded the whole field of Church Em- bellement, in recurring to York cathe- dral; Durham cathedral; Bishop Hat- field's throne and monoment, and High Altar screen therein; St. Stephen's chapel, Westminster: Percy monument, Beverley minster; Earl Crouchback's monument, Westminster Abbey, &c. painter's labours takes place, more un- assuming, and bearing a tendency to bring the whole mass of work to the united skill alone of the mason and sculptor, still not the less refined and High-wrought than formerly, painted glass excepted. But of this branch of art hereafter. Ashby de la uch, Leicestershire. No date. Having fixed on the begin- &c. From these, and other the likening of the fifteenth century as above, objects in various parts of the king- dom, are adduced the strongest proofs of the taste of painting, gising, &c. overlaying the internal face of the walls, monuments, statues, painted ornaments, coloured paving-tiles, enamelled brasses, &c. Hence it may be accounted why the present statue is so minutely co- loured in the above mode. Gilded fo- liaged crosier,a inclosing small statue of a Saint; mitre, diamonded compart- ments with jewelry work, &c. the exe- cution of which 'painting is most won- derfully elaborate: I speak without fear of contradiction but by those who have never studied or drawn from this, or other like remains. Having most scru- pulously copied this example to the fullest scale in many large drawings, I may thus presume on the certainty of what I now advance in its praise; in- deed too much cannot be said to cause general observation and general regard: (I allude principally to the statue it- self.) Outer robe, gold embroidery with jewels; under robe, and extreme under robe, white with gold fringe; the same to the crosier drapery, and the white gloves; shoes embroidered and jewelled. Right hand giving the bene- diction. CLASS VI. As all things submit to changeful habitude, our Costumic theme owns the truth of this dogma. The succeed- ing reigns shew less superb embellish- ments; an insensible diminution of the See William of Wykeham's actual Crosier of this time in New College Chapel, Oxford. En- graved in Carter's "Antient Sculpture and Paint- ing." it is concluded from similar costumes that our thread of chronological order is correct. Sketched 1500. Represents some dignified personage, who having previously, it is supposed, been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, request- ed on his return that his effigies after death might be sculptured in his Pil- grim's habit, as here represented. This statue is on his monument in the church. The staff with cross at top, hat with escalop shells St. James the Fisherman the Patron of Pilgrims); scrip slung over the shoulders, with cross band and shells: outer robe, half open sleeves, shewing close robe under them; sandals laced; collar of S. S. Attitude, devotional. Orford. No date; our present æra is still in progress. Sketched 1792. Brass Figure of John Bloxham Mas- ter) in Merton College chapel. Robes consist of a flowing gown and mantle. Attitude, devotional. Winchester. Statue of Cardinal Beau- fort; in his monumental Chapel on South side of grand East aile of Choir of the Cathedral. He died 1447. Sketch- ed 1790. The robes worn by Cardinals of this period were rather plain; that before us graceful; it is painted; round hat, and depending knotted tassels red; outer robe red, sleeves of under robe purple; shoes black. Attitude, devo- tional. It is to be pointed out, that, notwithstanding the other statues in the Church, Wykeham, Waynflete, &c. have been much disfigured, particularly in the noses (an almost universal bar- barous custom throughout the king- dom,) and as miserably repaired by some ignorant mechanic, the statue of the Cardinal, maugre the invidious cha- CLASS VI. Ashby de la Zouch . Oxford. Winchester, 1447. Ml Hallows Church York. Exeter 1153. Guild Hall, London. JB. 140 East Dereham 1468 Winchester bags Timminsterisig ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. 295 racter bestowed by Shakespeare, re- mains perfect, imparting to unpreju- diced minds sentiments of the utmost awe and veneration. All-hallows Church, York. No date; yet this æra may be considered as of course. Sketched 1790. Painted figure of a Bishop in a window of the Church. Pastoral staff has a rich jewelled cross, supported by canopies gilded; mitre foliaged and gilt, jewels, &c. Outer robe white, with an embroidered cross inclosing smaller ditto; ground of robe worked in small gold flowers and edged with jewels; under robe purple, edged with jewels and green fringes; extreme under robe, white with gold edgings; gloves and shoes white. Right hand giving the benediction. The paintings of this æra, and those more imme- diately on glass, partook of a less de- gree of high colouring than those of the late reign: while those branches of art under the direct sway of architec- tural design were profuse and unbound- ed efforts both in masonry and sculp- ture; and it is found that in the six- teenth century, exclusive of heraldic blazonings, the only colour used in glass painting was yellow. Exeter. Statue of Bishop Oldham in his monumental Chapel on South side of South aile of Choir of the Ca- thedral. He died 1453. Sketched 1792. Work of the crosier elaborate in foliage and jewels; the depending drapery from it pleasingly bound about the staff, a mode then in general practice, as is witnessed in numerous instances among our sepulchral remains. Mitre, richly studded with jewels, as is also the maniple; under robe fringed, extreme under robe and depending drapery fringed; gloves with jewels and tas- sels. Attitude, devotional. Guildhall, London. Erected in the fourteenth century. Female statue on the South or entrance front over the porch of the hall. Sketched 1783. The greater part of this porch has been de- He appears, in Milner's "History of Winches- ter," to have been a most exalted and praise- worthy Ecclesiastick. stroyed, except the door-way and ave- nue into the hall, and in its place a most odious and ridiculous upright in the mock East Indian style set up, more to the City's reproach than ho- nour. This, with three other female statues in the same tier, expressed Dis- cipline (having taken the veil), Justice, Fortitude, and Mercy, all equally deli- cate and beautifully executed: they have been dispersed into various hands; but, being considered as the work of some unknown and remote English artist, therefore no real interest became their portion, so necessary to fix them in a final resting-place, either in some private or public repository, the British Museum for instance, like those there seen of Roman or Grecian Pagan ido- latry. The costume is that of a Nun, with outer and under robes, veil and wimple. Attitude, devotional. CLASS VII. Barnack, Northamptonshire. No date; however, the period is proceeding on with. Sketched 1780. The figure of a Bishop carved in oak pannel in low relief, in some pew fences in the church. Mitre has jewels; its dependant dra- peries plain; outer robe shews a bor- der of jewels, and fastened on the breast in front by a brooch or fibula. Here is found a great change in the make of the outer robe, not less than the fore part of it being left open, and merely brought together and secured on the breast as above stated. Antecedently, the outer robe appears to have been one covering, and put on by casting it over the heads of the Clergy; the arms raised the sides of the robe, which, with their occasional actions, brought the whole covering into fine disposed drapery, as witnessed in our progress hitherto. Under robe fringed, cross band over front of it; extreme under robe plain. Attitude, admonitory. London. No date: our progress con- tinued. Sketched 1782. Figure of a Bishop painted in East window of Tri- nity Hall chapel, Aldersgate street, (Chapel destroyed) of "St. Basil the 296 ECCLESIASTICAL COSTUME. mitre. He is ca his knees. In conti- nuation of the painting, there is a sta- tue, to which he is praying. Great" in an inscription under the vilege of this insignia of erosier and fest. After the removal of the paint- ing, it came into the possession of the late Mr. Kirgate, Printer, Strawberry H.L. Pastoral staff, goid: mitre, with jewels and gold work; outer robe, par- ple lined with bise; and parpie ena- meled broach; mantle, green bordered with blue embroidered ornament:under robe seen on the breast, diamonded form goid brocade; extreme under robe white; shoes blue. Attitude, giving the benediction. Hesham, Northumberland. No date: æra in succession. Sketched 1795. Painting on board, in the Abbey-church of St. Acca. There are five more of the same kind, as St. Almundus, St. Eata, St. Wilfridus, St. John of Bever- ley, and St. Fredbert. They are the size of life, finely painted on board, in their original frames, and display the most strict studied Costume. Crosier foliaged, supported by canopies, gilded; mitre, jewels, and gold work; outer robe, white sprig ornament on light brown ground, and edged with gold fringe; brooch, gold; under robe of similar embroidery with outer ditto; extreme under robe, white; with its collar, sleeves, &c.; gloves white, and jewels at their backs, black shoes. At- titude, giving the benediction. East Dereham, Norfolk. 1468. Fi- gure of a Priest in basso-relievo, on the font in the Church; confirming. Sketch- ed 1786. There are seven more basso relievos on the font; Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Ordination, Marriage, Ex- treme Unction, Crucifixion.a Winchester. 1489. Sketched 1788. Figure of Thomas Silksted, Prior of the Cathedral, painted with other sub- jects relating to the miracles of the Blessed Virgin, in her Chapel at the East end of the Church. The above date refers to the period when exe- cuted.b Crosier slightly foliaged on plain canopies gilded; mitre plain, ex- cept two jewels gilt (it is placed on his altar desk); Missal, leaves and clasps gilded; outer robe black. It appears the Priors of this Convent had the pri- Engraved in Carter's "Antient Sculpture and Painting." " Ibid. Westminster. 1319. Sketched 1753. Figure in bronze of Abbot Islip, on the tomb of Henry VII. in his Chapel in the Church; frst stone laid by Islip. This Abbot and Sir Reginal Bray were the joint Architects who constructed that wonderful pile. The tomb from whence this subject is selected, is the work of Torregiano, a Florentine artist, and the portrait is by traditionary re- port believed to be that of the good | Islip; the circumstance expressed in the performance of which this effigies makes a part is, Edward the Confessor delivering the famous ring to the Con- vent, and, in compliment to the meri- torious Abbot Islip (setting aside all reference to Edward's time, but under- standing the whole a vision), makes him the receiver thereof. Outer robe, hanging sleeves open to the upper half of the arm, and fringed at the edges; under robe plain; mantle and maniple, fringed. Attitude, devotional, and mixed with some degree of surprise and devout attention. The proposed thread of illustration, as full and as explicit as my experience and exploratory collections of sketches would admit, being expended, I have but to hope that my zeal and reverence to preserve from obloquy relicks of the above cast may be taken in good part; and that no particular reflections will be cast on my ardent zeal, which may have been too strong to avoid, in some instances, in giving too warm praise, or too much honour, to the Manners and Costume (ecclesiastical) of former times. The gradual declination seen in the two last Classes of superb ecclesiasti- cal raiment is remarkably striking; as well as is the circumstance of the outer robe being open in front, with other particulars; but not of that great im- port as need detail. The eye alone will be sufficient to render that part of the performance discernible. April, 1817. J. CARTER. Series of the basso-relievos on the tomb, in Carter's" Antient Sculpture and Painting." HOSPITALS. 297 CHAPTER LXI. HOSPITALS. THESE were generally founded ac- cording to the Augustinian Order; and the following Consuetudinal of S. Leo- nard's, York, is an excellent summary of the usual Monastick method of living. As the reception of pilgrims and poor travellers was formerly one of the principal uses of the Hospitals, they were generally situated by a road side.a Every lettered brother and Chaplain had a desk in the Cloister. All rose to Mattins; and a few being left after- wards to celebrate the Mass of the Virgin Mary, they studied in the Clois- ter till Prime. That service over, they went to the Chapter, and from thence again to the Choir for the celebration of the other hours, belonging to the time of day. After these, they repair- ed to the Refectory, where the dinner was accompanied by reading and left a Taylor's Ind. Monast. pref. xiii. the Fratry to return thanks in the Church. In the Summer they next went to sleep, but in the Winter to their books in the Cloister, where they staid till Vespers. These celebrated, they again returned to their books, till the hour of supper, which meal was attended with reading. After this sup- per or collation, they said Grace, sung Completory and a Salve Regina, &c. in the Church; and after it was over, their private prayers in the Choir or Clois- ter, till bed-time, when they slept in a common Dormitory. They could not eat, drink, or enter the Refectory after Complin, nor speak in the Cloister, Refectory, or Dormitory. They were shaved every fifteen days.b Where the Paupers or others could not say the Hours, so many Paters and Aves were substituted; and the statutes modified accordingly; but still the Mo- nastic tenor was retained. b Dugd. Monast. ii. 370, 371. 298 MODERN MONACHISM. CHAPTER LXII. MODERN MONACHISM. AFTER the partial restoration of Mo- nachism by Mary, the Accession of Elizabeth totally ousted the Monks and Nuns; and, in 1609, one Robert Buckley, alias Father Sebert, a profess- ed Monk of Westminster, aged 90 years, was the only survivor.a Foreign houses were established, whither the candi- dates for Monachism were surrepti- tiously conveyed. A Convent of Ca- puchins was set up at Somerset-House, according to the marriage articles of Queen Henrietta Maria, in 1633. Prynne places two Convents in London in the year 1640, but Fuller doubts the fact:c and in 1677, Sir Thomas Gascoigne es- tablished and endowed a Nunnery at Dolebank in Yorkshire.d James II. filled England with Monks; but this work is not historical, and there are only three things within the plan. I. The Establishment of a Protestant Nunnery at Little Gedding. II. Some attempts at the revival of Monastick Female Institutions, chiefly for the purpose of education. III. The mo- dern introduction of Monasticks, owing to the Political Surgery of the French Revolutionary Charlatans, who ampu- tated limbs with hatchets, and drew teeth with blacksmith's pincers. I.-Protestant Nunnery. In 1633, Charles I. on his progress to Scotland to be crowned, went to see a Protest- ant Nunnery, at Gedding Parva, near Stilton in Huntingdonshire, instituted and appointed by Mrs. Farrar, a widow of eighty years of age, who said, that she had bidden adieu to all fears and hopes in this world, and only desired to love God. In this house, none were a Reyner, Append. i. seq. b Fuller's Church Hist. B. ix. p. 88. Archæo- logia, xiii. 251. seq. Fuller, B. vi. p. 366. Cent. xvii. p. 119. d State Trials, iii. 6, 7. Ed. fol. | permitted to reside who would not de- vote themselves to prayers at certain hours, Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night, and eat and drink by measure. Within her Chapel was a rich Altar, Crucifix, and wax-candles, and before the reading of prayers, they bowed thrice to the Altar, as they went up and came down. They were at liberty to use any vocation within the house, as binding books, teaching scholars, or studying, and if any of the Society were inclined to marry, they had free liberty to depart.e This Protestant Nunnery was other than the old Beguines, or devout women, who appeared about the 13th century, and wearing a religious habit, with a private profession of conti- nence and regular life, yet would not be confined to a Cloister, or adopt a rule. Lindanus thus describes the Flemish Beguines, contemporary, or nearly so, with these Protestant Nuns. They observe a middle course between a Monastic and secular life. They live under certain rules, but from their own funds, and without vows. If they think fit to marry, they leave the house and do so. The old Beguines did sometimes, however, make a vow of marrying God, by cutting off their hair. In France, by degrees, the or- der was converted into Tertiaries of Francis.g II. In 1696, the learned Mary Astell projected a College for the edu- cation of young women, and an Asylum for the unfortunate, of which an ample endowment was promised. Learned Acta Regia, 771. f See the two Matthews, Paris and Westminster, aº 1243, but earlier evidences exist. Du Cange, v. Begharde, &c. h Mr. Nichols kindly communicates the facts upon which the reflections annexed are founded. MODERN MONACHISM. 299 extremes. or able persons ought not to think in The common occurrence of results, which cannot be anticipated, may justify caution, but not the vulgar habit of allowing weight to frivolous objections; and thus sanctifying pre- judice. Because the plan assimilated conventual institutions, Bishop Bur- net, notoriously a man of defective judgment, and Swift, by profession a libeller, in sentiment not a man, suc- ceeded in robbing posterity of much probable benefit. Lady Masham, about 1700, medi- tated, as I presume, a similar educa- tional plan, in a tract in which she shows the necessity of a reform in fe- male education, and expatiates upon the ignorance of English Gentlemen. Squire Western was in his day a real character, but a lineal descendant in manners and habits of the feudal land- holder, whom field-sports inured to military duties. Though this coarse- ness was ameliorated by Chivalry; im- provements in the state of society, with far greater effect, have produced an alteration, which could not possibly re- sult from simple education, whether Monastic or not, unsupported by such important auxiliaries. A kind of Royal Society of Philoso- phers of both sexes had been monas- tically governed in Germany, at the end of the 17th century, by Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick V. King of Bo- hemia. A rich and fashionable groupe of Bas-blues were assembled upon a conventual plan, in a rural retreat, by the accomplished Harriet Eusebia Har- court, who died in 1745. According to nature, as the feminine duties are pointed out by her, and sensitive timi- dity and soft grace rendered woman's chief attractions, fine taste, delicate sentiment and tender feelings are more appropriate than philosophical habits, which produce masculine, disputatious, and deterring characters, certainly un- suited to the conjugal or maternal sta- tion. Monasteries of learned women would be injurious to Society, because they might be much better employed. Hopeless as to the revival of Monas- tick Institutions, some advocates, by way of insinuation, have used the fol- lowing arguments. One pleads the advantageous result, as he supposes, or similar restraints upon indulgence o the passions: but he does not know, that the riotous, corrupt, and prurient imagination, occasioned by these re- straints, destroys the effect proposed, through invigoration of the passions.a Another, upon medical principles, palliates ascetical austerities, by display- ing various intellectual and corporeal injuries, which ensue from too gene- rous food, and consequent dispeptic habits; but this proves not the neces- sity of Monasteries, only of temper- ance. A third, under the persuasion, that an unjust libel upon numerous pious, charitable, and even amiable women is a serious truth, gravely re- commends Monastick Institutions, as remedies, eradicating the spleen and fidgets in Old Maids; as if dogs be- came better tempered from being chained or kenneled, or there was no quarrelling in Alms-houses of old wo- men. A rigid monastery would at least be a more proper punishment of Adultery than a pecuniary mulct. III.- Modern Monks in England. The most eminent of these is the Mo- nastery of La Trappe, settled by the bounty of Mr. Weld, at Lulworth in Dorsetshire. The first Abbey of La Trappe, [in Normandy,] was founded by Retrou Count de Perche, in 1140: but was converted in the 17th century into its present form, by Bouthillier de La Rancé, the once celebrated author of the Devoirs de la Vie Monastique, a rhapsody, with learned ascetick quo- tations, often cited in this work. He is said in early life to have been a man of elegant mind and pleasurable ha- bits, who at the age of fourteen pub- lished an edition of Anacreon. Two accounts are given of his change of manners: one, that it was owing to a providential escape when a gun burst See this ingeniously and ably exhibited by Zimmerman, in his work upon Solitude. I 3. TIL I I AX 155- - X ace. Dease EX se TIG re ni at T * I MENT INT T TELIN Jesse ife ruch wY 3. D **CA ST Zme Gas- Sucha Besnis, ie Jars me minus i sporal mere Ang mag ummas, avis in lar- Pasqyravimaly Instrated in the * Crea Micks mos y der - icon of sie sú mut me poor, and enter- Cars: 3sa zorrective peni- TIL SKEn, kriet z daracters PETES D Acer, spans only the servus urtencen of poczcal Eco- mists, but 10 government coght to permit me power of being such misery men maccence. Add to this the flowing remark of Lady Mary Specimen Monacaninge. p. 11. seq. This does ut hear i Lavort. *Al Dis the center may see in his Devoirs, i. 139. 142. i 3)—345. IL 47. and other places quoted in thS VICS. MODERN MONACHISM. 301 Wortley Montague upon a Monastery, of La Trappe: "I cannot well form a notion of that spiritual and extatick joy, that is mixed with sighs, groans, hunger and thirst, and the other com- plicated miseries of monastick disci- pline. It is a strange way of going to work for happiness, to excite an en- mity between soul and body, which Nature and Providence have designed to live together in an uninterrupted friendship, and which we cannot sepa- rate, like man and wife, when they happen to disagree." These Lulworth Monks, though of course mere automata, are humble, inoffensive, and moral. Superstition, compatible with all religious, and even infidel principles, does not necessarily include vice; and these noble-minded Asceticks maintained 80 orphan chil- dren of the murdered French Noblesse, and refused an asylum from the Em- peror of Russia, because they would not rob a legitimate proprietor of his estate. Messrs. Gough and Nichols made a visit to the Refugees of Lulworth, and, besides their own remarks, have print- ed a the accounts of a hostile and a friendly visitor. The two latter are evidently ignorant of the Romish Ca- nonical hours, and invariable Monas- tick habits. In Manners and Customs they are both inaccurate. Without rejecting their description, it is there- fore better to premise the rule, which their imperfect lights only show in almost all points observed. Rule. The hour of rising is marked by the Dormitory bell, which rings at 2 A. M. on working days, at 1 on Sun- days and festivals, and at midnight [on account of Vigils, F.] for grand festivals. They go immediately to the Church to say Matins and Lauds till four. They employ themselves till five in prayers at Church, or in reading Di- vinity in the Cloister. They return to Church to say Prime, after which is In Hutchins's Dorsetshire, new edition (vol. iv. p. 349, seq.) Additions to vol. i. whence all the accounts here are taken. held, for half an hour, a chapter of faults; they then go to work for an hour and a half; and leave off at the bell which calls to Church to Tierce, High Mass, and Sext; after which they repair to the Refectory. In winter Nones are said at noon, and in summer at one o'clock. After Nones they re- turn to labour for an hour and a half, and leave off when the bell calls to Church to pray for the King, which lasts about a quarter of an hour. At four o'clock they say Vespers; at five go to the Refectory, till half after six; a quarter of an hour is spent in praying in the Church, or in reading together in the Cloister. At seven they say Complin, and at eight they go to bed. These and some other of the subse- quent regulations are simply Benedic- tine, except the manual labour, and the rigorous injunction of silence, which is not only perpetual, but prohibits com- munication by writing or signs, or even two standing near together. Every Saturday at La Trappe was a Maundy, or feet-washing in the Clois- ter; and Communion every Sunday and principal festivals by all the Reli- gious not Priests. The Deacon having received the kiss of peace from the ce- lebrant, while they were singing the Agnus Dei, went down to give it to the Sub-deacon, who carried it to the en- trance of the Sanctuary to the oldest Monk, who was to communicate, and he to the next following, and so the rest. This kiss of peace was received at the place where the Sub-deacon chaunted the epistle. They afterwards kneeled down six and six in the Sanc- tuary, and communicated on the epis- tle side of the Altar; then returned to their places. Conferences [religious converzationes] were usually held in a room, garden, or other place, at the ringing of the bell by the Superior every Sunday, and on festivals, when they fell on the middle of the week. The sick or infirm religious had meat only by leave of the Superior, and after five or seven attacks of fever. The infirm never drank wine, unless a 302 MODERN MONACHISM. remedy against fainting. sweetmeats were used.a No sugar or When Motraye visited La Trappe, which was while our James II. made a temporary visit there for edification in his own way of Ite, missa est, [Go, it is the hour of mass,] he was received by the porter in a coat like a Quaker, of the coarsest grey stuff, who, after kneel- ing before him in silence, beckoned to him to follow him, and brought him to another brother in the same dress, who, after kneeling, led him into a hall, whither the Father Porter, who was al- lowed to speak, introduced him to Rancé, who had resigned through age. In 1800 Mr. Gough, Mr. Nichols, and Mr. Basire, visited Lulworth. They say, "When the French Revolu- tion drove these religious from their situation in Normandy, Mr. Weld, of Lulworth Castle, gave them refuge on the sea-coast, near Lulworth Cove, a few fields from his park-gate, and al- lotted them 400 acres, which they cul- tivate, and send the produce that ex- ceeds their own consumption to Poole. Their house consists of an outer court, with stables or other buildings, through which you pass to the principal door, where the Porter, who is permitted to speak, receives and conducts you, from a small hall or lobby, into a parlour, in the window of which lay Thomas à Kempis, and a French Quarto of the Rules, &c. of the Orders." Another Traveller says, "Ringing at the gate of the Monastery, we were received by the Porter. It is impossible to give an accurate idea of the hideousness of this man's dress, which was composed of a tunick made of coarse, thick, and heavy woollen cloth. Over his shoul- ders he wore a cope made of the same material; this was partly thrown back, so that his face was visible. (See the Plate, p.306, fig.3.) The Porter, though one of the brotherhood, was sufficiently communicative. He complained, in- deed, that the Superior, by continuing Of this Carthusian Regulation, see Chapter of Rules, p. 65. b A mere compliment; not the Rule. him for two years in an office which ought to be occupied by each brother in his turn, had grievously interrupted those devout meditations, in which it Iwas his ardent wish to be uninter- ruptedly employed. Intercourse with strangers, he said, led his thoughts back to that world, which he wished to for- get:" [thus proving the justice of the remark, that Monachism disqualifies mankind for any duties but its own.] The friendly Visitor says, "The entrance to the Monastery is on the west side, near the Porter's Lodge, un- der a long narrow building, which serves for offices of the meaner kind. The Porter who received us, was dress- ed in the habit of a convent-brother, wearing a long brown robe of coarse cloth, and a cowl of the same colour over his head, a leathern girdle encir- cled his waist, from which were sus- pended his keys: he spoke to us in a whisper, and desired us to be silent." (See the Plate, p. 306, fig. 3.) On the right and left of the gate at La Trappe was the farm of the Abbey, where the secular brethren, thrice a week, under a pent-house, distributed bread to numerous poor. There they lodged in bed-chambers a great num- ber of guests. After passing the gate at the further end of the court, was on the left the Chapel, where the women heard mass, not being admitted into the Church. On each side was a suit of buildings for the use of the Monastery, such as presses, forges, stables, maga- zines, &c. At Lulworth the confor- mity of structure is at least upon the same plan, and women equally ex- cluded; and all these offices are in an outer court, as at La Trappe. One of the Travellers says, "As we passed through the first court at Lulworth, we fancied ourselves in former days, when the Monastick orders flourished; and strange and unusual seemed the ap- pearance of the Monks in the full habit of their order, gliding along intent on me- ditation, or employed in manual labour, but not a word spoken." The other Traveller says, that their faces were covered, so that only their eyes and MODERN MONACHISM. 303 noses were visible. This is precisely according to the Rule and Custom of the Parent House, where they never spoke, read, wrote, or looked any per- son in the face, but always on the ground. There were only two excep- tions, of which hereafter. At Lulworth are a Chapel or Church, Chapter, Cloisters, Refectory, Dormito- ry, Visitors' Parlours, and Bed-room; of which, in order. Church. At La Trappe the Church was descended into by six steps, and consisted of a nave and two choirs for the converts and the brethren. At the service the religious appeared like ma- chines singing without book; their eyes shut or fixed on the earth, their hands crossed before them, and kiss- ing the ground at going in and coming out. Their chaunt was unaccompanied by the organ or any musical instru- ment whatever, and no decoration was permitted in the Church. Messrs. Gough and Nichols describe the Cha- pel at Lulworth, as neatly fitted up with deal stalls on each side; in the centre, as at La Trappe, a turret with a dome. The anti-chapel, over which is a gallery, has on each side the door two whole-lengths of the Virgin Mo- ther, with I. H. S. on a heart on the South, superscribed on the frame, "Do all that he will tell you." On the North, "Mother, behold your Son." Over the door, our Lady of Pity. At a table, lifted up under the North Picture, the Abbot celebrated High Mass, attended only by an Aco- lyte. He finished the service at the High Altar; which has, under a taber- nacle, the Virgin and Child, seemingly in terra cotta or painted wood; the arms with wax lights, issued from the heart, and I. H. S.; and there was a small plain chandelier. In the way to the Vestry was a good Picture of St. John's Baptism, over a table; and in the Vestry, in two sets of drawers, the maniples and vestments for solemn festivals; a large cross of wood with an inscription on the shaft and trans- verse; and a silver chalice, embossed with Scripture histories in compart- ments, the oldest piece of plate which they possess. One of the Travellers says, the names of the Monks were inscribed on the stalls, and in each stall was a large old Missal on vellum, guarded at the corners and sides, and large clasps; a lamp burning perpetu- ally during the presence of the Eucha- rist. The rood-loft contained an organ [a deviation from the custom of the parent house]. Opposite to the Chapel were private oratories, embellished with crucifixes and religious paintings. Chapter. At La Trappe the Chapter opened into the Cloister, where the Abbot, on a raised seat, addressed his reproof to the brethren, and near it was a way into the garden, in which the religious, on a signal given by their Superior, returned to their work. In the old Rule was a Morning Chap- ter, as in almost all Orders. Of Lul- worth, one Traveller says, "From ano- ther part of the Cloisters we entered the Chapter-house, whither the Monks retire after their meal is over, not to beguile away their time in trifling con- versation, but in reading religious books, saying vespers and other evening prayers, and in public self-accusation: the walls of this room are covered with religious prints, and at the entrance hung up a board with pegs, on which were suspended bits of wood, in- scribed with the names of all the Monks that had been and are now in the Con- vent; P. Dionysius, P. Hyacinthus, P. Julianus, P. Barnardus, P. Martinus, P. Matthæus, P. Pius, and others, to the number of eighty-six: on another board were inscribed a list of the dif- ferent offices of the Church for the day, and the names of such of the fa- thers as officiated, set opposite; below it, an exhortation in Latin and French, pointing out the advantages of devo- tion, and the importance of self-denial." At La Trappe the religious might speak to confess their evil thoughts to the Abbot, and to accuse or proclaim a Alluding to the conversations after Nones, and the Biberes, in other Orders. 304 MODERN MONACHISM. themselves in full chapter, on which they prostrated themselves to the ground, and remained till the Abbot stamped with his foot. Cloisters. At La Trappe the Clois- ter was within the house, wherein they passed all their leisure time, and at- tended lectures and conferences. At Lulworth, one modern Visitor says, "The Cloisters are used for air and exercise in bad weather, having a large cistern at one end for the Monks to wash." At La Trappe on the right hand of the Garden was the cemetery of the religious, and in the middle of it the tomb of De Rancé their founder, under a building 9 feet by 6. The graves of the common religious were distinguished only by a wooden cross, with the name, diocese, and town of the deceased, inscribed on a plate of lead. When in a dying state, they were carried into the Choir, and laid on straw, over which ashes had been previously strewed in form of a cross,a and were buried in their habit, with- out any pomp. At Lulworth, Messrs. Gough and Nichols noted in the ce- metery a grave of a boy, at the head and feet of which were a wooden cross; and an open grave. One Traveller says, passing from the Chapter through a Cloister, we visited the burying ground, which occupies a small inner court. "Two graves, already tenanted are marked by two wooden crosses; and one grave is always kept open [as a memento mori was the intention of De Rancé. F.] ready to receive the next deceased. Our conductor assured us, that each individual of the frater- nity prayed sincerely that he might him- self soon become the next occupant." The other Traveller says, "This Monas- tery is of a quadrangular shape, with a schilling in the inside, forming the Cloisters, and the area a depository for the dead. We observed seven graves, to some of which were added a wooden cross, either at the head or feet." The ashes on Ash-Wednesday and these times, were to commemorate "that man is but Ashes and Earth, and thereto shall return." Fuller's Ch. Hist. Cent. xvi. p. 222. Refectory. At La Trappe, on one side of the Cloister, was the Refectory of the Monks, and by the side of it that of the convert brothers, with a communication between them, that both might hear the reading in the great Refectory. It ended at the kit- chen, which, by a little court, commu- nicated with the court of the converts, where in different shops each followed his respective trade. Their fare was only pulse, herbs, and boiled roots, without butter or oil, and very brown bread, and no fish, or flesh, or eggs, only milk. Messrs. Gough and Ni- chols say, that at Lulworth, "the Clois- ter led on the South to the Refectory, opposite to which are the Kitchen and Buttery with two doors. At the up- per end of the Refectory, which runs from North to South, is the Abbot's table under a crucifix; and on each side, on the East, the table of the re- ligious, and on the West, that of the Seculars and Acolytes, all spread with coarse cloth, wooden platters and spoons, stone jugs and horns, filled with water. One of the Seculars from the Kitchen, through the door, carried up two bowls full of boiled rice, cab- bage, potatoes, and milk to the Abbot's table, making three bows in the Refec- tory, and afterwards took from the hatch the bowls of the others singly. East of the Refectory is the scullery and workshop, where they turn, make and mend their habits, bind their books, and write their musick." One Travel- ler describes the Refectory as " a very plain room with white-washed walls, furnished with a rude table, and two or three wooden-bottomed chairs." || In the next account there must be some mistake, for it mentions soup and bread, quite black, as the only fare allowed to the Monks, of which they partook twice a day in summer, and once only in winter; whereas the other Traveller says, they have only one meal. The former says, that a wood- en bowl and spoon and a coarse earth- enware cup for each person, composed the whole of their table utensils. The latter describes the Refectory "as a MODERN MONACHISM. 305 very long room, containing a wooden bench, extending on each side; upon the tables were placed a wooden tren- cher, bowl and spoon, with a napkin for each Monk, and the name of each inscribed over his seat; and at the up- per end sat the Prior, distinguished from the rest of the convent, only by his pastoral staff. During the repast, the Lecturer delivered a discourse, as usual in all orders; and still retained in many Colleges of the two Univer- sities. Dormitory. At La Trappe the up- per story was occupied by distinct Dormitories for each order, and the Monks slept on straw mattrasses, with- out sheets and at eight went to bed. At Lulworth, Messrs. Gough and Ni- chols found the Dormitory a long gal- lery lighted by one window to the South, with 12 bedsteads, straw mat- trasses, and pillows on each side; and on the teasters the respective names of the Monks. The cynical Traveller agrees with them in the construction of the Apartment, but makes the beds or rather cells, 24 or 25, separated from each other by wooden partitions. In these cells, the whole fraternity re- pose on bare boards, covered with only a blanket and rug. The friendly Visitor says, that the Dormitory "ex- tends the whole length of the building, and on each side are ranged the cells of the Monks, in which they recline themselves on wood, with one blanket, and a coarse rug. There is a window at each end, to ventilate and air the room, which is dark and gloomy: and a clock is stationed near the entrance to warn the Monks of the hour of Mat- tins." Visitors' Parlour and Bed-room. These at La Trappe had the usual large accommodations of the great Ab- beys: a Hall, Chambers, &c. One Traveller describes it at Lulworth, as a kind of common sitting-room, where were about two dozen of super- stitious books, mostly in French, some few in Latin, the whole of their library. Messrs. Gough and Nichols say, that over the parlour are two neat small plaster chambers, with check bed-fur- niture, and white quilts, for strangers. The Rule of the Founder prescribed manual labour, as being the first pu- nishment annexed to sin, and an exer- cise extremely well suited to the state of the poor and of the penitent, and as a very powerful means to sanctify them in their profession. This work they were to perform, neither indolently nor vio- lently; that is, in the Festina Lente manner of Baron Born's description. At La Trappe, when at work, they threw off the great hood, and retained only a shirt, of white thin serge, with their long gowns of the same stuff, but thicker, which they tucked up and confined in the ends of the scapulary, under their leathern girdle. The first Traveller to Lulworth says, 66 The Monks whom we met did not so much as look at us when we approach- ed them; they turned aside their heads, and crossed themselves in silence." The second Visitor says, "The Monks observe perpetual silence, scarcely even look at each other, and never speak but to their Prior, and only on urgent occasions: they never wander from their Convent without permission of their Superior, but go each morning cheerfully to such work as they are directed to perform. As we passed these poor humble unoffending Monks at their work they received us with courtesy and humility, but never spoke." The ground attached to the Monastery con- tains about 400 acres, which is culti- vated by the Monks, with the assist- ance of a carter and his boy. Costumes. At La Trappe their habit was a long white woollen gown, tied with a leathern girdle, a black scapu- lary, and a wide hood; but novices wore a kind of capote of coarse brown wool, without sleeves. The first Tra- veller describes them at Lulworth, as habited like the Porter (see p. 302), with stockings of coarse cloth, and wooden shoes, about three inches thick in the sole. The second Traveller mentions a vestment-room, where the vestments X 306 MODERN MONACHISM. of the Choir-brothers were hung up, with the name of each inscribed. Explanation of the Print. The sub- jects of this Plate are selected from several very spirited sketches by Mr. Basire, taken when on a visit to Lul- worth with Messrs. Gough and Ni- chols, in the year 1800. Fig. 1, is a portrait of the Abbot, in his costume. Fig. 2, is a portrait of one of the Monks, in meditation and prayer. Fig. 3, is a striking portrait of the talkative little Porter. Fig. 4, is another of the Monks. Fig. 5, the Monks at Church, exhi- biting the attitude of the Venia. Fig. 6, is a Monk in prayer at the High Altar. In the back ground of figures 2, and 4, are very slight distant views of the Monastery at Lulworth. Nuns of Spettisbury. A Mrs. Mary Wiseman, a professed Nun of the Fle- mish Convent of St. Ursula in Lou- vain, established in the last place, in the year 1609, a house of Canonesses of the Augustinian order. They were governed by a Prioress, and educated young ladies. This house enjoyed con- siderable funds, and subsisted till the French Invasion in 1794, when the members of it fled out of the Low Countries. Thus the Abbé Mann: According to other authorities," the house was founded by some English members of a Flemish community. When they sought an asylum in their native country, in 1799, they were received by an hospitable friend, till a residence was hired for them at Amesbury in Wiltshire, where they resided till the year 1800. Since then, Spettisbury house, in Dorsetshire, has been their mansion. The Society is at present composed of 33 members. The principal apartment of the house is occupied by young ladies, whom they educate. They are about 70 in family. There is also a separate build- ing, in which their Chaplain and some Archæologia, xiii. p. 264. Hutchins's Dorsetshire, new Edit. iii. p. 135. respectable boarders reside. These ladies express much gratitude to the Nation at large; and particular obliga tion to a lady who boarded with them, and built them a private Chapel, over the entrance of which her arms are placed. Benedictine Nuns. In the year 1651, this Monastery was founded by the interest of Clementina Cara, daughter of the celebrated Viscount Falkland, killed in the wars of Charles I. After five several habitations in Paris, they at last, in 1664, fixed themselves in the Rue du champ d'Aloutte, Fauxbourg St. Marcel, where they remained till their expulsion by the Revolution in 1793. After imprisonment with other Nuns in the Castle of Vincennes for four months, and removal from thence to another Convent of Nuns, they at length, in March 1795, were liberated; and with much delay and difficulty ob- taining, by great interest, the necessary passports, and selling what little was left to pay their passage, they arrived at Dover, July 3, 1795; at London two days after.d In the same year they retired to Marnhull, co. Dorset. The Society consisted of eighteen ladies, all English, (one a sister of the late eccentric Philip Thicknesse,) under Mrs. Johnson, as Abbess. The sister and heir of the late Cuthbert Tonstal, Esq. was a frequent visitor and bene- factress. She lived and slept in the house, and had a separate table; but her maid servant, being a Protestant, did not sleep there. They have two Priests for Chaplain and Confessors, one of whom, by the importation of a valuable library in several large chests, subjected them to an absurd suspicion, that these chests concealed arms, and actually persons. This foolish affair was soon set at rest by the Magis- trates and Gentry of the neighbour- hood. The burial of one of the sisters Abbé Mann's Account of English Convents, &c. on the Continent, in Archæologia, v. xiii. p. 269. d Account of British Subjects sufferers by the late Revolution. Part ii. p. 9—16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 THRIT Monks of La Trappe, at Lulworth, Dorsetshire. Audinet salp MODERN MONACHISM. 307 in the garden, without a coroner, created another alarm, which was in like manner removed. During the search thus occasioned, were found four alabaster bas-reliefs of the Pas- sion and Crucifixion. In 1799, there were seventeen, in the Benedictine Costume of black gowns and veils. They have since re- moved to a house near Bridgewater in Somersetshire.a It has been reported, that there are other Societies now in the kingdom. a Hutchins's Dorsetshire, new Edition, iv. 164. APPENDIX. The particulars attending the Dis- solution of Monasteries are well known; but, as I have seen some unpublished matter on this subject, I shall here give it. The famous prophecy of Robert Langland, in the Vision of Piers Plow- man, of the destruction of Monasteries, is not unique. In MS. Cott. Titus, D. XII. Sect. 8. (Smith's Catalogue,) there are or were "Versus prophetici rhythmici de destructione monasterio- rum;" and it is by every thing probable that Langland, and this writer, merely expressed a general opinion. It was said of the Lollards: "They also per- suade the great persons of the land, that the Church-possessions are to be taken away, and given to knights." b As Henry VIII. acted on this idea, it is fit to note, that if an estate is bought subject to tithes, the purchase money is proportionably less; and if tithes be taken away, the landlord will have the amount in increased rent, with whom the tenant can never make so good a bargain as with the clergy- man. Now it happens most unluckily, that the gifts to the Religious were of con- siderable national benefit; and that they were the great loanmongers of their days; (Toulmin's Taunton, p. 8.) and that large possessions in the hands of those very knights only served to Hii quoque suadent terræ magnatibus aufe- rendas esse possessiones ecclesiæ, et militibus dis- tribuendas. MS. Cott. Claud. E. 1v. f. 330, a. promote bloodshed and misery; that what learning and what religion there was resided among the religious; that the want of the one would reduce this Country into the political imbeci- lity of Turkey, and that the necessity of the other is conspicuous enough. In MS. Harl. 604. f. 63. a. is the Abbot of Athelney's solicitation for mercy, &c. respecting the payment of their debts, "that he may be out of trobell and sute of the law." The form of the certificate returned in at the Dissolution was as follows: names of the houses; clere value of lands; number and pensions of the religious; clere money remaining ; stock and domestic articles; rewards with the portions paid unto the Priors; remainder of the price of goods and chastels sold; lead and bells; wood and underwood; plate and jewells. Id. 92. The King and Queen (Philip and Mary) discharged the purchasers of lands of all expence and incumbrance, except leases. The purchaser was to discharge the Kinge and Queen's Ma- jesties of all the fees and repryses go- ynge out of the premises. MS. Harl. 607. p. 74. a. An inquiry was con- stantly made in parting with the Ab- bey-land, whether they lay near the Royal manors, castles, or houses. Id. 46. a. It may please your honnors. further to understande that because all the possessions belonge to the said late Monasterye of Saint Agathe's, were immediately upon the dissolution there- x 2 308 APPENDIX DISSOLUTION OF MONASTERIES. of letten to the Lord Scrope without haringe respecte to value. Id. 25. a. It was done to create an interest which might destroy all hopes of restitution. The Visitors took care of the Church- duty. "It is needful," one of them says, "to have a Vicar indowde in the saide collegiate churche, beside th' other pastors, at the leaste to serve the cures ther; that is to say, one to be assistant to the Vicar in the saide collegiate churche, and uther to serve the cure in the Castell Churche, and the third to serve the cure in Horton Churche." MS. Harl. 605. f. 56. The Convent would disclose nothing; and, says the Visitor, "I fermely bi- leve and suppose, that they had con- federed and compacted before our coming, that they should disclose no- thing and yet it is confessed and proved, that there was here suche fre- quencie of women coming and reassort- ing to this Monastery, as to no place more." MS. Cott. Cleop. E. iv. f. 120. b. "The Abbey (of Newark) here is | confederyde we suppos, and nothing will confesse; the Abbot is an honest man, and doth vara well; but he hath here the most obstinate and factiouse Canons that ever I knewe. This mor- nynge I will objecte against divers of them; .... and adulterie, et sic spe- cialiter descendere, whiche I have lerned of othir, but not of any of them, which I shall finde I cannot tell." Id. 131. b. The different valuations in Dugdale and Speed, Dr. Smith (Catal. of Cott. MSS. xxxix.) professes to explain, by saying the one valuation gives the nett sum after the deductions made, the other not; now, in Sir H. Ellis's Shoreditch, p. | 292, are no less than seven valuations of one place; in p. 321, fire; and it is in vain to enquire the cause of this, since various reasons, all of equal pro- bability, might conspire jointly or severally to produce it. A defect in value, or enumeration, is, however, the most likely in my opinion. No doubt both these events ensued as best suited the purpose. *** The following verses on the Dissolution have more than sufficient merit for publication. They are en- titled "A Tale of Robin Hoode, dia- logue-wise, between Watt and Jeffry.” The moral is the overthrow of the Abbeys: Adem Bella was ware and wise, When hee first began to rise, As the bee in summer's prime Sucks the marigolde and thyme, Sucks the rose and daffodill, Leaving, taking what she will, And from flow'r to flow'r doth glide, Sweetly by the river side; Where chrystal streames delightfull runninge, Are ever sweet'ned with his cumminge. ■ Monachism. Such was Adam in his prime, In the flower of his tyme, Soe he tastes every sweete Till with fatt he fell asleepe; As he slumb'red in the dale, Spread upon the gentle vale, A famisht lion came that way, [Hungry pantinge] for his pray, In his grasping pawes he hente him, And in pieces all to rent him; Yet his cabin doth remaine Beaten with the windes and raine, Spoyled of all the passers by Whose huge frame doth terrify; All that wondrous monument, All the world's astonishment; When the wolves and foxesd saw Adam in the Lion's paw, Ours is Robin's strength they cried, And sett him round on every side. MS. Harl. 367. f. 150. b Seized. c Puritans. d Politicians. CEREMONIAL OF THE NUNS OF ST. CYR. 309 The Rev. FRANCIS VYVYAN JAGO ARUNDEL having very obligingly communicated a curious MS. enti- tled, "The Benedictine Ceremonial of the Nuns of St. Cyr," in the Park of Versailles, compiled from ancient documents, abstracts are here given of such passages as are not analogous to preceding matters. CHAP. I. At the sound of the bell, the Noviciates and professed Juniors hastened to the Church, followed by their mistress and her assistant; the others meditating the Rule (C. 43, 48.); to prefer nothing to divine worship. At the Church-door they said the Ver- sicle, "I will enter into thy house," and then dipping their fingers in holy water, 66 crossed themselves, saying, Asperges," &c. This they did at all times of entering or leaving the Church, except when in procession. They next, in the anti-choir, put on their full dress, and tied their wimples on cer- tain days, but on others untucked their robes, and dropped the sleeves over their hands. At two steps from the entrance they made a low bow to the Host, one not so low to the Superior, another similar to the Prioress, and upon arrival at their stalls (chaires) again lowly inclined to the Host. These ceremonies were used at going out and passing by. The Juniors, down to the tenth year of their profession, said nothing by heart, except the most common things, and the office of Complin. Those ex- onerated legitimately from singing or psalmody arranged themselves last, that they might not interrupt those who sang. The Nuns placed them- selves according to the seniority of their profession on each side of the Choir, particular places of distinction being allotted to the Abbess, her Coad- jutrix, the Prioress, and Sub-prioress. All descended by the nearest steps, the Juniors first. When the Abbess said her part of the service, the Nuns stood, as they always did in every place, until she was seated. When she entered or left the Choir, they rose and bowed. No one, except officers on duty, left the Choir during service, without stat- ing the occasion to the presiding Nun. Those released from the daily service, placed themselves below the stalls at Tierce, Vespers, and the Benediction of Complin, which they were obliged to attend, except by dispensation or ne- cessary engagements elsewhere. The candles were lighted and snuffed by some of the youngest. Any sister who had business with another, was to call her out into the anti-choir, that the service might not be impeded.—There were other minor regulations, pp. 1-9. — CHAP. II. The attitude in the Choir was to be the body erect, the head a little inclined, downcast eyes (les yeux demi in terre), the hands under the scapulary or in the sleeves of the full dress, unless when holding the book. Spitting, blowing the nose, and irreve- rent gestures to be avoided, pp. 10. 14. CHAP. III. "Our holy Patriarch seems to us to distinguish (signer) two kinds of psalmody, or chant; the first, which is varied by antiquity or note; the second, which has no variation, but is of the same tenor." p. 14. Certain services were to be celebrated accord- ingly. CHAP. IV. regulates the psalmody. Small mistakes noticed by kissing the ground in their places: great errors by doing so before the presiding Nun. pp. 18-20. CHAP. V. Two kinds of bows. The greater, bending the body till the hands touched the knees; the other, just in- clining the head, the body a little bent. pp. 20-25. CHAP. VII. Prostration and kissing the ground at certain offices. 310 CEREMONIAL OF THE NUNS OF ST. CYR. CHAP. XXII. A weekly officer of the Choir appointed for certain minor religious services. CHAP. XXIII. Except on particular days the cross was placed on the Ab- bess's bench 'au banc de L'Abbesse). Tapers were borne before her when she went to the grate, in processions, &c. The cross was carried a little before her on the right side; but the bearer did not touch it with the naked hand. The cross-bearer also presented the holy- water sprinkle at a certain office. CHAP. XXV. Method of the Holy Water Benediction. The Nuns ranged themselves in front of the stalls, the Sacrist gave the sprinkle to the Abbess kneeling, and kissing her hand, retired a little behind her, both she and the Abbess having their backs turned to the Altar. The Prioress and rest of the Nuns then made a low reverence to receive the holy water. At other times the Nuns formed a circle, and were sprinkled by the presiding officer in the centre. CHAP. XXVI. contains the Regula- ! tion of the whole day. If the Abbess has no want of her sister (sic) she waked the Society, and had the care of the clock; otherwise, another Nun. Nearly the whole Society rose at 4 A.M. the others past. She then opened the doors, grate, &c. and at past 4 rung the first bell of Mattins. Lauds followed immediately without ringing; then half an hour's prayer, unless it was abbreviated for justifiable reasons. Prime and Chapter succeeded; and until 8 they withdrew to dress, or of- ficial duties, or those enjoined. At 8, Tierce, followed by Mass, and, till 10, manual employment, except on certain days. At 10, Sext. On the fasts of the Rule about past 10; if there was a double office, past 10. On the fasts of the Church they left work at past 10, and withdrew to their cells, if they had no business in the offices. At past 11, Nones. Then to the Refectory in procession, from whence to the Church to say grace, ranged along the benches, from top to bottom. "If there be no fasts, they go from 11 to 12 to refreshment all together: if there be fasts of the Rule, from past 11 or thereabouts, till 1. Upon fasts of the Church, from past 12 till 2. Upon days when there is no fast, si- lence at noon, and nones at 1. Work till 3. Upon fasts of the Rule, silence from after 1 to 2; and upon fasts of the Church from after 2 to 3 there is no work. Upon fasts of the Rule, the hour of labour is from 2 to 3; so that ! Vespers is always at 3. After this there is prayer for an hour. It must finish a little before past 4. If it be a fast they withdraw to their cells; are occu- pied in their offices, or may walk in the garden, or visit the sick." At past 5 the coliation in the Refectory, from whence in procession to the Church to Complin. Afterwards the Benediction, Sprinkling with holy water, and at 9 at latest the Dormitory. pp. 102-108. CHAP. XXXVI. A retirement once a year for eight or ten days, when they communicated once a day, and passed the time in holy meditation. CHAP. XXXVII. Confession twice a week, upon Wednesdays and Satur- days, except upon certain festivals, &c. In the Confessional were half-hour glasses to regulate the time for confes- sion allowed to each Nun; at first only a third of the sand, but this limitation being found to cramp the conscience, the whole half hour was allowed. CHAP. XLI. records a custom of drawing tickets inscribed with the name of a month and some particular virtue. Each then drew one; and engaged to study that virtue during the time. CHAP. XLII. On the Vigil of Ja- nuary the first, the Abbess brought to every cell some fine paper and a small candle; and the next day, at the end of Prime, the Society wished the Abbess a happy new year, and received her Benediction. The Novices did the same also with their mistress, and the others at meeting kissed each other in token of amity. Upon the Vigil of the Epiphany, after the Benediction of the supper, or the collation, one or more cakes was placed upon the Abbess's table, and the CEREMONIAL OF THE NUNS OF ST. CYR. 311 youngest noviciates drew each a part. She who had the bean went to eat her portion at the Abbess's table. A wag would smile at the indulgencies granted to the sisters, consisting of suspensions of the law of silence after dinner, and in the evening, upon the Epiphany, the Sunday following, and Tuesday and Thursday before Septuagesima. CHAP. XLIII. Candlemas Day. The consecrating Priest wore a violet-co- loured cope. CHAP. LXVII. Festival of St. Cyr. Flowers were thrown upon the proces- sion as it passed. 23 June. Vigil of St. John. A bonfire being made in the evening before the garden gate, all the Nuns assembled around it. The Abbess set fire to it, and, after a short religious ceremony, they withdrew in silence, " to imitate that of the Saint in his solitude." [Here is Druidism, &c. &c.] CHAP. LXXXI. Cells in the Dormi- tory. Doors to be always shut except in hot weather. The only furniture [except, of course, beds, &c.] an image framed in black, like a picture, and two or three others quite simple: only six books allowed, except those which they had" dans le particulier." Not to take physick in the Dormitory unless there were many sick, nor to bring any thing to eat there, except to the sick; but on account of preserving silence in the Dormitory, always to prefer removal to the Infirmary. Those who "font des remedes," without sleeping in the In- firmary, to retire at 8 o'clock, and not to speak afterwards. No noise to be made by moving the furniture, knock- ing, &c. No one to leave it during the hours of silence; and on this account pails of water to be provided every night for the use of the Nuns. No sweeping in the house, except during the garden promenades in the evening. -An Apothecary's shop mentioned in this chapter and elsewhere, as belong- ing to the house, under the care of an Apothecaress. CHAP.LXXXII. The Common House. Open, except in the hours of silence, when permission was necessary for work or reading while they warmed themselves. But they could not go there in a night dress, or to dress and undress without leave. If a Nun found herself there alone, she might request another to come, that the fire might be employed. p. 254. CHAP. LXXXIV. At the Colla- tion, about a quarter to six, humilia- tions of kissing the feet of any sister, &c. were practised. CHAP. XCI. Infirmary. Phlebo- tomy in the foot is mentioned. p. 280. CHAP. XCII. Garden. "They shall not go to the Garden alone without a great necessity, except on Festivals and Sundays, or (ou) it is permitted, and when they go there after Complin. It is usual to go there for a little more than three months during the heat of summer, after leaving Complin, till 8 o'clock." The Abbess renewed the permission every year in Chapter of going to the Garden. No flowers ex- cept jessamin and violet to be picked, unless by assent of the Sacristan. Not to go there in a night or undress, but to put on the great scapulary at least for propriety's sake. Promenades in the Garden permitted at the hour after Prime, and at that after the prayers, on fast days. pp. 283, 284. Form of investing (a la vesture) a Choir Girl, i. e. making her a Noviciate. At the Chapter preceding the cere- mony, she begged on her knees the habit from the Abbess, who replied by a suitable exhortation. On the Vigil the Mistress of the Novices took the girl to ask pardon of the Mothers and Sisters. Upon the day, Prime, Tierce, and Sext were said successively with- out singing, that the sisters might go to dress, and after Mass and Commu- nion, the girl after the Abbess, the So- ciety went to breakfast in the Refectory upon some meat and wine. If the girl had parents or near relatives, she was to solicit their blessing before the cere- mony. Upon their arrival there were placed in the middle of the Choir a large carpet, a prie, Dieu covered with carpeting, upon which the crucifix was 312 CEREMONIAL OF THE NUNS OF ST. CYR. laid, a careau, a chair; and before a taper, ou il doit avoir une piece dor; near the Abbess's seat, a small table covered with a carpet, upon which were laid all the religious habits, a silver basin, scissars (une plote et des es- pingles), qu? a pincushion and pins. Chairs were put for the Society; and the Sacrist consecrated, sprinkled, and censed the habits. At the offering the Mistress of the Novices brought the girl to the grate, the taper being carried before her. The girl then having kissed the Pax, dropped the piece of gold into the silver bason held by the Subdeacon, and bowing, retired to her seat. After Mass and the Sermon, the Cross-bearer, accompanied by the Mistress, leaning the crucifix on the right arm, led the girl to the Abbess seated; she made her request, kissed the ground, bowed to the Abbess, and returned to her seat. The Chantress then commenced a ser- vice, each of the Nuns holding a lighted taper. After the response, the Mis- tress conducted the girl to the Sacristy, where she was stripped of her worldly habiliments, and re-clothed in a tu- nick, dishevelled hair, a crown of thorns upon her head, and the crucifix in her arms. As she entered the Choir a service commenced, at the end of which the Sacrist went to present the Ceremonial to the Abbess. The Mis- tress brought the girl to the Superior to give her the habit. The Sacrist held the book open all the time the girl was being drest. The Superior then cut off a lock of her hair in the form of a cross, adding a prayer signifying excision of superfluities and secular vanities. The girl was next clothed in the robe, girdle, scapulary, and white veil, with suitable prayers. Being thus arrayed, she kissed the feet of the Superior, re- sumed the crucifix, which she placed upon its stand in the middle of the Choir, and prostrated herself before it, the Convent performing a service. The girl next offered her taper to the Holy Virgin, over the Altar of the anti-choir. After some more prayers the girl re- turned and knelt before the Abbess, who said, "My daughter, you shall no more be called, 'My sister so and so,' but, My sister' [after the name of some Saint]." The Superior then embraced her, and the Mistress led her round to embrace the community; the Convent singing Te Deum, and the bells ring- ing. After that the grate was closed, and all that day the Novice dined at the table of the Abbess. "Si elle fait la retraite elle aura son voile baisse celle qui ont des parends, qui les veulle voir en de hors, l'on les fait sortir la veille mais elle ny couche point." Remark (sic). The day of her invest- ment they made a small Altar, which they placed in the Chapter, properly dressed, and put upon it the rod, which was kept in the Dormitory. The ceremony was the same with a convert girl, only the bench was differ- ently placed, and there was no careau. Part ii. pp. 1-11. The forms of consecrating and pro- fessing Nuns have been before given. PEREGRINATORIUM RELIGIOSUM; OR, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ANCIENT PILGRIMS. 3 C INTRODUCTION. COSTUMES OF PILGRIMS. THE particular designations of Pil- grims were the Scrip, Staff or Bourdon, Palmer's Staff, Scarf, Bell, Sclavina, Hat, Rosary, Scrobula. The Scrip was derived from the Monks of Egypt. Charlemagne wore a golden Scrip when he went to Rome.a It was the pouch or wallet in which Pilgrims carried their necessaries. Thus Chaucer, "In scrippe he bare both bread and leeks."b It was made of leather. In the Life of S. Margaret is this passage: "And you shall visit me with a pilgrim's staff, the scrip hanging from your shoulder;" and in a compotus from the year 1333 to 1336 is an entry "for a scrip of seta," which I think not leather only, but leather with the hair on. In the Ro- man de la Rose MS. it is coupled with the Bourdon, as will hereafter appear. Small ones are mentioned.d We find a Scrip and Mantle united,e and Pilgrims were called Manticulati from Mantica, the scrip. The Anglo-Saxons had Scrips, and they were worn at the side.g The term Scrip also applied to the whole of a pilgrim's baggage, so far as concerned packages.h A Sack instead of a Scrip occurs, as carried by a fe- male poor pilgrim.i Scarf. The Abbot of Cheminon, says a Pilgrim, gave me my Scarf, and bound it on me; and likewise put the Pil- grim's Staff in my hand. I made pil- grimages to all the holy places in the Du Cange sur Joinville, Diss. 15. p. 151. Ed. Johnes. b Id. Gloss. v. Pera. d Id. v. Perula. f Du Cange. e Id. v. Scarcella. e V. Mantiperium. Lye, v. Codd. XV. Script. 370. M. Paris, 836. h See Ch. V. Gold. Leg. fol. cxix. neighbourhood, on foot, without shoes, and in my shirt.k Authors often use the word Scarf instead of Scrip, because these Scrips or wallets were commonly attached to the Scarfs with which they begirded the pilgrims. In general the Scarf is a mere leather thong or belt. In the thirteenth century, the French began to wear over the Cuirass the white Scarf, which afterwards charac- terized their military men. It was sometimes worn as a girdle, sometimes as a belt or baudrick. With them it was sometimes white; sometimes red. The Spaniards preferred it red; the Bavarians and Catalans black; the Pa- latines, Inhabitants of the Rhine, the Danes and English blue.m Accordingly in old portraits of our military men in armour, we find it of blue silk: of that, or some similar material, as a designa- tion of officers, so late as the middle of the last century," and at last converted into a sash, and worn around the waist. We hear of a Scrip being supported by a girdle or belt, and both occur in plates. The arms borne by the name of Tasborough are, 1. Argent, a chev- ron, between three stirrups pendent on as many palmers' staves, Sable. 2. Ar- gent, a chevron, between three pilgrims' staves, with pouches hanging on them, Sable, garnished Or. Bourdon Staff. He had a long staff in his hand, with a nobbe in the middle, according to the fashion of this Pil- grim's Staff. The fashion of all the Joinville, i. p. 118. 1 Du Cange sur Joinville, Diss. 15. Maillot, iii. 112. m " Grose's Military Antiquities, vol. i. p. 362. Plate of Salutes. 0 Du Cange, v. Peramentum. r Coryatt's Crudities, i. 20. 316 COSTUMES OF PILGRIMS. staves, except the Palmers', is similar in the Plate, (p. 323,) and shows the error of the theatrical costume, in fur- nishing pilgrims with a long cross. Upon the arms of Sempringham is what is called a pilgrim's crutch, i. e. this long cross. Taylor's Ind. Monast. p. 32. Qu.? If this be not a misnomer. The Staff was also called Bourdon, being, according to Hawkins, a walk- ing stick, excavated into a musical in- strument. The same author says, Bourdoun the base part in Chaucer; the Bourdon in French is still not only in use, as the drone of a bagpipe, whence the burden of a song, but for the double Diapason, or lowest stop in French and German organs.b Burney says, the Bourdon was a kind of drone-base under the voice part. It was doubtless applied to the use of pitching the note, or ac- companying the songs which Pilgrims used to recreate themselves on their journies, and supposed by Menestrierd to be Hymns and Canticles. It has been elsewhere noted, that it was cus- tomary for all ranks to sing aloud along the road while travelling. Pollux de- scribes the Embaterion as a flute used by the Greeks for recreation in travel- ling, e This Etymon from a musical use is more than doubtful. The barbarous Greek Bopdoria signified a beast of bur- den,f and the Bourdon was a staff of support. Besides it was a fashion which came from Syria. In the Roman D'Aubery MS. is the following line: S'il ait esclavine et bordon de Surie. To which it may be replied, that the bordon de Surie, was perhaps the Pal- mer's Staff, and of different fashion from the round knobbed Pilgrim's bour- don; if so, both staves were called * Taylor's Ind. Monast. p. 32. Qu? if this be not a misnomer. b Hawkins's Hist. of Musick, iii. 374. c Musick, i. 430. d As cited in Burney, ii. 326. • Enc. des Antiq. v. Embaterienne. f Rigaltii Glossarium Tacticum Græco-barbarum, p. 45. Du Cange, v. Sclavina. bourdons. But all this is very uncer- tain; for an old Romance says, "he had palm, and scarf, and good ferrule: Bourdon ;"h where the latter was no doubt the common Bourdon, because palm is mentioned as accompanying it. The Roman de la Rose MS. says, a "bourdon grant et fort," (a bourdon great and strong.) Du Cange, under the word Bordonatus, says, "turned [in a lathe] and terminated in the man- ner of a Pilgrim's Staff." Pilgrims who carried very large Bourdons were called by the Albigenses, Burdonarii.k Palmer's Staff. Peter Damian says, "Coming from Jerusalem, he bore & Palm in his hand." One Palmer is de- scribed as carrying a great club in hand ;m but Somner, in his Glossary of the Decem Scriptores, mentions a staff or boughs of Palm. However common palm branches may be, as attributes of female Saints, or Confessors, [i. e. holy men who died a natural death, not by martyrdom,] it is plain that they could not be preserved during so long a jour- ney as that from the Holy Land; and as Jerusalem was a great mart for nick- nacks in that æra, they appear to have been supplied with staves of palm, of which the make was not always uniform. See the Plate, and explanation of it, p. 323. A palm tree is the symbol of Judæa, as well as of Phenicia, upon Monu- ments.n Bell. I have seen no account of any, except that of S. Brigid, the Irish Saint, in the second Chapter; and the Can- terbury Bells, hereafter mentioned. Sclavina. Du Cange says, the Scla- vina, which Somner by mistake calls Sclauma, is a very long coarse robe, sometimes at least of shaggy stuff, like the military Sagum, and was worn by slaves, whence the appellation. It was the common habit of Pilgrims, for an old Chronicle says, "walking on foot Du Cange, v. Palmata. Du Cange, v. Peregrinatio. k Du Cange, v. Burdones. 1 Du Cange, v. Palmata. Decem Scriptores, col. 2322. "Enc. v. Judèe. • Gloss. X. Script. COSTUMES OF PILGRIMS. 317 in the habit of a Pilgrim, which is com- monly called Sclavina." Herbert de Miraculis says, "like any Jerusalemite, adorned with a palm, scrip, and staff, and covered with the Sclavina.” a In the description of the habit of a Palmer it is white.b Hat. We hear of a Masquerade Pil- grim, clad in a coat of russet velvet, fashioned to his call, his hat being of the same, with scallop shells of cloth of silver. The figure of this hat, turned up in front, appears upon the Plate; and at Kingswood Church, in Wilt- shire, near Wotton Underedge, is a fine head in stained glass, with a hat of this kind, and the escallop in front. It ap- pears plain from the passages hereafter given from Strutt, that the hat con- tained on the turn-up front, tokens of the respective Pilgrimages, as I. Jerusalem Pilgrims, had the signs of Sinay. These, Strutt says, were relicks, brought from thence, and from the Holy Land. II. Pilgrims to Rome. The signs were, a cloak marked with cross keys, and the Veronique, or Vernicle (of which under Chapter X.) in front; but whether of the Cloak, or Hat, does not appear. III. Compostella Pilgrims. The es- callops, being denominated by ancient authors, the Shells of Gales, or Gallicia, plainly apply to this pilgrimage in par- ticular. Fuller however says, the es- callop shells were assumed by the Pil- grims, because used for cups and dishes by the Pilgrims in Palestine; and that Nicholas de Villers, the first of the fa- mily, who attended Edward I. to the holy wars, bore the escallops to denote a tour to Palestine,d whereas it was usual to return by way of Compostella, and the shells appear to have implied this, in the instance mentioned. It appears by the Figures (see the Plate, p. 323.) that this hat, though ge- neral, was not universal; and that a Du Cange, v. Sclavina. Decem Script. 2322. Nichols's Progresses, i. 3. d Church Hist. Cent. xii. p. 42, 43. head-covering, evidently intended for shooting off wet, was a frequent substi- tute. As Rosary. This is a term, properly speaking, only applied to chaplets of beads, used in prayers to the Virgin, but all chaplets of beads e are now so called. Coryatt's Pilgrim had chains about his neck of extraordinary great beads, whereon was the picture of our Lady, and Christ in her arms. connected with prayers, the first Chris- tian mention is made by Augustine, about the year 366; 8 but Du Choul h is quoted for the same use of them among the classical Ancients.i Malms- bury mentions the use, that no prayers might be omitted.k might be omitted.k Peter the Hermit invented a mode of praying by 55 cal- culi, or beads, so distinct in order, that after 10, each of the largest was affixed to the thread; and, as many as the lat- ter were, so many times they recited the Lord's prayer; as many as the other, so many times the Angel's salu- tation, by going over the number three times; thrice also they went over the shorter creed, which they called the Psalter of the Virgin Mary. It was in- vented, according to Polydore Virgil, about 1090. Of Rosaries, Dominick was the Au- thor. A Rosary consisted of a series of beads, 15 large, 150 small, intermixed, which they ran over, in reciting the Pater-Noster, from the larger, the Ave- Marias from the smaller, in honour of the 15 mysteries of Christ, whose consors (i. e. associate in worship) was the Virgin Mary. These chaplets of beads were respectively of amber, or coral, or glass, or chrystal, or gold, or silver. The Nuns sometimes wore them from their necks.m The beads were called Gaudia," and run over in Douce, i. 32. Crudities, i. 20. Hanmer's Eusebius, 586. h P. 255. Roma Antiqua et Recens, p. 177. * Gest. Pont. L. iv.-Mr. Douce on Shakespeare, i. 32. thinks that they were brought by Crusaders from the East. Du Cange, v. Rosarium. m Du Cange, v. Paternoster. " Ibid. v. Gaudia. 318 COSTUMES OF PILGRIMS. repeating Ave-Marias. Sometimes the prayers were said by counting the fingers instead of beads. An Ave- Maria, said with one of the aforesaid grains, was presumed to deliver a soul from Purgatory.b They were mostly made of glass. A pair of Paternosters of great pearl were among the effects of Maur. Lord Berkeley in the reign of Edw. II.d In Spain few women go without the doors, walk, play, or toy, without a rosary in the hand. The men are never without one hanging round their necks. In the comedies, if the Devil be chained, it is with a rosary; and he then makes a dreadful howl, by which the good people are much edi- fied.e Scrobula. This was the robe, worn by female Pilgrims, and, except closer sleeves, like to that of the men. Saint Odoric says, "but these women walk unshod, wearing Scrobulæ, even to the ground." It was essential, as will soon appear, that the garments of Pil- grims should be of woollen; and the Roman de Vache says, b "En Jerusalem fist Peregrination En langes et nus piez a grant devotion;" i. e. a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in wool- len, and naked feet, with great devotion. In the 14th century, breeches were ge- nerally made of linen, and considered a part of dress, essential to ease and indulgence; hence in an old romance, where one of the heroes is resolved upon pilgrimage, it is mentioned, as a great instance of mortification, that he refused to take with him either shirt or breeches; and it was common, for Piers Plowman, speaking of the poverty of Pilgrims, says, "In poure cotes for Pil- grimage to Rome-no breeche be- twene." g Bare-feet. This was a very essential part of penitentiary pilgrimage. Ter- a Angl. Sacr. i. 13. English Spanish Pilgrim, 4to, 1630, p. 18. Du Cange, v. Roscida. d Smyth's Berkeley MSS. e Bourgoanne, iii. 359, 360. Du Cange, v. Scrobula. Strutt's Dressess, ii. 336. tullian b mentions the annunciation of Nudipedalia, during drought, among the classical antients; but the first ap- pearance of the custom in the later æras, was, according to Evagrius, in a sect of Hereticks, mentioned by Augustine, about the year 435, who went so from mistaking certain passages in Scripture. The Apostles are represented by Pe- trarch to have gone bare-footed. It was a custom annexed to some civil punishments. We read of a religious person, who pulled off his shoes, when in sight of a monastery, because he was unwilling to approach dwellings of martyrs, without a martyrdom on his own part.¹ In the wood-cuts of the Golden Le- gend, published by Julian Notary in 1503, is the image of S. Roche, with the hat, staff, scrip, &c. He holds up his clothes, that, as Sir David Lindsay says, Saint Roch well scaled men may see A boil new broken on his thie. Monarchy, B. ii. p. 64. to shew the effects of the pestilence which had seized him. The dog is Gotarde's Hound, "that by the purve- aunce of God brought fro the Lordes borde brede unto saint Roche" whole loaves at a time.m "It seems," says Strutt, "to have been almost as fashionable, in the days of Chaucer, to make occasional visits to the tomb of some favourite saint, as it now is to frequent the different wa- tering-places." Particular habits were appropriated to these occasions; it is indeed certain, that they were not ab- solutely necessary; but few, I presume, who were actuated by real principles of religion appeared without them. Such Pilgrims abstained from all secular va- nities, travelled barefooted, clothed in garments of the coarsest cloth, and h P. 713. Ed. Rigalt. i Mem. de Petrarque, ii. 95. Du Cange, v. Arestara et Arrestare. 1 Angl. Sacr. ii. 301. ID Golden Legend, fol. cxliv. n Tyrwhitt (Gloss. Chaucer) notes that the verb to play in one sense signified to go upon a pil- grimage. COSTUMES OF PILGRIMS. 319 subsisted upon the charitable contri- butions of those they met with on their journey. In the Romance of the Four Sons of Aymont, which probably is about the twelfth century, one of the heroes, renouncing all secular pursuits, determines upon a pilgrimage, and re- quests for that purpose, a coat, or tu- nick, to be made of coarse cloth, and a large hat or hood, and [a bourdon fer- ruled a with iron]; to which his friends, contrary to his wishes, added shoes made of cows' skin [neat leather, the thickest, best for duration and wear], but could by no means prevail upon him to accept of breeches, stockings or a shirt, or any other soft or comfort- able garment. In Pierce the Ploughman's Visions a personage is introduced apparelled as a Pilgrim, bearing a burden bound about with a broad list upon his back, and a bag and a bowl b by his side; his cloak was marked with crosses, inter- spersed with the Keys of Rome (two keys crossed) and a vernicle in the front [see Ch. X.] Upon his hat were placed the signs of Sinay, and shells of Gules; that it might be known by these tokens, for whose sake he had travelled; there- fore being asked whence he came, he re- plied, "Ye may see by the signes that sitteth on my cappe," and added that he had visited Sinai, the Holy Sepul- chre, Bethlem, and variety of other places. "The pilgrim's habit, as it was delineated in the fourteenth cen- tury, is given in the Plate,c p. 323, fig. 1. His hat is turned up in the front, with an escallop-shell affixed to it: he is barefooted, and holds a staff in his left hand. This figure in the original painting is intended for the portraiture of Saint James: and for that reason, by way of distinction, I presume, the border of gold is added to the sleeves, and at the bottom of the garment; for all such ornaments were generally con- sidered as highly indecorous to the profession of a pilgrim." The figure just described appears with a long beard: It was dangerous at the commencement of the thirteenth century, for a stranger to appear with a beard,d "Peter Auger, valet to Edward the Second, obtained from that Monarch letters of safe conduct, he being desir- ous of visiting the holy places abroad, as a Pilgrim; and having made a vow not to shave his beard, was fearful, without such documents, of being taken for a Knight Templar, and insulted. It was by no means uncommon with Lay Pilgrims to make such a vow, and to extend it still further to the hair of their head e and their finger nails: conceiv- ing, I suppose, that the resemblance to a savage was a positive mark of piety and humbleness of mind."f A female pilgrim, with the staff, scrip, hat, and scrobula, is engraved in Strutt's Dresses, pl. cxxxiv. COSTUMES OF CRUSADERS. In 1094, Urban II. preached the first Crusade. The Crusaders received from the hand of a Priest or some other Ec- clesiastick a cross of red stuff, which Un bourdon ferrè; which Strutt by mistake calls a staff headed with iron. b See chap. VII. Copied from Royal MSS. in British Museum, 15 D iii. This figure is also engraved by Strutt, Pl. cv. So far as concerns Pilgrims, Strutt here re- quires explanation. In the 12th Century the Laity and Clergy had all renounced the beard; the was placed upon their hood or left shoulder. Upon the stained glass, about the time of the first croisade, the Pilgrims peasants only, and those who had travelled to the Holy Land, did not shave, after the example of the Orientals. Costumes, &c. par Maillot, iii. 89. e Communem gerens peregrinationis consuetu- dinem, baculum et peram circumferens, comâ ca- pitis, et barbâ prolixâ. De Secundo Philosopho, Scriptor. p. Bed. 464, a. Strutt's Dresses, ii. 318. seq. 320 COSTUMES OF CRUSADERS. carry a cross upon their banners, their helmets, their mail jacket, sleeves, and hoods; their bucklers were still with- out heraldick distinction, and they had for arms only a lance and sword.a Philip II. having determined to un- dertake a Croisade in 1188, came to St. Dennis to take the oriflamme, scrip, and bourdon. The Crusaders, who followed them, put then a cross of red stuff behind their habit.b Though the use of Arms is very an- cient, yet they did not become here- ditary till the Crusades. The Cru- saders invented Arms to distinguish themselves in battle. They were at first only particular marks or colours, which they put upon their bucklers, their coats of arms, their banners, the trappings of their horses: and whole families adopted them, no doubt to make it known that they belonged to conquerors, but these marks did not become hereditary till the age of Louis IX. towards the year 1230. If the shields of the warriors before the Crusades contained any distinction, it was but an emblem, and most com- monly their monogram or cypher. Many Crusaders took crosses, of which they changed the form and the colour. Those of the French in general were white; of the Spaniards, red; of the Italians, blue; of the Germans, black, or orange; of the English, yellow or red; of the Saxons, green.d Besides the bearings with which they decorated the coat of arms, the shield, &c. they wore a scarf, of which the co- lour distinguished the province from which they came. The colour of the Earls of Flanders was a deep green; that of the Earls of Anjou was a grass green; of the Dukes of Burgundy, red; of the Earls of Blois and Champagne, sky blue; of the Dukes of Lorraine, yellow; of the Dukes of Brittany, black and white. The Vassals of these differ- ent Princes wore scarfs of their Princes' a Maillot, Costumes, iii. 71. pl. 23. b Id. p. 91. d Id. p. 93. • Id. p. 86. colours, and such, even of these Va sals, as were allied to them, or w possessed any considerable office abou their persons, affected to join to t colours of their particular liveries, : little band or fringe, more or less large. of the livery of their lord.e The crosses or badges, says D Cange, were generally of cloth, inter- woven with gold, or silk, latterly of any cloth. In an expedition against Man- fred of Sicily, as a Heretick, they won a cross divided in colours, of which one part was white, another red. On some other expeditions, in distinction from those of Jerusalem, they wore a cross, not on their shoulders, but on the breast, and there were other distine- tions not within our subject.f The crosses were sometimes of fine Goldsmiths' work.g The cross of the French King and his followers was of vermillion. The English carried a red cross upon a white ground, the French a white cross upon a red ground. The figure of a Crusader, completely armed, has a close helmet, mail gorget, the rest of his armour, partly mail, and partly plaited. Upon his shield, his breast, and his square banner, attached to his lance, is St. George's cross, i. e. red or gules upon a white ground. This iter- ation of arms in the days of chivalry was intended to denote a resolution to atchieve some great feats of arms. Sir John Chandos, says Froissart, was dressed in a large robe, which fell to the ground, blazoned with his arms, in white sarcenet, "Arg. a pile gules," one on his breast, the other on his back. Thus he appeared resolved on some adventurous undertaking. The information on this subject to be found in Heraldick works, is of course declined here. eMaillot, p. 94. Du Cange, v. Crux. See Chapter VII. Froissart, iii. 105. Erasmi Franciscani Colloq. 276. Lysons's Environs, i. 529. 1 iv. 45. WAlexander ESA dd. 1 2 3 4 FIL GRITS'. Audinet saity. COSTUMES OF CRUSADERS. 321- Explanation of the Plate. Fig. 1. is a simple Pilgrim. (See p. 319.) Fig. 2. was designed by Mr. Alexander, from a monumentin Ashby de la Zouch Church, Leicestershire. (See before p. 294.) This and the next figure, both shod, are a For the drawings used in this Plate, the Editor was indebted to the late eminent Draughtsman and truly amiable man, William Alexander, esq. of the British Museum. Palmers. The staves differ; and there is another different, engraved in Archæ- ologia, vol. xiv. pl. xxxvii. f. 2. The shoe, like the countryman's half-boot, is the Doric Cretan shoe worn by Diana succincta, and hunters, to save the ancles in leaping rocks. See M. Mil- lin in Magas. Encyclop. for 1809, p. 115. Fig. 3. is copied from Brit. Mus. Cott. MSS. Tib. A. vII.; and Fig. 4. from Royal MSS. B. VII. 322 ANTIQUITY OF PILGRIMAGE. CHAPTER I. ANTIQUITY OF PILGRIMAGE.-BRITISH PILGRIMS. CICERO, in a letter to Atticus, says, that if he did not accept the offer which Cæsar made to him of serving under him in Gaul, in the quality of Lieute- nant, he had a pretext for leaving Rome, that of going elsewhere to fulfil a vow. An old Spanish poet pretends, that Alexander the Great, after con- quering Egypt, went to the Temple of Jupiter Ammon [in the Oasis; see Brown] and took the Scrip and Bour- don. It would be needless to produce more instances of so well-known a practice, as making visits, upon parti- cular occasions, to celebrated Temples, or Oracles. Such a practice is a natu- ral impulse of religious sentiment and pious regard. The custom, however, increased towards the decline of the Roman Republick, and from a pre- posterous desire of imitating Paganism, and blending it with Christian worship, arose, in the fourth century, Pilgrim- ages to Palestine and the tombs of the Martyrs. They were said to be found- ed upon the approbation of the Fa- thers and formed part, under circum- stances, of the Sacrament of Penance. Accordingly in this century Pilgrimages from Britain to Jerusalem were com- mon. Gregory of Nice and Jerom both say, "The Celestial Court equally lies open from Jerusalem and Britain: for the Kingdom of God is within you. Antony, and all the swarms of Monks of Egypt, and Mesopotamia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and Armenia, have not seen Jerusalem: and the gate of Para- dise lies open to them, without that city. The blessed Hilarion, though he was a native of Palestine, and lived in that Country, only saw Jerusalem for a c Opera, ii. 134. Ed. fol. Lond. 1681. Du Cange, v. Burdo. Encyclopédie des Antiquites, v. Vœu. d Mosheim, i. 191. Ed. 4to. Lyndewood's Provinciale, p. 298. • one day, that he might neither seem to despise the holy places, on account of vi- cinity, nor on the other hand to inclose God in a particular spot." A further evidence that the Britons resorted to Palestine, among other Nations, is the relation concerning Melania, by Palla- dius, in his Lausiac History, and the epistle, written by Jerom, in the name of Paula and Eustochius. This Mela- nia, one of the most noble of the women of Rome, and daughter of Marcellinus, who had been once Consul, made a voyage to Jerusalem, where she was so celebrated for her virtue and humility. that she received the name of Tecla. She, and Rufinus, her particular com- panion, received all the Pilgrims at Je- rusalem with hospitality; "which," says Palladius, "it is not only my duty to mention, but that of the inhabitants. of Persis, Britain, and all the Isles. Neither East, West, North and South, has been without the kindness and bounty of this immortal woman." Je- rom, writing in the name of Paula and Eustochius, says, "The Briton, divided from our world, if he has made any progress in Religion, leaving the West, seeks a place known only to them by fame, and the relation of the Scrip- tures;" and a little after, speaking of other visitors, he says, "They meet to- gether, at these places, and exhibit to us a specimen of various virtues. Their language is indeed different; but their Religion the same. There are almost as many Choirs of Psalm-singers, as there are diversities of nations.' This unity of religion, and conformity of the Britons, in this respect, not so much It is remarkable, that at Tiddenham in Glou- cestershire, (part of Wales, before the reign of Henry VIII.) was a Chapel of St. Tecla (now under water,) corrupted into treacle: but no such dedication occurs in England. Possibly the Bri- tish Pilgrims took shipping here. BRITISH PILGRIMS. 323 with the Roman Church in particular, as with the Catholick and Universal, he further shows in an Epistle to Eva- grius: "Neither is there one Church of Rome, and another of the whole world. Both the Gauls, and Britons, and Africa, and Persia, and the East, and India, and all the barbarous nations, worship one Christ, observe one rule of truth. If authority be required, the world is larger than a city. Whereso- ever there is a bishop, whether at Rome, or Eugubium, or Constantinople, or Rhegium, or Alexandria, or Tanis, it has the same husband, the same priest- hood." Notwithstanding, the Britons visited Rome in common with other nations, and setting sail from Porto Romano, not only passed over into Pa- lestine, but even the neighbouring Sy- ria, whither they were attracted by the fame of Simeon Stylites, the Ascetick, who passed his life upon a pillar. this Simeon refers the following passage of Theodoret, who wrote the life of this lunatick during his existence: "Many, who inhabit the extremes of the West, Spaniards, I say, and Britons, and Gauls came thither." Jerom, in his epitaph of Fabiola, the celebrated lady, who is well known as the first founder of an Infirmary, says, "All the world. has heard of the Xenodochium, situ- ated at Porto Romano. In one sum- mer, Britain has learned, what the Egyptian and Parthian have known in the spring." Hence it appears, that in this, as in the later æras, Pilgrims were eminent for conveying news. To Lewis, in his Life of Caxton, p. 77, &c. says, "The practice of going in pilgrimage to Jerusalem or the Holy Land was new in the fourth century; when about the latter end of it, Gregory Nyssen wrote a learned letter to dis- suade Christians from going thither on that errand; and was at last, here in England, treated with contempt and ridicule, as only a pretence for sloth and laziness."c 110. Of him, see postea. Usserii Antiquit. Eccles. Britannic. pp. 109, Dibdin's Typographical Antiq. i. 176. We have an account of some man- ners and customs of these British Pil- grims in the lives of David, and the accounts of his two friends and com- panions, Eliud or Teliaus, and Pater- nus. An Angel appeared to David and Eliud, as another had done to the mo- ther of Saint Roche, the Patron Saint of Pilgrims, and urged the journey to Jerusalem upon the very next morn- ing. The two companions were added from the old British respect for the Trinity. They went on shipboard, down the Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and the Mediterranean, passing their days and nights in psalms, hymns, spiritual canticles, and divine converzationes. They did not, as many Pilgrims, take much money with them, not even a staff and scrip, but trusted to Provi- dence. The hospitality of Believers furnished them with all necessaries, which, as it is very probable most of our early religious professed some know- ledge of medicine,d they repaid by cur- ing diseases, actions assigned to their sanctity. When they met with robbers, they offered them what they had; but these (according to a respect usually paid to all Pilgrims, of which hereafter), not only refused to take it, but guided them, till they arrived at places of safety. At Jerusalem they were received by all the people in procession with psalms and hymns, and so conducted to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and placed in three remarkable chairs. They preached alternately, by this means in- tending to convey an idea of the Tri- nity, and to confirm their hearers in the belief of that doctrine. They were consecrated Bishops in this Temple, plainly without any appointment from home, and received valuable presents, suited to their qualifications. Paternus received a staff (in token of his being a d See Marianus Scotus, aº 593-4. e The Druidical Deasuil, or triple procession, the Triads, &c. paved the way for this veneration of the Trinity. In the Pilgrimage to Holy Wells the Druids prescribed three several tours; and if the patient died before the Pilgrimage was finished, some intimate friend concluded it. Smith's Gaelic Antiq. p. 79. Y 2 117 Why Toys76% 1, "Arava se va ** kerkukuk wight; brod, a one- brated postha na witary and Triang, a morall heard bei, of aequate round, and It condemnet wonderful propre etiam the perpared, cured the sick, and sounde pulkvery hour, without any one moring it, and it was touched by the poi- luted founds of a summer. Probably it Contained some mechanism, sufficient be strike the hours, and hand-bells worn word by the Welsh, till recently, at funerale d In a John Ninclair's Statistical Ac- Count of Mouthand, vol. xvii. p. 377, under Kollon Parish, co, Perth, Mr. Maart the minder, says, "There is a bell belonging to the chapel of St. Fil- You that was high reputation among PAYPAL*At that want in old times. de were to be at some mixed metal. bere cout a foot high, and of an ob- by wala lay on a grave vana'y chamy 5 yard. When mad do vince Nego) to be dipped in R taneLL TOT: via e IM NE that i miel I ont of the surfa home ranging a ne From the proces Pilgrimage of År 20 Jerse: not perhaps as = TERDIR:f bra Holy Land when Choories to than 90,000 Christians pensted: salem in the seventh cent!). years afterwards a Hospital was in ed at Rome for Weish P Cadwallader, King of Wales. From the further instance of B! lus the Abbot being directed by Angel, to make a Pilgrimage, in a to effect the translation of the re of St. Andrew to Scotland, then every reason to infer, that a visite of this celestial kind was a cour superstition of this age, as a prelimi of Pigrimage. • Popular Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 394, B. p. the suject connased in the next page. As X Script. 115. • Curger Chimers's Historia, p. 386. Puurs Ja ix. B. ix. p. 86. I Script. p. 614. PILGRIMAGES OF THE SCOTS, IRISH, AND ANGLO-SAXONS. 325 CHAPTER II. PILGRIMAGES OF THE SCOTS, IRISH, AND ANGLO-SAXONS. ONG the usual Pilgrimages, com- n to the other nations of the same s, the Scots and Irish intermingled idical practices. At Iona is the e of a cross, in which are certain nes, which Pilgrims turn three times nd, supposing that the end of the -ld will not ensue until the stone in ch they are is worn through. They bably succeeded to three white mar- globes, placed in three stone basons be turned round, but at the Refor- tion, thrown into the sea.a It is pretended, that through the e story of the interment of Patrick Glastonbury, it was the custom of Irish to make Pilgrimages there, in er to kiss his relicks. Among these y visitors was Brigid in the year 3, who left behind her as a memo- , her scrip, monile,b bell,c and tex- Gough's Camden, iii. 715. Monile. An old Author says, "Monile is an iment of the breast, quasi munile a munio, be- se it protects the bosoms of women, so that atores (Lechers) cannot thrust their hands into n." Du Cange, v. Lecator. Isidore calls it a klace of gems, resembling a serpent. Id. v. pentum. The origin of the bell (says Mr. Stuart) is to referred to the most remote ages of the Celtic arches, whose ministers spoke a dialect of that guage. Ara Trode, one of the most ancient landic historians, tells us, in his second chap- that when the Norwegians first planted a co- y in Ireland, about the year 870, "Eo tempore t Islandia silvis concreta, in medio montium et orum: tum erant hic viri Christiani, quos Nor- gi Papas appellant: et illi peregre profecti sunt, eo quod nollent esse hic cum viris Ethnicis, et inquebant post se Nolas et baculos; ex illo pote. discerni quod essent viri Christiani." Nola d Bajula both signify hand-bells. See Du Cange. raldus Cambrensis, who visited Ireland about the d of the 12th century, speaks thus of these re- ks of superstition: "Hoc non pretereundum to, quod campanas, bajulas, baculosque sancto- m, ex supperiore parte recurvos, auro et argento tære confectos, tam Hiberniæ et Scotiæ, quam Givalliæ populus et Clerus in magnâ reverentiâ bere solet; ita ut juramenta supra hæc, longè agis quam super Evangelia et præstare vereantur perjurare. Ex vi enim quâdam occultâ, et iis asi divinitus insità, nec non et vindictâ (cujus æcipue sancti illi appetibiles esse videntur) ple- mque puniuntur contemptores." He elsewhere eaks of a bell in Ireland, endowed with the same comotive powers as that of St. Fillan, who is id to have died in 649. Popular Antiquities, ii. 15. note *. trilia arma, whether it means a distaff, &c. or scarf, or clothes.d Besides the other pilgrimages, com- mon to all nations and æras, it appears from the Legend of St. Brandon, that nautical Pilgrimages were made to Islands which they denominated Para- dise, but were, in fact, according to For- dun, the Fortunate Islands. They are the Canaries, where it is certain that Strabo, and other Ancients, from the fecundity of the soil, and perpetual spring, placed the Elysian Fields. It is pretended, that after the decline of the Roman Empire, they were unknown till the year 1291; but in fact, Colum- bus derived the knowledge of America from some Spanish-Arabian Voyagers.b In short, any country very fertile and pleasant, was denominated Paradise.i In this migratory age, Pilgrimage was a kind of Tyrocinium, or appren- ticeship, served in various places, in order to acquire a stock of novel eccle- siastical customs and knowledge, with which to enlighten the barbarous inha- bitants upon their return. This appears in the Lives of nearly all the early Saints. The Irish and Scots were re- markable beyond other Nations for restless Pilgrimages over the whole world; often in severe colds, and sum- mer heats. The Pilgrimages of the Anglo-Saxons commenced, according to Eddius, about the year 700.¹ Rome was the favourite destination of the Anglo-Saxons. Ina grew old there," cloathed in a plebeian habit among beggars." m There appear to be no particular customs, which did not obtain in sub- sequent æras. d Guil. Malmesbury in Antiquit. Glaston. XV Scriptores, p. 298. e Golden Legend, ccxxx. b. f Scriptores, 635. 8 Mem. de Petrarque, ii. 200. See a paper in the Notices. Bunting's Itinerarie, 1636, 359. 4to. Du Cange, v. Scoti. 1 Id. v. Peregrini. XV Scriptores, 248. 326 CONSECRATION OF PILGRIMS. CHAPTER III. CONSECRATION OF PILGRIMS. THE Pilgrims first confessed all their sins, after which they lay prostrate before the Altar. Particular prayers and psalms were then said over them, and after every psalm [with manifest skilful appropriation] the Gloria Patri ; the Psalm, Ad te, Domine, levavi; and the Miserere. At the end of these, the Pilgrims arose from their prostrate po- sition, and the Priest consecrated their scrips and staves, saying, "the Lord be with you," and "let us pray, &c." He next sprinkled holy water upon their scrips and staves, and placed the scrip around the neck of each Pilgrim, with other religious services. After- wards he delivered to them the staff with similar prayers. If any of the Pilgrims were going to Jerusalem, their garments were in readiness, marked with the cross, and the crosses were consecrated, and holy water sprinkled over them. The garments and crosses were then delivered to the Pilgrims, accompanied by appropriate prayers. The service concluded with the Mass, De Iter Agentibus.b Offerings were paid for consecration of the Scrip. In the Penitential of Theodore it is said, "In the aforesaid Church, the Priest is accustomed to consecrate the Scrip and Staves of the age. Pilgrims, and receive 1d. from the ob- lation.c" Elsewhere it appears, concerning Je- rusalem Pilgrims, that immediately after the Sermon, preached on the occasion, the cross was sewed upon the shoul- ders, and at least placed there by the Bishop;d for according to Du Cange, to affix the cross was a privilege of that order only.e Kings even assumed the Scrip and Staff. King Richard the First, at Tours, in sign of his immediately un- dertaking the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, received the Scrip and Staff. f The arms of the Pilgrims were also consecrated.g By the Laws and Customs of Nor- mandy, a Pilgrim having received licence, was led out of the Parish when going to Jerusalem, Rome, or St. James's, or any other pilgrimage, with the Cross, Holy Water, and Procession.¹ In Pilgrimages of Penance and Punish- ment, this previous consecration, at least sometimes, did not take place. In the Metrical Romance of Robert the Devil; Robert, become penitent, travels without any ecclesiastical ceremony to the Pope, who, after hearing his con- fession, directed him to go to a hermit three miles off. "In the morning Robert walked over hyll and dale, He was full werye of his labourynge. At the last he came in to a greate vale, And found same hermyte standinge. He spake with the hermyte, and shewed of his lyvinge, And tolde that he was sente fro the Pope of Rome. But when that holy man hearde hys confession, He sayed, brother, ye be right welcome. This was deemed indispensable before pilgrim. Gold. Leg. f. cxviii. b Manuale ad usum Ecclesiæ Sarisberiensis, 4to. b. lett. 1554. fol. lxx. seq. Tit. Ordo ad Servitium Peregrinorum. Du Cange, v. Pera. e Litt. c. p. 1183. Angl. Sacr. ii. 490. f Girald. Cambrens. Angl. Sacr. ii. 387. Du Cange, v. Armorum Benedictio. h Id. v. Peregrinatio. CONSECRATION OF PILGRIMS. 327 And for your synnes ever you must be sorye, For as yet I will not assoylle youe. In a lyttell chappell all nyght shall youe lye. Do ye as I do youe councelle nowe; Aske God mercy, and let youre hearte bowe; For all thys nyght I wyll wake and praye Unto oure Lorde, that I maye knowe Yf in salvacion ye do stande in the waye."-Page 33. Robert is dismissed with his pe- nance; of which hereafter; but that only, for the consecration appears to be withheld, partly on account of the penance, not admitting the Pilgrim's habit, partly because the absolution could not be added. 328 PREPARATORY STEPS TO THE JOURNEY. CHAPTER IV. PREPARATORY STEPS TO THE JOURNEY. IN 1187, the Pagans having obtained by their incursions a great part of the Holy Land, Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, animated by the example of other Bishops and Abbots, took the Cross, and extorted from his tenants a large sum for his travelling expences; he built also for himself and his reti- nue a very handsome ship for his own safety, and the conveyance of stores. He also carried culinary utensils, and different vessels of silver; as well as a seal of that metal, admirably executed and beautiful, that he might surpass the glory of other Bishops and Dukes.a Giraldus Cambrensis says, that he had sold the corn of the Church of Landu, and all the revenues of the Archdeaconry for three years, under the privilege of Crusaders, to two Burgesses of Aberhotehni, because be- fore he had made his journey to the Roman Court, he had affixed the cross to his shoulders.b In 1240, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, after coming to Court, went to his estates for collecting money, and selling woods and lands, to pro- vide the necessaries for his journey to Jerusalem. The Hospitalers and Canons of Leicester then bought of him the noble wood of Leicester for 10007.c This shows, that the Monks and other religious had great advantage by the Crusades; and that, estimating the expence of a Journey to Palestine in a Nobleman, it amounted to an enormous sum in modern money. King Ed- ward I. devised 30,000l. for 140 Knights to go to the Holy Land,d i. e. about 2147. each. These expences, with re- spect to Crusading Pilgrims, were in- a Angl. Sacr. i. 723. e M. Paris, 470. b Id. ii. 601. d Warton's Poetry, i. 110. dispensable, for they had horses, arms, and various necessaries to purchase. The Privileges of Crusaders were, to be released from any obligation to pay their debts, until they returned, or for a certain number of years; and they were exempted from paying interest of money owing during that time. They were to be free from tallages, unless of a particular kind (reales). They had liberty to mortgage their lands without license of the Lord. Their goods and persons were under the protection of the Pope and Bishops. Their causes were tried in the Ecclesiastical Courts. But all these privileges ceased in cri- minal cases; indeed they were of no use, for as nobody would let them t have money under such privileges, they were obliged to renounce them.f It seems that the susception of the Cross induced an obligation to observe strictness of conduct. Richard the First, because he had taken up arms against his father after he had taken the Cross, was absolved by the Arch- bishops of Roan and Treves before he set out.g When they had taken the Cross, they learned a particular song, called Ultreia, by singing which they ani- mated themselves upon their journey.h It was also usual for them to insult and persecute Jews, whenever they met them. The King of France engaged with Richard the First not to attack his People or States, as long as Richard continued in Pilgrimage, nor after his return, before the expiration of forty days.i So that Sovereigns secured e M. Paris, 671. Triveti Annales, 94. h Du Cange. i Triveti Annales, 108. f Du Cange, v. Crux. PREPARATORY STEPS TO THE JOURNEY. 329 their States before they undertook this hazardous expedition. Three years the term limited to pil- grimage of Richard I.a An economy at home, correspon- dent to the expense, was dictated. In the year 1188, at a Council at Geytin- ton, where Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, presided, and took the cross with many others, it was enacted concerning the People of England, that no one should use scarlet cloth, sable 8 Angl. Sacr. ii. 385. or vair furs, or vestes laqueati (laced), or more than two dishes at dinner, because the King and all the great men of the Kingdom were going to the Holy Land at great cost.b After taking farewell of their friends and making their wills, the Pilgrims (at least for the Crusades) met together at one place to fix a day for their de- parture.c b Decem Scriptores, 1149. • M. Paris, 671. Du Cange, v. Manaia. 330 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON SHIPBOARD. CHAPTER V. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON SHIPBOARD. SOME of the English Pilgrims, des- tined for Jerusalem, went by way of Sicily, the greater part from Marseilles." In a Synod held under King Pepin, it is enacted as follows, " In like man- ner we appoint, that when Pilgrims go to Rome or elsewhere, on account of God, that they be not detained at bridges, or excluded (for toll), or in voyages, on account of their scrippa;" a term by change of a letter probably put for scirppa, which were baskets made of rushes, used by travellers to hold their baggage.b In the eighth century, the profession of Christianity appears to have been grossly abused by the English mer- chants, who carried on a singular kind of smuggling trade, in foreign countries. In order to elude the payment of duties abroad, they put on the habit of pil- grims, and pretended that they were travelling to Rome, or some other place, for religious purposes. The bales, which they carried with them, they insisted, contained only provisions for their journey, and were exempt from paying any duty. But the collectors of the customs, a suspicious kind of men in all ages, often searched the parcels of those pretended pilgrims, and either seized them, or imposed a heavy fine on the owners of them.c In other enactments it is said, 66 for any other Pilgrims, having a place from the mast, i. e. the midship, to the forecastle, with their provisions and armour, they shall pay a mark."d These were inferior Pilgrims, who had no cabin, and carried their own pro- visions. A Capitulum Metense, cap. 6, in the year 757, orders, that no claim shall M. Paris, 475. Du Cange, v. Scrippum. e Thomson's Ocellum Promontorium, p. 34. d Du Cange, v. Habuisia. be made from Pilgrims for their scrips. This imposition on account of their baggage and provisions was rendered quite nugatory by the truly ascetical Pilgrims; for Godrick of Finchale, the celebrated Hermit, on the whole of the journey, ate only barley-bread and drank water; never washed or changed, or mended his clothes.f It therefore appears, that, upon this plan, a pilgrimage to Rome or Jeru- salem was not an absurd undertaking for the wife of a weaver (as Chaucer says), on account of the assistances which they received by land, soon to be mentioned. By some Statutes of Marseilles, no master of a ship was to have more than four Pilgrims for his own (vianda) profit or freight; except from charity. He was also compelled to take an oath, that he would keep good faith with the Pilgrims, perform his engagement, buy good victuals for them, and have no contracts with the masters or part- owners of other ships, relating to the cargoes or provisions of Pilgrims.i The manner of embarkation was curious. The ports of the vessel were opened to allow entrance for the horses, which they intended to carry with them. When they were all on board, the port was caulked and stopped up, as close as a large tun of wine, because when the vessel was at sea, it was un- der water. The horses were soon landed again; for Froissart says, no horses were to be embarked, because the voyage from England to Lisbon • Du Cange, v. Scrippum. f M. Paris, 99. Hawkins's Musick, ii. 109. He did not kno w their resources. hAn abuse alluded to in Chapter IV. Du Cange, v. Cargator. Joinville, i. 118. Ed. Johnes. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON SHIPBOARD. 331 Horses were sometimes was too far.a conveyed upon deck.b When the Priests and Clerks em- barked, the Captain made them mount to the castle (round-top) of the ship, and chaunt psalms in praise of God, that he might be pleased to send them a prosperous voyage. They all with a loud voice sang the beautiful hymn of Veni Creator, from the beginning to the end, and while they were singing, the mariners set their sails in the name of God, [singing "Salve Regina,"d] which was the Celeusma of the Middle Age. A Priest having said, that God and his mother would deliver them from all danger if processions were made three times on a Saturday, a pro- cession round the mast was accordingly begun on that day. The Host was carried by the pious, and a tent in a fit place erected over it of silk and gold. In hard gales, the bulkheads or par- titions of cabins were removed, and vows made to St. Nicholas of a silver ship, if they escaped the storm.g The Galleys of the rich Crusaders were painted within and without with escutcheons of their arms; and some galleys had full 300 sailors on board, each bearing a target of their Lord's arms, and upon each target was a small flag with his arms likewise, of beaten gold. In the Norman ship in the celebrated Bayeux Tapestry, the crew are ranged along the sides, with each a shield, as in the preceding descrip- tion.i Proper attention was paid to the Compass, which was contained in a Binnacle, for the advantage of light in a V. 330. b Du Cange, v. Boudron. e Joinville, i. 119. d Erasmi Naufragium inter Colloquia, p. 203, et alibi. e Joinville. Joinville, i. 262. This was only an especial privilege allowed to S. Louis; it not being per- mitted to other Pilgrims. Du Cange, v. Eucharistia in navibus. Joinville, i. 227. All this is admirably detailed in irony by Erasmus in his dialogue de Naufragio. Colloquia, 201. h Joinville, 125. Engraved in Maillot, Costumes, iii. pl. xxi. Froissart is copious on the gorgeousness, &c. of ancient ships and private barges. the evening, as now. Hugh de Berry says, (in the thirteenth century) the sailors in the dark nights, to avoid losing their route, lighted a candle, to observe the needle every now and then.k Men and their wives had the usual accommodation of the moderns, for they could have separate small cabins to themselves.1 Provisions were not matters of se- rious difficulty, for Bacon and Corn were the chief, almost the only stores laid in, in provisioning Danish and Norman ships;m and William Brito mentions biscuit and wine." The regulations of Richard the First for the conduct of his subject pilgrims, show the rude punishments of the age, always certain tests of barbarism, if every other information was wanting. "Richard by the Grace of God, &c. to all his men about to go to Jeru- salem by sea, Greeting. Know ye, that we by the common counsel of our honest men, have made the follow- ing regulations: "I. If any man kills another in the ship, he shall be fastened to the corpse, and thrown into the sea. "II. If he commits murder on the land, he shall be bound to the dead man, and buried with him. "III. If any one shall have been con- victed by lawful witnesses of having drawn his knife to strike another, or shall have actually done so to the effu- sion of blood, he shall lose his hand; but he, who shall have struck another with the palm of his hand without shedding blood, shall be three times ducked in the sea. "IV. If any one shall abuse, insult, or privately slander his fellow, he shall pay an ounce of silver for every offence. "V. A robber, convicted of theft, shall be shaved in the manner of a champion; and boiling pitch poured upon his head, and the feathers of a pil- * Joinville, i. 348. 1 Boccaccio, Decameron, Day ii. Nov. vii. Gemetic. c. iv. inter Camd. Script. p. 611. Philipp. L. 4. Du Cange, v. Panis. 11 332 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON SHIPBOARD. low shaken over his head to distinguish him; and be landed at the first Port where the ships shall stop.a a Hoveden, sub anno 1189. This passage shows the antiquity of Tarring and Feathering, used by the Anglo-Americans: who apply it to the whole body; but this is also not new. "The Bishop of Halverstadt having taken a place, where there were two monasteries of Nuns and Friers, caused divers featherbeds to be ript, and all the feathers to be "For the execution of these statutes, Justices were appointed by the King over every ship.' thrown in a great hall, whither the Nuns and Friers were thrust naked, with their bodies oiled and pitched, and to tumble among these feathers." Howell's Letters, 135. One of the Masquerade Characters in Strutt's Dresses has evidently the aspect of one of these disguises; though it was only an assumed cover, for the mask resembles a Hawk. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON THE JOURNEY BY LAND. 333 CHAPTER VI. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON THE JOURNEY BY LAND. THIS journey was often attended with considerable difficulties, in foreign coun- tries. Canute, on his return from a pil- grimage to Rome, bought a free passage for pilgrims in many places at a great expence. The Jerusalem Pilgrimage called Via Dei and Via Sanctorum, appears by an old charter to have ex- empted the Pilgrims from paying cus- tomary tolls. The constitutions of The constitutions of Pepin, in the preceding chapter, men- tion the detention of them at bridges and roads, for want of money to pay the numerous tolls, usual in those ages; and amounting to a large sum in journeys of so many miles. Cer- vantes mentions pilgrims on foot, who had a design to embark for Italy in order to go to Rome, and had yet among them only 60 rials. Being over- taken by Banditti,c the Captain of the latter (a genteel Robin Hood) not only restored their money to the pilgrims, but added more to it.d Facilitation of their progress was therefore a leading concern of Kings and benevolent No- blemen. The former expedited their passage by munificent assistance in some instances.e Among the reforms in the police of Italy, effected by Rienzi, in 1347, one mentioned is, that pilgrims went and came without dan- ger. And John Mansel obtained for the pilgrims, going to St. James of Compostella, that they should choose their lodgings at pleasure in the cities under the dominion of the King of Spain, and have liberty of purchasing a XV Scriptores, 275. b Du Cange, v. Via Sanctorum. Cirrha (about 585 B. C.) by its extortions and oppression of Pilgrims, deserved the wrath of the Amphictyonic confederacy, and was therefore de- stroyed. Muller's Dorians. Thus ancient was the plunder of Pilgrims. Don Quixote, P. ii. B. iv. c. 8. • M. Paris, 475. Mem. de Petrarque, ii. 332. their own provisions without asking permission of their landlords. They travelled in companies; and in the legend of S. James, it is said "Thirty men of Loreyne wente togyder on Pyl- grymage to Saynte James, and all made fayth to other yt every man shold abide and serve other in all estates yt shall happen by the waye."h They had horses, and other matters, suited to their respective circumstances; and except the dress, or particular case of Vows, with no variation from the usages of common journeys,i unless in customs detailed in Chapter XII. Their persons were secure from rob- bery by one of those wonderful in- fluences of superstition, which are not uncommon in ignorant minds in a bar- barous, though not a refined age. "Richard Lynsted cam this day from Paston, and letyt me wete, that on saturday last past Dravayle, halfe brother to Waryn Harman, was taken wt enemys walkyn by the Se side, and have hym forthe with hem, and they token ii pylgrimys, a man and a woman, and they robbyd the woman and let her gon; and ledde the man to the See, and whan they knew he was a pylgreme, they geffe hym money, and sette hym ageyn on the Lond." A similar instance of respect has been before mentioned. If however, coming from an enemy's country, they claimed this protection in the country of that enemy, they were, at least sometimes, made prisoners.m They were, notwith- standing, much robbed at inns. The Legend of S. James abounds with in- stances. Among these, it says, "There 8 M. Paris, 751. h Golden Legend, f. cxviii. i Angl. Sacr. ii. 594. k Paston Letters, iii. 304. m Chap. I. It has exceptions, see further on. Anglia Sacra, ii. 594. 334 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON THE JOURNEY BY LAND. was a Frensche man, about the yere of our Lorde a M. and a C. wolde eschewe the mortalyte, that in Fraunce, (sic) and wolde visyte Saynte James, and he tok his wyf and children and went thyder: and whan they came to Pam- pelone, hys wyff deyde and hys hoost take fro hym all hys money and hys Jument, upon whych is children were borne."a-The statutes for the Cru- saders enacted, that they should take no women with them in their pil- grimage, except a laundress on foot, of whom there could be no suspicion ;b an exception founded upon their known character, as the harlots of the middle age. But these were not the only female companions, notwithstanding the statute; in instances, however, where the transgression implied no breach of propriety. When Godric of Finchale set out for Rome, his mother desiring to become his companion, he consented, and, being a foot pilgrim, he carried her on his shoulders, where the roughness of the road required it. At London they picked up another woman of great beauty, but totally unknown to them, and insuperably re- served in concealing herself. She ac- companied them the whole journey, washed and kissed their feet, and was singularly obsequious. When they re- turned, she suddenly disappeared, and though probably some noble Magdalen, crossed in love, who had imposed upon herself this voluntary penance, was, through her secrecy and imperceptible departure, converted into the Virgin a Golden Legend, fol. cxviii. b Guil. Neubrigens. L. iii. c. 22. p. 291. Ed. Antw. 1567. c Meretricem et Lotricem. Knighton, in X Scrip. 2422. In the 17th century the city laun- dresses used to treat young men with saffron [cakes I presume] and eggs, in order to lure them. Peacham's Complete Gentleman, 31. It was a Franch fashion, and they swarmed about inns. Erasmi Diversoria, Colloq. p. 211. d A common custom with respect to infirm wo- men. M. Paris, 347. "What gave me the greatest concern, was to see Zorayda travelling on foot among the flinty rocks, for though I sometimes took her on my shoulders, she was much more fatigued with seeing me weary, than refreshed by finding herself exempted from walking." Don Quixote, ii. 187. Mary, who had shown the Hermit this mark of respect.c Some Pilgrims declined any female attendance. Gilbert Beket, father of the celebrated Archbishop Thomas. when a young man, took the Jerusalem cross, but would have no other com- panion than a servant named Richard. Female Pilgrims often suffered much on the journey. "Thre knyghtes of the diocese of Lyon went to Saynt James; and one was requyred of a pore woman, for the love of Saynt James, to bere her sacke upon hys hors; and he bare it; after he founde a man seke, and set hym on hys hors, and toke the burdon of the man, and the sacke of the said woman, and followed hys hors afote."g The poorer Pilgrims provided for themselves by mendicity and the aid of charitable institutions. It was sometimes a part of the Papal absolution of those who had vowed a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but were too poor or old to undertake the journey, that they should give money to those who did go, and pecuniary aid for the repair of a Church.h Monasteries received them courteously,i and gave them for three days lodging and diet, without question whence they came.k Such hospitals were regularly endowed with tythes. In the legend of St. John the Almo- ner, it is said, "There was a poure man in the habyte of a Pilgrim came too Saynte Johan, and demaunded al- messe; and he called his dyspenser and badde to gyve that poure man vi pens.' In the Romance of the Re- nard Contrefait" (so called because an imitation of the others), written by an anonymous inhabitant of Tholouse, between the years 1328 and 1342, is the character of these Mendicant Pil- "m e M. Paris, 98. f Decem Scriptores, 1052. Golden Legend, fol. cxix. Angl. Sacr. ii. 495. Reyner Apostolatus Benedictinorum, p. 224. Gough's Brit. Topography, ii. 460. Du Cange, v. Nona. m Golden Legend, f. 55. MS. dans la Bibliotheque Nationale à Paris. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON THE JOURNEY BY LAND. 335 grimages. The Confessor announces to Renard his Penitent, that he is not able to give him absolution, and that he must go to Rome to demand it of the Pope. The Convert submits, takes the scarf and bourdon,ª and commences his journey. Our Pilgrim, on his road, meets the ass, and Belin, the sheep, who stop and converse with him. This conversation leads on both sides to long discourses, intermixed with historiettes, among which is that of Count Renard de S. Marcel who was a robber on the high road, and who, one day that he saw a carter stuck fast in the mud, advanced in charity to assist him, was killed by him, and ascended to Heaven directly. His two acquaintance asked Renard, why, instead of going to beg upon the road to Rome, he did not pursue an ho- nest trade, in which, after all, he could ensure his salvation, as well as by the vagrant life which he was going to adopt. He answers the question by a satire upon the different professions and trades, exposes their several rogueries, and concludes, by observing, that it is not so bad a trade as thiev- ing. After this he renounces his de- votion, and returns home. This cha- racter of Pilgrims was assumed by the Gipsies. On April 17th, 1427, there came to Paris twelve Penitents, one Duke, one Earl, ten knights, and one hundred and twenty men and women with a number of infants. They said, that they were Christians, expelled from Egypt by the Saracens, who came to the Pope for confession, and were ordered to wander seven years, nor during that time to rest in a bed. They had many followers, till the Bishop compelled them to change their ha- bitation, for theft, and fortune-telling, and other offences. In 1560 they were expelled from Gaul, and soon after, in 1591, banished Spain.c • Of these in the Chapter of Costumes. Notices, v. 345, 346. Du Cange, v. Ægyptiaci. This account cor- responds with that given in the Antiquarian Re- pertory, i. 56. as the most probable origin of these vagrants. This assumption of the character of Pilgrims by the Gipsies was not mal apropos. Erasmus mentions a man, who supported himself and two ser- vants, on his journey to Jerusalem, by chiromancy and fortune-telling ;d and when he got there, he quartered him- self upon a very rich Pilgrim, who, though 70 years old, could not die in peace till he had been to the Holy Land. It was a rule to extend bene- factions to Pilgrims, whatever might be their rank. Eadmer says of Lan- franc, Archbishop of Canterbury, "What Pilgrim of whatsoever order of men, ever asked relief from him, and did not obtain it?"e Anselm being in doubt what he should do with the pro- perty which devolved to him by the death of his father, revolved in his mind, among other things, whether he should not build a house for the recep- tion of Pilgrims. St. Roche, the Pa- tron Saint of Pilgrims, used in part of his duties, to visit hospitals;" but when he had been long in hospitall of Placence, and had almost heled the seke men therin, about mydnight he herd in his slepe an angel thus sayeng, O Roche most devout to Crist, awake, and know yt thou art smitten with the pestilence, studye now how thou mayst be cured. And anone he felte himself sore taken with the pestylence under both his armes, and he therof gaaf thankinges to our Lord, and he was so sore vexed with ye payne, that they yt were in thospital were deprived of theyr slepe and rest of the night; wherefore Saynt Roche arose fro his bedde, and went to the utterest place of thospitall, and layd hym downe there abyding the light of the day. And whan it was daye the people goinge by sawe him, ac- cused the mayster of the hospytall of offence yt he suffred the Pylgrime to lye without ye hospytall, but he purged hym d Colloquium Senile, p. 265. Hist. Novor. p. 8. f Angl. Sacr. ii. 156. The Hospital of Ledbury in Herefordshire was founded for the relief of Pil- grims and poor men. Dugdale's Monast. ii. 453. Kings invited them to refreshment. X Script. 2322. 336 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS ON THE JOURNEY BY LAND. of the defaute sayenge yt the Pylgrime, wae smyten with the pestilence, as ye see and unwittynge to us he went out. Thenne the Cytezens incontynent put out Saynt Roche fro the cyte and su- burbes, leest by him the cytee myght be the more infected." Thus it appears, that the obligation to lodge Pilgrims was imperious, except in cases of con- tagious disease. This is the more natural, if it be considered, that whatever might be the abuse of Mendicant Pilgrimage, it was deemed meritorious. Saint Roche, from the text "In the sweat of thy brow," &c. persuaded Gotarde to leave all his goods to his heirs, to follow the way of Christ, which he makes to con- sist in begging" brede and almesse," and "in the name of Jhesu." b It was was even done by men of very estima- ble character and habits, who often found asylums in the houses of the great. "I was a poor Pilgrim," says one of these," when I came to your court; I have lived honestly and repu- tably in it, on the wages you have given me; restore to me my mule, my wallet, and my staff, and I will return in the same manner as I came." c This was not the only attention paid to Pilgrims on their route. Trees were planted at crosses, and other accom- * Golden Legend, fol. cxliiii. C History of the Troubadours, p. 300. b Ibid. modations placed there, for shade, and rest to them.d In their migrations they were the great instruments of conveying news. A woman on her return from a Pil- grimage to our Lady of Boulogne, being weary, seated herself in the mar- ket-place, where there were crowds of people, who asked her for news.e_Sir John Paston says, "I kan not her by Pylgrimys yt passe the kontre, nor noon other man.”f The Pilgrims, on their journeys, used to amuse themselves by narrating tales.8 The Jerusalem Pilgrims of the richer sort took tents with them. Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury, ordered those which he intended to take with him, to be elevated in Lambeth field. Kings and great men took letters of safe conduct; i and the destruction of the places where they were in the ha- bit of plundering Pilgrims, was the punishment inflicted.k Many of the Pilgrims to Jerusalem were detained at Marseilles, for want of vessels to convey them, till their money was spent.¹ d Du Cange, v. Albellus. e Froissart, v. 103. f Paston Letters, ii. 76. Warton's Poetry, i. 397. h X Scriptores, 1564. k Ibid. 1118. ¡ X Scriptores, 1126. 1 Ibid. 1173. CRUSADERS. 337 CHAPTER VII. THE ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM.-CONSEQUENCES OF THE CRUSADES.- MISCELLANEOUS OF CRUSADERS. It is not the intention of this essay to detail historical matters, or be nar- ratory; as possessing no novelty, and much tediousness.-The bells were rung when the Pilgrims appeared off the port, where they were to land.a The Pilgrims, not engaged in the military department of the Croisades, visited the Holy Sepulchre, and other religious places. Godric of Finchale, after doing this, proceeding to the River Jordan with the hair shirt, and cup, which he carried in his scrip, en- tered the waters of that river [in imi- tation of Naaman, the Syrian]. Then for the first time after leaving England he stripped and washed himself: pull- ed off his shoes, and said, "God Om- nipotent, who hast walked barefooted in this land, and suffered your feet to be pierced with nails on my account, henceforth, I will not put shoes on my feet." Having thus performed his vow of Pilgrimage, he returned to England.b They delighted to pick up relicks during their Peregrinations. Balsam was sold at Jerusalem,d images, and no doubt many other articles. Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, and William his Archdeacon, for the sake of exercising the flesh, and fixing in their memories the Incarnation, Passion, and Ascension of Christ, made a visit to the Holy Land.e Erasmus, however, says, that the Pilgrims saw nothing but ancient monuments, to which only legendary accounts were attached, and that even the precise situation of an- cient Jerusalem was not certainly known by the residents there. The Pilgrims, Neubrigensis, 276. More will appear in Tor- kington's Journal following. b M. Paris, p. 99. Du Cange, v. Munerba. e Angl. Sacr. ii. 274. • Eadm. 88. he adds, abounded with marvellous tales, and false stories of what they had seen and heard,f but returned with injured health. There is preserved an account of a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, made by a Sir Richard Torkington in 1517, of which the following extracts were pub- lished by Mr. Wheeler, from the iden- tical MS. Diary.g "Thys ys the begynnyng of the pyl- grymage of Syr Rychard Torkyngton, person of Mulberton in Norffolke. And how he went towardys Iherusa- lem all a lone to the tyme he came to Venesse." "ffyrst the ffryday a for Mydlent that was Seynt Cuthberdys day And the xx day of Marche in the vij yer of kyng herri the viij.th And the yer of ower lorde god M.CCCCCxvij. abowte viij of the cloke the same mornyng I shippyd at Rye in Sussex. And the same day a bowte x. of the cloke at nyght I londed at Depe. in Normandy. And ther I lay in the Shippe all nyght," &c. &c. "At Cambray I hard a ffamus Ser- mon of a Doctor which began at v. of the cloke in the mornyng and conty- nuyd tyll it was ix of the clok. In hys s'mon at on time he had a balys [rod] in hys hond a nother tyme a schorge the iij.de tyme a crowne of thorne the iiij.th tyme he shewyd the pepyll a pictur poyntyd on a clothe of the pas- sion of o. lorde. And aft. that he shewyd them the ymage of god crucy- fyed upon a crosse and thanne all the peple bothe yong and old they fell downe upon ther knes and cryed with lamentable voce om'a the p'cher the peple they weppe marvell it was to see. Colloq. § De Votis, &c. p. 22. * Gentleman's Magazine, Octob. 1812. Z 338 CRUSADERS. "We com [29. April] to the goodly and ffamose Cite of Venys. Ther Í was well at ese, ffor ther was no thyng that I desired to have but I had it shortly. At Venyse at the fyrst howse that I cam to except oon the good man of the howse seyd he knew me by my face that I was an englysshman. And he spake to me good englyssh thanne I was jous and glade. ffor I saw nev'. englyssh man ffrom the tyme I dep'ted owt of Parys to the tyme I cam to Venys. which ys vij or viij C. myles." "In Candia sive Creta was musyke fyrste founde And also Tourneys and exercyse of Armys fyrst founde on horse bake. Ther was lawe fyrst put in wrytyng. Armour was fyrst ther divisyd and founde. And so was remys and rowyng in bootts. 66 Satirday the xj day of July a bowyt iiij of the cloke at aftyr noon we had sight of the holy londe. Thanne the Maryners song the letany And aftyr that all the pylgryms w.t a joyffull voyce song Te Deum laudamus. and thankyd all myghty god that he had yoven us such grace to have onys the sight of the most holy lande." "At Jaffe begynnyth the holy londe and to ev.y pylgryme at the ffyrst foote that he sett on the londe ther ys grauntyd plenary remission De pena et a culpa. In Jaff Seynt Petir reysid ffrom Deth Tabitam. the sarvaunt of the Appostolis. And fast by ys the place where Seynt Petir usyd to ffysh And or. Savior Crist callyd hym and seyd sequere me. "At Rama we war receyvyd into Duke Philipps hospitall And it ys callyd so by cause Duke Philippe of Burgone byldyd it of hys grett Cha- rite to Receye Pylgryms therin. We found no thyng ther in but bar walles and bar florethes excepte oonly a well of good ffresh watir whiche was myche to o. comforth. Nev'theles ther com to us Jacobyns and other feynyd Cristen peple of Soundry Sectis that browght to us mattes ffor o.' mony to lye upon And also brede sodyng egges and sumtyme other vetallyes as mylke grapys and appyllys." "Satirday [18. July] a bowyt vjï vij of the cloke at aftyr noon we can to Iherusalem and were receyvyd in to the Mounte Syon. "Whanne Masse was don [Sunday 19. July] we went all to Dyn', in the place wher we war ryghg honestely s'vyed. And at medys of the dyner the ffather wardyn made a right hol sermon and shewyd ryght devowth the holynesse of all the blyssyd chosey place of the holy londe And exortyd ev'y. man to co'fession to co'fession and repent- aunce. And so to visite the seyd holy placis in clennes of lyff. And w shuch Devocion as all myghty god wold yeff unto them of hys most spe ciall grace." "At the Mounte of Olivete we came to the place under an holow Roke whe o. savyor preying fell in suche a agony that he swete watir and blode. That the droppes fell in grett plenty from hys eyne to the erthe seying, Pater si possibile est ut transeat a me calix iste; verumtamen nơ'. sicut eg: volo, s'. sicut tu vis. ffiat voluntas tu. Clene remission." "Ffrom thens descendyng a stonys cast we came to the place wher or. S vyor Crist left Petir Jamis & John. Sedete hic donec vadam illuc et orem vigilate et orate. Also wher the Pos tyllys made the Crede of ower feyth Also wher ower Savyor Crist taugh hys Discipulis to pray seying Cum orat. ita dicite, Pater noster." "The stonys of that place whe: ower lady was born ys remedi and consolation to women that travell Chylde." "We went to the howse of Dives Epulonis, qui sepultus est in Inferno." "We cam to the howse of Veronic wher as or. blyssid Savyor impress the ymage of hys fface in hyr wymple whiche ys at Rome. And it ys cally ther the Vernacle. "The Churche of the holy sepulcre Whitby says, that the story of Dives and La- zarus is only a parable taken from the Gemara Be- bylonicum; but Chateaubriand, from Chrysostout, makes it a real history. Trav. ii. 27. F. CRUSADERS. 339 ys rounde myche leke the form and makyng of the Temple at London saff it ys excedyng fer in gretnesse and hath wonder many yles Crodes and vowtes Chapellys high and lowe in grett nowmber and mervell it ys to see the many deferens and secrete places wt.in the sayd temple." "Under the Mounte of Clavery [Cal- vary] ys a nother Chapell of o.r blyssyd lady and Seynt John Ev'ngeliste that was callyd Galgatha and ther ryght under the morteys of the Crosse was founde the hede of o.r fore father Adam." "We cam to Bethelem it was callyd in old tyme Effrata wher of it ys wretyng Ecce audivimus eum in Ef- frata. And bytwyne Citie and the chirche ys the flod floridus where the fayer mayd shuld a ben brent and was savyd harmesse by myracle for the fyer chaunged into Rosis." "At the Est ende of the Chirche of Bethlem ys a cave in the grounde wher sumtyme stod a Chirch of Seynt Ni- cholas. In the same cave entred ower blyssid lady wt. hyr Sone. And hyd hyr for ffer of Kyng Herrod. the gronde ys good for Norces that lake mylk for ther Childern." "The last day of July a bowyt v. of the cloke in the mornyng we made sayle to warde Cypres homward wt. ryght grett joy and solas." "The xxv. day of August that was Seynt Bertilmews day the morne aftyr Seynt Bertilmew decessyd Roberd Crosse of London Pewterer and was buryed in the Chirche yard in Salyus [in the Island of Cyprus]. And xxvij day of August decessyd Syr Thomas Toppe a prest of the West countre. And was cast ov'. the borde As was many moo whos soules god assoyle. And thanne ther remayned in the shippe iiij Englyssh prestis moo." "Of o." chere and well entretyng at the Rody [Rhodes] and what comfort was don to us and speciall that was seke and disesyd by Syr Thomas New- porte and Mayster William Weston and Syr John Bowthe and aftyrward by other Jentylmen of Englond ther it war to long to wrytte. 66 Sunday [3. January] the wynde began to ryse in the north And mun- day all day and all nyght it blew owt- rageously. Indured a wondred grett Tempest aswell be excedyng wondors blowyng of wynde as by contynuall lythynyng So that the capteyne and the patron And all the knyghtys of the Rode whyche war ther to the nowmbyr of xiiij wended we shulde a be lost." "The same nyght a bowte x of the cloke we all p'mysyd pylgrymage to ower lady of grace of Missena in Ce- cylia. And ev'y man delyv'ed hys offeryng the same tyme to the patrone of the shippe. And of "Wedynsday the vj. day of Januarij the wynde rose a yens us wt. grett tempest thounderyng and lyghtnyng all day and all nyght So owt rageously that we knew not wher wee war. thanne we putt us all in the mercy god beyng in grett peyne and woo both day and nyght voowyng sum of us pylgrylmages to o. blyssyd lady of Lorett'. in Ytalya and sum to o. lady of Walsyngh'm. and sum to Seynt Thomas of Cannterbury we that war Englysshmen. The patrone of o.r shippe gaderd mony of us for to make o. offerying to the iij kyngs of Colo- ney a And as sone as we cam on londe we shuld have messe in honor of them.” "And in thys fforsayd long conty- nuall tempeste and storme we war dreff bakward iij. C. myle." "In the yle callyd Swafana in Turkey we a bode v. dayes and dyv'se knyghtes of the Rodes wont on lond wt. ther hande gonnes and slew horse for ther hawkes that war in the sheppe ther war in the shippe I. C. hawkes and moo." 66 Saturday a for the fyrst Sounday The iii Magi, who worshipped the infant Christ, called in the legend Kings, and of Cologn, because their bodies were pretended to have been brought first to Milan, and from thence to Cologn. Golden Legend, fol. vi.-viii. F. z 2 340 CRUSADERS. of clene lent the xx. day of ffebruary we went in to the Castell [of Corfu] a mong the Jewys it was ther Sabaday. The same day ther was a Jewe maryed and aftyr Dyner I saw them danse in a grett Chamber bothe men and wo- men in ryche apparell Damaske Saten velvett weryng a bowte their nekkys chenys of fyne gold wt. many rynggs on their ffyngers wt. stonys of grett pryce. She that was maryed she had upon hyr hede a crowne of gold.—On of the Jewys be gan to syng And than all the women dannsed to gedyr by the space of an owre. And aftyr that ther cam in yong men on of them sang Thanne the men and women danncyd to gedyr Aftyr that they callyd in ther mynstellys and so they danncyd iij long howrys. They be fayer women wonderfull werkes in sylke and gold and many goodly thyngs they have to sell. in thys cetye we a bode by the space of xiiij dayes." 66 Munday that was the xvij day of Apryll we cam to Dover and lay ther all nyght." "Tewysday a for Whith Sounday we cam to Cannterbury to Seynt Tho- mas Messe and ther I offeryd and made an Ende of my Pylgrymage- Deo gracia." "We war owt of Englond in ower seyd pylgrymage the space of an holl yer v. wekys and iij dayes." As to the Military, they lived in the same habits as at home. Statutes were made for the regulation of them, of which the following is an abstract. I. All the Pilgrims who died on the road, had a power of disposing of their arms, horses, and cloaths, provided they sent nothing home: as to Clerks, they could dispose at will of religious furniture. II. Knights and Clerks were allow- ed to play for money, provided they did not lose more than 20s. in 24 hours. But all servants, except the King's, were to be punished by three day's beating through the army, and mariners were to be ducked once a day for three days, if they meddled with games. III. Money borrowed on the jour ney, was to be paid during the journey, but not that borrowed before. IV. Runaway servants were not to be harboured, under penalty of excom- munication, &c. V. No merchant of any trade was to buy bread to sell again in the army, nor any foreigner to speculate in corn, unless he made bread of it, or detained it to carry with him; nor was any one to buy dead meat to sell again, or a live beast, unless he killed it in the army. VI. The same regulation was made about regrating in wine.a Other regulations order the Cru- saders not to swear enormously; not to gamble at dice; and to be content with two meals.b But their liberti- nism was so notorious, as in its conse- quences to be a leading cause of their final ill success. Joinville is a work of such easy access, that it is quite unnecessary to make large extracts. The knowledge | of the useful arts was considerably augmented by this intercourse with the East. The following short notices betray the strangest inconsistencies. Friday's fast was diligently observed;" and there were tents in the form of ! chapels, with the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary embroidered on the in- side;d and yet brothels were kept even within a stone's throw of Saint Louis's pavilion, by his attendants.e The name of our Richard I. was so terrible, that it was used by the Sara- cen women to frighten children.f La Brocquiere mentions 30,000 Ama- zons, with bows and arrows and curi- ous quivers.g In Tacticks the present admirable method of defending infantry from ca valry, was successfully practised.b a La Brocquiere says, that a dwarf and Script. p. Bed. 384. b Neubrigensis, 1. 3. c. 22. p. 291. Joinville, i. 167. Id. 128. f Id. 274. d Id. 119. & P. 150. A woman with only one breast occurs on Indian Monuments. ments at Salset, Pl. v. p. 18. h Triveti Annales, 120. Gough's Indian Monu 1 CRUSADERS. 341 two young persons acted the parts of fools with the Sultan; and that the custom was introduced by the Cru- saders to the Christian Courts. Now it has been said that our interesting acquaintance in infancy, Tom Thumb, was a dwarf in the Court of King Ar- thur, who only imitated Augustus in keeping a dwarf.b La Brocquiere may be correct, for they were mostly then brought from Syria and Egypt.c All the pomp of the Gothick Ages was derived, by means of the Crusades, from the riches and magnificence of the Eastern Cities. Before this æra old Poetry consisted of the achievements of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and Charlemagne and his twelve peers; but after these expedi- tions of the Soldans, Caliphs, Trebi- zond, and other cities. Whole legions of Poets embarked with the Military for the Crusades.d The Pisans, when the Crusades first took place, fitted out small vessels loaded with provisions, which they sold to the Crusaders, and brought back columns, sculptures, bas-reliefs, &c. from ancient Greece, as well as Greek artists; and from hence commenced the revival of the Arts in Italy.e The Crusades gave birth to the ma- ritime powers, of which Venice, Genoa, and Pisa were the first; and occa- sioned the establishment in Europe of naval commerce, which, till then, had been in the hands of the Greeks and Arabs.f About the year 1060, when the Pa- gans obstructed the Journey, the Pil- grimage was still made by stealth.g But it being a misfortune which oc- curred from possession of the country by the Saracens, that the Pilgrims were enslaved when they came to the Holy Land, Antioch, which was taken by a P. 254. b Sueton. C. xliii. in Augusto. See figures of them in Kircher Edip. Ægypt. ii. 522. and Count Caylus, Rec. d'Antiq. vi. pl. 88. f. 1, 2. e d Warton's Poetry, i. 110, 111. Bromley's Arts, ii. 306, seq. f Observat. sur l'Italie, tom. iii. 261. Du Cange, v. Tapinatio. See instances X Script. 1052. the Crusaders in 1098, was the most convenient place, Tyre not being then in the possession of the Christians, for Adventurers and Pilgrims to land at. When, however, they had debarked, they had 200 miles of a barbarous country to traverse before they could reach Jerusalem; hence arose the ne- cessity of a constant guard to protect them, and a subsistence when arrived. at this new capital of the Christian Em- pire. These circumstances produced the only two religious Orders which were established in the Holy Land; the first of which were the Knights Hospitalers in 1113, who undertook the accommo- dation of the Pilgrims at their Hospi- tium or Inn, during their stay in Jeru- salem. As many, however, were at- tacked by the Saracens in their journey from Antioch, the second Order, that of Templars, took place in 1188, who professed to escort the Pilgrims to their quarters with the Knights Hospitalers.k The fanaticism for making pilgrim- ages to the Holy Land has been sup- posed extreme; and it is certain, that in 1199, John Bishop of Faenza went to the Holy Land with 200 of his Dio- cesans, no small number for the popu- lation of his town, and it is also cer- tain, that even children engaged to take the cross.m Much art, however, was practised. At the approach of Christmas, when it was customary for great men to give new cloaths to their dependants, the French King, Standard- bearer of the Cross, [for that ensign always preceded their march], assumed to himself, in a new manner, the office of Preacher, and Procurator of the bu- siness of the Cross; he ordered to be This protection was no doubt particularly ne- cessary with relation to our countrymen, of whom continental hatred thus expressed itself: " In my youth," says Petrarch (Fam. 1. 21. Ep. 3.), "the inhabitants of Great Britain, whom they call En- glish, were the greatest cowards of all the barba- rians, inferior even to the vile Scotch." This is the only time a modern Italian perhaps ever talked of the cowardice of our countrymen. Archæologia, ix. 128. These orders are how- ever charged in some French MSS. with becoming Banditti to rob the Pilgrims. Notices, vi. 53. m M. Paris, 502. 342 CRUSADERS. got ready many more gowns than he used to have, with their appurtenances, of the most precious cloth, and different furs and crosses, made of fine goldsmith's work, to be sewed upon the shoulder parts of the gown, privately in the night. When therefore the courtiers attended Mass in the morning, they were asto- nished to find the Cross upon each other's shoulders; but seeing the King's motive, were ashamed to re- move them. This art was necessary. A father wisely excuses himself from undertaking a foreign pilgrimage, on account of leaving his wife and chil- dren to the care of others.b At the predication of the Crusade by Giraldus Cambrensis, Philip Mangonel, a knight, observed that no man, who professed integrity to his country, would take the Cross, upon his preaching, or the Arch- bishop's. Sovereigns vehemently op- posed these Jerusalem Pilgrimages, as robbing the country of effective men, and separating relatives of worldly ser- vice to each other. Indeed they openly called it (according to our modern lan- guage) crimping and kidnapping.d When they did patronize them, it was for the reason assigned by Henry IV. in Shakespeare, who says, that to avoid being dethroned, I had a purpose now To lead out many to the Holy Land, Lest rest and lying still might make them look Too near into my state :" an idea which, by the way, was sug- gested from Elian,e and Justin, who relates the same of Dionysius the Ty- rant. An obligation to enter either of the military orders was substituted for the punishment of exile. William de Berke. ley, 56 Henry III. came before the King, then at the Tower of London, and promised to render himself into the religion of St. John of Jerusalem or of the Templars, before the 15th Pasch. in that year, and to go towards Jerusa- lem, or to any other place out of the M. Paris, 604. Angl. Sacr. ii. 491. e L. ix. c. 25. b Du Cange, v. Inoletivus. d Id. 492. occa- kingdom of England, as he should be directed by the brethren of that order, never afterwards to return into Eng- land, and thereof took his oath, and put in fourteen sureties to perform the same: which banishment was sioned by his former insurrections This record is important, because it shows of what persons these Orders were chiefly composed, probably of desperate malcontents, and explains much of their history. Thomas Lord Berkeley, who died in 1321, having made a vow to go to the Holy Land, his son Maurice gave £100 to Sir John Veel to go in his stead, and thus absolve his father's vow. These vows were also redeemed, especially in relation to old men, invalids, women, the infirm, and children, for money, through preaching of the Friars. The reason was, that, unless the papal ab- solution was obtained, death was pre- sumed to result from non-performance of the vow. The Pilgrims themselves, by their own weariness of the Crusades, no doubt discouraged the people. In 1192, when King Richard had held a council concerning the Siege of Jerusa- lem, he was dissuaded, among other reasons, because it would require a strong garrison to keep it, and the people were very desirous of finishing their pilgrimage, and returning to their own country: some actually did so, even before the business was completed of delivering the Holy Land.k Pil- grimages to Jerusalem were turned to great advantage in some instances. About 1520, one Mabon, Dean of Jer- sey, made the journey, and after return contrived, by lengthening the East end of a Chapel, and excavating a place under the altar, to form a representa- tion of the Holy Sepulchre. He then "feigned visions and apparitions in this place," by which he got numerous Hill. placit 56 Hen. III. rot. 18. Smythe's MSS. Smythe's Berkeley MSS. 328. h M. Paris, 502. i Erasm. IXOYO AгIA. Colloq. 412. * Trivet, i. 120, 123. CRUSADErs. 343 offerings to be made there; and consi- derable profit to himself. It is pro- bable, that the clerical pilgrims turned their tours to good account in various ways. Lastly, when the Christians began to grow lukewarm upon the subject of these Jerusalem expeditions, the Mos- lems took it up, and recommended a pilgrimage there to the Mosque Alarsa, as prayers said in that Mosque ob- tained expiation of sins, and other spi- ritual advantages.b It must, however, always be an interesting tour; and the recent destruction by fire of the Church Falle's Jersey, 271. Ed. Morant. See an exhortation to souls, upon a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, by Bourhan Eddin Alkazaoni, MS. Bibl. Nation. Notices, iii.605. of the Holy Sepulchre is to be seriously regretted upon many accounts. Monks were not allowed to take the Cross. An Abbot, named Edmund, says Matthew Paris,c to the derision of every body, in violation of his vows, and injury of the Order, attempted a most pernicious precedent, by taking the Cross to flatter the King. After the Soldan of Babylon had taken Acre in 1291, the Christians were entirely driven out of the Holy Land, and there was not a single place left where troops could land. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land, as a general fashion, ceased with us about the time of Henry V. • P. 671, 696. 1 344 RETURN HOME.-PALMERS. CHAPTER VIII. RETURN HOME.-PALMERS. PILGRIMS returned from the Holy | whom our countrymen commonly call Land by whole ship-loads at a time, and were then called Palmiferia When they began their journey, they went with scrip and staff; but after they had accomplished their pilgrimage,and when they were onthe point of returning home, they cut off branches of palm-trees, which are common in Palestine, and brought them home. On their arrival they went to Church to thank God for the happy success of their Pilgrimage, and for the proof of the fulfilment of their vows, proffered the Palms to the Priests, who placed them upon the Altar. Durand gives another reason. They who come from Jerusalem carry a palm in their hands, for a sign that they fought for the King, who was ho- nourably received in Jerusalem with palms, and afterwards there fought a victorious battle with the Devil. That the Jerusalem Pilgrims returned into their own countries with a palm, many writers attest, but they chiefly used the Palma juncta. When they came home they were received with an ecclesiastick procession.c Erasmus says, they who have been at Jerusalem are called Knights, style each other Brethren, and seriously practise a ridiculous ceremony on Palm Sunday, i. e. drag along a wooden ass with a rope. The Compostella Pil- grims imitated this. I presume that the Host, or Crucifix, or figure of Christ, was placed upon the ass,e to complete the allusion to the Hosanna procession. Somner, in his Glossary to the De- cem Scriptores,f says, "That Pilgrim, Du Cange, v. Palmifer. b Du Cange. Diss. sur Joinville, 15, p. 152. c Id. v. Palmarius. d De Colloq. Utilit. p. 653. • See Antiquitates Vulgares. f Du Cange, v. Palmarius. a Palmer, the name which they are ac customed to take from staves of branches of palm. But a Pilgrim and a Palmer, according to some, remark ably differ in these respects: a Pilgrin has a fixed residence; a Palmer none: a Pilgrim goes to a certain and prefixe! place; a Palmer to none in particular, but to all: a Pilgrim goes at his ow expence ; a Palmer professes voluntary poverty: a Pilgrim can renounce his profession; a Palmer never, unless he had first obtained the palm, i. e. con quered his spiritual enemies by death.” It is certain that a Palmer distinguished a Pilgrim to Jerusalem from another. Thus Giraldus Cambrensis: "Asseruit ipsos de Gisortii partibus esse et pal miferos omnes, et Sepulchri Dominic peregrinos; præter Archidiaconum so- lum, quem de Roma venientem Papie primo repereunto." h There is no reason to dispute the fe that there were persons who vowed perpetual (rather a long) pilgrimage and poverty, and ended their days in a hermitage; and who also, having been to Jerusalem and returned, were thus Palmers; but to say that they became Palmers from the first vow, is an erro neous distinction.i Henry, Emperor o Germany, repenting that he had impri- soned his own Father and the Pope, lef (as it is said) his kingdom in a Pilgrim's habit, and became a hermit at Chester, under the name of Godstall.k A Pilgrim and Palmer of the above Of these Staves, see the Chapter of Costumes, p. 315. Angl. Sacr. ii. 594. Tyrwhitt (Gloss. Chaucer) defines Palmers by Pilgrims to foreign parts. It is incorrect. The palm denoted Jerusalem Pilgrims. The Veronique, or Vernicle, Pilgrims to Rome. The Escallops to Compostella, See Introduction, p. 317. Angl. Sacr. i. 270, 271. RETURN HOME.-PALMERS. 345 description was also the famous Guy, Earl of Warwick, concerning whom Knighton, who lived in an age when these matters were quite common, uses the term Pilgrim and Palmer indiscri- minately. He had returned from the Holy Land, but before his hour of re- freshment, visited all the Churches of the City to pray; and afterwards, when his peregrinations were ceased, came to Warwick, and lived there as a hermit, unknown to his wife, Felicia, to whom he did not discover himself till his death.a Of the journey and return of a less rigid Pilgrim we have the following ac- count. William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, took the cross, and, after procuring suitable necessaries, took with him a retinue, and among them a chaplain to perform divine offices. For all these he kept a daily table, but be- fore he set out, went to Gilbert Bishop of London for his license and benedic- tion. These were of course granted, and he passed as far as Rome, over France, Burgundy, and the Alps, leav- ing his horses at Mantua. He visited every holy place at Jerusalem, and on his route; made his prayers and offer- ings at each, and so returned. Upon his arrival he made presents of silk cloths to all the Churches of his See, Decem Scriptores, 2322. Leland, &c. for copes or coverings of the Altars. The Monks of Walden met him in pro- cession in albs and copes, singing, "Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord;" and the Earl com- ing to the High Altar, and there pros- trating himself, the Prior gave him the benediction. After this he rose ; and kneeling, offered some precious relicks. in an ivory box, which he had obtained. in Jerusalem and elsewhere. This of- fering concluded, he rose and stood. before the Altar, the Prior and Convent singing Te Deum. Leaving the Church, he went to the Chapter to give and re- ceive the kiss of peace from the Prior and Monks. A sumptuous entertain- ment followed for himself and his suite; and the succeeding days were passed in visits to relatives and friends, who con- gratulated him upon his safe return.b The Pilgrims upon their return from Jerusalem, used to present their Scrips and Bourdons to their Parish Churches.c Coryatt says, that he saw cockle and muscle shells, and beads, and other re- ligious relicks, hung up over the door of a little chapel in a nunnery.d These were deposits and offerings made by Pilgrims to Compostella, when they re- turned and gave thanks. See Costumes, p. 317. b Dugd. Monast. i. 452, 453. Du Cange, v. Spera. d Crudities, i. 18. 346 PILGRIMAGES OF PUNISHMENT AND PENANCE. CHAPTER IX. PILGRIMAGES OF PUNISHMENT AND PENANCE. PILGRIMAGES of punishment are or- dered in the Canons of Patrick, in Ware, and the laws of our Henry I. A Priest revealing a confession is to re- pent in disgrace, by a Pilgrimage for life a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land within two years is directed for the soul of a murdered person. Other Pilgrim- ages might be redeemed for money.a In 1284, John Archbishop of Canter- bury gave the Cross to one of the Ca- nons of Dunstable for his irregularities, and by the authority allowed to Cru- saders, absolved him from his bad be- haviour, provided, in his expedition, he could redeem himself, as far as he could get money from his own chamber or his friends, without hurting the Mo- nastery.b Some Monks having borrowed money from a certain Burgess, delivered him the curtains of the church in pawn. Afterwards, at the festival of the Holy Virgin, the Monks asked him to lend them the curtains, that the church might not be without its usual orna- ment, promising to return them after the festival. The man refused, because his wife had recently laid in, and the curtains were put around her bed, and could not be removed. The Virgin Mary appeared to the woman, in pu- nishment of her impiety, and after me- nacing death to her child and husband, ordered her to go to her church in Bethlehem, and having beheld the three sepulchres there, to choose one for herself: but she got absolution by papal means.c In the famous romance of Reynard the Fox, an heroi-comick poem, writ- ten by Pierre de St. Cloud in the thir- • Du Cange, v. Peregrinatio. 、 Bibl. Topograph. Brit. viii. 126. Trivet, 30. teenth century,d Reynard is condemned to die for his sins, and, being without resource, begs to take the Cross, and in expiation of his sins, to visit the holy places beyond sea. The Lion answers, that these foreign Pilgrimages have, as yet, reformed nobody: that he knew even people who had gone out good, return bad: and as to the delin- quent, there was no hope of his reform by going to the Holy Land, as he would return just as bad as before. Upon condition, however, that the Crusade should be for life, consent is granted. The cross is then put upon his shoul ders, the scarf and bourdon are brought to him, and he is told, that if he dies, he will go directly into Paradise. Those, whom he had offended, pardon him and advise him to repent. The hypo- crite promises every thing, while his only object is to escape. They let him go, and he immediately insults and in- jures his benefactors. Of these Pilgrimages for punishment, some were greater, some less. Those which were greater were directed to St. James's, Rome, or Jerusalem: the smaller to visiting the Oratories, within the Province or Kingdom. The Pil grimage was, according to the crimes harder or lighter. They who had com mitted great crimes, as homicide, for instance, were bound to carry iron chains,f through the holy places, unt they were liberated. In an ancien Manuscript Consuetudinal, it appears that this custom prevailed in the inte rior parts of France, that whoever ha killed his next relative with the sword and afterwards repenting, should relate d I am aware that Mr.Douce assigns it an earlier origin, &c. • Notices des MSS. à Paris, v. 303, 304. A knight with iron chains is engraved in th Frontispiece of Strutt's Dresses, vol. i. PILGRIMAGES OF PUNISHMENT AND PENANCE. 347 1 his crime to the Priest, by direction of the latter was to have the sword made into an iron chain; and the chain closely bound, around his neck, belly, and arms, and so be expelled from his own country and native soil. In the mean time, until the divine mercy should order these chains to be loos- ened, he should be compelled to travel first to Rome, and afterwards, through the different places, to ask pardon of the saints.a It was customary to impose for pe- nance the wearing an iron ring upon the arm, which was not to be laid aside, till after many Pilgrimages to the se- pulchres of saints, and the rings were loosed by some miracle.b Of these Pilgrimages for punish- ment, that of Robert the Devil is very curious and entertaining, on account of the penance: shall take, "The hermite with that shortlye did awake And called Robert, and spaeke to him, And saide heare now the pennaunce that ye God commaundeth thee to counterfet a foole in all thinge, Meat none to eate without a dogge do yt bringe To the in his mouth, then must thou yt eate. No worde to speake, but as domb ever beinge, With dogges every night also thou must sleepe. * * * * * Then poore Robert departed fro the hermyte And blessed hym and agayne went to Rome For to do hys pennaunce in the strete, And whan that he thether was come, Like as he had ben a foole he dyd ronne And lepte and daunced from one syde to another, Many folke laughed at him soone And wende he had bene a foole, they knewe non other. Boyes folowed hym throughe the strete Castynge styckes and stones at hym, And some with roddes his bodye dyd beate, The children made great shoutes and cryenge, Burges of the cyttie at Robert laye laughynge Out of theyr wyndowes to se him playe, The boyes threwe dyrte and myre at him, Thus continued Robert manye a daye. Thus he played the foole on a season, He came on a tyme to the Emperours courte, And sawe that the gate stood all open, Robert ranne into the hall and beganne to worke, So daunced and lept and aboute so starte, At the last the Emperoure had pyttie on hym, Howe he taere hys clothes and gnew his shyrte, And bade a servaunte meate hym for to bringe. Thys servaunte brought Robert plentye of meate So proferde hyt him and saide go dyne, Robert sate styll he woulde not eate, Yet God wotte his belly greate pyne. • Du Cange, v. Peregrinatio. Id. v. Circuli ferrei. 348 PILGRIMAGES OF PUNISHMENT AND PENANCE. At last themperour sayde yonder is a hounde of mine, And bade bys servaunte throwe him a bone, So he dvd, and when Robert yt had spyne, Alack thought Robert he shall not eate it alone.a He lepte from the table and with the dogge faught, And all for to have the bone awaye, The Hounde at the last by the fyngers him caught, So style in his mouth he kept hys praye. When Robert sawe that, downe he laye The dogge gnewe the one ende and Robert the other. The Emperour laughed when he that sawe, And sayde the dogge and he fought harde together. The Emperour sawe that he was hongrye, And bade to throwe the dogge a hole lofe, Whan Robert sawe that he was glad greatelye, For to lose his parte he was right lothe. And again to the dogge he goeth, So brake the loffe asonder and to the hounde He gave the one halfe to say the sothe And eate the other, as the dogge dyd on the grounde. The Emperoure saide, syth that I was borne Sawe I never a more foole naturall, Nor such an ydeot sawe I never beforne That had lever eate that, that to the dogge did fall Rather then that that was proffered hym in the hall, Than Robert toke hys staffe and smote at forme and style, What sorowe was in his hearte they knewe not all, These men were gladde to see hym playe the foole b At the last Robert went into a garden And there he founde a favre fountayne, He was a thurst, and whan he had dronken He went in to hys dogge agayne To folowe hvm ever he was favne Thus under a stayre at nyht lave the hounde, And ever his pennaunce Robert did not dysdayne, Alwaye hys bed was with the dogge on the grounde. Whan the Emperoure espyed hym lye there, Fett hym a bed to a man dyd he save, And lett yt be layed for hym under the stayre, So they dyd and Robert poynted as naye, And woulde have them to beare the bed awaye. Then they fett hym an arme full of strawe, And thereupon by hys dogge he laye, All men marveyled that yt sawe. Much myrthe and sporte he made ever amonge, And as the Emperoure was at dyner on a daye A Jue sate at the borde, that great rowme longe In that house beare, and was receyved all waye. Than Roberte hys dogge toke in hys armes in faye And touched the Jue, and he over hys sholder loked backe, • Roberte the Devyll, a Metrical Romance, from an ancient illuminated Manuscript, p. 35. Ibid. p. 36. PILGRIMAGES OF PUNISHMENT AND PENANCE. 349 Robert set the dogges [tail] to hys mowth without naye, Full soore the Emperoure loughe, whan he sawe that.a Robert sawe a bryde that shoulde be maryed And soone he toke her by the hande So into a foule donge myxen he her caryed And in the myre he let her stande. The Emperoure stoode and behelde hym longe, At the last Robert toke a quyckeb catte And ranne into the kechyn amonge the thronge And threwe her quycke into the beefe potte. Lordes and barons loughe that they could not stande To see hym make myrth withoute harme, They sayd he was the meryest in all that lande." A very singular custom prevailed in some Pilgrimages of Penitence. Cer- tain Penitents imposed upon them- selves the penance of receiving blows with ferules, upon the palms of their hands: which they commuted by strik- ing the ground instead. Peter Damian mentions a man who wore an iron corslet next his skin, had iron rings around his limbs, with difficulty per- formed his Metaneas [penitential in- clinations], and very often dashed the palms of his hands upon the pavement.c In Strutt's Dresses is a female Pilgrim, lying on the ground, apparently to per- form this penance.d Robert the Devyll, &c. p. 37. Du Cange, v. Palmata. b Alive. d Pl. cxxxiv. 350 PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. CHAPTER X. PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. LEWIS, in his Life of Caxton, p. 77, | says, "About 709, an odd and surpris- ing opinion of the merit and holiness of pilgrimages to Rome, wonderfully prevailed among the English, insomuch that all ranks and degrees of every sex and age of the people of this nation travelled to Rome, and placed a mighty confidence in visiting the tombs of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and of such other holy men, &c. as had there suffered for the sake of Christ. The consequence of this was, that about the middle of this century, this humour so far increased, that the English Nuns ran to Rome; and there were so many lewd women of the English nation abroad in Lombardy, France, &c. that Boniface, Archbishop of Mentz, com- plained of them to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and recommended to him the suspension of this practice of pil- grimaging, as of very bad and scandal- ous consequence." a The general reason for Pilgrimages to Rome in the whole Middle Age was to obtain absolution from the Pope. There were however exceptions. The Noble Anglo-Saxons went there with immense retinues on horseback, for the purpose only of praying to the Holy Apostles there.b Petrarch thus explains this appella- tion: "What pleasure," says he, "is it for a Christian to behold a town ce- mented by the blood of the Martyrs; built, in some fashion, of their bones and nerves; to contemplate the image of our divine Master, the sacred ves- tiges of the feet of his Apostle, engrav- ed in the rock; the tombs of the Saints, the chambers of the Apostles, and all the precious remains of incipient Chris- tianity which it contains in its bosom.” c • Dibdin's Typographical Antiquit. i. 176. Anglia Sacra, ii. 79. Mémoires pour la Vie de Petrarque, i. 284. The Limina Apostolorum were churches of the Apostles,d or their bodies burie. in chapels of the great Church. Stuk- ley makes the Limina Apostolorum the subterraneous oratory of St. Peter's Rome.f The British and Irish Saints a made this Pilgrimage, and called at the eminent Abbies upon their return. The Pilgrims to Rome were calle Romei and Romipeta, but Romip gium was a term not confined to the pilgrimage, but extended to others. It was a favourite destination f voluntary penitentiary pilgrimages. I the Romance of Reynard the F Reynard, become old, feels some re- morse for the errors of his life, ar wishes in penitence to go in pilgrimag to Rome. But meeting with some pleasant incidents upon his road, b returns home convinced, that he may be as honest a man in his own hoe as in running to strange countries. Jubilees drew numerous pilgrimst partake of the Indulgences. The ce brated John Talbot, Earl of Shrews bury, when released from impriso ment by the French King, did not s his liberty to take up arms again, b went to Rome to profit by the ind gences of the Jubilee.! These indulgences were plenary mission of all sins. The concourse pilgrims was prodigious, nearly a n lion, in the Jubilee of 1350. All t inhabitants of Rome turned Innkee ers; and made the Pilgrims pay for the support of themselves and ther horses. As the strangers came fr • Id. v. Capellani. d Du Cange. Iter Boreale, p. 62. Anglia Sacra, ii. 635. Du Cange, v. Romipeta. MS. Biblioth. Nation. Notices, v. 311. Mémoires pour la Vie de Petrarch, i. 103. 1 Conquête de la Normandie, MS. per Blondel. Notices, vi. 92. de PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 351 all countries, and for the most part knew only their mother tongues, they were obliged to employ interpreters, in confession, who published what they had heard, unless they were hand- somely paid for silence. This abuse occasioned the establishment of Peni- tentiaries who understood the lan- guages.a In the middle of the fourteenth Cen- tury, it was an established custom to make pilgrimages to Rome from all parts of the Christian world, in order to see the portrait of Christ. Petrarch says, that even old men made this tour F with impatience. Two portraits were exhibited, which equally excited the curiosity of the devout. One was the Veronique, a handker- chief, which a Jewish woman is pre- tended to have thrown over the face of Christ, when he was carrying his cross, I in order to wipe off the blood and sweat, with which it was covered. His portrait remained impressed upon it. It was brought to Rome, as affirmed, under the empire of Tiberius, but Ma- rianus Scotus, an author of the eleventh Century, is the first who mentions it. It used to be kept at the Church of the Holy Ghost, but Boniface VIII. removed it to St. Peter's, and placed it between the altars of St. James and Mary Magdalen. The other was that which appeared miraculously upon the top of the ■ Villani, &c. See Tyrwhitt's Gloss. Chaucer, v. Veronique. See § Costumes. Church of St. John Lateran, on the day upon which they were celebrating the dedication of that Church, which the Emperor Constantine built soon after his Baptism. It is in Mosaic, and the history of its appearance is pre- served in a Manuscript of this Church, written on parchment of the ninth cen- tury, with this title, "Discourse of the Dedication of this Church of our Sa- viour." It is said, that no fires have ever injured it. Nicholas IV. in re- building the vault of the Church in 1291, placed there the miraculous image. It was a more stern and reve- rential portraite than the Veronique, as appears from the verses of Petrarch quoted below;d and in 1318, John XXII. granted an indulgence to those who went to see this image, which was believed to have been painted by di- vine hands.e The Pilgrims, who for the represent- ation of the Passion, opened the first theatre at Paris, brought there from Italy, the taste and first idea of the Drama.f In Duppa's " Subversion of the Papal Govern- ment, 1798,"p. 20, is a short account of this head, called "Il Santo Volto," and an engraving of it. After exhibition, it was removed to the Chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum at the Scala Santa. Id. p. 30. d Faciemque agnoscere Christi, Vel quæ fœmineo servatur condita panno, Vel populo quæ visa olim sub vertice templi Emicuit, perstatque minax horrore verendo. Carm. 1. 2. Ep. 5. • Mémoires pour la Vie de Petrarque, v. ii. pp. 204, 205. 1 Observat. sur l'Italie, i. 339. 352 PILGRIMAGES TO COMPOSTELLA. CHAPTER XI. PILGRIMAGES TO COMPOSTELLA. torches, about the place where his bodk was found in a coffin of marble in a wood in the year 797, whereat the Spa- niards themselves do much wonder. seeing they find no mention in the Histories of S. James Sepulcher in Spaine, in all the time which past since his death, unto the raigne of this A phonso: no not in the time of Miron the first Christian King of the Sueves | in Gallicia, who first erected the King of the Gothes, that were Christians. nor yet since. It was revealed at that time by such apparitions to Theodemi who believed it to be the verie body c S. James, and so persuaded the King D. Alphonso, who was wonderfull joy- ful thereof, and built a temple, endow ing it with great revenues, taking this manifestation for a singular favour of God. God. The Spaniards have since made him their patron and protector of their Countrie, calling on him in all the necessities, especially in the war. Neighbour Princes were amazed at this relicke; for we read that Charlemagne (in whose times D. Alphonso began to raigne) being advertised of this inver In the form of bidding the beads on the Sunday, or, as it was sometimes called, "The Dominical Prayer in the pulpit," is the following clause: “Also, ye shall pray for all true Pilgrims and Palmers, that have taken their way to Rome, to Jerusalem, to Saint Katha- rine's, or to Saint James, or to any other holy place, that God of his grace give them time and space well for to go and to come to the profit of their lives and souls." By this it appears, that at the time of composing this form, these were the fashionable pilgrimages. In a more ancient form, no particular places or saints are mentioned, but this clause is expressed as follows, "Ye shall bids for hem that in good ways beest ywent other wendyt other thenkit to wenthe her sins to boot, that our Lord Jesus Christ ward and shield them from all misadventures, and grant them so going and coming, that it be him to worship, and them in remission of their sins, for them and for us, and all christian folk." This seems to inti- mate, as if, at the time when this an- cienter form was drawn, the Saints Katharineª and James of Compostellation, posted thither, and afterwards ob- were not in so great request, or had in so much veneration as they were after- wards.b In the General Historie of Spaine, written in French by Lewis de Mayerne, Turquet, and translated into English by Edward Grimeston, Esquire,c is the fol- lowing passage. "To this is added the finding out of the Sepulchre of the Apostle St. James, neere unto Iria, by the Bishop of that place, called Theo- demir, at the relation of two men, which the Historie of Compostella, in Latine, calls Personatos, that is to say, masked, who said they had seene Angels and ■ Of Sene in Italy, canonized 1461. b Dibdin's Typographical Antiq. i. 175. < London, fol. 1612. tained from Pope Leo the Third, sitting at Rome, that the Episcopal See Iria should be removed to Compostell under the Metropolitane of Braga, from the which it was since exempt, as we will shew hereafter.” d Lewis, in his Life of Caxton, says "St. James I take to be St. James Compostella in Spain; hither, it was said, the bones or relicks of James, th brother of John, who was killed by Herod, were translated. But it does not appear that much notice was taken. of them till Calistus or Calixtus II.'s time, who was chosen Pope of Rome, A.D. 1119. He not only wrote a tract ¿ Pp. 179, 180. PILGRIMAGES TO COMPOSTELLA. 353 of the miracles of this saint, done at Compostella, but advised the English Pilgrims in particular rather to go for pilgrimage to this saint than to Rome, and promised them, on account of the length of the journey, that if they went twice to Compostella, they should have refunded to them the same advantage- ous benediction which they had who went once to Rome.a In 975 the Moors sacked the town, and carried away the small bells in the steeple of the Church, the Spaniards saying" that the Apostle's Sepulchre could not be violated, the Moors being terrified with a great light that came out of it." In 1125 it was made an Archiepiscopal See, and long after, Ferdinand and Isabella founded a hos- pital for the relief of the poor, and of Pilgrims.d So Cervantes gives the following inte- resting account of Pilgrims in Spain. "He saw coming towards them six Pilgrims with their staves, of that sort which begs charity by singing. soon, therefore, as they approached them they made a lane, and raising their voices together, began to sing in their language, though Sancho under- stood nothing of what they said, except the word charity. He offered them food; but they replied that they want- ed money. These Pilgrims were well provided with wine, &c. in their wal- lets, and were clothed in rochets or mantles over their doublets. In giving an account of themselves, they say, that a great number of them were used to come to Spain yearly, upon pretence of visiting the holy places there, which was their Indies, as being productive of most certain gain. They traverse the whole country, and there is not a village from which they are not dis- missed with a bellyful of meat and drink and a rial in money. Thus at the end of their pilgrimage, they are above a hundred crowns in pocket, which, being changed into gold, they conceal in the hollow of their staves, a Dibdin's Typographical Antiq. i. 176. b General Historie of Spaine, &c. p. 215. c P. 278. d P. 917. or in the patches of their cloaks, and by management thus carry off their gains to their own country, in despite of the guards at the passes and gates where they are examined and regis- tered."e A custom of two-pence was taken from every person going and returning by the river Thames on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James.f In the year 1170 Godrick returned. from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem by way of Compostella. Henry son of Henry II. wished to make this pilgrimage to escape from his father's superintend- ance, and the King himself sent Am- bassadors to Spain stating his inten- tion of visiting Compostella, and re- questing letters of safe conduct for his journey and return. This was neces- sary; for it was a custom, at least be- fore the punishment of them by Ri- chard I. for the people of Serges and Lespurmi in Gascony to plunder the Pilgrims going to St. James's,k and the privileges obtained for them by John Mansel have been before mentioned.1 In 1386, when John Duke of Lancas- ter claimed the Crown of Spain, he was attended to St. James's by vast num- bers of Pilgrims.m Erasmus mentions a person in dan- ger of shipwreck, who vowed a pilgrim- age to Compostella, with bare feet and head, only an iron corslet on his body, and begging his bread all the way." Godrick, the celebrated hermit, was brought up to business, and was owner of half of one ship and a fourth of an- other. Thus sailing through different countries, he carried on trade, and made pilgrimages at the same time to the Shrines of the Saints, and recom- mended himself to their patronage. When engaged, he of course minded his concerns, but when alone, he used to ruminate upon the Lord's prayer and creed. This custom of carrying e Don Quixote, iv. 139-143. Edit. Glasg. 1803. Bayley's Tower of London, ii. 655. M. Paris, 98. Decem Scriptores, 1110. i Id. 1126. k Id. 1118. 1 C. vi. Colloquia, 204. 2 A m Knighton, sub anno. • M. Paris, 97. 354 PILGRIMAGES TO COMPOSTELLA. on commerce and pilgrimage at the same time, appears to have been quite common in the journies to Compos- tella. In Mr. Lodge's Shrewsbury Papers, Thomas Allen, writing to the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1516, has the following passage: "The saying is her, yn some places there was a ship, fraygth in Tempnes with goods of the religion of Saynt Jamys." Upon this Mr. Lodge remarks thus: "The property of the Pilgrims to Compostella in Spain, the supposed burial place of the Apostle St. James. Great numbers of these went annually from hence, in ships re- gularly licensed for that purpose; pre- viously binding themselves by an oath, not to discover the secrets of England, nor to take more money with them, than might be necessary for the ex- pences of their journey. It should seem from this passage, that the origi- nal motive to pilgrimage was now giv- ing way to that spirit of traffick which prevailed in proportion to the decay of pious superstition." a It appears how- ever to have been always held, that the interchange of Commerce and Hos- pitality was essentially necessary for the propagation of the faith, b ■ Illustrations of British History, i. p. 12. ▷ Solorzanus de Indiarum Jure, p. 300. The Pilgrims to Compostella we by the name of Jacobita and Jacob- pete. There was an hotel at Paris, û purpose for receiving the Pilgrims on the road to St. James's; but the re- venues failing, it was purchased for the Dominicans.c Sir John Hawkins says, that the Pilgrims to St. James of Compostela. excavated a staff or walking stick into a musical instrument for recreation on their journey. This ascription of the invention of the Bourdon to these Pil- grims in particular is very questionable. Erasmus says, that the Compostell ' Pilgrims, upon return, were loaded with scallop shells, pewter or leaden images. chains of straw, and a rosary on the arm.e Those, who undertook pilgrimages to St. James's shrine at Compostella or to St. Peter's at Rome, were distin- guished by the escallop shell, affixed to their hats and cloaks; a badge, which denoted the wearer's intention of cross- ing the seas, and which further re- minded him of the occupation of those Apostles, as fishermen.f Du Cange, v. Jacobitæ. d Hist. of Musick, iv. 139. e Peregrinatio Religionis ergo, inter Colloquia, p. 353. Taylor's Ind. Monast. pref. xviii. PROVINCIAL PILGRIMAGES TO SHRINES, WELLS, &c. 355 CHAPTER XII. PROVINCIAL PILGRIMAGES TO SHRINES, WELLS, &c. THAT fierce Puritan (in principle) Sir David Lindsay, in the second Book of his Monarchy, thus speaks of these kinds of pilgrimage, in his chapter "Of Images used among Christian Men." a After detailing the images of Saints, and their attributes, he goes on, "All these on altars stately stands Priests crying for their offerands; To whom we commons on our knees Do worship all these imageries In church or queer or in the cloyster Praying to them our Pater-noster. In pilgrimage from town to town With offering and adoration, To them ay babbling on our beeds That they may help us in our needs, What differs this, declare to me From the Gentiles idolatrie? If this be true that thou reports It goes right near the self-same sorts; But we by counsel of Clergy Have license to make Imagery.b P. 64. Ed. Glasg. 1754. 12mo. In 1407, says Archbishop Arundel, "Beyonde the sea are the beste Peynters that ever I saw. And, Syrs, I tell you this is their Maner, and it is a goode Maner. Whan that an Ymage maker shall kerve, caste in moulde, or peynte ony images, he shall go to a Prieste, and shryve him as clene, as if he sholde than dye, and take Penaunce, and make some certeyne vowe of fasting or of praying or of pilgrimage, doinge, praying the Priests, specially to pray for hym, that he may have grace to make a faire, and a devout ymage." (State Trials, i. 25. col. 2. ed. fol.) The makers of them were called Anthropoformite, and carried them to fairs for sale. (Du Cange.) Orders were also given to buy them from abroad, as from Jerusalem, where there was a particular place for selling them (M. Paris, 176.) The crucifix and the Virgin Mary were the most common, because, while the power of other Saints was limited, that of the former extended to all things (Catholick Doctrine of the Church of England, 4to. 1675, p. 133), and the latter was able to attend her own candle, which, of course, saved much trouble (Bishop Jewell's Reply to Harding, bl. lett. 1609. p. 381). We find images of Christ in breeches. (Du Cange, v. Antiphoneti.) Mosheim says, that the image of Mary and the child Jesus obtained the first place on account of the Nestorian controversy, Maclaine's Edit. i. 258, 4to. Which of unlearned been the books For when the laicks on them looks, It brings them to remembrance Of Saints lives the circumstance: How the faith for to fortify They suffered pain right patiently. Seeing the image on the rood Men should remember on the blood Which Christ into his Passion Did shed for our salvation, Or when thou seest the portraitour Of blessed Mary virgin pure, A pleasant babe upon her knee,c Then in thy mind remember thee The word which the prophet said How she should be both mother and maid. But who that sitteth in their knees Praying to many imageries With oration and offerands Kneeling with cup into their hands No difference been I say to thee From the Gentiles idolatrie. Right so of divers nations I read the abominations. How Greeks made their devotion hail To Mars to save them in battel. To Jupiter some took their voyage To save them from the stormy rage: Some prayed to Venus from the spleen That they their lovers might obtain: And some to Juno for riches Their pilgrimage they would address: So doth our common popular Which were too long for to declare, Their superstitious pilgrimages To many diverse images. Nicholas Dovedale, Prebendary of Clonmethan, belonging to St. Patrick's, Dublin, in a petition preferred by him. to parliament14th Edw. IV. stated, that divers persons, aliens, strangers, and So distinguished from our Lady of Pity, where she is weeping over a dead Christ in her lap, while (says La Brocquiere, 227) Nicodemus was pre- paring the tomb. 2 A 2 356 PROVINCIAL PILGRIMAGES TO SHRINES, WElls, &c. denizens, did frequent, in considerable numbers, by way of pilgrimage, the Chapel of St. Catharine the Virgin and Martyr, of Feldstown, which was appropriated and annexed to the Pre- bend of Clonmethan, being for the health and safety of their souls and accomplishment of their petitions and prayers; those persons he complained had been at divers times vexed and molested on divers pretences, by reason of which they were obliged to lay aside said devotions and pilgrimages: this was a case that peculiarly interested the feeling of such an assembly at that time; the parliament accordingly or- dained, that the persons and properties of all such pilgrims should, during their pilgrimage, be under the protection of the king, nor should the person of any such be arrested on any writ or autho- rity whatever, for debt, treason, felony, or trespass, until said pilgrimage should be accomplished; provided that during their going thither, dwelling there, and returning, they did behave peaceably to the king's liege subjects; they ordained likewise that any officer who should vex or arrest the persons, or molest the houses of such pilgrims, contrary to this statute, should forfeit, for every such offence, the sum of twentypounds.a Doors of chapels were ordered to be left open on particular holydays, that pilgrims might have free access to them.b The appearance and manners of Pil- grims, in these domestick peregrina- tions, are admirably described in a cu- rious dialogue, between, as I think, a captious disciple of the great Heresiarch (as Wickliff was styled) and Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of Henry the Fourth. "Also, Sir, he says I knowe well, that whan diverse men and women will go thus after their own willes, and findyng out one pil- grimage, they will orden with them be- fore to have with them, both men and women, that can well synge wanton Stat. Roll. 14 E. 1V. Mason's Dublin, pp. 33. 34. Dugdale's St. Paul's, p. 91. ed. Ellis. songes; and some other pilgremis wi have with them bagge pipes, so that every towne they come throwe, what with the noyse of their singyng and with the sound of their pipyng, and with the jangling of their Canterbury bellis, and with barking out of doggis after them, that they make more noise than if the kinge came there awaye with all his clarions, and many other men- strelles. And if these men and women be a moneth in their pilgrimage, many of them shall be an half-year after great janglers, tale-tellers, and lyers." The Archbishop justifies part of this, by observing, "that pilgremys have with them both syngers, and also pipers, that whan one of them that goeth bare- foote striketh his too upon a stone, and hurteth him sore, and maketh him to blede, it is well-done, that he or his fellow begyn than a songe, or else take out of his bosome a bagge-pipe, for to drive away with soche myrthe the hurte of his felow. For with soche solce the travell and werinesse of pylgremes is lightely and merily broughte forth." A gallant and learned nation will smile at the following record of their ancestors. The Scotch Pilgrims were so notorious for lying and fabulous ad- ventures, that to "lie like a Scotch- man" became a proverb: but it ap pears from preceding passages, that Pilgrims of other nations also told lies. Heaps of stones, on which crosses were erected, were laid together by them when they came within view of the end of their journey, and were called Mountjoyes. This term "Mount of the joy of God" was certainly the denomination of some heaps of stones; c Love-songs were sung instead of psalms. Du Cange, v. Amor. Sternhold and Hopkins (says Warton) translated the psalms for superseding these amorous ditties, but in vain. Juliana Bernes (a Nun) published obscenities. Even Noblemen did not travel without a trumpeter preceding. See Phillips's Shrewsbury, p. 47. Of the King's Clarions and Minstrels, see Ordinances of Royal Housholds. e State Trials, i. p. 27. ed. fol. 1730. Du Cange, v. Escotus. & Hutchinson's Durham, ii. p. 312. PROVINCIAL PILGRIMAGES TO SHRINES, WELLS, &c. 357 and also of little hills where saints had suffered martyrdom.ª This pilgrimage to Churches and Shrines is the most ancient and uni- versal of all the kinds. The feast of the consecration of the Temples was celebrated annually in Hindostan, and every temple dedicated to some parti- cular deity. The feast lasted ten days, and was attended by Pilgrims and of- ferings. The parishioners of Glaston- bury were told, that if they did not at- tend church and keep Dunstan's day as a holiday, but minded their business and labour, nothing prosperous would happen to them during that year, or they would sustain some heavy losses in their cattle or estates. At the tomb of St. Teliaus, among the Ancient Bri- tons, the sick, it is said, were often healed, the blind restored to sight, and the deaf made to hear; wherefore, says his historian, celebrate his festival, with the whole energy of your mind, go to the church, and according to your respective means give alms to the poor.d It was the custom in the Anglo-Saxon era to prefer the patronage of the saints to all worldly matters. These passages, while they throw light upon the festival of the dedication of the church, show the uncommon force of the principle which produced pilgrimages to shrines. Those who could not go abroad were encouraged to these domestick pil- grimages instead. An antient verse, about the proportion of pardons given to pilgrims for these visits, says, that two pilgrimages to St. David's equalled in merit one to Rome: "Roma semel quantum, bis dat Menevia tantum."f Pilgrimages to Shrines. The Canopy over Shrines called Mandualis, whence Mantel-piece, Requies, Ripa, &c. was sometimes so richly adorned with gold, silver, gems, and other ornaments, as to make a very brilliant appearance, on which account, the Shrines were covered Du Cange, v. Mons Gaudii. b Sketches of the Religion of the Hindoos, i. 114. Angl. Sacr. ii. 231. d ld. 656. e Eadm. 51. Fuller's Church Hist. cent. xii. p. 24. in Lent. Formerly, in foreign coun- tries at least, a golden dove was placed on the top of the canopy,h and gifts and offerings were hung round the Shrines.i The form and condition of the Shrine, and the annexation of an image to it, was of importance, because such tombs had greater privileges than plainer mo- numents. Sometimes offerings were made at the tombs of persons not ca- nonized.k It is observed of the tomb of Ralph de Shrewsbury, fifteenth Bishop of Bath and Wells, that he was buried at Wells, between the steps of the Choir and the High Altar, in an alabaster tomb, and that over his tomb was placed an image very like him. From whence more indulgences were granted to all who visited the place of his bu- rial, and prayed devoutly for his soul.1 When the tombs of eminent saints were visited for the purpose of reco- vering health, and also in return for vows, if there remained any token of the disease, as congealed blood, &c. it was sometimes enclosed in silver, and suspended to the shrine of the saint who effected the cure.m St. Cuthbert's Shrine at Durham had four seats or places convenient underneath for the pilgrims or lame men, sitting on their knees, to lean and rest on, in the time of their devout offerings and fervent prayers to God and holy St. Cuthbert, for his miraculous relief and succour." The old Gauls used to hang the members or feet of men made of wood, or wool stuffed, upon consecrated trees in the high roads, thinking by this means to be cured of divers diseases; and instead of this it is ordered in councils, that persons should keep Vigils in the Church. At St. Paul's, London, if the pilgrims offered burning tapers, they were extinguished, melted, and the wax sold, and if money or obla- Du Cange, v. Ripa, &c. b Id. v. Pendentiæ. 1 Du Cange, v. Sepulchrum. Taylor's Index Monast. pref. xviii. Angl. Sacr. i. 569. m Id. i. 648. "Antiq. of Durham by Patr. Saunderson, p. 6. Du Cange, v. Pervigilium. 358 PROVINCIAL PILGRIMAGES TO SHRINES, Wells, &c. or tions, were put into an iron box, and applied to the use of the Dean and Chapter. Porphyry (de Abstinentiâ) says, that Amasis substituted figures of wax of the human size for the human victims used at Ilithyia near Latopolis. Solon made the Thesmothetæ guardians of the Laws, promise for every law which they broke to dedicate a golden statue at Delphi, of the same weight as themselves. These obser- vations may explain some very curious offerings. It was formerly the custom to weigh sick children at the shrines or sepulchres of saints, and offer their weight in corn, bread, or other things, adding a sum of money. Metellus mentions a person who weighed him. self there in bread and cheese, which he afterwards gave to the poor.d King Edward the First offered his measure in wax, to the Church of Orcheston in Wilts; and John Paston's mother, upon the sickness of her son, vowed that she would present an image of wax of the weight of him to our Lady of Walsingham.f Of these offerings of wax of the weight of the person, the anonymous writer of the Miracles of St. Thomas, published by Stapleton, treats largely. They appear to be, in some instances, tapers of the stature or height of the person,h and are called in the miracles of Simon the Hermit, Sta- tual Tapers. In the life of St. Stephen, it is said, when the above man found his oxen stumble, fearing lest they should die within the house, he ordered his wife to take them far away, lest they should infect the other animals, but his wife recommending waxen sta- tuaries to be made for them, this was accordingly done, and the oxen led to the Shrine of the Saint, and the sta- tuaries offered. When persons could not well tame or manage their hawks, they sent waxen images of a hawk, or Dugdale's St. Paul's, p. 14. ed. Ellis. Savary's Egypt, ii. 440. c Plutarch in Solon. Du Cange, v. Ponderare. • Liber Garderobæ, 28 Ed. I. p. 34. Paston Letters, iii. 21, 22. 5 C. 23, 37, 63. Of twisted long tapers, &c. See Du Cange, v. Longitudo. Id. v. Statualis, Statuarius cereus, Statuarium. other prssents, to St. Tibbe for better success. After the battle of Poitiers, when John the French King was taken prisoner, a taper was lit at the Church of Notre Dame, before the Altar of the Virgin Mary, which burned without ceasing. It is said to have been rolled round the circle of a wheel, and to have been as long as the whole circum- ference of Paris.¹ Behind the Shrine of St. David are two holes of a circular form, in which the offerings were deposited. At St. Paul's, an iron box was affixed to the pillar where the image stood." It was a common practice to hire a pilgrim to visit a certain image, the distance of the journey being regulated by the wealth or the piety of the indi- vidual. The profits of these offerings were sometimes matters of dispute. Some arbitrators appointed the profits of the Shrine of Wulstan at Worcester to be divided between the Bishop and Con- vent, and the former to appoint one keeper, and the latter another.P Ladies made these pilgrimages to Shrines in all their finery, but met with a sad fate. In a MS. of the fourteenth century, many miracles were wrought at the Church of Roch-madame in France upon numerous ladies and che- valiers, who had washed their hair in wine to make it beautiful and glossy, and coming in pilgrimage to this Church, could not enter the door until they suffered their tresses to be cut off; and these tresses were afterwards hung up in the Church, as mementos before the image of our Lady. Instances appear where the compa- nions or friends attendant upon a sick man, if he owed his recovery to the presumed assistance of a Saint, vowed a pilgrimage to the Shrine of that Saint bare-footed (for travelling thither on k J. Rous, p. 71. 1 Hist. de Paris, i. fol. 639. trarque, iii. 544. Sir R. C. Hoare's Giraldus, i. 26. " Dugdale's St. Paul's, p. 14. Mém. de Pe- Taylor's Index Monasticus, pref. xviii. P Angl. Sacr. i. 545. Strutt's Dresses, ii. 242. PROVINCIAL PILGRIMAGES TO SHRINES, WELLS, &c. 359 foot was deemed essential), and the sick person himself made a similar pil- grimage and offering.a A Prior having been healed at St. Edward's Shrine, preached a sermon on the feast of that Saint, "in whiche he tolde of the myracle, howe he was holle." b Shrines were also visited before taking a voyage, to have the prayers of the Saints for safety, and also upon de- livery from danger.c Sometimes annual Pilgrimages were mode to certain Shrines. "Ther was a knyght, wyche hadde a custome every yere to go a pylgrimage unto the bodye of Marye Magdalene." d Women in pregnancy used to make these pilgrimages.e "Tho. (5th) Lord Berkeley and his wife went a kind of pilgrimage to divers religious houses, his wife being then great with child, or newly delivered of her son Thomas." f Caxton, in the Epilogue to his Cor- dyale, printed in 1480, says, "it is to be noted, that since the time of the great tribulation and adversity of my said Lord [Anthony Earl Rivers] he hath been full virtuously occupied as in going of pilgrimages to Saint James in Galice, to Rome, to Saint Bartholo- mew, to Saint Andrew, to Saint Mat- thew, in the realme of Naples, and to Saint Nicholas de Bar in Puyle [Apu- lia], and other divers holy places." g These kinds of pilgrimage were made a pretence by labourers and artificers to escape from their hundreds. In the statute of labourers, anno 1388, it is enacted, that no servant or labourer, whether man or woman, should depart at the end of his term, out of his hun- dred, rape, or wapentake, where he is resident, to serve or dwell elsewhere, under colour of going afar off in Pil- grimage, unless he has letters patent containing the cause of his going, and time of his return. Angl. Sacr. i. 654. Gold. Leg. fol. clxxxix. b. Golden Legend, fol. cxv. • Decem Scriptores, 2432. f Smythe's Berkeley MS. M. Paris, 505. * Dibdin's Typographic. Antiquit. p. 79. Decem Scriptores, 2730. In 1346, the beautiful but volup- tuous Isabella de Fiesco, Princess of Milan, having been delivered of twins, made a pilgrimage to St. Mark of Ve- nice, accompanied with the most gay lords and ladies, in the style of Cleo- patra's voyage down the Cidnus. Feasts, balls, and every kind of plea- sure, attended her progress, and the husbands of the married ladies in her company, after their wives return, in- formed of their lot, were doomed to console one another, upon the univer- sality of their misfortune. The Lady herself set the example with the easy principles of the Egyptian Queen. In the middle age the manners of all countries were nearly alike; and the sober English, not then checked by an exemplary reformed clergy, and austere sectaries, made a similar use of pil- grimage."Frier Donald," says Cam- den, "preached at Paul's Crosse, that our Ladie was a virgin, and yet at her pilgrimages, there was made many a foule meeting. And loud cried out, Ye men of London, gang on yourselves with your wives to Wilsdon, in the Di- vel's name, or else keepe them at home with with you The Canterbury Pilgrimage was pro- bably the most common. In the se- cond week of Lent, Edward the Third, and his mother, made a pilgrimage there, and, I apprehend, this was the most general season for these pilgrim- ages. Becket's shrine had probably such a preference, because he was the peculiar Saint of Sinners, and therefore of universal application.m a sorrow.' "' k Giraldus Cambrensis says, "the Bi- shop saw me and my companions marked with the tokens of St. Thomas suspended from my neck." a Giraldus on his return from abroad had visited the shrine of Becket; and these signa- cula were, I apprehend, the "Canter- bury Bells" mentioned before, and i Mém. de Petrarque, ii. 427. Camden's Remains, p. 281. Angl. Sacr. i. 368. Catholic Doctrine of the Church of England, 4to. Cambr. 1675, p. 133. B Angl. Sacr. ii 481. 360 PROVINCIAL PILGRIMAGES TO SHRINES WELLS, &c. worn in token of the performance of the pilgrimage. Erasmus amply describes the exhi- bition made to the Pilgrims; the skull of Thomas Becket, cased in silver; the blade of the sword which killed him; the altar at which he was celebrating; his hair shirt, &c.; at the sight of all which the Pilgrims dropped on their knees, and kissed each relique. The jewels and rich gifts were exhibited by the Prior with a white wand, but they were strongly secured by gratings.a According to Erasmus, the Walsing- ham Pilgrimages were mere imitations of those to Loretto; but there is an apparent mixture of fiction in his ac- more, and carry away some of the water each in a bottle at their depar- ture.d At Muswell Hill was formerly a chapel called our Lady of Muswell. from a well there, near which was her image, that was continually resorted to by way of Pilgrimage. At Walsingham a fine green road was made for the Pil- grims, and there was a holy well, and cross adjacent, at which Pilgrims used to kneel while drinking the water. It is remarkable that the Anglo-Saxon laws had proscribed this, as idolatrous. Such springs were consecrated, upon the discovery of cures effected by them. In fact, these consecrated wells merely imply a knowledge of the pro- count of this our famous provincial Pil-perties of mineral waters, but through grimage, which precludes quotation.b Holy Wells are of Classical and Druidical Ancientry. On a spot called Nell's Point, is a fine well, to which great numbers of women resort on Holy Thursday, and having washed their eyes in the spring, they drop a pin into it. A kind of fair is held round St. Caradoc's Well, cakes sold, and country games celebrated. Once in a year, at St. Mardrin's Well, two lame persons went on Corpus Christi evening to lay some small offering on the altar there, to lie on the ground all night, drink of the water there, and in the morning after take a good draught a Peregrinatio Religionis ergo, inter Colloquia, p. 377, seq. b Id. p. 362. Hoare's Giraldus, i. 133, 198. ignorance, a religious appropriation of those properties to supernatural causes. Taylor, Index Monasticus, p. 66, has the following curious items : Saint Spyrite. Legacies were left in the old wills for persons to go in pil- primage to "St. Spyrite." St. Margaret of Horstede. Legacies were occasionally left to pay Pilgrims to repair to these images. The "good Swerd of Winferthinge." This sword was much visited by those whose goods had been stolen, and by wives, who prayed for the shortening of their husbands lives. d Antiq. Repertory, ii. 79. e Simpson's Agreeable Historian, ii. 622. f Beauties of England (old edition) ii. 118. 8 Brompton, X Script. 923. h Decem Scriptores, 2417. MOURNING PILGRIMAGES. 361 CHAPTER XIII. MOURNING PILGRIMAGES.-INCOGNITO PILGRIMAGES.-POLITICAL PILGRIM- AGES. PILGRIMS ADVENTURERS.-PILGRIMS AGAINST HERETICKS. Mourning Pilgrimages. Catherine, widow of Thomas (4th) Lord Berkeley in the 14th century, after the death of her husband, had a licence to take a journey beyond sea, for a year in Pil- grimage. Her lord's grandfather's wife had before done the same. The Earl of Stafford, in the ninth year of Richard the Second, made a pilgrimage to Je- rusalem, probably on account of the loss of his son, and died the ensuing year, at Rhodes, when on his return.b Incognito Pilgrims. Anselm Arch- bishop of Canterbury, when banished by Rufus, took the scrip and staff of Pilgrims before the high altar in the Cathedral church of Canterbury, pre- vious to his journey.c Fitzalan, when Archbishop of Can- terbury, and on an embassy to France, came to Valenciennes, stopped at the Swan Hotel in the Market Place, and having staid there three days to reco- ver himself, pursued his journey, not as Archbishop of Canterbury, but like a simple Monk on a pilgrimage; thus concealing both his rank, and the bu- siness in which he was engaged.d Agapit had married a relative of Pope Boniface, by whose order he was separated from his wife. In the Jubilee of the year 1300, he entered Rome, in the disguise of a Pilgrim, and saw her.e Cervantes mentions the return of Moors, by this disguise, into Spain, after expulsion upon pain of death. Political Pilgrimages. In the reign. of John, Pilgrimages were made the vehicle of seditious meetings of the dis- Smythe's Berkeley MS. b Froissart, vii. 70. d Froissart, x. 115. Eadmer, 41. Mémoires pour la Vie de Petrarque, i. 103. He contented Barons. Many of them met at Edmundsbury under this pretence.f Pilgrims Adventurers. In the 12th century Gilbert Talbot, an English knight, assumed the habit of a Pilgrim, and sailed over into Normandy. stopped there for two years, wander- ing here and there in search of Ela, Countess of Salisbury. Having found her, he dropped the Pilgrim's habit, and taking that of a Minstrel,s entered her court, and staid there. As he was a man of humour, and well versed in old Chronicles, he was received as an agreeable visitor, upon a familiar foot- ing, and when a proper time came, he brought the Countess with him into England, and presented her to King Richard, who most graciously received her, and married her to his brother, William Longespee.i Another Pilgrim Adventurer of in- ferior rank is before mentioned.k Pilgrims against Hereticks. These were Crusaders against unfortunate f Smythe's Berkeley MS. 66 * Minstrel, i. e. of a Jongleur or Troubadour. In the history of the latter, p. 338, is the following passage: My lord said, I had a father, who was well accomplished; he was a marvellous singer, an agreeable and copious story-teller: I trust I resem- ble him."- Our story teller, as a synonym for Liar, is derived from "great Janglers (Jongleurs), tale-tellers," &c. given in Chapter XII. In the Liber Niger Domus Regis Edw. IV. is the following item: "These esquires of hous- hold of old be accustumed wynter and somer in aftyrnoones and in evenynges to draw to lordes cham- bres within courte, there to keep honest company after theyre cunning, in talking of cronycles of Kings and of other polycyes, or in pypeyng, or harping, singing or other actes martialles to help occupy the courte, and accompany straungers till the tyme of departing," p. 47. Knights errant learned the Histories of celebrated Knights and Ladies. S. Palaye. i Dugd. Monast. ii. 341, 342. * Chapter VI. 632 MOURNING PILGRIMAGES. Dissenters from the Romish Church. The chief of these was against the Albi- genses. It was no more than a design for Simon de Montfort to acquire a great and powerful sovereignty, at the expence of the Earl of Toulouse and his family; and for the Pope's Legates to arrogate authority over the Lor and Burghs of these fine and unfort nate provinces. It has no connexiz with our subject, except in Costume. • Notices des MSS. à Paris, vi. 201. LOVE-PILGRIMS. 363 CHAPTER XIV. LOVE-PILGRIMS. VE are now arrived to Chivalry, hat exquisite part of the History of he Middle Age, which is its brightest eature, because it inculcated the most heroic, tender, and benevolent senti- nents. Ours is a branch of Chivalry, omantic and noble; unconnected with chat degradation of character, which superstition always introduces. How- ever foolish were the Monkish fictions, and the absurd adventures of Chivalry, the Nobility and Gentry were too ig- norant to see their absurdity; and Chivalry, by the romantick deeds of arms, which it daily presented, so turned their heads, that the more ex- traordinary and absurd were romances of adventurers, the more they were in vogue. All this is ridiculed in the Dit d'Aventures, a Manuscript of the thir- teenth century, written in the manner of Munchausen, long before the time of Cervantes: a to whom it probably suggested his excellent Don Quixote. We are not therefore to be surprised at the following singular exhibitions of a prevailing mania of Chivalrous he- roism. Some young knights bachelors had one of their eyes covered with a piece of cloth, so that they could not see with it, for they had made a vow to some ladies not to use but one eye, until they had performed some deeds of arms, nor would they make any re- ply to whatsoever question was asked them. Another lover, smitten with a lady of Carcassowne, called Louve de Penautier, caused himself to be called Loup or Wolf in her honour, and en- gaged himself to submit to all the pe- rils of being hunted in a wolf's skin for her sake. In this disguise, the Notices des MSS. v. 398. b Froissart, i. 114. shepherds, with their mastives and greyhounds, drove him into the moun- tains, and pursued him there; and so cruelly was he mangled, for he would not suffer the dogs to be taken off him, till they had almost killed him, that they carried him home for dead to his mistress.c The explanation of these customs, and of those which will conclude this Chapter, by M. Porte-du-Theil, are admirable: "In all ages, and among all civilized nations, love, like the other pas- sions, has borrowed the forms and the language which, according to the man- ners and customs of the time, appeared to it most proper to express its senti- ments towards the beloved object. When the inhabitants of all Europe were divided into masters and slaves, the metaphorical language of love was borrowed from the ideas of Slavery: and this first foundation of amorous language subsists to the present day. When the feudal system was established, and vassalage superseded slavery, the ideas and forms of feodality were applied to love. The mistress called her lover her Baron, and he styled her his Lady. He demanded of his mistress the mouth and the hands in the form of homage. A Troubadour of the twelfth century, compares his mis- tress to a freehold which paid no rents or services, to which he wishes should be at least attached, the payment of some kisses. Love assumed the cha- racter as well as the language of vas- salage; its respective obligations were reduced to rules; the acknowledged lover had his rights recognised; he owed to his lady fidelity and services; she, to him, attachment and favours. "In the mean while the Feudal sys- Hist. of the Troubadours, 332. 364 LOVE-PILGRIMS. tem was brought to bed of Chivalry. Private wars, the unfortunate results of feudal rights, had turned all minds towards arms. The Lords, obliged to defend, without ceasing, their own possessions, and those of their vassals, were occupied only with military ideas; they carried them even into their love affairs. "Chivalry, founded at the same time for a proof and reward of valour and generosity, imposed upon itself, as its principal duty, the protection of the ladies; and gallantry became, almost as much as bravery, the distinc- tive character of a knight. To form the eulogium of an accomplished knight, it was said, that no one better understood to break a lance, and kiss a lady. "The Crusades had redoubled the heroism of the knights, by a kind of enthusiasm, mingled with ideas of glory and religion, which incited them. to the most hazardous enterprises. This enthusiasm immediately laid hands upon Love. They devoted themselves for their mistresses to the most peril- ous, and sometimes the most bizarre attempts. If an opportunity did not offer, they created one. They main- tained, with arms in their hands, that the woman whom they loved was the most beautiful in the world, and they found knights who accepted the chal- lenge. Nothing was so common as this proof of love in the thirteenth century. They wished to appear the most brave, as well as the most ena- moured, because valour, carried to ex- cess, was then the quality most fitted to make themselves beloved in re- turn; the ladies became fond of a knight upon the mere recital of his exploits. Chivalry had so ennobled love, that it had rendered it a passion purely heroick. In the Roman de Rose,a it is affirmed, that the knights were more estimable, and the ladies lived. better and more chastely: a MS. fol. 80. 'Les chevaliers mieux en valoient, Les Dames meilleures etoient Et plus chastement en vivoient.' "Far from regarding Love as :! criminal passion, they associated with the ideas and practices of dev tion. A Troubadour of the thi teenth century said, that he burn. tapers, and caused masses to be s for the success of his love. The mis tress of the Lord of Craon, whe upon her death-bed ready to rece the Sacrament, called God to witness. that Craon had never made a request to her, which her father might not her made; non, dit elle, qu'il ne couchet & mon lit, mais a fin sans vilence et sa… A mal y penser." Notwithstanding, Love was not always thus pure, even in the times when this passion was carried to its highest point of heroism. It be- came debased insensibly. In the fif teenth century Eustace des Champs often complained, that luxury had eff- minated the knights; that they thought to please more by their dress, than by their exploits and virtues; and that gallantry as well as Chivalry was strangely declined. strangely declined. Notwithstanding in this century, they still fought, Na- tion against Nation, for the honour of the ladies, as in 1402 did seven French | knights against seven English knights. "In the end all this heroism was eclipsed. Brantome says, that in the 16th century, Love was no more than libertinism. It was the age of devices and amorous emblems.c Afterwards, b Agnes de Navarre, wife of Phoebus, Count 2: Foix, was in love with William de Machaut, es of the best French poets, of the age of Petrarch She made verses for him, which breathed the lar guage of passion. She wished him to publish is his own the details of their love. He was jealou without a cause; she sent her Confessor to him. to testify not only the truth of the sentiments which she had for him, but further, her fidelity. and the injustice of the suspicion which he ha conceived against her. Notwithstanding this, Agnes de Navarre was a very virtuous Princess. Mém. pour la Vie de Petrarque, i. 118. F. e Classical symbols and mottoes derived from the chiefs of the Neapolitan wars, in the close of the fifteenth century, and common in England in the next. Dallaway's Heraldic Inquiries, p. 391. Sir Philip Sydney's works abound in them. Edit. 10. · 8 LOVE-PILGRIMS. 365 'rom this period, we hear no more of heroick Loves. Devout Loves still existed, when the general manners wore the livery of devotion; then overs, in pious processions, whipped hemselves, by way of gallantry, under the windows of their mistresses. Men carried, in their Breviaries, under the figure of the Virgin Mary, the portrait of the woman whom they loved: and the women had that of their lovers, under the representation of Christ or some Saint. "From the whole of this discussion, it appears that Love was simple and tender in the tenth century; severe and impassioned in the eleventh; that it participated of the heroick or su- perstitious enthusiasm of the three following centuries; and sometimes elevated itself even to a virtue; but in the fifteenth century declined, till it was almost always a vice, and scarcely a passion; in the sixteenth century, the spirit, which mingled with it, was subtle and cold; the ideas of piety, which were allied with it from time to time, instead of warming and ennobling it, as before, completed its degradation by introducing all the meannesses of superstition and hypocrisy. The other forms, which it has taken in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, show that it has constantly followed the modifications of society. Thus, Love, in all times subject to fashion, which seems to have so little empire over the passions, has always under- gone the same variations as exterior manners and customs."a Pleasure and courtship are still lead- ing habits of the modern military; and, without doubt, derive their origin from the feudal ages. This curious and interesting history of courtship, explains the Petrarchism, or heroic love, which characterized the Pilgrimages of the Troubadours, a term p. 30, 62, 179, 180, &c. Some Augustin Monks in Flanders represented the whole life of that Saint in a series of these impressions. Sylloge Symbolor. &c. by Menestrier, p. 355. See Camden's Remains. Notices des MSS. v. p. 695, seq. derived from trobar to invent, because they sung extemporaneous effusions, or pretended to do so, Petrarch com- plaining of their application to him for assistance. They were natives of the South of France, who, being stimu- lated by their genius, and the warmth of the climate, to poetry, musick, and Love, were, as President Henault styles them, the knights errant of gallantry, travelling from castle to castle, singing and making love.b Accordingly one of them says, "The beauty I adore shall behold me, for her sake, clad in a woollen habit, and with a pilgrim's staff."e The following account of one of these Pilgrims is singularly curious: "It was in the month of October, I well re- member, I ordered two of my pages to take two falcons, and the third a goss- hawk, the best that ever was, with dogs and hares. We were ten knights well mounted, and all eager for the chace. At the moment of our depar- ture, behold, there came to us a knight in the habit of a Pilgrim. He was the most beautiful and elegant figure that was ever seen in the robe of penitence. He advanced with slow steps, as if overwhelmed with fatigue, and he hung down his head as if plunged in sorrow. When he was come up to me, without any salutation, or speaking a single word, he took my horse by the bridle, drew me aside, and, casting on me a look of tender sorrow, he paused a moment from the fullness of his grief. At last he said, 'For the sake of God, my Lord, have pity on my state. I come from a dis- tant country to ask your council in love; for you are the only man in the world capable of giving me advice. I love a lady, as excellent for virtues as re- nowned for beauty. I have used every effort, and cannot obtain her love. know not what to do; in pity teach me how I ought to act. My Pilgrimage has no other object, but to seek instruction in Love.' b Mémoires pour la Vie de Petrarque, i. 77. Hist. of the Troubadours, p. 50. I 366 LOVE-PILGRIMS. "At these words, I said to my Ba- rons, permit me to put off our party to another day; for at present, I must converse of joy and pleasure with this young stranger, and our discourse must be private. Immediately dismounting from my horse, I took the unknown knight by the hand, and conducting him in, I begged him to defer our con- versation till the morrow, that I might have time to reflect on his situation, and be able to give him the advice he stood in need of. But I would know, added I, to whom I speak, that I may form some judgment of the advice I ought to give. His answer was as courteous as my request; and when I heard his name, I held him in great esteem. After he was refreshed, he sat down to play at chess and draughts. We sung songs, and told a thousand tales,a till sunset; when they informed us, that supper was served in the great hall, where many guests were assem- bled. After supper, as our new guest wanted repose, we all retired to rest. After a sound sleep, we rose, the Priest having summoned us to mass.b After mass was said, we went to the dinner, which Bidans my constable had served up; it was good, and we were long at table. At last I rose, and taking the stranger by the hand, we left the com- pany in the hall, and went down into an orchard, where I seated him under a laurel tree, by my side. Then, ad- dressing myself to him, I said, Friend, what you desire of me I wish I may be able to grant. You will find in me neither much knowledge nor skill, but courtesy, courage, and joy; and it is in those, the most illustrious lovers of all If a Jugleur or Minstrel was not present, our ancestors used to sit round the fire, and tell an- cient gests or stories. Warton. Gesta Romanorum, lxiv. Hence the numerous collections of Tales, which we have in Manuscript. b Froissart (ii. 157.) mentions an oratory of the Black Prince near his bed-chamber, where mass was said the first thing in the morning, sometimes before sun-rise (Id. ii. 135), even in the bed- chambers. It appears to have been usual to take exercise in the garden, after Mass, or in the morning. Stowe's Annals, 500, 535. Ed. Howes. 1 times have excelled. Remember what I am going to say, and you v surpass all others in Love. Be alwa dressed neatly and elegantly, whethe your cloaths are rich or plain. Le your linen be very fine and white; your shoes, your stockings, and you waistcoast, be so well adjusted, that who behold, shall admire you; let you! robe be rather short than long; let it made wide before; the breast can the be left open without any improprie Let your cloak be of the same stuff; a let the girdle and the clasp be neat fastened. Nothing gives a man so mu advantage as the beauty of his hair! wash your head often; wear not your ha too long; it is more becoming to hav it somewhat shortened. Your whiske and beard ought also to be neatly cut: it were better they were too short the too long; but no excess of fashion ever becoming; be particularly atten tive to that. By the eyes and the han a man is often judged: there should be a dignity and delicacy in both. Never fix your eyes, with a saucy assurance and effrontery, on any: and let your hands be placed with decency and care. If you see any one with something a their hands you wish to look at, and which strikes you with admiration never be guilty of such unpoliteness as to take it from him to gratify you own curiosity. If you would gain the hearts of ladies, you must be magnif- cent in your house; you must have 'squires to attend you; you must hav: two in particular, who are handsom and who know how to please: the res need only to be courteous and polite but they must converse with grace an with discretion, that if you send them any where, they may not incur th: laugh at your expense, and it be sai of them, like master like man.' Whet you receive company, show great kinċ- ness to all you receive; invite them to make good cheer; let them be we served, and set them the example of gaiety and freedom. None will fre quent you, if your house wears the face of poverty, and they do not meet with plenty and hospitality. When the day I LOVE-PILGRIMS. 367 appears, do not set yourself at the table to eat alone: nothing is more unpolite. Place your guests near you in a neat apartment. Do the honours of your table not only yourself, but be careful your attendants are assiduous in the service; and let the fire be well re- plenished. Recommend in particular to your servants, that they never come in, and interrupt the repast, by whis- Be careful also never to speak to them in a low voice; this has the air of poverty and stingi- ness. Before you place yourself at table, give all your orders for the day as to wine, lights, and other accommo- dation. Take care, that the horses, the attendants, and grooms of your guests, have all they want; for if they have not plenty of provision, you will hear murmurs shamefully reproaching to a gallant knight. "If you hold a court or assembly, spare for nothing. Let there be no gate locked at the entrance of your house; no porters a to keep back with their staves, the grooms, pages, hangers- on, and Jongleurs, who would enter. Do not follow the example of those rich misers, who retire secretly from their feasts. Heaven forbid, you should be the first to quit the company, when you ought to be the last. Your house ought to be open to all the world, and you ready to receive, at all hours, those who shall present themselves. Play high; it will do you honour; continue playing. It is shameful and base to take up the dice, and leave off imme- diately. If you should lose, express Porter. "Here a Porter, tall of person, big of limbs, stark of countenance, with club and keys of quantity according, in a rough speech, full of pas- sion in metre, while the Queen [Elizabeth] came within his ward, burst out in a great pang of impa- tience to see such uncouth trudging to and fro; such riding in and out, with such din and noise of talk, within his charge; whereof he never saw the like, nor had any warning once; ne yet could make to himself any cause of the matter. At last, upon better view and aduertisement, he proclaims open gates and free passage to all; yields over his club, his keys, his office, and all, and on his knees, hum- bly prays pardon of his ignorance, and impatience : which her Highness graciously granting," &c. Hurd's Dialogues, 98. no ill-humour; change not your place, nor clap your hands together, like an enraged man, nor give any signs of dis- pleasure; for if you do, you will be made a jest of. In short, spend your fortune in a generous and hospitable reception of all the world. Unless you do this, you must for ever renounce gallantry. Be well mounted; have a horse light and nimble for the course; to manage, and have it continually led in your train. Let your arms be bright, and valuable; and let your lance, your shield, and your cuirass, be well proved. Let your horse be well equip- ped, in saddle, bridle, and breast-lea- thers; let the saddle and crupper be of the same colour with your shield, and the streamer of your lance. Have a war-horse to carry a change of arms.b "The reason I recommend these things, is, that if you have not prepared them in readiness and set them in or- der, on the first injury done you, on the first war that happens, you will be obliged to seek them, with precipita- tion; and ladies are never fond of those knights who are not always ready for war and tournaments. They will pre- fer those who seize every occasion of procuring fame and honour. "If my exhortations do not weary you, I would recommend to you the love of Chivalry, and to attach your- self to the means of pleasing univer- sally. Be vigilant against all unfore- seen attacks; fear neither cry nor mur- mur; be the last in retreat, and the first in charge; for such is the man who is conducted by Love. "When you are at the tournament, have a halbert and a helmet in change; your steel-armour, and your sword, which you must brandish to animate your horse. Let his breast be garnish- ed with bells well hung; nothing is more proper to inspire confidence in a Knight, and terror in an enemy. Put up with no loss, nor damage; and re- Two horses generally accompanied Knights, a Hackney, and a Charger, that the latter might not be wearied, upon coming into action. Numerous instances occur in Froissart. 368 LOVE-PILGRIMS. turn not without some engagement. When once your arm is raised, if your lance fails, draw your sword directly, and let heaven and hell resound with the clash. Thus have I levelled my strokes since I was a knight, and thus have I possessed the love of many beau- tiful and worthy ladies." a The old Knight was correct in his a Hist. of the Troubadours, 471-475. advice. In a satirical catalogue ca pretended Museum, one article is “T skin of the Serpent which seduced E A lady said, the colour of it must e tainly be scarlet. The favouritism sh to officers, may be enough to convir that bravery, attention to person, c teous manners, pleasurable habits, living in style, are the methods, wh experience proves, to be best suited procure success in Love. " THE OFFICE OF PILGRIMS IN THE CHURCH OF ROUEN. 369 CHAPTER XV. THE OFFICE OF PILGRIMS IN THE CHURCH OF ROUEN. HE following account shews a de- action of Pilgrimage from the journey 7 the Disciples to Emmaus. The Office of Pilgrims ought to be one in this form. Two of the second call, who may be put in the table, at he pleasure of the writer, shall be othed in a Tunick, with copes above, arrying staves across, and scrips in e manner of Pilgrims; and they shall ave capellia over their heads, and be earded. Let them go from the Ves- iary, singing a hymn, "Jesus, our re- emption," advancing with a slow step, hrough the right aisle of the Church, s far as the Western gates, and there topping, sing a hymn, as far as that lace, "You shall be satisfied with thy ikeness." Then a certain Priest of the igher stall, written in the table, cloth- ed in an Alb and Amess, bare-footed, carrying a cross upon his right shoul- ler, with a look cast downwards, com- ng to them through the right aisle of the Church, shall suddenly stand be- tween them, and say, "What are these discourses." The Pilgrims, as it were admiring, and looking upon him, shall say, "Are you a stranger," &c. Priest shall answer, "In what?" The Pilgrims shall answer, "of Jesus of Nazareth." The Priest, looking upon both of them, shall say, "O fools, and slow of heart," which being said, the Priest immediately shall retire and pre- tend to be going further: but the Pil- A Hat or Bonnet. Du Cange. The grims hurrying up, and following him, shall detain him, as it were inviting him to their inn, and drawing him with their staves, shall show him a castle, and say, "Stay with us." And so sing- ing, they shall lead him as far as a tent in the middle of the nave of the Church, made in the resemblance of the Castle Emmaus. When they have ascended thither, and sat at a table ready pre- pared, the Lord sitting between them shall break the bread; and being dis- covered by this means, shall suddenly retire, and vanish from their sight. But they amazed, as it were, rising with their countenances turned to each other, shall sing lamentably " Alleluia," with the verse, "Did not our heart burn," &c. which being renewed, turning them- selves towards the stall, they shall sing this verse, "Tell us, Mary." Then a certain person of the higher stall, cloth- ed in a Dalmatick and Amess, and bound round in the manner of a wo- man, shall answer, "The Sepulchre of Christ; the Angels are witnesses." Then he shall extend, and unfold a cloth from one part, instead of clothes, and throw it before the great gate of the Choir. Afterwards he shall say "Christ is risen." The Choir shall sing two other verses, following, and then the Master shall go within; a procession be made; and Vespers be ended.b b Du Cange, v. Peregrinorum Officium. 2 B CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HEINIS THE Hermits of Egypt dragged out a wretched life in perfect solitude, and were scattered here and there in caves, in deserts, in the hollows of rocks, sheltered from the wild beasts only by the cover of a miserable cottage, in which each one lived sequestered from the rest of his species. Philo-Judaeus, A.D. 41, was the first who introduced the Philosophy of Plato and Pythagoras into the Gospel. As he lived at Alexandria in the neigh- bourhood of the Desert, and gives (it is believed) the earliest account of the contemplative life of worshippers, Eu- sebius shews that the figures and hie- roglyphics of the Egyptian Philosophy are verified and manifested in the Scrip- tures.a The order of the Anachorites was yet more excessive in the austerity of living than the Eremites. They fre- quented the wildest deserts, without either tents or cottages; nourished themselves with the roots and herbs which grew spontaneously out of the uncultivated ground; wandered about, without having any fixed abode; and in Syria Lucian is Ini ported to hETE 5. in the middle of t which eminence double wall Ne North were erected enormous height of t one of which a me every year, swarming f chain, as was practised in climbing the pain-res country. Arrived at the top. his clothes so as to form a ne and having let down anotie which he carried with him, an up by the means of it food saries, he remained upon the seven days. Seated aloft, he for all Syria; but whilst he pray rang a bell." Perhaps the first instance of r being held in reverence was in the of Simeon Stylites, whom the of Antioch thought Leo the Ene left among them for their d against enemies.c The distinction of Anchorets quite different in the Hermits was reposed wherever the approach of night ceeding ages. The former were per happened to find them.b The origin of that curious supersti- tion, the habitation on a pillar by Si- meon Stylites, is thus given in Christie's Greek Vases, p. 99: "The ancient temple at Hierapolis Euseb. S. ii. c. 41. 17, 18. b Mosheim, i. p. 199. cent. 4. who passed their whole lives in from which they never moved. I latter were indeed solitary perso wandered about at liberty. The ing the respective definitions of chorets and Hermits,d the saged be treated accordingly. Evagr. b. i. c. 1. Heremitæ solivagi aut Anachare p CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. 371 e horets. "In the first ages of chism, the custom was introduced ain Abbies, of choosing some one › religious, whom they thought advanced in perfection, and of ng him up apart, on purpose that ght be able for the rest of his life dulge without distraction in the mplation of divine things. Com- y the cell was near the Church, d in such a manner that the re- had the faculty of seeing the Altar, hearing the service. The door locked upon him, often even wall- p, but they left a kind of garret low, by which he received the com- ion and the necessaries of life." he same custom existed in female ents; there were even many in- ces of men who became Anchorets Junneries, and of women in Abbies Ionks.a Particular ceremonies were esta- hed for these solitaries. Gregory of irs describes those which were in in his æra." Many Councils, and particularly t of 692, which is called of Trullo,b t of Frankfort in 787, and others, ated of this kind of life, and endea- ured to modify and confine it to rules d forms." Charlemagne forbade it, but the abuse ll prevailed. There were even Ab- es, such as that of Vallombreuse, for ample, where they supported a per- e. Hermits, solitary wanderers, or Anchorets, mured). Angl. Sacr. ii. 436. De Foe makes e same distinction in Robinson Crusoe. Helyot. Ordr. Monastiques Disc. Prelim. A b The Trullan Canons say: "They who affect › be Anchorets, shall first for three years be con- ned to a cell in a Monastery; and if, after this, hey profess that they persist, let them be examined y the Bishop or Abbot; let them live one year at arge; and if they still approve of their first choice, et them be confined to their cell, and not be per- nitted to go out of it, but by consent and benedic- ion of the Bishop in case of great necessity." Canon 41. "Hermits who stroll up and down in towns in black habits and long hair, and converse freely with both sexes, shall be either shorn and go into some Monastery, or be driven into the Wilderness, from whence they have their names." Canon 42. There are strong anathemas against Anchorets in the Gangran Cauons. Canon 9. 17. Johnson's Eastern Canons, 83, 85, 274, 275. F. petual Anchorage, uninterruptedly oc- cupied by a religious, who voluntarily secluded himself. The penitent not only vowed eternal silence, but abso- lutely saw no person but the brother by whose hands he received his nou- rishment." c "Towards the end of the ninth cen- tury, a certain person named Grimlaic made a rule for those who wished to adopt this anachoretical life. By this rule, their cells were to be near a church, but it was permitted to them to join to it a small garden. Many might even dwell together in one com- mon enclosure, and even have commu- nication by a window, provided that every cell was separate. They lived there, either by the labour of their hands or by alms, or by what the neigh- bouring monasteries bestowed. Their dress was a frock. Notwithstanding, if they were Priests, they used a cope, and had the right of confessing. There were some of them who brought up disciples, but these lived out of the common enclosure, and the candidates, after a certain time of noviciate and trial, were obliged to become Anchorets in their turn."d [M. D'Aussy has omitted the dreadful task in Grimlaic's Rule of learning the gospels, and other Scriptures by heart.] "The Bishop performed the cere- mony of seclusion. He put his seal upon the Anchorage, which could not be removed but when the recluse had need of assistance, or was sick."e Thus M. Le Grand D'Aussy. That all this was purely Egyptian, will ap- pear from the legend of Thaysis, a prostitute, converted by the Abbot Pafuncius. "She went to the place whiche th' abbot had assygned to her. And there was a monasterye of vyrgyns, and there he closed her in a celle, and sealed the door with led. And the celle e Vallombreuse is situated in the Apennines, not far from Florence. Upon the hills around are her- mitages occupied by religious, who lead a very austere life, according to the Benedictine Rule. F. d C. 64. The Rule is printed in Holstein's Codex. e Notices des MSS. v. p. 287, 288. 2 B 2 372 CONSTE UDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. and some and best co re open by white was pe: Furthe that they shoud brede and water. 2 Andr a nt shilde derate. Taris sande to Eim. fader, where shall I shedle the water, and that why the shall enme fro the antiges of nature. And he sayde to hen, in ty eele, as thou art worthy. And thenne she demanded how she shade prave: and he answered: thou art bit worthy to name God, ne that the name of the Trynte be in thy mouth, ne strate thy hondes too Leven by cause thyn lippes ben full of Inyguytes and tip hondes fuisferil aftoweringes and fixie ordure." Thas the last sentence shows how she was to extricate herself from a most annoying embarrassment of her situation. In Rader's Rule of the Solitaries, the Cell of an Anchoret is to be of stone, 12 feet long, and as many broad, with three windows, one opposite the Choir, by which the sacrament was re- ceived: the second for admitting food: the third, light, which was to be closed with born or glass. 2 Oxbern, in his Life of Dunstan, men- tions the Destina for so these anchor- hoids or stalls axed to larger build- ings were called & occupied by Dunstan soon after he became a Mork. It was annexed to the Church of the Virgin Mary at Glastonbury, where he had been professed. Osbern says, he scarcely knew what to call it, whether a Cell, or Destina, or Cave, since it was made by Dunstan's own hands, and more re- sembled a Sepulchre than a human ha- bitation. For to bear testimony, he says, of a thing which he had himself seen, the length, as far as his estima- tion went, could not be more than five feet, and the breadth, two feet and a half. Further, the depth was about the height of a man, supposing any one was standing in a pit, otherwise it • Golden Legend, f. dlu. b. ▸ C. 16. A Bavarian Rule. . By Bede, 1 3. c. 17. Wharton's note. would not reach up to the breast; 2 from hence it is plain, that he se ying, and always prayed to God sta g. The door formed one whole siia In the midst of the door was a sma window, which gave light to the pers at work within; for Dunstan was a t- pital godsmith. Thus it appears, th the habitation resembled a cobbler's ste is point of fact. From these origos there arose regular anchor-holds or ø- cir-huses annexed to Abbatial or Pa rochial Churches. Some Anchore were even placed in Churches to l after thems Alms boxes were anne- ed to them. Piers Plowman says, -Ne in ancres there a box hangeth" Ful ixxx. They were the great emporia of t vage news, an abuse quite foreig to the institution. It was strictly enacted, that no Az- chorets or Anchoresses should be p in any place, 1. without the special license of the Diocesan, 2. due cous deration of the situation, 3. quality the person, and, 4. means of support The first article, as commented by Lyndwood, shows that Monks might become Hermits by license of the A bot, but not Anchorets. The secor refers to the place, whether it was ne any church, or far separated from it: whether it were in the city or in the country; because there was a mor speedy provision for such a recluse i his wants in the city than in the cour try, where the inhabitants in gener were poor. It was also to be consi dered, whether it was near any Monas- tery, by whose alms the Anchoret cou be supported. The quality of the per- Angl. Sacr. ii. 96. ⚫ I use this term because it is ancient. Domitian removed the stalls which blocked up the streets of Rome Mart. vii. 60; and the Acts of S. Ber. trand say, "He was sitting in his stall, as is it custom of the shoemaking trade." Du Cange, Scapinus. Weever's Fun. Monum. 150. Parker's Norwich, 259. From mulne (mill), and vrom chepyng ( ket), vrom smid'de' (smith's shop), and vrom - crehuse, men tidinge bringeth. MS. Cot. Nero, A. xiv. f. 21. a. CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. 373 son regarded his profession, whether religious or secular, clerk or layman, young or old. The means of his sup- port was to be regarded, because, if he had not property of his own, or being a Monk, had claims upon his house, he could not well be included in one spot; and the Bishop was to look into this, because otherwise the Anchoret might be starved to death, or the Bi- shop be compelled to support him, in the manner of a clerk, ordained with- out a title. At St. Augustine's Can- terbury, Anchorets were not to be made, except by the Ordinary, nor by the Ordinary without consent of the Abbot.b Anchor-holds were not, however, al- ways near cities or churches. Goluen- nus chose a place for himself near the shore, most fit for divine contempla- tion, and built there a small house square in the form of an oratory, which, in the language of the Britons, is call- ed Peniti, that is, the house of Peni- tence, or of a Penitent. There Goluen- nus shut himself up within the pre- cincts of the Penititium. In the acts of St. Goeznoveus, MS. it is said, that he built an oratory in a grove, near a river, in a place four miles distant from a city, which place was called Peniti- tium S. Goeznovei.c Guthlack went to a retired spot, and the remains of his chapel are still called Anchor-church- house. He is said to have been our first Anchoret.e The ceremony of including an An- choret was as follows. He was to be advised by the Bishop, or some other priest, to examine his conscience, whe- ther he acted from piety sincere or feigned; and, if the answer was favour- able, the Priest was, by the order of the Bishop, to shut him up. Provi- sion was first to be made for his con- Lynd. 214, 215. b Lewis's Thanet, 48. Du Cange, v. Penili. d Second Appendix to the History of Croyland (Bibl. Topogr. Brit.), vol. III. p. 287. Fecerunt quandum domum super solum Re- gis, in quâ quædam Anachorita modo inhabitat quæ valet p' annum, &c. Rot. Parl. i. 419. a° 1324 and 5. The site was "Le Droynes de Loundres." fession, and that, on the day preceed- ing the ceremony, he received the re- fection of bread and water. On the night following he passed devout vigils in the Church nearest the Hermitage. On the morrow, after an exhortation to the people and the Anchoret, the Priest began a responsory; and, upon the conclusion of it, prostrated himself with his ministers, before the step of the altar, and said certain psalms. Af- ter these, the mass was celebrated in the neighbouring church, and an espe- cial prayer said for the Anchoret. Af- ter the gospel, he offered a taper, which was to burn upon the altar at the mass.f The Anchoret then read the schedule of his profession (which consisted only of the vows of obedience, chastity, and stedfastness), at the step of the altar; and, if he was a layman, the priest read it for him. He then made a sign of his intention, and offered it upon the altar kneeling. The priest consecrated the habit, and sprinkled that and the An- choret with holy water. Then followed f Qualiter hii qui in ordine anachoritarum de- beant se habere, sequencia secundum usum Sarum declarabunt. Non oportet quenquam inclusum, fieri sine episcopo constitutum; ut ab episcopo, aut ab aliquo alio presbytero, radietur ac moneatur, quatinus ipse devotus suam conscientiam scrute- tur, viz. utrum bona an malâ sanctitate appetit, &c. quod cum se pro regno Dei, &c. includat eum sacerdos jussu episcopi. Imprimis, provideat sibi qui includendus est, quod de omnibus peccatis suis quæ suæ memoriæ occurrere possunt sit bene con- fessus. Et quod in die diem inclusionis præce- dente pane et aquâ tum reficiatur. In nocte inse- quente in ecclesiâ inclusario suo vicinâ cum suo cæreo accenso devotè mæroribus vigiliarum tene- tur. In crastino factâ exhortacione ad populum et ad eum qui est includendus sacerdos incipiat hoc modo responsorium, &c. Functo hoc cum suo clerico, prosternat se sacerdos cum suis ministris ante gradum altaris, et dicant hos psalmos; his dictis incipiatur missa de quocunque voluerit quæ celebrabitur in ecclesiâ, juxta quam includi debeat, et ad eandem missam dicatur hæc oratio specialiter pro includendo. Post Evangelium offerat inclu- dendus cereum qui super altare ad missam semper ardeat. Postea fiet † includendus ad gradum al- taris et legat. professionem suam. MS. Harl. 873. f. 18. 25. a. Non ancre bi mine rede ne schal makien pro- fessiun, that is, behoten ase hest bute three thinges, that beoth obedience, chastete, and studestathel- vestnesse... obedience of hire bischope other (or) of hire herre (lord). MS. Cott. Nero, A. xiv. f. 2. Or choro. † Or fuerit. 374 CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. mass and litany; after which they went in procession to the hermitage. The Priest took him by the right hand and led him to the house, which was then blessed and shut from without. The Priest, with the assistants, retired, leaving the Anchoret within, and ad- vised the standers-by to pray for him." A similar ceremony ensued with re- spect to female Anchorets; for in 1351 Lucy de Newchirche received letters of the Bishop of Worcester, after due en- quiry made into her life and morals, addressed to the Archdeacon, directing him to include the said Anchoress in the hermitage of St. Brandon, near Bristol; so that though Anchorets were nct Hermits, anchor-holds (the old English word) were styled Hermitages.b There exist some very old and cu- rious Rules respecting these female Anchorets, which shall be here given, and changing the sex, they are equally applicable to these male Solitaries. Though Recluses, as leading an an- choretical life, were not analogous to Nuns, yet a similar rule attached to both, and Recluse and Nun were sy- nonymous. A very ancient Rule is that of Simon de Gandavo [or of Ghent] to his sis- ters, Anchoresses, whom also he styles Nuns. After mentioning the vow be- fore given, he adds, " that hes ne schal then stude never more chaungen, bute vor nead, one alse strengde and deathes dred," i. e. the vow was not to be in- fringed but by the most imperious ne- cessity or fear of death. d Meat not to eaten. "Also of mete and of drunch flesch forgon." The next of the Eucharist painted in the Si vero laicus fuerit à presbytero legatur pro eo professio. Deinde faciat includendus signum qu[od velit] facere scedulam professionis suæ, et eam offerat super altare genibus flexis. Post hoc bene- dicat sacerdos habitum professionis et tunc asper- gat sacerdos habitum et suscipientem, &c. de foris domus claudatur. MS. Harl. ut supra. b Barret's Bristol, p. 61. In Bennet Coll. Libr. Cambridge, is a MS. en- titled, "A rule for Nunnes and Recluses," in old English written in Saxon characters. Hickes's Grammat. Anglo-Saxonica, p. 164 (in Catalogo Libror. Septentrion.) d MS. Cott. Nero, A. xiv. f. 2. • Fol. 2. chamber of Nuns.f "Also se sch don, whon the preost halt hit e messe,g and bivore the confiteor he ze schulen beon ihuseled h efter | valleth acneon to other crucifix a teos vif gretunges." k "Nonnes must not foulle their liday cloaths."1 Their studies ver be "versling of hire sautere Psalter], reding of Englischs oder of Freinchs holi meditaciuns." Grace occurs before drinking. tweone mete who so drinken wull sir. [say] Benedicte." n 0 Another article allegorizes the dri "That blake clod betockned that: beoth blacke and unwurde toward : worlde: that hwite creois limpeth to vor threo manere creorices beoth rea and blake and white; that reade limpe to theo, that beoth vor godes luve hore blod-scheddinge ireaded (reddene) ase the martiris weren: the blake er limpeth to theo, that makied ide the worlde hore penitence nor b licke sinnen: that white croiz limpe to hwit meidenhed and to clennesse." Rule of Silence. "Everich vride of de zer holdeth silence, bute zif less] hit beo duble feste, and teori holdith hir sum other dai i the w ithen advent and i the umbridare wodnesdays and fridayes in the lant three dayes and al the swith' wike vr non; of Ester even to oyr meiden :: muyen thaut siggen [say] mid lut [ ing] wordes, what ze wulled, and £ eni god mon is of feorrene ikumer herched, his speche and onswerid m lut wordes to his askunge."4 He then reprobates embraces of me "God hit wot ase me were muche? dole leovere thet ich iseie on alle thre mine leove sustren wummen me leo- f Eucharista depicta in conclavi Nonnarum. 8 Elevates, or holds the Host at Mass. Hoseled, i. e. receive the sacrament. Fall on your knees to the crucifix with thes lively salutations. - Fol. 10. L Fol. 4. a. 1 Fol. 4. b. n Ibid. • Belongeth, from the Anglo-Saxon limpiar. pertinere. P Instances have been repeatedly given of the uncommon sanctity attached to Fridays. 4 Fol. 16. CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. 375 st hongen on a gibet vort wid buyen nne then ich iseie on of ou (you) ziven ne elpi col to eni mon on eorde, so e ich mene leh am still of demore out on monglinde honden .... hire- If beholden hire owene honden white ed'herm to moni ancre." i. e. he had ther see them hanged on a gibbet, than king any man round the neck, light gesture and demeanour, joining ands, and keeping the latter white; on ie contrary, like the Monks of La 'rappe, They were every day to scrape up the arth for their graves, with their hands. Heo schulden schreapien ev'riche deie ne eorde up of hore putte ther heo chulden rotien inne.' " a Monks and Priests were not to be alled by their proper names. "Mid hus thu micht siggen [say] a munuch der a preost, and nout Willam ne vater, though ther ne beon non oder." Their confessors were not to be young. Ich ne der noutthat heo deopluker b schrive [confess] hire to yunge preos- ces her abuten." This Manuscript c is of the thir- teenth century, for the author was Bi- shop of Salisbury from 1297 to 1315,d and it is a curious specimen of the Saxon English of the time. A more interesting rule is that of Al- fred of Rievesby, in Latin and English, (the latter professed to be a translation, but by no means faithful,) the former intituled De Institutis Inclusarum,e the other "Rewle of a Recluse." The following are extracts from the first: "Surely if you have any necessary food, or cloathing of value, you are not a Nun" "I do not like a pimp of • Fol. 29. From the Anglo-Saxon deoplicop. Penitus. V. Lye. There is a Latin Translation of this MS. at Magdalen College, Oxon. See Warton's Emend. v. P. 11. i. Britton's Cathedrals, in Salisbury, p. 30. MS. Cott. Nero, A. 3. F. 3. Certe si pretii necessarium victum et vestitum aliquem habes monacha non es.... Nolo ut insidiatrix pudicitiæ vetula mixta pauperibus ac- cedat; propius deferat ab aliquo monachorum vel clericorum eulogias nec blanda verba in aure susur- ret; ne pro acceptâ eleemosyna osculans manum venenum insibilet. f. 3. b. an old woman, mixed among the poor, bringing eulogiæ, [presents of conse- crated bread, see the Chapter of Rules,] and whispering soft words to you from some Monk or Clerk, lest she should insinuate poison, when she kisses your hand for alms received. Care is also to be taken, that the Anchoress be not burdened in showing hospitality to religious women; for often among the good, some very bad come, who sitting down before the an- choress's window, after prefacing with a few pious speeches, run off to secular matters. Thence she begins to frame love affairs, and pass nearly the whole night without sleep. Beware of such persons, &c.g "Therefore let some old woman be chosen, not garrulous, not litigious, not gadding about, not a tale-bearer. Let this woman guard the door of the cell, and admit and repel whom she ought.h "Let her have a girl to carry bur- dens; fetch water and wood; dress beans or pot-herbs, or, if infirmity re- quires it, procure superior viands.i "Grant no access to boys and girls. There are certain Anchoresses, who are occupied in teaching girls, and turn their cell into a school. She sits at the window, they in the porch. She be- holds each, and during their puerile actions, now is angry, now laughs, now threatens, now soothes, now spares, now kisses; now calls the weeping child to be beaten, now strokes her face, draws up her head, and eagerly 8 Cavendum præterea est, ut nec ob susceptionem religiosarum fœminarum quodlibet hospitalitatis onus inclusa suscipiat. Nam inter bonas plerum- que tam pessimæ veniunt, quæ ante inclusæ fenes. tram discumbentes, promissis valde paucis de reli- gione sermonibus, ad sæcularia devolvuntur. Inde subtexere amatoria et fere totum noctem insompnem ducere. Cave tu tales, &c. fol. 3. b. Itaque eligatur anus aliqua non garrula, non litigiosa, non vaga, non rumigerula: Hæc ostium cellæ custodiat, et quos debuerit vel admittat, vel repellat. fol. 4. Habeat sibi.... ad onera sustinenda puellam, quæ aquam et ligna comportet; coquat fabas, aut olera; aut si hoc infirmitas exegerit, præparet po- ciora. fol. 4. 1 376 CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. embracing her, calls her her daughter, her love.a "That we may not impose upon you perpetual silence, let us see with whom If it be you may honestly converse. possible, let there be provided, in a neighbouring monastery or church, some old priest of sound morals, and good character. With him conversa- tion may now and then be holden con- cerning confession and edification of the soul; advice be received in doubtful, consolation in sad affairs. But as even old age may not be insusceptible of b amatory emotions, you are not to give him your hand to touch, or feel. Let no discourse be held concerning his at- tenuated features, lean arms, and wrinkled skin, lest where you seek a remedy, you incur danger." Speak with no visitors unless a Bi- shop or Abbot, or Prior of high charac- Pueris et puellis nullum ad te concedas acces. sum. Sunt quædam inclusæ, quæ docendis puellis occupantur, et cellam suam vertunt in scolam. Illa sedet ad fenestram; istæ in porticu resident. Illa intuetur singulas; et inter puellares motus, nunc irascitur, nunc ridet, nunc minatur, nunc blanditur, nunc parcit, nunc osculatur, nunc flentem pro verbere vocat; ipsius palpat faciem, stringit col- lum; et in amplexum ruens, nunc filiam vocat, nunc amicam. fol. 4. a. Quod perpetuum ni cum viris indicere possi- mus silentium cum quibus honestius loqui possit videamus. Igitur si fieri potest provideatur in vi- cino monasterio, vel ecclesià presbiter aliquis senex, maturis moribus, et bonæ opinionis. Cui raro de confessione et animæ edificatione loquatur a quo consilium accipiat in dubiis, in tristibus consola- tionem. Verum quia (I decline inserting the next part) emollit mortuam senectutem, nec ipsi manum suam tangendam præbeat vel palpandam. Nulla nobis de macie vultus, de exhillaritate (sic) brachio- rum, de cutis asperitate, sermocinatio fit; ne ubi quæris remedium incurras perriculum. fol. 5 b. Cum nullo advenientium, præter episcopum aut abbatem, vel magni nominis priorem, sine ipsius presbyteri licenciâ vel præcepto loquaris, et tunc aliquo præsente, fol. 5. Nunquam inter te et quemlibet virum quasi occa. sione exhibendæ caritatis vel invitandi affectus vel expetendæ familiaritatis, aut amicitiæ spiritalis dis- currant nuncii; nec eorum munuscula litterasque suscipias; nec illis tua dirigas; sicut plerisque moris est, quæ zonas vel marsupia diverso stramine vel sub tegmine variata; et cetera hujusmodi ado- lescentioribus monachis vel clericis mittunt. fol. 6. a. Nemo se palpet; nemo blandiat se; nemo se fallat; nunquam ab adolescentibus, sine magnâ cordis contritione, et carnis afflictione castitas con- queritur et servatur. fol. 15. b. ter, without the license or direction f the Confessor, and then in the pre sence of some other person. Never let any messengers run to and fro between you and any man, under colour of exhibiting charity, or inviting regard, or courting spiritual familiarit or friendship; nor receive their preses or letters; or direct yours to them, a is the custom of many, who send girdle. or purses, made of various coloure. straw, or diversified under a case covering, and other things of this sor to young monks or clerks. Let no one stroke herself; let no on flatter herself; let no one deceive he self. Chastity is never sought or pre served without great contrition of heart and affliction of the flesh. There is also a certain hope of vanity, in being delighted even within a cell by some affected decoration: as ornament- ing the walls with various pictures of carvings; the oratory with a variety of tapestry and images.c The Old English Paraphrase (a- cording to the language) of the fifteen's century, shall now be given, so far a concerns its contents not of a mere ge neral or moral kind. It is entitled "Rewle of a Recluse that seynt Alred wrote to his suster." "Omine also ben,f which ben bus in gadrynge of worldly good in bestail in wolle, in multipling of peny to peny and shilyng, so that they oughten r ther to be called housewyves, than re- cluses. They ordeyne mete for her bestes, verder for her cattell, and att yere's end, they loke after the nombre or after the price; after this followeth Est et quædam spes vanitatis in affectatâ aliqui pulchritudine et intra cellulam delectari parietes variis picturis vel celaturis ornare, oratorium par norum et imaginum decorare. fol. 19. b. d MS. Bodl. 2322. e Recluse mostly signified an Anchoress, as i plain from the Anglia Sacra, ii. 269, yet there ar passages in this rule, as of keeping cattle, &c. which appear to me to apply to Nuns. Inclum also denoted an Anchoret. Id. f The original is " Quod fere vicium per omnes hujus temporis serpit inclusas pecuniæ aggregande vel multiplicandis, pecoribus inhiant." MS. Cott. Nero. A. 3. fol. 2. This is more than decisive proof of the looseness of the translation. 1 CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. 377 yinge and sellinge, of the which com- th covetise and avarice." a "First chose an honest ancient wo- nan in lyvinge, no jangler ne royler bout, noo chider, noo tidinges teller, out such oon, that may have witnesse of hir good conversacyon and honesty. Hir charge shall be to kepe thyn hous- old and thy lyflod to close thy dore; and to resceve that shuld be resceyved, and to voide that shuld be avoided; under her govarnaile shuld she have a yonger woman of age to bere greter charges in fettynge of woode and water, and sethynge and guithynge of mete and drynke. "Also how a recluse should speke, and whanne. Now sith I have tolde the of silence, I shall also shew the of speche. Whan thou shalt speke. From exalta- cyon of the crosse unto Estern, after tyme complyn is seyde unto pryme be do a morrowe to speke with noon saaf after pryme with the mynistres that serven the yit under fewe wordes of such thinges as the nedith; and fro that tyme tyl thou have ete, kepe the in si- lence in devoute praiers and holy me- ditacions. And than use communica- cioun tyll evensonge tyme. After even- songe is do to speke with thy ministres of thynges that the behoveth till tyme of collacioun, and to kepe silence for al that nyght, from Estern til the exalta- cion of the crosse come ayen. After tyme that complyn is seide til the sonne arise amorwe, to kepe silence, and than to speke with thy ministres. After tyme prime is seide tyl the thridde houre to commine with othir that co- men honestly, and under fewe wordes. In the saam wise shalt thou do bi- tweene the houre of noon after thou hast ete tyl evensonge tyme, and after evensong is adon than to speke with thy ministres tyl the tyme of collacyon. But in Lente keepe silence, that thou speke with noon saaf with thy confes- sour and thy mynistres, or ellys but it be som body that cometh from fer con- tre. After tyme thou hast sayde divyne a fol. 178. servyce, thou shalt occupie the with some honest labour of thy hondes-be well wer of multitude of psalmes in thy pryvat prayer,b and put it in noo cer- teyn but as long as thou delitist ther inne so long use hem: and when thou beginnest to waxe hevy of hem, orwery, then take a boke and rede, or do som labour with thy hondes. Thus shalt thou be occupied bitwene every divyne houre of the nyght, and of the day from the kalendes of November unto Lente, so that a little before complyn thou be occupied with redynge of holy faders prively by thiself in stede of thy colla- cyon that thou mightest, by grace, gete the som compuncyon of teres and fer- vour of devocion in saienge of thy com- plyn. And whan thou art thus replet and fedd with devocion reste the, and go to to (sic) thy bed restynge the ther unto the tyme that it be passed myd- nyght her than thou beginne thy ma- tyns, for thou shalt slepe no more of all day. This same rule shalt thou kepe from Estern unto the kalendes of No- vember, saaf that thou shalt slepe after mete afore the hour of noon. Loke also that thou be in bed after complyn by than the sonne goo to reste." In Lent. "The manner of thy slep- ynge in this tyme a fore mydnyght shall be lasse than in another tyme.' رو Eating what "with so many of pot- age of wortes, or of peses or of benys, or elles of formaged medled with myĺke or with oyle, to put away or avoyde the bitterness, and with o kynde of ffyshe, with apples or with herbes. And upon the Wednesday, Friday, and Sa- turday, to use but Lent metes. In Lente one maner of potage every day, bute sicknesse it make-every Friday brede and water. And the tyme of thy meles shall be every day at hye none and in Lente tyme after evensonge b A sick nun of Barking" at suche tyme as her sickness came entryd in to her oratorye, and sayde the seven psalmes and letanye." Golden Legend, fol. clxxxix. v. c Cabbage, Sax. All kinds of Pot-herbs. Junius. d Fromage, cheese, will naturally occur to mind, but firmity is no doubt meant. See Refectory. e Without. Sax. 378 CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. b from Estern to Whitsondye ontake a Rogacion days and With sone eve, thou shalt ete at midday and sithen at even- ing. This rule shall tow kepe al the somer tyme ontake c Wednesday and Friday, and other solempne vigils. Also thou maist and thou wilt, every fastynge day in the somer season, by cause thou hast noo merydian after noon, to slepe bitwene matyns and pryme. Thy vesture that thou shalt use ben these; a warme pylched for winter, and oo kirtel and oo cote for somer with a black habite above hem, and every either time ii stamyns f-also loke the veyle of thyne hed bee of noo precyouse clothe, but of a menes black, be also wel war that thou have no more than the nedith to hoson and to shoon, and of other thynge that longeth to thy feet." 66 Arraye thyn auter with white lyn- nen clothe, the whiche betokeneth both chastite and simplenesse. In this auter sette an image of christis passion, that thou may have mynde and se hou he sette and spredde his armes abrood to resceyve thee and al mankynde to mercy if thaie wil axe it. And if it plese the sette on that oo side an ymage of our Lady, and another on that other syde of Seint John, for commendacyon of more chastite, bothe of man and of woman; the which be ended in our Lady and seint John.i" An eminent Anchoret, whom Mat- thew Paris calls "holy and solitary,' On privativ. Sax. b Afterwards. "Outtake" is a true old English word. See Tyrwhitt's Glossary to Chaucer. d Pilch was a garment made of Skins; a furred one I suppose here. e A tunic or waistcoat, says Tyrwhitt, perhaps, in its common acceptation, a petticoat. Johnson and Steevens's Shakespeare, v. 510. ed. 2d. 8 Middle. f Woollen shifts. Fol. 186. i Ibid. Fuller (Waltham Abbey, 17,) has the following extract from Church-wardens' Accounts in 1554" Item, For Mary and John that stand in the Rood-loft 26s. 8d. Christ (John xix. 26. &c.) on the Cross saw his mother, and the Disciple whom he loved, standing by. In apish imitation whereof the Rood (when perfectly made with all the appur- tenances thereof) was attended with these two images." was Wulfric of Haselborough, a Priest in early life fond of hounds and hawks but converted by the information of : beggar, that he had money in his purse with which he was not acquainted. A first he was a humble friend at the table of the Lord of the Manor, where he w born. But panting for solitude, he re tired to Haselborough, where he passe his life in a cell, contiguous to t Church. Not content with a hair shir [but becoming one of the Loricati,] begged an old iron corslet of cha mail,k which from becoming thin, a last incumbered him, by falling to his knees, when he said his prayers. H used to say the Psalter, and immer himself in a tub of cold water, durin the time, at night, to subdue the flesh Strangers resorted to him, but he neve conversed with them, except with the windows closed. When he died, he was buried in his oratory at Haselbe rough. Anchorets were always sup- posed to hold direct intercourse wit Heaven, and converse familiarly with angels. For this reason even that in- sufferable coxcomb, Giraldus Cambre- sis, thought proper to visit an Anchore within his own Archdeaconry, in ordɛ: to take his opinion, upon relinquishing the court for a life of study, and have his blessing, because the Anchoret was full of the Holy Spirit. This Anchore had been to Jerusalem, and afterwards shut himself up in his prison. After mass, he called the Priest to his win- dow, to read the Gospel, and at th hour of refreshment, his servant brought him his meal to his window. In order to comprehend the missal, he learned Latin, but only to be understood, with- out attention to the grammar, tenses or cases, and always spoke in the infini tive mood; thus instead of saying (t render his words, in English) "I wen to Jerusalem and visited the Sepulchr Very religious persons for mortification wart an iron corslet next the skin, which they never took off. They were called Loricati. (Du Cange, in voce.) It was also presumed to prevent tempta tion by carnal weakness. Dugd. Monast. ii. 59. I M. Paris, 78, 79. m Du Cange, v. Festum Nativitatis S. Marie. CONSUETUDINAL OF ANCHORETS AND HERMITS. 379 "" f Christ," he said, "I to go to Jeru- alem and to visit the Holy Sepulchre.' However filled with the Holy Ghost, t appears, that some Cistercian Monks ad persuaded him not to put his hand hrough his window, and cure the blind, ame, and sick, who resorted to his cell, and that he was in doubt how to act, until Giraldus had advised him to exert is faculty of healing. Thus the ab- surdity of supposing, that the Holy Spirit was ever in doubt, was not un- derstood, even by Giraldus; who blindly acted from the superstition be- fore mentioned. There are strong distinctions made by Piers Plowman, in reference to the characters of Anchorets and Her- mits respectively. Of the former, he speaks well, And for the love of our Lorde, lyveden full harde, As Ankers and Hermits, that hold him in her sells, And coveten nought in contrey to carien aboute, For no liquerouse livelodeb her likam to please. A Church in Normandy being set on fire, two Anchoresses were burnt to death in it, because they thought that their cells were not to be deserted, even in such a necessity; but this opinion was not general. These Fe- male Anchorets, who were sometimes distinguished by the vulgar prefix of mother,d were not always steady. At a part of the Abbey of Whalley, Lanca- shire, near the gate, one Isold Heton, widow, who had petitioned Henry VI. to be admitted Anchoress there, after- wards went away disgusted; and it ap- pears that other anchoresses and re- cluses had done the same before, and that divers of their servauntes attendant had been gotten with child within the said place. The prohibition of loco- motion necessarily, as before noted, re- quired attendants in their service, but with respect to themselves, it is pre- scribed in the visitation of Edmunds- bury, "that the Monks do not hold frequent and familiar conversations with the Nuns near the Monastery, Fol. i. with recluse women, that so all ground of suspicion may be taken away."f At Bicknor, in Kent, is a shed, or hovel, called the rector's house, built against the North side of the Church, with a room projecting nearly across the aisle, and under the same roof.g This was, possibly, an anchor-hold; though very rare instances do occur, of such residences for incumbents. Abroad they were sometimes of elegant fashion. Agnellus says, "At the sides of the said Church, he sub- joined little Monasteries, all which were ornamented with gilt tessellæ, and the name of Maximianus carved upon the tops of the pillars, together with lithostratick, tesselated, or Mosaick work, in the Monastery, forming words. It was the style of Roman pavements.h Anchorages were situated in Churches, Church-yards, over the Church porch, and at Town gates. They had often Chapels annexed.i Anchorets were denominated "Sir," as "Sir Thomas the Anchorite," in Taylor's Index Monasticus, p. 65. HERMITS. Godrick of Finchale was a Hermit of high note in his day. He learned the Psalter by heart, and lived in a cottage, excavated out of the ground, Angl. Sacr. ii. 497. 498. Hic Heremita sacer non parvo tempore vixit Sæpius Angelicis felix affatibus usus. Alcuin. de Pontif. Ebor. v. 662. This is explained further on. Angl. Sacr. i. 262. d Ballard's Ladies, p. 1. Weever's Funer. Monum. 154, 5. ed. fol. and covered with turf. To it was an- nexed an oratory, which had not only a crucifix, but an image and altar of f Interdicimus et monachis frequentia et fami- liaria colloquia cum monialibus huic monasterio vicinis, cum mulieribus reclusis, ut ita tollatur omnis materia suspicionis. MS. Cott. Jul. D. ii. f. 139. a. Hasted's Kent, v. 568. h Du Cange, v. Lithostrate Literæ. Taylor's Index Monasticus, p. 65. 380 HERMITS. the Virgin Mary, as well as another altar of John the Baptist, possibly from the eremitical character of that saint. He lay at night upon the ground, his pillow being a stone, which served him also for a table. Being deter- mined to live by manual labour only, for which purpose he cultivated a piece of ground, he refused all presents, and provisions, which were offered to him. He reduced the branches and roots of herbs to ashes, which he mixed with barley flour in such proportion, that the ashes contained a third part. As he abstained often for six whole days without food, and never ate without the most urgent necessity, famine re- conciled him to this coarse diet; nor did he drink any thing, but a very small quantity of water, which he took only when urged by thirst. In the Winter, often during the whole night, he immerged himself naked in a frozen river, up to his neck, and there said prayers and psalms. This usual pro- cess, for subduing carnal appetites, was called offering himself a living victim to the Lord. At times, he sat in his oratory, ruminating upon the Psalter; and upon holidays or other great days, a Priest or Monk attended to say Mass to him in that Oratory. He wore a hair-shirt, and an iron corslet for fifty years. He never occupied a bed, but lay naked in his hair shirt. Like all other Anchorets and Hermits he was presumed to have frequent intercourse with the inhabitants of the celestial world.a It was usual with Hermits to say the Psalter every day,b and they were fa- vourite Confessors. Don Quixote makes them the especial, perhaps only Confessors of Knights Errant. In the romance of the Nouveau Renard, writ- ten in the 13th century, Renard goes to confess to a Hermit, who tells him, if he turns to that profession, he must walk bare-footed, wear a hair shirt, and live upon water and roots, though barley-bread and water was a common a M. Paris, 97-99. • Notices des MSS. v. 622. b Id. 284. food. To this there were excepti In the "Enseignmens of the Cheva de la Tour Lundri,” a MS. of the \ century, we hear of a Hermit who. cepted hospitality and lodging free female.e In the "Acta Sanctorum" it is a that they invited William the He to dinner, and placed before him M caroons, a kind of delicate sweetne To this good fare, from hospit Piers Plowman alludes by the we "lyqerouse livelihoode" before quo and additionally illustrated further It was generally thought, that t had the power, from sanctity, of cur diseases, and working miracles. Ed. III. Thomas Lord Berkeley for ed an Hermitage at Bedminster, Bristol, and placed one John Mark therein for life, so that Hermit passed under the advowson for Unlike other religious, they could p sess property, and make a will. T commonly followed trades or occup tions. Bilfrid, an Anglo-Saxon A choret, was an excellent goldsmith. . I worked at that trade.k It was of usual for Bishops, or Abbots, to re and end their days as Hermits. E nent Hermits sometimes drew fen Anchorets around them. Roger. Monk of St. Alban's, lived, as a He mit, in obedience to his Abbot; ur whom was one Christina, as an A- choress, in a cell, contiguous to oratory. He never saw her face, £ she was so concealed by boarded trivances, as to be invisible to a person, externally; and instead of door, was a hard trunk of wood, whic was too heavy to be moved by b She lay upon the cold stone, condem ed to sit immovably, be tortured, 2 remain in silence, nor had any mea of summoning Roger to her, but! the voice and knocking; and this sh d Gemeticensis, 622. f Du Cange, v. Maccarones. • Notices, v. 18. 8 P. de Comines, B. vi. c. 8. Gold. Leg.c M. Paris, 98, &c. b Smythe's Berkeley MS. f. 357. Lyndw. 167. * X Script. 22. 1 M. Paris, 993. Angl. Sacr. &c. &c. HERMITS. 381 s afraid to do, even to sigh, lest any e besides Roger should be present, 1 discover her retreat, which she aded more than death; nor except the evening "exire foras, non nisi o licebat ad ea quæ natura poposcit."a she was a famous embroideress, possibly she amused herself in that employ. Whatever might be the estimation in which particular Hermits were held, many of them were worthless rogues and vagabonds. Piers Plowman, though he speaks well of Anchorets, thus de- scribes Hermits: In habyte as an Hermit unholie of workes. Hermets on a heape with hoked staves b Wenten to Walsingham and her wenches after, Great loubeis and longe that loth were to swynke, Clothed hem in copes to be knowen from other And shopen hem hermits her ease to have. To understand this, it is fit to note, at Lob, Lubber, Looby, and Lobcock, ys Steevens, all denoted inactivity of dy and dulness of mind: and swinke labour. As to the copes, the cos- me of Hermits is a long gown with hood covering the whole body, with m-holes, a tunick, and rosary: beard ery long, but their dress was often gged. "Or clothed in some hermit's ragged reed," ys George Fletcher.d To this add a ope for a girdle, a hair-shirt, and what as peculiarly affected, a Knight's iron. orslet.e Langland, the author of 'iers Plowman, is well supported by ther authorities. "The Hermit of Dursley was awarded at the court of he Manor of Ham, 8 Henry VIII. ind manu (a form of arraignment I believe belonging to the Clergy,f) with wo hands, to prove, that the horse which had thither strayed, and there been taken up, was not thiefe-stolen by him, but his own proper goods.g❞ Their presumed sanctity was not al- a Dugd. Monast. i. 350. seq. Bearded Hermits' staves; Shakespeare, 2 Hen. IV. Act 5. Scene i. In the frontispiece of MS. Bodl. 3010, is a Monk, with a staff, topped by a cross botonnée; but the wood-cuts of the Legend have no staff at all, in the costumes of Hermits. e Cuts in the Golden Legend, fol. xliv. ccxlix. d Christ's Triumph, &c. st. lxii. e Dugd. Monast. ii. 59. See note of the Lori- cati, p. 378. f I think I have seen such a form in the State Trials. Smythe's Berkeley Hernesse MS. fol. 179. Fol. i. Fol. i. b. ways a protection to them, probably from frequent bad character. We hear of one Edwin a Hermit, who made a turning bridge over a ditch, round his Hermitage; and also had begun an outer ditch in a marsh, against the shepherds, who wished to burn down his dwelling; but the men of Saltrey hindering him and driving him away, he could not secure himself till the Lord permitted him to make the outer ditch pro numine suo. One William de Swinderby, a fanatical itinerant preacher, being nearly stoned by the women, for preaching against their dress, finding his concionations of no avail, turned Hermit, and was main- tained by the charity of John of Gaunt, but had no resolution to persist in his profession, though the devotees of Leicester gratuitously offered him vic- tuals.i Hermitages. Interesting remains of these are still exhibited in the County of Worcester, and are ranges of ca- verns. They were sometimes very sanctified spots. That year, says Cer- vantes, the Heavens had withheld re- freshing showers from the earth; and through all the villages of that district, the people instituted processions, dis- ciplines, and prayers; for this purpose the inhabitants of a neighbouring vil- lage were then going in procession, to a holy hermitage, built on an emi- h Dugd. Monast. i. 852. 1 Decem Scriptores, col. 2666. Engraved in Nash's Worcestershire, 382 HERMITAGES. The nence, that skirted the valley. Hermits of the time of Gregory Na- zianzen lived on bread and water in caves, and wore garments of skin and hair. Fiacre, the eminent hermit, seeking a place "to lede hys lyfe here- myticke and solitarily," begged for that purpose "a lytill place within a wood "c and" ferre fro abydinge of ony folk," where he "founded a chyrche," and "beyonde it a lytill way thens he bylded a lytil hous wherin he dwelled, and there herberowedde the pour that passed by;" but these visitors becom- ing very numerous, in order to be healed of diseases, and have his prayers and advice, he found that " of nedes he muste make hys habtacyon or hows- yng more specious and gretter, than hyt was. And thought to hym good and necessary to make a grete gardyne wheryn he sholde have alle manere of herbes good for to make potage wyth for to fede the poure, whan they shold retourne towarde hym."d Not far from hence, says the student in Don Quixote,e is an hermitage, where lives an Anchorite, who is said to have been a soldier.-Adjoining to the Hermitage is a little house, built by the labour of his own hands, which though narrow is large enough to re- ceive travellers. "Can that same Her- mitage produce any poultry?" said Sancho. "There are few Hermitages destitute of that provision," answered the Knight, "for the Anchorites of these days are not like those who dwelt in the deserts of Egypt, clothing them- selves with palm-leaves, and subsist- ing on the roots of the earth. Accord- ingly they called at the Hermitage for some of the best wine, but were an- swered by the Under-hermit, his mas- Don Quixote, ii. 284. b Du Cange, v. Anachoreta. Drayton (Battle of Agincourt) describes the blazon of the Stafford men to be a Hermit in his homely suit, because many hermits formerly lived there, it being all foresty. d Golden Leg. fol. cclxix. P. ii. b. 2. c. 7. We hear of an Irish Anchoret of the 17th Century, who had Proctors, as they were called, who went about the country begging corn, geese, turkies, &c. for the "Holy Man of the Stone." Collect. Reb. Hybern. No. i. p. 64. ter not being at home, that they ha no wine, but were welcome to water. Hermitages were common at the en of bridges, in Churchyards, and in th Gates of towns, and in Chapels.g Hence it appears, that the various Hermitages, which we find so room! were for the above hospitable purposes: a common Hermitage being a mere ce and chapel. The Hermitage of Wark worth, a most elegant cavern hew out of a rock, is one of the sweetes and most picturesque secessions in the whole world. At Tottenham, the He mitage was, I believe, a house, with apartments, unless these were modern. The Hermitage of S. Briavel was chantry of two Monks, and had de mesne lands, upon which corn w grown for their support. Hermis were in the habit of assarting woo lands by their own labour; and four- ders of Churches exempted such lands from tythes, at least in some instances. Some were either actual farms or mad such. "Tradidimus ad firmum Her mitagium quod vocatur Hemeryes chirche in parva Pakintona." Gar dens were indeed common appendages." A sequestered situation was an esser tial characteristick, for we are told. that Chetwood in Buckinghamshir was called a Hermitage purely upo account of its solitude, though 1 Hermit ever occupied the spot." Miscellaneous. An Anglo-Saxo charter says, "The venerable Father of the Monastery Saxulf having Monks lovers of Anchoretical Life, has su gested to me, that he wished to found an Abbey in the adjacent desert, with Hermit's cells, that the Coenobites mar live as Anchorets or Monks at option." In the Hospital of St. Bartholomer at Gloucester, there was always on Priest in the habit of a Hermit prè siding as Governor.P Perhaps, because he had a lay office, united to the clerical. Taylor's Index Monastic. pp. 65, 66. h Lysons's Environs, iii. 540. n Dugd. Monast. i. 927. Angl. Sacr. i. 527. Dugd. Monast. ii. 339. P Id. ii. 456. * Id. ii. 990. m M. Paris, 993, • Id. i. 64. CONTINENTES-VOWS OF CHASTITY. 383 CONTINENTES-VOWS OF CHASTITY. The term Continentes, though in one sense the mere Latin Appellation of the Greek Asceticks, yet applied to Persons who, upon a demi-monastick principle, took Vows of Chastity.a There were various classes of these persons. Honorius pretends, that Dinah daugh- ter of Jacob was the first before the law, with whom the custom began: Judith and others followed under the law; Anna, &c. under the Gospel.b Infants made the vow at seven years old, as did Virgins, even girls, after which the Parents could not force them to marryd because they were deemed already affianced to God. Christ is pretended to have affianced Catharine in this manner, putting a ring on her finger, &c.e Erasmus makes a Nun say, "I am married to one, who, when he sees me, may not chuse to have me," in allusion to the custom of affiancing before ma- trimony, to which all the preceding matters have a relation; as appears from various passages in Tertullian, and Isidore, as cited by Rosinus. The term Continentes also applied to 1. Women, who lived in Monasteries with Nuns. 2. Tertiaries of St. Francis. 3. Women who sung psalms at the celebration of funerals.f The following were distinguished by name. Holy or consecrated widows or Pries- a Du Cange, v. Continentes. b Id. v. Vidua. Id. v. Castimonium, Castimoniales. d Notices des MSS. iv. 186. • Golden Legend, ccxxv. There was anciently among the classical Ancients and ourselves, a ce- remony called affiancing, betrothing, espousals, &c. forming a contract of marriage, which might not take place for years afterwards. Mr. Smythe says (Berkeley MS.) that it was usual at 6 or 7 years old among the Nobility, as well as very early subsequent union, to prevent imprudent connec- tions by falling in love. Mr. Douce's account of it (i. 108 seq.) may be preceded by the long de- scription of the Roman Sponsalia in Rosinus, Antiquit. Roman. p. 444, upon which the custom was founded. Du Cange, v. Continentes. tesses. Similar orders existed among the Heathens. Tertullian (inter alia) says, "We know that widows are oc- cupied in the service of the African Ceres, who are weaned from matrimony by the most severe oblivion. Calvin says, widows serving the Church, con- fined themselves to celibacy, not that they thought there was any thing reli- gious in it, as it was afterwards held; but, because if not their own mistresses, and entangled with the marriage yoke, they could not perform the office. the earlier ages of the Church, the wives of Priests or Deacons, married before the latter were ordained, used to preserve the connection in a sisterly form, and perform the duties of the ancient Deaconesses. They were called Presbyteræ or Priestesses, which term. was also applied to the elder widows, who attended to Church duties. They used a far more modest habit than other women. Otto Vercellensis says, In as those who were called Priestesses took the office of preaching, ordering, or teaching; so the Deaconesses took the office of ministering, or baptizing, which now is by no means expedient.i These widows lived often in almshouses near the Church,k whence now old females in many towns. Conversa, or Penitent Prostitutes, after the manner of Mary Magdalene, took the habit of widows, and in the Greek Empire lived in Penitentiaries on purpose. Pyrocare. In the 13th century ap- peared in Italy, women called Pyrocare, similar to the Beghins of France, who made vows of chastity, and were or- dered to be loaded with prayers and fasts, because some of them had broken their vows by marriage.m Convert Husbands and Wives. Epi- phanius and other fathers mention hus- g Du Cange, p. 185. Ed. Rigalt. h Instit. Theolog. p. 455. i Du Cange, v. Presbyteræ. k Id. v. Matricularia. Du Cange, v. Pyrocaræ. 1 Id. v. Conversæ. www. 384 CONTINENTES-VOWS OF CHASTITY. bands who lived apart from their wives, and wives from their husbands. These Vows were taken from Mary and Jo- seph, and held sacred long after the dissolution of abbeys. Among us men and their wives took them when growing old;d and certain hospitals required these vows before admission.e The most common vow was, however, that of widowers and widows to observe chastity in honour of their deceased wives or husbands. These widows were called Viduæ pullata (from the habit), or as they may be termed Mourn- ing Widows. Mourning Widows. These vows among us are very ancient. Gildas mentions Cuneglass's wife's sister, a widow who had made a vow of chastity.g The Anglo-Saxon women also made them, and the women wore a ring and russet gown.h The Bishop of the Diocese issued a commission; and be- sides observing the vow, the widow was for life to wear a veil, and a mourn- ing habit. Both were duly conse- crated. The veil was put on by the Priest; but the ring only was suffi- cient, whether they took the veil or habit or not.k The following is the literal transla- tion of the ceremonial of making a vow of this kind, by a widow:1 13 March, 1393. Lady Blanch, re- lict of Sir Nicholas Styvecle, Knt. al- ledging that she was a parishioner of John, Lord Bishop of Ely, humbly supplicated the said Bishop, that he would think worthy to accept her vow of chastity, and from consideration of regard, confer upon her the mantle and Du Cange, v. Continentes. b Le Voeu de Jacob, iv. 176. e Wilkins's Concilia, iii. 846. Henry's Gr. Brit. iii. 398. d M. Paris, 950. e Dugd. Monast. ii. 377, 390. f Du Cange, v. Vidua. 8 XV Scriptor. p. 11. h M. Paris, 707. X Scriptor. 1906. i Dugdale's Warwickshire, 1013, et alii. k M. Paris, 398. 1 From Gough's Sepulchr. Monum. v. i. p. 171. In MS. Cott. Tiber. b. viii. is the Benedictio Vestis Viduarum, f. 145; and f. 146, the Benedic- tio Viduarum, and then " Post hæc ponas pallium super caput ejus, et dicas, Accipe, Vidua, Pal- lium," &c. ring, &c.; and afterwards the said Lad Blanch in the chapelm of the Manor of Dodyngton, in the Diocese of Ely, be- fore the high altar, in the presence c the said reverend father, then and ther solemnly celebrating Mass, made so lemnly her vow of chastity as follows in these words: "I, Blanch, heretofore wife of Si Nicholas de Styvecle, Knt. vow to God, and our holy Lady Saint Mary. and all Saints, in presence of our Re- verend Father in God, John, by the grace of God, Bishop of Ely, that I will be chaste from henceforth during my life." And the said Reverend Father received her vow, and solemnly consecrated and put upon the said Vowess the mantle and ring in the presence of, &c.-One of the witnesses is a Notary Public. The Veil occurs in foreign councils. In some ancient constitutions, the widows, if they became unchaste, were fined in money, and thrust into a Mo- nastery. The mendicant orders are bitterly reproached by Wickliffa for inducing women to make vows of chas- tity. In the Secreta Monita of the Jesuits, there are three chapters which throw considerable light upon these vows of chastity, and the tirade of Wickliff. The title of the sixth chapter is of the proper methods for inducing rich widows to be liberal to our Society. Such members of the Society were only to be chosen for this purpose, as were of a lively complexion and agreeable conversation. They were to display the advantages of a single life; and the confessor to worm himself into the widow's confidence, so that she should do nothing without his advice. She must be exhorted to the frequent use and celebration of the m In some councils the ceremony was to be per. formed in the Sacristy. Du Cange, v. Vidua. n Vowess. Leland mentions the habit of a Vow- ess, i. e. Nun; as Votarist in Comus (1. 189) in Palmer's weed, is a Pilgrim. Mr. Nichols. P 1d. v. Wera, • Du Cange, v. Pallium. See Ch. of Friars. T vi. vii. xvi. CONTINENTES-VOWS OF CHASTITY. 385 sacraments, but especially that of pen- ance, because in that she freely makes a discovery of her most secret thoughts, and every temptation. Having weaned her from matrimony, it will then be time to recommend to her a spiritual life, but not a recluse one, the incon- veniences of which must be magnified to her, but such a one as Paula's or Eustochius's, &c.; and let the con- fessor, having as soon as possible and without offence, whatever pleasure they have an inclination to.d If they secretly steal into the garden or college, seem as if you knew it not, and allow them the liberty of conver- sation and private diversions with. those whose company is most agree- able to them.e Let widows and others who have given us almost all they possessed, though then they are on an equal foot- prevailed upon her to make a Vowing with others, be treated with much of Chastity, for two or three years at least, take due care to oppose all tendencies to a second marriage; and then all conversation with men, and diversion even with her near rela- tives and kinsfolk, must be forbidden her, under pretence of entering into a stricter union with God.b If they have made a Vow of Chastity, let them, according to our custom, renew it twice a year; and let the day upon which this is done, be set apart for innocent recreation with the members of the society.c Let them be frequently visited, and entertained in an agreeable manner. If widows prove faithful and liberal to the Society, allow them in moderation, a * P. 41. b Pp. 44, 45. c < P. 47. more rigour, lest people should ima- gine that the greater indulgence of others proceeds from our hopes of se- cular advantages.f Erasmus mentions a widow, who, by the will of her husband, because she refused to become a Nun, was compelled to wear the robe of a Beguin, a middle order between Nuns and Lay- women, who lived by manual labour, and were so denominated from the head-dress, called Beguin. A twelfth part of her husband's fortune was de- vised to her, upon half of which she was to live, the other half going to the religious house to which she should belong.g d P. 49. e P. 51. f P. 117. Funus. Colloq. 452, 453. Of Beghins, see chap. Modern Monachism before, p. 298. 2 c SELECT POEMS, (IN VARIOUS STYLES) BY THE REV. T. FOSBROKE. 1. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE • 2. TRIUMPH OF VENGEANCE; AN ODE Spenser. Gray. Gray and Collins. 3. THE RED MAN; OR, THE ADDRESS OF BUONAPARTE'S FAMILIAR DEMON; AN ODE 4. PARODY ON COLLINS'S ODE TO THE PASSIONS. 5. ON A LADY BATHING • 6. EPITAPH · The Italian Concetto. The German Manner. 2 c 2 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. PART THE FIRST. WHAT, though our way unfeeling Fate denies Where Plato throng'd the academic grove? That not for us, a mountain ruin lies The mighty dome of Capitolian Jove, Where bony Gauls for Latian laurels strove; "Though we but know from antiquarian tale That plain, a youth exulting chanced to rove, Charm'd with the Doric fanes, the fragrant gale, And verdant sky of land in Pæstum's vale.a Yet we have eyed with awe the stony heap, Where solemn Druids hymn'd unwritten rhyme; The hills of green turf, where old heroes sleep; And towers the Norman liege-lord rear'd sublime, Whose builders fondly smiled contempt at time: Much we have loved o'er fallen fanes to stray, What time we hear the sheep-bell's distant chime, The beetle's drowsy horn, and that sweet lay With which Night's solemn bird proclaims the close of day. Now we stray here, for yonder arch hung high Displays, in pride of picture greatly fine, Nature's night-magick to the wondering eye; The meek Moon blends her light and shade divine; A robe, on plates of silver foil where shine Rich knots of spangles, covers yonder mound, Its Vinca blued and prickly Eglantine; No flower that grows that beauteous place around, But has its painted head with flame innocuous crown'd. The ruins of Pæstum, the classical "rosaria Pæsti," dewy meadows, containing several Doric temples, were accidentally discovered by a painter's apprentice. Stonehenge. Mr. Davies and Mr. Maurice, upon the authority of Diodorus's round Temple of Apollo [or Bel the Sun, &c.] in Britain, seem to have discovered its real appropriation. The ap- pellation Chorea Gigantum explains its rude con- struction, as being of the Cyclopean Architecture, termed the "work of Giants." • Netley Abbey. d Periwinkle. 390 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC Life. This arch, more picture thus, the tall ash a shades, On whose lank arms, the Autumn's early spoil,b The hallow'd misletoe a green wreath braids; c Admitted we revere a long-drawn aile, The Church conventual of a ruin'd pile; Brackets of plaistered faces, posterns low, And mouldings richly wrought by fretter's toil, And windows, erst where robed in gorgeous show Of Jesse's honour'd race were ranged a tinted row.d Time's palsied hand a ragged outline leaves; In every rift, (for he is wont to fling The berry there) sequacious ivy weaves A nappy frieze to hide unsightly thing, The ill-faced owl, and bat with devil's wing: Beneath the walls in safeguard fence is spread The evil race of weeds that quickly spring, The tetchy nettle with its venom dread, And arm'd like porcupine, the thistle's threatening head. Thus wicked Time, with his scythe-weapon'd hand, Has 'reft the fane of its antique array; I would, we could suspend his rash command, And take the surly dotard's scythe away, More mischievous than wayward infant's play; Thou, hated History, shalt pen the strain, For thou canst hold him by his forelock gray, And stay his wonted hurry, to explain What ancient glories deck'd the desolated fane. In days of old, near Egypt's slimy land, Their feathery leaves where nesh Acacias spread, Leaving the haunts of man, a mournful band By Providence and friendly midnight led, From chase of shouting Persecution fled; e Of branches lithe their wattled walls they knit, Of moss and ivy made their evening bed, And on the green banks at their doors would sit, Hymning grave canticles, or conning holy writ. Like birds, unprison'd from a darkling grove, That the bright eye of prowling hawk beguiled, The godly race rejoiced at ease to rove; Some rear'd thatch'd chapels, that on hillocks smiled O'er bushy tufts, and tamed a region wild; Some, by a martyr's grave, with busy spade a Fraxinus excelsior, Linn. The leaves of the ash are the latest which ap- pear in Spring, and the first which fall in Autumn. c See Brown's Vulgar Errors, b. 2, c. 6. d A favourite subject for painted glass, &c Warton, v. i. p. 210. Gostling's Canterbury Walk, So Bishop Tanner, &c. but others deny it. 323. Ed. 2. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 391 A small room scoop'd beneath the greensward mild; An uncouth cross upon the round roof laid, And of the plot anear a cultured garden made.a Some, where a ring of rugged stones was laid, Like statues, on a pillar's tow'ring height, With knees, which Faith had chang'd to marble, pray'd; Their hoar trees dripp'd with harmless dews of night, Their fix'd eyes gazed unhurt meridian light; -As when Jove's eagle condescends to play, His plumes he ruffles, droops his winged might, Fronts his full eye to the attacking ray, And dares the burning power of Him, the Lord of Day. Some hermits were, who dwell'd within a rock Hollow, indented in a sloping ground, Above, an ancient tree's inclining stock Spread branchy arms, that shaded all around, Its crooked roots for beams the loose roof bound; Before the entrance rude, a gentle stream Adown the vale its serpent courses wound, Seen here and there through breaks of trees to gleam, Gilding their dancing boughs with Noon's reflected beam. From oozy pores within, depended down Congealing stalactites in whiteness pale, Those mosses interwove their fibrils brown, Where slimy slug and house-upbearing snail Their tardy way in glossy streamlets trail; Fearful of day, along the midnight walls The armed beetle shone in sable mail, And insect hammer'd loud,b that much appalls The rest of beldame old, who this the death-watch calls. Aged the sires, who dwell'd such caves within, Head-shaking sages, prone to moralize, And him disciple, who there made his inn; Their cheeks were hollow, slender was their size, And ever on the ground they bent their eyes; " One book they had, the book of holy lore, Against the wall a cross stood leaning-wise, A table small a scull and cross-bones bore, And bosky ivy hid the bell above the door. In days when such was virtue, where a wood Edges a green knoll, and a wide stream flows, Where he that woos the Moon, the vassal flood His march announcing, oft to greet her goes,d a Plantet, inserat, riget, aquas ferat, cæteraque Monachorum faciat opera, &c. Lopez's Epit. ut V. 2, pp. 393, 402. sup Ptinus fatidicus, Linn.; engraved in Shaw's Naturalist's Miscell. v. iii. pl. 104. • This Benedict prescribed to his monks. Reg. C. 7. Specimen Monachologiæ, p. 14. d The Southampton Estuary. 392 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. From royal boon, a holy mansion rose a With spires and great tow'r, topp'd with gilded vane, That emblem meet of man inconstant shows; The far-off seaman knew where stood the fane By shades, that laid at length their huge limbs o'er the main. Thence Vecta's b nymph "who checks the westring tide" With a sleek sister-lady, Ocean's queen, Is seen in state along the main to ride; Before the team of dolphins yoked is seen The Triton Herald, with his tresses green; While all the region-nymphs their lyres employ, In pairs parading o'er the marge serene, To where Southampton's youths and daughters coy Uncoil the tangled dance to tipsy tones of joy. On adverse shores, where dark woods brow the strand, And boat of fisherman floats tilting by, The massy outworks of beak'd Calshot stand, Breasting the noisy waves, that quarrel nigh; Work of that King,d where awe was wont descry Lust's putrid eye-ball, Pride's oppressing stare, Hatred's black frown, Ambition's bosom high Musing sublimely-wicked deeds of dare- Ah! never Pity's dove was seen to nestle there! * In middle front the gate-house high was rear'd; An arch beneath o'erhung an entrance wide; Within through cloisters dim the rare light peer'd; The Church conventual fill'd one stately side, Boasting its window train in mitred pride; The eaves were hid by an embattell'd screen; The vacant court was simply beautified, All Nature's melody of colour, green, Had it not here and there with daisies powder'd been. Just as a giant guards, with ample stride, A conquer'd brother underneath him flung, On straddling arches, in its sturdy pride Stood the great tow'r--there the loud bells were hung, Each under each, with graduated tongue, Supreme lords of a boundless world of tone; The great bell shone its meaner peers among In portly pride, and its high rank was known By learned scroll, inscribed around its ample zone. Netley Abbey, founded by Henry III.; where however the King only joined in a founda- tion. he was considered as sole founder. See something similar to this of royal rights in reli- gious foundations in Dean Pierce (of Sarum) 1683. Vindication of the King's Sovereign Rights, pp. 6, 7. b Isle of Wight. • New Forest. d Calshot Castle, built by Henry VIII. e Imitated from Collins's sweet line, " Nor ever vernal bee was heard to murmur there," a thought which he took from Euripides, “ Μελισσα λειμών, &c. Hippol. Barnes's Edit. p. 220, v. 36. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 393 Methinks I listen, at what horrid time Fork'd lightnings cleft the tented sky in twain, Together when these madding bells 'gan chime, When pealing organs stunn'd the vaulted fane, Mix'd with a gabbling wild discordant strain Of fathers hurrying fast the bead-roll a round, When wild hail pelted on the painted pane, When thunder roar'd along the blue profound, And all was one strange grand bewildering war of sound.b From other tower, upon whose vane the bird Of pertness would his dusky plumage preen, A stately horologe was hourly heard, c At prime it waked the hinds, at eve serene It timed their gossip on the village green; To the tow'r corners pinnacles were join'd, Of work that let the blue sky peep between, With numerous mouldings all about entwined, Fretted in waves, like lakes just ruffled by the wind. Within the Church, each side the door of wires,e Were blessed Saints, that stood in rows along,f And stalls, that upwards shot their many spires, Lamps, pendent from a vaulting, light yet strong With groins, bright fields of heraldry among; A Choir of gilded tubes, whose voices deep With storms of musick swell'd the ritual song; Hangings that shook in undulating sweep; Tassels that flamed like suns, and cushions "soft as sleep." g Aloft the silken gonfalons were rear'd, That led to Palestine the bold Crusade, Hard by some blade, that much by Paynim fear'd Enchanter Merlin's liveried spirits made; h The bearded Martyr in scoop'd niche display'd The lifted cross and brow to Heaven upraised; On high install'd beneath a sculptured shade, The Patron-Saint's enamell'd image blazed, For wonder-working deeds and healing virtue praised. Along a tomb, which painted sculpture dress'd, Arm'd as for tourney, the Knight-warrior lay, His crossing legs a couching lion press'd, A helmet was his head's supporting stay, His limbs were mail'd in battalious array, A plaited gorget girt his shoulders wide,i "The King's enemies were curst by name in the bead-roll at Paul's." Bacon's Hist. H. VII. p. 72. This ceremony was supposed to repel evil spirits; see more upon this subject in Hospin. de Orig. Templ. 1. 4, c. 9, de consec. campan. e Abbey Orloge. d Tabernacle or open work. • Choir doors latticed. Old prints. f In niches in the screen. Id. Theocr. Id. 14, v. 125. Spens. F. Q. b. 3. c. 4, st. 59. Tomb of the Black Prince at Canterbury. 394 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. His belt was studded thick with bosses gay, The sword appendant kiss'd his stony side, Of rich work were his spurs, the knight's distinguish'd pride. Long ailes of arches sharp and pillars fine, A pomp of fretted pinnacles upbore, To form the Founder-Saint's superior shrine; Like canopy the prostrate image wore, A model of the fane its breast before One hand sustain'd; in scrawls and figures quaint, And letters black, that legendary lore, Monks loved to tattle of their valued Saint, They not forgot along the neighb'ring wall to paint. On the high cross a bleeding Christ was raised, Of iv'ry wrought; from types of diamonds bright Inlaid in gold, a sparkling "INRI" blazed; From every gem a drop of twinkling light Shot hues of rainbows on the dazzled sight; Like glitter on the reliquary play'd, Imbost with sculptures of that heav'nly fight, When fell a show'r of Hosts in arms array'd Through Chaos, and his realm of anarchy dismay'd. Beneath the eastern window's pictured pane, A canopy of fretted stone was spread, Pavilioning an altar's marble plain; Each corner rested on an Angel's head, Within lay relicks of the sainted dead; Two giant torches blazed perennial fires, A smoke of odours from the censer fled, The pall, that gorgeous Altar's proud attire, A crimson noon-day glared around the colour'd choir. How changed that choir, when cease of noble breath Was thunder'd by the great bell's sullen tongue, And train conventual did the rites of death; The holy walls in feral black were hung, A dim relief the painted scutcheons flung, A vista reach'd down to the doorway wide Of lights, lamps hung the colour'd stalls among, Yet darkness reign'd, but in its starry pride, Its gloomy majesty attemper'd, dignified. At the Choir end, the Altar high before, A hearse uprear'd its melancholy mien,a Its fringes flounced a pomp of scutcheons bore, At here and there, a painted flag was seen;b Where now the nodding of a plume had been, Like that sweet tree of sorrow, wont to grow A fabric reared in the church. b See the account of the funeral of John Gaunt in Dugd. St. Paul's, p. 23. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 395 Forlorn, upon some river's margin green, And weeping, o'er the hurrying waves to throw The graces of its branch, in elegance of woe. By sinner rear'd for wrongful deed of yore, To the side Chantry, a low postern led; Shrouded in such attire as beadsmen wore, In its dark house was laid the founder dead, A row of tapers a bright lustre shed, The name and race armorial ensigns told, Around the bier a sable pall was spread, A bright fringe guarded every curling fold, With threads, in warrior files with glittering spears of gold. About the roof a maze of mouldings slim, Like veins that o'er the hand of lady wind, Embraced in closing arms the key-stone trim, With hieroglyphs and cyphers quaint combined, The riddling art that charm'd the Gothic mind; To form the floor, a scroll-depicted train Of glossy tiles, one seemly order join'd; Deep in the wall, as far as arm could strain, An iron lattice mesh'd a richly tinted pane. Beneath that window, flowery arbours lay Their arms abroadwhere harlot woodbines flung, And shameless woo'd the winds with them to play; In allies strait, espaliers prim among, The rough-skinn'd pear and glossy apple hung; On the carved rood, that filled the central place, Stood hoary saints and angels "ever young ;" Herbs of ill savour filled the vacant space, With thyme, and balm, and rue, a plant renown'd for grace. An adverse window, shaded by a tree, Betray'd the school-house, with its little fry Buzzing, as if a civil polity Of bees were wont there to and fro to fly, And diverse trades within their straw shops ply; More pleasing sounds, when to the chaunted rite Of holy church, they wound their voices high, Soft was the winged musick's downy flight, And Echo silent was from exquisite delight. There too, before the monkish cowl was worn, Two hoary Pedagogues a tyrannic reign (Soon as his youthful locks were closely shorn) Tutor'd the Novice to a life of pain, Harsh as of maids, whom aunts unmarried train Deceiver man at distance meet to hold; When of the bright-hair'd monarch's fiery wain One journey through the pictured signs was told, In list of Monks profess'd that Novice was inroll❜d. The masters of the novices were to be old men. Lynd. Oxf. ed. p. 144. 396 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. He, on such day, in a sequester'd cell, On all the hierarchies of Heaven would call, To witness that he bade the world farewell; Ere long the Prior fill'd his fretted stall, And hooded many lined the Chapter wall, Ere long the sound of coming feet they hear'd, A gentle buz began of murmurs small, Against the door a trembling form appear'd, Whose pale looks mark'd how much the solemn scene he fear'd. Slowly he moved with head upon his breast, And bent his knee the Prior's throne before; His hands were by the trembling Prior prest: All silent gazed, the book of holy lore In solemn step the grave Precentor bore. A due pause made to aid his fault'ring tongue, A triple piety of vows a he swore, His lips thrice on the quiv'ring volume hung, And thrice a loud Amen along the arches rung. Then two and two they march'd, and loud bells toll'd, One from a sprinkleb holy water flung, This bore the relicks in a chest of gold, On arm of that the swinging censer hung, Another loud a tinkling handbell rung, Four fathers went that ringing Monk behind, Who suited psalms of holy David sung, Then o'er the cross a stalking sire inclined; And banners of the church went waving in the wind.c Next, while the fane with unwont splendour blazed Against the lighted altar's velvet plain,d Behold him kneel, his hands to Heaven upraised; Visions of glory burst upon his brain, Jesu's meek form, and the immortal train Of white-robed Saints a bright procession hold, Ambrosial dews in misty fragrance rain, And woven light from Seraph skirts unroll'd Gleams on their sattin plumes of pure white dropt with gold. Louder and louder swells the choral song, The mighty sounds a grander dream inspire, The holy hosts around the Altar throng, In sudden extacy the Seraph quire With God's own Antiphonar strike the wire; Dark clouds upon the burning glory rest, And light excessive vaults the fane with fire; He joins the bright assemblage of the blest, And glides with them away, a Heaven-admitted guest. • Poverty, constancy, and obedience. Holy-water sprinkle. • Besides these there were the ceroferarii or can- dlestick-bearers, the deacon reading the gospel, &c. d Highly illuminated on festivals and great occa- sions. Monast. v. 3. Ecc. Cath. p. 241. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 397 PART THE SECOND. With clouted shoon at tiptoe peep of morn, Oft as the herdsman shook the dews away, He eyed from window small, the forehead shorn Of elder Monk, with curl of silver gray, Gazing if foul or fair uprose the day; And chanced the bell of prime to tinkle, while His lowing herds would wander from the way, To top the wall he scaled the neighb'ring stile, And view'd the gownsmen march by pairs into the aile. In stately wise first stalk'd the Abbot proud, And every footstep shook his hood behind, A man much greater than the monkish crowd,a And called My Lord, his ceremonious mind Was to the study of his state confined; The Monks that heard him, ever would commend What fine words he with lordly gestures join'd; This Abbot when he willed to condescend, Would courteous smile, and call ignoble Monk his friend. Next hied the Cell'rer, to whose belt was join'd, A clang of keys; a man quite lank and spare Through fretting much lest aught should be purloin'd; Whenever he assized the daily fare, He surely talked of loss, and waste and wear.b Next he, to whom, at to-fall of the year, The louting vassals were enjoined to bear The portioned kingly coin, or autumn's cheer; d They knew how much he chid, nor dared to leave arrear. With an hoar compeer next the Sacrist went, Of things religious he had custody, It was his bliss, the holy ornament, At the magnificence of mass, to see In order meet and seemly decency: The pure stream he in silver vase e would bring For pious needs, and on his doubled knee Would bid a bead, and wet each holy thing; No lurking fiend but yell'd, and sped his leathern wing.f * Vestri autem ocuuli omne sublime vident, &c. St. Bern. of Abbots, in Ep. 42. Ad Hen. Senon. Arch. apud Lopez's Epit. V. 2, p. 401. Quando plus desiderant in palatio regis versari (viri religiosi) St. Greg. in p. 405. See also L. 14, C. 30, 31. This character is entirely fictitious. • Thesaurarius, or Bursar. d Full. Ch. H. 298. Spellm. in Firmis. • One of silver, enchased with images and vine. leaves, a handle of two dragons, and a sprinkle of ivory, belonged to St. Paul's Cath. Monast. v. 3. Ecc. Cath. p. 310. See the form of consecrating holy water in the Salisbury Manual. 398 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. His compeer hoar the Leech's a calling plied, Herbs aromatic, dangling in a noose, For medicines to the sick-house beams he tied ; He knew the learned name of each, the juice, And moon's age when it should be cull'd for use; If 'chance his herbs were unavailing found, He would, from a much-treasured volume, chuse The powers of words of most unwieldy sound, And add the gestures meet that to those words were bound. Then with the Dean came he b who bore the seal, In him the Chapter band were wont confide Concerns to chronicle of common weal; Evening in vain in vernal skies has tried The tints to pencil this old sire supplied; Within his stall, less noble Monks before, A stand was raised, and there in lifted pride Leading the Choir his arm aloft he bore, His bony tablets shook, and stamped the sounding floor. Last came the trusty man of watch and ward, A massy key from his bent elbow hung, Of goers all he kept a keen regard, Or question'd them with peremptory tongue; At prime and eve his larum bell he rung,d If to his lodge enquiring strangers went, His turning window on its hinge he flung, And, if he so could tell his mind's intent, Would talk by alphabet of arms and fingers bent. At cease of bell, ere yet the rites began, By massy bolts the latticed doors were bound, The speeding Chantor through the office ran; And now the Choir turn'd to the east around, Or bow'd at name of Jesu to the ground; The prying Dean would sum the gather'd band, And truant Monk if frequent truant found, With pursed-up brow and angry waving hand, To scanty fare, and jail of fearful thought command. (For some there were, when blew the tassel'd horn, And all the bosky valleys shook for dread, On the hill tops who met the Youth of Morn, As from the waves he reared his glorious head; O'er gossy heaths on fleeting palfreys sped; With jolly hunters not ashamed to hoot, Haply if roused from her rush-woven bed, Upsprung the fearful game with flying foot, And all the chase began a musical pursuit.) • Physician. Precentor, or Chantor. For the Limners. d Spens. F. Q. b. 2, c. 9, st. 25. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 399 On that most holy day that heads the seven, Acting his wavy arm and goggling eyes, The Preacher Monk would mix the lore of Heaven With tales the Phrygian sage was wont devise, And Fancy's wildest world of quaint surprise. (Scorn not the light step of the airy maid, Nature herself, albeit that she is wise, To make the insect's wing besought her aid, And sweetly smiled to see what beauteous tints she laid.) To Chapter next, the gown'd procession came For sage consult, and Founder's daily rite To chant, at each articulated name A saintly form shot by in robes of white, And features indistinct of palest light, Selected next from guiltless Monks among, Exposed delinquents trembled with affright, These on their breasts their silly faces hung, While language barb'd with fire flew from the Prior's tongue. While thus the Monks, before the open'd gate A mincing palfrey, with a waving load Of gorgeous trapping, shook his bells in state. Seeking his neighbour baron's arm'd abode, O'er quilted sell the lordly Abbot strode, Spurring his palfrey o'er the field amain, With tarsel perch'd upon his fist he rode, And now he lean'd upon the jingling rein, And his lank dogs of speed d ran stretching o'er the plain. While thus the Abbot, to the elmy shade That girt the grange,e the humbler Cell'rer hied, A swinging porthose from his girdle play'd, Close to his cheek his russet hood was tyed; Unlike that Abbot swell'd with worldly pride He rode a steed f of most ill-favour'd view, Sharp hips, and staring ribs, and shaggy hide; Going, the shame of loit'ring monk he knew, The shame of shoulders streak'd with stripes of livid blue.g Meanwhile along the cloister's painted h side, The Monks (each bending low upon his book With head on hand reclined) their studies plied; Forbid to parly, or in front to look, a Esop. • Saddle. Common appendages to bridles. d Greyhounds. See Wart. v. 2, p. 221. Abbey Granges abounded with timber. Full. Ch. H. 337. f Ordered to be despecti et deformes, in Monast. v. 2, p. 750. No Monk in Const. Bened. 12 Nigr. Monach. was to travel without his hood close, and portvoise, porthose or breviary, and if he exceeded his al- lotted time, was to carry half-naked a ferula from the parletory door through the cloister to the chap. ter, and there be beaten. Concil. v. 2, p. 608. With texts called carols, &c. Wart. v. 2, p. 424. 400 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. He Lengthways their regulated seats they took; The strutting Prior gazed with pompous mein, And wakeful tongue, prepared with prompt rebuke, If Monk asleep in sheltering hood was seen; wary often peep'd beneath that russet screen." Hard by, against the windows' adverse light, Where desks were wont in length of row to stand, The gown'd artificers inclined to write; The pen of silver glisten'd in the hand; Some on their fingers rhyming Latin scann'd; b Some textile gold from balls unwinding drew, And on strain'd velvet stately portraits plann'd; Here arms, there faces shone in embryo view, At last to glittering life the total figures grew.c Perchance with train immense of knights and squires, Some noble Dame admires the cloister wall, Its scrolls of texts and painted gests admires, The Prior points with white wand d long and small, And whispers low what this, what that to call; Perchance he shows in pictures of the loom, Some Chief who fills in Glory's fane a stall, Some King, who living look'd a nation's doom, Or Hero arm'd, whose nod shook conquest from his plume.e At noon-hour (did no fleshless day betide) f On posied trenchers & the plain cates were spread, The snow-white egg, the fish's corned side, Domestic fowl by barn-door plenty fed, And best of nutriment fermented, bread; No thirst was their's but what that juice could pall, The sugar'd ears of bearded barley shed ; An aged Monk b was marshal of the hall, There walking to and fro the servitours i to call. From due ablution, at the vaulted door, The entering Monks stood each one with his mate, At the two tables of the lowest floor, Their looks directing to the spiry state Of chair much-sculptured, where the Prior sate; To this where transversely a board was spread, Inferior lordlings of the convent ate; As pass'd the Prior, all depress'd the head, Loud rung a tinkling bell, and wonted grace was said. a Wilkins's Concil. v. 2, pp. 45, 610. The Leonine verse, whose origin Warton leaves uncertain, Lord Roscommon attributes to the Druids. Poems, ed. Tons. 1717, p. 47. But instances have been found sportively among the classicks. A conceit always pleases bad taste; and hence it became admired and frequent. • Embroidered vestments. . 6, p. 419. Coll. Peer. v. e Tapestry, in which the gests of Alexander, the Trojan heroes, &c. were favourite subjects. Wart v. 1, p. 210, v. 2, p. 227, &c. When they fasted till the evening collations. 8 With flowers in the centre, and posies rom them. Gent. Mag. 1794, p. 407. The Refectioner. Famuli refectorii, &c. Concil. v. 2, p. 246. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 401 The Prior gave the signal word, aloud The Reader 'gan the lore of God reveal; At the first stated pause, the holy crowd Turn'd to the board in instantaneous wheel, And solemn silence a mark'd their instant meal The Prior to the Reader bow'd, again They turn'd, the Sacrist rang a tinkling peal, Last grace was said, and carolling a strain ; Of David, two and two withdrew the hooded train. Then while the bright sun march'd along the sky, With his spread banner broad of golden sheen, Kind Sleep his soft hand laid on monkish eye, Silence reserved enjoy'd the peaceful scene, And musing stalk'd the space of beds between; He who did nought these brethren friends esteem, Would at a cloister window studious lean, Gazing with fix'd eyes in a kind of dream, Or stooping with low brow to pore upon his theme. (He thought, where ancient Isis winds her way, To hear Apollo's lute of silver sound, And sisters nine chant their alluring lay, To see by all their worshippers renown'd, About his brows a laureat wreath be wound, A train of convents to parade his praise, A train of abbots proud, with mitres crown'd, Of knights, whose helmets stole the sunny rays, And barons with wrought cloaks of gorgeous noon-day blaze.)b Then where the Porter in his lodge secure, With open porthose e sat, and conn'd his prayers, A multitude of old and female poor Assembled, canvassing their own affairs, Usage unneighbourly, or household cares, Ere long the Almoner in lifted view Beckon❜d their way unto the gatehouse stairs; Their pucker'd aprons into folds they drew, And Almoner therein the victual fragments threw.d Soon as the weary day was west'ring far, And nightmares squab with waking howl upsprung, To drag some ugly dream's fantastic car, The branchy lamp a yellow radiance flung, In this, as in other respects, resembling the Essenes. Prid. Connect. ed. 2, 8vo. v. 3, p. 485, seq. Also the ancient monks, Lop. Epit. v. 1, p. 552. The monks took their degrees with prodigious parade. c Breviary suspended to the monks' girdles, for their constant study at times of leisure. The almoner or servants of the refectory only, were to collect the fragments after dinner, and distribute them to the poor. Wilkins's Concil. v. 2, p. 246. 2 D 402 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. And to his harp the hosted Minstrel sung a His chiming song of Wizard, Fay, or Sprite, Along the wires his lightning fingers rung, His meteor eyeballs blazed with strange delight, And sparkling flames outrush'd and skirmish'd with the night. Or p'rhaps while melody that minstrel made, Some proper Tutor and the Novice train, In dress dramatic holy writ arrayed; Here with bright eyes and cheek of rosy stain A smiling David tripp'd o'er Elah's plain; There in the studied looks of Saul were shown, Hoped and yet fear'd success, dissembled pain; (A youth by his ungainly limbs o'ergrown, Strutted with weighty sword the man of mighty bone.) (Were it a certain mirth-exulting day, The Abbot-fool, through the high window'd hall, With rabble comrades march'd in rude array. Deck'd with the mitre, sandals, staff, and pall, He scaled the laughing choir's superior stall, His ruffian train pair'd off on either side, Strange was the scene, when they endeavour'd all The chanted mass with discords to divide, And howl'd and yell'd and grinn'd and hiss'd and laugh'd and cried.) Or perhaps was dragg'd into some area forth, To sturdy Mastives that stood watching nigh, A Bear, the hairy native of the North; Methinks I see him roll his angry eye, Against his furry sides the Mastives fly, They snap, and show their teeth's embattled row, He growls and on his hind feet ramping high, Between his closed paws grasps a dying foe, Whose eyes jut from his head, and flaggy tongue hangs low. Or perhaps a train of jigging Puppets d dance Their wooden muscles hard and nerves of wire, Or here and there the nimble fingers glance Of Tregetour,e with him in quaint attire Who ribbands eats, and vomits flames of fire; Quite happy Monks, did nature's general law Let simple man to feats so great aspire, But no, beneath the cover'd board they saw, The grand fiend's visage grim and horns and horrid claw. To minstrels supping in the painted chamber with the sub-prior, &c. &c. Comput. Maxt. Pri. in Wart. v. 2, p. 106. See more in v. 1, p. 89, seq. b The minstrel versification is remarkable for alliteration, or words beginning with the same letter, and a monotonous modulation proceeding from the absence of the cæsura. c Feast of Fools. d The most ancient amusement in this country. Wart. from memory. e Juggler. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 403 Or perhaps to gambol in the slanting sun, The menial train to grassy leas withdrew, With pension'd sires whose days of deed were done, Then where two banks of green turf met the view, They tugg'd alternately their bows of yew, And 'chance the grove of bristling shafts among, A gifted one had pierced the centre true, With peals of loud applause the welkin rung, And the gray sires 'gan tell what they atchieved when young.ª All sudden stopp'd-the great bell's sullen roar Proclaim'd the day's, the toil's, the pastime's close, The dormitory oped its massy door, From pendent lamps a circling smoke arose, The fleecy pallets lay along in rows, Each proper one by wall between confined, There couch'd the Monk, nor doffed his russet cloaths, For he who dared his cover'd limbs unbind, Was surely chid, and deem'd to freakish sins inclined. a PART THE THIRD. In iron times when laws of battle were, That weakly folk, of prowess small in fight, The galling gyves of vassalage should bear;b Ere Castle Seneschalls with pale affright Heard the shrill horn wind of the errant knight, A foeman firm affianced to be To all who wronged the feeble of their right; Such folk the Church let from their thraldom free, A deed that had not shamed the knight of chivalry.c The holy Church too in those iron times, With dreadful sanctity of forms array'd, A pomp of shows for cognizance of crimes, It might false charge uncourteous rumour laid, Of foulest blot on fame of gentle maid; Her eyes were veiled, her lilly feet were bare, A burning row the ploughshares nine display'd, The guileless maid was heaven's peculiar care, Angels her veil upheld, and Cherubs cried "Beware." Was it that sin so much to beldames' shame, Of horsing broomstaves through the vault of night, And calling talon'd devils up by name, Who coming would for sport the neighbours fright; Antiq. Selb. p. 414. Servants were even obliged to travel with bows and arrows, in order to practise with them. Daines Barrington's letter on Archery, in Archæol. v. 7. b The feodal system. • Manumission of slaves. Roberts. Ch. 5, ed. 8vo. v. 1, 329 seq. Manumission began in the reign of Constantine, Eus. Vit. Const. b. 2, c. 32 and was performed in the Church before three wit- nesses. Dion. Exig. Justell. Biblioth. Atı. Can. 64. Bever. Trul. Can. 85. 2 D 2 404 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. Such beldames' arms and feet they corded tight, Plunged them in pools, and on the green banks stood Wond'ring, if they to the arch-wicked sprite In hellish deed had sign'd their names in blood, For such bad beldames always sunk beneath the flood. Judicial duels (so the times behoved, When men were wont oft from her lifted throne To shoulder Justice) holy Church approved; With heaps of arms the sacred courts were strown, And glittering death on points of lances shone, A beauteous band of blue-eyed maidens came, And she whose guilty love was over-thrown, Would hide her eyes, and hang her head for shame, Tearing the silken gifts of that unworthy flame. And in those iron days, if fell despight Of feodal chieftain gall'd the bosom sore; The relick hoard was sunn'd by unknown light, And on the thighbone of a saint he swore, Spite to eschew, as taught God's holy lore. Nor dared false fear that feodal chief to feign, For monk would deep in his remembrance store The ruthful banquet of a bragging Dane, Who was by sword unseen of scorn'd St. Edmund slain.ª And in those iron times, no forest wide But shrouded robbers and assassins fell, For Justice knew not well her way to guide, Not having Custom's clue, to that lorn cell Where they were wont 'mid ferns and briars dwell; Can there be one in better ages born, Who has not heard exulting infants tell, Of Robin Hood, his bow and bugle horn, And how he chased the deer o'er Sherwood's wilds forlorn? Ah me! much irks it fearful mind to tell, Such trespass vile how holy Church dispraised; In middle mass, the great reluctant bell By minutes toll'd, the cross on high was raised, And now the lighted torch that sudden blazed, As sudden quench'd, a dreary symbol shew'd;b The kneeling sinner in dumb horror gazed, The mass priest's cheek with burning blushes glow'd, While slowly syllabled these formal curses flow'd. "Dark be those eyes, that dare with lust behold "Another's earnings, in eternal night:" Amen, and slowly once the great bell toll'd; "Those hands be shrivell'd by a withering blight, Swearing upon relicks. King Sweyne was thus said to have been punished at Gainsborough, for having threatened to plunder the Monastery and relicks of St. Edmund's Bury. Lyd. Life of St. Edm. in Wart. v. 2, p. 56. b Ceremonies of the greater excommunication. This imprecation is taken from a formula printed in Robertson's Ch. V. § Proofs, &c. vol. 1. p. 398, ed. 8vo. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 405 "That wealth purvey by deeds of unjust might," Amen, and once the great bell toll'd again; "Like fortune on the guilty limbs alight, "Such hands that aid;" at end of every strain The great bell toll'd, Amen responded all the train. "Be all thy days incessant cursed with toil; "Be void of rest, and yet to rest inclined; "Be all thy booty but another's spoil; "Bewild'ring jeopardies o'erhang thy mind, "Nor backward look but foes pursuing find; "Of peril quit, still to thy listening ear "A speeding horseman sound in every wind; "Till lacking crimson life thy carcase fear, "Through never-ceasing pain shall press an early bier. "And soon as doom'd to press that early bier, "In damned talons be thy soul convey'd "To the accursed house of Death and Fear "And Darkness; there be thy allotment made "With Judasa who the Lord of Life betray'd; "Refining in expurgatory flame, "Be there thy agonizing spirit laid, "Until immaculate of sin and shame, "It meet be to invoke a Saviour's hallow'd name. "Long as such sins thy guilty soul imbue, "So long these curses in dread force remain, "So long these curses shall those sins pursue ;"b Amen Amen return'd the total train, Fiat-a general Fiat shook the fane; Still kneel'd that robber, with erected hair And features smiling horribly with pain, Now Frenzy roll'd his eyes, and now Despair Changed them to sightless orbs with petrifying stare. c Such were the customs of our days of old, For not those days the sun of science cheer'd; Our song historical must now unfold More mournful tales; when holy Henry steer'd The bark of state, a novel race appear'd, Who rules to preach and proselyte obey'd, Though for their home a proper fane was rear'd, No annual bounty to the fane was paid, For all the Friar race were mendicants by trade. Unwise it was, for mendicants by trade Are skill'd their tongues, as chrystal smooth, to file, Their fanes were with unequal pomp array'd, Much as these sons of honey-dropping guile, A common denunciation in early charters. See Monast. v. 3. Ecc. Cath. pp. 126, 303, 4, 5, &c. Canute consigns the infringers of one of his charters to torture by devils in iron frying-pans,- ferreis sartaginibus. Id. p. 130. b Roberts, C. 5, ed. 8vo. v. 1, p. 398. Com- pare an anathema in Wilkins's Concil. v. 1, p. H. III. A. D. 1221. 283. 406 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. Could flatter, talk, profess, and cringe and smile; "For ever they to conscience would appeal, "If idle Monk ought live by other's toil, "No envy their's, it was becoming zeal "To speak the truth of those, who damaged public weal.”a Who sees not faults? and faults in Monks there were, The Monk not scorn'd to play the juggler's part,b Penance aloft his whip of wire might bear, More mighty Nature would disdain the smart; The hand that toil'd not, could but waste the mart; And crimes were rife, for crimes through them had grace,c The Monk not knew within his bounded heart, That scope of feeling for our general race, That, like the eye of God, admits no bound of place. The day was come, and what has not its day? All things regard from use or pleasance gain; Nor longer needed was the dread array Of superstitious thunder, to restrain Hunters and warriors in a feodal reign; Commerce was building bourses d on the land, Aided by Industry, Art's handmaid train, And Plenty boon, a nymph was with the band Call'd Printing, almost deem'd to wield a magic wand. The day was come-Fame trumpeted abroad A six-times-wedded Monarch's ban of wrath; Upstarting War unsheathed his instant sword, Rebellion led her rabble-legions forth, Her flag unfurling in the stormy North; Along the clam'rous vanguard stalk'd Despair, While busy Superstition nerved the loth; Pale Injury laid her bleeding bosom bare, And Rev'rence show'd with dust defiled his hoary hair. This horrid while, against the fane forlorn The banded fiends of hell unwearied toil'd, High on a pinnacle stood grinning Scorn, The axe of false Zeal charms of art defiled, And talon'd Sacrilege look'd up and smiled, With severing engine as she vestments shore, Recorded good erasing Envy spoil'd, While snatching Violence the charters tore, And scrambling Rapines off the flying fragments bore.f The jesuitical practices of the begging orders first brought the Monks into disrepute. See their character in Thynne's Chauc. p. 617, and Somp- nour's Tale. The writings of Wickliff destroyed their reputation in return. See Knighton, col. 2665. Conscious of the superior learning of the Friars, the Monks built small colleges at Oxford for the better education of their novices, and thus began our Uni- versities on their present footing. Wart. v. 1, p. 288, seq. b False Miracles, images with springs, &c. e Sanctuary. The term is here used figuratively. e In A.D. 1536 on account of the dissolution of monasteries. It was called the Pilgrimage of Grace, and in their ensigns they had our Saviour crucified, the host and chalice, &c. Medail Histor. p. 207. Godwin's Annals, p. 65. f The visitors destroyed the Monasteries imme- diately on their falling into their hands. Will ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 407 For Monk until a figure new they made, Four fiends were busied in a secret nook, The fit materials stammering Ign'rance laid, For Prejudice, that could but one way look, Hypocrisy, that thumb'd the sacred book, And crabb❜d Austerity, that smiling blamed; For speech they texts of holy scripture took, For his stiff neck a band dependent framed, And this their figure new a Puritan surnamed.a Sedition meanwhile in black gall imbued, A sheaf of arrows from her quiver'd store, And with that archery the monks pursued, Who fled the Giant Danger's strides before, And trunk of tree his breadth of shoulder bore; b The deed was done; the looking fiends were dumb; When fleeing all at once, the air they tore With yells that midnight travellers benumb, Groans of the damn'd in hell, and shrieks of Doomsday come. So fell the Monkish fane, and we might deem Were here and there not ivied ruins spread, It ne'er had been, or but a first sleep's dream; It fell, and doom'd to hide her banish'd head For ever, Gothic Architecture fled; c Forewarn'd she left in one most beauteous place, That much might of her ancient fame be said, Her pendent roof, her windows' branchy grace, Pillars of cluster'd reeds, and tracery of lace.d Be courteous, Commerce-in no sullen mood Too harshly gibe the Monk's less active bent; For from thy foeman Baron's wassails rude, Where sanctuary a holy dwelling lent, The wattled flocks, the craftsman's canvas tent, The morrice-dancer with his marrion queen, And the famed dog of British hardiment Baiting the bull and bear, were frequent seen In motley crowds to sport along the peopled green. Be courteous, Commerce-there are bridges high, Ranging their salient angles o'er the strand, Which the Monks rear'd; where some proud dwellings lie, A fane exorcised agues from the land; f Mitr. Abb. Introd. p. 53, seq. Id. Princ. Relig. Hous. p. 274. Religious buildings did not cease to be plundered till the 14th Eliz. upon a criminal process being issued against the offenders. Dugd. St. Paul's, p. 45. a Puritanism arose from the translation of the Bible becoming common, being misunderstood, and the aversion from popery producing a contrary extreme. Wart. v. 2, p. 547. Bands are said to be invention of this sect. b The Court of Augmentations appointed the disincorporated monks to vacant benefices, in or- der to ease the exchequer of their salaries; and the endeavours of these men to restore their perished institution produced the proclamation of 1547 against preaching. Id. v. 3, p. 197. e Gothic architecture first became mixed with the Greek style in Henry the Eighth's reign. Henry VII.'s chap. at Westminster. d e Monasteries assisted commerce by procuring markets and fairs. Spelm. Gloss. p. 264. Croyland Abbey reared upon piles in the fens of Lincolnshire. Bibliotheca Topographica Bri- tannica, vol. iii. No. xi. 408 ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. Hard by conceive its buttress rows to stand, And fine perspective of a range of spires; Where lie yon leas, uppluck'd by monkish hand, Their rushes crackled on the daily fires, Monks delved that foss where-through the brumal flood retires.a Be courteous, Learning-think what Monks would write, Figuring strange signs they had wizards seen; Seen dapper fairies by the Moon's pale light, In quaint rings dance about their tiny queen; Grim ghosts with stony eyes flit o'er the green; Steeds of bright brass that to the board updrew, Where sat the Soldan with astonished mien ;b Or dragons, such as George of Britain slew, Spout smoky hurricanes of flame and sulphurs blue.c (TRUTH, I would fain but cannot thee commend, For thou art Superstition's enemy, And she to Song has been an ancient friend; Can'st thou not hide the terrors of thine eye, Hold down thy mirror, and pass smiling by? Must we thy beams depopulating rue? Yes, and the visionary race must fly; But stay thy steps, imperious maid, and view One backward glance of scorn, their noble proud adieu.) Be courteous, Learning-- tales of times of old Of Troynovant, of ancient British land, For you the monkish Chroniclers have told; Before you, lo! the greybeard Fathers stand, Holding the holy Martyrs by the hand; Lo classic Bards, with their thrice triple train Of Attic ladies, sing at your command; Say could a gifted Poet form a strain For Oxford's earl,d that not attends the monkish fane? Learning, some monks were very deeply taught, Speech they could all into its parts divide,e But these knew how to prank a showy thought,f And a minutely-subtle science plied, Drawn from the lore that man to God allied;8 Our laws they tinctur'd with that Emp'ror's page, Amalfi's rocks were fated long to hide,h Who could like them with mighty quibbles wage, The syllogistic war of famed Stagyra's sage ;i For the improvement of desart lands by mo- nasteries, see Roberts. C. 5th, ed. 8vo. v. i. p. 244; Andrew's Anecdotes, art. Lazy Monks. Chauc. Squier's tale. Milt. P. L. b. 1, v. 763. To ride through the hall to the high table, was a favourite custom in the days of chivalry. The monks often wrote for the minstrels. Wart. v. 1, p. 87. d Alluding to the Harleian collection of MSS. e Grammar. ! Rhetoric. Scholast. Theology. h Pandects of Justinian. Andrews from Pfeffel asserts, that the Civil Law was studied before the discovery of Justinian's code at Amalfi, for the history of which romantic place, see Swinb. Trav. v. 2, p. 149. iLogic. ECONOMY OF MONASTIC LIFE. 409 Learning, this lore is deem'd of nought to be, Unlovely we from trial sad attest, Yet hence the scornful Nymph Philosophy, In robe succinct for loosely-floating vest, Was by the matron strict Precision drest;a And had not hooded Superstition flung On speech o'er vulgar wont her high behest, The sluggard schoolboy ne'er had lisp'd the tongue, That Tully chastely spoke, and Maro chastely sung. Shades of past fame, farewell! the glooms ye cast! The melancholy pleasure ye have bred! There are, who fain would fly into the past, And where I but a weeping pilgrim tread, As cowl'd monks hide for aye the aching head! Alas! there now are no Elysian bowers, To sepulchre among the living dead, A lost thing, when Life's day in tempests lours, And Grief the painted wings rends of the shrieking Hours. Pause, cries a willowed Youth, in shades like these, With hopeless flames a virgin victim glows, The pride of needy ancientry to please, For ever lost to love, my only rose, The sweetest flower of all my Eden blows, Go, weeping girl; and I for life must bear An icy soul, enwrapt in winter's snows, And corpse-eyed visage, of white marble glare, So changed by gazing on the Gorgon ghost, Despair. • Scholastic learning introduced precision into Philosophy. Life of M. Turgot, p. 11. 410 The Triumphs of Wengeance; OK THE COUNT OF JULIAN. AN ODE. IN THE MANNER OF GRAY. This Ode is founded on the following event in the Spanish History, as related by Heylyn (Cosmography, p. 213): "Of this province (Tingitana) was Julianus Governor in the time of Roderick, who (Julian) being of the faction of the sons of Vitiza (the last king), stomached his (Roderick's) advancement to the king- dom; and thereby got the greater portion of the king's displeasure; who send- ing him upon an embassy to the Moors of Africa, in the mean time deflowered his daughter, named Cava (Cuba in Mr. Russel), which the father took in such indignation, that he procured the Moors, amongst whom he had gotten much credit, to come over into Spain. This request they performed under the con- duct of Musa and Tariff, and having made a full conquest aº 729, subjected it to the great Caliphs or Mahometan Emperours." There is a translated poem on the same subject in a collection by Mr. Russel, published at Oxford some years ago. I remember no more of it, than that it interested me extremely, and was one of the finest of that fine wreath of Par- nassian Flowers. The excellent moral of the story will be visible: and this was my inducement to reduce it to verse. I. 1. FROM the morning grey and still Fast the dews of night retire Wide along the heathy hill, ; Burns a blazing stream of fire; Dark before the glittering gleam, Shadows black of horsemen dance; A steely light with starry beam, Glimmers from the shivering lance: Down the mountain, grand and slow, Processioning in state they go: In a bright cloud they close their firm array; Throbbings of glory from the clarions sound; Before them rolls the thunder of their way; Before them darkness sweeps the shaking ground; Heard ye the shout, that rent the air? Saw ye the brandish'd spear, and flash of fiery glare? T TRIUMPHS OF VENGEANCE. 411 I. 2. Like the wood's edge at deep of night Striking back the heedless eye; Gazing for the coming fight; Dark and terrible we lie; Silence dread and whispers low, Panting expectation show; With outstretch'd arms and streaming eyes, Thus the impassion'd father cries; "Flower of hope, of fragrance wide, "Gem, that deck'd the green bank's swell, "No more upon thy painted pride, "My gazing tenderness will dwell. "Lightnings of Fury through my eyeballs dart, "The worm of shame sleeps not, that twines around my heart." I. 3. "Maiden of the shining eyes, "Cava dear and Cava fair, "Starting tears, and stealing sighs, "Would a father's pride declare; "Sweet the summer breeze, that blows "Lightly from the dancing rose; "Soft the silver glitter shed "From the violet's weeping head; "Gay the bird's new-feather'd wing, "Gay the fresh-born leaf of spring: "So sweet, so soft, so gay, "The meeken'd lustre of her vernal day; "When in the dance her graceful way she moved, "In speechless agonies of bliss I loved; "The flushes of her beauty sunk my eyes, "To thoughtless vacancy, and melting soft surprize." II. 1. See the wind (the day is still) The poplar's twinkling verdure shed; Ah! the judgment from the hill Shows through the cloud his awful head! Speedy death and present fear, Guilty King, there vow to thee Men, that never shed a tear, Stormy or sullen as the sea; Does the robber ever laugh? Does the wolf's eye lose its fire? These the bleeding life that quaff, No human sympathies inspire: Revenge, that shows what man can do, Unfurl our banners thus, and terrify his view. II. 2. Now the mountain's steep beneath, The winter's flood has found its shores; Now the north wind sweeps the heath On our driving battle pours; 412 TRIUMPHS OF VENGEANCE. kings. O'er the billows of the war, Rodorigo shines afar; The Northern Bear, with ruffian sway, That bore the Eagle's spoil away; Alarick's tremendous name Burn his cheek with rage and shame; Seven nights, asleep, awake, Fast the bubbles rise and break; b Mighty warrior, mighty lord! c Will not greatness ease afford? Round him teazing visions fly, Suspense's shifting form and writhing agony. II. 3. Seven nights and seven days Will he gain a hero's praise- Wide the doors enchanted throw, Blast his soul's desire and show! King, those swarthy warriors see, Foes, that will thy victors be; Read the characters of fate, They proclaim thy kingdom's date; d Urging is the unseen pow'r, End of doubt and end of strife; Soon will come the fatal hour, Last of war, and last of life; Vain the ardour, vain the toil, Thine is not the joy of spoil; Stony horror fills thine eyes; Trumpets of Glory sound, and swell him till he dies. III. 1. Live, Hope; prediction is but vain; Mists gather to disperse again; Does the thunder rend the skies? In innoxious tears it dies- Ah! who is that, in deep despair, Retiring with the lion's shame, The fury of his glowing air, A fire's expiring flash of flame; By Fate's unmoving gaze downcast, Weary, mad, forlorn, and last: Flown are his bands; alone remain Drops of the tempest's ceasing rain; Roderick was the last of the Gothic line of b Roderick had 130,000 foot, and 35,000 horse. Tariff had 30,000 horse and 180,000 foot. The battle continued for seven days together from morning to night. C "Mighty victor, mighty Lord." Gray. d Roderick, upon hopes of treasure, opened a part of his palace, of long time forbidden to be touched; but found nothing but pictures resem- bling the Moors, with a prophecy, that, when- soever the palace was there opened, the people there resembled should overcome Spain. 1 40 1 1 TRIUMPHS OF VENGEANCE. 413 "Low the gasping Hero lies," a (Hear the exulting Father's yell) "Gambol," he screams, "ye fiends, before his eyes, "And greet his harrow'd ears with howls of Hell. III. 2. "Is he gone, the Lord of Light, "The Sun, that spread his beams so wide? "Woe to Spain and endless night! "Shone he high in noon of pride? "No, it was with a glimmering flame, "The mockery of a winter's morn; "Where is the odour of his fame? "Gone with the fleeting flow'r, for ever, ever gone." III. 3. Julian, hear my dying breath; (Prophetic is the voice of death;) Think'st thou that belongs to thee, The mighty of the mightiest decree? He grants the infidel an hour To punish Vice's lawless power; Why pass those sages o'er the vale? All hail, ye unborn nations, hail, With beaming eyes of brighter rays! b Turn, instrument of Heaven, and gaze- Ah! famish'd in a dungeon deep, At the bright day does Julian weep? Dead do thy wife, thy children, lie? Liv'd they with wishes but to die? Blest is Roderick that's gone- Forget not in thy woes this parting smile of scorn.c • What became of Roderick was never known (says Heylin); his soldiers took one arrayed in his cloaths, whom, upon examination, they found to be a shepherd, with whom, after the discomfiture, the king had changed his cloaths. However, as it is generally understood he perished, the poetical variation (inevitable) is of no moment. b The introduction of science into Europe was a consequence of the arrival of the Saracens in Spain. Julian, after seeing the miserable death of his wife and children, was starved in prison by the Moors. 414 THE RED MAN. THE RED MAN. AN ODE, IN THE MANNER OF GRAY AND COLLINS. The Red Man, or L'homme rouge, so called because a little muffled figure, wholly attired in red, is the dæmon, or familiar, who in vain warned Buonaparte of every impending danger. [See Paul's Letters, pp. 430, 431.] Upon this legend; the Comet; which appeared over Corsica about the period of Napo- leon's birth; that of 1811; and the newspaper account of a figure seen in the Sun, with a banner, at first erect and surrounded by other figures, but at last prostrate and broken in pieces, this Ode is founded. As it was a subject, purely suggested by a favourable bearing to Poetry, and the Author merely speaks in the character of the Red Man, nothing political is intended. I. 1. "Lo! A King of the Sky comes forth, "Marching stately tow'rds the North; "Awful stranger! dost thou bear "Omens, sparkling on thy hair? "Does thy train of blazing glow, "The battle's hurly burly show? "Or does thy pale orb's misty gleam "Show that widows' tears must stream? "Dost thou come in pomp to bring, "Or wrath to take away a King? "Making now and now undoing, "Gamboling with Fate and Ruin? "Art thou come to show God's ire, "A migratory world on fire? "Or, art thou He, who at the birth "Of Gallia's Lord alarm'd the earth? "Is the Eagle, soon to fly "Where he'll droop his wing, and die?" Thus the wond'ring Red Man spoke As his sleep an Earthquake broke. I. 2. Ah! the Earthquake shakes again! The tumbling Columna strews the plain.- How like the Waterfall, what time the Star Of Night comes pacing up the dusky West, Back'd by dark groves, bright glistening from afar I saw thee, France, in robes of Glory drest; b "Erected by Buonaparte in imitation of that of Trajan. This and the following stanza (which I published years ago, in the collections of a poetical friend), allude to the pompous pretensions of the French Revolution, when social perfection and happiness were to result from a system, which held in utter disregard religion and virtue; a monstrous absurdity! THE RED MAN. 415 Fine as the waving light of summer noon, Soft as the breeze that sweeps the evening deep, Thy distant Pæans in luxurious swoon Made my exulting ear enchanted sleep; Ah! where is he, who knows not to admire The meteor blaze of Fame, and twinkling dance of Fire? I. 3. Oh! I have gazed enraptur'd with the scene Till fairy dreams upraised my buoyant soul; Sounds of delight" from airy harps unseen,' Shades of the blest, "whose glittering skirts unroll" Elysian groves, whence cooling odours blow, Immingled roses in deep burning blush, Essential light in streaming gales, that throw O'er softest glades of green a lustrous flush? The dancing Hours and Nymphs of purpled wing, Sporting with smiling Loves and Zephyrs of the Spring. II. 1. Alas! while thus we sleep and dream, How sad to breathe but pestilential steam; Pity and Hope go hand in hand To sue, where Fate does not command, But cannot bear a form to see More ugly, than Adversity; Ages, like the waters, sweep In rolling volumes to the deep; And Grandeur's perishable pride, A bubble floating down the tide, Glitters in the noon-day beam, Then bursts and mingles with the vulgar stream.- II. 2. Sorrow, Red Man, thou must not feel Hammer and forge thy soul to steel; Thou must away to pull the bell Which tolls a dying Empire's knell; While, o'er his writhing prey, a lion roaring Shakes his majestick mane, and mocks the tone deploring. II. 3. Loudly once the Red Man knocks; The doors unfold, the chamber rocks; "Hero, doom'd to fight and shame; "Listen to him, thou canst not name; "Dost thou hear the thunder roll? "It bodes a tempest in thy soul. "Will thy Wolf attempt to tear "His white beard from the Northern Bear? "Know'st thou not, his breath alone "Can freeze the ruffian into stone? "Ah! look not thus with sneering eyes, "The Summer with the swallow flies. "Is ambition void of woe? "Russia is a Hell of Snow. 416 THE RED MAN. • Elba. III. 1. "Close thy imperial ashes in an Urn,a "Thy soul, an Etna, will for ever burn. "Giant of France, and Husband of her choice,b "The Oracle of Victory thy voice! c "Spur again the horse of War; "Ah! what but Vapour is the falling star? "Those warriors old, who scorn'd to fly, "In dumb astonishment must die : "Is the Emperor and King "An insect now without a sting? "Shoulder'd from his gaudy throne 66 By those, whom he was proud to own ;d "Fair was the bride of Austria, fair the Morn, "When he the Cæsar King was born. "Screw the torture to his heart? "The Father from his only Child must part; "Are his Marshals false and hollow? "Will Birds of Prey not carrion follow? "In black procession to inter his fame They stalk; but still the smoke betrays surviving flame." III. 2. "What dost thou laugh in scorn? Ah! then "Thou dog within a lion's den, "Take the boon contempt will give ; "A statue on a pedestal to live; "Gaze on to-morrow's Sun, and see "The signs that Heaven shows to thee; "Say then, I see; but not believe;' "Hereafter, "I have seen; and grieve."" III. 3. "Land of the bravest brave and fairest fair! "Thou land, that worshippest God's blessed Son! "Thou land, that teachest to forgive and spare! "Thou land, that praisest, when God's will is done! "Too great to fear, and too humane to hate, "Royal in mind, he's still in patience great ; e "Let Nature's saintly milkiness, in grace "Grant to the Sire once more a Son's embrace; "A Belisarius without a home "Who fears? who now regards his pageant reign of Rome?" b It is well known, that Universal Conquest was a favourite project in France, long before the time of Buonaparte. He only married the Na- tional Vanity for her fortune, and was governed by his wife, an imperious fury. As soon as the Emperor appeared in the field at the commencement of any battle, the soldiery rent the air with shouts. Labaume. The Austrian family, whose junction with the Allies, first turned the scale against him. • From his character, dispassionately drawn, in the Edinburgh Review. 1 417 THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. A Parody on Collins's Ode to the Passions. When Revolution, fidler blind, was young, (While yet in modern France he sung) The Democrats to hear him sing Throng'd around the vulgar ring; Exulting, trembling, raging, fainting, Fuddled, beyond the Muse's painting; By turns they felt a moon-struck mind; To castle-building much inclined; With fresh supplies of gin then fir'd, Fill'd with fury, rapt, inspir'd; They snatch'd from the surrounding boys Their various instruments of noise: And, as they oft had heard apart From thieves, the signal-whistle's art; Each, for madness rul'd the hour, Would prove his own seditious power. First HARDY* came his skill to try Amongst the Corresponding trade; And back recoil'd-he well knew why- Of neck-extension sore afraid. TOM PAINE, combustible most dire, Next made the rich Stockholders sweat; The hangman to his tail set fire,† And off he scamper'd, deep in debt. In Purley's meadows, JOHN HORNE TOOKE With parts of speech his grief beguil'd; ‡ The Verbo-philosophic book By fits was fine, by starts was wild. But thou, O Fox, with speech so fair, What was thy opposing measure? Still it whisper'd pension'd pleasure, And bade the places good at distance hail; Still would his touch the strain prolong, And from the India Bill's sad tale, He call'd on Westminster through all the song: And when to toast the Sov'reign mob he chose, His title lost, he mourn'd at every close; Secretary to the Corresponding Society, and tried for treason. The Age of Reason was burnt by the common hangman. The "Diversions of Purley," which reduce the parts of speech to only the noun and verb. § Mr. Fox's name was erased from the Privy Council for this toast. 2 E 418 THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. And Fox neglected wept, and wav'd his pig-tail'd hair; Yet longer had he sung-but with a frown, BURDETT impatient rose ; And threw his bonnet rouge in thunder down; And with his Palace-Yardian look, The mob-collecting trumpet took; And blew a blast so loud and dread, Ne'er were the Cornish Burghs so full of woe; And ever and anon he beat, The COBBETT Drum with furious heat; And though at times, each dreary pause between, Th' Attorney General at his side, His soul-subduing voice applied, Yet still he kept his wild unalter'd mien, Till in the Tow'r close shopp'd, he laid his aching head. Thy numbers, COCHRANE, to the Funds were fix'd, Sad proof of thy distressful state; Of war and politics the theme was mix'd, And now he woo'd employ, now raving called on hate. With eyes uprais'd, as one inspir'd, PITT in the Treasury sat retir'd; And from his snug official seat, In notes, by Lucre made more sweet, Pour'd through the Commons' House his winning soul; From Opposition Rocks around BURKE jump'd away, and hail'd the sound; Through corp'rate towns the safety-measures stole, And o'er the bottle's talk with fond delay, Jacks in office port-wine boozing, Constitution toasts diffusing, At civic banquets drank away. But, oh! how alter'd was its marching tone, When Government, a nymph of brawny hue, With Habeas Corpus o'er her shoulder flung, And Volunteers in buskins gemmed with dew, Blew an inspiring air, that inn and post-house rung, The soldier's call, to tippling idlers known; The Cyprian fair, and their dram-drinking queen, Drummers and corporals were seen, Peeping from forth our alleys green; Pipe-clay'd Militia-men rejoic'd to hear, And six-foot tailors grasp'd the sergeant's spear. Last came FINANCE'S dubious trial, He with the income-tax advancing; First to the yellow Gold his hand address'd, But soon he saw the Bank-restriction viol. Whose more prolific notes he lov'd the best; They would have thought, who heard the strain, They saw in Lombard street the Bankers mad, All bills discounting, whether good or bad; To rising Stock perpetual dancing; THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. 419 While, as his flying fingers kiss'd the strings, Pitt and the Bank fram'd a fantastic round; Loose were her tresses seen, her zone unbound, And he amidst his frolic play, As if he would one time or other pay, Exchequer Bills shook from his paper wings. Oh! Money, earth-extracted maid! The lender's loss, the borrower's aid, Say, Goddess, why to us denied, Layest thou prices high aside; As in that loaf-in-seven-days year ª, When things were most confounded dear; Link'd arm in arm, O Nymph endear'd, Thou hast with strumpets forg'd appear'd― Where is thy native form unlying, Scales and weights and dirt defying? Arise as in that elder time, Sweated and clipp'd, but still sublime; Thy wonders in that golden age Fill England's subsidizing page. "Tis said (and I believe the tale) That Guineas were expos'd to sale; And that our latest cask of beer, The Sinking Fund, was tapp'd this year; Pitt, I with weeping say, seduc'd The Bank, and left her much reduc'd; Scarce left her bare back clothes enough, And made her Fame a Lottery Puff; Abortive drugs were given by Pitt- But now laid in, she bears gold yet. • Some years back the consumption of bread was restricted to a quartern loaf per week for each person. 2 E 2 420 ON A LADY BATHING. In the manner of the Italian Concetto. Be hush'd, ye winds, ye tempests, cease, My Love now tries the faithless main ; Be still, ye waves, and glide in peace, Until my Love returns again. But should the wat'ry mountains roll, And overwhelm their lovely prize; "Twere just, for she their treasures stole Their brightest glitt'ring gems for eyes. But see, more bright in all her charms, My darling girl returning see; She tells me all her soul's alarms, What boldly dar'd the saucy sea. That down her hair in fond embrace, The raptur'd waves enamour'd clung, And loth to leave so sweet a place, In pearls adown her tresses hung. That one fond wave upon her breast To die in ecstasy resolv'd; And weeping, that it was so blest, In show'rs of joyous tears dissolv'd. Yet, grateful still for so much bliss, It left a gift its love to prove, And fix'd its coral in a kiss Upon her ruby lips of love. 421 EPITAPH. In the German manner. HUMANITY, Sweet sister of Sympathy, Gratitude, beauteous daughter of Honour, Ye delicious melodies of applauding Conscience; Ye smiling eyes of undefecated Affection; Ye overpowering felicities of unutterable Sensation; Ye meek Cordialities; ye holy Pieties of Nature; Welcome into eternity The friend of those who wanted friends, CHARLES HAYWARD, ESQUIRE, of Quedgley: An elegant scholar, His bright mind was a continual sunshine; A generous patron, Genius and Learning felt not the spurn of sensuality; A friend to the best interests of his country, He blended the patriot and the subject: A man of opulence, He founded not his character upon it; A man of family, He spoke not unwisely, or acted perniciously. Almighty Father! May thine own energies of thine own religion Now make him as thyself, All glorious! All happy! GENERAL INDEX. ABBEY-GATE, 281. Abbot, pieces, what, 275. appellation, 23. Abbess, rank, 83. Lay Abbots, 83. Elec- tion, 84, seq. Qualifications, 85. Exemp- tion, 85. Benediction, 86. Customs, duties, &c. 87-93. Table, residence, 93, 94. Power, &c. 101, 102. Dress, 103. Charac- ter, 104, 105. Vices, 106, 107, seq. Deaths, 107. Officers, 107, seq. Apartments, 108. Mitres, 285. Accomplishments, female, what, 185. Advent, duties of, &c. 32. Albs, 56. Alleluia, burial of, 56. All Saints, All Souls, }how how kept, 41. Almoner, various of, 130. Almonry, various of, 244. Altar, various of, 201. Amazons, modern, 340. Amess, 189. Anchorets, 370, seq. Anchor-holds, 372, seq. Angels instigating Pilgrimage, 323, 324. Animals kept, 162. Antiquity, forged, 10. Antony, St. converts of, 66. Anthony Pig, 66. Ara Frode, 325. Arms, why iterated, 320. Asceticks, 10, 11. Ash-Wednesday, 48. Asses, feasts of, 42, 48, 51. Astell, Mary, her college, 298. Astrology, 6. severities, laity attached to, 2. Auguries, 7, 159. Augustinian Rules, 72. Costume, 286. Ere- mites, 82, 236, 237. Costume, 286. Austere system, effects of, 1, 2. Bangor Abbey, 23. Bacon, when allowed, 32. Bakehouse, 278. Bakers, 193. Ball-play, 56. Baptism, 35. Barbarians, who, 3. Bare-feet, 318. Baths, 11. Bauble, origin of, 44. Bear-baiting, &c. 160. Beard, why worn, 319. Beds, 227. Beguines, 298, 385. Bells, various of, 16, 52, 209, 392. -- of Pilgrims, 316, Benedicite salutation, 30, 184. Benedict XII. constit. 60. Benedictines, Rule, 66, 68. Costume, 286. Benedictions, origin of, 35. Farewell, 239. Of Abbesses, 292. Benett's, St. Priory, 197. Billets sawing, 235. Binnacle, ancient, 331. Binham Priory, 197. Blacking, first use, 283. Blue-coats, origin, 196. Bon-hommes, 82. Bookbinding, 259. Boots, origin of, 283. Bourdon, 315. Brazen-heads, 7. Breeches, 282. Brigettines, Rule, 80. Costumes, 287. Brothers of the Sack, 82. Buonaparte, character of, 414. Burials, Monastick, 213. in a cowl, 173. Buildings, Monastick, 197. Bursar, 125. Camel's-hair, what, 14. Candlemas day, 32, 311. Candles, when lighted, 35. Candlesticks, 203. Canonical hours, 28, 29. caps, 284. Canons, regular, 65, 72. Canterbury bells, 356. Caricatures, 258. Carmelites, Rule, 78. Costume, 287. Carter, John, his Specimens of English Eccle- siastical Costume, 290–296. Carthusians, 71. Costume, 287. Castles classified, 198, seq. Catharine, St., the Virgin and Martyr, chapel of, 356. Cats, devils, 7. Caym, what it meant, 172. Cellarar, cellaress, 118. Cells, 271. -- in orders Eremite, 232. in the Dormitory, 311. Chamberlain, 141. Chapter, various of, 222. Charities, what, 31, 264. Chivalry, 263. Choir-girl, form of investing, 311, 312. Choristers, 373. Christmas day, various of, 41. Christmas box, 44. Chronicles, who versed in, 361. Church, 198. British, and a Saxon, what, 16, 198. Ornamenting of, 43. 209. Of Nuns, 309, seq. Service, 62, 426 GENERAL INDEX. Porter, Porteress, 136, 147. - of Barons, 367. Portraits, what, 184. Præmonstratensians, 72. Costumes, 289. Præcentor, 120. Præcentrix, 122. Prior, 112. · General, 145. Provincial, 145. Prioresses, 116. Prison, 261. Processions, various of, 231. Abbot's place in, 86. Professions, various of, 179. Promotion of Monks, 100. Psalm-singing, 25, 309. Pulpits, 206. on journeys, 179. Punishments, various of, 222, 223. Puritanism, origin of, 407. Red Man, an Ode, 414. Refectioner, 138. Refectory, 216, 297. Religion, how perverted, 3, seq. Reliquaries, 284. Repentance, rich exonerated from, 4, 5. Retro-choir, 205. Richard I., pilgrimage of, 329. Riding, criminal, 2. Through the hall, 408. Rings of Nuns, &c. 190. Robert the Devil, 347. Rochet, what, 282. Standards of the Church, 231. Statuaries, waxen, 358. Stonehenge, what, 389. Story-teller, whence derived, 361. Studies, 260. Sub-prior, 116. Succentor, 121, 122. Sudden death, why, 3. Superstition, where unavoidable, 3. Tabard, 284. Table, what, 114. singing, 121. Tabulæ, singing, 121. Tapers, 206. Tarring and feathering, 331, 332. Taverns, various of, 24. Tecla, Saint, 322. Templars, 65, 66, 76. Costumes, 289. foun- dation, 341, 342. Temporal good and evil, how connected, 4. Terrier of the house, 143. Thomas's day, custom of, 41. Threshing on the knees, 257. Thunder, effects of, 6. Tickets, drawing, 310. Tippet, 284. Toasts, drinking, 240. Tonsure, various of, 284. Tooth-drawing, 236. Towers, what for, 206. Trance, how construed, 6. Trappe, La, Monks of, 299, seq. Travellers, custom of, 26. 28 Travelling of Monks, 265. by night how re- puted, 266. Treasurer, 125. Rogation days, 56. Roodlofts, various of, 204, 378. Rosary, 317. Rushes, church strewed with, 209. Sabbath, when, 27. Sacrist, 126. Sacristy, 282. Saints, various of, 3, 8, 11. attributes, 207, 208. bells, 206. Sallads, 217. Sanctuary, 268. Saturday, various of, 27, 31, 37. Scapulary, what, 288. Scarf, 320. Scrip, 315. Scholastic learning, result of, 409. Seats in the Choir, 203. Seals, conventual, 229. Seneschals, 124. Sepulchre, Officer of, 55. Seniors, who, 265. Serpent, ceremony of, 33. Servants, 195, seq. Sermons, Monkish, 211, 212. Shaving of the Monks, 195. Shepherds, office of, 42. Shire Thursday, 51. Shoes, 283. Shoulders, women carried on, 334. Shrove Tuesday, 48. Signs, Monastic, 150. Silence, duty of, 149, 150. Sisters, who, 194. Smelling-bottles, Socks, 283. Song-school, 273. 285. Spettisbury Nuns, 306. Stable, 281. Stamin, 282. Trental, 214. Trinitarians, 73. Costume, 289. Trinity, respect for, 16, 323. Sunday, 59. Triumph of Vengeance, an ode, 410. Troubadours, who, 365. Trumpets for bells, 23. Tumbling in Nunneries, 185. Tunicks, 282. Twelfth-day, 310. Vagrant Monks, 269. Vaticination, 6. Veils, 188, 284. Vestiary, 282. Veronique, Vernicle, 351. Victor, St. Order of, at Paris, 164. Vigils, 32. Vignettes, 258. Virgin Mary 50, 54. Visions, 6. Visitations, 59, 163, 164. Visitors, 238. Vows of Chastity, 383, seq. Universities, mode of living in, 186. origin of, 406. Upper-crofts, 199. Wardens (Franciscans), 146. Washing, how done, 24. Whale, exhibition of, 160. Whitsuntide, 57, 58. Whistling, admired, 273. Widows mourning, 384. Wimple, 282, 284. Witchcraft, 7. Writing, variety of, 255. 427 INDEX OF LATIN TERMS EXPLAINED. Acoemiti, 17. Agnus Dei, 57. Allivis, 187. Altaria Animarum, 203. Ampullæ, 126, 204. Analogium, 203. Annotatio Regulæ, 222. Ante and Retro, 40. Antependium, 202. Antexenodochium, 233. Anticæ, 203. Antiphonar, 33. Antiquarii, 254. Arbores, 203. Arietem levare, 264. Bajuli obituum, 235. Barbarus, 3. Barbati fratres, 193. Bardicatio, 214. Benedicite, 30, 184. Biberes, 32. Breve, 213. Brodiatores, 255. Capelli, 369. Caritates, 31, 264. Ciborium, 202. Circa, Circator, 114. Clamatio, 223. Combennones, 20. Consolatio, 220. Consorores, 194. Contacium, 121. Continentes, 383. Conversi, 40. Conversæ, 383. Coronæ, 203. Credentia, 203. Cubiculum computatorium, 275. Culcitræ, 227. Curiæ claustrales, 229. Culla, 231. Curiarius, 108. Cymbalum, 216. Destina, 372. Digitus, 98, 216. Dorsale, 202. Eulogiæ, 69. Evigilans stultum, 210. Excubitoria, 204. Explorator, 114. Ezra, 203. Ferula, 31. Forma, 203. Formaria, Formarius, 147. Fratres, externi, 174. ad succurrendum, 191. Frico, 283. Grangiarius, 192. Gratiæ, 211. Imaginarii, 7. Jacobitæ, 354. Laura, 12. Lebitones, 27. Liber Vitæ, 222. Viventium, 219. Limina Apostolorum, 350. Liquamen, 24. Loricati, 378. Mandualis, 357. Mandra, 19. Manticulati, 315. Mappa Mundi, 202. Matricularius, 127. Melotes, 27. Metanæa, 203. Mixtus, 30. Monile, 325. Nota{cum210. Nutriti, 183. Oblatæ, 278. Oblati, 191. O Sapientia, 274. Palmiferi, 344. Panes coronati, 136. Particularius, 219. Paschall, 50, 54. Pax, 95. Peniti, 373. Perticæ, 202. Pisalis, 282. Piscina, 202. Pix, 202. Portitor Sigilli, 108. Postica, 203. Præpositus, 112. Presbyteræ, 383. Pro-aula, 238. Proctor, 108. Psalmi prostrati, 40. Pulsatorium, 238. Pyrale, 274. Pyrocaræ, 383. Quadra, 27. Regula, 222. Requies, 357. Retractus, 97. Retro-chorus, 205. Romei, Romipetæ, Romipetagium, 350. Sacrarium, 126. Salve Regina, 36. Salutatorium, 238. Sanctimoniæ, 278. Scimpodium, 25. Sclavina, 316. Scrippa, 330. 428 INDEX OF LATIN TERMS EXPLAINED. Scriptorium, 254. Scrobula, 318. Tetravelum, 202. Titulus, 213. Scrutatrices, 114. Secretarius, 126. Sedes Majestatis, 203. Sempecta, 265. Siborium, 202. Sigillum Altaris, 202. Skilla, 216. Spoliatorium, Statio, 231. 223. Tabula, 31; singing, 121. Triforia, 206. Trisantiæ, 226. Venia, 203, 306. Vestiaria, 282. Via Dei, Via Sanctorum, 333. Viatores, 193. Viduæ pullatæ, 384. Vigiliarii, 228. Ultreia, 328. Xenodochium, 20. محمد ཛ APR 17 1958 APR 17 1958