INTRODUCTORY
II
THE AUGUSTINIAN ORDER
St. Bartholomew's was a monastery of the order of the canons
regular of St. Augustine, or Austin Canons, sometimes called the
Black Canons, from the black cope and hood that formed the habit.
They are not to be confused either with the Austin Friars or with
the Black Friars who were Dominicans, and wore a black cloak and
hood. The order takes its name from St. Augustine, who was made
Bishop of Hippo in the year 395. (fn. 1) He lived with his clergy under
the same roof in a form of brotherhood, observing a common rule or
canon of life (from [kanon], rule, regular). (fn. 2) At the end of the eleventh
century there was a division; some of the clergy dispensed with the
greater part of the common rule, lived in a separate dwelling, and had
a separate stipend allotted to them, called a prebend. These were
called 'canons secular', from saeculum (the world), because they
conversed in the world; in fact, were very similar to the canons of
our cathedrals to-day. Others of the clergy continued to observe
the rule, to live together under one roof, with a common dormitory
and refectory, and to observe the statutes of their order: these
were called 'canons regular'. They were a less strict section of the
religious than the monks, but were, as a matter of course, bound by
the rules of obedience, poverty, chastity, and observance of the
seven canonical hours, and the ecclesiastical fasts. They could not
undertake the cure of souls without dispensation, as the secular
canons could do, but they were, in individual cases, allowed to serve
the parishes impropriated to their houses, which was not allowed
to monks.
Thus in 1137, as shown later, (fn. 3) Rahere granted the church of
St. Sepulchre to Hagno the clerk, a brother of the order, for life.
In 1398 the pope granted licence that three vicarages belonging to
St. Stephen's, Launceston, might be served by Augustinian canons. (fn. 4)
In 1443 the Archbishop of Canterbury gave licence to Thomas Thorn
ton, professed to the order—but who had been in trouble at St. Bartholomew's—to serve a cure in the diocese of Canterbury until he
might be restored to his house of St. Bartholomew. (fn. 5) At Rocester
(Staffs.) the senior canon next after the prior often held the vicarage. (fn. 6)
The order included women as well as men, but there were only
about six nunneries in England. One was the Abbey of Lacock,
Wilts.; others were at Belton, Leicester (known as the Grace Dieu
Priory), Burnham (Bucks.), &c.
The canons who occur in our records with the title Dominus were
priests in holy orders. The Clerici were professed canons but not
yet priests, and these would include the major orders as the diaconate,
the subdiaconate, and those who had received the tonsure. There
were also Novices, on probation as learners, though in the year 1532
four men who took part in the election of Prior Fuller are described
as 'Novices in Holy Orders professed for life'. (fn. 7) In the Cistercian
houses and in some of the Augustinian there were lay brothers called
Conversi, who were laymen inasmuch as they never proceeded to
the higher orders, but who had taken precisely the same vows as the
other canons. (fn. 8) These were chosen as men instructed in some craft
useful to the monastery.
A list of those in the priory of St. Bartholomew who were assessed
for the clerical subsidy in the year 1379 included the prior, fifteen
canons, with the title 'Dominus', three Clerici (of whom one was
John Meryfeld, or Mirfield, the great physician), then two Clerici
Ecclesie (one of whom would have been the clerk of the priory church
and the other of the parish church within the monastic church), and
the clerk of the refectory or frater, who would have been simply
a clerk in office. No lay-brothers under the name Conversi are
mentioned in our records, though 'canons not being priests' occur.
Thus in the year 1499 John Longe, a priest, (fn. 9) bequeathed to 'any
channon (sic) there beynge a priest and helpinge at the said masse
(of Requiem) and dirige xiid, and to every chanon there not beynge
a priest viijd.' Alice Bysshop, also in 1458, (fn. 10) bequeathed to each
canon outside the order of priesthood 6d. and to each clerk 4d. The
novices are mentioned in the will of Thomas Peerson (fn. 11) in 1485, where
there was a bequest 'to every novyse iiijd beside ther dewte to say
placebo and dirige for' him. Outside the house, benefactors were
admitted to the benefits of the order as confraters: Richard de
Wendover, a prebendary of St. Paul's, who had in the year 1250
given to the prior and convent of St. Bartholomew's a psalter in
two volumes, the epistles of St. Paul, an altar-slab, and an altar-cloth,
was received as a brother by the convent and admitted into all
the benefits of their house and his name was to be inscribed on their
roll. (fn. 12) William Martyn, in his will, in the year 1531, referred to his
'patent of brotherhood of the chapel of the monastery', (fn. 13) and in 1539
Richard Bellamy bequeathed to the canons 13s. 4d. because he was
'a brother with them of their chapter seal'. (fn. 14) Confraters could be
men or women, kings or queens. Thus, in the General Chapter held
at Leicester in the year 1513, King Henry VIII, Queen Katharine,
the Princess Mary, Cardinal Wolsey, the ex-queen of France, and
her husband, the Duke of Suffolk, were all enrolled as associates of
the order as confraters. (fn. 15) (Robert Flete, a 'confrater' of the hospital,
was ordained a subdeacon in the year 1446.)
The first house of the order founded in England was, according to
the bull of Pope Paschal II, that of St. Botolph and St. Julian,
Colchester, founded about the year 1105; though Walsingham
(Norfolk), Ikesworth (Suffolk), and Worksop (Notts.) are by some
considered to be earlier. Dunmow Parva, Essex, and St. Mary Overy—now St. Saviour's, Southwark—were both founded in the year
1106; Holy Trinity, Aldgate, in 1108; the two last by Queen Matilda,
who had herself been educated in the nunneries of Romsey and
Wilton. Llanthony (Monmouth) was also founded about 1108;
Leeds (Kent) in 1110; St. James's (Northampton) and Barnwell
(Cambridge) in 1112; and Hexham (Northumberland) in the
following year. Merton Priory (Surrey) and Cirencester Abbey
(Gloucester)—the latter one of the wealthiest, with a mitred abbot—were both founded in 1117; St. Osyth's (Essex) in 1118, and
Bolton Abbey (Yorkshire) in 1120. Plympton (Devon) and Kirkham
and Nostell (Yorkshire) were founded in 1121; the abbey at Kenilworth about 1122, and St. Bartholomew's, Smithfield, in 1123.
There were in all about thirty more or less important houses founded
before that of St. Bartholomew's, in comparison with which, at the
time of the suppression, Cirencester had a net income of £1,050,
Merton £957, Plympton £912, Waltham £900, St. Osyth's £677,
St. Mary Overy £624, and Kenilworth £538; as against £693 of
St. Bartholomew's. Holy Trinity, Aldgate, was surrendered in 1532;
its value, therefore, does not appear, but Stow said 'it was rich in
land and ornaments and passed all the priories in London and shire
of Middlesex'.
At the time of the foundation of St. Bartholomew's, the Augustinian
order had become popular, and by the close of the first half of the
century a further fifty houses were founded; while in the second
half of the same century another fifty houses of more or less
importance followed, including Nutley (Bucks.), 1162; Keynsham
Abbey (Somerset), 1167; and Repton (Derby), 1172. Waltham
Holy Cross, the second mitred abbey, was occupied by Austin canons
in 1177. In the thirteenth century there were about fifty-six new
foundations, the most important being that of Ashridge (Bucks.),
in the year 1283. In the fourteenth century there were not more
than fifteen new houses.
The great nunnery of Syon (Isleworth) was an Augustinian house
as reformed by St. Bridget of Sweden. It was founded in 1414 and
had a net income of £1,731. It was the only house of Brigittines in
England.
In Carey and Ellis's edition of Dugdale are enumerated, all told,
some 203 houses of the Augustinian order, and in addition 356
hospitals (including that of St. Bartholomew) for the relief of poor
and impotent persons, all of which, he says, followed the rule of
St. Augustine. Their distribution over the country is well shown
in Gasquet's English Monastic Life by a map printed in the appendix.
Four of these houses are now cathedrals;—Carlisle was so raised in
the twelfth century, Bristol and Oxford in the sixteenth, and Southwark in the nineteenth century.
There were also varieties of Augustinian canons, such as those who
followed St. Austin's rule according to the regulations of St. Nicholas
of Arroasia, those who followed the order of St. Victor, and those
of the institution of St. Mary of Merton, all of whom were represented
by a few houses in England. There were also the Premonstratensians, who lived according to the rule of St. Austin as reformed—about the year 1120—by St. Norbert at Premontré in Picardy; they
were, from their habit, called the White Canons and had about
thirty-five houses in England. The Sempringham or Gilbertine canons
were instituted by St. Gilbert at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, in the
year 1148; he composed his rule out of those of St. Austin and
St. Benedict. And lastly there were the canons regular of the Holy
Sepulchre, or canons of the Holy Cross, which order fell into decay
after the loss of Jerusalem in the year 1188. All the above orders
are at the present time merged in the order of St. Augustine of the
Lateran.
The Augustinian order was governed by a general chapter of the
province which met from time to time as occasion arose, or every four
years. It was held at different houses of the order: thus in the year
1231 it was held at St. Bartholomew's, when certain canons were
published in chapter. (fn. 16) In the year 1328 it was held at Huntingdon,
when one of the nine diffinitores (that is, one of those in whose hands
was the chief authority of the whole chapter) was the Prior of St. Bartholomew's. (fn. 17) In the year 1331 it was held in the church of the parish
of Cheshunt 'for good cause in the octave of Holy Trinity', (fn. 18) and the
following extracts from the minutes of this chapter will serve to
illustrate the nature of the business generally transacted at these
chapters.
It was ordained that a common contribution should be made of
one penny in every pound of the assessment of temporal and spiritual
possessions for the expenses of a suit against the Abbot of Waltham,
a manifest rebel and disobedient; the money to be raised by the
visitors (duly appointed) by the feast of All Saints, or fifteen days
after, to be paid to the Lord Prior of St. Bartholomew's, London (at
that time John de Pekesden). It was also ordained that the levy of
a farthing, granted in a previous chapter held at Huntingdon in 1328,
should be raised by the visitors and delivered to the Prior of St. Bartholomew's. Next it was ordained that the prelates (priors) of the
order in the province of Canterbury be circumspect in the reception
of members to the order, so that they do not receive men lacking in
letters, or unsuitable by reason of age or any other personal condition.
In the year 1339 the constitutions of the order were revised by Pope
Benedict XII. The first chapter of which we have found a record
after that date is that of the year 1343, (fn. 19) which record, translated
from the Latin, commences: 'A provincial chapter of the canons
regular of the order of St. Augustine in the provinces of Canterbury
and York, which are reckoned one province for the purpose of holding
such chapter, held at St James' without Norwich, under the presidency
of the prior of Kirkham in the diocese of York, who was constituted
and elected by the convent of the whole chapter aforesaid in place
of the prior of Gisburne in the same diocese. The statutes written
below were ordained and determined (one of the three determinators
of the province of Canterbury being the prior of St. Bartholomew's):
'First that the manner and place of the general chapter to be
held in future be according to the statute promulgated at Norwich
in the year 1325.
'Next that in every monastery of the order enquiry be made
by the prelates twice in the year concerning conspirators, informers
and slanderers of the prelates and brethren . . . and if any such be
found, which heaven forbid . . . let them be confined to close custody,
like a sick sheep, lest they infect the whole flock, on a diet suitable
for such, and estimated according to the judgment of the prelates
until they shew clear tokens of satisfaction and amendment.'
Visitors were appointed from members of the order to conduct
visitations of the various houses; so it was next 'ordained that,
if any such were sick or otherwise prevented, a suitable person from
the same convent, or another prelate from another convent, might
be substituted, as set out in the chapter held at Dunstable'.
Next, they determined that the prelates should 'secure that the
statutes, both old and new, promulgated by the lord the pope, be
observed'; and that the contumacy of the prelates who were absent
be duly punished in the next chapter according to the tenor of the
said statutes.
Prior Bolton, of St. Bartholomew's, in the year 1518, (fn. 20) was punished
under these statutes by a fine of the sum, large at that time, of £10.
He had been appointed a visitor with the Prior of Aylesbury. These
two failed to make the visitations, but the Prior of St. Bartholomew's
appeared by proxy at the general chapter and was consequently
excused on the plea that he was absent on the king's business (being
master of works to the king), but, because he had not performed the
duty of his visitation, either personally or by deputy, he was fined as
above. (fn. 21) At a General Chapter held at Northampton in the fifteenth
century a subsidy was voted to the Prior of St. Bartholomew's for his
labour and expenses at the Council of Pisa. (fn. 22)
All the monasteries of the order were, in addition to the visitation
of the prelates of their own order, subject to regular visitations by
the bishops of the diocese (usually every three years), to inquire both
as to their temporal and spiritual condition. Some monasteries were
exempt from this episcopal visitation, as was Waltham Abbey, but
this was a disadvantage to the house rather than otherwise. In the
year 1250, Boniface, the archbishop of the province, claimed the
right of visitation of St. Bartholomew's (and other houses) in place of
the bishop, which resulted in a violent scene in the church, described
later on. (fn. 23) An appeal to Rome apparently confirmed the archbishop's
claim, because in 1303 Archbishop Winchelsey visited St. Bartholomew's as metropolitan.
This is the only instance we have found recorded where it was
necessary to issue injunctions (for the injunctions said to have been
issued by Walter Sherington during a vacancy of the see of London
cannot be traced, as already shown (fn. 24) ), and the archbishop's injunction
related merely to such matters as the disposal of goods without
licence; the giving of garments to the brethren instead of money for
their purchase; keeping better silence; the gates to be closed at
proper times to prevent seculars disturbing the services, and so on. (fn. 25)
From foundation to suppression there is no instance recorded of
immorality in the priory.
In all cases there was an ultimate appeal to the pope. Such an
appeal was made in connexion with the sentence of excommunication
resulting from the disturbance at Archbishop Boniface's visitation,
but it is shown later, when describing the disputes between the priory
and the hospital, that the episcopal ordinance overruled the pope's
injunction. As soon as Cardinal Wolsey had extorted the power of
visitation from the pope, he issued, on 19 March, 1519, ordinances and
statutes to be observed by every monastery of the order of the canons
regular of St. Augustine. (fn. 26) Gasquet observes (fn. 27) that 'the ordinances
thus enacted are valuable evidence as to the state of the great
Augustinian order at that time in England. They point to a severity
of discipline and a mortified mode of life altogether incompatible with
that general laxity since attributed to them in common with the
other great bodies of regular clergy.' Had Wolsey and the king
continued this policy of reformation instead of that of annihilation
it might have been better for England.
The Augustinian canons regular, like the monks, were governed
by a rule common to all the houses of the order. The daily life was
governed by another set of regulations due to custom only, known
as 'observances' or 'customs', in accordance with the rule, which
were of nearly equal value with the rule itself. (fn. 28) The late J. Willis
Clark, in the year 1897, published the Consuetudinarium, or 'the
Observances in use at the Augustinian priory of Barnwell', Cambridgeshire. (It forms the eighth book of the Barnwell Cartulary, MSS.
Harl. 3601.) The customs were probably the same at St. Bartholomew's as at Barnwell, though, as there is no record, we cannot say
so with any degree of certainty. In the same volume he has also
published both the first and the second 'rules' themselves. From
this work much of what follows is gleaned, and the reader is referred
to it for further information on the subject: all we can do here is to
quote the opening sentence of the first 'rule'.
'Before all things, dearest brethren, let God be loved, then
your neighbour; for these be the commandments that are chiefly
given to us. These, therefore, are the precepts that we lay
upon you, who are established in monasteries, for your
observance. In the first place, inasmuch as you are assembled
together in one place, that you be of one mind in the house;
and let there be to you one mind and one heart in God. And
call not anything your own, but let all things be common to
you. And let there be distributed to each of you, by him that
is set over you, food and raiment; not equally to all, because you
are not all of equal value, but rather to each of you as each shall
have need.' (fn. 29)
The dress of the canons was a black cassock lined with fur (as were
the garments of the laity), known as a pellicium or pelisse; over this
was worn a super pellicium or surplice, or sometimes a white rochet
with tight sleeves and a girdle. Over the breast was a fur almuce
or amess for warmth, which varied in different centuries. (fn. 30) At first it
was worn over the head (fn. 31) or thrown back over the shoulders and
brought over the chest, where at one time it ended in fur tails. Early
in the fifteenth century it was continued below the knees by two
stole-like strips with rounded ends, as seen on the effigy of Rahere in
the church (pl. IV, p. 72). (fn. 32) The outer garment was a black cope with
its hood hanging over the shoulders, lined with fur in the winter;
a four-sided cap, or biretta, was also worn.
The food was spare, only two meals a day, dinner and supper,
being mentioned in the Barnwell observances. That at dinner consisted of fish, meat, and vegetables. The drink was home-brewed
beer, which was taken both at dinner and supper, and also at collation
before going to bed. As this was the drink also served to the many
guests entertained by the monasteries, it is not surprising that the
consumption was large. Especially would this apply to a large
monastery in a place like London. (fn. 33)
The loaves at St. Bartholomew's were small, only weighing 17
ounces, as against 30 ounces at Holy Trinity, Aldgate, and 52 ounces
for the large loaves and 26 ounces for the small ones at St. Paul's. (fn. 34)
The canons at St. Paul's received two large and two small loaves a day;
we do not know what was the allowance at St. Bartholomew's.
The canons kept the seven canonical hours. The great service of
Mattins or Nocturns was at midnight, and consisted of psalms and
lessons immediately followed by Lauds. This service of versicle,
chapter, hymn, Benedictus, and prayer was sometimes preceded by
the Te Deum. This was so at St. Bartholomew's, as thus chronicled
in the Book of the Foundation: 'upon a day when by custom the
canons of St. Bartholomew's, before the dawn, mattins being ended,
began to sing Te Deum laudamus and a peal of bells was rung, a poor
man imprisoned close by heard the sound of the bells and of the
hymns.' Prime was held at daybreak, or six in the morning, or later
on a fast day of one meal. This service, followed by morning mass
and confession, was then followed by chapter, when the martyrology
for the day and a portion of the 'rule' were read. Any temporal
business affecting the whole convent, such as the execution of a deed
(of which we have many records here) was also then transacted.
Terce was sung at the third hour of the day, about 9 o'clock. It
followed immediately after chapter, and was succeeded by high mass.
After high mass came sext, at about noon, and then dinner, before
which no food had been taken. In summer the canons then went to
the dorter for repose until three o'clock.
None was at three, after which there was some relaxation or exercise
and some drink in the frater and work.
Vespers, or evensong, similar to lauds, but with the Magnificat,
were said at about 5 o'clock. On the eve of a festival this was the
first evensong of the feast; that on the day itself was called, as
now, the second evensong, at which the altar was incensed during the
singing of the Magnificat. An illustration of this, which is referred
to later, (fn. 35) occurs in the Book of the Foundation, when, in the year
1148, on St. Bartholomew's Day, 'the canons were chanting the
second vespers' and 'when they came to the hymn of Mary, the
most Blessed Mother of God, at the incensing of the altars', a girl—deaf, dumb, and blind—was miraculously cured.
After evensong the canons remained in the cloister until suppertime, though on fast days there was no supper. Collation was held
in the chapter-house, when a canon of the church was read; after
which the brethren either went to the frater, where beer was served,
or went straight to the church for compline, which was said at about
eight o'clock, and then to bed at nine.
Compline is twice referred to in the Book of the Foundation, in
both cases in connexion with miraculous cures. In one case it was
'on a certain day after compline' that 'the bridle of the tongue'
of a dumb youth 'was loosed'. (fn. 36) In another, in the year 1159, a
woman was carried in a litter to the church and 'on the vigil of
the festival of the most blessed apostle Bartholomew, about the hour
of compline, she began to recover her long-lost strength'. (fn. 37)
Although the Austin canons were not bound to manual labour
like the monks, their day was fully occupied by prayer, study, education, charity, great hospitality, and other good works. Dr. Cox, in
his English Monasteries, quotes the report of the commissioners for
dissolving the Austin priory of Ulverscroft, which says that the
canons were engaged in 'embrothering (illuminating) or writing books
in a very fair hand; making their own garments, carving, painting,
and graffing; the house keeping such hospitality that except by
singular good provision it would not be maintained; and the relief
of the poor inhabitants'.
The vows of the order were only allowed to be undertaken after
a man had had a year's probation, and after minute inquiries as to
character, position, and health had been made. But a man having,
at his own desire, and with the consent of the convent, taken the
vows, then the law of the land compelled the fulfilment of them.
Thus, King Edward III, in the year 1364, issued a mandate (fn. 38) to
cause Richard de Hexton, canon, and John Kayso, lay-brother, of
the house of St. Bartholomew, Smithfield, professed to the said order,
who were then vagabonds in secular habit as rebels to their prior,
as he had signified, to be arrested and delivered to him to be chastised
according to the discipline of the order.
Blood-letting, or bleeding, which was also common outside the
monasteries, was performed on each brother at least seven times a
year. It took place in the infirmary, where the patient remained for
three days. As conversation was allowed, and the food more generous
than at other times, it was looked forward to as a relaxation from
the usual monastic life.
The canons had their servants in each department of the house,
who did the more menial duties; they also had horses on which to
ride when they went outside the monastery—a necessity in the
condition of the streets at that time. There is confirmation of this
in an amusing account, in the Book of the Foundation, of how the
prior rode from West Smithfield to Old Jewry to recover his lost
antiphoner (referred to again later). (fn. 39)
When the prior of a monastery died, it was customary to enter
the name on a roll,. which was sent round to the other monasteries
requesting their prayers for the soul of their late prelate; hence this
obituary roll was also called the bede roll. The oldest English roll
extant is that on the death of Lucy, the prioress and foundress of the
priory of Hedingham, (fn. 40) which dates from about the year 1230. No
less than 120 churches acceded to the request for their prayers, the
church of St. Bartholomew, London, being the twenty-third on the
list. Each answered, 'May the soul of Lady Lucy, prioress of
Hedingham, and the souls of all the faithful departed by the mercy
of God rest in peace. We concede to her the benefits of our church.
We pray for you; pray for us.'
The death day of a founder was kept, like that of the saints, as a
festival or feast. At St. Bartholomew's that of Rahere (September 20)
was kept as 'a new solemnity', and the writer of the Book of the
Foundation says that 'the day of his nativity into heaven being
known, it was celebrated on earth with great mirth and dancing'. (fn. 41)
Processions (fn. 42) were held on Sundays before terce, when the blessing
of the water and the aspersions took place. Processions were also
held on Candlemas, Palm Sunday, Easter Day, Ascension Day, the
Assumption, and on the day of the patronal festival. The procession
went round the cloister, returning to the church by the western
cloister door, and so into the nave in double column, where a station
was made before the rood; then passing through the two doors of
the rood screen, the columns joined and entered the quire through
the pulpitum or quire screen. On the feast of the Purification, the
procession went first into the Lady Chapel. On All Souls' Day and
other great festivals, the procession went round the cemetery. The
processional path round the cemetery at St. Bartholomew's is mentioned
in the will of Walter Whytefeld, in the year 1451, (fn. 43) and referred to
later. (fn. 44) The attendance of the brethren of the hospital at the processions on festivals was one of the causes of disagreement between
the priory and the hospital, and was only finally settled in the year
1373, when their attendance was entirely excused.
The canons were allowed to go outside the precincts of the monastery
to collect alms or victuals for the poor and such-like purposes. This
was so at St. Bartholomew's from the first, for the aged Alfune, we
are told, was accustomed to so collect. (fn. 45)
Some canons were master builders, Prior Bolton, in the sixteenth
century, being an example. Some studied medicine, as John Mirfield
in the fifteenth century. Sometimes a canon would be sent to the
university, with a student's pension, that he might acquire additional
knowledge and impart it to the others.
The officials of an Augustinian monastery were, in the case of a
priory, as follows:
The prior, or prelate, was the head of the house, and his decision
in all matters was final. He had his separate 'lodgings' (as his
house was generally called), his own chapel, his own kitchen and
servants, and his own horses. In the earlier days it was his duty
to take his meals in the frater and to sleep in the dorter. It was his
duty to say mass on certain days and to preside at chapter. His seat
in the cloister was next to the door of the church. He was chosen
either from members of the convent or, if none such was suitable,
then from some other convent of the same order; and this was the
arrangement prescribed in the king's charter for St. Bartholomew's.
On the death of the prior, the sub-prior and other members of the
convent went to the king to report the vacancy and to ask licence
to elect a successor, which being granted the convent proceeded to
election. The result of the election was notified to the king and, when
his assent was granted, the king notified the bishop. The convent
then, by one or more of the canons, appeared before the bishop and
presented a decree of the election of the new prior and asked for
confirmation. On that being granted, and the prior-elect having done
fealty to the king, the king issued a mandate to the escheator (who,
in the case of London, was the lord mayor) to restore the temporalities which had been, in the usual way, in the escheator's hands since
the death of the late prior. St. Bartholomew's, however, claimed that,
as the charter of 1133 freed them from every earthly subjection and
service, so the convent could retain control of the temporalities during
an interregnum, and it will be seen later that the canons successfully
pleaded this exemption in the years 1297, 1363, and 1414.
The licence to elect, the assent to the election, the notification to
the bishop, and the mandate for the restoration of the temporalities are
as a rule entered on the Patent Rolls; but in some early cases the
enrolment was unfortunately omitted. The actual election of the
prior was carried out by one of three methods. First, per viam
scrutinii; that is, by the votes of the individuals of the convent.
Secondly, per compromissum, when the election was entrusted to
a small committee or was delegated to one eminent person; and
thirdly, per viam Spiritus Sancti, or by acclamation of the common
wish of the whole body by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The
second process seems to have been in general vogue, at any rate in
the later years, whereby the appointment was practically in the
hands of the king or his chancellor. This, as will be seen, (fn. 46) was the case
at the election and installation of the last prior, Robert Fuller, in
the year 1532 (though in 1510 they proceeded to elect by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit). (fn. 47) The election of the master of the hospital
followed the same method. (fn. 48) In the year 1525 Cardinal Wolsey was
delegated to elect a new master. The election, confirmation, and subsequent installation were set with many legal formalities, all of which,
in the case of Robert Fuller, and the masters of the hospital above
referred to, are fully set out in the bishop's registers at St. Paul's. (fn. 49)
The sub-prior of the monastery was appointed by the prior, whose
place he took when the latter was absent. He slept in the dorter,
and supervised the brethren. He appears many times in the records
of St. Bartholomew's.
The other officials were generally called 'obedientiaries'. The
armarius, or precentor, had charge of the choir and of the service
books; he was also the librarian. He is referred to, together with
the sub-prior, sacristan, and cellarer of St. Bartholomew's, in the
year 1250, as having been excommunicated in connexion with the
disturbance that arose at the visitation of Archbishop Boniface in
that year. It was the precentor of St. Bartholomew's, London, who,
in the year 1254, acting as the sub-delegate and conservator of the
privileges of the prior of the hospital of Jerusalem in England, bade
the abbot and convent of St. Dogmael, Pembrokeshire, to restore
within eight days brother Richard de Kerren, apostate, and the goods
which he had wrongly carried off with him. (fn. 50)
The Succentor had similar duties to those of the precentor, but it
was necessary for him to have skill in singing.
The Sacrista, or sacrist, had the care of the fabric of the church;
also of the altars, the reliquaries, the plate, candles, linen, vestments, &c. He is referred to in the will of Robert de Watford, in the
year 1368, who, having willed to be buried in 'the churchyard of
the priory of St. Bartholomew de Smethefeld', bequeathed a taper
of ten pounds to be given yearly to St. Paul's church, to stand before
the crucifix: it was the sacristan of St. Bartholomew's who was to
cause the taper to be brought and to have the unconsumed remains
of the same.
At St. Bartholomew's the sacrist had separate receipts allotted to
his office, consisting of rents from houses in London (£14 9s. 8½d.);
the offerings that came during the year to the altar of Hippolitus
(£4); every fourth penny coming to the high altar during the year
(£1 16s. 8d.); stallage at the feast of St. Bartholomew (6s. 8d.);
grazing of the two cemeteries (4s.), and fruit growing in the garden
and in the cemeteries (4s.); the total of which, in the year 1306, was
thus £21 1s. 0½d. (fn. 51)
The cellerarius, or cellarer, was the right hand of the prior in
temporal matters, and did the work of a senior bursar of a college,
joined to that of a steward. With the prior he managed the estates
of the monastery, visiting the manors under his care. He also, at
St. Bartholomew's, had a separate income for his office, which, at the
time of the rental (1306), consisted of rents from London parishes
(£32 0s. 2d.); oblations at the high altar on St. Bartholomew's Day
(£12); tolls at 'the Fair' (20s.); fruit from the garden in the close
(13s. 4d.); rent from St. Mary's Blyboro' (£2 16s. 8d.); rent of glebe
at Theydon Bois (13s. 4d.); rent from Bobbingworth (8s.); and half
the advowson of the church at Danbury (20s.), and other rents
£45 4s., amounting in all to £190 4s. 6d. (fn. 52) The friends of William
Fynche, the cellarer, in the year 1527, offered Wolsey £300 for his
college at Oxford (Christ Church), for his favour towards Fynche's
preferment to the priorship. But without avail, as he was not made
prior at Bolton's death in 1532.
The refectorarius, or fraterer, was responsible for getting the food
on the table in a proper manner. The only record we have concerning
him at St. Bartholomew's is that William, the clerk of the frater
(clericus de refectorio), was assessed for the clerical subsidy at 4d. in
the year 1379. (fn. 53) The only income allotted to him was the sum of
11s. 10d. from rents in the parish of St. Bennet, Woodwharf. (fn. 54)
The coquinarius, or kitchener, presided over the kitchen, and had
under him a cook and caterer. At St. Bartholomew's his separate
allotted income in the year 1306 consisted of rents in London
(£55 10s. 3½d. net); from the garden of the morehawe (20s.); from the
soil of the large garden within the close (6s. 8d.), and 1 lb. of cummin. (fn. 55)
The camerarius, or chamberlain, had, with lay officials under him,
to do with the clothes of the canons. At Barnwell he provided a
laundress, but at St. Bartholomew's we have a record of Prior Fuller
appointing by deed a man and his wife as launders of the monastery. (fn. 56)
Here the chamberlain also had for the use of his office a separate
income of £12 which was derived from St. Sepulchre's church. (fn. 57)
The hospitarius, or guest master, had charge of the guests, and,
although we have failed to find a record of this officer at St. Bartholomew's, he must have held a very responsible office considering the
large number of guests that flocked to the monastery. (fn. 58)
The infirmarius, or master of the infirmary, had charge of the old
and infirm, also of the sick: he had an infirmary cook under him.
At St. Bartholomew's he was allotted rents from tenements in eight
parishes in London, amounting to £3 15s. 2d., and in addition fruit
of the garden value 2s., less socage to be paid 2d. (fn. 59)
The elemosinarius or almoner distributed the alms of the monastery,
and in some houses had charge of the school, but this officer does not
occur in the records of St. Bartholomew's.
The duties of the bailius or bailiff were considerable, as he had to
deal with the tenants on the different estates and see that the farms
were properly cultivated. The rental of the year 1306 mentions that
the bailiff of St. Bartholomew's took the revenue from the Suffolk
estates, at that time amounting to £40 2s. 1d. also that from Little
Stanmore Manor, amounting to £10 7s. 4d. His accounts were verified
by the auditors.
The auditor was appointed by the prior. An instance of such an
appointment at St. Bartholomew's is in a deed among the Harleian
Charters (fn. 60) of the year 1533, wherein prior Fuller appoints John
Burgoyne, gentleman, and Thomas Burgoyne his son, both living in
the close, as auditors of the accounts of all receivers and collectors
of the possessions of the monastery within the city and suburbs of
London, at an annual payment of 40s., and 20s. for a clerk. (fn. 61)
A steward of the manors was also appointed by the prior. Prior
Bolton, in the year 1522, granted one Geoffrey Chambers the office
of steward of all the manors of the priory, and an annuity of £4
out of the manor of Canonbury, which the Court of Augmentations
consented to pay with all arrears in the year 1542. (fn. 62)
There was the office of clerk of the church of the priory as well as
that of the parish clerk, for, as will be seen, (fn. 63) prior Fuller, in the year
1536, granted to Stephen Fyndley the office called 'the clerk of the
church of the said monastery and the office of the parish clerk of the
church or chapel of All Saints which is within the said church of St. Bartholomew, which offices he had exercised before the time of the
grant'. The Court of Augmentations in consequence granted him
£3 10s. 0d. and arrears for life. (fn. 64) In the Clerical Subsidy Roll of the
year 1379, (fn. 65) in a list of those assessed for the subsidy occur Nicholas
and Thomas clerici ecclesiae (clerks of the church); one we assume
was the clerk of the priory church, the other the clerk of the parish
church. The clerk had the ringing of the bells, at any rate when the
Blackfriars were in occupation, because John Garatt in his will, dated
1556, bequeathed 1s. to the clerk of the church for his ringing. (fn. 66)
There was a portarius or janitor, who had charge of the great gate
of the monastery and slept there. He was a layman, and his duty
was to note those who went in and came out, admitting visitors and
notifying the guest master of their arrival. At St. Bartholomew's
there are instances of the janitor being a man of means, for there is
a very early grant by William, son of Theobald, to Martin, son of
Geoffrey de Cornhell, of all the land that Warin the porter of St. Bartholomew's held of him in the parish of Yseldun (Islington), paying
6s. 4½d. yearly. (fn. 67) And in the year 1336, as we shall see, (fn. 68) Stephen de
Clopton, janitor of the priory, bequeathed 'to the prior his shops in
the parish of St. Mary de Aldermannebury for the maintenance of
the work of the chapel of St. Mary newly constructed'. (fn. 69) And in the
year 1393 John Wrighte, janitor of the priory, who willed to be buried
before the high altar, bequeathed to the church for a vestment for the
celebration of masses money owed him by the prior, also 26s. 8d. for
the making of a dorsal for the high altar, a penny each to a thousand
poor persons, and a chalice of silver gilt for the service of the altar
of St. Katharine, besides many bequests to secular chaplains to pray
for his soul. (fn. 70)
There were, in addition, chantry priests saying masses within the
church for the repose of souls, and of these there were apparently
five in the year 1420, (fn. 71) when a return of benefices in the see of London
was made. They are named and described as chaplains enjoying
stipends in the priory church.
The Rev. Canon Gilbert Higgins, C.R.L., told the writer that
Augustinian canons without any distinctive label, as at St. Bartholomew's, are extinct in England. The canons regular of the Lateran
to whom they became affiliated now occupy their place. Their
dress is a white cassock with a plain linen rochet, over which
is worn in winter a black cope or cappa, very like the Dominicans,
and in summer and on feast days a surplice or cotta.