One of the reasons which Bishop Alnwick gave for assigning large salaries to the holders of stalls was the way in which they “devote themselves to the public service, in self-imposed tasks over and above their daily expositions and constant toils and numerous burdens.”[357]
With the help of the “Valor Ecclesiasticus” of Henry VIII., we are able to people the cathedral, and palace, and residentiary houses, and vicar’s court, and chantries, with the men who lived and served there at the time of the Reformation, and even to pry into their account-books and tell their several incomes, to the third part of a farthing.
The Right Rev. John Longland,[358] who was the bishop in those troublous times, lived in St. Hugh’s stately halls and towers on the sunny slope under the shelter of the minster; and to maintain his dignity, and household, and hospitalities, and various expenses, the annual value of “all the domains, manors, castles, parks, rectories, lands, tenements, and other temporal possessions,” of this see was £Mccclxxviij, viij, vq’, i.e. to say, £1378 8s. 5¼d.; and “all the spiritualities of the said Lord John” amounted, one year with another, to Diiijxxiiij, viij, xjq’, i.e. £584 8s. 11¼d.; making together an income of mdcccclxij, xvij, iiijob, or £1962 17s. 4½d., equivalent in our money to about £23,554 8s. 6d.[359]
If the reader does not know what the “spiritualities” here mentioned are, he is not more ignorant than some great statesmen have been. For, on one occasion, the late Earl Russell asserted that the bishops received their spiritual authority from the Crown, on the ground that by one of the documents issued from a Crown office to a newly-elected bishop, restored the “spiritualities” as well as the “temporalities” to the new occupant of the see. The “Valor” tells us of what these spiritualities consisted: Portions and pensions from benefices, fees for procurations and synodals, institutions and inductions, faculties, probate of wills, and such-like. Temporalities, in short, are real property, and spiritualities are fees and perquisites.
The dean and chapter had, as a common fund, the profits of twenty appropriate rectories; and from these and other sources they derived an annual income; for part of which they were only trustees, and had to pay out of it for the maintenance of the choristers, and the stipends of various chantry priests and others; leaving a balance of £Dvj xiij iiij ob’q di q’, which means £506 13s. 4½d. ¼ and half ¼. This balance was divided among the six residentiary canons, making £83 11s. 1d. to each, with a remainder of ij ob’ di’q’, or 2½d. and half a farthing. The residentiary canons in question were the dignitaries, Mr. George Hennage, the Dean; James Mallet, the precentor; Christopher Massingberd, the chancellor; John Pryn, the sub-dean; and the others were, John Talbot[360] and Simon Green, alias Foderby.
The dean and chapter were also trustees of a fabric fund derived from land and rents; out of which they had first to pay the stipends of several chantry priests, three and a chapel clerk serving the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and one each at the Welburn and Crosby Chantries; then they had to pay certain workmen constantly retained, a carpenter, “lathonius,”[361] plumber, glazier, smith, cleaner of brass vessels and candelabra, surveyor of the fabric, organist[362] at the mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and lastly the bailiff of lands and tenements. The balance after these payments was £575 7s. 2½d. ¼ and half ¼; and this balance was divided among the six residentiary canons aforesaid, giving £95 17s. 10½d. to each; it must be borne in mind that they were liable for occasional heavy expenditure on the repairs of fabric, which had to come out of their purses. Each dignity had its own special endowments; the separate estates of the deanery[363] produced an income of £196 10s. 8d.; of the precentory £8 2s. 4d., of the chancery £54 1s. 5d., of the treasury £10 13s. 4d.; of the sub-deanery £35 8s.
Then, again, every dignitary held a prebend of more or less value, which shall be set forth presently in a general statement.
A little research reveals the fact that each of the dignitaries also held one or more parochial benefices; for example, Mr. George Hennage[364] was Master of the Collegiate Church of Tatteshall; he was also Rector of Gedney, Washingburghe, Howby, Benningworth, and Flyxburgh.
The precentor also held the Rectory of Longleddenham. The chancellor was also Vicar of Byker, Rector of Highkame, and Rector of Foletby. Mr. Pryn, the sub-dean, seems to have held nothing besides his dignity and his prebendal stall, except the Singing Schools (under the precentor). There were Prebendal Schools under the oversight of the prebendaries themselves, and others “which are maintained by local managers for the instruction of their parishioners in faith and letters.”