Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England

by Edward Lewes Cutts

It may seem a little invidious, perhaps, to add these several sums together and bring out the totals; but it is a part of the work which we have undertaken, and we do not feel at liberty to decline it; it will, at least, remind us that we have in modern times made some economic changes in the administration of cathedral affairs; not altogether satisfactory ones, for, with the usual want of moderation in the minds of reformers, instead of judicious pruning, the cruel knife has left little beyond a bare stem.

To sum up, then—

Mr. George Hennage, the dean, had £196 10s. 8d. of his deanery; £83 11s. 1d. of the Dean and Chapter Fund; £95 17s. 10d. of the Fabric Fund; £42 7s. 4d. of his Prebend of Biggleswade;[365] £20 as Master of Tatteshall College;[366] £23 11s. as Rector of Gedney;[367] £27 3s. 4d. as Rector of Washingborough;[368] £22 8s. 5¼d. as Rector of Howby;[369] £23 8s. 6d. as Rector of Benningworth;[370] and £13 10s. as Rector of Flyxboro’;[371] making a total of £548 8s. 3d.

Mr. James Mallett, the precentor, had only £8 2s. 4d. of his precentory; £83 11s. 1d. his share of the Dean and Chapter Fund; £95 17s. 10d. of the Fabric Fund; he was Prebendary of Empyngham,[372] which brought him £35 6s. 5d., and Rector of Longleddenham,[373] £29 12s. 8d. Total, £252 10s. 4d.

Mr. Christopher Massingberd, the chancellor, had £54 1s. 5d. of his chancellorship; £83 11s. 1d. of the Dean and Chapter Fund; and £95 17s. 10d. of the Fabric Fund; as Vicar of Byker,[374] £15; as Rector of High Kame,[375] £19 16s. 2d.; as Rector of Foletby,[376] £21 2s. 8d. Total, £289 9s. 2d.

The treasurership, vacant at that moment, was worth £10 13s. 4d.; with £83 11s. 1d. of the Dean and Chapter Fund, and £95 17s. 10d. of the Fabric Fund. Total, £190 2s. 3d.

Mr. John Pryn, the sub-dean, had £35 8s. of his dignity; £83 11s. 1d. of the Dean and Chapter Fund; £95 17s. 10d. of the Fabric Fund; and of his Prebend of Keton,[377] £29 10s. 2d. Total, £244 7s. 1d.

It must be borne in mind that these were great dignitaries of one of the greatest and wealthiest dioceses, and had to maintain a certain degree of state in their household and expenditure. Each dignitary had also to find at his own cost everything which belonged to his office; the precentor everything which belonged to Divine services, vestments, service books, etc. The chancellor had to maintain the divinity school of the cathedral—at one time a very famous one, the cathedral grammar school, and was responsible for all the schools in the city and county.

Should any reader have recognized among these dignitaries of Lincoln Cathedral the names of well-known families of the diocese, he must not be satisfied with a passing thought on the effect of family influence in the distribution of Church patronage, which may be true enough; he must add the reflection that in those times it was thought fitting not only to give the grandest architecture, the most costly material, and the best art to the material church, but also to dedicate the best blood of the people to its ministry; much as in old times the greatest and proudest nobles held domestic offices—dapifer and the like—at the court of the king, and no one who was not of gentle birth was thought worthy to attend him.

We shall entirely fail to understand the whole spirit and meaning of a mediæval cathedral if we have not fully grasped the idea that it was not intended to be merely a centre of busy diocesan work; the magnificent building and its sumptuous furniture, the numerous and complex organization of its staff of ministers richly endowed, were all directed to the honour and worship of Almighty God. It was the embodiment in this dispensation of the ideal of worship which God Himself sanctioned in the old dispensation, when His Temple at Jerusalem was “exceeding magnifical,”[378] and the high priest wore jewels of untold price on his mystic breastplate, and a whole tribe—a twelfth of the people—were set apart for the ministry, and the well-endowed priests came up in the turn of their twenty-four courses to the honour of officiating for a fortnight in a year before the Presence in the Holy of Holies.