Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England

by Edward Lewes Cutts

St. Hugh of Lincoln is said to have settled the vicarage of Swynford, Lincolnshire, in 1200, an early example. His successor, William of Blois (1203-1209), as one of the earliest acts of his episcopate, required the Canons of Dunstable to endow a vicarage for their church of Pullokeshull with the altar dues, ten acres of land, and a third of the tithes. From the register of his successor, Hugh of Wells (1209-1235), it appears that three hundred vicarages were ordained in his long episcopate. In 1220 he made a visitation of Dunstable Priory, and made the monks settle vicarages in five of their churches. The Pope gave his successor, Bishop Grostete (1235-1254), authority to visit the exempt[87] orders, and to make them endow vicarages for their churches.

And what the Bishops of Lincoln were doing in their vast diocese, other bishops were also doing all up and down the country; the episcopal registers abound in records of these “taxations,” as they were called.[88] We take two or three examples from the register of Walter de Gray, Archbishop of York, 1215-1256.

The name of Kirkby Malamdale shows that it was an ancient parish. A charter of King John confirmed the gift of it by Adam Fitz Adam to the canons of West Dereham in Norfolk, quod suos in usus convertant proprios, salvâ tamen decenti et honorifica administratione ejus ecclesiæ. The abbot and canons appear, however, to have failed to fulfil the provisions stipulated for in the charter, for Archbishop Walter de Gray, in 1250, peremptorily summoned them “to appear before him on the morrow of the Lord’s Day on which is sung Lætare Jerusalem (fourth in Lent), wherever in his diocese he should happen to be, to show how the vicarage was endowed and under what authority, taking notice that whether they were present or not, if it should appear to be insufficient, he should proceed to augment it both by the apostolic authority (i.e. of the Apostolic See) and by his own.”[89]

These arrangements were (as has been said) universally subject to future modification. For example, in settling the Vicarage of Gerneby (Granby), which was in the presentation of the Prior and Convent of Thurgarton, Notts, the archbishop describes what the vicar is to have, and concludes that the Prior and Convent are to have the residue, “unless it should appear that an augmentation is needed.”[90] Appeals from vicars for an augmentation are not infrequent; for example, “Magister Orlandus, the perpetual vicar of Cunigbur (Conisborough), having urged against the prior and Convent of Lewes that his vicarage be taxed (= surveyed and valued and dealt with), we do so. The corn tithe, demesne lands and meadow of the church, and the tenants’ rents to belong to the prior and convent; the lesser tithes, etc., with two tofts, which we have assigned for a manse, to belong to the vicar.”[91]

In the ordination of the churches of Dalton, Urswick, Millum and Kirkby Ireleth belonging to Furness Abbey, the archbishop orders that Dalton shall be a vicarage of 15 marks, Urswick shall continue as it is, the mediety of Millum the abbot and convent shall retain ad proprios usus, and the other mediety of Millum and Kirkby and its chapels shall be at his own disposition; and that each mediety of Millum shall have a vicarage of 15 marks.

In the ordination of the churches belonging to the prior and canons of St. Oswald of Nostell, he says, that in consideration of the poverty and religious and honourable life of the prior and canons, he gives, grants, and confirms to them in pure and perpetual alms a pension of 20 marks of silver a year from the church of South Kirkby, which is in their advowson; and a pension of 15 marks from Tikhill, which is in their advowson. A little later, making a new ordination of the churches of Tikhill, South Kirkby, Rowell (Rothwell), Bouelton (Bolton), Wyverthorpe, and the mediety of Mekesburgh (Mexborough), he orders, that in the chapel of Slayneton (in the parish of Tikhill), since it has a baptistery and a cemetery on account of its distance from the mother church, there shall be a perpetual vicar, who for the maintenance of himself and of the lights and other necessaries of the chapel, shall have the whole altarage of Slayneton, with the lands belonging to the said chapel. The Vicar of South Kirkby shall have with him a fellow-priest (socium sacerdotum). The Vicar of Rothwell, for the maintenance of himself and a fellow-priest, shall have all the altarage with a competent manse. He assigns to the Church of York for ever the Church of Wyverthorpe (with the reservation of competent vicars), and both the mother church and the chapel of Helperthorpe; and he appoints that in the mother church of Wyverthorpe there shall be a perpetual resident priest vicar, with 24 marks a year, and in the chapel of Helperthorpe, on account of its distance from the mother church, there shall be a resident priest vicar, who for his sustenance and that of his clerks, that he may the more fully and honourably serve the said chapel, shall have 10 marks yearly.

In the ordination of the churches of Sherburn, Fenton, and St. Maurice, in York, which were appropriate to one of the prebendaries of York, he decrees that each shall have a perpetual vicar with cure of souls, who shall sustain the burden of their churches and their chapels; the Vicar of Sherburn to have the altarage of the church and its chapels, and pay to the canon 35 marks sterling a year; the Vicar of Fenton shall have all the altarage, paying 6 marks to the canon; and the Vicar of St. Maurice in Monkgate, York, shall pay 4 marks.

In the register of Bishop Bronscombe of Exeter (1258-1280) there are frequent records of the assignment of vicarages; in the majority of cases, the vicar is given a house and the small tithes, and is required to sustain all due and customary charges.

The ordination of a vicarage in a parish in which assistant-chaplains had been used to be employed, often stipulated for their continued employment and maintenance by the vicar, and often made other conditions as to the efficient service of the church and parish. For example, in settling the vicarage of the prebendal church of Sutton, Lincolnshire, 1276, it was ordained that the vicar should be assisted in the service of the church by a deacon and a clerk; and that he should maintain six candles and a lamp in the chancel at his own cost.[92]

In ordaining a vicarage in St. Mary’s Church in 1269, Bishop Bronscombe, of Exeter, requires that the vicar shall keep with him, at his own cost, two chaplains who shall serve the chapels in the parish.[93] Again, in 1283, in constituting a vicarage at Glasney, the same bishop requires that the vicar, by himself and by two chaplains maintained at his own cost, shall serve the mother church and its chapels as has been accustomed to be done.[94] In the following year the same bishop calls upon the Vicar of Harpford to maintain a chaplain to serve the Chapel of Fenotery.[95] Bishop Quivil, in 1283, requires the Vicar of St. Crantoch and St. Columb Minor to maintain a chaplain for the chapel at his own cost (Quivil’s “Register,” p. 371).