The parishioners, as already pointed out, were bound by law and custom to provide for the repair of the nave of their parish church, and for the general upkeep of the church services. There was little need to compel them to fulfil this duty, for the churchwardens’ accounts and other documents, especially during the fifteenth century, when we have the fullest information, show us that over the entire length and breadth of England the people were gladly rebuilding and beautifying their parish churches. A few examples of this spirit may be of interest as showing what God’s house was to the entire people in pre-Reformation days. The labours of Prebendary Hingeston-Randolph on the diocesan registers of the Exeter diocese enable the inquirer into parochial manners and customs of the past to find ample material. In the register of Bishop Stafford of Exeter (1394-1419) an account of the rebuilding of the parish church of Broadhempston is given. The parishioners, about A.D. 1400, petitioned the bishop to be allowed to rebuild their church: they represented that it was in a ruinous condition and notoriously clumsily constructed. It was their wish, they said, to build it on a larger scale, and in a different part of the churchyard. To this the bishop assented, on condition of their promising to complete the new church within two years of pulling down the old, and he granted an Indulgence to all who should contribute to “so great and pious a work.” On the 22nd November, 1401, the work of the new church was apparently far enough advanced for use, for a licence was granted for one year to celebrate Divine service “in the church or basilica newly erected and constructed in the cemetery,” and this licence was twice renewed for the years 1402 and 1403.
The editor of the Receipts and Expenses in Building Bodmin Church, published by the Camden Society, says that “there is scarcely a parish in Cornwall that does not bear testimony to the energy displayed in church restoration” in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. He might have added that like activity is manifested at this time in almost every quarter of England; but certainly Bodmin furnishes us with an interesting example of the religious energy displayed by the inhabitants of a mediæval parish. For the year 1469-70 the wardens account for £196 7s. 4½d. collected and £194 3s. 6½d. spent—large sums considering the then value of money, and specially great when it is remembered that besides this there were the gifts of material, such as windows, trees, etc., and that the labour of the workmen was given without other reward than what came from their love of the work. From the preface of the editor of these accounts we glean some interesting particulars, all the more interesting as we have no reason to think that Bodmin was any exception. The accounts “exhibit a remarkable unanimity in the good work. Every one seems to have given according to his means and up to his means. Many who gave money gave labour also; many who could not give money laboured as best they might, and others gave what they could.” We have gifts of lambs, of a cow, and of a goose. One woman, in addition to her subscription, sold her crock for 20d.; and all found its way into the common treasury. No age or sex seems to have kept aloof. We find an “hold woman” contributing 3s. 4½d., while the maidens in Fore Street and Bore Street gave subscriptions in addition to the sums received from the Guild of Virgins in the same streets. The vicar gave his year’s salary, and the “parish people” who lived out of the town “contributed 19s.” After an examination of the accounts, the editor attributes the working up of the zeal of the people to the guilds, and he adds that “religious life permeated society in the Middle Ages, particularly in the fifteenth century, through the minor confraternities.” Of these societies it will be necessary to write at some length later, and here it will be sufficient to say that almost every inhabitant of Bodmin appears to have belonged to one or more of these societies. From the long list of voluntary subscriptions, it appears that all were eager to have a part in the work of building up their church—a church which should be a credit to Bodmin. All sorts and conditions of men and women are entered as contributors on the roll of parishioners, more than 460 in number. Servants appear as well as masters and mistresses, sons and daughters as well as their fathers and mothers.
The same sort of story is told in every set of parish accounts that we possess—a story of popular devotion to the material fabric of the parish church. To take another and later example: At St. Mary’s, Cambridge, 1515, it was necessary to build a porch and a vestry, and the people determined to make a voluntary collection for the work each Sunday during the last six months of the year. At these, from 6s. to 8s.—from £4 to £5 of our money—was gathered each time, and the building was carried out under the supervision of the churchwardens.
The evidence of mediæval wills is the same as to this very general interest in church building. For example, Robert Dacres of Beverley, a weaver, who died in 1498, left £16 for the making of the north aisle of the church—the parish church in which he had worshipped—provided the wardens began the work within a year. If they did not do so, then the money was to be spent on ornamenting the church. So, too, the will of Robert Pynbey, a chantrey priest of Hornby, shows that, conjointly with another priest, he had established a chantry, having previously built the south aisle of Hornby parish church. So, too, in 1490, the sub-dean of York leaves many legacies to assist in the repairs of the various churches with which he had been connected. In the same way some of the chantry certificates of the reign of Edward VI. reveal the fact that lands had been left to the churchwardens to sell for the purpose of rebuilding certain parish churches, and that they had been disposed of to that end.
It must, of course, be remembered that buildings and repairs of this kind were not lightly undertaken by the wardens without the full knowledge and consent of the parishioners generally. For example, in 1512-13 it was proposed to do some extensive works at St. Mary-at-Hill in London, and the entry in the churchwardens’ book is as follows:—
“It is determined that they shall go in hand with the building of the church at March next. Memorandum: that John Allthorpe and Stephen Sondyrson have promised to take charge and keep reckoning to pay all such workmen as shall make the battlements of our church of brick or stone or lead, as shall be thought best and determined by Mr. Alderman and the parishioners, and Mr. Parson is to assist them with his good diligence and wisdom to the best that he can, for the same: and Thomas Monders is chosen by the said parish to wait upon the said Stephen and Allthorpe in their absence and at their commandment for the furtherance of the same work.”
The obligation of all to contribute to the common work of God’s house was well understood, and it was taught in many books of instructions popular in those days. For example, in Dives and Pauper the former is made to declare that “many say, God is in no lond so well served in holy Church, nor so much worshipped in holy Church, as He is in this lond of England. For so many fair churches, ne so good aray in churches, ne so fair service, as many say is in none other lond as it is in this lond.” Pauper does not deny this, but thinks that it is perhaps done from a spirit of pomp, “to have a name and worship thereby in the country, or for envy that one town hath against another.” Dives, with this lead, suggests that it might be better if the money thus spent “in high churches, in rich vestments, in curious windows, and in great bells,” were given to the poor. But Pauper urges that this is just what Judas thought, and declares that it is the common business of all, rich and poor alike, to look to the beautifying of God’s house.
By law, then, according to the statute of Archbishop Peckham in 1280, which remained in force till the Reformation, the parish, broadly speaking, was bound to find all that pertained to the services—such as vestments, chalice, missal, processional cross, paschal candle, etc.—and to keep the fabric and ornaments of the church proper in repair. In 1305 Archbishop Winchelsey somewhat enlarged the scope of the parish duties.
THURIBLE, FOUND NEAR PERSHORE