Parish life in mediæval England

by Francis Aidan Gasquet

The actual payment of the clerk was sometimes a difficulty; and Archbishop Boniface anticipates this possibility by asserting the English custom of the parish paying for his services. It was in consequence of this, he says, that parishioners had asserted their right to make the appointment. He directs that, should there be objection made to this payment by any parish, the people should be compelled to do their plain duty by ecclesiastical censures. On the other hand, Archbishop Peckham seems to have thought it reasonable that those who paid the money should elect to the office, and held that the parishioners ought to appoint the parish clerks to their offices.

Lyndwood speaks of a praiseworthy English custom, according to which every father of a family made an offering on the Sundays to the cleric who brought the holy water to him; and that at Christmas the officer should have from each household a loaf, at Easter a certain number of eggs, and in the autumn so much of the harvesting. It may also be taken as an established custom that each quarter of the year the clerk received a sum of money for his support levied upon the entire parish. A curious entry in the accounts of the church of St. Mary the Great at Cambridge, shows a payment made by the parish “in reward to a yong man that should have bene parish clerk,” suggesting that the churchwardens wanted him, but the rector made another appointment.

The Synod of Exeter, in 1287, so frequently referred to in regard to the laws and customs of the English Church, declares that, according to tradition, “the benefice of the Blessed Water” was at first instituted to help poor clerks, whilst they were studying and thus fitting themselves for higher dignities. To this end Bishop Quevil directs, as already pointed out, that in all churches not more than ten miles distant from any school of a city or town, this purpose should be borne in mind, and the office given to a poor scholar to help him whilst at his studies. For this reason, no doubt, there are instances in which the bishop insisted upon the removal of a parish clerk who had married, and upon the appointment of another, whose intention it was to proceed to the reception of Holy Orders. At the same time it is quite clear that the bishop did not lightly interfere in the appointment or removal of any parish clerk. In one case, on November 13, 1386, Bishop Brantyngham refused to take cognisance of the appeal of the parishioners of Pont, in Cornwall, who, not being content with the appointment made by their rector, had caused the churchwardens to elect another. This the bishop altogether condemned, declaring that by law the appointment was in the hands of the rector.

Besides attending to carry the Holy Water on the Sundays, the clerk, according to the directions given in the tract called “Cilium Oculi Sacerdotis,” was to assist the priest at the altar, and to read the Epistle at Mass, when there was no deacon or subdeacon. He might be vested in an alb when he performed this service. It was part of his duty also to teach the children of the parish, not only their prayers, creed, and religion, but also their letters and “whatever singing they ought to know.”

A curious document relating to the “Offesse of dekyn” in Trinity Church, Coventry, in 1462, has been printed more than once, and lately for the Henry Bradshaw Society, by Dr. Wickham Legg. Some of the duties there set forth for the “deacon” show that in this case he acted as parish clerk, and his duties are most minutely described. He was to open the door of the church at six o’clock, and have the chalice and missal ready for the priest who said “the Trinity Mass:” on all feasts he was to ring for Matins, and bring in the books for the south side of the choir: he was to ring for the High Mass, and then sing in the choir, and again at three o’clock for Evensong. He shall be rector in the choir on the south side: he is to see that there is a deacon to read the Gospel at every High Mass.

Beside this he has the general care of the church: to see that the floor be swept when it needs it, and that the snow is taken off the roof and from out the gutters: that the font be ready for the blessing on Holy Saturday, and palms before Palm Sunday, and that palms be burned for ashes before Ash Wednesday. For the blessing of the font he is to provide three copies “for the priests to sing Rex Sanctorum.” Every Sunday “he shall bear holy water to every house in his ward, and he to have his due of every man, after his degree, quarterly.” In the same way he must see that the holy cake is ready every Sunday according to every man’s degree, “and he shall bear the holy bread to serve the people in the north syde of the church, and he to go to them on ‘twelfth day’ for his offering to the repair of his surplice. On Shere Thursday (the Thursday in Holy Week) and Holy Saturday he is to get ready a barrell for the blessed water, and on the former he is to have the ‘birch besom for the priest that washes the altar’ and the three discipling rods.”

Moreover, at “every principal feast” he is to help the churchwardens “to array the High Altar with clothes necessary for it,” being ready for them “at the third peal of the first Evensong.” He is to help “the churchwardens to cover the altar and the rood in lent with lenten cloths, and to hang the veil in the choir.” He and “his fellow” is to look to the bells and provide ropes and grease, and they are to divide the ringing fees between them. He is “to cover the pulpit with a pall when any doctor preaches.” He is to go vested in his surplice to accompany the parson when he goes to take the Blessed Sacrament to the sick, and “to fetch any corpse to the church.”

The second “deacon” or clerk, commonly called “the fellow” of the first in this document, has also his special duties assigned. Every week-day he is to ring the second peal for Matins at half-past six. He is to see to the books on the north side of the choir, and sing on that side as the first “deacon” does for the south. At Evensong he shall do in like manner, but “he shall be subdeacon every Sunday and Holy-day at the procession and Mass, and read the Epistle.” Generally he is to assist the “deacon” with the choir books and processionals, and help to fold up the vestments and albs, etc.

Beyond the above-named parish officials there were obviously, many others whose services were occasionally required. Amongst others are:

The Sexton, whose office was what it remains at the present day. Such an official is named, in 1490, in the parish accounts of Cratfield; but the extremely rare mention of the name seems to show that in a mediæval parish each individual family interested saw to the preparation of the last resting-place of any of their dead relations.