(c.) Livery (vestura), allowance for clothing. For this also Rotheram made no provision, except to permit it if given by later benefactors. Edmund Audley, Bishop of Sarum, in giving his benefaction in 1518, directed that forty shillings per annum should be allowed pro robis to the Rector, and to each of the four senior Fellows.
(d.) The Fellows in common were entitled to the services of the common servants; for which see below.
(e.) The Fellows were entitled to have rooms (cameræ) rent-free. These were to be chosen, according to seniority, on the May chapter. About 1600 we find that along with his room, the Fellow received also the attic (“loft,” or “cock-loft”) over it, into which he might put a tenant from whom he might receive rent. How far this custom had come down from antiquity we have no means of saying.
(f.) Obits (obitus), allowances for being present at Mass on the anniversary-day of a benefactor. A considerable benefactor invariably made a bargain with the College, that his name should be kept in remembrance, and his soul’s health prayed for in a special Mass, yearly on the anniversary of his death, or, if that should clash with some very solemn season of the Church’s year, on the nearest convenient day. To insure the presence of the Rector and Fellows, he generally ordered that each Fellow present at the Commemoration Service should receive a stipulated sum, which was called by the same name as the day itself, an “obit.”
The following are the dates of the obits in Lincoln College, and the amount paid to each Fellow; the Rector as celebrant, receiving in each case double the amount which a Fellow received:—Jan. 10th, Edward Darby, 1s.; Jan. 16th, Bishop Beckington, 6d.; Feb. 23rd, Archdeacon Southam, 1s.; March 21st, John Crosby, 8d.; March 26th, Dean Forest, 1s.; April 11th, Cardinal Beaufort, 8d.; May 29th, Rotheram, the second founder, 1s.; Aug. 23rd, Bishop Audley, 1s.; Oct. 10th, Bishop William Smith, 1s.; Oct. 29th, William Dagvill, 1s.; Nov. 16th, William Bate, 6d.—all of them early benefactors. The obit of the first founder, Fleming, was fixed for Jan. 25th; but no allowances made for it, gratitude alone being strong enough to ensure the attendance of all the Fellows.
At the Reformation, the celebration of Mass and, consequently, the observance of these anniversary services in the form directed by the statutes, became illegal, and the chapel services ceased. The allowances still continued to be paid to each Fellow who was present in College on the particular day, the test of “presence” being now dining in hall at the ordinary hour of dinner.
(g.) Pittances (pietantia). Besides the sum given to the Rector and each Fellow on a benefactor’s anniversary day, it is sometimes directed that a sum shall be paid to them in common for “a pittance,” i. e. as I suppose, to provide a better dinner on that day. Thus Cardinal Beaufort gave a pittance of 3s. 4d.; Rotheram, one of 2s.; Edward Darby, one of 3s. 4d.
(III) The Chaplains were four in number. Two were to serve the churches of All Saints and St. Michael in Oxford, one of whom must be of the diocese of York, the other of the diocese of Lincoln. They were to be appointed by the Rector, and to be removed by him when he chose; and each to receive from the College a stipend of £5 per annum. A third Chaplain was to serve the church of Twyford under the same conditions, except that his stipend was to be paid by the Rector; a fourth was to serve the church of Combe Longa.
It was clearly no part of the founder’s intention that the chaplaincies should be served by the Fellows: and we find, down to the Civil War and the Commonwealth, instances of Chaplains who were not Fellows. But after the Restoration, when £5 per annum no longer represented a reasonable year’s income, there was a growing feeling that it was for the honour of the College that the duties of Chaplain of All Saints, St. Michael’s, and Combe should be undertaken by Fellows. And so long as there were Fellows in orders enough for the duties, this was done. In the last half century, recognizing the changed circumstances of the times, the College has provided a more adequate endowment for each of its four chaplaincies.