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for anniversary services, but were, for the most part, bequests left quite as much for annual alms to the poor as for the celebration of those services. A few examples will illustrate this better than any explanation. In the town of Nottingham there were two chantries connected with the parish church of St. Mary, that of our Lady and that called Amyas Chantry. The former, according to the record, was founded "to maintain the services and to be an aid to the Vicar and partly to succour the poor; the latter, to assist in "God's service," and to pray for William Amyas the founder. When the commissioners, in the first year of Edward VI., came to inquire into the possession of these chantries, they were asked to note that in this parish there were 1400 houseling people, and that the vicar there had no other priests to help but the above two chantry priests." They were not, of course, spared on this account, for within two years the property, upon which these two priests were supported, had been sold to two speculators in such parcels of land-John Howe and John Broxholme. Then again, in the parish of St. Nicholas, in the same town, we find from the returns that the members of the Guild of the Virgin contributed to the support of a priest. In that parish there were more than 200 houseling people, and as the living was very poor, there was absolutely no other priest to look after them but this one, John Chester, who was paid by the guild. The king's officials, however, did not hesitate on this account to confiscate the property. It is needless to adduce other instances of this kind, some scores of which might be given in the county of Nottingham alone. As an example of "obits" and the purposes for which they were intended, the following instances may be given, which it must be remembered could be multiplied to any extent. From the returns of the commissioners in Nottinghamshire we find that in the parish of South Wheatley there were parish lands let out to farm which produced eighteenpence a year, say from eighteen shillings to a pound of our money. Of this sum, one shilling was

for the poor, and sixpence for church lights; that is, twothirds, or, say, 16s. of our money, was for the relief of the distressed. So in the parish of Tuxford, the church "obit" lands produced £1 5s. 4d., or about £16 a year; of which 16s. 4d. was for the poor and 9s. for the church services.

Mr. Thorold Rogers, speaking of the endowments left by generations of Englishmen for the support of chantries, obits, &c., says: "The ancient tenements which are still the property of the London companies were originally burdened with masses for donors. In the country, the parochial clergy undertook the services of these chantries

and the establishment of a mass or chantry priest at a fixed stipend in a church with which he had no other relation, was a common form of endowment. The residue, if any, of the revenue derivable from these tenements was made the common property of the guild, and as the continuity of the service was the great object of its establishment, the donor, like the modern trustee of a life income, took care that there should be a surplus from the foundation. The land or house was let, and the guild consented to find the ministration which formed the motive of the grant."

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This is very true, but it is questionable whether Mr. Thorold Rogers appreciated the extent to which these chantry funds were intended to be devoted to purposes other than the performance of the specified religious services. A couple of examples have been given in Nottinghamshire, and to these may be added one in the south of England. In connection with the parish church of Alton, in Hampshire, there were, on the eve of the Reformation, six foundations for obits. The following is the account of these taken from the chantry certificates made by the king's commissioners in the first year of the reign of Edward VI.: (1) “ Issues of land for an obit for

The Economic Interpretation of History, p. 306.

John Pigott, growing and coming out of certain houses and lands in Alton for to maintain for ever a yearly obit there, in the tenure of Thomas Mathew, of the yearly value of 23s. 4d.; whereof to the poor 15s. 4d., to the parish priest and his clerk 8s. (2) The same for an obit for William Reding, of the annual value of 15s., of which the poor were to have 10s. and the priest and his clerk 5s. (3) The same for Alice Hacker, of the yearly value of 10s., of which the poor were to get 7s. 8d. and the priest 2s. 4d. (4) Another of the value of 4s., the poor to get 2s. 10d. and the priest Is. 2d. (5) Another for the soul of Nicholas Bailey, worth annually is., and of this 7s. 8d. was intended for the poor and 3s. 4d. for the clergy. (6) Another for Nicholas Crushelon, worth annually 4s. 4d., the poor to have 3s. id. and the priest is. 3d." In this parish of Alton, therefore, these six foundations for "obits" or anniversaries produced a total of 77s. 8d., but so far from the whole sum being spent upon priests' stipends, lights, and singing men, we find that considerably more than half, namely 46s. 7d., was bestowed upon the relief of the poor of the parish. Or if we take the value of money in those days as only twelve times that of our present money, out of a total of £36 12s. some £27 19s. went to the support of the poor.

It is obvious that the general advantages derived by a parish from the foundation of these chantries and obits have been commonly overlooked, and the notion that they were intended for no other purpose than procuring prayers for the dead, and that in fact they served no other end, is altogether misleading and erroneous. Without the assistance of the clergy, so supported by the generosity of those who left money for these foundations, the religious services in many of the parish churches of England in preReformation times could not have been so fittingly or even adequately provided for. Wherever information is available this view is borne out, and it is altogether to mistake the true bearing of facts to suppose that in suppressing the chantries and appropriating the endowment of

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obits the officials of Edward VI. merely put an end to superstitious prayers for the souls in Purgatory. In reality they deprived the poor of much property left by deceased persons for their relief, and took away from every parish in England the assistance of the unbeneficed clergy who had hitherto helped to support the dignity of God's worship and look after the souls of the people in the larger districts.

One instance may be given to illustrate how far the chantry clergy actually took part in the work of the parish. At Henley-on-Thames, on the eve of the Reformation, there were seven chapels or chantries-namely, those of Our Lady, St. Katherine, St. Clement, St. Nicholas, St. Ann, St. John, and St. Leonard. These were all supported by various bequests, and the four priests who served them all resided in a common house situated in the churchyard, known as "the chapel-house," or "the four priest chambers." The disposition of the services of these chaplains was apparently in the hands of the "Warden and the commonalty" of the township, and for the convenience of the people they arrange, for example, that the chaplain of the Lady altar shall say his mass there every day at six in the morning, and that the priest in charge of St. Katherine's shall always begin his at eight.1

"To maintain God's service" is perhaps the most common reason assigned to King Edward's commission for the existence of a chantry, or chantries, in connection with a parish church. Thus at Edwinstowe, in Nottinghamshire, there was a chantry chapel a mile from the parish church known as Clipston Chantry. The priest was John Thompson, and he had £5 a year, and "hath no mansion but a parlour under the chapel." At Harworth in the same county there was the hospital of St. Mary's of

'J. S. Burn. History of Henley-on-Thames, pp. 173-175.

2 R. O. Chantry Certificate, No. 13 (account for year 37 H. VIII.), No. 17.

Bawtree, founded by Robert Morton to serve the people two miles from the parish church. The priest had a mansion and close, "and had to say Mass every morning before sunrise, for such as be travellers by the way and to maintain God's service there, which towne is also a thoroughfare towne." At Hayton, still in the same county, also two miles from the parish church, was the chantry of Tilne, founded for a priest to serve the villages of North and South Tilne "to celebrate mass and minister the sacraments to the inhabitants adjoining, for that they for the greatness of the waters cannot divers times in the year repair to the parish church." For "the water doth abound so much within the said hamlets that the inhabitants thereof can by no means resort into their parish church of Hayton, being two miles distant from the said chapel, neither for christening, burying, nor other rights."

The purposes which these chantry priests were intended to serve is seen to be the same all over England. To take Suffolk for example: at Redgrave, near Eye, or rather at Botesdale, a hamlet about a mile and a half from Redgrave, there was a chapel of "ancient standing for the ease of the inhabitants of the said street, which was first built at their cost, whereunto do belong no other than the chapel yard." The "street" consisted of fortysix householders, and by estimation a hundred and sixty houselings. It was "a common thoroughfare and hath a liberty of market." These matters "the poor inhabitants" submitted to the King; it is unnecessary to say without success. At Levenham the alderman of St. Peter's Guild held certain lands to find a priest who was to teach the children of the town, and was to be "secondary

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Ibid., No. 30 and No. 95, M. 6.

2 Ibid., No. 37, M. 12; also No. 95, M. 7; and No. 13 (38) Mins. Accts. 2, 3, Ed. VI., shows that the king received £11 19s. 8d. for the property of this chapel, which was granted to Robert Swift and his

brother.

R. O. Chantry Certificate, No. 45 (m. i. d.).

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