THE MEDIÆVAL CLERK
At the present time loud complaints are frequently heard of a lack of
clergy. Rectors and vicars are sighing for assistant curates, the vast
populations of our great cities require additional ministration, and the
mission field is crying out for more labourers to reap the harvests of
the world. It might be well in this emergency to inquire into the
methods of the mediæval Church, and observe how the clergy in those days
faced the problem, and gained for themselves tried and trusty helpers.
One method of great utility was to appoint poor scholars to the office
of parish clerk, by a due discharge of the duties of which they were
trained to serve in church and in the parish, and might ultimately hope
to attain to the ministry. This is borne out by the evidence of wills
wherein some good incumbent, grateful for the faithful services of his
clerk, bequeaths either books or money to him, in order to enable him to
prepare himself for higher preferment. Thus in 1389 the rector of Marum,
one Robert de Weston, bequeaths to "John Penne, my clerk, a missal of
the New Use of Sarum, if he wishes to be a priest, otherwise I give him
20 s." In 1337 Giles de Gadlesmere leaves "to William Ockam, clerk, two
shillings, unless he be promoted before my death." Evidently it was no
unusual practice in early times for the clerk to be raised to Holy
Orders, his office being regarded as a stepping-stone to higher
preferment. The status of the clerk was then of no servile character.
A canon of Newburgh asked for Sir William Plumpton's influence that his
brother might have a clerkship[21]. Even the sons of kings and lords did
not consider it beneath the dignity of their position to perform the
duties of a clerk, and John of Athon considered the office of so much
importance that he gave the following advice to any one who held it:
[Footnote 21: _Plumpton Correspondence_, Camden Society, 1839, P. 66,
_temp_. Henry VII.]
"Whoever you may be, although the son of king, do not blush to go up to
the book in church, and read and sing; but if you know nothing of
yourself, follow those who do know."
It is recorded in the chronicle of Ralph de Coggeshall that Richard I
used to take great delight in divine service on the principal festivals;
going hither and thither in the choir, encouraging the singers by voice
and hand to sing louder. In the _Life of Sir Thomas More_, written by
William Roper, we find an account of that charming incident in the
career of the great and worthy Lord Chancellor, when he was discovered
by the Duke of Norfolk, who had come to Chelsea to dine with him,
singing in the choir and wearing a surplice during the service of the
Mass. After the conclusion of the service host and guest walked arm in
arm to the house of Sir Thomas More.
"God's body, my Lord Chancellor, what turned Parish Clerk? You dishonour
the King and his office very much," said the Duke.
"Nay," replied Sir Thomas, smiling, "your grace may not think that the
King, your master and mine, will be offended with me for serving his
Master, or thereby account his service any way dishonoured."
We will endeavour to sketch the daily and Sunday duties of a parish
clerk, follow in his footsteps, and observe his manners and customs, as
they are set forth in mediæval documents.
He lived in a house near the church which was specially assigned to him,
and often called the clerk's house. He had a garden and glebe. In the
churchwardens' accounts of St. Giles's Church, Reading, there is an item
in 1542-3:--"Paid for a latice to the clerkes hous ii s. x d." There was
a clerk's house in St. Mary's parish, in the same town, which is
frequently mentioned in the accounts (A.D. 1558-9).
"RESOLUTES for the guyet Rent of the Clerkes Howse xii d. 1559-60.
"RENTES to farme and at will. Of the tenement at Cornyshe Crosse called
the clerkes howse by the yere vi s. viii d."
It appears that the house was let, and the sum received for rent was
part of the clerk's stipend. This is borne out by the following entry:--
"Md' that yt ys aggreed that the clerke most have for the office of the
sexten But xx s. That ys for Ringing of the Bell vs for the quarter and
the clerkes wayges by the howse[22]."
[Footnote 22: _Churchwardens' Accounts of St. Mary's, Reading_, by
F.N.A. and A.G. Garry, p. 42.]
Doubtless there still remain many such houses attached to the clerkship,
as in the Act of 7 & 8 Victoria, c. 59, sect. 6, it is expressly stated
that any clerk dismissed from his office shall give up any house,
building, land, or premises held or occupied by virtue or in respect of
such office, and that if he fail to do so the bishop can take steps for
his ejection therefrom. Mr. Wickham Legg has collected several other
instances of the existence of clerks' houses. At St. Michael's
Worcester, there was one, as in 1590 a sum was paid for mending it. At
St. Edmund's, Salisbury, the clerk had a house and garden in 1653. At
Barton Turf, Norfolk, three acres are known as "dog-whipper's land," the
task of whipping dogs out of churches being part of the clerk's duties,
as we shall notice more particularly later on. The rent of this land was
given to the clerk. At Saltwood, Kent, the clerk had a house and garden,
which have recently been sold[23].
[Footnote 23: _The Clerk's Book of 1549_, edited by J. Wickham Legg,
lvi.]
Archbishop Sancroft, at Fressingfield, caused a comfortable cottage to
be built for the parish clerk, and also a kind of hostelry for the
shelter and accommodation of persons who came from a distant part of
that large scattered parish to attend the church, so that they might
bring their cold provisions there, and take their luncheon in the
interval between the morning and the afternoon service.
There was a clerk's house at Ringmer. In the account of the beating of
the bounds of the parish in Rogation week, 1683, it is recorded that at
the close of the third day the procession arrived at the Crab Tree, when
the people sang a psalm, and "our minister read the epistle and gospel,
to request and supplicate the blessing of God upon the fruits of the
earth. Then did Mr. Richard Gunn invite all the company to _the clerk's
house_, where he expended at his own charge a barrell of beer, besides a
plentiful supply of provisions: and so ended our third and last day's
perambulation[24]."
[Footnote 24: _Social Life as told by Parish Registers_, by T.F.
Thiselton-Dyer, p. 197.]
In his little house the clerk lived and tended his garden when he was
not engaged upon his ecclesiastical duties. He was often a married man,
although those who were intending to proceed to the higher orders in the
Church would naturally be celibate. Pope Gregory, in writing to St.
Augustine of Canterbury, offered no objections to the marriage of
clerks. Lyndewoode shows a preference for the unmarried clerk, but if
such could not be found, a married clerk might perform his duties.
Numerous wills are in existence which show that very frequently the
clerk was blest with a wife, inasmuch as he left his goods to her; and
in one instance, at Hull, John Huyk, in 1514, expresses his wish to be
buried beside his wife in the wedding porch of the church[25].
[Footnote 25: Injunction by John Bishop of Norwich (1561), B. i b.,
quoted by Mr. Legg in _The Parish Clerk's Book_, p. xlii.]
One courageous clerk's wife did good service to her husband, who had
dared to speak insultingly of the high and mighty John of Gaunt. He held
office in the church of St. Peter-the-Less, in the City of London, in
1378. His wife was so persevering in her behests and so constant in her
appeals for justice, that she won her suit and obtained her husband's
release[26].
[Footnote 26: Riley's _Memorials of London_, 1868, p. 425.]
We have the picture, then, of the mediæval clerk in his little house
nigh the church surrounded by his wife and children, or as a bachelor
intent upon preferment poring over his Missal, if he did not sometimes
emulate the frivolous feats of Chaucer's "Jolly Absolon."
At early dawn he sallied forth to perform his earliest duty of opening
the church doors and ringing the day-bell. The ringing of bells seems to
have been a fairly constant employment of the clerk, though in some
churches this duty was mainly performed by the sexton, but the aid of
the clerk was demanded whenever it was needed. According to the
constitution of the parish clerks at Trinity Church, Coventry, made in
1462, he was ordered every day to open the church doors at 6 a.m., and
deliver to the priest who sang the Trinity Mass a book and a chalice and
vestment, and when Mass was finished to see that these goods of the
church be deposited in safety in the vestry. He had to ring all the
people in to Matins, together with his fellow-clerk, at every
commemoration and feast of IX lessons, and see that the books were ready
for the priest. Again for High Mass he rang and sang in the choir. At 3
p.m. he rang for Evensong, and sang the service in the south side of the
choir, his assistant occupying the north side. On weekdays they sang the
Psalms and responses antiphonally, and on Sundays and holy-days acted as
_rectores chori_, each one beginning the verses of the Psalms for his
own side. He had to be very careful that the books were all securely
locked up in the vestry, and the church locked at a convenient hour,
having searched the building to see lest any one was lying in any seat
or corner. On Sundays and holidays he had to provide a clerk or "dekyn"
to read the gospel at High Mass. The sweeping of the floor of the
church, the cleaning of the leaden roofs, and sweeping away the snow
from the gutters "leste they be stoppyd," also came under his care. The
bells he also kept in order, examining the clappers and bawdricks and
ropes, and reporting to the churchwardens if they required mending. His
assistant had to grease the bells when necessary, and find the
materials. He had to tend the lamp and to fetch oil and rychys
(rushes), and fix banners on holidays, fold up the albs and vestments.
On Saturdays and on the eve of saints' days he had to ring the noon-tide
bell, and to ring the sanctus bell every Sunday and holy-day, and during
processions.
Special seasons brought their special duties, and directions are
minutely given with regard to every point to be observed. On Palm Sunday
he was ordered to set a form at the priory door for the stations of the
Cross, so that a crucifix or rood should be set there for the priest to
sing _Ave rex_. He had to provide palms for that Sunday, watch the
Easter sepulchre "till the resurrecion be don," and then take down the
"lenten clothys" about the altar and the rood. In Easter week, when a
procession was made, he bore the chrismatory. At the beginning of Lent
he was ordered to help the churchwardens to cover the altar and rood
with "lentyn clothys" and to hang the vail in the choir. The pulley
which worked this vail is still to be seen in some churches, as at
Uffington, Berks. For this labour the churchwardens were to give money
to the clerk for drink. The great bell had to be rung for compline every
Saturday in Lent. At Easter and Whit-Sunday the clerk was required to
hang a towel about the font, and see that three "copys" (copes) be
brought down to the font for the priests to sing _Rex sanctorum_.
It was evidently considered the duty of the churchwardens to deck the
high altar for great festivals, but they were to have the assistance of
the clerk at the third peel of the first Evensong "to aray the hye awter
with clothys necessary for it." Perhaps this duty of the churchwardens
might with advantage be revived.
Sheer Thursday or Maundy Thursday was a special day for cleansing the
altars and font, which was done by a priest; but the clerk was required
to provide a birch broom and also a barrel in order that water might be
placed in it for this purpose. On Easter Eve and the eve of Whit-Sunday
the ceremony of cleaning the altar and font was repeated. Flagellation
was not obsolete as a penance, and the clerk was expected to find three
discipline rods.
In mediæval times it was a common practice for rich men to leave money
or property to a church with the condition that Masses should be said
for the repose of their souls on certain days. The first Latin word of a
verse in the funeral psalm was _dirige_ ("direct my steps," etc.), and
this verse was used as an antiphon to those psalms in the old English
service for the dead. Hence the service was called a _dirige_, and we
find mention of "Master Meynley's dirige," or as it is spelt often
"derege," the origin of the word "dirge." Those who attended were often
regaled with refreshments--bread and ale--and the clerk's duty was to
serve them with these things.
We have already referred to his obligations as regards his bearing of
holy water to the parishioners, a duty which brought him into close
relationship with them. Another custom which has long since passed away
was that of blessing a loaf of bread by the priest, and distributing
portions of it to the parishioners. Sometimes this distribution took
place in church, as at Coventry, where one of the clerks, having seen
the loaf duly cut, gave portions of it to the assembled worshippers in
the south aisle, and the other clerk performed a like duty in the north
aisle. The clerk received some small fee for this service, usually a
halfpenny. Berkshire has several evidences of the existence of the
holy loaf.
In the accounts of St. Lawrence's Church, Reading, in 1551, occurs the
following notice:
"At this day it was concluded and agreed that from henceforth every
inhabitant of the parish shall bear and pay every Sunday in the year 5
d. for every tenement as of old time the Holy Loaf was used to be paid
and be received by the parish clerk weekly, the said clerk to have every
Sunday for his pains 1 d. And 4 d. residue to be paid and delivered
every Sunday to the churchwardens to be employed for bread and wine for
the communion. And if any overplus thereof shall be of such money so
received, to be to the use of the church; and if any shall lack, to be
borne and paid by the said churchwardens: provided always, that all such
persons as are poor and not able to pay the whole, be to have aid of
such others as shall be thought good by the discretion of the
churchwardens."
With the advent of Queen Mary the old custom was reverted to, as the
following item for the year 1555 plainly shows:
"Rec. of money gathered for the holy lofe ix s. iiij d."
At St. Mary's Church there is a constant allusion to this practice from
the year 1566-7 to 1617-18, after which date the payment for the
"holilofe" seems to have been merged in the charge for seats. In 1567-8
the following resolution was passed:
"It is agreed that the clerk shall hereafter gather the Holy Loaf money,
or else to have nothing of that money, and to gather all, or else to
inform the parish of them that will not pay."
There seems to have been some difficulty in collecting this money; so it
was agreed in 1579-80 that "John Marshall shall every month in the year
during the time that he shall be clerk, gather the holy loaf and thereof
yield an account to the churchwardens."
* * * * *
Subsequently we constantly meet with such records as the following:
"It'm for the holy loffe xiii s. vi d."
Ultimately, however, this mode of collecting money for the providing of
the sacred elements and defraying other expenses of the church was, as
we have said, abandoned in favour of pew-rents. The clerk had long
ceased to obtain any benefit from the custom of collecting this curious
form of subscription to the parochial expenses.
An interesting document exists in the parish of Stanford-in-the-Vale,
Berkshire, relating to the holy loaf. It was evidently written during
the reign of Queen Mary, and runs as follows:--
"Here following is the order of the giving of the loaves to make holy
bread with videlicit of when it beginneth and endeth, what the whole
value is, in what portions it is divided, and to whom the portions be
due, and though it be written in the fifth part of the division of the
book before in the beginning with these words (how money shall be paid
towards the charges of the communion) ye shall understand that in the
time of the Schism when this Realm was divided from the Catholic Church,
the which was in the year of our Lord God in 1547, in the second year of
King Edward the Sixth, all godly ceremonies and good uses were taken out
of the church within this Realm, and then the money that was bestowed on
the holy bread was turned to the use of finding bread and wine for the
communion, and then the old order being brought unto his [its] pristine
state before this book was written causeth me to write with this
term[27]."
[Footnote 27: The spelling of the words I have ventured to modernise.]
The order of the giving of the loaves is then set forth, beginning at a
piece of ground called Ganders and continuing throughout the parish,
together with names of the parishioners. The collecting of this sum must
have been an arduous part of the clerk's duty. "And thus I make an end
of this matter," as the worthy clergyman at Stanford-in-the-Vale wrote
at the conclusion of his carefully drawn up document[28].
[Footnote 28: A relic of this custom existed in a small town in Dorset
fifty years ago. At Easter the clerk used to leave at the house of each
pew-holder a packet of Easter cakes--thin wafery biscuits, not unlike
Jewish Pass-over cakes. The packet varied according to the size of the
family and the depth of the master's purse. When the fussy little clerk
called for his Easter offering, at one house he found 5 s. waiting for
him, as a kind of payment for five cakes. The shilling's were quickly
transferred to the clerk's pocket, who remarked, "Five shilling's is
handsome for the clerk, sir; but the vicar only takes gold."
The custom of the clerk carrying round the parish Easter cakes prevailed
also at Milverton, Somerset, and at Langport in the same county.]
In addition to his regular wages and to the dues received for delivering
holy water and in connection with the holy loaf, the clerk enjoyed
sundry other perquisites. At Christmas he received a loaf from every
house, a certain number of eggs at Easter, and some sheaves when the
harvest was gathered in. Among the documents in the parish chest at
Morebath there is a very curious manuscript relating to a prolonged
quarrel with regard to the dues to be paid to the clerk. This took place
in the year 1531 and lasted until 1536. This document throws much light
on the customary fees and gifts paid to the holder of this office. After
endless wrangling the parishioners decided that the clerk should have "a
steche of clene corn" from every household, if there should be any corn;
if not, a "steche of wotis" (oats), or 3 d. in lieu of corn. Also 1 d.
a quarter from every household; at every wedding and funeral 2 d.; at
shearing time enough wool for a coat. Moreover, it was agreed that he
should have a clerk's ale in the church house. It is well known that
church ales were very common in medieval times, when the churchwardens
bought, and received presents of, a large quantity of malt which they
brewed into beer. The village folk collected other provisions, and
assembled in the church house, where there were spits and crocks and
other utensils for dressing a feast. Old and young gathered together;
the churchwardens' ale was sold freely. The young folk danced, or played
at bowls or practised archery, the old people looking gravely on and
enjoying the merry-making. Such were the old church ales, the proceeds
of which were devoted to the maintenance of the poor or some other
worthy object. An arbour of boughs was erected in the churchyard called
Robin Hood's Bower, where the maidens collected money for the "ales."
The clerk in some parishes, as at Morebath, had "an ale" at Easter, and
it was agreed that "the parish should help to drink him a cost of ale in
the church house," which duty doubtless the village folk carried out
with much willingness and regularity.
[Illustration: THE OLD CHURCH-HOUSE AT HURST. BERKSHIRE NOW THE CASTLE
INN]
[Illustration: THE OLD CHURCH-HOUSE AT UFFINGTON. BERKS NOW USED AS A
SCHOOL]
Puritanism gradually killed these "ales." Sabbatarianism lifted up its
voice against them. The gatherings waxed merry, sometimes too merry, so
the stern Puritan thought, and the ballad-singer sang profane songs, and
the maidens danced with light-footed step, and it was all very wrong
because they were breaking the Sabbath; and the ale was strong, and
sometimes people drank too much, so the critics said. But all
reasonable and sober-minded folk were not opposed to them, and in
reply to some inquiries instituted by Archbishop Laud, the Bishop of
Bath and Wells made the following report:
"Touching clerke-ales (which are lesser church-ales) for the
better maintenance of Parish-clerks they have been used
(until of late) in divers places, and there was great reason
for them; for in poor country parishes, where the wages of
the clerk is very small, the people thinking it unfit that
the clerk should duly attend at church and lose by his
office, were wont to send in Provisions, and then feast with
him, and give him more liberality than their quarterly
payments would amount unto in many years. And since these
have been put down, some ministers have complained unto me,
that they are afraid they shall have no parish clerks for
want of maintenance for them."
Mr. Wickham Legg has investigated the subsequent history of this good
Bishop Pierce, and shows how the Puritans when they were in power used
this reply as a means of accusation against him, whereby they attempted
to prove that "he profanely opposed the sanctification of the Lord's Day
by approving and allowing of profane wakes and revels on that day," and
was "a desperately profane, impious, and turbulent Pilate."
It is well known that the incomes of the clergy were severely taxed by
the Pope, who demanded annates or first-fruits of one year's value on
all benefices and sundry other exactions. The poor clerk's salary did
not always escape from the rapacity of the Pope's collectors, as the
story told by Matthew Paris clearly sets forth:
"It happened that an agent of the Pope met a petty clerk carrying water
in a little vessel, with a sprinkler and some bits of bread given him
for having sprinkled some holy water, and to him the deceitful Roman
thus addressed himself:
"'How much does the profits yielded to you by this church amount to in a
year?' To which the clerk, ignorant of the Roman's cunning, replied:
"'To twenty shillings, I think.'
"Whereupon the agent demanded the percentage the Pope had just demanded
on all ecclesiastical benefices. And to pay that sum this poor man was
compelled to hold school for many days, and by selling his books in the
precincts, to drag on a half-starved life."
This story discloses another duty which fell to the lot of the mediæval
clerk. He was the parish schoolmaster--at least in some cases. The
decretals of Gregory IX require that he should have enough learning in
order to enable him to keep a school, and that the parishioners should
send their children to him to be taught in the church. There is not much
evidence of the carrying out of this rule, but here and there we find
allusions to this part of a clerk's duties. Inasmuch as this may have
been regarded as an occupation somewhat separate from his ordinary
duties as regards the church, perhaps we should not expect to find
constant allusion to it. However, Archbishop Peckham ordered, in 1280,
that in the church of Bakewell and the chapels annexed to it there
should be _duos clericos scholasticos_ carefully chosen by the
parishioners, from whose alms they would have to live, who should carry
holy water round in the parish and chapels on Lord's Days and
festivals, and minister _in divinis officiis_, and on weekdays should
keep school[29]. It is said that Alexander, Bishop of Coventry, in 1237,
directed that there should be in country villages parish clerks who
should be schoolmasters.
[Footnote 29: If that is the correct translation of _profestis diebus
disciplinis scolasticis indulgentes_. Dr. Legg thinks that it may refer
to their own education.]
It is certain--for the churchwarden accounts bear witness to the
fact--that in several parishes the clerks performed this duty of
teaching. Thus in the accounts of the church of St. Giles, Reading,
occurs the following:
Pay'd to Whitborne the clerk towards his wages and he to be
bound to teach ij children for the choir ... xij s.
At Faversham, in 1506, it was ordered that "the clerks or one of them,
as much as in them is, shall endeavour themselves to teach children to
read and sing in the choir, and to do service in the church as of old
time hath been accustomed, they taking for their teaching as belongeth
thereto"; and at the church of St. Nicholas, Bristol, in 1481, this duty
of teaching is implied in the order that the clerk ought not to take any
book out of the choir for children to learn in without licence of the
procurators. We may conclude, therefore, that the task of teaching the
children of the parish not unusually devolved upon the clerk, and that
some knowledge of Latin formed part of the instruction given, which
would be essential for those who took part in the services of
the church.
Nor were his labours yet finished. In John Myrc's _Instructions to
Parish Priests_, a poem written not later than 1450, a treatise
containing good sound morality, and a good sight of the ecclesiastical
customs of the Middle Ages, we find the following lines:
"When thou shalt to seke[30] _gon_
Hye thee fast and _go_ a-non;
For if thou tarry thou dost amiss,
Thou shalt guyte[31] that soul I wys.
When thou shalt to seke gon,
A clene surples caste thee on;
Take thy stole with thee ry't,[32]
And put thy hod ouer thy sy't[33]
Bere thyne ost[34] a-nout thy breste
In a box that is honeste;
Make thy clerk before thee synge,
To bere light and belle ringe."
[Footnote 30: Sick.]
[Footnote 31: Quiet.]
[Footnote 32: Right.]
[Footnote 33: Sight.]
[Footnote 34: Host.]
It was customary, therefore, for the clerk to accompany the priest to
the house of the sick person, when the clergyman went to administer the
Last Sacrament or to visit the suffering. The clerk was required to
carry a lighted candle and ring a bell, and an ancient MS. of the
fourteenth century represents him marching before the priest bearing his
light and his bell. In some town parishes he was ordered always to be at
hand ready to accompany the priest on his errands of mercy. It was a
grievous offence for a clerk to be absent from this duty. In the parish
of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, the clerks were not allowed "to go or
ride out of the town without special licence had of the vicar and
churchwardens, and at no time were they to be out of the way, but one of
them had always to be ready to minister sacraments and sacramentals, and
to wait upon the Curate and to give him warning." This custom of the
clerk accompanying the priest when visiting the sick was not abolished
at the Reformation. _The Parish Clerk's Guide_, published by the
Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks in 1731, the history of which it
will be our privilege to investigate, states that the holders of the
office "are always conversant in Holy Places and Holy Things, such as
are the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper; yea and in the
most serious Things too, such as the Visitation of the Sick, when we do
often attend, and at the Burial of the Dead."
[Illustration: THE CLERK ACCOMPANYING THE PRIEST WHEN VISITING THE SICK]
[Illustration: THE CLERK ATTENDING THE PRIEST, WHO IS ADMINISTERING THE
LAST SACRAMENT]
Occupied with these numerous duties, engaged in a service which
delighted him, his time could never have hung heavy on his hands.
Faithful in his dutiful services to his rector, beloved by the
parishioners, a welcome guest in cot and hall, and serving God with all
his heart, according to his lights, he could doubtless exclaim with
David, _Laetus sorte mea_.