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1 The Mighty Atom Marie Corelli
2 Jane Marie Corelli
3 Boy Marie Corelli
231 Cameos Marie Corelli
4 Spanish Gold G. A. Birmingham
9 The Unofficial Honeymoon Dolf Wyllarde
18 Round the Red Lamp Sir A. Conan Doyle
20 Light Freights W. W. Jacobs
22 The Long Road John Oxenham
71 The Gates of Wrath Arnold Bennett
81 The Card Arnold Bennett
87 Lalage's Lovers G. A. Birmingham
92 White Fang Jack London
108 The Adventures of Dr. Whitty G. A. Birmingham
113 Lavender and Old Lace Myrtle Reed
125 The Regent Arnold Bennett
135 A Spinner in the Sun Myrtle Reed
137 The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu Sax Rohmer
143 Sandy Married Dorothea Conyers
212 Under Western Eyes Joseph Conrad
215 Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo E. Phillips Oppenheim
224 Broken Shackles John Oxenham
227 Byeways Robert Hichens
229 My Friend the Chauffeur C. N. & A. M. Williamson
259 Anthony Cuthbert Richard Bagot
261 Tarzan of the Apes Edgar Rice Burroughs
268 His Island Princess W. Clark Russell
275 Secret History C. N. and A. M. Williamson
276 Mary All-alone John Oxenham
277 Darneley Place Richard Bagot
278 The Desert Trail Dane Coolidge
279 The War Wedding C. N. and A. M. Williamson
281 Because of these Things Marjorie Bowen
282 Mrs. Peter Howard Mary E. Mann
288 A Great Man Arnold Bennett
289 The Rest Cure W. B. Maxwell
290 The Devil Doctor Sax Rohmer
291 Master of the Vineyard Myrtle Reed
293 The Si-Fan Mysteries Sax Rohmer
294 The Guiding Thread Beatrice Harraden
295 The Hillman E. Phillips Oppenheim
296 William, by the Grace of God Marjorie Bowen
297 Below Stairs Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick
301 Love and Louisa E. Maria Albanesi
302 The Joss Richard Marsh
303 The Carissima Lucas Malet
304 The Return of Tarzan Edgar Rice Burroughs
313 The Wall Street Girl Frederick Orin Bartlett
315 The Flying Inn G. K. Chesterton
316 Whom God Hath Joined Arnold Bennett
318 An Affair of State J. C. Snaith
320 The Dweller on the Threshold Robert Hichens
325 A Set Of Six Joseph Conrad
329 '1914' John Oxenham
330 The Fortune Of Christina McNab S. Macnaughtan
334 Bellamy Elinor Mordaunt
343 The Shadow of Victory Myrtle Reed
344 This Woman to this Man C. N. and A. M. Williamson
345 Something Fresh P. G. Wodehouse
36 De Profundis Oscar Wilde
37 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime Oscar Wilde
38 Selected Poems Oscar Wilde
39 An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde
40 Intentions Oscar Wilde
41 Lady Windermere's Fan Oscar Wilde
77 Selected Prose Oscar Wilde
85 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde
146 A Woman of No Importance Oscar Wilde
43 Harvest Home E. V. Lucas
44 A Little of Everything E. V. Lucas
78 The Best of Lamb E. V. Lucas
141 Variety Lane E. V. Lucas
292 Mixed Vintages E. V. Lucas
45 Vailima Letters Robert Louis Stevenson
80 Selected Letters Robert Louis Stevenson
46 Hills and the Sea Hilaire Belloc
96 A Picked Company Hilaire Belloc
193 On Nothing Hilaire Belloc
226 On Everything Hilaire Belloc
254 On Something Hilaire Belloc
47 The Blue Bird Maurice Maeterlinck
214 Select Essays Maurice Maeterlinck
50 Charles Dickens G. K. Chesterton
94 All Things Considered G. K. Chesterton
54 The Life of John Ruskin W. G. Collingwood
57 Sevastopol and other Stories Leo Tolstoy
91 Social Evils and their Remedy Leo Tolstoy
223 Two Generations Leo Tolstoy
253 My Childhood and Boyhood Leo Tolstoy
286 My Youth Leo Tolstoy
58 The Lore of the Honey-Bee Tickner Edwardes
63 Oscar Wilde Arthur Ransome
64 The Vicar of Morwenstow S. Baring-Gould
76 Home Life in France M. Betham-Edwards
83 Reason and Belief Sir Oliver Lodge
93 The Substance of Faith Sir Oliver Lodge
116 The Survival of Man Sir Oliver Lodge
284 Modern Problems Sir Oliver Lodge
95 The Mirror of the Sea Joseph Conrad
126 Science from an Easy Chair Sir Ray Lankester
149 A Shepherd's Life W. H. Hudson
200 Jane Austen and her Times G. E. Mitton
218 R. L. S. Francis Watt
234 Records and Reminiscences Sir Francis Burnand
285 The Old Time Parson P. H. Ditchfield
287 The Customs of Old England F. J. Snell
A short Selection only.
THE CUSTOMS OF OLD ENGLAND
BY
F. J. SNELL
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Issued in this Cheap Form in 1919_
_This Book was First Published (Crown 8vo) February 16th, 1911_
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|Transcribers Note: In this book superscript is represented by|
|the carat "^" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
PREFACE
The aim of the present volume is to deal with Old English Customs, not
so much in their picturesque aspect--though that element is not wholly
wanting--as in their fundamental relations to the organized life of the
Middle Ages. Partly for that reason and partly because the work is
comparatively small, it embraces only such usages as are of national
(and, in some cases, international) significance. The writer is much too
modest to put it forth as a scientific exposition of the basic
principles of mediæval civilization. He is well aware that a book
designed on this unassuming scale must be more or less eclectic. He is
conscious of manifold gaps--_valde deflenda_. And yet, despite
omissions, it is hoped that the reader may rise from its perusal with
somewhat clearer conceptions of the world as it appeared to the average
educated Englishman of the Middle Ages. This suggests the remark that
the reader specially in view is the average educated Englishman of the
twentieth century, who has not perhaps forgotten his Latin, for Latin
has a way of sticking, while Greek, unless cherished, drops away from a
man.
The materials of which the work is composed have been culled from a
great variety of sources, and the writer almost despairs of making
adequate acknowledgments. For years past admirable articles cognate to
the study of mediæval relationships have been published from time to
time in learned periodicals like "Archæologia," the "Archæological
Journal," the "Antiquary," etc., where, being sandwiched between others
of another character, they have been lost to all but antiquarian experts
of omnivorous appetite. Assuredly, the average educated Englishman will
not go in quest of them, but it may be thought he will esteem the
opportunity, here offered, of gaining enlightenment, if not in the full
and perfect sense which might have been possible, had life been less
brief and art not quite so long. The same observation applies to books,
with this difference that, whereas in articles information is usually
compacted, in some books at least it has to be picked out from amidst a
mass of irrelevant particulars without any help from indices. If the
writer has at all succeeded in performing his office--which is to do for
the reader what, under other circumstances, he might have done for
himself--many weary hours will not have been spent in vain, and the
weariest are probably those devoted to the construction of an index,
with which this book, whatever its merits or defects, does not go
unprovided.
Mere general statements, however, will not suffice; there is the
personal side to be thought of. The great "Chronicles and Memorials"
series has been served by many competent editors, but by none more
competent than Messrs. Riley, Horwood, and Anstey, to whose
introductions and texts the writer is deeply indebted. Reeves' "History
of English Law" is not yet out of date; and Mr. E. F. Henderson's
"Select Documents of the Middle Ages" and the late Mr. Serjeant
Pulling's "Order of the Coif," though widely differing in scope, are
both extremely useful publications. Mr. Pollard's introduction to the
Clarendon Press selection of miracle plays contains the pith of that
interesting subject, and Miss Toulmin Smith's "York Plays" and Miss
Katherine Bates's "English Religious Drama" will be found valuable
guides. Perhaps the most realistic description of a miracle play is that
presented in a few pages of Morley's "English Writers," where the scene
lives before one. For supplementary details in this and other contexts,
the writer owes something to the industry of the late Dr. Brushfield,
who brought to bear on local documents the illumination of sound and
wide learning. A like tribute must be paid to the Rev. Dr. Cox, but
having regard to his long and growing list of important works, the
statement is a trifle ludicrous.
One of the best essays on mortuary rolls is that of the late Canon Raine
in an early Surtees Society volume, but the writer is specially indebted
to a contribution of the Rev. J. Hirst to the "Archæological Journal."
The late Mr. André's article on vowesses, and Mr. Evelyn-White's
exhaustive account of the Boy-Bishop must be mentioned, and--lest I
forget--Dr. Cunningham's "History of English Commerce." The late Mr. F.
T. Elworthy's paper on Hugh Rhodes directed attention to the Children of
the Chapel, and Dom. H. F. Feasey led the way to the Lady Fast. Here and
often the writer has supplemented his authorities out of his own
knowledge and research. It may be added that, in numerous instances,
indebtedness to able students (e.g., Sir George L. Gomme) has been
expressed in the text, and need not be repeated. Finally, it would be
ungrateful, as well as ungallant, not to acknowledge some debt to the
writings of the Hon. Mrs. Brownlow, Miss Ethel Lega-Weekes, and Miss
Giberne Sieveking. Ladies are now invading every domain of intellect,
but the details as to University costume happened to be furnished by the
severe and really intricate studies of Professor E. G. Clark.
F. J. S.
TIVERTON, N. DEVON,
_January 22, 1911._
CONTENTS
ECCLESIASTICAL
CHAPTER PAGE
I. LEAGUES OF PRAYER 11
II. VOWESSES 18
III. THE LADY FAST 27
IV. CHILDREN OF THE CHAPEL 32
V. THE BOY-BISHOP 39
VI. MIRACLE PLAYS 51
ACADEMIC
VII. ALMS AND LOANS 61
VIII. OF THE PRIVILEGE 71
IX. THE "STUDIUM GENERALE" 91
JUDICIAL
X. THE ORDER OF THE COIF 115
XI. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD 127
XII. OUTLAWRY 150
URBAN
XIII. BURGHAL INDEPENDENCE 167
XIV. THE BANNER OF ST. PAUL 187
XV. GOD'S PENNY 195
XVI. THE MERCHANT AND HIS MARK 200
RURAL
XVII. RUS IN URBE 204
XVIII. COUNTRY PROPER 216
DOMESTIC
XIX. RETINUES 238
INDEX 249
THE CUSTOMS OF OLD ENGLAND
ECCLESIASTICAL
CHAPTER I
LEAGUES OF PRAYER
A work purporting to deal with old English customs on the broad
representative lines of the present volume naturally sets out with a
choice of those pertaining to the most ancient and venerable institution
of the land--the Church; and, almost as naturally it culls its first
flower from a life with which our ancestors were in intimate touch, and
which was known to them, in a special and excellent sense, as religious.
The custom to which has been assigned the post of honour is of
remarkable and various interest. It takes us back to a remote past, when
the English, actuated by new-born fervour, sent the torch of faith to
their German kinsmen, still plunged in the gloom of traditional
paganism; and it was fated to end when the example of those same German
kinsmen stimulated our countrymen to throw off a yoke which had long
been irksome, and was then in sharp conflict with their patriotic
ideals. It is foreign to the aim of these antiquarian studies to sound
any note of controversy, but it will be rather surprising if the beauty
and pathos of the custom, which is to engage our attention, does not
appeal to many who would not have desired its revival in our age and
country.[1] Typical of the thoughts and habits of our ancestors, it is
no less typical of their place and share of the general system of
Western Christendom, and in the heritage of human sentiment, since
reverence for the dead is common to all but the most degraded races of
mankind. That mutual commemoration of departed, and also of living,
worth was not exclusive to this country is brought home to us by the
fact that the most learned and comprehensive work on the subject, in its
Christian and mediæval aspects, is Ebner's "Die Klosterlichen
Gebets-Verbrüderungen" (Regensburg and New York, 1890). This
circumstance, however, by no means diminishes--it rather heightens-the
interest of a custom for centuries embedded in the consciousness and
culture of the English people.
First, it may be well to devote a paragraph to the phrases applied to
the institution. The title of the chapter is "Leagues of Prayer," but it
would have been simple to substitute for it any one of half a dozen
others--less definite, it is true--sanctioned by the precedents of
ecclesiastical writers. One term is "friendship"; and St. Boniface, in
his letters referring to the topic, employs indifferently the cognate
expressions "familiarity," "charity" (or "love"). Sometimes he speaks of
the "bond of brotherhood" and "fellowship." Venerable Bede favours the
word "communion." Alcuin, in his epistles, alternates between the more
precise description "pacts of charity" and the vaguer expressions
"brotherhood" and "familiarity." The last he employs very commonly. The
fame of Cluny as a spiritual centre led to the term "brotherhood" being
preferred, and from the eleventh century onwards it became general.
The privilege of fraternal alliance with other religious communities was
greatly valued, and admission was craved in language at once humble,
eloquent, and touchingly sincere. Venerable Bede implores the monks of
Lindisfarne to receive him as their "little household slave"--he desires
that "my name also" may be inscribed in the register of the holy flock.
Many a time does Alcuin avow his longing to "merit" being one of some
congregation in communion of love; and, in writing to the Abbeys of
Girwy and Wearmouth, he fails not to remind them of the "brotherhood"
they have granted him.
The term "brother," in some contexts, bore the distinctive meaning of
one to whom had been vouchsafed the prayers and spiritual boons of a
convent other than that of which he was a member, if, as was not always
or necessarily the case, he was incorporated in a religious order. The
definition furnished by Ducange, who quotes from the diptych of the
Abbey of Bath, proves how wide a field the term covers, even when
restricted to confederated prayer:
"Fratres interdum inde vocantur qui in ejusmodi Fraternitatem sive
participationem orationum aliorumque bonorum spiritualium sive
monachorum sive aliarum Ecclesiarum et jam Cathedralium admissi errant,
sive laici sive ecclesiastici."
Thus the secular clergy and the laity were recognized as fully eligible
for all the benefits of this high privilege, but it is identified for
the most part with the functions of the regular clergy, whose leisured
and tranquil existence was more consonant with the punctual observance
of the custom, and by whom it was handed down to successive generations
as a laudable and edifying practice importing much comfort for the
living, and, it might be hoped, true succour for the pious dead.
In so far as the custom was founded on any particular text of Scripture,
it may be considered to rest on the exhortation of St. James, which is
cited by St. Boniface: "Pray for one another that ye may be saved, for
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." St.
Boniface is remembered as the Apostle of Germany, and when, early in the
eighth century, he embarked on his perilous mission, he and his company
made a compact with the King of the East Angles, whereby the monarch
engaged that prayers should be offered on their behalf in all the
monasteries in his dominion. On the death of members of the brotherhood,
the tidings were to be conveyed to their fellows in England, as
opportunity occurred. Not only did Boniface enter into leagues of prayer
with Archbishops of Canterbury and the chapters and monks of Winchester,
Worcester, York, etc., but he formed similar ties with the Church of
Rome and the Abbey of Monte Cassino, binding himself to transmit the
names of his defunct brethren for their remembrance and suffrage, and
promising prayers and masses for _their_ brethren on receiving notice of
their decease. Lullus, who followed St. Boniface as Archbishop of
Mayence, and other Anglo-Saxon missionaries extended the scope of the
confederacy, linking themselves with English and Continental
monasteries--for instance, Salzburg. Wunibald, a nephew of St. Boniface,
imitating his uncle's example, allied himself with Monte Cassino. We may
add that in Alcuin's time York was in league with Ferrières; and in 849
the relations between the Abbey and Cathedral of the former city and
their friends on the Continent were solemnly confirmed.
Having given some account of the infancy or adolescence of the custom,
we may now turn to what may be termed, without disrespect, the machinery
of the institution. The death of a dignitary, or of a clerk
distinguished for virtue and learning, or of a simple monk has occurred.
Forthwith his name is engrossed on a strip of parchment, which is
wrapped round a stick or a wooden roll, at each end of the latter being
a wooden or metal cap designed to prevent the parchment from slipping
off. After the tenth century, at certain periods--say once a year--the
names of dead brethren were carried to the scriptorium, where they were
entered with the utmost precision, and with reverent art, on a mortuary
roll.
The next step was to summon a messenger, and fasten the roll to his
neck, after which the brethren, in a group at the gateway, bade him
God-speed. These officials were numerous enough to form a distinct
class, and some hundreds of them might have been found wending their way
simultaneously on the same devout errand through the Christian Kingdoms
of the West, in which they were variously known as _geruli_, _cursores_,
_diplomates_, and _bajuli_. We may picture them speeding from one church
or one abbey to another, bearing their mournful missive, and when
England had been traversed, crossing the narrow seas to resume their
melancholy task on the Continent. At whatever place he halted, the
messenger might count on a sympathetic reception; and in every monastery
the roll, having been detached from his neck, was read to the assembled
brethren, who proceeded to render the solemn chant and requiem for the
dead in compliance with their engagements. On the following day the
messenger took his leave, lavishly supplied with provisions for the next
stage.
Monasteries often embraced the opportunity afforded by these visits to
insert the name of some brother lately deceased, in order to avoid
waiting for the dispatch of their own annual encyclical, and so to
notify, sooner than would otherwise have been possible, the death of
members for whom they desired the prayers of the association.
Mortuary rolls, many examples of which have been found in national
collections--some of them as much as fifty or sixty feet in
length--contain strict injunctions specifying that the house and day of
arrival be inscribed on the roll in each monastery, together with the
name of the superior, the purpose being to preclude any failure on the
part of the messenger worn out with the fatigue, or daunted by the
hardships and perils, of the journey. The circuit having been completed,
the parchment returned to the monastery from which it had issued,
whereupon a scrutiny was made to ascertain, by means of the dates,
whether the errand had been duly performed. "After many months'
absence," says Dr. Rock, "the messenger would reach his own cloister,
carrying back with him the illuminated death-bill, now filled to its
fullest length with dates and elegies, for his abbot to see that the
behest of the chapter had been duly done, and the library of the house
enriched with another document."
One of the Durham rolls is thirteen yards in length and nine inches in
breadth. Consisting of nineteen sheets of parchment, it was executed on
the death of John Burnby, a Prior of Durham, in 1464. His successor,
Richard Bell, who was afterwards Bishop of Durham, and the convent,
caused this roll, commemorating the virtues of the late Prior and
William of Ebchester, another predecessor, to be circulated through the
religious houses of the entire kingdom; and inscribed on it are the
titles, orders, and dedications of no fewer than six hundred and
twenty-three. Each had undertaken to pray for the souls of the two
priors in return for the prayers of the monks at Durham. The roll opens
with a superb illumination, three feet long, depicting the death and
burial of one of the priors; and at the foot occurs the formula: _Anima
Magistri Willielmi Ebchestre et anima Johannis Burnby et animæ omnium
defunctorum per Dei misericordiam in pace requiescant._
The monastery first visited makes the following entry: _Titulus
Monasterii Beatæ Mariæ de Gyseburn in Clyveland, ordinis S. Augustini
Ebor. Dioc. Anima Magistri Willielmi Ebchestre et anima Johannis Burnby
et animæ omnium defunctorum per misericordiam Dei in pace requiescant.
Vestris nostra damus, pro nostris vestra rogamus._ The other houses
employ identical terms, with the exception of the monastery of St. Paul,
Newenham, Lincolnshire, which substitutes for the concluding verse a
hexameter of similar import. It is of some interest to remark that,
apart from armorial or fanciful initials, the standing of a house may be
gauged by the handwriting, the titles of the larger monasteries being
given in bold letters, while those of the smaller form an almost
illegible scrawl. The greater houses would have been in a position to
support a competent scribe--not so the lesser; and this is believed to
have been the reason of the difference.
Almost, if not quite, as important as the roll just noticed is that of
Archbishop Islip of Westminster recently reproduced in _Vetusta
Monumenta_.
After the tenth century it appears to have been the custom in some
monasteries, on the death of a member, to record the fact; and at
certain periods--probably once a year--the names of all the dead
brethren were inscribed on an elaborate mortuary roll in the
scriptorium, before being dispatched to the religious houses throughout
the land.
The books of the confraternities are divisible into two
classes--necrologies and _libri vitae_. The former are in the shape of a
calendar, in which the names are arranged according to the days on which
the deaths took place; the latter include the names of the living as
well as the dead, and were laid on the altar to aid the memory of the
priest during mass. Twice a day--at the chapter after prime and at
mass--the monks assembled to listen to the recitation of the names,
singly or collectively, from the sacramentary, diptych, or book of life.
The most famous English _liber vitae_--that of Durham--embraces entries
dating from the time of Edwin, King of Northumbria (616-633), and was
compiled, apparently, between the devastation of Lindisfarne in 793 and
the withdrawal of the monks from the island in 875. In the first
handwriting there are 3,100 names, a goodly proportion of them belonging
to the seventh century. As has been already implied, various degrees are
represented in the rolls of the living and the dead--notably, of course,
benefactors, but recorded in them are bishops and abbots, princes and
nobles, monks and laymen, and often enough this is their only footprint
on the sands of time. The name of a pilgrim in the confraternity book of
any abbey signifies that he was there on the day mentioned.
ECCLESIASTICAL