PARISH FINANCE.
Speaking generally of the average parish, Elizabethan churchwardens
accounts and vestry minutes show that for the purposes of raising
money amongst themselves to meet every-day parish expenditures,[201]
the parishioners of the period did not commonly resort to rates, if by
"rate" be understood a general assessment of all lands or all goods
alike at a fixed percentage of their revenue or value above a minimum
exempted.
It must not be supposed, however, that in the case of offerings or
gatherings, or of levies to raise a certain sum where each man
assessed himself, it was entirely optional for each to give or to
refuse. What a man customarily gave, or what he had promised to give,
or, again, what the parish thought he ought to give, that the ordinary
might compel him to give.[202] From an offering or a voluntary
assessment to a rate is often but a short step, and the two former
shade off into the latter almost imperceptibly. The justices of the
peace and the ecclesiastical authorities usually cast lump sums upon
the parishes, leaving ways and means to the parishioners themselves.
But it was, of course, optional with the justices to rate each
individual separately when it seemed good to them, and for this they
had the Queen's subsidy books to guide them. Here, however, we are
chiefly concerned with the raising of money amongst the parishioners
themselves. How manifold, how ingenious were the parochial devices for
creating resources, it is the purpose of this chapter to set forth.
But before proceeding to the parish expedients, properly so called,
for raising money, it will be well to say something of parish
endowments, whether in lands, houses or funds. According as the
revenue from these was available for general, or at least for various
purposes, or, on the other hand, was impressed with a trust for some
specific object, these endowments may be divided into general and
special. Parishes well endowed might be able to dispense with some of
the devices for money-getting which we shall have occasion to
enumerate, but then, after all, endowments might come and they might
go;[203] moreover, the financial policy of any one parish would, of
course, differ according to the disposition or the ability of those
who shaped it.
Of Loddon, Norfolk, we are told that "no complaint appears about
Church Rates, for there were none, as the revenue of the Town Farm ...
rendered a tax of that description unnecessary."[204]
Of St. Petrock's, Exeter, we are informed that "the parish became so
well endowed by donations of land and houses as to enable the wardens
to dispense almost entirely with the quarterly collections entered in
the earlier accounts."[205] The editor of the Thatcham, Berks,
Accounts, writes: "In the early years of these churchwardens accounts
the available funds were derived chiefly from the two oldest
charities, one called 'Lowndye's Almshouses,' the first account of
which is for the year ... 1561 ... to 1562; the other known as 'the
Church Estate,' the first account of which begins in 1566."[206]
Summoned by the Bodmin, Cornwall, justices in January, 159-4/5, to
make a report as to the parish stock, the representatives of Stratton
certify at sessions that their stock "am[oun]ts to the now some of
Sixteene poundes, some yeares it is more & some yeares lesse...." And,
they continue, "the vsinge of our sayde stocke is by the two wardens &
the rest of the eight men w[hi]ch for the same stande sworne, And it
is bestowed aboute her ma[jes]ties service, for buyenge of armor,
settinge forth of souldiers w[i]th powder & shott.... And likewise for
the relievinge & mainetayning of the poore...." They thereupon give
the names of the impotent and decrepit persons and orphan children
"wholly relieved" by the parish, ten in number, and add that there are
upwards of a hundred poor "w[h]ich are not able to liue of themselues,
but haue reliefe dayly one thinge or another of the seide
p[ar]ish."[207] The little parish of St. Michael's in Bedwardine,
Worcestershire,[208] possessed lands and tenements in various
parishes, and in 1599 invested £10 in buying two more tenements in
Worcester city.[209] Its wardens accounts, we are told by their
editor, disclose that there was never any lack of money for parish
purposes "in spite of a rather lavish expenditure at times in the
luxury of law[suits]."[210] Lapworth, Warwickshire, had many acres of
parish land.[211] The churchwardens of St. John's, Glastonbury,
Somerset, return in their accounts the rent of the parish lands in
1588 at £9 13s. 10d.,[212] and, as these accounts show, they
occasionally received important sums for fines on changes of tenants.
The various properties managed by the wardens of St. Michael's, Bath,
numbered thirty-seven in 1527, yielding a revenue of £11 8s.;[213] and
even in 1572 the rent amounted to £11 8s.[214]
Indeed, though parish lands and houses were generally vested as to
title in trustees (often a numerous and cumbersome body),[215] the
churchwardens themselves and sometimes other accountants,[216] who
like the wardens were appointed from year to year, usually exercised
the actual management. The feoffees existed chiefly for the purpose of
making it difficult to alienate the parish properties, "and the larger
the trust body the more difficult such alienation was supposed to
be."[217]
Contenting ourselves with the above examples, which could easily be
multiplied, we pass on under this same head of general endowments to
an interesting form of personal property, viz., cattle, for not only
did the wardens derive receipts from parish holdings of real estate,
but also from _Endowments of Cows or Sheep_. The Pittington, Durham,
Twelve Men, a sort of parish executive and administrative body, enact
in 1584 "that everie iiij pounde rent[218] within this parrishe, as
well of hamlets as townshippes, shall gras[219] winter and somer one
shepe for the behoufe of this church;"[220] and we are told that these
"Church Shepe," as they were called, were here one of the chief means
of raising funds for parochial purposes.[221] It was the custom of
pious donors, especially among the lowly, to leave one or more sheep
or cows to their parish. In the year 1559 twelve sheep were thus given
or bequeathed to Wootton Church, Hants, by ten donors.[222] These
sheep, as well as the parish cows, were often hired out to
parishioners, who gave security for their return. Sometimes they were
given to poor men at a reduced rent, and thus they served to support
the poor.[223]
That the keeping of cattle was a well-recognized source of parish
income is seen by the Queen's Injunctions of 1559 in which she alludes
to "the profit of cattle" among other sources of parish revenue to be
devoted to the poor, "and if they be provided for, then to the
reparation of highways next adjoining," or to the repair of the
church.[224]
Leaving the topic of general endowments to take up those sources of
revenue destined to defray particular forms of expenditure, we find
that _Permanent Parish Endowments_ in lands, goods or money devoted to
the defraying of _Specific Parish Administrative Burdens_ or
_Utilities_ were very numerous in the local documents of the 16th
century. Sometimes a land or fund was set apart by the donor, or by
the parish itself, for the support of a parish servant or
officer;[225] sometimes its revenue maintained this or that cripple or
blind man,[226] or a number of them; sometimes it was used for feeding
the poor,[227] or for buying wearing apparel for them;[228] for
setting them at work in houses of correction,[229] or for parish
education.[230]
In particular, lands or funds were frequently set apart as special and
permanent endowments for the repair of bridges.[231] In fact, the
proceeds of parish lands or other endowments might be appropriated to
alleviate any tax burden whatsoever. In 1549 it was stated by the
wardens of North Elmham, Norfolk, that the net proceeds of the five
and thirty or forty acres which they rented out were devoted
exclusively towards the paying of the fifteenths due from time to time
to the king and his successors.[232]
To illustrate the variety of purposes for which parish trusts were
created, I cannot do better than quote part of the preamble of the 43
Eliz. c. 4, known as the Statute of Charitable Uses: "Whereas Landes,
Tenements, Rentes ... Money and Stockes of Money," it is there
rehearsed, "have bene heretofore given, limitted ... and assigned ...
some for Releife of aged, impotent and poore people, some for
Maintenaunce of sicke and maymed Souldiers and Marriners, Schooles of
Learninge ... some for Repaire of Bridges, Fortes, Havens, Causwaies,
Churches, Sea-bankes and Highewaies, some for Educac[i]on and
p[re]fermente of Orphans, some for or towardes Reliefe, Stocke or
Maintenaunce for Howses of Correcc[i]on, some for Mariages of poore
Maides, some for Supportac[i]on, Ayde and Helpe of younge Tradesmen,
Handiecraftesmen and p[er]sons decayed, and others ... for aide or
ease of any poore Inhabitants conc[er]ninge paymente of Fifteenes,
settinge out of Souldiers and other Taxes [etc.]...."[233]
As for money and goods left by testators or given _inter vivos_ for
_Temporary Expenses_ or _Special Occasions_ (as opposed to the
creation of permanent trusts and endowments), we find a constant
stream of such benefactions throughout the Elizabethan period.
By the Queen's Injunctions of 1559 parsons are diligently to exhort
their parishioners, "and especially when men make their testaments,"
to give to the poor-box, the surplus of which, after provision for the
needy, might be devoted to church and highway repair.[234]
Bequests made to the highways or bridges were considered as donated
_in pios usus_. "I thinke," wrote a prebendary of Durham Cathedral in
1599, "it also a deade of charitie and a comendable worke before God
to repaire the high-wayes, that the people may travaille saifely
without daunger. I therefore will to the mending of the highwayes
[etc.]...."[235]
Noblemen and wealthy men were expected to help maintain the local poor
in particular. Elizabethan ballads celebrate the liberality
to the destitute of an Earl of Huntingdon,[236] of an Earl of
Southampton,[237] or of an Earl of Bedford.[238] At the funeral of
George, Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1591, eight thousand got the dole
served to them, and it was thought that at least twice that number
were in waiting, but could not approach because of the tumult.[239]
The churchwardens and overseers of the poor accounts, especially in
London and the larger cities, abound with receipt items of gifts from
great personages or wealthy merchants.[240]
Owing to the difficulty of investing money because present-day
intermediaries were absent between capital seeking employment and
would-be borrowers; and because the medieval stigma attaching to money
loaned at interest had by no means wholly disappeared,[241] there grew
up in Elizabethan parishes a system of laying out money, raised by the
parish or donated by benefactors, in various trades, such as
wool-spinning, linen-weaving, the buying of wood or coal to sell again
at a profit,[242] etc. Sometimes well-to-do parishioners with good
credit would themselves borrow parish money, returning ten per cent.
for its use.[243] Usually, however, parish money was loaned gratis,
the parish taking sureties for its repayment and sometimes articles of
value, being, apparently, not always above doing a little pawnbroking
business.[244] On the other hand, when the parish itself had occasion
to borrow money it would occasionally give its own valuables as
security. Thus the Mere, Wiltshire, wardens record in 1556 that they
have redeemed on the repayment of 40s. to one Cowherd, "borowed of hym
to thuse of the Churche," "certeyn sylver Spones of the Churche
stocke."[245] Finally, parishes would now and then make some cautious
speculation in real estate, such as the buying of a local market or
fair with a view to profit.[246]
Leaving the subject of endowments we shall now take up in order the
measures which may be called _Parish Expedients for raising money_.
Of all means ever devised for obtaining large sums of money for parish
uses, the most popular, as certainly the most efficacious, was the
_Church-ale_. Widespread during the first years of Elizabeth's reign,
church-ales, for reasons hereafter to be mentioned, ceased to be held
in many parishes towards the end of the reign. They constitute,
nevertheless, at all times during the 16th century an important
chapter in the history of parochial finance. In some wardens' accounts
the proceeds of these ales form a yearly recurring and an ordinary
receipt item; in others ales were resorted to when some unusually
large sum had to be raised, or some heavy expense was to be met, such
as the rebuilding of the church tower, the recasting of the bells, the
raising of a stock to set the poor to work, or the buying of a silver
communion cup.[247] Frequently, also, funds were raised by means of
ales called clerk-ales, sexton-ales, etc., to pay the wages of clerks,
sextons and other servants of the parish. "For in poore Countrey
Parishes," writes an early 17th century bishop, "where the wages of
the Clerke is very small, the people ... were wont to send him in
Provision, and then feast with him, and give him more liberality then
their quarterly payments [or offerings] would amount unto in many
years." Indeed, he continues, since these ales have been abolished
"some ministers have complained unto me, that they are afrayd they
shall have no Parish Clerks for want of maintenance for them."[248]
Church-ales were usually held at or near Whitsuntide, hence they were
also called Whitsun-ales or May-ales in the accounts. If the occasion
were an extraordinary one, and it was sought to realize a large sum,
notices were sent to the surrounding parishes, say to ten, fifteen, or
more, to be read aloud from the pulpits of their respective churches
after service, which notices contained invitations to any and all to
come and spend their money in feasting and drinking for the benefit of
the parish giving the ale. As the day approached for the opening of
the ale, which, if it were a great one, would be kept for four or five
days or more, all was bustle in the parish to prepare for a feasting
which often assumed truly Gargantuan proportions. Cuckoo kings and
princes were chosen, or lords and ladies of the games; ale-drawers
were appointed. For the brewing of the ale the wardens bought many
quarters of malt out of the church stock, but much, too, was donated
by the parishioners for the occasion. Breasts of veal, quarters of fat
lambs, fowls, eggs, butter, cheese, as well as fruit and spices, were
also purchased. Minstrels, drum players and morris-dancers were
engaged or volunteered their services. In the church-house, or church
tavern, a general-utility building found in many parishes, the great
brewing crocks were furbished, and the roasting spits cleaned. Church
trenchers and platters, pewter or earthen cups and mugs were brought
out for use; but it was the exception that a parish owned a stock of
these sufficient for a great ale. Many vessels were borrowed or hired
from the neighbors or from the wardens of near-by parishes, for, as
will presently be seen, provident churchwardens derived some income
from the hiring of the parish pewter as well as money from the loan of
parish costumes and stage properties. When the opening day arrived
people streamed in from far and wide. If any important personage or
delegation from another village were expected, the parish went forth
in a body with bag-pipes to greet them, and (with permission from the
ecclesiastical authorities) the church bells were merrily rung out. At
the long tables, when the ale was set abroach, "well is he," writes a
contemporary, "that can get the soonest to it, and spend the most at
it, for he that sitteth the closest to it, and spendes the most at it,
hee is counted the godliest man of all the rest ... because it is
spent uppon his Church forsooth."[249] The receipts from these ales
were sometimes very large. So important were they at Chagford, Devon,
that the churchwardens were sometimes called alewardens.[250] At Mere,
Wilts, out of a total wardens' receipts of £21 5s. 7-1/2d. for the two
years 1559-61, the two church-ales netted £17 3s. 1-1/2d.,[251] thus
leaving only £5 2s. 6d. as receipts from other sources for these two
years. At a later period, on the other hand, this relation of receipts
was entirely reversed. For instance, in 1582-3 the wardens secured
only £4 10s. 4d. from their ale, while proceeds from other sources
amounted to £17 9s. 7d.[252]
In the thirty-one years from 1556-7 to 1587-8 in this parish the
recorded wardens' expenditures had more than doubled. In the
first-named year they had been but £8 I2s. 5d.;[253] in the latter
year they had swelled to £18 14s 3-1/2d.[254] This characteristic is
true of all Elizabethan church budgets, and the writer has seen a
number of them.[255] The Wootton churchwardens enter under the year
1600 the following: "Rec. by our Kingale, all things discharged, xij
li. xiiij[s]. jd. ob.," an important sum for the day.[256]
Besides the churchwardens other wardens or gilds sometimes busied
themselves with the selling of ale for the benefit of the church. One
of these gilds at South Tawton, Devon, records in its accounts for
1564: "We made of our alle and gathering xl l. viijs. viijd."[257]
So important a source of parish income had to be carefully looked
after. A church-ale with its attendant festivities for drawing
visitors was an important business matter. Accordingly we find the
parishioners of St. John's, Glastonbury, making an order in 1589 "that
the churchwardens shall yearly keape ale to the comodeti of the
parishe upon payne of xxs. a yere."[258]
In Ashburton, Devon, in 1567 Christopher Wydecomb had to pay 20s. to
the wardens "because he refused the office of the drawer of the church
ale."[259] At Wing, Bucks, those refusing "to be lorde at Whitsuntyde
for the behofe of the church" were fined 35. 4d. apiece.[260] In some
places these masters of the revels were called Cuckoo Kings, and the
office seems to have gone in rotation like other parish offices.[261]
When invitations had been sent out to surrounding parishes,
interparochial courtesy seems to have required the attendance either
of the churchwardens or of some other more or less official
representatives of the neighboring communities. These representatives
carried with them some small contribution made at the expense of their
respective parishes ('ale-scot').[262]
Because of the alleged drunkenness and disorderly conduct attendant
upon some of these ales, the justices of assize and the justices of
the peace attempted in some shires to put them down on various
occasions.[263] More effective, perhaps, in doing away with them was
the gradual growth of Puritanism.
In conclusion it should be remarked that church-ales seem to have
obtained only in Central and Southern England. The huge and thinly
populated parishes of the North did not favor the development of an
institution so essentially social in its character.
_Church Plays, Games_ and _Dances_ were allied in a measure with
church-ales, partly because they were sometimes held concurrently with
them, partly because they served as a substitute for the ales when
these fell into disrepute. Miracle plays and other pageants were given
by certain parishes from time to time, too frequently in the churches
themselves, in which case the wrath of the ordinary was called down
upon the parish if he heard of them.[264] Some parishes kept various
costumes and stage properties, which were hired out to other parishes
when not in use.[265] May games, Robin Hood plays or bowers, Hocktide
sports and forfeits, morris-dances and children's dances were all
turned to the profit of the church, collections being taken up at
them.[266] Morris coats, caps, bells and feathers were frequently
loaned out for a consideration by wardens to other parishes.[267]
_Church-house_. Here were the brewing kettles and the spits, and here
was stored church grain or malt for beer making.[268] Here, too,
presumably, the pewter ale pots, trenchers, spoons, etc., which figure
in the accounts, were kept. These were hired out to other parishes for
their ales.[269] While ale was brewed and drunk in the church-house
for the benefit of the parish, and that apparently on other occasions
than church-ales, it does not seem probable that the place was often
allowed to degenerate into a common ale-house, even though in some
parishes it may have borne the name of "church tavern."[270] When not
required for parish purposes the church-house was rented out, and
rooms in an upper story were used for lodging.[271]
As church-ales fell into disfavor _Offerings_ or _Gatherings_ in
church or at the church door became more frequent[272] and more
systematized. As time went on these collections were regularly taken
up in many parishes every quarter, usually at Easter, Midsummer,
Michaelmas and Christmas.[273] Hence the name quarterage.[274] When
the proceeds went to general church furnishing and repairing, the
gatherings wrere sometimes called in the accounts "church works."[275]
As the sum given by each was often noted down in "quarter books" or
"Easter books,"[276] and was, on denial, occasionally sued for before
the official (together with dues for other purposes--clerk's wages,
pew rents, etc., presently to be noticed), an "offering" might become
virtually an assessment or rate.[277]
We come now to _Communion Dues_, or _Collections_ taken up at the time
of communion.
"_Paschall money_" is defined in a vestry order of Stepney parish,
London, in 1581 as a duty of 1d. paid by each communicant at Easter
"toward the charge of breade and wine over and besides theyre offering
mony due unto the vicar." These paschal dues, the order further
informs us, had long been farmed by the vicar for 40s. yearly. But now
the yield of a penny from each communicant was "thought a thing so
profitable and beneficiall," that only as a special mark of favor was
the vicar to continue to farm it, but at £4 thenceforth instead of at
40s.[278] "_Easter money_," an expression found not infrequently in
the accounts, may have referred to the same payment, or it may have
designated the offering which generally followed the celebration of
communion,[279] taken up, doubtless, from all those present, whether
communicating or not, the proceeds of which might go to the minister
or to the parish according to agreement or custom.
Though the Second Edwardine Prayer Book (1552) provided that the
elements were to be found by the curate and the wardens at the expense
of the parish, which was then to be discharged of fees, or levies on
each household, nevertheless, we meet with _Communion Fees_ or with
house-to-house levies to defray the cost of bread and wine in many
parishes during Elizabeth's reign.[280] In order to ensure payment of
the communion fee, tokens (or as we would say today, tickets) were
provided in some parishes which were first to be handed in before the
ministrant admitted the applicant to reception.[281]
In a number of parishes a fine wine such as muscatel or malmsey was
provided for the better sort, or the masters and mistresses, while the
servants, or poorer folk, were served with claret.[282] Indeed where
all were compelled to communicate thrice yearly the cost of wine was a
very serious item.
_Collections for the Holy Loaf_, that is, blessed but not consecrated
bread, which went to defray the costs of administering the Eucharist,
occur in some of the earlier Elizabethan accounts.[283] Surplus
communion fee money, or communion offerings were devoted to the care
of the poor and other expenses.[284]
The heading _Clerk's Wages_, which is so often met with in the
wardens' receipt items, frequently serves (as do several other special
headings) as a mere peg on which to hang a collection for various or
even for general parish expenses.[285]
_Pews_ and _Seats in Church_ were often made a source of revenue. Thus
at St. Mary's, Reading, it was agreed in 1581 by the chief men of the
parish, in order to augment the parish stock and to maintain the
church, because "the rentes ar very smale," that those sitting in
front seats in the church should pay 8d., those behind them 6d., the
third row 4d., and so on.[286]
At St. Dunstan's, Stepney parish, London, a book was made by the
wardens "whearein was expressed the pewes in the whole Church,"
distinguished by numbers. "Also there was noted against everie pewe
the price that was thought reasonable it shoulde yeeld by the
yeare.... The w[hi]ch rates by this vestrie is allowed and confirmed
to be imploied to the use of the parish Church." When a few months
later it was determined to build a gallery because the congregation
needed more seats, it was also settled that the cost should be met by
a year's pew rent in one payment down, over and besides the usual
quarterly payments for seats.[287] Sometimes the seats were sold
outright and for life only.[288]
_Mortuary Fees_ were a source of revenue in almost all parishes, and
sometimes an important one.[289] Consequently tariffs of fees were
drawn up in various places. So much is charged for interment within,
so much for burial without the church; so much for a knell according
to duration and according to size of the bell; so much for the
herse--a sort of catafalque--so much for the pall, the fee varying
from that charged for "the best" to that charged for "the worst
cloth"; so much if the body is coffined or uncoffined, most of the
dead being buried in winding sheets only, though the parish provided a
coffin for the body to lie in during service in church and for removal
to the graveside.[290] So, too, one fee was charged for interring a "
great corse," another for a "chrisom child."[291] All, in fact, is
tabulated with minute precision, the minister getting certain fees for
himself alone, and sharing others with the parish; and so of the clerk
and of the sexton, if any. Among other reasons alleged by the vestry
of Stepney parish for dismissing their sexton in 1601 was because he
made "composic[i]on with diu[er]s & sundry p[ar]ishoners for the
duties of the church to the hinderannce & great damage of the
bennefitt of the church & p[ar]ishoners."[292]
_Fees_ for _Weddings, Christenings_ and _Churchings_, and for the
ringing of the bells (at marriages), together with the _Offerings_
taken up on these occasions, might form a source of revenue to the
parish, either going directly into the parish coffers, or being paid
in whole or in part to minister, clerk or sexton, who, after all, had
to be supported by the parish (or otherwise), being essential officers
or servants.[293]
The parish poor and the parish church derived an uncertain, but by no
means negligible, income from the product of _Fines for various
Delinquencies_.
In the previous chapter fines for non-attendance at church have been
alluded to.[294] A contemporary, writing in 1597, refers to these as
an important fund for the support of the poor if duly levied. He
writes: "Whereunto [he is speaking of various means to alleviate
poverty] if we adde the forfaiture of 12 pence for euerie householders
absence from Church (man and woman) forenoone and after, Sunday and
holiday (according to the statute without sufficient cause alledged)
to be duely collected by Churchwardens and other appointed to that
end, with the like regard for Wednesday suppers: there would be
sufficient releefe for the poore in all places ...."[295]
Ecclesiastical courts sometimes condemned offenders to pay a fine for
the use of the poor.[296] Sometimes they commuted a penance for money
to go to church-repair or to the parish poor.[297] The churchwardens
or overseers of the poor accounts also mention fines received for
profanation of the Sabbath and for offences during service time.[298]
The Star Chamber often condemned offenders, especially enclosers of
cottage land and engrossers of corn, to fines for the benefit of the
poor.[299] Finally, most parishes derived some income from fining men
various sums for refusing parish offices; for neglect of duty when in
office; and for not attending duly called vestry meetings. Sometimes a
parishioner would pay down a large lump sum for exemption forever from
all offices served by the parishioners.[300]
Yet another irregular but appreciable means of revenue might be
classed under the heading of _Miscellaneous Receipts_.
As the parishioners were always eager to turn an honest penny for
their own benefit, no possible source of receipts was neglected. If,
for instance, any part of the church or the church premises might,
temporarily or permanently, be rented out without drawing upon the
community the censure of the ordinary, the parishioners were happy to
do so. Owners of structures of any kind encroaching upon the
churchyard, or other church land, were promptly made to pay for the
privilege.[301] Occasionally parishes derived more or less large sums
from the sale of parish valuables. The sale of costly vestments,
embroideries, hangings, images, chalices, pyxes and other church
furnishings and ornaments condemned as superstitious by the Anglican
church, brought some income to the wardens of most parishes during the
first years of Elizabeth. Examples will be found in all the accounts.
Now and then, too, a parish would make a large sum from the sale of
the wood or other products of parish lands.[302] A fairly common item
in city parishes especially were fees paid for licences to eat flesh
during Lent and on other legal fast days.[303]
When an Elizabethan parish undertook some work on a great scale, such
as the rebuilding of its church, or of the church steeple; or, again,
when it had suffered great losses by fire or flood, it solicited
through _Begging Proctors_ the _Contributions of Outsiders_, sometimes
from all parts of England.[304]
To terminate our enumeration of means of raising money, or of
contributions of all sorts on which the wardens could count (as apart
from rates, properly so-called), we might mention _Fixed
Contributions_, of money or of labor, issuing out of certain
tenements; and _Annual Payments to Mother Churches_. Certain lands or
houses, generally abutting on the church grounds, had fixed upon them
the obligation to repair a certain portion of the churchyard
enclosure, Tenement X, so many feet of fence, Tenement Y, such a
portion of brick or stone wall, and so forth.[305]
Sometimes also certain houses or lands are spoken of as yielding so
much a year for the repair of the church and the support of the
poor.[306] Incidentally we might mention--though hardly connected with
parish finance--certain payments for church repair, etc., claimed of
old by some cathedral churches from the parishes of the diocese.
Originally a tax varying from a farthing to a penny for each household
(hence the names "smoke farthings," "hearth penny," "smoke silver"),
the payments were commuted for a small lump sum exacted yearly. Thus
we find in the Elizabethan accounts mention of "St. Swithin
farthings;"[307] of "Ely farthings;"[308] of "Lincoln farthings,"[309]
etc., according to the _name_ of the cathedral to which they were
paid; or, again, of "Whitsun farthings;" of "Pentecost farthings,"
etc., according to the _time_ of the year at which the payments were
made.[310] These payments must not be confused with "Peter's pence,"
which had before the Reformation been paid by English parishes to
Rome.[311]
Lastly the mother parish church, in large parishes requiring chapels
of ease, would exact (when it could) contributions from those
congregations who frequented for ordinary divine worship these chapels
of ease within the parish. And these exactions would be made
irrespective of the fact that these congregations were bound to repair
their own chapels and possessed their own churchwardens.[312]
When the means or expedients we have hitherto set forth were found
insufficient, or impracticable, or too tardy for an emergency, the
parish was compelled to resort to _Rates_ or _Assessments_.
Assessments were levied in all sorts of ways and for all sorts of
purposes. In an emergency, or if the sum to be raised was not large, a
levy might be made by the principal men of the parish upon themselves
only.[313] A "rate" might, however, be made to collect a very small
sum, as well as a very large one.[314] All kinds of units or rules of
assessment were resorted to from parish to parish, and (apparently)
sometimes no fixed unit at all was taken, men's ability to pay being
roughly gauged, or a man being permitted to rate himself,[315] or give
his "benevolence."
In the wardens' accounts are frequently seen long lists of names, each
being taxed at a sum varying from 1/2d. to three or four shillings.
Such lists may represent an attempt to tax each man at 1/2d. or 1d. in
the pound, or, likely as not, it may merely mean a crude sizing up of
the ability of each to contribute.
Furthermore, a "rate" might consist in a fixed sum, the same for all,
and levied by polls or by households,[316] say 1d. or 2d. each. Or,
again, it might be levied by pews at varying sums.[317] Assessments to
pay the parish clerk or sexton might sometimes be made in kind, and
issue from households, from cottages, or from ploughlands: so much
corn at Easter, so much bread, so many eggs.[318]
When it came to the more accurate basing of rates upon lands, or goods
at a valuation, the inhabitants of the various communities observed no
uniform ratio of taxation from parish to parish, nor even in the same
parish, and disputes were always recurring.[319]
It must be borne in mind that parish financiering was largely of the
hand-to-mouth variety. Indeed, it was difficult it should be
otherwise, for the exigencies of the civil or the ecclesiastical
authorities were constantly shifting, now a petty lump sum being
required (and to be spent as soon as raised), now a great one to be
disbursed in the same manner.
In conclusion, a few observations on the parish as a financial unit in
connection with county government may be made. There seems to have
been no general treasury at the disposal of the hundred or of the
county, but merely certain treasurers charged with the disbursement of
this or that special collection for this or that special purpose. A
collection is made by order of the justices, for instance, in certain
hundreds, or throughout the shire, for the support of the prisoners in
the county gaol, and a treasurer for the fund is appointed. Or it may
be that this treasurer is a more or less permanent official. And so
with collections for hospitals, for houses of correction, for great
bridges, etc. If the constables levied more than was sufficient for a
parish, or if the contemplated disbursement turned out to be less than
originally estimated, the surplus, if the justices had no immediate
use for it, might be returned to that parish to go back into the
pockets of the rate payers.[320] Furthermore, it seems scarcely
accurate in Elizabethan times to speak of any _county rate_,[321] for
there was no recognized basis of assessment common to all parishes,
unless it were at any given time the then prevailing subsidy rate, and
a rating according to the subsidy books by the justices would fail to
reach many whom a parish rating might attain. As a matter of fact the
justices, when they had a large sum to levy on the county at large,
almost always apportioned it in lump sums among the hundreds, or among
the parishes of their respective divisions, according to "the bygnes
or smallnes of their parishes."[322] It comes, then, to all practical
intents and purposes to this: that each parish is left to produce
according to its own local methods, or rating, the wherewithal for
carrying on county government.
While in local government itself the parishioners have practically no
voice, the large measure of freedom they enjoy for the devising of
ways and means to meet the demands made upon them (though they have no
option whatever in granting or withholding supplies) gives to the
parish a vigorous entity and a certain autonomous life of its own,
which otherwise it never could have possessed over against the
all-regulating and inquisitorial Tudor machinery of Church and State.
As the reign advanced the parish developed a selfish, jealous and
exclusive gild life of its own, especially under the operation of the
poor laws.
Non-parishioners, or "foreigners," were viewed with the strongest
suspicion. Generally they were discriminated against if they happened
to have dealings with the parish. Wedding or funeral fees were doubled
in their cases.[323] If the parishioners could have had their will no
alien poor could have gained a settlement amongst them--no, not even
after twenty years' residence. In 1598 the West Riding, Yorkshire,
justices were compelled to interfere in favor of divers poor persons
in various parishes, where officers were seeking to expel them as
vagrants born elsewhere, though they had been domiciled in their
adopted communities for twenty years and upwards.[324]
Already that "organized hypocrisy," so characteristic of parish life
in later reigns, shows itself in the many presentments of, and
petitions against, persons supposedly immoral--especially single
women. Not zeal for morality prompts these indictments, but fear that
the community may have to support illegitimate children.[325] Quite
typical of the times is the language held by the inhabitants of Castle
Combe in appealing to the Wiltshire justices against a townwoman in
1606. They are apprehensive, they say, lest "by this licentious life
of hers not only God's wrath may be powered downe uppon us ... but
also hir evill example may so greatly corrupt others than great and
extraordinary charge ... may be imposed uppon us."[326]
Few laws on the statute book were so frequently enforced as the 31
Eliz. c. 7, which required four acres to be laid to every cottage to
be constructed, for there was a powerful local backing behind the law.
When John Fletcher, "a meere stranger lately come into this Parish
with his wife and children," took certain parcels of land in Severn
Stoke in 1593, and was suspected of the intention to build a cottage
without laying to it the requisite number of acres, the parishioners
immediately complained to the Worcester justices, for they wanted to
provide against the contingent liability of having to support the
inmates.[327] Four acres was then the quantity considered necessary to
maintain a man and his family. It was an indictable offence to sublet,
for then there would be two families where only one was before. Nor
could lodgers be taken, for such increase of the inmates of the house
would surcharge the land.[328]
In short, that feeling of distrust and discrimination against the
outside world, which, in the 18th century, led a Lancashire vestry to
dub all outsiders "foreigners,"[329] is already fully developed by the
end of the 16th century. But we must also recognize that this feeling
engendered in the parish itself solidarity of interests, close
fellowship and local spirit.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Richard Hooker, _Ecclesiastical Polity_, Bk. viii, 448-9 (ed.
1666).
[2] Coke, 4 _Inst_., 320 (ed. 1797).
[3] See 14 Eliz. c. 5, sec. 16, and 39 Eliz. c. 3.
[4] 37 Hen. VIII, c. 17, re-enacted I Eliz. c. I. "The real effect of
the statute was this--that lay lawyers were substituted for the
clerical canonists of pre-Reformation times." Lewis T. Dibden, _An
Historical Inquiry into the Status of the Ecclesiastical Courts_
(1882), 59. By canon cxxvii of the Canons of 1604 in order to be a
chancellor, a commissary, or an official in the courts Christian, a
man must be "_ad minimum magister artium, aut in jure bacalareus, ac
in praxi et causis forensibus laudabiliter exercitatus_." E. Cardwell,
_Synodalia_ (etc.), i, 236. Cf. Blomefield, _Hist. of Norfolk_, iii,
655-6 (Parker's report, 1563. Officials of the archdeacons not
required to be in orders). E. Cardwell, _Documentary Annals of the
Reformed Church of England_, i, 426 (Complaint in a document of circa
1584 [or later] that excommunication is executed by laymen. In the
answer by the bishops it is stated [_ibid_., 428] _inter alia_, "that
in later times, divines have wholly employed themselves to divinity
and not to the proceedings and study of the law"). To the same effect,
but for a later period, see White Kennett, _Parochial Antiquities_
(Oxon. ed. 1695), 642.
[5] Harrison, writing in 1577, says that archdeacons keep, beside two
visitations or synods yearly, "their ordinarie courts which are holden
within so manie or more of their several deaneries by themselues or
their officials once in a moneth at the least." Harrison, _Description
of England_, Bk. ii, _New Shakespeare Soc_. for 1877 (ed. Dr.
Furnivall), p. 17. Between 27th Nov., 1639, and 28th Nov., 1640, there
were thirty sittings in the court of the Archdeacon of London. Hale,
_Crim. Prec_., introd. p. liii. Any casual inspection of the
visitation act-books reveals the fact that the judge sits either in
court or in chambers between visitations, for offenders are constantly
ordered to appear again in a few days or in a few weeks. Compulsory
presentments were, however, limited by law and custom to two courts a
year. See canons 116 and 117 of the Canons of 1604. Also Gibson,
_Codex_, ii, 1001.
[6] See p. 18 and p. 20 _infra_. For the duty to read the injunctions
or the articles based on them see p. 32 _infra_.
[7] See 5 Eliz. c. 3. _Stats. of the Realm_, iv, Pt. i, 411. Also
Visitation of Warrington Deanery in 1592 by the Bishop of Chester in
_Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Soc. Trans_., n. s., x (1895), 186
_et passim_. Hereinafter cited as _Warrington Deanery Visit_. Cf. also
Grindal's Injunc. for the Province of York (1571), art. 17, _Remains
of Grindal, Parker Soc_., 132 ff.
[8] See Visitations of the Archdeacon of Canterbury, _Archaeologia
Cantiana_, xxvi (1904), 24 (1602). Mr. Arthur Hussey has published
copious extracts from the act-books of these visitations extending
over a considerable period in vols. xxv-xxvii of the _Arch. Cant_.
Hereinafter cited as _Canterbury Visit_., xxv (etc.). For
perambulations see p. 27 _infra_.
[9] Cordy Jeaffreson, _Middlesex County Records_, i, 100-1 (Indictment
reciting that John Johnson had had due notice in his parish church,
yet had not sent his wain, etc., 1576). Cf. provisions of the statutes
5 Eliz. c. 13, and 18 Eliz. c. 10, _Stats. of Realm_, iv, Pt. i,
441-3, and 620-1 respectively.
[10] Brownlow v. Lambert, C.B., 41 Eliz., I _Croke Eliz. Rep.,
Leache's ed_. (1790), Pt. ii, 716.
[11] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvi, 23 (1599); _ibid_., 20 (1591). W.H.
Hale, _A Series of Precedents in Criminal Causes from the Act Books of
the Ecclesiastical Courts of London_, 1475-1640 (pub. in 1847), 190
(Schoolmaster of Stock presented in court for defacing the church "in
makinge a fire for his schollers," 1587). This work hereinafter cited
as Hale, _Crim. Prec_.
[12] Constables Acc'ts of Melton in _Leicester Architec. and Archaeol.
Soc. Trans_., iii (1874), 72-3. Chelmsford Churchwardens Acc'ts in
_Essex Archaeol. Soc. Trans_., ii (1863), 225 ff.
[13] Stratton (Cornwall) Churchwardens Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xlvi,
200 ff. _s. a_. 1565 and editor's note.
[14] "Sir W.. A.. and I with divers other justices, being met together
at Sondon church" (1582). Strype, _Annals of the Reformation_, iii,
Pt. ii, 214. This meeting here may have been in the churchyard.
[15] See in the _Antiquary_, xxxii (1896), 147-8, the inquest held at
St. Botolph Extra Aldgate (1590), and the coroner's judgment delivered
in the church that a suicide should be buried at cross-roads with a
stake through her breast.
[16] For the noisy proceedings in Bow Church and in St. Paul's,
London, see _The Spiritual Courts epitomised_ [etc.], a satire printed
in 1641 at London. For this and similar satires see Mr. Stephen's
_Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires_ in Brit. Mus. (1870).
Cf. Strype, _Life of Grindal_ (Oxon. ed. 1821), 83 ff. (Proclamation
of 1561 for reverent use of churches). Also Augustus Jessop, _One
Generation of a Norfolk House_, 15. Sir J.F. Stephen, _Hist. of
Criminal Law_, ii. 404.
[17] In the Canons of 1571 the churchwardens are called "_aeditui_,"
in those of 1604 "_oeconomi_." In the older churchwardens accounts
their Latin designations are "_gardiani_" and "_custodes_," sometimes
"_prepositi_" (or 'reeves'). English equivalents are churchmen,
highwardens, stockwardens (alewardens even), kirkmasters, church
masters, proctors, etc. Sidemen are called also questmen, assistants
and (apparently) sworn men or jurates. They do not always appear in
small country parishes, neither are they generally found before the
latter half of Elizabeth's reign. Their Latin appelation was "_fide
digni_" and they were chosen from among the parishioners to the number
of two, four, six or more to present offences along with the
churchwardens, or offences which the wardens would not present
(Gibson, _Codex_, ii, 1000). The sidemen went about the parish during
service time with the wardens and warned persons to come to church
(See p. 23 _infra_). For rector, etc., see p. 30 _infra_.
[18] Toulmin Smith, _The Parish_ (2d ed., 1857), 69 ff., strongly
insists that churchwardens "never were ecclesiastical officers." But
the authorities he cites are post-Elizabethan. The courts in
Elizabeth's time held that the execution of the office "doth belong to
the Spirituall jurisdiction" (See Brown v. Lother, 40 Eliz., in _J.
Gouldsborough's Rep_., ed. 1653, p. 113). Lambard (_The Duties of
Constables_, etc., ed. 1619, p. 70) says that wardens are taken in
favor of the church to be a corporation at common law for some
purposes, viz., to be trustees for the church goods and chattels.
[19] See "The Othe which the Parsons ... shall minister to the Churche
Wardens," of which the text is given in Bishop Barnes' Injunctions and
other Ecclesiastical Proceedings, _Surtees Soc_., xxii (1850), 26
(Hereinafter cited as _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_.). The wording of this
oath is evidently very similar to, if not identical with, that of the
oath administered to the wardens by the archdeacon.
[20] For a number of examples clearly illustrating this point see
Visitations of the Dean of York's Peculiar, _Yorkshire Archaeological
Journal_. xviii (1905), 202, 221, 222, 224, _et passim_. Hereinafter
cited as _Dean of York's Visit_. We have a number of these articles of
inquiry formulated by archbishops or bishops. _E.g._, see in T. Nash,
_Hist. and Antiq. of Worcestershire_, i, 472 (Wardens of Grimley make
answer to the 5th and 6th articles inquired of by the bishop in 1585).
Cf. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann._, ii, 13-16 (Whitgift's Articles of 1588).
[21] _E.g., Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 12 (Birchington wardens arraigned
in court "for that they have not presented divers faults Committed
within the parish." 1591). Act-Books in _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 118
(A warden of Long Newton detected to the official because "he refused
to present faltes with his fellowe churchwardone, _et fatebatur
delationem_, viz., that he wolde not present his owne wief." 1579).
_Ibid_., 129 (1580). See also _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 188
("Departing and not exhibitinge there presentments"). W.H. Hale,
_Precedents in Causes of Office against Churchwardens and Others_
(1841), 81 (Wardens of Sarratt [Herts] excommunicated for not
exhibiting their "_billas detectionum_." 1577). The last named work
hereinafter cited as Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_.
[22] For numerous examples of excommunication for non-appearance, see
_Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 29 ff. Under the heading of each parish we
see "_aegrotat_" or "_excusatur_," or "_nullo modo_" (_sc. comparuit_)
placed after the name of each person cited to attend from that parish.
Incumbents, wardens and sidemen were almost always in attendance.
Schoolmasters usually so when there were such. Delinquent parishioners
were of course cited in person, or remanded to appear at the next
court day holden elsewhere. Upon non-appearance the formula usually
entered by the registrar or scribe in the act-book was "_et omnes et
singulos hujusmodi non comparentes [judex] pronuntiavit contumaces et
eos excommunicavit in scriptis_." At Alnwick in 1578 fifteen persons
were excommunicated for non-attendance. _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 41.
Cf. Hale, _Crim. Prec., passim_.
[23] Lists of "furniture," implements and books will be found in the
metropolitan or diocesan injunctions of the time. A typical one is
given in _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 25, entitled "The furnitures,
implements and bookes requisite to be had in every churche, and so
commaunded by publique aucthoritie" (1577). Cf. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_.,
i, 287 ff. ("Advertisements partly for due order in the publique
administration of common prayers [etc.] ..." Jan., 1564).
[24] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 184.
[25] That is, Bishop John Jewel's _Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae_,
published in 1560, and his _Defence of the Apology_, published in
1567, sometimes called in the act-books and wardens accounts (where
both works are frequently mentioned) _The Reply to Mr. Harding_.
[26] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 116.
[27] J.L. Glasscoek, _The Records of St. Michael's, Bishop Stortford_
(1882), 63. See also Minchinhampton (Gloucester) Acc'ts,
_Archaeologia_, xxxv, 422 ff. ("Allowynge the regester booke." 1575).
_Shrop. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Tr_., 2d Ser., i, Ludlow Acc'ts, _s.
a_. 1585-6 (Record of the new bible and other books).
[28] Glasscock, _op. cit_., 59 (1578).
[29] Hale, _Crim. Free_., 170-1.
[30] Visitations of the Dean of York's Peculiar, _Yorkshire
Archaeological Journal_, xviii (1905), 209.
[31] _Ibid_., 210.
[32] With the exception of the High Commission by the terms of its
commission. See the writ of 1559 in Gee, _The Elizabethan Clergy and
the Settlement of Religion_, 150. Also Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 220,
for the Commission for York in 1559. As a matter of fact, as will
appear from the illustrations cited, fines were virtually inflicted by
way of court or absolution fees. Again, while the canons or
injunctions forbade the commutation of penance for money, an exception
was made for money taken _in pios usus_, such as church repair or the
relief of the poor. Examples of the practice will be found in Hale,
_Crim. Prec_., 232 (Repair of St. Paul's, London); _Warrington Deanery
Visit_., 189 (Poor); Chelmsfofd Acc'ts, _Essex Arch. Soc., ii_, 212
(Paving of church). For fines inflicted for the benefit of the poor
see _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 122 ("For that he gave evill words" an
offender was enjoined by the judge to pay 2s. to the poor and to
certify); Hale, _op. cit_., 198 (An offender to pay a rate of 4d., and
12d. more _"pro negligentia_." 1589/1590) _Cf_. Canons of 1585 in
Cardwell, _Synodalia_, i, 142.
[33] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 24 (1577). In the case of individuals
interdiction or suspension _(i.e_., from service and sacraments) does
not differ in effect from excommunication, except that the former are
temporary penalties and to terminate upon compliance with the judge's
order. See Burn, _Eccles. Law_ (ed. 1763), i, 616 (Interdiction) and
ii, 362-3 (Suspension).
[34] Thomas North, _A Chronicle of the Church of St. Martin's in
Leicester_ (1866), 116 (1568-9).
[35] _Leicester Archit. and Archaeol. Soc. Tr_., iii (1874), 192
(1567).
[36] _Ibid_., 197 (1594-5).
[37] W.F. Cobb, _Churchwardens Accounts of St.
Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate_ (1905), p. 10 (1595) and p. 12 (1604),
respectively. Stanhope was chancellor to the bishop of London.
[38] See p. 46 ff. _infra_.
[39] See _infra_ p. 40, p. 48 (note 169), p. 131, etc. Also Ch. ii,
_infra_. _Cf_. note 32 _supra_ (p. 19).
[40] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 155.
[41] Ordinary is that ecclesiastical magistrate who has regular
jurisdiction over a district, in opposition to judges extraordinarily
appointed. At common law a bishop was taken to be the ordinary in his
diocese, and so he was designated in some acts of Parliament. But as a
matter of fact 'ordinary' signifies any judge authorized to take
cognizance of causes by virtue of his office or by custom. Such were
pre-eminently the archdeacons. These officers, at first merely
attendant on the bishops at public services, were gradually entrusted
by the latter with their own jurisdictional powers, owing to the vast
extent of dioceses, so that "the holding of General Synods or
Visitations when the Bishop did not visit, came by degrees to be known
and established Branches of the Archidiaconal Office, as such, which
by this means attained to the dignity of Ordinary instead of delegated
jurisdiction." Edmund Gibson, _Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani_,
or the _Statutes, Constitutions_ (etc.) _of the Church of England_, ii
(1713), 998. Cf. Richard Burn, _Eccles. Law_, ii, 101-2. As the
ordinary in practice entrusted his office of judge to an official, I
have used the two terms interchangeably. In some places exempted from
the archdeacon's jurisdiction commissaries acted as judges, Burn, i,
391.
[42] That is, services and sacraments (except baptism) were suspended
in it. The words of Burn (_Eccles. Law_, i, 616, quoting Gibson, 1047)
are misleading. He says: "But this censure hath been long disused; and
nothing of it appeareth in the laws of church or state since the
reformation." Of course interdiction _temp_. Elizabeth was no longer
the terrible punishment it used to be.
[43] At Shrewsbury.
[44] _Shrop. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Tr_., i (1878), 62.
[45] R.W. Goulding, _Records of the Charity known as Blanchminster's
Charity_ (1898), Stockwardens Acc'ts, 68. For other examples of
interdiction of churches or excommunication see Hale, _Churchwardens'
Prec_., 111-12 (Shoreham Vetera interdicted. 1599/1600), _et passim_.
[46] Except in the city of London and some few other places, the
chancel was at the charge of the rector or other recipient of the
great tithes. Sidney and Beatrice Webb, _English Local Government_
(1906), 20, _note_. Also W.G. Clark-Maxwell in _Wilts Arch_. etc.
_Mag_., xxxiii (1904), 358. H.B. Wilson, _History of St. Laurence
Pountney_ (London, 1831), 73.
[47] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvi, 21.
[48] _Ibid_.
[49] _Ibid_., 32. In 1599 the wardens of this parish inform the
archdeacon that both church and churchyard need repairs "which we mean
shortly to do." The next year, too, they make a report in almost
identical words. _Ibid_., 33.
[50] See p. 15 _supra_.
[51] _Dean of York's Visit_., 341.
[52] Numerous other presentments at visitations for failure to supply
the requisites for worship besides those adduced in the text will be
found in Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 173 (A warden failing to supply the
elements for communion, 1579-1580) _Ibid_., 154 ("The rode lofte
beame, the staieres of the rode loft standinge, the churche lacketh
whittinge to deface the monuments." 1572), etc. _Barnes' Eccles.
Proc_._, 115 ("The Degrees of Mariage" and "the Postils" lacking.
1578-1579). _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 189 ("Cloth for the communion
table." 1592). Visitation of Manchester Deanery in 1592 by the Bishop
of Chester in _Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Soc. Tr_., xiii,
58. (Communion cup lacking). _Ibid_., 62 ("Noe fonte," and
christenings in "a bason or dish"). This source hereinafter cited as
_Manchester Deanery Visit_.
[53] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., _s. a_. 1587 (21st June).
[54] _Manchester Deanery Visit_., 66 (1592). Cf. _Canterbury Visit_.,
xxv, 23 (1600).
[55] Hall, _Crim. Prec_., 13 (1598).
[56] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 189.
[57] _Manchester Deanery Visit_., 69.
[58] _Ibid_. Then as now the ale-house was the strongest rival of the
House of God. A very common class of offenders were those who would
not leave their ale cups to go to service (see authorities cited,
_passim_). Men were also great gossipers ("common talkers") in the
churchyard, as a number of presentments show.
[59] Order of the archdeacon, Essex Archdeaconry, to the wardens of
St. Peter's and of All Saints. Maldon, in 1577, Hale, _Crim. Prec_.,
158. For refusing to keep her seat in church according to this order
Elizabeth Harris was presented the next year, Hale, _loc. cit_., 171.
[60] The vestry of St. Alphage's (G.B. Hall, _Records of St. Alphage,
London Wall_, 31) grew highly indignant in Aug., 1620, when the
business of seating the parishioners came up for discussion, that a
Mr. Loveday and his wife should presume to sit "togeather in one pewe
and that in the Ile where men vsually doe & ere did sitt; we hould it
most ynconvenyent and most vnseemely, And doe thinke it fitt that Mr
Chancellor of London be made acquainted w[i]th it [etc]..."
[61] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 241-2: "_Contra Hayward, puellam.
Presentatur_, for that she beinge but a yonge mayde, sat in the pewe
with her mother, to the greate offence of many reverend women." The
child (as the vicar who made the presentment continues should have sat
at her mother's "pewe dore." 1617). Cf. _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 122-3
(Janet Foggard cited for that "she beinge a yonge woman, unmarried,
will not sit in the stall wher she is appointed ..."). Cf. Hale, _op.
cit_., 210 (One Clay and his wife "will not be ordered in church by us
the church wardens [etc.]..". 1595).
[62] Examples will be found in the act-books cited _supra_.
[63] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 149 (1566). Cf. _ibid_., 163 (The divine
service not "reverently, plainelye and distinctlye saide..." 1576).
[64] Hale, _op. cit_., 182 (1584). Cf. Whitgift's _Articles for Sarum
diocese_ in 1588, art. viii: "Whether your ministers used to pray for
the quenes majestie ... by the title and style due to her majestie."
Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., ii, 14.
[65] _Dean of York's Visit_., 320 (1596).
[66] Hale, _op. cit_., 159 (1575).
[67] 3 _Rep. Hist. MSS. Com_., 275 (A vicar presented by churchwardens
in the commissary's court at Poddington-apud-Ampthill for not
catechising the youth, etc., though required to do so by one of the
wardens. 1616). For not presenting their minister when he neglected to
catechise on the Sabbath, the wardens of St. Mary Woolchurch Haw,
London, had to pay divers fees to the chancellor. Brooke and Hallen,
_Registers of St. Mary Woolchurch Haw_ (1886), Wardens Acc'ts, _s.a._
1593.
[68] Accordingly, by a later entry in the book we see that the warden
brought in court a certificate that the surplice had been bought and
worn by the vicar. _Manchester Deanery Visit_., 59. For a precisely
similar injunction see _ibid_., 62 (Wardens of Eccles).
[69] See p. 15 _supra_.
[70] For presentments of vicar's (etc.) offences see pp. 31 ff.
_infra_.
[71] L.G. Bolingbroke; _The Reformation in a Norfolk Parish, Norf. and
Norw. Arch. Soc_., xiii, 207-8 (1593).
[72] _Dean of York's Visit_, 231 (1594).
[73] _Ibid_., 315. See also _ibid_., 225 and 229.
[74] _Ibid_., 339 (1602).
[75] See _Queen's Inj. of_ 1559, art. xviii. Also art. xviii of Archbp.
(of York) Grindal's Inj. of 1571, _Parker Soc., Remains of Grindal_,
132. Also Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 337, etc. For the enforcing of the
obligation by the ordinary, see numerous examples in _Canterbury
Visit_., xxv, 22 (1585); 32 (Controversy in 1584 between two parishes
as to bounds); 37 (1594). Also _ibid_., xxvi, 24, 25, _et passim_.
Other examples in Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 162, where a parishioner of
Burstead Parva (Essex) is cited at a visitation for ploughing up a
dole (a balk or unploughed ridge), which marked the boundary line
between Burstead and Dunton parishes. Cf. _Canterbury Visit_., xxv,
15, where three parishioners are presented for covering up a parish
procession linch (1617).
[76] See, _e.g_., A.G. Legge, _North Elmham_ (Norfolk) _Acc'ts_
(1891), 76 (1562), 82 (1566 and 1567). Melton Acc'ts in _Leicest.
Archit. and Arch. Soc_., iii, 192 (1566). Ludlow Acc'ts in _Shrop.
Arch. Soc_., 2nd ser., i, _s.a._ 1601-2, etc.
[77] In this year the 39 Eliz. c. 3 was enacted which instituted
overseers of the poor nominated by the licence of the justices, and
placed wholly under their supervision. In spite of the provisions of
an earlier act (14 Eliz. c. 5) giving the justices power to appoint,
or see collectors appointed, the ecclesiastical courts rather than the
justices, as the act-books show, seem to have looked after the matter.
See, _e.g., Manchester Deanery Visit_., 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 68,
etc. Also _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 184, 186, 187, 191, etc. Cf.
the item in the Ludlow Acc'ts, _Shrop. Arch. Soc_., i, _s.a._ 1586-7,
where is recorded an expense item for a payment to "Mr. Chauncelor"
for entering a presentment for collections for the poor.
[78] See act-books above cited. Also Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 165, _et
passim_. _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 118, _et passim_. _Norf. and Norw.
Arch. Soc_., xiii, 207-8 (Great Witchingham wardens).
[79] Stanford (Berks) Accounts, _Antiquary_, xvii (1888), 169
(Expenses to Oxford "to speke with [the] ... Archedyacon for caryeng a
strem[e]r in Rogacion weke." 1564). Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 150 (Wearing
of surplice on same occasion. 1567); 152 (_Do_. 1572). Cf. Grindal's
Inj. at York, 1571, in Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 337.
[80] Melton Acc'ts, _ubi supra_, 192 ("Beyng somonyd ffor Ryngng off
all Hallodaye att nyght." 1566). Halesowen Acc'ts in T.R. Nash,
_History and Antiq. of Worcestershire_, ii, App., p. xxx (1578).
Stanford Acc'ts, _ubi supra_, 169 (1566). _Manchester Deanery Visit_.,
64 (Wardens of Manchester "ringe more than is necessarie at
Burialls..."). Cf. Canons of 1571, Cardwell, _Syn_., i, 124 (Ordained
that wardens must not suffer "_campanas superstitiose pulsari, vel in
vigilia Animarum, vel postridie Omnium Sanctorum_...").
[81] Accordingly some seven weeks later the wardens (or rather their
successors) appeared again and reported that the rate had been laid,
but not gathered. The court granted them a further space to buy the
implements. Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_., 2-3 (1583/1584). Similar
examples abound in Archdeacon Hale's work, just cited, which covers
the period 1557 to 1736.
[82] _Ibid_., 4 (1584). For other cases see _passim_.
[83] Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_., 98 (1601). Burn, _Eccles. Law_, i,
268 (citing Gibson, _Codex_, 196, and 1 Bacon, _Abridg_., 373), says
that if no parishioners appear at a meeting duly called for the
purpose of assessment," the churchwardens alone may make the rate,
because they and not the parishioners are to be cited and punished in
defect of repairs." To these words should be added the qualification
that the parishioners _were_ sometimes collectively punished, viz., by
interdiction of their church. Thus in St. Alban's archdeaconry the
parishioners of Redbourn were directed through the wardens to make a
rate to levy £60 "_sub pena interdictionis eccl[es]ie sue a
divinoru[m] celebratione et sacramentaru[m] et sacramentaliu[m]_...[etc]."
Hale, _op. cit_., 89 (1599). In Jan., 1599/1600; we find
Shoreham Vetera in Lewes archdeaconry interdicted, and one
of its wardens appearing, "_humil[ite]r petijt interdicc[i]o[n]em
... emissam pro defect[u] eccle[s]ie ruinos[e] ... revocari ..._"
in order that time might be given him to call together the
tenants and owners of land in the parish and outlying districts as
well as "strangers" who held lands in the parish. _Ibid_., 111-12. In
1603 the wardens of Northawe are to see a levy made "_sub pena
interdicti_." _Ibid_., 90. Cf. pp. 36-7.
[84] Examples are: Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 189 (Mucking, Essex, wardens.
157-6/7). _Ibid_.,199 (East Horndon, Essex, wardens confess they have
not accounted "by reason the parishioners will not come to recken with
them." They are warned to make their account and if the parishioners
will not audit it, to exhibit it at the next court. 1590). _Ibid_.,
222 (Several parishioners presented for "not receiving" a warden's
account. They plead that he was not chosen to be warden by their
parson. 1600). See also _Canterbury Visit_., xxvi, 20, 21, also
_Ibid_., xxvii, 220, _et passim. Dean of York's Visit_., 335.
[85] "The cases in which the advowson of the parish belonged to the
inhabitants, though more numerous than is often supposed, were
distinctly exceptional." Beatrice and Sidney Webb, _Local Government,
the County and the Parish_ (1906), 34 _note_.
[86] On the distinction between rector, vicar, curate, etc., see Felix
Makower, _The Constitutional History and Constitution of the Church of
England_ (Engl. trans. 1895), 334-7. Also Rev. W.G. Clark-Maxwell in
_Wilts Arch_., (etc.) _Mag_., xxxiii (1904), 358-9.
[87] _E.g._, the Canons of 1571, sec. _De Episcopis_, required that
the bishops ordain no one except such as had a good education and were
versed in Latin and the Holy Scriptures. Nor was a candidate to be
admitted to orders "_si in agricultura vel in vili aliquo et
sedentario artificio fuerit educatus_."
[88] Of some 8,800 parish churches in England in 1601 only 600, it was
computed, afforded a competent living for a minister. Dr. James in
debate in Parliament November 16th, 1601. Heywood Townshend,
_Historical Collections or Proceedings in the last Four Parliaments of
Elisabeth_ (ed. 1680), 218-19. Sir S. D'Ewes, _The Journals of all the
Parliaments during the Reign of Elizabeth_ (ed. 1682), 640. How this
came about see White Kennett, _Parochial Antiquities_ (ed. 1695),
433-45.
[89] Examples will be found in the churchwardens' accounts of the
period, the _Morebath_, (Devon) _Acc'ts_ for instance, which have been
transcribed _in extenso_ up to 1573 by Rev. J. Erskine Binney (Exeter,
1904). The garrulous old vicar here, Christopher Trychay, who wrote
the parish accounts himself for more than a generation, and always
punctiliously styled himself "Sir," is a fascinating figure. Thanks to
his chatty explanations on all subjects, bits of the daily life of
this little Devonshire parish from Henry VIII's, from Edward VI's,
from Mary's, and from Elizabeth's reigns are brought down to us with
great vividness. Cf. James Stockdale, _Annals of Cartmel_ (1872), 58-9
(Custom of addressing minister as "Sir" lingering down to nineteenth
century in Lancashire).
[90] Lambard, _Duties of Constables, Borsholders_, etc. (ed. 1619
frequently made an appendix to his _Eirenarcha_), 67, says: "The ...
Lawes, hauing imployment of many to make, hath borrowed some use in a
few easie matters of spirituall Ministers, chiefly for the helpe and
readinesse of their pen, which in many Parishes few, or none (besides
they) can serue withall."
[91] _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 22 (1590); 23 (1593). _Dean of York's
Visit_., 231 (1594); 315 (1595).
[92] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 184 (Farmer of advowson not
repairing chancel); 186 ("Wm. Brereton of Hareford, Esquire,"
_ditto_); 188 (Executors of will of the late rector, _ditto_); 191
(Rector of Warrington); 192 (Rector of Wigan). _Canterbury Visit_.,
xxv, 32 (Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. 1583); 26 ("Mr. John
Smyth, Esquire"). For not keeping in repair vicarages, barns,
dove-houses, etc., see _ibid_., xxvi, 20, 32. Also _ibid_., xxvii,
222, etc.
[93] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 160 ("_Dominus injunxit dicto_ Simpson
[rector of Pitsea, Essex] that he shall procure iiijor sermons in the
yeare ..." 1575-6). _Canterbury Visit_., xxvi, 44 (Wardens present
"they have no quarter sermons"). _Ibid_., 213 (1569); 214 (1574); 222
(1600). _Dean of York's Visit_., 222 (Wardens present "Mr. Deane for
want of the quarter sermons." 1592). _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 43
("Sir Wm. Baldock our Vicar, himself unlicenced to preach, doth not
provide a preacher for the sermons appointed by her Majesty's
Injunctions." 1593). The _Queen's Injunctions of_ 1559, art. iv,
provided that parsons should preach in their own persons at least one
sermon in every quarter of the year.
[94] _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 22, 23 (two examples). _Ibid_., vol.
xxvi, 31, 44, 222, 319, etc. See _Queen's Injunc_. of 1559, art. xi.
[95] See authorities above cited. Whether the incumbent kept
hospitality was a standing article of inquiry in the visitations of
the period; _e.g_., Grindal's Metrop. Visit. Art of 1576, _Remains of
Grindal, Parker Soc_., 157 ff.
[96] _Manchester Deanery Visit_., 63 ("They [ministers of Manchester]
be nott dutifull in visitinge the sicke").
[97] "And if the churchwardens and swornmen be negligent, or shall
refuse to do their duty ... ye shall present to the ordinary both them
and all such others of your parish as shall offend...." Archbp.
Grindal's Inj. at York, 1571, _Remains of Grindal, Parker Soc_., 129.
[98] Or judge acting by delegation from the ordinary.
[99] "Against the Reader [of Denton Chapel] ... doth not Reade the
Injunctions...." _Manchester Deanery Visit_., 60. "_Qui_ [wardens of
Belby] _dicunt_, the Articles being diligentlie redd unto them
[etc.]..." _Dean of York's Visit_., 221 (1591). _Ibid_., 341. Cf.
_Queen's Inj. of_ 1559, Art. xiv.
[100] Hale; _Crim. Prec_., 193. Cf. Grindal's Inj. at York, 1571: "Ye
[the ministers] shall openly every Sunday ... monish ... the
churchwardens and sworn men of your parish to look to their oaths
[etc.] ..." _Remains of Grindal_, 129. Also Whitgift's _Articles_ of
1583, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 406 (Ministers to warn parishioners
once a month to repair to church).
[101] _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 36.
[102] Cf. Canons of 1597: "_De recusantibus et aliis excommunicatis
publice denunciandis_." Cardwell, _Syn_., i, 156. Also _Croke's Eliz.
Rep_., Leache's ed. (1790), i, Pt. ii, 838, where a plaintiff sues for
damages because defendant, a curate, maliciously erased the original
name in an instrument of excommunication and inserted plaintiff's
name, "and read it in the church, whereupon he was inforced to be
absent from divine service, and to be at the expence to procure a
discharge for himself" (1599). _Canterbury Visit_., xxvii, 219 (Rector
of Swalecliffe presented for keeping back and not announcing
excommunications "sent out of this court." 1596).
[103] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvii, 219 (Rector suffering excommunicates
to come to his church during service). See also _infra_, p. 47.
[104] Canons of 1585 and 1597, Cardwell, _Syn_., i, 144 and 155-6
respectively.
[105] See in Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 206-7, the elaborate formula of
confession prescribed for Wm. Peacock of Leighton, Essex, in 1592. He
was to "publiquely after the minister ... confesse [etc.] ..."
[106] Hale, _op. cit_., 160 (Margaret Orton's penance for adultery.
"And ther was redd the firste parte of the homilie againste whoredome
& adulterie, the people ther present exorted to refraine from soche
wickedness...").
[107] See pp. 12-13, and p. _27, supra_.
[108] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 114 (Parishioner in a Durham parish
presented for absenting himself "twice at morning prayer, and verrey
often at eveninge prayer." 1579). Houghton-le-Spring Acc'ts, _s.a._,
1596, _Surtees Soc_., lxxxiv (1888), 271 (Giving in a bill of
presentment for those absent from morning and from evening prayer).
[109] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvii, 221 (Four persons cited "for that
they dwell so far from their own Church come now to the Parish Church
of Westbere." 1569). _Ibid_., xxv, 21 (Two men presented for not
attending their parish church "being two miles off, but go to the next
Parish Church." 1569). _Ibid_., 23 (1600). _Op. cit_., xxvi, 46
(Presentment of one who had often to be absent from his parish on
business. 1593). _Dean of York's Visit_., 227 (Attending another
church for fear of arrest for debt in his own. 1594).
[110] See in Daniel Neal, _History of the Puritans_ (J. Toulmin's ed.,
Bath, 1793-7), i. 413-17, contemporary (1585-6) statistics for the
licenced preachers of nine counties. See also J.C. Cox, _Three
Centuries of Derbyshire Annals_, i, 245 (Only 82 clergymen licenced to
preach out of a total in the diocese of Lichfield of 433, according to
a document _circa_ 1602).
[111] For such a permit to hear preaching elsewhere, see Hale, _Crim.
Prec_., 189 (Six parishioners of Shopland (Essex) authorized by the
archdeacon to repair to a neighboring church for a sermon when there
is no preaching in their own, but only two permitted to leave their
own services at any one time. 1586-7).
[112] Hale, _ibid_., 187-8.
[113] 1 Eliz., c. 2, sec. iii, _ad finem_.
[114] See 23 Eliz. c. i, sec. iv (Forfeiture of £20 for every month's
forbearance from church attendance). Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 406
(Whitgift's _Articles of 1583_; minister and wardens to diligently
observe those absenting themselves for the space of a month, according
to 23 Eliz. [_supra_] in order that they may be presented as recusants
to the justices at quarter sessions). See also in _Roxburghe Ballads_
(1871), i, 118, a ballad written _circa 1620_ which tells us: "There
be diuers Papists, That to saue their Fine, Come to Church once a
moneth, To heare Seruice Diuine. The Pope giues them power, As they
say, to doe so; They saue money by't too, But I know what I know." Cf.
_Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 27 (Presentment "that he is a negligent
comer to our Parish Church, being not able to pay the forfeiture."
1597). _Ibid_., xxvii, 223 ("John Wilkins be slothful in coming to the
Church, and because he is a poor man we cannot take the fine of twelve
pence." 1578). Also _ibid_., xxvi, 46 (Humphrey Watts coming sometimes
but once a month to church).
[115] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvi, 18 (One Deal presented for keeping a
schoolmaster, "and also being a victualler, suffereth him to remain in
his house and not frequent Divine Service on the Sabbath Day." 1580).
[116] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 191 (One Motley "married not known
where"). See other visitations, _passim_.
[117] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 192 (Four persons presented from
Wigan for marrying without banns); 189, _et passim_.
[118] _Ibid_. 184 (A child not baptized at the parish church); 189 ("A
child christened, and not known where"); 190 (Same). Hale, _Crim.
Prec_., 216 ("Keeping her child unbaptized a whole moneth." 1597).
_Ibid_., 183 (Curate of Blackmore, Essex, suspended from the
celebration of the rites because "there was tow children... which died
unchristened by his necligence." 1584).
[119] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 189; 190 ("His wife churched not
known where"). Hale, _ubi sup_., 167.
[120] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 185 (Office of judge against James
Woswall: "His children come not to bee catechised"). See Canons of
1571 (Parents and masters to be presented for not regularly sending
children or apprentices to learn the catechism), Cardwell, _Syn_. i,
120.
[121] See _Queen's Visit. Art. of_ 1559 in Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i,
211. Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 226 (One Robinson presented for not going to
his minister to be examined in the principles of religion of which he
was ignorant). _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 122-3 (An offender "lackeinge
the catechism dyde thrust in amongest others and receyvid ..." Another
was "repulsed from the Communion because he coulde not saye the 10
commaundements, in whome we can perceyve no towardnes to learne
them"). Also Hale, _ubi supra_, 146, 159, etc.
[122] Presentments for not receiving are numerous in the act-books. A
few references are, _Dean of York's Visit_., 219 ff. _E.g._, at
Goathland 20 persons are presented by name. See also Hale, _Crim.
Prec_., 163, 171, 176, etc., and the other act-books heretofore cited.
Also canons, injunctions and visitation articles of the time, _e.g_.,
Canons of 1571 (Vicars, etc., to present all over fourteen who have
not received) in Cardwell, _Syn_., i, 120. Grindal's Inj. for York,
1571 (All above fourteen to receive in their own churches at least
three times a year), Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 336.
[123] See Heywood Townshend, _Proc. in the Last Four Parl. of Eliz_.,
Debates, _passim_.
[124] J.E. Foster: _Ch'wd'ns Acc'ts of St. Mary the Great_, Cambridge
(1905), 225 (Item for paper book to write in all names of the parish
at Easter. 1590-1). _Ibid_., 202 (Item to a scribe for writing names
of communicants). Thos. North, _Chronicle of St. Martin, Leicester,
Ch'ivd'us Acc'ts_, 171 (Item same as above. 1568-9).
[125] E. Freshfield, _Vestry Minutes of St. Christopher-le-Stocks_,
Append., 71.
[126] _Ibid_., 7. For similar vestry orders see _Vestry Minutes of St.
Margaret, Lothbury_, London (also edited by Dr. Freshfield), pp. 1
(1571) and 15 (1583). Also G.W. Hill and W.F. Frere, _Memorials of
Stepney Parish_, 43 (1602), and 51 (1605/6).
[127] Burn, _Eccles. Law_, i (ed. 1763), 274, _sub voce_ Church, says:
"And if any of the parishioners refuse to pay their rates, being
demanded by the churchwardens, they are to be sued for, and to be
recovered in, the ecclesiastical courts, and not elsewhere."
[128] _Memorials of Stepney_, 51. Cf. _Acts of the Privy Council_ (ed.
Dasent), xxii, 482-3 (A tenant refusing a customary payment for church
repair, presented by "the generall consent" of the parishioners of
Lewesham to the commissary's court. He removes the cause to Star
Chamber "to the extreame chardgis, trouble and hinderance" of one of
the wardens, to the encouragement of like offenders, and to the "utter
ruin and decaie" of the church. 1592). The source last quoted
hereinafter cited as A.P.C., xxii (etc.).
[129] Besides the order just mentioned, the Stepney vestry had three
years before ordained concerning their wardens that these were "to
shew how they haue p[re]sented them [old dues in their books],
Otherwise the said churchwardens shalbe charged to pay those
Arrearages as shall remayne so vnpaid and not p[re]sented by them."
_Op. cit_., 43.
[130] Art. xxi, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 326.
[131] _Leicest. Archit_. (etc.) _Soc_., iii, 204.
[132] J.H. Butcher, _The Parish of Ashburton in the 15th and 16th
Centuries_ (1870), 42. See also _ibid_., 40 and 49. Also H.J.F.
Swayne, _Acc'ts of St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum_ (Wilts Rec. Soc.
1896), introd., p. xxv, and p. 317.
[133] Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_., 4-10, 5th to 8th March, 1607-8.
Cf. _ibid_., 16.
[134] Hale, _op. cit_., 109-110.