THE CLERGY AND THE SERVICES.
_St. Paul's a Cathedral of the_ "_Old Foundation_"--_The Dean_
--_The Canons_--_The Prebends_--_Residentiaries_--_Treasurer_
--_Chancellor_--_Archdeacons_--_Minor Canons_--_Chantries_
--_Obits_--_Music in Old St. Paul's_--_Tallis_--_Redford_--_Byrd_
--_Morley_--_Dramatic Performances_--_The Boy Bishop_--_The Gift
of the Buck and Doe._
We have recorded the building of the Cathedral and some of the
principal national events of which it was the scene. But it is also
necessary, if our conception of its history is to aim at completeness,
to consider the character of its services, of its officers, of its
everyday life.
We speak of St. Paul's as "a Cathedral of the Old Foundation," and
of Canterbury and Winchester as of "the New Foundation." What is
the difference? The two last named, along with seven others, had
monasteries attached to them. Of such monasteries the Bishop was the
Abbot, and the cathedral was immediately ruled by his subordinate, who
was the Prior. Other monasteries also had Priors, namely, those which
were attached to greater ones. Thus the "Alien" houses belonged to
great monasteries at a distance, some of them even across the sea, in
Normandy. These houses became very unpopular, as being colonies of
foreigners whose interests were not those of England, and they were
abolished in the reign of Henry V. When Henry VIII. went further
and dissolved the monasteries altogether, it became needful to
reconstitute those cathedrals which were administered by monks. St.
Paul's not being such, remained on the old foundation; Winchester, of
which the Bishop was Abbot of the Monastery of St. Swithun, was placed
under a Dean and Canons, as was the great Monastery of Christchurch,
Canterbury. The last Prior of Winchester became the first Dean. It is
clear, therefore, that the Dean of Winchester stands on a somewhat
different historical footing from the Dean of St. Paul's, and it
becomes necessary to say something about the latter.
The word Dean belongs to the ancient Roman law, _Decanus_, lit. one
who has authority over ten, as a centurion was one who had authority
over a hundred. The Deans seem originally to have been especially
concerned with the management of funerals. Presently the name became
adopted to Christian use, and was applied in monasteries to those who
had charge of the discipline of every ten monks. When the Abbot was
absent the senior Dean undertook the government; and thus it was that
in cathedral churches which were monastic it gradually became the
custom to have one who acted as Dean, and this system was gradually
adopted in secular cathedrals, like St. Paul's. In monasteries,
however, the Dean was so far subordinate to the Prior that he had
charge of the music and ritual, while the Prior had a general
superintendence.
The clergy of St. Paul's then were seculars. There were thirty of
them, called Canons, as being entered on the list ([Greek: kanôn]) of
ecclesiastics serving the church. Each man was entitled to a portion
of the income of the cathedral, and therefore was a "Prebendary," the
name being derived from the daily rations (præbenda) served out to
soldiers. There were thirty Canons or Prebendaries attached to St.
Paul's, and these with the Bishop and Dean formed the Great Chapter.
To them in theory belonged the right of electing the Bishop; but it
was only theory, as it is still. The real nominator was the Pope or
the King, whichever happened at the crisis to be in the ascendant.
In early days the Bishop was the ruling power inside the cathedral. At
its first foundation, as we have seen, it was the Bishops who exerted
themselves to raise the money for the building. But as time went on
the Bishops, finding their hands full of affairs of state, stood aside
in great measure, retired to their pleasant home at Fulham, and left
to the Dean greater power. And thus it was that, as we have already
told, Dean Ralph de Diceto built the Deanery. And thus gradually the
Dean became practical ruler of the cathedral--the Bishop had no voice
in affairs of the Chapter, except on appeal. And it is a curious fact
that the Canons attempted to exclude the Dean from the managing body,
as having no Prebend. He could expel from the choir, and punish the
contumacious, but they contended that he had no power to touch the
revenues. It was because of this that Bishop Sudbury (1370), in order
to prevent the scandal of the Dean being excluded when the Chapter
were discussing business, attached a prebendal stall to the Deanery,
and thereby enabled him to preside, without possibility of cavil, at
all meetings of the Chapter.
As the Canons, or at any rate many of them, had other churches, they
had each his deputy, who said the service in the Cathedral. Each
Prebendary had his own manor, and there were other manors which
belonged to the common stock, and supplied the means of carrying on
the services and paying the humbler officials. The Canons, it will be
remembered, were secular, not monks; but they had a common "College,"
with a refectory, kitchen, brewhouse, bakehouse, and mill. Archdeacon
Hale computed that the manors comprised in all about 24,000 acres,
three-eighths of which were managed by the cathedral body, and the
rest let to tenants, who had protecting rights of their own. In
addition to these were the estates attached to the Deanery.
But with the changes which Time is always bringing, it came to pass
that some of the Canons, who held other benefices (and the number
increased as the years went on), preferred to live on their prebendal
manors, or in their parishes; to follow, in short, the Bishop's
example of non-attendance at the cathedral. And thus the services
devolved on a few men who stayed on and were styled Residentiaries.
These clerics not only had their keep at the common College, which
increased in comfort and luxury, but also came in for large incomes
from oblations, obits, and other privileges. At first it seemed
irksome to be tied down to residence, but as time went on this became
a privilege eagerly sought after; and thus grew up, what continues
still, a chapter within the chapter, and the management of the
cathedral fell into the hands of the Residentiaries.
[Illustration: A PONTIFICAL MASS. 'Ad te levavi animam meam.' _From a
Missal of the Fifteenth Century. British Museum_, 19897.]
The Treasurer was a canon of very great importance; the tithes of four
churches came to him. He was entrusted with the duty of providing the
lighting of the cathedral, and had charge of the relics, the books,
the sacred vessels, crosses, curtains, and palls. The Sacrist had
to superintend the tolling of the bells, to see that the church was
opened at the appointed times, that it was kept clean, and that
reverence was maintained at times of service. Under him were four
Vergers (wand-bearers), who enforced the Sacrist's rules, and took
care that bad characters were not harboured in the church, and that
burden-bearers were kept out. We have seen that these duties fell
largely into abeyance at certain times. Every Michaelmas Day the
Verger appeared before the Dean to give up his wand, and to receive it
back if his character was satisfactory. The Verger was bound to be a
bachelor, because, said the statute, "having a wife is a troublesome
and disturbing affair, and husbands are apt to study the wishes of
their wives or their mistresses, and no man can serve two masters."
The Chancellor kept charge of the correspondence of the Chapter, and
also superintended the schools belonging to the cathedral.
The Archdeacons of London, Middlesex, and Colchester had their own
stalls in the cathedral, but had no voice in the Chapter.
The Minor Canons, twelve in number, formed a separate college, founded
in the time of Richard II. They were, of course, under the authority
of the cathedral, though they had independent estates of their own.
The Scriptorium of St. Paul's was an important department, and was
well managed. Much of the work produced in it perished in the fire;
but there are some of its manuscripts still happily preserved, notably
the _Majora Statuta_ of the cathedral, in the Library there, and a
magnificent folio of Diceto's History, now in Lambeth Library.
Incidental notice has been taken in the preceding pages of Chantries
in St. Paul's, but we have to speak more fully of these, for they
formed a very large source of income, especially to the Residentiary
Canons. These Chantries were founded for saying masses for the souls
of the departed, even to the end of the world. St. Paul's was almost
beyond measure rich in them. The oldest was founded in the reign of
Henry II., after which time they multiplied so fast that it would
be impossible to enumerate them all here. There is a return of them
(quoted at length by Dugdale), which was made by order of King Edward
VI. Take the description of the second of them as he gives it. "The
next was ordained by Richard, surnamed Nigell [Fitzneal], Bishop of
London in King Richard I.'s time, who having built two altars in this
cathedral, the one dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr, and the other
to St. Dionis, assigned eight marks yearly rent, to be received out
of the church of Cestreheart, for the maintaining of two priests
celebrating every day thereat; viz., one for the good estate of the
King of England and Bishop of London for the time being; as also for
all the congregation of this church, and the faithful parishioners
belonging thereto, and the other for the souls of the Kings of England
and Bishops of London, and all the faithful deceased: which grant was
confirmed by the Chapter." This is a fair specimen; they go on page
after page in Dugdale's folio. William de Sanctæ Mariæ ecclesia (he
was Dean 1241-1243) leaves 120 marks for bread and beer yearly to
a priest who shall celebrate for his soul and for the souls of his
predecessors, successors, parents, and benefactors. Sometimes special
altars are named at which the Mass is to be said, "St. Chad, St.
Nicholas, St. Ethelbert the King, St. Radegund, St. James, the twelve
Apostles, St. John the Evangelist, St. John Baptist, St. Erkenwald,
St. Sylvester, St. Michael, St. Katharine." I take them as they
come in the successive testaments. The following passage is worth
quoting:--"In 19 Ed. II. Roger de Waltham, a Canon of this church,
enfeoft the Dean and Chapter of certain messuages and shops lying
within the city of London, for the support of two priests to pray
perpetually for his soul, and for the souls of his parents and
benefactors, within the chapel of St. John the Baptist in the south
part of this cathedral; as also for the soul of Antony Beck, Patriarch
of Jerusalem, and Bishop of Durham. And further directed that out
of the revenue of these messuages, &c., there should be a yearly
allowance to the said Dean and Chapter, to keep solemn processions in
this church on the several days of the invention and exaltation of the
Holy Cross, as also of St. John Baptist; wearing their copes at those
times in such sort as they used on all the great festivals; and
likewise out of his high devotion to the service of God, and that it
should be the more venerably performed therein, he gave divers costly
vestments thereto, some whereof were set with precious stones,
expressly directing that in all masses wherein himself by particular
name was to be commended, as also at his anniversary, and in those
festivals of the Holy Cross, St. John Baptist, and St. Laurence the
Deacon, they should be used. And, moreover, out of his abundant piety
he founded a certain Oratory on the south side of the Choir in this
cathedral, towards the upper end thereof, to the honour of God, our
Lady, St. Laurence, and All Saints, and adorned it with the images
of our blessed Saviour, St. John Baptist, St. Laurence, and St. Mary
Magdalene; so likewise with the pictures of the celestial Hierarchy,
the joys of the blessed Virgin, and others, both in the roof about
the altar, and other places within and without; in which Oratory the
chantry before mentioned was placed, and the said anniversary to be
kept. And, lastly, in the south wall, opposite to the said Oratory,
erected a glorious tabernacle, which contained the image of the
said blessed Virgin, sitting as it were in childbed; as also of our
Saviour, in swaddling clothes, lying between the ox and the ass, and
St. Joseph at her feet; above which was another image of her, standing
with the child in her arms. And on the beam, thwarting from the upper
end of the Oratory to the before-specified childbed, placed the
crowned images of our Saviour and his mother sitting in one
tabernacle; as also the images of St. Katharine and St. Margaret,
virgins and martyrs; neither was there any part of the said Oratory,
or roof thereof, but he caused it to be beautified with comely
pictures and images, to the end that the memory of our blessed Saviour
and His saints, especially of the glorious Virgin, His mother, might
be always the more famous: in which Oratory he designed that his
sepulture should be."
[Illustration: JOHN FISHER, BISHOP OF ROCHESTER. _After Holbein_.
_British Museum_.]
[Illustration: ST. MATTHEW. _View of a Mediæval Scriptorium. _From a
MS. of a Book of Prayers. 15th Century._ _British Museum, Slo. 2468._]
[Illustration: A REQUIEM MASS. _From a MS. of a Book of Prayers, 15th
Century._ _British Museum, Slo. 2468._]
[Illustration: SINGING THE PLACEBO. _From a MS. of Hours of the
Virgin, &c. Fifteenth Century. British Museum, Harl. 2971._]
[Illustration: SEALS OF THE DEAN AND CHAPTER. _From Casts in the
Library of St. Paul's Cathedral._]
[Illustration: ORGAN AND TRUMPETS. _From a Collection of Miniatures
from Choral Service Books. Fourteenth Century. British Museum,
29902._]
Bishop Richard of Gravesend (d. at Fulham, 1306) made his will at his
Manor House of Haringay, in 1302. It is written with his own hand, and
the opening words are: "Imprimis, Tibi, o pie Redemptor, et potens
Salvator animarum, Domine Jesu Christe, animam meam commendo; Tibi
etiam, o summe Sacerdos et vere Pontifex animarum, commendo universam
plebem Londonensis civitatis et diocæsis; obsecrans te, per medicinam
vulnerum tuorum, qui in cruce pependisti, ut mihi et ipsis, concessa
perfecta venia peccatorum, concedas nos ad tuam misericordiam
pervenire, et frui beatitudine, tuis electis perenniter repromissâ."
After which he goes on to direct that he shall be buried close to his
predecessor, Henry de Sandwiche, whom he calls his special benefactor,
and that the marble covering his grave shall not rise higher than
the pavement; that out of his personal estate, consisting of books,
household goods, corn and cattle, which together is valued at 2000
marks, 140_l_. shall be given to the poor, 100 marks to the new fabric
of the cathedral, and that lands of the value of 10_l_. a year shall
be bought for the founding of a chantry here for his soul, and for the
keeping of his anniversary.
In the Inventory of his goods we have interesting information about
values: wheat is reckoned at 4_s_. the quarter, peas at 2_s_. 6_d._,
and oats at 2_s._ Bulls are worth 7_s._ 4_d._ each, kine 6_s._, fat
muttons 1_s._, ewes 8_d._, capons 2_d._, cocks and hens 1_d._ His
nephew, Stephen, who succeeded him thirteen years later, allows only
100 marks for the expenses of his funeral, quoting St. Augustine that
funeral parade may be a certain comfort to the living, but is of no
advantage to the dead. He disposes of 140_l._ to the poor tenants on
his manors. Bishop Michael Northburgh (d. 1362) left the rents of
certain houses which he had built at Fulham for a chantry priest, who
was to be appointed by the Bishop of London. He also desired to be
buried on the same day he died, with his face exposed to view, outside
the west door of the cathedral. His endowment of the chantry being
judged to be insufficient, one of the nominated chantry priests gave a
further endowment for it. This Bishop Northburgh left 2000_l._ for
the completion of the house of the Carthusians (Charter House) in
co-operation with Sir Walter Manny. He also left 1000 marks to be put
into a chest in the Cathedral Treasury, out of which any poor layman
might, for a sufficient pledge, borrow 10_l._, the Dean and principal
Canons 20_l._ upon the like pledge; the Bishop 40_l._; other noblemen
or citizens 20_l._ for the term of a year. If at the year's end the
money was not repaid, the preacher at Paul's Cross was to notify the
fact, and to announce that the pledge would be sold within fourteen
days if it were not redeemed, and any surplus from the sale would be
handed to the borrower, or his executors. If there were no executors
then the money was to go back to the chest, and be spent for the
health of his soul. There were three keys to the chest, one was kept
by the Dean, another by the oldest Canon-resident, and the third by a
Warden appointed by the Chapter.
One keeps on finding benefactions of this sort. In 1370 one John
Hiltoft's executors handed over some money which the Chapter employed
in repairing some ruined houses; but they took care to establish a
chantry of one chaplain to celebrate Divine service daily in St.
Dunstan's Chapel for the soul of the said John.
We have already made mention of the chantry which Henry IV. founded
to the memory of his father and mother. Bishop Braybrooke on that
occasion gave a piece of ground, part of his palace, 36 feet by 19
feet, for the habitation of the priests attached to this chantry. And
King Henry, we are told, "gave to the Dean and Chapter, and their
successors, for ever, divers messuages and lands, lying within
the City of London, for the anniversary of the said John, Duke of
Lancaster, his father, on the 4th day of February, and of Blanch,
his mother, on the 12th day of September yearly in this church, with
Placebo and Dirige, nine Antiphons, nine Psalms, and nine Lessons, in
the exequies of either of them; as also Mass of Requiem, with note, on
the morrow to be performed at the high altar for ever; and moreover to
distribute unto the said Dean and Chapter these several sums, viz.,
to the Dean, as often as he shall be present, three shillings and
fourpence; to the principal canons, twenty pence (to the sum of 16_s._
8_d._); to the petty canons, ten shillings; to the chaplains, twenty
shillings; to the vicars, four shillings and eightpence; to the
choristers, two shillings and sixpence; to the vergers, twelvepence;
to the bell-ringers, fourpence; to the keeper of the lamps about
the tomb of the said duke and duchess, at each of their said
anniversaries, sixpence; to the Mayor of London for the time being, in
respect of his presence at the said anniversaries, three shillings and
fourpence; to the Bishop of London, for the rent of the house where
the said chantry priests did reside, ten shillings; and for to find
eight great tapers to burn about that tomb on the day of the said
anniversaries, at the exequies, and mass on the morrow, and likewise
at the processions, masses, and vespers on every great festival, and
upon Sundays at the procession, mass, and second vespers for ever. And
lastly, to provide for those priests belonging to that chapel on the
north part of the said tomb, a certain chalice, missal, and portvoise
[Breviary] according to the Ordinale Sarum; as also vestments, bread,
wine, wax, and glasses, and other ornaments and necessaries for the
same, and repairs of their mansion." A few years later another chantry
was founded at the same altar for the soul of Henry IV. himself.
As years went on, the provision for all these Chantries being found
inadequate to maintain them, some were united together, and thus, at
their dissolution in the first year of Edward VI., it was found that
there were only thirty-five, to which belonged fifty-four priests.
In addition to the Chantries were the _Obits_ held by the Dean and
Canons, particular anniversaries of deaths. They varied in value
according to the donors' endowment from 4_l._ to 10_s._ Dugdale gives
a long list of them.
This cathedral was wonderfully rich in plate and jewels, so much so
that, as Dugdale says, the very inventory would fill a volume. To take
only one illustration: King John of France when he was brought here by
the Black Prince "gave an oblation of twelve nobles at the shrine of
St. Erkenwald, the same at that of the Annunciation, twenty-six floren
nobles at the Crucifix by the north door, four basins of gold at the
high altar; and, at the hearing of Mass, after the Offertory, gave to
the Dean then officiating, five floren nobles, which the said Dean
and John Lyllington (the weekly petty canon), his assistant, had. All
which being performed, he gave, moreover, in the chapter-house, fifty
floren nobles to be distributed amongst the officers of the church."
With regard to the character of the services before the Reformation,
we have but few data to go upon. In 1414 Bishop Richard Clifford, with
the consent of the Dean and Chapter, ordained that from the first day
of December following, the use of Sarum should be observed. Up to that
time there had been a special "Usus Sancti Pauli."
There was an organ in the church, or rather, to use the old phrase, a
"pair of organs," for the instrument had a plural name like "a pair of
bellows." Organs were in use in the church at any rate in the fourth
century, and were introduced into England by Archbishop Theodore. In
old times there was no official organist; the duty was taken by the
master of the choristers or one of the gentlemen of the choir. In
churches of the regular foundation a monk played.
English Church music, in its proper sense, began with the Reformation.
In the Roman Church, the great genius of Palestrina had produced
nothing less than a revolution as regards the ancient Plain Song; and
with the English Liturgy we associate the honoured names of Tallis,
Merbecke, Byrd, Farrant in the early days, and a splendid list of
successors right down to our time, wherein is still no falling off.
Tallis is supposed by Rimbault to have been a pupil of Mulliner, the
organist of St. Paul's, but there is no evidence to support this. It
must be confessed that his service in the Dorian mode, which heads the
collection in Boyce's Cathedral Music, and which is indeed the first
harmonised setting of the Canticles ever composed for the English
Liturgy, is very dull, but his harmony of the Litany and of the
Versicles after the Creed, has never been equalled for beauty. His
Canon tune, to which we sing Ken's Evening Hymn, is also unsurpassed,
and his anthem, "If ye love Me," is one of wonderful sweetness and
devout feeling. John Redford was his contemporary, and was organist
of St. Paul's, 1530-1540. His anthem, "Rejoice in the Lord," is as
impressive and stately as Tallis's that I have just named. It is
frequently sung at St. Paul's still. William Byrd was senior chorister
of St. Paul's in 1554. I hold his service in D minor to be the finest
which had as yet been set to the Reformed Liturgy--the Nicene Creed
in particular is of marvellous beauty. Tallis had not attempted
"expression" in his setting of the Canticles. The meaning seems to
breathe all through Byrd's harmonies. I did not know until I read Sir
George Grove's article upon him, that Byrd secretly remained a Roman
Catholic, but I long ago made up my mind, on my own judgment, that his
most pathetic anthem, "Bow thine ear," was a wail over the iconoclasm
in St. Paul's. He died in extreme old age in 1623. Morley was another
organist of St. Paul's, the author of a fine setting of the Burial
Service. Paul Hentzner, who visited St. Paul's in 1598, says in his
_Itinerary_, "It has a very fine organ, which at evensong, accompanied
with other instruments, makes excellent music."
Concerning the dramatic performances which went on in the cathedral at
certain times, there is nothing peculiar to St. Paul's that I know
of to mention. These performances were originally intended for
instruction, pictorial representations of scenes from the Bible and
Church History, but often degenerating into coarse buffoonery and
horseplay. The "Boy Bishop" was for many generations an established
institution. One ceremony there was, peculiar to St. Paul's, namely,
"The Offering of a Buck and Doe." Sir William le Baud in 1328 made a
yearly grant to the Dean and Canons of a doe to be presented on the
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, and of a fat buck to be offered
at the midsummer commemoration of the same Apostle.
These were to be offered at the high altar by Sir William and his
descendants, and afterwards to be distributed among the Canons
resident. This gift was in acknowledgment of a grant which they had
made him of twenty-two acres of land adjoining his park in Essex.
There was a grand ceremonial on each occasion, the Canons wore their
best vestments and garlands of flowers, and there was a procession
round the church, with the horns of the buck carried on a spear, and
a great noise of horn-blowers. Camden describes it all, as an
eye-witness. This festivity came to an end in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth.
[Illustration: BISHOP AND CANONS IN THE CHURCH OF ST. GREGORY-BY-ST.
PAUL. _From a MS. of Lydgate's Life of St. Edmund. British Museum,
Harl. 2278._]
Our illustration, showing the costume of the clergy of St. Paul's, is
taken from a MS. of Lydgate's _Life of St. Edmund_, written in the
fifteenth century, and decorated with many miniatures. It represents
the coffin of St. Edmund temporarily deposited in the church of St.
Gregory-by-St. Paul's (having been brought up from Bury for safety
during an incursion of the Danes), and an attempt by the Bishop and
Canons to secure so precious a relic for the cathedral. Here is
Lydgate's metrical version of the story, telling how the attempt was
frustrated by the Saint himself.
He cam to Londene toward eve late,
At whos komyng blynde men kauhte syht.
And whan he was entred Crepylgate
They that were lame be grace they goon upryht,
Thouhtful peeple were maad glad and lyht;
And ther a woman contrauct al hir lyve,
Crying for helpe, was maad hool as blyve.
Thre yeer the martir heeld ther resydence,
Tyl Ayllewyn be revelacion
Took off the Bysshop upon a day licence
To leede Kyng Edmund ageyn to Bury town.
But by a maner symulacion
The bysshop granteth, and under that gan werche
Hym to translate into Powlys cherche;
Upon a day took with hym clerkis thre,
Entreth the cherche off seyn Gregory,
In purpose fully, yiff it wolde be,
To karye the martir fro thenys prevyly.
But whan the bysshop was therto most besy
With the body to Poulis forto gon,
Yt stood as fyx as a gret hill off ston.
Multitude ther myhte noon avayle,
Al be they dyde ther fforce and besy peyne;
For but in ydel they spent ther travayle.
The peple lefte, the bysshop gan dysdeyne:
Drauht off corde nor off no myhty chayne
Halp lyte or nouht--this myracle is no fable--
For lik a mount it stood ylyche stable.
Wherupon the bysshop gan mervaylle,
Fully diffraudyd off his entencion.
And whan ther power and fforce gan to faylle,
Ayllewyn kam neer with humble affeccion,
Meekly knelyng sayde his orysoun:
The kyng requeryng lowly for Crystes sake
His owyn contre he sholde not forsake.
With this praier Ayllewyn aroos,
Gan ley to hand: fond no resistence,
Took the chest wher the kyng lay cloos,
Leffte hym up withoute violence.
The bysshop thanne with dreed and reverence
Conveyed hym forth with processioun,
Till he was passid the subarbis off the toun.
* * * * *