The Elizabethan Parish in its Ecclesiastical and Financial Aspects
by
Sedley Lynch Ware
Part 2 out of 3
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 L60 "_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 L20 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.
[135] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvii, 218. Authorization to tax the land
is not asked for in express terms, but seems to be implied. In other
cases it is clear that a warrant was given for the assessment of
lands, _e.g_., Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_., 4 (A warden of
Chelmsford, Essex, to appear in court "for a warrant for seassment of
the landes." 1584). Sometimes the rates made were offered in court to
be confirmed, Hale, _ibid_., 8 (A rate "offered" to the judge at
Stratford at Bow. 1607). _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 14 (A rate,
subscribed by the boards of the parishioners, "and certified under Mr.
Doctor Newman's own hand." 1613).
[136] _Canterbury Visit., ubi supra_.
[137] Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_., 90-1 (1603).
[138] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvii, 223 (1569). Cf. _ibid_., 214. Also
_ibid_., xxvi, 18 (Three persons presented who will not "pay to the
poor mens' box." 1574).
[139] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 149 (1566). Cf. _ibid_., 176 ("Detected for
beinge an uncharitable person & for not gevenge to the poore &
impotent..." 1583). _Ibid_., 208 (One Crisp detected for not paying
his accustomed "offering" for himself and wife to the minister at
Easter. 1593).
[140] _Dean of York's Visit_., 229 (1595). _Ibid_., 214 (Similar
presentment, 1570). _Ibid_., 335 (_Same_. 1600). _Ibid_., 223
(Bellman's wages).
[141] _Canterbury Visit_., xxvi, 22 (1598).
[142] _Ibid_., 20 (1592).
[143] _Ibid_., 21 (1596), 44. _Op. cit_., xxv. 32 ("We do suppose that
[name] ... doth keep back from us a certain sum ... given by will to
the use of the Church ... and we know not how we may come by the same,
unless your Worship's aid be ministered unto us in that behalf."
1581). _Ibid_., 22, 23, 26 etc.
[144] _Op. cit_., xxvii, 219 (1569). _Op. cit_., xxv, 14 (Keeping
church ewes and not paying rent for them. 1613).
[145] _Op. cit_., xxvi, 33 (1605).
[146] _Ibid_., 39 (1600). _Ibid_., 31.
[147] _Op. cit_., xxvii, 224 (1584).
[148] _Op. cit_., xxv, 13 (1600).
[149] _E.g._, Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 221 (1599).
[150] _Dean of York's Visit_., 333 (Church house. 1601). _Ibid_., 214
(Churchyard fence. 1570).
[151] The higher nobility excepted.
[152] Cardwell, _Syn_., i, 128.
[153] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 19.
[154] See, _e.g., op. cit_., 42-45 (5 schoolmasters mentioned by name
at Allhallows, Newcastle; 4 at St. Nicholas). In Durham city
"_sub-pedagogi_" are also spoken of in the various wards.
[155] _Op. cit., passim_. Other examples will be found in _Dean of
York's Visit_., 225, 229 etc. Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 154, 184-8 (John
Leache's case. 1584-6), 190, 198 (One Dawe's wife teaches without a
licence. Warned not to teach any "man child above the age of x yeres,
untyll she shall be lawfully licenced." 15-89/90). _Canterbury_
Visit., xxvi, 20, 21, 25, 31, etc.
[156] See J. Cordy Jeaffreson, _A Book about the Clergy_, ii, 58.
[157] Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 176 and 182.
[158] See also Archbishop Parker's and other commissioners' precept to
churchwardens and others in June, 1571 ("And that in no wise ye suffer
any person publicly, or privately to teach, read or preach ... unless
such be licenced [etc.] ... as you and every one of you will answer to
the contrary"). _Corresp. of Archbp. Parker, Parker Soc_., 382-3. Cf.
also Archbp. Whitgift's 'Commission' to the ministers and
churchwardens of London, Aug., 1587, forbidding "that they ... do
suffer any to preach in their churches or to read any lectures [etc.]
..." Neal, _History of the Puritans_, (Toulmin's ed. 1793), i, 428.
[159] _E.g._, Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 188 ff. (Leach, a schoolmaster, was
cited for catechizing and preaching, being unlicenced. He was strictly
warned by the judge not to "use any private lecture or expositions of
Scripture or catechisinge of his schollers in the presence of anye ...
not ... of his owne howse-hold [etc.]." 1586-7). Ibid., 202 (A curate
detected for preaching without a licence. He confessed "that he hathe
expounded" a little on the text, "but wold that Mr Archdeacon would
appoint some time that he might preache before his wor[ship], and yf
he should accepte of him, he would request his wor[ship] to be meanes
unto my Lord of London that he may be licenced to preache." 1591).
W.H. Overall and A.J. Waterlow, _St. Michael's, Cornhill_, (London)
_Acc'ts_ (1869), 176 ("Paide to Mr. Sadlor for avoidinge one
excommunication for suffering a Preacher to preache in o[u]r Churche,
being unlycenced, iij s. viij d." 1587-8).
[160] In 1585 the wardens of Pittington (Durham) are "commanded to bye
for everie person in our parish a booke ..." _Surlees Soc_., lxxxiv,
19. Examples taken promiscuously from the wardens accounts of the day
are: "paid for three prayer books for the good successe of the French
Kinge;" "paid for a prayer of thankes gevinge for ye over throwe of
the Rebelles in the North." In many accounts occur items for books of
prayers "for the Earthquake," or "against the Turke," or "Omelies
against the rebells," or "in plague tyme," etc.
[161] A number of ballads dating from the reigns of Elizabeth and
James have been very recently (Oxon. 1907) published by Mr. Andrew
Clark under the title of _Shirburn Ballads_.
[162] One of the earliest orders of the High Commissioners preserved
dates from 1560 and directs the Wardens of the Stationers to stay
certain persons from the printing of primers and psalters in English
and Latin, for which printing one Seres had obtained a monopoly. C.R.
Rivington, _The Records of the Worshipful Company of Stationers_ in
_London and Middlesex Archaeol. Soc. Tr_., vi, 302.
[163] "_A writing of the bishops in answer to the book of articles
offered the last session of parliament anno reginae_ xxvii [etc.]." So
called by Strype, but assigned by Dr. Cardwell to a date later than
1584. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 426. "Excommunication" in the
act-books and elsewhere almost invariably refers to the lesser
excommunication.
[164] Thus he could not receive communion, be married, stand as
godfather, etc. Burn, _Eccles. Law_, i, 252-3. Compare _Antiquary_,
xxxii (1896), 143 (Penance and heavy costs for a man who "being
excominecated ... ded preseume to marye before ... he was absolved."
1583). Also Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 223 (Presentment of an excommunicate
for marrying. 1600).
[165] See Hale., _op. cit_., 198 (Archdeacon's instructions to a
curate in 1589). _Ibid_., 200 (Minister stopping service as an
excommunicate would not leave. 1590). _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. Var.
Coll_. (1901), 78 (Complaint by a vicar to Wilts quarter sessions that
an excommunicate tried to remain at service. 1606). _Associated
Architectural Soc. Rep_., (etc.), xxxiii, Pt. ii (1897), 373-4 (Device
of procuring an excommunicate to enter church and interrupt service so
certain youths could continue their morris-dancing, 1617). Chelmsford
Acc'ts, _Essex Arch. Soc_., ii, 213 (Item for "carrying Roger Price
out of the Church, he being exc[mmunicated]..." 1632).
[166] See Canons of 1597, Cardwell, _Syn_., i, 156. Burn, _op. cit_.,
457-8. For such a sentence see E.H. Chadwyck Healey, _Hist. of West
Somerset_ (1901), 184 (Archdeacon of Taunton requiring a minister to
denounce solemnly three obstinate excommunicates, and to warn all good
Christians not to eat or drink, buy or sell, or otherwise communicate
with them under the pains of being themselves excommunicated. 1628).
[167] Thus those who talked with him, ate at the same table with him,
saluted him, or gave anything to him were themselves _ipso facto_
excommunicate. See Reeve, _Hist. of English Law_ (Finlayson's ed.),
iii, 68. If such an excommunicate brought an action at law, the
defendant could plead in bar the excommunication. The testimony of
such a man was not admissible in court. Finally, he could not be
buried in the parish churchyard nor could services be performed over
his body. Burn, _loc. cit., supra_.
[168] See the case of Kenton v. Wallinger, 41 Eliz., _Croke's Eliz.
Rep., Leache's ed_., Pt. ii, 838. This has already been mentioned on
p. 33, note 102. In the Leverton, Lincoln, Overseers for the Poor
Acc'ts, there occurs, _s. a_. 1574 an item of 7s. given to John
Towtynge "for the discharge of ... his excomynacion," and the next
year a sum of 2s. 6d. given to a woman for a like discharge.
_Archaeologia_, xli, 369-70.
[169] Whereby any but a perjured man would be forced to incriminate
himself.
[170] Cf. Maitland, _Canon Law in the Church of England_, chapter,
"The Pope the Universal Ordinary." For proceedings by High
Commissioners see Stubbs in _Eccles. Courts Com. Rep_. to Parliament
(1883), i, Hist. Append., 50.
[171] As to the expense in suing out the writ, and also the slackness
of bailiffs, etc., in executing it, see [R. Cosen], _An Apologie of
and for Sundrie proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiasticall_ (1st ed.,
London, 1591), 64-5. Speaking of the great charges incurred in suing
out the writ Cosen writes: "So that I dare auowe in Sundrie Diocesses
in the Realme, the whole yeerly reuenue of the seuerall Bishops there
woulde not reach to the iustifying of all contemnours ... by the
course of this writte." That temporal judges sometimes set prisoners
under the writ free at their own discretion without notice to the
spiritual judges, see Bancroft's _Petition to the Privy Council_ in
1605, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. ii, 100. For hostility of temporal judges
for ecclesiastical jurisdiction, see Bancroft, _op. cit_., 85. He
counts up 488 prohibitions during Elizabeth's reign, many of them
awarded without good cause and "upon frivolous suggestions" of
defendants (_Op. cit_., 89).
[172] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 145 ("_Dominus decrevit scribendum fore
regie majestate pro corporis capcione_ [etc.]." The threat subdued the
excommunicate, for 15 days later "_solutis_ xxxiiis.... _pro expensis
contumacie_," absolution was given, and penance enjoined. 1562).
_Ibid_., 172 (Similar threat, we do not hear of the outcome).
Cf. R.W. Merriam, _Extracts from Wilts Quarter Sess_. In
_Wilts Arch. and Nat. Hist. Mag_., xxii (1885), 20 (Affray because
of an arrest under the writ. 1604). See also Whitgift's note to his
bishops in 1583, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 404-6 ("If the ordinarie
shall perceave that, either by slackness of the justices or
waywardness of juries," recusants cannot be indicated at quarter
sessions, then the ordinary shall, after first trying persuasion,
excommunicate the culprits, and after forty days procure the writ
against them). Bancroft writes, March, 1605, that he will use his
"uttermost endeavour" to aid his suffragans in procuring the writ, and
in having it faithfully and speedily served. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_.,
ii, 80. Cf. also the satirical single-sheet, published June, 1641,
entitled _The Pimpes Prerogative ... a Dialogue between Pimp-Major Pig
and Ancient Whiskin_, in Brit. Mus. _Coll. of Polit. and Personal
Satires_. Pig: "Tush, their Excommunications fright not us; but our
Land-ladies (poore soules) lie in most danger; for them they serve
after with _Excommunicato capiendo_, and then our Forts are
beleaguer'd with Under-Sheriffs, Bum-Bayliffs, Shoulder-clappers,
etc., whom we sometimes beat back by violence."
[173] Cardwell, _loc. cit_., 100. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction derived
also much temporal strength from the fact that practically every
bishop was also a justice of the peace. For proof of this see Strype,
_Annals of the Reformation_ (Oxon. ed.), iii, Pt. ii, 451 (Bishop of
Peterboro' complaining that he alone was left out of the commission.
1587). Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., ii, 80 (Bancroft's letter, 1605: "We
that are bishops, being all of us (as is supposed) justices of the
peace"). When commissioning justices Burghley referred to the bishops
for lists of orthodox men. See such lists in Strype, _op. cit_.,
453-60. Also in Strype, _Life of Whitgift_, i, 187-8. _Victoria County
History of Cumberland_, ii, 73-4. _Sussex Arch. Soc. Coll_., ii
(1849), 58-62. Mary Bateson, _Letters from the Bishops to the Privy
Council_, 1564, _with Returns of the Justices of the Peace_, etc., in
_Camden Miscellany_, ix (1895). By 1 Eliz. c. 2, bishops could at
pleasure associate themselves to justices of _oyer and terminer_ or of
assize. Cf. Strype, _Whitgift_, 329.
[174] Presentments on this score are frequent. Take only a single
jurisdiction, that of the Dean of York's Peculiar, between the years
1592-1601, and a number will be found. See _Dean of York's Visit_.,
222 (5 persons); 226, 229, 315, 326, 329 (Remaining excommunicate for
a month); 334 (Over 40 days. Also a person presented for harboring an
excommunicate); 335 (Over a year); 341 (14 days).
[175] Cosen, _An Apologie_, etc., 64. As has been above stated, an
excommunicate could not attend service. P. 47 _supra_.
[176] According to 23 Eliz. c. i, sec. 4 and sec. 6.
[177] See _A.P.C_., xiii, 271-2 (1581). Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 406
(Whitgift alludes to the "waywardnes" of juries).
[178] Not suspension from office (as might be supposed) but from
service and sacraments.
[179] P. 19, note 33, _supra_.
[180] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 150 ("_Contra_ ... Because he will not be
churchwarden accordinge to the archdeacon's judgment." Excommunicated.
1566). Ibid., 162 ("_Contra ... Detectum_ that he obstinately refuseth
to be churchwarden, notwithstanding he was chosen by the consent of
the parson and parishioners." Excommunicated. 1576). Cf. ibid., 183
(Presentment for refusing to be sideman), and ibid., 207 (Refusing
churchwardenship).
[181] In equity specific performance is nothing more than the giving
of an instrument transferring title after all has previously been done
on both sides, but this, to complete the transaction.
[182] Denunciation "in many poyntes resembleth a Presentment," Cosen,
_An Apologie_ (etc.), 70. See his book for the modes of proceeding.
Cf. also Hale, _Crim. Prec_., Introd., p. lviii. In commenting on
Archdeacon Hale's book, which we have so often here cited (_A Series
of Precedents in Criminal Causes from the Act Books of Ecclesiastical
Courts of London_, 1475-1640 [pub. in 1847]), Sir J.F. Stephen in his
_History of Crim. Law in England_, ii, 413, makes these observations:
"It is difficult even to imagine a state of society in which, on the
bare suggestion of some miserable domestic spy, any man or woman
whatever might be convened before an archdeacon or his surrogate and
put upon his or her oath as to all the most private affairs of life;
as to relations between husband and wife; as to relations between
either and any woman or man with whom the name of either might be
associated by scandal; as to contracts to marry, as to idle words, as
to personal habits, and, in fact, as to anything whatever which
happened to strike the ecclesiastical lawyer as immoral or
irreligious."
[183] The case of John Johnson in the official's court in Durham city
forms an excellent commentary on the whole system. He was presented as
suspected of incontinency. After repeated citations and a threat of
excommunication, he appeared, denying the charge and alleging that a
churchwarden with others had falsely concocted it. At the petition of
an apparitor, who acted as public prosecutor, seven of Johnson's
fellow-parishioners were cited to swear not to the _fact_ of his
guilt, but to the general _belief_ in it. Articles were then drawn up
upon which depositions were taken and published. The case was
adjourned repeatedly so that the many formalities of procedure might
drag out their weary length. The oath _ex officio_ was forced on
Johnson, but he denied all guilt. Finally, he was enjoined to procure
three compurgators. These swore that they believed _"in animis suis"_
that Johnson had sworn to the truth. Though pronounced innocent,
Johnson was condemned to pay the costs of all the formalities that the
apparitor had set in motion against him, and a last time was dragged
into court in order to be admonished under pain of excommunication to
pay these fees, amounting to L1. 3s. 4d., within a month! The case had
extended from 11th June, 1600, to 22nd May, 1601. _Surtees Soc_.,
lxxxiv (1888), 359-362. Cf. also the following: "payed for annswerynge
dyuerse faulse vntrothes suggested by [five names] to the sayd
Commyssyoneres vj s. viij d." Minchinhampton, Gloucester, Acc'ts,
_s.a._ 1576 (archbishop's visitation), _Archaeologia_, xxxv. "pd. for
our charges to lycoln when we were p[re]sented by the apparytor
unjustly for that our church should by [be] mysvsed vs. vjd."
Leverton, Lincoln, Acc'ts, _s.a._ 1579, _Archaeologia_, xli, 365.
Under 1595 the Leverton wardens have the entries: "pd. to the
apparitor for fallts in the churche ijs. viijd.," and: "for playing in
the churche iijs. viijd." The last is explained by a third entry: "to
the apparator for suffering a plaie in the church." (_Op. cit_., 367.)
This looks like bribery, or blackmail, or both. For examples of
bribery see Wing Acc'ts, _s.a._ 1561, _Archaeologia_, xxxvi ("to ye
S[um]m[o]ner to kepe us ffrom Lincoln for slacknes of o[u]r auters").
Abbey Parish Acc'ts, _s.a._ 1600, _Shrop. Arch. Soc_., i. 65 ("paid to
Cleaton, the Chauncelor's man for keeping us from Lichfield"). Great
Witchingham Acc'ts, _Norfolk and Norwich Arch. Soc_., xiii, 207 ("Simp
the sumner for his fees for excusing us from Norwich"). _St. Mary
Woolchurch Haw_, London, _Acc'ts, s.a_. 1594 ("more unto the paratour
and Doctor Stanhopes man for their favours"). Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 202
("_Fassus est_ that he gave xs. to ... the apparitor to thend that he
might not be called into this corte." 1590). For examples of fees paid
for absolution from an unjust excommunication see _Minchinhampton
Acc'ts, s.a_. 1606 ("layd out [at] Gloucester when we wer
excommunicated for our not appearinge when wee were not warned to
appeere, vj s. viij d"). St. Clement's, Ipswich, Acc'ts, _East
Anglian_, in (1890), 304 ("Payed for owr Absolution to the Commissary,
being reprimanded for that we did not give in our Verdict, where as we
nether had warning nor notice given us of his Corte houlden, ij[s.]
x[d.]:" and: "Payed more ffor the discharg of his boocke, viijd."
1610). Churchwardens accounts are pretty reliable evidence, for they
were subject to the scrutiny of those who had to foot the bills.
[184] See Mr. Andrew Clark's _Shirburn Ballads_ (Oxon. 1907), 306 ff.
Mr. Clark's notes and illustrations drawn from other contemporary
sources are most valuable.
[185] A number of broadsides and pamphlets were published in 1641 upon
the abolition of the spiritual courts. Consult Mr. Stephen's
_Catalogue_ (1870) for those in the British Museum. One of them is
entitled _The Proctor and Parator their Mourning ... Beinge a true
Dialogue, Relating the fearfull abuses and exorbitances of those
spirituall Courts, under the names of Sponge the Proctor and Hunter
the Parator_. In the spirited dialogue between the two _Hunter_ tells
of his ways of extorting money from recusants, seminary priests and
neophytes, "whose starting holes I knew as well as themselves"; also,
he adds, "I got no small trading by the Brownists, Anabaptists and
Familists who love a Barne better than a Church." "Poor Curates,
Lecturers and Schoolmasters ... that have been willing to officiate
their places without licences" are also his special prey. As for minor
offenders "against our terrible Canons and Jurisdiction ... had I but
given them a severe looke, I could ... have made them draw their
purses ..." "I tell you," he concludes, "the name of Doctors Commons
was as terrible to these as Argier [Algiers] is to Gally-slaves."
_Sponge_ admits that he has made many a fat fee by _Hunter's_
procurement. For more serious documents in corroboration see
Whitgift's circular to his suffragans in May, 1601, and also his
address to his bishops a few months later in Strype, _Whitgift_, ii,
447 ff. Among many other and grave abuses he refers to "the infinite
number" of apparitors and "petty Sumners" hanging upon every court,
"two or three of them at once most commonly seizing upon the subject
for every trifling offence to make work to their courts." Cf. Canons
of 1597, can. xi (Multitude of apparitors and their excesses) in
Cardwell, _Syn_., i, 159. Also Canons of 1603/4, _ibid_. Most of the
Elizabethan and Stuart metropolitan and diocesan injunctions call for
the presentment of the abuse of apparitors and other court officials.
See Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., ii, _passim_. Also _Appendix to 2nd Rep. of
the Com. on Ritual_ to Parliament (1870), where a large number of
injunctions from Parker to Juxon (1640) are gathered together.
[186] By this system, if the accused could get together a certain
number of his neighbors (3, 4, 6 or more) to act as oath-helpers,
_i.e._, who would swear that they believed him on oath, he was
acquitted. It seems to have been no concern of the judge to weigh the
evidence on the facts themselves.
[187] The churchwardens accounts are full of items for horse hire and
other expenses for long journeys, for ecclesiastical courts were held
at all kinds of places at the pleasure of the judges. See Mr. Bruce's
remarks on the Minchinhampton Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xxxv, 419 ff. Cf.
the Ludlow Acc'ts, _Shrop. Arch. Soc. 2nd. ser_., i, 235 ff.--in fact
any of the accounts of the period that have been printed
in detail.
[188] Archdeacon Hale in _Crim. Prec_., introd., p. lx.
[189] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 205 (1591). In Warrington deanery, at the
bishop's visitation in 1592, one Grimsford is cited for not living
with his wife. On a later occasion he appeared and affirmed that his
wife had run away with another man, "whereupon the Judge, having
regard to the poverty of the man," absolved him. _Warrington Deanery
Visit_., 190. An ecclesiastical judge in Durham city made this decree
in 1580: "_Dominus ... decrevit scribendum fore Aldermanno_ ... to
whip and cart the said Rowle and Tuggell in all open places within the
city of Durham, for that they faled in their purgacion, and therefore
convicted of the crime detected." _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 126.
[190] A most important piece of evidence--because coming from such a
source--is Whitgift's circular and (later) his address to his bishops,
already alluded to (note 185) given in Strype's life of him. Whitgift
mentions the frequent keeping of officials' or commissaries' courts
and the multitude of apparitors serving under them, so that "the
subject was almost vexed weekly with attendance on their several
courts." He adds that "what with Churchwardens' continual attendance
in these courts, which in many places came to more than was by a whole
parish for any one cessment made to her Majesty, the poor men who were
chosen Church wardens ... were in their estates hindered greatly in
leaving their day labor for attendance there." These and like
complaints, the metropolitan continued, were daily brought to him
"with a general exclamation against Commissaries' and Officials'
courts." In prophetic language he warned his suffragans that if they
were not more zealous for reform all their courts might be swept away.
We have further the unceasing complaints and the numberless petitions
that were presented in every Elizabethan parliament from 1572 onwards.
Some of these are given in Strype, _Annals_, etc., some in his
_Whitgift_. Mr. Prothero has conveniently gathered some, with
references to others, in his _Statutes and Constitutional Documents_
(1st ed.), pp. 209, 210, 215 and 221. See also Heywood Townshend, 110,
_et passim_; D'Ewes, 302, _et passim_, and the canons and injunctions
of the time. Peculiars were doubtless most subject to abuses, as being
often exempt from the oversight and corrective discipline of the
diocesan. Offenders sometimes fled to these for protection. See
Strype, _Ann_., iii, Pt. ii, 211-12 (Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield
complaining in 1582 of peculiars, some of which belonged to laymen, as
holders of abbey lands, in the matter of recusants). Cf. Blomefield,
_Hist. of Norfolk_, iii, 557. _Camden Miscellany_, ix (1895), 41
(Letters from bishops to Privy Council in 1564. Recusants flying to
exempt places). On the scandalous neglect of duty of some holders of
peculiars see _Dean of York's Visit_., 199, 201 ff., 324, _et passim_.
See also Mr. W.E.B. Whittaker's article "_On Peculiars with special
reference to the Peculiar of Hawarden_," in _Archit. Arch. and Hist.
Soc. for Chester and N. Wales_, n.s. xi (1905), 66 ff. and records
there given. See also _Eccles. Courts Com. Rep_., 1830-2, printed as
appendix to Vol. i of _Eccles. Courts Com. Rep_. of 1883, p. 198.
Lists of peculiars will be found in the above authorities.
[191] Though they were reestablished in 1660 they were forever shorn
of their ancient glory.
[192] The names of some of these broadsides, pamphlets, etc., have
already been given. To these may be added, _The Spiritual Courts
epitomised in a Dialogue betwixt two Proctors, Busie Body and
Scrape-all, and their discourse of the want of their former
imployment_. Others will be found in Mr. Stephen's _Catalogue_.
[193] That is, a portable stone altar which had been consecrated and
could be set up anywhere for mass.
[194] See order of the Wilts justices issued against such offenders,
Oct., 1577. _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. on MSS. in Var. Coll_., i (1901),
68.
[195] See indictment of an Essex jury at quarter sessions in 1585
against one Glasscock who spoke lightly of the ceremony of baptism,
and rent out of a prayer book certain leaves where the ministration of
baptism was set forth. _Hist MSS. Com. Rep_., x, Pt. iv, 480.
[196] Presentment to the Wilts justices, _loc. cit. supra_, 69 (1588),
For excessive zeal of the justices of assize in Suffolk see _State
Papers Dom. Eliz_., 1591-4, P. 275 (Address of Suffolk gentry to Privy
Council in 1592. They complain of indictments against ministers on
very trivial pretexts). For the answer of the Council to this petition
see Strype, _Ann_., ii, Pt. i, 268-9 (Lords write to judges to consult
the spirit not the letter of law, and add their own suspicions that
informers are mainly to be blamed if justice has miscarried).
[197] _State Pap., loc. cit_.
[198] Indictment of Essex jury, _Hist. MSS. Rep., loc. cit. supra_.
[199] _Ibid_.
[200] Information of the Wilts justices against one Dearling, parson
of Upton Lowell, _loc. cit. supra_, 68 (1585). Cf. Chelmsford Acc'ts,
_Essex Arch. Soc_., ii, 212 (An item paid the clerk of assizes for
framing the indictment of Chelmsford Hundred "against Puritisme."
1592).
[201] These would be--to cite the principal--the ordinary upkeep of
the church with its services and all its appurtenances whatsoever (see
previous chapter); the finding of clerk and sexton; the care of the
poor; maintaining of the local roads and bridges; purchasing and
repair of parish armor, and mustering of parish contingents;
contributions for prisoners and maimed soldiers; the keeping of the
parish butts and the stocks; the destruction of frugivorous birds and
animals (the statutory "vermin"), etc.
[202] The act-books are full of "detections" for being an
"uncharitable person," for "not giving to the poor," etc. See pp. 41
ff., _supra_.
[203] Reference is here made to the occasional seizure of parish lands
or funds by the Queen's commissioners for concealed lands. See
Strype's strong language in his _Ann. of the Ref_. (Oxon. ed.), ii,
Pt. i, 310. He speaks of the unjust oppressions of courtiers and other
griping men, 'harpies' and 'hell-hounds,' who, under the pretense of
commissions, "did intermeddle and challenge land of long times
possessed by churchwardens, and such like, upon the charitable gifts
of predecessors ... yea and certain stocks of money, plate, cattle and
the like. They made pretence to bells, lead [etc.] ..." Strype's words
are none too strong, being amply confirmed by much evidence _aliunde_.
See, _e.g_., the determined attacks in 1567 and subsequently on the
Melton Mowbray school lands in _Leicest. Archit_. (etc.) _Soc_., iii
(1874), 406 ff. Thanks to powerful neighbors the Meltonians won their
case. Less fortunate were the parishioners of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury,
the revenue from whose lands supported church fabric, the poor, etc.
For proceedings against them, and the vain appeal by the parish to the
lord chief justice in 1572 ff., see Owen and Blakeway's _Hist. of
Shrewsbury_, ii, 350-2. For confiscation of parish gild property and
parish lands on a large scale, see examples given in _Cambridge and
Hunts Arch. Soc_., i (1904), 330 ff. We are here told that during
Elizabeth's reign at least twelve commissions for concealed lands were
sent down into Cambridgeshire (p. 332). See also _ibid_., 370 ff. for
a sale of forfeited lands to Jones and Grey in 1569. The list of lands
is very long and only a sample of many such. For attacks (1587) on All
Saints, Derby, lands, whose revenues went to church repairs, etc., see
J.C. Cox and W.H. St. J. Hope, _Chronicles of All Saints, Derby_
(1881). For informers involving Lapworth, Warwick, in a suit about its
parish lands see Robt. Hudson, _Memorials of a Warwickshire Parish_
(1904), 104. The churchwardens acc'ts occasionally allude to the
Queen's commissioners, _e.g_., the Great Witchingham Acc'ts, where
they are dubbed by the right name: "for my expenses when I was before
the quenes inquisitors for lands and goods" (1559). _Norf. and Norw.
Arch. Soc_., xiii, 207.
[204] Jas. Copeman in _Norf. and Norw. Arch. Soc_., ii (1849), 64. The
Loddon Acc'ts cover the period 1554-1847, some of the donations, or
endowments, being made in the 16th and some in the 17th
centuries.
[205] Robt. Dymond in _Devon Assoc. for Advanc. of Science_ (etc.)
_Tr_., xiv (1882), 407. These acc'ts run from 1425-1590. For a list of
parish properties in 1565, see pp. 460-1. Their yearly rent then
amounted to L9 14s. 2d.
[206] Sam'l Barfield, _Thatcham, Berks, and its Manors_ (1901), i.
121.
[207] R.W. Goulding, _Records of the Charity known as Blanchminster's
Charity, Stratton_ (1898), 64-5.
[208] In 1562 it is said to have contained only 48 families. John
Amphlett, _Churchwardens Acc'ts of St. Michael's in Bedwardine_ (ed.
for _Worcester Hist. Soc_., 1898), introd., p. iii.
[209] _Op. cit_., 142-3. See _ibid_., and for the year named, the
receipts from these properties. Thus L4 is paid for one and a half
years' rental of parish land lying in Severn Stoke parish; 44s. for
two years' rent of parish houses in St. Peter's parish, Worcester
city, etc.
[210] _Op. cit_., pp. xxx-i.
[211] Hudson, _Memorials_, etc., 85 ff. Consult Mr. Hudson's map of
the parish lands.
[212] _Notes and Queries for Somer. and Dorset_, v (1897), 94.
[213] _Somerset Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. Tr_., xxiii, Mr. Pearson's
introd., p. iii, and _op. cit_., vol. xxvi, 106-9. Cf. A.G. Legge,
_North Elmham_, Norfolk, _Acc'ts_ (1891), 5-6 (Long list of lands
managed by wardens in 1549). Also J.H. Butcher, _The Parish of
Ashburton_ (Devon), 49 (1580). Owen and Blakeway, _Hist. of
Shrewsbury_, ii, 342 (St. Mary's parish lands with 32 tenants and
rental of L6. 7s. 8d. in 1544. The churchwardens were here called
"Lady Wardens" as managing the "Rentall of our Lady").
[214] _St. Michael's Acc'ts, op. cit_., vol. xxvi, 129. The wardens of
this parish record among their expenditures many items for the repair
of the parish tenements and other property. In early times they
received 12d. as a salary for management. Later this was changed into
an honorarium of varying amount "_pro bono servicio suo." Op. cit_.,
vol. xxiii, intro., p. ii.
[215] Thus at Lapworth, Warwickshire, a trust of parish lands was
re-created in 1563 with twenty-two feoffees; and one Collet in 1567
enfeoffed seventeen men of a field of only three acres, fourteen
perches, to parish uses. Hudson, _Memorials_ (etc.), 85-6.
[216] _E.g._, the Grasswardens of St. Giles, Durham, who managed the
common lands of the parish, and accounted yearly for them. They made
disbursements for many parish expenses which elsewhere churchwardens
usually paid out (_e.g_., for bridges, houses of correction, poor
prisoners, armor and musters), yet were themselves distinct from the
churchwardens. See _Surtees Soc_., xcv, I ff. Cf. the bridge wardens
of Loughborough, Leicester (W.G.D. Fletcher, _Hist. of L_., 1883, pp.
40 ff). Also the townwardens of Melton Mowbray, _Leicester Archit_.
(etc.) _Soc_., iii, 61-2, _note_.
[217] Hudson, _Memorials_, etc., 88.
[218] That is (apparently) holdings returning L4 of rent annually.
[219] Pasture.
[220] _Surtees Soc_., lxxxiv, 15.
[221] Editor's (Mr. Barmby's) introd., _ibid_., 4.
[222] (Dean) G.W. Kitchen, The Manor of Manydown, _Hants Rec. Soc_.,
1895, 171. For other examples both of parish cows and sheep: see Hale,
_Crim. Prec_., 221 (40 parish sheep of Billericay, Essex, for the
relief of the poor. 1599). Littleton, Worcestersh. Acc'ts, _Midland
Antiquary_, i (1883), 107 (Purchase of cow for parish in 1556).
_Ibid_., 108 (Wintering of a church heifer). Morton, Derbysh., Acc'ts,
_The Reliquary_, xxv, 17 (Same as above. 1593). Owen & Blakeway,
_Hist. of Shrewsbury_, ii, 342 (St. Mary's had in 1544 ten cows and
three sheep renting for L1 1s. 8d. yearly). Rotherfield Acc'ts,
_Sussex Arch. Coll_., xli, 26, 46. St. Michael's, Bath, Acc'ts,
_Somerset Arch_. (etc.) _Soc_., xxiii, introd., _et passim_. Great
Witchingham, _Norf. and Norw. Arch. Soc_., xiii, 207 (Cows in 1604).
Hartland, Devon, Acc'ts, _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep_., v, Pt. i (1876), 573a
(Custom _circa_ 1601 for poor to leave sheep to church by will).
Hudson, _Memorials_, etc., 106-10 (Parish meeting about renting out of
cows. Surety bonds given by hirers in 1580 ff.). Many other examples
will be found in the wardens acc'ts and elsewhere.
[223] See Hudson, _op. cit., supra_, 106. In 1595 two cows were
bequeathed to Lapworth to be rented out at 20 d. yearly. The proceeds
of one to mend a certain parish road, of the other to support
the poor (_ibid_., 109).
[224] Art. xxv, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 189 ff. So in the Visitation
Articles of the same year (_ibid_., 213) we read: "Item, whether the
money coming and rising of any cattle or other movable stocks of the
church [etc.] ... have not been employed to the poor men's chest."
[225] In North Elmham the term "office land" seems to have been used
for lands set apart for the remuneration of parish servants. See A.G.
Legge, _North Elmham Acc'ts_, 81, _s.a._ 1566: "It[e]m for office Land
of the ten[emen]te fost[er] ... vij d." Cf. Mr. Legge's _note_ (p.
129). He cites other examples in Norfolk parishes, viz., "Constable
Acre" in Stuston, "Constable Pasture" in Fralingham, "Dog Whipper's
Land" in Barton Turf. Cf. J.L. Glasscock, _Records of Bishop
Stortford_, 55 ("sexten's meade," 1563). In an early year _temp_.
Henry VIII one Jesop left two tenements to Mendlesham, Suffolk, "to ye
fyndyng of a clarke to pley att ye organys for a p[er]petuite." _Hist.
MSS. Com. Rep_., v, Pt. i (1876), 596a. See also _Shrop. Arch. and
Nat. Hist. Soc_., iii, 3rd ser. (1903), 315 (26s. and 8d. and 12
bushels of rye issuing annually out of Idsal rectory for the
poor and the maintenance of a clerk). E. Freshfield, _St.
Christopher-le-Stocks' Acc'ts_, 38 (Bequest of a perpetuity of 20s.
annually for clerk and sexton. 1602).
[226] Swyre, Dorset, Parish Acc't Book in _Notes and Quer. for Somer.
and Dorset_, iii (1893), 293 (Lands allotted by parish for support of
a blind man).
[227] _E.g., St. Christopher-le-Stocks' Acc'ts_, 38 (Yearly perpetuity
of L3 4s. in bread and money to poor. 1602). _St. Michael's in
Bedwardine Acc'ts_, 99 (House left to parish, 12s. of whose rental to
go to poor, and 1s. to the churchwardens. 1590).
[228] Butcher, _Parish of Ashburton_, 46 (Land given to buy shirts and
smocks for the poor. 1575).
[229] T.P. Wadley, _Notes on Bristol Wills_ (1886), 230 (L20 for a
stock of money to remain for ever "in the howse of correction" for the
maintenance and "settinge on work of such people as shalbe therevnto
co[m]mitted for their mysdemeanors." _Thos. Kelke's will_. 1583).
[230] _Wills and Inventories_, Pt. ii, _Surtees Soc_., xxxviii, 83
(Keyper school of Houghton and its endowment of L240. 1582).
[231] Examples among many are the Edenbridge, Kent, lands. These
bridgewardens held lands in three parishes. _Arch. Cant_., xxi (1895),
110 ff. Also Burton's Charity lands at Loughborough. The
"bridgmasteres" here in 1570 collected L33 18s. 6d., and disbursed L16
12s. 11d. Fletcher, _Hist. of Loughborough_, 41-2. Also Hayward bridge
lands, _Notes and Quer. for Somer. and Dorset_, iv (1895), 205-7.
[232] Legge, _North Elmham Acc'ts_, 87-90. So too at Eltham, Kent,
where the "Fifetene peny Lands" have special wardens who account for
their revenue. _Archaeologia_, xxxiv, 51 ff.
[233] _Statutes of the Realm_, iv, Pt. ii, 968-9.
[234] Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 189 ff.
[235] Dr. Pilkington's will, _Surtees Soc_., xxii, Append., p.
cxxxviii. For a few other examples of bequests for parish utilities
see _ibid_., p. ciii (George Reyd's will, 1559). _Ibid_., p. cx ff.
(William Birche's will of 1575 in which are many bequests to poor
artificers, to prisoners--a very frequent bequest--to "needfull briggs
or highe waies," etc.). See also _Benefactions to Dorset Parishes,
Churches_, etc., in _Notes and Quer. for Somer. and Dorset_, x, 164
ff. Also T.P. Wadley, _Notes on Bristol Wills, passim (e.g_., Thos.
Kelke's will of 1583, on p. 230. He leaves L13 to Newgate prisoners, a
frieze gown to 12 women and 12 men--a frequent bequest--6s. 8d. each
to 52 poor maidens for their marriage, etc.). Also _Wills and
Inventories, Surtees Soc_., xxxviii, Pt. ii, _passim_. Surrey Wills in
_Surrey Arch. Coll_., x (1891), _passim_.
[236] _The crie of the poore for the death of the right Honourable
Earle of Huntington_ (printed 1596), Joseph Lilly, _A Collection of
Seventy-Nine Black-Letter Ballads and Broadsides_, 1559-1597 (1870),
230.
[237] _Ibid_., 263.
[238] _The poore people's complaynt, Bewayling the death of their
famous benefactor, the worthy Earle of Bedford_ (Died 1585). Bedford
was described as "a person of such great hospitality that Queen
Elizabeth was wont to say of him that he made all the beggars." Clark,
_Shirburn Ballads_, 256.
[239] J.C. Cox, _Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals_, i, 136.
[240] E. Freshfield, _St. Bartholomew, Exchange, Acc'ts, s.a_. 1598,
_et passim_. Freshfield, _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Book_, 32
(1595). _St. Margaret's, Westminster, Overseers' Acc'ts_ in _The
Westminster Tobacco Box_, Pt. ii (1887), _e.g., s.a_. 1572-3, where we
find donations from Lord Burghley, the Lord Chief Justice, the Dean of
Westminster, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Hertford, etc.
[241] Though by 37 Hen. VIII c. 9, sec. 3 (_Stats. of Realm_, iii,
996) interest up to 10 per cent. per annum was permitted, all interest
was prohibited by the 5 & 6 Ed. VI, c. 20, sec. 2 (_Stats. of Realm_,
iv, Pt. i, 155). Interest is here dubbed usury, "a vice most odyous
and detestable." Interest up to 10 per cent. was, however, again made
lawful by the 13 Eliz. c. 8, sec. 4 (_Stats. of Realm_, iv, Pt. i,
542) which, however, stigmatizes usury as sinful.
[242] Examples are, _Vestry Minutes of St. Margaret, Lothbury_, 32
(Gift of L20 in 1595 to be employed in wood and coal for the use of
the poor. A committee of four was appointed to invest and make sales.
See their account for 1596, p. 34). _The Westminster Tobacco Box_, Pt.
ii, 22 (One of the overseers of St. Margaret's to keep a gift of L42
"untill the same may be bestowed upon somme good bargaine as a lease
or somme other such like commoditie w[hi]ch may yeelde a yerely rente
to the pore." 1578). Cf. _St. Bartholomew, Exchange, Acc'ts Books_, 3
ff., where in 1598, and regularly in subsequent years, appears the
item: "Alowed to this account for the geft of the Lady Wilfordes xx li
for the pore xx[s]." Also another item, likewise of 20s. yearly, on
Mr. Nutmaker's L20--in other words, 10 per cent. in each case every
year. Cf. Jas. Stockdale, _Annals of Cartmel_ (Lancashire, pub. 1872),
37-8 (L65 6s., money belonging to Cartmel grammar school "placed" in
the hands of various persons, some of whom give pledges, others
mortgages, for repayment. The revenue from this is L6 10s. 7d.,
_i.e._, 10 per cent. in 1598). In 1613, in allowing the overseer's
accounts of Swyre, Dorset, the local justices indorse: "Upon this
condition that from henceforth the overseers and Churchwardens do
yearlie charge themselves with the some of xxs. for thuse of a stocke
of xli [_i.e._, 10 per cent.] giuen to the poore by the testam[en]t of
James Rawlinge." The practice above illustrated is simply that
enjoined by 18 Eliz. c. 3, amended and completed by 39 Eliz. c. 3 and
43 Eliz. c. 2, with an object of making the poor administration
self-supporting as far as might be. The fact that Elizabethan poor
laws were based on the best-approved parish customs made them
perdurable. For a model administration of parish stock according to
the poor laws see the Cowden Overseers Acc'ts, _Sussex Arch. Coll_.,
xx, 95 ff. (1599 ff.).
[243] _E.g._, in St. Michael's in Bedwardine (_Acc'ts_ ed. John
Amphlett) one Stanton left 50s. to the poor in 1588 (_Acc'ts_, p.
97-8). Robt. Chadbourne paid 5s. for the use of this money for several
years (_Acc'ts_, p. 108, etc.). It then was loaned to John Brayne, an
entry being made from time to time that the principal was owing as
well as the interest (_Acc'ts_ p. 108). Brayne paid the 50s. to the
wardens in Sept., 1595. Cf. preceding note (Cartmel school money).
[244] _St. Michael's in Bedwardine Acc'ts, supra, 96_ (One Fletcher
loaned 30s. in 1586, he depositing with the wardens "a gilt salt with
a cover"). For numerous gratuitous loans of parish money, see the Mere
Acc'ts, _Wilts Arch. and Nat. Hist. Mag_., xxxv (1907), _passim_. Cf.
also the document of 1586 relating to the parish of Heavitree, in
_Devon Notes and Quer_., i (1901), 61, where it is stipulated (_inter
alia_) that if any parishioner of good character upon reasonable cause
shall desire to borrow from any surplus funds of the church for a
season, "such a one shall not be denyed."
[245] See _Wilts Arch. Mag_., xxxv. Cf. J.E. Foster, _St. Mary the
Great_ (Cambridge) _Acc'ts_ (1905), 208.
[246] In 1564 the parishioners of Chagford, Devon, bought from the
lord of the manor for L10 the local markets and fairs, subject to a
yearly rent of 16s., which they had always paid as tenants. They then
repaired and enlarged the market house. Presumably their venture was a
profitable one, for in 1595 the revenue from these markets and fairs
was L3 10s. G.W. Ormerod in _Devon Assoc. for Adv. of Science_, etc.,
viii (1876), 72. Same, _Local Information reprinted from the Chagford
Parish Mag_. (1867) in _Topographical Tracts_ in Brit. Mus. As it was
sometimes hard for the authorities to prevent the churchwardens from
utilizing the church for plays, so it was hard for them to keep the
wardens from giving up the churchyard or outlying portions of the
church structure for fairs and stall-holders. In Herts Co. Rec.
Quarter Sess. Rolls (ed. W.J. Hardy, 1905), p. 13, we read, _s. a_.
1591-2, that a presentment was made that some part of the "fayer of
Starford has usually been kept within the compase of the churchyard."
See also _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_ (ed. H.J.F.
Swayne, _Wilts Rec. Soc_. 1896), introd., p. xxiii (St. Edmund's fair
held within and without the churchyard. Wardens receipts from
cheesesellers, butchers, etc., for stalls and standings).
[247] As late as 1633 the bishop of Bath and Wells could write to
Archbishop Laud: "I finde that by Church-ales hertofore many poore
Parishes have cast their Bells, repaired their Towers, beautified
their Churches, and raised stocks for the poore." Wm. Prynne,
_Canterburies' Doome_, etc. (1646), 151. Cf. Philip Stubbes, _Anatomie
of Abuses_ (4th ed., 1595), 110-11. _Spudeus:_ "But, I pray you, how
do they bestow that money which is got thereby?" [_i.e._, by
church-ales]. _Philopomus:_ "Oh well, I warrant you, if all be true
which they say; for they repaire their Churches and Chappels with it;
they buy bookes for service, Cuppes for the celebration of the
Sacrament, Surplesses for Sir John [_i.e._, the parson], and such
other necessaries. And they maintaine other extraordinarie charges in
their Parishes besides."
[248] Bath and Wells to Canterbury, Prynne, _supra, loc. cit_. In 1536
at Morebath, Devon, the parish agreed that the clerk should gather his
"hire meat" (_i.e._, so much corn of each one) at Easter, "& then ye
p[a]rysse schall helpe to drenke him a coste of ale yn ye churche
howse." J.E. Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_ (1904), 86. When in 1651 at St.
Thomas', Salisbury, clerk-ales were abolished, "both the clerk and
sexton claimed compensation for the loss of income sustained." The
same was true of St. Edmunds' (in the same city) in 1697. Swayne, _St.
Edmund and St. Thomas Acc'ts_, introd., p. xvii.
[249] Stubbes, _Anatomie_, etc., 110. The above account of church-ales
has been derived partly from Stubbes and from a curious little
pamphlet, edited by Rev. Fredk. Brown in 1883, entitled _On some Star
Chamber Proceedings_, 34 _Eliz_. 1592; partly, also, from many
churchwardens acc'ts, in particular the Seal Acc'ts in _Surrey Arch.
Coll_., ii (1864), 34-6 (See items in detail for the ale of 1592, and
especially the ale of 1611. Expenses for all manner of provisions and
delicacies, for minstrels and evidently, too, for a play occur. In
1611 the festivities lasted at least 5 days). Cf., too, the _Expenses
of the Maye Feast_ at Dunmow in 1538 (Cooks, minstrels and players
mentioned), _Essex Arch. Soc_., ii, 230. Also Kitchen, _Manor of
Manydown_, 172-3 (Lists of delicacies provided at the Wootton ale in
1600. Expense items for lords' and ladies' liveries, players, etc.)
[250] The Parish of Chagford in _Devon Ass. for Adv. of Science_,
viii, 74.
[251] _Wilts Arch. Mag_., xxxv (1907), Mere Acc'ts, 30. These have
been transcribed verbatim by Mr. T.H. Baker.
[252] _Op. cit_. Because of greatly increased expenses the wardens
here thenceforth resorted to collections according to a book of rates.
They also devised other means of income, such as parish burial fees,
collections for the holy loaf (_i.e._, blessed but not consecrated
bread), etc. This casting about for new sources of revenue was
characteristic of all parishes as the reign advanced.
[253] _Op. cit_., 26.
[254] _Op. cit_., 92.
[255] In 1605 and 1606, doubtless to meet some extraordinary expenses,
the Mere wardens roused themselves to great efforts at their
church-ale, and netted L15 6s., and L20 respectively. Sir Rich. Colt
Hoare, _Hist. of Modern Wiltshire_ (1822), i, 21.
[256] Kitchen, _Manor of Manydown_, 174. At this ale there were six
tables and the receipts from each were tabulated separately. For other
large receipts see the Wing, Bucks, Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xxxvi, 219
ff. In 1598 the ale here yielded L9 16s. 4d. At Morebath, a small and
poor parish, an ale had produced L10 13s. 5d. in 1529. but the
receipts from this source fell off here in Elizabeth's time. At
Stratton, Cornwall, up to 1547, at any rate, if not later, ales were
the chief source of income. _Archaeologia_, xlvi, 195-6.
[257] _Devon Notes and Quer_., iii (1905), 224. Cf. the Young Men
Wardens' ales at Morebath (Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_, 213 [1573], _et
passim_). Also St. Anthony's Gild ales at Chagford. _Devon Ass. for
Adv. of Science_, viii, 74 (1599). Various persons at Milton Abbot
sold ale and bread. _Op. cit_., vol. xi (1879), 218.
[258] _Notes and Quer. for Somer. and Dorset_, v (1897), 48. The same
year in these acc'ts we find three conduit wardens mentioned. These
are to have "the assistance of William Ellis plomer [plumber]." Of them
it is also determined that they "do kepe an alle for the comodetie of
the [Transcriber's note: WORD ILLEGIBLE] dytts in the sayd Towne to
be kept abowts the tyme of Shrofftyde," [Transcriber's note: WORD(S)
ILLEGIBLE] just before Lent.
[259] Butcher, _The Parish of Ashburton_, 41. It would seem that there
were special wardens here for ale drawing. (See p. 44 [1570-1].)
[260] _Archaeologia_, xxxvi, 235.
[261] "And because John Watts hath ben long sick, hit is agreed that
if hee be not able to s[e]rve at the tyme of the Church ale, That then
John Coward ... shall s[e]rve and be king in his place for this
yeare." Mere Acc'ts (_Wilts Arch. Mag., l.c_., 34) _s.a._ 1561. Cf.
J.H. Matthews, _History of St. Ives_ (1892), 144, _et passim_.
[262] Bishop Hobhouse, _Churchwdn's Acc'ts of Croscombe, Pilton_,
etc., _Somerset Rec. Soc_., iv (1890), 80, where he says: "The
[Yatton] wardens attended these festivals at Ken, Kingston, Wrington,
Congresbury, etc., with more or less regularity, making their
contributions, commonly xijd. in the name of the parish and at the
cost of the parish ..." Cf. _Morebath Acc'ts_ (ed. Binney), 224: "It
there was payd a trinite Sonday at the Churche ale at Bawnton
[Bampton] for John Skynner ... xjd." (1565). Mere Acc'ts (_Wilts Arch.
Mag_.), 60: "Item paied for bread and drink to make the Sum[m]er Lord
of Gillingham Drink ... ijs. vjd." (1578-9). T. Nash, _Hist. and
Antiq. of Worcestershire_, ii, appen., p. xxix (Halesowen Acc'ts:
"Paid when we went to Frankley to the church ale 20d.").
[263] See the precedents given for the Western Circuit in Prynne,
_Canterburies' Doome_, 152. Cf. also, _ibid_., 128 ff. That these ales
died hard in Devon and Somerset is seen by the repeated judicial
orders. See also J.W. Willis Bund, _Social Life in Worcestershire
illustrated by the Quarter Sess. Rec_. in _Assoc. Archit. Soc_.,
xxiii, Pt. ii (1897), 373-4 (1617). A.H. Hamilton, _Quarter Sessions
from Elisabeth to Anne_ (1878), 28-9. Harrison, _Descrip. of Engl_.,
Bk. ii, New Shak. Soc., 32. Saml. Barfield, _Thatcham, Berks, and its
Manors_, ii, 105 (Wardens Acc'ts 1598-9: "Item wee were bounde over by
Mr. Dolman, Justice, to appeare at Reading Assizes, where it cost T..
L.. and R.. C.. conserning our business wee kept at Whitsuntide xvs.
apece, somme xxxs.")
[264] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 149 (Hornchurch wardens bringing players
into church. 1566). _Ibid_., 156 ("Tromperie" and "paynted stuff for
playes in the chefe parte of the [Rayleigh] church." 1574). _Ibid_.,
158 (Two plays in Romford Chapel by "comon players." Wardens plead in
extenuation that proceeds went to "a poore man in decay." 1577).
Leverton, Lincolnshire, Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xli, 333 ff. (Several
examples of plays in the church. 1579-95).
[265] In the Chelmsford Acc'ts, _Essex Arch. Soc_., ii, 225-6 (1562),
is a most interesting inventory showing an elaborate stage outfit.
That it was used for miracle plays is seen on p. 227 (" Cotte of
lether for Christe," and "lyne for the clowdes," etc.). From various
towns the Chelmsford men received in 1563, and subsequently, large
sums for the hire of these properties, e.g., L3 6s. 8d. from
"Starford" (Bishop Stortford?); 43s. 4d. from Colchester.
[266] Examples are Thos. North, _St. Martin's, Leicester, Acc'ts_
(1884), 80 (Children's morris-dance. 1558-9). Ibid., 85 (Robin Hood
play). St. Helen, Abingdon, Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, i (2d ed.), 15
(1560). J.H. Baker, _Notes on St. Martin's_ (Salisbury) _Church and
Parish_ (1906), Wardens Acc'ts, 153 (Whitsun dance in 1588 yielding
13s. 4d.). _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, introd., p.
xvii. Also both acc'ts, _passim_ ("Feast of Hokkes," "Childrens
daunse." At St. Edmund's L3 12s. collected in 1581 [p. 131]; at St.
Thomas' same year L3 6s. 8d. [p. 291]). T.N. & A.S. Garry, _St. Mary,
Reading, Acc'ts_ (1893), 28-9, et passim (Whitsuntide and Hocktide
money here drop out as early as 1575. There was also here a Christmas
gathering).
[267] Examples: Wandsworth Acc'ts in _Surrey Arch. Coll_., xvii
(1902), 158 (1567-8). John Nichols, _Illustrations of the Manners etc.
of Antient Times_ (1707) (Great Marlow, Bucks, Acc'ts, 135. 1612),
etc.
[268] _Wilts Arch_. (etc.) _Mag., loc. cit_. (Mere Acc'ts: brass
crocks in inventory of 1584). Chagford Acc'ts in _Devon Ass_. (etc.),
74. Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_, 132. A.E.W. Marsh, _History of Caine_,
368 (Church furnace, 1529. Wardens expenditures for sowing church
lands, mowing them, and carrying the corn and storing it in the
church-house). _The Antiquary_, xvii, 169 (Stanford, Berks, Acc'ts,
_s.a._ 1569: laying corn in church-house, and making malt there).
_Morebath Acc'ts_, 132 (Spits put up in the church-house).
[269] Morebath Acc'ts, 142 (Church stock-taking), Mere Acc'ts _(Wilts
Arch_. (etc.) _Mag. loc. cit_.), 32, 37, 54, etc. Chelmsford Acc'ts,
217 ("xv dozen pewter & ix peces," and rent of it owing to church.
1560).
[270] St. John's, Glastonbury, Acc'ts, _N. and Q. for Som. and Dor_.,
v, 94, _s.a._ 1588 (Selling ale in church-house). Tintinhull Acc'ts,
_Somer. Rec. Soc_., iv, p. xxii ("The chief source of income
[church-house] at T[intinhull] and elsewhere to the end of the 16th
Century,") Stratton Acc'ts, _Arch_., xlvi, 198. _Bristol and Glouc.
Arch. Soc. Tr_., vii (1882-3), 108 (Tenement donated 1532 to
Northleach known as "the Churche Taverne." It was rented out, but on
the condition that the lessee should "permit the towne to have the use
of the same one month at Whitsontyde"). Of the Stratton church-house
we are told that men were fined (in 1541) for drinking ale there,
because the drinking was not for the profit of the parish. _Arch.,
loc. cit., supra_.
[271] _Stanford Acc'ts, loc. cit., s. a_. 1595. _Stratton Acc'ts, loc.
cit_., 198.
[272] Thus at Calne (Wilts) in 1574-5 no church-ale was had, but a
gathering in lieu of it was made from the parishioners. Ales and
collections thenceforward alternated here, until church rates were
established. Marsh, _History of Calne_, 372.
[273] See, _e.g_., Thos. North, _St. Martin's Leicester, Acc'ts_, 98,
where the times of collection are named.
[274] See, among others, Ludlow Acc'ts, _Shrop. Archit_. (etc.)
_Soc_., iii, 127 (1567), where the name occurs. Also St. Edmund's,
Sarum, Acc'ts, _Wilts Rec. Soc_. for 1896, p. 141 (1592).
[275] _E.g._, at St. Edmund's, Sarum, or at St. Martin's, Leicester.
[276] See, _e.g_., J.E. Foster, _St. Mary the Great_ (Cambridge)
_Acc'ts_, 148 ff. Offerings of the masters of arts and of the
bachelors form a distinct feature here.
[277] See pp. 41 ff. and 59 _supra_. In the _Morebath Acc'ts_ (ed.
J.E. Binney, p. 178) we read, _s.a._ 1553-4, as a heading to the
receipt items: "Now to pay y'e forsayd dettis & demawndis y'e schall
hyre of all our resettis y't we have resseuyed, & how gentylly for y'e
moste p[ar]te men have payd of there owne devoc[i]on w[i]t[h] out ony
taxyn or ratyng as y'e schall hyre here after." Then follows a list of
30 names. There is evidently some sort of rough assessment here,
_e.g_., Nicholas at Hayne pays 4s. 9d., "consyderyng hys bothe
bargayns" _(i.e_., small farms). Cf. _St. Edmund and St. Thomas,
Sarum, Acc'ts_, p. xviii and p. 317.
[278] Five years later, the vicar dead, the clerk was ordered to
assist the wardens in receiving the 'paskall pence' whether paid at
Easter or at any other time of communion. Hill and Frere, _Memorials
of Stepney Parish_, 4-5 and 13-14.
[279] Ordered by St. Edmund's, Sarum, vestry in 1628: "that the bread
and wyne for the Communion shalbe paid for by the auncyennt paymentt
of the halfepence, and yf it shall com[e] to more ... Jt shalbe
supplied out of the rest of the mony given after the Co[m]munion."
_St. Edmund and St. Thomas Acc'ts (Wilts Rec. Soc.)_, 187.
[280] These levies were 2-1/2d. on each householder at St. Margaret,
Lothbury, London; 3d. a house at St. Lawrence Pountney, London
(_History of St. Laurence Pountney_, by H.B. Wilson [1831], 125 ff.).
Etc. At Salehurst, Sussex, the fee was 1d. a poll yearly, heads of
households being empowered in 1585 to abate that sum from their
servants' wages: _Sussex Arch. Coll_., xxv, 154. At Pittington,
Durham, landlords were to answer for their cottagers for a yearly fee
of 2d.: _Surtees Soc_., lxxxiv, 29 (1590). Cf. _ibid_.,
Houghton-Le-Spring Acc'ts, 269. Leverton, Lincoln, Acc'ts,
_Archaeologia_, xli, 368 (A penny a poll for the elements. 1612). In
the Abbey Parish Church Estate Acc'ts, Shrewsbury, every "gentleman"
is to pay 6d. yearly to the wardens for bread and wine; "the second
sorte" of the parishioners 4d. each; "the third or weaker sorte," each
2d.: _Shrop. Arch. Soc_., i, 65 (1603).
[281] See Great Yarmouth Acc'ts, _East Anglian_, iv (1892), 67 ff. (An
item for purchase of 1000 tokens. 1613-14). Also _St. Margaret,
Lothbury, Vestry Minute Books_, 14 (1584). Also _Archaeologia Eeliana_,
xix (1898), 44 (Ryton, Durham, Book of Easter offerings. 1595).
[282] _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, 288 (Muscatel and
claret). _Abbey Parish Church Estate Acc'ts_, 62 (same). _St.
Martin's, Leicester, Acc'ts_ (ed. Thos. North), 100 (Malmsey and
claret).
[283] Rubric Sec. 144 of the First Edwardine Prayer Book directs that as
ministers are to find the elements, the congregations are to
contribute every Sunday at the time of the offertory the just value of
the holy loaf. See E. Freshfield, _St. Christopher-le-Stocks Vestry
Minute Book_, p. vii, _et passim_. Stanford, Berks, Acc'ts,
_Antiquary_, xvii, _s.a._ 1582 (2d. collected every Sunday for holy
loaf). Mere Acc'ts (_Wilts Arch_. (etc.) _Mag_., xxxv, 38), _s.a._
1568, _et passim_.
[284] J.V. Kitto, _St. Martin's-in-the-Fields_ (London) _Acc'ts_,
append. D., Vestry Order of 1590. Parish order of Salehurst (1582),
_Sussex Arch. Coll_., xxv, 153. St. Margaret's, Westminster, Overseers
Acc'ts in _Westminster Tobacco Box_, Pt. ii, 18 (1566).
[285] _E.g._, at St. Laurence Pountney, London, the "clerk's wages"
amounted in 1598 to nearly L30 in the wardens receipt items, but in
the expense items to L8 plus various dues for lighting, bell-ringing
and church-linen washing, in all L12 12s. Wilson, _History of St.
Laurence_, 125. In the _St. Christopher-le-Stocks Acc'ts_ (ed. E.
Freshfield), p. 4, the receipts in 1576 for "Clarkes wagis" are L9 6s.
5d., but we read: "Pd. to J.M. Clarke his whole yeares wagis [etc.]
... iij li." In _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Minutes_ (p. 13) it
was decided in 1581 to raise the "clarkes rolle" to L8 a year, but
expressly stated that the clerk is to be paid as before, "but That
[the] overplus Shall remayn For astocke to the churche to beare owtt
such charges as shalbe nessesarye for the same." In _St. Bartholomew,
Exchange, Vestry Minutes_ (ed. E. Freshfield) in 1583 it is agreed (p.
27) that the clerk is to pay out of his wages the statutory assessment
of 2d. weekly on the parish for maimed soldiers and mariners. Same
stipulation at St. Alphage's, London Wall: G.B. Hall, _Records of St.
Alphage_ (1882), 25 (1594).
[286] _St. Mary, Reading, Acc'ts_ (ed. F.N. & A.G. Garry), p. 56.
[287] Hill and Frere, _Memorials of Stepney_, 1-3 (1580). Later, 1606
(p. 50), the same method was employed to pay debts for casting the
bells. Those not paying their assessments were to be deprived of their
seats (p. 4). Other examples of raising money by pew rents are
Butcher, _Parish of Ashburton_, 49 (L6 4s. collected "for the seat
rent". 1579-80). _St. Christopher-le-Stocks Vestry Minutes_, 71
(Clerk's wages to be "sessed by the pyews").
[288] Baker, _Mere Acc'ts (Wilts Arch_, [etc.] _Mag_.), 33 (12d. for
seats for a man and his wife, "which before were his ffather's."
1561). In a sale to a parishioner in 1556-7 it is expressly stated
that she is to hold the seat during "here lyfe Accordynge to the old
usage of the parishe": _ibid_., 24. At St. Edmund's, Sarum, the sale
was sometimes for life, sometimes for a lesser period. A fine was paid
for changing a pew, _Introd_., p. xxi. Cf. order made at Chelmsford in
1592, _Essex Arch. Soc_., ii, 219-20. See in St. John's, Glastonbury,
Acc'ts, _Notes and Quer. for Somer. and Dor_., iv, 384, _s.a._ 1574,
and _op. cit_., v, _s.a._ 1588, many receipts from the sale of seats.
Cf. Pittington Vestry order, 1584, _Surtees Soc_., lxxxiv, 13. _St.
Michael's in Bedwardine Acc'ts_, Introd., p. xvi. Fletcher, _History
of Loughborough_, Acc'ts, 24 ff.
[289] See, _e.g_., in _St. Martin-in-the-Fields Acc'ts_, 214, the long
list of receipts "for burialls, knylles and Suche Lyke," _s.aa_.
1563-5. At St. Edmund, Sarum, burials with christenings and banns
netted L8 5s. 2d. in 1592-3 (_Acc'ts_, 141). At Kingston-upon-Thames
in 1579 burials totalled 39s. 8d.: _Surrey Arch. Coll_., viii, 75. In
_St. Michael's, Cornhill_, London, _Acc'ts_ (ed. W.H. Overall & A.J.
Waterlow), 178-9, the receipts from knells and peals alone were 44s.
8d. in 1589-90.
[290] J.V. Kitto, _St. Martin-in-the-Fields Acc'ts_ (1901), 106,
_note_.
[291] One of the most systematic tariffs I know of is that of St.
Alphage, London Wall (G.B. Hall, _Records of St. A_., 28-30) drawn up
in 1613. First there are _The Parson's dutyes for Parishioners_, for
bann-askings, weddings, churchings, etc., as well as a percentage on
offerings. Then the burial fees due him, without or with a coffin, in
churchyard or in church, etc. Then comes the heading, _The dutyes
belonging to the Parrish for Parrishioners_, a catalogue of fees for
burial under various conditions. Then follow _The Parrishe's dutyes
for the Bells_ (knells, peals, with small or large bells). Finally,
_The Clarke his dutyes for Parishioners_ (Bann-askings, weddings,
churchings, grave digging, tolling the bells for funerals in various
ways, and on specified occasions, etc.). All the above fees are
doubled in case of non-parishioners. See also the Salehurst tariff of
1597, most comprehensive and minute also: _Sussex Arch. Coll_., xxv,
154-5. Also parish order in _St. Martin's, Leicester, Acc'ts_ (ed.
Thos. North), 19 and 128, _s. aa_. 1570-1 and 1584-5, as to duties for
bells. These are regulated according to the rank of the person. _St.
Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Min., 2_ (Order regulating fees for
"weddinges, cristeings, churchinges and berrialls" of 1571). See also
the tariff of St. Edmund, Sarum (_Acc'ts_, 194), of 1608.
For receipt items for palls in the acc'ts, see _St.
Martin's-in-the-Fields Acc'ts_, 317 (1580), where "best cloth" nets
20d. on each occasion, the "worst" but 2d. See also Stepney vestry
regulation of 1602 concerning fees to be paid for palls: _Memorials of
Stepney_, 41-2.
For expenses for making parish coffins see _St. Martin's-in-the-Fields
Acc'ts, s. a_. 1546. Cf. _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_,
introd., p. xx. _St. Helen, Bishopsgate, Acc'ts_ (ed. J.E. Cox), 103
(Ordinance of 1564 that those buried within the church are to be
confined). Also the other acc'ts _supra_. At St. Edmund, Sarum, the
wardens sold tombstones for the benefit of the parish (_Acc'ts_, 135.
1587-8).
[292] _Memorials of Stepney_, 39-40.
[293] See W.G.D. Fletcher, _Hist. of Loughborough (Acc'ts)_, 24: an
order regulating fees for marriage peals in 1588. In _St. Edmund,
Sarum, Acc'ts_, 127, are receipt items, being money turned over to the
wardens by the sexton, for banns, christenings, etc. Cf. _Introd_. to
_St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, p. xix. Cf. also _St.
Laurence Pountney Acc'ts_ (Wilson, _Hist. of St. L_.), 124 (A marriage
offering going to the parish. 1582). Usually marriage and churching
dues went to minister and clerk (see tariffs, p. 221 _supra_).
Chrisoms, _i.e._, white robes put on children when baptized, and given
as an offering at churching, occasionally figure in the wardens'
receipt items. See, _e.g_., J.E. Foster, _St. Mary the Great_
(Cambridge) _Acc'ts_, 156 (1565-7), _et passim. St. Thomas, Sarum,
Acc'ts_, 282 (Chrisoms farmed out by the parish in 1562-3. In 1567-8
the value of the chrisom offerings is 40s.). See _Introd_. to _St.
Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, p. xix.
[294] See p. 27 _supra_. Also p. 35 _supra_.
[295] _Provision for the poore now in penurie Out of the Store-House
of Gods plentie, Explained by_ H. A[rth], London, 1597 (No
pagination). "Wednesday suppers" refers to fasting nights appointed by
proclamation or by statute. A not uncommon entry in the act-books is
"no levy of the fyne of 12d." See, _e.g., Manchester Deanery Visit_.,
57, _et passim. Barnes' Eccles. Proc_., 119, _et passim_. Hale, _Crim.
Prec., passim_. Cf. in _Bishop Stortford Acc'ts_ (J.L. Glasscock,
_Rec. of St. Michael, B. S_.), 64, the rubric: "Rec. of defaultes for
absence" (9 names follow, each for 12d., except one for 3s.). _Dean of
York's Visit_., 215 (Hayton wardens report to commissary that they
have a small sum from absentees yet undistributed to the poor: "But it
shalbe shortlie". 1570).
[296] See examples in note 32, pp. 19 _supra_.
[297] _Warrington Deanery Visit_., 189 (Penance of three days standing
in white sheet for fornication commuted--the offender "_humiliter
petens_"--to 13s. 4d. to be paid to vicar and wardens of Ormschurch to
be distributed to poor, etc.). Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 232-3 (Commutation
of a penance for having a bastard into L5 to be paid for the repair of
St. Paul's, London, and also into 34s. 4d. to be paid to wardens of
Horndon-on-the-Hill for the poor. 1606). See also _Chelmsford Acc'ts_,
212 (20s. received in 1560 "toward the pavynge of oure churche for
part of his penance"). _Abbey Parish Church Estate Acc'ts, s. a_. 1578
(20s. received for a "purgation" to go to parish poor and to church).
[298] For some interesting receipt items see _The Westminster Tobacco
Box_, Pt. ii, _Overseers Acc'ts_, 18 ff. (Fines in 1569 from a player
beating a drum in service time; for selling coals on Candlemas day;
for selling wood on Sunday; for driving a cart on that day, etc. In
1570 fines are received for retailing during service time, from
proceeds of forfeitures of pots and dishes, etc., etc.). Wandsworth
Acc'ts, _Surrey Arch. Coll_., xviii, 146 (Receipts for 1599 from fines
for bricklaying on Sunday; for being in ale-house at service time--a
number).
[299] See John Hawarde, _Les Reportes del Cases in Camera Stellata_.
1593-1609 ed. W.P. Baildon (1894), _passim. E.g_., p. 91 (Offender
fined L10 to use of poor for not laying sufficient ground to his
cottages). _Ibid_. (Ed. Framingham, of Norfolk, fined L40 to use of
poor for same offence. Oct. 14th, 1597). _Ibid_., 71 (Council commend
a justice of the peace for condemning a Wilts engrosser to sell his
corn to the poor 8d. under the price he paid for it).
[300] Some examples taken from many are North, _St. Martin, Leicester,
Acc'ts_, 119 (Agreement in 1571 by mayor and brethren to fine one
refusing to be warden for the first year 10s. to the use of the
church). _Ibid_., 142 (This fine raised in 1600 to 20s.). _St. Edmund
and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts, Introd_., p. xi, and _St. Edmund's
Acc'ts_, 121, 129. _Mere Acc'ts, 26_ (Parish order of 1556-7). _St.
Margaret, Lothbury, Minutes_, 33 (An offer from a parishioner in 1595
of L10 for church repair, "condicynellie that the parish wowld
dispence with him for the church warden, Officers and cunstable...").
_Ibid_., 36 and 45 (Two parishioners each pay L10, being exempted
thereafter "from all services as Constableshipp, Churchwarden, syde
men and any other offices whatsoever that the parish myght ...
hereafter Impose uppon them...". 1607). _Memorials of Stepney_, 44
(Fine for not attending vestry. 1602). _Clifton Antiq. Club_, i
(1888), 198 (40d. fine for absence from St. Stephen's, Bristol,
vestry, 1524. For other fines, see _ibid_.). _Clifton Antiq. Club_, i,
195 (Same fine for absence from St. Thomas', Bristol, vestry. 1579).
_St. Margaret, Lothbury, Minutes, passim_ (Fines for not accounting on
a certain day, and for not auditing accounts).
[301] Examples are found in W.F. Cobb, _St.
Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate_, London, _Acc'ts_, 5 (10s. received of
a schoolmaster allowed to keep school in the belfry. 1589). _Ibid_.,
same p. ("Receaved of the owte cryar for a quarters rente for settynge
of goodes at the churche doore ... iiis. iiijd..." 1585). The canons
of 1571 forbid this practice: "_Non patientur [sc_. the wardens] _ut
quisquam ex ... istis ... sordidis mercatoribus ... quos ...
pedularios_ [peddlars] _appellant, proponant merces suas vel in
coemeteriis vel in porticibus ecclesiarum_ [etc.]...", Cardwell,
_Syn_., i, 124. St. Michael's, Lewes, Acc'ts, _Sussex Arch. Coll_.,
xlv (1902), 40, 60 ("Recd for sarttayn standyngs agaynst the cherche
at Whytson fayar xvd." 1588). Similar items to the last are found in
many accounts. See also _St. Mary the Great_, Cambridge, _Acc'ts_, 215
(Receipt items "for the chirch style before his house"; for the rent
of the "p[ar]ishe ground wherevpon his chymney standythe". 1588).
_Ibid_., 203 ("Yt ys also agreyd that goodman Tomson shall from hence
forthe paye vnto the p[ar]yshe for hys byldynge into the Churche yarde
12d. by the yeare." 1584).
[302] Thus in 1561 Kingston-upon-Thames church sold brushwood growing
upon its land for L14 7s. 8d.: _Surrey Arch. Coll_., viii, 77. In 1573
the wardens of St. Michael's in Bedwardine _(Acc'ts_ ed. John
Amphlett, p. 74) brought a suit for the value of eight trees sold to
one Lode, alleging that the defendant had promised to pay the price
"for the reparacions of the ... church and reliff of the pore..."
[303] For the form and wording of such a licence see Parish Registers
and Documents of Kingston-upon-Thames, etc.: _Surrey Arch. Coll_., ii
(1864), 92 (1591). The fee according to royal proclamation was 6s.
8d.: _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Minutes_, 9. For receipts from
this source see _St. Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate Acc'ts_, 5, _et
passim_, as well as the other London acc'ts already cited. Cf.
Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_., i, 370-2, for Council's letter to the
archbishop of Canterbury on the observance of Ember Days and Lent.
[304] _E.g._, see in _St. Mary the Great_, Cambridge, _Acc'ts_, 227-9
and 240-2, long lists of persons from all parts of England who
contributed in the years 1592-4 towards the rebuilding of St. Mary's
steeple. A host of proctors licenced under the broad seal, or by the
justices of the peace, or otherwise, went from parish to parish
soliciting contributions for churches, alms-houses, hospitals, etc.
They seem to have entered parish churches at service time and
disturbed or annoyed the congregations. This probably led to the
parish order of Mere, Wilts _(Mere Acc'ts_, p. 80, in _Wilts Arch_.
[etc.] _Mag_.), which in 1585 forbade such persons going about the
parish or entering the church, but enjoined them all to repair to the
Mere churchwardens for contributions to be given at the expense of the
parish.
[305] At Winsham, Somerset, a document was drawn up in 1581,
apportioning among certain parishioners (by virtue of their holdings),
the vicar, and finally the whole parish, how many feet of wattled
fence each should keep in repair, or what stiles each was to maintain:
_Notes and Quer. for Somer. and Dor_., v, 538. See a similar agreement
in _Morebath_ (Devon) _Acc'ts_, 38. Also in Marsh, _Hist. of Calne_,
372, the list at Calne. Here are 25 groups of houses and certain
individuals charged with making and keeping the churchyard bounds. See
also _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 34 (Suit brought before the archdeacon
against the tenant of a holding whose former owners had for 40 years
repaired a portion of the church fence, 1611). For presentments to the
courts Christian for non-repair of church fence by individuals, see
_Dean of York's Visit_., 214, 228, 325 (1570-1599).
[306] _Canterbury Visit_., xxv, 26 (A parishioner of Herne presented
for withholding 9s., "which hath always been accustomed to be paid out
of a certain house and lands." 1592).
[307] Early History of Kingston-upon-Thames, _Surrey Arch. Coll_.,
viii, 74.
[308] _St. Mary the Great Acc'ts_, 148.
[309] _Hist. and Antiq. of Leicestershire_, by John Nichols (1815), i,
Pt. ii, 569 ff.
[310] See in T. Nash, _Hist. and Antiq. of Worcestershire_, i, pp.
lii-lvi, a long list of Pentecost, etc., farthings paid by each parish
of the diocese in lump sums varying from 3d. to 3s.
[311] _Morebath Acc'ts_ (ed. Binney), 34, _s. a_. 1531, seem to offer
a genuine example of such a payment of Peter's pence. But the
Minchinhampton wardens (Acc'ts in _Archaeologia_, xxxv, 422 ff.),
confuse their payments to the mother church, made in 1575 ff., with
Peter's pence. See, _e.g., s. a_. 1575, the entry: "to the sumner [or
apparitor] for peterpence or smoke farthynges sometyme due to the
Anthecriste of roome ... xd."
[312] See, _e.g_., Sam'l. Barfield, _Thatcham, Berks, and its Manors_,
ii, 122 (Midgham and Greenham called upon against their will for
contributions to mother church). _Surtees Soc_., lxxxiv, 123 (Dispute
ending in a suit between St. Oswald and St. Margaret. 1595 ff.).
_Memorials of Stepney, 1-2_ (Parishioners of Stratford Bow forced to
contribute to St. Dunstan's, the mother church).
[313] _E.g._, the vestry of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, London
_(Minutes_, ed E. Freshfield), agree to cess "the parishioners" for
money to prosecute a suit for certain parish lands in 1585-6. When the
lands were recovered each was to have his money back _(Minutes_, p.
12). But those assessed numbered only 38 (p. 13), whereas we see by a
list (p. 12) that 43 persons were here assessed for the Queen's
subsidy; and subsidy men were the wealthier men of the parishes. Cf.
assessment at Lapworth for Barford bridge levied on 26 tenements,
cottagers not being assessed. Hudson, _Memorials of a Warwickshire
Parish_, 115.
[314] Hale, _Crim. Prec_., 198 (One Spencer presented for not paying
his proportion for the ringing on the Queen's anniversary, "being
rated at iiijd.") Hudson, _op. cit. supra_ (Barford bridge assessment
of 4s. 4d. spread out over 26 tenements).
[315] _Canterbury Visit_, xxvii, 214 (John Basset "cessed" at 2d. a
quarter, but thought well able to pay 3d. for the clerk's wages.
Robert Sawyer, _ditto_. 1577). _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Minutes_, 16
(ed. E. Freshfield), where in 1584 thirty-four parishioners make a
"free offer" of sums from 2d. to 6s. 8d. to pay a lecturer. _Ibid_.,
10 (18 parishioners give from 1d. to L2 towards the erecting of a
clock. 1577).
[316] Rates for bread and wine were commonly so levied. See
_supra_, p. 78 and _note_ 80.
[317] See p. 80 _supra_ and _note_ 87.
[318] Houghton-le-Spring Acc'ts, _Surtees Soc_., lxxxiv, 271 (1596).
Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_, 34 (1531). _Ibid_., 85 (1536).
[319] _E.g._, See Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec., passim, e.g_., where
the parishioners of Elstree ("Idlestrye"), Herts, cannot agree in
1585/6, some contending for assessment "by their welthe and goods
only, and some others do require that the taxation might be made by
the acres of grounde only." _Canterbury Visit_., xxvii, 218 (2d. an
acre). _Ibid_., xxv, 42 (4d. an acre). _Ibid_., xxvi, 33 (Ploughland
of 140 acres paying 6s. 8d. for clerk's wages). _Ibid_., xxv, 33 (Two
"cesses" at Minster church, one at 20d. the score [of pounds?], the
other at 12d.). _The Reliquary_, xxv, 18 (Levy made in Morton,
Derbysh., of 8d. the oxgang of 15 acres).
[320] Order of Wiltshire justices, Michaelmas, 1600, that three of
their number shall call certain constables and others before them,
"and examine them what overplus of money is remaining in their hands
w[hi]ch they have collected of their hundredes for anie service
whatsoever, and if there be anie founde remayning the said Justice to
distribute the same amongst the inhabitants of the same hundredes
according to their discretion." _Rec. of Wilts Quarter Sess_. in
_Wilts Arch_, (etc.) _Mag_., xxi, 85.
[321] According to the 22 Hen. VIII c. 5, where it cannot be known who
ought of right to repair a bridge, the justices of the district shall
call before them the constables of the parishes of the surrounding
hundreds, or of the whole shire, and "with the assent of the ...
constables or [chief] inhabitants," tax every inhabitant of the towns
and parishes of the shire (if necessary). This looks like a county
bridge tax, but in practice the justices either threw a lump sum on a
hundred, or on a parish, and left each parish to raise this sum
according to local rating. Such, at least, would seem to be the usual
practice according to the churchwardens accounts, which contain many
lump payments made to constables for bridges.
[322] See Wilts justices order, 20 Eliz., _Wilts Arch_. (etc.) _Mag_.,
xxi, 80-1. Cf. _ibid_., 16, the appeal of Hilprington and Whaddon that
they have been compelled by the inhabitants of Melkesham to pay a
third part with the last named parish of these lump assessments,
though the acreage of Melkesham is much greater than either of theirs,
"and far better ground."
[323] See p. 81, _note_ 91 _supra_.
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