142 



ilmtpt iloll of t!)e ^calt funstftction of ti^e 

 mtmx antr Cfiapter of Htci^ficltf. 



A.D. 1339. 



By J. Charles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A. 



|MONG the muniments of the Dean and Chapter of 

 Lichfield pertaining to their extensive ecclesiastical 

 rights throughout the Peak, is a Receipt Roll of the 

 year 1339, giving in detail all the money received 

 from (i) the small tenants, from (2) the farmers, from (3) pensions, 

 from (4) mills, and from (5) tithes of minerals, corn, and hay. 

 The total amounts to ^^218 13s. i^d., a very large sum for those 

 days.* In addition to this was the tithe on wool and lambs, 

 which was collected at a different time of the year and entered on 

 another roll. The roll of receipts for 1339 is on a long, narrow 

 piece of parchment, measuring 6ft. Sin. by Sin. in width ; the 

 upper part is much frayed, and in parts illegible. It has, there- 

 fore, been impossible to copy the first receipts that relate to the 

 payments from cottage or garden tenants at Holme, Hope, 

 Tideswell, Brough, and Rowsley ; their rents amount to 



£7 4S. 9d. 



On the back of the roll is the most interesting and somewhat 

 exceptional feature of these 14th century accounts, namely, the 

 Mortuary List for the year. The mortuary fee, which still prevails 

 in some of our parishes for the wealthy deceased, f is a fee 



* This sum was, however, often exceeded in more prosperous years ; in 

 1306 it amounted to ;^264 9s. 8d. 



t Statute 21 Hen. VIII., cap. 6, restrained the amount of mortuaries, and 

 limited them to persons of substance and heads of houses. By 2 and 3 

 Victoria, cap. 62, the Tithe Commutation Commissioners were empowered to 

 commute them before confirmation of award. 



