A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



cellarer, (2) the sacrist, (3) the chamberlain, 

 (4) the almoner, (5) the pittancer, (6) the infir- 

 marian, (7) the hosteller, and (8; the precentor. 1 



The remarkable wealth of St. Edmunds comes 

 out in a striking form in the very numerous 

 entries in the general taxation roll of 1 29 1. An 

 exceptional feature of the income of this house 

 is the comparative smallness of its spiritualities ; 

 this abbey had then far less appropriations than 

 any other considerable religious foundation. 

 Contrariwise the temporalities were much in 

 excess of any other foundation, apart from the 

 fees pertaining to the abbot as lord of the various 

 hundred courts which were not inconsiderable. 

 Thus the hundred of Lackford produced £4., 

 and that of Blackburne £14. per annum. 2 



As to spiritualities, the appropriated rectory of 

 Mildenhall supplied the abbey with an income 

 of £30, and there was a portion of 1 3*. \d. from 

 the church of Horningsheath. 



Other spiritualities were assigned to particular 

 obedientiaries. The important rectories of St. 

 Mary and St. James, Bury St. Edmunds, were 

 divided between the sacrist and the almoner ; 

 the former receiving from these two churches 

 £44 i~$s. \d., and the latter, £26 135.4^. The 

 church of Woolpit was divided (after an endow- 

 ment of £6 1 31. ^.d. had been arranged for the 

 vicar) between the infirmarian and the pittancer, 

 who each received £6, whilst the hosteller had 

 also an annual portion of £1 6s. 8d. The 

 chamberlain received the annual income of 

 ^33 6s. 8d. from the appropriated church of 

 Brook, and also a portion of £4 from Rougham 

 church. It will thus be seen that the spiritu- 

 alities of the monastery at this date brought in 

 an income of £152 13;. \d. 



No two of the great Benedictine abbeys were 

 at all alike in the amounts assigned by grants to 

 the different obedientiaries, and consequently in 

 the relative financial importance of the particular 

 offices. Naturally in the early days, when 

 grants were made to the monks, it was always 

 common to give lands or rents that were ear- 

 marked for the actual sustenance of the religious 

 in the way of food. The cellarer's income was 

 therefore usually of considerable importance, but 

 in no other case had this official anything like so 

 assured an income to administer as was the 

 case at Bury. The following were the amounts 

 definitely assigned to different officials by grants 

 in 1291, exclusive of the spiritualities already 



1 Registrum Cellarii, Duchy of Lane. Rec. (P.R.O.), 

 xi, 5, fol. 84. In this register, which chiefly relates 

 to the cellarer, his property and administration, there 

 is a list of the sacrists, from the days of Abbot Baldwin 

 onwards, with an account of the work they accom- 

 plished. 



' Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.) 15, \6b, 54, 54^, 

 $U, 67b, 74b, 84, 93*, 95, 96, 97, 99, 99^, 100b, 

 101, 101b, lozb, 104, 104^, 105, 105^, loSb, 110b, 



I 1 4^, liqb, I20, 120b, 121, 123^, 126, 127^, I30, 



130*, 131, 131b, 132, 132^, 133, 133^, 270. 



cited. Cellarer £390 16s. 6\d., sacrist 

 ^134 3;. n\d., chamberlain £69 12s. $^d., 

 almoner £11 195. o\d., pittancer £1 1 i\s.n\d., 

 infirmarian £6 17s. id., hosteller £2 17s., sub- 

 sacrist £1 15*. 8d., sub-cellarer l6x., and pre- 

 centor 1 31. \d. A large portion of the remainder 

 of the income was assigned to the office of the 

 abbot, and the rest to the convent at large. 

 By far the greater part of the income was 

 derived from Suffolk parishes ; the largest sum 

 (^99 14*. lO^d.) came from the temporalities 

 of Mildenhall ; £103 7*- was contributed by 

 Norfolk parishes ; £$ I if. lod. came out of the 

 diocese of Ely, and £4 19;. lod. from Lincoln 

 diocese. 



The complete return of 1291 thus shows 

 that the temporalities of the abbey towards the 

 end of the thirteenth century were worth 

 ^774 16s., yielding a total income, with the 

 spiritualities added, and an additional £40 per 

 annum for offerings at the shrine of St. Edmund, 

 of nearly £1,000 a year, or about £20,000 at 

 the present value of money. 



There are many particulars extant with regard 

 to the various obedientiaries throughout the 

 fifteenth century, particularly as to the pittancer. 

 The special register or chartulary of the pittancer, 

 which contains all the evidences relative to the 

 property assigned to that office, shows that 

 it was endowed with the church of Woolpit 

 and much temporal property at Bury, Mendham, 

 Clopton, and Woolpit, bringing in an income of 

 £17 17s. id. 3 There is also in the same register 

 a taxation roll giving the value of the whole pro- 

 perty of the abbey according to its special 

 appropriation. 4 To the abbot was assigned 

 £798 18;. 2d., whilst the amounts allotted to 

 the cellarer, sacristan, treasurer, chamberlain and 

 almoner, infirmarian, hosteller, feretrar, vestarian, 

 sub-sacrist, sub-cellarer, and precentor, brought 

 the total up to £2,030 7s. li^d. 



The full returns of the valor of 1535 are of 

 much interest, though space can only be found 

 here for the more salient points. 



The abbot drew from the various hundred 

 courts £83 OS. 6\d. ; from the temporalities of 

 Suffolk (the largest amount being £117 17s. $.d. 

 from Melford) £549 7s. 8$d. ; from the tem- 

 poralities of Norfolk £102 is. \\d. ; from the 

 temporalities of Essex £82 i8j. \d. ; and from 

 spiritualities (the rectory of Thurston and a por- 

 tion from Fressingfield) £14 6s. 8^., giving 

 him a total income of £843 in. ^\d. Out of 

 this, however, large returns had to be made to 

 bailiffs, &c, as well as distributions to the poor 

 of £36 3/. 4-d. The cellarer drew the great 

 income of £821 13*. 8d. from the temporalities 

 of Suffolk (the largest contribution being £163 

 from Mildenhall), and when to this were added 

 temporalities from Norfolk, Northampton, and 



s Harl. MSS. 27, Registrum Croftis, fol. 123. 

 * Ibid. fol. 164-74. 



68 



