A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



to 94 loaves, in addition to the bread for the abbot's 

 household, for the monks' refectory, for the 

 infirmary, and for the guest-houses. The daily 

 allowance of beer to the household servants 

 amounted to 82 gallons (/agcnae), whilst 96 gallons 

 were dispatched once a week to the nuns of 

 Thetford. 



That lordly fish, usually reserved for royalty, 

 the sturgeon, graced the monastic table on the 

 anniversary of Richard I, the Transfiguration, the 

 Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, the feast of All 

 Saints, the feast of St. Nicholas, and the anniver- 

 sary of Abbot Samson. On the feast of 

 St. Denis, fine bread, butter, and cheese, were 

 provided. A pittance of wine was provided for 

 the convent at Easter, Ascension, Whitsuntide, 

 Christmas, the feasts of St. John Baptist, 

 SS. Peter and Paul, St. Botolph, Relics, St. 

 Edmund, and the Assumption. On the feast 

 of Relics a choice was given of 'must' (unfer- 

 mented wine) or wine. 



The pittances of this abbey for the convent 

 were numerous ; a list given in the custumary 

 enumerates eighty-two. Thirty-one of these 

 were on anniversaries, 1 chiefly of their own 

 abbots or other distinguished men of the house ; 

 the remainder were on church festivals. The 

 pittance in some cases was so small that it could 

 not have made any appreciable difference to the 

 diet except of a few ; thus there was a pittance 

 of a mark on the anniversary of Isabel, mother 

 of Abbot Henry ; and the like amount on the 

 anniversary of Abbot Edmund. In several cases 

 where the addition to the usual diet is stated, it 

 will be seen that the extra food was of a trifling 

 character. Pancakes and white bread were the 

 additions at the Epiphany, the Purification, the 

 feasts of St. John Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, &c. 

 On Easter Monday, the octave of Easter, 

 Michaelmas, Martinmas, the Translation of 

 St. Benedict, &c, and on a few anniversaries, 

 onions were supplied. On Easter Day, Whit- 

 sunday, the feast of St. Edmund and Christmas 

 Day, apples and pears, as well as pancakes, were 

 placed on the tables. ' Ringes,' which were 

 probably round cakes, were supplied on the 



1 At the beginning of Registrum Ikworth, which 

 relates to the infirmary, is a capitular instrument, dated 

 1257, establishing an anniversary for Stephen the 

 physician {medicus) and infirmarian of the house. 

 The document speaks in the highest terms of the 

 manner in which Brother Stephen had fulfilled the 

 various offices in the monastery to which he had been 

 called, but more especially of his devotion and zeal in 

 the office of infirmarian, particularly at the time of 

 the sweating sickness. It was therefore resolved to 

 perpetuate his memory by establishing an anniversary 

 of his death on St. Mark's Day, when the full office 

 for the dead was to be said for him and for his father 

 and mother. A rental of 22/. was assigned for a 

 pittance for the refreshment of the convent on that 

 day, out of property in Kyrkgatestrete and Mayd- 

 waterstrete in St. Edmunds. Lansd. MSS. 416, 

 fol. 4. 



anniversary of Richard I, the Transfiguration, 

 the anniversary of Abbot Hugh, the feast of 

 Relics, and the feast of St. Thomas ; and wafers 

 and biscuits on the feast of St. Nicholas. 3 

 On forty days in the year, being the 

 chief feasts, such as Christmas, Circumcision, 

 Epiphany, &o, the servants of the church 

 had their meals in the refectory. Particular 

 details are given as to the Maundy gifts and 

 observances, including the payment of id. each 

 by certain of the upper servants, termed ' glove- 

 silver.' 



Among the special privileges of the abbey of 

 St. Edmunds were the powers bestowed upon 

 the abbot of conferring minor orders on those of 

 his own house and the right to call in any bishop 

 of the Church Catholic to admit monks to the 

 higher orders within the abbey precincts. Orders 

 were celebrated in the chancel of the church of 

 St. Mary in the precincts on the vigil of the 

 Holy Trinity, 1 40 1, by Bishop Thomas 

 Aladensis, 3 when three deacons and four priests 

 were ordained, all monks of the house. At the 

 September Embertide in the same year Bishop 

 Thomas again held an ordination in the like 

 place, ordaining four sub-deacons and three 

 priests. 4 



Moreover, the abbot's privilege went much 

 further than the giving authority to bishops to 

 hold special ordinations for his monks. He 

 could commission the ordaining, through his 

 own letters dimissory, of any fit candidates for 

 holy orders within the liberties of St. Edmunds, 

 whether religious or secular. Thus in 1 410 

 and 1419, Abbot William of Exeter, writing 

 from his manor of Elmswell, commissioned John, 

 archbishop of Smyrna, 5 through letters dimissory 

 by papal indult, to ordain certain priests who 

 were not connected with the monastery. 6 The 

 register of Abbot Curteys (1429—46) has many 

 of these ordination entries. 7 On the Nativity 

 of the Blessed Virgin (8 September) 1435, Abbot 

 Curteys personally ordained four of the monks 

 from exorcist to acolyte. Again, in the fol- 

 lowing year six monks were ordained deacons, 

 in the chapel of St. Stephen, by the bishop of 

 Emly. 8 



'Ibid. fol. 25. 



3 Aladensis-Killala, an Irish diocese. This was 

 Thomas Howell, bishop of Killala ; he was suffragan 

 of Ely from 1389 until his death in 1404 ; he was 

 also suffragan of the Isle of Wight for William of 

 Wykeham. 



4 Cott. MS. Tib. B. ix, fols. 140^, 148. 



6 John Leicester, archbishop of Smyrna, a Carme- 

 lite, acted as suffragan of Norwich from 1393 to 

 1423. 



6 Cott. MS. Tib. B. ix, fol. 144^. 



7 Add. MS. 14848, fols. 76b, 78, 87. Robert 

 Windel, bishop of Emly, in Ireland, acted occasion- 

 ally as suffragan of Norwich, Salisbury, and Worcester 

 about this period. 



8 Ibid. fol. 143^ \6ib. 



70 



