RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



mercy. . Thereupon, after payment of a fine of 

 1,000 marks, the liberties were restored.' 



Through the influence of Cardinal Wolsey, a 

 composition was entered into between the priory 

 and the city in 1524, whereby the latter re- 

 signed all claims to jurisdiction within the pre- 

 cincts to the priory, whilst the monastery gave 

 up all claim to jurisdiction in Tombland, Holme 

 Street, Ratton Row, and Spiteland. The city 

 also made certain other surrenders to the priory, 

 such as freedom from all tolls and customs, both 

 by water and land, for all goods bought or sold 

 for the use of the convent and their household.^ 



On 6 April, 1539, the great monastery of 

 Norwich was dissolved. The monks were for 

 the most part changed into prebendaries or 

 secular canons, whilst the last prior, William 

 Castleton, became the first dean of the new 

 establishment. 



Among the muniments of the city of Norwich 

 is a copy of the charter, quaintly described as the 

 document ' whereby the prior and monks are 

 changed from the monkish state into a dean 

 and chapter, and so made secular priests and 

 altered their cowls.'' 



Some consideration must now be given to the 

 considerable number of old documents relating 

 to the inner working and life of the cathedral 

 priory of the Holy Trinity. 



In the treasury of the cathedral of Norwich no 

 fewer than 1,400 of the old account rolls of the 

 great Benedictine priory are carefully preserved. 

 They are ' obedientiary rolls,' that is, they per- 

 tained to the obedientiaries or chief officials of 

 the priory, and are concerned with the yearly 

 accounts pertaining to the office of the particular 

 official. The earliest roll is of the year 1272; 

 many earlier ones were probably consumed in 

 the devastating fire of that particular year. The 

 date of the latest of the pre-Reformation series is 



A general account roll of the year 1363 gives 

 a Status Ohedientiariorum, with the total receipts 

 of each officer of the convent, beginning with the 

 prior. The officials enumerated on this roll, 

 under the prior, were as follows, the year after 

 each giving the date of the earliest roll 

 still extant of that particular office : — Cellarer 



' The numerous chronicles and rolls as to this outbreaic 

 are cited by Blomefield {Hist. ofNorf. iii, 149-55, and 

 Hudson and Tingey, Rec. of the City of Ncncich, \, 

 340-6, and Introd. Ixxxviii-xcvii). 



' Blomefield, Hist. ofNorf. iii, 1 95 and 196. 



' Liber Albus, fF. 104-5. 



' The Rev. H. Symonds, formerly precentor of 

 Norwich Cathedral, compiled a useful catalogue of the 

 rolls. There are also eight Norwich obedientiary 

 rolls in the Bodleian, dating from 1324 to 1507. 

 Six of them pertain to the refectorian, one to the 

 precentor, and one to the cellarer {Cal. of Chart. 

 R. 237.) There are more obedientiary rolls, we 

 believe, extant of Norwich Priory than of any other 

 English Benedictine house save Durham. 



2 3 



(1303), sacrist (1274), chamberlain (1292), pre- 

 centor (1283), almoner (1276), infirmarer (1313), 

 commoner (1284), pittancer (1289), hostellar 

 (1320), refectorian (1289), gardener (1340), and 

 warden of St. Paul's Hospital (1423). The 

 priors of four out of the five cells of this cathe- 

 dral priory also sent in their account rolls — 

 Yarmouth (1355), Aldeby (1381), Hoxne (1394), 

 and St. Leonard, Norwich (1348). 



The most interesting rolls for a history of the 

 actual working of the great cathedral in mediaeval 

 days are those of the sacrist ; they happen, for- 

 tunately, to be more numerous than any of the 

 others, although there are considerable as well as 

 occasional gaps in their sequence.^ 



The income of the sacrist's office came mainly 

 from the voluntary offerings of the faithful. 

 The chief of these were the offerings at the 

 high altar, to the north of which stood the costly 

 patronal images of the Holy Trinity. In 1 30 1 

 the offerings at the high altar were ^^43 i6j. "jd., 

 the Lady altar ^^14 lu. 4«?., the Relics altar 

 ^8 1 6s. 7<^., the box {trunca) of the Cross 

 £6 l]s. 2^d., the box at the head of Walter the 

 bishop 565. 5^., and the box of St. Hippolitus 

 I2J. 6d. For the next few years these offerings 

 were of approximately similar amounts ; in 1304 

 the high altar gifts were ^^46, and in 1305 ;^45, 

 but soon afterwards they diminished. 



The results of the Black Death, here as else- 

 where, were to stimulate the devotions of many 

 of the survivors. The rolls are, unfortunately, 

 missing of the immediate years on each side of 

 the great pestilence, but in 1343 (the latest 

 before the pestilence) the total receipts of the 

 sacrist were only ^^114 19J. 4-id., whilst the 

 total for 1364 (the first extant after the pesti- 

 lence) was j^ 1 88 13s. ills'., the rise being chiefly 

 attributable to the offerings. For this latter year 

 they were : At the high altar, ^^ 5 4 ys. i^d. ; 

 'ad crucem,' ^^21 19^. "jd. ; 'ad reliquias,' 

 £j 8s. 2\d. ; in the Lady chapel, ^3 os. 2^d. ; 

 at the image of St. Osyth, ^^3 6s. ^^d. ; and at 

 the image of St. Hippolitus, I is. "jd. The two 

 lowest of the offerings before various other images 

 were St. Katherine i^d. and St. Anne id. This 

 year's receipts also includes the contents of a box 

 (2ii. o|^.) at the door by the presbytery. 



The receipts for 1369 were ;^I92 14J. o^d., 

 and the expenses ;ri90 lis. 2\d. The high 

 altar offerings were ^^49 I y. 8d., and those ' ad 

 crucem ' £ij Os. 8^d. The image of St. Katherine, 

 which had been new made in 1364, brought in 

 2s. 6y^. The expenses of that year included 

 £2 6s. yd. for gilding two archangels at the high 

 altar. 



' Through the courtesy of Dr. Bensly, the writer 

 of this section was able to make extracts from a variety 

 of these and other rolls ; but he is more indebted to 

 the numerous abstracts of the rolls of the sacrist, 

 precentor, and infirmarer, which were taken some 

 ) ears ago by Mr. P.ige, and kindly put at his dispos.tl. 



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