A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



garden. On another occasion there is a charge 

 for trimming the vines. 



The medicines used are seldom specified, but 

 among the drugs and spices were liquorice, 

 aniseed, turbit (a cathartic drug), dragon's blood, 

 airgarik, mace, cloves, pepper, and nutmeg. 

 Other purchases of the infirmarer were almonds, 

 dates, figs and pomegranates, and white sugar, 

 but these were for convent feasts. The number 

 requiring medicine, and the names of particular 

 cases, are sometimes entered. Thus, in 1346, 

 twenty-four required medicine, of whom two 

 are named, Thomas de Wisbech, whose drugs 

 cost 8d., and Adam de Erpingham, 2s. 2d. The 

 same year medicines for the blooded cost 13a'. 

 In 1394 dinner and drink of the physicians 

 {medicorum) cost 3^. 8;^. The sum of 3;. "jd. is 

 entered under the head of medicines and the 

 wages of the physician. This year there also 

 occurs an entry, subsequently often repeated, of 

 2J. i)d. to the clerk (attendant) of the blooded, 

 in earlier rolls he is called the servant {servitori 

 minutorum). Physicians and medicines cost 

 41J. i\d. in 1400. A few years later the wages 

 of Master Marck, the physician, are entered as 

 13^. i\.d. In 1429 Master Marck received 3;. ^d. 

 pro impeccione urine (an entry afterwards often 

 repeated), and 6j. %d. for clysters given and other 

 labour. A surgeon was called in during 1 43 I. 

 There are occasional entries of medicine given 

 to the poor outside the infirmary. 



In 1446 begins the definite entry at the two 

 feasts of the Conception and Assumption of the 

 Virgin of the number of monks in the house, 

 on each of whom 12c/. was spent in ' spices ' or 

 extra sweets. This went on down to the disso- 

 lution, and similar entries are made on some of 

 the precentors' rolls. This enables us to form a 

 fairly correct estimate of the fluctuating numbers 

 of the priory monks for the last century of their 

 existence. The numbers cannot be taken as 

 precisely accurate, for on two of the three occa- 

 sions where there are returns for the same year 

 both on the precentor's and the infirmarer's rolls 

 they do not exactly tally. The average number 

 works out at about forty-five.^ It would generally 

 also happen that two or three of the Norwich 

 monks would be absent for health's sake at their 

 cells of either Lynn or Yarmouth. 



One other comment must be offered on the 

 infirmarer's rolls. As they are extant from 1346 

 to 1350, it is only natural to turn to them with 

 unwonted interest to see what references there 

 are to the Great Pestilence or Black Death, 

 which raged with such peculiar fierceness in the 

 city of Norwich. Was the infirmary crowded ? 

 What were the drugs used ? and other like 

 queries at once occur to the mind. At first 

 sight, however, these particular rolls seem most 

 disappointing ; but after all their very silence is 



' Ranging from fifty-six in 1 44 1 to thirty-one in 

 1512, rising again to thirty-nine in 1533. 



eloquent, and the complete breakdown of the 

 machinery that usually sufficed to meet the needs 

 and the pains of sickness speaks clearly of the 

 overwhelming character of this awful tragedy, 

 before which human agency sank down aghast. 

 The summer and autumn of 1348 were abnor- 

 mally wet throughout England, and there was 

 much sickness before ever the plague reached 

 our shores. The roll for 1347—8 ends with 

 entries of medicines for Robert de Walsingham 

 and others of the brethren, and the very last 

 entry is the sum of 25. paid to Master Adam for 

 his labour about our brethren at Yarmouth, 

 whither some had doubtless gone for better air. 

 The epidemic did not reach East Anglia until 

 1349 had begun. The roll from Michaelmas, 



1348, to Michaelmas, 1349, is left unfinished. 

 Ralph de Swantone, the infirmarer, began it, but 

 he must have died when the plague was raging 

 terrifically in the city (70,000 perished, whole 

 parishes being blotted out) ; for John de Heders 

 began to act as infirmarer on 10 July. Evi- 

 dently the usual organization was paralyzed. 

 True, each of the brothers had an electuary, but 

 the whole expenditure dropped to jTs 95. 3//. 

 Heders drew up a further roll from Michaelmas, 



1349, to Christmas Eve; William de Len had 

 another electuary, but there was merely ^^5 

 spent. At Christmas the roll ends, Heders died, 

 and the last entry records that 52J. \d. was 

 stolen in the general disorganization from the 

 infirmarer's ofSce. 



So little is known with certainty of mediaeval 

 gardening, that the various gardeners' rolls of 

 this priory, in addition to the herb garden refer- 

 ences in the infirmarers' rolls are of particular 

 value.^ They are thirty in number, beginning 

 in 1340 and ending in 1419. 



It is obvious that the monastery gardens pro- 

 duced more than was required even for their 

 great household. Among the receipts of the 

 year 1400, are the sum of 45. l\d. for the sale 

 of apples and pears ; 245. \d. for onions ; 6j. \d. 

 for leeks ; 3;. i \\d. for garlick ; and 6f. \o\d. for 

 herbs and herb plants. The receipts for the 

 year 1379 amounted to £^\ Js., and included 

 i6d. for onions ; 18/. ^d, for garlick ; 18/. for 

 mustard seed ; osiers and faggots 41. \d. 

 Among the details of other years in these 

 gardener rolls occurs the mention of peas and 

 beans and bean-straw, though these vegetables 

 were usually cultivated only for cattle in 

 mediaeval England. Mention is made of filberts 

 in 1340, of beets and carrots in 1320, and of 

 cherries in 1452. The sacrist also had a small 

 garden which occasionally produced filberts. 



' There are four garden rolls extant of Abingdon 

 Abbey (see Kirk, Jats. of the Obedientiary, 1892). 

 Some attention is given to the Norwich gardeners' 

 rolls in Miss Amherst's Hist, of Gardening in 

 Engl. (1896) ; the roll of 1340 is reproduced in 

 extenso. 



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