Opis: Minutes of the Vestry Meetings and Other Records of the Parish of St. Christopher Le Stocks, in the City of London (Classic Reprint) - Stocks London St. Christopher le

Excerpt from Minutes of the Vestry Meetings and Other Records of the Parish of St. Christopher Le Stocks, in the City of London

The Inventory of Church goods in 1488 has already been printed in the publications of the Society of Antiquaries, but I thought it well to print it again here, as when publishing the Parish documents, there were additions to it which it became necessary to make, but which were not necessary in the previous publication. The Inventory is interesting both to the student of antiquities and also as shewing the wealth of so small a parish as St. Christopher must always have been.

From the Articles drawn up in 1507, some instructive particulars may be gathered. It appears that the Curfew was rung at St. Christopher's at eight o'clock in the evening. The Articles prescribe regulations fur the closing of the alley gate of the churchyard, and the times when it shall be opened. They prescribe that the Chaplain or Chauntry Priest shall not let his house, or any part of it; the manner and times at which the various services are to be performed in the Church; that none of the Chaplains shall go to any Trental; and that the Chaplains shall not go to their mass two at once, but shall go to their masses immediately the one after the other. It is probable that these Articles were entered in an earlier Vestry Minute Book, which is lost, because the particular entries are manifestly only copies. The memorandum of the assessment of the pews, made in the year 1524, is also very interesting and instructive.

It would seem that what are termed the Clerk's wages were collected by an assessment upon the pews, and the memorandum provides for the punishment to be inflicted upon any person who rebelled, so that he would not sit or pay according as was appointed by the assessors. The change of religion made no difference in these regulations, for in the year 1574, upon the occasion of a further sessment for "the byll of the Clarke's wages," it is provided as follows: "It is furdar agreed in this Vestery, that all suche as shall refuse to pay as they ar sessed for this iij years, the churche wardens shall show the sessors thereof, & they shall be cauled beffour them, and yf they wyll not be parswaded by them to pay as they are sessed, then the churchwardens shall shew them in the ordyuarys court, at the const and charges of the parysh, a cording to an ansyentt or Dar hear in this boak wretten."

This, no doubt, refers to the order made in 1524, just 50 years before.

It appears from other sources in the books that the whole of the money was not applied to the payment of the Clerk's wages, but went towards the general Ecclesiastical purposes of the parish; in fact, it was practically a church rate, in a form of a payment for the pews, but no part of the money raised in this way went, as far as I have been able to gather, towards the clergyman.

The description given of the pews is interesting. It will be gathered from it that there were certain pews in the body of the church set apart for women. Among them, one is described as being on the north side, "next pew before the shryving hous." It seems to have been usual to have such an article in the church though it went by different names. In the accounts of St. Michael's, Cornhill, printed by my friend, Mr. Alfred J. Waterlow, the first person who seriously undertook the work of re-producing those interesting documents, there is this entry in the year 1548: -

"Item paid to the joyner for takynge downe the shryvyng pew, and making another pew, in the same place, iij."

It would appear that the custom of having separate pews for women was common in London, because in the Minute Book of St. Michael's, under date 2nd February, 1583, is an entry in which these are alluded to. This entry is as follows: "Also it is agreed that ye Churchwardens shall make stayne foote paces at the women's pues in the church for their mayde svants to s

Szczegóły: Minutes of the Vestry Meetings and Other Records of the Parish of St. Christopher Le Stocks, in the City of London (Classic Reprint) - Stocks London St. Christopher le

Nazwa: Minutes of the Vestry Meetings and Other Records of the Parish of St. Christopher Le Stocks, in the City of London (Classic Reprint)
Autor: Stocks London St. Christopher le
Wydawnictwo: FB &c Ltd
Kod paskowy: 9781332158096
Języki: angielski
Ilość stron: 92
Format: 15.2x22.9cm
Oprawa: Miękka

Recenzje: Minutes of the Vestry Meetings and Other Records of the Parish of St. Christopher Le Stocks, in the City of London (Classic Reprint) - Stocks London St. Christopher le