Almsgiving in honour of Bishop Gundulf, 1114-1124

Bishop Ernulf sets up alms-giving in honour of Gundulf, 1114–1124¹. Textus Roffensis, ff. 197r–197v. Translated from Latin and edited by Dr Christopher Monk.

Transcription

197r (select folio number to open facsimile)

hęc est elemosina, quam
domnus Ernulfus episcopus consensu
et rogatu monachorum constituit singu-
lis annis faciendam pro anima patris nostri
Gundulfi episcopi in anniuersario ipsius.

197v

Secretarius debet dare quadraginta denarios. Camerarius quadraginta denarios. Celararius quadraginta denarios, et unum millenarium
allecium. Hedreham quattuor solidos, et duos salmones.
Frendesberi, Denintuna, Flietes, Wldeham,
sex solidos, et duos salmones; Stoches, duos salmones; Lamhetha, unum; Suthuuerca, unum. Hos
uiginti solidos recipiet celararius, et empto inde
pane et allece, ipse cum elemosinariis distribu-
et ipsa die pauperibus. Salmones autem
habebunt fratres in refectorio.

Translation

This is the alms-giving which the lord bishop Ernulf, ² having granted it at the request of the monks, set up to be made every year for the soul of our father, bishop Gundulf,³ on his anniversary.⁴

The secretary ought to give forty pennies. The chamberlain, forty pennies. The cellarer, forty pennies and one thousand herrings.⁵ Haddenham four shillings and two salmon. Frindsbury, Denton, Fleet, Wouldham, six shillings and two salmon.⁶ Stoke, two salmon; Lambeth, one; Southwark, one.

These twenty shillings the cellarer will receive,⁷ and then having acquired bread and herrings, he himself with the almoner will distribute these very things to the poor on this day. The salmon however, the brothers will have in the refectory.

Footnotes

1 This text was not written by the principal scribe, who completed his work c. 1123, but was added as part of a folio that was inserted later in the twelfth century to replace one that had been cut out. The note does however relate to the period of Ernulf’s bishopric (1114–1124), and may well be a copy of an original charter by the bishop.

2 Bishop of Rochester at the time of the writing of Textus Roffensis (r. 1114–1124). He likely oversaw its completion around 1123.

3 Bishop and prior at Rochester, from 1077 to 1108.

4 i.e. the anniversary of his death, 7th March 1108.

5 The secretary, chamberlain and cellarer were obedientaries, i.e. senior monks.

6 The responsibility was shared between these four villages in Kent.

7 The arithmetic is correct: note, 12 pennies to a shilling, so the 120 shillings of the three obedientaries is equivalent to 10 shillings; added to the four from Haddenham in Buckinghamshire, and the six from the four Kentish villages, that makes 20 shillings in total.