Custumale Roffense, c.1235
Index
1r-8r. Title pages and notes
1r (select folio number to open facsimile)
The first folio features the typical inscription of a manuscript from Rochester Priory. Beneath this is a drawing of two male figures, one larger with a pleasant smile and the other (or possibly the inner) apparently moans in frustration.
An inscription at the top of the folio reads:
Liber Eccliesie Roffe[n]sis
2v Blank folio.
3r A further brief annotation including ‘Ego …’ (‘I, …’) is difficult to decipher.
The next folio reveals this was the fourth book of customs. None of these other volumes are known to be extant. A J. Sommers has added a note in English.
3v Two fourteenth-century notes
4r-5r Medical recipes and calendars
6v Two names: Thomas Anscall of Halford and William Absolan of Stoke
7v Domesday record of land in the hundred of Stone
8r Domesday record of lands at Haddenham
9r-28r. Customary
This begins what we might refer to as the ‘custumal proper’, i.e. the contents of the original, planned custumal. It is likely written by one scribe (late 13th-century). Much of the customary has yet to be translated.
9r-10r Customs of Southfleet2
10r-10v Sulungs of the manor of the monks and Bishop of Rochester3
10v-11r Customs of Frindsbury4
11r-11v Customs of Denton5
12r-12v Customs of Stoke6
12v-15r Customs of Wouldham7
15v-21v Jurors and customs of Darenth8
23r-23v Jurors and customs of Haddenham9 and of Cuddington10
23v-27r Customs of our land in Elham11
27v The Assize of Bread12
27v-28r The Wine Custom
28r How rents ought to be acquired
28v-50v. Revenue and expenses
Important historically for Rochester priory, this is the beginning of the lists of sources of revenue for each of the major offices within the monastery. Each office would be responsible for its own accounts.
28v-33r Rents of the Sacrist
34r-39v Rents of the cellarer
36v At the Mandatum of the Poor
39v-40r Food rents
42r-44v Rents for the Community
45r-47r Rents for the Almoner
47r-48r Provisions for the sick of Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital
48r-48v Rent in remembrance of fathers and mothers
48v-49r Rents for altars
49v-50r Rent for the Choir
50v-52v Rent for the Chamberlain
53r-60v. Duties and Wages of the Lay Servants
The final sections appears to have been written by a different scribe from the foregoing. Though the style of script is similar, the hand is rounder; the ink is lighter; and the rubrication (red ink headings and letters) is generally more decorative.
53r-53v Duties and succession of the Millers
54r-54v Duties of the Cooks
54v-55r Duties of the Stewards
55v Duties of the Cellarer’s Doorkeeper
55v-56r Duties of the Grangers
56r-57r Duties of the Infirmary attendants
57r-59r Duties of the Church Attendants
59r-59v Duties of the Tailors
59v-60r Duties of the Launderers
60r-60v Common Terms and Wages for the Servants
65-68r. Miscellaneous records and addenda
60v-63v Tithing dues to the Bishop13
63v-64v Rochester Bridgework List14
64v-65r New rents in exaltation of the Holy Cross
65r-65v Total annual rent arranged per 13 months
65v The arrangement of manors which owe rent
65v-66r Granary measures and rent measures
66r Feudal tenants of Frindsbury who were producing oats and groats
66r-66v Concerning offerings to St Andrew’s15
66v-67r Almsgiving in remembrance of Bishop Gundulf16
67r Concerning salmon which are paid to the refectory
67r 67r Almsgiving in remembrance of Bishop Ernulf17
67r-67v Almsgiving for deceased brothers
67v-68r Customs owed by the Archbishop of Canterbury
68r-68v Requiem Masses performed for benefactors
Footnotes
1 John de Westerham, the monk attributed as the author or compiler of Custumale Roffense, eventually became prior of St Andrew’s in 1320, dying in 1321, not in 1320 as claimed in the annotation.
2 The village of Southfleet is near Gravesend.
3 A sulung is a measurement of land used during the medieval period in the area of Kent. The term originates from the Anglo-Saxon period but obviously continues into the later medieval period. A sulung was approximately twice the size of a hide, the typical land measurement used elsewhere in England. The modern equivalent to a sulung is about 60 acres. Dictionary of Medieval Terms, ‘sulong’.
4 Frindsbury lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester.
5 Denton is a village near Canterbury.
6 Stoke is a village on the Hoo Peninsula. A further heading in red ink: Concerning the Shepherds. The opening line announces the agreement for land to be held by the shepherd’s heirs: The heirs of Wluric of Bertune hold pasture for 15 cows for 5 shillings for as long as we wish. The role of shepherd was evidently very important as can be seen by the promise of the monastery to allow land to be held at a fixed price indefinitely.
7 Wouldham is a small village on the bank of the River Medway.
8 Darenth is a village near Dartford. The names of the twelve members of the jury are given followed by a subheading: Rents of Darenth. The dues are chiefly monetary.
9 ‘Hedenham’ is written in a modern hand.
10 Cuddington is the neighbouring village of Haddenham.
11 Elham is a small village lying between Canterbury and Folkestone. This item lists all the tithe donors to St Andrew’s priory in both the archbishopric (Canterbury) and the bishopric (Rochester).
12 The Assize of Bread was a statute which regulated the price, weight and quality of bread manufactured and sold in towns, villages and hamlets. Ale was similarly regulated. These assizes, or statutes, were the first in British history to regulate the production and sale of foodstuff.
13 Concerning the lands in Cobham (61r), Great Delce, Little Delce (61v), Nashenden, from the heirs of Eustace in Borstall, from the land of William of Dene in Borstall, from Chelsfield, from the land of John of Godinton in Chelsfield, from the Archbishop in Northfleet (62r), the land of Ifield, the land of Winivalle (apparently, Winfield Bank). There follows what we must have from our lands written above. The lists then begin again with Duna (possibly Dunbury), Stroud, Stoke, Henhurst, Srembroke [?], Gillingham, Bertreia [?], Dagenham, Wicham, Cockelstone, Stoke [again], Dudindale [Possibly Dundle or Durndale], Elham, Geddinge, Colinges [?], Hamwold, Buggeleia [?], Pole in Southfleet, Acol, and Bechenecurt [?].
14 A latin version of the same charter recorded in the Textus Roffensis.
15 The estates named are: Frindsbury, Denton, Wouldham, Southfleet, Stoke, Haddenham and Darenth.
16 This details the dues to be paid as alms to the poor on the anniversary of Gundulf.
17 Ernulf (1115-1124) was the ruling bishop when Textus Roffensis was produced.
