Duties of the Brewers of St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, c.1235

Transcription

By Jacob Scott (pending review).

54r (select folio number to open facsimile)

De braciatoribus quid agere debeant.
Magister braciator custodit clavem de bracino quousque
cervisia colatlir,. postea tradit eam Gerentario
vel Subcelerario. Ipse recipit totam sirmam que pertiliet
ad cervisiam faciendam, et curat et palpat Grodum
et brasium, utrum sit idoneum vel non antequam portetur
in granarium, et habet dicam contra celerarium, quotiens
fuerit braciatum in. mense. Capit etiam ebdoma-
dam suam in bracino sicut unus sociorum suorum. Sti-
pendia ejus V solidos. Item de uno tonello de cervisia
conventus habebit seces, celerarius de omnibus aliis. Secun-
darii habebunt secundam loturam de omnibus tonellis.
Debent etiam habere in communi unam bollam plenam de II
galonibus de nova cervisia ad bibendum. Stipendia istoram
duorum unusquisque IIII solidos. Debet magister cum hostiario cel-
larii portare cervisiam conventus de cellario in refecto-
rium et statim recedere.

Translation

Concerning the brewers, what they ought to do:

The master brewer guards the key of the brewery until the ale is filtered; afterwards, he delivers it¹ to the granary keeper or the sub-cellarer.

He himself receives the full food-rent² that pertains to ale-making, and looks at and strokes the groats³ and the malt, for what may be suitable or not, before it may be carried into the granary; and he has talk face-to-face with the cellarer as often as [the ale] may be brewed in the month. Also, he holds his Sabbath in the brewery just the same as one of his associates.

His wages: 5 shillings.

Also, the monastery will have/manage the dregs from one cask of ale, the cellarer from all the others.

The second-ranks [the brewer’s assistants] will manage the subsequent washing of all the casks.

They ought also to have in common one full bowl of 2 gallons of new ale for drinking.

The wages for these second-ranks is 4 shillings each.

The master ought, with the doorkeeper of the cellar, to carry the ale of the monastery from the cellar into the refectory and then return immediately.

Footnotes

1 He delivers it: the grammar allows for ‘it’ to mean either the key or the ale.

2 Food-rent: the payments of grain from the various farmed estates owned by the monastery.

3 Groats: hulled kernels of grain, here likely referring to barley.