Duties of the Church Attendants of Rochester Cathedral, c.1235
Translation
Concerning the church attendants: what they ought to do:
It belongs to the master to regulate all things in the church, certainly that the curtains and covers, which are to be hung correctly, are arranged, and that the large and small candles are prepared well, and that the copes in the second choir, when feast days occur, are carried in an orderly manner. He has nevertheless a man for himself who must with the second rank [attendant] strike and regulate the bells at processions, and the master will precede with a staff before the congregation to restrain the laity’s excess, that they may not advance impudently against him. And this they ought to do in the church and in the cloister and wherever there is work. They will have a single key for opening and locking the doors. Whoever is their weekly assigned monk will take it and after compline on the Sabbath will hand it over to the one who comes. After compline they must lock the door of the nave of the church and carry the key to the sacristan’s bed. During Lent, after vespers, and again in the morning after they have struck [the bells], they are to open up. If the bell clappers have broken, they must be carried immediately to the workshop; and when they have been mended, immediately taken back, even if they break on the principal feast days. Also they must always on the Sabbath clean in the choir under the benches whenever the congregation leaves. They make oil-lamps and wash the lamps when it is necessary, and they light them. On Sunday, for the exorcism, they place a basin with water and a salt-cellar with salt upon the pavement before the high altar. After preaching of the main Mass on Sunday, they bring the salt-cellar with salt, which remains from the exorcism, into the refectory, and then they must empty the cloister of laymen. In winter before the striking [of the bells] for assembly, they will place a light at the 4 corners of the cloister, for when it is the procession from the chapter into the refectory; and after compline they extinguish it. Whoever is the assigned monk always has the fire for lighting, in the day for the masses, and at night for the matins. However, at night, after the priest has walked around lighting the altars, he [the monk] must wait for the priest in the vestry until the vestments may be folded and stored by the sub-sacristan. When it is the procession, at the cross in the nave of the church they should set before the crucifix a lighted taper, and at night a candle at the fonts. Likewise, they light a lamp after songs at the lavatory/bath for those who are dressing. They must sweep clean the pavement and put down rushes whenever necessary, and attend to the cloth hangings; and for the dressing of the altar, the hirelings, after matins, draw water for Mass. On all the principal feasts from the Ascension of the Lord up to feast day of St Paulinus, and on the Translation of St Andrew (if it happens before the Ascension), the church and the chapter shall be strewn with rushes; on the lesser feast days, just the choir and the chapter. Concerning hay, from the feast day of St Paulinus up to the Ascension of the Lord, they will also help with the hay harvest. The wages of the master are 7 shillings. Likewise, the wages of the second-rank are 7 shillings. They have on the principal and on the lesser feast days an allowance from the cellar, namely the master one loaf and a fair measure of ale. Also, during dinner, in the great tower they make three strikes of either the great bell or Bretun or Thalebot on the principal feast days, and they will have a fair measure of ale and one loaf and a dish from the kitchen, traditionally the same as for one who serves at dinner. Also they have this in common with hirelings, who have 2 pennies for a bell-ringing procession. Each of these hirelings has a halfpenny for the day and for the night. They will help at the altar. If the whole of the church has gathered, they have 2 pennies for drink; indeed for the undressing of the altar, 2 pennies. After the octave of Pentecost, the curtains and skins and cushions are to be shaken out in the sunshine in the cloister, for which they have four pennies for drink. On the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday they will have lamb. Every day when the instruction is given in the chapter, they have a bowl full of ale from the cellar. Likewise on Sunday after vespers they have a tankard full of ale from the cellar. Whenever the bishop sings the main mass they have from the cellar the same as on the lesser feast days. From the offering that comes forth on Good Friday, they have bread, eggs, herrings, onions, nuts, garlic, and from the sacristan a silver coin, and the finest piece of fruit. When from the community a body of the deceased laity is received, according to whom the person is, it may be accepted; and, as it pleases the sacristan, bells in the great tower, many or few, may be struck. If it is one of the nobility or a soldier, they will have a linen cloth and woollen tapestry which they will lie over the body, and candles which are placed around the body, and from the executors of the deceased any act of esteem by means of a trumpet call. If he should have the hood, they will have nothing, and the sacristan will make the grave. If carried by horses, the sacristan will have the horses, and the attendants the bier. From the offering, according to what has been great or small, they have one denarius or a halfpenny for drink, but this is from goodwill not from law. When they finish making the wax candles or tallow candles and also the singular Easter candle, the sacristan feeds them – and when they make offerings. On the six principal feast days, namely Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption of Saint Mary, the feast days of Saint Andrew and of Saint Paulinus, they have in assistance for the curtaining of the altar and for the procession ringing 8 hired men, who have on Christmas Eve a half pint of ale, and likewise on the vigil of Saint Andrew. Therefore, on feast days which are not celebrated splendidly, namely, the Translation of Saint Andrew, the Ascension of the Lord, the feast of Saint Ithamar, the Annunciation of Saint Mary (if it occurs during Easter), the Nativity of Saint Mary, and the feast of All Saints, they have 6 hired men who have 2 pennies for the vigil and the procession. On Whitsun they will have nothing unless from goodwill. On Palm Sunday and on the anniversaries of bishops Gundulf and Ernulf, they have from the cellar the same as for the lesser feast days. If the king or a legate or the archbishop shall act as hosts or cross through the estate, the bells are rung on their arrival; and for our bishop, if he comes from overseas. Ringing of the bells against the archbishop was undertaken at the time of Archbishop Baldwin. In sacred festivities, in which altars are used, they must strew rushes before them and spread a carpet; if it is on Whitsun, the choir is to be curtained from the dossals only. And it is noted that when the community has been clothed anew for prayers they [the attendants] must light three great candles upon the great candelabra, with which begins the Kyrie Elieson of the main mass; and on the principal feast days around the altar overhead, which Lanfranc calls the crown of the Lord. For the monks who are regularly situated in church, they must light [candles] at other hours and especially those around the main altar. Whoever calls and rings all the bells for the waking of the people at the two nights before Easter has a halfpenny for the day and night. These and many other things they must do without delay, whenever something is commanded of them.
Exorcism: a prayer of exorcism was said over the holy water and salt, blessing both and imbuing them with the power to protect from evil and evil spirits.
Cloth hangings: cloths/curtains hung to adorn the altar, lectern, etc.
The Ascension of the Lord: celebrated forty days after Easter Sunday.
Feast Day of St Paulinus: St Paulinus was bishop of Rochester from c.633-34 until his death at Rochester on 10th October 644. His feast day is 10th October, though it is recorded in a writ of Henry I, preserved in Textus Roffensis, that an annual two-day holiday was to be held in Rochester in honour of Paulinus starting on the day before the feast day, i.e. the 9th October. This writ also describes the church at Rochester as ‘of Saint Andrew the Apostle and of St Paulinus’ (‘sancti Andreę apostoli et sancti Paulini’), which explains why Custumale Roffense refers to the feast days of both saints as belonging to ‘the six principal feast days’ of Rochester church, alongside those of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and the Assumption of Mary.
Translation of St Andrew: probably referring to a local festival celebrating the translation of relics of St Andrew to Rochester, and not to the main feast day of St Andrew on November 30th.
Bretun, Thalebot: names of two of the three bells in the belfry. In the manuscript, they have been crossed out with red ink.
Octave: the seventh day after a festival.
If he should have the hood: if the deceased one is a monk.
Saint Ithamar: the first Saxon-born bishop in England, and thus the first Saxon bishop of Rochester described by Bede as ‘a man of Kent’; died between 655 and 664.
Archbishop Baldwin: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1184-1190. The event here described of ringing against the archbishop apparently refers to the sympathy of the monks of Rochester for their brethren at Christchurch Priory who were in dispute with Baldwin during the reign of Henry II, who had orchestrated the archbishop’s ascension to Canterbury. Not only did the Benedictine monks of Christchurch disagree with the appointment of Baldwin, a Cistercian monk, but they resented his attempts to interfere with their monastic life. The dispute escalated after Baldwin deprived them of some of their estate revenue in an attempt to curb what he saw as their pampered monastic life at Christchurch. At one stage of this long, drawn out dispute, the Christchurch brethren were imprisoned for eighteen months inside the priory, and the liturgy of the cathedral was suspended. Eventually all the prominent ecclesiastical and monastic houses in Europe were forced into taking sides. The monks of Rochester priory evidently sided with their fellow Benedictines. In the end, the new king, Richard I, intervened and the estate revenues were returned to Christchurch.
Carpet: Latin tapetum, probably referring to the carpet positioned before the altar, or it may indicate the cloth, made from silk or other expensive material, which was hung behind the altar.
Dossals: referring to the fastenings from which a dossal (or ‘dorsal’) curtain is hung behind the altar.
Kyrie Elieson: transliterated from Greek, meaning ‘Lord, have mercy’, the prayer sung at Mass by the clergy and the congregation in response.
