Common terms and wages for the servants of St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, c.1235
Transcription
60r (select folio number to open facsimile)
Quid habere debeant omnes servientes in commum. Omnes isti equaliter habent bladum, videlicet quolibet
mense unusquisque minam, id est mensuram que continent
dimidiam summam, et octavam partem summe, vel valens
in denariis. In quadragesima vero allecia vel anguillas,
videlicet magistro XXXI et secundario XXIII per omnem ebdo-
madam. Oblationem vero habent ad natale Domini et ad Pascha,
magister denarium, secundarius obit. Caseum habebunt ter in
anno ad unamquamque vicem duo pondera, et ita debent
distribui secundum quod sint magni vel parvi, scilicet magistro
unum caseum de majoribus et unum de mediocribus et
unum de minoribus. secundario duos de mediocribus.
Carnem habent omnes equaliter ad natale Domini vel unum
denarium, et in die martis ante Quadragesimam et ad Pascha.
De stipendiis eorum.
In pistrino duo magistri: primus habet in stipendiis VII solidos.
Secundarius V solidos. Unusquisque de aliis tribus IIII solidos.
In coquina eodem modo magister VII solidos. Secundarius V solidos.
Unusquisque de aliis duobus IIII solidos.
In bracino primus V solidos. Unusquisque de aliis duobus IIII solidos.
Portarius X solidos.
Grangerius XL denaria.
Serviens de infirmaria V solidi.
Hostiarius cellarii III solidi.
Senescallus X solidi.
In ecclesia duo : primus VII solidi. Secundarius VII solidos.
In domo pelliparie: primus IIII solidos. Secundarius III solidos.
De Terminis Stipendiorum Terminus stipendiorum est ad Nathale Domini et ad
Pascha de omnibus ministeriis.
Summa stipendiorum VI L. IIII solidos. IIII denaria.
Translation
What ought all the servants to have in common?
All of them have equal grain, namely each one, every month, a mina – that is, the measure which comprises half a seam, and an eighth part of a seam1 – or the equivalent in pennies. In Lent, indeed, herrings or eels, namely 31 to the master and 23 to the second-rank for each week. They have, indeed, a gift at Christmas and at Easter, the master a penny, the second-rank a halfpenny. They have cheese three times a year, to each one in turn two pounds, and they must distribute accordingly as they are great or small, namely to the master one from the mature cheeses, one from the medium and one from the young; to the second-rank two from the medium.
All have meat equally at Christmas or one penny, and on the Tuesday before Lent and at Easter.
Concerning their wages
In the bakery of two masters: the first has in wages 7 shillings; the second-rank, 5 shillings; each of the other three, 4 shillings.
In the kitchen the same way: master 7 shillings; second-rank, 5 shillings;
In the brewery: the first, 5 shillings; each of the other two, 4 shillings.
In the laundry: the first, 4 shillings; the second, 3 shillings.
Gatekeeper: 10 shillings.
Granger: 40 pennies.
Servants of the infirmary: 5 shillings.
Doorkeeper of the cellar: 3 shillings.
Steward: 10 shillings
The two in the church: the first, 7 shillings;
the second-rank, 7 shillings. In the tannery2: the first, 7 shillings; each of the other two, 4 shillings. each of the other two, 4 shillings. The terms for wages: The terms for the wages it is on the Nativity of the Lord and at
Easter for all of the offices.
Total wages £6, 4 shillings and 4 pence. 1 Mina, seam: a seam is equivalent to 8 levelled bushels (of 8 gallons each); therefore the Rochester mina equals 5 bushels or 40 gallons. As many weights were not standardised during the thirteenth century – e.g. the mina was sometimes and elsewhere considered equal to 4½ bushels – the amount stated in Custumale Roffense for the mina should be understood as specific to the local area or region at that time (Zupko 1985).
2 Tannery: evidently referring to the workshop of the aforementioned tailors. It would seem that both tannery duties and tailoring were carried out by the same servants.
Footnotes
