Two medical recipes recorded at St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, c.1235

Clearly unrelated in subject matter to the custumal, which is a survey of tenants’ rents, services and customs, they were nevertheless deemed important enough to preserve. It is very likely that the monks of St Andrew’s Priory were prone to suffer from common health problems. This may partially explain why the following medical recipes for urinary and skin conditions were preserved by the monks and, at some point, bound with the custumal. Among the monks there would likely have been individuals who at some point had studied medical texts that were circulating in England at the time the recipes were penned. These monks would have been practiced in using herbs grown in the priory gardens (and possibly beyond) in order to treat the sick. They would have collaborated with the priory’s infirmary attendants, the duties of whom are outlined in a further section added to the custumal on the subject of the priory’s lay servants. The method of the first recipe for treating strangury and dysuria – painful urinary conditions – is self-evidently for male patients, which is of course what we would expect in a community of monks. The second recipe for ulceration and abrasions may have been relevant to the treatment of ‘leprosy’ – an umbrella term in medieval medicine that corresponds today to a number of diseases affecting the skin, but evidently also Hansen’s Disease, the preferred modern name for leprosy.¹ The significance of this is that the priory established the hospital of Saint Bartholomew in Chatham (on the outskirts of Rochester), at least as early as the 1120s, which according to one contemporaneous source was ‘built for lepers’.² Pertinently, symptoms of tuberculoid leprosy may include ulceration and fissured skin – cuts, sores and abrasions – which easily become infected.³ The two medical recipes are completed by a short invocation in a mix of Anglo-Norman French and Latin and an instruction to recite the Lord’s Prayer. It is likely that these would have been said whilst the treatments were being administered.

Transcription

4r

_Contra⁴ stranguriam et dysuriam. Accipe
radicem Raffani, et tere, et deinde decoquo-
que in uino albo et oderifero cum Radice vismalue⁵
usque ad tertiam partem liquoris decoque. In fine decoc-
tionis, appone furfur triticeum et fac emplastrum,
et circumliga uirilem uirgam, ita calidum quam
paciens pati possit. Istud emplastrum faciendum est
per triduum ad cubitum. Istud emplastrum per furfur suf-
ficienter inspissetur.

_Contra ulceracionem et excoriaconem. Accipe
tapsum barbastem quod gallice dicitur moleine⁶
et summitates rumminis⁷ salicet, Runce, et tanacetum
agreste, et consolidam maiorem, et centinodium.
Istis herbis optime decoctis in bersise; bibat paciens
mane et sero. Sed prius inungat paciens locum dolen-
tem oleo laurino. _Deus te feznerent oil e buche treis te destez-
nent pere e fiz e seinte espirit.⁸ In nomine pa-
tris et filij et spiriti sancti. Amen. Pater noster. Hoc-
ter dicendum est.

Translation

To counter strangury⁹ and dysuria.¹⁰ Take and grind a radish root, and then boil it in white spiced wine along with the root of marsh-mallow until you reduce the liquor to a third. Into the final decoction add wheat bran and make a poultice, and wrap around the virile rod,¹¹ as hot as the patient can endure. This poultice should be applied for three days at rest. The poultice may be sufficiently thickened by bran.

To counter ulceration and abrasions. Take tapsus barbastus, which in French is called mullein, and the tops of the bramble, namely blackberries, and wild tansy and comfrey and knotgrass. These herbs are best decocted in a barley malt liquor. The patient should drink this in the morning and evening; but first the patient should rub the painful spot with laurel oil.

God bless you and open your eye and mouth entirely [to the]¹² Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Our Father must be said today.¹³

Footnotes

1 See Winston Black (ed.), Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West: A History in Documents (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada: Broadview Press, 2020) p. 201.

2 Though Gundulf, monk-bishop of Rochester (1077-1108), is traditionally seen as the founder of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, this is a fourteenth-century attribution. An early thirteenth-century register from Rochester priory (similar in content to and slightly earlier than Custumale Roffense), located now in the British Library (Vespasian MS A. XXII), attributes the building of the chapel associated with the hospital to Hugh of Trottiscliffe (’Hugo de Trotescliue’), a Rochester monk and later abbot of St Augustine, Canterbury (1126-1151). See Colin Flight, The Bishops and Monks of Rochester 1076-1214 (Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society, 1997), p. 211; and Richard Sharpe, David X. Carpenter, and Hugh Doherty, ‘Chatham Hospital: Hospital of St Bartholomew; dependency of Rochester cathedral priory’, Charters of William II and Henry I Project, actswilliam2henry1.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/h1-chatham-hosp-2014-1.pdf.

3 Carole Rawcliffe, Leprosy in Medieval England (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2006), p. 2.

4 A scribe would have completed the medical texts by inserting large red initials (C, C, and D) into the spaces that have been left, but this was clearly forgotten.

5 ‘vismalue’, a corrupt medieval Latinisation of Anglo-Norman wimalve (variant of guimave), i.e. the marsh-mallow plant (Althaea officinalis); cf. Bismalva in Tony Hunt, Plant Names of Medieval England (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1989), p. 52.

6 The scribe has made an untidy correction to give what is probably meant to be ‘moleine’, i.e. Old French for ‘mullein’.

7 ‘rumminis’ appears to be an error. The intended meaning is ‘of the bramble’; see rhamnus in the online Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources [accessed 27 July 2023].

8 The transcription of the Anglo-Norman is not entirely satisfactory, due to the creases in the manuscript at this point.

9 Strangury is blockage or irritation at the base of the bladder resulting in very painful urination and a strong desire to urinate.

10 Dysuria is painful or difficult urination.

11 A euphemism for the penis.

12 Due in part to the transcription difficulties related to the creases in the manuscript, the translation of the Anglo-Norman to this point is somewhat unsatisfactory and at some stage may need amending.

13 The ‘Our Father’ (Latin, ‘Pater noster’), i.e. the Lord’s Prayer, or Paternoster.

Duties of the Infirmary Attendants at St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, c.1235

Translation

Concerning the infirmary attendant: what he ought to do: In the household of the infirmary: Humphrey Costard, William Blundus and Graffard.  When Graffard was rejected, Ethelstan son of Athelard advanced by means of simony through Bishop Ascelin.¹ At this time, there came a certain legate, Ymarus, bishop of Tusculum, who corrected many injuries inflicted upon the monks by the very same Ascelin.  Among other things, mention was made of how Graffard was expelled, contrary to the wishes of the monks, from his service to the infirm brothers.  Moreover, calling forth the bishop, the legate decreed, in obeying virtue, that he would remove the aforesaid Ethelstan.  And immediately in front of all those present Graffard was restored.  Moreover, the legate said to the bishop that for the sake of his crosier² he ought not to have done this.  After Graffard, the monks took William son of Freode of the brewery, and set William in place of Graffard; and in place of William they set in the brewery Eilred, brother of Jordon the sub-prior.  And it will be noted that at that time they were not, however, permitted to serve permanently.  After William Freode the monks took Robert Spicard from the laundry, at the request of the monk Osbern of Sheppey, in whose place in the laundry they put Hamo Pinel.  After Robert Spicard, Matthew Peccator succeeded.  After Mathew, William of Westerfield; after William, Robert Melcsop. He must always be busy serving in the house of the sick, and he will sleep there.  He will never stay outside at night unless by the permission of his master, and even then he must always be available, so that if something has pleased or displeased anyone of the sick brothers, he can, if there is no mention beforehand, make it known to the master of the infirmary.  He must serve all who live there from the kitchen, and he will have as daily sustenance one of the remaining loaves. Likewise, among the little ones he will serve in an orderly fashion, thus adeptly, that no one need ask for anything, and especially then he will guard the door against members of the laity entering, that no one may enter without the permission of his master. When someone of the sick needs service or help requiring two people to lead or carry, the cellarer shall find one servant and the chamberlain another. Note that one will always be from among the lads of the tanning house.  If someone has his last rites, he will have, from that time, nothing of food or drink unless he himself asks with words or signs upon recovering.  At this day or hour anyone serving the sick will have an allowance from the cellar and two candles from the sacristy for visiting the sick. But when he is close to the end and his body is stretched upon a haircloth, then he [the attendant] will remain next to the patient and carefully observe him until that one surrenders his spirit, and then immediately he will close the eyes of the deceased one and raise his chin.³  He will not wash anything of the deceased because he serves the healthy at mealtime.  He serves the monastery with water for washing their hands. If in winter it freezes, servants from the laundry will supply hot water and carry it to the refectory wash-basin.  When those from the world come to the monks, the attendant of the sick will have their boots and shoes.⁴  His wage is 5 shillings.

Footnotes

1 Ascelin (Anselm): Bishop of Rochester 1142-48.  In addition to the scandal outlined above, he was also sued by the monks of Canterbury for appropriating some of their manors for his own use. An agreement about this was reached in 1145 in the presence of Ymarus and Archbishop Theobald: Ascelin renounced his claims in exchange for 100 marks.  Everett U. Crosby, The King’s Bishops: The Politics of Patronage in England and Normandy, 1066–1216 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), p. 148.

2 For the sake of his crosier: Latin, pro baculo suo.  The crosier, or staff, is in this context the symbol of the bishop’s office.

3 Raise his chin: i.e. close his mouth.

4 Will have their boots and shoes: probably meaning the infirmary attendant is responsible for cleaning the footwear of all visitors.

Provisions for the sick of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Rochester, c.1235

The text lists the daily provision of leftovers, loaves and ale from the monastery’s refectory, enough for as many as there are sick in the hospital, as well as special provisions on holy days, such as a ham (instead of the usual cheese) at Christmas.

On the Feast of St Bartholomew, which of course was in celebration of the hospital’s own saint, the hospital received ‘every living thing which is offered [to the priory by the laity] except geese’. In fact, on this holy day, the almoner (one of the monks in the monastery) received on behalf of the hospital the entire offering from ‘vespers till vespers’, from evening to the next evening.

The text also delineates the amounts of grain to be given to the hospital, including 20 seams [160 bushels, or 1,280 gallons] of grain from the total owed the monastery by the church at Stoke on the feast day of St Michael.

It also states the wages for the hospital’s priest (2 shillings for each of the following: the feast day of St Michael, Christmas, Easter, the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist and the feast day of St Bartholomew), and ‘the wages of the servants who devote themselves to the sick’, namely 8 shillings annually.

Other special provisions enumerated include the food gifts ‘in respect of the land which lies opposite the monk’s hospital in Strood’, land which had been inherited by the priory ‘from the heirs of Gaufrid son of Wimarche and others’.

The foodstuff which the almoner received were: ‘one simnel loaf [made from the finest white flour], a fair amount of ale or a gallon of wine, and three of the best dishes which are presented to the brothers in the refectory; and on the days of Easter and Pentecost, if possible, a flaco [a flan].’

Transcription

47r (select folio number to open facsimile)

¶¹ Hec debentur infirmis fratribus de sancto Bartholo-
meo. Cotidie quot sunt infirmi, tot remanen-
tes de refectorio, et todidem bolle ceruisie,
cum releuio Refectorii, et semper sancta die xiij
panes de pondere panis quadrantis, medie-
tas frumenti², et medietas ordei. Seruientibus
eorum ij remanentes. Secunda die xi ostripa-
nes³. In uigilia Natalis Domini, unam pernam,
pro caseo ij solidos. In die sancti Bartholomei

47v

habebunt omne uiuum quod offer( )tur, preter a[n]cas⁴, et ad fes-
tum eorum duos solidos. Diuidunt in communi xx⁵ summas
de toto blado que debentur de ecclesia de Sto[c]hes⁶ ad
festum Sancti Michaelis.
C⁷ Stipendia sacerdotis. Ad festum Sancti Michaelis ij solidos. Ad
Natale ij solidos. Ad Pascha ij solidos. Ad Natiuitatem sancti
Johannis ij solidos. Ad festum sancti Bartholomei ij solidos.
C Clericus eius habet mandatum bis in ebdomada, et sab-
bato v ostripanes, et in cena domini⁸ mandatum.
C Stipendia seruientum⁹ qui infirmis deseruiunt viij solidos per annum.
C Elemosinarius habebit in festo sancti Bartholomei totam oblatio-
nem a vespera usque ad uesperas in die. Ad festum sancti Mi-
chaelis habet quatuor summas frumenti ad seminan-
dum de ecclesia de Stoches.
¶ Sartrinarii¹⁰ iii ostripanes cum companagio.
¶ Custos locutorii cotidie j remanentem, et j Galun¹¹ cerui-
sie, et matinellum,¹² et bis in ebdomada mandatum,
et ea die carebit remanente et ceruisia¹³
¶ Collector releuii ij remanentes¹⁴ et bollam ceruisie de re-
fectorio, et in sex principalibus festis mandatum, et de per-
na infirmorum unum ferculum in uigilia Natalis
domini. Et ad ipsum¹⁵ pertinet fodere et colere ortum
de Strodes.¹⁶
C Si frater aliquis infirmorum obierit, elemosinarius¹⁷ habet
primam missam. Et de oblatione faciet quod ei placue-
rit.
C Nollector releuij, et suportarius, et qui lauat uasa ele-
mosine, debent partiri releuium de seruitoribus.
CDecime, et ecclesie pertinentes ad elemosinariam.
Ecclesia de Kingesdune. Decima de Henherst,¹⁸ et de

48r

la Rede de Frendesberi.¹⁹ Willelmi de la Dene²⁰ de
Borstalle. ---------------------------------------------
¶ Elemosinarius debet pro terra que²¹ iacet ex oppo-
sito hospitalis monachorum in Strodes,²² heredibus
Gaufridi filij Wimarche,²³ et aliis, in sex princi-
palibus festiuitatibus, Simenellum unum, iustam
ceruisie uel Galonem uini, et tria fertula de-
primis que apponuntur²⁴ in refectorio fratribus,
et in die Pasce et Pentecostes, flachonem²⁵ si est.
De firma tocius anni habet elemosinarius
de blado seruientum xxviij summas, et tres
eskippas, et toluet. --------------------------
Quando furnatur cumba, habet Lv ostrepanes.
Quando iij minas xlij. ----------------------------
Habent etiam infirmi oblationem duorum al-
tarium, scilicet, sancti Jachobi,²⁶ et sancti Egidij,
et ideo debent cooperire alas ecclesie.

Translation

These things are due the infirm brothers of Saint Bartholomew:²⁷ from the leftovers of the refectory, sufficient daily for the number of patients; and the same with the amount of ale as with the leftovers of the refectory; and always on a holy day, 13 loaves of the weight of farthing loaves,²⁸ half wheat, half barley.²⁹ For their servants two leftover dishes. On a secondary/ordinary day, 11 oyster loaves.³⁰ On Christmas Eve,³¹ one ham; instead of cheese 2 shillings.³² On the [feast]day of Saint Bartholomew,³³ they will have everything living which is offered, except geese, ³⁴ and two shillings for their feast day/holiday. They share in common, from the total grain,³⁵ 20 seams,³⁶ which are due at Michaelmas³⁷ from the church at Stoke.

The wage of the priest: at Michaelmas, 2 shillings; at Christmas, 2 shillings; at Easter, 2 shillings; at the Nativity of St John,³⁸ 2 shillings; at the feast day of St Bartholomew, 2 shillings.

Its [i.e. the hospital’s] cleric has the Mandatum³⁹ twice a week, and on the Sabbath⁴⁰ 5 oyster loaves, and the Mandatum on the Lord’s Supper.⁴¹

The wages for servants who are devoted to the infirm are 8 shillings per year.⁴²

On the feast day of St Bartholomew, the almoner⁴³ will keep [for the hospital] the whole offering from the evening before to Vespers/evensong on the day. At Michaelmas he receives [on behalf of the hospital] from the church at Stoke four seams of wheat for sowing.⁴⁴

The tailors, three oyster loaves with relish.⁴⁵

The guard/warden,⁴⁶ daily 1 leftover dish, and 1 gallon of ale, and a light morning meal, and twice a week the Mandatum; and in the daytime he will be without a leftover dish and ale/and [on/at] that day/time will abstain from leftovers and ale.⁴⁷

The alms-collector, two leftover dishes and a bowl of ale from the refectory, and the Mandatum on the six principle feast days, and on Christmas Eve one dish of the patients’ ham. And it belongs to him to cultivate and take care of the garden at Strood.

If an infirm brother should die, the almoner holds the first mass. And from the offering will make that which is pleasing to him.⁴⁸

The alms-collector, and the assistant porter, and he who washes the alms vessels, they ought to distribute the servants’ relief.

Concerning tithing and appurtenances of the church to the almonry:

The church at Kingsdown;⁴⁹ tithing of Henhurst;⁵⁰ and of La Rede⁵¹ of Frindsbury⁵²; of William de la Dene of Borstal.

For the land which lies opposite the monks’ hospital in Strood, ⁵³ [given] by the heirs of Geoffrey son of Wymar, and others, the almoner must [have] on the six principal feast days, one simnel loaf, a fair amount of ale or a gallon of wine, and three of the best dishes which are presented to the brothers in the refectory; and on the days of Easter and Pentecost, if possible, a flan.

Concerning the total annual food-rent the almoner has of grain (wheat) of the servants: 28 seams, and three skeps,⁵⁴ and a tovet.⁵⁵

When baking a coomb⁵⁶ he/it has 55 oyster loaves.⁵⁷

When 3 minas⁵⁸ 42.

The patients also have the offerings of the two altars, namely of St James and St Giles, and therefore they must cover/clothe the aisles of the church.⁵⁹

Footnotes

1 ¶ pilcrow mark

2 fruti

3 Scďa ; ‘ostri’= ?of the oyster; = purple

4 qď ; ( )= erasure ; aucas

5 xx has superscription mark: square ‘a’?

6 Stothes ; ‘Stroches’ in Thorpe ; Stoke

7 capitulum mark ‘little head’

8 dñi ; ‘domina’ in Thorpe

9 s’uientũ ; ‘seruentium’ in Thorpe

10 ‘Tartrinarii’ in Thorpe

11 Anglo-Norman galun = gallon

12 light morning meal ; ‘matinell’ in Thorpe

13 ‘remanentem et cervisiam’ in Thorpe

14 remañ [n with super ‘s’]

15 ip

16 ‘Strodes’ in Thorpe ; Strood

17 elemosinarig

18 Kingsdown: near Deal? Henhurst, near Cobham or near Staplehurst

19 Frindsbury ; Rede (now Rede Court, Strood)

20 dene = ‘dean’, i.e. ‘wooded valley’

21 q with macron = que

22 ? Newark hospital in Strood, run by monks

23 Geoffrey son of Wymar

24 aonunt

25 ‘flathonem’ in Thorpe

26 ‘Jacobi’ in Thorpe ; St Giles

27 The implication is that alms and dues are given to provide for former brothers of the monastery. But were there other non-religious who benefitted from the hospital? If St Bartholomew’s was a house for lepers, that might explain why the brothers were separated from those in the infirmary of the monastic precinct, which was some ¾ mile away. In the inquest set up by Edward III in 1342 (post CR), it was noted that there were in St Bartholomew’s nine brethren and sisters and the prior who himself was a leper. This seems to be the basis for referring to St Bartholomew’s as a leper house or hospital/hospice: see Sethina Watson, ‘The origins of the English hospital’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, vol. 16 (2006), pp. 75–94, at p. 76: ‘Within a generation there were leper houses at […] Rochester’.

28 Latin, ‘panis quadrantis’, literally ‘of a quarter [penny] loaf’: a quarter of a penny being one farthing; bread at this time was sold as farthing, half-penny and penny loaves. Both farthing and penny loaves are referred to in the Assize of Bread (dated to 1193–99) copied into CR on f. 27v.

29 Made especially for the infirmary? The monks normally had the ‘finest’ wheat bread. The number, thirteen, perhaps signifies Christ and his disciples.

30 Suggestive of ordinary, everyday bread, suitable for eating cheap and readily available oysters. The number given, eleven, may possibly indicate that the hospital’s capacity was set at 11 patients; compare the nine brothers and sisters in 1342.

31 Literally, ‘on the vigil of the Lord’s birth’.

32 2 shillings to buy cheese; monetary substitute for the original cheese donation: what might this say about cheese as a commodity in the local Rochester community: cheese makers/sellers?

33 August 24th.

34 Latin ‘preter ancas’, ‘except geese’, preter (praeter) being used as a conjunction disjunctively, rather than to mean ‘in addition to, as well as, besides’.

35 Latin bladum, grain, esp. wheat.

36 160 bushels, or 1,280 gallons. Seam: ‘A [measurement of capacity] and w[eight] […]; grain, generally 8 striked or levelled bu[shels] […] of 8 gal[lons] each’, though with some variation: Ronald E. Zupko, A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles: the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century (American Philosophical Society, 1985).

37 Literally, ‘the feast day of St Michael’. September 29th. Marking the ending and beginning of husbandman’s year, the end of the harvest, a time for accounts to be made up and settled.

38 John the Baptist. June 24th.

39 The Mandatum is the foot-washing ceremony practiced by Benedictines (and others) as an act of humility. See ‘Spread and Form of the Mandatum’, unamsanctamcatholicam.com. The context suggests that the monks took seriously their duty to show Christlike humility. It would have been the job of one of the monks to carry out this clerical foot-washing; this was in addition to any acts of the ‘Mandatum of the poor’). The procedure was to genuflect before the recipient, adoring the presence of Christ in him, followed by the actual washing and kissing of the feet and then drying them with a towel. After this the monk would bow his head and touch his forehead to the feet. In the case of the ‘Mandatum of the poor’, a chosen group of poor men would be led into the cloister of the monastery to receive the ceremony, in which they also were served beverages and given two pence each, after which the abbot concluded with a prayer. See Constitutions of Lanfranc.

40 Sunday.

41 On the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the day before Good Friday. See: unamsanctamcatholicam.com

42 This strongly suggests that the hospital was not run by monks, at least not initially, but paid servants. Interestingly, the amount of 8 shillings is 3 shillings more than for the infirmary attendant in the priory.

43 At St Andrew’s Priory.

44 In addition to the 20 seems above?

45 Perhaps this refers to the tailors’ workshop at the priory rather than one within the hospital, though the latter is possible. In the priory workshop, there was a master and two associate tailors/tanners. There is no mention of wages, so it might be that the daily bread and relish is their renumeration for work carried out for the hospital.

46 Latin, ‘Custos locutorii’, literally ‘guard of the speaker’?

47 The guard or warden works from the evening to the morning. He receives a meal and ale as food and drink during his night-time work and a light breakfast, but nothing during daylight hours as, presumably, he is not working,

48 The almoner will make a donation to St Bartholomew’s.

49 Meaning ‘King’s hill’. Which Kingsdown is being referred to is unclear: there is a Kingsdown on the Isle of Sheppey and also near Deal. There is also a West Kingsdown in the Sevenoaks district of Kent.

50 Probably near Cobham or near Staplehurst.

51 Quite a few quarrels over the manor of Frindsbury and its appendages including Rede: Wikipedia - Frindsbury: ‘Bishop Gilbert de Glanvil claimed Frindsbury back from the monks “as belonging to the maintenance of his table” in 1185. […] In 1[2]48 the manor was confirmed as being in the possession of the prior of Rochester, reconfirmed in 1295. In 1287 the manor, along with its appendages of Chattenden, Strood and Rede, were taxed at £24-6-8’. For more information, including the story of the monks of Rochester being clubbed at Frindsbury whilst on a procession to pray for rain, see: british-history.ac.uk.

52 Known later as Rede Court, in Strood.

53 The Hospital of the New Work of St Mary of Strood (‘Newark Hospital’; ‘Stroud Hospital’) was founded by Gilbert de Glanville, bishop of Rochester (1185–1214), in 1193: british-history.ac.uk; see also Sethina Watson, ‘The origins of the English hospital’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, vol. 16 (2006), pp. 75–94, at p. 91. Worth exploring a connection to the Knights Templar: land was granted to the Knights Templar by Henry II in 1960 [to the church/chapel of 1122?] Bibliography: Richard L. H. Coulson and L. M. Collins, A Chronology of Strood to 1899, Kent County Libraries (1982).

54 Skep: ‘A [measure of capacity] for grain and other dry products, varying in size from 1 or 2 bu[shels] […] to approximately 1 or 2 SEAMS’: Zupko, Dictionary. N.B. 1 bushel = 8 gallons (35.238 litres; 64 pints). Contrast: ‘Skep. Dry measure in the 13c equivalent to a half-bushel. There were eight skeps in a quarter, though the bushel was the unit most frequently used. The skep itself was orig. a basket which came to hold half a bushel.’ A Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases, ed. Christopher Corèdon and Ann Williams.

55 Tovet (spelling in ms: toluet): ‘A [measure of capacity] for grain, generally containing 2 p[ec]k[s] or 4 gal[lons] […] and equal to ½ bu[shel]. It arose as a local measure of Kent.’ Zupko, Dictionary. N.

56 Coomb (Latin spelling in ms: cumba): ‘A [measure of capacity] for grain containing 4 bu[shels] […] and equal to ½ SEAM’: Zupko, Dictionary.

57 If we take a coomb as 4 bushels, or 32 gallons, then each oyster loaf required 0.58 gallon of wheat to be made; this is equivalent to approx. 2. 55 litres. If we take the text about the second rank miller into account, then each measure of wheat produces 1.4 measures of flour; so 0.81 gallons, or 3.57 litres, of flour is used for each oyster loaf; if 1 litre of flour equals 4.23 US cups, or 529g, or 19 oz (1.19 lb), of flour, then each loaf required 1.89kg, or 4.25 lbs (roughly double the size of a supermarket loaf).

58 Mina: ‘A [measure of capacity] for dry products sometimes considered equal to 4½ bu[shels] […], but more commonly defined as a vessel containing 3 to 7 SKEPS’: Zupko, Dictionary. However, this definition doesn’t make sense with the figures in the text, which suggest 1 mina is about ¼ of a coomb, i.e. 1 bushel.

59 ‘aisles’: or ‘wings’, referring to where the saints’ shrines were located. The injunction is that these altars must be kept dressed at all times, to attract devotees and increase the offerings to be used for the hospital.