SERIES XXVI NOS. 7-8

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES

IN

HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

Under the Direction of the Departments of History, Political Economy, and Political Science

THE ELIZABETHAN PARISH IN ITS ECCLESIASTICAL AND FINANCIAL ASPECTS

BY

SEDLEY LYNCH WARE, A. B. , LL. B. Fellow in History. 

PUBLISHED MONTHLY

July-August, 1908

PREFACE

These chapters are but part of a larger work on the Elizabethan parishdesigned to cover all the aspects of parish government. There is needof a comprehensive study of the parish institutions of this period, owing to the fact that no modern work exists that in any thorough waypretends to discuss the subject. The work of Toulmin Smith was writtento defend a theory, while the recent history of Mr. And Mrs. Webbdeals in the main with the parish subsequent to the year 1688. Thematerial already in print for such a study is very voluminous, theaccumulation of texts having progressed more rapidly than the use ofthem by scholars. 

My subject was suggested to me by Professor Vincent, to whom as wellas to Professor Andrews I am indebted for advice and assistancethroughout this work. In England I have to thank Messrs. Sidney Webb, Hubert Hall and George Unwin, of the London School of Economics, forreading manuscript and suggesting improvements. For similar help andfor reference to new material my acknowledgments are due to Mr. C. H. Firth, Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford, and to Mr. C. R. L. Fletcher, of Magdalen College. At the British Museum I found theofficials most courteous, while the librarians of the PeabodyInstitute, Baltimore, have given me every aid in their power. 

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

 THE ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE PARISH. 

 ITS IMPORTANCE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

 ARCHDEACONS' COURTS

 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM ACT BOOKS OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION

 CHURCHWARDENS' DUTIES

 MINISTERS' DUTIES

 OBLIGATIONS EXACTED FROM ALL ALIKE

 CONTROL OF CHURCH OVER EDUCATION AND OPINION

 HOW COURTS CHRISTIAN ENFORCED THEIR DECREES

 EFFECTIVENESS OF EXCOMMUNICATION

 EVILS AND ABUSES OF THE SYSTEM

 JURISDICTION OF QUEEN'S JUDGES IN ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS

CHAPTER II. 

 PARISH FINANCE. 

 ENDOWED PARISHES

 EXPEDIENTS FOR RAISING MONEY

 CHURCH-ALES, PLAYS, GAMES, ETC

 OFFERINGS AND GATHERINGS

 COMMUNION DUES

 SALE OF SEATS, PEW RENTS

 PARISH TARIFFS FOR BURIALS, MARRIAGES, ETC. 

 INCOME FROM FINES AND MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS

 RATES AND ASSESSMENTS

 INDEPENDENCE OF PARISH AS A FINANCIAL UNIT

 SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT

THE ELIZABETHAN PARISH IN ITS ECCLESIASTICAL AND FINANCIAL ASPECTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE ECCLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE PARISH. 

The ecclesiastical administration of the English parish from theperiod of the Reformation down to the outbreak of the great Civil Waris a subject which has been much neglected by historians of localinstitutions. Yet during the reign of Elizabeth, at least, the churchcourts took as large a share in parish government as did the justicesof the peace. Not only were there many obligations enforced by theordinaries which today would be purely civil in character, but tocontemporaries the maintenance of the church fabric and furnitureappeared every whit as important as the repairing of roads andbridges; while the obligation to attend church and receive communionwas on a par with that to attend musters, but with this difference, that the former requirement affected all alike, while the latterapplied to comparatively few of the parishioners. 

In the theory of the times, indeed, every member of the commonwealthwas also a member of the Church of England, and conversely. Allegianceto both was, according to the simile of the Elizabethan divine, in itsnature as indistinguishable as are the sides of a triangle, of whichany line indifferently may form a side or a base according to theangle of approach of the observer[1]. The Queen was head of thecommonwealth ecclesiastical as well as of the commonwealth civil, andas well apprized of her spiritual as of her temporal judges[2]. Forboth sets of judges equally Parliament legislated, or sanctionedlegislation. Sometimes, in fact, it became a mere matter of expediencywhether a court Christian or a common law tribunal should be chargedwith the enforcement of legislation on parochial matters. Thus theprovisions of the Rubric of the Book of Common Prayer were enforced bythe justices as well as by the ordinaries. Again, secular andecclesiastical judges had concurrent jurisdiction over churchattendance, and--at any rate between 1572 and 1597[3]--over the careof the parish poor. Finally, it must not be supposed that the men whoactually sat as judges in the archdeacon's or the bishop's court werenecessarily in orders. In point of fact a large proportion, perhaps alarge majority of them, were laymen, since the act of Henry VIII in1545 permitted married civilians to exercise ecclesiasticaljurisdiction. [4]

In the treatment of our subject the plan we shall follow is, first, tomake some preliminary observations as to the times, places and modesof holding the church courts; second, with the aid of illustrationsdrawn from the act-books of these courts, to show how their judicialadministration was exercised over the parish, either through themedium of the parish officers or directly upon the parishionersthemselves; third, to analyze the means at the command of theecclesiastical judges to enforce their decrees; and, finally, to pointout that from its very nature the exercise of spiritual jurisdictionwas liable to abuses, and must at all times have proved unpopular. 

Speaking generally (for the jurisdictions called "peculiars" formedexceptions), England was divided for the purposes of localecclesiastical administration and discipline into archdeaconries, eachcomprising a varying number of parishes. Twice a year as a rule thearchdeacon, or his official in his place, held a visitation or kept ageneral court (the two terms being synonymous) in the church of somemarket town--not always the same--of the archdeaconry. The usual timesfor these visitations were Easter and Michaelmas. The bishops alsocommonly held visitations in person, or by vicars-general orchancellors, once every third year throughout their dioceses. Yet atthe semiannual visitations of the archdeacon as well as at thetriennial visitations of the bishop, the mode of procedure, the classof offences, the parish officers summoned, the disciplineexercised--all were the same, the bishop's court being simplysubstituted for the time being for that of the archdeacon. 

There were other visitations: those of the Queen's High Commissioners, and those of the Metropolitan. There were a very great number of othercourts, but for the purposes of the every-day ecclesiasticalgovernance of the parish the two classes of courts or visitationsabove mentioned are all that need concern us. It is, however, important to state, that while churchwardens and sidemen were_compelled_ to attend the two general courts of the archdeacon (and ofcourse the bishop's court) and to write out on each occasion formallists of offenders and offences ("presentments" or "detections") theseparish officers might also at any time make _voluntary_ presentmentsto the archdeacons. Those functionaries, in fact, seem to have heldsittings for the transaction of current business, or of matters whichcould not be terminated at the visitation, every month, or even everythree weeks. Others may have sat (as we should say of a common-lawjudge) in chambers. [5] Before each general visitation an apparitor orsummoner of the court went about and gave warning to the churchwardensof some half-dozen parishes, more or less, to be in attendance withother parish officers on a day fixed in some church centrally locatedin respect of the parishes selected for that day's visitation. 

The church of each parish was, indeed, not only its place for worship, but also the seat and centre for the transaction of all businessconcerning the parish. In it, according to law, the minister had toread aloud from time to time articles of inquiry founded on theQueen's or the diocesan's injunctions, and to admonish wardens andsidemen to present offences under these articles at the nextvisitation. [6] In it also he gave monition for the annual choice ofcollectors for the poor;[7] warning for the yearly perambulation ofthe parish bounds;[8] and public announcement of the six certain dayson which each year every parishioner had to attend in person or sendwain and men for the repair of highways. [9] In the parish church alsoproclamation had to be made of estrays before the beasts could belegally seized and impounded. [10] Here, too, school-masters oftentaught their pupils[11]--unless, indeed, the parish possessed aseparate school-house. Here, in the vestry, the parish armor wasfrequently kept, and sometimes the parish powder barrels weredeposited;[12] here too, occasionally, country parsons stored theirwool or grain. [13]

Finally, in the parish church assembled vestries for the holding ofaccounts, the making of rates and the election of officers. Overseersof the poor held their monthly meetings here. Occasionally theneighboring justices of the peace met here to take the overseers'accounts or to transact other business;[14] and in the church alsomight be held coroners' inquests over dead bodies. [15] Last, but notleast in importance, in the churches of the market towns thearchdeacon made his visitations and held his court; and on theseoccasions the sacred edifice rang with the unseemly squabbles of theproctors, the accusations of the wardens and sidemen or of theapparitor, and the recriminations of the accused--in short, the churchwas turned for the time being into a moral police court, where all theparish scandal was carefully gone over and ventilated. [16]

The ecclesiastical courts carried on their judicial administration ofthe parish largely, of course, through the medium of the officers ofthe parish. These were the churchwardens, the sidemen and theincumbent, whether rector, vicar or curate. [17]

First in importance were the churchwardens. Though legislationthroughout the time of Elizabeth was ever adding to their functionsduties purely civil in their nature, and though they themselves weremore and more subjected to the control of the justices of the peace, nevertheless it is true to say that to the end of the reign the officeof churchwarden is one mainly appertaining to the jurisdiction andsupervision of the courts Christian. 

The doctrine of the courts that churchwardens were merely civilofficers belongs to a later period. [18]

After a churchwarden had been chosen or elected, he took the oath ofoffice before the archdeacon. In this he swore to observe the Queen'sand the bishop's injunctions, and to cause others to observe them; topresent violators of the same to the sworn men (or sidemen), or to theordinary's chancellor or official, or to the Queen's highcommissioners; finally, he swore to yield up a faithful accounting tothe parish of all sums that had passed through his hands during histerm of office. [19]

Before each visitation day, as has been said, the archdeacon's or thebishop's summoner went to each parish and gave warning that a courtwould be held in such and such a church on such and such a day. Pending that day wardens and sidemen drew up their bills ofpresentment. These bills were definite answers to a series of articlesof inquiry founded on the diocesan's injunctions, themselves based onthe Queen's Injunctions of 1559 and on the Canons. [20] Failure topresent offences was promptly punished by the judge. [21] Failure toattend court when duly warned was no less promptly followed byexcommunication, and then it was an expensive matter for the wardensto get out of the official's book again. [22] But of fees and finesmore hereafter. 

Among the churchwardens' principal obligations, as laid down in theinjunctions and articles they were sworn to observe, was the keepingin repair of the church fabric and its appurtenances, as well as theprocuring and the maintaining in good condition of the church"furniture, " a term which in the language of the time included all thenecessaries for worship and the celebration of the sacraments: churchlinen, surplices, the communion cup, the elements themselves, bibles, prayer books, the writings of authorized commentators on theScriptures, or the works of apologists for the Anglican Church; tablesof consanguinity and other official documents enjoined to be kept inevery parish by the diocesan. [23]

The visitation act-books of the period abundantly show the processesemployed by the ecclesiastical authorities in enforcing these andother duties (which will be detailed in their turn), and prove thatthe courts Christian were emphatically administrative as well asjudicial bodies. To show these courts at work it will be necessary togive a number of illustrative examples taken from the visitationentries. Thus the wardens of Childwall, having been presented at thevisitation of the bishop of Chester, 9th October, 1592, because theirchurch "wanteth reparac[i]on, " are excommunicated for not appearing. On a subsequent day John Whittle, who represents the wardens, informsthe court that the repairs have been executed. Thereupon the wardensare absolved and the registrar erases the word "excommunicated" fromthe act-book. [24] At the same visitation the wardens of Aughton arepresented because "there bible is not sufficient, they want the firsttome of the homilies, Mr. Juells Replie and Apologie[25] [etc. ].... "The two wardens are enjoined by the judge to buy a sufficient bibleand to certify to him that they have done so. 

But--so careful is the supervision over parish affairs--merecertification by vicar or wardens that a certain article has beenprocured in obedience to a court order will not always suffice. If thething can be produced in court the judge often orders it to be broughtbefore him for personal inspection. Accordingly, when at thevisitation of the chancellor of the bishop of Durham, the 13th March, 1578/1579, the wardens of Coniscliffe are found to "lacke 2 Salterbookes [and] one booke of the Homelies, " they are admonished tocertify "that they have the books detected 4th April and to bringetheir boks hither. "[26] Thus, too, the wardens of St. Michael's, Bishop Stortford, record in 1585 that they have paid 8d. "when webrought in to the court the byble and comunion booke to shewe beforethe comysary. "[27] There is a curious entry in the same accounts someyears earlier, viz. : "pd for showing [shoeing] of an horse when mrJardfield went to london to se wether it was our byble that was lostor no and for his charges.... "[28]

At the visitation held at Romford Chapel, Essex Archdeaconry, 5thSeptember, 1578, the wardens of Dengie "broughte in theire surplice, which surplice is torne & verie indecent & uncomly, as appereth;whereupon the judge, for that theie neglected their othes, [orderedthem to confess their fault and prepare] a newe surplice of hollandcloth of v s. Thele [the ell], conteyninge viii elles, _citra festumanimarum prox_. " Remembering that money was then worth ten to twelvetimes what it is today, this was probably considered too great aburden by the parishioners of Dengie. A petition must have beenpresented to be allowed to procure a cheaper surplice, for on the 6thOctober following the wardens were permitted to prepare a surplicecontaining six ells only at the reduced price of 2s. 8d. Per ell. [29]

It seems to have been the practice in the Dean of York's Peculiar forthe judge to threaten the churchwardens occasionally with a fine forfailure to repair their church or supply missing requisites forservice by a fixed day. Thus at Dean Matthew Hutton's visitation, July, 1568, the churchyards of Hayton and of Belby were found to beinsufficiently fenced. The order of the court was: "_Habent adreparanda premissa citra festum sancti Michaelis proximum sub pena XXs_. "[30]

So, too, the Thornton wardens at the same visitation are warned torepair the body of their church "betwixt this and Michlmes next uponpaine of X s. "[31] But as spiritual tribunals had no legal power tofine[32] or to imprison, apparently the usual penalty prescribed bythe judges in case of disobedience to, or neglect of, their orders torepair or replace by a certain day, was, in the words of Bishop Barnesaddressed to the churchwardens in Durham diocese, the "paynes ofinterdiction and suspencion [_i. E. _, temporary excommunication] to bepronounced against themselves. "[33] Yet here, too, the wardens did notescape indirect amercement, for absolution from interdiction orexcommunication often meant a payment of various court fees, which inmany cases were by no means light. These fines the wardens put totheir credit in the expense items of their accounts if they couldpossibly do so, and it is probable that the parish always paid themexcept in cases of very gross individual delinquency in office. Thusthe wardens of St. Martin's, Leicester, record: "Payd to Mr. Comyssarye whe[n] we was suspendyd for Lackynge a Byble & to hysoffycers xxiij d. "[34] The wardens of Melton Mowbray register: "Fforour chargs & marsements at Lecest[e]r ... For yt ye Rood loft whas nottakyn down & deafasyed iiij s. Iiij d. "[35]

In the same accounts we find some years later: "Payde to ... At thevicitacion houlden at Melton for dismissinge us oute of there bookesfor not reparinge the churche iij s. Ij d. "[36] So, also, we read inthe St. Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate Accounts: "Paid in D[octor]Stanhope's courte beinge p[re]sented by p[ar]son Bull aboute theglasse windowes xvj d. " And nine years later: "Paid for Mr Gannett andmyselfe ['Humfery Jeames'] for absolution iiij s. Viij d. " Also: "Paidfor our discharge at the courte for [from] our excomm[uni]cacon xvjd. "[37]

The act-books abundantly show that ecclesiastical courts were very farfrom being limited to mere moral suasion or to spiritual censures. They could never have accomplished their work so thoroughly if theyhad been. This point will be brought out much more clearly, it ishoped, when we come to consider excommunication as a weapon ofcoercion. [38] The courts fined parishioners individually[39] and theyfined them collectively. What matters it that these fines were calledcourt fees, absolution fees, commutation of penance, or by any othername? What signifies it that the proceeds could be applied only _inpios usus_? The mulcting was none the less real. On the score ofbringing stubborn or careless wardens to terms through their purses, the following extract from a letter written in 1572 to the official ofthe archdeacon of the bishop of London is in point. The letter informsthe judge that Jasper Anderkyn, a churchwarden, "hathe done nothing ofthat which he was apoinnted by your worshipp at Mydsomer to do, forthe churche yarde lyeth to commons and all other thynkes in thechurche is ondonne.... I praye you dele w[i]t[h] hym so yt he maye bea presydent for them that shall have the offyce; for they wyll butjess att itt, and saye it is butt a mony matter: therefore lett thempaye well for the penaltie whiche was sett on theire heads. "Continuing, the writer states that his reason for writing is "that yoube not abewseid in youre office by there muche intreatyng forthemselffes, for Jesper Anderkyn stands excommunicated. "[40]

Sometimes for failure to perform the ordinary's[41] injunctions awhole parish was excommunicated or a church interdicted. [42] Thus inthe Abbey Parish Church[43] Accounts we read under the year 1592 howtroublesome and how costly it was "when the church was interdicted" toride to Lichfield and there tarry several days seeking absolution. Forthis 20 shillings was paid, a very large sum for the time, not tomention a fee to the summoner, travelling expenses and the writing ofletters on the parish's behalf. [44] The wardens of Stratton, Cornwall, had a similar experience "when the churche wardyns & the holep[ar]ysch was exco[mu]nycatt" in 1565. Among the expense itemsrelating to that occasion is a significant one: "ffor wyne & goodchereffor the buschuppe ys s[er]vantt[s] ij s. Viij d. "[45]

So close is the supervision of the ordinary over the churchwardens, soeffective the discipline of the church courts, that we seem to hearoccasionally a sort of dialogue going on between judges and wardens, the former directing certain things to be executed, the latterreplying and reporting from time to time that progress is being madeon the work to be performed, or that the missing objects will be soonsupplied. Accordingly, at the archdeacon of Canterbury's visitation in1595, we find the wardens of St. John in Thanet (Margate) reporting:"The chancel[46] is out of repairs, for the repairing whereof somethings are provided. "[47] Two years later they state to the court:"For repairing of the churchyard we desire a day. "[48] At the samevisitation the wardens of St. Lawrence in Thanet (Ramsgate) present:"Our Church is repaired, saving that some glass by reason of the lastwind be broken, the which are [sic] shortly to be amended. "[49]

As a final illustration on this score may be adduced the report of theconscientious wardens of Kilham, Yorkshire, who certify to the judgeof that peculiar, August, 1602, "that there churche walles ar in sucherepaire as heretofore they have beyne. But not in suche sufficientrepaire as is required by the Article[50] for that effect ministredvnto us. "[51]

But the upkeep of the church and its requisites[52] was only one ofthe churchwardens' many tasks. They had to look to it that the peopleattended church regularly; that the victuallers and ale-housesreceived no one while service was being held or a sermon was preached;that each person was seated in his or her proper place, that eachconducted himself with decorum and remained throughout the service. Accordingly the act-books tell their interesting story of ministers onbeginning service sending wardens and sidemen abroad to command men tocome to church. The churchwardens and their allies have all sorts ofexperiences: they break in upon "exercises" or conventicles;[53] theypeep in at victuallers' houses or at inns where irate hosts slam doorsin their faces and give them bad words on being caught offending;[54]they come across merrymakers dancing the morris-dance on the villagegreen during Sunday afternoon service, [55] or they surprise men at aquiet game of cards at a neighbor's house during evening prayer. [56]

When admonished by the wardens to enter church, some merely gavecontemptuous replies, such as "what prates thou?";[57] others, whenthe wardens approached, took to their heels and ran away. [58] Onceinside the church the wardens' task was by no means ended. They hadthe care of placing each one in his or her seat according todegree;[59] according to sex;[60] and, in case of women, according asthey were old or young, married or unmarried. [61] Finally, as has beensaid, the wardens were expected to keep watch lest some one slip outbefore the service was over or the sermon ended. [62]

But while they have one eye on the congregation lest they offend, wardens and sidemen must keep another on the minister while serviceproceeds or the sacraments are administered, in order that the ritesbe duly observed and the Rubric followed. The curate of Theydon Gernon(Essex) is presented by wardens and sidemen "_quia non fecit suamdiligentiam in dicendo preces_, viz. The communion and Litany";[63]while the rector of East Hanningfield in the same archdeaconry is notonly complained of to the ordinary for not maintaining the book ofarticles, and not using the cross in baptism, but he is also indictedon the same occasion for not praying for the Queen "accordinge to hirinjunctions, viz. He leaveth out of hir stile the kingdome ofFraunce. "[64] The court's order was that the rector should acknowledgehis error on the following Sunday "_coram gardianis_. " The wardens ofWilton, Yorkshire, report to the commissary of the Dean of York thattheir curate recites divine service "very orderlie, " but not at a fittime, for he holds service at eight in the morning and two in theafternoon. [65] Finally, the rector of Pitsea is complained against tothe archdeacon of Essex for "that he is unsufficient to serve the cureine that theie are not edified by him.... "[66]

If the parson neglected his duties it was incumbent upon the wardensto exhort him to perform them. [67] When at the visitation of thebishop of Chester in 1592 it was found that there was no surplice atBolton Church, Manchester Deanery, not only did the judge admonish oneof the Bolton wardens to buy the surplice, but he was instructed "tooffer hit to thee Vicar at the time of ministering the sacraments, andto certify of his wearing or refusing of hit before the Feast of theNativity of our Lord next. "[68]

By virtue of searching articles of inquiry administered to them, [69]such as, Is your vicar a double-beneficed man, and, if so, is helawfully dispensated? Does he keep hospitality?

If non-resident does he give the fortieth part to the poor? Does yourminister wear a surplice at the appointed times, yea or no? Does heuse the cross in baptism and the ring in marriage?[70] Does yourschoolmaster teach without licence of his ordinary under seal, or no?Do you know any person excommunicate in your parish who repairs tochurch? Do you know anyone ordered by law to do penance, orexcommunicate for not doing the same, who still continuesunreformed?--by virtue of this strict questioning by the ordinary putto them in written articles before each visitation, church wardens, and their coadjutors, the sworn men or sidemen, were compelled toexercise a continual supervision over their minister's conduct as wellas over that of the parishioners generally. This fact, coupled withthe circumstance that they were themselves liable to be reported tothe court and punished if they failed to indict, accounts for thecautious presentments made by these Elizabethan wardens. 

Those of Great Witchingham, Norfolk, for instance, inform thechancellor that their parson "holdeth two benefices, but whetherlawfully dispensated they know not, " and they add that a schoolmasterin their parish "teacheth publicly, but whether licenced or not theyknow not. "[71] The wardens of Ellerburn, Yorkshire, present Jane Grymefor fornication, and add "but whether the curate did churche hir or nothey cannot say. "[72] And the following year they bring to the court'sknowledge "that their vicar ... Is not resident upon his vicaredg, butwhat he bestoweth upon the poore they know not. "[73] Lastly, the veryprudent wardens of Pickering in the same peculiar bring in theirpresentment in this fashion: "_Qui dicunt et presentant_ there vicarfor that he for the moste parte, but not alwaies dothe weare asurplesse in tyme of dyvyne service. They present there vicar for thatthey ar vncerteyne whether his wif[e] was commended vnto him byjustices of peace, nor whether he was licenced to marrye hir accordingto hir Maiestie's iniuncions. "[74] The almost unseemly interest heredisplayed by the wardens in their vicar's matrimonial relations isexplained by the provisions of article xxix of the Queen's Injunctionsof 1559, which ordain that no priest or deacon shall wed any womanwithout the bishop's licence and the advice and allowance of twoneighboring justices of the peace first obtained. 

Other parish obligations enforced by the courts Christian through thechurchwardens were the keeping of annual perambulations (or, as weshould say today, beating the bounds of the parish) by parson, wardensand certain of the substantial men of the parish, in the second weekbefore Whit-Sunday ("Rogation Week");[75] the exhibiting to theofficial of the parish register, or the putting in of copies of itonce a year at Easter;[76] the choosing in conjunction with the parsonof collectors for the poor up to 1597, in most parishes at anyrate;[77] the levying of the 12d. Fine on all those who absentedthemselves from service;[78] the putting down of all "superstitious"rites in the parish, such as the carrying of banners in perambulationweek or the wearing of surplices on such occasions;[79] the ringing ofthe church bells on Hallowe'en, or on the eve of All Souls; excessivetolling of bells at funerals, [80] etc. 

From the point of view of their fellow-parishioners, no doubt, themost important function of the wardens was that of administering theparish finances. This subject will be considered at length in thechapter which follows, but the fact that the spiritual courts enforcedthe levying of rates for church repair, etc. , through the wardens, aswell as an accounting to the parish of all monies received ordisbursed, concerns us here. When the Ealing wardens were "detected"to the chancellor of the bishop of London because they had nopulpit-cloth, no poor-box, nor the Paraphrases of Erasmus, theyappeared and declared in court that they had not provided these things"nor can do it, for that there is no churche stock wherewith to doit. " Hereupon they were admonished that the judge's pleasure was thatthey should procure Mr. Fleetwood and Mr. Knight (evidently twoprominent parishioners) to make an assessment on the parish in orderto purchase these articles, and further that they (the wardens) shouldcertify to the court at a later day fixed that the rate had been laidand the missing requisites bought, unless, indeed, some refused topay, in which case their names should be handed into court. [81] So, again, when rector and wardens of Sutton were presented in the samecourt for letting their church go to ruin, they protested that thereason was that £40 "will skant repayre it, and that so mutch cannotbe levied of all the land in the p[ar]ishe. " But this excuse was notfor a moment admitted, and they were warned to appear in the nextconsistory court to take out a warrant for the assessment of thelands. [82]

Though the wardens did not themselves in practice always make the ratedirected by the archdeacon, yet they were held responsible for itsmaking. So true was this that if, after a duly called parish meetingfor the purpose of laying the rate in obedience to the archdeacon'sorders, no parishioners appear, then, in the words of the archdeacon'sofficial to the wardens of Ramsden Bellhouse (Essex): "if theinhabitants of the said p[ar]ish will not join with the said churchwardens &c. , that then the said churchwardens shall themselves make arate for the leveinge of the said charges [etc. ] ... "[83]

Finally, the archdeacons or their officials always stood ready toenforce an accounting by the outgoing wardens to the parishioners ortheir representatives. If the accounting was delayed too long, or ifthe surplus was not promptly handed over to the incoming (or newlyelected) wardens, then the delinquent officers were cited before thecourt. Numerous instances are found in the court records of theenforcing of this duty. [84]

A permanent parish officer and one over whose appointment theparishioners had usually no control [85] was the parish minister, whether officiating rector, vicar or curate. [86] Elizabethan statutesand canons sought to increase the dignity of the incumbents of cures, [87] but royal greed did yet more to lower it. [88]

The minister was usually addressed by his parishioners as "Sir" John, or "Sir" George, etc. , quite irrespective of his actual rank, [89] andthis in an age of punctilious distinctions in forms of address. In thesmall country parishes the incumbent was often the only, or almost theonly, educated man in the community. His advice had naturallyconsiderable weight in parish affairs, and his pen was often requiredin the drawing up of official or legal documents, certifications ortestimonials, the casting up of parish accounts and the like. [90]

We find in the act-books officiating rectors or vicars presented fornon-residence upon their cures;[91] while rectors and other recipientsof great tithes are "detected" at visitations for not repairing thechancels in their churches; or not maintaining their vicaragebuildings with barns and dove-cotes;[92] or for not providing quartersermons where the clergyman serving the cure was not himself licencedto preach;[93] beneficed men not resident are arraigned for not givingthe fortieth part of their revenue to the parish poor;[94] residentministers indicted for not keeping hospitality, [95] or for notvisiting the sick. [96]

Just as the wardens were to look after the conduct of their minister, so the minister was required to fill the office of a censor upon thebehavior of the wardens and to report to the ordinary theirdelinquencies--as, indeed, the trespasses of any among hiscongregation, though the latter task was more particularly assigned tothe wardens and sidemen. [97] Furthermore the minister was the vehiclethrough which the commands of the authorities, lay or ecclesiastical, were conveyed to the parishioners. He was compelled to read thesecommands or injunctions at stated times and exhort his hearers to obeythem. For failure to comply with this duty, he might be cited beforethe official, [98] and punished by that officer. [99]

The curate of East Hanningfield, Essex, is presented in 1587 for "thathe hathe not geven warninge to the church-wardens to looke to theredutie in service tyme, for such as are absent from service. "[100] Thecurate of Monkton, Kent, is brought before the court in 1569 for thathe "doth not call upon fathers and mothers and masters of youths tobring them up in the fear of God. "[101] When the archdeacon sent downan excommunication against any one of the parish, it was delivered tothe minister to be solemnly proclaimed by him from the pulpit, [102]and thereafter he had to see that the excommunicate person remainedaway from service until absolution was granted[103] by the ordinary, which absolution was then publicly pronounced from the pulpit. [104]When penance had to be done in church by an offender, it was the dutyof the parson to superintend the performance; to say, if necessary, before the congregation the formula of confession prescribed for theoffence, in order that the guilty person might repeat it afterhim;[105] to exhort the persons present to refrain from similartransgressions; to read, on occasion, some homily bearing upon thesubject;[106] and finally to make out a certificate (together with thewardens, if necessary) that the penance had been carried out asenjoined by the judge. 

Besides the celebration of the rites pertaining to his priestlyoffice, which need not detain us here, there were many other dutieswhich the ecclesiastical courts enjoined on the parish incumbent. Someof these have already been referred to. [107] Others will appear as weview the discipline of the courts Christian when exercised over theparishioners at large, to which subject we shall now addressourselves. 

Foremost among the requirements exacted by the ordinaries from allalike was the duty of attending church. Every one had to frequentservice on Sundays and on feast-days, and to be present at evening aswell as at morning prayer. [108] Nor might a man repair to a church inanother parish because it was nearer than his own. [109] Should his ownminister be unlicenced to preach--and only about one incumbent out offour or five was licenced[110]--he was not permitted, except underspecial authorization, [111] to hear a sermon in another church whileservice was going on in his own. [112] If, however, a man were able topay the statutory[113] fine of 12d. For each absence on holy days hecould, it would seem, in practice resort to his parish church only onoccasions, say once a month, and yet not get himself written down as arecusant. [114]

Heads of families were made responsible for the attendance of theirchildren and servants; innkeepers or victuallers for theirguests. [115]

If it was not permissible to frequent service in another place ofworship, neither was it optional with a parishioner to get marriedelsewhere than in his own church. [116] There, too, his marriage bannshad to be published--and it was a presentable offence to marry withoutbanns;[117] there he had to have his children christened[118] and hiswife churched;[119] there he was compelled to send sons, daughters orapprentices to be catechized, [120] and there himself learn theprinciples of religion (if he were ignorant of them), for without aknowledge of the Catechism and the Ten Commandments he could notreceive communion. [121]

All persons over fourteen had to receive communion at Easter, and atleast on two other occasions during the year. [122] In fact readinessto receive according to the Anglican rites became the test of a loyalsubject. [123]

The strict requirement to report all non-communicants to the officialresulted in the keeping of books in which were written the names ofthe parish communicants. [124]

Next in importance to church attendance and the observance of thesacraments came the duty of all parishioners to contribute to theparish expenses. We have viewed church courts at work, compellingwardens to levy church rates; we have now to see how the judges forcedrecalcitrant ratepayers to pay the sums assessed upon them to thewardens or other collectors. 

Among the earliest vestry minutes of the parish of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, London, is one which, after ordering that anassessment be made for the clerk's wages and for pews, decreed thatany rebellious persons should be summoned before themselves, thevestry, to be reformed. But if the rebel would not appear, or, onappearance, remain stubborn to reason, then the churchwardens shouldsue him before the ordinary at the parish costs "vntill suche tyme ashe be reduced vnto a good order, and hath paid bothe the costys of thesute and the chargs that he owith vnto the church.... "[125] Fiftyyears later we find this vestry ordaining the same procedure to befollowed against parish debtors, and referring to its formerorder. [126]

It seems, in fact, to have been the well-understood thing that just asparish rates to defray the costs of those matters of parishadministration, falling within the province of the ecclesiasticalcourts, were to be assessed by the authority, and under the direction, of those courts, so, too, the recovery of these rates was to be hadbefore the same tribunals. It is not denied that recourse mayoccasionally have been made in these matters to the courts of commonlaw, but it is believed that the proper remedy was at ecclesiasticallaw. [127] Furthermore, we believe that the means at the disposal ofthe ecclesiastical courts for putting their judgments into effect werequite sufficient and in practice effective. 

What these means were will be taken up and discussed a little furtheron. Returning to the matter of suing parish debtors in courtsChristian, it is interesting to find that in the language of theperiod a suit "at law" did not always mean at common law. An order ofthe vestry of Stepney, London, in February, 1605-6, after determiningthe manner in which £50 should be raised to pay off parish debts dueto the bell founder, adds that persons refusing to pay their shares, or neglecting to do so, should not find themselves aggrieved "if thesame be recouered against them by Lawe. " And the meaning of this termis fully explained by these subsequent words in the same order, thatthe churchwardens shall "at the chardg of the p[ar]ish appointe andentertayne one doctor and a proctor to sue and recouer the same bylawe of any p[er]son [etc. ]. "[128] Now doctors and proctors practicedbefore ecclesiastical tribunals only. [129]

That presentment to the ordinary was the common and usual way, notonly of recovering church rates, but any thing of value that belongedto the parish and was unjustly detained, the act-books and otherdocuments of the time plentifully show. Thus in Archbishop Parker'sVisitation Articles for the diocese of Canterbury in the year 1569, herequires all churchwardens to report to their ordinaries "whetherthere be any money or stoke, appertaininge to any paryshe churche, inanye manne's handes, that refuse or differeth to paye the same[etc. ]. "[130] The wardens of Melton Mowbray record under the year 1602an item for charges at the court at Leicester against a parishioner"for not payinge his levi for the churche. "[131] Those of Ashburton, Devon, itemize in 1568-1569 two shillings "for a zytation to thosethat wold nott pay to the power. "[132] As the wardens of East Tilburywere going about among the parishioners demanding money of each oneaccording to the rating inscribed on an assessment roll which theycarried with them, one Garrett, a constable, discontented that hehimself should be rated as high as four shillings, seized the roll andrefused to produce it. This, of course, put an end to furthercollections. For this he was presented by the vicar before theconsistory court at Stratford Bow Chapel. Here he alleged that therating "was very unequally made. " But the judge warned Garrett toappear in court the following Tuesday to answer for his contempt. Further he was to pay his four shillings to the wardens and bring tothe judge the wardens' certificate that he had done so. On the dayappointed Garrett was present in court with the vicar and wardens. Thedecree of the court is headed: "_Negotiu[m] reparac[i]o[n]iseccl[esi]e de_ East Tilburie, " and is so characteristic of thethoroughgoing and searching manner in which ordinaries supervised theadministration of parish affairs that we cannot forbear to quote alarge part of it in full. "Touchinge the same Wm Garrett, " theregistrar inscribes in the act-book, "the churchwardens do heretestifie that he hathe payd his iiij s. W[hi]ch he was rated at... &they saye they have receyved it. Towching the churchwardens & therepayre [of] the church, " the scribe continues, "the Judge doth orderthat the minister, Mr Howdsworth, [and seven others named, includingwardens, sidemen and constables]... P[ro]cure workmen of all trad[es], & then sett downe under their hand in writing what chardg it will beto repayer the church sufficiently in all thing[s] wharein it isdecayd, as namely, tyling, paving, masonns worke, carpenters worke &glasing... And when they have under the workmens hand founde what willrepayer the churche in every p[ar]ticuler, then shall they all nyneassemple themselves in the church [on a day named]... And make a rateto that proportion w[hi]ch shall remayne above the rate alreadyallowed of... And they shall certify in Stratford bowe Chappell botheof the vew making by the workmen, of the gathering of the rate alreadymade, of their making a new rate... And of the gathering thereof; andlikewise how farr they have p[ro]ceeded in the repayer of the churchthe ixth of Aprill next: and for the punish[men]t of him, the said WmGarrett, for his contemptuous taking away of the rate, as iscomplayned of, it is respited untill this p[resent] order bep[er]formed; & he is now monished to appeare in the Consistorie thefirst court day [etc].... "[133] So, too, when Richard Fynsett ofClayton, Sussex, was "detected" to the official for not paying hisrate for church repairs, November, 1595, he appeared and claimed thatnot only was his rating excessive, but that the assessment had notbeen according to custom, to wit, made by the majority of theparishioners. He was summoned by the judge to prove his allegation atthe next court day, and to pay his court and other fees. He wasprobably unable to prove his point, for under the 9th Decemberfollowing the record simply states "_Comparuit et solvit feodadebita_. "[134]

The wardens of Swalecliffe, Kent, complain to the archdeacon ofCanterbury in 1565 that their church is near utter decay, but theparish is so poor that they cannot repair it unless an assessment bemade on the lands within the parish, for the making of whichassessment they ask for an authorization. [135] Two years later theyappear and say in court that their church still lacks windows, "andthe parish is not able to mend the same, without it may please youthat the rest of the cess that was made may be levied, which we cannotget unless we have your aid. "[136]

In the same way the wardens of St. Alban's "implored the aid of thejudge, " because they wished divers persons who refused to pay theirrates "co[m]pelled therunto by aucthoritye of this court, " otherwisethe unpaid workmen on their ruinous church would leave, and thehalf-finished structure sustain damage by winter weather. [137] Theact-books teem with such presentments as the following: one Holawayrefuses to give to the poor-box, "and is found able by theparish. "[138] Thomas Arter will give but a half-penny to the poor. Arter appears and "saithe that he is not of the wealthe that mentakithe him to be. " The judge commands him to pay a half-penny everyweek, and dismisses him. [139] "John Wilson haithe not paide his clerkewages by the report of the clerke. "[140] "Here follow the names ofsuch, as being able, refuse notwithstanding to pay to the poor man'sbox [eight names follow]";[141] or "The presentment made by thechurchwardens and sidemen... Of all such as are behind for a cess madefor the Church and refuse to pay [five names]. "[142] John Baldwinpresented for that "the fame and report goeth" that he keeps back £10, a legacy given seven years previously for church repairs and thepoor-box, "and the Church and the poor have wanted the same, having nobenefit thereof, as we know. "[143] One Consant received a cowbelonging to the parish "and hath not made an account to the parishfor her. "[144] Jeremy Robson is cited "for detaining our Clerk's wagesfrom the land which he occupieth in our parish after 6 s. 8 d. For aplough land of 140 acres. "[145] Two lessees of the parish arepresented "for withholding the farm of two acres and a half of churchland one year and a half unpaid. "[146] John Smithe presented forfelling and selling a great oak which stood upon church land, "whereasnow we stand in lack of the same to repair our Church. "[147] Aparishioner is cited before the ordinary because he withholds churchgoods and refuses both to enter into bond for them and to make anaccounting. [148] So men are presented for not paying the parish feesdue for the burial of members of their family, or for the ringing ofknells;[149] for suffering a church tenement or a part of the churchfence, which they are bound to repair, to fall into decay, [150] and soforth. In short, any one at all, whether in the capacity of parishofficer; rate payer; trustee; administrator or executor; lessee of theparish cattle or its lands or tenements--any one, in fact, standing inthe relation of debtor to the parish in a matter falling within thejurisdiction of the spiritual courts, could be, and was, compelled bythese to pay or to account to the parishioners. 

Not only did the Church regulate many acts of a parishioner's life, and preside over his moral conduct, making him pay in great measurethe costs of this disciplinary administration, but it also wasentrusted with his education, through which it sought to control hisideas and convictions, and to direct and form public opinion. Theeducation and training of a nation depend, of course, in greatestmeasure on its primary schools and its press. As for its universities, these are but the apex on the educational pyramid, for a very selectfew only. Now the primary schools were represented in the timeswhereof we write by the parish schoolmaster, the familiar"_ludimagister_" of the canons and act-books, and by the incumbenthimself. For the people at large the press was represented almostentirely by the licenced preacher, and, in the larger towns, thelicenced lecturer. 

The Canons of 1571 ordain that no one shall teach the humanities norinstruct boys, whether in school or in private families, [151] unlessthe diocesan licence him under his seal. Nor are schoolmasters to useother grammars or catechisms than those officially prescribed. Everyyear schoolmasters are to commend to the bishop of the diocese thebest read among their pupils, and those that by their achievementsgive promise that they may usefully serve the State or the Church, sothat their parents may be induced to educate them further to thatend. [152] Bishop Barnes in his Injunctions of 1577 commands that allincumbents of cures in Durham diocese not licenced to preach shall"duly, paynefully and frely" teach the children of their severalparishes to read and write. Furthermore, teachers shall exhort theparents of those boys who have proved themselves apt at learning andof "pregnant capacitie" to cause their sons to continue their studiesand to acquire the good and liberal sciences. On the other hand theyshall induce fathers of sons of little wit or capacity to put them tohusbandry, or some other suitable craft, that they may grow to beuseful members of the commonwealth. [153] In this diocese we findschoolmasters by profession ("_ludimagistri_") summoned at thevisitations very regularly, and there seem to have been a considerablenumber of them in the towns, though not in the country parishes, wherethe curates doubtless officiated as instructors of the youth accordingto the bishop's monitions. [154] Everywhere in the proceedings of theecclesiastical courts schoolmasters are "detected" to the judges fromtime to time for having no licence to teach. [155]

As for the pulpit, that great instrument of political guidance at aperiod when politics consisted chiefly of religious contentions, [156]it is well known that Elizabeth and her advisors grasped at once itsparamount importance, and that she had been on the throne but littleover a month when she issued her proclamation inhibiting all preachingand teaching for the time being. This command was followed by herInjunctions of the next year, forbidding any to preach unless licencedby herself, her two archbishops, the diocesan, or her visitors. [157]As is well known also, no command was more universally enforced. It isconstantly mentioned in the metropolitan or diocesan injunctions orarticles of the period, [158] and the proceedings before the ordinariesbear witness to its enforcement. [159]

Parish opinion was further sought to be moulded by the reading inchurch of various tracts, homilies, monitions, forms of specialprayers, etc. , etc. , which the wardens were ordered to procure fromtime to time, and which are very often met with in their accounts. These official mediums of information or edification conveyed to thegood people of the parishes some knowledge of the events and politicsof the realm and of the world beyond it. Thus they heard of theoverthrow of the rebels in the North of England (1569), the ravages ofthe great earthquake of 1579; the progress of the plague; or, again, of the struggle of the French Protestants led by Henry of Navarre, thedefeat of the Turks at Lepanto, and so forth. [160]

As food for the more advanced minds of the congregations, ordinariessaw to it that volumes dealing with the interpretation of theScriptures, the polity of Church and State, and the defence of thatpolity were provided for every parish church. Such works were Erasmus'Paraphrases, Bullinger's Decades, Bishop Jewel's works, and otherwritings of an apologetic nature. To a certain extent news was alsospread, and grievances were aired, in unofficial broadsides orballads. These treated of such subjects as the untimely end oftraitors great or small; the adventures of her Majesty's soldiers andsailors; the rapacity of landlords and the evils of the enclosuremovement. [161]

But these publications and all other printed matter were subject tothe strict censorship of Church and State. Extremely few presses werepermitted in England, and these few under the jealous supervision ofthe high ecclesiastical authorities, as is evidenced by the numerousorders or decrees issued by them to the Master and Wardens of theLondon Stationers Company, which, with a very few special patentees, enjoyed the monopoly of printing. [162]

Having now reviewed the chief administrative functions of thespiritual courts and their mode of exercise, the question presentsitself, What were the means at the disposal of the ordinaries forenforcing their decrees? The principal one of these has already beenmentioned incidentally, viz. , excommunication. Excommunication was themost usual, as it was by far the most effective, weapon for compellingobedience to the mandate of the judge in any matter whatever. Indeedwithout this instrument of coercion the ecclesiastical judges wouldhave been impotent. 

Excommunication was of two kinds, the lesser and the greater. Theformer was in constant use (to employ the words of a contemporarydocument) "for manifest and wilful contumacy or disobedience in notappearing when ... Summoned for a cause ecclesiastical, or when anysentence or decree of the bishop or his officer, being deliberatelymade, was wilfully disobeyed.... "[163] Even under the lesserexcommunication a man could not attend service, and he was deprived ofthe use of the sacraments. [164] If an excommunicate sought to enterchurch with the congregation, either he had to be forcibly expelled orthe service could not proceed. [165] If he continued in his contempt ofcourt he made himself liable to the greater excommunication, [166] andthen he was virtually an outcast from the society of his fellowparishioners. [167] That excommunication was feared by the greatmajority of parish folk there is no reason to doubt. Certainly thegreater excommunication might seriously injure a man in his businessas well as his social interests, not to mention the trouble andexpense of getting an absolution. [168] That excommunication reducedmost offenders to order the church court proceedings demonstrate. If, however, a man were obdurate and hardened he was turned over to theQueen's High Commissioners, and these, while making the fullest use ofecclesiastical procedure and the oath _ex officio_, [169] also freelyemployed the penalties of the temporal courts, viz. , fines andimprisonments. As no ecclesiastical offence was too small for theCommissioners to deal with, and as their jurisdiction was not limited(like that of the ordinaries) to a district or a diocese, courts ofHigh Commission may be called universal ordinaries. [170] Finally, if aperson stood excommunicate over forty days, an ecclesiastical judge, on application to the diocesan, might procure against him out ofChancery the writ _De excommunicato capiendo_. This writ was probablynot very often resorted to in practice, partly because of the greatexpense involved, and partly perhaps, too, because of the slackexecution of the writ by certain undersheriffs or bailiffs, encouragedas they were by the rather hostile attitude sometimes assumed againstthe courts Christian by the Queen's temporal judges. [171] The writwas, however, certainly no dead letter, and served also _in terrorem_to reduce stubborn offenders. [172] Indeed Archbishop Bancroft in 1605called it "the chiefest temporal strength of ecclesiasticaljurisdiction. "[173]

In view of the fact that "standing excommunicate" was in itself apresentable offence before the ordinary, and an offence oftenpresented, [174] and in view of the further fact that the excommunicatemight, according to a contemporary who writes with authority, "bepunished for absence from diuine praier, neither shall hisexcommunication excuse him, for it is in his owne default, "[175] it isqueried whether such an involuntary absentee from church did not makehimself just as liable to presentment at quarter sessions forrecusancy[176] as any voluntary recusant. Perhaps it is for thisreason that grand juries are sometimes complained of fordiscriminating among the names sent in to them on the bishops'certificates for indictment at quarter sessions, and for certifyingsome and throwing out others "at their pleasure. "[177]

But be this as it may--and it is conjecture unsupported by positiveproof--enough has been said, it is hoped, to show that ordinaries werequite capable of making their decrees obeyed, and that excommunication(contrary to the commonly received opinion) was a most effective meansof coercion. Many, indeed, were its uses. It might (or its equivalentinterdiction or suspension[178]), as has been seen, [179] be used tocompel a parish officer to perform the duties of his office. It mightalso be employed, when persuasion failed, to induce a parishioner toaccept office when chosen by his fellows. [180] But, it would seem, onesingle definition would comprise all cases: excommunication wasemployed against all those who disobeyed some order of the spiritualjudge, express or implied--it was a summary process for contempt ofcourt, in fact, and was daily used as such. 

To recapitulate: a very large part of the parishioner's life andactivity fell under the surveillance and regulation of theecclesiastical courts. They compelled him to attend on specified dayshis parish church, and no other; to be married there; to have hischildren baptized and his wife churched there; to receive a certainnumber of times communion there; to contribute to the maintenance ofchurch and churchyard, as well as to the finding of the requisites forservice or the church ornaments or utensils. In his parish church heand his children were catechized and instructed, and, if the latterwere taught in a neighboring school-house, it was under the strictsupervision of the ordinary and by his or the bishop's licence andallowance. So true was this that the schoolmaster was, like theparson, a church officer. For the parishioner his church was the placeof business where all local affairs, civil or ecclesiastical, weretransacted, as well as the centre of social life in the village. Herethe mandates of the authorities in Church and State were read to him;here he was admonished of his duty to contribute to, or to perform, the burdens of parish administration and warned of the penalties forneglect; here he met with his fellows to settle parish affairs andaudit parish accounts, or to choose parish officers under the auspicesof the ordinary, being himself compelled, if necessary, by thatofficial to serve when his own turn for office came round. Aschurchwarden it was his duty to collect the rents from parish landsand tenements, and to see that parish offerings were gathered and theparish rates assessed and paid, or recovered by means of theecclesiastical courts. If the church was ruinous; if bread and winewere lacking for the communion; if any of the books, furniture, utensils or ornaments enjoined by the diocesan's articles or by thecanons were missing; if the curate did not follow the Rubric, orretained "superstitious" rites; if the yearly perambulation wasomitted; if faults of the minister or of the parishioners were notpresented: he and his fellow-warden were held responsible by theofficial. 

The machinery which the canon and the civil law placed at the disposalof the ordinary for his judicial administration of the parish wasextraordinarily flexible. Courts Christian were unencumbered by theformalities of the common law or by the coöperation of juries. Theycould proceed _ex officio, i. E_. , without formal presentment and uponhearsay only, and they were armed with the formidable power ofadministering the oath _ex officio_ by which a parishioner was forcedto disclose all he knew against himself. They could in all casescommand the _doing_, as well as the _giving_[181] of a thing--powersfar more extensive than those possessed by any court of equity oftoday. Lastly, it was their custom to require that a return be made incourt, or in other words, a certification, that their commands hadbeen duly performed--thus stamping them as true administrative bodies. It was inevitable from the nature of their jurisdiction and procedurethat abuses should be committed both by ecclesiastical judges and bytheir officers, such as registrars, proctors and apparitors. Thesejudges wielded an admirable instrument of administration anddiscipline, one that could be bent to meet any emergency, but thisefficiency had been attained at the sacrifice of some indispensablesafeguards for the carrying out of impartial justice. First, noparishioner's acts, whether done in an official or a private capacity, were ever quite safe from misrepresentation, or downrightfalsification by his enemies, for secret denunciation to wardens orsidemen (or to the ordinary himself) by any one[182] might start aproceeding against the person denounced and force him upon oath todisclose the most private, the most confidential, matters. Again, proctors, apparitors, registrars, and other scribes whose feesdepended on citations and the drawing up of court proceedings, documents, or certificates, had every interest in haling personsbefore the official, because court fees had to be paid whether a manwere found innocent or guilty. [183] Hence the system tended to createspies, of whom the chief were the apparitors, or summoners, and theirunderlings. There is a very interesting contemporary ballad entitled_"A new Ballad of the Parrator and the Divell_, " attributed by itsmodern editor to not later than 1616, which throws much light on theproceedings of certain unscrupulous apparitors, and reflects also thestrong dislike entertained for the whole tribe of apparitors by peopleof the time. [184] The devil going a hunting one Sunday and beating thebushes, up starts a proud apparitor. During several stanzas theapparitor narrates to the devil, as one consummately wicked man toanother, all the tricks of his trade to drum up cases for himself andhis court. He spies on lovers as they pass unsuspecting; he haunts theale-houses and overhears men's tales over their cups; if business bedull he even devises scandal among neighbors, and sets them at enmity. Thus he concocts his accusations of immorality, or drunkenness, orprofanity, or uncharity towards neighbors, and writes them busily downin his _quorum nomina_, or formulas of citations to appear before theofficial's court. "My _corum nomine_ beares such swaye, " he boasts, "They'le sell their clothes my fees to pay. " But, remarks the devilafter listening to all this, surely the innocent pay no court fees, "But answere and discharged bee. " "My _corum nomine_ sayth not so, "rejoins the apparitor, "For all pay fees before they goe. --Thelawier's fees must needs be payd, --And every clarke in his degree--Orels the lawe cannot be stayd--But excommunicate must they bee. " Thedevil, amazed and disgusted at laws which "excell the paines of hell, "turns to go, whereupon the apparitor seeks to arrest and fine him fortraveling on the Sabbath. Exclaiming "Thou art no constable!" thedevil pounces upon the unworthy officer and carries him off tohell. [185] Thirdly, even when at their best and conducted by uprightjudges and officers, the modes of proof in force in the courtsChristian were sometimes utterly inadequate as means for getting atthe truth. The inquest, or trial by jury, had never been introducedinto these courts, where the archaic system of compurgation[186] stilllingered. 

If a man for want of friends, or for want of good reputation, wereunable to procure compurgators to attend him at visitations or courts, held sometimes twenty miles and more away, [187] he might be condemnedas guilty of specific acts which he had never committed. [188] He mighteven fail in his proof because he was poor. When the judge arraignedLewis Billings of Barking, Essex archdeaconry, for "that he hathfailed in his purgacion, " Billings pleaded "that he is a very pooreman and not able to procure his neighbours to come to the cort, andbeare their charges. "[189] But, as is well known, contemporariesattacked not only the inferior officers, but the judges themselves. Complaints of great abuses were loud and long, [190] and when theecclesiastical courts were abolished by the Long Parliament in1641, [191] the satirical literature of the day celebrated theirdownfall with a verve, a gusto, and an exultation amazing to one notfamiliar with the procedure of these courts. [192]

As was mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the secular judgeswere given statutory authority to take cognizance of breaches of theorder prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer, of the offence of notattending church, and other delinquencies against the legal settlementof religion. Hence in these matters they exercised what might becalled a sort of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in aid of the ordinaryand concurrently with him, though their mode of procedure, of course, was that of the common law, possessing nothing in common with thepractice adopted in courts Christian. Men who were "hinderers" and"contemners" of religion; who refrained from going to church withoutlawful cause; who had mass-books or super-altars[193] in theirpossession;[194] who spoke in contempt of the Book of Common Prayerand its rites;[195] who caused their children to be baptized withforms other than those prescribed;[196] ministers who omitted thecross in baptism;[197] who left off the surplice;[198] who refused tochurch women;[199] who called purification "a Jewish ceremony, " or whoin their sermons preached seditious doctrine[200]--all these and otherlike offenders were indicted at quarter sessions or at the assizes. 

CHAPTER II. 

PARISH FINANCE. 

Speaking generally of the average parish, Elizabethan churchwardensaccounts and vestry minutes show that for the purposes of raisingmoney amongst themselves to meet every-day parish expenditures, [201]the parishioners of the period did not commonly resort to rates, if by"rate" be understood a general assessment of all lands or all goodsalike at a fixed percentage of their revenue or value above a minimumexempted. 

It must not be supposed, however, that in the case of offerings orgatherings, or of levies to raise a certain sum where each manassessed himself, it was entirely optional for each to give or torefuse. What a man customarily gave, or what he had promised to give, or, again, what the parish thought he ought to give, that the ordinarymight compel him to give. [202] From an offering or a voluntaryassessment to a rate is often but a short step, and the two formershade off into the latter almost imperceptibly. The justices of thepeace and the ecclesiastical authorities usually cast lump sums uponthe parishes, leaving ways and means to the parishioners themselves. But it was, of course, optional with the justices to rate eachindividual separately when it seemed good to them, and for this theyhad the Queen's subsidy books to guide them. Here, however, we arechiefly concerned with the raising of money amongst the parishionersthemselves. How manifold, how ingenious were the parochial devices forcreating resources, it is the purpose of this chapter to set forth. 

But before proceeding to the parish expedients, properly so called, for raising money, it will be well to say something of parishendowments, whether in lands, houses or funds. According as therevenue from these was available for general, or at least for variouspurposes, or, on the other hand, was impressed with a trust for somespecific object, these endowments may be divided into general andspecial. Parishes well endowed might be able to dispense with some ofthe devices for money-getting which we shall have occasion toenumerate, but then, after all, endowments might come and they mightgo;[203] moreover, the financial policy of any one parish would, ofcourse, differ according to the disposition or the ability of thosewho shaped it. 

Of Loddon, Norfolk, we are told that "no complaint appears aboutChurch Rates, for there were none, as the revenue of the Town Farm ... Rendered a tax of that description unnecessary. "[204]

Of St. Petrock's, Exeter, we are informed that "the parish became sowell endowed by donations of land and houses as to enable the wardensto dispense almost entirely with the quarterly collections entered inthe earlier accounts. "[205] The editor of the Thatcham, Berks, Accounts, writes: "In the early years of these churchwardens accountsthe available funds were derived chiefly from the two oldestcharities, one called 'Lowndye's Almshouses, ' the first account ofwhich is for the year ... 1561 ... To 1562; the other known as 'theChurch Estate, ' the first account of which begins in 1566. "[206]Summoned by the Bodmin, Cornwall, justices in January, 159-4/5, tomake a report as to the parish stock, the representatives of Strattoncertify at sessions that their stock "am[oun]ts to the now some ofSixteene poundes, some yeares it is more & some yeares lesse.... " And, they continue, "the vsinge of our sayde stocke is by the two wardens &the rest of the eight men w[hi]ch for the same stande sworne, And itis bestowed aboute her ma[jes]ties service, for buyenge of armor, settinge forth of souldiers w[i]th powder & shott.... And likewise forthe relievinge & mainetayning of the poore.... " They thereupon givethe names of the impotent and decrepit persons and orphan children"wholly relieved" by the parish, ten in number, and add that there areupwards of a hundred poor "w[h]ich are not able to liue of themselues, but haue reliefe dayly one thinge or another of the seidep[ar]ish. "[207] The little parish of St. Michael's in Bedwardine, Worcestershire, [208] possessed lands and tenements in variousparishes, and in 1599 invested £10 in buying two more tenements inWorcester city. [209] Its wardens accounts, we are told by theireditor, disclose that there was never any lack of money for parishpurposes "in spite of a rather lavish expenditure at times in theluxury of law[suits]. "[210] Lapworth, Warwickshire, had many acres ofparish land. [211] The churchwardens of St. John's, Glastonbury, Somerset, return in their accounts the rent of the parish lands in1588 at £9 13s. 10d. , [212] and, as these accounts show, theyoccasionally received important sums for fines on changes of tenants. The various properties managed by the wardens of St. Michael's, Bath, numbered thirty-seven in 1527, yielding a revenue of £11 8s. ;[213] andeven in 1572 the rent amounted to £11 8s. [214]

Indeed, though parish lands and houses were generally vested as totitle in trustees (often a numerous and cumbersome body), [215] thechurchwardens themselves and sometimes other accountants, [216] wholike the wardens were appointed from year to year, usually exercisedthe actual management. The feoffees existed chiefly for the purpose ofmaking it difficult to alienate the parish properties, "and the largerthe trust body the more difficult such alienation was supposed tobe. "[217]

Contenting ourselves with the above examples, which could easily bemultiplied, we pass on under this same head of general endowments toan interesting form of personal property, viz. , cattle, for not onlydid the wardens derive receipts from parish holdings of real estate, but also from _Endowments of Cows or Sheep_. The Pittington, Durham, Twelve Men, a sort of parish executive and administrative body, enactin 1584 "that everie iiij pounde rent[218] within this parrishe, aswell of hamlets as townshippes, shall gras[219] winter and somer oneshepe for the behoufe of this church;"[220] and we are told that these"Church Shepe, " as they were called, were here one of the chief meansof raising funds for parochial purposes. [221] It was the custom ofpious donors, especially among the lowly, to leave one or more sheepor cows to their parish. In the year 1559 twelve sheep were thus givenor bequeathed to Wootton Church, Hants, by ten donors. [222] Thesesheep, as well as the parish cows, were often hired out toparishioners, who gave security for their return. Sometimes they weregiven to poor men at a reduced rent, and thus they served to supportthe poor. [223]

That the keeping of cattle was a well-recognized source of parishincome is seen by the Queen's Injunctions of 1559 in which she alludesto "the profit of cattle" among other sources of parish revenue to bedevoted to the poor, "and if they be provided for, then to thereparation of highways next adjoining, " or to the repair of thechurch. [224]

Leaving the topic of general endowments to take up those sources ofrevenue destined to defray particular forms of expenditure, we findthat _Permanent Parish Endowments_ in lands, goods or money devoted tothe defraying of _Specific Parish Administrative Burdens_ or_Utilities_ were very numerous in the local documents of the 16thcentury. Sometimes a land or fund was set apart by the donor, or bythe parish itself, for the support of a parish servant orofficer;[225] sometimes its revenue maintained this or that cripple orblind man, [226] or a number of them; sometimes it was used for feedingthe poor, [227] or for buying wearing apparel for them;[228] forsetting them at work in houses of correction, [229] or for parisheducation. [230]

In particular, lands or funds were frequently set apart as special andpermanent endowments for the repair of bridges. [231] In fact, theproceeds of parish lands or other endowments might be appropriated toalleviate any tax burden whatsoever. In 1549 it was stated by thewardens of North Elmham, Norfolk, that the net proceeds of the fiveand thirty or forty acres which they rented out were devotedexclusively towards the paying of the fifteenths due from time to timeto the king and his successors. [232]

To illustrate the variety of purposes for which parish trusts werecreated, I cannot do better than quote part of the preamble of the 43Eliz. C. 4, known as the Statute of Charitable Uses: "Whereas Landes, Tenements, Rentes ... Money and Stockes of Money, " it is thererehearsed, "have bene heretofore given, limitted ... And assigned ... Some for Releife of aged, impotent and poore people, some forMaintenaunce of sicke and maymed Souldiers and Marriners, Schooles ofLearninge ... Some for Repaire of Bridges, Fortes, Havens, Causwaies, Churches, Sea-bankes and Highewaies, some for Educac[i]on andp[re]fermente of Orphans, some for or towardes Reliefe, Stocke orMaintenaunce for Howses of Correcc[i]on, some for Mariages of pooreMaides, some for Supportac[i]on, Ayde and Helpe of younge Tradesmen, Handiecraftesmen and p[er]sons decayed, and others ... For aide orease of any poore Inhabitants conc[er]ninge paymente of Fifteenes, settinge out of Souldiers and other Taxes [etc. ].... "[233]

As for money and goods left by testators or given _inter vivos_ for_Temporary Expenses_ or _Special Occasions_ (as opposed to thecreation of permanent trusts and endowments), we find a constantstream of such benefactions throughout the Elizabethan period. 

By the Queen's Injunctions of 1559 parsons are diligently to exhorttheir parishioners, "and especially when men make their testaments, "to give to the poor-box, the surplus of which, after provision for theneedy, might be devoted to church and highway repair. [234]

Bequests made to the highways or bridges were considered as donated_in pios usus_. "I thinke, " wrote a prebendary of Durham Cathedral in1599, "it also a deade of charitie and a comendable worke before Godto repaire the high-wayes, that the people may travaille saifelywithout daunger. I therefore will to the mending of the highwayes[etc. ].... "[235]

Noblemen and wealthy men were expected to help maintain the local poorin particular. Elizabethan ballads celebrate the liberalityto the destitute of an Earl of Huntingdon, [236] of an Earl ofSouthampton, [237] or of an Earl of Bedford. [238] At the funeral ofGeorge, Earl of Shrewsbury, in 1591, eight thousand got the doleserved to them, and it was thought that at least twice that numberwere in waiting, but could not approach because of the tumult. [239]The churchwardens and overseers of the poor accounts, especially inLondon and the larger cities, abound with receipt items of gifts fromgreat personages or wealthy merchants. [240]

Owing to the difficulty of investing money because present-dayintermediaries were absent between capital seeking employment andwould-be borrowers; and because the medieval stigma attaching to moneyloaned at interest had by no means wholly disappeared, [241] there grewup in Elizabethan parishes a system of laying out money, raised by theparish or donated by benefactors, in various trades, such aswool-spinning, linen-weaving, the buying of wood or coal to sell againat a profit, [242] etc. Sometimes well-to-do parishioners with goodcredit would themselves borrow parish money, returning ten per cent. For its use. [243] Usually, however, parish money was loaned gratis, the parish taking sureties for its repayment and sometimes articles ofvalue, being, apparently, not always above doing a little pawnbrokingbusiness. [244] On the other hand, when the parish itself had occasionto borrow money it would occasionally give its own valuables assecurity. Thus the Mere, Wiltshire, wardens record in 1556 that theyhave redeemed on the repayment of 40s. To one Cowherd, "borowed of hymto thuse of the Churche, " "certeyn sylver Spones of the Churchestocke. "[245] Finally, parishes would now and then make some cautiousspeculation in real estate, such as the buying of a local market orfair with a view to profit. [246]

Leaving the subject of endowments we shall now take up in order themeasures which may be called _Parish Expedients for raising money_. 

Of all means ever devised for obtaining large sums of money for parishuses, the most popular, as certainly the most efficacious, was the_Church-ale_. Widespread during the first years of Elizabeth's reign, church-ales, for reasons hereafter to be mentioned, ceased to be heldin many parishes towards the end of the reign. They constitute, nevertheless, at all times during the 16th century an importantchapter in the history of parochial finance. In some wardens' accountsthe proceeds of these ales form a yearly recurring and an ordinaryreceipt item; in others ales were resorted to when some unusuallylarge sum had to be raised, or some heavy expense was to be met, suchas the rebuilding of the church tower, the recasting of the bells, theraising of a stock to set the poor to work, or the buying of a silvercommunion cup. [247] Frequently, also, funds were raised by means ofales called clerk-ales, sexton-ales, etc. , to pay the wages of clerks, sextons and other servants of the parish. "For in poore CountreyParishes, " writes an early 17th century bishop, "where the wages ofthe Clerke is very small, the people ... Were wont to send him inProvision, and then feast with him, and give him more liberality thentheir quarterly payments [or offerings] would amount unto in manyyears. " Indeed, he continues, since these ales have been abolished"some ministers have complained unto me, that they are afrayd theyshall have no Parish Clerks for want of maintenance for them. "[248]

Church-ales were usually held at or near Whitsuntide, hence they werealso called Whitsun-ales or May-ales in the accounts. If the occasionwere an extraordinary one, and it was sought to realize a large sum, notices were sent to the surrounding parishes, say to ten, fifteen, ormore, to be read aloud from the pulpits of their respective churchesafter service, which notices contained invitations to any and all tocome and spend their money in feasting and drinking for the benefit ofthe parish giving the ale. As the day approached for the opening ofthe ale, which, if it were a great one, would be kept for four or fivedays or more, all was bustle in the parish to prepare for a feastingwhich often assumed truly Gargantuan proportions. Cuckoo kings andprinces were chosen, or lords and ladies of the games; ale-drawerswere appointed. For the brewing of the ale the wardens bought manyquarters of malt out of the church stock, but much, too, was donatedby the parishioners for the occasion. Breasts of veal, quarters of fatlambs, fowls, eggs, butter, cheese, as well as fruit and spices, werealso purchased. Minstrels, drum players and morris-dancers wereengaged or volunteered their services. In the church-house, or churchtavern, a general-utility building found in many parishes, the greatbrewing crocks were furbished, and the roasting spits cleaned. Churchtrenchers and platters, pewter or earthen cups and mugs were broughtout for use; but it was the exception that a parish owned a stock ofthese sufficient for a great ale. Many vessels were borrowed or hiredfrom the neighbors or from the wardens of near-by parishes, for, aswill presently be seen, provident churchwardens derived some incomefrom the hiring of the parish pewter as well as money from the loan ofparish costumes and stage properties. When the opening day arrivedpeople streamed in from far and wide. If any important personage ordelegation from another village were expected, the parish went forthin a body with bag-pipes to greet them, and (with permission from theecclesiastical authorities) the church bells were merrily rung out. Atthe long tables, when the ale was set abroach, "well is he, " writes acontemporary, "that can get the soonest to it, and spend the most atit, for he that sitteth the closest to it, and spendes the most at it, hee is counted the godliest man of all the rest ... Because it isspent uppon his Church forsooth. "[249] The receipts from these aleswere sometimes very large. So important were they at Chagford, Devon, that the churchwardens were sometimes called alewardens. [250] At Mere, Wilts, out of a total wardens' receipts of £21 5s. 7-1/2d. For the twoyears 1559-61, the two church-ales netted £17 3s. 1-1/2d. , [251] thusleaving only £5 2s. 6d. As receipts from other sources for these twoyears. At a later period, on the other hand, this relation of receiptswas entirely reversed. For instance, in 1582-3 the wardens securedonly £4 10s. 4d. From their ale, while proceeds from other sourcesamounted to £17 9s. 7d. [252]

In the thirty-one years from 1556-7 to 1587-8 in this parish therecorded wardens' expenditures had more than doubled. In thefirst-named year they had been but £8 I2s. 5d. ;[253] in the latteryear they had swelled to £18 14s 3-1/2d. [254] This characteristic istrue of all Elizabethan church budgets, and the writer has seen anumber of them. [255] The Wootton churchwardens enter under the year1600 the following: "Rec. By our Kingale, all things discharged, xijli. Xiiij[s]. Jd. Ob. , " an important sum for the day. [256]

Besides the churchwardens other wardens or gilds sometimes busiedthemselves with the selling of ale for the benefit of the church. Oneof these gilds at South Tawton, Devon, records in its accounts for1564: "We made of our alle and gathering xl l. Viijs. Viijd. "[257]

So important a source of parish income had to be carefully lookedafter. A church-ale with its attendant festivities for drawingvisitors was an important business matter. Accordingly we find theparishioners of St. John's, Glastonbury, making an order in 1589 "thatthe churchwardens shall yearly keape ale to the comodeti of theparishe upon payne of xxs. A yere. "[258]

In Ashburton, Devon, in 1567 Christopher Wydecomb had to pay 20s. Tothe wardens "because he refused the office of the drawer of the churchale. "[259] At Wing, Bucks, those refusing "to be lorde at Whitsuntydefor the behofe of the church" were fined 35. 4d. Apiece. [260] In someplaces these masters of the revels were called Cuckoo Kings, and theoffice seems to have gone in rotation like other parish offices. [261]

When invitations had been sent out to surrounding parishes, interparochial courtesy seems to have required the attendance eitherof the churchwardens or of some other more or less officialrepresentatives of the neighboring communities. These representativescarried with them some small contribution made at the expense of theirrespective parishes ('ale-scot'). [262]

Because of the alleged drunkenness and disorderly conduct attendantupon some of these ales, the justices of assize and the justices ofthe peace attempted in some shires to put them down on variousoccasions. [263] More effective, perhaps, in doing away with them wasthe gradual growth of Puritanism. 

In conclusion it should be remarked that church-ales seem to haveobtained only in Central and Southern England. The huge and thinlypopulated parishes of the North did not favor the development of aninstitution so essentially social in its character. 

_Church Plays, Games_ and _Dances_ were allied in a measure withchurch-ales, partly because they were sometimes held concurrently withthem, partly because they served as a substitute for the ales whenthese fell into disrepute. Miracle plays and other pageants were givenby certain parishes from time to time, too frequently in the churchesthemselves, in which case the wrath of the ordinary was called downupon the parish if he heard of them. [264] Some parishes kept variouscostumes and stage properties, which were hired out to other parisheswhen not in use. [265] May games, Robin Hood plays or bowers, Hocktidesports and forfeits, morris-dances and children's dances were allturned to the profit of the church, collections being taken up atthem. [266] Morris coats, caps, bells and feathers were frequentlyloaned out for a consideration by wardens to other parishes. [267]

_Church-house_. Here were the brewing kettles and the spits, and herewas stored church grain or malt for beer making. [268] Here, too, presumably, the pewter ale pots, trenchers, spoons, etc. , which figurein the accounts, were kept. These were hired out to other parishes fortheir ales. [269] While ale was brewed and drunk in the church-housefor the benefit of the parish, and that apparently on other occasionsthan church-ales, it does not seem probable that the place was oftenallowed to degenerate into a common ale-house, even though in someparishes it may have borne the name of "church tavern. "[270] When notrequired for parish purposes the church-house was rented out, androoms in an upper story were used for lodging. [271]

As church-ales fell into disfavor _Offerings_ or _Gatherings_ inchurch or at the church door became more frequent[272] and moresystematized. As time went on these collections were regularly takenup in many parishes every quarter, usually at Easter, Midsummer, Michaelmas and Christmas. [273] Hence the name quarterage. [274] Whenthe proceeds went to general church furnishing and repairing, thegatherings wrere sometimes called in the accounts "church works. "[275]As the sum given by each was often noted down in "quarter books" or"Easter books, "[276] and was, on denial, occasionally sued for beforethe official (together with dues for other purposes--clerk's wages, pew rents, etc. , presently to be noticed), an "offering" might becomevirtually an assessment or rate. [277]

We come now to _Communion Dues_, or _Collections_ taken up at the timeof communion. 

"_Paschall money_" is defined in a vestry order of Stepney parish, London, in 1581 as a duty of 1d. Paid by each communicant at Easter"toward the charge of breade and wine over and besides theyre offeringmony due unto the vicar. " These paschal dues, the order furtherinforms us, had long been farmed by the vicar for 40s. Yearly. But nowthe yield of a penny from each communicant was "thought a thing soprofitable and beneficiall, " that only as a special mark of favor wasthe vicar to continue to farm it, but at £4 thenceforth instead of at40s. [278] "_Easter money_, " an expression found not infrequently inthe accounts, may have referred to the same payment, or it may havedesignated the offering which generally followed the celebration ofcommunion, [279] taken up, doubtless, from all those present, whethercommunicating or not, the proceeds of which might go to the ministeror to the parish according to agreement or custom. 

Though the Second Edwardine Prayer Book (1552) provided that theelements were to be found by the curate and the wardens at the expenseof the parish, which was then to be discharged of fees, or levies oneach household, nevertheless, we meet with _Communion Fees_ or withhouse-to-house levies to defray the cost of bread and wine in manyparishes during Elizabeth's reign. [280] In order to ensure payment ofthe communion fee, tokens (or as we would say today, tickets) wereprovided in some parishes which were first to be handed in before theministrant admitted the applicant to reception. [281]

In a number of parishes a fine wine such as muscatel or malmsey wasprovided for the better sort, or the masters and mistresses, while theservants, or poorer folk, were served with claret. [282] Indeed whereall were compelled to communicate thrice yearly the cost of wine was avery serious item. 

_Collections for the Holy Loaf_, that is, blessed but not consecratedbread, which went to defray the costs of administering the Eucharist, occur in some of the earlier Elizabethan accounts. [283] Surpluscommunion fee money, or communion offerings were devoted to the careof the poor and other expenses. [284]

The heading _Clerk's Wages_, which is so often met with in thewardens' receipt items, frequently serves (as do several other specialheadings) as a mere peg on which to hang a collection for various oreven for general parish expenses. [285]

_Pews_ and _Seats in Church_ were often made a source of revenue. Thusat St. Mary's, Reading, it was agreed in 1581 by the chief men of theparish, in order to augment the parish stock and to maintain thechurch, because "the rentes ar very smale, " that those sitting infront seats in the church should pay 8d. , those behind them 6d. , thethird row 4d. , and so on. [286]

At St. Dunstan's, Stepney parish, London, a book was made by thewardens "whearein was expressed the pewes in the whole Church, "distinguished by numbers. "Also there was noted against everie pewethe price that was thought reasonable it shoulde yeeld by theyeare.... The w[hi]ch rates by this vestrie is allowed and confirmedto be imploied to the use of the parish Church. " When a few monthslater it was determined to build a gallery because the congregationneeded more seats, it was also settled that the cost should be met bya year's pew rent in one payment down, over and besides the usualquarterly payments for seats. [287] Sometimes the seats were soldoutright and for life only. [288]

_Mortuary Fees_ were a source of revenue in almost all parishes, andsometimes an important one. [289] Consequently tariffs of fees weredrawn up in various places. So much is charged for interment within, so much for burial without the church; so much for a knell accordingto duration and according to size of the bell; so much for theherse--a sort of catafalque--so much for the pall, the fee varyingfrom that charged for "the best" to that charged for "the worstcloth"; so much if the body is coffined or uncoffined, most of thedead being buried in winding sheets only, though the parish provided acoffin for the body to lie in during service in church and for removalto the graveside. [290] So, too, one fee was charged for interring a "great corse, " another for a "chrisom child. "[291] All, in fact, istabulated with minute precision, the minister getting certain fees forhimself alone, and sharing others with the parish; and so of the clerkand of the sexton, if any. Among other reasons alleged by the vestryof Stepney parish for dismissing their sexton in 1601 was because hemade "composic[i]on with diu[er]s & sundry p[ar]ishoners for theduties of the church to the hinderannce & great damage of thebennefitt of the church & p[ar]ishoners. "[292]

_Fees_ for _Weddings, Christenings_ and _Churchings_, and for theringing of the bells (at marriages), together with the _Offerings_taken up on these occasions, might form a source of revenue to theparish, either going directly into the parish coffers, or being paidin whole or in part to minister, clerk or sexton, who, after all, hadto be supported by the parish (or otherwise), being essential officersor servants. [293]

The parish poor and the parish church derived an uncertain, but by nomeans negligible, income from the product of _Fines for variousDelinquencies_. 

In the previous chapter fines for non-attendance at church have beenalluded to. [294] A contemporary, writing in 1597, refers to these asan important fund for the support of the poor if duly levied. Hewrites: "Whereunto [he is speaking of various means to alleviatepoverty] if we adde the forfaiture of 12 pence for euerie householdersabsence from Church (man and woman) forenoone and after, Sunday andholiday (according to the statute without sufficient cause alledged)to be duely collected by Churchwardens and other appointed to thatend, with the like regard for Wednesday suppers: there would besufficient releefe for the poore in all places .... "[295]

Ecclesiastical courts sometimes condemned offenders to pay a fine forthe use of the poor. [296] Sometimes they commuted a penance for moneyto go to church-repair or to the parish poor. [297] The churchwardensor overseers of the poor accounts also mention fines received forprofanation of the Sabbath and for offences during service time. [298]The Star Chamber often condemned offenders, especially enclosers ofcottage land and engrossers of corn, to fines for the benefit of thepoor. [299] Finally, most parishes derived some income from fining menvarious sums for refusing parish offices; for neglect of duty when inoffice; and for not attending duly called vestry meetings. Sometimes aparishioner would pay down a large lump sum for exemption forever fromall offices served by the parishioners. [300]

Yet another irregular but appreciable means of revenue might beclassed under the heading of _Miscellaneous Receipts_. 

As the parishioners were always eager to turn an honest penny fortheir own benefit, no possible source of receipts was neglected. If, for instance, any part of the church or the church premises might, temporarily or permanently, be rented out without drawing upon thecommunity the censure of the ordinary, the parishioners were happy todo so. Owners of structures of any kind encroaching upon thechurchyard, or other church land, were promptly made to pay for theprivilege. [301] Occasionally parishes derived more or less large sumsfrom the sale of parish valuables. The sale of costly vestments, embroideries, hangings, images, chalices, pyxes and other churchfurnishings and ornaments condemned as superstitious by the Anglicanchurch, brought some income to the wardens of most parishes during thefirst years of Elizabeth. Examples will be found in all the accounts. Now and then, too, a parish would make a large sum from the sale ofthe wood or other products of parish lands. [302] A fairly common itemin city parishes especially were fees paid for licences to eat fleshduring Lent and on other legal fast days. [303]

When an Elizabethan parish undertook some work on a great scale, suchas the rebuilding of its church, or of the church steeple; or, again, when it had suffered great losses by fire or flood, it solicitedthrough _Begging Proctors_ the _Contributions of Outsiders_, sometimesfrom all parts of England. [304]

To terminate our enumeration of means of raising money, or ofcontributions of all sorts on which the wardens could count (as apartfrom rates, properly so-called), we might mention _FixedContributions_, of money or of labor, issuing out of certaintenements; and _Annual Payments to Mother Churches_. Certain lands orhouses, generally abutting on the church grounds, had fixed upon themthe obligation to repair a certain portion of the churchyardenclosure, Tenement X, so many feet of fence, Tenement Y, such aportion of brick or stone wall, and so forth. [305]

Sometimes also certain houses or lands are spoken of as yielding somuch a year for the repair of the church and the support of thepoor. [306] Incidentally we might mention--though hardly connected withparish finance--certain payments for church repair, etc. , claimed ofold by some cathedral churches from the parishes of the diocese. Originally a tax varying from a farthing to a penny for each household(hence the names "smoke farthings, " "hearth penny, " "smoke silver"), the payments were commuted for a small lump sum exacted yearly. Thuswe find in the Elizabethan accounts mention of "St. Swithinfarthings;"[307] of "Ely farthings;"[308] of "Lincoln farthings, "[309]etc. , according to the _name_ of the cathedral to which they werepaid; or, again, of "Whitsun farthings;" of "Pentecost farthings, "etc. , according to the _time_ of the year at which the payments weremade. [310] These payments must not be confused with "Peter's pence, "which had before the Reformation been paid by English parishes toRome. [311]

Lastly the mother parish church, in large parishes requiring chapelsof ease, would exact (when it could) contributions from thosecongregations who frequented for ordinary divine worship these chapelsof ease within the parish. And these exactions would be madeirrespective of the fact that these congregations were bound to repairtheir own chapels and possessed their own churchwardens. [312]

When the means or expedients we have hitherto set forth were foundinsufficient, or impracticable, or too tardy for an emergency, theparish was compelled to resort to _Rates_ or _Assessments_. 

Assessments were levied in all sorts of ways and for all sorts ofpurposes. In an emergency, or if the sum to be raised was not large, alevy might be made by the principal men of the parish upon themselvesonly. [313] A "rate" might, however, be made to collect a very smallsum, as well as a very large one. [314] All kinds of units or rules ofassessment were resorted to from parish to parish, and (apparently)sometimes no fixed unit at all was taken, men's ability to pay beingroughly gauged, or a man being permitted to rate himself, [315] or givehis "benevolence. "

In the wardens' accounts are frequently seen long lists of names, eachbeing taxed at a sum varying from 1/2d. To three or four shillings. Such lists may represent an attempt to tax each man at 1/2d. Or 1d. Inthe pound, or, likely as not, it may merely mean a crude sizing up ofthe ability of each to contribute. 

Furthermore, a "rate" might consist in a fixed sum, the same for all, and levied by polls or by households, [316] say 1d. Or 2d. Each. Or, again, it might be levied by pews at varying sums. [317] Assessments topay the parish clerk or sexton might sometimes be made in kind, andissue from households, from cottages, or from ploughlands: so muchcorn at Easter, so much bread, so many eggs. [318]

When it came to the more accurate basing of rates upon lands, or goodsat a valuation, the inhabitants of the various communities observed nouniform ratio of taxation from parish to parish, nor even in the sameparish, and disputes were always recurring. [319]

It must be borne in mind that parish financiering was largely of thehand-to-mouth variety. Indeed, it was difficult it should beotherwise, for the exigencies of the civil or the ecclesiasticalauthorities were constantly shifting, now a petty lump sum beingrequired (and to be spent as soon as raised), now a great one to bedisbursed in the same manner. 

In conclusion, a few observations on the parish as a financial unit inconnection with county government may be made. There seems to havebeen no general treasury at the disposal of the hundred or of thecounty, but merely certain treasurers charged with the disbursement ofthis or that special collection for this or that special purpose. Acollection is made by order of the justices, for instance, in certainhundreds, or throughout the shire, for the support of the prisoners inthe county gaol, and a treasurer for the fund is appointed. Or it maybe that this treasurer is a more or less permanent official. And sowith collections for hospitals, for houses of correction, for greatbridges, etc. If the constables levied more than was sufficient for aparish, or if the contemplated disbursement turned out to be less thanoriginally estimated, the surplus, if the justices had no immediateuse for it, might be returned to that parish to go back into thepockets of the rate payers. [320] Furthermore, it seems scarcelyaccurate in Elizabethan times to speak of any _county rate_, [321] forthere was no recognized basis of assessment common to all parishes, unless it were at any given time the then prevailing subsidy rate, anda rating according to the subsidy books by the justices would fail toreach many whom a parish rating might attain. As a matter of fact thejustices, when they had a large sum to levy on the county at large, almost always apportioned it in lump sums among the hundreds, or amongthe parishes of their respective divisions, according to "the bygnesor smallnes of their parishes. "[322] It comes, then, to all practicalintents and purposes to this: that each parish is left to produceaccording to its own local methods, or rating, the wherewithal forcarrying on county government. 

While in local government itself the parishioners have practically novoice, the large measure of freedom they enjoy for the devising ofways and means to meet the demands made upon them (though they have nooption whatever in granting or withholding supplies) gives to theparish a vigorous entity and a certain autonomous life of its own, which otherwise it never could have possessed over against theall-regulating and inquisitorial Tudor machinery of Church and State. 

As the reign advanced the parish developed a selfish, jealous andexclusive gild life of its own, especially under the operation of thepoor laws. 

Non-parishioners, or "foreigners, " were viewed with the strongestsuspicion. Generally they were discriminated against if they happenedto have dealings with the parish. Wedding or funeral fees were doubledin their cases. [323] If the parishioners could have had their will noalien poor could have gained a settlement amongst them--no, not evenafter twenty years' residence. In 1598 the West Riding, Yorkshire, justices were compelled to interfere in favor of divers poor personsin various parishes, where officers were seeking to expel them asvagrants born elsewhere, though they had been domiciled in theiradopted communities for twenty years and upwards. [324]

Already that "organized hypocrisy, " so characteristic of parish lifein later reigns, shows itself in the many presentments of, andpetitions against, persons supposedly immoral--especially singlewomen. Not zeal for morality prompts these indictments, but fear thatthe community may have to support illegitimate children. [325] Quitetypical of the times is the language held by the inhabitants of CastleCombe in appealing to the Wiltshire justices against a townwoman in1606. They are apprehensive, they say, lest "by this licentious lifeof hers not only God's wrath may be powered downe uppon us ... Butalso hir evill example may so greatly corrupt others than great andextraordinary charge ... May be imposed uppon us. "[326]

Few laws on the statute book were so frequently enforced as the 31Eliz. C. 7, which required four acres to be laid to every cottage tobe constructed, for there was a powerful local backing behind the law. When John Fletcher, "a meere stranger lately come into this Parishwith his wife and children, " took certain parcels of land in SevernStoke in 1593, and was suspected of the intention to build a cottagewithout laying to it the requisite number of acres, the parishionersimmediately complained to the Worcester justices, for they wanted toprovide against the contingent liability of having to support theinmates. [327] Four acres was then the quantity considered necessary tomaintain a man and his family. It was an indictable offence to sublet, for then there would be two families where only one was before. Norcould lodgers be taken, for such increase of the inmates of the housewould surcharge the land. [328]

In short, that feeling of distrust and discrimination against theoutside world, which, in the 18th century, led a Lancashire vestry todub all outsiders "foreigners, "[329] is already fully developed by theend of the 16th century. But we must also recognize that this feelingengendered in the parish itself solidarity of interests, closefellowship and local spirit. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Richard Hooker, _Ecclesiastical Polity_, Bk. Viii, 448-9 (ed. 1666). 

[2] Coke, 4 _Inst_. , 320 (ed. 1797). 

[3] See 14 Eliz. C. 5, sec. 16, and 39 Eliz. C. 3. 

[4] 37 Hen. VIII, c. 17, re-enacted I Eliz. C. I. "The real effect ofthe statute was this--that lay lawyers were substituted for theclerical canonists of pre-Reformation times. " Lewis T. Dibden, _AnHistorical Inquiry into the Status of the Ecclesiastical Courts_(1882), 59. By canon cxxvii of the Canons of 1604 in order to be achancellor, a commissary, or an official in the courts Christian, aman must be "_ad minimum magister artium, aut in jure bacalareus, acin praxi et causis forensibus laudabiliter exercitatus_. " E. Cardwell, _Synodalia_ (etc. ), i, 236. Cf. Blomefield, _Hist. Of Norfolk_, iii, 655-6 (Parker's report, 1563. Officials of the archdeacons notrequired to be in orders). E. Cardwell, _Documentary Annals of theReformed Church of England_, i, 426 (Complaint in a document of circa1584 [or later] that excommunication is executed by laymen. In theanswer by the bishops it is stated [_ibid_. , 428] _inter alia_, "thatin later times, divines have wholly employed themselves to divinityand not to the proceedings and study of the law"). To the same effect, but for a later period, see White Kennett, _Parochial Antiquities_(Oxon. Ed. 1695), 642. 

[5] Harrison, writing in 1577, says that archdeacons keep, beside twovisitations or synods yearly, "their ordinarie courts which are holdenwithin so manie or more of their several deaneries by themselues ortheir officials once in a moneth at the least. " Harrison, _Descriptionof England_, Bk. Ii, _New Shakespeare Soc_. For 1877 (ed. Dr. Furnivall), p. 17. Between 27th Nov. , 1639, and 28th Nov. , 1640, therewere thirty sittings in the court of the Archdeacon of London. Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , introd. P. Liii. Any casual inspection of thevisitation act-books reveals the fact that the judge sits either incourt or in chambers between visitations, for offenders are constantlyordered to appear again in a few days or in a few weeks. Compulsorypresentments were, however, limited by law and custom to two courts ayear. See canons 116 and 117 of the Canons of 1604. Also Gibson, _Codex_, ii, 1001. 

[6] See p. 18 and p. 20 _infra_. For the duty to read the injunctionsor the articles based on them see p. 32 _infra_. 

[7] See 5 Eliz. C. 3. _Stats. Of the Realm_, iv, Pt. I, 411. AlsoVisitation of Warrington Deanery in 1592 by the Bishop of Chester in_Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Soc. Trans_. , n. S. , x (1895), 186_et passim_. Hereinafter cited as _Warrington Deanery Visit_. Cf. AlsoGrindal's Injunc. For the Province of York (1571), art. 17, _Remainsof Grindal, Parker Soc_. , 132 ff. 

[8] See Visitations of the Archdeacon of Canterbury, _ArchaeologiaCantiana_, xxvi (1904), 24 (1602). Mr. Arthur Hussey has publishedcopious extracts from the act-books of these visitations extendingover a considerable period in vols. Xxv-xxvii of the _Arch. Cant_. Hereinafter cited as _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv (etc. ). Forperambulations see p. 27 _infra_. 

[9] Cordy Jeaffreson, _Middlesex County Records_, i, 100-1 (Indictmentreciting that John Johnson had had due notice in his parish church, yet had not sent his wain, etc. , 1576). Cf. Provisions of the statutes5 Eliz. C. 13, and 18 Eliz. C. 10, _Stats. Of Realm_, iv, Pt. I, 441-3, and 620-1 respectively. 

[10] Brownlow v. Lambert, C. B. , 41 Eliz. , I _Croke Eliz. Rep. , Leache's ed_. (1790), Pt. Ii, 716. 

[11] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvi, 23 (1599); _ibid_. , 20 (1591). W. H. Hale, _A Series of Precedents in Criminal Causes from the Act Books ofthe Ecclesiastical Courts of London_, 1475-1640 (pub. In 1847), 190(Schoolmaster of Stock presented in court for defacing the church "inmakinge a fire for his schollers, " 1587). This work hereinafter citedas Hale, _Crim. Prec_. 

[12] Constables Acc'ts of Melton in _Leicester Architec. And Archaeol. Soc. Trans_. , iii (1874), 72-3. Chelmsford Churchwardens Acc'ts in_Essex Archaeol. Soc. Trans_. , ii (1863), 225 ff. 

[13] Stratton (Cornwall) Churchwardens Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xlvi, 200 ff. _s. A_. 1565 and editor's note. 

[14] "Sir W.. A.. And I with divers other justices, being met togetherat Sondon church" (1582). Strype, _Annals of the Reformation_, iii, Pt. Ii, 214. This meeting here may have been in the churchyard. 

[15] See in the _Antiquary_, xxxii (1896), 147-8, the inquest held atSt. Botolph Extra Aldgate (1590), and the coroner's judgment deliveredin the church that a suicide should be buried at cross-roads with astake through her breast. 

[16] For the noisy proceedings in Bow Church and in St. Paul's, London, see _The Spiritual Courts epitomised_ [etc. ], a satire printedin 1641 at London. For this and similar satires see Mr. Stephen's_Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires_ in Brit. Mus. (1870). Cf. Strype, _Life of Grindal_ (Oxon. Ed. 1821), 83 ff. (Proclamationof 1561 for reverent use of churches). Also Augustus Jessop, _OneGeneration of a Norfolk House_, 15. Sir J. F. Stephen, _Hist. OfCriminal Law_, ii. 404. 

[17] In the Canons of 1571 the churchwardens are called "_aeditui_, "in those of 1604 "_oeconomi_. " In the older churchwardens accountstheir Latin designations are "_gardiani_" and "_custodes_, " sometimes"_prepositi_" (or 'reeves'). English equivalents are churchmen, highwardens, stockwardens (alewardens even), kirkmasters, churchmasters, proctors, etc. Sidemen are called also questmen, assistantsand (apparently) sworn men or jurates. They do not always appear insmall country parishes, neither are they generally found before thelatter half of Elizabeth's reign. Their Latin appelation was "_fidedigni_" and they were chosen from among the parishioners to the numberof two, four, six or more to present offences along with thechurchwardens, or offences which the wardens would not present(Gibson, _Codex_, ii, 1000). The sidemen went about the parish duringservice time with the wardens and warned persons to come to church(See p. 23 _infra_). For rector, etc. , see p. 30 _infra_. 

[18] Toulmin Smith, _The Parish_ (2d ed. , 1857), 69 ff. , stronglyinsists that churchwardens "never were ecclesiastical officers. " Butthe authorities he cites are post-Elizabethan. The courts inElizabeth's time held that the execution of the office "doth belong tothe Spirituall jurisdiction" (See Brown v. Lother, 40 Eliz. , in _J. Gouldsborough's Rep_. , ed. 1653, p. 113). Lambard (_The Duties ofConstables_, etc. , ed. 1619, p. 70) says that wardens are taken infavor of the church to be a corporation at common law for somepurposes, viz. , to be trustees for the church goods and chattels. 

[19] See "The Othe which the Parsons ... Shall minister to the ChurcheWardens, " of which the text is given in Bishop Barnes' Injunctions andother Ecclesiastical Proceedings, _Surtees Soc_. , xxii (1850), 26(Hereinafter cited as _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. ). The wording of thisoath is evidently very similar to, if not identical with, that of theoath administered to the wardens by the archdeacon. 

[20] For a number of examples clearly illustrating this point seeVisitations of the Dean of York's Peculiar, _Yorkshire ArchaeologicalJournal_. Xviii (1905), 202, 221, 222, 224, _et passim_. Hereinaftercited as _Dean of York's Visit_. We have a number of these articles ofinquiry formulated by archbishops or bishops. _E. G. _, see in T. Nash, _Hist. And Antiq. Of Worcestershire_, i, 472 (Wardens of Grimley makeanswer to the 5th and 6th articles inquired of by the bishop in 1585). Cf. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann. _, ii, 13-16 (Whitgift's Articles of 1588). 

[21] _E. G. , Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 12 (Birchington wardens arraignedin court "for that they have not presented divers faults Committedwithin the parish. " 1591). Act-Books in _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 118(A warden of Long Newton detected to the official because "he refusedto present faltes with his fellowe churchwardone, _et fatebaturdelationem_, viz. , that he wolde not present his owne wief. " 1579). _Ibid_. , 129 (1580). See also _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 188("Departing and not exhibitinge there presentments"). W. H. Hale, _Precedents in Causes of Office against Churchwardens and Others_(1841), 81 (Wardens of Sarratt [Herts] excommunicated for notexhibiting their "_billas detectionum_. " 1577). The last named workhereinafter cited as Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_. 

[22] For numerous examples of excommunication for non-appearance, see_Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 29 ff. Under the heading of each parish wesee "_aegrotat_" or "_excusatur_, " or "_nullo modo_" (_sc. Comparuit_)placed after the name of each person cited to attend from that parish. Incumbents, wardens and sidemen were almost always in attendance. Schoolmasters usually so when there were such. Delinquent parishionerswere of course cited in person, or remanded to appear at the nextcourt day holden elsewhere. Upon non-appearance the formula usuallyentered by the registrar or scribe in the act-book was "_et omnes etsingulos hujusmodi non comparentes [judex] pronuntiavit contumaces eteos excommunicavit in scriptis_. " At Alnwick in 1578 fifteen personswere excommunicated for non-attendance. _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 41. Cf. Hale, _Crim. Prec. , passim_. 

[23] Lists of "furniture, " implements and books will be found in themetropolitan or diocesan injunctions of the time. A typical one isgiven in _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 25, entitled "The furnitures, implements and bookes requisite to be had in every churche, and socommaunded by publique aucthoritie" (1577). Cf. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 287 ff. ("Advertisements partly for due order in the publiqueadministration of common prayers [etc. ] ... " Jan. , 1564). 

[24] _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 184. 

[25] That is, Bishop John Jewel's _Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae_, published in 1560, and his _Defence of the Apology_, published in1567, sometimes called in the act-books and wardens accounts (whereboth works are frequently mentioned) _The Reply to Mr. Harding_. 

[26] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 116. 

[27] J. L. Glasscoek, _The Records of St. Michael's, Bishop Stortford_(1882), 63. See also Minchinhampton (Gloucester) Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xxxv, 422 ff. ("Allowynge the regester booke. " 1575). _Shrop. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Tr_. , 2d Ser. , i, Ludlow Acc'ts, _s. A_. 1585-6 (Record of the new bible and other books). 

[28] Glasscock, _op. Cit_. , 59 (1578). 

[29] Hale, _Crim. Free_. , 170-1. 

[30] Visitations of the Dean of York's Peculiar, _YorkshireArchaeological Journal_, xviii (1905), 209. 

[31] _Ibid_. , 210. 

[32] With the exception of the High Commission by the terms of itscommission. See the writ of 1559 in Gee, _The Elizabethan Clergy andthe Settlement of Religion_, 150. Also Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 220, for the Commission for York in 1559. As a matter of fact, as willappear from the illustrations cited, fines were virtually inflicted byway of court or absolution fees. Again, while the canons orinjunctions forbade the commutation of penance for money, an exceptionwas made for money taken _in pios usus_, such as church repair or therelief of the poor. Examples of the practice will be found in Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 232 (Repair of St. Paul's, London); _Warrington DeaneryVisit_. , 189 (Poor); Chelmsfofd Acc'ts, _Essex Arch. Soc. , ii_, 212(Paving of church). For fines inflicted for the benefit of the poorsee _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 122 ("For that he gave evill words" anoffender was enjoined by the judge to pay 2s. To the poor and tocertify); Hale, _op. Cit_. , 198 (An offender to pay a rate of 4d. , and12d. More _"pro negligentia_. " 1589/1590) _Cf_. Canons of 1585 inCardwell, _Synodalia_, i, 142. 

[33] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 24 (1577). In the case of individualsinterdiction or suspension _(i. E_. , from service and sacraments) doesnot differ in effect from excommunication, except that the former aretemporary penalties and to terminate upon compliance with the judge'sorder. See Burn, _Eccles. Law_ (ed. 1763), i, 616 (Interdiction) andii, 362-3 (Suspension). 

[34] Thomas North, _A Chronicle of the Church of St. Martin's inLeicester_ (1866), 116 (1568-9). 

[35] _Leicester Archit. And Archaeol. Soc. Tr_. , iii (1874), 192(1567). 

[36] _Ibid_. , 197 (1594-5). 

[37] W. F. Cobb, _Churchwardens Accounts of St. Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate_ (1905), p. 10 (1595) and p. 12 (1604), respectively. Stanhope was chancellor to the bishop of London. 

[38] See p. 46 ff. _infra_. 

[39] See _infra_ p. 40, p. 48 (note 169), p. 131, etc. Also Ch. Ii, _infra_. _Cf_. Note 32 _supra_ (p. 19). 

[40] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 155. 

[41] Ordinary is that ecclesiastical magistrate who has regularjurisdiction over a district, in opposition to judges extraordinarilyappointed. At common law a bishop was taken to be the ordinary in hisdiocese, and so he was designated in some acts of Parliament. But as amatter of fact 'ordinary' signifies any judge authorized to takecognizance of causes by virtue of his office or by custom. Such werepre-eminently the archdeacons. These officers, at first merelyattendant on the bishops at public services, were gradually entrustedby the latter with their own jurisdictional powers, owing to the vastextent of dioceses, so that "the holding of General Synods orVisitations when the Bishop did not visit, came by degrees to be knownand established Branches of the Archidiaconal Office, as such, whichby this means attained to the dignity of Ordinary instead of delegatedjurisdiction. " Edmund Gibson, _Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani_, or the _Statutes, Constitutions_ (etc. ) _of the Church of England_, ii(1713), 998. Cf. Richard Burn, _Eccles. Law_, ii, 101-2. As theordinary in practice entrusted his office of judge to an official, Ihave used the two terms interchangeably. In some places exempted fromthe archdeacon's jurisdiction commissaries acted as judges, Burn, i, 391. 

[42] That is, services and sacraments (except baptism) were suspendedin it. The words of Burn (_Eccles. Law_, i, 616, quoting Gibson, 1047)are misleading. He says: "But this censure hath been long disused; andnothing of it appeareth in the laws of church or state since thereformation. " Of course interdiction _temp_. Elizabeth was no longerthe terrible punishment it used to be. 

[43] At Shrewsbury. 

[44] _Shrop. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Tr_. , i (1878), 62. 

[45] R. W. Goulding, _Records of the Charity known as Blanchminster'sCharity_ (1898), Stockwardens Acc'ts, 68. For other examples ofinterdiction of churches or excommunication see Hale, _Churchwardens'Prec_. , 111-12 (Shoreham Vetera interdicted. 1599/1600), _et passim_. 

[46] Except in the city of London and some few other places, thechancel was at the charge of the rector or other recipient of thegreat tithes. Sidney and Beatrice Webb, _English Local Government_(1906), 20, _note_. Also W. G. Clark-Maxwell in _Wilts Arch_. Etc. _Mag_. , xxxiii (1904), 358. H. B. Wilson, _History of St. LaurencePountney_ (London, 1831), 73. 

[47] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvi, 21. 

[48] _Ibid_. 

[49] _Ibid_. , 32. In 1599 the wardens of this parish inform thearchdeacon that both church and churchyard need repairs "which we meanshortly to do. " The next year, too, they make a report in almostidentical words. _Ibid_. , 33. 

[50] See p. 15 _supra_. 

[51] _Dean of York's Visit_. , 341. 

[52] Numerous other presentments at visitations for failure to supplythe requisites for worship besides those adduced in the text will befound in Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 173 (A warden failing to supply theelements for communion, 1579-1580) _Ibid_. , 154 ("The rode loftebeame, the staieres of the rode loft standinge, the churche lackethwhittinge to deface the monuments. " 1572), etc. _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. _, 115 ("The Degrees of Mariage" and "the Postils" lacking. 1578-1579). _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 189 ("Cloth for the communiontable. " 1592). Visitation of Manchester Deanery in 1592 by the Bishopof Chester in _Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Soc. Tr_. , xiii, 58. (Communion cup lacking). _Ibid_. , 62 ("Noe fonte, " andchristenings in "a bason or dish"). This source hereinafter cited as_Manchester Deanery Visit_. 

[53] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , _s. A_. 1587 (21st June). 

[54] _Manchester Deanery Visit_. , 66 (1592). Cf. _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 23 (1600). 

[55] Hall, _Crim. Prec_. , 13 (1598). 

[56] _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 189. 

[57] _Manchester Deanery Visit_. , 69. 

[58] _Ibid_. Then as now the ale-house was the strongest rival of theHouse of God. A very common class of offenders were those who wouldnot leave their ale cups to go to service (see authorities cited, _passim_). Men were also great gossipers ("common talkers") in thechurchyard, as a number of presentments show. 

[59] Order of the archdeacon, Essex Archdeaconry, to the wardens ofSt. Peter's and of All Saints. Maldon, in 1577, Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 158. For refusing to keep her seat in church according to this orderElizabeth Harris was presented the next year, Hale, _loc. Cit_. , 171. 

[60] The vestry of St. Alphage's (G. B. Hall, _Records of St. Alphage, London Wall_, 31) grew highly indignant in Aug. , 1620, when thebusiness of seating the parishioners came up for discussion, that aMr. Loveday and his wife should presume to sit "togeather in one peweand that in the Ile where men vsually doe & ere did sitt; we hould itmost ynconvenyent and most vnseemely, And doe thinke it fitt that MrChancellor of London be made acquainted w[i]th it [etc]... "

[61] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 241-2: "_Contra Hayward, puellam. Presentatur_, for that she beinge but a yonge mayde, sat in the pewewith her mother, to the greate offence of many reverend women. " Thechild (as the vicar who made the presentment continues should have satat her mother's "pewe dore. " 1617). Cf. _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 122-3(Janet Foggard cited for that "she beinge a yonge woman, unmarried, will not sit in the stall wher she is appointed ... "). Cf. Hale, _op. Cit_. , 210 (One Clay and his wife "will not be ordered in church by usthe church wardens [etc. ].. ". 1595). 

[62] Examples will be found in the act-books cited _supra_. 

[63] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 149 (1566). Cf. _ibid_. , 163 (The divineservice not "reverently, plainelye and distinctlye saide... " 1576). 

[64] Hale, _op. Cit_. , 182 (1584). Cf. Whitgift's _Articles for Sarumdiocese_ in 1588, art. Viii: "Whether your ministers used to pray forthe quenes majestie ... By the title and style due to her majestie. "Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , ii, 14. 

[65] _Dean of York's Visit_. , 320 (1596). 

[66] Hale, _op. Cit_. , 159 (1575). 

[67] 3 _Rep. Hist. MSS. Com_. , 275 (A vicar presented by churchwardensin the commissary's court at Poddington-apud-Ampthill for notcatechising the youth, etc. , though required to do so by one of thewardens. 1616). For not presenting their minister when he neglected tocatechise on the Sabbath, the wardens of St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, London, had to pay divers fees to the chancellor. Brooke and Hallen, _Registers of St. Mary Woolchurch Haw_ (1886), Wardens Acc'ts, _s. A. _1593. 

[68] Accordingly, by a later entry in the book we see that the wardenbrought in court a certificate that the surplice had been bought andworn by the vicar. _Manchester Deanery Visit_. , 59. For a preciselysimilar injunction see _ibid_. , 62 (Wardens of Eccles). 

[69] See p. 15 _supra_. 

[70] For presentments of vicar's (etc. ) offences see pp. 31 ff. _infra_. 

[71] L. G. Bolingbroke; _The Reformation in a Norfolk Parish, Norf. AndNorw. Arch. Soc_. , xiii, 207-8 (1593). 

[72] _Dean of York's Visit_, 231 (1594). 

[73] _Ibid_. , 315. See also _ibid_. , 225 and 229. 

[74] _Ibid_. , 339 (1602). 

[75] See _Queen's Inj. Of_ 1559, art. Xviii. Also art. Xviii of Archbp. (of York) Grindal's Inj. Of 1571, _Parker Soc. , Remains of Grindal_, 132. Also Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 337, etc. For the enforcing of theobligation by the ordinary, see numerous examples in _CanterburyVisit_. , xxv, 22 (1585); 32 (Controversy in 1584 between two parishesas to bounds); 37 (1594). Also _ibid_. , xxvi, 24, 25, _et passim_. Other examples in Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 162, where a parishioner ofBurstead Parva (Essex) is cited at a visitation for ploughing up adole (a balk or unploughed ridge), which marked the boundary linebetween Burstead and Dunton parishes. Cf. _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 15, where three parishioners are presented for covering up a parishprocession linch (1617). 

[76] See, _e. G_. , A. G. Legge, _North Elmham_ (Norfolk) _Acc'ts_(1891), 76 (1562), 82 (1566 and 1567). Melton Acc'ts in _Leicest. Archit. And Arch. Soc_. , iii, 192 (1566). Ludlow Acc'ts in _Shrop. Arch. Soc_. , 2nd ser. , i, _s. A. _ 1601-2, etc. 

[77] In this year the 39 Eliz. C. 3 was enacted which institutedoverseers of the poor nominated by the licence of the justices, andplaced wholly under their supervision. In spite of the provisions ofan earlier act (14 Eliz. C. 5) giving the justices power to appoint, or see collectors appointed, the ecclesiastical courts rather than thejustices, as the act-books show, seem to have looked after the matter. See, _e. G. , Manchester Deanery Visit_. , 57, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 68, etc. Also _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 184, 186, 187, 191, etc. Cf. The item in the Ludlow Acc'ts, _Shrop. Arch. Soc_. , i, _s. A. _ 1586-7, where is recorded an expense item for a payment to "Mr. Chauncelor"for entering a presentment for collections for the poor. 

[78] See act-books above cited. Also Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 165, _etpassim_. _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 118, _et passim_. _Norf. And Norw. Arch. Soc_. , xiii, 207-8 (Great Witchingham wardens). 

[79] Stanford (Berks) Accounts, _Antiquary_, xvii (1888), 169(Expenses to Oxford "to speke with [the] ... Archedyacon for caryeng astrem[e]r in Rogacion weke. " 1564). Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 150 (Wearingof surplice on same occasion. 1567); 152 (_Do_. 1572). Cf. Grindal'sInj. At York, 1571, in Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 337. 

[80] Melton Acc'ts, _ubi supra_, 192 ("Beyng somonyd ffor Ryngng offall Hallodaye att nyght. " 1566). Halesowen Acc'ts in T. R. Nash, _History and Antiq. Of Worcestershire_, ii, App. , p. Xxx (1578). Stanford Acc'ts, _ubi supra_, 169 (1566). _Manchester Deanery Visit_. , 64 (Wardens of Manchester "ringe more than is necessarie atBurialls... "). Cf. Canons of 1571, Cardwell, _Syn_. , i, 124 (Ordainedthat wardens must not suffer "_campanas superstitiose pulsari, vel invigilia Animarum, vel postridie Omnium Sanctorum_... "). 

[81] Accordingly some seven weeks later the wardens (or rather theirsuccessors) appeared again and reported that the rate had been laid, but not gathered. The court granted them a further space to buy theimplements. Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_. , 2-3 (1583/1584). Similarexamples abound in Archdeacon Hale's work, just cited, which coversthe period 1557 to 1736. 

[82] _Ibid_. , 4 (1584). For other cases see _passim_. 

[83] Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_. , 98 (1601). Burn, _Eccles. Law_, i, 268 (citing Gibson, _Codex_, 196, and 1 Bacon, _Abridg_. , 373), saysthat if no parishioners appear at a meeting duly called for thepurpose of assessment, " the churchwardens alone may make the rate, because they and not the parishioners are to be cited and punished indefect of repairs. " To these words should be added the qualificationthat the parishioners _were_ sometimes collectively punished, viz. , byinterdiction of their church. Thus in St. Alban's archdeaconry theparishioners of Redbourn were directed through the wardens to make arate to levy £60 "_sub pena interdictionis eccl[es]ie sue adivinoru[m] celebratione et sacramentaru[m] et sacramentaliu[m]_... [etc]. "Hale, _op. Cit_. , 89 (1599). In Jan. , 1599/1600; we findShoreham Vetera in Lewes archdeaconry interdicted, and oneof its wardens appearing, "_humil[ite]r petijt interdicc[i]o[n]em... Emissam pro defect[u] eccle[s]ie ruinos[e] ... Revocari ... _"in order that time might be given him to call together thetenants and owners of land in the parish and outlying districts aswell as "strangers" who held lands in the parish. _Ibid_. , 111-12. In1603 the wardens of Northawe are to see a levy made "_sub penainterdicti_. " _Ibid_. , 90. Cf. Pp. 36-7. 

[84] Examples are: Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 189 (Mucking, Essex, wardens. 157-6/7). _Ibid_. , 199 (East Horndon, Essex, wardens confess they havenot accounted "by reason the parishioners will not come to recken withthem. " They are warned to make their account and if the parishionerswill not audit it, to exhibit it at the next court. 1590). _Ibid_. , 222 (Several parishioners presented for "not receiving" a warden'saccount. They plead that he was not chosen to be warden by theirparson. 1600). See also _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvi, 20, 21, also_Ibid_. , xxvii, 220, _et passim. Dean of York's Visit_. , 335. 

[85] "The cases in which the advowson of the parish belonged to theinhabitants, though more numerous than is often supposed, weredistinctly exceptional. " Beatrice and Sidney Webb, _Local Government, the County and the Parish_ (1906), 34 _note_. 

[86] On the distinction between rector, vicar, curate, etc. , see FelixMakower, _The Constitutional History and Constitution of the Church ofEngland_ (Engl. Trans. 1895), 334-7. Also Rev. W. G. Clark-Maxwell in_Wilts Arch_. , (etc. ) _Mag_. , xxxiii (1904), 358-9. 

[87] _E. G. _, the Canons of 1571, sec. _De Episcopis_, required thatthe bishops ordain no one except such as had a good education and wereversed in Latin and the Holy Scriptures. Nor was a candidate to beadmitted to orders "_si in agricultura vel in vili aliquo etsedentario artificio fuerit educatus_. "

[88] Of some 8, 800 parish churches in England in 1601 only 600, it wascomputed, afforded a competent living for a minister. Dr. James indebate in Parliament November 16th, 1601. Heywood Townshend, _Historical Collections or Proceedings in the last Four Parliaments ofElisabeth_ (ed. 1680), 218-19. Sir S. D'Ewes, _The Journals of all theParliaments during the Reign of Elizabeth_ (ed. 1682), 640. How thiscame about see White Kennett, _Parochial Antiquities_ (ed. 1695), 433-45. 

[89] Examples will be found in the churchwardens' accounts of theperiod, the _Morebath_, (Devon) _Acc'ts_ for instance, which have beentranscribed _in extenso_ up to 1573 by Rev. J. Erskine Binney (Exeter, 1904). The garrulous old vicar here, Christopher Trychay, who wrotethe parish accounts himself for more than a generation, and alwayspunctiliously styled himself "Sir, " is a fascinating figure. Thanks tohis chatty explanations on all subjects, bits of the daily life ofthis little Devonshire parish from Henry VIII's, from Edward VI's, from Mary's, and from Elizabeth's reigns are brought down to us withgreat vividness. Cf. James Stockdale, _Annals of Cartmel_ (1872), 58-9(Custom of addressing minister as "Sir" lingering down to nineteenthcentury in Lancashire). 

[90] Lambard, _Duties of Constables, Borsholders_, etc. (ed. 1619frequently made an appendix to his _Eirenarcha_), 67, says: "The ... Lawes, hauing imployment of many to make, hath borrowed some use in afew easie matters of spirituall Ministers, chiefly for the helpe andreadinesse of their pen, which in many Parishes few, or none (besidesthey) can serue withall. "

[91] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 22 (1590); 23 (1593). _Dean of York'sVisit_. , 231 (1594); 315 (1595). 

[92] _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 184 (Farmer of advowson notrepairing chancel); 186 ("Wm. Brereton of Hareford, Esquire, "_ditto_); 188 (Executors of will of the late rector, _ditto_); 191(Rector of Warrington); 192 (Rector of Wigan). _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 32 (Dean and Chapter of Christ Church. 1583); 26 ("Mr. JohnSmyth, Esquire"). For not keeping in repair vicarages, barns, dove-houses, etc. , see _ibid_. , xxvi, 20, 32. Also _ibid_. , xxvii, 222, etc. 

[93] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 160 ("_Dominus injunxit dicto_ Simpson[rector of Pitsea, Essex] that he shall procure iiijor sermons in theyeare ... " 1575-6). _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvi, 44 (Wardens present"they have no quarter sermons"). _Ibid_. , 213 (1569); 214 (1574); 222(1600). _Dean of York's Visit_. , 222 (Wardens present "Mr. Deane forwant of the quarter sermons. " 1592). _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 43("Sir Wm. Baldock our Vicar, himself unlicenced to preach, doth notprovide a preacher for the sermons appointed by her Majesty'sInjunctions. " 1593). The _Queen's Injunctions of_ 1559, art. Iv, provided that parsons should preach in their own persons at least onesermon in every quarter of the year. 

[94] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 22, 23 (two examples). _Ibid_. , vol. Xxvi, 31, 44, 222, 319, etc. See _Queen's Injunc_. Of 1559, art. Xi. 

[95] See authorities above cited. Whether the incumbent kepthospitality was a standing article of inquiry in the visitations ofthe period; _e. G_. , Grindal's Metrop. Visit. Art of 1576, _Remains ofGrindal, Parker Soc_. , 157 ff. 

[96] _Manchester Deanery Visit_. , 63 ("They [ministers of Manchester]be nott dutifull in visitinge the sicke"). 

[97] "And if the churchwardens and swornmen be negligent, or shallrefuse to do their duty ... Ye shall present to the ordinary both themand all such others of your parish as shall offend.... " Archbp. Grindal's Inj. At York, 1571, _Remains of Grindal, Parker Soc_. , 129. 

[98] Or judge acting by delegation from the ordinary. 

[99] "Against the Reader [of Denton Chapel] ... Doth not Reade theInjunctions.... " _Manchester Deanery Visit_. , 60. "_Qui_ [wardens ofBelby] _dicunt_, the Articles being diligentlie redd unto them[etc. ]... " _Dean of York's Visit_. , 221 (1591). _Ibid_. , 341. Cf. _Queen's Inj. Of_ 1559, Art. Xiv. 

[100] Hale; _Crim. Prec_. , 193. Cf. Grindal's Inj. At York, 1571: "Ye[the ministers] shall openly every Sunday ... Monish ... Thechurchwardens and sworn men of your parish to look to their oaths[etc. ] ... " _Remains of Grindal_, 129. Also Whitgift's _Articles_ of1583, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 406 (Ministers to warn parishionersonce a month to repair to church). 

[101] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 36. 

[102] Cf. Canons of 1597: "_De recusantibus et aliis excommunicatispublice denunciandis_. " Cardwell, _Syn_. , i, 156. Also _Croke's Eliz. Rep_. , Leache's ed. (1790), i, Pt. Ii, 838, where a plaintiff sues fordamages because defendant, a curate, maliciously erased the originalname in an instrument of excommunication and inserted plaintiff'sname, "and read it in the church, whereupon he was inforced to beabsent from divine service, and to be at the expence to procure adischarge for himself" (1599). _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvii, 219 (Rectorof Swalecliffe presented for keeping back and not announcingexcommunications "sent out of this court. " 1596). 

[103] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvii, 219 (Rector suffering excommunicatesto come to his church during service). See also _infra_, p. 47. 

[104] Canons of 1585 and 1597, Cardwell, _Syn_. , i, 144 and 155-6respectively. 

[105] See in Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 206-7, the elaborate formula ofconfession prescribed for Wm. Peacock of Leighton, Essex, in 1592. Hewas to "publiquely after the minister ... Confesse [etc. ] ... "

[106] Hale, _op. Cit_. , 160 (Margaret Orton's penance for adultery. "And ther was redd the firste parte of the homilie againste whoredome& adulterie, the people ther present exorted to refraine from sochewickedness... "). 

[107] See pp. 12-13, and p. _27, supra_. 

[108] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 114 (Parishioner in a Durham parishpresented for absenting himself "twice at morning prayer, and verreyoften at eveninge prayer. " 1579). Houghton-le-Spring Acc'ts, _s. A. _, 1596, _Surtees Soc_. , lxxxiv (1888), 271 (Giving in a bill ofpresentment for those absent from morning and from evening prayer). 

[109] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvii, 221 (Four persons cited "for thatthey dwell so far from their own Church come now to the Parish Churchof Westbere. " 1569). _Ibid_. , xxv, 21 (Two men presented for notattending their parish church "being two miles off, but go to the nextParish Church. " 1569). _Ibid_. , 23 (1600). _Op. Cit_. , xxvi, 46(Presentment of one who had often to be absent from his parish onbusiness. 1593). _Dean of York's Visit_. , 227 (Attending anotherchurch for fear of arrest for debt in his own. 1594). 

[110] See in Daniel Neal, _History of the Puritans_ (J. Toulmin's ed. , Bath, 1793-7), i. 413-17, contemporary (1585-6) statistics for thelicenced preachers of nine counties. See also J. C. Cox, _ThreeCenturies of Derbyshire Annals_, i, 245 (Only 82 clergymen licenced topreach out of a total in the diocese of Lichfield of 433, according toa document _circa_ 1602). 

[111] For such a permit to hear preaching elsewhere, see Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 189 (Six parishioners of Shopland (Essex) authorized by thearchdeacon to repair to a neighboring church for a sermon when thereis no preaching in their own, but only two permitted to leave theirown services at any one time. 1586-7). 

[112] Hale, _ibid_. , 187-8. 

[113] 1 Eliz. , c. 2, sec. Iii, _ad finem_. 

[114] See 23 Eliz. C. I, sec. Iv (Forfeiture of £20 for every month'sforbearance from church attendance). Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 406(Whitgift's _Articles of 1583_; minister and wardens to diligentlyobserve those absenting themselves for the space of a month, accordingto 23 Eliz. [_supra_] in order that they may be presented as recusantsto the justices at quarter sessions). See also in _Roxburghe Ballads_(1871), i, 118, a ballad written _circa 1620_ which tells us: "Therebe diuers Papists, That to saue their Fine, Come to Church once amoneth, To heare Seruice Diuine. The Pope giues them power, As theysay, to doe so; They saue money by't too, But I know what I know. " Cf. _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 27 (Presentment "that he is a negligentcomer to our Parish Church, being not able to pay the forfeiture. "1597). _Ibid_. , xxvii, 223 ("John Wilkins be slothful in coming to theChurch, and because he is a poor man we cannot take the fine of twelvepence. " 1578). Also _ibid_. , xxvi, 46 (Humphrey Watts coming sometimesbut once a month to church). 

[115] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvi, 18 (One Deal presented for keeping aschoolmaster, "and also being a victualler, suffereth him to remain inhis house and not frequent Divine Service on the Sabbath Day. " 1580). 

[116] _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 191 (One Motley "married not knownwhere"). See other visitations, _passim_. 

[117] _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 192 (Four persons presented fromWigan for marrying without banns); 189, _et passim_. 

[118] _Ibid_. 184 (A child not baptized at the parish church); 189 ("Achild christened, and not known where"); 190 (Same). Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 216 ("Keeping her child unbaptized a whole moneth. " 1597). _Ibid_. , 183 (Curate of Blackmore, Essex, suspended from thecelebration of the rites because "there was tow children... Which diedunchristened by his necligence. " 1584). 

[119] _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 189; 190 ("His wife churched notknown where"). Hale, _ubi sup_. , 167. 

[120] _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 185 (Office of judge against JamesWoswall: "His children come not to bee catechised"). See Canons of1571 (Parents and masters to be presented for not regularly sendingchildren or apprentices to learn the catechism), Cardwell, _Syn_. I, 120. 

[121] See _Queen's Visit. Art. Of_ 1559 in Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 211. Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 226 (One Robinson presented for not going tohis minister to be examined in the principles of religion of which hewas ignorant). _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 122-3 (An offender "lackeingethe catechism dyde thrust in amongest others and receyvid ... " Anotherwas "repulsed from the Communion because he coulde not saye the 10commaundements, in whome we can perceyve no towardnes to learnethem"). Also Hale, _ubi supra_, 146, 159, etc. 

[122] Presentments for not receiving are numerous in the act-books. Afew references are, _Dean of York's Visit_. , 219 ff. _E. G. _, atGoathland 20 persons are presented by name. See also Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 163, 171, 176, etc. , and the other act-books heretofore cited. Also canons, injunctions and visitation articles of the time, _e. G_. , Canons of 1571 (Vicars, etc. , to present all over fourteen who havenot received) in Cardwell, _Syn_. , i, 120. Grindal's Inj. For York, 1571 (All above fourteen to receive in their own churches at leastthree times a year), Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 336. 

[123] See Heywood Townshend, _Proc. In the Last Four Parl. Of Eliz_. , Debates, _passim_. 

[124] J. E. Foster: _Ch'wd'ns Acc'ts of St. Mary the Great_, Cambridge(1905), 225 (Item for paper book to write in all names of the parishat Easter. 1590-1). _Ibid_. , 202 (Item to a scribe for writing namesof communicants). Thos. North, _Chronicle of St. Martin, Leicester, Ch'ivd'us Acc'ts_, 171 (Item same as above. 1568-9). 

[125] E. Freshfield, _Vestry Minutes of St. Christopher-le-Stocks_, Append. , 71. 

[126] _Ibid_. , 7. For similar vestry orders see _Vestry Minutes of St. Margaret, Lothbury_, London (also edited by Dr. Freshfield), pp. 1(1571) and 15 (1583). Also G. W. Hill and W. F. Frere, _Memorials ofStepney Parish_, 43 (1602), and 51 (1605/6). 

[127] Burn, _Eccles. Law_, i (ed. 1763), 274, _sub voce_ Church, says:"And if any of the parishioners refuse to pay their rates, beingdemanded by the churchwardens, they are to be sued for, and to berecovered in, the ecclesiastical courts, and not elsewhere. "

[128] _Memorials of Stepney_, 51. Cf. _Acts of the Privy Council_ (ed. Dasent), xxii, 482-3 (A tenant refusing a customary payment for churchrepair, presented by "the generall consent" of the parishioners ofLewesham to the commissary's court. He removes the cause to StarChamber "to the extreame chardgis, trouble and hinderance" of one ofthe wardens, to the encouragement of like offenders, and to the "utterruin and decaie" of the church. 1592). The source last quotedhereinafter cited as A. P. C. , xxii (etc. ). 

[129] Besides the order just mentioned, the Stepney vestry had threeyears before ordained concerning their wardens that these were "toshew how they haue p[re]sented them [old dues in their books], Otherwise the said churchwardens shalbe charged to pay thoseArrearages as shall remayne so vnpaid and not p[re]sented by them. "_Op. Cit_. , 43. 

[130] Art. Xxi, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 326. 

[131] _Leicest. Archit_. (etc. ) _Soc_. , iii, 204. 

[132] J. H. Butcher, _The Parish of Ashburton in the 15th and 16thCenturies_ (1870), 42. See also _ibid_. , 40 and 49. Also H. J. F. Swayne, _Acc'ts of St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum_ (Wilts Rec. Soc. 1896), introd. , p. Xxv, and p. 317. 

[133] Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_. , 4-10, 5th to 8th March, 1607-8. Cf. _ibid_. , 16. 

[134] Hale, _op. Cit_. , 109-110. 

[135] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvii, 218. Authorization to tax the landis not asked for in express terms, but seems to be implied. In othercases it is clear that a warrant was given for the assessment oflands, _e. G_. , Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_. , 4 (A warden ofChelmsford, Essex, to appear in court "for a warrant for seassment ofthe landes. " 1584). Sometimes the rates made were offered in court tobe confirmed, Hale, _ibid_. , 8 (A rate "offered" to the judge atStratford at Bow. 1607). _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 14 (A rate, subscribed by the boards of the parishioners, "and certified under Mr. Doctor Newman's own hand. " 1613). 

[136] _Canterbury Visit. , ubi supra_. 

[137] Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec_. , 90-1 (1603). 

[138] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvii, 223 (1569). Cf. _ibid_. , 214. Also_ibid_. , xxvi, 18 (Three persons presented who will not "pay to thepoor mens' box. " 1574). 

[139] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 149 (1566). Cf. _ibid_. , 176 ("Detected forbeinge an uncharitable person & for not gevenge to the poore &impotent... " 1583). _Ibid_. , 208 (One Crisp detected for not payinghis accustomed "offering" for himself and wife to the minister atEaster. 1593). 

[140] _Dean of York's Visit_. , 229 (1595). _Ibid_. , 214 (Similarpresentment, 1570). _Ibid_. , 335 (_Same_. 1600). _Ibid_. , 223(Bellman's wages). 

[141] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvi, 22 (1598). 

[142] _Ibid_. , 20 (1592). 

[143] _Ibid_. , 21 (1596), 44. _Op. Cit_. , xxv. 32 ("We do suppose that[name] ... Doth keep back from us a certain sum ... Given by will tothe use of the Church ... And we know not how we may come by the same, unless your Worship's aid be ministered unto us in that behalf. "1581). _Ibid_. , 22, 23, 26 etc. 

[144] _Op. Cit_. , xxvii, 219 (1569). _Op. Cit_. , xxv, 14 (Keepingchurch ewes and not paying rent for them. 1613). 

[145] _Op. Cit_. , xxvi, 33 (1605). 

[146] _Ibid_. , 39 (1600). _Ibid_. , 31. 

[147] _Op. Cit_. , xxvii, 224 (1584). 

[148] _Op. Cit_. , xxv, 13 (1600). 

[149] _E. G. _, Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 221 (1599). 

[150] _Dean of York's Visit_. , 333 (Church house. 1601). _Ibid_. , 214(Churchyard fence. 1570). 

[151] The higher nobility excepted. 

[152] Cardwell, _Syn_. , i, 128. 

[153] _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 19. 

[154] See, _e. G. , op. Cit_. , 42-45 (5 schoolmasters mentioned by nameat Allhallows, Newcastle; 4 at St. Nicholas). In Durham city"_sub-pedagogi_" are also spoken of in the various wards. 

[155] _Op. Cit. , passim_. Other examples will be found in _Dean ofYork's Visit_. , 225, 229 etc. Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 154, 184-8 (JohnLeache's case. 1584-6), 190, 198 (One Dawe's wife teaches without alicence. Warned not to teach any "man child above the age of x yeres, untyll she shall be lawfully licenced. " 15-89/90). _Canterbury_Visit. , xxvi, 20, 21, 25, 31, etc. 

[156] See J. Cordy Jeaffreson, _A Book about the Clergy_, ii, 58. 

[157] Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 176 and 182. 

[158] See also Archbishop Parker's and other commissioners' precept tochurchwardens and others in June, 1571 ("And that in no wise ye sufferany person publicly, or privately to teach, read or preach ... Unlesssuch be licenced [etc. ] ... As you and every one of you will answer tothe contrary"). _Corresp. Of Archbp. Parker, Parker Soc_. , 382-3. Cf. Also Archbp. Whitgift's 'Commission' to the ministers andchurchwardens of London, Aug. , 1587, forbidding "that they ... Dosuffer any to preach in their churches or to read any lectures [etc. ]... " Neal, _History of the Puritans_, (Toulmin's ed. 1793), i, 428. 

[159] _E. G. _, Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 188 ff. (Leach, a schoolmaster, wascited for catechizing and preaching, being unlicenced. He was strictlywarned by the judge not to "use any private lecture or expositions ofScripture or catechisinge of his schollers in the presence of anye ... Not ... Of his owne howse-hold [etc. ]. " 1586-7). Ibid. , 202 (A curatedetected for preaching without a licence. He confessed "that he hatheexpounded" a little on the text, "but wold that Mr Archdeacon wouldappoint some time that he might preache before his wor[ship], and yfhe should accepte of him, he would request his wor[ship] to be meanesunto my Lord of London that he may be licenced to preache. " 1591). W. H. Overall and A. J. Waterlow, _St. Michael's, Cornhill_, (London)_Acc'ts_ (1869), 176 ("Paide to Mr. Sadlor for avoidinge oneexcommunication for suffering a Preacher to preache in o[u]r Churche, being unlycenced, iij s. Viij d. " 1587-8). 

[160] In 1585 the wardens of Pittington (Durham) are "commanded to byefor everie person in our parish a booke ... " _Surlees Soc_. , lxxxiv, 19. Examples taken promiscuously from the wardens accounts of the dayare: "paid for three prayer books for the good successe of the FrenchKinge;" "paid for a prayer of thankes gevinge for ye over throwe ofthe Rebelles in the North. " In many accounts occur items for books ofprayers "for the Earthquake, " or "against the Turke, " or "Omeliesagainst the rebells, " or "in plague tyme, " etc. 

[161] A number of ballads dating from the reigns of Elizabeth andJames have been very recently (Oxon. 1907) published by Mr. AndrewClark under the title of _Shirburn Ballads_. 

[162] One of the earliest orders of the High Commissioners preserveddates from 1560 and directs the Wardens of the Stationers to staycertain persons from the printing of primers and psalters in Englishand Latin, for which printing one Seres had obtained a monopoly. C. R. Rivington, _The Records of the Worshipful Company of Stationers_ in_London and Middlesex Archæol. Soc. Tr_. , vi, 302. 

[163] "_A writing of the bishops in answer to the book of articlesoffered the last session of parliament anno reginæ_ xxvii [etc. ]. " Socalled by Strype, but assigned by Dr. Cardwell to a date later than1584. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 426. "Excommunication" in theact-books and elsewhere almost invariably refers to the lesserexcommunication. 

[164] Thus he could not receive communion, be married, stand asgodfather, etc. Burn, _Eccles. Law_, i, 252-3. Compare _Antiquary_, xxxii (1896), 143 (Penance and heavy costs for a man who "beingexcominecated ... Ded preseume to marye before ... He was absolved. "1583). Also Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 223 (Presentment of an excommunicatefor marrying. 1600). 

[165] See Hale. , _op. Cit_. , 198 (Archdeacon's instructions to acurate in 1589). _Ibid_. , 200 (Minister stopping service as anexcommunicate would not leave. 1590). _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. Var. Coll_. (1901), 78 (Complaint by a vicar to Wilts quarter sessions thatan excommunicate tried to remain at service. 1606). _AssociatedArchitectural Soc. Rep_. , (etc. ), xxxiii, Pt. Ii (1897), 373-4 (Deviceof procuring an excommunicate to enter church and interrupt service socertain youths could continue their morris-dancing, 1617). ChelmsfordAcc'ts, _Essex Arch. Soc_. , ii, 213 (Item for "carrying Roger Priceout of the Church, he being exc[mmunicated]... " 1632). 

[166] See Canons of 1597, Cardwell, _Syn_. , i, 156. Burn, _op. Cit_. , 457-8. For such a sentence see E. H. Chadwyck Healey, _Hist. Of WestSomerset_ (1901), 184 (Archdeacon of Taunton requiring a minister todenounce solemnly three obstinate excommunicates, and to warn all goodChristians not to eat or drink, buy or sell, or otherwise communicatewith them under the pains of being themselves excommunicated. 1628). 

[167] Thus those who talked with him, ate at the same table with him, saluted him, or gave anything to him were themselves _ipso facto_excommunicate. See Reeve, _Hist. Of English Law_ (Finlayson's ed. ), iii, 68. If such an excommunicate brought an action at law, thedefendant could plead in bar the excommunication. The testimony ofsuch a man was not admissible in court. Finally, he could not beburied in the parish churchyard nor could services be performed overhis body. Burn, _loc. Cit. , supra_. 

[168] See the case of Kenton v. Wallinger, 41 Eliz. , _Croke's Eliz. Rep. , Leache's ed_. , Pt. Ii, 838. This has already been mentioned onp. 33, note 102. In the Leverton, Lincoln, Overseers for the PoorAcc'ts, there occurs, _s. A_. 1574 an item of 7s. Given to JohnTowtynge "for the discharge of ... His excomynacion, " and the nextyear a sum of 2s. 6d. Given to a woman for a like discharge. _Archæologia_, xli, 369-70. 

[169] Whereby any but a perjured man would be forced to incriminatehimself. 

[170] Cf. Maitland, _Canon Law in the Church of England_, chapter, "The Pope the Universal Ordinary. " For proceedings by HighCommissioners see Stubbs in _Eccles. Courts Com. Rep_. To Parliament(1883), i, Hist. Append. , 50. 

[171] As to the expense in suing out the writ, and also the slacknessof bailiffs, etc. , in executing it, see [R. Cosen], _An Apologie ofand for Sundrie proceedings by Jurisdiction Ecclesiasticall_ (1st ed. , London, 1591), 64-5. Speaking of the great charges incurred in suingout the writ Cosen writes: "So that I dare auowe in Sundrie Diocessesin the Realme, the whole yeerly reuenue of the seuerall Bishops therewoulde not reach to the iustifying of all contemnours ... By thecourse of this writte. " That temporal judges sometimes set prisonersunder the writ free at their own discretion without notice to thespiritual judges, see Bancroft's _Petition to the Privy Council_ in1605, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. Ii, 100. For hostility of temporal judgesfor ecclesiastical jurisdiction, see Bancroft, _op. Cit_. , 85. Hecounts up 488 prohibitions during Elizabeth's reign, many of themawarded without good cause and "upon frivolous suggestions" ofdefendants (_Op. Cit_. , 89). 

[172] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 145 ("_Dominus decrevit scribendum foreregie majestate pro corporis capcione_ [etc. ]. " The threat subdued theexcommunicate, for 15 days later "_solutis_ xxxiiis.... _pro expensiscontumacie_, " absolution was given, and penance enjoined. 1562). _Ibid_. , 172 (Similar threat, we do not hear of the outcome). Cf. R. W. Merriam, _Extracts from Wilts Quarter Sess_. In_Wilts Arch. And Nat. Hist. Mag_. , xxii (1885), 20 (Affray becauseof an arrest under the writ. 1604). See also Whitgift's note to hisbishops in 1583, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 404-6 ("If the ordinarieshall perceave that, either by slackness of the justices orwaywardness of juries, " recusants cannot be indicated at quartersessions, then the ordinary shall, after first trying persuasion, excommunicate the culprits, and after forty days procure the writagainst them). Bancroft writes, March, 1605, that he will use his"uttermost endeavour" to aid his suffragans in procuring the writ, andin having it faithfully and speedily served. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , ii, 80. Cf. Also the satirical single-sheet, published June, 1641, entitled _The Pimpes Prerogative ... A Dialogue between Pimp-Major Pigand Ancient Whiskin_, in Brit. Mus. _Coll. Of Polit. And PersonalSatires_. Pig: "Tush, their Excommunications fright not us; but ourLand-ladies (poore soules) lie in most danger; for them they serveafter with _Excommunicato capiendo_, and then our Forts arebeleaguer'd with Under-Sheriffs, Bum-Bayliffs, Shoulder-clappers, etc. , whom we sometimes beat back by violence. "

[173] Cardwell, _loc. Cit_. , 100. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction derivedalso much temporal strength from the fact that practically everybishop was also a justice of the peace. For proof of this see Strype, _Annals of the Reformation_ (Oxon. Ed. ), iii, Pt. Ii, 451 (Bishop ofPeterboro' complaining that he alone was left out of the commission. 1587). Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , ii, 80 (Bancroft's letter, 1605: "Wethat are bishops, being all of us (as is supposed) justices of thepeace"). When commissioning justices Burghley referred to the bishopsfor lists of orthodox men. See such lists in Strype, _op. Cit_. , 453-60. Also in Strype, _Life of Whitgift_, i, 187-8. _Victoria CountyHistory of Cumberland_, ii, 73-4. _Sussex Arch. Soc. Coll_. , ii(1849), 58-62. Mary Bateson, _Letters from the Bishops to the PrivyCouncil_, 1564, _with Returns of the Justices of the Peace_, etc. , in_Camden Miscellany_, ix (1895). By 1 Eliz. C. 2, bishops could atpleasure associate themselves to justices of _oyer and terminer_ or ofassize. Cf. Strype, _Whitgift_, 329. 

[174] Presentments on this score are frequent. Take only a singlejurisdiction, that of the Dean of York's Peculiar, between the years1592-1601, and a number will be found. See _Dean of York's Visit_. , 222 (5 persons); 226, 229, 315, 326, 329 (Remaining excommunicate fora month); 334 (Over 40 days. Also a person presented for harboring anexcommunicate); 335 (Over a year); 341 (14 days). 

[175] Cosen, _An Apologie_, etc. , 64. As has been above stated, anexcommunicate could not attend service. P. 47 _supra_. 

[176] According to 23 Eliz. C. I, sec. 4 and sec. 6. 

[177] See _A. P. C_. , xiii, 271-2 (1581). Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 406(Whitgift alludes to the "waywardnes" of juries). 

[178] Not suspension from office (as might be supposed) but fromservice and sacraments. 

[179] P. 19, note 33, _supra_. 

[180] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 150 ("_Contra_ ... Because he will not bechurchwarden accordinge to the archdeacon's judgment. " Excommunicated. 1566). Ibid. , 162 ("_Contra ... Detectum_ that he obstinately refusethto be churchwarden, notwithstanding he was chosen by the consent ofthe parson and parishioners. " Excommunicated. 1576). Cf. Ibid. , 183(Presentment for refusing to be sideman), and ibid. , 207 (Refusingchurchwardenship). 

[181] In equity specific performance is nothing more than the givingof an instrument transferring title after all has previously been doneon both sides, but this, to complete the transaction. 

[182] Denunciation "in many poyntes resembleth a Presentment, " Cosen, _An Apologie_ (etc. ), 70. See his book for the modes of proceeding. Cf. Also Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , Introd. , p. Lviii. In commenting onArchdeacon Hale's book, which we have so often here cited (_A Seriesof Precedents in Criminal Causes from the Act Books of EcclesiasticalCourts of London_, 1475-1640 [pub. In 1847]), Sir J. F. Stephen in his_History of Crim. Law in England_, ii, 413, makes these observations:"It is difficult even to imagine a state of society in which, on thebare suggestion of some miserable domestic spy, any man or womanwhatever might be convened before an archdeacon or his surrogate andput upon his or her oath as to all the most private affairs of life;as to relations between husband and wife; as to relations betweeneither and any woman or man with whom the name of either might beassociated by scandal; as to contracts to marry, as to idle words, asto personal habits, and, in fact, as to anything whatever whichhappened to strike the ecclesiastical lawyer as immoral orirreligious. "

[183] The case of John Johnson in the official's court in Durham cityforms an excellent commentary on the whole system. He was presented assuspected of incontinency. After repeated citations and a threat ofexcommunication, he appeared, denying the charge and alleging that achurchwarden with others had falsely concocted it. At the petition ofan apparitor, who acted as public prosecutor, seven of Johnson'sfellow-parishioners were cited to swear not to the _fact_ of hisguilt, but to the general _belief_ in it. Articles were then drawn upupon which depositions were taken and published. The case wasadjourned repeatedly so that the many formalities of procedure mightdrag out their weary length. The oath _ex officio_ was forced onJohnson, but he denied all guilt. Finally, he was enjoined to procurethree compurgators. These swore that they believed _"in animis suis"_that Johnson had sworn to the truth. Though pronounced innocent, Johnson was condemned to pay the costs of all the formalities that theapparitor had set in motion against him, and a last time was draggedinto court in order to be admonished under pain of excommunication topay these fees, amounting to £1. 3s. 4d. , within a month! The case hadextended from 11th June, 1600, to 22nd May, 1601. _Surtees Soc_. , lxxxiv (1888), 359-362. Cf. Also the following: "payed for annsweryngedyuerse faulse vntrothes suggested by [five names] to the saydCommyssyoneres vj s. Viij d. " Minchinhampton, Gloucester, Acc'ts, _s. A. _ 1576 (archbishop's visitation), _Archaeologia_, xxxv. "pd. Forour charges to lycoln when we were p[re]sented by the apparytorunjustly for that our church should by [be] mysvsed vs. Vjd. "Leverton, Lincoln, Acc'ts, _s. A. _ 1579, _Archaeologia_, xli, 365. Under 1595 the Leverton wardens have the entries: "pd. To theapparitor for fallts in the churche ijs. Viijd. , " and: "for playing inthe churche iijs. Viijd. " The last is explained by a third entry: "tothe apparator for suffering a plaie in the church. " (_Op. Cit_. , 367. )This looks like bribery, or blackmail, or both. For examples ofbribery see Wing Acc'ts, _s. A. _ 1561, _Archaeologia_, xxxvi ("to yeS[um]m[o]ner to kepe us ffrom Lincoln for slacknes of o[u]r auters"). Abbey Parish Acc'ts, _s. A. _ 1600, _Shrop. Arch. Soc_. , i. 65 ("paid toCleaton, the Chauncelor's man for keeping us from Lichfield"). GreatWitchingham Acc'ts, _Norfolk and Norwich Arch. Soc_. , xiii, 207 ("Simpthe sumner for his fees for excusing us from Norwich"). _St. MaryWoolchurch Haw_, London, _Acc'ts, s. A_. 1594 ("more unto the paratourand Doctor Stanhopes man for their favours"). Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 202("_Fassus est_ that he gave xs. To ... The apparitor to thend that hemight not be called into this corte. " 1590). For examples of fees paidfor absolution from an unjust excommunication see _MinchinhamptonAcc'ts, s. A_. 1606 ("layd out [at] Gloucester when we werexcommunicated for our not appearinge when wee were not warned toappeere, vj s. Viij d"). St. Clement's, Ipswich, Acc'ts, _EastAnglian_, in (1890), 304 ("Payed for owr Absolution to the Commissary, being reprimanded for that we did not give in our Verdict, where as wenether had warning nor notice given us of his Corte houlden, ij[s. ]x[d. ]:" and: "Payed more ffor the discharg of his boocke, viijd. "1610). Churchwardens accounts are pretty reliable evidence, for theywere subject to the scrutiny of those who had to foot the bills. 

[184] See Mr. Andrew Clark's _Shirburn Ballads_ (Oxon. 1907), 306 ff. Mr. Clark's notes and illustrations drawn from other contemporarysources are most valuable. 

[185] A number of broadsides and pamphlets were published in 1641 uponthe abolition of the spiritual courts. Consult Mr. Stephen's_Catalogue_ (1870) for those in the British Museum. One of them isentitled _The Proctor and Parator their Mourning ... Beinge a trueDialogue, Relating the fearfull abuses and exorbitances of thosespirituall Courts, under the names of Sponge the Proctor and Hunterthe Parator_. In the spirited dialogue between the two _Hunter_ tellsof his ways of extorting money from recusants, seminary priests andneophytes, "whose starting holes I knew as well as themselves"; also, he adds, "I got no small trading by the Brownists, Anabaptists andFamilists who love a Barne better than a Church. " "Poor Curates, Lecturers and Schoolmasters ... That have been willing to officiatetheir places without licences" are also his special prey. As for minoroffenders "against our terrible Canons and Jurisdiction ... Had I butgiven them a severe looke, I could ... Have made them draw theirpurses ... " "I tell you, " he concludes, "the name of Doctors Commonswas as terrible to these as Argier [Algiers] is to Gally-slaves. "_Sponge_ admits that he has made many a fat fee by _Hunter's_procurement. For more serious documents in corroboration seeWhitgift's circular to his suffragans in May, 1601, and also hisaddress to his bishops a few months later in Strype, _Whitgift_, ii, 447 ff. Among many other and grave abuses he refers to "the infinitenumber" of apparitors and "petty Sumners" hanging upon every court, "two or three of them at once most commonly seizing upon the subjectfor every trifling offence to make work to their courts. " Cf. Canonsof 1597, can. Xi (Multitude of apparitors and their excesses) inCardwell, _Syn_. , i, 159. Also Canons of 1603/4, _ibid_. Most of theElizabethan and Stuart metropolitan and diocesan injunctions call forthe presentment of the abuse of apparitors and other court officials. See Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , ii, _passim_. Also _Appendix to 2nd Rep. Ofthe Com. On Ritual_ to Parliament (1870), where a large number ofinjunctions from Parker to Juxon (1640) are gathered together. 

[186] By this system, if the accused could get together a certainnumber of his neighbors (3, 4, 6 or more) to act as oath-helpers, _i. E. _, who would swear that they believed him on oath, he wasacquitted. It seems to have been no concern of the judge to weigh theevidence on the facts themselves. 

[187] The churchwardens accounts are full of items for horse hire andother expenses for long journeys, for ecclesiastical courts were heldat all kinds of places at the pleasure of the judges. See Mr. Bruce'sremarks on the Minchinhampton Acc'ts, _Archæologia_, xxxv, 419 ff. Cf. The Ludlow Acc'ts, _Shrop. Arch. Soc. 2nd. Ser_. , i, 235 ff. --in factany of the accounts of the period that have been printedin detail. 

[188] Archdeacon Hale in _Crim. Prec_. , introd. , p. Lx. 

[189] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 205 (1591). In Warrington deanery, at thebishop's visitation in 1592, one Grimsford is cited for not livingwith his wife. On a later occasion he appeared and affirmed that hiswife had run away with another man, "whereupon the Judge, havingregard to the poverty of the man, " absolved him. _Warrington DeaneryVisit_. , 190. An ecclesiastical judge in Durham city made this decreein 1580: "_Dominus ... Decrevit scribendum fore Aldermanno_ ... Towhip and cart the said Rowle and Tuggell in all open places within thecity of Durham, for that they faled in their purgacion, and thereforeconvicted of the crime detected. " _Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 126. 

[190] A most important piece of evidence--because coming from such asource--is Whitgift's circular and (later) his address to his bishops, already alluded to (note 185) given in Strype's life of him. Whitgiftmentions the frequent keeping of officials' or commissaries' courtsand the multitude of apparitors serving under them, so that "thesubject was almost vexed weekly with attendance on their severalcourts. " He adds that "what with Churchwardens' continual attendancein these courts, which in many places came to more than was by a wholeparish for any one cessment made to her Majesty, the poor men who werechosen Church wardens ... Were in their estates hindered greatly inleaving their day labor for attendance there. " These and likecomplaints, the metropolitan continued, were daily brought to him"with a general exclamation against Commissaries' and Officials'courts. " In prophetic language he warned his suffragans that if theywere not more zealous for reform all their courts might be swept away. We have further the unceasing complaints and the numberless petitionsthat were presented in every Elizabethan parliament from 1572 onwards. Some of these are given in Strype, _Annals_, etc. , some in his_Whitgift_. Mr. Prothero has conveniently gathered some, withreferences to others, in his _Statutes and Constitutional Documents_(1st ed. ), pp. 209, 210, 215 and 221. See also Heywood Townshend, 110, _et passim_; D'Ewes, 302, _et passim_, and the canons and injunctionsof the time. Peculiars were doubtless most subject to abuses, as beingoften exempt from the oversight and corrective discipline of thediocesan. Offenders sometimes fled to these for protection. SeeStrype, _Ann_. , iii, Pt. Ii, 211-12 (Bishop of Coventry and Lichfieldcomplaining in 1582 of peculiars, some of which belonged to laymen, asholders of abbey lands, in the matter of recusants). Cf. Blomefield, _Hist. Of Norfolk_, iii, 557. _Camden Miscellany_, ix (1895), 41(Letters from bishops to Privy Council in 1564. Recusants flying toexempt places). On the scandalous neglect of duty of some holders ofpeculiars see _Dean of York's Visit_. , 199, 201 ff. , 324, _et passim_. See also Mr. W. E. B. Whittaker's article "_On Peculiars with specialreference to the Peculiar of Hawarden_, " in _Archit. Arch. And Hist. Soc. For Chester and N. Wales_, n. S. Xi (1905), 66 ff. And recordsthere given. See also _Eccles. Courts Com. Rep_. , 1830-2, printed asappendix to Vol. I of _Eccles. Courts Com. Rep_. Of 1883, p. 198. Lists of peculiars will be found in the above authorities. 

[191] Though they were reestablished in 1660 they were forever shornof their ancient glory. 

[192] The names of some of these broadsides, pamphlets, etc. , havealready been given. To these may be added, _The Spiritual Courtsepitomised in a Dialogue betwixt two Proctors, Busie Body andScrape-all, and their discourse of the want of their formerimployment_. Others will be found in Mr. Stephen's _Catalogue_. 

[193] That is, a portable stone altar which had been consecrated andcould be set up anywhere for mass. 

[194] See order of the Wilts justices issued against such offenders, Oct. , 1577. _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. On MSS. In Var. Coll_. , i (1901), 68. 

[195] See indictment of an Essex jury at quarter sessions in 1585against one Glasscock who spoke lightly of the ceremony of baptism, and rent out of a prayer book certain leaves where the ministration ofbaptism was set forth. _Hist MSS. Com. Rep_. , x, Pt. Iv, 480. 

[196] Presentment to the Wilts justices, _loc. Cit. Supra_, 69 (1588), For excessive zeal of the justices of assize in Suffolk see _StatePapers Dom. Eliz_. , 1591-4, P. 275 (Address of Suffolk gentry to PrivyCouncil in 1592. They complain of indictments against ministers onvery trivial pretexts). For the answer of the Council to this petitionsee Strype, _Ann_. , ii, Pt. I, 268-9 (Lords write to judges to consultthe spirit not the letter of law, and add their own suspicions thatinformers are mainly to be blamed if justice has miscarried). 

[197] _State Pap. , loc. Cit_. 

[198] Indictment of Essex jury, _Hist. MSS. Rep. , loc. Cit. Supra_. 

[199] _Ibid_. 

[200] Information of the Wilts justices against one Dearling, parsonof Upton Lowell, _loc. Cit. Supra_, 68 (1585). Cf. Chelmsford Acc'ts, _Essex Arch. Soc_. , ii, 212 (An item paid the clerk of assizes forframing the indictment of Chelmsford Hundred "against Puritisme. "1592). 

[201] These would be--to cite the principal--the ordinary upkeep ofthe church with its services and all its appurtenances whatsoever (seeprevious chapter); the finding of clerk and sexton; the care of thepoor; maintaining of the local roads and bridges; purchasing andrepair of parish armor, and mustering of parish contingents;contributions for prisoners and maimed soldiers; the keeping of theparish butts and the stocks; the destruction of frugivorous birds andanimals (the statutory "vermin"), etc. 

[202] The act-books are full of "detections" for being an"uncharitable person, " for "not giving to the poor, " etc. See pp. 41ff. , _supra_. 

[203] Reference is here made to the occasional seizure of parish landsor funds by the Queen's commissioners for concealed lands. SeeStrype's strong language in his _Ann. Of the Ref_. (Oxon. Ed. ), ii, Pt. I, 310. He speaks of the unjust oppressions of courtiers and othergriping men, 'harpies' and 'hell-hounds, ' who, under the pretense ofcommissions, "did intermeddle and challenge land of long timespossessed by churchwardens, and such like, upon the charitable giftsof predecessors ... Yea and certain stocks of money, plate, cattle andthe like. They made pretence to bells, lead [etc. ] ... " Strype's wordsare none too strong, being amply confirmed by much evidence _aliunde_. See, _e. G_. , the determined attacks in 1567 and subsequently on theMelton Mowbray school lands in _Leicest. Archit_. (etc. ) _Soc_. , iii(1874), 406 ff. Thanks to powerful neighbors the Meltonians won theircase. Less fortunate were the parishioners of St. Mary's, Shrewsbury, the revenue from whose lands supported church fabric, the poor, etc. For proceedings against them, and the vain appeal by the parish to thelord chief justice in 1572 ff. , see Owen and Blakeway's _Hist. OfShrewsbury_, ii, 350-2. For confiscation of parish gild property andparish lands on a large scale, see examples given in _Cambridge andHunts Arch. Soc_. , i (1904), 330 ff. We are here told that duringElizabeth's reign at least twelve commissions for concealed lands weresent down into Cambridgeshire (p. 332). See also _ibid_. , 370 ff. Fora sale of forfeited lands to Jones and Grey in 1569. The list of landsis very long and only a sample of many such. For attacks (1587) on AllSaints, Derby, lands, whose revenues went to church repairs, etc. , seeJ. C. Cox and W. H. St. J. Hope, _Chronicles of All Saints, Derby_(1881). For informers involving Lapworth, Warwick, in a suit about itsparish lands see Robt. Hudson, _Memorials of a Warwickshire Parish_(1904), 104. The churchwardens acc'ts occasionally allude to theQueen's commissioners, _e. G_. , the Great Witchingham Acc'ts, wherethey are dubbed by the right name: "for my expenses when I was beforethe quenes inquisitors for lands and goods" (1559). _Norf. And Norw. Arch. Soc_. , xiii, 207. 

[204] Jas. Copeman in _Norf. And Norw. Arch. Soc_. , ii (1849), 64. TheLoddon Acc'ts cover the period 1554-1847, some of the donations, orendowments, being made in the 16th and some in the 17thcenturies. 

[205] Robt. Dymond in _Devon Assoc. For Advanc. Of Science_ (etc. )_Tr_. , xiv (1882), 407. These acc'ts run from 1425-1590. For a list ofparish properties in 1565, see pp. 460-1. Their yearly rent thenamounted to £9 14s. 2d. 

[206] Sam'l Barfield, _Thatcham, Berks, and its Manors_ (1901), i. 121. 

[207] R. W. Goulding, _Records of the Charity known as Blanchminster'sCharity, Stratton_ (1898), 64-5. 

[208] In 1562 it is said to have contained only 48 families. JohnAmphlett, _Churchwardens Acc'ts of St. Michael's in Bedwardine_ (ed. For _Worcester Hist. Soc_. , 1898), introd. , p. Iii. 

[209] _Op. Cit_. , 142-3. See _ibid_. , and for the year named, thereceipts from these properties. Thus £4 is paid for one and a halfyears' rental of parish land lying in Severn Stoke parish; 44s. Fortwo years' rent of parish houses in St. Peter's parish, Worcestercity, etc. 

[210] _Op. Cit_. , pp. Xxx-i. 

[211] Hudson, _Memorials_, etc. , 85 ff. Consult Mr. Hudson's map ofthe parish lands. 

[212] _Notes and Queries for Somer. And Dorset_, v (1897), 94. 

[213] _Somerset Arch. And Nat. Hist. Soc. Tr_. , xxiii, Mr. Pearson'sintrod. , p. Iii, and _op. Cit_. , vol. Xxvi, 106-9. Cf. A. G. Legge, _North Elmham_, Norfolk, _Acc'ts_ (1891), 5-6 (Long list of landsmanaged by wardens in 1549). Also J. H. Butcher, _The Parish ofAshburton_ (Devon), 49 (1580). Owen and Blakeway, _Hist. OfShrewsbury_, ii, 342 (St. Mary's parish lands with 32 tenants andrental of £6. 7s. 8d. In 1544. The churchwardens were here called"Lady Wardens" as managing the "Rentall of our Lady"). 

[214] _St. Michael's Acc'ts, op. Cit_. , vol. Xxvi, 129. The wardens ofthis parish record among their expenditures many items for the repairof the parish tenements and other property. In early times theyreceived 12d. As a salary for management. Later this was changed intoan honorarium of varying amount "_pro bono servicio suo. " Op. Cit_. , vol. Xxiii, intro. , p. Ii. 

[215] Thus at Lapworth, Warwickshire, a trust of parish lands wasre-created in 1563 with twenty-two feoffees; and one Collet in 1567enfeoffed seventeen men of a field of only three acres, fourteenperches, to parish uses. Hudson, _Memorials_ (etc. ), 85-6. 

[216] _E. G. _, the Grasswardens of St. Giles, Durham, who managed thecommon lands of the parish, and accounted yearly for them. They madedisbursements for many parish expenses which elsewhere churchwardensusually paid out (_e. G_. , for bridges, houses of correction, poorprisoners, armor and musters), yet were themselves distinct from thechurchwardens. See _Surtees Soc_. , xcv, I ff. Cf. The bridge wardensof Loughborough, Leicester (W. G. D. Fletcher, _Hist. Of L_. , 1883, pp. 40 ff). Also the townwardens of Melton Mowbray, _Leicester Archit_. (etc. ) _Soc_. , iii, 61-2, _note_. 

[217] Hudson, _Memorials_, etc. , 88. 

[218] That is (apparently) holdings returning £4 of rent annually. 

[219] Pasture. 

[220] _Surtees Soc_. , lxxxiv, 15. 

[221] Editor's (Mr. Barmby's) introd. , _ibid_. , 4. 

[222] (Dean) G. W. Kitchen, The Manor of Manydown, _Hants Rec. Soc_. , 1895, 171. For other examples both of parish cows and sheep: see Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 221 (40 parish sheep of Billericay, Essex, for therelief of the poor. 1599). Littleton, Worcestersh. Acc'ts, _MidlandAntiquary_, i (1883), 107 (Purchase of cow for parish in 1556). _Ibid_. , 108 (Wintering of a church heifer). Morton, Derbysh. , Acc'ts, _The Reliquary_, xxv, 17 (Same as above. 1593). Owen & Blakeway, _Hist. Of Shrewsbury_, ii, 342 (St. Mary's had in 1544 ten cows andthree sheep renting for £1 1s. 8d. Yearly). Rotherfield Acc'ts, _Sussex Arch. Coll_. , xli, 26, 46. St. Michael's, Bath, Acc'ts, _Somerset Arch_. (etc. ) _Soc_. , xxiii, introd. , _et passim_. GreatWitchingham, _Norf. And Norw. Arch. Soc_. , xiii, 207 (Cows in 1604). Hartland, Devon, Acc'ts, _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep_. , v, Pt. I (1876), 573a(Custom _circa_ 1601 for poor to leave sheep to church by will). Hudson, _Memorials_, etc. , 106-10 (Parish meeting about renting out ofcows. Surety bonds given by hirers in 1580 ff. ). Many other exampleswill be found in the wardens acc'ts and elsewhere. 

[223] See Hudson, _op. Cit. , supra_, 106. In 1595 two cows werebequeathed to Lapworth to be rented out at 20 d. Yearly. The proceedsof one to mend a certain parish road, of the other to supportthe poor (_ibid_. , 109). 

[224] Art. Xxv, Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 189 ff. So in the VisitationArticles of the same year (_ibid_. , 213) we read: "Item, whether themoney coming and rising of any cattle or other movable stocks of thechurch [etc. ] ... Have not been employed to the poor men's chest. "

[225] In North Elmham the term "office land" seems to have been usedfor lands set apart for the remuneration of parish servants. See A. G. Legge, _North Elmham Acc'ts_, 81, _s. A. _ 1566: "It[e]m for office Landof the ten[emen]te fost[er] ... Vij d. " Cf. Mr. Legge's _note_ (p. 129). He cites other examples in Norfolk parishes, viz. , "ConstableAcre" in Stuston, "Constable Pasture" in Fralingham, "Dog Whipper'sLand" in Barton Turf. Cf. J. L. Glasscock, _Records of BishopStortford_, 55 ("sexten's meade, " 1563). In an early year _temp_. Henry VIII one Jesop left two tenements to Mendlesham, Suffolk, "to yefyndyng of a clarke to pley att ye organys for a p[er]petuite. " _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep_. , v, Pt. I (1876), 596a. See also _Shrop. Arch. AndNat. Hist. Soc_. , iii, 3rd ser. (1903), 315 (26s. And 8d. And 12bushels of rye issuing annually out of Idsal rectory for thepoor and the maintenance of a clerk). E. Freshfield, _St. Christopher-le-Stocks' Acc'ts_, 38 (Bequest of a perpetuity of 20s. Annually for clerk and sexton. 1602). 

[226] Swyre, Dorset, Parish Acc't Book in _Notes and Quer. For Somer. And Dorset_, iii (1893), 293 (Lands allotted by parish for support ofa blind man). 

[227] _E. G. , St. Christopher-le-Stocks' Acc'ts_, 38 (Yearly perpetuityof £3 4s. In bread and money to poor. 1602). _St. Michael's inBedwardine Acc'ts_, 99 (House left to parish, 12s. Of whose rental togo to poor, and 1s. To the churchwardens. 1590). 

[228] Butcher, _Parish of Ashburton_, 46 (Land given to buy shirts andsmocks for the poor. 1575). 

[229] T. P. Wadley, _Notes on Bristol Wills_ (1886), 230 (£20 for astock of money to remain for ever "in the howse of correction" for themaintenance and "settinge on work of such people as shalbe therevntoco[m]mitted for their mysdemeanors. " _Thos. Kelke's will_. 1583). 

[230] _Wills and Inventories_, Pt. Ii, _Surtees Soc_. , xxxviii, 83(Keyper school of Houghton and its endowment of £240. 1582). 

[231] Examples among many are the Edenbridge, Kent, lands. Thesebridgewardens held lands in three parishes. _Arch. Cant_. , xxi (1895), 110 ff. Also Burton's Charity lands at Loughborough. The"bridgmasteres" here in 1570 collected £33 18s. 6d. , and disbursed £1612s. 11d. Fletcher, _Hist. Of Loughborough_, 41-2. Also Hayward bridgelands, _Notes and Quer. For Somer. And Dorset_, iv (1895), 205-7. 

[232] Legge, _North Elmham Acc'ts_, 87-90. So too at Eltham, Kent, where the "Fifetene peny Lands" have special wardens who account fortheir revenue. _Archaeologia_, xxxiv, 51 ff. 

[233] _Statutes of the Realm_, iv, Pt. Ii, 968-9. 

[234] Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 189 ff. 

[235] Dr. Pilkington's will, _Surtees Soc_. , xxii, Append. , p. Cxxxviii. For a few other examples of bequests for parish utilitiessee _ibid_. , p. Ciii (George Reyd's will, 1559). _Ibid_. , p. Cx ff. (William Birche's will of 1575 in which are many bequests to poorartificers, to prisoners--a very frequent bequest--to "needfull briggsor highe waies, " etc. ). See also _Benefactions to Dorset Parishes, Churches_, etc. , in _Notes and Quer. For Somer. And Dorset_, x, 164ff. Also T. P. Wadley, _Notes on Bristol Wills, passim (e. G_. , Thos. Kelke's will of 1583, on p. 230. He leaves £13 to Newgate prisoners, afrieze gown to 12 women and 12 men--a frequent bequest--6s. 8d. Eachto 52 poor maidens for their marriage, etc. ). Also _Wills andInventories, Surtees Soc_. , xxxviii, Pt. Ii, _passim_. Surrey Wills in_Surrey Arch. Coll_. , x (1891), _passim_. 

[236] _The crie of the poore for the death of the right HonourableEarle of Huntington_ (printed 1596), Joseph Lilly, _A Collection ofSeventy-Nine Black-Letter Ballads and Broadsides_, 1559-1597 (1870), 230. 

[237] _Ibid_. , 263. 

[238] _The poore people's complaynt, Bewayling the death of theirfamous benefactor, the worthy Earle of Bedford_ (Died 1585). Bedfordwas described as "a person of such great hospitality that QueenElizabeth was wont to say of him that he made all the beggars. " Clark, _Shirburn Ballads_, 256. 

[239] J. C. Cox, _Three Centuries of Derbyshire Annals_, i, 136. 

[240] E. Freshfield, _St. Bartholomew, Exchange, Acc'ts, s. A_. 1598, _et passim_. Freshfield, _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Book_, 32(1595). _St. Margaret's, Westminster, Overseers' Acc'ts_ in _TheWestminster Tobacco Box_, Pt. Ii (1887), _e. G. , s. A_. 1572-3, where wefind donations from Lord Burghley, the Lord Chief Justice, the Dean ofWestminster, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Hertford, etc. 

[241] Though by 37 Hen. VIII c. 9, sec. 3 (_Stats. Of Realm_, iii, 996) interest up to 10 per cent. Per annum was permitted, all interestwas prohibited by the 5 & 6 Ed. VI, c. 20, sec. 2 (_Stats. Of Realm_, iv, Pt. I, 155). Interest is here dubbed usury, "a vice most odyousand detestable. " Interest up to 10 per cent. Was, however, again madelawful by the 13 Eliz. C. 8, sec. 4 (_Stats. Of Realm_, iv, Pt. I, 542) which, however, stigmatizes usury as sinful. 

[242] Examples are, _Vestry Minutes of St. Margaret, Lothbury_, 32(Gift of £20 in 1595 to be employed in wood and coal for the use ofthe poor. A committee of four was appointed to invest and make sales. See their account for 1596, p. 34). _The Westminster Tobacco Box_, Pt. Ii, 22 (One of the overseers of St. Margaret's to keep a gift of £42"untill the same may be bestowed upon somme good bargaine as a leaseor somme other such like commoditie w[hi]ch may yeelde a yerely renteto the pore. " 1578). Cf. _St. Bartholomew, Exchange, Acc'ts Books_, 3ff. , where in 1598, and regularly in subsequent years, appears theitem: "Alowed to this account for the geft of the Lady Wilfordes xx lifor the pore xx[s]. " Also another item, likewise of 20s. Yearly, onMr. Nutmaker's £20--in other words, 10 per cent. In each case everyyear. Cf. Jas. Stockdale, _Annals of Cartmel_ (Lancashire, pub. 1872), 37-8 (£65 6s. , money belonging to Cartmel grammar school "placed" inthe hands of various persons, some of whom give pledges, othersmortgages, for repayment. The revenue from this is £6 10s. 7d. , _i. E. _, 10 per cent. In 1598). In 1613, in allowing the overseer'saccounts of Swyre, Dorset, the local justices indorse: "Upon thiscondition that from henceforth the overseers and Churchwardens doyearlie charge themselves with the some of xxs. For thuse of a stockeof xli [_i. E. _, 10 per cent. ] giuen to the poore by the testam[en]t ofJames Rawlinge. " The practice above illustrated is simply thatenjoined by 18 Eliz. C. 3, amended and completed by 39 Eliz. C. 3 and43 Eliz. C. 2, with an object of making the poor administrationself-supporting as far as might be. The fact that Elizabethan poorlaws were based on the best-approved parish customs made themperdurable. For a model administration of parish stock according tothe poor laws see the Cowden Overseers Acc'ts, _Sussex Arch. Coll_. , xx, 95 ff. (1599 ff. ). 

[243] _E. G. _, in St. Michael's in Bedwardine (_Acc'ts_ ed. JohnAmphlett) one Stanton left 50s. To the poor in 1588 (_Acc'ts_, p. 97-8). Robt. Chadbourne paid 5s. For the use of this money for severalyears (_Acc'ts_, p. 108, etc. ). It then was loaned to John Brayne, anentry being made from time to time that the principal was owing aswell as the interest (_Acc'ts_ p. 108). Brayne paid the 50s. To thewardens in Sept. , 1595. Cf. Preceding note (Cartmel school money). 

[244] _St. Michael's in Bedwardine Acc'ts, supra, 96_ (One Fletcherloaned 30s. In 1586, he depositing with the wardens "a gilt salt witha cover"). For numerous gratuitous loans of parish money, see the MereAcc'ts, _Wilts Arch. And Nat. Hist. Mag_. , xxxv (1907), _passim_. Cf. Also the document of 1586 relating to the parish of Heavitree, in_Devon Notes and Quer_. , i (1901), 61, where it is stipulated (_interalia_) that if any parishioner of good character upon reasonable causeshall desire to borrow from any surplus funds of the church for aseason, "such a one shall not be denyed. "

[245] See _Wilts Arch. Mag_. , xxxv. Cf. J. E. Foster, _St. Mary theGreat_ (Cambridge) _Acc'ts_ (1905), 208. 

[246] In 1564 the parishioners of Chagford, Devon, bought from thelord of the manor for £10 the local markets and fairs, subject to ayearly rent of 16s. , which they had always paid as tenants. They thenrepaired and enlarged the market house. Presumably their venture was aprofitable one, for in 1595 the revenue from these markets and fairswas £3 10s. G. W. Ormerod in _Devon Assoc. For Adv. Of Science_, etc. , viii (1876), 72. Same, _Local Information reprinted from the ChagfordParish Mag_. (1867) in _Topographical Tracts_ in Brit. Mus. As it wassometimes hard for the authorities to prevent the churchwardens fromutilizing the church for plays, so it was hard for them to keep thewardens from giving up the churchyard or outlying portions of thechurch structure for fairs and stall-holders. In Herts Co. Rec. Quarter Sess. Rolls (ed. W. J. Hardy, 1905), p. 13, we read, _s. A_. 1591-2, that a presentment was made that some part of the "fayer ofStarford has usually been kept within the compase of the churchyard. "See also _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_ (ed. H. J. F. Swayne, _Wilts Rec. Soc_. 1896), introd. , p. Xxiii (St. Edmund's fairheld within and without the churchyard. Wardens receipts fromcheesesellers, butchers, etc. , for stalls and standings). 

[247] As late as 1633 the bishop of Bath and Wells could write toArchbishop Laud: "I finde that by Church-ales hertofore many pooreParishes have cast their Bells, repaired their Towers, beautifiedtheir Churches, and raised stocks for the poore. " Wm. Prynne, _Canterburies' Doome_, etc. (1646), 151. Cf. Philip Stubbes, _Anatomieof Abuses_ (4th ed. , 1595), 110-11. _Spudeus:_ "But, I pray you, howdo they bestow that money which is got thereby?" [_i. E. _, bychurch-ales]. _Philopomus:_ "Oh well, I warrant you, if all be truewhich they say; for they repaire their Churches and Chappels with it;they buy bookes for service, Cuppes for the celebration of theSacrament, Surplesses for Sir John [_i. E. _, the parson], and suchother necessaries. And they maintaine other extraordinarie charges intheir Parishes besides. "

[248] Bath and Wells to Canterbury, Prynne, _supra, loc. Cit_. In 1536at Morebath, Devon, the parish agreed that the clerk should gather his"hire meat" (_i. E. _, so much corn of each one) at Easter, "& then yep[a]rysse schall helpe to drenke him a coste of ale yn ye churchehowse. " J. E. Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_ (1904), 86. When in 1651 at St. Thomas', Salisbury, clerk-ales were abolished, "both the clerk andsexton claimed compensation for the loss of income sustained. " Thesame was true of St. Edmunds' (in the same city) in 1697. Swayne, _St. Edmund and St. Thomas Acc'ts_, introd. , p. Xvii. 

[249] Stubbes, _Anatomie_, etc. , 110. The above account of church-aleshas been derived partly from Stubbes and from a curious littlepamphlet, edited by Rev. Fredk. Brown in 1883, entitled _On some StarChamber Proceedings_, 34 _Eliz_. 1592; partly, also, from manychurchwardens acc'ts, in particular the Seal Acc'ts in _Surrey Arch. Coll_. , ii (1864), 34-6 (See items in detail for the ale of 1592, andespecially the ale of 1611. Expenses for all manner of provisions anddelicacies, for minstrels and evidently, too, for a play occur. In1611 the festivities lasted at least 5 days). Cf. , too, the _Expensesof the Maye Feast_ at Dunmow in 1538 (Cooks, minstrels and playersmentioned), _Essex Arch. Soc_. , ii, 230. Also Kitchen, _Manor ofManydown_, 172-3 (Lists of delicacies provided at the Wootton ale in1600. Expense items for lords' and ladies' liveries, players, etc. )

[250] The Parish of Chagford in _Devon Ass. For Adv. Of Science_, viii, 74. 

[251] _Wilts Arch. Mag_. , xxxv (1907), Mere Acc'ts, 30. These havebeen transcribed verbatim by Mr. T. H. Baker. 

[252] _Op. Cit_. Because of greatly increased expenses the wardenshere thenceforth resorted to collections according to a book of rates. They also devised other means of income, such as parish burial fees, collections for the holy loaf (_i. E. _, blessed but not consecratedbread), etc. This casting about for new sources of revenue wascharacteristic of all parishes as the reign advanced. 

[253] _Op. Cit_. , 26. 

[254] _Op. Cit_. , 92. 

[255] In 1605 and 1606, doubtless to meet some extraordinary expenses, the Mere wardens roused themselves to great efforts at theirchurch-ale, and netted £15 6s. , and £20 respectively. Sir Rich. ColtHoare, _Hist. Of Modern Wiltshire_ (1822), i, 21. 

[256] Kitchen, _Manor of Manydown_, 174. At this ale there were sixtables and the receipts from each were tabulated separately. For otherlarge receipts see the Wing, Bucks, Acc'ts, _Archaeologia_, xxxvi, 219ff. In 1598 the ale here yielded £9 16s. 4d. At Morebath, a small andpoor parish, an ale had produced £10 13s. 5d. In 1529. But thereceipts from this source fell off here in Elizabeth's time. AtStratton, Cornwall, up to 1547, at any rate, if not later, ales werethe chief source of income. _Archaeologia_, xlvi, 195-6. 

[257] _Devon Notes and Quer_. , iii (1905), 224. Cf. The Young MenWardens' ales at Morebath (Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_, 213 [1573], _etpassim_). Also St. Anthony's Gild ales at Chagford. _Devon Ass. ForAdv. Of Science_, viii, 74 (1599). Various persons at Milton Abbotsold ale and bread. _Op. Cit_. , vol. Xi (1879), 218. 

[258] _Notes and Quer. For Somer. And Dorset_, v (1897), 48. The sameyear in these acc'ts we find three conduit wardens mentioned. Theseare to have "the assistance of William Ellis plomer [plumber]. " Of themit is also determined that they "do kepe an alle for the comodetie ofthe [Transcriber's note: WORD ILLEGIBLE] dytts in the sayd Towne tobe kept abowts the tyme of Shrofftyde, " [Transcriber's note: WORD(S)ILLEGIBLE] just before Lent. 

[259] Butcher, _The Parish of Ashburton_, 41. It would seem that therewere special wardens here for ale drawing. (See p. 44 [1570-1]. )

[260] _Archaeologia_, xxxvi, 235. 

[261] "And because John Watts hath ben long sick, hit is agreed thatif hee be not able to s[e]rve at the tyme of the Church ale, That thenJohn Coward ... Shall s[e]rve and be king in his place for thisyeare. " Mere Acc'ts (_Wilts Arch. Mag. , l. C_. , 34) _s. A. _ 1561. Cf. J. H. Matthews, _History of St. Ives_ (1892), 144, _et passim_. 

[262] Bishop Hobhouse, _Churchwdn's Acc'ts of Croscombe, Pilton_, etc. , _Somerset Rec. Soc_. , iv (1890), 80, where he says: "The[Yatton] wardens attended these festivals at Ken, Kingston, Wrington, Congresbury, etc. , with more or less regularity, making theircontributions, commonly xijd. In the name of the parish and at thecost of the parish ... " Cf. _Morebath Acc'ts_ (ed. Binney), 224: "Itthere was payd a trinite Sonday at the Churche ale at Bawnton[Bampton] for John Skynner ... Xjd. " (1565). Mere Acc'ts (_Wilts Arch. Mag_. ), 60: "Item paied for bread and drink to make the Sum[m]er Lordof Gillingham Drink ... Ijs. Vjd. " (1578-9). T. Nash, _Hist. AndAntiq. Of Worcestershire_, ii, appen. , p. Xxix (Halesowen Acc'ts:"Paid when we went to Frankley to the church ale 20d. "). 

[263] See the precedents given for the Western Circuit in Prynne, _Canterburies' Doome_, 152. Cf. Also, _ibid_. , 128 ff. That these alesdied hard in Devon and Somerset is seen by the repeated judicialorders. See also J. W. Willis Bund, _Social Life in Worcestershireillustrated by the Quarter Sess. Rec_. In _Assoc. Archit. Soc_. , xxiii, Pt. Ii (1897), 373-4 (1617). A. H. Hamilton, _Quarter Sessionsfrom Elisabeth to Anne_ (1878), 28-9. Harrison, _Descrip. Of Engl_. , Bk. Ii, New Shak. Soc. , 32. Saml. Barfield, _Thatcham, Berks, and itsManors_, ii, 105 (Wardens Acc'ts 1598-9: "Item wee were bounde over byMr. Dolman, Justice, to appeare at Reading Assizes, where it cost T.. L.. And R.. C.. Conserning our business wee kept at Whitsuntide xvs. Apece, somme xxxs. ")

[264] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 149 (Hornchurch wardens bringing playersinto church. 1566). _Ibid_. , 156 ("Tromperie" and "paynted stuff forplayes in the chefe parte of the [Rayleigh] church. " 1574). _Ibid_. , 158 (Two plays in Romford Chapel by "comon players. " Wardens plead inextenuation that proceeds went to "a poore man in decay. " 1577). Leverton, Lincolnshire, Acc'ts, _Archæologia_, xli, 333 ff. (Severalexamples of plays in the church. 1579-95). 

[265] In the Chelmsford Acc'ts, _Essex Arch. Soc_. , ii, 225-6 (1562), is a most interesting inventory showing an elaborate stage outfit. That it was used for miracle plays is seen on p. 227 (" Cotte oflether for Christe, " and "lyne for the clowdes, " etc. ). From varioustowns the Chelmsford men received in 1563, and subsequently, largesums for the hire of these properties, e. G. , £3 6s. 8d. From"Starford" (Bishop Stortford?); 43s. 4d. From Colchester. 

[266] Examples are Thos. North, _St. Martin's, Leicester, Acc'ts_(1884), 80 (Children's morris-dance. 1558-9). Ibid. , 85 (Robin Hoodplay). St. Helen, Abingdon, Acc'ts, _Archæologia_, i (2d ed. ), 15(1560). J. H. Baker, _Notes on St. Martin's_ (Salisbury) _Church andParish_ (1906), Wardens Acc'ts, 153 (Whitsun dance in 1588 yielding13s. 4d. ). _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, introd. , p. Xvii. Also both acc'ts, _passim_ ("Feast of Hokkes, " "Childrensdaunse. " At St. Edmund's £3 12s. Collected in 1581 [p. 131]; at St. Thomas' same year £3 6s. 8d. [p. 291]). T. N. & A. S. Garry, _St. Mary, Reading, Acc'ts_ (1893), 28-9, et passim (Whitsuntide and Hocktidemoney here drop out as early as 1575. There was also here a Christmasgathering). 

[267] Examples: Wandsworth Acc'ts in _Surrey Arch. Coll_. , xvii(1902), 158 (1567-8). John Nichols, _Illustrations of the Manners etc. Of Antient Times_ (1707) (Great Marlow, Bucks, Acc'ts, 135. 1612), etc. 

[268] _Wilts Arch_. (etc. ) _Mag. , loc. Cit_. (Mere Acc'ts: brasscrocks in inventory of 1584). Chagford Acc'ts in _Devon Ass_. (etc. ), 74. Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_, 132. A. E. W. Marsh, _History of Caine_, 368 (Church furnace, 1529. Wardens expenditures for sowing churchlands, mowing them, and carrying the corn and storing it in thechurch-house). _The Antiquary_, xvii, 169 (Stanford, Berks, Acc'ts, _s. A. _ 1569: laying corn in church-house, and making malt there). _Morebath Acc'ts_, 132 (Spits put up in the church-house). 

[269] Morebath Acc'ts, 142 (Church stock-taking), Mere Acc'ts _(WiltsArch_. (etc. ) _Mag. Loc. Cit_. ), 32, 37, 54, etc. Chelmsford Acc'ts, 217 ("xv dozen pewter & ix peces, " and rent of it owing to church. 1560). 

[270] St. John's, Glastonbury, Acc'ts, _N. And Q. For Som. And Dor_. , v, 94, _s. A. _ 1588 (Selling ale in church-house). Tintinhull Acc'ts, _Somer. Rec. Soc_. , iv, p. Xxii ("The chief source of income[church-house] at T[intinhull] and elsewhere to the end of the 16thCentury, ") Stratton Acc'ts, _Arch_. , xlvi, 198. _Bristol and Glouc. Arch. Soc. Tr_. , vii (1882-3), 108 (Tenement donated 1532 toNorthleach known as "the Churche Taverne. " It was rented out, but onthe condition that the lessee should "permit the towne to have the useof the same one month at Whitsontyde"). Of the Stratton church-housewe are told that men were fined (in 1541) for drinking ale there, because the drinking was not for the profit of the parish. _Arch. , loc. Cit. , supra_. 

[271] _Stanford Acc'ts, loc. Cit. , s. A_. 1595. _Stratton Acc'ts, loc. Cit_. , 198. 

[272] Thus at Calne (Wilts) in 1574-5 no church-ale was had, but agathering in lieu of it was made from the parishioners. Ales andcollections thenceforward alternated here, until church rates wereestablished. Marsh, _History of Calne_, 372. 

[273] See, _e. G_. , Thos. North, _St. Martin's Leicester, Acc'ts_, 98, where the times of collection are named. 

[274] See, among others, Ludlow Acc'ts, _Shrop. Archit_. (etc. )_Soc_. , iii, 127 (1567), where the name occurs. Also St. Edmund's, Sarum, Acc'ts, _Wilts Rec. Soc_. For 1896, p. 141 (1592). 

[275] _E. G. _, at St. Edmund's, Sarum, or at St. Martin's, Leicester. 

[276] See, _e. G_. , J. E. Foster, _St. Mary the Great_ (Cambridge)_Acc'ts_, 148 ff. Offerings of the masters of arts and of thebachelors form a distinct feature here. 

[277] See pp. 41 ff. And 59 _supra_. In the _Morebath Acc'ts_ (ed. J. E. Binney, p. 178) we read, _s. A. _ 1553-4, as a heading to thereceipt items: "Now to pay y'e forsayd dettis & demawndis y'e schallhyre of all our resettis y't we have resseuyed, & how gentylly for y'emoste p[ar]te men have payd of there owne devoc[i]on w[i]t[h] out onytaxyn or ratyng as y'e schall hyre here after. " Then follows a list of30 names. There is evidently some sort of rough assessment here, _e. G_. , Nicholas at Hayne pays 4s. 9d. , "consyderyng hys bothebargayns" _(i. E_. , small farms). Cf. _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, p. Xviii and p. 317. 

[278] Five years later, the vicar dead, the clerk was ordered toassist the wardens in receiving the 'paskall pence' whether paid atEaster or at any other time of communion. Hill and Frere, _Memorialsof Stepney Parish_, 4-5 and 13-14. 

[279] Ordered by St. Edmund's, Sarum, vestry in 1628: "that the breadand wyne for the Communion shalbe paid for by the auncyennt paymenttof the halfepence, and yf it shall com[e] to more ... Jt shalbesupplied out of the rest of the mony given after the Co[m]munion. "_St. Edmund and St. Thomas Acc'ts (Wilts Rec. Soc. )_, 187. 

[280] These levies were 2-1/2d. On each householder at St. Margaret, Lothbury, London; 3d. A house at St. Lawrence Pountney, London(_History of St. Laurence Pountney_, by H. B. Wilson [1831], 125 ff. ). Etc. At Salehurst, Sussex, the fee was 1d. A poll yearly, heads ofhouseholds being empowered in 1585 to abate that sum from theirservants' wages: _Sussex Arch. Coll_. , xxv, 154. At Pittington, Durham, landlords were to answer for their cottagers for a yearly feeof 2d. : _Surtees Soc_. , lxxxiv, 29 (1590). Cf. _ibid_. , Houghton-Le-Spring Acc'ts, 269. Leverton, Lincoln, Acc'ts, _Archæologia_, xli, 368 (A penny a poll for the elements. 1612). Inthe Abbey Parish Church Estate Acc'ts, Shrewsbury, every "gentleman"is to pay 6d. Yearly to the wardens for bread and wine; "the secondsorte" of the parishioners 4d. Each; "the third or weaker sorte, " each2d. : _Shrop. Arch. Soc_. , i, 65 (1603). 

[281] See Great Yarmouth Acc'ts, _East Anglian_, iv (1892), 67 ff. (Anitem for purchase of 1000 tokens. 1613-14). Also _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Minute Books_, 14 (1584). Also _Archæologia Eeliana_, xix (1898), 44 (Ryton, Durham, Book of Easter offerings. 1595). 

[282] _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, 288 (Muscatel andclaret). _Abbey Parish Church Estate Acc'ts_, 62 (same). _St. Martin's, Leicester, Acc'ts_ (ed. Thos. North), 100 (Malmsey andclaret). 

[283] Rubric § 144 of the First Edwardine Prayer Book directs that asministers are to find the elements, the congregations are tocontribute every Sunday at the time of the offertory the just value ofthe holy loaf. See E. Freshfield, _St. Christopher-le-Stocks VestryMinute Book_, p. Vii, _et passim_. Stanford, Berks, Acc'ts, _Antiquary_, xvii, _s. A. _ 1582 (2d. Collected every Sunday for holyloaf). Mere Acc'ts (_Wilts Arch_. (etc. ) _Mag_. , xxxv, 38), _s. A. _1568, _et passim_. 

[284] J. V. Kitto, _St. Martin's-in-the-Fields_ (London) _Acc'ts_, append. D. , Vestry Order of 1590. Parish order of Salehurst (1582), _Sussex Arch. Coll_. , xxv, 153. St. Margaret's, Westminster, OverseersAcc'ts in _Westminster Tobacco Box_, Pt. Ii, 18 (1566). 

[285] _E. G. _, at St. Laurence Pountney, London, the "clerk's wages"amounted in 1598 to nearly £30 in the wardens receipt items, but inthe expense items to £8 plus various dues for lighting, bell-ringingand church-linen washing, in all £12 12s. Wilson, _History of St. Laurence_, 125. In the _St. Christopher-le-Stocks Acc'ts_ (ed. E. Freshfield), p. 4, the receipts in 1576 for "Clarkes wagis" are £9 6s. 5d. , but we read: "Pd. To J. M. Clarke his whole yeares wagis [etc. ]... Iij li. " In _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Minutes_ (p. 13) itwas decided in 1581 to raise the "clarkes rolle" to £8 a year, butexpressly stated that the clerk is to be paid as before, "but That[the] overplus Shall remayn For astocke to the churche to beare owttsuch charges as shalbe nessesarye for the same. " In _St. Bartholomew, Exchange, Vestry Minutes_ (ed. E. Freshfield) in 1583 it is agreed (p. 27) that the clerk is to pay out of his wages the statutory assessmentof 2d. Weekly on the parish for maimed soldiers and mariners. Samestipulation at St. Alphage's, London Wall: G. B. Hall, _Records of St. Alphage_ (1882), 25 (1594). 

[286] _St. Mary, Reading, Acc'ts_ (ed. F. N. & A. G. Garry), p. 56. 

[287] Hill and Frere, _Memorials of Stepney_, 1-3 (1580). Later, 1606(p. 50), the same method was employed to pay debts for casting thebells. Those not paying their assessments were to be deprived of theirseats (p. 4). Other examples of raising money by pew rents areButcher, _Parish of Ashburton_, 49 (£6 4s. Collected "for the seatrent". 1579-80). _St. Christopher-le-Stocks Vestry Minutes_, 71(Clerk's wages to be "sessed by the pyews"). 

[288] Baker, _Mere Acc'ts (Wilts Arch_, [etc. ] _Mag_. ), 33 (12d. Forseats for a man and his wife, "which before were his ffather's. "1561). In a sale to a parishioner in 1556-7 it is expressly statedthat she is to hold the seat during "here lyfe Accordynge to the oldusage of the parishe": _ibid_. , 24. At St. Edmund's, Sarum, the salewas sometimes for life, sometimes for a lesser period. A fine was paidfor changing a pew, _Introd_. , p. Xxi. Cf. Order made at Chelmsford in1592, _Essex Arch. Soc_. , ii, 219-20. See in St. John's, Glastonbury, Acc'ts, _Notes and Quer. For Somer. And Dor_. , iv, 384, _s. A. _ 1574, and _op. Cit_. , v, _s. A. _ 1588, many receipts from the sale of seats. Cf. Pittington Vestry order, 1584, _Surtees Soc_. , lxxxiv, 13. _St. Michael's in Bedwardine Acc'ts_, Introd. , p. Xvi. Fletcher, _Historyof Loughborough_, Acc'ts, 24 ff. 

[289] See, _e. G_. , in _St. Martin-in-the-Fields Acc'ts_, 214, the longlist of receipts "for burialls, knylles and Suche Lyke, " _s. Aa_. 1563-5. At St. Edmund, Sarum, burials with christenings and bannsnetted £8 5s. 2d. In 1592-3 (_Acc'ts_, 141). At Kingston-upon-Thamesin 1579 burials totalled 39s. 8d. : _Surrey Arch. Coll_. , viii, 75. In_St. Michael's, Cornhill_, London, _Acc'ts_ (ed. W. H. Overall & A. J. Waterlow), 178-9, the receipts from knells and peals alone were 44s. 8d. In 1589-90. 

[290] J. V. Kitto, _St. Martin-in-the-Fields Acc'ts_ (1901), 106, _note_. 

[291] One of the most systematic tariffs I know of is that of St. Alphage, London Wall (G. B. Hall, _Records of St. A_. , 28-30) drawn upin 1613. First there are _The Parson's dutyes for Parishioners_, forbann-askings, weddings, churchings, etc. , as well as a percentage onofferings. Then the burial fees due him, without or with a coffin, inchurchyard or in church, etc. Then comes the heading, _The dutyesbelonging to the Parrish for Parrishioners_, a catalogue of fees forburial under various conditions. Then follow _The Parrishe's dutyesfor the Bells_ (knells, peals, with small or large bells). Finally, _The Clarke his dutyes for Parishioners_ (Bann-askings, weddings, churchings, grave digging, tolling the bells for funerals in variousways, and on specified occasions, etc. ). All the above fees aredoubled in case of non-parishioners. See also the Salehurst tariff of1597, most comprehensive and minute also: _Sussex Arch. Coll_. , xxv, 154-5. Also parish order in _St. Martin's, Leicester, Acc'ts_ (ed. Thos. North), 19 and 128, _s. Aa_. 1570-1 and 1584-5, as to duties forbells. These are regulated according to the rank of the person. _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Min. , 2_ (Order regulating fees for"weddinges, cristeings, churchinges and berrialls" of 1571). See alsothe tariff of St. Edmund, Sarum (_Acc'ts_, 194), of 1608. 

For receipt items for palls in the acc'ts, see _St. Martin's-in-the-Fields Acc'ts_, 317 (1580), where "best cloth" nets20d. On each occasion, the "worst" but 2d. See also Stepney vestryregulation of 1602 concerning fees to be paid for palls: _Memorials ofStepney_, 41-2. 

For expenses for making parish coffins see _St. Martin's-in-the-FieldsAcc'ts, s. A_. 1546. Cf. _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, introd. , p. Xx. _St. Helen, Bishopsgate, Acc'ts_ (ed. J. E. Cox), 103(Ordinance of 1564 that those buried within the church are to beconfined). Also the other acc'ts _supra_. At St. Edmund, Sarum, thewardens sold tombstones for the benefit of the parish (_Acc'ts_, 135. 1587-8). 

[292] _Memorials of Stepney_, 39-40. 

[293] See W. G. D. Fletcher, _Hist. Of Loughborough (Acc'ts)_, 24: anorder regulating fees for marriage peals in 1588. In _St. Edmund, Sarum, Acc'ts_, 127, are receipt items, being money turned over to thewardens by the sexton, for banns, christenings, etc. Cf. _Introd_. To_St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, p. Xix. Cf. Also _St. Laurence Pountney Acc'ts_ (Wilson, _Hist. Of St. L_. ), 124 (A marriageoffering going to the parish. 1582). Usually marriage and churchingdues went to minister and clerk (see tariffs, p. 221 _supra_). Chrisoms, _i. E. _, white robes put on children when baptized, and givenas an offering at churching, occasionally figure in the wardens'receipt items. See, _e. G_. , J. E. Foster, _St. Mary the Great_(Cambridge) _Acc'ts_, 156 (1565-7), _et passim. St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, 282 (Chrisoms farmed out by the parish in 1562-3. In 1567-8the value of the chrisom offerings is 40s. ). See _Introd_. To _St. Edmund and St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts_, p. Xix. 

[294] See p. 27 _supra_. Also p. 35 _supra_. 

[295] _Provision for the poore now in penurie Out of the Store-Houseof Gods plentie, Explained by_ H. A[rth], London, 1597 (Nopagination). "Wednesday suppers" refers to fasting nights appointed byproclamation or by statute. A not uncommon entry in the act-books is"no levy of the fyne of 12d. " See, _e. G. , Manchester Deanery Visit_. , 57, _et passim. Barnes' Eccles. Proc_. , 119, _et passim_. Hale, _Crim. Prec. , passim_. Cf. In _Bishop Stortford Acc'ts_ (J. L. Glasscock, _Rec. Of St. Michael, B. S_. ), 64, the rubric: "Rec. Of defaultes forabsence" (9 names follow, each for 12d. , except one for 3s. ). _Dean ofYork's Visit_. , 215 (Hayton wardens report to commissary that theyhave a small sum from absentees yet undistributed to the poor: "But itshalbe shortlie". 1570). 

[296] See examples in note 32, pp. 19 _supra_. 

[297] _Warrington Deanery Visit_. , 189 (Penance of three days standingin white sheet for fornication commuted--the offender "_humiliterpetens_"--to 13s. 4d. To be paid to vicar and wardens of Ormschurch tobe distributed to poor, etc. ). Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 232-3 (Commutationof a penance for having a bastard into £5 to be paid for the repair ofSt. Paul's, London, and also into 34s. 4d. To be paid to wardens ofHorndon-on-the-Hill for the poor. 1606). See also _Chelmsford Acc'ts_, 212 (20s. Received in 1560 "toward the pavynge of oure churche forpart of his penance"). _Abbey Parish Church Estate Acc'ts, s. A_. 1578(20s. Received for a "purgation" to go to parish poor and to church). 

[298] For some interesting receipt items see _The Westminster TobaccoBox_, Pt. Ii, _Overseers Acc'ts_, 18 ff. (Fines in 1569 from a playerbeating a drum in service time; for selling coals on Candlemas day;for selling wood on Sunday; for driving a cart on that day, etc. In1570 fines are received for retailing during service time, fromproceeds of forfeitures of pots and dishes, etc. , etc. ). WandsworthAcc'ts, _Surrey Arch. Coll_. , xviii, 146 (Receipts for 1599 from finesfor bricklaying on Sunday; for being in ale-house at service time--anumber). 

[299] See John Hawarde, _Les Reportes del Cases in Camera Stellata_. 1593-1609 ed. W. P. Baildon (1894), _passim. E. G_. , p. 91 (Offenderfined £10 to use of poor for not laying sufficient ground to hiscottages). _Ibid_. (Ed. Framingham, of Norfolk, fined £40 to use ofpoor for same offence. Oct. 14th, 1597). _Ibid_. , 71 (Council commenda justice of the peace for condemning a Wilts engrosser to sell hiscorn to the poor 8d. Under the price he paid for it). 

[300] Some examples taken from many are North, _St. Martin, Leicester, Acc'ts_, 119 (Agreement in 1571 by mayor and brethren to fine onerefusing to be warden for the first year 10s. To the use of thechurch). _Ibid_. , 142 (This fine raised in 1600 to 20s. ). _St. Edmundand St. Thomas, Sarum, Acc'ts, Introd_. , p. Xi, and _St. Edmund'sAcc'ts_, 121, 129. _Mere Acc'ts, 26_ (Parish order of 1556-7). _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Minutes_, 33 (An offer from a parishioner in 1595of £10 for church repair, "condicynellie that the parish wowlddispence with him for the church warden, Officers and cunstable... "). _Ibid_. , 36 and 45 (Two parishioners each pay £10, being exemptedthereafter "from all services as Constableshipp, Churchwarden, sydemen and any other offices whatsoever that the parish myght ... Hereafter Impose uppon them... ". 1607). _Memorials of Stepney_, 44(Fine for not attending vestry. 1602). _Clifton Antiq. Club_, i(1888), 198 (40d. Fine for absence from St. Stephen's, Bristol, vestry, 1524. For other fines, see _ibid_. ). _Clifton Antiq. Club_, i, 195 (Same fine for absence from St. Thomas', Bristol, vestry. 1579). _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Minutes, passim_ (Fines for not accounting ona certain day, and for not auditing accounts). 

[301] Examples are found in W. F. Cobb, _St. Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate_, London, _Acc'ts_, 5 (10s. Received ofa schoolmaster allowed to keep school in the belfry. 1589). _Ibid_. , same p. ("Receaved of the owte cryar for a quarters rente for settyngeof goodes at the churche doore ... Iiis. Iiijd... " 1585). The canonsof 1571 forbid this practice: "_Non patientur [sc_. The wardens] _utquisquam ex ... Istis ... Sordidis mercatoribus ... Quos ... Pedularios_ [peddlars] _appellant, proponant merces suas vel incoemeteriis vel in porticibus ecclesiarum_ [etc. ]... ", Cardwell, _Syn_. , i, 124. St. Michael's, Lewes, Acc'ts, _Sussex Arch. Coll_. , xlv (1902), 40, 60 ("Recd for sarttayn standyngs agaynst the chercheat Whytson fayar xvd. " 1588). Similar items to the last are found inmany accounts. See also _St. Mary the Great_, Cambridge, _Acc'ts_, 215(Receipt items "for the chirch style before his house"; for the rentof the "p[ar]ishe ground wherevpon his chymney standythe". 1588). _Ibid_. , 203 ("Yt ys also agreyd that goodman Tomson shall from henceforthe paye vnto the p[ar]yshe for hys byldynge into the Churche yarde12d. By the yeare. " 1584). 

[302] Thus in 1561 Kingston-upon-Thames church sold brushwood growingupon its land for £14 7s. 8d. : _Surrey Arch. Coll_. , viii, 77. In 1573the wardens of St. Michael's in Bedwardine _(Acc'ts_ ed. JohnAmphlett, p. 74) brought a suit for the value of eight trees sold toone Lode, alleging that the defendant had promised to pay the price"for the reparacions of the ... Church and reliff of the pore... "

[303] For the form and wording of such a licence see Parish Registersand Documents of Kingston-upon-Thames, etc. : _Surrey Arch. Coll_. , ii(1864), 92 (1591). The fee according to royal proclamation was 6s. 8d. : _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Vestry Minutes_, 9. For receipts fromthis source see _St. Ethelburga-within-Bishopsgate Acc'ts_, 5, _etpassim_, as well as the other London acc'ts already cited. Cf. Cardwell, _Doc. Ann_. , i, 370-2, for Council's letter to thearchbishop of Canterbury on the observance of Ember Days and Lent. 

[304] _E. G. _, see in _St. Mary the Great_, Cambridge, _Acc'ts_, 227-9and 240-2, long lists of persons from all parts of England whocontributed in the years 1592-4 towards the rebuilding of St. Mary'ssteeple. A host of proctors licenced under the broad seal, or by thejustices of the peace, or otherwise, went from parish to parishsoliciting contributions for churches, alms-houses, hospitals, etc. They seem to have entered parish churches at service time anddisturbed or annoyed the congregations. This probably led to theparish order of Mere, Wilts _(Mere Acc'ts_, p. 80, in _Wilts Arch_. [etc. ] _Mag_. ), which in 1585 forbade such persons going about theparish or entering the church, but enjoined them all to repair to theMere churchwardens for contributions to be given at the expense of theparish. 

[305] At Winsham, Somerset, a document was drawn up in 1581, apportioning among certain parishioners (by virtue of their holdings), the vicar, and finally the whole parish, how many feet of wattledfence each should keep in repair, or what stiles each was to maintain:_Notes and Quer. For Somer. And Dor_. , v, 538. See a similar agreementin _Morebath_ (Devon) _Acc'ts_, 38. Also in Marsh, _Hist. Of Calne_, 372, the list at Calne. Here are 25 groups of houses and certainindividuals charged with making and keeping the churchyard bounds. Seealso _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 34 (Suit brought before the archdeaconagainst the tenant of a holding whose former owners had for 40 yearsrepaired a portion of the church fence, 1611). For presentments to thecourts Christian for non-repair of church fence by individuals, see_Dean of York's Visit_. , 214, 228, 325 (1570-1599). 

[306] _Canterbury Visit_. , xxv, 26 (A parishioner of Herne presentedfor withholding 9s. , "which hath always been accustomed to be paid outof a certain house and lands. " 1592). 

[307] Early History of Kingston-upon-Thames, _Surrey Arch. Coll_. , viii, 74. 

[308] _St. Mary the Great Acc'ts_, 148. 

[309] _Hist. And Antiq. Of Leicestershire_, by John Nichols (1815), i, Pt. Ii, 569 ff. 

[310] See in T. Nash, _Hist. And Antiq. Of Worcestershire_, i, pp. Lii-lvi, a long list of Pentecost, etc. , farthings paid by each parishof the diocese in lump sums varying from 3d. To 3s. 

[311] _Morebath Acc'ts_ (ed. Binney), 34, _s. A_. 1531, seem to offera genuine example of such a payment of Peter's pence. But theMinchinhampton wardens (Acc'ts in _Archaeologia_, xxxv, 422 ff. ), confuse their payments to the mother church, made in 1575 ff. , withPeter's pence. See, _e. G. , s. A_. 1575, the entry: "to the sumner [orapparitor] for peterpence or smoke farthynges sometyme due to theAnthecriste of roome ... Xd. "

[312] See, _e. G_. , Sam'l. Barfield, _Thatcham, Berks, and its Manors_, ii, 122 (Midgham and Greenham called upon against their will forcontributions to mother church). _Surtees Soc_. , lxxxiv, 123 (Disputeending in a suit between St. Oswald and St. Margaret. 1595 ff. ). _Memorials of Stepney, 1-2_ (Parishioners of Stratford Bow forced tocontribute to St. Dunstan's, the mother church). 

[313] _E. G. _, the vestry of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, London_(Minutes_, ed E. Freshfield), agree to cess "the parishioners" formoney to prosecute a suit for certain parish lands in 1585-6. When thelands were recovered each was to have his money back _(Minutes_, p. 12). But those assessed numbered only 38 (p. 13), whereas we see by alist (p. 12) that 43 persons were here assessed for the Queen'ssubsidy; and subsidy men were the wealthier men of the parishes. Cf. Assessment at Lapworth for Barford bridge levied on 26 tenements, cottagers not being assessed. Hudson, _Memorials of a WarwickshireParish_, 115. 

[314] Hale, _Crim. Prec_. , 198 (One Spencer presented for not payinghis proportion for the ringing on the Queen's anniversary, "beingrated at iiijd. ") Hudson, _op. Cit. Supra_ (Barford bridge assessmentof 4s. 4d. Spread out over 26 tenements). 

[315] _Canterbury Visit_, xxvii, 214 (John Basset "cessed" at 2d. Aquarter, but thought well able to pay 3d. For the clerk's wages. Robert Sawyer, _ditto_. 1577). _St. Margaret, Lothbury, Minutes_, 16(ed. E. Freshfield), where in 1584 thirty-four parishioners make a"free offer" of sums from 2d. To 6s. 8d. To pay a lecturer. _Ibid_. , 10 (18 parishioners give from 1d. To £2 towards the erecting of aclock. 1577). 

[316] Rates for bread and wine were commonly so levied. See_supra_, p. 78 and _note_ 80. 

[317] See p. 80 _supra_ and _note_ 87. 

[318] Houghton-le-Spring Acc'ts, _Surtees Soc_. , lxxxiv, 271 (1596). Binney, _Morebath Acc'ts_, 34 (1531). _Ibid_. , 85 (1536). 

[319] _E. G. _, See Hale, _Churchwardens' Prec. , passim, e. G_. , wherethe parishioners of Elstree ("Idlestrye"), Herts, cannot agree in1585/6, some contending for assessment "by their welthe and goodsonly, and some others do require that the taxation might be made bythe acres of grounde only. " _Canterbury Visit_. , xxvii, 218 (2d. Anacre). _Ibid_. , xxv, 42 (4d. An acre). _Ibid_. , xxvi, 33 (Ploughlandof 140 acres paying 6s. 8d. For clerk's wages). _Ibid_. , xxv, 33 (Two"cesses" at Minster church, one at 20d. The score [of pounds?], theother at 12d. ). _The Reliquary_, xxv, 18 (Levy made in Morton, Derbysh. , of 8d. The oxgang of 15 acres). 

[320] Order of Wiltshire justices, Michaelmas, 1600, that three oftheir number shall call certain constables and others before them, "and examine them what overplus of money is remaining in their handsw[hi]ch they have collected of their hundredes for anie servicewhatsoever, and if there be anie founde remayning the said Justice todistribute the same amongst the inhabitants of the same hundredesaccording to their discretion. " _Rec. Of Wilts Quarter Sess_. In_Wilts Arch_, (etc. ) _Mag_. , xxi, 85. 

[321] According to the 22 Hen. VIII c. 5, where it cannot be known whoought of right to repair a bridge, the justices of the district shallcall before them the constables of the parishes of the surroundinghundreds, or of the whole shire, and "with the assent of the ... Constables or [chief] inhabitants, " tax every inhabitant of the townsand parishes of the shire (if necessary). This looks like a countybridge tax, but in practice the justices either threw a lump sum on ahundred, or on a parish, and left each parish to raise this sumaccording to local rating. Such, at least, would seem to be the usualpractice according to the churchwardens accounts, which contain manylump payments made to constables for bridges. 

[322] See Wilts justices order, 20 Eliz. , _Wilts Arch_. (etc. ) _Mag_. , xxi, 80-1. Cf. _ibid_. , 16, the appeal of Hilprington and Whaddon thatthey have been compelled by the inhabitants of Melkesham to pay athird part with the last named parish of these lump assessments, though the acreage of Melkesham is much greater than either of theirs, "and far better ground. "

[323] See p. 81, _note_ 91 _supra_. 

[324] John Lister, _West Riding Session Rolls_, 85. As early as 14Eliz. C. 5, sec. 17, city or parish officers might remove alien poorto their places of birth, if such aliens had resided in their adoptedparishes not longer than three years. 

[325] J. W. Willis Bund, _Cal. Worcester Quar. Sess. Rec_. , i, p. Clxxxii. The appearance of a bastard was a portentous event. See themany ridings to and fro across country to ecclesiastical and civilmagistrates in the _Ashburton Acc'ts_ (Butcher, _The Parish ofAshburton_), p. 47 (1576-7). The Devonshire justices order, Easter1598, that every woman who shall have a bastard child shall bewhipped: Hamilton, _Quarter Session from Eliz. To Anne, 32_. Cf. Theitem: "paide for carriage of an Irish woman into Fynsburie feildes whowas delivered of a childe under the stockes. " Brooke and Hallen, _St. Mary Woolnoth and St. Mary Woolchurch Haw_ (London) _Acc'ts, s. A_. 1587. 

[326] Wilts Quart. Sess. In _Wilts Arch_, (etc. ) _Mag_. , xxii, 17. 

[327] Willis Bund, _loc. Cit. Supra_, p. 8. From 1599 to 1642 therewere twenty-four indictments for not laying four acres to a cottage atthe Worcester sessions. _Ibid_. , Table of indictments for alloffences, p. Lvii ff. Cf. Wilts Quarter Sess. Rec. In _Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. On Var. Coll_. , i (1901), 66. W. J. Hardy, _Herts Co. Rec. Sess. Rolls_ (1905), i, 5, _et passim. Norfolk Archaeology_, x (1888), 159. _Les Reportes del Cases in Camera Stellata_ (ed. W. P. Baildon), _passim_. 

[328] Bund, _loc. Cit_. , p. Clxxxiii. 

[329] Geo. A. Wade, _An English Town that is still ruled by anOligarchy_ (Dalton-in-Furness), _Engl. Illust. Mag_. , xxv (1901).