Dear colleagues
the first recorded priest of the parish in Essex where I live dates back to 1219 (tho parts of the church building are older). This is more or less 'my' period, but I have studied literature, not history and am curious to find out more about what a village parish and church were like then. I wondered if there was a ceremony for the presentation of a priest to a parish - I checked pontificales and found services for the consecration of the church and the ordination of priests but was there any special ceremony of induction? The consecration ceremonies (in the 10th cent. Pontificale Lanaletense and the 12th century Pontifical of Magdalen college) require the 'abcdarium' to be inscribed in the corners of the church - would this be the whole alphabet? What was the significance of this?
