medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I wonder if I might ask for enlightenment.
What sort of routine would exist for putting a big church or particularly a
cathedral to bed for the night in the late Middle Ages? As a Presbyterian Scot I
have no idea of how the task would be carried out now, let alone six hundred
years ago, but my own speculations have produced:
-extinguish all candles, on altars and on stands before particular saints
-check altar cloths and hangings for dirt, wax, whatever
-empty and clean censers
-put the songbooks away
-sweeping, dusting
-folding and stowing vestments
-er... there must be more.
The snag is that I have no idea how many of these would be daily tasks, or which
would be morning rather than evening duties, or who would carry them out
(clergy, choir, vergers?) or who would be in charge of seeing they were done (is
that part of the sacristan's duties?)
Is anything known about this kind of routine matter? Do we have any written
sources? I'd be very grateful for any pointers.
Pat McIntosh-Spinnler
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