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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Very far from "muddying the waters" this has given me some fascinating detail. Thank you very much. According to de Saussure (1725) Sunday morning services in St James' Chapel (The Chapel Royal in London) began at noon and ended sometime shortly after 2pm but he did not attend the service so gives no details except to say it was fully choral and to praise the "chorister-boys" and the musicians; he took a conducted tour of the Royal Apartments instead! It is clear that Sunday services had something of the quality of a weekly newspaper for the illiterate with a leader article (the sermon) and intimations! Am I right that domestic servants usually attended Evensong and that the Sunday evening meal was a cold collation as a result? Or is this a later (19th C) development? BMC ----- Original Message ----- From: Revd Gordon Plumb To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 9:55 PM Subject: Re: [M-R] Book of Common Prayer / Parker Society medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear Brenda To answer your questions as best I can. The morning package of Mattins, Litany, Ante-Communion and Sermon was the usual provision not only in towns but in the country. It could be very long. Apparently 11am was the usual time for morning service and 3pm for the afternoon in winter (and 6pm in summer). As well as the service elements noted above there might also be public penances, public thanksgivings, reading of banns of marriage and public proclamations. (Sunday worship was the context for public announcements, including national ones. Since it was a strongly communal society, not being present at Sunday worship, quite apart from any religious significance excluded a person from the focus of community life). Burials, Baptisms and Marriages also took place on that day most often. Parson Woodforde writes of conducting weddings before or after service. He certainly did not always write his own sermons - he notes topping and tailing Tillotson's sermon on the text "his commandments are not grievous"). Some people bought sermons - Dr Johnson wrote sermons for hire* at 2 guineas a time- this was probably to London clergymen!. The length of some morning services, especially when there was a celebration of the Sacrament, can be gauged by the comment of the squire of Llanfechell on Anglesey on December 26th 1736 that: "we were kept so long in Church by reason of the Sermon and Sacrament, and reading of the Act of Parliament against prophane cursing and swearing that it was half an hour past one when we went out". (This last indicates the socially important as against the merely religious function of such gatherings. From such comments as we have attendance was extremely high - only in time of bad winter weather does Woodforde note either poor attendances or no service (Due often to the clergyman being unable to reach the Church - but then this happened in our Diocese last winter!). The afternoon service did sometimes include a sermon - Woodforde makes frequent reference to the reading of prayers and a sermon in the afternoon.The service would have been Evening Prayer. This service would also include catechizing the children. I hope this has not muddied the waters further. Gordon * There are organizations that still do offer this service - I have never resorted to it (though I have sometimes borrowed a good idea as a starting point from someone else!). I do suspect that some of my clerical brethren might actually buy their sermons - they simply do not have that amount of theological acumen in some cases (miaow!) ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html