medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
In a message dated 22/05/2006 23:27:30 GMT Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<<Further thoughts, kids abed, should be doing something else… >>
Like the Rabbi said, life begins when the children leave home and the dog is
dead...
<<It’s very unusual for resident chaplains to be called ‘canons’: in fact I’
ve never come across it. Are you sure the prebendaries (i.e. the receivers
of prebends) were not the canons, which is entirely normal, and the resident
chaplains not effectively their vicars? >>
These were exactly my expectations. See my reply to your first. Here's the
transcription of what the Chantry Commissioners said (Lawrence Snell, /The
Chantry Certificates for Cornwall /(Documents towards a history of the
Reformation in Cornwall, No 1) (Exeter, nd [1953?])):
[Chantry Certificate 15/89]: “… The Deanery or Rectorye there ffounded by
kyng Adelstone to ffynde a Dean or a parson who is charged wythe three
curattes to serve in three sev’all churches that is to say one to mynystre in the
churche of saynt Buryan w’ is the mother churche & the other towe to celebrate
in towe chappelles scituate wtin the paroche of saynt Buryan And being
distant from the paryshe churche three ev’ye one of them three myles thereaboutes.
To ffynde also three p’bendaryes to helpe to celebrate dyvyne servyce
wythin the paryshe churche of saynt Buryan aforesayde w’ Dean & other the sayd p’
bendaryes have for the mayntenance of their lyvings the revenues of certayne
landes appoynted out for ye purpose dyvyded amongst the’ equallye accordyng
to theyr severall porcons.”
[Certificate 9/4: “… ffounded wtin the p’ishe Churche of Beryan to the
Dean or Rector / of Beryan whyche hath the cure of ye p’ishe churche of beryan &
of ij other p’ishe Churches being chappelles therunto appendaunt And ys
charged wythe thre p’ishe churches.”
The first certificate has three parishes and the second just one--which
reflects the odd status of those parishes.
<<It would be interesting to know if these chaplains had any parochial
responsibilities (eg at St Levan): a dual responsibility for both parish and
liturgy in the church itself crops up at some other former minster collegiate
churches. >>
They did, as far as I can see, at least at times. When things were very
prosperous, it looks as though there were chaplains appointed to do the duties
at Buryan for the prebendaries, in addition to the King's Clerk who said
masses for AEthelstan, but at other times (probably most of the time, given the
complaints of neglect), the same men did both parish duties and minster duties,
if they did them at all.
<<Likewise to know more about the lands that made up these prebends: for
example, was St Levan on any particular prebend’s land? If so, would ‘his’
chaplain (if the chaplains are indeed vicars for the prebends) have played a
specific role there?>>
We'd all like to know about the land. Nicholas Orme, inter alios, has
studied it, and cannot say for sure. The lands which supported the Deanery until
1548 (and which were afterwards known as the Manor of Buryan and alienated
from the church) were almost certainly those described in Domesday, which in
turn seem to be the same as those in the AEthelstan charter (unsurprisingly,
whether or not the charter is a forgery). The problem is that although some of
them are still readily identifiable, quite a lot of it could be anywhere in
the Deanery. Anglo-Saxon transliteration of early mediaeval Cornish can be
pretty impenetrable--not that I know either language, but that's what those
who do say, and I believe them...
But the consensus is that most of the land was within what is now Buryan
(the identifiable places all are), and that although one of the prebendaries was
'of Trethyn', which seems to be Treen in St Levan, it isn't certain that any
of his lands were there. I suspect they were, however. There were some odd
(for this area) land-ownership patterns in Treen in 1838 which may hark back
to this. Again it needs a lot more work.
Susan
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