§ 80.
The chief object of this book has been to
explain the position and use of the various buildings
of a monastery, and in its course reference has been
made to several leading features of the life which was
led within them. The sketch may be completed by
some brief notes on the arrangements for monastic
discipline and the ordinary life of the house. The
abbot was the head and father of the house, who
presided in chapter and was responsible for the due
correction of erring brethren and the treatment of
the complaints which monks and canons were encouraged
to make publicly in the daily chapter-meeting.
His duties, however, were largely delegated
to the prior, who was the officer charged with the
maintenance of order in the cloister
[20]. Where the
prior was head of the house, the sub-prior took this
secondary position. In monasteries where the number
of brethren was large, as at Lewes or Peterborough,
the prior was helped in the cloister by other monks,
who were known as the sub-prior and the third and
fourth prior. An old name for the junior priors was
circae or
circatores: their duty was to make periodical
rounds of inspection in the cloister and dorter. But,
in addition to these disciplinary officers, there were
other officials, each of whom administered a special
department of the convent. Their offices, held by
commission from the abbot, were called obediences
(
obedientiae), and they themselves were known
collectively as obedientiaries (
obedientiarii). In the
great monasteries the abbot had his own household
officers, chosen from the monks: at Peterborough in
1440 he had his own seneschal, receiver or bailiff,
cellarer, chamberlain, and chaplain
[21]. Of the obedientiaries
usually found in connexion with the convent,
two, the precentor and sacrist, were in charge of the
church. The precentor was responsible for the singing,
the direction of processions and the repair and proper
notation of the quire-books: he also, as at Barnwell,
filled the office of librarian (
armarius). The sacrist
had control of the clock, bells, lights and ornaments
of the church. They were sometimes assisted in
their offices by a succentor or sub-chanter and
sub-sacrist. The sacrist at Peterborough was excused
from attendance in quire save on certain festivals.
The same excuse applied for more obvious reasons to
the cellarer and almoner, and to the monks who filled
the offices of treasurer and master of the works, the
second of whom controlled the repairs of the church
and monastery. The cellarer and almoner were
invariably found in all monasteries. The cellarer
was the chief means of communication between the
house and the world outside: he marketed and went
to fairs, and bought the necessary provisions and
furniture. The duties of the almoner have already
been noticed: he and the cellarer were frequently
assisted by a sub-almoner and sub-cellarer. The
cellarer, whose checker was usually in the neighbourhood
of the
cellarium and kitchen, was in close touch
with the fraterer (
refectorarius) and kitchener (
coquinarius),
whose chief duties were to arrange the
meals in the frater and to regulate the activities of
the cook and his assistants
[22]. He also was, as we have
seen, responsible in some degree for the hospitality
of the house, which was administered directly by the
hosteller (
hospitarius). Equally necessary to the
conduct of the monastery were the infirmarer
(
infirmarius), who looked after the brethren in the
infirmary and sometimes, as at Peterborough, had
his separate lodging in its neighbourhood, and the
chamberlain (
camerarius), who attended to the
clothes of the brethren and their bedding in the
dorter. The receiver (
receptor), treasurer (
thesaurarius)
or bursar (
bursarius) collected rents in
money: the garnerer or granger (
granatarius) collected
the tithe in corn which belonged to the
monastery, and supplied the cellarer with his stores
of bread and beer. These offices of course varied in
different houses, and in the later middle ages some
are found in combination; but, as the needs of all
orders were to some extent the same, the differences
are trifling
[23]. Each was bound to render an account
of his administration yearly or quarterly, and, where
such accounts survive, the information which they
give is from the social and economical point of view
of the highest value.
