A HISTORY OF LONDON goodly number of pittances ; ^^' the gardener had to supply apples, cherries, plums, pears, and nuts ; and cheese, which had once been supplied only rarely and ' by the grace of God,' ^^* was by the middle of the thirteenth century a usual dish. The large staff of servants were bidden to serve the brethren mamuete et honeste. As regards clothing, each monk had a new frock and cowl annually, and underclothing whenever he needed it ; no one was to wear underclothing which had been much mended. Though, according to the rule, no brother ought to have other than lamb's wool lining to his cloak, yet in cases of manifest necessity a more costly fur might be used, provided it were hidden at the collar and cuffs with a lamb's wool edging, lest the sight of such luxury should be an occasion of stumbling to any. Felt boots and woollen socks were supplied at the vigil of All Saints, and stockings again at the vigil of St. Thomas, while on the Saturday before Palm Sunday boots and socks were to be distributed to any Benedictine guests, as well as to the members of the house. Hospi- tality was always regarded as one of the most sacred duties of the abbey ; great stress is laid upon its observance in all the compositions, and in the Customary the most minute regulations are given for the entertainment of various ranks of guests, from the great Benedictine abbot down to the humblest clerk or truant monk. The actual wealth of the church of the abbey is too well known"*' to require discussion, but there are many points of interest with regard to the revenue of the monastery and its distribution amongst the obedientiaries. From the Valor "* it appears that the clear value of the abbey property in 1535 amounted to the enormous sum of £2>A1° O^- ^i^^. The abbot's lands in Gloucestershire included the manors of Deerhurst, Hardwicke, Bourton cum Moreton, and Todenham, and rents in Sutton; in Worcestershire he held the manors of Longdon, ' '" The pittancer had to supply pittances from the revenues of the church of Oakham everj' day in the year, except on the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul, and St. Peter ad Vincula, certain of the greater anniversaries, and Good Friday. They were supplied to all the brethren within the cloister, and to any guests in the guest-house within the precincts. Pit- tances might consist of rice, oysters, eggs, or cheese, but more properly they were of fish of various kinds — one and a half plaice, or two soles, six eels, or other fish in numbers according to their size. The pittancer also had to provide beer and mead on certain feast days {Customary, 75 et seq.). Pittances were also supplied on certain occasions by the obedientiaries, and the pittancer himself had other resources from which to draw. "* The brethren had once been expected to rise when the cheese w.is carried through the refectory, but this primitive custom had now been dropped. "*' See for example the inventory printed by Mr. Walcott in Load, and Midd. Arch.Soc. Trans, iv. 313. "^ Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), i, 410 et seq. Chaddesley, Pensham, Binholme, Pinvin, Wick, Pershore, and Birlingham ; in Middlesex he held the manors of le Nete, Staines, Laleham and ' Bil- lets,' and the rectory of Hendon ; in Surrey, the manor of Pyrford, and the farms of ' Alferthyng ' and Wandsworth ; in Buckinghamshire, the manor of Denham ; in Oxfordshire, the manor of Islip with Stokenchurch ; in Berkshire, rents in Poughley ; and in Suffolk, the priory of St. Bartholomew Sudbury. The foundation of Margaret, countess of Richmond, was worth
- ^9i 15. net, and included the rectories of Ches-
hunt (Herts.) and Swineshead (Lines.), but out of this 24J. yi. was paid annually in rents, and £q.(> 13^. ^d. to two readers in theology at Oxford and Cambridge, ;^io to a certain preacher at Cambridge, and ;^io to the poor. The foundation of Henry VII was worth
- ^58o 17X. '^d. clear; it included the rectories
of St. Bride London, Great Chesterford, New- port Pound, Witham, Cressing, Chrishall, Ketton or Kedington . (' Ketton and Cowpes ') and Good Easter (Essex), Stanford (Berks.), Swaffliam (Nor- folk), and Bassingbourn (Camb.) ; four of the prebends of St. Martin le Grand, the free chapels of Playden (Sussex), Tickhill (Yorks.), and ' Uplambourne ' (Wilts.), the manor of ' Os- wardbesoken,' (r Osberton, Notts.), and the priory of Luffield (Bucks.). The treasurer's was always by far the most richly endowed of the conventual offices ; in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries his revenues came principally from some twenty- four demesne manors, chiefly in Hertfordshire, Essex, and Middlesex. His total income for the year 1302-3 wasj^658 o^. 7.d. ; from Michael- mas, 1378-9, it was £'^^ 15J. ']d. ; and two years later, ;^527 195. ']d. At the close of the following century (1499-1500) it had risen to ^^837 2/. 7^a'.,andin 1 501-2 itwaS;^888 3^. 7j'J'. His expenses fell chiefly into nine groups — pur- chase of corn and malt, gifts, anniversaries, pittances, kitchen expenses, pensions, pleas, sub- sidies and other contributions, and gifts to the abbot. Of these the purchase of corn was the heaviest item, ranging from £if 15^. od. in 1378-9 to ;^458 5J. ■2.d. in 1501-2 ; pittances in 1378-9 amounted to £^b 1 91. id.., and in 1 380- 1 ;^I3 i6x. 8^., while in the sixteenth century they cost about ^^28 or ;^29 a year. Kitchen expenses seem to have been met by a fixed sum, in the fourteenth century ;^i82 lOJ., and in the sixteenth ^^184 is. ; gifts in the four- teenth century cost about ;{^33, and in the sixteenth ^c) or ;^io. The total outgoings of the year 1378-9 were ^^834 is. bd.; those of the years 1499-1500 ;^79i 7^. 4^'."^ Turning to the rolls of the sacrist, his income for the year 1338-9 was about ;^ioo, in 1379-80 it was ;^222 6^. od. and in 1483-4 ^^191 is. J^d. His outgoings were chiefly purchases of wax and oil, wine for pittances and "« D. and C. Westm. Treas. Rolls. 450
