CHANTRIES.

One of the characteristics of the ecclesiastical life of this country during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was the institution of chantries; altogether upwards of 2,000 of them are known to have been founded during the period. As chantry priests played an important part in connection with the provision of educational facilities in England, the topic of chantries calls for careful consideration.

A chantry may be defined as a foundation for the purpose of providing a priest who shall pray daily, primarily for the soul of the founder, and secondly for the souls of all Christian people. The earliest instances of chantries definitely recognised as such, date from the latter part of the thirteenth century. The “Taxatio of Pope Nicholas” only mentions two; one which was founded by Hugh of Lincoln, who died in 1225, and the other which existed at Hatherton in the county of Warwick. The custom gradually grew, but did not become common until the fifteenth century, the period in which the number of such institutions largely increased.[457]

The idea of offering prayers for the souls of the faithful departed was not a new one. The practice is at least as old as the institution of the Christian faith, and is a custom which is perfectly natural to those who believe in the immortality of the soul, and a state of future personal existence. It had also been a custom, “from time immemorial,” that prayers for the souls of the founders were regularly offered up in religious houses and other ecclesiastical foundations. A list of donors and benefactors was carefully preserved, and prayers for their good estate were offered up for them while they were living, and for the repose of their soul after death. Thus, the “Catalogus Benefactorum” of St. Albans Monastery, with its detailed account of every benefaction, is still preserved in the British Museum.[458] The distinctive mark of a chantry was, that it was expressly founded for the apparently selfish purpose of making financial provision to secure the prayers of others for the future well-being of the soul of the founder.

But though this selfish and personal purpose may have been the dominating thought in the case of some foundations, yet it is probable that it was not the only purpose of the majority of these institutions. The primary point to be remembered is that it is a laudable desire to wish to perpetuate one’s memory, especially if the memorial should take a form which will benefit the social community. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the prevailing method of doing this was by establishing a chantry.

In attempting to investigate the reasons why chantries were founded, we are faced from the outset with a difficulty. The licence in mortmain, by which permission to assign lands for the support of the chantry priest was effected, scarcely ever mentions any other object for the memorial except the chantry itself, whilst the foundation statutes, which enumerate more specifically the purpose of the founder, are very rarely forthcoming.

An example will make this clear. In 1414 Langley, Bishop of Durham, issues to himself an episcopal licence empowering the founding of the chantry he wished to endow. In the same year he, in his temporal capacity as Earl of a County Palatine, grants a licence in mortmain, authorising the chantry to hold lands and to make the chantry priest a corporation.[459] Both these records are available, but in neither of them is there any reference to the real objects for which the chantry was to be instituted. Consequently, if further information was not forthcoming, we would assume that all that the Bishop of Durham had done was to evince, in some tangible manner, his belief in the efficacy of masses for the departed.

Fortunately, however, there still survives a lengthy deed,[460] dated the day after the licences to which we have referred were granted. This deed specifies that the priests appointed to the chantry were to keep schools of grammar and of song respectively, in addition to offering prayers for the souls of the departed, and that a certain sum of money out of the proceeds of the chantry was to be used for the purpose of distribution to the poor.[461]

Strangely enough, we are dependent for information as to the purposes of chantries, on the instrument which brought about their destruction. In 1545 was passed the Chantries’ Act of Henry VIII. This Act began by reciting that many people had been appropriating the endowments of “Colleges, Freechapelles, Chantries, Hospitalles, Fraternities, Brotherhoods, Guilds and Stipendarie Priests,” and that the expenses of the war with France and Scotland had been heavy, and then proceeded to give authority to the king to send out commissioners to investigate the nature of these endowments and afterwards to take such action as he thought fit.

“Apparently, Henry had a fit of reaction after the Chantries’ Act was passed. He is reported to have dissolved Parliament with a speech in which he said he was going to reform chantries, not destroy them.”[462]

A new Chantries’ Act was passed in the first parliament of Edward VI.[463] The object of this Act was essentially different from that of its predecessor. The preamble to the Act specified that it was thought that “a great part of superstition and errors in Christian religion has been brought into the minds and estimation of men, by reason of their ignorance of the very true and perfect Salvation through Christ Jesus, and by devising and fancying vain opinions of purgatory and masses satisfactory to be done for them which be departed, the which doctrine and vain opinion by nothing more is maintained and upholden than by the abuse of trentals, chantries, and other provisions made for the continuance of the said blindness and ignorance.”

The Act proceeded to vest in the Crown “all Colleges, Free Chapels and Chantries”; “all Lands given for the finding of a Stipendiary Priest for ever”; “all payments made by corporations, gilds, fraternities, companies, or fellowships, of mysteries or crafts.”

A commission was to be issued, under the Great Seal, to investigate the origin and purpose of the various chantries, etc., to arrange for the continuance of such charitable objects as they deemed necessary, and to assign pensions to the incumbents whose office was abolished.

It is to the returns that were made to these commissioners that we are mainly indebted for a knowledge of the objects and purposes for which the chantries were provided. The purposes, which are most frequently mentioned, are:—

Of these purposes, the most important was probably the provision of an endowment to enable a priest to keep a school. Mr. Leach, who was the first writer to realise fully the significance of the chantries in relation to the provision of facilities for education, states that “in all 259 schools appear in these records.”[464] Two or three examples will serve to make clear the nature of the provision for education made by the chantry bequests.

“Wymborne.

Cantaria Margarite Comitisse Rychemond et Derbie matris Domini Regis Henrici Septimi.

Memorandum that this was foundyd to the intent that the incumbent thereof should say masse for the solles of the founders and to be a Scolemaster, to teche frely almanner of childern Gramer within the said College.”[465]

“The Parish of Newland.

Gryndoures chauntrye.

Foundyd to Fynde a preste and a gramer scole half free for ever and to kepe a scoller sufficientt to teche under hym contynually.”[466]

“Towcester.

The Colledg or Spones Chauntree.

Founded to mayntene 2 Prestes, beyng men of good knoweledg. The one to preach the Worde of God. And the other to kepe a Grammar Scole.”[467]

Our task is now that of attempting to interpret the reasons why the chantries were founded.

We must give due weight to the ostensible object, which must be also regarded as the primary one. A widespread belief in the efficacy of prayers for the departed existed; unfortunately, there also prevailed, apparently, a belief in the value of hired prayers. It must be clearly realised that it was for the purpose of securing prayer for the welfare of the living and the repose of the departed soul that these chantries were founded.

But, side by side with this main object, there also existed in the minds of the majority of the founders a desire to benefit the community. We have already enumerated the main directions in which it was proposed to effect the benefit. The remarkable fact is, that, in as many as 259 cases, education was regarded as of such importance that specific arrangements were made to provide for it.

In a large number of cases, it is specified that the proceeds of the chantry are to be devoted to the support of a priest to assist the parish priest. We venture to suggest that there is to be found here a clue to the explanation of many of the unspecified trusts and particularly of those in which it is expressly laid down that it was a purpose of the chantry to provide a priest for educational purposes. We have previously shown that it was a recognised duty of the parish priest to keep a school. The growth in the duties of a parish priest would make it difficult for him effectively to discharge this function; possibly, in some cases, he might be incapable of doing so; moreover, the progress of the universities had caused the profession of a teacher to be a definite one. Our analysis of the social structure[468] has enabled us to realise that the increasing complexity of our industrial system and the social and economic changes which occurred, had caused education to be more necessary and to be esteemed more highly. The “Paston Letters” show that the dependents and servants of great households were able to read and write.[469] Thorold Rogers states that the accounts of bailiffs afford proof that they were not illiterate, and he also evidences that artisans were able to write out an account.[470] We must not, however, assume that a knowledge of reading and writing, though probably widespread, was universal. It is interesting to note that, of the twenty witnesses who were examined in connection with the enquiry touching Sir John Fastolf’s will in 1446, eleven were described as “illiterate”; they consisted of five husbandmen, one gentleman, one smith, one cook, one roper, one tailor, and one mariner. The description “literatus” was applied to seven persons, two husbandmen, two merchants, and one whose occupation was not specified.[471] The two remaining witnesses could both read and write.

Our hypothesis is, that the founder of the chantry desired to be of assistance, both to the parish priest himself, and to the children of the parish. He sought to accomplish this by leaving lands to provide an endowment to support a priest who would relieve the parish priest of his duties as a teacher. This hypothesis would also help to explain the gradual disappearance of the parish priest as the responsible master of the parochial school, a disappearance which would be accelerated by the increasing recognition of the fact that teaching was a specialist function, to be entrusted to a person expressly appointed for that purpose.

A most important and noteworthy feature of some chantries is, that in certain parishes they were founded by the inhabitants themselves, for the express purpose of providing educational facilities. We do not imply that the religious element was lacking, or that the doctrine of the efficacy of prayer for the departed was lightly held. In all probability, the religious motive was a strong impelling force. For our present purpose, the significant fact is, that in certain communities some of the inhabitants founded chantries with the provision of facilities for education as the expressed object. We have been able to trace the origin of the following schools to the action of the inhabitants, but it is not claimed that the list is exhaustive.

We may now consider the establishment of typical cases.

Basingstoke.

The school at Basingstoke was founded “by the decision of the inhabitantes at the begynnyng.”[472] Apparently, the inhabitants of the town had formed themselves into a gild called the “Brotherhood of the Holy Ghost” for this special purpose. Their school can be traced back to 1244, and is the earliest school of which at present we have any knowledge, whose origin may be attributed to the enterprise of the inhabitants.

Northallerton.

This school existed before 1321, as is evidenced by the fact that in that year the master was appointed to the school by the prior of Durham.[473] It was founded by “certen well disposed persones—for the better bringinge up of the children of the towne.”[474]

Deritend.

The existence of this school can be traced back as far as 1448, and is due to the enterprise of “the inhabitans of the same hamlet cauled Deretende.”[475]

Lancaster.

The first available reference to a school at Lancaster occurs in a deed in the priory chartulary which dates from the reign of Henry III.[476] The school was “ordeyned and founded by the Mayor and burgesses of Lancaster.”[477]

Aldeborough.

“Having no foundacion but presented by certain feoffees of severall landes gyven by syndry persons of the said paroch.”[478]

Eccleshall.

“The enhabitants of Eccleshall did among themselfes, without incorporacion, erect two Gyylds ... and one of the same priestes have alwais kept a scole and taught pore mens children of the same parishe freely.”[479]

East Retford.

“Founded by the predecessors of the bailiffs, burgesses, and Commywalts of the said towne.”[480]

Gargrave.

“Founded by the inhabitants there.”[481]

Odeham.

“Founded of the devocion of the inhabitantes ... to the intente to teche children gramer.”[482]

Staunton.

“Founded by the parishenours there upon theyr Devocion.” It was the purpose of this chantry that the priest appointed should assist the incumbent “in his necessitie”; apparently this assistance included the teaching of “many pore mens chylderne.”[483]

Wragby.

“There is no foundacion of the same but certen landes and tenementes purchased by the parishioners to th’entente ... to teach chyldren in the saide paroche.”[484]

Truro.

“Of the Benyvolence of the Mayer and burges of the saide Towne to fynde a preste for ever to mynyster in the parish churche and to kepe a scole there.”[485]

As we have stated, these instances we have quoted cannot claim to be exhaustive. They are examples which are available, and they serve to indicate the noteworthy fact that a consciousness of the value of education existed among the inhabitants of many towns and villages in England in the Middle Ages. The question is sometimes raised, whether these schools were elementary or secondary schools, or whether some of them might be classed as elementary and others as secondary.[486] The question is quite irrelevant. The distinction between elementary and secondary education is entirely a modern one. In fact, it is difficult, even now, to determine the meaning of these terms. If we regard the elementary school as one in which the chief academic aim is to teach the children to read and write English, and to work elementary problems in arithmetic, and a secondary school as one in which the classical languages form an important part of the curriculum, then we have set out the difference between two types of schools which were prevalent during the greater part of the eighteenth and nineteenth century; but this distinction is inapplicable to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The chantry school did not attempt to teach English, but Latin, as Latin still continued to be the language of the Church of this country. Of the 259 instances of chantry schools which Mr. Leach has collected, 193 of them he regards as grammar schools; the remaining schools he classes either as song schools or as elementary schools.[487] The distinction is quite unnecessary. The chantry schools were simply the parochial church schools, which were now supported by a separate endowment, and taught by a priest who was practically able to devote his whole time to the work, instead of being under the control of the parish priest who, in many cases, would scarcely be able to set aside a definite part of each day for the work of teaching.

We have pointed out that the child who attended these church schools was required previously to have obtained a knowledge of the alphabet at least. If Colet was setting out the current practice in the statutes which he drew up for St. Paul’s School, even more knowledge was required antecedent to admission, as he states that “the master shall admit these children as they be offirid from tyme to tyme; but first se that they can saye the catechyzon, and also that he can rede and write competently, else let him not be admitted.”

In the case of some of the chantry schools, express arrangements were made for elementary teaching. Thus, the bell ringer at Glasney was required to teach the ABC as a part of his duty[488] at Brecon; at Chumleigh it was expressly stipulated that the ABC was to be taught by the chaplain;[489] at Launceston it was stipulated that an old man chosen by the mayor was to teach the alphabet.[490] Then, the chantry priest at Newland was required to provide “meate, dryncke, clothe and all other necessaries” to one of his scholars who, in return, was to assist with the teaching of the little ones.[491]

The provision of exhibitions to assist in supporting poor scholars at schools and universities was also a purpose of some chantries. Thus, at Brecon, twenty poor scholars were to receive 24/- each annually:[492] at Chumleigh, a part of the proceeds of the chantry was employed to support “a lyttle childe who goythe to scole, and hathe no other profyttes towardes his fynding and sustentacion”[493]; at Eton “70 scollers, 13 poore children and 10 choristours” were to be supported:[494] at Stamford “the Revenues and proffyttes thereof hathe byn convertyd only to the use of ... an infant of the age of 13 or 14 yeres, towards his exhibicion at Schole.”[495] Other instances of the provision of school exhibitions are to be found in the chantry certificates relating to Houghton, Hull, Lincoln, Lyme Regis, Newland, Rotherham, Sullington, Thornton, Winchester, and Wotton-under-Edge.

Turning next to the chantries which were employed for the purpose of supporting students at the universities, we find that the return to the chantry commissioners, which relates to the chantry of North Wroxall, states that: “the sayd Incumbent is a student in Oxforde, but no prieste; and, ferthermore, a verey pore man, havynge no parentis, or any other lyvinge to kepe hym to scole.”[496] In the return for the chantry at Norton are given the names of 8 men, among whom the proceeds of the chantry are shared, so as to enable them “to studye at the universite.”[497] Other instances of chantry foundations for the purpose of supporting university students are those of Asserton, Calne, Crediton, Denton, Dorchester, Holbeach, etc.

The analysis of the chantry foundations we have given, serves to illustrate our contention that, not only was there a growing appreciation of education but that there also existed a growing sense of the responsibility of the community, or of representative members of the community, to make provision for education, and that the responsibility for making this provision did not rest on the Church alone. At the same time, the Church was alive to the necessity of emphasising the duty of the clergy to interest themselves in education, as is evidenced by the canon promulgated at the Convocation of Canterbury in 1529 which intimated to the “rectors, vicars and chantry priests that when divine service is done, they shall be employed in study, prayer, lectures or other proper business, becoming their profession: namely, teaching boys the alphabet, reading, singing, or grammar; and on three days in the week, for three or at least two hours a day, shall, in the absence of some lawful hindrance, occupy themselves in reading Holy Scriptures or some approved doctor. And the ordinaries shall make diligent inquiry about this in their visitations, to the end that they may severely chastise and punish lazy priests, or those who spend their time badly.”[498]

This canon was practically reiterated by the Royal Injunctions of 1547, which prescribed that “all chauntery priests shall exercise themselves in teaching youth to read and write, and bring them up in good manners and other vertuous exercises.”[499]

The practical effect of the Chantries’ Act of 1547 was that it put an end to the educational provision which the founders of the chantries had made. This was not contemplated by the Act. On the contrary, the Act gave to the commissioners “full power and authoritie to assigne and shall appoynte, in every place where guylde fraternitye, the Preist or Incumbent of anny Chauntrye in Esse ... oughte to have kepte a gramer scoole or a preacher” for the continuance of such school.[500] The usual practice of the commissioners was to vest the chantry lands in the Crown, and to make a Crown charge of a certain annual sum, equivalent to the stipend which the teacher of the grammar school was then receiving. But as the value of money has now decreased to so considerable an extent, and the value of land has so enormously increased, the practical effect of this legislation, as we have indicated, was the disendowment of the educational provision which had been made by the founders of gilds, colleges, and chantries.