WHAT VESTMENTS, &c. THE PARISH MUST PROVIDE. 215 according to the discretion of the bishop, to the purchasing of prayers, the relief of the poor, the repair of the churches, the instruction, clothing, and food of those who serve God, and also to the purchase of books, bells, and ecclesiastical vestments, and never to any worldly vanities. IBID. p. 623.-Constitutions of William de Bleys, A.D. 1229. Cap. 11. In every church let there be two sets of vestments for the altar, (with two pair of corporals and one rochet): viz. one for festivals, and the other for ordinary occasions, in which (latter) the priest is to be buried, if necessary. Let there be two altar palls-one for festivals, and the other for ordinary occasions; also three linen cloths (for the top of the altar), one of which at least has been consecrated; two chalices, viz. one of silver, to be used at mass, the other unconsecrated and made of tin, with which the priest is to be buried; two pyxes, viz. one of silver or ivory, vel de opere lemonitico, for the host; the other neat and clean, for the purpose of receiving oblations. Let there be also two vessels, one for wine, and the other for water; one pair of candelabra; one censer; a neat chrismatory; and two crucifixes, one for processions, and the other for the obsequies of the dead. IBID. p. 714.-Constit. of Giles de Bridport, bp. of Sarum, a. D. 1256. The parson ought to provide that the chancel be neat and well covered, and also (all things relating to) the altar; that the chrismatory be kept under lock and key, and that the corporals be made of fine linen cloth. Let him also provide proper phials for the wine and water; a censer, and candlesticks; also a lantern and a bell, to be carried before the priest when he visits the sick. He ought also to provide two processional lights; and if it should happen that the chalice or books or vestments should be stolen, the parson, vicar, chaplain, or any person through whose negligence they have been taken away, shall restore them. The parishioners ought to provide that the (nave of the) church be neat and well covered, and also the belfry; and they are bound to find bells with ropes, a crucifix, crosses, images, a silver chalice, a missal, a chasuble made of silk, sufficient books, and all vestments belonging to the altar. Let them also provide a standard (for rogations), a lenten veil, a neat font with a lock, and bells to be carried before a funeral. Let them also provide that the burialground be properly walled in, and free from nettles and other noxious weeds. The parishioners are also bound to provide the paschal lights, and other lights in the chancel; and a sufficient number of candles for the whole year, at matins, vespers, and mass. They ought also to provide blessed bread, with candles, every Sunday throughout the year. N. 132. Blessed bread here does not mean the eucharist, but bread consecrated by prayer, "that it may be for the health of the soul and body of the receiver." The ancient eulogia were loaves made out of 216 BOOKS, &C. TO BE PROVIDED BY THE PARISH. the same dough as the eucharist, and were commonly sent to those who could not attend at the Lord's supper. CONCILIA MAGNE BRITANNIE, &c., EDIT. WILKINS, VOL. II. WILK. II. 280.-Constitution of archbishop Winchelsey, A.D. 1305. That the parishioners of all the churches in our province of Canterbury may, for the future, know certainly what repairs belong to them, we will and decree that the parishioners shall be bound to provide all the things which follow: viz. A legend, antiphonary, grail, psalter, troper, ordinal, manual, and missal. Also a chalice, a principal vestment, with a chesible, a dalmatic, a tunic, a choral cope, with all its appendages, (viz. an albe, amyt, stole, maniple, and girdle.) A frontal for the high altar, with three towels, (two of which have been consecrated); three surplices, one rochet, a processional cross, and another for the dead; a censer with the boat (nave) and incense, a lantern with a bell, (to be carried before the body of Christ in the visitation of the sick,) a decent pyx for the body of Christ, a lenten veil, standards for rogations, hand bells for the dead, a bier, a vessel for holy water, tablets of peace for the osculatory, a candelabrum for the paschal light, a belfry with bells and ropes, a font with a lock, the images in the (body of the) church, the principal image in the chancel, the enclosure of the burial-ground, the repair of the nave of the church both within and without, also the repair of the altar, images, glass-windows, books, and vestments. The repair of the chancel both within and without, as well as all things which are not expressed here, shall, according to various approved constitutions and customs, belong to the rector or vicar of the place. DISSERTATION ON THE VARIOUS ORNAMENTS, BOOKS, AND VESTMENTS, ANCIENTLY USED IN CHURCHES. According to my original plan, the account of "the various parts of the ancient churches," which forms the preface to this chapter, (see p. 188, &c.) would have been immediately followed by a description of their ornaments and furniture: on reflection, however, it appeared to me highly expedient, that the celebrated constitution, a translation of which has been just presented to the THE HIGH ALTAR AND ITS FURNITURE. 217 reader, should be accompanied by a full explanation of its several particulars. ORNAMENTS AND FURNITURE. The HIGH ALTAR first claims our attention, not merely from the conspicuous position which it occupied, or the splendour of its decorations, but because the most solemn offices of religion were anciently performed there. Altars were then universally of stone,j and indeed the abolition of wooden altars was considered as a most important reformation in the church of Ireland, after the conquest of that country by Henry II.k "The authentic mark of an altar (says Fosbrooke) was its five crosses; and there was a small stone called sigillum altaris, by which the aperture for the insertion of relics was closed up by mortar tempered in holy water." The circumstance of relics being considered essential to a valid consecration, raised the price of those commodities to such an extent, that in A.D. 1021, an English archbishop is related to have paid the pope 66 a hundred talents of silver, and one of gold" as an equivalent for a single bone! As might naturally be expected, this lucrative trafic produced so many counterfeits, that satirical writers derived from this source a most plentiful harvest of ridicule," and at the dissolution of monasteries in England the most barefaced forgeries came to light. The blood of a duck, occasionally renewed, was exhibited and adored as the blood of our Redeemer ! teeth of St. Apollonia were found than would have sufficed to fill a bushel; and the celebrated Erasmus is related to have seen, in the course of his travels, the head of John the Baptist in three different places! More But let us return to the high altar, which was not always fixed, like our modern communion-tables, against the east wall, but sometimes stood in the middle of the chancel, so that it might be surrounded in processions. It was elevated on three or more steps, and probably railed in. Before the Conquest, kings and noblemen frequently made grants of land to the church viva voce, (without any writing,) by merely placing a small knife, a horn, or some other token, upon the high altar, which was afterwards retained in memorial thereof. The TABERNACLE, (erroneously called by some writers the cibo. rium,) was a sort of turret or cabinet, at the top of the altar, containing the pyx with the host. Anciently, the host (or eucharistical bread, ready consecrated and reserved,) was placed within j Concil. Wintoniens. A. D. 1076, c. 5. 1 Encyclop. of Antiq. i. 94. • Burnet's Hist. Ref. A. D. 1536. Lond. 1679, i. 242. Also Spelm. 218 SEPULCHRUM CHRISTI-PISCINE, &c. the image of a dove, formed of silver or gold, and suspended under the ciborium. The tabernacle was sometimes called the arca. The CIBORIUM was a canopy supported by pillars, and formed a covering to the altar: but these were very uncommon in England, altar-skreens having been very generally adopted here. The CREDENCE TABLE was a small altar near the great one, on which the oblations were prepared before consecration. There is one on the right side of the altar in Winchester cathedral. This was called by the Greeks πρόθεσις. SEPULCHRUM CHRISTI, also called the Paschal, was a richly sculptured tomb, erected near the altar, in which the pyx with the host was solemnly deposited on Good-Friday till Easter-day, when the priests, going in procession, removed it from thence, chanting the anthem "Surrexit, non est hic." There is a fine specimen on the north side of the altar at Northwold, county of Norfolk." Temporary paschals made of wood were much more common. Under the middle figure in my frontispiece, there is a miniature representation of an altar prepared for mass, with a tabernacle on the upper part, and surmounted by a ciborium. PISCINE, otherwise called lavatories, are the sinks so frequently seen on the south side of the chancel, and are arched niches cut out of the substance of the wall, hollowed out after the manner of a basin, and with a hole in the centre to let the water run into the ground. Here the priest washed his hands during the mass; and it was expressly directed, that if a fly fell into the chalice, it should be burnt" super piscinam." Piscinæ are frequently double, and adorned with beautiful columns; as at St. Mary's church, Ely; that at Littleport has a shelf in the centre. X " W LOCKERS are also niches hollowed out of the substance of the wall, but are usually square, and have no basin at the bottom. These had formerly small doors, and contained the cruets of wine and water, the towels, &c. used in the mass. When piscina and lockers are found in the transepts of a church, it is a sure sign that they were anciently chantry chapels. SEDES MAJESTATIS was a seat at the side of the altar, on which the officiating priest sat during the intervals of the service; and as often as he arose, the deacon, removing his hood or amyt, used to comb his hair. The episcopal throne, surmounted by a richly carved canopy, is found only in cathedrals. In many of our English churches, stone seats are to be seen on the south side of the altar, surmounted by arches, but varying from each other both in number and structure. Sometimes there is only Adelung's Gloss. voce Tabernacle; and Durandi Rationale, Lugd. 1612, fol. 16. Also Cabassutii Notit. Concil. p. 356. ALTAR PLATE IN LINCOLN CATHEDRAL. 219 one, as at Lenham in Kent. Sometimes there are two, as at Hayes in Middlesex. Sometimes three, as at Fakenham in Norfolk; (and this appears to be the most common number, being evidently a provision for the priest, deacon, and subdeacon, during high mass). Lastly, in some instances there are four seats on the south side of the altar, as in Chester cathedral.z I have observed these seats sometimes on a level, and at others rising one above another like steps of stairs; probably to distinguish the priest from the inferior orders of the ministry. At Hexham and Beverley there is a stone chair near the altar, to which extraordinary privileges of sanctuary were attached, viz. that any criminal flying thither should enjoy his life and liberty; hence it received the name of the fridstole, or freed-stool.a With respect to the wooden stalls found in the choirs of cathedrals, it may be observed, that "the shelving stools which the seats of the stalls formed when turned up in their proper position, were called misereres; because the monks and canons were permitted, as an indulgence, to support themselves on these, with the assistance of their elbows, during the parts of their long service," half sitting and half leaning. In Ely cathedral, and in other places, the misereres are richly and elaborately carved. The SEATS OF THE PEOPLE (which I mention in this place for the sake of classification) were probably long open benches, carved at the ends, like those occupied by the poor in our village churches. According to Durandus and others, the seats of the different sexes were so distinguished, that the men sat on the south side of the nave, and the women on the north.c The ALTAR PLATE of course varied according to the wealth of the place the following articles were, however, indispensable, viz. a pyx of silver or ivory for the host; a silver chalice (the cover of which might be used as a patena); a chrismatory for the holy oils, probably something like a cruet-stand; phials for wine and water used during the mass, and candlesticks. So sumptuously was Lincoln cathedral supplied in this respect, before the Reformation, that, as Dugdale tells us in his Monasticon, Henry VIII. took from thence 2621 ounces of gold, and 4283 ounces of silver, besides pearls and precious stones to an immense amount: likewise two shrines; one, called St. Hugh, of pure gold, and the other of silver, called St. John's of d'Alderby. At the same time the episcopal mitre of Lincoln is said to have been the richest in England. Erasmus's dialogue called "Peregrinatio Religionis Ergo," is well worthy of the reader's attentive perusal, containing as it does an account of Canterbury cathedral, and the shrines at Walsingham, during their greatest magnificence and glory. The ANAX was a large flagon for containing the wine used in z Dugdale's Brit. Trav. passim. a Staveley's Hist. Churches, p. 173. c Durand. fol. 9. See also in this book, p. 202. d Johnson, A. D. 1305, c. 4. N. b. b Fosb. i. 95. e Dugdale's Brit. Trav. iii. 430. |