Parish life in mediæval England

As in _English Monastic Life_, the volume I have already contributed to this series of “The Antiquary’s Books,” I have, in this book, been advised by the Editor to avoid multitu...

Any account of parish life in mediæval England must include much more than might at first sight be supposed. To imagine that the story of the parson and his church could adequat...

The “parish” is described by Bishop Hobhouse as the community dwelling in an area defined by the Church, organised for Church purposes, and subject to Church authority. “Within...

In the previous chapter the attention of the reader was directed mainly to the relations of priest and people to their parish church. The division of obligation for the upkeep o...

The head of every parish in pre-Reformation days was the priest. He might be a _rector_ or _vicar_, according to his position in regard to the benefice; but in either case he wa...

If the parish priest, rector, or vicar was undoubtedly the admitted centre of life in the district, the father of his people and the pastor of his flock, neither on his part nor...

In view of the many expenses which devolved upon the wardens in the working of a mediæval parish, it is important to try to understand how they were able to raise the necessary...

As the church was from the earliest times the centre of the parish, and the priest the head of his flock and the chief person--the parson--of the district, it is natural to look...

The round of Church festivals was followed with a lively interest by the people of every English parish. From Advent to Advent the sequence of ecclesiastical feasts was calculat...

This account of parochial life in pre-Reformation England requires some brief description of the Sacramental system, which had its effect on every soul in the district. From the...

The influence on parochial life of the Sunday sermon and what went with it can hardly be exaggerated. It was not only that it was at this time that the priest instructed his peo...

Notwithstanding that the parish was instituted primarily for ecclesiastical objects, the people quickly came to understand the utility of the organization for common and social...

Every account of a mediæval parish must necessarily include some description of the work of fraternities and guilds. Although these societies, absolutely speaking, were not exis...