a work purporting to deal with old english customs on the broad representative lines of the present volume naturally sets out with a choice of those pertaining to the most ancient and venerable institution of the land—the church; and, almost as naturally it culls its first flower from a life with which our ancestors were in intimate touch, and which was known to them, in a special and excellent sense, as religious.
the custom to which has been assigned the post of honour is of remarkable and various interest. it takes us back to a remote past, when the english, actuated by new-born fervour, sent the torch of faith to their german kinsmen, still plunged in the gloom of traditional paganism; and it was fated to end when the example of those same german kinsmen stimulated our countrymen to throw off a yoke which had long been irksome, and was then in sharp conflict with their patriotic ideals. it is foreign to the aim of these antiquarian studies to sound any note of controversy, but it will be rather surprising if the beauty and pathos of the custom, which is to engage our attention, does not appeal to many who would not have desired its revival in our age and country.[1] typical of the thoughts and habits of our ancestors, it is no less typical of their place and share of the general system of western christendom, and in the heritage of human sentiment, since reverence for the dead is common to all but the most degraded races of mankind. that mutual commemoration of departed, and also of living, worth was not exclusive to this country is brought home to us by the fact that the most learned and comprehensive work on the subject, in its christian and medi?val aspects, is ebner's "die klosterlichen gebets-verbrüderungen" (regensburg and new york, 1890). this circumstance, however, by no means diminishes—it rather heightens-the interest of a custom for centuries embedded in the consciousness and culture of the english people.
first, it may be well to devote a paragraph to the phrases applied to the institution. the title of the chapter is "leagues of prayer," but it would have been simple to substitute for it any one of half a dozen others—less definite, it is true—sanctioned by the precedents of ecclesiastical writers. one term is "friendship"; and st. boniface, in his letters referring to the topic, employs indifferently the cognate expressions "familiarity," "charity" (or "love"). sometimes he speaks of the "bond of brotherhood" and "fellowship." venerable bede favours the word "communion." alcuin, in his epistles, alternates between the more precise description "pacts of charity" and the vaguer expressions "brotherhood" and "familiarity." the last he employs very commonly. the fame of cluny as a spiritual centre led to the term "brotherhood" being preferred, and from the eleventh century onwards it became general.
the privilege of fraternal alliance with other religious communities was greatly valued, and admission was craved in language at once humble, eloquent, and touchingly sincere. venerable bede implores the monks of lindisfarne to receive him as their "little household slave"—he desires that "my name also" may be inscribed in the register of the holy flock. many a time does alcuin avow his longing to "merit" being one of some congregation in communion of love; and, in writing to the abbeys of girwy and wearmouth, he fails not to remind them of the "brotherhood" they have granted him.
the term "brother," in some contexts, bore the distinctive meaning of one to whom had been vouchsafed the prayers and spiritual boons of a convent other than that of which he was a member, if, as was not always or necessarily the case, he was incorporated in a religious order. the definition furnished by ducange, who quotes from the diptych of the abbey of bath, proves how wide a field the term covers, even when restricted to confederated prayer:
"fratres interdum inde vocantur qui in ejusmodi fraternitatem sive participationem orationum aliorumque bonorum spiritualium sive monachorum sive aliarum ecclesiarum et jam cathedralium admissi errant, sive laici sive ecclesiastici."
thus the secular clergy and the laity were recognized as fully eligible for all the benefits of this high privilege, but it is identified for the most part with the functions of the regular clergy, whose leisured and tranquil existence was more consonant with the punctual observance of the custom, and by whom it was handed down to successive generations as a laudable and edifying practice importing much comfort for the living, and, it might be hoped, true succour for the pious dead.
in so far as the custom was founded on any particular text of scripture, it may be considered to rest on the exhortation of st. james, which is cited by st. boniface: "pray for one another that ye may be saved, for the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." st. boniface is remembered as the apostle of germany, and when, early in the eighth century, he embarked on his perilous mission, he and his company made a compact with the king of the east angles, whereby the monarch engaged that prayers should be offered on their behalf in all the monasteries in his dominion. on the death of members of the brotherhood, the tidings were to be conveyed to their fellows in england, as opportunity occurred. not only did boniface enter into leagues of prayer with archbishops of canterbury and the chapters and monks of winchester, worcester, york, etc., but he formed similar ties with the church of rome and the abbey of monte cassino, binding himself to transmit the names of his defunct brethren for their remembrance and suffrage, and promising prayers and masses for their brethren on receiving notice of their decease. lullus, who followed st. boniface as archbishop of mayence, and other anglo-saxon missionaries extended the scope of the confederacy, linking themselves with english and continental monasteries—for instance, salzburg. wunibald, a nephew of st. boniface, imitating his uncle's example, allied himself with monte cassino. we may add that in alcuin's time york was in league with ferrières; and in 849 the relations between the abbey and cathedral of the former city and their friends on the continent were solemnly confirmed.
having given some account of the infancy or adolescence of the custom, we may now turn to what may be termed, without disrespect, the machinery of the institution. the death of a dignitary, or of a clerk distinguished for virtue and learning, or of a simple monk has occurred. forthwith his name is engrossed on a strip of parchment, which is wrapped round a stick or a wooden roll, at each end of the latter being a wooden or metal cap designed to prevent the parchment from slipping off. after the tenth century, at certain periods—say once a year—the names of dead brethren were carried to the scriptorium, where they were entered with the utmost precision, and with reverent art, on a mortuary roll.
the next step was to summon a messenger, and fasten the roll to his neck, after which the brethren, in a group at the gateway, bade him god-speed. these officials were numerous enough to form a distinct class, and some hundreds of them might have been found wending their way simultaneously on the same devout errand through the christian kingdoms of the west, in which they were variously known as geruli, cursores, diplomates, and bajuli. we may picture them speeding from one church or one abbey to another, bearing their mournful missive, and when england had been traversed, crossing the narrow seas to resume their melancholy task on the continent. at whatever place he halted, the messenger might count on a sympathetic reception; and in every monastery the roll, having been detached from his neck, was read to the assembled brethren, who proceeded to render the solemn chant and requiem for the dead in compliance with their engagements. on the following day the messenger took his leave, lavishly supplied with provisions for the next stage.
monasteries often embraced the opportunity afforded by these visits to insert the name of some brother lately deceased, in order to avoid waiting for the dispatch of their own annual encyclical, and so to notify, sooner than would otherwise have been possible, the death of members for whom they desired the prayers of the association.
mortuary rolls, many examples of which have been found in national collections—some of them as much as fifty or sixty feet in length—contain strict injunctions specifying that the house and day of arrival be inscribed on the roll in each monastery, together with the name of the superior, the purpose being to preclude any failure on the part of the messenger worn out with the fatigue, or daunted by the hardships and perils, of the journey. the circuit having been completed, the parchment returned to the monastery from which it had issued, whereupon a scrutiny was made to ascertain, by means of the dates, whether the errand had been duly performed. "after many months' absence," says dr. rock, "the messenger would reach his own cloister, carrying back with him the illuminated death-bill, now filled to its fullest length with dates and elegies, for his abbot to see that the behest of the chapter had been duly done, and the library of the house enriched with another document."
one of the durham rolls is thirteen yards in length and nine inches in breadth. consisting of nineteen sheets of parchment, it was executed on the death of john burnby, a prior of durham, in 1464. his successor, richard bell, who was afterwards bishop of durham, and the convent, caused this roll, commemorating the virtues of the late prior and william of ebchester, another predecessor, to be circulated through the religious houses of the entire kingdom; and inscribed on it are the titles, orders, and dedications of no fewer than six hundred and twenty-three. each had undertaken to pray for the souls of the two priors in return for the prayers of the monks at durham. the roll opens with a superb illumination, three feet long, depicting the death and burial of one of the priors; and at the foot occurs the formula: anima magistri willielmi ebchestre et anima johannis burnby et anim? omnium defunctorum per dei misericordiam in pace requiescant.
the monastery first visited makes the following entry: titulus monasterii beat? mari? de gyseburn in clyveland, ordinis s. augustini ebor. dioc. anima magistri willielmi ebchestre et anima johannis burnby et anim? omnium defunctorum per misericordiam dei in pace requiescant. vestris nostra damus, pro nostris vestra rogamus. the other houses employ identical terms, with the exception of the monastery of st. paul, newenham, lincolnshire, which substitutes for the concluding verse a hexameter of similar import. it is of some interest to remark that, apart from armorial or fanciful initials, the standing of a house may be gauged by the handwriting, the titles of the larger monasteries being given in bold letters, while those of the smaller form an almost illegible scrawl. the greater houses would have been in a position to support a competent scribe—not so the lesser; and this is believed to have been the reason of the difference.
almost, if not quite, as important as the roll just noticed is that of archbishop islip of westminster recently reproduced in vetusta monumenta.
after the tenth century it appears to have been the custom in some monasteries, on the death of a member, to record the fact; and at certain periods—probably once a year—the names of all the dead brethren were inscribed on an elaborate mortuary roll in the scriptorium, before being dispatched to the religious houses throughout the land.
the books of the confraternities are divisible into two classes—necrologies and libri vitae. the former are in the shape of a calendar, in which the names are arranged according to the days on which the deaths took place; the latter include the names of the living as well as the dead, and were laid on the altar to aid the memory of the priest during mass. twice a day—at the chapter after prime and at mass—the monks assembled to listen to the recitation of the names, singly or collectively, from the sacramentary, diptych, or book of life. the most famous english liber vitae—that of durham—embraces entries dating from the time of edwin, king of northumbria (616-633), and was compiled, apparently, between the devastation of lindisfarne in 793 and the withdrawal of the monks from the island in 875. in the first handwriting there are 3,100 names, a goodly proportion of them belonging to the seventh century. as has been already implied, various degrees are represented in the rolls of the living and the dead—notably, of course, benefactors, but recorded in them are bishops and abbots, princes and nobles, monks and laymen, and often enough this is their only footprint on the sands of time. the name of a pilgrim in the confraternity book of any abbey signifies that he was there on the day mentioned.
