Chantry
Encyclopedia
Chantry is the English
term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses
for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest. A chantry chapel
is a building on private land or a dedicated area within a greater church, set aside or built especially for and dedicated to the performance of the chantry duties by the priest. A chantry may have only an altar
, rather than a chapel, within a larger church, generally dedicated to the donor's favourite saint. Many altars became richly endowed, often with gold furnishings and valuable vestments.
for the souls of deceased members of their 'confraternity'. Ninth-century Francia and England had records of numerous confraternity agreements between monasteries or greater churches, by which each would offer prayers for the dead members of the other's communities. Before the year 1000 in Italy, France and England, great churches extended the benefits of such associations to lay folk. Kings and great magnates asked that prayers for their souls be said in the monasteries which they founded on their estates.
chanter, from the Latin
cantare (to sing) and its mediaeval derivative, cantaria (meaning 'licence to sing mass'). The French
term for this commemorative institution is chapellenie (chaplaincy).
and its hundreds of daughter houses were central to this. The Cluniac order emphasised an elaborate liturgy as the centre of its common life. It developed an unrivalled liturgy for the dead and offered its benefits to its patrons. By the 1150s, the order had so many demands for multiple masses for the dead that Peter the Venerable
placed a moratorium on further endowments. Other monastic orders also benefitted from this movement, but similarly became burdened by commemoration. The history of the Cistercian house of Bordesley
(Worcestershire), a royal abbey, demonstrates this. In the mid-12th century, it offered the services of two priest monks, presumably to say mass, for the soul of Robert de Stafford
. Between 1162 and 1173, it offered the services of an additional six monks for the souls of Earl Hugh of Chester and his family. This sort of dedication of prayers towards particular individuals was a step towards the institutional chantry.
Another theory (Crouch) points to the parallel development of communities or colleges of secular priests or canon
s as an influence on the evolution of the chantry. Such communities were not monastic foundations, although members shared a common life. Like the monasteries, they offered dedicated prayers for the dead. An example is the collegiate church of Marwell
(Hampshire), founded by Bishop Henry of Winchester
in the early 1160s. The priests of the college were to pray for the souls of the bishops of Winchester and kings of England. Gradually perpetual masses for the dead were delegated to one altar and one secular priest within a greater church.
contributed greatly to religious patronage. Henry founded at least one daily mass for his soul in the endowment of the estate of Lingoed (Gwent) of Dore Abbey (Herefordshire); he endowed the services in perpetuity of four monk-priests. In 1183 the king lost his eldest son, Henry the Young King
of England. In 1185 his third son, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, died in a tournament
near Paris. Henry II commemorated his sons by founding what resembled the classic institutional chantry. He endowed altars and priests at Rouen Cathedral
in perpetuity for the soul of the Young Henry. Philip II of France endowed priests at the cathedral of Notre Dame
in Paris for the soul of Duke Geoffrey. John count of Mortain, the youngest son of Henry II, also created chantry-like foundations. In 1192 he granted the collegiate church of Bakewell
(Derbyshire) to create a prebend at Lichfield Cathedral
. The holder was to celebrate mass perpetually for John's soul. The concept of the institutional chantry thus developed in the 1180s within English and French royal circles, who were wealthy enough to endow them.
Beyond them, the first perpetual mass was endowed by the London sheriff and patrician, Richard fitz Reiner, at the chapel of his manor of Broad Colney (Hertfordshire). He established it by the terms of his last testament in 1191, and the chantry was completed in 1212. In close association with the Angevin court, Richard may have adopted its religious practice.
, Leicestershire) or in an aisle of a greater church. If chantries were in religious communities, they were sometimes headed by a warden or archpriest. Such chantries generally had constitutions directing the terms by which priests might be appointed and how they were to be supervised. The perpetual chantry was the most prestigious and expensive option for the wealthy burgess or aristocrat. A lesser option was the endowment of a fixed-term chantry, to fund masses by one or two priests at a side altar. Historians have found terms ranging from one to ten years to be more common than the perpetual sort.
initiated the Reformation
in England, Parliament passed an Act in 1545 that defined chantries as representing misapplied funds and misappropriated lands. The Act stated that all chantries and their properties would belong to the King for as long as he should live. Along with the dispersal of the monasteries
, the act was designed to help Henry relieve the monetary pressures of the war with France
. Because Henry did not live long after the act's passage, few chantries were closed or given over to him. His successor, Edward VI
, had a new Act issued in 1547, which completely suppressed 2,374 chantries and guild chapels; it also authorized inquiries to determine all of their possessions. Although the act called for the monies to go to "charitable" ends and the "public good," most of it appeared to have gone to Edward VI's advisors. The Crown sold many chantries to private citizens; for example, in 1548 Thomas Bell (Mayor of Gloucester)
purchased at least five in his city. The Act provided that the Crown had to guarantee a pension to all chantry priests displaced under its implementation.
Historians believe that the most significant effect of the chantries, and the most significant loss resulting from their suppression, was educational. The priests associated with chantries had provided education to their communities. Since they were not ordinaries and did not offer public masses, they could serve their communities in other ways. When Edward VI closed the chantries, priests were displaced who had taught the poor and rural residents; afterward such citizens suffered greatly diminished access to education for their children. Some of the chantries were converted into the grammar school
s now called "Edwardian."
Royal Peculiar
s were not covered by any of the above Acts of Parliament, so were not formally abolished. Most declined over time. The jurisdiction
of almost all was abolished in the nineteenth century. Some royal peculiars survive, including Westminster Abbey
and St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest. A chantry chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
is a building on private land or a dedicated area within a greater church, set aside or built especially for and dedicated to the performance of the chantry duties by the priest. A chantry may have only an altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
, rather than a chapel, within a larger church, generally dedicated to the donor's favourite saint. Many altars became richly endowed, often with gold furnishings and valuable vestments.
Mass for the dead
The practice of saying Christian masses to benefit the soul of a deceased person is attested as early as the eighth century. The most common form was the anniversarium or missa annualis, a mass said annually on the date of the person's death. People believed that more numerous masses increased their efficacy. At the Council of Attigny (765), about 40 abbots and bishops agreed to say masses and recite the psalterPsalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...
for the souls of deceased members of their 'confraternity'. Ninth-century Francia and England had records of numerous confraternity agreements between monasteries or greater churches, by which each would offer prayers for the dead members of the other's communities. Before the year 1000 in Italy, France and England, great churches extended the benefits of such associations to lay folk. Kings and great magnates asked that prayers for their souls be said in the monasteries which they founded on their estates.
Etymology
The word derives, via Old FrenchOld French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
chanter, from the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
cantare (to sing) and its mediaeval derivative, cantaria (meaning 'licence to sing mass'). The French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
term for this commemorative institution is chapellenie (chaplaincy).
Origin of chantries
Current theories (Colvin) locate the origins of the chantry in the rapid expansion of regular monasteries in the eleventh century. The abbey of ClunyCluny
Cluny or Clungy is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. It is 20 km northwest of Mâcon.The town grew up around the Benedictine Cluny Abbey, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 910...
and its hundreds of daughter houses were central to this. The Cluniac order emphasised an elaborate liturgy as the centre of its common life. It developed an unrivalled liturgy for the dead and offered its benefits to its patrons. By the 1150s, the order had so many demands for multiple masses for the dead that Peter the Venerable
Peter the Venerable
Peter the Venerable , also known as Peter of Montboissier, abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Cluny, born to Blessed Raingarde in Auvergne, France. He has been honored as a saint but has never been formally canonized.-Life:Peter was "Dedicated to God" at birth and given to the monastery at...
placed a moratorium on further endowments. Other monastic orders also benefitted from this movement, but similarly became burdened by commemoration. The history of the Cistercian house of Bordesley
Bordesley Abbey
Bordesley Abbey was a 12th century Cistercian abbey near the town of Redditch, in Worcestershire, England.The abbey's foundation has been attributed to Queen Maud, but it is actually down to Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan who gave the monks of Garendon Abbey in Leicestershire some more land....
(Worcestershire), a royal abbey, demonstrates this. In the mid-12th century, it offered the services of two priest monks, presumably to say mass, for the soul of Robert de Stafford
Robert de Stafford
Robert de Stafford was a Norman nobleman, the builder of Stafford Castle in England. He may or may not be the same as Robert de Tosny Lord of Belvoir or of the Robert de Tosny who was son of Raoul II of Tosny ; primary evidence is lacking to determine his parentage, according to Cawley...
. Between 1162 and 1173, it offered the services of an additional six monks for the souls of Earl Hugh of Chester and his family. This sort of dedication of prayers towards particular individuals was a step towards the institutional chantry.
Another theory (Crouch) points to the parallel development of communities or colleges of secular priests or canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
s as an influence on the evolution of the chantry. Such communities were not monastic foundations, although members shared a common life. Like the monasteries, they offered dedicated prayers for the dead. An example is the collegiate church of Marwell
Marwell College
Marwell College was a college of secular priests in Marwell Park, Owslebury, Hampshire, England.Marwell was sometimes spelt Merwell or Merewell....
(Hampshire), founded by Bishop Henry of Winchester
Henry of Blois
Henry of Blois , often known as Henry of Winchester, was Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey from 1126, and Bishop of Winchester from 1129 to his death.-Early life and education:...
in the early 1160s. The priests of the college were to pray for the souls of the bishops of Winchester and kings of England. Gradually perpetual masses for the dead were delegated to one altar and one secular priest within a greater church.
Henry II of England and the chantry
The family of King Henry II of EnglandHenry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
contributed greatly to religious patronage. Henry founded at least one daily mass for his soul in the endowment of the estate of Lingoed (Gwent) of Dore Abbey (Herefordshire); he endowed the services in perpetuity of four monk-priests. In 1183 the king lost his eldest son, Henry the Young King
Henry the Young King
Henry, known as the Young King was the second of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine but the first to survive infancy. He was officially King of England; Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine.-Early life:Little is known of the young prince Henry before the events...
of England. In 1185 his third son, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany, died in a tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
near Paris. Henry II commemorated his sons by founding what resembled the classic institutional chantry. He endowed altars and priests at Rouen Cathedral
Rouen Cathedral
Rouen Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral in Rouen, in northwestern France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Rouen and Normandy.-History:...
in perpetuity for the soul of the Young Henry. Philip II of France endowed priests at the cathedral of Notre Dame
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
in Paris for the soul of Duke Geoffrey. John count of Mortain, the youngest son of Henry II, also created chantry-like foundations. In 1192 he granted the collegiate church of Bakewell
Bakewell
Bakewell is a small market town in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, deriving its name from 'Beadeca's Well'. It is the only town included in the Peak District National Park, and is well known for the local confection Bakewell Pudding...
(Derbyshire) to create a prebend at Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...
. The holder was to celebrate mass perpetually for John's soul. The concept of the institutional chantry thus developed in the 1180s within English and French royal circles, who were wealthy enough to endow them.
Beyond them, the first perpetual mass was endowed by the London sheriff and patrician, Richard fitz Reiner, at the chapel of his manor of Broad Colney (Hertfordshire). He established it by the terms of his last testament in 1191, and the chantry was completed in 1212. In close association with the Angevin court, Richard may have adopted its religious practice.
Chantry provision in later Medieval England
Analysis of later medieval wills has shown that the chantry appeared in many forms. A perpetual chantry might consist of one or several priests, in an independent free-standing chapel (such as the surviving one at NoseleyNoseley
Noseley is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of the Hazlerigg family, whose members include Sir Arthur Hesilrige, who was one of the five Members of Parliament whom Charles I unsuccessfully sought to arrest.In 2004 the parish had an...
, Leicestershire) or in an aisle of a greater church. If chantries were in religious communities, they were sometimes headed by a warden or archpriest. Such chantries generally had constitutions directing the terms by which priests might be appointed and how they were to be supervised. The perpetual chantry was the most prestigious and expensive option for the wealthy burgess or aristocrat. A lesser option was the endowment of a fixed-term chantry, to fund masses by one or two priests at a side altar. Historians have found terms ranging from one to ten years to be more common than the perpetual sort.
Abolition of Chantries Acts, 1545 and 1547
When Henry VIIIHenry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
initiated the Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
in England, Parliament passed an Act in 1545 that defined chantries as representing misapplied funds and misappropriated lands. The Act stated that all chantries and their properties would belong to the King for as long as he should live. Along with the dispersal of the monasteries
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
, the act was designed to help Henry relieve the monetary pressures of the war with France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Because Henry did not live long after the act's passage, few chantries were closed or given over to him. His successor, Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
, had a new Act issued in 1547, which completely suppressed 2,374 chantries and guild chapels; it also authorized inquiries to determine all of their possessions. Although the act called for the monies to go to "charitable" ends and the "public good," most of it appeared to have gone to Edward VI's advisors. The Crown sold many chantries to private citizens; for example, in 1548 Thomas Bell (Mayor of Gloucester)
Thomas Bell (Mayor of Gloucester)
Sir Thomas Bell the Elder was an English cap manufacturer, mayor of Gloucester and MP. He was a manufacturer of caps in Gloucester and one of the city's largest employers and wealthiest citizens and a great benefactor of the city and its people. He is described in contemporaneous documents as a...
purchased at least five in his city. The Act provided that the Crown had to guarantee a pension to all chantry priests displaced under its implementation.
Historians believe that the most significant effect of the chantries, and the most significant loss resulting from their suppression, was educational. The priests associated with chantries had provided education to their communities. Since they were not ordinaries and did not offer public masses, they could serve their communities in other ways. When Edward VI closed the chantries, priests were displaced who had taught the poor and rural residents; afterward such citizens suffered greatly diminished access to education for their children. Some of the chantries were converted into the grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
s now called "Edwardian."
Royal Peculiar
Royal Peculiar
A Royal Peculiar is a place of worship that falls directly under the jurisdiction of the British monarch, rather than under a bishop. The concept dates from Anglo-Saxon times, when a church could ally itself with the monarch and therefore not be subject to the bishop of the area...
s were not covered by any of the above Acts of Parliament, so were not formally abolished. Most declined over time. The jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
of almost all was abolished in the nineteenth century. Some royal peculiars survive, including Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
and St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
External links
- "London and Middlesex Chantry Certificate", certificate of the royal commissioners, in preparation for the dissolution; London Record Society; here hosted by British History Online.