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Chapter 5 – People Alignment

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. ____________ involves assuring that the skills and behaviors of employees

within the organization will enable the effective implementation of the
organization’s strategy
a. Business dynamics
b. Human development planning
c. People alignment
d. Job development
e. none of the above
(c: Easy; p. 101)

2. In developing required competencies, leaders can select a “____________” or

“____________” approach.
a. make; buy
b. performance; skills
c. performance; make
d. skills; buy
e. none of the above
(a: Moderate; p. 101)

3. Which statement is correct in regards to developing required competencies through

a “buy” approach?
a. injects the organization with new employees who possess the desired set of
competencies
b. implies developing the needed new set of competencies and behaviors in
current employees
c. assumes that employees are both capable of and motivated to acquire and
utilize new skills and engage in new behaviors
d. Both A and B
e. Both B and C
(a: Moderate; p. 102)

4. To be part of a change effort, training programs need to contain two components:

a. knowledge and skill development.
b. content and methods.
c. strategic focus and reinforcement.
d. support and skills training.
e. none of the above
(a: Difficult; p. 103)

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 67

5. ___________ training programs focus on behaviors and typically include

role‐playing and feedback.

a. Team
b. Experiential
c. On-the-job
d. Succession
e. Just-in-time
(b: Moderate; p. 103)

6. Training fade-out is reduced by which of the following factors?

a. supervisory support
b. peer support
c. work conditions
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
(d: Difficult; p. 104)

7. ______________ is the failure of newly learned behaviors to transfer to on-the-job

experiences.
a. Transfer dysfunction
b. Training failure
c. Training fade-out
d. Performance gap
e. none of the above
(c: Moderate; p. 104)

8. Feedback is a key opportunity for developing new skills, but it should:

a. move employees towards new behaviors.
b. effectively reinforce existing patterns.
c. be offered in a training setting only.
d. be a part of the formal appraisal process.
e. none of the above
(a: Difficult; p. 104)

9. ______________ is a formal, regularly scheduled mechanism designed to provide

employees with performance feedback.
a. Informal feedback
b. Performance enhancement training
c. On-the-job development
d. Performance appraisal
e. Group enhancement
(d: Easy; p. 105)

68 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

10. ______________ uses performance feedback gathered from peers, subordinates,
supervisors, and customers.
a. Formal performance appraisal
b. Informal performance appraisal
c. 360-degree performance appraisal
d. Self-appraisal
e. none of the above
(c: Easy; p. 106)

11. ________________ can be described as the process of “getting the right people on
the bus” and “the wrong people off the bus.”
a. Removal and replacement
b. Person-organization
c. People alignment
d. Transport scheduling
e. none of the above
(c: Easy; p. 109)

12. ________________a formal process in which top executives regularly review all
managers at or above a certain hierarchical level, looking at both performance and
potential, and devise developmental plans for their most promising individuals.
a. Performance appraisal
b. People alignment
c. Job rotation
d. Succession planning
e. none of the above
(d: Moderate; p. 107)

13. Person-task fit refers to:

a. when the organization has specific tasks that need to be done, it hires
individuals with the requisite skills.
b. human resource specialists’ work in a structured way to define the key
knowledge, skills and abilities required in the performance of core
organizational tasks.
c. individuals are sought, and often tested, to determine their competency
levels to perform specific tasks.
d. all of the above
e. both A and B
(d: Difficult; p. 110)

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 69

14. Person-organization fit looks:
a. at the current diversity of the organization.
b. beyond specific jobs to the desired future state of the organization.
c. at ways to better match organizational culture to employee desires.
d. both A and B
e. both B and C
(b: Moderate; pp. 119-110)

15. A ____________ test is self-administered and quantifiable, used in selection.

a. behaviorally anchored
b. simulation
c. standardized
d. valid reflection
e. none of the above
(c: Easy; p. 112)

16. Which of the following is correct about the strengths of behavioral simulation?
a. can focus on specific behaviors
b. valid supplement to other screening mechanisms
c. validity increases when multiple interviewers score results
d. focus on actual rather than recounted behaviors
e. both B and C
(d: Difficult; p. 114)

17. Which of the following is correct about the strengths of paper-and-pencil tests?
a. easy to administer and score
b. inexpensive to use on large scales
c. simple to compare
d. valid job success predictors when used in combination with other
mechanisms
e. all of the above
(e: Moderate; p. 114)

18. In order to ensure that top management supports strategic renewal:

a. it is always necessary to hire new executive leadership from the outside.
b. existing managers should remain in the job, do well, with large pay
increases.
c. a succession plan process with no required follow-up should be in place.
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
(e: Difficult; p. 107)

70 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

19. A selection tool that uses role plays and behavior demonstrations is called a:
a. paper and pencil test.
b. stress interview.
c. team selection.
d. behavioral simulation.
e. none of the above
(d: Easy; p. 113)

20. Patagonia’s statement that “it’s easier to teach dirt bags to do business than it is to
teach businessmen to be dirt bags” reflects what approach to employee selection?
a. behavioral simulation
b. person-organization fit
c. wilderness training
d. competency assessment
(b: Difficult; p. 114)

21. ____________ is a process in which top executives regularly review all managers
at or above a certain hierarchical level, looking at both performance and potential,
and devise developmental plans for their most promising individuals.
a. Task planning
b. Job planning
c. Policy planning
d. Process planning
e. None of the above
(e: Difficult; p. 116)

22. The statement of “delayering, increased span of control, matrix, or horizontal

structures—all of these work to develop generalists far earlier in their careers and
place a greater premium on interpersonal competencies” refers to which practices
for developing executives capable of adaptation and leading change?
a. structural and design changes
b. explicit international movement
c. career mazes
d. slower velocity to allow greater learning
e. none of the above
(a: Difficult; p. 108)

23. The statement of “explicit lateral movements replace rapid upward functional
mobility with a far broader set of experiences” refers to which practices for
developing executives capable of adaptation and leading change?
a. structural and design changes
b. explicit international movement
c. career mazes

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 71

 d. slower velocity to allow greater learning
e. none of the above
(c: Difficult; p. 108)

24. ____________ deals with individuals who cannot or will not develop new
competencies and behaviors.
a. Removal and replacement
b. Career change
c. Training
d. Behavioral replacement
e. none of the above
(a: Moderate; p. 115)

25. ____________ is a widely shared perception that decisions are being made on the
basis of valid criteria.
a. Engagement
b. Fair process
c. Managerial manipulation
d. Sequential approach
(b: Easy; p. 117)

26. In order to accomplish fair process, removal and replacement decisions should be:
a. fair in process.
b. valid in content.
c. appropriate in sequence.
d. timely and accurate.
e. all of the above
f. A and B
g. A, B and C
(g: Moderate; p. 127)

27. When using removal and replacement as implementation tools in support of

strategic renewal and change, perceived fairness will be enhanced by a sequence
of actions that has already included ___________.
a. a shared diagnosis that has surfaced the relationship between past
behavioral patterns and current performance shortcomings.
b. a redesign process that has identified new patterns of behavior required for
sustained outstanding performance.
c. training and development that have been offered to employees as a way of
gaining and demonstrating required new behaviors.
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
(d: Difficult; p. 118)

72 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

28. Engagement, explanation and expectation clarity are 3 factors that contribute to:
a. removal and replacement.
b. fair process.
c. effective employee selection.
d. mutual engagement.
e. succession planning
(b: Moderate; p. 117)

29. Questions such as, “Give me an example of a work-related problem that you had to
deal with” or “talk about a recent group experience you had at work and the role
that you played” are examples of which type of interviews?
a. behavioral simulations
b. paper-and-pencil tests
c. behaviorally anchored interviews
d. human interaction tests
e. communication skill tests
(c: Moderate; p. 112)

30. Dealing with recounted rather than actual behaviors is a weakness of which
technique for person-organization fit screening?
a. behavioral simulation
b. paper-and-pencil test
c. behaviorally anchored interviews
d. human interaction test
e. communication skill test
(c: Difficult; p. 112)

31. Self-appraisal and data from multiple sources can increase the ____________ and
____________ of performance feedback
a. validity; reliability
b. cost; timeliness
c. validity; effectiveness
d. timeliness; effectiveness
(c: Moderate; p. 106)

32. Evaluating employees is important because:

a. it provides an assessment of human assets in the firm.
b. it identifies the gap between current and future skill needs.
c. it identifies poor performers and potential leaders.
d. it targets required T&D efforts.
e. all of the above
(e: Moderate; p. 105)

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 73

33. In succession planning, focusing on fast track managers is a good approach
because:
a. fast trackers are known to have skills associated with future performance
b. fast trackers have passed all of the written and behavioral tests
c. fast trackers are committed to staying with the company who invests in them
d. fast trackers come from the outside so they have fresh ideas
e. none of the above
(e: Difficult; p. 108)

34. ____________ refers to an awareness of the forces demanding strategic renewal

and change and the options available to the organization in response to those
forces.
a. Knowledge component
b. Skill development
c. Management development
d. Behavioral development
e. none of the above
(a: Moderate; p. 111)

TRUE / FALSE

35. A “making” approach to human resource development implies developing the

needed new set of competencies and behaviors in current employees. It assumes
that employees are both capable of and motivated to acquire and utilize new skills
and engage in new behaviors.
(True: Moderate; p. 102)

36. “Buying” involves injecting the organization with new employees who possess the
desired set of competencies.
(True: Easy; p. 102)

37. In order to develop required human resource competencies, organizational leaders

need to align the selection, training, development, and removal of employees with
the behavioral requirements of the desired change.
(True: Easy; p. 102)

38. Training can help convey to employees how their competitive environment is
changing and why their own behaviors need to be altered.
(True: Moderate; p. 103)

39. Training can, under the right circumstances, help employees gain new behavioral
competencies.
(True: Easy; p. 103)

74 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

40. The desired goal of the performance feedback process is alignment between the
future needs of the organization and the desires and motivations of employees.
(True: Moderate; p. 105)

41. The biggest advantages of formal appraisal are validity and accuracy.
(False: Moderate; p. 106)

42. Approximately 90% of Fortune 500 companies use some form of 360-degree
feedback.
(True: Moderate; p. 106)

43. On-the-job experience is less useful than behavioral and cognitive training in
developing new skills among executives.
(False: Easy; p. 107)

44. When supervisors seek to clone themselves, the effect is damaging for the
employees, not for the organization.
(False: Easy; p. 111)

45. When an organization is attempting to implement change, there is an urgent need

to attract employees whose behavior exemplifies the desired future state.
(True: Easy; p. 111)

46. The second component of the change effort and training programs is a knowledge
component: an awareness of the forces demanding strategic renewal and change
and the options available to the organization in response to those forces.
(False: Moderate; p. 103)

47. New behaviors acquired during experiential training will fade out unless the work
environment to which participants return supports new behaviors and participants
understand and accept the fact that outstanding performance will require those
behaviors.
(True: Moderate; p. 104)

48. Companies cannot manage the careers of executives in order to create a

continuous stream of leaders from inside the organization capable of implementing
change.
(False: Moderate; p. 108)

49. Workforce reductions and employee layoffs may be effective in improving short-
term performance but will not by themselves produce the human resource
competencies required to support strategic renewal and sustain outstanding
performance.
(True: Moderate; p. 115)

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 75

50. In behaviorally anchored interviews, applicants are asked to demonstrate job
behaviors.
(False: Moderate; p. 112)

51. Unless removal and replacement decisions are viewed by employees as being fair
in process, valid in content, and appropriate in sequence, the decisions can
undermine commitment to change implementation.
(True: Easy; p. 118)

52. Perceptions of fairness can also be impacted by the degree to which an

organization provides employees with due process and appeal mechanisms.
(True: Moderate; p. 117)

ESSAY QUESTIONS

53. What are the advantages and disadvantages of make/buy options for
changing human resources?

Make approach:
Advantages: Uses existing talents, knowledge and skills; builds commitment to the
organization
Disadvantages: Not all employees can or want to change; change process may be slow;
training can be costly

Buy approach:
Advantages: Quick; injects the organization with new talents, skills and ideas
Disadvantages: May undercut morale/commitment of existing employees (p. 111)

54. What are the strengths and weaknesses of behaviorally anchored interviews?

Strengths:
 Can focus on specific behaviors
 Valid supplement to other screening mechanisms
 Validity increases when multiple interviewers score results

Weaknesses:
 Deal with recounted rather than actual behaviors
 Can be slow and expensive to administer (Difficult; p. 112)

55. What are the sources of fairness in removal and replacement decisions?
What would be some key questions in determining each source?

76 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

 a. Validity: Are decisions made according to personal biases and beliefs of
individual supervisors (low fairness) or in alignment with the clear
requirements of outstanding performance (high fairness)?

b. Due Process: Are decisions seen as final and arbitrary (low fairness), or are
employees able to voice their opinions and appeal what they consider to be
invalid conclusions (high fairness)?
c. Timing and sequencing: Are decisions made before an employee is given an
opportunity to acquire the required skills (low fairness), or are employees
given an opportunity to develop and display the desired new behaviors (high
fairness)? (Moderate; p. 118)

56. Explain the concept of person-task fit.

The concept of person-task fit explains that when the organization has specific
tasks that need to be done, it hires individuals with the requisite skills. Human
resource specialists work in a structured way to define the key knowledge, skills
and abilities required in the performance of core organizational tasks. Individuals
are sought and often tested, to determine their competency levels to perform
specific tasks. The best-qualified individuals are then selected to fill the
organization’s job vacancies. (Moderate; p. 110)

57. Explain the concept of person-organization fit.

The second approach to selection involves what can be thought of as person-

organization fit: seeking “congruence,” between patterns of organizational values
and patterns of individual values, defined here as what an individual values in an
organization, such as being team-oriented or innovative. Person-organization fit
looks beyond specific jobs to the desired future state of the organization. This
concept questions the mind-set, the personality, and the competencies that the
organization seeks through its change. It further involves what newly defined roles,
responsibilities, and relationships have been sought. Most importantly at this stage,
what new competencies—both technical how-to competencies and interpersonal
(creative problem solving, decision making, collaboration, communication, and so
on) are required of this desired future state? (Moderate; p. 110)

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 77

58. Explain the components of a behavioral simulation.

In a behavioral simulation, a group of individuals is assigned a complex problem to solve.

 Solving the problem requires multiple skills.
 The problem’s solution is such that effective performance can be
rated objectively.
 Individuals are placed in teams and asked to solve the problem
jointly.
 A facilitator is on hand to offer behavioral observations.
 The joint problem-solving phase may be videotaped to allow
participants to observe their behaviors.
 A trained facilitator leads the team through a discussion of
behaviors.
 The solutions of the teams are measured, providing effectiveness
metrics for each group.
 Team members engage in a further discussion of behaviors based
on their performance. (Difficult; p. 113)

59. Explain the two approaches of “make” and ‘buy” in regards to developing
required competencies.

In developing required competencies, leaders can select a “make” or “buy”

approach. Making implies developing the needed new set of competencies and
behaviors in current employees. Making assumes that employees are both capable
of and motivated to acquire and utilize new skills and engage in new behaviors. Not
all employees can or will make that shift, of course. Additionally, the time required
may be too long. Leaders, therefore, will also have to consider a buy approach.
Buying involves injecting the organization with new employees who possess the
desired set of competencies. The choice between making and buying is not meant
to be an either/or choice. (Moderate; pp. 101-102)

Scenario-Based Questions

You are the new CEO of a major HR firm, offering specialized HR services to
organizations wishing to outsource all or part of their HR functions. In the past, the firm
has been structured into several divisions, including Compensation, Recruitment, Training
and Development, and Legal Services. As part of Step 1, Organization Redesign, you
have successfully piloted cross-functional teams and a new focus on customer service
which you are now rolling out as the new strategic directive for the entire firm. In order to
make sure that the change succeeds, you are now focusing on the newly identified skills
and competencies and you want to make sure that they exist across all groups,
department and functions.

78 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

60. Since your priority right now is with people alignment, you need to decide what
comes first. The best approach would be:
a. make sure the right people are in the right places, then train.
b. get rid of all the dead wood and work with what is left.
c. train and develop, then assess, and move to removal and replacement.
d. to make sure that everyone is committed, keep everyone in the same place.
(c: Difficult; p. 102)

61. One of your first decisions is between a make or buy approach to HRD. You
decide:
a. buying is the quicker option, and besides, the organization needs lots of new
talent.
b. making is the only way to go – after all, the organization relies on
commitment from its long-time employees.
c. you decide on some combination between buying and making.
d. you heard that this whole process has something to do with people getting
on and off busses, so you propose a “share a ride” program for all
employees.
(c: Moderate; p 102)

62. Training and development is a key component of your strategic change process.
Because your budget is limited, you want to cut one or more of the following
training components. Which one would you cut?
a. skill development training, focusing on teamwork and customer service
b. skill development training, focusing on planning and budgeting
c. knowledge component, dealing with strategic renewal and adaptation
d. training in new behavior support for supervisors and peers
(b: Difficult; p. 103)

63. In order to enhance the validity and accuracy of appraisal and feedback, you
implement:
a. 360-degree feedback.
b. standardized assessment.
c. behavioral simulations.
d. removal and replacement.
(a: Moderate; p. 106)

64. As much as you are committed to developing your existing employees, several key
people have left the organization because they did not agree with the changes and
some others had to be let go because of serious performance challenges. The best
way to ensure that the removal part of the process goes well is:
a. handle it as quickly as possible and behind closed doors – that way no one
gets hurt.
b. involve people in the decision, explain the criteria and the reasoning, and
offer due process.

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 79

 c. give the decision to the company lawyers – they know best how to deal with
these matters.
d. avoid removal altogether – the strategic change will take care of everything.
(b: Moderate; p. 117)

65. In planning replacement for these employees, you decide on which of the following
strategies?
a. The company has a tried-and-true system in place for employee selection –
don’t break what has been working well in the past.
b. Each of these jobs has an extensive job description and your supervisors
have been trained in behavioral interviewing and administering some good
tests that match the person to the job.
c. In light of the strategic change process, it is essential that you select people
who can see the new strategy – you try to pick people who can work well in
teams and know the importance of customer service.
d. You select people based on education and experience.
(c: Difficult; pp. 115-116)

80 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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pity not to renovate their cottages. Poor Dame Petronilla must have
been well-nigh distracted at the thought that Robert the Slater—
who, by the way, did more than roofing, and seems to have been a
jack-of-all-trades, though loose tiles were his forte—having once
secured a foothold in the establishment, had come to stay. But she
gave in with exemplary resignation, and the dependants had their
cottages repaired, or what was the same thing, received money to
pay for them. Taking one thing with another, more than £10 went in
this way during the first year of the procuratorial reign of Dames
Petronilla and Katherine.
Among the workmen that haunted Grace Dieu in these days, and
who, if there is any fitness in things so far as ghosts are concerned,
ought to be found haunting the ruins to-day, was one called Richard
Hyrenmonger. He came, we learn, from Donington, and the accounts
prove that he must have had a good store of all kinds of nails, and
keys, and bolts, judging by the variety he was able to produce.
Under him worked John the Plumber, or rather two Johns the
Plumber, senior and junior; and, like modern plumbers are wont to
do, they appear to have plagued Dame Petronilla and her assistant
with their constant tinkering at the pipes and drains of the
establishment. “John the senior” and “John the junior,” for example,
were six days mending “le pype,” for which they were paid 3s. 4d.;
but apparently it was not properly done, for just after this, “le pype”
misbehaved itself again, and Dame Petronilla had to purchase a new
brass pipe to bring the water to the door of the refectory, and the
two Johns were at work again. Of course Richard the Ironmonger
always found a lot of work for himself on the farm, so that what with
one thing and another, Grace Dieu must have been a very
comfortable inheritance for him.
Among the miscellaneous manners and customs of the good nuns of
Grace Dieu which are recalled to us in these faded papers of
accounts, very few of course can find place here. One such is the
yearly visit of the candle-maker to prepare the tallow dips for the
dark winter evenings. The preparation made for his coming appears
in the purchase of tallow and mutton fat to be used for rush-lights
and cresset-lights, which must have done hardly more than make
visible the darkness of a winter evening and an early winter morning
at Grace Dieu. My lady prioress apparently had an oil lamp of some
kind, and we read of special candles for the wash-place and at the
door of the refectory, etc. It is to be supposed that the nuns had
some means of warming themselves during the cold winter months,
for we read of a travelling tinker employed upon mending a chimney
to the hall fireplace, and probably they were burning logs from out
of Charnwood somewhere or other; but in these accounts there is no
mention of fuel except on one occasion, when Richard the
Ironmonger had some coal purchased for him; but this was only that
he might heat a ploughshare that had got out of shape.
Another most important matter in mediæval times was the annual
salting of the winter provisions which took place in every
establishment. On St. Martin’s Day, November 11th, the mediæval
farmer considered seriously what was the number of his live stock,
what was his store of hay, and how long the one could be kept by
the other. The residue of the stock had to go into the salting-tub for
the winter food of the family and dependants. So at Grace Dieu the
purchase of the salt for the great operation is entered in the
accounts. On one occasion also Dame Petronilla, “when a boar was
killed”—whether by accident or not does not appear—had it spiced
as well as salted, and it was no doubt served up on great occasions
as a special delicacy in the common refectory.
The picture of the Grace Dieu nuns afforded by these accounts is
that of charming, peace-loving ladies; good practical Christian
women, as all nuns should be; taking a personal interest in the
welfare of their tenants and dependants; occupied, over and besides
their conventual and religious duties, in works of genuine charity.
They taught the daughters of the neighbouring gentry, and were not
too exacting in requiring even what had been promised as the
annual pension. They encouraged ladies to come and join them in
celebrating the festivals of the church, and out of their small means
they set aside a not insignificant portion for the care and clothing of
sick in their infirmary; whilst out of their income they found not less
than eight corrodies—or pensions—which cost them £7 7s. 4d., or
more than five per cent. of their annual revenue. Of their work
mention has already been made. They grew the wool and spun it
and wove it into cloth, not only for their own garments, but also for
those of their retainers; whilst a chance entry of receipt reveals that
they were indeed skilled in a high degree in ecclesiastical
embroidery. That they were not guilty of “dilapidation” of their house
their extensive repairs prove; and that they cared for their lands and
farm buildings must be obvious from the purchases made, and the
items of expense in connection with every kind of agricultural
implement. They took their burden in common ecclesiastical
expenses, even contributing their quota of 3d. towards the expenses
of the Procurator cleri of the district to Convocation. They were
peace-loving, if we may judge from the absence of all law expenses,
save and except one small item for an appearance at the local
marshal’s court, and whether even this was for themselves or for
one of their tenants, and what it was about, does not appear. As it
was only 2d., it could not have been much to interfere with the
general harmony which apparently existed in the neighbourhood.
They lived, too, within their income, which was, more or less, £103
13s. 6d. a year. It is true that in the first year, owing probably to the
exceptional repairs which the nuns undertook, they went somewhat
beyond their means. The sum was only slight, being but £7 11s.
10½d., and it is pleasant to observe that “out of love of the nuns,”
and “to relieve the house of anxiety,” a lady paid the deficit, making
her gift £7 12s.
Dame Petronilla and Dame Margaret! how little they could have
thought when they penned their simple accounts that they would
have given such pleasurable information five hundred years after
their time! How little they could ever have dreamed of the pleasant
light their jottings would have thrown on so many of their doings
and their little ways! They were kind, prudent, charitable souls,
without a doubt, and if they might at times have used better ink
than they did, that fault was a point of holy parsimony. And if they
might have given here and there just a little more information on
certain points, they are willingly forgiven and more than forgiven, for
what they have left to posterity. Their souls, oft so troubled and
vexed by the many cares incidental to the office of a conventual
Martha, have long doubtless been in peace, and their spirits no
longer vexed by Richard the “Hyrenmonger” and the two Johns, the
senior and junior plumbers. What would they think, could they to-
day revisit the scene of their former labours and cares? The old
home they evidently loved so well is past repairing now, and not
even the kindly help of that old servant and friend of the convent,
Henry Smith, could avail to suggest the best way of setting about
reparation.
 Larger Image

FRANCISCAN NUNS IN CHOIR

All the larger nunneries and probably most of the smaller ones, to
whatever Order they belonged, opened their doors for the education
of young girls, who were frequently boarders. In fact the female
portion of the population, the poor as well as the rich, had in the
convents their only schools, nuns their only teachers, in pre-
Reformation times. Chaucer, in describing the well-to-do miller of
Trompington, says—
“A wyf he hadde, come of noble kyn;
Sche was i-fostryd in a nonnery ...
 Ther durste no wight clepe hir but Madame
What for hir kindred and hir nortelry
That sche had lerned in the nonnerye.”
John Aubrey, too, writes almost as an eye-witness of the Wiltshire
convents that “the young maids were brought up ... at nunneries,
where they had examples of piety, and humility, and modesty, and
obedience to imitate and to practise. Here they learned needlework,
the art of confectionery, surgery (for anciently there were no
apothecaries or surgeons—the gentlewomen did cure their poor
neighbours: their hands are now too fine), physic, writing, drawing,
etc. Old Jacques could see from his house the nuns of the priory (St.
Mary’s, near Kington St. Michael) come forth into the nymph-hay
with their rocks and wheels to spin: and with their sewing work. He
would say that he had told threescore and ten: but of nuns there
were not so many, but in all, with lay sisters and widows, old maids
and young girls, there might be such a number. This,” he concludes,
“was a fine way of breeding up young women, who are led more by
example than precept; and a good retirement for widows and grave
single women to a civil, virtuous, and holy life.”
In the well-known case of Nunnaminster, Winchester, there were, at
the time of the suppression, twenty-six girl boarders who were
reported by the local commissioners to be daughters of “lords,
knights, and gentlemen.” The list that is set forth begins with a
Plantagenet and includes Tichbornes, Poles, and Tyrrells. So, too, in
the case of the Benedictines of Barking, of Kingsmead, Derby, and of
Polesworth and Nuneaton, Warwickshire; of the Cluniacs of Delapré,
Northampton; of the Cistercians of Wintney, Hants; and of the
Gilbertines of Shouldham, Norfolk, it can be established that not only
were many of the nuns of good birth, but that their pupils were in
the main drawn from the same class.
The Episcopal Visitations of the Diocese of Norwich for 1492 to
1532, edited by Dr. Jessop, throw some interesting light on the inner
life and social working of the nunneries of East Anglia. From the
names of the inmates it becomes evident that some of these houses
were in the main occupied by ladies of gentle birth, such as
Willoughbys, Everards, Wingfields, Jerninghams, and the like. This
was especially the case with the Austin house of Campsey and the
Benedictine houses of Bungay and Thetford. When Bishop Nicke
visited the last of these houses in 1514, complaint was made to him
by one of the ladies that the prioress was intending to admit an
ignorant (indocta) novice, and particularly one Dorothy Sturges, who
was deaf and deformed. Apparently the arguments of the objector
prevailed, but poor Dorothy was, not long after, admitted to the
smaller nunnery of Blackborough.
When the priory of Carrow, a favourite retreat for the religious
daughters of the citizens of Norwich, was visited in 1526, several of
the ladies were advanced in years. The sub-prioress, Dame Anna
Marten, had been in the convent for sixty years, and two others,
Dames Margaret and Katherine, had been thirty-eight years in
religion. It is a little touching to note that almost the only complaints
that reached the bishop’s ears were those of the aged sub-prioress
and Dame Margaret that the pace of chanting the Office by the
sisters was too rapid, and lacking the proper pauses, and that of
Dame Katherine who found the beer too small. At the next recorded
visitation, six years later, all these good old ladies were still at
Carrow, though Dame Anna’s age did not allow her to discharge the
duties of sub-prioress; but she was then (1532) in charge of the
infirmary. At this time the bishop interfered, probably at the
suggestion of the aged dames, to stop an accustomed Christmas
game (on Holy Innocents’ Day), when the youngest of the novices
assumed the functions of a lady abbess, after the same fashion as a
boy-bishop amongst the choir boys. The nuns of Carrow maintained
a school for some of the better-class girls of the city and district, and
doubtless this Christmas-tide sport was intended in the main for
their delectation.
NUN ASKING PARDON OF AN ABBESS
 CHAPTER IX
EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF THE MONASTIC ORDERS

1. THE BISHOP
Normally, the bishop of the diocese in which a religious house was
situated, was its Visitor and ultimate authority, except in so far as an
appeal lay from him to the pope. In process of time exemptions from
the regular jurisdiction of the diocesan tended to multiply; whole
Orders, like the Cistercian and the Cluniacs among the Benedictines,
and the Premonstratensians among the Canons Regular, and even
individual houses, like St. Alban’s and Bury St. Edmunds, on one
ground or another obtained their freedom from the jurisdiction of
the Ordinary. In the case of great bodies, like those of Citeaux,
Cluny, Prémontré, and later the Gilbertines, the privilege of
exemption was in the first instance obtained from the pope, on the
ground that the individual houses were parts of a great corporation
with its centre at the mother-house. Such monasteries were all
subject to the authority of a central government, and regular Visitors
were appointed by it. In the thirteenth century, on the same
principle, the mendicant Orders, whose members were attached to
the general body and not to the locality in which they might happen
to be, were freed from the immediate control of the bishops of the
various dioceses in which their convents were situated.
In the case of individual houses, the exemption was granted by the
Holy See as a favour and a privilege. It is hard to understand in
what the privilege really consisted, except that it was certainly
considered an honourable thing to be immediately subject only to
the head of the Christian Church. Such privileges were, on the
whole, few; only five Benedictine houses in England possessed
them, and even such great and important abbeys as Glastonbury, in
the South of England, and St. Mary’s, York, in the North, were
subject to the regular jurisdiction of the diocesan. In the case of the
few Benedictine houses which, by the intercession of the king or
other powerful friends, had obtained exemption in this matter,
regular fees had to be paid to the Roman chancery for the privilege.
St. Alban’s, for example, at the beginning of the sixteenth century,
made an annual payment of £14 to the papal collector in lieu of the
large fees previously paid on the election of every new abbot, and as
an acknowledgment of the various privileges granted to him, such
as, for example, the right to rank first in dignity among the abbots,
and for the abbot to be able “even outside his own churches to use
pontificalia and solemnly bless the people.” Edmundsbury, in the
same way, paid an annual sum for its exemption and privileges, as
also did Westminster, St. Augustine’s (Canterbury), Waltham Holy
Cross, and a few others. By this time, too, some of the Cluniac
houses, such as Lewes Priory and Lenton, had obtained their
exemption and right of election.
In regard to the non-exempt monasteries and convents—that is
ordinarily—the relation between the bishops and the religious houses
was constant; and, apparently, with exceptions of course, cordial.
The episcopal registers show that the bishops did not shirk the duty
of visiting, and correcting what they found amiss in the houses
under their control; and whilst there is evidence of a natural desire
on their part to bring the regular life up to a high standard, there is
little or none of any narrow spirit in the exercise of this part of the
episcopal office, or of any determination to worry the religious, to
misunderstand the purpose of their high vocation, or to make
regular life unworkable in practice by any over-strict interpretation of
the letter of the law. It is, of course, after all, only natural that these
good relations should exist between the bishop and the regulars of
his diocese. The unexempt houses were not extra-diocesan so far as
episcopal authority went, like those of the exempt Orders; but they
were for the most part the most important and the most useful
centres of spiritual life in each diocese. It was therefore to the
bishop’s interest as head of the diocese to see that in these
establishments the lamp of fervour should not be allowed to grow
dim, and that the good work should not be permitted to suffer
through any lessening of the cordial relations which had traditionally
existed between the bishops and the religious houses within the pale
of his jurisdiction.
The bishop’s duties to the religious houses in his diocese were
various. In the first place, in regard to the election of the superior:
here much depended upon the actual position of the monastery in
regard to the king, to the patron, or even to the Order. If the king
was the founder of the house or had come to be regarded as such,
which may roughly be said to have been the case in most of the
greater monastic establishments, and especially in those which held
lands immediately from the Crown, then the bishop had nothing to
say to the matter till the royal assent had been given. The process
has been already briefly explained; but the main features may again
be set out. On the death of the superior, the religious would have to
make choice of some of their number to proceed to the court to
inform the king of the demise and to obtain the congé d’élire, or
permission to elect. The first action of the king would be the
appointment of officials to administer the property in his name
during the vacancy, having due regard to the needs of the
community. He would then issue his licence for the religious to
choose a new superior. All this, especially if the king were abroad or
in some far-off part of the country, would take time, sometimes
measured by weeks. On the reception of the congé d’élire, the
convent proceeded to the formal election, the result of which had to
be reported to the king; and if he assented to the choice made, this
was signified to the bishop, whose office it was to inquire concerning
the validity of the election and the fitness of the person chosen—
that is, he was bound to see whether the canonical forms had all
been adhered to in the process and the election legal, and whether
the elect had the qualities necessary to make a fitting superior and a
ruler in temporals and in spirituals. If after inquiry all proved to be
satisfactory, the bishop formally confirmed the choice of the monks
and signified the confirmation to the king, asking for the restitution
of temporalities to the new superior. If the election was that of an
abbot, the bishop then bestowed the solemn blessing upon the elect
thus confirmed, generally in some place other than his own monastic
church, and wrote a formal letter to the community, charging them
to receive their new superior and show him all obedience. Finally,
the bishop appointed a commission to proceed to the house and
install the abbot or prior in his office.
In the case of houses which acknowledged founders or patrons
other than the king, the deaths of superiors were communicated to
them, and permission to proceed to the choice of successors was
asked more as a form than as a reality. The rest was in the hands of
the bishops. In ordinary circumstances where there was no such lay
patron, a community, on the death of a superior, merely assembled
and at once made choice of a successor. This election had then to be
communicated at once to the bishop, whose duty it was to inquire
into the circumstances of the election and to determine whether the
canonical formalities had been complied with. If this inquiry proved
satisfactory, the bishop proceeded to the canonical examination of
the elect before confirming the choice. This kind of election was
completed by the issue of the episcopal letters claiming the
obedience of the monks for their new superior. It was frequently the
custom for the bishop to appoint custodians of the temporalities
during the vacancy at such of these religious houses as were
immediately subject to him. The frequency of the adoption by
religious of the form of election by which they requested the bishop
to make choice of their superior is at least evidence of the more than
cordial relations which existed between the diocesan and the
regulars, and of their confidence in his desire to serve their house to
the best of his power in the choice of the most fitting superior.
Sometimes, of course, the episcopal examination of the process, or
of the elect, would lead to the quashing of the election. This took
place generally when some canonical form had not been adhered to,
as on this matter the law was rightly most strict. Less frequently, the
elect on inquiry was found to lack some quality essential in a good
ruler, and it then became the duty of the bishop to declare the
choice void. Sometimes this led to the convent being deprived of its
voice in the election, and in such a case the choice devolved upon
the bishop. Numerous instances, however, make it clear that
although legally the bishop was bound to declare such an election
void, he would always, if possible, himself appoint the religious who
had been the choice of the community.
In other instances again, the bishop’s part in the appointment of a
new superior was confined to the blessing of the abbot after the
confirmation of the election by the pope, or by the superior of the
religious body. This was the case in the Cistercian and Cluniac
bodies, and in such of the great abbeys as were exempt from
episcopal jurisdiction. Sometimes, as in the case of St. Alban’s, even
the solemn blessing of the new abbot could by special privilege be
given by any bishop the elect might choose for the purpose.
Outside the time of the elections and visitations, the bishops
exercised generally a paternal and watchful care over the religious
houses of their diocese. Before the suppression of the alien priories,
for example, these foreign settlements were supervised by the
Ordinary quite as strictly as were the English religious houses under
his jurisdiction. These priories were mostly established in the first
instance to look after estates which had been bestowed upon foreign
abbeys, and the number in each house was supposed to be strictly
limited, and was, in fact, small. It was not uncommon, however, to
find that more than the stipulated number of religious were
quartered upon the small community by the foreign superior, or that
an annual payment greater than the revenue of the English estate
would allow was demanded by the authorities of the foreign mother-
house. Against both of these abuses the bishop of the diocese had
officially to guard. We find, for instance, Bishop Grandisson of Exeter
giving his licence for a monk of Bec to live for some months only at
Cowick Priory, and for another to leave Cowick on a visit to Bec. Also
in regard to Tywardreath, a cell of the Abbey of St. Sergius, near
Ghent, the same bishop on examination found that the revenue was
so diminished that it could not support the six monks it was
supposed to maintain, and he therefore sent back three of their
number to their mother-house on the Continent. This conclusion, be
it remarked, was arrived at only after careful inquiry, and after the
bishop had for a time appointed a monk from another religious
house to assist the foreign superior in the administration of the
temporals of his priory. Upon the report of this assistant he deprived
the superior for negligence, and appointed custodians of the
temporalities of the house. From the episcopal registers generally it
appears, too, that once the foreign religious were settled in any alien
priory, they came under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the locality,
in the same way as the English religious. The alien prior’s
appointment had to be confirmed by him, and no religious could
come to the house or go from it, even to return to the foreign
mother-house, without his permission.
In regard to all non-exempt monastic establishments of men and
convents of women, the episcopal powers were very great and were
freely exercised. Thus to take some examples: the Benedictine
abbey of Tavistock in the fourteenth century was seriously troubled
by debt, partly, at least, caused by an incapable and unworthy
superior. This abbot, by the way, had been provided by the pope;
and apparently the bishop did not consider that his functions
extended beyond issuing a commission to induct him into his office.
In a short time matters came to a crisis, and reports as to the bad
state of the house came to the ears of Bishop Grandisson. He
forthwith prohibited the house from admitting more members to the
habit until he had had time to examine into matters. The abbot
replied by claiming exemption from episcopal jurisdiction, apparently
on the ground that he had been appointed by the Holy See. The
bishop, as he said, “out of reverence for the lord Pope who had
created the both of us,” waived this as a right and came to the
house as a friend, to see what remedy could be found to allay the
rumours that were rife in the country as to gross mismanagement at
the abbey. How far the bishop succeeded does not transpire; but a
couple of years later the abbot was suspended and deposed, and the
bishop appointed the Cistercian abbot of Buckland and a monk of
Tavistock to administer the goods of the abbey pending another
election. How thoroughly the religious approved of the action of the
bishop may be gauged by the fact that they asked him to appoint
their abbot for them.
In the ordinary and extraordinary visitations made by the bishop, the
interests of the religious houses were apparently the only
considerations which weighed with him. Sometimes the injunctions
and monitions given at a visitation appertained to the most minute
points of regular life, and sometimes the visitatorial powers were
continued in force for considerable periods in order to secure that
certain points that needed correction might be seen to. One curious
right possessed and exercised by the bishop of any diocese on first
coming to his see, was that of appointing one person in each
monastery and convent to be received as a religious without
payment or pension. It is proper, however, to say that this right was
always exercised with fatherly discretion. Again and again the
records of visitations in the episcopal registers show that the bishop
did not hesitate to appoint a co-adjutor to any superior whom he
might find deficient in the power of governing, either in spirituals or
temporals. Officials who were shown to be incapable in the course of
such inquiries were removed, and others were either appointed by
the bishop, or their appointment sanctioned by him. Religious who
had proved themselves undesirable or impossible in one house were
not unfrequently translated by the bishop to another. Thus in a.d.
1338-9 great storms had wrought destruction at Bodmin. The priory
buildings were in ruins, and a sum of money had to be raised for the
necessary repairs which were urgently required. Bishop Grandisson
gave his permission for the monks to sell a corrody—or undertaking
to give board and lodging for life at the priory—for a payment of
ready money. A few years later, in 1347, on his visitation the bishop
found things financially in a bad way. He removed the almoner from
his office, regulated the number of servants and the amount of food;
and having appointed an administrator, sent the prior to live for a
time in one of the priory granges, in order to see whether the house
could be recovered from its state of bankruptcy by careful
administration.
One proof of the friendly relations which as a rule existed between
the bishop and the regular clergy of his diocese may be seen in the
fact that the abbots and superiors were frequently, if not generally,
found in the lists of those appointed as diocesan collectors on any
given occasion. The superiors of religious houses contributed to the
loans and grants raised in common with the rest of the diocesan
clergy, either for the needs of the sovereign, the Holy See, or the
bishop. That there were at times difficulty and friction in the working
out of these well-understood principles of subordination need not be
denied; but that as a whole the system, which may be described as
normal, brought about harmonious relations between the bishop and
the regulars must be conceded by all who will study its workings in
the records of pre-Reformation episcopal government.

2. THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND GENERALLY

The monastic Orders were called upon to take their share in the
common burdens imposed upon the Church in England. These
included contributions to the sums levied upon ecclesiastics by
Convocation for the pope and for the king in times of need; and they
contributed, albeit, perhaps, like the rest of the English Church,
unwillingly, their share to the “procurations” of papal legates and
questors. Sometimes the call thus made upon their revenues was
very considerable, especially as the king did not hesitate on
occasions to make particular demands upon the wealthier religious
houses. At Convocation, and in the Provincial Synods the regular
clergy were well represented. Thus, from the diocese of Exeter in
the year 1328-9 there were summoned to the Synod of London
seven abbots to be present personaliter, whilst five Augustinian and
seven Benedictine priories also chose and sent proctors to the
meeting. As a rule, apparently, at all such meetings the abbots, and
priors who were canonically elected to rule their houses with full
jurisdiction, had the right, and were indeed bound to be present,
unless prevented by a canonical reason. The archbishop, as such,
had no more to say to the regulars than to any other ecclesiastic of
his province, except that during a vacancy in any diocese he might,
and indeed frequently did, visit the religious houses in that diocese
personally or by commission.

3. THE ORDER
Besides the supervision and help of the bishop, almost every
religious house had some connection with and assistance from the
Order to which it belonged. In the case of the great united
corporations like the Cluniacs, the Cistercians, the
Premonstratensians, and later the Carthusians, the dependence of
the individual monastery upon the centre of government was very
real both in theory and in practice. The abbots or superiors had to
attend at General Chapters, held, for instance, at Cluny, Citeaux, or
Prémontré, and were subject to regular visitations made by or in
behalf of the general superior. In the case of a vacancy the election
was supervised and the elect examined and confirmed either by, or
by order of, the chief authority, or, in the case of daughter-houses,
by the superior of the parent abbey. Even in the case of the
Benedictines, who did not form an Order in the modern sense of the
word, after the Council of Lateran in 1215, the monasteries were
united into Congregations, for common purposes and mutual help
and encouragement. In England there were two such unions,
corresponding to the two Provinces of Canterbury and York, and the
superiors met at regular intervals in General Chapters. Little is
known of the meetings of the Northern Province; but in the South
the records show that they were regularly held to the last. The first
and ordinary business of these General Chapters was to secure a
proper standard of regular observance; and whatever, after
discussion, was agreed upon, provided that it met with the approval
of the president of the meeting, was to be observed without any
appeal. Moreover, at each of these Chapters two or more prudent
and religious men were chosen to visit every Benedictine house of
the Province in the pope’s name, with full power to correct where
any correction might be considered necessary. In case these papal
Visitors found abuses existing in any monastery which might render
the deposition of the abbot necessary or desirable, they had to
denounce him to the bishop of the diocese, who was to take the
necessary steps for his canonical removal. If the bishop did not, or
would not act, the Visitors were bound to refer the case to the Holy
See. By the provisions of the Lateran Council in a.d. 1215, the
bishops were warned to see that the religious houses in their
dioceses were in good order, “so that when the aforesaid Visitors
come there, they may find them worthy of commendation rather
than of correction.” They were, however, warned to be careful “not
to make their visitations a burden or expense, and to see that the
rights of superiors were maintained, without injury to those of their
subjects.”
In this system a double security was provided for the well-being of
the monasteries. The bishops were maintained in their old position
as Visitors, and were constituted judges where the conduct of the
superior might necessitate the gravest censures. At the same time,
by providing that all the monasteries should be visited every three
years by monks chosen by the General Chapter and acting in the
name of the pope, any failure of the bishop to fulfil his duty as
diocesan, or any incapacity on his part to understand the due
working of the monastic system, received the needful corrective.
One other useful result to the monasteries may be attributed to the
regular meetings of General Chapter. It was by the wise provision of
these Chapters that members of the monastic Orders received the
advantage of a University training. Common colleges were
established by their decrees at Oxford and Cambridge, and all
superiors were charged to send their most promising students to
study and take their degrees in the national Universities. Strangely
enough as it may appear to us in these days, even in these colleges
the autonomy of the individual Benedictine houses seems to have
been scrupulously safeguarded; and the common college consisted
of small houses, in which the students of various monasteries dwelt
apart, though attending a common hall and chapel.

4. THE IMPROPRIATED CHURCHES

In regard to the external relations of the monastic houses, a word
must be said about their dealings with the parochial churches
appropriated to their use. Either by the gift of the king or that of
some lay patron, many churches to which they had the right of
presentation became united with monasteries, and a considerable
portion of the parish revenues was applied to the support of the
religious, to keeping up adequate charity, or “hospitality” as it was
called in the neighbourhood, or other such objects. The practice of
impropriation has been regarded by most writers as a manifest
abuse, and there is no call to attempt to defend it. The practice was
not confined, however, to the monks, or to the action of lay people
who found therein an easy way to become benefactors of some
religious house. Bishops and other ecclesiastics, as founders of
colleges and hospitals, were quite as ready to increase the revenues
of these establishments in the same way.
In order that a church might be legally appropriated to a religious
establishment the approval of the bishop had to be obtained, and
the special reasons for the donation by the lay patron set forth. If
these were considered satisfactory, the formal permission of the Holy
See was, at any rate after the twelfth century, necessary for the
completion of the transaction. The monastery became the patron of
the benefice thus attached to it, and had to secure that the spiritual
needs of the parish were properly attended to by the vicars whom
they presented to the cure. These vicars were paid an adequate
stipend, usually settled by episcopal authority.
Roughly speaking, the present distinction between a vicarage and a
rectory shows where churches had been appropriated to a religious
house or other public body, and where they remained merely
parochial. The vicar was the priest appointed at a fixed stipend by
the corporation which took the rectorial tithes. It has been calculated
that at least a third part of the tithes of the richest benefices in
England were appropriated either in part or wholly to religious and
secular bodies, such as colleges, military orders, lay hospitals, guilds,
convents; even deans, cantors, treasurers, and chancellors of
cathedral bodies were also largely endowed with rectorial tithes. In
this way, at the dissolution of the religious houses under Henry VIII.,
the greater tithes of an immense number of parish churches, now
known as vicarages, passed into the hands of the noblemen and
others who obtained grants of the property of the suppressed
monasteries.
Whilst the impropriation of churches to monastic establishments
undoubtedly took money out of the locality for the benefit of the
religious, it is but fair to recognise that in many ways the benefit
thus obtained was returned with interest. Not only did the monks
furnish the ranks of the secular priesthood with youths who had
received their early education in the cloister school or at the
almonry; but the churches and vicarages of places impropriated
were the special care of the religious. An examination of these
churches frequently reveals the fact that the religious bodies did not
hesitate to spend large sums of money upon the rebuilding and
adornment of structures which belonged to them in this way.
 HENRY VII GIVING CHARTER TO MONKS AT WESTMINSTER HALL

5. KING AND PARLIAMENT

Of many of the religious houses, especially of the greater abbeys,
the king either was, or came to be considered, the founder. It has
already been pointed out what this relation to the Crown implied on
the part of the monks. Besides this the Crown could, and in spite of
the protests of those chiefly concerned, frequently, if not ordinarily
did, appoint abbots and other superiors of religious houses members
of the commissions of peace for the counties in which their
establishments were situated. They were likewise made collectors
for grants and loans to the Crown, especially when the tax was to be
levied on ecclesiastical property; and according to the extent of their
lands and possessions, like the lay-holders from the Crown, they had
to furnish soldiers to fight under the royal standard. In the same way
the abbot and other superiors could be summoned by the king to
Parliament as barons. The number of religious thus called to the
House of Peers at first appears to have depended somewhat upon
the fancy of the sovereign; it certainly varied considerably. In 1216,
for example, from the North Province of England eleven abbots and
eight priors, and from the South seventy-one abbots and priors—in
all ninety religious—were summoned to Parliament by Henry III. In
1272 Edward I. called only fifty-seven, mostly abbots, a few,
however, being cathedral priors; and in later times the number of
monastic superiors in the House of Peers generally included only the
twenty-five abbots of the greater houses and the prior of Coventry,
and these were accounted as barons of the kingdom.

6. THE MONASTIC TENANTS

The division of the monastic revenues between the various
obedientiaries for the support of the burdens of their special offices
was fairly general, at least in the great religious houses. It was for
the benefit of the house, inasmuch as it left a much smaller revenue
to be dealt with by the royal exchequer at every vacancy. It served,
also, at least one other good purpose. It brought many of the
religious into contact with the tenants of the monastic estates and
gave them more knowledge of their condition and mode of life;
whilst the personal contact, which was possible in a small
administration, was certainly for the mutual benefit of master and
tenant. Since the prior, sacrist, almoner and other officials all had to
look after the administration of the manors and farms assigned to
their care, they had to have separate granges and manor-halls. In
these they had to carry out their various duties, and meet their
tenants on occasions, as was the case, for example, at Glastonbury,
where the sacrist had all the tithes of Glastonbury, including West
Pennard, to collect, and had his special tithe-barn, etc., for the
purpose.
Two books, amongst others, The Rentalia et Custumaria of
Glastonbury, published by the Somerset Record Society, and the
Halmote Rolls of Durham, issued by the Surtees Society, enable any
student who may desire to do so, to obtain a knowledge of the
relations which existed between the monastic landlords and their
tenants. At the great monastery of the West Country the tenure of
the land was of all kinds, from the estates held under the obligation
of so many knights’ fees, to the poor cottier with an acre or two.
Some of the tenants had to find part of their rent in service, part in
kind, part in payment. Thus, one had to find thirty salmon, “each as
thick as a man’s fist at the tail,” for the use of the monastery; some
had to find thousands of eels from Sedgemoor; others, again, so
many measures of honey. Some of those who worked for the
monastery or its estates had fixed wages, as, for example, the
gardeners; others had to be content with what was given them.
Mr. Elton, in an appendix to the Glastonbury volume, has analysed
the information to be found in its pages, and from this some items of
interest may be given here. A cottier with five acres of arable land
paid 4d. less one farthing for rent, and five hens as “kirkset” if he
were married. From Michaelmas to Midsummer he was bound to do
three days’ labour a week of farm work on the monastic lands, such
as toiling on the fallows, winnowing corn, hedging, ditching, and
fencing. During the rest of the year, that is, in the harvest time, he
had to do five days’ work on the farm, and could be called upon to
lend a hand in any kind of occupation, except loading and carting.
Like the farmers, he had his allowance of one sheaf of corn for each
acre he reaped, and a “laveroc,” or as much grass as he could gather
on his hook, for every acre he mowed. Besides this general work he
had to bear his share in looking after the vineyard at Glastonbury.
Take another example of tenure: one “Golliva of the lake,” held a
three-acre tenement. It consisted of a croft of two acres and one
acre in the common field. She made a small payment for this; and
for extra work she had three sheaves, measured by a strap kept for
the purpose. When she went haymaking she brought her own rake;
she took her share in all harvest work, had to winnow a specified
quantity of corn before Christmas, and did odd jobs of all kinds, such
as carrying a writ for the abbot and driving cattle to Glastonbury.
The smaller cottagers were apparently well treated. A certain Alice,
for example, had half an acre field for which she had to bring water
to the reapers at the harvest and sharpen their sickles for them. On
the whole, though work was plenty and the life no doubt hard, the
lot of the Somerset labourer on the Glastonbury estate was not too
unpleasant. Of amusements the only one named is the institution of
Scot-ales, an entertainment which lasted two, or even three days.
The lord of the manor might hold three in the year. On the first day,
Saturday, the married men and youths came with their pennies and
were served three times with ale. On the Sunday the husbands and
their wives came; but if the youths came they had to pay another
penny. On the Monday any of them could come if they had paid on
the other days.
On the whole, the manors of the monastery may be said to have
been worked as a co-operative farm. The reader of the accounts in
this volume may learn of common meals, of breakfasts and
luncheons and dinners being prepared ready for those who were at
work on the common lands or on the masters’ farming operations. It
appears that they met together in the great hall for a common
Christmas entertainment. They furnished the great yule-log to burn
at the dinner, and each one brought his dish and mug, with a napkin
“if he wanted to eat off a cloth”; and still more curiously, his own
contribution of firewood, that his portion of food might be properly
cooked.
Of even greater interest is the picture of village life led by monastic
tenants which is afforded by the Durham Halmote Rolls.
“It is hardly a figure of speech,” writes Mr. Booth in the
preface of this volume, “to say we have (in these Rolls)
 village life photographed. The dry record of tenures is
peopled by men and women who occupy them, whose
acquaintance we make in these records under the various
phases of village life. We see them in their tofts
surrounded by their crofts, with their gardens of pot-
herbs. We see how they ordered the affairs of the village
when summoned by the bailiff to the vill to consider
matters which affected the common weal of the
community. We hear of their trespasses and wrong
doings, and how they were remedied or punished, of their
strifes and contentions and how they were repressed, of
their attempts, not always ineffective, to grasp the
principle of co-operation, as shown by their by-laws; of
their relations with the Prior, who represented the Convent
and alone stood in relation of lord. He appears always to
have dealt with his tenants, either in person or through
his officers, with much consideration; and in the
imposition of fines we find them invariably tempering
justice with mercy.”
In fact, as the picture of mediæval village life among the tenants of
the Durham monastery is displayed in the pages of these Halmote
accounts, it would seem almost as if the reader were transported to
some Utopia of Dreamland. Many of the points that in these days
advanced politicians would desire to see introduced into the village
communities of modern England in the way of improved sanitary and
social conditions, and to relieve the deadly dulness of country life,
were seen in full working order in Durham and Cumberland in pre-
Reformation days. Local provisions for public health and general
convenience are evidenced by the watchful vigilance of the village
officials over the water supplies, the stringent measures taken in
regard to springs and wells, to prevent the fouling of useful streams,
as to the common places for washing clothes, and the regular times
for emptying and cleansing ponds and milldams.
Labour, too, was lightened and the burdens of life eased by co-
operation on an extensive scale. A common mill ground the corn of
the tenants, and their flour was baked into bread at a common oven.
A smith employed by the community worked at their will in a
common forge, and common shepherds and herdsmen watched the
sheep and cattle of the various tenants, when pastured on the fields
common to the whole community. The pages of the volume, too,
contain numerous instances of the kindly consideration extended to
their tenants by the monastic proprietors, and the relation which
existed between them was in reality rather that of rent-chargers
than of absolute owners. In fact, as the editor of this interesting
volume says: “Notwithstanding the rents, duties, and services and
the fine paid on entering, the inferior tenants of the Prior had a
beneficial interest in their holdings, which gave rise to a recognised
system of tenant-right, which we may see growing into a customary
right; the only limitation of the tenant’s right being inability, from
poverty or other cause, to pay rent or perform the accustomed
services.” And, it may be added, even when it was necessary for a
tenant on these accounts to leave, provision was made with the new
tenant to give the late owner shelter and a livelihood.
SENESCHAL JOHN WHITEWELL AND MOTHER
ILLUMINATOR OF ST. ALBANS
 CHAPTER X
THE PAID SERVANTS OF THE MONASTERY

No account of the officials of a mediæval monastery would be

complete without some notice of the assistants, other than the
monks, who took so large a part in the administration. Incidentally
something has already been said about the paid lay officers and
servants; but their position requires that their place and work should
be discussed somewhat more fully. They were all of them salaried
servants; and frequently, if not generally, faithful, lifelong friends of
the monks, whose interest in the well-being of the establishment
with which they were connected was almost as keen and real as that
of the brethren themselves. In some of the greater houses their
number was very considerable, and even in small monasteries the
records of the dissolution make it clear that there were, at least in
most of them, a great number of such retainers. In many places the
higher lay offices, such as steward, cook, etc., became in process of
time, hereditary, and were much prized by the family in whose
possession they were. It was also possible, of course, that by default
of male heirs, the position might pass to the female line. Thus in one
case the office of cook in a great Benedictine monastery was held by
a woman in respect to her inheritance of the last holder. She became
the ward of the superior, and he had thus a good deal to say to her
marriage, by which she transmitted the office to her husband as her
dower. Among the various paid officials the following were the most
important.
 1. THE CATERER, OR BUYER FOR THE
COMMUNITY
The caterer, says one Custumal, “ought to be a broad-minded and
strong-minded man: one who acts with decision, and is wise, just
and upright in things belonging to his office; one who is prudent,
knowing, discreet and careful when purchasing meat and fish in the
market or from the salesman.” Under the kitchener, the caterer had
to look after the cook and his assistants, and every day to see that
the expenses were properly and faithfully set down. He had to watch
that the right things were given out to those who had to prepare
them, and at the daily meals of the community it was his duty to
stand at the kitchen hatchway and see that they were served up in a
fitting manner. In the market, the buyer for the superior always gave
way to the caterer for the community. In the case of Edmundsbury
at least, it was settled by Abbot Sampson that this was always to be
so. Under the conventual caterer were two servants always ready at
his call to carry the provisions he purchased in the market to the
monastery. The stipend of the caterer was whatever had been
agreed as just, and he usually had clothes “according to his station,”
and certain provisions at his disposal.

2. THE ABBOT’S COOK

This official held more the position of a steward, or valet to the
superior, than that of a cook. He had to go each morning to the
abbot or prior for orders, and to find out what would be required for
the superior’s table for the day, and he had then to proceed to the
kitchener to inform him what had to be provided. He helped in the
kitchen on occasions such as great feasts, when he was asked to do
so by the kitchener; and as a matter of course, when there were
many strangers or other persons to be entertained and the work was
consequently heavy. For this and such-like services he received a
stipend from the kitchener; but his ordinary payment came from the
superior, who also furnished him with his livery. He was told by the
Custumals to remember that, although he was the abbot’s cook, he
had, nevertheless, to obey the kitchener in all things, and to look
conscientiously to try and prevent waste and superfluity in spices
and such other things as passed through his hands.
If he needed help, the abbot’s valet could have a boy to run on
errands and generally assist; and they were both warned that in the
season for pig-killing and bacon-curing they, like all other servants,
were to be ready to help in the important work of salting. He had, as
part of his duty, to keep a careful list of all the spoons, mugs, dishes,
and other table necessaries, and after meals to see that they were
clean; and, if not, to clean them before the close of the day. Once
each year the inventory had to be shown to, and checked by, the
kitchener.

3. THE LARDERER
The larderer should be “as perfect, just, and faithful a servant” as
could be found. He had charge of the keys of all the outhouses
attached to the great larder of the monastery, which in one
Custumal are specified as “the hay-house, the stockfish-house, and
the pudding-house.” These keys, together with that of the outer
larder itself, he had always to carry with him on his girdle, as he
alone might be responsible for their safety. In all matters he, too,
was to be under the kitchener, and not to absent himself without his
permission. Amongst his various duties a few may be mentioned
here. He had to grind and deliver in powder to the cook all the
pepper, mustard, and spices required for the cooking of the
conventual meals. When the convent were to have “bake-meats,”
such as venison, turbot, eels, etc., the larderer had to prepare the
dish for the cook, and to sprinkle it over with saffron. All the live
animals intended for the kitchen, such as sheep, bullocks, calves,
pigs, etc., had to pass through his hands. He had to see to the
killing, skinning, and preparing them for the spit; the tallow he kept
in order to provide the treasurer with material for the winter candles.
The larderer also had to see that the live birds, such as pheasants,
partridges, capons, hens, chickens, pigeons, etc., were fed properly,
and were ready for the table when the kitchener should need them.
In the same way the store of fish, both in the stews, and salted in
the fish-house, were under his charge, as were also the peas and
beans for the convent pottage.

4. THE COOK
For the infirmary, and especially for the use of those who had been
subjected to the periodical blood-letting, there was a special cook
skilled in the preparation of strengthening broths and soups. He was
the chief or meat-cook of the establishment, and had under him two
boys, one as a general helper, the other to act as his “turnbroach.”
He was appointed to his office by the abbot, and at least in the case
of some of the greater houses it was secured to him for life by a
formal grant. It was his duty to provide those who had been
“blooded” with a plate of meat broth on the second and third day,
and also to give them, and the sick generally, any particular dish
they might fancy. Moreover, he had to furnish the whole community
with soup, meat, and vegetables on all days when meat was eaten
by the whole convent.
He had also to see to the process of salting any meat in the proper
seasons, or whenever it might be necessary. He also prepared the
various soups or pottages for the community; for instance,
“Frumenty” on all Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, from August
1st to September 29th; or “Letborry,” made with milk, eggs, and
saffron on fish days, from July till October; or “Charlet,” the same
composition with the addition of pork, for other days during the
same time; or “Jussel,” from Easter to July; or “Mortrews,” in which
the quantity of meat was increased, and which was served on all
days, except those of abstinence, during the winter months, from All
Saints’ day to Lent.
One English Custumal warns the cook to reflect often that his work
in the kitchen is necessarily heavy and tedious; and that he should
endeavour to keep up a goodly feeling between himself and his
assistants, for “without this mutual assistance it is difficult” to do
what his office requires of him for the good of others. For his trouble
he had a fixed wage and a house; and many recognised perquisites,
the choppings of joints, and two joints from every other chine of
pork, as well as half the dripping that came from the joints roasted
for the community.

5. THE GUEST-HALL COOK

The cook to attend to the needs of visitors was appointed by the
cellarer, and had under him a boy to help in any way he might direct.
His office was frequently for life, and certainly, once appointed, he
could be removed only with difficulty. He had to get everything ready
for the entertainment of strangers and of the parents of the
religious, whenever they came to the monastery and at whatsoever
hour of the day or night. Besides this ordinary work he had to assist,
when disengaged, in preparing the meals for the monks, and in the
season for salting the pork and mutton, to help in that work with the
chief cook and the larderer. He was to be in all things obedient to
the kitchener in the matters of his office, and in the times of his
service was not to absent himself except with the permission of that
official. His wages were paid by the cellarer according to agreement;
and he had the usual kitchen perquisites of choppings and dripping.

6. THE FISH-COOKS
In the large monasteries, such as, for example, Edmundsbury, there
were two cooks for the fish-dishes: the first was properly called the
“fish-cook,” the other the “pittance-cook.” Their appointment was
made for life, and by letters-patent signed by the abbot in Chapter,
with the prior and the community as witnesses. Though called the
“fish-cooks” these servants had also to attend to the general work of
the kitchen, even on days when meat was eaten, and to cook the
meat and make the gravy required; whilst the “pittance-cook” was
specially detailed to fry or poach the eggs required for the extra
portions, or to prepare whatever else took their place in the dishes
served as pittances to the community, or to individuals such as the
president of the refectory, and the priest who had sung the High
Mass. These two cooks also had to help in the salting time, and in
other common work of the kitchen.

7. INFIRMARY COOK
To serve the sick a prudent, skilful cook was to be chosen by the
infirmarian, who, besides the knowledge of his art, should have
compassion and feel pity for the sufferings and afflictions of the sick.
Like the officers previously named, the appointment of the infirmary
cook was for life; but though he could not be moved at the whim of
a superior, he was not formally appointed in Chapter, but by a letter
from the infirmarian. Day and night he was to show himself
solicitous for the welfare of those in the infirmary, and be ready at
all times to make for them what they needed or might fancy. He,
too, had to help in the general kitchen, and he had to obtain thence
all the requisite food for those who were having their meals in the
infirmary. Like the rest of the above-named officials, he had to give
what help he could in the kitchen in the seasons of great pressure,
and in particular at the time for the winter salting, about St. Martin’s
Day.
When the infirmary cook or servant came to die, for his faithful
service he was borne to the grave, like all the other servants of the
monastery, by the whole convent. His body was met at the great
door of the church by the community in procession, and after Mass
had been celebrated for the repose of his soul by the sub-sacrist, the
monks carried his remains, as that of a good and faithful servant
gone to his reward, to his last resting-place. In some houses there
was even a special portion of the consecrated ground dedicated to
the burial of monastic servants: at Bury, for example, it was called
“Sergeant’s hill,” and the Custumal says that in that “venerable
monastery” such old friends “shall never be forgotten in the prayers
and devout supplications of the community.”

8. THE SALTER
The salter, who was also called the mustardarius, was appointed by
a letter of the kitchener; and like the rest he was irremovable after
his appointment, except for grave reasons, and then only with
difficulty. By his office he had to see to the supply and preparation of
all the mustard used in seasoning the dishes and by the brethren in
the various places where food was partaken, such as the refectory,
guest-hall, infirmary, etc. This was by no means the unimportant
office we might in these days be inclined to consider it, as it was
then considered useful if not necessary to take mustard with all
salted food, flesh or fish. The quantity thus required in a large
establishment was very considerable. The salter was also expected
to make some, if not all, the sauces required for certain dishes. At
Easter, for instance, he was to prepare “vertsauce” with vinegar for
the lamb, if the herb could be found for it; by which it may be
supposed that “mint-sauce” is meant, except that this particular
concoction was supposed also to go with mackerel as well as lamb!
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