Misplaced Pages

#14985

29-676: A chantry is a monetary trust fund established by pre-Reformation English churches. Chantry may also refer to: Chantry In the Medieval Era through to the Age of Enlightenment it was commonly believed such liturgies might help atone for misdeeds and assist the soul to obtain eternal peace. The word "chantry" derives from Old French chanter and from the Latin cantare (to sing). Its medieval derivative cantaria means "licence to sing mass". The French term for this commemorative institution

58-615: A side-chapel , or simply built against a main aisle wall. Before the liturgical reforms arising from the Second Vatican Council , separate Masses may be celebrated simultaneously by other priests at side-altars, even as there is an ongoing Mass at the high altar. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). " Altar Side ". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. This Catholic Church –related article

87-508: 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. King 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 endowed

116-600: A greater church. The family of King Henry II of England (1154–1189) contributed greatly to religious patronage. Henry II founded at least one daily mass for his soul by his gift of the manor of Lingoed in Gwent to Dore Abbey in Herefordshire; he provided for the services in perpetuity of four monk-priests. In 1183 the king lost his eldest son, Henry the Young King . In 1185 his third son, Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany , died in

145-416: A private free-standing chapel, usually licensed by the local bishop (such as the surviving one at Noseley , 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

174-461: Is chapellenie (chaplaincy). Firstly, a chantry could mean the prayers and liturgy in the Christian church for the benefit of the dead, as part of the search for atonement for sins committed during their lives. It might include the mass and by extension, the endowment left for the purpose of the continuance of prayers and liturgy. It could be called a type of " trust fund " established during

203-470: Is the Lovekyn Chapel at Kingston upon Thames, within what is now Kingston Grammar School. The Grade II* listed chapel was founded in 1309 and is no longer used for religious services. The Christian practices of prayer and offering mass for the repose of the soul of a deceased person are recorded as early as the 3rd and 4th centuries respectively. The custom of having quantities of masses offered for

232-529: The Cluniac order emphasised an elaborate liturgy as the centre of its common life, developing an unrivalled liturgy for the dead and offering its benefits to its patrons. By the 1150s, the order had so many demands for masses for the dead that Peter the Venerable placed a moratorium on further endowments. Other monastic orders benefited from this movement, but similarly became burdened by commemoration. The history of

261-544: The Act required the money to go to "charitable" ends and the "public good", most of it appears to have gone to friends of the Court. The Crown sold many chantries to private citizens; for example, in 1548 Thomas Bell 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 by its implementation. An example of

290-471: 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

319-592: The City of London , in his private chapel within his manor of Broad Colney in Hertfordshire. He established it by the terms of his last testament in 1191, and the chantry was operational in 1212. A close associate of the Angevin royal court, FitzReiner may have adopted its religious practice. Analysis of later medieval wills has shown that the chantry appeared in many forms. A perpetual chantry consisted of one or more priests, in

SECTION 10

#1732883933015

348-646: The King for as long as he should live. In conjunction with the Dissolution of the Monasteries , the Act helped to finance the war with France. Because Henry lived for only two years after the Act was passed, few chantries were closed or transferred to him. His young son and successor, King Edward VI , signed a new Act in 1547, which ended 2,374 chantries and guild chapels and seized their assets; it also instituted inquiries to determine all of their possessions. Although

377-466: The anniversary of a person's death. At the Council of Attigny in 765, about 40 abbots and bishops agreed to say mass and recite the psalms for the repose of the souls of their deceased brethren. Ninth-century France and England have records of numerous such undertakings between monasteries and churches, whereby they would offer prayers for the souls of deceased members of each other's communities. Before

406-412: The chantries, priests were displaced who had previously taught the urban poor and rural residents; afterwards, local residents suffered greatly diminished access to education for their children. Some of the chantries were converted into grammar schools named after King Edward. Royal peculiars were not covered by any of the above Acts of Parliament, so were not abolished. Most declined over time, until

435-526: The collegiate church of Bakewell in Derbyshire for the establishment of a prebend at Lichfield Cathedral ; the holder was to celebrate mass in perpetuity for John's soul. The concept of the institutional chantry thus developed in the 1180s within English and French royal circles, which were wealthy enough to endow them. In non-royal society, the first perpetual mass was endowed by Richard FitzReiner, Sheriff of

464-454: The confines of their institution, to the population at large. 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

493-571: The consecrated life expected of clergymen. It also led in general to an accumulation of great wealth and power in the Church, beyond the feudal control of the Crown. This evident amassing of assets was one of the pretexts used by King Henry VIII to order the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England. At the time of the Dissolution, chantries were abolished and their assets were sold or granted to persons at

522-417: The dead is first recorded in the early 7th century, in connection with the developing understanding of transferable spiritual credit and clerical stipends . By around the year 700 the practice had emerged across Western Europe of priests saying multiple masses simultaneously, driving the proliferation of side altars . The most common form was the anniversarium or missa annualis , a mass said annually on

551-465: The discretion of Henry and his son King Edward VI , via the Court of Augmentations . Many Tudor businessmen, such as Thomas Bell (1486–1566) of Gloucester , acquired chantries as financial investments for the afterlife, but yielding income streams in the here and now, derived from chantry rents; or the chantry assets could be "unbundled" and sold on piecemeal at a profit. A surviving free-standing chapel

580-757: The fate of an abolished chantry is St Anne's Chapel in Barnstaple , Devon: its assets were acquired by the Mayor of Barnstaple and others in 1585, some time after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The deed of feoffment dated 1 November 1585 exists in the George Grant Francis collection in Swansea, summarised as follows: (i) Robert Appley the elder, Robert Cade, Hugh Brasyer and Richard Wetheridge of Barnestaple to: (ii) William Plamer, mayor of Barnestaple, Richard Dodderidge, Roger Cade, Symon Monngey, Robert Appley

609-454: The jurisdiction of almost all was abolished in the 19th century. Some royal peculiars survive, including Westminster Abbey and St George's Chapel, Windsor . Historian A. G. Dickens has concluded: Side altar A side-altar or bye-altar is an altar that is subordinate to the central or high altar in a church. The term is generally applied to altars situated in bays of the nave , transepts , etc. Side-altars may be recessed in

SECTION 20

#1732883933015

638-399: The most significant effects of the chantries, and the most significant loss resulting from their suppression, was educational, as chantry priests had provided education. Katherine, Lady Berkeley had founded the first chantry school in 1384. Since chantry priests were not ordinaries , nor did they offer public masses, they could serve their communities in other ways. When King Edward VI closed

667-565: The performance of the "chantry duties" by the priest. A chantry may occupy a single altar , for example in the side aisle of a church, or an enclosed chapel within a larger church, generally dedicated to the donor's favourite saint. Many chantry altars became richly endowed, often with gold furnishings and valuable vestments . Over the centuries, chantries increased in embellishments, often by attracting new donors and chantry priests. Those feoffees who could afford to employ them in many cases enjoyed great wealth. Sometimes this led to corruption of

696-472: The pre-Reformation medieval era in England for the purpose of employing one or more priests to sing a stipulated number of services for the benefit of the soul of a specified deceased person, usually the donor who had established the chantry in his will . There could be a stipulated period of time immediately following her/his death. It was believed such masses might help atone for misdeeds and with mercy enable

725-452: The soul to be granted eternal peace in the presence of God. Chantries were commonly established in England and were endowed with lands, rents from specified properties, and other assets of the donor, usually in his will. The income from these assets maintained the "chantry" priest. Secondly, a chantry chapel is a building on private land or a dedicated area or altar within a parish church or cathedral , set aside or built especially for

754-485: The year 1000 in Italy, France and England, parishes extended the benefits of such facilities to the laity . Kings and great magnates asked for prayers for their souls in the monasteries they had founded. Current theory described by Colvin (2000) locates the origins of the chantry in the rapid expansion of regular monasteries in the 11th century. The abbey of Cluny and its hundreds of daughter houses were central to this:

783-602: The younger, Robert Pronze (Prouse?), Roger Beaple, George Pyne, gent., Jacob Wescombe, Gilbert Hareys, Robert Marlen, Thomas Mathewe, James Beaple, George Baker, James Downe, William Bayly, John Collybeare, Robert Collybeare, and John Knyll of Barnestaple; 1 Chancery and Chapel of St Anne lately dissolved in Barnestaple with 1 house with land belonging to the late Chancery and Chapel; also 1 house and land in Barnestaple which John Littlestone of Barnestaple, merchant, and John Buddle, potter, granted to (i). One of

812-414: Was a step towards the institutional chantry. Crouch (2001) points to the parallel development of communities or colleges of secular priests or canons as another theory of influence on the evolution of the chantry. Such communities were not monastic foundations: although members lived a similar lifestyle to monks they differed in that their monastic rule was relaxed to allow preaching and ministry, beyond

841-625: Was the most prestigious and expensive option for the wealthy burgess or nobleman. A lesser option was the endowment of a fixed-term chantry, to fund masses sung by one or two priests at a side altar. Terms ranging from one to ten years were more common than the perpetual variety of chantry. Following the Reformation in England initiated by King Henry VIII , Parliament passed an Act in 1545 which defined chantries as representing misapplied funds and misappropriated lands. The Act provided that all chantries and their properties would thenceforth belong to

#14985