A HISTORY OF NORFOLK In the year 1 400 a considerable impetus was given to the devotional offerings ovvfing to a bull of papal indulgence (to last for seven years) to penitents visiting the three chief altars of the priory during the feast of the Holy Trinity. This produced in 1 40 1 the sum of £4.^ 16s. lod. at those altars during the dedication feast, and the offerings at the high altar during the rest of the year rose to £b2. The effect of the bull of indulgence was perceptible throughout the time it was in operation ; the high altar oblations in 1403 were £■]■]. The first year that this indulgence at the Trinity dedication festival came into operation (1401) a special feature was introduced into the services, probably at the time of high mass. The figure of an angel in the roof of the body of the church descended with a great censer, censing the doubtless vast congregation in the nave. The charge for preparing the figure this year was 9^. id. The angel was generally brightened with silver foil year by year, a charge for which constantly occurs. After a time the like solem- nity was also enacted at the feast of Corpus Christi, and an entry constantly occurs of 2s. for the man in charge of the apparatus for lowering and raising the censing angel at those two feasts. At Easter, 1487, Henry VII was present at Norwich, and in his honour the pageant occurred a third time that year. This solemnity was interrupted by the great fire of 1463, when the roofs of the cathedral were destroyed, and was not resumed until 1474. The offerings steadily decreased ; those of the high altar, in round numbers, were ^54 in 1442, ^^33 in 1452, ;^26 in 1462,^^20 in 1482, ^^18 in I49i,^i3ini504,andin 1536 only ^4 155. 3^. The second source of the sacrist's income was from the appropriated churches of Scrouteby (Ormesby) ^^'37 I J. Z^d., Hemsby, ;^i8 105., Banburgh ^^17 8;. 2d., and Eaton j^ii 13/. 5^;/. The figures given are those from the roll of 1 30 1, when these four churches brought in an income of ^^84 125. ioJ^j'., but tithes were ex- ceptionally high that year; in 1328 the four churches only produced ;^47, in 1403 ;^43. A third source of income was from tithes and rents. Latterly, a variety of pensions granted to the mother church of the diocese by religious houses at the time of the appropriation of rec- tories were assigned to the sacrist. A fourth small source of income, of a fluctuating charac- ter, arose from legacies of usually quite small sums. Bequests in wills to the cathedral church all went to the sacrist. With regard to the sacrist's expenditure, as there was no separate master of the fabric at Norwich, the most important items are those concerned with the upkeep of the church and the conventual buildings.^ The ornaments of ' These will be dealt with in the Topographical section. the church naturally came under the charge of the sacrist. A few items are here given from the expenditure side of the rolls under this head. The shrine of St. William was beautified in 1305, the sum of bs. 8d. being spent on 140 leaves of gold and iid. for 150 leaves of silver. White lead, vermilion, and orpiment (yellow arsenic) cost 2s. 2d., and oil for painting lod., while Simon the painter and his boy received 251. 6d. in wage and victuals for nine weeks. In 1369, fixing three basins with cords and pulleys, each carrying a wax taper to burn continually before the high altar (Holy Trinity), 26s. 6^d. ; 1386, for a beautiful lantern hanging in the choir, nothing, because Alice de Reppis gave it ; 1 400, for making two chalices, 26s. 8d.; 1404, for a jewel bought for the body of Christ at the feasts of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, ;^I2 ; 1406, for chains for the great thurible that serves from the roof of the church on the feast of the Holy Trinity, and mending the same, 2s. ^d. ; 1494, for the repair of the pix in which was kept the milk of the Blessed Virgin, 35. ^d., and for cleaning the crowns of the Holy Trinity, 5^. ; 1505, Thomas Wor- cester, goldsmith, for making the shoes of the Holy Trinity, 22s. lod. ; 1510, for a ladder with a carrying stand made with iron-work to put the tunics and crown upon the second person of the Holy Trinity at fit times, 2s. The repair and renewal of the church vest- ments, as well as of the church napery, also came under this department, the entries being of a kind common in such accounts and presenting no particular features of interest. The clock en- tries are numerous and interesting right through the accounts ; mending the clock cost 6s. ^d. in 1290 ; and in 1325, when a large sum was ex- pended on an elaborate new clock and chimes, with two dials and beautifully decorated, a regular clock warden was appointed, Robert Orologiarius, who received, in addition to money payment, a furred robe valued at 1 6s. Organ repairs are also of constant occurrence : Adam the organist in 1333 received a robe worth 131. 4</., and a new pair of organs for the quire in 15 10 cost £i(). Each of the obedientiaries, in addition to what was done by the almoner proper, made certain payments of an eleemosynary character. Thus, in 1301, the sacrist, besides contributing 401. to the scholars from the priory at Oxford, gave 6s. to poor scholars. In the same year over ^4 was given to the poor of the appropriated parishes. There was an invariable contribution to the lepers of St. Mary Magdalen Hospital, and frequently gifts of cloth and shoes to the poor of Norwich. Among other payments of usual occurrence may be mentioned strewing rushes three times a year in church, cloister, and dormitory ; strewing herbs round the high altar ; providing mats for church, cloister, and refectory ; painting and gilding the paschal candle, and providing grave- stones for the deceased monks. 322
