devocioun of men makiþ hem soft in her traveile, and makiþ hem ever more liȝt to bisie hem for hevenli blisse. Þes lampis ben goode workes in kynde, þat boþ þes partis of virgins done; but þes lampis brennen not ne shynen bifore God, but ȝif þei have riȝt devocioun in þe workes þat þei done. And as oile haþ moche of þe eir and of þe fier, wel medlid wiþ water, so men of riȝt devocioun han mouche of hevenli þouȝtis, and also myche of charite. And her tribulacioun semeþ litil, and herbi ben þei liȝt and glad to go þis litil wey. And þus Crist, heed of þe Chirche, was glad here to renne his [þis, E.] wey; for he hadde greet desire to suffre peyne for mannis kynde. And so of his oile shulden we take part in goinge of oure traveilous weie. Þes fyve foolis hadden lampis, but þei hadden noon oile wiþ hem; for many men in þis lyf, boþe oon and oþer, don myche good; but hem wantiþ riȝt devocioun, bi which þei shulden go liȝt to hevene. For al oure traveile here in erþe shulde be don for þis ende; to meete wiþ Crist and his Chirche riȝtli at þe dai of dome. And þe Chirche þat comeþ from hevene wiþ Crist at þe dai of dome is clepid þe wif of Jesus Crist; for þei ben weddid ever togidere.
It were for to telle here how devocioun wantiþ in clerkis; as popis taken þer stat here for a foule devocioun, to be wor|shipid in þis world and have moche of worldli lordshipe. And so done þes cardinalis and þes bishopis also. Curatis taken benefices for þe same cause, but lesse; and preestis taken her ordris for devocioun of ten mark [ for devocioun of ten mark.] This sounds like a phrase in common use at the time, as if one were to say now that a curate took orders for his £100 a year. The passage is of some importance, as showing that, in spite of the efforts both of the court and the bishops to keep down the salaries of priests, the average rate of pay to a working priest, (the passage has nothing to do with the parsons of livings,) in the reign of Richard II, was ten marks, or £6 13s. 4d. per annum. It may be as well to take this opportunity of putting together a few particulars respecting the salaries of non-bene|ficed clerks in England between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. A constitution of Stephen Lang|ton, dated in 1222, thus regulates the pay of vicars perpetual:— 'Statuimus, ut vicario perpetuo ad minus reditus quinque Marcarum as|signentur, qui scilicet pro quinque Marcis solet dari ad Firmam; nisi forte in illis partibus Walliae sit....' where the parish is too poor to afford so high a stipend. Five marks then were esteemed a competent salary in the early part of the reign of Henry III. Nearly a century and a half later the standard had varied but very little. In a con|stitution of 1362 Archbishop Islep ordains that a priest simply cele|brating 'annals,' or masses by the year, for the repose of departed souls, shall be satisfied with five marks a year, but that if he have also cure of souls, he shall receive six marks. Following up this con|stitution, the act of 36 Edw. III (1363) prohibits under penalties any layman from paying more than five marks a year to a priest residing in his house, and having no cure of souls. The next fifty years witness a rapid change in the value of money. Archbishop Sudbury orders that the stipends which Islep had fixed at five and six marks, shall for the same duties, 'on account of the changed times,' be raised to seven and eight marks respectively. But these were doubtless the minimum rates, and in practice more was usually given. There is even distinct evidence that ten marks was a customary rate of salary for a priest to ask. The act of 2 Henry V (1414), after reciting the act of Edw. III previously men|tioned and setting forth that the priests 'which now be' will not serve but for twelve marks, or ten marks by year at the least, to the great damage of the king's liege people, enacts that seven and eight marks shall be the legal salaries, unless by special license of the or|dinary; nine marks not to be ex|ceeded even in that case. But the changing times soon ren|dered this statute ineffectual, if it was not ineffectual from the outset. A constitution of Archbishop Chi|chely, dated in 1415, ordains that all through the province of Canter|bury the stipends of needy vicars shall be augmented as a general rule to at least twelve marks a year, if the parish revenues equal that amount. The above particulars are found in Gibson's Codex Furis Ecclesiastici Anglicani, pp. 748, 755, 938-9. In the province of York the rates appear to have been lower. From the Testamenta Eboracensia, published by the Surtees Society (vol. ii, p. 118) it appears that at York, in the middle of the fifteenth century, the customary payment in respect of a single mass was fourpence Thus in a will dated in 1446 we find—'Lego ad quinde|cim missas pro animâ meâ in ecclesia Sti Nicholai apud Novum Castrum super Tinam Vs.' And the ordinary annual payment at the same period, to a priest celebrating masses for the repose of souls, was in York|shire seven marks. In preparing this note I have been greatly assisted by Professor Stubbs.
