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 RELIGIOUS HOUSES The great officers of St. Paul's were the arch- deacon, the treasurer, the precentor, and the chancellor ; and were chosen from among the major canons.'^' Of these the most dignified were the four archdeacons of London, Essex, Middlesex, and Colchester, whose connexion with the cathedral can be traced from the beginning of the twelfth century,^'^ and is prob- ably more ancient. Their position shows the relation of St. Paul's to the see of London. Except as the most dignified of the canons after the dean,^'' they were officers not of the cathe- dral, but of the diocese. The agent of the chapter, where money trans- actions with outside persons and communities were concerned, was the treasurer.''^ But the treasurer's financial function was not more important than his duty as the keeper of treasures, ornaments, service books, and vestments of the cathedral.'^' In this respect he had a deputy in the sacrist.'^* According to Dugdale and Le Neve the dignity of treasurer was founded in 1 1 60 by Bishop Richard de Beames, who annexed to it the churches of Sudminster, Aldbury, Pelham Furneaux, and Pelham Sarners.^'' The cathedral had a sacrist in 1162.^^*' Both officers were bound to the dean and chapter by oaths of faith- ful service.'^^ The vergers, whose number appears to have varied from three to four, were paid by the treasurer, and presented to the dean and chapter by the sacrist, to whom they were subject.'" In 1282 it was ordained that they should deliver their virges, their emblems of office, to the dean on every Michaelmas Day, and receive them back or not according to their deserts.'^' In the department of internal finance, the chief officers were the chamberlain, the keepers of the bakehouse and the brewery, the keepers of the Old and New Work, and the almoner. Ralph de Diceto ordained that every month the chamber, the bakehouse, and the fabric of the cathedral should be inspected, and their accounts entered in the roll of the treasury, together with the rents from obits. '^* The chamberlain received money payments from the farms and other sources ; and paid stipends and pittances to the ministers of the 313 3 4 Reg. S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 26. Hist. MSS. Com. Rep, ix, App. i, 58. The arch- deacon of St. Albans, whose office was founded in 1550, had no place in the chapter nor stall in the choir (G. C. Lc Neve, Fusti (ed 1 7 16), 198). "= Reg. S. Pauli (cd. W. S. Simpson), 20. ''•^ Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 32, &c. '" Reg S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 21. '"Ibid. 21. '" Dugdale, Hist, of St. Paul's, 9 ; Le Neve, Fasfi (ed. 1716), 201. "" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. i, 12. '" Reg. S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 21, 124.. '-'Mbid. 72, 124. "Mbid. 91. Ibid. 132. 3!a 321 church. He was responsible for the lights of the cathedral. Quarterly accounts and immediate reports of any deficit in due payments were rendered by him to the dean and chapter. A resident canon was specially deputed for his supervision.'^* The bakehouse and brewery were superintended by their keeper or keepers, who saw to it that rightful payments in kind were made by the farms, and who distributed portions of bread and ale to the ministers.'^' In disposing of surplus produce a preference was given to ecclesiastical over lay persons.'^' The care of the building of St. Paul's belonged to the keepers of the Old and New Work who received and spent contributions to this end. The keeper of the New Work was bound to the dean and chapter by an oath of faithful service.'"^ The duties of the cathedral almoner fall into two divisions. He must distribute alms in the manner prescribed by those who conferred bequests and donations on the almonry, and bury poor men and beggars who died within the church- yard. Secondly, he superintended the education, general and specially connected with the ministry, of a number of boys, eventually eight, who were called the almoner's boys, and helped in the services of the choir and attended to the lights of the church.^' The office of almoner is first mentioned in the beginning of the twelfth century. Then Henry of Northampton granted to it the tithes of St. Pancras, which belonged to his prebend, and his house in Paternoster Row for a hospital for the poor." The second function of the almoner probably originated in the will of Bishop Richard Newport, who left certain property to the almoner that he might, according to the judge- ment of the chapter, provide for the sustenance of one or two boys.'*' He was under an oath of obedience to the dean and chapter."^ The office of the precentor was next to that of the treasurer in dignity.'" It existed in 1104, and probably in yet earlier times. But it was not endowed until the year 1204, when King John granted to it the church of Shoreditch. '"Ibid. 74, 128, 30. »« Ibid. 75. '"'In I 1 50 a major canon was keeper of the brewery {Reg. S. Pauli [ed. W. S. Simpson], 173) ; in the time of Baldock the chapter deputed certain residents to superintend the bakehouse successively (ibid. 30) ; in the sixteenth century it was unlawful for a resident canon to be keeper of the bakehouse, but a residentwas set over the keeper (ibid. 245, 277). The name of this office may therefore have been variously applied to that of the chief baker and that of his supervisor. '"* Ibid. 77, 100, 131. '"Harl. MS. 7041, fol. 22. "' Reg. Eleemos. D. S. Pauli (ed. M. Hackett), fol. 5. "' Ibid. fol. 38. '" Reg S. Pauli (ed. W. S. Simpson), 76. >" Ibid. 13. 423