Indulgences
in the 15th century Diocese of Exeter
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
Indulgences in the
medieval church have received a bad press over the centuries from the outcry’s
of Martin Luther and Archbishop Cranmer.[1]
But indulgences were not just for making money for church officials and
building St. Peter’s in Rome or providing a source of income for Johannes
Gutenberg to display his new printing press.[2]
Instead indulgences provided a cleansing of the soul for the laity while
providing money to engage in a whole series of activities that bound the parish
and the community to the wider Christian world.[3]
The diocese of Exeter,
like any other diocese in the Christian world, used indulgences to fund local
building works, help ransom foreign captives and all important things like seeking
good weather. On 31st July 1441 a mandate was issued on the
authority of Archbishop Henry Chicle of Canterbury for litanies and processions
to take place for the peace and prosperity of the Kingdom and for good weather
every Wednesday and Friday in return for a grant of forty days indulgences.[4]
Nicholas Orme, emeritus
professor of history at Exeter University, has previously written on the
subject a few years ago, entitled, “Indulgences in the Diocese of Exeter,
1100-1536”, in Report and Transactions of
the Devon Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Vol.
120 (1988), pp. 15-32. This article gives but a sample of the kinds of projects
funded by indulgences granted in the diocese of Exeter in the mid fifteenth
century.
Funding
parish churches and chapels
As an ecclesiastical
system of funding projects indulgences provided a source of income for many
parish churches to engage in building work which possibly could not be funded
by local resources. On 12th June 1437 any visitors or contributors
to the Chapel St. James in parish of Brodar were entitled to a grant of forty
days indulgence.[5]
On 23rd April 1438 a grant of indulgence was issued to all who
contributed to the building, repair and restoration of the parish church of All
Hallows on the Walls in Exeter.[6] In
1658 the Commonwealth government decided that All Hallows and eleven other
churches in Exeter were surplus to requirements and the building was sold for
£50 at auction.[7]
Meanwhile, on 19th
August 1438 a grant of forty days indulgence was issued for the building,
repairing and maintenance of the parochial chapel of St. Petrock near
Dartmouth.[8] On
6th November 1438 a grant of forty days indulgence was made for the
building, repairing and maintenance of the Chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr at
Tiverton to continue at the Bishop’s pleasure.[9] It
is not known how much was collected by way of these indulgences but the general
repairs and maintenance bill for the parish church of Ashburton ranged from £4
7s 9d in 1482-3 to about £12 per year in 1516-7.[10]
Exeter Cathedral
Sometimes people were
expected to give more than just money to gain an indulgence. On 11th
July 1437 a grant of indulgence was made to all parishioners and visitors to
the Guild St. John the Baptist in the chapel of the Holy Trinity at Dartmouth.
This chapel was newly built and visitors were not just expected to give money
but were also asked to say the Lord’s Prayer with the Angelie Salutation along
with making or celebrating mass.[11]
Indulgences were also
issued to support confraternities within churches. On 16th June 1440
people were asked to contribute to the upkeep of the Confraternity of Minstrels
of the Blessed St. Mary Magdalene at Launceston.[12] On
24th June 1449 people were asked to support the confraternity at the
image of St. Mary Magdalene at a certain altar in the parish church of St.
Crida in Cornwall.[13]
Some indulgences were
used to encourage pilgrims to attend a church on the feast day of that church
where a local market also provided extra outlets for people to part with their
money. On 31st October 1450 visitors, penitent, contrite and
confessed people were granted an indulgence of forty days for visiting the
chapel of St. Laurence at Ayssheperton on the feast-day of St. Laurence and at
other times who contributed to the fabric, lights etc., of the chapel.[14]
On 4th November 1448 visitors to St. Gregory’s parish church at
Dawlish, on the feast day, or other days, were asked to support the fabric, lights,
etc., for as long as the Bishop’s pleasure.[15]
The indulgence system
was often used to fund a belfry or the purchase of bells for a church or
chapel. On 16th December 1437 a grant of forty days indulgence was
issued to all parishioners of Bradninch who contributed to the building and
repair of the Bradninch church belfry which was in need of rebuilding. This
grant was to be effective for two years. On 11th February 1438-9 a
grant of forty days indulgence was made for all contributors to the rebuilding
of the belfry and bells of Little Torrington parish church which was destroyed
by lighting. On 22nd June 1440 people were asked to contribute to
the purchase and upkeep of new bells at the parish church of St. Welwele in
Cornwall in return for forty days indulgence.[16]
In these local grants
of indulgence given by the Bishop of Exeter the period of relaxation of penance
was only forty days. A papal grant of indulgence could be considerably longer
as in the grant of 140 days given in 1445 for visitors who contributed alms to
the chapel of St. Mary the Virgin situated in the cemetery of the parish church
of St. Michael, South Churyton, in the Diocese of Exeter on the feast of the
Assumption.[17]
Occasionally
parishioners in the Diocese of Exeter were asked by way of a grant of
indulgences to contribute to churches outside the diocese. On 6th
October 1448 parishioners were asked to support the building and repair of the
parish church of Twyford in the Diocese of Norwich.[18]
Indulgences
for the dead
On 17th May
1439 a grant of forty days indulgence was issued for all those who devoutly
said the Lord’s Prayer and the Angelic Salutation for the soul of Lady Matilda
Talbot, late prioress of Polslo Priory whose body was buried in the conventual
church. People could also pray for all the faithfully departed at the same
time.[19]
Polslo Priory was located in the north-eastern part of Heavitree parish and was
also called the Nunnery of St. Catherine. The priory was founded in about 1159
when the canons of Exeter Cathedral allowed the nuns of Polslo to bury at
Polslo deceased members of their community, their priests and visitors but not
any parishioners of Exeter church without permission. The priory was under the
patronage of the bishop of Exeter and was surrendered in February 1538 by the
last prioress, Eleanor Sydnam. The conventual church, where Matilda Talbot was
buried, was destroyed in the reign of Charles II by the then owner, Sebastian
Isaac, to make way for a mansion house.[20]
Funding
hospitals
In a time when the
government didn’t contribute much in the way of social protection, it was left
to the mechanism of the church to organise the funding of hospitals and other
places for the sick and marginalised. On 24th January 1437-8 a grant
of forty days indulgence was made for the parishioners at Totnes and other
truly penitent, confessed and contrite people who contributed to the
maintenance of the poor Leper’s Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene at Totnes. On 23rd
April 1440 a grant of indulgence was made for all contributors who supported
the Hospital of St. Margret near Pylton for poor lepers.[21] On
2nd October 1440 a similar grant of forty days was made for all who
contributed to the maintenance of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene for poor
lepers at Tavistock.[22]
Funding
roads
Another area where
government would be expected to finance was the building and repair of the
King’s highways but this was not always the case. On 1st November
1441 a grant of forty days indulgence was issued to anybody who gave money or
personal labour for the rebuilding, repair and making good the King’s highway
from Liskeard to the chapel of St. Mary at Parke.[23]
Funding
bridges
Bridges in any age are
important features in the landscape. They allowed the flow of goods and people
over rivers and water and help bound a parish together. On 27th
December 1439 a grant of forty days indulgence was made for all contributors to
the bridge commonly called Greyton Bridge near Tamer in Cornwall. On 3rd
March 1439-40 a grant of indulgence was issued for all contributors to the
bridge at Aveton Giffard.[24] Later,
on 12th May 1448 another grant of indulgence was given to
contributors to the upkeep and repair of the bridge over the Exe River at the
north end of Tuverton town.[25]
Yet contrary to what
Martin Luther may have thought, indulgences were not always about money. People
could give goods or services to full fill an indulgence. On 24th May
1437 Bishop Edmund Lacy issued a grant of indulgences for forty days to the
parishioners of Barnstaple and others who gave goods and manual help for
building, repairing and the maintenance of Barnstaple Bridge. The bridge at
Bideford received a similar indulgence on the same date of 24th May.
Both indulgences were to operate indefinitely at the Bishop’s pleasure.[26]
On 12th June
1437 grant of indulgence for forty days was made for all who contributed to Lostwithiel
Bridge. It is not clear if this was just a financial contribution or by way of
goods and services.[27] Lostwithiel
was an ancient bridge by 1437 with a record of repairs in 1359.[28] On
12th July 1437 a grant of indulgence was made to anybody who gave
money or personal labour for the repair of Havtesbridge.[29] On
28th April 1438 an indulgence of forty days was granted to those who
contributed to the repair and upkeep of the new bridge called Hatherlegh Brigg.[30] By
1638 there were three bridges in Braunton parish including Hatherlegh Bridge
but the parishioners were unable to support the three from their own resources
and asked the Devon Assizes for outside contributions.[31] On
9th October 1438 a grant for forty days of indulgences was made for
the repair of Teigngrace Bridge.[32]
In some cases people
were expected to fund more than just the building or repair of a bridge in
return for their indulgences. On 8th September 1438 people were
asked to funds repairs to Otery Bridge of St. Mary and the chapel of the
Saviour beside the bridge.[33]
In 1637 local rate payers were still expected to contribute to the repairs of
Otery Bridge without any remission for sins but a day in court if they refused
to pay.[34]
But all these grants of
indulgence given by the Bishop of Exeter were valued for forty days. In 1442 the
supporters of Womberley Bridge in the diocese of Exeter got a papal indulgence
for one hundred days. The bridge was broken down for many years previously and
many people had perished crossing the water. The papal grant was to operate for
three years.[35]
Funding
ship quays
Bridges were not the
only transport infrastructure that benefitted for indulgences. On 6th
June 1437 a grant of indulgence for forty days was made to all the parishioners
of St. Paul, and for any outsiders, who contributed to the building, repair and
maintenance of a certain quay or jetty at Newlyn quay in the parish.[36] On
10th January 1349-40 a grant of forty days indulgence was made for
all who contributed to the repairs of the quay on the shore at Trewew Blustry
in the parish of St. Columb Minor in Cornwall.[37]
Conclusion
From this brief survey
of the Diocese of Exeter in the mid fifteenth century, it can be seen that the
system of indulgences, for remission of time spent in penance, was used to fund
a varied of different projects, both ecclesiastical and secular. Of course the
system could be opened to abuse like the excessive fees that Martin Luther
objected to. He wasn’t against the indulgences themselves, certainly at the
start of the Reformation, but only the way they were sold.[38] After
the Reformation projects like bridges, roads, and hospitals still needed funds
but by then people got no remission for their sins just a day in court if they
didn’t pay up. In their time indulgences encouraged the people to give money to
projects and causes which they may normally have not supported. It also funded
projects in areas that didn’t have a rich support base and provided infrastructure
where the government didn’t want to get involved.
Bibliography
Brodeur, A.F., Indulgences and Solidarity in Late Medieval
England (University of Toronto thesis, 2015)
Browne, Rev. C.G. &
Reichel, Rev. O.J. (eds.), The register
of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1420-1455), Part 2 – the Registrum
commune (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, 1915)
Cockburn, J.S. (ed.), Western Circuit Assize Orders 1629-1648: A
Calendar (London, 1976)
Daniell, Rev. J.J. A compendium of the History and Geography of
Cornwall (Truro, 1906)
Dunstan, G.R. (ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of
Exeter, 1420-1455 Registrum Commune, Vol. III (Devon & Cornwall Record
Society, New Series, Vol. 13, 1968)
Harding, Lt-Col. W.,
‘An account of some of the ancient ecclesiastical edifices of Exeter’, in Transactions of the Exeter Diocesan
Architectural Society, Vol. 4, Part 3 (1853), pp. 255-284
Twemlow, J.A. (ed.), Calendar of entries in the Papal Registers
relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IX, A.D. 1431-1447 (London,
1912)
==================
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==================
[3]
Brodeur, A.F., Indulgences and Solidarity
in Late Medieval England (University of Toronto thesis, 2015), pp. ii, iii
[4] Browne,
Rev. C.G. & Reichel, Rev. O.J. (eds.), The
register of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter (A.D. 1420-1455), Part 2 – the
Registrum commune (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, 1915), p. 800
[5]
Browne & Reichel (eds.), The register
of Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 670
[6]
Dunstan, G.R. (ed.), The register of Edmund
Lacy, Bishop of Exeter, 1420-1455 Registrum Commune, Vol. III (Devon &
Cornwall Record Society, New Series, Vol. 13, 1968), p. 1
[7]
Harding, Lt-Col. W., ‘An account of some of the ancient ecclesiastical edifices
of Exeter’, in Transactions of the Exeter
Diocesan Architectural Society, Vol. 4, Part 3 (1853), pp. 255-284, at p.
257
[8] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 709
[9] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 717
[10]
Hanham, A. (ed.), Churchwarden’s accounts
of Ashburton, 1479-1580 (Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series,
Vol. 15, 1970), pp. 3, 55, 56
[11] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 679
[12]
Browne & Reichel (eds.), The register
of Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 770
[13]
Dunstan (ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy,
Registrum Commune, Vol. III, p. 39
[14]
Dunstan (ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy,
Registrum Commune, Vol. III, p. 89
[15]
Dunstan (ed.), The register of Edmund
Lacy, Registrum Commune, Vol. III, p. 14
[16] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, pp. 686, 725, 770
[17] Twemlow,
J.A. (ed.), Calendar of entries in the
Papal Registers relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. IX, A.D. 1431-1447 (London,
1912), p. 490
[18]
Dunstan (ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy,
Registrum Commune, Vol. III, p. 13
[19] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 735
[20]
Harding, Lt-Col. W., ‘An account of some ecclesiastical edifices of Exeter’,
pp. 255-284, at pp. 274, 275
[21] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 768
[22] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, pp. 688, 776
[23] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 808
[24] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, pp. 751, 767
[25] Dunstan
(ed.), The register of Edmund Lacy, Registrum
Commune, Vol. III, p. 3
[26] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 668, accessed on 7th
August 2014
[27] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 670
[28]
Daniell, Rev. J.J. A compendium of the
History and Geography of Cornwall (Truro, 1906), p. 256
[29] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 679
[30]
Dunstan (ed.), The register of Edmund
Lacy, Registrum Commune, Vol. III, p. 1
[31]
Cockburn, J.S. (ed.), Western Circuit
Assize Orders 1629-1648: A Calendar (London, 1976), no. 615 = the Assizes
agreed to outside contributions if the parishioners paid their full share.
[32] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 715
[33] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 710
[34] Cockburn
(ed.), Western Circuit Assize Orders
1629-1648: A Calendar, no. 521
[35] Twemlow
(ed.), Calendar of Papal Registers Great
Britain & Ireland, Vol. IX, A.D. 1431-1447, p. 248
[36] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 670
[37] Browne
& Reichel (eds.), The register of
Edmund Lacy, Part 2 – the Registrum commune, p. 755
