Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The impulse: what prompted monastic hospitality?
- Chapter 2 The administrative structure
- Chapter 3 The reception of guests
- Chapter 4 Provision for guests: body and soul
- Chapter 5 Provision for guests: entertainment and interaction
- Chapter 6 The financial implications of hospitality
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Jocelin of Brakelond, monk of Bury St Edmunds
- Appendix 2 The Waterworks Plan of Christ Church, Canterbury
- Bibliography
- Index
- Other volumes in Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
Chapter 6 - The financial implications of hospitality
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The impulse: what prompted monastic hospitality?
- Chapter 2 The administrative structure
- Chapter 3 The reception of guests
- Chapter 4 Provision for guests: body and soul
- Chapter 5 Provision for guests: entertainment and interaction
- Chapter 6 The financial implications of hospitality
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Jocelin of Brakelond, monk of Bury St Edmunds
- Appendix 2 The Waterworks Plan of Christ Church, Canterbury
- Bibliography
- Index
- Other volumes in Studies in the History of Medieval Religion
Summary
… This house was founded by him [Henry I] … in a place well suited to provide lodging for almost all travellers to the more populous cities of England. In it he established monks of Cluny who are at this time a distinguished exemplar of holy life and a model of inexhaustible and delightful hospitality. One can see there, as nowhere else, how the guests who arrive at all hours get more provisions than the inmates.
Hospitality was a basic part of the monastery's financial outlay but it could be an expensive one, particularly by the twelfth century when monasteries felt that they were more greatly burdened with guests than their predecessors. It is, however, difficult to estimate the actual cost of administering hospitality at this time. The later Middle Ages is better served and obedientiary rolls dating from the late thirteenth century record payments relating to guests. For example, the chamberlain of Abingdon's rolls for 1428–29 list payments for various items of furniture and also tools purchased for the hospice; the treasurer's rolls for 1375–76 reveal that he bought utensils for the hospice and paid for its door to be made. The hosteller of Peterborough's expenses in 1498–99 included ‘necessary expenses’, for the refreshment of servants in the hostel, for repairs, the purchase of candles and cord for curtains. While there is little evidence of this kind for the preceding period, the earlier sources can nonetheless shed some light on the relative expense of entertainment in the monastery.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Monastic HospitalityThe Benedictines in England, c.1070–c.1250, pp. 177 - 196Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007