Prebends and Prebendaries

How would you like to be given a stipend based on a job whose duties you would never have to perform? How about receiving the revenue from a place you'd never have to visit? Let us talk about prebends.

Members of secular churches, like monasteries, were supported by the rents paid by those using the land they possessed. A cathedral diocese had many such smaller churches attached to it, and each of those generated revenue from their property. In the 12th century, it became more common for an amount of money from such local revenue to be given as a grant to the local pastor. The Latin for "to grant" was præbere and in English the word prebend referred to this grant. The person receiving this grant was a prebendary.

As it happened, a prebend could be given to an official of the cathedral as a source of revenue, even though he never visited the church from which the revenue came or administered to the parishioners. (The church itself would be allowed what was necessary for administration; profit would go to the distant prebendary.) Bishops and archbishops gave prebends for faithful service.

One person could be granted several prebends, or a prebend even though he already had a position that supported him. Ralph Neville, one-time Chancellor of England, was Dean of Lichfield (head of the chapter of canons there) in the early 1200s, but also had a prebend in the diocese of London.

Prebends were largely abolished in England and Wales after Henry VIII's Reformation. Henry dissolved the collegiate churches in the same Act, but some survived by being associated and "hidden" in the administration of a university. Cornwall, however, managed to hang onto the prebendary system, and even has prebendaries to this day. The picture above is of the installation of three new prebendaries at the Church of Saint Endellion in Cornwall in 2012. [link]

Who was Saint Endellion? She is an entirely new name for this blog, and we haven't spent much time in Cornwall, so let's look at the life of this 5th century saint next time.

Collegiate Churches

In a more detailed discussion of the "origin" of the Shroud of Turin yesterday I mentioned that the place where it was originally displayed was a collegiate church established by Geoffroi de Charny. A collegiate church was not attached to a college, but was called that because of the collegial nature of those who lived there.

Before the Catholic Church set up the system of parishes so that every geographical area had a church with a pastor, some benefactors would set up their own places where priests could live and minister to the surrounding population. Another benefit/motivation was for the priests to pray for the souls of the founder and his family.

This was not the same as a monastery, although they were often referred to in England as "minsters" which derives from the Latin monasterium. The canons were what we would now call parish priests, not monks with a vow of poverty. In fact, each resident canon would receive a salary for their needs.

The financial support for the collegiate church was often an endowment by a wealthy patron, but could also be donations. Charny's no doubt intended to rely on donations from pilgrims who came to see the cloth that wrapped the body of Christ, and the purchase of souvenirs like the pilgrim badge shown yesterday. A collegiate church could also provide a hospital or school which would generate revenue.

Collegiate churches needed a set of rules to maintain order and explain the roles of different members, and they found a template in the works of Bishop Chrodegang of Metz. Chrodegang was chancellor to Charles Martel and instrumental in a spiritual revival in the Kingdom of the Franks. In 755 he wrote a Regula Canonicorum, "Rule for Canons," based on the Rule of St. Benedict, not for a monastic community but for secular clergy. Chrodegang's rule was popular for a time, even appearing in Ireland (a rule attributed to Máel Ruain looks like it was based on Chrodegang's). By the time that Charny was founding his church, Chrodegang's rule was being abandoned in favor of the Augustinian Rule first promoted by Augustine of Hippo.

Individual positions in a collegiate church could also be supported by a prebend, a gift of income from a specific source, such as a piece of property. For a more detailed explanation of prebends, come back tomorrow.

Once More, the Shroud

Geoffroi de Charny would probably be almost completely unknown to modern audiences but for this strange bit of trivia: he gave us the Shroud of Turin.

Geoffroi died in 1356 at the Battle of Poitiers, having spent a life distinguishing himself through his actions (since he was a younger son who stood to inherit nothing). He did so well that, in 1353, he was able to establish a collegiate church in Lirey near Troyes. Bishop of Troyes Henri de Poitiers approved the founding on 28 May 1356, about four months before Charny's death.

In 1390, the then-Bishop of Troyes wrote that a cloth bearing the imprint of Christ's crucified body was being displayed there, and that Henri de Poitiers claimed it was a clever forgery made by a contemporary artist, and Henri had shut down the display. Now we get into a tricky timeline. If the bishop did not approve, why did he make no mention of it in his approval of the church? The document that establishes the church's foundation exists, but contains no mention of such a cloth as one of its assets. So when did the cloth appear? When did Geoffroi obtain it? It is tempting to say he found it on his travels and crusading in the East, but he makes no mention of it in his writings. Why not mention it as a primary asset of the church?

I mention here how it wound up in Turin, Italy. In the 19th century, in Paris, a pilgrim badge had been found that clearly was made for those who viewed the cloth: it bears the phrase ’SVAIRE IhV’(‘Shroud of Jesus’). It also bears the coat of arms of Geoffroi and of his second wife, Jeanne de Vergy, with the Vergy arms in the dominant position, indicating that she was in charge of the operation. Some speculate that this indicated the arms of Geoffroi's son, Geoffroi de Charny II, partnered with his mother. In later depositions, however, both Geoffroi II and granddaughter Marguerite stated that it was Geoffroi senior who acquired it personally, and not that it came to the church later.

An important facet of its story in France turned up in 2009, when a metal detectorist found a casting mold in the town next to Lirey, a mold for making pilgrim badges. It would make a badge nearly identical to the damaged one found in Paris.

It is odd that Geoffroi de Charny came across something so amazing and kept it quiet. Unless, of course, the family legend is just that, a legend, and Henri of Poitiers was right. Perhaps it came into the family's possession while Geoffroi was away at Poitiers and they decided to turn it into a money-making scheme for the cathedral church. Tests of the Shroud of Turin have yielded contradictory results, with various teams of scientists accusing the others of improper techniques or having a particular agenda to establish if it was a 14th-century work of art or a 1st-century miracle. As yet there is no definitive answer that satisfies all sides.

What exactly was a "collegiate church"? How was it different from other churches? Do they still exist? I'll explain next time.