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.