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FA/2/1

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Accounts of the Procurator of St Thomas with the Masters of the Fabric

The following information is taken from the paper catalogue: From the end of the 14th century the rectory of St Thomas was appropriated to the Chapter, for the Cathedral Fabric, the Chapter providing a perpetual curate. (For some time afterwards, however, there seems to have been a rector, presumably a member of the Cathedral body - see deed of 1403, Pr. I, Sarum 2/83; also accounts of Masters of the Fabric, no.1.) The Procurator was evidently the official responsible for keeping the accounts and for handing over the profits to the Masters of the Fabric. The accounts run from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. They consist of receipts from oblations, fees, etc., set out month by month, receipts at the Feast of Easter, necessary payments at the Feast of Easter, sale of mortuaries, stipends with other necessary payments, etc. All of the Procurators accounts were found in box Procuratoriae, Pr. IV. They were removed from here and added to P2. The following summary was written by June Effemey in March 2025 Each account, most of which are in the form of scrolls, covers one year, running from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. The accounts are set out as month-by month accounts i.e October, November etc, and include both income and expenditure. Procurators include John Oddelande. In respect of income, St Thomas Church appears to be selling mortuary chattels for the burials of named individuals such as burial vestments for the dead, usually called togas in the accounts, though they are occasionally referred to as tunics, or linen sheets. One example is part of a toga sold at the death of John Baker, servant of John Chynne, knight, in the account of 1486-7Money was also raised by the sale of lights (lumen) presumably candles, to various Salisbury fraternities and guilds, including the cutters (scissoriam), tailors (sutor), women (mulieren), fishmongers (piscatoram), butchers (carnificoram), skinners/tanners (pelliporam) and smiths (fabroram). Income listed in the accounts also includes that from the 10 mills situated close to St Thomas Church, from the reeve of Mylford. Other income is from numerous ‘oblations’ or offerings throughout the year, on occasions such as marriages and purifications. Payments and outgoings include money given to men carrying the canopy (canopia) and the banner (vexhill) during church processions around the parish/city, such as at Corpus Christi, and payments to men tolling the bells of the churches of St Martin’s, St Clements in Fisherton and St Edmund’s on the day of these processions.

FA/2/1

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