FI/1
Reference code
FI/1
Level of description
Series
Title
Common Fund
Description
The series contains records relating to the Common Fund of Salisbury Cathedral. It contains Communar's Accounts (FI/1/1), Dean and Chapter Common Account Statements (FI/1/2) audited by external auditors, Cash Books (FI/1/3), Common Account Budgets (FI/1/4), Nominal Codes (FI/1/5), records of the Works Department (FI/1/6), and the Offertory Account (FI/1/7). The Common Fund originally referred to what 'continued to be held in common after the bulk of the revenues had been divided up into separate prebends for the individual canons' (Edwards, K, The English Secular Cathedrals in the Middle Ages, p.238). It was overseen by a Communar, who would be elected in October each year (many held office for several years). The Communar would also distribute canons' commons. The accounts would be drawn up every quarter (1. Oct-Dec/Jan, 2. Jan-Mar/Apr, 3. Apr-Jun/Jul, 4. Jul-Sep/Oct) and would be audited by Chapter. According to Edwards, from 1374 the Communar had to draw up a separate account of uncertain profits and casual receipts which did not appear in the main roll (p.239) - where the accounts of these receipts appear, they seem to always be on the back of the fourth quarter roll (Jul-Oct).
It is unclear when the office of Communar ceased to exist. According to A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 3 by the mid to late 17th century the Communar’s accounts were kept in volumes, with annual rather than quarterly statements. The administration of the common fund changed again in the 18th century. In 1740 Joseph Sager was accused of misconduct in his oversight of the Common Fund. In 1741 it was decided that ‘the office of communar no longer required continuous attendance, for its burdens were much lighter’ (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol3/pp183-197, accessed 15 Aug 2017). See Chapter Act Book 1741-96 ff.3-5.