f 137v
...
die veneris viz.
vi. quinto die mensis decembris Anno
domini 1522 dominus decanus
ffitzherbert
Egerton
Cantrell & blith capitulariter
&
congregati & capitulum
facientes decreuerunt quod magister
Choristarum & alter
vicarius qui cantilen<..> noctibus sanctorum
Edmundi & Nicholai cum
choristis cantare contigerint in futurum ‸⸢vterque eorum⸣ recipiet<..> de denarijs per
canonicos
dictos choristis
soluendis pro qualibet nocte in quatuor
denarios Et si cantare contigerint coram extraneis
cantilenas vel ballettas &
dicti extranei dant eisdem choristis aliqua
munera tunc decanus & capitulum
decreuerunt quod dicta munera
diuidantur
modo sequente inter choristas ita quod
magister choristarum si fore contigerit
interfuerit cantalenis
& cantauerit recipiet duplum vnius choriste
...
Actum pro
Choristis de recepcione pecuniæ ab Extraneis
Act for the choristers
Regarding the receiving of money
from outsiders
f 137v
...
On Friday, namely, 5 December in the year of the Lord 1522, the lord dean, Fitzherbert, Egerton, Cantrell, and Blith, gathered together as a chapter, and forming a chapter decided that, should the master of the choristers and another vicar happen to sing songs with the choristers on the eves of Saints Edmund and Nicholas, in the future, each of them shall receive 4d of the money to be paid to the said choristers by the canons for each eve. And if they should happen to sing songs or ballads before outsiders and the said outsiders give to the same choristers any gifts, then the dean and chapter decided that the said gifts shall be divided between the choristers such that the master chorister, if he should be present for the songs and if he should sing, shall receive twice of the amount of one chorister.
...
This reference to the secular activities of the choristers is supplemented by a reference to a payment to a boy bishop of Lichfield in Valor ecclesiasticus, vol 3, pp 154 – 'Item episcopo puerili Lichfeldis ad festum Natalis Domini annuatim iij [s.] viij [d.]' ('Likewise to the boy bishop of Lichfield at Christmas annually 3s 8d'). Payments to the boy bishop outside Lichfield are found in the HMC Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton (collection now preserved at the University of Nottingham library). The payments are from 1521 (346); 1522, St Thomas’ Day (21 December) (351); 1523, St Thomas’ Day (364); 1524, 28 December (379); 1526, 28 December (386). The extracts are unclear as to the venue(s) at which these visits by the boy bishop took place. The most likely is Middleton Hall, approximately three miles south of Tamworth and ten miles from Lichfield, which was the seat of Sir Henry Willoughby (d. 1528).
Record title: Dean and
Chapter Act Book
Repository: Lichfield Cathedral Library
Shelfmark: Chapter Act Books No. 3
Repository location: Lichfield
1490–1523; Latin; parchment and paper; ii (parchment, contains title page) + 142 (paper) + v (parchment, contains index); 330mm x 230mm; original foliation; bound in brown leather, very worn, no title on spine but on f [i]: 'Tertius Liber vocatus le Black Book Acta Capitularia Ab Anno 1490 Ad 1523.'