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The lay-brothers’ choir (5/6)
Whenever the lay-brothers at Roche celebrated the Canonical Hours or Mass in the church, or attended ceremonial occasions, they occupied their own choir in the west of the nave. Like the monks, they had inward-facing stalls, and at their height about one hundred lay-brothers were accommodated here. At Mass and the Hours the seniors occupied the upper stalls, namely those nearest the High Altar, but this order was reversed for the grace after dinner. Their seats were probably similar to those at Clairvaux in the late twelfth-century, and of the sort that swung up – a twelfth-century text from Clairvaux warns that the brothers should not slam their seats but lower them gently or forfeit that day’s portion of drink.(6) The lay-brothers also had two entrances to their choir. During the day they probably used the south door on the western façade; for the night office they descended stairs that connected their dormitory to the church. The demise of the lay-brothers in the fourteenth century, and the increasing pressure from laity requesting burial in the church, led to the removal of their stalls to make room for lay burials in the nave. A number of these tombs were recovered in the excavations of 1884-1914. Burial within the abbey precinct was officially restricted in the twelfth century, and reserved for prelates and founders, as well as guests and familiars who died during their stay. However, from 1217 the General Chapter sanctioned what was, by then, commonplace – and potentially lucrative.
Matilda of York, Countess of Cambridge, was a generous benefactor of Roche and left precise instructions in her will of 1446 stipulating how and where she should be buried in the abbey church, and how her soul should be provided for thereafter. The monks, in return, received payment, gifts and presumably secured the goodwill and future benefaction of her successors at nearby Conisbrough Castle. |
