ts, including Bishop,
Dean, Archdeacons and Canons, a hundred and thirty in number: then there
were the inferior officers: yet persons of consideration and authority,
such as Sacrist, Almoner, Bookbinder, Chief Brewer, Chief Baker, with
all their servants: scribes, messengers, bookbinders, illuminators and
copyists: singing-men and choir boys, and women to keep the church
clean. When we add that the Brewer had to provide 200 gallons of beer a
day, it is obvious that there must have been a good many people
belonging to the Cathedral who lived in the enclosure called the
Churchyard.

26. THE RELIGIOUS HOUSES.

If we take a map of London in the fourteenth century and lay down upon
it all the monasteries and religious Houses that then existed we shall
find twenty, all rich and splendid Foundations, without counting those
of Westminster and the villages within a few miles of London Stone.
These were built for the most part either just within or just without
the City wall. The reason was that the City was less densely populated
near the wall than lower down along the river-side. Every one of these
Societies was possessed of estates in the country and streets and houses
in the City. Every one then retained, besides the monks or friars and
nuns, a whole army of officers and servants. A great monastery provided
employment for a very large number of people. In every separate estate
which belonged to it, the monastery wanted tenant farmers, foresters and
hunters, labourers, stewards and bailiffs, a curate or vicar in charge
of the church and all the officers who are required for the management
of an estate. For the House itself there were wanted first, the service
of the chapel, apart from the singing which was done by the brethren:
the school: the library: lawyers and clerks to administer the estates
and guard the rights and privileges of the House: the brewhouse,
bakehouse, kitchen, cellar, stables, with all the officers and servants
required in a place where everything was made in the house; the
architects, surveyors, carpenters and people wanted to maintain the
buildings. It is not too much to reckon that a fourth part of the
population of London belonged in some way or other to the monasteries,
while these Houses were certainly the best customers for the wines,
silks and spices which were brought to the quays of Queenhithe and
Billingsgate.

[Illustration: BERMONDSEY ABBEY.]

It is generally believed that the mon