Cathedral. Many were
perpetual endowments (L5 per annum being the average stipend), others
were temporary, according to the means of those who paid for the
masses--for a term of years or for a fixed number of masses. Although
chantry priests were often required to give regular help in the church
services or taught such scholars as came to them or served outlying
chapelries, the system permitted a great number to live on occasional
engagements and was doubtless productive of abuses. Chaucer tells us
that his poor parson was not such an one as

... left his sheep encumbered in the mire,
And ran unto London, unto Saint Poul's,
To seeke him a chantery for souls.

The number of chantries in the different cathedrals varied very
greatly, Lichfield had eighty-seven, St. Paul's thirty-seven, York
only three. Monks' churches had few or none while in town churches
they were numerous, London having one hundred and eighty, York
forty-two, Coventry at least fifteen besides the twelve gild priests
of the chapel of Babelake. Most were founded in connection with an
existing altar, some had a special altar, at Winchester, Tewkesbury
and elsewhere they were enclosed in screens between the pillars of the
nave, or a special chapel was added to the church.

It was in the thirteenth century also (1267) that the monastery
obtained the grant of a Merchants' Gild; with all the privileges
thereto belonging, the earliest of those which contributed so much to
the renown of Coventry. These were Benefit Societies, insuring help to
the "Brethren and sistren" in old age, sickness or poverty, securing
to them the services of the church after death and in all cases
established on a strictly religious basis and placed under the
protection of a Saint, or of the Holy Trinity. The regulation and
protection of trade interests, generally aiming at monopoly and the
exclusion of outsiders, were later developments. But without doubt
they were public-spirited bodies according to their lights,
maintaining schools (as at Stratford-on-Avon) hospitals and
almshouses, and giving freely on all occasions of public importance.
By pageants too, they contributed to the happiness and amusement of
the people as well as by the presentation of Mysteries and Moralities,
to their instruction and edification. But in the eyes of the
Reformers, or of grasping courtiers, all this went for nothing when
weighed against the heinous offence of supporting chaplains to pray