it can hardly have been less than one
hundred years after his birth that both nave and spire were begun. It
is however, likely that other members of the family (if not he, by
bequest) contributed largely to the general building fund.

Much of the history of a parish church is concerned with its internal
economy but even the records of this are not quite trivial for they
enlighten us on many points wherein we are rightly curious. We are,
for instance, constantly reminded, as Dr. Gasquet points out in
"Mediaeval Parish Life," that "religious life permeated society in the
Middle Ages, particularly in the fifteenth century, through the minor
confraternities" or gilds.

Thus the Drapers' Gild made itself responsible not only for the upkeep
of the Lady Chapel but also for the lights always burning on the
Rood-loft, every Master paying four pence for each "prentys" and every
"Jurneman" four pence. The cost of lights formed a serious item in
church expenditure, needing the rent of houses and lands for their
maintenance. Guy de Tyllbrooke, vicar in the late thirteenth century,
gave all his lands and buildings on the south side of the church to
maintain a light before the high altar, day and night, for ever, "and
all persons who shall convert this gift to any other use directly or
indirectly shall incur the malediction of Almighty God, the Blessed
Virgin, St. Michael and All Saints."

Royal visits to the church have been noticed in the history of the
priory and city, especially that in 1450 which was apparently intended
to mark the completion of the church. Reference has also been made to
the plays and pageants with which such visitors were entertained. The
site for the performance of the cycle of Corpus Christi plays was the
churchyard on the north of St. Michael's. Queen Margaret, whose visits
were so frequent that the city acquired the fanciful title of "the
Queen's Bower" came over from Kenilworth on the Eve of the Feast in
1456, "at which time she would not be met, but privily to see the play
there on the morrow and she saw then all the pageants played save
Doomsday, which might not be played for lack of day and she was lodged
at Richard Wood's the Grocer."

There is evident reference to the dedication of the church in the
pageant of the "Nine Orders of Angels" shown before Henry VIII and
Queen Catherine in 1510 (p. 47).

The history of the church since the Reformation has been not unlike
that of a vast number of othe