Duties of the Cellarer’s Doorkeeper of St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, c.1235

The cellarer’s range formed the west range of the priory cloister and was were food, wine and other goods were stored in cool, sunken vaults. The duties of the cellarer’s doorkeeper were distinct from the gatekeeper servicing the wider priory, presumably because the stores required round-the-clock security.

Transcription

55v (select folio number to open facsimile)

De Hostiario cellarii. Hostiarius nunquam abesse debet propter extraneos. Hic
debet esserre pottos liberacionum de dolio post impleti-
onem. Stipendium ejus III solidos. Habebit cotidie pa-
nem armigeri et bollam cervisie et de coquina sicut
unus in hostelaria.

Translation

Concerning the cellarer’s doorkeeper:

The doorkeeper ought never to be absent on account of outsiders. He must carry the allowances from the tun¹ after filling it. His salary is 3 shillings. He will have daily the bread of a squire and a bowl of ale, and from the kitchen just the same as one in the guest-house.

Footnotes

1 Tun: a cask. The Latin word used in the passage is dolium which may also mean a large, wide-mouthed jar or a barrel. The text refers to the ‘pots of liberations’ taken from the tun. A liberatio is an allowance of food, drink, clothing or money given to servants. In this case, it is the ale that seems to be referred to.