Duties of the gatekeeper of St Andrew’s Priory, Rochester, c.1235
Translation
Concerning the gatekeeper: what he ought to do: The gatekeeper has a deputy porter, arranged through the prior, who must never be absent while the master [i.e. the gatekeeper] takes news to the cellarer. He only goes to the kitchen, the refectory, the infirmary, the prior’s chamber in order to take a message when guests have arrived, which it is fine to allow the deputy porter to do even when the master is absent. He must always rest at night at the gate. The stipend of the master is 10 shillings. He also has control at the granary of the provender of all the horses, ahead of the carters and steers. And therefore he has a horse as often as the prior or cellarer summon him to ride with them. Likewise when the bishop performs the feasts at Rochester – at Easter, Christmas, the Passion of St Andrew and the rest – and when he holds a synod and makes ordinations, if he spends the night he [i.e. the gatekeeper] will take control to feed all the horses of the bishop and his guests. He will also provide for his horse when riding, when he [i.e. the bishop] summons the knights of the bishopric – namely from the fief1 of one knight of Heslingham and of Wicham, from the half-fief of Ade the butler, from the half-fief of Hugo de Stoke, from the quarter2 of one knight at Brutinesland3 in Frindsbury, from the half-fief of Robert Biset and of the quarter of Robert’s grandson in Wouldham. And each day he will receive bread of one monk and enough ale and one dish from the best being sent into the refectory, as it pleases the cellarer. He also obtains an attendant for himself, who always rests with the deputy porter at the gate and carries the evening key to the cellarer’s bed after the signal – that is to say, after the hearth is put out – and in the morning, as is necessary, quickly or slowly, he collects it; and then they will have in common a full bowl of ale.
Footnotes
1 Fief: land granted by a superior lord in return for services, most often military.
2 quarter: a quarter-fief.
3 Brutinesland: unable to identify.
