The Middleton Accounts of 1526: #19

The next three entries in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 were dated 17th April. The first was described as payment for bread and wine at Easter at Drayton Bassett Church and the amount was 6 pence, which was the equivalent of about £11.03 today. The second was described as payment for oil and chrism and the amount was 4 pence, which was the equivalent of about £7.35 today. Finally, the third was a payment to Sir William, the parish priest of Drayton, for his service and board for three weeks. The amount was 6 shillings 8 pence, which was the equivalent of about £147.09 today and at that time the equivalent of about 11 days wages for a skilled tradesman.

St Peter's Church, Drayton Bassett, 2006, Rob Farrow, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Drayton Bassett is the neighbouring parish to Middleton and its church, St Peter’s, was constructed in 1327. In 1526, the manor of Drayton was in the possession of Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, and his wife Elizabeth Grey, by virtue of Elizabeth’s inheritance. Elizabeth’s late sister Anne had been married to Sir Henry Willoughby’s eldest son John. Unfortunately, we have not been able to identify with certainty the full name of Sir William, the parish priest. There is no known explanation nor even a theory for why Sir Henry was paying for Drayton Church.

Essentially, from these entries Sir Henry appears to have had a second Easter a couple weeks after he observed it on Easter Sunday at Middleton Church. The reason for this is uncertain but there is a theory. Although the strict Octave of Easter only lasted the eight days from Easter Sunday, it has been said that in Tudor times the entire period from Easter until Pentecost (Whitsun), was commonly considered as “Eastertide”. Moreover, the proximity of these events to St George’s Day, on 23rd April, which was an important festive day in England in Tudor times, meant that the Easter festivities had a tendency to roll into that. These entries certainly fall within this extended Easter period and, given the payment for the priest for three weeks and this entry is in the third week of Easter, this is thought to be the most likely explanation.

Next entry: 26th April

Further Reading: W. H. Stevenson, Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton, Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1911. p.379.

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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