But if there be any thane who on his boc-land
has a church at which there is a burial-place, let him give the third
part of his own tithe to his church. If anyone hath a church at which
there is not a burial-place, then of the same nine parts let him then
give to his priest what he will."
Domestic chapels were extremely common all through the Middle Ages. In
the parish of Tiverton, Devon, there were at least seventeen, some of
them within less than a mile of each other. Allusions to these oratories
are found in the registers of the Bishops of Exeter, by whom they were
severally licensed for the convenience of the owner, his family, and his
tenants. As a rule, they were in rooms of the house or castle, not
separate buildings. Andrew Boorde, in his directions for the
construction of a sixteenth-century mansion, remarks: "Let the privy
chamber be annexed to the great chamber of estate, with other chambers
necessary for the building, _so that many of the chambers may have a
prospect into the chapel_."
Great nobles of the post-Conquest period were not content with the
services of a priest only. They maintained an establishment of singing
men and boys analogous to the vicars-choral and choristers of the
present time, who were described as "the gentlemen and children of the
chapel." From the household books of the Earl of Northumberland
(A.D. 1510-11) we learn that he had "daily abidynge in his
household--Gentillmen of the Chapel, ix; viz.
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