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Life in St Leonards 1340
Details of the daily life in the monasteries tied to the mother priory of Norwich can be found in a "customary" a document that described the order of the day from services to work to washing and sleep. Each day is described in detail and then special arrangements for feast days are also noted. The Norwich Customary dates from the mid 13th century, so it may well be that matters were a bit more lax by the time Adam joined the community. However the manuscript also contains a couple of later notes in different hands that date from the mid 14th century, the first one dealing with meals in the refectory and the latter which deals specifically with the monks of St Leonard's. Notandum quod si quis in refectorio non interfuit ad benedictionem mense ante prandium seu cenam si ibidem comedere debeat, capuciatus intret et cum appropinquaverit iuniorum sedibus, nudato capite, procedat usque ad primum gradum, quo cum pervenerit ad gradum, inclinatione facta unicum solum signum det comestionis presidenti protendat, cui annuenti inclinet erectusque statim antequam recedat ibidem ante gradum predictam dicate plenarius benedictionem predicatam, cum observanciis omnibus sicut facere solet sacerdos ebdomadarius et postea divertat se ad mensam, licet ministrare teneatur ex officio sed elemosinarius aut refectorarius loco sui alium subroget qui ipsius vicem suppleat predictusque deficiens a conventualibus non recedat donec expediti fuerint ad lavatoria. Notandum quod anno domini MoCCCoLI ordinatum erat decretum quod de setero prior sancti Leonardi, qui pro tempore fuerit, cum omnibus sociis suis ibidem commenmorantibus in omni principali festo tenetur interesse ad secundus vesperas, et in recompensatione laboris insoliti concessum est eis quod quandocumque revocatus fuerit cum pannum domi quod non teneantur esse conventuales usque ad horam primam diei proximi sequentis nisi quando contigit quod matutine illius noctis sicut in capis, et tunc teneantur interesse usque ad cantica, iuxta modum ceterorum fratrum nostrorum de cellis nostric domi revertentium. From Parker Library MS 465 Corpus Christi, Cambridge |