Note 214 — Chapter XV

The following summary from the Chamberlain's Roll, recounting what was the cost of clothing a monk, will show us that he was expected to dress with dignity and comfort. The clothing of an Ely monk was really a very serious item of expenditure. A monk, like the parson of a church, was in England ex officio a gentleman; and his maintenance cost his convent the equivalent of £200 per annum (in the present value of money).[214] Of this sum at least a fourth went in clothing, which, as compared with food, was much dearer then than now. The account books still preserved at Ely give us the items. Each monk received annually the following garments (for which we give the value at the present rate of money):