Note 1199 — Chapter XV · THE BOY BISHOP

At Sarum a Constitutio of Roger de Mortival in 1324 (Dayman and Jones, Sarum Statutes, 52) forbade drinking when the antiphon ‘O Sapientia’ was sung after Compline on Dec. 16. John of Avranches (†1070) allowed for the feast of his ‘O’ at Rouen ‘unum galonem vini de cellario archiepiscopi,’ and the ‘vin de l’O’ was still given in 1377 (Gasté, 47). On these ‘Oes,’ sung by the great functionaries of cathedrals and monasteries, see E. Green, On the words ‘O Sapientia’ in the Kalendar (Archaeologia, xlix. 219); Cynewulf, Christ (ed. A. S. Cook), xxxv. Payments ‘cantoribus ad ludum suum’ or ‘ad’ or ‘ante natale’ appear in Durham accounts; cf. Finchale Priory ccccxxviii (Surtees Soc.,) and Durham Accounts, passim (Surtees Soc.). I do not feel sure what feast is here referred to.