Chapter II: Monastic Life
Over the household matters of the Convent the Seneschal presided, and in charters we catch glimpses of such an. individual at his work in the Paisley cloisters. He was constantly in converse with the Prior and the Cellarer, and was often outside the Monastery on the business of his office. He held courts of his own in the manors of the Abbey, and travelled at the expense of the Convent. All manner of provender came through his hands, and cellar and storeroom had to be supplied by his industry. The care of the church furniture was committed to the Sacrist. He distributed candles for the offices, took care of burials, saw that everything was kept clean and decent, that the lamps were properly lighted, and that the bell was rung at the proper times. The Almoner distributed charity to the poor, who were the special charge of the Convent, and who gathered at the church doors for their weekly dole. He and his assistants brought forth broken bread and meat, and dispensed them to the waiting crowd. The Master of the Novices superintended their training, preparing them for their duties as monks. The Infirmarer was head of the Hospital, and tended the sick, going daily into the kitchen and receiving what was wanted for their use. The Porter lived at the gate. Great stress was laid upon his character and duties. He was to be a man of mature age and of unblameable life; he was to eye all strangers who sought admission, and carefully to exclude such as seemed to him in any way suspicious; he was to be able to give and to receive an answer. His temper must have been often tried, and when, as at Paisley, wine was sold and tavern kept within the gate, it must have taken all his discretion to preserve the sanctity of the precincts from being violated. A rough and uncivilised population were without, and monastic privacy needed a wise guardian. He was always to receive poor people and pilgrims with kindness and in the name of God,—not to let them abide long at his gate, but to send them away with refreshments, for which purpose he was supplied, with sundry loaves of bread by the Cellarer. The Refectioner took charge of all the table furniture, saw that the noggins were washed at certain feasts, and supplied from his revenues cups, pots, table-cloths, candlesticks, towels, and salt-cellars. The Chamberlain provided all the furniture of the house, the monks' dresses, beds for the dormitory, straw ropes and stools, knives, razors, and cowls. It was his duty to see the skins of the deer killed in hunting by the Stewart in the Forest of Fereneze, con¬verted into leathern girdles and other articles of clothing, and to give them out to the brethren when needed. The Chamberlain of Paisley was a great official, and Sir Henry Mous, who at one time filled the post, appears in its Chartulary in all the pomp and pride of office. Two other officials of a much lower grade may close this long list. The Granetarius, or as he was called at Paisley, the Granter, had work assigned to him that was very onerous. It was his duty to keep an account of all the barley and wheat supplied to the Monastery. Vast quantities of these were received from outlying granges, and as tithes paid by proprietors of surrounding lands. The Granter took note of it as it came in, and saw it sent to the kiln to be turned into flour or malt. The Porcarius had charge of the swineherds and the pigs which they tended. The Abbey of Paisley had vast herds of these animals feeding upon the beech-nuts of the neighbouring forests, and they were under the guardianship of the last named official.