f 56
...⸿Precipimus etiam quod Cimiteria fossata sepe uel muro per eos ad quos de consuetudine onus huismodo pertinet honeste claudantur ita quod ab eis per hoc immunda animalia arceantur & ne in ipsis in festorum festiuitatibus aut alias lucte fiant coree ducantur uel alii ludi spectabiles habeantur ne in eis eorum aut aliorum animalia depascantur....
f 56v
...⸿Quoniam clericorum vita exemplum debet esse & informatio laicorum De vita & honestate clericorum. ¶sua esse. precipimus quod ipsi clerici maturos & honestos se exhibeant in habitu & in gestu & ne pannis sericis viridibus vtantur aut rubeis nec portent faleram deauratam. Tonsuram capillorum & coronam habeant competentes// Presbiteri vero tam supertunicis quam capis clausis vtantur nec ipsi nec clerici quilibet tabernas excerceant aut ad talos ludant uel publicis presumant spectaculis interesse....
f 56
...We order also that cemeteries be properly enclosed by a ditch, hedge, or wall by those to whom this duty customarily falls so that thereby unclean animals may be kept out by them. And in them (ie, churchyards), on the celebrations of feast days or at other times, let not wrestling matches take place, dances be conducted, or other showy games be held, and in them let not the animals of those (ie, the participants in the aforesaid activities ?) or of others be grazed....
f 56v
...On the life and honour of the clergy. Since the life of clerics ought to be an example and (ought) to be their instruction to the laity, we order that the clergy themselves appear mature and respectable in dress and behaviour, and that they not use clothes of green or red silk nor wear gilt adornment. Let them have a suitable haircut and the tonsure. Moreover, let priests use both surcoats as well as closed cloaks, and let not them nor any clerics frequent taverns or play at dice or presume to attend public shows....
Record title: Register of Bishop John de Pontissara
Repository:
HRO
Shelfmark: 21M65/A1/1
Repository location: Winchester
The synodal statutes appear in the register of Bishop John de Pontissara (sometimes known as
John de Pontoise), who was bishop of Winchester
from 1282 to 1304 (ODNB). However, the existence of other
copies of these statutes shows they cannot have been originally issued
under Pontissara. Two later copies, Helmingham Hall MS. L. J. vi. 16, f
[48], and BL: MS Arundel 438, f 102v, indicate that the statutes were
issued during the bishopric of John Gervais, 1262–5, and this is now the
accepted dating (see Cheney, English Synodalia, pp
103–9). The first forty-seven leaves of the register are devoted to
institutions, inductions, and installations of clergy during
Pontissara's time as bishop. Folios 48–93 are mainly concerned with the
monastic houses within the diocese and include the synodal statutes. The
last section, beginning at f 94, includes a wide variety of other
concerns of the diocese, including its role in St Giles' fair.
1282–1304; Latin; vellum; 226 leaves; 316mm x 226mm; original ink foliation; later (15th-c.?) cover of brown leather over oak boards.