ABSTRACT
A short Middle English text entitled ‘the charche [charge] longynge [belonging] to the office off the celeresse of the monestarij of Barkynge’ gives an insight into the daily life of a house of Benedictine nuns in the later fifteenth or early sixteenth century (it cannot be dated precisely). The cellaress, whose duties it enumerates, was second only to the prioress and therefore one of the more important Benedictine obedientiaries or officials: this document, a cross between her job description and a collection of shopping lists, details the special provisions, over and above the standard diet, needed to feed the Abbess and Convent in the course of the year. Its command of detail suggests that it was drawn up by a nun who had herself acted as cellaress and was possibly recording information for the benefit of her successor.
