ABSTRACT
The bidding prayer on Sir Thomas Barnardiston’s monument at Great Cotes, Lincolnshire, was an elaborate version of the simple request for prayers that appeared on virtually every tomb in pre-Reformation England. Nonetheless, it did not satisfy the Barnardistons’ desire for perpetual prayers. His widow therefore undertook to found a chantry, funded by land worth 7 marks per annum, which her husband had bequeathed for that purpose. A chantry was an endowment to support perpetual Masses for the soul of its founder and any other persons she named. Although prayers could be funded for a specific period of time, only perpetual chantries in the form of specially-built altars or chapels became part of the fabric of the churches in which they were located. 1 These chantries, which were founded and/or built by aristocratic women, form the subject of this chapter.
