The number of obedientiaries differed with the size of the house.
The journeys which were frequently taken by the head of a house have already been considered[1142]; but the obedientiaries also found much scope for wandering in the duties of their offices.
The obedientiaries of a house often had private offices, or checkers, in which to transact their business, and the custom grew by which the head of each familia had her own room, in which her household dined.
It may possibly have been appropriated to the abbot in the first instance, and afterwards, like the second dorter at Canterbury, may have been used by the obedientiaries or by the prior.
Of the obedientiariesusually found in connexion with the convent, two, the precentor and sacrist, were in charge of the church.
Some brief notes of the duties of these obedientiaries will serve to give a considerable insight into the economy of a convent.
Probably an officer of this kind was Alan Middleton, who is recorded in the Catalogus of St. Alban's as "collector of rents of the obedientiaries of that monastery, and especially of those of the bursar.
Next in dignity after the obedientiaries come the Cloister Monks; of these some had received holy orders at the hands of the bishop, some not.
Compotus Rolls of theObedientiaries of St. Swithun's Priory, Winchester.
But as usually understood, by the word obedientiaries was signified the other officials, and not the prior and sub-prior, who assisted in the general government of the monastery.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "obedientiaries" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
