Small gifts, but big rewards: The symbolism of some gifts to the religious(On the ramifications of medieval benefactions to religious houses)

Although gifts to religious houses for specific purposes were numerically o nly a small proportion of benefactions to religious houses in the twelfth a nd thirteenth centuries, they had great significance. Gifts towards celebra tion of the mass, the fabric and chantries in religious houses often provid ed only inconsiderable amounts of land or rent. (The author intends to cons ider some other small benefactions, such as pittances, elsewhere.) Through this relationship with the religious, however, lay people anticipated spiri tual recompense. The ramifications of that association are explored in this paper.