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The answer to that can vary depending on what type of priest and where they served. The most common type of priest was probably the simple parish priest, who served either in a village, or in the parish church of a town. All but the smallest villages had a church and priest in residence.

In a village a priests lived a fairly comfortable life compared to their peasant neighbors. Peasants owed 10% of their agricultural production to the parish in which they lived as a tithe. This was not a voluntary contribution, but was essentially a tax, and the church had representatives in the fields during harvest to insure its collection. Not all of this went to support the priest, but the priest would likely have one of the better houses in the village, would likely have adequate funds for a servant for household chores, and generally not have material concerns.

The village priest had a number of duties. He said mass daily in the village church, and would have said several services on Sunday. He heard confession from his parishioners. He officiated at major life events such as christening, baptism, marriage, and funerals. He would have educated the villagers in basic religious doctrine and practice, such as the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and various other prayers. He may have read from a book of vernacular sermons, or told his parishioners stories from scripture.

In the Canterbury Tales Chaucer presents the village priest as a very positive and sympathetic character, on who busied himself with his duties, as well as visiting his neighbors when they were sick or had need. This might suggest that the parish priest, provided he supported his community, would have been a respected and liked fellow. Chaucer was considerably less kind to many of the other churchmen he represented.

In theory a priest was to remain unmarried, but in practice a priest may have taken an common law wife, perhaps as an "open secret" in the community, or as a practical arrangement with his housekeeper.

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13y ago

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