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<THE GRAIN SUPPLY>[90]

The disposition or amount of grain or of bread: What kind or
where from or how much is due to come to the monastery each
year, or in what fashion the bread-warden[91] ought to dispense it:

It is our wish that every year there should arrive 750 corbi[92] of
well-winnowed and husked spelt, each corbus having twelve modii,
well compared and standardized to the new modius which the
Lord Emperor has set.[93] That grain supply should come from
those villas which the provost has particularly in his charge,[94]
and, if it should be necessary, from all of them, but if not then
from those which he shall have agreed on with the abbot. We
have purposely set that amount so that for every day of the
year, 365 of them, there will always be two corbi, which make
in all 730 corbi. Then we have taken pains to add twenty so that
there may in time be a surplus rather than a shortage. And
although that grain supply may sometimes be better, sometimes
worse, and may occasionally yield more flour and occasionally
less, yet we hope by calculating averages that from those two
corbi we may always get ten modii.[95] Therefore if each modius
thirty loaves. . .[96] 300, then we have made sure that at all times
we will have in the monastery not less than 300 and always
something more between the leftover and the incoming. Yet
though we would at present not number more than 350 members,
nevertheless we want to arrange as if we were at all times about
400, sometimes less, sometimes more. In this way, when we are
less than 400 a surplus will accumulate. Then the bread can be
distributed more generously when we are more than 400. Yet
it has rarely happened that we have that larger number since it
most often happens that we number many fewer than 400.[97]

Therefore we should add four modii a day of flour which
comes from the mills and make 120 loaves; add the amounts
together and there are 420 loaves. Note that we have not only

enough for the 400, which rarely exist, but even an extra twenty
loaves every day, which are even more rarely needed. But
because we desire all our substance which is dispensed through our
ministers always to be larger, so that there may be surplus rather
than shortage, we now add still another modius to the amount
which comes from the mills; and that makes 450 loaves daily
from the fifteen mills. According to this plan, by adding the
amount for each day we get the annual total of 5475 modii.
Also we should add twenty-five from those mills and that makes
5500. Of these, 3650 should come from spelt, with a remainder
of 1850 from the mills.[98] Now because, as we have already
remarked, we want to have a surplus more often than a deficit,
for that reason we arranged first to add twenty corbi and then
daily more loaves in addition to the 400 regularly rationed, and
finally twenty-five modii, even though, as was said before, we
are apt to number less than 400 more often than very much
above 400. And because cattle, swine, different birds, dogs and
even horses are to be fed at the mill itself, we should then add
from the mills themselves 150 modii, making in all 2000 modii
which should come from the mills.[99] Meanwhile these
stipulations as set down should be observed until we can
consider together whether it may be necessary to add or
subtract anything.

Nevertheless, as a precaution we request the warden of the
loaves to pay very close attention in every detail to anything
that can be learned from the distribution or the accounting by
days, weeks, or months of the whole year, to the end that when
the time for change[100] comes he will be ready to recount to us
how he has administered the current year. And in order that he
may the more easily know, he should first set aside those
allowances which are routinely held and distributed in equal
amounts through rationing. That number is always the same,
unless through some accident there should be a need for fewer
rations; for there is never a need for more. Then he should
calculate the brothers' bread, according to whether it is to be
eaten once or twice in the day.[101] Let him always set apart what
is deputed for their needs. Let him figure how much is needed
for the period when it is regularly eaten once a day, and how
much when twice a day, and how much in one week in either
case—how much in a week when the lesser amount and when
the greater. We opine that he can thus very closely approximate
what quantity of bread or modii he should have to furnish for
their needs. In that number are to be figured all who receive
brothers' bread except those guests who do not receive it every
day. Moreover, the warden should avoid baking so much of the
brothers' bread that the leftovers get too hard. However, if he
should do so during the period when he is trying to establish
the correct number, that bread is to be taken away and other
bread substituted for it. But because, as we have said, we
sometimes eat once a day and sometimes twice and we are now
many, now few, and we can never limit ourselves to exactly the
number we ought to be, if with the help of God he can invent
some other better method of effecting the desired end, he should
do so. The same applies to provisions for our vassals, and the
same also for those at the gate, the number of which cannot be
set. If he shall have begun to calculate by the method we have
spoken of above—by days, by weeks, by months; the seasons
when he distributes least, when average, when most—we think
that he surely can determine how he will be able to get through
the whole year. So for the novices, the scholars, the rest of the
clerks, whether our lay brothers or the externals,[102] he can easily
formulate the procedure for caring for them.

Also we admonish him to be sure to keep in mind how that
bread is to be distributed which is not given in equal amount to
all, but more to some and less to others. In this operation he
needs to determine with each measure of loaves how many of
the large, medium, or small can be made from one modius; and
we hope that by so doing everything will be quite clear to him.

Now as far as has been in our power, we hope that we have
invented an effective means whereby we may be able in the
future to handle the grain supply which should arrive at the
monastery under the categories which we have stipulated above,
not that we wish to solidify such a procedure permanently, but
in order that we can learn the right way by making a start. The
rations are those of, first, our servants and working dependents,[103]
who always should have the same amount; second, of the
brothers; third, of the vassals; fourth, of the guests; fifth, of
the novices or scholars; sixth, of each of the prebends here and
there. Unfortunately, of these last, as we have said, we cannot
stipulate a number which would always hold stable.

WHAT WE WANT AS THE PROGRAM FOR MILLS
OR MALTHOUSES

First, that a manse and six bonuaria[104] of land should be given
to each miller, because we wish him to have the wherewithal
which allows him to carry out the orders laid on him and to see
to it that the millings are properly protected. That is, he should
have oxen and ready implements with which to work, whereby
he and all his helpers can live, feed the swine, geese, and
chickens, maintain the mill and acquire all the timbers needed
to keep it in repair, renovate the weir, tend to the millstones and
be capable of supplying all the materials and labor which are
needed for maintenance and operation there.[105] And therefore
we do not want him to do any other service—not with cart nor
horse nor manual labor nor plowing nor seeding nor gleaning
the fields or meadows, nor by making mash or hops nor by
trimming trees, nor should he do anything else needed on the
domain aside from what is needed to take care of himself and
his mill.[106] But the swine, geese, and chickens which he ought to
fatten at his mill, let him feed from his own meal. Let him also
gather the eggs. And, as we have said, let him tend to procuring
those things which he needs to make the mill work or which the
mill ought to produce. But what we have stated above[107] —that

2000 modii should be coming from the mills to the monastery
for our use—we have not stated with a view to removing that
other production from that granary, but in order that the miller
should try to demonstrate in the course of a year whether it be
necessary to add or to subtract from the amount. He should be
in a position to produce in the course of a whole year such a
number as is conformable with the number of prebends and with
the variety of operations carried on in the monastery each year,
which are governed by the vintages, the gardens, the fields, and
such like.

We also desire that, in the presence of the millers, the older
modii be made to conform exactly in every way with the new
modius. Then, however many new modii they find are equivalent
to the old ones, they should in the future pay as their due,
whether of flour or grain, according to these new modii, so that
the tally agrees.[108]

And we desire that every one of the millers should keep his
plant in operational order with six wheels ready to work. But
if anyone does not wish to have six, but only half that number,
that is, three wheels, he should not have more than half of the
land that attaches to that millstead. That is, he should hold three
bonuarias, and his associate the other three. Then between those
two they should render the full milling and perform the full
service required of that one mill, with regard to milling or the
millpond or the bridge or all other duties as they are assigned
to each separate mill.[109]