<VII>
<THE NUMBER AND ALLOTMENT OF SWINE>[168]
This is the number and this is the allotment of swine which are
killed at our cellar during the year. If the number at hand is
ever less than 600, then the swine should not be slaughtered.
The allotment shall be fourfold:
First, sixty shall be given to the gate, whole except for the
sungias[169]
; at the disposal of the cellarer, 370; for the needs of
the prebends who receive stipends, 120. The fifty that remain
should be reserved for whatever the abbot desires.
OF THE THREE PARTS WHICH STAY WITH THE
CELLARER, THIS SHOULD BE THE DISTRIBUTION:
From the 370, the cellarer should provide the full meat
allowances for the infirm, the vassals, and all other allowances
as we have stipulated, except for those who receive distributions
at the gate and those prebends who receive allowances. And
consequently 370 are allocated for this purpose, so that for each
day of the year—365, that is—the cellarer will have a flitch of
bacon with its entrails.[170]
And we have arranged to add another
five to make 370 because we very much prefer to have some
surplus rather than shortage. But also we want those 370 so that
they can be dispensed as follows: When they have first been
hung, thirty flitches with all their entrails should always be set
aside, so that throughout the twelve months each month will
always have its thirty flitches with their entrails hung by
themselves. And, if it is possible, we would like the cellarer
always to plan ahead for the time when he releases the thirty
flitches with their entrails during each several month, and
ascertain man by man who should receive fat or flesh. In this
way he can ensure a fair distribution to them. Now if he should
lack fat, he may take from those fifty swine which we have
ordered reserved for our needs, and thus fill out the allowances.
Likewise, if he should lack entrails he may take an amount from
that reserve to fill out that allowance. But he should be careful
not to encroach upon that other meat and fat which is being
kept for the following month before the first of the following
month. But if he has fat or entrails left over from the first
month, he should set it aside for reserve in its place, beginning
on the first of the next month the allotment for that month and
distributing that month's allowance in the manner stipulated
above. Then if he should be short, he should get what he needs,
whether fat or meat or both, from what was left over from the
earlier month. But if he should not have enough even when he
follows this method, he may then return to those fifty which had
been set aside for the needs of the abbot. However, if, after the
second month has passed, he should find that for two successive
months he has a leftover stock of fat or meat or both with
which he can supply the third month, let him take it and do it.
Then to the amount that he is short, let him add as much as is
necessary from the third month, which he is then in. And what
is left over from the third month, let him reserve for the fourth;
from the fourth, for the fifth. He should always proceed in this
way from month to month, expressly observing this, that he
should never take from a future month for the present, but
should carry over any remainder from the present into the
future. And we do not want him to move this meat or fat which
is left over through the several months from one place of
hanging to another, but to allow it to hang in its own spot,
where it has hung throughout, until he shall use it in the second
or third month to come, in the stipulated way.
Nor do we want that cellarer to require either that the
entrails should run evenly with the lard or that the lard run
evenly with the entrails throughout the several months. But the
lard should run according to a plan for it, and the entrails
according to a plan for them; for there is no other method that
works as well. We know that the agent responsible for providing
it should not begin to distribute the lard and entrails of any one
year in equal amounts or at the same time, because the entrails
are good for distribution just as soon as they have been rendered.
The longer they are kept, the more they will deteriorate,
inevitably. But well-rendered lard cannot be eaten as soon as
it has been made, and is not properly aged before Easter. And
so it follows from this that we should look for a plan that allows
the cellarer who begins his office on the first of January to
begin to distribute the new meat through these four months,
and yet not touch the new lard before the first of May. But he
should have in storage enough old lard from the preceding year
to be able to distribute it through the four months up to May 1,
according to the ration for each month, as has been stipulated.
Then from May 1 through the eight months up to January 1
again, he should distribute the meat and new lard together at the
same time. To achieve this result, he should always run the
entrails from January 1 to January 1, but the lard from May 1
to May 1.
Nor do we want to have counted in that total the lard or
those sausages which are made from the swine which come from
the mills or those sausages which are made from the swine from
which alabum[171]
is made. And likewise the entrails are not
to be counted if, as is customary when swine have been fed on a
rich pasturage of acorns, they yield an amount exceeding the
normal yield. Now we wish to keep all these categories separate,
as a reserve in case it should become necessary for the cellarer to
have them in order to be equipped to care for whomsoever he
should, fully and abundantly. Yet the administration of every
step should always be carried out with the intention that, when
the new season of production arrives, it will be possible to
deliver the quota in each instance in the amount and kind that
is being used at present, or in the amount that has been reserved
in the past for the next year. And this above all we desire, just
as we have already said, that the cellarer should see to it that
there is no discrepancy in the amount which he is supposed to
hand over to the succeeding cellarer, whether of old or of new
lard or of meat. Whatever is in stock should be declared in
writing to be in order and be shown by inventory to be in order,
bin by bin.
Now with respect to the meat itself, in whatsoever station it is
to be dispensed, there is as well a procedure which we want our
monastic officials[172]
to study and understand thoroughly: For if
we count those forty days in Lent when no one may touch meat,
and add to those the forty-six Fridays which lie outside of Lent
when virtually no one may touch meat, we find eighty-six days.[173]
Many also customarily abstain before the Nativity of the Lord,
and there is scarcely any mature man who does not to some
degree abstain from meat. Consequently we wish to make record
of these facts, because if some need should arise either in
connection with travel or work or any other need whatsoever,
requiring the giving out of whole sides of bacon or entrails, or if
the cellarer should be constrained by some emergency to
dispense a larger amount than we have stipulated above, it still
should not become necessary for the allowance which we have
ordained to be altered, unless an excessive amount is given out.
For if such a demand should turn out to be slight or of no
account, there would be very little need to alter the standard
allowance, even though it could give rise to an increase in the
amount available at some future time. We stress this again and
again, that whatever under this heading anyone is called upon to
do, he should strive to do to the utmost of his ability, to the
pleasure of God and the gratitude of men, and always be in
control of the delivery of proper amounts in each several
allocation.
With respect to the second allocation, in which there are 120
for the needs of prebends who receive stipends, the cellarer
ought to receive ten sides of bacon each month for the purpose
of making ten stipends, and distribute one side for each stipend.
Now if each of these sides does not make an individual stipend,
we shall thereafter consult with him about means of filling out
the amounts. For if anyone has received more than the amount,
the cellarer should subtract from it and give to him who does
not have enough. If he does it this way each month, he will
never depart from his proper tally. Yet according to the schedule
above, he has to begin the distribution of lard from May 1, and
from that point distribute by tens each month in such a fashion
that there will remain after that anchor date a sufficient amount
for the subsequent cellarer to last him in turn to May 1. But
under the direction of abbot or provost or dean, he should
process such sausages as he can make from those 120 swine.
Then if it should turn out that for any reason he lacks sausages
in proper amount from his own, and even from those fifty
swine, he should tell this to his masters and receive as much as
may be needed outside that allocation. For this very reason, we
do not allot those entrails to any particular purpose except under
pressure of necessity, because if, by the gift of the Lord,
something should be left over for us, we hope to make the
distribution from old lard or old entrails rather than from the
new.
With respect to the third portion, to which the fifty are
allocated, if according to what has been said above they should
be needed for any monthly purveyance, they should be used;
but if not, then the full amount should be left to the decision of
the abbot.
NOW THE FIRST ALLOCATION WHICH SHOULD BE
FOR THE GATE
The whole sixty should be hung in the larder. Then according
to that method whereby the cellarer distributes from month to
month in thirties, so the porter should make his distribution by
ones through each several week. And just as the cellarer does not
move the leftovers from place to place, neither should the porter
do it; but he should carry to the gate whatever should be
needed, and what is left over he should leave there. And we have
arranged to add eight swine above the number of weeks in a
year, which are fifty-two, so that, as need arises, he can draw
upon the extra ones and not touch those allotted to future weeks.
