Chantry

Chantry (Fr. chanterie, from chanter, 'to sing'), a term applied alike to endowments or benefices to provide for the chanting of masses, and to the chapels in which such masses are celebrated. These endowments were commonly made in the form of testamentary bequests, the object being to insure the erection of a chapel near or over the spot where the testator was buried, and to remunerate the priests for saying masses in it for the repose of his soul, or of the souls of others named in his will. Many such chantry chapels are still to be seen in English parish churches; but they were more common in abbeys and monastic establishments, in which it was deemed a privilege to be buried, and where some such offering to the brotherhood was in a measure the price of sepulture. These chapels, which have generally the tomb of the founder in the middle of them, are separated from the aisles or nave of the church by open screen-work. Sometimes, again, they are separate erections, projecting from the church externally; but in cathedrals and the larger churches they are generally constructed within the church, often between the piers. Many chantries are lavishly enriched with sculpture and tracery of all descriptions, and some of them are adorned with gilding and painting.