stubborn or careless wardens to terms through their purses,
the following extract from a letter written in 1572 to the official of
the archdeacon of the bishop of London is in point. The letter informs
the judge that Jasper Anderkyn, a churchwarden, "hathe done nothing of
that which he was apoinnted by your worshipp at Mydsomer to do, for
the churche yarde lyeth to commons and all other thynkes in the
churche is ondonne.... I praye you dele w[i]t[h] hym so yt he maye be
a presydent for them that shall have the offyce; for they wyll but
jess att itt, and saye it is butt a mony matter: therefore lett them
paye well for the penaltie whiche was sett on theire heads."
Continuing, the writer states that his reason for writing is "that you
be not abewseid in youre office by there muche intreatyng for
themselffes, for Jesper Anderkyn stands excommunicated."[40]

Sometimes for failure to perform the ordinary's[41] injunctions a
whole parish was excommunicated or a church interdicted.[42] Thus in
the Abbey Parish Church[43] Accounts we read under the year 1592 how
troublesome and how costly it was "when the church was interdicted" to
ride to Lichfield and there tarry several days seeking absolution. For
this 20 shillings was paid, a very large sum for the time, not to
mention a fee to the summoner, travelling expenses and the writing of
letters on the parish's behalf.[44] The wardens of Stratton, Cornwall,
had a similar experience "when the churche wardyns & the hole
p[ar]ysch was exco[mu]nycatt" in 1565. Among the expense items
relating to that occasion is a significant one: "ffor wyne & goodchere
ffor the buschuppe ys s[er]vantt[s] ij s. viij d."[45]

So close is the supervision of the ordinary over the churchwardens, so
effective the discipline of the church courts, that we seem to hear
occasionally a sort of dialogue going on between judges and wardens,
the former directing certain things to be executed, the latter
replying and reporting from time to time that progress is being made
on the work to be performed, or that the missing objects will be soon
supplied. Accordingly, at the archdeacon of Canterbury's visitation in
1595, we find the wardens of St. John in Thanet (Margate) reporting:
"The chancel[46] is out of repairs, for the repairing whereof some
things are provided."[47] Two years later they state to the court:
"For repairing of the churchyard we desire a day."[48] At the same
visitation the wardens of St. Lawrence