Mass, although the former seems to correspond best with the langoage of the day.
Thus Chaucer, in his description of the Wif of Bathe, tells us, that
"In all the parish wif ne was ther non,
That to the offiring before hire shulde gon,
And if ther did, certain so wroth was she.
That she was out of alle charitee."
Steward of the Household.—Page 141.
He was the chief of all the officeres off the Court, who had each to pay him a fee of twenty-four pence upon their installation. On him devolved the important care of providing food for the kitchen, and liquor for the mead-cellar; and he had the charge of the king's share of booty, until the king desired to dispose of it, when he was allowed to choose from it a steer, as his own share. It was his particular duty "to swear for the king." Besides his clothes, and four horse-shoes, and various perquisites of the skins of beasts, he was entitled to a "male hawk, from the master of the hawks, every feast of St Michael"— Welsh Laws.
Master of the Household.—Page 141.
The post of Master of the Household was one of much honour and distinction; and in the Laws of Howel Dda it is ordained that it should be filled by the king's son or nephew, or one of dignity sufficient for so high a situation. Gwalchmai was therefore peculiarly eligible to it from the relation in which he stood to King Arthur.
The privileges attached to this office were important, while its duties do not appear to have been of a very arduous nature; one of them consisted in giving the harp into the hands of the domestic bard at the three great festivals.
The Master of the Household had the largest and most central house in the town for his lodging. He was entitled to the second most honourable dish in the Court, and to be served first after the king; and his allowance was three dishes and three hornfuls of the best liquor in the Court. Besides other perquisites, some of which were in money, he claimed his clothes at the three great festivals, and also his horses, his dogs, his hawks, and his arms, from the king; and from the smith of the Court he had four horse-shoes once a year, with their complement of nails.
