soulscot

plural soulscots · alternative soul-scot · alternative soul-shot

1. countablehistoricaluncountableecclesiasticalA funeral payment, formerly made at the grave, usually to the parish priest in whose church service for the departed had been said; a mortuary.

   O, by my soulscot, I do love to tell My stories with the haste I often count, At drowsy night, my Paternoster belt.

   1839, J. F. Pennie, Britain's Historical Drama

   3 more examples

   He will pay his brotherhood yearly, and soulscot on the death of a brother or sister, except for reason of poverty; […]

   1955, J. W. F. Hill, Tudor & Stuart Lincoln, page 32

   The vagaries of the records bar any firm calculation of membership figures – especially as receipts include money for 'soulscot', presumably made on behalf of the dead.

   2007, R. N. Swanson, Indulgences in Late Medieval England

   […] churchscot, a render paid annually in grain; lightscot, candles or oil for lighting church lamps; plough-alms, assessed at a penny per plough; and soulscot, a payment in return for burial in a church graveyard.

   2010, Joyce Tally Lionarons, The Homiletic Writings of Archbishop Wulfstan