ABSTRACT
As historian Sybil Thornton points out, the activities of these chaplains quickly expanded beyond a purely religious function, and they ended up not only burning, burying and praying for the dead, but caring for the sick and wounded as well. When their warrior patrons were not engaged in battle, the chaplains amused them with poetry and assumed a role close to that of a personal servant. Given that chaplains appear to have been beholden to their patrons for food, clothing, and shelter, this latter role is hardly surprising.2
