English

Alternative forms

• soul-scot, soul-shot

Noun

soulscot ‎(plural soulscots)

1. (ecclesiastical law, historical) A funeral payment, formerly made at the grave, usually to the parish priest in whose church service for the departed had been said; a mortuary.
   • 1839, J.F. Pennie, Britains Historical Drama:

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

   • 1955, Tudor &stuart Lincoln - Page 32:

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

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

     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.

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

     [...] 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.