chantry

In medieval Europe, a religious foundation in which, in return for an endowment of land, the souls of the donor and the donor's family and friends would be prayed for. A chantry could be held at an existing altar, or in a specially constructed chantry chapel in which the donor's body was usually buried. Chantry chapels are often built off the aisle or nave of a church, and have the tomb of the founder placed in the centre. The word is also applied to the endowment intended by the founder as a perpetual stipend for masses in such a chapel.