Plural of chantry; endowed chapels where priests sang masses for the souls of the dead, common in medieval churches.
From Old French 'chanterie,' from 'chanter' (to sing). Chantries were established through bequests so that singing (chanting) would continue perpetually for the deceased's soul.
Chantries were basically the medieval version of hiring someone permanently to sing for your soul after you died—they were so popular that chantry lands made up a significant part of medieval church wealth, until Henry VIII dissolved them all in 1547!
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