Definition
An alternative Latin form of *corody* (also spelled *corodium*), referring to an allowance or provision — typically of food, lodging, clothing, or a combination of these — charged upon or granted out of a religious house, monastery, or other institution in favor of a named beneficiary. The term appears in old English records and medieval legal instruments as a variant spelling rather than a conceptually distinct right. Its meaning is governed by the law of corodies generally.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is primarily a spelling variant and a finding problem. Researchers working in medieval or early modern English ecclesiastical and property records may encounter *corredium* where they expect *corodium* or *corody*. Failing to recognize the equivalence will produce gaps in a document search or index query.
The variant spelling reflects the fluidity of Latin transliteration in manuscript records: scribes working from oral dictation or copying across regional traditions produced multiple orthographic forms of the same legal concept. Burrill flags the relationship explicitly, directing the reader to *corodium*. Spelman's *Glossarium Archaeologicum*, cited by Burrill, is the primary philological authority behind these cross-references and remains the foundational source for tracing spelling variants of this kind in the Law Mind corpus.
Researchers should also be alert to the distinction between a corody as a *personal right* (granted to an individual, expiring at death, not alienable) and a corody as a *burden on an estate or institution* (which could pass to heirs or assigns depending on the terms of the original grant). That substantive distinction does not hinge on spelling but will determine how the right is classified in any given instrument.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's entry is minimal: a single line treating *corredium* as a Latin variant used in old records, with a redirect to *corodium* and a citation to Spelman. No substantive legal content is provided under this headword. This is appropriate — the term is orthographic, not doctrinal.
Burrill's approach here is consistent with his treatment of other medieval Latin variants: record the form encountered, identify the authority, and point to the substantive entry. Researchers should follow that chain. The substantive law of corodies, including the rights of founders to reclaim corodies from monasteries, the treatment of corody-holders upon dissolution of religious houses, and the relationship between corodies and annuities, will be found under *corodium* and *corody* in Burrill and in the encyclopedic treatment of the subject.
No other source dictionaries in the current entry set treat *corredium* independently. Historical sources that discuss corodies substantively — Coke, Blackstone, and the Year Books — use *corody* in its anglicized form and do not use *corredium* as a term of art.