What does the title Clerk mean?
The Oxford English Dictionary (1971) gives various meanings for the word
"clerk" in the Middle Ages:
- A churchman, clergyman or ecclesiastic (c. 1050)
- A member of the five "minor orders" as distinct from higher or
"holy orders" (975)
- A man or woman of book learning, one able to read and write; a
scholar (c. 1300)
- The office of writer, scribe, secretary, keeper of accounts (1085)
The third and fourth meanings seem intended here.