1USTRATED NOTES
JOHN M. KELLY LIBQABY
Donated by
The Redemptorists of
the Toronto Province
from the Library Collection of
Holy Redeemer College, Windsor
University of
St. Michael s College, Toronto
N8LT REDEEMER HIRAM,
Illustrated Notes on
English Church History
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE REFORMATION
AND
MODERN CHURCH WORK
[VOLS. I. AND iij
BY THE
REV. C. ARTHUR LANE
F.R. Hist. S. t Author of" Church and Realm in Stuart Times,
"Descriptive Lantern Lectures on English Church History"
"Lectures on the Life of Queen Victoria" etc.
REVISED EDITION
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?T. ANN S Iv iONTUliA
uY KFrtFfMER LIBRARY.
SU
NT
Illustrated Notes on
English Church History
VOL. I
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
TO
THE DAWN OF THE REFORMATION
BY THE
REV. C. ARTHUR LANE
F,R. Hist. S., Author of "Church and Realm in Stuart Times,
"Descriptive Lantern Lectures on English Church History,"
"Lectures on the Life of Queen Victoria" etc.
REVISED EDITION
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1904
tbc Same Butbor.
DESCRIPTIVE LANTERN LECTURES
ox
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PUBLISHED BY
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PREFACE
THE first half of these "Notes" was originally published in 1886.
The second half followed in 1888. The present revised edition brings
up the number printed to two hundred thousand volumes, and it
is gratifying to know that they are circulated and appreciated in the
remotest regions where the Church of England has its outposts.
The title explains itself. The work is not an exhaustive history, but
a collection of notes thereon, to meet inquiries for a cheap illustrated
book about the Church of England. Church histories hitherto have
mostly been written for students, or are beyond the financial reach of
the general public. Such popular handy volumes as bear upon the
subject deaL mainly with special aspects, or do not afford so clear an
idea of its consecutiveness as will enable the majority of Church-goers
to meet erroneous assertions of those who differ from the doctrines of,
or envy the noble position occupied by the English Church.
To place a connected series of historical facts before the public, at a
price within the reach of the humblest, was the chief object of the
aiithor. At the same time readers are warned not to expect herein a
complete record of all the important events and persons connected with
our Church in every age, but only to look for sufficient typical examples
as will help them to judge for themselves of the incorrectness of
theories recently advanced by modern adversaries of the English
Church ; as for instance- (1) That it is of comparatively recent origin ;
or (2) that it owes its existence, position, and emoluments to the
favour of the civil government ; or (3) that whatever of its history
belongs to antiquity is traceable to its connexion with and subjection
to the Church of Rome.
vi PREFACE
The main plan has been to give prominence to the concurrent history
of the Church and Kealm ; to show that through all ages they have
been indissolubly wedded ; and to present the Church s ancient,
mediaeval, and modern history as parts of one continuous whole, with
the episcopate for its basis. The history of the Anglican Church
beyond the seas is outside the plan, and is therefore only incidentally
treated. The " Notes " are divided into two small volumes for the sake
of ease in handling, but, as will be seen from the paging, each volume
should be considered as only half of one book.
Apart from the question of cheapness, it may well be doubted
whether there is any necessity for treating the history of the Church
of England anew ; especially as there is nothing stated herein which
has not been better said over and over again. Although no new light
has been thrown upon a well-worn subject by these pages, they may
help to diffuse the old light. Nothing has been stated which has not
been generally accepted as true, or which is not useful to know ; and
if the grouping of certain facts varies at times from the customary
methods, it is never without good reason.
Possibly no two minds would draw identical conclusions from the
vast range of history covered herein, and whatever may be said on con
troverted points there are sure to be some who would prefer a different
view. That such will question the writer s treatment or selection
of events and persons is fully expected ; and lest any readers should
feel aggrieved because the errors of the Church of Rome are not
expressly denounced, or that insufficient credit has been given to the
conscientious convictions of nonconformists, it may be well to state
at the outset that these pages do not profess to discuss opinions or
theories on matters of faith ; but simply to state, and occasionally
comment upon, such ascertained facts of ecclesiastical history as may
help the general public to a better understanding of what is meant by
the national Church. Party names which have come to be used as
terms of opprobrium, are as far as possible avoided in the following
pages ; and although the writer does not pretend to look at matters
from other than a Churchman s standpoint, he believes that he has not
PREFACE vii
dealt unfairly or inconsiderately by those who are opposed to the Church
of England. When reference is made to their religious systems, it is
with a view of showing the external position occupied by the Church
towards them in the past, arid there is no intention of implying unkind
reflections upon modern adherents of papal or puritan beliefs.
Up to the Norman conquest the history of the Church and the
history of the people are so closely interwoven that it is impossible to
separate them. That is because our knowledge of what occurred in
early times has been derived almost exclusively from the writings of
ecclesiastics, the religious houses being for ages the sole depositories of
literature and science. Until the days of King Alfred it was an
exceptional occurrence to find the nobility or princes devoting them
selves to peaceful arts or intellectual acquirements ; those who felt so
inclined invariably left the world behind them and joined some
monastic community, although they may have stopped short of the
higher ministerial orders. Books written under such auspices were more
dependent on traditional stories and more associated with superstitious
improbabilities than we should expect to find in impartial histories ;
yet we may easily eliminate the superstitious or unauthentic parts,
retaining the portions which commend themselves to common sense,
and so glean a tolerably concise, continuous, and reliable record.
The life of the Church in our land divides itself naturally into
several distinct epochs, or definite periods of time
I. The era of Conversion first, when the earliest known inhabitants
of our country, governed by agents of the Csesars, became
Christians ; and secondly, when Anglo-Saxon settlers were in
turn made converts.
II. The era of Consolidation when Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Danish
tribes, having first received the one Faith, were organized into
a national Church, and, through ecclesiastical statesmen, brought
under one civil ruler.
III. The era of Oppression when the land was ruled by Norman and
Plantagenet kings, and the Church became subject to papal
influence through their rule.
viii PREFACE
IV. The era of Patriotism, commonly known as " The Reformation "
under the Tudor dynasty during which both Church and
Realm resumed their ancient national independence.
V. The era of Party strife during the troublous times of the
Stuarts, when conflicting religious sects threatened to overwhelm
the old Church, which ended at the Revolution. And lastly,
VI. The era of Progression during which the Church has tried to
meet the great demands made upon its resources, and presented
to the world a glorious front.
Throughout all those periods, exceeding 1800 years, \ve are able to
trace the apostolic form of Church government in England, by the
three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons claiming descent from the
primitive Church ; and we can also perceive with equal clearness a
similar antiquity and continuity of doctrine, by means of liturgies in
constant use. Only in minor points of discipline and ceremonial has
the Church in Britain materially differed from the rest of Christendom,
such differences being caused by varying needs, consequent upon the
civil changes our land has passed through when new races of men made
it their home, and so modified the character of its inhabitants.
It is hoped that many may be led by the perusal of the following
pages to study particular epochs and biographies more in detail.
Happily there is now no lack of suitable books ; and the clergy are at
all times ready to recommend such to their parishioners and pupils.
The chief change made in this edition is the combination of both
chronological tables at the beginning of the first volume, and a com
plete index at the end of the second ; so as to facilitate references.
CONTENTS OF VOL. I
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF EVENTS
CONTEMPORARY KINGS, PRELATES, AND POPES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PAGE
xvii
xxxiv
xl
PART I
Ube ]ra of Conversion
CHAPTER I. (A.D. 33-274)
THE ORIGIN OF BRITISH CHRISTIANITY
Terminology Profane history and religion The conquest by
Claudius Britons in Rome Traditions respecting the in
troduction of Christianity St. Joseph of Arimathea Other
traditions: Lucius Doctrine and liturgy Historical testi
mony The early missionaries The early martyrs ...
CHAPTER II. (A.D. 274-449)
THE GROWTH AND VIGOUR OF BRITISH CHRISTIANITY
Constantine the great Church councils British bishops present
The council of Nicaea Other councils Decadence of Roman
Britain Pelagianism The Alleluia battle Second visit of
the Gallican bishops The Celtic mission in Scotland St.
Patrick Further Celtic missions
CHAPTER III. (A.D. 449-597)
EFFECT OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CONQUEST ON BRITISH CHRISTIANITY
The Jutes settle in Kent Arrival of the Saxons The Anglian
colonies The destruction of British churches Anglo-Saxon
heathenism The survival of British Christianity Organiza
tion of the Church in Wales St. Columba in Scotland The
1}
CONTENTS
PAGE
British Church in Cornwall The independence of the British
Churches Architecture of the British churches Relation
ship to Church of England ... ... ... ... ... 27
CHAPTER IV. (A.D. 597-604)
THE COMING OF AUGUSTINE
Gregory the great Augustine s arrival in Kent The first arch
bishop of Canterbury Correspondence with St. Gregory-
Augustine and the British bishops The death of Augustine 43
CHAPTER V. (A.D. 604-681)
THE CONVERSION OF "ENGLAND"
Unsuccessful Italian missions Paulinus in Northumbria Conver
sion of East-Anglia The Celtic mission in Nortlmmbria
The conversion of Wessex Conversion of the Middle- Angles
Conversion of the East-Saxons The death of Penda The
conversion of Sussex Table of conversion of Heptarchy ... 57
PART II
TTbe Bra of Consolidation
CHAPTER VI. (A.D. 664-690)
THE BLENDING OF THE MISSIONS UNDER THEODORE
The council of Whitby Wilfrid and Chad Archbishop Theo
dore Diocesan changes Amalgamation Synod of Hert
fordSynod of Hatfield Wilfrid s appeals to Rome The
parochial system ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 75
CHAPTER VII. (A.D. 690-796)
PROSPERITY OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH
Effects of Theodore s work Illustrative teaching Monastic life
St. Cuthbert Anglo-Saxon authors Anglo-Saxon foreign
missions Early benefactions to churches Royal devotees
Decadence of religious purity Offa, king of Mercia... ... 95
CONTENTS xi
CHAPTER VIII. (A.D. 787-1066)
THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN
PAGE
The first Danish invasions Destruction of the Anglo-Saxon
churches Alfred the great Peace with the Danes Alfred s
government and laws Re-conquest of the north Changes
in the Church St. Dunstan Secular v. Regular Dunstan s
administration Tho Danish conquest Anglo-Saxon archi
tecture The English restoration Genealogical table ... 113
CHAPTER IX. (A.D. 1066-1089)
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
The Norman nobles Completion of the conquest Episcopal
changes Archbishop Stigand Papal influence in England
Ecclesiastical courts The Doomsday survey Death of the
conqueror Archbishop Lanfranc Disunion of " East" and
" West" Changes in doctrine and discipline The liturgical
" use " of Sarum Norman architecture ... ... ... 138
PART III
Ube ira of Oppression
CHAPTER X. (A.D. 1089-1109)
THE DAYS OF ANSELM OF CANTERBURY
William Rufus and the Church Anselm of Bee Rival popes
Anselm s appeal to Rome Anselm and Henry I. Embassies
to Rome Distressful condition of the Church Anselm
leaves England Reconciliation of Henry and Anselm
Anselm s closing days Opinions on Anselm s character ... 157
CHAPTER XL (A.D. 1109-1154)
LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE
Supremacy of the see of Canterbury Union of Welsh and English
Churches Papal encroachments Military religious orders,
the crusades New monastic orders Stephen s misrule,
Battle of the Standard 174
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XII. (A.D. 1154-1175)
THOMAS BECKET
PAGE
Henry II. Thomas Becket Becket becomes archbishop Re
striction of Church privileges Constitutions of Clarendon,
1164 The council of Northampton Becket s appeal to the
pope The French king s mediation The murder of Becket
Consequences of Becket s murder 189
CHAPTER XIII. (A.D. 1175-1228)
THE GREAT CHARTER
The election of bishops Hugh of Lincoln Pope Innocent III.
The humiliation of King John Stephen Langton Magi) a
Charta Subsequent events The mendicant orders 202
CHAPTER XIV. (A.D. 1228-1327)
THE REACTION AGAINST ROMAN SUPREMACY
Edmund Rich of Canterbury Robert " Grossetete," of Lincoln
The first representative parliament The English Church
under Edward I. The pope s claim to supremacy in Scotland
The reign of Edward II 215
CHAPTER XV. (A.D. 1327-1384)
BEGINNINGS OF CHURCH REFORM
Statutes against Rome The universities John de Wycliffe
Wycliffe s translation of the Bible Wycliffe s second trial
and death Mediaeval architecture William of Wykeham ... 229
CHAPTER XVI. (A.D. 1384-1509)
THE ADVENT OF THE TUDOR DYNASTY
The wars with France Social conditions of the fifteenth century
Wycliffe and the Lollards Anti-papal statutes Council
of Constance Doctrinal abuses Alien priories The
printing-press Wars of York and Lancaster Increasing
need for Church reform Summary 241
CONTENTS OF VOL. II
*% The chapters and pages are numbered successively to follow those
in the first volume.
PAGE
GENEALOGICAL TABLE 268
PART IV
tTbe Era of patriotism
CHAPTER XVII. (A.D. 1509-1547)
HENRY VIII. AND HIS CHANCELLORS
Introductory The Oxford reformers Wolsey s scheme for Church
reform The king s divorce Convocation and the "seven
years " parliament The royal supremacy Foreign influences
Translation of the Scriptures Doctrinal reforms The
reactionary party 269
CHAPTER XVIII. (A.D. 1536-1540)
DISSOLUTION OF THE MONASTERIES
Pre-Norman and post-Norman religious houses The first sup
pressionThe pilgrimage of grace The final suppression
The king s vicar-general Distribution of monastic estates
Monastic churches made cathedral Monastic churches
made collegiate Monastic churches now parochial Educa
tional and charitable foundations ... ... ... ... 295
CHAPTER XIX. (A.D. 1547-1558)
EDWARD VI. AND MARY
The Edwardian council of regency Suppression of the chantries
The liturgy Edwardian bishops Foreign religious reformers
The succession to the throne The Marian bishops The
Spanish match Reconciliation with Rome The Marian per
secutionsThe exiled reformers , 317
xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER XX. (A.D. 1558-1603)
THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH
PAGE
Restoration of the royal supremacy Restoration of the Liturgy
The vacant bishoprics Consecration of Archbishop Parker
Articles of religion The council of Trent The first
Romanist nonconformists The first protestant noncon
formists Mary, queen of Scots The Spanish armada
National glory Summary of Part IV 341
PART Y
ZTbe Era of part$ Strife
CHAPTER XXL (A.D. 1603-1625)
THE GROWTH OF PURITANISM
The seventeenth century Scotch presbyterianism The Hampton-
Court conference The gunpowder treason plot The
authorized version The puritans Abbott, Andrewes, and
Laud Progress of Anglican principles ... ... ... 365
CHAPTER XXII. (A.D. 1625-1649)
KING VCrSUS PARLIAMENT
The petition of right Arbitrary civil government Laud s
administration- -the Scotch liturgy "War with Scotland
The long parliament Outbreak of the civil war The long
parliament and the clergy The long parliament and the
bishops The Westminster assembly The " independent "
army Regicide ... ... ... .. ... ... ... 385
CHAPTER XXIII. (A.I). 1649-1660)
UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH
Proceedings of the " rump " Religious anarchy The quakers
"Worcester fight Destruction of churches Cromwell s parlia
mentsSufferings of the clergy Sufferings of the laity
Royalist reaction 411
CONTENTS xv
CHAPTER XXIV. (A.D. 1660-1685)
RESTORATION OF CHURCH AND REALM
PAGE
The return of the king The Savoy conference The revised
liturgy Repressive legislation The great plague Fire of
London A great architect The Church in Scotland
National dread of Romanism Popish plots The Church in
Ireland 427
CHAPTER XXV. (A.D. 1685-1691)
THE SEVEN BISHOPS
James II. and the puritans JVwi-resistance The declaration of
indulgence The bishops in the Tower Trial of the seven
bishops The revolution A lost cause " The Non-jurors"
Vacillating clergy ... ... ... ... ... ... 447
ART VI
ZTbe Bra of progression
CHAPTER XXVI. (A.D. 1688-1714)
PEACE AND POPULARITY
The protestant succession Toleration act Religious societies
The S. P. C.K. Church work abroad The S. P.O. The
Scotch episcopate supplanted Queen Anne s bounty Im
peachment of Dr. Sacheverell Popularity of the Church-
Hardships of nonconformity Pews in churches ... ... 462
CHAPTER XXVII. (A.D. 1714-1830)
THE GEORGIAN ERA
The silencing of convocation Calm in the Church Growth of
infidelity The Wesleys George Whitfield Methodism
The evangelical revival Evangelical societies The C.M.S.
Parliamentary grants ... ... ... ... ... ... 481
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXyill. (A.D-. 1778-1888)
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
PAGE
Removal of nonconformist disabilities Encroachments upon
Church privileges Removal of Romanist disabilities The
new papal hierarchy Removal of Jewish disabilities The
Irish Church Removal of atheist disabilities The ecclesi
astical commission Disestablishment agitations Lawsuits
respecting doctrine and ritual Revival of convocation ... 503
CHAPTER XXIX. (A.D. 1801-1888)
MODERN CHURCH WORK
Missionary enterprise The Oxford Movement Origin of Sunday
Schools The National Society Church restoration In
crease of the clergy Church extension Home Mission work
- Finance ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 524
CHAPTER XXX. (A.D. 1784-1888)
THE EXTENSION OF THE EPISCOPATE
The American episcopate The Colonial episcopate Home
diocesan changes The diocese of Manchester The diocese
of Truro The diocese of St. Albans The diocese of
Liverpool The diocese of Newcastle The diocese of South
wellThe diocese of Wakefield Suffragan bishops The
Lambeth conferences Conclusion ... ... ... ... 545
GENERAL INDEX 567
CHKONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
33. Day of Pentecost (Birthday of the Church) ... 1
43. Invasion of Britain by Claudius Caesar .... 3
54. Family of Caratacus prisoners at Rome .... 5
55. St. Paul imprisoned at Rome ...... 5
60. Joseph of Arimathea founds Glastonbury (?) . . 6
170. King Lucius sends to Rome for Christian teachers (?) . 8
193. (?) Tertullian testifies to the faith of Britain ... 9
240. (?) Origen gives similar testimony ..... 10
274. Birth of Constantine 13
304. (?) Martyrdom of St. Alban 11
314. Bishops of York, London, and Caerleon at Council of Aries 17
325. General council of Nicaea 17
346. Council of Antioch 56
347. British bishops at the council of Sardica . . . .18
358. Hilary of Poitiers testifies to orthodoxy of Britons . . 18
360. British bishops at council of Ariminum . . . .18
381. General council of Constantinople 89
400. St. Ninian settles in the lowlands of Scotland ... 25
401. Corantinus organizes the Christian missions in Cornwall . 38
410-420. (?) Evacuation of Britain by Romans . . . .20
427. Gallican bishops visit the British Church .... 21
428. " Alleluia Battle " at Maes Gannon 21
431. General council of Ephesus 51
b2
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
432. St. Patrick becomes "bishop of the Irish" ... 26
445. (?) Church built at Perranzabuloe 39
447. Sacond visit of Gallican bishops Overthrow of Pelagianism 22
449. Settlement of the Jutes in Kent . . . .30
450-550. Destruction of British churches by heathen invaders . 32
451. General council of Chalcedon ...... 87
477. Settlement of the South-Saxons 29
495. Settlement of the West-Saxons 30
500. (?) See of Llandaff founded 34
520. Battle of Mount- Badon 30
530. Settlement of other Saxon tribes 30
540. (?) See of Bangor founded 34
,, (?) See of Caerleon-on-Usk transferred to St. Davids . 35
547. Settlement of the Angles in Nortlmmbria . ... 30
553. General council of Constantinople . ... .89
560. See of St. Asaph founded 26, 35
,, Kingdom of the Middle-Angles founded .... 74
565. Columba settles in lona 36
585. Kingdom of East Anglia established .... 30
587. The Heptarchy established 30
597. Augustine lands in Kent . . . . . .46
601. Mellitus, Justus, and Paulinus reinforce Augustine . . 51
603. British bishops confer with Augustine . . . .52
,, See of London revived ....... 57
604. The see of Rochester founded 55
, , Death of Augustine ........ 56
616. Apostacy of the East-Saxons ...... 57
626. Paulinus revives the see of York 58
631. Felix and Fursey establish Christianity in East Anglia . 62
633. Apostacy of Northumbria 61
634. Birinus consecrated to work in "Wessex .... 66
635. The Celtic missionaries re-establish Christianity in the north 65
,, See of Lindisfarne founded ins ead of the see of York . 66
636. The king of Wessex is baptized 67
653. Conversion of the Middle- Angles 68
654. Cedd re-establishes Christianity among the East-Saxons . 69
656. Diuma becomes bishop of Mercia ..... 72
,, Monastery of Peterborough founded ..... 72
664. Conference at Streanseshalch (Whitby) 75
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE xix
A.D. PAGE
665. See of York restored by Wilfrid 79
,, Cuthbert becomes prior of Lindisfarne .... 99
,, British bishops assist at consecration of St. Chad . . 80
,, Vighard sent to Rome for consecration . . . .81
669. Archbishop Theodore lands in Britain .... 82
,, Chad re-consecrated as bishop of Lichfield (Mercia) . . 86
672. Birth of Bede 100
673. Synod of Hertford 87
677. Sees of Lindisfarne and Hexham taken out of York . . 90
678. Wilfrid appeals to Rome 90
679. Kingdom of Mercia divided into five dioceses ... 83
680. Synod of Hatfield 88
Wilfrid subscribes to canons of a synod at Rome . . 90
681. Conversion of South-Saxons ...... 72
,, Parochial system founded . . . . . .93
,, Benedict Biscop flourishes as a church builder . . 89, 131
685. Diocese of Ripon proposed . . . . . .91
690. Ina establishes code of Christian laws . . . .109
700. Aldhelm flourishes as a church builder in Wessex . . 100
706. See of Sherborne founded 68
709. Death of Wilfrid .93
716. Boniface of Exeter becomes a missionary in Fricsland . 103
720. Ina establishes an English hospital and school at Rome . 108
725. (?) Bede s Ecclesiastical History written . . . .101
734. See of York becomes an archbishopric . . . .110
735. Death of Venerable Bede 102
750. First recorded mention of tithes ..... 107
787. Synod of Chelsea 107
,, First Danish invasion . . . . . . .113
,, See of Lichfield becomes an archbishopric . . .110
790. Offa establishes St. Alban s monastery . . . .112
792. Offa increases Ina s provision for hospital at Rome . .112
794. Alcuin of York becomes educational adviser of Charlemagne 111
795. Danes destroy Lindisfarne . . . . .114
803. Lichfield again becomes a suffragan see . . .111
827. Anglo-Saxon settlements first called England . . .112
833. Bishops and clergy fight against the Danes . . .114
835. Egbert defeats the Danes at Hengist s-down . . .115
851. Danes begin to settle in England . 116
xx CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
855. Ethelwulf legalises and increases payment of tithes . 106
866. Danes destroy the Anglo-Saxon churches . . . .117
870. Martyrdom of Edmund, king of East- Anglia . . . 116
871. Alfred the great becomes king of Wessex .... 119
879. Peace of Wedmore Danes first become Christians . . 120
,, Alfred codifies laws for his kingdom on basis of Decalogue 121
890. Co-equal intercourse of English and foreign churches . 122
904. See of Wells founded 124
926. Old Cornish Church amalgamated with Anglo-Saxon Church 124
943. Dunstan nourishes as a statesman 125
945. Odo transfers parochial church property to monasteries . 126
955. Dunstan disapproves Edwy s marriage with Elgiva . .127
960. Dunstan becomes archbishop of Canterbury . . .128
988. Death of Dunstan 129
991. Renewed invasions of Danes Imposition of Danegeld . 129
995. ^Elfric, archbishop of Canterbury 129
1002. Massacre of the Danes on St. Brice s day . . . .129
1012. Martyrdom of Elphege, archbishop of Canterbury . . 130
1017-1035. King Cnut and his sons.
1017. All England acknowledges one king . . . . .130
1027. Cnut founds Bury St. Edmund s monastery . . . 131
1042-1066. Edward the Confessor.
1042. Coronation of Edward the Confessor . . . .133
1044. Robert of Jumieges, the first Norman bishop in England . 133
1050. Sees of Cornwall and Devon removed to Exeter . . 39
1052. Stigand elected archbishop of Canterbury . . . . 136
1055. Great Schism between East and West of Christendom . 153
1061. Wulfstan consecrated bishop of Worcester . . . 144
,, Consecration of Harold s collegiate church at Waltham . 134
1065. Westminster-abbey opened for worship . . . .134
1066. Struggle between Harold and William the Norman . .136
1066-1087. William I.
1066-1087. William I. separates secular and spiritual courts . 148
1067. William I. forbids receipt of papal letters without leave . 148
1070. William the Conqueror refuses homage to the papacy . 146
,, Lanfranc becomes primate 146
1071. Completion of the Norman conquest . .... 142
Bishops seats removed to more populous cities . . .143
1085. Osmund, bishop of Sarum, compiles his liturgy . . 155
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
1086. Domesday survey made 149
1087-1100. William II.
1087. Tower of London built by Gundulph, bishop of Rochester . 155
1089. Death of Archbishop Lanfranc . . . . . .157
1093. Consecration of Anselm to the see of Canterbury . . 159
1095. William Rufus outlaws Anselm ..... 161
,, Peter the Hermit preaches the first crusade . . .181
1097. Anselm goes to Rome 163
1099. Synod at Rome condemns lay appointments . . .164
1100-1135. Henry I.
1100. Anselm is recalled by Henry I. 165
1102. Anselm calls a synod to correct abuses . . . .167
1103. Anselm refuses to be re -invested by Henry I. . . .166
1107. Henry I. agrees to compromise the question of investiture 169
1109. Herve, bishop of Bangor, becomes first bishop of Ely . 172
,, Death of Anselm . . . . . . . .172
1115. Supremacy of Canterbury acknowledged by Welsh bishops 174
1119. The pope usurps the rights of the see of Canterbuiy . . 175
1125. John de Crema sent by the pope as legatus a Mere . . 178
1129. First English Cistercian monastery (Waverley) . .184
1133. See of Carlisle (Augustinian canons) founded . . . 179
1135-1154. Stephen or Maud.
1136. Archbishop William de Corbeuil died . . . .180
1137. Henry de Blois, bishop of Winchester, made papal legate . 179
1138. Battle of the Standard 187
1 139. Bishops of Lincoln, Ely, and Sarum imprisoned by Stephen 188
1154-1189. Henry II.
1154. Nicholas Breakspear becomes pope (Adrian IV.) . . 189
1162. Thomas Becket becomes archbishop of Canterbury . .191
1163. Quarrel between Becket and Henry II. at Woodstock . ]92
,, Council at Westminster to determine clerical jurisdiction . 193
1164. Constitutions of Clarendon 194
1165. Becket charged with treason at council of Northampton . 195
1170. Henry and Becket become reconciled . . . .198
,, Murder of Becket in Canterbury cathedral . . . 199
1173. Becket is canonised 200
1174. King Henry II. does penance at Becket s tomb . . . 201
1181. First English Carthusian monastery (Witham) . . .184
1186. Hugh of Avalon consecrated bishop of Lincoln . . . 203
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
1189-1199. Richard I.
1189. Innocent III. becomes pope ...... 206
1190. Archbishops of Canterbury join the Crusades . . . 202
1193. Quarrel respecting election of archbishops of Canterbury . 202
1199-1216. John.
1207. John refuses to receive Stephen Langton as archbishop . 206
1208. England placed under an interdict 206
1212. Innocent III. deposes King John . . . . 207
1213. Kiijg John becomes the pope s vassal and receives Langtorf 207
,, Langton leads barons in defence of national privileges . 208
1215. Barons and prelates compel John to sign Magna Chart a . 209
1216. Deaths of Pope Innocent III. and King John . . .212
1216-1272. Henry III.
1219. Dominican (black) friars settle in England . . . 213
1220. Translation of Becket s remains 212
1224. Franciscan (grey) friars settle in this country . . . 213
1226. Pope Honorius III. demands patronage of English benefice:; 216
1228. Death of Stephen Langton . . - . . . .212
1229. Pope Gregory IX. demands a tenth of English property . 216
1234. Edmund Rich is made archbishop of Canterbury . .215
1235. Robert Grossetete becomes bishop of Lincoln . . . 218
1237. Legatine council at St. Paul s . . . . . .217
1247. Grossetete resists the papal demands .... 218
1250. Grossetete preaches at Lyons against papal exactions . 218
1253. Death of Grossetete 219
1256. Pope claims " annates," or first-fruits, from English clergy 220
1258. The Provisions of Oxford 220
1259. A foreign priest assassinated at St. Paul s ... . .220
1265. Simon de Montfort summons representatives of commons
to a parliament in Westminster chapter-house . . 220
1269. Westminster-abbey re-built by Henry III. . . .212
1272-1307. Edward I.
1274. Edward I. crowned in Westminster abbey . . . 222
1279. Mortmain statute checks bequests to religious houses . 222
1283. Convocation questions right of king to subsidies . . 222
1285. The statute Circumspecte agatis passed .... 223
1295. Clergy summoned as an estate of the realm to parliament . 222
1296. Pope s bull Clericis Laicos 224
,, Edward I. outlaws clergy for obedience to a papal decree . 224
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE xxiii
A.D. PAGE
1301. Boniface VIII. claims to hold Scotland as a fief of Rome . 226
1305. Archbishop Winchelsea condemned by the pope . . 226
1307. The parliament at Carlisle protests against papal exactions 227
1307-1327. Edward II.
1308. Suppression of the knights-Templar 227
1317. John XXII. " reserves" eighteen English bishoprics. . 228
1324. John de Wycliffe born 232
1327 1377. Edward III.
1338. Beginning of the wars with France 229
1343. The pope "provides" two cardinals for England . . 229
1344. The commons petition against the pope s action . . 229
1346. Battle of Crecy . . . . . . . .230
1349. The "Black Death" 230
1351. First statute of Provisors against papal patronage . . 230
1353. First statute of Prcemunire against papal jurisdiction . 230
1360. Wycliffe flourishes at Oxford 232
1366. Wycliffe defends refusal of subsidy to Borne . . . 232
,, William of Wykeham is made bishop of Winchester . . 239
1374. Wycliffesent to Bruges to protest against papal "provisions" 233
1377. Wycliffe summoned to trial at St. Paul s for "heresy " . 234
1377-1399. Richard II.
1380. Wycliffe publishes his translation of the Bible . . .234
1381. Wat Tyler s rebellion Murder of Archbishop Sudbury . 235
1382. Courtenay s statute against heretical preachers . . . 236
1384. Death of Wycliffe .236
1390. Statutes of Provisors re-enacted 248
1393. Statute of Prcemunire re-enacted ..... 248
1395. Lollards plead for Church reform 245
1399-1413. Henry IV.
1401. Statute De Heretico Comburendo William Sawtry burnt . 245
1404, 1410. Commons propose to confiscate Church property . 246
1413-1422. Henry V.
1414. Alien priories suppressed by Henry V. .... 256
1414-18. Council of Constance Huss and Jerome burnt . . 250
1417-18. Pope Martin V. "provides" thirteen bishops for England 248
1422-1461. Henry VI.
1426. Papal bulls to suspend Chichele seized by government . 249
1428. Wycliffe s bones exhumed and burnt .... 252
1437. All Soul s college, Oxford, founded by Chichele . . 257
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. i AOE
1440. King s and Queen s colleges at Cambridge founded . . 257
1449. Commons attempt to tax the clergy 247
1455-85. Wars of the Roses -60
1457. Condemnation of Bishop Pecock 253
1461-1483. Edward IV.
1473. Caxton begins to print at Westminster .... 258
1483-1485. Richard III. (Edward V. reigned two months)
1485. Battle of Bosworth- field 261
1485-1509. Henry VII.
1498. Martyrdom of Savonarola 263
1503. Wareham archbishop of Canterbury 270
1509-1547. Henry VIII.
1510. Marriage of Henry VIII. with his brother s widow . . 277
1512. Dean Colet advocates Church reform .... 272
1515. Wolsey becomes lord chancellor 273
1516. Erasmus publishes Greek Testament .... 273
,, Revised Breviary published ...... 291
1517. Wolsey permitted to be papal legate .... 273
1520. Martin Luther burns papal bull at Wittenberg . . . 286
1521. King Henry s book against Luther published . . . 286
1523. Wolsey, as legate, suppresses many monasteries . . 273
1526. Tyndale s New Testament published . . . .288
1527. Negotiations commenced for Henry s divorce . . .277
1529. Queen Catharine appeals to Rome ..... 278
,, Sir T. More succeeds Wolsey as chancellor . . . 275
1530. Death of Cardinal Wolsey 275
,, Cranmer pleads for Henry s divorce at Rome . . . 278
1531. Convocation, threatened with Prcemnnire, proposes limita
tions of papal authority and accepts royal supremacy. 282
1532. Appeals to Rome forbidden by statute (24 Hen. VIII. , c. 12) 278
1533. Archbishop Cranmer pronounces the king s divorce . . 278
1534. Convocation declares against papal jurisdiction . . 280
,, Statute, 25 Hen. VIII., c. 19, embodied the submission of
clergy which convocation had made in 1531 . . 285
,, Payment of first-fruits to Rome forbidden .... 280
Statute, 25 Hen. VIII., c. 21, forbade issue of papal bulls 281
,, Convocation pleads for translation of Bible . . . 289
1535. Thomas Cromwell made vicar-general .... 305
,, Coverdale s Bible published 290
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
1535. More and Fisher beheaded for denying royal supremacy . 284
1536. Bible set up in churches 290
,, The ten articles issued by convocation .... 292
,, Dissolution of small monasteries and friaries . . . 299
1537. Institution of a Christian Man published .... 292
,, Pope s authority condemned (28 Hen. VIII., c. 10) . . 281
,, Matthew s Bible published 290
1538. Negotiations with Lutheran divines 287
, , Surrender of many greater monasteries .... 302
1539. Pope interdicts England and excommunicates Henry . . 284
New bishoprics act (31 Hen. VI1I-, c. 9) . . . J02
,, Remaining monasteries dissolved (31 Hen. VIII., c. 13) . 302
,, Cranmer s Great Bible published 290
The six articles statute accepted by convocation . . . 293
1540. Thomas, Lord Cromwell, beheaded .... 306
1541. Dioceses of Chester, Gloucester and Peterborough founded 308
1542. Convocation ordered lessons to be read in English . . 291
Convocation appointed committee to revise Liturgy . . 91
1543. English Litany published for use in public worship . . 291
,, Dioceses of Oxford and Bristol founded .... 309
1545. (Dec. 13) First meeting of council of Trent . . .351
1546. Chantries and university endowments granted to crown . 315
1547-1553. Edward VI.
1547. Episcopal jurisdiction licensed by the crown . . .318
,, " Royal visitation " of the Church . .318
,, Convocation annuls canons against clerical matrimony . 326
1548. "Election " of bishops superseded by "letters patent" . 324
,, First English Communion office ..... 323
,, Foreign reformers invited by Cranmer .... 326
1549. First Prayer-book of Edward VI. s reign authorized . . 322
,, Second royal visitation ....... 323
,, Two anabaptists burnt for blasphemy .... 326
1550. Reformed ordinal completed ...... 324
,, Altars removed from east end of churches
Six bishops deprived and imprisoned by the council . . 325
1551. Hooper imprisoned for objecting to vestments . . . 325
1552. Second Prayer-book of Edward VI. s reign authorized . 328
1553. Forty-two articles of religion published .... 349
Futile attempt to make Lady Jane queen of England . 329
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
1553-1558. Mary Tudor.
1553. Imprisoned bishops released, 329 Gardiner made chancellor 331
,, Flight of clergy and refugees ...... 331
,, Edwardian bishops deposed, imprisoned, and superseded . 329
,, Religious laws of Edward repealed ..... 331
1554. Wyatt s rebellion and execution of Lady Jane . . . 332
Mary marries Philip II. of Spain (July) .... 333
,, Cardinal Pole appointed papal legate (November) . . 334
,, Parliament and convocation reconciled with Rome . . 334
,, Anti- papal statutes since 1529 repealed .... 334
1555. The Marian persecutions begin Four bishops burnt . . 335
1595. Cranmer burnt for heresy and succeeded by Pole . . 338
1557. Cardinal Pole s visitation of the universities . . . 340
1558. (Nov. 17) Deaths of Queen Mary and Cardinal Pole . . 340
1558-1603. Elizabeth.
1558. Return of the exiles 341
1559. Royal supremacy and English liturgy revived . . . 342
,, Deprivation of Marian bishops (May to November) . . 345
,, Consecration of Parker and other bishops (December) . 347
1560. Elizabeth aids the Scotch reformers 358
,, Pope offers to sanction reformation if he may be supreme . 353
1561. Severe acts passed against Romanists .... 353
1562. Jewel s Apology published ...... 351
1563. Thirty-eight articles issued by convocation . . . 350
,, (Nov. 11) Last meeting of council of Trent . . . 352
1567. Dutch religious refugees settle in eight English towns . 355
1568. First dissenting community (Brownists) founded . . 356
,, "The Bishop s" Bible published 351
1569. Insurrection in the north on behalf of queen of Scots . 358
1570. Pius V. excommunicates Elizabeth Romanist secession . 354
1571. Enforcement of laws against Romanists and papal bulls . 354
,, Members of parliament propose alterations in religion . 356
1572. First presbyterian congregation in England (Cartwright s) 356
,, Massacre of St. Bartholomew ...... 354
1577. Archbp. Grindal suspended for encouraging "prophesyings" 357
1580. Jesuits come to " convert" England . .... 354
1583. High-commission court established ..... 357
1584. Richard Hooker appointed to mastership of the Temple . 358
1586. The Babington conspiracy 359
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
1587. Execution of Mary, queen of Scots ... . . . 359
,, Martin Mar-Prt-late libels published ..... 357
,, Sixtus V. sanctions hostilities against Elizabeth . . 359
1588. (July) Destruction of Spanish Armada . . . .361
1592. Presbyterianism established in Scotland .... 368
1593. Penal statutes against nonconformists .... 362
1595. The Lambeth Articles published 353
1600. An East India company formed ..... 363
1603-1625. James I.
1603. Millenary petition 370
1604. Hampton-court conference Canons ecclesiastical published 371
1605. Gunpowder treason plot discovered ..... 374
1606. Statutes against Romanists . . . . . 375
1608. First permanent settlement in America .... 378
1610. Scotch episcopate restored ...... 375
1611. The Authorized Version of the Bible published. . . 376
1612. Legate and Wightman burnt 380
1618. Book of Sports published 390
1623. Titular bishops sent to England by the pope . . . 383
1625-28. Mountague and others censured in parliament . . 384
1625 1649. Charles I.
1628. The Petition of Right 386
Parliament resolves itself into a committee of religion . . 387
1629. Parliament attacks unauthorised taxes and is dissolved . 387
1630. Laud and Strafford become the king s chief advisers . . 388
,, Dr. Leighton pilloried for writing against episcopacy . 390
1633-36. Archbishop Laud enforces discipline .... 389
1637. Severe proceedings against puritans in star-chamber . . 390
,, Hampden s trial for resisting ship-money tax . . . 389
,, The Scotch resist Laud s liturgy and canons . . . 393
1638. The National Covenant signed in Scotland . . . 394
1639. Scotch abolish episcopacy and prepare for war . . . 394
1640. Convocation sat as a synod after dissolution of parliament 395
,, (Nov. 3) First meeting of The Long Parliament . . 396
,, Impeachment of Strafford and Laud ..... 396
,, Parliamentary committee appointed to deprive the clergy . 399
1641. High-commission court abolished ..... 397
,, The Grand Remonstrance ....... 397
,, Episcopacy suspended root and branch bill, 1642-43 . 402
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PACE
1642. Civil Avar begins at Nottingham (August) .... 398
1643. Westminster assembly convoked to advise long parliament 405
,, Solemn League and Covenant enforced in England . . 399
1645. (Jan. 10) Execution of Archbishop Laud . . . . 404
,, Directory substituted for proscribed liturgy . . . 405
,, Charles I. declines to " establish " presbyterianism . . 407
,, "New-model" army organized by Oliver Cromwell . . 407
,, Profanation of cathedrals and churches by puritan soldiers 416
1646. The king surrenders to Scots, who sell him to parliament . 407
,, Charles I. refuses to sanction abolition of episcopacy. . 407
1647. The army seize the king (June 4) 407
,, The king escapes to Carisbrook . ..... 407
1648. Presbyterians take up arms for the king, but are defeated . 408
,, The king in despair agrees to proposals of parliament . 408
,, Colonel Pride expels presbyterians from parliament (Dec. 6) 409
1649. Execution of Charles I. (Jan. 30) 410
1649-1685. Charles II. (In exile until 1660) .
1649. (February) The " rump " abolishes house of lords, prohibits
monarchy, and issues declaration on religion . .411
,, The Engagement substituted for the covenant . . .411
,, (May 19) The Commonwealth proclaimed .... 411
1650. Quakers come into notice as a sect . . . . .414
1651. Battle of Worcester and flight of Charles II. . . .415
1653. The " rump" orders the demolition of churches . . 418
,, Cromwell expels the "rump" and nominates a parliament 419
., (Dec. 16) Cromwell made lord protector .... 419
1654. (March 20) Triers appointed to administer patronage. . 422
,, (Aug. 30) Commission to examine politics of incumbents . 422
,, (Sept. 3) First protectorate parliament met . . . 420
1655. (Nov. 27) Cromwell s persecuting edict issued . . . 422
1656. Second protectorate parliament Cromwell refuses crown . 420
1658. Inauguration of Cromwell s house of lords. . . .421
,, (Sept. 3) Death of Cromwell and accession of his son Richard 425
1659. Army restores the rump parliament 425
1660. General Monk declares for a free parliament (Jan. 3). . 426
,, (March 16) The long parliament issues orders for a " con
vention," and agrees to its own dissolution . . 426
The declaration from Breda (April 14) .... 426
,, (May 1) Convention invites Charles II. to return . . 426
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
1660. Restoration of Charles II. and the Church.
1660. Many clergy return to their benefices Juxon primate . 428
1661. The Savoy conference Revision of the liturgy . . . 429
,, Episcopacy revived in Scotland . . . . .440
1662. Act of uniformity (Aug. 24) Nonconformists deprived . 432
1663. Convocation grants subsidy for the last time . . .247
1664. 1670. Conventicle act forbids noncomformist meetings . 4*33
1665. Five mile act forbids ministers settling near towns . . 434
,, Great plague in London 435
1666. Great fire of London (Sept. 2-6) 437
,, Irish act of uniformity ....... 446
1668. Failure of Comprehension scheme ..... 435
1670, 1678. Secret treaties between Charles II. and France . 443
1672. Duke of York received into Church of Rome . . . 441
1673. The Test Act passed to exclude Romanists from office . 441
1675. Rebuilding of St. Paul s cathedral commenced . . . 440
1677. Mary, duke of York s daughter, marries prince of Orange . 442
1678. The popish plots Harsh treatment of Romanists . . 443
,, Act disabling Romanists from sitting in parliament . .443
1679. Scotch puritans murder Archbishop Sharp . . . 440
1680. Commons refusing to vote subsides, parliament is dissolved 444
,, Failure of attempt to exclude duke of York from throne . 445
1681. Charles II. proposes prince of Orange as regent to James . 444
,, Louis XIV., king of France, subsidises Charles II. . . 445
1685-1688. James II.
1685. The new king promises to maintain the national Church . 447
,, Richard Baxter s trial before Judge Jeffries . . .449
,, Revocation of edict of Nantes ...... 451
1686. Judges decide in favour of " dispensing power " (June) . 448
,, Court of high-commission re-established (July) . . . 449
,, Chapels royal opened for Romanist worship . . . 449
,, Massey, a Romanist, made dean of Christchurch, Oxford . 450
,, Camp formed at Hounslow to overawe London . . . 456
1687. Revived high -commission attacks the universities . . 450
,, (April) Declaration of indulgence published . . . 452
,, Fellows of Magdalen college replaced by Romanists . . 450
1688. (May 4) James I. orders clergy to read declaration on May 20 452
,, (May 18) Seven bishops petition against it . . . 453
,, (June 8) The seven bishops sent to the tower for libel . 454
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
1688. (June 30) Trial and acquittal of the seven bishops . . 455
(June 30) Prince of Orange invited to England . . . 457
(Sept. 30) William of Orange issues his manifesto . . 457
(Oct.) Romanists removed, fellows of Magdalen restored . 457
(Nov. 5) William, prince of Orange, lands at Torbay. . 458
(Dec. 19) William arrives in London .... 458
,, (Dec. 23) James II. leaves England .459
1689. (Jan. 22) Declaration of Right 459
Eive bishops and 400 clergy refuse allegiance to William . 459
1689-1702. William III. (and Mary).
1689. The Toleration Act passed 464
(Oct.) Throne barred to Romanists by new Bill of Bights . 462
,, Attempt to remodel the liturgy by parliament averted . 464
1691. Battle of the Boyne 459
1697. Choir of St. Paul s cathedral opened for worship . . 476
1698. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge founded . . 466
1701. A ct of Settlement receives the royal assent . . . 463
, Society for Propagating the Gospel founded . . . 469
1702-1714. Queen Anne.
1702. Scotch parliament re-establishes presbyterianism . . 470
1704. Queen Anne restores first-fruits to the Church . . . 473
1707. Unitarians become a distinct body . . . . . 486
,, Union of England and Scotland ..... 472
1710. Sacheverell s impeachment ...... 474
,, St. Paul s cathedral completed ...... 476
1711. Occasional Conformity forbidden by statute . . .478
1714. Schism Act forbade unlicensed nonconformist schools . 478
1714-1727. George I.
1717. Bishop Hoadley s writings considered by convocation . 482
,, Convocation silenced by annual prorogation until 1850 . 483
1719. "Occasional conformity" and "schism" acts repealed . 478
1722. Parliamentary grants to English dissenters . . . 501
1727-1760. George II.
1728. Act of Indemnity (annual) relieves dissenters from "test " act 503
1736. Bishop Butler s Analogy published ..... 487
1739. Wesley develops his society 494
1760-1830. George III.
1760. Methodists begin to administer Sacraments . . . 495
1776. The historian Gibbon attacks Christianity . 488
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE xxxi
A.D. PAGE
1778. Sir George Saville passes Romanist relief bill . . . 506
1779. Dissenters relieved from subscription to 39 articles . . 503
1780. Lord George Gordon " No popery " riots .... 507
1781. Sunday-schools founded by Robert Raikes . . .529
,, Lady Huntingdon s connexion registered .... 494
1783. American independence acknowledged by England . . 545
1784. Consecration of Bishop Seabury for America . . . 546
1787, 1789. " Test" and " corporation " acts repeal bill rejected. 503
,, First colonial bishop consecrated ..... 547
1789. The French revolution 488
1793. Bishopric of Quebec founded ...... 547
--. ,, Wilberforce attempts to promote Christian teaching in India 498
1795. Wesleyans separate from Church of England . . . 496
1799. Religious Tract Society founded 500
1800. Church Missionary Society founded ..... 500
1801. Union of England and Ireland (Nations and Churches) . 512
1804. British and Foreign Bible Society founded . . . 500
1807. Wilberforce passes Slave Trade Abolition Bill . . . 499
1811. National Society founded 531
1812. Dissenting ministers relieved from further penalties . . 504
1813. Unitarians relieved from some of their disabilities . . 504
1814. First bishop of Calcutta 547
1815. Battle of Waterloo 502
1817. Romanists admitted into army and navy .... 507
1818. Parliamentary grant of 1,000,000 towards new churches . 501
,, Church Building society founded ..... 502
1820 1830. George IV.
1824. Parliamentary grant of 500,000 for Church Building . 501
1827. The Christian rear published 526
1828. " Test " and " corporation " acts repealed . . . .504
1829. Romanist Relief Bill passed It was rejected in 1825. . 506
1830-1837. William IV.
1831. Foundation of King s college, London .... 537
1832. Commission appointed to inquire into Church revenues . 515
,, University of Durham founded . ..... 537
1833. Quakers, &c., allowed to substitute affirmation for oath . 510
,, Jewish relief bill rejected by lords (also in 1848 and 1853) 510
,, Irish Church Temporalities Act 10 bishoprics suppressed 512
1,000,000 lent to Irish clergy in lieu of tithe arrears . 512
xxxii CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
1833. Compensation of 20,000,000 to colonial slave owners . 499
, , Parliament granted 20, 000 yearly for elementary education 531
,, Tractarian movement began ...... 527
1834. Rejection of bill to relieve bishops from legislation . .517
1836. Ecclesiastical Commission permanently incorporated . . 516
,, Tithe-commutation Bill passed (6 and 7 Wm. IV., c. 71). 516
,, Nonconformists allowed to have marriages in chapels . 504
,, Diocese of Bristol suppressed and diocese of Ripon founded 550
,, First bishop for Australia consecrated .... 548
1837. Accession of Queen Victoria.
1838. Coronation of Queen Victoria by Archbishop Howley . 539
1839. Elementary education commission appointed . . . 531
1840. Church Discipline, Act passed (3 and 4 Viet., c. 86) . . 520
1841. Bishop Selwyn consecrated for New Zealand . . . 524
1843. Secession from the presbyterian Kirk of Scotland . . 472
1844. Liberation Society founded ...... 504
1845. Maynooth grant permanently established .... 513
,, (Oct.) Dr. Newman joins the Romanists .... 527
1847. Opposition against amalgamation of Welsh dioceses . . 551
,, Diocese of Manchester founded . ..... 551
,, (Nov.) Rothschild not allowed to sit in parliament . . 510
1849. The Gorham case, involving doctrines on Baptism . . 521
1850. Papal bull creates Romanist episcopate in England . . 508
1851. Parliament declares papal bull void (Act repealed 1871) . 509
1852. Convocation resumes its functions 522
1856. The Denison case involving doctrines on Eucharist . . 518
,, Irish Church disestablishment bill rejected 163 to 93 . 512
1858. Bill abolishing church rates rejected also in 1860 . . 505
,, Jewish disabilities removed, 143 to 97 . . . .510
,, Government of India transferred to the crown . . . 510
1859. English Church Union founded 519
1860. Church Defence Institution founded 517
1861. Church rates abolition bill rejected by speaker s vote. . 505
,, First Church Congress, henceforward held annually . . 523
1864. First diocesan conference, held at Ely . . . . 523
,, Convocation condemns Essays and Reviews . . . 522
1865. The Church Association founded 519
1866. Convocation condemns Dr. Colenso s writings . . . 522
1867. First pan- Anglican synod, 76 bishops present . . . 562
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
A.D. PAGE
1868. The Mackonochie case, involving ritual observances . . 520
,, Church Rates Abolition Ad passed ..... 505
1869. Irish Church Disestablishment A ct passed . . . .512
,, Vatican council promulgates new doctrines . . . 509
1870. Elementary Education Act passed ..... 531
,, The first suffragan bishop of modern times consecrated . 561
Keble college, Oxford, founded. ..... 529
1871. University tests abolished 506
,, Commons refuse to disestablish English Church, 374 to 89 517
,, Martyrdom of Bishop Patteson in Melanesia . . . 524
1872. Commons refuse to disestablish English Church. 356 to 61 517
1873. Church of England Temperance society founded . . 542
1874. Public Worship Regulation Act passed .... 520
1875. The case of Clifton v. Ridsdale 521
1877. Diocese of Trnro founded 552
1878. Diocese of St. Albans founded ,553
,, Second pan- Anglican synod, 100 bishops present . . 563
1880. Diocese of Liverpool founded ...... 554
,, Burial Laws Amendment Act passed .... 506
1881. Revised version of New Testament published . . . 377
1882. Diocese of Newcastle founded 555
1884. Diocese of Southwell founded 557
1885. Revised version of Old Testament published . . . 377
,, Mr. Bradlaugh allowed to take his seat in. parliament . 514
,, Martyrdom of Bishop Hannington at Busoga . . 525
1886. Houses of Laymen met for the first time .... 523
1887. Jubilee year of Queen Victoria, Church House incorporated 523
1888. Diocese of Wakefield founded 558
,, Oaths abolition bill passed the commons . . . .514
., Third pan-Anglican synod, 145 bishops present . . 564
1889. Disestablishment (Wales) bill rejected by commons . . 517
1891. Free Education Act (elementary) passed .... 531
1893. Church defence demonstration in Albert Hall . . .518
1895. Large majority of Church defenders elected to parliament . 518
1896. Queen Victoria Clergy Sustentation Fund founded . . 523
1897. Bishopric of Bristol revived 550
, , National thanksgivings for Queen Victoria s prolonged reign 523
,, Fourth pan- Anglican synod, 194 bishops present . , 565
CONTEMPORARY KINGS AND PRELATES
CIVIL RULERS.
THE SOUTHERN PRIMACY.
THE WELSH
PRIMACY.
Traditional Archbishops of London.
Traditional Primates
The Romon emperors
Theaiius
oj Caerleon.
up to A.D. 410.
Eluanus
Codar
Adelphius 314
Obinus
Dubritius 500
Then Celtic tribal
Palladius
David 560
chiefs until the Teu
tonic invasion and
settlement.
Stephaiius
Iltutus
Tlieodwinus
David removed to
Menevia and set up
a new see, since called
.
ineoureaus
St. Davids, Caerleon
Then various chiefs
.tlilarius
RESTITUTUS, A.D. 314
giving place to Llan-
of the Teuton tribes
Gu telinus
daff. ___
until the Danish in
Fasti dius
Archbishops of
vasions.
Vodinus
ST. DAVIDS.
Theonus
Cynog
See suppressed about A.D. 550
Tcilo
Ceneu
(
SEE OF CANTERBURY
SEE OF LONDON |Morfael
Supremacy of I
17-__i "%
Augustine 597
Laurentius C04
Temporarily revived
by Mellitus, 603. who
Haerwnen
Elwaed
Kent.
Mellitus 619
fled in 615
Gwrnwen
I
Justus 024
Llunwerth
(
Honorius C27
Permanently founded
Gwrgwyst
Supremacy of J
Northumbria. j
Deusdedit 655
Theodore 668
(The first primate)
Berhtwald 693
by Cedd
Wini
Earconauld
Waldheri
656
666
674
693
Gwgan
Eirieon
Clvdawg
El fod
r
Tat win 731
Ingwald
715
Ethelman
Notheliii 735
Ecgwulf
746
Elauc
Supremacy of
Merck. 1
Cuthbert 7 10
Bregwin 759
Lirnberht 766
Wighed
Eaclbright
Eadgar
754
761
768
Maelsgwyd
Made
Cadell
Ethelhard 793
Cocnwalch
773
Sadwrnfen
V
Wufred 805
Eadbald
784
Novis
Heathobert
795
Sulliaithnay
/Egbert 827
Theogild S32
Osmund
813
Idwal
Ethelwulf 839
Ceolnoth 833
Ahelnoth
835
Asser
/Bthelbald 858
Ceolberht
838
Arthwael
\Etlielbert 858
Deorulfa
?
Samson
Ethelrel 806
Suithulf
854
Ruelin
. Alfred 871
Ethelred 871
Ealhstan
863
Rhydderch
g Edward I. 931
Phlegmund 890
Wulfsige
870
Elwin
S Athelstan 925
>? Edmund I. 940
Atheliu 915
Wulfhelm 924
Ethelward
Eadstan
878 Morbiw
886lLlunwerth
Edred 94 >
Odo 934
Theodred
900
Hubert
J Edwy 955
Wulstan
922 Eneuris 942
> s Edgar 958
Alfsia 959
Brithelm
941 Ivor
j Edward II. 975
Dunstan 960
Dunstan
958lMorgeneu 944
g Ethelred 997
Ethelgar 988
Alfstan
960
P<
Sigeric 990
Nathan 661
,5 Edmund II. 1016
El trie 995
Jeuan
Canute 1017
Elphege 1006
Wulfstan
96]
Arwystl
Harold I. 1035
Leovingus 1013
Aelfun
1004
Morgeneu
Hardicanutel040
Etlielnoth 1020
Aelfwy
1016
Ervin 1023
Edward III. 1042
Eadsius 1038
Alfword
1032
Trahaearn 1039
Robert 1051
Robert
1044
Joseph 1055
^Harold II. 1066 Stigand 1052
William
1051
Bleiddud 1061
BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST
THE PRIMACY OF
IRELAND.
THE NORTHERN PRIMACY.
NOTABLE BISHOPS
OF ROME.
There were primates of York from
LINUS, bishop of
very early times. One of them,
Rome, A.D. 58, is tra
named Eborius, with Restitutus of
ditionally identified
London and Adelphius of Caerleon,
with the Briton Llin.
attende 1 the council of Aries in
There were 10 bishops
St. Patrick 445
A.D. 314, and the see continued to
of Rome between
St. Beren 455
flourish until the English invasion,
him and ELEUTHE-
St. Jarlath 465
when it came to an end.
RUS (A.D. 177192),
Ponnac 48*^
Dubtach I. 497
Paulinus temporarily revived the
see in A.D. 627, but he was driven.
iy DCi/wccn nun sun,
SYLVESTER (314
335), 10 bishops and
Ailill I. 513
southward in 634 through war.
two rival claimants
Ailill II. 526
MMMMM
to the see between
Dubtach II. 536
David 548
Feidlimid 551
When King Oswald invited mission
aries from lona in 635 the bishopric
was placed at Lindisfarne.
Sylvester and CELES-
TINE (423432), and
20 bishops with one
rival between Celes-
Cairlan 578
Aidan (first bishop) 635
tine and GREGORY
Eschaid 588
Finan (second bishop) 651
THE GREAT, who
Senach 598
Colman (third bishop) 662
ruled from 590604.
Mac Laisre 610
See divided into
HONORIUS I. (626
Thomian 623
YORK.
LINDISFARNE.
640) was sixth in suc
Wilfrid I. 664
Tuda 664
cession to Gregory
Segene 661
Chad 666
VITALIAN, 658672,
Flan Febla 688
Wilfrid (restored) 669 Eata 678
sixth from Honoritis.
Suibne 715
Bosa 678 l Cuthbert 685
Adeodatus 672
Congusa 730
Wilfrid (restored) 686 Eadberct 688
Domnus 676
Celepeter 750
Bosa (restored) 691 Eadfrid 698
Agatho 679
Fredachry 758
John of Beverley 705
Leo II. 682
Foendelach 768
Wilfrid II. 718 Ethelwold 724
Benedict II. 684
Dubdalethy I. 778
Egbert 732 Cynewulf 740
John V. 685
Assiat 793
(The first primate)
Conon 686
Cudiniscus 794
Albert 766
Higbald 780
Sergius and rival 687
Coninac 798
Eanbald I. 782
Twelve more occu
Torbach 807
Eanbald II. 796
pants bring us to
Nuad 808
LEO III., 795816.
Flangus 812
Wulfsy 812
Ecgberht 802
16 others came be
Artrigius 822
Heathured 819
tween him and LEO
Eugene I. 833
Eogred 828
y. (903905), when
Farannan 834
Wigmund 837
there was a fifth
Dermod 818
Eanbcrt 846
rival. There were
Factna 852
Wulfhere 854
Eardulf 854
10 bishops of Rome
Ainmire 872
from Leo V. to AGA-
Cathasach I. 875
who removfd to
PETUS II., 946955
Maelcob 883
CHESTER-LE-ST. 882
John XII. 956
Maelbrigid 885
Ethelbald 895
Cutheard 900
Leo VIII. 963
Tilrecl 915
(to whom a council
Joseph 927
Redwald 928
Wilfred 928
opposed Benedict V.)
Maelpatrick 936
Wulstan I. 931
Uchtred 944
John XIII. 965
Cathasach II. 937
Sexhelme 945
Benedict VI. 972
Oskytel 956 Aldred 946
(who also had a rival)
Muirlach 957
Ethelwold 972 Elfsig 968
Dominus II. 974
Dubdalethy II. 966
Oswald 972jAldhun 990
Benedict VII. 975
Murechan * 998
Adulph 993 who removed to
John XIV. 984
Maelmury 1001
Wulstan II. 1002 DURHAM 995
John XV. 986
Eadmund 1021
15 more occupants of
AmalgaH 1021
AfricPuttoc 1023;Eadrel 1041
the see, and an eighth
Dubdalethy III. 1050
Kinsius lOSlJEgelric 1042
anti-pope, bring us to
CiKnasach 1065
Aldred 1060 Egelwin 1056
Alexander II. 1061
KINGS AND PRELATES FROM THE CONQUEST
KINGS
OF ENGLAND.
ARCHBISHOPS OF
CANTERBURY.
BISHOPS OF
LONDON.
BISHOPS OF
ST. DAVIDS.
William I.
1066
Lanfranc 1070
H. de Orivalle 1075
Sulien 1071
Maurice 1085
Abraham 1076
William II.
1087
Rhyddmarch 1088
Anselm 1093
Griftry 1096
Henry I.
1100
R. de Beaumes 1108
R. d Escures 1114
Bernard 1115
W. de Corbeuil 1123
Gilbert 1128
Stephen
1135
Theobald 1139
Re de Sigillo 1141
D. Fitzgerald 1147
R. de Beaumes 1152
Henry II.
1154
T. a Becket 1162
G. Foliot 1163
Richard 1174
P. de Lei a 1176
Baldwin 1185
Richard I.
1181)
R, de Ely 1189
R. Fitzwalter 1193
W. Marychurch 1199
John
1199
G. de Henelawe 1203
S. Langton 1207
Jowerth 1215
Henry III.
1216
E.de.Fauconbergl221
R. Grant 1229
R. le Noir 1229
A. le Gross 1230
E. Rich 1234
Boniface 124o
Fulk Basset 1212
H. de Wingham 1259
R. de Carew 1256
H. de Sandwich 1263
Edward I.
1272
R. Kilwardby 1273
J. de Chishul 1274
J. Peckham 1279
R. de Gravesend 1280
T. Beeh 1280
R. Winchelsey 1294
D. Martin 1296
R. de Baldock 1306
Edward II.
1307
W. Reynolds 1313
G. de Seagrave 1313
R. de Newport 1317
Edward III.
1.327
S. Meophan 1328
S. de Gravesend 1319 H. de Gower 1328
J. Stratford 1333
R. de Bentworth 1338
J. Thoresby 1347
T. Hradwardine 1349 R. de Stratford 1340
R. Brian 1350
S. Islip 1349
S. Langhatn 1366
W. Wittlesey 1368
M. deNorthburgl354
S. Sudbury 1362
W. Courtenav 1375
F. Fastolfe 1353
H. Houghton 1361
Richard II.
1377
S. Smllmry 1375
W. Courtenay 1381
R. de Braybroke 1381 J. Gilbert 1389
R. Walden 1405 G. Mone 1397
Henry IV.
139!)
T. Arundel 1396
N. Bubbewyth 1406 H. Chicheley 1408
R. Clifford 1407
J. Catterick 1414
Henry V.
1413
H. Chichely 1414
J. Kempe 1422 S. Patrington 1415
W. Grey 1426 B. Nicholls 1418
Henry VI.
1422
R. Fitzhugh 1431
T. Rodburn 1433
J. Stafford 1443
W. Lvndwood 1442
R. Gilbert 1436 J. Langton 1447
J. Kemp 1452
J. Delavere 1447
Edward IV.
1461
T. Bourchier 1454
T. Kemp 1459 R. Ttilly 1460
Edward V.
1483
R. Martin 1482
Richard III.
1483
T. Langton 1483
TO END OF PLANTAGENET DYNASTY
ARCHBISHOPS OF
ARMAGH.
ARCHBISHOPS OF
YORK.
BISHOPS OF
DURHAM.
POPES OF
ROME.
Maclisa 1065
Thomas I. 1070
Walchere 1071
Gregory VII. 1073
W. Carileph 1080
Victor III. 1086
Urban II. 1088
Donald 1092
Gerard 1100
R. Flambaid 1099
Pascal II. 1099
Celsus 1106
Thomas II. 1109
G. Rufus 1133
Gelasius II. 1118
Thurstan 1114
Calixtus II. 1119
Maurice 1129
Honorius II. 1124
Malachy 1134
Innocent II. 1130
Gelasius 1137
William 1144
W. de S. Barbara 1143
Celestine II. 1143
II. Murdoch 1147
Lucius II. 1144
EugeniusIII. 1145
William (rest.) 1153
R. Pont 1 Eveq 1154
II. Pudsey 1153
Anastasirs IV. 1153
Adrian IV. 1154
Cornelius 1174
Alexander III. 1159
Gilbert 1175
Lucius III. 1181
Maclisa II. 1184
Urban III. 1185
Amlave 1184
Gregory VIII. 1187
T. O Connor 1185
Clement III. 1187
G. Plantagenet 1191
Ph. of Poictiers 1197
Celestine III. 1191
Eugene 12061
Innocent III. 1198
L. Nettersil 12201 W. de Grey 1216
R. de Marisco 1217
Honorius III. 1216
Donat 1227
R, Poor 1228
Gregory IX. 1227
Albert - 1240
N. de Farnham 1241
Celestine IV. 1241
Reiner 1247
W. de Kirkham 1249
Innocent IV. 1243
S. de Bovil 1256
Alexander IV. 1254
A. O Connellan 1257
G. de Ludham 1258
R. Stichell 1260
Urban IV. 1261
P. O Scanlan 1261
W. Giffard 1266
Clement IV. 1265
Oregon- X. 1271
W. MacMolissa 1272
R. de Insula 1274
Innocent V. 12"6
Adrian V. 1276
John XX. 1276
W. Wickwaine 1279
Nicholas III. 1277
Martin IV. 1281
J. Romanus 1286
A. de Bek 1283
Honorius IV. 1285
H. de Newark 1296
Nicholas IV. 1288
J. Taafe 1305
T. de Corbridge 1300
Celestine V. 1292
W. de Jorse 1306
W. Greenfield 1304
Boniface VIII. 1294
R. de Jorse 1311
Benedict X. 1303
S. Seagrave 1322
W. de Melton 1316
R. Kellaw 1311
Clement V. 1305
L. Beaumont 1318
John XXI. 1316
D. O Hirnghty 1334
W. laZouche 1342
R. Grevstones 1333
Benedict XI. 1334
R. Fitzralph 1347
Thos. Hatfield 1345
Clement VI. 1342
J. Thoresbv 1352
Innocent VI. 1352
M. Sweetman 1361
A. de Neville 1374
Urban V. 1362
Gregorv XI. 1370
T. Arundel 13F8
John Fordham 1382
Urban VI t 1378
J. Colton 1382
R. Waldby 130(5
W. Skirlawe 1388
Boniface IX. 1389
R. Scrope 1398
Benedict XI I. 1394
N. Fleming 1404
T. Langley 1406
Innocent VII. 1404
H. Bowet 1407
3 Rivals 1406-1417
J. Swayn 1417
Martin V. 1417
J. Kemp 1426
R. Neville 1438
Eugenius IV. 1431
J. Prene 1439
Nicholas V. 1447
J. Mey 1444
W. Booth 1452
Calixtus III. 1447
J. Boie 1457
L. Booth 1457
Pius II. 1458
J. Foxall 1475
G. Neville 1465
Paul IT. 1464
E. Connesburgh 1477
L. Booth 1476
W. Dudley 1476
Sixtus IV. 1471
O. de Palatis 1480JT. Rotherham 14SO
Innocent VIII. 1484
XXXV111
CONTEMPORARY PRELATES DURING
CIVIL RULERS.
ARCHBISHOPS OF
CANTERBURY.
BISHOPS OF
LONDON.
BISHOPS OF
ST. DAVIDS.
fHenryVH. 1485
J. Morton
1486
H. Parry 1485
R. Hill 1489
T. Savage 149b
J. Morgan 1496
H. Dene
1502
W. Wareham 1502
VV. Wareham
1503
W. Barons 1504
R. Sherborne 1505
^.
R. Fitzjames 1500
Henry VIII. 1509
T. Cramner
1533
C. Tunstall 1522
J. Stokesley 1530
E. Vaughan 1509
R. Rawlings 1523
3
B. Bonner (dep.) 1589
W. Barlow 1536
. -<; Edward VI. 1547
N. Ridley 1550
R. Feirar 1548
g Mary 1553
R. Pole
15 6
E. Bonner (rest.) 1553
H. Morgan 1554
- Elizabeth 1558
M. Parker
1559
E. Grindall 1559
T. Young 1560
E. Sandys 1570
R. Davies 1561
E. Grindall
1575
J. Aylmer 1577
M. Middleton 1582
J. Whitgift
1583
R. Fletcher 1595
A. Rudd 1594
R. Bancroft 1597
xJames I. 1603
R. Bancroft
1604
R. Vaughan 1604
T. Ravis 1607
G. Abbott 1609
h
G. Abbott
1610
J. King 1611
R. Milburn 1615
p
G. Monteigne 1621
W. Laud 1621
| Charles I. 1625
W. Laud
1633
W. Laud 162S
T. Field 1627
, Charles II. 1649
W. Juxon 1633
R. Mainwaring 1636
} Restored 1660
W. Juxon
1660
G. Sheldon 1660
W. Lucy 1660
^
G. Sheldon
1663
H. Henchman 166
W. Sancroft
1677
H. Compton 1675
W. Thomas 1678
James II. 1685
L. Wormack 1683
J. Llovd 1686
William III. 1689
J. Tillotson
1691
T. Watson 1687
\
T. Tenison
1695
G. Bull 1695
/"Anne 1702
P. Bisse 1710
George I. 1714
W. Wake
1715
J. Robinson 1714
A. Ottley 1713
E. Gibson 1723
R. Smallbrook 1724
E. Sydall 1731
i^ George II. 1727
J. Potter
1736
N. Claggett 1732
E. Willes 1743
>
T. Herring
1747
T. Sherlock 1748
R. Trevor 1744
oL
M. Hutton
1757
A. Ellis 1752
T. Seeker
1758
S. Squire 1761
George III. 1760
T. Hayter 1761
R. Lowth 1766
r-i
R. Osbaldeston 1762
C. Moss 1766
F. Cornwallis
176-
R. Terrick 1764
J. Yorke 1774
R. Lowth 1777
J. Warren 1779
E. Small well 1783
J. Moore
1783
B. Porteous 1787
S. Horsley 1788
W. Stuart 1794
f
C. M. Sutton
1805
J. Randolph 1809
G. Murray 1800
George IV. 1820
W. Howley
1828
W. Howley 1813
C. J. Blomtield 1828
T. Burgess 1803
J, B. Jenkinson 1825
g | William IV. 1830
< Victoria 1837
J. B. Sumner
1848
A. C. Tait 1856
C. Shirwall 1840
C. T. Longley
1862
^
A. C. Tait
1868
J. Jackson 1869
W. B. Jones 1874
E. W. Benson
1883
F. Temple 1885
V. | F. Temple
1S97
M. Creighton 1897
J. Owen 1897
AND SINCE THE REFORMATION
ARCHBISHOPS OF
ARMAGH.
ARCHBISHOPS OF
YORK.
BISHOPS OF
DURHAM.
POPES OF ROME.
O. de Palatis 1480
T. Rotherham 1480
J. Shirwood 1485
Innocent VI 11. 1484
R. Fox 1494
Alexander VI. 1492
T. Savage 1501
Pius III. 1503
W. Sever 1502
Julius II. 1503
C. Bainbridge 1507
Leo X. 1; 13
G. Bainbrigg 1508
T. Ruthall 1509
Adrian VI. 1522
J. Kite 1513
T. Wolsey 1514
T. Wolsey 1523
Clement VII. 1523
G. Cromer 1522
E. Lee 1531
C. Tunstall 1530
Paul III. 1534
G. Dowdall 1543
R. Holgate 1545
Jnlir.sIII. 1550
H. Goodacre 1552
Marcellr.s II. 1555
N. Heath 1555
Paul IV. 1555
A. Loftus 15G2
T. Young 1561
J. Pilkington 1561
Pius IV. 1559
T. Lancaster 1568
E. Grindall 1570
Pius V. 1566
J. Long 1584
E. Sandys 1577
R. Barnes 1577
Gregory XIII. 1572
SixtusV. 1585
J. Garvey 1589
J. Piers 1589
M. Hutton 1589
Urban VII. 1590
Gregoiy XIV. 1590
H. Ussher 1595
M. Button 1595
T. Matthew 1595
Innocent IX. 1591
Clement VIII. 1592
T. Matthew 1606
W. James 1606
Leo XI. 1605
R. Neile 1617
Paul V. 1605
C. Hampton 1613
J. Ussher 1624
G. Monteigne 1628
G. Monte- gne 1628
Gregory XV. 1621
Urban VI 1 1. 1623
S. Harsnet 1629
J. Howson 1628
R. Neile 1632
T. Morton 1632
Innocent X. 1644
J. Williams 1641
Alexander VII. 1655
J. Bramhall 1660
A. Frewen 1660
J. Cousin 1660
J. Margetson 1663
R. Sterne 1664
N. Crewe 1674
Clement IX. 1667
M. Boyle 1678
Clement X. 1670
J. Dolben 1683
Innocent XI. 1676
T. Lamplugh 1688
J. Sharpe 1691
Alexander VIII. 1689
Innocent XII. 1691
N. Marsh 1702
Clement XI. 1700
T. Lindsay 1713
Innocent XIII. 1721
W. Dawes 1714
W. Talbot 1722
H. Boulter 1724
Benedict XIII. 1724
L. Blackburn 1724
E. Chandler 1730
Clement XII. 1730
J. Hoadley 1742
T. Herring 1743
Benedict XIV. 1740
G. Stone 1746
M. Hutton 1747
J. Butler 17f,0
J. Gilbert 1757
R. Trevor 1752
Clement XIII. 1758
R. Robinson 1765
R.H.Drummondl761
Clement XIV. 1769
W. Markham 1777
J. Egerton 1771
Pius VI. 1775
T. Thurlow 1787
W. Newcombe 1795
S. Barrington 1791
W. Stewart 1800
Pius VII. 1806
E.V.V.HarcourtlSOS
W. Van Mildert 1826
Leo XII. 1823
J. G. Beresford 1822
Pius VIII. 1829
E. Maltby 1836
Gregory XVI. Ifc31
T. Musgrave 1847
C. T. Longley 1856
M. G. Beresford 1862
H. M. Villiers 1860
Pius IX. 1846
C. T. Longley 1860
C. Baring 1861
W. Thompson 1863
J. B. Lightfoot 1879
Leo XIII. 1877
R. Knox 1886
W. D. Maclagan 1891
B. F. Wescott 1890
W. Alexander 1895
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
AMONG the many obligations which the writer owes to numerous
correspondents throughout England and the colonies, towards the im
provement of this work, he desires to publicly express especial thanks to
Dr. Stubbs, lord bishop of Oxford, to Professor Montague Burrows, and
to the Rev. H. Graiiville Dickson for kind advice and valuable suggestions
which have been of great encouragement and assistance.
With respect to the illustrations, it is right to mention that about a
fourth of the woodcuts in these two volumes have previously appeared in
other publications of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
About thirty have been supplied by Messrs. Virtue and Co., and most of
the remainder by Messrs. Cassell and Co. The portrait of Dr. Pusey
on page 529 and that of Archbishop Benson on page 564 are from photo
graphs by Mr. S. A. Walker, Regent St. The illustration on page 151 is
from a photograph by Messrs. Valentine and Co., Dundee. Those on
pages 23 and 61 are from photographs by Chester Vaughan, Acton, W.
To one and all the author begs to tender hearty thanks for their kind and
ready co-operation.
ILLUSTRATED NOTES ON ENGLISH
CHURCH HISTORY
PART I
)ra of Conversion
CHAPTER I. (A.D. 33-274)
THE ORIGIN OF BRITISH CHRISTIANITY
"The Julian spear
A way first opened : and, with Roman chains,
The tidings come of Jesus crucified.
Lament ! for Diocletian s fiery sword
Works busy as the lightning." 1
1. Terminology. Do we always know what we mean when we
speak of the Church of England ? There should not be any difficulty
in understanding by the word Church, when used in this connexion,
that Divine society which the Saviour came on earth to reorganize,
and which commenced its appointed task of evangelizing the world
after the Pentecostal inspiration. By the word England we usually
and rightly understand the territory that is geographically so called,
but many persons in speaking or writing of the English Church have
limited the application of the geographical term to the English race
that is to say, to the descendants of the Anglo-Saxon tribes who
commenced to occupy Britain in the middle of the fifth century.
There was, however, a flourishing and well-organized Christian com
munity here centuries before that invasion, and one object of these
pages will be to show that this older Church became so merged into
the Anglo-Saxon Christianity which originated in the seventh century,
that each may fairly claim a share in the other s history. If this
1 The poetical headings to eacli chapter are from Wordsworth s sonnets.
VOL. I. R
EARLY RECORDS
process of absorption be proved, the continuity of the apostolic
Church in this land becomes indisputable. The Anglo-Saxon or
Teutonic tribes have for so long been the dominant race that they
have habitually treated the Celtic tribes with more or less of neglect.
But the Celtic tribes are still preserved among us, their languages
also ; they are easily distinguishable as separate peoples, even though
some of their descendants in every generation have married with the
descendants of their conquerors ; and they must not be left out of
account when we consider the history of the faith which bids us
recognize all nations in an universal brotherhood. Our country is
still called Britain, Great Britain, or Britannia, words that are much
more comprehensive than England, and it is in this wider sense that
we are to understand the latter word when it is used to distinguish
the English branch of the Catholic Church. When then, and how,
was the Christian society first planted and established in Britain ?
2. Profane history and religion. Although the ancient
inhabitants had a written language, no books by which we might be
assisted in our inquiry have been preserved to us ; but from oral
traditions, collected and published after the Norman conquest,
together with such records as Roman historians compiled from time to
time, we are enabled to give a very intelligible answer to the question.
The ancient world was not unfamiliar with our island. An eminent
explorer named Pythias, who lived in the time of Alexander the Great,
B.C. 330, made two voyages of discovery to Britain, and reported upon
its agricultural resources, as well as the domestic customs of the
inhabitants. Coins have been dug up in different parts of the
country similar to the Greek coins of Alexander, which point to a
commercial intercourse between Britain and his country. Such know
ledge and communication may account for the war of conquest
undertaken against the Britons by Julius Coesar at the head of an
immense army, B.C. 55. That renowned general always wrote an
account of his expeditions, and in his book on the Gallic wars he
minutely describes the religion and habits of the ancient Britons.
He tells us that they were governed by their religious teachers, the
Druids; who appear to have been a separate caste with peculiar
privileges, the instructors of youth, and the arbitrators in all disputes.
The druidical religion is said to have comprised belief in a supreme
deity, and the immortality and transmigration of souls ; but the
DRUID TEMPLES
number of classical deities mentioned by Julius Ctesar shows that they
worshipped a plurality of lesser divinities besides. They sacrificed
in open-air temples, surrounded either by groves of oak trees, or
circles of immense stones similar to those still seen at Avebury,
Stonehenge, and Carnoc. On great occasions human victims were
offered as vicarious propitiatory sacrifices. The elements of fire, earth
and water, vegetation, etc., were additional objects of their veneration.
The details of that intricate religious system were only transmitted
ontlly to such persons as had undergone a long period of initiation,
and even then under the strictest seal of secrecy. We are further
told that the Britons were an agricultural as well as a trading
community, but inadequately sheltered, clothed in skins, and tattooed.
RUINS AT STONED ENOE.
There is abundant evidence of their bravery in war, although their
weapons were of the rudest kind. The knowledge Julius Caesar
acquired of Britain was confined to the tribes inhabiting its southern
seaboard, but there appears to have been a still more barbarous people,
inhabiting the north and west and the adjacent islands, who had
settled there centuries before the arrival of the Celtic tribes.
3. Th.6 conquest by Claudius. Still more important for
our purpose is the subsequent invasion of Britain by Claudius Ccesar
in the year of our Lord 43. That was the commencement of a series
of terrible wars between the Britons and Romans which did not cease
ROMAN COLONIZATION
until A.D. 84, when the whole territory, now called England and
Wales, with so much of Scotland as lies south of the rivers Clyde and
Forth, became a Roman province ruled by Roman governors, visited
by Roman emperors, colonized by Roman citizens, and kept in order
by the Roman legions. Claudius expelled the Druids, who fled to the
isle of Aiiglesca, and set up the elaborate worship of the Roman gods.
Soon a network of roads opened up the country for traffic, stately
palaces and villas studded the land, cities and garrison towns were
built in important centres, remains of which are found to this day.
In short, Britain became almost as civilized and cultured as any other
part of the Roman empire, and so continued for 300 years.
4. Britons in Rome. How do such events affect the introduc
tion of Christianity to Britain ? In this way : There was necessarily
constant communication between the chief towns of Britain and the
CARADOC AT ROME
great imperial city of Rome, the chief highways being through Ganl
(France) by way of Lyons, the Ehone, and Marseilles. All important
events in each country would thus soon be made known in the others.
Now it was exactly at the time when Claudius Caesar overcame the
Britons that the disciples of our Lord were becoming known and
called by the title of Christians. How to deal with this new religion
so as to please the Jews and not offend the adherents of the older
heathen systems was a burning question for the Roman government.
We know that many of the chief preachers of Christianity were
arrested, some killed, and others imprisoned. St. Paul was a
prisoner in Rome, chained to a soldier, at the very time when his
gaoler s comrades were engaged in the long and arduous conquest
of Britain. From time to time batches of prisoners were brought to
that city from the seat of war, and a notable prisoner was the brave
British king Caradoc, whom the Romans called Caratacus. He was
not a contemporary prisoner with St. Paul : for it will be remem
bered that on account of his dignified bearing before the emperor
his life was spared, and he was permitted to return home to govern
his tribe as a subject prince of Rome ; but several of his family,
retained as hostages for his good behaviour, were state prisoners at
Caesar s court, at the time when we know St. Paul had access to it
and had made many converts in the household. It is therefore quite
probable that the British captives met with St. Paul.
5. Traditional introduction of Christianity. A
thirteenth century collection of early British traditions, which cannot
be all imaginary, gives full particulars of the imprisoned hostages
just referred to. They are said to have been Bran, Llin, and
Claudia, the father, son, and daughter of Caratacus ; and we are further
told that this Bran, who had been either a druid priest or bard, became
a convert to Christianity, and, on being liberated, returned to his
native land as an evangelist for Christ. Although this is pure
legend there is nothing improbable in the story. It is also thought
that Claudii is the same British princess who was (according to Martial,
the Roman historian) married to Pudcns, the son of a Roman senator.
Now in St. Paul s second epistle to Timothy, chap. iv. 21, Claudia,
Linus, and Pudens are all mentioned together. This Linus, the Latin
equivalent for Llin, is identified with the first of the long line of
bishops of Rome. What then is more likely (if, as the Triads tell us,
TRA DITIONA L MISSION A RIES
St. Paul s friends ware the children of Garatacus) than that they
should take measures for the conversion of their fatherland ? In the
absence of direct testimony we ought not to say that St. P<;ul him
self actually came to Britain ; but it is idle to think that lie could be
ignorant of so notable an addition to the Roman empire, any more
than in our day we could imagine an intelligent observer of the times
knowing nothing of England s colonial enterprise. St. Clement, a
personal friend of St. Paul, says that the great apostle (ravelled to the
" furthest limits of the West" (a phrase which, in thj Roman literature
of the time, was understood to include Britain). But whether he
came himself or not, we may be sure that his wonderful faculty of
organization, and the great love he had for his peculiar mission
to the Gentile world, would not have allowed him to overlook the
claims of so important a part of it as Britain. History does not
enable us to say for certain that he came here, but we may reasonably
conjecture that many of his ardent converts, and in those days they
burned with fervent zeal, may have helped to bring the hearts of the
Britons in subjection to the power of the Cross.
6. St. Joseph Of Arimathea. Some other traditional
accounts must not pass unnoticed. The Arthurian legends have made
us familiar with one which in mediaeval times, and indeed till a recent
date, was considered to be unimpeachable as indicating the true source
of British Christianity. It is this: The Jews, having a special en
mity to SS. Philip, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, and Joseph of Arimathea,
banished them. They arrived at Marseilles, where SS. Philip and
Lazarus remained, but St. Joseph was sent, with twelve companions
and the holy women, to Britain. They landed on the south-west coast
and made their way to Avalon, now Glastonbury, bearing with them
the Holy Grail (i.e. the chalice wherein our Lord consecrated the
wine and water at the institution of the Eucharist, and in which was
said to be preserved some of the blood which fell from the Savinn o
wounds as he hung on the cross). On their arrival they preached to
the people, and for a testimony pointed to St. Joseph s thorn staff
which blossomed and became a tree immediately after he had planted
it in the ground near the place where they rested. Whereupon the
King Arviragus gave them land and allowed them to settle. They at
once built a church in honour of the Virgin Mary out of wattles and
wreathed twigs which they plastered with mud. No one believes all
SITES OF EARL Y SANCTUARIES
of that mythical story, but this much is certain, that no place in
England lias ever attempted to rival Glastoiibii . y as the site of the
first British Christian settlement. When or by whom the first church
there was built we shall uevi-r know for truth, but a more substantial
structure was soon erected in place of the original humble and primitive
one, which has been added to, ivbuiit, and restored from time to time,
often at great cost and on a s<:ale of great magnificence, as our
picture of the now ruined twelfth century church still serves to show.
RUINS OF ST. JOSEPH S CHAPEL, GLASTOXBURY (sec page 126).
7. Other traditions Lucius. Gildas, a British ecclesiastic
who lived early in the sixth century, and who is our sole historian up
to that time, after describing the defeat of the drnids under Boadicca,
A.D. 61, immediately goes on to say, "In the meantime, Christ the
true Sun for the first time cast his rays, i. e. the knowledge of His
laws on this island." Although the Romans governed the country the
Britons still continued to be a tribal people, living in small family
communities under chiefs who were called kings. The Venerable Bcde
ANCIENT LITURGIES
says that one of these British kings, named Lucius, sent a letter to
Eleutherius, bishop of Kome, about A.D. 170, requesting to be made a
Christian, and have some clergy sent to him, which request was
granted. It would not be right to ignore this tradition, or to say
that it is wholly fictitious, but scholars feel that as it rests entirely
on a sixth century interpolation in a fourth century book, it must not
be unreservedly accepted. Possibly Lucius may have heard, in the
parts where he lived, enough of the new religion to make him desire
to know more ; and as the city of Rome was then the centre of
government from which every needful thing was said to be attainable,
it was a natural place for him to send to ; but we must not therefore
suppose that there was no Christianity among the other tribes. The
traditions which state that Lucius converted heathen temples into
Christian churches on the sites where St. Paul s cathedral and West
minster-abbey now stand ; that he founded the bishopric of Caerlecn-
on-Usk, near what is now Llandaff, and built the original churches
of St. Mary, Dover ; St. Martin, Canterbury ; and St. Peter-upon-
Cornhill, London, are extremely mythical ; and the only dependable
fact in connexion with Lucius is the declaration of Bede that from
his time to the days of the emperor Diocletian "the Britons kept
the faith in quiet peace, inviolate and entire."
8. Doctrine and liturgy. There are many evidences, as we
shall presently learn, respecting the purity of the faith professed in
the earliest times by Britons ; and the natural way of accounting for
so pleasing a fact is by pre-supposing its early introduction and settle
ment here, before any of the grievous errors had arisen that afterwards
caused so much sorrow of heart to the Christians in other lands, but
which, on account of our secluded and insular position, did not
easily effect a lodgment in Britain. One thing that we know for
certain respecting those early times is that, in days long anterior to
any reliable histories, the Christians in Britain had a definite Liturgy,
or form of public worship. This may help us a little to understand
the source from which the British Church derived its faith. There
were four great liturgies in use in different parts of the primitive
Christian world, obviously of common oral origin, and identical in
doctrine, but differing in many smaller matters. They are known as
the Oriental, the Alexandrian, the Roman, and the Galilean liturgies.
That which was used in the British Church from earliest times is
TERTULLIAN S TESTIMONY
identified with the Gallican, probably because the bishops from Gaul
held frequent communion with the bishops in Britain. It is said
that the Gallican liturgy was first compiled by the evangelist St. John
for his Church at Ephesus, and that Irenacus, who was bishop of
Lyons in 177, introduced it into Gaul (see page 168). When Jrenaeus
became bishop of Lyons, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was
grievously persecuting the Christians everywhere, and many of the
faithful in Gaul are supposed to have fled to Britain, and in that way
to have increased the similarity of worship in the two countries. And
there was a great outburst of religious zeal all over Gaul, after the
still more terrible persecution of Christians by the emperor Decius,
about A.D. 250, by which the British Church was greatly strengthened.
HADRIAN S WALL (see footnote on next page}.
9. Historical testimony. Towards the close of the second
century, i.e. about the year 193, the fame of the British Church
had reached even unto Africa, for Tertullian, the great apologist
of Christianity there, wrote: "For in whom else hnve all the
nations believed, but in Christ? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, all
the coasts of Spain, the various nations of Gaul, and the parts
inaccessible to the Romans but now subject to Christ." The only
parts then inaccessible to the Romans were the unconquered Picts
in the highlands beyond the fortified walls of Hadrian and
10 PRIMITIVE ORGANIZATION-
Agricola. 1 Another great writer, Origen, about A.D. 240, testified that
in his day the religion of Christ was established in Britain ; after
which date many historians record the fact. No one, however,
disputes the existence of Christianity in Britain about this time.
The controversy rather centres upon the question of its orthodoxy,
although there is also an obvious desire on the part of later writers to
connect the leading missions of this time with the Church of Kome.
10. The early missionaries. We can only conjecture what
was the character of Christian influence in Britain then, except
that it was distinctly of a missionary type. The usual method seems
to have been for a band of devoted men, generally twelve, under a
recognized leader, to penetrate into some untried district and there
publish the Gospel of peace. If they were well received they would
beg a plot of land on which to build their habitation, and gradually
gain converts. Their simple and self denying lives constrained the
people to listen to their teaching, and thus they made conquest of
human hearts. The leader would then seek consecration as bishop
of the flock he had gathered together, and when his disciples were
sufficiently zealous and fitted for the task, fresh companies of twelve
w r ould be selected from the settlement and commissioned to win some
other centre to the cause. So the work went steadily on, tribe after
tribe among the Celts in Britain admitted the claim of the Cross to
their allegiance, until the whole land became subdued to its influence.
Each settlement was a perfectly organized Church, complete in itself,
but so related to other centres by mutual counsel, spiritual sympathy,
and common belief, as to form but one harmonious and united society.
11. The early martyrs. Towards the close of the third century
or perhaps in the beginning of the fourth, the British Church had,
in common with other Christian communities, to attest the reality
of its faith by the blood of its members. Very many persons of both
sexes are said by Gildas to have suffered in different places. A few
who met their fate in the principal Roman towns are specially men
tioned by name : e. g. Aaron and Julius, who were martyred at
1 About A.I>. 210, Severns built numerous fortresses, part of which still stand,
along the line of Hadrian s great wall, from Carlisle to the Tyne, and allowed the
Picts to occupy the territory that intervened between it and the northern wall
which Agricola and Antoninus built. This district was, however, reclaimed again
by Valentinian, A.D. 368, and called " Valent a" after him. After the Romans left
Britain, the Scots contended for it against the Picts and established a colony there.
EARLY MARTYRS
11
Caerleon ; but the chief place as protomartyr has always been assigned
to a Roman soldier of noble birth named Alban, who lived at Verulam.
At the commencement of the general persecution of Christians ordered
by the emperor Diocletian, Alban gave shelter to Amphibalus, a
Christian priest, who was flying from the Roman officers, and after
wards facilitated his escape by exchanging clothes with him. Before
ST. ALBAN S SHRINE.
Amphibalus bade farewell to his preserver, Alban had received such
instruction in the truths of Christianity as made him determine to
die rather than betray his guest. "When brought before the judge,
charged with concealing a blasphemer of the Roman gods, he avowed
himself a convert to the proscribed religion, and refused, in spite of
torture, to burn incense at the heathen altars. He was therefore
12
RESULTS OF PERSECUTION
sentenced to death, and beheaded outside the city ; but his constancy
and devotion caused so many others to profess the Christian fai h that
the Roman judges, with the connivance of the governor Constantius,
were obliged to withhold the enforcement of the persecuting edicts.
The events to be recorded in the next chapter speedily put an end to
the persecutions of Christians, and then, in this and other countries,
stately and beautiful buildings were erected for the worship of the
Saviour, in honour of those who witnessed to His mission by their lives
and deaths. On the spot where St. Alban was killed, the Christian
Britons erected a church to his memory, which was replaced, as
centuries rolled by, with more magnificent structures (see page 152).
Saxons and Danes, as they became Christians, each strove to outvie
their predecessors in the honour done to the memory of Britain s
soldier martyr. The present church at St. Albans contains remains
of the shrines of Amphibalus and his martyred convert, to both of
which pilgrimages were made from all parts of Christendom for many
succeeding generations. The name of St. Alban occupies an honoured
place in the calendar of the English Church, against the 17th of June.
CHAPTER II. (A.D. 274-449)
GROWTH AND VIGOUR OF BRITISH CHRISTIANITY
" That heresies should strike (if truth be scanned
Presumptuously) their roots both wide and deep
Is natural as dreams to feverish sleep.
The Pictish cloud darkens the enervate land
By Rome abandoned."
1. Constantine the great. We must turn again to Roman
history. Under the rule of Gallienus some of the governors of Britain
assumed independent sovereignty of the province. The chief of them
was Carausius, who, when Diocletian became emperor, so successfully
resisted the imperial authority that he was permitted to retain the
usurped dignity. Diocletian then resolved to govern the empire by
four Caesars, who should each rule a specified division, but act in
harmony. The Gallican provinces were assigned to Constantius, who
quickly recovered Britain for the empire, and set up his court in the
city of York. Before this a devout Christian lady, named Helena,
became his wife ; and in A.D. 274, a son was
born to them, called Constantine, who accom
panied his father to York. In that city
Constantius died, A.D. 306, Constantine suc
ceeding him as Caesar. The other C*sars
objecting to his elevation, he had to uphold
his position by force of arms, which he did
successfully ; and after twelve years joint
authority with Licinius, became sole emperor
in 324. The soldiers of Britain and Gaul,
who formed the backbone of his army, KOMAX TOWER AT YORK.
shared in his successes. Many of them were undoubtedly Christians,
and they had become attached to their leader ever since his father
Constantius had allowed the persecuting edicts of Diocletian to be
waived, which Constantine on assuming the purple had withdrawn
altogether. This was no small boon to them, because where the
13
14 CONSTANTINE THE GREAT
edicts were enforced, Gildas informs us, the Christian churches were
demolished, the hoty writings burnt, priests and people dragged to the
shambles and butchered like sheep, to such an extent that in some
provinces scarcely any traces of Christianity remained. This was the
last of ten great persecutions by which the early Church was tried,
and thereafter Christians were allowed full liberty to serve and
worship God in Christ. It was doubtless to a large extent because
the shrewd Constantino had found the Christians in his army brave,
resolute, honest, and fearless of death in a right cause ; as well as in
grateful recognition of the signal aid they had always afforded his
father and himself ; perhaps also from a keen perception that the
marvellously rapid increase of the Christians, in spite of all these
persecutions, indicated a still more numerous membership at no
distant date ; that he not only gave them full toleration, but took a
personal interest in all their affairs, and adopted the once shameful
symbol of the cross, not only as his standard in battle, but also as the
image and superscription on many coins. A well-known tradition
infers that this change of front was brought about by his having seen
in the sky a vision of the cross, and underneath it in Latin words,
"In this sign conquer" but Britons may be forgiven for cherishing
the patriotic idea that no small part of Constantino s goodwill to
Christianity, and his efforts for its welfare throughout the Roman
empire, was due to the respect for its great truths commanded by the
lives of British converts ; and that Christians of Britain repaid their
debt to the continent by giving to the world the first emperor who
embraced the true faith. Up to that time the Christian missionaries
had commenced their efforts among the lowest of the people, gradually
working upwards, as they gained adherents, to the higher ranks of
life ; but later on the practice was to convert the king and his court,
leaving the people to follow the fashion. In 313 Constantino persuaded
his colleague Licinius to agree to a joint edict, w T hich granted to all
Christians equal liberty with the older religions to live according to
their own laws and institutions ; and by 324, when Licinius was
killed, European heathenism had received its death-blow. The
advancement of Constantino meant the decadence of Britain as a
Roman province, for all the flower of its army, all its beauty and
intellect and valour, followed in the train of the conqueror, first to
Rome, and then to the still grander city of Byzantium, which
Constantino founded to be the seat of government instead of Rome,
BYZANTIUM
15
leaving their stately homes in Britain to fall into decay. Only the
missionaries remained to instruct and comfort the poor plebeians, who
were unable through weakness or poverty to accompany the ever
victorious army, with thoughts of greater treasures and a more
glorious citizenship in the world to come.
THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE (BYZANTIUM).
2. Church, councils. We now arrive at a very important period
in Church history the age of Church Councils. During the times of
persecution the Christians were obliged, not infrequently to worship in
dens and caves of the earth for fear of arrest, they carried their lives in
their hands and on their tongues, they were afraid to meet in private,
much less to assemble publicly ; and so the faithful were often left
without proper guidance and instruction from authorized teachers.
When better times came, and they were able to worship openly and
exchange ideas without fear or favour, it was found that many wild
interpretations had been put upon important doctrines, and that a
16
COUNCIL OF ARLES
number of erroneous opinions were current. Constantino, although
not as yet a professed Christian, was appealed to as arbitrator. It
was then decided that learned representatives and leaders of Christian
thought, from all parts of the empire, should be summoned to meet in
council and discuss disputed points as they arose ; the authoritative
declarations of such assemblies to be accepted as the orthodox belief.
The Church in Britain was repeatedly invited to send representatives,
because it was recognized throughout Christendom as a true and
integral part of the apostolic and universal Church of Christ.
3. British bishops present. In the year 314 such a council
was held at Aries, in Gaul, mainly for the purpose of settling the
differences of opinion as to how the Church should treat the timid
members, who, in times of persecution, had yielded in various ways
to the demands made by the heathens ; and among the names of the
signatories to
the canons then j _J
formulated we
find the follow
ing representa
tives from Brit
ain: (1) Ebor-
ius, bishop of
York; (2) Re-
stitutus, bishop
of London ; (3)
Adelphius, bi
shop of another
Civitate Colo-
nice, which is ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE AT ARLES.
supposed to have been Caerleon-on-Usk. Assuming that this is correct
it would seem as if the bishops named were ecclesiastical overseers in
the three civil divisions of Roman Britain : (1) Maxima Ccesariensis,
with its centre at York ; (2) Britannia Prima, of which London was
the chief town ; and (3) Britannia Secunda, of which Caerleon-on-Usk
was the metropolis. Besides the bishops mentioned, the names of
Sacerdos, a priest, and Arminius, a deacon, arc also recorded as having
been present at the council of Aries among the representatives from
Britain. The absurd twelfth century tale of Geoffrey of Monmouth,
COUNCIL OF NIC^EA 17
which makes the position of those bishops correspond with that of
modern archbishops, and which further says DO less than twenty-
eight suffragan bishops then assisted those metropolitans, we may
safely consider false ; but of this we can rest assured, that so early
as that notaMe council of Aries, the Church in Britain was thoroughly
established on an admit: edly orthodox basis, with its three apostolic
orders of clergy (bishops, priests, and deacons) in communion with
the other Christian Churches of the world. That satisfactory state
of things could not have sprung full-grown into existence, it must
have been the result of many years unwearied diligence, activity, and
self-denial. That the British Church could have afforded to send a
deputation so far away at that time, proves it to have already made
considerable financial progress, and we may be sure that the same
benevolence which found the means to defray the expenses connected
with the journey, would not have neglected to provide the clergy at
home with such buildings, and fittings, and holy writings for the
proper conduct of public worship, as would be worthy of the cause ;
and in harmony with the elegance and durability for which Roman
towns in Britain were famous.
4. The council Of Nicsea. In 325, one year after Con stantine
became sole emperor, a very large Church council was held at Niccza,
by his suggestion, to consider a far more serious matter, viz. the
teaching and writings of Arius, who denied the consubstantiality of
the divine Father and Son. At this assembly 318 bishops from every
part of Christendom were present, and although we cannot nominate
those belonging to Britain, we are informed that as soon as the
representatives returned with the decisions of the council, all the
British bishops signified their agreement in a letter sent by them to
their beloved ruler, and old friend, Constantino the great. Any
Christian teacher who opposed the decrees of such a council was
declared to be excommunicate, but it has been the chiefest glory
of the Church in this country, before and since it was called England,
that its teaching has always proved to be in strict accord with such
doctrines as have been pronounced true by these Catholic councils.
The formulated doctrinal decision of the bishops assembled at Nicaa
is to be found with very few verbal differences in the Nicene Creed
(which forms part of the service for Holy Communion) down to the
words "in the Holy Ghost." The additions and alterations were
18 COUNCIL OF ARIMINUM
made at subsequent councils to meet other false doctrines as they
arose. That was the earliest published declaration of the Catholic
Faith, and if ever Christians throughout the world are again agreed,
it should be upon the basis of the Nicene creed.
5. Other councils. The followers of Arms did not take kindly
to their excommunication, or the banishment of their leader ; more
over, they had many friends at court, and the support of all who were
still favourable to the older heathen religions ; so that sometimes their
star was in the ascendant, and the faithful had to fight their battle
for truth over again in other councils. St. Athanasius, the leading
debater for the orthodox party at the assembly of Nicsea, tells us that
a deputation of bishops from Britain attended the council of Sardica,
A.D. 347, and supported him against the accusations of the Arian
party, who were then in great favour at Constantinople, a very satis
factory reminiscence for us. Yet another council, held at Ariminum,
A.D. 360, testifies to the unceasing vigour of the British Church in
spite of the increasing depression in the prosperity of the country.
This council was summoned by the emperor Constantius, a son of
Constantine, who offered to pay the expenses of the delegates out of
the imperial treasury. Nearly all the prelates declined this favour.
The exceptions were three of those who came from Britain. That any
Britons should accept assistance points indeed to a growing poverty in
some parts of our land ; but the determination to pay their own ex
penses on the part of the other British bishops present, and an offer
by them to defray the costs incurred by their poorer countrymen, shows
that there was still considerable prosperity in other parts. It is said
that the bishops from Britain present at Ariminum were unwittingly
inveigled into expressing an heretical opinion respecting Arianism,
and therefore any testimonies to their general orthodoxy at this period
are especially valuable. We are glad to know that Hilary of Poitiers,
while an exile in Phrygia, about A.D. 358, congratulated the " bishops
of the province of Britain," in common with other bishops whom he
specifies, on having remained " free from all contagion of the detestable
(Arian) heresy " ; that St. Athanasius, in a letter to the emperor
Jovian, A.D. 363, was able to include the churches of Britain amongst
those that were loyal to the catholic faith ; that St. Jerome, before
the close of the fourth century, could report them as "worshipping
the same Christ, and observing the same rule of faith as other nations ;"
and that St. Chrysostom, whom we all venerate so highly, was able to
DECREASE OF IMPERIAL POWER
1!)
say that in this country, as in the East and South or beside the
Euxine, " men may be heard discussing points of Scripture with differ
ing voices, but not differing beliff." After this consensus of opinion
we are prepared to find that, although in some rules of discipline and
a few points of ritual observance, the
British Christians were subsequently
found to have differed from con
tinental practice, their doctrinal
position was in true harmony with
the universal Church.
6. Decay of Roman Britain.
Up to this time Britain had been
constantly governed by the Romans,
although after Constantine went
away the deputy rulers were not so
eminent as their pre
decessors. Latin,
the language of the
Romans, had for a
long time been the
chief medium of j
communication
all important affairs,
and a Latin trans
lation of the Bible
was used, probably
founded on the old
Latin version from
which St. Jerome
translated the Vul
gate ; but when the
educated people left
Britain to be near
the imperial courts,
the illiterate remnant went gradually back to their own Celtic tongue.
Being a " distant dependency" of the empire, Britain had not been of
much profit to Rome, while, in order to keep the tribes in subjection,
a large military force was required, which caused a severe strain on
the imperial exchequer ; therefore, when all the available legions and
ROMAN SOLDIERS.
20 DEPARTURE OF THE LEGIONS
funds were needed to defend Italy against the Gothic invasion, and
the soldiers on foreign service had to be recalled, Britain was evacuated,
about A.i). 410, never to be re-occupied by the Romans. By this
arrangement, as Gildas tells us, the laud was despoiled of all its armed
soldiery, and all its active and flourishing youth. Then the people,
deprived of all civilizing influences, except such as the few Christian
teachers who remained were able to impart, were left to govern them
selves. But as they had forgotten how to do this, the old habit of
tribal chieftains fighting for supremacy was revived.
" For many a petty king ere Arthur came
Ruled in this isle, and ever waging war
Each upon other, wasted all the land ;
And still from time to time the heathen host
Swarm d over seas, and harried what was left
. . . . And King Leodograii
Groan d for the Roman legions here again,
And Csesar s eagle."
The withdrawal of the Romans, and the disturbed state of Europe put
an end to trade and commerce between Britain and Gaul ; the inter
change of courtesies between the Churches became less frequent in
consequence, so that, while the Christians adhered zealously to the
fundamental truths they had received, they were not kept supplied
with safeguards against the introduction of new doctrinal errors.
7. Pelagianism. It appears that about this time no small stir
was made in the Christian world by one of the British clergy, named
Morgan, who had followed the stream of fortune hunters to Rome.
He is said by St. Jerome to have been of Scottish (i. e. Irish J ) descent,
but on account of his name he is generally considered as a native of
what is now Wales. Morg.m means sea-born, and the Greek equivalent
(Pdagius) is the name by which he and his heresy (Pelagianism} are
known to scholars. He was a man of great originality of thought, and
his desire for fame was realized, although not in the sense he would
have preferred. His remarkable views were quickly pronounced
heterodox, and his name covered with dishonour. The chief points of
the controversy were his denial of original sin, and his assertion that
man is capable of turning to God and serving Him without the need
of divine grace. His opponent was the great Augustine, bishop of
1 Lowland Scots are descendants of tribes who went from the north-west of
Scotia, now called Ireland, to settle in Valentia, the low-lying district between the
Roman walls. Highlanders are descended from the Picts.
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
21
Hippo (whom we must be careful to distinguish from Augustine, the
monk, who came to Kent nearly 200 years later), who, while heartily
contending against his errors, cheerfully admits that in private life
Pelagius was "honourable, earnest, chaste, and commendable ; a holy
man who had made considerable progress in the Christian life, a good
and praiseworthy person, with whose name he first became acquainted
when he (Pelagius) was living at Rome with commendation and respect."
The Britons were naturally
proud of their clever country
man, and, although he did
not personally propagate his
doctrines here, many quickly
believed them, to the dismay
of the orthodox clergy ; who
were unable personally to
convince the people of their
errors, for the reason we have
stated that the best of the
clergy had withdrawn from
the country with the best of
the people, only the least
influential remaining. The
clergy who did stay in the
country sent to the Gallium
Church for aid and guidance,
and the Church in Gaul,
having discussed the matter HADRIAN S CASTLE, HOME
in council at Troyes, arranged (now called the Castle of St. Angela).
to send two of its most able and learned bishops to visit Britain.
These were Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus, bishop of
Troyes. They reached this country A.D. 429, and by their eloquence
soon convinced the Pelagians of their heresy. Not only do they
appear to have preached frequently in different parts of the country,
they also convened a synod at Verulam (St. Albans), at which the
orthodox party was signally victorious.
8. The "Alleluia" battle. It is recorded that during their
visit the barbarous tribes from the north, whom the Romans had never
been able to conquer, harassed the southern tribes by forcing a passage
through the chain of forts built by Agricola and Hadrian across the
VISITS OF GALLICAN BISHOPS
north at the Forth and Tyne. They had been especially troublesome
during the Lenten season of 430, when the Gallican bishops and the
British clergy had been engaged in preparing the young and the novices
for ihe great annual baptism at Easter ; whereupon Germanus and
Lupus undertook to lead the forces of the south against their northern
adversaries as soon as the festival was over. The combatants on both
sides were simple-minded people, and the superior intellect of the
bishops soon invented a ruse which resulted in a bloodless victory.
By the aid of scouts they learned the movements of their northern
insurgents, and hid the lustiest and most active of the southerners in
a wooded valley. The Picts came over and down the hills expecting
no opposition, and were almost close to the ambuscade, when, at a
given signal from Germanus, the clergy all shouted "Alleluia ! " Their
followers repeated the word as one man, raising a shout which reverb
erated to the hills and gradually increased in volume of sound. Their
enemies were unused to such disciplined movements, and imagining
from the noise that their adversaries greatly outnumbered themselves,
were smitten with sudden terror, threw away their weapons, and fled
back to their hills in precipitate disorder. That has been called the
"Alleluia Victory," and the place where it is said to have occurred,
" Maes Gannon " (the field of Germanus), is still pointed out in Flint
shire. Britons consequently held the name of Germanus in great
esteem, and when the Gallican bishops proceeded to inspect such
places of interest for Christians as the island afforded, their lasting
popularity was assured. At the tomb of St. Alban, Germanus deposited
with great ceremony certain relics of apostles and martyrs, and took
away some earth from the spot where Alban fell, to place in a new
church which he caused to be erected at Auxerre in honour of the
martyred soldier. From that time we may date the rapid rise of that
excessive veneration for the shrines of saints which in later centuries
threatened to replace the higher worship of the Holy Trinity,
9. Second visit of the Gallican bishops. It was thought
that the visit of the Gallican prelates had effectually disposed of the
Pelagian heresy in Britain, but it was revived fifteen years after, and
Germanus was implored to come and set things right again. Lupus,
bishop of Troyes, being now dead, Germanus had for his companion
this time Sevcrus, bishop of Treves. They reached this country early
in the year 447 and were again successful in their efforts on behalf of
THE BISHOPRIC CV< MAN
23
the orthodox faith. The heretical teachers were banished, after
which, as Bede informs us, "the faith of Britain remained inviolate."
Another triumphal progress through the land was made by the dis
tinguished strangers, with the result that religious zeal and enthusiasm
were everywhere aroused. Existing churches were restored and
beautified, "new ones founded, the number of bishops increased, and
spirit of devotion revived among the Celtic race which has never
wholly died. One me
mento of this mission
may be found in the
bishopric of the Isle
of Man, which was
founded in honour of
Germanus, A. P. 447, its
first bishop adopting his
name. The ruins of
St. German s cathedral,
which may still be seen
on the rock at the en
trance to Peel harbour,
are not the remains of
the original church, but
they stand on its site
and still speak volumes
to us of the missionary
zeal which for centuries
flowed from it to other
parts. Glastonbury and
St. Albans received a
particular share of at
tention from Germanus,
and the religious fervour
he communicated to the
RUINS OF ST. GERMAN S, ISLE OF MAN.
people had much to do with the determined resistance they offered
to the heathen races who were about to invade the land, a resistance
which will be memorable as long as the defence of Christianity by
King Arthur and his knights of the round table occupy so large a
place in our romantic song and story.
Thus from the second to the middle of the fifth century Christianity
24 ST. NINIAN IN SCOTLAND
was the religion of all the laud of Britain which the Romans had
subdued. What we now call Ireland and Scotland were less fully
open to its influence, owing to the absence of regular intercourse
between the countries, and to the long standing feuds between the
different Celtic tribes.
10. The Celtic mission in Scotland. There is much to
show that the British Christians did not forget or neglect to evangelize
their heathen kindred, but the difficulty of dissociating the object
of religious teachers from the avowed antipathy of the tribes from
which they came, must be held to account for their tardy success.
To remove that misapprehension was a work of time, and much
depended on the personal character of the leading missionaries. In
this respect also, the influence of the Gallican bishops had great
results. Long before he came to our country the great ability and
sanctity of Gerrnanus had drawn towards him a number of young
men who desired to be instructed at his feet, with the view of carry
ing on evangelistic work in the British Isles. Many more followed
him on his return to Gaul, where other well-known teachers, such as
St. Martin of Tours, and famous schools like that of Lerins had long
offered great inducements. Foremost among those young students
was Ninian, the son of a British chief, who, desiring to preach the
Word to the Scots, was sent abroad for education. Having been con
secrated as a bishop, he settled in the lowlands about the year 400, and
established a Christian community at Whithorn. The rude Scots to
whom he was sent were a very violent people, of whom it is said that
"they had more hair on their faces than clothes on their bodies."
They had come from what was then called Scotia, but now Ireland,
to occupy Valentia, that is, the lands between the Solway and Clyde,
and although they eventually became rulers of the north, and gave
their name to the country, at the time of which we are now treating
they were an exceedingly barbarous race. After eight years of dis
couraging labour among them, St. Ninian was compelled to quit the
country and seek refuge among people of the same race who still
remained in Ireland. Before leaving he had built a substantial
church of white stone, then an unknown material for such a purpose
to the people among whom he placed it. It was the fame of this
church which gave the name of Whithorn (white house) to the locality.
We have no record of his work among the other Scottish tribes whom
ST. PATRICK IN IRELAND 25
he visited in Ireland, but it was doubtless to cany on Ids work there
that Palladius, also a native of Britain, was in A,D. 431 consecrated
by Celestine, bishop of Rome, to be bishop of the Scots who believed
in Christ. His mission, however, was not successful. He was ex
pelled from Ireland, as Ninian had been from AVhithorn, by the chief
of the tribe, perhaps because he denounced their means of livelihood ;
piracy and s^ave-trading being their chief avocations.
CELTIC MISSIONARIES STARTING ON A VOYAGE.
11. St. Patrick. Among the captives which these rude robbers
had stolen from the Clyde, about the year 403, was a youth of sixteen
years, named Succoth, whose noble birth gained for him the surname
of Patricius, or Patrick. It seems that both bis father and grandfather
were Christian clergymen, so that he received an intellectual training
from a very early age. Some pirates took him to the north of Ireland,
where he was forced to tend cattle belonging to the chief. After six
years he was impelled by a dream to escape from captivity, but was a
second time taken by pirates, this time being carried to Gaul. He was
noticed there by Christian merchants who restored him to his friends.
26 ST. KENTIGERN
The heathenism of the Irish people among whom he had been enslaved
troubled him greatly, and belonged to be the means of converting them
to the Christian faith. For that purpose his father sent him to Gaul to
be taught in the schools of Tours, Auxerre, and Lerius. In due time
he was consecrated " bishop of the Irish. " Thus commissioned, and
accompanied by twelve friends, he lauded A.D. 432 at the place where
the town of "VVicklow now stands. Proceeding northwards, he had the
good fortune to convert Smell, king of Leinster, the very chief who
had expelled Palladius, and after a few years met with such success as
to be able to establish the See of Armagh, which has ever since been the
chief bishopric of Ireland. Before St. Patrick died, he had organized a
thoroughly efficient ecclesiastical system in the isle of Erin, with
monasteries governed by native clergy, which became centres of educa
tion, refinement, and missionary enterprise. After his death the Church
in Ireland appears to have lost ground, and to have been indebted for
revival to the bishops of the British (i. e. Welsh) Church (see page 36).
12. Further Celtic missions. The work begun by St. Niuian
in Scotland was not allowed to die out. Several names are given in
various histories of missionaries who had penetrated successfully even
"the lands beyond Forth" after his departure, while on the north-east
coast, a Greek bishop is traditionally reported to have brought certain
relics of St. Andrew, and founded a Christian community at the place
still named after that apostle, who has since become the patron saint
of Scotland. But the real continuation and consolidation of St. Ninian s
labours in the lowlands was owing to St. Keniigern, otherwise known
as St. Mungo, who, early in the sixth century, preached from Solway-
firth to the Clyde, and founded the monastery of St. Asaph, in Wales,
soon to be the seat of the bishopric so named 1 (see page 29). We are
now able to see how vigorous and extensive was the work of the
British Church ; nor can we fail to be impressed with the thought
that the see of Rome, which afterwards made such unreasonable
demands upon its allegiance, had a singularly small share therein.
1 The principal church of a district governed by a bishop is railed a cathedral,
because it contains the seat, or throne, of the bishop. The word comes from the
Greek kathedra a seat. The area over which a bishop has jurisdiction is called his
see for a kindred reason but the latter word is derived from the Latin sedeo, to sit
hence, to sit in judgment, or to rule.
CHAPTER III. (A.D. 449-597)
EFFECT OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CONQUEST
" The spirit of Caractacrs descends
Upon the patriots, animates their glorious task ;
Amazement rims before the towering casque
Of Arthur, bearing through the stormy field
The Virgin sculptured on his Christian shield."
1. The Jutes settle in Kent. We have next to consider the
time when the Britons had to fall back before the overwhelming might
of the Teutonic or German tribes, who began their work of conquest
in Britain the same year that Germamis had left our shores for the last
time. Bede tells us that " the poverty-stricken remnant of the
Britons " men who forgot how to fight for their country when they
forgot how to govern it sent a letter to ^Etius, the Roman consul,
imploring military aid against the barbarous northerners who were
ravaging the country. But the Romans were too fully occupied with
the defence of their own country to send help to the colony they had
evacuated. In despair Vorligern, one of the British kings, invited a
band of heathen warriors from Jutland, beyond the sea, hoping that by
setting one barbarous tribe against another he might get rid of the
27
28 COMING OF THE JUTES
fierce and frequent attacks of the northern insurgents. The Saxon
Chronicle says that the first company of Jutes landed at Ebsfteet in the
isle of Thanet, under the command of two brothers, Hengist and Horsa.
A treaty was made between them and Vortigern, that the Jutes should
have a trading port in British territory on condition that they helped
the Britons against the northern tribes ; and Vortigern s daughter
Rowena was married to Hengist as a pledge of good faith. When
the northern enemies were defeated the allies of the Britons were
not satisfied with the indemnity offered them, and claimed a larger
reward for their services than the Britons were willing to give. War
followed, in which the Jutes were victorious, and as they had by that
time seen enough of the country and its resources to make them
desirous of owning it they seized the district now called Kent.
There they established a colony, with their leader as king, follow
ing up their advantage by making continual raids upon the Britons,
who stubbornly contested their fatherland inch by inch. The feud
between the Celtic and Teutonic races thus commenced has never been
wholly obliterated, and still unhappily shows itself in the political
atmosphere of Great Britain and Ireland. Our map of north-west
Europe (see page 27) will explain the geographical position originally
occupied by the tribes who now became, and for centuries remained, the
rulers of our land. The Jutes were separated from the Saxons by the
Angles, but they all spoke dialects of the same language, known to us
as Old English, and so called because the English or Angles became the
dominant tribe, and gave our country and tongue its present name.
The Teutonic invaders were unwilling to use the speech of the
Celts who inhabited Britain before them. In derision they called it
and the speakers of it " Welsh," which meant that they were unin
telligible. The persistence with which each race adhered to its own
customs, intensified the ill-feeling between the Britons and their foes.
.Friendly intercourse was next to impossible, and the struggle was for
life or death. "Armed with long swords and battle-axes, the new
colonists went forth in family bands under petty chieftains to war
against the Welsh, and when they had conquered themselves a district
they settled on it as lords of the soil " (Grant Allen}. Save for a hand
ful here and there who hid themselves in the fastnesses of forest and
mountain and marsh, they slew or enslaved the Britons, and when they
had completely subdued the old inhabitants they kept up their warlike
spirit by fighting among themselves. The conquered land was divided
THE SAXON SETTLEMENTS
21)
amongst the victors by lot. The chief received a suitable portion, of
which he remained the private possessor. It is thought that the lands
previously belonging to the British Christian churches were then
appropriated by the conquerors to the maintenance of heathen worship.
ST. ASAPH CATHEDRAL (LLANELWV) (sCC page 34).
2. Arrival Of the Saxons. The Teutonic tribes did not come
to our country all at once, nor overspread it from one centre, but
landed at different places in successive generations, so that the Britons
were continually subject to inroads from fresh and vigorous enemies
until they were almost surrounded. The Jutes came first in 449,
as we have seen, and in 477 the Saxons, having heard from them
of the richness and fertility of Britain, invaded the south coast under
the leadership of JElle and his son Cissa, who landed at Selsea and
encamped at Chichester (Cissanceaster), i.e. Cissa s camp. They
attacked the Roman town of Anderida, and left no Briton alive to tell
the tale. The territory they occupied was for a long time known as
the kingdom of the South- Saxons, whence we have " Sussex." In 495
there was a still more important invasion. A second band of Saxons
30 ANGLIAN MIGRATIONS
came to what is now Hampshire, under Cerdic and Cynric, and these
gradually overran all the south-west of Britain, as far as Somerset
shire, and called their kingdom "Wessex (the West- Saxons}. It is
said that their chief antagonist was the renowned King Arthur, of
whom we have already heard, and that he, at the battle of Mount
Badon, A.D. 520, so stubbornly resisted the Saxon advance, that the
territory now known as Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset, then called
by the Saxons West- Wales, was for many years free from fighting.
" And Arthur and his kn : ghthood for a space
Were all one will, and thro that strength the king
Drew in the petty princedoms under him,
Fought, and in twelve great battles overcame
The heathen hordes, and made a realm and reign d."
By this means the famous church of Glastonbury, "first ground of the
saints, the rise and foundation of all religion in our land," was pre
served from the terrible destruction and desecration that fell upon
the other churches which the British Christians had built. Other, but
smaller bands of Saxons colonized the parts known to us as Essex
(the East- Saxons], and Middlesex (the Middle- Saxons], about 530.
3. The Anglian colonies. It is thought by some that small
expeditions of Jutes and Saxons had settled in the north of Britain
even before they had established themselves in the south. Perhaps
when they helped the Britons to drive the northern tribes beyond
the lloman wall, many families might have been invited to remain
on the northern shores ; but the first real occupation of the north
did not take place until 547, when a large number of Angles were
brought over by Ida. Their descendants soon became masters of the
whole country from the river Humber to the firth of Forth. Their
kingdom was called Northumbrian and their kings were at one time
brctwaldas, i.e. overlords, of all the Anglo-Saxon tribes. Other
Anglian colonies were subsequently founded in the eastern counties
and the midlands. Norfolk and Suffolk were occupied about A.D. 585,
and known as the kingdom of East-Anglia. The coast from the Wash
to the Humber formed the territory of the Middle- Angles, which, by
additions from the earlier Anglian settlers who allied against the Welsh,
gradually developed into the great central kingdom of Mercia. Thus
the Heptarchy (i.e. the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent, Sussex,
Essex, Wessex, Northumbria, East-Anglia, and Mercia) was formed.
BRITONS DRIVEN WESTWARD
31
Sometimes the kingdoms of Wessex, Mcrcia, Northumbria, and East-
Anglia were divided into still smaller kingdoms, that a king s son or
brother might share in the government, ami succeed to full power should
the king fall in battle. On the death of either, such divisions would be
re-united. The Anglian tribes inhabited a far larger portion of British
territory than the Saxons or Jutes, and that is why the country was
eventually called Angleland (England). Rivers and mountains were
the natural boundaries, but, as each small range of hills was captured
by the colonists, the Britons were driven westward, and had to be
content with Wales, West- Wales, and Strathdyde as their portion.
4. The destruction of British churches. It must not
be thought that they surrendered their right to the possession of the
rest without a struggle. The fact that 150 years were required by the
Anglo-Saxons to subdue the flat countiy districts, proves that in all the
world-wide struggles between the Teuton and Latin races no land was
"so stubbornly fought for or so hardly won" as Britain. The
enthusiastic love of Christianity, aroused by Bishop Germanus just
before the first Teutonic invasion, had much to do with the wondrous
resolution of the Britons to die where they fought in defence of their
churches, rather than fly and leave them to the desecration, plunder,
ST. PANCHAS CHURCH
, CANTERBURY (see pages 32 and 50).
32 TEUTONIC DIVINITIES
and burning that they knew would be their fate at Anglo-Saxon hands.
Nothing could exceed the determination with which the invaders set
about annihilating all the Christian sanctuaries that they found. Bede
says that all public and private buildings were destroyed, the priests
blood was spilt upon the altars, prelates and people were destroyed
together by fire and sword, no man daring to give them decent burial.
Most of the cities and churches were burned to the ground, many
inhabitants being buried in the ruins. For a time Theon, bishop of
London, and Thadioc, bishop of York, wandered about their dioceses ;
but when the country had entirely relapsed into paganism, and
they found that all was lost, then they were forced to retire amongst
their fellow- Christians in the west. Among the churches known to
have been abandoned by the Britons were St. Martin s and St. Pancras
in Canterbury. They are illustrated on pages 31 and 50.
5. Anglo-Saxon heathenism. The Anglo-Saxons wor
shipped "gods many and lords many," and their rage was even greater
against the Christian teachers of the Britons than against the Britons
themselves. For a little time it seemed as if all traces of civilization
had been driven from the land. The very names of the days of the
week remind us of the deities they worshipped. The Sun ; and the
Moon ; Tiw, their god of battles and giver of victory ; Woden, the
recognized founder of their race ; Thor or Thunder, their god of strength ;
Frea, the goddess of peace and plenty, and Saetere, the god of agri
culture. They gave to the hills and valleys and streams names of
veneration, and to their leaders similar symbolical titles ; e. g. Hengist
and//orsa mean "horse" and "mare," and Ethdwulf, the "noble wolf."
Such names indicate the extent to which their religion was identified
with animate and inanimate objects of nature. " But the average
heathen Anglo-Saxon religion was merely a vast mass of superstition, a
dark and gloomy terrorism begotten of the vague dread of misfortune,
which barbarians naturally feel in a half-peopled land, where war and
massacre are the highest business of every man s lifetime, and a violent
death the ordinary way in which he meets his end. . . . Their greatest
virtue was courage, cowardice their greatest vice ; those who fell in
battle were at once admitted to the hall of Woden to drink ale for ever
out of the skulls of their enemies." 1 In every new settlement the chief
of a Teutonic tribe would erect near his own dwelling a temple for the
i Grant Allen, Anglo-Saxon Britain. S.P.C.K. 2s. Qd.
EFFECT OF TEUTONIC INVASIONS 33
gods, and it sometimes happened that a British Christian church was
preserved by the Anglo-Saxons from utter destruction to serve this
purpose. Such desecration was for Christians infinitely worse than
demolition, yet when the heathen Teutons became converted, the
churches so defiled were restored to the purpose for which they were
originally built (see page 50), and thus became bonds of union between
their founders and the Christians who subsequently worshipped in them.
BAXGOR CATHEDRAL, CAERNARVONSHIRE.
6. The survival of British Christianity. The result of
the Anglo-Saxon invasion was not, as some seem to have imagined, to
utterly destroy the Celtic races or their religion, but to cut off their
intercourse with the Gallican Church and so prevent them hearing of
any progressive changes which may have been deemed expedient for
the safe-guarding of the true Faith. Jutes and Saxons and Angles
formed a wedge, so to speak, which separated the "Welsh" from other
Christians in Europe. This fact accounts for the difference of ritual
VOL. I. C
34 SURVIVAL OF THE CELTIC CHURCH
observance in the British, Irish, and Scottish Churches from those of
the continent, when the latter made a way through the heathen tribes
at the beginning of the seventh century, and found that the Celtic
Christians, whom they had almost forgotten, had preserved intact their
ancient faith and worship, as well as their apostolic ministerial
succession. It was then asked why the Britons had not attempted to
convert their conquerors, and they explained that it had been im
possible for a "Welsh" Christian teacher to show himself among the
pagan conquerors and live. They did not, however, neglect to spread
the knowledge of the truth, for, having consolidated their own
organizations under altered conditions, they not only completed the
evangelization of Ireland and Scotland, but sent missionaries to the
heathen parts of the mainland of Europe (see page 103).
7. Organization of the Church in Wales. When the
British Christians were driven from their old homes, a few fled beyond
seas, but the greater portion who survived the struggle maintained in
the west a vigorous Christianity. They divided the land that remained
to them into ecclesiastical districts, Avith a bishop, a cathedral church,
and a monastic college attached to each. These latter became the
centres of religious thought, and the depositories of such literature as
they were able to preserve and copy, as well as training-schools for
fresh generations of evangelists and teachers. Perhaps the most im
portant of these scholastic communities were those of Bangor-is-ij-coed
on the Dee, near Chester (which is said to have had as many as
2000 members when ultimately destroyed by the Anglian king
Ethelred), and that of CacrZeon-on-Usk, which had doubtless seen an
unbroken succession of bishops from a time before the council of Aries,
although the record of their names is lost. The present dioceses of
Wales exactly represent the districts into which that portion of Britain
was divided in the sixth century. There is no accurate chronology to
guide us respecting that period, but the dates usually assigned to the
establishment of the great monasteries, which were deemed the fittest
centres of the episcopal government, are as follows : Llandaff about the
year 500 ; Bangor and St. David s about 540 ; and St. Asaph, A.D. 570.
Those sees have each preserved a continuous line of bishops from those
dates until the present time. The names of the prelates successively
consecrated to the first three are ready to our hand. Llandaff had
Dubricius for its first bishop, who is also known as bishop of Caerlcon.
His successor in the episcopal dignity was St. David, now the patron
WELSH TRIBAL BISHOPRICS
35
saint of Wales. St. David is supposed to have been uncle to the
renowned King Arthur, who gave him permission to remove the bishop s
seat from Caerleon to Menevia, where he had established a vigorous
religious community. The see of Menevia was
afterwards called St. David s in remembrance
of the piety, benevolence, and high intellectual
attainments of its first archbishop. St. David
received his consecration at the hands of the
patriarch of Jerusalem, when on a visit to the
Holy Land ; and he is also said to have rebuilt
the old church at Glastonbury, besides founding
many monasteries. The bi^linpric of
had St. Denial for its
first bishop ; and St.
Asaph owed its es
tablishment, as we
have seen already, to
the zeal of St. Kcnti-
gcrn. Bangor diocese
corresponded in ex
tent with the princi
pality of Gwynedd,
St. David s with De-
henbarth, Llandaff
with Morganwg, and
St. Asaph with Pn
36
ST. FINIAN OF CLONARD
8. St. Collimba in Scotland. After the death of St. Patrick
the work he had so felicitously commenced in Ireland declined. It
was re-invigorated in this way : St. Finian of Clonard, who was
indebted to St. David s monastic college at Menevia for his religious
training, and to its archbishop for his ordination, established similar
communities in Ireland, wherein many earnest men were trained who
revived the slumbering energy of the Church there, and from which
not a few went forth to preach in other lands. One of them was called
ST. COLUMBA AT ORONSAY.
Columba ; he was the son of noble parents, and his work occupies a
very prominent position among the Celtic missions. He earned con
siderable celebrity for scholarship and religious zeal when a pupil of
Finian, and was made abbot of Durrogh. While visiting his old tutor.
ST. COLUMBA 37
Columba surreptitiously copied a manuscript belonging to his host.
When the work was finished, Finian claimed the copy, but the pupil
resisted the claim. Diarmaid, king of Ulster, a relative of Columba,
was asked to arbitrate between them ; and on the strength of the old
proverb, "mine is the calf that is born of my cow," the king decided
that the copy belonged to the owner of the book. Columba was not
pleased at having to give up his hard-earned treasure, and before he
left the famous hall of Tara where the king held his court, considered
himself still further aggrieved by some violation of tribal rights. In
anger he sought the king of Connaught, and instigated him to make
war on King Diarmaid, who was defeated. The bishops and abbots
held a council at Teltown in Meath, to consider the conduct of Columba,
and judged that as he was the cause of all the bloodshed by which many
sons were lost to the Church, he should be banished from his native
land until he had won from the heathen as many souls to Christ as
would replace the number slain in battle. To which decree Columba
bowed, and taking with him twelve companions he crossed over to
Scotland in a coracle made of wicker-work, and covered with ox hides.
Our illustration opposite shows him prospecting from a cliff on the isle
of Oronsay ; but as he could still see Ireland he did not feel properly
banished, so he went with his companions further north. They
landed on a small island separated by a strait from the larger isle
of Mull, on the eve of Whit-Sunday, A.D. 565. We call that island
lona, it is three miles long and one mile broad. King Connell, a
kinsman of Columba, gave him the island to be used for a religious
settlement. There a monastery was founded to which the whoh3 of
northern Scotland, and the myriad isles surrounding it, owe their first
knowledge of Christianity. In every highland valley some hermit
from lona became a witness unto Christ, and even Iceland was not
considered too long and dangerous a voyage for their little boats to
make. The monastic buildings (see page 25) were at first primitive
and inadequate, possibly of twigs and reeds intertwined and cased with
mud, but by degrees a complete establishment in harmony with those
of older Christian colonies was raised ; and many of the brethren
trained therein have, as we shall see, occupied a conspicuous place
in the early history of the English Church. The words of its founder
spoken a few hours before he died "To this place, little and poor
though it be, there shall come great honour, not only from Scottish
kings and people, but from barbarous and foreign nations, and from
38
MEMORIES OF IONA
the saints of other Churches also" have been most literally fulfilled.
Notwithstanding the share of earthly trials that came upon that sacred
spot, it has always been true to the faith it then received, and visitors
to Scotland may still worship in the odour of its sanctity. A short
time ago the lord of the isle repaired the ruin shown in our illustration,
so as to preserve it from further decay. Many other monasteries both
in Britain and Ireland trace their origin to lona, but none of them can
wrest the chief place from that in which Columba s bones were laid.
We shall hear of it again, for we owe it very much. The kings of
Scotland were for many generations crowned by Columba and his
successors at lona, on the stone which now forms part of the English
coronation chair, and -when they died were buried in the holy isle.
9. The British Church in Cornwall. Meamvhile the
Church in \\ r est-Wales that is, Cornwall and Devonshire was
striking its roots no less deeply down. There is very little doubt but
that it was planted there in the third century. Solomon, its king, in
the middle of the fourth century, professed the Faith, and before 401
Corantinus, the first Cornish apostle of any note of whom we have
THE CHURCH IN CORNWALL 39
record, had the satisfaction of knowing that almost all the inhabitants
of its sea-girt shores were adherents of the cross. His work was con
tinued and consolidated by Pimniis, an Irishman from Ossory, who
brought with him a number of other missionaries, whose pious toil is
still bound up and registered in the names of the Cornish towns and
villages. So late as the year 1835, an enthusiastic lover of the Church
caused to be excavated, at his own cost, from the fine sand near the sea
shore, at Perrauzabuloe (St. 1 iran-in-the-sand), a rude but substantial
stone building, which archaeologists believe to be the identical church
which Cornishmen built over the remains of St. Pirarms immediately
after his death, which must have been before A.D. 450. The old Celtic
tribes in West- Wales seem very soon to have discovered the ruling
passion of their Saxon invaders, and to have purchased from Cerdic,
by an annual tribute, permission still to continue worshipping Christ
after the manner of their fathers. 1
10. Independence of the British Churches. We have
now before us sufficient information to enable us to perceive that
the early British Church w r as not destroyed by the Anglo-Saxon
invasion ; also that the various offshoots of it in Cornwall, Ireland,
and Scotland had such frequent and continuous intercourse as to make
them practically all one Church ; their doctrines, orders, and customs
being identical. And we have arrived at the end of the sixth century.
It would be unfair to suppose that these vigorous Christian communi-
1 The Christian tribes of Cornwall and Devon undoubtedly retained their religious
independence until the Saxon king Athclstan forced that part of Britain to submit
to the English. That was in 936, in which year the old bishopric of Cornwall had
to give place to a new English see at St. Germans ; afterwards to be merged into
that of Crediton, in Devonshire, A.D. 1042. Eight years later the seats of the bishops
of Cornwall and Devon were removed to the city of Exeter. In the year 1876 the
ancient see of Cornwall was revived by the creat on of the bishopric of Truro. The
first bishop of Truro, Dr. Edward White Benson, became the 93rd archbishop of
Canterbury, and we can hardly wish for more fitting testimony to the existence of a
flourishing Christian community in the south-west corner of Britain, before the
archbishopric of Canterbury was created, than the words of a sermon preached by
him at Perranzabuloe in August 1878. He said : " If St. Augustine had gone to
Cornwall he would have found there, as many perhaps might suppose, a multilude of
heathen people ; but then he would have found people holding the full knowledge
of the Gospel worshipping there day after day as well as Sunday after Sunday. St.
Augustine would have found himself among people who knew and loved the same
Gospel which he taught." (See also page 124.)
40
INDEPENDENCE OF CELTIC CHURCH
ties would permit their history to be obliterated at the bidding of the
first itinerant missionary who discovered them, and it was but natural
that they should earnestly withstand the claims made upon their
allegiance by the Italian monks who arrived among their bitterest foes
in the year 597. Everything affecting the right of the ancient British
Church to an independent existence turns
upon the v:.l: lity of such claims ; but there
is nothing in history to show that any
bishop of or from the city of Rome had pre
viously asserted official supremacy over any
ancient churches whose foundation was not
traceable to that see. On the contrary,
when a patriarch of Constantinople called
himself " Universal Bishop," Gregory the
great, who occupied the see of Rome at the
time of which we are about to treat, denied
his right to do so, and declared that any
bishop who adopted such a title would be
nothing better than Antichrist. As will pre
sently be seen, the customs of the Celtic
Churches were so different from the Italian
Church that they cannot even be supposed
to have had an identical derivation, except in
the remotest ages. It is unfortunate that more
authentic annals
respecting early
Britain are not
available, for ec
clesiastical histo
rians, subsequent
to the Italian mis
sions, are not free
from the suspi
cion of being per
sonally interested
in upholding the
claims of the
see of Rome to BRIXWOKTII CHURCH.
be "the mother and mistress of all Churches" ; and an over-anxiety
BRITISH CHURCH ARCHITECTURE 41
is shown to prove that early British saints made pilgrimages to Rome,
or received their commissions from its bishop. But if such statements
were true, it is difficult to perceive how the customs of the Celtic
and Italian Churches could have become so different, when their
members were really brought face to face.
11. Architecture of the British churches. We know
very little of what the earliest churches of this country were like, but
there are, as we have said, several buildings still standing which
antiquarians and local historians attribute to a date anterior to the
Anglo-Saxon conquest. Foremost among these they place the basilica
church at Brixworth, of which an illustration is given on the opposite
page. The basilicas were the Roman halls of justice, and were erected
in all large Roman towns. The Britons in building their churches
had to imitate something in their architecture, and as the heathen
temples of the Romans were not built in a suitable style for Christian
worship, it is believed that they followed the plan of the basilicas. It
is also conjectured that when the Romans left this country, their halls
of justice were converted into Christian churches. The walls and
arches of that at Brixworth are said to be an instance of this, but
the rest of the church is less ancient. We have at least two other
churches still used for public worship in which the Gospel has been
preached, and the Sacraments duly administered, with comparatively
little interruption, for more than 1400 years. These are the churches
of St. Martin at Canterbury and St. JVlary in Dover castle ; a view of
St. Martin s will be found on page 50, and Roman masonry may still
be seen in the chancel wall. A portion of St. Mary s, Dover (see page 56),
is built of Roman bricks and cement, a combination only found in build
ings erected during the occupation of Britain by the imperial legions.
From its unique position it has witnessed the invasion of all the races
who in turn have made this island their home. They have both, of course,
been restored and added to, but that any portion of them exists at all,
must be considered a marvellous intervention of providence, seeing that
they conclusively prove the existence of Christianity in Roman Britain.
12. Relationship to the Church of England. -Lest it
should be thought that a disproportionate space has been devoted
herein to Celtic Church history, which at best is very obscure, the
reader is reminded of the modern agitation which has for its object the
c 2
WELSH AND ENGLISH
immediate "disestablishment and disendowment " of the four Welsh
dioceses. They are the same now as they always were ; there has been
no break in their historic continuity ; they are the oldest dioceses in
Great Britain. For centuries they remained independent of and un
controlled by the English, even when the latter became Christian also ;
and although communion and fellowship could not help springing up
between Christian Churches, yet the differences of race and language
kept the Churches organically distinct until the Celtic tribes were
brought under the rule of the Teutons. The relations of the Churches
were absolutely determined by the relations of the peoples. We have
not referred to early British Christianity with a view of suggesting that
it was the root from which English Christianity sprang, which would be
wrong ; but because it is important for Englishmen to understand that
in due time, and by gradual stages, the ancient British Christianity
became grafted into the later Anglo-Saxon Church whose origin and
growth we are about to relate. The old Church of Britain lived on in
Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Wales perfectly distinct true to the
patriotic traditions of the tribes that formed its members. That old
Church greatly influenced the evangelization of Ireland and Scotland,
whence missionaries subsequently came to help to convert the English ;
and long after, when the Saxons conquered the Cornishmen, and still
later when the Normans subdued the Welsh, the Churches, like the
races, were absorbed into a single community but did not cease to live.
Of that union, brought about in times of mutual necessity by the
providence of God, there have sprung many children who have been
trained "in the fear and nurture of the Lord." Those Christian sons
and daughters have built up a great Christian empire, of which their
common faith has been the surest bond. The submission of the Celtic
bishops to the Norman primates no more did away with the old Celtic
Church than the submission of the Celtic chiefs to the Norman kings
did away with the old Celtic race. The Britons, with their racial
characteristics and speech, remain with us ; and their faith no less so.
They brought their ecclesiastical as well as their national history
with them when they and the English were made one nation. Mutual
advantages, both temporal and spiritual, have been derived from the
union all along the ages ; and we have no right to repudiate that
history now. Only let all our fellow-countrymen understand that the
Church in Wales is part of the ancient Christianity, and there will
be very little fear that they will allow it to be injured or despoiled.
CHAPTER IV. (A.D. 597-604)
THE COMING OF AUGUSTINE
" Subjects of Saxon ^Ella they shall sing
Glad Hallelujahs to the eternal King.
Blest be the unconscious shore on which ye tread,
And blest the silver cross, which ye, instead
Of martial banner, in procession bear."
1. Gregory the great. Towards the close of the sixth century
the Christian Church had become an important factor in the govern
ment of the world. The city of Rome, once the centre of civilization
and refinement, rapidly declined in influence after the government
was transferred to Constantinople, no more important person than the
bishop remaining in residence ; who, by reason of this prominence,
became its virtual ruler. When Pope Pelagius.II. died in 590, Italy
was overrun with barbarians who threatened even the ancient citadel.
The inhabitants, feeling that it was necessary for their safety to have
a firm and brave man at the head of affairs, chose Gregory, the then
archdeacon of Rome, as his successor, because he had proved himself
to be the possessor of all the sterling qualities of a ruler of men. He
did not desire this advancement, but they compelled him to accept it,
and very soon, by his boundless liberality, he freed the city from its
distressful condition, and made an immortal reputation for himself as
the reconstructor of the western Church. Some years before he
became bishop of Rome, his attention was directed to Britain.
An oft-quoted tradition, without which no historical notes on the
English Church would seem to be complete, is thus translated from
Bede s Ecclesiastical History. 1 "They say that on a certain day,
when, some merchants having lately arrived, many things were col
lected in the market-place for sale, and many persons had come
together to buy, Gregory himself came among the rest, and saw,
among other things, some boys put up for sale, of a white body and
fair countenance, and also with hair of remarkable beauty. Whom
1 Mr. Gidley s translation, from which most of the quotations from Bede in this
book are taken, is published by James Parker, of Oxford, price 6s.
43
ST. GREGORY AND THE ANGLES
when he beheld, he asked, as they say, from what region or land they
were brought. And it was said that they were brought from the
island of Britain whose inhabitants were of such an aspect, Again he
asked whether these same islanders were Christians, or still entangled
in the errors of paganism ; and it was said that they were pagans.
Then he, drawing deep sighs from the bottom of his heart, said : * Alas
for grief ! that the author of darkness possesses men of so bright
countenance, and that so great grace of aspect bears a mind void of
inward grace. Then again he asked what was the name of that na
tion. It was answered, that they were called Angles.
: It is well, he
said ; for they
have an angelic
face besides, and
such it befits
to be the co
heirs of angels in
heaven. What
name has that
province from
which they are
brought ? It
was answered,
that the people
of that province
were called
Deiii. Well,
he said, Deiri,
withdrawn from
anger and call
ed to the mercy
of Christ. How
is the king of
that province
called 1 It
was answered,
that he was
THE ANGLI IN ROME. called JElla ;
then he, alluding to the name, said, Alleluia! it behoves that the
praise of God the Creator should be sung in those parts. And going
AUGUSTINE S MISSION 45
to the pontiff of the Roman and apostolic see (for he was not himself
as yet made pontiff) he asked him to send some ministers of the Word
into Britain to the nation of the Angles, by whom it might be con
verted to Christ, saying that he himself was ready to accomplish this
work, with the co-operation of the Lord, if the apostolic pope thought
fit that it should be done. Which, at that time, he was not able to
accomplish, because, although the pontiff was willing to grant him his
request, the citizens of Rome could not be induced to consent that he
should go so far from the city." But some years after Gregory became
pope an opportunity was afforded of sending some monks to Britain
under Augustine, a man who had gained his good opinion as prior of
the Benedictine monastery of St. Andrew, at Rome, which Gregory
had established in the year 596. 1 Augustine and forty companions
were dispatched on their mission, to a land and people with whose
very language even they had no acquaintance ; and they lacked the
primary condition of missionary zeal, for they had very little confi
dence in themselves, and no originality of mind. On their way they
stayed some time in Provence, at the monastery of Lerins ; but the
information the brethren there gave them respecting the barbarous
Angles caused their hearts to sink within them. Fearful at the idea
of having to sojourn with so fierce a race, they sent Augustine back to
Rome for permission to abandon the dangerous journey. But Gregory
had determined to convert the Angles, and refused to absolve his
missionaries from their obligation. Obedience was one of the funda
mental rules of the Order of St. Benedict, so the monks continued
their expedition. Gregory used all his influence to make their way
easy. He gave them letters of commendation to the bishops whose
dioceses they had to pass through, and, for further encouragement,
elevated the little band to the dignity of a distinct and independent
monastic brotherhood, with Augustine for their abbot. Whatever
might help to arouse their self-respect and courage, he was careful to
provide. No expense was spared, and the difficulty of language was
lessened by a plentiful supply of interpreters.
1 The Benedictine order of monks was founded by St. Benedict of Nursia, at
the beginning of the sixth century, and the rules he framed for their governance
became the basiVof all monastic discipline until the eleventh century. For several
centuries the English bishops who succeeded Augustine assumed the habit and
adopted the rule of St. Benedict before their consecration, and in Dunstan s time
the same rules were enforced throughout the monasteries in Britain. See page 129.
46 CONVERSION OF KENT
2. Augustine s arrival in Kent. Thus equipped they
proceeded on their journey, and when passing through Gaul heard
reassuring news. Bertha, the daughter of Charibert, king of Paris,
had been married to Ethelbcrt, king of the Jutes in Kent, on condition
that she should be permitted to continue the exercise of the Christian
religion in which she had been trained ; and Luidkart, previously
bishop of Senlis, went with her as spiritual adviser. To the Kentish
people, therefore, the Italian missionaries found their way, landing
on the Isle of Thanct in the spring of 597. From thence they sent
their homage to the king at Canterbury, who gave them permission
to remain there until he decided what course to adopt. He had of
course heard of Christianity from Bertha and Bishop Luidhart, but
seemed to think that the miracles recorded of the Saviour and his
followers were attributable to witchcraft. For that reason, when he
had resolved to give audience to Augustine, he declined to meet them
in any house, but invited them to address him in the open air, where
he believed the demoniacal spells could have no potency. On the day
appointed, the little band of missionaries came before the king and
queen in solemn procession. One carried a silver cross, while another
bore a picture of the Saviour, and as they advanced they chanted a
Gregorian litany. The king was much impressed by the scene. He
listened graciously to the speech of Augustine, or rather to the inter
preter s translation of it, and then gave them liberty to remain where
they had been staying, offering them hospitality and a dwelling-place.
He allowed them to preach to such of his people who were willing to
listen, but said he could not then personally assent to the new and
uncertain doctrines they proclaimed, seeing that by doing so he would
have to renounce those which he and his people had for so long believed,
in common with all the Anglian tribes. The ultimate acceptance ol
Christianity by the Kentish court was the result of several conferences
between Ethelbert and his nobles, who wisely abstained from coun
tenancing such a sweeping reformation, until they were convinced
that it would be more beneficial to themselves and the kingdom than
their older system of worship. The obvious advantage of establishing
friendly intercourse with the rest of Christendom doubtless affected
their decision. On Whit- Sunday, 597, Ethelbert and his court were
baptized. Prior to this, Augustine and his followers had shared in
the worship and ministrations conducted by Bishop Luidhart in the
church of St. Martin (see page 50), east of the city of Canterbury,
48 CONSECRATION OF AUGUSTINE
which had been built by the Britons in the time of the Roman occupa
tion, and which Queen Bertha had rescued from heathen desecration
that she might worthily offer her devotions to the Saviour. But when
the king accepted Christianity, he gave Augustine permission to
preach in all parts of his dominion, and to rebuild and restore the
ruined British churches which abounded in Kent (see page 41). Such
is the tradition of the introduction of the Gospel to the Jutes, the first
of the Anglo-Saxon tribes that invaded Britain.
3. The first archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine was
as yet only an abbot, and therefore was not empowered to ordain men
to the work of the ministry which was necessary for carrying on a
Christian mission successfully. Only a bishop has such power, and a
bishop must be consecrated by other bishops. Therefore, when he
had given instructions to his companions respecting the preaching and
rebuilding, Augustine went over to Gaul (not to Rome) to obtain
episcopal authority, and was consecrated "bishop of the Angles" by
Vergilius, bishop of Aries, and dEtherius, bishop of Lyons. His
consecration gave him no such jurisdiction over
the bishops in Wales as he afterwards claimed ;
indeed it was not until the year 601 that he
received from the bishop of Rome the pallium, 1
or pall, which constituted him "Archbishop
and metropolitan" of the Angles, in pursuance
of a scheme which Gregory had in his mind for
restoring the old provincial sees of Britain,
viz. an archbishop for York and another for
URY London, with twelve suffragan or assistant
bishops in each of those provinces. Augustine, although bishop of
Canterbury, was the first of such metropolitan bishops, but it was
understood that the bishopric of London should be restored, and be
come the chief see on the death of Augustine. Gregory promised to
send another pall to York whenever the archbishopric should be
1 The pall was a white woollen collar, with pendants behind and before, made
from the wool of lambs that had been blessed by the pope on St. Agnes Day, and
embroidered with purple crosses. A representation of one appears on the arms of
the see of Canterbury. The pall was not at first an ecclesiastical vestment, but
part of the imperial insignia with which Constantino the great had decorated the
patr archs of varior.s Churches, and permitted their successors to retain.
KENT CHURCHES RESTORED 49
revived there, and, to prevent any further need of bishops elect travel
ling to the continent for consecration, he arranged that, when either
should die, the surviving metropolitan might ordain a successor to the
vacant see. That grand scheme, owing to circumstances Gregory
could not foreknow, was only in part fulfilled. By the time Augustine
returned from Gaul, his monks had succeeded in winning the hearts of
the Kentish folk, and on Christmas-day the sacrament of Baptism, at
that time only celebrated by the Church on the great Christian festivals,
was administered to over 10,000 persons who assembled for that
purpose at the fording-place of the Swale, which divides the isle of
Sheppey from the mainland of Kent. By that time the work of building
MINSTER CHURCH, ISLE OF SHEPPEY.
and restoring churches was in full progress, and one of the churches
so restored was without doubt the church of St. Mary in Dover castle
(see page 56). There was another old church in ruins at Canterbury,
near the royal palace which King Ethelbert had given to Augustine for
an episcopal residence. This church Augustine repaired, consecrating
it to the "Holy Saviour, God, and our Lord Jesus Christ," and close
beside it he built a habitation for himself and those who should
succeed him. That was the beginning of Canterbury cathedral, which
is still called Christ s-church. The only remains of the original church
is the venerable seat, still known as "St. Augustine s Chair" in which
for many generations archbishops of Canterbury have been enthroned.
Between Christ s-church and St. Martin s church there was another
50
ST. MARTIN S, CANTERBURY
British church, not then in ruins, which had been used by Ethelbert
as a temple for the worship of his pagan idols. This also was made
over to Augustine, dedicated to St. Pancras (page 31), and used for
Christian services. It had long been the practice to set apart land in
the neighbourhood of churches and temples for the maintenance of the
ministry thereof, and the lands belonging to these old churches were
transferred with the building, so that this granting of churches, and
the lands connected with them, to the missionaries was not really a
new endowment, but only a restitution to God of that which had
originally been devoted to His service by the Britons, and alienated
from that holy purpose by their Anglo-Saxon conquerors (see page 32).
ST. MARTIN S CHURCH, CANTERBURY.
4. Correspondence with St. Gregory. The conversion of
Kent was now assured, and the Church there in a fair way to successful
development. Augustine then began to consider his relationship to
the other bishops, in Gaul on the one hand, and among the Welsh on
the other. Presently he sent Laurentius and Peter, two of his com
panions, with important letters to Gregory, in which he reported the
ADVICE OF ST. GREGORY 51
successful progress of his mission, asked advice on various matters,
and requested that additional helpers might be sent to him. Two of
his questions are of great importance to our inquiry. The first was :
" Why should there be different liturgies in use in Gaul and Britain to
those in Rome ?" and Gregory in effect replied that there was no harm
in this, and Augustine might select from each such things as he
thought best adapted to the minds and customs of his new converts.
The second question was as follows : " How ought we to act towards
the bishops of Gaul and Britain ? " To which Gregory sent answer
thus : " We assign no authority to you over the bishops of Gaul, but
we commit all the bishops of Britain to you, my brother, that the un
learned may be taught, the infirm strengthened by persuasion, and the
perverse corrected by authority." This advice was a most un
warrantable assumption of authority on Gregory s part, and a breach
of the decrees of the General Council of Epliesus, A. p. 431, which
stipulated "that no bishop shall occupy another province which
has not been subject to him from the beginning." Now none of
Gregory s predecessors had asserted any supremacy over the British
Church, and this is the first record we have of an assertion of
superiority by a bishop of Home over other provincial churches.
Augustine sent his messengers to Rome in the spring of the year
598, but it was not until 601 that they returned. They were accom
panied hither by a number of other clergy whom Gregory had
selected to co-operate with Augustine. Three of these, Mcllitus,
Justus, and Paulinus, subsequently occupied positions of very great
importance. And they brought with them, "for the worship and
ministry of the church, holy vessels and altar vestments, ornaments
also for the churches and priestly garments, relics, too, of the apostles
and martyrs, and a number of books." 1 By the time this reinforce
ment arrived, Augustine had gained full particulars of the British
ecclesiastics and they of him. As soon, therefore, as he had received
the above instructions, he arranged for a conference with the Welsh.
5. Augustine and the British bishops. The resistance
of the British Church to the demands of Augustine is the first of a
long series of protests on the part of Christians in Britain against
1 Here we see the ancient character of ritual ornaments, about which there have
been many heart-burnings even in the Victorian era, but as they were not a cause
of dissension in the controversy with the Celtic bishops, we may infer that there
was nothing unusual about them.
52 SYNOD OF THE OAK
papal supremacy, so that, when the Church of this country is said to
be " protestant," we ought not to understand that it has objected to
papal influence over it from the times of the Tudor kings only, but
that it has never willingly allowed to the bishops of Rome any legal
jurisdiction over Churchmen in this realm. The Welsh and Anglo-
Saxon tribes being still in deadly feud, owing to the natural
antipathies of race, the Christian teachers of "Wales feared to venture
among their mortal foes without some guarantee for security ; so King
Ethelbert, who, as Brdwalda, had considerable influence over the Saxon
kings, obtained for Augustine the privilege of holding the conference
on the confines of the kingdom of Wessex, where the river Severn
divided it from Wales. There is a place called Aust Cliff, after Austin,
another name for Augustine, which is supposed to be the scene of the
assembly. It is known as the "Synod of the Oak," because Augustine
met the representatives of the British Church under the spreading
branches of an oak tree. Augustine s avowed object at this meeting
was to test the willingness of the Britons to unite their forces with his
in the conversion of the Teutons. But there were several points of
divergence to be discussed before the two parties could work in harmony.
Chief among them was the question, "When should Easter-day be
kept ? " a subject which is still important enough to occupy several
of the introductory pages of our Prayer-book. There had been great
diversity of opinion among Christians on the question. In north-west
Europe it had only been settled a short time before Augustine came
here, so that his mind was full of it. He found the Britons still
holding to the old western rule laid down at the council of Aries,
A.D. 314, by which they kept the fourteenth day of the paschal moon
if it were a Sunday, as Easter-day. This had been the practice of the
Christians at Rome also, but they had given it up for the sake of
agreement with the patriarchal see of Alexandria, which, by a decree
of the council of Niccea, had the right to determine the Sunday that
should be observed. Its decision was, that when the fourteenth day of
the paschal moon fell upon a Sunday, Easter-day must be the Sunday
after. The British Church had not heard of this change of custom
on the part of the Roman Church, and refused to give up their old
practice without further consideration. Another point of disagreement
was the use of the tonsure ; that is, the fashion by which the monks
and clergy shaved their heads. The Roman clergy and Benedictine
monks cut their hair in the form of a crown ; the Britons wore theirs in
BRITISH BISHOPS AND AUGUSTINE
53
the shape of a crescent. Aud then there was the custom of a triple
immersion in Baptism. The Romans dipped the candidates first on
the right side, and then on the left, the third lime with the face
downwards. The Britons were content with a single immersion in
the name of the Holy Trinity. No question of doctrine was pro
pounded ; only these matters of minor detail. But the underlying
principle was the right of Augustine to impose new conditions upon
an undoubtedly apostolic and orthodox Church, and the Britons
refused to acknowledge his right to interfere with their time-honoured
usages and customs. It is said that Augustine hal recourse to
AUST CLIFFE, SEVERN ESTUAUV, GLOUCESTEK.S11J l;K.
miraculous evidence in support of his claim, but the marvellous had
little effect on the Britons sense of right. They stipulated for a second
meeting which should be larger and more representative. That gave
them time for fuller consideration of the great issues involved. To
Augustine s question, whether they would help him to evangelize the
Saxons? they made this significant answer, "We do not think it
worthy to preach to that cruel people who have treacherously slain
our ancestors and robbed us of our just and lawful property." Bede
tells us that before the second conference they inquired from one of
54 CO-OPERATION REFUSED
their most holy men who lived the life of a recluse, whether they
ought to forsake their traditions at the bidding of Augustine. His
reply was, " If he be a man of God, follow him." They said, i( And
how can we ascertain this ? " Then he replied, " The Lord saith, Take
My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in
heart. If, therefore, this Augustine is meek and lowly in heart, it is
credible that both he himself bears the yoke of Christ, and offers it
to you to bear ; but if he is stern and proud, it is evident that he is
not of God, and that his discourse ought not to be regarded by us."
And they again said, "And how can we discern even this?" "Con
trive," said he, " that he and his people may come first to the place ol
the synod ; and if, at your approach, he rise up to you, hear him with
submission, knowing that he is a servant of Christ ; but if he slight
you, and will not rise up in your presence, when you are more in
number, let him also be disregarded by you." Unfortunately for the
claims of Romanists, Augustine adopted a very haughty demeanour.
The British deputation was a large one. Seven bishops attended,
accompanied by many learned men from the famous monastery of
Bangor on the Dee, but Augustine neglected to rise and bid them
welcome. This was enough ; " He could not have the spirit of Christ,"
and they refused to yield. They would observe none of his customs
nor accept him as their chief, for "If he would not rise up to us just
now, how much more will he despise us, if we begin to be subject to
him." Dinooth, one of their number, explained, that although they
owed fraternal love to the Church of God, and the bishop of Rome,
and indeed to all Christians, they owed no other obedience to him
whom Augustine called Pope. Another reason why they could not
submit to him or his representative was, that they were already sub
ject to the metropolitan bishop of Caerleon-on-Usk, who was, under
God, their spiritual overseer. Whereupon Augustine added to his
discourtesy a public threat of violence : " If they will not accept
peace with their brethren," sajd he, "they should receive war from
their enemies, and if they would not preach the way of life to the
nation of the Angles, they should suffer at their hands the vengeance
of death." 1 But we have seen 2 that the Celtic Christians were not
devoid of the true missionary spirit, although they were still forced to
1 Nine years after Augustine died the monks of Bnngor-is-y-coed were massacred
by order of the Anglian king Ethelfrid ; and this was thought by some to give a
prophetic significance to the archbishop s angry retort. 2 Pages 26 and 36.
SEE OF ROCHESTER
55
maintain a defensive attitude against the aggressive designs of their
conquerors ; and, in the years that were coming, their missions played
a larger part in the re-establishment of the Faith in their fatherland,
amongst their present persecutors, than did the missions of Augustine,
which soon experienced the truth of that which the Welsh had
declared, respecting the barbarous nature of Anglo-Saxon paganism.
6. The death Of Augustine. The archbishop of Canterbury
returned in great mortification to his work among the Kentish people,
and did not live to extend it far beyond that kingdom. Acting on
Gregory s instructions, he sent Mellitus to the adjoining kingdom of
the East-Saxons to revive the ancient see of London, but that mission
had a very short existence. Justus was consecrated bishop of Rochester
in the same year, and divided with Augustine the supervision of Kent.
To both those new enterprises King Ethelbert gave munificently of
his private substance to build and endow the necessary churches, the
estate of Tillingham, Essex, being one of his gifts to St. Paul s,
London, which still forms
part of the endowment for
the cathedral maintenance.
Ethelbert also built for St.
Augustine s monastery a
magnificent abbey church,
in honour of St. Peter and
St. Paul, which was intended
to become the resting-place
for all that was mortal of the
archbishops of Canterbury
and the kings of Kent.
Augustine laid the founda
tions of it, but did not sur
vive to witness its com
pletion. When he felt that
his end was approaching, he
consecrated his friend Laur-
entius to be his successor.
He ought not to have done
so, because the council of
Nicsea forbade the existence
of two bishops for the same
KOCHKSTEIl CATHF DUAL WEST DOOlt.
DEATH OF AUGUSTINE
see at one time ; and another council, held at Antioch in 346,
decreed that no bishop should be allowed to consecrate his successor.
Bede says he was driven to do so, "in fear lest the unsettled
Church might totter and fall if left destitute of a bishop even for an
hour." But the events that transpired justified his action. The
extent of Augustine s work and influence was described on his tomb.
"Here rests Augustine, first lord archbishop of Canterbury, who,
formerly directed hither by the blessed Gregory, pontiff of the city
of Rome, and sustained by God in the working of miracles, brought
over King Ethelbert and his nation from the worship of idols to the
faith of Christ, and having completed the days of his office in peace,
deceased on the 7th day of the kalends of June in the same king s
reign." Beyond what is there recorded, it cannot be maintained that
his efforts had any lasting effect in Britain, except that his coming
here revived an intercourse between our country and the Christian
world which the Anglo-Saxon invasion had caused to be suspended for
150 years. He was buried temporarily in a burial-ground by the public
road, according to the usage of the time ; but when King Ethelbert
had finished building the abbey
church the remains were becomingly
interred in the north porch. That
monastic foundation continued to
exist side by side with the cathedral
foundation, and sometimes in rivalry
with if, until the sixteenth century,
when the monastery passed into
secular hands. Through recent en
terprise of munificent churchmen,
the abbey buildings have been re
cently restored to religious uses as
a habitation for St. Augustine s mis
sionary college. No one will grudge
St. Augustine the honour due to him
as the first preacher to the Jutes in
Kent, where his work, though
ROMAN LIGHTHOUSE, AND PART severel y threatened by reverses after
OF ST. MARY S CHURCH, DOVER. the death of his patron Ethelbert,
has continued to this day.
CHAPTER V. (A.D. 604-681)
THE CONVERSION OF "ENGLAND"
" And when, subjected to a common doom
Of mutability, those far-famed piles
Shall disappear from both the sister isles,
lona s saints, forgetting not past days,
Garlands shall wear of amaranthine bloom,
While heaven s vast sea of voices chant their praise."
1. Unsuccessful Italian missions. Our next business is to
inquire how the rest of the country which we now call England heard
about the Christian faith. Laurentius, the successor of Augustine in
the see of Canterbury, endeavoured to conciliate the Celtic Church by
writing to the Irish bishops as his "most dear lords and brothers,"
and Dagan, one of the Irish bishops, journeyed to Canterbury to
discuss a basis of agreement ; but the Benedictine monks heaped such
ridicule upon him, because he wore a different tonsure to themselves,
that he refused to eat or lodge in the same house with them, and
returned home exceedingly angry. Thenceforward, for half a century,
the Churches continued to work independently. The kings of East-
Anglia and Essex were nephews of King Ethelbert, and he persuaded
them both to receive Christian teachers. King Redivald, of East-
Anglia, does not appear to have himself become a convert ; but he tol
erated the faith in his province, for he had Christian altars and heathen
idols side by side in the same temples. But Scbcrt, king of the East-
Saxons, was baptized, and welcomed Mellitus as his bishop in the
year 604. London was then one of the strongholds of paganism, for
heathen deities were worshipped in temples where St. Paul s cathedral
and Westminster-abbey now stand. By the liberality of Ethelbeit those
temples were restored and used for Christian purposes ; for Gregory
had written in a letter to Mellitus that as it would be impossible to
cut off all things at once from the rude pagan minds, the heathen
temples should not be destroyed, but cleansed and dedicated to God,
the idols replaced by Christian relics, and Christian services sub
stituted for idolatrous sacrifices on the principal anniversaries.
Sebert died about 616, and was succeeded by his three sons, who
repudiated the Christian religion. They attempted to profane the
57
58 LIMITATION OF THE ITALIAN MISSIONS
sacraments by demanding to receive the eucharistic elements, but
Mellitus explained that " the bread of life was reserved for those who
had received the water of life." As they refused to be baptized, they
drove the bishop from his see, and the land at once went back to
heathenism. Ethelbert, king of Kent, died about the same time as
Sebert, and Eadbald his son, like Sebert s sons, renounced the Christian
faith, while the people, just as they had before followed the example
of the king and court in receiving Christianity, now imitated them in
the rejection of it. Thereupon, Justus, bishop of Rochester, preferred
voluntary exile in Gaul with Mellitus, bishop of London, than a
possible martyrdom at his post. Truly, they could no longer sneer at
the Celtic bishops for neglecting to convert their traditional enemies !
Even the archbishop of Canterbury was preparing to follow them, and
the mission of Augustine was on the point of being extinguished, when
Laurentius dreamed that St. Peter flogged him for his cowardice. He,
therefore, decided to stand his ground, and Eadbald, the king, was so
pleased by his constancy that he became a warm supporter of the
cause, thus saving Kent from the apostasy that came upon Essex.
2. Paulinus in Northumbria, On the death of Ethelbert
the rank of Bretwalda devolved on Edwin, king of Northumbria, and
the influence of Kent waned rapidly. Edwin desired to marry
Ethelburga, daughter of Ethelbert and Queen Bertha, but Eadbald,
being now a Christian, would not let his sister go to the north unless,
like her mother, she was allowed to worship Christ in her new home.
Edwin not only agreed to this, but signified his willingness to adopt
Christianity himself if he found the religion of his consort better than
his own. The missionary chosen to accompany the young queen was
Paulinus, whom Gregory had sent from Rome to help Augustine. He
was consecrated bishop (A.D 626) by Justus, who was now archbishop,
and in a very little time, by Ethelburga s aid he obtained sufficient
influence over Edwin to cause that prince to assemble the Witan, or
council of wise men, for the purpose of discussing the merits of
Christianity. Some civilities on the part of the bishop of Rome
greatly helped to strengthen the hands of Paulinus. Boniface V.
sent letters to Edwin and his queen, as Gregory had done to Ethel
bert and Bertha, together with some simple presents garments for
the king, a comb and looking-glass for Ethelburga. Courtesies of this
kind are never thrown awav. We are favoured with a full account of
WEST FfiONT OF YOHK MINSTER (SCC HCXt page).
60 PAULINUS OF NORTHUMBRIA
the proceedings of the Witan by the Venerable Bede, who was himself
a Northumbrian, and may have met with persons who were present.
The king explained the object for which he had called them together,
and asked Coifi, the heathen high priest, to speak his mind. Coifi
argued that the new religion could hardly be less profitable to them
than the one they had adhered to for so long. One of the nobles said
he would be glad to accept Christianity if it could tell them more
about a future life than their old religion did, and this sentiment most
of the nobles echoed. Paulinus then addressed the Witan, and with
such success that Coifi suggested the immediate demolition of the
heathen temples, and forthwith commenced it with his own hands.
The king and his court having gone through the necessary course of
instruction as catechumens, were baptized on Easter, eve, A.D. 627.
When the people heard that the wise men had accepted Christianity
they also readily listened to its preachers, the result being that, like
Augustine, Paulinus is said to have baptized 10,000 persons in one
day. The king gave him a grant of land in the city of York, and
built a temporary church of wood until a more durable one of stone
could be erected. This was dedicated to St. Peter, and became the
bishop s cathedral, thus reviving the ancient see of York in accordance
with the plan of Gregory the great. The kingdom of Northumbria
over which Edwin ruled, extended from the river Humber to the
firth of Forth, and was divided into two provinces by the river Tees.
The northern province was called Bernicia, and the southern one Deira.
York was in the latter, therefore to Paulinus belongs the honour of
being the first preacher of the Word of Life to the Anglian tribe, whoso
children had attracted the attention of Gregory in the market-place of
Rome. For six years Paulinus and his companions worked earnestly
for the cause of Christ throughout the dominions of Edwin,, and was
instrumental in persuading Eorpwald, the king of East-Anglia, to
become a Christian. But the nobles of East-Anglia were not disposed
to follow the king s lead, and to prevent the establishment of Chris
tianity, they put Eorpwald to death. Paulinus also built a stone
church at Lincoln, in which, A.D. 630, he consecrated Honorius to be
the fifth archbishop of Canterbury. In the year 633 the pope of
P.ome, who was also called Honorius, decided, as we see by a letter which
he sent to Edwin, to recognize the work of Paulinus by sending to
him the archiepiscopal pall. But before the pope s ambassadors
could reach Britain, Edwin was dead, Paulinus had fled, Northumbria
FLIGHT OF PAULINUS
61
was in ruins, and Christianity had been proscribed ! Let us consider
the reason for this sudden and terrible change. What we call the
midlands was then the kingdom of the Mercians, i.e. men of the
"march" or border. It was governed by a fierce barbarian whose
name was Penda. He saw in the onward march of Christianity the
death sentence of paganism, so he nerved himself for a desperate struggle
on behalf of his Teuton divinities. He made war upon North umbria,
and killed King Edwin in battle, the rival religions furnishing the war-
cries. In Penda s victory Paulinus perceived that an evil day had
come for Christ s religion in the north. He knew too that his work
there had been in vain. Hurriedly gathering together what treasures
he could, the precious altar furniture and gold eucharist chalice,
taking with him also Queen Ethelburga and her children, he fled with
his clergy to the kingdom of Kent to wait the issues of the time.
After their departure Northumbria relapsed into paganism, only
one man, the deacon James who taught the people how to sing the
chants of Gregory, remaining in the kingdom to keep a lamp burning
for the Saviour. Paulinus, on his arrival in Kent, was appointed by
G2 FELIX AND FURSEY
Honorius of Canterbury to the bishopric of Rochester, which had been
vacant a long time. Here he remained until he died, so that the
work of the Augustiniaii missionaries among the Anglo-Saxons was
again restricted to the kingdom of Kent. Truly, a strange fatality
pursued them ! The Celtic bishops, in withholding their energies for
quieter times, showed the greater wisdom ; for they were now about
to spread their missions over all those parts of Britain which the
Italian teachers had been unable to subdue, and wherever they went
their missions abided. On returning to Kent, Queen Ethelburga is
said to have founded a nunnery in the Roman villa allotted to her use,
and it is supposed that the Roman and Saxon masonry in the parish
church of Lyminge, Kent (page 61), is a survival of her foundation.
3. Conversion Of East- Anglia. The popes of Rome, how
ever, were not to be denied in their efforts to establish missions in
Britain. They were well aware of the slow progress made by the
Canterbury monks, and to facilitate the conversion of such parts of the
country as were still heathen, they gave other missionaries permission
to work independently of that see, in the kingdoms of Wessex and
East-Anglia. We have seen that the kings Ethelbert and Edwin both
endeavoured to plant the Faith in the latter province, but without
success. Three years after the murder of Eorpwald, Sigberct, his half-
brother, became king. He had been an exile in Gaul for fear of a like
assassination. Whilst there he embraced the Christian faith, and
determined that all his subjects should have the same privilege offered
to them. For this purpose he invited to his court a Burgundian
bishop, called Felix, whose name is still revered in Norfolk and Suffolk
as the " apostle of East-Anglia." The town of Fclixstowe is so
named in his honour. Felix had heard of the unsuccessful efforts of
Augustine s band, and knew that East-Anglians would not receive a
Christian teacher under the auspices of Canterbury alone, so he went
to Rome in the year 630, and obtained the pope s sanction for a separate
mission. To prevent disagreement, Honorius I. sent a letter to his
namesake at Canterbury, explaining the conditions of the new appoint
ment, and Felix was the bearer of it. These preliminaries settled,
Felix set to work right earnestly and achieved a remarkable and lasting
success. He fixed his residence at Dunwich (which was in time
transferred to Norwich], caused many churches to be built, and
established schools. He was greatly assisted in his undertaking by
EAST-ANGLIAN BISHOPRICS
Fursey, a monk belonging to a Scotic family (see footnote, page 20), who
came with a number of companions from Ireland, and so captivated
the Northfolk and Southfolk by earnest preaching, that Christianity
at once took a firmer root than it had yet done among the Anglo-
Saxon tribes. That is the first instance of the union of forces between
the Celtic and continental Christian teachers. The monks of Canter
bury were sorely grieved when they heard of Felix working side by
side with a representative of the British Church which they so despised,
especially so as Fursey con
tinued to wear the tonsure
which they hated, and ob
serve other customs of disci
pline and ritual in a different
way to themselves. But as
they had no jurisdiction in
East-Anglia they had to put
up with the inconvenient re
flections his undoubted suc
cess caused them. The Vener
able Bede, who cannot be
accused of too great affection
for Celtic customs, has
warmly praised Fursey s
work and testified to the
numerous monasteries
which the Irish monk
had been instrumental
in founding. Another
achievement of his was
to persuade Sigberct to
resign his kingdom, and
become an inmate of a
monastery, which cir
cumstance became a
fashionable precedent for
other royal personages.
T1IK CAIIIEDIIAL OF KAST-ANGUA (XdliWICH).
64 PENDA AND CAD WALLA
King Sigberct was succeeded by Anna, who largely increased the
number and extent of the Christian buildings and their endowments,
as did many of the nobles. The schools of Felix provided him with
the material for training native clergy, and one of his scholars suc
ceeded him in the episcopate. The name of this scholar was Thomas.
He was made bishop of Dun \vich in 647. He was therefore the first
Anglian (Englishman) who became a bishop. 1 From that time the
Church in East-Anglia contained within itself the means of extending
and developing the faith, without having recourse to the continent
for religious teachers.
4. The Celtic mission in Northumbria. There was, as
we have snid, another Roman mission equally independent of the
Church in Kent, established among the West-Saxons, but before ex
plaining fully the circumstances of its settlement, we must turn our
thoughts again to the kingdom of Northumbria, from which Paulinus
had retired. After Edwin had been killed in battle by Penda, the
provinces of Deira and Bernicia became separate kingdoms. Osric, a
cousin of Edwin, ruled over the former, Bernicia falling to the share
of Eanfrid, son of Ethelfrid who had preceded Edwin as king. There
was a little son of Edwin, whom Paulinus had taken to Kent, but he
was too young to be elected king in those troublous times. These two
young men, Osric and Eanfrid, hoping to conciliate the heathen Penda,
both repudiated Christianity, and their land became heathen once
more. But Penda was not satisfied with the victories he had already
gained, he wanted to make Northumbria entirely subject to himself
as a part of Mercia, and he made war upon the two Northumbrian
kings. "We are sorry to have to say that he was helped by Cadwalla,
one of the Welsh kings, who, as a Christian, ought not to have allied
himself with the pagan king. Penda and Cadwalla fought against
and killed Osric and Eanfrid. Now Eanfrid had two brothers, Oswald
and Osivy. Long before, when Edwin defeated and slew their father
Ethelfrid and took away their kingdom, these three young princes,
Eanfrid, Oswald, and Oswy, fled to Scotland, and took refuge in the
island of lona, and were sheltered and educated by the Celtic Christian
missionaries there. Eanfrid as eldest son was too busy plotting to
regain his father s throne to think about any religion, but Oswald
and Oswy listened to the monks of lona, and embraced Christianity.
1 Ifchamar, a Kent,ishman but not an Angle, was consecrated in 644.
OSWALD OF NORTI1UMBRIA
65
When the princes Eanfiid and Osric were defeated and killed, the
throne of Northumbria belonged to Oswald ; so he raised a small army,
put his trust in the Christians God, and defeated the Mercian and
"Welsh allies, and killed Cadwalla. Having thus recovered the whole
of Northumbria, he set about restoring Christianity. But Oswald
did not ask Pauliiius to come back, that could not be unless Edwin s
little son Oswina were made king, and in lona he would have heard
of the ill-feeling between the Kentish Christians and those who had
been so good to his family. No ; Paulinus, although bishop of York,
must not return. Was there anything more natural for Oswald, under
the circumstances, than to ask his kind friends of lona to send him
LINDISFARXE PRIORY RUINS BEFORE 1860.
a Christian teacher ? This he did, but the man they sent was not fit
for the work ; he was stern and unbending, as was likely from the
discipline he had undergone, but the people were also determined, and
he could make no progress with them. Overwhelmed with disappoint
ment he returned to those who had sent him, and, as he told the story
VOL. i. D
66 ST. A ID AN IN NORTHUMBRIA
of his failure, one of the brethren said : "Methiiiks. brother, thou hast
been harsher than was needful to thy untaught hearers. Hast thou
not forgotten the maxim of the apostle about milk for babes, that
by degrees they may be nourished by the divine word, and enabled
to receive the more perfect and keep the higher precepts of God ? "
The speaker was Aidan, and the monks of lona agreed that he was
the man to be sent to King Oswald s people. The Celtic bishops
consecrated him to the episcopal dignity, and in the summer of 635
he arrived in Northumbria. Not, however, to settle in York, and
continue the work of Paulinus ; but to found an entirely new com
munity identical with that from which he had come. King Oswald
gave him for that purpose the small island of Lindi*farne, now called
Holy Island, situated on the north-east coast, a few miles south of the
river Tweed. There a church and monastery were built, and, as in
East-Anglia, schools and colleges for the training of missionaries who
could speak the Anglian tongue. That was a most important step,
for even Aidan could not speak the English language, King Oswald
himself having to interpret to his subjects the missionary s discourses.
The men thus trained were soon in great demand, and by their means
the monastic settlement of Lindisfarne was able to introduce the
Celtic customs and the rule of lona over the greater part of Britain,
among tribes who refused to hear Welsh or Italian preaching.
5. The conversion Of WeSSeX. We may now turn to the
kingdom of Wessex. There was a monk in Gaul named Birinus, who
had heard of the independent mission of Felix in East-Anglia, and
desired to obtain a similar privilege for the evangelization of some
other Saxon colony. Pope Honorius granted his prayer on condition
that Birinus would promise to go only to those parts of Britain where
Augustine s band had never attempted to preach. He accepte 1 the
conditions, and was consecrated as a missionary bishop by Asterius,
bishop of Genoa. He landed on the south-west coast in 634. The
West-Saxons among whom he found himself were wild untutored folk,
but with true missionary zeal he laboured earnestly for their temporal
and spiritual welfare, until by degrees he won his way to the favour
of Cynegils the king. To the court of Cynegils came Oswald of
Northumbria seeking to marry a West-Saxon princess. That royal
convert to the Celtic methods joined with Birinus, the Italian, in an
effort to make a Christian of the Wessex king, and in due time they
ST. BIRINUS IN W ESSEX 67
were successful. Oswald became at once the godfather and son-in-law
of Cynegils, for, as Bede quaintly observes : "The victorious king of
the Northumbrians received him on his coming forth from the laver,
and by an alliance most delightful and pleasing to God, adopted for
his son him who had before been dedicated to God by a new birth,
and whose daughter he was about to take to wife." This happened
.SIIEIIBOUNE MINSTER {&.C ItCJ t JHt </< ).
A.D. 636, at Dorchester in Oxfordshire, where the rivers Tharne and
Isis meet, both kings giving land to Birinus for the support of the
episcopal seat which they founded for him there. The nobles and
people soon followed the example of their king. They were not only
baptized, but they gave freely of their substance for the building of
churches. There is nothing to show that Birinus ever had any official
communication with the Church of Kent, or that it took any interest
68 PEN DA S CHILDREN
in his work. In 643 Cenwalch, son of Cyncgils, succeeded to the
throne of Wessex, and, like many another of the Anglo-Saxon princes,
was not at first favourably disposed to the new teaching ; perhaps this
was because he had married Penda s sister. For some reason he put
away his wife, which highly incensed the Mercian king, who marched
against Cenwalch at the head of an army. Cenwalch was defeated and
fled to the court of East-Anglia, where Anna was king. When he saw
how Christianity had improved Anna s province he changed his mind
respecting it, and on being restored to his own kingdom he became
an ardent supporter of the faith. Agilbert had by this time succeeded
Birinus at Dorchester ; but because he could not speak the vernacular,
Cenwalch founded another see at Winchester (see page 83), appointing as
bishop the Saxon Wini, who went to Gaul for consecration. Agilbert
objected to the creation of another bishopric in the same kingdom,
and retired to France in anger. There he became archbishop of Paris.
In 706 the see was again divided, Sherborne-abbey being made a
cathedral. Thus the West-Saxons were made Christians, and when,
in after years, their kingdom obtained supremacy over all the Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms, it became the greatest stronghold of Christianity.
6. Conversion of the Middle- Angles. In the meantime
many civil changes had occurred in the north which promoted the
spread of Christianity in another direction. Oswald was killed in
battle by Penda, A.D. 642, and Northumbria was again divided.
Osivy, the youngest of the three princes who came from lona, reigned
in Bernicia, and Oswine, son of Edwin, the young prince whom
Paulinus had taken to Kent for safety, reigned in Deira. Yery soon
Oswy caused Oswine to be treacherously murdered. That left him
sole king of the north. When the heinousness of his guilt was pointed
out to him he repented bitterly, and showed his sincerity by building
and richly endowing a monastery. Penda, king of Mercia, was now
growing old ; and, not knowing what might befall him in his
numerous wars, he made his son Pcada king over the southern portion
of his province. This was called the kingdom of the Middle-Angles.
About A.D. 650, Oswy thought that the strife between Northurnbria
and Mercia might be allayed by matrimonial alliance, so he married
his son to Penda s daughter. Peada also sought to marry Alchfleda,
Oswy s daughter, but Oswy would not permit this without some
guarantee that she would be allowed to continue a worshipper of
LINDISFARNE MISSIONARIES
69
Christ. Peada s position as king of the Middle- Angles gave him
more frequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with Christians
than he had when following the fortunes of his heathen father in
battle; he was therefore easily persuaded, not only to allow Alchfleda
to worship in the way she had been trained by the Celtic monks of
Lindisfarne, but also to be himself baptized, and welcome to his
kingdom a company of priests from Aidan s college. The selected
monks were Diuma, a Scot, and three Englishmen, named Adda, Bctti,
and Cedd, all of whom were thoroughly successful in their labours.
The conversion of his son was a sore trial to the pagan king, although,
to do him justice, it was not so much the Christian faith that he
objected to, as the indifferent lives of some who professed it.
ST. PAUL S CATHEDRAL (see page 71]
7. Conversion of the East- Saxons. The next province
won for Christ by the Lindisfarne preachers, with whom the tide of
success now flowed freely, was Essex. We have seen (page 57) that
MAP OF THE ANGLO-SAXON HEPTARCHY.
CONVERSION OF ESSEX
through the influence of Ethclbert it had received a company of
teachers under bishop Mellitus, and had relapsed into heathenism.
After thirty-seven years the faith was once more planted in London,
this time not to be again uprooted. Sigberct, king of the East-Saxons
we must not confuse him with the East-Anglian prince of the same
name made frequent visits to Oswy in the north, and observed the
work of the Christian clergy. He became a convert, arid asked the
monks of Lindisfarne to send missionaries to his subjects, but the very
rapid extension of their field of labour caused a dearth of suitable men
for new districts. The twelve young men whom Aidan had trained
were all at work in different provinces, and there were not any others
quite ready for so important a mission. It was not that the author
ities of Lindisfarne were in want of means or volunteers, because it
was a recognized duty for each convert to give of his labour, or his
substance either in lands or produce, to God "in exchange for his
soul ; " but the college could not produce with sufficient rapidity
trained men on whom they could confidently rely, and Essex was so
close to Kent that it was all the more necessary to send a judicious
man. Bishop Finan therefore recalled Cedd from the Middle-Angles,
and sent him to Sigberct s kingdom. He had only one additional
priest with him when he re-established Christian services where St.
Paul ;; cathedral stands, yet he met with such success that he was
consecrated bishop the very next year A.D. 654. It was clear to
everybody that this marvellous spread of Christianity brought great
good to the Anglo-Saxon people, for instead of fighting against each
other, they dwelt within their own borders and became a very pros-
perous race. Princes, nobles, and men of lower degree, eagerly
responded to the invitation to build and maintain churches, especially
as it was then the custom to dedicate the churches in honour of the
living founder, so that Cedd very soon found himself the overseer of a
number of flourishing religious communities.
8. The death Of Penda. The rest of the kingdom of Mercia
was now about to be admitted to Christian privileges, and again it was
the Celtic monks of Lindisfarne who achieved the happy result.
Penda, the fierce warrior on whose successes Anglo-Saxon paganism
depended for its existence, met at length with the fate he had brought
upon so many kings. He had harassed and wasted the northern
kingdom until its princes were glad to offer him any terms and tribute,
72 MERCIA AND SUSSEX
but he refused them all ; he saw that the only hope for his traditional
faith lay in the total subversion of Northumbria, which had become
the source and home of Anglian Christianity, therefore he made a last
determined effort for its overthrow. On the other hand, Oswy and his
nobles, indignant at Penda s refusal of their peace-offerings, declared
that as the pagans had declined to accept their costly gifts, they would
offer them to the Lord who would ; and Oswy vowed that if God
prospered his arms he would build twelve monasteries, and devote his
infant daughter .to a religious life. In the conflict that ensued, the
hitherto invincible and invulnerable Perida was defeated and killed ;
and the Mercian kingdom became a province of Northumbria. Oswy s
nobles governed so much of it as lay to the north of the river Trent,
while Peada, Penda s son, who was related by marriage to Oswy, was
allowed to retain his government of the southern portion as under-king
to Oswy. This supremacy of the Northumbrian king was productive
of great good to the Christian faith, and Diuma, the chief of the
Mid- Angle mission, was made bishop of Mercia, A.D. 656. To cele
brate this event, Oswy and Peada founded the monastery of Peter
borough. Not long after this Peada was poisoned, and the Mercians
revolted against the Northumbrian yoke. Wulfhere, another son of
Penda, regained his father s territory, but did not restore paganism.
9. The conversion Of Sussex. There was still another
kingdom outside the Saviour s fold that of the South-Saxons. It
was divided from the other kingdoms by dense forests, and its inhabit
ants were devoid of all culture, hardly knowing how to provide
themselves with the necessaries of life. They remained in heathen
darkness until almost the close of the seventh century. It is, indeed,
surprising that the Italian missionaries of Kent should have allowed
nearly a century to go by, without making the least effort to redeem
their nearest neighbours from error ; and this is the more remarkable
when we find that the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight were Jutes, i.e.
of the very same tribe as the Kentish people. We cannot at this
distance of time discover a reason for such neglect, but the fact that
they were left without the means of grace by their own kindred is, at
least, an indirect exoneration of the ancient Church of Britain from
any suspicion of cowardice, or want of charity, towards the tribe which
was the earliest arid deadliest foe of the Celts. In the year 681,
Bishop Wilfrid, who was trained at Lindisfarne, but had gained much
THE BISHOPRIC OF SUSSEX
7-3
practical experience of the world by foreign travel, undertook to
preach the Gospel to this much neglected people, and founded a
cathedral at Selsey, afterwards removed to Chichester, and many
monasteries. We shall hear a good deal of this Wilfrid. He is men
tioned here, somewhat out of due course, to complete the history of
the conversion of the heptarchy. Thus all
the Anglo-Saxon kiugdoms were in turn
made the happy possessors of Christ s
religion, and mainly through the Celtic
missions ; that is to say, through missions
started by the enterprise of the Celts, who
had anciently received Christianity when
their race occupied all this country under
the rule of the old Roman empire, long
before what is known as the
Church of Rome had any un
usual importance or claimed
supremacy. The map on
CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL.
page 70 will help readers to understand the work performed by
missionaries in each division of the heptarchy, in the ultimate
conversion of Britain. No account of the Anglo-Saxon conversion
would be complete unless it drew attention to the influence
different royal ladies exerted on its behalf. Bertha, queen of Kent ;
her daughter Ethelburga, queen of Norihwribria ; and Alchfleda,
D 2
7-1
SUMMARY
queen of the Middle- Angles, were each directly instrumental in the
conversion, of their respective provinces, thus showing how the
"unbelieving husband may be sanctified by the wife ; " and possibly
the wife of Oswald may have influenced her father in the conversion
of Wessex, from which kingdom also the first Christian king of Sussex
obtained his wife. We have now to find out how the Churches in
each province of the heptarchy, which for political reasons were
unable up to this time to hold much communication with each other,
became organized and amalgamated into the "Church of England."
SETTLEMENT AND CONVERSION OF THE HEPTARCHY.
(See map on page 70. )
Ti ibe and
Leader.
Name of
k ngdom.
D: te of
First bishop, and source from which
the episcopal succession was derived.
Occu
pation.
Con
version.
JUTES
KENT.
449
597
Augustine, ro.n Rome. (Consecrated
(Hengist and
in Gaul.)
Horsa).
SUSSEX.
477
681
Wilfrid, a monk of Lindisfarne, who
afterwa ds became a strong par
tisan of the Ital ans. (Consecrated
SAXONS
in Gaul.)
(iElle, Cissa,
Cerdic,
and Cymie).
WESSEX.
495
636
Birinus, from Rome. (Consecrated
in Gaul.)
ESSEX.
530
654
Cedd, from Lindisfarne. Mellitus, of
Rome, established himself among
v
them in 603, but his converts
apostatized in 616. (Consecrated
by the Scots.)
NORTH- \
Aidan, from lonn. Paulinas, of
UMBRIA. /
5i<
635
Rome, went to Northumbria in
626, but his work was destroyed in
633. (Consecrated by the Scots.)
ANGLES
(Ida). -
MERCIA.
560
653
Diuma, from Lindisfavne. (Conse
crated by the Scots.)
EAST- \
ANGLIA. /
585
631
Felix, a bishop of Burgundy, and
Fursey, a monk of Ireland. The
V
Roman missions had previously
made two unsuccessful attempts
to establish Christianity.
PART II
lEra of Coneoltoation
CHAPTER VI. (A.D. 664-690)
BLENDING OF THE MISSIONS UNDER THEODORE
" How beautiful your presence, how benign,
Servants of God ! who not a thought will share
With the vain world
Ye holy men, so earnest in your care,
Of your own mighty instruments beware. "
1. The council Of Whitby. The success of the missions
started by the Celtic Church amongst their old conquerors was hardly
conducive to the desires of the Italian missionaries, who wished to
bring all the British and Irish bishops in subordination to the see of
Canterbury, and through it to the Church at Rome. The reader is
reminded that the points of difference between these rival missions
were in no sense relative to essential doctrines, either of creeds or
sacraments, but concerned external matters 01113% which might easily
have been surrendered by either side, had they not been accentuated by
personal ill-feeling. To jeer at a fellow-labourer in Christ s vineyaid
for the way in which he wore his hair ; as the monks of Canterbury
did to the Irish bishop Dagan, when he went to Kent prepared to treat
with them amicably, was not the way to bridge over the difficulty.
Felix and Fursey could work harmoniously in the neighbouring pro
vince of East-Anglia, notwithstanding that the fierce-tempered Kentish
clergy held his tonsure in especial abhorrence. Even the keeping of
Easter on different days was found to be not incompatible with
fraternal sympathy, while the holy Aidan lived at Lindisfarne.
Although these were the ostensible subjects of controversy, the real
sting in the quarrel was the broader question, whether the ancient
Church of Britain should give up its independence as an apostolic
Church at the bidding of the bishop of another apostolic Church ; for
no doubt had ever been cast in earlier times upon the right of the
British bishops to the claim of independent apostolic origin. The ill-
75
76
THE EASTER CONTROVERSY
feeling between the rival clergy was so strong, that had the matter
been left to them it would have continued indefinitely. The settlement
came from the court of King Oswy in Northumbiia. He, it will be
remembered, was profoundly attached to the teaching and persons of
Aidan and Finan, the first two bishops of Lindisfarne, but they were
succeeded by Colman, who lacked their powers of conciliation. When
King Oswy came to the throne he married Eanfled, daughter of
Edwin and Ethelburga, one of the children whom Paulinus had taken
to Kent for safety. She had been trained to believe that the customs
of the Roman missionaries were the only correct ones, and had caused
her children to be similarly educated.
Wilfrid, a clever, clear-sighted, and deter
mined man, was tutor to her family ; and
Eomanus her private chaplain. Both
these were priests of opposite views to
Bishop Colman, whom King Oswy favoured,
and something like a faction controversy
arose within the court relating to the time
of keeping Easter, which was increased
one year by the circumstance of the four
teenth day of a paschal moon happening
on a Sunday. The king s party con
sidered it as Easter-day, but the queen s
friends said Easter ought to be a week
later. Thus half the court wanted to
keep high festival when the other half
would be observing the most solemn
season of the Christiin year. It was
manifest that such a state of things would
bring forth a goodly crop of dragon s
teeth, in the shape of domestic infelicities,
unless something were done to produce
uniformity. So King Oswy made up his
mind that the whole question should be
thoroughly debated and settled, once for
all, in a conference. It was held in 664
at Whitby-abbey. This was a monastery
for both sexes, presided over by a la y
of singular piety and administrative talent, BENEDICTINE NUN.
WHITBY CONFERENCE 77
named Hilda. The assembly was a large one, but invitations were not
extended to ecclesiastics outside Oswy s dominions. It was a purely
local affair, although, owing to the supremacy of Northumbria, its
result was of great importance to the whole of Britain. Cedd, bishop
of London, was there, because he had come to look after a monastery
which he had founded in the kingdom. Agilberct, bishop of Dorchester,
who had come to visit Wilfrid and his pupils, was also present by
courtesy, and he was the only bishop present who upheld the Roman
customs. The opposing schools of thought were represented as follows,
although the meeting was really a debate between Colman and Wilfrid.
For the British method. For the Roman custom.
King Oswy (president).
Colman (bishop of Lindisfarne).
Queen Eanfled & Prince Aldfrid.
Agilberct (bishop of Dorchester).
Cedd (bishop of London). Wilfrid (tutor to Aldfrid).
The Celtic clergy.
The abbess Hilda.
Agatho and Romanus (priests).
James, the deacon.
Bede gives a full report of this council, which can only be summarized
here. King Oswy explained that he wanted to find out the truest
traditions respecting the points on which the Christians differed, so
that the most authentic might be adopted uniformly in his kingdom,
and he called upon the bishop of Lindisfarne to defend the Celtic use.
Colman stated that the British custom of observing Easter on the four
teenth day of the paschal moon had been unvaryingly observed by his
predecessors, in accordance with the example of the evangelist St. John
and all the Churches over which that beloved disciple had ruled.
Agilberct, by virtue of his rank, was then invited to speak on behalf of
the Italian practice, but he excused himself for various reasons, and
begged that Wilfrid might be allowed to reply to Colman. Wilfrid
claimed that St. Peter and St. Paul had ordered the feast to be kept
between the fifteenth and twenty-first of the moon. He did not deny
Colman s assertion respecting St. John, but said that St. John s assent
to the keeping of Easter on the Sunday after Passover week was merely
permissive to prejudiced Jewish converts only, and not intended as a
perpetual custom. He ridiculed the obstinacy of the Picts and Britons,
who lived in so remote a corner of the world, in preferring their use to
the accepted practice of the universal Church. Colman put in evidence
the writings of Anatolius, and appealed to the acknowledged custom of
Columba, the father of the Scoto-British Churches ; but Wilfrid
78 RETIREMENT OF COLMAN
asked, " How could any one prefer Columba to the chief of the apostles
to whom Christ had given the keys of heaven and hell ? " Then the
king inquired of Colman, " Whether the Saviour had so commissioned
St. Peter ? " and he said, "It is true, king." " Can you show that
any such power was given to Columba ? " and Colman answered,
"No." The king said, "Do both sides agree that these words were
said specially to Peter?" and both sides replied, "Yes, certainly."
Then the king declared, " I will not contradict that doorkeeper, lest
when I seek admission to the kingdom of heaven he may refuse to
open the portals for me." The nobles and people present applauded
this decision, and it was agreed that Northumbria should in future
adopt the Roman reckoning for Easter-day. Any qualified religious
teacher in the present day could show how unwarrantable was the
inference Wilfrid and Oswy forced from that famous passage, but
Colman was a simple-minded man, unused to the rhetorical artifices
which his rival had acquired abroad, unable also to withstand his
cutting sarcasms and contemptuous sneers ; he saw the traditions of
his fathers rejected and the saintly founders of his Church despised,
and he knew there would be little comfort for him in Northumbria
while Wilfrid had the ear of the court and people. So he resigned his
bishopric and went back to lona with many of his clergy. It must
be clearly borne in mind that the decision of the Whitby conference
did not involve any surrender of independence on the part of the
school of Lindisfarne. Submission to the see of Rome was not asked
for or granted. All that happened was this : The province ruled by
Oswy agreed to observe Easter at the same time that they understood
it was kept in all other Churches except the Celtic. A successor to
Colman was found in Tuda ; he had been trained at Lindisfarne and
made abbot of Mclrose, which the brethren of Lindisfarne had founded.
His personal dignity would be less wounded by the change of custom,
and the fact that he could so readily accept so onerous a charge, at
such a time, is proof that the Celtic teachers were only concerned to
maintain the ancient customs of the British Church.
2. Wilfrid and Chad. Tuda \vas consecrated to Lindisfarne
by the Celtic bishops, but did not long enjoy his new honours, for in
that same year, 664, a pestilential fever passed over Britain which
destroyed a great number of the inhabitants, among them being
Deusdedit, archbishop of Canterbury ; Cedd, bishop of London ;
CONSECRATION OF WILFRID
Damian, bishop of Rochester ; and Tuda, bishop of Lindisfarne. To
fill the latter s place Wilfrid was nominated by Aldfrid, son of Oswy,
who had been made king of Deira, and w r anted to have his old tutor
near him. Wilfrid accepted the appointment on two conditions.
One was that his see should be at York instead of Lindisfarne, the
other that he might go abroad for consecration, for on no account
would he accept episcopal ordination at the hands of the Celts.
in PON CATHEDHAL (see next page}.
Lindisfarne afterwards became a separate see with Eata for its bishop,
and Cuthbert for prior of the monastery. Wilfrid was consecrated
bishop of York at Compiegne in Neustria with unusual magnificence.
Twelve bishops took part in the ceremony, to show their appreciation
of his successful efforts towards uniformity in the Whitby conference.
The adulation showered upon him everywhere induced him to stay
SO WILFRID AND CHAD
abroad for about two years. He made no provision for his episcopal
duties, and his people began to doubt seeing him again ; the popular
feeling, once altogether in his favour, then veered right round, and
went entirely against him. There was at that time in the monastery
of Lastingham a Lindisfarne monk, named Chad, brother of Cedd, the
late bishop of London. The people begged of Oswy that he might be
their bishop, to which the king agreed, and Chad reluctantly accepted
the onerous position. He was sent to Canterbury for consecration,
but finding on arrival that no archbishop had been appointed to
succeed Deusdedit, he proceeded to Winchester, where Wini was bishop.
As the canons of Nica;a required three bishops to consecrate another
bishop, two British bishops came from West- Wales, as Cornwall and
Devon were then called, to take part in the consecration, thus uniting
the Italian and Celtic lines of episcopal succession. Bishop Chad
immediately set to work to revive the neglected Church in the north,
toiling early and late, journeying from place to place on foot, winning
all hearts by his humility, self-denial, and patient continuance in well
doing. There were now two bishops of York, Wilfrid and Chad,
which soon became a source of trouble. When Wilfrid returned to
Britain, and understood that he had lost the favour of the North
umbrians, he allowed Chad to remain unmolested until he could regain
their good opinion. He employed himself in superintending the
building of churches and abbeys in various other parts of Britain ; and
the kings were glad to have the advice of so accomplished a traveller
who had visited all the courts of Europe. He was also useful in
ordaining clergy for Kent and Essex, until a new archbishop of Canter
bury was appointed. He had founded two very important monastic
establishments at Hexham and Ripon while he was resident at the
courts of Oswy and Aldfrid, in which he now passed most of his time ;
organizing them on a scale of then unparalleled splendour.
3. Archbishop Theodore. The mortality mentioned among
the Anglo-Saxon bishops greatly hindered Church work, especially
as the kingdoms were with one exception all Christian. The times
were unusually peaceful, men were ready to work heartily in the cause,
but a master mind was needed to set them their tasks. The two most
influential princes at this time were Oswy of Northumbria, and Egbert
of Kent. Their kingdoms were the centres of the rival religious
systems. They were on friendly terms, and agreed that it would be
THE CANTERBURY PRIMACY
conducive to still greater uniformity in Christian worship, if they
selected a man to be archbishop of Canterbury from among the native
clergy, and sent him to Rome for consecration. They chose Vighard,
one of the Kentish clergy, all parties among the people being delighted
with the selection. Vighard reached Rome, but was seized with
malaria and died. When the kings heard this they thought it would
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.
be better if they asked the pope of Rome to send some one, as he would
have a wider field for choice ; this they did, explaining the peculiar
needs of the country. VUcdian was pope at this time, nnd he wrote
to Oswy to say that, on account of the remoteness of Britain, so few
men whose qualifications agreed with the requirements specified were
disposed to come, that his task was exceedingly difficult. However,
after a lapse of many months, he found a suitable man named Theodore,
82 CONSECRATION OF THEODORE
who ultimately did more for this country and its Church than any of
his predecessors or successors. Vitalian consecrated him on March 26,
A.D. 668. This is the first instance of the direct consecration of an
archbishop for the British Isles by the Roman pontiff, and after
Theodore there was not another Roman archbishop for 350 years ; all
who succeeded him were Englishmen. He was a Greek monk, born,
like St. Paul, at Tarsus, in Cilicia ; but, after coming to England, he
became attached to the country, and could not have shown more
patriotism had he been a native. He was a scholar, a man of vast ex
perience, sixty-six years old, heartily in sympathy with the Eastern
Church, through which the British bishops claimed to have received
many of their customs, and he wore the eastern tonsure. But that he
might not be unacceptable to the Kentish clergy, his consecration was
delayed for months, until his hair grew sufficiently long for him to be
invested with the coronal tonsure. He arrived in Britain, Sunday, May
27, A.D. 669, to be joined soon after by a still more learned ecclesiastic
than himself, named Hadri tn, who had refused to accept the higher
office of archbishop. Together they traversed all the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms to obtain a better acquaintance with the people and their
needs ; they organized the monasteries, established schools, introduced
choral services, and corrected such things as they found defective,
whether in church ministrations or monastic discipline. The secular
affairs of the country were most favourable to their purpose. " Never
at all," says Bede, "from the time that the Angles directed their
course to Britain, were there happier times, for, having most brave and
Christian kings, they were a terror to all barbarous nations ; and the
desires of all inclined to the late heard of joys of the celestial kingdom."
Theodore was welcomed everywhere, and being possessed of unusual
tact he gained the good opinion of all the princes and nobles, as well
as the unanimous support of the clergy. Thus fortified he commenced
his grand scheme for the consolidation of all the little missionary
independent communities, into a vast united Anglo-Saxon -Church.
4. Diocesan Changes. One part of Theodore s scheme was to
increase the number of bishops, and map out the country into smaller
districts. He found a small kingdom like Kent with two bishoprics,
whereas the other kingdoms, large or small, had but one bishop each,
whose spiritual jurisdiction was co-extensive \vith the territory of the
patron prince. Theodore was obliged to respect the limits of each
DIOCESAN ORGANIZATION
83
kingdom, but there was nothing to prevent him placing more than one
bishop in the larger ones, unless the bishop of any objected to the
division. The reduced areas thus committed to the care of suffragan
bishops were called "dioceses" i.e. a Complete household a perfect
community of manageable extent. It took the archbishop several
years to complete this portion of his work, and his efforts in North-
WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL.
umbria were resisted by Wilfrid, but after a while he managed to place
seventeen bishops where there had formerly been only nine. East-
Ancjlia had two bishops instead of one, Elmham in Norfolk being the
home of the new see. Wessex also had two instead of one, Winchester
and Sherborne being the cathedrals. Mercia was divided into five
with the bishops seats at Lichfield, Hereford, Worcester,
34
NEW BISHOPRICS
Leicester, and Lindsey. Korthumbria (which now included the province
of Valentia, and by consequence the church founded by St. Ninian at
Whithom, in Galloway) received four bishops, the official chairs being
placed at York, Liudisfanie, Whithorn, and Hexham (see page 91).
Kent, Essex, and Sussex were considered to be sufficiently manned.
LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL.
THEODORE S POLICY 85
5. Amalgamation. One of the first acts of Archbishop Theo
dore was to remove Bishop Chad from the see of York, on the ground
that he had not been regularly consecrated. Chad willingly retired to
his monastery at Lastinghain, whence he had come, and Wilfrid, as
the rightful possessor, was invested with the temporalities of the see.
Wilfrid continued his work as a church builder by restoring in
magnificent fashion the then dilapidated church of St. Peter at
York, which Edwin had commenced and Oswald had completed,
substituting lead roofs and glass windows for the thatches and
openings, covering the walls with plaster, and decorating the interior
with sculptures, pictures, and hangings. Chad was not long allowed to
lead a quiet life ; his humility and piety attracted the admiration of
Theodore, and, as soon as the Mercian bishop Jaruman died, Chad was
appointed to succeed him in the see, where he laboured in such a
way as to gain the love and esteem of all members of the Church. He
did not live many years, but before he died he built a church in honour
of St. Mary at Chadstowe, and a house for the bishops, and when
a nobler cathedral was erected at Lichfield, his remains were trans
ferred within it. It is customary to point to the double consecration
of Chad as an instance of the way in which Theodore blended together
the rival missions of Celts and Eomans among the Anglo-Saxons.
Certainly from Theodore s time it is no longer possible to consider them
as separate missions. This is a very important matter, and ought to
be clearly understood. Theodore had no official dealings with the
British, Scotch, or Irish Churches, but among the Anglo-Saxons he
found religious teachers who derived their orders from one or other of
these Celtic sources. And the archbishop appointed such of them as
he thought fit, no matter where they were trained. Chad was one.
We cannot trace for certain whether Chad assisted Theodore or not in
the consecration of the bishops who were selected for the numerous
new dioceses, but it is probable that he did ; for Theodore would be
careful to observe the old rule which declared imposition of hands by
three bishops to be necessary for valid consecration to the episcopate,
and on Theodore s arrival there were only two prelates besides Chad
and Wilfrid in charge of Anglo-Saxon dioceses, one of whom died the
same year. Moreover, Chad was Theodore s especial favourite, whilst
Wilfrid was quite the reverse. At all events one thing is quite certain,
the new archbishop did not send any one abroad for consecration, nor
did he send to Gaul or Italy for priests to be consecrated, but selected
EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION
impartially such men as he found to be of good report when he made
his tour of inspection through the country, whether they had been
trained in the Canterbury and East-Anglian schools, or in the Celtic
colleges, e.g. Putta, Acci, and Heddi, bishops respectively of Rochester,
Norfolk, and Wessex, were without doubt chosen by him from the
Canterbury college ; whilst Eata and Trumbert for Hexham ; Bosa
for York ; Chad, Winfrid and Saxwulf for Lichfield, and Cuthbert for
Lindisfarne, were as certainly trained in the Celtic monasteries. And
THE CITY OF JERUSALEM.
if it be fair to suppose that the coming of Augustine from Home, when
only a monk, was equivalent to the establishment of an Italian hierarchy
here ; it is no less reasonable to suggest that Theodore s selection of
monks belonging to monasteries founded by the old British Church, to
be bishops among the Anglo-Saxons, was equally a continuance of the
ancient Christianity of Britain. Henceforth then there was a double
line of apostolic ministry in the Anglo-Saxon Church, and when by
degrees the Scotch, Irish, and Cymric (i.e. Welsh) Churches adopted
CONCILIA R AUTHORITY 87
the continental ritual customs, and agreed to recognize the primacy of
the archbishop of Canterbury (always understanding that this did not
include the right of the pope of Rome to interfere), this double succes
sion was still further assured ; if indeed it was not made a threefold
cord through the consecration of St. David by the patriarch of the
Church of Jerusalem. It is true that all the men whom Theodore
appointed agreed to conform to the Roman use in respect of Easter and
the tonsure, but this decision was not arrived at because they accepted
the supreme right of the pope to judge, but because they saw at last
that the rest of Christendom was of one mind on the subjects, and
knew that it had always been the desire of the British Church to be in
complete accord with the decisions of the universal Church. Even
Theodore himself would have been the last to admit that the pope of
Rome had any official and legal jurisdiction here, for, having been
made archbishop of the Anglo-Saxon Churches, and received the homage
of the suffragan bishops and lesser orders, he determined not to allow
any foreign bishop to dictate to the Church in Britain, any more than
lie would sanction one English bishop interfering in the diocese of
another English bishop. The proof of these conclusions will be found
in the circumstances treated of in the succeeding paragraphs, to which
the reader is invited to give particular attention.
6. Synod of Hertford. As soon as Theodore had made him
self sufficiently familiar with the habits of Anglo-Saxons, and the
peculiar needs of Britain, he called the bishops and clergy together
to confer with them respecting the basis of future operations. The
first meeting was held at Hertford in the year 673. Wilfrid of York
whose independent spirit chafed under the resolute system of
Theodore, was not there, but he sent two of his clergy as proctors.
The Celtic clergy were not invited. Theodore first asked the persons
assembled if they would agree to maintain such things as were
canonically decreed by the Christian fathers ? On their unanimous
assent he selected ten articles from a collection of canons that had
been approved by the council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, and accepted
by the western Churches. They were adapted, after some discussion
upon each, to the needs of Britain, and all the prelates and clergy
present bound themselves to observe them by signing their names to
a transcript of them. The ten important rules of discipline thus laid
down are enumerated on the next page.
88 CANONS OF HERTFORD SYNOD
1. That there should be uniformity in keeping Easter.
2. That no bishop should invade another bishop s diocese.
3. That bishops should not "disturb in any respect the
monasteries consecrated to God, or take away by violence
any part of their property."
4. That monks should not move from one monastery to another
without leave of their own abbot.
5. That the clergy should not go from their diocese without
leave, nor be received in another diocese without letters of
recommendation from their former bishop.
6. That bishops and clergy should not officiate anywhere with
out leave of the bishop in whose diocese they were staying.
7. That there should be a yearly synod.
8. That no bishop, through ambition, should prefer himself
above others, but take rank according to consecration.
9. That additional bishops should be appointed as the number
of the faithful increased.
10. That persons should not wed within the prohibited degrees,
nor be wrongfully divorced, nor marry others if divorced.
As these conditions have ever since been the rule of the Church in
Britain, a knowledge of them will help us to understand the right or
wrong of many subsequent events. The gathering together of an
annual synod for all the clergy from each kingdom, instead of small
local conferences like that of Whitby, completed the external union of
the several Anglo-Saxon Churches.
7. Synod Of Hatfield. Another and even more important
council was held at Hatfie j d seven years later, which concerned
the faith of the Anglo-Saxon Church. Heresies had arisen in other
parts of the Christian world, which disturbed the minds of Christians,
and Archbishop Theodore was anxious to know how far his assistant
bishops and clergy were involved therein. The result was extremely
gratifying, for among the large assembly (Wilfrid of York was again
needlessly absent) he found an unanimous agreement in Catholic
doctrine. He caused this happy circumstance to be placed on record,
all the prelates and clergy present subscribing to the document then
drawn up. To put the matter shortly, this document, having set forth
what the synod held to be the true faith in the Holy Trinity, con
cluded by formally declaring its adhesion to the decrees of the Five
SYNOD OF HATFIELD
General Councils,
viz.Niccea, A.D. 325;
Constantinople, 381 ;
Ephesus, 431 ; Chal-
cedon, 451 ; and Con
stantinople, 553.
These councils are
still the authority
for the faith of the
Church in Britain.
Some of them had
been so of the Celtic
Church for centuries
previously to the
coming of Theodore.
There was nothing,
therefore, to differ
entiate the Welsh
and Anglian Chris
tians at that time,
except the antipa
thies of race and the
minor differences of
ritual and discipline.
The organization of
our English Church
has been continuous
HATFIELD, HERTS. ever since then.
8. Wilfrid s appeals to Rome.We have several times referred
to Wilfrid, bishop of York, and his unfriendly attitude to Archbishop
Theodore. The outcome is of very great historical importance. It
is impossible to overlook the intense vigour with which this exceed
ingly clever man prosecuted everything he set his hands to. All over
his diocese, by the aid of his friend Benedict Biscop, he built substantial,
not to say magnificent, churches, some remains of which are still to be
found. The whole country sought his advice for similar purposes.
Monasteries under his rule were severely regulated, and the services of
the churches improved ; responsive or antiphonal singing was intro
duced in public worship ; and above all he set a noble example in his
90 WILFRID S APPEAL TO ROME
own pious, self-denying, and austere life. Perhaps it was the conscious
ness that he far exceeded all his contemporaries in ability, not except
ing Theodore, which caused him to work independently. He was the
first great advocate in England of the religious life, and used his
immense powers to induce the nobility to leave all secular affairs, and
spend the rest of their days in retirement, and their possessions in
erecting monasteries. Many noblemen and ladies gave themselves up,
and everything they possessed, for religious work at his bidding ; but
when he influenced the queen of Northumbria to quit the court and
her consort for the solitude of a convent, King Ecgfrid was so incensed
that he banished Wilfrid from his dominions. That was in A.D. 677,
and again the diocese of York was without a resident bishop ; where
upon Archbishop Theodore divided the vast see into four, viz. York,
Lindisfarne, Whithorn, and Hexham, without consulting Wilfrid ; who
then resolved upon a hitherto unheard of proceeding. He had for
years been proclaiming the supremacy of the pope of Rome, and now
he determined to appeal in person to that authority. Doubtless Pope
Agatho felt flattered by this proceeding, for he at onee summoned a
council of fifty prelates specially to inquire into Wilfrid s cause. The
assembly pronounced entirely in his favour. Thus exonerated, Wilfrid
stayed awhile in Rome. In 680 a synod was held there at which
Wilfrid attended as the representative of the Churches of the British
Isles. His subscription to the documents of that synod is as follows :
" Wilfrid, beloved of God, bishop of the city of York, appealing to the
apostolic see for his own cause, and having been absolved by that
power of charges, definite and indefinite, and being placed with 125
other bishops in synod on the judgment-seat, also confessed the true
and catholic faith for all the northern regions ; the islands of Britain
and Ireland, which are inhabited by the races of the Angles and
Britons, besides Picts and Scots, and corroborated this with his own
subscription." As this subscription was made on the invitation of the
pope, Wilfrid must have given him to understand that there was
harmony and communion between the Welsh and Anglo-Saxon
Churches. If, as some say, there were no dealings whatever between
these Churches, he would have had no manner of tille to make such a
subscription on their behalf, to the hoodwinking of 125 bishops of the
western Churches. What follows is instructive : Wilfrid returned in
due time to his country and triumphantly produced before the North
umbrian witan the pope s demand that he should be re-instated in his
WILFRID OUTLAWED
01
offices and privileges. If the pope s authority were at this time what
some would have us believe, we should expect to find that modest
assembly eager to obey their supreme spiritual ruler and make apologies
to Will rid for his wrongful banishment ; but the reverse of all this
happened. The witan said in effect: " Who is the pope and what are
his decrees ? "What have they to do with us or we with them? Have
we not the right and power to manage our o\vii affairs and punish in
our own discretion all offenders against our laws and customs ? " So,
to mark their sense of indignation at this unjustifiable attempt to
introduce a foreign jurisdiction, they burned the papal letters and
sentenced Wilfrid to a rigorous imprisonment, from which he was only
released on covenanting to stay away from JSTorthumbria. Then it was
that he went and preached the Gospel in the kingdom of the South-
Saxons, until that time unacquainted with the knowledge of the true
God (see page 73). For nearly six years he worked there, and by his
earnest labours regained in great measure the esteem of the Church.
When King Ecgfrid died he was once more allowed to return to his
friends in Northumbria, and Bosa, whom Theodore had consecrated
bishop of York in his absence, was induced to retire in his favour.
This cannot be construed into an ultimate compliance with the pope s
decision, because the appeal to him was against the sub-division of the
diocese, and in returning to York now, Wilfrid had to be content with
a portion only of his former territory, because part of it had been
divided off to form the
dioceses of Lindisfarne
and Hexham. Not
very long after Wil
frid s restoration it was
proposed to create an
additional see out of
his diocese, with the
bishop s stool at his
now famous monastery
of Ripon, but Wilfrid
again objected, and
was once more banish
ed from Northumbria.
Tli is time he took re
fuge in Mercia, and
HEXHAM ABBEY.
92
WILFRID S PERSISTENCE
when Cuthwin, bishop of Leicester, died, A.D. 691, Wilfrid was elected
to succeed him. Archbishop Theodore was then dead, and his .place
occupied by Berctwald, a Saxon. In 702, Berctwald called a council to
consider Wilfrid s case (no doubt it was a painful reflection on the
whole Church), and Wilfrid was asked whether he would submit to
Theodore s plan for re-arranging the dioceses ? He declined, and
charged the bishops present at Berctwald ? council with having re
sisted the papal decrees for
twenty-two years. He refused ^ ^
to submit to any other
authority than that of the
pope. In sheer despair at
their inability to turn his
unconquerable spirit, the
bishops of the Anglian sy
nod pronounced a sentence of
deprivation on him for his
contumacy, and excommuni
cated all who sided with him.
Again the old man wende;!
his way to Rome, that he
miu f ht lay his case before
BEYERLEY MKNSTER.
WILFRID S COMPROMISE 93
Pope John VI., and this time the Anglo-Saxon Church sent an
embassy to justify their action. There was a long trial, extending
over four months, which resulted in the acquittal of Wilfrid from any
suspicion of wrongdoing. The pope sent him back to Britain with a
most peremptory command that he should be restored to all his
dignities and possessions. Archbishop Berctwald urged compliance
with this order, but King Aldfrid refused to "alter a sentence issued
by himself, the archbishop, and all the dignitaries of the land, for
any writings coming, as they called it, from the Apostolic See."
Wilfrid s friends were many and his sympathizers more. He was
looked upon as a persecuted old man, and when King Aldfrid lay a-
dying he remembered his youthful affection for his former tutor, and
begged that he might be restored to favour. Still the clergy and
people of York refused to have him back, and the bishops demurred to
his restoration. Finally a compromise was effected. John, the
founder of Beverley, then bishop of Hexham, was transferred 1o York,
Wilfrid accepting the bishopric of Hexham with possession of the
monastery of Ripon. "His life was like an April day, often inter
changeably fair and foul, but after many alterations he set in full fair
lustre at last." He died in 709. Painful as is the recollection of these
unseemly wrangles, the record of them is needful to prove that papal
anathemas were nothing accounted of in this country in those days.
9. The parochial system. We have passed over many events
in Theo lore s primacy in order to keep Wilfrid s history connected,
but we must not lose sight of another part of his plan for consolidating
and improving the Church. Before he came, there were many
churches built in various parts, but no settled plan of providing them
everywhere. Wilfrid had roused the spirit of benevolence, but
Theodore sought to turn the liberality of the people into a useful
channel. Instead of having resident clergy in each neighbourhood, it
had been the custom for them to live in monastic communities, but
the new archbishop persuaded the nobles to adopt the system he had
seen successfully worked in Greece of having a church and Christian
teacher on each landed estate. Also it had been customary for the
faithful to pay their offerings into a general fund to be administered
by the bishops, but Theodore permitted donors to give money, lands,
or share of produce, for the support of a resident clergyman in their
own neighbourhood. So it came to be that "the holding of the
English noble or landowner became the parish, and his chaplain the
THE PAROCHIAL SYSTEM
parish priest." To encourage this part of his scheme, Theodore
arranged that all who built churches and supported a resident pastor
should have the right of selecting from the available clergy who that
pastor might be. 1 Thus our present system of private patronage,
ecclesiastical districts, and episcopal dioceses took its rise, never to be
altered. "The regular subordination of priest to bishop, of bishop to
primate, in the administration of the Church, supplied a mould on
which the civil organization of the State quickly shaped itself;" and
" it was the ecclesiastical synods which by their example led the way
to our national parliament, as it was the canons enacted in such synods
which led the way to a national system of law " (Green}. In other
words it was the organization and settlement here by Theodore of a
Hinted Anglo-Saxon Church that suggested to our ancestors the
possibility of a single civil community. The Church was united before
690. There was not a correspondingly united kingdom until 1017.
MONKWEARMOUTH CHI
1 See Hook s Lives of Archbishops of Canterbury, vol. i., pp. 152-3, and note. Bishop
Stubbs, Const. Hist., says : "It is unnecessary to suppose that Theodore founded
the pnrochial system, for it needed no foundation. As the kingdom and shire were
the natural sphere of the bishop, so was the township of the single priest. As
many townships were too small to require or support a separate church and priest,
many parishes contain several townships."
CHAPTER VII. (A.D. 690-796)
PROSPERITY OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH
" The war-worn chieftain quits the world to hide
His thin autumnal locks where monks abide
In cloistered privacy
O Venerable Bede !
The saint, the scholar, from a circle freed
Of toil stupendous."
1. Effects Of Theodore s work. Hitherto, owing to the
tribal character of the various missionary Churches, we have had
to deal much more fully with their work in the different kingdoms
than will be necessary in the subsequent pages, now that we have
realized them as united under a recognized head, and organized upon an
uniform plan. We shall only need to direct attention to representative
men in succeeding generations, round whose personality the chief
events connected with the Church seem to revolve. The Church had
been a long time winning its way into the hearts of the Teutons, but
after Theodore had established and settled it throughout the land, it
held over them an undisputed sway. The clergy became advisers
of the people in temporal as well as spiritual affairs, and no important
laws were made without consulting them. Besides having their own
ecclesiastical courts the prelates sat with the lay nobles in local and
national assemblies to adjudicate upon social, political, and domestic
concerns ; they took precedence of the gentry at official gatherings ;
the bishop ranked next to royalty, and, if in tribal strife he were made
prisoner, the price of his ransom would be the same as that for a king.
The unity of the Church often enabled the clergy to prevent strife and
bloodshed between the separate kingdoms, so great was the reverence
and respect shown by every one to them, and thus the welfare of the
people became closely bound up with the prosperity of their religion.
2. Illustrated teaching. The Church had no greater friends
than the common people, for, although its settlement in any district
was primarily due to the decisions of the nobles in witan assembled,
its cords were lengthened, and its stakes strengthened, by the sincere
affection of the simple peasants for the revelation which the missionaries
had brought to them. It was natural that the bishops should generally
stay near the princes to advise them how a Christian state should be
95
96
PICTORIAL TEACHING
administered, but there were never wanting large numbers of self-
denying men to go out into the valleys and hills and teach the people.
There were then few books, and still fewer persons, outside the
monasteries, who could read ; some other way had to be found to arrest
and maintain the attention than those which we enjoy by means of
the printing-press. A language which is still universal was adopted,
men s hearts being appealed to through their eyes. Pictures and
sculptures were freely used, and the Christian symbol of the cross set
up in the gathering-place of each tribe to remind them of the motive
power which should actuate them now that they were turned from
heathen darkness to be " light in the Lord." Many of those crosses,
erected in churchyards and public places, are still to be found through
out the country, some showing signs of elaborate workmanship. They
were the text-books of the
time. Scenes in the story of
our redemption were carved on
them, which the missionary
preachers would regularly ex
plain ; and just as children
now-a-days, who have picture
story-books read to them be
fore they are able to read for
themselves, remember what
has been told them of each
picture when they look it over
in the absence of the teacher,
so the rough untutored minds
of the Anglo-Saxon peasantry
were able to realize by similar
means how great things the
Lord had done for them, even
when the missionaries had re
turned to the monasteries
where they lived with the
bishop who ruled them.
EYAM CHURCHYARD CROSS.
3- Monastic life. Among the early Christians, in this as in
other countries, a literal interpretation and imitation of the devout
lives of Christ s noblest followers was thought to be the truest means
ANGLO-SAXON MONASTERIES 97
of preparing for eternal joys. Solitude, poverty, self-abnegation, the
renunciation of family ties, all these were thought to be evidences of
an intense degree of spiritual fervour. Those who most excelled in the
observance of such rules weiv accounted as nearest to the kingdom of
heaven, and were sought out in their retirement by highest and lowest
among the people, who wished for instruction in the way of life and
advice in temporal concerns. The advice of the monks was usually
that men should do as they did, viz. devote all their worldly i-ubstance
to the Church, and their time to its service. Hence the rapid growth
of the Church s material possessions, which in time became the cause
of much unseemly strife, as it is unto this day. The monasteries soon
became filled with inmates, for all of whom some occupation had to be
found. In the fresh full vigour of a new enterprise it was but
natural that many who entered these religions houses should endeavour
to excel their fellows ; time was not an object of concern, a whole
life s work would be cheerfully given to the careful accomplishment
of some such simple task as the building of a house or the re
claiming and culture of land. Manuscripts, for example, were
engrossed with immense elaborateness of detail on p.-irchment sheets ; in
gold, jewels, and colours. Copies of the Scriptures and liturgies were
multiplied in that way. The great libraries of the world were searched,
and their treasures purchased and stored up in the smaller libraries of
Anglo-Saxon monasteries ; the chiefest of them being reproduced by
diligent and studious scribes. In writing of other things the monks
wrote also of themselves ; hence, from this time, there is no lack of
information respecting ecclesiastics of the time. The lives of some of
these have become part of the history of their native district, chiefly
because they happen to be, each in their locality, the first persons of
note of \\hom there is undoubted record. Their biographies are useful
to illustrate the active and prosperous Church of the eighth century.
4. St. Cllthbert. One of them, belonging to the north of
England, is written into great prominence by the Venerable Brde.
Beyond the Tweed, in the house of a widow, lived a dreamy boy,
Cuthbert by name, who tended sheep on the hills. Once he thought
he saw a light streaming from heaven, and multitudes of angels
carrying a pure soul to paradise. When he heard that the saintly
Aulan, bishop of Lindisfarne, had died tint very night, he believed
that his was the spirit which he had seen in the company of thu
VOL. i. E
98
ST. CUTHBERT OF At EL ROSE
celestial visitors ; and being desirous of like fellowship lie resolved to
seek admission to a religious house. He found his way to the straw-
thatched log-houses which then formed the monastic settlement of
Melrose, a branch of the abbey of Lindisfarne, and was admitted to
the brotherhood there, A. D. 651. After some years of diligent study,
conspicuous devotion, and unusual energy, he became its prior. His
work while in that monastery made him famous throughout the north,
for not only did he wisely rule the large number of persons who were
admitted to its society, but went on preaching expeditions to the low-
landers, in places solitary and afar off as well as difficult of access,
where none else cared to penetrate. It was the custom at that time,
MELROSE ABBEY RUINS.
whenever a preacher came to a village, for the people to assemble at
his summons to hear the Word. " Cuthbert s skill in speaking," says
his biographer Bede, was so great, his power of persuasion so va.st,
and the light of his countenance so angelic, that no one in his presence
concealed from him the secrets of his soul ; all confessed their misdeeds,
because they thought that what they had done could not escape his
prescience, and atoned for them by such penance as he enjoined."
Like the Saviour, he would preach all day and spend many of his
nights in lonely meditation, often making journeys to distant places,
both by sea and land, not seldom finding himself cut off from oppor
tunities of food and shelter. The little town of Kirkcudbright in
ST. ALDHELM S BALLADS 99
Galloway preserves in its nomenclature a memorial of such work. In
664, when a new prior was required for Lindisfarne, Cuthbert s repu
tation for sanctity, and his experience as a disciplinarian, caused him
to be transferred to that more important position. " His life was
lightning, and therefore he could make his words thunder. . . . He
was wont to blend severity towards sin, with infinite tenderness towards
the sinner, and such tenderness he ever believed to be the best mode of
dealing with honest confession of shortcoming " (Maclear}. After he had
been prior of Lindisfarne for twelve years, he felt the need of rest, and
resolved to spend the rest of his life as a recluse. For this purpose lie
built himself a cell on one of the little Fame islands, surrounding it
with an earthwork so high that he could see nothing of the world, but
only the sky beyond it. He rarely saw visitors, nor would he under
any circumstances permit females, human or animal, to land on the
island. This life of almost complete loneliness lasted for eight years,
during which the fame of his piety spread far and wide ; and in 684,
Egfrid, king of Northumbria, went to the island with Bishop Trumwine,
and entreated him to accept the bishopric of Hexham. After many
protestations of inability, he consented to leave his solitude, but
delayed the ceremony of consecration for several months, during which
he prevailed upon his friend Eata, bishop of Lindisfarne, to exchange
positions with him, Eata going to Hexham, and Cuthbert becoming
chief ruler over the older but more secluded community. He died in
687, but his name and fame as apostle of the lowlands, and an example
of sincere devotion, is still revered throughout the north of Britain.
His body was buried at Lindisfarne, in a shroud wrought by the abbess
of Tynemouth, and for generations pilgrimages were made to his tomb.
5. Anglo-Saxon authors. In the early part of the eighth
century the monastic schools began to produce original writers and
thinkers, who became the fathers of that English literature which is
now the glory of the world. One of the earliest was Aldhelm, or
Eadhelm, bishop of Sherborne. He wrote in Latin and in Saxon ;
he used to compose popular ballads in the vernacular, and stand in
some public place to sing them, accompanying himself on a harp.
Having gained the ear of his audience by means of the music, he
generally finished by giving them some spiritual instruction. He
translated the Psalms into the vulgar tongue, and persuaded Egbert,
one of his brother bishops, to translate the Gospels in like manner ;
he is also famous for having induced the Celtic Christians in Cornwall
100 .97: CMDMONS PARAPHRASES
to abandon their old rule of keeping Easter in favour of the more
general custom. Like Wilfrid he was a great architect, and at
Bradford- on- Avon (see page 132) there may still be seen a monument
of this branch of his labours, in the little church of St. Laurence.
Until ihirty years ago it was hidden among surrounding buildings and
used for secular purposes, but in 1857 it was restored to the Church,
and is now used daily for public worship. It is the most perfect
Saxon stone building extant, and is a very precious relic of the early
days of Christianity in the south-west portion of our land. Aklhelm
lived among the Saxons in the south, but there was another noted
poet belonging to the Angles in the north, named Cccdmon; whose gift
of poesy is said to have come to him by a sudden inspiration, as he lay
sleeping in a cowshed belonging to Whitby-abbey, after a hard day s
work of cattle tending. Previously he had been unable and therefore
unwilling to take part in the easy alliterative rhyming \vhich was the
amusement of the common people in those simple times, but one
winter s night, so he said, a celestial being came to him, and asked
him to sing something. " I cannot sing," was his reply. " But you
must," said the visitor. " What shall I sing?" asked the bewildered
herdsman. " Sing the beginning of created things." And although
he was an untaught labourer, he forthwith composed verses in praise
of the Deity, which are stiil considered worthy of a place in our
literature. When the Abbess Hilda heard his tale he was admitted
to the monastery as a monk ; his brethren translated to him passages
from their Latin manuscripts of the Scriptures, and he immediately
transposed their substance into earnest, passionate verses, in the
phraseology of the Anglian peasantry. Aldhelm and Caedmon are
both surpassed in literary merit by a monk whom we have often
quoted the Venerable Bede most famous among the scholars of
western Europe in his day. He lived at the monastery of Jarrow-on-
Tyne, which Benedict Biscop had built at the end of the seventh
century. Its oratory still remains, having been used almost un
interruptedly from that time for Christian worship, thus forming an
evidence in stone of the antiquity and continuity of the Anglo-Saxon
Church, and another example of the substantial character of its
buildings. Bede was born in the year 672, and at the early age of
seven was placed in charge of the Jarrow monks, from which time,
until his death, he never wandered farther afield than to and from the
sister monastery of Wearmouth, also founded by Benedict Biscop ;
REDE S LITERARY LABOURS
101
but spent his time in a constant course of study and instruction. He
was a most voluminous writer. A score of commentaries on the
Scriptures, compiled from the writings of the Christian fathers ; trans
lations of the Bible and liturgy into the vulgar tongue, a book upon
the saints and martyrs, biographies of his contemporaries, treatises
on orthography, astronomy, rhetoric, and poetry ; besides innumerable
letters to persons who sought his advice all these are laid to his
credit. Indeed his works were a kind of cyclopaedia of almost all that
was then known, and they are most of them now in existence ; but
above all in value is the book he wrote in Latin at the request of
Ceolwulph, king of Northumbria, called The Ecclesiastical History
of the Anglian Nation,
which is still the chief
authority for historians
when they seek to know
anything respecting our
forefathers np to this
time. The monasteries of
Jairow and "Wearmouth
sought to uphold the
principles which Wilfiid
had enunciated rather
than those of the Lindis-
farne teachers, and there
fore we find many passages
in the writings of Bede
unfavourable to the Celtic
Christians. He was the
forerunner of many writers
who were interested in
advancing the claims of
the see of Rome. He
himself tells us that much
of the information in
the Ecclesiastical History
was obtained from the
libraries at Rome, and the
writings of the popes.
We are not blaming
JARROW cnur.cii TOVEH.
102 D EAT PI OF VENERABLE BEDE
Bede for such partisanship, it was part of his education, but we take
the fact into account as we read his books. A beautiful word-picture is
left us by one of his scholars respecting the clcse of his life. It was the
eve of Ascension-day, A.D. 735, when he lay a-dying ; the translation of
the Gospel of St. John occupying his closing hours. A group of fair-haired
Saxon scribes wrote from his dictation, as far as the words "What are
these among so many," when
Bede felt his end approach
ing. "Write quickly," he
said, "I cannot tell how
soon my Master will call me
hence." All night he lay
awake in thanksgiving, and
when the festival dawned
he repeated his request that
they should accelerate the
work. At last they said :
"Master, there remains
but one sentence." " Write
quickly," answered Bede.
"It is finished, master!"
they soon replied. "Aye, it
is finished ! " he echoed ;
"now lift me up and place
me opposite my holy place
where I have been accus
tomed to pray." He was
placed upon the floor of his
cell, bade farewell to his
companions to whom he had
previously given mementoes
of his affection, and having
sung the doxology, peace
fully breathed his last. BEDE S TOMB, DURHAM CATHEDRAL.
6. Anglo-Saxon foreign missions. When thou art con
verted strengthen thy brethren." So runs the apostolic precept,
which Christians in every age have endeavoured to fulfil. Long
before the conversion of the heptarchy, the Celtic Church had dis
patched its missionaries to Gaul and Switzerland, as we learn from
MISSION S TO THE HEATHEN 103
the lives of the Irish monks Columban and Gall, and the Angles
were soon filled with the like missionary zeal. From such schools as
those of Glastonbury, Limlisfarne, and Jarrow, men were sent forth to
convert the kindred Teutonic tribes who had colonized what we now
call Germany. Wilfrid, of York, had preached in Friesland, and
afterwards sent Willibrord and twelve monks from his monastery at
Ripon to the same district. Two priests named Eivald attempted a
similar task in Saxony, but they were torn limb from limb at Cologne,
and their remains thrown into the Khine. In 716, Winfrid, better-
known as Boniface, educated first at a Celtic monastery near Exeter,
and afterwards in a West-Saxon monastery in Hampshire, resolved
to help Willibrord at Utrecht. Subsequently he was consecrated
" missionary bishop of Germany," by Pope Gregory II., and succeeded
in establishing a number of fully organized communities, over which he
was made archbishop, with his see at Mayence (see next page). After
many years, although an old man of seventy he went again to Friesland,
where there were still many remnants of paganism. Here his zeal
outran his discretion, and the heathens, enraged by his destruction of
their idols, attacked and slew both him and his converts. He courted
this fate, believing that a long missionary life would be most fitly
crowned at last by the glory of martyrdom. In each place where he
had ministered he left behind him disciples who continued his work
of civilizing the barbarous tribes of western Europe ; and, thus to
missionaries from this country may be traced a share of the peace and
good order which marked the empire over which Charlemagne ruled.
The Christianity of Gaul, to which the Celtic Church of Britain owed
so much, had been depreciated, if not almost destroyed, by a similar
Teutonic invasion to that which drove Christianity from the east of
Britain ; and after it was revived to some extent by means of the
Celtic missionaries, Boniface, by his influence and experience, was
able to reform and organize the whole ecclesiastical system within the
Frankish dominions. We honour his memory on June 5.
7. Early benefactions to churches. Very much has been
said in recent times respecting the charters (i. e. writings, or deeds
of gift) which were granted to the Church by Anglo-Saxon kings.
Our museums contain several thousands of these documents, mostly
in the handwriting of the monks. TJie Codex Diplomaf.icus of Mr.
Kemble, and the Cartularium Saxonicum of Mr. de Gray Birch, have
104
BENEFACTIONS TO CHURCHES
placed largo numbers of them within our reach in readable form, and
so helped the Church to prove the title to her property incontro-
vertibly. Before the monasteries set the example of registering the
transfer of possessions on parchment or paper, our ancestors con
tented themselves with the transference of property in the presence of
witnesses ; for example, if land were to be conveyed, a turf would
be cut and given to the new owner in the presence of the other people
of the neighbourhood ; in similar fashion to the old patriarchal method
by which Boaz obtained the inheritance of Elimelech from Naomi.
MAYEXCR CATHEDRAL (see previou* page).
But the literary monks intro luced to this country a more excellent
way. The Church was to live on, they knew, when the petty states
would no longer exist ; after the donors and the witnesses had gone to
their long home. There would be difficulty, they foresaw, in proving
their right to estates and buildings, when a conquering prince desired
to alienate them, if they were restricted for evidence to living testi
mony ; so they enumerated in written documents full particulars of
any property given to the Church ; and this practice was afterwards
adopted for all important transfers, even by the laity, although it,
was a long time before the ancestral usage was dropped. The writings
SPECIMEN DEEDS OF GIFT 105
were only looked upon as additional security. Thus, in a royal grant
of the seventh century to Lyminge church, the king is made to say :
"But because there is need of care lest our grant of to-day be in the future
disowned and called in question, I have thought fit to prepare this document (home
paginam), and together with a turf of the foresaid land to deliver it to thee ; where
by I prevent not only my successors, whether kings or princes, but also myself,
from ever dealing otherwise with the said land than as it is now settled by me."
When a king gave any buildings or lands to the Church he gave
either from his own possessions or else fiom those which he had
acquired .by conquest over some other king, distributing some estates
to this or that monastery as an act of thankfulness to the Giver of all
victory ; in the same way as he would reward the faithfulness of the
barons who assisted him, by the grant of some other part of the
conquered territory. But kings were not the only benefactors, the
nobles were glad to follow their example ; and every local or county
history furnishes abundant evidence that the earliest benefactions to
the Church were individual and personal gifts. No one has ever yet
been able to find documentary proof of an uniform tribute, officially
demanded by the kings, from the people generally, for the support of
the Church. The essence of such gifts as the Church received, if the
documents be true, is that they were voluntary. Thus we read that
Offa, king of Mercia, gave a tenth part of "all his own things"
(ommium reruin suaruin) "to Holy Church," and a Kentish deed
of A.D. 832 contains the following grant to Canterbury cathedral :
" I, Luba, the humble handmaid of God, appoint and establish these foresaid
benefactions and alms from my heritable land at Mundlingham to the brethren
at Christ-church ; and I entreat, and in the name of the living God I command, the
man who may have this land and this inheritance at Mundlingham, that he
continue these benefactions to the world s end. The man who will keep and
discharge this that I have commanded in this writing, to him be given and kept
the heavenly blessing ; he who hinders or neglects it to him be given and kept the
punishment of hell, unless he will repent with full amends to God and to men."
The conditions relating to the inviolable nature of this gift were
very common stipulations at the time, suggested without doubt by
the monks, who had some experience already of the tendency to
encroach upon Church property, and withhold or subtract the con
tributions to it which were thus made a first charge upon estates. As
in Luba s gift, so in other benefactions to the Church ; they were
bestowed upon the particular church or community which the donor
desired to benefit, to be used by that community or church, and by
E 2
106 INVIOLABILITY OP OLD ENDOWMENTS
no other ; in accordance with the conditions of the third canon of the
synod of Hertford, which forbade the alienation of property from
any religions house to another. In the year 854 we find that King
Ethchvulf and several of his bishops, abbots, and nobles agreed to
make grants from their individual properties for the maintenance of
the Church, and these became recoverable at common law. This was
a distinctly voluntary proceeding, which bound no one else to similar
contributions, as is clear from the concluding terms of the charter
(still preserved in the British Museum) which they drew up :
" And if any one is willing to increase onr donation, may the Omnipotent Cod
increase his prosperous days. But if any one shall dare to diminish or disallow it,
let him understand that he will have to render an account before the tribunal of
Christ, unless he previously amends by giving satisfaction."
These selections from Anglo-Saxon documents are typical instances
of the way in which the Church acquired its property in early times,
and they serve to show that the intention of the donors was then the
same as it is now to dedicate something of their own proper good
to the service of God for ever. The proportion given would of course
depend on the prosperity of the donor, and so we find some d stricts
and parishes benefited much more largely than others. This is the
case with modern donations also, hence the irregular distribution of
Church funds, and the difference in dignity and grandeur of Church
buildings. Had there been then, or at any other time, as some suggest,
an uniform official endowment, there would have been less variation
in these respects. The longer our Church retains such property the
more inviolable will be its right thereto, for, although it is continually
receiving fresh proofs of the affection of its members, it still retains
many of the ancient benefactions ; notwithstanding that dishonest
men in every age have risked the curses entailed upon their alienation,
by taking to themselves the property of God in possession. Tithes,
i. e. a tenth part of certain properties originally given for i.he support
of the Church, of which we hear so much in the present day, are very
much more ancient benefactions to the Church than such donations
as have been referred to. The faithful converts were taught from
the earliest times the scriptural duty of contributing a tenth of their
substance for the support of the ministry ; but in the eighth century,
when Northumbria still held the civil supremacy, we have documentary
evidence of their official recognition ; for in the canons drawn up by
Egbert, first archbishop of York, it was decreed as follows :
SYNOD OF CHELSEA
107
" That the churches ancienlly established be despoiled neither of their tithes nor
other property to give them to new places of worship."
The decrees of the synod held at Chelsea, A.D. 787, at which Offa
made the grant we have referred to, show us that tithes were also
voluntary contributions, because the nineteenth canon earnestly entreats
all to make a point of giving tithe "because it is God s special portion."
THE OLD CHURCH AT CHELSEA (seepage 111).
Augustine of Canterbury had, by the advice of Gregory the great,
adopted a plan for dividing the contributions of the faithful into
four separate funds, one for the bishop, a second for the clergy, a third
for Church fabrics, and a fourth for the poor. That was when the
bishop had the management of the common fund, to which all
benefactions were at one time paid. Afterwards, when people gave
108 GROWTH OF MONASTICISM
for special purposes, the custom, which never had canonical force,
fell through. The bishops and clergy had their separate estates to
administer as they chose, and the monasteries theirs. Then the poor
were relieved, sheltered, fed, and employed by the monks and clergy,
so that the religious houses became hospitals for all, the secular
exchequer being thus relieved from all responsibility on account of
the needy ; a state of things which continued until the monasteries
were destroyed. It is alleged by some opponents of the Church in
modern times that a share of the tithes was at some time or other
made divisible by law amongst the poor, but there is no historical
evidence for such an assertion.
8. Royal devotees. So great was the prosperity of the Anglo-
Saxon Church in the eighth century, and so much respected were its
devotees, that it was not at all unusual for kings to leave their regal
state and adopt the monastic habit. Many made pilgrimages to places
where relics of saints and martyrs were enshrined, and oifered thereat
munificent alms ; others journeyed to the city of Rome barefooted, and
combined to establish an hospital there for the reception of travellers
from Britain, and a school for the education of British children ;
several ended their days in the comparative solitude of a monastery
which they had been instrumental in founding. Some of those royal
zealots were really actuated by religious fervour, others by the desire
of relaxation from the cares of state, or the wish for adulation of a
novel kind ; others, again, adopted a monastic habit or the pilgrim s
staff in expiation of former sins. One of the best was Inn, king
of "VVessex, the same who conquered West- Wales, and who was
persuaded by Aldhelm to rebuild and endow Glastonbury-abbey. As
the story goes, Ethelburh, his queen, persuaded him to renounce
his royal state by a very strange device. After feasting his barons
one day in extravagant fashion he went forth from the palace to go to
another of his castles accompanied by the queen, who, before she
left, had instructed the stewards to dismantle the house, hide its
treasures, fill it with rubbish, and put a sow with a litter of pigs in
the king s bed. Before they had proceeded far on their journey the
queen asked Ina to return, and after showing him over the defiled
palace, bade him consider the vanity of earthly pomp, and urged him
to lay aside his crown and make a pilgrimage to the city of Rome
with her. He did so, and they lived as ordinary persons in that
city all the days of Ina s life, endowing a school there wherein
DECLINE OF MONASTIC PURITY
109
Anglo-Saxon children might become acquainted with the usage
of foreign countries. Ethelburh returned to Wessex and died in
a Saxon monastery. Ina is famous also for having established a
written code of Saxon laws in which, as in the earlier laws of Ethelbert,
we can plainly trace the handiwork of the clergy. The provinces of
Northumbria, Essex, East-Anglia, Mercia, and Kent, each contributed
their quota of penitent kings, and their example was followed by
many queens and noblemen and ladies, who often became rulers of
the religious houses which they had themselves built and endowed.
9. Decadence Of religious purity. The early part of the
eighth century has been called the "Golden Age" of the Church in
Britain, because it was then more prosperous
than it had ever been before, and purer
than it has been since; but carelessness,
indifference, and vice, followed swiftly in the
wake of its prosperity. Intemperance, im
purity, and greed of gold soon became ram
pant. The mixed company of worldly-minded
and criminal persons, whose professed penitence
gained them admission to those once pure
homes of Christian life, defiled the monastic
abodes which sheltered them. Many still
more worthless men, with no knowledge of
or care for the religious life, obtained grants
of land from kings on the pretence of founding
monasteries, so as to hare the estates made
over to them and their heirs for ever, gather
ing together in the buildings they erected all
sorts of worthless persons ; much scandal and
vice resulting. A letter written by Bede, at
the close of his life, explains the
extent to which those evils had
grown; and a chapter in his
Ecclesiastical History relates how
Adamnan, who had been trained
in one of the Celtic monasteries,
complained to the abbess of Cold-
ingham respecting certain evils
which abounded in her house ; the
SOMPTING CHURCH TOWER
(seepage 132).
110 SECULARS AND REGULARS
inmates either sleeping idly, or being awake to sin. Stringent measures
had to be adopted to reform such abuses, which necessitated a liberal
interpretation of the third canon of the synod of Hertford, for the
monasteries which in many cases had been independent of episcopal
jurisdiction, under the rule of their abbots alone, were now obliged to
submit to a regular periodical visitation from their bishop. It is
necessary here to state that although the monastic clergy very often
went out on preaching tours, the ordinary parochial ministrations were
usually left to the seculars, that is, the clergy who lived amongst the
people, usually as chaplains in the landed proprietors families, in which
position they would be able to meet with the peasantry who gained
their livelihood on the estate and were fed for the most part in the
great hall of the Thane. They were called secular clergy, because they
lived "inseculo," or after the manner of the world, free to marry if they
chose, and live much as the parochial clergy do in the present day.
All who lived in the religious houses had literally to "renounce the
world" and live according to the Benedictine regulations, hence they
were known as regulars. The seculars had no other chief than their
bishop, but the regulars occupied positions of orderly gradation from
the novices to the abbots, much in the same way as our army is
regulated now, from the privates in the ranks to the generals of the
staff. To place them under a new chief, by giving bishops the power
of visiting monasteries, created an ill-feeling between the two classes
of clergy, to which we shall refer again later on ; for it resulted in a
struggle for supremacy, in which first one and then the other was
successful, for more than seven hundred years.
10. Offa, king Of Mercia. - -Meanwhile, the strife amongst the
Anglo-Saxon princes for the rank of Brctwalda continued ; it had been
borne, as we have saen, by Kentish and Northumbrian kings, but in
the second half of the eighth century, Offa, king of Mercia, success
fully contended with the kings of Wessex for this overlordship. We
have nothing to do with his civil struggles, but as he was the most
powerful of the English kings and a friend of Charlemagne, the
Frankish king who was winning for himself a still greater supremacy
in eastern Europe, his influence upon the Church was correspondingly
great. He left no way untried to make his kingdom in every respect
as great as, if not greater than, any of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
which he had subdued or surpassed. Kent had long enjoyed an
ARCHBISHOPRIC OF LICHFIELD
111
archbishop. In 734, after the publication of Bede s history which
made known the original intentions of Gregory the great, the see of
York was raised to a like dignity. Why, thought Offa, should not the
churches in his still more powerful kingdom be similarly encouraged ?
Accordingly, he would have the bishopric of Lichfield made a metro
politan see, and, when the archbishops of Canterbury and York
protested, he sent bribes to Pope Hadrian to oblain the requisite
permission and the pall. Hadrian was glad of an opportunity
to meddle in the affairs of the English Church, and sent two legates
here, who held a council at Chelsea, A.D. 787, and persuaded Jaenbert,
archbishop of Canterbury, to surrender control of the five bishoprics
of Mercia, and the two of East-Anglia, to Higbert, who was now made
archbishop of Lichfield, and by reason of Offa s position as overlord
took precedence of the other archbishops on important occasions.
This dignity for Lichfield only
lasted a short time, for after
the death of Offa, Aldulf, who
succeeded Higbert, requested
that the archbishopric might be
abolished. It was in Offa s
reign that an Englishman,
whose literary reputation was
world-wide, received an in
vitation from Charlemagne to
take up his abode in France, as
the director of that great
monarch s educational enter
prises. His name was Alcuin,
he was born at York, and had
been instructed by archbishop
Egbert there. Having success
fully conducted great school? in
Northumbria, he was considered
the fittest man to revive the
almost extinct learning o"
Europe. That is another in
stance of the influence of British
Christianity over the fortunes ST< ALIIAN S MONASTERY CA
of the Church abroad; for (see next page).
112 OFF AS MONASTERY AT ST. A LEANS
Alcuin, besides his educational work, took part in the religious
controversies of the continent, and helped to form western Church
policy in the unfortunate struggle for independence against the eastern
Churches. The reign of Offa is marked by two other important events.
One was his conquest of considerable British territory west of the river
Severn, to maintain whinh a huge wall of earth was thrown up, from
the mouth of the Wye to that of the Dee (parts of it are still pointed
out as Off as dyke), thus forming what has since been the boundary
between England and Wales. The other noteworthy circumstance
was the murder of Ethelbert, king of East-Anglia, whilst he was a
guest in Offa s palace. Traditional accounts state that, in expiation of
this crime, and annexation of Ethelbert s kingdom, the king of Mercia
made a tardy penance by visiting the city of Eome, and on his return
imposing on each family in his dominion a small tax of a penny for the
maintenance and support of Ina s school there. He certainly gave large
benefactions to Hereford cathedral and Bath-abbey, and also founded
the great monastery of St. Albans (see page 152). There had been a
notable church at Verulam ever since Alban was martyred, but Oft a,
who desired to excel all previous efforts in the foundation of religious
houses, built and endowed a more magnificent one than the country
had then seen. In after years, when bishops of Rome acquired an
usurped authority over the Church in Britain, special privileges of
exemption from all episcopal authority save that of the popes were
granted to St. Albans-abbey. Offa died A.D. 796, and the civil
supremacy passed into the hands of Egbert, king of Wessex, to whom
all the other Anglo-Saxon kings paid homage, and by whom the
country was called for the first time England, although it was not yet
one kingdom. The Anglo-Saxon tribes were henceforth known as the
English people, and their tongue the English language, but the
divisions of the heptarchy were still observed, with a king over
each, who governed absolutely ; the difference was that they had now
to fight for the overlord, or at least not to fight against each other.
CHAPTER VJII. (A.D. 787-1066)
THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN
"Dissension checking anus that would restrain
The incessant rovers of the Northern main ;
Helps to restore and spread a pagan sway :
The woman-hearted confessor prepares
The evanescence of the Saxon line."
1. The first Danish invasions. In the year 787 three
strange ships found their way to this country, not loaded with
merchandise, but carrying fierce bands of pirates, who had come from
Scandinavia. " They were the first ships of Danish men who sought
the land of the English nation." 1 iracy was accounted by them as
DANLSJI WARSHIPS.
an honourable employment. Their greatest ambition was to be sea-
kings. They were of the same Teutonic race as the " English ; " but
while the English tribes had become Christian, the Northmen, who
had replaced them in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, retained the
113 "
Hi COMING OF THE DANES
heathen worship of their common ancestry. The pirates light ash-
wood ships were so built as to be able to sail with equal facility over
the German Ocean or up the English rivers. It is said that they
landed first on the coasts of Northumbria, near the monastery of
Streanreshalch, since called Whitby, and having treacherously
murdered the chief men of the town, who came down to the harbour
to meet thorn, they proceeded to lay hands on everything of value,
which for the sake of getting rid of the Northmen the panic-stricken
people surrendered. St. Hilda s monastery afforded them the largest
booty ; for there were numbers of gold and silver vessels and much
saleable treasure in the shape of manuscripts and vestments. The
monks and priests made a feeble resistance, but the fierce marauders
dispatched them with little ceremony. Indeed, they had a special
hatred against the Christian religion, for it had well-nigh destroyed
their ancient mythological belief. They utterly destroyed the
monastic buildings, and having filled their ships with spoil, sailed
away over seas. The success of their first expedition emboldened them
to fresh attempts, and within two years the towns on the coast of
Wessex suffered from similar depredations; in 795 "the harrying of
heathen men wretchedly destroyed God s church at Lindisfarne isle,
through rapine and manslaughter." The next yenr, "the heathen
harried among the Northumbrians, and plundered the monastery at
Wearmouth." In 832 "hea heu men ravaged Sheppey." They did
not come as an army prepared to give battle to trained troops, but
came down suddenly upon some peaceful town \vhich was unprepared
to resist them. Offa, king of Mercia, cared nothing about the way
they plundered and weakened the smaller provinces, so long as they
remained outside his kingdom. But when he died, and Egbert, king
of Wessex, assumed the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon kings, a more
organized resistance was offered to the invaders. But they continued
thoir depredations for full 200 years, and it is not too much to say
that a similar distressful condition of affairs occurred all over the
country to that which happened 300 years before, when the earlier
tribes of Teutons harassed the Celtic population of Britain. In 833
there was a pitched battle between the Danes and Egbert, the
bretwalda, in which the bishops, clergy, and monks, took up arms
against the heathen ; but the united forces were unable to stand against
the Northmen, and two bishops, Herefrid, of Worcester in Mercia,
and Wilbert, of Sherborne in Wessex, were killed in the strife. On
BATTLE OF HENGIST S-DOWN
115
the whole, however, Egbert was able to hold the Danes in check
during his reign, and he obtained a decisive victory over them at
Hengist s-Down in Cornwall, A.D. 835. The constant ravages of the
Danes forced the Anglo-Saxon kings into a mutual alliance against
them, the Church providing everywhere the bond of union. It was a
fight for home, and family, and freedom, aud lor love of Christ.
2. Destruction of the Anglo-Saxon churches. In
847 the clergy under Ealatan, bishop of Sherborne, obtained their
revenge over the Danes for the death of the bishops by decisively
defeating them not far from Glastonbury, whither they had come
attracted by the wealth of that famous church. But the Danes were
irrepressible, they never accepted defeat. If they went home it was
only to return in a short time with large reinforcements ; and in 851
116 MURDER OF ST. EDMUND
they had gained a sufficient advantage over the English to be able to
winter in the isle of Thanet. Henceforth "it was no longer a series
of plunder-raids, but the invasion of Britain by a host of conquerors
who settled as they conquered." In 866, and again in 870, they
invaded East-Anglia, each time defeating the inhabitants. On the
second occasion the Danish leaders Ubba and Ingwar offered life and
kingdom to King Edmund if he would renounce Christianity and
reign under them. But he refused their terms and gloried in the
faith. He had once sheltered Lodbrog, their father, at his court, but,
when flushed with wine and inflamed with minstrelsy, one of King
Edmund s retainers, basely violating the laws of hospitality,
" In the dark of guilty night,
Plucked King Lodbrog s lusty life,"
for which the Danes now took a terrible revenge. They tied Edmund
to an oak-tree and shot at him with arrows, but nothing would shake
his fortitude. He was then beheaded, and has since been honoured
in the English Church as one of its noble martyrs. The tree to
which he was bound stood until a few years ago, when it was destroyed
by lightning ; and a Danish arrow-head found embedded in its heart
was sent to the British Museum. Edmund s body was carefully
protected from dishonour by his friends, and when many years later
there was danger of its being maltreated by descendants of his murderers,
they removed it to the church of St. Gregory by St. Paul, London.
In the year 1013 they placed it in a little wooden church at Grecnstead,
in Essex, the nave of which remains to the present day, after being
used for more than eight centuries in the service of the English Church.
It is the only one of all the Saxon wooden churches which remains to
us. It is built of upright oak-wood logs, with windows above them,
and is well worth a visit from holiday-makers by reason of its ancient
dignity as well as its primitive simpMcity. It is about a mile from
Ongar station on the Great Eastern Railway. From it the body of
St. Edmund, king and martyr, was in quieter times transferred to a
worthy shrine still known as St. Edmund s Bury, in Suffolk. So
terrible was the strife between the Danes and English, and so
vindictive the conduct of the invaders toward the churches and
monasteries, that everything in the shape of religion and learning
became paralyzed. All the great religious houses and the finest
churches were pillaged and destroyed. The noble monastery of Bardney
THE SACK OF LINDISFARNE
117
in Lincolnshire fell in 869. The still wealthier one of Crowland
followed suit the next year, its abbot beiug slain at the altar where
he was celebrating the Holy Communion, many of the monks being
tortured and killed in the most cruel manner. Shrines and monu
ments of the departed were especially singled out by the Danes as
objects of destruction. The costly materials of which they were com
posed would be rifled, and the bones and relics scattered hither and
thither. Whatever was of wood in the buildings they burnt, and
GREENSTEAD CHURCH, NEAR ONGAR, ESSEX.
that which was stone or brick they razed to the ground. In 875 the
monastery of Lindisfarno was attacked. The brethren there hastily
removed the remains of St. Cuthbert, and fled for shelter to Melrose.
There also the general enemy came, and the monks were compelled to
bear the wooden sarcophagus that contained the precious relics from
one place to another, until, in 882, by the aid of a king of Wessex
(see page 120), the community obtained a resting-place at Chester-le-
street. Another Danish invasion in 995 forced the brotherhood to
118
ST. CUTHBERTS RELICS
hide their master s Lones in the primaeval woods of Durham, under a
shrine of boughs, until they could erect a humble church to hold
them; which preceded the stately pile "half church of God, half
castle gainst the Scots" which Carilef built in the eleventh century.
"O er northern mountain, marsh, and moor,
From sea to sea, from shore to shore,
Seven years Saint Cuthbert s corpse they bore.
And after many wanderings past,
He chose his lordly seat at last.
Where his cathedral, huge and vast,
Looks down upon the Wear." (Sir W. Scott s " Marmion.")
DURHAM CATHEDRAL FROM THE WEAR.
Peterborough and Ely, Winchester and London, Canterbury and
Rochester, Lindisfarne and Hexham, every place in fact which was
likely to contain anything worth searching for; all were pillaged and
the inmates massacred by the Danes. The whole country became
a scene of desolation, over which the conq-uerors exulted in the
wildest ribald glee. "The land was as the garden of Eden before
them, and behind them a desolate wilderness." At length arose a
leader who put a period to his country s woes.
THE SONS OF ETHELVVULF 119
3. Alfred the great. King Ethel \vulf, who succeeded Egbert,
had four sons, each of whom in turn wore the crown. The reigns of
three of them were very short ; two of them died, and were buried at
Sherborne, Ethelred, the third son, succeeding. In his reign the
Danes, who had long been devastating the north and east, for the
first time invaded Wessex with an army. This they divided in two
parts. The king was at his devotions when the attack of the Danes
was made, but he refused to be interrupted. He said : " I will serve
God first and man after." Meantime his brother Alfred, who led
part of the English force, met one division of the enemy and slew their
leaders ; and after the king joined in the conflict a similar victory was
gained over the other division. Undaunted, the Danes renewed the
attack within a fortnight. This time they held their own. A suc
cession of battles followed, in one of which another bishop of Sherborne
was killed, and soon after, Ethelred died, Alfred taking his place as
king of Wessex, A.D. 871. Before the year was out, Alfred fought
another battle with the Northmen near Salisbury, in which neither
side won, but the Danes were so stubbornly resisted that they ceased
troubling Wessex for a while, and confined their attention to Noith-
umbria and Mercia. This land they apportioned amongst themselves,
as they had done with the kingdom of East-Anglia. It did not matter
whose the land might be, Church lands, common or tribal lands, as
well as that which had been in the personal possession of the kings
or nobles whom they slew in battle, they seized upon it all. Also
they changed the names of many towns. In fact, all places in
England with the termination by, which is equivalent to bury or town,
were so named by the Danes about that time.
4. Peace With the Danes. In 878 they again invaded
Alfred s kingdom, Guthrum being their leader. There were several
battles, but a decisive one was fought at Ethandun, in which the
English were victorious, and Alfred was able to make definite terms
with the invaders. He was willing that they should occupy the
districts known as Northumbria, Mercia, and East-Anglia, if they
would agree to leave Wessex, Kent, and Sussex undisturbed ; in other
words, the boundary line was to be the Thames as far as London, and
from thence the great highway called " Watling-street," which was
the chief means of communication between London and Chester. One
great condition, however, was imposed, viz. that the Danes should
320
THE PEACE OF WE DM0 RE
become Christians, respect the property of the Church, and restore
the lands they had taken from it. To this they agreed, and the treaty
was signed at Wedmore. Guthrum, afterwards called Athelstan, was
baptized with his nobles, near Athelney, and Alfred was his god-father.
Their conversion was the indirect means of bringing to Christianity
many other bands of Northmen, who continued immigrating hither
for generations ; and from that time, although the Northmen soon
became lords of the soil, there was not the destruction of tribes which
marked the Teutonic conquest of the Celts. The Danes were heathen
THE ISLE OF ATHEL"NEY.
when they landed and remained so for awhile, but they at last became
absorbed, and lost their tribal characteristics, because they adopted
the faith and customs of their English kindred. They perceived the
temporal benefit that resulted to others from the possession of
Christianity ; they saw their fellows transformed from roving pirates
into agricultural settlers, and gradually they came to see that the
latter fashion was the easiest way to wealth. Like Coifi of old (see
page 60), if to become Christians would bring them more gain than the
worship of Woden, they were willing to be baptized ; and if settlement
KING ALFRED S LAWS 121
in the land would increase tlieir prosperity, they would forsake their
ships without regret. No doubt the people of Northuinbria and Mercia
made terms of peace with them to save their homes and churches.
They had to be under some overlord, whether it were Guthrum or
Alfred could scarcely matter much to them, and the Danes would be
glad to make terms of peace with the Saxons under Alfred, for the
sake of being permitted to tax, and live upon the labour of, the
Anglians. Alfred also was a man of peace ; he had been religiously
trained, and desired rather "to live worthily," and leave behind him
the remembrance of good works, than to be constantly making war.
5. Alfred s government and laws. - The Peace of Wedmore
gave the land ten years rest, during which Alfred set to work to
retrieve the prosperity of his kingdom which the Danes had wrecked.
The long wars had nearly exhausted the vigour and intelligence of
the people, so that Alfred did not know of a single person south of
the Thames who could translate from Latin into English. To remedy
this, he introduced teachers from other kingdoms, as Asser from AVales
and Grimbald fiom Flanders, who established schools. The tradition
that Alfred founded the university of Oxford is now declared fictitious.
Even when engaged in battles with the Danes, he was never without
his Missal, or prayer-book, which he would read by the light of his
camp-fire. As he had opportunity, he translated suitable books into
the tongue of the common people. Portions of the Scriptures, the
works of Bede, several devotional manuals, a book by Orosius on
Universal History, and much besides, were all rendered by him into
the English vernacular. His efforts for the civil government of his
kingdom were even more extensive. In this his chief advisers were
the bishops, under whose guidance he issued a code of laws, incor
porating those of Ina and OfFa, on the basis of the Docalogue. The
earlier codes are not extant, but " Alfred s Dooms," as his code is called,
have been handed down to us. They begin thus : " The dooms which
the Almighty Himself spaku to Moses, and gave him to keep, and after
Christ came to earth, He said He came not to break or forbid, but to
keep them." Then follow the ten commandmenls, and such other laws
as were thought needful for the kingdom, even to the declaring what
holidays the labourers should have. These latter were fasts and
festivals of the English Church. For the guidance of the Danes, who
had accepted Christianity through his interposition, a special agree-
122
SHA FTESB UR Y-ABBE Y
ment was drawn up. It provided for silence and reverence within the
walls of churches, forbade Sunday labour, made apostasy a finable
offence, and enforced the customary payment of dues to the Church.
The destruction of religious houses by the Danes, and the drafting of
lay monks into the army almost broke up the monastic system in
England. Alfred sought to revive that
system, so far as he was able ; for the
monasteries were very useful in times
of war, as places where the women
and children might be sheltered and
cared for while the men were fight
ing. So we find records of Alfred
having built a monastery where Gu-
thrum was baptized, and founded a
house for women at Shaftesbury, in
Dorsetshire, A.D. 888, the revenues
of Aldhelin s church at Bradford-on-
Avon (see page 132) forming part
of its endowment. The king s grant
of land to Shaftesbury is preserved in
the British Museum, and has been
deciphered as follows :
"I, King Alfred, to the honour of God/ etc., do give and grant for the health
of my soul, to the church of Shaftesbury, one hundred hides of land " (the lands are
then specified as being in different neighbourhoods) "with the men and other ap
purtenances, as they now are, and my daughter Aylena with the same, she being at
her own disposal and a nun in the same convent." Then follow the signatures of
the witnesses, and the charter concluded thus : :: Whosoever shall alienate these
things, 7nay he be ever accursed of God, the holy virgin Mary, and all saints."
Many noble ladies, not bound by ar.y vows, lived in such establish
ments for protection, and their retainers defended the approaches
against the incursions of the Danes. King Alfred, sti l further to
guard his kingdom, built many ships with which he often prevented
the Northmen from landing on the coasts. To revive the old love of
his race for the sea he sent men on foreign expeditions and trading
missions, and for the encouragement of Churchmen he sent embassies to
the great bishops of Rome and Jerusalem. He also sent ships, soothe
chronicles say, to India, with alms for the poor Christian communities
which the apostles St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas had established
ALFRED THK GREAT.
THE LADY OF MERC I A 123
there. Thus we have in Alfred s reign the foundation of our naval and
commercial enterprise, and also friendly intercommunion between
the apostolic English Church with other apostolic Churches in
Jerusalem, Rome, and India. King Alfred died in the year 901, and
was buried in the cathedral at Winchester, then the chief city of
the paramount AVest-Saxon kingdom.
6. Re-COnquest Of the North. After Alfred had improved
his kingdom, through the assistance and advice of the clergy, the way
was clear for his son Edward (the Elder] to regain that supremacy
which the Saxons had obtained under Egbert over the Anglian prince
doms, but which the Danes had wrested from them. He became chief
of the Anglo-Saxon provinces as far as the Humber, all the other
princes, Danish, Scotch, or Welsh, paying homage to him as their
overlord. His sister, Ethelfleda, contributed greatly to this result.
She was married to the eorlderman Ethelred, whom King Alfred had
made prince of Mercia. When Ethelred died Ethelfleda assumed the
reins of government, and made for herself a name and fame as a
warrior queen which overshadowed that of Boadicea. She assisted
her brother in driving the Danes beyond the Humber, and still further
restricted the territory of the Welsh. To maintain and defend the
places in which an advantage was gained over the enemy, she would
raise earthworks, and build fortifications, which became bases for
further operations. Thus Tamworth, Stafford, Warwick, Derby,
Leicester, and Chester became fortified towns. Ethelfleda was known
as the "Lady of the Mercians," and after her death, A.D. 918, the
Mercian province was annexed by Edward to IVessex. Edward (the
Elder) had many sons and daughters, all of whom were woithy in
their way; five daughters married foreign princes, a sixth wedded the
Danish prince of Northumbria, and three more entered religious houses.
Edward s son Athelstan still further increased the power of the West-
Saxon kingdom, and adopted the title of emperor to show that he
thought himself equal to the other emperors of Europe, and that all
the princes of the British Isles were his vassals. He was succeeded by
his brother Edmund (the Magnificent) who granted Strathclyde to
Malcolm king of Scots on condition of military service. After Edmund,
Edred, a third son of Edward the elder, became king. He died in
955. This brief account of England s civil history is necessary for the
better understanding of what follows.
124
REARRANGEMENT OF BISHOPRICS
7. Changes in the Church. The influence of the clergy over
Alfred the great was exerted still more over his sons and grandsons,
Archbishop Phlegmund, who had been one of Alfred s chief advisers,
was the leading statesman of Edward the Elder for the first ten years
of the latter s reign. Under such circumstances it was but natural
that the Church should share as it did in the people s prosperity. The
bishoprics which became vacant by the death in battle of the soldier
prelates were spee.lily tilled up again, and new ones were formed out
TTTE CATHFPKAL OF WELLS, SOMERSET.
of the large dioceses of Wessex, as had been done in Mercia and
North umbria in the days of Theodore. Thus the see of Wells was
founded in 904, and that of St. Germans in Cornwall thirty-two years
later, when the West- Welsh submitted themselves to the potent
Athelstan. In the reign of that prince the provisions for the mainte
nance of the Church were revised. Those who held estates which were
chargeable with premiums or tithes to the parochial clergy, or to
monasteries, had often neglected to pay them during the troubled
ST. DUNSTAN S EARLY YEARS 125
times. On the petition of the clergy these charges were now enforced,
and made recoverable under penalties, in such provinces as Athelstan
governed. Offa s provision (page 112) for Ina s school at Rome was
now increased by a similar contribution from the Saxon kingdoms.
The administration of that fund was placed in charge of the clergy at
Rome, who gradually converted it to the use of the papal see, until
in time those benevolences came to have the appearance of tribute due
from the English Church to a spiritual superior, and were called
Peter s-pencc, or Home-shot. But there had never been up to that time
any surrender of independence by the English to the Roman Church,
although the latter was undoubtedly looked up to with reverential
feelings by the Christians of this country. The power of its popes was
rapidly increasing, as yet there were no glaring abuses in its system,
and it was undoubtedly more powerful than any European state. The
English clergy desired to obtain a similar supremacy for the Church
in Britain, and this was probably the underlying reason for the
embassies to various patriarchal churches on terms of equality in King
Alfred s time. They saw, however, the advantages of a spiritual court
of appeal, and to that extent they were willing to favour the pretentious
claims of the papacy, which had not had to suffer the loss of all things
at the hands of heathen destroyers, and was therefore in a far more
established and successful condition than the English hierarchy.
8. Dunstan and Odo. Early in the tenth century a child was
born at Glastonbury, the shrine of mysterious legends, who was des
tined, as a man, not only to reform the discipline of the English
Church, but to mould the English realm. " Dunstan stands first in the
line of ecclesiastical statesmen who counted among them Lan franc and
Wolsey, and ended in Laud." As a boy he excelled in all the peaceful
arts of music, eloquence, architecture, mathematics, painting, and
metallurgy. The manuscripts and stores of precious lore which former
monks had laid up in the Glastonbury monastery, formed a mine
of intellectual wealth which he loved to explore, and when Edmund
the magnificent came to the throne of Alfred, Dunstan, who had been
in turn both courtier and monk, was made abbot of the monastery
where he had studied, and, by virtue of the legislative position this
office gave him in the witanagemot, chief administrator of the state.
The archbishop of Canterbury then (A.D. 943) was Odo, who was
desirous of enforcing rigorous discipline upon all the clergy. Hitherto
126
CLERICAL CELIBACY
it had been allowable for the parochial clergy who were not attached to
any monasteries, to exercise their discretion in the matter of marriage,
but Odo was persuaded that clerical celibacy was a necessary rule.
The seculars naturally objected to the restriction, but the archbishop
hoped by transferring cathedral and collegiate revenues as well as
parochial church possessions to monastic institutions, thus impover
ishing the canons and parsons 1 to force them into Benedictine
THE HILLS AT GLASTONBURY.
monasteries. Dunstan, who when a monk had adopted a most rigorous
mode of life, warmly seconded Odo s designs. The quarrel between
regulars and seculars raged fiercely for many years, both sides seeking
to discredit ths other by raking up unworthy scandals. For the
present it is sufficient to say that the regulars had by a long way
the best of the struggle. In violation of all previous canons, much
ecclesiastical property now changed hands ; no doubt Odo and Dunstan
1 Parson is an old title of dignity applied to the ecclesiastical representative
of a parish. In recent times it has been applied to unbeneficed clergy also.
DUNSTAN AND KING EDWY 127
found a way of reconciling this unrighteous proceeding with their
consciences, but a terrible retribution was in store for all the religious
houses which benefited by such alienation. (See chapter xviii.)
9. Dunstan s administration. The Anglian clergy in the
north at that time were on the side of the Danes, and Wulstan, arch
bishop of York, led the Danish armies. To outwit Wulstan, Dunstan
offered, on behalf of the Saxon kingdom, to permit Kenneth, king of
the Scots, to hold so much of Northumbria as was north of the Tweed,
on condition that the Scots should help the Saxons against the Danes.
Henceforth the Scots held their chief seat in Edinburgh, and by mixing
with the Angles of Bernicia, gradually adopted their customs and
mannar of speech. It is a characteristic feature of the Anglian race to
be able to absorb the peculiar habits of other nationalities. Strathclydc,
ceded to a predecessor of Kenneth by Edmund, was anglicized in the
same way. Thus the English tongue of the Scottish people to-day, as
well as the boundary of their country, is distinctly due to the states
manship of the English bishops. The Danes in the north of England
were soon defeated by the Scoto-Saxon allies. Archbishop Wulstan
was deposed by Dunstan s order and thrown into prison, Oscytel
succeeding him in the office. In that way Dunstan gained an influence
over all the clergy in the country, and a corresponding power in all the
witans, especially in that of Mercia. In the year 955, King Edred
died, and was succeeded by his nephew Edwy ; another nephew,
Edgar, ruling Mercia as under-king. Those princes were then very
young and ill-trained. It is supposed that Dunstan had something to
do with their neglected education in the hope that, when they suc
ceeded to kingly rank, he might have more influence over them.
Edvvy indiscreetly married the lady Elgiva, but as they were related
within the prohibited degrees of the Church his action brought down
on him the wrath of Dunstan. An open enmity between king and
counsellor ensued, Edwy taking the side of the secular clergy in the
clerical dispute in opposition to and in defiance of Dunstan. Edvvy s
infatuation for Elgiva was so great that he neglected his duties of state
to enjoy her society, and it is said that when he absented himself from
the hall of entertainment for that purpose on the day of his coronation,
thus affronting the nobles who had come to do him honour, the abbot
Dunstan, with the bishop of Lichfield, forced him from her company
and compelled him to respsct the conventional duties of his station.
128 EDGAR THE PEACEFUL
That brought upon Dunstan the enmity of the court, for he was soon
afterwards banished from Wessex and his abbey confiscated ; but
without his remarkable talents the government of the kingdom,
which had been upheld solely by his marvellous powers of organization,
could not continue, and he was speedily recalled by the nobles.
Archbishop Odo upheld the abbot in his opposition to the marriage,
and pronounced it invalid. Later on, when an earl transgressed the
laws of marriage in a similar way, Dunstan promptly excommunicated
him. The noble then sought a reversal of the sentence by appealing
to the bishop of Rome, who decided in his favour, and ordered
Dunstan to absolve them. But he refused to follow the pope s decree.
The marriage must be abandoned or there should be no absolution.
"When Edwy saw how little the prelates of the English Church cared
for the pope s decision he gave up his unlawful concubinage, and, in
barefooted penitence, begged the abbot s pardon, which he, being
entirely victorious, most graciously granted. Edwy died, A.D. 959, of
a broken heart, caused by the ill-treatment extended to his excom
municated consort, and the insurrection of his brother Edgar.
Archbishop Odo had died four months previously. Edgar was then
king of England, and Dunstan became archbishop of Canterbury.
Edgar is called the peaceful king, and that is the best that can be said
of him. The conduct of affairs, both civil and ecclesiastical, was
mainly left to Archbishop Dunstan, who is credited with having
compiled the new and comprehensive codes of law that mark this
reign. Edgar the pacific died in 975, leaving behind him two very
young sons, Edward and Ethelred. There was a strife amongst the
people as to which of them should be king. The partisans of each
prince had their adherents amongst the rival clergy, the seculars
siding with the barons in favour of Ethelred, while the monks and
yeomen clamoured for Edward. A way out of the dilemma was found
by Dunstan, who confronted the witan and decreed for Edward, the
elder child, none daring to oppose his choice. But Edward was
stabbed four years after by order of his step-mother, Elfrida, at Corfe
Castle; Ethelred, who was still but ten years old, succeeding to the
throne. It is said that Elfrida, in atonement for her crime, built
several monasteries, one of which was at Reading, in Berkshire.
For ten years longer Archbishop Dunstan maintained his high
position and influence. He is said to have built and restored more
than forty monasteries, the chief of which was his Alma Mater at
MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP ELPHEGE
129
Glastonbury ; and to have established many
schools, for the efficient conduct of which he
introduced eminent masters from abroad. He
became less bitter as time went on in his treat
ment of the secular clergy, for he allowed the
canons to remain in Canterbury cathedral ; and
it is computed that there were at least 3000 parish
churches under his jurisdiction. In his capacity
as chief statesman Dunstan had much to do with
the Danes, who were allowed to settle in the north.
He did not force upon them English customs or
English laws, but permitted them to govern
themselves in their own fashion, so long as they
were peaceably disposed. Hence the origin of
the term Danelagh, or territory subject to Danish
; law. Dunstan died in the year 988, and was suc-
pS^~y ceeded by Ethelgar. Two years later Sigeric was
primate, followed by /Klfric in 995, and Elphege
BENEDICTINE MOXK. j n JQQQ
10. The Danish conquest. King Ethelred was now left to
manage the kingdom as best he could. He is known in history as
the unready, which means "unadvised." In 991 there was trouble
again with fresh bands of Northmen from Denmark. To get rid of
them Ethelred gave them a very large sum of money, with the consent
of the witan. They soon came again, however, to a country where
they could be enriched so cheaply, and the tax thus imposed upon
people was called Danegeld. In 1002 the king conceived a very
horrible plan for extirpating the invaders, for he caused all the Danes
that were in England to be massacred on St. Brice s-day, November 13.
That dastardly proceeding brought a terrible punishment. To revenge
their kindred the Danes came over in large force under Swegen, and
harried all the land for years. In one of their expeditions they took
Elphege, archbishop of Canterbury, prisoner; and because he would
not rob his church to obtain his ransom of 3000 pounds of silver,
they pelted him to death with ox bones. This occurred A.D. 1012.
King Ethelred, who had married Emma, a daughter of Duke Eichard
of Normandy, fled for fear with his wife and children to her father s
court. Swegen, the Dane, was then acknowledged king of England.
His claim was contested by Edmund Ironside, Ethelred s eldest sou,
VOL. T. F
130 THE FIRST KING OF ALL ENGLAND
who fought in defence of his father s kingdom. Swegen died in 1014,
and the Danes in England elected his son Cnut for king. But the
English returned to their allegiance to Ethelred, who, however, died
in 1016. There were now many battles between Cnut and Edmund
Ironside, which resulted in the partition of Britain, as it had been in
the days of King Alfred, except that East-Anglia was apportioned to
the English, that is to say, Northumbria and Mercia were ceded to
Cnut. After reigning seven months in the south, Edmund Ironside
died ; it is thought he was murdered ; and then Cnut became the
first sole Icing of all England whose claim to the title was undisputed.
Edgar had been crowned by Dunstan as "sole king," but there were
other kings in. Edgar s time who refused to give up their regal title
although they paid him homage. Cnut was a heathen when he first
came to England, but after he found out how extensive and paramount
was the influence of the Church, he treated its prelates most con
siderately ; and wisely retained the parochial divisions of the country
for the purposes of government. To still further commend himself to
the English he married Emma of Normandy, the widow of King
Ethelred. by whom he had two children, who were to be preferred in
the succession to Emma s other children by Ethelred. The story of
Cnut and the waves belongs to this period. It is said that when the
wars were over his courtiers flattered him very highly for his greatness,
and that to reprove them he had his chair of state brought to the edge
of the sea as the tide was rising, and thus addressed the waves :
" sea, I am thy lord ; my ships sail over thee whither I will, and this
land against which thou dashest is mine ; stay then thy waves, and
dare not to wet the feet of thy lord and master" (Freeman). Of
course his feet were wetted all the same, whereupon he exhorted his
courtiers not to forget that the elements were in the power of a greater
than any earthly king. Perhaps he thought of what the Christians
had told him about the Saviour whom the winds and waves did obey.
This much is clear, he became a firm Christian from that time, he even
refused to wear his crown, and placed it on the head of the Saviour s
image on the rood loft, some say of Winchester, others of Canterbury
cathedral. He also made a pilgrimage to Koine, and while there wrote
a letter to his subjects promising to rule them well and lead a righteous
life; urging them to do the same, and, above all, never to neglect
payment of their just dues to the Church. On his return he re-issued
the Christian laws of Edgar s reign, and munificently supported all
FOUNDATION OF BURY ST. EDMUNDS
131
Church enterprises ; many Danish nobles following the example of
his benevolence. Cnut s chief work of this kind was the establishment
and endowment of
the monastery of
Saint Edmund s
Bury, alongside
the secular church
already there, in
expiation of his
ancestors murder
of King Edmund
(page 115). Before
he died he did a
still nobler work
than that, for he
sent missionaries
from this country
to his fatherland,
who were able to
convert Norway
and Denmark to
ABBEY GATE, BURY ST. EDMUNDS.
the Christian faith ; another proof that the mainland of Europe is
indebted to Britain s missionary zeal.
11. Anglo-Saxon architecture. There are still many
churches in different parts of England which are known to have been
built before and about that time. There are Monkwearmouth and
Jarrow-on-Tyne which Benedict Biscop built in 674 and 684. (See
pages 94 and 101.) Then there is Bradford-on-Avon, built about twenty
years later by Aldhelm, which is pictured on page 133 ; and also
one scarcely less ancient, and nearly as perfect, at Escomb in Durham.
The latter is of stones quarried and carved by Roman masons. At
Barton-on-Humber, Eurls-Barton (see next page), and Barnack, we have
remains of portions of churches hardly less venerable for age. The
general tendency in Saxon times was to make the churches lofty, with
small windows high up towards the roof. Most of the Saxon churches
were of wood, although many were of stone. The native materials
would be used in preference to those brought from a distance. Very
seldom were there any isles or pillars, but the roof was pitched from
the outside walls. A nave, a chancel, and an entrance porch seem to
132
ANGLO-SAXON ARCHITECTURE
have been the usual forms. There are many old towers still standing
attached to more modern churches, and on the other hand, towers have
been added, or perhaps rebuilt, to an ancient nave. Greenstead
church in Essex (page 117) is an example of this. In the tower of
Sompting church, Sussex (page 109), we have a well-preserved specimen
of the general type of Saxon architecture. The Saxon style is generally
called Romanesque, because it is an imitation of the older Roman
buildings. We have still more numerous survivals of pre-Norman
churches that were built at the close of the tenth and the early part of
the eleventh centuries, because those which were built by the Danes
after their conversion and those which were built in the time of
Edward the confessor, were usually copies of continental churches with
which the Norman relatives of the Danes were familiar, and therefore
did not destroy. But they improved upon the style of the Saxons,
first in massiveness and afterwards in elegance. Apart from any
religious motives, great inducements were often offered by the Anglo-
Saxon princes for the building of churches, by giving the founders
higher social rank, e.g. in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle a charter of King
Athelstan is thus recorded : "If
a ceorl thrived so as to have five
hides of land, a church, a kitchen,
a bell, a tower, a seat, and an office
in the king s court, from that time
forward he was accounted equal in
honour to a thane." This is as
much as to say in modern terms,
that if a prosperous squire \vere
to largely benefit his neighbour
hood, providing one of the benefits
conferred were the building and
maintenance of a church, he might
be elevated to knighthood or the
peerage. Consequently churches
were built apace, and when a survey
of England was taken in the year
1086 a very large number of
churches found a place in the
inventory, Norfolk having no less
EAKLS-13AKTON SAXON TOWER. ^ 243 > Suff lk 364 <$*& U ^
THE SONS OF CNUT
133
12. The English restoration. Cnut was succeeded in
England by his two sons, Harold in the north, and Harthacnut in the
south. But Harthacimt died, and Edward^ son of Emma by Ethelred,
who had lived at his mother s home in Normandy during Ciiut s reign,
and there lost any love of English manners and language he may have
had, now returned to England and claimed his father s throne. Many
persons were attracted to his cause, and Harold the Dane was driven
out of England, Edward thus becoming king. He married Edith, a
daughter of Godwine, the most powerful English earl, but had no
family. He also was a munificent supporter of all Christian works in
this country, but he introduced a large number of his Norman-French
friends, some of whom he promoted to positions of honour and dignity
ST. ALDHELM S CHURCH, BRA DFORD-ON- AVON.
in the English Church. The most important of those foreign prelates
were Ulf, bishop of Dorchester (Lincoln), and Robert, bishop of
London, who was afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. The Norman
officials triumphed for a time over the patriotic leaders, and caused
their banishment; but Godwine and his friends in exile raised a force
and obtained a fleet, and returned to claim their rights. As the popular
feeling was all on their side, the Norman courtiers and prelates judged
it wiser to leave England. Godwine and his son Harold, earl of East-
Anglia, then became the chief advisers of King Edward. Earl Godwine
died soon after, and his son Harold, owing to the timid and feeble
134
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR
disposition of the king, who preferred to divide his time between
hunting and prayers > became virtual ruler of the land, and succeeded to
his father s title. He endeared himself to the people by his successful
generalship in war, especially in Wales, and by his wise benevolence
towards the Church. King Edward had espoused the cause of the
regular clergy, but was almost overridden by the monks, who induced
him to build, and endow at vast expense, the abbey church of
Westminster. Harold, on the other hand, advanced the cause of the
secular clergy by building the church at Waltham as a collegiate
I foundation, and pro
viding for the main
tenance of a dean and
[twelve canons there
in. Moreover, he went
on the customary pil
grimage to Rome ?
which King Edward
was unable through
illness to undertake.
In every way Harold
sought to obtain the
goodwill of English
people, and through
his sister Edith s
influence, as well as
by his wise adminis-
trationof state affairs,
(he became also the
greatest friend of the
Iking, whose health
I had rapidly declined.
Harold s church at
Waltham was com-
pleted in 1061; West
minster-abbey was
not consecrated until
TOMB OF EDWAUD THE CONFESSOR. fouryears later. King
Edward was too unwell to witness its consecration, and died January 5,
1066, eight days after the ceremony. He was buried in the abbey,
THE DISPUTED SUCCESSION
135
and subsequently his bones were translated to their present place.
King Edward had recommended to the witans that in the absence of
direct issue his brother-in-law the Earl Harold should succeed him in
the kingdom ; but he had also promised that Emma s grand-nephew,
Duke William of Normandy, should be king. These two, Harold and
AVilliam, at once became rivals, and a life and death struggle ensued.
AVESTMINSTEH-ABBEY.
136
THE NORMAN INVASION
Harold, the people s choice, elected by them in their representative
assemblies as the best and bravest, and therefore fittest for king, of all
Englishmen ; received the support of the patriotic party as well as the
influence of the bishops and clergy. He was crowned by Ealdred,
archbishop of York, in Westminster-abbey, which had been determined
on by Edward the confessor, as the place of the king s constitution
and consecration for ever." He ought to have been crowned by the
archbishop of Canterbury, but after the Norman primate, Robert, had
fled and his election had been declared void, Stigaud, bishop of
Elmham, was elected to succeed him. The pupe of Home refused to
HAROLD S CHURCH AT WALTHAM.
acknowledge this appointment, and therefore, in all important matters,
for the sake of safety, the archbishop of York was called upon to
officiate in Stigand s stead. Harold raised a large force to meet Duke
William whenever he should land, but his men were chiefly drawn
from the agriculturists who were wanted on the farms to reap the
harvest. William was taking time to perfectly drill his levies, and
when he did invade England Harold s men were for the most part
disbanded. In spite of the valiant fight of such men as were left
to Harold against the fresh troops led by William, the tide of fortune
was in favour of the Normans. Harold was killed at the battle of
Hastings, and buried in the church which he had founded at Waltham ;
SUCCESS OF DUKE WILLIAM
137
and William (the conqueror] made himself king of this country.
Before he came to England he had obtained papal sanction for his
enterprise, and ths pope blessed the Norman banners ; consequently,
"William s victory at Hastings brought England into closer connection
with, and its church into greater submission to, the papacy ; as will
appear in subsequent pages. William claimed the English throne by
inheritance and Edward s promise, and pointed to his victories as
God s approval of the righteousness of his claim. On the spot where
Harold was defeated and slain, King William built Battle-abbey as
an act of thanksgiving for his great success. (See next page.) It is a
singular proof of the adaptability of the English Church that every
successive invasion ultimately resulted in an increase of its possessions.
Races came and went, but the Church remained ; tribes fought against
each other, but they were in accord on this one point at least, that
the Church deserved their best support.
GENEALOGICAL TABLE.
SAXON KINGS.
EGBERT.
Ethelwulf.
I
ALFRED THE GREAT.
I
Edward (the elder).
Edmund (the magnificent).
EDGAR (the pacific).
NORMAN DUKES.
ROLF (the ganger).
William (longsworu).
Richard (tlie fearless).
Duke Richard
(the good).
SWEGBN GODWINE
(the rune). (enrl of Wessex).
Elgiva=ETHELRED = EMMA = CNUT = illegitimate.
1
(the unready).
EDMUND
(ironside)
(?) killed. HP left a
family, which was
supplanted.
(of Normandy). I (the Dane).
ILirthacnut HaroM
died. (the Dane)
died.
EDWARD=Edith.
(confessoi)
died, KKifi.
HAROLD
(the Enelish earl)
killed, 106B.
Duke Robert.
WILLIAM
(the conqueror),
F 2
CHAPTER IX. (A.D. 1066-1089)
THE NORMAN CONQUEST.
" Yet as the terrors of the lordly bell,
That quench, from hut to palace, lamps and fires,
Touch not the tapers of the sacred quires ;
Even so a thraldom studious to expel
Old laws, and ancient customs to derange,
To creed or ritual brings no fatal change."
1. The Norman nobles. The victory of Duke William
and his friends did not exactly introduce a new race of people into
Britain. "Norman" is only another word for Northmen, and when
some of the Teutons from the north of Europe (Norway, and Denmark
for example) found their way to this country, other bands of Northmen
BATTLE-ABBEY GATEWAY (see page 137).
made a home for themselves in that part of France which has been
since called Normandy. Whether the Northmen were straight from
Denmark or transplanted from Normandy, it was the individual power
and ability of their leaders rather than their numbers, which gained
for them the mastery. They did not come in multitudes, but in small
138
CHARACTER OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST 139
and thoroughly trained companies. Neither did they come without
much previous plotting. The disaffected nobles of the older tribes,
with their retainers, were sometimes to be found willing to help the
invading bands in the hope of being allowed to retain their estates.
By intriguing for their influence the way was generally made easy
for the landing of adventurous nobles from abroad. If they were
victorious the old set of leaders would go to the wall, and another
set take their place. What the customs and government of the
country under the new administrators would be like, depended upon
the training and policy of the persons who came into power. Thus,
when the uncivilized and plundering Danes made a hunting-ground
of Britain, they left the marks of their character, as a serpent s trail,
wherever they went ; until they became accustomed to its cultivated
lands and the settled character of its inhabitants, and understood that
more was to be gained by preserving both than by destroying either.
But when leaders and fighting men came from Normandy, where for
a hundred years they had lived among civilized conditions, their
object was the reverse of destruction, unless by re-constructing in
their own fashion which they thought better, and which time has
proved to have been so, they could improve what they found. The
Anglo-Saxons had been a very thriftless people, and they might
have remained to this day in their primitive untutored state, had it
not been for the refining influences of the Church. The same may
be said of the Northmen who invaded Gaul, but when these became
convinced of the superiority of Christian culture they pursued it with
a determination to which other Teuton tribes had been strangers.
The way had been prepared for them in this country by the sojourn
in Normandy of Anglo-Saxon princes, such as Ethelred the unready
and his son Edward the confessor, but especially by the influence of
the Norman lady Emma who was wife of two kings of England and
mother of two others. The Norman courtiers who surrounded Emma s
husbands and sons introduced many foreign fashions ; they were pro
moted to lucrative offices in the English Church, and positions of
honour in the realm ; and although the English nobles were able to
hold their own for a time, they were almost extinguished under the
rule of the Norman dukes and their followers, the meanest of whom
rapidly rose to wealth and pjwer, All who fought against the
Normans at the battle of Hastings were held by the victors to have
forfeited their estates to King William, who seized upon their lands
140 THE NORMAN CLERGY
and divided them amongst his friends on condition of military service
when called upon. The seizure of lands was a gradual process, as the
conquest itself was gradual. The estates of Harold and Edward the
confessor were the first to be confiscated, and then those of the
nobles who fought unsuccessfully for their homesteads. By degrees
the Normans subdued every shire and earldom, and through sheer
force of enterprise compelled the chief men to "bow before them for
need." They then assumed the control of all the land; but it not
unfrequently happened that many Englishmen were allowed to redeem
their estates if they had not fought against the new rulers, provided
that they would consent to do military service in return for their
land, which they were thenceforth to hold as if it had been a grant
from William, whose permission to hold property became in time the
only valid title. Before the coming of the Normans there were many
small estates owned by the ceorls or yeomanry, besides the large ones
which the earls and thanes possessed. After the conquest small
holders, and the tenantry on the larger estates, had to do homage
and pay tribute to the new lords ; so that, when the Norman
barons came into possession of the properties which William gave
to them, the condition of English tenants became an intolerable
servitude ; for they had to provide the feudal barons with money and
men to enable them to discharge their liabilities to the king. The
lands and other possessions belonging to the churches and monasteries
were not interfered with, and if an estate which a Norman received
was chargeable with any payments of tithe or rent to a religious
foundation, he had to solemnly promise the due performance of all
such covenants as were entailed. Abbacies and bishoprics, however,
were as soon as possible entrusted to Norman*, who often held them
with their secular baronies ; and thus all high positions, both in
Church and Realm, were transferred from English to Norman holders,
until by the end of William s reign few English earls held estates and
only one English bishop retained his see. That was the kind of
change that took place at the Norman conquest. The condition of
the labouring people was certainly less free, but they still remained
in their old homes under a change of rulers. "William took a
great deal of land from Englishmen and gave it to Normans, but
every Norman to whom he gave land had in some sort to become an
Englishman in order to hold it. He held it from the king of the
English according to the law of England ; he stepped exactly into
PROFESSOR FREEMAN S SUMMARY
141
the place of the Englishman who had held the land before him ; he
took his rights, his powers, his burthens, whatever they might be,
neither more nor less. . . , The English did not become Normans,
the Normans did become Englishmen ; but the Normans, in becoming
Englishmen, greatly influenced the English nation and brought in
many ways of thinking and doing which had not been known in
EXETER CATHEDRAL (SCC next pngc}.
England before " (Freeman}. The halls where thanes had lived were
soon replaced by massive stone castles surrounded by earthworks and
moats in which the Norman barons and their retainers lived, and from
which the worst of them sallied out from time to time to harass and
oppress the old inhabitants who could not penetrate such fastnesses.
142 THE OUTLAWS AT ELY
2. Completion Of the conquest. William the conqueror
was crowned in Westminster-abbey by Ealdred, archbishop of York,
on Christmas-day, 1066, according to the English ritual ; for he
claimed to be the true successor of Edward, as king of the English
people, and did not desire to introduce Norman law, but hoped by
administering the English codes to commend himself to his new
subjects. He did, however, make distinctions between the Normans
and the English ; for instance, although he would not dare to interfere
with the accepted prerogatives of the Church, he did not allow any
of his Norman friends to be punished by it without his permission.
His conquest of England had only commenced at Hastings, and he
was for some time busy in reducing the north and west to his sway.
The forests, mountains, marshes, and moors gave shelter to many bands
of outlawed English, who were noted for their deeds of daring, and
to whom all disaffected persons found their way, ready on the slightest
provocation to raise a revolt against the Normans, first in one district
and then in another. The last of these bands was not suppressed
until 1071, when those who had entrenched themselves in the isle and
monastery of Ely, under the English abbot Thurstan and Hereward
the outlaw, were compelled to surrender ; after which no one disputed
William s position as king. It must be remembered that he had
other dominions in Normandy which required his personal supervision
and necessitated frequent prolonged absences from this country.
During such absences he placed relatives in charge who were not as
just in judgment as himself, although they imitated him in his severity.
3. Episcopal Changes. Until he was firmly settled on his
English throne, William interfered but little with Church affairs
beyond filling up important vacancies with his Norman friends ; but
as soon as he had subdued the nobles he turned his attention to the
re-organization of the episcopate. He found many bishops holding more
than one see ; for instance, the East-Anglian bishoprics of Elmham
and Dunwich were held by one man, as were those of Sherborne with
Ramsbury in the south, and Crediton with St. Germans in the south
west. He found also that the cathedrals were often placed in
sparsely-populated districts ; those he caused to be removed to the
busier cities, as that of Wells to Bath ; Selsey to Chichester ; Dor
chester, in Oxfordshire, to Lincoln ; and Lichfield to Chester. Where
there were pluralist bishops, that is, bishops holding more than one
RE-ARRANGEMENT OF BISHOPRICS
143
bishopric, he caused their sees to be amalgamated, as in the case of
Sherborne and Ramsbury, over which he appointed his nephew
Osmund ; who removed the bishop s stool to Sarum, now known as
" Old Sarum," then an important military fortification. Most of
the prelates appointed by King William, although strangers to this
country, were very worthy and learned men, but some of them shared
WORCESTER CATHEDRAL (see next page).
largely in the tyrannical characteristics of the Normans. Such an
one was Thurstan, who was made abbot of Glastonbury, and who
desired to enforce upon the monks of that ancient foundation a
different rule of singing the chants and services from the Gregorian
music to which they had been accustomed. "When they declined to
adopt his novelties he brought soldiers into the abbey, who by his
144 WULFSTAN OF WORCESTER
orders discharged a volley of arrows at the disobedient monks, killing
many of them, for which outrage William sent him back to Normandy.
To some of the abbeys which fell vacant William occasionally appointed
Englishmen, probably to allay ill-feeling, but usually Normans were
the only recipients of his patronage. He did not depose the English
men all at once ; if they had fought against him, or charges of
insurrection could be brought against them, they would be deposed ;
but usually he waited for the death of the English holders before he
placed his Norman friends in their offices. Before long only one
English bishop remained ; that was Wulfstan of Worcester. He had
been appointed by Edward the confessor soon after the banishment of
the Norman prelates, but had preferred to be consecrated by Ealdred,
archbishop of York, rather than risk the validity of his appointment
by receiving consecration at the hands of Archbishop Stigand. King
William sought to depose Wulfstan on a charge of illiterateness ;
because he could not speak French, which was the court language,
and therefore would be unable to counsel the king or his nobles ; but
that was held to be an insufficient reason by the council before which
the cases of Wulfstan and other prelates whom William sought to
deprive were brought. Wulfstan was a brave soldier as well as a
bishop the two offices were often combined in those days he had
also a great reputation for sanctity, and even the Normans soon learnt
to love him. It would have been unwise on William s part to insist
upon the deposition of so popular and suitable a prelate, so Wulfstan
was allowed to retain his see, which he kept all through William s
reign, and far into the next. His retention of office prevented any
break in the continuity of episcopal orders in the English Church at
the Norman conquest, for Wulfstan took part in other consecrations.
4. Archbishop Stigand. The council that acquitted Wulfstan
was the national witan which met at Winchester every Easter. Many
prelates were deposed by it, chief of whom was Archbishop Stigand
whom William had determined to replace by Lanfranc, who had long
been a trusted friend and counsellor. William owed no gratitude to
the English Church, because it had espoused Harold s cause, and
therefore he had little scruple in dominating it by Norman prelates.
He knew that he could not consider himself really master of England
until he had bent the Church to his will, and his French friends whom
he now placed in high offices therein would help him to do so. When
PAPAL AGGRESSION
145
they lived on the continent they were under the spiritual jurisdiction
of the Church of Rome, and now that they made England their home
they were still desirous of recognizing its authority, and welcomed its
legates. The virtual ruler of the papacy at that time was Hildebrand,
who afterwards became Pope Gregory VII. He had brought the
influence of the popes of Rome to a greater height than it ever reached
before, and many kings and emperors submitted their difficulties to
papal arbitration, which had the effect of increasing that influence.
When William planned the conquest of England, he sought the
countenance of Pope Alexander JL, and pretended that he desired to
bring this country under the dominion of the papal see. That was the
surest way to gain the pope s approval, for (as Mr. Freeman said in his
larger History of the Norman Conquest}: " England s crime, in the eyes
of Rome the crime to punish which William s crusade was approved
and blessed was the independence still retaiued by the island, Church,
and nation. A land where the Church and nation were but different
names for the same community, a land where priests and prelates were
subject to the law like other men, a land where the king and his witan
gave and took away the staff
of the bishop, was a land
which in the eyes of Rome
was more dangerous than a
land of Jews and Saracens."
After the Norman conquest
Gregory VII. sent three
legates over to England, to
demand William s homage
for the kingdom. He had
.no intention of rendering
such homage, but he was
! glad to make use of the
legates to depose Archbishop
Stigand, who, it will be re
membered, had replaced the
Norman archbishop Robert
before the latter was dead.
Robert appealed at the time
to the pope, the only occasion
that a bishop of an English
146 WILLIAM AND HILDEBRAND
see had done so since Wilfrid s day, and the pope decided that
Stigand s consecration was invalid. King Edward and the nobles
who elected Stigand evaded compliance with the pope s decree, and
for nineteen years Stigand was looked upon as archbishop by the
people, and received canonical obedience from the other bishops and
clergy. Now, however, it was alleged against him that he had held the
bishopric of Winchester at the same time with the see of Canterbury, not
an uncommon offence at that time, as we have seen ; also that he had
used his predecessor s pall and had received his own pall from an anti-
pope.^ On these charges the papal legates agreed to depose Stigand;
who was imprisoned at Winchester for the rest of his life. In his place
Lanfranc, abbot of St. Stephen s, Caen, was elected. About the same
time Ealdred, archbishop of York, died, and Thomas of Bayeux was
appointed to succeed him. These two archbishops w r ent to Rome to
receive the palls which constituted them metropolitans, and thus
brought the English Church more closely under papal dominion.
5. Papal influence in England. When the legates who
took so large a part in the national councils of 1070 asked William for
his homage, he refused to sacrifice the independence which the kings
of this country had always enjoyed, and wrote to Hildebrand to that
effect. His letter runs thus : "Thy legate Hubert, holy father, hath
called upon me in thy name to take the oath of fealty to thee and thy
successors, and to exert myself in enforcing the more regular payment
of the money which my predecessors were accustomed to remit to the
Church of Rome. One request I have granted, the other I refuse.
Homage to thee I have not chosen, nor do I choose to do. I never
made a promise to that effect, neither do I find that it was ever per
formed by my predecessors to thine." He concluded by asking the
1 It very often happened that there were schisms in the papacy, this is to say,
disagreements had arisen in the election of a pope and rival nominees assumed
the title and performed the offices. When it was decided which of such rival popes
should be acknowledged, the unsuccessful one was declared anti-pope, and all his
official acts invalid. The following instances of papal schisms are noteworthy :
A.D. 359-366 between Liberius and Felix; A.r>. 418-423, between Boniface I. and
Uralius ; A.D. 496-498, between Svmmachus and Laurentius ; A.D. 686-687, between
Conon and Sergius ; A.D. 903-905, between Leo V. and Christopher; A.D. 972-974,
between Benedict VI. and Boniface VII. ; A.D. 996-999, between Gregory V. and
John XVI. ; A.D. 1061-1073, between Alexander II. and Urban ; A.D. 1083-1086,
between Gregory VII. and Clement III. ; A.D. 1086-1096, between Clement III. and
Urban II. ; A.D. 1378-1380, between Clement VII. and Urban VI. ; A.D. 1406-1417,
between Gregory XII., Alexander V. and John XXIII. (See pages 234 and 250.)
APPEALS TO ROME
147
pope s prayers " because we have loved your predecessors, and you
above all we desire to love sincerely and listen to obediently." In his
reply Hildebrand seems to have offered a gloved hand ; he was profuse
in his compliments to the king, but more than hinted at a punishment
for disrespect to the successor of St. Peter. He also cited the bishops
of England to appear before him at Rome, but neither bishops nor
king regarded his word, and Hildebrand had sufficient good sense not
to press the matter. We thus see the full extent of papal influence in
England at this time. Before the conquest the spiritual and temporal
supremacy of the popes in England were alike denied : now, as the result
of Alexander s sanction to the conquest of England by Normans over
whom he admittedly held sway, and the appointment to English sees of
Norman clergy who upheld that influence, the independence of the
English Church was seriously threatened ; but its independence and
authority was not at present allowed to pass wholly into the hands of the
popes. The agreement between William and the papacy respecting the
tribute ought not to be misunderstood. The payments referred to in
William s letter related to the Rome-shot or Peter s-pence that King Ina
had instituted in Wessex for the support of his school at Rome, which
Offa had extended to Mercia, and Ethelwulf and Alfred the great had
confirmed. It was a payment of gradual growth, but was never under
stood to be more than a voluntary gift in which the English people might
have a beneficial interest when they or their children visited Rome.
The regularity of its payment depended upon the
prosperity of the country, and upon the rise and
fall of the Church of Rome in popular esteem.
William would not now have agreed to continue
the payment as a benevolence had it not received
the countenance of the older English kings, of
whom he claimed to be the adopted successor.
Henceforth Peter s-pence was regularly demanded
by the representatives of the pope, though not
regularly paid. Appeals to Rome were also very K
frequent in consequence. To them the conqueror
had no objection so long as they did not affect his
regal dignity, but when an abbot appealed against]
him he is reported to have said : "I have a great
respect for the pope s legate in things which con- OI)O OF BAYEUX
cern religion, but if any monk in my dominions (see next page}.
148 SUBDIVISION OF LAW-COURTS
dare to raise a complaint against me I will have him hanged on
the highest tree of the forest." And at another time when he had
imprisoned his half-brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, for unjust oppres
sion of the Engli:-h, and the pope demanded his release on the ground
that William had no jurisdiction over ecclesiastics the king simply
took no notice, but kept his relative in durance until the close of his
reign. William was familiar with the troubles that sometimes came
upon the papacy and the schisms that often resulted, and he made a
law that no pope should be recognized in England as the orthodox
pope without his approval ; he also forbade the calling of synods or the
receipt of papal letters without his permission ; and therefore, while
we deplore the introduction of papal powers into the English Church
through William s nobles, we are thankful that he left us evidence
which proves it to have been a novelty then ; from which we may judge
that the English clergy were justified in their subsequent action when
they rose against the oppression so thrust upon them and declared
that they would submit to it no longer.
6. Ecclesiastical COUrts. One very important change in the
government of the church during the reign of William the conqueror
was the separation of the ecclesiastical and civil courts. Hitherto, the
bishops and abbots had sat in council with the ealdormen in the courts
of the shire ; and had their place among the nobles in the witans, or
national councils of wise men, which met at different centres near the
times of the Church s great festivals, as for instance, in Westminster
at Christmas, in Winchester at Easter, and in Gloucester at Pentecost.
At those courts both civil and ecclesiastical offences were judged, but
William s foreign bishops were unacquainted with the English law and
were useless for its administration. To prevent difficulties arising on
that account, William ordered that the prelates should no longer
adjudicate in combined courts ; but appointed that sheriffs and barons
should judge civil affairs, and that spiritual matters should be brought
before the higher clergy in ecclesiastical courts. That worked fairly
well when the strong-minded William was alive, but the clerical lawyers
endeavoured to bring most offences within the sphere of the spiritual
courts, thus narrowing the province of the common law. The chief
result of the separation was to make it appear that the clergy were a
distinct caste outside the civil jurisdiction, and this in the succeeding
reigns was used as a powerful lever for enforcing the supreme appellate
jurisdiction of the pope of Rome, and suspending that of the king.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE CONQUEST 149
7. The Domesday survey. To become more thoroughly
acquainted with the English land and the wealth of its people, whether
French or English, William caused a record to be made of all the
estates, with their possessions, large or small ; from which we learn
that about half the lands of the kingdom were at that time in the hands
of spiritual persons. It was a most laborious work, and the assistance
of the Church, through its bishops and parochial clergy, was called in
for its compilation. Report says that not an ox, or cow, or pig, was
passed by in that wonderful inventory. The value of lands in preceding
reigns, with their present and past holders ; the number of churches
and monasteries existing, and how they were provided for ; with a vast
amount of other information ; all this was so classified in the register
that William could at once tell the wealth of the kingdom, who were
the most powerful men in it, and the claims of each to the estates they
held. We see by it that many Englishmen still kept estates, some of
which were granted to them direct from the king, and others held on
terms of service from the barons, who were mostly Norman, but
occasionally English. That record is known as the Domesday-look ;
it was so called because men s claims to estates were judged from it.
It is especially useful to the Church as showing without doubt the
possessions which it held in the days before the conquest, for it tells
us that most of its present landed heritage comes to it with a prescrip
tive title of nearly a thousand years. It gives us a trustworthy idea of
the condition of the people and the w r ay they tilled their lands. The
great survey was finished by Easter, 1086, but it does not recognize
anything that was done in the reign of God wine s son Harold. So far
as William was concerned, who claimed to succeed Edward the con
fessor, Harold had never been king. In consequence of the survey, all
the landowners were summoned to meet the king at Salisbury plain in
August of that same year and were made to take an oath of allegiance
to King William, and swear to obey him, and fight for him, before all
other men ; such services to be rendered in proportion to their registered
possession, whether they were lay-owners or ecclesiastical possessors ;
because, hitherto, the spirituality had furnished very little to the
national needs, most of their property having been exempt. Thus
the separating tendencies of the feudal system were disciplined and
organized ; and from that time no one has ever thought of setting up
more than one king in England. In fact the Realm became under
William as united and organized as the Church had been from the days
150 INTRODUCTION OF CL UNI ACS
of Theodore. But " everywhere the Church became the bond of union
between the Norman lords and the English people, just as its continuity
had been the main instrument in preserving the cohesion of the nation."
8. Death of the conqueror. King William died in the
year 1087. His reign on the whole had been beneficial to the Church
in our country, and might have been more so had he consolidated the
great works he had begun. Those who had succeeded him cared for
nothing but to plunder the Church. William had undoubtedly
oppressed the people, but the selling of Church preferments was his
greatest abhorrence. All the men he chose to rule either diocese or
monastery, notwithstanding that they were foreigners, were selected
for their intrinsic worth, the result being that the Church was
thoroughly well disciplined. The monastic system was entirely in
the ascendant in William s reign, and the Benedictine rule, the severity
of which had been for a long time treated with great laxity, was then
revived with greater stringency by the introduction to England of the
Cluniac monks, so called from Chmy, in Burgundy, where the com
munity was first founded in the year 912 by an abbot named Berno.
The monks of Cluny added many new and severe regulations to those
formulated by Benedict of Nursia (see page 45). Many of the earliest
members of the Cluniac community were remarkable for their states
manship and great learning. All luxury was forbidden by their rules,
but this condition they soon relaxed in the matter of fabrics for the
Church services, because they considered it their duty to honour God
by giving to Him of their very best. The civil affairs of the country,
with which the Church was necessarily bound up, were not quite so
prosperous ; for in order to preserve his kingdom from the Scots and
the Danes who still made periodical raids on the coast, William caused
the whole of the north of England to be laid waste ; also he destroyed
some villages and churches in Hampshire to make for himself the
hunting-ground or forest which afterwards became so fatal a spot for
his descendants. William met his death abroad. He had been
sacking the town of Nantes to avenge a silly personal jest on himself,
and whilst giving directions for the burning of its church, his horse
swerved at some sparks and threw him forward on his saddle, causing
internal injuries from which he never recovered. He was feared and
courted in life, but shockingly neglected in his death ; his dead body
even, so it is said, being stripped and left imtended. Even when it
was taken to Caen to be buried in St. Stephen s church, which he had
EARLY YEARS OF LANFRANC
151
founded there, a young man claimed that William had wrongfully
wrested the ground on which the church stood from one of his subjects,
and refused to let the corpse be interred until the ground was paid for.
In his last sickness William wrote to Lanfranc recommending that his
son William Rufus should succeed him. He is also said to have
expressed penitence for his oppression and wasting of England.
9. Arch.bish.Op Lanfranc. The archbishop who was ap
pointed on William s nomination by the council of Winchester, in
1070, deserves more than passing notice. He was born in Italy in
1005, and left an orphan at an early age. He became a most successful
school-teacher. Once, when travelling, he was robbed in a forest and
tied to a tree ; a ragged monk released him who proved to be the abbot
of Bee. Lanfranc asked to be admitted to that monastery, of which he
afterwards became the prior and teacher. There he gained the notice
of Duke William of Normandy, and became his friend. When William
married within the prohibited degrees of the Church Lanfranc was sent
to Rome to obtain a dispensation, which was granted on condition
that the duke, and Matilda
his wife, should each found a
monastery and two hospitals.
William built St. Stephen s
at Caen, and made Lanfranc
the abbot. On being asked to
accept the archbishopric of
Canterbury, Lanfranc at first
refused because he did not
know the English tongue.
This, however, he quickly
mastered, and proved .an ex
cellent primate. Lanfranc was
learned, brave, and just. Al
though an Italian, and bred
to Norman ways, he soon
learned that the English
Church had been independent
from Theodore s time, and
when he found that William s
half-brother Odo, bishop of
Bayeux and earl of Kent, had
EOCHESTEB CAST
152
PRIORITY OF CANTERBURY PRIMACY
seized on many lands belonging to the primatial see as fiefs of the
earldom, and had also appropriated the revenues of the see from the
time of Stigand s deposition, he brought a suit against him in the
national council which compelled Odo to restore the misappropriations.
With the restored funds so obtained, Lanfranc commenced to rebuild
Canterbury cathedral, assisted to rebuild St. Alban s-abbey nave and
transepts very much ns they are at this day, and gave much alms to the
ST. ALBAN S-ABBEY BEFORE THE MODERN RESTORATION.
poor. He had to go to Rome for his pall, but he went reluctantly. It
had been part of Hildebrand s plan to compel the periodical attendance
of representative prelates in the imperial city of Rome, but Lanfranc,
having received all the benefit he was likely to obtain from the papacy,
refused to go again, even under threatened penalties. One of the first
difficulties Lanfranc had to contend with in England was the question of
his precedence over the northern primate. Archbishop Thomas, who
had been appointed to the see of York soon after Lanfranc came to
Canterbury, refused for a long time to pay him canonical obedience ;
and it was not until five years after that the vexed question of seniority
was decided by a synod in Lanfranc s favour. The right of the arch-
THE GREAT SCHISM 153
bishop of Canterbury to be primate of all England has never since been
contested, although there have been many times when archbishops of
York have refused to render canonical obedience to the southern
primate. Archbishop Lanfranc lived for two years after William the
conqueror died, but his place was not filled up for several years.
10. Disunion Of " East " and " West." During Lanfranc s
life several important events took place in the Church universal; e.g.
the controversies which had taken place between the patriarchate of
Constantinople and the patriarchate of Rome came to a crisis, and
ended in what is known as the Great Schism. The pope of Rome, who
then claimed the title of "universal bishop" which Gregory the great
had said none but an antichrist could assume (see page 40), excom
municated the eastern Church for having denied the double procession
of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son. The patriarch of
Constantinople retorted by excommunicating the pope of Rome and
his adherents. 1 There was no general council held at which this
subject could be officially adjusted, and therefore the Church in
England up till that time, A.D. 1054, being altogether independent of
the Roman see, was not a party to the schism. Afterwards, when the
popes obtained great influence here, the English Church, through its
foreign prelates, informally advocated the doctrines by which the
western Church had forced the eastern branch into an hostile attitude ;
but centuries later it was explained by a saintly English bishop (Ken)
that "the faith of the universal Church before the disunion of east
and west" was the only true faith for the Church of England. 2
11. Changes in doctrine and discipline. There were
also important interpretations of doctrine respecting the Holy Com
munion broached about that time, and Lanfranc in a learned treatise
maintained that the earthly substances of bread and wine in the
eucharist are changed by consecration into the substance of the Lord s
Body and Blood, although the appearances and tastes of the earthly
elements remain. This is called Transubstantiation, but Lanfranc s
1 "Excommunication" is the sentence by which churchmen are deprived of the
privilege of receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion ; but it had this fiulher
effect, that all other Christian men were charged to avoid the society of those
placed under its ban. The boycotting of modern times is a similar infliction, but it
lacks the religious element that made excommunication so terrible in its effects.
2 The controversies between east and west had been going on for centuries, and
some consider that Ken s epigram refers to the fifth century, before they began.
154
THE "USE" OF SARUM
interpretation was a new one so far as the English Church was con
cerned. There were many learned doctors who held different views
upon the question, and Pope Gregory VII. desired that it should be
left open. In after years men and women were burnt for denying a
doctrine identical with that which Lanfranc had asserted. Clerical
celibacy was another prominent question during Lanfranc s primacy,
but as the feeling in England was so largely in favour of clemency
towards the secular clergy, the pope s desire that married clergy should
be compelled to desert their wives was not enforced, except in the case
of cathedral canons ; but at the same time it was arranged that no
married men should in future be ordained to the priesthood.
SALISBURY (SARUM) CATHEDRAL.
12. The Liturgical use of Sarum. Last, but not least,
among the changes witnessed in the English Church, while Lanfranc
was archbishop, was a revision of the English liturgies by Osmund,
bishop of Saram, which became many generations later the basis of our
present Prayer-book. The scandal created by the Glastonbury fracas
under Thurstan (page 143), and objections against the old diversities of
ritual, created a demand for an uniform service book ; and Osmund set
himself to compile one, extracting from the various diocesan "uses"
NORMAN ARCHITECTURE
155
such portions as would make his work more popular. He was suc
cessful in his efforts; for although different compilations (such as the
liturgies of Bangor, York, and Hereford) remained in use, Osmund s
Use of Sarum was by far the greatest in demand for nearly 500
years. All those " uses " were written in the Latin tongue. It would
have been considered irreverent to translate Church services into the
Norman or English or Celtic languages, although simple portions such
as the Lord s prayer, the creed, and ten commandments had often been
transposed into the dialects of the peasantry.
13. Norman architecture. Many noble churches were in
course of erection throughout England during the reigns of William
the conqueror and his sons. They mark an epoch in Church archi
tecture both for their simplicity and durability. The style is an
improved Romanesque ; it had been introduced to this country in the
time of Edward the confessor, but after the conquest the Normans
everywhere set themselves to repair the churches that the wars had
dismantled, or build better and nobler ones if they considered the older
ones to be unsuitable.
The chapel of St.
John, in the Tower of
London (built for the
conqueror by Gun-
dulph, bishop of
Rochester), is a perfect
illustration of Norman
work ; the cathedral
church of Durham (sec
page 165) is much
grander, but of lapi
date ; the country,
however, abounds
with such. If the
country could not fur
nish suitable ma- ST. JOHN S < MIA PEL IN THE TOWKU.
terials, they brought such from abroad, as when William sent to Caen for
stone to build Rattle-abbey. The nave and transepts of St. Alban s-
abbey (see page 152), of which Paul de Caen was the architect, were built
of Roman bricks procured from the ruins of the contiguous city of
156
NORMAN ARCHITECTURE
Verulam. The pillars in many of our cathedrals, as at Norwich, Carlisle,
and Hereford, are built after the fashion which Normans introduced.
Rochester castle (page 151) is an excellent specimen of the feudal
fortresses \\hich Norman barons built all over England. "With all
their faults the Normans were a religious people, and they preferred
to exercise frugality in food or dress rather than stint the house of
God. As we look upon the massive grandeur of their handiwork
to-day, after a lapse of 800 years, we realize the poet s description
that :
"They built in marble ; built as they
Who hoped these stones should see the day
When Christ should come ; and that these walls
Might stand o er them till judgment calls."
r
PART III
Era of Oppression
CHAPTER X. (A.D. 1089-1109)
THE DAYS OF ANSELM OF CANTERBURY
" Record we too, with just and faithful pen,
That many hooded cenobites there are,
Who in their private cells have yet a care
Of public quiet; unambitious men,
Counsellors for the world, of piercing ken ;
Whose fervent exhortations from afar
Move princes to their duty, peace or war."
1. William Rufus and the Church. William the conqueror
had acknowledged before his death that his family had no right of
succession to the English throne, because he had obtained it by force ;
but by the influence of his friend Lanfranc his third son William
Rufus was elected by the nobles to succeed him. Bishop Odo, who
was now released from confinement, headed a rebellion against the new
king in favour of William the conqueror s eldest son Robert ; but this
was quickly stamped out, and so long as Lanfranc was alive William
Rufus ruled well. When the primate died, the king s true character
developed itself. He appointed as justiciar a priest named Ralph,
whom men called the Firebrand. Ralph was a great financier, and
gained his promotion by suggesting to the king a systematic plan of
administering church patronage for the benefit of the royal exchequer.
During William II. s reign, when any important ecclesiastical benefice
fell vacant, a complete inventory was made of all its temporalities or
secular possessions in order that they might be duly transferred to the
successor ; but those records were soon used for another purpose, viz. :
to estimate the market value of the benefices. When an abbot or bishop
died, Ralph seized the temporalities and held them for William Rufus,
until some one was willing to pay the value of them to the king, as the
price of preferment to the vacancy, on the pretence that, according to
the law of feudal tenure, the revenues of all estates and possessions
held direct from the king lapsed to the crown on the death of the
holder, until the inheritor or successor paid a relief to the feudal lord.
157
158 WILLIAM RUFUS
That happened when Lanfranc died, and for four years no one was
appointed as archbishop ; all the revenues of the see during that time
passed into the hands of the king. The public sale and purchase of
Church offices, which we call simony, was of course a sacrilegious pro
fanation on the part of the crown, and it resulted in grievous scandal
to the Church, because sanctity and merit were no longer considered
testimonials for advancement, but had to give way to the power of gold.
When the gift of God could be purchased with money the respect for
holy things at once declined. Contempt for religion was openly shown
by the king s courtiers, until Christianity seemed likely to perish out
of the land. The avarice of Rufus extended to secular appointments
also, and to make himself ruler of Wales, he offered to such of his
knights as cared to undertake such an expedition, all the land each
was able to conquer in that province. As the result of such permission
an irregular conquest of Wales went on for some time.
2. Anselm Of Bee. After four years of that distressful state
of things, the king was taken ill at Gloucester, and his conscience,
such as he had, told him that his oppression unfitted him for making
his peace with God. Thinking that he was going to die he desired to
make a tartly recompense for his sacrilegious reign by appointing one
of the holiest men in Christendom to the vacant archbishopric, on
the urgent petitions of the nobles. His name was Anselm, a native of
Aosta in Piedmont, who had succeeded Lanfranc as prior, and after
wards as abbot, of Bee, in Normandy. He had often visited Lanfranc
in England, and was now called to the sick king s bed to receive his
penitent confession. Anselm refused the archbishopric, for he said
he knew the king s sickness was not unto death, and he was unwilling
to share with so wicked a man the government of the English Church
and Realm. The tears and entreaties of the nobles were alike unavail
ing to alter his desire, but they forced him into compliance with
their wishes and actually used violence in attempting to place the
pastoral staff into his right hand, which he as resolutely kept clenched.
At last they held it against his closed fist during the ceremony of
election, poor Anselm crying the while "it is nought that ye do, it is
nought." Eadmer, a contemporary chronicler, tells us that as they
led Anselm from the king s chamber to confirm his election in the
adjoining abbey church, which had been lately magnificently rebuilt,
he begged the prelates to regard the "plough of the Church" by which
God s husbandry was tilled. "This plough in England," said Anselm,
ANSELM OF AOSTA
159
"two specially strong oxen draw and govern, the king and the arch
bishop of Canterbury ; . . . the one in secular justice and dominion,
the other in Divine teaching and authority. One of these oxen,
Archbishop Lanfranc, is dead ; the other, with the untameable ferocity
of a bull, is now found in possession of the plough, and you, instead
of the dead ox, wish to yoke me, an old and feeble sheep, with the un
tamed bull ! " The elect archbishop, knowing the kind of monarch he
GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL (ABBEY) CHURCH.
had to deal with, was careful to stipulate for the restoration of the
alienated lands belonging to the see ; and at length before the national
council at Winchester, Anselm was invested with the pastoral staff and
ring, and did homage for all the temporalities as Lanfranc had done
before him. As the king s man he had by feudal law to pay succession
duty or "relief." For this he offered 500 marks, a very large sum
in those days. The king had expected far more, and refused to
accept the sum, so Anselm distributed it amongst the poor and refused
to give the king anything at all. He was enthroned at Canterbury,
on September 5, 1093, but on that very day, Ralph, the firebrand
justiciar served him with a writ to answer in the king s court for an
160 RIVAL POPES AT ROME
imputed breach of the king s prerogative, That was a warning of the
troubles that were coming. On December 4, Anselni was con
secrated by the archbishop of York to be "Primate of all Britain."
For awhile there was peace between Anselm and the king, but within
a year there arose a memorable struggle between them on the question
of the royal prerogatives, which continued for several years.
ST. JOHN S CHURCH, LATERAN PALACE, HOME.
3. Rival popes. Early in 1095, Anselm desired leave from the
king to visit Rome to receive his pall from the pope. " From which
pope ? " demanded Rufus, for there were again two claimants to the
papal tiara ; Clement III., who reigned at St. Angelo, and Urban II.,
who occupied the Laterau palace, each of whom spent most of their
time in excommunicating the friends of the other. As yet the Church
of England had recognized neither. France and Normandy had
admitted Urban s claims, and as the abbey of Bee was in Normandy,
Anselm had declared before his consecration that he considered Urban
to be the true pope. He answered the king s question accordingly.
"But," said Rufus, "by my father s laws no one may acknowledge
a pope in England without my sanction, and I have not acknowledged
COUNCIL OF ROCKINGHAM 161
Urban." To settle the dispute, an assembly of peers was held at
Rockinglmm, beginning on mid- Lent Sunday in 1095. Anselm desired
to make the matter one of religious conviction ; but the nobles pointed
out that he was charged with violating the English customs and laws,
and declined to discuss it other than as a question of feudal suzerainty.
On the second day of the meeting the prelates and barons distinctly
accused Anselm of attempting to deprive the king of his sovereign
power. "Give up this Urban," said they, " cast off this yoke of
bondage ; act in freedom as becomes an archbishop of Canterbury, and
submit to the king s will." But he refused. The next day, when the
bishop of Durham declared that Anselm should be prosecuted for high
treason if Urban were not renounced, the archbishop denied that his
allegiance to that pope was inconsistent with his oath of fidelity to
the king. The essence of the conflict appears in that reply, and in the
rejoinder of Rufus that "while he lived he would endure no equal in his
realm." Anselm, however, was declared an outlaw, and, by the king s
command, the bishops renounced their obedience to him. The nobles,
distinguishing between Anselm as the king s vassal and as their pri
mate, refused to comply with a similar mandate, for they said : " we
were never the archbishop s men, we have not sworn fealty to him as
the bishops have done, and therefore have no oath to abjure."
Many of the archbishop s friends were now imprisoned or banished,
and the revenues of the cathedrals once more seized by the king. So
the affair remained for months. Meanwhile the wily monarch had
sent some ambassadors to Rome to find out which pope was accounted
the lawful one in that city. If a pall was necessary to make an arch
bishop, it did not concern Rufus where it came from ; but w r hat did
trouble him was that one of his subjects should consider a foreign
bishop his king s superior in any matter. Above all, he would
like to be rid of such an independent man as Anselm proved to be.
His messengers were instructed to approach the popular pope, and
obtain from him a pall, so that the king might bestow it on whom he
pleased. Of course Urban was only too pleased to be recognized by the
king of England, and receive the homage of his envoys and their
valuable presents. He sent a pall back with them in charge of the
bishop of Albano, whom William Rufus received with due honour,
thus publicly acknowledging Urban as rightful pope, but he was
unable to persuade the legate to declare the deposition of Anselm ;
that was an impossible course even for the pope to pursue. At least,
VOL. i. G
162 THE IRISH AND ENGLISH CHURCHES
thought Rufus, he will allow me to invest him with his badge of
office. "No," said Anselm, for his predecessor had received the pall
from none other than the pope. The legate, therefore, laid it on the
high altar of Canterbury cathedral, whence Anselm, barefooted, took
it, and claimed thereby to have received his commission direct from St.
Peter. Rufus tried to obtain from him a suitable payment in consider
ation of his not having to go to Rome for the pall, but this too the
archbishop refused, and the king was obliged to give way.
After that reconciliation an important episcopal act was performed
by Anselm, for, in 1096, Malchus, one of the monks of "Winchester
was consecrated to the see of Waterford, in Ireland, then first created,
at the request of Donald, bishop of Dublin. Both those bishops,
Donald and Malchus, professed canonical obedience to the see of
Canterbury ; which shows that the Churches of England and Ireland
were then in close communion, if not actually united with each other ;
and that the importance of Canterbury was growing.
4. Anselm s appeal to Rome. About that time what are
known as the Crusades commenced. They were warlike enterprises
started in defence of the Christian liberty against attacks from the
Saracens and Turks in the east, especially in the holy land. They were
called the Crusades because all who took part in them wore the badge
of the cross on some part of their attire. To distinguish the people of
the different nations who took part in them, coloured crosses were
adopted. William Rufus had an eye to the conquest of Normandy
from his brother Robert, but Robert joined in the enthusiasm of the
Crusaders and willingly relinquished for a time his government of
Normandy on condition of receiving a large sum of money from Rufus
for the equipment of his expedition. To raise that money the English
king made heavy calls on his feudal barons, and on the abbots and prelates
who held their benefices as his men. So exacting were his demands
that the clergy were obliged to surrender the sacred vessels of the
sanctuaries, and strip the churches of their marketable treasures. He
also wanted money and men for his conquest in Wales, which the pre
lates as well as the barons were bound by the feudal laws to provide in
their measure. Archbishop Anselm was not behindhand in performing
these obligations, and even v^ent so far as to advance some funds
entrusted to him for the cathedral chapter, pledging part of his archiepis-
copal revenues for their repayment. But Rufus wanted occasion to
deprive Anselm, and he complained that the archbishop s quota of men
ANS ELM S PILGRIMAGE TO ROME 163
and means to the Welsh army was insufficient. He cited Anselm to
exonerate himself before the king s court. As this was not a question
of ecclesiastical order, but one of feudal service in which the king
was absolute master, the archbishop was now in a dilemma. Therefore,
for his personal safety, Anselm refused to attend the court, and when
his case came on for hearing he craved permission through some of the
nobles to go to Rome for advice. The king thrice refused this request,
but at last offered to permit his absence from the kingdom on condition
that he should not take out of the country any treasures belonging to
the crown, and that he should not attempt to introduce papal juris
diction into England by appealing to the see of Rome against his king.
Anselm evasively fenced with this proviso, but the king, who was
as heartily glad to be rid of the archbishop as the latter was to go,
finally agreed to his unconditional departure. Anselm dressed himself
in the guise of a pilgrim with his scrip and staff (see page 214), and
appeared before William Rufus to bestow upon him his parting blessing.
They never met again ; and as soon as Anselm had left the kingdom
Rufus confiscated once more the revenues of the see. Arrived at Rome,
Anselm was received with great respect, but he soon found that
the theories he had imbibed at Bee respecting the immaculate and
infallible pope had no practical reality, for Urban would rather
dissemble to Anselm, who upheld the
spiritual claims of the papacy, than for-
feit his chance of temporal jurisdiction
in England by offending its king. After
travelling about Italy for some time as
the honoured guest of different monas
teries by reason of his learning and sanc
tity, during which time also he wrote
his well-known work on the Incarnation
of the Saviour, Anselm was invited to
S*i{ attend the council of Bari, at which the
alleged heresy of the eastern Church,
respecting the procession of the Holy
Ghost, was to be debated. Anselm was
introduced by Urban to the council as
an equal, as the pope or "apostolic
vicar of a second world," that is,
WILLIAM RUFUS. chief bishop of another country, for
164 THE "INVESTITURE" WARS
"pope" only meant "father," and had no higher signification than
the term "patriarch," by which the chief bishops of the eastern
Churches are known. Aiiselm s pulpit eloquence and great learning
caused the council to decide unanimously against the eastern doctrine,
and enlisted the sympathy of the bishops present on his personal
behalf. Between such a champion of Church doctrine and the tyrannous
king of England Urban no longer hesitated, and he urged the council
to permit sentence of anathema and excommunication to be issued
against Rufus, which was only averted at the entreaty of Anselm.
Messengers were sent to England with letters from the pope, demand
ing from the king restitution of Anselm s temporalities ; but William
Rufus expelled them from his dominions, and the historian of Malmes-
bury says that Warelwast, one of the English clergy, was sent with a
large bribe to the pope, to prevent Anselm s cause coming to a satis
factory termination ; although "he blushes to record that in so great
a man as Urban, self-respect and zeal for God had fallen so low that he
perverted justice for money." In the meantime, with the aid of
Ralph, the justiciar,\vho had become bishop of Durham and general
impleader and exactor of the whole kingdom, "William Rufus seized
and sold the revenues of many Church preferments. In the year 1099
a synod was held at Rome which condemned all ecclesiastical appoint
ments made by laymen ; for in other countries of Europe, as well as in
England, there had been from the time of Hildebrand a conflict
between the emperors and kings against the popes on the subject of
church patronage, and the right to invest the bishops with the insignia
of office, 1 which is said to have lasted fifty-six years, occasioned sixty
battles between the papal and secular armies (for the pope had then a
standing army), and the loss of two millions of lives. Anselm
hoped that his cause would be finally decided at that synod, but he
was doomed to disappointment ; and when he found that the pope had
no real intention of assisting him against the king, he left Rome and
went to Lyons. The next year Pope Urban died. William Rufus,
too, was shot by an arrow when hunting in the New Forest which his
1 Investiture means the ceremony by which a bishop was formally invested with the
right to exercise his judicial functions ; just as the ceremony of transferring an
estate from one person to another by means of symbols, referred to on page 105,
gave the right to hold property. The "investiture" of a bishop consisted in pre
senting him with a pastoral staff to signify his authority over the flock committed
to him, and a ring which symbolized his marriage to the Church. Before Anselm s
time the English kings had always exercised the right of bestowing those symbols.
ACCESSION OF HENRY I
165
father had desolated Hampshire to make, and where his brother
Richard had met his death in some mysterious way. He was buried
at Winchester, and succeeded by his younger brother Henry, A.D. 1100.
5. Anselm and Henry I. Duke Robert of Normandy was
the rightful successor to Rufus, but he was absent on the Crusade in
Palestine. Knowing himself to be an usurper, it was Henry s policy
to be conciliatory, and he, perceiving that the simony and sacrilege
of his brother had alienated the influence of the Church, decided to
abandon all such evil practices. Ralph, the notorious bishop of
Durham, who had by that time completed the erection of the nave
and aisles of Durham cathedra], he imprisoned in the Tower* and
Anselm he recalled from Lyons. On his coronation he made the
customary declaration or charter of liberties, by which he proposed to
govern the kingdom. Its first article runs thus : "I make the Holy
Church of God free ; I will neither sell it nor put it to farm. I will
not, when an archbishop, bishop, or abbot dies, take anything from
the domain of the Church or from its men, until a successor comes
I into possession." At the
same time Henry refused
to surrender the ancient
[rights of the English
kings to be supreme in
their own dominions.
[Therefore he required
that Anselm should do
homage to him as his
man, and also be re
invested in his bishopric.
The demand was strenu
ously resisted by Anselm,
perhaps not because he
objected personally to be
invested by a secular
prince, for he had been
invested by Rufus some
years before, and so had
previous archbishops of
Canterbury ; but because
166
DUPLICITY OF POPE PASCHAL
a synod of Rome, in 1075, had declared that any clergy who accepted
lay investiture should be excommunicated. Being a foreigner he
thought it right to look upon the pope of Rome as his spiritual
superior, ignoring the fact that England had always been governed by
independent laws. Another controversy ensued between king and
archbishop, resulting in no less than five distinct appeals to Rome.
6. Embassies to Rome. Paschal II. was pope when Henry
came to the throne, and Anselm refused to be re-invested without Irs
permission. The king agreed that this permission should be sought,
and William Warelwast was sent to Rome for that purpose. Pope
Paschal, in his repry, refused to relax the canons of the Roman synod.
On hearing this, Henry declared that the opinion of the pope, or the
decisions of a Roman council, were alike indifferent to him, " I will
not lose," he said, "the customs of my predecessors, nor endure in
my kingdom one who is not my subject." Thereupon Anselm offered
to leave England again. But his influence was of use to the king in
conciliating the nobles in the event of Duke Robert returning to claim
the crown, therefore to postpone extreme measures, it was arranged
to send a second, and this time a double embassy to Rome the
prelates of York, Norwich, and Chester (Lichfield) on the part of the
king ; and two monks, named Baldwin and Alexander, on behalf of
Anselm. The king s advocates explained to the pop3 that if his decision
were not favourable to Henry all com
munication between England and Rome
hould cease, and the contributions of
Rome-shot be withdrawn. In reply,
the pops wrote to Anselm, bidding him
persist in refusing to receive investiture
from the king. He also sent a written
message to Henry, which though com
plimentary, did not concede the point
the kiuz desired. The replies were read
before a great council of prelates and
nobles at London, in 1102, and the
king was still more incensed ; but the
bishops who had been his ambassadors
said that the pope had promised, as a
IIKMIY THE 1-iRisr. personal favour to Henry, that the
see of Rome wou d not object to his investing according to the custom
ANSELM S DISCIPLINARY MEASURES 167
of England. Anselm s monks denied that the pope had sent such a
contradictory message, and an altercation ensued which ended in a third
appeal to Kome, by Anselm, to inquire about the apparent duplicity.
7. Distressful condition of the Church. During those
appeals Church work in England was at a standstill. "When bishops
or abbots died, or were deposed, others were elected on the king s
nomination, but Anselm refused to consecrate them unless Henry
surrendered his claim to invest them. The archbishop of York would
have consecrated them, but they refused to be hallowed by any other
than Anselm, for which refusal they were banished from the country.
All this time Anselm was in possession of the revenues of the
archbishopric, and was not prevented from performing many official
duties pending the final decision on the subject of investiture. For
instance, when Henry desired to marry Matilda, daughter of the king
of Scotland, against which marriage there was the canonical impedi
ment that she had been educated in a convent and forced to wear the
veil of a nun, Anselm called a synod together which freed her from
the obligation of her monastic vows. Again, in the autumn of 1102,
he summoned a council of prelates and nobles for the correction of
morals among the clergy, which were in a sad state just then, owing to
the number of ill-disposed persons who had purchased preferment in
the Church during the reign of William Rufus. At that council six
abbots were deposed for simony, and many other clerics, both
French and English, lost their staves and authority, which they had
unjustly acquired, or lived on with iniquity." About that time the
archbishop of Vienna came to England and claimed authority over its
bishops in the name of the pope. So distinct an infringement of the
rights of English primates was strenuously resisted ; especially by
Anselm, who was jealous for his office from whatever source attacked ;
consequently the foreign legate had to quit England forthwith.
8. Anselm leaves England. By Lent, 1103, Anselm s
messengers returned from Rome with confirmatory letters of the
previous written documents, indignantly repudiating the verbal
message of the bishops and excommunicating them as having been false
to their trust. Henry was now thoroughly roused, he refused to look
at these letters, saying : " What has the pope to do with my affairs ?
If any one deprives me of that which my predecessors enjoyed he is
mine enemy." He therefore demanded of Anselm that he should
168
ANSELM AGAIN AT ROME
submit to the "customs of the fathers," and do him homage. Anselm,
impracticable as ever, declared that he would rather lose his life than
yield. But Henry, who had been kind and forbearing all through,
did not want to proceed against him harshly, and suggested a fourth
appeal to Rome, this time arranging that Anselm should himself make
the journey and endeavour to obtain some concession from the pope
which might satisfy the archbishop s conscience, and enable him at the
same time to conform to English law, When Anselm reached Eome
THE CITY OF LYONS (FRANCE).
he found that Warelwast had outrun him and backed up his arguments
for the king by a valuable contribution of Peter s-pence. When
Warelwast haughtily declared that Henry would rather give up his
crown than surrender his right to invest prelates, Paschal sternly
replied that "he would not, before God, to save his head, suffer
him to have it." But Warelwast was very wary, and although the
pope gave Anselm his blessing and temporized a good deal, he obtained
from Paschal a friendly letter for king Henry, which, though not
surrendering any point of importance, left room for further negotiations,
COMPROMISE WITH ANSELM 169
according to the usual diplomacy of the Roman see. Anselm then
went to his old friend, the archbishop of Lyons ; Warelwast followed
him there, and explained that unless he was prepared to accede to
Henry s wishes, it would be safer for him not to return to England ; so
Anselm decided to remain abroad, and Henry confiscated the temporal
possessions of his archbishopric. Even Paschal had pointed out that
the cause of Christianity in England was suffering from this long
continued quarrel, and the frequent absences of its chief pastor ; but
Anselm preferred that the Church should remain rent and crippled
rather than he would give way on any single point. For a long time
he stayed at Lyons in the hope that the pope might excommunicate
Henry, which Paschal knew better than to do. Eadmer the chronicler,
Anselm s friend and biographer, records a letter which was sent from
England to the absent archbishop, describing the dreadful condition
of the English Church through his obstinacy, and pointing out that
every Englishman considered" the points in dispute to be worthless,
and a contrivance of the devil to vex the English Church. But even
that failed to shake Anselm s determination.
9. Reconciliation of Henry I. and Anselm. Eighteen
months elapsed before Anselm, who in other respects has an enviable
reputation for shrewdness and perspicacity, perceived that Paschal
was only cajoling him, and that the popes of Rome had not that
supreme authority all over the world which he had for so long imagined
them to possess. With the concurrence of the archbishop of Lyons,
he determined to excommunicate the king of England on his own
account, and explained his intention to Adela of Blois, sister of Henry,
She, fearing that this would put a weapon in the hands of her brother s
enemies, promoted a meeting between Anselm and Henry, near
Chartres, at which the king offered all sorts of inducements for the
archbishop s immediate return. Henry had previously sent Warelwast
on a fifth embassy to Rome, which was less unsatisfactory than the
other four, seeing that Paschal was now willing to compromise the
dispute by conceding the right of homage to the king which Pope
Urban had refused to grant ; on condition that the investiture of ring
and staff, which symbolized the spiritual authority, should belong to
the Church. On that understanding, Anselm returned to his long
forsaken flock, whereat the country greatly rejoiced. The wearisome
dispute came to an end ou August 1, 1107, when a great assembly of
G 2
170 QUESTIONS OF JURISDICTION
bishops, abbots, and nobles met at London in the king s palace, at
which the king agreed that from henceforth no persons should be
invested in England with pastoral staff or ring, either by the king or
any lay hand ; and Anselm, on his part, agreed that no one elected to
prelacy should be debarred from consecration because he had done
homage to the king, prior to the acceptance of that compromise.
10. Anselm s closing days. The result of the quarrel respect
ing investiture was a victory for neither party, but a check upon both.
The pope was distinctly given to understand that he had no jurisdic
tion over temporal affairs in England, and the king was taught that
bishops were not to be elevated and promoted on the terms on Avhich
he made a knight or a baron ; nor was their office his, in the sense that
he could sell it. Anselm s opposition to William Rufus and Henry
I. had rescued the Church of England from feudal vassalage and tem
poral despotism, but his action had brought it within the grasp of a
more odious spiritual autocracy, from which it took 400 years to shake
itself free. From that time forward, until the year 1531, it writhed
and struggled under the dominion of the popes of Rome, who were no
longer merely bishops, but also powerful secular princes. At first the
harm that Norman princes and foreign bishops had done to the
Church was not apparent. It was a gradual and insinuating evil.
We shall misunderstand the position of the Church of England to-day
if we forget that the great body of the laity have always been as
truly an integral a part of the Church as the clergy who minister to
them, and the majority of English churchmen are not to be ignored
when we think of the days of Anselm. Before Anselm returned to
England, Henry had promised to restore the confiscated revenues of
Canterbury, to withdraw the licence for married clergy to retain their
wives on payment of heavy fines, to give up the practice of nominating
bishops without the consent of the clergy in the cathedral chapters,
and to allow the archbishop to convene synods at pleasure, providing
the king s consent was first obtained. The king was willing that the
pope should exercise spiritual jurisdiction in England, but stipulated
that no papal legate should enter this country without special royal
licence. On those terms the work of the Church was allowed to
proceed. The vacant bishoprics and abbeys were all filled up, and
churches and monasteries built and restored. During Anselm s
primacy some of our cathedrals were rebuilt, and not a few retain to
this day traces of the masonry which he looked upon (see page 196).
172 THE BISHOPRIC OF ELY
He was present at the re -dedication of Winchester cathedral (1093), the
transepts of which remain as they were then, and he may have attended
at the opening of Norwich cathedral in 1101. Worcester cathedral
retains part of Bishop Wulfstan s great work, then fresh from the
workman s hammer. Rochester and St. Albans both stand to this
day much as their builders Bishop Gundtilph and Paul of Caen left
them. But Anselm had no personal share in any of those grand struc
tures. In his own cathedral of Canterbury progress w r as made in build
ing the choir from the designs of Ernulph, prior of Saint Augustine s
monastery, but that had a very short existence. William Warelwast,
who had so often championed the cause of the king of England before
the pope, was then bishop of Exeter ; and he is credited with having
commenced building the present cathedral in that city on a very
massive plan, but not until after Anselm s death. The last important
event in Anselm s primacy connected with English episcopacy, was
the creation of the bishopric of Ely. Herv6 le Breton, bishop of Bangor,
had been placed as acting abbot over the monastery church there, and
as the see of Lincoln was then of unwieldy extent, he suggested to the
king, with the consent of the monks, that the diocese should be
divided, and that the abbey church of Ely, then just completed,
might be the seat of a new diocese. The bishop of Lincoln agreed, and
that arrangement was carried out just before Anselm died.
11. Opinions on Anselm s character. The aged primate
pissed away April 21, 1109. Several monographs of his life and
character have appeared in recent times, in most of which he is
represented as a saintly hero, worthy of all honour, fighting for the
privileges of the Church against immoral and tyrannous kings. But
there is a great difference between the Church as Anselm understood
it and a national Church. His training led him to uphold ideas which
sought to make bishops of Rome autocrats of an universal despotism.
In such a theory patriotism and loyalty finds no place. Duke William
came to a land with independent civil and ecclesiastical traditions, and
both he and his sons swore to uphold them. They introduced Norman
bishops, Norman abbots, and Norman secular barons, but they, like
their kings, "realized their new position as Englishmen by adoption,
entering immediately on all the claims of their predecessors, and
declaring that, so far as their power went, the churches they espoused
should suffer no detriment" (Stulibs). Anselm did not enter into
that patriotic spirit, He recognized no law that was opposed to the
ANSELM S POLICY 173
decrees of bishops of Rome. True it is that he claimed to live up to
higher than worldly principles of action, and seek first and last what
seemed to him to be the glory of God ; but the ordinary men of his
day, the prelates and barons of England, were unable to appreciate
his efforts to turn questions of civil obedience into high theological
doctrines. And it is true that English kings were very reprehensible
in withholding and selling preferments ; but even that practice had
a shadow of reason in it for men of those times, because at the conquest
the greater part of English land was held by ecclesiastics whose in
creasing possessions made them haughty and rebellious. Some checks
were needed, but neither kings nor counsellors had then found out the
right ones. There is, however, no need to excuse the faults of kings,
nor to throw doubts upon the piety or conscientiousness of Anselm.
The issue comes within a much narrower compass. He assailed the
ancient prerogatives of English kings, and they did right to maintain
them. Anselm was entirely unjustified in his desire to set up the
authority of an unacknowledged pontiff over that of his lawful sove
reign, and in presuming that the declarations of a synod of Rome
could override the ancient laws and customs of England. When the
position he assumed to maintain which he neglected the greater
duties of his primacy and spent long years abroad is considered apart
from his private and personal virtues, it will be seen that no man did
more to establish precedents which compromised the independence of
the English Church and nation, and encouraged the encroachments
that resulted in the more direct control of bishops of Rome. That
Anselm did everything from the purest motives is altogether beside
the question. It is far more to our purpose to know that what he did
materially strengthened the central power of the popes, against which
all Europe had afterwards to struggle.
CHAPTER XI. (A.D. 1109-1154)
LOSS OF INDEPENDENCE
"The ancient thrones of Christendom are stuff
For occupation of a magic wand,
And tis the pope that wields it.
Gorl willeth it, from hill to hill rebound?,
And in awe-stricken countries far and nigh,
Through nature s hollow arch/ that voice resounds."
1. Supremacy of the see of Canterbury. King Henry I.
lived for many years after the death of Anselm, during which the
Church of England progressed favourably on the whole, now and
then showing signs that its independence was not wholly gone, and
that its traditions were still dear to it. Just before Anselm s death,
Tliomas, archbishop elect of York, had declined to take the customary
oath of canonical obedience to the see of Canterbury (just as his
namesake had objected in Lanfranc s time), imagining that the
metropolitan pall rendered him independent of the southern primate ;
and in this he was supported by the clergy of his province, who were
jealous of the supremacy of the archbishop of Canterbury. Knowing
that Anselm s days on earth were numbered, Thomas made all sorts
of excuses to put off his own consecration, so as to be spared the
humiliating profession. But Anselm had so strictly enjoined the
bishops, in the event of his death, not to consecrate Thomas without
due submission, that he was obliged to give way. After the death of
Anselm, Henry imitated his brother William Rufus in delaying the
appointment of prelates to vacant bishoprics and abbacies. "When
lie did fill them up he invariably preferred a foreigner, and English
men had to be content with the minor offices. It was five years
before a successor to Anselm was found, during which the revenues
of the see were paid into the royal treasury. At last Ralph d JSscures,
who, as bishop of Rochester, had been performing the spiritual duties
of the see of Canterbury during the interregnum, was translated to
the primacy. He had previously been abbot of Seez in Normandy.
Shortly after that appointment Thomas of York died, and was
succeeded by Thurstan, who also hoped to increase the dignity of his
see by refusing canonical submission to that of Canterbury. Naturally
Ralph refused to consecrate him, so Thurstan went to Rheims and was
consecrated by Calixtns IF., one of two rival popes then governing
174
BANISHMENT OF THURSTAN
175
the Church of Rome, who conferred upon him the privilege of being
independent of the southern province. This angered King Henry and
the English prelates, and Thurstan was for a time banished from the
realm ; for it was a breach of the rights of the Church of England to
have its prelates consecrated by a foreign Church, notwithstanding
that it had been the custom for its archbishops to obtain palls from
Rome. Although Thurstan refused to pay the customary submission
to Canterbury, he was allowed to return to England, after a time,
on condition that he did not perform any official duties outside the
province of York, The presumptuous proceeding of Calixtus had a
prejudicial effect on the councils of the realm, for "the assembling
of national councils became almost a matter of impossibility t the
disputes, amounting often to undignified altercations between the
archbishops, disturbed the harmony of even the royal courts and
national parliaments" (see Stubbs Const. Hist. vol. ii, p. 198),
ST, DAVID S CATHEDRAL.
2. Union of Welsh and English Churches. In the
year 1115 a most important event occurred to increase the supremacy
of Canterbury. The Church of Wales (that is, the survival of the
176 THE WELSH AND ENGLISH CHURCHES
ancient British Church), which had retained its independence up to
that time, but which had been gradually drawn towards its more
powerful Anglo-Saxon neighbour, was then about to be amalgamated
with the English Church, as the country of Wales was afterwards to
the English realm. There had for some time been an interchange of
friendly offices between these Churches,, as when a bishop of St.
Davids did the work of an infirm bishop of Hereford before the
conquest ; and we have seen in the last chapter how a bishop of
Bangor was translated to the see of Ely. The submission of Wales
to the authority of the English throne in the time of William the
conqueror ; the constant ravages of the nobles in the time of William
Rufus ; and the colonizing of Ross, in Pembrokeshire, by Flemish
emigrants in the reign of Henry L; all served to make the Welsh
people see that the only way of retaining their territory was to pay
allegiance to the "right of might" by recognizing the supremacy of
the English throne. The Church helped to make the way easy for
that inevitable and desirable consolidation, There was no appreciable
difference between the doctrine and discipline of the Welsh and
English Churches at that time, they had both for a long while held
intercourse with the continental Churches, and at length, by advice of
CalixtusIL, the prelates of Wales, through the bishop of St Davids,
took the oath of canonical obedience to Archbishop Ralph as their
metropolitan. To compensate the Welsh Church in some measure for
the loss of its archicpiscopal powers, Calixtus II. dignified David, the
first bishop of the see of that name (see page 35) by the title of saint,
and his shrine, after this canonization, became a centre of attraction
for medieval pilgrims. Both Lanfranc and Anselm had consecrated
bishops for Ireland, and Anselm had extended the supremacy of his
see to Scotland and the Orkneys- So that the English Church had
then spiritual jurisdiction throughout the British Isles, the archbishop
of Canterbury being recognized as primate of them all.
3. Papal encroachments. The continued independence of
the English Church was a matter of great concern to the popes.
Paschal had complained bitterly that the see of Rome was treated with
scant reverence by the English clergy ; and when he sent Anselm (a
nephew of Archbishop Anselm) to England as his legate with the pall
for Archbishop Ralph, did not hesitate to reprimand King Henry for
holding councils without his sanction and prohibiting the prosecution
of appeals to his see. Warelwast, bishop of Exeter, once more visited
PAPAL LEGATES IN ENGLAND 177
Rome to point out that the Church and Realm of England occupied
a different position from the continental kingdoms and churches, and
had always been independent of papal jurisdiction. In spite of this,
Paschal sent the legate Anselm back again to England as permanent
official representative of the see of Rome. All previous legates had
come for some special purpose, such as the promotion of friendly
communications between the popes and the English king ; but
. __ _ __. _ .... __^_ u ____. : ___
GENERAL VIEW OF ROME.
to set up a regular ambassador as the superior of the English primate
was an unheard of claim. To make matters worse, King Henry was
absent in Normandy when the legate Anselm produced his credentials,
and there was a great stir in consequence among the prelates and
nobles of England. When the king heard what had been done he
was exceedingly angry, and expelled Anselm from the kingdom.
Pope Paschal did not again attempt to interfere ; but after the
disputed election of a successor to Paschal had been decided in favour
of Calixtus II., another effort was made to establish a permanent
178 THE TESTIMONY OF GERVASE
papal legation in Britain. A nobleman named Peter was selected,
of whose talent and dignity there were great accounts. He was
permitted to visit England and present his claim, but the action of
Calixtus in the matter of Thurstan, archbishop of York, had not
taught the English people to look favourably on papal interference ;
and Henry, having recounted to Peter the traditional independence
of this country and its Church from all foreign domination, caused
him to be politely escorted out of England by the \vay he came.
Soon after, Archbishop Ralph died ; and was succeeded by a French
priest William de Corbeuil, who imagined that there would be no
harm in paying the same allegiance to the pope when an English
archbishop, as he had done when in France. He was the first
archbishop of Canterbury who acknowledged himself to be merely
a deputy of the pope in this country. He had gained experience as
clerk to the notorious justiciar, "Ralph Flambard ; and after his death
it was found that he had misappropriated funds belonging to the see
of Canterbury. When he went to Rome for his pall, he speedily
came to an understanding with the pope respecting papal jurisdiction
in England, and then suggested that the dispute for precedence
between the sees of York and Canterbury should be decided at an
English council, over which a papal legate should preside. Thurstan
of York, in the hope of promoting the dignity of his see, agreed ; and
one John de Crema, came to England for the purpose in 1125 as legatus
a Mere, or extraordinary legate. " His progress through England
everywhere excited extreme indignation. You might see, indeed, a
thing before unheard in the kingdom of England, a clerk forsooth,
who had only reached the grade of priesthood, taking precedence of
archbishops, bishops, abbots, and all the nobles of the land ; sitting
upon a lofty throne, while they, sitting beneath him, were waiting
for his nod. On Easter-day, at first coming into England, he celebrated
the office of the day in the mother church in the place of the chief
pontiff, presiding on an elevated seat and using the pontifical insignia,
although not a bishop, but simply a priest. The minds of many
were gravely scandalized, for they saw in this both an unusual novelty
and the destruction of the ancient liberties of the kingdom of
England ; for it is a thing most well known to the kingdom of England,
and to all the regions lying round about, that from the days of
Augustine, the first metropolitan of Canterbury, up to the time of
that William, all the successors of Augustine who were monks had
SUBMISSION TO ROME 179
been held primates and patriarchs, and had never been placed under
the dominion of any Roman legate " (Gervase of Canterbury}. King
Henry would scarcely have permitted that great indignity to the
English Church had he not been greatly concerned about a suc
cessor to the throne. His only son had been drowned at sea, and he
required the good offices of the powerful Roman pontiff in favour of his
daughter Matilda, who had been married to the emperor of Germany.
John de Crema then convened a council at Westminster which
formulated regulations for the government of the Church of England ;
but did not decide the vexed question of precedence between the
archbishops, which the legate still further delayed by sending "William
and Thurstan to Rome. Archbishop Corbeuil found, all too late, how
necessary were the numerous protestations of previous archbishops
of Canterbury against the encroachments of Rome. He now recounted
to the pope the arrogant conduct of John de Crema and the consequent
anger of the English people ; and meekly protested that the establish
ment of a legatus ti latere in England was an invasion of the rights of
his see. Honorius II., the then pope, craftily suggested that the
archbishop of Canterbury should become his ordinary (natus) legate,
which would give him the desired precedence over the archbishops of
York, and still enable the popes to send extraordinary legates to
England when they deemed it expedient. "William de Corbeuil accepted
that humiliating compromise ; thus stripping the see of Canterbury
of its traditional rights, and making the English Church dependent
on the Church of Rome. The primatial see did not long enjoy the
fruit of his obsequiousness, for a nephew of King Henry, named Henry
de Blois, who was made bishop of Winchester in 1125, was made papal
legate in the year 1137 by Pope Innocent II., thus giving a suffragan
bishop precedence of his metropolitan. King Henry I, died in 1135,
and was buried in Reading-abbey. By his death the Church and Realm
of England lost a firm and wise governor, who, although a Norman,
was careful to preserve so far as he could the laws and traditions of the
English people, after the example of William the conqueror, Shortly
before his death he founded the bishopric of Carlisle. He had
previously established a monastery for Augustinian monks in the
border city, making his chaplain Aldulph the first prior. When
Aldulph had completed the building of his church, parts of which
remain to this day, it was made the cathedral of the new diocese, with
Aldulph as bishop ; thus relieving the too extensive see of Durham.
180
ACCESSION OF STEPHEN
Henry s successor was not Matilda, as he had desired, but Stephen
of Blois, son of Henry s sister Adela. Stephen s reign was a period
of disorder and misrule. Archbishop William died in December 1136,
and was succeeded by Theobald, abbot of Bee, in January 1139.
j previous page}.
4. Military religious orders. In the latter part of the
eleventh century the monastic spirit developed a fresh phase. We have
seen that military ability was not wanting on the part of bishops
or their clergy ; and therefore, when the Crusades invited Christians
to take up arms in defence of the Cross, large numbers of ecclesiastics
responded to the call. They preferred to continue living after their
accustomed rules, but as the rules had to be modified to suit altered
conditions they formed themselves into new monastic bodies which
are known as the military religious orders. There were several
of those new orders, but only the Knights Templar and the Knights
of St. John had any status in England. A word about the Crusades
is necessary here. The Mohammedan Saracens, who subdued Palestine
and conquered Jerusalem in the seventh century, allowed Christians
THE CRUSADES 181
to make pilgrimages to the holy sepulchre ; but the Turks, by whom
the Saracens were in turn subdued, treated pilgrims with great cruelty.
A poor monk named Peter the hermit witnessed the sad condition of
Christians in Palestine, and begged the pope to relieve it (A.D. 1095).
The pope suggested that Peter should test the feeling of Europe
by preaching about the Turkish cruelties, the result being that an
extraordinary enthusiasm was aroused, which was still further inten
sified when Pope Urban himself advocated a holy war against the
infidels, and promised pardon of sins to all who should engage therein,
with an immediate entrance into heaven if their lives were lost in the
causa. William of MalmesbiLry, a contemporary English historian,
glowingly depicts the ardour with which the inhabitants of the British
Isles joined in the crusade. He says : "the Welshman left his hunting,
the Scot his fellowship with vermin, the Dane his drinking-party, the
Norwegian his raw fish. Lands were deserted of their husbandmen,
houses of their inhabitants ; even whole cities migrated. There was
no regard to relationship ; affection to their country was held in little
esteem ; God alone was placed before their eyes. Whatever was stored
in the granaries or hoarded in chambers, to answer the hopes of the
avaricious husbandmen or the covetousness of the miser, all, all was
deserted, they hungered and thirsted after Jerusalem alone." Millions
of people, old and young, rich and poor, male and female, regardless
of the length and hardness of the journey, joined in the enterprise,
and after enduring much privation, suffering, disease and death,
the motley hosts reached Jerusalem in June 1099. " Dieu le veult,"
" God wills it," was their rallying cry as they slew the Turks wherever
they found them, alternating fearful deeds of cruelty and plunder
with ecstatic devotion and penitential tears. When the holy city
was taken they chose Godfrey de Bouillon as king of Jerusalem,
who, for the safe guarding of the city, and the entertainment of the
numerous pilgrims who soon nocked thither in greater numbers than
ever before, established the two orders of military monks we have
mentioned. The business of the Templar knights was to defend the
Saviour s tomb and guard Palestine, for which purpose they built
numerous monasteries like immense castles throughout the holy land.
They wore white tunics over their armour embroidered with black
crosses. The knights of St. John Baptist, or knights hospitaller,
besides fighting as need required were to tend the sick and wounded,
and provide for the welfare of Christian travellers. They were
182
THE KNIGHTS HOSPITALLER
distinguished by a dark red
surtout with a cross of white
linen on the breast. It was a
grand idea to combine the
religious instincts of the
cloister with an energetic
vocation of a warrior. " The
Christian calling is that of a
soldier, and the exigencies of
the times made it honourable
to fight not only against
spiritual but against human
foes, .... and so the
nursing brother and the hos
pitable monk became an
armed and righting soldier."
The chivalric romances of
King Arthur, which were put
into readable shape about
that time, give an idea of the
spirit which actuated many
crusading knights. "Noble
chivalry, courtesy, humanity,
friendliness, hardiness, love,
friendship, cowardice, murder,
hate, virtue, and sin ; " l all
those evils and graces were A KNIGHT OF ST. JOHN.
mingled in strange contrast among the communities of fighting monks,
although for a time the higher principles predominated. 2 Each order
erected special monasteries in all European provinces, where fresh bands
of men and youths might be trained for service in the east. The
churches belonging to the Templar monasteries were usually built in
a circular form, in imitation of the church of the holy sepulchre.
Hence the origin of the famous Norman round-chancelled churches,
like the Temple church in London and St. Sepulchre s at Cambridge.
Our oldest hospitals are survivals of the establishments of the
1 William Caxton. 2 "The Crusades were probably the great means of
inspiring an uniformity of conventional courtesy into the European aristocracy,
which still constitutes the common character of gentlemen." Hallam.
THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
183
order of St. John. There were several other Crusades during the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, to meet fresh invasions of the Turks ;
who were at last victorious. The holy land has been lost to
Christians ever since. The Templar knights were soon after disbanded,
and their possessions transferred to the knights of St. John. The
Crusades had an important indirect bearing upon the welfare of the
Church of England. The nobles often pledged or sold their estates to
the monasteries to provide the means for their expeditions ; many left
their wives and families in the care of monastic institutions. If they
returned safely from the wars they made suitable thank-offerings to
the Church, or built, or rebuilt, or restored local sanctuaries. The
many monuments of cross-legged knights in our churches indicate
the extent of that beneficence. On the other hand, the Crusades
vastly increased the power and influence of the popes ; for they
brought several European nations into close relationship. The city
of Rome was the
great collecting and
distributing centre,
all men respected the
office of its bishop,
and many princes
left their dominions
under the care
the papacy, thus
vastly increasing its
temporal authority.
When each Crusade
was over many of
the enthusiasts re
mained under arms
as a kind of standing
army of the Roman
pontiff, by which the
papacy was able to
exercise authority
over monarch sat will. ST. SEPULCHRE S, CAMBRIDGE.
5. New monastic orders. In the latter part of the eleventh
centurv several new societies of regular monks were founded, and re-
184
CARTHUSIAN MONKS
ceived special sanction from the popes to settle and preach wherever
they pleased. Chief among them were the Cistercian and Carthusian
orders. Nine Carthusian houses were erected in this country. The
first was at "Witham in Somerset in the year 1181, but the chief of
them was on the site of the great Charterhouse school, which nourished
for so many generations in Goswell street, London. Their rule was
more strict than the earlier orders ; they were not allowed even to
speak except on Sundays and festivals, nor make any signs to each
other ; and whereas the Benedictines and Cluniacs usually dwelt near
a town, the Carthusians chose the most desert and inhospitable regions
for their abode, where they continued to lead lives of self-denial and
mortification in imitation of their founder Bruno, who chose an abiding
place among wild and rugged rocks near Grenoble, known as the Great
Chartreuse, whence their name. They too built many magnificent
abbey churches and monasteries, but never relaxed their hard fare.
Meat they never tasted. They had to wear rough goat skins next
their flesh, and submit to be flogged once a week. The Cistercian
order is so called because its chief monastery was at Citeaux, which in
Latin is Cistercium. They also had very strict rules, and during the
winter were only allowed to eat one meal a day.
All parade in dress, or elaboration of services was
to be avoided. Robert de MoUme is credited with
being the founder of the order, but it does not
appear to have been very popular until the great
St. Bernard joined it in 1113. The Cistercians,
or white monks as they were called on account of
their dress, set up their first English house at
"Waverley, in Surrey, A.D. 1129 ; Tintern on the
Wye (page 193), and Kirkstall, near Leeds, follow
ing soon after. Members of the order found a
home in the Benedictine abbey of St. Mary, at
York, where they promoted disagreements and
were expelled | they then established Fountains-
abbey, near Ripon. Before the close of the
twelfth century the Cistercians had established
a large number of important monasteries through
out England and Wales. "When those new
monastic institutions were first planted in England,
the members were devout and earnest men,
CISTERCIAN MONKS 185
who subsisted solely upon charity. But as they grew in numbers they
increased in wealth, and " none were more greedy in adding farm to
farm, none less scrupulous in obtaining grants of land from wealthy
patrons," than the Cistercians ; many of whom were appointed by
Norman barons to govern existing monasteries on their estates accord
ing to the new rules, as was the case at Furness, in Lancashire ; until
the order became very wealthy and influential. As their possessions
increased their humility and self-denial gradually vanished. An ap
propriate instance of the rapid growth of monastic property, and the
not less rapid change in their manner of life is found in a colloquy
related to have taken place between King Richard I. and a Frenchman
named Fulke, just before the lion-hearted king left England for the
Crusades in 1189. "You have three daughters," said Fulke, "pride,
luxury, and avarice ; and, as long as they remain with you, you
cannot expect favour from God." Richard replied : " I have already
given away those daughters in marriage pride, to the Templars ;
luxury, to the black monks ; and avarice, to the white." Yet we must
not suppose that these religious communities entered at once into the
enjoyment of fertile estates ; because England was then in many parts
a wild, dreary waste, of scarcely more than prairie value. "When they
settled in a fresh district they would beg some desolate plot of land
and at once reclaim and cultivate it, living under circumstances of
great privation until they could gather a little store of provision.
Soon their settlements would wear a lively appearance ; the forests
would be cleared, the marshes drained, the moorland converted into
rich pastures and the estates stocked with good cattle. The lands thus
reclaimed were easily let out to tenants, and so the communities
became landlords. But instead of spending their revenues in pageantry
and personal adornment, they lived frugally, and built grand abbeys
and cloistered habitations ; exercising at the same time unstinting
hospitality to travellers and strangers, besides providing for the
necessities of the poor, and educating the people. As centres of
religious influence they in time received boundless support from the
piously disposed English men and women, but their prosperily became
a cause of weakness to the episcopate and to the parochial system.
Nobles who possessed the right of patronage or presentation of clergy
to benefices, which themselves or their ancestors had founded, gave
them to the monasteries on condition that they provided for the official
duties thereof, which condition was usually fulfilled by deputy ; that
186
MONASTIC AVARICE
is to say, the monks, who were mostly laymen, employed poor secular
priests to perform vicariously the spiritual duties of such parochial
churches as had been appropriated to their particular convent. Hence,
we have the word vicar, by which we understand a parochial clergyman
who does not directly receive the full revenues of his benefice. But
the action of the papacy in making the new monastic orders independ
ent of episcopal jurisdiction, and dependent only upon the Roman see,
weakened the influence of the English bishops and caused the parish
priests to be meanly thought of by the inhabitants, which the secular
clergy not unnaturally resented. It was a notable addition to the
manifold ways in which popes increased their influence in England.
BUILDWAS-ABBEY (CISTERCIAN).
6. Stephen s misrule Battle of the Standard. We
must briefly return to the civil history of the country during the reign
of Stephen of Blois. The bishops had promised Henry I. that they
would support the cause of his daughter Matilda, but Stephen was the
nearest male heir of Norman blood ; with the exception of Henry,
bishop of Winchester, whose monastic vows precluded him from regal
dignity. There seems to have been a conspiracy between these brothers
for Stephen to be king, and Henry to be primate as soon as Corbeuil
BATTLE OF THE STANDARD 187
died, that they might divide the government of England between
themselves. The citizens of London declared for Stephen ; and. under
pressure from Henry of Winchester, the bishops of Salisbury and
Lincoln then the most influential prelates in the country, Roger of
Salisbury having been favourite minister, and Alexander of Lincoln
a nephew of Henry I. induced the other bishops to uphold London s
choice, the archbishop of Canterbury, obsequious as ever, performing
the ceremony of consecration. Matilda thereupon gave way, and
Stephen at once plunged into a course of reckless extravagance ; his
favourite nobles building for themselves more than a thousand castles,
from which they might sally forth to pillage and plunder the inhabit
ants. In self-defence the prelates and nobles who retired from the
government on Stephen s accession built other fortresses, and private
feuds raged unchecked. Soon the citizens of Lpndon repented of their
choice, and accepted Matilda as their lady. She behaved to them no
better than the king, and then they took up arms against her in favour
of Stephen. The king of Scotland allied himself to Matilda and in
vaded England with an army in support of her cause. His forces
committed dreadful depredations in the north, and the country became
a chaos of misrule. " One gleam of national glory broke the darkness
of the time." The now aged archbishop, Thurstan of York, roused the
northern barons to defend their homesteads. He unfurled the banners
of the three great northern leaders : Cuthbert, John of Beverley, and
AVilfrid of Ripon ; and although too infirm himself to lead them in
battle he sent the bishop of Durham before them to Northallerton,
where they awaited the onslaught of the northern foe.
"Still do our very children boast
Of mitred Tlmrstan, what a host
He conquered ! Saw we not the plain,
(And flying shall behold again)
Where faith was proved ? while to battle moved
The standard on the sacred wain
That bore it, compassed round by a bold
Fraternity of barons old."
On a wagon they raised a ship-mast, on which they fixed a pro
cessional staff that contained, in a small silver box, some consecrated
elements of the eucharist. To that mast they also nailed the banners
mentioned, and that trophy became to the English instead of a national
flag, and Avas in fact called their standard. As they marched the
wagon went before them, and the stentorian voice of the bishop of
188
AN EPISCOPAL PRINCE
Durham encouraged them to fight for freedom, homes, and Christ,
" The fierce hordes dashed in vain against the close English ranks
around the standard, and the whole army (of the Scots) fled in con
fusion to Carlisle." And thus the greatest attempt ever made by the
Scots to invade onr country was arrested by devout patriotism.
, Stephen, becoming
fs: XN , 7lY alarmed at the in.
creasing power of the
barons and prelates
who built castles,
caused many of them
to be imprisoned, in
cluding his near rela-
tives 3 the bishops of
Lincoln and Ely, and
the powerful statesman
prolate, Roger of Salisbury. Also, fearing
that his brother Henry might become too
powerful, seeing that he was now papal
legate, he appointed Theobald to the arch
bishopric of Canterbury, in the room of
William de Corbeuil, as we have already
explained. In revenge p Henry of Win
chester, as papal legate, called by his own
authority a special synod of the Church ;
before which he summoned King Stephen
to answer for imprisoning the bishops, who
could not be punished, he claimed, except
by an ecclesiastical tribunal. Stephen
BANNER AND STAVES, admitted his brother s jurisdiction, and sub
mitted to the penance he imposed. Thus papal supremacy was still
further developed in England. Henry of Winchester,, however, half
monk, half soldier, as he was called, possessed too little religious
influence to wield a really spiritual power ; it was only at the close of
Stephen s reign that the nation really found a moral leader in Theobald,
the archbishop of Canterbury. To the Church/ Thomas Becket
justly said afterwards, with the proud consciousness of having been
Theobald s right hand, Henry (who succeeded Stephen 1154) owed
his crown and England her deliverance " (Green s Short History ).
CHAPTER XII. (A.D. 1154-1175)
THOMAS BEOKET
" As with the stream our voyage we pursue,
The gross materials of this world present
A marvellous study of wild accident ;
Saw we not Henry scourged at Becket s shrine ? "
1. Henry II. The new king, Henry II., was the son of Matilda
by her marriage with Geoffrey Plantagenet. By his birth he inherited
Normandy and Anjou, by his marriage with Eleanor of Poitou he
became master of Aquitaine, and now, through the arrangement
between his mother and Stephen, was also king of England. He was
crowned at Westminster in December 1154, by Theobald, archbishop
of Canterbury. The year of his accession is memorable for another
reason. Nicholas Breakspear, an Englishman who had been bishop of
Alba, was made pope of Rome, under the title of Adrian IV. This is
the only instance of an Englishman obtaining that position, and he
manifested good feeling towards this country and its king. Henry was
an able ruler ; he speedily compelled the barons who had built them
selves castles in the days of Stephen to dismantle their fortresses and
become peaceable subjects, and by that means he became popular with
most of his people. He followed up the advantage by wise judicial
reforms which made all men equal before the law. Fixed courts,
regular judges, and evidence on oath, helped still further to restrict
the authority of the nobles, and the old feudal system gradually gave
way to a national one. The king s continental dominions did not
interfere with this, because he discouraged the French from becoming
landowners in England, and even drove out of this country many of
the foreigners who had possessed themselves of estates in his pre
decessor s time. The archbishop of Canterbury, as the chief person in
the realm next the king, was his chief adviser ; and through Theobald
Henry was made acquainted with a number of earnest men who helped
him to rule the English wisely. Chief of them was Thomas Beckct,
who had been the archbishop s confidential secretary for some time,
and was archdeacon of Canterbury at the time of Henry s accession,
189
190
BECKETS EARLY YEARS
2. Thomas Becket. In those days civil offices were only given
to persons who could speak French, and as Becket when a lad showed
himself to be possessed of high intellectual talents, his father, a
wealthy London merchant, sent him to Paris, so that he might become
accomplished in all the learning and arts of his time. It was also
necessary to success in life for a man to be either a knight or a cleric.
Thomas preferred the Church, although at times he did not disdain the
battlefield. His admission into the service of the archbishop of
Canterbury brought him in contact with important men of that
time. His fascinating manners gained him the affection of a large
circle of admirers, and the rest were made to fear his vigorous mental
powers. Everything he was set to perform he successfully accomplished,
and as a reward for his many services he received a number of valuable
church preferments. Archbishop Theobald did not appreciate his own
position as a subordinate to Henry de Blois of Winchester, and Thomas
Becket was commissioned to Eome to obtain from the pope a trans
ference of legatine powers to the see of Canterbury in perpetuity, which
he did. It was through the
diplomacy of the same young
man that the pope was induced
to support the claims of
Henry to be king of England,
so that Henry at once pro
moted him to the position of
chancellor, which, though not
j then by any means the highest
post in the king s council,
was soon made to be so by
Becket s remarkable powers
of administration. The king
was fond of social pleasures,
and so was Becket ; they
treated each other with
fraternal familiarity, and were
constant companions in peace
and war. If an army was to
be raised, Becket s numerous
a larger number of knights and
any other noble, and he himself
HEXRY TT.
benefices enabled him to put
mercenaries in the field than
CONSECRATION OF BECKET 191
led them to victory in battle. He also superintended the education
of the king s son, and many other noble youths, and was fore
most in promoting the judicial reforms which alleviated the
oppressed condition of his countrymen. In short, he was the most
popular man in the kingdom, beloved by the poor for his benevolence,
and by the rich for his ability. He dressed as a layman, and took part
in all secular amusements and social pursuits, exercising an unbounded
hospitality, living in a style of magnificence which few kings of the
time could rival. If he went on an embassy for the king he took with
him so vast a retinue and made so brave a display that people said :
" What must the king be whose chancellor is so rich ? " Yet, withal,
he is said to have been not unacquainted with the hair-shirt and the
scourge, as a penitential antidote to his luxurious life. In 1162 Arch
bishop Theobald died, and the king desired that Becket should succeed
him, although the latter was only in deacon s orders.
3. Becket becomes archbishop. Henry and Becket were
both in Normandy when the vacancy occurred, and the chancellor
pointed out to the king how unsuitable his past life and present secular
attire were to recommend him for such a position in the eyes of the
monks and clergy whom he would have to rule. <! Besides," he pro
tested to one of his friends, e( I know the very heart of the king ; he
would desire authority in Church affairs to which, as archbishop, I could
not consent. I should either have to lose the king s favour, or that of
God." The bishops objected to a deacon being suddenly set over them,
but the king s mind was made up, and on the eve of Whit-Sunday,
1162, Thomas was admitted to priest s orders, and eight days after
consecrated archbishop of Canterbury by Henry de Blois of Winchester,
thirteen bishops of the province assisting in the ceremony. And now
the life of Becket was completely transformed ; the once luxurious
chancellor became an austere Benedictine monk, eating the coarsest
food and drinking decoctions of bitter herbs. To the king s dismay he
resigned the chancellorship and proceeded to adopt an independent
attitude as ruler of the English Church, bestowing on objects of charity
the immense revenues he had once lavished in social entertainments.
For awhile the king patiently bore the disappointment of losing his
friend and chancellor. There were not wanting courtiers to misrepre
sent the primate s actions ; but the king did not at once provoke open
hostilities, and was outwardly friendly with Becket for a year. Both
192 BECKETS QUARREL WITH HENRY II.
attended a council of Pope Alexander III. at Tours, and then a storm
began to brew. Thomas Becket proposed that the council should add
the name of Anselm of Canterbury to the calendar of saints, and the
prevailing tone of the whole assembly was adverse to any exercise of
secular authority ; so that when they returned to England, Henry
knew that he would have to make a firm stand for the supremacy of
the crown, while Becket, on the other hand, determined to maintain
the power of the Church and concede nothing to the king. The arch
bishop claimed certain temporal rights and possessions that had been
withheld from his seo, and the king retorted by demanding Becket s
resignation of certain banefices which he had continued to hold.
Further the archbishop set the laws of William the conqueror at
defiance by excommunicating the Baron of Eynesford (a tenant-in-chief
of the crown, who had refused to allow a man whom Becket had
nominated to be admitted to a living of which the baron was patron),
without previously acquainting the king with his intentions. But
the first open hostilities occurred at the national council of Woodstock
in July 1163, when the king desired to have the Danegeld (see page
129), which had been hitherto collected by local sheriffs, enrolled as
royal revenue. Becket resisted the claim, and the king swore "by
the eyes of God " that he would have his way. Becket retorted in a
similar oath that not a penny should thus be paid from the lands of
the Church. There was henceforward a public quarrel between them.
4. Restriction of Church privileges. The question which
brought their ill-feeling to a crisis was the right of the clergy to be
tried before civil courts for criminal charges. The king demanded
that when clerics were accused of civil offences they should be tried
and punished by the royal courts ; but Becket looked upon this as an
infringement of the liberties of the Church, and desired to uphold the
arrangement of William the conqueror, who separated the civil and
ecclesiastical courts. A great council was held at Westminster, in
October 1163, to determine the matter. The Church stood to the
realm in much the same position as the Jews did to the Romans in
New Testament times ; it had a law, but could not put a man to
death. The ecclesiastical courts only degraded a man from his office
and benefice, which the king and barons considered an inadequate
punishment for gross crimes^ The Church advocates said that it was
unfair to tiy a man twice over for the same offence, in the Church
THE COUNCIL AT WESTMINSTER
193
courts and afterwards in the secular courts ; but as the immunity of
the clergy from punishment for heinous offences often amounted to
licence, Henry was firm in his demand that they should now be put
upon an equal footing with other estates of the realm by being handed
over to the secular authorities after degradation by the Church. That
was agreed to by the bishops, but Henry still further pressed his
claim for national justice by stipulating that a crown officer should be
present in the Church courts to see that no crimiuous cleric was allowed
to escape punishment* Becket protested that this restricted the
TIXTERX ABBEY, CISTERCIAN (see page 184).
liberty of the Church, and by his earnest advocacy brought the bishops
over to his side. At last the king asked "Whether the bishops were
willing to observe the customs of the country?" After deliberation,
they vaguely replied : "That they were willing to observe the known
customs, without prejudice to their order." The king demanded a
withdrawal of the qualifying phrase ; and as they would not consent,
he angrily left the meeting, and Becket wrote to Rome for advice.
The king also sent an embassy to the pope, and, as at other times, the
papal court encouraged the prelate to fight against the king, but
advised a conciliatory policy rather than provoke a quarrel between
VOL. i. H
194 CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON
the papacy and the English court. Another important forfeiture of
Church privilege occurred about that time. The principle of the law
of refuge (Joshua xx.) had been transferred to the Christian Church at
a very early period of its history, under the name of "right of
sanctuary," and adopted by the Anglo-Saxon races. Fugitives who
had unwittingly committed offences fled to
the churches, and if they could but reach the
door of a religious house and knock thereat 1 j J u j 3 I ;f
they were free from capital punishment, and ~~^-~ " 5^" [|J
even goods that had been forfeited by the
misdemeanours of their owners were held
sacred if they could be placed in
care of the Church. That privilege
was often abused, and in the days
of King Stephen, when holy places
were no longer held in reverence,
offenders were dragged even from
the foot of the altar. The privilege FUGITIVE CLAIMING SANCTUARY.
of sanctuary respecting confiscated property was repealed in 1164.
5. Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164. When the
messengers returned from Kome the king summoned the prelates to
meet in council at Clarendon, near Salisbury, to decide upon the laws
which Henry proposed to substitute for existing customs. There were
sixteen articles, and their general tenour was to restrain the authority
of the Church and make the clergy amenable to the civil courts. The
following were some of the provisions :
Kule 3. Clergy charged with crimes to be tried in the civil courts,
and a king s justice be present in Church courts.
Rule 4. No prelate to quit the kingdom without the king s per
mission, or do evil and mischief to the realm when abroad.
Rule 11. Prelates, as barons, to be subject to feudal burdens.
Rule 12. The king to hold all vacant benefices, and to receive their
revenues till the vacancies were filled.
Rule 14. Forfeited goods not to be protected by sanctuary.
Becket refused to affix his official seal to those Constitutions, and
the other bishops stood by him in his decision. The council broke up
in confusion. Becket went to his lodging, but the other bishops were
confined together in one room for three days ; after which the most
influential barons announced that they had determined to support
COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON 195
the king, and Becket was implored to give way. The council was
hastily called together again, and Becket said : " It is God s will that
I should perjure myself. For the present I submit and incur perjury,
to repent of it hereafter as best I may," Still he refused to sign the
document, and asked permission to carry home a copy for consideration.
But so far from signing it he immediately imposed a penance on
himself for having temporarily yielded, and determined to stand alone
against the king and barons and prelates in opposing the new laws.
6. The council of North-
I ampton. When Henry saw
there was no chance of moving
the archbishop, he commenced to
set the secular courts in motion
against him. At a council held
at Northampton in 1165, Becket
was charged with perjury, con
tempt of the crown, and mis
appropriation of funds during his
chancellorship, and condemned to
forfeit all his estates and posses
sions to the king. On the recom
mendation of Henry de Blois,
Becket offered 2000 marks as
indemnity, which the king re-
I fused; other friends advised him
resign the archbishopric, but
I that he declined to do.
At a subsequent session
of the council, from
{which the bishops had
withdrawn, the arch
bishop was impeached
for high treason, and
when he heard this he
went in full pontificals
| to the council and dis-
COSTI-.MK OF A BISHOP (12TH CENTURY), claimed the right of
lay peers to judge him. But they declared him guilty of treason,
and the earl of Leicester, as chief justice, called upon him to listen
196
FLIGHT OF BECKET
to his sentence. "My sentence! son earl/ exclaimed the arch
bishop, "nay, hear me first. The king promoted me against my will
to be archbishop of Canterbury. I was then declared free from all
secular obligations. Ye are my children and may not sit in judgment
on your spiritual father. As the soul is worth more than the body so
should you obey God and me rather than an earthly king. Therefore, I
I decline to receive judg
ment from the king or
you, or any other tem
poral peer, and will be
judged, under God, by
the pope alone. I place
my church and person
under his protection,
I and so I quit this court."
| Carrying his cross before
him he left the council-
chamber with dignity
amid a storm of insults
and cries of "traitor ! "
which he said he would
|liave resented with his
sword had he been a
< night. He then fled
I for sanctuary to St.
Andrew s church, and
under cover of the night
rode away to Lincoln,
and thence by night
rode to Canterbury, from
whence, in the disguise
I of a Cistercian monk, he
escaped to St. Omer in
France, which was be
yond Henry s domin
ions. There he recruited
his strength, and re
sumed somewhat of his
NORMAN DOOR, CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, former magnificence.
HENRY II. AND RIVAL POPES 197
7. Becket s appeal to the pope. 1 When Henry heard of
Becket s flight he sent to the king of France desiring that "the
traitor" should not be allowed refuge in that kingdom. He also sent
a numerous embassage of bishops and barons to Pope Alexander at
Sens requesting him to send Becket back to England, and appoint a
special legate to investigate the charges. They had not long arrived
when Becket, escorted by 300 knights, also reached the papal court
to lay before Alexander his copy of the " Constitutions of Clarendon."
"When the pope saw these he said that they were not "customs"
but "tyrannical usurpations," and censured Becket and the bishops
for having promised to observe them even with the qualifying pro
vision of Salva ecclesiie dignitate. The pope seemed disposed to
take Becket s part but dared not offend the king. Becket then
played his master-stroke. The only way to escape from personal
danger was to increase papal authority in England. Plucking the
archiepiscopal ring from his finger he handed it to the pope and
declared himself unable any longer to bear the burden of his office.
Next day the pope returned the ring to Becket, who was thus able
afterwards to say that he held the primacy from the pope and not
from the king. After that Becket retired to Sens, where he remained,
surrounded by a band of devoted friends, for some years. It was
unavailing for Henry and the barons to banish Becket and several
hundreds of his followers, for the spiritual weapon of excommunication
by which the Church absolved subjects from their allegiance to their
sovereign was too potent to be despised. Fortunately for Henry there
were rival popes at the time, and although England had recognized
Alexander, Henry now swore fidelity to the other pope, whose name
was Paschal, and repudiated any allegiance to Alexander, so that a
threatened excommunication from one pope was set off by a counter
excommunication by the other pope. Ultimately Alexander was
received in Rome as the rightful pope, and he gave to Becket legatine
commission over the province of Canterbury. Thus fortified, Becket
publicly annulled the "Constitutions of Clarendon," excommunicated
many of the authors of that document, and threatened the king with
similar punishment. That spread consternation throughout England,
which King Henry allayed by once more acknowledging Alexander as
pope, and allowing papal legates to make inquiries into the respective
merits of his cause and that of the refractory archbishop.
1 See Great English Churchmen. S.P.C.K. Home Library. 3s. <3c7.
198 EFFORTS TOWARDS CONCILIATION
8. The French king s mediation. The legates opened
negotiations between the principals in the struggle, and three
characteristic meetings took place between Henry II. and Archbishop
Becket through the mediation of Louis, king of France, who had taken
the primate s part all through. The first interview was at Montmirail,
near Chartres, in 1169. The archbishop was then willing to alter the
famous qualifying phrase to "saving the honour of God." " But,"
said Henry to the king of France, "whatever his lordship of Canterbury
disapproves he will say is contrary to God s honour, and so he will
on all occasions get the advantage of me, but that I may not be
thought to despise God s honour, I will put before him this pro
position : Let him agree to behave towards me as the holiest of his
predecessors behaved towards the weakest of mine, and I will be
satisfied," All present considered that a fair proposal. But Becket
was inflexible, and referred to the double exile to which Anselm had
submitted rather than yield to royal demands. Nothing came of
the meeting, and the legates in vain tried to conciliate the rivals.
Both clung to the positions they had taken up. "Saving the dignity
of my crown," was Henry s reservation, without which he would
accept no agreement. Those phrases became in time subjects of
common jest. A second meeting was at Montmartre, near Paris, later
in the same year, The king offered to submit the question at issue
to arbitration, but Becket said he preferred an amicable settlement.
" The archbishop said nothing about reservations, and the king was
silent as to constitution. Everything seemed to be arranged, when
Becket claimed from the king * the kiss of peace, as a guarantee of
the royal sincerity." Henry excused himself, and Becket refused to
continue negotiations. Once more each side was at open enmity.
The archbishop excommunicated right and left, while the king banished
the prelate s partisans with no less vigour, As Henry s continental
possessions frequently took him out of England he desired that his
son Prince Henry should share in the government by being crowned
regent of England ; and he ordered the archbishop of York to perform
the ceremony of coronation, which was a breach of the prerogatives
of the see of Canterbury. Meanwhile the legates were busy with
fresh negotiations, and a third meeting took place at Fretteville, in
the summer of 1170. Both parties were now heartily tired of the
struggle, and w r ere willing to make concessions. All reference to
offensive topics was avoided. Although the kiss of peace was not
BECKET S RETURN
199
exchanged the meeting between king and prelate was very cordial.
They met on horseback out of doors, and rode together privately for
some time, the archbishop expressing his willingness to return to
England if he were allowed to inflict ecclesiastical censure on those
who had infringed his rights by crowning Prince Henry. The king
agreed, and, in gratitude for the concession, the primate dismounted
and threw himself at Henry s feet. Not to be outdone in courtesy,
Henry held Becket s stirrup for him to remount, and after this
reconciliation Becket prepared to return to his long neglected flock.
But he was not sure that the king would deal truly by him. As he
bade the bishop of Paris farewell, he said : " 1 go to England to die."
To Henry he said : " My mind tells me we shall never meet again in
this life." It need not have been so had the archbishop desired peace.
9. The murder Of Becket. He had sent before him an un
suspected messenger with letters from the pope suspending the
prelates of York,
Durham, London,
Salisbury, Exeter.
Chester, Rochester,
Llandaff, and St.
Asaph ; three of them,
the bishops of Roch
ester, London, and
Salisbury, old enemies
of Becket, being]
also excommunicated.
They complained to I
the king. "What can
I do?" said he. "That
your barons must ad
vise," they answered,
"but as long as the
archbishop lives you I
will not have a peace
ful realm or a quiet
life ;" at which the|
king cried, "A curse I
on all the varlets
I have nourished ; TRANSEPT OF THE MARTYRDOM.
200 THE MURDER OF BECKET
will no one rid me from the insolence of this turbulent priest ? "
Four knights who stood by the king and heard his rash words
seized the opportunity of gaining favour with Henry II. by
plotting the murder of Beeket, Their names were Richard le Breton,
Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de Tracy, and Hugh de Moreville.
The story of Becket s death has been told so often and at such great
length that a brief account is sufficient here. The knights forced
their way into the primate s palace at Canterbury and held a
stormy colloquy with him. As he defied them to do their worst
they rushed out for weapons, and Becket s friends begged him to
take s mctuary in the cathedral ; but before he could reach the high
altar the knights overtook him in the transept chapel of St. Benedict,
for he would not allow the monks to bar the cloister doors. From the
steps of the shrine he asked the knights what they required, and they
replied " Your death." Becket said he was ready to die in the name
of the Lord, but forbade them to touch his people. They tried to
drag him out of the cathedral, but he shook them off. Fitz-Urse,
stung by an opprobrious epithet Becket applied to him, struck at the
primate s head with a sword ; but the blow only knocked off his mitre.
Bowing his head with the words * I commend rny soul to God, St.
Denis, and the saints of the Church," he received another furious blow
from De Tracy s weapon, which nearly severed the arm of a monk who
tried to avert it, and shaved off the archbishop s scalp. Wiping the
blood from his face Becket said : " Lord into Thy hands I commend
my spirit." Fitz-Urse and Tracy each dealt another blow which
brought poor Thomas to his knees. * In defence of the Church I am
willing to die," he articulated; upon which Le Breton aimed so violent
a stroke that the archbishop s skull was cloven in two and the
weapon broken by contact with the marble steps, Hugh de Moreville
took no part in the actual murder, but guarded the doors against any
attempt at rescue. As soon as their horrible task was completed they
hurried away, and the monks laid Becket s body in state on the high
altar, burying it the following day in the crypt of his cathedral.
10. Consequences of Becket s murder. This brutal
crime sent a thrill of horror throughout the Christian world. Henry
regretted it most of all. He felt that his rash words had authorized
the deed, although he disavowed the horrible intention. He placed
himself in the pope s hands, and submitted to such penance as that
pontiff imposed. Becket was at once canonized as a martyr. All
RESULTS OF THE MURDER
201
sorts of miracles were snperstitiously attributed to the relics of the
murdered primate, and for centuries his shrine was the most venerated
in England. As an instance of the undue proportion of respect paid
to his memory it has been stated that in one year nearly 1000
marks were offered at his shrine by devotees who made pilgrimages to
Canterbury, while to the altar of the Virgin in the same cathedral only
64 marks were offered during the same period, and to the high altar
of Christ nothing. When Henry returned to England in 1174 "he
rode from Southampton to Canterbury without resting, dismounted
at the gate of the city, walked barefoot through the streets to the
cathedral, and prostrated himself on the ground before the tomb. In
the chapter-house he caused each of the monks to stiike him with the
discipline, and afterwards he spent the whole night in the church
beside the tomb. The murderers were avoided by every one, and were
sent to Home to put themselves at the pope s disposal. He ordered
them to go on pilgrimage to the holy land. A doubtful legend says
that one died on the road, the others died within three years, and were
buried before the door of the church of the holy sepulchre" (CiMs),
The chief consequences of Becket s death were seen in King Henry s
surrender of much for which he had been striving, and the ultimate
submission of England s civil power to papal suzerainty, as the next
chapter will show. On the other hand Henry II. was able to secure
the greater part of the " Constitutions of Clarendon," which were of
service to the nation afterwards. There was nothing very saintly in
the character of Becket ; but the sanctity of the place where he was
killed, and the sacred office held by the victim, invested his death
with a glamour of sacrilege, and caused him to become more powerful
in death than he had been in life.
CHAPTER XIII. (A.D. 1175-1228)
THE GREAT CHARTER
" Lo ! John self-stripped of his insignia ; crown,
Sceptre and mantle, sword and ring, laid down
At a proud legate s feet ! The spears that line
Baronial halls, the opprobrious insult feel ;
And angry ocean roars a vain appeal, "
I. The election Of bishops. Becket s place in the see of
Canterbury was successively occupied by Richard, Baldwin, Reginald
Fitz-Jocelin, and Hubert Walter, but their primacies were not very
remarkable. In Richard s time Canterbury cathedral was burnt down
and rebuilt. Both Richard and Baldwin attempted to obtain
greater control over the abbeys which were exempt by papal authority
from episcopal supervision, but their efforts came to nothing. Baldwin
and Walter were crusaders. The only important ecclesiastical events
belonging to their terms of office were the disagreements about their
election. Before the Norman conquest the clergy of each diocese had
the privilege of choosing or electing their bishops. In the case of an
archbishop for Canterbury the monks and canons of that cathedral
usually elected the primate, the king, owing to the importance of the
appointment, exercising considerable influence over their choice. With
the Norman conquest the custom arose of bishops being nominated by
the king, and so the freedom of election was, to some extent, lost ; but
the monks of Christ church, Canterbury, were always scheming to regain
that privilege. After Becket s murder the suffragan bishops of the pro
vince of Canterbury claimed the right to a voice in the election of their
chief, but this claim the Canterbury monks opposed, and obtained papal
mandates in their favour. The monks admitted the king s right to
send a congt d ttire, or leave to elect, and were willing to submit
their choice for his approbation, but objected to any further restric
tions ; and successive kings confirmed by their charters this nominal
freedom of election. In the case of an archbishop the popes now
claimed the right to have the election submitted to them for approval,
but in the case of suffragan bishops that proviso was not demanded.
The monks of Canterbury in the time of Henry II. , and during some
reigns afterwards, were able to retain their old privileges ; because the
preaching of a new crusade, in which Henry s son Richard, Casur d&
Lion, was soon to take a foremost part, absorbed the world s attention.
202
CROWN PATRONAGE
203
2. Hugh of Lincoln. With many of the bishops often absent
from England, and the revenues of vacant sees confiscated to defray
the cost of the king s numerous wars in France and Ireland, the
English Church suffered morally and financially. Only the monks
seemed to prosper, and they were often elevated to the episcopacy to
the exclusion of the secular canons. One of the monks so elevated
was Hugh of Avalon. He had been an inmate of St. Bernard s
monastery in La Grande Chartreuse, and was invited hither by Henry
to be prior of the Carthusian monastery at Witham, in Somersetshire,
founded by the king as part of his penance for the death of Becket.
In 1186 Hugh was promoted to the bishopric of Lincoln (then in
cluding all the country between the Humber and the Thames, except the
eastern counties), after the seat had been vacant for seventeen years ;
during which time there had been no supervision of the clergy, no
ordinations or confirmations, and no churches built, those that were
existing being allowed to fall into ruins. By great administrative
ability Hugh was able to thoroughly re-organize the diocese and leave
it a model see, with the prospect of a glorious cathedral. He was a
stern disciplinarian, and hated all unnecessary pomp or circumstance.
Eloquent^ humorous, self-denying, a hater of superstition, and a friend
of the poor, he became a splendid example to the other prelates, who
indeed needed such ; for they had been promoted mainly on account
of their secular services to the king rather than for their spiritual
qualities. No one could influence
Henry II. so powerfully as the fearless
Hugh of Lincoln. Not even to the
king would he abate one jot of his
love for right and justice, for once
when Henry wanted to prefer a
courtier to a prebendal stall in Lincoln
cathedral, the bishop replied: "0
king, the benefices of the Church are
for ecclesiastics, not for those who
serve the palace ; " and at another
| time, when the king asked why he
|had excommunicated a forester with
out the royal permission, the bishop
jgave answer: "Truly, I did not
Kirn uu j think it necessary to communicate
204 BISHOP HUGH AND RICHARD I.
such small matters to thee, for, as they were right, I was sure
you would immediately approve." This frank and dauntless manner,
and faith in the king s sense of right, made him Henry s firmest
friend ; and when Richard I. succeeded his father on the English
throne, no man could stand so fearlessly and conscientiously before him
as Hugh. The bishop resisted all encroachments upon the privilege
of sanctuary, and was not unused to defending his convictions against
the received opinions of his dayf For instance, he declared that
chastity was not incompatible with a marriageable priesthood, at a time
when most men considered celibacy among the clergy indispensable to
their morality. Again, when men brought to him relics of the saints,
or showed him some pretended evidence of their miraculous power, he
would indignantly bid them begone with the signs of their unbelief.
Perhaps the most remarkable scene that ever took place between a
king and a bishop was when Hugh braved the lion-hearted king at
Rouen, in 1195. Richard had sent to England a demand for more
money for the support of his war with France from the barons and
bishops and clergy, but Hugh of Lincoln, on behalf of the clergy, said :
"Our homage to the king does not include military service for foreign
wars." Richard then ordered the bishop s goods to be confiscated, but
none of the king s officers ventured to carry out his mandate for fear
of episcopal anathemas. To save them from Richard s wrath, Hugh
resolved to p ty a visit to that impetuous monarch in Normandy. On
approaching Rouen some nobles met him and begged that for
the sake of his personal safety, he would not approach the angry king ;
but he took no notice of them. Richard was attending a celebration
of the Holy Communion when Hugh reached the court, and had the
bishop faltered his fate would have been sealed. But he boldly
advanced to the king and claimed the kiss of peace, which was then a
customary part of the Eucharist service. Richard looked another
way"; the service was suspended, and all the nobles watched the
singular mental struggle. " Kiss me, my lord," said Hugh again,
" for I have come from far to see thee." " You have not deserved it,"
replied Richard. "Nay, but 1 have," and he laid hold of the royal
robe. The king now turned towards the prelate, but there were no
signs of flinching on the part of Hugh when their eyes met, so the lion-
heart was vanquished, and the kiss was granted. Afterwards Richard
said : " If all bishops were like Hugh, no prince would venture to
withstand them." His remarkable courage has gained for him the
DEATH OF BISHOP HUGH
205
pseudonym of Jtegum Malleus, "the hammer of kings." Hugh died
in the year 1200, and some idea of the respect he commanded by his
sanctity may be gathered from the fact that two kings, three arch
bishops, fourteen bishops, a hundred abbots, and a long train of
nobility attended his funeral. Twenty years after he was canonized,
and his name is found in the calendar of our Prayer-book against
November 17. His remains were deposited in a superb silver shrine
within the choir of his cathedral, which is the earliest dated example
in England of the pure lancet Gothic, or Early English architecture. "
LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
3. Pope Innocent III. King Richard had been killed the
year before Hugh died , and was succeeded by his brother John, of
whom historhns, especially church historians, are compelled to record
unpalatable truths. He was unfortunate in his battles nnd lost all
206
POPE INNOCENT III.
his father s dominions in France north of the Loire. Those reverses
were adjusted by plundering his English subjects and exacting heavy
taxes from them. The occupant of the papal throne at that time was
Innocent III., the most remarkable and powerful pontiff who ever
attained that position. He was raised to the popedom in 1198, and
at once claimed temporal as well as spiritual jurisdiction over all the
world. He had exercised some authority over Richard I., but nothing
compared with that which he obtained over King John. It came
about in this way : Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, died
in 1205, and King John requested the monks of Christ church to
appoint the bishop of Norwich in his room. But they, preferring to
exercise their ancient freedom of election, appointed their sub-prior
instead, and sent him to Rome that his appointment might be con
firmed by the pope. The man was so proud of his election that he
told every one about it before he reached Rome, and when King John
heard the news, he came down upon the monks of Canterbury in his
fury and forced them to accept his nominee ; who also was sent to
Rome for the pall. Here was
an opportunity for Innocent
III. ; he refused to confirm
the sub-prior s election because
of inefficiency, and declined to
accept the bishop of Norwich on
the ground that kings should
not be concerned with the ap
pointment of spiritual persons.
He then ordered the Canterbury
monks to elect an Englishman
named Stephen Langton, who
was then chancellor of th
university of Paris, which they
did. But John would no
receive Langton and expell
the Canterbury monks fo
having elected him, confiscating
their possessions. Innocent III."" KING JOHN.
then did a very bold act, he laid the kingdom under an interdict; that
is to say, he prohibited the English clergy from performing spiritual
duties until such times as John would submit to papal authority.
THE LEGATE PANDULPH 207
4. The humiliation of King John. The result of that
action of Innocent III. is generally overstated. No doubt there were
many persons who believed that the pope had such power as Innocent
claimed, and obeyed his mandate ; but there were a large number of
others, well acquainted with the struggles that the Church had made
for many generations to retain its national independence against the
aggrandizement of the papacy, who cared very little for its denuncia
tions. John and Innocent were each determined to try who could hold
out the longest. All prelates or clergy who obeyed the pope were
expelled from the realm and their benefices seized. In this the king
was upheld by the bishops of Durham, Winchester, and Norwich, who
agreed that the pope had no legal right to issue such an edict.
Innocent then excommunicated the king, but though that may have
inconvenienced John a little it did not trouble him much, except that
it made him still more bitter against the pope. For four years this
state of things continued, but each year the tyrannies and exactions of
John increased, so that to escape from them the clergy and barons
decided to ask the pope to adopt still stronger measures. The pope
had now a large standing army, the result mainly of the Crusades ;
with this he was in the habit of fighting against kings and emperors
as if he were a temporal prince ; he could therefore enforce his will
by an appeal to arms, as John knew very well. In the year 1212
the pope declared John s deposition, and absolved his subjects from
their allegiance. Soon after, Innocent gave the kingdom of England
to Philip Augustus, king of France, and invited him to invade our
country and dethrone John. Philip was not generally an obedient
servant of the pope, but now that it suited his purpose he obeyed with
considerable alacrity. John knew that as he had alienated the
sympathies of the barons and prelates by his extortions, and could
only rely upon the broken reed of mercenary forces, he would have
no chance against the combined power of Philip and Innocent. He
therefore offered his submission to the pope and agreed to receive
Stephen Langton as archbishop of Canterbury. But Innocent required
more than this. Through his legate, Pandulph, he demanded the
surrender of the insignia of royalty, and that John should consent to
hold the English realm as feudatory vassal of the papal see, and pay a
large annual tribute of Petcr s-pence to the papal exchequer. To all
this the terrified king agreed ; he surrendered his crown, robes, sword,
and ring to Pandulph, and received them back after a day or two as a
208 NATIONAL RESISTANCE
favour from the pope. AVlieii England heard what its king had done
it tingled with a sense of shame. "The king has become the pope s
man," the people cried, " he has degraded himself to the level of a
serf. " But the king s action was to some extent politic, for it prevented
another foreign invasion. Philip was ordered back, and John received
his absolution from the new archbishop in the chapter-house of
Winchester, July 20, 1213 ; but the interdict was not removed until
the papal legate was satisfied with the restitution John had made.
5. Stephen Langtoil. Archbishop Langton was then a very
important personage, but he used his powers judiciously. He must
have greatly astonished both- the king and the pope by his line of
conduct. Considering the enormous trouble which Innocent had taken
to obtain the primacy for him, we might have expected him to uphold
the papal claims ; but as soon as he had entered upon the temporalities
of his see he adopted an independent attitude towards the king on the
one h md, and the pope on the other. He was an Englishman, and
therefore refused to do anything which would dishonour his country,
or injure his countrymen, or harm the national Church. John and the
barons were at enmity. John \vas in the wrong, and therefore Langton
supported the barons in demanding their ancient liberties. On the
occasion of John s absolution Langtou had administered an oath to
him, by which the king promised to renew the lows of Edward the
confessor ; but the archbishop knew John s character too well to be
content with a verbal promise made under compulsion. No one quite
knew what the ancient laws were, but Langton searched the archives of
the nation and produced the charter of Henry I., which recited those
laws, and stipulated what privileges the prelates and barons respectively
might claim for their order. This he laid before a private council of
the noble i held at St. Paul s, London, August 25, 1213. The barons
declared themselves ready to die for these liberties. " Swear it ! " said
Langton, and they did so. Meantime the papal legate had been
traversing the coin 1 try, filling up all the vacant benefices by appointing
friends of John and the pope, in defiance of the rights of patrons and
the prerogatives of bishops. That was more than Langton could
quietly submit to, and therefore he appealed to the pope against such
uncanonical intrusions, and inhibited the legate from making further
appointments. John had promised to pay the bishops and clergy a
large indemnity for the revenues he had abstracted from their benefices
and sees in order to have the interdict removed ; but when the
ARCHBISHOP LANGTON S PLAN
209
clergy and barons under Langton and Robert Fitz- Walter had
marshalled themselves against the king and legate, thus forming what
was called The Army of God and Holy Church, John determined to
make a second abject submission to the papacy, and take the vow of a
crusader, in order to counteract their plans. In return for his sub
serviency the pope reduced the indemnity John had covenanted to pay
to the clergy, from
100,000 to 40,000
marks, and re
moved the inter
dict June 29, 1214.
When Langton
presented to the
king the people s
claim for their
traditional liber
ties John, feeling
himself strong in
the might of his
new suzerain, re
pudiated his pro
mise to ratify the
ancient English
laws. That was
"the last straw,"
and the barons and
prelates took the
field in defence of
their rights. Only
seven knights were
with King John,
while the whole
nation was in arms
against him.
CHAIM EU HOUSE OF OLD ST. PAUL S. (Hollar.)
6. Magna-Charta. Stephen Langton would not allow time to
be wasted. The king wished to submit the matter to the papal
suzerain of England, but the archbishop felt this to be a national affair
in which the bishops of Rome had no right to interpose, and pressed
the king for an immediate decision. John then agreed to sign a
210 THE GREAT CHARTER
charter that he never meant to keep. The subscription of the king
and the patriots took place at a little island in the Thames opposite to
Runny mede, which is frequently visited by modern excursionists, who
are glad to know it as the spot
" Where England s ancient barons, clad in arms
And stern with conquest, from their tyrant king
(There rendered tame) did challenge and secure
The charter of our freedom."
Archbishop Langton had the priceless document already drawn up,
but, for the sake of appearances, a few formal negotiations were carried
on. The skilfully worded provisions of that famous charter are sacred
to this day as the foundation of all our liberties as Englishmen. It
was based upon ancient codes of law, "but the vague expressions of
the older charters were then exchanged for precise and elaborate
provisions." The archbishop knew that there would be a struggle
for the temporal and spiritual liberties of Englishmen against the
power of Rome, and he was careful so to word the seventy- eight clauses
of the charter that no question might thereafter arise respecting what
was due to the Church and nation from its rulers. The document was
written in Latin. Translated into English its first provision runs :
" That the Church of England shall be free, and hold her rights
entire, and her liberties inviolate."
After specifying these rights, and providing for freedom of the subject,
and law and order in the realm, the charter concludes with a re-assertion
of its initial principle :
" That the Church of England be free, and that all men have and
hold the aforesaid liberties truly and peaceably, freely and quietly,
fully and wholly, in all things and in all places for ever."
This charter was signed on the fifteenth of June, 1215, and is still
the standard of appeal in all judicial and secular matters ; English
churchmen have therefore a right to maintain that it shall be also the
standard by which the Church s liberties are to be tested.
Satisfied with what they had done, the prelates and barons joyfully
returned home with their retainers. But the mean-spirited king sent
an embassy to Rome explaining that the first great act of the arch
bishop, whom Innocent III. had imposed upon him, was to defy the
assumed prerogative of the papacy in this country by organizing a
rebellion against the vassal of the pope. Innocent III. was furious ;
he proclaimed the charter void, and absolved King John from the
SUSPENSION OF LANG TON
211
necessity of observing its conditions. But the English nobles stood
firm ; the charter, and nothing but the charter, should be the basis of
their allegiance to the king. When Innocent heard that the barons
despised his mandate he ordered Langton and the bishops to excom
municate them, and strongly reprimanded the prelates for their action
in promoting such contempt of the holy see. But the archbishop of
Canterbury refused to obey the* pope s decree, whereupon Innocent
suspended him and other bishops from their offices. Had the writs of
suspension been issued while the prelates were in England, very little
notice would have been taken of them ; but they were first invited to
attend a council held at Rome, and after they had embarked for their
voyage, the sentence of their suspension was proclaimed. They were
not allowed to land on English soil again until they had paid heavy
fines for their contempt of the papal decrees. Stephen Langton was
hardly the kind of man to admit himself in the wrong by paying a
fine, so he preferred to stay abroad during the rest of John s reign.
M A (.; N A-CII A 11TA ISLA .N 1).
7. Subsequent events. To show their sympathy for Stephen
Langton the canons of York elected his brother Simon to the northern
primacy. But both king and pope refused to approve the election,
and forced the clergy to receive Walter de Gray, bishop of Worcester,
instead. Freed from the restraint of Stephen Langton s influence
212 HENRY THE THIRD
John turned savagely upon the barons, with the help of a host of
foreign mercenary soldiers ; and, with the assent of Pope Innocent
III., plunged the country into a far more distressful condition than it
had ever known. Lawlessness, anarchy, strife, pillage, and murder
were filling the land with terror ; when both tyrants, Innocent III.
and King John, were called to their account, A.IJ. 1216. The barons
had previously invited Louis, the dauphin of France, to rid them of
John s rule ; but as he began to divide their territory among his French
friends, they gladly returned to their allegiance to the Plantagenet
line ; and after John s death they accepted his son Henry for their
king, although he was only a boy of nine years old. At the corona
tion of Henry III., Langton s charter was accepted (as indeed it was
by all succeeding kings) as the first official act of the reign, by the
advice of William, earl of Pembroke, who (with the p.ipal legate and
the bishop of Winchester) was the guardian of the young king. ]t was
not until 1218 that Archbishop Langton was allowed to return. Then
he set himself to reform abuses which had been growing for some time.
He was a great advocate of clerical celibacy, and somewhat disposed to
the magnificent in ecclesiastical ritual. For instance, to restore
religious fervour in the country he caused the memory of several
famous English saints to be revived by translating their remains to
much grander shrines ; thus Wulfstan of Worcester, and Thomas of
Canterbury, were translated amidst imposing ceremonies, to witness
which nobles and prelates came from foreign countries. Stephen
Langton was able during his lifetime to resist the encroachments of
the see of Rome, but he died in July 1228, and left the English
Church at the mercy of the foreign ecclesiastics introduced by King
Henry. Langton will always be remembered as a brave prelate and a
wise statesman. The vigour infused into the Church during the latter
days of his primacy had its greatest effect in rebuilding of old, and
construction of new churches. Westminster-abbey nave and transepts
present to us the finest specimen of Early -English architecture. The
abbay church which Edward the Confessor built had fallen into decay,
and a great part of it (see page 135) was rebuilt by the direction and at
the cost of Henry III., between the years 1220 and 1269, and was
perhaps the best work undertaken by that monarch. He was a good
husband and a dutiful son, but w r as so occupied with paying attention
to his mother s friends from Poitou, and his wife s relations from
Provence, that he somewhat neglected his duties to the English.
SS. DOMINIC AND FRANCIS
213
8. The mendicant orders. About this time there flourished
several brotherhoods, or orders of friars, who went about among all
classes of the people without shoes or money, holding open-air services
and preaching vigorously, to the great disgust of the more luxurious
monks, who thought it insolent on the part of these new enthusiasts
"to pretend to be better than other folk." They had their origin in
the devotion of two men Dominic, a Spaniard ; and Francis, of
Assisi in Italy. Their lives and writings form the subjects of many
devotional works in the present day. Dominic had been very eager in
the vigorous persecution of the Albigenses in Languedoc, and his zeal
in preaching against their so-called heresies gained for him the
countenance of Innocent III., who permitted him to establish an order
of preachers who were called after him Dominican friars. The first
instalment of his order arrived in England in 1219. Their dress was
black, hence "Black-friars" Five years after the establishment of the
Dominicans, Pope Honorius III. permitted Francis to found a second
order whLch was called the Franciscan. In imitation of our Lord s
214
THE MENDICANT ORDERS
command that his apostles should carry neither purse nor scrip, nor
shoes, nor changes of raiment, Francis adopted a very rough garb of
grey wool, bound round the waist by a rope; hence "Grey-friars."
A.D. 1224 is the date of their first appearance in this country. Those
preaching orders lived upon the alms of their admirers, retaining no
more than was sufficient for the needs of each day, bestowing the
surplus upon the squalid poor, or, as in later years, upon the building
of a church. This practice of continual begging gained for them the
name of mendicants. Within a few years the country was overrun by
them. It is thought that they had a special commission from the
popes to bring about the submission of the Church of England, which
had so long defied the papal power. They are sometimes called " the
pope s militia." If such was their mission they overdid it by coming
here in too great force. There were other orders besides the black and
grey, such as the Augustinian, or "Austin-friars," and the Carmelite,
or " White-friars" The city of London and other towns preserve in
the names of streets evidences of the places where these friars respect
ively abided. The Franciscans were devoted to the study of nature,
and on their roll of honour are the names of Roger Bacon, Alexander
Hales, and other philosophers. But the Dominicans were the greatest
theologians, and the works of Thomas Aquinas are still revered by
Romanists as a defence against heresy.
The original zeal of the friars cannot be
gainsaid, and for awhile they put the
monks and clergy to shame by their con
scientious and earnest lives. Yet, alas !
they soon found a way of eluding the
vow of absolute poverty, and often lived
more luxuriously and housed themselves
more warmly than the richest communities
of monks. At first they were welcomed
throughout the Christian world, as all
true devotional enthusiasm will ever be ;
but, as was the case with the privileged
orders of monks (see page 184), being
^made independent of episcopal super-
A PILGRIM (seepage 163). V i s i 011} ^ey went wherever they chose,
and interfered with the work of the parish clergy, thus becoming
powerful agents in the work of demoralizing the Church of England,
and bringing it more under papal tyranny.
CHAPTER XIV. (A.D. 1228-1327)
THE REACTION AGAINST ROMAN SUPREMACY
" And what melodious sounds at times prevail !
And, ever and anon, how bright a gleam
Pours on the surface of the turbid stream.
Fair court of Edward ! wonder of the world !
I see a matchless blazonry unfurled
Of wisdom, magnanimity, and love.
1. Edmund Rich of Canterbury. Stephen Langton was
succeeded in the see of Canterbury by Richard Weather shed, but his
term of office lasted only two years. He was not a popular prelate.
He died abroad in 1231, and there was not another archbishop until
Edmund, suruamed Rich, of Abingdon, was consecrated in 1234.
Three men chosen by the Canterbury monks to succeed Weathershed
had been rejected by the pope, who claimed the right to nominate
to English sees. The popes had then reached the height of their
autocratic power, and were obeyed from sheer terror all over Europe.
The people of England were very heavily taxed by Henry III.,
a notoriously extravagant prince in public as well as private ex
penditure, and the barons and clergy had to protest bitterly against
his demands upon them. Not only so, but the pope sent legates to
demand tribute from the English people, which served to increase
their irritation. Matthew Paris, the great chronicler of this age,
likens the Englishmen of his oTay to sheep, for whose destruction the
pope and king, as shepherd and wolf, were allied together. It is
impossible to describe the impoverished condition of the nobility
and clergy through those combined exactions. The great charter of
Stephen Langton, though repeatedly acknowledged by Henry III.,
was as often ignored by him ; and it became necessary for clergy and
laity to band themselves together as a patriotic party against the
unholy alliance of king and courtiers- with the papacy. Archbishop
Edmund, although a nominee of the pope, attached himself to the
patriots ; and assembled the barons in council at Westminster, as
Langton had done in the previous reign. Their object was to force
Henry to observe the conditions of Magna-Charta. The king would
promise anything if the prelates and nobles would grant him supplies,
215
216
ARCHBISHOP EDMUND RICH
and they, in their anxiety to be
loyal, too readily accepted his fair
speeches, and gave him what he
needed, in order to keep him out of
the toils of unscrupulous advent
urers from abroad. The absolute
necessity laid upon the clergy to
bear the lion s share of those new
impositions, while on the one hand
it made patriots of many, resulted
on the other hand in the promotion
of such superstitions as brought
wealth to the Church ; especially
the sacrifice of masses, for the re
pose of the souls of persons who
had died, which were thought to
be beneficial to the departed, what
ever their previous lives had been.
The patriotic party were power-
HENKY THE THiKi). less to stem the in vasion of foreign
nobles; and although in Langton s time (1226) the demand of Rome
for two appointments in each cathedral church to be at the disposal of
the pope was indignantly rejected, many foreign ecclesiastics were
soon intruded upon the English Church. In 1229, the pope s temporal
influence here had grown to such an extent that he demanded a tenth
of English property on behalf of his see. The nobles refused to pay
any such claim. Their estates, they said, were not fiefs of the pope.
But as some of the [ relates had been nominated by the papacy the
clergy could not escape so easily. The king and nobles often upheld
papal claims on Church revenues to rid themselves of any such tribute.
The pope was far too powerful to be altogether ignored, and so, to
preserve England from his enmity, the Church was plundered. In
1231 a mysterious band of patriots in masks kept the foreign clergy,
who occupied English livings, in a perpetual state of terror by sudden
attacks upon their storehouses, the contents of which were sold
cheaply to the poor. The leader of this band was Sir Robert de
Twenge, who seems to have been encouraged in his proceedings by
Hubert de Burgh, the last of the great justiciars. The pope protested
against such treatment of his incumbents, and, in 1237, sent Cardinal
FOREIGN CLERGY 217
Otho, as legate extraordinary, to uphold the papal dignity and protect
the foreign clergy. Otho held a council at St. Paul s, London, in
November of that year with the avowed intention of promulgating a
visitation of monasteries, the deposition of such clergy as held more
than one benefice, and other high moral reforms ; but really to create
vacancies for papal nominees. The country was indignant at his
interference, and the bishops even refused to give the legate hospitality.
They thought it was better to have clergy in England holding more
offices than one, but within reach of their duties, than that the
benefices should be presented singly to foreigners who resided abroad.
Unfortunately Henry III. upheld the office of the legate in order to
promote his own schemes. There seems to have been something like
a conspiracy between king and pope to denationalize the English
Church and Realm. When Otho found that the English were averse
to his mission, he endeavoured to conciliate them by offering to permit
the observance of all ancient privileges on condition that the clergy
paid him a consideration. But his overtures were refused, and some
of the nobles went to Rome to protest against his infringement of
their rights as patrons of livings on their estates. They obtained very
little permanent satisfaction, and soon after, encouraged by Pope
Gregory, Otho demanded a fifth part of English Church revenues, to
assist in defraying the cost of a new crusade, as the war between the
pope and the emperor of Germany about this time was called. A
feeble resistance was made by the clergy, but ultimately they yielded
to the audacious impost. Further, to obtain additional funds for his
campaigns, the pope offered all the benefices of the English Church
to the Romans and their friends in return for their assistance. In
short, every conceivable advantage was taken by this unscrupulous
pontiff, with the connivance of the iniquitous King Henry, to provide
resources at the expense of the English Church. Such tyranny was
more than Edmund Rich could bear. He would gladly have been a
second Langton, but it was not in him. Owing to these foreign
encroachments and the consequent demoralized condition of the
English clergy, he felt himself altogether unfitted for his responsible
office ; therefore, he resigned the archbishopric and went into voluntary
exile, dying of a broken heart in November 1240.
2. Robert " Grossetete," of Lincoln. A stronger mind
was soon forthcoming to fight the Church s battle against the potentate
of Rome and lead the English barons in their struggle against the
218 BISHOP GROSSETETE
vices of the king, as well as to resist Henry s seizure of Church
temporalities during the vacation of a benefice, and revive the dying
embers of religious life in England. That was Robert, surnamed
" Grossetete," or "Greathead," on account of his scholarly attainments,
who had been made bishop of Lincoln, A.D. 1235. Living as he did
during a time of universal lawlessness and anarchy, and presiding over
the largest diocese in England, his fearless efforts on behalf of justice,
without respect of persons, have earned for him undying fame. He
utilized the religious enthusiasm of the friars to reform the habits of
his clergy, and insisted that the monasteries should make due pro
vision for the adequate ministerial care of parishes from which they
drew tithes. At first he had belonged to the party which favoured
the papal claims ; but when he realized the depravity and cupidity of
the pope and his adherents he went right over to the national side,
and boldly protested against the ambitious designs of the Roman see.
Boniface of Savoy, uncle to the queen of England, had succeeded
Edmund Rich in the see of Canterbury ; but Grossetete was able with
out difficulty to influence the new-comer, and his advice was asked
in moit things concerning the affairs of our Church and country. By
his influence Richard-de-la- Wych was appointed to the see of
Chichester, and thus another notable addition was made to the band
of patriotic prelates. The king had desired that another man should
have the Sussex bishopric, and appealed to the pope against the
appointment of Wych, withholding the temporalities of the see until a
decision was arrived at. That appeal came before a council at Lyons, A. D.
1250, where the pope then lived (see p. 168). Grossetete was present,
and did not hesitate to preach a sermon before Innocent IV. and the
college of cardinals, denouncing them as the authors of all the troubles
that afflicted the English Church. "The cause," he said, "the
fountain, the origin of all this is the court of Rome, because it commits
the care of the flock to ravening wolves." Much more of a like nature
found a place in his remarkable discourse, and we may set it down as
the first definite public protest on the part of the English Church,
through its representatives, against the inveterate worldliness of the
papacy. Innocent was obliged to uphold the appointment of Wych,
in the hope of conciliating Grossetete ; but the note of defiance had
been sounded, and henceforth the bishops of Rome had often to submit
to open reproofs. No foreign cleric was instituted in the diocese of
Lincoln during Grossetete s term of office. The pope had commanded
SIMON DE MO NT FORT
219
him to institute a mere child to a canonry at Lincoln, but he refused ;
and wrote a letter, remarkable for its boldness, to the effect that he
would resist and oppose the orders contained in the pope s letters,
" because they deprived Christian souls of the ministry of their pastors,
and were altogether opposed to the sanctity of the apostolic see, and
contrary to the catholic faith." The popular enthusiasm in England
for Grossetete prevented the pope s anger from harming the bishop,
but he was never forgiven, as we may imagine. The legate Otho was
now replaced by another, named Martin, who was still more eager to
seize upon English benefices, and to demand aids for the papal
exchequer than his predecessor had been. That still further alienated
the people from any affection they may have felt for the see of Rome
and made them think the more highly of the great reformer Grossetete.
So great were the evils that lesulted from the introduction of foreign
nobles into the councils of the realm that Grossetete, in combination
with Earl Simon de Montfort and other patriot peers, demanded a voice
in the election of the king s advisers, and
in that way prevented the utter subver
sion of the government by aliens. Had
Grossetete lived, his efforts would doubt
less have ended in the complete rebellion
of the national party against the papal
yoke ; but he died in 1253, much to the
delight of the pope, who asked "every
tiue son of the Roman Church to rejoice
with him now that his enemy was re
moved." Even in his last illness Robert
the Greathead fearlessly denounced the
Roman pontiff as a heretic and antichrist
for his iniquitous claim to "provide" the
English benefices with foreign clergy who
seldom resided near, or cared for, their
cures. Archbishop Scivell, of York, en
deavoured for a time to take Grossetete s
place as the champion of the English
Church against the foreigners, but the
two men were incomparable ; for when
the pope excommunicated Sewell for his
resistance he pined away and died.
SIMON DE MONTFORT.
220 PAPAL DEMAND FOR "FIRST-FRUITS"
3. The first representative parliament. Earl Simon was
then leader of the national party against foreign courtiers, and he was
as firm in upholding the rights of the English Church against the
demands of Rome, as he was in resisting the king s extravagant taxes
for the support of an improvident court. Although the king was
already helplessly in debt he pledged the country to the cost of a war
in Sicily, waged by the pope ; and when the barons objected he
attempted to silence them by procuring papal excommunications against
them ; but Earl Simon s party watched the shore, and searched all
persons who landed from Italy, seizing and destroying any papal edicts
or "provisions" that were found upon them. In 1256 two papal
envoys were busy in our country raising money for the see of Rome,
and it was about that time, during the papacy of Alexander IV., that
the papal demand for annatcs, or " first-fruits " that is, the first year s
income of an incumbent was first heard of in England. So great was
the popular hatred against foreigners that once when an alien had been
installed as a prebendary of St. Paul s cathedral (A.D. 1259), three
young men, in the broad daylight, in the presence of a large assembly,
murdered the new incumbent and two friends who were with him ;
none of the bystanders interfering with, or attempting to capture the
assassins. So many discreditable measures were adopted for relieving
the Church of its just possessions, that the clergy offered to pay the
king a very large sum towards the debts he had incurred to the pope,
on condition that they should be free from all further papal or regal
demands. But the pope and the king were far from being satisfied,
and although King Henry and his son Edward had sworn to accept the
Provisions of Oxford, drawn up by the barons in 1258 and renewed the
following year at Westminster, in order to reform the grievances under
which the Church and Realm laboured, the king soon evaded his
promise, and the barons took up arms against him in sheer despair of
obtaining their liberties by more constitutional means. In that struggle
the patriots were at first victorious, both king and prince being made
prisoners. Earl Simon was appointed governor of the country, and he
summoned repres 
