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Quebec. C. SS. K. 



JOHN M. KELLY LIBRARY 



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the Toronto Province 

from the Library Collection of 
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THE 



ANTIQUITIES 



OF THE 




ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 



BY THE REV. JOHN LINGARD. 



The First American, from the Second London Edition. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED BY M. FITHIAN, 

61 NOBTH SECOND STREET. 




THE Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, by the REV. DR. LINGARD, 
is highly approved hy us, and strongly recommended. Given under our hand 
at Philadelphia, on the Feast of St. Gregory the Great, in the year of our 
Lord, 1841. j" FRANCIS PATRICK KENRICK, Bp., &c. 



ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1841, by 

M. FlTHIAN, 

in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON, PHILADELPHIA. 



PREFACE 

TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 



THE merited and long established celebrity of Dr. Lingard as 
a writer and an historian, is, of itself, sufficient to commend to 
public notice any of the productions of his pen ; but, independ 
ently of this consideration, the subject of the present volume 
possesses much in it to claim the peculiar attention of the 
American reader. 

Whatever concerns the origin, or is connected with the early 
history, of the Saxon conquerors of England, cannot be devoid 
of interest for their descendants, however separated by place 
from the scenes in which they acted such prominent parts. The 
Antiquities, too, of the Anglo-Saxon Church will be found 
a most important and useful branch of study for the general 
scholar ; and almost an indispensable acquisition for the theo 
logical student ; as many of the controversies which, unfor 
tunately, divide the Christian world at this day, have either 
direct reference to the doctrines and discipline of the early Saxon 
Church, or derive considerable light from a knowledge of its 
principles and institutions. 

Such a guide, then, as Dr. Lingard, whose qualifications for the 
inquiry are unquestioned, and whose character for integrity is 
unimpeached, cannot but afford most desirable assistance to 
such as wish to examine for themselves the momentous ques 
tions that form the subject of religious investigation. Dr. 
Lingard is not here, however, a polemic, but an antiquary; 



3 



4 PREFACE. 

and the calm and dispassionate manner in which he treats 
of facts and doctrines, which have so often formed the subject 
of much angry controversy, is the best guarantee we can have, 
that truth alone has ever been the object he had in view ; and 
that the fullest reliance may be placed in the conclusions at 
which he has arrived. It will be seen that all his statements 
are sustained by copious references to original authorities, by 
means of which the learned reader will be enabled to ascend to 
the sources of the author s information, and form his own judg 
ment of the justness of his inferences. 

In presenting, then, " The Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon 
Church" to the people of the United States, the publisher 
hopes that he will be found to have added to their means of 
literary enjoyment, and, at the same time, contributed some 
what to their moral and religious improvement. 



THE PREFACE. 



THE history of the Anglo-Saxon Church has exercised the in 
dustry of several writers, whose researches and discoveries 
have been rewarded with the approbation of the public. It 
is not my wish to encroach upon their labours. With patient 
and meritorious accuracy they have discussed and detailed the 
foundations of churches, the succession of bishops, the decrees 
of councils, and the chronological series of events. Mine is a 
more limited attempt, to describe the ecclesiastical polity, and 
religious practices of our ancestors; the discipline, revenues, 
and learning of the clerical and monastic orders; and the more 
important revolutions which promoted or impaired the pros 
perity of the Anglo-Saxon Church. 

Of these subjects I am not ignorant that some have been 
fiercely debated by religious polemics. The great event of 
the Reformation, while it gave a new impulse to the powers, 
imbittered with rancour the writings of the learned. Con 
troversy pervaded every department of literature : and history, 
as well as the sister sciences, was alternately pressed into the 
service of the contending parties. By opposite writers the 
same facts were painted in opposite colours : unfavourable cir 
cumstances were carefully concealed, or artfully disguised; 
and the men, whom the Catholic exhibited as models of virtue, 
and objects of veneration, the Protestant condemned for their 
interested zeal, their pride, their ignorance, and their superstition. 
I will not deny, that the hope of acquiring additional information 
has induced me to peruse the works of these partial advocates. 

A2 5 



6 PREFACE. 

But if I have sometimes listened to their suggestions, it has 
been \vith jealousy and caution. My object is truth; and in 
the pursuit of truth, I have made it a religious duty to consult 
the original historians. Who would draw from the troubled 
stream, when he may drink at the fountain head ? 

It may, perhaps, be expected that I should offer an apology 
for the freedom with which I have occasionally noticed the 
mistakes of preceding historians. It is certainly an ungracious, 
but, I think, a useful office. On almost every subject, the 
public mind is guided by the wisdom or prejudices of a few 
favourite writers; their reputation consecrates their opinions: 
and their errors are received by the incautious reader as the 
dictates of truth. On such occasions, to be silent is criminal ; 
as it serves to perpetuate deception : and to contradict, without 
attempting to prove, may create doubt, but cannot impress con 
viction. As often, therefore, as it has been my lot to dissent 
from our more popular historians, I have been careful to fortify 
my own opinion by frequent references to the sources from 
which I have derived my information. No writer should ex 
pect to obtain credit on his bare assertion : and the reader, 
who wishes to judge for himself, will gratefully peruse the 
quotations, with which I have sometimes loaded the page. To 
the Anglo-Saxon extracts, when their importance seemed to 
demand it, is subjoined a literal translation. The knowledge 
of that language, though an easy, is not a common acquire 
ment. 

If I am not deceived by a natural, but, I trust, venial par 
tiality, the subject which I have undertaken to elucidate, is in 
itself highly curious and interesting. The Anglo-Saxons were, 
originally, hordes of ferocious pirates. By religion they were 
reclaimed from savage life, and raised to a degree of civiliza 
tion, which, at one period, excited the wonder of the other 
nations of Europe. The following pages are destined to de- 



PREFACE. 7 

scribe the nature and the practices of that religion, the duties 
and qualifications of its ministers, and the events which con 
firmed its influence over the minds of its professors. Such 
researches, whatever may be the nation to which they refer, 
are pleasing to an inquisitive reader. When they relate to 
our own progenitors, they will be perused with additional 
interest. 

I must, however, acknowledge, that I am far from being 
satisfied with the performance. On several subjects, my informa 
tion has been necessarily incomplete. After the revolutions 
of more than a thousand years, the records of Anglo-Saxon 
antiquity can exist only in an imperfect and mutilated state. If 
much has been preserved, much also has been lost. To collect 
and unite the scattered fragments, has been my wish and en 
deavour j but in despite of every exertion, many chasms will be 
discovered, which it was impossible to supply. If the deficiency 
of the materials be not admitted as a sufficient apology, the 
reader must accuse the skill of the artist : his industry, he trusts, 
may defy reproof; and on it he rests his only claim to com 
mendation. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Christianity introduced into Britain Conquests of the SaxonsTheir Conversion 
Conduct of the Missionaries Controversies respecting Easter. 

A. D. Page 

Christianity introduced into Britain 17 

180 Conversion of Lucius 18 

305 Dioclesian s persecution of the Christians .----<&. 

430 Heresy of Pelagius 19 

The Saxons ib. 

449 Their first arrival under Hengist 20 

Their conquest ---------- ib. 

Zeal of Gregory the Great for their conversion - - - - 21 

He purchases Anglo-Saxon slaves tb. 

596 Sends Augustine with several other missionaries - - - - 22 

Augustine s first interview with Ethelbert, - - * - 23 

He preaches to the Kentish Saxons - ib. 

Moderation of the missionaries 24 

Conversion of the kingdom of Essex ib. 

627 of Edwin, king of Northumbria ... 35 

633 He is killed in battle - 26 
635 Victory and succession of Oswald - .--&. 

Mission of Aidan ---27 

631 Conversion of the East- Angles - - ib. 

634 of the West-Saxons - - 28 

653 of the Mercians - 29 

678 of the South-Saxons - - 30 

General conduct of the missionaries - - ib. 

Their labours and merit 32 

Barbarism of the Anglo-Saxons before their conversion 33 

Their improvement after their conversion - - ib. 

Dispute respecting the time of Easter 36 

the ecclesiastical tonsure - - 37 

652 Termination of the- disputes 

2 9 



10 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER II. 

Extensive Jurisdiction of St. Augustine Archbishops of Canterbury York 
Lichfield Number of Bishoprics Election of Bishops Episcopal Monasteries 
Institution of Parishes Discipline of the Clergy Celibacy. 

A. D. Page 

598 Augustine s jurisdiction over the Saxons - - - - - 40 

over the Britons ib. 

603 They reject his authority -----...42 

605 He dies 43 

613 Slaughter of the British monks ib. 

Archbishops of Canterbury -----..44 

735 of York #. 

785 of Lichfield - #. 

Multiplication of bishoprics ----.... 45 

Election of bishops #. 

Bishops chosen in synods 47 

nominated by kings 43 

Anglo-Saxon clergy - - . - - - - - - -49 

Episcopal monasteries --_.__ 50 

Education of the clergy ------_._ ;j. 

700 Establishment of parishes - 53 

Discipline of the clergy ^ 

Celibacy of the clergy 53 



CHAPTER III. 

Revenues of the Clergy Donations of Land Voluntary Oblations Tithes- 
Church Dues Right of Asylum Peace of the Church Romescot. 

Donations of land 59 

Immunities QQ 

Causes of benefactions - - 61 

Restraints 62 

Voluntary oblations 63 

Tithes 64 

Plough-alms - - 65 

Kirk-shot - - - - ib. 

Leot-shot - - ib. 

Soul-shot ........ 66 

Right of sanctuary ib. 

Extraordinary sanctuaries 67 

Peace of the church ...,.*--. 68 

Benefactions to foreign churches 68 

354 . of Ethel vvulf - ib. 

Romescot .......... 2*5. 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER IV. 

Origin of the Monastic Institute Anglo-Saxon Monks Of St. Gregory Of St. 
ColumbaOf St. Benedict Vows of Obedience Chastity Poverty Posses 
sions of the Monks Their Attention to the Mechanic Arts To Agriculture 
Their Hospitality Their Charity. 

A. D. F^e 

Origin of the monastic institute 71 

Its diffusion 

Monks established by St. Gregory 

597 Introduced by St. Augustine 75 

565 Monks of St. Columba, at Icolrakille ib. 

635 Introduced into Northumbria ib. 

Their discipline 76 

529 Monks established by St. Benedict ib. 

Their discipline 77 

661 They are introduced by St. Wilfrid 79 

674 _ by St. Bennet Biscop ib. 

The order is rapidly diffused 80 

640 Anglo-Saxon nuns in France 

650 Convents erected in England 82 

Double monasteries - * & 

Monastic vows - 

, of obedience ib. 

of chastity 85 

660 History of Edilthryda - ib. 

Renunciation of property - 

Change of the ancient discipline 88 

704 Origin of secular monasteries -.,----89 

False notions of the monastic institute 90 

Use of monastic wealth - 

Improvement of architecture - 

Magnificence of the churches 94 

Improvement of the mechanic arts ib. 

of agriculture 95 

Charities of the monks 96 

1000 of Leofric, abbot of St. Albans - - 97 

1010 of Godric, abbot of Croyland ib. 



CHAPTER V. 

Government of the Anglo-Saxon Church Episcopal Synods National Councils- 
Supremacy of the Popes They establish Metropolitan Sees Confirm the Elec 
tion of Archbishops Reform Abuses And receive Appeals. 

Episcopal synods 

Provincial and national councils ------- 100 

Their decrees enforced by the civil power - - 101 



12 CONTENTS. 

A. D. rage 

Supreme jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff - - 102 

He establishes metropolitical sees 104 

Confirms the election of the archbishops 105 

Enforces the observance of the canons - - - - - 106 

Sends legates into England - - - - - - - -107 

Receives appeals ... ...108 

History of St. Wilfrid - 109 

G78 He is deposed 110 

Appeals to Rome ... ft. 

G79 Papal sentence - - - - - -111 

Wilfrid persecuted - ib. 

686 He is restored - - - - - - - - -112 

691 Banished 113 

703 His second appeal -" 11. 1 

705 And final restoration - - - -115 

CHAPTER VI. 

Religious Practices of the Jlnglo-Saxons Their Sacraments The Liturgy 
Communion Confession Penitential Canons Mitigation of Penance Mso- 
lution. 

Sacraments of the Anglo-Saxons - 118 

Liturgy -120 

Communion 122 

Breviary or course -----... 123 

Latin service ----...... 121 

Confession --------._. 125 

680 Penitential canons 126 

Mitigation of penance - - - - - - - - -127 

Absolution - 1 



CHAPTER VII. 

Kuchological Ceremonies Benediction of the Anglo-Saxon Knights Of 
Marriages Ordinations of the Clergy Coronation of Kings Dedication of 
Churches. 

Benediction of knights - - - - - - - -130 

050 History of Hereward 131 

Marriages 132 

Marriage settlements 133 

ceremony - . 134 

Consecration of virgins 135 

Ordinations - - - - - - - - -"- 137 

of deacons 139 

of priests - - 140 

of bishops - Ml 



CONTENTS. 13 

A. D. I*** 

Coronation of kings 

Coronation ceremony 

Dedication of churches ------- L45 

798 . of Winchelcomb - -147 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Origin of Prayers for the DeadAssociations for that purpose Devotions per 
formed for the Dead Funeral Ceremonies Places of Sepulture. 

Prayers for the dead 148 

Associations for that purpose 

991 History of Brithnod 151 

993 History of Alwyn - 

Works of charity *f 3 

Devotions tb - 

Preparation for death 

Manner of burial - I 5 ? 

Places of burial - -I 58 

Elevation of dead bodies - 159 

1104 Opening of the tomb of St. Cuthbert ICO 

CHAPTER IX. 

Generation and invocation of the Saints Relics Miracles Pictures and Images 

Pilgrimages Travels of St. Willibald Ordeals. 

Invocation of the saints 1C3 

foreign saints 1C4 

Native saints 165 

Festivals of the saints 167 

Relics 169 

Miracles 

Pictures and images 

787 Councils of Nice and Frankfort 174 

Pilgrimages 

721 Willibald s travels to the Holy Land 177 

Pilgrimages to Rome 

Ordeals I8A 

CHAPTER X. 

Literature of the Anglo-Saxons Learning of Theodore and Adrian Libraries- 
Theology Classics Logic Arithmetic Natural Philosophy Learned Men 
St. Aldhelm Bede Alcuin. 

Learning of the Anglo-Saxons - - - - - ~ -188 

G79 Theodore and Adrian - - - - - 189 

Libraries --.---- - - 190 

B 



14 CONTENTS. 

A, D. Page 

Study of Theology 191 

Study of the classics 192 

of poetry 193 

of rhetoric 194 

of logic 195 

of numbers .-....-.. 190 

of natural philosophy ib. 

Bede s system of nature - - 197 

The planets and fixed stars ib. 

Astrology 200 

The tides 201 

Meteorology ---------- e 6. 

719 Account of St. Aldhelm 204 

735 of Bede - ib. 

810 of Alcuin .-.-.. _ 206 

CHAPTER XL 

Descents of the Lanes Destruction of Churches and Monasteries Prevalence of 
Ignorance and Immorality Efforts to restore the Clerical and Monastic Orders. 

Decline of learning --------- 212 

Exhortations of Alcuin - - - - - - - - -213 

The Danes ib. 

793 They destroy the abbey of Lindisfarne 214 

Invasion of Ragnar Lodbrog - - - - - - -215 

866 of his sons 216 

867 They ravage Northumbria ib. 

867 Nuns of Coldingham - - 217 

870 Destruction of Croyland - 218 

of Medeshamstede ..--... 220 

of Ely 222 

878 Victories of Alfred 223 

Ferocity of the people - - 22-1 

Ignorance - ---------- zi. 

Degeneracy of the clergy 226 

Extinction of the monastic order 228 

Convents of nuns --------- 230 



CHAPTER XII. 

Restoration of Ecclesiastical Discipline St. Dunstan He is raised to the See of 
Canterbury Reproves EdgarOpposes the Pontiff Restores the Monks- 
Council of Culne. 
920 Birth of St. Dunstan - - - - - - 234 

He is introduced to court -------- ib. 

Becomes a monk .--..-.. ib. 



CONTENTS. 15 

A. D. Page 

Dunstan is made abbot of Glastonbury ----- 235 

956 Offends Edwin 236 

956 Is banished 237 

960 Is recalled - - 238 

961 Is made archbishop of Canterbury 239 

Reproves Edgar - - - - - ib. 

Opposes the pontiff --------- 240 

Reforms the clergy - - - - - - - -241 

963 Oswald expels the clergy from Worcester 242 

963 Ethelwold expels them from Winchester 243 

Canons in favour of the monks ...... 246 

Concord of the English monks 247 

Restoration of learning -------- 248 

.^Elfric s translations and homilies ------- ib. 

Discipline of the clergy 250 

978 Council of Calne - - - 252 

1011 Sack of Canterbury 254 

1012 Martyrdom of St. Elphege 255 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Missions of the Anglo-Saxons St. Willibrord St. Boniface St. Wilkhad 
St. Sigfrid in Sweden Conversion of Denmark Of Norway. 

675 St. Wilfrid preaches in Friesland 258 

686 Ecgbert plans the foreign missions 259 

690 St. Willibrord converts the Frisians 260 

692 Martyrdom of the two Ewalds ------- ib. 

Associates of St. Willibrord 261 

St. Boniface 262 

719 He preaches in Germany -------- 263 

724 Procures associates from England 264 

744 Reforms the clergy of France - - 265 

755 Is martyred 266 

772 St. Willehad preaches to the northern Germans - - 267 

1000 St. Sigfrid preaches in Sweden ------- ib. 

1019 Anglo-Saxon missionaries in Denmark 268 

Conversion of St. Olave, king of Norway ib. 

1027 Anglo-Saxon missionaries in Norway ib. 

NOTES. 

854 Ethelwulf s donation to the church (A) 269 

Definition of a good Christian (B) ...... 270 

Anglo-Saxon moneys (C) 

Double monasteries (D) - 279 

Miscellaneous remarks on the monks (E) - 280 



16 CONTENTS. 

A. D. 

Saxon buildings (F) - 284 

Relaxation of discipline (G) - - - 
Supremacy of St. Peter (H) 

717 Henry s account of the council of Clovcshoe (I) 
Carte s account of St. Wilfrid (K) 
Monasteries at Lindisfarne (L) - 
Organ at Winchester (M) - 
Belief respecting the eucharist (N) - 
Imposition of public penance (0) - 

Confirmation 

On the coronation of princes (O) - ib. 

Menologies of the Anglo-Saxons (P) 308 

On images (Q) 311 

Latin versions of the Scriptures (R) - 

Anglo-Saxon pronunciation of Greek (S) : - - 313 

Anglo-Saxon poetry (T) - 315 

Alcuin s epitaph (U) - 

Account of Elgiva and Ethelgiva (V) 318 

Church at Winchester (X) - - 321 

Anglo-Saxon Alphabet 

The Lord s Prayer in Saxon " 324 



ANTIQUITIES 

OF THE 

ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 



CHAPTER I. 

Christianity introduced into Britain The conquests of the Saxons Their conversion 
Conduct of the Missionaries Controversies respecting Easter. 

AT the commencement of the Christian era, Britain was the 
principal seat of the Dmidical superstition. By whom, and at 
what period, the natives were converted to Christianity, are sub 
jects of interesting but doubtful inquiry. 1 If we may believe 
the testimony of an ancient and respectable historian, they were 
indebted for this invaluable blessing to the zeal of some among 
the first disciples of Christ. 2 The names of the missionaries he 
thought proper to omit : but the omission has been amply sup 
plied by the industry of more modern writers. With the aid of 
legends, traditions, and conjectures, they have discovered that 
St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Simon and St. James, severally 
preached in Britain ; and that, after their departure, the pious 
undertaking was continued by the labours of Aristobulus, and 
Joseph of Arimathea. 3 To notice the evidence which has been 

1 For the time, we are often referred to the words of Gildas, (tempore, ut scimus, sum- 
mo Tiberii Caesaris. Gild, de excid. Brit. edit. Bertram, p. 71 ;) but a diligent perusal 
will show that the writer alludes to the first preaching of the gospel in the Roman em 
pire, not to the conversion of Britain. 

2 See Eusebius, (Dem. Evang. 1. i. c. ? ,) who informs us, that the apostles not only 
preached to the nations on the continent, but passed the ocean and visited the British isles, 
(T7rt TOV anttcivov TrxgtxQttv vri ret? x.ct\xfA.tvx.s BggTT^v/jt*? v<rs?.) Theodoret appears to as 
sert the same, though his words may admit a wider interpretation. O< Jt HfAtryot axia? 



Theod. torn. iv. p. 610. 

3 The original testimonies are carefully collected by Usher, (De Brit. Eccl. primord. 
p. 1 30.) The Catholic polemics were anxious to prove that the British church was 
founded by St. Peter, (Parsons, Three conver. vol. i. p. 7, fol. 1688. Broughton, 
Eccles. Hist. p. 68. Alford, Annal. torn. i. p. 26. 39. 49,) and the Protestant objected 
with equal zeal the rival pretensions of St. Paul, (Godwin, De prim. Brit, conver. p. 5. 
Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit. p. 37.) The former relied on the treacherous authority of 
Metaphrastes : the latter on the ambiguous and hyperbolical expressions of a few more 
ancient writers. 

3 B2 17 



18 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

adduced in support of these fables, would be superfluous. In an 
age of less discernment, they could hardly obtain credit : in the 
present they may be deservedly neglected. 

If it be true that, at this early period, any of the Britons em 
braced the doctrine of the gospel, we may safely pronounce their 
number to have been inconsiderable, and must look to some later 
epocha for the more general diffusion of religious knowledge. 
By the native writers we are referred to the reign of Lucius, a 
British prince, who is conjectured to have been the third in de 
scent from Caractacus, and to have inherited a portion of the 
authority, which Claudius had formerly bestowed upon that 
hero. 4 Though educated in the errors of paganism, he had im 
bibed, according to their account, a secret reverence for the God 
of the Christians ; and was at last encouraged by the favourable 
edict of the Emperor Aurelius, to solicit the spiritual aid of Eleu- 
therius the Roman pontiff. 5 Two clergymen, Fugatius and 
Damianus, were commissioned to second the pious wishes of the 
prince ; their zealous exertions were rewarded with the most 
rapid success ; and the honourable title of apostles of Britain was 
secured to them by the gratitude of their disciples. 6 

Of the subsequent history of the British church, but few par 
ticulars can be gleaned from the works of the ancient writers. 
The first event which claims our notice is the persecution raised 
against the Christians by the policy, or the superstition, of Dio- 
clesian. He had committed the government of the island to 
Constantius; and that prince, though he abhorred the cruel 
policy of enforcing perjury and dissimulation, by the fear of tor 
ments, dared not, in the subordinate station of Caesar, to refuse 
the publication of the imperial edict, or to prevent the inferior 
magistrates from indulging their private hatred against the 
enemies of the gods. If the British church had to lament, on this 
occasion, the weakness of several among her children, who 
yielded to the impulse of terror, she could also boast of the 
courage of many, who braved the fury of their adversaries, and 
grasped with joy the crown of martyrdom. At their head our 
ancestors were accustomed to revere the saints, Alban, the proto- 

4 He was the great-grandson of Arviragus, whose identity with Caractacus was 
formerly suggested by Alford, (torn. i. p. 35,) and has since been ably maintained by 
Dr. Milner, (Hist, of Winch, vol. i. p. 29.) The objections of Cressy, (Hist. p. 22,) 
arid of Stillingfleet, (Orig. p. 29,) may be easily repelled, or eluded. 

5 The conversion, and even the existence of Lucius, have been questioned by the 
skepticism of some writers. But that the Christain faith was publicly professed in 
Britain, before the close of the second century, is clear from incontestible authority,; 
(Tert. cont. Jud. p. 189, edit. Regalt. Orig. horn. vi. in Luc., horn. vi. in Ezech. ;) and 
that Lucius was the person to whom their ancestors owed this advantage, is the general 
assertion of the British writers. I can see no reason why their evidence should be re 
fused, till it be opposed by the equal, testimony of other historians. 

6 Nennius, p. 108, edit. Bert. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 667. Were not the Triads a very 
questionable authority, a dangerous competitor might be produced in Bran, the supposed 
grandfather of Caractacus. ^ee Triad 35. 



HERESY OF PELAGIUS. 19 

martyr of Britain, and Julius and Aaron, citizens of Caerleon. 7 
But Constantius was not long the silent spectator of cruelties 
which he condemned : within two years he was vested with the 
imperial purple; and, from that moment, he placed the Christians 
under his protection, and returned the sword of persecution into 
its scabbard. 8 

In a remote corner of the west, the Britons had scarcely heard 
of the controversies which agitated the oriental churches. But 
they lent a more willing ear to the doctrines of their countryman 
Pelagius ; and his disciples, armed with syllogisms and distinc 
tions from the logic of Aristotle, confounded the simplicity, though 
they could not pervert the faith of their pastors. The rapid pro 
gress of error alarmed the zeal of the orthodox clergy ; and the 
Roman pontiff, or the bishops of Gaul, or perhaps both, com 
missioned St. Germanus of Auxerre, and St. Lupus of Troyes, 
to support the declining cause of catholicity. 9 They met the 
disciples of Pelagius in the synod of Verulam : the day was spent 
in unavailing debate ; in the evening a miracle confirmed the 
arguments of Germanus ; and his opponents declared themselves 
proselytes to his doctrine. The missionaries returned in triumph 
to their dioceses ; but they were scarcely departed, when the ex 
ploded opinions were preached with renewed activity, and the 
bishop of Auxerre was compelled to resume his apostolic functions. 
His labours, however, were repaid with the most complete suc 
cess. The partisans of error disappeared before him ; and Pe- 
lagianism was eradicated from the island. 10 But the satisfaction, 
which the Britons expressed at this event, was clouded by sub 
sequent misfortunes: a foreign and more formidable enemy 
arose ; and, after a long and doubtful struggle, the religion, with 
the government of the natives, sunk beneath the persevering 
efforts of the Saxons. 

The Saxons, in the commencement of the second century, 
were a small and contemptible tribe on the neck of the Cimbrian 
Chersonesus : n in the fourth, they had swelled into a populous 
and mighty nation, whose territories progressively reached the 
Elbe, the Weser, the Ems, and the Rhine. 12 Their favourite 
occupation was piracy. A body of Franks, stationed by the 

Gild. p. 72, 73. Bed. Hist. 1. 1, c. vii. 

8 Euseb. vit. Const. 1. 1, c. xvi. For the date of this persecution, an. 305, see Smith, 
(Bed. Hist, appen. p. 659.) 

9 An. 429. From whom Germanus received his mission, is an unimportant question, 
which has been warmly but fruitlessly discussed. By Constantius (Vit. Germ. 1. I, c. 
xix.) it is ascribed to the Gallic prelates ; by Prosper (Chron. ad. an. 429, lib. adv. 
coll at. c. xli.) to Pope Celestine. 

>o Vit. Ger. I. 11, c. i. 

11 Em <rov ew^ivat. TUC TjfJtCftxe %eppw<ru. Ptol. in quar. Europ. tab. That Ptolemy 
wrote before the middle of the second century, appears from the latest of his observa 
tions, which were made in the year 139, (Encyel. method. Physique, torn. i. p. 305.) 

2 Arum. Marcel. I. 37. Ethelwerd. 1. 1, f. 474, edit. Savile. 



20 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

emperor Probus on the coast of Pontus, had seized a Roman 
fleet, and steering unmolested through the Bosphorus and the 
Mediterranean sea, had reached in safety the shores of Batavia. 
Their successful temerity awakened the adventurous spirit of the 
neighbouring nations; who, though they were ignorant of the art 
of navigation, though they possessed neither the patience nor the 
skill to imitate the construction of the Roman vessels, boldly de 
termined to try their fortune on the ocean. In light and narrow 
skiffs, the intrepid barbarians committed themselves to the mercy 
of the winds and waves ; 13 the commerce of the provincials re 
warded their audacity, and increased their numbers ; and, in the 
midst of every storm, the Saxon squadrons issued from their 
ports, swept the neighbouring seas, and pillaged with impunity 
the unsuspecting coasts of Gaul and Britain. When the Emperor 
Honorius recalled the legions from the defence of the island, the 
natives, who had often experienced the desperate valour of the 
Saxons, solicited their assistance against their ancient enemies 
the Picts and the Scots. Hengist, with a small band of merce 
naries, accepted the proposal: 14 but the perfidious barbarian 
turned the sword against his employers, and the possession of 
Kent was the fruit of his treachery. The fortune of Hengist 
stimulated the ambition of other chieftains. Shoals of new ad 
venturers annually sought the shores of Britain ; and the natives, 
though they defended themselves with a courage worthy of a 
more prosperous issue, were gradually compelled to retire to the 
steep and lofty mountains which cover the western coast. 

By this memorable revolution, the fairer portion of the island, 
from the wall of Antoninus to the British channel, was unequally 
divided among eight independent chieftains. 15 The other bar 
barous tribes, that dismembered the Roman empire, exercised the 
right of victory with some degree of moderation ; and, by incor 
porating the natives with themselves, insensibly learned to imi 
tate their manners, and to adopt their worship. But the natural 
ferocity of the Saxons had been sharpened by the stubborn re 
sistance of the Britons. They spared neither the lives nor the habi 
tations of their enemies ; submission was seldom able to disarm 
their fury; and the churches, towns, and villages, all the works 
of art, and all the remains of Roman grandeur, were devoured 
by the flames. 16 But while they thus indulged their resent- 

Cui pelle salum sulcare Britannum 
Lucius, et assuto glaucum mare fmdcre lembo. 

Sid. Apol. carm. 7, ad. Avit. 

1 4 Ann. 449. 

15 Anxious for the honour of his countrymen, Gooclall attempts to prove, that the 
conquests of the Saxons were bounded by the river Tweed. See his introduction to 
Scottish history prefixed to Fordun s Scotichronicon, (Edin. 1759, p. 40.) 

16 Confovebatur de mari usque ad mare ignis, oriental! sacrilegorum manu exagge 
rates, et finitimas quasque civitates agrosque populans, qui non quievit accensus, donee 
cunctam pene exurens insulae superficiem rubra occidentalem trucique oceanum lingua 
delamberct. Gild. p. 85. Gildas was an enemy and a Briton. He may have exag- 



ZEAL OF GREGORY FOR THE CONVERSION OF BRITAIN. 21 

ment, they dried up the more obvious sources of civil and reli 
gious improvement. With the race of the ancient inhabitants 
disappeared the refinements of society, and the knowledge of the 
gospel : to the worship of the true God succeeded the impure 
rites of Woden ; and the ignorance and barbarism of the north 
of Germany were transplanted into the most flourishing pro 
vinces of Britain. 

It was once the boast, or the consolation of the Greeks, that, 
if they had been subdued by the superior fortune of Rome, Rome 
in her turn had yielded to them the empire of learning and the 
arts. 17 The history of the fifth and sixth centuries presents an 
almost similar revolution. The fierce valour of the northern bar 
barians annihilated the temporal power of Rome ; and the reli 
gion of Rome triumphed over the gods of the barbarians. 
Scarcely had the Saxons obtained the undisputed possession of 
their conquests, when a private monk conceived the bold, but 
benevolent design, of reducing these savage warriors under the 
obedience of the gospel. Gregory, on whom the veneration of 
posterity has bestowed the epithet of the great., had lately re 
signed the dignity of Roman prefect, and buried in the obscurity 
of the cloister all his prospects of worldly greatness. While he 
remained in this humble station, he chanced to pass through the 
public market at the moment in which some Saxon slaves were 
exposed to sale. Their beauty caught the eye of the fervent 
monk ; and he exclaimed, with a pious zeal, that forms so fair 
ought no longer to be excluded from the inheritance of Christ. 
Impressed with this idea, he repaired to the pontiff, and extorted 
from him a reluctant permission to quit his monastery, and an 
nounce the gospel to the barbarous conquerors of Britain. But 
the people of Rome were unwilling to be deprived of a man 
whose virtues they adored. Their clamours retarded his depart 
ure; and his subsequent elevation to the papal throne compelled 
him to abandon the design. 18 

Gregory, however, still kept his eyes fixed on Britain. The 
absence of his personal exertions he could easily supply by those 
of other missionaries ; and, from his high station in the church, 
he might direct their operations, and second their endeavours. 
The patrimony of St. Peter, in Gaul, was at this period adminis 
tered by the presbyter Candidas. To him he gave an extraordi 
nary commission to purchase a competent number of Saxon 

gerated the cruelties of the invaders ; but the substance of his narrative is corroborated 
by the Saxon chronicle, (p. 15,) and by the subsequent tenor of the Saxon history. 

17 Grjccia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes 
Intulit agresti Latio. Hon. 

18 Bede 1. ii. p. 78. I see no reason to dispute the truth of this anecdote, on the 
ground that it is not mentioned by foreign writers. Bede asserts, that he received it 
" traditionc majorum ;" and no nation could be more interested than the Saxons to pre 
serve the memory of the accident which led to their conversion. See also the Saxon 
homily in nat. 8t. Greg. p. 11. 18, edit. Elstob. 



22 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

slaves under the age of eighteen, and to send them with sure 
guides to Rome, where they might be educated under his eye, 
and at his expense. 19 It was his intention to raise them, at a con 
venient time, to the priesthood, and to employ them in the con 
version of their countrymen. But their progress was slow; and 
his zeal was impatient. After a short interval he resolved to try 
the courage of his monks, ignorant as they were of the language 
and manners of the barbarians. Having selected the most learned 
and virtuous of the community, he explained to them his views, 
elevated their hopes with the prospect of eternal rewards, and 
confirmed their consent with his apostolical benediction. Ani 
mated by the exhortation of the pontiff, the missionaries tra 
versed with speed the north of Italy, and arrived at the foot of 
the Gallic Alps : but the enthusiasm which they had imbibed in 
Rome, insensibly evaporated during their journey ; and, from 
the neighbourhood of Lerins, they despatched Augustine, their 
superior, to Gregory, to explain their reasons for declining so un 
promising and so dangerous an enterprise. But the pontiff was 
inflexible. He exhorted, conjured, commanded them to proceed ; 
he solicited in their favour the protection of the princes and pre 
lates of the Franks ; he begged of the Gallic clergy to depute 
some of their body to be their interpreters and associates ; and at 
last, after a long and tedious suspense, received the welcome 
news, that they had landed in safety on the isle of Thanet. It 
was the year five hundred and ninety-seven. 

Of the Saxon kingdoms, that of Kent was the most ancient, 
and the best disposed to receive the truths of the gospel. The 
immediate descendants of Hengist seem not to have inherited 
the martial virtues of that conqueror, but, by cultivating the arts 
of peace, they had endeavoured to excite a spirit of improve 
ment among their subjects. The example of their neighbours, 
the Franks, who had embraced the Christian faith, taught them 
to view with less partiality the worship of their ancestors ; and 
from the prosperity of that apostate people they might infer, that 
victory was not exclusively attached to the votaries of Woden. 
Bertha, daughter to Charibert, king of Paris, was married to 
their sovereign : she practised the rites of the gospel in the 
heart of their metropolis ; and the saintly deportment of Liud- 
hard, the prelate who attended her, reflected a lustre on the faith 
which he professed. From the epistles of St. Gregory it appears, 
that these and similar causes had awakened a desire of religious 
knowledge among the inhabitants of Kent, and that application 
for instruction had been made to the prelates of the Franks ; 
whose apathy and indolence are lashed by the severe but merited 
animadversions of the pontiff. 20 

9 Greg. Ep. 1. v. ep. 10. 

20 Bed. Hist, I. i. p. 61. Malm, de Reg. 1. i. c. i. f. 4, edit. Savile. Greg. Ep. 1. v. 
ep. 58, 59. 



AUGUSTINE PREACHES TO THE KENTISH SAXONS. 23 

It was at this favourable period that Augustine reached the 
isle of Thanet, and despatched a messenger to inform the Saxon 
king, that he was arrived from a distant country, to open to him 
and his subjects the gates of eternal happiness. Probably the 
mind of Ethelbert had been prepared by the diligence of his 
queen. He consented to hear the foreign priests : but fearful of 
the secret influence of magic, determined to give them audience in 
the open air. Elated with this faint gleam of success, the mis 
sionaries approached the appointed place in the slow and solemn 
pomp of a religious procession : before them was borne a silver 
cross, and a portrait of Christ ; and the air resounded with the 
anthems which they chanted, in alternate choirs, praying for the 
conversion of the pagans. Ethelbert listened with attention to the 
discourse of Augustine : his answer was reserved but humane. 
Though he expressed no inclination to abandon the worship of 
his forefathers, he acknowledged that the offers of the missionary 
were plausible, and praised the charity, which had prompted 
strangers to undertake so perilous a journey, for the advantage 
of an unknown people. He concluded with an assurance of his 
protection as long as they chose to remain in his dominions. 21 

Without the walls of Canterbury, the queen had discovered 
the ruins of an ancient church, built by the Britons in honour of 
St. Martin. By her orders it had been repaired, and given to 
the Bishop Liudhard : it was now transferred to the use of the 
missionaries, whose efforts she seconded with all her influence. 
The patronage of the sovereign insured the respect of the sub 
jects ; and curiosity led numbers to view the public service, and 
learn the religious tenets of the strangers. They admired the 
solemnity of their worship ; the pure and sublime morality of 
their doctrine ; their zeal, their austelity, and their virtue. In 
sensibly the prejudices of the idolaters wore away ; and the 
priests of Woden began to lament the solitude of their altars 
Ethelbert, who at first maintained a decent reserve, ventured to 
profess himself a Christian ; and so powerful was his example, 
that ten thousand Saxons followed their prince to the waters of 
baptism. 22 

From the natural ferocity of the Saxon character, there was rea 
son to fear that the royal convert, in the fervour of proselytism, 
might employ the flames of persecution to accelerate the progress 
of Christianity. But his teachers were actuated by motives more 

21 Bed. 1. i. p. 61. Horn. Sax. in nat. St. Greg. p. 3334. Gosceline pretends to 
give us the very speech of Augustine ; but it was probably composed for him by that 
writer, (Ang. Sac. torn. ii. p. 59.) From the Saxon homily we learn, that on this and 
similar occasions, the French clergymen served as interpreters. Anb he flljlh 
]>3eria pealytoba mu$ bam cynmge *] hip leobe Dobej* pojib 
bobobe.p. 33. 

22 Bede 1. i. c. 26. The joy of the pontiff prompted him to impart his success to 
Eulogius, the patriarch of Alexandria. In solemnitate Dominicse nativitatis plus quam 
decem millia Angli ab eodem nunciati sunt fratre et co-episcopo nostro baptisati. (Ep. 
Greg. 1. vii. ep. 30. Smith s Bed. app. viii.) 



24 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

congenial to the mild spirit of the gospel : and with a moderation 
which is not always the associate of zeal, sedulously inculcated 
that the worship of man, to be grateful to the Deity, must be the 
spontaneous dictate of the heart ; and that the obstinacy of the 
idolater was to be overcome, not by the sword of the magistrate, 
but by the labours of the missionary. 23 These lessons they had 
imbibed from the mouth of the pontiff; and they were frequently 
inculcated in his letters. In obedience to his instructions, the 
weakness and prejudices of the converts were respected ; the de 
serted temples of Woden were converted into Christian churches ; 
and the national customs gradually adapted to the offices of reli 
gion. Hitherto the Saxons had been accustomed to enliven the 
solemnity of their worship by the merriment of the table. The 
victims which had bled on the altars of the gods, furnished the 
principal materials of the feast ; and the praises of their warriors 
were mingled with the hymns chanted in honour of the Divinity. 
Totally to have abolished this practice, might have alienated 
their minds from a religion, which forbade the most favourite of 
their amusements. By the direction of Gregory, similar enter 
tainments were permitted on the festivals of the Christian mar 
tyrs ; tents were erected in the vicinity of the church ; and as 
soon as the service was concluded, the converts were exhorted 
to indulge with sobriety in their accustomed gratifications, and 
return their thanks to that Being, who showers down his bless 
ings on the human race. 24 

From Kent the knowledge of the gospel was speedily trans 
mitted to the neighbouring and dependent kingdom of Essex. 
Saberct, the reigning prince, received with respect the Abbot 
Mellitus, and invited him to reside in his metropolis. 25 But the 
prospect of the missionary closed with the death of his patron. 
The three sons of Saberct, who were still attached to the worship 
of their ancestors, bursting into the church during the time of 
sacrifice, demanded a portion of the consecrated bread, which 
Mellitus was distributing to the people. 26 The bishop (he had 
been lately invested with the episcopal dignity) dared to refuse; 
and banishment was the consequence of his refusal. He joined 
his brethren in Kent : but they were involved in equal difficul 
ties. After the death of Bertha, Ethelbert had married a second 
wife. His son Eadbald was captivated with her youth and 
beauty ; at his accession to the throne he took her to his bed ; 
and when the missionaries ventured to remonstrate, abandoned 
a religion which forbade the gratification of his passion. Dis- 

23 Bed. 1. i. c. 26. Horn. Sax. in nat. St. Greg. p. 36. 

24 For this condescension, which was copied from the practice of the first Christian 
missionaries, (Mosh. Hist. Eccl. SSBC. ii. p. 2, c. iv. not.) the pontiff has been chastised 
by the puritanical zeal of Dr. Henry, (vol. iii. p. 194.) He asserts, that it introduced 
the grossest corruptions into the Christian worship. But to accuse, is easier than to 
prove : and Henry has prudently forgotten to specify the nature of these corruptions, 

25 An. 604. 26 Bed. 1. ii. c. 5. 



CONVERSION OF EDWIN. 25 

heartened by so many misfortunes, Mellitus, with Justus of Ro 
chester, retired into Gaul. 27 Laurentius, the successor of St. 
Augustine, had determined to follow their example ; but spent 
the night before his intended departure in the church of St. Peter. 
At break of day he repaired to the palace ; discovered to the king 
the marks of stripes on his shoulders ; and assured him, that they 
had been inflicted by the hands of the apostle, as the reward of 
his cowardice. Eadbald was astonished and confounded. He 
expressed his willingness to remove the causes of discontent ; 
dismissed his father s widow from his bed; and recalled the 
fugitive bishops. His subsequent conduct proved the sincerity 
of his conversion : arid Christianity, supported by his influence, 
soon assumed an ascendancy which it ever after maintained. 28 

From the south, the knowledge of the gospel passed to the 
most northern of the Saxon nations. Edwin, the powerful king 
of Northumbria, had asked and obtained the hand of Edilberga, 
the daughter of Ethelbert : but the zeal of her brother had stipu 
lated that she should enjoy the free exercise of her religion, and 
had extorted from the impatient suitor a promise, that he would 
impartially examine the credibility of the Christian faith. With 
these conditions Edwin complied, and alternately consulted the 
Saxon priests and Paulinus, a bishop who had accompanied the 
queen. Though the arguments of the missionary were enforced 
by the entreaties of Edilberga, the king was slow to resolve ; 
and two years were spent in anxious deliberation. At length, 
attended by Paulirius_, he entered the great council of the nation ; 
requested the advice of his faithful Witan ; and exposed the rea 
sons which induced him to prefer the Christian to the pagan wor 
ship. 29 Coiffi, the high priest of Northumbria, was the first to 
reply. It might have been expected, that prejudice and interest 
would have armed him with arguments against the adoption of 
a foreign creed : but his attachment to paganism had been 
weakened by repeated disappointments, and he had learned to 
despise the gods, who had neglected to reward his services. 
That the religion which he had hitherto taught, was useless, he 
attempted to prove from his own misfortunes ; and avowed his 
resolution to listen to the reasons, and examine the doctrine of 
Paulinus. He was followed by an aged thane, whose discourse 
offers an interesting picture of the simplicity of the age. "When," 
said he, "0 king, you and your ministers are seated at table in 
the depth of winter, and the cheerful fire blazes on the hearth in 
the middle of the hall, a sparrow, perhaps, chased by the wind 
and snow, enters at one door of the apartment, and escapes by 
the other. During the moment of its passage, it enjoys the 
warmth ; when it is once departed, it is seen no more. Such is 

27 Ann. 625. Both Justus and Mellitus became afterwards archbishops of Canter 
bury. 

28 Id. 1. ii. c. 6. 29 An. 627. 

4 C 



26 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

the nature of man. During a few years his existence is visible : 
but what has preceded, or what will follow it, is concealed from 
the view of mortals. If the new religion oifer any information 
on these important subjects, it must be worthy of our atten 
tion." 30 To these reasons the other members assented. Pauli- 
nus was desired to explain the principal articles of the Christian 
faith : and the king expressed his determination to embrace the 
doctrine of the missionary. When it was asked, who would 
dare to profane the altars of Woden, Coiffi accepted the danger 
ous office. Laying aside the emblems of the priestly dignity, he 
assumed the dress of a warrior : and, despising the prohibitions 
of the Saxon superstition, mounted the favourite charger of 
Edwin. By those who were ignorant of his motives, his conduct 
was attributed to a temporary insanity. But he disregarded their 
clamours, proceeded to the nearest temple, and, bidding defiance 
to the gods of his fathers, hurled his spear into the sacred edifice. 
It stuck in the opposite wall ; 31 and, to the surprise of the trem 
bling spectators, the heavens were silent, arid the sacrilege was 
unpunished. Insensibly they recovered from their fears, and, 
encouraged by the exhortation of Coiffi, burnt to the ground the 
temple and the surrounding groves. 32 From so favourable a be 
ginning, the missionary might have ventured to predict the entire 
conversion of the nation : but he could not calculate the numer 
ous chances of war ; and all the fruits of his labours were 
speedily blasted by the immature death of the king. Edwin was 
slain as he bravely fought against Penda king of Mercia, and 
Casdwalla king of the Britons. During more than twelve months, 
the victors pillaged the kingdom of Northumbria without opposi 
tion ; Edilberga, her children, and Paulinus, were compelled to 
seek an asylum in Kent ; and the converts, deprived of instruc 
tion, easily relapsed into their former idolatry. 

The history of the Saxon kingdoms is marked with the most 
rapid vicissitudes of fortune. Oswald and Eanfrid were the sons 
of Adelfrid, the predecessor of Edwin. In the mountains of Scot 
land they had concealed themselves from the jealousy of that 
prince ; and had spent the time of their exile in learning, from 
the monks of Hii, the principles of the gospel. After the victory 
of the confederate kings, they returned to Northumbria. Eanfrid 
was treacherously slain in a parley with Csed walla: Oswald 
determined to avenge the calamities of his family and country. 
With a small, but resolute band of followers, he sought the army 

3 Bed. 1. ii. c. 13. 

31 This circumstance is not to be found in the Latin copies of Bede ; but it has been 
preserved by King Alfred in his version. Da pceaC he mib hip ypejie J5 
hie jricobe prcpce on ftam heange. Bed. Hist. Sax. p. 517. 

32 Alcuin has celebrated the fame of Coiffi in his poem on the church of York. 

O nimium tanti felix audacia facti ! 

Polluit ante alios quas ipse sacraverat aras. v. 186 



MISSION OF AIDAN. 27 

of the enemy, and discovered it negligently encamped in the 
neighbourhood of Hexham. A cross of wood was hastily erected 
by his order, and the Saxons, prostrate before it, earnestly im 
plored the protection of the God of the Christians. From prayer 
they rose to battle, and to victory. Ceedwalla was slain ; his 
army was dispersed ; and the conqueror ascended without a rival 
the throne of his ancestors. 33 As he piously attributed his suc 
cess to the favour of Heaven, he immediately bent his attention 
to the concerns of religion, and solicited a supply of missionaries 
from his former instructors. Gorman was sent, a monk of a 
severe and unpliant disposition ; who, disgusted with the igno 
rance and barbarism of the Saxons, speedily returned in despair 
to his monastery-. As he described to the confraternity the diffi 
culty and dangers of the mission, " Brother," exclaimed a voice, 
" the fault is yours. You exacted from the barbarians more than 
their weakness could bear. You should have first stooped to 
their ignorance, and then have raised their minds to the sublime 
maxims of the gospel." This sensible rebuke turned every eye 
upon the speaker, a private monk of the name of Aidan : he was 
selected to be the apostle of the Northumbrians ; and the issue 
of his labours justified the wisdom of the choice. As soon as he 
had received the episcopal ordination, he repaired to the court 
of Oswald. His arrival was a subject of general exultation ; and 
the king condescended to explain in Saxon the instructions which 
the missionary delivered in his native language. But the suc 
cess of Aidan was owing no less to his virtues than to his preach 
ing. The severe austerity of his life, his profound contempt of 
riches, and his unwearied application to the duties of his pro 
fession, won the esteem, while his arguments convinced the 
understanding of his hearers. Each day the number of prose 
lytes increased ; and, within a few years, the church of Nor- 
thumbria was fixed on a solid and permanent foundation. 34 

The East-Angles were indebted for their conversion to the 
zealous labours of Felix, a Burgundian prelate. In the com 
mencement of the seventh century, their monarch, Redwald, had 
invited to his court the disciples of St. Augustine, and received 
from them the sacrament of baptism. Yet he abjured not the 
worship of his country ; and the same temple was sanctified by 
the celebration of the Christian sacrifice, and polluted by the 
immolation of victims to the gods of paganism. 35 His son Eorp- 
wald was more sincere in his belief: but the merit of firmly 
establishing the Christian worship was, by his death, transferred 
to his successor, Sigebert, who, during a long exile in Gaul, had 
imbibed with the knowledge of the gospel a profound veneration 
for the monastic institute. No sooner had he ascended the 

33 Bed. I. iii. c. 12. Ann. 635. Bed. 1. iii. c. 35. 

35 Bed. 1. ii. c. 15. Hume (Hist. p. 32. Millar, 4, 1762) inadvertently ascribes 
the apostasy of Redwald to his son Eorpwald. 



28 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON C HURCH. 

throne, than Felix, commissioned by Honorius of Canterbury, 
requested permission to instruct his subjects. He was received 
with welcome, and fixed his residence at Dunwich, the capital 
of the kingdom. 36 By the united efforts of the king and the mis 
sionary, the knowledge of Christianity was rapidly diffused ; and, 
the better to eradicate ignorance and idolatry from the higher 
classes of the people, a public school was instituted after the 
model of that at Canterbury. 37 Having shared for a time the 
cares and splendour of royalty with Egeric, a near relation, 
Sigebert retired to a monastery to prepare himself for death. 
But his repose was disturbed by the invasion of a foreign enemy. 
A formidable body of Mercians had penetrated into the heart of 
the country ; the misfortunes of the campaign were ascribed to 
the want of conduct or of valour in Egeric ; and the East- Angles 
clamorously demanded the aged monarch, who had so often 
led them to victory. With reluctance he left his cell to mix in 
the tumult and dangers of the field. On the day of battle, when 
arms were offered him, he refused them as repugnant to the 
monastic profession, and with a wand directed the operations of 
the army. But the fortune of the Mercians prevailed : both the 
kings were slain ; and the country was abandoned to the ravages 
of the conquerors. Yet, under the pressure of this calamity, the 
converts persevered in the profession of their religion ; and Felix, 
within the seventeen years of his mission, had the merit of re 
claiming the whole nation from the errors of paganism. 

While Christianity was thus making a rapid progress in the 
kingdoms of the north and east, a new apostle appeared on the 
southern coast, and announced the tidings of salvation to the 
fierce and warlike inhabitants of Wessex. 38 His name was Bi- 
rinus. Animated with a desire of extending the conquests of 
the gospel, he had obtained from Pope Honorius a commission 
to preach to the idolatrous tribes of the Saxons. By a fortunate 

ss Anno 631. 

87 The situation and design of this school have been the subject of much controversy 
between the champions of the two universities. The origin of Cambridge was formerly 
derived by its partisans from Cantaber, a Spanish prince, who was supposed to have 
landed in Britain in the reign of Gurguntius, about 400 years before the Christian era, 
(see Caius De Ant. Cant. p. 20 60 ;) and the Oxonians, not to yield to their oppo 
nents, claimed for their first professors, the philosophers whom Brutus had brought 
with him more than a thousand years before that period, (Assertio Antiq. Oxon. p. 1. 
London, 1568.) Antiquity so remote, was too ridiculous to obtain credit: both con 
tracted their pretensions ; and Sigebert was selected for the founder of Cambridge, Alfred 
the Great for that of Oxford. The war, however, was still continued, and the most emi 
nent scholars joined either party, as their judgment or partiality directed. Without 
engaging in the dispute, I may be allowed to observe, that there appears no reason to 
believe, with the advocates for Oxford, that the school of Sigebert was designed only to 
teach the rudiments of grammar, or, with their opponents, that it was established at 
Cambridge. Bede tells us, that it was formed in imitation of the school at Canterbury, 
in which all the sciences known at that period were studied ; and Smith has made it 
highly probable that it was situated either at Scaham or Dunwich. See Smith s Bede, 
App.p. 721. 

3 8 Ann. 634. 



CONVERSION OF THE MERCIANS. 29 

concurrence of circumstances, he had scarcely opened his mis 
sion, when Oswald of Northmnbria arrived at the court of Kine- 
gils, and demanded his daughter in marriage. The arguments 
of the missionary were powerfully seconded by the influence of 
the suitor. The princess and her father embraced with docility 
the religion of Christ ; and the men of Wessex were eager to 
conform to the example of their monarch. Success expanded 
the views of Birinus : from the capital he removed to Dorches 
ter, a city on the confines of Mercia ; and flattered himself with 
the expectation of converting that extensive and populous king 
dom. 

But Mercia was destined to receive the faith from the pious 
industry of the Northumbrian princes ; who were eminently 
instrumental in the dissemination of Christianity among the nu 
merous tribes of their countrymen. Peada, the son of Penda, 
king of Mercia, had offered his hand to the daughter of Oswiu, 
the successor of Oswald : but the lady spurned the addresses of 
a pagan ; and the passion of the prince induced him to study the 
principles of her religion. His conversion was rewarded with 
the object of his affections. To those who doubted his sincerity, 
he replied that no consideration, not even the refusal of Alcfleda, 
should ever provoke him to return to the altars of Woden : but 
an argument more convincing than mere professions was the 
zeal with which he procured four Northumbrian priests to in 
struct the Middle-Angles, whom he governed as king during the 
life of his father. Even Penda himself was induced to grant his 
protection to the missionaries ; and though he refused to yield 
to their exhortations, he treated with contempt such of his sub 
jects as had enrolled themselves among the Christians, and yet 
retained the manners of pagans. Within a few years the fortune 
of war annexed the crown of Mercia to that of Northumbria, 
and Diuma, a missionary, was raised to the episcopal dignity. 
The converts were true to the faith which they had embraced ; 
and retained it with enthusiasm, after they had thrown off the 
yoke, and replaced the sceptre in the hands of their native 
princes. 

The zeal of Oswiu was not satisfied with one royal proselyte; 
and his solicitations prevailed on Sigebert, the East Saxon 
monarch, to receive the sacred rite of baptism. 39 The men of 
Essex supported the character of their fathers. Like them they 
embraced the Christian faith, and like them apostatized. A 
dreadful pestilence, which they attributed to the vengeance of 
Woden, induced them to rebuild the altars, and restore the wor 
ship of that deity. Jaruman, bishop of Mercia, was alarmed : 
with haste he repaired to the kingdom of Essex ; and by his 
preaching and authority confirmed the faith of the wavering, 
and refuted the errors of the incredulous. 40 

9 An. 053. 4o Bed. 1. iii. c. 30. 

C2 



30 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

The inhabitants of Sussex were the most barbarous of the 
Saxon nations, and the last that embraced the profession of Chris 
tianity. Unmoved by the example of their neighbours, whom 
they branded with the infamous name of apostates, they long 
resisted the repeated efforts of the missionaries ; but their obsti 
nacy was induced to yield to the superior zeal or superior ad 
dress of St. Wilfrid, a Northumbrian prelate. Expelled from 
his diocese by the intrigues of his enemies, he wandered an 
honourable exile among the tribes of the south, when Edilwalch, 
the king of Sussex, who had been lately baptized, invited him to 
attempt the conversion of his subjects. Wilfrid had travelled 
through most of the nations on the continent; to the advantages 
of study he had joined those of observation and experience ; and 
while his acquirements commanded the respect, the improve 
ments which he introduced conciliated the esteem of the barba 
rians. His first converts were two hundred and fifty slaves, 
whom, together with the isle of Selsey, he had received as a 
present from the munificence of Edilwalch. 41 On the day of 
their baptism, they were unexpectedly gratified with the offer 
of their liberty from their generous instructor, who declared that 
they ceased to be his bondsmen from the moment in which they 
became the children of Christ. The liberality of Wilfrid was 
felt and applauded : numbers crowded to his sermons ; and those 
who were not convinced by his reasons, were silenced by the 
authority of the king. Within the space of five years he firmly 
established the Christian worship in Sussex : and after his de 
parture the wants of the mission were supplied by the pastoral 
care of the bishops of Winchester. 42 

Thus in the space of about eighty years was successfully com 
pleted the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons; an enterprise, 
which originated in the charity of Gregory the Great, and was 
unremittingly continued by the industry of his disciples, with the 
assistance of several faithful co-operators from Gaul and Italy. 
Of the conduct which they pursued, and the arguments which 
they employed, a few particulars may be collected from the 
works of the ancient writers. 43 They were instructed most 
carefully to avoid every offensive and acrimonious expression ; 
to inform the judgment without alienating the affections ; and to 
display on every occasion the most disinterested zeal for the wel 
fare of their disciples. 44 The great and fundamental truth of 

41 An. 678. 

42 Compare Bede (1. iv. c. 13, v. c. 19. 28) with Eddius (vit. Wilf. c. 40) and Hun 
tingdon, (I. iii. f. 192, int. scrip, post Bed.) 

43 Daniel, bishop of Winchester, in a letter to St. Boniface, enumerates the argu 
ments, which were thought the best calculated to convince the pagans, (Ep. Bonif. p. 
78, edit. Serrar.) The letters of the pontiffs to the Saxon kings, (Wilk. con. vol. i. 
p. 12. 30. 34,) and some passages of Bede (His. 1. ii. c. 13, 1. iii. c. 22) may also be con 
sulted. 

44 Non quasi insultando vel irritando eos, sod placide et magna modcrntione. "Rn. 
Dan. ibid. 



GENERAL CONDUCT OF THE MISSIONARIES. 31 

the unity of God was the first lesson which they sought to in 
culcate. The statues of the gods could not, they observed, be 
fit objects of adoration ; since whatever excellence they pos 
sessed was derived from the nature of the materials, and the in 
genuity of the artist : 45 and from the successive generation of 
the German deities they inferred, that none of them could be the 
first great cause, from whose fecundity all other beings received 
their existence. 46 If they were the dispensers of every bless 
ing, why, it was asked, were their votaries confined to the bar 
ren and frozen climate of the north, while the warmer and more 
fertile regions were divided among those who equally despised 
their promises and their threats ? 47 If Woden were the God of 
war, why did victory still adhere to the standards of the tribes, 
which had trampled on his altars and embraced the faith of 
Christ ? To the incoherent tenets of paganism they opposed the 
great truths of revelation ; the fall and redemption of man, his 
future judgment, and endless existence during an eternity of 
happiness or misery. For the truth of these doctrines, they ad 
verted to the consent of the powerful and polished nations, 
which had preferred them to their ancient worship ; to the ra 
pidity with which, in defiance of every obstacle, they had spread 
themselves over the earth, and to the stupendous events by 
which their diffusion was accompanied and accelerated. 48 Nor 
did they hesitate to appeal, like the apostles, to the miracles, 
which deposed in favour of their mission ; and the supernatural 
powers with which they believed themselves to be invested, at 
tracted the notice of Gregory. His zeal rejoiced at the triumphs 
of the gospel : but his virtue was alarmed for the humility of his 
disciples. In a long letter to Augustine, he earnestly exhorted 
him to reflect on the nothingness of man in the presence of the 
Supreme Being; to shut his ears to the subtle suggestions of 
vanity ; and to be convinced that the wonders, which accom 
panied his preaching, were wrought by God, not to reward the 
merits of those who were only humble instruments in the hand 
of Almighty power, but to display his mercy to the Saxons, and 
to attract their minds by sensible proofs to the knowledge of 
salvation. 49 

In one respect the missionaries ventured to deviate from the 
example of those who had preceded them in their sacred functions. 

4 * Bed. 1. ii- c. 10, 1. iii.c. 22. 

46 Quoslibet ab aliis generates concede eos asserere, ut saltern modo hominum natos 
deos et deas potius homines quam deos fuisse, et caepisse, qui ante non erant, probes. 
Ep. Dan. ibid. 

47 Cum Christian! fertiles terras, vini oleique feraces cscterisque opibus abundantes 
possideant provincias, paganis frigore semper rigentes terras reliquerunt. Ibid. See 
a similar argument in Bede, (1. ii. c. 13.) 

4 8 Inferenda qnoque ssepius eis est orbis auctoritas Christiani. Ep. Dan. ibid. 

49 Quidquid de faciendis signis acceperis vel accepisti. htec non tibi sed illis deputes 
donata pro quorum tibi salute collata sunt. Ep. Greg, ad Aug. apud Bed. 1. i. c- 31, 
Wilk. con. vol. i. p. 10. 



32 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Though the first preachers of Christianity rapidly extended their 
conquests through every class of Roman subjects, almost three 
centuries elapsed before they presumed to attempt the conversion 
of the emperors. But at the period of the Anglo-Saxon mission 
the circumstances were changed. The rulers of the barbarous 
nations had proved themselves not insensible to the truths of the 
gospel ; and the influence of their example had been recently 
demonstrated in the conversion of the Franks, the Visigoths, and 
the Suevi. Hence the first object of the missionaries, Roman, 
Gallic, or Scottish, was invariably the same, to obtain the patron 
age of the prince. His favour insured, his opposition prevented 
their success. 50 Yet let not malignity judge lightly of their merit. 
If virtue is to be estimated by the effort which it requires, they 
will be entitled to no ordinary degree of praise. They abandoned 
the dearest connexions of friends and country ; they exposed 
themselves to the caprice arid cruelty of unknown barbarians : 
they voluntarily embraced a life of laborious and unceasing 
exertion, without any prospect of temporal emolument, and with 
the sole view of civilizing the manners, and correcting the vices 
of a distant and savage people. If they neither felt nor provoked 
the scourge of persecution, they may, at least, claim the merit of 
pure, active, and disinterested virtue : and the fortunate issue of 
their labours is sufficient to disprove the opinion of those who 
imagine that no church can be firmly established, the foundations 
of which are not cemented with the blood of martyrs. 51 

In the judgment of a hasty or a prejudiced observer, the faults of 
the disciple are frequently transferred to the master : and the facility 
with which the natives of Essex relapsed into idolatry after the 
death of Saberct, and those of Northumbria after the fall of Ed 
win, has encouraged a suspicion that the missionaries were more 
anxious to multiply the number, than to enlighten the minds of their 
proselytes. It should, however, be remembered that the teachers 
were few, the pupils many, and their ignorance extreme. Under 
such difficulties, the rapid, though temporary success of Mellitus 
and Paulinus bears an honourable testimony to their zeal : nor 
should it excite surprise, if, after their unfortunate expulsion, the 
converts, without the aid of instruction, or the support of the civil 
power, gradually returned to their former worship. To these 
two instances may be successfully opposed the conduct of all the 

o On this subject see the remarks of Macquer (Abrege chronologique de 1 histoire 
ecclesiastique, vol. i. p. 512, an. 1768,) who unfortunately adduces the conduct of Csed- 
walla,to prove that the converts were Christians only in name, and still retained all the 
vices of paganism. But Cssdwalla was neither a Saxon nor a convert. He was a 
British prince, whom national animosity urged to wreak his vengeance on the vanquished 
Northumbrians. 

61 1 shall not pollute these pages with the abuse which, about two centuries ago, re 
ligious bigotry so lavishly bestowed on the apostles of the Saxons. If the reader s taste 
lead him to such offal, he may peruse the works of Bayle, (Cent. 8, c. 85. Cent. 13, 
c. 1,) of Parker, (Ant. Brit. p. 3346,) and of Fox, (Acts and Mon. tom= i. p. 107.) 



BARBARISM OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 33 

other Saxon nations, in which Christianity, from its first admis 
sion, maintained a decided superiority. To object, that they 
yielded without conviction, is to venture an assertion that cer 
tainly is not countenanced by the obstinacy with which men 
adhere to their religious prejudices; and is sufficiently contradicted 
by the reserve with which Ethelbert listened to the instructions 
of Augustine, by the long resistance of Edwin to the arguments 
of Paulinus, and by the tardy but sincere conversions of Peada, 
prince of Mercia, and Sigebert, king of Essex. But the claim 
of the missionaries to the gratitude, may be best deduced from 
the improvement, of their disciples ; and whoever wishes justly 
to estimate their merit, will carefully compare the conduct of the 
Christian with that of the pagan Saxons. 

By the ancient writers, the Saxons are unanimously classed 
with the most barbarous of the nations which invaded and dis 
membered the Roman empire. 52 Their valour was disgraced by 
its brutality. To the services they generally preferred the blood 
of their captives ; and the man whose life they condescended to 
spare, was taught to consider perpetual servitude as a gratuitous 
favour. 53 Among themselves, a rude and imperfect system of 
legislation intrusted to private revenge the punishment of private 
injuries ; and the ferocity of their passions continually multiplied 
these deadly and hereditary feuds. Avarice and the lust of sen 
sual enjoyment had extinguished in their breasts some of the 
first feelings of nature. The savages of Africa may traffic with 
Europeans for the negroes whom they have seized by treachery, 
or captured in open war: but the more savage conquerors of the 
Britons sold, without scruple, to the merchants of the continent, 
their countrymen, and even their own children. 54 Their religion 
was accommodated to their manners, and their mamrers were 
perpetuated by their religion. In their theology they acknow 
ledged no sin but cowardice, and revered no virtue but courage. 
Their gods they appeased with the blood of human victims. Of 
a future life their notions were faint and wavering : and if the 
soul were fated to survive the body, to quaff ale out of the skulls 
of their enemies was to be the great reward of the virtuous : to 
lead a life of hunger and inactivity the endless punishment of the 
wicked. 55 

Such were the pagan Saxons. But their ferocity soon yielded 
to the exertions of the missionaries, and the harsher features o*f 
their origin were insensibly softened under the mild influence of 
the gospel. In the rage of victory they learned to respect the 

52 Julian, de laud. Constan. p. 116. Sidon. 1. viii. ep. 9. Zozim. 1. iii. p. 147. 

53 AltissiniEB gratioe stabat in loco. Gild. p. 87. 

54 Familiari, says Malmesbury, (de reg. I. i. c. 3,) ac pene ingenita consuctudine, 
adeo ut non dubitarent arctissimas necessitudines sub prsetextu minimorum commodo- 
rum distrahere. 

56 Two passages in Bede (1. ii. c. 13. 1. iii. c. 30) will almost justify a doubt whether 
they believed any future state at all. 
5 



34 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

rights of humanity. Death or slavery was no longer the fate of 
the conquered Britons : by their submission they were incor 
porated with the victors; and their lives and property were 
protected by the equity of their Christian conquerors. 56 The 
acquisition of religious knowledge introduced a new spirit of legis 
lation : the presence of the bishops and superior clergy improved 
the wisdom of the national councils ; and laws were framed to 
punish the more flagrant violations of morality, and prevent the 
daily broils which harassed the peace of society. The humane 
idea, that by baptism all men become brethren, contributed to 
meliorate the condition of slavery, and scattered the seeds of that 
liberality which gradually undermined, and at length abolished 
so odious an institution. By the provision of the legislature the 
freedom of the child was secured from the avarice of an unnatu 
ral parent; and the heaviest punishment was denounced against 
the man who presumed to sell to a foreign master one of his 
countrymen, though he were a slave or a malefactor. 57 But by 
nothing were the converts more distinguished than by their piety. 
The conviction of a future and endless existence beyond the 
grave elevated their minds and expanded their ideas. To pre 
pare their souls for this new state of being, was to many the first 
object of their solicitude : they eagerly sought every source of 
instruction, and with scrupulous fidelity practised every duty 
which they had learnt. 58 Of the zeal of the more opulent among 
the laity, the numerous churches, hospitals, and monasteries 
which they founded, are a sufficient proof: and the clergy could 
boast with equal truth of the piety displayed by the more emi 
nent of their order, and of the nations instructed in the Christian 
faith by the labours of St. Boniface and his associates. 59 In the 
clerical and monastic establishments, the most sublime of the 
gospel virtues were carefully practised: even kings descended 
from their thrones, and exchanged the sceptre for the cowl. 60 
Their conduct was applauded by their contemporaries : and the 
moderns, whose supercilious wisdom affects to censure it, must 
at least esteem the motives which inspired, and admire the reso 
lution which completed the sacrifice. The progress of civilization 

*e See the laws of Ina, 23, 24. 32. 46, (Wilk. leg. Sax. p. 18. 20. 22.) 

57 Though this inhuman custom was severely forbidden by different legislators, (Wilk. 
leg. Sax. p. 17. 93. 107. 138,) it was clandestinely continued long after the Norman 
conquest. (Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 258. Malm, de reg. 1. i. c. 3. Girald. de expug. Hiber, 
1. i. c. 18.) 

5 8 See Bedc (1. ii. c. 17, 1. iii. c. 26, 1. iv. c. 3. Ep. ad Egb. Ant. p. 311,) and the tes 
timony of St. Gregory. Gens Anglorum prave agerc metuit, ac totis desideriis ad seter- 
nitatis gloriam pervenire concupiscit, (Moral, 1. xxvii. c. 8. Ep. 1. ix. 58.) 

59 The Old Saxons, the Francs, the Hessians, and the Thuringians were converted 
by St. Boniface ; the inhabitants of Westphalia by St. Swibert ; the Frisians and the 
Hollanders by St. Wilfrid and St. Willibrord ; the nations north of the Elbe by St. 
Willehad. See Walker s translation of Spelman s Alfred, (proef. not.) 

60 According to Walker, (ibid.) three and twenty Saxon kings, and sixty queens and 
children of kings, were revered as saints by our ancestors. 



DISPUTE RESPECTING THE TIME OP EASTER. 35 

kept equal pace with the progress of religion : not only the useful 
but the agreeable arts were introduced ; every species of know 
ledge which could be attained, was eagerly studied ; and during 
the gloom of ignorance which overspread the rest of Europe, 
learning found, for a certain period, an asylum among the Saxons 
of Britain. 61 To this picture an ingenious adversary may, indeed, 
oppose a very different description. He may collect the vices 
which have been stigmatized by the zeal of their preachers, and 
point to the crimes which disgraced the characters of some of 
their monarchs. But the impartial observer will acknowledge 
the impossibility of eradicating at once the fiercer passions of a 
whole nation; nor be surprised if he behold several of them 
relapse into their former manners, and, on some occasions, unite 
the actions of savages with the profession of Christians. To judge 
of the advantage which the Saxons derived from their conversion, 
he will fix his eyes on their virtues. They were the offspring 
of the gospel ; their vices were the relics of paganism. 

It was fortunate for the converts, that, during the seventh cen 
tury, the peace of the western church was seldom disturbed by 
religious controversy. Though their teachers came from differ 
ent and far distant countries, they were unanimous in preaching 
the same doctrine ; and it was for several centuries the boast of 
the Saxons, that heresy had never dared to erect its standard 
within the precincts of their church. In points of discipline, 
national partiality would prompt each missionary to establish 
the practice of his own country ; though Gregory, with a lauda 
ble liberality of sentiment, exhorted his disciples to despise the 
narrow prejudices of education, and carefully to select from the 
customs of different churches, whatever was best calculated to 
promote the general interests of virtue and religion. 62 But all 
were not animated with the spirit of the pontiff. The Scottish 
monks had been taught to respect as sacred every institution, 
which had been sanctioned by the approbation of their ances 
tors ; while the Roman missionaries contended, that the customs 
of an obscure and sequestered people ought to yield to the con 
sentient practice of the principal Christian churches. Each party 
pertinaciously adhered to their own opinion ; and the controversy 
was conducted with a violence which threatened to destroy the 
fabric, that had been erected with so much labour and perse 
verance. Yet the great objects, which called forth the zeal, and 
divided the harmony of these holy men, regarded not the essen 
tials of Christianity: they were confined to, 1, the proper time 

61 See the chapter on the learning of the Saxons. 

62 Novit fraternitas tua Romance Ecclesiae consuetudinem, in qua se meminit nutritam. 
Sed mihi placet, sive in Romana, sive in Galliarum, seu in qualibet ecclesia aliquid in- 
venisti, quod plus omnipotent! Deo possit placere. sollicitc eligas, et in Anglorum 
ecclesia institutione prseeipua, qua? de multis ecclesiis colligere potuisti, infundas. Bed. 
1. i. c. 27, intcrrotr. 2. 



36 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

for the celebration of Easter, and, 2, the most approved method 
of wearing the ecclesiastical tonsure. 

1. The festival of Easter, instituted in honour of the resurrec 
tion of Christ, has always been considered as the principal of 
the Christian solemnities. To reduce the different churches of 
the east and west to uniformity in the celebration of this great 
event, was an object which engaged the attention of the prelates 
assembled in the council of Nice : and as the commencement of 
the Paschal time depended on astronomical calculation, it was 
determined that the patriarch of Alexandria should annually 
consult the philosophers of Egypt, and communicate the result 
of their researches to the Roman pontiff; whose duty it was to 
notify the day of the festival to the more distant churches. 
Unfortunately, the Roman agreed not with the Alexandrian 
method of computation ; a different cycle of years was employ 
ed ; and the limits of the equinoctial lunation were affixed to dif 
ferent days. Hence arose an insuperable obstacle to the uni 
formity required by the council ; and it not unfrequently hap 
pened, that while the western Christians were celebrating the 
joyous event of the resurrection, those of the east had but just 
commenced the penitential austerities of Lent. 63 Weary of the 
disputes occasioned by this difference of computation, the 
Roman church about the middle of the sixth century adopted a 
new cycle, which had been lately composed by Dionysius 
Exiguus, and which, in every important point, agreed with the 
Egyptian mode of calculation. 64 But the British churches, 
harassed at that period by the Saxons, and almost precluded 
from communicating with Italy, on account of the convulsed 
situation of the continent, were unacquainted with this improve 
ment, 65 and continued to use the ancient cycle, though their 
ignorance of its application caused them to deviate widely from 
the former practice of the Roman church. 66 Hence it happened 

63 The cycle of the Alexandrians contained nineteen years, that of the Romans 
eighty-four : according to the former the equinoctial new moon could not occur sooner 
than the eighth of March, nor later than the fifth of April, while the latter affixed these 
limits to the fifth of March and the third of April. Hence it happened in the year 
417, that Easter was celebrated at Rome on the 25th of March, and at Alexandria on 
the 22d of April. Smith s Bed. ap. n. 9, p. G97, 698. 

64 It contained 95 years, or five Egyptian cycles. 

65 This is the reason which Bede assigns for their adhesion to the old method. 
Utpote quibus longe extra orbem positis nemo synodalia Paschalis observantiso decreta 
porrexerat. L. iii. c, 4. 

66 On this circumstance the prejudice of party has endeavoured to build a wild and 
extravagant system. Because the British Christians of the seventh century differed 
from the Roman church in the time of celebrating- Easter, it has been gratuitously as 
sumed that they were Quartodecimans : that of consequence their fathers were of the 
same persuasion ; and ultimately that the faith was planted in Britain by missionaries, 
who were sent not from Rome, but from some of the Asiatic churches. The truth or 
falsehood of the latter hypothesis is of little consequence ; yet it is certain that the 
Britons in the time of St. Augustine were not Quartodecimans, as they observed Easter 
on the fourteenth day of the moon, only when that day happened to be a Sunday; (Bed. 
I. iii. c. 4. 17 :) and that their ancestors were not Quartodecimans is no less certain, if 



DISPUTE RESPECTING THE ECCLESIASTICAL TONSURE. 37 

that, during the sixth and seventh centuries the British Christians 
scattered along the western coasts of the island, observed in the 
computation of Easter a rule peculiar to themselves : and when 
it was asked how they, buried in an obscure corner of the earth, 
dared to oppose their customs to the unanimous voice of the 
Greek and Latin churches, they boldly but ignorantly replied, 
that they had received them from their forefathers, whose sanc 
tity had been proved by a multitude of miracles, and whose 
doctrine they considered as their most valuable inheritance. 

2. When once the spirit of controversy has taken possession 
of the mind, the most trifling objects swell into considerable 
magnitude, and are pursued with an ardour and interest, which 
cannot fail to excite the surprise, perhaps the smile, of the indif 
ferent spectator. Of this description was the dispute respecting 
the proper form of the ecclesiastical tonsure, which contributed 
to widen the separation between the Roman and Scottish mis 
sionaries. The former shaved the crown of the head, which 
was surrounded by a circle of hair, supposed to represent the 
wreath of thorns, forced by the cruelty of his persecutors on the 
temples of the Messiah: the latter permitted the iiair to grow 
on the back, and shaved in the form of a crescent the front of 
the head. Each party was surprised and shocked at the un- 
canonical appearance of the other. The Romans asserted that 
their tonsure had descended to them from the prince of the 
apostles, while that of their adversaries was the distinguishing 
mark of Simon Magus and his disciples. 67 The Scots, unable 
to refute the confident assertions of their adversaries, maintained, 
that their method of shaving the head, however impious in its 
origin, had been afterwards sanctified by the virtues of those 
who had adopted it. 63 The arguments of the contending parties 
serve only to prove their ignorance of ecclesiastical antiquity. 
During the first four hundred years of the Christian era, the 
clergy were not distinguished from the laity by any peculiar 
method of clipping the hair : and the severity of the canons pro 
ceeded no farther than the prohibition of those modes, which 
were the offspring of vanity and effeminacy. 69 The tonsure 
originated from the piety of the first professors of the monastic 

any credit be due to Eusebius, (Hist. 1. v. c. 23,) to Socrates, (1. v. c. 21 ,) to Constantino 
in his letter to the bishops, (Eus. 1. iii. c. 14,) and to the subscriptions of the British 
prelates to the council of Aries (Spel. Cone. p. 40. 42.) I should not omit that Goodall 
(ad Hist. Scot, introd. p. 66. Keith s Catal. of Scot. Bishops, pref. p. vii.) asserts that 
the Scots employed the same cycle, and observed Easter on the same day as was cus 
tomary in the Roman church previous to the council of Nice. He founds his opinion 
on the ancient paschal table published by Bucher, in which the festival is fixed on the 
fourteenth day of the moon for the years 316 and 320. 

67 Bed. 1. iii. c. 25. v. c. 21. 

C8 Numquid, says Colman, patrem nostrum Columbam, et successores ejus divinis 
paginis contraria sapuissc vcl egisse credendum est? quos ego sanotos esse non dubitans, 
semper eoruin vitam, mores, et disciplinam sequi non desisto. Bed. 1. iii. c. 25. 

09 Deflua canaries compcscitur ad breves capilios. Pruden. vt^i a-nyaivw, 13. 

u 



38 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

institute. To shave the head was deemed by the natives of the 
east a ceremony expressive of the deepest aflliction : and was 
adopted by the monks as a distinctive token of that seclusion 
from worldly pleasure, to which they had voluntarily condemned 
themselves. When, in the fifth century, the most illustrious of the 
order were drawn from their cells, and raised to the highest dig 
nities in the church, they retained this mark of their former pro 
fession ; the new costume was gradually embraced by the clergy; 
and the tonsure began to be considered, both in the Greek and 
the Latin church, as necessary for admission into the number of 
ecclesiastics. It was at this period that the circular and semi 
circular modes of shaving the head were introduced. The 
names of their authors were soon lost in oblivion; and succeed 
ing generations, ignorant of their real origin, credulously attri 
buted them to the first age of Christianity. 70 

Such were the mighty objects, which scattered the seeds of 
dissension in the breasts of these holy men. The merit of re 
storing concord was reserved for the zeal and authority of Os win, 
king of Northumbria. As that province had received the doctrine 
of the gospel from the Scottish missionaries, their influence was 
predominant with the prince and the majority of the people ; but 
his queen, Eanfled, who had been educated in Kent, and his son 
Alchfrid, who attended the lessons of St. Wilfrid, eagerly adhered 
to the practice of the Roman church. Thus Oswiu saw his own 
family divided into opposite factions, and the same solemnities 
celebrated at different times within his own palace. Desirous to 
procure uniformity, he summoned the champions of each party 
to meet him at Whitby, the monastery of the Abbess Hilda, and 
to argue the merits of their respective customs in his presence. 
The conference was conducted with freedom and decency. To 
Wilfrid was intrusted the defence of the Roman, to Colman, 
bishop of Lindisfarne, that of the Scottish missionaries. Each 
rested his cause on the authority of those from whom the disci 
pline of his church was supposed to be derived : and the king 
concluded the discussion by declaring his conviction, that the 
institutions of St. Peter were to be preferred before those of St. 
Columba. This decision was applauded by the courtiers : and 
of the Scottish monks many ranged themselves under the banners 
of their adversaries ; the remainder retired in silent discontent to 
their parent monastery in the isle of Hii. 71 

The termination of this controversy has subjected the success 
ful party to the severe but unmerited censures of several late 
historians. They affect to consider the Scottish monks as an 
injured and persecuted cast : and declaim with suspicious vehe- 

7 See Smith s Bed. app. n ix. According to an ancient book of canons quoted by 
Usher, the semicircular tonsure was first adopted in Ireland. (Ush. Ant. Brit. c. 17, p. 
924.) 

71 Bed. 1. iii. c. 25, 26. An. GG4. 



TERMINATION OF THE DISPUTES. 39 

mence against the haughty and intolerant spirit of the Roman 
clergy. 72 But, if uniformity was desirable, it could only be ob 
tained by the submission or retreat of one of the contending par 
ties : and certainly it was unreasonable to expect that those, who 
observed the discipline which universally prevailed among the 
Christians of the continent, should tamely yield to the pretensions 
of a few obscure churches on the remotest coast of Britain. 73 
The charge of persecution is not warranted by the expression of 
the original writers, who give the praise of moderation almost 
exclusively to the Romans. Bede has recorded the high esteem 
in which Aidan and his associates were held by the bishops of 
Canterbury and Dunwich ; and observes that through respect to 
his merit, they were unwilling to condemn his departure from 
the universal discipline of the Catholic church. 74 The letters 
which the Roman missionaries wrote on occasion of this contro 
versy, uniformly breathe a spirit of meekness and conciliation ; 
and prove that the writers rather pitied the ignorance, than re 
sented the obstinacy of their opponents. 75 But historic truth will 
not permit equal praise to be given to the conduct of the Scottish 
and British prelates. When Daganus, a Caledonian bishop, 
arrived at Canterbury in the days of Lawrence, the successor of 
St. Augustine, he pertinaciously refused to eat at the same table, 
or even in the same house with those, who observed the Roman 
Easter ; 76 and St. Aldhelm assures us that the clergy of Demetia 
carried their abhorrence of the Catholic discipline to such an ex 
treme, that they punished the most trivial conformity with a long 
course of penance, arid purified with fanatic scrupulosity every 
utensil, which had been contaminated by the touch of a Roman 
or a Saxon priest. 77 We may wonder and lament that for objects 
of such inferior consequence men could suspend their more im 
portant labours, and engage in acrimonious controversy: but 
candour must admit that of the two parties, the Romans had the 
better cause, and by their moderation deserved that victory which 
they ultimately obtained. 78 

72 Henry, Hist, of Brit. vol. iii. p. 204. Rapin, vol. i. p. 71. 

73 Numquid universali, qua? per orbem est, ccclesise Christi, eorum cst paucitas uno 
de angulo cxtremae insuke praferenda. Wilf. apud Bed. 1. iii. c. 25. Also 1. ii. c. 19. 

74 Bed. ibid. 

7 Bed. 1. ii. c. 4. 19. Wilk. Cone. torn. i. p. 36. 40. Ep. Bonif. 44, p. 59. 

76 Bed. 1. ii. c. 4. 

77 Apist. Aldhel. ad Geron. Regem, inter Bonifac. ep. 44, p. 59. See also Bede, I. 
ii. c. 20. Mat. West, ad an. 586. 

76 Smith s Bed. app. viii. ix. 



40 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 



CHAPTER II. 

Extensive jurisdiction of St. Augustine Archbishops of Canterbury York Lich- 
field Number of Bishoprics Election of Bishops Episcopal Monasteries Insti 
tution of Parishes Discipline of the Clergy Celibacy. 

EPISCOPAL authority is coeval with Christianity. The pleni 
tude of the priesthood, which its divine Founder had commu 
nicated to the apostles, was by them transmitted to the more 
learned and fervent of their disciples. Under the appropriate 
title of bishops, these ministers presided in the assembly of the 
faithful, delegated to the inferior clergy a discretionary portion 
of their authority, and watched with jealous solicitude over the 
interests of religion. 1 Wherever Christianity penetrated, it was 
accompanied with the episcopal institution : and the anomalous 
existence of a church without a bishop was a phenomenon re 
served for the admiration of later ages. Faithful to the practice 
of his predecessors in the conversion of nations, Augustine was 
careful to receive, within the first year of his mission, the epis 
copal consecration from the hands of the Gallican prelates. At 
the same time he consulted his patron respecting the future 
economy of the rising church. Gregory, whose zeal already 
predicted the entire conversion of the octarchy, 2 commanded it 
to be equally divided into two ecclesiastical provinces, in each 
of which twelve suffragan bishops should obey the superior ju 
risdiction of their metropolitan. London and York, which under 
the Romans had possessed a high pre-eminence over the other 
cities of the island, were selected for the archiepiscopal sees ; 
and the precedency of their prelates was ordered to be regulated 
by the priority of their consecration. But a flattering distinction 
was granted to the superior merit of Augustine. The general 
government of the mission was still intrusted to his hands ; and 
the northern metropolitan with his suffragans was directed to 
listen to his instructions, and to obey his orders 3 

From the Saxons the pontiff extended his pastoral solicitude 
to the Britons. The long and unsuccessful wars which they had 
waged against their fierce invaders, had relaxed the sinews of 
ecclesiastical discipline; and the profligate manners of their 



1 HIT- nama, says ^Elfric, iy jecpeben Episcopus, f if 

genb. f he opejiyceapige jpymle hip unbejifeobban. Ep. 
apud Wilk.Leg. Sax. p. 167. 

2 At this time the Saxon conquests were divided between eight chieftains or kings ; 
but as Bernicia and Deira were soon united to form the kingdom of Northumbria, there 
appears no reason why the word heptarchy should be rejected, as applied to a later 
period. 

3 Bede 1. i. c. 29. 



AUGUSTINE S JURISDICTION OVER THE BRITONS. 41 

clergy were become, if we may credit the vehement assertions 
of Gildas, an insult to the sanctity of their profession. More 
anxious to enjoy the emoluments, than to discharge the duties of 
their station, they purchased the dignities of the church with 
presents, or seized them by force ; and the fortunate candidate 
was more frequently indebted for his success to the arms of his 
kindred, .than to the justice of his pretensions. Indolence had in 
duced a passion for ebriety and excess ; the patrimony of the 
poor was sacrificed to the acquisition of sensual gratifications; the 
most solemn oaths were sworn and violated with equal facility ; 
and the son, from the example of his father, readily imbibed a 
contempt for clerical chastity. 4 So general and unfavourable a 
character may, possibly, excite the skepticism of the reader ; but 
the picture is drawn by the pencil of a countryman and contem 
porary ; and, though the colouring may occasionally betray the 
exaggeration of zeal, there is no reason to doubt that the outline 
is faithful and correct. Gregory lamented, and sought to remedy 
these disorders ; and, treading in the footsteps of his predecessor, 
Celestine, who two centuries before had appointed the monk 
Palladius to the government of the Scottish church, 5 invested 
Augustine with an extensive jurisdiction over all the bishops of 
the Britons. 6 To these degenerate ecclesiastics the superintend 
ence of a foreign prelate, distinguished by the severe regularity 

4 Ep. Gild. edit. Gale, p. 23, 24. 38. 

5 Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatur a Papa Celestino Palladius et primus 
episcopus mittitur. Prosp. in Chron. an. 431. What is the meaning of primus 
episcopus ? Was Palladius the first, who appeared among the Scottish Christians with 
the episcopal character, as Fordun supposes after Higden, (Hist. 1. iii. c. 8, p. 113, edit. 
Flaminio,) or was he the first in authority among the Scottish prelates, as seems to have 
been the opinion of the continuator of Fordun, and of the ancient bishops of St. An 
drews ; who, though they exercised the authority, assumed not the title of metropolitans, 
but styled themselves primi episcopi Scotorum ? (See Keith s Catalogue of Scottish 
Bishops, pref. p. iii. Goodall ad Hist. Scot, introduc. p. 65.) In either sense Celestine 
appears to have conceived himself authorized to invest his missionary with authority 
over a foreign church. 

6 Bed. 1. i. c. 27. This has been considered as a wanton invasion of the rights of the 
British churches. That it was warranted by precedent is clear from the last note ; nor 
would it be a difficult task to prove that the Britons were always subject to the jurisdiction 
of the Roman see. While they formed a part of the western empire, they must have 
been on the same footing with the other provinces ; and from the language of Gildas 
we may infer, that after their separation, they still continued to acknowledge the 
superior authority of the pontiff. He informs us that the British ecclesiastics, who had 
not sufficient interest at home to obtain the richest benefices, crossed the seas and 
traversed distant provinces with costly presents, in order to obtain the object of their am 
bition ; and then returned in triumph to their native country. Praemissis ante solicite 
nuntiis, transnavigare maria terrasque spatiosas transmeare non tarn piget quam delectat, 
ut talis species comparetur. Deinde cum magno apparatu repedantes sese patrise 
ingerunt, violenter manus sacrosanctis Christi sacrifices extensuri. (Ep. Gild. p. 24.) 
As the power of the emperors was then extinct, this passage must mean that the 
British clergymen carried their disputes before the tribunal of some foreign prelate , 
who, undoubtedly, was the bishop of Rome. For who else possessed either the right or 
the power to control competitors, who either declined the jurisdiction, or appealed frorc 
the decision of their own metropolitan 1 To this argument Stillingfleet has opposed an 
angry but evasive answer. (Orig. Brit. p. 363.) 

6 D 2 



42 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of his conduct, offered no very pleasing prospect : and when 
they reflected, that to acknowledge his authority was to subject 
their church to the control of the Saxon hierachy, their pride 
was alarmed, and they determined to refuse all connexion with 
him. 7 The difficulty of the attempt did not, however, damp the 
ardour of Augustine. He acted with a vigour proportionate to 
the confidence which Gregory had reposed in his zeal ; and, by 
the influence of Ethelbert, prevailed on some of the British pre 
lates to meet him near the confines of their country. From the 
morning till night he laboured to effect an accommodation; his 
exhortations, entreaties, and menaces were ineffectual ; but a 
miracle is said to have subdued their obstinacy, and a promise 
was extorted that they would renew the conference on a future 
day. The promise was observed ; but not till they had consult 
ed a neighbouring hermit famed for sanctity and wisdom. His 
answer betrays their secret apprehensions, and shows that the 
independence of their church was the chief object of their solici 
tude. He advised them to watch jealously the conduct of the 
missionary : if he rose to meet them, they might consider him as 
a man of a meek and unassuming temper, and securely listen to 
his demands : but jf he kept his seat, they should condemn him of 
pride, and return the insult with equal pride. 8 On the appointed 
day seven bishops, accompanied by Dinoth, abbot of Bangor, re 
paired to the conference. 9 Augustine had arrived before them : 
he did not rise at their approach ; and the advice of the hermit 
was religiously obeyed. To facilitate their compliance the mis 
sionary had reduced his demands to three : that they should ob 
serve the orthodox computation of Easter ; should conform to the 
Roman rite in the administration of baptism ; and join with 
him in preaching the gospel to the Saxons. Each request was 
refused, and his metropolitical authority contemptuously rejected. 
" Know, then," exclaimed the archbishop, in the anguish of dis 
appointed zeal, " know, that if you will not assist me in pointing 
out to the Saxons the ways of life, they, by the just judgment of 
God, will prove to you the ministers of death." They heard the 
prophetic menace, and departed. 10 

7 See the verses of a Saxon poet transcribed by Whelock (p. 114 :) but see them in 
the original ; for the Latin version has been enriched with the prejudices of the trans 
lator. 

8 Bed. 1. ii. c. 2, p. 80. 

9 Whether Dinoth possessed the gift of tongues may with reason be doubted : that he 
could not mistake the title of the British metropolitan is evident. His supposed answer 
to Augustine, which Spelrnan and \\ilkins have honoured with a place in their editions 
of the Ef.glish councils, is said to betray its origin by the modernism of its language, and 
the anachronism respecting the see of Caerleon. The forgery was detected by Turber- 
ville, (Manual, p. 460,) and defended by Stillingfleet and Bingham, (Stil. orig. Brit. p. 
360. Bing. vol. i. p. 348.) 

10 As Bede, when he enumerates the demands of Augustine, omits the recognition 
of his authority, some Catholic writers have maintained that it was not mentioned, and 
of consequence was not rejected. Their opinion is, however, expressly refuted by Bede 



SLAUGHTER OF THE BRITISH MONKS. 43 

Augustine did not long survive this unsuccessful attempt, and 
his prediction was supposed to have been verified within eight 
years after his death. 11 Edelfrid, the warlike and pagan king of 
Northumbria, had entered the British territories, and discovered 
the army of his opponents near the city of Chester. Diffident of 
their own courage, they had recourse to spiritual weapons ; and 
a detachment of more than twelve hundred monks from the 
monastery of Bangor occupied a neighbouring eminence, whence, 
like the Jewish legislator, they were expected to regulate by 
their prayers the fate of the contending armies. As soon as they 
were descried, " if they pray," exclaimed the king, " they also 
fight against us ;" and led his troops to the foot of the hill. Broc- 
mail, who had been intrusted with its defence, fled at the ap 
proach of the Saxons ; the monks were slaughtered without 
mercy; and of the whole number no more than fifty were able to 
regain their monastery. 12 

himself, (neque se ilium pro Archiepiscopo habituros. p. 80.) But are we thence to 
conclude, with other writers, that the Britons also disavowed the supremacy of the pon 
tiff? The inference will not convince the incredulity of those who know how frequently 
prelates in communion with the see of Rome, have objected to the papal mandates in 
points of local discipline. As a recent instance may be mentioned, the conduct of the 
French bishops with respect to the concordat between Pius VII. and Bonaparte. 

" There can be little doubt that the death of Augustine should be fixed to the year 605, 
and the battle of Chester to 6 1 3. See Langhorn, p. 1 45. 149. Smith s Bed. p. 8 1 , not. 29. 

12 Bed. p. 81. About five hundred years after this event, the fabulous Geoffry of 
Monmouth, anxious to exalt the character of his forefathers at the expense of their con 
querors, attributed the massacre of the monks to the intrigues of St. Augustine, and King 
Ethelbert ; and his account was adopted by the incautious credulity of two obscure his 
torians, Grey and Trivet, (Langhorn, p. 159.) But religious are more powerful than 
national prejudices. The story was improved by the reformed writers, and the arch 
bishop was represented as departing in sullen discontent from the conference, and ex 
horting the Saxon princes to efface with the blood of his adversaries the insult which 
had been offered to his authority. (See Bale, cent. 13, c. 1. Parker, p. 48, God. p. 33, 
and a crowd of more modern writers, whose zeal has re-echoed the calumny.) But this 
heavy accusation is supported by no proof, and is fully refuted by the testimony of Bede, 
who refers the massacre of the monks to its true cause, their appearance in the field of 
battle ; and expressly declares that it occurred long after the death of Augustine, (ipso 
Augustino jam multo ante tempore ad coelestia regna sublato. Bed. p. 81. To elude 
the force of this passage, Bishop Godwin has boldly asserted that it was added to the 
original text of Bede by the officious solicitude of some admirer of the missionary. He 
does not, indeed, desire us to believe him "without aiming at any proof," as Mr. Reeves 
inadvertently asserts; (Hist, of the Christ. Church, vol. i. p. 354:) but rests his opinion 
principally on the absence of the passage from the Saxon version by King Alfred. (God. 
p. 33.) He should, however, have observed that the royal translator frequently abridged 
the original, and omitted entire lines, when they were not necessary to complete the 
sense. Thus, for example, in the sentence preceding the controverted passage, he has 
not translated the account of Brocmail s flight, nor, in the sentence which follows it, the 
date of the ordination of Justus and Mellitus. (See Smith s edition of Alfred s version, 
p. 504.) Whelock is another writer, who has attempted to prop up this baseless 
calumny. (Hist. Eccl. p. 1 14.) It were easy to expose the inaccuracies into which his 
zeal has hurried him : but every candid reader will admit, that if there be any reason to 
doubt the true meaning of Alfred s version, it will be more prudent to consult the original 
of Bede, than the commentaries of controvertists. As to the Latin MSS., they uniformly 
attest the authenticity of the suspected passage. It even occurs in that of More, written 
within two years from the death of Bede, and probably transcribed from the original copy 
of the venerable historian. Smith s Bede, pref. and p. 81, not, 6. 



44 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

The system of ecclesiastical polity which Gregory had dictated 
to the missionaries, was never effectually carried into execution. 
Paulinus had indeed been consecrated for the see of York : but 
he was compelled to retire before he had completed the conver 
sion of the nation; and the Northumbrian prelates for more than 
a century aspired to no higher rank than that of bishops. 
Augustine himself preferred Canterbury to London ; and the 
metropolitical dignity was secured to the former by the rescripts 
of succeeding pontiffs. Its jurisdiction at first extended no farther 
than the churches founded by the Roman missionaries. 13 But at 
the death of Deusdedit, the sixth archbishop, the presbyter Wig- 
hard was chosen to succeed him, and sent to Rome by the kings 
of Kent and Northumbria, to receive the episcopal consecration 
from the hands of the pontiff, and to consult him respecting the 
controversies which divided the Saxon bishops. During his 
residence in that city he fell a victim to the plague; and Vitalian, 
who then enjoyed the papal dignity, seized the favourable moment 
to place in the see of Canterbury a prelate of vigour and capacity. 
The object of his choice was Theodore of Cilicia, an aged monk, 
who, to the severest morals, added a perfect knowledge of ecclesi 
astical discipline. Him he invested with an extensive jurisdiction, 
similar to that which Gregory had conferred on St. Augustine. 
At his arrival the new metropolitan assumed the title of arch 
bishop of Britain, and was acknowledged as their immediate 
superior by all the Saxon prelates. The authority which he 
claimed was almost unlimited ; but the murmurs of opposition, 
were silenced by the veneration that his character inspired, and 
by a new decree of Pope Agatho in favour of the see of Canter 
bury. After his death, different bishops attempted to assert their 
independence; and the successors of St. Augustine had more 
than once to contend with the ambition of their suffragans. The 
first who dared to refuse obedience was Egbert, bishop of York, 
and brother to the king of Northumbria. Depending on the 
ancient regulation of St. Gregory, and supported by the influence 
of his brother, he appealed to the pontiff; and a papal decree 
severed from the immediate jurisdiction of the Kentish metropoli 
tan, all the bishoprics situated to the north of the Humber. 14 His 
success roused the hopes of a more dangerous antagonist. The 
great prerogatives of Canterbury were an object of jealousy to 
Offa, the haughty and powerful king of Mercia. He thought it 
a disgrace that his prelates should profess obedience to the bishop 
of a tributary state ; and resolved to invest the ancient see of 
Lichfield with the archiepiscopal dignity. Janbyrht of Canter 
bury was not wanting to himself in this controversy. He 
entreated and threatened : he employed the influence of friends 
and of presents : he adduced the decrees of former popes, and 

13 Bede, 1. iv. c. 2. 

14 Chron. Sax. An. 735. Malm, de Pont. 1. iii. f. 153. 



MULTIPLICATION OF BISHOPRICS. 45 

pleaded the prescription of two centuries in favour of his church. 
But the power of Offa was irresistible. His design was approved 
by the prelates of an English council, and their approbation was 
confirmed by a rescript of the Roman pontiff. The bishops of 
Mercia and East-Anglia acknowledged the authority of the new 
metropolitan ; and the archbishop of Canterbury, condemned to 
lament in silence the diminution of his revenue and authority, 
reluctantly contented himself with the obedience of the bishops 
of Rochester, London, Selsey, Winchester, and Sherburne. But 
the triumph of the Mercian was not of long continuance. Within 
nine years Kenulf ascended the throne, and, actuated either by 
motives of justice, or by the desire of reconciling to his government 
the inhabitants of Kent, expressed his willingness to restore to 
the church of Canterbury that pre-eminence which it originally 
enjoyed. The most formidable obstacle arose from a quarter 
where it had been least expected. Leo, who was then invested 
with the papal dignity, refused to alter a regulation which, at the 
general petition of the Saxon nobility and clergy, had been esta 
blished by his predecessor. To overcome the opposition of the 
pontiff, it required an embassy from the king, and a journey to 
Rome by the archbishop, Ethelward. But his consent was no 
sooner obtained, than it was joyfully received by the Saxon pre 
lates, and the metropolitan of Lichfield descended to the subordi 
nate station of a suffragan. 15 The event of this contest proved 
honourable and useful to the see of Canterbury; and so firmly 
established its precedency, that it has since borne, without suffer 
ing any considerable injury, the revolutions of more than ten 
centuries. 16 

The first Saxon dioceses were of enormous extent, and gene 
rally commensurate to the kingdoms in which they were esta 
blished. The jurisdiction of the see of Winchester stretched from 
the frontiers of Kent to those of the Cornwall Britons : a single 
bishopric comprised the populous and extensive province of 
Mercia ; and the prelate who resided sometimes at York, some 
times in Lindisfarne, watched over the spiritual interests of all 
the tribes of Saxons and Picts, who dwelt between the Humber 

15 For this controversy consult Wharton, (Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 429, 430. 460,) the 
Saxon chronicle, (an. 785,) and Wilkins, (p. 152. 160, 1647.) 

16 From the original grants it is evident that the great authority conferred on St. Au 
gustine and Theodore was meant to expire at their death. (Bed. p. 70. 160. Wilk. 
p. 41.) Yet their successors often claimed, and sometimes exercised a superiority over 
all the neighbouring churches. From numerous records it appears that the bishops of 
Scotland, and even of Ireland, frequently repaired to Canterbury, for the sacred rite of 
consecration, (Wilk. p. 373, 374. Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 80, 81:) and though the majority 
of the Welch prelates continued to profess obedience to the bishop of St. David s, yet 
those of Landaff, who disputed the archiepiscopal dignity with the possessors of that see, 
rather than submit to their adversaries, acknowledged the authority of the English me 
tropolitan. Their celebrated bishop, Oudoceus, with the approbation of Mouric, king 
of Glamorgan, had been ordained by St. Augustine; and his successors were careful to 
observe a practice which had been sanctioned by his example. Langhorn, p. 137. 
Usher de prim. p. 85. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 673. 



46 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

and the friths of Forth and Clyde. No powers of any individual 
were adequate to the government of dioceses so extensive ; and 
Theodore, from the moment of his arrival in England, had formed 
the design of breaking them into smaller and more proportionate 
districts. But few men can behold with pleasure the diminution 
of their authority or profit : and the duty of transmitting unim 
paired to future ages the dignity which they enjoyed, would fur 
nish the reluctant prelates with a specious objection against the 
measures of the primate. Theodore, however, secure of the 
protection of the holy see, pursued his design with prudence and 
with firmness. The contumacy of Winfrid, the Mercian bishop, 
he chastised by deposing him from his dignity, and successively 
consecrated five other prelates for the administration of his 
extensive diocese : 17 and when Wilfrid of York had incurred the 
resentment of his sovereign, the king of Northumbria,he improved 
the opportunity, and divided into four bishoprics the provinces 
of that kingdom. The conduct of Theodore was imitated by his 
immediate successor, and, within a few years after his death, the 
number of Saxon bishops was increased from seven to seventeen. 18 
This augmentation was not, however, sufficient to satisfy the 
spiritual wants of the people; and the venerable Bede zealously 
laments that, in the great and populous diocese of York there 
were many districts which had never been visited by their bishop, 
and thousands of Christians, whose souls had not received the 
Holy Spirit by the imposition of his hands. 19 To remove so 
alarming an evil, this enlightened monk earnestly but ineffectu 
ally proposed that the original plan of Gregory the Great should 
be completed; that the church of Northumbria should be intrusted 
to the separate administration of twelve prelates ; and that the 
new episcopal sees should be fixed in some of the rich but nomi 
nal monasteries, which covered and impoverished that kingdom. 20 
The election of bishops has frequently been the subject of con 
troversy between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. As long 
as the professors of the gospel formed a proscribed but increasing 
party in the heart of the Roman empire, each private church 
observed without interruption the method established by its 
founder. But after the conversion of Constantino, when riches 
and influence were generally attached to the episcopal dignity, 

17 Bed. 1. iv. c. 6. Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 423, not. 

* They were, in Kent, Canterbury and Rochester; in Essex, London; in East-An- 
glia, Dunwish and Helmham ; in Sussex, Selsey ; in Wessex, Winchester and Sherburne ; 
in Mercia, Lichfield, Leicester, Worcester, and Sydnacester ; in Northumbria, York, 
Hexham, Lindisfarne, and Whithern. 

9 Bed. ep. ad Egb. p. 307. 

20 Habito majore concilio et consensu pontifical! simul et regali, prospiciatur locus 
aliquis monasteriorum ubi sedes episcopalis fiat .... Quod enim turpe est dicere, tot 
sub monasteriorum nomine hi, qui monachicae vitse prorsus supt immunes, in suam 
ditionem acceperunt, ut omnino desit locus ubi filii nobilium aut emeritorum militum 
possessionem ampere possint. Bed. ibid. p. 309. The nature of these nominal or lay 
monasteries will be explained in one of the following chapters. 



ELECTION OF BISHOPS. 47 

the freedom of canonical election alarmed the jealousy of the 
imperial court ; the prince often assumed the right of nominating 
to the vacant sees ; and the clergy were compelled to submit to 
a less, rather than provoke by resistance a more dangerous evil. 
However, the occasional exercise of the imperial claim was chiefly 
confined to the four great patriarchal churches of Aritioch, Alex 
andria, Constantinople, and Rome : arid of the eighteen hundred 
dioceses which the empire comprised, the greater part enjoyed, 
till the irruption of the barbarians, the undisturbed possession of 
their religious liberties. But the Saxon church in its infancy 
was divided among seven independent sovereigns, ignorant of 
ecclesiastical discipline, and impatient of control. Their im 
petuosity was not easily induced to bend to the authority of the 
canons ; and their caprice frequently displayed itself in the choice 
and expulsion of their bishops. Of this a remarkable instance is 
furnished by the conduct of Coinwalch, king of Wessex. Agil- 
bert, a Gallic prelate, whom his industry and talents had re 
commended to the notice of the king, was appointed by him to 
succeed Birinus, the apostle of that nation. But the influence 
of the stranger was secretly undermined by the intrigues of Wini, 
a Saxon ecclesiastic of engaging address and more polished ac 
cent ; and after a decent delay, the foreign bishop received from 
Coinwalch an order to surrender to the favourite one-half of his 
extensive province. Opposition was fruitless: and Agilbert, 
rather than subscribe to his own disgrace by retaining a mu 
tilated diocese, retired from the kingdom of Wessex, and left his 
more fortunate antagonist in possession of the whole. 21 But 
Wini in his turn experienced the caprice of his patron. On some 
motive of disgust he also was compelled to abdicate his see, and 
an honourable but fruitless embassy was sent to Agilbert to 
solicit him to return. Similar instances which occur during the 
first eighty years of the Saxon church, show the inconstant 
humour and despotic rule of these petty sovereigns : and the 
submission of the prelates proves, that they were either too 
irresolute to despise the orders, or too prudent to provoke the 
vengeance of princes, whose power might easily have crushed the 
fabric, which they had reared with so much difficulty and danger. 
By Theodore the discipline of the Saxon church was reduced 
to a more perfect form. The choice of bishops was served to 
the national synods, in which the primate presided, and regulated 
the process of the election. 22 Gradually it devolved to the clergy 
of each church, whose choice was corroborated by the presence 
and acclamations of the more respectable among the laity. 23 But 

21 Uncle offensus graviter Agilbertus, quod hoc ipso inconsulto ageret Rex, rediit 
Galliarn. Bede, 1. iii. c. 7. 

22 Compare Wilkins, (p. 46,) Bede, (1. iv. c. 28, v. c. 8. 18,) and the letter of Wald- 
har, bishop of London, (Smith s Bede, p. 783.) 

23 Electio prsesulum et abbatum tempore Anglorum penes clericos et monachos erat. 
Malm, de Pont. I. iii. f. 157. Plegmund of Canterbury was chosen op Dobe anb 



48 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

the notions of the feudal jurisprudence insensibly undermined 
the freedom of these elections. As it was dangerous to intrust 
the episcopal power to the hands of his enemy, the king forbade 
the consecration of the bishop elect, till the royal consent had 
been obtained : and as the revenues of the church were origi 
nally the donation of the crown, he claimed the right of investing 
the new prelate with the temporalities of his bishopric. As soon 
as any church became vacant, the ring and crosier, the emblems 
of episcopal jurisdiction, were carried to the king by a deputation 
of the chapter, and returned by him to the person whom they 
had chosen, with a letter by which the civil officers were order 
ed to maintain him in the possession of the lands belonging to 
his church. 24 The claims of the crown were progressive. By 
degrees the royal will was notified to the clergy of the vacant 
bishopric under the modest veil of a recommendation in favour 
of a particular candidate : at last the rights of the chapter were 
openly invaded ; and before the fall of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty 
we meet with instances of bishops appointed by the sovereign, 
without waiting for the choice, or soliciting the consent of the 
clergy. 25 

The ministers of the public worship in the infancy of the Saxon 
church were divided into two classes, the clergy and the monks ; 
who, as they were at first united by their common desire to con 
vert the barbarians, were afterwards rendered antagonists by the 
jealousy of opposite interests. The companions of St. Augustine, 
when he departed from Rome, were Italian monks : but during 
his journey he was joined by several of the Gallic clergy, to 
whose labours and preaching, as they alone spoke the Saxon, 
language, he was greatly indebted for the success of his mis- 
op eallen hip halleclien, (Chron. Sax. p. 90:) JEdnoth of Dorchester, tarn cleri 
quam populi votis, (Hist. Rames. p. 343. 447,) Adulph of York, omnium consensu et 
voluntate regis et episcoporum, cleri etpopulorum. (Coen. Burgen. hist. p. 31.) The 
archbishop of Canterbury is said to have retained the right of nominating to the see of 
Rochester. Selden, not. ad Eadmer. p. 144. 

24 Ingulf, p. 32. 39. 63. A letter written by Edward the Confessor on one of these 
occasions is preserved in the history of Ely, p. 512. 

25 A multis itaque annis retroactis nulla electio praelatorum erat mere libera et cano- 
nica : sed omnes dignitates tam episcoporum quam abbatum per annulum et baculum 
Regis curia pro sua complacentia conferebat. Ing. p. 63. The royal nomination, how 
ever, was not always successful. Egelric, appointed by Edward to the archbishopric 
of York, was refused by the canons, and compelled to retire to the church of Durham. 
(Coen. Burg. hist. p. 45. Simeon says he was opposed by the clergy of Durham, p. 
167.) That the right assumed by the crown was often exercised to the disadvantage 
of religion, became the subject of frequent complaint under the Saxon princes, (Chron. 
Sax. p. 157. 162, Ingulf, p. 63. Sim. Dun. p. 166;) but after the Norman conquest 
the abuse grew intolerable ; and the first ecclesiastical dignities were prostituted by 
William Rufus to the highest bidder. At last the pontiffs interfered, and reclaimed the 
ancient freedom of canonical election. This gave birth to the celebrated dispute con 
cerning investitures, which has furnished many writers with a favourite theme, the 
ambition of the Roman bishops. In treating it, they whimsically declaim against the 
ignorance of the higher clergy at that period, and vet condemn the only measure which 
could remedy that evil. 



ANGLO-SAXON CLERGY. 49 

sion. 26 The economy of the rising church soon demanded his 
attention : and, desirous to imitate the discipline of other Christian 
countries, he placed his monks in a convent without the walls of 
Canterbury ; and intrusted the duty of his cathedral to the clergy 
who had accompanied him from Gaul. 27 Scarcely, however, 
was the archbishop dead, when (if we may give credit to a sus 
picious charter) the partiality of Ethelbert attempted to disturb 
the order established by his teacher, and permission was obtained 
from the pontiff to introduce a colony of monks, who might either 
supersede, or assist the former canons. 28 But if this plan were 
in contemplation, there is reason to believe it was not executed. 
Long after the death of Ethelbert, we discover the clergy in pos 
session of Christchurch ; nor were they compelled to yield their 
benefices to the superior power of the monks before the com 
mencement of the eleventh century. 29 

The motives which actuated Augustine, probably induced 
many of the other prelates to establish communities of clergy for 
the service of their cathedrals. St. Aidan, indeed, seems to form 
an exception. Lindisfarne, which he had chosen for his resi 
dence, was regulated after the model of the parent monastery in 
the isle of Hii ; and both the bishop and his clergy practised, as 
far as their functions would permit, the same religious observ 
ances as the abbot and his monks. But the apology which Bede 
orfers for the singularity of the institution, is a sufficient proof, 
that it had been adopted by few of the other prelates ; 30 and 
the many regulations, which occur in the acts of the Saxon coun 
cils, respecting the conduct and the dress of the canons, shew that 
order of men to have been widely diffused through the different 
dioceses of the heptarchy. 31 

36 Compare the 38th and 59th epistles of St. Gregory, (ep. 1. v.) with Bede s History, 
(1. i. c. 27, inter. 1, 2.) See also Alford, ann. 598, and Stillingfleet s answer to Cressy, 
p. 271. 

27 See Spelman, (Cone. vol. i. p. 116,) the bull of Eugenius IV. to the canons of the 
Lateran, (Pennot. de canon. 1. ii. c. 14,) and Smith, (Flores hist. p. 363.) 

28 Quod postulasti concedimus, ut vestra benignitas in Monasterio Sancti Salvatoris 
monachorum regulariter viventium habitationem statuat. Ep. Bon. iv. ad Ethel, apud 
Spel. vol. i. p. 130. 

2 9 See the charter of Ethelred to the monks after he had expelled the canons. (Wilk. 
Con. p. 282. 284.) Stillingfleet shows that, notwithstanding the introduction of the 
monks, the clergy still possessed several prebends in that church as late as the reign of 
Henry the Second. (Ans. to Cressy, p. 290.) 

3 Neque aliquis miretur . . . revera enim ita est . . . . Ab Aidano omnes loci 
ipsius antistites usque hodie sic episcopale exercent officium, ut regente monasterium 
Abbate, quern ipsi cum concilio fratrum elegerint, omnes presbyteri, diaconi, cantores, 
lectores, cseterique gradus ecclesiastici, monachicam per omnia cum ipso episcopo regu- 
lam servant. Bed. vit. Cuth. c. xvi. 

81 Wilk. torn. i. p. 101. 147. 286. Tom. iv. app. p. 754. See also the letter of St. 
Boniface addressed to the Saxon bishops, priests, deacons, canons, clerks, abbots, monks, 
&c. (Ep. Bonif. 6, edit. Ser.) Eugenius IV. ascribes the introduction of canons to 
the order of St. Gregory. Beatissimus Gregorius Augustino Anglorum episcopo, velut 
plantationem sacram in commisso sibi populo praecepit institui. BulJa Eug, IV. paud 
Pennot. cit. Smith Flores, p. 363, 

7 E 



50 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHtJRCH. 

Under the general appellation of canons our ancestors com 
prised the ecclesiastics, who professed to regulate their conduct 
by the decrees of the councils, and the statutes of the ancient 
fathers. 32 In almost every episcopal see, contiguous to the 
cathedral, was erected a spacious building, which was distin 
guished by the name of the episcopal monastery, and was de 
signed for the residence of the bishop and his clergy. 33 The 
original destination of the latter was the celebration of the di 
vine service, and the education of youth : and, that they might 
with less impediment attend to these important duties, they were 
obliged to observe a particular distribution of their time, to eat 
at the same table, to sleep in the same dormitories, and to live 
constantly under the eye of the bishop, or, in his absence, of the 
superior whom he had appointed. 34 But they retained the 
power of disposing of their own property ; and in this respect 
the canonical differed essentially from the monastic profession. 35 
Their numbers were constantly supplied from the children who 
were educated under their care, and the proselytes, who, dis 
gusted with the pleasures or the troubles of the world, requested 
to be admitted into their society. Among them were to be found 
the descendants of the noblest families, and Thanes, who had 
governed provinces, and commanded armies. 36 A severe pro 
bation preceded their admittance into the order : nor did they 
receive the tonsure from the hands of the bishop, till their con 
duct had been nicely investigated, and the stability of their voca 
tion satisfactorily proved. 37 

These communities were the principal seminaries for the edu 
cation of the clergy. Though each parish-priest was constantly 
attended by a certain number of inferior clerks, who were or- 

32 Canones dicimus regulas, quas sancti patres constituerunt, in quibus scriptum est, 
quomodo canonici, id est, clerici regulares vivere debent. Excerp. Egb. Arcbiep. p. 101. 
As Northumbria was principally converted by the Scottish missionaries, the clergy were 
there known by the Scottish name of Guldees, (Colidei or Keledei, from Keile servus, 
and Dia Deus, Goodall, introd. ad Hist. Scot. p. 68.) In the cathedral church of York 
they retained this appellation as late as the eleventh century. (Monast. Ang. vol. ii. 
p. 368.) This circumstance alone is sufficient to refute the strange notion of some 
modern Scottish writers, that the Culdees were a kind of presbyterian ministers, who 
rejected the authority of bishops, and differed in religious principles from the monks. 
Goodall has demonstrated from original records, that they were the clergy of the cathe 
dral churches who chose the bishop, arid that all their disputes with the monks regarded 
contested property, not religious opinions. See preface to Keith s Catalogue of Bishops, 
p. viii. 

33 Alford, the learned annalist, has incautiously sanctioned the vulgar error that a 
monastery necessarily implies a habitation of monks. (Alf. torn. iii. p. 182.) The 
distinction of clerical and monastic monasteries is repeatedly inculcated in our Saxon 
writers. (Wilk. p. 86. 100. 160. Gale, p. 481.) It was equally known in other nations. 
See the epistle of St. Ambrose to the church of Vercelli, (1. iii.) the life of St. Augus 
tine by Possidius, (c. xi.) the sermons of St. Augustine, (de diversis, 49, 50,) the coun 
cil of Mentz, (c. 20,) and Historia de los Seminaries clericales, (eri Salamanca, 1778, 
p. 614.) 

34 Bed. 1. i. c. 27. Wilk. p. 147. 293. 3S Cone. Aquisgran, I. can. 115. 
36 Hoved. an. 794. 796. Wilk. p. 226, xiii. 37 Wilk. p. 98. 



EDUCATION OF THE CLERGY. 51 

dered to listen to his instructions, and were occasionally raised to 
the priesthood ; yet it was from the episcopal monastery that the 
bishop selected the most learned and valuable portion of his 
clergy. With the assistance of the best masters, the young ec 
clesiastics were initiated in the different sciences which were 
studied at that period : while the restraint of a wise and vigilant 
discipline withheld them from the seductions of vice, and inured 
them to the labours and the duties of their profession. Accord 
ing to their years and merit they were admitted to the lower 
orders of the hierarchy : and might, with the approbation of 
their superior, aspire at the age of five-and-twenty to the rank 
of deacon, at thirty, to that of priest. 38 But it was incumbent 
on the candidate to prove, that no canonical impediment forbade 
his promotion ; that he was not of spurious or servile birth ; that 
he had not been guilty of any public and infamous crime ; and, 
if he had formerly lived in the state of wedlock, that neither he 
nor his wife had been married more than once. 39 From the 
moment of his ordination he was bound to obey the commands 
of his bishop ; to reside within the diocese ; to limit the exercise 
of his functions according to the directions of his superior ; and 
to serve with fidelity the church in which he might be placed. 40 
But though he was thus rendered dependent on the nod of his 
diocesan, that prelate was admonished to temper the exercise of 
his authority with mildness and discretion, and to recollect, that 
if, in the discharge of the episcopal duties, he was the superior, 
on other occasions he was the colleague of his priests. 41 

In the infancy of the Saxon church, the scanty supply of mis 
sionaries was unequal to the multiplied demands of the people 
intrusted to their care. The bishop either followed the court and 
preached according to his leisure and opportunity ; or fixed his 
residence in some particular spot, whence, attended by his clergy, 
he visited the remoter parts of the diocese. Churches were not 
erected except in monasteries, and the more populous towns ; 
and the inhabitants of the country depended for instruction on 
the casual arrival of priests, whom charity or the orders of their 
superiors induced to undertake these obscure and laborious jour 
neys. Bede has drawn an interesting picture of the avidity with 
which the simple natives of the most neglected cantons were ac 
customed to hasten, on the first appearance of a missionary, to 
beg his benediction, and listen to his instructions : 42 and the cele 
brated St. Cuthbert frequently spent whole weeks and months in 
performing the priestly functions, amid the most mountainous 
and uncultivated parts of Northumbria. 43 The inconvenience 



. 106, 107. 

39 Id. p. 85. It was necessary, as will be proved hereafter, that his wife should be 
dead, or have consented to a perpetual separation. 
Id. p. 43. 83. 102. 105. 127. 171. 
4 Id. p. 103. "2 Bed. 1. iii. c. 26. < 3 Bed. vit. Cuth. c. 9, 16. 



52 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of this desultory method of instruction was soon discovered ; and 
Honorius of Canterbury is said to have first formed the plan of 
distributing each diocese into a proportionate number of parishes, 
and of allotting each to the care of a resident clergyman. 44 But 
the authority is doubtful ; and the attempt, if it were made, was 
probably confined to the territories of the Kentish Saxons. To 
Archbishop Theodore belongs the merit of extending it to the 
neighbouring churches, from which it was gradually diffused over 
the remaining dioceses. That prelate exhorted the thanes to 
erect and endow, with the permission of the sovereign, a com 
petent number of churches within the precincts of their estates ; 
and, to stimulate their industry, secured to them and their heirs 
the right of patronage. 45 Thus the ecclesiastical distribution of 
each diocese into parishes, was conformable to the civil division 
of the province into manors : but as many of these were of 
great extent, to accommodate the more distant inhabitants, orato 
ries were erected, which, though at first subordinate to the 
mother church, were frequently, with the concurrence of the 
bishop, emancipated from their dependence, and honoured with 
the parochial privileges. 46 

Theodore, however, was careful not to deprive the bishop of 
that authority which was necessary for the government of the 
his clergy. Though the right of advowson was vested in the 
patron, the powers of institution and deprivation were reserved 
unimpaired to the diocesan. 47 Besides the regulations which that 
prelate might think proper to publish in his annual visitation, 
twice in the year the parish priests were compelled to attend the 
episcopal synod, to give an account of their conduct, and to re 
ceive the orders of their superior. 43 They were admonished that 
to preach the pure doctrine of the gospel, and to eradicate the 
lurking remains of idolatry, were among the most important of 
their obligations. 49 Each Sunday they were to explain in Eng 
lish that portion of the Scripture which was read during the 
mass, and to devote a part of their time to the instruction of their 
parishioners in the truths and duties of Christianity. 50 Through 
veneration to the holy husel, the victim of salvation whom they 

44 Godwin de prasul. p. 40. 

45 Smith s Bede, p. 189, not. Whelock s Bed. p. 399, not. Spelman s Councils, p. 
152. The bishops appear to have ceded the right of advowson to the lay proprietor on 
these conditions ; that he should build a church and habitation for the clergyman, 
should assign a certain portion of glebe land towards his support, and should grant him 
the tithes of his estate. If the thane afterwards built another church, and the bishop 
permitted it to have a burial-ground, the incumbent might claim one-third of the tithes ; 
otherwise he was to be supported at the expense of the patron. This I conceive to be 
the meaning of the many regulations in Wilkins, p. 103. 245. 300. 302. 

Ibid. 

47 Wilk. p. 1 03, xxiii. 1 05, Ivii. 

48 Id. p. 146, i. iii. 

49 Id. p. 96, viii. xii. 1 50, xix. 

50 Id. p. 102, iii. vi. 134, xiii. 135, rv. 



DISCIPLINE OF THE CLERGY. 53 

believed to be immolated on their altars/ 1 the church, the vest 
ments, and the sacred vessels were ordered to be kept clean, and 
to be treated with respect. 52 The sick were particularly recom 
mended to their care. They were frequently to visit them, to 
hear their confessions, to carry them the eucharist, and to anoint 
them with the last unction. 53 In the tribunal of penance, an in 
stitution which formed the most difficult of their functions, they 
were advised to weigh with discretion every circumstance, that 
they might apportion the punishment to the crime : and, in order 
to assist their judgment, were frequently to consult, and scrupu 
lously to observe the directions of the penitentiary. 54 They were 
exhorted to be satisfied with the revenue of their churches; and 
the severest censures awaited the priest, who presumed to de 
mand a retribution for the discharge of his functions. 55 Every 
dissipating amusement and indecorous employment was forbid 
den. They could neither accept of civil offices, nor engage in the 
speculations of commerce. The tumultuous pleasures of the 
chase and of public diversions they were exhorted to despise as 
derogatory from their character, and to employ their leisure 
hours in the study of theology, and the exercise of manual labour. 
Their dress was to be plain but decent : free from the ornaments 
of fashionable vanity; and conformable to the severity of the 
canons. 56 To bear arms was strictly forbidden ; but arms were 
always worn by the Saxon as a token of his freedom, and the 
number of statutes by which they were prohibited, is a proof of 
the diffusion and obstinacy of this national prejudice. 57 

The obvious tendency of these laws was to enforce the duties, 
and to uphold the sanctity of the priestly character. But there 
was another regulation, the general expediency of which will 
not be so universally admitted. From the gospel and the epis 
tles of St. Paul, the first Christians had learned to form an exalted 
notion of the merit of chastity and continency. 58 In all, they 
were revered : from ecclesiastics, they were expected. To the 
latter were supposed more particularly to belong that voluntary 
renunciation of sensual pleasure, and that readiness to forsake 
parents, wife, and children, for the love of Christ, which the Sa 
viour of mankind required in the more perfect of his disciples : 59 
and this idea was strengthened by the reasoning of the apostle, 
who had observed, that while the married man was necessarily 

51 Sacrificium victimae salutaris. Bed. 1. iv. c. 28. 

52 Wilk. p. 107, c. 219, xxvi. 

53 Id. p. 60, vii. 102, xx. 103, xxi. xxii. 127, xv. 

54 Id. 115, i. 125, i. 236, ix. 

55 Id. p. 102, xii. 104, xl. 146, iii. Burials were excepted from this law. See chap 
ter iii. 

5 6 Id. p. 99, xxviii. 102, xiv. xvi. xviii. 112, clix. 124, vii. viii. 138, 139. 
" Id. p. 102, xvii. 1 12, civ. clxi. 

5 s Mat. xix. 10. 1 Cor. vii. 
59 Luk. xiv. 26. 

E 2 



54 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

solicitous for the concerns of this world, the unmarried was at 
liberty to turn his whole attention to the service of God. GO Hence 
it was inferred that the embarrassments of wedlock were hostile 
to the profession of a clergyman. His parishioners, it was said, 
were his family; and to watch over their spiritual welfare, to in 
struct their ignorance, to console them in their afflictions, and to 
relieve them in their indigence, were expected to be his constant 
and favourite occupations. 61 But though the first teachers of 
Christianity were accustomed to extol the advantages, they do 
not appear to have imposed the obligation of clerical celibacy. 
Of those who had embraced the doctrine of the gospel, the ma 
jority were married previously to their conversion. Had they 
been excluded from the priesthood, the clergy would have lost 
many of its brightest ornaments : had they been compelled to 
separate from their wives, they might justly have accused the 
severity and impolicy of the measure. 62 They were, however, 
taught to consider a life of continency, even in the married state, 
as demanded by the sacredness of their functions: 63 and no sooner 
had the succession of Christian princes secured the peace of 
the church, than laws were made to enforce that discipline, which 
fervour had formerly introduced and upheld. 64 The regulations 
of the canons were supported by the authority of the emperors : 
by Theodosius, the priest who presumed to marry, was deprived 
of the clerical privileges ; by Justinian, his children were decla 
red illegitimate. 65 Insensibly, however, the Greek and Latin 
churches adopted a diversity of discipline, which was finally 
established by the council in Trullo. Both of them indulged the 
inferior clerks with the permission to marry: though that mar 
riage, until it was dissolved by the natural death of the wife, or 
interrupted by her voluntary retreat into a convent, was an 
effectual bar to their future promotion. But by the Greeks they 
were only forbidden to aspire to the episcopal dignity ; by the 
severity of the Latins they were excluded from the inferior 
orders of sub-deacon, deacon, and priest. 

The reader who is more conversant with modern than with 
ancient historians may not, perhaps, be disposed to believe that 
the discipline of the Latins was ever introduced into the Saxon 
church. He has, probably, been taught, that "the celibacy of the 
clergy was first enjoined by the popes in the tenth century, and 
not adopted by our ancestors till five hundred years after their 

eo 1 Cor. vii. 32, 33. 

61 The validity of this inference is maintained in the very act of parliament which 
licenses the marriages of the clergy. 2 Ed. vi. c. 21. 

62 Hawarden, Church of Christ, vol. ii. p. 405. 410. Ed. 1715. 

63 Orig. Horn. 23 in Lih. Num. Euseb. Dem. Evan. 1. i. c. 

64 See the councils of Elvira, (can. 33,) of Neocaasarea, (can. 1,) of Ancyra, (can. 
10,) of Carthage, (con. 2, can 2,) and of Toledo, (con. 1, can. 1.) 

65 Ne legitimos quidem et proprios esse eos, qui ex hujusmodi inordinata constupra- 
tione, nascuntur, aut nati sunt. Leg. 45, cap. de epis. et cler. 



CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY. 55 

conversion : that the Saxon hishops and parochial clergy, like 
those of the present church of England, added to the care of their 
flocks that of their wives and children : and that even the mo 
nasteries of monks were in reality colleges of secular priests, who 
retained the choice, without quitting the convent, either of a mar 
ried or a single life." 66 But after a patient, and, I think, impar 
tial investigation, I hesitate not to say that the marriages of the 
ancient Saxon clergy must be classed with those imaginary 
beings, which are the offspring of credulity or prejudice. Had 
they been permitted, they would certainly have claimed the no 
tice of contemporary writers, and have been the object of synod- 
ical regulations : but to search for a single trace of their existence 
in the writings of contemporaries, or the regulations of synods, 
will prove an ungrateful and a fruitless labour. 67 Every monu 
ment of the first ages of the Saxon church which has descended 
to us, bears the strongest testimony that the celibacy of the clergy 
was constantly and severely enforced. Of the discipline esta 
blished by the Roman missionaries, every doubt must be removed 
by the answer of St. Gregory to St. Augustine, according to which, 
only the clerks who had not been raised to the highest orders, and 
who professed themselves unable to lead a life of continency, 
were permitted to marry ; 68 and the consentient practice of the 
northern Saxons is forcibly expressed by Ceolfrid, the learned 
abbot of Weremouth, 69 by Bede, in different passages of his writ 
ings, 70 and by Egbert, the celebrated archbishop of York, in his 
excerpta. 71 In many of the canons which are acknowledged to 
have been observed by their successors, it is either evidently sup- 

ss See Tindall s Rapin, (torn. i. p. 80,) Burton s Monasticon Eboracense, (p. 30,) 
Hume, (Hist. c. ii. p. 28,) and Henry, (Hist. vol. iii. p. 215.) 

67 Among the writers, who contend that the Saxon clergy were permitted to marry, 
I am acquainted with no one besides Inett, who has ventured to appeal to any contem 
porary authority. He refers his reader to Theodore s penitentiary, which was published 
by Petit with so many interpolations that it is impossible to distinguish the original 
from the spurious matter, (Inett, vol. i. p. 124.) The words in the penitentiary are 
these : Non licet viris focminas habere monachas, neque freminis viros : tamen non 
destruamus illud quod consuetudo est in hac terra. (Poen. p. 7.) But this passage, if 
genuine, speaks not of the clergy nor of marriage: and probably alludes to the secular 
or double monasteries, which will be afterwards described, and in which it sometimes 
happened that communities of monks or nuns were subjected to the government of per 
sons of a different sex. This custom the canon disapproves, though it dares not 
abolish it. 

68 Si qui sint clerici extra sacros ordines constituti, qui se continere non possunt, 
sortiri uxores debent. Bed. Hist. 1. i. c. 27. 

69 Carnem suam cum vitiis et concupiscentiis crucifigere oportet eos qui gradum 
clericatus habentes arctioribus se necesse habent pro domino continentise fraenis astrin- 
gere. Ep. Ceolf. ad Naiton reg. apud Bed. 1. v. c. 21. 

70 Sine ilia castimoniae portione, quse ab appetitu copulae conjugalis cohibet, nemo 
vel saccerdotium suscipere vel ad altaris potest ministerium consecrari ; id est, si non 
aut virgo permanserit, aut contra uxorite conjunctionis foedera solvent. Bed. de taber. 
1. iii. c. 9. See also his commentary on St. Luke, c. 1. 

7 Clerici extra sacros ordines constituti, id est, riec presbyteri nee diaconi sortiri ux 
ores debent; sacerdotes autem nequaquam uxores ducant. Exc. Egb. apud Wilk. p. 
1 1 2, can. clx. 



56 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

posed 72 or openly commanded. 73 The sentence of degradation is 
pronounced against the priest or deacon who shall presume to 
marry : 74 and the ecclesiastic who had separated from his wife 
to receive the sacred right of ordination, and had returned to her 
again, was condemned to a penitential course of ten or seven 
years. 75 An improvement was made on the severity of the 
fathers assembled in the great council of Nice, and even female 
relations were forbidden to dwell in the same house with a 
priest. 76 During more than two hundred arid fifty years from 
the death of Augustine, these laws respecting clerical celibacy, 
so galling to the natural propensities of man, but so calculated to 
impart an elevated idea of the sanctity which becomes the priest 
hood, were enforced with the strictest rigour: but during part of 
the ninth, and most of the tenth century, when the repeated and 
sanguinary devastations of the Danes threatened the destruction 
of the hierarchy no less than of the government, the ancient ca 
nons opposed but a feeble barrier to the impulse of the passions: 
and of the clergy who escaped the swords of the invaders, seve 
ral scrupled not to violate the chastity which at their ordination 
they had vowed to observe. Yet even then the marriage of 
priests was never approved, perhaps never expressly tolerated, 
by the Saxon prelates : 77 and as often as a transient gleam of 

72 Wilk. p. 103, xxxi. 

73 Dobep p acenbap . *] biaconap. "j oj>pie Dobep fteopap $e 
on Dobep temple Lobe fcemgan p cylon. ^ haligbom. *] halig 
bee hanbligan. fca pcylon pymble hyna claennyp pe healban. 
"God s priests and deacons, and God s other servants, that should serve in God s temple, 
and touch the sacrament and the holy books, they shall always observe their chastity." 
Poenit. Eg. p. 133, iv. 

74 Dip mseppe ppieopt o]>]>e biacon pipige. fcoligonhyrta habep. 
"If priest or deacon marry, let them lose their orders." Ibid. i. and p. J34, v. But 
deposition was the only punishment : the marriage was not annulled. It was only in 
the twelfth century that holy orders were declared to incapacitate a person for marriage. 
Pothier, Traite du Contrat de Marr. p. 135. 

75 Dip hpylc gehabob man. bipceop o]?}>e maeppe ppeopt o}?J?e 
munuc o]?]? e biacon hip gemaeccan haepbe aeji he gehabob paerie. 
^ fca pon Dobep lupon hig pojilec. ] to habe peng. *] hig 
fconne epc pyj^an cojaebene hpyjipbon Sunn haemeb %mg. 
paepte aelc be hip enbebyjibnyppe. ppa hit bupan apniten 
yp be manphte. "If any man in orders, bishop, priest, monk, or deacon, had 
his wife, ere he were ordained, and forsook her for God s sake, and received ordination, 
and they afterwards return together again through lust, let each fast According to his 
order, as is written above with respect to murder." Ibid. p. 136. 

76 ^ElconDobep Scope feeon claennyppe Dobe Seopigan pcyle. 
yp pop.boben -f he naj>opi ne hip magan ne o]?enne pipman port 
nanep peoncep fcingon inne mib him naebbe. ftilaep he buph 
beoplep copnunje fcaert on jepmgije. Ibid. p. 134, vi. 

77 The only semblance of a proof that these marriages were tolerated, occurs in 
the regulations for the clergy of Northumbria, published about the year 950, and 
designed, as I conceive, to direct the officers in the bishop s court. Dip pjieopc 
rpenan porilcEte. *] o^pe mme. anapcma pic. "If a priest forsake hi 



CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY. 57 

tranquillity invited them to turn their attention to the restoration 
of discipline, the prohibitions of former synods were revived, and 
the celibacy of the clergy was recommended by paternal exhort 
ations, and enforced by the severest penalties. 78 

To calculate the probable influence of this institution on the 
population of nations has frequently amused the ingenuity and 
leisure of arithmetical politicians ; of whom many have not hesi 
tated to arraign the wisdom of those by whom it was originally 
devised, and of those by whom it is still observed. Yet, in de 
fiance of their speculations, several Catholic countries continue to 
be crowded with inhabitants ; and to account for the scanty popu 
lation of others we need only advert to the defects of their con 
stitution, the insalubrity of the climate, the establishment of 
foreign colonies, and barrenness of a parched and effete soil. 79 
Neither is it certain that to increase the number of inhabitants 
is, in all circumstances, to increase the resources of the state ; 
but it is evident that the man, who spends his life in promoting 
the interests of morality, and correcting the vicious propensities 
of his fellow-creatures, adds more to the sum of public virtue and 
of public happiness than he whose principal merit is the number 
of his children. If it be granted that the clerical functions are 
of high importance to the welfare of the state, it must also be 
acknowledged that, in the discharge of these functions, the unmar 
ried possesses great and numerous advantages over the married 
clergyman. Unencumbered with the cares of a family, he 
may dedicate his whole attention to the spiritual improve 
ment of his parishioners : free from all anxiety respecting 
the future establishment of his children, he may expend with 
out scruple the superfluity of his revenue, in relieving the dis 
tresses of the sick, the aged, and the unfortunate. Had Augus 
tine and his associates been involved in the embarrassments 
of marriage, they would never have torn themselves from their 
homes and country, and have devoted the best portion of their 
lives to the conversion of distant and unknown barbarians. Had 
their successors seen themselves surrounded with numerous 
families, they would never have founded those charitable esta 
blishments, nor have erected those religious edifices, that testify 
the use to which they devoted their riches, and still exist to re- 
concubine and take another, let him be accursed." (Wilk. p. 219, xxxv.) This by 
some is explained to imply a permission to keep one concubine, provided she be put 
on the same footing as a wife ; but others, with greater probability, conceive the curse 
to be directed against him, who having put away one concubine at the requisition of 
the bishop, had afterwards taken another. 

78 See Wilkins, p. 214, i. 225, viii. 229, Ix. 233, xxxi. 250, v. vi. 268, xii. 286, i. 
293. 301, vi. From the severity of the thirty-first canon, published in the reign of 
Edgar, Johnson is convinced that it must have been composed by St. Dunstan. The 
learned translator had probably forgotten that it was composed two centuries before, and 
published by Archbishop Egbert. Compare Wilk. p. 136, with p. 233, xxxi. 

See on the last cause a curious dissertation by the Abbe Mann. Transactions 
of Acad. of Sciences at Manheim, vol. vi. 
8 



58 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

proach the parsimony of succeeding generations. 80 But it was 
not from the impolicy of the institution, that the reformers 
attempted to justify the eagerness with which they emancipated 
themselves from its yoke. 81 They contended that the law of 
clerical celibacy was unjust, because it deprived man of his 
natural rights, and exacted privations incompatible with his 
natural propensities. To this objection a rational answer was 
returned : that to accept the priestly character was a matter of 
election, not of necessity : and that he, who freely made it the 
object of his choice, chose at the same time the obligations an 
nexed to it. The insinuation that a life of continency was above 
the power of man, was treated with the contempt which it de 
served. To those, indeed, whom habit had rendered the obse 
quious slaves of their passions, it might appear, with reason, too 
arduous an attempt : but the thinking part of mankind would 
hesitate before they sanctioned an opinion which was a libel on 
the character of thousands, who, in every department of society, 
are confined by their circumstances to a state of temporary or 
perpetual celibacy. 



CHAPTER III. 

Revenues of the Clergy Donations of Land Voluntary oblations Tithes Church 
Dues Right of Asylum Peace of the Church Romescot. 

IT is a maxim of natural equity, consecrated by the uniform 
practice of the wisest as well as the most illiterate nations, that 
the man whose life is devoted to the service, should be sup 
ported at the expense of the public. As the ministers of religion 
are engaged in the exercise of functions the most beneficial to 
society, they may with justice claim a provision, which shall be 
sufficient to remove the terrors of poverty, and permit a close 

80 " He that hath wife and children," saith Lord Bacon, " hath given hostages to 
fortune : for they are impediments to great enterprises either of virtue or mischief. 
Certainly the best works, and of the greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from 
the unmarried or the childless man, which both in affection and means have married 
and endowed the public. . . . Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best 
servants .... A single life doth well with churchmen : for charity will hardly water 
the ground, where it must first fill a pool." Bacon s Essays, p. 17, London, 1696. 
A Roman philosopher was of the same opinion. Vita conjugalis altos et generosos 
spiritos frangit, et a magnis cogitationibus ad humillimas detrahit. Seneca. 

81 It is amusing to hear the reasons assigned by Bale for his union with the faithful 
Dorothy. Scelestissimi antichristi characterem illico abrasi, et ne deinceps in aliquo 
essem tarn detcstabilis bestise creatura, uxorem accepi Dorotheam fidelem, divinse huic 
voci auscultans ; qui se non continet, nubat. Baleus de seip. Cent. viii. c. ult. 



DONATIONS OF LAND. 59 

attention to the discharge of their duties : but the manner in 
which this provision should be secured, is a subject of political 
discussion, and has always varied according to the exigence of 
circumstances, the manners of the people, and the method of 
public instruction. The present chapter will attempt to inves 
tigate the principal sources, from which the support of the Anglo- 
Saxon clergy was originally derived. The civil and religious 
revolutions of more than ten centuries have occasioned many 
important alterations : yet the more lucrative of the ancient 
institutions are still permitted to exist. Though the zeal of the 
first reformers execrated the doctrines, it was not hostile to the 
emoluments of popery : and their successors are still willing to 
owe their bread to the liberality of their Catholic ancestors. 

I. As donations of land were the usual reward with which 
the Saxon princes repaid the services of their followers, they 
naturally adopted the same method of providing for the wants 
of their teachers : and in every kingdom of the heptarchy some 
of the choicest manors belonging to the crown were separated 
from its domain, and irrevocably allotted to the church. Ethel- 
bert, of Kent, as he was the first of royal proselytes, stands the 
foremost in the catalogue of royal benefactors. He withdrew 
his court from Canterbury to Reculver, and bestowed on the 
missionaries the former city and its dependencies : with propor 
tionate munificence he founded the episcopal see of Rochester ; 
and as soon as Saberct, king of Essex, had received the sacred 
rite of baptism, assigned, in conjunction with that prince, an 
ample territory for the support of the Bishop Mellitus and his 
clergy. 1 The other Saxon monarchs were emulous to equal the 
merit of Ethelbert ; and the fame of their liberality has been 
transmitted to posterity by the gratitude of the ecclesiastical 
historians. Kinegils, of Wessex, gave the city of Dorchester to 
his teacher, Birinus ; and from his son and successor, Coinwalch, 
the church of Winchester received a grant of all the lands within 
the distanc.6 of seven miles from the walls of that capital. 2 The 
isle of Selsey, containing eighty-seven hides, together with two 
hundred and fifty slaves, was bestowed by Edilwalch, of Sussex, 
on the missionary, St. Wilfrid ; 3 and the wealth of the ancient 
Northumbrian prelates sufficiently attests the munificence of 
Oswald and his successors. Nor were the episcopal churches the 
sole objects of their liberality. In proportion to the diffusion of 
Christianity, parishes were established, and monasteries erected. 
In every parish a certain portion of glebe land was assigned 
towards the maintenance of the incumbent ; and each monastery 
possessed estates proportionate to the number of its inhabitants. 
As landed property was the great source of civil distinction 

1 Bed. 1. i. c. 33, 1. ii. c. 3. Monast. vol. i. p. 18. Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 333. 

2 Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 190. 288. 

3 Bed. 1. iv. c. 13. 



60 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

among our ancestors, the principal of the clergy were thus raised 
to an equality with the temporal thanes, admitted into the great 
council of the nation, and vested with an authority, which ren 
dered them respectable even in the eyes of those who still adhered 
to the religion of their forefathers. 

The piety of the converts was seldom content with the mere 
donation of their property : and the value of the present was 
generally enhanced by the immunities which they annexed to it. 
The tenure of lands among the Anglo-Saxons had been esta 
blished on nearly the same principles as in the other northern na 
tions : and each estate subjected its proprietor to the performance 
of several duties to its superior lord. But most of the clerical 
and monastic possessions were soon discharged from every servile 
and unnecessary obligation. 4 By a transition easy to the human 
mind, they were considered as the property, not of man, but of 
God; and to burden them with the services which vassals were 
compelled to render to their superiors, was deemed a profanation 
and a sacrilege. A just distinction, however, was drawn between 
the claims of individuals and those of the public : and while the 
former were cheerfully abandoned, the latter were strictly exact 
ed from the ecclesiastical no less than the lay proprietor. To re 
pair the roads and bridges, to contribute towards the maintenance 
of the fortifications, and to furnish an equitable proportion of 
troops in the time of war, were services so essential to the na 
tional prosperity, that from them no exemption could be granted. 
Such was the solemn declaration of Ethelbald, king of Mercia: 5 
but other princes were not always guided by the same policy, 
and, unless some charges of ancient dates have been fabricated 
in more modern times, we must believe that several monasteries 
were emancipated from every species of secular service, and per 
mitted to enjoy the protection, without contributing to the exi 
gencies of the state. 6 

In addition to these immunities, others, equally honourable in 
themselves, and more beneficial to the public, were enjoyed by 
the principal of the clerical and monastic bodies. The king, who 
erected a church or monastery, was urged by devotion, some 
times perhaps by vanity, to display his munificence : and the 
distinctions, which he lavished on its inhabitants, seemed to 
reflect a lustre on the reputation of their founder. The superior 
was frequently invested by the partiality of his benefactor, with 
the civil and criminal jurisdiction : and throughout the domain 
annexed to his church, he exercised the right of raising tolls on 
the transport of merchandise, of levying fines for breaches of the 
peace, of deciding civil suits, and of trying offenders within his 

4 Wilk. p. 57. 60. 

6 Wilk. p. 100. Spel. p. 527. Lei. Collect vol. ii. p. 54. 

6 See the charters of Ina, (Wilk. p. 80,) of Witlaff, (ibid. p. 177,) of Bertull, (ibid, 
p. 183,) and of Edward the Confessor, (ibid. p. 318.) 



CAUSES OF BENEFACTIONS. 61 

courts. 7 These important privileges at the same time improved 
his finances, and peopled his estates. The authority of the cleri 
cal was exercised with more moderation than that of the secular 
thanes : men quickly learned to prefer the equity of their judg 
ments to the hasty decisions of warlike and ignorant nobles ; and 
the prospect of tranquillity and justice encouraged artificers and 
merchants to settle under their protection. Thus, while the lay 
proprietors reigned in solitary grandeur over their wide but 
unfruitful domains, the lands of the clergy were cultivated and 
improved ; their villages were crowded with inhabitants ; and 
the foundations were laid of several among the principal cities 
in England. 

That spirit of liberality which distinguished the first converts, 
was inherited by many of their descendants. In every age of 
the Saxon dynasty we may observe numerous additions made to 
the original donations : and the records of different churches 
have carefully preserved the names and motives of their bene 
factors. Of many the great object was to support the ministers 
of religion, and by supporting them to contribute to the service 
of the Almighty. Others were desirous to relieve the distresses 
of their indigent brethren ; and with this view they confided 
their charities to the distribution of the clergy, the legitimate 
guardians of the patrimony of the poor. 8 A numerous class was 
composed of thanes, who had acquired opulence by a course of 
successful crimes, and had deferred the duty of restitution, till 
the victims of their injustice had disappeared. These were 
frequently induced, towards the decline of life, to confer, as a 
tardy atonement, some part of their property on the church: and 
when they had neglected it, their neglect was generally compen 
sated by the pious diligence of their children and descendants. 9 
To these motives may be added, the want of heirs, the hope of 
obtaining spiritual aid from the prayers of the clergy, gratitude 
for the protection which the church always offered to the unfor 
tunate, and a wish to defeat the rapacity of a powerful adversary; 
all of which contributed in a greater or less degree to augment 
the possessions of the ecclesiastics. Had the revenue arising 
from these different sources been abandoned to the judgment or 
caprice of the incumbents, it might frequently have been abused ; 
and the abuse would probably have relaxed the zeal of their 
benefactors. But this evil had been foreseen, and, in some 
measure, prevented by the wisdom of Gregory the Great. Ac 
cording to a constitution, which that pontiff sent to the mission 
aries, the general stock was divided into four equal portions. 10 

7 Gale, p. 318. 320. 323. 490. 512. Wilk. p. 80. 177. 256. 

8 Wilk. p. 19. 102, v. 228, Iv. Ivi. 

9 This is the meaning of the terms which so frequently occur in the ancient charters, 
"pro remedio, salute, redemptione anim mess et priorum, antecessorum meorum." 

o Bed. 1. i. c. 27. 

F 



62 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Of these, one was allotted to the bishop for the support of his 
dignity ; another was reserved for the maintenance of the clergy ; 
a third furnished the repairs of the church and the ornaments of 
religious worship ; and the last was devoted to the duties of 
charity and hospitality. It formed a sacred fund, to which every 
man who suffered under the pressure of want or infirmity was 
exhorted to apply, without the fear of infamy or the danger of a 
repulse. 

In estimating the riches of the Saxon clergy, a hasty observer 
may adopt the most exaggerated calculation. But if there were 
many circumstances which favoured, there were also many 
which retarded their aggrandizement : and each list of benefac 
tions may be nearly balanced by an opposite catalogue of losses 
and depredations. 1. The liberality of their friends was shackled 
by the restraints of the law. As the ecclesiastical estates were 
emancipated from the services, with which secular tenures were 
encumbered, and belonged to a body whose existence was per 
petual, every donation of land to the church proved a loss to the 
crown, arid was considered as invalid, until a charter of confirma 
tion had been obtained from the piety, or purchased from the 
avarice of the prince. 11 2. The easy concession of former kings 
frequently appeared unreasonable to their successors, whose 
necessities were more pressing, or whose veneration for the 
church was less indulgent. Sometimes with, often without the 
pretext of justice, they seized the most valuable manors belong 
ing to the clergy, and, sensible of their power in this world, de 
spised the threats of future vengeance which their predecessors 
had denounced against the violators of their charters. The first, 
who thus invaded the patrimony of the church, were Ceolred of 
Mercia, and Osred of Northumbria. The former perished sud 
denly ; the latter fell by the hands of his enemies : and though 
their fate was ascribed to the anger of Heaven, it did not always 
deter succeeding princes from copying their example. 2 3. The 
rapacity of the monarch often stimulated that of the nobles, who 
viewed with a jealous eye the wealth of the clergy, and consider 
ed the donations of their ancestors as so many injuries offered to 
their families. Whenever the favour of the sovereign, or the 
anarchy in which the Saxon governments were frequently 
plunged, afforded a prospect of impunity, they seldom failed to 
extort by threats, or seize by violence, the lands which were the 
objects of their avarice. 13 4. The prelates themselves often con 
tributed to the spoliation of their sees. They assumed a right 
of granting to their friends and retainers a portion of lands, to be 
holden by them and their heirs during a certain number of years, 
and after that period to revert to the church: but their successors 

11 See Gale, p. 322. 326, 327. 

12 See Wilkins, torn. i. p. 89. 93. 
> 3 Ibid. p. 100. 144. 



RESTRAINTS. 63 

always found it difficult to recover what had thus been alienated, 
and were generally compelled either to relinquish their claims, or 
to continue the original grant in the same family. 14 5. War was 
another source of misfortune to the church. Its property was 
indeed guarded by the most terrific excommunications : but in 
the tumult of arms, spiritual menaces were despised ; and if some 
princes respected the lands of the clergy, others ravaged them 
without mercy, and reduced the defenceless incumbents to a 
state of absolute poverty. So exhausted was the see of Roches 
ter by the devastations of Edilred, king of Mercia, that two suc 
cessive bishops resigned their dignity, and sought from the charity 
of strangers that support which they could not obtain in their own 
diocese. 15 From the whole history of the Saxon kingdoms it is 
evident that the temporal prosperity of the church depended on 
the character of the prince who swayed the sceptre. If he de 
clared himself its patron, the stream of wealth flowed constantly 
into its coffers : if he were needy and rapacious, it presented the 
most easy and expeditious means to satisfy his avarice. During 
the revolutions of each century, it alternately experienced the 
fluctuations of fortune : and the clergy of the same monastery at 
one time possessed property more ample than the richest of their 
neighbours ; at another were deprived of the conveniences, per 
haps even of the necessaries of life. 

II. Besides the produce of their lands, the clergy derived a 
considerable revenue from the voluntary oblations of the people. 
During the three first centuries of the Christian era, the church 
could not boast of the extent of her possessions : but the fervour 
of her more wealthy children supplied the absence of riches, and 
by their daily liberality she was enabled to support her ministers, 
maintain the decency of religious worship, and relieve the neces 
sities of the indigent. However adequate this resource might 
prove during the time of persecution, the clergy naturally wished 
for a provision of a less precarious tenure, which should remain 
when the fervour of their disciples had subsided; and their wishes 
were speedily realized by the numerous estates which they re 
ceived from the bounty of the Christian emperors. This import 
ant alteration might diminish, but it did not abolish the oblations 
of the people ; they still continued to offer at the altar the bread 
and wine for sacrifice ; and the treasury of each church was 
frequently enriched by valuable presents of every description. 17 
The liberality of the Saxon converts did not yield to that of their 
brethren in other countries. The custom of voluntary oblations 
was adopted in the southern provinces at the recommendation 

14 Several curious charters of this description are printed in Smith s Bede, (app. xxi.) 
and a Catalogue of them is preserved by Wanely, (Ant. litt. Septen. p. 255.) 
1 s Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 2. 

lfi See a remarkable instance in Ingulf, (p. 11.) 
17 Bingham, vol. i. p. 185. 



64 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of the Roman missionaries; in the northern it was introduced by 
the Scottish monks. Though it does not appear to have been 
commanded by any legislative authority, it was preserved in its 
ancient vigour as late as the close of the tenth century. At that 
period the pious Christian (so we learn from Archbishop ^Elfric) 
was accustomed "to repair on each Sunday with his offering to 
the church, and to implore by his prayers and alms the blessing 
of Heaven on all the people of God." 18 It must be evident, that 
a revenue which thus depended on the means and the disposition 
of the people, was of a very fluctuating nature : but, while the 
offerings of the poor could only have been considerable by their 
number, those of the rich were frequently of the highest value. 
In the inventories of different churches we constantly meet with 
gold and silver vases, the richest silks, vestments, gems, and 
paintings; and the display of these ornaments on the more solemn 
festivals, gratified the piety, and awakened the emulation of the 
spectators. 

III. But the principal resource of the parochial clergy was the 
institution of tithes. Under the Mosaic dispensation the faithful 
Israelite had been commanded to distribute the tenth of his 
annual profits among the ministers of the altar; his example was 
spontaneously imitated by the more devout of the Christian laity ; 
and when a legal provision was called for by the rapid increase 
of the clergy, the establishment of tithes was adopted as the least 
oppressive mode by which it could be raised. In the sixth and 
seventh centuries, this offering, which, in its origin, had been 
voluntary, began to be exacted as a debt in almost every Chris 
tian country; and the practice of the more fervent during the 
preceding ages was conceived to justify the claim. If we may 
believe a royal legislator, the payment of tithes among the Sax 
ons was as ancient as their knowledge of the gospel, and intro 
duced by St. Augustine, together with the other practices common 
to the Christians of that period. 19 But men are not often prompted 
to make pecuniary sacrifices from the sole motive of duty : and 
as the number of the clergy was small, and their wants were 
liberally supplied by the munificence of the converted princes, it 
is probable, that for several years their pretensions were generally 
waived, or feebly enforced. 20 The institution, however, of paro 

18 CDib heona opnungum cuman to Sserie msepj-an r-ymble 
n yjT e F ! 1 ea l Lobey pole ftmgien segj^en ge mib heona 
gebebum ge mib heojia selmefpan. Wilk. torn. i. p. 273. 

9 See the ninth law of Edward the Confessor, (Wilk. p. 31 !.)> I am sensible that 
this alone is not sufficient to make the establishment of tithes coeval with the profession 
of Christianity in this country: but it is strengthened by the testimony of St. Boniface 
of Mentz, and Egbert of York, who, in the course of the eighth century, speak of them 
as of an old regulation. See Wilkins, p. 92. 102. 107, and note (A) at the end of the 
volume. 

20 Thus Alcuin dissuaded a missionary in Germany, placed in similar circumstances, 
from enforcing the payment of tithes. Ale. ep. apud Mabil, vet. analec. p. 400. 



PLOUGH-ALMS. 65 

chial churches, imperiously required an augmentation of the 
number of pastors ; and, to provide for their support, the pay 
ment of tithes was, before the close of the eighth century, severely 
commanded by civil and ecclesiastical authority in the council 
of Calcuith. 31 The regulations which were then adopted, at the 
recommendation of the papal legates, received many improve 
ments from the piety or the policy of succeeding legislators. The 
obligation was declared to extend to every species of annual 
produce, even to the profits of merchandise and of military ser 
vice ; 22 and, that avarice might not shelter itself under the pretext 
of ignorance, the times of payment were carefully ascertained, 
the festival of Pentecost for the tithe of cattle, and that of Michael 
mas or All-saints for the tithe of corn. Censures and penalties 
were denounced against the man who presumed to withhold the 
property of the church. His produce of the year was divided 
into ten equal parts, of which one was given to the minister, four 
were forfeited to the proprietor of the land, and four to the bishop : 
and the execution of this severe law was intrusted to the vigi 
lance of those who were to profit by it, the curate, the lord of the 
manor, the bishop s reeve, and the king s reeve. 23 

IV. Whether it was that this resource proved inadequate, or 
that the clergy were unwilling to surrender the advantages which 
they derived from the piety of the people, several other charities 
were converted into obligations, and enforced by the canons of 
the church and the laws of the prince. 1. Within fifteen days 
after the festival of Easter, a donation, probably of one silver 
penny for every hide of arable land, was exacted under the ap 
pellation of plough-alms, as an acknowledgment that the distri 
bution of the seasons was in the hands of the Almighty, and to 
implore his blessing on the future harvest. 24 2. At the feast of 
St, Martin, a certain quantity of wheat, sometimes of other grain, 
was offered on the altar as a substitute for the oblations of bread 
and wine which were formerly made by the faithful, as often as 
they assisted at the sacred mysteries. It was distinguished by 
the name of kirk-shot, and was assessed according to the rate of 
the house inhabited by each individual at the preceding Christ 
mas. By the laws of Ina, whoever refused to pay it, was amerced 
forty shillings to the king, and twelve times the value of the tax 
to the church : and during the next three centuries, though the 
latter of these penalties remained stationary, that which was paid 
into the royal treasury progressively increased, till it amounted 
to three times the original sum. 25 3. Thrice in the year, at Can 
dlemas, the vigil of Easter, and All-saints, was paid the leot-shot, 

21 Wilk. p. 149. 

22 Id. p. 107. 278. 

2 3 Id. p. 245. 288. 302. 

24 Id. p. 203. 288. 295. 302. 

3 Id. p. 59. 302. It was sometimes paid in fowls at Christmas. Spel. Glos, p. 135. 
9 F 2 



66 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

or a certain quantity of wax, of the value of one silver penny for 
each hide of land. The object of this institution was to supply 
the altar with lights during the celebration of the divine service. 26 
4. The only fee which the parochial clergy were permitted to 
demand for the exercise of their functions, was the soul-shot, a 
retribution in money for the prayers said in behalf of the dead. 
By different laws it was ordered to be paid while the grave 
remained open, and to the clergy of that church to which the 
deceased had formerly belonged. 27 The aggregate amount of all 
these perquisites composed in each parish a fund, which was 
called the patrimony of the minster, arid which was devoted to 
nearly the same purposes as the revenues of the cathedral 
churches. After two-thirds had been deducted for the support 
of the clergy and the repairs of the building, the remainder was 
assigned for the relief of the poor and of strangers. In a country 
which offered no convenience for the accommodation of travel 
lers, frequent recourse was had to the hospitality of the curate : 
and in the vicinity of his residence a house was always open for 
their reception, in which, during three days, they were provided 
with board and lodging at the expense of the church. 28 

The Saxon princes, as they endowed the church with a plenti 
ful revenue, were also careful to dignify it with the privileges 
which it enjoyed in all other Christian countries. Of these the 
principal was the right of sanctuary ; an institution, which, how 
ever prejudicial it may prove under a more perfect system of 
legislation, was highly useful in the ages of anarchy and barbar 
ism. Its origin is lost in the gloom of the most remote antiquity. 
The man who fled from the resentment of a more powerful ad 
versary, was taught by his fears to seek protection at the altars 
of the gods ; and the Jewish legislator selected by the divine ap 
pointment six cities of refuge, in which the involuntary homicide 
might screen himself from the vengeance of his pursuers. As 

2 <5 Wil. p. 203. 288. 302. The wax-shot, which, according to Inett, (vol. i. p. 121,) 
is still paid in some parts of England, is probably a relic of this ancient custom. 

27 Id. 288. 302. 

2 8 Id. 102, 103. 253. We are frequently told, that at this period the clergy were so 
intent on their own interest, that they seemed to have " comprised all the practical parts 
of Christianity in the exact and faithful payment of tithes," and the other dues of the 
church. Hume Hist. c. 2. p. 57. Mosheim Hist. Sac. vii. par. 2, c. iii. To misrepresent 
is often a more easy task than to collect information. The Saxon clergy appear both to 
have known and taught the pure morality of the gospel. Their preachers sedulously 
inculcated that the first of duties was the love of God, and the second the love of our 
neighbour. Dobppellice bebobu up laeria]?. ^ myngaj*. f>aec pe 
eallum mobe *] eallum maegene. asjiept Dob lupian -] puriftian. *] 
pyfcfcan ujie nexcan lupian ^ healban ppa ppa up pylpe. Reg. 
Can. apud Wanl. p. 49. It were too long to transcribe the original passages, but who- 
ev( r is conversant with the works of Bede, Boniface, and Alcuin, with the Saxon homi 
lies, and the Liber Legum ecclesiasticarum, (Wilk. p. 270,) must acknowledge that the 
ingenuity of tbe most learned professor of the present day would find it difficult to im 
prove the moral doctrines which were taught to our forefathers. See note B. 



RIGHT OF SANCTUARY. 67 

soon as Constantine the Great had enrolled himself among the 
professors of the gospel, the right of asylum was transferred by 
the practice of the people from the pagan to the Christian tem 
ples : the silence of the emperors gradually sanctioned the inno 
vation ; and by the Theodosian code, the privilege was extended 
to every building designed for the habitation, or the use of the 
clergy. 29 To this decision of the imperial law the Saxon converts 
listened with respect, and their obedience was rewarded by the 
numerous advantages which it procured. Though religion had 
softened, it had not extirpated the ancient ferocity of their cha 
racter. They continued to cherish that barbarous prejudice, 
which places the sword of justice in the hand of each individual, 
and exhorts him to punish his enemy without waiting for the 
more tardy vengeance of the law. 30 As their passions frequently 
urged them to deeds of violence, this system of retaliation was 
productive of the most fatal consequences. The friends of each 
party associated in his defence ; family was leagued against 
family; and in the prosecution of these bitter and hereditary 
feuds, innocence too often suffered the fate which was due to 
guilt. On such occasions, the church offered her protection to 
the weak and the unfortunate. Within her precincts they were 
secure from the resentment of their enemies, till their friends had 
assembled, and either proved their innocence, or paid the legal 
compensation for their offence. 31 It should however be observed, 
that the right of asylum, though it retarded, did not prevent the 
punishment of the guilty. 32 After a certain time the privilege 
expired. The three days allotted by the laws of Alfred were 
successively extended to a week, to nine days, and lastly to an 
indefinite period, which might be shortened or protracted at the 
discretion of the sovereign : but when it was elapsed, the fugi 
tive, unless he had previously satisfied the legal demands of his 
adversaries, was delivered to the officers of justice. 33 Neither 
were the churches open to criminals of every description. The 
chance of protection was wisely diminished in proportion to the 
enormity of the offence. The thief who had repeatedly abused, 
at last forfeited the benefit of the sanctuary : and the man who 
had endangered the safety of the state, or violated the sanctity 
of religion, might legally be dragged from the foot of the altar to 

29 The motive of this extension was the indecency of permitting the fugitive to 
remain for several days and nights in the church. Hanc autem spattii latitudinem ideo 
indulgemus, ne in ipso Dei templo et sacrosanctis altarihus confugientium quenquam 
mane vel vespere cubare vel pernoctare liceat. Cod. Theod. 1. ix. tit. 45. 

30 This prejudice was so inveterate among some of the northern nations, that, by the 
Salic law, every member of a family who refused to join his brethren in the pursuit of 
vengeance, was deprived of his right of inheritance. Renault, Abreg, Chron. vol. i. 
p. 118. 

si Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 15, v. 35, ii. iii. 

32 Templorum cautela, says Justinian, non nocentibus sed Isesis datur a lege. 
Novel. 17,c. 7. 

33 Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 35, ii. 3G, v. 110. 



68 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

receive the punishment of his crime. 34 There were, however, a 
few churches which claimed a proud pre-eminence above the 
others. To them their benefactors had accorded the extraor 
dinary privilege of securing the life of every fugitive, how enor 
mous soever might be his guilt, and of compelling his prosecutor 
to accept in lieu of his head a pecuniary compensation. Among 
these may be numbered the churches of York, Beverley, Ram 
sey, and Westminster ; 35 but none could boast of equal immuni 
ties with the abbey of Croyland. The monastery, the island, and 
the waters which surrounded it, enjoyed the right of sanctuary ; 
and a line of demarcation, drawn at the distance of twenty feet 
from the opposite margin of the lake, arrested the pursuit of the 
officers, and insured the safety of the fugitive. Immediately he 
took the oath of fealty to the abbot, and the man of St. Guthlake 
might laugh in security at the impotent rage of his enemies. But 
if, without a written permission, he presumed to wander beyond 
the magic boundary, the charm was dissolved ; justice resumed 
her rights ; and his life was forfeited to the severity of the laws. 
When the monastery was rebuilt, after its destruction by the 
Danes, Edred offered to revive the ancient privilege in favour of 
his chancellor, Turketul ; but it was declined by the hoary 
statesman, who considered the ordinary right of asylum as equally 
beneficial to the public, and less liable to abuse. 36 

The peace of the church was an institution of a similar nature, 
and adopted by the clergy, in order to mitigate the ferocity of 
their countrymen. To devote to the work of vengeance the days 
which religion had consecrated to the worship of the Almighty, 
they taught to be a profanation of the blackest die. At their 
solicitation, peace was proclaimed on each Sunday and holiday, 
and during the penitential times of lent and advent : every feud 
was instantly suspended ; and the bitterest enemies might meet 
and converse without danger under the protection of the church. 
The same indulgence was extended to the man who quitted his 
home to assist at the public worship, to obey the summons of 
his bishop, or to attend the episcopal synod or national council. 
Covered by this invisible scgis, he might pursue his journey in 
security ; or if his enemy dared to molest him, the presumption 
of the aggressor was severely chastised by the resentment of the 
laws. 87 Sensible of the benefits which they derived from these 
institutions, the weak and defenceless naturally looked for pro 
tection to the church : its ministers were caressed and revered ; 
and the gratitude of their clients was frequently testified by nu 
merous and valuable donations. 38 

54 Ibid. p. 198, vi. 

36 Spelman s Gloss, vocc Fridstol. Monast. Ang. vol. i. p. 60. 236. 

13 Wilk. Con. p. 176. 181. Ingulf, p. 40. 3 " Leg. Sax. 109, 110. 197 

38 This circumstance has encouraged some writers to attribute these institutions to 
the avarice of the clergy. But, the real cause of their adoption was their utility. 
Not only the churches, but also palaces of the kings, and the houses of their officers 



BENEFACTIONS OF ETHELWULF. 69 

But England was not the only theatre on which the Saxon 
kings and nobles displayed their regard for the ministers of re 
ligion. In their frequent pilgrimages to the tombs of the apos 
tles, they were careful to visit the most celebrated churches on 
the continent, and to leave behind them numerous evidences 
of their liberality. Before the close of the eighth century, the 
monastery of St. Denis, in the neighbourhood of Paris, was pos 
sessed of extensive estates on the coast of Sussex : 39 to the pre 
sents of the Saxon princes, several of the churches, originally 
established in Armorica by the fugitive Britons, were indebted 
for their support: 40 and the munificence of Alfred has been 
gratefully recorded by the archbishop of Rheims ; that of Canute 
by the canons and monks belonging to the two great monasteries 
in St. Omer s. 41 But Rome was the principal object of their 
liberality. The imperial city was no longer the mistress of the 
world. More than once she had been sacked by the barbarians : 
the provinces from which she formerly drew her subsistence, 
had submitted to their arms ; her walls were insulted by the 
frequent inroads of the Saracens ; and the popes, with the nu 
merous people dependent on their paternal authority, were fre 
quently reduced to the lowest distress. By the Saxon princes, 
the affection, which St. Gregory had testified for their fathers, 
was gratefully remembered. They esteemed it a disgrace that 
the head of their religion should suffer the inconveniences of 
want, and each succeeding king was careful, by valuable dona 
tions, to demonstrate his veneration for the successor of St. Peter, 
and to contribute a portion of his wealth to support the govern 
ment of the universal church. The munificence of Ethelwulf is 
particularly described by Anastasius, an eyewitness. During 
the year of his residence in Rome, he spread around him with 
profusion the treasures which he had brought from England. 
To the pontiff, Benedict III., he gave a crown of pure gold, 
weighing four pounds, two cups and two images of the same 
precious metal, a sword tied with pure gold, four Saxon dishes 
of silver-gilt, a rochet of silk with a clasp of gold, several albs of 
white silk with gold lace and clasps, and two large curtains of 
silk, embroidered with gold. In the basilic of St. Peter he dis 
tributed presents of gold to the clergy and nobility of Rome ; and 
gratified the people with a handsome donative in pieces of sil 
ver. 42 But these were occasional charities ; the Rornescot was 
perpetual. During a long period anterior to the Norman con- 
possessed the privilege of sanctuary. The king s peace, like that of the church, was 
granted to all who were engaged in his service, or travelling on the four great roads, or 
employed on the navigable rivers. Leg. Sax. p. 199. 

*9 Dublet, Ant. St. Dion, apud Alf. torn. ii. p. 650. 656. 

40 Malm, de pout. 1. v. p. 363. 

4 Wise s Asser. p. 126. Encom. Emmse, p. 173. 

42 Anast. Biblioth. de vitis Poritif. v. i. p. 403. For the names and destination of 
these and similar presents, see Domeriico Georgi, de liturgia Romani Pontificia, vol. i. 



70 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

quest, a silver penny was annually paid by every family pos 
sessed of land or cattle to the yearly value of thirty pence, and 
the general amount was carefully transmitted to the Roman pon 
tiff. The origin of this tax is involved in considerable obscurity. 
If we may credit the narration of later historians, it was first 
established by Ina, king of Wessex, about the commencement of 
the eighth century ; was afterwards extended by Offa of Mercia, 
to all the shires of that populous nation ; and at last, by the 
command of Ethelwulf, was levied in all the provinces of the 
Saxons. But this fair and well-connected system will vanish at 
the approach of criticism. If Ina was the original author of the 
Romescot, it will be difficult to account for the obstinate silence 
both of Bede, who particularly relates his devotion towards the 
Roman see, and of every other historian that wrote during the 
five following centuries. The claims of Offa and Ethelwulf are 
more plausible. Offa, who was accustomed to ascribe the suc 
cess of his arms to the intercession of St. Peter, had promised 
from himself and his successors a yearly pension of three hundred 
and sixty mancuses to the church of the apostle ; and this pro 
mise was confirmed by a solemn oath in presence of the papal 
legates. 43 That he faithfully performed his engagement, we 
know from the best authority : that it was gradually neglected 
by the princes who succeeded him, is highly probable. Under 
Kenulf, to whom he left the sceptre of Mercia, the original sum 
appears to have dwindled to one-third of its former amount ; 44 
and after his death no vestige of its payment can be discovered 
before the pilgrimage of Ethel vvulf. That prince, during his 
residence in Rome, revived, with a few variations, the charitable 
donation of Offa : and a perpetual annuity of three hundred 
mancuses was granted to the pontiff, to be appropriated in equal 
portions to the church of St. Peter, that of St. Paul, and the papal 
treasury. 45 During the conquests of the Danes it was probably 
forgotten ; but Alfred had no sooner subdued these formidable 
enemies, than he was careful to execute the will of his father : 
the royal alms (such is the expression of the Saxon Chronicle) 
were each year conveyed to Rome ; and soon after, in the reign 
of Edward, we meet with the first mention of the Romescot as 
an existing regulation. 48 From these premises it were not, per 
haps, rash to infer, that the Peter-pence should be ascribed to 

The crown and images were probably suspended over the tomb of St. Peter, (id. p. 243 :) 
the dishes (Gabathae) were used to receive the offerings at mass, (id. p. 91 :) the cur 
tains of silk embroidered with gold, (vela de fundato, id. p. 372,) were employed in the 
church on great festivals. 

43 See the letter of Leo III. in Anglia sacra, (vol. i. p. 461.) The money was to be 
expended in relieving the poor, and furnishing lights for the church. The want of oil 
for this purpose was often lamented by the popes. Cum neque oleum sit nobis pro 
luminaribus ecclesise juxta debitum Dei honorem. Ep. Steph. VI. Basil. Imper. apud 
Walker, p. 7. A mancus contained thirty pence, or six Saxon shillings. (See note C.) 

14 Wilk. Con. p. 164, 165. ^ Asser. p. 4. 

46 Leg. Sax. p. 52. 



ORIGIN OF THE MONASTIC INSTITUTE. 71 

the policy of Ethel wulf or his immediate successors, who, by this 
expedient, sought to raise the money which they had engaged 
to remit to the holy see. By later legislators it is frequently 
mentioned, and severely enforced. The time of payment is li 
mited to the five weeks which intervene between the feast of St. 
Peter and the first of August ; and the avarice of the man who 
may attempt to elude the law, is ordered to be punished by a 
fine of thirty pence to the bishop, and of one hundred and twenty 
shillings to the king. 47 From a curious schedule extracted from 
the register of the Lateran, by the order of Gregory VII., it ap 
pears that the collection of the tax was intrusted to the care of 
the bishops of each diocese, and that the entire sum amounted 
at that period to something more than two hundred pounds of 
Saxon money. 48 



CHAPTER IV. 

Origin of the Monastic Institute Anglo-Saxon MonksOf St. Gregory Of St. 
Columba Of St. Benedict Vows of Obedience Chastity Poverty Possessions 
of the Monks Attention to the Mechanic Arts To Agriculture Their Hospitality 
Their Charities. 

IN the conflict of rival parties, men are seldom just to the 
merit of their adversaries. When the reformers of the sixteenth 
century rose in opposition to the church of Rome, they selected 
the monastic order for the favourite object of their attack, and 
directed the keenest shafts of satire against the real or imaginary 
vices of its professors. For near three hundred years the lessons 
of these apostles have been re-echoed by the zeal of their disci 
ples : with the name of monk, education usually associates the 
ideas of fraud, ignorance, and superstition : and the distorted 
portrait which was originally drawn by the pencil of animosity 
and fanaticism, is still admired as a correct and faithful likeness. 
If, in the following pages, monachism appear dressed in more 
favourable colours, let not the writer be hastily condemned. 
Truth is the first duty of the historian ; and the virtues of men 
deserve to be recorded no less than their vices. The object of 
the present, chapter is, to investigate the origin of the monastic 
profession ; to distinguish the different tribes of the Anglo-Saxon 
monks ; and to delineate the leading principles of their religious 
discipline. The subject is curious ; and the important part, 

4? Ibid. p. 114. *B Apud Selden, Analect. p. 73. 



72 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

which the order formerly bore on the theatre of the world, will 
confer an interest on the inquiry. 1 

During the three first centuries of the Christian era, the more 
fervent among the followers of the gospel were distinguished by 
the name of Ascetes. They renounced all distracting employ 
ments ; divided their time between the public worship and their 
private devotions ; and endeavoured by the assiduous practice 
of every virtue, to attain that sublime perfection, which is de 
lineated in the sacred writings. As long as the imperial throne 
was occupied by pagan princes, the fear of persecution concurred 
with the sense of duty to invigorate their efforts : but when the 
sceptre had been transferred to the hands of Constantine and his 
successors, the austerity of the Christian character was insensi 
bly relaxed ; the influence of prosperity and dissipation prevailed 
over the severer maxims of the gospel ; and many, under the 
assumed mask of Christianity, continued to cherish the notions 
and vices of paganism. The alarming change was observed 
and lamented by the most fervent of the faithful, who determined 
to retire from a scene so hateful to their zeal, and so dangerous to 
their virtue : and the vast and barren deserts of Thebais were 
soon covered with crowds of anachorets, who, under the guidance 
of the Saints Anthony and Pachomius, earned their scanty meals 
with the sweat of their brows, and, by a constant repetition of 
prayers, and fasts, and vigils, edified and astonished their less 
fervent brethren. Such was the origin of the monastic institute. 
Its first professors were laymen, who condemned the lax morali 
ty of their contemporaries, and aspired to practise in the solitude 
of the desert, the severe and arduous virtues of their forefathers. 
They lived in small communities, of which a proportionate 
number obeyed the paternal authority of a common superior. 
To obtain admission, no other qualifications were required in the 
postulant, than a spirit of penitence, and a desire of perfection. 
As long as these continued to animate his conduct, he was care 
fully exercised in the different duties of the monastic profession : 
if he repented of his choice, the gates were open, arid he was at 
liberty to depart. But the number of the apostates was small : 
the virtue of the greater part secured their perseverance ; and 
it was not till after the decline of their original fervour, that 
irrevocable vows were added by the policy of succeeding legis 
lators. 2 

1 The latest writer on this subject is Mr. Fosbrooke, who compiled his two volumes 
on the manners and customs of the monks arid nuns of England, " to check that spirit 
of monachism and popery which has lately been revived." Perhaps with many the 
benevolence of the intention may atone or the asperity of the execution : but it can 
scarcely apologize for the republication of calumnies, which have been often refuted by 
the more candid of the Protestant historians. See Brown Willis on Mitred Abbeys, 
with the preface by Hearne, in Leland s Collectanea, vol. vi. p. 51. 

2 Bin^ham, vol. i. p. 243. Fleury, Hist. 1. vi. c. 20. Droit Eccles. c. xxi. By his 
brethren and countrymen, the clergy of France. Fleury has, for almost a century, been 



DIFFUSION OF THE MONASTIC INSTITUTE. 73 

From Egypt the monastic institute rapidly diffused itself over 
the neighbouring provinces, and the west was eager to imitate 
the example of the east. At the commencement of the fifth 
century, colonies of monks were planted in every corner of the 
empire ; and the conversion of the northern barbarians pro 
digiously increased their numbers. The proselytes admired the 
austere virtues of the institute ; and considered its professors as 
a class of superior beings, the friends and favourites of the Deity. 
No sooner was a monastery erected, than it was filled with 
crowds, who either wished to preserve, within the shelter of its 
walls, their innocence from seduction ; or sought to efface, by 
tears of repentance, the excesses of a profligate life. The opu 
lent and powerful fancied that, by promoting the interests, they 
participated in the merits of the order : and the most vicious 
flattered themselves, that they might make some atonement for 
their past offences, by contributing to support a race of men, 
whose lives were devoted solely to the service of their Creator. 
In proportion as the order increased, it was divided and subdi 
vided without end. Every abbot, who had founded a monastery, 
assumed the liberty of selecting or forming for his monks, such 
regulations as his judgment preferred; the simplicity of the 
Egyptian model was improved or disfigured by the additions of 
posterior and independent legislators; and though the more 
prominent features of each family bore a striking resemblance, a 
thousand different tints nicely discriminated them from each 
other. That this freedom of choice, which was exercised by the 
cenobites of the continent, had been refused by the Saxon monks, 
and that they universally belonged to the Benedictine institute, 
has been warmly maintained by learned and respectable anti 
quaries. 3 But their opinion is not supported by sufficient au 
thority : and the Benedictine institute has justly acquired too 
high a reputation, to be reduced to the necessity of pirating the 
eminent characters of other orders. I shall, therefore, confine 
myself to our ancient writers. With the light which they afford, 

numbered among the most eminent of the Catholic writers : by an English critic, in a 
late publication, he has been pronounced little better than a disguised infidel. Which 
are we most to admire, their blindness or his sagacity 1 Compare vol. i. of the History 
of the Christian Church, p. xiv. xvi, with vol. iii. p. 317. 

3 Reyner, in his Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia, is, like other genealogists, often 
fanciful, and sometimes extravagant. In the Saxon church he can discover nothing 
but Benedictine monks. The Italian missionaries were Benedictine monks ; the 
Gallic missionaries were Benedictine monks ; the Scottish missionaries were, or imme 
diately became Benedictine monks. Each writer of eminence, and each prelate of dis 
tinguished sanctity, the religious of every convent, and the clergy of every cathedral, 
were all Benedictine monks. ( Apost. Bened. p. 1 203.) The merit of patient reading 
and extensive erudition, Reyner might justly claim : but a natural partiality urged him 
to display the ancient honours of his order, and his judgment was the slave of his par 
tiality. He was succeeded by Mabillon, an antiquary of equal learning, and superior 
discernment, who selected the principal arguments of Reyner, and endeavoured to 
strengthen them by the addition of several passages from ancient and unpublished 
manuscripts. See MabiL prsef. Saec. 1, Bened. Vet, Analcc. p. 499, 

10 G 



74 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

we may still pierce through the gloom of eleven intervening 
centuries ; and discover among our ancestors three grand divi 
sions of the monastic profession, in the disciples of, 1, St. Gregory, 
2, St. Columba, and, 3, St. Benedict. 

1. Among the patrons of monachism, a distinguished place is 
due to Gregory the Great, whose piety prompted him to exchange 
the dignity of Roman prefect for the cowl of a private monk, 
and whose merit drew him from the obscurity of his cell to seat 
him on the throne of St. Peter. In Sicily his ample patrimony 
supported six separate families of monks: and the remainder of 
his fortune was devoted to the endowment of the great monas 
tery of St. Andrew s in Rome. After such important services, 
he might with propriety assume the office of legislating for those 
who owed their bread to his liberality: and from the scattered 
hints of ancient writers we may safely collect, that the regula 
tions which he imposed on his monks, were widely different 
from the statutes of most other religious orders. 4 The time 
which they dedicated to manual labour, he commanded to be 
employed in study; and while they claimed the merit of con 
ducting their lay disciples through the narrow path of monastic 
perfection, he aspired to the higher praise of forming men, who 
by their abilities might defend the doctrines, and by their zeal 
extend the conquests of the church. 5 Of these the most eminent 
were honoured with his friendship, and enjoyed a distinguished 
place near his person. They attended him in his embassy to the 
capital of the east : they were admitted into his council at his 
elevation to the pontificate ; and they supplied him with mis 
sionaries, when he meditated the conversion of the Saxons. 
Augustine was proud to copy the example of his father and 
instructor. To the clergy who officiated in his cathedral, he asso 
ciated several of his former brethren, as his advisers and com 
panions : and for the remainder he erected a spacious monastery, 
which, as far as circumstances would permit, was an exact copy 
of its prototype in Rome. Of the spiritual progeny of this es 
tablishment we have no accurate history. That the neighbouring 
convents received their first inhabitants from Canterbury, and 
carefully observed the regulations of the parent monastery, is 
highly probable : whether, at any later period, previously to the 
reform of St. Dunstan, they abandoned their ancient rule, and 

4 See Broughton, Memorial, p. 231. But have not the Benedictine writers strenuous 
ly claimed this pontiff as a member of their institute 1 I shall only answer that I have 
patiently perused the dissertations of Keyner, (Apost. p. 1G7,) and Mabillon, (Anal, 
vet. p. 499,) and am still compelled to think with Baronius, (An. 581, viii.) Broughton, 
(Mem. p. 244,) Smith, (Flores Hist. p. 81,) Henschenius and Papebroche, (Act. San. 
torn. 2 Mart. p. 123,) Thomassin, (De vet. et nov. Discip. 1. iii. c. 24,) Basnage, (Annal. 
anno 581,) and Gibbon, (vol. iv. p. 457,) that their claim is unfounded. See also 
Sandini, Vit, Pontif. vol. i. p. 203. 

5 The institute of St. Gregory seems to have been an attempt to unite, as much as 
possible, the clerical with the monastic profession. Bergier, Diction. Theol. art. Com 
mit naute. 



MONKS OF ST. COLUMBA. 75 

adopted the Benedictine institute, is a subject of more doubtful, 
but unimportant controversy. 6 

2. Eight-and-forty years after the arrival of Augustine on 
the coast of Kent, Oswald, king of Northumbria, requested a 
supply of missionaries from the Scottish monks. Columba, of 
the royal race of the Neils in Ireland, by his preaching and 
miracles had converted the barbarous inhabitants of Caledonia ; 
and the gratitude of his proselytes recompensed his labours with 
the donation of the isle of Icolmkille, one of the smallest of the 
Hebrides. 7 His memory was long cherished with every testi 
mony of veneration by the northern nations. The customs 
which his approbation had sanctified in their eyes, were, with 
pious obstinacy, perpetuated by his disciples : his monastery was 
selected for the sepulchres of the kings of Ireland, Scotland, and 
Norway ; 8 and the provincial bishops, though in their episcopal 
functions they preserved the superiority of their order, in other 
points submitted to the mandates of the abbot, as the legitimate 
successor of Columba : a singular institution, of which no other 
example is recorded in the ecclesiastical annals. 9 

From this monastery came Aidan, the successful apostle of 
Northumbria. During the course of his labours, the missionary 
kept his eyes fixed on his patron, Columba ; and after his exam 
ple, requested permission to retire from the court, and fix his 
residence in some lonely island, where his devotions might not 
be interrupted by the follies and vices of men. His petition was 
granted. Lindisfarne, at a small distance from the Northum 
brian coast, was peopled with a colony of Scottish monks; and 
in their company the bishop spent the hours which were not 
devoted to the exercise of the episcopal functions. His immediate 
successors were the zealous imitators of his conduct; and from 
the monastery of Aidan, the institute was rapidly diffused through 
the kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, Mercia and East-Anglia. 

6 The rule of St. Gregory was observed at Canterbury till the year 630, according to 
the testimony of Pope Honorius, (vestram dilectionem sectantem rnagistri et capitis sui 
St. Gregorii regulam. Bed. 11. 18.) The privilege of choosing their own abbots, a 
claim which distinguished the Benedictines, is said to have been granted to the monks 
by Adeodatus, in 673. (Wilk. p. 43.) But this charter may be reasonably suspected, 
as the archbishop continued after that period to nominate the superiors of all the 
monasteries in the kingdom of Kent. (Ibid. p. 57.) At the distance of four hundred 
years, King Ethelred introduced Benedictine monks into the cathedral, and in the 
Saxon copy of the charter, which he gave on that occasion, is made to say that they 
were of the same description as the companions of St. Augustine, (op ^>acjie 
byyne $e yep Au^upcmuf hiben to bnohce. Wilk. p. 282. Mores 
Comment, de ^lf. p. 88.) It is however observable, that in the Latin, which, from the 
signatures, appears to have been the authentic copy, this passage is not to be found, 
(Wilk. p. 284. Mores, p. 84.) 

1 Bed. 1. iii. c. 3. Chron. Sax. p. 21. An. 560. 

s See Buchanan, (Rerum Scotic. 1. i. p. 28.) A chart of the island is given in the 
title page of Pinkerton s Vit. antiq. Sanctorum in Scotia. 

J Bed. 1. iii. c. 4. That Columba acknowledged himself inferior to bishops, is evi 
dent from his life by Adomuan, (I. i. c. 45, eu. Pinkerton, p. 93.) 



76 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

The rule which was followed by these disciples of Columba, 
has not been transmitted to us by any Latin writer : and the 
Irish copies which have been preserved, are written in a language, 
that has hitherto eluded the skill of the most patient antiquary. 10 
Bat Bede, in diiferent parts of his works, has borne the most 
honourable testimony to their virtue. With a glowing pencil he 
displays their patience, their chastity, their frequent meditation 
on the sacred writings, and their indefatigable efforts to attain 
the summit of Christian perfection. They chose for their habi 
tation the most dreary situations : no motives but those of charity 
could draw them from their cells ; and, if they appeared in public, 
their object was to reconcile enemies, to instruct the ignorant, to 
discourage vice, and to plead the cause of the unfortunate. The 
little property which they enjoyed was common to all. Poverty 
they esteemed as the surest guardian of virtue : and the bene 
factions of the opulent they respectfully declined, or instantly 
employed in relieving the necessities of the indigent. One only 
stain did he discover in their character, an immoderate esteem 
for their forefathers, which prompted them to prefer their own 
customs to the consent of all other Christian churches : but this 
he piously trusted would disappear in the bright effulgence of 
their virtues. 11 

3. While the disciples of Gregory in the south, and those of 
Columba in the north, were labouring to diffuse their respective 
institutes, the attention of the continental Christians was called 
to another order of monks, who gradually supplanted all their 
competitors, and still exist in Catholic countries, distinguished by 
their learning, their riches, and their numbers. For their origin 
they were indebted to the zeal of Benedict, a native of Norcia, 
who, in the commencement of the sixth century, to avoid the con 
tagious example of the Roman youth, buried himself, at the age 
of fourteen, in a deep and lonely cavern, amid the mountains of 
Subiaco. Six-and-thirty months the young hermit passed in this 
voluntary prison, unknown to any except his spiritual director, 
a monk of an adjacent monastery : but a miracle betrayed him 
to the notice of the public ; his example diffused a similar ardour 
around him : and his desert was quickly inhabited by twelve 
confraternities of monks, who acknowledged and revered him as 
their parent and legislator. But the fame of Benedict awakened 
the jealousy of his neighbours. Their calumnies compelled him 
to quit his solitude, and he retired to the summit of mount Cassino, 
in the ancient territory of the Volsci. There he spent the re 
mainder of his years in the practice of every monastic virtue, and 
the possession of those honours which that age was accustomed 
to confer on superior sanctity. To his care the patricians of 
Rome intrusted the education of their children ; his cell was 

"> Usher, Brit. cccl. antiq. p. 919. 
11 Bod. Hist. I. Hi. c. 17. 26. 



DISCIPLINE OP THE BENEDICTINE MONKS. 77 

visited by the most distinguished personages, who solicited his 
benediction ; and Totila, the haughty conqueror of Italy, con 
descended to ask the advice, and trembled at the stern reproof 
of the holy abbot. 

During the two centuries which had elapsed since the retreat of 
St. Anthony into the desert, the monks had gradually degenerated 
from the austere virtue of their founders : and Benedict com 
posed his rule, not so much to restore the vigour, as to prevent 
the total extinction of the ancient discipline. " The precepts of 
monastic perfection," says the humble and fervent legislator, 
" are contained in the inspired writings : the examples abound 
in the works of the holy fathers. But mine is a more lowly 
attempt to teach the rudiments of a Christian life, that, when we 
are acquainted with them, we may aspire to the practice of the 
sublimer virtues." 12 But the admirers of monachism were not 
slow to appreciate the merit of his labours. From Gregory the 
Great his rule obtained the praise of superior wisdom ; 13 and the 
opinion of the pontiff was afterwards adopted or confirmed by 
the general consent of the Latin church. 

In distributing the various duties of the day, Benedict was 
careful that every moment should be diligently employed. Six 
hours were allotted to sleep. Soon after midnight the monks 
arose to chaunt the nocturnal service ; during the day they were 
summoned seven times to the church, to perform the other parts 
of the canonical office : seven hours were employed in manual 
labour ; two in study ; and the small remainder was devoted to 
the necessary refection of the body. 14 Their diet was simple but 
sufficient : twelve, perhaps eighteen ounces of bread, a hemina 
of wine, 15 and two dishes of vegetables, composed their daily 
allowance. The flesh of quadrupeds was strictly prohibited: 
but the rigour of the law was relaxed in favour of the children, 
the aged, and the infirm. To the colour, the form, and the quality 
of their dress, he was wisely indifferent; and only recommended 
that it should be adapted to the climate, and similar to that of 
the labouring poor. Each monk slept in a separate bed ; but all 
lay in their habits, that they might be ready to repair, at the first 
summons, to the church. Every thing was possessed in com 
mon: not only articles of convenience, but even of necessity, were 
received and resigned at the discretion of the abbot. No brother 
was allowed to cross the threshold of the monastery without the 
permission of his superior : at his departure he requested the 
prayers of the community : at his return he lay prostrate in the 

12 Reg. St. Ben. c. 73. 

>3 St. Greg. Dial. 1. ii. c. 36. 

H Reg. St. Ben.c. 8. 16. 48. 

5 The exact measure of the hemina is unknown. It has been the subject of many 
learned dissertations by the Benedictine writers. See Nat. Alex. torn. v. p. 462. 
Mabil. Sfec. Bened. iv. torn. i. p. cxvi. 

G 2 



78 ANTIQUITIES OF THE AN(*LO-SAXON CHURCH. 

church, to atone for the dissipation of his thoughts during his 
absence. Whatever he might have seen or heard without the 
walls of the convent, he was commanded to bury in eternal 
silence. 16 

The favour of admission was purchased with a severe pro 
bation. On his knees, at the gate, the postulant requested to be 
received among the servants of God : but his desires were treated 
with contempt, and his pride was humbled by reproaches. After 
four days his perseverance subdued the apparent reluctance of 
the monks : he was successively transferred to the apartments 
of the strangers and of the novices ; and an aged brother was 
commissioned to observe his conduct, and instruct him in the 
duties of his profession. Before the expiration of the year, the 
rule was read thrice in his presence; and each reading was 
accompanied with the admonition, that he was still at liberty to 
depart. At last, on the anniversary of his admission, he entered 
the church, and avowed, before God and the community, his 
determination to spend his days in the monastic profession, to 
reform his conduct, and to obey his superiors. The solemn 
engagement he subscribed with his name, and deposited on the 
altar. 17 

The legislator who wishes to enforce the observance, must 
punish the transgression of his laws. But in apportioning the 
degree of punishment, Benedict advised the superior to weigh 
not only the nature of the offence, but the contumacy of the of 
fender. There were minds, he observed, which might be guided 
by a gentle reprimand, while others refused to bend to the 
severest chastisement. In his penal code he gradually proceeded 
from more lenient to coercive measures. The inefficacy of pri 
vate admonition was succeeded by the disgrace of public reproof: 
if the delinquent proved insensible to shame, he was separated 
from the society of his brethren ; 18 and the continuance of his 
obstinacy was rewarded with the infliction of corporal punish 
ment. As a last resource, the confraternity assembled in the 
church by order of the superior, and recommended, with fervent 
prayer, their rebellious brother to the mercy and grace of the 
Almighty. He was then expelled ; but the gates of the convent 
were not shut to repentance. Thrice the returning sinner might 
expect to be received with kindness in the arms of an indulgent 
father : but the fourth relapse filled up his measure of iniquity, 
and he was ejected forever. 19 

From mount Cassino and the desert of Subiaco, the Benedic 
tine order gradually diffused itself to the utmost boundaries of 

16 Reg. 39, 40. 22. 33. 67. f7 Ibid. c. 58. 

18 This was termed excommunication ; but the culprit, during his confinement, was 
often visited and consoled by the seriipetse, id est, seniores sapientes, (Ben. Reg. c. 27.) 
Does not this passage unfold the mystery which antiquaries have discovered in the 
Scmpectfe of Croyland ] 

9 St. Ben. Reg. c. 2329. 



MONKS INTRODUCED BY ST. WILFRID. 79 

the Latin church. The merit of introducing it to the knowledge 
of the Saxons, was claimed by St. Wilfrid. 20 That prelate, in 
his pilgrimage to the tombs of the apostles, had conversed with 
the disciples of St. Benedict ; and though he had been educated 
in the Scottish discipline at Lindisfarne, he bore a willing tes 
timony to the superior excellence of their institute. Having after 
wards obtained a copy of the Benedictine rule, he established it 
in the monasteries which were immediately dependent on him, 
and propagated it with all his influence through the kingdoms 
of Northumbria and Mercia. Of the success of his labours we 
may form an estimate from the thousands of monks, who, at the 
time of his disgrace, lamented the loss of their guide and bene 
factor. 21 Yet the zeal of Wilfrid was tempered with prudence. 
If he preferred the foreign institute, he was not blind to the 
merit of the discipline previously adopted by his countrymen : 
many customs which experience had shown to be useful, and 
antiquity had rendered venerable, he carefully retained; and 
by amalgamating them with the rule of St. Benedict, greatly 
improved the state of monastic discipline. 22 

Contemporary with Wilfrid, and the companion of his youth, 
was Bennet Biscop, the celebrated abbot of Weremouth. At 
the age of five-and-twenty he quitted the court of his friend 
and patron, Oswiu, king of Northumbria, and directed his steps 
to the capital of the Christian world. His intention was to em 
brace the monastic profession : but he wished previously to visit 
the places in which it was practised in the highest perfection. 
With pious curiosity he perused the rules, and observed the 
manners of seventeen among the most celebrated foreign mo 
nasteries ; thrice he venerated the sacred remains of the apos 
tles at Ror^e ; and two years he spent among the cloistered 
inhabitants of the small isle of Lerins, who gave him the reli 
gious habit, and admitted him to his vows. At the command 
of Pope Vitalian, he accompanied Archbishop Theodore to Eng 
land, as his guide and interpreter ; and was intrusted by him 
with the government of the monks of Canterbury. But this 
office he soon resigned : his devotion led him again to the 
Vatican ; and the labour of his pilgrimage was amply repaid 
with what he considered a valuable collection of books, paint 
ings, and relics. At his return, he was received with joy and 
veneration by Egfrid, king of Northumbria, and obtained from 

20 Nonne ego curavi, quomodo vitam monachorum secundum regulam S. Benedicti 
patris, quam nullus ibi prior invexit, constituerem ] Wilfrid apud Edd. c. 45. 

21 Multa millia. Edd. c. 21. 

22 Revertens cum regula Benedicti instituta ecclesiarum Dei melioravit. Edd. c. 14. 
In the regulations drawn up by St. Dunstan, (Apost. Bened. app. par. 3, p. 80,) and 
the letter of St. Ethel wold to the monks of Egnesham, (Walney s MSS, p. 110,) may 
be seen several of the customs peculiar to the ancient Saxon monks. St. Wilfrid, instead 
of leaving to his disciples the choice of their future abbot, as was ordered by the Bene 
dictine rule, chose him himself, -and ordered them to obey him. Edd. Vit. Wilf. c. 60, 
61. See nlso Butler s SS. Lives, March 12. 



80 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

the munificence of that prince, a spacious domain near the mouth 
of the river Were, on which he built his first monastery, dedi 
cated in honour of St. Peter. The reputation of Bennet quickly 
multiplied the number of his disciples ; another donation from 
the king enabled him to erect a second convent at Jarrow, on 
the southern bank of the Tyne ; and so prolific were these two 
establishments, that, within a few years after the death of the 
founder, they contained no less than six hundred monks. 23 Of 
the discipline to which he subjected his disciples, the rule of St. 
Benedict probably formed the groundwork : the improvements 
which he added were the fruit of his own observation during his 
travels, and of his constant attention to the welfare of his mo 
nasteries. 24 From his labours, the most valuable benefits were 
derived to his countrymen. By the workmen whom he pro 
cured from Gaul, they were taught the arts of making glass, and 
of building with stone : the foreign paintings with which he de 
corated his churches, excited attempts at imitation : and the 
many volumes, which he deposited in the library of his monas 
tery, invited the industry, and nourished the improvement of his 
monks. Bennet contributed more to the civilization of his coun 
trymen, than any person since the preaching of the Roman mis 
sionaries : and his memory has been with gratitude transmitted 
to posterity by the venerable Bede, in the most pleasing of his 
works, the Lives of the Abbots of Weremouth. 

While the Benedictine order was thus partially established in 
the kingdom of Northumbria, its interests were espoused with 
equal or greater zeal in the more southern provinces, by Aid- 
helm, bishop of Sherburn, and Egwin, bishop of Worcester. The 
former introduced it into his three monasteries of Malmsbury, 
Frome, and Bradanford ; 25 the latter erected a magnificent abbey 
at Evesham, in which, by the order of Pope Constantine, he 
placed Benedictine monks, whose institute was scarcely known 
in that province. 26 Their example was imitated by many of 
their brethren, who, according to their fancy or their judgment, 
adopted in a greater or less proportion the foreign discipline. 

23 Bed. Vit. abbat. Wirem. p. 293. 

2; That he adopted the regulation of St. Benedict with respect to the election of the 
abbot, is certain from Bede, (ibid. p. 298,) and the next century, Alcuin recommended 
to the monks, the frequent study of the rule St. Benedict, (Ale. ep. 49.) Hence Ma- 
billon contends, that the monks of Weremouth were Benedictines. (Anal. vet. p. 506.) 
But the adoption of one regulation is not a sufficient proof: and the homily of Bede, 
on the founder of this monastery, will justify a suspicion, that the Benedict, whose rule 
was recommended, was not the Italian, but the Saxon abbot. Bennet himself seems to 
ascribe the discipline which he established, to his own observations. Ex decem quippe 
et septem monasteriis, quse inter longos meae crebrse peregrinationis discursus optima 
comperi, hsec universa didici, et vobis salubriter observanda contradidi, (Bed. ibid. p. 277.) 

25 Anno 675. Malm, de Pont. 1. v. p. 344, 353. 356. Aldhelm says of St. Benedict, 

Primo pui statuit nostrse certamina vitse 
Qualiter optatam teneant crenobia formam. 

De Laud. virg. in Biblioth. Pat. vol. viii. 

26 Qua? minus in illis partibushabetur. Bulla Cons, apud Wilk. p. 71, an. 709. 



ANGLO-SAXON NUNS IN FRANCE. 81 

The different gradations of the monastic hierarchy, as it exists 
at present, its provincials, generals, and congregations, were then 
unknown : and each abbot legislated for his own subjects, uncon 
trolled by the opinion, or the commands of superiors. But the 
rule of St. Benedict, besides other claims to their esteem, con 
tained one regulation, which united the suffrages of the whole 
monastic body. Formerly the right of nominating to the vacant 
abbeys had been vested in the bishops of each diocese : 27 but the 
legislator of Subiasco saw, or thought he saw, in this practice, 
the source of the most grievous abuses; and made it essential to 
his rule, that the superior of each monastery should be chosen 
by the suffrages of its inhabitants. 28 This regulation, so flatter 
ing to their independence, was eagerly accepted by the monks 
of every institute, and was opposed with equal warmth by se 
veral of the bishops, who considered it as an infringement of 
their ancient rights. But the episcopal order contained within 
its bosom the avowed protectors of the monastic state ; and the 
contested privilege was soon confirmed by the decrees of popes, 
and the charters of princes. 29 

But monasteries were not inhabited exclusively by men: the 
retirement of the cloister appears to have possessed peculiar at 
tractions in the eyes of the Saxon ladies. The weaker frame, and 
more volatile disposition of the sex, seemed, indeed, less adapted 
to the rigour of perpetual confinement, and the ever recurring 
circle of vigils, fasts, and prayers : but the difficulty of the enter 
prise increased the ardour of their zeal : they refused to await 
the erection of convents in their native country: crowds of 
females resorted to the foreign establishments of Faremoutier, 
Chelles, and Andeli ; and the former of these houses was suc 
cessively governed by abbesses of the royal race of Hengist. 30 
But before the close of the seventh century, the southern Saxons 
could boast of several fervent communities of nuns under the 
guidance of Eanswide, Mildrede, and Ethelburge, princesses no 
less illustrious for their piety, than for their birth. In Northum- 
bria, at the same period, the abbess Heiu, the first lady among 
the northern tribes, who put on the monastic veil, governed, 
under the patronage of the bishop Aidan, a small and obscure 
convent at Hereteu, or the isle of the hart. 31 She was succeeded 
by Hilda, whose family, virtue, and abilities reflected a brighter 

27 Thus St. Aldhelm was appointed by the bishop of Winchester, pro jure tune epis- 
coporum. Malm, de Reg. 1. i, c. 2, f. 6. Gale, 344. Apost. Ben. p. 20. Wilk. p. 57. 86. 

28 Ben. Reg. c. 64. This, and the other monastic exemptions, were successively 
granted by the pontiffs, to secure the monks from the oppressive conduct of certain 
bishops. Yet there were many, who considered the remedy as more pernicious than 
the disease. See St. Bernard, (De Consid. 1. iii. c. 4,) and Richard, archbishop of Can.- 
terbury, (Ep. Pet. Blesen. ep. 68 :) also Fleury, (Discours viii. c. 13.) 

29 Wilk. Con. p. 44. 49. 71. 74. Gale, 311. 345. 353, 
3 Anno 640. Bed. I. iii. c. 8. 

31 Hartlepool, id. 1. iv. c. 23. 
11 



82 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

luster on the institute. Hilda was allied to the East-Anglian and 
Northumbrian princes ; her advice was respectfully asked and 
followed by kings and prelates ; and to her care Oswiu com 
mended his infant daughter JElfleda, with a dower of one hun 
dred hides of land. 32 Enriched by the donations of her friends, she 
built at Whitby a double monastery, in one part of which a sis 
terhood of nuns, in the other a confraternity of monks, obeyed 
her maternal authority. Among her disciples she established 
that community of goods, which distinguished the first Christians 
at Jerusalem ; and whatever they possessed, was considered as 
the common property of all. Their virtue has been attested by 
the venerable Bede : and no less than five of the monks of Whit 
by were raised to the episcopal dignity, during the life of their 
foundress. 33 From Northumbria the institute was rapidly dif 
fused over the kingdom of Mercia. 

The reader will perhaps have been surprised, that a society of 
men should be subject to the spiritual government of a woman. 
Yet this scheme of monastic polity, singular as it may now ap 
pear, was once adopted in most Christian countries. Its origin 
may be ascribed to the severity with which the founders of reli 
gious orders have always prohibited every species of unnecessary 
intercourse between their female disciples and persons of the 
other sex. To prevent it entirely was impracticable. The func 
tions of the sacred ministry had always been the exclusive privi 
lege of the men : and they alone were able to support the 
fatigues of husbandry, and conduct the extensive estates, which 
many convents had received from the piety of their benefactors. 
But it was conceived that the difficulty might be diminished, if 
it could not be removed : and with this view, some monastic 
legislators devised the plan of establishing double monasteries. 
In the vicinity of the edifice, destined to receive the virgins who 
had dedicated their chastity to God, was erected a building for 
the residence of a society of monks or canons, whose duty it was 
to officiate at the altar, and superintend the external economy 
of the community. The mortified and religious life, to which 
they had bound themselves by the most solemn engagements, 
was supposed to render them superior to temptation : and to re 
move even the suspicion of evil, but they were strictly forbidden 
to enter the enclosure of the women, except on particular occa 
sions, with the permission of the superior, and in the presence of 
witnesses. But the abbess retained the supreme control over 
the monks, as well as the nuns : their prior depended on her 
choice, and was bound to regulate his conduct by her instruc- 

32 Oswlu had vowed to consecrate his daughter to the service of God, if he were suc 
cessful in his war against Penda. Bed. 1. iii. c. 24. The Terrae centum et viginti 
familiarum, are translated by Alfred, hunb tpelptlg hlba. (JE\f. vers. p. 556.) 
The hide contained 120 acres. Hist. Elien. p. 472. 481. 

33 Bed. 1. iii. c. 24. 1. iv. c. 23. 



DOUBLE MONASTERIES. S3 

tions. 34 To St. Columban this institute was indebted for its pro 
pagation in France ; and from the houses of his order, which 
v/ere long the favourite resort of the Saxon ladies, it was proba 
bly introduced into England. During the two first centuries 
after the conversion of our ancestors, the principal nunneries 
were established on this plan : nor are we certain that there ex 
isted any others of a different description. 35 They were held in 
the highest estimation : the most distinguished of the Saxon 
female saints, and many of the most eminent prelates, were edu 
cated in them : and so edifying was the deportment of the greatest 
part of these communities, that the breath of slander never pre 
sumed to tarnish their character. The monastery of Coldingham 
alone forms an exception. The virtue of some among its inha 
bitants was more ambiguous : and an accidental fire, which was 
ascribed to the vengeance of Heaven, confirmed the suspicions 
of their contemporaries, and has transmitted to posterity the 
knowledge of their dishonour. 36 The account was received with 
the deepest sorrow by St. Cuthbert, the pious bishop of Lindis- 
farne : and in the anguish of his zeal, he commanded his disci 
ples to exclude every female from the threshold of his cathedral. 
His will was religiously obeyed ; and for several centuries no 
woman entered with impunity any of the churches, in which the 
body of the saint had reposed. 37 But notwithstanding the mis 
fortune at Coldingham, and the disapprobation of Cuthbert, the 
institute continued to flourish, till the ravages of the pagan Danes 
levelled with the ground the double monasteries, together with 
every other sacred edifice which existed within the range of 
their devastations. 38 

34 As I am not acquainted with any writer who has professedly treated this subject, 
I have been compelled to glean a few hints from the works of the ancient historians. 
An establishment of nearly a similar nature existed at Remiremont, in Lorrain, till it 
was swept away by the torrent of the French revolution. See note (D.) 

" That the monasteries of Faremoutier, Chelles, and Andeli, were double, appears 
from Bede, (1. iii. c. 8,) and is proved by Broughton, (Mem. p. 343.) Among the 
Saxons, the principal at least were of the same institute: Whitby, (Bed. 1. iv. c. 23, 
Vit. Cuth. c. 24,) Berking, (Id. c. 7,) Coldingham, (Id. c. 25,) Ely, (Id. c. 19,) Wen- 
lock, (Bonif. ep. 21, p. 29,) Kepandun, (Gale, p. 243. Wigor, p. 568,) and Winburn, 
(Man. SEEC. 3, Vit. St. Liob. p, 246.) See also Bed. 1. iii. c. xi., and Leland s Collec 
tanea, (vol. iii. p. 117.) At Beverley, a monastery of monks, a college of canons, and 
a convent of nuns, obeyed the same abbot. Mong. Ang. vol. i. p. 170. Lei. Coll. vol. 
iii. p. 100. 

36 Bed. 1. iv. c. 25. 

37 Sim. Dunel. Hist. Ecc. Dun. p. 102. For the accommodation of the women, a 
new church was built, and called the green kirk. Ibid. A similar regulation was 
observed in several of the monasteries of St. Columban, in France. See Butler s SS. 
Lives, Sept. 5. Mab. prsef. 1, ssec. 3, cxxxvii. 

38 Another order of religious women, whose existence, it seems, had long been for 
gotten, was descried by one of our most learned antiquaries. Spelman had observed 
thai the Saxons always made a distinction between Nonna and Monialis in Latin, and 
Nunna and Mynekin in their own language : whence he inferred, that the latter must 
have been the wives of married clergymen, by whose enemies they had been branded 
with the name of mynekin, from miime, a Gothic word of no very decent signification. 

Can. p. 52<J. Wilk. Con. p. 3fl4.) It were difficult to err more egregiously. 



84 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Such were the different religious orders which, as far as I can 
discover, were introduced among the Anglo-Saxons. In the dis 
tribution of time, the arrangement of fasts and prayers, and the 
subordinate parts of interior discipline, they were distinguished 
from each other : but ail equally adopted the three engagements, 
which are still considered as essential to the monastic institute : 
1, An unlimited submission to the lawful commands of their 
superiors ; 2, A life of perpetual celibacy ; and, 3, A voluntary 
renunciation of private property. 

1. In the language of monastic discipline, the most important 
of the virtues, which are not absolutely imposed on every Chris 
tian, is obedience. 39 The natural perversity of the human will is 
considered as the source of every moral disorder; and to prevent 
it from seeking forbidden gratifications, it should resign the right 
of deciding for itself, and be taught to submit on all occasions to 
the determination of another. He who aspires to the praise of 
a true religious, ought, according to the patriarch of the western 
monks, to place at the disposal of his superior all the faculties 
of his mind, and all the powers of his body. 40 In the rule which 
St. Dunstan promulgated for the observance of the Anglo-Saxon 
monasteries, may be seen the extent to which this maxim was 
carried. It regulates not only the more important points, but 
descends to the minutest particulars ; requires the permission of 
the superior for the most ordinary actions of life ; and severely 
condemns the brother who, on any occasion, shall presume to 
determine for himself, without having asked and obtained the 
advice, or rather the command of his abbot. 41 The obedience 
which is required must be prompt and cheerful : it comprises 
the decisions of the judgment no less than the resolves of the 
will : 42 but it admits of one exception. When the commands of 

From the excerpta of Egbert of York we learn, that the mynekins were women, " who 
had consecrated themselves to God, who had vowed their virginity to God, and who 
were the spouses of Christ." be Iiobe pylpum beo)> gehalgobe. -] liypa 
gehac Lrobe gehacan habba)?. Wilk. p. 134, xi. fte Lobe pylpum 
bepebbob bif to bjiybe. Ibid. p. 136. $e Dobep bjiyb bi]> ge- 
haten. Ibid. p. 131, xviii. The truth is, that the mynekins were so called from the 
Saxon " munuc," because they observed the rule of the monks, while the nuns observed 
the rule of the canons. This distinction is clearly marked in the Codex Constitutionum 
in the Bodleian Library, in which the mynekins are classed with the monks, and 
ordered to practise the same duties ; and the nuns are classed with the priests, and com 
manded like them to observe chastity, and live according to their rule. Rihc 1]* j> 
mynecena mynptenlioe macian. epne ppa f e cpsebon senoji be 
mime can. Riht ip f pneop tap *] epen pel nunnan jiegolhce lib- 
ban -] claeanyppe healban. Cod. Jun. 121. 

39 Tota monachorum vita in simplicitate consistit obedientiae. Alcnin. ep. 59. 

40 Quibus nee corpora sua nee voluntates licet habere in propria potestate. Reg. S. 
Bencd. c. 33. 

11 Nullus quippiam quamvis pnrum sua et quasi propria adinventione agere praesu- 
mat. A post. Bened. apr>. par. 3, p. 92. 

*.I?f. St. Culumb. c. 1. Krg. St. Bened. c. 5. Ibid. c. 5. 7. 



MONASTIC vows OP CHASTITY. 85 

the superior are contrary to the law of God, the monk is exhorted 
to throw off the shackles of obedience, and boldly to hazard the 
Browns and vengeance of his abbot, rather than incur the dis 
pleasure of the Almighty. 43 

2. To obedience was added the strictest attention to chastity. 
The high commendations with which this virtue is mentioned in 
the inspired writings, had given it a distinguished place in the 
esteem of the first Christians. As early as the commencement 
of the second century, we discover numbers of both sexes, who 
had devoted themselves to a life of perpetual celibacy ; 44 and 
their example was eagerly followed by the founders of the mo 
nastic institute, whose successors, to the present day, bind them 
selves in the most solemn manner to observe it with scrupulous 
exactitude. To the Saxons, in whom, during the tide of conquest, 
the opportunity of gratification had strengthened the impulse of 
the passions, a life of chastity appeared the most arduous effort 
of human virtue : they revered its professors as beings of a na 
ture in this respect superior to their own ; and learned to esteem 
a religion which could elevate man so much above the influence 
of his inclinations. As they became acquainted with the maxims 
of the gospel, their veneration for this virtue increased : and who 
ever compares the dissolute manners of the pagan Saxons, with 
the severe celibacy of the monastic orders, will be astonished at 
the immense number of male and female recluses who, within 
a century after the arrival of St. Augustine, had voluntarily 
embraced a life of perpetual continency. Nor was the pious 
enthusiasm confined within the walls of convents : there were 
many who, in the midst of courts, and in the bonds of marriage, 
emulated the strictest chastity of the cloister. Of these, Edil- 
thryda may be cited as a remarkable example. She was the 
daughter of Anna, the king of the East-Angles, and, at an early 
period of life, had bound herself by a vow of virginity. But her 
secret wish was opposed by the policy of her friends, and she 
was compelled to marry Tondberct, Ealdorman of the Girvii. 
Her entreaties, however, moved the breast of her husband ; and 
compassion, perhaps religion, prompted him to respect her chas 
tity. At his death she retired to a solitary mansion in the unfre 
quented isle of Ely : but her relations invaded the tranquillity 
of her retreat, and offered her in marriage to Egfrid, the son of 
the king of Northumbria, a prince who had scarcely reached his 
fourteenth year. Notwithstanding her tears, she was delivered 

43 Admonendi sunt subditi, ne plus quani expedit, sint subjecti. St. Greg, apud 
Grat. 2, q. 7, can. 57. 

44 St. Just. Apol. 1, c. 10. Athenag. Leg. c. 3. Yet the sagacity of Mosheim has 
discovered, that this practice owed its origin not to the doctrine of the gospel, but to the 
influence of the climate of Egypt. (Mos. Sssc. ii. p. 2, c. 3, xl. Saec. iii. p. 2, c. 3.) 
If this be true, we must admire the heroism of its present inhabitants, who in their 
harems have subdurd the influence of the climate, and introduced the diilicult practice 
of polygamy, in lieu of the easy virtue of chastity. 



86 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

to the care of his messengers, and conducted a reluctant victim 
to the Northumbrian court. Her constancy, however, triumphed 
over his passion : and after preserving her virginity during the 
space of twelve years, amid the pleasures of the palace, and the 
solicitations of her husband, she obtained his permission to take 
the veil in the monastery of Coldingham. 45 Absence revived the 
affection of Egfrid : he repented of his consent ; and was prepar 
ing to take her by force from her convent, when she escaped to 
her former residence in Ely. After a certain period, her reputa 
tion attracted round her a sisterhood of nuns, among whom she 
spent the remainder of her days in the practice of every monastic 
duty, and distinguished by her superior fervour and superior 
humility. 46 

To secure the chastity of their disciples, the legislators of the 
monks had adopted the most effectual precautions which human 
ingenuity could devise. The necessity of mortifying every 
irregular inclination was inculcated both by precept and ex 
ample. The sobriety of their meals, and the meanness of 
their dress, perpetually recalled to their minds, that they had 
renounced the world and its concupiscence, and had dedicated 
their souls and bodies to the service of the Deity. They were 
commanded to sleep in the same room : and a lamp, which was 
kept burning during the darkness of the night, exposed the con 
duct of each individual to the eye of the superior. The gates of 
the convent were shut against the intrusion of strangers : visits 
of pleasure and even of business were forbidden : and the monk, 
whom the necessities of the community forced from his cell, was 
constantly attended, during his absence, by two companions. 47 
To the precautions of prudence were added the motives of reli 
gion. The praises of chastity were sung by the poets, and 
extolled by the preachers : its votaries were taught to consider 
themselves as the immaculate "spouses of the Lamb;" and to 
them was promised the transcendent reward, which the book of 
the Apocalypse describes as reserved for those " who have not 
been denied with women." But where thousands unite in the same 
pursuit, it is impossible that all should be animated with the same 
spirit, or persevere with equal resolution. Of these recluses there 
undoubtedly must have been some, whom passion or seduction 
prompted to violate their solemn engagement : but the unsullied 

45 Notwithstanding the prohibition of Hutchinson, (Hist, and Ant. of Durham, p. 
17,) I have ventured on the authority of Bede, (Hist. 1. iv. c. 19. 25,) to place Edil- 
thryda at Coldingham. 

4ti Ibid. Hist. Eliensis, p. 597. Hume observes (Hist. c. 1, p. 31) that Egfrid died 
without children, because his wife refused to violate her vow of chastity. He should, 
however, have added, that the king, at the time of their separation, wa*s only twenty-six 
years of age, that he married a second wife, and thnt he lived with her fourteen years. 
Egfrid came to the throne in 670, separated from Edilthryda in 671, and was killed in 
battle in 685. Compare Bede, (1. iv. c. 19. 26,) with the Saxon Chronicle, an. 670. 
673. 679. 

4 ~ Wilk. Cone. p. 97. 100. A post. Boned, app. par. 3, p. 78, 79. 



RENUNCIATION OF PROPERTY. 87 

reputation of an immense majority contributed to cast a veil over 
the shame of their weaker brethren, and bore an honourable 
testimony to the constancy of their own virtue, and the vigilance 
of their superiors. 

3. A voluntary renunciation of property was the third condi 
tion, required from the proselyte to the monastic state. The 
Saviour of mankind had denounced the severest woes against the 
worldly rich ; and to his approbation of a life of poverty was 
originally owing the establishment of monachism. Anthony, a 
young Egyptian, who had lately succeeded to an extensive 
estate, was prompted by curiosity or devotion, to enter a church 
during the celebration of the divine worship. " Go, sell that thou 
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in hea 
ven," were the first words which met his ear. He considered 
them as the voice of Heaven directed to himself; sold all his pro 
perty ; distributed the price to the poor ; and retired into the 
desert of Thebais. His reputation soon attracted a considerable 
number of disciples ; and the profession of poverty was sanctified 
in their eyes by the conduct of their teacher. With the monastic 
institute this spirit was diffused through the western empire : and 
the same contempt of riches which distinguished the anachorets 
of Egypt, was displayed by the first monks of Britain. Wealth 
they considered as the bane of a religious life : the donations of 
their friends, and the patrimony of their members, were equally 
refused : and the labours of husbandry formed their daily occu 
pation, and provided for their support. 48 The same discipline 
was anxiously inculcated by each succeeding legislator. St. 
Benedict informed his followers, that " they would then be truly 
monks, when, like their fathers, they lived by the work of their 
hands :" and St. Columban exhorted his disciples to fix their 
eyes on the treasure reserved for them in heaven, and to believe 
it a crime not only to have, but even to desire, more than was 
absolutely necessary upon earth." 49 

<* Ang. Sac. torn. ii. p. 645, 646. 

49 Tune vere Monachi sunt, si labore manuum vivunt sicut patres nostri. St. Ben. 
Reg. c. 48. Non solum superflua eos habere damnabile est, sed etiam velle. Bum in 
ccelis multum sint habituri, parvo extremes necessitatis censu in terris debent esse con- 
tenti. St. Colum. Reg. c. 4. He also composed verses in praise of poverty, some of 
which I shall transcribe, as a specimen of his poetic abilities. 

O nimium felix parcus, cui sufficit usus, 
Corporis ut curam moderamine temperet aequo. 
Non misera capitur csecaque cupidine rerum ; 
Non majora cupit quam quae natura reposcit; 
Non lucri cupidus nummis marsupia replet ; 
Nee molles cumulat tinearum ad pabula vestes. 
Pascere non pingui procurat fruge caballos ; 
Nee trepido doluit tales sub pectore curas ; 
Ne subitis pereat collecta pecunia flammis, 
Aut fracta nurnmos rapiat fur improbus area. 
Vivitur argento sine, jam sine vivitur auro. 



88 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

The ancient discipline was long observed in the east : but the 
western monks gradually departed from its severity, and the 
departure was justified by the prospect of greater advantage. 
The numerous irruptions of the barbarians had, in several pro 
vinces, swept away the principal part of the clergy, and the duty 
of public instruction devolved on the monks, whose good fortune 
had preserved them from the general devastation. 50 As, to per 
form their new functions with decency and advantage, a certain 
fund of knowledge was necessary, the pursuit of learning began 
to be numbered among the duties of the cloister; and the drud 
gery of manual labour was exchanged for the more honourable 
and more useful occupation of study. Monasteries were now 
endowed with extensive estates, adequate to the support of their 
inhabitants : and their revenues were constantly augmented by 
the liberality of their admirers. Yet the profession of poverty 
was not resigned. By the aid of an ingenious though not un 
founded distinction, it was discovered that it might still subsist in 
the bosom of riches ; and that each individual might be destitute 
of property, though the wealth of the community was equal to 
that of its most opulent neighbours. Monastic poverty was de 
nned to consist in the abdication of private property: whatever 
the convent possessed was common to all its members : no indi 
vidual could advance a claim in preference to his brethren : and 
every article, both of convenience and necessity, was received 
from the hands, and surrendered at the command of the abbot. 51 
These notions the Saxon monks received from their instructors. 
To refuse the donations of their friends would have been to injure 
the prosperity of the brotherhood: and each year conducted new 
streams of wealth to the more celebrated monasteries. Many, 
indeed, were left to languish in want and obscurity, but there 
were also many whose superior riches excited the envy of the 

Nudi nascuntur, nudos quos terra receptat. 

Divitibus nigri reserantur limina ditis : 

Pauperibusque piis ccelestia regna patescunt. 

Ep. Hunaldo. discip. apud Massingham, p. 411. 

50 The first who admitted the monks to holy orders, was St. Athanasius, patriarch 
of Alexandria. (Sandini Vit. Pont. p. 118, not. 7.) Siricius shortly after decreed that 
such monks should be aggregated to the clergy, as were fitted by their morals and edu 
cation for the clerical functions. (Quos tamen morum gravitas, et vitse ac fidei institutio 
sancta commendat. Sirica Epist. ad Himer. Terrac. c. 13.) The devastations of the 
barbarians caused them to be more frequently employed in the public ministry: and 
when the propriety of this innovation was questioned in the commencement of the 
seventh century, Boniface IV. called a council at Rome, and defended the interests of 
the monks. See the acts in Smith s appendix to Bede, p. 717. 

61 It appears, however, from many instances in the Saxon records, that though the 
private monks were destitute of property, the abbot, if he were the founder, considered 
the monastery and its dependencies as his own, and disposed of them by his testament. 
If the heir was a monk, he became the abbot; if a layman, he received the revenue, and 
was bound to maintain the monks. See Eddius, (Vit. Wilf. c. 60, 61,) Wilkins, (Cone. 
p. 84. 144. 172. 175,) Leland, (Oo lect. vol. i. p. 238,} and the charters in the appendix 
to Smith s edition of Bcde, (p. 7G4.) 



ORIGIN OF SECULAR MONASTERIES. 89 

covetous, and the rapacity of the powerful. The extensive do 
mains which Oswiu gave to the Abbess Hilda, have been already 
noticed. Egfrid, one of his successors, displayed an equal mu 
nificence in favour of the Abbot Bennet Biscop. 53 When the 
property of the rich abbey of Glastenbury was ascertained, by 
order of the king of Mercia, it was found to comprise no less 
than eight hundred hides: 53 and in the enumeration of the differ 
ent estates belonging to the monks of Ely, are mentioned more 
than eighty places, situated in the neighbouring counties of Cam 
bridge, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Hereford, and Huntingdon. 54 

The estates of the monks, like those of the clergy, were libe 
rated from all secular services : and the hope of participating in 
so valuable a privilege, gave occasion to a singular species of 
fraud, which cast a temporary but unmerited stain on the reputa 
tion of the order. We learn from Bede, that in the reign of 
Aldfrid, king of Northumbria, certain noblemen had expressed 
an ardent desire to consecrate their property to the service of 
religion. By the influence of friends and presents, the consent 
of the sovereign was obtained ; and the ecclesiastical privileges 
were confirmed to them by ample charters, subscribed with the 
signatures of the king, the bishops, and the principal thanes. 55 
But their secret motives were betrayed by the sequel of their 
conduct : and the advantages, not the virtues of the profession, 
proved to be the object of their pursuit. They quitted not the 
habits nor the pleasures of a secular life : but were content to 
assume the title of abbots, and to collect on some part of their 
domain a society of profligate and apostate monks. The wife 
also was proud to copy the example of her husband ; and her 
vanity was flattered with the power of legislating for a sisterhood 
of females as ignorant and dissipated as herself. The success 
of the first adventurers stimulated the industry of others. Each 
succeeding favourite was careful to procure a similar charter for 
his family: and so universal was the abuse, that the venerable 
Bede ventured to express a doubt whether, in a few years, there 
would remain a soldier to draw the sword against an invading 
enemy. 58 That respectable priest, in the close of his ecclesiastical 
history, dedicated to King Ceolwulf, hints in respectful terms his 
opinion of these nominal monks ; but in his letter to Archbishop 
Egbert, he assumes a bolder tone, and, in the language of zeal 
and detestation, insists on the necessity of putting a speedy period 
to so infamous a practice. 57 But the secular abbots were nume- 

J 2 Bed. 1. iii. c. 24. Hist. Abbat. Wirem. p. 294, 295. 

53 Malm. Antiq. Glast. p. 314, 315. 

54 Hist.Elien.p.510. For the motives of these donations see the preceding chapter, p. 80. 
Anno 704. 

56 Decet prospicere ne, rarescente copia militise secularis, absint qui fines nostros a 

barbarica incursione tueantur omnino deest locus, ubi filii nobilium aut emerito- 

rum militum possessionem accipere possint. Bed. Ep. ad Egb. p. 309. 

57 Bed. Hist. 1. v. c. 24. Ep. ad Egb. Ant. p. 309, 312, 

12 H2 



90 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

rous and powerful, and existed in the other kingdoms no less 
than in that of Northumbria. It was in vain that Bede denounced 
them to his metropolitan, and that the synod of Cloveshoe attri 
buted their origin to avarice and tyranny : 58 they survived the 
censures of the monk, and the condemnation of the synod ; their 
monasteries were inherited by their descendants ; and for their 
extirpation the Saxon church was indebted to the devastations 
of the pagan Danes in the succeeding century. 59 

It is against the wealth and immunities of the monks that 
their enemies have directed the fiercest of their attacks. Wit 
and malignity have combined to expose the riches which sprung 
from the profession of poverty, and the distinctions which re 
warded the vow of obedience. From the discipline of the cloister 
its votaries are supposed to have acquired the science of fraud 
and superstition ; the art of assuming the garb of sanctity, to 
amuse the credulity of the people, and of prostituting to private 
advantage the most sacred institutions. In investigating the 
manners of a class of men who lived in a remote period, it is 
always difficult to restrain the excursions of the fancy: but if 
passion be permitted to guide the inquiry, possible are frequently 
substituted for real occurrences ; and what might have been the 
guilt of a few individuals, is confidently ascribed to the whole 
body. If, in the theology of the monks, " to patronize the order 
was esteemed the first of virtues," if they taught that "the foun 
dation of a monastery was the secure road to heaven, and that a 
bountiful donation would, without repentance, efface the guilt 
of the most deadly sins," 60 they were undoubtedly the corrupters 
of morality, and the enemies of mankind. But of these doctrines 
no vestige remains in their writings, and we have yet to learn 
from what source their modern adversaries derive the important 
information. If they had consulted the venerable Bede, he 
would have taught them that "no offering, though made to a 
monastery, could be pleasing to the Almighty, if it proceeded 
from an impure conscience; 761 from the council of Calcuith, they 

" Wilkins, p. 95. 

69 Most of the modern writers, who attempt to describe the Saxon monks, are careful 
to consult the invective of Bede against the secular monasteries. But, unfortunately, 
they are unable to distinguish the real from the pretended monks ; and scrupulously 
ascribe to the former every vice with which he reproaches the latter. (See Inett, Orig. 
Sax. vol. i. p. 127. Biog. Britan. art. Bede. Henry, Hist. vol. iii. p. 299.) Inett has 
even discovered, from Bede s letter to Archbishop Egbert, that, on account of the gene 
ral depravity of the monks, those who were desirous to have their children educated 
virtuously, were obliged to send them abroad. (Inett, ibid.) After a diligent perusal of 
the same letter, I may venture to assert that it does not contain the most remote allusion 
to such a circumstance. In reality, the true monasteries were, at this^period, filled with 
men of the strictest virtue ; and Bede s complaints were directed only against the noble 
men, who made themselves abbots, in order to obtain the monastic privileges, and against 
their followers, who, without practising the duties, assumed the name and the dress of 
the monks. 

6 Hume, Hist. p. 42. 77. Sturges, Reflect, on Popery, p. 31. Hen. vol. iv. p. 299. 

61 Bed. Ep. ad Egb. p, 312, 



FALSE NOTIONS OF THE MONASTIC INSTITUTE. 91 

might have learnt that "repentance was then only of avail, when 
it impelled the sinner to lament his past offences, and restrained 
him from committing them again ;" 62 and in the acts of the synod 
of Cloveshoe,they might have seen how repugnant such interested 
morality was to the genuine doctrine of the Saxon church. 
" The man," say the prelates, " who indulges his passion, in the 
confidence that his charities will procure his salvation, instead 
of making an acceptable offering to God, throws himself into the 
arms of Satan." 63 Alms, indeed, were enumerated by the monks 
among the most efficacious means of disarming the justice of the 
Almighty: and in this opinion they were supported by the clear 
est testimonies of the inspired writings. 84 But they did not point 
out their own body as the sole, or the principal object of charity. 
To the penitent, who was anxious to make his peace with heaven, 
they proposed works of public utility. They exhorted him to repair 
the roads and erect bridges; to purchase the freedom of slaves; to 
exercise the duties of hospitality ; and to clothe and support the 
distressed peasants, whom the broils of their petty tyrants often 
reduced to the lowest state of wretchedness. 65 If, among these 
different objects, frequent donations were made to the religious 
houses, the impartial reader will consider them as proofs rather 
of their merit than their avarice. For men, however vicious 
they may be, are seldom blind to the vices of their teachers. 
The malignity of the human heart is gratified with discovering 
the defects of those who claim the reputation of superior virtue. 
Had the monks been, as they are so frequently described, an 
indolent, avaricious, and luxurious race, they would never have 
commanded the confidence, nor have been enriched by the bene 
factions of their countrymen. 

It is at the commencement of religious societies, that their 
fervour is generally the most active. The Anglo-Saxon monks 
of the seventh century, were men, who had abandoned the 
world through the purest motives ; and whose great solicitude 
was to practise the duties of their profession. They had em 
braced a life, in appearance at least, irksome and uninviting. 
Their devotions were long ; their fasts frequent ; their diet coarse 
and scanty. For more than a century wine and beer were, in 
the monastery of Lindisfarne, excluded from the beverage of the 
monks ; and the first mitigation of this severity was introduced 
in favour of Ceolwulf, a royal novice. 66 The discipline, which 
St. Boniface prescribed to his disciples at Fulda, he had learned 
in England ; and from it we may infer, that the Saxon Benedic- 

62 Admissa deflere, et fleta in postmodum non admittere. Wilk. Con. p. 181. 

63 Sua Deo dare videntur, (sed) seipsos diabolo per flagitia dare non duhitantur. Id. 
p. 98, xxvi. Cloveshoe was probably Abingdon, (Stevens s Translation of Bed. p. 292, 
not.) It was originally called Seusham, or Seukesham, (Lei. Itiner. vol. ii. p. 42, ix. 
p. 33.) 

Dan. iv. 24. Matt. xxiv. 35. Luc. xi. 14. 

65 Wilk. p. 140. 236, cs Hcved. anno 742, 



92 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

tines, whose institute was less austere than that of the Scottish 
coenobites, were men of the strictest abstinence. They refrained 
from the use of flesh, wine, and beer, refused the assistance of 
slaves, and with their own hands cultivated the deserts which 
surrounded them. 67 The voluntary professors of a life so severe 
and mortified, ought certainly to be acquitted of the more sordid 
vices ; and if they consented to accept the donations of their 
friends, we may safely ascribe that acceptance to lawful and 
honourable motives. The truth of this observation will be ex 
emplified in the conduct of the first abbots of Weremouth. 
They were descended from the noblest families in Northumbria; 
and their monastery was endowed with the most ample revenues. 
Yet they despised the vain distinctions of rank and wealth ; as 
sociated with their monks in the duties of the cloister, and the 
labours of husbandry ; and in their diet, their dress, and their 
accommodations, descended to a level with the lowest of their dis 
ciples. Their riches were not devoted to the encouragement of 
idleness, or the gratification of sensuality : but by their liberality, 
foreign artists were invited to instruct the ignorance of their 
countrymen ; paintings and statues were purchased for the deco 
ration of their churches ; and their library was enriched with the 
choicest volumes of profane and sacred literature. The last care 
of Bennet, their founder, was directed to these objects. He 
had a brother, whose avarice would have grasped at the govern 
ment, and whose prodigality would have quickly exhausted the 
treasury of the abbey. Him he conjured the monks to banish 
from their thoughts ; to permit neither authority nor affection to 
influence their suffrages; and to elect for his successor the 
worthiest, though he might be the youngest and most ignoble 
brother in the monastery. 88 

The conduct of the abbots of Weremouth, was the conduct of 
almost all the superiors of religious societies at this period. To 
erect edifices worthy of the God whom they adored, to imitate 
the solemnity of the Roman worship, and to arrest by external 
splendour the attention of their untutored brethren, were the prin 
cipal objects of their ambition: and in the prosecution of these 
objects, they necessarily accelerated the progress of civil as well 
as religious improvement. 1. The architecture of the Saxons, at 
the time of their conversion, was rude and barbarous. They 
lived amid ruins, which attest the taste of a more civilized people : 
but their ignorance beheld them with indifference, and their in 
dolence was satisfied with the wretched hovels of their ancestors. 
The first impulse was communicated by the missionaries, who 

" Viros strictae abstinent! 33 ; absque came et vino, absque sicera et servis, proprio 
manuum suarum lahore contcntos. Ep. Bonif. p. 211. In these points they seem to 
have improved on the original rule of St.. Benedict. See note (E). 

68 Bede, Vitae Abbatnm Wirem. paseim. Homilia in natal. Divi. Benedicti. op. torn, 
vii. col. 464. 



MAGNIFICENCE OF THE CHURCHES. 93 

constructed churches for the accommodation of their converts. 
Those built by the Scots were of oaken planks, those by the 
Romans of unwrought stone. Both were covered with reeds 
or straw. But when the Saxons, in their visits to the tombs of 
the apostles, had seen the public buildings of other countries, they 
blushed at the inferiority of their own ; and resolved to imitate 
what they had learned to admire. The considerations of labour 
and expense were despised ; and every art, which that age con 
nected with the practice of architecture, was introduced or 
improved. Walls of polished masonry succeeded to the rough 
erections of their ancestors ; the roofs of their churches were 
protected with sheets of lead; lofty towers added to the size and 
appearance of the building: and, to the astonishment of the un- 
travelled multitude, windows of glass admitted the light, at the 
same time that they excluded the wind and rain. 69 The names 
of those, to whom the more southern nations were indebted for 
these improvements, are unknown: 70 but in the north, the labours 
of St. Bennet and St. Wilfrid have been gratefully recorded by 
contemporary historians. The neighbouring churches of Were- 
mouth and Jarrow established the reputation of the former, and 
were long the admiration of his countrymen. 71 The efforts of 
the latter were more numerous, and more widely diffused. His 
first attempt was to repair and beautify the cathedral church of 
York, which had been originally built by Edwin of Northumbria ; 
and now, after the short interval of forty years, was rapidly has 
tening to decay. By his instructions the walls were strengthen 
ed, the timber of the roof was renewed, and a covering of lead 
opposed to the violence of the weather. From the windows he 
removed the lattices of wood, and curtains of linen, the rude 
contrivances of an unskilful age ; and substituted in their place 
the more elegant and useful invention of glass. The interior of 
the church he cleansed from its impurities, and washed the walls 
with lime, till they became, according to the expression of his 
biographer, whiter than the snow. 72 His success at York was a 
fresh stimulus to his industry, and at Rippon he raised a new 
church, which was built from the foundations according to his 
design. We are told that the masonry was nicely polished, that 
rows of columns supported the roof, and that porticoes adorned 
each of the principal entrances. 73 The monastery at Hexham was 
the last and most admired of his works. The height and length 
of the walls, the beautiful polish of the stones, the number of 
the columns and porticoes, and the spiral windings, which led to 

69 Edd. Vit. Wilf. c. 14. 

70 St. Aldhelm was probably active in this pursuit. Malmesbury tells us, that one of 
the churches built by him was superior to any other in England. Gale, p. 349. 

71 Bede, p. 295. 

72 Super nivem dealbavit. Edd. Vit. Wilf. c. 16. See also Malm, de Pont, 1. iii. 

73 Edd. c. 17. 



94 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

the top of each tower, have exercised the descriptive powers of 
Eddius, who, after two journeys to the apostolic see, boldly pro 
nounced that there existed not, on this side of the Alps, a church 
to be compared with that of Hexham. 74 It is, indeed, probable 
that these buildings, which once excited raptures in the breasts 
of their beholders, would, at the present day, displease by the 
absence of the symmetry and taste. But we should recollect, 
that they were the first essays of a people emerging from bar 
barism, the rudiments of an art which has been perfected by the 
labours of succeeding generations. The men by whose genius, 
and under whose patronage they were constructed, were the bene 
factors of mankind, and might justly claim the gratitude not only 
of their contemporaries, but also of their posterity. 75 

2. The interior of these edifices exhibited an equal spirit of 
improvement, and a superior display of magnificence. Of the 
spoils which their barbarous ancestors had wrested from a more 
polished people, a considerable portion was now dedicated to the 
service of the Deity ; and the plate and jewels, which their piety 
poured into the treasuries of the principal churches, are repre 
sented of such immense value, that it is with reluctance we assent 
to the testimony of contemporary and faithful historians. From 
them we learn that, on the more solemn festivals, every vessel 
employed in the sacred ministry was of gold or silver; that the 
altars sparkled with jewels and ornaments of the precious metals; 
that the vestments of the priest and his assistants were made of 
silk, embroidered in the most gorgeous manner; and that the walls 
were hung with foreign paintings, and the richest tapestries. 76 In 
the church of York stood two altars, entirely covered with plates 
of gold and silver. One of them was also ornamented with a 
profusion of gems, and supported a lofty crucifix of equal value. 
Above were suspended three ranges of lamps, in a pharus of the 
largest dimensions. 77 Even the books employed in the offices of 
religion were decorated with similar magnificence. St. Wilfrid 
ordered the four gospels to be written with letters of gold, on a 
purple ground, and presented them to the church of Rippon in a 
casket of gold, in which were enchased a number of precious 
stones. 78 Of these ornaments some had been purchased from 
foreign countries; many were executed by the industry of native 
artists. In their convents the nuns were employed in the elegant 
works of embroidery: in the monasteries the monks practised 
the different mechanical arts. The ironsmith, the joiner, and the 

7 ^ Id. c. 22. 7 s gee note (F.) 

7 6 Bed. p. 295. 297. 299. 300. Edd. Vit. Wilf. c. 17. Ale. de Pont. v. 1224. 
1266. 1488. 

77 Ale. ibid. v. 1488. The pharus was a contrivance for suspending lights in the 
church. Georgi, de Liturg. Rom. Pont. vol. i. p. Ixxix. 

78 Edd. c. 17. Bed. 1. v. c. 19. If the reader wish to see other accounts of the 
magnificent furniture of their churches, he may consult the Monaaticon, vol. i. p. 40. 
104. 165. 222. 



IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 95 

goldsmith, were raised by their utility, to a high degree of con 
sequence among their brethren ; their professions were ennobled 
by the abbots and bishops, who occasionaHy exercised them; and 
these distinctions contributed to excite emulation, and accelerate 
improvement. 79 

3. While the mechanic trades thus flourished under the patron 
age of the richer ecclesiastics, the more important profession of 
agriculture acquired a due share of their attention. The estates 
of the lay proprietors were cultivated by the compulsory labours 
of their theowas or slaves: but in every monastery numbers of 
the brotherhood were devoted to the occupation of husbandry ; 
and the superior cultivation of their farms quickly demonstrated 
the difference between the industry of those who worked through 
motives of duty, and of those whose only object was to escape 
the lash of the surveyor. 80 Of the lands bestowed on the 
monks, a considerable portion was originally wild and unculti 
vated, surrounded by marshes, or covered with forests. They 
preferred such situations for the advantage of retirement and con 
templation ; and as they were of less value, they were more 
freely bestowed by their benefactors. 81 But every obstacle of 
nature and soil was subdued by the unwearied industry of the 
monks. The forests were cleared, the waters drained, roads 
opened, bridges erected, and the waste lands reclaimed. Plenti 
ful harvests waved on the coast of Northumbria, and luxuriant 
meadows started from the fens of the Girvii. 82 The superior 
cultivation of several counties in England, is originally owing 
to the labours of the monks, who, at this early period, were the 
parents of agriculture as well as of the arts. 

79 Bede, p. 296. St. Dunstan worked in all the metals; (Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 94 :) he 
made organs (Gale, p. 324) and bells. (Monast. vol. i. p. 104.) St. Ethelwold prac 
tised the same trades as his instructor. Ibid. By a law published in the reign of Ed 
gar, but probably transcribed from a more ancient regulation, every priest was com 
manded " to learn some handicraft, in order to increase knowledge. CO e acan laen e ." 
Wilk. p. 225. 

8 From the Domesday survey, Mr. Turner observes, that the church lands were in a 
higher state of cultivation than those of any other order of society. Vol. iv. p. 205. 

s i Bede, p. 128. 144. 156. 164. Several monasteries took their names from their 
situations, as Atbearwe, in the forest, (Bed. p. 144 ;) Ondyrawuda, in the wood of the 
Deiri, (Bed. p. 183 ;) Croyland, boggy land, (Ing. p. i. ;) Thorney,the island of thorns, 
(Hug. Cand, p. 3 ;) Jarrow or Gyrvum, a fen, (Id. p. 2.) 

82 The coast of Northumbria was cultivated by the monks of Coldingham, Lindis- 
farne, Bambrough, Tinmouth, Jarrow, Weremouth, Hartlepool, and Whitby : the 
marshes of the Girvii were drained and improved by the monks of Croyland, Thorney, 
Ely, Ramsey, and Medhamsted. This fenny region, the theatre of monastic industry, 
extended the space of 68 miles, from the borders of Suffolk to Wainfleet in Lincoln 
shire, (Camden s Cambridgeshire.) After the lapse of so many centuries, there is 
reason to fear, that a very considerable part of it will be again lost to cultivation, by re 
peated inundations. In the years 1795, 1799, and 1800, about 140,000 acres were 
under water. " Two or three more floods," says Mr. Young, " will complete the ruin: 
and 300,000 acres of the richest land in Great Britain will revert to their ancient pro 
prietors, the frogs, the coots, and the wild ducks of the region." Annals of Agriculture, 
1804. 



96 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

If the monastic bodies thus acquired opulence for themselves, 
they were not insensible to the wants of the unfortunate. The 
constant exercise of charity and hospitality had been indispensa 
bly enjoined by all their legislators. Within the precincts of each 
monastery stood an edifice, distinguished by the Greek name 
of Xenodochium, in which a certain number of paupers received 
their daily support, and which was gratuitously opened to every 
traveller who solicited relief. The monks were divided into 
classes, of which each in rotation succeeded to the service of the 
hospital. The abbot alone was exempted. To confine his at 
tendance to particular days was repugnant to his other and more 
important occupations : but he was exhorted frequently to join 
his brethren in the performance of this humble and edifying 
duty. To the assistant monks it was recommended to shut their 
ears to the suggestions of pride and indolence ; to revere the 
Saviour of mankind in the persons of the poor, and to recollect 
that every good office rendered to them, he would reward as 
done to himself. 83 Severity and impatience were strictly forbid 
den : they were to speak with kindness, and to serve with cheer 
fulness : to instruct the ignorance, console the sorrows, and 
alleviate the pains of their guests : to attach the highest import 
ance to their employment ; and to prefer the service of the in 
digent brethren of Christ, before that of the wealthy children of 
the world. 84 The legislator who framed these regulations, must 
have been inspired by the true spirit of the gospel ; to execute 
them with fidelity, required men actuated by motives superior to 
those of mercenary attendants ; and humanity will gratefully 
cherish the memory of these asylums, erected for the support of 
indigence and misfortune. 85 

But it was in the time of public distress, that the charity of 
the monks was displayed in all its lustre. In their mutual wars 
the Saxon princes ravaged each others territories without mercy ; 
and, after the establishment of the monarchy, the devastations of 
the Danes frequently reduced the natives to the extremity of want. 
Agriculture was yet, except among the monastic bodies, in its 
infancy. The most plentiful years could scarcely supply the 
general consumption, and as often as an unfavourable season 
stinted the growth, or a hostile invasion swept away the produce 

ss St. Matt. c. xxv. v. 40. 

84 Nee pauperisms seterni Christi vicarius tardus ac tepidus ministrare differendo 
desistat, qui celer ac fervidus divitibus caducis ministrando occurrere desiderat. Apost. 
Bened. app. par. 3, p. 92. 

85 When the humanity of Louis XVI. induced him to improve the state of the public 
hospitals in France, a member of the academy of sciences was sent to inquire into the 
manner in which similar establishments were conducted in this country. At his return 
he gave to the English hospitals that praise which they so justly merit: but observed, 
that to render them perfect, two things were wanting, the zeal of the French curates, 
and the charity of the hospital nuns. Mais il y manque deux choses, nos cures et nos 
hospitalieres." Bergicr, Art. Hopitaux. 



CHARITIES OF LEOFRIC AND GODRIC. 97 

of the harvest, famine, with its inseparable attendant, pesti 
lence, was the necessary result. On such occasions the monks 
were eager to relieve the wants of their countrymen ; and who 
ever is conversant with their writers, must have remarked the 
satisfaction with which they recount the charitable exertions of 
their most celebrated abbots. Among these, a distinguished 
place is due to Leofric, the tenth abbot of St. Albans. 88 To 
erect a church, which in magnificence might equal the dignity 
of the abbey, had been the favourite project of his two immediate 
predecessors. The ruins of the ancient Verulam had been ex 
plored ; the necessary materials had been prepared ; the treasury 
was filled with the donations of their friends ; and a profusion 
of gold and silver vases proved the extent of their resources. 
Leofric, in the vigour of manhood, succeeded to their riches and 
their projects : and his hopes were gratified with the prospect of 
erecting an edifice, which would transmit his name with honour 
to posterity. But the public calamity soon dissipated the flatter 
ing illusion. The horrors of famine depopulated the country, 
and his heart melted at the distress of his brethren. He cheer 
fully resolved to sacrifice the object of his ambition ; the granaries 
of the monastery were opened to the sufferers ; the riches of the 
treasury were expended for their relief; the plate reserved for 
his table was melted down ; and, as a last resource, he ventured 
to sell the precious ornaments destined for the use and decora 
tion of the church. 87 Of his monks there were several, who 
murmured at the liberality of their abbot ; but they were careful 
to conceal their avarice beneath the mask of piety. Whatever 
had been once consecrated to the service of God, could not, they 
observed, without impiety, be alienated to profane purposes. 
Leofric meekly but truly replied, that the living were to be pre 
ferred to the inanimate temples of God : and that to support the 
former was a work of superior obligation to the decoration of the 
latter. His conduct was applauded: and his opponents were 
condemned to silence by the voice of the public. 88 

In the same rank with Leofric, we may place Godric, the 
abbot of Croyland. His monastery, situated in the midst of 
deep and extensive marshes, offered a secure asylum to the 
crowds that fled from the exterminating swords of the Danes. 
Though his treasury had been lately pillaged by the officers of 
the crown ; though Swein, the chieftain of the barbarians, threat 
ened him with his resentment ; Godric listened not to the sugges 
tions of terror or of prudence, but received the fugitives with 
open arms, consoled them in their loss, and associated them to 
his own fortunes. During several months Croyland swarmed 

36 An. 1000. 

87 Some jewels and cameos were excepted, for which he could find no purchaser 
Mat. Paris, p. 995. 
ss Ibid. 

13 I 



98 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

with strangers, who were accommodated and supported at his 
expense. The cloisters and the choir were reserved for his own 
monks, and those of the neighbouring monasteries : the fugitive 
clergy chose for their residence the body of the church : the men 
were lodged in the other apartments of the abbey ; and the women 
and children were placed in temporary buildings erected in the 
cemetery. But the most vigilant economy was soon compelled to 
sink under the accumulated expenses. The anxiety of the 
benevolent abbot was daily increased by the suspicions of 
Ethelred, and the menaces of Swein ; and in his anguish he was 
heard to envy the fate of those whom he had followed to the 
grave. A last expedient remained, to solicit the friendship of 
Norman, a powerful retainer of Duke Edric ; and the grant of a 
valuable manor for the term of one hundred years, secured the 
protection of that nobleman. While he lived, Croyland enjoyed 
tranquillity ; but the estate was unjustly retained by his descend 
ants, and recovered by the abbey. 89 



CHAPTER V. 

Government of the Anglo-Saxon Church Episcopal Synods National Councils 
Supremacy of the Popes They establish Metropolitan Sees Confirm the Elec 
tion of the Archbishops Reform Abuses And receive Appeals. 

THE origin and nature of ecclesiastical government have, in 
modern ages, been the subjects of numerous and discordant 
theories. But in the sixth and seventh centuries, when the 
Anglo-Saxons embraced the doctrine of the gospel, the churches 
of the east and west obeyed one common constitution ; and, in 
every Christian country, a regular gradation of honour and 
authority cemented together the great body of the clergy, from 
the lowest clerk to the pontiff who sat in the chair of St. Peter. 
To reject, or to improve this plan of government, were projects 
which never engaged the attention of our ancestors. The igno 
rance of the converts reposed with confidence on the knowledge 
of the missionaries : and the knowledge of the missionaries taught 
them to revere as sacred those institutions, which had been sanc 
tioned by the approbation of antiquity. Hence the ecclesiastical 
polity of the Anglo-Saxons, as soon as circumstances permitted 
it to assume a consistent form, appeared to have been cast in the 
same mould as that of the other Christian nations. I. The con 
cerns of each diocese were regulated by the bishop in his annual 
synods : II. A more extensive power of legislation was exercised 

*> Ingulf, f. 507. An. 1010. See note (G). 



EPISCOPAL SYNODS. 99 

by the provincial and national councils; III. And these, in their 
turn, acknowledged the superior control of the Roman pontiffs. 
I. The Anglo-Saxon bishops, in their respective dioceses, 
exercised the episcopal jurisdiction according to the direction of 
the canons : and few instances are preserved in history, of either 
clerk or layman, who dared to refuse obedience to their legi 
timate authority. Twice in the year, on the calends of May and 
November, they summoned their clergy to meet them in the 
episcopal synod. Every priest, whether secular or regular, to 
whose administration a portion of the diocese had been intrusted, 
was commanded to attend : and his disobedience was punished 
by a pecuniary fine, or by suspension from his functions during 
a determinate period. 1 As the subjects of their future discussion 
involved the interests of religion, and the welfare of the clergy, 
each member was exhorted to implore by his prayers, and 
deserve by his conduct the assistance of the Holy Spirit. With 
this view, they were commanded to meet together, and travel 
in company to the episcopal residence ; to be attended by the 
most discreet of their clerks ; and carefully to exclude from their 
retinue every person of a light or disedifying deportment. 2 Three 
days were allotted for the duration of the synod ; and on each 
day, the general fast was only terminated by the conclusion of the 
session. At the appointed hour, they entered the church in order 
and silence ; the priests were ranged according to their seniority; 
below them sat the principal among the deacons ; and behind 
was placed a select number of laymen, distinguished by their 
superior piety and wisdom. The bishop opened the synod with 
an appropriate speech, in which he promulgated the decrees of 
the last national council ; 3 explained the regulations which he 
deemed expedient for the reformation of his diocese ; and exhorted 
the members to receive with reverence the mandates of their 
father and instructor. He did not, however, prohibit the freedom 
of debate. 4 Each individual was requested to speak his senti 
ments without restraint ; to offer the objections or amendments 
which his prudence and experience might suggest ; to expose the 
difficulties, against which he had to struggle in the government 
of his parish ; and to denounce the names and crimes of the 
public sinners, whose contumacy refused to yield to the zeal of 
their pastor, and defied the censures of the church. 5 

1 Wilk. Con. vol. i. p. 220, xliv. vol. iv. p. 784. 

2 Id. vol. i. p. 225, iv. 266, iv. 

3 Id. p. 98, xxv. Of the discourses spoken by the bishops on these occasions, two 
are still preserved; one of which is supposed to have been composed by ^Elfric, the 
author of the Saxon homilies, the other by /Elfric, afterwards archbishop of York, 
(Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 153. 161.) Wilkins imagines they were collected from the rule 
of St. Benedict : but a diligent comparison will show that they were formed after the 
admonitio synodalis of the Roman pontifical, which has been accurately published by 
Georgi. De Liturg Rom. Pont. vol. iii. p. 425. 

4 Wilk. vol. iv. p. 785. * Id. vol. i. p. 225, v. vi. 



100 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

It had been the wish of St. Paul, that his converts should pre 
fer, for the decision of their disputes, the assembly of the saints to 
the tribunal of a pagan magistrate : the ancient fathers, the in 
heritors of his spirit, had commanded, that the controversies of 
the clergy should be withdrawn from the cognisance of the secular 
judges, and committed to the wisdom and authority of their eccle 
siastical superiors. 6 The synod, as soon as the plan of reform 
had been adjusted, resolved into a court of judicature ; every 
clerk, who conceived himself aggrieved by any of his brethren, 
was admitted to prefer his complaint, and justice was adminis 
tered according to the decisions of the canons, and the notions 
of natural equity. But the testimony and recriminations of the 
contending parties might have scandalized their weaker brethren ; 
and, during these trials, every stranger was prudently excluded 
from the debates. On their re-admission, they were publicly 
invited to accuse, before the assembly of his peers, the clergy 
man who had notoriously neglected the duties of his profession, 
or dared to violate the rights of his fellow-citizens: and, if a 
prosecutor appeared, the parties were heard with patience, and 
judgment was pronounced. The business of the meeting was 
then terminated : the bishop arose, made a short exhortation, gave 
his benediction, and dissolved the assembly. 7 

II. The many and important advantages which must have 
arisen from synods thus organized and conducted, were felt, and 
duly appreciated by the Anglo-Saxon prelates : but the superior 
dignity and superior authority of the national councils have 
chiefly claimed the notice, and exercised the diligence of histo 
rians. The right of convoking these assemblies was vested in 
the archbishop of Canterbury ; but in the exercise of this privilege 
he was directed, not only by the dictates of his own prudence, 
but sometimes by the commands of the pope, more frequently 
by the decrees of the preceding council. 8 At his summons the 
bishops repaired to the appointed place, accompanied by the 
abbots, and the principal ecclesiastics of their dioceses ; who, 
though they pretended to no judicial authority, assisted at the 
deliberations, and subscribed to the decrees. 9 Of these assemblies 
the great objects were, to watch over the purity of faith, and the 
severity of discipline ; to point out to the prelates and the pa 
rochial clergy the duties of their respective stations ; to reform 

6 Id. vol. iv. p. 785, 786. 7 Ibid. 

8 After York became an archbishopric, each of the metropolitans convoked, on cer 
tain occasions, the bishops of their respective provinces. 

9 See Wilkins, Con. p. 51. 94. 167. 169. Respecting the council of Calcuith, Henry 
informs us, (and he affects to consider the information as highly important, Hen. vol. 
iii. p. 241,) that in the preamble to the canons, it is said to have been "called in the 
name, and by the authority of Jesus Christ, the supreme head of the church." WerH 
the assertion true, I know not what inference he could justly deduce from it : but 
unfortunately it is one of the pious frauds, into which his zeal sometimes betrayed 
him. The passage is not to be found iu any edition of the acts of the council. fc>eo 
Spelman, (p. :^7.) and Wilkins, (p. 169.) 



CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL POWER UNITED. 101 

the abuses, which the weakness of human nature insensibly 
introduces into the most edifying communities ; and to regulate 
whatever concerned the propriety and splendour of the public 
worship. The selection of the subjects of discussion appears to 
have been intrusted to the wisdom of the metropolitan, who com 
posed a competent number of canons, and submitted them to the- 
judgment of his brethren. 10 Their approbation imparted to them 
the sanction of laws, which bound the whole Saxon church, and 
were enforced with the accustomed threat of excommunication 
against the transgressors. But it was soon discovered, that the 
dread of spiritual punishment operates most powerfully on those 
who, from previous habits of virtue, are less disposed to rebel ; 
and that it is necessary, among men of strong passions and 
untutored minds, to oppose to the impulse of present desire, the 
restraint of present and sensible chastisement. With this view 
the bishops frequently solicited and obtained the aid of the civil 
power. Whenever the witena-gemot, the council of the sages. 
was assembled, they were careful to improve the favourable 
opportunity ; to call the public attention to the more flagrant 
violations of ecclesiastical discipline ; and to demand that future 
transgressors might be amenable to the secular tribunals. To 
the success of these applications the statutes of the Saxon coun 
cils bear ample testimony. 11 So early as the reign of Ethelbert, 
the laws of Kent had guarded the property of the church with 
the heaviest penalties ; 12 and the zeal of his grandson, Earcon- 
bert, prompted him to enforce with similar severity the observ 
ance of the canonical fast of Lent. 13 Persuaded of the neces 
sity of baptism by the instructions of his teachers, the legislator 
of Wessex placed the new-born infant under the protection 
of the law, and by the fear of punishment stimulated the 
diligence of the parents. The delay of a month subjected 
them to the penalty of thirty shillings : and if, after that period, 
the child died without having received the sacred rite, nothing 
less than the forfeiture of their property could expiate the 
offence. 14 To relapse into the errors of paganism, provoked a 
still more rigorous punishment. The sincerity of the convert 
was watched with a suspicious eye ; and the man that presumed 
to offer sacrifice to the gods, whom he had previously abjured, 
besides the loss of his estate, was condemned to the disgrace of 
the pillory, unless he was redeemed by the contributions of his 

10 Among the constitutions of the Anglo-Saxon metropolitans, is preserved a code ot 
laws, which St. Odo appears to have selected from the canons of preceding synods. 
(Wilk. p. 212.) It has been particularly noticed by Henry, as characteristic of the 
haughty spirit which he is pleased to ascribe to that prelate, (Hen. Hist. vol. iii. p. 264.) 
But from what lexicographer had the historian learned that ammonemus regem et 
principes, means, "I command the king and the princes!" It is a singular fact that 
Henry s short version of ten lines is disgraced by four blunders, each of which is cal 
culated to enforce the charge of arrogance against the archbishop. 

11 Wilk. Con. p. 56. 58/60. Leges Sax. passim. 2 Wilk. Con. p. 29. An. 605. 
13 Bed. 1. iii. c. 8. An. 640. " Leg~a Sax. p. 14. An. 693. 

I 2 



102 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

friends. 15 By degrees, these penal statutes were multiplied, till 
there scarcely remained a precept of the decalogue, the overt 
transgression of which was not punishable by the civil law. But 
of nothing were the Saxons more jealous than of the honour of 
their women. Every species of insult which could be offered to 
female chastity, was carefully enumerated ; the degrees of guilt 
were discriminated with accuracy ; and the chastisement was 
proportioned to the nature of the offence, and the dignity of the 
injured person. 36 The fines arising from these ecclesiastical crimes 
were paid into the treasury of the bishop, and to his prudence was 
intrusted the administration of the money : but he was strictly 
commanded to devote it to the relief of the poor, the repairs of 
decayed churches, and the education of those who had destined 
themselves to the ministry of the altar. 17 

III. From the history of the evangelists we learn that, among 
the companions of Jesus, Peter was particularly distinguished by 
his heavenly Master. 18 That precedency of honour and jurisdic 
tion, which has been denied to him by the skepticism of modern 
polemics, was readily conceded by the more docile piety of our 
ancestors : whose sentiments are plainly and forcibly recorded in 
the works of their most celebrated writers. " The prince of the 
apostles, the shepherd of all believing nations, the head of the 
chosen flock, and the first pastor of the church, 7 are the titles by 
which they commonly describe him : 19 and to him they are care 
ful to attribute, as "a peculiar privilege, the power to bind, and 

15 Ibid. p. 11. Healypange sometimes means the pillory, sometimes a legal com 
pensation instead of the punishment. 

1(3 Ibid. p. 2, 3, 4. 6, et passim. If the clergy were assisted by the power of the civil 
magistrate, the civil magistrate in return was much indebted to the superior knowledge 
of the clergy. It was by the persuasion, and with the assistance of the missionaries, that 
the first code of Saxon laws was published by Ethelbert, " juxta morem Romanorum." 
Bed. 1. ii. c. v. From the time of their conversion, the study of the Roman jurisprudence 
appears to have been a favourite pursuit with the clergy. St. Aldhelm visited the school 
at Canterbury, that he might learn, " legum Romanorum jura, et cuncta jurisconsultorum 
secreta." (Ep. Aldhel. apud Gale, p. 341 ;) and Bede speaks of the code of Justinian as 
of a work well known to his countrymen. (Bed. Chron. p. 28, anno 567.) To this 
study was necessarily added that of the ecclesiastical canons ; and the knowledge of 
each must have given the clergy a great superiority, both as legislators in the witena- 
gemot, and as magistrates in the different courts, at which it was their duty to attend. 
Alfred the Great, in his laws, seems to ascribe the substitution of pecuniary compensa 
tion in the place of corporal punishment, to the advice of the clergy, who taught that 
mercy rather than revenge should distinguish the penal code of a Christian people. (Leg. 
Sax. p. 33.) It is, however, difficult to reconcile this assertion with the testimony of 
Tacitus, who observed, several centuries before, that such compensations were common 
among the nations of Germany. Levioribus delictis, pro rnodo, pcena : equorum peco- 
rumque numero convicti multantur : pars multce regi, vel civitati, pars ipsi qui vindica- 
tur, vel propinquis ejus exsolvitur Luitur enim etiam homicidium certo armentorum 
ac pecorum numero, recipitque satisfactionem universa domus. Tac. German, c. 12. 21. 

Leges Sax. p. 124. 

8 Matt. x. 2; xvi. 18, 19; xvii. 26. Mark iii. 16. Luc. v. 10; vi. 4 ; xxii. 32. 
John i. 42; xxi. 1519. 

19 Piimi pastoris ecclesiffi, principis apostolorum. Bed. 1. ii, c. 4. Horn, in vig. St. 
And. torn. vii. col. 409. Ealliiin jeleapullum leobum laneop *] hyjibe. 



SUPREME JURISDICTION OP THE ROMAN PONTIFF. 103 

the monarchy to loose in heaven and on earth." 20 Nor did they 
conceive the dignity which he enjoyed, to have expired at his 
death. The same motives, to which was owing its original es 
tablishment, pleaded for its continuance ; and the high preroga 
tives of Peter were believed to descend to the most remote of his 
successors. The bishop of Rome was pronounced to be " the 
first of Christian bishops ; the church of Rome, the head of all 
Christian churches." 31 

Impressed with these notions, the Anglo-Saxons looked up to 
the pontiff with awe and reverence ; consulted him respecting the 
administration of their church ; and bowed in respectful silence to 
his decisions. His benediction they courted as the choicest of 
blessings : 22 and to obtain it, was one of the principal motives which 
drew so many pilgrims to the threshold of the Vatican. No less 
than eight Saxon kings, 23 besides crowds of noblemen and pre 
lates, are recorded to have paid their homage in person to the 
representative of St. Peter: and those who were deterred by 
reasons of policy, or the dangers of the journey, were yet careful 
to solicit by their ambassadors, and to deserve by their presents, 
the papal benediction. 24 Highly as they prized his friendship, 
so they feared his enmity. The dread of his resentment struck 
terror into the breasts of the most impious : and the threat of his 
malediction was the last and strongest rampart which weak 
ness could oppose to the rapacity of power. The clergy of each 
church, the monks of each convent, sought to shelter themselves 
under his protection : and the most potent monarchs, sensible 
that their authority was confined within the narrow limits of 
their own lives, solicited, in favour of their religious foundations, 
the interference of a power, whose influence was believed to 
extend to the most distant ages. Of the bulls issued at their 
request by different popes, several have descended to posterity, 25 

Horn, apud Whelock, p. 395. Quern dominus Jesus Christus caput electi sibi gregia 
statuit. Ep. Alcuini Eanbaldo Archiep. apud Canis. Ant. Lect. torn. ii. p. 455. Pastor 
gregis dominici. St. Aid. de Vir. p. 361. 

20 Ipse potestatem ligandi et monarchiam solvendi in coelo et in terra felici sorte et 
peculiari privilegio accipere promeruit. Ep. St. Aldhelmi Gerontio Regi inter Bonif. 
ep. 44, p. 61. These quotations would not have loaded the page, had not several emi 
nent writers asserted, that the Anglo-Saxons were ignorant of the primacy of St. Peter. 
See note (H) at the end of the volume. 

21 Cum primum in toto orbe pontificatum gereret. Bed. Hist. 1. ii. c. 1. Totius 
ecclesiae caput eminet eximium. Bed. Horn, in nat. D. Bened. vol. vii. p. 464. Caput 
ecclesiarum Christi. Alcuin. apud Canis. torn. ii. p. 455. 

22 See the epistles of Alcuin to the popes Adrian and Leo. Canis. torn. ii. p. 418, 419. 

23 Cseadwalla, Ina, Offa, Kenred, Offa, Siric, Ethelwulph, and Canute. 

24 Hanc benedictionem omnes, qui ante me sceptro prsefuere Merciorum, meruerunt 
ab antecessoribus tuis adipisci. Hanc ipse humilis peto, et a vobis, o beatissime, impe- 
trare cupio. Ep. Kenulphi Reg. Leoni pap. apud Wilk. p. 164. See also p. 40. 165. 
Chron. Sax. p. 86. 89, 90. 

25 They may be read in the collections of the Anglo-Saxon councils by Spelman and 
Wilkins. Several of them have not escaped the suspicion of antiquaries. But, if it 
could even be proved that none extant are genuine, there is sufficient evidence that it 
was customary to obtain such charters, from the very commencement of the Saxon 



104 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

and are conceived in terms the best calculated to strike with reli 
gious awe the minds of those who are predisposed to receive such 
impressions. In them the pontiff usually asserts the authority 
which he exercises as successor to the prince of the apostles ; 
separates from the communion of the faithful the violators of his 
charters ; and threatens their contumacy with the punishments 
that befell Dathan, and Abiron, and Judas, the betrayer of the 
Lord. 

But the confirmation of royal grants and monastic privi 
leges was the least important part in the exercise of the papal 
prerogative. By his authority the pontiff 1st, Established, ex 
tended, or restricted the jurisdiction of the archiepiscopal sees ; 
2d, Confirmed the election of the metropolitans ; 3d, Enforced the 
observance of canonical discipline ; 4th, And revised the decisions 
of the national councils. 

1. In relating the changes which affected the jurisdiction of 
the Anglo-Saxon metropolitans, it will be necessary to recapitu 
late what has been already noticed in a preceding chapter. The 
first ecclesiastical division of the Octarchy was made, not by the 
missionaries, but by Gregory the Great, who, in the plenitude of 
his authority, fixed with precision the number of the metropoli 
tans, and of their suffragans. When subsequent events had 
prevented the execution of his plan, the apostolic see was again 
consulted, and by Vitalian all the Saxon prelates were subjected 
to the archbishop of Canterbury ; by Agatho their number was 
limited to eleven. 26 At the distance, however, of sixty years, 
Gregory III. restored the metropolitical jurisdiction to the church 
of York ; and Adrian, not long after, at the solicitation of the 
king of Mercia, raised the see of Lichfield to the same dignity. 
Though the superiority of the new primate was borne with re 
luctance by his former equals, none of them dared to refuse him 
the respect due to his rank ; but submitted in silence to the papal 
mandate, till Leo III., at the urgent request of Kenulf, the suc 
cessor of Offa, rescinded the decree of his predecessor. 37 These 
instances may suffice to show, that the powers of the Anglo- 
church. (See Eddius, Vit. Wilf. c. 49,) Bede, ( Vit. Abbat. Wirem. p. 295. 300,) and 
the council of Calcuith, (Wilk. p. 147, viii.) 

26 Wilk. p. 46. 

27 Anno 803. It will require some share of ingenuity, in those who affect to assert 
the independence of the Anglo-Saxon church, to elude the strong language in which 
the bishops of the council of Cloveshoe relate the conclusion of this business. " Ipse 
apostolicus Papa, ut audivit et intellexit quod injuste fuisset factum, statim sui privi- 
legii auctoritatis prseceptum posuit, et in Britanniam misit, et pra^cepit, ut honor St. Au- 
gustini sedis integerrime redintegraretur." The conduct of Pope Adrian they ascribe 
to misinformation. " Insuper cartam a Romana sede missam per Hadrianum papam 
de pallio et archiepiscopali sede in Licedfeldensi monasterio, cum consensu et licentia 
domni apostolici Leonis papse prsescribimus aliquid valere, quia per subreptionem et 
male blandam suggestionem adipiscebatur." Wilk. p. 167. In Spelman s Councils 
these passages are omitted : but they have been restored by Smith (Bed. app. p. 787) 
and Wilkins, (Con. p. 167.) On this subject may also be consulted the letter of Kenulf, 
king of Mercia, and the two answers of Pope Leo. Id. p. 164. Ang. Sac. vol. i, p. 460. 



ELECTION OF ARCHBISHOPS CONFIRMED. 105 

Saxon metropolitans were regulated by the superior authority of 
the pontiff; and that every alteration in their jurisdiction was 
introduced by his order, or confirmed by his approbation. 

2. The pallium was an ecclesiastical ornament, the use of 
which was exclusively reserved to the metropolitans. Its origin 
is involved in considerable obscurity ; but at the period in which 
our ancestors were converted, no archbishop was permitted to 
perform the most important of his functions, till he had obtained 
it from the hands of the pontiff. As soon as Augustine had re 
ceived the episcopal consecration, he was careful to solicit this 
ornament from his patron Gregory the Great ; his example was 
religiously imitated by all succeeding metropolitans, both at Can 
terbury and York ; and with the pallium they received a con 
firmation of the archiepiscopal dignity : 28 whence, in the language 
of the court of Rome, they were usually styled the envoys of .the 
holy see. 29 Before the primate elect could obtain this badge of 
his dignity, he was required to appear at Rome, and to answer 
the interrogations of the pontiff: but Gregory and his immediate 
successors excused the Saxon metropolitans from so laborious a 
journey, and generally sent the pallium by the messengers, who 
carried the news of their election. 30 Later pontiffs were, how 
ever, less indulgent. To prevent the highest ecclesiastical 
preferments from being occupied by men of noble birth, but 
disedifying morals, it was resolved to recall the former exemp 
tions, and to subject every candidate to an examination in pre 
sence of the pope, before he could obtain the confirmation of 
his election. To this regulation the Saxon archbishops reluct 
antly submitted ; and a second grievance was the consequence 
of their submission. According to the received notions of the 
northern nations, they blushed to approach the throne of their 
superior, without a present : 31 but the sums, which at first had 
been received as gratuitous donations, were gradually exacted 
as a debt ; and the increasing demand was followed by loud and 
repeated complaints. During the pontificate of Leo III., the 
Saxon prelates, in a firm, but respectful memorial, urged the 
indults of former popes to their predecessors ; and requested that 
the pallium might be granted to their primates, without the fa- 

28 Idcirco ammonemus Brithwaldum prsesulem sanctse Cantuariorum ecclesise, quern 
auctoritate principis apostolorum Archiepiscopum ibidem confirmavimus, Ep. Joan. 
Pap. apud Edd. c. 52. 

^ This title is given to Archbishop Brithwald by his own messengers. Sancti Brith- 
waldi Cantuariorum ecclesise et totius Britannise archiepiscopi, ab hac apostolica sede 
emissi. Edd. c. 51. Yet Brithwald was a Saxon, and owed his election to the clergy 
of Canterbury. 

so Wilk. Con. p. 32. 35. Chron. Sax. p. 61. 69. 72. 

31 During the middle ages, men had scarcely any notions of government, which were 
not derived from the feudal jurisprudence. Its principles not only formed the basis of 
civil polity, but were also gradually introduced into the ancient system of ecclesiastical 
discipline. To this source it were easy to trace most of the new customs which were 
adopted during that period. 
14 



106 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

tigue of a journey, or the expense of a present. 32 The petition 
was unsuccessful; repeated precedents gave a sanction to the 
obnoxious custom ; and the bishops at last desisted from a fruit 
less opposition. 33 After the lapse of two centuries, the hopes of 
their successors were awakened by the pilgrimage of Canute the 
Great to the tombs of the apostles. The king pleaded with 
warmth the cause of his prelates ; the reluctance of the Romans 
yielded to the arguments of a royal advocate ; and the pontilf 
contracted his claims to the personal attendance of future me 
tropolitans. 34 

3. To preserve the purity of the Christian worship, and to en 
force the observation of canonical discipline, were always consi 
dered by the popes as the most important of their duties. With this 
view they frequently demanded from the Saxon prelates an ex 
position of their belief, and admonished them to reform the 
abuses which disfigured the beauty of their church. As early 
as the year six hundred and eighty, when the rapid progress of 
Monothelitism alarmed the zeal of the orthodox pastors, Agatho 
had summoned the archbishop of Canterbury and his suffragans 
to attend a council at Rome: 35 but the length of the journey, 
and the necessities of their dioceses, were admitted as a legiti 
mate excuse ; and in lieu of their presence in the synod, the pon 
tiff consented to accept a public profession of their faith. John, 
abbot of St. Martin s, was selected as papal legate on this occa 
sion : and shortly after his arrival, Theodore and his suffragans 
assembled at Hethfield, and declared their adhesion to the decrees 
of the five first general councils, and to the condemnation of Mo 
nothelitism by Martin the First. The legate subscribed with the 
bishops, and received a copy of the acts, which he forwarded to 
Rome. 35 

From the faith, the inquiries of the popes were soon directed 
to the manners of the Saxons. While Theodore lived, the vigi 
lance of his administration supported the vigour of ecclesiastical 
discipline : but under his more indulgent, or less active successors, 
it was insensibly relaxed, till the loud report of Saxon immoral 
ity aroused the patriotism of St. Boniface, and provoked the ani 
madversions of Zachary, the Roman pontiff. The missionary, 

32 Wilk. Con. p. 166. Ann. 801. s Chron. Sax. p. 126. 129. 152. 

34 Wilk. Con. p. 298. Ann. 1031. 

35 Sperabamus de Britannia Theodorum confamulum et coepiscopum nostrum, mag- 
nse insulse Britanniae archiepiscopum et philosophum, cum aliis qui ibidem hactenus 
demorantur : et hac de causa concilium hue usque distulimus. Ep. Agath. ad Imp. 
apud Bar. ann. 680. Malm, de Pont. 1. i. f. 112. Spelman conjectures this council to 
have been that of Constantinople, but his mistake is corrected by the accuracy of 
Alford. Tom. ii. p. 368. 

36 Intererat huic synodo, pariterque Catholic fidei decreta firmabat vir venerabilis 
Joannes .... Volens Agatho Papa, sicut in aliis provinciis, ita etiam in Britannia, 
qualis esset status ecclesiee ediscere, hoc negotium reverentissimo Abbati Joanni in- 
junxit. Qnamobrem collects ob hoc synodo, inventa est in omnibus fides inviolata 
Catholics, datumque illi exemplar ejus Romam perferendum. Bed. 1. iv. c. 18. 



ADRIAN SENDS LEGATES INTO ENGLAND. 107 

from the heart of Germany, the theatre of his zeal, wrote in terms 
of the most earnest expostulation to the principal of the Saxon 
kings and prelates : the pontiff commanded Archbishop Cuthbert 
and his suffragans, under the penalty of excommunication, to 
oppose the severity of the canons to the corrupt practices of the 
times. His injunctions were cheerfully obeyed; the fathers of 
the council of Cloveshoe professed their readiness to second the 
zeal of the supreme pastor ; and thirty canons of discipline were 
published for the general reformation of the bishops, clergy, 
monks, and laity. 37 

The successors of Zachary inherited the vigilance of their pre 
decessor. Forty years had not elapsed, when Adrian deemed it 
expedient to send the bishops of Ostia and Tudertum to Britain, 
with a code of laws for the use of the Anglo-Saxon church. The 
legates were received with respect by the clergy and laity. At their 
request two synods were assembled, one in Mercia, the other in 
Northumbria ; twenty canons were published ; and a solemn 
promise was received from each bishop, that he would cause 
them to be faithfully observed in his diocese. 38 But during the 
invasions of the Northmen, the feeble restraint of the law could 
not arrest the rapid decline of discipline, and, for almost a cen 
tury, the voice of religion was drowned in the louder din of war. 
The return of tranquillity called forth the zeal of Pope Formosus. 
He had determined to sever the Saxon bishops from the commu 
nion of the holy see : but his anger was appeased by the repre 
sentations of Archbishop Plegmund ; and he contented himself 
with an exhortatory epistle, in which he complained, that, by the 
negligence of the prelates, the superstitions of paganism had 
been permitted to revive, and several dioceses been left, for a con 
siderable period, destitute of pastors. After the lapse of fourteen 

37 The letter of Zachary is thus described in the prooemium to the acts of the coun 
cil. Scripta toto orbe venerandi pontificis, Domni Apostolici papa? Zacharise, in duabus 
chartis in medium prolata sunt, et cum magna diligentia, juxta quod ipse apostolica sua 
auctoritate praecepit, et manifeste recitata, et in nostra quoque lingua apertius interpre- 
tata sunt. Quibus namque scriptis Britannise hujus insulse nostri generis accolas fami- 
liariter prsemonebat, et veraciter conveniebat, et postremo amabiliter exorabat, et haec 
omnia contemnentibus et in sua pertinaci malitia permanentibus anathematis sententiam 
proculdubio proferendam insinuabat. Wilk. Con. p. 94. Language so forcible might 
have appalled a less sturdy polemic : but the sagacity or temerity of Dr. Henry has 
selected this very council to prove that the Saxon church rejected the papal supremacy. 
The curious reader may turn to note (I) at the end of the volume. 

38 The mission of these legates, as well as of the abbot John, has escaped the philo 
sophic eye of Hume, who assures us that Ermanfroi, bishop of Sion, three centuries 
afterwards, was the first legate who ever appeared in the British Isles. (Hume, Hist. c. 
iv. p. 182.) Carte indeed observed them, but at the same time discovered, from a vague 
expression in the Saxon chronicle, that, instead of being invested with any authority, 
their only object was to renew the ancient correspondence between the two churches. 
(Carte, Hist. vol. i. p. 270.) This idea is satisfactorily refuted by their despatches to 
the pontiff. Scripsimus capitulare de singulis rebus, et per ordinem cuncta disserentes 
auribus illorum pertulimus, qui cum omni humilitatis subj^ctione, clara voluritate tam 
arlmonifionem vestram quam parvit.atem nostram amplexantes, spoponderunt se in 
omnibus obedire. Wilk. Con. p. 14G. 



108 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

years, both the bishops of Wessex died ; and Plegmund seized 
the favourable opportunity to content the desires of the pope. 
He convened his suffragans, and divided the kingdom into five 
smaller districts. His conduct was approved at Rome ; and he 
consecrated, on the same day, no less than seven bishops, five 
for the sees lately erected, and two for the vacant churches of 
Selsey and Dorchester. 39 

4. In every rational system of legislation, the errors, which 
may arise from the ignorance or corruption of the inferior officers 
of justice, should be corrected by the greater wisdom, and supe 
rior authority of the higher courts of judicature. In the Christian 
church the Roman pontiffs were considered as the principal 
guardians of the canons ; and from the earliest antiquity they 
have claimed and exercised the right of reviewing the causes of 
those bishops, who appealed to their equity from the partial de 
cisions of provincial or national synods. 40 The first of the Saxon 
prelates, who invoked in his favour the protection of the holy 
see, was Wilfrid, the celebrated bishop of York. 41 The history 
of his appeals has been related by two classes of writers, as 
opposite in sentiment as distant in time : by contemporary histo 
rians, who lament the causes which rendered them necessary, and 
hail the success with which they were attended : and by modern 
polemics, who condemn them as the unwarrantable attempts of 
an ambitious prelate to preserve his own power, by sacrificing 
the religious liberties of his countrymen. The clamorous 
warmth of the latter opposes a curious contrast to the silent 
apathy of the former: and a diligent comparison will justify the 
conclusion, that the present champions of the independence of 
the Anglo-Saxon church are actuated by motives which never 
guided the pens of the more ancient writers. In the remainder 
of this chapter, I shall attempt to clear the history of Wilfrid from 
the fictions, with which modern controversy has loaded it : 42 my 

39 The reader, who is no stranger to the chronological difficulties, with which this 
event has tortured the ingenuity of antiquaries, will have observed that, while I admit 
the epistle of Formosus to be genuine, I reject as fabulous a part of the narrative con 
tained in Malmsbury, and the register of Canterbury. (Wilk. Con. p. 199. 200.) I 
ascribe the epistle to Formosus, not merely on their authority, but principally on that of 
Eadmer, who, during the dispute respecting the precedency of Canterbury, in the com 
mencement of the twelfth century, appears to have consulted the ancient records of that 
church, and to have discovered this letter and some others among a greater number, which 
age had rendered illegible. Eadm. nov. 1. v. p. 128, 129. The consecration of the seven 
bishops could not have occurred before the year 910, when Fridestan, one of their 
number, is recorded in the Saxon chronicle to have taken possession of the see of 
Winchester. (Chron. Sax. p. 102.) As Asser, bishop of Sherburne, died only that 
year, and Denulf, of Winchester, in the preceding, (Ibid. Wigorn. aim. 09,) it follows 
that the story of the kingdom of Wesscx having been without a bishop during seven 
years, is a fiction, which was probably invented to explain the origin of the complaint 
contained in the letter of Formosus. 

40 Natalis Alex. Hist. Eccl. ssec. iv. diss. xxviii. prop. 3. 4I Anno 678. 

42 Among the historians, who have disputed with each other the merit of defaming 
this prelate, the pre-eminence is justly due to Carte, whose laborious volumes have 



HISTORY OF ST. WILFRID. 109 

vouchers will be Eddius, the individual companion of his fortunes, 
and Bede, his contemporary and acquaintance : and the import 
ance of the subject will, I trust, form a satisfactory apology for 
the length of the narration. 

Egfrid, king of Northumbria, had married .ZEdilthryda, a 
princess, whose invincible attachment to the cloister has been 
noticed in the preceding chapter. Wearied with the constant 
solicitations of his wife, he referred her to Wilfrid, whom he had 
honoured with a distinguished place in his friendship, and endea 
voured by the most seducing promises to allure t o his interest. 
But his hopes were disappointed. After mature deliberation, the 
bishop approved the choice of the queen ; and the king s displea 
sure was the reward of his approbation. From the court ZEdil 
thryda retired to a convent; and Egfrid called to his throne 
another princess, named Ermenburga. The levity of the new 
queen was not calculated to efface the memory of her predeces 
sor ; her haughtiness, extortion, and prodigality, excited discon 
tent ; and the zeal of Wilfrid induced him to expostulate with 
her on the impropriety of her conduct. He had done no more 
than his duty required: but the pride of Ermenburga was 
wounded ; she vowed to be revenged ; and Egfrid, whose mind 
was already alienated, consented to be the minister of her resent 
ment. 43 

The see of Canterbury was, at this period, filled by Theodore, 
a prelate whose ardour for the improvement of the Saxon church, 
sometimes hurried him beyond the limits which the canons had 
prescribed to the exercise of the metropolitan authority. At the 
invitation of Egfrid, he visited the court of Northumbria. What 
secret proposals he might receive from the king, we can only con 
jecture : 44 but he had always avowed a desire to multiply the num 
ber of the Saxon bishoprics, and the present was a moment the 

furnished a plentiful source of misrepresentation to the prejudice or negligence of suc 
ceeding writers. With the aid of a few scattered hints, in the works of three obscure 
authors, of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, (Gervase. Stubbs, and Richard of 
Hexham,) and of many gratuitous suppositions created by his own fancy, he has suc 
ceeded in forming a narrative most unfavourable to the character of Wilfrid. He had 
other, and more authentic documents before him, in the writings of Bede and Eddius. 
But of these he asserts, that the first has shown his disapprobation of Wilfrid by his 
silence : and that to Eddius no credit can be given, because he was chaplain to the 
injured prelate. It may, however, be observed, that Bede has made more frequent 
mention of Wilfrid, than, perhaps, of any other person, (Bed. 1. iii. c. 13. 25. 28 ; 1. iv. 
c. 2, 3. 5. 12. 13. 15, 16. 19. 23. 29 ; ]. v. c. 11. 19;) and that Eddius wrote at a time 
when thousands were alive to convict him of falsehood, had he been guilty of it. If 
Bede was silent, and Eddius concealed the truth, where did Carte discover it 1 

43 For the origin of the dissension between Egfrid and Wilfrid, compare Bede, 
(Hist. 1. iv. c. 19,) Eddius, (Vit. Wilf. c. 24,) Eadmer, (Vit. Wilf. apud Mabil. c. 
34,) and the monk of Ely, (Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 598.) 

44 Eddius insinuates, (Vit. c. 24,) and Malmsbury asserts, (De Pont. 1. iii. f. 149,) 
that Theodore was bribed by the presents of Egfrid. But it is not probable that the 
charge could be proved, as Wilfrid thought proper to abandon it in his petition to the 
pontiff. Edd. Vit. c, 29. 

K 



110 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

most propitious to his design. By his own authority, without the 
concurrence, without even the knowledge of Wilfrid, he divided 
the extensive diocese of York into three portions, and immediately 
conferred them on three bishops, whom he consecrated for the 
occasion. 45 The ejected prelate received the news with astonish 
ment. He hastened to the court, exposed the injustice of the 
partition, and reclaimed in his favour the aid of the canons. But 
his remonstrances were heard with contempt ; the flattery of the 
courtiers applauded his disgrace ; and, as a last resource, he ap 
pealed, by the advice of some of the bishops, to the justice and 
authority of the apostolic see. 46 

Had Theodore been educated in the same school with our 
modern writers, he would have laughed at the simplicity of Wil 
frid, and the impotence of his appeal. But he was acquainted 
with the decisions of the canons ; and his anxiety to preoccupy 
the ear of the pontiff, was more expeditious than the diligence 
of the deposed bishop, who, by the inclemency of the season, was 
detained in Friesland, and spent the winter in preaching to the 
pagans the truths of the gospel. With the return of spring he 
resumed his journey ; and, at his arrival in Rome, was informed 
that his pretensions had been already notified and opposed by 
the monk Cosnwald, the envoy and advocate of the archbishop. 
Agatho summoned a council to his assistance ; and the bishops 
of the suburbicane churches, with the priests and deacons of 
Rome, to the number of fifty, assembled to judge the cause of the 
Anglo-Saxon prelates. Before this court Wilfrid appeared with 
the dignity of conscious innocence. He called on the members 
to do justice to an injured and persecuted bishop, who, from the 
extremities of the earth, had been compelled to invoke the equity 
of the successor of St. Peter. Could his adversaries impeach his 
moral conduct ? Could they point out in his administration a 
single instance, in which he had violated the holy canons ? Yet 
had he been expelled from his diocese, and had seen it parcelled 
out, and bestowed on three intruded prelates. Of the motives 
which had induced the metropolitan to treat him with such 

45 It has been said that Lindisfarne, the ancient residence of the Scottish bishops, 
was left open for the acceptance of Wilfrid; ( Wharton, Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 693. Carte, 
Hist. vol. i. p. 248 :) but this opinion is positively contradicted by Eddius, (Vit. c. 24,) 
and by Bede, (Hist. 1. iv. c. 12.) 

46 Cum consilio coepiscoporum suorum. Ed. Vit. c. 24. In Carte s romance, the 
whole blame of this transaction is laid on the ambition of Wilfrid, who is accused of 
opposing the execution of the ninth canon of the council of Herutford, concerning the 
division of the larger dioceses. But as it might be objected, on the authority of Bede, 
that this canon was not approved ; he eludes the difficulty, by affirming with Wharton, 
that the passage in the ecclesiastical historian is a forgery, probably of the monks, who 
hoped, by this expedient, to purify the character of Wilfrid. (Carte, Hist. vol. i. p. 246, 
note.) If on a mere conjecture we are bound to credit so malicious an accusation, at 
least we may be allowed to admire the ingenuity of the man, who could so artfully 
interpolate every manuscript, lhat the spurious passage cannot be distinguished from 
the text in any, not even in that whicb was written before, or immediately after the 
death of Bede himself. See Smith s Bede, prsef. and p. 149. 



WILFRID PERSECUTED. Ill 

harshness, it was not for him to judge. Theodore was the envoy 
of the holy see : he respected his character; and did not presume 
to condemn his conduct. As for himself, his great anxiety had 
been to secure the peace of the Anglo-Saxon church : he had not 
raised a clamorous opposition, but had withdrawn in silence 
from the violence of his enemies, and thrown himself with con 
fidence on the justice of the holy see. The judgment of that see 
he now implored : and in its decision, favourable or unfavour 
able, he should willingly and respectfully acquiesce. 47 

With the answer and recriminations of Coenwald we are not 
acquainted. The cause was patiently and impartially discussed : 
and the judgment of the synod condemned the irregularity of his 
expulsion, though it seemed to approve the policy of the parti 
tion. It was ordered that Wilfrid should be restored to the 
diocese of which he had been unjustly deprived: but that he 
should, in conjunction with the other bishops, select from his 
own clergy a certain number of prelates, to assist him in the 
government of so extensive a diocese. To this decision was 
annexed the sentence of suspension against the clergyman, of 
excommunication against the laic, that should presume to oppose 
its execution. 48 A copy was delivered to Wilfrid, who remained 
some months in Rome, assisted with one hundred and twenty- 
five bishops at a second council, subscribed to the decrees, and 
bore testimony to the catholic belief of the Britons, Saxons, 
Picts, and Scots, who inhabited the northern provinces of the 
two British islands. 49 I 

But the enmity of Egfrid and Ermenburga was too violent to 
listen to the dictates of justice, or to be subdued by the terrors 
of a papal mandate. In his journey to Rome, Wilfrid had with 
difficulty escaped the many snares which, by their direction, had 
been laid for his life : at his return, he was apprehended by their 
order, and committed to prison. During a confinement of nine 
months, the influence of threats and promises was alternately 
employed to extort a confession, that the decision of the pontiff 
had been forged by his friends, or purchased by presents. 50 But 
his constancy defeated every artifice ; and his liberation was at 
last granted to the earnest prayer of the abbess Ebba, provided 
he would promise never more to set his foot within the territories 
of Egfrid. With a sigh Wilfrid subscribed the harsh condition ; 
and, retiring from Northumbria, solicited the protection of Brith- 
wald, nephew to the king of Mercia. That generous nobleman 
granted him a small estate, on which he built a monastery for 

47 Ed. c. 29. 

4 8 Ibid. c. 31. The success of Wilfrid is attributed by Inett (History p. 101) to the 
absence of his accusers. Yet it appears from undeniable authority, that not only 
Coenwald, but several others were present. Prsesentibus ejus contrariis, qui a Theodore 
et Hilda abbatissa ad eutn accusandurn hue prius convenerant. Epist. Joan. pap. apud 
Eddium, c. 52. 

Ed. c. 51. Bed. 1. v. c, 19. M Edd. c. 33. 35. 



112 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

himself and the faithful companions of his exile. But the emis 
saries of Egfrid discovered his retreat ; and Wilfrid, rather than 
endanger the safety of his friend, fled into the kingdom of Wes- 
sex. At this distance he might have hoped to elude the notice 
of his enemies : but Irmenigild, the queen of Wessex, and the 
sister of Ermenburga, had imbibed the sentiments of the North 
umbrian princess ; and the fugitive bishop, after having sought 
in vain an asylum among his Christian countrymen, was com 
pelled to intrust his safety to the honour and compassion of a 
pagan people. Edihvalch, king of Sussex, received him with 
welcome ; pitied his misfortunes ; and swore to protect him 
against the open violence, or the secret intrigues of the court of 
Northumbria. 51 Wilfrid soon repaid the hospitality of his royal 
patron. By his preaching he converted numbers of the idolaters 
to the faith of Christ ; by his superior knowledge he instructed 
them in the arts of civilized life. A continued drought for three 
years had exhausted the sources of vegetation ; and the horrors 
of famine frequently urged the barbarians to put an end to their 
miserable existence. From the venerable Bede we learn, that in 
bodies of forty or fifty persons, they frequently proceeded to the 
nearest cliff, and there, linked in each others arms, precipitated 
themselves into the waves. 

Their distress excited the compassion of their guest, who, 
observing that the sea and the rivers abounded with fish, taught 
them the art of making nets, and of drawing from the waters a 
plentiful supply of food. 52 For these services Edihvalch bestowed 
on him the isle of Selsey : where he was often visited by Cedwalla, 
an exile of the royal race of Cerdic. The similarity of their 
fortunes endeared him to the prince : who, when he had ascended 
the throne of his fathers, invited Wilfrid to his court, granted 
him a fourth part of the isle of Wight, and raised him to a dis 
tinguished place in his councils. 53 But the banishment of Wilfrid 
was now hastening to its conclusion. Theodore, as he had been 
the first to inflict, was also the first to repair the injury. Before 
his death he condemned the injustice of his former conduct, 
solicited a reconciliation, and wrote in favour of the exiled bishop 
to the kings of Mercia and Northumbria. Of these letters, one 
is still extant. In it the primate urges the obedience due to the 
pontiff; bears testimony to the merit of Wilfrid, his innocence, 
his patience, and his zeal; and entreats the king to grant 
this last request to his friend and father, ready to sink into the 
grave. 54 

Theodore did not live to witness the effect of his exhortations, 
and his death was speedily followed by that of Egfrid. The 

si Edd. c. 39, 40. 

52 Ibid. c. 40. Bed. 1. iv. c. 13. 

53 Edd. c. 41. Bed. 1. iv. c. 16. 

* 4 Edd. c. 42. 



WILFRID RESTORED. 113 

Northumbrian prince fell in battle, and with him expired the in 
fluence of Ermenburga. Aldfrid, the new king, 55 cheerfully con 
sented to receive the exile under his protection, gave him im 
mediate possession of the church of Hexham, and shortly after 
restored to him the sees of Lindisfarne and York. 58 During five 
years he again possessed the administration of his extensive 
diocese : but they were years of anxiety and distress. His op 
ponents still formed a powerful party; and though they yielded 
for the present, they eagerly watched a more favourable moment. 
Their secret wishes were soon gratified by the attachment of 
Wilfrid to his monastery of Rippon. During his exile, many of 
its manors had been seized by his enemies; and when he re 
claimed them, the palace resounded with complaints against his 
restless temper and insatiable ambition. Aldfrid lent a willing 
ear to these suggestions; and a plan was readily formed to pre 
cipitate the fall of the bishop. Wilfrid unexpectedly received 
a royal summons to surrender the monastery into the hands of 
his sovereign, that it might be converted into an episcopal see, 
and bestowed on another prelate. His enemies had, probably, 
reckoned on his disobedience. He had always discovered a 
marked predilection for this abbey. It had been given to him 
by Alchfrid, the friend and patron of his youth: its revenues 
had been increased by his industry; the magnificence of the 
buildings was the fruit of his liberality and genius; and the 
monks, the first in the north who had professed the rule of St. 
Benedict, revered him as their father and benefactor. Urged by 
these motives, he ventured to refuse ; and Aldfrid punished his 
refusal by reviving the obsolete regulations of Theodore, which 
had. first disturbed the tranquillity of the Northumbrian church. 
Wilfrid saw with terror the ascendancy of his enemies ; and, re 
tiring from the unequal contest, sought an asylum in the kingdom 
of Mercia. His flight stimulated the exertions of his enemies. 
Brithwald, the successor of Theodore, was induced to join the 

55 By most writers Aldfrid is considered as the same person with Alchfrid, the former 
friend of Wilfrid. But this opinion cannot, I think, be reconciled with the testimony 
of Bede. That historian uniformly names the one Alchfrid, and the other Aldfrid. Of 
the former he asserts that he was the son of Oswiu, and brother of Egfrid ; of the latter 
that he was illegitimate, but thought to be the son of Oswiu. (Bed. 1. iv. c. 22. Vit. 
St. Cuth. c. 26.) Alchfrid died before Egfrid, as the latter left neither children nor 
brother behind him. (Ibid.) Aldfrid was at that time studying among the Scottish 
monks. (Ibid.) Neither can it be said that Alchfrid had been expelled from his ter 
ritories by his brother, and compelled to conceal himself till his death. For Bede 
asserts that the exile of Aldfrid was voluntary ,. and occasioned by his love of knowledge. 
Ob amorem sapientise spontaneum passus exilium. (Vit. St. Cuth. c. 24. See also 
Bede, 1. iii. c. 24; iv. 26 ; v. 19.) 

56 See Eddius, (c. 44,) whose account is corroborated by the testimony of Bede. 
(Sedem suam et episcopatum, ipso rege invitante, recepit. Hist. 1. v. c. 19.) Cuthbert 
of Lindisfarne resigned. (Bed. Vit. Cuthb. c. 36.) If Bosa of York, and John of 
Hexham, did not follow his example, they were deposed. (Smith s Bede, app. xix.) 
Richard of Hexham, Stubb, and some later writers, have supposed that York was never 
restored to Wilfrid. See Smith, ibid. 

15 K2 



114 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

victorious party, and to summon a council in Northumbria. But 
experience had taught them to fear a second appeal to the judg 
ment of the pontiff; and to wrest this powerful weapon from the 
hands of Wilfrid, became the great object of their politics. He 
was invited to the synod. " Justice," said the messenger, " shall 
be done to all your claims, provided you promise to abide by the 
decision of your metropolitan." " It is my duty and my wish," 
replied the wary prelate, " to abide by the decision of my metro 
politan, if that decision be not contrary to the holy canon, and 
the previous declarations of the apostolic see." The assembly 
presented a scene of noise and confusion. The voice of Wilfrid 
was drowned in the clamours of his adversaries ; his contumacy 
was pronounced worthy of the severest punishment ; and as a 
last and unmerited favour, he was offered the monastery of Rip- 
pon, provided he would engage to confine himself within its pre 
cincts, and to resign, from that day, the exercise of the episcopal 
authority. This harsh resolve roused the spirit of the injured 
prelate. " What !" he indignantly exclaimed, " shall I, who 
have spent my whole life in the service of religion ; I, to whom 
my country is indebted for the knowledge and practice of the 
canonical observances, tamely subscribe my own degradation, 
and, though unconscious of guilt, confess myself a criminal ? No, 
if justice be denied me here, I appeal to a higher tribunal; and 
let the man who presumes to depose me from the episcopal 
dignity, accompany me to Rome, and prove his charge before 
the sovereign pontiff." This bold reply exasperated Aldfrid, 
who threatened to commit him to the custody of his guard : but 
the bishops interposed, observing, that to violate the safe conduct 
which had been granted, would fix an indelible stigma on their 
proceedings. 57 The scene of the controversy was now transfer 
red from Northumbria to the court of John, the Roman pontiff. 
Wilfrid appeared in person ; the cause of his opponents was in 
trusted to a deputation of monks, selected by the care of the 
metropolitan. If we may judge from the number and duration 
of the pleadings, both the accusation and defence were conducted 
with spirit and perseverance. Seventy times the contending 
parties repeated or enforced their respective arguments, in the 
presence of the pontiff; and four months elapsed before their 
eagerness would permit him to pronounce his sentence. 58 That 

57 Edd. c. 44, 45. 

58 Ingenious writers sometimes amuse themselves with filling up the chasms of 
history, and incautiously deceive the credulity of their readers with the fictions of their 
own imagination. Of the charges exhibited against Wilfrid, Eddius has preserved no 
more than one; that he had refused to submit to the judgment of his metropolitan, 
(Edd. c. 51.) But Henry has supplied the deficiency, on the authority, as he pretends, 
of Eddius himself. From him we learn, that the bishop was also accused of " refusing 
to subscribe to the synods of Hertford and Hatfield, and of appealing to a foreign judge, 
which, by the laws of England, was a capital crime." He had also thought proper to 
compose an answer for Wilfrid to the first of these charges ; " that he was willing to 
subscribe to these synods as far as they were agreeable to the canons of the church 



FINAL RESTORATION OF WILFRID. 115 

sentence was most honourable to the innocence of Wilfrid. But 
the infirmities of age (he had now reached his seventieth year) 
admonished him to terminate the tedious contest : two journeys to 
Rome, and twenty years of exile, had taught him to value and de 
sire the enjoyment of tranquillity; and he proposed a compromise, 
which, while it resigned to his competitors the larger portion of his 
diocese, secured to himself the possession of his two favourite 
monasteries of Rippon and Hexham. The moderation of these 
terms obtained the approbation of the pope, who recommended 
them to the notice and endeavours of the primate. Brithwald 
received the papal mandate with respect, and professed a ready 
obedience to its contents : but Aldfrid was inflexible. " My 
brothers," he replied to Wilfrid s messengers, whose friendship 
he had formerly prized, and whose character he still respected, 
" ask for yourselves, and you shall not be refused. But ask not 
for Wilfrid. His cause has been judged by myself, and the 
archbishop, the envoy of the apostolic see : nor will I change that 
judgment for the writings, as you call them, of that see." But 
the death of the king soon revived the hopes of the bishop, and 
deprived his rivals of their most powerful protector. Osred, 
an infant, was placed on the vacant throne : and the reins of 
government were intrusted to the hands of the ealdorman Be- 
rectfrid. Encouraged by the change, the primate invited the 
Northumbrian chieftains to meet him at Nid. The synod was 
opened by the lecture of the papal mandate, which, for the 
satisfaction of the secular thanes, was translated into the Anglo- 
Saxon tongue : the abbess ^Ehleda, the depository of the secrets 
of her brother, declared, that the restoration of Wilfrid had been 
the last request of the dying monarch : and the thanes, by the 
mouth of Berectfrid, testified their hearty concurrence. John 
and Bosa, the opponents of the bishop, were confounded by this 
unexpected declaration. After a feeble resistance, they pru 
dently yielded to the torrent, and the ratification of the compro 
mise restored tranquillity to the church of Northumbria. 59 

of Rome, and the will of the pope :" but to the second he appears to have been unable 
or unwilling to form any reply. (Henry, vol. iii. p. 219.) Such fables can claim no 
other merit than that of injuring the character of Wilfrid, and of supporting the fa 
vourite hypothesis of the independence of the Anglo-Saxon church. To truth or 
probability they have small pretensions. That Wilfrid should refuse to subscribe to 
the synod of Hertford, to which he had already subscribed by his legates, (Bed. Hist. 
1. iv. c. 5,) or to that of Hatfield, which only published a profession of faith, (Id. 1. iv. 
c. 17,) will not be readily believed ; but that Aldfrid and his bishops should send depu 
ties to Rome, to accuse a prelate of the capital crime of appealing to Rome, is an idea 
which outrages probability. 

Ficta sint proxima veris, 

Nee quodcumque volet, poscat sibi fabula credi. 

59 Ed. c. 52 58. See also note (K.) About the same time, Egwin, bishop of Wor 
cester, appealed to Rome with equal success. Wilk. Con. p. 72. From this period, the 
use of appeals was established in the- Antrim-Saxon church : and among the laws col 
lected by the industry of Arrhbishop Egbert, for the clergy of York, is preserved a canon, 
in which their legality is formally recognised. Ibid. p. 104, xlix. 



116 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Such was the conclusion of this long and tedious controversy. 
The cause of Wilfrid was the cause of justice : and the triumph 
which his perseverance obtained, added to the reputation, and 
proved the utility, of the supreme jurisdiction of the pontiff. 60 



CHAPTER VI. 

Religious Practices of the Anglo-Saxons Their Sacraments The Liturgy Commu 
nion Confession Penitential Canons Mitigation of Penance Absolution. 

THE ecclesiastical history of the northern, forms a remarkable 
contrast with that of the oriental Christians. In the east, the 
zeal of the orthodox pastors was, during several centuries, em 
ployed in opposing the attempts of numerous and often successful 
innovators : in the north, the voice of religious discord was but 
seldom heard, and as speedily silenced. 1 Of this difference the 
cause may be traced to the opposition of their national characters. 
The eastern Christians were a polished people, whose natural 
penetration had been sharpened by the disputes of philoso 
phers, and the logic of Aristotle. Not content to believe the 
truths, they attempted to explore the mysteries of the gospel ; 
they summoned to their aid the faint light of reason, and the 

60 At the conclusion of this chapter, it may perhaps be asked, why I have omitted to 
notice the spiritual jurisdiction, which modern writers have sometimes bestowed on the 
Anglo-Saxon kings. My answer must be, that I did not choose to assert that of which 
no solid proof can be adduced. Whatever could be said in its favour, has been said 
long since by Sir Edward Coke, (fifth part of reports :) but neither the authority nor the 
arguments of that great lawyer have subdued my incredulity. The whole tenor of the 
Anglo-Saxon history shows, that the spiritual jurisdiction was considered as the exclu 
sive privilege of the bishops, and that their kings were proud to uphold and enforce it 
with their temporal authority. " It is the right of the king," says Wihtred, king of 
Kent, (anno 692,) "to appoint earls, ealdormen, shire-reeves, and doomsmen; but it 
is the right of the archbishop to rule and provide for the church of God." Eyngap 
pceolan pettan eopilap. "] ealbriap-men. pciju-pieuan. *] bomep- 
menn. "] apicebipcop pceal Irobep gelafunge pippian *] jiaeban. 
Wilk. Con. p. 57. See also p. 91. 148. 212. Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 5. 17, ep. ad Egb. Ant. 
p. 310. Ale. ep. ad Athelhard, apud Wilk. p. 160. Leg. Sax. p. 146, 147, i. ii. Sim. 
Dunel. inter. X. Scrip, p. 78. The king, indeed, is sometimes called the Vicar of Christ : 
but the old homilist informs us, that this title was given to him, because it was his duty 
to defend with his army the people of Christ, from the evil designs of their enemies. 
Daec he hi healban pceolbe mib ^acp polcep pulcume pift ypele 
menn. *] on peohtenbe herie. Whelock, p. 151. In the book of constitu 
tions it is said, that the king ought to be as a father to his people, and in watchfulness 
and care, the vicar of Christ, as he is called. Ejiiptenum cynme gebypiab 
ppifte riihte. f he py on pacbeji ptaele cruptena peobe. ] on 
paerie -] on peapibe Ejiiptep geppehga. eal ppa he getealb ip. 
Leg. Sax. p. 147. 

1 The disputes between the Roman and the Scottish missionaries in England prove, 
that though they differed in some points of discipline, they agreed in all the articles of 
their belief. See chapter 1. 



RELIGIOUS PRACTICES OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 117 

doubtful lessons of the ancient sages ; and from the monstrous 
union of the doctrines of philosophy with the tenets of Chris 
tianity, engendered those errors, which so long disfigured the 
beauty of the ancient church. But the converts among the 
northern nations were more simple, and less inquisitive : without 
suspicion they acquiesced in the doctrines taught by their mis 
sionaries ; and carefully transmitted them as a sacred deposit to 
the veneration of their descendants. When Athelhard, arch 
bishop of Canterbury, demanded from the prelates in the council 
of Cloveshoe, an exposition of their belief, they unanimously 
answered : " Know, that the faith which we profess, is the same 
as was taught by the holy and apostolic see, when Gregory the 
Great sent missionaries to our fathers." 3 I shall not, therefore, 
fatigue the reader with a theological investigation of the doc 
trines which formed the creed of the Anglo-Saxons. The de 
scription of their religious practices is better calculated to arrest 
attention, and gratify curiosity : and from them their belief may 
be deduced with less trouble, and with equal accuracy. 3 

2 Notum sit paternitati tuse, quod sicut primitus a sancta Romana, et apostolica sede, 
beatissimo papa Gregorio dirigente, exarata est, ita credimus. Wilk. p. 162. Anno 
800. The profession of faith, which St. Swithin, bishop of Winchester, made to Arch 
bishop Ceolnoth, is drawn up in the same manner. Illam rectam et orthodoxam fidem, 
quam priores patres nostri devote servaverunt, cum omni humilitate et sincera devo- 
tione, sicut prsedecessores mei ipsi sanctae sedi Dorobernensis ecclesiae subjuncti sunt, 
semper servare velle humiliter per omnia profiteer. Textus Roffen. p. 269. Anno 
852. In the monk of Winchester, this profession begins thus. Ego Swithunus, 
monachus, servulus servorum Dei, confiteor tibi, reverendissime pater Celnode Archie- 
piscope, continentiam meam, quam prius in professions monachili cxpressi, et dilec- 
tionem, &c. Hence he infers that St. Swithin was a monk, (Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 203 :) 
the inference is admitted by the Bollandists, (Jul. torn. i. p. 325 ;) and by Mabillon he 
is boldly ranked among the saints of the Benedictine order. (Act. S. S. Bened. ssec. 4, 
torn. ii. p. 69.) It is a matter of little consequence. But there is reason to believe 
that the words in italics were artfully added to the original. In the more ancient copy 
in the Textus Roffensis, the profession begins thus : Ego Swithunus, humilis vernacu- 
lus servorum Dei, confiteor tibi Celnothe Archiepiscope, continentiam meam, et dilec- 
tionem, &c. Tex. Rof. p. 269. 

3 Yet how shall I pursue this inquiry, without entangling myself in the webs of con 
troversy 1 It was once the belief of Protestant writers, that the Anglo-Saxon church, 
from its infancy, was polluted with the damnable errors of popery. Augustirius ad 
Anglo-Saxones papisticis traditionibus initiandos apostolus primus mittebatur : intro- 
duxit altaria, vestes, missas, imagines, &c. &c. Bale, cent. 13, c. 1. Prater pontificum 
traditiones et humana stercora, (a very delicate expression !) nihil attulit. Id. cent. 8, 
c. 85. Cseremoniarum profecto hie fuit, Romanorumque rituum non Christianse fidci 
aut divini verbi apostolus Anglis, eosque Romanos ac pontificios potius quam Christia- 
nos aut evangelicos agere docuit. (Parker, Ant. Brit. p. 35.) But this opinion has 
been shaken by the efforts of several eminent Saxon scholars, who have ascribed to their 
favourite study the important discovery, that our forefathers were true and orthodox 
Protestants. (See Whelock s Bede, passim. Hick s Letters to a Roman Priest, c. iii. 
Elstob, Saxon homily, pref.) It must be acknowledged, that to their industry Saxon 
literature is much indebted : but the ardour of discovery seems to have improved their 
fancy at the expense of their judgment: and a reader must be credulous indeed, to be 
lieve with them, that a translation of the Pater noster, and of a few books of Scripture, 
an exposition of the apostle s creed without any mention of purgatory, an observation 
that God alone is to be adored, and that the body of Christ, though it be really present 
in the cucharist, is there after a spiritual and not a corporal manner, arc proofs suffi 
cient to establish the existence of a Protestant church more than ten centuries ago. 



118 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

I. The religion of the Anglo-Saxons was not a dry and lifeless 
code of morality. A spiritual worship, unincumbered with ritual 
observances, has been recommended by philosophers, as the most 
worthy of man, and the least unworthy of God : but experience 
has shown, that no system of belief can long maintain its influence 
over the mind, unless it be aided by external ceremonies, which 
may seize the attention, elevate the hopes, and console the sorrows 
of its professors. Among our ancestors, religion constantly in 
terested herself in the welfare of her children : she took them by 
the hand at the opening, she conducted them with the care of 
a parent, to the close of life. 1. The infant, within thirty days 
from his birth, was regenerated in the waters of baptism. As a 
descendant of Adam, he had inherited that malediction, which 
the parent of the human race had entailed on all his posterity. 
To cleanse him from this stain, he was carried to the sacred font, 
and interrogated by the minister of religion, whether he would 
renounce the devil, his works, and his pomps, and would profess 
the true faith of Christ. The answer was returned by the mouth 
of his sponsor ; he was plunged into the water ; the mysterious 
words were pronounced ; and he emerged, a member of the 
church, a child of God, and heir to the bliss of heaven. 4 2. As 
he advanced in age, the neophyte was admitted to participate 
of the celestial sacrifice. In the eucharist he received the body 
and blood of his Redeemer : and the mystic union bound him to 
his duty by stronger ties, and gave him a new pledge of future 
happiness. 5 3. Should, however, his passions seduce him from 
the fidelity, which he had solemnly vowed to observe, penance 
still offered an asylum, where he might shelter himself from the 

4 Before baptism, the child was pnjnill Sunh Abamep porigregebnepr* e : 
after baptism he became Irobey man "] Dobep beajin. Horn. Sax. apud Whe- 
lock, p. 64. For the renunciation of Satan, and the obligations of the sponsor, (one 
only seems to have been admitted,) see the council of Calcuith, (Wilk. p. 146,) and 
the Anglo-Saxon sermon on the Epiphany, (Whelock, p. 180.) From an omission in 
this sermon, Whelock has rashly inferred, that the ceremonies of the Roman ritual were 
unknown to our ancestors. But there is sufficient evidence of the contrary. The in 
sufflation is mentioned by Bede, (1. v. c. 6.) the salt by the Saxon pontifical, (Martene, 
vol. i. p. 38,) the unctions with oil on the breast and between the shoulders, and with 
chrism on the crown of the head, are noticed by Archbishop vElfric, (Leg. Sax. p. 172,) 
and the whole process is described by Alcuin, in his treatise to Adrian, on the cere 
monies of baptism. Duchesne, oper. Ale. par. 11. Immediately after baptism the child 
was ordered to receive the eucharist ; the crown of his head was bound with a fillet, 
which was not removed for the seven following days; and during the same time he 
was constantly clothed in white. (In albis, Bed. 1. v. c. 7, unbeji cjllpman. 
^Elfred. ibid.) On each of these days he was carried to the mass, and received the 
communion. Anb hyg man bepe co maepjpn J?occ hyg bean gehuplobe 
ealle }>a vn bagaj* )>a hpile lug unjjjiogene beoj?. J3ifrici ep. inter 

Leg. Sax. p. 172. The true meaning of this passage has escaped the penetration of 
Wilkins, whose translation should be corrected from the writings of the ancient ri 
tualists. 

5 Eucharistia corpus et sanguis est Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Synod. Calcuth. 
apud Wilk. p. 169, ii. Sacrificium coeleste. Bed. 1. iv. c. 14. 



SACRAMENTS. 119 

anger, and regain the favour of his Creator. These were styled 
the three great sacraments, by which the souls of men were 
purified from the guilt of sin : 6 there remained four others, 
which, though of inferior necessity, were considered as highly 
useful to the Christian, amid the dangers to which he was ex 
posed in his pilgrimage through life. 4. At an early period he 
was presented to the bishop, and, by the imposition of his hands, 
received the spirit of wisdom and fortitude, to direct and support 
him in the combat with his ghostly enemies. 7 5. If his inclina 
tion led him to the ecclesiastical state, the sacred rite of ordina 
tion imparted the graces which were necessary for the faithful 
discharge of the clerical function. 8 6. If he preferred the bond 
of marriage, his marriage was sanctified by the prayers of the 
church, and the nuptial benediction. 9 7. But the bed of death 
was the scene in which the religion of the Anglo-Saxons appear 
ed in her fairest form, attended with all her consolations, the 
friend and the guardian of man. At that moment, when every 
temporal blessing slips from the grasp of its possessor, the minis 
ter of Christ approached the expiring sinner ; awakened his hopes 
by displaying the infinite mercy of the Redeemer ; listened with 
an ear of pity to the history of his transgressions ; taught him to 
bewail his past misconduct ; and, in the name of the Almighty, 
absolved him from his sins. As the fatal moment drew nigh, 
the extreme unction prepared his soul to wrestle for the last time 
with the enemies of his salvation. The directions of St. James 
were religiously observed : the prayer of faith was read over the 
dying man ; and his body was anointed with consecrated oil. 
To conclude the solemn ceremony, the eucharist was administer 
ed, as a viaticum or provision for his journey to a better world. 11 

6 Dneo heahce $1115 gepetce Dob mannum ro clsenpung. An ip 
pullhut. 0]?eri ip Impel halgunje. Dpubbe ip boebbot mid 
geppicennyppe ypelpia baeba. *] mib bigencge gobna peojica. 
" Three holy things God has appointed for the purification of man. The first is baptism ; 
the second, the holy communion ; the third, penance, with a cessation from evil deeds, 
and the practice of good works." Sermo Cath. apud Whel. p. 180. 

7 Bed. vit. Cuth. c. 29, p. 251, c. 32, p. 253. Horn, in psal. xxvi. torn. viii. col. 558. 
Eddius, vit. Wilf. c. xviii. p. 60. Wilk. Con. p. 252, xvii. Leg. Sax. p. 167, xxxv. 
Theod. Pcenit. par. i. c. 4. 

s Ed. vit. Wilf. c. xii. p. 57. Wilk. Con. p. 95, vi. 265, i. 

9 Ibid. p. 106, xc. 217, viii. The bond of marriage was deemed indissoluble. Not 
even adultery could justify a second marriage before the death of one of the parties. See 
the tenth canon of the council of Herutford. Bed. 1. iv. c. 5. Anno 683. 

10 Wilk. Con. p. 127, xv. 229, Ixv. Ixvi 

11 Id. ibid. Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 14. 23. Vit. Cuth. c. 39. He thus describes the death 
of St. Cuthbert : 

Ecce sacer residens antistes ad altar, 
Pocula degustat vitse, Christique supinum 
Sanguine munit iter, vultusque ad sidera et almas 
Sustollit gaudens palmas, anirnamque supernis 
Laudibus intentam Isetantibus indidit astris. 

Bed. vit. Cuth. p. 286. 



120 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Thus consoled and animated, he was taught to resign himself to 
the will of his Creator, and to await with patience the stroke of 
dissolution. 

II. Among the various forms of Christian worship, the prece 
dency is justly claimed by the eucharistic sacrifice. By every 
religious society, which dates its origin from the more early ages, 
its superior dignity and efficacy has always been acknowledged : 
and in the liturgies of the most distant nations we constantly dis 
cover it the same, if not in appearance, at least in substance. In 
the arrangement of the ceremonies, and the composition of the 
prayers, different models were followed by different churches : 
but amid these accidental variations, the more important parts, the 
invocation, the consecration, the fraction of the host, and the com 
munion, were preserved with religious fidelity. 12 By Augustine 
and his associates, the mass was celebrated at Canterbury, after 
the Roman method. But in their journey to Britain, they had 
observed the different rites of the Gauls ; and were careful to 
consult their patron respecting the cause of this diversity. The 
answer of the pontiff evinces a liberal mind. Though the refor 
mation of the Roman liturgy had obtained a considerable share 
of his attention, he neither urged the superior excellence of his 
own labours, nor condemned the rituals of other churches : but 
advised his disciples to consult the usages of different nations, 
and to select from each whatever was most conducive to the 
honour of the Deity. But the judgment of Augustine naturally 
preferred the discipline to which he had been accustomed : the 
Roman liturgy was established in the churches founded by his 
labours ; and was spontaneously adopted by the converts of the 
Scottish missionaries. 13 

Felix, who wrote very soon after Bede, describes the death of St. Guthlake in almost 
the same words. Extendens manus ad altare, munrvit se communione corporis et 
sanguinis Christi, atque elevatis oculis ad crelum, extensisque manibus, animam ad 
gaudia perpetuse exultationis emisit. Felix, vit. St. Guth. in Act. SS. April, torn. iii. p. 
48. For the viaticum they were accustomed to preserve the eucharist, and renew it 
every fortnight. (Bed. 1. iv. c. 24, and ^Elfric s charge to the clergy. Leg. Sax. p. 159.) 
Though the sick communicated under the form of bread alone, (Ibid, and p. 172,) yet 
it was still called the viaticum of the body and blood of Christ: (compare two passages 
in Bed. ibid. p. 157, 158.) The place in which the eucharist was preserved was a box 
or tabernacle, (JElfric, ibid.) which appears to have been fixed on an altar in the church, 
and occasionally adorned with green leaves or flowers. 

Quam fronde coronant, 
Dum buxis claudunt pretiosae munera vitas. 

Ethelwold, de SS. Lindis. c. xiv. p. 314, Note (L). 

12 The numerous mistakes of former writers on this important subject, have been cor 
rected by Renaudot, in his collection of the oriental liturgies. The principal differences 
are in the preparatory part of the sacrifice : but in the canon, besides the particulars 
mentioned in the text, they all contain the preface or thanksgiving, the commemoration 
of the living and the dead, and the Lord s Prayer. Renaud. vol. i. disser. p. xx. 

13 With the Gregorian chant, the whole of the Roman liturgy appears to have been 
adopted by the churches of the north. Bed. 1. iv. c. 18. If the liturgies of the Italian 
and Scottish missionaries were not exactly similar, the difference must have been un 
important, as it does not appear to have been mentioned in the disputes which divided 



LITURGV. 121 

From the works of the Anglo-Saxon writers we may learn the 
profound veneration with which they had been taught to view 
this sacred institution. Whenever they mention it, the most 
lofty epithets, the most splendid descriptions display their senti 
ments. It is " the celebration of the most sacred mysteries, the 
celestial sacrifice, the oblation of the saving victim, the renova 
tion of the passion and death of Christ." 14 To assist at it daily, 
they consider as a practice of laudable piety ; to be present on 
every Sunday and holiday, they pronounce a duty of the strictest 
obligation. 15 Of all the resources which religion offers to appease 
the anger of God, it is declared to be the most efficacious : its 
influence is not confined to the living : it releases from their 
bonds the souls of the dead. 16 Impressed with these sentiments, 
all were eager to join in the oblation of the sacrifice, and no cost 
was spared to testify, by external magnificence, their inward 
veneration. The decorations of the church, the voices of a 
numerous choir, the harmony of musical instruments, 17 the blaze 

the two parties. Cuminius (anno 657) and Adamnan (anno 680) were abbots of the 
monastery, from which the Scottish missionaries were sent, and speak of the mass in 
the same terms as the Roman writers. Cuminius calls it, sacrificale mysterium, sacra 
sancti sacrificii mysteria, (Cumin, edit. Pinkerton, p. 29. 32:) and in the language of 
Adamnan, to celebrate the mass, is sacra consecrare mysteria, Christi corpus ex more 
conficere, (Adam. edit. Pink. p. 93. 172.) The general conformity of the ancient 
Roman, Gallic, Gothic, and other western canons, with the present Roman canon, is 
shown by Georgi, de Litur. Rom. pont. vol. iii. p. xli. 

14 Bed. 1. ii. c. v. 1. iv. c. 14. 22. 28. Vit. Cuth. p. 242. Vit. Abbat. Wirem. p. 302. 
Ep. Bug. ad Bonif. p. 45. Sermo de Sac. apud Whel. p. 474. 

is Sunnan bag ip ppi]>e healice to peon]>ian . . . Butan pham 
gebyruge $ he nybe pajian pcyle. ftonne mot he ppa riiban ppa 
fiopan .... on ^a gejiab ^ he hip mseppan gehyjie. "Sunday is 
most holily to be kept .... but if it happen that a man must of necessity travel, he 
may ride or sail, but on condition that he hear mass." Wilk. Con. p. 273. 

16 Bed. 1. iv. c. 22. Sermo de efficacia sanctse Misse, apud Whelock, p. 319, Sermo 
de Sacrif. p. 475-. 

17 The Anglo-Saxons were passionately fond of music, and, after their conversion, 
the national taste displayed itself in the public worship. To attain an accurate know 
ledge of the Gregorian chant, was deemed an object of high importance : masters were 
eagerly selected from the disciples of the Roman missionaries ; and John, praecentor of 
St. Peter s in Rome, was long detained in England for the same purpose, (Bed. Hist. I. 
ii. c. 20, iv. c. 2. 18, v. 20.) Of the proficiency of the Saxons, we are not informed. 
That they entertained a high opinion of themselves is certain : but so did the Gallic 
singers of this period, though they were objects of ridicule to those of Italy ; quia bibuli 
gutturis barbara feritas, dum inflexionibus et repercussionibus mitern nititur edere 
cantilenam, naturali quodam fragore, quasi plaustra per gradus confuse sonantia, rigidas 
voces jactat, sicque audientium animos, quos mulcere debuerat, exasperando magis ac 
obstrependo conterbat. Joan. diac. vit. Greg. 1. ii. c. 7. Organs were admitted into 
the Saxon churches at an early period. The first person in the west by whom they 
were employed, is said by Platina, though with some hesitation, to have been Vitalian, 
the Roman pontiff, (Plat, in Vital.) If we credit his account, we may suppose that 
they were introduced into England by Theodore and Adrian, whom that pope sent to 
instruct our ancestors. At least it is certain, that they were known by St. Aldhelm as 
early as the close of the seventh century. In his poem de laudibus virginitatis, he tells 
the admirer of music, who despises the more humble sounds of the harp, to listen to the 
thousand voices of the organ. 

16 L 



122 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of the lamps and tapers, the vestments of the officiating minister 
and his attendants, all concurred to elevate the soul, and inspire 
the most lively sentiments of devotion. At the prayer of conse 
cration it was believed, that the Saviour of mankind descended 
on the altar, the angels stood around in respectful silence, 18 the 
spotless Lamb was immolated to the eternal Father, and the mys 
tery of man s redemption was renewed. 19 At length the sacrifice 
was consummated: apart of the consecrated elements was received 
by the priest ; the remainder was distributed among those whose 
piety prompted them to approach to the holy table. 

The discipline of the church has often been compelled to bend 
to the weakness of her children. To communicate, as often as 
they assisted at the sacred mysteries, was a practice introduced 
by the fervour of the first Christians : and, during several centu 
ries, each omission was chastised by a temporary exclusion from 
the society of the faithful. 20 But with the severity of their morals, 
their devotion to the eucharist insensibly declined ; frequency of 
communion was left to the choice of each individual ; and the 
precept was confined to the three great festivals of Christmas, 
Easter, and Whitsuntide. 21 Still, however, in many churches, 
the spontaneous devotion of the fervent preserved some vestiges 
of the ancient discipline : but their example made no great im- 



Maxima millenis auscultans organa flabria 

Mulceat auditum ventosis follibus iste, 

Quamvis auratis fulgescant csetera capsis. Bib. Pat. t. viii. p. 3. 
(This passage was first discovered by Mr. Turner, vol. iv. p. 447.) About sixty years 
afterwards, Constantine, the Byzantine emperor, sent to Pepin an organ of excellent 
workmanship, which has erroneously been supposed to be the first among the Latins. 
It is thus described : Quod doliis ex sere conflatis, follibusque taurinis per fistulas sereas 
mire perflantibus, rugitu quidein tonitrui boatum, garrulitatem vero lyrae vel cymbali 
dulcedine cosequabat. (Monac. Gallen. vit. Caroli mag. c. 10.) The French artists were 
eager to equal this specimen of Grecian ingenuity : and so successful were their efforts, 
that in the ninth century the best organs were made in France and Germany. Their 
superiority was acknowledged by John VIII. in a letter to Anno, bishop of Freisingen, 
from whom he requested an organ, and a master for the instruction of the Roman 
musicians. Precamur ut optimum organum cum artifice, qui hoc moderari, et facere 
ad omnem modulationis efficaciam possit, ad instructionem musicae disciplinse, nobis aut 
dcferas aut mittas. Cit. Sandini in vit. Pont. vol. i. p. 241. Soon after this period 
thay were common in England, and constructed by English artists. They appear to 
have been of large dimensions : the pipes were made of copper, and fixed in frames, that 
frequently were gilt. (Aldh. ibid. Gale, p. 266. 420.) In the poems of Wolstan, a 
monk of Winchester, occurs a minute description of the great organ in that cathedral. 
Of its accuracy there is little reason to doubt, as the poem is dedicated to St. Elphegc, 
the person by whom the organ was erected. It will be found in note (M). 

is Hahga englap Saepi abucan hpeapipia]?. Leg. eccl. Wilk. p. 300*. 

19 Daegpamlice bi}> hip bpiopunge jeebnipeb fcupih gerunu fcaep 
halgan huplep set baepie Hainan maeppan. "Daily is his passion renewed 
by the mystery of the holy husel at the holy mass." Sermo de Sac. apud Whel. p. 
474. Missarum solemnia celebantes, corpus sacrosanctum, et pretiosum agni san- 
guinem, quo a peccatis redempti sumus, denuo Deo in profectum nostrs salutis immo- 
lamus. Bed. horn, in vig. Pas. torn. vii. col. 6. Vit. St Cuth. p. 242. 

20 Can. Apost. 10. Con. Ant. can. 2. Bona, rerum liturg. 1. i. c. 13. 

21 Synod. Agath. can. 18. 



BREVIARY OR COURSE. 123 

pression on the majority of the Anglo-Saxons, whose piety was 
satisfied with an exact observance of the more recent regulation. 
In justification of their reserve, they urg;ed the sublime dignity 
of the sacrament. To them the modern doctrine, that the eucha- 
charist is the mere manducation of the material elements, in 
commemoration of the passion of the Messiah, was entirely 
unknown. They had been taught to despise the doubtful testi 
mony of the senses, and to listen to the more certain assurance 
of the inspired writings : according to their belief, the bread and 
wine, after the consecration, had ceased to be what their external 
appearance suggested; they were become, by an invisible opera 
tion, the victim of redemption, the true body and blood of Christ. 22 
But how, they asked, could sinful man presume, of his own 
choice, to introduce his Redeemer within his breast? Was it 
not less hazardous, and more respectful, to remain, on other 
occasions, at an awful distance, and to communicate on those 
festivals only, when his temerity might be excused by his obedi 
ence ? This reasoning, however, did not satisfy the zeal of the 
venerable Bede, who condemned an humility which deprived 
the soul of the choicest blessings, and asserted his conviction, that 
many among his countrymen, in every department of life, were, 
by their superior virtue, entitled to partake of the sacred myste 
ries on every Sunday and festival in the year. 23 The sentiments 
of the pious monk inspired the bishops at the synod of Cloveshoe, 
and each pastor was commanded to animate the devotion of his 
parishioners, and to display in the strongest light the advantages 
of frequent communion. 24 

In addition to the Roman liturgy, the Anglo-Saxon church 
had adopted the Roman course or breviary. 35 Of this compila- 



22 bifutan hi beo}> jepepene hlap ^ pin sej^en ge on hipe 
on jrpaecce. ac hi beo}> poflice sepcep. J>aene halgunge Ej 
lichama ^ hlj- blob. $uph gap tllCC Jgejimu. "Without (externally) they 
seem bread and wine both in appearance and in taste ; yet they be truly, after the con 
secration, Christ s body and his blood, through a ghostly mystery." Sermo in die Pas. 
apud Whel. p. 470. See note (N). 

23 Cum sint innumeri innocentes .... qui absque ullo scrupulo controversiae, omni 
die dominica, sive etiam in natalities sanctorum apostolorum sive martyrum, quomodo 
ipse in sancta Romana et Apostolica ecclesia fieri vidisti, mysteriis coelestibus communi- 
care valeant. Bed. Epis. ad Egbert, p. 311. 

24 Syn. Clov. apud Wilk. p. 98, xxiii. Anno 747. 

25 The Roman course had been greatly improved by the care of St. Gregory. It was 
introduced into England by the missionaries; and was ordered to be used in all churches 
by the synod of Cloveshoe. (Wilk. Con. p. 96, xiii. 97, xv. xvi.) But the decree of 
this synod seems not to have been observed in the kingdom of Northumbria. At least 
the monks of Lindisfarne, on some occasion, adopted the office composed by St. Bene 
dict, and it was retained by the clergy who succeeded them. (Sim. Dunel. edit. Bed 
ford, p. 4. He seems to attribute it to St. Aidan, which is evidently a mistake.) When 
St. Dunstan restored the monastic order, after the devastations of the Danes, he intro 
duced the Benedictine office with a few additions, but allotted a particular exception to 
the festival of Easter and its octave, during which he ordered the monks to adopt the 
same service as the clergy, in honour of St. Gregory. Septem hora: canonic a mona- 



124 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

tion the principal part had been selected from the psalms of 
David and the writings of the prophets, which abound with the 
sublimest effusions of religious sentiment. But the fatigue of 
uniformity was relieved by a competent number of lessons, ex 
tracted from the books of the Holy Scriptures, the works of the 
ancient fathers, and the acts of the most celebrated martyrs : and 
the different portions of the office were terminated by prayers, 
of which the noble and affecting simplicity has been deservedly 
admired. The service of each day was divided into seven hours, 
and at each of these the clergy were summoned to the church to 
sing, in imitation of the royal prophet, the praise of the Creator. 26 
The layman was exhorted, but the ecclesiastic was commanded 
to assist. Of this difference the reason is obvious. The clergy 
were the representatives of the great body of Christians : they 
had been liberated from all secular employments, that they might 
attend, with fewer impediments, to their spiritual functions : it 
was therefore expected that, by their assiduity, they would com 
pensate for the deficiencies of their less fervent brethren; and by 
their daily supplications avert the anger, and call down the bless 
ings of the Almighty. 

Both the mass and the canonical service were performed in 
Latin. For the instruction of the people, the epistle and gospel 
were read, and the sermon was delivered in their native tongue : 
but God was always addressed by the ministers of religion in the 
language of Rome. The missionaries, who, from whatever 
country they came, had been accustomed to this rite from their 
infancy, would have deemed it a degradation of the sacrifice, to 
subject it to the caprice and variations of a barbarous idiom ; and 
their disciples, who felt not the thirst of innovation, were proud 
to tread in the footsteps of their teachers. The practice has been 
severely reprobated by the reformed theologians : but it was for 
tunate for mankind, that the apostles of the northern nations 
were less wise than their modern critics. Had they adopted in 
the liturgy the language of their proselytes, the literature would 
probably have perished with the empire of Rome. By preserving 
the use of the Latin tongue, they imposed on the clergy the 
necessity of study, kept alive the spirit of improvement, and 
transmitted to future generations the writings of the classics, and 
the monuments of profane and ecclesiastical history. 

III. In every system of worship, the means of atonement for 
sin must form an essential part. The first professors of the 
gospel believed that the Messiah, by his voluntary sufferings, had 

chis in ccclesia Dei more canonicorum, propter auctoritatem beati Gregorii celebrandsa 
sunt. Concor. Monach. apnd Reyner, app. par. hi. p. 89, 90. The custom continued 
till the conquest, when the Norman, Lanfranc, who probably felt less veneration for the 
apostle of the Saxons, ordered it to be abolished. Constit. Lanfran. apud Wilk. torn. i. 
p. 339. 

2|J They were called the uht or morning-song, prime-song, under-song, midday-song 
none-song, even-song, and night-song. Wilk. p. 97. 252. 



CONFESSION. 125 

paid to the divine justice the debt contracted by human guilt : 
but at the same time they taught, that the application of his 
merits to the soul of man was intrusted to the ministry of those 
to whom he had imparted the power of binding and of loosing, 
of forgiving and retaining sin. 27 To exercise with discretion this 
twofold jurisdiction, it was necessary to learn the prevarications 
and disposition of the penitent : and from the earliest ages we 
behold the faithful Christian at the feet of his confessor, acknow 
ledging in public, or in private, the nature and number of his 
transgressions. 28 With the doctrine of the gospel, the practice 
of confession was introduced among the Saxons by the Roman 
and Scottish missionaries. 29 They were taught to consider it not 
merely as a pious observance, which depended on the devotion 
of each individual, but as an indispensable obligation, from which 
nothing could release the sinner but the impossibility of the per 
formance. The law by which it was enforced, was construed 
to extend to every class of Christians : to bind the highest eccle 
siastic no less than the meanest layman. 30 The sinner, who was 
desirous to regain the favour of his offended God, was directed 
to approach the feet of his confessor with humility and com 
punction, and after professing his belief in the principal truths of 
Christianity, to unfold all the crimes with which he had con 
taminated his conscience, by deed, by word, arid by thought. 31 

27 John xx. 22, 23. 

23 Denis de St. Marthe, traite de la confession. Daille made thirty feeble attempts 
to disprove the antiquity of this practice. They may be seen in Bingham, vol. ii. p. 219. 

29 But was not auricular confession unknown to the Scottish monks, and their 
proselytes ? Henry (vol. iii. p. 208) has boldly asserted the affirmative: but he was 
misled by the authority of Inett, to copy whose mistakes he often found a more easy 
task, than to consult the original writers. The words of Inett are these : " Theodore 
endeavoured to introduce auricular confession, a usage which, according to the 
account that Egbert, archbishop of York, gives of it in the beginning of the next cen 
tury, was unknown to the English, converted by the Scots and Britons." Inett, Hist, 
of the English Church, vol. i. p. 85. Reader, if you consult the work of Egbert for this 
account, you will consult in vain. On the introduction of confession, and the manners 
of the English converted by the Scots and Britons, he is silent : but he observes that, 
from the time of Theodore, the faithful had been accustomed, during the twelve days 
before Christmas, to prepare themselves for communion by fasting, confession, and 
alms, (Egb. de instit. eccl. Wilk. p. 86 :) and this observation has been converted, by 
the imagination of Inett, into an assertion, that before the time of Theodore they were 
ignorant of the practice of confession. That, however, it was taught by the Scottish 
monks to their converts, is evident from the zeal of St. Cuthbert, who, long before the 
arrival of Theodore, spent whole months in preaching, and receiving the confessions 
of the people, (Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 27. Vit. Cuth. c. 9. 16 :) and that they adopted it in 
their own country, may be proved from the conduct of St. Columba, the founder of the 
Abbey of Hii, (Adomnan vit. Colum. p. 71. 80. 89,) from the penitentiary of Cuminius, 
the fifth of his successors, (Mab. vet. anal. p. 17,) and the confession of the Scottish 
monk related by Bede, (1. iv. c. 25.) 

30 Deopti]? cym}> ymbe tpelp monaf. J5 aelc maen pcesel hip 
pcpnpt gepppiecan. ^ Dobe ^ hip pcjiipce hip gyltap anbettan 
$a be he gepopee. "The time of duty comes every twelve months, when 
every man shall speak to his confessor, and avow to God and his confessor all the sins 
which he has committed." Egb. peniten. apud Wilk. p. 141. 

31 jElce pynne mon pceal hip pcpiipte anbettan. ftana fca he 

L2 



126 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

To conclude this humiliating ceremony, he declared his deter 
mination to amend his life, and adjured his confessor to bear 
testimony in the day of judgment, to the sincerity of his repent 
ance. 32 

In the language of Catholic theology, the priest is said to pre 
side in the tribunal of penance, as a judge, whose duty it is to 
pronounce sentence on the accused according to his demerits. 
But so numerous and so nicely discriminated are the gradations 
of human guilt, so complicated the circumstances which aggra 
vate or lighten its enormity, that to apportion with accuracy the 
punishment to the offence, will frequently confound the skill of 
the most able and impartial casuist. Theodore, however, whether 
he confided in his superior abilities, or yielded to the necessity 
of directing his less enlightened brethren, attempted the difficult 
task, and published a penitentiary, or code of laws, for the impo 
sition of sacramental penance. In it he ventured to deviate from 
the letter of the ancient canons, whose severity bears testimony 
to the fervour of the age in which they were framed, and adopted 
the milder discipline of the Greek church, in which he had im 
bibed the rudiments of theological science. The success of his 
endeavours stimulated the timidity of his brethren : and the peni 
tentiaries of Egbert, archbishop of York, and of several other 
prelates, claim a distinguished place among the ecclesiastical 
records of Saxon antiquity. 33 Fasting was the principal species 
of punishment which they enjoined : but its nature and duration 
were determined by the malignity of the offence. The more 
pardonable sins of frailty and surprise might be expiated by a 

gepnemede. oj>]?e on pojibe. o]>}>e on peojice. o]>]>e on 

"Every sin man shall to his confessor declare, that he ever committed, 
either in word, or in work, or in thought." Liber Leg. eccl. apud Wilk. p. 276. 

32 Wilk. p. 231. Whelock is positive that the practice of the Saxons was the 
same as that of the present established church. They advised, but did not command 
confession. ( Whel. Hist. Eccl. p. 215, 216, index, art. confessio.) The very homilies 
which he published, might have taught him the contrary. I shall transcribe two passages. 
Delome up laejia}? p hahge gepjut p pe pleon co }>am lacebome 
po}>ne anbaecnypp urie pynna. Foji^an pe ellep ne magon 
beon hale buton pe anbetigan hneopienbe jp pe co unpiihce 
byban fcujih gymelypte. ^Elc popigipenyppe hyhte ip on 
J>aejie anbediyppe. -] }>eo anbetnyppe ip fte engla lacebome 
upa pynna. mib baejie po]>an taebboce. "The Holy Scripture fre 
quently teaches us to flee to the medicine of true confession of our sins : because we 
cannot otherwise be healed, except we confess with sorrow what we have unright 
eously done through negligence. All hope of forgiveness is in confession. Confes 
sion with true repentance is the angelic remedy of our sins." Whel. p. 341. 343. 
icoblice ne begyc nan man hip pynna popigif enyppe sec 
Dobe buton he hi pumum Dobep men geanbette *] be hip 
bome gebete. "Truly no man will obtain forgiveness of his sins from God, 
unless he confess to some of God s ministers, and do penance according to his judg 
ment." Sermo de poenit. apud Whel. p. 423. 

33 They may be seen in Wilkins, vol. i. p. 116. 225 ; vol. iv. p. 751, and the Codex 
canonum et constitutionum MSS. Jun. 121. 



MITIGATION OF PENANCE. 127 

less rigorous fast of ten, twenty, or thirty days : but when the 
crime was of a blacker dye, when it argued deep and premedi 
tated malice, a longer course of mortification was required, and 
one, five, seven years, or even a whole life of penance, was 
deemed a cheap and easy compensation. So dreary a prospect 
might have plunged the penitent into despair or indifference : 
but his fervour was daily animated by the hopes and fears of 
religion : his past fidelity was rewarded by subsequent indul 
gences ; and the yoke was prudently lightened the longer it was 
worn. After a certain period, to the severe regimen of bread 
and water, succeeded a more nutritious diet, which excluded only 
the flesh of quadrupeds and fowls : and the fasts that originally 
had comprised six, were gradually contracted to three or fewer 
days in the week. 34 

To these regulations, when they were first enjoined, the 
sanctity of their authors, and the fervour of the proselytes insured 
a ready obedience. But nature soon learned to rebel ; necessity 
introduced several mitigations ; and the ingenuity of the penitents 
discovered expedients to elude or mitigate their severity. When 
the sinner had delayed his conversion, till he was alarmed by the 
near approach of death, it was idle to enjoin him many years 
of penance : and he was rather advised, according to the com 
mand of the Holy Scriptures, to redeem his sins with works of 
mercy, and to commute the fasts of the canons for donations to 
the church, and to the poor. An idea so consonant to the maxims 
of Saxon jurisprudence, was eagerly adopted, and insensibly im 
proved into a perfect system, which regulated with precision, 
according to the rank and wealth of the penitent, the price at 
which the fast of a day, a month, or a year, might be lawfully 
redeemed. This indulgence, which had originally been confined 
to the dying, was claimed with an equal appearance of justice 
by the sick and the infirm ; and was at last extended to all, whose 
constitutions or employments were incompatible with the rigour 
of a long and severe fast. 35 By the rich it was accepted with 
gratitude ; but to the poor it offered an illusory boon, which 
only aggravated the hardships of their condition. To remove 
the invidious distinction, a new species of commutation was 
adopted. Archbishop Egbert, founding his decision on the 
authority of Theodore, intrusted it to the prudence of the con 
fessor, to enjoin, when the penitent pleaded infirmity or inability, 
a real equivalent in prayers or money. Thus a new system of 
canonical arithmetic was established ; and the fast of a day was 
taxed at the rate of a silver penny for the rich, or of fifty pater 
nosters for the illiterate, and fifty psalms for the learned. 36 That 
these compensations would accelerate the decline of the primi- 

34 Ibid, passim. 

35 See the chapter, hu feocman mot hip paeftan alyfan. Wilk. Con. 
vol. i. p. 237. 36 Wilk. p. 115. 140. 237. 



128 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

live fervour, was foreseen and lamented by the bishops : and the 
fathers of the council of Cloveshoe made a vigorous but fruitless 
attempt to uphold the ancient discipline. " It is necessary," 
they observe to the Saxon clergy, " that the enjoyment of for 
bidden pleasure should be punished by the subtraction of lawful 
gratifications. Alms and prayers are undoubtedly useful, but 
they are designed to be the auxiliaries, not the substitutes of 
fasting." 37 The torrent, however, was irresistible ; and the con 
demned indulgences were gradually sanctioned, first by the 
silence, afterwards by the approbation of their successors. 

There was another, and a more singular innovation, which 
equally provoked, and equally survived their censure. Among 
a powerful and turbulent nobility, it was not difficult to discover 
men, whose offences were so numerous, that to expiate them 
according to the letter of the canons, would require a greater 
number of years, than could probably fall to the lot of any indi 
vidual. Sinners of this description were admonished to distrust 
so precarious a resource ; to solicit the assistance of their friends, 
and to relieve their own insolvency by the vicarious payments 
of others. In obedience to this advice, they recommended them 
selves to the prayers of those who were distinguished by the 
austerity and sanctity of their lives ; endeavoured by numerous 
benefits to purchase the gratitude of the monks and clergy ; and 
by procuring their names to be enrolled among the members of 
the most celebrated monasteries, indulged the hope of partaking 
in the merit of the good works performed by those societies. 
But it was not long before a system, which offered so much 
accommodation to human weakness, received considerable im 
provements ; and men were willing to persuade themselves that 
they might atone for their crimes by substituting in the place of 
their own, the austerities of mercenary penitents. 35 It was in 
vain that the council of Cloveshoe thundered its anathemas 
against their disobedience : the new doctrine was supported by 
the wishes and the practice of the opulent ; and its toleration 
was at length extorted, on the condition, that the sinner should 
undergo, in person, a part at least of his penance. The thane, 
who determined to embrace this expedient, was commanded to 
lay aside his arms, to clothe himself in woollen or sackcloth, to 
walk barefoot, to carry in his hand the staff of a pilgrim, to 
maintain a certain number of poor, to watch during the night in 
the church, and, when he slept, to repose on the ground. At his 
summons, his friends and dependents assembled at his castle : 

3 ? Id. p. 98. Anno 747. 

38 Nuper, say the bishops assembled at Cloveshoe, quidam dives petens reconcilia- 
tionem pro magno quodam facinore suo citius sibi dari, affirmavit idem nefas juxta 
aliorum promissa in tantum esse expiatum, ut si deinceps vivere posset trecentorura 
annorum nuraerum, pro eo plane his satisfactionum modis, per aliorum scilicet psalmo- 
diam, et jejunium, et eleemosynam persolutum esset, excepto illius jejunio, et quarnvis 
ipse utcurnque vel parum jejunaret. Ibid. p. 99. 



ABSOLUTION. 129 

they also assumed the garb of penitence : their food was confined 
to bread, herbs, and water : arid these austerities were continued, 
till the aggregate amount of their fasts equalled the number spe 
cified by the canons. Thus, with the assistance of one hundred 
and twenty associates, an opulent sinner might, in the short space 
of three days, discharge the penance of a whole year. But he 
was admonished that it was a doubtful and dangerous experi 
ment : and that, if he hoped to appease the anger of the Al 
mighty, he must sanctify his repentance by true contrition of 
heart, by frequent donations to the poor, and by fervent prayer. 39 
How long this practice was tolerated, I am ignorant : but I have 
met with no instance of it, posterior to the reign of Edgar. 

While the penitent thus endeavoured to expiate his guilt, he 
looked forward with anxiety to the day which was to terminate 
his labours, and restore him to the common privileges of the 
faithful. At the expiration, often before the expiration of his 
penance, he sought again the feet of his confessor, and solicited 
the benefit of absolution. But he was previously interrogated 
respecting his present dispositions, and the fidelity with which 
he had observed the injunctions of the canons. If his reply 
proved satisfactory, if the amendment of his conduct evinced the 
sincerity of his professions, the priest applauded his obedience, 
exhorted him to persevere, and, extending his hand, pronounced 
over him the prayer of absolution. " The Almighty God, who 
created the heavens, the earth, and every creature, have mercy 
on thee, and forgive thee all the sins which thou hast committed 
from the time of thy baptism till this hour, through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." 40 The joy of the penitent was complete. Confident 
that he was now restored to the favour of Heaven, he arose, 
assisted at the sacrifice of the mass, and sealed his reconciliation 
by receiving the body and blood of Christ, the sacrament of sal 
vation, and the pledge of a glorious immortality. 

3 9 See the chapter, Be mihcigum mannum : Wilk. p. 238. 

40 Se aelrmhtiga Dob J?e gepceop heopnaf *] eojifan L ealle je- 
fceapta jemiltpa J>e. *] bo }?e pongypnyf pe ealjia }>inrta pynna 
]>G ]>u aepjie gepop.htej c pjiarn pricin^e jJinnep Ep.ir Cenbomej* 
o}> J71J* tibe. MSS. Cott. Tib. A. 3. Did the Saxon Christians attach much import 
ance to this rite of absolution! If we may believe Carte, (Hist. vol. i, p. 241,) and 
Henry, (Hist. vol. iii. p. 203,) they did not : but when they submitted to the ceremony 
of confession, their object was to learn the decision of the penitentiary, not to obtain 
absolution. Alcuin, however, who may be supposed to have known the doctrine of his 
countrymen as accurately as any modern historian, was of a different opinion. He 
informs us, that confession was necessary, because, without it, absolution could not be 
obtained. Si peccata sacerdotibus non sunt prodenda, quare in sacramentario recon- 
ciliationis orationes scriptse sunf! Quomodo sacerdos reconciliat, quern peccare non 
novit! Sacerdotes a Deo Christo cum sanctis apostolis ligandi solvendique potestatem 
accepisse credimus. Ale. ep. 71, edit. Duchesne. Ant. lect. Canisii, vol. ii. p. 415. 
" The sinner," says the Saxon hornilist, " who conceals his sins, lies dead in the grave ; 
but if with sorrow he confess his sins, then he rises from the grave like Lazarus, at the 
command of Christ, and then shall his teacher unbind him from eternal punishment, 
as the apostles unbound the body of Lazarus. JEilc pynjrull man tSe hlf* 

17 



130 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 



CHAPTER VIL 

Euchological Ceremonies Benediction of the Anglo-Saxon Knights Of Marriages- 
Ordinations of the Clergy Coronation of Kings Dedication of Churches. 

I. THE superstition of paganism had peopled the earth with 
gods ; and the sea and the air, every stream, grove, and fountain, 
possessed its peculiar and tutelary deity. The folly of the 
gnostics embraced the opposite extreme. In their eyes, the visi 
ble creation was the work of the power of darkness : and the 
saint was frequently compelled, by the unhappy condition of his 
existence, to an involuntary co-operation with that malevolent 
being, whom he professed to abhor. To combat these contra 
dictory but popular errors, to teach her children that all things 
were created by the wisdom, and might be directed to the service 
of the Almighty, the Christian church was accustomed, from the 
earliest ages, to invoke, by set forms of prayer, the blessing of 
Heaven on whatever was adapted to the divine worship, or the 
support and convenience of man. In this respect her conduct 
was an exact copy of that which God had recommended to the 
Jewish legislator ; and was justified by the doctrine of the apos 
tle, that "every creature of God is good, being sanctified by the 
word of God, and by prayer." 1 From the sacramentary of 
Gelasius, these forms of benediction had passed to the sacra 
mentary of St. Gregory ; and from that work they were tran 
scribed into the rituals of the Anglo-Saxon church. The greater 
part of them would, perhaps, rather fatigue the patience, than 
interest the curiosity of the reader : these I shall therefore omit, 
and principally confine myself to the description of such, as had 
for their object to implore the divine blessing on the different 
states of society. 

1. That there existed among our ancestors from the earliest 
times, a species of knighthood or military distinction, which was 
afterwards commuted for the more splendid and romantic 
chivalry of later ages, has been satisfactorily proved by a recent 
historian. 2 But at first it was a mere civil institution, unknown 

pynna bebigla}?. he li$ beab on bypigene. ac gip he hip 
pynna geanbette fcnjih onbriyjibnyppe. fconne. gse}> he op 
$aep.e bypigene. ppa ppa Lazariup bybe $a $a Erupt hine 
arupan hec. $onne pceal pe lapieop hine unbinban pnam %am 
ecan pite ppa ppa $a apoptoh lichamlice Lazapum alypbon. 
Whel. p. 405. Also Wilk. p. 125. 127. 229. 238. See note (O.) 

! 1 Tim. c. iv. v. 4, 5. 

2 Mr. Turner, Hist, of the Angl. Sax. vol. iv. p. 171. 



BENEDICTION OF KNIGHTS. 131 

among the rites of ecclesiastical worship. 3 Religion was the 
daughter of peace : she abhorred the deeds of war; and refused 
to bless the arms which were destined to be stained with human 
blood. But in the revolution of a few centuries, the sentiments 
of men were altered. To unsheath the sword against the enemies 
of the nation ; to protect by force of arms the church, the widow, 
and the infant, were actions which humanity approved : the 
warrior, who hazarded his life in such laudable pursuits, de 
served the blessing of Heaven ; and before the extinction of the 
Saxon dynasty, we behold the order of knighthood conferred 
with all the pomp of a religious ceremony. The youth, who 
aspired to this honour, was taught to repair on the preceding 
day to a priest, to confess his sins with compunction of heart, 
and to obtain the benefit of absolution. The succeeding night 
he spent in the church ; and by watching, devotion, and absti 
nence, prepared himself for the approaching ceremony. In the 
morning, at the commencement of the mass, his sword was laid 
on the altar. After the gospel, the priest read over it the prayer 
of benediction, carried it to the knight, and laid it on his shoulder. 
The mass was then continued ; he received the eucharist, and 
from that moment was entitled to the rank and privileges of a 
legitimate miles. 4 

For this account we are indebted to the pen of Ingulph, where 
he relates the exploits of an Anglo-Saxon soldier, whose valour 
deserved and obtained the honour of knighthood. His name 
was Hereward. In his youth, the turbulence of his temper had 
alienated the affections of his family ; and by Edward the Con 
fessor he was banished, at the request of his father, from his 
native country. In Northumberland, Cornwall, Ireland, and 
Flanders, the bravery of the fugitive was exerted and admired ; 
his fame soon reached the ears of his countrymen ; the martial 
deeds of Hereward formed the subject of the most popular bal 
lads ; and his family were proud of the man whom they had 
formerly persecuted. When William the Conqueror landed in 
England, he returned to the defence of his country ; and at the 
head of his followers avenged the injuries which his mother had 
received from the invaders. It was at this period that he repaired 
to Peterborough, to obtain from the abbot Brand, his uncle, the 

8 It seems originally to have been conferred by the sovereign, and perhaps the more 
distinguished among the thanes. Alfred the Great is said by Malmsbury to have 
knighted his grandson Athelstan, while he was yet a child. Quern etiam prsemature 
rnilitem fecerat, donatum chlamyde coccinea, gemmato balteo, ense Saxonico, cum 
vagina aurea. Malm, de Reg. p. 49. 

4 Ingulf, p. 70. I have not met with any Anglo-Saxon ritual, which mentions the 
prayer used on this occasion. In a MS. copy of the Sarum missal written long after the 

conquest, it is as follows : Deus concede huic fatnulo tuo, qui sincero corde 

gladio se primo nititur cingere militari, ut in omnibus galea tnse virtutis sit protectus: 
et sicut David et Judith contra gentis suse hostes fortitudinis potentiam et victoriam 
tribuisti : ita tuo auxilio munitua contra host him suroum esevitiam vector ubique existat, 
et ad sanctSB ecclosiae tutelam pruficiat. AMKN. 



132 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

belt of knighthood. 5 But the sequel proves, that Hereward was 
little better than a barbarian. His hatred to the Normans was 
incapable of distinguishing between friend and foe. His uncle 
died: Turold, a Norman, was appointed to succeed him; and 
though Hereward had sworn fealty to the abbey, though the 
monks were his countrymen, and had been his benefactors, he 
determined to enrich himself by the plunder of their church. As 
the gate could not easily be forced, his impatience set fire to the 
nearest houses ; he burst through the flames, despised the tears 
and supplications of the brotherhood, and carried oft the riches 
of the monastery. The spoils, which he thus sacrilegiously ac 
quired, and the conflagration of the town and abbey, of which 
only the church and one apartment remained standing, are 
described with lamentations by the historians of Peterborough. 
Courage appears to have supplied the place of every other virtue 
in the estimation of this Anglo-Saxon knight : and he is, unfor 
tunately, the only one who has been transmitted to posterity in 
that character. 

II. The importance of conjugal fidelity was understood, and 
enforced by the ancient Saxons, even before their conversion to 
Christianity. The jealousy of the husband guarded with severity 
the honour of his bed ; and the offending wife was frequently com 
pelled to be herself the executioner of his vengeance. With her 
own hands she fastened the halter to her neck ; her strangled 
body was thrown into the flames ; and over her ashes was sus 
pended the partner of her guilt. On other occasions he delivered 
her to the women of the neighbourhood, who were eager to 
avenge on their unfortunate victim, the honour of the female 
character. They stripped her to the girdle, and scourged her 
from village to village, till she sunk under the severity of the 
punishment. 7 But if the justice of the Saxons was inexorable 
to the disturbers of connubial happiness, they indulged them 
selves in a greater latitude of choice than was conceded to the 
more polished nations, whom the wisdom of civil and religious 
legislators had restrained from marrying within certain degrees 
of kindred. The son hesitated not to take to his bed the relict 
of his deceased father: nor was the widow of the dead ashamed 
to accept the hand of the surviving brother. 8 These illicit unions 
shocked the piety of the first missionaries ; and to their anxious 
inquiries, Gregory the Great returned a moderate and prudent 
answer. He considered the ignorance of the Saxons as deserv 
ing of pity rather than severity ; commanded the prohibition of 
marriage., which was regularly extended to the seventh, to be 

5 Ing. ibid. In the council of London, held by St. Anselm, in 1102, this Anglo- 
Saxon custom was abolished, and the abbots were forbidden to confer the dignity of 
knighthood. Wilk. Con. torn. i. p. 382. 

6 Hug. Cand. p. 48. Chron. Sax. p. 176. 

Ep. St. Bonif. ad Eth^lbald. apud Wilk. p. 88. 

* Bed. apud Wilk. p. 20. 



MARRIAGE SETTLEMENTS. 133 

restricted to the first and second generations ; and advised the 
missionaries to separate the converts who were contracted within 
these degrees, and exhort them to marry again, according to the 
ecclesiastical canons. 9 The indulgence of the pontiff alarmed the 
zealots of Italy ; and in a letter to Felix, bishop of Messina, he 
condescended to justify his conduct, on the ground, that every 
possible concession ought to be made to the former habits of the 
proselytes ; and that it was his intention to restore the ancient 
discipline, in proportion as the necessity for its suspension de 
creased. 10 By the Saxon prelates, the will of the pontiff was 
understood, and gradually obeyed. In the eighth century, mar 
riages within the fourth degree were strictly forbidden : and by 
the commencement of the eleventh, the prohibition was extended 
to the sixth. 11 At this point it remained stationary till the Nor 
man conquest. 

The age at which marriage might be lawfully contracted, was 
fifteen years in males, and fourteen in females. 12 As the pecu 
niary compensations, with which the Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence 
abounded, were frequently levied on the relatives of the delin 
quent, the suitor was compelled to obtain the consent, not only of 
the lady, but also of her family, and to give security by his 
friends, that "he desired to keep her according to the law of God, 
and as a man should keep his wife." The pecuniary arrange 
ments next engaged their attention. That the parents bestowed 
any part of their property on their daughter at her marriage, is 
not, I believe, hinted by any ancient writer ; but there can be no 
doubt that, at their death, she was equally entitled with the other 
children to a share in the succession. At first, however, the 
whole burden was laid on the shoulders of the husband ; and in 
the language of the Anglo-Saxon laws, he is said to buy, and her 
parents are said to sell to him, his wife. In a meeting with her 
forspeaker, he fixed the morgan-gift, or present which he intend 
ed to make her for having accepted his offer ; assigned a suffi 
cient provision for the maintenance of the children ; and deter 
mined the value of her dower, if she were to survive him. That 
dower, adds the law, if they have issue, should be the whole, if 
they have not, the half of his property. 13 The matrimonial pur 
chase was now concluded. The bridegroom gave securities for 
the performance of the several articles ; and the family of the 
bride engaged to deliver her to him, whenever they should be 
required. 

Three days before the day appointed for the consummation of 
the marriage, the bride and bridegroom, attended by their nearest 

9 Bed. Ibid. 

10 Ep. Greg, ad Fel. apud Smith, app. p. 685. 

11 Wilk. Con. p. 121. 301. 

18 Pcenit Egb. p. 120, xxvii. 

13 Leges Eadmundt, inter Leg. Sux. p. 76. 

M 



134 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

relatives, presented themselves at the porch of the church, that 
the "priest might confirm their union by the blessing of God, in 
the fulness of prosperity. 7 14 In his presence they mutually 
pledged their faith to each other ; 15 a ring was blessed and put 
on her finger; and the priest invoked the Almighty "to look 
down from Heaven on the holy contract, and pour his benedic 
tion on the parties; to bless them as he blessed Tobias and Sarah; 
to protect them from all evil, grant them peace, and enrich them 
with every blessing, to the remission of sin, and acquisition of 
eternal life. 716 He then led them into the church to the chancel. 
The nuptial mass was celebrated : before the canon they pros 
trated themselves at the lowest step of the altar ; and a purple 
veil was suspended over their heads. As soon as the pater noster 
had been recited, the priest turned towards them, and repeated 
the prayer of benediction. " God, who by thy power didst 
create all things out of nothing, and having made man to thy own 
likeness, didst form woman from the side of man, to show that 
no separation should divide those who were made of one flesh ; 
God, who by so excellent a mystery didst consecrate the nup 
tial contract, making it a figure of the sacrament of Christ and 
thy church; God, by whom woman is joined to man, and a 
blessing has been granted to marriage, which was not taken 
away either by the punishment of original sin, or the waters of 
the deluge ; look down, we beseech thee, on this thy servant, 
who begs to be surrounded with thy protection. May the yoke 
of marriage be to her a yoke of peace and love : may she marry 
faithful and chaste in Christ : may she imitate the holy women 
who have gone before her. Let her be lovely as Rachel in the 
eyes of her husband; wise as Rebecca ; long lived and faithful 
as Sarah. May she remain true, obedient, and bound to one 
bed. May she flee all unlawful engagements, and, by the power 
of discipline, strengthen her weakness. Make her fruitful in her 
offspring, reputable and virtuous in life. Grant that she may 
arrive at the rest of the saints, and the kingdom of heaven : that 
she may live to a good old age, and see the children of her child 
ren to the third and fourth generation, through Christ, our Lord. 
AMEN. 7717 At the conclusion of the prayer they arose, gave each 
other the kiss of peace, and received the eucharist. On the third 

> 4 It)id. 

15 I have not been able to discover the form of words, in which the marriage contract 
was expressed by the Anglo-Saxons. The most ancient formula, with which I am 
acquainted, occurs in the constitutions of Richard de Marisco, bishop of Durham, in 
the beginning of the thirteenth century. At that time the bridegroom was accustomed 
to say : " I take thee, N, for mv wife." To which the bride rejoined : "I take thee, N, 
for my husband." Const. Rich, de Maris. apud "Wilk. torn. i. p. 582. 

1; Ritual. Dunel. MS. A. iv. 19, p. 53. This ritual is very ancient, and contains an 
interlineary version, which appears to be written by the same person who wrote the 
intcrlineary version in the Durham book of Gospels, (British Mus. Nev. D. 4.) If this 
b*- true, the ritual must have been in u^c before the close of the seventh century. 

Ibid. p. 52. 



CONSECRATION OF VIRGINS. 135 

day they returned to the church, assisted, without communicat 
ing, at the mass, and from that hour lived together as husband 
and wife. 18 

III. " He that giveth his virgin in marriage, doeth well; but 
he that giveth her not in marriage, doeth better," was the in 
spired decision of an apostle. 19 If the Anglo-Saxon church was 
careful to invoke the graces of Heaven on the matrimonial union, 
she was not less liberal of her benedictions to the virgins, who 
had preferred an immortal spouse, and resolved to dedicate their 
chastity to God. The consummation of their sacrifice was con 
ducted with the most impressive solemnity. Monks and nuns 
might profess their obedience to a particular monastic rale in the 
hands of the abbot or abbess : but the consecration of a virgin 
was considered of greater importance ; it was exclusively re 
served to the ministry of the bishop, 20 and attached to the princi 
pal festivals of the year ; and at Easter, the Epiphany, and on 
the feasts of the apostles, in the presence of the people, before 
the altar, and at the feet of the chief pastor, the voluntary victim 
renounced the pleasures of the world, that she might obtain a 
future but immortal crown. 21 The eagerness of youth was, how 
ever, repressed by the wisdom of the church ; the votary was 
commanded to wait till the stability of her determination had 
been proved by experience ; and, that she might not afterwards 
accuse her caprice or temerity, her solemn vow was retarded till 
she had reached her twenty-fifth year. 22 On the appointed day, 
the habit appropriated to her profession was blessed by the 
bishop. When he commenced the office of the mass, she dressed 
herself in a private room ; and, at some period before the offer 
tory, was introduced into the church, and led to the foot of the 
altar. Turning towards her, in a short address he explained the 
nature of the sacrifice, which it was her intention to make, arid 
admonished her of the obligations which it imposed. If she still 
persisted, he inquired whether her determination had been sanc 
tioned by the consent of her parents ; and having received a 
satisfactory answer, placed his hands upon her head, and pro 
nounced the prayer of consecration. 23 " Be thou blessed by the 
Creator of heaven and earth, the Father, God omnipotent, who 
has chosen thee like the holy Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, to preserve pure and immaculate the virginity, which 
thou hast promised before God, and his holy angels. Persevere 
therefore in thy resolution ; preserve thy chastity with patience ; 
and keep thyself worthy to receive the crown of virginity. 7 

" Be thou blessed with every spiritual blessing by God, the 

> Wilk. p. 131, xxi. <> 1 Cor. vii. 38. 

20 Mart. 1. ii. c. vi. p. 111. Spicil. torn. ix. p. 54. 

21 Excerp. Egb. apud Wilk. p. 106, xcii. 

22 Id. Ibid, xciii. 

23 Martene de Kit. 1. ii. n. 6, p. 112. 



136 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that thou may remain pure, 
chaste, and immaculate. May the spirit of wisdom and under 
standing, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of know 
ledge and piety, the spirit of the fear of the Lord, rest upon 
thee. May he strengthen thy weakness, and confirm thy 
strength. May he govern all thy actions, purify thy thoughts, 
and enrich thee with every virtue. Have always before thy 
eyes Him whom one day thou wilt have for thy judge. Make 
it thy care, that when thou shalt enter the chamber of thy spouse, 
he may meet thee with joy and kindness ; that when the dread 
ful day shall come, which is to reward the just and punish the 
wicked, the avenging flame may find nothing in thee to burn, 
but the divine mercy may find much to reward. Serve thy God 
with a pure heart, that thou may hereafter be associated to the 
one hundred and forty thousand virgins, who follow the Lamb, 
and sing a new canticle : and may he bless thee from heaven, 
who vouchsafed to descend upon earth and redeem mankind by 
dying on a cross, Christ Jesus, our Lord." 

The bishop then placed the consecrated veil on her head with 
these words : " Receive, daughter, this covering, which thou 
mayest carry without stain before the tribunal of Christ, to whom 
bows every knee of things in heaven, on earth, and under the 
earth." As he finished, the church rang with the acclamations 
of the people, who cried, amen. The mass was continued, she 
received the holy communion, and at the conclusion the bishop 
once more gave her his benediction. " Pour forth, Lord, thy 
heavenly blessing on this thy servant, our sister, who has hum 
bled herself under thy hand. AMEN. Cover her with thy pro 
tection. AMEN. May she avoid all sin, know the good things 
prepared for her, and seek the reward of thy heavenly kingdom. 
AMEN. May she obey thy commandments, by thy grace resist 
the impulse of passion, and bear in her hand the lamp of holi 
ness. AMEN. May she deserve to enter the gates of the hea 
venly kingdom, in the company of the wise and chaste. AMEN. 
May he grant this, whose empire remains for eternity. AMEN. 
The blessing of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, remain 
with thee here, and forever. AMEN." 24 

By this ceremony she was said, in the language of the time, 
to have been wedded to Christ. 25 She was called the bride of 
Christ, 26 and as her spouse could not die, the engagement which 

2! This account is taken from the pontifical of Archbishop Egbert, transcribed by 
Martene, ibid. p. 116. The original MS. is now in the library of St, Genevieve at 
Paris. It is described in nearly the same manner in Kit. Dunel. MS. p. 50: and 
in the Anglo-Saxon pontifical which was preserved at Jumiege, Mart. p. 120. The 
consecration of a widow was performed with less ceremony. The veil was placed on 
her head privately by a priest, with the same words as above, ibid, and Martene, p. 146.. 

3*ljobe yylpum bepebbob. Pcenit. Egb. p. 136. 

35 Mynecene ^Se Ijobe p bpyb hi]? gehaten.. Id.. ibid. p.. 131.. 



ORDINATIONS. 137 

she had contracted was deemed irrevocable by the laws both of 
the church and the state. Each violation of chastity subjected 
her to a course of penance during seven years : 27 and if she pre 
sumed to marry, the marriage was declared invalid ; and the 
parties were excommunicated, ordered to separate, and to do 
penance during the remainder of their lives. 28 Should they elude 
the execution of this regulation, another law deprived her of her 
dower after the death of her reputed husband, pronounced her 
children illegitimate, and rendered them incapable of inheriting 
the property of their father. 29 

IV. Under the Mosaic dispensation, God himself had conde 
scended to describe the various rites, by which Aaron and his 
sons should be consecrated to his service : in the infancy of the 
Christian church, a more simple ceremony appears to have been 
taught by Christ to his apostles, and the dignity and grace of the 
priesthood were conferred by prayer and the imposition of 
hands. 30 While the number of the converts was small, a single 
minister was, in many places, sufficient to perform all the duties 
of religious worship : but with the increase of the faithful, and 
the influx of wealth, a more numerous and splendid establish 
ment was adopted ; and a regular gradation of office conducted 
the young ecclesiastic from the humble station of porter to the 
more honourable rank of deacon, priest, or bishop. In each 
order his fidelity underwent a long probation : but his persever 
ance was rewarded with promotion ; and at each step a new 
ordination reminded him of his additional obligations, and in 
voked in his favour the benediction of Heaven. In the Anglo- 
Saxon church the clergy was constituted after the Roman model : 
and the hierarchy consisted of porters, lectors, exorcists, acolythists, 
subdeacoris, deacons, and priests. The seventh order (that of the 
priesthood) was subdivided into two classes, of bishops, who pos 
sessed it in all its plentitude, and of priests, whose ministry was 
restricted to the exercise of those functions, which, from their 
importance and frequent recurrence, demanded the assistance of 
numerous co-operators. " The bishop and the priest," says 
/Elfric in his charge to the clergy, " both belong to the same order : 
but one is superior to the other. Besides the functions which 
are common to both, it is the office of the bishop to ordain, to 
confirm, to bless the holy oils, and to dedicate churches : for it 
would be too much if these powers had been communicated to 
all priests." 31 

* Id. p. 118, xiii. 23 Id. p. 131, xviii. Cone. Calcuith. p. 149, xvi. 

23 Leg. eccles. ^Ifrid. p. 192, vi. so i Tim. iii. 14. 

31 ^Elfric. ep. ad Wulfsin. inter Leg. Sax. p. 155. Ep. ad Wolstan. p. 167. The 
distinction between bishops and priests is thus drawn in the pontificals : Presbyterum 
oportet benedicere, offerre, et bene praeesse, prsedicare, et baptizare, atque communicare. 
Episcopum oportet judicare, et interpretari, consecrare et consummare, quin et ordinare, 
offerre, et baptizare : omnia debet prospicere et ordinare. Pont. Egb. p. 346. Pont. 
Gemet. p. 356, 357. 

18 M2 



138 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

In the choice and promotion of the inferior ministers, the judg 
ment of the bishops was guided by the wisdom of preceding ages. 
Whatever regarded the time and rite of ordination, the age, per 
sonal merit, arid mental endowments of the candidates, had been 
foreseen and determined by the decrees of councils, and the 
usage of antiquity. The time was fixed to the four ember weeks 
which regularly returned with the four seasons of the year; and 
on the evening of the Saturday, the bishop commenced the sacred 
ceremony, the length of which frequently encroached on the fol 
lowing morning. 32 The lower orders, which imposed no irrevo 
cable obligation, might be lawfully conferred even on children : 
for the others a greater maturity of age and judgment was re 
quired; and the deacon was expected to have reached his twenty- 
fifth, the priest his thirtieth year, the time of life at which Jesus 
was believed to have commenced his evangelical labours. 33 But 
this regulation was not strictly enforced : and a proper latitude 
was granted to the discretion of the bishop, who might lawfully 
dispense in favour of superior merit, or the wants of a numerous 
people. 34 A severe scrutiny preceded admission to the higher 
degrees of the hierarchy. 35 A competency of learning, and the 
reputation of virtue, were necessary qualifications. Idolatry, 
witchcraft, murder, fornication, perjury, and theft, though time 
and repentance might be supposed to have obliterated the former 
scandal, opposed insuperable impediments to the pretensions 
of the candidate : and if he succeeded in concealing these 
crimes at the time of his ordination, yet, the moment they 
were known, he was deposed from his rank, and condemned 
to fast and pray in the number of public penitents. 36 It was also 
required, that he were free from every stain which might de 
preciate him in the estimation of the public, deformity of body, 
illegitimacy of birth, and servile descent : and if he had been 
married, he was compelled to prove that his wife was already 
dead, or had voluntarily embraced a life of perpetual continency. 37 
To these was added a third requisite, which showed the high 
importance attached to clerical chastity. A second marriage was 
deemed to imply a weakness of mind, and a secret propensity to 
pleasure, incompatible with the austerity of the levitical or sacer 
dotal character : and the bigamist, though he were a widower, and 
possessed of every other qualification, was excluded, without the 
hope of indulgence, from the rank of bishop, priest, or deacon. 38 

32 Pont. Egb. p. 344. Wilk. Con. p. 107, xcix. 

33 Wilk, p. 106, xciii. ; 107, xcvii. Fifty years was the age which the canons re 
quired for a bishop, according to St. Boniface : but this regulation was seldom observed. 
Vit. St. Bonif. npud Serrar. p. 267. 

34 Ep. Zach. ad Bonif. p. 214. Thus Bede was ordained deacon at nineteen,!, v. 
c. 24: the Abbot Estcrwin received priest s orders at twenty-nine, Ceolfrid at twenty- 
seven. Bed. Hist. Abbat. p. 296. 302. ** Wilk. p. 95. 147. 

36 Ibid. p. 85. Ep. Zach. ad Bonif. p. 215. * 7 Id. ibid. 

?* Id. ibid. p. 103, xxxii. Pontif. Egb. p. 350. 



ORDINATION OF DEACONS. 139 

In the Anglo-Saxon pontificals are accurately described the 
various rites by which the ministers of the church were invested 
with their respective dignities. The collation of the inferior 
orders I shall neglect, as of inferior importance : 39 that of the 
higher may be compressed within the compass of a few pages, 
and will not, perhaps, appear uninteresting to the pious or the 
curious reader. 

1. Previously to the ordination, the candidates were intrusted 
to the custody of the archdeacon, who inquired into their respect 
ive qualifications, and instructed them in the nature and exercise 
of the offices to which they aspired. At the appointed hour, he 
introduced them into the church, and in answer to a question 
from the bishop replied, that he bore, as far as human frailty 
might presume, a willing testimony to their merit and capacity. 
The bishop then addressed the congregation. He requested the 
assistance of their prayers for the important function which it 
was his duty to perform : exhorted them not to permit the sanc 
tity of the hierarchy to be polluted by the adoption of improper 
characters; and commanded them, if they were acquainted with 
a canonical impediment in any of the candidates, to step forward, 
and declare it with modesty and freedom. If no accusation was 
preferred, he lay, while the litany was chanted, prostrate at the 
foot of the altar; and the clerks, who were to be ordained, ranged 
themselves in the same posture behind him. Rising, he first 
conferred the degree of deacon, with the following ceremonies. 
Having placed the stole across the left shoulder of each, as they 
successively knelt before him, he put in his hand the book of the 
gospels, saying, " Receive this volume of the gospel; read and 
understand it; teach it to others, and fulfil it thyself." Then 
holding his hands over their heads, he thus continued : " Lord 
God Almighty, the giver of honours, distributor of orders, and 
disposer of functions, look with complacency on these thy ser 
vants, whom we humbly ordain to the office of deacons, that 
they may always minister in thy service. We, though ignorant 
of thy judgment, have examined their lives, as far as we are able. 
But thou, Lord, knowest all things ; the most hidden things 
are not concealed from thy eyes. Thou art acquainted with all 
secrets, thou art the searcher of hearts. But as thou canst ex 
amine their conduct by thy celestial light, so canst thou also 
purify their souls, and grant them the graces necessary for their 
functions. Send, therefore, on them, Lord, thy Holy Spirit, 
that, in the execution of their ministry, they may be strengthened 
by the seven-fold gift of thy grace. May thy precepts shine in 
their conduct ; may thy people learn to imitate the chastity of 
their lives ; and may their fidelity in their present station raise 
them to a higher dignity in thy church." He then completed 

*9 Tt differed very little from the form in the present Roman pontifical, and may he 
secn in Martene, p. 346. 



140 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

the ordination by anointing, their hands with oil and chrism, 
praying, "that through the merits of Christ, whatever they should 
bless, might be blessed, and whatever they should hallow, might 
be hallowed." 40 

2. After the ordination of the deacons, followed that of the 
priests. The preparatory ceremonies were the same ; but the 
stole, which before had been placed on the left shoulder, was 
now hung over the neck, and permitted to fall down before the 
breast. The bishop then pronounced aloud the name of the 
church for which each candidate was to be ordained, and holding 
his hands over their heads, in which he was imitated by the as 
sistant priests, read or chanted the prayer of consecration. He 
began by observing, that as Moses in the desert had chosen 
seventy rulers to assist him in governing the people ; as Eleazar 
and Ithamar were selected to participate with t^eir father Aaron 
in the functions of the sacred ministry; as the apostles had em 
ployed the zeal of their most virtuous disciples in the conversion 
of nations ; so he, their unworthy successor, required the aid of 
numerous arid faithful co-operators. " Give, therefore," he con 
tinued, "we beseech thee, Almighty Father, to these thy servants, 
the dignity of the priesthood; renew in their bowels the spirit of 
holiness : make them the zealous assistants of our order, and 
grant them the form of all justice." Here he interrupted his 
prayer, and requested the congregation to join with him in so 
liciting the blessing of Heaven on those who had been chosen to 
labour for their salvation. He then resumed the consecration in 
the following words : " God, the author of all sanctity, impose 
the hand of thy benediction on these thy servants, whom we 
ordain to the honour of the priesthood. Instructed by the lessons 
which Paul gave to Timothy and Titus, may they meditate day 
and night on thy law : may they believe what they read, teach 
what they believe, and practise what they teach. May their 
conduct be an example of all virtue, that they may preserve pure 
and unsullied the gift of thy ministry, transform by an immacu 
late benediction the body and blood of thy Son, and, growing to 
the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ, appear at the 
day of judgment with a pure conscience, a perfect faith, and the 
plenitude of the Holy Spirit." He then clothed them with the 
chasuble, the garment appropriated to the priests, blessed their 
hands, " that they might consecrate the sacrifices which were 
offered for the sins of the people ;" and anointed their heads, 
praying that "they might be consecrated with the celestial bless 
ing in the order of priesthood, in the name of the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost." 41 The latter ceremony seems, origi 
nally, to have been peculiar to the Anglo-Saxons : from them it 
passed to a few churches in Gaul ; but was at last abolished by 

" Martene, Pontif. Egb. p. 351. Pont. Gemet. p. 362. 
4 Mart. ibid. p. 352. 364. 



ORDINATION OF BISHOPS. 141 

the opposition of the bishops, who were unwilling that the priests 
should be honoured with a rite, which the Roman church had 
exclusively attached to the episcopal consecration. 42 

3. In a preceding chapter has been described the gradual 
transition of the privilege of nominating bishops, from the pro 
vincial bishops, and the suffrage of the clergy and people, to the 
more venal and interested choice of the prince. Still a shadow 
of the ancient discipline was respectfully preserved : from the 
pulpit of the cathedral the name of the clergyman who had been 
nominated to the vacant see, was announced to the congregation: 43 
and their acclamations of " many years may he live, may he be 
pleasing to God, may he be dear to men," were assumed as suf 
ficient evidence of their assent. 44 A public instrument of his 
election was composed, and confided to a deputation of the 
chapter, who presented it to the metropolitan, and solicited him 
to consecrate the object of their choice. 45 He appointed the day 
for the performance of the ceremony. But previously the bishop 
elect appeared before him, answered his interrogations, and sub 
scribed a declaration of his faith, and profession of obedience. 48 
He then retired to the church, and passed the night before the 
altar, sometimes employed in private prayer, at others reciting or 
chanting the office with his chaplains. 

A single bishop, attended by his priests, might ordain the infe 
rior ministers: the presence of at least three prelates was required 
at the consecration of a bishop. From this obligation, Gregory 
the Great had exempted St. Augustine, and permitted him to 
perform the ceremony without any assistants: but he added, that 
this indulgence was to expire with the circumstances which ren 
dered it necessary, and that the ancient discipline was then to be 
strictly observed. 47 The consecration was performed in the 
church, and during the mass. At the appointed time, the bishop 
elect placed himself on his knees before the prelates, who had 
assembled for the occasion. Two of them held the book of the 
gospels on the crown of his head, the others touched it with their 
hands, and the metropolitan pronounced the form of consecration. 

42 The delivery of the gospel to the deacons, and the unction of their hands, were also 
ceremonies peculiar to the Anglo-Saxons, though both the pontificals profess to derive 
the rites of ordination from the customs of Rome. Mart. p. 314, 315. The first of 
these is now found in the Roman pontifical. 

13 Angl. Sac. vol. ii. p. 107. 198. 

44 Vivat, clamitant, episcopus annis innumeris, vivat Deo gratus, vivat hominibus 
charus. Vit. St. Elpheg. Ang. Sac. p. 127. 

45 Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 107. A copy of this instrument may be seen in the same 
work, vol. i. p. 82. Harpsfield has published that which was presented for the ordina 
tion of jElfric, (Hist. p. 198.) It is expressed in the same words as the former. 

46 The profession of St. Swithin has already been mentioned ; that of St. Boniface 
may be read in Serrarius, (Ep. St. Bonif. p. 163.) It was written with his own hand, 
and placed by him on the tomb of St. Peter. Ibid. Several other professions are printed 
in Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 78. The first has an erroneous title. Eadulf was bishop, not 
of York, but of Sydnacester, as appears from the next profession, p. 79. 

< Bed. Hist. I. i. c. 27. 



142 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Having observed, that the consecration of Aaron was a type of 
that of the bishops in the new law, he prayed that God would 
grant to his servant the virtues prefigured by the habit appro 
priated to the high priest in the Jewish temple: 48 that he would 
impart to him the plenitude of the holy ministry, and give him 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven : that whatever he should 
bind or loose on earth, might be bound or loosed in heaven: that 
whose sins he should retain, they might be retained; and whose 
sins he should forgive, they should be forgiven : that he might 
never give to evil the appellation of good, or to good the appella 
tion of evil : that he might receive an episcopal chair to rule the 
church; that God would be his strength and authority, and that 
his prayer might be heard as often as he implored the mercy of 
the Almighty. 49 His hands and head were then anointed with 
oil ; the crosier was delivered into his hand, and the ring put on 
his finger. Each ceremony was accompanied with a prayer 
expressive of its meaning ; and at the conclusion he \vas placed 
on the episcopal throne, with these words: "0 Lord Jesus Christ, 
who didst choose thy apostles to be our masters, vouchsafe to 
teach, instruct, and bless this thy bishop, that he may lead a holy 
and immaculate life. AMEN." 50 

V. The inauguration of princes was originally a civil rite. 
The emperors of the Romans, and the kings of the barbarians, 
were alike elevated on a shield, and saluted by the acclamations 
of the army. But when they had embraced the knowledge of the 
gospel, they deemed the examples recorded in the Jewish Scrip 
tures worthy of their imitation ; even the splendour of royalty 
might receive addition from the ceremonies of religion ; and an 
anointed king would appear with still greater majesty in the eyes 
of his subjects. Theodosius the younger was the first, who is 
recorded to have solicited the royal insignia from the ministers 
of the church : but his successors appreciated the policy of his 
conduct, and were careful to receive, with the imperial crown, 
the benediction of the Byzantine patriarch. In Britain this cere 
mony was imitated at an early period. No sooner had the em 
peror Honorius recalled the legions from the island, than the de 
scendants of the ancient kings assumed the sceptre ; and their in 
auguration, as we learn from a native writer, was performed 



48 In this part of the prayer, the following passage, according to the Anglo-Saxon 
pontificals, was inserted at the ordination of the Roman pontiff. Idcirco hunc famulum 
tuum, ill. quern apostolica? sedis prsesulem et primatem omnium, qui in orbe sunt, 
sacerdotum, ac universalis ecclesise tuse doctorem dedisti, et ad summi sacerdotii minis- 
terium elegisti, &c. Pont. Egb. p. 342. Pont. Gemet. p. 368. 

49 As the book of the gospels was now raised from his head, it was customary for the 
metropolitan to open it, and read the first passage which presented itself. It was con 
sidered as a prophecy respecting the future conduct of the new bishop. Numerous 
examples occur after the conquest ; I recollect but one before it, in the life of St. Wul- 
stan. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 252. 

50 Pont. Egb. p. 340. 



CORONATION CEREMONY. 143 

with the regal unction. 51 From Britain it seems to have been 
transmitted to the Christian princes of Ireland : the book of the 
ordination of kings was in the library of the abbot St. Columba; 
and according to its directions he blessed and ordained Aidan, 
king of the Scots. 52 It has been said that the Anglo-Saxons were 
indebted for this right to the policy of an usurper, Eardulf, of 
Northumbria : 53 but the ceremony of the coronation occupied a 
distinguished place in the pontifical of Archbishop Egbert, which 
was written many years before the reign of that prince. 54 

The ceremony began with the coronation oath. Its origin 
may be traced to Anthemius, the patriarch of Constantinople, 
whose zeal refused to place the crown on the head of Anastasius, 
a prince of suspicious orthodoxy, till he had sworn to make no 
innovation in the established religion. 55 But the oath of the 
Anglo-Saxons was more comprehensive : it was a species of 
compact between the monarch and the people, which the bishop, 
as the representative of Heaven, ratified with his benediction. 
" I promise," said the king, " in the name of the most holy Tri 
nity, first, that the church of God, and all Christian people, shall 
enjoy true peace under my government. Secondly, that I will 
prohibit every kind of rapine and injustice, in men of every con 
dition. Thirdly, that in all judgments I will command equity to 
be united with mercy, that the most gracious and clement God 
may, through his eternal mercy, forgive us all. AMEN." 56 A 
portion of the gospel was then read : three prayers were recited 

51 Ungebantur reges, says Gildas, et paulo post ab unctoribus trucidabantur. Gild, 
p. 82, edit. Bertram. 

52 From Curainius, who wrote in 607, we learn that St. Columba took with him 
ordinationis regum Hbrum, et Aidanum in regem ordinavit. Cum. vit. Colum. p. 30, 
edit. Pinkerton. Adomnan, who wrote thirty years later, adds, imponens manum super 
caput ejus. Adorn, vit. Colum. p. 161. 

53 Carte, Hist. vol. i. p. 293. See note (0.) 

54 This is the most ancient ordo ad benedicendum regem, which is known. From a 
MS. in the Cotton Library, Mr. Turner has translated the description of the ceremony, 
as it was performed at the coronation of Ethelred, in 978. (Turner, vol. iv.p. 250.) It 
is different from that contained in the pontifical of Egbert, but the same as was pub 
lished by Martene, under the title of ordo ad benedicendum regem Francorum, from a 
MS. written by order of Ratold, abbot of Corbie, in 980. Was this Anglo-Saxon ordo 
borrowed from the French, or the French from the Anglo-Saxon 1 The latter seems 
to be the truth. In the French ordo, England is several times mentioned; and the 
transcriber, who appears to have carefully preserved every word of the original, adds, 
that by England must be understood France. Thus the king is said to be chosen in 
regnum N. Albionis totius, (videlicet Francorum.) Mart. 1. ii. p. 192. 

55 Evagrius, 1. iii. c. 32. 

56 This oath is translated from that which St. Dunstan exacted from Ethelred at his 
coronation. Hicks. Gram, prosf. But it is much more ancient, and is thus expressed 
in Egbert s pontifical. " Rectitude est regis noviter ordinati, et in solium sublevati, 
haec tria praecepta populo Christiano sibi subdito prsecipere : in primis ut ecclesia Dei, 
et omnis populus Christianus verarn pacem servent in omni tempore. AMEN. Aliud 
est, ut rapacitates et omnes iniquitates omnibus gradibus interdicat. AMEX. Tertium 
est, ut in omnibus judiciis aequitatem et misericordiam praecipiat, ut per hoc nobis in- 
dulgeat misericordiam suam clemens et tnisericors Deus. AMEX." Mart. 1. ii. p. 188. 
The same oath occurs in the ancient French pontificals. Ibid. p. 197. 199. 211, 



144 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

to implore the blessing of God ; and the consecrated oil was 
poured on the head of the king. While the other prelates anoint 
ed him, the archbishop read the prayer: "0 God, the strength 
of the elect, and the exaltation of the humble, who, by the unc 
tion of oil, didst sanctify thy servant Aaron, and by the same 
didst prepare priests, kings, and prophets, to rule thy people 
Israel ; sanctify, Almighty God, in like manner this thy servant, 
that like them he may be able to govern the people committed 
to his charge." 

At the conclusion of the prayer, the principal thanes approach 
ed, and, in conjunction with the bishops, placed the sceptre in his 
hand. The archbishop continued : " Bless, Lord, this prince, 
thou who rulest the kingdoms of all kings. AMEN." 

" May he always be subject to thee with fear : may he serve 
thee : may his reign be peaceful : may he with his chieftains be 
protected by thy shield : may he be victorious without blood 
shed. AMEN." 

" May he live magnanimous among the assemblies of the na 
tions : may he be distinguished by the equity of his judgments. 
AMEN." 

" Grant him length of life for years : and may justice arise in 
his days. AMEN." 

" Grant that the nations maybe faithful to him: and his nobles 
may enjoy peace, and love charity. AMEN." 

" Be thou his honour, his joy, and his pleasure ; his solace 
in grief, his counsel in difficulty, his consoler in labour. 
AMEN." 

" May he seek advice from thee, and by thee may he learn to 
hold the reins of empire ; that his life may be a life of happiness, 
and he may hereafter enjoy eternal bliss. AMEN." 

The rod was now put into his hand, with a prayer, that the 
benedictions of the ancient patriarchs, of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, might rest upon him. He was then crowned, arid the 
archbishop said, " Bless, Lord, the strength of the king our 
prince, and receive the work of his hands. Blessed by thee be 
his land, with the precious dew of the heavens, and the springs 
of the low-lying deep ; with the fruits brought forth by the sun, 
and the fruits brought forth by the moon; with the precious 
things of the aged mountains, and the precious things of the 
eternal hills, with the fruits of the earth, and the fulness thereof. 
May the blessing of Him who appeared in the bush, rest on the 
head of the king. May he be blessed in his children, and dip his 
foot in oil. May the horns of the rhinoceros be his horns ; with 
them may he push the nations to the extremities of the earth. 
And be He who rideth on the heavens, his helper forever." 57 

47 These benedictions are selected from Deuteronomy, c. xxxiii. 



DEDICATION OF CHURCHES. 145 

Here the people exclaimed thrice, "Live the king forever. AMEN. 
AMEN. AMEN." They were then admitted to kiss him on his 
throne. The ceremony concluded with this prayer. " God, 
the author of eternity, leader of the heavenly host, and conqueror 
of all enemies, bless this thy servant, who humbly bends his head 
before thee. Pour thy grace upon him : preserve him with health 
and happiness in the service to which he is appointed, and 
wherever and for whomsoever he shall implore thy assistance, 
do thou, God, be present, protect and defend him, through 
Christ our Lord. AMEN." 58 

VI. Of the manner in which the first Christian oratories were 
consecrated to the service of God, we are ignorant. The offices 
of religion were carefully concealed from the notice of the pro 
fane ; and the converts were too prudent to alarm the jealousy 
or provoke the avarice of the infidels, by an unnecessary splen 
dour. But as soon as the sceptre had been placed in the hands 
of Constantine, religious edifices of considerable magnificence 
arose in every province, and the Christian emperor aspired to 
equal the fame of David and Solomon. The dedication of the 
temple of Jerusalem, served as a model for the dedication of the 
Christian churches : the bishops eagerly assembled to perform 
the sacred ceremony ; arid their ministry was joyfully attended 
by the presence of the great, and the acclamations of the people. 
Succeeding generations preserved with fidelity the practice of 
their predecessors ; and among the Anglo-Saxons, no solemnity 
was celebrated with greater pomp than the dedication of a 
church. Egfrid, king of Northumbria, his brother JElwin, their 
ealdormen and abbots, attended St. Wilfrid, when he consecrated 
the basilic, which he had erected at Rippon : 59 to the dedication 
of the church at Ramsey, all the thanes of the six neighbouring 
counties were invited by St. Oswald : 60 and when the same cere 
mony was performed in the cathedral of Winchester, after its 
restoration by St. Ethelwold, it was honoured with the presence 
of King Ethelred and his court, and of the metropolitan and eight 
other bishops. 61 

The night preceding the ceremony was spent in watching and 
prayer. On the morning, the prelates, dressed in their pontificals, 
repaired to the porch of the church ; and the principal conse- 
crater struck the door thrice with his crosier, repeating the verse : 
" Lift up your gates, ye princes, and be ye lifted up, eternal 
gates, and the king of glory shall enter in." At the third stroke 
it was opened : the choir sung the twenty-fourth psalm ; and the 
bishops entered, crying : " Peace to this house, and all who dwell 

5 Pontif. Egb. p. 186. 
w Edd. Vit. St. Wilf. c. xvii. 
eo Hist. Ram. p. 422. 

Wolst. Carmen in Act. SS. Bened. seec. v. p. 629. 
19 N 



146 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH 

in it : peace to those who enter, peace to those who go out. 1 2 
They proceeded to the foot of the principal altar, and lay pros 
trate before it, while the litany was sung. 63 At its conclusion 
they arose, and one of the bishops, with the end of his crosier, 
wrote two Roman alphabets on the floor, in the form of a cross. 
He then sprinkled the altar, the walls, and the pavement with 
holy water, and standing in the middle of the church, chanted 
the following prayer. " blessed and holy Trinity, who puri- 
fiest, cleansest, and adornest all things ; blessed majesty of God, 
who fillest, governest, and disposest all things ; blessed and 
holy hand of God, who sanctifiest, blessest, and enrichest all 
things ; God, the holy of holies, we humbly implore thy cle 
mency, that by our ministry thou wouldst purify, bless, and con 
secrate this church to the honour of the holy and victorious cross, 
and the memory of thy blessed servant, N. 64 Here may thy 
priests offer to thee sacrifices of praise ; here may thy faithful 
people perform their vows ; here may the burden of sins be 
lightened, and those who have fallen be restored to grace. 
Grant that all who shall enter this temple to pray, may obtain 
the effect of their petition, and rejoice forever in the bounty of 
thy mercy. AMEN." 65 The bishops then separated to conse 
crate the different altars, and other ornaments of the church ; 
mass was celebrated with every demonstration of joy ; and the 
more distinguished visiters retired to the episcopal palace, where 
they partook of a plentiful and splendid banquet. 66 

62 Wolstan, in his poem on the dedication of the cathedral of Winchester, has con 
trived to shape these words into the form of Latin verse, and hitch them into rhyme : 

Incipiunt omnes modulata voce canentes, 

Pax sit huic domui, pax sit et hie fidei. 
Pax fiat intranti, pax et fiat egredienti ; 

Semper in hocque loco, laus sit honorque Deo. Wolst. ib. p. 632. 

63 The litany was very short. After the usual beginning, followed the invocations 
of the saints. Three apostles, three martyrs, three confessors, and three virgins, were 
called on by name : and the following petitions were added : " Ab inimicis nostris de- 
fende nos, Christe. Dolorem cordis nostri benignus vide. Afflictionem nostram respice 
clemens. Peccata populi tui pius indulge. Orationes nostras exaudi, Christe. Hie 
et in perpetuum nos custodire digneris, Christe. Fili Dei vivi, miserere nobis. Agnus 
Dei, &c." Pont. Egb. apud Martene, c. xiii. p. 251. 

64 From this passage may be collected, in what sense churches were said to be dedi 
cated to saints. The prayer which was then made to the patron of the church, suffi 
ciently indicates the doctrine of the time. Tibi commendamus hanc curam templi 
hujus, quod consecravimus Domino Deo nostro, ut hie intercessor existas ; preces et 
vota offerentium hie Domino Deo offeras ; odoramenta orationum plebis Christiana} in 
libatorio vasis aurei ad patris thronum conferas, precerisque, quatenus jugi Dominus 
Deus noster intuitu hie ingredientes et orantes tueri et gubernare dignetur. Pontif. 
Anglo-Sax. Gemet. apud Mart. p. 271. 

es Pont. Egb. p. 253. Pont. Gemet. p. 262. 

66 The reader may perhaps be amused with the account of the dinner which St 
Ethelwold had on one of these occasions prepared for his guests. 

Fercula sunt admixta epulis, cibus omnis abundat, 

Nullus adest tristis, omnis adest hilaris. 
Nulla fames, ubi sunt cunctis obsonia plenis, 
Et remanet vario mensa referta cibo. 



DEDICATION OF WINCHELCOMB CHURCH. 147 

These ceremonies, attended by such numbers of distinguished 
personages, afforded the clergy favourable opportunities of ob 
taining the confirmation of their property and privileges. At the 
dedication of the church of Rippon, St. Wilfrid read from the 
altar a schedule of the lands belonging to the abbey, and called 
on the assembly to bear witness to the legality of the titles. 67 At 
Ramsey, the ealdorman Alwin, the founder of the monastery, 
assembled at an early hour the thanes of the neighbouring 
counties, read to them the charters of King Edgar and the other 
benefactors, and invited those who conceived themselves entitled 
to any of the lands possessed by the monks, to corne forward and 
advance their claim. As no one appeared, " I call then on you 
all," continued the ealdorman, "to bear witness before God and 
his saints, that on this day we have offered justice to every adver 
sary, and that no man has dared to dispute our right. Will you 
after this permit any new claim to be preferred against us ?" 
Several members delivered their sentiments, and the assembly 
decided unanimously in favour of Alwin. A volume of the gos 
pels was immediately placed in the middle : and the ealdorman 
putting his right hand on the book, swore that he would main 
tain, till his death, the monks of Ramsey in the rightful pos 
session of their property. He was followed by his sons ; and 
their example was imitated by every other person in the assem 
bly. 68 

At the dedication of the church of Winchelcomb, a more 
splendid scene was exhibited. Kenulf, king of Mercia, the 
founder of the abbey, had invited to the ceremony all the thanes 
of the kingdom, ten ealdormen, thirteen bishops, the captive king 
of Kent, and the tributary king of Essex. At the conclusion, 
Kenulf mounted the steps of the principal altar, and calling for 
his royal prisoner, liberated him without ransom, in the presence 
of the assembly. He then displayed his magnificence in dis 
tributing presents to those who had obeyed his invitation. To 
the bishops and the nobility he gave, in proportion to their rank, 
vessels of gold or silver, and the fleetest horses; to those, who 
possessed no land, a pound of silver ; to each priest, a marc of 
the purest gold ; to every monk and clergyman, a shilling ; and 
a smaller sum to each of the people. All these particulars he 
enumerates in the charter which he gave on the occasion, and 

Pincernseque vagi cellaria ssepe frequentant, 

Convivasque rogant, ut bibere inci plant. 
Crateras magnos statuunt, et vina coronant, 

Miscentes potus potibus innumeris. 
Foecundi calices, ubi rusticus impiger hausit 

Spumantem pateram gurgite mellifluam, 
Et tandem pleno se totum proluit auro, 

Setigerum rnentum concutiendo suum. Wolstan, p. 629, 
67 Ed. vit. St. Wilf. c. xvii. 
e* HUt. Ram. p. 422, 423. 



148 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

declares that he has selected the church of Winchelcomb for the 
sepulchre of himself and his posterity forever. 69 But the revo 
lutions of a few years defeated the projects of his vanity. In the 
next generation his family was extinguished : and within less 
than a century, the church of Winchelcomb was reduced to a 
heap of ruins. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Origin of Prayers for the Dead Associations for that purpose Devotions performed 
for the Dead Funeral Ceremonies Places of Sepulture. 

BY the philosophers of antiquity, the immortality of the human 
soul was but faintly descried : revelation has withdrawn the veil, 
and unfolded that system of retribution, which reserves to a 
future life the rewards of virtue, and the chastisement of vice. 
But in the scale of merit and demerit, there are numerous de 
grees : and, if every stain be excluded from the celestial paradise, 
if the flames of vengeance be kindled for none but deadly offences, 
what fate, the inquisitive mind will anxiously demand, is allotted 
to him who, though he presume not to claim the meed of 
unsullied virtue, has not deserved the severest punishment of 
vice ? To this interesting question our ancestors unequivocally 
replied, that such imperfect Christians neither enjoyed the bliss 
of heaven, nor suffered the misery of hell : that, during a limited 
period, they were detained in an intermediate state of purgation : 
arid that their deliverance might be accelerated by the pious 
solicitude and devotion of their friends. This was an opinion 
which interested in its favour, no less the feelings than the judg 
ment of men. The religion which teaches that death removes 
the soul beyond the influence of human exertion, teaches, at the 
best, a cold and cheerless doctrine. The mind quits with re 
luctance the object of its affections ; it follows the spirit of its 
departed friend into the regions of futurity ; and embraces with 
real consolation the means which religion may offer of meliorat 
ing its lot. 1 The practice of praying for the dead remounts to 

6 9 Monast Ang. torn. i. p. 189. 

1 Here I cannot refuse to transcribe a part of the beautiful prayer, which St. Augustine 
composed after the death of his mother. " Ego itaque laus mea, et vita mea, Deus cordia 
mei, sepositis paulisper bonis ejus actibus, pro quibus tibi gaudens gratias ago, nunc pro 
peccatis matris mese deprecor te : exaudi me, per medicinam vulnerum nostrorum, quse 
pependit in ligno. Scio misericorditer operatam, et ex corde dimisisse debitoribus suis : 
dimitte illi et tu debita sua, si qua etiam contraxit per tot annos post aquam salutis. 

Namque ilia, imminente die resolutionis suse, non cogitavit sumptuose contegi 

Non ista mandavit nobis, sed tantummodo memoriam sui ad altare tuum fieri desideravit, 
unde sciret dispcnsari victimam salutis .... Sit igitur in pace cum viro, ante quern 



PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD. 149 

the origin of Christianity. That it had been universally adopted 
before the fourth century, is not denied by the most violent ; that 
it was in general use during the second, is admitted by the more 
candid of its adversaries. 2 To the Anglo-Saxons it was taught 
with the other practices of religion, by the Roman and Scottish 
missionaries : and the docility of the converts cherished it as an 
institution acceptable to God, and profitable to man. Its influence 
on their manners was powerful and extensive : and this chapter 
will describe I. Their anxious endeavours to secure the prayers 
of the faithful after their decease ; II. The religious practices which 
they adopted for the consolation of the dying, and the interment 
of the dead. 

I. From the severity of the penitential canons, they had learned 
to form the most exalted notion of the justice of God, and of his 
hatred for sin : compensation they considered as necessary to 
atone for the transgression of the divine, as well as of human 
laws ; and, while they trembled lest, at the hour of death, their 
satisfaction should be deemed incomplete, they indulged a con 
soling hope, that the residue of the debt might be discharged by 
the charity of those who survived them. To secure the future 
exertions of his friends, was, in the eyes of the devout Saxon, an 
object of high importance : and with this view numerous asso 
ciations were formed, in which each individual bound himself 
to pray for the souls of the deceased members. 3 Nor were these 
engagements confined to the communities of the monks and 
clergy : they comprehended persons of every rank in society, and 
extended to the most distant countries. Gilds were an institu 
tion of great antiquity among the Anglo-Saxons ; and in every 
populous district they existed in numerous ramifications. They 
were of different descriptions. Some were restricted to the per 
formance of religious duties ; of others the professed object was 
the prosecution of thieves, and the preservation of property : but 
all were equally solicitous to provide for the spiritual welfare of 

nulli, et post quern nulli nupta est. Et inspira, Domine Deus meus, inspira servis tuis 
fratribus meis, ut quotquot hsc legerint, meminerint ad altare tuum Monicse famulaa 
tuae, cum Patricio quondam ejus conjuge." Confes. 1. ix. 

2 The Catholic may smile, the Protestant may sigh, at the miserable evasions, to 
which the spirit of system has degraded such writers as Mosheim and Bingham. The 
former derives the custom of praying for the dead from the impure source of the Platonic 
philosophy : (Hist. p. 144. 300. 393 :) the latter has expended much learning to esta 
blish the incredible hypothesis, that when the ancient Christians besought the mercy of 
God to pardon the sins of the dead, they believed them to be already in a state of rest 
and happiness, (Antiq. of the Christ. Church, vol. i. p. 758, vol. ii. p. 440.) The fact 
was, indeed, too evident to be denied ; but the theological Proteus could assume every 
shape to elude the grasp of an adversary. The learned translator of the Saxon councils 
has been more candid, or less cautious. See Johnson, pref. p. xix. xlvi. 

2 See Hicks, Dissert, epis. p. 18. Wanley, MSS. p. 280. With the history of St. 
Cuthbert, which he had composed, Bede st?nt the following petition to the monks of Lin- 
disfarne. " Sed et me defuncto, pro redemptione animse meae quasi fatniliaris et vernaculi 
vestri orare, et missas facere, et nomen meum inter vestra scribere dignemini." Bed. 
Vit. St. Cuth. p. 228. 

N 2 



150 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

the departed brethren. As a specimen of their engagements, I 
may be allowed to translate a part of the laws established in the 
gild at Abbotsbury. " If," says the legislator, " any one belong 
ing to our association chance to die, each member shall pay one 
penny for the good of the soul, before the body be laid in the 
grave. If he neglect it, he shall be fined in a triple sum. If any 
of us fall sick within sixty miles, we engage to find fifteen men, 
who may bring him home ; but if he die first, we will send thirty 
to convey him to the place in which he desired to be buried. 
If he die in the neighbourhood, the steward shall inquire where 
he is to be interred, and shall summon as many members as he 
can to assemble, attend the corpse in an honourable manner, 
carry it to the minister, and pray devoutly for the soul. Let us 
act in this manner, and we shall truly perform the duty of our 
confraternity. This will be honourable to us both before God 
and man. For we know not who among us may die first : but 
we believe that, with the assistance of God, this agreement will 
profit us all, if it be rightly observed." 4 The same sentiments 
are frequently expressed in the numerous letters addressed to 
St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, and to Lullus, his successor 
in the see of Mentz, by abbots, prelates, thanes, and princes. 
Of many, the sole object is to renew their former engagements, 
and to transmit the names of their departed associates. " It is 
our earnest wish," say the king of Kent and the bishop of Ro 
chester, in their common letter to Lullus, " to recommend our 
selves and our dearest relatives to your piety, that by your 
prayers we may be protected till we come to that life which 
knows no end. For what have we to do on earth but faithfully 
to exercise charity towards each other ? Let us then agree, that 
when any among us enters the path which leads to another life, 
(may it be a life of happiness !) the survivors shall, by their alms 
and sacrifices, endeavour to assist him in his journey. We have 
sent you the names of our deceased relations, Irmige, Norththry, 
and Dulicha, virgins dedicated to God : and beg that you will 
remember them in your prayers and oblations. On a similar 
.occasion we will prove our gratitude by imitating your charity." 5 
2. With the same view, the Anglo-Saxons were anxious to 
obtain a place of sepulture in the most frequented and celebrated 
churches. The monuments raised over their ashes would, they 
fondly expected, recall them to the memory, and solicit in their 
behalf the charity of the faithful. 6 The earnestness with which 
they solicited this favour, and the numerous benefactions, with 
which they endeavoured to secure it, from the gratitude of the 

4 Monas. Ang. torn. i. p. 278. 

5 Ep. St. Bonif. 77, p. 108. See also Ep. 74. 95. 103. 109. 

6 That such was their expectation is clearly expressed by Bede. " Postulavit eum 
possessionem terrse aliquam a se ad construendum monasterium aocipere, in quo ipse 
rex defunctus sepeliri deberet: nam et seipsum fideliter credidit multum juvari eotura 
orationibus, qui illo in loco Domino servirerit." Bed. Hi*>t, 1. iii. c. 23, iv. c. 5. 



HISTORY OF BRITHNOD. 151 

clergy, testify the importance in which it was held. Among the 
many instances which crowd the Saxon annals, I shall select one 
from the history of Ely. Brithnod, a warrior whose reputation 
had been earned in many a well-fought battle, was ealdorman 
of Essex, perhaps of Northumbria. 7 In a great victory at Mai 
den he had taught the Danes to respect his valour. The van 
quished invaders sailed back to Denmark, recruited their num 
bers, and returned in search of revenge. They again advanced 
to Maiden, that the place which had witnessed their defeat, 
might be the theatre of their future triumph. A challenge was 
sent to Brithnod, which found him unprepared, and attended by 
few of his retainers. But the high-spirited ealdorman preferred 
the probability of an honourable death to the disgrace of a refu 
sal. As he passed by Ramsey, Wulsig, the abbot, a prelate as 
parsimonious as he was rich, invited him to dinner with seven 
of his officers. " Go, tell thy master," replied the chief to the 
messenger, " that as I cannot fight, so neither will I dine, with 
out my brave companions." From Ramsey he proceeded to 
Ely, where his little army was hospitably received, and banished, 
over a plenteous repast, their recollection of past fatigue, arid the 
thought of future danger. In the morning he entered the chap 
ter-house, returned thanks to the monks for their liberality, and 
offered them several valuable manors, on condition that, if it 
were his lot to fall in battle, they should bury his body within 
their church. The condition was accepted, and he marched to 
wards the enemy. Within the short space of a fortnight, four 
teen battles were fought with the most obstinate valour. In the 
last the men of Essex rushed with impetuosity into the midst of 
the barbarians : but it was the combat of despair against over 
powering numbers. Brithnod was slain : his head was conveyed 
by the invaders to Denmark as the trophy of their victory : the 
trunk was discovered among the dead by the monks, and 
solemnly interred, according to their promise, in the church of 
the abbey. To honour the memory of her husband, his widow 
Ethehieda embroidered in silk the history of his exploits, and 
gave it, with several other presents, to the monastery, which 
contained his ashes. 8 

The number of those who were thus interred in the churches, 
multiplied so fast, as at length to provoke the severity of the 
bishops. Churches, they observed, were erected to accommodate 
the living, not to become the repositories of the dead ; the privi 
lege of burial within the consecrated walls was reserved for the 
bodies of the saints ; and the public service was ordered to be 
discontinued in the churches which had been polluted by the 

7 He is styled ealdorman of Essex by most of the chroniclers, of Northumbria by 
the monk of Ely, p. 493. 
* Hist. Elien. p. 494. 



152 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

promiscuous interment of all who had requested it. 9 This pro 
hibition might repress, but it did not abolish the custom. 

3. But the more opulent were not content to rest their hopes 
of future assistance on the casual benevolence of others. They 
were careful to erect or endow monasteries, with the express ob 
ligation, that their inhabitants should pray for their benefactors. 
Of these an exact catalogue was preserved in the library of each 
church ; the days on which they died were carefully noticed ; 
and, on their anniversaries, prayers and masses were performed 
for the welfare of their souls. 10 To men of timid and penitent 
minds this custom afforded much consolation. However great 
might be their deficiencies, yet they hoped their good works 
would survive them : they had provided for the service of the 
Almighty a race of men, whose virtues they might in some re 
spects call their own, and who were bound, by the strongest ties, 
to be their daily advocates at the throne of divine mercy. 11 Such 
were the sentiments of Alwyn, the ealdorman of East-Anglia, 
and one of the founders of Ramsey. Warned by frequent in 
firmities of his approaching death, he repaired, attended by his 
sons Edwin and Ethel ward, to the abbey. The monks were 
speedily assembled. " My beloved," said he, " you will soon 
lose your friend and protector. My strength is gone : I am 
stolen from myself. But I am not afraid to die. When life grows 
tedious, death is welcome. To-day I shall confess before you the 
many errors of my life. Think not that I wish you to solicit a 
prolongation of my existence. My request is, that you protect 
my departure by your prayers, and place your merits in the ba 
lance against my defects. When my soul shall have quitted my 
body, honour your father s corpse with a decent funeral, grant 
him a constant share in your prayers, and recommend his me 
mory to the charity and gratitude of your successors." At the 
conclusion of this address, the aged thane threw himself on the 
pavement before the altar, and, with a voice interrupted by fre 
quent sighs, publicly confessed the sins of his past years, and 
earnestly implored the mercies of his Redeemer. The monks 

9 Wilk. Con. p. 267, ix. The prohibition of burials in churches was very severe in 
Italy. When the pope granted a written permission for the dedication of such places, 
it was customary to insert the following clause : " si nullum corpus ibi constat huma- 
tum." See many examples in the liber diurnus Komanorum pontificum, written in 
the eighth century, and published by Garner, p. 93. 97. 99. 

10 In the Cotton Library (Dom. A. 7) is a manuscript of the reign of Athelstan, in. 
which the names of the principal benefactors of the church of Lindisfarne are inscribed 
in letters of gold and silver. The list was afterwards continued, but with less elegance, 
till the reformation. Wanl. p. 249. In every monastery they also preserved the 
names of their deceased members, and were careful to pray for them on the anniver 
saries of their death. Bed. 1. iv. c. 14. 

11 Thus Leofric established canons at Exeter, and made them several valuable pre 
sents, on condition that, in their prayers and masses, they should always remember his 
soul, "that it might be the more pleasing to God : jp hi) faple beo obe )>e 
anpenjrie. 1 " Monas. Aug. torn. i. p. 222. 



WORKS OF CHARITY. 153 

were dissolved in tears. As soon as their sensibility permitted 
them to begin, they chanted over him the seven psalms of peni 
tence, and the prior Germanus read the prayer of absolution. 
With the assistance of Edwin and Ethelward he arose ; and, sup 
porting himself against a column, exhorted the brotherhood to a 
punctual observance of their rule, and forbade his sons, under 
their father s malediction, to molest them in the possession of the 
lands which he had bestowed on the abbey. Then having em 
braced each monk, and asked his blessing, he returned to his 
residence in the neighbourhood. This was his last visit. Within 
a few weeks he expired : his body was interred with proper so 
lemnity in the church ; and his memory was long cherished with 
gratitude by the monks of Ramsey. 12 

4. The assistance which was usually given to the dead, con 
sisted in works of charity and exercises of devotion. To the 
money which the deceased had bequeathed for the relief of the 
indigent, 13 his friends were accustomed to add their voluntary 
donations, with a liberal present to the church, in which the ob 
sequies were performed. Freedom was granted to a certain num 
ber of slaves ; and to render the benefit more valuable, their 
poverty was relieved by a handsome sum of money. In the 
council of Calcuith, the prelates unanimously agreed, that at then- 
deaths the tenth part of their property should be distributed to 
the poor ; that all the English bondsmen whom the church had 
acquired during their administration, should be set at liberty ; 14 
and that each of the survivors, and every abbot in their dioceses, 
should manumit three slaves, and divide among them nine shil 
lings of silver. 15 

The devotions performed in behalf of the dead, consisted in the 

12 Hist. Rames. p. 427. 

13 In the gild at London, when any of the members died, each of the survivors gave 
to the poor a loaf for the good of his soul. (Leg. Sax. p. 68.) This was the origin 
of doles, of which some instances still remain. Before the distribution, the following 
prayer was pronounced. " Precamur te, Domine, clementissime pater,, ut eleemosyna 
ista fiat in misericordia tua, ut acceptus sit cibus iste pro anima famuli tui, ill. et ut sit 
benedictio tua super omnia dona ista." Wanley, MSS. p. 83. Alfred the Great, in his 
testament, bequeathed two hundred pounds to one of his officers to be distributed to 
the poor; to the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Sherburne, London, and 
Worcester, four hundred marks for the same purpose : two hundred pounds to be di 
vided among fifty priests ; fifty shillings to every clergyman in his dominions ; fifty shil 
lings to the church in which his body should be buried, and fifty shillings to the poor 
of the neighbourhood. Test. ^Elfredi, apud Walker, p. 195. Wilfrid, archbishop of 
Canterbury, by his will, left funds for the perpetual support and clothing of twenty- 
one paupers, and ordered a loaf, some cheese or bacon, and one penny to be given to 
twelve hundred poor persons on the anniversary of his death. Evidential Ecc. Cant. 
p. 2017. Also Brihtric s will, apud Stevens, p. 121. 

14 With this regulation Archbishop ^Elfric faithfully complied in his testament. 
Anb he pyle ^ man prieo je septep. hi) baege selcne man. J?e on 
hip cimen pojlgylc paerte. Testam. yElfric, apud Mores, p. 63. Similar di 
rections are given in the will of Athenian, published at the end of Lye s Saxon Dic 
tionary. 

Wilk. Con. 171, x. 
20 



154 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

frequent repetition of the Lord s prayer, which was generally 
termed a belt of pater-nosters : 16 in the chanting of a certain num 
ber of psalms, at the close of which the congregation fell on their 
knees, and intoned the anthem, " Lord, according to thy great 
mercy give rest to his soul, and, in consideration of thy infinite 
goodness, grant that he may enjoy eternal light in the company 
of thy saints;" 17 and in the sacrifice of the mass, which was 
always offered on the third day after the decease, and afterwards 
repeated in proportion to the solicitude of the friends of the 
dead. 18 As soon as St. Wilfrid had expired, Tatbert, to whom 
he had intrusted the government of his monastery at Rippon, or 
dered a mass to be said, and a certain quantity of alms to be dis 
tributed every day, for the soul of his benefactor. To celebrate 
his anniversary, the abbots of all the monasteries which he had 
founded, were summoned to attend. The preceding night was spent 
in watching and prayer ; on the following day a solemn mass 
was performed ; and the tenth part of the cattle belonging to the 
abbey was divided among the poor of the neighbourhood. 19 

During the controversial war, which sprung from the great 
event of the reformation, when the prejudice of party eagerly 
accepted every accusation against the clerical and monastic 
orders, writers were strongly tempted to sacrifice the interest of 
truth at the shrine of popularity. They then discovered, or pre 
tended to discover, that the practice of praying for the dead 
originated in the interested views of the clergy, who, while they 
applauded in public, ridiculed in private, the easy faith of their 
disciples. 20 The idea may be philosophic, but it is pregnant with 
difficulties. The man who first detected the imposture, should 
have condescended to unfold the mysteries by which it had been 
previously concealed. He should have explained by what ex 
traordinary art it was effected, that of the thousands who, during 
so many ages, practised the deception, no individual in an un- 

16 Id. ibid. Hence Mabillon (Act. Bened. ssec. v. prsef. p. Ixxx.) has kindly inform 
ed us, that the English word beads is a corruption of belt. But a foreigner might be 
allowed to be ignorant that bead is the Anglo-Saxon for prayer, a word, for which we 
are indebted to the Normans. The verb to bid is still used in the sense of to pray, 
among the inhabitants of the northern countries. 

17 Id. p. 99, xxvii. Anno 747. When St. Guthlake died, his sister Pega recom 
mended his soul to God, and sung psalms for that purpose during three days. Triurn 
dierum spatiis fraternum spiritum divinis laudibus Deo commendavit. Vit. St. Guth. 
in Act. SS. April, torn. iii. p. 49. 

8 Poenit. Egb. apud Wilk. p. 122. 

Edd. vit. Wilf. c. 62. We have been told that the object of these prayers and 
alms, was to return thanks to God for the happiness enjoyed by the souls of the dead. 
( Whelock, p. 297. Inett, Hist. vol. i. p. 227.) The prelates in the council of Calcuith 
appear to have been of a different opinion. They command prayers to be said for them 
after their deaths, ut communis intercessionis gratia, commune cum sanctis omnibus 
regnum percipere mereantur seternum. Wilk. Con. p. 171. 

20 See Whelock s preface to the Archaionomia, post Bedam, and in Wilkins, Leges 
Saxon, prsef. Whel. p. xxi. ; Tillotson s sermon on 1 Cor. iii. 15. Mosheim, saec. 10, 
par. ii. c. 3. 



PREPARATION FOR DEATH. 155 

guarded moment, no false brother in the peevishness of discon 
tent, revealed the dangerous secret to the ears of a misguided 
and impoverished people. 21 He should have shown why the 
conspirators preserved, even among themselves, the language of 
hypocrisy ; why, in their private correspondence, they anxiously 
requested from" each other the prayers which they mutually 
despised ; and why they consented to make so many pecuniary 
sacrifices during life, merely to obtain what they deemed an 
illusory assistance after death. Till these difficulties can be re 
moved, we may safely acquit the Anglo-Saxon clergy of the 
charges of imposture and hypocrisy. The whole tenor of their 
history deposes, that they believed the doctrine which they 
taught : and if they erred, they erred with every Christian church 
which then existed, and with every Christian church which had 
existed since the first publication of the gospel. 

II. Of the customs observed by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors at 
the death and interment of their friends, many have disappeared 
with the general exercise of their religion: the existence of 
others, after the lapse of almost eight centuries, may still be 
traced in those districts in which the practices of antiquity have 
not been entirely eradicated by the refinement of modern times. 
At the first appearance of danger, recourse was had to the minis 
try of the parish priest, or of some distinguished clergymen in 
the neighbourhood. He was bound to obey the summons ; and 
no plea but that of inability could justify his negligence. Attend 
ed by his inferior clergy, arrayed in the habits of their respective 
orders, he repaired to the chamber of the sick man, offered him 
the sacred rites of religion, arid exhorted him to prepare his 
soul to appear before the tribunal of his Creator. The first duty, 
which he was bound to require from his dying disciple, was the 
arrangement of his temporal concerns. Till provision had been 
made for the payment of his debts, and the indemnification of 
those whom he had injured, it was in vain to solicit the succours 
of religion : but, as soon as these obligations had been fulfilled, 
the priest was ordered to receive his confession, to teach him to 
form sentiments of compunction and resignation, to exact a 

21 The Anglo-Saxon homilists teach in different passages, that after the general judg 
ment, the wicked will suffer everlasting punishment, and the virtuous be rewarded with 
everlasting happiness. This doctrine has been willingly received by controversial writers, 
and ingeniously converted into a positive denial of any place of purgation after death. 
Whelock, prsef. Archaion. Wanley, MSS. p. 13S. How far this inference would have 
been admitted by the homilists themselves, we may judge from the following passage in 
the sermon on the dedication of a church. " There are also many places of punish 
ment, in which souls suffer in proportion to their guilt, before the general judgment, 
and in which some are so far purified, as not to be hurt by the fire of the last day." 
Fela pnb eac pitnienbhce pcopa be manna paple pop. heona 
gymleapte on bnopia}?. be heojia pica mae}>e. aen bam gemaene- 
licum borne, fpa f hi pume beo}> pullice geclaenpobe. ^j ne 
fcujipon naht J>rtopian on }>am ponepgeben pype. Apud Wlu>l p. 
386. 



156 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

declaration that he died in peace with all mankind, and to pro 
nounce over him the prayer of reconciliation. 22 Thus prepared, 
he might with confidence demand the sacrament of the extreme 
unction. With consecrated oil the principal parts of the body 
were successively anointed in the form of a cross ; each unction 
was accompanied with an appropriate prayer ; and the promise of 
St. James was renewed, " that the prayer of faith should save the 
sick man, and if he were in sins, they should be forgiven him." 23 
The administration of the eucharist concluded these religious 
rites : at the termination of which the friends of the sick man 
ranged themselves round his bed ; received the presents which 
he distributed among them as memorials of his affection ; gave 
him the kiss of peace, and bade him a last and melancholy fare 
well. 24 

The infidel may deride the solicitude which thus dedicates the 
last moments of life to the exercises of devotion, but to the faith 
ful Christian, who trusts in the promises of his Redeemer, they 
afford the truest consolation at an hour when every earthly 
resource deserts him. It was then that the minister of religion 
was commanded to exert all his zeal and charity in behalf of his 
dying brother ; to soothe his sufferings by the motives of revela 
tion, and to elevate his hopes with the prospect of eternal happi 
ness. The care of the sick was numbered among the most 
important of the priestly functions: and when the personal 
attendance of the pastor was prevented by his other duties, his 
absence was supplied by the presence of some of the inferior 
clergy. 25 At the bedside they recited the service of the day; 
watched each favourable opportunity of inspiring sentiments of 
devotion, and recommended with fervent prayer the object of 
their solicitude to the protection of Heaven. As the fatal moment 
advanced, they read the gospel of St. John, and chanted the 
office of the dying. 26 As soon as he expired, the bell was tolled. 

22 Pontif. Angl. Gemet. apud Martene, p. 117. 

23 St. Jam. c. v. v. 14. The different unctions were made on the eyelids, ears, 
nostrils, lips, neck, shoulders, breast, hands, feet, and the part principally affected with 
pain. After each unction a psalm was sung. Pontif. Ang, ibid. The prelates 
frequently admonished the parish priests to be diligent in the administration of this rite. 
(Wilk. Con. p. 127. 229. 254.) They considered it as a sacrament, to which were 
attached the most valuable graces. ^Glc baepia manna be bay jejuhco 
haepb. hip papl bi}> gelice claene septejr hip popibppibe. eal ppa 
$ cilb bi]? be septep. hip pulluhte pona gepic. Pcenit. Egb. p. 127, 
xv. It appears, however, to have been sometimes received with reluctance by the 
illiterate, from an idea that it was a kind of ordination, which induced the obligation of 
continency and abstinence from flesh on those who afterwards recovered. The clergy 
were ordered to preach against this erroneous notion. Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 170. 

24 In Cuthbert s letter may be read the account of the presents which Bede made 
before his death to the priests of his monastery, with a request that they would remem 
ber him in their prayers and masses. Smith s Bed. p. 793. 

25 Martene, de ant. Rit. 1. iii. p. 543. 

26 Bed. vit. Abbat. p. 299. In the monasteries the monks assembled in the church, 
and spent sometimes both the day and night in recommending the soul of their expiring 
brother to the mercy o f God. Bed. ibid, et vit. St. Cuth. c. xxxvii. Edd. vit. St. Wilf. 
c. Ixii. 



MANNER OF BURIAL. 157 

Its solemn voice announced his departure to the neighbourhood, 
and exhorted his Christian brethren to deprecate in his favour 
the justice of the Almighty. Some were content to perform in 
private this charitable office ; others repaired to the church, and 
joined in the public service. 27 

In the mean time, the friends of the deceased were busily em 
ployed in preparing the body for burial. The Greek and Roman 
Christians had not scrupled to retain many of the customs of their 
ancestors; and from them they had descended to the Anglo-Saxon 
converts. The corpse was first carefully washed, and then clothed 
in decent garments. 28 Many were solicitous to prepare, during 
their health, the linen in which they wished to be buried : by 
others, the richest presents which they had received from the 
affection of their friends, were destined for the performance of 
this last office ; 29 and it frequently happened that the magnificence 
of the dead surpassed that of the living. The distinctions of 
society were preserved on the bier and in the grave : and the 
remains of kings and ealdormen, of bishops, abbots, priests, and 
deacons were interred in the ornaments of their respective digni 
ties. 30 To satisfy affection or curiosity, the face and neck 
remained uncovered; and, till the hour of burial, the corpse was 
constantly surrounded by its attendants. In the monasteries the 
monks divided themselves into different bodies, which, in rota 
tion, entered the chamber of the deceased, and either watched in 
silent prayer, or chanted the service of the dead : but in the 
houses of the laity, this solemn ceremony degenerated into a 
scene of riot and debauchery, which provoked and defied the 
severity of the bishops. By JElfric, in his charge to the clergy, 
the disedifying custom is described as a remnant of the super- 

27 The bell on these occasions appears to have been tolled in a particular manner. 
" Audivit," says Bede, " subito in acre notum campanse sonum, quo ad orationes exci- 
tari vel convocari solebant, cum quis eorum de sseculo fuisset evocatus." Hist. 1. iv. c. 
23. This has been considered as the most ancient passage (anno 674) in which the 
word campana occurs : but it is used by Cuminius, abbot of Icolmkille, who wrote 
before Bede. Vit. S. Columbse, c. 22. 25. Alfred translates it clugga, a clock, (p. 
595 ;) and the same term, With the Latin terminations, is frequently used by the Anglo- 
Saxon missionaries in Germany, (Ep. St. Bonif. 9. 89.) It is also to be found in the 
French and German writers of these ages. See the lives of St. Liudger, and St. Angil- 
bertus. Act. SS. Bened. Soec. iv. torn. i. p. 33. 57. 116. Also in Adomnan, 1. i. c. 8. 
1. iii. c. 23. Ethelwold, an Anglo-Saxon poet, mentions the materials of which the 
bells were made : 

Nee minus ex cipro sonitant ad gaudia fratruna 
^Enea vasa, cavis crepitant quis (quse) pendula sistris. 

Ethel c. xiv. p. 314. 

2 8 Bed. Vit. St. Cuth. <\ xliv. Edd. Vit. St. Wilf. c. xliii. The body was dressed 
honorifice, in linteis. Ibid. Wilk. Con. p. 229, Ixv. They even put shoes on the feet. 
Bed. Vit. St. Cuth. c. xlv. Anon. Vit. St. Cuth. apud Bollan. 20 Mart. 

29 Bed. Vit. St. Cuth. c. xxxvii. 

so Anon. Vit. St. Cuth. apud Bollan. 20 Martii. Edd. Vit. St. Wilf. c. xliii. When 
the tomb of Archbishop Theodore was opened in 1091, the body appeared to have been 
dressed in the pontifical ornaments, with the pallium, and the cowl of a monk. Got- 
selin, cit. Smith, p. 189. 





158 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

stition of their pagan forefathers. "Ye shall not," says he, 
"make merry over the dead, nor resort to a corpse, unless invited. 
Then shall ye forbid the heathenish songs of the laymen, and 
their loud shouts : and neither eat, nor drink, where the body 
lies, lest you partake in the superstitions which are practised on 
such occasions. 731 

When the necessary preparations were completed, the body of 
the deceased was placed on a bier, or in a hearse. On it lay the 
book of the gospels, the code of his belief, and the cross, the sig 
nal of his hope. A pall of silk or linen was thrown over it, till 
it reached the place of interment. 32 His friends were summoned ; 
strangers deemed it a duty to join the funeral procession. The 
clergy walked before, or on each side, bearing lighted tapers in 
their hands, and chanting a portion of the psalter. 33 They en 
tered the church. If it were in the evening, the night was passed 
in exercises of devotion. In the morning, the sacrifice of the 
mass was offered for the departed soul : the body was deposited 
with solemnity in the grave, the sawlshot paid, and a liberal do 
nation distributed to the poor. 34 

The good sense of the Roman missionaries had induced them 
to prohibit the interment of the dead among the habitations of 
the living : 35 and several generations passed before any attempt 
was made to violate their prohibition. Augustine and his five 
immediate successors were buried without the walls of Canter 
bury ; but, as a mark of particular respect, their remains were 
deposited in the northern portico of the church, dedicated to the 

31 Wilk. Con. p. 255. The custom of watching over the dead is still retained in 
several places, and in the north of England is called lakewake, from the Saxon, Hce- 
paecce, or corpse- watch. 

32 Feretrum sacrosanctis evangeliis et crucibus armatum. Wolstan, Vit. St. Ethel. 
in act. Bened. Ssec. v. p. 623. Palliorum velammtis ornatum. Ibid. 

33 Accensis luminaribus, et hymnis coelestibus, atque psalmorum concentibus. Ibid. 
Mention is also made of the singing, but not of the lights, at the burials of St. Cuthbert, 
(Vit. c. xl.,) of Ceolfrid, (Vit. abbat. p. 302,) and of St. Wilfrid, (Vit. c. Ixiii.) The 
attendants sometimes beat their faces in token of their grief. Facies suas dissecantes, 
sese ferientes, et amaris vocibus clamantes. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 119. 

34 Some of their coffins were of lead. (Sarcophagum plumbeum. Felix, Vit. S. Guthl. 
Lei. Itiner. vol. iv. app. p. 111.) They were more frequently made of a large stone, 
in which was hollowed a space sufficient to contain a human body. A cushion was 
placed under the head. Bed. 1. iv. c. 11. 19. Vit. St. Cuth. c. xl. By Alfred, in his 
version, these are always called troughs, ftriuh. p. 580. 588. When stone coffins 
could not be procured, they were content to make them of wood. Bed. 1. iii. c. 11. iv. 
c. 30. In the Anglo-Saxon language they were called chests, cy fte. Alfred, vers. 
p. 535. 608. 

35 Dicebant Romani primi in Angliam missi, civitatem non esse mortuorum sed vivo- 
rum. Gervase, p. 1641. The ancient form of consecrating burial grounds is described 
in the pontifical of Archbishop Egbert. The bishop, attended hy his clergy, walked in 
procession round the cemetery, repeating the psalm Miserere, and then read five prayers, 
one in each of the four corners, and one in the middle. The purport of all was nearly 
the same : that God would preserve the bodies of those buried in that place from viola 
tion, and raise them up at the last day, to enjoy everlasting glory. Martene, torn. iii. 
p. 361. 



INTERMENT IN CHURCHES. 159 

apostles St. Peter and Paul : around which lay the bodies of the 
monks, the clergy, and the inhabitants of the city. 36 The first 
exemption was granted in favour of Archbishop Theodore. At 
his death the portico was full : to inter him in the cemetery, 
among the promiscuous multitude, appeared indecorous ; and it 
was determined to honour his merit with a place of sepulture 
within the church. 37 What had been conceded to him, could not 
with propriety be refused to his successors ; and the innovation 
proved most advantageous to the temporal interests of the mo 
nastery. The Anglo-Saxons were eager to offer up their devo 
tions near the ashes of their former metropolitans : and numerous 
donations were made to the monks, for the sake of those whose 
bodies they possessed. Cuthbert, the tenth archbishop, saw with 
jealousy the superior reputation of his neighbours, and com 
plained that a private monastery in the suburbs had usurped the 
pre-eminence, which belonged to his church, the first in dignity 
among the churches of Britain. Eadbyrht, king of Kent, gave 
a willing ear to his suggestions ; the pontiff (if we may believe 
his friends, for it is denied by his enemies 38 ) approved his inten 
tion ; and, on his death-bed, he summoned his monks and clergy 
around him, and commanded them to inter his body in secrecy 
and silence within the walls of his cathedral. The command 
was cheerfully obeyed ; and three days elapsed before his death 
was announced. At the sound of the funeral bell, Janbyrht, 
abbot of the monastery, assembled his monks, and walked with 
them in procession to the archiepiscopal residence, to demand 
the body. They were informed, that their services were unneces 
sary ; the ridicule of their opponents sharpened the sting of dis 
appointment ; and they vented their indignation in menaces, re 
monstrances, and protests. But menaces, remonstrances, and 
protests were fruitless; the charm of ancient custom was broken; 
and the succeeding archbishops, with a single exception, were 
buried in their own cathedral. 39 

When once the churches had been opened for the sepulture of 
the dead, the progress of innovation was rapid, and the honour 
able distinction was successively extended from metropolitans 
and princes, to bishops, abbots, ealdormen, and thanes. But an 
extraordinary distinction was allotted to those whose reputation 
could challenge for them the honours of extraordinary sanctity. 
The bodies of their brethren, whose virtue had been more dubi 
ous or less renowned, were permitted to moulder in the earth : 
those of the saints were raised from their graves, and richly en 
shrined in the interior of the church. Of this species of canoni- 



36 Bed. 1. ii. c. 3. 

37 Id. Ibid. 

1641;) 

1774.) 



JLJOU* I* BM V t* 

37 Id. Ibid. 

38 By Gervase, the monk of Christchurch, it is positively asserted, (X Script, p. 
by Thorne, the monk of St. Augustine s, it is as positively denied. (X Script, p. 

* < See Decem. Script, p. 1295. 1641. 1 7V2. 2210. 



160 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

zation, the only one practised at that period, numerous instances 
occur in the works of our more early writers. It was generally, 
perhaps always, preceded by a petition to the bishop, and sanc 
tioned by his approbation. Ten or twenty years after the death 
of the man, the object of their veneration, when it might be pre 
sumed that the less solid parts of the body had been reduced to 
dust, the monks or clergy assembled to perform the ceremony 
of his elevation. A tent was pitched over the grave. Around 
it stood the great body of the attendants, chanting the psalms of 
David : within, the superior, accompanied by the more aged of 
the brotherhood, opened the earth, collected the bones, washed 
them, wrapped them carefully in silk or linen, and deposited 
them in a mortuary chest. 40 With sentiments of respect, and 
hymns of exultation, they were then carried to the place destined 
to receive them ; which was elevated above the pavement, and 
decorated with appropriate ornaments. Of the shrines, the most 
ancient that has been described to us contained the remains of 
St. Chad, the apostle of Mercia : it was built of wood, in form 
resembled a house, and was covered with tapestry. 41 But this 
was in an age of simplicity and monastic poverty : in a later 
period, a greater display of magnificence bespoke the greater 
opulence of the church ; and the shrines of the saints were the 
first objects which invited the rapacity of the Danish invaders. 

To conclude this chapter, I shall present the reader with an 
extract from a curious document. At the commencement of the 
twelfth century, four hundred and eighteen years after the death 
of St. Cuthbert, the monks of Durham opened his sepulchre. A 
narrative of the discoveries made on this occasion, has been 
transmitted to posterity by the pen of an eyewitness, probably 
the historian Simeon : and his work is interesting, as it serves to 
illustrate the ancient customs of the Anglo-Saxons in the inter 
ment of the dead. 

William, the second bishop of Durham after the conquest, 
had collected for the service of his cathedral a society of monks, 
and, dissatisfied with the low and obscure church of his prede 
cessors, had laid the foundations of a more spacious and stately 
fabric. In the year one thousand one hundred and four, it was 
nearly completed : and the twenty-ninth of August was announced 
as the day on which the incorrupt body of St. Cuthbert would 
be transferred from the old to the new church. The nobility and 
clergy of the neighbouring counties were invited to the ceremony ; 
and Richard, abbot of St. Alban s, Radulfus, abbot of Seez in 
Normandy, and Alexander, brother to the king of Scots, had ar- 

<o Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 19. 30. Vit. St. Cuth. c. xlii. Act SS. Bened. SEC. iv. torn. i. 
p. 310. Saec. v. p. 735. 

41 Bed. l.iv.c.3. Coopertus. mib hnaejele jegeajipob. JE If. ibid. p. 570. 
Over the tomb of St. Oswald was suspended his standard of purple and gold. Bed. 1, 
ui. c. 11. 



OPENING OF THE TOMB OF ST. CUTHBERT. 161 

rived to honour it with their presence. But among this crowd of 
learned and noble visiters the whispers of incredulity were heard ; 
the claim of the monks was said to rest on the faith of a vague 
and doubtful tradition ; and it was asked, where were the proofs 
that the body of the saint was entire, or even that his ashes re 
posed in the church of Durham ? Who could presume to assert 
that, at the distance of four centuries, it still remained in the same 
state as at the time of Bede ? 42 or that, during its numerous re 
movals, and the devastations of the Danes, it had never perished 
by the negligance or flight of its attendants ? These reports 
alarmed the credulity of the monks ; and that alarm was con 
siderably increased by the intelligence that the bishop himself 
was among the number of the skeptics. With haste and secrecy 
the brotherhood was summoned to the chapter-house ; the advice 
of the more discreet was asked and discussed ; and, after a long 
and solemn consultation, it was determined that Turgot, the prior, 
with nine associates, should open the tomb in the silence of the 
night, and make a faithful report concerning the state of its contents. 
As soon as their brethren were retired to rest, the ten visiters 
entered the church. After a short but fervent prayer that God 
would pardon their temerity, they removed the masonry of the 
tomb, and beheld a large and ponderous chest, which had been 
entirely covered with leather, and strongly secured with nails 
and plates of iron. To separate the top from the sides, required 
their utmost exertions; and within it they discovered a second 
chest, of dimensions more proportionate to the human body, and 
wrapped in a coarse linen cloth, which had previously been 
dipped in melted wax. That it contained the object of their 
search, all were agreed : but their fears caused a temporary sus 
pension of their labours. From the tradition of their predecessors 
they had learned, that no man had ever presumed to disturb the 
repose of the saint, and escaped the instantaneous vengeance of 
Heaven. The stories of ancient times crowded on their imagina 
tions : engaged in a similar attempt, they expected to meet each 
moment with a similar punishment ; the silence of the night, the 
sacredness of the place, the superior sanctity of their patron, 
aided these impressions, and at last an almost general wish was 
expressed to abandon so dangerous an experiment. But Turgot 
was inflexible. He commanded them to proceed ; and, after a 
short struggle, the duty of obedience subdued the reluctance of 
terror. By his direction they conveyed the smaller chest from 
behind the altar, to a more convenient place in the middle of the 
choir ; unrolled the cloth ; and with trembling hands raised up 
the lid. But instead of the remains of the saint, they found a 
copy of the gospels, lying on a second lid, which had not been 
nailed, but rested on three transverse bars of wood. By the help 

See Bede Hist. 1. iv. c. 30. Vit. St. Cuth. c. xlii. 
21 02 



162 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of two iron rings, fixed at the extremities, it was easily removed ; 
and disclosed the body lying on its right side, and apparently 
entire. At the sight, they gazed on each other in silent astonish 
ment ; and then, retiring a few paces, fell prostrate on the floor, 
and repeated in a low voice the seven psalms of penitence. 
Gradually their fears were dispelled : they arose, approached the 
body, lifted it up, and placed it respectfully on a carpet spread 
on the floor. In the coffin they found a great number of bones 
wrapped in linen, the mortal remains of the other bishops of 
Lindisfarne, which, to facilitate the conveyance, the monks had 
deposited in the same chest, when they were compelled to leave 
their ancient monastery. These they collected, and transferred 
to a different part of the church ; and, as the hour of matins ap 
proached, hastily replaced the body in the coffin, and carried it 
back to its former situation behind the altar. 

The next evening, at the same hour, they resumed the investi 
gation ; and the body was again placed on the floor of the choir. 
They discovered that it had been originally dressed in a linen 
robe, a dalmatic, a chasuble, and a mantle. With it had been 
buried a pair of scissors, a comb of ivory, a silver altar, a patine, 
and a small chalice, remarkable for the elegance and richness of 
its ornaments. 43 Having surveyed the body till their veneration 
and curiosity were satisfied, they restored it to the tomb in which 
it had formerly reposed, and hastened to communicate the joyful 
intelligence to their anxious and impatient brethren. 

The following morning, the monks were eager to announce 
the discovery of the preceding nights, and a solemn act of thanks 
giving was performed, to publish their triumph, and silence the 
doubts of the incredulous. But their joy was soon interrupted 
by the rational skepticism of the abbot of a neighbouring monas 
tery. Why, he asked, was the darkness of the night selected as 
the most proper time to visit the tomb ? Why were none but 
the monks of Durham permitted to be present ? These circum 
stances provoked suspicion. Let them open the coffin before the 
eyes of the strangers who had come to assist at the translation 
of the relics. To grant this, would at once confound their ad 
versaries : but to refuse it, would be to condemn themselves of 
imposture and falsehood. This unexpected demand, with the 
insinuations by which it was accompanied, roused the indigna 
tion of the monks. They appealed to their character, which had 

43 The very ancient and anonymous author of the life of St. Cuthbert published by 
the Bollandists, says that the eucharist was enclosed in the chalice, oblatis super sanctum 
pectus positis. Apud Bollan. 20. Martii. The altar was aflat plate of silver, on which it 
was customary to consecrate the eucharist. A similar altar made of two pieces of wood, 
fastened with silver nails, and bearing the inscription, Alme trinitati. agie. sophie. 
Sanctse Marise. was found on the breast of Acca, bishop of Hexham, when his tomb 
was opened about the year 1000. Sim. Dunel. de gestis regum, p. 101. The scissors 
and comb buried with the body, were probably those which had been used at the bishop s 
consecration. 



INVOCATION OF THE SAINTS. 163 

been hitherto unimpeached : they offered to confirm their testi 
mony with their oaths : they accused their opponent of a design 
to undermine their reputation, and then to seize on their property. 
The altercation continued till the day appointed for the ceremony 
of the translation : when the abbot of Seez prevailed on the prior 
Turgot to accede to so reasonable a demand. To the number of 
fifty they entered the choir : the chest which enclosed the re 
mains was placed before them, and the lid was removed ; when 
Turgot stepped forward, and, stretching out his hand, forbade any 
person to touch the body without his permission, and commanded 
his monks to watch with jealousy the execution of his orders. 
The abbot of Seez then approached, raised up the body, and 
proved the flexibility of the joints, by moving the head, the arms, 
and the legs. At the sight every doubt vanished ; the most in 
credulous confessed that they were satisfied ; the Te Deum was 
chanted, and the translation of the relics was immediately per 
formed with the accustomed ceremonies. 44 



CHAPTER IX. 

Veneration and invocation of the Saints Relics Miracles Pictures and Images 
Pilgrimages Travels of St. Willibald Ordeals. 

THE invocation of the saints is a religious practice, which may 
be traced back to the purest ages of Christianity. The first 
proselytes to the gospel were wont to revolve with pride and 
exultation, the virtues, the sufferings, and the heroism of their 
apostles. To celebrate their memory, was to celebrate the 
triumph of religion : hymns were composed, churches dedicated, 
and festivals established in their honour. From the veneration 
of their virtues the transition was easy to the invocation of their 
patronage. When the pious Christian, in the fervour of devotion, 
cast an eye towards his heavenly country, he beheld it inhabited 
by men who, like himself, had been forced to struggle with the 
difficulties of life. They were still his brethren : could they be 
indifferent to his welfare ? They were the favourites of God ; 
could he refuse to grant their petitions P 1 Such was the reason 
ing of ancient piety: that reasoning was justified by the testimony 

41 Translat. St. Cuth. in Act. SS. Bened. ssec. iv. torn. 2, p. 294. Nnbis, says the 
historian Simeon, speaking of this translation, iricorruptum corpus ejus, quadringen- 
tesimo et octavo decimo dormitionis ejus anno, quamvis indignis divina gratia videre et 
manibus quoque contrectare donavit. Hist. Eccl. Dunel. p. 53. The festival of St. 
Cuthbert, formerly kept on the fourth of September, refers, not to this, but to a more 
ancient translation, made by order of the bishop Aldhune in the year 999. 

1 St. Hieron. adver. Vigil, torn. ii. p. 159. Colon. 1616. 



164 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of the inspired writings : and throughout the whole Christian 
church, from the western coast of Ireland, to the farthest moun 
tains of Persia, the faithful confidently solicited the patronage 
and intercession of the saints. 2 

Among those who claimed the peculiar veneration of the 
Anglo-Saxons, a high pre-eminence was given to the virgin 
mother of the Messiah. That her influence with her son was 
unrivalled, might be justly inferred from her maternal dignity ; 
and the honours which were paid to her memory, had been 
sanctioned by her own prediction. 3 Her praises were sung by 
the Saxon poets; 4 by their preachers her prerogatives were 
extolled; 5 and the principal incidents of her life were commemo 
rated by the four solemn festivals of the nativity, the annunciation, 
the purification, and the assumption. 6 After the virgin, the next 
rank was occupied by St. Peter. The belief that he had been 
raised to the dignity of prince of the apostles, and that to his 
custody was intrusted the keys of the kingdom of heaven, was 
deeply impressed on their minds, and strongly influenced their 
conduct. Clergy and laity were equally solicitous to secure his 
patronage. Altars and churches were dedicated to his memory; 7 
pilgrimages were made to his tomb ; and presents were annually 
transmitted to the church which had been enriched with his 
earthly remains. Particular honours were also paid to the saints, 
Gregory and Augustine. To the charitable zeal of the former, 
and the laborious exertions of the latter, the Anglo-Saxons were 
principally indebted for their conversion to Christianity : the 
affection which these prelates had formerly testified for the na 
tives, could not be extinguished by their removal to a better 
world : they were therefore revered as the patrons of England ; 
their festivals were celebrated with extraordinary solemnity, and 
the aid of their intercession was confidently implored. 8 Equally 

2 Consult Du Pin, cent. iii. p. 182. 

3 Luke c. i. v. 48. 

4 St. Adhel. de Virg. in Bib. Pat. torn. viii. p. 14. Alcuin, Ant. Lect. Canis. torn. ii. 
par. ii. p. 471. A hymn was sung in her honour every evening. Bed. oper. torn. vii. 
col. 148. In the Anglo-Saxon pontificals are preserved the same hymns as occur at 
present in the Roman breviary. See Wanley, MSS. p. 1 84. 244. 280. 

5 In the collections of Saxon homilies are several for the festivals of the blessed vir 
gin. Wanley, p. 11. 17. 35. 59, &c. Some extracts from them have been published 
by Whelock, p. 314. 448, 449. See also Bede, torn. vii. col. 147. 212. 468. 

6 Bede s Martyrology, edit. Smith, p. 340. 352. 407. 419. Dachery, Spicil. torn. x. 
p. 126. St. Boniface, in his Constitutions, omits the annunciation. Spicil. torn. ix. 
p. 67. 

7 Of the first Anglo-Saxon churches a great number were dedicated in honour of St. 
Peter. Bed. 1. ii. c. 14 ; iii. 6. 17; iv. 3. 18; v. 1. 17. His festival, with that of St. Paul, 
was celebrated during eight days; the last of which was kept with great solemnity. 
Bed. Martyrol. p. 39. Ritual. Dunel. MS. A. iv. 19, p. 27. It was a day of public 
communion: mib jejunum. Martyrol. apud Wanley, p. 110. 

8 Their festivals were ordered to be kept as holidays on the 12th of March and 26th 
of May, by the synod of Cloveshoe in 747. (Wilk. Cone. p. 97.) Soon after, St. Boni 
face was added as the third patron of England. In generali synodo nostra, ejns diern 



NATIVE SAINTS. 165 

prompted by hope and gratitude, each particular nation honoured 
the memory of its apostle ; and the bishops Aidari, Birinus, and 
Felix were severally venerated as the protectors of the countries 
which had been the theatres of their piety, their labours, and their 
success. 

From saints of foreign extraction, the Anglo-Saxons were soon 
encouraged to extend their devotion to men who had been born 
and educated among them. Of the converts, many had deeply 
imbibed the spirit, and faithfully practised the precepts of the 
gospel. To that ferocity which formerly marked their character, 
had succeeded the virtues of meekness, humility, and patience ; 
the licentiousness of desire they had learned to repress by the 
mortification of the passions ; and their labours in propagating 
the doctrines of Christianity, had been pushed with the zeal and 
perseverance which formed a striking feature in the national 
character. Their contemporaries applauded the virtues which 
they had not the resolution to imitate ; and the preternatural 
cures which were believed to have been wrought at their tombs, 
augmented their reputation. By the voice of the public, and the 
authority of the bishops, they received the honours of sanctity ; 9 
the respect which their countrymen paid to their virtues, was 
quickly imitated by foreign nations; and England was distin 
guished with the flattering title of the island of the saints. 

But the reputation of the dead is frequently affected by the 
vicissitudes to which human opinion is subject. The men whom 
our ancestors revered as the glory and pride of their country, are 
generally considered by modern writers as objects of contempt 
or abhorrence. Their fame had withstood the shock of the Nor 
man revolution, and the conquerors joined with the conquered in 
celebrating their memory : but at the reformation, a race of in 
novators arose, who, considering them as the patrons of their 
adversaries, were eager to tear the laurel from their temples, and 
to apologize by calumny for the brutality which violated their 
sepulchres, and scattered their ashes to the winds. From the 
altar that witnessed the unhallowed union of Luther with his 

natalitii statuimus annua frequentatione solemniter celebrate : utpote quern specialiter 
nobis cum heato Gregorio et Augustino et patronum quserimus, et habere indubitanter 
credimus coram Christo Domino. See the epistle of Cuthbert, archbishop of Canter 
bury, to Lullus, the successor of St. Boniface. Ep. St. Bonif. 70, p. 94. 

9 During the period of which I am writing, the power of canonizing saints was exer 
cised by the provincial bishops and national councils. The first instance of a solemn 
canonization by the pope, (the opposite arguments of Benedict XIV. do not appear 
convincing, De Canon. 1. i. c. 7,) occurs in the year 993, when John XV., after a dili 
gent inquiry into the life and virtues of Ulric, bishop of Augsburgh, enrolled him among 
the saints. (Bullar. torn. i. p. 44.) It was not, however, till the beginning of the twelfth 
century, that the privilege of canonization was reserved to the Roman see, by Alexander 
III. (Bull. torn. i. p. 67.) From that period to the accession of Clement XIII. in 1758, 
one hundred and fifteen persons had been solemnly canonized. See the catalogue iu 
Sandini, Vit. Pontif. vol. ii. p. 760. 



166 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

beloved Catharine, 10 a strong ray of religious light seems to have 
burst on this island. It was then discovered that, during nine 
centuries, our ancestors had been plunged in the thickest dark 
ness, unable to distinguish vice from virtue, insanity from devo 
tion : and from that period to the present, the Saxon saints have 
repeatedly been described, either as fanatics, who owed their 
canonization to the ignorance of the age, or as profligates, who 
by their benefactions had purchased that honour from the policy 
or the gratitude of the monks. 11 Of fanaticism we are accustomed 
to judge from the notions which we have previously imbibed. 
With different persons the term assumes different significations, 
and what to one seems the pure doctrine of the gospel, by an 
other is deemed folly and superstition. 13 To appreciate the merit 
of those whom the Anglo-Saxons revered as saints, we should 
review their sentiments and their conduct. The former may be 
learned from their private correspondence, the latter from the nar 
ratives of contemporary historians. Their letters (of which some 
hundreds are extant) 13 uniformly breathe a spirit of chanty, 
meekness, and zeal ; a determined opposition to the most fashion 
able vices ; and an earnest desire of securing by their virtue the 
favour of Heaven. Of their conduct the general tendency was, 
to soften the ferocity of their countrymen, to introduce the know 
ledge of the more useful arts, to strengthen by religious motives 
the peace of society, to dispel the darkness of paganism, and to 
diffuse the pure light of the gospel. If this be fanaticism, the 
Anglo-Saxon saints must abandon their defence, and plead 
guilty. 

Their adversaries, however, have not been content with strip 
ping them of their virtues, they have even accused them of 
several vices. But to me the very arguments, by which the 
charge has been supported, appear the fairest evidence of their 

10 In his forty-fifth year, Luther married Catharine Boren, a professed nun. He was 
at no loss to justify his conduct. Ut non est in meis viribus situm, ut vir non sim ; tarn 
non est etiam mei juris, ut absque muliere sim. Nee enim libera est electio aut consi- 
lium. sed res natura necessaria. Serm. de Matrim. torn. v. p. 119. 

11 See Sturges, Reflections, p. 7. 27. 31 ; Rapin, Hist. vol. i. p. 80. 116. 

12 It is probably to their austerities that the charge of fanaticism is attached. But 
they must share the reproach with the first Christians, whom they endeavoured to fol 
low in the path of mortification, though at a considerable distance. To excuse their 
inferiority, they were accustomed to allege the severity of a northern climate, which wag 
incompatible with a life of rigorous abstinence. Brcp eajib nip eac caller- 
ppa msejenpoept hep. on utepeapiban J?aerie eojifan hpiabnyppe. 
ppa ppa heo ip Co mibbep on mrejenprcptum eajibum. }><v]\ man 
maeg paepcan pjieopilicopi )>onne hepi. Homil. 34, apud Whel. p. 228. See 
also Bede, Vit. St. Cuthb. c. vi. 

13 Those of St. Boniface and his correspondents, are published by Serrarius, (Ep. St 
Bonif. Moguntice, (1629,) and Martene, (Thesaur. Anecdot. torn. ix. ; ) of Bede. in 
different parts of his works; and of Alcuin, by Uuchesne, (Opera Ale. par. iii.,) Canisius, 
(Ant. lect. torn, ii.,) and Mabillon, (Anal. vet. p. 398.) See also Leland s Collectanea, 
vol. i. p. 392. 



FESTIVALS OF THE SAINTS. 167 

merit. Though the records of antiquity have been searched 
with the keen eye of criticism and. suspicion, curiosity has been 
defeated ; and no fact has hitherto been adduced which, in its 
natural shape, can impeach the purity of their morals. 14 They 
have passed through the dangerous ordeal without a stain ; and 
their innocence has compelled their calumniators to descend to 
the unworthy artifice of imputing virtuous conduct to vicious 
motives, and of describing every Saxon, whose piety excited ad 
miration, as indebted for his reputation to his hypocrisy. But 
the reader will pause before he assents to so unfounded an infer 
ence. This hypocrisy was invisible to the contemporaries of 
those to whom it is objected : and we may rationally suspect the 
mysteries of an art which professes at the present day to unfold 
the views and motives of men whose ashes have been, during 
more than ten centuries, mingled with the dust. 

But were not the honours of sanctity bestowed without dis 
crimination on the benefactors of monasteries, as a lure to attract 
the donations of opulence and credulity ? The question may 
excite a smile or a sigh in the uninformed reader ; but the un 
generous insinuation can hardly survive the test of inquiry. To 
search in the Anglo-Saxon menology for the most distinguished 
patrons of the monastic profession, will prove a fruitless labour. 
Neither Ina, nor Offa, nor Ethelwold, nor Alfred, 15 were ever 
enrolled in the calendar : even Edgar, though more than forty 
monasteries owed their existence to his favour and liberality, was 
left in the crowd of uncanonized benefactors. His virtues, in 
deed, they praised : but they were not blind to his vices : and 
both have been transmitted, by the impartiality of their his 
torians, to the knowledge of posterity. In the Saxon chronicle 
may be seen his character, portrayed by the pencil of a monk, 
his contemporary. With fidelity he describes the faults as well 
as the virtues of his patron ; and concludes with a wish that does 
honour to his gratitude and sincerity. " God grant," he exclaims, 
" that his good deeds overbalance his evil deeds, to shield his soul 
at the last day." 16 

2. " The festivals of the saints," observes an Anglo-Saxon 
manuscript, " are established, that we may obtain the benefit of 

11 1 trust I shall not be referred to Henry s story of the award by Edward the Con 
fessor, (Henry, vol. iv. p. 344,) or Mr. Turner s romance concerning St. Dunstan. (Turn. 
vol. iii. p. 140.) The former is a mistake: (See Gale, Hist. Rames. c. 113, p. 456 :) 
the latter will be noticed in one of the following chapters. 

15 Voltaire (Hist. Generate, vol. i. p. 214) asserts that Alfred was refused the honour 
of canonization, because he had founded no monastery. The fact, however, is, that he 
built the abbey of Athelney for monks, and that of Shaftesbury for nuns, and annually 
made numerous and valuable donations to different churches. See Spelman s Life of 
Alfred, edit. Hearne, p. 164 171. 

lo Dob him geunne ^ hij* gobe bncba fpyji^ penyifnn }>onne 
mipbipba. hiy* paple Co eyry-lbne ffe on langp.uftian yyfte. 
Chroii. Sax. p. I 16. 



168 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

their prayers, and be excited to the imitation of their virtues." 17 
These were the great objects of the veneration which our ances 
tors paid to departed sanctity. But in the creed of modern 
historians, to offer any species of religious honour to a created 
being, is a deadly act of idolatry. When they contemplate the 
Saxon invoking the patronage of the saints, their piety is, or 
affects to be, alarmed : and they exclaim, in the language of 
horror and indignation, that the worship of the Deity was sup 
planted by the worship of his creatures. 18 But a short acquaint 
ance with ancient literature will prove, that our ancestors were 
too well instructed, to confound man with God. They knew 
how to discriminate between the adoration due to the Supreme 
Being, and the honours which might be claimed by the most holy 
among his servants : and while they worshipped him as the 
author of every blessing, they paid no other respect to them, 
than what was owing to those whom they considered as his 
favourites, and their advocates. Whoever shall attentively 
peruse the works of the Saxon writers, or the acts of the Saxon 
councils, from the era of their conversion, to what is deemed the 
darkest period of their history, will observe this important dis 
tinction accurately marked, and constantly inculcated. When 
the poet sang the praises of his patron, he sought neither to in 
terest his mercy, nor deprecate his justice : to obtain the assist 
ance of his intercession, to be remembered by him at the throne 
of the Almighty, was the sole object of his petition. 19 If the 
preacher from the pulpit exhorted his hearers to solicit the prayers 
of their more holy brethren, he was careful to inculcate, that they 
should adore God alone, as their true Lord and true God. 20 If 
the Christian, when he rose from his bed, was accustomed to beg 
the protection of the saints, he was yet commanded in the first 

17 Festivitates sanctorum institute sunt, vel ad excitandam imitationem, vel ut meritis 
eorum consociemur, atque orationibus adjuvemur. MS. apud Wanley, p. 148. 
8 Hume, Hist. c. 1, p. 42. 
9 See Alcuin s address to the Virgin Mary. 

Tu mundi vitam, totis tu gaudia sseclis, 

Tu regem coeli, tu dominum atque Deum 
Ventris in hospitio genuisti, virgo perennis, 
Tu precibus nobis auxiliare tuis. 

Akuin. apud Can. torn. ii. par. ii. p. 471. 

Also St. Aldhelm, de Virgin. Bib. Pat. torn. viii. p. 22, and Bede Vit. St. Cuth. p. 291. 
20 The Saxon homilist is very accurate in his expressions. To him anum pe 
pceolan up jebibban. he ana ip po}> hlapojib ] po}> Dod. pe 
bibba}> Jnnjunja sec halgum mannum J5 hi pceolan up fmjian to 
heojia bjuhtne -] co upum briihcne. Ne gebibbe pe na fceah 
hpaej^erie up Co him ppa ppa pe Co trobe bo}>. Him alone shall we 
adore. He alone is true Lord and true God. We beg the intercession of holy men, 
that they would intercede for us to their Lord and our Lord. But nevertheless we do 
not pray to them as we do to God." Homil. Sax. apud Whel. p. 283. " Nulli marty- 
rum," says the MS. quoted above, " sacrificamus, quamvis in memoriis martyrum con- 
etituamua altaria." Ibid. 



RELICS. 169 

place, to worship with bended knees the majesty of his Creator. 21 
These distinctions were too easy to be mistaken. The idea of 
intercession necessarily includes that of dependence : and to em 
ploy the mediation of his favourites, is to acknowledge the 
superior excellency of the Deity. 22 

3. With the invocation of the saints is naturally connected the 
veneration of their remains. The man who had been taught to 
respect their virtues and to implore their patronage, would not 
hesitate to honour their ashes with a decent monument, and with 
a distinguished place in the assembly of the faithful. In the 
book of the apocalypse, the martyrs are represented as reposing 
beneath the altar; 23 and, before the death of its author, we behold 
the Christians of Rome offering the sacred mysteries on the tombs 
of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. 24 When the martyr Ignatius 
had been devoured by the wild beasts of the amphitheatre, the 
fragments of his bones were collected by his disciples, and care 
fully conveyed to the capital of the east, where the Christians 
received them as an invaluable treasure, and deposited them 
with honour in the place appropriated to the divine worship. 25 
Succeeding generations inherited the sentiments of their fathers : 
the veneration of relics was diffused as far as the knowledge of 
the gospel ; and their presence was universally deemed requisite 
for the canonical dedication of a church or an altar. 26 With this 
view, Gregory the Great, as soon as he heard of the success of 
the missionaries, was careful to send them a supply of relics ; 27 

21 Hip pcippenbe anum gepeoji^obon. he cleopie to Erobep 
hal^um. --] bibbe ^ hig him to Irode fcm^ien. aejiopt to panctan 
CDanian *] pi}>]?an to eallum Dobep halgum. " Having worshipped his 
Creator alone, let him invoke God s saints, and pray that they would intercede for him 
to God ; first the Holy Mary, and then all the saints of God." Lib. Leg. eccles. apud 
Wilk. p. 272. 

22 Thus, in the Saxon homilies, the preacher points out the difference between the 
intercession of the saints, and the mediation of Christ, when he exhorts his auditory to 
solicit the intercession of the Virgin Mary, with Christ, her Son, her Creator, and her 
Redeemer. Utan pe bib ban mi f eabige "] f gepselije maeben 
CQania. f heo up gej^mgie to hina agenum puna. ~] to hijia 
pcippenb hsclenb Erupt. Serm. in Annunc. St. Maria?, apud Wanley, p. 11. 
See note (P). 

23 Revel, c. iv. v. 9. 

24 See in St. Cyril, (cont. Julian, p. 327. 334,) the testimony of the emperor Julian. 
He probably possessed more authentic information than the modern writers, who date 
the veneration of relics from the commencement of the fourth century. 

25 e/tcrstupo? dli/jL^. Act. St. Ignat. c. vi. Compare this passage with that in the 
Acts of St. Poly carp. T^/a?^ KtQav 7rofjwlt\tov icai tfox.t/j<.tol?(>A uTrtp xj>u<rtc,v* Act_c. xviii. 

2 6 Bed. 1. v. c. 12. Wilk. Con. p. 169. 

27 Hence we are informed by Carte, that the veneration of relics was introduced into 
England by the Roman missionaries, but was unknown to the Scottish bishops, Aidan, 
Finan, and Colman, (Carte, Hist vol. i. p. 241.) Yet Finan ordered trie bones of his 
holy predecessor to be taken out of his tomb, and placed on the right side of the altar, 
juxta venerationem tanto pontifice dignam: (Bed. 1. iii. c. 17:) and Colman, at his de 
parture, carried with him into Scotland a part of the relics of the same saint. (Bed. 1. 
iii. c. 26.) See also Bede on St. Oswald, 1. iii. c. 11, 12. 

23 P 



170 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

and scarce a pilgrim returned from Gaul or Italy, who had not 
procured, by entreaty or purchase, a portion of the remains of 
some saint or martyr. But the poverty of the Saxon church was 
quickly relieved by the virtues of her children ; and England 
became a soil fertile in saints. Scarcely was there a monastery 
that did not possess one or more of these favourites of heaven : 
their bodies lay richly entombed in the vicinity of the principal 
altar; and around were suspended the votive offerings of the 
multitudes who had experienced the efficacy of their intercession. 
In the hour of distress or danger, the afflicted votary threw him 
self at the foot of the shrine with an avowal of his unworthiness, 
but expressed an humble confidence that the Almighty would 
not refuse to the merits of the patron, what he might justly deny 
to the demerits of the suppliant. 28 Success often attended these 
petitions : the clergy of each community could appeal to a long 
list of preternatural cures, owing to the intercession of the saints, 
whose bodies reposed in their church ; and the crowds of visit 
ants, whom these miracles attracted, added to their reputation 
and importance. 29 

4. That the Deity has, on particular occasions, inverted or 
suspended the ordinary laws of nature, is a truth unequivocally 
admitted by all who profess to believe in the gospel. But 
whether these celestial favours were confined to the fervour of 
the first Christians, or continue to be bestowed on their less 
worthy successors, is a point which has been fiercely argued by 
religious controvertists. Without engaging rashly in the dispute, 
I may be allowed to observe, that it must be extremely difficult 
to assign any period at which the gift of supernatural powers 
was withdrawn from the church. The testimony of each par 
ticular generation as forcibly claims our assent, as that of the 
preceding ; and no argument can demonstrate, that if miracles 
were necessary at the commencement, they became inexpedient 
during the progress of Christianity. To have doubted their 
continuance at the period when England was converted, would 
have exposed the skeptic to the severest censures : the supernatu 
ral privilege was confidently claimed by the missionaries ; and 
the voice of the people sanctioned the belief that it had descended 
to the more holy among their successors. The works of the 
Saxon writers are embellished, and sometimes disfigured with 

28 Bed. 1. iv. c. 31. 

^ 9 Hence, if we may believe Dr. Henry, arose a new species of monastic excellence, 
entirely unknown to the founders of the order. To become a perfect monk, it was 
necessary to acquire dexterity in the art of stealing relics ; and he who had been so 
fortunate as to purloin the little finger of a celebrated saint, was esteemed the greatest and 
happiest man among his brethren. (Henry, vol. p. 305.) This information he professes 
to derive from the life of St. Aldhelm, by Malmsbury. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 39. But 
if the reader consult the original, his curiosity will be disappointed. He will only learn 
that when the treasures of Queen Emma were pillaged, one of her servants secreted the 
head of St. Owen, and afterward;? scrupling to retain it, deposited it with his brother, a 
monk of Malmsbury. Ang. Sac. ibid. 



MIRACLES. 171 

narratives of extraordinary events, which their piety taught them 
to consider as evident interpositions of the Divinity. Of these 
there are many which it will require no small share of ingenuity 
to disprove, and of incredulity to discredit : 30 but there are also 
many which must shrink from the frown of criticism. Some 
may have been the effects of accident or imagination ; some are 
more calculated to excite the smile than the wonder of the read 
er ; and some, on whatever proof they were originally admitted, 
depend at the present day on the distant testimony of writers not 
remarkable for sagacity or discrimination. But are we then to 
ascribe the belief of these miracles to the policy and artifices of 
the clergy, anxious to extend their influence over the minds, and 
to enrich themselves by nourishing the credulity of their disci 
ples ? The odious charge has often been advanced, but cannot 
be supported by the authority of any ancient writer: nor were it 
difficult to derive the easy faith of our ancestors from a more 
natural and a less polluted source. Man is taught by nature to 
attribute every event to a particular cause ; and when an occur 
rence cannot be explained by the known laws of the universe, it 
is assigned by the illiterate, in every age, and under every re 
ligion, to the operation of an invisible agent. From this persua 
sion arose the multitude of deities with which the ignorance of 
mankind had crowded the pagan mythology. The principle 
was not extirpated, it was improved by the knowledge of the 
gospel. From the doctrine of a superintendent providence the 
converts were led to conclude that God would often interfere in 
human concerns; to him they ascribed every unforeseen and 
unusual event ; and either trusted in his bounty for visible pro 
tection from misfortune, or feared from his justice that vengeance 
which punishes guilt before the great day of retribution. Men 
impressed with these notions, would rather expect than dispute 
the appearance of miraculous events. On many occasions they 
would necessarily prove the dupes of their own credulity, and 
ascribe to the beneficence of the Deity, and the intercession of 

30 Even an adversary must pity the perplexities into which the miracles of St. 
Augustine have plunged the skepticism of Dr. Enfield. That both St. Gregory and St. 
Augustine ascribed the success of the mission, in a great measure, to the miracles which 
had been wrought in its favour, he willingly acknowledges : that any miracles had really 
been performed, he as confidently denies. In the search of expedients to reconcile these 
apparent contradictions, he dances from one unsatisfactory hypothesis to another, till at 
last he rests, though with some reluctance, in the idea that the pontiff and the mission 
ary had engaged in a conspiracy to deceive the Saxons by the artifice of imaginary 
miracles. (Aikin s Gen. Biog. vol. i. p. 474.) But in such a supposition, would not these 
religious jugglers have dropped the mask in their private correspondence] Would 
Gregory have so earnestly and pathetically warned his disciple against the suggestions 
of vanity and presumption ? Was it necessary that the deception should be propagated 
as far as Alexandria, and that Gregory should acquaint the patriarch of that metropolis 
with the signs and wonders which accompanied the preaching of the missionaries 1 
Tantis miraculis vel ipse vel hi, qui cum eo transmissi sunt, in gente eadem coruscant, 
ut apostolorura virtntes in signis, quce exhibent, imitari videantur. Greg, epist, vii, 30, 



172 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

their patrons, those cures which might have been effected by the 
efforts of nature, or the powers of the imagination. It was their 
misfortune, that their knowledge was not equal to their piety : 
of their censors perhaps it may sometimes be said, that their piety 
is not equal to their knowledge. 

5. The mortal remains of the saints are necessarily confined 
to particular places : their likenesses, by the aid of the pencil or 
the chisel, may be multiplied to gratify the curiosity and animate 
the piety of thousands. But the innocence and utility of em 
ploying paintings and images in religious worship, has been 
often doubted and as often maintained by hostile controvertists. 
To determine with precision the limits of that liberty which should 
be granted or denied to the imagination of the multitude, is cer 
tainly a matter of no small difficulty. A worship which appeals not 
to the senses, must insensibly sink into languor and indifference; 
and too studied an attention to ceremony may give birth to 
superstition and idolatry. To hold with a steady hand the 
balance between deficiency and excess is the duty of those to 
whom is intrusted the government of the church ; and their con 
duct should be guided by the genius of the people, the circum 
stances of the times, and the method of public instruction. 31 
During the three first centuries of the Christian era, images and 
paintings were but sparingly admitted into the assemblies of 
the faithful : and this caution was justified by the apprehension 
that the proselytes might easily revert to their former habits, 
and transfer their homage from the Creator to the creature. As 
idolatry declined, pictures and statues met with greater indul 
gence : they spoke a language which was intelligible to the 
meanest capacity ; they instructed the ignorant, and stimulated 
the languid : they preserved the memory of virtue, and pointed 
out the path which conducted to the rewards of sanctity. At the 
period in which Augustine attempted the conversion of England, 
the churches of the east and the west, the almost insulated 
Christians of Caledonia, no less than the immediate disciples of 
the Roman pontiff, had adopted this doctrine : and the Saxons, 
instructed by their example, hesitated not to perform their devo 
tions before the representations of Christ and his saints. As the 
cross was the instrument of their redemption, it was always 
considered as the distinguishing symbol of Christianity. A cross 
was borne in the front of the missionaries, when they announced 
the doctrine of the gospel to Ethelbert : 32 a cross was erected by 
Oswald, the exiled king of Northumbria, and venerated by his 

S1 Sed illud ante omnia constituendum, imagines ex illorum per se genere esse, qua; 
ctJwz* nominantur : hoc est, quse ad substantiam ipsam religionis non attinet, sed in 
potestate sunt ecclesise, ut ea vel adhibeat vel ableget, pro eo atque satius esse decreverit 
Petav. de Incarn. 1. xv. c. 13, n. 1. 

32 Bed. 1. i. c. 25. 



PICTURES AND IMAGES. 173 

followers, before they ventured to face the numerous and victo 
rious host of the Britons : 33 a cross in many districts supplied the 
place of an oratory, and around it the thane and his retainers 
frequently assembled to perform their devotions : 34 and in the 
principal churches a cross of silver was displayed on the altar, 
and proclaimed the victory of Christ over the gods of paganism. 35 
At first, few pictures or statues were possessed by the Saxons. 
They were ignorant of the arts of sculpture and painting : but 
the exertions of the pilgrims supplied the deficiency, and foreign 
models were successfully imitated by the ingenuity of native 
artists. In the writings of Bede is preserved a catalogue of the 
paintings with which the pious liberality of Bennet Biscop deco 
rated the church of his monastery. 36 The nave was occupied by 
the portraits of the Virgin and the twelve apostles : the southern 
aisle exhibited a series of pictures representing the most remark 
able facts recorded in the gospels : while the northern struck the 
eye with the terrific visions described by St. John, in the book 
of Revelations. " The most illiterate peasant," adds the devout 
monk, " could not enter the church without receiving the most 
profitable instruction. He either beheld with pleasure the amiable 
countenance of Christ and his faithful servants ; or studied the 
important mysteries of the incarnation and redemption ; or, from 
the spectacle of the last judgment, learned to descend into his own 
breast, and to deprecate the justice of the Almighty." 37 

3? Bed. 1. iii. c. 2. 

34 Sic mos est Saxonicte gentis, quod in nonnullis nobilium bonorumque hominum 
pnediis, non ecclesiam sed sanctse crucis signum Deo dicatum, cum raagno honore 
almum, in alto erectum, ad commodam diurrwe orationis sedulitatem solent habere. Vit. 
St. Willibaldi, apud Can. Lect. ant. vol. ii. par. ii. p. 107. 

Quin etiam sublime crucis radian te metallo 
Hie posuit trophaeum. Bed. 1. v. c. 19. 

See also Alcuin de Pontif. lin. 1225. 1496. Malm, de Pont. 1. iii. f. 162. 

36 Other churches were adorned in a similar manner. From a fragment of a Latin 
poem, composed for the dedication of a church built by Bugge, (she was daughter to 
Centwin, king of Wessex, in 644. Lei. Collect, vol. iii. p. 117,) we learn that the por 
traits of the three apostles, Peter, Paul, and Andrew, were suspended over the high 
altar. 

Hie Petrus et Paulus, quadratt lumina mundi, 

Absidam gemino tutantur numine lautam; 

Nee non Andreas. Cam. Ant. Lect. torn. ii. par. ii. p. 181. 

37 Bed. Vit. abbat. Wirem. p. 295. Horn, in nat. Divi Bened. torn. vii. col. 465. It 
has been industriously inculcated that the respect which the Anglo-Saxons in later ages 
paid to religious paintings, was an innovation imported from Rome long after their 
conversion. The merit or infamy of the new doctrine has been ascribed to Egwin, 
bishop of Worcester ; and to give a colour of truth to the story, a synod has been de 
scribed as assembled at London, and approving the worship of images. The forgery 
has even been honoured with a place in both the editions of the British Councils. 
(Tali modo cultus imaginum Anglicanis ecclesiis auctoritate antichristi et illusionibus 
diabolicis est obtrusus, paucis piis frustra gementibus et contradicentibus circiter annum 
712 aut 714. Spel. p. 216. Wilk. p. 73.) The imposture, however, was soon de 
tected and exposed both by foreign and native writers. Spelman abandoned it to its 

P 2 



174 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Confined to a remote corner of the west, the Anglo-Saxons 
-were scarcely acquainted with the violent disputes which agi 
tated the eastern Christians, and at last severed Rome from the 
dominion of the Byzantine emperors. In the year seven hun 
dred and twenty-five, Leo the Isaurian proclaimed himself the 
enemy of the holy images ; under his son and successor Coproni- 
mus, a synod of three hundred and thirty-eight obsequious pre 
lates declared the will of the prince to he the doctrine of Christ ; 
and during thirty years, the creed of the Iconoclasts was propa 
gated with the instruments of persecution, the scourge, the 
sword, and the halter. The inhabitants of Italy, alarmed for the 
integrity of their faith, withdrew themselves from the obedience 
of the empire ; and the churches of the east and the west appear 
ed on the eve of an eternal separation, when the second council 
of Nice restored to the images their ancient honours, and 
smothered, during a temporary pause, the embers of discontent. 
But the revival of religious concord between Rome and Constan 
tinople, was the signal of religious discord among the lately con 
verted nations. A spurious copy of the canons of Nice was 
forwarded to Charlemagne, and transmitted by him to the pre- 

fate : but he abandoned it with a sigh, and to supply its place left a long and elaborate 
note. In this he acknowledges that the converts employed, but denies that they wor 
shipped religious images ; and asserts that no instance of such worship is recorded by 
Bede or any contemporary writer. (Spelm. ibid.) If by worship he mean the adoration 
due to the Supreme Being, he is certainly accurate ; but if he mean an inferior respect, 
which may be shown to the likeness for the sake of the original, he has only proved 
that the most learned antiquaries are sometimes subject to error. " Ne Beda quidern 
ipse," says Spelman, " unius (quod sciam) meminit, qui vel crucem adoravit vel imagi- 
nem." Yet Bede expressly says of Ceolfrid, before his departure from Wearmouth, 
" crucem adoravit, equum ascendit et abiit." Bed. vit. Abbat. p. 301. In other places he 
often mentions the pilgrims, who travelled "ad videnda atque adoranda apostolorum et 
martyrum limina." Bed. 1. v. c. 9, p. 293. 301. To Bede I may add several others. 
St. Aldhelm wrote before Bede, and frequently styles the Christians crucicolsc, or wor 
shippers of the cross. St. Aldhelm de Laude Virg. p. 291. 330. The same expression 
is used by the author of the life of St. Willibald, who also observes, that great honour 
was paid to the cross: "magno honore almum." Vit. Willib. p. 107. Alcuin was 
always accustomed to bow to the cross, and repeat this prayer : " Tuam cruci m adora- 
mus, domine, tuam gloriosam recolimus passionem : miserere nostri." Vit. Ale. in Act. 
SS. Bened. ssec. iv. torn. i. p. 156 : and in his poem on York, he puts the following popish 
language into the mouth of King Oswald, 

" Prosternite vestros 

Vultus ante crucem, quam vertice montis in isto 
Erexi, rutilat Christi qua? clara trophseo, 
Quse quoque nunc nobis pnestabit ab hoste triumphum." 

Ale. de Pont. 1. 246. 

That the worship or respect which is mentioned in these passages was not idolatrous, 
is plain from the prayer composed by Alcuin and mentioned above, and from a passage in 
the Saxon homilies. To fcaene jiobe pe up gebibbap. na ppa beah Co 
bam cneope. ac co bam ^Elmihcijan bnihtne J>e on baene Hainan 
Jiobe fOJl up hangobe. " We bow ourselves to the cross : not indeed to the 
wood, but to the Almighty Lord who hung on it for us." Horn. Sax. apud Wilk. 
p. 165. 



DISSENSIONS IN THE CHURCH. 175 

lates of the Germans, the Francs, and the Anglo-Saxons. Their 
piety was alarmed at the impious assertion attributed to Constan- 
tine, bishop of Cyprus, that the sacred images were to be honoured 
equally with the persons of the adorable Trinity. 38 Alcuin was 
commissioned to refute the blasphemy of the Greeks : 39 and the 
synod of Frankfort equally condemned the heresy of the Icono 
clasts, and the supposed decision of the Nicene fathers. 40 The 
Roman pontiffs, whose legates had presided in the council, were 
forced to temporize : they prudently postponed the confirmation 
of its decrees : and endeavoured, by successive explanations, to 
silence the murmurs, and to appease the jealousy of the northern 
prelates. After the lapse of forty years, the adversaries of the 
council were formidable in number and talents. They acknow 
ledged, indeed, the supreme authority of the successor of St. 
Peter, and professed their readiness to obey his decisions : but at 
the same time they requested permission to lay their difficulties 
at his feet; 41 and in the Caroline books, the acts of the council of 
Frankfort, and the letters of the synod of Paris, they collected 
every argument, which their learning or ingenuity could suggest. 
It was boldly asserted, that under the mask of an orthodox defi 
nition, 42 the Greeks had endeavoured to conceal the idolatry 

38 Suscipio et amplector sanctas et venerandas imagines secundum servitium adora- 
tionis, quod consubstantiali et vivificatrici trinitati emitto. Carol. 1. iii. c. 17. That 
this was an error appears from the original acts, in which the contrary is asserted. 
AS^O^JVO? x.*i etffyntofAMO( r&; a.ynt<; K.OJ <r&rlx.$ n>tovat.$ : x.t.1 THV x.nlst. ^alpuctv 7rpOTX.uvH<riv /U.OVH 
ry v7rtf>x<riu> KM tet*fyau* TfinSi a.vA7rtju.irw. Binii, Con. torn. 5, p. 605. The same mis 
take was transmitted from France to England. Carolus rex Francorum misit librum 
synodalem ad Britanniam, in quo vera? fidei multa reperta sunt obviantia, et eo maxime, 
quod pene omnium orientalium doctorum unanimi assertione est definitum, imagines 
aclorari debere, quod omnino ecclesia Catholica execratur. Mat. West. p. 146, an. 793. 
If, in the time of Matthew of Westminister, the Catholic church execrated the adoration 
of images, how are we to account for the general assertion of modern writers, that it had 
been established in England from the close of the eighth century ! Must they not 
have confounded two things, which he was careful to distinguish, religious respect and 
divine worship 1 

39 Mat. West. ibid. 4 Lib. Carol, iii. 17. 

41 Romana sedes nullis synodicis constitutis cseteris ecclesiis praelata est, sed ipsius 

domini auctoritate primatum tenet omnes Catholicae debent observare ecclesise, 

ut ab ea post Christum ad muniendam fidem adjutorium petant. Lib. Carol, i. 6. A 
vestra sanctitate petiimus, ut sacerdotibus nostris liceret quserere et colligere, quse ad ean- 
dem rem definiendam veraciter convenire potuissent .... Ea vestra sanctitati legenda 

et examinanda mittere curavimus Quos (legatos) non ad hoc ad vestrse almi- 

tatis prasentiam misimus, ut hie docendi gratia directi putarentur. Ep. Imper. ad Eug. 
Pap. in actis synodi Paris. I should not have loaded the page with these quotations, 
had we not been repeatedly told by modern writers, that in this dispute the northern 
bishops bade defiance to the authority of the Roman pontiffs. 

42 The definition was, that an honorary worship might be given to images, but not 
that true worship which belongs only to the divine nature : TifAHlntw 7rpoa-x.wn<rtv, 
ou fAtv lv X,A]& Triernv /u.av st\9/iw Xstrpa^v, Trp&rtt MVH TJI &ztat. <j>u<rtt. Bin. Con. torn. 
5, p. 198. The application of the hand to the mouth, in token of respect, gave birth to 
the two words Tr^o-Mvuv and adorare. Whether this worship be such as should only be 
given to the Deity, must depend on the intention. Otherwise, how are we to excuse 



176 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

which lurked in their breasts : that their secret intentions had 
been betrayed by the indiscreet declaration of the bishop of Cy 
prus ; and that the permission of tapers, incense, and salutation, 
spoke, more forcibly than his words, the real tendency of this 
heathenish worship. 43 Notwithstanding the authority and repre 
sentations of the pontiffs, their suspicions were for a time kept 
alive by the embassies of the Byzantine emperors, who favoured 
the party of the Iconoclasts ; but in the lapse of a few years, the 
Gallic prelates became divided in sentiment; by degrees they 
consented to a silent acquiescence in the doctrine of the council ; 
and, at last, the ceremonies, approved by the popes, were adopted 
in the churches of Gaul, Germany, and England. 44 

5. At the present day, the thirst of curiosity prompts the man of 
letters to visit the scenes of ancient wisdom arid and ancient glory : 
in former times it conducted the pious Christian to the places 
which had been consecrated by the triumphs of religion. To the 
adventurous spirit of the northern nations, the practice of pil 
grimage offered inestimable attractions : and the Anglo-Saxons 
were particularly distinguished by their attachment to this devo 
tion. In estimating the respective merits of different countries, 
none could challenge, in their opinion, an equality with Palestine : 
there the religious wanderer might visit the cave in which the 
Saviour was born, might follow him in the course of his mission, 
might climb the mountain on which he suffered, and kiss the 
sepulchre in which his body was deposited. But the perils of 
the enterprise were sufficient to appal the most resolute courage. 
Jerusalem groaned beneath the yoke of the infidels : it lay at the 
distance of more than three thousand miles, 45 and imagination 
multiplied the dangers of navigating an unknown sea, and of 
travelling through nations of different languages, manners, and 
religions. Yet the bold temerity of some adventurers was 
crowned with success ; and they returned, after an absence of 
several years, to relate to their astonished countrymen the won 
ders which they had witnessed. Of these, the most ancient re 
corded in history, is St. Willibald, whose long peregrination has 
been faithfully related by the pen of a female writer. 46 Her 

the Protestant, who kneels before the sacrament, the mere symbol of Christ ; or the 
bridegroom, who, in the ceremony of marriage, says to the bride with my body I thee 
worship 1 

43 These honours were first paid by the Greeks to the statues of the emperors : from 
them they passed to the pictures or representations of Christ and the saints. See 
Mabillon, Act. SS. Bened. SEBC. iv. torn. i. praef. p. xviii. xix. 

44 See note (Q). 

45 According to the Roman Itineraries, the road from Sandwich to Jerusalem, was 
3566 Roman, or 3271 English miles. See Gibbon s Decline and Fall, c. 2. 

46 She was a nun of Heidenheim, and a relation of St. Willibald. She wrote as he 
dictated, and appeals for her veracity to his deacons. " Ab ipso audita et ex illius ore 
dictata prsescripsimus, testibus mihi diaconis ejus." Hodoep. Will, inter, lect. ant. 
Canis. edit. Basriage, torn. ii. p. 106. 



HOLY LAND. 177 

narrative I shall abridge : nor will the reader perhaps refuse to 
follow through a few pages the first of his countrymen, who 
ventured to approach the court of the caliphs, and penetrated as 
far as the holy city. 

The father of Willibald had determined to visit, in company 
with his children, the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. He died 
at Lucca ; and the pilgrims, after paying the last duties to their 
deceased parent, continued their journey. At the sight of Rome 
they experienced emotions to which hitherto they had been 
strangers : and the diiferent monuments of piety, with which 
that capital abounded, successively awakened their devotion and 
admiration. The curiosity of Willibald was enlarged ; his 
imagination wandered to the places which had been consecrated 
by the corporal presence of the Redeemer; and the fearless 
pilgrim resolved to visit the land of promise, the theatre on 
which God had displayed the wonders of his power and his 
mercy. But the zeal of Winibald and Walburge, his brother arid 
sister, was less fervid, or more prudent : they refused to accom 
pany him ; and he was compelled to seek among the other Saxon 
pilgrims for associates of similar views, and equal resolution. 

In the year 721, soon after the feast of Easter, Willibald de 
parted from Rome with only two companions : but his example 
excited the enthusiasm of his countrymen, and during his journey 
their number increased to eight. 47 The time was favourable to 
their design. Though the Spanish Moslems were constantly at 
war with their Christian neighbours, the trade of the Medi 
terranean was undisturbed, and the eastern subjects of the caliphs 
occasionally visited the ports of Greece and Italy. At Naples, the 
good fortune of the pilgrims conducted them to an Egyptian mer 
chant, who willingly received them on board his vessel : but their 
speed was retarded by the delays of commerce, and a circuitous 
navigation : and fourteen months expired before they reached the 
coast of Syria. From Naples they successively sailed to Reggio 
in Calabria ; to Catania in Sicily, where the inhabitants were ac 
customed to oppose the veil of St. Agatha to the fiery eruptions 
of the neighbouring mountain ; to Manifasia ; to the islands of 
Coos and Samos ; and, at last, after a long and tedious voyage, 
arrived in safety in the port of Ephesus. During the several 
weeks which they spent on the coast of Natolia, they had much 
to suffer from fatigue and hunger; but they satisfied their 
curiosity by visiting the most celebrated cities, and their piety by 
offering up their prayers at the shrines of the most celebrated 
saints. Paphos, in the island of Cyprus, next attracted their no- 



47 He left Rome cum duobus sociis, (Hodoep. p. 109. Itiner. p. 118:) when he 
arrived in Syria, erant cum St Willibaldo septem contribules ipsius. (Hodoep. p. 110. 
Itiner. p. 119.) 
23 



178 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

tice. There they rested to celebrate the festival of Easter, and 
afterwards repaired to Constantia, the ancient Salamis, to venerate 
the relics of St. Epiphanius. From the west of the island, to the 
opposite coast of Syria, the passage was short; they landed at 
Tharratoe, a port belonging to the Moslems, and walked as far 
as Ernessa, the residence of the caliph. At the entrance of the 
city they were stopped by the guard, and conducted by the order 
of a magistrate to the palace. 

Four years before this period, the Moslems had been compell 
ed to retire with disgrace from the siege of Constantinople. 
Jealous of the designs of the imperial court, the caliph treated 
Willibald and his companions as spies in the pay of the Greeks, 
and commanded them to be detained in close confinement. It 
was in vain that a Christian merchant offered a considerable sum 
for their ransom : his zeal could obtain no more than a mitiga 
tion of their sufferings. With a handsome present he purchased 
permission to conduct them twice in the week to the public baths, 
and on the Sundays to the church of the Christians. As they 
passed through the bazaar, the inhabitants assembled to see the 
strangers; and, if we may believe the national vanity of their 
female historian, it was their youth, their beauty, and the elegance 
of their dress, that attracted the curiosity of the infidels. 48 

The subjugation of Spain, by the arms of the Moslems, had 
established a frequent communication between that country and 
the court of Syria; and the natives were occasionally compelled 
to pay their homage to the successor of Mahomet. A Spanish 
Christian, whose brother possessed a considerable employment 
at court, listened with pity to the history, and eagerly espoused 
the protection, of the pilgrims. Having discovered the captain, 
who had landed them at Tharratse, he obtained an audience of 
the caliph, and explained the real intentions of the prisoners. 
The prince heard him with kindness ; and, when he understood, 
that they came from the extremity of the west, from an island 
beyond which no land was known to exist, 49 he declared himself 
satisfied, ordered them to be liberated without paying the cus 
tomary fees, and gave them a written permission to pursue their 
journey to Jerusalem. 

With lightsome hearts the pilgrims departed from Emessa. A 
tedious road of a hundred miles conducted them to Damascus ; 
and a week was spent in visiting the curiosities of the royal city. 
They were now on the confines of Palestine. After crossing the 
Libanus and the higher Galilee, they arrived at Nazareth, the 
ancient residence of the parents of the Messiah. Over the reputed 

is Gives urbium curiosi jugiter illic venire consueverant illos speculari, quia juvenes, 
et decori, et vestium ornatu bene induti erant. Hodoep. p. 110. 

19 De occidental! plaga, ubi sol occasum habet, isti homines venerunt. Nos autem 
ncscimus terrain ultra illos, et nil nisi aquam. Ibid. 



WILLIBALD S TRAVELS TO THE HOLY LAND. 179 

spot, on which the archangel announced his future birth to the 
virgin, the Christians had built a magnificent church : but its 
riches tempted the avarice of the Moslems, and expensive pre 
sents were necessary to restrain their rapacity. 50 Cana, distin 
guished by the first miracle of Jesus, exhibited to their view six 
earthen vessels, ranged under the altars, which they were assured 
had been used at the marriage feast. Thence they climbed the 
steep mountain of Thabor; and a monastery at the summit 
dedicated to Christ, Moses, and Elias, recalled to their minds the 
glorious mystery of the transfiguration. They descended to the 
city of Tiberias : the Christian inhabitants were numerous ; and a 
synagogue of Jews preserved the memory of the ancient Rabbins. 
Curiosity led the travellers to the sources of the Jordan. Ascend 
ing the Anti-libanus they were shown two springs, distinguished 
by their respective names of Jor and Dan, which united their 
streams in the valley, and gave their common appellation to the 
river. On the declivity of the mountain were numerous herds 
of cattle, remarkable for their size, the shortness of their legs, and 
the length of their horns. Caesarea, built at the union of the two 
streams, was principally inhabited by Christians. Following the 
course of the river, they arrived at the place where tradition re 
ports that Christ was baptised. The water had retired to a dis 
tance; 51 but a small rivulet still occupied the ancient channel ; and 
a wooden cross, erected in the middle, pointed out the spot. A 
church had been raised over it, for the celebration of baptism, 
and to satisfy the devotion of the crowds, who on the feast of 
the Epiphany were eager to wash in the river. Its waters were 
believed to confer health to the infirm, and fecundity to the 
barren. As they passed by the city of Jericho, they admired the 
fertility which was imparted to the neighbouring country, by 
the fountain of Elias ; and, after visiting an ancient monastery, 
beheld at a distance the venerable remains of Jerusalem. With 
tears of joy and gratitude, the pilgrims entered the holy city. 
The first object which arrested their attention, was the basilic, 
founded by Constantino the Great, on the spot where the true 
cross had been discovered by his mother St. Helena. At the 
eastern front were erected three crosses, to perpetuate the memory 
of the event. In the neighbourhood stood the church of the 
resurrection, which contained the sepulchre of Christ, an invalua 
ble treasure in the estimation of Christian piety. Originally it 

50 The wealth of the Christians, or the forbearance of the infidels, was at last exhausted. 
The church was destroyed, and afterwards rebuilt. Mariti, vol. ii. p. 162. 

51 According to Maundrell, (Journey from Aleppo, p. 82,) the river at this place has 
retreated at least a furlong from its ancient boundary. But Mariti informs us, that in 
the rainy season, its waters overflow their banks, swell to the breadth of four miles, and 
often, on account of the inequality of the ground, divide themselves into different 
streams. 



180 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

had been a vault, hewn in the solid rock : in the church it rose 
high above the pavement, was of a square figure, and terminated 
in a point. The entrance was on the eastern side, and an open 
ing on the right hand introduced the pilgrim to the chamber 
which had received the dead body of the Redeemer. The inside 
of the sepulchre was lighted by fifteen golden lamps ; 52 arid near 
the door lay a large stone, in memory of that which had formerly 
closed the entrance. 

After visiting, with sentiments of the most lively devotion, the 
other religious monuments contained within the walls of Jerusa 
lem, they crossed the valley of Josaphat, and repaired to the 
mount of Olives. On it stood two churches, of which one mark 
ed the garden, that had witnessed the agony of Jesus before his 
passion ; the other occupied the summit, from which he ascend 
ed into heaven. In the centre of the latter, the spot which had 
received the impression of his last footsteps, was surrounded with 
a circular rail of brass ; in the roof of the church was left a large 
opening, and two lofty columns of marble represented the two 
angels, that attended at his ascension. A lamp, surrounded with 
glass, was always kept burning in the aperture. 53 

I shall not follow the pilgrims in their subsequent excursions, 
which their historian has reduced to a barren catalogue of names. 
They traversed Palestine in every direction, till their curiosity 
was exhausted ; and fatigue and infirmity admonished them to 
return to Europe. But to leave, was as difficult as to enter, the 
territory of the Moslems : and the companions of Willibald were 
compelled to make a second journey to Emessa, to solicit from 
the justice or caprice of the caliph, the permission to revisit their 
native country. The prince was absent : but their request was 
granted by one of his ministers. When they had returned to 
Jerusalem, they were joined by Willibald, and bade a last fare 
well to the holy city. Their route led them through Sebaste, the 
ancient Samaria, to the opulent city of Tyre, where their baggage 
was strictly examined. The ignorance or experience of antiquity 
had ascribed to the opobalsamum the most salutary virtues ; and 
the exportation of this valuable medicine was severely forbidden 
by the jealousy of the caliphs. 54 But the ingenuity of Willibald 
eluded the prohibition. To a gourd filled with the precious 
liquid, he had joined another gourd filled with petroleum : both 

52 Arcuulph, a Gallic prelate, had some time before visited the Holy Land. Bcde 
abridged his narrative, which in some points differs from that of St. Willibald. He tells 
us, that the sepulchre was round, that the number of lamps was only twelve, and that 
o these, four burnt in the inside, and eight were fixed on the roof. See Bede de locis 
sac. c. ii, p. 616. 

53 When Maundrell visited the mountain, no part of the church remained, except an 
octagonal cupola, which the Turks used as a mosch, p. 104. 

64 On the balsam extracted from the balm, which grows in the plains of Jericho, see 
Bede, (de loc. sac. c. ix. p. 320,) and Mariti, (p. 344.) 



PILGRIMAGES TO HOME. 181 

were so artfully united, as to exhibit the appearance of one 
vessel : and the contrivance of the pilgrim defeated the curiosity 
of the Mohammedan officers. 55 

In his return, Willibald spent two years at Constantinople ; 
visited the volcanic eruptions in the islands of Lipari ; ascertained 
the origin of the pumice stone, which was so useful to the 
monastic writers ; and at last retired to the celebrated monastery 
of Cassino. At the request of his relative, St. Boniface, he was 
drawn from this retirement by Gregory, the Roman pontiff, and 
sent into Germany, where he laboured zealously in the diffusion 
of religious knowledge, and died at an advanced age, bishop of 
Aichstad, in the year 786. 

But it was given to few to display the courage, and to ex 
perience the good fortune of Willibald. 55 Rome lay at a shorter 
distance than Jerusalem ; and presented numerous attractions to 
the piety of the pilgrims. It was the residence of the sovereign 
pontiff: its inhabitants boasted that they were the descendants 
of the first Christians : the mortal remains of St. Peter and St. 
Paul reposed within its churches ; and its catacombs contained 
the relics of innumerable martyrs. Yet, to travel at this period 
from England to Rome, was an attempt of no small difficulty and 
danger. The highways, which formerly conducted the traveller 
in security to the capital of the empire, had been neglected and 
demolished during the incursions of the barbarians : and, if the 
constitution of the pilgrim could bid defiance to the fatigue of 
the journey, and the inclemency of the weather, 57 he was still 
exposed to the insults of the banditti who infested the passes of 
the Alps, and of the marauders who were kept in the pay of 
turbulent and seditious chieftains. 58 Hospitality was, indeed, a 
favourite virtue among the northern nations ; and religion offer 
ed her protection to the person and property of the itinerant 

"Hodoep. p. 113, 114. 

56 If, as history assures us, Alfred corresponded with the patriarch of Jerusalem, and 
sent alms as far as the Indies, it is not improbable, that his messengers visited the holy 
land. (Chron. Sax. p. 86. Malm, de Reg. 1. ii. c. 4, f. 24. Wise s Asser. p. 58.) By 
the conversion of the Hungarians in the tenth century, the length of the journey was 
shortened, and its danger diminished. Wythman, abbot of Ramsey, in the reign of 
Canute, made a successful pilgrimage to Jerusalem ; (Hist. Ram. p. 436 ;) and his 
example was followed by the historian Ingulf, who joined the retinue of several German 
princes, and was so fortunate as to escape the sword and the pestilence which devoured 
one-third of his companions. "Tandem de triginta equitibus, qui de Normannia 
pingues exivimus, vix viginti pauperes peregrini, et omnes pedites, multa macie 
attenuati, reversi sumus." Ingul. p. 74. 

57 Elsine, archbishop of Canterbury, was frozen to death in the Alps. His companions 
had recourse to the unusual expedient of ripping open the belly of a horse, and plung 
ing his feet into it. Malms, de Pont. 1. i. f. 1 14. Osbern, Vit. St. Odonis, p. 86. 

*8 See the life of St. Boniface by St. Willibald, c. v. St. Elphege was robbed as soon 
as he entered Italy, (Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 129:) the bishop of York, Wells, and Here 
ford, and the earl of Northumberland, in their return. Malrn. f. 154. In the years 921 
and 922, two caravans of Anglo-Saxon pilgrims were surprised and massacred in the 
Alps. Baron, ex Flodoard. an. 921, xiii. 

Q 



183 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

devotee : but the mountaineers respected neither the dictates of 
humanity, nor the decrees of councils ; and of the numbers, who 
braved the difficulties of the journey, many lived not to revisit 
their homes ; while of the rest, the greater part returned sickly, 
despoiled, and emaciated. 59 Charlemagne, at the solicitation of 
Offa, 60 Conrad, at that of Canute, 61 had promised protection to 
the English pilgrims : but it was proved by experience, that the 
sincerity or the power of these princes was not equal to their 
engagements or inclinations. The fate, however, of former ad 
venturers, proved a useless lesson to their countrymen, and the 
objections of prudence were silenced by the impulse of devotion 
or curiosity. To behold the ancient capital of the world, and 
receive the benediction of the successor of St. Peter, kings 
abandoned their thrones, and bishops intrusted to others the care 
of their flocks : clergy and laity, monks and nuns, followed their 
example : and even the lower classes of the people were eager to 
gratify their wishes, by obtaining a place in the retinue of their 
superiors. 63 The manners of the present age have branded their 
conduct with the name of superstition ; but candour must extort 
the confession, that their motives were innocent, their labours 
useful. It was difficult to assign a reason, why it should be more 
lawful to visit the scenes of ancient literature, than those of re 
ligious virtue : and he who has experienced the enthusiasm which 
is kindled in the mind by viewing the former residence of heroes 
and legislators, 63 will easily conceive with what force the chains, 
the tombs, and the relics of the martyrs, spoke to the hearts of 
these foreign Christians. In a political view, the travels of the 
pilgrims were highly serviceable. They contributed to connect 
the independent nations, which had divided among them the 
fragments of the empire; to dissipate the prejudices of national 
partiality ; and to diffuse the knowledge of the arts and the sciences. 
Rome, though she had suffered severely from the ravages of the 
barbarians, was still the centre of knowledge, and the repository 
of whatever was elegant in the west. The riches, the ruins of 
the imperial city, astonished the strangers : they returned with 
ideas more enlarged, and views more elevated : attempts were 
made to imitate at home, what they had admired abroad : and to 

59 In the ancient life of St. Winibald, it is remarked, that strangers were generally 
subject to a fever at their arrival in Rome. Magna febris fatigatio advenas illic venientes 
visitare seu gravare solet. Vit. St. Winib. apud Canis. p. 126. 

fi o Ep. Car. Magni, apud Mat. Par. p. 978. 

61 Ep. Canut. apud Wilk. p. 298. 

62 Romam adire curavit, quod eo tempore magnse virtutis sestimabatur. Bed. 1. iv. c. 
23. Quod his temporibus plures de gente Anglorum, nobiles, ignobles, laici, clerici, 
viri ac feminse certatim facere corisuerunt. Id. 1. v. c. 7. Also West. an. 738, p. 140. 
St. Bonif. ep. 20. 40. 51. 69. 

63 Naturane," says Cicero, " nobis datum dicam, an errore quodam, ut cum ea loca 
videamus, in quibus memoria dignos viros acceperimus multos esse versatos, magis 
moveamur, quam quando eorum ipsorum aut facta audiamus aut scriptum aliquod 
legamus." De Fin. 1. v. 



PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 183 

their observation and industry England was indebted for almost 
every improvement which she received before the conquest. 64 
Yet, even when pilgrimages were most fashionable, there were 
many, who, though they dared not to condemn a devotion con 
secrated by the practice of ages, justly contended that their coun 
trymen carried it to excess. 63 They complained that, by the ab 
sence of bishops, the interests of the church were abandoned ; by 
that of princes, the tranquillity of the state was endangered : that 
journeys of devotion were undertaken to elude the severity of the 
penitential canons : and that the morals of the travellers were 
often impaired, instead of being improved. The last charge is 
forcibly corroborated by the conduct of several among the female 
pilgrims. Their beauty proved fatal to their chastity : amid 
strangers, without a friend, perhaps without the means of sub 
sistence, they sometimes fell victims to the arts of seduction : and 
the apostle of Germany confesses, in the anguish of his zeal, that 
there were few cities in Lombardy or Gaul, which had not 
witnessed the shame of some of his itinerant countrywomen. 60 
But his remonstrances were not more successful than those of 
St. Jerome and St. Gregory had been in preceding ages : 7 the 
stream of pilgrimage was still directed towards the Vatican : the 
practice was defended by curiosity, and sanctioned by example ; 
and during the existence of the Saxon dynasty, Rome almost 
annually saw a crowd of English travellers offer their devotions 
at the shrine of St. Peter. 68 

61 The improvements introduced by St. Wilfrid, and St. Bennet Biscop, have been 
already noticed. The latter, however, seems to have disapproved of pilgrimages, when 
they were not justified by the prospect of great advantage. He was careful to procure 
masters and books for his monks, that they might not be tempted to make pilgrimages, 
but be willing intra monasterii claustra quiescere. Bed. horn, in natal. Bened. abbat. 
torn. vii. col. 465. 

65 The abbess Bugge was desirous to visit Rome, but so many objections were raised 
by her friends, that she wrote to St. Boniface for his advice. " Scimus quod multi sunt, 
qui hanc voluntatem vituperant, et hunc amorem derogant, et eorum sententiam his 
astipulatioriibus confirmant, quod canones synodales prsecipiant, quod unusquisque in 
eo loco ubi constitutus fuerit, et ubi votum suum voverit, ibi maneat et Deo reddat vota 
sua." Ep. Bonif. 38, p. 50. The archbishop answered, that it were better to remain 
in her monastery, unless the vexatious exactions of her enemies compelled her to leave 
it. Ep. 20, p. 28. 

66 Ep. Bonif. 105, p. 149. Wilk. p. 93. 

67 St. Greg. Nys. torn. iii. ap. p. 72. St. Hieron. ep. 13. 

68 The Saxon Chronicle remarks, as something extraordinary, that in the year 889, 
no pilgrims went to Rome, and Alfred s letters were sent by two messengers. Chr. Sax. 
p. 90. On the subject of pilgrimage, Henry has made an important discovery : that the 
Saxons considered it as the only, or, at least, the most efficacious method of securing 
their salvation. In support of this assertion, he adduces a letter of Canute the Great, 
in which he makes the king say, that, " on account of St. Peter s influence in heaven, he 
thought it absolutely necessary to obtain his favour by a pilgrimage to Rome." (Henry, 
vol. iv. p. 303.) But Henry could seldom translate an ancient writer, without adding a 
few improvements. In the original, the king is silent respecting the necessity of a 
pilgrimage to Rome, but says that " he thought it very useful to solicit the patronage of 
St. Peter with God." Ideo specialiter ejus patrocinium apud Deum expetere, valde 
utile duxi. Ep. Canut. apud Wilk. p. 297. 



184 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

6. Before I conclude this chapter, I must notice an extraordi 
nary practice, which united the most solemn rites of religion with 
the public administration of justice. To elicit, in judicial pro 
ceedings, the truth from a mass of unsatisfactory and often 
discordant evidence, demands a power of discrimination, and 
accuracy of judgment, which it were in vain to expect from the 
magistrates of a nation just emerging from ignorance and bar 
barity. The jurisprudence of an illiterate people is generally 
satisfied with a shorter and more simple process : and, in doubt 
ful cases, an appeal to the equity of the Deity exonerates the 
conscience of the judge, and establishes the guilt or innocence 
of the accused. While the Anglo-Saxons adored the gods of 
their fathers, the decision of criminal prosecutions was fre 
quently intrusted to the wisdom of Woden : when they became 
Christians, they confidently expected from the true God, that 
miraculous interposition which they had before sought from an 
imaginary deity. He was a being of infinite knowledge and 
infinite power : he was the patron of virtue, and the avenger of 
crimes : could he then remain indifferent when he was solemnly 
invoked, and permit falsehood to triumph over truth ; innocence 
to be confounded with guilt ? 69 This reasoning, though false, 
was plausible, and it made a deep impression on the minds of the 
illiterate. By Gregory the Great it is said to have been con 
demned : 70 but if his disapprobation was known to the missiona 
ries, the authority of the pontiff was borne down by the torrent 
of national manners ; and during six centuries, appeals to the 
judgment of God were authorized and commanded by the juris 
prudence of the Saxons. 

The time, the nature, and the ceremonies of these appeals were 
defined by the legislature with the minutest exactitude. To employ 
in judicial trials the days particularly consecrated to the Divine 
service, was deemed indecorous : and on festivals and fast-days, 
ordeals were strictly prohibited. 71 Nor were they indiscrimi 
nately permitted in all cases, or left to the option of the parties. 
In civil suits the law had pointed out a different process : in 
criminal prosecutions, when the guilt or innocence of the accused 
could be proved by satisfactory evidence, they were unnecessa 
ry. 72 But if the arguments on each side were nearly balanced, 
if the prisoner could not claim the privilege of canonical purga 
tion, 73 or procure a competent number of compurgators, recourse 
was had to the judgment of God. The accuser swore to the 

6g Missa judicii, apud Spelm. Glos. voce Ordalium. 

70 Decret. par. 11, caus. 11, quces. 5, cap. Men. The second part of the chapter, 
which contains the prohibition, does not occur in St. Gregory s works. 

7 1 Leg. Sax. p. 53. 188. 121. 131. 72 Ibid. p. 26. Wilk. Gloss, p. 422. 
73 If a clergyman or monk was accused of a crime, and the evidence against him was 

not conclusive, he was permitted to exculpate himself by the eucharist, or by his oath. 
Wilk. p. 82. 300. " That we may not by a too great severity oppress the innocent," 
gays Archbishop Egbert, " let him place the cross on his head, and swear by Him who 



ORDEALS. 185 

truth of the charge, the accused by oath attested his innocence, 
and the necessary preparations were made for the ordeal. 

As the discovery of the truth was now intrusted to the decision 
of Heaven, the intermediate time was employed in exercises of 
devotion. Three nights before the day appointed for the trial, 
the accused was led to the priest: on the three following morn 
ings he assisted, and made his offering at the mass : and during 
the three days, he fasted on bread, herbs, salt, and water. 74 At 
the third mass the priest called him to the altar before the com 
munion, and adjured him by the God whom he adored, by the 
religion which he professed, by the baptism with which he had 
been regenerated, and the holy relics that reposed in the church, 
not to receive the eucharist, or go to the ordeal, if his conscience 
reproached him with the crime of which he had been accused. 75 
He then gave him the communion, with these words : " may this 
body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, be to thee a proof of 
innocence this day." As soon as the mass was finished, the 
prisoner again denied the charge, and took the following oath : 
" In the Lord, I am guiltless, both in word and deed, of the crime 
of which I am accused." He was then led to the trial. 75 

Of these trials there were four different kinds. 1. The corsned 
was a cake of barley bread, of the weight of one ounce ; and 
seems to have been instituted in imitation of the water of jealousy 
mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures. Over it a prayer was pro 
nounced by the priest, in which he begged that God would mani 
fest the truth between the accuser and the accused : that if the 
latter were guilty, when he took the cake into his hands, he 
might tremble and look pale ; and when he attempted to chew 
it, his jaws might be fixed, his throat contracted, and the bread 
be thrown out of his mouth. It was then given to him to eat, 
and the event decided his guilt or his innocence. 77 2. In the 
ordeal of cold water, the prisoner was stripped of his clothes, his 
hands and feet were bound ; the cross and the book of the gospels 
were given him to kiss, and blessed water was sprinkled on his 
body. A cord, of the length of two ells and a half, was then 

lives forever, and who suffered for us on the cross, that he is not guilty of the crime of 
which he is accused." Ibid. p. 82. 

7 4 Leg. Sax. p. 61. 

^slc eop halpije on paebeji nama. ^ on punu nama f ip urie 
bruhcen hoelenbe Erupt:. *] on ]>ep halgan gapcep. *] pop. faerie 
cnipcneppe be ge imbepipengan. -] pop. be hahgan J>puneppe 

p ge co ]?up huple ne gangen na Co }>am ojibele. gip 56 

pcylb on eop picen baep be eop man cihch obbe on gepojicum 
obbe on gepiccenyppe. MS. Ritual. Dunel. A. iv. 19, f. 55. 

76 Corpus hoc et sanguis Domini nostri Jhesu Christi, sit vobis (vel tibi) ad proba- 
tionem hodie. Miss. Judic. apud Spelm. voce Ordal. Also Leg. Sax. 61. 64. 

77 Exorcism, panis Ordeacii, apud Spelm. voce Ordal. Sometimes cheese was sub 
stituted. Ibid. 

24 Q 2 



186 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

fastened to his waist, and he was thrown into the water. If he 
sunk, he was immediately liberated ; if he floated on the surface, 
he was delivered to the officers of justice. 78 From these two trials 
it seems probable, that the guilty would have little to fear : from 
the other two it is difficult to conceive how the innocent could 
escape. 3. For the ordeal by hot water, a fire was kindled 
under a caldron in a remote part of the church. At a certain 
depth below the surface of the water, which was augmented in 
proportion to the enormity of the offence, 79 was placed a stone, or 
a piece of iron. Strangers were excluded, and the two parties, 
each attended by twelve friends, proceeded to the trial. These 
were ranged in two lines, on each side of the fire. After the 
litanies had been said, the accuser and the accused deputed one 
of their companions to examine the water, and when they agreed 
that it had acquired the greatest possible heat, the latter plunged 
his naked arm into the caldron, and took out the stone. The 
priest immediately wrapped the arm in a clean linen cloth, and 
fixed on it the seal of the church. At the expiration of three 
days, the bandage was unfolded, and the fate of the accused was 
determined by the appearance of the wound. If it were not per 
fectly healed, he was presumed to be guilty. 80 4. In the ordeal 
by hot iron, the same precautions were observed with respect to 
the number and position of the attendants. Near the fire was 
measured a space equal to nine of the prisoner s feet, and after 
wards divided into three parts. By the first stood a small stone 
pillar. As soon as the mass was begun, a bar of iron, of the weight 
of one or three pounds, according to the nature of the accusation, 
was laid on the coals. At the last collect it was taken off, and 
placed on the pillar. The prisoner instantly took it in his hand, 
made three steps on the lines previously marked, and threw it 
down. The treatment of the burn, and the indications of guilt, 
were the same as in the trial by hot water. 81 To these four 
ordeals, a fifth was added by most of the continental nations ; 
that of duel, or private battle. To the Anglo-Saxons it was un 
known till after the Norman conquest. Of all, it was the most 
absurd : and of all, is the only one which modern wisdom has 
thought proper to perpetuate. 

? s Adjuratio aquas, ibid. Leg. Sax. p. 26. 61. 

79 In the ordeals by hot water and hot iron, the trial for greater crimes was called the 
threefold, that for smaller, the one-fold ordeal. The former was ordered for the crimes 
of sacrilege, treason, murder, idolatry, and magic. In the threefold ordeal the depth of 
the stone was equal to the distance between a man s elbow and the end of his finger, 
and the weight of the hot iron was three pounds. Leg. Sax. p. 27. 

80 Leg. Sax. p. 26. 61. Adjuratio aqua? ferventis, apud Spelm. voce Ordal. 

81 Ibid. I have not mentioned a species of the ordeal by fire, which consisted in 
walking on the hot iron, instead of carrying it in the hand. I do not recollect any men 
tion of it before the conquest, except in the story of Queen Emma : a story which de 
serves little credit, as it appears to have been unknown to those who ought to have 
been best acquainted with it ; Ingulf, Aclrcd, Malmesbury, Hoveden, Huntingdon, and 
the author of the Saxon Chronicle. 



ORDEALS. 187 

The different issues which attended the ordeals, present a sub 
ject of ingenious speculation. That all were not proved inno 
cent by the corsned, and the immersion ; nor all guilty by the 
hot water, and the hot iron, is evident: otherwise these appeals 
to the justice of God must have soon sunk in the public estima 
tion. The effect of the corsned may be ascribed to the terrors of 
a guilty conscience, and a heated imagination : but to account 
for that of the other three, is a task of considerable difficulty. 
Some may, perhaps, be inclined to think, that God might, on 
particular occasions, interpose in favour of innocence: others, 
that the culprit was often indebted for his escape to his own 
dexterity, or the assistance of a robust constitution. But modern 
writers generally suppose, that the clergy were possessed of a 
secret, by which, as they saw convenient, they either indurated 
the skin before the ordeal, or afterwards healed the wound within 
the space of three days. This opinion, however, is unsupported 
by any contemporary voucher, and must appear at the best high 
ly improbable. This secret, so widely diffused through almost 
every nation of Christendom, and constantly employed during 
more than six centuries, could not have been concealed from the 
knowledge of the public: and if it were known, how can we be 
lieve that legislators would have still persisted to enforce the 
trial by ordeal, for the conviction of guilt, and the acquittal of 
innocence. In the laws of the Anglo-Saxon princes, it is re 
peatedly approved: and we are indebted for its abolition, at a 
later period, not to the wisdom of the legislature, but to the re 
monstrances of the clergy. By the Roman pontiffs it was often 
condemned as superstitious : these condemnations were inserted 
in the collection of the canon law : and Henry III., to satisfy 
the scruples of his bishops, consented to suspend the use of the 
ordeals, in the third year of his reign. 82 Though his proclama 
tion did not amount to an absolute prohibition, they do not 
appear to have been afterwards revived. 83 

62 See the rescript of Henry III. in Selden s Spicilegium ad Eadm. p. 204. 
83 We must except the ordeal by cold water, which was employed for the conviction 
of witches, till a very late period. 



188 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 



CHAPTER X. 



Literature of the Anglo-Saxons Learning of Theodore and Adrian Libraries 
Theology Classics Logic Arithmetic Natural Philosophy Learned Men St. 
Aldhelm B ede Alcuin. 

THE conquests of the northern nations arrested the progress 
of human knowledge, and replunged the greatest part of Europe 
into the barbarity and ignorance from which it had slowly 
emerged during the lapse of several centuries. If the fall of 
the empire did not totally extinguish the light of science, it is to 
religion that we owe the invaluable benefit. The expiring flame 
was kept alive by the solicitude of the churchmen: and their in 
dustry collected and multiplied the relics of ancient literature. 

The functions of the priesthood require a considerable portion 
of learning: and the daily study of the sacred writings, and of 
the ecclesiastical canons, has always been recommended to the 
attention of the clergy. By the monks, knowledge was origi 
nally held in inferior estimation. They were laymen, and pre 
ferred the more humble employments of agriculture and the 
mechanical arts, as better adapted to the life of penitence, to 
which they had bound themselves. The disciples of the saints 
Anthony and Pachomius spent a great part of their time in the 
manufacture of mats and baskets : and their example was so ap 
proved by the patriarch of the western monks, that he enjoined 
his followers to devote at least seven hours of the day to manual 
labour. 1 The veneration, which religious orders usually retain 
for the memory of their founders, enforced a temporary observ 
ance of this regulation : but when monasteries were endowed 
with extensive estates, and the monks could command the labour 
of numerous families of slaves, it was insensibly neglected; and 
the study of the sciences appeared a more useful and more 
honourable employment. The propriety of this innovation was 
sanctioned by the necessities of religion. The sword of the bar 
barians had diminished the numbers of the clergy: and the 
monks were invited to supply the deficiency, as ministers of the 
public worship, and the apostles of infidel nations. To under 
stand the Latin service, it became necessary to acquire a compe 
tent knowledge of that language: and the duty of instruction 
induced them to peruse the writings of the ancient fathers. 
Under the influence of these motives, schools were opened in the 
monastic as well as in clerical communities; and the rewards of 

i Reg. St. Bened. c. 48. 



LEARNING OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 189 

reputation and honour were lavishly bestowed on the faintest 
glimmerings of science. When a thirst for knowledge is once 
excited, it is seldom satisfied with its original object. From the 
more necessary branches of religious learning, the students 
wandered with pleasure to the works of the poets and philoso 
phers of Greece and Rome: and their curiosity eagerly, but 
often injudiciously, devoured whatever had escaped the ravages 
of their ancestors. In these literary pursuits, the Saxon clergy 
and monks acquired distinguished applause. Their superiority 
was, for more than a century, felt and acknowledged by the 
other nations of Europe: and when the repeated invasions of 
the Danes had unhappily cut off every source of instruction in 
England, the disciples of the Saxon missionaries in Germany 
maintained the reputation of their teachers, and, from their 
monastery at Fulda, diffused the light of knowledge over that 
populous and extensive country. 2 

For this advantage our ancestors were principally indebted to 
the talents and industry of Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury ; 
and of Adrian, abbot of St. Peter s, in the same city. The latter 
was a native of Africa, the former of Tarsus, in Cilicia : both 
were eminently versed in the languages of Greece and Rome, and 
perfect masters of every science which was known at that period. 
Compassionating the ignorance of the converts, they dedicated 
their leisure hours to the instruction of youth ; their lessons were 
eagerly frequented by pupils from every Anglo-Saxon kingdom ; 
and masters formed under their inspection, were dispersed among 
the principal monasteries. Their exhortations and example 
excited an ardour for improvement, which was not confined to 
the cloister, but extended its influence to the castles of the 
nobility, and the courts of the kings. The children of the thanes 
educated in the neighbouring monasteries, imbibed an early 
respect, if not a passion, for literature ; and several of the princes 
condescended to study those sciences on which their barbarous, 
but victorious fathers, had trampled with contempt ; others, by 
rewards and donations, endeavoured to distinguish themselves as 
the patrons of the learned. 3 Even the women caught the general 
enthusiasm : seminaries of learning were established in their 
convents : they conversed with their absent friends in the lan 
guage of ancient Rome ; and frequently exchanged the labours 
of the distaff and the needle, for the more pleasing and more 
elegant beauties of the Latin poets. 4 

2 See Mabillon, Act. SS. Bened. sscc. iv. torn. i. p. 188. Tom. ii. p. 23. Macquer, 
Histoire Ecclesiastique, vol. i. p. 551. 

3 Bed. Hist. 1. iv. 2, 1. v. c. 12. Abbat. Wirem. p. 300. 

4 St. Aldhelm wrote his treatise De laudibus Virginitatis, for the use of the abbess 
Hildelith and her nuns. The style in which it is composed, shows that, if he, wished 
them to understand it, he must have considered them as no mean proficients in the Latin 
language. From this treatise we learn, that nuns were accustomed to read the 



190 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

In modern times the art of printing, by facilitating the diffusion, 
has accelerated the progress of knowledge : but, at the period of 
which we are speaking, the scarcity of books was an evil deeply 
felt and lamented by these ardent votaries of science. Literature 
declined and fell with the power of Rome : and the writings of 
the ancients were but slowly multiplied by the tedious labour of 
transcribers. To discover and obtain these remains of ancient 
knowledge, were among the principal objects which prompted 
so many Anglo-Saxons to visit distant countries : 5 by the acquisi 
tion of a few books, they considered their labours as amply re 
paid : and in their estimation, a single volume was often of equal 
value with an extensive estate. 6 But necessity soon taught them 
to adopt a method by which the number of copies was more 
nearly proportioned to the increase of readers. In every monas 
tery a considerable portion of time was daily allotted to the hum 
ble, but useful occupation, of transcribing ancient manuscripts : 
and so efficient was the resource, that when Charlemagne 
meditated the revival of letters in Gaul, he was advised to solicit 
assistance from the treasures accumulated in the Saxon libraries. 7 
Of these repositories of science, the most ancient was that of 
Canterbury, which owed its establishment to the provident care 
of Gregory the Great, but had been considerably augmented 
by the zeal and industry of Archbishop Theodore. 8 Another 
numerous collection of books was possessed by the monastery at 

Pentateuch, the books of the prophets, and the New Testament, with the commentaries 
of the ancient fathers ; and to study the historical, tropological, allegorical, and anago- 
gical senses of the different passages ; profane history, chronology, grammar, orthogra 
phy, and poetry, also employed their attention. St. Aldhel. de laud. Virg. p. 294. See 
also Annal. Bened. vol. ii. p. 143. Of their proficiency, several specimens are still 
extant. The lives of St. Willibald and St. Wunebald, were both written in Latin by 
an Anglo-Saxon nun. Several letters in the same language, by English ladies, ate pre 
served among the epistles of St. Boniface. In some of them arc allusions to the Roman 
poets ; and in one, a few verses composed by Leobgytha, who was then learning the 
rules of metre from her mistress, Eadburga. Ep. Bonif. 36, p. 46. 

5 Thus Alcuin says of his master, Ecgbert : 

Non semel externas peregrino tramite terras 
Jam peragravit ovans, sophise ductus arnore ; 
Si quid forte novi librorum aut studiorum 
Quod secum ferret, terris reperiret in illis. 

Depont. Elor. v. 1454. 

6 A treatise on cosmography was sold to Aldfrid, king of Northumbria, for an estate 
of eight hides of land, which appears to have been considered as its real value. Bed. 
vit. Abbat. p. 300. 

7 Ale. ep. 1. Malm, de Reg. f. 12. Some years after, Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, 
wrote to Altsig, abbot in the church of York, to lend him several books to be transcribed, 
and promised they should be faithfully restored. Annal. Bened. torn 4 , ii. p. 684. Bib. 
Pat. torn. ix. Lup. ep. 2. 

s Bed. Hist. 1. 1. c. 29. In the appendix to Smith s Bede, p. 690, is an ancient 
account of the books brought into England by St. Augustine. One of them, a MS. of 
the gospels, is said by Wariley (p. 151) to be preserved in the library of Corpus 
Christi college at Cambridge, L. 15. Godwin mentions a MS. of Homer, brought to 



STUDY OF THEOLOGY. 191 

Weremouth, the fruit of the labours of St. Bennet JJiscop, whose 
five journeys to the continent, and indefatigable exertions, have 
been gratefully recorded by the pen of the venerable Bede. 9 But 
of all the seminaries which flourished in England, that belonging 
to the clergy of York appears to have enjoyed the most valuable 
and extensive library: and in the imperfect catalogue of volumes, 
which Alcuin has inserted in his writings, we find the names of 
almost every Greek and Roman writer, who had distinguished 
himself either in profane or in sacred literature. 10 

In the system of education established by Theodore, and 
zealously propagated by his disciples, religious knowledge and 
moral improvement were pronounced the two great objects of 
study. To the influence of the sciences in softening the manners, 
and multiplying the comforts of society, they appear to have been 
indifferent or insensible : but they endeavoured to rouse the 
ardour of their pupils, by promising them a more distinct view 
of the economy of religion, and a more extensive acquaintance 
with the works of the Creator. The life of man, they observed, 
was short ; his time too precious to be thrown away on pur 
suits unconnected with his welfare in a future existence. 11 
Hence of the various branches of knowledge, Theology (under 

England by Theodore, which was so beautifully written, as scarcely to be equalled by 
any other manuscript or printed copy. (God. de prscs. p. 41.) 

9 Bed. Vit. abbat. Wirem. p. 295. 299. 

10 ./Elbert, archbishop of York, left to Alcuin the care of his library, his caras super 
omnia gazas (Alc.de Pont, et Sanct. Ebor. eccl. v. 1526.) That writer has given the 
follow ig account of the books contained in it : 

Illic invenies veterum vestigia patrum, 

Quidquid habet pro se latio Romanus in orbe ; 

Grsecia vel quidquid transmisit clara latinis ; 

Hebraicus vel quod populus bibit ore superno ; 
540 Africa lucifluo vel quidquid lumine sparsit. 

Quod pater Hieroriymus, quod sensit Hilarius, atque 

Ambrosius prjesul, simul Augustinus, et ipse 

Sanctus Athanasius, quod Orosius edit avitus, 

Quidquid Gregorius summus docet, et Leo papa : 
1545 Basilius quidquid, Fulgentius atque coruscant. 

Cassiodorus item, Chrysostomus atque Joannes. 

Quidquid et Athelmus docuit, quid Beda magister, 

Quse Victorinus scripsere, Boetius, atque 

Historici veteres, Pompeius, Plinius, ipse 
1550 Acer Aristoteles, rhetor quoque Tullius ingens : 

Quid quoque Sedulius, vel quid canit ipse Juvencus, 

Alcuinus et Clemens, Prosper, Paulinus, Arator, 

Quid Fortunatus vel quid Lactantius edunt, 

Quse Maro Virgilius, Statius, Lucanus, et auctor 
1555 Artis grammaticse, vel quid scripsere magistri, 

Quid Probus atque Phocas, Donatus, Priscianusve, 

Servius, Euticius, Pompeius, Comminianus. 

Invenies alios perplures. 

Ale. de Pont, et Sane. Ebor. eccl. 

11 See Aldhelm s letter to his pupil Adilwald. Malm. 1. v. de Pont. p. 340. 



192 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

that name were comprised the dogmata of faith, and the princi 
ples of morality) assumed the highest place in their estimation ; 
and the other sciences were only valued as the humble handmaids 
of this superior acquirement. Its excellence and utility are the 
constant theme of their eloquence : it was recommended to the 
attention of laymen and of females ; and if the young student 
was exhorted to learn the rules of grammar, and the figures of 
elocution, it was that he might understand with greater facility 
the volumes that contained this important science. 12 Of the 
scholastic divinty, which so universally prevailed in succeeding 
ages, they were ignorant ; and whatever theological learning they 
acquired, they professed to derive from two collateral streams, 
the inspired writings, and the works of the fathers. 13 The 
inspired writings they studied assiduously from. their infancy; 
but, considering them as a region overspread with darkness, they 
hesitated to advance a step without the aid of a guide, and 
scrupulously pursued the track which had been first opened by 
the labours of the most ancient of the Christian doctors. Bede 
and Alcuin, the brightest luminaries of the Saxori church, in ex 
pounding the sacred volumes, shine principally with borrowed 
light : they scarcely presume to express a sentiment of their own ; 
their works are frequently a chain of quotations from more ancient 
writers ; and to obviate the possibility of error, they anxiously 
point out to the reader every line which is the offspring of their 
own judgment or imagination. 14 

But though a decided preference was given to theological 
knowledge, the other departments of science were not neglected. 
The number of classic allusions which occur in their writings 
and private correspondence, demonstrate their acquaintance with 
the most eminent writers of Rome and Greece ; and we are 
assured, that many among them could speak the languages of 
these two countries, with no less fluency than their native 
tongue. 15 But experience has shown, that nations only acquire 
a taste for elegant literature by the progressive improvements of 

12 Ibid. Aldh. de Virg. p. 292. 294. Smith s Bed. p. 796. Ep. Ale. 32. 49. In an 
other work Alcuin exhorts his disciples to study, " propter Deum, propter puritatem 
animse, propter veritatem cognoscendam, etiam et propter se ipsam, non propter huma- 
nam laudem, vel honores sseculi, vel etiam divitiarum fallaces voluptates." Can. Ant. 
Lect. torn. 2, p. 506. 

13 Of the Latin fathers, St. Gregory indulges the most frequently in allegorical inter 
pretations. Gratitude taught the Saxons to admire and imitate his writings. They 
adopted this mode of explication ; and as France and Germany received from them 
their most eminent teachers, they introduced it among the learned of those countries, 
by whom it was universally followed for several centuries. See Fleury s fifth discourse, 
(art. xi.) 

14 See Ale. praef. in Evan. Joan. Mabillon s eulogium of Bede (Smith s Bede, p. 
798.) Bed. Epis. ad Accam. torn. v. col. 2, 177. On the different versions of the 
scriptures used by the Anglo-Saxons, see note (R). 

15 Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 2. On their pronunciation of Greek, see note (S). 



STUDY OF THE CLASSICS. 193 

succeeding generations. Though the Anglo-Saxons, in the course 
of their reading, frequently conversed with the great geniuses of 
antiquity, they caught few sparks of the fire which still lives in 
their immortal writings. Their attempts at composition are, 
with some exceptions, languid and incorrect ; expressed in bar 
barous language, and disfigured by low or turgid metaphors. 
They studied, indeed, the laws of poetry and rhetoric ; they were 
acquainted with the different poetic feet and their various com 
binations, with the lessons of the ancient rhetoricians, their 
tropes and figures : but, unassisted by the taste of a judicious 
master, they expended their industry in the pursuit of unnatural 
ornaments, while real elegance was entirely neglected. 16 To 
have compressed their language, however mean or incorrect, 
within the compass of legitimate metre, appears to have been the 
highest praise to which many of their Latin poets aspired. Even 
the compositions of Bede are disgraced by this common defect ; 
and can be considered as little better than simple prose, divided 
into hexameter verse. But an honourable exception must be ad 
mitted in favour of Alcuin, in whose poetic effusions are passages 
which may be read with pleasure ; and of St. Aldhelm, who 
assumed a more lofty and a more animated tone than any of his 
countrymen. His diction is often pompous ; his imagery elevated ; 
and from the wild exuberance of his fancy, now and then may 
be culled a flower of exquisite fragrance. 17 But all of them ap 
pear to have considered difficulty of composition as a sufficient 
apology for the absence of every excellence : and the laborious 
trifles, the stultus labor ineptiarum, which, during the decline of 
taste, exercised the ingenuity of the Greek and Latin writers, were 
seriously cultivated and improved by the most eminent of the 
Saxon scholars. In their works we meet with acrostics composed 
of the initial and final letters of each line, to be read sometimes 
in a descending, and sometimes in an ascending direction: 18 

i 6 Read St. Aldhelm s description of his studies. Poetica septense divisionis disciplina, 
hoc est, acephalos, procilos cum csteris qualiter varietur ; qui versus monoschemi, qui 
pentaschemi, qui decaschemi certa pedum mensura terminantur ; et qua ratione cata- 
lectici, et brachycatalectici, et hypercatalectici versus colligantur. Malm, de Pont. p. 
341. 

> 7 See his poem De laude Virginum. Bib. Pat. torn. xiii. p. 3. 
is See St. Aldhelm De laude Virgin, p. 3. ^Enigmata, p. 13. St. Boniface s letters, 
p. 3. I shall subjoin a double acrostic by St. Aldhelm : 

"Arbiter, sethereo Jupiter qui regmine sceptrA 
Lucifluurnque simul creli regale tribunaL 
Disponis, moderans seternis legibus illuD, 
Horrida nam mulctans torsisti membra BehemotH 
Ex alta quondam rueret dum luridus arcE, 
Limpida dictanti metrorum carmina prgesuL 
Munera nunc largire : rudis quo pandere reruM 
Versibus aenigmata queam clandestina fatU, 
Si deus indignis tua gratis dona rependiS," &c. p. 21. 
25 R 



194 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

with couplets in which the first half of the hexameter constantly 
forms the second half of the pentameter verse ; 19 and with poems 
in which the natural difficulty of the metre is increased, by the 
addition of middle and final rhymes. 20 Sometimes, however, they 
ventured to emancipate themselves from the shackles of their 
Roman masters : the measure of their verse was determined by a 
certain number of syllables ; and their ears were satisfied with 
the frequent recurrence of alliteration, and the constant jingle of 
rhyme. 21 

In the pursuit of eloquence, as of poetry, the Saxon students 
frequently permitted themselves to be led astray by a vitiated 
taste. Desirous to surprise and astonish, they transferred to their 
Latin prose all the gorgeous apparatus of their vernacular poetry. 
In their more laboured compositions, splendour is substituted for 
elegance ; a profusion of extravagant metaphors bewilders the 
understanding of the reader ; and, as if the Latin tongue possessed 
not sufficient beauties, their language is constantly bespangled 

19 Bede s hymn on St. ^Edilthryda is of this description. It begins thus : 

" Alme Deus Trinitas, quse ssecula cuncta gubernas, 

Adnue jam coeptis, alme Deus Trinitas. 
Bella Maro resonet, nos pacis dona canamus : 
Munera nos Christi, bella Maro resonet," &c. 

Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 20. 

20 In the poems of Bede and Alcuin occur many verses with double rhymes. I shall 
subjoin an example, a riddle by St. Aldhelm. 

LEBES. 

" Horrida, curva, rapax, patulis fabricata metallis, 
Pendeo, nee ccelum tangens, terramve profundam ; 
Ignibus ardescens, necnon et gurgite fervens, 
Sic vario geminas patior discrimine pugnas, 
Dum lymphse latices tolero, flarnmasque feroces." 

Bib. Pat. vol. 8, p. 28. 

21 Of this species of composition, several examples may be found among the letters 
of St. Boniface, p. 3. 44. 75. 84. Each verse consists of eight syllables : but the allitera 
tion is generally better supported in the first than in the second line of the couplet. 
The following specimen is taken from a poem composed by a disciple of St. Boniface, 
in honour of St. Aldhelm : 

" Summo satore sobolis 
Satus fuisti nobilis, 
Genorosa progenitus 
Genetrice expeditus, 
Statura spectabilis, 
Statu et forma agilis. 
Caput candescens crinibus 
Cingunt capilli nitidis : 
Lucent sub fronte lumina 
Lati ceu per culmina 
Cceli candescunt calida 
Clari fulgoris sidera. 

Ep. St. Bonif. p. 91. 

On the vernacular poetry of the Anglo-Saxons, see note (T). 



STUDY OP LOGIC. 195 

with expressions from the Greek. But to write in this manner, 
demanded leisure and application : and on ordinary occasions, 
and in long compositions, they were compelled to adopt a lan 
guage more simple and intelligible. Bede, though he admired, 22 
did not attempt this inflated style ; and his example was followed 
by the good sense of Alcuin : but Aldhelm surpassed all his 
competitors, though from the letters of St. Boniface we may infer 
there were many willing to dispute with him the palm of excel 
lence. 23 

From the study of the languages, the Saxon was conducted to 
that of philosophy, after having acquired the preliminary and 
necessary sciences of logic and numbers. 24 His acquaintance 
with the former, he was advised to derive from the writings of 
Aristotle and his disciples. The precepts of that acute philoso 
pher were studied with avidity*: they were thought to impart 
the power of discovering truth and detecting falsehood ; and the 
young logician was initiated in the art of disputation by com 
mitting to memory the categories, the laws of syllogisms, the 
doctrine of inventions, and the subtleties of the periermenisB. 25 



. 22 Speaking of St. Aldhelm s character as a writer, he calls him sermone nitidus ; 
(1. v.c. 18;) which Alfred has properly translated on pojlbum hlutton *] f Ci 
ne nbe. a glowing and splendid writer, p. 636. 

23 As a specimen of Aldhelm s style, I shall subjoin the following passage from his 
letter to the monks of St. Wilfrid, in which he calls their attention to the respect which 
bees pay to their king. " Perpendite queeso, quomodo examina apum, calescente coelitus 
caumate, ex alveariis nectare fragrantibus certatim emergant, et earum autore linquente 
brumalia mansionum receptacula, densarum cavernarum cohortes, rapido volatu ad 
aethera glomerante, exceptis duntaxat antiquarum sedium servatricibus ad propagationem 
futurse sobolis relictis, inquam mirabilius dictu, rex earum spissis sodalium agminibus 
vallatus, cum hyberna castra gregatim egreditur, et cara stipitum robora rimatur, si 
pulverulenta sabulonis aspergine prsepeditus, seu repentinis imbribus cataracta Olympi 
guttatim rorantibus retardatus fuerit, et ad gratamcratem sedemque pristinam revertatur, 
omnisprotinus exercitus consueta vestibula perrumpens, prisca cellarum claustra gratula- 
bundus ingreditur." Gale, p. 340. In a similar style his disciple ^Edilwald describes 
the instructions which he had received from him, and then proceeds thus. " Quibus ad 
iritegrum exuberantis ingenii epulis ambronibus siticulosse intelligentinc faucibus avide 
absumptis, meam adhuc pallentem hebetudinis maciem largissima blandsa sporisionis 
epimenia affluentcr refocillabat, pollicitans omni me desiderata lectionis instrumento, quo 
potissimum meae mediocritatis industriam satis inhiantem agnoverat, libenter edocendo 
imb uere." St. Bonif. ep. p. 76. To these may be added an example from St. Boniface. 
Speaking of misers, he says ; " Hac de re universi aurilegi ambrones apoton grammaton 
agion frustratis afflicti inservire excubiis, et fragilia arenarum incassum ceu flatum 
tenuem sive pulverem captantia tetendisse retia dignoscuntur : quia kata Psalmistam, 
Tkesaurizant, et ignorant cut congregent ilia, et dum exactrix invisi Plutonis, mors 
videlicet, cruentatis crudeliter infrendens dentibus in limine latrat, turn tremebundi," &c. 
(Ep. Bonif. p. 2.) 

21 According to Alcuin, a course of liberal education should comprise grammar, 
rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astrology. Ale. Gram, apud Cards, torn. ii. 
par. i. p. 508. St. Aldhelm adds the study of logic. De laud. Vir. p. 331. 

25 Id. ibid. Ale. de Pont. Ebor. v. 1550. Ingulf, f. 513. Alcuin s treatise on logic 
is divided into five parts. Isagogae, Categorise, Syllogismi, Topica, and Periermemre. 
Canis. ibid, p. 488. 



196 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

The science of numbers equalled that of logic in importance, and 
surpassed it in difficulty of attainment. The celebrated St. Aid- 
helm, though the success of his former attempts had taught him 
to conceive a favourable notion of his abilities, was overwhelmed 
with unexpected difficulties, when he first applied himself to the 
different combinations of numbers ; and lamented in forcible lan 
guage his disappointment and despondency. 26 The reader, per 
haps, will be tempted to smile at the pusillanimity of the monk ; 
but let him pause to reflect on the many disadvantages, against 
which our ancestors were condemned to struggle. The Arabic 
figures, which the Christians received from the Mohammedans 
of Spain, about the close of the tenth century, have so facilitated 
the acquisition of this science, as to render it familiar even to 
children ; but the Saxons were ignorant of so valuable an im 
provement, and every arithmetical operation was performed with 
the aid of the seven Roman letters, C, D, I, L, M, V, X. 27 With 
them, in the solution of long and tedious problems, it was almost 
impossible to form the necessary combinations ; and frequently 
the embarrassed calculator, instead of employing numerical signs, 
was compelled to write at length the numbers which he wished 
to employ. But if he descended to the fractions of integers, his 
difficulties were multiplied ; and the best expedient which human 
ingenuity had hitherto devised, was to conceive every species of 
quantity divisible into twelve equal parts, the different combina 
tions of which were called by the same names, and computed in 
the same manner as the uncial divisions of the Roman As. 28 The 
inconvenience of these methods was severely felt by the learned; 
and an inadequate remedy was provided by the adoption of a 
species of manual arithmetic, in which, by varying the position 
of the hands and fingers, the different operations were more 
readily performed. Meanly as we may be inclined to estimate 
the services of this auxiliary, it deserved and obtained the praise 
of utility from the venerable Bede, who condescended to explain 
its nature for the use of his countrymen. 29 

When the perseverance of the student had conquered the diffi 
culties of this science, he ventured to apply to the study of 
natural philosophy. The guides whom he was principally ad 
vised to follow, were Aristotle and Pliny ; and to the knowledge 

26 Tante supputationis imminens desperatio colla mentis oppressit. See AUhelm s 
letter to Hedda, (Malm. p. 339.) He was at last so fortunate as to master every diffi 
culty and understand even the rules of fractions, calculi supputationes, quas partes 
numeri appellant. (Ibid.) 

27 Bed. oper. Bas. anno 1563, torn. i. col. 115. 

28 Ibid. col. 147. 

29 See Bede s treatise De Indigitatione, (torn. i. col. 165.) The numbers from 1 to 
100 were expressed by the fingers of the left hand : from 100 to 10,000 by those of the 
right: from 10,000 to 100,000 by varying the position of the left; and from 100,000 
to 1,000,000 by varying that of the right hand. 



BEDE S SYSTEM or NATURE. 197 

which he derived from their writings, was added the partial in 
formation that might be gleaned from the works of the eccle 
siastical writers. Among the philosophical treatises ascribed to 
Bede, there are two, commented by Bridferth, the learned monk 
of Ramsey, which are undoubtedly genuine, and from which 
may be formed a satisfactory notion of the proficiency of our an 
cestors in astronomical and physical knowledge. 30 The reader 
will not, perhaps, be displeased, if I devote a few pages to this 
curious subject. 

The origin of the visible universe had perplexed and confound 
ed the philosophers of antiquity ; at each step they sunk deeper 
into an abyss of darkness and absurdity ; and the eternal chaos 
of the stoics, the shapeless matter of Aristotle, and the self- 
existent atoms of Democritus, while they amused their imagina 
tion, could only fatigue and irritate their reason. But the Saxon 
student was guided by an unerring light ; and in the inspired 
narrative of Moses, he beheld, without the danger of deception, 
the whole visible world start into existence at the command of 
an almighty Creator. Of the scriptural cosmogony, his religion 
forbade him to doubt : but, in explaining the component parts of 
sensible objects, he was at liberty to indulge in speculation. 
With the Ionic school, Bede admitted the four elements ; of fire, 
from which the heavenly bodies derive their light ; of air, which 
is destined for the support of animal existence ; of water, which 
surrounds, pervades, and binds together the earth on which we 
dwell ; and of the earth itself, which is accurately suspended in 
the centre, and equally poised on all sides by the pressure of the 
revolving universe. To the different combinations of these 
elements, with the additional aid of the four primary qualities of 
heat and cold, moisture and dryness, he attributed the various 
properties of bodies, and the exhaustless fecundity of nature. 3 

Pythagoras had taught, though the conclusion was deduced, 
not from the observation of the phenomena, but from the princi 
ples of a fanciful and erroneous theory, that the centre of the 
world was occupied by the sun, round which the celestial spheres 
performed their revolutions. 32 But the truth of his opinion was 
too repugnant to the daily illusions of the senses, to obtain credit ; 
and the majority of philosophers, for many centuries, adopted 
that arrangement of the heavenly bodies, which forms the basis 

30 De Natura Rerum, torn. ii. p. 1. De Temporum ratione, torn. ii. p. 49. These 
treatises are acknowledged by Bede himself, at the end of his ecclesiastical history, (I. v. 
c. 24.) Leland highly admired the commentaries of Bridferth ; veluti avidus helluo totuin 
profecto devoravi. Lei. Comment, de scrip. Brit. edit. Hall, p. 171. 

si Bed. de Nat. Rer. c. 14. 

32 According to the mysteries of his numerical system, it was necessary that the fiery 
globe of unity should be placed in the midst of the elements. See Arist. torn. i. p. 363. 
Laert. 1. viii. 85. 

R 2 



198 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of the Ptolemean system. From them it was received by the 
Christians, and adjusted, with a few modifications, to their religious 
opinions. According to Bede, the terrestrial atmosphere is im 
mediately surrounded by the orbits of the seven planets, and the 
firmament of the fixed stars : on the firmament repose the waters 
mentioned in the Mosaic cosmogony : 33 and these are again en 
circled by the highest and ethereal heaven, destined for the resi 
dence of the angelic spirits. From the diurnal motion of the stars, 
which describe concentric circles of a smaller diameter as they 
approach towards the north, he infers, that this immense system 
daily revolves with amazing rapidity round the earth, on an 
imaginary axis, of which the two extremities are called the 
northern and southern poles. 34 

In the present advanced state of astronomical knowledge, we 
are tempted to smile at the idea of the Grecian philosopher, who 
conceived the stars to be so many concave mirrors, fixed in the 
firmament to collect the igneous particles which are scattered 
through the heavens, and to reflect them to the earth. 35 From 
the assertion of Bede, that they borrow their brilliancy from the 
sun, we might naturally infer that he had adopted the opinion 
of Epicurus : but his commentator, the monk of Ramsey, informs 
us, that he considered them as bodies of fire, which emitted a 
light too feeble to affect the organs of vision, except when it was 
strengthened by the denser rays of the sun. That they were not 
extinguished in the morning, and rekindled each evening, as had 
been taught by Xenophanes, was proved by their appearance 
during the obscurity of a solar eclipse : and of their influence on 
the atmosphere no one could remain ignorant, who had remark 
ed the storms that annually attend the heliac rising of Arcturus 
and Orion, and had felt the heat with which the dog-star scorches 
the earth. 35 

The twofold and opposite motions, which seem to animate the 
planets, could not escape the knowledge of an attentive observer: 
but satisfactorily to account for them, as long as the earth was 
supposed immoveable, baffled all the efforts of human ingenuity. 
The Saxons justly considered the natural direction of their orbits 
to lie from west to east; but conceived that their progress was con 
stantly opposed by the more powerful rotation of the fixed stars, 

S3 See Genesis, (c. i. v. 67.) " How," exclaims Bridferth of Ramsey, the commenta 
tor of Bede s philosophical works, " can the waters rest on the firmament without falling 
to the earth 1 "I know not," he replies, " but the authority of the Scriptures must 
silence the objections of reason." (Glos. in c. viii. p. 9.) The ancient author of the 
elements of philosophy, published under the name of Bede, is justly dissatisfied with 
this answer, and explains the passage in Genesis, of the waters which are separated by 
evaporation from the ocean, and suspended in the atmosphere. (De elem. 1. ii. p. 320.) 

s-i Bed. de Nat. Rer. c. v. viii. 

35 This was one of the opinions of Epicurus. Laert. 1. x. 91. 

36 Bed. de Nat. Rer. c. xi. 



THE PLANETS AND FIXED STARS. 199 

which compelled them daily to revolve round the earth, in a con 
trary direction. In their explanation of the other phenomena, 
they were equally unfortunate. The ingenious invention of 
epicycles was unknown, or rejected by them : and they ascribed 
most of the inequalities observed in the planetary motions to the 
more or less oblique action of the solar rays, by which they were 
sometimes accelerated, sometimes retarded, and sometimes entire 
ly suspended. Yet they were acquainted with the important dis 
tinction between real and apparent motion. Though they con 
ceived the planetary orbits to be circular, they had learned from 
Pliny that each possessed a different centre ; and thence inferred 
that in the perigeum their velocity must be apparently increased, 
in the apogeum apparently diminished. 37 

Among the planets, the first place was justly given to the sun, 
the great source of light and heat. They described this luminary 
as a globular mass of fiery particles, preserved in a state of igni 
tion by perpetual rotation. Had it been fixed, says Bede, like 
the stars in the firmament, the equatorial portion of the earth 
would have been reduced to ashes, by the intensity of its rays. 
But the beneficence of the Creator wisely ordained, that it should 
daily and annually travel round the earth; and thus produce 
the succession of the night and day, the vicissitudes of the seasons 
and the divisions of time. Its daily revolution is completed be 
tween midnight and midnight: and is usually divided into 
twenty-four hours, each of which admits of four different sub 
divisions, into four points, (five in lunar computations,) ten 
minutes, fifteen parts or degrees, and forty moments. Its annual 
revolution through the twelve signs of the zodiac, which it 
divides into two equal parts, forms the solar year ; and consists 
of three hundred and sixty-five days. 38 As it recedes towards 
the brumal solstice, its rays, in the morning and evening, are in 
tercepted by the convexity of the equator, and their absence 
prolongs the duration of darkness, and favours the cold of winter : 
but in proportion as it returns towards the tropic of Capricorn, 
the days gradually lengthen, and nature seems re-animated by the 
constant accumulation of heat. 39 But here a rational doubt will 
occur. If the rays, which daily warm and illuminate the earth, 
be emitted from the sun, is there no reason to fear, that, after a 
certain period, the powers of that luminary may be totally ex- 

37 Bed. de Nat. Rer. c. xii. xiv. 

38 Bed. Op. torn. ii. 26. 53. 208. 

Ibid. p. 105. 121. 125. As Bede has been censured by Feller (Diet. Hist, art 
Virgile) for asserting the earth to be flat, I may be allowed to transcribe a passage, 
which evidently shows this learned monk to have been well acquainted with the general 
figure of our globe. " Orbem terrae dicimus, non quod absolute orbis sit forma in tanta 
montium camporumque disparilitate, sed cujus amplexus, si cuncta linearum compre- 
hendantur ambitu, figuram absoluti orbis efficiat." De Nat. Rer. c. 44, p. 43. De Temp, 
rat. p. 125. The work to which Feller refers, is not among the writings of Bede. 



200 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

hausted ? Bede readily answered, that its losses were quickly 
repaired from the numerous exhalations of the ocean, situated 
under the torrid zone. 40 To feed the sun with water, is an idea 
which will probably appear ludicrous to the reader : but it 
originated from the tenets of Thales, the parent of the Grecian 
philosophy ; and had been consecrated by the general adoption 
of his successors. 41 

The regular increase and decrease of the moon have always 
called the attention of the learned to the phenomena of that 
planet. Respecting its magnitude, the Saxons followed two 
opposite opinions. Some, on the authority of Pliny, maintained 
that it was larger, others, with greater truth, conceived that it 
was smaller, than the earth. 42 Its phases they justly ascribed to 
the ever varying position of the illuminated disk ; 43 nor were they 
ignorant that its orbit was subject to several anomalies, which 
defied the precision of the most exact calculator. 44 Bede explains 
with sufficient accuracy the causes of the solar and lunar eclipses, 
and observes, that their recurrence at each conjunction and 
opposition, is prevented by the obliquity of the moon s orbit. 45 

That curiosity, which prompts us to search into the secrets of 
futurity, and the ancient notion that the heavenly bodies were 
animated by portions of the divine Spirit, gave birth to the pre 
tended science of judicial astrology. The influence of the sun 
and moon on the vegetable productions of the earth, was 
universally acknowledged: and the accidental coincidence of 
certain extraordinary events with particular configurations of the 
planets, encouraged the belief that they were conscious of future 
events, and regulated the destinies of mankind. By the pagan 
philosophers the astrological art was eagerly studied and prac 
tised: and from them it was transmitted to the professors of 
Christianity. The Saxon Aldhelm inform us, that he learnt the 
difficult computation of horoscopes in the school of the Abbot 
Adrian ; and Bede, though he pronounces the study to be false 
and pernicious, sufficiently discovers his acquaintance with it in 
different parts of his works. 46 But calculations of a more useful 
description generally occupied the leisure of literary men. From 
the letters of Alcuin it appears, that he spent a considerable por 
tion of his time in calculating the orbits of the planets, and pre- 
40 Bed. de Nat. Rer. c. 19, p. 26. 

41 Arist. Met. 1. i. c. 3. Cic. de nat. Deor. I. i. c. 10. 

42 Bed. de rat. Tern. p. 111. Bridferth s comments, p. 1 12, 113. 
<s De Nat. Rer. c. 20, p. 26. De rat. Temp. c. 23, p. 107. 

44 Ibid. c. 39, p. 143. 

45 De Nat. Rer. c. 22, 23, p. 28, 29. De Tern. rat. c. 5. p. 62. 

46 Malm, de Pont. 1. v. p. 339. It is possible, that by horoscope in this passage, St 
Aldhelm may mean a species of dial formerly known by that name. (See Bede de 
temp. p. 121.) But there are many other passages, which prove the Anglo Saxons to 
have been acquainted with the mysteries of astrology. Ibid. p. 53. 



THE TIDES. 201 

dieting the phenomena of the heavenly bodies : and Bede, in his 
treatise De ratione Temporum, accurately explains the rules for 
computing the age of the moon, its longitude, the hours at which 
it rises and sets, and the duration of its daily appearance above 
the horizon. To satisfy the cariosity of those who were ignorant 
of the science of numbers, this learned monk composed tables, 
which supplied the place of modern ephemerides; and his 
example was followed by other philosophers, who were accus 
tomed to inspect and revise their respective calculations. At the 
same time they were careful to observe the heavens, and faith 
fully recorded every new and unexpected appearance. 47 

From their insular situation, the Saxons could not be ignorant 
of the interesting phenomena of the tides : and Bede seems to 
have suspected the existence of that cause, the discovery of 
which has contributed to immortalize the name of Newton. The 
ebb and flow, he observes, so accurately correspond with the 
motions of the moon, that he is tempted to believe the waters are 
attracted towards that planet by some invisible influence, and, 
after a certain time, are permitted to revert to their former situa 
tion. 48 He does not, however, venture to speculate on the nature 
of this attraction, but confines himself to the following enumera 
tion of the particulars, in which the motions of the moon and of 
the ocean appear to coincide. As the moon daily recedes twelve 
degrees from the sun, so, on an average, the tides are daily retard 
ed four points (eight-and-forty minutes) in their approach to the 
shore. Some days before the conjunction and opposition, they 
begin to increase : and from the fifth to the twelfth, from the 
twentieth to the twenty-seventh day, they continually diminish. 
But the gradations of increase and decrease are not perfectly 
regular, and these anomalies may be ascribed, perhaps, to the 
impulse or resistance of the winds, more probably to the agency 
of some unknown power. The Anglo-Saxon, however, was 
able to correct an erroneous opinion of former philosophers. It 
had been pretended, that in every part of the ocean the waters 
began to rise at the same moment: but daily observation 
authorized him to assert, that on the eastern coast of Britain, 
the tide was propagated from the north to the south, and that it 
reached the mouth of the river Tyne, before it washed the coast 
of the Deiri. 49 

In meteorological science, the fame of Aristotle was long un- 

47 See Bede de ratione Temporum, (c. 15. 23, p. 95107,) and the letters of Alcuin. 
(Ant. lect. Can. torn. ii. p. 394, et seq.) From them we learn that Mars disappeared 
from July 709 to June 710. (Ibid. p. 401, and note.) 

48 Tanquam lunse quibusdam aspirationibus invitus protrahatur, et iterum ejusdem vi 
cessante in propriam mensuram refundatur. Bed. de rat. Tern. c. 27, p. 116. Sim. 
Dunelm.de Reg. p. 112. 

4 9 Bed. ibid. p. 117. 

26 



202 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

rivalled; and his four books on meteors have deserved the 
applause of modern philosophers. To them and the writings of 
Pliny, the Saxons were indebted for the knowledge which they 
possessed on this subject. Yet it hardly required the assistance of 
a master to discover that the winds are currents of air ; that the 
vapours rise from the earth, coalesce into clouds, and fall in rain ; 
and that, in the colder regions of the atmosphere, they sometimes 
assume the soft form of snow, and at others are, during their 
descent, congealed into hail : 50 but in explaining the more awful 
phenomena of lightning and thunder, the genius of Aristotle had 
failed ; and his Saxon disciples, compelled to wander from one 
hypothesis to another, attributed their production, either to the 
sudden generation of wind, which burst into fragments the col 
lection of vapours that enclosed it ; or to the violent shock of 
clouds meeting in opposite directions ; or to the conflict of the 
aqueous and igneous particles, which, in immense quantities, 
were supposed to float in the atmosphere. 51 The brilliant meteor 
of the rainbow also engaged their attention. Aristotle had con 
sidered the drops of rain as so many convex mirrors, which 
remit the colours, but are too minute to reflect the image of the 
sun : and his explication was improved by Possidonius, who, to 
account for its arched appearance, contended that it could be 
produced only in the bosom of a concave cloud. Bede was 
satisfied with this hypothesis ; and, by his approbation, recom 
mended it to his countrymen, with this unimportant alteration, 
that he ventured to add the purple to the red, the green, and the 
blue, the three colours observed by the Greek philosophers. 52 

From this view of the state of science among the Anglo-Saxons, 
the reader will have observed, that their knowledge was blended 
with numerous errors ; but his candour will attribute the cause, 
not to their indolence, but to the ignorance of the times. From 
Thales to Bede, during the lapse of more than twelve centuries, 
philosophy had received very few improvements. It was re 
served for the learned of more modern times, to interrogate 
nature by experiment. Former students were satisfied, when 
they had observed the more obvious phenomena, and hazarded a 
few conjectures respecting their probable causes. Hence their 
ingenuity was expended in framing fanciful explications ; and 
each hypothesis, sanctioned by the authority of an illustrious 
name, was received with the veneration due to truth. If the 
Saxons exercised their own judgment, it was only in adopting 
the most probable among the contradictory opinions of their pre 
decessors. To invent or improve, was not their object. They 
felt, that they were scarcely emerged from the ignorance of bar- 

w De Nat. Rer. c. 26, p. 31, c. 3235, p. 36. 

*> Ibid. c. 28, 29, p. 33, 34. 52 Ibid. c. 31, p. 35. 



STUDIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 203 

barism, and possessed not the presumption to think that they 
could discover truths which had escaped the penetration of their 
masters. To learn whatever had been formerly known, was 
their great ambition ; and this they nearly accomplished. Who 
ever reads the treatise of Bede de ratione Temporum, in which he 
explains the nature of the Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, and 
Saxon years, must view with astonishment the deep and exten 
sive erudition of a monk who never passed the limits of his 
native province, but spent the whole of his days among the half- 
civilized inhabitants of Northumbria. 53 

But the men of letters among the Anglo-Saxons did not confine 
their efforts to the mere study of ancient science. The desire of 
diffusing knowledge, or of acquiring reputation, induced several 
to assume the office of teachers, and to transmit with their works 
their names to posterity. Catalogues of the Saxon writers have 

53 Bed. Op. torn. 2, p. 49. Dr. Henry asserts (vol. iii. p. 43) that the Saxons entire 
ly neglected the study of natural philosophy and morals, and insinuates (p. 86) that 
they gave very little attention to ph} r sic, geography, and law. 1. To their application 
to natural philosophy, the preceding pages have borne sufficient testimony ; arid the 
study of morals was united with that of divinity. 2. Nor were they entirely ignorant 
of physic. Archbishop Theodore taught the art of medicine at Canterbury, (Bed. Hist. 
1. v. c. iii. :) Bede was acquainted with the works of Hippocrates, whom he calls 
ctt>xt*lpcs, and from whose writings he translates a long passage, (De rat. Tern. c. 28, p. 
119 :) Kyneard, bishop of Winchester, possessed some treatises on physic, and desired 
his friend the archbishop of Mentz to procure him others, (Ep. St. Bonif. 74, p. 104;) 
and several Anglo-Saxon MSS. on the same subject are still preserved. (They are 
described by Wanley, p. 72. 75. 176. 180.) 3. Bede s knowledge of geography can 
not be doubted by him who has read his forty-seventh chapter De Natura Rerum, and 
thirty-first De Temporum ratione, his Libellus de Locis Sanctis, his treatise De Nominibus 
Locorum, (Bed. Oper. torn. v. col. 920,) and his account of the travels of Arcuulphus. 
(Hist. 1. v. c. 16.) Aldfrid of Northumbria bought a treatise of cosmography from the 
monks of Weremouth ; and Ccena speaks of several books on the same subject, in his 
letter to Archbishop Lullus. (St. Bonif. ep. 99, p. 130.) 4. That they also studied the 
Human law is evident from p. 227, of the first volume of this work. Bede mentions 
Justinian s code ; and the name of pandects, which he gives to the Scriptures, (Bed. p. 
299,) will perhaps justify a suspicion, that he was acquainted with the pandects of that 
ernperor. Of the sciences studied in the school at York, Alcuin has left us the following 
account : 

His dans Grammaticae rationis gnaviter artes, 
1435 lilis Rhetoricae infundens refluamina linguae, 

Istos juridica curavit cote poliri ; 

Illos Aonio docuit concinnere cantu, 

Castajida instituens alios reasonare cicuta, 

Et juga Parnassi lyricis percurrere plantis. 
1440 Ast alios fecit praefatus nosse magister 

Harmoniam coeli, solis lunaeque labores ; 

Quinque poli zonas, errantia sidera septem, 

Astrorum leges, ortus simul atque recessus ; 

Aerios motus pelagi, terraeque tremorem, 
1445 Naturas hominum, pecudum, volucrumque ferarum, 

Diversas numeri species, variasque figuras, 

Paschalique dedit sollemnia certa recursu, 

Maxime scriptures pandens mysteria sacrae. 

Ale, De sane. Ebor. p. 728. 



204 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

been collected by the industry of Leland, Bale, and Pits : but of 
many we know little more than their names ; and the works 
ascribed to the majority are either lost or spurious. The three 
whose superior fame recommends them to the notice of the his 
torian, are St. Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin. 

I. Of the Saxon monks, the first who distinguished himself by 
his writings was St. Aldhelm, abbot of Malmsbury, and after 
wards bishop of Sherburne. In his youth he had attended the 
lessons of Maidulf, a Scottish monk : but the superior reputation 
of the school at Canterbury drew him to that capital, where he 
studied with unwearied application at the feet of the abbot 
Adrian. He soon felt, or thought he felt, the inspiration of the 
muses : his Saxon composition obtained the applause of his 
countrymen : and, at the distance of two centuries, Alfred the 
Great pronounced him the prince of the English poets. 54 Success 
ful in this attempt, he aspired to higher excellence, and was able 
to boast, that he had been the first of his countrymen, who had 
enrolled himself among the votaries of the Roman muse. 55 His 
reputation rapidly increased; it was soon diffused over the 
neighbouring nations ; and even foreigners were eager to sub 
mit their writings to the superior judgment of Aldhelm. 56 From 
this circumstance we might, be inclined to form an exalted notion 
of his literary merit : but the principal of his works, which are 
still preserved, show that he owed his fame rather to the igno 
rance than to the taste of his admirers. With an exception in 
favour of some passages in his poems, they are marked by a 
pompous obscurity of language, an affectation of Grecian phrase 
ology, and an unmeaning length of period, which perplexes and 
disgusts. As a writer his merit is not great : but if we consider 
the barbarism of the preceding generation, and the difficulties 
with which he was surrounded, we cannot refuse him the praise 
of genius, resolution, and industry. 57 

II. While the people of Wessex gloried in the fame of Aid- 
helm, another and greater scholar was gradually rising into 
notice from an obscure corner of Northuinbria. Bede, whom 
posterity has honoured with the epithet of the venerable, was 
born in a village between the mouth of the Wear and the Tyne. 58 

4 Malm. 1. v. De Pont. p. 342. 

Mihi conscius sum illud me Virgilianum posse jactare : 
Primus ego in patriam mecum modo vita supersit, 
Aldhelmus rediens dcducam vertice musas. Ibid. 

56 Ibid. Among others were several of the Scottish scholars, who sent their writings 
to him, ut perfect! ingenii lima scabredo eraderetur Scotica. Ibid, His works were 
much esteemed in Spain. Annal. Bened. torn. ii. p. 25. 

57 His writings were devoted to the cultivation of literature, and the advancement of 
virtue. They are entitled De Metro, De Schematibus, DeLaude Virginum, De ^Enig- 
matibus, &c. He died in 719. 

s He was born, according to his own account, in the territory (the sundorland, 
Alfred s version, p, 647) of the united monastery of Weremouth and Jarrow. He 
generally resided at the latter place. Ann, 672. 



ACCOUNT OP BEDE. 205 

At the age of seven he was intrusted to the care of the monks 
lately established by St. Bermet Biscop, at Weremouth and 
Jarrow : and the gratitude of the disciple has immortalized the 
fame of the monastery and its founder. Endowed with natural 
talents, and ambitious of excellence, he applied without inter 
mission to the study of the sciences : and towards the close of his 
life he informs us, that he had devoted two-and-fifty years to 
what he considered as the most delightful of all pursuits, his own 
improvement, and the instruction of his pupils. 59 With no other 
help than what the library of the monastery afforded, and amid 
the numerous and fatiguing duties of the monastic profession, 60 
his ardent and comprehensive rnind embraced every science 
which was then studied : and raised him to a high pre-eminence 
above all his contemporaries. Had he yielded to the suggestions 
of his own modesty, his name-had probably been lost in oblivion : 
but the commands of his superiors, and of Acca, bishop of Hex- 
ham, urged him to write ; and he sought an apology for his pre 
sumption in the hope that, by his works, he might abridge and 
facilitate to his countrymen the acquisition of knowledge. 61 In 
his own catalogue of books which he had composed, and which 
for the most part are still extant, we find elementary introduc 
tions to the different sciences, treatises on physics, astronomy, 
and geography ; sermons, biographical notices of the abbots of 
his own monastery, and of other eminent men, and commentaries 
on most of the books of Scripture. But his ecclesiastical history 
of the Anglo-Saxons, is the most celebrated of his works. The 
idea of it was suggested by Albin, abbot of St. Augustine s at 
Canterbury, and a disciple of Theodore and Adrian. All the 
English prelates approved the design, and communicated to the 
historian whatever information they could acquire : and with 
the same view Gregory the Third permitted the records of the 
apostolic see to be searched by Northelm, a presbyter of the 
church of London. 62 The work was completed two years before 
the death of its author. It was received with universal applause : 
by succeeding generations it was piously preserved as a memorial 
of the virtue of their ancestors ; and by Alfred the Great was 
translated into Saxon for the instruction of his more illiterate 
countrymen. 83 That it is a faithful record of the times, has never 
been doubted : and if to some critics the credulity of the writer 
with respect to miracles appear a blemish, yet his candour, 

59 Semper aut discere aut docere aut scribere dulce habui. Bed. Hist. 1. v. c. 24. 

60 According to his own expression, the innumera monasticce servitutis retinacula. 
Bed. Ep. ad Ac-cam. 

01 Ibid. 62 Hist, praef. p. 37, 38. 

63 Some doubt was formerly entertained respecting the author of this version: but the 
testimony of yElfric has restored it to the king. IfCOjim Anglonum J?a }>e 
cymns op laeben on enjlipc apenb. Elstob sSax. Horn. p. 2. 



206 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

sincerity, and piety must please and edify every reader. The 
style is easy and perspicuous : and though far inferior to that of 
the great masters of antiquity, may justly claim higher praise 
than any other specimen of the age. Bede died as he had lived, 
in the prosecution of his studies, and the practice of devotion. 
During his last illness he had undertaken an Anglo-Saxon trans 
lation of the gospel of St. John, and had reached the sixth chap 
ter on the evening of his death. " Dear master," said one of his 
disciples, " one sentence is not yet written." " Then write it 
quickly," replied Bede. The young man, soon after, said it was 
finished. " Truly," exclaimed the dying monk, " it is finished ! 
Hold my head in thy hands, for it is a pleasure to me to sit 
opposite the holy place, in which I have been accustomed to 
pray. There let me invoke my Father." He was placed on the 
pavement of his cell, repeated the Gloria Patri, and expired. 64 

The reputation of Bede survived and grew after his death. 
The Saxons were proud, that their nation had produced so 
eminent a writer : the monks of Weremouth and Jarrow were 
harassed with solicitations for copies of his works; 65 and, at the 
distance of a hundred years, the prelates of the Franks, in the 
council of Aix la Chapelle, numbered him among the fathers of 
the church, and styled him the venerable and admirable doctor. 60 
If the improvements of modern times have diminished the value 
of his writings, this circumstance ought no more to detract from 
his merit, than it does from that of the philosophers of Greece 
and Rome. Bede was a great man for the age in which he lived: 
he would have been a great man had he lived in any other age. 

III. The loss which Anglo-Saxon literature had suffered by 
the death of Bede, was quickly repaired by the abilities of Alcuin. 
Alcuin was descended from an illustrious family, and born with 
in the walls, or in the vicinity of York. 67 The great school in 
that city had lately attained a high degree of reputation by the 
exertions of Archbishop Egbert, a prelate who, under the tuition 
of Bede, had imbibed a passion for learning, and who, notwith 
standing his royal birth and elevated station, was proud to im 
part the rudiments of knowledge to the noble youth that where 

64 Ep. Cuth. apud Sim. Dun. p. 78. An. 735. 

65 Ep. Bonif. p. 12, 13. 120. 124. 130. 152. 231. " Et rectum quidem mihi videtur," 
says the abbot Cuthbert, " ut tota gens Anglorum, in omnibus provinciis ubicumque 
reperti sunt, gratias Deo referant, quia tarn mirabilem virum illis in sua natione 
donavit." Ibid. p. 124. 

6 6 Quid venerabilis, etmodernis temporibus doctor admirabilis, Beda presbyter sentiat, 
videamus. Con. Aquisgran. ii. prsef. 1. iii. 

67 As a descendant of the same family as St. Willibrord, he inherited the monastery 
of St. Mary, built by the father of that missionary, near the mouth of the Humber. 
Annal. Bened. torn. ii. p. 322. In the poem on the saints of York, the author describes 
himself as a native of that city. (v. 16, 1653.) There is sufficient internal evidence 
that this poem should be assigned to the pen of Alcuin. The inferiority of the poetrv 
may be excused by the youth of the poet. 



ACCOUNT OF ALCUIN. 207 

educated in the episcopal monastery. 68 To his care Afcuin 
was intrusted at an early age ; and the talents, virtue, and 
docility of the pupil soon attracted the notice, and secured the 
affection of the master. At his death Egbert bequeathed to him 
his library, and selected him to succeed to the important office 
of teacher. The abilities of the new professor justified the 
partiality or the judgment of his patron ; his reputation added to 
the ancient celebrity of the school ; and students from Gaul and 
Germany crowded to the lectures of so renowned a master. 69 

Egbert was succeeded by his kinsman Albert, who had for 
merly taught in the same seminary. Like his predecessor, he 
was eager to honour the merit of Alcuin. He sent him on an 
important mission to the court of France ; confided to his care 
and that of Eanbald the erection of the new church ; and, by his 
will, left to him " the most valuable of his treasures," the 
numerous volumes, which he had collected in different journeys 
to Gaul and Italy. 70 

To procure the pallium for Eanbald, the next archbishop, Al 
cuin visited Rome ; and in his return, at Pavia, was introduced 
to Charlemagne. That prince was then in the zenith of his 
power. But to the glory of a conqueror, he was desirous to add 
the fame of a patron of learning ; the revival of literature in his 
extensive dominions had long engaged his attention, and he 
seized the favourable moment to solicit the assistance of the 
Anglo-Saxon in so laudable a project. The ambition of Alcuin 
was awakened; and he promised to return, if the king of 
Northumbria, and the archbishop of York, would give their con 
es Egbert, the brother of the king of Northumbria, had been educated under venera 
ble Bede. Penetrated with respect for the memory of his master, he closely imitated 
his manner of teaching. He rose at daybreak, and, when he was not prevented by 
more important occupations, sitting on his couch, taught his pupils successively till 
noon. He then retired to his chapel, and celebrated mass. (Sanctificabat eos, offerens 
corpus Christi et sanguinem pro omnibus. Vit. Ale. p. 149.) At the time of dinner, 
he repaired to the common hall, where he ate sparingly, though he was careful that the 
meat should be of the best kind. During dinner a book of instruction was always read. 
Till the evening he amused himself with hearing his scholars discuss literary subjects. 
Then he repeated with them the service of complin, called them to him, and, as they 
successively knelt before him, gave them his benediction. They afterwards retired to 
rest. These particulars Alcuin used to relate to his friends. Vit. Ale. in Act. SS. 
Bened. saec. iv. torn. i. p. 149. 

69 Eo tempore in Eboraica civitate famosus merito scholam magister Alcuinus tenebat, 
undecunque ad se confluentibus de magna sua scientia communicans. Vit. St. Liudgeri 
in Act. Bened. ssec. iv. torn. i. p. 37. 

7 Ale. de Pont. Ebor. Eccl. v. 1525. Alcuin thus laments the death of his patron: 
" O pater, O pastor, vitae spes maxima nostrae, 
Te sine nos ferimur turbata per sequora mundi : 
Te duce deserti variis involvimur undis, 
Incerti qualem mereamur tangere portum. 
Sidera dum lucent, trudit dum nubila ventus, 
Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt." 

Ibid. v. 1596. 



208 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

sent. Their consent was given, and the promise was fulfilled. 71 
Charles immediately enrolled himself in the number of his disci 
ples ; every nobleman and clergyman, who courted the favour 
of the prince, followed his example ; and distinction in the 
school of Alcuin became the surest path to civil and ecclesiastical 
honours. From the palace the spirit of improvement diffused 
itself over the more distant provinces : laws were published for 
the encouragement of learning; schools were opened in the 
principal of the clerical and monastic establishments ; and the 
efforts of the Anglo-Saxon, seconded by the influence of his 
patron, restored the empire of learning in Gaul and Germany. 72 

Charles was not ungrateful to his teacher. He constantly re 
tained him near his person, honoured him with peculiar distinc 
tions, and gave him the revenues of the abbeys of Ferrieres and 
St. Martin s. But neither the favour nor the presents of the 
French monarch could wean the affections of Alcuin from 
Britain. He still considered himself as an honourable exile ; and 
frequently, but ineffectually, solicited the permission to revisit his 
native country. The reluctance of Charles was not to be softened 
by entreaties : at last it was subdued by political considerations. 

The French monarch had commissioned Gervvold, the abbot of 
Fontanelles, and collector of the customs, 73 to negotiate a marriage 
between his son Charles and a daughter of Offa, king of Mercia. 
The pride of the Mercian might have been flattered by the 
alliance of so potent a sovereign : but he determined to treat on 
a footing of equality, and in return demanded, as the price of his 
consent, the hand of a French princess for his son Egferth. 
Charles was irritated at the manner in which his proposal had 
been received ; and the merchants of each prince were respec 
tively forbidden to trade with those of the other. It is probable, 
that the interests of Gerwold suffered from this interruption of 
commerce. He artfully contrived to mollify the resentment of 
his sovereign ; and Alcuin was selected to be the bearer of 

71 Vit. Ale. in Act. Bened. ssec. iv. torn. i. p. 153. Alcuin alludes to the same event 
in one of his letters to Charles. " Ex diversis mundi partibus amatores illius vestras bonse 
voluntatis convocare studuistis. Inter quos me etiam infimum ejusdem sanctse sapientiae 
vernaculum de ultimis Britannise finibus adsciscere curastis." Ale. ep. 23. 

72 A German poet has thus expressed his gratitude to Alcuin and his countrymen: 

"Hsec tamen arctois laus est seterna Britannis. 
Ilia bonas artes et Graise munera linguse 
Stellarumque vias, et magni sidera coeli 
Observans, iterum turbatis intulit oris. 
Quid non Alcuino facunda Lutetia debes 1 

Apud Cam. torn. i. p. 166. 

73 Fontanelles was an abbey in the diocese of Rouen, afterwards called St. Wan- 
drille s. The principal port, in which Gerwold collected the customs, was Cwentawic, 
now Estaples. It carried on a great trade with England. (Chron. Fontanel. c. 15.) 
Near the town stood the monastery of St. Josse, which Charles afterwards gave to 
Alcuin, for the convenience of the Anglo-Saxon travellers. 



ACCOUNT OF ALCUIN. 209 

friendly proposals to Offa. 74 Though we have no positive proof, 
it can hardly be doubted, that he actually executed this commis 
sion. Certain it is, that he visited England at this period ; and 
that peace and amity were restored between the two nations. 75 

Alcuin was in no haste to leave his countrymen : and though 
he was repeatedly importuned by the solicitations of Charles, 
three years elapsed before he returned to France. He was 
received with honour by his patron, resumed his former occupa 
tions, and was preferred to the abbeys of St. Josse, at Cwentawic; 
and St. Martin, at Tours. For several years he remained at the 
court, caressed and respected by the prince and his favourites : 
but, as he advanced in age, he grew weary of the honours he 
enjoyed, and earnestly sighed after the tranquillity which he had 
tasted in his former retirement at York. Had he been able to 
obtain the consent of Charles, it was his intention to end his days 
among his brethren, the clergy of that city : 76 and when this was 
refused, he requested permission to retire to the monastery, which 
his countryman St. Boniface had founded at Fulda. 77 But Fulda 
was at too great a distance from the royal residence ; and his 
abbey of St. Martin s was at last selected for the place of his 
retreat. There he resigned his benefices to his favourite disciples ; 
and spent in exercises of devotion, and his usual occupation of 
teaching, the remaining years of his life. His diet was sparing, 
his prayer frequent, and he assisted daily in quality of deacon at 
a mass, which was celebrated in his private chapel, by one of 
his disciples. His numerous charities excited the applause and 
gratitude of the inhabitants of Tours, and a hospital which he 
founded for the reception of the poor and of travellers, was long 
preserved under the tuition of his successors, the abbots of St. 
Martin s. To prepare himself for death became the great object 
of his thoughts ; and that he might frequently reflect on that hour, 
he composed his own epitaph, selected a place for his grave with 
out the church, and often visited it, accompanied by his pupils. 78 

74 1 have been rather circumstantial in relating this affair, as the cause of the dissen 
sion between Charlemagne and Offa has eluded the diligence of our national historians, 
from Malmsbury to Mr. Turner. It is related by the chronicler of Fontanelles, in his 
account of the abbot Gerwold. Chron. Fontanel. c. 15. Annal. Bened. torn. ii. p. 287. 
Alcuin mentions the report that he was to be sent to Offa, in his letter to Colcus apud 
Malm, de Reg. 1. i. c. 4, f. 17. 

75 Charlemagne s letters to Offa, after their reconciliation, maybe seen in Malmsbury, 
ibid. 

76 Malm, de Reg. 1. i. c. 3. In a letter to the clergy of York, Alcuin thus expresses 
himself. " Ego vester ero sive in vita, sive in morte. Et forte miserebitur mei Deus, 
ut cujus infantiam aluistis, ejus senectutem sepeliatis. Et si alius corpori deputabitur 
locus, tamen animse, qualemcumque habitaturse, erit per vestras sanctas, Deo donante, 
intercessiones requies." Ep. 98. 

77 His biographer informs us, that if this had been granted, he meant to have become 
a monk. Vit. Ale. p. 154. After his departure from the court, the care of the palatine 
school was intrusted to Clemens, a native of Ireland. Mabil. praef. ssec. iv. Bened. 181. 

78 Ibid. p. 156. 161. His epitaph may be seen, note (U). 

21 S2 



210 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

He did not, however, neglect his favourite occupation ; and his 
school at Tours was equal in reputation to that which he had 
established in the court. Foreigners, and particularly his coun 
trymen, 79 crowded to his retreat, to enjoy the benefit of his con 
versation : and the emperor and his family frequently honoured 
him with their visits. 80 Thus he lived, respected by Charlemagne 
and his court : and, when he died, was lamented as the pride of 
his age, and the benefactor of the empire. 81 

The pen of Alcuin was seldom idle. For the use of his pupils 
he wrote, in the form of dialogues, elementary treatises on most 
of the sciences ; compiled, at the solicitation of his friends, the 
lives of several eminent men ; and occasionally proved his devo 
tion to the muses, by the composition of smaller poems. His 
letters are numerous, and will be read with interest, from the 
fidelity with which they describe the views, manners, and em 
ployments of the most distinguished characters of the age. To 
him the Caroline books, and the canons of the council of Frank 
fort, have been generally ascribed : and his writings against Felix 
and Elipandus exposed the errors, and confounded the audacity 

79 The Chronicle of Tours, and most writers assert, that Alcuin introduced canons 
into St. Martin s. Mabillon thinks he can prove, that the monks continued there till 
his death. However that may be, the clergy of Tours were jealous of the great num 
ber of Anglo-Saxons who visited Alcuin. His biographer has preserved the following 
anecdote on this subject. As Aigulf, an English priest, entered the monastery, four 
of the French clergy were standing by the gate, and one of them exclaimed in his own 
language, supposing it unknown to the stranger, " Good God ! When will this house 
be delivered from the crowds of Britons, who swarm to that old fellow, like so many 
bees." Aigulf held down his head, and entered : but Alcuin immediately sent for them, 
told them what he had heard, and requested them to sit down, and drink the health of 
his countryman in a glass of his best wine. Vit. Ale. p. 157. 

so When Charlemagne could not visit his old master, he was careful to write to him. 
The following verses do honour, if not to his abilities as a poet, at least to his affection 
as a friend : 

" Mens mea mellifluo, fateor, congaudet amore, 

Doctor amate, tui : volui quapropter in odis, 

O venerande, tuam musis solare senectam : 

Jam meliora tenes sanctaj vestigia vitae, 

Donee sotherii venias ad culmina regni, 

Congaudens sanctis, Christo sociatus in sevum. 

Meque tuis precibus tecum rape, qua3so, magister, 

Ad pia, quse tendis, miserantis culmina regis." 

Ale. Epigram. 185. 

si Alcuin died about the year 810. Act. SS. Bened. saec. iv. p. 182. He never 
received any higher order than that of deacon. Both he himself, and the Anglo-Saxons, 
who followed him into Gaul, were canons. Reyner, indeed, is positive, and Mabillon 
would fain persuade himself, that Alcuin was a monk. (Act. Bened. p. 163.) But their 
arguments are weak, and positively contradicted by the testimony of the monk, who 
wrote his life from the relation of his favourite disciple, Sigulf. " Sequantur vestigia, 
Benedict! scilicet monachis, Alchuini per omnia canonicis, imitatione digna." P. 146. 
" O vere monachum, monachi sine voto." P. 150. " Vita denique ejus non monastic 
inferior fuit. Nam qualis in patribus superius nominatis (Ecgberto et ^Elberto) praeces- 
serat, talis et in illo durabat." P. 154. 



PERSEVERANCE IN STUDY. 211 

of those innovators. Like Bede, he wrote comments from the 
works of the fathers, on several books of Scripture ; and his last 
labours were employed on a subject of the highest importance 
to religion, a revision of the text of the Latin Vulgate. As a 
scholar, Alcuin claims a high superiority over all his contempo 
raries : but his principal merit must be derived from the ardour 
with which he propagated the love of knowledge, from the Gallic 
Alps to the banks of the Loire, the Rhine, and the Elbe. 

The reader who has been taught to despise the literature of 
the middle ages, will perhaps conceive that I have ascribed to 
our ancestors more than they justly deserved. But in estimating 
the respective merits of writers, who have lived at different times, 
it would be unfair to judge all by the same standard. If we com 
pare the literary characters of the seventh and eighth centuries, 
with those of a later period, the distance between them will, in 
several respects, appear immense : but their claims to our ap 
plause will converge more nearly to a point, when we reflect, 
that the latter have been assisted by the collective wisdom and 
experience of successive generations ; whereas the former were 
but just emerging from a state of ignorance and barbarism. The 
obstacles which the Saxon students had to overcome, were 
numerous and formidable : and their industry and perseverance 
demand our admiration. They performed whatever it was pos 
sible for men in their circumstances to perform. They collected 
every relic of ancient literature : they undertook the most perilous 
and laborious journeys in pursuit of knowledge : they studied 
every species of learning, of which they could discover the rudi 
ments in books ; and there is reason to believe, that they possess 
ed most of the sciences as perfectly as they were known, when 
their forefathers made themselves masters of Britain. In purity 
and elegance of style, they were undoubtedly deficient : but taste 
had been on the decline from the age of Augustus, and had 
gradually sunk with the prosperity of the empire. The Latin 
writings of the fourth and fifth centuries show, that the language 
of Rome was no longer the language of Cicero and Virgil, and its 
deterioration was rapidly accelerated by the conquests of the 
northern nations, who adulterated it by the admixture of bar 
barian idioms. This defect, then, will appear to the candid critic 
a subject of regret, rather than of blame : and when he observes 
the Saxon writers often equal, and sometimes superior, to many 
who lived before the dismemberment of the empire, instead of 
despising, he will approve and value their exertions. 



212 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 



CHAPTER XL 

Descents of the Danes Destruction of Churches and Monasteries rrevalence of Igno 
rance and Immorality Efforts to restore the Clerical and Monastic Orders. 

IN the preceding chapters we have observed the introduction 
and diffusion of Christianity among our ancestors ; the faith, 
discipline, and morals of their monks and clergy ; their modes 
of religious worship, and their ardour in the pursuit of science. 
From the contemplation of this tranquil scene, the invasions of 
the Danes summon us to witness the horrors of barbarian war 
fare, the conflagration of churches, the downfall of the monastic, 
and the decline of the clerical orders. During the whole of the 
first, and the greatest part of the second century after the mission 
of St. Augustine, the Anglo-Saxon church was conspicuous for 
the virtues and the knowledge of many among its members. 
Christianity had given a new direction to the efforts of the con 
verts ; and though the contending politics and ambition of their 
petty sovereigns might occasionally retard, they did not, on the 
whole, prevent the progress of religious and civil improvement. 
In the year 800, Egbert ascended the throne of Wessex. His 
superior fortune or superior abilities, soon crushed the power of 
his rivals ; and the friends of religion flattered themselves that a 
long period of tranquillity would atone for the disturbances of 
former times, and that the church might repose in security under 
the protection of one supreme monarch. But their hopes were 
fallacious. A storm was silently gathering in the north, which, 
after a short respite, burst on the eastern coast, and involved, 
during more than half a century, the whole island in ruin and 
devastation. 

It were, however, inaccurate to suppose that the fervour of 
the first converts had been perpetuated till this period, without 
suffering any diminution. Nations, like individuals, are subject 
to vicissitudes of exertion and depression. As long as the im 
pulse communicated by the first missionaries continued, the 
Anglo-Saxon Christians cheerfully submitted to every sacrifice, 
and embraced with eagerness the most arduous duties of religion. 
But after a certain period, the virtues which had so brilliantly 
illuminated the aurora of their church, began to disappear ; with 
the extirpation of idolatry, the vigilance and zeal of the bishops 
were gradually relaxed ; and the spirit of devotion, which had 
formerly characterized the monks and clergy, insensibly evapo- 



EXHORTATIONS Otf ALCUIN, 213 

rated in the sunshine of ease and prosperity. Even the love of 
science, which so often survives the sentiments of piety, was 
extinguished. Malrasbury laments, though he allows of some 
exceptions, that the knowledge of the Saxons was buried in the 
same grave with the venerable Bede : l and Alfred informs us, that 
among the more distant successors of that learned monk, few 
were able, if they had been willing, to understand the numerous 
authors that slept undisturbed in the tranquillity of their libraries. 2 
This degeneracy of his countrymen was remarked and lamented 
by Alcuin. With every argument that his eloquence could sug 
gest, he attempted to awaken their emulation : and his frequent 
letters to the kings of Northumbria and Mercia, the archbishops 
of Canterbury and York, the monks of Hexham, Lindisfarne, and 
Jarrow, are honourable monuments of his zeal. 3 " Think," he 
writes to the latter, " on the worth of our predecessors, and blush 
at your own inferiority. View the treasures of your library, and 
the magnificence of your monastery, and recall to mind the rigid 
virtues of those by whom they were formerly possessed. Among 
you was educated Bede, the most illustrious doctor of modern 
times. How intense was his application to study ! How great 
in return is his reputation among men ! How much greater still 
his reward with God ! Let his example rouse you from your tor 
por : listen to the instructions of your teachers, open your books, 
and learn to understand their meaning. Avoid all furtive revel- 
lings, and leave to the world the vain ornaments of dress. What 
becomes you, is the modesty of your habit, the sanctity of your 
life, and the superiority of your virtue." 4 Such were the argu 
ments of Alcuin. That they would have proved successful, may 
reasonably be doubted : but the experiment was prevented by the 
calamity of the times ; and the decline of piety and knowledge, 
which had originated in the indolence of the natives, was rapidly 
accelerated by the exterminating sword of the Danes. 

During the eighth and ninth centuries, the peninsula of Jutland, 
the islands of the Baltic, and the shores of the Scandinavian con 
tinent, were parcelled among a number of petty and independent 
chieftains, who sought no other occupation than war, and pos 
sessed no other wealth than what they had acquired by the 
sword. Their children, with the exception of the eldest, were 
taught to depend for fame and power on their own abilities 
and courage : their ships were the only inheritance which they 
derived from their fathers : and in these they were compelled 
to sail in pursuit of adventures and riches. 5 No injury was 

1 Malm, de Reg. 1. i. p. 12. 

2 Spifte lytle peorime J>apa boca pifcon porifam ]>e hi hijia nan 
finge ongican ne mihcon. pori^am ]>e hi naejion on hijia 
J?eobe apjiitene. Ep. ^Elf. ad Wulst. apud Walk. vit. Alf. p. 196. 

3 Ep. Ale. 28, 29. 32. 49, 50. 4 Ep. Ale. 49. 
5 Wallingford, p. 533. Spelm. Vit. ^3 If. edit. Walk. p. 14, not. 



214 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

necessary to provoke their enmity. The prospect of plunder 
directed their attack ; and carnage and devastation were the cer 
tain consequences of their success. They could conceive no 
greater pleasure than to feast their eyes with the flames of the 
villages, which they had plundered, and their ears with the 
groans of their captives, expiring under the anguish of torture. 6 
The northern seas were originally the theatre of their courage 
and cruelty. At last they ventured to try their fortune against 
the more opulent nations of the south : and, during more than 
two centuries, the maritime provinces of Gaul and Britain were 
continually pillaged and depopulated by these restless barbarians. 

It is uncertain whether their first descent in England was the 
effect of accident or design. They quickly retired to their ships : 
but the plunder was sufficiently rich to invite a repetition of the 
attempt. 7 In the year seven hundred and ninety-three, the 
inhabitants of Northumbria were alarmed by the appearance of 
a Danish armament near the coast. The barbarians were per 
mitted to land without opposition. The plunder of the churches 
exceeded their most sanguine expectations : and their route was 
marked by the mangled carcasses of the nuns, the monks, and the 
priests, whom they had massacred. But historians have scarcely 
condescended to notice the misfortunes of other churches : their 
attention has been absorbed by the fate of Lindisfarne. That 
venerable pile, once honoured by the residence of the apostle of 
Northumbria, and sanctioned by the remains of St. Cuthbert, be 
came the prey of the barbarians. Their impiety polluted the 
altars, and their rapacity was rewarded by its gold and silver 
ornaments, the oblations of gratitude and devotion. The monks 
endeavoured by concealment to elude their cruelty: but the 
greater number were discovered, and were either slaughtered 
on the island, or drowned in the sea. If the lives of the children 
were spared, their fate was probably more severe than that of 
their teachers : they were carried into captivity. 8 

The news of this calamity filled all the nations of the Saxons 
with shame and sorrow. Lindisfarne had long been to them an 
object of peculiar respect : and the Northumbrians hesitated not 
to pronounce it the most venerable of the British churches. 9 

6 Mat. West. p. 388. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 135. 

7 On hip bagum cpomon aneft m j^cipu NonSmanna 

Dat paejion fa sejier tan f cipu Denipca monna fe An^el-cinnep 
lonb jepohton (Chr. Sax. p. 64.) In this passage the appellations of Danes and 
Northmen are used indiscriminately for the same people. Yet in another passage they 
are distinguished as two different nations; (aegSen ge Gn^lifce C Denifce 
ge Northmen ge oftne. Chron. Sax. p. 110.) 

8 Sim. Dunel. edit. Bedford, p. 87. Hoved. f. 405. Ep. Ale. cit. Malm, de Pont. 1. 
iii. f. 157. 

9 Locus cunctis in Britannia venerabilior. Ep. Ale. cit. Malm. 1. iii. f. 157. 



INVASION OF RAGNAR LODBROG. 215 

Alcuin received the account at the court of Charlemagne, and 
evinced, by his tears, the sincerity of his grief. But while he 
lamented the present, his mind presaged future and more lasting 
calamities to his country. Prompted by his fears, he wrote to 
the bishop of Lindisfarne, to his brethren the clergy of York, and 
to the monks of Weremouth and Jarrow. " Who," he observes 
to the last, " must not tremble, when he considers the misfortune 
which has befallen the church of St. Cuthbert ? Let the fate of 
others be a warning to you. You also inhabit the sea-coast : 
you are equally exposed to the fury of the barbarians." The 
event verified his foresight. Within a few months from the date 
of the letter, a Danish squadron entered the mouth of the Tyne, 
and the monasteries of Jarrow and Weremouth, the noble monu 
ments of Benedict s zeal and Egfrid s munificence, were reduced 
to ashes. The pirates, however, did not escape with impunity. 
Scarcely had they left the harbour, when their ships were dashed 
by a storm against the rocks. Numbers were buried in the 
waves : the few who swam to the shore were immolated to the 
vengeance of the inhabitants. 11 

From this period, during the lapse of seventy years, the Anglo- 
Saxons were harassed by the incessant depredations of the 
Northmen. Each bay and navigable river was repeatedly 
visited by their fleets : the booty acquired by the adventurers 
stimulated the avarice of their brethren ; and armament after 
armament darkened the shores of Britain. I shall not follow 
them in these desultory and destructive expeditions, which could 
only fatigue and disgust the mind of the reader with the unvaried 
picture of carnage, pillage, and devastation. The wealth of the 
churches continued to allure their rapacity : each succeeding 
year was marked by the fall of some celebrated monastery ; and 
the monks, in sorrowful astonishment, bewailed the rapid de 
population of their order. 

About the middle of the ninth century, Ragnar Lodbrog, a 
vikingr renowned for courage and cruelty, who had led his fol 
lowers to the walls of Paris, and had wrung from the pusillani 
mity of Charles the Bald the most valuable of his treasures, was 
shipwrecked on the coast of Northumbria. Undismayed at his 
misfortune, the intrepid barbarian collected the remains of his 
troops, and had begun to plunder the nearest villages, when ^Ella, 
the usurper of the Northumbrian sceptre, advanced to chastise 
his insolence. The pride of Ragnar refused to retire before a 
superior enemy. He fought, was taken, and by his death paid 
the forfeit of his temerity. 12 The Danes could not reasonably 

10 Ale. Ep. 49. Ann. 794. 

11 Chr. Sax. p. 66. Walling, p. 533. Sim. Dun. p. 88. 

2The adventures of Ragnar are but obscurely hinted in our national writers: the 
industry of Mr. Turner has collected the particulars from the northern historians. Hist, 
vol. ii. p. 115. 



216 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

accuse the severity of the conqueror. Had the chance of battle 
delivered JElla into the hands of the vikingr, he would have in 
flicted a similar fate. But his sons (they were ten in number) 
vowed to revenge the death of their father : the pirates of the 
north crowded to their standard; and the most formidable fleet 
which had ever sailed from the harbours of Scandinavia, steered 
to the coast of the East-Angles. By the terror of their name and 
numbers, they extorted from the king a reluctant permission to 
land ; and, during the winter, were supported at the expense of 
the inhabitants. 13 The return of spring summoned them to the 
work of vengeance. From the banks of the Ouse, the flames of 
war were spread to the river Tyne : the towns, churches, and 
monasteries were laid in ashes; and so complete was their 
destruction, that succeeding generations could with difficulty 
trace the vestiges of their former existence. 14 JElla, and his com 
petitor Osbert, forgetting their private quarrel, united in defence 
of their country. But the latter was slain in the field : the for 
mer fell into the hands of his enemies, and the torments, which 
he was made to suffer, gratified, but did not satiate their resent 
ment. 15 Intimidated by the fate of their princes, the inhabitants 
to the north of the Tyne endeavoured, by a timely submission, 
to avert the arms of the invaders. But Halfdene had tasted the 
fruits of sacrilege ; and after an uncertain delay of eight years, 
he crossed the river with a strong division of the army, and 
levelled to the ground every church in the kingdom of Bernicia. 
The abbey of Tynemouth first attracted his rapacity. From its 
smoking ruins he directed his march towards the island of Lin- 
disfarne. The monastery had risen from its ashes, and was again 
peopled with a numerous colony of monks. By the approach 
of Halfdene, they were plunged into the deepest consternation 
and perplexity. The fate of their predecessors warned them to 
retire before the arrival of the barbarians : piety forbade them to 
abandon to insult the body of St. Cuthbert. From this distress 
ing dilemma they were relieved by the recollection of an aged 
monk, who reminded them of the wish expressed by the saint at 
his death, that if his children should be obliged to quit the island, 
his bones might accompany their exile. 16 The shrine which 
contained his body, with the remains of the other bishops of 
Lindisfarne, was instantly removed from the altar ; and the most 
virtuous among the clergy were selected to bear it from the 
monastery, to a place of security. With tears the monks bade a 

% 

> 3 Anno 866. 

14 Cruore atque luctu omnia replevit : ecclesias longe lateque et monasteria ferro atque 
igne delevit, nil prater solos sine tecto parietes abiens reliquit, in tantum ut ilia quae 
praesens est setas, ipsorum locorum vix aliquid, interdum nullum, aritiquao nobilitatis 
possit revisere signum. Sim. Dunel. Hist. Eccl. Dun. p. 93. 

1 5 Chron. Sax. p. 79. Anno 867. l6 Bed. Vit. St. Cuth. c. xxxix. 



NUNS OF COLDINGHAM. 217 

last adieu to the walls in which they had devoted themselves to 
the monastic profession : the loftiest of the Northumbrian moun 
tains screened them from the pursuit of the infidels ; and the 
people crowded for protection to the remains of their patron. 
The abbey was pillaged, and given to the names. 17 

From Lindisfarne, the pursuit of plunder led Halfdene to the 
walls of Coldingham. Of the nuns of this monastery a story has 
been related, which, though its truth may be problematical, 13 
is not repugnant to the stern virtue of the cloister, or the national 
enthusiasm of the Anglo-Saxons. ^Ebba, whose maternal au 
thority the sisterhood obeyed, was not ignorant of the character 
of the chief or his followers. She had learned that their impiety 
devoted to instant death the ministers of religion ; and that the 
females were invariably the victims, first of their lust, and then 
of their cruelty. Alarmed at their approach, she hastened to the 
chapter-house, assembled the trembling sisters, and exhorted 
those, who valued their honour to preserve it from pollution by 
the sacrifice of their beauty. At that instant, drawing a knife 
from her bosom, she inflicted a ghastly wound on her counte 
nance : and the nuns, with pious barbarity, followed the exam 
ple of their mother. The gates were soon forced : the Danes 
turned with horror from the hideous spectacle : and these mar 
tyrs to chastity perished in the flames which consumed their 
monastery. 

Seven years were devoted by the barbarians to the acquisition 
of plunder; nor did they sheathe the sword till the general 
devastation bade defiance to their rapacity. During this period, 
the monks of Lindisfarne wandered from mountain to mountain, 
to elude the vigilance of their enemies : but their labours were 
sanctified in their eyes, by the merit of preserving from insult 
the body of their patron : and they fondly compared themselves 
to the Israelites, who conveyed through the wilderness, to the 
land of promise, the bones of the patriarch Joseph. The lot of 
the seven individuals who carried the shrine, was the object of 
general envy ; their families thought themselves ennobled by the 
privilege ; and their descendants, through many generations, 
claimed a superiority over the rest of the natives. 19 At the return 
of tranquillity, the survivors, descending from the mountains, 
solicited the protection of the conquerors. By the Danes it was 

17 Ann. 875. Sim. Dunel. p. 95. 

18 The first writer by whom it is known to have been mentioned, is Matthew of West 
minster. Though he may be considered as one of our more modern chroniclers, yet his 
authority is not contemptible. His history, in the passages which can be compared, is 
generally a transcript or abridgment of the Saxon chronicle, and the most early 
writers : whence it may be fairly inferred, that in the composition of the remainder, he 
consulted other ancient records, which have perished in the revolutions of so many 
centuries. The same remark will apply to Malmsbury, Hoveden, Huntingdon, &c. 

9 Sim. Dunel. p. 113. 

28 T 



218 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

willingly granted : the body of the saint was deposited at Con- 
chester ; 20 and new honours were paid to his memory. 

The ravages of Halfdene inflicted a deadly wound on the 
monastic institute in the kingdom of Northumbria. Within the 
short space of seven years, all the abbeys which ancient piety 
had founded, were swept away ; and of their inhabitants, the 
few who had survived the general calamity were unable or un 
willing to procure proselytes. With them the order of Northum 
brian monks may be said to have expired. A constant succession 
is, indeed, asserted to have watched at the shrine of St. Cuthbert : 
but we are also assured, that their number never exceeded three 
individuals at any one time, during the long lapse of two hundred 
and eight years. 21 It was not till the reign of William the Con 
queror, that the institute was revived by the industry of Aldwin, 
a monk of Evesham, who collected a small colony from the 
southern monasteries, and fixed his residence amid the ruins of 
Jarrow, from which he shortly migrated to the new church of 
Durham. 22 

In the annals of northern piracy, all the leaders are equally 
cruel, and equally versed in the arts of devastation. While 
Northumbria was abandoned to the fury of Halfdene, five Danish 
kings, with as many jarls, led their retainers across the Hnmber, 
to the opposite coast of Lincolnshire. 23 The abbey of Bardney 
was the first to experience their barbarity. It was pillaged, and 
then consumed over the mangled bodies of its inhabitants. From 
Bardney they passed the Witham, into the country of the Girvii: 
but their progress was retarded by the opposition of a determined, 
though inconsiderable band of patriots. Algar, the ealdorman, 
had summoned the neighbouring thanes to his standard : Theo 
dore, the abbot of Croyland, sent to his assistance two hundred 
veterans, under the command of Tolius, then a monk, but for 
merly an officer of distinction in the armies of Mercia : and the 
courage of the soldiers was stimulated by the dangers of a defeat, 
the tears of their families, and the prayers of the religious. Their 
first essay was successful ; and the death of three of their kings 
taught the barbarians to respect the valour of their adversaries. 
During the night the Danes recalled their detachments, and con 
soled themselves with the hopes of revenge : a panic struck the 
Christians, and, under the covert of darkness, three-fourths of the 



20 Now Chester-le-street. It was called Conchester, from the small river Con. Lei. 
Itin. vol. ix. p. 61. 
2 Sim. Dunel. p. 99. 

22 Plane a tempore, quo a pagania ecclesiae in provincia Northanhymbrorum eversse 
et monasteria sunt destructa atque incensa, usque ad tertium annum prsesulatus 
Walchelini, quando per Aldwinum in ipsam provinciam venientem, monachorum in ilia 
coepit habitatio reviviscere, ducenti et octo computantur anni. Id. p. 207. 

23 An. 870. 



DESTRUCTION OF CROYLAND. 219 

army silently withdrew from the scene of danger. 24 Their 
retreat irritated, but did not dismay the few who remained : the 
intermediate hours were dedicated to the exercises of religion ; 
and each man devoutly received the viaticum from the hands of 
the officiating priest. At the dawn of light they repaired to their 
posts, and foiled with the most patient courage the successive 
assaults of their numerous enemies. At sunset the Danes ap 
peared to retire : with shouts of victory the Christians rushed to 
the pursuit ; and by their imprudence forfeited the reward due 
to their valour. The flight was only a feint. The fugitives 
turned against their pursuers : and the small and unconnected 
bands of the Saxons quickly disappeared beneath the swords of 
the multitude. 

It was midnight when the melancholy tidings reached the 
abbey of Croyland. Theodore and his monks were employed 
in the church, in chanting matins : but the cries of the messen 
gers summoned them from the duties of religion to the care of 
their own safety. The younger part of the brotherhood were 
ordered to secure their charters, relics, and jewels, to cross the 
lake, and to conceal themselves in a distant wood ; while Theo 
dore himself, in company with the children and the more aged 
of the monks, awaited the arrival of the barbarians. The old 
man was unwilling to abandon his monastery, without making 
an attempt to avert its fate : and he cherished a fallacious hope, 
that the innocence of the children and the gray hairs of his 
brethren (several had passed their hundreth year) would awaken 
sentiments of pity, even in the breasts of the Danes. While the 
necessary arrangements were made, the flames from the neigh 
bouring villages gradually approached, and the shouts of the 
barbarians admonished the fugitives to depart. With heavy 
hearts the two companies embraced, and separated forever. 25 

From the beach the junior monks, to the number of thirty, 
steered across the lake to the place of concealment : Theodore, 
with the companions of his fortune, returned to the choir, re 
sumed the matins, and celebrated mass. Just as he had commu 
nicated, the Danes arrived. The solitude and silence of the 
cloisters would have induced a belief that the inhabitants had 
fled, had not the distant chant of the monks directed the barbarians 
to the church. The gates were forced without difficulty : and 
Osketul, the Danish chieftain, rushing into the choir, seized the 
abbot by the hair, and struck off his head at the foot of the altar. 
The officiating ministers were despatched by the swords of his 

24 In the printed copies of Ingulf, the Christians are said to have dwindled from 800 
to 200, (Ing. inter, scrip, post Bed. f. 492. Rer. Anglii. scrip, torn. i. p. 2 1 :) in the 
chronicle of Peterborough, with greater probability, from 8000 to 2000. (Chron. Abb. 
do Burg. p. 16, edit. Sparke.) 

Ing. p. 22. 



220 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

followers: but the children and the more aged of the monks 
were reserved for the torture. It was expected that pain and 
fear would easily extort a discovery of the concealment of their 
treasures, and the retreat of their brethren. But the constancy 
of their minds was superior to the weakness of their bodies ; 
and their sufferings were soon terminated by the impatience of 
the barbarians. One victim alone was spared ; a boy of ten 
years of age, and distinguished by his beauty. His name was 
Turgar. He had accompanied the sub-prior Lethwin to the 
refectory ; stood by him till he expired under the daggers of his 
murderers ; and eagerly solicited the favour of sharing the fate 
of his tutor. The heart of the younger Sidroc, the Danish jarl, 
relented. He tore the cowl from the head of the boy, threw a 
eloak over his shoulders, and bade him to be careful to follow 
his footsteps. 26 

As soon as the barbarians had glutted their appetite for blood, 
they abandoned themselves to the pursuit of plunder. Every 
recess was burst open, and every corner was searched with the 
eye of desire and suspicion. Their avarice violated even the 
mansions of the dead. Around the shrine of St. Guthlake stood 
a range of marble monuments, in which were entombed the 
mortal remains of the saints and benefactors of the abbey. These 
the infidels defaced and demolished, scattered the bones on the 
pavement, and raked in the dust for the chalices, rings, and 
trinkets, which our ancestors were accustomed to bury with the 
body. Three days were employed in these researches : on the 
fourth they set fire to different parts of the building, and directed 
their march towards Medeshamstede. 

Medeshamstede, afterwards called Peterborough, was an ab 
bey of royal foundation, and had been enriched by the profuse 
donations of several princes. It possessed a library to which 
few others were equal ; the magnificence of the fabric was the 
pride of Saxon architecture ; and the church, dedicated to the 
prince of the apostles, was, if we may believe a suspicious 
charter, exempted from the jurisdiction of the diocesan, and en 
dowed by the favour of Pope Agatho with the privileges which 
distinguished St. Peter s at Rome. 27 Within its walls the 
inhabitants of the neighbourhood sought protection from the 
arms of the infidels ; and the issue of the first assault seemed to 
justify their hopes. In the second, a stone from an unknown 
hand wounded the brother of Hubba, a Danish king. Eager for 
revenge, the barbarian redoubled his efforts : and the garrison 
shrunk in despair from the defence of the principal gate. Resist 
ance ceased with the entrance of the enemy. The fury of the 

26 Ing. p. 22. 

27 Chr. Sax. p. 35, 36. Wilk. p. 44. Hugo Cand. p. 4, edit. Sparke. 



DESTRUCTION OF MEDESHAMSTEDE. 221 

soldiers was satisfied with the slaughter of the crowd of strangers : 
a long train of more distinguished victims was reserved for the 
vengeance of the king ; and Hubba with his own hand immo 
lated the abbot, and eighty-three monks, to the shade of his 
brother. His barbarity was rewarded with spoils more numerous 
than those of Croyland. The monks had not removed their 
treasures : and the imprudence of the neighbouring inhabitants 
had deposited with them their most valuable effects. After the 
division of the plunder the monastery was burnt. The confla 
gration lasted fifteen days. 28 

Turgar, the boy of Croyland, had hitherto preserved his life 
under the protection of Sidroc. But his situation now became 
more dangerous, and he was admonished by his patron to avoid 
the eyes of the implacable Hubba. Alarmed at the advice, he 
embraced a favourable moment to secrete himself from the view 
of the Danes; and travelling all night through the woods, 
reached his former residence early in the morning. His arrival 
was just preceded by that of the younger monks, who had 
ventured to leave their concealment, and were beginning to 
extinguish the flames. The sight of Turgar revived their hopes ; 
his faithful narrative realized their fears. The fate of Theodore 
and their brethren was heard with the deepest anguish : they 
forgot the object of their labours; and, seated amid the smoking 
ruins, abandoned themselves to the lamentations of sorrow and 
despair. From this inactivity they were at length awakened by 
the necessity of their situation. To supply the place of Theo 
dore, Godric was chosen, a monk distinguished among his 
brethren for his superior wisdom and piety. By his direction 
they made it their first care to drag-fromthe ruins the half-burnt 
bodies of their brethren, and to commit them with decent 
solemnity to the grave. Scarcely had they completed this pious 
ceremony, when they were requested by the hermits of Ancarig 
to perform the same office for the monks of Medeshamstede. 
With painful research they collected their bodies ; dug before the 
entrance of the church a deep and spacious grave ; deposited in 
the centre the mangled corpse of the abbot ; and placed around 
him the remains of his eighty-three companions. To perpetuate 
their memory, Godric built over the tomb a pyramid of stone, on 
which was rudely engraved the history of this bloody catastrophe ; 
and opposite to the pyramid he raised an image of Christ nailed 
to the cross. The public road lay between them ; and the pious 
abbot hoped that the presence of the crucifix would prevent 
travellers from profaning so sacred a spot, and the figures on the 
monument induce them to offer up a prayer for those whose 
ashes reposed beneath it. As for himself, these victims of 

28 Ing. p. 23. 

T 2 



222 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Danish barbarity were never absent from his recollection. An 
nually, as long as he lived, on the anniversary of their massacre, 
he visited the cemetery, pitched his tent over the grave, and 
spent two days in celebrating masses, and performing the other 
devotions to which Catholic charity has attributed the power of 
benefiting the souls of the departed. 29 

From Medeshamstede, the Danes directed their march to the 
isle of Ely, in which was situated a great and opulent monastery, 
originally founded by Edilthryda, the pious queen of Northum- 
bria. The elevated rank, and edifying sanctity of the abbesses, 
by whom it was first governed, had raised it to a high pre-emi 
nence among the southern convents ; and its cloisters were still 
crowded with the most noble and most virtuous of the Saxon 
ladies. It might have been expected, that to these female re 
cluses, the fate of Croyland and Medeshamstede would have fur 
nished a useful lesson. Some, indeed, listened to the suggestions 
of prudence, and shunned by flight the approach of the barba 
rians. But the greater part refused to abandon their convent : 
and their determination was confirmed by the afflux of the neigh 
bouring inhabitants, who conveyed their families and effects to 
Ely, as to a secure asylum. The extensive lake by which the 
monastery was surrounded, presented a formidable obstacle to 
the approach of an enemy : and those who were not encouraged 
by the sanctity, trusted at least to the natural strength of the 
place. Perhaps, if their efforts had been directed by an intelli 
gent leader, or if their foe had been less determined, they would 
have had no reason to condemn their confidence : and their ex 
ample might at a later period have stimulated the band of pa 
triots, who, in the same place, bade defiance, during several 
years, to all the power of the Norman conqueror. 30 But the 
Danes, with the prospect of accumulated plunder before their 
eyes, were not to be retarded by the appearance of difficulties : 
in spite of every opposition they transported their army across 
the water, and effected a landing on the island. From this in 
stant, submission or resistance was equally fruitless : the massa 
cres of Croyland and Medeshamstede were renewed ; the abbey 
was burned ; and the nuns, after suffering indignities worse than 
death, ultimately perished by the sword or in the flames. 31 

From these instances we may learn to estimate the sufferings 
of the monastic and clerical orders during the long period of 
Danish devastation. Each kingdom in succession became the 
theatre of their fury. The subjection of East Anglia was secured 
by the captivity of its monarch ; and his unprovoked murder 

29 ... Omni anno quamdiu vixit semel visitans, supra pctram suum tentorium 
figens pro animabus ibidem sepultorum misas per biduum devotione continua celebravit. 
Ing. p. 24. 

3 Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 609. Ing. p. 24, 



VICTORIES OF ALFRED. 223 

showed, that to the barbarians the blood of kings was as grate 
ful a spectacle as that of monks. Burrhed of Mercia exhibited 
at first a vigour worthy of his exalted station : but his spirit sunk 
with repeated defeats ; he abandoned the crown which he was 
unable to retain ; and the victors placed it on the head of the 
traitor Ceolwolph. 32 This shadow of a king was only the sport 
and victim of their caprice. Within twelve months he was con 
ducted from the throne to the prison, restored to the regal power, 
and then deprived of the sceptre and life. The Thames alone 
separated the barbarians from the more opulent provinces on the 
southern coast : they passed that river, subdued the feeble king 
doms of Kent and Sussex, and compelled the West Saxons, after 
an obstinate struggle, to shrink from the contest. Free from ap 
prehension, they abandoned themselves, during several months, 
to the licentiousness of victory : and indulged without remorse 
their passion for bloodshed and plunder. But security relaxed 
their vigilance ; and Alfred, who had secreted himself among the 
morasses of Somersetshire, started, at a favourable moment, from 
his concealment, and surprised his enemies in their camp. 33 This 
success was the prelude to more important victories : the king 
improved every advantage ; and the invaders were compelled 
either to retire from the island, or to acknowledge themselves the 
vassals of the conqueror. Many years, however, elapsed before 
tranquillity was restored. Hordes of barbarians successively 
landed on the coast, and solicited by promises and threats the 
wavering fidelity of their countrymen. But their insolence was 
severely chastised by Alfred and his successors, and at last all 
the tribes of the Danes, as well as of the Saxons, submitted to 
the crown of W T essex. 

At this period the English church offered to the friends of reli 
gion a melancholy and alarming spectacle. 1. The laity had re 
sumed the ferocity of their heathen forefathers : 2. The clergy 
were dissolute and illiterate : 3. And the monastic order was in 
a manner annihilated. 

1. The numerous massacres of the war had considerably thin 
ned the population of the country ; and to supply the deficiency, 
Alfred had adopted an obvious but inadequate expedient, in the 
naturalization of several thousand Danes. In every country the 
strangers were intermixed with the natives : in East Anglia arid 
Northumbria, their numbers greatly exceeded the descendants 
of the ancient inhabitants. If the sacred rite of baptism had en 
titled the barbarians to the appellation and privileges of Chris 
tians, their manners and notions still reduced them to a level 
with their pagan brethren. The superstition of Scandinavia was 
in many places restored. The charms and incantations of magic 

32 Ann. p. 874. 33 Ann. 878. 



224 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

amused the credulity of the people ; the worship of Odin was 
publicly countenanced, or clandestinely preserved: and oaths 
and punishments were often employed in vain to extort from 
these nominal converts an external respect for the institutions of 
Christianity. The morals of many among the Anglo-Saxons 
were scarcely superior to those of the naturalized Danes. During 
the long and eventful contest, the administration of justice had 
been frequently suspended : habits of predatory warfare had in 
troduced a spirit of insubordination : and impunity had strength 
ened the impulse of the passions. To the slow and tranquil pro 
fits of industry, were preferred the violent but sudden acquisi 
tions of rapine : the roads were infested with robbers ; and the 
numbers and audacity of the banditti compelled the more peace 
ful inhabitants to associate for the protection of their lives, fami 
lies, and property. The dictates of natural equity, the laws of 
the gospel, and the regulations of ecclesiastical discipline were 
despised. The indissoluble knot of marriage was repeatedly dis 
severed at the slightest suggestion of passion or disgust : and, in 
defiance of divine and human prohibitions, the nuptial union 
was frequently polluted and degraded by the unnatural crime of 
incest. To reform the degeneracy of his subjects, Alfred pub 
lished a new code of laws, extracted from those of his predeces 
sors and of the Jewish legislator : and the execution of forty -four 
judges in one year shows both the inflexible severity of the king, 
and the depravity of those whose duty it was to be the guar 
dians of the national morals. 34 That his efforts were attended 
with partial success is not improbable ; but from the complaints 
and improvements of later legislators, it is evident that it re 
quired a succession of several generations before the ancient spi 
rit of licentiousness could be suppressed and extinguished. 35 

2. In the preceding pages the reader will have observed the 
degeneracy of the Anglo-Saxon scholars, after the death of Bede 
and his disciples. If the learning of their predecessors cast a fee 
ble ray of light on the close of the eighth century, it was entirely 
extinguished by the devastations of the Northmen, and quickly 
succeeded by a night of the profoundest ignorance. This lament 
able change is amply and feelingly described by the pen of a 
royal witness. " There was a time," says Alfred in his letter to 
Wulsige, " when foreigners sought wisdom and learning in this 
island. Now we are compelled to seek them in foreign lands. 
Such was the general ignorance among the English, that there 
were very few on this side the Humber, (and I t dare say not 

34 Miroir des justices, c. v. cit. Walker in vit. ^Elfr. p. 82. 

35 This account of the immorality of the Saxons, after the Danish invasion, is ex 
tracted from the letter of Fulco to Alfred, noticed by Flodoard, (1. iv. c. 5, p. 612,) the 
epistle of Formosus, (Wilk. p. 200,) the laws of Alfred and his successors, (Wilk. leg. 
p, 28 64,) and the judicia civitatis Lundoniso, (ibid. p. 66.) 



IGNORANCE OP THE PEOPLE. 225 

many on the other,) who could understand the service in Eng 
lish, or translate a Latin epistle into their own language. So 
few were they, that I do not recollect a single individual to the 
south of the Thames who was able to do it, when I ascended the 
throne." 36 To revive the study of literature became one of the 
first objects which inflamed the ambition of the monarch : he so 
licited the assistance of the most distinguished scholars in the 
neighbouring nations ; and Wales, Flanders, and Germany saw 
themselves deprived of their brightest lights, by his promises 
and presents. 

In the year 883, an honourable embassy of thanes, bishops, 
priests, and deacons, sailed from England to France. The ob 
ject of their mission was to solicit teachers from the Gallic 
churches. From one of the two monasteries that bore the name 
of Corbie, they procured the presbyter John, a native of Old 
Saxony : from Fulco, archbishop of Rheims and abbot of St. 
Bertin s, the provost Grimbald, a monk renowned for his know 
ledge of the Holy Scriptures, and his proficiency in the science 
of music. 37 Soon after, Asser, a canon of St. David s in Wales, 

as Hu man uc on bonbe pipbom ~\ lane hibep. on lanbe pohte. 
*] pe hinu pceolbanute begitan. gip pe hi habban pceolban. Spa 
claene heo paep oftpeallen on Anjelcynne. $ ppifte pepa paepon 
beheonan Humbne J?e hina fenunge cubon unbenpcanban on 
Gnglipc. oftfte an senenbgepjiyc op laebene on Gnjhp c aneccan. 
*] ic pene j5 nahc momge begeonban Humbne nacnon. Spa peapa 
heona paepon. f ic punfton anne aenlenne ne 111335 ge]?encan 
bepuftan Thamipe. fa fa ic to jiice peng. ^Eif. ep. apud Walk, vit 
^Elf. p. 196. Wise s Asser, p. 82. 

37 Wise s Asser, p. 47. 62. 123. Among the learned foreigners whom the liberality 
of Alfred drew around him, a place has been allotted to Joannes Scotus Erigena, a bold 
metaphysical writer of the ninth century. Mr. Turner has mentioned him with pecu 
liar distinction in his history, and labours to prove that he is the same person with John, 
abbot of Athelingey, mentioned by Asser. But I think it clear from the testimony of 
Asser, that they were different persons. 1. Scotus is universally acknowledged to have 
been a native of Ireland : the abbot of Athelingey was born among the Saxons of Ger 
many, (Eald-Saxonum genere. Asser, p. 61.) 2. Scotus was neither a priest nor a 
monk, (Mabil. srec. iv. Bened. torn. ii. p. 510:) the abbot of Athelingey was both a 
priest and a monk, (presbyterum et monachum. Asser, p. 47. 61.) I even think it 
may be doubted whether Scotus ever came to England. The passage in Ingulf (de 
veteri Saxonia Johannem, cognomine Scotum, acerrimi ingenii philosophum. Ing. p. 
27) is evidently taken from Asser, and the apparent contradiction which it contains, 
provokes a strong suspicion that the words in italics were added to the original text by 
the officiousness of some blundering copyist. But what answer can be made to the 
consentient authority of Malmsbury, (De Reg. 1. ii. c. iv. f. 24. De Pont. 1. iv. p. 360,) 
Simeon, (De Reg. p. 148,) Hoveden, (f. 240, anno 883,) and Westminster? (p. 171, 
anno 883.) As the three latter have done no more than transcribe Malmsbury, the 
whole account must rest on his authority : and from the hesitation with which he 

speaks, (creditur sub ambiguo. De Reg. f. 24,) joined to the silence of Asser, 

when he mentions the literary characters at the court of Alfred, it may be fairly infer 
red, that the claims of Scotus are built on a very treacherous foundation. Malmsbury 
indeed refers to Alfred s works, for the proof that Scotus was his master, (ut ex scriptis 
regie intellexi. De Reg. f. 24. De Pont. p. 361.) But if I have not mistaken the pas- 
29 



226 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

visited Alfred at the royal city of Dene, and was requested by 
the king to fix his residence in England. The pride of the 
Welshman was flattered ; but he hesitated to abandon the church 
in which he had been educated and ordained. After a short 
struggle his scruples were silenced : he consented to divide the 
year between the English court and the monastery of St. David, 
and his compliance was munificently rewarded by the gratitude 
of his patron. 38 To these learned foreigners, Alfred joined the 
priests Werewulf and Ethelstan, and the bishops, Plegmund of 
Canterbury, and Werfrith of Worcester ; invited the nobility and 
clergy to profit by their instructions, and endeavoured to stimu 
late by his own example the industry of his subjects. The fruit 
of his application is manifest in the numerous translations which 
he published ; and his letter to Wulsige proves, that it was not 
vanity, but the purest patriotism, which guided the pen of the 
royal author. 39 Alfred lived to see the result of his efforts, and 
was enabled to boast that knowledge was once more decorated 
with the episcopal mitre. Yet his success was only partial. 
After his death literature languished, perhaps declined, till the 
accession of Edgar, when it received a new stimulus from the 
zeal and industry of Archbishop Dunstan. 

Amid the horrors of a destructive war, the issue of which 
involved the very existence of their country, the vigilance of the 
prelates might, perhaps, be expected to slumber : but the pas 
sions of their inferiors were awake, and actively employed in 
undermining the strongest pillars of ecclesiastical discipline. From 
the arrival of St. Augustine, to the devastations of the Danes, a 
married priest was an anomalous being, unknown to the consti 
tution of the Saxon church. 40 But during this eventful period 
there arose men, whose ignorance could not comprehend, or 
whose passions refused to obey, the prohibitory statutes of their 
ancestors : the celibacy of the clergy was openly infringed ; and 
impunity promoted the diffusion of the scandal. Of this bold 
innovation, the first hint occurs in the writings of a foreign pre 
late. Fulco, archbishop of Rheims, in a letter to the English 
monarch, congratulates him on the election of Plegmund to the 
see of Canterbury, a prelate whose vigour will quickly suppress 
the impiety, that teaches the lawfulness of matrimony both in 

sage to which he alludes, it must prove the contrary. " I learned the Latin language," 
says the king, " from Plegmund, my archbishop, Asser, my bishop, and Grimbald and 
John, my mass-priests." Ep. ^Elf. ad Wuls. p. 196. But Scotus, as I observed be 
fore, was not a priest, and the John alluded to by the king, must hav e been John, the 
native of Old Saxony. 

38 Asser, p. 50. 

39 Apud Walk. vit. ^Elf. p. 196. Alfred translated Bede s Ecclesiastical History, 
Orosius, Boetius, St. Gregory s pastorals, part of the psalms, and selections from the 
works of St. Augustine. He also wrote other works, which are lost or unknown. 

4 See Chap. 3. 



DEGENERACY OP THE CLERGY. 227 

priests and bishops. 41 The latter part of the charge may be 
ascribed to the treacherous voice of fame, as it is unsupported by 
the testimony of any other more ancient or more recent writer: 
the origin of the former may be fairly deduced from the igno 
rance and the iniquity of the times. Repeated massacres had 
almost extinguished the higher orders of the hierarchy : in 
several places the parochial and cathedral clergy had entirely 
disappeared : and necessity compelled the bishops to select can 
didates for the priesthood from the inferior clerks, of whom 
many, without infringing the ecclesiastical canons, had embraced 
the state of marriage. 42 Perhaps the bishops, conceiving them 
selves justified by the pressure of circumstances, and the example 
of the primitive church, exacted from them no promise of conti- 
nency : perhaps it was sometimes exacted, but not always ob 
served : and an acquaintance with the records of the age will 
show, that these suppositions have not been hastily assumed. 43 
Certain, however, it is, that from this period we observe married 
clergymen performing the functions of the priesthood in the Saxon 
church; and, though the ancient prohibitions were frequently 
enforced, under the penalty of the loss of ecclesiastical benefices, 
and the deprivation of Christian burial, the disease was too deep 
ly rooted in the human constitution, to be eradicated by the 
s everest remedies. Though often suppressed, it as often re 
appeared. I must, however, add, that after the most minute 
investigation, I cannot discover the married clergy to have been 
as numerous as the policy of some writers has prompted them to 
assert ; nor do I believe that the Anglo-Saxon history, even in 
the most calamitous periods, can furnish a single instance of a 
priest who ventured to marry after his ordination. 44 

A second and almost incurable wound was inflicted on the 
discipline of the age, by the dissolution of the clerical monasteries 
and the conversion of the conventual clergy into secular canons. 
By living in communities, and regulating their conduct according 
to the decisions of certain rules, the ecclesiastics had been with- 

11 See Flodoard, 1. iv. c. 5, p. 612, 613. 

42 Such appears to have been the situation of the clergy of Lindisfarne. They were 
reduced at last, to the few clerks who carried the body of St. Cuthbert, and these were 
afterwards raised to the priesthood. Compare p. 107. 113. 143. St. Epiphanius 
assigns the same reason for the toleration of married priests, in some dioceses of the 
ancient church. TK?O a Trxpx, ]ov Kav&v*, a.x\x. TT^JL lv la>v avS^awav xtrct x.*i^v ^upwTa.<rxv 
Stavoixv, K-U T8 !TA8is? evuttv, [AH o^/o-jts^w uTrsgfcrt*?. Hseres. 59, p. 496. 

43 Wilk. p. 225. 229. 233. Sim. p. 170. 

41 In the Antiquitates Britannicre Ecclesife, of Archbishop Parker, and the Prsesules 
Anglican!, of Bishop Godwin, the eye is fatigued with the constant repetition of Sacer- 
dotes in conjugio legitimo pie viventes; and Spelman and Wilkins are careful to prefix 
so grateful a phrase to the title and prefaces of the charters which they have published. 
They should, however, to prevent mistakes, have informed their readers, that this ex 
pression is of modem date, and has been recently prefixed to ancient records, in order 
to supply the deficiency of the original text. 



228 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

drawn from the commerce of the world, and more strictly con 
fined to the discharge of their religious duties. By the invasion 
of the Danes most of these confraternities were dispersed ; and 
their members, in the families of their friends and relatives, ac 
quired a love of pleasure, a spirit of independence, and a con 
tempt of regular discipline. Of the younger clerks, some adopted 
the married state, nor was there any canon which condemned 
their conduct : others plunged with precipitation into the vices 
of the age, and by their licentiousness shocked the piety of their 
more fervent brethren. The restoration of tranquillity invited 
the survivors to return to their monasteries : but the yoke which 
their virtue had formerly rendered light, now pressed on the 
shoulders of many as an intolerable burden. In several instances 
they ventured to emancipate themselves from the restraints of 
ancient discipline, divided among themselves the revenues of their 
churches, lived in separate families, and confined themselves 
solely to the obligation of assisting daily in the choir during the 
public worship. Even this obligation was soon despised : they 
accepted the vicarious services of others ; and retired to the farms 
attached to their respective prebends. To indulge in ease and 
indolence seemed to be their principal object : and the .care of 
serving the Almighty was abandoned to the industry of merce 
nary substitutes. 45 

3. While the reputation of the clergy was thus obscured by 
their ignorance and degeneracy, the monastic profession had 
rapidly sunk into insignificance and contempt. There was scarce 
a monastery, which had escaped the visits- of the invaders ; and 
the devastation which had been begun by the rapacity of the 
Danes, was completed by the policy of the Saxon princes. To 
replenish their treasuries, exhausted by the continuance of the 
war, the monastic possessions presented an easy and adequate 
expedient; and while a considerable portion was annexed to 
the royal domains, the remainder was divided among the re 
tainers of the prince. 46 Of the monks who had survived the ruin 
of their convents, many engaged in secular professions, some re- 

45 See the Saxon Chronicle, (p. 117,) Osbern, (Vit. Duns. p. 112,) Eadmer, (Vit 
Duns. p. 219,) Annales Ecclesiao Wintoniensis, (p. 288.) 

46 The torch of Hymen has enabled Archbishop Parker to discover secrets, placed far 
beyond the unassisted ken of mortals. He gravely informs his readers, that the de 
struction of the monasteries was ordained by Providence, as a punishment for the diabo 
lic superstition of the monks : and that the prosperity enjoyed by Alfred and his im 
mediate successors, was granted by Heaven, as a reward for the pious marriages of the 
clergy. (Hscc licuit in medium proferre ut occultum Dei judicium inr obruendis mona- 
chorum cultibus superstitiosis et diabolicis .... probe animadvertamus. Monacho- 
rum loco succedebant presbyteri, qui in conjugio legitimo pie vivebant. Tune vero 
Deus Opt. Max. prtebuit se magis mitem atque placabilem erga Anglicanam gen tern. 
Ant. Brit. fol. 72, 73.) It was unfortunate for the primate, that he could not change 
the fate of Edwin, the patron of the clergy, for that of Edgar, the protector of the monks. 
But all parties have had their bigots. 



EXTINCTION OP THE MONASTIC ORDER. 229 

tired to the churches which were still served by the clergy, and 
a few endeavoured to re-establish and perpetuate the institute. 47 
But their efforts were ineffectual : and poverty, or the difficulty 
of procuring proselytes, compelled them to relinquish the fruitless 
object. 48 The days were past, when kings were ambitious to 
exchange the crown for the cowl. That ferocity of manners, 
which constant habits of warfare had inspired, equally despised 
the milder pleasures of society and the duties of religion : no 
profession could command respect but that of arms; and the 
monastic institute was condemned, as calculated only for mer 
cenaries and slaves. 49 When Alfred re-ascended the throne, he 
endeavoured to raise the order from the obscurity in which it 
languished ; and selected for the attempt the memorable spot, 
which had concealed him from the pursuit of the Danes. But it 
was easier to found the monastery of Ethelingey, than to people 
it with inhabitants. Among his subjects no one would conde 
scend to put on the monastic habit. 50 He was compelled to col 
lect a colony of monks from the monasteries in Gaul, and to the 
strangers he added a competent number of foreign children, who 
by their education might acquire a predilection for the institute, 
and by their future choice might ensure its existence. 51 Whether 
the success of the king was answerable to his zeal, we are not 
informed: but circumstances have transpired to justify a suspi 
cion that some of the foreigners soon resigned, perhaps never 
possessed, the true spirit of their profession. Their superior 
was John of Old Saxony, a priest of distinguished talents, and 
one of the royal instructors. His prudent severity incurred the 
hatred of the more worthless among his subjects : two of the 
number formed the horrid design of murdering their abbot ; and 
some of their countrymen, who were servants in the monastery, 
engaged to be the ministers of their vengeance. At the hour 
of midnight, the old man arose in silence according to his custom, 
entered the choir by a private door, and threw himself on his 
knees before the altar. This was the opportunity which the 
assassins expected. While his attention was absorbed in prayer, 
they darted on their unsuspecting victim, and plunged their dag- 

4 7 Ingul. p. 27. 32. 

48 The monks of Croyland amounted to thirty, after the retreat of the Danes. Instead 
of multiplying, they gradually dwindled away by desertion and death, till, in the reign 
of Edred, the whole community consisted of the abbot and two monks. Id. p. 29. 

49 Nullum de sua propria gente nobilem ac liberum hominem, qui monasticam volun- 
tarie vellet subire vitam, habebat. Nimirum quia per multa retroacta annorum curricula 

monastics vitae desiderium ab ea toto gente desierat Propter diviliarum 

abundantiam multo magis id genus despectum monastics) vitae fieri existimo. Asser, 
p. 62. 

fi o Asser, ibid. 

51 Comparavit etiam quamplurimos ejusdem gentis Gallicso, e quibus quosdam infantes 
in eodem monasterio edoceri imperavit, et subsequent! tempore ad monachicum habilura 
flublevari. Id. ibid. 

u 



230 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

gers in his body. His cries alarmed the monks : they crowded to 
the church ; and discovered their abbot weltering in blood. The 
murderers had escaped to the neighbouring woods. They were 
pursued, and, together with their employers, received the punish 
ment due to their crime. 52 

By the death of Alfred the monastic order lost a powerful and 
zealous protector. During the reigns of his immediate succes 
sors, some feeble attempts were made to restore the order to its 
former celebrity ; and the origin of several monasteries is refer 
red by their respective historians to this doubtful period. But 
their existence is denied by the positive testimony of King Ed 
gar : and unless we accuse that prince of sacrificing the truth to 
his vanity, we must believe that under the reigns of his prede 
cessors every monastic establishment was abolished. 53 The An 
glo-Saxons, who, before the time of St. Dunstan, aspired to the 
merit of monachism, either contented themselves with receiving 
the habit from the hands of a bishop, and leading an anachoretical 
life amid the ruins of some deserted abbey, or quitted their native 
country, and in the most celebrated of the foreign monasteries 
laboured to imbibe the spirit, and practise the duties of their pro 
fession. Fleury was their principal resort : and when the order 
was afterwards revived in England, from that monastery were 
imported most of the regulations and the teachers of monastic 
discipline. 54 

The communities of religious women had not suffered less 
than those of the men from the ravages of the barbarians : but 
they were restored with greater success under the patronage of 
Alfred and his queen, Alswitha. The nunnery of Shaftesbury 
was founded by the prince : that of St. Mary at Winchester by 
his royal consort. To people these houses, it was not necessary 
to solicit the assistance of foreigners. The Saxon ladies viewed 

"ibid. 

53 Temporibus antecessorum meorum, regum Anglorum, monasteria tarn monacho- 
rum quam virginum destructa (et) penitus rejecta in tota Anglia erant. Wilk. p. 239. 
Asser informs us, that in his days no one observed the monastic rule, (nullo tamen re- 
gulam illius vitse ordinabiliter tenente. Asser, p. 62.) And Wolstan, the contemporary 
author of the life of St. Ethelwold, observes, that when that prelate was made bishop 
of Winchester, the only monks in England were those whom St. Dunstan had esta 
blished at Abingdon and Glastonbury. (Nam hactenus ea tempestate non habebantur 
monachi in gente Anglorum, nisi tantum qui in Glestonia morabantur et Abbandonia. 
Wolst. in Act. Bened. ssec. v. p. 615.) 

51 Hist. Abend, p. 165. The saints, Dunstan, Oswald, &c., were educated at Fleury, 
familiari per id tempus Anglis consuetudine, ut si qui boni afflati essent desiderio in 
beatissimi Benedict! monasterio ccenobialem susciperunt habitum, a quo religionis hu- 
juscemodi manavit exordium. Malm, de Pont. 1. Hi. f. 153. Does the relative quo refer 
to St. Benedict or the monastery 1 The claims of each antecedent have been fiercely 
maintained. Those who admit the antiquity of the Benedictine institute, have decided 
in favour of the saint: its adversaries are equally positive for the mpnastery, (Brough- 
ton, p. 420.) 

Non nostrum est tantas componere lites. 



ESTABLISHMENT OF CONVENTS. 231 

the retirement of the cloister with less prejudice than the men : 
and the birth, as well as the virtues, of the first abbesses cast an 
inviting lustre on the profession. As soon as Alfred had com 
pleted the convent at Shaftesbury, his daughter, Ethelgeova, 
assumed the government of the infant establishment ; and seve 
ral females of the first distinction hastened to profess themselves 
her disciples. 55 Alswitha envied the tranquil situation of her 
daughter : at the death of Alfred she retired to the abbey of St. 
Mary, and her declining years were solaced by the company and 
the rising virtues of her grand-daughter, Eadburga. The history 
of Eadburga is curious. It was the early wish of her father, 
King Edward, to dt, . te her to the cloister : but to consign to 
perpetual confinement an infant who was yet unable to choose 
for herself, was an idea that staggered his resolution. 56 He hesi 
tated, and, after some deliberation, committed the decision of his 
scruples to a singular and most uncertain experiment. Ead 
burga (she was but three years old) was conducted into a cham 
ber, in one corner of which had previously been placed a collec 
tion of female trinkets, in another a chalice with the book of the 
gospels. It so chanced that the child ran to the latter ; and her 
father, clasping her in his arms, exclaimed, " Thou shalt receive 
the object of thy choice ; nor will thy parents regret, if they yield 
to thee in virtue." She was intrusted to the care of the nuns at 
Winchester, with whom she spent a long course of years, emi 
nent among her sisters for her tender piety, and extraordinary 
self-abasement. 57 

In the succeeding reigns the number of convents continually 
increased. The deportment of the nuns was regular and edify 
ing : but the quality of the abbesses, and the riches they pos 
sessed, induced them to assume a pomp which ill accorded with 
the ideas of those who admired the poverty of the ancient monks. 
When Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, was labouring to revive 
the original discipline of the Benedictine institute, he saw at court 
the abbess Editha, daughter of King Edgar. Her dress was splen- 

55 In quo monasterio propriam filiam JGthelgeovam devotam Deo virginem Abbatis- 
sam constituit : cum qua etiam aliae multse nobiles moniales in monastica vita Deo ser 
vientes in eodem monasterio habitant. Asser, p. 64. 

56 The custom of offering children to be devoted for life to the monastic or clerical 
profession, was early adopted in the Christian church, in imitation of the oblation of the 
prophet Samuel, in the temple of Jerusalem. The idea that the determination of his 
parents was no less binding on the child, than the voluntary profession of adults, was 
first embraced in the sixth century, (Bing. vol. i. p. 255,) and followed till the pontifi 
cate of Celestin III., who, according to the more ancient discipline, permitted the child at 
a certain age to decide for himself. (See Mabillon vet. anal. p. 157. Excerp. Egb. 
apud Wilk. p. 107. Nat. Alex. torn, vi, p. 102. 143. 594.) Numerous examples of 
this practice occur in our ancient writers. (See Bede, 1. iii. c. 24. Ale. de Pont. Ebor. 
v. 1416. Hist. Ram. p. 495. 497. 499.) The ceremony of the oblation may be seen in 
St. Benedict s Rule, (c. 59,) and Lanfranc s Constitutions. (Wilk. p. 355.) 

Malm, de Reg. 1. ii. c. xiii. f. 50. De Pont. 1. ii. f. 140. 



232 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

did, arid shocked the austere notions of the prelate. " Daugh 
ter," he observed to her, " the spouse whom you have chosen, 
delights not in external pomp. It is the heart which he de 
mands." " True, father," replied the abbess, " and my heart I 
have given him. While he possesses it he will not be offended 
with external pomp." 58 Editha might with justice be permitted 
to make the reply. Within the walls of her convent she was 
distinguished by the austerity of her life ; and her profuse dona 
tions to the indigent demonstrated the solidity of her virtue. 
After her death the Saxon church enrolled her name in the cata 
logue of the saints. Nor has her reputation been confined with 
in the limits of her own country : she is commemorated with 
peculiar praise in the Roman martyrology. 

es Malm, de Reg. 1. ii. c. xiii. f. 50. Gotselin. vit. St. Eadgithao apud SS. Bcned. ssec. 
v. p. 637. 



HISTORY OF ST. DUNSTAN. 233 



CHAPTER XII. 

Restoration of Ecclesiastical Discipline St. Dunstan he is raised to the See of Canter 
bury reproves Edgar opposes the Pontiff restores the Monks reforms the Cler 
gy Council of Calne. 

To have been praised by the monastic historians is, in the esti 
mation of modern writers, the infallible criterion of demerit : and 
their superior discernment has politely divided the whole body 
of our Catholic ancestors into two classes of knaves, who, under 
the mask of sanctity, sought to satisfy their avarice ; and of fools, 
who credulously condescended to be the dupes of their hypo 
crisy. Among the former they have allotted a distinguished 
place to the celebrated St. Dunstan. He was long revered as the 
ornament and pride of the Anglo-Saxon nation : and the laurels 
which the gratitude of his contemporaries had planted on his 
grave, were, during more than six centuries, respected by the 
veneration of their posterity. But since the era of the reforma 
tion, his fame has been repeatedly assailed by a host of writers, 
who, if we may believe their confident assertions, have torn 
away the veil, which he had artfully thrown over his real cha 
racter, and have proved it to be a compound of fraud, ambition, 
and injustice. 1 The merit of their discoveries I shall have occa 
sion to discuss in the sequel of this chapter, which is designed to 
review the conduct of Dunstan in his attempts to revive the 
study of literature, to reform the national manners, and to restore 
the monastic order. In describing his actions I shall follow no 
other guide than his ancient biographers : with the secret history 
of his breast I have not, like modern historians, the good fortune 
to be acquainted. My narrative will prove, perhaps, less amus 
ing : it will not be less accurate. The writer who indulges his 
fancy in speculations on the unknown motives of ancient cha 
racters, 2 will frequently wander from the boundaries of truth, till 
he is bewildered in the mazes of fiction. 

1 See Rapin, (Hist, vol. i. p. 104. 107,) Carte, (vol. i. p. 327,) Hume, (vol. i. p. 
78,) and Henry, (vol. iii. p. 102, 267.) With these writers I am sorry to number the 
recent historian of the Anglo-Saxons. As, in other parts of his history, he excels all 
his predecessors in industry and accuracy ; so, in his account of St. Dunstan, he has 
improved their incoherent fables into a well-connected romance. Turner, vol. iii. p. 
132191. 

2 "The life of Dunstan appears an interesting subject for philosophic contempla 
tion." Id. vol. ii. pref. p. viii. The most ancient account of St. Dunstan was written 
by a contemporary author, the initial of whose name was B. Mabillon conjectures 
him to have been Bridferth, the monk of Ramsey. He published the prologue or dedi 
cation to Archbishop JSlfric, from a MS. belonging to the monastery of St. Vedast, at 
Arras. Act. Bened. ssec. v. p. 654. The whole work was afterwards published by the 

30 U2 



234 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

I shall not retard the curiosity of the reader by transcribing 
the miraculous circumstances with which the pen of Osbern has 
adorned the birth of his hero. The merit of Dunstan requires 
not the aid of fable. His family was noble, and claimed a re 
mote alliance with the kings of Wessex. From the Irish clergy 
men, who served the church of Glastonbury, he received the first 
rudiments of learning ; 3 arid at an early period of life discovered 
those abilities, which afterwards raised him to so high a pre-emi 
nence above his contemporaries. Before he quitted the roof of 
his instructors, he was possessed of every acquirement which 
that age thought honourable or fashionable. To the familiar use 
of the Latin tongue he joined a competent knowledge of philo 
sophy : the Holy Scriptures and the works of the ancient fathers 
were the subjects of his assiduous meditation: and his profi 
ciency in the various arts of music, painting, engraving, and 
working in the metals, as it was more easily appreciated, was 
universally and deservedly applauded. 

With these accomplishments, Dunstan was introduced by his 
uncle Athelm, archbishop of Canterbury, to the notice of king 
Athelstan. 4 His conduct at court did not obscure his former re 
putation : but the favour of the prince alarmed the jealousy of 
his competitors : suspicions injurious to his character were whis 
pered in the royal ear ; and after a short struggle he was com 
pelled to retire from the prospect which had just opened to his 
ambition, and to conceal himself in the house of his relation, El- 
phege, bishop of Winchester. During his disgrace, the unsuccess 
ful courtier had leisure to meditate on the instability of his for 
mer pursuits, and to fix the plan of his future conduct. His 
choice was anxiously suspended between the two opposite states 
of celibacy and marriage ; whether he should make a second at 
tempt to obtain distinction in the world, or embrace, with its 
austerities, the abject profession of a monk. It is on the bed of 
sickness that the hopes and fears of religion most powerfully 
exert their influence. The irresolution of Dunstan was pro 
tracted till a severe indisposition led him to the brink of the 
grave : but the prospect of death added new weight to the argu 
ments in favour of a religious life : and at his recovery he re 
ceived from the hands of the bishop the order of priesthood with 
the monastic habit, and was appointed by him to officiate in the 

Bollandists, Mali, torn. iv. p. 346. The same life is in a MS. of the Cotton library, 
Cleop. B. 13. 

3 MS. Cleop. B. 13. Osbern vit. Duns. p. 91. The monk adds a curious observa 
tion respecting the frequent peregrinations of the Irish. " Hicque mos cum plerosque 
turn vehementer adhuc manet Hibernos : quia quod aliis bona voluntas in consuetudi- 
nem, hsec illis consuetudo vertit in naturam." Ibid. 

4 This circumstance, which is attested by Adelard and Osbern, proves that he must 
have been born before the accession of Athelstan, though the contrary is asserted by the 
Saxon Chronicle, (p. Ill,) and Osbern, (p. 90.) 



DUNSTAN MADE ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY. 235 

the church in which he had spent the earlier portion of his 
youth. 5 

At Glastonbury his life was that of a man, who devotes his 
whole attention to the faithful discharge of his duties, and looks 
for the only reward of his piety in the testimony of his own 
conscience, and the approbation of the Supreme Being. 6 His 
reputation, however, reached the ears of Ethelfleda, a widow 
lady of royal descent, and extensive property. She visited the 
recluse, was charmed with his conversation, and learned to revere 
his virtues. He was soon intrusted with the direction of her 
conscience, and at her death was left the heir to her property. Had 
the mind of Dunstan thirsted after riches, it might now have been 
satisfied. The wealth of Ethelfleda had already raised him to 
an equality with the proudest of his former opponents, when the 
decease of his father Heorstan, placed at his disposal the patri 
monial estates of his family. But his retirement from the world 
had subdued his passions. The profession of poverty, which he 
had embraced, was sacred in his eyes ; and he scrupulously 
divided both his own patrimony, and the property of Ethelfleda, 
between the church and the poor. 7 

Soon after the death of Athelstan, Dunstan was drawn from 
the obscurity of his cell. At the prayer of Edmund, the next 
king, he condescended to visit and edify the court : his com 
pliance was rewarded by the gift of the royal palace and manor 
of Glastonbury : and the establishment of a colony of monks 
showed the purity of his views, in the acceptance of the present. 8 
The friendship of Edmund was surpassed by the veneration of 

6 In the history of the Anglo-Saxons, this determination is ascribed to ambition. 
Unsuccessful in the world, Dunstan resolved to try his fortune in the church; and, to 
conceal his views from the curiosity of the public, assumed the garb of superior sanc 
tity. The long train of reasoning, by which the writer endeavours to support this hy 
pothesis, is ingeniously, but fancifully deduced from this simple circumstance, that Dun- 
stan s cell at Glastonbury was narrow, dark, and inconvenient. See Mr. Turner, vol. 
iii. p. 146. 

6 The story of the nocturnal conflict with the devil, was unknown to the contempo 
rary writer of his life. (MS. Cleop. B. 13.) It is first related by Osbern, an injudi 
cious biographer, whose anile credulity collected and embellished every fable. (Osb. p. 
96.) It is repeated by Mr. Turner, (vol. iii. p. 146 :) but that historian has artfully 
woven it into his own system, by representing it as a contrivance, by which Dunstan 
hoped to attract notice. He has, however, forgotten to inform the reader, that this part 
of his narrative rests not on ancient, but on his own authority. 

7 MS. Cleop. B. 13. Osb. p. 98, 99. So niggard is Mr. Turner of his praise, that 
even this action cannot extort his approbation. His sagacity suspects that it was 
merely a bait to catch applause ; (vol. iii. p. 147.) 

Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcumque infundis, acescit. 

8 Osb. p. 101. MS. Cleop. p. 72. The manner of his induction is thus related by 
a writer, who was almost his contemporary. Rex apprehensa ejus dextera, causa 
placationis seu etiarn dignitatis osculatus est ilium, ducensque ad sacerdotalem cathe- 
dram, et imponens ilium in earn, dixit: esto sedis istius princeps, potensque incessor. 
Ibid. He introduced the Benedictine rule, and was the first English abbot. Primus 
abbas Anglican nationis enituit. Ibid. 



236 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Edred, his brother and successor. To the prudence of Dunstan, 
that prince resigned the government of his conscience, his 
finances, and his kingdom : and to reward his services, offered 
him the rich and important bishopric of Winchester. The mo 
tives of his refusal did honour to the modesty of his virtue. He 
feared, was his reply, the severe responsibility attached to the 
episcopal dignity, and dared not accept an office, the obligations 
of which he could not accurately discharge, as long as he retain 
ed his situation near the king. 9 Edred admired his humility, and 
reluctantly yielded, not to his reasons, but to his entreaties. 

Edred was succeeded by Edwin, a boy whose age had not 
yet reached the sixteenth year, but whose character was already 
marked by the impetuosity of his passions. On the day of his 
coronation, when the nobility and clergy had been invited to 
partake of the royal feast, he abruptly rose from table, and 
precipitated himself into a neighbouring apartment, where he 
was expected by two ladies, Ethelgiva and Elgiva, the mother 
and the daughter. 10 If we may listen to the scandal of the age, 
chastity was not their favourite virtue : nor did their visit to the 
royal youth originate in the most delicate motives. 11 A general 
murmur spoke the indignation of the company : at their request, 
the abbot of Glastonbury, with the prelate Kynsey, entered the 
chamber ; and the unwilling prince was persuaded or compelled 
to resume his seat. By the language of modern prejudice, the 
share which Dunstan bore in this transaction, has been magnified 
into an attempt to subdue the spirit of the king, and a daring 
insult to the regal authority : more moderate readers may, per 
haps, feel inclined to applaud the promptitude, with which he 
endeavoured to smother the first sparks of discontent, and taught 
his pupil to respect the laws of decorum. 12 

C MS. Cleop. Osb. p. 103. If on this occasion Dunstan could deceive the king, he 
was unable to deceive Mr. Turner, who has discovered that he refused the bisphopric, 
because Canterbury and not Winchester was the object of his ambition. Vol. iii. p. 
150. Yet most of the archbishops of that period were translated to the metropolitical, 
from an inferior see. 

10 The name of the mother was ^Ethelgiva, (sic erat nomen ignominiosso mulieris. 
MS. Cleop. p. 76.) That of the daughter was Elgiva, as will appear from the sequel. 

H Huic quaedam natione prsecelsa, inepta tamen mulier per nefandum familiaritatis 
lenocinium sectando inhrcrebat, eotenus videlicet quo sese vel etiam natam suam sub 
conjugal! titulo illi innectendo sociaret. Quas ille, ut aiunt, altermttim, quod jam pudet 
dicere, turpi palpatu et absque pudore utriusque libidinose tractavit Rcpente prosiluit 
lascivus ad prsedictum scelus lenocinii invenerunt ilium inter utrasque volutantcm. 
MS. Cleop. p. 76. Duarum feminarum illic eum opperientium stupri ardore succensus. 
Osb. p. 83. In complexum ganese devolutus. Malm. 1. ii. c. vii. f.30. The reader 
must excuse these quotations. It was necessary to oppose them to the contrary asser 
tions of modern writers. 

12 In support of this statement I have to contend against Carte, who has brought into 
the field a formidable auxiliary, William of Malmsbury. But if I can divest the monk 
of his modern armour, his efforts will be harmless. Let the reader compare the Latin 
original with Carte s English translation. The ambiguous expression, proximo cogna- 



DUNSTAN IS BANISHED. 237 

From this day the influence of Dunstan rapidly declined. The 
prodigality of Edwin regretted the treasures which, during the 
last reign, had been expended in religious foundations : his rest 
less spirit bore with impatience the restraint of his tutor ; and 
his impetuosity was stimulated by the enmity of Ethelgiva. 
Dunstan was suddenly deprived of his offices at court, and 
banished to his monastery. But this disgrace did not satisfy the 
resentment of the woman. The monks of Glastonbury were 
urged to rebel against their abbot ; threats of personal violence 
were sounded in his ears ; and it was with difficulty he eluded 
the keen pursuit of his enemies. 13 Arnulf, earl of Flanders, re 
ceived and protected the fugitive. With his permission Dunstan 
retired to the monastery of St. Peter s at Ghent, whose in 
habitants were flattered by the choice of their guest, and long 
cherished the remembrance of his virtues. 

The vengeance of Ethelgiva was ingenious and persevering. 
In his retreat Dunstan was secure from the sword of the assassin ; 
but he could feel the ruin of the societies which he had so earnest 
ly laboured to establish. His two abbeys of Glastonbury and 
Abingdon were dissolved ; and the monks whem he had care 
fully trained to the duties of their profession, were cast on the 
world without friends or support. But her triumph was quick 
ly terminated by the disgrace of exile, and, after a short 
period, by the pangs of a cruel death. The respect due to her 
birth had long been effaced by the licentiousness of her conduct ; 
and the great council of the nation had endeavoured to interrupt 
her familiarity with the king, by the threat of the most ignomi 
nious punishment. 14 Their admonitions she despised, and bade 
defiance to their resentment. Her connexion with the royal 
youth continued till she was seized by a party of soldiers, 
branded in the forehead with a hot iron, and conveyed out of 
the kingdom. 15 Her disgrace, however, did not correct the vices 
of Edwin. The public discontent was daily augmented by his 
follies and extravagance : all the provinces to the north of the 

tarn invadens uxorem ejus formse (vel forma) deperibat, Carte boldly renders, " the 
king had married a wife nearly related to him :" the decisive line, prorupit in triclinium 
in complexum gancac devolutus, is softened into an innocent visit " to the queen s 
apartment :" loscivientem juvenem, means no more than " playing at romps with his 
wife and her mother ." and pellicem repudiare is improved into a " divorce from his 
ivife" (Carte, vol. i. p. 325. Malm. 1. ii. c. 7, f. 30.) Hume condescended to re-echo 
the opinions of this historian ; Henry inherited his art of translation. 

13 Parentela mulieris prosequens Sancti oculos eruere disponebat. Wallingford, p. 
543, MS. Cleop. p. 77. 

14 Suspendii comminatione percellat. Osb. p. 83. The witena gemot was the 
supreme judicial tribunal among the Saxons. 

16 That this punishment was inflicted in consequence of a judicial sentence is obscure 
ly hinted by the historian, (perpetua exilii relegatione, Osb. p. 84,) though he ascribes 
it to Archbishop Odo : probably because, in the absence of the king, that prelate pre 
sided in the assembly of the nobility and clergy. 



238 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Humber transferred their allegiance to his brother Edgar ; and 
none but the men of Kent and Wessex were willing to draw the 
sword in his favour. 16 While the country was ravaged by the 
flames of civil war, Ethelgiva ventured to return ; but she chose 
an inauspicious moment, when her lover was fleeing with preci 
pitation from the pursuit of the insurgents. It was her misfortune 
to fall into their hands ; and they, abusing the license of victory, 
cruelly cut the nerves and muscles of her legs, which speedily 
occasioned her death. 17 

The dispute between the royal brothers was at last terminated 
in an assembly of the witan ; and the rivers Thames and Severn 
were selected for the boundary of their respective dominions. 18 
But Edwin did not long survive the partition ; and at his death 
the whole Anglo-Saxon monarchy was united under the govern 
ment of Edgar. 19 He was careful to recall the abbot of Glaston- 
bury from banishment, received him with expressions of the 
warmest friendship, and gradually advanced him to the highest ec 
clesiastical dignities. 20 In contrasting the past with the subsequent 

6 Who were the authors of the insurrection 1 Odo and the monks, exclaim a host 
of writers, whose credulity condescends to re-echo a calumny, sprung from the rancour 
of religious controversy. That the sufferings of the monks might teach them to wish 
for a change of government, is not unnatural : that they excited or abetted the revolt, 
cannot be deduced from the narrative of any ancient writer. The order at this period was 
fallen too low to effect so important a revolution ; and the only monks in England, 
whose existence is certain, (Wolst. vit. Ethel, p. 615. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 105,) and 
whose wrongs are recorded, were those of Abingdon and Glastonbury, monasteries 
situated in the provinces which continued faithful to Edwin. The framers of the accu 
sation should at least inform us, by what strange fatality it happened, that the insurrec 
tion burst out in the provinces in which its authors possessed no influence, and did not 
exist in those in which they did. As for Odo, I know not why his name is added, 
except because it is enrolled in the calendar of the saints. He lived and died the sub 
ject of Edwin. The most ancient account of the origin of the insurrection is com 
prised in these words. Factum est autem ut rex prsefatus in prsetereuntibus annis 
penitus a brumali populo relinquereter contemptus, quum in commisso rcgimine 
insipienter egisset, sagaces et sapientes odio vanitatis disperdens, et ignaros quosque sibi 
consimiles studio dilectionis adsciscens. MS. Cleop. p. 78. 

17 1 am not disposed to apologize for the assassins of Ethelgiva, or to justify her <tealh : 
though I believe that, according to the stern maxims of Saxon jurisprudence, a person 
returning without permission from banishment, might be executed without the for 
mality of a trial. But is it evident that the primate, as is generally asserted, was privy 
to her death ? Osbern, from whom alone posterior writers derive their information, in 
his life of Odo says she was taken and hamstrung by his retainers : in his life of Dun- 
Ktan he attributes it solely to the insurgents of Mercia. If the first account be true, it 
does not convict, if the second, it acquits the archbishop. See note (V). 

18 Sicque universe populo testante publica res regum ex definitione sagacium scgre- 
gata est, ut famosum flumen Tamese regnum disterminaret amborum. MS. Cleop. p. 
78. Wallingford, p. 543. Mat. West. an. 957. These passages might, perhaps, have 
relieved the doubts, in which the partition of the kingdom has involved the casuistry of 
Collier. Church Hist. vol. i. p. 183. 

19 Ab utroque populo electus suscepit. MS. Cleop. p. 78. 

20 Henry is so desirous that the blame of the insurrection should attach to Punstan, 
that he represents him as returning from exile before this period, and placing Edgar by 
his intrigues on the throne of Mercia. (Hist. vol. iii. p. 103.) Yet every ancient 
writer asserts that he did not return, till Edgar had obtained the undisputed posKetasiqn 



DUNSTAN IS MADE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 239 

conduct of Dunstan, his ambition has been severely lashed by 
the zeal or the intemperance of several modern writers. But it 
does not necessarily follow, that the man acts inconsistently, 
who at one period of life accepts an office, which at another 
he had refused : and the apparent change in his sentiments may 
be fairly ascribed to the revolutions of the system in which he 
finds himself placed. The modesty of Dunstan yielded to the 
importunity of the king, or the necessities of the church : as they 
became vacant, he accepted the bishoprics of Worcester and of 
London ; and from them ascended, by the forced or voluntary 
retreat of Archbishop Brihtelm, to the metropolitan throne of 
Canterbury. 21 This rapid acquisition of wealth and power did 
not relax that vigour of character, which had distinguished Dun 
stan in an inferior station. Faithful to what he conceived to be 
the true interests of religion, he permitted no consideration to 
allure him from the strict line of duty ; and on more than one 
occasion compelled both the king and the pontiff to recede from 
their pretensions, and bend to the equity of his decisions. The 
passions of Edgar were not less violent, though perhaps less ob 
stinate, than those of his unfortunate brother. The monkish 
writers, whose credit has been impeached by modern prejudice, 
but whose veracity is strongly supported by the fidelity with 
which they record the vices of their greatest patron, have trans 
mitted to us the history of his amours : and the efforts of the 
archbishop to restrain and to correct the passions of his sovereign, 
do honour to his courage and his virtue. In the convent of 
Wilton, Edgar had dared to violate the chastity of a noble 
female, who resided with the nuns, and who, to elude his passion, 
had covered herself with the veil of one of the sisters. The in 
famy of the royal ravisher was speedily divulged ; but, confident 
in his own power, he affected to despise the censure of the 
public. Dunstan received the news with the keenest anguish. 
As the guardian of religion, arid the keeper of the royal con 
science, he repaired to the court ; represented in strong but 
respectful language the enormity of the sin; and demanded 
satisfaction for the insult which had been offered to the sanctity 
of the cloister. The heart of Edgar was softened : with tears he 
acknowledged his guilt, and professed himself ready to perform 
whatever penance the prelate might impose. That penance 
was severe. 22 During seven years he laid aside his crown, the 

of the crown. MS. Cleos. p. 79. Chron. Sax. p. 117. Osb. p. 107. Wigorn. p. 
605. West. p. 196. 

^ 21 Post hunc Byrhtelmus, Dorsatensium provisor, Dorobernensis prsesul eligitur, qui 
nimis mansuetus pro reprimendis malis, jussus est a rege relictam dignitatem rursus 
recipere providendam. MS. Cleop. 

22 If the reader wish to see a specimen of historical accuracy, he may consult the ac 
count of this transaction in Hume, (c. 2. p. 86.) " Edgar," says that writer, " broke into 
a convent," (he went there on a visit. Eadern. p. 218,) carried off Editha," (her name 



40 ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

ensign of his dignity, and exhibited to his subjects the edifying 
spectacle of a penitent king : he observed a rigorous fast twice in 
each wc^ distributed to the poor the treasures which he had 
inherited from his father ; and, to atone for the scandal which he 
had given, erected and endowed an opulent monastery for 
religious virgins. Dunstan had added two other conditions, 
with which he also complied ; that he should publish a code of 
laws for the more impartial administration of justice, and trans 
mit, at his own expense, to the different counties, copies of the 
Holy Scriptures for the instruction of the people. 23 

In this transaction it may, perhaps, be said, that Dunstan acted 
merely from the respect which he bore his own character. But 
the purity of his motives may be lawfully inferred from the up 
rightness of his conduct on other occasions, when, without the 
prospect of glory or the fear of infamy, he hesitated not to dare 
the resentment of the pontiff as freely as that of the king. A 
nobleman, distinguished by rank and opulence, had taken to his 
bed a near relation ; and Dunstan had repeatedly admonished 
him to dissolve the incestuous connection. It was in vain that 
the marriage was annulled, and the sentence of excommunica 
tion excluded the culprit from the society of the faithful. Secure 
behind the protection of Edgar, he despised the thunders of the 
metropolitan, and appealed from the injustice of the Saxon, to 
the equity of the Roman bishop. The credulity of the pontiff 
was surprised, and Dunstan received a papal mandate to revoke 
his censures, and restore the offender to his former privileges. 
" I will obey," was the reply of the inflexible prelate, " when I 
shall see him sorry for his crime. But God forbid that I consent 
to transgress the divine law for the love or fear of any mortal 
man, or the preservation of my life." The firmness of this 
answer astonished and overcame the nobleman. He separated 

was Wulfrith; her daughter by Edgar was Editha. Malm, de Reg. I. c. 8. f. 33,) "a 
nun," (she was pupil to the nuns. Inter sanctimoniales non velata nutriebatur. 
Eadm. p. 218. Certum est non tune sanctimonialem fuisse sed puellam laicam. 
Malm. ibid, et de Pon. l.ii.f. 143,) " by force, and even committed violence on her per 
son. That he might reconcile himself to the church, he was obliged, not to separate 
himself from his mistress," (they did separate, and Wulfrith became a nun in the 
same convent. Malm, de Pont. 1. ii. f. 143. Gotselin. in vit. Edith, p. 637,) "but to 
abstain from wearing his crown during seven years, and to deprive himself so long of 
that vain ornament :" (that this was but the smallest part of his penance may be seen 
above.) The historian may have been misled in some of the circumstances by an am 
biguous expression of Malmsbury, (ibid. f. 33 :) but it was his duty to have collated the 
different passages ; and not to have incautiously imposed on himself v and insulted the 
credulity of his readers. 

23 If this be true, I do not see why the papistic prelate Dunstan has not as good a 
claim to the honours of a reformer as either Alfred or yElfric. See the curious remark 
of Wise in his letter to Mores, Comment, de ^Elfr. p. xxix. But I suspect the true 
reading in Osbern to be ; justas legum rationes sanciret, sancitas conscriberet, scriptas 
per omnes fines imperil sui populis custodiendas mandaret, instead of sanctas conscri- 
beret scripturas, as the words stand in the printed copies. 



DUNSTAN REFORMS THE CLERGY. 241 

from the object of his passion, and submitted to ask forgiveness 
in a public synod. The primate, charmed with his obedience 
and the sincerity of his repentance, raised him from the ground, 
gave him the kiss of peace, and admitted him to the participation 
of the sacraments. 24 

It could not be expected, that, under a metropolitan of this un 
bending character, the vices of the clergy would be suffered to 
escape unnoticed or unpunished. It was, probably, during his 
banishment, that he first conceived the idea of restoring among 
his countrymen the severity of the ancient discipline. At that 
period the prelates of Flanders were industriously engaged in 
similar attempts ; and he had the opportunity of witnessing the 
success of their exertions. The very monastery in which he re 
sided at Ghent, had, only a few years before, belonged to a so 
ciety of secular canons : but the irregularity of their conduct had 
awakened the zeal of the abbot Gerard, and they had been com 
pelled to yield their places to a community of Benedictine monks, 
who, by their rule, were bound to a greater austerity of life, and 
by the fate of their predecessors were impelled to a more scru 
pulous observance of the duties of religion. 25 As soon as Dun- 
stan saw himself at the head of the Saxon church, he determined 
to pursue the same plan: but the ardour of his zeal was tem 
pered by the suggestions of prudence. His first essay was to 
raise the monastic order from that depreciated state into which it 
had fallen. At his own expense he founded a convent at West 
minster : the monks, who had been expelled by the vengeance 
of Edwin, were invited to return to the abbeys of Glastonbury 
and Abingdon : and the zeal of the opulent and the pious was 
carefully directed to the restoration of the old, and the erection, 
of new monasteries. The most eminent of the order were gra 
dually raised to the highest dignities in the church; and the 
bishopric of Sherburne was bestowed on Wulfsine, abbot of 
Westminster, and that of Wells on Brithelm, a monk of Glas 
tonbury. But the two whom he principally honoured with his 
confidence, were Oswald and Ethelwold. The former, a man 
of the strictest integrity, was nephew to the late Archbishop 
Odo, and after resigning the rich deanery of Winchester, had 
embraced the monastic profession at Fleury in France. At his 
return his reputation recommended him to the notice of Dunstan, 
who admired his piety, and resigned to him the bishopric of 
Worcester. Ethelwold was his beloved disciple. He had im 
bibed the first rudiments of monastic virtue under the care of 

24 Eadm. vit. Dun. p. 215. 

25 Eliminata abinde clericorum irreligiositate, licet jactitarent sese vcntosa nobilitate, 
melioratis quibusque coenobitarum religionem non distulit subrogare. Vit. St. Gerar. 
in Act. Bened. ssec. v. p. 272. It is recorded to the praise of the abbot Gerard, that he 
reformed in this manner no less than eighteen monasteries. Ibid. p. 273. 

31 X 



242 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Dunstan at Glastonbury : his rapid proficiency was rewarded 
with the superintendence of the monks at Abingdon ; and he was 
now selected as the most proper person to govern the important 
see of Winchester. 

Though the archbishop could depend on the co-operation of 
these prelates, he foresaw that the opposition of either the king 
or the pontiif would prove fatal to his success. But these appre 
hensions were soon removed. The messengers, who had been 
despatched to Rome, returned with a favourable answer : 26 and 
Edgar readily promised his protection to an enterprise which he 
was taught to consider as glorious to himself, and beneficial to 
his people. Armed with the papal and regal authority, Dunstan 
summoned a national council, in which the king pronounced (if 
ever he pronounced) the discourse preserved by the abbot of 
Rieval. 27 With a considerable display of eloquence, he described 
to the members the degeneracy of the clergy belonging to some 
of the principal sees ; lamented the misapplication of the reve 
nues which the piety of his ancestors had bestowed upon the 
church ; exhorted the prelates to punish the guilty with all the 
severity of ecclesiastical discipline ; and offered to support their 
decisions with the whole power of the crown. Before the coun 
cil separated, it was enacted that every priest, deacon, and sub- 
deacon, should be compelled to live chastely, or to resign his 
benefice : and the execution of this law was intrusted to the zeal 
of Dunstan, Oswald, and Ethel wold. 23 It is, however, observa 
ble, that from this moment the archbishop disappears from the 
scene, and relinquishes to his two associates the whole glory of 
conducting and completing the enterprise. Whether it was, that 
the clergy of Canterbury were exempt from the vices ascribed to 
many of their brethren, or that they were too powerful to be at 
tacked with impunity, he made no effort to expel them from the 
possession of his cathedral. It was, principally, in the dioceses 
of Worcester and Winchester that the subjects of complaint 
existed : and in them the reformers first endeavoured to execute 
their commission. 

Oswald was a prelate of a mild disposition : his heart revolted 
at the idea of violence, and suggested in its place an innocent but 
successful artifice. In the vicinity of the cathedral he erected a 
church to the honour of the virgin Mary, which he intrusted to 
the custody of a community of monks ; and which he frequented 
himself for the celebration of mass. The presence of the bishop 
attracted that of the people : the ancient clergy saw t their church 

26 Fretus auctoritate Johannis apostolicse sedis antistitis apud regem obtinuit, quate- 
nus canonici, qui caste vivere nollent, ecclcsiis depellerentur, et monachi loco eorumin- 
tromitterentur. Eadm. p. 219. See also his life of St. Oswald, p. 200. 

27 Int. Dec. Scrip, p. 360. I should rather think it was a declamation composed by 
some monk, in imitation of the ancient historians. 

23 Eadm. vit. Oswal. p. 200. Wilk. p. 239. 247. 



ETHELWOLD EXPELS THE CLERGY FROM WINCHESTER. 243 

gradually abandoned ; and after some delay, Wensine, their dean, 
a man advanced in years, and of an unblemished character, took 
the monastic habit, and was advanced to the office of prior. The 
influence of his example, and the honour of his promotion, held 
out a strong temptation to his brethren. Each week the number 
of the canons was diminished by repeated desertions ; and at last 
the principal of the churches of Mercia was transferred, without 
violence or dispute, from its ancient possessors to the Benedictine 
monks. The policy of the bishop was admired and applauded 

by the king. 29 

To the zeal of Ethelwold was opposed a more vigorous and 
determined resistance. The clergy of Winchester were the sons 
of noble families, who discovered an equal reluctance to surren 
der their pleasures or their preferments. Depending on the in 
fluence of their friends, they secretly derided the impotent me 
naces of the bishop, and publicly eluded his urgent exhortations 
by repeated but insincere professions of amendment. Still the 
irregularity of their conduct was such, as would have justified 
the severest treatment. The ample revenue of their benefices 
they spent in idleness and luxury : the decorations of the church 
were neglected ; the celebration of the public worship was aban 
doned to the zeal of mercenary substitutes : and some, if we 
may believe the scandal of the times, lived in the open viola 
tion of the canons respecting clerical celibacy. 30 

Ethelwold at last, impatient of delay, requested the royal per 
mission to introduce in their place a colony of monks ; but the 
conscience of Edgar was, or appeared to be, alarmed : he refused 
to deprive the clergy of their ancient property ; and advised the 
bishop to remove the more incorrigible of the canons, and be 
stow their benefices on those whom they had hitherto procured 
to perform their duties. 31 This expedient, however, produced 
but a temporary amendment. So partial a punishment was, 
perhaps, regarded as a victory: the new canons adopted the 
manners of their predecessors: and Edgar at last abandoned 
them to the severity of their bishop. On a Saturday in lent, 
during the celebration of mass, Ethelwold, attended by a royal 
deputy, entered the choir, and throwing on the ground a bundle 

29 Eclm. p. 202. Hist. Rames. p. 400. 

20 Clcrici illi, nomine tenus canonici, frequentationem chori, labores vigiliarum, et 
ministerium altaris vicariis suis utcunque sustentatis relinquentes, et ab ecclesiae con- 
spcctu plerumque abscntes septennio, quidquid de pnebendis percipiebant, locis et mo- 
dis sihi placitis absumebant. Nuda fuit ecclesia intus et extra. Annal. Wmton. p. 
289. The character given to them by Wolstan, their contemporary, is equally unfavour 
able. Erant canonici nefandis scelerum moribus implicati, elatione et insplentia, atque 
luxuria praventi, adeo ut nonnulli eorum dedignarentur missas suo online celebrare, 
repudiates uxores, quas illicite duxerant, et alias accipientes, gute et ebnetati jugiter 
dediti. Wolstan. vit. Ethel, p. 614. 

si Malens per canonicos, quam per aliud genus arctioris rehgionis, mimstran neg< 
tium ablatas quibusdam eorum prasbendas contulit vicariis. Annal. Wmton. p. 290. 



244 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of cowls, addressed the astonished canons : " The time is come," 
he exclaimed, "when you must finally determine. Put on the 
monastic habit, or depart: you have no other choice." Their 
murmurs were silenced by the presence of the officer, and three 
reluctantly consented to change their profession. 32 The rest re 
tired in sullen discontent. But the humanity of Ethel wold did 
not abandon them to the privations of poverty : from the episco 
pal domain he selected the richest and most convenient manors, 
and assigned them for the support of the ejected clergy. 33 Their 
places were supplied by a confraternity of monks from the mo 
nastery of Abingdon. 

Animated by their success, the two prelates proceeded rapidly 
in the work of reformation and expulsion. At Winchester, the 
new minster, which had been founded by Alfred the Great, and 
completed on a more extensive plan by Edward, his successor, 
was still inhabited by the clergy : but after a decent respite of 
twelve months, they received an order to depart; and the addi 
tional establishment of two abbeys, one for monks, and a second 
for nuns, confirmed the reign of monachism within the walls of 
the royal city. The clerical monasteries of Chertsey and Mid- 
dleton soon shared the same fate : and the abbeys of Ely, Thor- 
ney, and Medeshamstede rose from their ashes, and recovered 
their ancient splendour. 34 The services of Ethehvold were not 
forgotten by the veneration of his brethren. His name was en 
rolled in the calendar of the saints ; his festival was celebrated 
with every testimony of veneration ; and JElfrie and Wolstan, 
two monks of Winchester, were employed to pour in his praise 
the muddy stream of their eloquence. 

In the diocese of Worcester, Oswald had recourse again to his 
favourite artifice ; arid the canons of Winchelcombe saw them 
selves gradually moulded into a community of monks. Six other 
monasteries he erected within the limits of his bishopric ; founded 
with the assistance of the ealdorman Alwyn, the opulent abbey 

32 For this transaction see Wolstan, (Vit. S. Ethel, p. 614 ;) Annalcs Winton, (p. 
289;) Eadmer, (Vit. S. Dunst. p. 219 ;) Malrnsbury, (De Keg. 1. ii. c. vii. f. 31 ; De 
Pont. 1. ii. f. 139,) and Rudborne, (Hist. Mag. p. 218.) The Saxon chronicle only 
observes, that the canons were ejected because they refused to observe any rule, 
poriftan -{> hi nolbon nan negul healban. Chron. Sax. ann. 903. p. 117. 

33 Malm, de Pont. 1. ii. f. 139. Ethelwold was distinguished by his charities. Dur 
ing a destructive famine he employed his servants to discover and support the suf 
ferers; distributed relief to all who were in want; and sold in their favour the plate 
belonging to the altar, and the silver ornaments of the church. Wolst. p. 617. 
He was also a great benefactor to his cathedral, which he in a great measure rebuilt, in 
the year 980. Ibid. p. 621. He afterwards laid the foundations of an additional chapel 
at the east end, (Nam fundamen ovans a cardine jecit eoo. Wolst. Carm. p. 630 ;) but 
he lived not to complete it. The work was continued by Elphege, his successor, who 
added the crypts, which still remain. See a very circumstantial account of both build 
ings in Wolstan s poem, out of which I shall transcribe the description of the tower and 
vane erected by Elphege, as a favourable specimen of the abilities of the poet. Note (X). 

34 Chron. Sax. ann. 963,964. p. 117, 118. 122. Wolst. p. 615, 616. 



OPPOSITE OPINIONS. 245 

of Ramsey ; and restored the ancient discipline in those of St. 
Alban s and Beamftete. 35 The vigour of Oswald and Ethelwold 
stimulated the tardiness of the other bishops ; and Edgar was 
enabled to boast, that, during the first six years of his reign, no 
less than seven-and-forty monasteries had been peopled with 
monks. 36 

In the language of rival parties, vice and virtue frequently ex 
change their respective appellations: and the same conduct which 
has extorted the applause of Rome or Paris, has been as loudly 
condemned at London and Geneva. By the admirers of mona- 
chism, the names of Dunstan, Oswald, and Ethelwold, are still 
pronounced with reverence and gratitude : and their efforts in 
support of the order, are considered as proofs of their attachment 
to the true interests of religion. The praise of the Catholic has 
provoked the censure of the Protestant historians. With the 
name of monk, they have sought to associate the ideas of hypo 
crisy and fraud : and while they indiscriminately condemn the 
patrons, they canonize, with equal partiality, the enemies of the 
institute. The avarice of the eighth Henry prompted him to dis 
solve the numerous monasteries in his dominions ; and though 
he suborned the voice of calumny to sanctify the deeds of op 
pression, 37 though the revenues of the innocent sufferers were 
speedily absorbed by the extravagance of the king and the rapa 
city of his courtiers, writers have been found eager to celebrate 
his conduct. Dunstan, with his two associates, expelled from a 
few churches a race of men, whose vices were a disgrace to their 
profession : and though their hands were not contaminated with 
sacrilegious plunder; though in the place of the ejected clergy 
they introduced men of stricter morals, and more religious de 
portment, the same writers have unblushingly accused them of 
partiality, injustice, and tyranny. But to form an accurate no 
tion of their conduct, we must transport ourselves from the pre 
sent to the tenth century. In the preceding chapters we have 
observed the original severity, and the rapid decline of the disci 
pline prescribed to the conventual clergy : we have seen the 
canons of several churches (for the degeneracy was not univer 
sal) abandon their religious duties, indulge their passion for dis 
sipation and pleasure, and, by their scandalous immorality, ex- 

35 Bad. Vit. St. Oswal. p. 200, 201. Hist. Rames. p. 400. 

36 Ingulf, f. 502. Malm, de Pont. 1. ii. f. 139. Wilk. torn. i. p. 239. 

37 " This would not have satisfied the ends of himself, and his covetous and ambi 
tious agents. They all aimed at the revenues and riches of the religious houses, for 
which reason no arts nor contrivances were to be passed by that might be of use in ob 
taining those ends. The most abominable crimes were to be charged upon the reli 
gious, and the charge was to be managed with the utmost industry, boldness, and dex 
terity. And yet, after all, the proofs were so insufficient, that, from what I have been 
able to gather, I have not found any direct one against any single monastery. Hearne, 
Preliminary Observations to the View of Mitred Abbeys, by Browne Willis, p. 84. 

X 2 



246 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

cite the tears of the virtuous, and the ridicule of the profane. 38 
In the invectives of the monastic writers, candour will, indeed, 
attribute much to the prejudice of rivals ; yet it must require no 
common share of incredulity to read the charters and writings of 
the age, and maintain that the canons were guilty of no crime 
but that of living piously in legitimate marriage. Had the 
bishops been content to sit down the idle spectators of the dis 
grace of their clergy, they might have escaped the censures of 
modern prejudice, but their conscience would have reproached 
them with betraying the most sacred of their duties. They acted 
as honour and religion called on them to act : they exhorted and 
conjured the canons to reform: from exhortations they pro 
ceeded to threats : and at length punished by expulsion that ob 
stinacy which could neither be softened by entreaty, nor subdued 
by terror. 

To secure the permanency of these infant establishments was 
the next object which engaged the attention of the reforming 
prelates. Of the charters which, at their solicitation, Edgar 
granted to the different monasteries, many are still extant ; and 
are filled with the most dreadful anathemas against those whose 
impiety should presume to molest the monks in the possession of 
their new habitations. To the temporal authority of the king 
were superadded the spiritual censures of the bishops : and their 
conduct was approved by the rescripts of the sovereign pontiff. 
Yet the prudence of Dunstan foresaw, that the time might arrive, 
in which these precautions would prove feeble barriers against 
the attempts of superior power ; and the clergy, under the pro 
tection of the king and the bishops, might resume possession of 
the churches, from which they had been expelled. To remove, 
as far as it was possible, the probability of such an event, a 
council was summoned to meet at Winchester, in which it was 
proposed to invest the monks with the right of choosing the bishop 
of the vacant see, and to bind them to select the object of their 
choice from their own or some neighbouring monastery. By the 
patrons of the measure it was urged, that in the conventual 
cathedrals the bishop occupied the place and the authority of the 
abbot: that it was his duty, in this capacity, to inspect the 
morals of his monks, and enforce the observance of their rule : 
and that to intrust so important a charge to a man who had not 
been educated in the monastic discipline, would infallibly open a 
way to innovation and degeneracy. The reasoning was plausi 
ble : it satisfied the judgment of the king and the prelates ; and 
the proposition was unanimously adopted. Thus a certain num 
ber of voices was secured in the episcopal college ; and in every 
emergency the monks might look up with confidence to the 

ss Wilk. p. 246. 

39 In legitimo matrimonio pie viventes. Parker, Godwin, passim. 



CONCORD OF THE ENGLISH MONKS. 247 

bishops, whom they had chosen, and whom affection and grati 
tude would urge to espouse the interests of the order. 40 

In the same assembly was adopted another regulation, which, 
while it aspired to the merit of introducing uniformity among the 
different monasteries, possessed the superior advantage of more 
closely connecting all the members of the monastic body. At 
the recommendation of the king, who probably was no more 
than the echo of the archbishop, the customs of the celebrated 
monasteries of Fleury and Ghent were ingrafted on the original 
rule of St. Benedict : and to these were added some of the 
observances which had distinguished the Saxon coenobites before 
the Danish invasions. 41 The concord of the English monks (so 
it was termed) is still extant ; but an abstract of it would pro 
bably be uninteresting to the reader. 43 It is wholly confined to a 
variety of regulations respecting the minutiae of the monastic 
service, and a few fanciful practices of devotion, which, how 
ever, it is left to the discretion of the superior to adopt or 
reject, as he may think most conducive to the interest of virtue 
and piety. 43 



4 Selden s Eadmer, not. p. 150. Apost. Bened. app. 3, p. 78. It is observable that 
the monks were to choose t\if> bishop according to the direction of their rule respecting 
the election of abbots, but with the consent and advice of the king. (Regis consensu et 
concilio. Ibid.) This regulation was soon violated, and clergymen were elected to the 
episcopal dignity in the churches possessed by monks, though Benedict XIV. has in 
advertently asserted the contrary. De Syn. Dioc. vol. iii. p. 344. 

41 Honestos hujuspatrite mores adDominum pcrtinentes, quos veterum usu didicimus, 
nullo modo abjicere, sed undique corroborare decrevimus, Apost. Bened. p. 85. St. 
Ethelwold composed a small treatise De diurna consuetudine Monachorum. It is extant 
in MS. Cotton, Tib. A. 3. Wanley, p. 92. The daily allowance of his monks at 
Abingdon is described in the Monasticon Anglicanum. Tom. i. p. 104. 

42 The preface is published by Selden among his notes on Eadmer, in Latin and 
Saxon, (p. 145 :) and the whole work in Latin by Reyner, in his third appendix to the 
Apostolatus Benedictinorum, (p. 77.) Though it seems to comprehend all the monas 
teries in England, Turketul, the abbot of Croyland, did not conceive himself bound by 
its regulations, but ordered the ancient customs of his monastery to be inviolably observed. 
The monks were divided into three classes. The first comprised those who had not spent 
four-and- twenty years in the abbey ; and these were subject to all the duties imposed by 
the rule of St. Benedict. After the expiration of that term, and during the next sixteen 
years, they belonged to the second class, and were exempted from the more tedious 
observances, and permitted to discharge by deputies their respective employments. From 
the fortieth to the fiftieth year they enjoyed still greater indulgences, and the only duty 
required from them was a daily attendance at the high mass. If they survived this 
period, they were entirely freed from restraint. A chamber was allotted to each, with 
a servant to wait on him, and a young monk for his companion. See Ingulf, p. 48 50. 

43 Haec inserenda curavimus, ut si quibus devotionis gratia placuerint, habeant in his 
unde hujus rei ignaros instruant: qui autem noluerint, ad hoc agendum minime com- 
pellantur. (Apost. Ben. p. 86.) A curious ceremony was recommended for the feast of 
Easter. Towards the close of matins, a monk retired into a species of sepulchre pre 
pared in the church, and three others with thuribles in their hands, and their eyes fixed 
on the ground walked slowly along the choir. After some delay, a voice issued from the 
sepulchre, chanting the anthem, " Whom do you seek ?" They replied, " Jesus of 
Nazareth." " He is not here," resumed the voice, " he is risen as he said. Go and. 
tell his disciples. (Mat. xxviii. 6.") Turning towards the choir, they immediately sang 



248 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Alfred the Great had attempted to restore the empire of letters 
after the devastations of the Danes : but his success was tempo 
rary, and the Saxons speedily relapsed into their former ignorance. 
The spirit of Alfred seemed to be revived in Dunstan : and the 
labours of the bishop were more fortunate than those of the 
king. 44 Long before he ascended the metropolitan throne, as 
soon as he could command the obedience of a small society of 
monks, he meditated the revival of learning : the knowledge 
which he had acquired from the Irish ecclesiastics, he liberally 
imparted to his pupils; and from his monastery, Glastonbury, 
diffused a spirit of improvement through the Saxon church. 
Ethelwold imbibed the sentiments of his master : and the bishop 
would often descend from his more important functions, to the 
humble employment of instructing children in the first rudiments 
of grammar, and of interrogating them respecting their progress 
in the knowledge of the Eatin tongue. 45 From his school, at 
Winchester, masters were distributed to the different monasteries : 
and the reputation of their disciples reflected a lustre on their 
talents and industry. In times of ignorance, no great portion of 
knowledge is required to excite admiration : but we should judge 
of the merit of men by -comparing them with their contempo 
raries, not with those who have lived in happier times. Yet 
among the Anglo-Saxon scholars of this period, there were 
some who have merited no vulgar praise. The commentaries 
of Bridferth, the monk of Ramsey, display an extent of reading, 
and an accuracy of calculation, which would have done honour 
to the most eminent philosophers of former ages : and the name 
of ^Elfric, the disciple of Ethelwold, has been rendered more 
illustrious by the utility of his writings, than by the archiepisco- 
pal mitre with which he was honoured. 

It had been the frequent complaint of Alfred, that every 
species of learning was concealed under the obscurity of a foreign 
language : and .ZElfric, after the example of the king, laboured to 
instruct the ignorance of his countrymen, by translating and 

the anthem, " The Lord is risen, &c." when they were recalled by the voice to the 
sepulchre, with the words of the angel, " Come and see the place where the Lord lay. 
(Mat. Ibid.") They entered, and returned bearing before them a winding sheet, and 
singing, " The Lord is risen from the grave." The prior in thanksgiving intoned the 
Te Deum, and the office was continued in the usual manner. Apost. Ben. p. 89. 

44 Ip nu pop]>i gobep beopum *] mynyceji mannum georine to 
parinijenne f peo halite lap on uruim bagum ne accolige ofj?e 
ateopige. ppa ppa hie paej* gebon on Angelcynne ob,^5 bunptan 
ancebipcop *] afelpolb bipcop epc ba larie on munclypum 
aria3]lbon. yElf. in prol. ad Gram, apud Spel. vol. i. p. 618. 

45 Dulcecrat ei adolescentes et juvenes semper docere, et latinos libros anglice eis 
solvere, et regulas grammatical artis et metrics? rationis tradere, et jocundis alloquiis ad 
meliora hortari : unde factum est ut perplures ex discipulis ejusfierent sacerdotes, atque 
abbates, et honorabiles episcopi, quidum etiam archiepiscopi in gcnte Anglorum. Wolst. 
Vit. St. Ethel, p. G17. 



HOMILIES. 249 

publishing several treatises in the Anglo-Saxon tongue. Of these 
the most celebrated are his versions of different parts of the Holy 
Scriptures, and his three books of Catholic homilies. As a trans 
lator, he cannot claim the praise of fidelity. Many passages of 
the original he has thought proper to omit: some he has 
endeavoured to improve by explanatory additions : and in others, 
where he conceives the Latin text to be obscure, he has not 
scrupled to substitute his own interpretation for the expressions 
of the inspired writer. Through the whole of the work he ap 
pears to have been alarmed, lest his illiterate countrymen should 
assume the conduct of the ancient patriarchs, as a justification 
of their own irregularities. To prevent so dangerous an error, 
he anxiously inculcates the difference between the Old and New 
Testament ; remarks that the former was a figure of the latter ; 
and exhorts his reader to observe the law of Moses according to 
the spirit, that of Christ according to the letter. 48 His homilies 
were written with the benevolent intention of assisting those 
clergymen who were too indolent or too illiterate to compose 
sermons for themselves. They are not original compositions. 
The only merit to which he aspires, is that of selecting from pre 
ceding writers, passages appropriate to the gospel of the day ; 
and of presenting them in a language adapted to the capacity of 
his hearers. 47 As soon as the work was finished, he dedicated it 

See his preface to the book of Genesis, (Heptat. Anglo-Sax, edit. Thwaites, p. 2,) 
and conclusion of that of Judges, (Ibid. p. 161.) Many of the Anglo-Saxons had en 
deavoured to transfer different parts of the Scriptures into their native idiom. Of these 
the first, with whom we are acquainted, was Ctedmon, a monk of Whitby, who died in 
680. But his was not properly a translation. It was rather a poetic paraphrase of the 
book of Genesis, and the most remarkable histories contained in the inspired writings. 
(Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 24.) Poems of this description under the name of Caedmon, were 
published by Junius at Amsterdam in 1655. In 735 Bede undertook to translate the 
gospel of St. John " for the advantage of the church ;" but he had only proceeded as far 
as the beginning of the sixth chapter, when he died. (Ep. Cuthb. Smith s Bde, p. 793.) 
The same was the fate of King Alfred, who began an Anglo-Saxon version of the book 
of Psalms, but died soon after he had finished the first part. (Malm, de Reg. 1. ii. f. 24.) 
In his laws he had translated many passages from the twentieth, and the two following 
chapters of Exodus. (Wilk. p. 186.) In the eighth century lived the priest Aldred, 
who wrote an interlineary version of the four gospels in the celebrated MS. belonging 
to the bishops of Lindisfarne, which is still preserved in the Cotton library. Nero D. iv. 
This translation is now published by Mr. Henshall. Farmer and Owun, the other two 
glossators mentioned by Marshall, (Evang. Anglo-Sax, p. 492,) appear to have lived at 
a later period. ^Elfric s versions comprehended the Pentateuch, the books of Judges, 
Esther, Judith, part of the books of Kings, and the two first of the Maccabees (Mores, 
Comment, de JElf. p. 29.) They are all of them designedly abridged (on Ujie pij-an 
pceopclice. ^Elf. de vet. Testam. p. 22.) But besides these translators, there were 
many others, whose names are unknown : though copies of some of their works are 
still extant in MS. (Wanley s MSS. passim.) The custom of making interlineary 
versions contributed to multiply the number of translations ; as the scarcity of copies 
rendered it frequently a more easy task to compose a new, than to transcribe a more 
ancient version. 

47 Besides ^Elfric, Wulstan, archbishop of York, was the author of several sermons, 
under the name of Lupus. (Wanley, MSS. p. 148.) Many others, of which the writers 
are unknown, occur in our libraries. 



250 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

to the archbishop Sigeric, and humbly desired him to correct 
every error which his superior learning might discover. 48 The 
labours of ^Elfric were not unrewarded. From the monastery 
of Abingdon he was transferred to the school at Winchester, and 
was successively made visiter of Cernley, abbot of St. Alban s, 
bishop of Wilton, and archbishop of Canterbury. 49 

The expulsion of the refractory canons, and the restoration of 
the monastic order, did not satisfy the zeal of the three bishops : 
the great body of the clergy still retained their benefices ; arid 
the irregularity of many among them reflected disgrace on the 
religion of which they professed themselves the ministers. To 
compose a new code of discipline was unnecessary, perhaps had 
been dangerous : but the laws which the Anglo-Saxon church 
had formerly acknowledged, were revived in the national synods ; 
and the ecclesiastics were required to conform to the equitable 
demand of the archbishop, that they should submit to regulations 
which had been sanctified by the observance of their predeces 
sors. This scheme of reformation was received with joy by the 
friends of religion, whose impatience already hailed the return 
of ancient fervour : but it was resolutely opposed by the more 
wealthy and dissipated of the clerical order. From the writings 
of ^Elfric, we may collect the arguments of the adverse parties. 
The canon, which excluded female servants and female relatives 
from the habitations of the clergy, was condemned as imposing 
a superfluous and barbarous restraint, which would deprive them 
both of the society of those to whom they were most dear, and 
of services which, on many occasions, were absolutely indispen 
sable. Against the injunction of celibacy, it was urged, that the 
permission which had been granted to the priests of the old, had 
descended, with their other privileges, to those of the new law : 
and that to deny the propriety of such an institution, was to dis 
pute the wisdom of the Saviour himself, who had raised St. Pe 
ter, a married man, to the dignity of prince of the apostles. To 
these reasons ^Elfric condescended to reply, that the canons 
which were most loudly opposed, had, in former times, been ac 
curately observed in the Anglo-Saxon church ; and that his con 
temporaries, if they possessed the virtue, would willingly imitate 

48 Precor modo obnixe almitatem tuam, mitissime pater Sigerice, ut digneris corrigere 
per tuam industriam, si aliquos nsevos malignse heresis aut nebulosse fallacies in nostra 
interpretatione reperias. Preface to the first volume in Wanley s MSS. p. 153. He 
began the second in the same manner. Hoc quoque opus commendamus tuse auctori- 
tati corrigendum quemadmodum praecedens, precantes obnixe, ne parcas obliterare, si 
aliquas malignse hseresis maculas in eo reperies. Ibid. 

4 9 See Mores, Comment, p. 2165. He died in 1005. Chron. Sax. p. 134. The 
most celebrated of JElfric s scholars was another JElfric surnamed Bata. He was 
abbot of Egnesham, prior of Winchester, and afterwards archbishop of York. His 
principal works are a life of St. Ethelwold, mentioned by Mabillon, (Act. Bened. Sec. v. 
p. 606,) and two letters to Archbishop Wulstan, which have been frequently quoted in 
the preceding chapters. His death happened in 1051. Mores, p. 65. 



S HOMILIES. 251 

the obedience of their predecessors. The marriage of the clergy 
he treated as a late and profane innovation, derogatory from the 
sanctity, and repugnant to the functions of the priesthood. Celi 
bacy had been recommended to the ministers of the altar by 
Christ himself, when he required of his disciples to be willing to 
relinquish every object for his sake ; and had been enjoined by 
the fathers of the great council of Nice, when they ordered the 
eioevaxtoi to be ejected from the houses of the clergy. 50 If, under 
the Mosaic dispensation, the priests were permitted to marry, it 
should be remembered, that the sacred functions were then con 
fined to a certain number of families, and that the immolation 
of animals required a less degree of purity than the oblation of 
the holy husel. 51 The example of St. Peter was, he contended, 
a confirmation of his opinion. He had, indeed, been married 
before his vocation to the apostleship ; but from the moment in 
which he attached himself to Christ, he had abandoned all com 
merce with his wife, and practised that chastity which he learned 
from the doctrine and example of his master. 52 The sentiments 
which JElfric has expressed in his writings, he had imbibed in 
the monastery of Winchester : they were enforced by the strong 
arm of authority ; and each successive council commanded the 
clergy to observe the chastity of their profession. 53 By an easy 
metaphor, the engagement which the priest contracted at his or 
dination, was likened to that of matrimony : his church was con 
sidered as his only lawful wife : and to admit any woman, under 
whatever title, to his bed, was to charge his soul with the guilt 
of a spiritual and sacrilegious adultery. 54 The more virtuous of 
the clergy readily yielded to the commands of their superiors : 

so Wilk. Con. p. 250, 251. Leg. Sax. p. 167 

51 ^Elfric Data, in his epistle to Wulstan, says that the priests in the old law, were 
obliged to a temporary chastity before they offered sacrifice. The same appears to have 
been recommended by the heathens. 

Vos quoque abesse procul jubeo ; discedite ab aris, 

Queis tulit hesterna gaudia nocte Venus. 
Casta placent superis ; casta cum mente venite 

Et puris raanibus sumite fontis aquam. TIBULLUS. 

62 Leg. Sax. 154. 162. 167. ^Elf. praef. in Gen. p. 2. He also wrote a treatise on 
the celibacy of the clergy, which is unpublished in the Cotton library, Faust. A. 9. 
(Mores, Com. p. 45.) It was formed into a sermon, and read in the church. (Wan- 
ley, MSS. p. 199.) 

53 Presbyteros summopere obsecramus, ut caste et continenter Domino jugitcr ser- 
vientes, a connubiis se femineis omnino abstineant : sicque Domini iram devitent. Con. 
^Ennam. p. 293. Full geojine lug pitan. $ hig naegon mib jiihce fcujih 
hnemeb binge pipe j- gemanan. Leg. eccl. Can. p. 301. vi. 

54 Da Y mbon ]?a cTepbjiycan J>e J?urih healicne hab ciruc sepe un- 
beripengon *] f pfcfcan abjicecan. Cijiice ij* faceribor- sepe, nah 
he mib jiihte aenije oftjie. Nip nanum peojreb fegne alipeb $ 
he pijnan moce. Lib. Const, apud Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 150, 151. See also Ed 
gar s Canons in Wilkins, (Cone. vol. i. p. 225, viii. 229, Ix.) 



252 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

but many listened with greater docility to the suggestions of pas 
sion ; and, during the century of confusion which preceded the 
extinction of the Saxon dynasty, derided the severe but impotent 
menaces of the canons. In a charge to his clergy, Wulstan, 
archbishop of York, laments that the iniquity of the times pre 
vented him from chastising the contumacy of the rebels : but his 
duty impelled him to admonish them of the obligations of chas 
tity, and to invite them to observe it by every motive which re 
ligion could inspire. 55 

During the long reign of Edgar, the ejected clergy were con 
demned to bewail in silence the loss of their possessions : but 
their present discontent was soothed with the hope of obtaining 
ample indemnity from the equity or weakness of his successor. 
That successor was a boy: and an ambitious stepmother at 
tempted to transfer the crown from his temples to those of her 
own son. This season of confusion and doubtful loyalty ap 
peared propitious to their design. Alfere, duke of Mercia, was 
the first to unfurl the standard of the clergy. Their adherents, 
moved by compassion, or allured by presents, were eager to copy 
his example : and in several provinces the monks were ignomi- 
niously expelled from their convents by the swords of their ene 
mies. 56 But army was soon opposed to army : and Alwine, 
duke of East Anglia, his brother Alfwold, and the earl Brith- 
node, declared themselves the protectors of the monks. The 
kingdom was menaced with the horrors of a civil war, from the 
passions of the opposite parties, when their chieftains were in 
duced to argue the merits of their respective claims in a council 
at Winchester. The issue proved unfavourable to the clergy. 
The efforts of Dunstan and the bishops had succeeded in fixing 
the crown on the head of Edward, the eldest son of the deceased 
monarch; and their preponderance insured to the monks an 
easy victory. 57 Scarcely, however, had four years elapsed, when 
the complaints of the clergy, and the clamours of their friends, 
were revived, and another council was summoned to meet at 
Calne. But, in the heat of the debate, the floor of the room sunk 
under the weight of numbers ; the whole assembly, except the 

55 L. pe ne magon eop nu neabunge nyban to cloennepr e ac pe 
myngiafc eop p pa beah. f je clocnner-pe healban ppa j-pa 
Cjur-trep fegnaj* f culon. Apud eund. p. 167. 

5 6 Wigor. ad ann. 975. Hoved. ad ann. 975. f. 245. Ingulf, p. 54. In the Saxon 
chronicle the sufferings of the monks afford the subject of a short poem, (Chr. Sax. p. 
123.) 

57 In this or some other council held at Winchester, (for historians do not agree 
respecting the time,) it is said that a voice issued from a crucifix, exclaiming, " All is 
well : make no change." Mr. Turner, with his usual fidelity and candour, describes 
this voice as an artifice of the primate : I would rather say that the whole history is no 
more than a popular tale, adopted, and perhaps improved, by later writers. It was un 
known to the more ancient historians. 



COUNCIL OP CALNE. 253 

archbishop, who fortunately held by a beam, were precipitated 
to the ground ; and amidst the ruins and the confusion many 
were dangerously wounded, and others lost their lives. This 
melancholy event decided the controversy. The pious credulity 
of the age ascribed the fall of the floor, and the preservation of 
Duristan, to the interposition of Heaven : and the clergy at length 
desisted from a contest in which they believed that both God and 
man were their adversaries. 

Such is the plain, unvarnished history of the synod of Calne : 
but on this narrow basis a huge superstructure of calumny and 
fable has been raised by religious prejudice. Dunstan, if we 
may credit the recent historian of the Anglo-Saxons, 58 harassed 
by the repeated attempts of the clergy, trembled for the perma 
nency of his favourite establishments, and resolved to terminate 
the quarrel by the destruction of his opponents. By his order, 
the floor of the room destined to contain the assembly was 
loosened from the walls ; during the deliberation, the temporary 
supports were suddenly removed ; and in an instant the nobles, the 
clergy, and the other members were promiscuously cast among 
the ruins ; while the archbishop, secure in his seat, contemplated 
with savage satisfaction the bloody scene below. This is the 
substance of the tale which has lately been presented to the pub 
lic ; but I may be allowed to pause, before I subscribe to its 
truth. The atrocity of the deed, the silence of his contempora 
ries, the impolicy of involving in the same fate his friends as well 
as his adversaries, must provoke a doubt in favour of the pri 
mate : and even those who have been taught to think disadvan- 
tageously of his character, will, at least, before they venture to 
condemn him, demand some evidence of his guilt. But no such 
evidence has been, or can be, produced by contemporary and 
succeeding writers. The fall of the floor was attributed to acci 
dent, or the interposition of Heaven : the sanguinary contrivance 
of Dunstan was a secret, which, during almost eight centuries, 
eluded the observation of every historian, and was first, I be 
lieve, revealed to the skepticism of Hume, who introduced his 
suspicion to the public under the modest veil of a possibility. 50 
But suspicion has quickly ripened into certitude ; and the guilt 
of the archbishop has been pronounced without doubt or quali 
fication. Nor (the omission is inexplicable) has his accuser 
claimed the merit of the discovery ; but left his incautious readers 
to conclude, that he had derived his information from the respect- 

58 Hist, of the Anglo-Sax, vol. iii. p. 190, 191. 

6 9 Hist. c. 2. Should, however, any friend of Archbishop Parker assign to that pre 
late the merit of the discovery, I shall not dispute the priority of his claim. This, at 
least, is certain, that he ascribed the misfortune at Calne to a conspiracy between the 
devil and the monks. Humana fraude et ope diabolica carere non potuit. Antiquit. 
p. 87. 



254 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

able authorities to whom he boldly appeals. 60 Yet they appear 
to have been ignorant of the charge, and contented themselves 
with translating the simple narrative of the Saxon Chronicle, the 
most faithful register of the times. " This year the principal no 
bility of England fell, at Calne, from an upper floor, except the 
holy Archbishop Dunstan, who stood upon a beam. And some 
were grievously hurt, and some did not escape with their lives." 61 
From the council of Calne till the Norman conquest, during a 
period of about ninety years, the Anglo-Saxon church presents 
lew objects worthy the attention of the historian. The horrors 
which had marked the greater part of the ninth century, were 
renewed. The assassination of the young king Edward, the in 
dolence and pusillanimity of Ethelred, and the treachery of the 
Saxon nobles, invited Swegen, of Denmark, to retrace the bloody 
footsteps of his fathers : his immature death did not arrest the 
victorious career of his followers ; and his son and successor, 
Canute, refused to sheathe the sword till he had mounted the 
throne of England. From the history of their devastations, I 
may be allowed to select the calamitous fate of Canterbury. 62 
The citizens, impelled by repeated injuries, had killed the brother 
of Edric, a name infamous in the annals of domestic treason. 
The policy or justice of Ethelred refused to punish the mur 
derers ; and Edric, in the pursuit of revenge, joined with his re 
tainers the enemies of his country. As the army of the barba 
rians approached, the citizens surrounded Elphege, their arch 
bishop, and entreated him to provide for his security by a timely 
retreat. " It is the duty of the shepherd to watch by his flock," 
was his intrepid reply. On the twentieth day of the siege, the 
traitor, tinier, set fire to a quarter of the city : and as the garri 
son deserted the walls to save their wives and children, the 
Danes, snatching the favourable moment, forced their way 
through the nearest gate. With tears of anguish and indigna 
tion, the Anglo-Saxon writers describe the miseries which the 
barbarians inflicted on this devoted city. Other cruelties may be 
supplied by the imagination of the reader: but it was their 

o Malm. p. 61. Flor. Wig. p. 361. Sim. Dun. p. 160. 

01 On ^ipj-um jeari ealle J>a ylbeptan Angelcynnef pitan ge- 
peollan aec Calne op anrie up-plopan butan j*e halgan Dunytan 
Ajicebipcop. ana sepcob uppon anum beame. ] pume J?oeri p pi$e 
gebriocobe prcjion. *] pume hit ne gebygbanmib ]>am lipe. Chron. 
Sax. p. 124. I shall add Huntingdon s translation. Omnes optimates Anglorum ceci- 
derunt a quodam solio apud Calne prater sanctum Dunstanum, qui trabe quadam ap- 
prehensa restitit. Unde quidam eorum valde la?si sunt, quidam vero mortui. Hunt 
ing. 1. v. f. 204. St. Dunstan died ten years after this event, in 988. Godwin (p. 53) 
informs us that some centuries elapsed before his canonization. This is a mistake. 
Within fifty years his festival was ordered to be kept on the thirtieth of May. Wilk. 
p. 303. 

62 Anno 1011. 



MARTYRDOM OF ST. ELriiEGE. 255 

amusement, their own writers attest it, 63 to toss the infants of 
their captives on the points of their spears, or to crush them be- 
neath the wheels of their wagons. 64 The archbishop, solicitous 
for his flock, and forgetful of his own danger, tore himself from 
the hands and entreaties of his monks, and rushing into the 
midst of the carnage, besought the barbarians to spare his de 
fenceless countrymen. His voice and gestures attracted their 
notice. He was seized, bound as a captive, and dragged to be 
hold the ruin of his cathedral. Within this venerable church 
were collected the monks, the clergy, and a crowd of inhabitants. 
The sanctity of the place might, perhaps, arrest the fury of the 
Danes : or its strength might protract their fate till the enemy 
should listen to the suggestions of humanity. These hopes were 
fallacious. A pile of dry wood was raised against the wall : 
with shouts of joy the fire was kindled : the flames ascended the 
roof; and the falling timbers and melted lead compelled the fugi 
tives to abandon their asylum. As they appeared, they were 
massacred before the eyes of the archbishop. 

Towards the evening, Elphege was conducted by his guards 
to the northern gate, the rendezvous of those whom the victors 
had destined to be sold or ransomed. The sight of their archbishop 
renewed the sorrows of the captives ; and a general exclamation 
announced their anguish. He attempted to speak : but a stroke 
from a battle-axe compelled him to be silent. The Danes num 
bered the captives. They amounted to eight hundred. Seven 
thousand men, besides women and children, had perished in the 
sack of the city. Of forty monks, four only remained. 

The life of the archbishop had been spared by the avarice of 
the Danes ; and the price of his ransom was fixed at three 
thousand pounds of silver. Had he exhorted the neighbouring 
clergy to surrender their sacred ornaments, the sum might 
probably have been raised : but to the urgent requisitions of the 
barbarians he answered, that the life of a decrepit old man was 
of little value ; and the obstinacy of his refusal increased the 
severity of his treatment. Seven months he was confined in 
prison, or compelled to follow their camp : and on the vigil of Eas 
ter was informed, that within eight days he must either pay the 
money, or forfeit his life. On the following Saturday he was 
conducted before the army. " Bishop," exclaimed a thousand 
voices, "where is your ransom? 5 The old man, to recover 
from his fatigue, sat down in silence. After a short pause he 
arose : " I have no other gold or silver," said he, " to offer you, 
than the knowledge of the true God. Him it is my duty to 
preach to you: and if you are deaf to my voice, you will 

" Bartholin, p. 457. 

e 4 Osb. vit. St. Elpheg. p. 135. Wigorn. p. 614. Anno 1011. Hoved. f. 247. 
Anno 1011. 



256 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHUHCH. 

experience the effects of his justice." He could proceed no 
farther. Rushing from their seats, the Danish chieftains beat 
him to the ground : the multitude copied the fury of their leaders ; 
and in a few minutes the body of the archbishop was buried un 
der a heap of stones. 65 At the close of the tragedy, Thrum, a 
Dane, whom he had baptized and confirmed on the preceding 
day, ventured to approach. He found him still breathing ; and, 
to put an end to his pain, clove his skull with a battle-axe. The 
body was conveyed the next morning to London, and interred by 
the bishops Eadnoth and ^Elf hune, in the church of St. Paul. 66 

During this turbulent and calamitous period, the vigilance of 
the bishops was employed to prevent the decline of ecclesiastical 
discipline ; and the regulations which they published in the 
national synods, would have done honour to the most fervent 
era of their church. The laity were exhorted to despise the 
superstition of the pagan Danes, and to practise the virtues of 
the gospel : the parochial clergy were admonished in detail of 
their numerous and important duties : to the monks was recom 
mended the exact observance of their rule ; and the discipline 
which had formerly distinguished the canons, was accurately 
described, and at times severely enforced. They were com 
manded to serve the Lord in chastity ; to attend in the choir at 
the seven hours of the divine service ; to eat daily in the common 
refectory ; and to sleep each night in their own dormitory. If in 
any churches these practices had been omitted, they were to be 
resumed : and the incorrigible members were to be expelled in 
favour of others more willing to comply with the duties of their 
profession. 67 

The rivalry, which the reformation of St. Dunstan had excited 
between the clergy and the monks, was still kept alive by occa 
sional occurrences : and the fortunes of each party varied with 
the power or the fancy of its protectors. JElfric, the primate, 
established a colony of Benedictines in the cathedral of Canter 
bury, and his conduct was confirmed by a charter of King Ethel- 
bert : 68 for the clergy, who served the church of St. Edmund s, 
Canute substituted a confraternity of monks : 69 Leofric, earl of 
Coventry, built and endowed several monasteries ; and the 

65 Osbern, p. 140. Hoveden, Florence of Worcester, and the Saxon Chronicle add 
bones, and the skulls of oxen. The Danish army had just dined, and were intoxicated 
with mead or wine. Chron. Sax. p. 142. Hoved. f. 247. Floren. Wig. p. 614. 
The archbishop was killed at Greenwich. Ang. Sac. torn. 1. p. 5. Thorn, p. 1781. 

66 These particulars are related by the contemporary writer in the Saxon Chronicle, 
(ibid.) and by Osbern, who received them from the mouths of Alfward and Godric, the 
former a disciple of St. Dunstan, the latter of St. Elphege. Osbern, p. 145. 

67 Con. /Enham. p. 292. 

68 Wilk. p. 282. 284. Mores, Comment, p. 84. 88. 

69 The body of St. Edmund was translated from Hoxton to Bury, and a monastery 
of canons erected over it in the reign of Canute. Lei. Itiner. vol. ix. p. 5. Monast. 
Ang. torn. i. p. 285. 



UNION OP MONKS AND CLERGY. 257 

magnificent remains of the abbey of Westminster still proclaim 
the munificence of Edward the Confessor. On the other hand 
churches were frequently transferred by the partiality of their 
patrons from the Benedictines to the clergy: 70 the massacres of 
the Danes compelled the monks of Canterbury to solicit the 
assistance of the canons : several abbeys were reduced by the 
barbarians to the lowest degree of poverty ; and some, with their 
inhabitants, were committed to the flames. 71 The Norman 
invasion terminated these disputes. The petty jealousies of party 
were absorbed in the general confusion : and both monks and 
clergy, instead of contending against each other, were eager to 
unite their influence, in order to preserve their respective property 
from the rapacious gripe of the conquerors. 

^o See the council of ^Enham, (p. 292.) Si autem cujuspiam Monachorum monas- 
terium, velut plerumque mutata temporutn vicissitudine contingere solet, cum canonicis 
constitutum sit. In this case the ejected monk was to appear before his bishop, and 
promise to observe chastity, wear the monastic habit, and persevere in his profession till 
death. The last instance of the kind which I can find is that of Leofric, bishop of 
Crediton, who translated his see to Exeter, ejected the religious, and introduced a society 
of canons, that followed the rule of St. Chrodogand of Metz. Qui contra morem An- 
glorum, ad formam Lotharingiorum, uno triclinio comederent, uno cubiculo cubitarent. 
(Malm. 1. ii. f. 145.) Had the historian never seen the canon of the council of ^Bnham, 
which is referred to in page 328 1 

?! Ingulf, f. 506, 507. 

33 Y2 



258 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Missions of the Anglo-Saxons St. Willibrord St. Boniface St. Willehad St. 
Sigifrid in Sweden Conversion of Denmark Of Norway. 

IN the preceding pages I have endeavoured to convey to the 
mind of the reader a satisfactory notion of the discipline, polity, 
and principal revolutions of the Anglo-Saxon church : in the 
present chapter I shall attempt to describe the spiritual conquests 
of her children in the conversion of foreign and idolatrous na 
tions. Scarcely had Christianity assumed a decided superiority 
in England, when many of the converts felt themselves animated 
with the spirit of the apostles. The north of Germany, inhabited 
by kindred tribes of barbarians, presented an ample field to their 
exertions : the merit of rescuing them from the dominion of 
paganism, inflamed their zeal : and they eagerly devoted to the 
pious enterprise their abilities, fortunes, and lives. The success 
of their labours was answerable to the purity of their motives : 
and within little more than a century from the mission of St. 
Augustine, the rays of the gospel were reverberated from the 
shores of Britain to the banks of the Weser, the Rhine, and the 
Danube. 

The first of the Anglo-Saxons who preached on the continent, 
was the celebrated St. Wilfrid. When the injustice of his 
enemies compelled him to abandon his native country, he pru 
dently avoided the hostile ports of Gaul, and landed on the more 
friendly coast of Friesland. Adelgise, the king, received the 
stranger with kindness, and gave him his hand as a pledge of his 
protection. Prevented from prosecuting his journey by the early 
inclemency of the winter, and encouraged by the friendship of the 
king, Wilfrid announced the truths of the gospel to the Frisians ; 
and several chieftains, with some thousands of their retainers, re 
ceived from his hands the sacrament of baptism. When Ebroin (he 
was mayor of the palace to the king of Neustria and Burgundy, 
and the personal enemy of Wilfrid 1 ) learned his arrival in Fries- 
land, he despatched a messenger to demand the fugitive, and pro 
mised the king a sack of gold, as the reward of his perfidy. The 

1 Dagobert, the lawful heir to the crown of Austrasia, had in his youth been com 
pelled to seek an asylum in Ireland. After an interval of some years his friends deter 
mined to place him on the throne. At their request Wilfrid discovered the royal exile ; 
and assisted him, probably with money or troops, to regain possession of his kingdom. 
(Edd. vit. Wilf. c. 27.) As Ebroin was the great adversary of Dagobert, he was 
naturally the enemy of Wilfrid ; and at the solicitation of the king of Northumbria had 
undertaken to arrest him in his journey to Rome. Edd. c. 24. 



ECGBERT PLANS THE FOREIGN MISSION. 259 

Frisian received the proposal with indignation. In the presence 
of his chieftains, the Anglo-Saxon, and the ambassadors, he read 
the letter of Ebroin, and tearing it in pieces, exclaimed : " So may 
the Creator divide the kingdom of that prince, who perjures 
himself to God, and violates his promise to man." Wilfrid re 
mained in safety under the protection of Adelgise ; and, with the 
return of spring, resumed his journey. 2 

The preaching of Wilfrid may be ascribed to accident rather 
than design : and the merit of establishing the missions in Ger 
many must be allotted to Ecgbert, a Northumbrian priest of 
noble extraction. The monasteries of Ireland and the western 
isles were filled, at this period, with men, whose well-earned 
reputation was acknowledged by the other Christian nations of 
Europe. The praise of their virtue and learning had been the 
favourite theme of Aidan, Finan, and Colman, the three first 
bishops of Lindisfarne : and the desire of improvement induced 
a crowd of noble youths to cross the sea, and assist at the lessons 
of these foreign masters. In Ireland the hospitality of the natives 
gained the aifection of the strangers ; and the advantages which 
they enjoyed, attached them to their voluntary exile. 3 Of the 
number was Ecgbert. His application was unwearied ; in the 
course of a few years he saw himself surrounded with disciples ; 
and his reputation drew to his school many of his countrymen. 
It was then he formed the design of diffusing the light of the 
gospel through the north of Germany, arid selected for his 
associates the most learned and zealous of his hearers. But 
the loss of the ship destined to transport the missionaries, re 
tarded his departure: a dream, or the advice of his friends, 
suggested an improvement of the original plan. The personal 
exertions of Ecgbert were confined to the inhabitants of the 
western islands ; and the foreign missions were allotted to the 
zeal of his more robust disciples. As their precursor, Wigbert 
was sent to Fricsland, to sound the dispositions of the natives. 
Two years of fruitless labour exhausted his patience, and he re 
turned to relate a lamentable tale of the indocility of Radbode, 
the successor of Adelgise, and of the ferocity of his subjects. 4 
But Wigbert had scarcely reached Ireland, when the Franks, un 
der the conduct of Pepin of Heristal, wrested from the Frisian 
prince the southern part of his dominions. The news revived 
the hopes of Ecgbert. Pepin was a Christian : his authority 
would second the exertions of the missionaries : and twelve 
Anglo-Saxons, with Willibrord at their head, sailed from the 
coast of Ireland to the mouth of the Rhine. 5 

Willibrord was a native of Northumbria. His education had 
been intrusted to the care of the monks of Rippon ; and in that 

2 Edd. c. 25, 26. Ann. 675, 676. 3 Bed. Hist. 1. iii. c. 27. 

i Ibid. 1. v. c. 9. 5 Ann. 690. Bed. 1. v. c. 10. 



260 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

seminary he received the clerical tonsure and the monastic habit. 
But the fame of Ecgbert excited the emulation of the young 
monk ; his thirst after knowledge could not be satisfied with the 
instructions of an inferior master ; and, at the age of twenty, he 
sailed, with the permission of his abbot, to the eastern coast of 
Ireland. Ecgbert was charmed with the modesty, application, 
and virtue of his disciple : and hesitated not to appoint him, 
when he had scarcely attained his thirty-second year, the superior 
of the mission in Friesland. By the natives he was received 
with welcome. His views were sanctioned by the approbation 
of Pepin, and of the Roman pontiff: and his labours, with those 
of his associates, were rewarded with a plenteous harvest. The 
multitude of the converts compelled him to receive the episcopal 
dignity. He was consecrated at Rome by Pope Sergius ; fixed 
his residence at Utrecht ; assumed the style of metropolitan of 
the Frisians; and ordained for the more distant missions, a 
competent number of suffragan bishops. Pepin and his successor 
frequently displayed the highest veneration for his character, 
and by their munificence enabled him to build and endow 
several monasteries and churches. 6 

The views of Willibrord expanded with his success. He 
ventured to preach to the independent Frisians: nor was he 
opposed by Radbode, who either respected his virtues, or feared 
the resentment of the Franks. The territories of Ongend, a 
ferocious Dane, were next visited by the intrepid missionary : 
but the threats of their chieftain rendered the natives deaf to his 
instructions, and he was compelled to content himself with the 
purchase of thirty boys, whom he designed to educate as the 
future apostles of their country. In the isle of Foiseteland his 
zeal was nearly rewarded with the crown of martyrdom. In a 
spring, which superstition had consecrated to the service of the 
pagan deities, he had presumed to baptize three of his converts. 
The profanation alarmed the fanaticism of the idolaters : and 
the permission of Radbode was asked to sacrifice the missionaries 
to the gods whose fountain they had polluted. By the order of 
the king the lots were cast. Willibrord escaped : but one of his 
companions was immolated to the vengeance of the islanders. 7 

Among the disciples of Ecgbert were two Anglo-Saxons, 
brothers, of the name of Ewald. The first news of the success 
of Willibrord kindled a similar ardour in their breasts ; and with 
the permission and benediction of their teacher, they proceeded 
to the territories of the Old-Saxons. At the frontiers, they were 
received by the reeve of a neighbouring village, who entertained 
them hospitably in his house, and despatched a messenger to 

6 Bed. 1. v. c. 12. Ep. St. Bonif. p. 122. 

7 Act. SS. Bened. SJBC. iii. torn. 1. p. 601. 



ASSOCIATES OF ST. WILLIBRORD. 261 

inform the ealdorman of their arrival. But the priests of the 
canton carefully watched the conduct of the strangers : they 
observed them employed in the rites of a foreign worship ; and, 
fearing the seduction of their chief, sacrificed, in a moment of 
jealousy, the two missionaries to their suspicions. One of the 
brothers was despatched by a single stroke : the lingering 
torments of the other amused and satisfied the cruelty of his 
persecutors. But the ealdorman considered their fate as an 
insult to his authority. At his return, he put the murderers to 
death, and ordered the village to be razed. By Pepin the bodies 
of the missionaries were honoured with a magnificent funeral at 
Cologne : by the Anglo-Saxon church their names were imme 
diately enrolled in the martyrology. 8 

Of the Anglo-Saxons who associated themselves to the labours 
of Willibrord, several are mentioned in history with peculiar 
praise ; and their memory was long revered with gratitude by 
the posterity of their converts. 1. Swidbert was one of his first 
companions. The Boructuarii, the inhabitants of the present 
dutchy of Berg, and the county of Mark, were the principal 
objects of his zeal: but the fruits of his labours were interrupted 
and destroyed by a sudden irruption of the pagan Saxons. The 
country was laid waste ; the natives, incapable of resistance, 
emigrated to the neighbouring nations ; and the missionary, in 
his distress, was compelled to solicit the assistance of Pepin. 
That prince gave him the island of Keisserswerdt, in the river 
Rhine ; on which he built a monastery, and from which he 
occasionally made excursions to instruct the remaining inhabit 
ants. 9 2. Adelbert, a prince of the royal race of Northumbria, 
abandoned his country to share the merit and fortunes of Willi 
brord. He chose the north of Holland for the exercise of his 
zeal ; the pagans listened with docility to his instructions ; and 
his memory was long held in veneration by the inhabitants of 
Egmond, the place of his residence and death. 10 3. The Batavi, 
who dwelt in the island formed by the Rhine and the Wahal, 
owed their conversion to the instructions of Werenfrid. Elste 
was the capital of the mission ; and the church of that town pre 
served his relics. 11 4. Wiro, Plechelm, and Otger, three Anglo- 
Saxons, devoted themselves to the conversion of the inhabitants 
of Gueldres. Pepin revered and rewarded their virtues, and 
successively intrusted to the two former the direction of his con 
science. Their principal residence was in the vicinity of Rure- 
rnond. 12 

8 Anno 692. Bed. 1, v. c. 11. In Bede s martyrology the third of October is 
assigned to their memory. Smith s Bede, p. 428. 

9 Bed. 1. v. c. 12. 10 Act. SS, Bened. ssec. Hi. torn. i. p. 631. 
Act. SS. Bolland. Aug. 28. 

12 Soc. Bollan. Mai. torn, ii, p. 309. Jul. torn. iv. p. 58. Sep. torn. ii. p. 612. The 
Irish writers consider Wiro as their countryman ; but on the authority of Alcuin I have 
called him an Anglo-Saxon. Alci de Pont. Ebor. v. 1045. 



2G2 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

But the merit of converting barbarous nations was not con 
fined to the zeal of the Northumbrian missionaries : and the title 
of apostle of Germany, has been bestowed by posterity on a 
West-Saxon of the name of Boniface. He was born at Crediton, 
in Devonshire, and at an early age discovered a strong predilec 
tion for the monastic profession. His father beheld with dis 
pleasure the inclination of his son : but a dangerous indisposition 
removed or subdued his objections ; and the young Winfrid, 
(such was his original name,) accompanied by the friends of his 
family, repaired to the monastery of Exanceaster. From Exan- 
ceaster he was soon transferred to Nutscelle ; and in both houses 
his rising virtues and abilities commanded the esteem and admi 
ration of his brethren. After having acquired every species of 
knowledge which was valued at that period, he was advanced 
to the office of teacher : his school was frequented by a crowd 
of students; and to facilitate the diffusion of knowledge, he 
taught, by the command of his superiors, in the neighbouring 
monasteries and convents. At the age of thirty he was ordained 
priest ; and the eloquence or piety of his sermons increased his 
former reputation. He was admitted to the great council of the 
nation : Ina, king of Wessex, honoured him with his confidence ; 
and the ambition of the monk, had he listened to ambition, might 
have justly aspired to the highest ecclesiastical preferments. But 
he had heard of the spiritual conquests of Willibrord and the 
other missionaries : and their example had kindled in his breast 
a desire of contributing, like them, to the progress and diffusion 
of Christianity. The abbot Wibert reluctantly yielded to his 
entreaties : and Winfrid, accompanied by three of his brethren, 
sailed from the port of London to the coast of Friesland. He 
could not have chosen a more inauspicious moment. Pepin was 
dead ; Charles, his son and successor, was opposed by the rival 
ambition of Ragenfrid ; and Radbode seized the favourable op 
portunity to pour his barbarians into the provinces which he had 
been formerly compelled to cede to the power of the Franks. 
The missionaries fled ; the churches were demolished ; and pa 
ganism recovered the ascendancy. Winfrid, however, pene 
trated as far as Utrecht ; he even ventured to solicit the protec 
tion of the king : but his efforts were fruitless ; and prudence 
induced him to return to England, and expect the issue of the 
war in the retirement of his former monastery. 13 

But in England his humility was soon alarmed by the partial 
ity of his brethren, who chose him for their superior. To elude 
their importunity, he implored the assistance of Daniel, bishop 
of Winchester : and by the influence of that prelate a new abbot, 
was installed, and the missionary was again permitted to pursue 
his apostolic labours. With several companions he sailed to the 

i3 St. Willib. vit. St. Bonif. p. 2552(52. edit. Serrar. 



ST. BONIFACE PREACHES IN GERMANY. 263 

continent, and directed his steps to Rome, carrying with him a 
letter from his diocesan. As soon as the pontiff had learned from 
it the views and qualifications of the pilgrim, he applauded his 
zeal, pointed out Germany as the theatre of his future labours, 
and dismissed him with his advice and benediction. By Liut- 
prand, king of Lombardy, he was received with veneration. 
From the court of that hospitable monarch he crossed the Alps, 
traversed the territory of the Bavarians, and entered the country 
of the Thuringii. The natives had formerly listened to the doc 
trines of the gospel : but they still retained the habits of paganism, 
and their clergy were few, ignorant of their duties, and irregular 
in their morals. Boniface (he had now assumed a Latin name) 
instructed the people, and reformed the clergy. But he was re 
called from this pious work to the first object of his choice, by 
the death of Radbode, and the subsequent successes of the 
Franks. Descending the Rhine, he entered Friesland, offered his 
services to Willibrord, and laboured three years under the direc 
tion of that apostolic prelate. The archbishop revered the vir 
tues of his new associate ; and determined to ordain him his suc 
cessor in the see of Utrecht : but Boniface declined the dignity, 
and retired with precipitation among the Hessians and the Old- 
Saxons. The poverty of the country, the inclemency of the 
weather, and the caprice of the barbarians, furnished a long and 
severe trial to the patience of the missionary : but his perse 
verance subdued every obstacle ; and within a few years he saw 
himself surrounded by a numerous and fervent society of Chris 
tians. 14 

By the report of travellers, Gregory II. was first informed of 
the conquests of Boniface : from his letters he learned that many 
thousands of the natives of Hesse, Saxony, and Thuringia, had 
willingly submitted to the doctrines of the gospel. The piety of 
the pontiff was gratified : he summoned the missionary to Rome, 
conferred on him the episcopal ordination, 15 and sent him back 
with honour to his converts. From this hour spiritual distinc 
tions continued to flow upon him. He soon received the pal- 

n Ibid. p. 262268. 

15 An ancient custom required that bishops, at their ordination, should subscribe a 
promise, or take an oath, of obedience to their metropolitan. That which was exacted 
by the Roman pontiffs, is still preserved in the Liber Diurnus Rom. Pont. p. 69. It is 
divided into two parts. In the first, the bishop promises to profess the faith, maintain 
the unity, and watch over the interests of the church : in the second, to bear true alle 
giance to the emperor, to oppose all treasonable practices, and to disclose to the pontiff 
such as rnaj come to his knowledge. But after the conquests and conversion of the 
northern nations, it became necessary to change the second part, and adapt it to the par 
ticular circumstances of the bishop to whom it was proposed. Thus, in the time of 
Gregory the Great, the prelates of the Longobards, instead of the promise of allegiance 
to the emperor, swore that they would endeavour to preserve a just peace between their 
nation and the Romans. (Lib. Diurn. p. 71.) Another alteration was made at the or 
dination of St. Boniface. As several of the French prelates lived in the open infringe 
ment of the cations, he was made to promise that he would keep no communion with 



264 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

Hum with the metropolitical jurisdiction ; was authorized to 
assume the title of envoy of St. Peter, arid legate of the apostolic 
see ; and was appointed the superior not only of the German, 
but also of the Gallic prelates. To relieve the fatigue of the 
reader, I shall neglect the chronology of events, and rapidly no 
tice the principal of his actions ; 1. As a missionary to the pagan 
nations ; and, 2. As the representative of the Roman pontiff. 

1. The first care of the missionary, after he had received the 
episcopal consecration, was to increase the number of his asso 
ciates. In a circular letter addressed to the bishops and the prin 
cipal abbots in England, he painted in lively colours the wants 
of the mission, and exhorted his countrymen to assist him in 
liberating the souls of their fellow-creatures from the yoke of 
ignorance and paganism. His exhortations were read with con 
genial sentiments by the more fervent of the monks and clergy : 
the merit of converting the infidels, and the hope of obtaining 
the crown of martyrdom, taught them to despise the dangers and 
difficulties of the enterprise ; and many zealous missionaries suc 
cessively crossed the sea, and placed themselves at the disposal 
of l the new apostle. No motives but those of the purest zeal 
could have supported them under the numerous privations and 
dangers to which they were continually exposed. Bread, in 
deed, they were able to obtain from the gratitude of their prose 
lytes, and the menaces of the Franks protected them from the in 
sults of the vanquished barbarians, who refused to listen to their 
doctrine : but for clothing, and almost every other necessary, they 
were compelled to depend on the casual benevolence of their 
distant friends ; and the fruits of their labours were frequently 
destroyed, and their lives endangered, by the hostilities of the 
tribes that still retained the religion and independence of their 
fathers. By one incursion no less than thirty churches were 
levelled with the ground. 16 

The next object of the archbishop was to insure a permanent 
supply of missionaries. With this view he erected several 
monasteries, and exhorted his associates to copy his example in 
their different districts. His first foundation was the small cell 
at Ordof ; this was followed by the larger monasteries of Fritzlar, 
and Amelburg : and to them succeeded the rich and magnificent 
abbey of Fulda. An extensive forest, known by the name of 
Buchow, lay in the midst of Franconia, Hesse, Wetteravia, and 
Thuringia. Through it ran the river Fuld, on the banks of 
which Boniface discovered a spot, adapted in his opinion to the 
purposes of a monastic life. A grant of the place was readily 

those prelates, but would endeavour to reform them ; and if his efforts were fruitless, 
would denounce them to the apostolic see. Sed et si cognovero antistites contra in- 
stituta antiqua SS. patrum conversari, cum eis nullam habere communionem aut con- 
junctionem, sed rnagis, si valuero prohibere, prohibebo; sin minus, fideliter statim 
domno meo apostolico renunciabo. Ibid. p. 70. 
16 St. Bonif. Ep. 91, 92. 



LABOURS OF ST. BONIFACE. 265 

obtained from the piety of Carloman, the son of Pepin : Sturm, 
his beloved disciple, with seven associates, cleared the wood, 
and erected the necessary buildings ; and Boniface himself taught 
them the strict observance of the rule of St. Benedict. The abbey 
continued to flourish after the death of its founder, and within, 
the space of a few years contained four hundred monks. Till its 
late secularization its superior was a prince of the empire, and 
styled himself primate of all the abbots of Gaul and Germany. 1 ? 

For the education of the female sex, Boniface solicited the 
assistance of Tetta, the abbess of Winburn ; and Lioba, with 
several of the sisters, readily devoted themselves to so meritorious 
an attempt. To these he afterwards joined several other English 
ladies, who were animated with similar views, and equally 
desirous to partake in the merit of the missionaries. Lioba was 
placed in the convent of Bischofesheim, on the Tuber ; Tecla, at 
Chitzingen, in Franconia; Walpurge, at Heidenheim, near the 
Brentz ; and Chunihild and Chunitrude were sent, the former into 
Thuringia, the latter into Bavaria. 18 

As Boniface advanced in age, he found himself unequal to the 
administration of so extensive a diocese. With the permission of 
the pontiff, and the consent of Carloman, he established four 
episcopal sees at Erford, Buraburg, Aichstad, and Wurtzburg ; 
and intrusted them to the care of four of the most zealous among 
his associates, Adelhard, Wintan, Willibald, and Burchard. 19 

2. But the Anglo-Saxon did not confine his pastoral solicitude 
to the nations whom, by his preaching, he had converted to the 
Christian faith. In quality of apostolic legate, he visited Bavaria, 
and was received by the Duke Odilo with respect and kindness. 
The Bavarian church was then governed by Vivilo, a prelate 
ordained for that mission by the sovereign pontiff. Boniface 
judged that a greater number of pastors was necessary to ac 
celerate the progress of the gospel, and divided the country into 
four smaller dioceses. Vivilo was obliged to content himself 
with the bishopric of Passau ; John, an Anglo-Saxon, was 
ordained for that of Saltzburg ; and Goibald and Erembert were 
placed in the churches of Ratisbon and Fresingen. 20 

During the preceding century, the ambition of the mayors of 
the palace had dissolved the bands of civil subordination, and 
ecclesiastical polity, in the empire of the Franks. The regulations 
of the canons were openly infringed ; the highest dignities of the 
church were usurped by powerful and rapacious laymen ; and 
the clerical and monastic bodies were ignorant of the duties of 
their profession. To recall the severity of the ancient discipline 
was the great ambition of Boniface : and Carloman, whose 

<7 Vit. Bonif. p. 271, 272. 277. Ep. 142. 

"8 Othloni vit. St. Bonif. apud Canis. ant. Lect. torn. iii. Annal. Bened. torn. ii.p. 72. 
St. Bonif. Ep. 131, 132. 
20 Vit. St. Bonif. auct. Willibal. p. 274. 
34 Z 



ANTIQUITIES OP THE ANGLO-SAXON CHUHCfl. 

piety readily listened to his suggestions, ordered the bishops of 
Austrasia to obey the summons of the legate. They met him 
successively in council, and respectfully subscribed to the canons 
which he dictated. 21 Pepin imitated the zeal of his brother ; a 
synod of three-and-twenty bishops assembled at Soissons ; and 
by the care of Boniface, a uniformity of discipline was intro 
duced throughout all the churches of the Franks. 

An important revolution marks the history of this period. The 
sceptre had long since slipped from the feeble grasp of the Me 
rovingian kings into the hands of Charles Martel and his sons. 
These princes at first contented themselves with the power, with 
out the title of royalty : and, on the calends of May, the 
hereditary monarch of the Franks was annually exhibited to the 
veneration of his subjects. But Pepin soon dismissed the dan 
gerous pageant : Childric, the last king of the race of Clovis, was 
shorn in the monastery of Sithiu ; and Boniface, if we may be 
lieve a host of ancient writers, crowned the mayor of the palace, 
according to the wish or the advice of Pope Zachary. No point 
of history is, perhaps better attested than the share which the 
pontiff and his legate bore in this transaction : 22 ) yet several 
French critics have ventured to call it in question; and their 
rational skepticism may be excused or justified by the silence of 
Zachary and Boniface, and of Anastasius and Willibald, their 
ancient biographers. 

Towards the close of his life the archbishop fixed his residence 
in the city of Mentz ; and with the consent of Pepin and the 
pontiff ordained to succeed him his disciple Lullus, formerly a 
monk of Malmesbury. It was his wish to resume the labours 
of his youth, and spend his last breath in the conversion of the 
pagans". Attended by one bishop, three priests, three deacons, 
four monks, and forty-one laymen, he descended the Rhine, and 
penetrated to the centre of East-Friesland. By his exhortation 
some thousands of the idolaters were induced to abandon the 
altars of the gods, and to submit to the rite of baptism. After a 
short delay a general assembly of the neophytes was summoned 
to receive the sacrament of confirmation on the vigil of Pentecost; 
and in a tent in the plain of Dockum the archbishop waited the 
arrival of his converts. At the break of day he was informed 
that a body of Frisians, completely armed and of hostile aspect, 
were rapidly approaching. The laymen prepared to defend their 
lives : but Boniface, going out of his tent, bade them sheathe 
their swords, and receive with patience the crown o.f martyrdom. 
He had scarcely spoken, when the barbarians rushed upon them, 
and immolated the whole company to their fury. But their 
avarice was disappointed: and instead of the treasures which 

2 Int. epist. St. Bonif. p. 1 10. 112. 

22 See Eginhard, \nnales Laurcshamenses, Loiselani, Fulclenses, Bertmiam, &c- 
apud Le Cointc, Annal. torn. iv. 



MISSION OF ST. VVILLEHAD. 267 

they expected, they obtained only a few books, with the use of 
which they were unacquainted. At the news, the Christian 
Frisians were fired with indignation : thsy assembled in great 
numbers, and within three days revenged the death of their 
teacher in the blood of his murderers. 23 

The fate of Boniface did not arrest the zeal of his country 
men ; and the nations whom he had converted, listened with 
docility to the instructions of his followers. But the first that 
added a new people to the Christian name, was Willehad, a 
Northumbrian priest, who, with the permission of his bishop and 
of King Alhred, sailed, in 772, to the northern coast of Germany. 
As soon as he had landed, he visited the plain of Dockum, kissed 
the ground which had been sanctified by the blood of the mar 
tyrs, and rose from prayer animated with the spirit of his pre 
decessor. With irresistible eloquence he preached to the bar 
barians the doctrine of the gospel. The dangers to which ho, 
was frequently exposed, were repaid by the success of his 
labours ; and the knowledge of the true God was successively 
planted on the banks of the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe. 
Wigmode, the country lying between the two last rivers, became 
the principal theatre of his zeal ; and during seven years he 
governed the mission with the authority, but without the ordi 
nation, of a bishop. When the Saxons made a last effort to 
throw off the yoke of the Franks, the Christians were the first 
victims of their fury. The churches erected by Willehad were 
demolished ; five of his associates, with their companions, were 
massacred ; and the missionary himself escaped with difficulty 
into Friesland. But after two years, the fortune of Charlemagne 
invited him to return, and he was ordained the first bishop of 
the Saxons. He chose for his residence a spot on the right bank 
of the Weser, where he built a cathedral, and laid the founda 
tions of the city of Bremen. He died in 78 9. 24 

From Germany the zeal of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries in 
duced them to cross the Baltic; and Sigfrid, a priest of York, 
about the middle of the tenth century, preached, at the request 

23 Vit. S. Bonif. p. 279. The benefits, which Germany received from the ministry 
of Boniface, have not screened him from the severity of criticism ; and the gratitude of 
Mosheim has induced him to draw a disadvantageous portrait of the apostle of his 
country. If we may believe him, Boniface often employed fraud and violence to 
multiply the number of his converts ; and his own letters prove him to have been a man 
of an arrogant and insidious temper, and profoundly ignorant of many necessary truths, 
and of the real nature of the Christian religion. Mosh. saec. viii. par. 1, c. 1. As the 
German historian does not attempt to fortify his assertions by any reference to ancient 
writers, they mast rest on his own authority : but if the reader think proper to peruse 
either the letters of the missionary, or his life by St. Willibald, he will be enabled to 
form an accurate notion of the veracity and impartiality of his accuser. The Anglo- 
Saxons considered Boniface as the glory of the nation. He died in 755, and in the 
first synod which was held the following year, they enrolled his name in the calendar, 
and chose him for one of the patrons of their church. Ep. Cuthb. archiep. p. 94. 

< Armal. Bened. torn. ii. {>. 222. 255. 2GO. 291. 



268 ANTIQUITIES OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH. 

of Olave Scotkonung, king of Upsal, to the natives of Sweden. 
The prince, his family, and army, received the sacrament of bap 
tism ; five episcopal sees were filled with pastors by the exertions 
of the missionary ; and though he lost his three nephews by the 
cruelty of the idolaters, he at last succeeded in fixing the church 
of Sweden on a firm and lasting foundation. He died in 1002, 
and was buried at Wexiow, which had been his principal resi 
dence. 25 Ulfrid and Eskill, two of his countrymen, were mar 
tyred some time after by the inhabitants. 20 

In Denmark the seeds of the gospel had been sown at different 
periods by the successors of St. Willehad, the archbishops of 
Bremen : but their success had been limited and transitory ; and 
many missions were begun, many generations passed, before the 
fierce, intractable spirit of the natives could be induced to bend 
to the mild precepts of Christianity. A share of the merit of this 
pious work is due to the Anglo-Saxons ; several of whom were 
transported by Canute the Great to Denmark, that, by their vir 
tue and preaching, they might disseminate the Christian faith 
among his subjects. Bernard presided with episcopal authority 
in Schonen ; Gerbrand in Zealand, and Reinher in Finland : but 
all three acknowledged the superior jurisdiction of Unuan, arch 
bishop of Bremen. 27 

The first of the Norwegian kings who received the sacrament 
of baptism, was Haco, surnamed the good. With the zeal of a 
proselyte he endeavoured to propagate the Christian religion ; 
and at his request bishops and priests were sent from England to 
his assistance. In a public assembly he exhorted the deputies 
of the nation to embrace the new worship : but they despised 
his eloquence and authority, and compelled him to revert to the 
worship of his fathers. 28 Paganism retained the superiority in 
Norway till the accession of St. Olave. In one of those pirati 
cal expeditions which were the darling employment of the 
northern chieftains, he was converted to the faith by a hermit 
on one of the Stilly islands. When he had obtained the crown 
by the death of Haco the bad, he made it his principal ambition 
to convert his subjects ; the severity of his laws abolished or re 
pressed the practices of ancient superstition ; the priests of Wo 
den were put to death without mercy ; and Norway was filled 
with real or pretended Christians. His assistants and advisers 
were Anglo-Saxons; Grimkele, bishop of Drontheim, Sigefrid, 
Rodolf, and Bernard, whose labours were not confined to the 
continent, but extended to all the islands which owned the do 
minion of the king of the Northmen. 29 

25 Apud Benzol, p. 1, cit. Butler, Feb. 15. ^ Adam. Bremen. 1. ii. c. 44. 

27 Chron. Holsatire, c. 10 13. Adam. Brem. 1. ii. c. 38. 

2 8 Snorre, p. 138. 

2 9 Ibid. 223. 258. Adam. Bremen. 1. ii. c. 40. 43. Anno 1027. 



NOTES. 



(A) p. 64. 

TOWARDS the close of his reign, Ethelwulf made a valuable dona 
tion to the church. It is, however, difficult to ascertain the true im 
port of this donation. Some writers have described it as the esta 
blishment of tithes, (Selden, Hist, of Tithes, c. 8,) and, in defence of 
their opinion, appeal to the testimony of Ingulf. (Tune primo cum 
decimis omnium terrarum ac bonorum aliorum sive catallorum uni- 
versam dotaverat ecclesiam. Ing. f. 494.) I have, however, shown 
(p. 64) that tithes were introduced some centuries before : nor can I 
conceive how " the tenth part of the land" can mean no more than 
the donation of the tenth part of the produce of the land. The an 
cient historians may, in general, be divided into two classes. The 
first appear to limit the grant, whatever may have been its ultimate 
object, to the tenth part of the royal demesne lands. (Teopan bsel 
hip lonber*. Chron. Sax. p. 76. Totam terram suam pro Christo 
decirnavit, Ailred, inter x. script, p. 351. Totam terrain suam de- 
cumavit. Hunt. 1. v. p. 200. Decimam partem terra? meae. Chart. 
apud Wilk. p. 184. Totam terram de dominico suo decimavit. 
Annal. Winton. apud Dudg. Monast. torn. i. p. 32. Decimam partem 
omnium terrarum in manibus suis existentium ecclesia? donavit Angli 
cans. Rudborne, p. 200.) The others, and in general the more 
ancient, extend it to all his dominions. (Decimam totius regni sui 
partem ab omni regali servitio et tributo liberavit, et in sempiterno 
graphio in cruce Christi uni et trino Deo immolavit. Asser, p. 2. 
Hoved. p. 232. Decumavit de omni possessione sua in partem 
domini, et in universe regimine principatus sui sic instituit. Eihelw. 
1. iii. c. 3, f. 478. Decimam omnium hydarum intra regnum suum. 
Malm, de Reg. 1. ii. c. 2, f. 20.) There are also two charters given by 
Ethelwulf on this subject. The first is dated in the year 854, and 
appears from the signatures to have regarded only the kingdom of 
Wessex. In it he says, Perfeci, ut decimam partem terrarum per 
regnum meum non solum sacris ecclesiis darem, verum etiam et 

z2 269 



270 NOTES. 

ministris meis in perpetuam libertatem liabcre conceclerem. Malm, 
de Pont. 1. v. p. 360, edit. Gale. Regist. Abend, apud Dugd. Monast. 
torn. i. p. 100. From these words the grant appears to have been 
made to the secular as well as the spiritual thanes ; and was, perhaps, 
a donation, not of lands, but of immunities. This idea is strength 
ened by the additional clause in the copy preserved by the monks of 
Malmesbury. Terra autem ista, quam in libertate ponimus, ad eccle- 
siam pertinens Meldubesburg, est Piretune, &c. Malm. ibid. The 
second charter was given in the following year, and subscribed by the 
kings of Mercia and East-Anglia, and by all the bishops of England. 
The donation is expressed in the following terms: Aliquam por- 
tionem terra? hereditariam, antea possidentibus omnibus gradibus, 
sive famulis et famulabus Dei Deo servientibus, sive laicis miseris 
(perhaps ministris, as in the former charter,) semper decimam 
mansionem ; ubi minimus sit, turn decimam partem omnium bonorum 
in libertatem perpetuam donari sancta? ecclesiae digudicavi. Wilk. ex 
Ingul. p. 183. This charter appears also to regard lands, which 
were already in the possession of the clergy and laity, (antea possi 
dentibus,) and therefore can hardly mean any thing more than a grant 
of the great ecclesiastical privilege, that is, of immunity from all 
secular services, to the tenth part of such lands. This is insinuated 
in another part of the charter, in which it is termed a partial diminu 
tion of servitude. Eo libentius pro nobis ad Deum sine cessatione 
preces fundant, quo eorum servitutem in aliqua parte levigamus. 
Char. ibid. The grant of Ethel wulf is adverted to in a charter said 
to have been given by his grandson, Edward, to the new minster at 
Winchester, and extracted by Alford from the annals of Hyde. Ego 
Edvardus Saxonum Rex, ex decimatione, quam avi mei decimaverunt, 
ex eorum propriis terris istius regni, ministris suis aliquibus, sive 
etiam peregrinis, episcopis et bonis presbyteris, et monasteriis etiam 
emendandis, et pascendis pauperibus, tradiderunt ea ratione ut pro 
rege missarum celebrationem et votivas orationes faciant, &c. Alfordi 
Annal. torn. iii. p. 207. 



(B) p. 66. 

HERE it may not be amiss to notice an error, to which the au 
thority of respectable names has imparted the semblance of truth. It 
has long been fashionable to decry the clergy of the middle ages. 
Among their real or imaginary faults, thoy have been aroused of 
valuing religion only as ihe sourer of temporal woalih ; nml in sup- 



NOTES. .271 

port of the charge, we are perpetually referred to the definition of a 
good Christian, attributed to St. Eloi, bishop of Noyon, in the seventh 
century. The history of this definition may, perhaps, amuse the 
reader. Dachery, a Benedictine monk, had rescued from the moths 
and cobwebs an old manuscript, containing the life of the saint : he 
published it in the fifth volume of his Spicilegium ; and it fell into 
the hands of Maclaine, the English translator of Mosheim. With an 
eager eye this writer perused its contents, and selected from it a pas 
sage, which he appended, as a valuable ornament, to the text of the 
German historian. It was the character of the good Christian ; and 
this character was made to consist in paying the dues of the church, 
and performing a few external practices of devotion : qualifications, 
which, as he observes more at length, might fill the coffers of the 
clergy, but could not satisfy the demands of the gospel. (Mosh. cent, 
vii. part 2, c. 3.) The present of Maclaine was gratefully accepted 
by the prejudices of his readers ; and Robertson, who reprinted it, 
publicly acknowledged his obligations to him for the perusal of so 
important a passage. (Hist. Charles V. vol. i. p. 218, octavo edit.) 
From that period, it has held a very distinguished place in every in 
vective which has been published against the clergy of former ages : 
and the definition of the good Christian has been re-echoed a thou 
sand times, by the credulity of writers and their readers. May I 
hope to escape the imputation of skepticism, when I own, that I have 
always been inclined to mistrust this host of witnesses and their quo 
tations ? I at last resolved to consult the original document, nor were 
my expectations disappointed, I discovered that the bishop of Noyon 
had been foully calumniated, and that, instead of his real doctrine, a 
garbled extract had been presented to the public. That the good 
Christian should pay the dues of the church, he indeed requires : but 
he also requires, that he should cultivate peace among his neighbours, 
forgive his enemies, love all mankind as himself, observe the precepts 
of the decalogue, and faithfully comply with the engagements which 
he contracted at his baptism. Non ergo vobis sufficit, charissimi, 
quod Christianum nomen accepistis, si opera Christiana non facitis. 
Illi enim prodest, quod Christianus vocatur, qui semper Christi prae- 
cepta mente retinet, et opere perficit : qui furtum scilicet non facit, 
qui falsum testimonium non dicit, qui nee mentitur nee perjerat, qui 
adulterium non committit, qui nullum hominem odit, sed omnes sicut 
semetipsum diligit, qui inimicis suis malum non reddit, sed magis pro 
ipsis orat, qui lites non concitat, sed discordes ad concordiam revocat, 
&c. Dach. Spicil. torn. v. p. 213. On account of its similarity, I 
shall subjoin another description of the good Christian, from an An 
glo-Saxon prelate, Wills tan, archbishop of York. " Let us always 



212 NOTES. 

profess one true faith, and love God with all our mind and might, and 
carefully keep all his commandments, and give to God that part (of 
our substance) which by his grace we are able to give, and earnestly 
avoid all evil, and act righteously to all others, that is, behave to 
others, as we wish others to behave to us. He is a good Christian 
who observeth this." Sermo Lupi Epis. apud Whel. p. 487. 



-p. 70. 

IT is no easy matter to determine the relative value of the different 
denominations of Anglo-Saxon money. The following is the most 
accurate information, which I have been able to collect on this subject. 

1. The principal of the Anglo-Saxon coins appears to have been 
the silver penny. There is no evidence that our ancestors possessed 
any national pieces of a higher value. 

By a statute, made in the reign of Edward I., it was ordered, that 
each penny should weigh thirty-two grains of wheat, taken from the 
middle of the ear ; that twenty of these pennies should make one 
ounce ; and twelve ounces one pound. (Spelm. Gloss, voce Denar.) 
This statute appears not to have altered, but only to have declared the 
legitimate weight of the English penny. Every more ancient docu 
ment agrees in dividing the pound of silver into the same number of 
pennies. 

I therefore conceive the penny always to have been the two hun 
dred and fortieth part of a pound of silver : nor can I assent to those 
writers, who have ingeniously contended for two sorts of pennies ; 
the larger, of which five, and the smaller, of which twelve are be 
lieved to have composed the shilling. For if the shilling of five 
pennies had contained as much silver as that of twelve, it must have 
been indifferent to the receiver, what shillings were offered him in 
payment : nor would the legislature so often have distinguished be 
tween the two sorts of shillings, and ordered some penalties to be 
discharged in shillings of five, and others in those of twelve pennies. 

To prove the existence of two sorts of pennies, it has been observed 
that, in the laws of Alfred, mention is made of pounds maejijia 
peninga, (Leg. Sax. p. 35,) and in those ascribed to William the Con 
queror, of bener deners. (Turner, vol. iv. p. 168. I have not found 
the original passage.) But I conceive the first passage should be trans 
lated shining pennies, or pennies fresh from the mint ; the second, 



NOTES. 273 

better pennies, or such as were not adulterated with too great a quan 
tity of alloy. From Domesday Book, and other authorities, we know 
that, when the king s treasurers suspected the purity of the silver, 
they refused it : and that, when the pennies had been diminished by 
remaining long in circulation, they required others, or a greater number 
to make up the weight. ^Elfric translates, probata moneta publica, 
money of full weight: be pullon gepihte. Thwaites, Heptat. 
p. 30. 

For the convenience of smaller payments, the penny was frequently 
clipped into two equal parts, each of which was called a haefling, or 
half-penny : and these were again divided into halves, which were 
named feorthlings, or farthings. 

In the Saxon translation of the gospels, are mentioned the wecg, 
(Matth. xvii. 27,) which I conceive to mean only a piece of money, 
and the styca. (Mark xii. 42.) In this passage, two stycas are said 
to be the fourth of a penny. In the parallel passage in St. Luke, 
(xxi. 2,) the same sum is called two feorthlings. It should, however, 
be observed, that the translators are different ^Elfric in the latter, 
Aldred or Farmen in the former. In the year 1695, a considerable 
number of small copper coins, supposed to be stycas, were found near 
Rippon. Gibson s Cam. vol. i. p. cciii. 

In the laws of Alfred, (Leg. Sax. p. 45,) and of Henry I. (ibid. p. 
282,) mention is made of the third part of a penny. I am ignorant 
whether it was a coin, or only a division of the penny. Most pro 
bably it was the latter. 

2. The shilling appears to have denoted a certain number of pen 
nies, and to have varied in value at different times, and in different 
places. As this opinion has been controverted, I may be allowed to 
produce a few instances, by which I conceive it may be clearly esta 
blished. 

From the laws of Ethelred and Canute, (Leg. Sax. p. 113, 127,) it 
appears that one hundred and twenty shillings were the half of five 
pounds. Whence it follows, that the pound consisted of forty-eight 
shillings, and each shilling of five pennies, since the pound contained 
in all two hundred and forty pennies. This inference is confirmed by 
./Elfric, who assures us, that when he wrote, five pennies were equal 
to one shilling. Fij? pemngap gemacijaft aenne j-cilhnge. Wilk. 
Gloss, p. 416. 

From the laws of Henry I. it appears, that fifty shillings were, at 
that period, the half of five pounds. (Leg. Sax. p. 272.) Whence 
it follows that the pound consisted of twenty shillings, and each shil 
ling of twelve pennies, as the pound of silver was still coined into two 
35 



274 NOTES. 

hundred and forty pennies. This inference is confirmed by several 
payments in Domesday Book, of twenty shillings to the pound : and 
by the Danegeld of the year 1083, which, by the Saxon Chronicle, is 
said to have been seventy-two pennies, (p. 185,) by other historians, 
six shillings. (Mat. Paris p. 9, Westmon. p. 229, and Brompton, 
p. 978.) 

In the laws of Alfred, the different wounds which may be inflicted 
on the human body, are carefully enumerated, and a pecuniary com 
pensation is assigned to each, proportionate to the injury which it 
was supposed to occasion. (Leg. Sax. p. 45.) The whole chapter, 
with the same fines, is inserted in the laws of Henry I. ; but the Nor 
man legislator, to prevent mistakes, admonishes his readers, that the 
shillings which are mentioned in it, are only shillings of five pennies. 
(Ibid. p. 281, 282.) 

In the laws of Ina, and of Edward, the successor of Alfred, we are 
told, that the healsfang for a man, whose were was twelve hundred 
shillings, amounted to one hundred and twenty shillings. (Lex. Sax. 
p. 25. 54.) In those of Henry I., we are told, that the healsfang 
of a man whose were was twelve hundred shillings, or twenty- 
five pounds, amounted to one hundred and twenty shillings, which, 
according to the method of computation then in use, were only fifty 
shillings, (qui faciunt hodie solidos quinquaginta. Leg. Sax. p. 269.) 
Here the Norman observes, that the twelve hundred shillings, which, 
according to the ancient laws, were still demanded for the were, were 
the ancient shillings of five pennies, since they were only equal to 
twenty-five pounds, and that the one hundred and twenty shillings for 
the healsfang were of the same description, and equal to no more 
than fifty of the common shillings of twelve pence. In effect, one 
hundred and twenty shillings of five pennies, and fifty of twelve, 
give equally six hundred pennies. 

According to the laws of Alfred, the borhbryce was a penalty of 
five pounds, (Leg. p. 35 ;) according to those of Henry I., it was one 
hundred shillings. (Leg. p. 250.) Five pounds of two hundred and 
forty pennies, and one hundred shillings of twelve pennies, give 
equally twelve hundred pence. 

In the laws of Ethelred and Canute, (Leg. p. 113. 127,) the 
grithbryce, the penalty for violating the peace of a church of the 

Pounds. Shillings. Pennies. 

1st class was 5 240 1200 

2d " \ 120 600 

3d | = 60 = 300 

4th 30 = 150 



NOTES. 275 

Iii the laws of Henry I., (Leg. p. 272,) the same penalty is stated 
as follows. For a church of the 

Pounds. Shillings. Pennies. 

1st class was 5 = 100 1200 

2d 5 = 50 600 

3d " k = 25 = 300 

4th I = 12-6 = 150 

In both statements the value is the same. The only difference is 
in the shillings, which in the first are shillings of five, in the second 
of twelve pennies. 

From these instances it may be inferred 1. That the same pecu 
niary compensations for crimes were in general continued by the Nor 
man, which had been originally enforced by the Saxon princes : 
2. That under the Saxons they were paid in shillings of five, under the 
Normans, in shillings of twelve pennies : 3. That the pennies con 
tinued of the same value, and the only difference was in the amount 
of the nominal sum called a shilling, which first denoted five, and 
afterwards twelve pennies. 

It is difficult to discover at what period the shilling of twelve pen 
nies was first employed. That it was introduced by some of the 
foreign adventurers, who, during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh cen 
turies, settled in England, is evident : that it should be assigned to the 
national partiality of the Norman conquerors, is highly probable : 
both because it first appears in the English laws after the conquest, 
and because it is known to have been the shilling in use among all the 
provinces, which originally composed the empire of the Franks. 
(The French pound contained two hundred and forty pennies, or 
twenty shillings of twelve pennies each. Mabil. saec. iv. Bened. 
prccf. i. p. cxi. It was fixed at this sum by Pepin and Charlemagne. 
Du Fresne, Glos. p. 894. The Spanish pound contained three hun 
dred pennies, and only twelve shillings of twenty-five pennies each. 
Mabil. Anal. vet. p. 551.) To this opinion, however, it may be ob 
jected, that in the history of Ely, mention is made of payments of 
twenty shillings to the pound, as early as the reign of Edgar, (Hist. 
Elien. p. 473 :) and in ^Elfric s version of Exodus, c. xxi. v. 10, the 
mreg^abe, which Alfred, in his laws, declares to be the woman s 
dower, (Leg. Sax. p. 39,) is said to be twelve shillings of twelve pen 
nies, (]>a finb cpelp fcillmjaf be tpelp penigon. Thwaitcs, 
Heptat. p. 85.) It is not, however, impossible, that the monk of 
Ely, as he wrote after the conquest, might adopt, instead of the 
ancient, the new method of computation, which was more intelligible 
to his readers : and as the passage in ^Elfric is an addition to the 



276 NOTES. 

original, it might, perhaps, be inserted by some of his copyists as a 
note, and have crept from the margin into the text. 

There is reason to believe that, even among the Saxon nations, the 
shilling did not always denote the same number of pennies. The 
shilling of five pennies, was the shilling of Wessex ; the head, as it 
is styled by Henry I., of the empire and the laws, (Qua? caput regni 
est et legum. Leg. Sax p. 265 :) but in Mercia the shilling appears 
to have contained no more than four pennies. 

That the Mercians followed a particular method of calculation, is 
insinuated in the laws of Athelstan, from which we learn that a cer 
tain sum of money among the Angles, was equal to one hundred 
pounds in the Mercian law. (be myricna lage. Leg. Sax. p. 71.) 

In the assessment of the Weregild, we are told, that among the 
Mercians, seven thousand two hundred shillings are equal to one hun 
dred and twenty pounds. (Ibid. p. 72.) Hence it follows, that sixty 
Mercian shillings made a pound, and that, of consequence, each shil 
ling could contain no more than four pennies. 

This inference is confirmed by a passage in the same laws, in 
which four pennies, and shortly after one shilling, are mentioned, as 
the sum contributed by each member of an association in London. 
Ibid. p. 66. 

In the laws ascribed to William the Conqueror, we are told, that 
the shilling English is four pennies. (Leg. p. 221.) If the reading 
be corret, this must be the Mercian shilling. 

Hence it may not be rash to infer, that the shilling denoted among 
the West-Saxons five, the Mercians four, and the Normans twelve 
pennies. 

In ancient charters we sometimes meet with mention of sicli : in 
Archbishop Egbert s dialogue, (p. 272, 273. 275,-) of sicli and argentei 
for the same sum. Both words were borrowed from the Latin transla 
tion of the Scriptures, and adopted by the Saxon writers in that lan 
guage, as less barbarous than the national term scyllinge. In the ver 
nacular version of the gospels, argenteus is always rendered by shil 
ling, in that of Genesis, it is rendered a shilling, p. 27, and a penny, 
p. 43. jElfric translates siclus by periling. Gen. xxiii. 16, and 
Exod. xxi. 32, by entpa. Jos. vii. 21. 

3. Among the Angles, (inne mib Englum. Leg. p. 71. Perhaps 
the Middle-Angles mentioned by Bede, 1. iii. e. 21,) the pennies seem 
to have been computed, not by shillings, but by thrymsas. The 
word is derived from ftjieo or ftrum, and appears to mean three pen 
nies. That such was the real value of the thrymsa, may be deduced 
from the laws of Athelstan, from which we learn that two hundred 



NOTES. 277 

and sixty-six thrymsas among the Angles, were equal to two hundred 
shillings among the Mercians. (Leg. p. 71.) Two hundred and 
sixty-six thrymsas of three pennies, give seven hundred and ninety- 
eight pennies, and two hundred Mercian shillings of four, give eight 
hundred pennies. The difference is only two, and in so large a sum 
might have been overlooked by the legislator, for the sake of a round 
number. Such instances occur in the Saxon laws. See Leg. Sax. 
p. 269. 

4. Of the value of the sceatta, I am compelled to confess my 
ignorance. From a diligent comparison of the sums mentioned in 
the laws of Ethelbert, king of Kent, the sceatta appears to have been 
the twentieth part of a shilling. Hence, if the shilling in these laws 
be that of Wessex, the sceatta will be one-fourth, if that of Mercia, 
one-fifth of a penny. But at the distance of three centuries it appears 
to denote a much greater sum. In the laws of Athelstan, the king s 
Weregild is said to be, according to the custom of Mercia, thirty 
thousand sceattas, which, by the computation mentioned above, will 
amount to no more than twenty-five pounds. Yet we are told imme 
diately after, that it is equal to one hundred and twenty pounds, which 
makes each sceatta equal to one penny and the twenty-fourth part of 
a penny. I suspect the correctness of the passage. 

5. The ora first appears in the convention between Edward and 
Guthrun, king of the Danes ; it is often mentioned afterwards, and 
appears to have been peculiar to the countries in which the Danes 
were settled. In the laws of Ethelred, the ora is said to be the 
fifteenth part of a pound. (Spelm. Gloss, voce Ora. Wilk. Gloss, 
voce Hustinge.) It was, therefore, equal to sixteen pennies; and 
such is the value ascribed to it by ^Elfric, according to Spelman, 
(ibid.) and by the register of Burton, according to Camden. (Gib 
son s Camden, Wiltshire, p. 130.) Twenty oras, if the register be 
correct, were equal to two marks, or three hundred and twenty pen 
nies. But though sixteen new pennies made an ora, yet in many 
payments twenty were exacted on account of the diminution of the 
coin by circulation. Domesday, Gale, p. 759. 765. 

6. The mancus was the eighth of a pound. ^Elfric, after observ 
ing that five pennies make a shilling, adds, and thirty pennies a 
mancus. (Wilk. Gloss, voce Manca.) It is said in one chapter of the 
laws of Henry I., (c. 34,) that thirty shillings of five pennies make 
five mancuses ; and in another, that twelve common shillings and six 
pence make five mancuses. In each passage the mancus appears to 
have contained thirty pennies. 

7. The mark is so frequently mentioned among the different deno- 

2 A 



278 NOTES. 

minations of Saxon money, that it must appear surprising any doubt 
should exist respecting its value. By Spelman (Gloss, voce Marca) 
it is said to have been at one period equal to no more than two pen 
nies. But he was deceived by a law of Edward the Confessor, the 
true meaning of which may be discovered from a parallel law of 
William the Conqueror. (Compare Leg. p. 198, with p. 222.) Other 
writers have pronounced the mark to be the same sum with the mancus : 
and in some passages, particularly in the laws of Henry I., these two 
denominations appear to be used indiscriminately. But this I am in 
clined to ascribe to the negligence of the copyists, who might easily 
confound words so similar to each other as marca and manca. At an 
early period after the conquest, the mark was two-thirds of a pound, 
(at this value it was called on the continent the English mark. Du 
Fresne, Gloss, p. 438,) and there is every reason to believe it to have 
been the same under the Saxon princes. This I shall endeavour to 
prove, by showing that the latter computation agrees, and the former 
disagrees, with the relative value of the sums mentioned in the Anglo- 
Saxon laws. 

In the convention between Alfred and Guthrun, the life of an English 
and a Danish thane is declared to be of equal value : and the com 
pensation for each is said to be eight half-marks of gold : that is, if 
the mark were two-thirds of a pound, thirty-two ounces ; if, like the 
mancus, one-eighth, six ounces. Under the Normans, the value of 
gold to silver was as one to nine or ten, (Spel. Gloss, p. 397. Wilk. 
Gloss, p. 416 ;) and, as far as I can judge, the same proportion seems 
to have obtained under the Saxons. In this supposition thirty-two 
ounces of gold will be worth about twenty-five pounds of silver, and 
six ounces of gold worth about five pounds. To decide which of 
these computations deserves the preference, we need only examine 
the laws of Ethelred and Henry I., in which the same law is re- 
enacted, and the penalty is declared to be twenty-five pounds of silver. 
(See Leg. Sax. p. 47. 105. 265.) 

Among the Danes, the lahslite, the fine for violating the law, was 
five marks, if the criminal were a king s thane ; three, if he were a 
landholder; and twelve oras, if he were a countryman. (Leg. p. 101,) 
Supposing the mark to be no more than the mancus, the thane would 
pay thirty shillings, the landholder eighteen, and the countryman 
thirty-eight shillings and two-pence, which is evidently wrong. But 
supposing the mark to be two-thirds of a pound, the thane would 
pay one hundred and sixty shillings, the landholder ninety-six, and 
the countryman thirty-eight and two-pence, which appears nearer to 
the truth. 



NOTES. 279 

In the laws attributed to Edward the Confessor, (Leg. p. 199,) the 
manbote to be paid to the king or archbishop, for the murder of one 
of their retainers, was three marks ; to a bishop or earl, forty-eight 
shillings of five pennies, equal to twenty of twelve ; to a thane, 
twenty-four of five pennies, or ten of twelve. Supposing the mark 
to be two-thirds of a pound, three marks are ninety-six shillings of 
five pennies, and forty of twelve. That this is the true value of the 
three marks, will appear from the gradual diminution of the manbote 
in geometrical proportion. 

Marks. Shillings of 5. Shillings of 12. 

King s manbote 3 = 96 = 40 

Bishop s manbote = 48 = 20 

Thane s manbote = 24 = 10 

Hence, I conclude the Anglo-Saxon mark was two-thirds of the 
pound, or one hundred and sixty pennies. 

The Saxon money may, therefore, be reckoned as follows : 

Pennies. 

The pound 1 *== 240 

The mark f = 160 

The mancus | == 30 

The ora T V 16 

The greater shilling ^ = 12 

The common shilling T * ff = 5 

The Mercian shilling ^ = 4 

The thrymsa ^ = 3 

The penny ^ = 1 



(D) p- 83. 

THE most accurate account of the discipline observed in the double 
monasteries, among the Anglo-Saxons, occurs in the life of St. Lioba, 
written by Ralph, a monk of Fulda, and contemporary historian. In 
quo (Winburne) duo monasteria antiquius a regibus gentis illius con- 
structa sunt, muris altis et firmis circumdata, et omni sufficientia 
sumptuum rationabili dispositione procurata, unum scilicet clerico- 
rum, alterum feminarum. Quorum ab initio fundationis suae ea lege 
discipline ordinatum est, ut neutrum eorum dispar sexus ingrederetur. 
Nunquam enim virorum congregationem femina, aut virginum contur- 



280 NOTES. 

hernia quisquam virorum intrare permittebatur, exceptis solummodo 
presbyteris, qui in ecclesias earum ad agenda Missarum officia tantum 
ingredi solebant, et consummata celeriter oratione statim ad sua re- 
dire. Feminarum vero quaecumque saeculo renuntians earum collegio 
sociari voluerat, nunquam exitura intrabat, nisi causa rationabilis vel 
magnce cujuslibet utilitatis existens earn cum consilio einitteret. Porro 
ipsa congregations mater, quando aliquid externum pro utilitate Mo- 
nasterii ordinare vel mandare necesse erat, per fenestram loquebatur. 
Tetta abbatissa virgines cum qnibus indesinenter manebat, adeo im- 
munes a virorum voluit esse consortio, ut non tantum laicis aut cle- 
ricis, verum etiam ipsis quoque Episcopis in congregationem earum 
negaret ingressum. Vit. St. Liobae apud Mab. Act. SS. Bened. ssec. 3, 
p. 246. See also Bede, 1. iv. c. 7; iii. c. 11. 



(E) p. 92. 

I SHALL take this opportunity to add a few miscellaneous remarks 
concerning the Anglo-Saxon monks at this period. 

For several centuries, as Mabillon had justly observed, (Ssec. Bened. 
iv. praef. 1, n 52,) the distinction of different orders of monks was 
unknown. Whatever diversity might exist in their private discipline, 
they considered each other as brethren, and professors of the same 
institute. Hence they made no difficulty to alter, as they thought 
proper, the internal police of their own monasteries, to borrow new re 
gulations from each other, and to join in the observance of two or more 
rules at the same time, in those points in which they did not contra 
dict each other. Many instances might be adduced from the historians 
of other countries, nor are they wanting in the records of the Anglo- 
Saxons. The discipline established at Weremouth, by St. Bennet 
Biscop, was collected from the customs of seventeen foreign monas 
teries, (ex decem et septem monasteriis, Bed. vit. Abbat. p. 297 ;) St. 
Botulf composed his rule from that of St. Benedict, the customs of 
the ancient monks, and the suggestions of his own judgment. Quod 
transmarinis partibus didicerat de monachorum districtiori vita et regu- 
lari consuetudine, memoriter repetendo quotidianis inculcationibus 
subditos consuescit solita mansuetudine. Praccepta salutis secundum 
B. patris Benedicti documentum, vetera novis, nova veteribus miscens, 
nuuc antiquorum instituta, nunc per se intellecta discipulos edocuit. 



NOTES. 281 

Vit. St. Botul. auctore Felice, in actis SS. Benedic. torn. iii. p. 2. At 
Lindisfarne, after the departure of the Scottish monks, was observed 
a rule composed by St. Eata, the first Anglo-Saxon abbot, afterwards 
the rule of St. Benedict was added, and both were observed together. 
Nobis regularem vitam componens constituit, quam usque hodie cum 
regula Benedicti observamus. Vit. St. Cuth. auctore anonymo sed 
antiquo, cit. Mab. Annal. Bened. torn. i. p. 275. 

The great number of monks belonging to some monasteries, will 
probably surprise the reader. At Winchelcomb they amounted to 
three hundred, (Monas. Ang. torn. i. p. 190 ;) at Weremouth and Jar- 
row to six hundred, (Bed. vit. Abbat. p 301 :) and in the houses 
established by St. Wilfrid, to some thousands. (Ed. vit. Wilf. c. 24.) 
It were, however, inaccurate to suppose, that all these were withdrawn 
from the occupations of social life, to attend solely to pious exercises. 
In the most populous monasteries, a very small proportion of the 
members were permitted to study the sciences, or to aspire to holy 
orders : the greater part (five-sixths according to the monk of Win 
chelcomb) were employed in the daily occupations of husbandry, and 
the mechanic arts, in which they acquired a much greater proficiency 
than any of their contemporaries. In illo magno religiosorum nu- 
mero, vix fortassis quadraginta aut circiter in sacerdotes aut clericos 
ordinari cerneres : reliqua vero multitudo heremitarum et laicorum 
more, diversis artificiis, et aliis manuum laboribus operam dantes, pro 
his, quae in necessariis defuerunt, prout ab antiquo boni fecere mo- 
nachi, diligenter prospiciebant. Regist. Winchel. in Monas. Ang. 
torn. 1. p. 190. 

The dress of the Anglo-Saxon monks and nuns was not uniform. 
It is noticed as an instance of uncommon austerity, that the abbess 
Edilthryda denied herself the use of linen, (Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 19 ;) 
and St. Cuthbert is praised for having forbidden the woollen garments 
of his disciples to be dyed. (Bed. vit. St. Cuth. c. 16.) The Saxons 
in general were passionately addicted to dress, and great admirers of 
the most gaudy colours. Among these scarlet was the favourite ; and 
flammea puella is used by Archbishop Lullus to denote a lady of 
fashion. (Ep. St. Bonif. 45, p. 63.) Variety, however, as we learn 
from St. Aldhelm, was deemed necessary: and from his expressions we 
may infer, that the weavers employed looms with several treadles, and 
understood the art of ornamenting their webs with figures, formed by 
threads of different colours. (Panuculae purpureis, imo diversis colo- 
rum varietatibus fucatae, inter densa filorum stamina ultro citroque 
decurrant, et arte plumaria omne textrinum opus diversis imaginum 
toraciclis perornent. St. Aid. de laud. Virg. p, 305.) He himself pos- 
36 2 A 2 



282 NOTES. 

sessed a chasuble (a vestment for the celebration of mass) of a scarlet 
colour, decorated with figures of peacocks, each of which was en 
closed in a circle of black. (Gale, p. 351.) It was not long before this 
taste violated, in many instances, the original simplicity of the mo 
nastic habit. Of the ladies, who retired to the convents, many were 
descended from the most illustrious families : in the cloister they 
devoted their leisure hours to works of ornament ; and often retained 
a great part of the dress which they had worn in a secular life. St. 
Aldhelm has described the appearance of one of these noble or royal 
nuns. Her under vest (subucula) was of fine linen, and, if the text 
be accurate, of a violet colour ; above this she wore a scarlet tunic, 
(tunica coccinea,) with wide sleeves, and a hood striped with silk, 
(manicae et caputium sericis clavata? ;) her shoes were of red leather ; 
the locks on her forehead and temples were curled with irons ; and a 
veil (mafortium) was tied to her head with ribands, crossed over her 
breast, and permitted to fall behind to the ground. He adds, that her 
nails were pared to a point, that they might resemble the talons of 
the falcon. St. Aid. ibid. p. 364. The principal difference between 
this dress and that of the secular ladies appears to have been, that the 
latter suspended crescents of gold and silver (lunulas) on their necks, 
wore bracelets round their arms, rings enchased with jewels on their 
fingers, and employed stibium to paint the face. Id. p. 307. The 
dress of the more dissipated among the clergy and monks is said to 
have borne a great resemblance to that of the nuns above described. 
Id. p. 364. But they affected to wear their tunics shorter, and imi 
tated the secular thanes by wrapping fillets of different colours round 
their legs, (see an instance of this custom in Strutt s engraving from 
the ancient MSS. Horda Angelcynn. vol. i. p. 47,) and covering 
their heads with the lappets of their robes, which were made to re 
semble a mantle. (Imitantur sasculares in vestitu crurum per fasciolas, 
et per coculas in circumdatione capitis in modum pallii. Con. Cloves. 
p. 99.) These robes were faced with silk, and ornamented with ver 
micular figures, (Ep. St. Bonif. 105, p. 149 :) the silk was of a crimson 
colour, striped with white, green, or yellow. (Carmen Aldhel. inter 
ep. Bonif. p. 89.) In the correspondence between the missionaries 
in Germany and their friends in England, is mentioned a great va 
riety of presents. Among these are several articles of the clerical 
and monastic dress, the figure of which is perhaps now unknown ; 
but which were made of silk, silk and wool, wool, and linen : some 
were lined with furs, and others woven in imitation of them. (Ep. St. 
Bonif. p. 15. 105. 117. 126. 152. 155.) 

These innovations in the monastic dress were not, however, uni- 



NOTES. 283 

versal. Many monasteries retained with scrupulous exactitude the 
severe simplicity of their founders : and the vanity of the others was 
deservedly chastised by the zeal of the more vigilant prelates, and the 
decrees of the national councils. Among the former, St. Aldhelm, 
(De laud. Vir. passim.) and St. Boniface, (Ep. ad Cuth. apud Wilk. 
p. 93 ;) among the latter, the synods of Cloveshoe and Calcuith were 
conspicuous. By the synod of Cloveshoe, works of ornament were 
discouraged in nunneries, a greater attention to prayer and reading 
was recommended, and such habits ordered to be worn as became 
those who had renounced forever the pleasures and the vanities of the 
world. In the synod of Calcuith, the papal legates severely con 
demned the use of garments dyed with Indian colours, (tinctis India3 
coloribus. Id. p. 147. From a passage in the life of St. Ansegisus, 
Act. SS. Bened. ssec. iv. vol. i. p. 634, in which the Indian colour is 
distinguished from the green and red, I should suspect it to be the 
same as is still known by the name of indigo.) The clergy and 
monks were also ordered to adopt the habits of their brethren in the 
east. (Ibid. By the east were meant the nations on the continent, as 
appears from comparing this passage with another, p. 151.) Whether 
this regulation was ever enforced I am ignorant. If it were, the dress 
of the monks would be as follows : a close woollen tunic of a white 
colour, reaching to the feet, over which was worn a wider robe, with 
long sleeves and a cowl of the same stuff, but of a darker colour. On 
many occasions this was exchanged for a shorter vest of nearly the 
same figure, with this exception, that it only reached to the elbows 
and thighs. They were called the tunic, cowl, and scapular. (Tunica, 
cuculla, scapulare. Mab. Act. SS. Ben. saec. v. praef. n 59.) 

Of the canonical dress of the clergy, I have met with no exact de 
scription. From Ingulf, (f. 500) we learn, that Turk etui ordered the 
clergy, who served the church of St. Pega, to wear chlamydem 
nigram, vestesque talares, ac omnes nigri coloris. The chlamys was 
an open robe, fastened with a clasp. Isidor. orig. 1. xix. c. 24. 

The warm bath \vas in frequent use in monasteries at this period. 
It was recommended as conducive to cleanliness and health. St. Wil 
frid bathed every evening during many years. Edd. vit. St. Wilf. c. 
21. People bathed before communion through respect to the sacra- 
mejit. Mab. saec. iv. torn. ii. praef. n 187. Bede mentions with 
praise the self-denial of St. Edilthryda, who seldom used the warm 
bath, except on the vigils of Easter, Pentecost, and the Epiphany. 
He adds, that all the other nuns were accustomed to bathe before her. 
Bed. Hist. 1. iv. c. 19. 

In the histories of some monasteries, mention is made of recluses. 



284 NOTES. 

A recluse was a woman of approved piety, whom the abbot permitted 
to reside in a cell near the church, and to attend daily at the divine 
service. She generally wore the same habit as a nun, and submitted 
to the same regulations. Of this description was Etheldrida, a Mer 
cian princess, who had been promised in marriage to Ethelbert, king 
of the East-Angles. Shocked at the barbarous murder of her in 
tended husband, (he was killed by order of her father Offa, on his 
arrival at the court of Mercia,) she determined to forsake the world, 
and devote herself to a religious life. Croyland, which had been 
founded by a prince of her family, was the object of her choice ; and 
the monks erected apartments for her in a corner of the church. In 
this situation she spent the rest of her days. Her cell afforded a 
secure asylum to her cousin Witlaff, king of Mercia, and concealed 
him during four months from the resentment of his victorious enemy, 
Egbert, king of Wessex. Cart. Witlaf. apud Ingulf, f . 487. 

It was seldom that more than one recluse was permitted to reside 
near the monastery. If the abbot received many applications, he 
sometimes built a convent in the neighbourhood, appointed a prioress, 
and drew up a code of laws for its inhabitants. Matt. Paris, vit. 
Abbat. p. 992. Men, as well as women, sometimes became recluses. 



(F) p. 94. 

THE houses of the Anglo-Saxons appear to have resembled those 
of the other northern tribes of that period. The walls were built of 
wood or stone, the roofs of branches of trees covered with straw or 
reeds. An aperture in the centre transmitted the smoke. (Bed. 1. iii. 
c. x.) The habitation which St. Cuthbert built for himself in the isle 
of Fame, consisted of two separate rooms, surrounded by a wall two 
yards high. The latter was built with stone and turf: the rooms were 
partly excavated in the rock. (Bed. p. 243. 263.) Even the palace 
of the king of Northumbria was nothing more than a large hall, with 
two opposite openings for doors. The hearth was in the middle of 
the floor. (Bed. 1. ii. c. 13.) 

In the erection of their churches, the converts followed the method of 
the countries from which their teachers came. The Irish missionaries 
taught them to build churches of split oak, which Bede distinguishes 
by the name of the Irish method, (1. iii. c. 25,) and which appears to 



NOTES. 285 

have kept its ground in Ireland during several centuries. (Vit. St. 
Malachite, auctore D. Bern. c. v. xiii.) Of this method of building, 
a curious specimen still remains in Greenstead church, in the county 
of Essex. The walls are formed of the trunks of oaks six feet high, 
sawed in half. Being cut away at the bottom into a tenon, they are 
inserted into a groove cut in a horizontal piece of timber, which 
serves as the base sustainment. A second horizontal square timber, 
by way of entablature, grooved like the first, receives the ridges of 
the trunks, which stand with their sawed faces inwards, and within 
one inch of each other. At the gable end the trunks rise gradually 
pediment-wise to the height of fourteen feet. The interstices between 
the trunks admitted the light ; but we find from Bede, (Vit. Cuth. c. 
xlvi.) that they were sometimes filled with straw : others nailed skins 
against them; Eadbert of Lindisfarne covered them entirely with lead. 
Id. 1. iii. c. 25. 

The Roman missionaries, who had been accustomed to the build 
ings of Italy, introduced the custom of building churches of stone : 
and the superior elegance and solidity of these soon superseded the 
method of building with wood. 

The cruciform shape, which has since been usually given to 
churches, was then seldom adopted. The first instance of the kind 
in England is generally supposed to have been the church at Ramsey, 
built in 969, (Gale, Hist. Ram. c. 20 :) but the contrary appears 
from a poem written in England long before that period, in which 
mention is made of a church built in the shape of a cross. (Ethel- 
wulf, de Abbat. Lindis. c. 22.) In general, however, the Anglo- 
Saxon churches approached the form of a square. (Ibid. c. 20. Bed. 
1. ii. c. 14.) 

The ceilings were flat, framed with oak, and supported by rows 
of columns. (Lei. Col. vol. i. p. 24. Ale. de Pont. v. 1507. Edd. 
vit. Wilf. c. 17.) From them were suspended a great number of 
lamps. 

Ut coelum rutilat stellis fulgentibus, omnes 
Sic tremulas vibrant subter testudine templi 
Ordinibus variis funalia pendula flammas. 

Ethel, de Abbat. c. 20. 

In the walls were formed spiral staircases. (Edd. vit. Wilf. c. 20.) 
The body of the church was surrounded by numerous porches, each 
of which formed a distinct chapel. (Bed. \: ii. c. 3. Ed. vit. Wilf. c. 
17. 20.) 



286 NOTES. 

Emicat egregiis laquearibus intus alque fenestris, 
Pulchraque porticibus fulget circumdata multis. 

Ale. de Pont. v. 1507. 

Plures sacris altaribus cedes, 
Quse retinent dubium liminis introitum. 
Quisquis ut ighotis deambulat atria plantis 

Nesciat unde meat, quove pedem referat. 
Onmi parte quia fores conspiciuntur apertae, 
Nee patet ulla sibi semita certa viae. 

Wolstan in Act. SS. Ben. vol. iii. p. 629. 

The church at Ramsey was ornamented with two towers, one at the 
western entrance, and another in the centre of the transept supported 
by four arches. (Hist. Rames. c. 20.) The tower of the new church 
at Winchester was at the eastern extremity. (Wolst. p. 630.) But I 
conceive that originally the towers were distinct from the churches, 
like the celebrated round towers that are still remaining in Ireland. 
Thus a tower had been erected before the western entrance of the old 
church at Winchester, as we learn from Wolstan. 

Turris erat rostrata tholis quia maxima qusedam 
Illius ante sacri pulcherrima limina templi, &c. 

Act. SS. Ben. vol. ii. p. 70. 

If I maybe allowed to conjecture on a subject which has exercised 
the ingenuity of many writers, I conceive such towers to have been 
originally built at a short distance from the church, that the walls might 
not be endangered by their weight, and that they were not considered 
merely as an ornament, but used as beacons to direct the traveller to 
wards the church or monastery. Lights were kept burning in them 
during the night. At least such was the fact with respect to the new 
tower at Winchester, which, we learn from Wolstan, consisted of five 
stories, in each of which were four windows, looking towards the four 
cardinal points, that were illuminated every night. (Wols. p. 631.) 



-p. 98. 

THAT the Anglo-Saxon monks, by their virtue, their learning, and 
their utility, deserved the esteem of their contemporaries, can scarcely 



NOTES. 287 

be denied by those, who are acquainted with their true history. It 
must, however, be acknowledged that the merit of all was not equal, 
and that in several monasteries the severe discipline of their founders 
was gradually abandoned Experience showed that opulence was not 
in general the soil the most favourable to the growth of monastic 
virtue. But the cause should be ascribed to the circumstances of the 
times. The wealth and importance attached to the dignity of abbot, 
often stimulated the ambition, and rewarded the intrigues of men, the 
least qualified for so elevated an office. When the prince assumed 
the right of nominating to the vacant abbeys, the merit of the candi 
date was frequently the last recommendation which he required : and 
if the freedom of election was granted to the monks, they were often 
compelled, by the rapacity of an unprincipled neighbour, to purchase 
the protection of some powerful family, by giving their suffrages to 
one of its members. If we peruse the catalogue of those who go 
verned the more opulent monasteries, we shall find them filled with 
names of royal or noble descent: and of these superiors, though 
several maintained with honour the reputation of the order, and the 
regularity of the monks, many considered themselves as little more 
than secular thanes. They abandoned to others the care of the com 
munity, followed the sovereign to the field of battle, and mixed in the 
pleasures and occupations of the world. The consequence was na 
tural. The sterner virtues of the institute were suffered to languish ; 
discipline was relaxed ; and the private monk imitated, in many in 
stances, the dissipation of his superior. See Wilkins, p. 93. 97. 
Bed. 1. iv. c. 25. Ep. ad Egb. p. 311. Ep. Ale. apud Canis. xxiii. 
p. 411. Mat. Paris, vit. Abbat. p. 992. Gul. Thorn, p. 1781. 



(H) p. 103. 

THE belief of the Anglo-Saxon church, respecting the supremacy 
of St. Peter, is so well established, that I shall not stop to unravel the 
web which the sophistry of Hicks (Gram. p. 20) and Whelock 
(Hist. p. 237) has spun from some expressions in the Saxon homilist. 
Yet I may observe, that the superior dignity of the apostle is asserted 
in the very passage which is the subject of their triumph. Nu bejif 
Pecriuf f hip oftfte getacnun^e fcaejie halgan gelaj^unge on 
faerie he ij* ealbop unbeji Erur-t. "Now Peter beareth the type 
or resemblance of the holy church ; in which he is the prince under 



288 NOTES. 

Christ." Whel. p. 237. Whelock, indeed, has rendered the Saxon 
word ealboji by senior, Elstob by bishop, (Sax. Homil. pref. p. xl. :) 
but that it should be prince or chief, is plain from the context, from 
Alfred s version of Bede, in which ealbopi always answers to prin- 
ceps, and from the original sermon of St. Augustine, (Sermo 13, de 
verb. Dom.,) from which this passage was borrowed by the homilist, 
and which has the words, principatum tenens. 



(I)-p. 107. 

THE reader has already seen, that the council of Cloveshoe was 
convoked in obedience to the command of the pontiff, and to avoid 
the sentence of excommunication, with which he had threatened the 
Anglo-Saxon prelates. I shall proceed to notice the manner in which 
Henry has undertaken to prove, from the same council, that the Eng 
lish church was independent of the church of Rome. He was urged 
to the attempt by the apparent success of Inett, (vol. i. p. 177 :) but 
he applied to the work with greater boldness ; and the master must be 
content to yield the palm to his scholar. 

In Henry s ingenious narrative we are told 1. That the council was 
held, probably, at the suggestion of St. Boniface : 2. That its canons 
were, for the most part, taken from those of the synod of Mentz, 
which that prelate had transmitted to Archbishop Cuthbert : 3. But 
that the English council made a very important alteration in the canon 
respecting the unity of the church. In that formed by St. Boniface, 
the bishops professed their obedience to St. Peter and his vicar : in 
that published by the English prelates, no mention was made of the 
church of Rome, but it was declared that "sincere love and affection 
ought to be among all the clergy in the world, in deed and judgment, 
without flattery of any one s person." " This remarkable caution," 
adds the historian, " in the language of the canon, is a sufficient proof 
that the clergy of England were not yet disposed to bend their necks 
to the intolerable and ignominious yoke of Rome." Hen. vol. iii. 
p. 225. 

It must be confessed, that the art with which this narrative is com 
posed, does honour to the ingenuity of its author. The idea, that the 
synod was assembled at the suggestion of St. Boniface, and that the 
canons were selected from those which had been transmitted from 
Germany to the Saxon metropolitan, is well calculated to justify the 



NOTES. 289 

inference which he was so anxious to establish. The only defect is, 
that the whole system has been raised on a treacherous foundation ; 
on the speculations of a modern writer, instead of the documents of 
ancient history. Henry s account is contradicted, in every particular, 
by the very acts of the council. 1. In the procemium the bishops 
assert, that they had assembled, not at the suggestion of St. Boniface, 
but at the peremptory command of Pope Zachary. 2. The canons 
sent from Germany were only nine in number, and were comprised 
in a few lines, (Wilk. p. 91 :) those published at Cloveshoe amounted 
to thirty, and are, many of them at least, of considerable length. 
(Ibid. p. 95 100.) How the latter could be selected from the 
former, it is difficult to conceive. In reality, there are only two or 
three passages in which they bear any resemblance to each other. 
3. The English bishops made no alteration in the canon respecting 
the unity of the church. There is no such canon in either collection. 
As the bishops assembled at Mentz had been sent into Germany by 
the popes, to labour in the conversion of the pagans, it was natural 
for them to express their obedience to the apostolic see; but the 
English prelates were in different circumstances, and no reason can 
be assigned why they should adopt the same conduct. They, there 
fore, did not transcribe the first canon of the council of Mentz ; much 
less did they make any alteration in it. To give some colour of plau 
sibility to his story, Henry has had recourse to a ruse de guerre, 
which is sometimes employed by controversial writers. He has 
framed a new title for the second of the canons of Cloveshoe, omit 
ted its commencement, and interpolated it in an important passage. 
The true title is not the unity of the church, but the unity of peace, 
(De unitate pacis. Wilk. p. 95 :) and the object of the canon is to 
inform us that the bishops had signed an engagement to live in peace 
and amity among themselves, without interfering with each others 
rights, or flattering any particular person. The engagement which 
restrains the meaning of the canon to the contracting parties, Henry 
has prudently omitted : and, to extend its operation, has ingeniously 
inserted the words, " all the clergy in the world." Ipsi praesules, say 
the acts, ad se ipsos verba mutuaj exhortationis verterunt, .... et 
secundo loco sub testificatione quadam confirmaverunt, ut pacis intimae 
et sincerae charitatis devotio ubique inter eos (all the clergy in the 
world, in Henry s translation,) perpetuo permaneat, atque ut una sit 
omnium concordia in omnibus juribus ecclesiastics religionis, in ser- 
mone, in opere, in judicio, sine cujusquam adulatione personae. 
Wilk. ibid. 

But the historian has another argument in reserve. " So careful," 
37 2 B 



290 NOTES. 

he adds, " were the prelates to guard against the encroachments of the 
popes on the independency of the church of England, that applica 
tions to Rome in difficult cases were discouraged by the twenty-fifth 
canon, and bishops directed to apply only to their metropolitan in a 
provincial synod." As Henry has not translated this canon, and I 
am unable to discover in it the discouragement of which he speaks, I 
shall content myself with transcribing it for the perusal of the reader. 
Unusquisque episcoporum, si quid in sua dicecesi corrigere et emcn- 
dare nequiverit, idem in synodo coram Archiepiscopo, et palam om 
nibus ad corrigendum insinuet. Wilk. p. 98. Did Henry really 
believe that this canon was framed " to guard against the encroach 
ments of the popes ?" If he had read a letter to which he some 
times refers, he would have known that it was originally composed 
by St. Boniface, who adds immediately after it : Sic enim, ni fallor, 
omnes episcopi debent metropolitano, et ipse Romano pontifici, si 
quid de corrigendis populis apud eos impossibile est, notum facere, et 
sic alieni fient a sanguine animarum perditarum. Ep. St. Bonif. ad 
Cuthb. Archiep. apud Wilk. p. 91. 



(K) p. 

ST. WILFRID, by his earnest endeavours to introduce the canonical 
observances among his countrymen, and his successful appeals to the 
justice of the pontiffs, has been rewarded with the severest reproaches 
by the enemies of the church of Rome. To paint his character in 
the most odious colours, has been the favourite theme with modern 
writers. Among a host of competitors, I have assigned the prece 
dency to Carte : and that the reader may form some notion of his 
merit, I shall subjoin a few passages from his work, and confront 
them with the original history of Eddius 

1. According to Carte, (p. 250,) 1. Eddius (c. 24, p. 63) says, 

" Wilfrid s appeal appeared so not that the appeal excited either 

new and singular, that it occasion- surprise or ridicule, but that the 

ed a general laughter, as a thing flatterers of the king expressed 

quite ridiculous." He refers to their joy by their laughter. Adu- 

Eddius, c. 24. Henry thought latoribus cum risu gaudentibus. 

this observation so important, that They laughed at Wilfrid s dis- 

he was careful to copy it. grace. Qui ridetis in meam con- 

demnationem. Ibid. 



NOTES. 



291 



2. Carte accuses Eddius of 
misrepresentation, when he says, 
that Wilfrid was advised to ap 
peal by his fellow-bishops, (cum 
consilio co-episcopoium suorum. 
Ed. c 24, p. 63;) because no 
one but Winfrid, the deposed 
bishop of Mercia, could give such 
advice. Carte, p. 250. 

3. Carte asserts, that the king 
of Northumbria would not restore 
the deposed prelate, because he 
conceived the conduct of the pon 
tiff to be derogatory to the rights 
of the crown, ;p. 251.) 

4. According to Carte, (p. 252,) 
the king offered him a part of his 
former diocese, if he would re 
nounce the authority of the papal 
mandate. He refers to Eddius, 
c. 25. 

5. If we may believe Carte, 
(p. 254,) Wilfrid made his sub 
mission to Theodore, and employ 
ed the good offices of the bishop 
of London to procure a reconci 
liation. His authority is Eddius, 
c. 42. 

6. To prove that this reconci 
liation was not owing to any re 
spect which the metropolitan paid 
to the papal authority, but solely to 
his esteem for the personal merit 
of Wilfrid, he sends his reader U> 
the letter of Theodore to King 
Ethelred, p. 254. 



2. The assertion of Eddius is 
confirmed by Wilfrid s petition to 
the pontiff, in which he observes, 
that though several bishops were 
present with Theodore, not one 
of them assented to his measures. 
In conventu Theodori, aliorumque 

tune temporis antistitum 

absque consensu cujuslibet epis- 
copi. Ed. c. 29, p. 66. 

3. According to Eddius, the 
ground of the objection was, that 
the papal decree had been pur 
chased with money ; pretio re- 
dempta. Edd. c. 33, p. 69. 

4. Eddius informs us, that the 
king offered him a part of his 
former diocese, if he would ac 
knowledge the papal mandate to 
be a forgery. Si denegaret vera 
esse. Ed. c. 35, p. 70. 

5. If Eddius is to be credited, 
it was Theodore, who, actuated 
by remorse for his past injustice, 
sent for Wilfrid and the bishop of 
London, and solicited the forgive 
ness of the man whom he had in 
jured. Ed. c. 42, p. 73. 

6. Theodore, in his letter to 
King Ethelred, assigns the au 
thority of the pontiff as the cause 
of his reconciliation. Idcirco ego 
Theodorus, humilis episcopus, 
decrepita setate, hoc tua3 Beatitu- 
dini suggero, quia Apostolica hoc, 
sicut scis, commendat auctoritas. 
Ep. Theod. apud Wilk. p. 64. 
Ed. c. 42, p. 74. Pope John as 
serts the same. Ut ex ejus dictis 
apparuit, decretis pontincalibus 
obsecutus erat. Ibid, c, 52, p. 82. 



292 



NOTES. 



7. Carte informs us, that, when 
the controversy was terminated at 
the synod of Nid, it was agreed, 
without conforming to the terms 
of the papal decree, that Wilfrid 
should be restored to his see of 
Hexham, and monastery of Rip- 
pon, p. 259. 



8. According to Carte, the 
Anglo-Saxon bishops, during this 
contest, were careful to oppose 
the introduction of appeals, and 
to preserve the independence of 
their church. 



7. Yet the restoration of Hex- 
ham and Rippon was all that Wil 
frid demanded from the pontiff. 
Ed. c. 49, p. 79. It was also as 
much as the papal decree requir 
ed, which is thus explained by 
Archbishop Brithwald. Ut prae- 
sules ecclesiarum hujus provincire 
cum Wilfrido episcopo pacem 
plene perfecteque ineant, et partes 
ecclesiarum, quas olim ipse re- 
gebat, sicut sapientes mecum ju- 
dicaverint, restituant. Ed. c. 58, 
p. 85. 

8. It is evident, from the whole 
history of Eddius, that both the 
archbishops, instead of opposing 
the introduction of appeals, ac 
knowledged their legality, and 
sent messengers to Rome, to sup 
port their own decisions. Ed. c. 
29, p. 66; c. 50, p. 79. 



(L) p. 120. 

THIS poem was written about the year 810, and published by Ma- 
billon, (Saec. iv. torn. ii. p. 302,) from a copy of a MS. at Cam 
bridge, sent to him by Gale. In his preface he observes, that it proves 
the existence of a monastery in the isle of Lindisfarne, distinct from 
that built by St. Aidan. (Praef. n 213.) But the learned monk was 
undoubtedly deceived by the title of Monachus Lindisfarnensis eccle- 
siae, which is given to Ethelwold, at the beginning and end of the 
poem. It is evident from the text, that the crenobium St. Petri to 
which he belonged, was not in the island ; and the copy from which 
Leland made his extracts, appears not to have contained the addition 
of Monachus Lindisfarnensis ecclesiae. Lei. Collect vol. i. p. 362. 
In his catalogue of British writers, Leland informs us, that Ethelwold 
was a monk in the monastery of St. Peter, ad orientale littus Berni- 
eiorum. Lei. de Script, p. 140. 



NOTES. 293 



(M) p. 122. 

WOLSTAN S poem contains a curious description of the old church 
at Winchester. The following is the account of the organ : 

Talia et auxistis hie organa, qualia nusquam 

Cernuntur, gemino constabilita solo. 
Bisseni supra sociantur in ordine folles, 

Inferiusque jacent quatuor atque decem. 
Flatibus alternis spiracula maxima reddunt, 

Quos agitant validi septuaginta viri, 
Brachia versantes, multo et sudore madentes, 

Certatimque suos quique monent socios, 
Viribus ut totis impellant flamina sursum, 

Rugiat et pleno capsa referta sinu. 
Sola quadringentas quse sustinet ordine musas, 

Quas manus organici temperat ingenii. 
Has aperit clausas, iterumque has claudit apertas, 

Exigit ut varii certa camoena soni. 
Considuntque duo concordi pectore fratres, 

Et regit alphabetum rector uterque suum. 
Suntque quater denis occulta foramina linguis 

Inque suo retinet ordine quaeque decem. 
Hue alias currunt, illuc aliseque recurrunt, 

Servantes modulis singula puncta suis, 
Et feriunt jubilum septem discrimina vocum, 

Permixto lyrici carmine semitoni. 

Wohtani carm. Ssec. Ben. v. p. 631. 

Besides organs, other musical instruments appear to have been em 
ployed in the church. 

Et simul hymnisona fratrum coeunte corona, 
Quisque tuum votum, qua valet arte, canit. 

CimbalicaB voces calamis miscentur acutis, 
Disparibusque tropis dulce camcena sonat. 

Ibid. p. 632. 



2B2 



294 NOTES. 



(N) p. 123. 

To the reader, who has formed his notions of antiquity on the cre 
dit of modern writers, it may, probably, create surprise, that I have 
dared to pronounce the doctrine of the real presence, to have been the 
doctrine of the Anglo-Saxon church. What ! he will ask, have not 
Parker, and Lisle, and Usher, and Whelock, and Hicks, and Collier, 
and Carte, and Littleton, and Henry shown that the ancient belief of 
our ancestors, respecting the sacrament of the eucharist, perfectly 
coincides with that established by the reformed churches ? But facts 
are to be proved, not by authority, but by evidence : and to this for 
midable phalanx of controvertists, philologists, and historians, may be 
opposed a still more formidable array of contemporary and unques 
tionable vouchers. My opinion was not hastily assumed. It was the 
result of long and patient investigation ; and before I am condemned 
of temerity, I trust the reader will have the candour to peruse the 
following observations : 

I. The ecclesiastical history of the Anglo-Saxons may be divided 
into two periods, that which preceded, and that which followed the 
Danish devastations in the ninth century. Of these, the first must be 
acknowledged to have been the more brilliant. The writers whom 
it produced, were equal, if not superior, to any of their contempo 
raries in the other nations of Europe. The works of several have 
survived the revolutions of one thousand years, and are still extant to 
attest the religious creed of their authors. To search in them for a 
single passage, which denies the real presence, will be a fruitless la 
bour : but testimonies, which tacitly suppose, or expressly assert it, 
may be discovered in almost every page. By a long acquaintance 
with them in the composition of these sheets, I have earned the right 
to make this assertion. 

But to the reader, something more is due than mere assertion. To 
satisfy his judgment, without fatiguing his patience, I shall subjoin a 
few short quotations, from the acts of the council of Calcuith, the 
homilies of the venerable Bede, and the Anglo-Saxon pontificals. 

1. A custom, which originated in the earlier ages of Christianity, 
had introduced a law, that no church should be dedicated, unless the 
remains of some martyr reposed within its walls. In England, the 
difficulty of observing this regulation induced the bishops of the 
council of Calcuith (anno 816) to ordain, that when the proper relics 
could not be procured, the eucharist should be consecrated, and care- 



NOTES. 295 

fully preserved in the church. The reason which they assign, is 
remarkable : " Because the eucharist is the body and blood of our 
Lord Jesus Christ ;" (quia corpus et sanguis est Domini nostri Jesu 
Christi. Con. C.alc. apud Wilk. p. 169 :) words which, in this case, 
appear to imply not only a real, but also a permanent presence, that is 
not confined merely to the time of manducation. 

2. Bede, the brightest luminary of the Anglo-Saxon church, in a 
homily on the vigil of Easter, forcibly expresses the notion, which he 
had been taught to entertain respecting the sacrifice of the mass, and the 
sacrament of the altar. " When we celebrate the mass," says he, " we 
again immolate to the Father the sacred body and the precious blood of 
the Lamb, with which we have been redeemed from our sins." Mis- 
sarum solemnia celebrantes, corpus sacrosanctum et preciosum agni 
sanguinem, quo a peccatis redempti sumus, denuo Deo in profectum 
nostrae salutis irnmolamus. Horn, in vig. Pas. torn. vii. p. 6. 

3. Egbert, archbishop of York, lived before the middle of the eighth 
century. His pontifical, written in Anglo-Saxon characters, was pre 
served in the church of Evreux in Normandy. The abbey of Ju 
ra iege, in the same province, possessed another Anglo-Saxon pontifical 
of nearly the same age. From both, Martene, a Maurist monk, 
published several copious extracts in his treatise De antiquis Ecclesiae 
Ritibus, (anno 1700 et seq. :) and from them may be readily learned 
the doctrine of our ancestors, respecting the eucharist. In the office 
of ordination, the bishop is directed to invoke the blessing of God on 
the priest whom he ordained, that he might be endowed with every 
virtue, and might transform, by an immaculate benediction, the body 
and blood of Christ. (Tu, Domine, super hunc famulum tuum ill. 
quern ad presbyterii honorem dedicamus, manum tuae benedictionis 

infunde, ut purum atque immaculatum ministerii tui donum 

custodiat, et per obsequium plebis tuae corpus et sanguinem filii tui 
immaculata benedictione transformet. Pontif. Egberti apud Martene, 
torn. ii. p. 353. Pontif. Gemet. ibid. p. 366.) The vessel, in which 
the eucharist was preserved, is called the bearer of the body of Christ, 
(corporis Domini nostri Jesu Christi gerulum. Pontif. Egbert, apud 
Mart. lib. ii. p. 258. Pontif. Gemet. p. 266,) and a new sepulchre 
for the body of Christ, (hoc vasculum corporis Christi novum sepul- 
chrum spiritus sancti gratia perficiatur. Pont. Egb. ibid.) The 
corporale is said to be a piece of linen, on which the body and blood 
of Christ are consecrated, and in which they are covered or wrapped 
up, (haec linteamina in usum altaris tui ad consecrandum super ea, sive 
ad tegendum involvendumque corpus et sanguinem filii tui. Pont. 
Egb. ibid. p. 255. Pon. Gemet. p. 265 :) and the altar is said to be 



296 NOTES. 

consecrated, that on it " a secret virtue may turn the creatures chosen 
for sacrifice into the body and blood of the Redeemer, and transform 
them by an invisible change, into the sacred hosts of the Lamb, that, 
as the word was made flesh, so the nature of the offering being 
blessed, may be elevated to the substance of the Word, and what 
before was food, may here be made eternal life." Quod electas ad 
sacrificium creaturas in corpus et sanguinem redemptoris virtus secreta 
convertat, et in sacras agni hostias invisibili mutatione transcribat, ut 
sicut verbum caro factum est, ita in verbi substantiam benedicta obla- 
tionis natura proficiat, et quod prius fuerat alimonia, vita hie efficiatur 
aeterna. Pont. Gemet. p. 263. 

II. The second period, compared with the first, may almost be 
called an age of darkness. The writers whom it produced were 
fewer in number, and inferior in merit. Among them was ^Elfric, 
a monk who studied in the school of St. Ethelwold, and after passing 
through the different gradations of ecclesiastical preferment, was raised 
at last to the metropolitan chair of Canterbury. He has left some 
translations, and several sermons. But he is chiefly remarkable for 
the novelty and obscurity of his language, respecting the eucharist. 
He frequently inculcates that " the eucharistic differs from the natural 
body of Christ : and that the former is indeed his body, but after a 
spiritual, not after a bodily manner." (Na lichamhce ac gap dice. 
Serm. in die Pasc. p. 7, edit. Lisle.) These expressions have been 
accepted with gratitude by Protestant writers, (Lisle praef. Usher, 
answer to Chall. p. 77. Whelock, p. 462. Inett, vol. i. p. 351. 
Henry, Hist. vol. ii. p. 202, quarto,) and their author has been hailed 
as the first of the English reformers. (Wise apud Mores, xxix.) 
But Catholic polemics have refused to surrender him to their adversa 
ries, and have eagerly maintained the orthodoxy of his sentiments. 
(Smith, Flores Hist. p. 90. Cressy, Hist. p. 912. Alford, Annal. 
torn. iii. p. 440.) To enable the reader to form an opinion on this 
controverted subject, it will be proper to quit for a while the concerns 
of the Anglo-Saxon church, and attend to the religious disputes on 
the continent. 

During the ninth century, several of the most eminent scholars in 
France exercised their ingenuity in discussing difficult and obscure points, 
relative to the sacrament of the eucharist. From the doctrine univer 
sally received, that the eucharist was truly the body and blood of Christ, 
it was inferred by some (Haimo, bishop of Halberstad, and his fol 
lowers) that the sacrament contained no mystery or sign, because the 
sign was necessarily excluded by the reality. This argument did not 
satisfy the reason of others, (Paschasius Ratbertus, Hincmar, &c.,) 



NOTES. 297 

who admitted both the sign and the reality ; and added, that the body 
of Christ contained in the eucharist, was the identical body, which 
had been born of the virgin, and had suffered on the cross. A third 
party rejected both the former opinions ; and contended for a triple 
distinction of the body of Christ : viz. the body born of the virgin, 
the body contained in the eucharist, and his mystical body, the church. 
Among the latter was Ratramn or Bertramn, a monk of Corbie, whose 
dissertation I shall notice, as it is intimately connected with the doc 
trine of JElfric. 

The treatise of Bertram is short, and divided into two parts. In 
the first, he proposes to solve the question, whether there be in the 
eucharist any mystery or figure. With Paschasius, he decides in the 
affirmative. His principal argument is the following : After the 
consecration, the bread and wine have become, or have passed into, 
the body and blood of Christ, (facta sunt, p. 20, transitum fecerunt, 
p. 18:) consequently they are changed. But no change has been 
made outwardly or corporally : therefore it has been made inwardly 
or spiritually : therefore the eucharist is the body and blood of Christ; 
not indeed corporally, but spiritually ; and of consequence a mystery 
or figure must be admitted. He adds, lest his meaning should be 
misunderstood, that he does not assert the simultaneous existence of 
two things so different as a body and a spirit, but that the same thing 
in one respect, is the appearance of bread and wine, and in another, 
is the body and blood of Christ. Non quod duarum sint existentia? 
rerum inter se diversarum, corporis videlicet et spiritus, verum una 
eademque res secundum aliud species panis et vini consistit, secundum 
aliud autem corpus et sanguis Christi. The principal difficulty in 
this part of the treatise, is to discover the exact signification, which 
Bertram affixes to the words corporally and spiritually. To me he 
appears to mean, that in the eucharist the body of Christ exists, not 
with the properties of bodies in their natural state, but after a manner 
which is spiritual or mysterious, and imperceptible to the senses. 1 

In the second part he inquires, whether the eucharistic be the same 
as the natural body of Christ. To prove that it is not, he observes 
that the natural body was visible and palpable, the eucharistic is invisi 
ble and impalpable ; that the natural body appeared to be what it was, 
the eucharistic appears to be what it is not: whence he infers that they 
are different, and consequently cannot be the same. This argument 

1 Thus he says, p. 42, in the person of Christ : Non ergo carnem meam vel san- 
guinem meum vobis corporaliter comedendum vel bibendum, et per partes distributum 
distribuendum pupetis .... sed vere per mysterium panem et vinum in corporis et 
sanguinis mei conversa substantiam a credentibus sumendam. 
38 



298 NOTES. 

he pursues through several pages ; and after comparing the eucharistic 
body of Christ with his mystical hody, the congregation of the failh- 
ful; 8 he concludes with begging the reader, not to infer from what he 
has said, that he denies the body and blood of Christ to be received 
in the eucharist. Non ideo, quoniam ista dicimus, putetur in mysterio 
sacramenti corpus domini vel sanguinem ipsius non a fidelibus sumi, 
quando fides, non quod oculus videt, sed quod credit, accipit, p. 134. 
Though Bertram, through the whole of this treatise, attempts to prove 
that the natural and eucharistic body of Christ are not the same, he 
appears to confine the difference to the manner in which they exist, 
(secundem speciem quam gerit exterius, p. 94.) In one passage he 
plainly asserts their identity, when he says, that Christ, on the night 
before his passion, changed the substance of bread into his own body, 
which was about to suffer, and the creature of wine into his own blood, 
which was to be shed on the cross. Paulo antequam pateretur panis 
substantiam, et vini creaturam convertere potuit in proprium corpus 
quod passurum erat, et in suum sanguinem, qui post fundendus exta- 
bat, p. 40. Perhaps the true sentiments of Bertram may be safely 
collected from those of Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mentz, who 
lived at the same time, and defended the same cause. This writer 
expressly declared, that the difference for which he contended, was 
entirely confined to the external appearance. Manifestissime cognos- 
cetis, non quidem (quod absit !) naturaliter, sed specialiter aliud esse 
corpus Domini, quod ex substantia panis ac vini pro mundi vita quo- 
tidie per spiritum sanctum consecratur, quod a sacerdote postmodurn 
Deo patri suppliciter offertur; et aliud specialiter corpus Christi, quod 
natum est de Maria virgine, in quod istud transfertur. Dicta cujus- 
dam sapien. apud Mab. saec. iv. vol. ii. p. 593. 3 

In the tenth century, about the time in which St. Dunstan restored 
the monastic order in England, these disputes were revived in France. 
As the devastations of the Danes had interrupted the succession of 
the English monks, colonies of instructors were obtained from the 

2 It is perhaps to these opinions that Paschasius alludes, when he contemptuously 
mentions the ineptias de tripartito corpore Christi. Apud Mabil. ssec. iv. torn. ii. 
prsef. n 55. 

3 The English translator of Bertram is positive, that in the Latin of this age, the 
word species signified the specific nature of a thing. This passage proves his mis 
take, as in it species and natura are opposed to each other. Here I may observe, that 
the orthodoxy of Bertram was never questioned before the reformation. From the 
catalogues of the monastic libraries in Leland, copies of his work appear not to have 
been scarce ; and, five years before the first printed edition, he is cited as a champion 
of the Catholic faith, by Dr. Fisher, the learned and virtuous bishop of Rochester. 
(Prajf. lib. iv. adver. CEcoIamp. ann. 1526.) 



NOTES. 299 

French monasteries : and, at the prayer of Ethelwold, the abbots of 
Fleury and Corbie commissioned some of their disciples to teach at 
Abingdon and Winchester. Tt was in these establishments that ^Elfric 
was educated, and in them he imbibed from his foreign masters the 
doctrine of Bertram, which he afterwards most zealously inculcated. 

Among the works of JElfric, much importance has been attached by 
controversial writers, to his sermon on the sacrifice of the mass. 
Nearly one-half of it consists of extracts from the work of Bertram ; 
and of these extracts it has been asserted, perhaps with more boldness 
than prudence, that they contain the doctrine of the Protestant church 
in the clearest terms, and cannot by any ingenuity be reconciled with 
the tenets of the church of Rome. (Henry, vol. ii. p. 202.) That 
the reader may be able to judge for himself, I shall translate, as 
literally as I can, the passage on which this assertion is chiefly 
founded, preserving such Saxon expressions as are still intelligible, 
and inserting those sentences which Henry has suppressed. Below I 
shall add the original Latin of Bertram, that the translation of ^Elfric 
may more readily be compared with it. The Saxon may be seen at 
the end of ^Ifric s treatise on the Old and New Testament, pub 
lished by Lisle in 1623, and in Whelock s edition of Bede s History, 
p. 462. 

" Much is there between the invisible might of the holy husel, and 
the visible appearance of its own kind. In its own kind it is cor 
ruptible bread and corruptible wine ; but, after the might of the divine 
word, it is truly Christ s body and his blood, not indeed in a bodily, 
but in a ghostly manner. 4 Much is there between the body, in which 
Christ suffered, and the body which is hallowed to husel. 5 Truly the 
body, in which Christ suffered, was born of the flesh of Mary, with 
blood and with bone, with skin and with sinews, in human limbs, and 
with a reasonable living soul. But his ghostly body, which we call 
the husel, is gathered of many corns, without blood and bone, with 
out limbs and a soul ; and therefore nothing is to be understood in it 

4 Christi corpus et sanguis superficie tenus considerata creatura est mutabilitati 
corruptelaeque subjecta: si mysterii vero perpendas virtutem, vita est participantibus 
se tribuens immortalitatcm, p. 28. Ad sensum quod pertinet corporis, corruptible est, 
quod fides vero credit, incorruptibile, p. 100. 

6 Multa differentia separantur corpus, in quo passus est Christus, et hoc corpus 
quod in mysterio passionis Christi quotidie a fidelibus celebratur, p. 88. 

6 Ilia namque caro, quae crucifixa est, de virginis carne facta est, ossibus et nervis 
compacta, humanorum membrorum lineamentis distincta, ratiorialis aninife spivitu 
vivificata in propriam vitam. At vero caro spiritualis, quce populum credentem spi- 
ritualiter pascit, secundum speciem quam geri.t exferiiiK, frumenti granis manu artificis 



300 NOTES. 

after a bodily, but all is to be understood after a ghostly manner. 7 
Whatever there is in the husel, which giveth us the substance of life, 
that cometh of the ghostly might and invisible operation. 8 For this 
reason the holy husel is called a sacrament ; because one thing is seen 
in it, and another understood. 9 That which is seen, hath a bodily 
appearance ; that which we understand, hath a ghostly might. 10 
Certainly Christ s body, that suffered death, and arose from death, 
dies now no more ; it is eternal and impassible. The husel is tem 
poral, not eternal, corruptible, and dealed into pieces, chewed between 
the teeth, and sent into the stomach. 11 But it is nevertheless all in 
every part according to the ghostly might. Many receive the holy 
body, but it is nevertheless all in every part according to the ghostly 
sacrament. Though some men receive a smaller part, yet there is not 
more might in a greater part than in a smaller. Because it is entire 
in all men, according to the invisible might. 12 This sacrament is a 
pledge and a figure : Christ s body is truth. This pledge we hold 
sacramentally^ till we come to the truth, and then this pledge will 
end. 13 Truly it is, as we said before, Christ s body and his blood, 
not after a bodily, but after a ghostly manner. 14 Nor shall ye search 
how it is made so : but hold that it is made so." 15 

How such language as this would sound from a Protestant pulpit, 
I shall not pretend to determine : 16 but this I am free to assert, that 

consistit, nullis nervis ossibusque compacta, nulla raembrorum varietate distincta, nulla 
rational! substantia vegetata, nullos proprios potens motus exercere, p. 94. 

7 Nihil in esca ista, nihil in potu isto corporaliter sentiendum, sed totum spiritua- 
liter attendendum, p. 86. 

8 Quidquid in ea vitse prsebet substantiam, spiritualis est potentiae, et invisibilis 
efficientiae, divinseque virtutis, p. 94. 

9 Ostendit (St. Isidorus) omne sacramentum aliquid secreti in se continere, et aliud 
csse quod visibiliter appareat, aliud vero quod invisibiliter sic accipiendum, p. 62. 

10 Exterius quod videtur, speciem habet corpoream, . . . interius vero quod intelli- 
gitur, fructum spiritualem, p. 126. 

11 Corpus Christi, quod mortuum est, quod resurrexit, . . . jam non moritur .... 
seternum est jam, non passible. Hoc autem quod in ecclesia celebratur, temporale 
est, non seternum, corruptibile non incorruptum, p. 99, 100. 

12 This passage I do not find in Bertram. 

13 Hoc corpus pignus est et species: illud veritas. Hoc enim geritur donee ad 
illud perveniatur : ubi vero ad illud perventum fuerit, hoc removebitur, p. 114. 

14 Est quidem corpus Christi, sed non corporate sed spirituale : est sanguis Christi, 
sed non corporalis sed spiritualis, p. 80. 

15 Nee istic ratio qui fieri potuit est disquirenda, sed fides, quod factum sit adhi- 
benda, p. 36. 

16 Indeed I cannot, as I am unable to understand the doctrine of the established 
church on this subject. After an attentive perusal of Archbishop Seeker s thirty- 



NOTES. 301 

no Catholic divine will pronounce it repugnant to the Catholic doc 
trine. 

1. If the body of Christ exist at all in the eucharist, it is evident 
that it does not exist after the manner of a natural body. Hence, to 
express this difference of existence, some distinction is necessary. 
By Bertram and ^Elfric, the words naturaliter and spiritualiter were 
adopted : by the council of Trent, naturaliter and sacramentaliter 
were preferred. (Sess. 13, c. 1.) Many Catholics, however, still pre 
serve the old distinction of Bertram. (Veron. reg. fid. c. xi.) I shall 
cite only Holden, an Englishman, and an eminent member of the uni 
versity of Paris. Summa doctrine nostrae in eo sita est, ut verum et 
reale corpus Christi profiteamur esse in hoc sacramento, non more 
corporeo et passibili, sed spirituali et invisibili, nobis omnino incog 
nito. Hold. Anal. fid. p. 192, edit. 1767. If this distinction be a 
test of Protestantism, the church of Rome must resign the most dis 
tinguished of her children. 

2. It is true that ^Elfric denies the perfect identity of the natural 
and eucharistic body of Christ. But the same doctrine is admitted by 
the most orthodox among the Catholic writers. Lanfranc, the first 
Norman archbishop of Canterbury, and the strenuous opponent of 
Berengarius, in the eleventh century, asserts, that if we consider the 
manner in which the eucharistic body exists, we may truly say, it is 
not the same body which was born of the virgin. Ut vere dici possit, 
et ipsum corpus, quod de virgine sumptum est, nos sumere, et non 
ipsum : ipsum quidem, quantum ad essentiam veraeque naturae proprie- 
tatem ; non ipsum autem, si spectes panis vinique speciem. Lanf. Adver. 
Bereng. c. 18. With Lanfranc agrees, and that, too, in stronger terms, 
Bossuet, the great champion of Catholicity in the seventeenth century. 
En un sens et n y regardant que la substance c est le meme corps de 
Jesus Christ, ne de Marie : mais dans un autre sens, et n y regardant 
que les manieres, e en est un autre, qu il s est fait par ses paroles. 



sixth lecture on the catechism, I have only learned, that the unworthy communicant 
" receives what Christ has called his body and blood, that is, the signs of them," but 
that the worthy communicant "eats his flesh and drinks his blood, because Christ is 
present to his soul, becoming, by the inward virtue of his spirit, its food and suste 
nance." If the reader wish for more information on this subject, he may consult 
Bishop Porteus. He " believes Christ s body and blood to be verily and indeed taken 
and received by the faithful, in the Lord s Supper ; that is, a union with him to be 
not only represented, but really and effectually communicated to the worthy receiver." 
Confutation of errors, p. 37. If these right reverend divines have clear ideas on 
this subject, it must, I think, be confessed, that they also possess the art of clothing 
them in obscure language. 

2C 



302 NOTES. 

Bos. torn. iii. p. 182. This is the general language of Catholic 
divines : but there have been some who have adopted still stronger 
language. Ce corps sacramentel, quoiqu il n a pas etc immole sur la 
croix, ne laisse pas d etre le corps de J. C. parceque sa sainte ame y 
est unie, et que son ame est unie personeilement au verbe. Instruct, 
snr 1 eucharistie par 1 eveque de Boulogne, p. 36. With the truth of 
their opinion, I have no concern : but if it has been maintained with 
out the imputation of heterodoxy, I cannot see what there is in the 
writings of ^Ifric repugnant to the Catholic faith. 

3. The observation of ^Elfric, that the eucharist is a pledge and a 
figure, is strictly conformable to the doctrine of the church of Rome. 
The same is expressly asserted in the office of the sacrament, used 
by that church. In the anthem at the magnificat, the eucharist is 
called a pledge of future glory, (pignus futurae glorias ;) in the prayer 
after the communion it is called a figure, almost in the language of 
jElfric : (quam pretiosi corporis et sanguinis tui temporalis perceptio 
prsefigurat.) 

If these observations do not convince the reader of the Catholicity 
of jElfric, he may peruse the passage immediately following that 
which I have transcribed. In it, to prove the truth of his doctrine, 
he appeals to two miracles, in which he pretends that the eucharist, 
by the divine permission, appeared to different persons under the form 
of flesh and blood. (Lisle, p. 7. Whelock, p. 427.) What credit 
may be due to these miracles, is foreign to the present subject : but I 
cannot persuade myself that any person, who denied the supernatural 
conversion of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, 
would ever attempt to prove by such miracles the truth of his opinion. 

It is perpetually inculcated by modern writers, that the doctrine of 
jElfric was the national belief of the Anglo-Saxons. In one respect 
this assertion is true. ^Elfric, as well as his countrymen, believed, 
that in the mass the bread and wine were made, by the divine power, 
the body and blood of Christ. But ingenious men have always as 
sumed the privilege of speculating on the mysteries of Christianity : 
nor have their speculations been condemned, as long as they have not 
trenched on the integrity of faith. In this career, ^Elfric exercised 
his abilities under the guidance of Bertram : and I think I have shown 
that his opinions are not repugnant to the established doctrine of the 
Catholic church. His language and distinctions were -certainly sin 
gular : but I am at a loss to conceive why we must consider them as 
the standard of Anglo-Saxon orthodoxy. With respect to them 
^Elfric stands alone. He has neither precursor nor successor. It is 
in vain to search for a single allusion to his particular opinions, either 



NOTES. 303 

in the works of the Anglo-Saxon writers, or in the acts of the Anglo- 
Saxon councils, that preceded, accompanied, or followed him. But 
it were easy to select numerous instances, both prior and posterior in 
time, in which the contrary doctrine, that the natural and eucharistic 
body of Christ are the same, is frequently and forcibly inculcated. 
1. The passage which I have already transcribed from Bede, asserts, 
that the body of the Lamb, which is immolated on the altar, is that 
by which we were redeemed from our sins : and, in another part, the 
same venerable author observes, that the blood of Christ is not now 
shed by the hands of the Jews, but . received by the mouths of the 
faithful. Sanguis illius non infidelium manibus ad perniciem ipsorum 
funditur, sed fidelium ore suam sumitur in salutem. Horn, in Epiph. 
torn. vii. 2. To Bede I shall add Alcuin. In the Caroline books, 
which were principally composed by him, and to which modern 
writers frequently refer their readers, we are told, that the eucharist is 
not an image, but the truth, not the shadow, but the body, not a figure 
of future things, but that which was prefigured by things past, &c. 
Non enim corporis et sanguinis dominici mysterium imago jam dicen- 
dum est, sed veritas ; non umbra sed corpus ; non exemplar futuro- 
rum, sed id quod exemplaribus prrefigurabatur : nee ait, haec est imago 
corporis mei, sed hoc est corpus meum, quod pro vobis tradetur. 
Carol, lib. iv. c. 14. 3. But Bede and Alcuin may, perhaps, be con 
sidered as too early : let us, therefore, consult the writers who follow 
ed jElfric in the eleventh century. In a Franco-theotisc MS., once 
the property of Canute the Great, (Cott. MSS. Cal. A. 7. Wanley, 
p. 225,) Christ is represented as speaking to his apostles at the last 
supper, and declaring, that " he gave to them his body to eat, and his 
blood to drink, that body which he should give up to be crucified, and 
that blood which he should shed for them." (gibu ik lu bethu 
samod ecan endi drmcan. ches an erchu seal jeban endi giotan. 
Hicks, Gram. p. 191.) In another MS. (Tib. c. i.) of the same, or 
perhaps of a later date, we are told, that " Christ did not say, take 
this consecrated bread, and eat it in place of my body, or drink this 
consecrated wine in place of my blood : but without any figure or 
circumlocution, this, said he, is my body, and this is my blood. And 
to cut off all the windings of error, he added, which body shall be 
delivered for you, and which blood shall be shed for you." (Non 
dixit dominus, accipite panem hunc consecratum, et comedite in vice 
corporis mei, vel bibite vinum hoc consecratum in vice san 
guinis mei ; sed nulla figura, nulla circuitione usus, hoc, inquit, est 
corpus meum, hie est sanguis meus. Utque omnes excluderet erro- 
rum ambages, quod, inquit, corpus pro vobis tradetur, et qui sanguis 



304 NOTES. 

pro vobis fundetur. Wanley MSS. p. 221.) These instances ap 
pear to me to prove not only that the real presence, but also that the 
identity of the natural and the eucharistic body of Christ was believed 
by the Saxon church as late as the period of the Norman conquest. 

This note has insensibly swelled to the bulk of a dissertation. To 
the reader who is desirous to learn the real sentiments of antiquity, I 
trust, that I shall stand in need of no apology. But I had ven 
tured to contradict an opinion which had been zealously propagated 
by a host of respectable writers : and I owed it both to the public and 
myself, to state the reasons on which I refused to bend to their au 
thority. Of the validity of these reasons, it is for others to judge. 



(0) p. 129. 

THE three days preceding the fast of Lent, which are still called 
shrovetide, (i. e. confession-tide,) were the time particularly allotted to 
confession. The public imposition of penance was reserved for the 
mass of Ash-Wednesday. (Egbert. Poenitent. apud Wilk. p. 127.) 
In the morning, those who were disposed to repair, in the face of their 
brethren, the insult which, by their scandalous behaviour, they had 
offered to religion and morality, were admonished to repair to the 
porch of the church, barefoot, and in sackcloth. At the proper hour 
the bishop introduced them into the church, and lay prostrate before 
the altar, while the choir chanted the thirty-seventh, fiftieth, fifty- 
third, and fifty-first psalms. At the conclusion of the last, he rose, 
and recited the following prayer : " O Lord our God, who art not 
overcome by our offences, but art appeased by our repentance, look 
down, we beseech thee, on these thy servants, who confess that they 
have sinned against thee. To wash away sin, and grant pardon to 
the sinner, belongs to thee, who hast said that thou wiliest not the 
death, but the repentance of sinners. Grant, then, O Lord, to these, 
that they may perform their course of penance, and having amended 
their bad actions, rejoice in eternal happiness, through Christ our 
Lord." He then imposed his hands on them, placed ashes and sack 
cloth on their heads, and informed them, that as Adam, for his disobe 
dience, had been excluded from paradise, so they, for their crimes, 
would be expelled from the church. While the clergy led them to 
the porch, was sung the anthem, " In the sweat of thy brow thou 
shalt eat thy bread, until thou return to the dust from which thou 



NOTES. 305 

wert taken ; for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return." They 
then prostrated themselves on the ground, four prayers were said over 
them, and the gates were closed. During the rest of Lent, they re 
mained in the buildings belonging to the church, and performed the 
penitential exercises, which had been prescribed them. Pontificale 
Egbert!, apud Martene, part. 2, p. 41. Pontif. Gemet. ibid. p. 44. 

On the Thursday before Easter, the penitents, who had completed 
their course, were publicly reconciled. After the gospel, they were 
again introduced into the church, and cast themselves on the pave 
ment. The bishop ascended the pulpit, and pronounced over them 
several forms of absolution. Of these the greater part were depre 
catory; some were absolute. He began by the following prayer: 
" Attend, O Lord, to our supplications, and hear me, who first stand 
in need of thy mercy. It was not through my merit, but through thy 
grace, that thou didst appoint me to be thy minister. Grant me the con 
fidence to perform the duty which thou hast intrusted to me, and do thou 
thyself, by my service, perform the part which belongs to thy mercy." 
He then continued : " In the place of the blessed Peter, the prince of 
the apostles, to whom the Lord gave the power of binding and loosing, 
we absolve you, as far as you are obliged to confess, and we have 
power to remit. May the Almighty God be to you salvation and life, 
and forgive you all your sins." " King of kings, and Lord of lords, 
who sittest at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us, look 
down on these, thy servants, and hear them begging for the remission 
of their sins. Have mercy, O Lord, on their sighs, have mercy on 
their tears. Thou, O Saviour, knowest the nature of man, and the 
frailty of flesh. Spare, therefore, O Redeemer of the world, spare 
thy servants returning to thee, whose mercy has no bounds : heal 
their wounds, forgive their offences, release the bonds of their sins." 
They now rose from the pavement, and the fiftieth psalrn was sung. 
The bishop proceeded thus : " O God, the restorer and lover of inno 
cence, extend, we beseech thee, the hand of thy mercy to these, thy 
servants, whom we raise from the dust, and preserve them immacu 
late from the stain of sin. For, it is the glory of our church, that as 
thou hast given to the blessed apostle, the prince of our mission, the 
power of binding and of loosing, so, by means of his disciples, the 
teachers of thy truth, thou hast appointed us to bind thy enemies, and 
loose those who are converted to thee. Therefore, we beseech thee, 
O Lord our God, be present to the ministry of our mouth, and loose 
the bonds of the sins of thy servants, that, freed from the yoke of 
iniquity, they may walk in the path which leads to eternal happiness." 
" I, a bishop, though sinful and unworthy, confirming this absolution 
39 2 c 2 



306 NOTES. 

with my hand, my mouth, and my heart, humbly implore the cle 
mency of God, that, by his power, and at our prayer, he absolve you 
from all the bonds of your sins, and from whatever you have negli 
gently committed in thought, word, and deed : and after absolving 
you by his mercy, bring you to eternal happiness. Amen." The 
penitents then made their offering, assisted at the sacrifice, and re 
ceived the communion. Pontif. Egb. ibid. Pontif. Gemet. ibid. Of 
the prayers in the originals, I have omitted some, and abridged others. 
Whether all were repeated at once, I am uncertain : perhaps the 
bishop selected those which pleased him best. 

I shall take this occasion to subjoin a short account of the manner 
in which the sacrament of confirmation was conferred in the Anglo- 
Saxon church. 

Of confirmation, the sole minister was the bishop. (Wilk. Leg. Sax. 
p. 167.) It was regularly given immediately after baptism: but as 
the bishop could not always be present, he was careful, in his annual 
visits, (Wilk. Con. p. 95. 146. 213 ; Bed. Vit. Cuth. c. xxix.,) to ad 
minister it to those who had been lately baptized. Extending his 
hands over them, he prayed that the seven-fold gifts of the Holy 
Spirit might descend upon them : and, anointing the forehead of each, 
repeated these words : * Receive the sign of the holy cross, with the 
chrism of salvation in Christ Jesus for eternal life. AMEN." Their 
heads were then bound with fillets of new linen, which were worn 
during the next seven days. The bishop at the same time said: " O 
God, who gavest the Holy Spirit to thy apostles, that by them and 
their successors he might be given to the rest of the faithful, look 
down on our ministry, and grant that in the hearts of those, whose 
foreheads we have this day anointed, and confirmed with the sign of 
the cross, the Holy Spirit may descend, and, dwelling there, make 
them the temples of his glory. AMEN." He then gave them his 
benediction, and the ceremony was finished. Egb. Pontif. apud 
Mart. 1. i. c. 2, p. 249. 



(0) p. 143. 

THE origin of the ceremonies, which during many centuries have 
accompanied the coronation of princes, has by some writers been 
ascribed to the policy of usurpers, who sought to cover the defect of 
their title under the sanction of religion. Carte, in a long and learned 



NOTES. 307 

dissertation, has laboured to prove that Phocas, who assumed the im 
perial purple in 602, was the first of the Christian emperors whose 
coronation was performed as a religious rite. (Carte, Hist. vol. I, 
p. 290.) It is, indeed, true, that Phocas was the first who is ex 
pressly said to have received the regal unction at his inauguration : 
but it is equally true, that most, perhaps all, of his predecessors, from 
the accession of Theodosius in 450, were crowned by the hands of 
the patriarch of Constantinople: and the very selection of that pre 
late to perform the ceremony, will justify the inference that the coro 
nation of the emperors was not merely a civil rite, but accompanied 
by acts of religious worship. Carte, indeed, contends that the pa 
triarch was chosen, because he was the first officer in the empire: but 
this assertion is supported by no proof, and is overturned by the 
testimony of the poet Corippus, to whom he appeals. That writer, 
in his description of the coronation of the emperor Justin, in 565, 
expressly mentions the prayers and benediction of the patriarch. 

Postquam cuncta videt ritu perfecta priorum 
Pontificum summus plenaque aetate venustus, 
Astantem benedixit eum, ccelique potentem 
Exorans Dominum, sacro diademate jussit 
Augustum sancire caput, summoque coronam 
Imponens capiti feliciter 

CORIP. 1. ii. 

With respect to other princes, G.ildas, who wrote before the acces 
sion of Phocas, informs us, that the kings, who reigned in Britain 
about the close of the fifth century, were accustomed to receive the 
regal unction, (Gild. p. 82 :) and from the fact recorded of St. Co- 
lumba by his ancient biographer, Cuminius, it appears that the princes 
of Ireland in the sixth century, were crowned with ceremonies re 
sembling the ordination of priests. (Cum. vit. St. Colum. p. 30.) Are 
we then to believe that the Byzantine emperors borrowed the rite of 
coronation from the petty princes of Britain and Ireland ? To me 
it appears more probable, that the Irish chieftains, and also the British, 
after their separation from the empire, and the recovery of their inde 
pendence, caused themselves to be crowned with the same ceremonies, 
which they knew to have been adopted by the Roman emperors. If 
this be true, the coronation of those princes must have been performed 
with religious rites as early as the commencement of the fifth cen 
tury. 

Carte is equally unfortunate when he asserts Eardalf, the usurper 



308 NOTES. 

of the Northumbrian sceptre in 797, to have been the first Anglo- 
Saxon prince, who was anointed at his coronation. (Carte, p. 293.) 
The Saxon Chronicle assures us that Egferth, the son of Offa of 
Mercia, was consecrated king in 785. To cymnge gehalgob. 
Chron. Sax. p. 64. 



(P) p. 169. 

MABILLON, in his Analecta Vetera, (p. 168,) has published an an 
cient litany, which he has entitled Veteres Litaniae Anglicanae. He 
discovered the original manuscript at Rheims, and was induced to give 
it that title from a petition contained in it for the prosperity of the 
clergy and people of the English. (Ut clerum et plebem Anglorum 
conservare digneris, p. 169.) As none of the persons mentioned in it, 
are known to have lived after the year 650, we may infer, that it was 
composed towards the expiration of the seventh century. 

Were it certain that this litany originally belonged to the Anglo- 
Saxon church, it would be, undoubtedly, a curious document. But I 
think there are many reasons to question it. From a diligent inspec 
tion it will appear, 1. That the litany does not contain the name of 
any Anglo-Saxon, or even of any missionary to the Anglo-Saxons: for 
the St. Augustine, inserted between SS. Gregory and Jerome, seems 
to be the celebrated bishop of Hippo. 2. Neither does it contain the 
name of any of the ancient saints of Britain, who were afterwards 
revered by our ancestors. 3. The majority of the names are evi 
dently British ; and of these all which are known, belonged to persons 
who flourished in Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Armorica. If this 
litany had been formerly in use among the Saxons, how happened 
it that all these names, with one or two exceptions, should have been 
afterwards expunged, and others admitted in their place ? 

For these reasons I am inclined to think the learned editor was 
deceived. The litany appears to me to have belonged to some of the 
many British churches, which the fate of war subjected to the power 
of the Anglo-Saxons, in the seventh and eighth centuries : and to this 
circumstance I would ascribe the insertion of the petition in favour 
of the English clergy and people. 

The most ancient document respecting the saints revered by the 
Anglo-Saxons, is the martyrology of Bede. It was written about the 
year 700 ; and seems to have been confined to the saints, whose 



NOTES. 309 

festivals were kept by the monks of Werernouth and Jarrow. Of the 
missionaries he mentions only SS. Augustine, Paulinus, and Mellitus; 
of the natives SS. Cuthbert, Edilthryda, and the two Ewalds. In 
Dachery s Spicilegium (torn. x. p. 126) is another martyrology, 
written in verse, and ascribed also to Bede, in which are added the 
names of Egbert, Wilfrid, Wilfrid, and Bosa. 

In the Cotton Library, Jul. A. 10, and the Library of Corpus 
Christi College at Cambridge, D. 5, are two imperfect manuscript 
copies of an ancient martyrology or menology. The latter was written 
about the beginning, the former about the end of the tenth century. 
(Wanley, p. 106. 185.) From them both I have extracted the follow 
ing calendar of the Anglo-Saxon saints ; with a few of the foreign 
saints, to show the connexion between the English church, and the 
churches on the continent. 

JANUARY. 

12. St. Benedict, (abbot of Werernouth and Jarrow.) 
16. St. Fursey, (abbot and hermit.) 

FEBRUARY is lost. 

MARCH. 

1. St. Ceadda, bishop (of Lichfield.) 
7. St. Easterwine, (abbot of Werernouth and Jarrow.) 
12. The day of the departure of St. Gregory, our father, who sent 
baptism to us in Britain. 

20. St. Cuthbert, bishop. 

APRIL. 

11. St. Guthlake, hermit (at Croyland.) 

21. St. Ethel wald, (bishop,) hermit at Fame Island. 
24. St. Wilfrid, bishop. 

MAY. 

6. St. Eadbryht, bishop at Fame Island. 

7. St. John, bishop in Northumbria. 

26. The memory of St. Augustine, the bishop who first brought 
baptism to the English nation. His see was at Canterbury. 



310 NOTES. 

JUNE. 

9. St. Columba, otherwise called St. Columcylle. 

22. St. Alban, martyr in Britain. 

23. St. Edilthryda, virgin, queen of Northumbria. 

JULY. 

29. St. Lupus, bishop. 

AUGUST. 

1. St. Germanus, bishop. 
5. St. Oswald, king of Northumbria. 
31. St. Aidan, bishop. 

SEPTEMBER. 

5. St. Bertin, abbot (of Sithiu.) 

8. St. Orner, bishop (of Terouenne.) 

25. St. Ceolfrid, abbot (of Weremouth and Jarrow.) 

OCTOBER. 

3. SS. Ewalds, martyrs. 
11. St. Ewelburh, (Edelburgh,) abbess (of Barking.) 

26. St. Cedd, bishop. He was brother to St. Ceadda. 

NOVEMBER. 

6. St. Winnoc, abbot (of Wormhoult, near Berg St. Winnoc.) 
17. St. Hilda, abbess (of Whitby.) 

DECEMBER. 

14. St. Hygebald, abbot (in Lincolnshire.) 

From the names it is evident that this calendar was originally 
appropriated to the north of England. I have not met with any 
belonging to the southern churches: but from a litany in a MS. of the 
Norfolk library, belonging to the Royal Society, Wanley, (p. 291,) 
extracted the following names. 

Martyrs : SS. Edward, Oswald, Edmund, Alban, Kenelm, ^Ethel- 
briht. 



NOTES. 311 

Bishops and confessors : SS. Cuthbert, S within, Dunstan, Ethel- 
wold, Birnstan, Elphege, Rumwold, Columban, Erconwald, Hedda, 
Frithestan, Guthlake, Iwig. 

Virgins : SS. Etheldrithe, Eadgive, Sexburh, Eadburh, Withburh, 
jEtheldrithe, Mildrithe, Osgith, Mildburh, Frithesvvith, ^Ethelburh, 
Waerburh, ^Elgiva, Maerwenn, and ^Ethelfloeda. 



-p. 176. 

ON the subject of images, the learning of the two Spelmans has 
enabled them to make some curious discoveries. Alfred the Great, 
in the preface to his laws, inserted an abridgment of the decalogue, 
in which were omitted the words " Thou shalt not make to thyself 
any graven thing." Now, what could be the cause of this omission? 
Sir Henry Spelman gravely informs us, that it was made out of com 
pliment to the church of Rome, which, from the time when she first 
adopted the worship of images, had expunged the second command 
ment from the decalogue. The king, however, appears to have felt 
some compunction fur the fraud, and, to compound the matter with his 
conscience, added the following prohibition : " Thou shalt not make 
to thyself gods of silver, nor gods of gold." Thus far Sir Henry 
Spelman. Cone. torn. i. p. 363. Sir John Spelman pursued his 
father s discoveries, and informed the public, that the addition irritated 
the court of Rome, and was one of the offences which deprived the 
king of the honour of canonization. Spelm. Life of Alfred, p. 220, 
edit. Hearne. These most important discoveries have been gratefully 
received, and carefully re-echoed by the prejudice or ignorance of later 
historians. (Smollet, vol. i. p. 374. Henry, vol. iii. p. 251.) Fortu 
nately, however, the Spelmans did not grasp at universal praise : and 
if any modern antiquary wish to dispute with them the palm of ab 
surdity, he may still exert his sagacity to discover why the king omitted 
another very important prohibition: " Thou shalt not covet thy neigh 
bour s wife." Perhaps an ordinary reader would ascribe both omissions 
to the same cause : a persuasion that the clauses omitted were suffi 
ciently included in those that were retained. 



312 NOTES. 



(R) p. 192. 

AT the time when our ancestors were converted, different Latin 
versions of the Scriptures were in use among the western Christians. 
The same diversity prevailed in the Anglo-Saxon church during 
its infancy. At Lindisfarne the psalms were sung according to a 
translation from the Greek, corrected by St. Jerome : at Canterbury 
according to another translation from the Greek, which Eddius calls 
the fifth edition. (Quintam editionem. Edd. vit. St. Wilf. p. 45. Act. 
SS. Bened. srec. iv. torn. i. p. 678.) At Weremouth, the abbot Ceol- 
frid procured for his monks three pandects (Bibles) of the new, and 
one of the old translation. (Bed. vit. Abbat. Wirem. p. 299.) The 
new translation was that by St. Jerome. It quickly superseded the 
old, except in the church office, in which they continued to sing the 
psalms, and a few other parts, after the more ancient version. In his 
commentaries Bede generally agrees with the present Vulgate, though 
he sometimes refers to the old translation. (Expos. Genes, p. 34. 36. 
edit. Wharton :) but in his exposition of the canticle of Habacuc he 
has followed the ancient version, though he occasionally quotes that 
of St. Jerome, and the different readings in old MSS. (Expos, cant. 
Abac. p. 199. 203. 205, &c.) 

In the Anglo-Saxon version of the gospels, published at London in 
1571, and reprinted by Junius and Marshall, at Dordrecht, in 1665, 
are several readings, which correspond with the celebrated MS. of 
Beza, edited by Dr. Kipling. This has encouraged an idea that the 
Anglo-Saxon church used a Latin version of the Scriptures very dif 
ferent from the Vulgate. It may, however, be observed, that all the 
existing MS. copies of the Scripture, which are known to have be 
longed to the Anglo-Saxons, are of St. Jerome s translation. Of these 
some are very ancient. In the library belonging to the dean and 
chapter of Durham, are two very fair copies of the four gospels, 
written about the year 700, (A. 11. 16. A. 11. 17.) In the British 
Museum, (Nero. D. 4,) is another MS. of the gospels, beautifully writ 
ten, about the year 686, by Eadfrid, who was afterwards bishop of Lin 
disfarne. Ethelwald, his successor, illuminated and ornamented it with 
several elegant drawings. By the anachoret Bilfrith, it was covered 
with gems, silver gilt, and gold, in honour of St. Cuthbert ; and 
Aldred, the priest, afterwards added an interlineary version. During 
the removal of St. Cuthbert s body in 885, this copy was lost in the 
sea, but recovered three days afterwards. If we may believe Simeon 



NOTES. 313 

of Durham, it had not been injured by the water, (Sim. p. 117 :) but 
Mr. Wanley thought he could discover some stains, which he ascribed 
to that accident. It is still in the best preservation. In the posses 
sion of the Rev. Mr. Stone, at Stonyhurst, is another, and still more 
ancient MS. of St. John s gospel, believed to be the same which is 
said by Bede, to have belonged to St. Boisil, the master of St. Cuth- 
bert. An inscription, in a more recent hand, states it to have been 
taken out of the tomb of the saint ; but this is, probably, a mistake. 
The contemporary history of the translation of St. Cuthbert says, 
that the MS. buried with him was a book of the gospels, (Act. SS. 
Bened. saec. iv. p. 296 :) and that the copy of St. John, which had 
belonged to St. Boisil, was preserved in the church in a case of red 
leather, and was held by the bishop in his hand, while he preached to 
the people during the translation, (ibid. p. 301.) 

As all these MSS. contain the version of St. Jerome, I suspect the 
agreement between the Anglo-Saxon translation and the Codex Bezae, 
to be accidental. A similar agreement exists, in many instances, be 
tween that Codex and the celebrated MS. of the abbey of Corbie ; 
nor is it improbable that a copy of that MS. might be brought into 
England by some of the monks, who, at the invitation of St. Dun- 
stan, left Corbie to instruct the Anglo-Saxon coenobites. It was soon 
after that period, that the translation was made. 



(S) p. 192. 

IT is well known, that several of the Greek vowels and diphthongs 
are differently sounded by the present inhabitants of Greece, and the 
learned in some of the more western nations. After the revival of 
literature, the arguments or authority of Manutius, Erasmus, Sir John 
Cheke, Beza, Gretser, and others, induced several universities to 
reject the old, and adopt a new pronunciation. To decide on the re 
spective merits of the two systems, would be, perhaps, a difficult at 
tempt : but to inquire in what manner the Anglo-Saxons were taught 
to pronounce the Greek letters, is a subject of curious and more easy 
investigation. It was by Theodore of Canterbury, that the know 
ledge of the language was introduced into England. (Bed. Hist. 1. iv. 
c. 2.) He was born at Tarsus, in Cilicia, and versed in Grecian 
literature ; whence, it were not rash to infer, that the pronunciation 
40 2 D 



314 NOTES. 

which he taught, was the same as was followed at that period by the 
natives of Greece. 

In the Cotton Library, Galba, A. 18, is a small MS., said to have 
once belonged to King ^Ethelstan. It was written in 703, thirteen 
years after the death of Theodore, (ibid. f. 16.) It contains a calen 
dar with ornamental paintings, a psalter, prayers, and a fragment of a 
litany in the Greek language, but in Anglo-Saxon characters. The 
writer appears to have been ignorant of Greek, and either to have 
transcribed some other copy, or to have written, while another person 
dictated. Hence, his work contains several errors ; but his general 
system of spelling clearly shows the sounds which were then given 
to the vowels and diphthongs. For the satisfaction of the reader, I 
shall transcribe the Our Father, and an abridgment of the Creed : 
but it will be necessary to premise, that in the Anglo-Saxon spelling, 
the vowels a, e, i, should be sounded in the same manner as they are 
sounded in the pronunciation of Latin, by all the nations of Europe, 
except the English. 



o tv fois oDpavotj . aytatffl^fco to ovapa flou * 
Pater imon o yn (t)ys uranis agiasthito onaman su elthetu e 



aov ysv?]0r t fid fo Gshy/AO, an, to? ev ovpavcp xai frit f^f y>?$ * fov 

basilia s genitthito to theliman su oss en uaranu ke ep tas gis . ton 



aptov 9]/*u>v fov ertiovtiiov 805 IJ/AW Gq/Aepov, xai> a$j 

arton imon ton epiussion doss imin simero. ke affes imin ta offilemata 



toj xat 9]/*is afyispsv tfotj o^fO.eT cus YI^V xat p.q titisvvyxr^ qpo-s ei$ 
imon os ke imis affiomen tas ophiletas imon. ke mi esininkes imas is 



aM.a putfat ^a? arto tov 

perasmon, ala ryse imas apo tu poniru. 



atj Oeov rtar fpa Ttavrfoxpa^opa, xat ftj XP i ? ov Iy$uv viov avtts tov 

Pistheu is then patera pantocratero . ce is criston ihu yon autu ton 



ifov xvpiov VIIKAVI "tov ysvqQsvta sx rtvevp.at os ayts, ex 

monogen ton quirion imon, ton genegenta ek pneumatus agiu ec maria 



f?]$ rtapOtvis, fov eric, jtovfm rtihafv gavptoOevfUi fafysvfa, fTq fpifrj r^ 

tis parthenu . ton epi pontio pilatu staurothenta, tafinta, te trite imera 
anastanta ec nicron, anaunta is tos uranos, catimenon in dexia tu 

TtdT pos, oOev epxefat xpivai tevfa$ xat, vexpu$ . xai ftj Ttvevpa, aytov, 

patros, oten erchete crine zontas ce nicros . ce is pneuma agion 

ayt (wv xoivu>viav^ a<f>6iv a^apftwv, cfaxpoj avacsfaav . apyv. 
agri afisin amartion, sarcos anasta . amin. 

That this manner of spelling may not be thought peculiar to the 
writer of the MS., I will add another specimen from the first chapter 



NOTES. 315 

of Genesis, in an Anglo-Saxon MS. of the Bodleian Library, NE. D. 
11, f. 28. A fac simile of it is published by Hicks, Thes. p. 168. 



o 00j tov upavov xat, tyv yqv . H 8s yy qv aopafoj 
En archn epoeisen o theos ton urafion ce tin gin . i de gi in aoratos 



xat, axataaxtvafos * xat, dxoTfof ^v srtavu fqs afivacte xat rtvsvpa tn 
ce acatasceuastos ce skotos in epano tis abussu . ce phneuma theu 

STtsfyspito frtavu fa vftato$. Kat zirtsv o 0oj yfvrflyVo <J>coj, xat fyfvsto 

epefereto epano tu ydatos . ce ipen o theos genethito fos, ce egeneto 

$wj . xat, eiSsv o 060$ to $coj oft xo&ov . xat, Stf^wptcrsv o Oso$. 

fos . ce iden o theos to fos, oti kalon, ce chechorisen o theos. 

Neither was this method of writing Greek peculiar to the Anglo- 
Saxons : it occurs in the specimen which Mabillon has given of ,the 
characters in the Codex Dyonisianus. De re Diplomat, p. 367. 

IltcfT ffco ctj tva 6tov rtar fpa xai* ft? fo rtvevpa T O ayiov to xvptov 
Pisteugo is ena theon patera ke is to pneuma to agion to kyrion 

xati o7totoj , T O ex Tfa rtafpoj. 

ke zoopion, to ek tu patros. 

It must be confessed that these passages present many errors : yet, 
from a diligent comparison of those words and syllables, in which the 
ear was less liable to be deceived, I think it may be inferred that not 
only the vowel t, but also ^, and the diphthongs si and ot were gene 
rally sounded alike, and expressed by the Anglo-Saxon i, and that the 
diphthong at had the long slender sound in the present English a, and 
therefore was always expressed by the Anglo-Saxon letter e. In these 
respects the pronunciation of our ancestors appears to agree perfectly 
with the pronunciation of the modern Greeks. Dans at ft, ot, 57, v, 
says De la Rocca, vicar general of the isle of Syra, les Ellenistes 
de Paris pretendent qu il faut prononcer les trois premieres, comme 
si elles etoient deux letters ai, e i, oi : a 1 egard des deux autres la 
premiere comme e, la seconde comme i. Nous prononcons au con- 
traire la premiere comme e, et les quatres autres comme i. Precis 
Historique sur 1 Isle de Syra, p. 159. Paris, 1790. 



(T) p. 194. 

THE vernacular poetry of the Anglo-Saxons has been ably described 
by Mr. Turner, in his fourth volume, p. 374. Its principal charac 
teristics appear to be a constant inversion of phrase, with the frequent 



316 NOTES. 

use of alliteration, metaphor, and periphrasis. Rhyme seems neither 
to have been sought after, nor rejected. It occurs but seldom. To 
reduce the measure of the verse to certain rules is difficult, perhaps 
impracticable. Of the many writers who have attempted it, not one 
has succeeded. If I may be indulged in a conjecture, I would say 
that their versification consisted in such an arrangement of words, as 
might easily be adapted to some favourite national tune. All their 
poetry was originally designed to be sung to the harp. 

The reader will not perhaps be displeased with a short specimen 
of Anglo-Saxon poetry, believed to have been composed by Caedmon, 
the celebrated monk of Whitby. Bede translated it in his Ecclesiasti 
cal History: but confessed that his version did not do justice to the 
spirit and elegance of the original. (Bed. 1. iv. c. 24.) The Anglo- 
Saxon verses are found in King Alfred s translation of Bede, and are 
generally supposed to have been transcribed by that prince from some 
ancient copy. I think it, however, equally probable, that they were 
the composition of the royal translator. 

To the Anglo-Saxon I have added an English version as literal as 
possible. 

Nu pe pceolan heriigean 

Heopon rucep pearib. 

CD etcher- mihce 

Anb hip mob ge)>anc 

Yeoric pulbori jraebeji. 

Spa he pulbjiep gehpaBp 

Ece bruhten 

Ojib onr* tealbe. 

He a3jiepc gepcop 

EoriJ>an bearinum 

Heopon co riope 

Halig pcyppenb. 

Da mibban gearib 

(Don cynnep peajib 

Ece Djuhtne 

^Epceji teobe. 

Firium polban 

Fjiea aBlmmtig. ALFRED S BED. p. 597. 



Now ought we to praise 
Of heaven the guardian, 
The might of the Creator, 
The thoughts of his mind, 



NOTES. 317 



The works of the Father of glory. 

How he, of all glory, 

The Lord eternal ! 

Made the beginning. 

He first did frame, 

For the children of earth, 

Heaven as a canopy : 

Holy Creator ! 

The expanded earth 

The guardian of man, 

The Lord eternal, 

Afterwards made. 

For men the earth : 

Ruler Almighty ! 



(U) p. 209. 

EPITAPHIUM ALCWINI. 

Hie, rogo, pauxillum veniens subsiste, viator, 

Et mea scrutator pectore dicta tuo. 
Ut tua, deque meis, cognoscas fata figuris, 

Vertitur en species, ut mea, sicque tua. 
Quod nunc es, fueram, famosus in orbe viator : 

Et quod nunc ego sum, tuque futurus eris. 
Delicias mundi casso sectabar amore : 

Nunc cinis et pulvis, vermibus atque cibus. 
Quapropter potius animam curare memento, 

Quam carnem : quoniam haec manet, ilia perit. 
Cur tibi rura paras ? Quam parvo cernis in antro 

Me tenet hie requies, sic tua parva fiet. 
Cur Tyrio corpus inhias vestirier ostro 

Quod mox esuriens pulvere vermis edet 
Ut flores pereunt vento veniente minaci, 

Sic tua namque caro, gloria tota perit. 
Tu mihi redde vicem, lector, rogo carminis hujus, 

Et die, da veniam, Christe, tuo famulo. 
Obsecro nulla manus violet pia jura sepulchri 

Personet angelica donee ab arce tuba. 
Qui jaces in tumulo, terrse de pulvere surge, 

Magnus adest judex milibus innumeris. 
2 D2 



318 NOTES. 

Alchwin nomen erat sophiam mihi semper amanti, 
Pro quo funde preces mente, legens titulum. 

Hie requiescit beatee memoriae domnus Alchwinus abbas, qui obiit 
in pace xiiii. Kalend. Junias. Quando legeritis, o vos omnes, orate 
pro eo, et dicite : Requiem aeternam donet ei Dominus. This epi 
taph was inscribed on a brass tablet fixed in the wall. Vit. Ale. p. 161. 



(V) p. 238. 

IN my account of Edwin, I have ventured to oppose the whole 
stream of modern writers. 1 With the person or history of Ethelgiva, 
they scarcely appear acquainted : her daughter is their favourite ; and, 
after lavishing upon her every charm, of which the female form is 
susceptible, they marry her to Edwin before his coronation, lash with 
zeal the bigotry of her supposed enemies, and allot to her the disgrace 
and sufferings, which I have described as the fate of her mother. In 
the present note I may be allowed to detail the authorities on which 
my narrative is grounded. 

I. As to the names of the two women, Mr. Turner has produced 
an ancient charter, in which they are called Ethelgiva and Elgiva, 
(Testes fuerunt ^Elfgiva regis uxor, et jEthelgiva mater ejus. Ex 
Hist. Abbend. Turn. vol. iii. p. 163.) The authenticity of the in 
strument, as he observes, is suspicious ; but I have no doubt of the 
accuracy of the names. In the contemporary biographer of St. Dun- 
stan, the mother is called Ethelgiva, (MS. Cleop. B. 13 :) and Elgiva 
is often mentioned as the name of the woman from whom Edwin 
was afterwards separated. Hoved. Ann. 958. Wigorn. Ann. 958. 
Westmon. Ann. 958. 

II. But was not Elgiva married to Edwin at the time of his coro 
nation? I answer in the negative. 1. This marriage is not, as far 
as I have read, expressly asserted by any ancient writer. 2. By 
every historian, who describes at length the transactions of that day, 
she is considered not as the wife, but as the mistress of the king. 
See note 11, p. 236. 3. The contemporary life of^St. Dunstan. 

1 From this number, however, should have been excepted Dr. Milner, who, in his 
History of Winchester, (vol. i. p. 153,) has shown that, in narrating the history of 
Elgiva, Rapin, Guthrie, Carte, and Hume have substituted a romance of their own 
creation in place of the real facts, as they are stated by the ancient writers. 



NOTES. 319 

plainly shows that she was not his wife : as it ascribes the indelicacy 
of Ethelgiva s conduct to her hope of prevailing with the king to 
marry either her or her daughter, (Eotenus videlicet, quo sese vel 
etiam natam suam sub conjugali titulo illi innectendo sociaret. MS. 
Cleop. p. 76.) Of consequence the king, at the time of his corona 
tion, remained unmarried : and the queen to whom Dunstan is repre 
sented as offering the grossest insult, is the creation of modern pre 
judice. 

III. Whether Edwin married Elgiva after his coronation, is a more 
difficult question. That she was his near relation, (proxime cogna- 
tam, Malms, de Reg. 1. ii. c. 7,) is acknowledged : and, consequently, 
the marriage, if ever it took place, must have been deemed void, ac 
cording to the canons, which, at that period, obtained the force of 
laws among our ancestors. Perhaps the expressions of the monk of 
Ramsey, (illicitum invasit matrimonium. Hist. Ram. p. 390,) and 
the title of queen, which Wallingford gives to Elgiva, (Chron. Wal 
ling, p. 543,) may countenance the idea that they were actually mar 
ried : and a MS. of the Saxon Chronicle, (Tib. B. 4,) quoted by 
Mr. Turner, (vol. iii. p. 164,) in a paragraph which occurs not in the 
other copies, asserts, that in the year 958, Archbishop Odo separated 
Edwin and Elgiva, because they were relations, (958.) On ]?yrr urn 
jeane Oba ajicebir-cop totpa3mbe Eabpi cymnj ^ ^Eljype 
pon Saern $a hi psenon co jepybbe.) <But the other chroniclers, 
when they notice the separation, are less positive ; and observe, that 
the archbishop acted in this manner, because Elgiva was either the 
king s relation, or his mistress. (Archiepiscopus regem Westsaxonum 
Edwium et Elfgivam, vel quia, ut fertur, propinqua illius extiterit, 
vel quia ipsam sub propria uxore adamavit, ab invicem separavit. 
Hoved. Ann. 958. Wigorn. Ann. 958. Sim. Dunel. Ann. 958. 
Vel causa consanguinitatis, vel quia illam ut adulteram adamavit. 
Westmon. Ann. 958.) However, were we to admit the marriage, yet 
the very date of the separation will furnish an additional proof that it 
was posterior to the king s coronation. Otherwise, how can we ac 
count for the apathy or indolence of that active and inflexible prelate, 
Odo, who would have waited three years before he performed that 
which he must daily have considered as an imperious and indispen 
sable duty ? If his irresolution be ascribed to fear, why did he omit 
the favourable moment of the insurrection, and wait till Edwin was 
firmly and peaceably seated on the throne of Wessex, Kent, and 
Sussex ? 

IV. I do not know that any writer has mentioned the name of the 
unfortunate woman, who was banished to Ireland, and at her return 



320 NOTES. 

put to a cruel death. That it was either Elthelgiva or Elgiva, is cer 
tain : that it was Elgiva, is the consentient assertion of our modern 
historians. I cannot submit to their authority. 1. To decide the 
controversy, we must have recourse to Osbern, from whose narrative 
succeeding writers have derived their information. In his account of 
the coronation, he mentions Ethelgiva under the designation of adul- 
tera, (she was then the wife of a thane, according to Brompton, p. 
863,) and adds, that her daughter was in her company. But from 
that moment he loses sight of the daughter, and fixes our attention 
solely on the mother, till he describes her death by the swords of the 

insurgents, (Repertum simul cum adultera et filia ejus Regem 

cum adultera persequi non desistunt ipsam repertam subnerva- 

vere. Osbern, p. 105, 106.) 1 do not think it possible to read at 
tentively the narrative of Osbern, and believe that it was the daughter 
who fell a victim to the fury of the rebels. 2. From the writers 
quoted above, it appears that Elgiva was alive in 958, since in that 
year she was separated from Edwin. Now, the death of the woman 
who returned from Ireland, happened in 956, or at the latest in 957. 
Osbern informs us, that she was murdered during the revolt of the 
Mercians, and before the division of the kingdom between the two 
brothers : events which occurred in 956, according to the Peterbo 
rough, (p. 27,) and the Saxon Chronicles, (p. 116;) in 957, accord 
ing to Simeon, Wigornensis, and Matthew of Westminster. (Vide 
omnes ad Ann. 957.) Hence it follows, that the woman who was 
banished, and afterwards put to death, must have been, not the 
daughter, but her mother, Ethelgiva. 

From these premises, I should infer, that these ladies were women 
of high rank, but abandoned character, who endeavoured to corrupt 
the morals of their young sovereign : that the mother was compelled 
to quit the kingdom, and venturing to return, perished during the 
revolt ; and that Edwin, after her banishment, either took Elgiva to 
his bed as his mistress, or married her within the prohibited degrees, 
which called forth the censures of Archbishop Odo. If these circum 
stances be true, the laboured narrative of Hume, and the passionate 
declamation of Mr. Turner, may be given to the winds. 



NOTES. 321 



(X) p. 244. 

Ex IVoht. Epist. ad Elpheg. Epis. Winton. 

Insuper excelsum fecistis et addere templum, 

Quo sine nocte manet continuata dies. 
Turris ab axe micat, quo sol oriendo coruscat, 

Et spargit lucis spicula prima suae. 
Stat super auratis virgas fabricatio bullis, 

Aureus et totum splendor adornat opus. 
Luna coronato quoties radiaverit ortu, 

Alterum ab sede sacra surgit ad astra jubar. 
Si nocte inspiciat hunc praetereundo viator, 

Et terram stellas credit habere suas. 
Additur ad speciem, stat ei quod vertice Gallus 

Aureus ornatu, grandis et intuitu. 
Despicit omne solum, cunctis supererainet arvis, 

Signiferi et Boreae sidera pulchra videns. 
Imperii sceptrum pedibus tenet ille superbis, 

Stat super et cunctum Wintoniae populum. 
Imperat et cunctis evectus in aera gallis, 

Et regit occiduum nobilis imperium. 
Impiger imbriferos qui suscipit undique ventos, 

Seque rotando suam praebet eis faciem. 
Turbinis horrisonos suffertque viriliter ictus, 

Intrepidus perstans, flabra, nives tolerans. 
Oceano solem solus vidit ipse ruentem : 

Aurorae primum cernit et hie radium. 
A longe adveniens oculo vicinus adhaeret, 

Figit et adspectum dissociante loco : 
Quo fessus rapitur visu mirante viator, 

Et pede disjunctus, lumine junctus adest. 

ACT. SS. BENED. saee. iv. p. 931, 



For the convenience of those who may wish to compare the Saxon 
with the modern English, and who have no grammar of that lan 
guage, the following Alphabet and Prayer are appended to this edi 
tion. 



SAXON ALPHABET. 



A a 




B b 


b. 


E c 




D b 


d. 


e 


e. 


F F 


f. 




g. 


B h 


h. 


I i 


i. 


K k 


k. 


L 1 


1. 


COm 


m. 


N n 


n. 



o 


o. 


P P 


P- 


Qcp 


q. 




r. 


s r 


s. 


T t 


t. 


U u 


u. 


V v 




UJp 


w. 


X x 


X. 


Yy 


y. 


Z z 


z. 



Th D, $, }> . 



That 



And i. 



The vowels are sounded as in Latin. The 5 was sounded nearly 
as in German; hence y has been substituted for it in bejeonb, 
beyond; hahje, holy ; jeaji, year ; baej, day. 



324 



THE LORD S PRAYER, 

Written about A. D. 900, by Alfred, bishop"of Durham. 



Vjien yabep. fcic aji$ m Beopnaj* \\c jehaljub $m noma 
Our Father which art in Heavens be hallowed thine Name 
tocymefcfcm jiic- pc $m pilla j*ue ij* m Beopnaj* anb m 
come thy Kingdom be thy Will so as in Heavens and in 
eojiSo. Vjien hlap ope p. pip the pel vj- co baeg anb pop^e}: 
,- Earth. Our Loaf supersubstantial give us to Day and forgive 
vj* pcylba upna pue ye pojijeyan jrcylbgum vpum, anb no 
us Debts our so we forgive Debts ours, and do 
mleab vjiib m cu^cming, Al sepjiij vpich j?]iom iple, Amen, 
not lead us into Temptation, but deliver every one from Evil. Amen. 



THE END. 



BR 749 .L55 1S41 SMC 

Lingard, John, 

1771-1851. 
The Antiquities of the 

Anglo-Saxon Church. 
AKH-4211 (sk) 



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