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diff --git a/36890-8.txt b/36890-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8076bcc --- /dev/null +++ b/36890-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7241 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The English Church in the Middle Ages, by William Hunt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The English Church in the Middle Ages + +Author: William Hunt + +Release Date: July 31, 2011 [EBook #36890] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + + Epochs of Church History + EDITED BY + PROFESSOR MANDELL CREIGHTON. + + + THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. + + + + +EPOCHS OF CHURCH HISTORY. + +Edited by Professor MANDELL CREIGHTON. + +Fcp. 8vo, 2s. 6d. each. + + +THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN OTHER LANDS. By Rev. H. W. TUCKER. + +THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. By Rev. GEORGE G. PERRY. + +THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. By the Rev. J. H. +OVERTON. + +THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. By the Hon. G. C. BRODRICK. + +THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. By J. BASS MULLINGER, M.A. + +THE CHURCH OF THE EARLY FATHERS. By A. PLUMMER, D.D. + +THE CHURCH AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By the Rev. A. CARR. + +THE CHURCH AND THE PURITANS, 1570-1660. By H. OFFLEY WAKEMAN, M.A. + +THE CHURCH AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE. By the Rev. H. F. TOZER. + +HILDEBRAND AND HIS TIMES. By the Rev. W. R. W. STEPHENS. + +THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By Rev. W. HUNT, M.A. + +THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY. By H. M. GWATKIN, M.A. + +THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. By A. W. WARD. + + + + + THE ENGLISH CHURCH + IN THE MIDDLE AGES. + + + BY WILLIAM HUNT. + + + LONDON: + LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + 1888. + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + Ballantyne Press + BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. + EDINBURGH AND LONDON + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This book is intended to illustrate the relations of the English Church +with the papacy and with the English State down to the revolt of Wyclif +against the abuses which had gathered round the ecclesiastical system of +the Middle Ages, and the Great Schism in the papacy which materially +affected the ideas of the whole of Western Christendom. It was thought +expedient to deal with these subjects in a narrative form, and some gaps +have therefore had to be filled up, and some links supplied. This has been +done as far as possible by notices of matters which bear on the moral +condition of the Church, and serve to show how far it was qualified at +various periods to be the example and instructor of the nation. No +attempt, however, has been made to write a complete history on a small +scale, and I have designedly passed by many points, in themselves of +interest and importance, in order to give as much space as might be to my +proper subjects. Besides, this volume has been written as one of a series +in which the missions to the Teutonic peoples, the various aspects of +Monasticism, the question of Investitures, and the place which the +University of Oxford fills in our Church's history have been, or will be, +treated separately. Accordingly I have not touched on any of these things +further than seemed absolutely necessary. + +I wish that, limited as my task has been, I could believe that it has been +adequately performed. No one can understand the character, or appreciate +the claims, of the English Church who has not studied its history from the +beginning, and it is hoped that this little book may do something, however +small, towards spreading a correct idea of the part that the Church has +borne in the progress of the nation, and of the grounds on which its +members maintain that it has from the first been a National Church, as +regards its inherent life and independent attitude as well as its intimate +and peculiar relations with the State. A firm grasp of the position it +held during the Middle Ages is necessary to a right understanding of the +final rupture with Rome accomplished in the sixteenth century, and will +afford a complete safeguard against the vulgar error of regarding the +Church as a creation of the State, an institution established by the +civil power, and maintained by its bounty. Those who are acquainted with +our mediæval chroniclers will see that I have written from original +sources. I have also freely availed myself of the labours of others, and, +above all, of the works of Bishop Stubbs, which have been of the greatest +assistance to me. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + PREFACE v + + LISTS OF THE ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY AND THE BISHOPS AND + ARCHBISHOPS OF YORK TO 1377 xiii + + + CHAPTER I. ROME AND IONA. + + St. Augustin's Mission--Pope Gregory's Scheme of Organization-- + Causes of its Failure--Foundation and Overthrow of the See of + York--Independent Missions--The See of Lindisfarne--Scottish + Christianity--The Schism--The Synod of Whitby--Restoration of + the See of York 1 + + + CHAPTER II. ORGANIZATION. + + Archbishop Theodore--His Work in Organization--New Dioceses-- + Wilfrith's Appeals to Rome--Literary Greatness of Northumbria-- + Parishes--Tithes--The Church in Wessex--A Third Archbishopric-- + The Church in Relation to the State--to Rome--to Western + Christendom 15 + + + CHAPTER III. RUIN AND REVIVAL. + + Ruin of Northumbria--Æthelwulf's Pilgrimage--Danish Invasions + of Southern England; the Peace of Wedmore--Alfred's Work-- + Character of the Church in the Tenth Century--Reorganization-- + Revival--Oda--Dunstan--Seculars and Regulars--Dunstan's + Ecclesiastical Administration--Coronations--Dunstan's Last + Days--Ælfric the Grammarian 34 + + + CHAPTER IV. EXHAUSTION. + + Characteristics of the Period--Renewed Scandinavian Invasions-- + Legislation--Archbishop Ælfheah: his Martyrdom--End of the + Danish War--Cnut and the Church--The King's Clerks--Spiritual + Decadence--Foreigners appointed to English Sees--Effect of these + Appointments--Party Struggles--Earl Harold--Pilgrimages--A + Legatine Visit--A Schismatical Archbishop--The Papacy and the + Conquest--Summary: The National Character of the Church before + the Norman Conquest 55 + + + CHAPTER V. ROYAL SUPREMACY. + + The Conqueror and Lanfranc--Canterbury and York--Separate + Ecclesiastical System--Removal of Sees--Extent and Limits of + Papal Influence--The Conqueror's Bishops--Change in the + Character of the Church--An Appeal to Rome--Feudal Tendencies-- + St. Anselm--Struggle against Tyranny--Investitures--Henry I.-- + Councils--Legates--Independence of the See of York--Summary 77 + + + CHAPTER VI. CLERICAL PRETENSIONS. + + Stephen and the English Church--Archbishop Theobald and Henry + of Winchester--Thomas the Chancellor--The Scutage of Toulouse-- + Thomas the Archbishop--Clerical Immunity--The Archbishop in + Exile--His Martyrdom--Henry's General Relations to the Church-- + Conquest of Ireland--Richard's Crusade--Longchamp--Archbishop + Hubert Walter--Character of the Clergy 105 + + + CHAPTER VII. VASSALAGE. + + The Alliance between the Church and the Crown--Coronation of + John--Quarrel between John and the Pope--The Interdict-- + Vassalage of England--The Great Charter--Papal Tutelage of + Henry III.--Taxation of Spiritualities--Papal Oppression-- + Edmund Rich, Archbishop--Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of + Lincoln--Alienation from Rome--Civil War--Increase of Clerical + Pretensions--The Canon Law 135 + + + CHAPTER VIII. THE CHURCH AND THE NATION. + + Character of the Reign of Edward I.--Archbishop Peckham-- + Statute of Mortmain--Conquest of Wales--Circumspecte Agatis-- + Expulsion of the Jews--Clerical Taxation and Representation + in Parliament--Breach between the Crown and the Papacy-- + Confirmation of the Charters--Archbishop Winchelsey and the + Rights of the Crown--The English Parliament and Papal + Exactions--Church and State during the Reign of Edward II.-- + Papal Provisions to Bishoprics--The Bishops and Secular + Politics--The Province of York--Parliament and Convocation 161 + + + CHAPTER IX. THE PAPACY AND THE PARLIAMENT. + + Ecclesiastical Character of the Reign of Edward III.-- + Archbishops and their Ecclesiastical Administration-- + Provisions--Statute of Provisors--Statute of Præmunire-- + Refusal of Tribute--Relations between the Church and the + State--Causes of Discontent at the Condition of the Church-- + Attack on Clerical Ministers and the Wealthy Clergy--Concordat + with the Papacy--The Good Parliament--Conclusion 192 + + INDEX 219 + + + + +ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY TO 1377. + + + +-------------------------------------------+ + | | Accession. | Death. | + |-------------------|------------|----------| + |Augustin | 597 | 604 | + |Laurentius | 604 | 619 | + |Mellitus | 619 | 624 | + |Justus | 624 | 627 | + |Honorius | 627 | 653 | + |Deusdedit | 655 | 664 | + |Theodore | 668 | 690 | + |Brihtwald | 693 | 731 | + |Tatwin | 731 | 734 | + |Nothelm | 735 | 739 | + |Cuthberht | 740 | 758 | + |Brecgwin | 759 | 765 | + |Jaenberht | 766 | 791 | + |Æthelheard | 793 | 805 | + |Wulfred | 805 | 832 | + |Feologeld | 832 | 832 | + |Ceolnoth | 833 | 870 | + |Æthelred | 870 | 889 | + |Plegmund | 890 | 914 | + |Athelm | 914 | 923 | + |Wulfhelm | 923 | 942 | + |Oda | 942 | 959 | + |Dunstan | 960 | 988 | + |Æthelgar | 988 | 989 | + |Sigeric | 990 | 994 | + |Ælfric | 995 | 1005 | + |Ælfheah | 1005 | 1012 | + |Lyfing | 1013 | 1020 | + |Æthelnoth | 1020 | 1038 | + |Eadsige | 1038 | 1050 | + |Robert | 1051 | 1070 | + |Stigand | 1052 | ... | + |Lanfranc | 1070 | 1089 | + |Anselm | 1093 | 1109 | + |Ralph | 1114 | 1122 | + |William of Corbeuil| 1123 | 1136 | + |Theobald | 1139 | 1161 | + |Thomas [Becket] | 1162 | 1170 | + |Richard | 1174 | 1184 | + |Baldwin | 1185 | 1190 | + |Hubert Walter | 1193 | 1205 | + |Stephen Langton | 1207 | 1228 | + |Richard Grant | 1229 | 1231 | + |Edmund Rich | 1234 | 1240 | + |Boniface | 1245 | 1270 | + |Robert Kilwardby | 1273 |res. 1278 | + |John Peckham | 1279 | 1292 | + |Robert Winchelsey | 1294 | 1313 | + |Walter Reynolds | 1313 | 1327 | + |Simon Mepeham | 1328 | 1333 | + |John Stratford | 1333 | 1348 | + |Thomas Bradwardine | 1349 | 1349 | + |Simon Islip | 1349 | 1366 | + |Simon Langham | 1366 |res. 1368 | + |William Whittlesey | 1368 | 1374 | + |Simon Sudbury | 1375 | 1381 | + +-------------------------------------------+ + + +BISHOPS AND ARCHBISHOPS OF YORK TO 1377. + + +-------------------------------------------+ + | | Accession. | Death. | + |-------------------|------------|----------| + |Paulinus | 625 | ... | + |Wilfrith | 664 | 709 | + |Ceadda | 664 |res. 669 | + |Bosa | 678 | 705 | + |John of Beverley | 705 |res. 718 | + |Wilfrith II. | 718 | 732 | + |Ecgberht | 732 | 766 | + |Æthelberht (Albert)| 766 | 780 | + |Eanbald | 780 | 796 | + |Eanbald II. | 796 | 812 | + |Wulfsige | ... | 831 | + |Wigmund | 837 | ... | + |Wulfhere | 854 | 900 | + |Æthelbald | 900 | ... | + |Redewald |cir. 928 | ... | + |Wulfstan |cir. 931 | 956 | + |Oskytel | 958 | 971 | + |Oswald | 972 | 992 | + |Ealdulf | 992 | 1002 | + |Wulfstan II. | 1003 | 1023 | + |Ælfric | 1023 | 1051 | + |Kinesige | 1051 | 1060 | + |Ealdred | 1060 | 1069 | + |Thomas | 1070 | 1100 | + |Gerard | 1101 | 1108 | + |Thomas II. | 1109 | 1114 | + |Thurstan | 1119 | 1140 | + |William | 1143 | 1154 | + |Henry Murdac | 1147 | 1153 | + |Roger | 1154 | 1181 | + |Geoffrey | 1191 | 1212 | + |Walter Gray | 1215 | 1255 | + |Sewal de Bovill | 1256 | 1258 | + |Godfrey | 1258 | 1265 | + |Walter Giffard | 1266 | 1279 | + |William Wickwain | 1279 | 1285 | + |John le Roman | 1286 | 1296 | + |Henry Newark | 1298 | 1299 | + |Thomas Corbridge | 1300 | 1303 | + |William Greenfield | 1306 | 1315 | + |William Melton | 1317 | 1340 | + |William Zouche | 1342 | 1352 | + |John Thoresby | 1352 | 1373 | + |Alexander Neville | 1374 | 1392 | + +-------------------------------------------+ + + + + +THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +_ROME AND IONA._ + + ST. AUGUSTIN'S MISSION--POPE GREGORY'S SCHEME OF ORGANIZATION--CAUSES + OF ITS FAILURE--FOUNDATION AND OVERTHROW OF THE SEE OF + YORK--INDEPENDENT MISSIONS--THE SEE OF LINDISFARNE--SCOTTISH + CHRISTIANITY--THE SCHISM--THE SYNOD OF WHITBY--RESTORATION OF THE SEE + OF YORK. + + +[Sidenote: St. Augustin's landing at Ebbsfleet, 597.] + +The Gospel was first brought to the Teutonic conquerors of Britain by +Roman missionaries, and was received by the kings of various kingdoms. +From the first the Church that was planted here was national in character, +and formed a basis for national union; and when that union was +accomplished the English State became coextensive with the English Church, +and was closely united with it. The main object of this book is to trace +the relations of the Church both with the Papacy and with the State down +to the new era that opened with the schism in the Papacy and the Wyclifite +movement. Our narrative will begin with the coming of Augustin and his +companions in 597 to preach the Gospel to the English people. They landed +in the Isle of Thanet. The way had, to some extent, been prepared for +them, for Æthelberht, king of Kent, whose superiority was acknowledged as +far north as the Humber, had married a Christian princess named Bertha, +the daughter of a Frankish king, and had allowed her to bring a priest +with her and to practise her own religion. He had not, however, learnt +much about Christianity from his queen or her priest. Nevertheless, he +received the Gospel from Augustin, and was baptized with many of his +people. By Gregory's command, Augustin was consecrated "archbishop of the +English nation" by the archbishop of Arles. Æthelberht gave him his royal +city of Canterbury, and built for him there the monastery of Christ +Church, the mother-church of our country. + +[Sidenote: Gregory's scheme of organization, 601.] + +Gregory organized the new Church, in the full belief that it would extend +over the whole island. He sent Augustin the "pall," a vestment denoting +metropolitan authority, and constituting the recipient vicar of the Pope. +Two metropolitan sees were to be established--the one at London, the +residence of the East Saxon King Sæberct, who reigned as sub-king under +Æthelberht, a crowded mart, and the centre of a system of roads; the other +at York, the capital of the old Roman province north of the Humber. Both +archbishops were to receive the pall, and to be of equal authority. At the +same time, the unity of the Church was ensured, for they were to consult +together and act in unison. Both the provinces were to be divided into +twelve suffragan bishoprics, and as the northern province took in the +country now called Scotland, they were of fairly equal size. This +arrangement was not to be carried out until after Augustin's death. As +long as he lived all the bishops alike were to obey him, and he was, we +may suppose, to continue to reside at Canterbury. Moreover, the clergy of +the Welsh or Britons were to be subject to him and to the future +archbishops of the English Church. Augustin endeavoured to persuade the +Welsh clergy to join him in preaching the Gospel to the Teutonic invaders, +and held a meeting with them at or near Aust, on the Severn. But they +refused to acknowledge his authority, or even to hold communion with him, +and would not give up their peculiar usages with respect to the date of +Easter and the administration of Baptism. At Augustin's request, Gregory +sent him a letter of instructions as to the government of the Church. It +bears witness to the Pope's largeness of mind. While morality and decency +were to be enforced, the archbishop was not bound strictly to follow the +Roman ritual; if he found anything that he thought would be helpful to his +converts in the Gallican or any other use, he might adopt it, and so make +up a use collected from various sources. + +[Sidenote: Causes of its failure.] + +Excellent as Gregory's scheme would have been had Britain still been under +Roman rule, it was unsuited to a country divided as England then was into +several rival kingdoms. London did not become a metropolitan see, probably +because Æthelberht was unwilling that the seat of ecclesiastical authority +should be transferred from his own kingdom to the chief city of a +dependent people, while Augustin had no wish that the church which he had +founded at Canterbury, and the second monastery, now called after him, +which he had begun to build there for a burying-place for himself and his +successors, should be reduced to a lower rank. Other Roman clergy had been +sent by Gregory to reinforce the mission, and of these Augustin +consecrated Mellitus to be bishop of London, Justus to be bishop over Kent +west of the Medway, with Rochester as the city of his see, an arrangement +that marks an early tribal distinction, and Laurentius to be his own +successor at Canterbury. Thus the metropolitan see remained with Kent. +More generally, Gregory's scheme failed because it was founded on the old +division of Britain as a province of the Roman empire, and was not adapted +to the tribal distinctions of the English. Moreover, political +circumstances determined the development of the Church; for the Roman +mission received a series of checks, and the work of evangelization was +taken up by Scottish missionaries. The kingdoms into which the country was +divided were finally converted by efforts more or less independent of the +Kentish mission; the work of evangelization followed tribal lines, and for +sixty years after Augustin's death the tendency of the Church was towards +disunion. + +[Sidenote: Foundation and overthrow of the see of York, 627-633.] + +Although the king of the East Angles received baptism in Kent at the +bidding of Æthelberht, he fell back into idolatry on his return to his own +land. And as Æthelberht's son, Eadbald, was a pagan, many of the +Kentishmen and East Saxons also deserted Christianity when he became king. +Eadbald was converted by Laurentius, and did what he could to forward the +cause of Christ. With Æthelberht's death, however, the greatness of Kent +passed away, and Eadbald could not insist on the destruction of idols even +in his own country. While Kent sank into political insignificance the +Kentish mission made one great advance, and then ended in failure. The +Northumbrian king, Eadwine, who reigned over the two Northumbrian +kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira, from the Forth to the Humber, and gradually +established a supremacy over the whole English people except the +Kentishmen, married Æthelburh, the daughter of Æthelberht. She was +accompanied to her new home by Paulinus, who was ordained bishop by +Justus, the successor of Mellitus; and Boniface V. wrote to her exhorting +her to labour for the conversion of her husband, and saying that he would +not cease to pray for her success. His prayers were heard; Eadwine was +baptized, and made his capital, York, the seat of the bishopric of +Paulinus. The people of Deira (Yorkshire) followed their king's example, +while Bernicia, though Paulinus preached and baptized there, remained, on +the whole, heathen; no church was built and no altar was raised. South of +the Humber the authority of Eadwine and the preaching of Paulinus effected +the conversion of Lindsey, and of the king, at least, of the East Angles. +In 633, however, Eadwine was defeated and slain by Penda, the heathen king +of Mercia, and Cadwallon, the Briton. Heathenism was already triumphant in +East Anglia, and on Eadwine's death many of the Northumbrians relapsed +into idolatry. Æthelburh and her children sought shelter in Kent, and +Paulinus fled with them. Only one Roman clergyman, the deacon James, +remained in Northumbria to labour on in faith that God's cause would yet +triumph there. Ignorant of the calamity that had befallen the Church, the +Pope, in pursuance of Gregory's scheme, sent the pall to Paulinus. When +the papal gift arrived in England the Church of York had been overthrown, +and Paulinus had been translated to Rochester. + +[Sidenote: Independent missions.] + +[Sidenote: Foundation of the see of Lindisfarne, 635.] + +After the success of the Kentish mission had received this terrible check, +the work of evangelization was carried on by efforts that were more or +less independent of it. East Anglia was finally converted by a Burgundian +priest named Felix, who was consecrated bishop by Honorius, archbishop of +Canterbury, and fixed his see at Dunwich, once on the Suffolk coast. The +Italian, Birinus, who was consecrated in Italy, brought the Gospel to the +West Saxons, and received Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, for the place of his +see. Northumbria was evangelized by Celtic missionaries who were not in +communion with Rome and Canterbury. About the middle of the sixth century +the Irish Scot, Columba, founded the monastery of Iona. He and his +companions preached the Gospel to the northern Picts and the Scots of the +western isles, and Iona became a centre of Christian light. During the +reign of Eadwine, Oswald and Oswiu, princes of the rival Bernician line, +had found shelter in Iona. Oswald returned to become king of Bernicia +shortly after the death of Eadwine, and before long brought Deira also +under his dominion. As soon as he had gained possession of the kingdom of +Bernicia, he sent to Iona for missionaries to instruct his people. Aidan, +a missionary from Columba's house, came to him, and so it came to pass +that Bernicia received Christianity from Celtic teachers, from Aidan and +his fellow-workers. Oswald warmly seconded their efforts, and fixed the +see of Aidan, who was in bishop's orders, in Lindisfarne, or Holy Isle, +not far from Bamborough, where he resided; for though he ruled over both +the Northumbrian kingdoms, and completed the minster at York, he made his +home in the North, among his own people. Bernicia thus became the +stronghold of Celtic Christianity under the rule of the kings of the house +of Ida, while the Christians of Deira were naturally more inclined to the +Roman usages which had been introduced by Paulinus and practised by +Eadwine and his queen. Aidan built a monastery at Lindisfarne, and peopled +it with monks from Iona. This gave him a good supply of clergy, and the +work of evangelization prospered and took deep root. The greatness of +Oswald provoked Penda to renew his struggle with the northern kingdom, and +the Northumbrian king was defeated and slain at Maserfield. As his foes +closed round him he prayed for their conversion. His words sank deeply +into men's hearts. "'May God have mercy on their souls,' said Oswald, as +he fell to earth," was a line handed down from generation to generation. +From his hermit's retreat on Farne Island, Aidan beheld the thick clouds +of smoke rise from the country round Bamborough, and cried, "Behold, Lord, +the evil that Penda doeth!" Still the work of God went on; and when Oswiu +came to the throne the prayer of Oswald received its answer, for a +marriage between his house and the house of Penda led to the +evangelization of the Mercians and Middle Angles by the monks of Iona. +From them too the East Saxons received the Gospel, and Cedd, an English +monk of Lindisfarne, was consecrated to the bishopric that had been held +by the Roman Mellitus. + +[Sidenote: Scottish Christianity.] + +By the middle of the seventh century only Kent and East Anglia remained in +full and exclusive communion with Rome; for Sussex was still heathen, +Wini, the West Saxon bishop, acted with British bishops, and Scottish +Christianity prevailed in all the rest of England. The Scottish +missionaries were full of zeal and self-devotion, and were masters of a +considerable store of learning. Their nature was impulsive; while they +were loving and tender-hearted, passionate invectives came as readily from +their lips as words of love. Celtic Christianity was a religion of +perpetual miracles, of deep and varying emotions, and of contempt for +worldly things, that, however noble in itself, was sometimes manifested +extravagantly. While its teachers seldom failed to win men's love, they +were not equally successful in influencing their conduct. It was well that +the English Church turned away from them, for their religious system could +never have produced an organized ecclesiastical society. It was monastic +rather than hierarchical, and a Celtic priest-abbot was a far more +important person than a bishop who was not the ruler of an abbey, though +in England the bishops were probably always abbots. In founding their sees +they sought seclusion rather than good administrative centres, and the +bishop's monastery was less a place of diocesan government than the +headquarters of missionary effort. They had no regular diocesan system, +and bishops and clergy ministered where they would. Their monasticism was +of a specially ascetic character. Both Aidan and Cuthberht loved to leave +the society of the monks at Lindisfarne, and to retire to the barren +little Farne Island, where they could only hear the roaring of the +northern ocean and the crying of the sea-birds. Cuthberht, indeed, even +after he joined the Roman Church, kept the characteristics of the Scottish +monk. He left the duties of his bishopric altogether and ended his days in +his island-hermitage. This love of asceticism was fatal to the well-being +of the Church; the individual soul was everything; the Church was nothing; +and though great victories were won over heathenism, the Scottish Church +remained without corporate life. Lastly, it was not in communion with +Rome, and so lay outside Catholic Christendom. And though it had much to +offer the English both in religion and learning, every gift would have +been rendered fruitless by isolation from the progressive life of Western +Christendom. + +[Sidenote: The schism.] + +It was, indeed, impossible, from the very nature of things, that Celtic +Christianity should long prevail in England, for its arrangements were +based on the loose organization of the sept, and the English needed +arrangements that suited kingship and tended towards political as well as +ecclesiastical union. Its rejection was, however, determined by questions +of Church order. Up to the middle of the fifth century the Celtic +Christians computed Easter by the Roman lunar cycle, which had gradually +diverged from that of Eastern Christendom. When, however, the Romans +adopted a new system of computation, the Welsh and the Irish Scots adhered +to the old cycle; and they further differed from the Roman Church as +regards the shape of the tonsure and the rites observed in the +administration of Baptism. Unimportant as such differences may seem to us, +they were really no light matters; for, as the Church was engaged in a +conflict with paganism, unity with itself was of the first consequence. +The points at issue began to be much debated in Northumbria when the +gentle-spirited Aidan was succeeded at Lindisfarne by Finan, a man of +violent temper. The Bernician court was divided. Oswiu was attached to the +Scottish communion, and his attachment was strengthened by his regard for +Colman, the successor of Finan. On the other hand, his queen, Eanflæd, the +daughter of Eadwine, belonged to the Roman party; and so it came about +that, while the king was keeping his Easter feast, his queen was still in +the Lenten fast. Oswiu's son, Alchfrith, who reigned as under-king in +Deira, left the Scottish communion and eagerly upheld the Roman party. He +was encouraged by Wilfrith, the abbot of Ripon. Wilfrith, who was the +child of wealthy parents, had been led by the unkindness of his stepmother +to desire to become a monk, and had been sent, when a handsome, clever lad +of thirteen, to Queen Eanflæd, that she might decide what he should do. +Eanflæd sent him to Lindisfarne, and he stayed there for some years. Then +she helped him to visit Rome, and he made the journey, which was as yet +unknown to his fellow-countrymen, partly in the company of Benedict +Biscop, who became the founder of Roman monasticism in the north of +England. While he was at Rome Wilfrith studied ecclesiastical matters, and +especially the subject of the computation of Easter. He returned home +fully convinced of the excellence of the Roman Church, and found in +Alchfrith a warm friend and willing disciple. Alchfrith had built a +monastery at Ripon, and peopled it with Scottish monks from Melrose. When +he adopted the Roman customs, these monks, of whom Cuthberht was one, +refused to follow his example, and accordingly he turned them out, and +gave the monastery to Wilfrith. + +[Sidenote: The synod of Whitby, 664.] + +Before long Wilfrith, who was a good preacher and charitable to the poor, +became exceedingly popular. The ecclesiastical dispute was evidently +closely connected with the rivalry between the two Northumbrian kingdoms; +the Roman cause was upheld in Deira and by the Deiran under-king, while +the Celtic clergy were strong in Bernicia, and trusted in the support of +Oswiu. A visit from Agilberct, a Frank, who had held the West Saxon +bishopric, and had since returned to Gaul, gave Alchfrith an opportunity +of bringing matters to an issue. Agilberct admitted Wilfrith to the +priesthood, and urged on a decision of the dispute. A conference was held +at the abbey of Strenæshalch, or Whitby. The abbey was ruled by Hild, +great-niece of King Eadwine, who presided over a congregation composed of +monks as well as nuns. Five of Hild's monks became bishops, and the poet +Cædmon was first a herdsman, and then a brother of her house. Hild +belonged to the Scottish party, which was represented at the conference by +Colman, Cedd, and others. The leaders on the Roman side were Agilberct, +Wilfrith, James the deacon of Paulinus, and Eanflæd's chaplain, Romanus. +The question was decided in a synod of the whole Northumbrian kingdom, +presided over by Oswiu and Alchfrith. Oswiu opened the proceedings with a +short speech, in which he urged the necessity of union and the importance +of finding out what the true tradition was. Colman then stated his case, +which he rested on the tradition of his Church and the authority of St. +John. At the request of Agilberct, Oswiu called on Wilfrith to answer him. +Wilfrith spoke in an overbearing tone, for he was of an impatient temper. +He sneered at the obstinacy of "a few Picts and Britons" in setting +themselves in opposition to the whole world, and met Colman's arguments by +declaring that the Celtic Easter was condemned by St. Peter, of whom the +Lord had said, "Thou art Peter," &c. (Matt. xvi. 18). On this, Oswiu asked +Colman whether the Lord had indeed spoken thus, and when he said that He +had done so, further demanded whether his Columba had received any such +power. Colman allowed that he had not. The king then asked whether both +parties were agreed that Peter had received the keys of Heaven. "Even so," +was the answer. "Then," said he, "I will not go against him who is +doorkeeper, but will do all I know and can to obey him, lest perchance, +when I come to the door of the kingdom of Heaven, I should find none to +open to me, because he who holds the keys is offended with me." The +assembly agreed with the king's decision, and declared for the Roman +usages. James the deacon saw the reward of his long and faithful labour; +he was a skilful singer, and introduced the Roman method of chanting into +Northumbria. + +The Synod of Whitby is the turning-point in the history of the schism. +Before many years the Celtic party died out in the north, and though the +Celtic customs lingered a little longer among the Britons of the west, the +decisive blow had been struck; the Church of England was to follow Rome. +The gain was great. The Church was to have a share in the progressive life +of Catholic Christianity; it was to have a stately ritual, and to be +adorned by the arts and strengthened by the learning of the west; it +gained unity and organization for itself, and the power of exercising a +determining influence on the lives of individual men, and on the formation +and history of the future State. Nevertheless, the decision of the synod +was not all gain, for it led to the submission of the Church to papal +authority, and in times of national weakness exposed it to papal +aggression. + +[Sidenote: Restoration of the see of York, 664.] + +Colman refused to accept the decision of the synod, and left England in +anger, taking several of his monks with him. His departure ruined the +cause of his Church. His successor in the vast Northumbrian diocese died +of the terrible plague that visited England the year of the Synod. Then +the two kings held a meeting of the Northumbrian witan, and Wilfrith was +chosen bishop. The victory of his party was further declared by the +restoration of the see of York. Ever since the flight of Paulinus, York +had remained without a bishop; now, doubtless at the instance of Alchfrith +and the people of Deira, it took the place of Bernician Lindisfarne as +the seat of the Northumbrian bishopric. Wilfrith went to Gaul to receive +consecration, on the ground that there were not three canonically ordained +bishops in England, an assertion which seems to have been hasty and +incorrect. He stayed abroad for three years, and so well-nigh threw away +the victory he had gained, for while he was absent Alchfrith lost his +kingdom, and the rivalry between the two divisions of Northumbria found +expression in a revulsion of feeling in ecclesiastical matters. When he +came back he found that Aidan's disciple, Ceadda (St. Chad), the brother +of Cedd, who had adopted the Roman customs, had been appointed bishop in +his place. He retired to Ripon, acted as bishop in other parts, and helped +forward the introduction of Roman monasticism into monasteries that had +hitherto followed the Columban model. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +_ORGANIZATION._ + + ARCHBISHOP THEODORE--HIS WORK IN ORGANIZATION--NEW + DIOCESES--WILFRITH'S APPEALS TO ROME--LITERARY GREATNESS OF + NORTHUMBRIA--PARISHES--TITHES--THE CHURCH IN WESSEX--A THIRD + ARCHBISHOPRIC--THE CHURCH IN RELATION TO THE STATE--TO ROME--TO + WESTERN CHRISTENDOM. + + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Theodore, 668-690.] + +Among the victims of the plague of 664 was Archbishop Deusdedit, the first +English successor of Augustin. After the see of Canterbury had lain vacant +for three years, Oswiu, who held a kind of supremacy in England, and +Ecgberht of Kent joined in writing to Pope Vitalian, asking him to +consecrate a Kentish priest named Wighard as archbishop. Wighard died of +the plague at Rome before he was consecrated, and the Pope wrote to the +kings that, agreeably to their request, he was looking for a fit man to be +consecrated. As, however, the kings had made no such request, and had +simply asked him to consecrate the man whom they and the English Church +had chosen, his letter was more clever than honest. He made choice of a +Greek monk, a native of Tarsus, named Theodore, who had joined the Roman +Church; and as the Greeks held unorthodox opinions, he sent with him +Hadrian, an African, abbot of the Niridan monastery, near Naples, that he +might prevent him from teaching any wrong doctrines. Theodore was +consecrated by the Pope in 668, and set out for England with Hadrian and +Benedict Biscop, of whom much will be said in the volume of this series on +monasticism. Both Theodore and Hadrian were learned men, and the +archbishop gathered round him a number of students, whom they instructed +in arts and sciences as well as in Biblical knowledge. They also taught +Latin and Greek so thoroughly that some of their scholars spoke both +languages as readily as English, and for the first time England had a +learned native clergy. Many of their scholars became teachers of others, +and in the darkest period of ignorance in Gaul, England, and especially +Northumbria, entered on a period of literary splendour that lasted until +the Danish invasions. + +[Sidenote: His ecclesiastical organization.] + +As the Church was now rapidly passing from the missionary to the pastoral +stage of its existence, it needed organization as a permanent institution. +This organization was given to it by Theodore. He established his +authority over the whole Church, and, long before any one thought of a +national monarchy, planned a national archiepiscopate. He made a +visitation of every see, and for the first time every bishop owned +obedience to Canterbury; while, as far as the English were concerned, he +virtually brought the schism to an end by enforcing the decision of the +Synod of Whitby. When he came to York he told Ceadda that his consecration +was uncanonical. The saintly bishop declared his readiness to resign; he +had ever, he said, deemed himself unworthy of the episcopal office. +Theodore was touched by his humility, and reordained him; he received the +Mercian bishopric, and lived for a little while in great holiness at +Lichfield. Wilfrith was restored to York, and ruled his diocese with +magnificence. When Theodore had thus established his authority, he +proceeded to give the Church a diocesan system and a means of legislation +in ecclesiastical matters. He called a national council of the Church to +meet at Hertford; it was attended by the bishops and several "masters of +Church," men learned in ecclesiastical affairs, and in it the archbishop +produced a body of canons which were universally accepted. These canons +declared that the Roman Easter was to be observed everywhere; that no +bishop should intrude into another's diocese; that no priest should +minister out of his own diocese without producing letters of +recommendation; that a synod of the whole Church should be held every year +at Clevesho, probably near London; and that more bishops were needed, a +matter which it was decided to defer for the present. + +[Sidenote: Creation of new dioceses.] + +Instead of the symmetrical arrangement contemplated by Gregory, certain +bishoprics were of immense size, for the diocese in each case was simply +the kingdom looked at from an ecclesiastical point of view, and as the +boundaries of a kingdom were changed by the fortune of war the diocese was +enlarged or diminished. The whole of Central England was included in the +one Mercian diocese, and the whole of Northumbria--for Lindisfarne was now +without a separate bishop--lay in the diocese of Wilfrith. Theodore saw +that it was necessary to subdivide these and other dioceses, and his +intention was approved at Rome. His plan of procedure was first to gain +the approval of the king whose kingdom would be affected by the change he +wished to make, and then to obtain the consent of the witan. Hitherto the +dioceses had been based on political circumstances; the new dioceses were +generally formed on tribal lines. He divided East Anglia into two +dioceses. The North folk and the South folk each had a bishop of their +own, and the new see was placed at Elmham. Mercia was divided into five +dioceses; the Hwiccan, the Hecanan, the Mercians proper, the Middle +Angles, and the Lindsey folk each received a bishop, and the five sees +were respectively at Worcester, Hereford, Lichfield, Leicester, and +Sidnacester. The division of the West Saxon see was put off until the +death of the bishop. In dealing with the Northumbrian diocese King +Ecgfrith and the archbishop seem to have expected opposition from +Wilfrith, for they divided his diocese in a council at which he was not +present. According to the plan then adopted, Theodore consecrated bishops +for Deira, Bernicia, and Lindsey, which, though originally part of the +Mercian diocese, had lately been added to the Northumbrian kingdom and +bishopric by conquest. + +[Sidenote: Wilfrith's first appeal to Rome, 678.] + +[Sidenote: He is driven from York a second time, 691.] + +[Sidenote: Dies bishop of Hexham, 709.] + +Wilfrith appeared before the king and the archbishop, and demanded to be +told why he was thus deprived of his rights. No answer was given him, and +he appealed to the judgment of the Apostolic See. This appeal to Rome +against the decision of a king and his witan, and of an archbishop acting +in concert, the first that was ever made by an Englishman, is a notable +event. It was greeted with the jeers of the great men of the court. +Wilfrith went to Rome in person, and Theodore appeared by a proctor. Pope +Agatho and his council decreed that Wilfrith should be reinstated, that +his diocese should be divided, but that he should choose the new bishops, +and that Theodore's bishops should be turned out. Wilfrith returned in +triumph, bringing the papal decrees with their bulls (seals) attached. A +witenagemót was held to hear them, and the king and his nobles decided to +disregard them. Wilfrith was imprisoned, and Theodore made a further +division of his diocese by establishing a see at Abercorn, and appointed +bishops for Lindisfarne, Hexham, and perhaps Ripon without consulting him. +After Wilfrith was released he was forced by the hatred of Ecgfrith to +wander about seeking shelter, until at last he found it among the heathen +South Saxons. He converted them to Christianity, and lived as their bishop +at Selsey. Then he preached to the people of the Isle of Wight, and by +their conversion completed the work that Augustin came to do. The death of +Ecgfrith made it possible for Theodore to come to terms with him. The +archbishop and the injured bishop were reconciled in 686, and at +Theodore's request Ealdfrith, the new king of Northumbria, reinstated +Wilfrith as bishop of York. Nevertheless the division that Theodore had +made was not disturbed, and he only presided over the Deiran diocese. +After some years he and Ealdfrith had a dispute about the rights and +possessions of his see. He was again driven from York, and again appealed +to Rome. Pope Sergius took his part. But Ealdfrith, though a religious +man, was not more inclined to submit to papal interference than his +predecessor. He found an ally in Archbishop Brihtwald, for Theodore was +now dead, and in spite of the Pope's mandates, Wilfrith's claims were +rejected by a national synod of the Church. He again appealed to Rome, and +was excommunicated by the English bishops. Again he journeyed to Rome, and +John VI. pronounced a decree in his favour. Ealdfrith, however, declared +that he would never change his decision for papal writings, and it was not +until after his death that a compromise was effected in a Northumbrian +synod held on the Nidd in 705. The settlement was unfavourable to +Wilfrith, for he was not restored to York, but ended his days as bishop of +Hexham. He was a man of blameless life and indomitable courage. It was +mainly through his efforts that the Church of England was brought into +conformity with the Roman Church. Defeat never made him idle or +despondent, and his noblest triumphs, the conversion of the last heathen +people of English race, were won in exile. At the same time, he was hasty, +impolitic, and perhaps over-jealous for his own honour. In the part that +the two archbishops took against him it is hard not to see some fear lest +the magnificence of the northern prelate should endanger the authority of +Canterbury in Northumbria, though they certainly acted for the good of the +Church in insisting on the division of his vast diocese. He made the first +attempt to control English ecclesiastical affairs by invoking the +appellate jurisdiction of the Pope, and his defeat was the first of the +many checks that papal interference received from Englishmen. + +[Sidenote: Literary greatness of Northumbria, 664-782.] + +[Sidenote: Cædmon, d. 680.] + +[Sidenote: Æddi [Eddius], fl. 710.] + +[Sidenote: Bæda, 673-735.] + +From the time of its conversion by Aidan to its devastation by the +Scandinavian pirates, Northumbria excelled the rest of England in arts and +literature. Another volume of this series will deal with the famous +monasteries of Lindisfarne, Jarrow, Wearmouth, Whitby, and York, with +their scholar-monks, and with the splendours of Roman and Gallic art with +which their churches were enriched. While Celtic culture was on the point +of yielding to Roman influence, Cædmon, the herdsman, the first of our +sacred poets, began to sing at Whitby. His story illustrates the love of +the English for music; and this national characteristic caused the +introduction of the Roman system of chanting to hold an important place in +the process of bringing the Church into conformity with Rome. This part of +the work of James the deacon was carried on by Æddi, a choirmaster of +Canterbury, whom Wilfrith invited into Northumbria. Æddi became the +bishop's companion, and wrote a "Life of Wilfrith," a work of considerable +value. Shortly afterwards Bæda composed his "Ecclesiastical History." Bæda +was absolutely free from narrowness of mind, and though he held that the +Roman tradition was authoritative, loved and venerated the memory of the +holy men of the Celtic Church. As a story-teller he is unrivalled: full of +piety and tenderness, he preserved through life a simplicity of heart that +invests his narratives with a peculiar grace. At the same time, he did all +in his power to find out the exact truth, and constantly tells his readers +where he derived his information. He was well read in the best Latin +authors, and in patristic divinity; he understood Greek, and had some +acquaintance with Hebrew. Besides his works on the Bible and his +historical and biographical books, he wrote treatises on chronology, +astronomy, mathematics, and music. From boyhood he spent all his life in +the monastery of Jarrow in religious exercises and in literary labours, +that he undertook not for his own sake, but for the sake of others. During +his last sickness he worked hard to finish his translation of the Gospel +of St. John, for he knew that it would be useful to his scholars. His last +day on earth was spent upon it; and when evening came, and the young +scribe said, "There is yet one more sentence, dear master, to be written +out," he answered, "Write quickly." After a while the lad said, "Now the +sentence is written;" and he answered, "Good; thou hast spoken truly. It +is finished." Then he bade him raise his head, for he wished to look on +the spot where he was wont to pray. And so, lying on the pavement of his +cell, he sang the _Gloria Patri_, and as he uttered the name of the Holy +Ghost he passed to the heavenly kingdom. + +[Sidenote: Parishes.] + +[Sidenote: Tithes.] + +One of Bæda's friends was Ecgberht, who was made bishop of York in 734, +and obtained the restoration of the metropolitan dignity of his see. A +year after his election Bæda sent him a letter of advice which tells us a +good deal about the state of the Church. While the work of evangelization +was still going on, monasteries were useful as missionary centres, and a +single church served for a large district. Now, however, men no longer +needed missionary preachers so much as resident priests and regular +services. Accordingly, the parochial system came into existence about this +time, not by any formal enactment, but in the natural course of things. +For, when the lord of a township built a church, and had a priest ordained +to minister to his people, his township in most cases became an +ecclesiastical district or parish. Bæda urges the bishop to forward this +change. He points out that it was impossible for him to visit every place +in his diocese even once a year, and exhorts him to ordain priests to +preach, to consecrate the Holy Mysteries, and to baptize in each village. +The parish priest mainly subsisted on land assigned to him by the lord who +built the church and on the offerings of the people, such as church-scot, +which was paid at Martinmas, soul-scot or mortuary dues, and the like. +These payments were obligatory, and were enjoined first by the law of the +Church, and then by the civil power. It is evident from Bæda's letter +that, even before the parochial system was established, a compulsory +payment of some kind was made to the bishop by all the people of his +diocese. From the earliest times, also, the consecration of a tenth, or +tithe, to the service of God was held to be a Christian duty, and the +obligation is recognized in Theodore's Penitential, and was therefore part +of the law of the Church. It became part of the civil law in 787, for it +was then enjoined by a council presided over by two legates, and the +decree was accepted by the kings and the witan of the kingdoms they +visited. It is probable, however, that payment was not enforced till a +later period. Early in the tenth century the obligation was recognized as +an established law, and a penalty was provided for its non-fulfilment. The +appropriation of the payment long remained unsettled, and was generally +decided by the owner of the land, who in most cases naturally assigned the +tithe to the parish priest, though he sometimes gave it to the head church +of the district, or to the bishop's church, or to some monastery. And +although the right of the parochial clergy to the tithe of increase was +declared in 1200 by the Council of Westminster, the constitution was often +evaded. + +[Sidenote: Restoration of the archbishopric of York, 734.] + +Many monasteries had in Bæda's time fallen into an evil condition, and as +the Church needed an efficient diocesan organization, he advised Ecgberht +to strive for the fulfilment of Pope Gregory's scheme as regards the +Church in the north, which provided that the see of York should be +metropolitan, and that the province should be divided into twelve +bishoprics. The new bishops should, he proposed, be supported out of the +funds of monasteries, which were in some cases to be placed under +episcopal rule. In the same year that this letter was written, Ecgberht +received the pall from Gregory III., and this grant, which had not been +made to any of his predecessors since the time of Paulinus, restored the +see to metropolitan dignity. Thus one part of Theodore's work was +frustrated, and Northumbria was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the see +of Canterbury. The kingdom itself was withdrawing from the contests +between the other English states, and the restoration of the archbishopric +may be regarded as a kind of declaration of its separate national life. +Under Ecgberht and his successor, Æthelberht (Albert), the Northumbrian +Church was famous for learning, and the archbishop's school at York became +the most notable place of education in Western Christendom. Æthelberht's +schoolmaster was Alcuin, who after the archbishop's death resided at the +court of Charles the Great, and helped him to carry out his plans for the +advancement of learning. Alcuin had himself been a scholar at York, and so +the school there became a source of light to other lands. In York itself, +however, the light was quenched before Alcuin's death. Civil disturbances +were followed by the Scandinavian invasions, and the Northumbrian Church +for a long period almost disappears amidst anarchy and ruin. + +[Sidenote: Ealdhelm, bishop of Sherborne, died 709.] + +In Wessex the work of Theodore was carried on by Ealdhelm, abbot of +Malmesbury, one of his most distinguished scholars. Ini, the West Saxon +king, had conquered the western part of Somerset, and ruled over a mixed +population. The bitter feelings engendered by the schism were an hindrance +to the Church in the west, and Ealdhelm wrote a treatise on the subject in +the form of a letter to Gerent, king of Dyfnaint, which brought a number +of the Welsh within the West Saxon border to conform to the customs of the +Roman Church. This put an end to the schism in the west. In our present +Wales the Roman Easter was universally accepted about a century later. +Ealdhelm, who was a kinsman of Ini, was much honoured by the king, and +used his influence to further the spread of the Gospel. Churches rose +rapidly in Wessex, and he journeyed to Rome to obtain privileges for the +monasteries he had founded, and was received with much kindness by Pope +Sergius. The division of the West Saxon diocese which had been +contemplated by Theodore took place in Ini's reign, and was settled by the +king and an ecclesiastical council. All to the west of Selwood Forest, the +western part of Wiltshire, Dorset, and Somerset formed the new diocese of +Sherborne, and over this Ealdhelm was chosen bishop. The rest of Wessex +remained in the diocese of Winchester, which had now taken the place of +Dorchester as an episcopal see. The labours of Ealdhelm, and the help he +received from his wise and powerful kinsman, brought about the extension +and organization of the Church in the west. After raising Wessex to the +foremost place among the kingdoms south of the Humber, Ini laid down his +crown, made a pilgrimage to Rome, and died there. + +[Sidenote: The archbishopric of Lichfield, 786-802.] + +In the latter half of the eighth century Offa, king of Mercia, was the +most powerful monarch in England, and, among other conquests, subdued Kent +and added it to his dominions. The course of political events tended to a +threefold division of England into the Northumbrian, Mercian, and West +Saxon kingdoms, and the twofold system of ecclesiastical administration by +the metropolitans of Canterbury and York thwarted the ambition of the +Mercian king. Northumbria had already sealed its policy of separation by +the restoration of the archbishopric of York, and Offa now adopted a +similar course, by persuading Pope Hadrian I. to grant the see of +Lichfield metropolitan dignity. He had a special reason for weakening the +power of Canterbury, for after the extinction of Kentish royalty the +archbishop gained increased political importance, and became the +representative of the national life of the kingdom, which Offa vainly +endeavoured to crush. Accordingly two legates of Hadrian held a synod at +Chelsea in 787, in which Higberht, bishop of Lichfield, was declared an +archbishop. Jaenberht, archbishop of Canterbury, was forced to submit to +the partition of his province, the obedience of the Mercian and East +Anglian bishops being apparently transferred to the new metropolitan. + +This arrangement was subversive of a part of Theodore's work that was +specially valuable as regards the development both of the Church and the +nation. Theodore had made ecclesiastical jurisdictions independent of the +fluctuations of political boundaries, and had freed the Church from +provincial influences and from a merely local character. The national +character of the Church was to become a powerful factor in forming the +English nation. In spite of civil divisions, the oneness of the Church was +a strong element of union. Although no lay assembly, no witenagemót, of +the whole nation was as yet possible, the Church met in national councils; +its head, the archbishop of Canterbury, might be a native of any kingdom, +and every one of its clergy, of whatever race he might be, was equally at +home in whatever part of the land he was called to minister. This national +character of the Church and the influence it exercised on national unity +were endangered by creating metropolitan jurisdiction and dignity as mere +appendages to a political division. Happily there was no second archbishop +of Lichfield. Offa's successor, Cenwulf, found Æthelheard, the +archbishop of Canterbury, a useful ally in a revolt of the Kentish nobles, +and joined him in obtaining the restoration of the rights of his see from +Leo III. While the see of York was overwhelmed by political disasters, the +archbishop of Canterbury gained increased importance. Wessex entered on a +career of conquest under Ecgberht, who, in 827, defeated the Mercian king +at Ellandun. This victory led to the conquest of Kent, and in 838 +Archbishop Ceolnoth, in a council held at Kingston, made a treaty of +perpetual alliance between his Church and Ecgberht and his son Æthelwulf, +the under-king of Kent. By this alliance the Church pledged itself to +support the line of kings under which the English at last became a united +nation. + +[Sidenote: The Church in relation to the State.] + +No distinct lines divide the area of the Church's work in legislation or +jurisdiction from that occupied by the State. Bishops, in virtue of their +spiritual dignity, formed part of the witan, first of the several +kingdoms, and then of the united nation. In the witenagemóts laws were +enacted concerning religion, morality, and ecclesiastical discipline, as +well as secular matters; for the clergy had no reason to fear lay +interference, and gladly availed themselves of the authority that was +attached to the decrees of the national council. The evangelization of the +people caused some modification of their ancient laws and customs, and +Æthelberht of Kent and other kings published written codes "after the +Roman model," in accordance with the teaching of their bishops. It is +evident that bishops were usually appointed, and often elected, in the +witenagemót. Wilfrith was elected, "by common consent," in a meeting of +the Northumbrian witan, and the election of Ealdhelm by the West Saxon +assembly is said to have been made by the great men, the clergy, and a +multitude of people, though it must not be supposed that the popular voice +was ever heard except in assent. Nor does it seem certain that even the +form of election was always observed; for, to take a single instance, +Ceadda's appointment to Lichfield seems to have been made by Theodore at +the request of the Mercian king. The clergy of the bishop's church, +however, had a right of election, for Alcuin wrote to the clergy of York +reminding them that the election of the archbishop belonged to them. +Episcopal elections were, indeed, the results of amicable arrangement, and +exemplify the undefined condition of the relations between the Church and +the State, and the harmony that existed between them. The Church, however, +had its own councils. These were either national, such as that held by +Theodore at Hatfield, or, after the restoration of the northern +archiepiscopate, provincial, or assemblies of the Church of a single +kingdom, such as the Synod of Whitby. In spite of the canon directing that +national Church councils should meet annually, they were not often held, +owing to the constant strife between the kingdoms. An amendment to one of +Theodore's canons proves the freedom of discussion and voting at these +assemblies. Provincial councils were attended by a few of the principal +clergy of each diocese, who came up to them with their bishop. Kings and +nobles were often present at ecclesiastical councils, and joined in +attesting their proceedings, so that it is sometimes difficult to decide +whether a council was a clerical assembly or a meeting of the witan. + +The harmony between Church and State is no less evident in matters of +jurisdiction than it is in legislation. Besides exercising jurisdiction in +his own franchise, the bishop sat with the ealdorman and sheriff in the +local courts, declaring the ecclesiastical law and taking cognizance of +the breach of it. Certain cases touching morality appear to have specially +belonged to his jurisdiction, which was also exercised in the local courts +over criminal clergy. Apart from his work in these courts, he enforced +ecclesiastical discipline, and the rules contained in the Penitentials, or +codes in which a special penance was provided for each sin. These +compilations derived their authority not from any decree, but from their +inherent excellence, or from the character of their authors. Some +Penitentials were drawn up by Scottish teachers, and Theodore, Bæda, and +Ecgberht of York wrote others for the English Church. The bishop had a +court of his own for the correction of clergy not accused of civil crime +and for the administration of penitential discipline. His chief officer, +the archdeacon, first appears under that title, though without territorial +jurisdiction, early in the ninth century. Before that time the bishop was +attended by his deacon, but this office was one of personal service rather +than of administration. No jealousy can be discerned between Church and +State, and though the area within which each worked was not clearly +defined, it is clear that they worked together without clashing. + +[Sidenote: The Church and the Papacy.] + +While, however, the Church had this strongly national character, it was in +obedience to the Roman see. Archbishops did not consecrate bishops until +they had received the pall from the Pope. At first the pall was sent to +them, but by the beginning of the eighth century they were expected to +fetch it, and this soon became an invariable rule, which strengthened the +idea of the dependence of the Church, and afforded opportunities for +extortion and aggression. No legates landed here from the time of Theodore +until two were sent over by Hadrian in 786. Hadrian's legates held synods +in both the two provinces, and published a body of canons, which the kings +and their thegns, the archbishops, bishops, and all who attended pledged +themselves to obey. By one of these the payment of tithes was, we have +seen, made part of the law of the land. Another illustrates the influence +of the Church on the conception of kingship. Although the crown invested +the king with personal pre-eminence, there was as yet no idea of the +sanctity conferred by the religious rite of anointing, which had taken the +place of the old Teutonic ceremonies. It was now ordained that no one of +illegitimate birth should be chosen king, for none such might enter the +priesthood, and that any one who plotted the king's death should be held +guilty of the sin of Judas, because the king was the Lord's Anointed. The +Church, however, was not to fall into the snare of adulation; bishops were +to speak the word of God to kings without fear, and kings were to obey +them as those who held the keys of Heaven. + +For the next three hundred years the Church was almost wholly free from +the direct control of legatine visits. Appeals to the judgment of the +Roman see had for the first time been made by Wilfrith, and the Church, as +we have seen, cordially upheld the resistance offered by kings and nobles +to the Pope's attempts to set aside the decision of national councils. +The compromise that was at last effected was not a papal triumph. +Nevertheless the authority of the Pope was generally acknowledged, and the +most powerful kings thought it needful to obtain the sanction of Rome for +ecclesiastical changes, such as the erection and suppression of the +Mercian archbishopric. Moreover, Englishmen venerated Rome as the +Apostolic See and the mother of Catholic Christendom, and made frequent +pilgrimages thither. First, ecclesiastics journeyed to Rome either for +purposes of business or devotion. Then, towards the end of the seventh +century, Ceadwalla, a West Saxon king, went thither to receive baptism, +praying that he might die as soon as he was cleansed from his sins, and +his prayer was granted. His example was followed by other kings, and among +them by his successor, Ini. Crowds of persons of both sexes and every +condition now went on pilgrimage. In Offa's time there were special +buildings at Rome called the "Saxon School" for the accommodation of +English pilgrims, and the Mercian king obtained a promise from Charles the +Great that they should be free of toll in passing through his dominions. + +[Sidenote: The Church and Western Christendom.] + +The missionary labours of Willibrord, of Winfrith or Boniface, and other +Englishmen brought our Church into close relationship with other Churches +of Western Europe, for a constant correspondence was kept up between the +missionaries and their brethren at home. The connexion between the English +and Frankish Churches was strengthened by the residence of Alcuin at the +court of Charles the Great, and by the desire of Offa to establish +friendly relations with the Frankish monarch. Alcuin obtained a letter +from the kings and bishops of England, agreeing with the condemnation +which Charles pronounced against the decree of the Second Council of Nice, +re-establishing the worship of images in the Eastern Church, and English +bishops attended the council Charles held at Frankfort, where the action +of the Greeks and the opinions of certain Adoptionist heretics were +condemned. At the close of the eighth century our Church was highly +esteemed throughout Western Christendom, and this was due both to the +noble work accomplished by English missionaries and to the literary +greatness of Northumbria, the home of Alcuin. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_RUIN AND REVIVAL._ + + RUIN OF NORTHUMBRIA--ÆTHELWULF'S PILGRIMAGE--DANISH INVASIONS OF + SOUTHERN ENGLAND; THE PEACE OF WEDMORE--ALFRED'S WORK--CHARACTER OF + THE CHURCH IN THE TENTH + CENTURY--REORGANIZATION--REVIVAL--ODA--DUNSTAN--SECULARS AND + REGULARS--DUNSTAN'S ECCLESIASTICAL + ADMINISTRATION--CORONATIONS--DUNSTAN'S LAST DAYS--ÆLFRIC THE + GRAMMARIAN. + + +[Sidenote: Ruin of Northumbria.] + +Before the end of the eighth century the Northmen laid waste Lindisfarne, +Jarrow, and Wearmouth. Civil disorder, however, was well nigh as fatal to +the Church in the north as the ravages of the heathen. In 808 Archbishop +Eanbald joined the Mercian king, Cenwulf, in dethroning Eardulf of +Northumbria. Eardulf sought help from the Emperor, Charles the Great, and +laid his case before Leo III. A papal legate and an imperial messenger +were sent to England to summon Eanbald to appear either before the Pope or +the Emperor. He defended himself by letter; his defence was pronounced +unsatisfactory, and the Emperor procured the restoration of the king. For +the next sixty years anarchy and violence prevailed in the north. Then the +Scandinavian pirates invaded the country and overthrew York. Nine years +later Halfdene desolated Bernicia, so that not a church was left standing +between the Tweed and the Tyne. The bishop of Lindisfarne and his monks +fled from their home, carrying with them the bones of St. Cuthberht. They +found shelter at Chester-le-Street, which for about a century became the +see of the Bernician bishopric. Northumbria became a Danish province, and +when it was again brought under the dominion of an English king it had +fallen far behind the rest of the country in ecclesiastical and +intellectual matters. The Danish conquest had a marked effect upon the +position of the northern metropolitan. Cut off from communication with the +rest of England, the Northumbrians became almost a distinct nation. The +extinction of the native kingship and a long series of revolutions threw +political power into the hands of the archbishops, and when the Church of +York again emerges from obscurity we find them holding a kind of national +headship. Their position was magnified by isolation. While the sees of +Hexham and Withern had been overthrown, and the Church of Lindisfarne was +in exile, the see of York remained to attract the sympathies and, in more +than one instance, direct the action, of the northern people. + +[Sidenote: Æthelwulf's pilgrimage, 855.] + +During the attacks of the pirates on the south of England the alliance +between the Church and the West Saxon throne was strengthened by the +common danger, and the bishops appear as patriots and statesmen. Æthelwulf +was supported in his struggles with the Danes by Swithun, bishop of +Winchester, and Ealhstan, bishop of Sherborne. Ealhstan was rich, and used +his wealth for the defence of the kingdom; he equipped armies, joined in +leading them in battle, and in 845, in conjunction with the ealdormen of +Somerset and Dorset, headed the forces of his bishopric, and inflicted a +severe defeat upon the invaders at the mouth of the Parret. The resistance +the Danes met with from the West Saxons, which was largely due to the +exertions of these bishops, delivered Wessex from invasion for twenty +years. Meanwhile Lindsey and East Anglia were ravaged, Canterbury was +twice sacked, and London was taken by storm. Everywhere the heathens +showed special hatred to the monks and clergy; monasteries and churches +were sacked and burnt, and priests were slain with the sword. These +calamities were regarded as Divine judgments, and when Æthelwulf had +checked the invaders he made a pilgrimage to Rome. Before he left, and +after his return, he made a series of donations, which have been described +as conveying a tenth part of his own estates to ecclesiastical bodies, and +to various thegns, as freeing a tenth part of the folcland from all +burdens except the three that fell on all lands alike, and as charging +every ten hides of his land with the support of a poor man. Though these +grants have nothing to do with the institution of tithes, they illustrate +the sacredness that was attached to the tenth portion of property. +Æthelwulf carried rich gifts to Benedict III., and while he was at Rome +rebuilt the "Saxon School." This institution was supported by a yearly +contribution from England, which appears to have been the origin of +Peter's pence. The king probably found his youngest son Alfred at Rome, +for he had sent him to Leo IV. two years before. Leo confirmed the child, +and anointed him as king. The Pope did not, of course, pretend to dispose +of the English crown, and probably only meant to consecrate Alfred to any +kingship to which his father as head-king might appoint him. + +[Sidenote: Treaty of Wedmore, 878.] + +By 870 the whole of the north and east of England had been conquered by +the Danes. In that year Eadmund, the East Anglian king, went out to battle +against them, and was defeated and taken prisoner. His captors offered to +spare his life and restore his kingdom to him, if he would deny Christ and +reign under their orders. When he refused their offers, they tied him to a +tree, shot at him with arrows, and finally cut off his head. In later days +the Abbey of St. Edmund's Bury was named after the martyred king. Wessex +well nigh shared the fate of the rest of the country; it was saved by the +skill and wisdom of Alfred. Through all the bitter struggle the Church +vigorously upheld the national cause; a bishop of Elmham fell fighting +against the heathen host in East Anglia, and a bishop of Sherborne in +Wessex. At last Alfred inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Danish king, +Guthorm, at Edington, and as the price of peace Guthorm promised to quit +Wessex and accepted Christianity. He was baptized at Wedmore, in Somerset, +and a treaty was made by which England was divided into two parts. Wessex +was freed from the danger of conquest, and Alfred's immediate dominions +were increased, while the north and east remained under the Danes. Guthorm +owned the supremacy of the West Saxon king in East Anglia; his people +became Christians, and in the other Danish districts the invaders for the +most part also accepted Christianity when they became settled in the land. + +[Sidenote: Alfred's work.] + +The Danish wars had a disastrous effect on religion, morality, and +learning. The monastic congregations were scattered, and men did not care +to become monks. Pure Benedictinism was as yet unknown in England, and a +laxer system seems to have prevailed. This system, such as it was, now +gave way altogether, and the monasteries that survived the ravages of the +Danes fell into the hands of secular clergy, who enjoyed their estates +without conforming to any rule, and who were generally married. The +collapse of monasticism entailed the decay of learning, for the monastic +schools were generally closed. Nor were the parish priests capable of +supplying the place of the monks as teachers of the people. The drain of +men entailed by the war made it necessary to confer the priesthood on many +who were ignorant and otherwise unfit for full orders. And it is probable +that the losses which the Church sustained during the war were not +confined to monastic bodies, and that the clergy suffered considerably. A +general decline in their character and efficiency naturally followed; and +Alfred records how England had changed in this respect even within his own +memory. He remembered the time when the "sacred orders were zealous in +teaching and learning, and in all the services they owed to God, and how +foreigners hied to this land for wisdom and lore;" but now, he says, "we +should have to get them from abroad." For "there were very few on this +side Humber who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a +letter from Latin into English, and not many beyond Humber." + +There was little difference between the priest and his people; the clergy +shared largely in the national habit of excessive drinking, and many +priests were married. Among the laity morality was at a low ebb; the +marriage tie was lightly regarded, and there was a general return to the +laxity and vices of paganism. Heathen customs gathered fresh strength, and +women dealt in enchantments and called up ghostly forms. Alfred determined +to save his people from barbarism; he set himself to be their teacher, and +sought for others to help in his work. From the English part of Mercia, +where learning was more advanced than in Wessex, he brought Plegmund, who +was afterwards chosen archbishop, and other clerks; Bishop Asser came to +him from Wales; from beyond sea, Grimbold, a monk of St. Bertin's, and +John from the old Saxon land. He desired that every youth whose parents +could afford it should be sent to school till he could read English well, +and those who hoped for promotion till they could read Latin. Accordingly, +he set up a school for young nobles in his palace, and made education the +prominent feature in a monastery he founded at Athelney. He translated +into English such books as he thought most needful for his people to read, +and probably began the national record called the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" +in the form we now have it. The care with which he fostered vernacular +literature led to the use of English in religious teaching, and to the +composition of books of homilies in that language. His code of laws, +which consists of a selection from earlier laws and the decrees of synods, +contains many ecclesiastical provisions; it treats religion as the +foundation of civil law, and begins with the Ten Commandments and an +account of the precepts of Moses. As the over-lord of Guthorm, he joined +him in publishing a special code for the people of East Anglia, by which +apostasy was declared a crime, negligent priests were to be fined, the +payment of Peter's pence was commanded, and the practice of heathen rites +was forbidden. Alfred brought his kingdom into renewed relations with +Rome, for year after year he sent thither alms from himself and his +people, probably re-establishing the payment of Peter's pence, which had +been interrupted during the period of invasion. + +[Sidenote: Character of the Church in the tenth century.] + +An increased spirit of worldliness in the Church was one of the fruits of +the Danish invasions. Alfred endeavoured to check this spirit, and bade +his bishops disengage themselves from secular matters and give themselves +to wisdom. Nevertheless the very work that he and his immediate successors +did for the Church tended to strengthen its connexion with worldly +affairs. When it seemed to have lost the power of spontaneous revival, new +energy was imparted to it by the action of the Crown. Its revival was in +the first instance due to external interference, and this naturally led to +the gradual discontinuance of ecclesiastical councils. No decline in +influence or activity is implied by this change. Legislation was frequent, +but it either took the form of canons put forth by bishops or was part of +the work of the witan. The relations between the Church and the State +grew closer. Some witenagemóts almost bore the character of Church +councils, were largely attended by abbots as well as bishops, and were +mainly concerned with ecclesiastical business. During the tenth century +the administration of the kingdom was largely carried on by churchmen; and +though the statesmen-bishops did not, as at a later period, subordinate +their sacred duties to their secular employments, bishoprics came to be +regarded in a secular spirit, and plurality was practised. While it is +evident that the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishops was in no degree +diminished, and, indeed, that it must have gained by the exercise of +judicial functions by archdeacons, the clergy, besides being under the +bishop's law, were subject to the general police arrangements of the +kingdom, and were equally with laymen bound to provide sureties for their +orderly behaviour. In every respect the Church had a national character; +its development was closely connected with the national progress; its +bishops were national officers; its laws were decreed in the national +assembly, and it was free from papal interference; for throughout the +tenth century no appeals were carried to Rome, and no legate appears to +have set foot in the country. + +[Sidenote: Reorganization.] + +Several changes took place in the episcopate of the southern province +during the period of invasion. Dunwich ceased to have a bishop, and +Elmham, though the succession there was broken, became the only East +Anglian see. Little more is heard of the bishopric of Lindsey, and the +bishop of Leicester moved his see to the Oxfordshire Dorchester, so as to +be within reach of West Saxon help. On the other hand, the renewed energy +of the Church in Wessex led to an extension of the episcopate south of the +Thames. In 909 the sees of Winchester, Sherborne, and South Saxon Selsey +all happened to be vacant, and, according to a story that must certainly +be rejected as it stands, Pope Formosus, who was then dead, reproached +King Eadward the Elder for his neglect in the matter. Eadward had a good +adviser in Archbishop Plegmund; with the consent of his witan, he +separated Wiltshire and Berkshire from the see of Winchester, and formed +them into the new diocese of Ramsbury, and further created two other new +bishoprics for Somerset and Devon, placing the sees at Wells and Crediton. +Five West Saxon bishops, together with two for Selsey and Dorchester, +were, it is said, consecrated at once. The extension of the power of the +English king brought with it an extension of the power of the Church. +South Wales owned the supremacy of Alfred, and accordingly South Welsh +bishops received consecration at Canterbury and professed obedience to +Archbishop Æthelred. Eadward's victories in East Anglia were followed by +the republication of the laws of Alfred and Guthorm, and the diocesan +system appears to have been gradually restored in Mercia. Eadward's son, +Æthelstan, annexed Cornwall, the land of the West Welsh, and this addition +to the English kingdom was added to the province of Canterbury; for +Cornwall was made an English diocese, and its see was placed at St. +German's, or Bodmin. Lastly, the conquest of Northumbria by Æthelstan, who +put the Danish prince Guthred to flight and took possession of York, is +marked ecclesiastically by his appointment of Wulfstan to the +archbishopric. Throughout Æthelstan's reign the influence of churchmen is +clearly apparent. His ecclesiastical laws, enacted along with others on +secular matters in a witenagemót at Greatley, near Andover, for the +Mercian shires, and republished elsewhere for other parts of the kingdom, +were made by the advice of Archbishop Wulfhelm and other bishops. Tithes +both of animals and fruits were to be paid from the king's lands, and his +reeves and ealdormen were bidden to charge those subject to them to make +like payments: the part of the Church in secular jurisdiction was +confirmed by the regulation of ordeals by the hallowed bread (or +"housel"), by water, and by hot iron, and fresh enactments were made +against heathen practices. + +[Sidenote: Ecclesiastical revival.] + +Although Alfred and his immediate successors did much for the Church, +especially as regards its external position, the ecclesiastical revival +that distinguished the latter part of the century was primarily effected +by means of a monastic reformation. This reformation was necessary for the +salvation of society; for as long as monks and nuns remained unworthy of +their vocation, the simple priest could never have been brought to live as +he was bound to do; and as long as his life was no higher or purer than +the lives of his flock, there was no means of elevating the people. While +most of those who were foremost in the work of revival were of purely +English descent, the bracing influence of the Danish colonization extended +to the area of ecclesiastical as well as of civil life. As soon as a Dane +was converted he became a member of the English Church, and the Church +thus became a powerful instrument in promoting the amalgamation of the two +peoples. She reaped her reward in gaining the services of the Danish Oda +and his nephew Oswald. At the same time, the reformers of this age, though +aided in their work by the Crown, would not have attained their measure of +success had it not been for the teaching and encouragement they received +from abroad. This connexion between our Church and the monasteries of the +Continent was largely due to the foreign alliances formed by the house of +Ecgberht. Of late years Alfred had given one of his daughters in marriage +to a count of Flanders, and Æthelstan had married his sisters to Otto of +Germany, to Charles, the king of the West Franks, and other princes. +Accordingly, the monasteries of Northern France and Flanders became the +patterns by which our reformers worked; their congregations took deep +interest in the affairs of our Church, received liberal aid from England, +and held our noblest churchmen in high esteem. + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Oda, 942-959.] + +Oda, the son of one of the fierce band of Ivar, was converted to +Christianity in early life, and was in consequence driven from his +father's house. He entered the household of an English thegn, who had him +taught Latin, and, it is said, Greek also, persuaded him to be ordained, +and took him to Rome. He became one of King Eadward's clerks, and +Æthelstan made him bishop of Ramsbury and employed him in affairs of +state. In 937 Oda, in company with two other bishops, was present at the +battle of Brunanburh, and did the king good service either by +miraculously obtaining a new sword for him when he had broken his own, or +by handing him a weapon as another warrior might have done. Eadmund, who, +like his brother Æthelstan, chose his ministers among ecclesiastics, +offered him the archbishopric of Canterbury. Like his successor, Thomas, +in later days, Oda was by nature a statesman and a soldier rather than a +priest, but, like him, he determined when he accepted the primacy to act +up to the highest standard of ecclesiastical life. He declared that no one +ought to be archbishop who was not a monk, and accordingly received the +monastic habit from the famous abbey of Fleury. As archbishop, he sought +to bring about a reformation of morals. In a pastoral letter he urged all +spiritual persons to purity of life; he insisted on the sanctity of +marriage, and in a witenagemót held at London in 944 took part in making +laws providing for the protection, maintenance, and dower of wives, and +ordering that all marriages should be solemnized by a priest, and that +care should be taken that there was no bar of consanguinity. He probably +found an efficient ally in Ælfheah, or Elphege, the Bald, bishop of +Winchester, who appears to have laboured to bring about a faithful +discharge of monastic vows. + +[Sidenote: Dunstan.] + +The work of Oda is overshadowed by that of Dunstan, the kinsman and +disciple of Bishop Ælfheah. Dunstan was a West Saxon, and was brought up +partly at Glastonbury and partly at the court of Æthelstan, for he was +connected with the royal house. With a highly strung and imaginative +nature he combined much practical wisdom and determination of character. +Full of piety, skilled in music and the other arts, a cunning craftsman, +and endued with the power of winning the love and influencing the conduct +of others, he was at an early age one of the counsellors of Eadmund. When +he was about twenty-one the king made him abbot of Glastonbury. The abbey +had fallen into decay, and he at once began to restore and reform it, +though not on the Benedictine model. During the reign of Eadred he held +the office of royal treasurer. The king was sickly, and the work of +government was carried on mainly by Dunstan and the queen-mother. Eadred +wished him to accept a bishopric, but he refused, for he would not leave +the king's service, and he evidently considered that a bishopric should +not be treated as a mere provision for an officer of state. As the king's +chief minister, he must have been largely concerned in the reduction of +the north, and it may be inferred, from the policy pursued with regard to +the archbishop of York, that he was by no means an asserter of clerical +immunity. Archbishop Wulfstan had been foremost in the revolt of +Northumbria from the West Saxon king. At last Eadred caught him and put +him in prison; and though, after a while, he was released and again acted +as bishop, he was not allowed to return to his province. + +[Sidenote: His banishment, 956.] + +[Sidenote: Dunstan archbishop, 960-988.] + +Soon after the accession of Eadwig, in 956, Dunstan incurred the wrath of +a powerful enemy. At his consecration feast the boy-king left the hall for +the society of a young lady named Ælfgifu and her mother, Æthelgifu, who +wished to make a match between him and her daughter. The great men were +wroth at this slight on themselves and on the kingly office, and sent +Dunstan to bring Eadwig back to the hall. Now there was some connexion +between Eadwig and Ælfgifu that would have made their marriage unlawful, +and when Dunstan saw them together his zeal for purity was aroused; hot +words passed between him and the girl's mother, and he forced the king to +return to the banquet. In revenge Æthelgifu procured his banishment. He +found shelter in the abbey of St. Peter at Ghent, where for the first time +he saw the rule of St. Benedict fully carried out. While he was there, the +people of the north revolted from Eadwig, and chose his younger brother +Eadgar as king. Oda took advantage of this revolt to separate Eadwig from +Ælfgifu, whom he had by this time married, and it is said that either she +or her mother--the story is late and uncertain--was cruelly slain by the +insurgents. This revolt of England north of the Thames and the division of +the kingdom have little or no ecclesiastical significance, for Oda +continued Eadwig's subject until his death. Eadgar, the "king of the +Mercians," called Dunstan back to England, and he was raised to the +episcopate. The circumstances of his elevation illustrate the unsettled +state of the custom as regards episcopal elections. Although no see was +vacant, the witan decreed that he should be made bishop, and he appears to +have been consecrated accordingly. Shortly afterwards the bishop of +Worcester died, and Dunstan was appointed his successor. A few months +later he received the bishopric of London, which he held along with +Worcester. In 959 Eadwig died, and Eadgar became king south of the Thames. +Then Brithelm, bishop of Wells, who had been appointed archbishop by +Eadwig, was sent back to his old diocese, and by the counsel of the witan +Dunstan was chosen archbishop in his stead. + +[Sidenote: Seculars and regulars.] + +During the reign of Eadgar the secular clergy were driven out of many of +the monasteries south of the Humber, and their places were taken by monks +who lived according to the rule of St. Benedict. The chief movers in this +change were Æthelwold, who, at Dunstan's request, was made bishop of +Winchester; Oswald, bishop of Worcester, who had been a monk of Fleury, +and had learnt the Benedictine rule there; and the king himself. Dunstan, +though he approved of the movement, did not take any active part in it, +and did not disturb the secular canons of his own church. Pope John XIII. +wrote to Eadgar, expressing his pleasure at his zeal and authorising the +proceedings of Æthelwold. In the north no such change was made, and though +Oswald was elected archbishop of York in 972, he did not attempt to turn +out the clerks there. While the seculars who were expelled from the +monastic churches were, as a rule, married men, no general persecution of +the married clergy took place. It was unlawful for a man in the higher +orders to marry, and if a married man took these orders, he was bound to +put away his wife. But the marriage of the clergy prevailed too widely to +be attacked with vigour or success, and though celibacy was the rule of +the Church, no effectual measures were taken to enforce it. The only +penalty pronounced against the married priest in the canons for which +Dunstan is responsible is, that he should lose the privilege of his order; +he ceased to be of "thegn-right worthy," and had no higher legal status +than that of a layman of equal birth. + +[Sidenote: Dunstan's ecclesiastical administration.] + +The general character of Dunstan's ecclesiastical administration may be +gathered from the laws and canons of Eadgar's reign. The laws mark a step +in the history of tithes, for they contain the first provision for +enforcing payment by legal process, by the joint action of civil and +ecclesiastical officers, and they declare the right of the parish priest +in certain cases to a portion of the payment made by the landowner, +independently of any distribution by the bishop. When a thegn had on his +estate of inheritance a church with a burying-ground, it was ordered that +he should give one-third to the priest; if his church had no +burying-ground, he might give the priest what he pleased. The payment of +Peter's pence is also commanded. It is evident from the canons that +Dunstan endeavoured to make the clergy the educators of the people; +priests were to teach each his own scholars, and not take away the +scholars of others; they were to learn handicrafts and instruct their +people in them, and to preach a sermon every Sunday. The laity were to +avoid concubinage and practise lawful marriage. And both in continence, +and in every other respect, the necessity of raising the clergy to a +higher level of life than that of the society round them was fully +recognized; they were not to hunt, hawk, play at dice, or engage in +drinking-bouts, and greater attention was to be paid to ritual, especially +in celebrating the Eucharist. While they were thus to be brought, as +regards both their lives and the performance of their duties, to a deeper +sense of the dignity of their calling, they were socially to hold a high +place; a priest engaged in a suit with a thegn was not to be called on to +make oath until the thegn had first sworn, and the quarrels of priests +were to be decided by a bishop, and not taken before a secular judge. In +these and other efforts to raise the character and position of the clergy +Dunstan did not desire to make the Church less national, or to separate +her ministers from the life of the nation and subject them to the +authority of Rome. He worked, as the spiritual ruler of the national +Church, for the good both of the Church and the nation, and evidently +maintained an independent attitude towards the Pope. A noble, whom he had +excommunicated for contracting an unlawful marriage, obtained a papal +mandate ordering the archbishop to absolve him. Dunstan flatly refused to +obey the order, declaring that he would rather suffer death than be +unfaithful to his Lord. + +[Sidenote: Coronations.] + +As Eadgar's chief minister, Dunstan must have had a large share in +establishing the order and good government that form the special glories +of the reign, and the wise policy of non-interference that secured the +loyalty of the Danish districts was probably due as much to him as to the +king. Cnut seems to have recognized what he had done to make the Danish +population part of the English people, for he ordered that St. Dunstan's +mass-day should be kept by all as a solemn feast. Dunstan saw the fruit of +his political labours. It has been asserted that Eadgar's coronation at +Bath was connected with a penance laid upon him by the archbishop. While +it is not improbable that Dunstan imposed a penance on the king for one +of the sins of his youth, the story that he forbade him to wear his crown +for seven years is mere legend. The coronation at Bath, which was +performed by both archbishops, with all the bishops assisting, was the +solemn declaration that all the peoples of England were at last united +under one sovereign. On Eadgar's death a dispute arose as to the +succession. Civil war was on the point of breaking out between the rival +ealdormen of East Anglia and Mercia; the Mercian ealdorman turned the +monks out of the monasteries and brought the seculars back, while the East +Anglian house, which had ever been allied with Dunstan, and had forwarded +the monastic policy of Eadgar, took up the cause of the monks. In this +crisis the two archbishops preserved the peace of the kingdom; for they +declared for Eadward, the elder son of Eadgar, and placed the crown on his +head. His short reign was filled with the strife between the seculars and +regulars. After his murder the two archbishops joined in crowning +Æthelred. Although the increase in the personal power and dignity of the +king that marked the age is to some extent to be connected with the +teaching of the Church concerning the sanctity of his person and the duty +of obedience, still the Church did not favour absolutism. Indeed, in the +rite of coronation, which seems to have been brought into special +prominence during this period, the king bound himself by an oath to govern +well, to defend the Church and all Christian people, to forbid robbery and +unrighteous doings to all orders, and to enjoin justice and mercy in all +judgments. At Æthelred's coronation Dunstan, after administering this +oath, set forth in solemn terms the responsibilities of a "hallowed" king. + +[Sidenote: Dunstan's last days.] + +Dunstan's pre-eminent position in the State magnified the political +importance of his see. In his time Kent and Sussex ceased to be ruled by +their own ealdormen, and these shires, together with Surrey, were ruled by +the archbishop with the authority of an ealdorman. With the accession of +Æthelred, Dunstan's influence in the State seems to have ended. During the +early years of his reign the king was led by unworthy favourites to seize +on some of the possessions of the Church, and among them on some lands of +the see of Rochester. The see was in a special manner dependent on +Canterbury, and the archbishop may almost be said to have been the lord of +the bishopric, an arrangement that evidently sprang from the early +dependence of the people of West Kent on the king of the Eastern people. +Dunstan threatened to excommunicate the king. Æthelred, however, paid no +heed to his threats, and sent his troops to ravage the lands of the see +until the archbishop was forced to bribe him to recall them from the siege +of Rochester. + +Although he was no longer engaged in political matters, Dunstan's last +days were not idly spent. As a ruler and judge he was diligent and able. +He took much delight in the services of the Church. He corrected and +illuminated manuscripts, and practised the crafts in which he excelled, +and all who came to him for knowledge found him a patient and gentle +teacher. On Ascension Day 988, two days before his death, he celebrated +the Holy Mysteries and preached three times. Then he fell sick, and on +the following Saturday, after commending his soul to the prayers of the +monks of his house, he received the Sacrament, and when he had done so he +gave thanks to God and sang, "The merciful and gracious Lord hath so done +His marvellous acts that they ought to be had in remembrance. He hath +given meat unto them that fear Him"--and with these words he fell asleep. + +[Sidenote: Ælfric the Grammarian.] + +Alfred's attempt to revive learning had met with little success, for no +priest, we are told, wrote or understood Latin before the days of +Æthelwold and Dunstan. Now, however, along with the rule of St. Benedict, +the monastic reformers brought into England the learning of the +Benedictine houses of the Continent, and famous schools were established +at Winchester, Ramsey, and other monasteries. Nor was the work of teaching +confined to the monks; for all parish priests were also schoolmasters, and +though few of them had much learning, what they taught was enough to show +a boy what he could do; and if he wanted to learn more, he would seek +admission into some monastic school. Alfred had taught men that the +education of the people should be carried on in their own tongue, and this +lesson was learnt and enforced by Ælfric, abbot first of Cerne about 1005, +and later of Ensham. Ælfric took much interest in education, and among his +other works compiled a Grammar, which he dedicated to the boys of England, +and from which he is generally called the "Grammarian." He saw that the +people needed religious teaching, and he therefore abridged and translated +some of the books of the Old Testament, and compiled two books of +homilies, in which, as he says, he used "no obscure words, but plain +English, that might come to the hearts of readers and hearers to their +souls' good." These homilies and some of his other writings, which must be +held to express the doctrines of the English Church in his day and on to +the time of the Norman Conquest, differ in some respects from the teaching +of the Church of Rome. They contain many declarations against +transubstantiation. "The holy housel," Ælfric writes, "is by nature +corruptible bread and wine, and is by the power of the divine word truly +Christ's body and blood; not, however, bodily but spiritually." He does +not give St. Peter the pre-eminence among the apostles that is ascribed to +him by Rome, and he refuses to recognize bishops as a distinct order in +the Church. He wrote canons for the bishop of Sherborne, and a kind of +charge for the archbishop of York. These direct that, according to the +ancient custom, tithes should be divided between the repair of the church, +the poor, and the parish priest; and they also show that, while priests +were strongly urged to put away their wives, no means were taken to compel +them to do so. The renewed vigour imparted to the Church by the monastic +revival was further manifested by a fresh outburst of missionary zeal; and +Sigeferth of York and other priests went forth to preach the Gospel in +Norway and Sweden. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +_EXHAUSTION._ + + CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD--RENEWED SCANDINAVIAN + INVASIONS--LEGISLATION--ARCHBISHOP ÆLFHEAH: HIS MARTYRDOM--END OF THE + DANISH WAR--CNUT AND THE CHURCH--THE KING'S CLERKS--SPIRITUAL + DECADENCE--FOREIGNERS APPOINTED TO ENGLISH SEES--EFFECT OF THESE + APPOINTMENTS--PARTY STRUGGLES--EARL HAROLD--PILGRIMAGES--A LEGATINE + VISIT--A SCHISMATICAL ARCHBISHOP--THE PAPACY AND THE + CONQUEST--SUMMARY: THE NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE + NORMAN CONQUEST. + + +[Sidenote: Characteristics of the period, 980-1066.] + +From the renewal of the Danish invasions to the conquest of England by the +Normans the Church threw itself unreservedly into the affairs of the +State, and almost lost all separate life. While churchmen directed the +councils of the nation, the conciliar action of the Church ceased +altogether. Bishops took a leading part in politics, and the ablest of the +clergy were employed in secular administration. The Church did the nation +good service during the period of invasion, and finally converted a savage +conqueror into a beneficent king. Nevertheless it became worldly, and +though it exercised vast power, its own life dwindled and sank with the +life of the nation to a lower level. The close union between the Church +and the nation strongly affected the history of both alike. The struggle +against the foreigners who were promoted by Eadward the Confessor to +offices both in Church and State has a strongly marked ecclesiastical +side. Foreign bishops brought the Church into new relations with the +papacy, and impaired its independence and national character. Still, its +close connexion with the State was preserved, and the foreign element +which had been imported into it was for a time forcibly crushed by the +national party in the kingdom. In the hope of bringing the Church into +subjection, Rome blessed the invasion of England, and Church and State +alike were prostrated at the feet of the Conqueror. Yet the English Church +survived the Conquest, and became a powerful agent in preserving the +national life, which before long made the conquerors and the conquered one +people. + +[Sidenote: Renewed Scandinavian invasions.] + +Dunstan's retirement was soon followed by renewed Scandinavian invasions. +After his death he was succeeded at Canterbury by Sigeric, who in 991 took +a prominent part in purchasing peace from the Norwegian host. Although +this was the beginning of a fatal policy, his action, taken by itself, +seems capable of defence. It was a moment of pressing danger, and there +was no force ready to meet the invader. Sigeric probably hoped that if the +Norwegian fleet received payment it would defend the land from other +piratical attacks. The invaders of England found shelter in the harbours +of Normandy, and this led to a dispute between Æthelred and the Norman +duke. War was prevented by the intervention of the Pope, the proper +mediator between Christian princes. John XV. sent an envoy to England, +and at his request a treaty was made between the king and the duke. +Unfortunately, the peace with the Norwegians was broken. A fleet was +fitted out for the defence of the coast; two bishops and two lay nobles +were entrusted with the command, and, in spite of treachery, it gained one +of the few successes of the reign. Two years later an invasion was made by +the combined forces of Olaf of Norway, who, it is said, had already +received Christianity from English missionaries, and of Swend, the +apostate king of Denmark. After a time, Ælfheah (St. Alphege), bishop of +Winchester, was sent to treat for peace with Olaf, who was with his fleet +at Southampton. The king listened to the bishop's exhortations, and fully +accepted the faith into which he had been baptized. He met Æthelred at +Andover, and there received confirmation, and promised never to return to +England as an enemy. He kept his word, sailed away to evangelize his own +dominions, and became one of the most heroic figures in early Scandinavian +history. This bloodless victory won by the Church gave the land rest for +three years, during which the Bernician see at last found an +abiding-place. Fear of the Northmen drove Bishop Ealdhun and his monks to +flee from Chester-le-Street. Taking the body of their patron with them, +they sought shelter at Ripon, and in 995, when the immediate danger had +passed, settled at Durham. There Ealdhun raised his church on the height +above the Wear, in that strong place that has had so great an influence on +the history of the see. Even in his time the bishopric began to assume +its special character as a march against the Scots. + +[Sidenote: The Church and the witan.] + +On Ælfric's death Ælfheah was translated to Canterbury. The new archbishop +appears to have laboured to bring about a national reformation. Two +meetings of the witan were held, in which the ecclesiastical element was +evidently strong. During one of these the bishops and abbots met each day +for prayer and consultation, arranging probably the part they would take +in the discussions of the assembly. Decrees were made enjoining acts of +penitence and the observance of the day of the new saint, Eadward the +Martyr. All were to live righteously, were to love one God, uphold one +Christendom, and be true to one lord, the king. Measures were also taken +for the defence of the kingdom. Thus even a strictly ecclesiastical matter +like the observance of a "mass-day" was made a subject of legislation by +the national Council. At the same time the assembly was largely +ecclesiastical in character, and in its efforts after better things, +whether with regard to national unity and defence, or repentance and faith +towards God, seems to have followed the guidance of the rulers of the +Church. + +[Sidenote: Martyrdom of Archbishop Ælfheah, 1012.] + +Efforts such as this, however, were rendered of no avail by the folly of +the king, the treachery of the nobles, and the disorganization of the +country. In 1011 Thurkill, who was then in command of a Danish fleet, was +promised a large sum of money if he would cease from his ravages. Payment +was delayed, and the Danes attacked Canterbury, sacked the city, burned +the cathedral, and carried off many captives, and among them the +archbishop. For seven months they kept Ælfheah in their ships in chains, +hunger, and misery. At first he promised to ransom himself; but he +repented of this, for he thought of the sufferings of the people from whom +the money must be raised. While in captivity he spoke of Christ to those +who guarded him, and his words did not fall to the ground. The fleet lay +at Greenwich, and no money came either as tribute or for the ransom of the +archbishop. On 19th May 1012, the day on which the ransom was due, the +Danes made a feast, and drank deeply of some wine they had brought from +southern lands. Then they brought the archbishop forth and demanded the +ransom. He replied that he would pay nothing, that he was ready to suffer, +and that he commended his soul to God. Thurkill saw his danger, and tried +to save him, offering all he possessed, except his ship, for his life. But +they would not hearken, and pelted Ælfheah with stones and the bones of +the oxen which they had eaten, until at last one who had been converted by +the archbishop, and whom he had confirmed the day before, put him out of +his agony by cleaving his head with his battle-axe. Ælfheah did not die in +vain. Soon after his martyrdom Thurkill, whom we may believe he had +converted, declared himself a Christian, and brought his ships and their +crews to serve the English king. Ælfheah laid down his life for the sake +of the poor, and his death gave England an ally who, during the remainder +of Æthelred's reign, defended her to the utmost of his power against the +attacks of his own countrymen. + +[Sidenote: End of the Danish war.] + +At last Æthelred was forced to flee from his kingdom, and Swend was +chosen king. His reign was short. He had a special hatred for the memory +of Eadmund, the martyred king of East Anglia, and threatened to destroy +his church and put its priests to death by torture. As he was on his way +thither he was struck by death, and men said that he cried out that the +armed figure of the martyred king appeared to him and smote him with his +weapon. Æthelred returned to his kingdom after Swend's death, and soon +after his return held a witenagemót, by the advice of Archbishop Lyfing. +In the decrees of this assembly the influence of the Church is again +strongly marked; they are mainly expressions of desires for national +repentance, reformation, and unity. One resolution is especially +noteworthy. It seems as if some assemblies had been held which had treated +of secular, or perhaps of ecclesiastical, matters exclusively. This was +declared to be wrong; Christ's law and the king's law were to be declared +together, as in old time. In the struggle between Eadmund and Cnut, which +soon followed, churchmen gave their lives for the national cause; for +after Eadmund's last battle at Assandun the bishop of Dorchester and other +clergy were found among the slain. Some late writers say that they came to +pray, and not to fight. + +[Sidenote: Cnut and the Church, 1017-1035.] + +In the change that came over the character of Cnut, soon after he ascended +the throne, we may discern that the Church won a spiritual victory of much +the same kind as the conversions of Olaf and Thurkill. The fierce +barbarian became a wise and just ruler. This change was, it may be +gathered, largely due to the influence of Æthelnoth, called the Good, +whom Cnut made archbishop after the death of Lyfing. Cnut's ecclesiastical +laws consist mainly of repetitions from earlier codes: the "mass-days" of +King Eadward and Archbishop Dunstan were to be observed by all, men were +to go to "housel" three times a year at least, and the clergy were to +instruct their flocks diligently. One law declares the liability of the +laity to maintain churches--"all people ought of right to help to repair +the church." Cnut gave largely to monasteries, and, moreover, built at +Assandun, in commemoration of his victory, a secular, or non-monastic, +church which was served by a priest named Stigand. He made a pilgrimage to +Rome in 1026-7, and while he was there wrote a letter addressed to the two +archbishops and all the English people, telling them how honourably he had +been received by the Pope and the Emperor Conrad; how he had spoken to +them of the wants of his people, and Conrad had promised that the +merchants and pilgrims of England and Denmark should not be oppressed with +tolls when they crossed the Alps. To the Pope he said that he was much +annoyed to find that his archbishops had to pay vast sums when they +fetched their palls, and it was decreed that this should be so no longer. +He told his people how anxious he was to rule well, and, among other +matters, charged the bishops and reeves to see that all tithes, Peter's +pence, and church dues were paid up by the time he came back. + +This letter was addressed to the archbishops by name, for they were, in +virtue of their office, the recognized heads of the people of England. +The authority of the archbishop of Canterbury was, no doubt, strengthened +by the influence that Æthelnoth exercised over the king. Its extent is +illustrated by the story that after Cnut's death Æthelnoth refused to +crown Harold, declaring that the sons of Emma had a prior claim. Although +this story may not be true, it at least shows that it was held not to be +impossible that the archbishop should have acted thus. The see of +Canterbury gained special splendour from Cnut's policy with regard to the +different kingdoms under his dominion. He treated England as the head of +his northern empire, and carried this policy out in ecclesiastical as well +as in civil matters; for he appointed certain English priests to Danish +sees, and caused Æthelnoth to consecrate them. They must, therefore, have +professed obedience to Canterbury. This roused the anger of the archbishop +of Hamburg, the metropolitan of the North, and Cnut promised that it +should not happen again. + +[Sidenote: The king's clerks.] + +[Sidenote: Spiritual decadence.] + +Although the archbishop of Canterbury, and indeed the bishops generally, +had considerable political influence at this period, Cnut's chief minister +was a layman, and this had an important bearing on the progress of a +change in the administrative machinery of the kingdom that deeply affected +the Church. As long as the chief minister of the king was an ecclesiastic, +the clergy who carried on the routine of government under his direction +naturally had no distinct position. Now, however, the king's clerks or +chaplains begin to appear as a recognized body of officials discharging +the ordinary business of the administration. When Cnut visited different +parts of the kingdom he took four of these clerks with him; for his +journeys were really judicial circuits, and he needed clerks to register +his decrees and other acts. Deeds and charters drawn up by these clerical +secretaries were, when necessary, kept in the royal chapel, of which they +were the priests. In the Confessor's reign it became customary for the +king to signify his will by sealed writs, and an officer was appointed to +keep the king's seal. He was called the chancellor, from the screen +(_cancelli_) behind which the secretaries worked. He was chief of the +royal clerks, and the institution of his office gave further distinctness +to the body over which he presided. The king's clerks were generally +rewarded with bishoprics or other ecclesiastical preferments; and thus, +while the State gained the services of a body of trained officials, the +Church lost much; for the surest path to preferment lay in the discharge +of secular rather than of religious duties, and many of its chief +ministers were servants of an earthly rather than of a Heavenly King. +Indeed, from the death of Cnut to the Norman Conquest, the life of the +Church is marked by increasing worldliness. Bishops played a large part in +the affairs of the nation, but, for the most part, had little regard for +their spiritual duties. Bishoprics were sought after as sources of wealth +and power, and were often obtained by simony and held in plurality. While +Wulfstan of Worcester was a man of holy life, Leofric of Exeter an +ecclesiastical reformer, and Ealdred of York a prelate of conspicuous +energy, most of the bishops of this period were simply greedy, second-rate +men. Nor do the inferior clergy appear to have been better than their +rulers; for baptism is said to have been much neglected, because the +clergy refused to administer it without a fee. + +[Sidenote: Eadward the Confessor, 1042-1066.] + +[Sidenote: Foreigners appointed to English sees.] + +On the death of Harthacnut, in 1042, the line of Danish kings ended, and +Eadward the Confessor, a representative of the old English royal house, +was chosen king, mainly through the influence of Earl Godwine. In spite of +his saintly reputation, Eadward did no good to the Church; for he did not +strive to appoint faithful bishops. He might have done so; for, though the +clergy had a right of election, and appointments were made in the +witenagemót, the king certainly at this time generally gave bishoprics to +whom he would. It rested with him to issue the writ for consecration, and +he invested the new prelate with the temporalities of the see by the gift +of the ring and staff. Eadward, even if guiltless of simony himself, took +no pains to ensure the purity of episcopal appointments, and treated them +simply as a means of gratifying his favourites. His long residence in +Normandy had made him more of a Frenchman than an Englishman. He loved to +have foreigners about him, and promoted Normans to English bishoprics +without any regard for their fitness, giving London to Robert of Jumièges, +a meddlesome politician, who had unbounded influence with him, and setting +Ulf, one of his Norman clerks, who was grossly ignorant of ecclesiastical +things, over the diocese of Dorchester. The Norman party of the court was +opposed by Earl Godwine, the king's chief minister, and it is probable +that the appointment of certain Lotharingians to English sees was due to +his desire to counterbalance the influence of the Norman bishops. That +even Godwine, the head of the national party, should, in the hope of +strengthening his position, have procured English bishoprics for +foreigners seems to prove that native churchmen of learning and high +character were scarce. + +[Sidenote: Effect of these appointments.] + +All the foreign bishops, Normans and Lotharingians alike, were accustomed +to greater dependence on Rome than had ever been owned in England, and the +effect of their appointment was to weaken the national character of the +Church. We now for the first time find bishops, after they had been +nominated by the king, going to Rome for confirmation, and the Roman court +claiming to have the right to reject a royal nomination. Various matters, +too, were now referred to the Pope for decision, contrary to the custom of +the English Church. Other foreign fashions were also introduced. In +England, any place was chosen for a bishop's see that was a convenient +centre for diocesan work; on the Continent, bishops always had their sees +in cities. Leofric, bishop of Crediton, a Lotharingian by education though +not by birth, naturally had foreign ideas, and wished to transfer his see +from the village of Crediton to the city of Exeter. He did not first apply +to the king for leave to make this change, as any of his predecessors +would have done, but asked Pope Leo IX. for his sanction. Leo wrote to +Eadward expressing his surprise that Leofric should have "a see without a +city," and requesting that the change should be made. At the same time, +the removal was actually effected in virtue of a charter granted by the +king in 1050 with the consent of the witan. When, after the Conquest, +foreigners were dominant in the Church, the translation of sees from +villages to cities was, as we shall see, widely carried out. Leofric also +made the clergy of his cathedral conform to a rule observed by canons in +Lotharingia, called the rule of Chrodegang of Metz; he would not allow +them to live in their own houses, and forced them to sleep in a common +dormitory and eat at a common table. This gave his chapter a character +that was half monastic and half secular, and, of course, prevented the +clergy from living as married men. The system was introduced at Wells by +the Lotharingian bishop Gisa, and, with some modifications, at York by +Ealdred; but it never took root in England. The influence of the foreign +prelates may also be traced in the presence of English bishops at papal +councils. Several attended the council which Leo held at Rheims in 1049, +and also his council at Vercelli the next year. At Vercelli, Ulf sought +the papal confirmation of his appointment to the bishopric of Dorchester, +and, we are told, "they were very nigh breaking his staff," because he +could not perform the Service of the Church. Nevertheless, ignorant as he +was, he was allowed to keep his office; for he spent a large sum in +bribery. + +[Sidenote: Party struggles.] + +In 1050 a trial of strength took place between the national and foreign +parties at the court with reference to an election to the see of +Canterbury. The monks of Christ Church chose one of their number, named +Ælfric, a kinsman of Earl Godwine, and their choice was approved by the +clergy. Godwine begged the king to accept Ælfric, but he refused, and +appointed his Norman favourite, Robert of Jumièges, to the primacy, and +Spearhafoc, abbot of Abingdon, an Englishman and a skilful goldsmith, who +was making a crown for him, to the bishopric of London. When Robert came +back from Rome with his pall he refused to obey the king's order that he +should consecrate Spearhafoc, declaring that the Pope had forbidden him to +do so. Spearhafoc, however, though he was not consecrated, kept the +bishopric for some months. Archbishop Robert succeeded in undermining +Godwine's influence with the king, and a quarrel became imminent. Some +attempt at mediation was made by Stigand, bishop of Winchester, originally +the priest of Cnut's church at Assandun, who had been appointed by +Harthacnut to the see of Elmham. He lost this see because some one offered +the king money for it, and regained it probably by giving a larger sum. He +was not consecrated until 1043; then he was deprived by Eadward for +political reasons, but made his peace with the king, and again regained +his bishopric. He belonged to Godwine's party, and was translated to +Winchester while the earl was in power. His attempt at mediation failed; +Godwine and his sons were outlawed by the witan, and the foreigners became +dominant in Church and State. Spearhafoc was now ousted, and the bishopric +of London was given to one of the king's Norman clerks, named William. The +next year Godwine anchored at Southwark with an armed force. When the +Frenchmen found that his restoration was certain they fled. Robert and Ulf +cut their way through the streets of London, and the archbishop "betook +himself over sea, and left his pall and all Christendom here on land, so +as God willed it, as he had before gotten his worship as God willed it +not." He and all his countrymen were outlawed, and Stigand was appointed +archbishop in his stead. William of London was, however, allowed to return +to his see, because he had made himself acceptable to the people. + +[Sidenote: Earl Harold.] + +The English clergy generally were on the side of Godwine, as the champion +of the national cause; and when his son Harold succeeded to his earldom +and power, they seem to have upheld him also. Harold was a more religious +man than his father, who was greedy and unscrupulous, and laid hands on +some of the possessions of the Church. Unlike the other chief nobles of +England at this time, Godwine was not a benefactor to any religious house. +His son, however, founded a church at Waltham in honour of the Holy Rood. +Contrary to the fashion of the day, he made his foundation collegiate, not +monastic; he did not build his church for monks, whose special aim was to +secure their own salvation, but made it a college of secular clergy or +canons, whose duty it was to do good to others. He intended his college to +be a place of education; for the chancellor of the church was to deliver +lectures, and, as learning was scarce in England, he gave the office of +chancellor to a foreigner, Adelard of Liége. Two Lotharingians were +appointed to bishoprics after Harold became the king's chief minister, so +that in this respect he seems to have followed the ecclesiastical policy +of his father. + +[Sidenote: Pilgrimages.] + +In addition to the Romanizing influence exercised on the Church during +this reign by foreign prelates, the revival of the custom of making +pilgrimages, due perhaps to the example of Cnut, perhaps to increased +communication with the Normans, with whom this form of devotion was +exceedingly popular, tended to magnify the papal authority in England. +Eadward himself vowed to go on pilgrimage to Rome. The witan, however, +told him that he ought not to leave the country, and, it is said, advised +him to pray the Pope to remit his vow. At all events he sent Ealdred, then +bishop of Worcester, and the bishop of Ramsbury for that purpose to Rome. +Leo granted the king's request, and by his direction Eadward built +Westminster Abbey instead of making the pilgrimage. Harold and his +brothers, Tostig and Gyrth, all visited Rome. Tostig was accompanied by +Ealdred, who in 1061 went to fetch his pall after he had received the see +of York. Ealdred was a notable pluralist; he had administered three +dioceses at once, and was now holding the diocese of Worcester, which he +intended to keep along with York, as had been the custom almost ever since +Oswald's time. Nicolas II. refused to grant him the pall, accused him of +ignorance, simony, and plurality, and of having accepted translation +without his permission, and actually declared him degraded from the +episcopal order. As he and Tostig were on their way home they were robbed +by brigands at Sutri. This was lucky for Ealdred. They returned to Rome, +and the fierce earl rated the Pope soundly. If this, he said, was the +treatment English pilgrims were to expect, he would find that he would get +no more money from England; the king should be told of the whole affair. +The Pope was frightened; he was reconciled to Ealdred, and granted him +the pall on his agreeing to give up Worcester. Besides those who journeyed +to Rome, some English people went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and among +them Ealdred, before he was made archbishop, had journeyed thither, "with +such worshipfulness as none had ever shown before." + +[Sidenote: A legatine visit, 1062.] + +Soon after Ealdred returned from Rome with his pall two legates landed in +England. This was an unusual event, for the Church had been virtually free +from legatine interference for nearly three centuries, and this visit +marks the change that had been effected in her relations with the Papacy +during the reign of Eadward. By the advice of these legates, Wulfstan was +chosen bishop of Worcester by the "clergy and people" of the city, and his +election was approved by the witan. No better choice could have been made. + +[Sidenote: A schismatical archbishop.] + +Although the independence of the Church had been impaired, its national +character was still strong. No better proof can be given of this than the +ecclesiastical changes consequent on Earl Godwine's return. Robert and Ulf +were deprived of their sees simply by a decree of the witan, and Stigand +received the archbishopric as a reward for political services. As far as +regards character, he was certainly no better fitted for the office than +his Norman predecessor; for he was worldly and grasping, and retained the +see of Winchester along with the archbishopric. It was obvious that as +long as Robert lived no one could canonically hold his office; and though +Stigand enjoyed the revenues of Canterbury, he was not looked on as a +canonical archbishop, and he had not received the pall. Robert carried his +wrongs to Rome, and his deprivation was pronounced unlawful; so Stigand +could not hope that the pall would be granted him. For some years he wore +the pall which Robert left behind him, but bishops-elect would not receive +consecration at his hands; at last he obtained a pall from Benedict X. As, +however, Benedict failed to make his position good, and was reckoned an +anti-pope, Stigand was involved in the guilt of his schism. Indeed, though +the gift of this pall enabled him to consecrate two bishops, his claims +were still looked on with suspicion, and it is said that when the legates +were in England they pronounced the papal condemnation of his pretensions. +Wulfstan would not be consecrated by him, and he was not allowed to hallow +Harold's church at Waltham, or Eadward's new minister, or to place the +crown on Harold's head. England was held to be involved in his schism. +Robert was not the man to let his wrongs be forgotten, and they were +reckoned among the causes that were alleged in justification of the Norman +invasion. + +[Sidenote: The Papacy and the Conquest.] + +When, on Eadward's death, Harold was chosen king, the Norman duke, +William, determined to enforce his claim to the throne. He was careful to +enlist the sympathy of Christendom; he appealed to the religious feelings +of the age by declaring that Harold had forsworn himself on the relics of +saints, and he sent an ambassador to lay his claim before Pope Alexander +II. and ask his approval. He thus constituted the Pope the arbiter of his +claim to the English throne; and he did so at a time when the Roman see +was under the guidance of the mastermind of the Archdeacon Hildebrand, +afterwards Gregory VII. William's ambassador, no doubt, insisted strongly +on his master's declaration that if he was successful he would reform the +ecclesiastical condition of the country. We may gather from later events +that the duke promised that Peter's pence should be paid regularly, and we +are told that he even declared that he would consider the kingdom a grant +from St. Peter. Harold sent no one to plead his cause; nevertheless many +of the cardinals urged that the Holy See ought not to sanction bloodshed. +Hildebrand, however, upheld the duke's request. With him the greatness of +the papacy outweighed all other considerations. England was held to be an +undutiful daughter of Rome. Her king, Harold, had visited Rome in +Benedict's time, and had acknowledged the schismatical Pope, and her chief +bishop had received the pall from him; political interests governed the +affairs of the English Church; the papal authority was lightly regarded, +and prelates whose appointments had been confirmed at Rome were deprived +of their sees by the national assembly. Hildebrand's arguments prevailed; +and in after-days the cardinals blamed him for thus making the Holy See a +party to the destruction of so many lives. Alexander sent the duke a ring +and a consecrated banner, and the conquest of England was undertaken as a +Holy War. This gives special significance to the night spent in prayer by +the invading host, to the presence of many clergy in William's army, and +to the early mass at which he received the Holy Elements. In the battle +the duke wore hanging from his neck the relics to which Harold is said to +have done despite. The Dragon of Wessex sank before the papal banner, and +the standard of Harold was sent to the Pope in exchange for his gift. + +[Sidenote: Summary: the national character of the Church before the Norman +Conquest.] + +Although the close union of the Church with the State during the period +before the Conquest had some ill effects on the character of the clergy, +it gave the Church a firm hold on the people. The use that it made of its +influence on society lies apart from the main purpose of this book; yet +some notices have been given of its efforts for social reformation. From +it came all that there was of purity, gentleness, and humanity in the life +of the people. By example and precept it taught the rich their duty +towards the poor, it educated all who cared to learn, it purified domestic +life, it exalted the position of woman and protected her weakness, it +shielded the helpless from oppression, and proclaimed that the slave was +precious in the sight of God. The clergy recommended the manumission of +slaves as a meritorious deed; the ceremony was often performed at the +altar of a church, and records of such acts are recorded in the +missal-books of minsters. When a king or noble visited some church, it was +held that the visitor paid a high compliment to the clergy if he freed a +slave or a captive before their altar. The national character of the +Church deeply affected the life of the State. Its unity in a large measure +gave unity to the people, and created the nation. Its ministers held each +his recognized place in the national organization; the parish priest, as +the head of the parish, attended the hundred-court with the reeve of the +lord; the bishop was a member of the national council, and sat with the +ealdorman in the local courts. Great as the political power of the bishops +was, they made no attempt to strengthen their temporal position at the +expense of the national system; they did not seek to become territorial +princes, like the bishops of the Continent, who held a position derived +from the arrangements of the Roman Empire. This is true even of the two +archbishops, though the high degree of temporal power attached to their +sees is signified by the right they exercised of coining money. For, while +the archbishops of Canterbury succeeded to much of the power once held by +the under-kings of the Kentish kingdom, they did not use it in attempts to +build up a subordinate princedom; and if the archbishops of York appear +for a season as independent political leaders of the Northern people, they +cease to do so when their province is thoroughly united to the dominions +of the English king. In the midst of the struggles of contending parties +and the treason of ambitious nobles, the English prelates continued +faithfully to fulfil their duties to the State, and the clergy at large +supplied it with a succession of able administrative officials. Churchmen +bore their share of the national burdens. The fleets with which the king +and the witan sought to guard the coasts were raised by levies from every +shire. To these levies the lands of the Church were liable equally with +those of laymen. Accordingly we find that Archbishop Ælfric, at his death +in 1005, was possessed of ships and their equipments, the quota, no doubt, +that he was bound to furnish when the witan decided on gathering a fleet. +His best ship together with armour for sixty men he left to the king, and, +besides this, he gave a ship to the people of Kent, and another to the +people of Wiltshire--probably to help them to bear the burden that the war +laid upon them. Moreover, the Danegeld, which was originally raised for +the purpose of buying peace of the Danes, and was continued as a permanent +tax on every hide of cultivated land until it was abolished by the +Confessor, to be reimposed in a more oppressive form by the Norman +Conqueror, was paid, except in cases of special exemption, on the lands of +ecclesiastics as well as of laymen. + +The freedom of the Church kept alive the national spirit in the evil days +that followed the Conquest; it was used to restrain oppression, and the +Church became the bond that united conquerors and conquered in one people. +As regards the Church itself, its national character gave it independence, +and in many ways it acted by itself apart from the rest of Western +Christendom. From the reign of the Mercian Cenwulf to the reign of the +Confessor it was virtually free from papal interference, and the Popes +took little heed of what passed in England. It made saints of those who +were venerated by the English people, and observed their mass-days in +accordance with the decrees of the national council; it constantly used +the tongue of the people in prayers and homilies; its doctrines were held +and advanced with little reference to papal authority, and its rights were +laid down by kings and enforced by civil officers. Isolated from the rest +of Europe, England seemed to men like another world, of which the +archbishop of Canterbury was pope. The isolation and strongly national +character of the Church were not without danger to its well-being. To be +cut off from Rome was to lose all share in the manifold and progressive +life of Western Christendom. Had the Church of England retained its purely +insular character, it would never have risen much above the level of the +nation, nor have been able to elevate society. During the years +immediately preceding the Conquest it sank with the nation. It was a +period of exhaustion both in Church and State; and the time might have +come when the isolation of the Church of England would have ended in a +decay as complete as that of the Celtic Church. From such a danger the +Church was saved by the Norman Conquest. It rested with the Conqueror and +his successors to determine how far the Conquest was to lead to the +fulfilment of Hildebrand's expectations, to decide whether England should +become the submissive handmaid of Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +_ROYAL SUPREMACY._ + + THE CONQUEROR AND LANFRANC--CANTERBURY AND YORK--SEPARATE + ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEM--REMOVAL OF SEES--EXTENT AND LIMITS OF PAPAL + INFLUENCE--THE CONQUEROR'S BISHOPS--CHANGE IN THE CHARACTER OF THE + CHURCH--AN APPEAL TO ROME--FEUDAL TENDENCIES--ST. ANSELM--STRUGGLE + AGAINST TYRANNY--INVESTITURES--HENRY + I.--COUNCILS--LEGATES--INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEE OF YORK--SUMMARY. + + +[Sidenote: Deposition of English prelates.] + +[Sidenote: Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, 1070-1089.] + +In order to ensure the success of his invasion, William had given the Pope +a strong claim on his obedience, at a time when the papal power was +advancing rapidly under the guidance of Hildebrand, who in 1073 became +Pope with the title of Gregory VII. Nevertheless William succeeded in +using the papal pretensions to strengthen his hold on England, and in +disregarding them when they threatened to weaken his absolute sovereignty +in Church and State. In 1070, when he had completed the conquest of the +land, he set about securing the submission of the Church, and invited +Alexander II. to send legates to his court. Accordingly certain legates +visited this country, and deposed Stigand and other bishops and abbots. +Thus the Pope was gratified by the deposition of the uncanonical +archbishop, while the Conqueror, by ousting the native prelates, crushed +the strongest element of national resistance. York, which was vacant by +the death of Ealdred, was given to Thomas of Bayeux, one of the king's +clerks; other Normans were appointed to different sees; and shortly +afterwards Lanfranc was appointed to Canterbury. Lanfranc, a native of +Pavia, a man of great learning and ability, and especially skilled in +civil law, first came to Normandy as a teacher. He suddenly gave up this +work, entered the newly founded monastery of Bec, and devoted himself to +the monastic life. He became prior, and his talents attracted the notice +of the duke, who made him his counsellor, and gave him the abbacy of his +new monastery, St. Stephen's, at Caen. At Rome, Lanfranc was honoured as +the defender of transubstantiation, and his appointment to Canterbury was +warmly approved by the Pope. He was a man on whom the Conqueror could +safely rely for the furtherance of his ecclesiastical policy. Hitherto +there had virtually been only one system of administration for both Church +and State. William's work was to create a separate ecclesiastical system, +carried on by clerical officers. Yet the Church no less than the State was +to be under his own absolute control; and so, while he needed a strong +archbishop, he needed one who would exert his strength to maintain and +increase the royal power. In Lanfranc he found an archbishop after his own +heart, in exalting whose position he strengthened his own. + +[Sidenote: Canterbury and York.] + +No writ was issued for the consecration of Thomas of York until Lanfranc +had received consecration, and this delay was perhaps intentional; for +when Thomas brought the writ to Lanfranc he was bidden to profess +obedience to the see of Canterbury. He refused to do so, on the ground +that Gregory had instituted two co-ordinate archbishoprics. On the other +hand, the bishops of York, from Paulinus to Ecgberht, had not enjoyed +metropolitan dignity, and even since Ecgberht's time the see had occupied +an inferior position to Canterbury. Lanfranc had papal decrees and other +evidences on his side, and gained the king's support by representing that +an independent metropolitan at York might crown an independent king of +Northumbria. William compelled Thomas to profess obedience to Lanfranc +personally, and, with respect to the future, ordered that the question +should be decided by the Pope. When the two archbishops went to Rome for +their palls, Alexander was about to degrade Thomas and Remigius, bishop of +Dorchester, who went with them, on account of canonical irregularity, and +only forbore to do so at Lanfranc's request. Thomas brought forward the +matter of the profession, and further claimed Dorchester, Lichfield, and +Worcester as subject to York. Alexander referred these matters to the +decision of an English synod, and the case seems to have been heard before +a mixed assembly of clergy and laity, which pronounced against Thomas; he +was forced to make a general profession of obedience, the Humber was +declared the boundary between the provinces, and he was left with only one +suffragan, the bishop of Durham. This disproportion between the +archbishoprics had not been contemplated by Gregory, for his division, +which was based on the assumption that the whole island was under one +rule, included Scotland in the province of York. Under William and +Lanfranc the English Church made its power felt in yet unconquered Celtic +lands. The claim of York was asserted over Scotland. As that country had +no metropolitan and no organized episcopal system, the assertion was +plausible, and a bishop of the Orkneys was certainly consecrated by +Thomas. It is extremely doubtful whether the authority of Canterbury was +in any instance acknowledged in Wales during this reign, though a few +years later it was, as we shall see, successfully asserted. In Ireland the +irregular condition of the episcopacy naturally led kings and bishops to +look up to Lanfranc; he consecrated two archbishops of Dublin, who made +profession to him, and he wrote with authority to two kings on matters of +discipline. An approach was thus made to the ecclesiastical submission of +Ireland, and the primate of Britain was not unreasonably held by Latin +Christendom to be "Patriarch of the nations beyond the sea." + +[Sidenote: National synods and ecclesiastical courts.] + +Under William and Lanfranc synods were again held frequently, and, in +accordance with the king's policy, ecclesiastical legislation, which had +in the preceding age been provided for in the national assembly, was +confined to them. They were councils of the whole Church; for the +archbishop of Canterbury was acknowledged as primate of all Britain: they +consisted of one house, and such of the inferior clergy as attended them +were little more than spectators, for no one might speak without special +permission save bishops and abbots. Their action was controlled by the +king, and we find them held at the same place as, and immediately after +the close of, one or other of the yearly meetings of the great council. +Episcopal elections seem to have been made in these synods instead of in +the national assembly, though in these, as in all else, the king was +supreme. While the Church thus regained separate synodical activity, the +bishops did not lose their places in the national assembly. Their right, +however, no longer rested simply on the wisdom supposed to be inherent in +their office; they now held their temporalities as baronies, and sat in +the council as barons; for the old witenagemót had been transformed into a +feudal council. A separation was also effected in the judicial system. The +Conqueror declared the union of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction to +be mischievous, and provided that henceforth no bishop or archdeacon +should sit in the hundred court; that all spiritual causes should be tried +by the bishop in his own court and be determined according to the canons, +and that if any one disobeyed the bishop's summons and remained +contumacious after excommunication, he should be brought to obedience by +the king or the sheriff. This establishment of ecclesiastical courts, with +their own system of law, was doubtless pleasing to the Pope, for the old +English practice was contrary to the spirit of Hildebrand's work. Its +ultimate tendency was to lead men to look to Rome as the supreme court of +appeal in spiritual causes, and to set churchmen in opposition to the +Crown. For some time after the Conqueror's death the separation of the +courts was not fully effected, and this tendency was scarcely apparent. +Nevertheless, his policy raised up a power in England that in later days +greatly hampered the exercise of the royal authority and brought some +troubles on the country. + +[Sidenote: Removal of sees.] + +Among the more important synodical decrees of this reign is that of the +council held at London in 1075, which ordered that bishops' sees should be +removed from villages to cities. The change begun by Leofric was carried +fully out now that nearly every bishop was a foreigner. The see of +Sherborne was moved by Hermann to Salisbury (Old Sarum), to be moved again +when the present church of the new Salisbury was built in the reign of +Henry III.; the see of Selsey was moved to Chichester; that of Lichfield +to Chester, and a few years later to Coventry, where the bishop seized on +the abbey by force; the see of Elmham was moved first to Thetford, and +then to Norwich; and in the reign of Rufus, the bishop of Wells left his +little city for Bath. While the decrees of ancient Popes and councils were +cited as authorities for this measure, the act of the council, like all +the conciliar acts of the reign, derived its force from the king's +approval. + +[Sidenote: Extent of papal influence.] + +Gregory had reason to congratulate himself on the part he had taken in +forwarding the Conquest. The uncanonical archbishop was deposed, and his +place taken by one who was especially pleasing to the Holy See; insular +peculiarities were removed, the new foreign bishops were far more amenable +to papal influence than the native bishops had been, and the changes +effected in the government of the Church were generally such as he +approved. In these and some other matters his desires were in accord with +the policy of the Conqueror. Where it was otherwise he found that the king +and his archbishop would act according to their own judgment. While +Lanfranc cordially sympathized in Gregory's attempt to root out the custom +of clerical marriage, his action was governed by the circumstances of the +Church over which he presided. In England the custom obtained too widely +to be attacked without discrimination. Accordingly the Council of +Winchester, in 1076, only partially followed the example of the council +which Gregory had held in Rome two years before. It decreed that no canon +should have a wife, that the marriage of priests was for the future +forbidden, and that no bishop should ordain a married man deacon or +priest. On the other hand, priests who were already married were not +called upon to leave their wives. Other decrees of this council insisted +on the sanctity of marriage, and the necessity of obtaining the Church's +blessing in matrimony. + +[Sidenote: Its limits.] + +The absolute supremacy of the Conqueror in ecclesiastical matters is +expressed in three rules which he is said to have laid down, and which +define his rights in relation to the papacy. He would have no Pope +acknowledged as apostolic without his bidding, and no papal letters +brought into his kingdom unless he approved them. Synodical decrees were +to have no force unless he had first ordained them; and none of his barons +or officers of state were to be excommunicated or subjected to +ecclesiastical rigour without his precept. Nor did he hesitate to return a +flat refusal to a papal demand; for when Gregory sent a legate to +admonish him to be more punctual in forwarding Peter's pence, and to +demand a profession of fealty to the Holy See, he wrote that he admitted +the one claim and not the other. Fealty he would not do, for he had not +promised it, nor did he find that earlier kings had done it. He took his +stand on his position as king of England; that which his predecessors had +done he would do, but he would not grant the Pope any authority over his +kingdom that they had not granted. Even Gregory was forced to suffer this; +he seems to have blamed Lanfranc for the king's independent answer, bade +him come to Rome, and urged him to bring William to obedience. Lanfranc +defended himself in becoming terms, but stayed where he was, and at last +the Pope threatened to suspend him if he did not obey his summons. +Gregory, however, had powerful enemies nearer home, and did not care to +quarrel with a king who steadily refused to take part against him. His +struggle with Henry IV. gave occasion for the exercise, perhaps for the +enunciation, of the first of the Conqueror's rules, and Lanfranc writes +that "our island" had not yet decided between Gregory and the antipope +Clement. Lanfranc's own sympathies, of course, were with Gregory, but he +would not condemn the action of the Emperor; he thought that the proper +attitude for England was one of neutrality. + +[Sidenote: Norman bishops.] + +With the exception of Worcester, no English see was left in the hands of a +native bishop. They were held either by Normans or by the Lotharingians +who had been appointed in the Confessor's reign. At Worcester, Wulfstan, +though not a man of learning, was allowed to retain his bishopric on +account of his holiness. Among his other good works, he preached in +Bristol against the slave-trade with Ireland that was largely carried on +there, and persuaded the townsmen to give it up. Most of William's bishops +were men of high character, for his appointments were free from simony, +and were, no doubt, suggested by Lanfranc; and the king himself had no +liking for evil men. Some of them were learned; nearly all were +magnificent. They did not play a great part in State affairs, and stand in +some contrast both to the old native bishops, who were leaders of the +witan, and, though several of them had been the king's clerks, to the +bishops of a later period, who were before all things royal ministers. +They generally rebuilt their churches in the Norman style, of which the +Confessor's church at Westminster was the earliest example in England. At +York, Archbishop Thomas did away with the discipline introduced by +Ealdred, and assigned separate prebends to each of the canons, an +arrangement which was gradually adopted in all cathedral churches with +secular chapters. That the chapter of a cathedral church should consist of +monks was extremely rare except in England, but as the Normans generally +were strong supporters of monasticism, this was a peculiarity of which +they approved, and in some churches secular canons were displaced by +monks. Some of the bishops, however, who were not monks, with Walchelin, +bishop of Winchester, at their head, saw that monastic chapters were a +hindrance to the bishop, and were unfitted for their duties. They +conceived the idea of replacing the monks by secular canons even in the +metropolitan church. William is said to have approved of the scheme; but +it was highly distasteful to Lanfranc, "the father of the monks," and he +obtained a letter from Alexander II. indignantly forbidding it. The scheme +was defeated, and Walchelin, who had forty clerks with their tonsure cut +and their dress prepared as canons, ready to take the place of the monks +of St. Swithun's, and to divide the monastic estates into prebends, had to +send them about their business. Although William's Norman bishops were +generally good specimens of continental churchmen, they had no sympathy +with the thoughts and feelings of their clergy and people. Of one only, +Osbern of Exeter, it is said that he adopted the English mode of life. +Lanfranc despised the national saints, and doubted the right of his +predecessor, Ælfheah, to the title of martyr, until he was taught better +by Anselm, abbot of Bec. The admiration of the Normans for monasticism +caused a considerable increase in the practice of endowing monasteries +with tithes and parish churches, and thus in many cases tithes were paid +to abbeys both here and abroad. + +[Sidenote: The national character of the Church.] + +In every respect our Church lost much of its insular, and something also +of its national, character by the Conquest. Its prelates were foreigners; +it was drawn more closely to Rome, and legates came over, and judged and +deposed her native bishops, not always justly; its councils and courts +were separated from the councils and courts of the nation. There seems to +have been a change made even in doctrine; for the dogma of +transubstantiation, of which Lanfranc was the special champion, was now +universally accepted, and the archbishop's eagerness in this matter is +reflected in the many stories of miracles connected with the Holy Elements +which appear in contemporary literature. Yet the Church remained the +representative of English nationality; her influence at once began to turn +Normans into Englishmen; and it is interesting to find Lanfranc using the +terms "our island" and "we English," and describing himself to Alexander +II. as a "new Englishman." As primate of the English Church, he was the +spiritual head of the nation, of English villeins as well as of Norman +barons. All were Englishmen to him, and all soon became in truth one +people. And while the establishment of a separate system of ecclesiastical +administration tended to destroy the national character of the Church, +this tendency was neutralized by the exercise of the king's supremacy. The +new system worked well; but its success was due to the fact that it was +carried out by a king and a primate at once so strong and so united in +policy as the Conqueror and Lanfranc. + +[Sidenote: William Rufus, 1087-1100.] + +The first William, if an austere man, was a mighty ruler, who loved order +and valued the services of good men: the second was a braggart and a +blasphemer, whose life was unspeakably evil and whose greediness knew no +shame. In his hands the royal supremacy became a hateful tyranny, and the +relations between the Church and the Crown were disturbed. Early in the +reign the change in these relations was illustrated by an appeal to Rome. +William of Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham, an ambitious and crafty +intriguer, was cited to appear before the king's court on a charge of +treason, and his lands were seized. He complained that his bishopric had +been seized, and Lanfranc, who upheld the king's action, answered that his +fiefs were not his bishopric. Next he pleaded the privilege of his order, +and refused to be judged by the lay barons. "If I may not judge you and +your order to-day," said Robert of Meulan, "you and your order shall never +judge me." If bishops refused the jurisdiction of the king's court, they +should cease to be members of it, they should no longer hold fiefs of the +Crown. Finally, William appealed to Rome. Archbishop Robert had in exile +appealed to the Pope against a decree of the national assembly; Bishop +William, for the first time since the days of Wilfrith, made a like appeal +in the presence of the king and his council. The sole object of Rufus was +to obtain Durham Castle; the bishop surrendered it, and was allowed to go +abroad, but he does not appear to have prosecuted his appeal. + +[Sidenote: Feudal tyranny.] + +The special danger which threatened the Church in this reign arose from +the attempt to treat it as a feudal society. Ralph Flambard, the minister +of Rufus, raised money for his master chiefly by exaggerating and +systematizing the feudal elements already existing in civil life. The +practice of granting the temporalities by investiture shows that, even +before the Conquest, Church lands were to some extent regarded in a feudal +light, and since then this idea had gained strength. Rufus treated them as +mere lay fiefs, and dealt with the prelates simply as his +tenants-in-chief. No profits could, of course, accrue to the Crown from +Church lands, such as were gathered from lay fiefs in the form of reliefs, +a payment made by the heir on entering on his estate, or from other +feudal burdens of a like kind. When, therefore, a bishopric or royal abbey +fell vacant, the king, to compensate himself for the disparity, instead of +causing the property to be administered for the benefit of the Church, +entered on the lands and treated them as his own. It thus became his +interest to keep sees vacant until he received a large sum for them. +Simony grew prevalent and the character of the clergy declined; they +engaged in secular pursuits, farmed the taxes, and sought in all ways to +make money. After the death of Lanfranc in 1089, the king kept the +archbishopric vacant, and granted the lands of the see to be held by his +friends or by the highest bidder. This was a different matter from his +dealings with other sees; for the archbishop was the spiritual head of the +nation, and constitutionally the chief adviser of the king and the +foremost member of his court, as he had been of the witenagemót. +Accordingly the barons saw the king's conduct with displeasure. Rufus was +not moved by greediness alone. While Lanfranc lived he had been forced to +listen to his remonstrances with respect, and as he hated reproof, he +determined not to appoint another archbishop as long as he could avoid +doing so. He would, he declared to one of his earls, be archbishop +himself. Neither the suffragan bishops nor the monks of Christ Church +dreamed of electing without his order, and each year the state of the +Church grew worse. At last Rufus fell sick and was like to die. Then the +bishops and nobles entreated him, for his soul's sake, to appoint a +primate and do other works meet for repentance. He consented willingly, +and they sent for Abbot Anselm, who chanced to be in England. + +[Sidenote: S. Anselm, archbishop, 1093-1109.] + +Anselm was a native of Aosta. Born and brought up amid the cloud-capt +Alps, he longed when a child to climb the mountains and find God's house, +which, he had been told, was in the clouds. One night he dreamed that he +had done so and had found the palace of the Great King: he sat at the +Lord's feet and told Him how grieved he was that His handmaids were idling +in the harvest-fields below. Then, at the Lord's bidding, the steward of +the palace gave him bread of the purest whiteness, and he ate and was +refreshed. The dream is told us by his friend and biographer, Eadmer, who +no doubt heard it from his own lips. It was prophetic of his life and +character. He grew up studious and holy; his learning was renowned through +Europe, and by Lanfranc's advice he entered the monastery of Bec, and +became abbot there. He visited England more than once, and men marvelled +to see how the stern Conqueror became gentle when he was by. When he was +brought to the sick-bed of Rufus he received his confession and urged him +to amend his life. The king, who thought that he was dying, promised to do +so, and his lords begged him to begin by naming an archbishop. He raised +himself in his bed, and pointing to Anselm, said, "I name yonder holy +man." There seems to have been no form of election; the king's word was +held a sufficient appointment. Anselm was sorely unwilling to accept the +office; he believed that the king would recover, and he knew his evil +heart. To make him archbishop was, he said, "to yoke an untamed bull and +an old and feeble sheep together." He told Rufus that if he consented, the +grants made during the vacancy of the lands of the see must be revoked, +and that he must take him as "his spiritual father and counsellor;" for +such was the constitutional position of the primate with respect to the +king. Lastly, he reminded the king that he had already acknowledged Urban +II. as Pope; for Rufus had not yet decided between the two claimants for +the papacy. + +[Sidenote: The untamed bull and the feeble sheep.] + +Before Anselm's consecration the king recovered, and turned back to his +evil ways. He tried to make Anselm promise that he would not reclaim the +lands of the see which he had granted out as knights' fees. To this Anselm +could not agree, for he would not lessen the property of his church. +Nevertheless he was consecrated, and did homage to the king, as the custom +was. Before long Rufus wanted money for an expedition against Normandy. +The archbishop offered £500. Rufus was advised to demand a larger sum, and +sent the money back. His demand was evidently based on the idea that +Anselm owed him much for making him archbishop; and Anselm, though willing +to contribute to the king's need, rejoiced that now no one could assert +that he had made a simoniacal payment, and gave the money to the poor. +When Rufus was about to sail, Anselm asked to be allowed to hold a synod, +and the wrathful king answered him with jeers: "What will you talk about +in your council?" Anselm fearlessly replied that he would speak of the +foul vices that infected the land, and named the special vice of the king +and his court. "What good will that do you?" asked the king. "If it does +me no good," was the answer, "I hope it will do something for God and for +you." He prayed him to fill the vacant abbacies. "Tush!" said the king, +"you do as you will with your manors, and may I not do what I will with my +abbeys?" In his eyes the rights of a patron were merely the rights of a +lord over his lands. He left England in wrath with the archbishop. Anselm +had not yet received the pall, and when the king came back he asked leave +to go and fetch it. "From which Pope?" demanded the king; and Anselm +answered, "From Urban." Now, though Rufus had no objection to acknowledge +Urban, he did not choose that any one should decide the matter save +himself. He took his stand upon his father's rule, and the rule was a good +one, for the acknowledgment of a Pope was a matter of national policy. His +fault lay in refusing to make his choice out of a sheer love of tyranny. A +meeting of the great council was held at Rockingham to decide whether +Anselm could maintain "his obedience to the Holy See without violating his +allegiance to his earthly king." The king most unfairly treated him as +though the question had been decided against him and he was contumacious. +The bishops took part against him, and their conduct shows how deeply the +feudal idea had sunk: they were the "king's bishops," and their counsel +was due to him and not to their metropolitan. William of Saint-Calais, now +in favour again, even advised the king to take away the archbishop's staff +and ring, and at the king's bidding the bishops renounced their obedience +to him. The nobles, however, would not become instruments of a tyranny +that might strike next at themselves. "He is our archbishop," they said, +"and the rule of Christianity in this land is his; and therefore we as +Christians cannot, as long as we live, renounce his authority." The matter +was adjourned; yet it was something that the tyrant had been shown that +men recognized higher laws of action than the feudal principles by which +he sought to make Church and State alike subservient to his caprices. + +[Sidenote: Council of Bari, 1098.] + +As evil ever strives to master good, so the Red King was set on mastering +Anselm. To this end he acknowledged Urban, persuaded him in return to send +the pall to him, and then offered the legate who brought it a large sum +for the Pope if he would depose Anselm. When the legate refused his offer, +he tried to make Anselm give him money for the pall. In this, of course, +he failed, and the pall was placed by the legate on the high altar of +Canterbury Minster, whence Anselm took it. The next year the king found a +new cause of quarrel; the military tenants of the archbishopric serving in +the Welsh war were badly equipped, and he bade Anselm be ready to answer +for it in his court. Anselm then petitioned to be allowed to go to Rome, +and urged his request in spite of the king's repeated refusals. His case +was discussed at a meeting of the great council at Winchester. In +persisting in his demand against the will of the king he was certainly +acting contrary to the customs of the kingdom, and he was, if not in +words, at least in fact, appealing to the Pope against the king. At the +same time, it must be remembered that he had none to help him, and that he +naturally turned to Rome as the place of strength and refreshment in his +troubles. The bishops plainly told him: "We know that you are a holy man, +and that your conversation is in Heaven; but we confess that we are +hampered by our relations whom we support, and by our love of the manifold +affairs of the world, and cannot rise to the height of your life." Would +he descend to their level? "Ye have said well," he answered; "go, then, to +your lord. I will hold me to God." Nor were the nobles on his side. At +Rockingham his demand was in accordance with the customs of the realm; +here the case was different. Rufus declared that he might go, but that if +he went he would seize the archbishopric. He went, and the king did as he +had said. Urban received the archbishop magnificently, styling him the +"pope and patriarch of another world," and promising to help him. At the +Council of Bari the Pope called on him to defend the Catholic faith +against the Greek heresy. His speech delighted the council; the conduct of +Rufus was discussed, and it was decided that he ought to be +excommunicated. Anselm, however, interceded for him, and his intercession +availed. Although Urban in public spoke severely enough to a bishop whom +Rufus sent to plead his cause, he talked more mildly in private; money was +freely spent among the papal counsellors, and a day of grace was given to +the king. It is scarcely too much to say that Anselm's cause was sold. He +was present at the Lateran Council in 1099, where he heard sentence of +excommunication decreed against all who conferred or received investiture; +his wrongs were spoken of with indignation, but nothing was done to +redress them. He left Rome convinced that he could never return to +England while Rufus lived, and was dwelling at Lyons when he heard of the +king's death. + +[Sidenote: Investitures.] + +In the first clause of the charter in which Henry I. declared the +abolition of the abuses introduced by Rufus we read that he made "God's +holy Church free;" he would "not sell it nor put it to farm," and he would +take nothing from the demesne of bishopric or abbacy during a vacancy. He +invited Anselm to return, and welcomed him joyfully. When, however, he +called on him to do him homage on the restoration of his lands which Rufus +had seized, Anselm refused; for he had laid to heart what he had heard at +the Lateran council. It is evident that personally he had no objection to +perform these acts, which he had already done to Rufus. His objection +arose from the fact that they were now forbidden. Rome had spoken, and he +felt bound to obey. As the question of Investitures forms the subject of a +separate volume of this series, it will be enough to say here that the +conveyance of the temporalities of a see was regarded in the feudal state +as the chief thing in the appointment of a bishop, who received +investiture of his office by taking the ring and crozier from the hands of +the king--a ceremony which encouraged the feudalization of the Church and +gave occasion for many abuses. At the same time, it was by no means +desirable that a prelate should hold wide lands and jurisdictions without +entering into the pledge of personal loyalty required of other lords. With +the abstract side of the question, however, Anselm was not concerned. With +him it was a matter of obedience, and he held that he was bound to obey +the Pope rather than the law of the land. For the king's demand was +justified by the custom of England, and it was on this that he took his +stand. "What," he said, "has the Pope to do with my rights? Those that my +predecessors possessed in this realm are mine." Anselm would neither do +homage nor consecrate the bishops elect who had received investiture. Yet +the dispute was conducted with moderation on both sides. The archbishop in +person brought his men to defend the king against the invasion of Robert; +he forwarded Henry's marriage and crowned his queen; while Henry, even +during the progress of the dispute, authorized him to hold a synod and +sanctioned its decrees. Stern as the king was, he loved order and justice, +and his conduct presents a striking contrast to the conduct of his +brother. + +The closer relations with Rome introduced by the Conquest compelled the +king to attempt to gain the Pope's agreement to the English law. Paschal +II., while bound to abide by the decision of the Lateran council, was +evidently unwilling to alienate the king, and seems to have temporized. At +last Anselm went to Rome, at the request of the king and the nobles, who +no doubt hoped that he would learn there that the Pope was scarcely +whole-hearted in the matter. His presence, however, seems to have stirred +Paschal to give the king's envoy a flat refusal. Henry then took the +archbishopric into his hands, and Anselm remained abroad. During his +absence the king embarked on a piece of ecclesiastical administration. His +constant want of money led him to levy a fine on all the clergy who had +disobeyed the decree of Anselm's council by neglecting to put away their +wives; and, finding the sum less than he calculated, he demanded a payment +from every parish church. About two hundred priests, in their robes, +waited on him barefoot, and prayed him to release them from this demand +without success. At last, in 1107, the question of investitures was +arranged between the king and the Pope, and the arrangement was sanctioned +by a great council at London. The king gave up the investiture, and in +return his right to homage was acknowledged. He may be said to have +surrendered the shadow and to have secured the substance. While the +chapters were allowed to choose the bishops, they were to exercise their +right at the king's court, where, of course, they were subject to his +influence. Anselm again received the temporalities, and the vacant +bishoprics were filled up. Throughout the dispute the clergy remained +loyal to the king in his struggle with the feudal lords, and the affairs +of the Church went on as usual. The speedy and satisfactory settlement of +a question that agitated the Empire for half a century, and the moderate +spirit in which it was debated, were mainly due to the character of the +king; for Henry was a statesman of fertile genius, and, unlike Rufus, +acted on well-defined principles. He was willing to grant the exact amount +of freedom of action that seemed necessary to orderly development, while, +at the same time, he kept that freedom in strict subordination to his own +supremacy. + +[Sidenote: Synodical activity under Henry I.] + +Acting on these principles, he allowed councils to be held, though, like +his father, he made ecclesiastical legislation dependent on his sanction. +At Anselm's synod, held at Westminster in 1102, a return was made to the +old English custom of the joint action of the clergy and laity; for the +nobles took part in it along with the bishops and abbots. The suspension +of synodical action during the reign of Rufus had weakened the authority +of the Church, and it was thought advisable that both orders should act +together in legislation. The first canon marks the growth of +ecclesiastical jurisdiction consequent on the separation of the courts. +Archdeacons had now become judicial officers over distinct territorial +divisions, and as the profits of their courts were considerable, it became +necessary to decree that they should not be farmed. An advance was made on +Lanfranc's legislation on clerical marriage; married priests and deacons +were now ordered to put away their wives, an order which, as we have seen, +was widely disregarded; no married man was to be admitted to the +subdiaconate; tithes were not to be paid except to churches, and several +decrees were made for the maintenance, dress, and general conduct of the +clergy. Another national council, held in 1127, sat in the church of +Westminster while the king held his court in the palace; just as now the +Convocation of the Province of Canterbury and the High Court of Parliament +are summoned to meet at the same time at Westminster. + +[Sidenote: Legates.] + +Henry, like his father, aimed at establishing perfect harmony between +Church and State, keeping both alike in absolute dependence upon himself. +Accordingly he resisted any unauthorized interference on the part of the +Pope with the affairs of the Church. Early in the reign a Burgundian +archbishop landed here without invitation, claiming legatine authority +over the whole kingdom. His claim was pronounced "unheard of." Although +the Conqueror had invited the Pope to send him legates for a specified +purpose, the archbishop of Canterbury was held to be the permanent +representative of the Holy See in England, a _legatus natus_, whose +authority was not to be superseded by a special legate, or _legatus a +latere_. No one acknowledged the legate's authority, and "he went back," +Eadmer remarks, "as he came." A more serious attempt to override the +rights of the Church was made in the time of Anselm's successor, Ralph. +The king was in Normandy, and when it became known that a legate, Anselm's +nephew and namesake, was on his way hither, the bishops and nobles of the +kingdom met in council, and sent Ralph over to Henry to request that he +"would bring the innovation to nought," and the king prevented the legate +Anselm from landing. In the time of the next archbishop, William of +Corbeuil, Henry was, for political reasons, anxious to stand well with +Rome, and accordingly admitted into the kingdom a legate from Honorius +II., named John of Crema. Men saw with indignation that this legate sat in +the highest seat in the metropolitan church, and said mass in the +archbishop's stead, clad in episcopal vestments, though he was only a +priest; "for both England and other countries knew that, from St. Augustin +onwards, the archbishops were held to be primates and patriarchs, and were +never made subject to a Roman legate." At the same time, though John +occupied the seat of honour at the council of 1125, the summons ran in +the name of the archbishop and the decrees were confirmed by the king. +While, then, the Crown, the English Church, and the papal representative +acted concurrently, the royal authority was saved. It was not so with the +see of Canterbury or with the national interests it represented, and the +archbishop went to Rome to complain of the injury done to his see. +Honorius silenced his complaints by giving him a legatine commission, a +measure which, while gratifying William personally, lessened the inherent +dignity of his see and the independence of the Church. + +[Sidenote: Thurstan, archbishop of York, 1119-1140.] + +In spite of various efforts, the archbishops of York had hitherto been +unable to evade the profession of obedience to Canterbury. Thurstan, the +fourth since the Conquest, was a man of different mould from his +predecessors, and refused to make the profession. Archbishop Ralph +accordingly refused to consecrate him, and the king upheld the right of +the primatial see, bidding Thurstan do what was due according to ancient +usage. Thurstan was encouraged in his revolt by Popes Paschal II. and +Calixtus II., who treated it as a good opportunity for a covert attack on +the greatness of the English primate. The see of York remained vacant for +about five years. At last Thurstan obtained leave from the king to attend +the council held by Calixtus at Rheims, promising that he would not accept +consecration from the Pope, while Calixtus undertook that he would do +nothing to the prejudice of the see of Canterbury. Nevertheless Thurstan +received consecration from Calixtus, and so escaped making the +profession. Henry refused to allow him to return to England; and the next +Pope, Honorius II., seems to have actually declared the kingdom under an +interdict, though the sentence was not published here. The dispute went on +for some years, and the old question appears even now to excite the local +patriotism of some of the clergy of York. Yet it can scarcely be denied +that Thurstan sacrificed the interests of the national Church to the +aggrandizement of his see, and that both he and Calixtus got the better of +the king by a somewhat discreditable trick. York was freed for ever from +the obligation of obedience by a bull of Calixtus. + +[Sidenote: Scottish and Welsh bishoprics.] + +One phase of the quarrel between Canterbury and York concerned the +Scottish bishops. On a vacancy of the see of St. Andrews, Alexander, king +of Scots, was induced to write to Ralph of Canterbury, asking him to +recommend a new bishop, and reminding him that the bishops of St. Andrews +were always consecrated by the Pope or the archbishop of Canterbury, which +was, of course, the reverse of the truth, for they were suffragans of +York. Ralph highly approved of this new doctrine, and in course of time +Eadmer, the historian, a monk of Canterbury, was duly elected. Meanwhile, +however, Alexander had changed his mind, and commanded Eadmer to receive +consecration from Thurstan. This he refused to do, for he was heart and +soul a Canterbury man, and after much disputing, he was forced to return +to his convent unconsecrated. The dispute between Canterbury and York +encouraged some of the Scottish bishops to revolt against Thurstan, whose +authority was upheld by Calixtus. This quarrel is memorable because the +Pope accepted Thurstan's theory that the king of Scots was the man of the +king of England for Scotland, and not, as the Scots held, merely for +Lothian or any other fief: in other words, he declared Scotland a vassal +kingdom, a decision that became of importance later on. The question of +canonical subjection was debated between St. Andrews and York, until, in +1188, Clement III. declared the Scottish Church immediately dependent on +the Holy See. The upshot of these disputes was, that the archbishops of +Canterbury ceased to be the "primates and patriarchs of Britain," for York +was freed from dependence upon them, and their attempt to extend their +jurisdiction over Scotland utterly failed. On the other hand, the +authority of Canterbury was established in Wales by the election to the +see of St. David's of the Norman Bernard, who received consecration from +Archbishop Ralph, and made profession to him. + +[Sidenote: Summary.] + +The ecclesiastical system of the Norman kings may be summed up as a +generally successful attempt to give the Church power of action apart from +the State, so far as was consistent with the supremacy of the Crown. Under +Rufus this system became a mere means of tyranny; and among the many +glories that attend the memory of St. Anselm, not the least is that he +delivered the Church from the domination of the feudal idea, which would +have destroyed her spirituality and left her helpless before the royal +power. By the Conqueror and Henry I. the supremacy was used to establish +harmony of action between Church and State, and to preserve the national +character of the Church. Nevertheless the new relations with Rome +introduced by the Conquest began to bear fruit in Henry's time, for on all +occasions, both by the grant of legatine commissions and by upholding the +pretensions of York, the Popes strove to depress the primatial see and to +increase their own authority in England. + +Although Henry had none of the brutal contempt for law that distinguished +his brother, he was not less despotic, and his policy towards the Church +differed from that pursued by his father in that, while the Conqueror made +her co-ordinate under himself with the State, he degraded her to the +position of a servant. He kept the see of Canterbury vacant for five years +after the death of Anselm; all ecclesiastical matters were governed by +political or personal considerations rather than with an eye to the true +interests of the Church, and Henry was not above making money from +ecclesiastical appointments. His chief adviser was Roger, bishop of +Salisbury, an able minister and a magnificent noble, who owed his +preferment to his administrative talents; for Henry employed clerical +ministers, partly because he was thus enabled to secure men who had +received a regular official training as royal clerks, and partly, no +doubt, because their celibacy made it less likely that they would put +their authority to a dangerous use. He rewarded them with bishoprics and +other preferments, and thus secularized the Church in order to make her +serve the State. At the same time, his reign saw the beginning of a +movement that was destined to revive her spiritual character, and by that +revival to increase her power and dignity. This quickened influence was +due to the higher life that followed the introduction of the Cistercian +rule. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +_CLERICAL PRETENSIONS._ + + STEPHEN AND THE ENGLISH CHURCH--ARCHBISHOP THEOBALD AND HENRY OF + WINCHESTER--THOMAS THE CHANCELLOR--THE SCUTAGE OF TOULOUSE--THOMAS THE + ARCHBISHOP--CLERICAL IMMUNITY--THE ARCHBISHOP IN EXILE--HIS + MARTYRDOM--HENRY'S GENERAL RELATIONS TO THE CHURCH--CONQUEST OF + IRELAND--RICHARD'S CRUSADE--LONGCHAMP--ARCHBISHOP HUBERT + WALTER--CHARACTER OF THE CLERGY. + + +[Sidenote: Stephen's accession, 1135.] + +Under the Norman dynasty the natural results of the Conqueror's +ecclesiastical policy were controlled by the power of the Crown. Appeals +to Rome were almost unknown; the principles which the Conqueror had laid +down as defining the relations between the Crown and the papacy were +maintained, and the establishment of ecclesiastical courts had not as yet +proved mischievous; for in all serious cases the criminous clerk, after +having been degraded by the spiritual judge, was handed over to the +secular authority. Under a weak king, and then during a period of anarchy, +the Church became invested with extraordinary power; her relations with +Rome were increased, and new privileges were asserted which became +dangerous to civil order. The weakness in Stephen's title was a moral +one, for he and the nobles of the kingdom were pledged by oath to Matilda. +His right then depended on a question that especially concerned the +Church; and though he had received civil election, Archbishop William +hesitated to crown him. His scruples were overcome, and the approval of +the Church was secured by Henry, bishop of Winchester, Stephen's brother. +Stephen was crowned, after swearing to maintain the liberty of the Church, +and put forth a charter promising good government in general terms. The +next year, at Oxford, the bishops swore fealty to him "as long as he +should maintain the liberty and discipline of the Church," a ceremony that +may be described as a separate election by the Church, dependent on the +king's conduct towards her. Stephen, who had received a letter of +congratulation from Innocent II., now put forth a charter in which he +recited his claims. As king by the grace of God, elected by the clergy and +people, hallowed by William, archbishop and legate, and "confirmed by +Innocent, pontiff of the Holy Roman See," he promised that he would avoid +simony, and that the persons and property of clerks should be under the +jurisdiction of their bishops. Thus, in order to strengthen his position, +he not only gave prominence to the assent of the Church, but even cited +the approval of the Pope, as though it conferred some special validity on +the national election. This was, under the circumstances, the natural +result of Duke William's petition that Rome would sanction his invasion, +and justified Hildebrand's policy in espousing his cause. + +[Sidenote: The Battle of the Standard, 1138.] + +For a while the Church remained faithful to Stephen. The +statesmen-bishops, Roger, the justiciar, and his nephews, the bishop of +Ely, the treasurer, and the bishop of Lincoln, together with Bishop +Roger's son, also called Roger, the chancellor, continued to carry on the +administration. In the north a Scottish invasion was checked by the energy +of the aged Archbishop Thurstan, who from his sick-bed stirred the +Yorkshire men to meet the invaders. He was represented in the camp by his +suffragan, the bishop of the Orkneys. The standard of the English army +bore aloft the Host, and the figures of the patron saints of the three +great Yorkshire churches, and the "Battle of the Standard," in which the +Yorkshire men were completely victorious, had something of the character +of a Holy War, in which the archbishop acted, as of old, as the natural +head of the northern people. + +[Sidenote: Stephen's quarrel with the Church.] + +The mischievous results of the appointment of Archbishop William as legate +were apparent at his death; for Innocent granted a legatine commission, +not to his successor, Theobald, but to Henry of Winchester. The authority +of the see of Canterbury was thus grievously diminished, and the +archbishop was made second to a resident representative of the Pope, one +of his own suffragans. The abasement of Canterbury naturally drew the +Church into greater dependence on Rome, and appeals, which had hitherto +been almost unknown, became of constant occurrence. Equally unlike the +justiciar, Roger of Salisbury, who devoted himself to secular +administration and ambitions, and the churchmen who, full of the new +fervour of the Cistercian movement, sought to raise the spiritual dignity +of the Church, Henry of Winchester used his vast powers to exalt her +temporal greatness. His jealousy for the privileges of the clergy brought +him into collision with the king, who now by an act of extreme folly +provoked a quarrel with the clerical order. Stephen suspected the loyalty +of the bishop of Salisbury and his house, and caused him and the bishop of +Lincoln to be arrested at Oxford. They were powerful lords and had reared +several mighty castles. These they were forced to surrender by threats and +ill-treatment. Stephen acted with the violence of a weak man; he had +already lost the obedience of the barons, and the people must have learnt +that his promises were not to be relied on; now he ensured his fall by +offending the clergy. The legate summoned him to appear before a synod at +Winchester, and the king of England actually appeared by his counsellor, +Alberic de Vere, who made his defence. When he refused to restore the +bishops' castles there was some talk of laying the case before the Pope. +This he forbade, and yet appealed to Rome himself. At last he appeared +before the legate stripped of his royal robes, and humbly received his +censure "for having stretched out his hand against the Lord's anointed +ones." Nevertheless the Church was alienated from him, and after his +defeat at Lincoln the legate held another council at Winchester, and +announced as its result that the majority of the clergy, "to whom the +right of electing a prince chiefly belonged," had decided to transfer +their allegiance to the Empress. The legate found that Matilda had little +respect for the rights of the Church, and after a while turned against +her. The result of these rapid changes was to destroy the unity of the +clerical party. + +[Sidenote: The dispute about the archbishopric of York.] + +Hitherto Archbishop Theobald had generally followed the legate's lead, and +had played a secondary part in the affairs of the Church. In 1141, +however, a cause of difference arose between them. The York chapter +elected Stephen's nephew, William, to succeed Archbishop Thurstan. A +minority of the chapter declared that simony and undue influence had been +practised, and Theobald took their part, while Henry consecrated his +nephew in spite of him. Anxious to put his power beyond the reach of +fortune, the bishop of Winchester petitioned the Pope to make his see a +third archbishopric. His request was refused, and his legatine commission +expired in 1143, with the death of Innocent, the Pope who had granted it. +Chief among the opponents of the new archbishop of York were the +Cistercian abbeys of the north; and Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, the head +of the order, who was the guiding spirit of the papacy at this time, threw +all his weight on their side. He disapproved of the diminution of the +rights of Canterbury, and held that, in securing the see of York for their +nephew, Stephen and Henry were injuring the Church to serve their own +ends. Eugenius III. accordingly gave the legatine commission to Theobald. +Enraged at the opposition offered to Archbishop William by Henry Murdac, +abbot of Fountains, his partizans sacked and burnt the abbey. As an answer +to this outrage, Eugenius deprived William, and Murdac was elected +archbishop by his authority, and received consecration from him. Stephen +and Henry made a fatal mistake in matching themselves against the papacy, +with Bernard and the whole Cistercian order at its back. They did not +yield without a further struggle. Stephen forbade Theobald to attend the +Pope's Council at Rheims in 1148. In spite of this prohibition he went to +Rheims. Stephen banished him and seized his temporalities, until an +interdict was laid upon the royal lands, and he was forced to be +reconciled to him. Murdac made his position good at York. His rival, +William, outlived him, was re-elected, and died a month after he had +received the pall. During his retirement he led a holy and humble life, +and after his death became the special saint of his church. Stephen had +one more quarrel with Archbishop Theobald. He desired to have his son +Eustace, an evil and violent man, crowned as his successor. This was +forbidden by the Pope, and the primate and his suffragans refused the +king's request. He tried to frighten them by shutting them in the house +where they were consulting. The archbishop escaped across the Thames in a +boat, and went abroad, and the king again seized the temporalities of the +see. + +[Sidenote: Theobald, Archbishop, 1139-1161.] + +[Sidenote: Study of civil law.] + +Unlike Henry of Winchester, Theobald was guided by the new ideas which +were born of the Cistercian revival. While desire for the secular +greatness of the Church, her splendour and her wealth, led Henry to scheme +and change sides according as he found Stephen or the Empress acting +against her interests, Theobald sought a higher power for her, and +attached himself to Bernard, who ruled Christendom by his sanctity and his +intellectual gifts. Theobald's household was the home of a little society +of men of like mind with himself. One of them was a young clerk of London, +named Thomas, who soon became his chief adviser; another was John of +Salisbury, who held a new office, that of the archbishop's secretary, or, +as he would be called now, his chancellor; for Theobald saw that the +archdeacons were by no means trustworthy officers, and appointed a +secretary to control the administration of ecclesiastical law. This was a +matter in which he took a deep interest, and the frequent appeals that +were now made to Rome gave it a special importance. In 1149 he brought +over from Italy a doctor named Vacarius, and set him to give lectures at +Oxford on the civil law, which supplied the method of procedure in +ecclesiastical cases. In the next reign the study of the canon law, which +was first systematized by Gratian of Bologna, was introduced into England, +and then the clergy had a code as well as a method of procedure of their +own. Stephen sent Vacarius out of the country, probably because he hated +new things; but the study of the civil law could not be stopped so easily. + +With aims and interests such as these, Theobald had no desire to see the +anarchy which is generally called Stephen's reign prolonged. How terrible +in some parts that anarchy was, when men "said openly that Christ and His +saints slept," need not be described here. Some of the bishops rode to war +and behaved like lay barons; others were held back by fear from censuring +the ungodly. Nevertheless the Church still exhibited a pattern of order, +and strove to restore peace to the kingdom. Although Theobald entered into +no schemes for dethroning Stephen, he was fully convinced of the +importance of securing the succession for Henry of Anjou. His counsellor, +Thomas, now archdeacon of Canterbury, was urgent on the same side, and +they were at last joined in their efforts after peace by Henry of +Winchester. The chief obstacle was removed by the death of Eustace, and +the Treaty of Wallingford soon followed. Henry II. owed his throne in no +small degree to the support of the clergy. + +[Sidenote: Thomas the Chancellor.] + +[Sidenote: Taxation of ecclesiastical knights' fees.] + +The young king chose for his chancellor Thomas, the archdeacon, to whose +good offices he was much indebted. Thomas's father, Gilbert Becket, a +wealthy trader, had been port-reeve of London. Thomas was sent to school +at Merton priory, and was taken away from the school there while still +young because his parents suffered serious losses. Nevertheless he was +able to study at Paris, and after his return to England was often the +companion of a rich noble named Richer de l'Aigle, who took him out +hunting and hawking. As his father was now badly off, he became clerk to a +merchant, whose name in English was Eightpenny, and after a while was +introduced to the archbishop, entered his household, and soon became his +most trusted adviser. He took orders, and received many rich preferments. +As chancellor, he held one of the most important offices in the kingdom, +and his duties brought him into constant companionship with the king, who +treated him as an intimate friend. He was diligent in his secular work; +he loved magnificence, and lived with grace and splendour. No chancellor +had been so great a man before. He probably had a large share in the +reorganization of the administrative machinery. One change was certainly +due to him--the commutation of military service for a money payment. A +step in this direction was made in 1156, when Henry laid a tax called +scutage on Church lands held by knight's service. Theobald objected to +this imposition, but his objections were fruitless. Three years later, +when the king was undertaking a war in Toulouse, the chancellor advised +him to take money from all who owed him military service, instead of +calling upon them to go to the war. The general importance of this measure +does not belong to our subject; the scutage of Toulouse concerns us here +simply because it was levied on church-lands. It excited far more +indignation among the clergy than the earlier tax, because they saw that +it was the beginning of a system, not an isolated expedient. The +chancellor was held to have done the Church a grievous injury, and even +his friends traced his later troubles to his sin against her. + +[Sidenote: Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, 1162-1170.] + +When, in 1162, Henry bade his chancellor accept the primacy, he hoped to +find him a powerful ally in carrying out the reforms he contemplated. +Thomas assented unwillingly, for he was resolved, if he took the office, +to maintain the claims of the Church to the utmost, and he knew that this +would bring him into collision with the king. Although his life had been +pure, it had not been clerical, and he had not even taken priest's orders +when he was elected archbishop. He now entered on a new life. Everything +that was then held becoming in a churchman and an archbishop he practised +to the utmost. With the whole-heartedness with which he had thrown himself +into his work as chancellor, he now, in a post that must have been less +congenial to his nature, set himself to live up to the highest ideal then +current of what an archbishop ought to be as regards both life and policy. +He had enemies, for some were jealous of him, and some were honestly +scandalized at his appointment. Ever regardless of the fear or favour of +men, he added to their number by prosecuting the rights of his see to +lands that had been alienated from it. In acting thus, his conduct, though +perhaps injudicious, certainly became his office. His position as the head +of the nation first brought him into opposition to the Crown. Henry wished +that a certain tax, probably a survival of the Danegeld, which was paid to +the sheriffs, should be brought into the royal revenue. The archbishop +objected, no doubt because he thought that this would revive the old tax. +"Saving your pleasure, lord king, we will not give it as revenue; but if +the sheriffs and officers of the counties do their duty by us, we will +never refuse it them by way of aid." The king was wroth. "By the eyes of +God!" he cried, "it shall be given as revenue, and entered in the king's +books; and you ought not to oppose me, for I am not oppressing any man of +yours against your will." The archbishop answered, "By the eyes you have +sworn by, my lord king, it shall not be levied from any of my lands, and +from the lands of the Church not a penny!" He seems to have carried his +point, and thus the first successful opposition to the will of the Crown +in a financial matter proceeded from the Church of England. Nor was the +archbishop slack in asserting the spiritual rights of his office; for he +excommunicated one of the king's tenants-in-chief, and when Henry bade him +absolve him, answered that it was not the king's business to say who +should be bound and who unbound. In this matter the king demanded no more +than the observance of one of the Conqueror's rules; the archbishop +asserted no more than one of the eternal rights of the Church, which she +had now become strong enough to claim. + +[Sidenote: Ecclesiastical discipline.] + +A greater conflict between the claims of the Crown and of the Church was +at hand. The Conqueror had strengthened himself by increasing the power of +the clergy; Henry could only establish the strong and orderly government +he aimed at by lessening it. We have seen how rapidly clerical influence +had grown during the anarchy owing to the suspension of the royal +authority, the multiplication of appeals, the attention paid by Theobald +to ecclesiastical law, and other causes. Clergy guilty of secular offences +were tried solely by ecclesiastical courts; and as the spiritual judges, +after inflicting an ecclesiastical penalty, refused to give up the +clerical offender to a secular court, many gross crimes met with wholly +inadequate punishments. For the number of persons in orders of different +degrees was very large, and all alike claimed immunity from civil +jurisdiction; and it is evident, though this was a matter of less +consequence, that all offences against the clergy were also claimed as +belonging to the province of the ecclesiastical courts. + +[Sidenote: Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164.] + +At a great council, held at Westminster in 1163, Henry asked if the +bishops would obey the "customs of his grandfather," if they would agree +that clerks convicted of secular crimes should, after degradation, be +punished as laymen. The primate declared that clerks were not subject to +the jurisdiction of an earthly king, and would only agree that a clerk +already degraded should for another offence be punished by a lay judge. +Henry asked the bishops if they would obey the "customs," and their reply, +"Saving our order," was virtually a refusal. At a later interview he +persuaded Archbishop Thomas to promise obedience to the customs +unreservedly. He then summoned a council at Clarendon, and there, under +strong pressure, the primate and his suffragans took the required pledge. +The council then proceeded to inquire what the customs were, and a body of +rules was drawn up called the "Constitutions of Clarendon." By these +Constitutions all cases touching advowsons and presentations were to be +tried in the king's court. The convicted clerk was no longer to be +protected by the Church. Appeals from the archbishop were to be heard by +the king, and were not to be carried further without his leave. Bishops +and all who held of the Crown as by barony were to take part in the +proceedings of the king's court until it came to sentence touching life or +limb. Elections to bishoprics and royal abbeys were to be made by the +higher clergy of the church in the king's chapel and with his assent, and +the elect was to do homage and fealty to the king as his liege lord before +he was consecrated. And the son of a villein was not to be ordained +without his lord's leave. When the primate heard the Constitutions he +refused to set his seal to them, declared he would not assent to them as +long as he had breath in his body, and suspended himself from his sacred +office until he had received the Pope's absolution from his hasty promise. +The Constitutions, which were founded on the relations existing between +the Church and the State in the reign of Henry I., were an attempt to +bring matters back to a stage which had now been passed, to define +relations that had hitherto been continually changing, and to establish a +system which, however generally excellent, was contrary to the spirit of +the age. + +[Sidenote: Council of Northampton.] + +Archbishop Thomas twice tried to flee to the Pope, and failed through +stress of weather or because the sailors were afraid of the king's anger. +In October he was summoned to appear before the king's council at +Northampton, and there an effort was made to crush him by multiplied +suits. At last the king demanded an account of all the sums that had +passed through his hands during his chancellorship, though he had already +received a quittance. At Westminster and at Clarendon the bishops had +sided, though timidly, with their primate, for the nature of the dispute +forced them to do so. Now, when the whole business was reduced to a +personal attack upon him, they sided with the king, just as their +predecessors had done when Rufus attacked Anselm and Henry disputed with +him. For though the pretensions of the Church limited the power of the +Crown, and though Anselm and Becket each in his own day struggled for +those pretensions, the bishops as a body were always on the king's side, +for he had given them their office either because they had served him +well, or because he expected them to be useful to himself. Accordingly +Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London, a churchman of considerable worldly +wisdom, who held that a quarrel with the king would injure the interests +of the Church, advised the archbishop to submit to Henry, and other +bishops said much the same. Thomas forbade them to sit in judgment on him, +and appealed from his lay judges to the Pope. Before long he escaped from +England, sorely against the king's will, and went to Pope Alexander III. +at Sens, who at once condemned the Constitutions. + +[Sidenote: The archbishop in exile.] + +Alexander III. was in exile in France, for his rival, Victor, who was +upheld by the Emperor Frederic I., was powerful in Italy, and he naturally +held that it was more important to secure his own position than to uphold +the English primate. He could not afford to offend Henry, lest he should +take the side of the Emperor and his schismatical Pope. Accordingly he +bade the archbishop keep silence for a while; and as Thomas did not think +it seemly to stay in the dominions of Lewis of France, who was at enmity +with Henry, he took up his abode in the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny, in +Burgundy. When Victor died, in 1165, the Emperor set up another Pope, and +made alliance with Henry, who was, perhaps, only saved from actively +espousing the cause of the imperialist antipope by the wisdom of his +justiciar, the earl of Leicester. Indeed, the ambassador he sent to the +Emperor's council at Würzburg renounced the Pope in his master's name and +promised that Henry would help Frederic's antipope. That year, however, +Alexander returned to Rome, and felt himself strong enough to send the +exiled primate a legatine commission. In virtue of this commission, Thomas +in 1166 went to Vézelay, and there, in the abbey church, in the presence +of a large congregation, excommunicated all the king's party, both clergy +and laymen. He had heard that Henry was ill, and therefore did not +excommunicate him. Nevertheless, with a voice choked with tears, he +threatened him by name with a like sentence. In return, Henry so +frightened the Cistercians that Thomas was virtually forced to leave +Pontigny. This retaliation was as foolish as it was tyrannical; for the +archbishop took shelter in France, and so gave Lewis a fresh means of +annoying the English king. The details of the quarrel are intricate and +somewhat wearisome. None of those concerned acted with dignity. Henry +weakened his own position by appealing to the Pope to judge between him +and one of his own subjects; he assented to the Pope's decrees when they +were in his own favour, and resisted them when they were against him. +Thomas was violent, and multiplied excommunications. Several efforts were +made to bring about a reconciliation between him and Henry, and a meeting +took place between them at Montmirail in 1169. The archbishop, however, +would not be content with anything less than a complete surrender on the +king's part, and the conference ended fruitlessly. Alexander sometimes +upheld, and sometimes thwarted Thomas, just as his own interests dictated, +and pursued a course that seemed to the stout-hearted archbishop mean and +pusillanimous. "In the Roman court," he indignantly wrote, "Barabbas +escapes and Christ is put to death." Lewis simply used the quarrel to his +own advantage, and supported the archbishop just as he supported the lords +of Henry's vassal states against him. + +[Sidenote: The archbishop's martyrdom, 1170.] + +A new phase of the dispute arose from Henry's wish to have his eldest son +crowned. The archbishop of Canterbury alone had the right to perform the +ceremony; and when Thomas insisted on this right he was not contending for +an empty honour; for coronation was held to be necessary to kingship, and +it was the archbishop's duty to receive a pledge of good government from +the king he crowned. Alexander first agreed to allow Roger of York to +crown the young king, and, later, sent to prohibit him from doing so. +Henry prevented the prohibition from being brought into England, and Roger +performed the ceremony. Lewis now threatened war, and the Pope's advisers +urged him to vindicate the rights of Canterbury. Henry was thus driven to +a reconciliation, and Thomas returned to his see. He at once suspended the +bishops who had taken part in the coronation, renewed the excommunications +he had already pronounced against some of them, and excommunicated some of +his personal enemies who had annoyed him by violent and brutal acts. The +consciousness that he was endangering his own life had no weight with him, +for he constantly anticipated and even aspired to martyrdom. When the +king, who was still in Normandy, heard of his proceedings he was furiously +angry, and thoughtlessly exclaimed to his courtiers, "Of the cowards who +eat my bread, is there none that will rid me of this troublesome priest?" +Moved by these hasty words, four knights crossed the Channel, proceeded to +Canterbury, and after insulting the archbishop in his palace, broke into +the church where the monks had compelled him to take shelter. One bade him +flee, for else he was a dead man. "I welcome death," he said, "for God and +for the liberty of the Church." They tried to lay hands on him, and then +the feelings of his younger days, long kept down by self-mortification, +asserted themselves. He struggled with the armed men, and threw one to the +ground. He cried to another not to dare to touch him, and called him by a +foul name. The knights shouted, "Strike! strike!" Then he commended his +"soul and the Church's cause to God, to St. Denys of France, to St. +Elphege and all the Saints." His murderers attacked him with their swords, +and he died with holy words upon his lips. He fell a martyr to the +privileges or "liberty" of the Church. That these privileges were not +really beneficial to her is not to the purpose. Men and causes are to be +judged by the standard of their own age, and neither then nor for +centuries later did any doubt that he laid down his life for the cause of +God and His Church. + +[Sidenote: Henry's bishops.] + +The murder of the archbishop seemed likely to ruin the king. Miracles were +worked at the tomb of the martyr, and he was at once accepted as a saint. +Although his murder did not cause the revolt that followed it, the +disorganization it produced made revolt opportune. The only bishop +concerned in this movement was Hugh Puiset of Durham, a crafty and +powerful prelate, who had some underhand dealings with the Scots, and +whose castles were in consequence seized by the king. Henry renounced the +Constitutions, promised not to hinder appeals, and submitted to a +scourging from the monks of Christ Church. Yet the Church lost much; for +the quarrel put an end to the effort to attain to a higher ecclesiastical +standard that had been made by Theobald and the clerks of his household, +and a fresh wave of secularity swept over the Church. This was largely due +to Henry's policy. He kept sees vacant and took their revenues. "Is it not +better," he would say, "that the money should be spent on the necessary +affairs of the kingdom than on the luxuries of bishops? For the bishops of +our time are not like what bishops used to be; they are careless and +slothful about their office, and embrace the world with all their arms." +He might have made bishops of another stamp, but when, after his +absolution, six vacant sees were filled up, he took care that they should +go to men who belonged to his own party. Lincoln he gave to his natural +son, Geoffrey, who was then a mere lad. The Pope ordered that his +consecration should be deferred; yet he held the see, though he was not +even a priest, for eight years, until Alexander III. commanded him either +to take episcopal orders or to give it up. Then he gave it up, became +chancellor, and on his father's death was elected to York. Towards the end +of his reign Henry insisted on the election of a bishop of nobler +character to the see of Lincoln. This was Hugh of Avalon, the bravest and +noblest churchman of his day, whom the king had brought over from Burgundy +to govern the little monastery he had founded at Witham, and whom, to his +honour, he liked and reverenced. The Lincoln chapter would have preferred +a more worldly bishop, and elected several ministers of state and +courtiers, one after another. Henry would have none of them; he would not, +he said, "for the future, give a bishopric to any one for favour, or +relationship, or counsel, or begging, or buying, but only to those whom +the Lord should choose for Himself." Canterbury remained vacant for five +years after the death of Archbishop Thomas, for some difficulties arose +about the election. At last Richard, prior of Dover, was elected. The +young King Henry, a worthless man and a rebellious son, affected to be +scandalized at his father's interference in episcopal elections, and +declared that he managed matters by saying, "I charge you to hold a free +election, yet I forbid you to elect any one but my clerk Richard." The +archbishop was an easy-going man, and did not please Becket's party. +Neither he nor the bishops caused the king any trouble during the +remainder of his reign. + +[Sidenote: His general relations to the Church.] + +Although the Constitutions of Clarendon were nominally abandoned, they had +considerable effect on the future relations between Church and State, and +indeed determined their development. Even in Henry's reign the privileges +which Archbishop Thomas had claimed for the Church were slightly +curtailed. With the papal sanction, clerks were made amenable to the +forest laws; for what business had they to hunt? And the murderers of +clerks were given up to the civil courts; for the claim of the Church to +punish them was reduced to an absurdity when it sheltered Becket's +murderers from justice, and they were simply punished by such penalties as +the Pope, the supreme spiritual judge, could inflict. As Henry caused the +lands of the Church, which had hitherto escaped taxation, to bear their +share of scutage, so when, for the first time, he introduced a tax on +movables the clergy were taxed equally with the laity. This tax, called +the Saladine tenth, was granted the king by a great council, and the +property both of clerks and laymen was assessed by a jury. + +[Sidenote: Legates.] + +After Becket's death Henry took care to keep on good terms with Rome. At +his request a legate named Hugh visited this country, partly, at least, to +settle a new dispute between Canterbury and York, and from him the king +obtained leave to bring the clergy under the forest laws. So far had the +martyrdom of St. Thomas injured the independence of the kingdom that even +a matter of domestic law was submitted to the papal judgment. Hugh's +mission was not successful. At a council held at Westminster in 1176, +Roger of York tried to squeeze himself into a more honourable seat than +the archbishop of Canterbury. This led to a disturbance in which sticks +and fists were freely used. Hugh ran about the chapel in terror, and +finding "that he had no authority in England," soon went his way. A few +months later Henry showed that, in spite of his late humiliation, he was +not prepared to be the Pope's humble servant; for when another legate +landed on his way to Scotland, he sent two bishops, who asked him "by +whose authority he dared to enter his kingdom without his leave," and +exacted a promise from him that he would do nothing here without his will. + +[Sidenote: Heresy.] + +Early in the reign we find the spiritual and the secular power acting +together in a case that was wholly new to Englishmen. Some thirty +German-speaking heretics, probably natives of Flanders, landed here, and +made one disciple--a woman. No Christian heretics had ever appeared in +England before. Henry summoned a council of bishops to meet at Oxford in +1166; the heretics were found guilty, and were handed over to the +"Catholic king." They were condemned to be branded, flogged out of the +city, and then to be shunned by all men. Left without food or shelter in +the midst of winter, they soon perished. The special action taken with +regard to these heretics illustrates the uncertainty of the law as to the +punishment of heresy. Here as elsewhere the Church kept itself free from +the pollution of blood, and handed the heretic over to the secular power. +Although in the reign of John a clerk who apostatized to Judaism was burnt +at Oxford, burning for heresy had no place in the common law of England, +except such as was given it by writers of law-books, who were under the +influence of the Roman jurisprudence. England was generally free from +heresy until the time of Wyclif; the papal Inquisition, though used to +some extent for the suppression of the Templars, was not introduced into +the kingdom, and the subject of heresy and its punishment is of no +practical importance until the appearance of the Lollards. + +[Sidenote: Conquest of Ireland.] + +While the Scottish bishops were, as we have seen, released by the Pope +from dependence on the see of York, the influence of the Church of England +was extended both in Ireland and Wales. The Church in Ireland seems to +have done little to civilize the people: it had lost the early glories of +its missionary days, while it retained its lack of order and its inability +to rule itself or others. Almost to the eve of the Conquest it had no +archbishops, and had a crowd of bishops without a regular diocesan system. +These and other irregularities caused some of the bishops of the Ostmen's +towns to seek consecration from Lanfranc and Anselm. St. Bernard and +Eugenius III. tried hard to introduce some order into the Church, and +their efforts were seconded by the Irish bishop, Malachi. Four sees were +raised to metropolitan rank, and some steps were taken towards +establishing an orderly system. Still, much remained to be done, and +Hadrian IV. (Nicolas Brakespear), the only English Pope, willingly +sanctioned Henry's proposal to invade Ireland, and in 1155 sent him the +bull "Laudabiliter," bidding him conquer the land for the increase of the +Church, together with a ring conveying investiture of the country. He did +this in virtue of the forged donation of Constantine, which purported to +put all islands under the lordship of the Pope. Hadrian's answer to +Henry's request was, therefore, a repetition of the answer that Alexander +II. made to the request of William. Both Popes alike sanctioned the +invasion of a Christian land by a foreign enemy in order to spread the +power of the Roman Church. Henry did not take advantage of Hadrian's bull +until after the death of Becket. Ireland was conquered by private +adventurers, and it only remained for him to receive its submission. He +held the land by the Pope's gift, and he was not unmindful of the benefit +he had received, for he called together a synod at Cashel, which passed +decrees bringing the Church of Ireland into conformity with the Roman +order. By far the larger part of the country, however, was virtually +unaffected by the Conquest, and equally unaffected by the Council of +Cashel. Nor did it become thoroughly papal until Henry VIII. quarrelled +with the papacy. Then he disowned the Roman suzerainty by causing himself +to be proclaimed king of Ireland, and the papacy appeared as the champion +of a country which it had given over to foreign invasion. Unfortunately +the bishops that Ireland received from the English kings were often mere +ministerial officials, and sometimes little better than the fierce lords +of the English Pale. + +[Sidenote: The English Church in Wales.] + +In Wales, Henry used the Church for political ends, and ruled the country +by means of its Norman bishops. The consequence of this policy was, that +the bishops were worldly and greedy men, and were hated by the natives, +the clergy were ignorant and debased, and the people resisted the claims +of the Church. Gerald de Barri, archdeacon of Brecknock, a young man of a +noble Norman house, though on his mother's side of the blood-royal of +Wales, was appointed by Archbishop Richard as his commissioner to reform +the abuses of the Church. He was brave and energetic, very learned and +very witty, and most of his books, and especially his "Topography of +Ireland" and his "Ecclesiastical Jewel," are delightful reading. While +effecting many reforms in the Welsh Church, he seems to have excited the +clergy to attempt to gain metropolitan rank for the see of St. David's. +This would have been wholly contrary to Henry's policy, for it would have +given the Welsh a national leader, and he refused their request. Gerald +spent many years of his life, partly in the pursuit of this object, and +partly in trying to procure his confirmation as bishop of St. David's. He +was twice elected to the bishopric, once in the reign of Henry, and again +at the accession of John; he laid his case before Innocent III., and +engaged in a long suit at the papal court. St. David's, however, never +became a metropolitan see, and he never became its bishop. + +[Sidenote: Richard's crusade.] + +Among the causes that magnified the papal power here and elsewhere must be +reckoned the crusades. The Pope alone could release from their vow those +who had taken the cross; he became, in a certain sense, the director of +the military force of Christendom, and he gained a new claim to interfere +in the mutual relations of states. England took little part in the first +two crusades, though in Stephen's time our seaport towns joined in a naval +crusade of burghers and seamen, who took Lisbon from the Moors. In 1185 +the patriarch of Jerusalem urged Henry to come to the help of the Holy +city. Two or three barons went to the war, and the king thought of going +in person, for he was the head of the Angevin house, to which the kings +of Jerusalem belonged. He did not do so, for the same reason which, it is +alleged, kept the Confessor from making his proposed pilgrimage. A great +council, evidently mainly ecclesiastical in character, reminded him of his +coronation oath, and told him that it was his duty to stay and look after +the interests of his own kingdom. Two years later Christendom was startled +by the news of the fall of Jerusalem. Henry, his son Richard, and many +nobles took the cross, and Archbishop Baldwin, accompanied by Gerald de +Barri, preached the crusade in Wales, and gained a vast number of +recruits. Henry died before he could perform his vow, and Richard +immediately began to prepare for his expedition. It was important alike +for the good of the kingdom and for his own success that he should decide +who should go with him, and accordingly he obtained leave from Clement +III. to dispense with crusading vows for money. Before he sailed he sold +all the lands, jurisdictions, and offices he could find purchasers for. + +[Sidenote: William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, 1189-1197.] + +Richard left the administration in the hands of churchmen, and all through +his reign the affairs of the kingdom were managed by bishops. William +Longchamp, bishop of Ely, bought the chancellorship; Hugh of Puiset, the +justiciarship, and the earldom of Northumberland; and Richard, bishop of +London, was treasurer. William Longchamp was a man of low birth, lame and +insignificant in person, haughty in manner, of overweening ambition, and +careless of the rights of others, active, able, and faithful to his +master. Hugh of Puiset, who came of a noble house, was stately and +gracious, wary, and full of secular affairs--a rich and powerful +prince-bishop. The two ministers soon quarrelled. Bishop William proved +the stronger, and put Hugh under arrest. "By the life of my lord," he +said, "you shall not go hence till you give me hostages for the surrender +of your castles; for I am not a bishop arresting a bishop, but a +chancellor arresting his rival." He received a legatine commission, and +became sole justiciar. He used his power arrogantly, and so enabled John, +the king's brother, to assume the position of a defender of the rights of +others. His fall was brought about by an act of violence. Geoffrey, the +elect of York, who had met with much opposition from his chapter and from +the bishop of Durham, had at last been consecrated in France by the Pope's +orders. He now returned to England, in spite, it is said, of having +promised the king that he would not do so. An attempt was made to arrest +him when he landed at Dover, and he fled to the priory church for refuge. +The soldiers of the constable of the castle, the chancellor's +brother-in-law, dragged him out of the church by his feet and arms, and he +was imprisoned in the castle. There was great indignation at this act. +Hugh of Lincoln at once excommunicated the constable and all who had +abetted him. Churchmen spoke of Geoffrey as a second St. Thomas, and the +lay barons were wroth at the insult put on the son of the late king. All +parties united against the chancellor; he was deposed from his office and +compelled to leave the kingdom. + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Hubert, 1193-1205.] + +Richard was made prisoner as he was returning from the crusade, and his +brother John raised a revolt against him. The king committed his interests +to Hubert Walter, bishop of Salisbury. Hubert, as dean of York, had been +one of Geoffrey's enemies; he was made bishop by Richard, and accompanied +him to Acre, where, we are told, he was equally distinguished as a +warrior, a commander, and a pastor. Archbishop Baldwin having died at Acre +in 1190, the suffragan bishops and the monks of Christ Church, in +obedience to the king's will, elected Hubert to the archbishopric in 1193, +and shortly afterwards Richard appointed him chief justiciar. A relation +of Ralf Glanville, the famous justiciar of Henry II., Hubert had been +brought up in a good school for statesmanship, and he did credit to his +training. He excommunicated John, took his castles, and ensured his fall +by raising the money for the king's ransom. On Richard's return Hubert +placed the crown on his head at his second coronation at Winchester, and +the king obtained the legatine commission for him. When Richard again left +England, Hubert virtually became viceroy of the kingdom. He triumphed over +his old enemy, Geoffrey, sent judges to York to decide the dispute between +him and his chapter, allowed them to seize the estates of the see, and +upheld the cause of the canons, who obtained a papal judgment against +their archbishop. Geoffrey left England, and remained abroad for the next +five years. During his absence Hubert visited York both as legate and as +justiciar. + +[Sidenote: Bishop Hugh of Lincoln opposes an unconstitutional tax, 1198.] + +More honourable to Hubert than this almost personal triumph is his +administrative work. Of this it will be sufficient to say here, that he +had constantly to find large sums of money for the king; that he did so as +far as possible by constitutional methods; that in doing so he accustomed +the people to make elections and act by representatives; and that he +preserved internal order and developed the constructive work of Henry II. +Richard's demands for money were heavy, and though Becket had once opposed +Henry on a fiscal question, no constitutional resistance had ever yet been +made to a tax proposed by the Crown. Now, however, the nation was to +receive from the Church its first lesson in the principle that taxes +should only be imposed with the consent of those who have to pay them. At +an assembly held at Oxford in 1198 the archbishop, on the king's behalf, +proposed to the barons and bishops that they should maintain three hundred +knights for a year to serve across the sea. Then Hugh of Lincoln answered, +that though he had come to England as a stranger, he would maintain the +rights of his church, and that though it was bound to do military service +within the kingdom, the king could not claim such service beyond the sea, +and that he would not contribute to a foreign war. Herbert of Salisbury +also spoke to the same effect. Their answers naturally appealed to the +interests of the lay barons, and the demand was refused, greatly to the +king's annoyance. + +Hubert's position was not altogether pleasant. The king was always calling +on him to find fresh supplies, and he was harassed by a suit brought +against him at Rome by his chapter about the college he was building at +Lambeth, a subject that belongs to another volume of this series. A +serious trouble had also arisen in 1196. The taxes pressed heavily on the +lower classes, and a revolt was raised in London, where the richer +citizens were accused of throwing the burden of taxation on the poor. The +leader of the discontented citizens was a demagogue named William +Fitz-Osbert, or William Longbeard, as he was commonly called. Hubert tried +to arrest him, but William fled for refuge to the church of St. +Mary-le-Bow. By Hubert's order the church was set on fire, and William was +smoked out, taken, and hanged. The church belonged to the convent of +Christ Church, and the monks, indignant at this breach of sanctuary, +complained to Pope Innocent III., who in 1198, wrote to Richard urging him +to dismiss his minister, and commanding that for the future bishops and +priests should not take part in civil administration. Hubert was therefore +compelled to resign the justiciarship. + +Much was lost by the absorption of the clergy in secular matters, and St. +Hugh did not fail to urge the archbishop to attend less to the affairs of +the State and more to those of the Church. The evils that oppressed the +Church, the debased lives of the clergy, who generally lived in +concubinage, the greediness of the archdeacons and other officials, the +worldliness of the bishops, and the venality of the Roman court, are +exposed in the satires which bear the name of "Bishop Golias," and are +attributed to Walter Map, archdeacon of Oxford. In these poems scarcely a +sign appears of any hope of a higher ecclesiastical life; worldliness and +evil are represented as triumphant in Christendom. Yet there were some +churchmen living noble lives, and the power which St. Hugh exercised in +Church and State shows that matters were not past hope. As far as the +State was concerned, the employment of the clergy in secular matters was +no small gain. Besides providing the country with a succession of highly +trained officers, the Church forwarded constitutional development. Just as +at first she taught the State how to attain unity, so now she afforded it +an example of organization and progress. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +_VASSALAGE._ + + THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE CROWN--CORONATION OF + JOHN--QUARREL BETWEEN JOHN AND THE POPE--THE INTERDICT--VASSALAGE OF + ENGLAND--THE GREAT CHARTER--PAPAL TUTELAGE OF HENRY III.--TAXATION OF + SPIRITUALITIES--PAPAL OPPRESSION--EDMUND RICH, ARCHBISHOP--ROBERT + GROSSETESTE, BISHOP OF LINCOLN--ALIENATION FROM ROME--CIVIL + WAR--INCREASE OF CLERICAL PRETENSIONS--THE CANON LAW. + + +[Sidenote: Alliance between the Church and the Crown.] + +For nearly a century and a half after the Norman Conquest the Church was +in alliance with the Crown. For, though Anselm and Thomas withstood the +royal power when it threatened to overthrow the liberty and privileges of +the Church, and Theobald, Thomas, and Hugh of Lincoln each opposed demands +that seemed to them contrary to right, the bishops generally were staunch +supporters of the Crown, and their alliance helped the king to triumph +over the baronage. This was for the good of the nation at large; for the +orderly though stern despotism of the king was a source of prosperity to +the country, while feudal anarchy entailed general misery and ruin. The +strength of the Crown, and its general alliance with the bishops, enabled +it to preserve an independent attitude towards Rome, and this secured the +Church from papal oppression. Indeed, it was to Rome that churchmen looked +for help when the law of conscience to which they adhered was in danger of +being trodden down by royal power. As long as the king and the Pope had +separate interests the Church was tolerably secure from wrong. In the +present chapter we shall see how the alliance between the Church and the +Crown was broken by the tyranny of John; how the Church, though she gained +her rights, was not content with a selfish victory, and placed herself in +the forefront of the battle for national liberty; how the Crown stooped to +become the vassal of Rome; and how, throughout the larger part of the long +reign of Henry III., the alliance thus formed between the Pope and the +king caused the Church to be ground between the upper and nether +millstones of royal and papal oppression. + +[Sidenote: Coronation of John, 1199.] + +While the accession of John was strictly in accordance with constitutional +usage, it brought the elective character of the monarchy into special +prominence; and Archbishop Hubert, at the coronation, while declaring him +qualified for election, asserted the freedom of the people's choice, and +made a special appeal to John to observe the oath which he had taken. It +seems as though, like Dunstan when he crowned Æthelred, he foresaw the +consequences of his act, and strove, as the representative of the English +Church and people, to impress on the new king the duty he owed to both. +Hubert accepted the chancellorship, which was held to be beneath his +dignity as archbishop; he used his power to restrain the king from evil, +and the hatred that John bore to his memory proves that his death, which +took place in 1205, was a national calamity. + +[Sidenote: Quarrel between John and Innocent III., 1205.] + +Before Hubert was buried the younger monks of Christ Church met by night, +and without waiting for the king's leave, elected their sub-prior, +Reginald, archbishop, and sent him to Rome for confirmation, bidding him +tell no one of his new honour. Nevertheless, as soon as he landed in +Flanders he gave out that he was archbishop-elect. The king was angry with +the convent, for he wished to nominate John de Gray, bishop of Norwich, +one of his ministers; the suffragan bishops complained that they had been +allowed no share in the election, and the elder and younger monks were +opposed to each other. John caused the convent to elect the bishop of +Norwich, and gave him the temporalities, and all the parties appealed to +Innocent III. After considerable delay--for delays were profitable to the +papal court--Innocent declared that the right of election belonged solely +to the monks, and that the suffragan bishops had no claim to share in it. +He annulled the election of Reginald as altogether illegal, and that of +Bishop John, because it was made before the other was declared void; and +then, on the ground that the church of Canterbury should no longer be left +desolate, commanded the monks, whom John had sent over to uphold his +cause, to elect Stephen Langton, an Englishman, and a cardinal of high +position and character. John had given the monks full powers, for he +thought that he could trust them, and after a little pressure they yielded +to the Pope's command. Innocent wrote to John bidding him receive +Stephen. The king answered angrily that he would not do so, that he knew +nothing of Stephen save that he had lived among his enemies, that Rome got +more out of England than any country on this side the Alps, but that he +would narrow the road thither, and that he had plenty of learned prelates +in his dominions, and was in no need of sending to a foreigner for +judgments. Innocent, who had already shown that he was determined to +maintain his authority, as the Vicar of Christ, to judge the kings of the +earth, was not to be frightened, and consecrated Stephen Langton. The king +turned out the monks of Christ Church, seized the property of the house, +and remained obstinate. Meanwhile he quarrelled with the Northern +metropolitan also. Many heavy taxes had been laid upon the country, and +his brother, Archbishop Geoffrey, refused to allow a new subsidy, demanded +from clergy and laity alike, to be levied in his province, and +excommunicated the collectors; he appealed to Innocent, but was forced to +leave the kingdom, and died abroad. + +[Sidenote: Interdict, 1208-1213.] + +When every attempt to persuade John to receive the archbishop had failed, +the Pope bade the bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester lay the kingdom +under an interdict. No church bells might be rung, no service sung save in +low tones, no sacraments administered save confession and the sacrament +for the dying, and the dead were buried in unconsecrated ground like dogs, +without prayer or priest. In answer, John confiscated all the goods of the +clergy and sealed up their barns; the women who lived with them as their +wives (_focariæ_) were seized, and they were forced to ransom them, and +were ill-used and robbed of their horses as they rode on the highways by +the king's men. Several bishops fled the kingdom. This state of things +went on for about four years. It was not an unprosperous time with John; +he got a great deal of money out of the revenues of the Church and out of +the Jews, and made some successful expeditions. At last, in 1212, the Pope +published his sentence of special excommunication against him, and +absolved his subjects from their allegiance. Men began to say that it was +not well to associate with an excommunicated king; and for words like +these the archdeacon of Norwich, one of John's fiscal officers, was put to +death, partly by starvation, and partly by being weighed down by a massive +cloak of lead. Philip II. of France was charged by the Pope to carry out +the sentence of deposition, and threatened to invade England. + +[Sidenote: John becomes the Pope's vassal.] + +John now found himself in evil case. Wherever he turned there was, or +seemed to be, danger; the Welsh rose in rebellion, and word was brought +him that his barons, many of whom he had deeply injured, were conspiring +against him. Besides, he was much frightened by the prophecy of a certain +hermit of Wakefield, who in 1212 declared that on the next Ascension Day +he would no longer be king, a prophecy that was repeated from mouth to +mouth all through the land. He now gave way entirely; he agreed to receive +the archbishop, and to recompense the exiled prelates and the Canterbury +monks. On 15th May, 1213, he made submission to the Pope in the person of +his legate, a sub-deacon named Pandulf, placed his crown in Pandulf's +hands at Dover, did liege homage on receiving it again, and promised the +payment of a yearly tribute of 1000 marks for the kingdom of England and +the lordship of Ireland. Thus the king of England declared himself the +Pope's vassal, and it became the interest of the Pope to uphold his +authority. The ecclesiastical difficulty was over, and the victory lay +with the Church. Nevertheless the Church, in the person of the primate, +now dared to strive against both Pope and king for the liberties of the +nation. + +[Sidenote: The primate and the barons.] + +The barons, who had stood by quietly while John plundered the Church, felt +that it was time to take measures to check his tyranny, for they were +disgusted at his pusillanimous submission to the Pope. At a council held +at St. Alban's, the justiciar, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, spoke of the oath the +king had taken at his absolution to govern well, and referred to the +charter of Henry I. as a standard of good government. He died soon after, +and Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, a Poitevin, whom John chose as +his successor, was no friend to English freedom. The archbishop then came +to the front; he held a council of clergy and nobles at St. Paul's, and +produced Henry's charter, which seems to have been lost, and had it read +before them. The barons were exceeding glad when they heard it, and all +took an oath before him that they would fight to the death for the +liberties it contained. He promised that he would help them, and so they +made a league together. John turned for help to his liege lord, sent a +large sum to the Pope, begging him to "confound" the archbishop and +excommunicate the barons, and renewed his submission to the papal legate, +Nicolas of Tusculum. This Nicolas filled up the many ecclesiastical +offices that had fallen vacant during the interdict without regard to the +rights of patrons or electors, ordained unfit men, and set at nought the +authority of the bishops. They appealed to Innocent, but no good came of +it. Meanwhile the northern barons maintained an attitude of opposition to +the king, and refused to take part in his war with Philip of France. +Moreover, the barons of Poitou would not follow him, his army was defeated +at Bouvines, and he came back to England in the autumn of 1214 utterly +discredited. During his absence the compensation he had promised had been +paid to the bishops and the interdict had been removed, so that his peace +with Rome was now firmly secured. On the other hand, the barons, +considering that the peace which the king had made with Philip left them +exposed to his vengeance, entered into a fresh bond of confederation. +Accordingly John endeavoured, with some skill, to divide his enemies, and +above all to persuade Stephen Langton to desert the common cause. He +issued a charter granting full freedom of election to the Church. When a +bishopric or abbacy fell vacant the royal license to elect was to be +granted without delay; and if this was not done, the chapter might proceed +to make a canonical election without it, and the royal assent was not to +be refused unless a sufficient reason could be proved. This was no small +boon, for the system of holding elections in the royal court or chapel put +the choice of the chapters virtually under the king's control; and as the +king received the revenues of vacant bishoprics, it was his interest to +prolong the period of vacancy by delays and objections. Nevertheless the +archbishop was not to be won over. + +[Sidenote: The Great Charter, 1215.] + +A list of demands, based on the charter of Henry I., and evidently the +result of the conferences between the archbishop and the barons, was +presented to the king. He asked for time, for he dared not refuse flatly, +and pretended that he only wanted to uphold his dignity by appearing to +yield of his own will. The archbishop arranged a truce, which John only +employed in endeavours to strengthen himself. Stephen Langton therefore +gave his full sanction to the assembling of the barons in arms at Stamford +in Easter week, 1215, immediately after the conclusion of the truce. John +was forced to yield to their demands, and the terms of peace between him +and his people form the Great Charter, to which he set his seal at +Runnymead on 15th June. On that memorable day the archbishop and several +bishops stood by the king as his counsellors, for they had not withdrawn +themselves from him, and took no part in the warlike proceedings of the +baronial party. Two of them, Peter, the bishop of Winchester, and Walter +de Gray, bishop of Worcester, the nephew of John de Gray, for whom the +king had tried to gain the primacy, and, like him, one of John's +ministers, were decidedly on his side. But the bishops, with Stephen +Langton at their head, were as a body in accord with the nation at large +in its successful struggle to compel the king to grant this acknowledgment +of national liberties. Like the charter of Henry I., the Great Charter +opens with the declaration that the "English Church should be free," and +should enjoy its full rights and liberties; and it refers to the special +charter on this subject granted the year before. It provides for the +rights of all classes, for it bound the barons to extend the same +liberties to their tenants that they had obtained from the king; and this +and other clauses of general importance are, it is safe to assume, in part +at least to be attributed to the influence of the bishops, who thus appear +as the champions of the people in the struggle for common rights. + +[Sidenote: Annulled by the Pope.] + +Innocent came to the help of his vassal, and, at John's request, annulled +the Charter and pronounced sentence of excommunication against the barons. +Peter des Roches and Pandulf were sent to the archbishop to order him to +publish this sentence, and on his refusal suspended him. Stephen thereupon +left the kingdom and went to Rome. His absence was a great loss to the +national party, for the barons held him in awe, and he kept them together. +After he left they no longer acted with the same wisdom, unity, or +national feeling as before, and a large section joined in inviting Lewis, +the eldest son of the French king, to assume the crown. When the +archbishop reached Rome his suspension was confirmed by the Pope, and +excommunication was pronounced against the barons by name and against the +Londoners. This sentence greatly embarrassed the baronial party, though in +London it was openly set at nought. The relations between the Pope and the +king were fraught with mischief to the Church as well as to the national +cause. Besides depriving her of the presence of the primate, Innocent and +John combined to confer the see of Norwich on Pandulf, a third-rate papal +emissary, who was not even consecrated bishop until about seven years +after he had begun to draw the revenues of the bishopric, and never +resided in, perhaps never visited, his diocese. And they set at nought the +rights of the church of York, which had been left without the presence of +an archbishop ever since Geoffrey's departure in 1207. The chapter +received leave to elect in 1215, and chose Simon Langton, the brother of +the archbishop of Canterbury. John urged the Pope not to confirm the +election of the brother of a man who was, he said, his "public enemy," and +Innocent accordingly forced the representatives of the chapter to +recommend the king's friend, Walter, bishop of Worcester, who received the +pall, after binding himself to pay no less than £10,000 to the Roman court +for his office. Greatly to the Pope's chagrin, he was unable to prevent +Lewis from invading England; and although his legate, Gualo, +excommunicated the invader, the king's party dwindled. The tidings of +Innocent's death were received in England with joy; he had done all he +could to sacrifice the liberties of the nation and the welfare of the +Church to the aggrandizement of the papacy, and it was generally believed +that his successor, Honorius III., would not follow in his steps. In a +few weeks his vassal, John, likewise died. + +[Sidenote: Papal tutelage of Henry III.] + +Honorius was a wise and careful guardian to the young king, Henry III., +and his legate, Gualo, upheld the government of the earl-marshal; the +Great Charter was twice reissued, the French were got rid of, and peace +was restored. On the other hand, Gualo dealt hardly with the bishops and +clergy of the baronial party. He deprived many of the clergy of their +benefices and gave them to his own friends; and he compelled the bishops +to pay large sums to the Roman court, and to give him considerable gifts +also, that they might be allowed to retain their sees. He was succeeded by +Pandulf. Stephen Langton had now returned, and was helping Hubert de Burgh +to give a thoroughly national character to the administration. The +presence of a Roman legate, which had certainly done much, during the +early years of the reign, to forward the well-being of the kingdom, became +needless. Pandulf was overbearing, and thwarted the archbishop and Hubert. +Accordingly the archbishop, who himself had a legatine commission, went to +Rome, and obtained a promise from the Pope that no other legate should be +appointed as long as he lived, and Pandulf soon afterwards left England. +The position of these legates was extraordinary. They controlled the +ordinary course of government, directed foreign politics, and continually +brought the spiritual power of the papacy to bear on the affairs of the +country. Through them their master acted as the guardian of the young king +and the suzerain of the kingdom. It is to the credit of Honorius that he +willingly brought to a close the period of the tutelage of Henry and of +the government of England by foreign legates. From this date the legatine +authority of the archbishops of Canterbury was always recognized at Rome, +though legates _a latere_ were still sent over to England from time to +time on special errands. + +Henry owed much to the Pope's care, and the gratitude he consequently felt +towards the Roman see brought evil on the Church and nation. He became a +tool in the hands of successive Popes, who used the wealth of the country +for their own purposes. Ecclesiastical preferments were lavishly conferred +on Italian adventurers, who were ignorant of the language of the people, +and utterly unfit to be their spiritual guides; and the clergy were +heavily taxed, sometimes for the Pope's immediate use, and sometimes, by +his authority, for the use of the king, though the money thus raised often +found its way into the papal treasury. Resistance was difficult, partly +because it was widely held that the Pope, as the spiritual father of +Christendom, had a right to the goods of the Church, and partly because, +even when the king was angry at the papal demands, the bishops dared not +reckon on his support, for his heart was of wax, and never bore the same +impression long. + +[Sidenote: Taxation of Spiritualities.] + +The demands made on the clergy in this reign have an important bearing on +the history of the Church. Although the movables of the clergy had been +taxed for the Saladine tithe and for King Richard's ransom, these were +occasions of a special character, and the taxation of spiritualities, or +tithes and ings, for national purposes cannot be said to have begun until +the Crown and the papacy had become allies. When the Popes demanded money +of the clergy for their own use, they did so on the pretext of needing it +for the crusades, an object which had an overwhelming claim on +Christendom; when they authorized the king to ask for tenths, they acted +as protectors of the kingdom. These demands were considered in +convocation, and were not granted without the discussion of grievances and +petitions for redress. And as the levying of scutage on episcopal lands +was an evidence of the right of the bishops to have an equal share with +the barons in the deliberations of the great council, so the taxation of +clerical movables brought about the secular work of convocation. An +example was thus set for the guidance of the future parliament, and the +clergy were prepared to take their place as one of the estates of the +realm. The payment of tenths to the Pope, while nominally dependent on the +consent of the clergy, was virtually compulsory, and was constantly +demanded from the middle of this reign. The king did not care to quarrel +with the papacy on the matter, and sometimes obtained the papal authority +to demand them for his own use. + +[Sidenote: Papal oppression.] + +Among the evils that the Popes brought upon the Church at this period, +none were so serious as those that proceeded from their interference with +the rights of patronage. This was ordinarily effected by "provisions" or +simple announcements that the Pope had provided a person, named or +unnamed, for a vacant benefice. The light in which English benefices were +regarded at Rome was shown as early as 1226, when Honorius sent a demand, +not indeed confined to England, that two prebends in every cathedral +church should be made over to the papacy. This demand was rejected by the +bishops. While Honorius and his legates did not watch over the young king +for nought, the relations between England and the papacy entered on a new +and darker phase with the accession of Gregory IX.; for he used this +country to supply him with money for his war with the Emperor Frederic II. +Moreover, the death of Stephen Langton in 1228 deprived the Church and +nation of one of the ablest champions of national rights. Stephen, the +papal collector--there was now always an officer of this kind resident in +England--roused general indignation by his conduct. He had brought over +with him a tribe of usurers, and fear of papal censure drove men to have +recourse to them; so the collector and the money-lenders played into one +another's hands. The rights of patrons were set aside, and many livings +were held by Italians, who never came near them, and farmed them out to +others. The wrath of the people broke forth in 1332. A secret league was +formed under the direction of a Yorkshire knight, named Robert Twenge, who +called himself William Wither. Letters were sent to the bishops and +chapters warning them against obeying provisions; and bands of armed +knights, with masks on their faces, burst open the granaries of the +Italian clerks, distributed their corn among the people, and robbed and +beat the foreigners on the highways. Hubert de Burgh, the chief justiciar, +was said to have been concerned in the movement, and the accusation +hastened his fall. Still, the Pope saw that it was advisable to give way, +and sent letters confirming the rights of private patrons. On the death of +Stephen Langton the Pope took a further step towards the enslavement of +the English Church by treating the course taken by Innocent III. with +reference to Langton's election as a precedent for future action. At the +request of the king, who offered Gregory the bribe of a tenth on all +movables throughout his kingdom, he set aside the choice of the chapter +and nominated Richard Grant to the archbishopric. + +[Sidenote: Edmund Rich, archbishop, 1234-1240.] + +[Sidenote: Council of Merton, 1236.] + +When Richard died in 1234, Gregory confirmed this precedent by quashing +three successive elections of the chapter, and compelling the monks to +accept Edmund Rich. Edmund had been famous as a teacher at Oxford; he was +pious, and had considerable political talent. He saw with indignation the +overwhelming influence exercised by the Poitevin and other foreign +favourites of the king, against which the bishops as a body were steadily +working. He at once took the headship of the national party, and though +the Pope favoured the foreigners, compelled the king by a threat of +excommunication to dismiss Peter des Roches and his adherents. +Nevertheless no permanent reform was effected, and the king's marriage was +followed by a fresh influx of foreigners, many of whom were provided for +at the expense of the Church. Appeals to Rome were multiplied, and efforts +were made to displace the common law for the canon law. These efforts +caused much displeasure; and when it was proposed at the Council of Merton +to bring the law of legitimacy into conformity with the law of Rome, the +barons answered, "We will not suffer the laws of England to be changed." +The archbishop's authority was weakened by the arrival of the legate Otho, +who, in 1237, held a council at London, in which he caused a large body of +constitutions to be accepted. Fresh demands were made by Gregory both for +money and patronage, and against these the archbishop and clergy protested +in vain, for the Pope was upheld by the king. Nevertheless Henry now and +then grew restive under the papal yoke, for he knew that he and his +kingdom were being ruined, and once, when an unusually large demand was +made upon him, told the legate, with oaths and bitter words, that he was +sorry he had ever allowed him to land in his kingdom. Edmund found himself +set at nought by the legate, thwarted by the king and the Pope, and +utterly unable to check the evils by which the Church was oppressed. His +troubles reached a climax in 1240, when Gregory, in order to bind the +Roman citizens to his side, determined to distribute the benefices of +England among their sons and nephews, and ordered the archbishop and two +of the bishops to provide benefices for as many as three hundred Roman +ecclesiastics. Edmund left the kingdom in despair, and died the same year, +and Henry procured the election of Boniface of Savoy, the queen's uncle, a +man of worldly mind and small ability, who, though not without some sense +of duty, was chiefly guided by his own interests. + +[Sidenote: Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, 1235-1253.] + +The noblest figure in the history of the Church at this period is that of +Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, and master of all sciences, as +Roger Bacon declared him to be. He was also a man of action; his life was +holy and his courage invincible. He was a warm friend of the mendicant +friars, the Franciscans and Dominicans, who were established in England in +the early part of this reign. The work of these Orders, which will be +described in another volume of this series, produced a vast effect on the +Church, not merely by moving the laity of every class, especially in +towns, to repentance and confession, and by imparting new life to Oxford, +but also by stirring up the clergy to efforts after better things. A new +light was shining; and children of the light, such as was Robert +Grosseteste, were glad to walk in it, while even others were conscious +that it would be well to prevent men perceiving that they loved darkness. +Grosseteste was anxious for the reformation of his diocese, the largest +and most populous in England, and was active in the work of visitation. +His canons refused his visitation, and he had a long suit with them, which +established the right of bishops to visit their chapters. He endeavoured +to enforce celibacy on his clergy, for clerical marriages seem to have +been common, and ordered them to prevent excessive drinking and feasting, +the practice of sports and plays in churches and churchyards, and all +private marriages. He took part in a movement from which the Church still +reaps benefit, the erection of vicarages, setting apart in rectories +subject to monastic appropriation a sufficient portion of land and tithe +for the perpetual and independent endowment of the vicarage. The king +sometimes yielded to his influence; but Henry never remained long under +one influence, especially if it was for good. Grosseteste always acted +under a strong sense of spiritual responsibility; he held that the Pope, +when he was in need, had a right to the goods of the clergy, and did not +shrink from carrying out his demands. Nor did he raise any objection to +the appointment of papal nominees to English benefices on the ground of +their foreign birth, or even their ignorance of English. If, however, they +were unfit for their duties, either spiritually or canonically, his +reverence for the Pope did not blind him, and he refused to present them. +Nor did he ever hesitate to resist the king's unrighteous oppression of +the Church. Henry's demands on both clergy and laity in 1244 brought about +an attempt at combined resistance by the bishops and barons. He met the +resistance of the clergy by producing letters from the Pope, Innocent IV., +bidding them support his "dearest son." Some of the clergy and laity alike +wavered. "Let us not be divided from the common counsel," Grosseteste +said, "for it is written, If we are divided we shall all straightway +perish." Unfortunately the two orders had not yet learnt the necessity of +standing by each other, and the alliance failed. + +[Sidenote: Extortion and remonstrance.] + +Innocent IV. made at least as large demands on England as Gregory had +done, and treated her with more cynical insolence. His envoy, Martin, was +like him, and at last goaded the long-suffering nation to violence. Fulk +Fitz-Warin came to him with the short message, "Leave England, and begone +forthwith." "Who bids me? Did any one send you?" asked the legate. Fulk +told him that he was sent by the baronage assembled in arms at a +tournament, and warned him that if he delayed to depart till the third day +he and all his "would be cut to pieces." The trembling legate complained +to the king. Henry, however, told him that he could not restrain his +barons. "For the love of God and the reverence of my lord the Pope, give +me a safe-conduct!" the legate prayed. "The devil give you a safe-conduct +to hell, and all through it!" was the answer of the perplexed and petulant +king. A strong remonstrance, in the form of a letter from the people of +England, was read by the English representatives at the Council of Lyons, +in which it was stated that Italian ecclesiastics drew over 60,000 marks a +year from the country. For a while Henry, who was thoroughly alarmed at +the state of affairs, wished to check the drain of money to Rome, and +wrote to Grosseteste complaining that the bishops had undertaken to +collect a tallage which the Pope had laid on the clergy. Grosseteste +replied that they were bound to obey their spiritual father and mother +(the Pope and the Church) then in exile and suffering persecution, for the +papal court was still in exile at Lyons. This view was taken by many +noble-minded churchmen, and especially by the friars, who, though they +proved themselves the friends of constitutional freedom, strongly +maintained the duty of supporting the Popes in their struggle with the +Empire. + +[Sidenote: Robert Grosseteste's letter to Innocent IV., 1253.] + +Henry soon returned to his old relations with the Pope, and matters went +from bad to worse. A grant of the tenths of spiritualities was made him +by Innocent in 1252. His proctors appeared before an assembly of bishops, +and without asking them to allow the tax, proposed its immediate +collection. The bishop of Lincoln rose in anger. "What is this, by our +Lady?" he said. "You are taking matters for granted. Do you suppose that +we will consent to this cursed tax? Let us never bow the knee to Baal." +The king tried in vain to frighten some of the bishops by threatening them +separately. The next year he obtained a grant, and in return confirmed the +Great Charter and the Forest Charter. Special solemnity was given to this +act by the bishops. Excommunication was pronounced against all who broke +the charters, and when it had been read they dashed the candles which they +carried to the ground, saying, "So let those who incur this sentence be +quenched and stink in hell;" while the king swore to observe the charters +"as a man, a Christian, a knight, a king crowned and anointed." Robert +Grosseteste died soon after this ceremony, lamenting with his latest +breath the oppressions of the Church, and declaring that her deliverance +would only be effected by the sword. Shortly before his death he showed +how greatly his feelings had been changed towards the papacy by the +troubles that it had brought upon England. Innocent ordered him to induct +one of his nephews into a prebendal stall at Lincoln, adding a clause by +which the Popes used to override all law--_Non obstante_, any privilege of +the church notwithstanding. He refused in a letter in which he speaks +plainly of the Pope's conduct, saying that it was not apostolic, and +reminding him that there was no sin so hateful to the Lord Jesus Christ as +that men should take the milk and the wool of Christ's sheep and betray +the flock. When Innocent heard this letter read, he declared that the +bishop was a "deaf old dotard," and that his "vassal," the king, ought to +imprison him. Here, however, the cardinals interfered, and told the Pope +that that might not be, for the bishop was better and holier than any of +them, a great philosopher and scholar. + +[Sidenote: The English Church alienated from papacy.] + +[Sidenote: Death of Sewal de Bovil, archbishop of York, 1258.] + +Matters were brought to a crisis by the offer of the crown of Sicily to +Henry for his younger son, Edmund, first made by Innocent IV., and +confirmed by his successor, Alexander IV., in the hope of using the wealth +of England to crush Conrad, and afterwards Manfred, the sons of Frederic +II. Henry greedily swallowed the bait, and incurred an enormous debt to +the Pope for the war in Apulia. By the advice of Peter, the Provençal +bishop of Hereford, he tried to satisfy the Pope by the shameful trick of +attaching the seals of the bishops, without their knowledge, to blank +bonds, to be filled up as the Pope chose. Alexander IV. treated the +English Church as insolently as his predecessor. Soon after the +appointment of an Englishman to the deanery of York in 1256, an Italian +cardinal appeared in the church, and was installed as dean by his +companions; he had been "provided" by the Pope. The archbishop, Sewal de +Bovil, had been a pupil of Edmund of Canterbury, by that time canonized, +and was a friend of the famous Oxford Franciscan, Adam Marsh. He +successfully resisted the intrusion. His courage brought excommunication +on him and an interdict on his church, and he died broken-hearted, after +sending a letter to the Pope bidding him remember that the Lord's charge +to Peter was to "feed His sheep, not shear them or devour them." In 1256, +Alexander's envoy, Rustand, pressed the bishops for a tenth for three +years for the Sicilian scheme. Fulk, bishop of London, declared that he +would sooner lose his head; and Walter of Cantelupe, bishop of Worcester, +that he would sooner be hanged. Henry, as his wont was, abused Fulk, and +threatened that the Pope should deprive him. "Let them take away my mitre, +I shall still keep my helmet," was the bishop's answer. The clergy +remonstrated against the envoy's proposal in their diocesan synods, and, +thanks to the opposition offered by the lay barons, the Pope and the king +were defeated. The reverence which Englishmen formerly had for the Roman +Church had now disappeared, and bitter and contemptuous feelings had taken +its place. The venality of the papal court and the wrongs of the Church +were the favourite themes of the ballad-singer; and English monks loved to +tell of visions which represented Innocent as dying struck by the spear of +the glorified bishop of Lincoln, and of the sentence pronounced against +him by the Eternal Judge on the accusation of the Church he had persecuted +and degraded. + +[Sidenote: The Church and the Barons' War.] + +The evil and wasteful administration of the king led the barons, in 1258, +to place a direct check on the executive, and force Henry to accept the +Provisions of Oxford. Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, the greatest +of the baronial party, had been an intimate friend of Grosseteste, who had +consoled and striven to help him in a time of trouble, while Adam Marsh +had been his spiritual adviser. Simon was anxious for the welfare of the +Church; and the patriotic party among the bishops and the clergy as a body +clung steadfastly to him to the last. The national cause, which was +already weakened by disunion, received a severe blow in 1261, when the +Pope absolved the king from his promises, and annulled the Provisions of +Oxford. Two years later the civil war began. After doing all he could to +make peace, Walter of Cantelupe threw in his lot with Earl Simon. Before +the battle of Lewes, he and Henry, bishop of London, brought to the king +the terms offered by the baronial leaders; and when they were rejected, +Bishop Walter absolved the barons' soldiers, and exhorted them to quit +themselves manfully in the fight. The alliance between the Church and +Simon de Montfort is manifest in the legislation that followed the earl's +victory: the sphere of ecclesiastical jurisdiction was enlarged, and three +bishops were appointed to inquire into grievances. Guido, the legate of +Urban, was refused admission into England; he excommunicated the barons, +ordered Walter of Cantelupe and other bishops to meet him in France, and +sent them back to publish the sentence in England. Their papers were +seized and destroyed, probably not against their will, by the people of +the Cinque Ports. The next year, when the earl found himself in the power +of his foes at Evesham, the aged bishop of Worcester again shrived his +host before the battle. After the defeat and death of Simon, Clement IV., +the Guido who had been Urban's legate, sent Ottoboni over to England as +legate. Ottoboni suspended the five bishops who had upheld the cause of +freedom; the bishop of Worcester died the next year, and the others +journeyed to Rome, and there purchased their reconciliation. He also did +what he could to bring the rebellion to an end by ecclesiastical censures. +Peace was completely restored in 1267; the king's elder son, Edward, went +on a crusade to Syria, and the Church and the country had a period of +rest. + +To speak only of the ecclesiastical consequences of the Barons' War, it +may be said in a great measure to have reversed the policy of Innocent +III., in that it did much towards freeing England from vassalage to the +papacy; for the Popes were no longer able to enforce their claim to +interfere as suzerains in her affairs. Further, it taught Edward the +importance of adopting a national policy, of giving each order in the +kingdom a definite place in the constitution, and thus strengthening the +national character of the Church; while it also showed him that if he +would rule the Church and make its wealth available for his own purposes, +he would gain nothing by seeking papal help, and should rather enlist the +services of churchmen as his ministers. + +[Sidenote: Higher idea of the clerical office.] + +[Sidenote: Rival systems of law.] + +The magnificent pontificate of Innocent III. did not fail to affect the +spirit of the English Church and its relations towards the State; it +naturally led to a higher idea of the dignity of the clerical office. +Partly from this cause, and partly owing to the religious revival effected +by the friars, the feeling gathered strength that it was sinful for +ecclesiastics to hold secular posts, a point for which Grosseteste +contended with much earnestness. With the growth of the papal power there +grew up also a desire among the clergy to liberate the administration of +ecclesiastical law from the control of secular courts, and the spirit of +Innocent may be discerned in Grosseteste's argument, that it was sinful +for secular judges to determine whether cases belonged to an +ecclesiastical or a secular tribunal. The study of the civil and canon +laws was eagerly pursued; it was stimulated by the influence of the large +number of foreign ecclesiastics, and even common lawyers found in it a +scientific basis for their own law. Clerical jurists were naturally +aggressive, and the party devoted to the increase of clerical dignity and +power strove to displace the national by the foreign system. The nation at +large, hating the foreigners who preyed upon the country, was strongly +opposed to the introduction of foreign law, and this opposition prompted +the reply of the barons to the proposal made at Merton in 1236, when an +attempt was made to change the law of England, which was, on the point in +question, held by Grosseteste and the clergy generally to be sinful, and +to bring it into accordance with the law of Rome. And the same feeling had +led, not long before, to the compulsory closing of the schools of civil +and canon law in London. On the other hand, the authority of these laws +was upheld by the policy of Gregory IX. A code of papal decrees was +compiled with his sanction, and he was anxious to procure its acceptance +throughout Latin Christendom. What may almost be described as a +corresponding step was taken in England by the publication of a series of +constitutions which formed the foundation of our national canon law--the +constitutions of Stephen Langton, of the legates Otho and Ottoboni, of +Boniface of Savoy, and other archbishops. In some of these a considerable +advance in the pretensions of the clergy is evident. The work of Edward I. +in assigning the clerical estate its place in the scheme of national +government, in forcing it to bear its own (often an unduly large) share in +the national burdens, and in limiting and defining the area of clerical +jurisdiction and lawful pretensions so as to prevent them from trenching +on the national system, will form the main subject of the next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +_THE CHURCH AND THE NATION._ + + CHARACTER OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD I.--ARCHBISHOP PECKHAM--STATUTE OF + MORTMAIN--CONQUEST OF WALES--CIRCUMSPECTE AGATIS--EXPULSION OF THE + JEWS--CLERICAL TAXATION AND REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT--BREACH + BETWEEN THE CROWN AND THE PAPACY--CONFIRMATION OF THE + CHARTERS--ARCHBISHOP WINCHELSEY AND THE RIGHTS OF THE CROWN--THE + ENGLISH PARLIAMENT AND PAPAL EXACTIONS--CHURCH AND STATE DURING THE + REIGN OF EDWARD II.--PAPAL PROVISIONS TO BISHOPRICS--THE BISHOPS AND + SECULAR POLITICS--THE PROVINCE OF YORK--PARLIAMENT AND CONVOCATION. + + +[Sidenote: Edward I., 1272-1307.] + +In the reign of Edward I. the relations between the Church and the Crown +were defined and settled on a constitutional basis, and the clergy were +assigned their own place in the national system. The king was a great +lawgiver, and out of a chaotic mass of customs and institutions chose +those best adapted to create an orderly polity, in which every class of +men fitted for political purposes had its own share both of rights and +duties. At the same time, he had no intention of giving up any of the +prerogatives of the Crown, for he both loved power for its own sake and +was in constant need of money. His reign was, therefore, full of +struggles with those to whom he was giving ascertained rights to share in +the government. He met with considerable opposition from the clergy, for +the influence of the mendicant revival was directed to uphold the papal +pretensions, and as far as possible to render the Church independent of +the State. The main history of his struggles with the clergy assumes two +distinct phases during the periods of the archiepiscopates of Peckham and +Winchelsey. Peckham contended chiefly for the privileges of the National +Church; and the king, who still remained in accord with Rome, got the +better of him, and prevented clerical privilege from hindering his scheme +of national government. Fortunately for the Church and the nation, the +hold of the Pope upon the country was loosened by the breach of the accord +between the papacy and the Crown which had existed ever since the +submission of John. This breach was brought about by the extravagant +pretensions of Rome. During the latter part of the reign, Winchelsey +endeavoured to uphold these pretensions, as he was to some extent bound to +do by his office. He did not, however, confine himself, as Peckham had +done, simply to an ecclesiastical policy; for he took a leading part in +various attempts to diminish the power of the Crown, and sought to secure +a separate position for the Church, with the Pope instead of the king as +her ruler, by allying himself with the party of opposition. Edward was +forced to yield to the political demands made upon him; but he +successfully maintained the rights of the Crown over the Church, and +punished the archbishop for the part he had taken against him. The clergy +equally with the laity had to bear their share of the national burdens; +the claims of Rome were defeated, and the parliament set out on the course +of resistance to the papal usurpations which found its completion in the +sixteenth century. + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Kilwardby, 1273; res. 1278.] + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Peckham, 1279-1292.] + +During the early years of Edward's reign matters went on smoothly between +the Church and the Crown. Gregory X. was the king's friend, and had +accompanied him on his crusade; and his chief adviser and chancellor was +Robert Burnell, a churchman of great ability and wisdom, who thoroughly +understood how to forward his master's ecclesiastical policy. Before +Edward became king he had endeavoured to prevail on the monks of Christ +Church to elect Burnell to succeed Archbishop Boniface. Nevertheless they +chose another as archbishop; the king refused his assent to the election, +and Gregory, to put an end to the vacancy, appointed Robert Kilwardby, a +Dominican friar. Kilwardby, however, was by no means sufficiently vigorous +in asserting the rights of the Church to satisfy Nicolas III., and allowed +the privileges of the clergy in matters of jurisdiction to be curtailed by +statute. Nicolas accordingly raised him to the cardinalate in 1278, called +him to Rome, and thus forced him to resign the archbishopric. Edward +secured the election of his friend and minister, Burnell, then bishop of +Bath and Wells, and urged the Pope to confirm it. He was again foiled; for +Nicolas, after causing inquiries to be made as to the fitness of the +archbishop-elect, informed the king that he could not assent to his +request, and appointed John Peckham, the provincial of the English +Franciscans, laying down the rule that, as the death of a prelate at Rome +had long been held to give the Pope the right of appointing a successor, a +resignation, which was, he declared, an analogous event, had the same +effect. + +Robert Burnell and the new archbishop were extreme types of two opposite +sorts of churchmen. The chancellor, who was wholly devoted to the king's +service, was a statesman of high order. He was magnificent in his tastes +and expenditure, held many rich preferments, and took care that his +relations also should be enriched out of the wealth of the Church. His +mode of life was secular, and the grand matches that he arranged for his +daughters created no small scandal. Peckham, on the other hand, was a +model friar, pious and learned, with exalted ideas of the rights of the +papacy and the privileges of the clergy. He was fearless and +conscientious, unwise and impracticable. Between him and Bishop Robert and +the other clerical advisers of the king there was, of course, no sympathy. +He was anxious that the dignities and benefices of the Church should be +worthily bestowed, and laboured to carry out the injunctions of Nicolas +III. against the prevalent abuse of pluralities. On this matter Peckham +wrote plainly to Edward that he would oblige him as far as he might +without offending God, but could go no further, and that he was already +sneered at for "conniving at the damnable multitude of benefices held by +his clerks." Nicolas strove to check the promotion of secular-minded +bishops, and when Edward procured the election of Burnell to the see of +Winchester, ordered the chapter to proceed to another election. Peckham +was blamed for this, and it was also alleged that he had used his +influence at Rome against another of the king's ministers, Anthony Bek, +afterwards the warlike bishop of Durham. However, he denied that he had +said anything to hinder the promotion of either. + +Almost immediately on his arrival in England in 1279, the archbishop came +into collision with the king. He held a provincial council at Reading, in +which, besides publishing the canons of the Council of Lyons against +pluralities, he decreed that excommunication should be pronounced against +all who obtained the king's writ to stop proceedings in ecclesiastical +suits against any royal officer who refused to carry out the sentence of a +spiritual court, and against all who impugned the Great Charter; and +further ordered that the clergy should expound these decrees to their +parishioners, and affix copies of the Charter to the doors of cathedral +and collegiate churches. These decrees were a direct challenge to the +king, and Edward treated them as such; for in his next parliament he +compelled Peckham to revoke them, and to declare that nothing that had +been done at the council should be held to prejudice the rights of the +Crown or the kingdom. + +[Sidenote: Statute of Mortmain, 1279.] + +Edward further rebuffed the archbishop by publishing the statute "De +Religiosis" or "of Mortmain." This statute, though, as regards the date of +its promulgation part of Edward's answer to Peckham's assumption, was +directed against an abuse of long standing, and was in strict accordance +with the king's general policy. It forbade, on pain of forfeiture, the +alienation of land to religious bodies which were incapable of performing +the services due from it. Land so conveyed was said to be in _mortmain_, +or in a dead hand, because it no longer yielded profit to the lord, who +was thus defrauded of his right of service, escheat, and other feudal +incidents. Besides the vast amount of land that was held by the Church, +estates were often fraudulently conveyed to ecclesiastical bodies, to be +received again free of services by the alienor as tenant; and thus the +superior lord, and the king as capital lord, were cheated, and the means +for the defence of the realm were diminished. These evils were partially +checked by Henry II., who levied scutage on the knights' fees held by the +clergy, and the practice of conveying lands in mortmain was prohibited by +one of the Provisions of Westminster in 1259. Edward's statute gave force +to this provision by rendering it lawful, in case the immediate lord +neglected to avail himself of the forfeiture, for the next chief lord to +do so. Moreover, the king still further showed his discontent at the +attitude of the clergy by demanding an aid from them. In spite of these +rebuffs, Peckham pursued his policy of attempting to enlarge the sphere of +spiritual jurisdiction at the cost of the jurisdiction of the Crown, and +proposals were made in a council which he held at Lambeth in 1281 to +remove suits concerning patronage and the goods of the clergy from the +royal to the ecclesiastical courts. Here, however, the king interfered, +and peremptorily forbade the council to meddle in matters affecting the +Crown. Peckham was forced to give way, and shortly afterwards sent Edward +a letter asserting in the strongest terms the liberties of the Church as +agreeable to Scripture and the history of England, pointing out that it +was his duty to order his conduct by the decrees of the Popes and the +rules of the Church, referring the oppressions under which, he said, the +clergy were suffering to the policy of Henry I. and Henry II., and +reminding the king of the martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury for the +Church's sake. + +[Sidenote: Conquest of Wales, 1282.] + +When Edward invaded Wales in 1282, Peckham, moved with a desire for peace +and with compassion for the Welsh, endeavoured to persuade Llewelyn to +submit to the English king, and, contrary to Edward's will, went alone to +Llewelyn's fortress of Aber, and tried to arrange terms. When his efforts +proved in vain, he wrote an angry and irritating letter to the Welsh +prince. Nevertheless he exerted himself on behalf of the Welsh clergy, +prayed Edward to allow the clerks in Snowdon to leave the country with +their goods, wrote indignantly to Burnell to complain that some clerks had +been hanged at Rhuddlan, "to the reproach of the clergy and the contempt +of the Church," and exhorted the king to restore the churches that had +been destroyed in the war. The backward and disorderly condition of the +Welsh Church caused him much concern, and he urged the bishops of Bangor +and St. Asaph's to put a stop to the concubinage or marriage of the +clergy, their unseemly dress, and their neglect of their duties, to insist +on the observance of the decrees of Otho and Ottoboni, and to do all in +their power to overcome the angry feelings of their flocks towards the +English, so that the very word "foreignry" might no more be used among +them. Moreover, he was anxious to see the Welsh become civilized, and +wrote to Edward advising him to encourage them to settle in towns and +follow industries, and, as there were no means of education in Wales, to +make the Welsh boys come to England and be taught there, instead of +entering the household of a native prince, where they learnt nothing but +robbery. Indeed, it would have been well for Wales had Peckham's wishes on +these and other matters been carried out. The war taxed the king's +resources severely, and, towards the end of it, Edward ordered the seizure +of the money that, in accordance with a decree of the Council of Lyons, +had been collected for a crusade, and stored in various great churches in +England. This brought an indignant letter from Pope Martin IV. Before its +arrival, however, the king had promised that the money should be refunded. +Not content with a promise, the archbishop went off to meet Edward at +Acton Burnell, and prevailed on him to make immediate restitution. + +[Sidenote: Limits of spiritual jurisdiction defined.] + +Undismayed by his previous failures, Peckham, in 1285, made another +attempt to secure the independence of the Church in matters of +jurisdiction; and a series of articles was drawn up by the bishops of his +province in convocation, and presented to the king. The most important of +these urged that a check should be put on the issue of prohibitions from +the king's court staying proceedings in ecclesiastical courts. The +articles were answered by the chancellor; some concessions were made +which failed to satisfy the bishops, and a reply was sent criticizing the +chancellor's answers. Edward was determined to settle the relations of the +Church and the Crown in these matters. He had, perhaps before receiving +the articles, caused an inquisition to be made into suits brought by the +clergy against laymen, had imprisoned all the judges and officers of the +ecclesiastical courts who were convicted of having fined laymen too +heavily, and had declared that these courts could not claim as of right +the cognizance of any save matrimonial and testamentary causes. This +violent curtailment of the rights of the Church was maintained during the +dispute with the prelates. It was modified shortly afterwards by a writ, +addressed to the bishops by the king in parliament, and called +"Circumspecte agatis." By this writ, which had the force of a statute, +ecclesiastical jurisdiction was defined as extending to cases of deadly +sin which were visited by penance or fine, and offences as regards things +spiritual, such as neglect of churches, to suits about tithes and +offerings, assaults on clerks, defamation, and perjury which did not +involve a question of money. This writ, then, ascertained the limits +between the areas proper to the secular and the ecclesiastical courts, +settled the relations between Church and State in England as far as +jurisdiction was concerned, and declared the triumph of the principles +which Henry II. had laid down in the Constitutions of Clarendon. The +punishments inflicted by spiritual judges for the correction of the soul +put a salutary check on violence and debauchery; and if sometimes the +clergy used their spiritual power to defend their temporal rights, they +executed justice on offenders against morality without respect of persons. +Peckham gave a signal instance of this by condemning Sir Osbert Giffard, +who had carried off two nuns from Wilton, to nine public floggings, to +fasting, and to put off the dress and accoutrements of a knight and a +gentleman until he had made a three years' pilgrimage to the Holy Land. +And as an ecclesiastical judge had a right to a writ committing any +excommunicated person to prison until satisfaction was given to the +Church, an offender was forced to submit to the penance imposed on him. + +[Sidenote: Expulsion of the Jews, 1290.] + +Although the expulsion of the Jews is chiefly a matter of economic and +constitutional importance, it has also an ecclesiastical bearing. In spite +of Edward's policy in Church matters, he was a religious man. When he was +in trouble or danger he made vows which he always performed: he often +passed Lent to some extent in retirement, and he seems to have been +pleased to attend religious ceremonies. Apart, therefore, from worldly +reasons, he must have felt--for such was the general feeling of the +day--that the protection afforded to the Jews by the Crown and the profit +they brought to the Exchequer were alike ungodly. Besides, as a crusader +he was bound to hate the enemies of the cross. The Jews were wealthy, and +did no small harm by their usurious practices. Although Edward forbade +them to carry on usury, the law does not seem to have been enforced; and +the rich, and among them even the excellent Queen Eleanor, profited by +their extortions. While the king treated them with much severity, he +seems to have been anxious for their conversion, though the means adopted +to bring this about were not always judicious. They were compelled to +attend and listen diligently to sermons preached against their faith; the +Converts' House in London was re-endowed, and Peckham was careful to +prevent them from building any new synagogues in the city. Edward, who, +soon after he had taken a second crusading vow in 1287, had ordered the +Jews to leave his continental dominions, at last, in 1290, greatly to the +delight of all classes, expelled them from England. Both clergy and laity +testified their approval of the measure by making him a grant. + +[Sidenote: Clerical taxation.] + +[Sidenote: Archbishop Winchelsey, 1294-1313.] + +During the early part of Edward's reign, the clergy had no reason to +complain of excessive taxation. Some discontent was, indeed, felt at the +new and more stringent valuation of clerical property which was made after +Nicolas IV. had, in 1288, granted the king a tenth for six years for the +purpose of a new crusade. This valuation, called the "Taxation of Pope +Nicolas," took cognizance of both the temporalities and the spiritualities +of the clergy, and was used as the basis for ecclesiastical taxation until +the sixteenth century. In 1294, however, Edward was in great straits for +money, for he was forced into a war with France. Robert Burnell was dead, +and the measures Edward adopted to raise money probably show how much he +lost by his minister's death. Among other unconstitutional acts, he seized +the money and treasure stored in the cathedrals and abbeys. He called an +assembly of the clergy of both provinces and demanded a grant. The clergy +had no head; for Peckham died in 1292, and Robert Winchelsey, who had been +elected as his successor, was still at Rome, whither he had gone for +consecration. They failed to appreciate the urgency of the crisis, and +offered a single grant of two-tenths. Edward was indignant, and declared +that they should give him one-half of their revenues, or he would outlaw +them. The dean of St. Paul's, who went to court hoping to pacify him, was +so frightened at his anger that he fell down dead. Finally, Edward sent a +knight to the assembled clergy; his messenger bluntly stated the king's +demand, and added, "Whoever of you will say him nay, let him stand up that +he may be known." They tried to make conditions, and prayed for the +abrogation of the Statute of Mortmain. To this the king would not consent, +and they were forced to yield to his grievous demand. + +[Sidenote: Parliamentary representation.] + +Edward's need of money led him to perfect the organization of parliament +as an assembly of estates competent to speak and act for the nation. In +this assembly the estate of the clergy was to have its place. National +councils of the Church, though held on the occasion of legatine visits, +consisted only of bishops, and had fallen into disuse; and the clerical +grants were made by the convocations of the two provinces separately. +Besides these provincial convocations, the clergy met in diocesan synods, +and also in assemblies of archdeaconries or other districts. The diocesan +synods, the cathedral chapters, and sometimes the smaller clerical +assemblies, were consulted as to proposed grants, and acted independently +of each other. In the last reign, for example, the rectors of Berkshire +drew up a remonstrance against a grant to help the Pope in his war with +the Emperor. Inconvenient as it was, the practice of seeking the assent of +local synods to taxation was necessary so long as the whole body of the +beneficed clergy was not systematically represented in convocation. The +principle of clerical representation had gained ground during the reign of +Henry III., and in 1283 Peckham confirmed it by fixing the manner in which +it was to be carried out. Two proctors were to be chosen by the clergy of +each diocese of the southern province, and one for each cathedral and +collegiate chapter. In the northern province the custom of choosing two +proctors for each archdeaconry appears to have obtained somewhat earlier. +Edward, when settling the representation of the clergy in Parliament, +adopted Peckham's system, and in summoning the bishops to the parliament +of 1295, which has served as a model for all future parliaments, caused a +clause, called the "_præmunientes_" clause, to be inserted in the writs, +directing each bishop to order the election of two proctors for the clergy +of his diocese and one for his cathedral chapter, who should attend +parliament with full power to "discuss, ordain, and act." Thus the clergy +became one of the parliamentary estates, and, like the other estates, made +their grants independently, and possibly deliberated apart. As, however, +their tendency was at this time towards the assertion of a separate +position in the State, they did not value this change, and, as we shall +see, soon succeeded in establishing the custom of making their grants in +their own convocations. + +[Sidenote: Breach between the Crown and the Papacy.] + +The submission of John to Innocent III. had established an accord between +the Crown and the papacy that had in the last reign been fraught with evil +to the Church. It came to an end because Edward, who was determined that +the Church should be national in the fullest sense, and should take its +place in the national system with clearly defined rights and with a +liability to public burdens, found his plans opposed by a Pope who would +recognize no limit to his authority, or to the immunities of the clergy. +This Pope was Boniface VIII. Forgetful alike of the spirit of resistance +to papal interference that had lately been exhibited in England, of the +increase of independent thought that had arisen from the influence of the +universities, and of the effect of the doctrines of the civil lawyers in +magnifying the authority of the king, and equally forgetful of the rapid +advance of the power of the French monarchy, Boniface attempted to usurp +the rights of the Crown in both countries. In February 1296 he published +the bull "Clercis laicos," forbidding, on pain of excommunication, the +clergy to grant, or the secular power to take, any taxes from the revenues +of churches or the goods of clerks. In the October parliament the laity +made their grants; but the clergy, after a debate led by Winchelsey, which +lasted several days, informed the king that they could grant him nothing. +Edward would not accept this answer, and ordered Winchelsey to let him +know their final determination the following January. The archbishop +accordingly held a convocation at St. Paul's on St. Hilary's Day, to +decide whether there was any middle way between disobeying the Pope and +disobeying the king. Hugh Despenser and a clerk, who attended as the +king's proctors, set forth the dangers of foreign invasion that threatened +the kingdom. By way of reply, Winchelsey caused the Pope's bull to be +read. Despenser then plainly told the clergy that unless they granted the +sum needed for the defence of the country the king and the lords would +treat their revenues as might seem good to them. They persevered in their +refusal; and on the 12th of February the king, who was in urgent need of +supplies for the war against France, outlawed the whole of the clergy of +the southern province, took their lay fees into his own hand, and allowed +any one who would to seize their horses. Meanwhile Winchelsey +excommunicated all who should contravene the papal decree. The clergy of +the northern province, however, submitted, and received letters of +protection. Edward's difficulties were increased by the refusal of his +lords, led by the Constable and Marshal, the Earls Bohun and Bigod, to +make an expedition to Flanders whilst he went to the army in Gascony. +Winchelsey, though not wavering himself, was unwilling to expose any of +his clergy to further danger, if they could find a way of escape, and held +another convocation, in which he bade each "save his own soul." Many of +them accordingly compounded with the commissioners whom the king had +appointed for that purpose. + +[Sidenote: Winchelsey and the Charters.] + +In spite of the threatening attitude of the malcontent lords, Edward could +not refuse to fulfil his engagements to his allies. He raised supplies +and a force by means which, though unconstitutional, were justified by +necessity, was reconciled to the archbishop, and took a solemn leave of +his people from a platform in front of Westminster Hall, telling them that +he knew that he had not reigned as well as he ought, but that all the +money that had been taken from them had been spent in their defence, and +requesting them, if he did not return from Flanders, to crown his son +Edward. Winchelsey wept at the king's words, and all the people shouted +assent. Nevertheless, the barons remained rebellious, demanded that the +king should confirm the Great Charter and the Forest Charter, and +presented a petition of grievances. Nor was the ecclesiastical matter +settled, though the clergy offered to ask the Pope's leave to make a +grant. Before Edward left he taxed the temporalities of the clergy, for he +evidently suspected them of acting with the malcontents. Soon after he had +set sail, the barons came up armed to a council at London, which was +attended by the bishops, though not by the inferior clergy. Winchelsey +seems to have presided at this council; and apparently by his advice the +young Edward, whom his father had left as regent, was required to confirm +the charters with certain additions. He assented, and sent the charters to +his father, who confirmed them along with the new articles. These articles +may be said to have declared it illegal for the Crown to levy any taxes or +imposts, save those anciently pertaining to it, without the consent of +parliament. + +In November the ecclesiastical dispute was brought to an end. Early in +the year Boniface, to satisfy Philip of France, declared that he did not +forbid the clergy to contribute to national defence or to make voluntary +grants; and Winchelsey took advantage of a Scottish invasion to recommend +the clergy to tax themselves. The dispute had been independent of the +rebellious behaviour of the Constable and Marshal, who had taken advantage +of it to put pressure on the king. Winchelsey's conduct with regard to the +proceedings of the earls seems to prove that he had an enlightened desire +for constitutional freedom; and the Church in his person again appeared, +as she had appeared so often before, as the assertor of national rights. +Nor did the Church fail to gain much by the issue of the ecclesiastical +dispute. The victory lay with the Crown; the national character of the +Church was established, and it was saved from the danger of sinking into a +handmaid of Rome, which would probably have come to pass if the papacy and +the Crown had remained at one. From henceforth the Church generally found +the State ready to protect her liberties from papal invasion. + +[Sidenote: Winchelsey's policy of opposition.] + +After Edward's return fresh demands were made upon him, and a long +struggle ensued between him and the parliament on the subject of +disafforestation, or the reduction of the royal forests to their ancient +boundaries. Winchelsey evidently continued in opposition, partly with the +view of increasing the papal authority by embarrassing the king. His +desire to uphold the Pope's authority led him at last to commit the fatal +error of opposing a cause of national concern. Edward's claim to the +crown of Scotland was alternately admitted and rejected by the Scottish +lords, who submitted to him when he overawed them by appearing in Scotland +at the head of his forces, and rebelled when he returned to England. +Finding themselves unable to resist him, they appealed to Boniface to help +them. Accordingly, in 1299, Boniface published a bull asserting that the +kingdom of Scotland was a fief of the Holy See, and ordering Edward to +submit his claim to the decision of Rome. On receiving this bull +Winchelsey journeyed to Galloway, where Edward then was, and in August +1300 appeared before him, in company with a papal envoy, presented the +bull, and added, it is said, an exhortation of his own on the duty of +obedience and the happiness of those who were as the people of Jerusalem +and as Mount Zion. "By God's blood!" shouted the indignant king, "I will +not hold my peace for Zion, nor keep silence for Jerusalem, but will +defend my right that is known to all the world with all my might." The +archbishop was bidden to inform the Pope that the king would send him an +answer after he had consulted with his lords, for "it was the custom of +England that in matters touching the state of the realm all those who were +affected by the business should be consulted." + +Acting on this principle, Edward, early the next year, laid the bull +before his barons at a parliament held at Lincoln, and bade them proceed +in the matter. Accordingly they wrote to the Pope, on behalf of themselves +and the whole community of the realm, briefly informing him that the +feudal superiority over Scotland belonged to the English Crown; that the +kings of England ought not to answer before any judge, ecclesiastical or +secular, concerning their rights in that kingdom; that they had determined +that their king should not answer concerning them or any other of his +temporal rights before the Pope, or accept his judgment, or send proctors +to his court; and that, even if he were willing to obey the bull, they +would not allow him to do so. This letter was signed by the lay baronage +only, not by the bishops. At this parliament the barons requested the king +to dismiss his treasurer, Walter Langton, bishop of Lichfield, and +presented certain petitions for reform. Most of these petitions were +granted, and among them the demand for disafforestation; the last, that +the goods of the clergy should not be taxed against the will of the Pope, +evidently bears witness to the terms of the alliance between Winchelsey +and the barons. This article was rejected by the king, who thus further +separated the baronial from the clerical interest. Nor did he dismiss +Langton, who was soon afterwards suspended from his bishopric on charges +of adultery, simony, homicide, and dealings with the devil; he was +acquitted by the Pope, and probably owed his suspension to Winchelsey's +enmity. + +[Sidenote: Clement V., 1305-1316.] + +[Sidenote: Winchelsey suspended.] + +The overthrow of Boniface by the French king, Philip IV., involved the +failure of his attempt to establish the dominion of the papacy over +national churches. Clement V., the next Pope but one, was a Gascon, and +settled the papal court at Avignon, where it remained for seventy years, a +period called the "Babylonish captivity." During this period the papal +court became a French institution. This caused Englishmen to be very +jealous of the Pope's interference; and when the king was at one with his +people the Popes were not allowed to exercise much authority here, and the +national character of the Church was effectually defended. Clement was +anxious to oblige Edward. As a Gascon noble, and as archbishop of +Bordeaux, he had been his subject, and as Pope he was not willing to +become the tool of the French king. Edward took advantage of his goodwill. +He considered that his people had dealt hardly with him, and had forced +him to give up his just rights, and he obtained a bull from the Pope +absolving him from the oaths which he had taken. In doing so he simply +acted in accordance with the ideas of his time, and this is the one excuse +that can be made for him. Nor was he content with thus providing for the +repair of his royal dignity; he took vengeance on the man who had done as +much as any one to lessen it. In 1305, when the old baronial opposition +had wholly ceased, he accused Winchelsey of having engaged in treason in +1301, and added other causes of complaint against him. Edward submitted +the charges against him to the Pope, who suspended him, and summoned him +to Rome. He did not return to England until after the king's death. +Although the Pope took the administration of the see of Canterbury into +his own hands, the king, of course, seized the temporalities. Clement +complained of this; and Edward, in order to ensure the continuance of his +triumph over the archbishop, allowed the Pope's agents to receive the +profits arising from them. + +[Sidenote: Remonstrance of parliament against papal exactions, 1307.] + +While, however, the king and the Pope were thus obliging one another, the +papacy had nevertheless lost ground in England. For full eighty years its +power here had depended mainly on its alliance with the Crown; and now +that Boniface had shown that this power, if unchecked, would destroy the +rights of the Crown over the Church, the king was prepared to join with +his people in resisting it. Winchelsey's absence afforded an opportunity. +In a parliament held at Carlisle in 1307, statutes were published +prohibiting the taxation of English monasteries by their foreign +superiors; and while much debate was being held on the oppression of Rome, +a letter was found, written under an assumed name and addressed to the +"Noble Church of England, now in mire and servitude," which set forth in +terms of bitter sarcasm the evils she suffered from her "pretended father" +the Pope. This letter was read before the king, a cardinal-legate who was +visiting England to arrange the marriage of the Prince of Wales, and the +whole parliament. A document was then drawn up enumerating the +encroachments of Rome which were carried out by the papal agents and +collectors. These were the appointment of foreigners to English benefices +by provisions; the application of monastic revenues to the maintenance of +cardinals; the reservation of first-fruits, then a novel claim; the +increase in the amount demanded as Peter's pence, and other oppressions. +The cause of complaint with reference to Peter's pence arose from an +attempt of William de Testa, the Pope's collector, to demand a penny for +each household, instead of the fixed sum hitherto paid. The articles were +accepted and forwarded to the Pope, and Testa was examined before +parliament, and ordered to abstain from further exactions. Edward, +however, was hampered by his need of Clement's co-operation. After the +parliament was dissolved, he was persuaded by the cardinal to allow Testa +to proceed with the collection of first-fruits; and when the papal agents +appeared before the council to answer the charges made against them in +parliament, they took up an aggressive position, and complained that they +had been hindered in the execution of their duty. Before these matters +were brought to a conclusion the king died. + +[Sidenote: Edward II., 1307-1327.] + +Immediately on his accession, Edward II. recalled Winchelsey, and +imprisoned his father's minister, Walter Langton. The resistance to papal +exactions was renewed in a parliament held at Stamford in 1309, where the +king gave his consent to a petition presented by the lay estates for the +reformation of civil abuses. At this parliament the barons sent a letter +of complaint to the Pope of much the same character as the document drawn +up at Carlisle. Clement, by way of answer, complained that his collectors +were impeded, that his briefs and citations were not respected, that +laymen exercised jurisdiction over spiritual persons, and that the tribute +granted by John to the See of Rome had not been paid for some fifteen +years. Here the matter seems to have ended, and the chief features of our +Church history during this wretched reign are closely connected with the +quarrels and general disorganization that prevailed in the kingdom. For a +time Winchelsey acted with the king, but Edward's carelessness and evil +government drove him into opposition. While the country at large had much +to complain of, the Church had her special grievances. In 1309 the +archbishop held a provincial council to decide on proceedings against the +Templars; for the king had promised the Pope that the English Church +should take part in attacking the Order. At this council gravamina were +adopted which show that constant encroachments were made on the sphere of +ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The next year the archbishop and six of his +suffragans were chosen as "Ordainers," the name given to a commission +appointed by a council of magnates, lay and spiritual, to carry out a +system of reform. Winchelsey and the bishops of his province pronounced +excommunication against all who hindered the ordinances, or revealed the +secrets of the Ordainers. First among the objects which the Ordainers +swore to promote was the increase of the honour and welfare of the Church; +and the interference with the spiritual courts which had been complained +of the year before was forbidden by one of their ordinances. As Winchelsey +thus joined the party of opposition, the king, in 1312, released Langton, +and appointed him treasurer; for, in spite of all that had passed, the old +servant of Edward I. upheld the cause of the Crown. The earl of Lancaster, +the head of the opposition, seems to have been regarded as favourable to +the claims of the Church; for in 1316, when he had virtually obtained the +complete control of the kingdom, the estate of the clergy presented, in a +parliament held at Lincoln, a series of complaints called "Articuli +Cleri." The royal assent was given, and the "articles" became a statute. +By these articles the rules laid down in the writ "Circumspecte agatis" +were re-enacted, and various rights and liberties, touching matters of +jurisdiction and sanctuary, were acknowledged. Among these, it was allowed +that it pertained to a spiritual, and not to any temporal judge, to +examine into the fitness of a parson presented to a benefice, and that +elections to dignities should be free from lay interference. + +[Sidenote: Bishops appointed by provision.] + +Throughout the whole reign elections by capitular bodies were constantly +set at nought. Sometimes the Pope appointed to a bishopric on the king's +recommendation, and sometimes in spite of his wishes. From the time of +Stephen Langton onwards, the Popes had so often interfered with the +appointment to the primacy, either, as in the case of Peckham, acting in +opposition to the Crown, or, as in that of Winchelsey, in unison with it, +that their claim was now tacitly admitted. As regards suffragan +bishoprics, their interference was often exercised owing either to the +death of a bishop at Rome, or to appeals. Besides, it seems to have been +laid down in this reign that the right of appointing to a see vacant by +translation belonged to the Pope, who alone had the power to sanction the +divorce between a bishop and his diocese. The embarrassments of Edward II. +encouraged a still greater encroachment on the rights of the Church and of +the Crown; and Clement simply appointed bishops by reservation and +provision, declaring that he had during the lifetime of the last bishop +reserved the appointment for himself, and that as a vacancy had occurred, +he had found a fit man, and provided him accordingly. In some cases the +bishop thus provided had been nominated by the Crown and elected by the +chapter; in others the wishes of both were set aside out of the fulness of +the Pope's power. + +The bishops of this reign were as a body, though with some exceptions, +worldly and self-seeking. On the death of Winchelsey, in 1313, the monks +of Christ Church chose a new archbishop of high repute for learning and +character. At the king's request, Clement set aside their election and +appointed Edward's old tutor, Walter Reynolds, bishop of Worcester, the +son of a baker, and a man in all respects unworthy of such an office. +Before he came to the throne Edward had found him useful to him, and when +he became king he made him treasurer and chancellor. During the troubles +of the reign, Reynolds adhered to the king until he began to suspect that +it was no longer his interest to do so. An election made by the chapter of +Durham was set aside by John XXII., who provided Lewis Beaumont, an +ignorant man, and lame in both his feet, so that it was said in England, +that the Pope would never have appointed him if he had seen him. Beaumont, +however, was a connexion of Edward's queen, Isabella; and John, who was a +Provençal, was willing to do anything to oblige the French court. The same +year the Pope disregarded both the choice of the chapter of Hereford and +the earnest request of the king, and appointed Adam Orlton to the see. +Utterly unscrupulous, and at once bold and subtle, Orlton was the worst of +all the bad bishops of his time. About two years later, Edward tried to +obtain the appointment of Henry Burghersh, the nephew of Lord Badlesmere, +who was at that time useful to him, to the see of Winchester. Pope John +reserved the see, and appointed an Italian. However, in 1320, the Lincoln +chapter elected Burghersh in order to please the king; and Badlesmere, who +was then at Avignon, is said to have spent a vast sum of the king's money +in procuring the papal assent, for Burghersh was under the canonical age. + +[Sidenote: The Bishops and secular politics.] + +When the barons formed a league against the king's favourites, the +Despensers, in 1321, they were joined by Burghersh, who followed his +kinsman Badlesmere, by Orlton, and John of Drokensford, bishop of Bath. +The victory of Boroughbridge gave the king supreme power, and he caused +Orlton to be arrested, and charged with treason before the peers. Orlton +declared that his metropolitan was, under the Pope, his immediate judge, +and refused to plead without the consent of the archbishop and his +suffragans. The primate and his suffragans then rose and prayed the king +to have mercy on the bishop. Edward refused, and they then pleaded the +privilege of the Church, and claimed him as a clerk. He was accordingly +delivered over to the custody of the archbishop. Nevertheless the king +caused a jury to try him in his absence, and obtained a verdict against +him. But the archbishop would not give him up. Edward sent to Avignon to +complain of the conduct of the three bishops who had sided with the barons +against him, and requested the Pope to deprive them of their English sees. +He did not turn his victory to good account. In 1325 two of the bishops +who had obtained their sees from the Pope against the king's will, John +Stratford of Winchester and William Ayermin of Norwich, while on an +embassy to France, entered into a plot against the Despensers. By their +advice the queen was sent into France, and there Mortimer joined her. The +king in vain urged her to return, and the bishops, at his request, sent a +letter to the same effect. She came back at last with an armed force, and +Orlton, Burghersh, and Ayermin raised money for her from their +fellow-bishops. When she came to Oxford, Orlton expounded the reason of +her rebellion to the university in a sermon, taking as his text the words, +"Caput meum doleo" (2 Kings iv. 19). Reynolds and some of the bishops +remained for a while in London, trying to quiet matters. While they were +there, Bishop Stapleton of Exeter, who had been one of the king's +ministers, and remained faithful to him, was slain by the citizens. His +murder caused them to flee, and Stratford, and at last Reynolds, joined +the queen's party. The king was now a prisoner, and Reynolds, who owed +everything to his favour, Stratford, whom he had forgiven and trusted in +spite of his having deceived him, and Orlton, his avowed enemy, took +active part in his deposition. + +[Sidenote: The Battle of Myton, 1319.] + +[Sidenote: The Sherburn Parliament, 1321.] + +Meanwhile the province of York had been exposed to the ravages of the +Scots. Edward prevailed on John XXII. to command a truce and send over +legates with authority to excommunicate Bruce. The legates' envoys were +robbed and ill-treated, and the sentence was accordingly pronounced. It +had no effect on the war, and in 1318 the Scots broke into Yorkshire. They +made a savage raid, and did much damage to churches and ecclesiastical +property. Ripon paid them £1000 for its safety. A new archbishop, William +Melton, had lately been consecrated. He had served the king and his +father well, and Edward, after some trouble, had obtained the Pope's +confirmation for him. He was made one of the wardens of the marches, and +at once arrayed his tenants for military service. There was little help to +be obtained from the king, and when the Scots came down the next year most +of the fighting men of the north had been called away to Edward's army at +Berwick. Melton, however, raised what local force he could, and led a +large and undisciplined host to meet the Scottish army at Myton. The +archbishop's army was routed, and so many clerks were slain in the battle +that it was called the "chapter of Myton." The absence of any united and +vigorous action for the defence of the country was largely due to the +disloyalty and selfishness of Thomas, earl of Lancaster. The earl was +powerful in Yorkshire, and after making a league for mutual support with +the lords of the north, he summoned a meeting of the estates at Sherburn, +near Pomfret, in 1321. To this northern parliament he called the +archbishop and prelates of the province, and Melton and the clergy obeyed +his summons, evidently with the hope of making peace. Lancaster's +parliament met in the parish church, and after the schedule of grievances +and the lords' bond of association had been read, the earl bade the +prelates consult apart, and give him their answer; for all was done as +though in a legal and national parliament. The clergy debated in the +rectory, and sent a reply in to the earl that was wise and worthy of their +profession. They petitioned for a cessation of hostile movements, and for +concord in the next parliament, so that, by God's favour, parliament might +find remedies for the grievances expressed in the articles. In other +words, they exhorted the earl to abandon his isolated position, and seek +the good of the country by peaceful and constitutional means. Their answer +was received graciously, but their advice was not followed. The archbishop +took no part in the disloyal conduct of the majority of the bishops; he +and his suffragan of Carlisle, and two bishops of the southern province, +protested against the deposition of Edward II., and he abstained from +attending the coronation of the young king. + +[Sidenote: Parliament and convocation.] + +During the reign of Edward II. the clergy showed their unwillingness to +attend parliament, and their decided preference for voting their grants in +convocation. When, for example, they were summoned to the parliament in +which the work of the Ordainers was published in 1311, they sent no +proctors. Before the meeting in the autumn the king wrote to the +archbishops, calling on them to urge the attendance of the clergy. +Winchelsey objected to the writ, and the king issued another, promising +that if it contained any cause of offence it should be remedied. Again, in +1314 Edward ordered the archbishops to summon the convocations of their +provinces to treat about an aid. The clergy, however, declared that this +was an infringement of the rights of the Church, and departed without +further discussion. Before the next parliament, besides the regular writ +with the "præmunientes" clause, he sent a special letter to the +archbishops, urging them to press the attendance of the clergy; and this +double summons was thenceforth sent regularly until 1340. Nevertheless in +1318 the clerical estate in parliament refused to make a grant without +convocation. When the matter was referred to the convocation of +Canterbury, the answer was returned that the grant must depend on the +Pope's consent, and a messenger was sent to Avignon to obtain it. The +position of the clerical estate in Parliament was peculiar, for it is +certain that its consent was not necessary to legislation. At the same +time, when, as in 1316, a petition of the clergy touching spiritual +matters received the royal assent, it was with that assent accepted as a +statute. In convocation the action of the clergy was perfectly free; they +made what grant they would without lay interference, though they had no +means of appropriating the supplies they voted. While they withdrew as far +as possible from parliament, they did not do so altogether, and in +critical times their attendance was specially insisted on, in order that +the consent of parliament might be general. Even at the present day they +are summoned to every parliament by the "præmunientes" clause, and it is +by their own act, by their preference for taxing themselves in their own +assembly, that they have lost the right of obeying the summons. +Convocations were summoned by the archbishops for other purposes besides +taxation, and the ordinary legislative business of the Church was carried +on in them. When a convocation met for self-taxation, it did so in +consequence of a royal request for money, though it was summoned, as on +other occasions, by the archbishop, not by the king. As the king made a +like request to the lay estates at the same time, it naturally came to +pass that convocation and parliament met about the same date. Nevertheless +it would be easy to give many instances which show that meetings of +convocation for purposes of taxation were not necessarily concurrent with, +nor in any way dependent upon, the parliamentary session, as they became +at a later period. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +_THE PAPACY AND THE PARLIAMENT._ + + ECCLESIASTICAL CHARACTER OF THE REIGN--ARCHBISHOPS AND THEIR + ECCLESIASTICAL ADMINISTRATION--PROVISIONS--STATUTE OF PROVISORS--OF + PRÆMUNIRE--REFUSAL OF TRIBUTE--RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE + STATE--CAUSES OF DISCONTENT AT THE CONDITION OF THE CHURCH--ATTACK ON + CLERICAL MINISTERS AND THE WEALTHY CLERGY--CONCORDAT WITH THE + PAPACY--THE GOOD PARLIAMENT--CONCLUSION. + + +[Sidenote: Character of the period.] + +The fifty years of the reign of Edward III. are of special importance in +the history of our Church; for they witnessed the restriction of papal +authority by parliament, and the rise of a spirit of discontent at evils +which existed in the National Church. From the time of John's submission +the Popes had constantly treated England as a never-failing treasury, and +had diverted the revenues of the Church to their own purposes. The breach +between the papacy and the Crown in the reign of Edward I. had been +followed by the expression of the national sense of injury in the +parliament of Carlisle. The war with France caused the anti-papal feeling +to grow and bring forth fruit. It was intolerable that the wealth of the +country should go to enrich its enemies, and that French Popes should +exercise jurisdiction here in defiance of the will of the king and to the +subversion of the common law. The victories of England find their +ecclesiastical significance in the legislation against papal oppression, +in the statutes of Provisors and Præmunire. Within the Church several +causes combined to give rise to an anti-clerical feeling. While the nation +suffered severely from the expenses of the war, the Church was rich, and +might, so men thought, well be forced to bear a larger share of the +general burdens than the clergy were willing to lay upon themselves. The +bishops filled all the chief administrative offices, and enjoyed their +revenues in addition to the wealth of their sees. The inferior clergy were +as a rule careless and ignorant. The Church, though it jealously watched +over its rights of jurisdiction, found itself powerless to enforce needful +discipline on the clergy, while the abuses of the ecclesiastical courts +were a continual source of irritation to the laity. An attempt was made to +debar the prelates from political offices, and an attack on the wealth of +the Church was threatened. Then came the papal Schism, and new ideas were +openly expressed concerning the papacy itself, the position and rights of +the clergy, and the relations between Church and State. With these ideas +we have nothing to do here. But as we follow the ecclesiastical history of +the reign we shall see how the way was prepared for them; how it was that +Wyclif, a strenuous upholder of the rights of the National Church, was led +to form a spiritual conception of the Church Universal, to declare that a +Pope who was not Christ-like was Antichrist, and to teach that it would +be well for the Church to strip herself of her endowments and to become +independent of the State; why it was that the bulwarks already raised +against papal interference were strengthened, and why for a season there +were from time to time evidences of a spirit of revolt against the +ecclesiastical system. It will perhaps be convenient to divide the Church +history of the reign into two unequal parts at the return of the Prince of +Wales and the meeting of the anti-clerical parliament in 1371, and after +some notices of the archbishops and their ecclesiastical administration +down to the consecration of Whittlesey in 1368, to take a survey of the +relations, first, between the papacy and England, and, secondly, between +the National Church and the State during that period, and to end with some +account of the anti-clerical movement of the last years of the reign. + +[Sidenote: Simon Mepeham, archbishop of Canterbury, 1328-1333.] + +On the death of Reynolds in 1327, the Canterbury chapter elected Simon +Mepeham, and at Queen Isabella's request, and after receiving a gift from +the convent, John XXII. confirmed the election. Mepeham was a scholar and +a theologian. He held councils, published canons, and did what he could to +rule well. Conscious of the necessity of reform, he set about a provincial +visitation, and fined and excommunicated the bishop of Rochester for +non-residence, neglect of duty, and laxity of government. When he came to +Exeter, Bishop Grandison, who built a large part of the cathedral there, +refused to receive him, and drew up his men under arms to oppose his +entrance. Grandison, who claimed a papal exemption from metropolitan +visitation, appealed to the Pope, and the king ordered the archbishop to +desist from his attempt. This seems to have brought his efforts for +reformation, which excited much ill-will among his suffragans, to a +premature end. He was involved in a quarrel with the monks of St. +Augustine's, who also resisted his authority. They appealed to the Pope, +and Mepeham, who refused to give way, died under excommunication. + +[Sidenote: John Stratford, archbishop of Canterbury, 1333-1348.] + +[Sidenote: His controversy with the king.] + +[Sidenote: A lay chancellor, 1340.] + +John Stratford, bishop of Winchester, of whom we have heard before, was at +the king's instance elected to succeed him, and the Pope provided him, not +in virtue of the postulation of the chapter, but "of his own motion." +Although the chapter of Winchester elected, and the king recommended, the +prior of Worcester as Stratford's successor, Orlton, who happened to be at +Avignon, was, on the recommendation of Philip of France, provided by the +Pope to the vacant see. The king was indignant, and called on Orlton to +answer for thus procuring the papal brief against his will, but let the +matter drop. Edward's ministers were mostly churchmen, and for about +eleven years after the fall of Mortimer, Stratford, or his brother, the +bishop of Chichester, generally held the office of chancellor, and exerted +themselves to raise money for the French war. For some years Edward made +no progress in the war, and was generally unsuccessful except at sea. +Stratford, who belonged to the old Lancastrian party, disapproved of the +constant waste of money, and recommended peace. Money on which the king +reckoned was not forthcoming, and in 1340, excited probably by the +misrepresentations of the court party, and especially by Bishops +Burghersh and Orlton, he returned suddenly to England, turned Stratford's +brother, the chancellor, and other ministers out of office, and imprisoned +some of his judges and other officers. Stratford was summoned to appear at +court, but retired to Canterbury, and there preached some sermons, the +character of which may be judged by the text of one of them: "He was not +moved with the presence of any prince, neither could any bring him into +subjection" (Ecclus. xlviii. 12). He further excommunicated all who +offered violence to clerks or accused them falsely to the king. Edward +replied by putting forth a pamphlet containing his complaints against the +archbishop. In this pamphlet, which is called the _famosus libellus_, he +charged Stratford with being the cause of his want of success by keeping +him short of funds in order to gain profit for himself, and added several +accusations which were mere abuse. Although Orlton denied it, this +discreditable document was probably drawn up by him. Stratford answered it +point by point, and complained that the king was condemning him, one of +the chief peers of the realm, without trial. Edward carried on this paper +war with another weak letter, and wrote to Benedict XII., complaining of +the archbishop, and hinting that he wished the Pope to suspend him. When +parliament met in the spring of 1341, various attempts were made to +prevent the archbishop from taking his seat, and the king began +proceedings against him in the Exchequer. Stratford persisted in appearing +in parliament, and offered to plead before his peers. The lords thereupon +declared that no peer should be brought to trial except before his peers +in parliament. Edward found it advisable to be reconciled to the +archbishop, and the struggle ended. The archbishop's persistence thus led +to the establishment of the most important privilege of the peerage, and +the result of the controversy illustrates the constitutional position of +bishops as of equal dignity with the temporal lords. Meanwhile the king +appointed Sir Robert Bourchier chancellor, the first layman who ever held +that office. After a little time, however, the office was again held by +clerks. + +[Sidenote: His constitutions.] + +Stratford desired good government, and the clergy under his rule on one +occasion joined the other estates in demanding redress of grievances, +asking, for their part, that the charters should be confirmed, as well as +that their own privileges of jurisdiction should be better observed: yet +he made no real effort to secure constitutional liberty. Although more of +a statesman than an archbishop, he was fully alive to the evils arising +from the oppressions of the ecclesiastical officials and the secular lives +of the clergy, and held two councils, in which he regulated the officials' +fees, forbade bishops and archdeacons, when on a visitation, to quarter a +large retinue on the clergy, ordered that archdeacons should not make a +gain of commutations for corporal penance, and that clerks who concealed +their tonsure, had long curled hair, and imitated the dress of laymen by +wearing knives, long shoes, and furred cloaks, should be suspended. + +[Sidenote: Battle of Nevill's Cross, 18th October 1345.] + +Meanwhile William Zouche, archbishop of York, was engaged in the defence +of his province. In October 1345, while Edward was absent in France, +David of Scotland led a large army into the bishopric of Durham, wasting +the country as he advanced. Archbishop William and the lords Nevill and +Percy raised a force, in which, along with knights and men-at-arms, were +many of the northern clergy, the archbishop in person leading one of the +divisions. The English gained a signal victory at Nevill's Cross; the +Scottish king was taken prisoner, and the "chapter of Myton" was amply +avenged. + +[Sidenote: John of Ufford, archbishop-elect of Canterbury, 1348.] + +[Sidenote: Thomas Bradwardine, archbishop of Canterbury, 1349.] + +On Stratford's death in 1348 the monks of Christ Church, thinking to +please the king, and doubtless also to found a precedent, elected Edward's +chaplain, Thomas Bradwardine, without waiting for the _congé d'elire_. +Bradwardine, the _Doctor Profundus_, as he was called, a famous +philosopher and theologian, was the champion of the Augustinian doctrine +of predestination against the Scotists. He had accompanied the king in his +victorious campaigns against France, and had been employed by him to treat +of peace. Edward, though he was willing enough that he should be +archbishop, would not allow the chapter to act independently, and so +caused Clement VI. to provide his chancellor, John Ufford, who was an aged +man. The pestilence now reached England, and Ufford died of it before he +was consecrated. Bradwardine was then raised to the archbishopric by the +common action of the king, the chapter, and the Pope; for after the +English victories Clement was ready to oblige Edward, declaring that "if +the king of England asked a bishopric for an ass he could not refuse +him." His subservience to Edward displeased the cardinals, and at the +consecration feast of the great English doctor at Avignon one of them sent +into the hall a buffoon mounted on an ass, with a petition that the Pope +would make him archbishop of Canterbury. A week after Bradwardine came to +England he too died of the pestilence, which both now and in its later +outbreaks fell as heavily on the clergy as on the laity, carrying off four +bishops in a single year. + +[Sidenote: Simon Islip, 1349-1366.] + +[Sidenote: Simon Langham, 1366-1368.] + +[Sidenote: William Whittlesey, archbishop, 1368-1374.] + +Simon Islip, Bradwardine's successor, endeavoured to remedy ecclesiastical +abuses. He founded Canterbury Hall at Oxford, to enable the clergy to +receive a better education, and published some excellent constitutions in +convocation. Clerical offenders claimed by the Church from the secular +courts, and committed to the custody of the bishops, were often kept in +comfort; they sometimes escaped from their prisons, and sometimes were +released without good cause. This was no longer to be; and imprisonment +was to be made a real punishment. The archbishop also decreed that +chaplains who were engaged to perform commemorative masses should, if +required, be bound to do parochial work at a fixed stipend of one mark +beyond their ordinary pay, which he fixed at five marks. A long-standing +dispute between the sees of Canterbury and York as to the right of the +northern metropolitan to carry his cross erect in the southern province +was at last settled by an agreement between Islip and John Thoresby, +archbishop of York. When the king and the parliament checked the papal +aggressions Islip abstained from interference; for, while he could not +quarrel with the papacy, he would not uphold it against the will of the +nation. While, however, he was prudent and moderate in temper, he did not +shrink from speaking plainly on behalf of good government, and wrote a +strong remonstrance to the king about the oppression of the people by the +royal purveyors. On Islip's death Simon Langham, bishop of Ely, was raised +to the primacy. He was chancellor when he was translated, but did not hold +the office long afterwards. By the command of Pope Urban V. he instituted +an inquiry into cases of plurality, and found that some clerks held as +many as twenty benefices by provisions, with license to add to their +number. After he had held the archbishopric two years, Urban made him a +cardinal. The king was displeased at this, and seized his temporalities. +Langham resigned the see and went to Avignon, and was succeeded at +Canterbury by his kinsman, William Whittlesey, who took little part in the +affairs either of Church or State, for he soon fell into ill health. + +[Sidenote: The Church and the Papacy, 1327-1371.] + +[Sidenote: Reservations and provisions.] + +[Sidenote: Resisted by the king and parliament.] + +There was comparatively little direct taxation of the clergy by the Popes +during this reign, though first-fruits were still demanded, and the +frequency with which promotions were effected by provision probably led to +a growing compliance with the demand. At the same time, the Church was +wronged in a more mischievous manner by the Popes' usurpation of +patronage. English bishoprics, dignities, and cures were conferred without +regard to the fitness of the person promoted, and simply as a matter of +policy, or a means of providing for the friends and advisers of the Pope. +The first decided check that was administered to this abuse arose from the +war with France; for it was felt to be intolerable that the wealth of the +country should be handed over to the French cardinals and other members of +the papal court at Avignon. During the early years of the reign little +resistance was offered to the system of appointment by provision, though +two sees, Exeter and Bath, which had been reserved, were filled up by the +joint action of the Crown and the chapters. The abuse grew rapidly, until, +in 1343, Clement VI. declared that he had reserved benefices, not +including bishoprics, as they fell vacant, to the annual value of 2000 +marks for two cardinals, who sent their agents to England to carry out +their claims. These agents were ordered to depart, on pain of +imprisonment, and a complaint was made to the Crown by the lay estates in +parliament that the richest benefices in the country were bestowed by the +Pope on foreigners, who never came near it, or contributed to its burdens, +and who abstracted the wealth of England to the prejudice of the king and +his kingdom, and, above all, of the souls of his subjects. The bishops did +not dare to join in this complaint, and wished to withdraw, but the king +made them stay during the proceedings. In answer to this complaint, a +royal ordinance was published that any one who brought bulls or +reservations into the kingdom should be imprisoned. Moreover, the king +wrote a letter to the Pope representing that provisions led to the +promotion of unfit persons, who did not understand the language of the +country or reside on their benefices, and that they robbed patrons and +chapters of their rights, and removed cases of patronage from the royal to +the papal courts. A vigorous letter of remonstrance was also sent by the +parliament by the hands of John of Shoreditch, a famous lawyer, who +presented it to the Pope in the presence of the cardinals. Clement was +angry, and declared he had only provided two foreigners. "Holy Father," +John replied, "you have provided the Cardinal of Perigord to the deanery +of York, and the king and all the nobles of England know him to be a +capital enemy of the king and kingdom." High words passed; the cardinals +left the court in some confusion, and John departed from Avignon in haste, +lest mischief should befall him. + +[Sidenote: Statute of Provisors, 1351.] + +These remonstrances had little effect, and at last, in 1351, the statute +of Provisors was enacted, on the petition of the lords temporal and the +commons. By this statute any collation made by the Pope was to escheat to +the Crown, and any person acting in virtue of a reservation or provision +was, after conviction, to be imprisoned until he had paid such fine as the +king might inflict, and had made compensation to the party aggrieved. To +this statute the bishops, who were, of course, hampered by their position +as regards the Pope, did not assent. Its immediate effect was rather to +strengthen the hold of the king upon the Church than to increase its +liberty. Edward connived at its evasion whenever it suited him to do so, +and infringed the rights of patrons by a writ called "Quare impedit," +while the concurrence of the Popes, who took care to keep on good terms +with the victorious king, enabled him to do much as he liked. The Popes, +moreover, still continued to provide to sees vacant by translation, and +accordingly multiplied translations to the hurt of the Church. It was +found necessary to re-enact the penalties of the statute fourteen years +later, and, as we shall see, fresh efforts were made against the abuse +towards the end of the reign. + +[Sidenote: Statute of Præmunire, 1353.] + +The system of provisions increased the number of appeals to Rome, and +matters that were determinable at common law were carried to the Pope's +court, much to the inconvenience of the parties concerned, and to the +profit of the papal officers. In 1353 a check was given to the appellate +jurisdiction of the curia by the Statute of Præmunire, which, without +verbal reference to the Pope, made it punishable with imprisonment and +forfeiture to draw one of the king's subjects out of the kingdom to answer +in a foreign court, the offender being compelled to appear by a writ +beginning "Præmunire facias." This statute was re-enacted in 1365, with +distinct mention of the Roman court; the prelates protesting, evidently +for form's sake, that they would assent to nothing that was injurious to +the Church. Although the Pope still granted dispensations from the canon +law, and his jurisdiction might still be invoked in cases for which no +remedy was provided at common law, papal interference in legal matters of +importance now became rare. New statutes of Provisors and Præmunire were +promulgated in the next reign. + +[Sidenote: Repudiation of vassalage, 1366.] + +The victories of Edward and the Prince of Wales rendered the Popes +powerless to resent anti-papal legislation. France was no longer able to +protect them at Avignon. During their residence in that city the papacy +had become French, and had consequently in a large measure lost its hold +upon England. Urban V. unwisely provoked a declaration that bore witness +to this decline of influence. He wrote to Edward demanding the arrears of +the tribute promised by John, and threatened to cite the king if he +neglected payment. Edward laid the demand before the parliament that met +in May 1366, and requested the advice of the estates. The prelates, +speaking for themselves, asked for a day for deliberation. The next day +the three estates separately and unanimously declared that John had no +power to bring his realm and people under such subjection, and repudiated +the vassalage and tribute that the Pope demanded. For a short time Edward +stopped even the payment of Peter's pence. + +[Sidenote: The Church in relation to the State, 1327-1371.] + +[Sidenote: Taxation.] + +[Sidenote: Legislation.] + +[Sidenote: Jurisdiction.] + +Early in the reign the Pope granted the king a clerical tenth for four +years, and later, during the French war, the clergy taxed themselves +heavily. All attempt to induce them to make their grants in parliament was +discontinued, and they settled the amount of their contribution in their +provincial convocations. In convocation they legislated without +interference on spiritual matters, including those which concerned their +jurisdiction. Parliament, however, did not allow them to enact anything +that should bind the laity without its consent. Accordingly, when +Stratford published a constitution on the right to the tithe of underwood, +a petition was the next year presented by the commons, praying that the +Crown would not grant any petition of the clergy that might prejudice the +laity without examination; for, though the clergy legislated on the +process for recovery of tithes, parliament claimed to determine their +incidence. This distinction found its counterpart in jurisdiction; for the +common law courts decided questions of right to tithes, while the +spiritual courts enforced payment. In matters affecting temporal +interests, parliament legislated for the Church. This legislation was +during this period generally of a favourable character, and was founded on +petitions from the clergy. Parliament, for example, declared by statute +that the temporalities of bishops were not to be seized except according +to the law of the land and after judgment, and that during a vacancy they +were to be carefully and honestly administered. Again, as the pestilence +raised the price of clerical as well as of all other labour, parliament in +1362 represented that chaplains had become scarce and dear, and prayed +that they might be compelled to work for lower pay than they were in the +habit of receiving. The king ordered the bishops to find a remedy; and +they reported Islip's constitution, which was thus turned into a +parliamentary statute, a kind of "Statute of Labourers" for the +unbeneficed clergy. Disputes still went on as to rights of jurisdiction, +and in 1344, after the grant of a clerical tenth, it was enacted, with the +assent of the lay estates, that the ecclesiastical courts should not be +subject to unfair interference either by writs of prohibition or by +inquiry by secular judges; the whole statute forming a kind of reading of +"Circumspecte agatis" in the clerical interest. + +[Sidenote: Discontent of the laity.] + +[Sidenote: Non-residence.] + +[Sidenote: Secular employments.] + +Nevertheless the nation regarded the condition of the Church with growing +discontent. The papal interference with the rights of patrons, besides +grievously wronging the bishops and chapters, irritated the people at +large, for they saw ecclesiastical offices and revenues held by foreigners +who never set foot in England, and were in many cases their enemies. Of +this perhaps enough has been said. Non-residence and plurality, however, +were not confined to foreigners. All the great offices of State were, as a +rule, held by bishops and other dignified clergy, who neglected their +ecclesiastical for their civil duties; and the inferior clergy followed +their example, and engaged in secular employments of all kinds. +Non-residence was increased by the pestilence. Much land fell out of +cultivation, and so ceased to yield tithes, and parsons left their +parishes whenever they could obtain some profitable work to do elsewhere. +So the poet of Piers Ploughman records how-- + + Parsons and parisshe preestes + That hire parisshes weren povere + To have a licence and leve + And syngen ther for symonie; + + Somme serven the kyng + In cheker and in chauncelrie + Of wardes and of wardmotes + And somme serven as servauntz + And in stede of stywardes + + Pleyned hem to the bisshope, + Sith the pestilence tyme, + At London to dwelle, + For silver is swete. + + And his silver tellen + Chalangan his dettes + Weyves and streyves. + Lordes and ladies, + Sitten and demen. + +In the absence of the parish priests, or while they were immersed in +worldly affairs, the churches fell into decay, and the people were +neglected. Wyclif tells us that secular employment was the only road to +ecclesiastical preferment. "Lords," he says, "wolen not present a clerk +able of kunning of God's law, but a kitchen clerk, or a peny clerk, or +wise in building castles or worldly doing, though he kunne not reade wel +his sauter." Clergy such as these held a vast number of preferments, for +the Pope readily granted dispensations for plurality. William of Wykeham, +the king's architect, afterwards bishop of Winchester, held at one time, +while Keeper of the Privy Seal, the archdeaconry of Lincoln and eleven +prebends in various churches. + +[Sidenote: Lack of discipline.] + +[Sidenote: Oppression of the spiritual courts.] + +[Sidenote: Decline in the general character of the clergy.] + +[Sidenote: Efforts to raise their character.] + +The spiritual jurisdiction for which churchmen contended so jealously had +altogether failed to preserve discipline. The secularization of the clergy +rendered this failure specially disastrous; for a clerk, who had laid +aside everything clerical except the tonsure, and had perhaps concealed +that, if accused of any crime, however grave, was immediately claimed by +his order, and was only amenable to a law that was powerless to inflict an +adequate punishment for the worst offences. Nor were clerical offenders +rare, for the number of those in orders of one kind or another was very +large. Many of them had little to do, their duties merely consisting in +the performance of anniversary services, and so, being idle, they were +prone to self-indulgence and mischief. Several of the archbishops of +Canterbury endeavoured, as we have seen, to restore discipline, but the +spiritual courts were corrupt, and their efforts were of little avail. +Yet, while the laity saw discipline utterly broken down, they found the +spiritual courts strong enough to oppress them with heavy fees, especially +in testamentary cases, and in various other ways, and the cost and +vexation entailed by ecclesiastical processes were a constant source of +irritation. At the same time, high as the pretensions of the clergy were, +there can be no doubt that the clerical standard was lowered by the +pestilence. Many benefices were suddenly vacated, and there were few to +fill them. The ranks of the clergy must have been recruited with men of +inferior education, and it was by them that the vacant cures were +supplied. Some efforts were made to remedy the ignorance of those who +should have been the teachers of the people. Islip's foundation at Oxford +has already been noticed; it was soon to be followed by the more +magnificent foundations of William of Wykeham. Meanwhile, in the north, +the most backward part of the kingdom, Archbishop Thoresby, a prelate of +noble character, laboured to bring about a better state of things. He +constantly visited different parts of his diocese, teaching, and +correcting abuses, and in order that his people might know the elements of +Christianity, he published a kind of catechism in two versions, one in +Latin for the clergy, whose ignorance and carelessness he severely +reprehended, and the other in English verse for the laity. + +[Sidenote: Attack on the clerical ministers and the wealthy clergy, 1371.] + +Discontent at the condition of the Church grew bitter as the people at +large felt the burden of a war that had ceased to be glorious, and the +general decline in prosperity aggravated the religious disaffection. Men +saw with anger that, while the nation groaned under heavy taxation, the +greater ecclesiastics held all the richest offices in the State as well +as in the Church, and that, large as their revenues were, the country was +misgoverned and the war mismanaged. An anti-clerical party arose, and an +attack was made on ecclesiastical ministers and the wealthier churchmen. +When the Prince of Wales returned from Aquitaine, in January 1371, fresh +supplies were demanded of parliament. In reply, the lay estates presented +a petition complaining that the government had too long been in the hands +of the clergy, who could not be called to account, and requesting that the +king would consider that laymen were fit to be employed in offices of +state. In consequence of this petition, the chancellor, William of +Wykeham, and the treasurer, the bishop of Exeter, resigned, and their +places were taken by laymen. An attempt of the monastic orders to claim +exemption from the payment of subsidies led to some bitter words +concerning the wealth of the greater churchmen. A lord compared the Church +to an owl that was unfledged until each bird gave it a feather to deck +itself with; suddenly, he said, a hawk appeared, and the birds demanded +back their feathers in order that they might escape. The owl refused; so +they stripped him, and flew away in safety, leaving him in worse plight +than he was before. Even so, he continued, in this dangerous war ought we +to take back from the wealthy clergy the temporalities which belong to us +and to the realm, and defend the realm with these our own goods rather +than by increased taxation. The clergy took the hint, and promised the +Prince of Wales in convocation to grant £50,000, a sum to which even +those whose endowments had hitherto escaped on account of their smallness +were obliged to contribute. John of Gaunt returned the next year, and +probably took the lead of the anti-clerical party, in opposition to the +Prince of Wales, who upheld William of Wykeham. Although this year an +attack was made in parliament on the lawyers, the abuses of the Church did +not escape. Petitions were presented requesting that the king would +confiscate the revenues of foreign beneficed clergy who did not live in +the kingdom--this was refused; that bishops' officials should demand less +exorbitant fees in testamentary cases--in this matter the bishops were +ordered to find a remedy; and that the benefices of clergy who lived in +open concubinage should, if the bishop neglected to act, become _ipso +facto_ void, and that the Crown should present--to this no answer was +returned. + +[Sidenote: Concordat with the Pope.] + +[Sidenote: Conference at Bruges, 1374-1375.] + +When John of Gaunt came back from his unsuccessful campaign in 1373 his +influence in parliament was lessened. Nevertheless a petition was +presented against the encroachments of the clerical courts. A strong +remonstrance was also made on the subject of reservations and provisions +and on the withdrawal of money from the country by foreign ecclesiastics. +To this the king replied that he had already sent an embassy to the Pope +to represent these grievances, probably in consequence of the petition of +the year before, and the matter was referred to a conference about to be +held at Bruges. When the king's demand for a tenth was laid before +convocation by Archbishop Whittlesey, the clergy declared that they were +undone by the exactions of the Pope and the king, and that they could +better help the king "if the intolerable yoke of the Pope were taken from +their necks;" and Courtenay, bishop of Hereford, protested that he would +not consent to the grant unless some remedy were devised for these evils. +The tenth was, however, granted, and all looked for what the negotiations +at Bruges would bring forth. To this conference, which met the following +year, Edward sent the bishop of Bangor, Dr. John Wyclif, and others, as +his representatives to arrange a concordat with Gregory XI. The immediate +results, which were declared in 1375, were unsatisfactory, for they were +merely temporary in their application. However, in 1377, the king's +jubilee year, Edward announced that the Pope had promised that he would +abstain from reservations; that he would not provide to any bishopric +until sufficient time had elapsed for him to hear the result of the +capitular election; that he would respect the elective rights of other +capitular bodies; that he would diminish the number of foreign +ecclesiastics; that though he would not give up his claim to first-fruits, +which were still held to be an innovation, he would see that they did not +press too heavily on the clergy; and that he would be moderate in issuing +expectatives and provisions. + +[Sidenote: The Good Parliament, 1376.] + +No parliament met from 1373 until the Good Parliament of 1376. In this +parliament the party of reform was upheld by the Prince of Wales and the +bishop of Winchester. The Prince of Wales died during the session of the +parliament, and left the leaders of the party exposed to the vengeance of +John of Gaunt. A series of accusations was brought against Wykeham, his +temporalities were seized, and he was forbidden to come near the court. +Accordingly, he did not come up to the convocation of 1377, and Simon +Sudbury, the archbishop of Canterbury, refused to specially request his +attendance. His opposition was overruled by Courtenay, now bishop of +London, who dwelt on the injustice that had been done Wykeham by the +Crown, and urged the clergy to make no grant until he joined them. Wykeham +came up to convocation, and the king promised to redress his wrongs. And +here, at the point at which the quarrel assumes a new phase, when the +clergy were about to aim a blow at their enemy, John of Gaunt, by +attacking his ally, John Wyclif, at the opening of strife between Lollardy +and the Church, and at the beginning of a new era in the relations between +Rome and the English and other national Churches, brought about by the +papal Schism, this narrative reaches its appointed limit. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: Summary, 601-1066.] + +[Sidenote: 601-664.] + +[Sidenote: 663-829.] + +Each period of the history we have been studying has some special +characteristics, and it may be convenient to sum them up briefly. The +partial failure of the Kentish mission and the break-down of Gregory's +scheme of government left the English Church in a disorganized condition, +and Rome had to win a second victory to save it from Celtic customs and +separation from the rest of Christendom. The hero of that victory was +Wilfrith, its token the restoration of the see of York. A new period opens +with the work of Theodore, and extends from the victory of the Roman +party at Whitby to the end of the greatness of the Northumbrian Church, +and the establishment of the sovereignty of Wessex. The diocesan scheme of +Theodore succeeded, and is the basis of our present arrangement. His +attempt to bring the whole Church under the rule of a single metropolitan +failed, for the northern Church was for a season more advanced than the +rest of the land in religion and culture; and its failure is marked by the +restoration of the see of York to metropolitan rank. From the first the +Church was national in character, independent of the rise and fall of the +petty kingdoms into which the land was divided, and it became a powerful +agent in the accomplishment of national unity. Nor was it by any means a +handmaid of Rome, for the attempt of Wilfrith to regain his position by +invoking the papal authority met with derision and defeat. From the first, +too, the Church and the civil power worked in complete harmony, and when +national unity was attained, the Church bore its own share in every +department of the polity it had done so much to create. For a moment, +indeed, its work in teaching the lesson of union was threatened by the +baleful predominance of Mercia; for the foundation of the Mercian +archiepiscopate was an attempt to make the Church minister to the +greatness of a single kingdom; its failure saved her from degradation, and +probably saved the nation from prolonged division. By Archbishop +Ceolnoth's alliance with Ecgberht, the Church adopted the interests of the +line of kings under whom the unity of the nation was accomplished. + +[Sidenote: 829-988.] + +[Sidenote: 988-1066.] + +While the invasion of the Northmen completed the ruin of the northern +church, Alfred and his son imparted new vigour to the life of the southern +province, and their work was carried further forward by the great +churchmen whose names are connected with the monastic revival of the tenth +century. This period of recovery may be said to close with the death of +Dunstan. Although the relations between England and Rome became more +intimate under the immediate successors of Ecgberht, and especially under +Alfred, the work of restoration was not due to direct Roman influence; it +was effected mainly through intercourse with France, Flanders, and +Germany. Throughout the period the unity of action of the Church and State +is strongly marked; separate conciliar action became rare, and both +spiritual and secular affairs were administered by statesmen-bishops. +During the first part of the eleventh century this union became even more +intimate, greatly to the loss of the Church; for the bishops were absorbed +in worldly matters and party strife. Freedom from Roman interference and a +long course of independent and purely national life, however good in +themselves, proved dangerous, for the Church had not yet attained any +widespread culture. + +[Sidenote: Summary, 1066-1135.] + +The conquest of England may be regarded as a papal triumph over a Church +and a nation which had stood apart from Roman Christendom and followed +their own devices. Both before and after his victory the Conqueror availed +himself of the help of Rome. Nevertheless he was strong enough to hold his +own even against Gregory VII., and refused to allow the Pope any +authority in his kingdom excepting within limits of his own appointment. +The Church equally with the nation was conquered, and tasted the +bitterness of defeat, but there was no break in the continuity of its +life. Each Norman or French bishop who succeeded to the see of an English +predecessor looked on himself as an English bishop, and the Church of the +conquered people united conquerors and conquered in one English nation. +William strengthened the Church as a means of strengthening himself, and +his policy of separating the spiritual and secular courts was followed by +few signs of coming conflict during the strong rule of the Norman kings. + +[Sidenote: 1139-1205.] + +The conflict came after a suspension of the royal authority. The immunity +of the clergy from secular jurisdiction confronted Henry II. as a +dangerous obstacle to the success of his designs for the foundation of a +strong and orderly government. His strife with Archbishop Thomas ended in +his humiliation, but it left in the Constitutions of Clarendon the +groundwork of a system to which the future relations between Church and +State made continual and progressive approaches. The Church lost by the +dispute; for the energy that might have been devoted to producing a higher +clerical standard was frittered in a somewhat ignoble quarrel. Yet it also +gained something besides a victory of doubtful benefit. Anselm, in a +better cause, had already resisted despotism; and Thomas died for what he +believed to be the rights of the Church over which he had been called to +rule. Both alike asserted the sacredness of spiritual things. Neither +Anselm nor Thomas received any hearty support from Rome; in both cases the +action of the Popes appears to have been governed by motives of +expediency. Nor was it in the Church's quarrel alone that churchmen dared +to encounter the wrath of kings. Thomas of Canterbury, Hugh of Lincoln, +and Geoffrey of York each opposed the undue exercise of the royal power in +secular matters, and were the earliest assertors of constitutional rights. +At the same time, under both the Norman and the first two Plantagenet +kings, the Church at large was on the side of the Crown, and did the +nation good service by maintaining its authority against the feudal +nobility. + +[Sidenote: 1205-1265.] + +The quarrel between John and Innocent III. introduces a new period in our +history, during which the Church was in opposition to the Crown, and was +contending for national liberties against the king and his suzerain, the +Pope. Although, as the vassal of Innocent, the king was upheld by all the +power that the greatest of the Popes could exert, the Church cast in its +lot with the nation, and took a foremost part in winning the Great +Charter. It paid dearly for its self-devotion. Innocent had, however, +overreached himself, for his attempt to uphold his vassal against the +liberties of the country roused a bitter feeling against the papacy; and +this feeling was deepened as succeeding Popes took advantage of the +weakness of Henry III. to grind down the Church and oppress the country in +order to raise funds for their war with the Hohenstaufen house. In the +resistance that was at last made to the king's misgovernment the Church +was again foremost in the cause of liberty, while the Pope again upheld +his vassal against his people. The barons' war, however, virtually brought +the papal suzerainty to an end. + +[Sidenote: 1272-1307.] + +[Sidenote: 1307-1327.] + +A decisive blow was given to the power of the Popes in England by the +folly of Boniface VIII., who forced Edward I. into hostility, and so made +the Crown at one with the people in resisting papal pretensions. Nor were +the clergy whole-hearted on the Popes' side, for they had learned by +bitter experience that they would at least gain nothing by the victory of +Rome. Almost as soon, then, as the machinery for the expression of the +national will was perfected, the king and the nation used it to express +their indignation at the usurpations of the papacy. The reign is further +memorable in ecclesiastical history for the king's work in defining the +position of the Church in relation to the State. The policy of making the +clergy a parliamentary estate so far failed that they succeeded in +withdrawing themselves from parliament and making their grants in +convocation, yet the attempt to secure their attendance brought their +action in fiscal matters into correspondence with, though not into +dependence upon, the action of the other estates of the realm. In matters +of jurisdiction, Edward's rule contained in the writ "Circumspecte agatis" +was founded on clear and well-considered principles, and became the +groundwork of all future legislation on the subject in mediæval times. In +all points the Church was given an ascertained place in the national +system, and while the king exacted many heavy taxes from the clergy, and +occasionally, when it suited his convenience, made use of the papal +authority, he never gave way to any attempt of Pope or archbishop to act +as though the clergy had separate interests from the nation at large. For +our purpose, the reign of his unhappy son is important mainly as +exhibiting how entirely the success of the policy of Edward I. was the +result of his personal character. The weakness of Edward II. gave the +Popes a chance of which they did not fail to avail themselves. While +wholly under French influence, they did not hesitate to treat the English +Church as arrogantly as they had treated it in the days when the papacy +was strong. Under Edward I. the chapters virtually lost the power of +electing bishops; during the reign of his son the will of the Crown was +constantly set at nought, and the introduction of the system of +reservation and provision as applied to bishoprics indicates the utter +disregard with which the rights both of the Church and the king were +treated at Avignon. + +[Sidenote: 1343-1377.] + +A new and powerful motive for resistance was supplied by the French war of +Edward III. Parliament and the Crown were at one in refusing to yield to +papal pretensions, and the first statutes of Provisors and Præmunire, +though they by no means put a stop to the evils at which they were aimed, +at least taught the Popes the necessity of moderation. We leave the Church +in the midst of a struggle. Exhausted with the burden of the French war, +and disappointed at the change from victory to defeat, the nation was +inclined to find fault with existing institutions. The wealth and power of +the Church provoked envy; its abuses were regarded with indignation. The +earliest phase of the struggle, the attack made in Parliament upon the +clerical ministers and the richer clergy, brings this volume to a close. +The work and theories of Wyclif and his followers, and the effects of the +papal schism on the relations between England and Rome, are reserved for +another volume of this series. + + + + +INDEX. + + + Abercorn, see of, 19. + + Adam Marsh, 155, 157. + + Adoptionists, 33. + + Æddi (Eddius), 21. + + Ælfgifu, wife of Eadwig, 46, 47. + + Ælfheah the Bald, bp. of Winchester, 45. + + Ælfric, archbp.-elect, 67. + + Ælfric the Grammarian, 53, 54. + + Æthelberht, king of Kent, 2-4, 28. + + Æthelburh, queen, 5. + + Æthelred the Unready, king, 51, 56, 57, 59. + + Æthelstan, 42, 43, 44. + + Æthelwold, bp. of Winchester, 48. + + Æthelwulf, king of W. Saxons, 35, 36. + + Agatho, pope, 19. + + Agilberct, bp., 11, 12. + + Aidan, St., 7, 9, 14. + + Avignon, 179, 199, 201. + + Alchfrith, king, 10-14. + + Alcuin, 25, 29, 32, 33. + + Alexander II., pope, 71, 77, 79, 86, 87. + + Alexander III., pope, 118-122. + + Alexander IV., pope, 155. + + Alfred, king, 36, 40, 43, 44, 214. + + Andover, 57. + + Andrews, St., see of, 101. + + Anselm, archbp., _see_ Canterbury, archbps. of. + + Anselm, legate, 99. + + Appeals to Rome, 18-20, 31, 81, 88, 93, 105, 107, 131, 137, 149. + + Archdeacons, 30, 41, 98, 111. + + Assandun, battle of, 60, 61, 67. + + Asser, bishop, 39. + + Augustin, St., _see_ Canterbury, archbps. of. + + Aust, conference at, 3. + + Ayermin, William, bp. of Norwich, 186, 187. + + + Bæda, 21-23, 30. + + Bari, council of, 94. + + Bath, 50, 51, 82. + + Beaumont, Lewis, bp. of Durham, 185. + + Benedict, Biscop, 10, 16. + + Benedict III., pope, 36. + + Benedict X., antipope, 71. + + Benedict XII., pope, 196. + + Bernard, St., of Clairvaux, 109, 111, 126. + + Bernicia, kingdom of, 5, 7, 10, 11, 35. + + Bertha, queen, 2. + + Bigod, Roger, earl of Norfolk, 175, 177. + + Bishops and archbps., election of, 28, 29, 64, 65, 70, 81, 90, 141, 149, + 184, _see_ Provisions. + + Birinus, bp. of Dorchester, 6. + + Bodmin, see of, 42. + + Bohun, Humphrey, earl of Hereford, 175, 177. + + Boniface V., pope, 5. + + Boniface VIII., pope, 174-179, 217. + + Boniface (Winfrith), 32. + + Bourchier, Sir Robert, chancellor, 197. + + Bristol, 85. + + Brithelm, bp. of Wells, 47. + + Bruges, conference at, 211. + + Brunanburh, battle of, 44. + + Burnell, Robert, bp. of Bath and Wells, 163, 164, 171. + + Burghersh, Henry, bp. of Lincoln, 185, 186, 195. + + Bury St. Edmund's, 37, 60. + + + Cadwallon, British king, 5. + + Cædmon, 11, 21. + + Calixtus II., pope, 100-102. + + Canterbury, see of, 2-4, 15, 16, 24, 26-28, 36, 42, 52, 58, 62, 74, 79, + 80, 89, 100-102, 107, 120, 124, 146, 199. + Archbishops of-- + Augustin, 1-3. + Laurentius, 4. + Mellitus, 4, 5. + Justus, 4, 5. + Honorius, 6. + Deusdedit, 15. + Theodore, 15-20, 23, 27, 29, 30. + Brihtwald, 20. + Jaenberht, 27. + Æthelheard, 27. + Ceolnoth, 28, 213. + Æthelred, 42. + Plegmund, 39, 42. + Wulfhelm, 43. + Oda, 44, 45, 47. + Dunstan, 45-53, 61, 214. + Sigeric, 56. + Ælfric, 74. + Ælfheah (St. Alphege), 57-59, 86. + Lyfing, 60, 61. + Æthelnoth, 61, 62. + Robert of Jumièges, 64, 67, 68, 70, 71, 88. + Stigand, 61, 67, 68, 70, 71, 77. + Lanfranc, 78-80, 82-87, 89. + Anselm, 86, 90-98, 117, 215. + Ralph, 99-101. + William of Corbeuil, 99, 106. + Theobald, 107-112. + Thomas (Becket), 111-123, 216. + Richard, 123, 127. + Baldwin, 129. + Hubert Walter, 131-133, 136, 137. + Stephen Langton, 137-145, 149, 160. + Richard Grant, 149. + Edmund Rich, 149, 150. + Boniface, 150, 160, 163. + Robert Kilwardby, 163. + John Peckham, 162, 164-173. + Robert Winchelsey, 162, 172-185. + Walter Reynolds, 185, 187, 194. + Simon Mepeham, 194, 195. + John Stratford, 186, 187, 195-198, 204. + Thomas Bradwardine, 198, 199. + Simon Islip, 199, 205. + Simon Langham, 200. + William Whittlesey, 200. + Simon Sudbury, 212. + + Captivity, the Babylonish, 179. + + Carlisle, parliament of, 181, 192. + + Cashel, council of, 127. + + Ceadda, _see_ York, bps. and abps. of. + + Ceadwalla, king of W. Saxons, 32. + + Cedd, bp., 8, 11, 14. + + Celtic Christianity, 8-14. + + Cenwulf, king of Mercia, 27, 28. + + Chancellor, office of, 63, 112, 113; + a lay, 197. + + Chaplains, stipendiary, 199, 205. + + Charles the Great, king and emp., 25, 32, 33, 34. + + Charter of Henry I., 95, 240, 342; + of John to Church, 141; + the Great, 142, 143, 154, 165; + the Forest, 154. + + Charters, confirmation of the, 176. + + Chester-le-Street, 35, 57. + + Chester, see of, 82. + + Chichester, see of, 82. + + Chrodegang of Metz, rule of, 66, 85. + + "Chronicle," the "Anglo-Saxon," 39. + + Churches, liability of laity to repair, 61. + + Circumspecte agatis, writ of, 169, 184, 204, 217. + + Clarendon, constitutions of, 116, 117, 123, 215. + + Clement, anti-pope, 84. + + Clement III., pope, 102, 129. + + Clement IV., pope, 157, 158. + + Clement V., pope, 179, 180, 184. + + Clement VI., pope, 198, 202. + + Clericis laicos, bull, 174. + + Clerks, the king's, 62, 103. + + Clevesho, 17. + + Cnut, king, 50, 61-63. + + Colman, bp., 10-12. + + Columba, St., 6, 12. + + Concordat with Rome, 210, 211. + + Conquest, Norman, 71, 72, 76, 214. + + Conrad of Germany, 155. + + Convocation, 98, 172-174, 189, 191, 204. + + Cornwall, 42. + + Coronation, 50, 120, 136. + + Courtenay, William, bp. of Hereford and London, abp., 211. + + Crediton, see of, 42, _see_ Exeter. + + Crusades, 128, 158. + + Cuthberht, St., 9, 35, 57. + + + Danegeld, 56, 75, 114. + + Danes, 35-38, 43, 57, 64. + + Deira, kingdom of, 5, 10. + + Dioceses, organization of, 2, 17-20, 41, 42. + + Dorchester, see of, 6, 26, 42. + + Disafforestation, 177, 179. + + Drokensford, John, bp. of Bath and Wells, 186. + + Dunstan, _see_ Canterbury, abps. of. + + Dunwich, see of, 6, 41. + + Durham, see of, 57, 58. + + + Eadbald, king of Kent, 4, 5. + + Eadgar, king, 47-50. + + Eadmer, 90, 101. + + Eadmund, king, 46. + + Eadmund (St. Edmund), king of the E. Angles, 37, 60. + + Eadmund Ironside, king, 60. + + Eadred, king, 46. + + Eadward the Confessor, king, 64, 69, 129. + + Eadward the Elder, king, 42. + + Eadward the Martyr, king, 51, 58. + + Eadwig, king, 46, 47. + + Eadwine, king of Northumbria, 5, 6, 11. + + Ealdfrith, king of Northumbria, 19. + + Ealdhelm, bp. of Sherborne, 25, 26. + + Ealhstan, bp. of Sherborne, 35. + + Eanflæd, queen, 10. + + Easter, date of, 3, 9-14, 16, 25. + + East Anglia, conversion of, 4, 5, 6, _see_ Dunwich. + + East Saxons, conversion of, 2, 4. + + Ecgberht, king of W. Saxons, 28. + + Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, 18, 19. + + Edward I., 158, 160-182, 217, 218. + + Edward II., 182-189, 217. + + Edward III., 189, 192, 204, 218. + + Edward, the "Black Prince," 194, 203, 209-211. + + Eleanor, queen, 170. + + Ellandun, battle of, 28. + + Elmham, see of, 18, 37, 67, 82. + + English used in prayers and homilies, 39, 54, 75. + + Evesham, battle of, 157. + + Eugenius III., pope, 109, 126. + + Eustace, son of Stephen, 110, 112. + + Exeter, see of, 65. + + + Farne Island, 9. + + Felix, bp. of Dunwich, 6. + + Festivals, ecclesiastical, decreed by the king and witan, 50, 58. + + Finan, bp. of Lindisfarne, 10. + + First-fruits, 181, 182, 200, 211. + + Flanders, 44, 47, 214. + + Fleury, abbey of, 45, 48. + + Formosus, pope, 42. + + Frankfort, council of, 33. + + Frederic I., emperor, 118, 119. + + Frederic II., emperor, 148, 155. + + Fulk, bp. of London, his mitre and helmet, 156. + + Fulk, Fitz-Warin, threatens a papal envoy, 152, 153. + + + Gerald de Barri (Giraldus Cambrensis), 127-129. + + Gerent, king, 25. + + Ghent, 47. + + Gilbert Foliot, bp. of London, 118. + + Gisa, bp. of Wells, 66. + + Glastonbury, 45, 46. + + Godwine, earl, 64-67. + + Grandison, John, bp. of Exeter, 194. + + Gratian of Bologna, 111. + + Greek, knowledge of, 16, 22, 44. + + Gregory the Great, pope, 2-4, 17, 79, 212. + + Gregory III., pope, 24. + + Gregory VII., pope, 72, 76, 77, 82-84, 106, 214. + + Gregory IX., pope, 148-150, 159. + + Gregory XI., pope, 211. + + Grimbold, 39. + + Grosseteste, Robert, bp. of Lincoln, 151-157, 159. + + Gualo, legate, 144, 145. + + Guthred, 42. + + Guthorm, king, 37. + + + Hadrian, abbot, 15, 16. + + Hadrian I., pope, 26, 31. + + Hadrian IV., pope, 126. + + Harold I., king, 62. + + Harold II., king, 68, 69, 71-73. + + Harthacnut, king, 64. + + Hecanan in Herefordshire, bishopric of, 18. + + Henry IV., emperor, 84. + + Henry I., 95-101. + + Henry II., 112-129. + + Henry III., 145-158, 216. + + Henry, bp. of London, 157. + + Henry, bp. of Winchester, 106-112. + + Henry, son of Henry II., 120. + + Herbert, bp. of Salisbury, 132. + + Hereford, see of, 18. + + Hereford, synod of, 17. + + Heretics, 125. + + Hermann, bp. of Salisbury, 82. + + Hexham, see of, 19, 20, 35. + + Higberht, archbp. of Lichfield, 27. + + Hild, abbess, 11. + + Honorius II., pope, 99-101. + + Honorius III., pope, 144-146, 148. + + Hubert de Burgh, 145, 148. + + Hugh, bp. of Lincoln, 123, 130, 132, 133, 216. + + Hugh Puiset, bp. of Durham, 129. + + Hwiccan in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, bishopric of, 18. + + + Ida, founder of line of Bernician kings, 7. + + Ini, king of the W. Saxons, 25, 26, 32. + + Innocent II., pope, 106, 109. + + Innocent III., pope, 128, 133, 137-144, 155, 158, 159, 216. + + Innocent IV., pope, 152-156. + + Inquisition, the, 125. + + Investiture, episcopal, 64, 94-97. + + Iona, 6-8. + + Ireland, Scots of, 6; + relations with Canterbury, 80, 126; + slave-trade with, 85; + conquest of, 126, 127. + + + James, the deacon, 6, 12, 21. + + Jarrow, 21, 22, 34. + + Jerusalem, 70, 128, 129. + + Jews, 170, 171. + + John, king, 130, 131, 136-144, 204. + + John VI., pope, 20. + + John XIII., pope, 48. + + John XV., pope, 57. + + John XXII., pope, 185, 187, 194. + + John de Gray, bp. of Norwich, 137. + + John of Crema, legate, 99. + + John of Salisbury, 111. + + John of Shoreditch, 202. + + John, the old Saxon teacher, 39. + + Jurisdiction, ecclesiastical, 30, 43, 81, 88, 98, 115-117, 124, 160, + 165, 166, 168, 169, 184, 193, 197, 205, 207, 210. + + + Kent, conversion of, 2-5; + overthrow of kingship in, 27; + end of ealdormanship of, 52. + + Kingship, 31, _see_ Coronation. + + Kingston, council at, 28. + + + Lambeth, Archbishop Hubert's foundation at, 133; + council at, 166. + + Lancaster, John of Gaunt, duke of, 210. + + Lancaster, Thomas, earl of, 188. + + Langton, Walter, bp. of Lichfield, 179, 182. + + Lateran council of 1099, 94. + + Law, canon, 111, 149, 159; + civil, 111, 125, 159; + common, 125, 149. + + Legates, 23, 27, 31, 70, 77, 84, 93, 98-100, 103, 107, 124, 125, 140, + 144-146, 150, 157, 158. + + Legislation, ecclesiastical, 17, 28, 29, 40, 41, 43, 49, 58, 60, 80, 82, + 83, 98, 160, 197, 203, 204. + + Leicester, see of, 18, 41. + + Leo III., pope, 28, 34. + + Leo IV., pope, 36. + + Leo IX., pope, 65, 66. + + Leofric, bp. of Exeter, 63, 65, 66. + + Lewes, battle of, 157. + + Lewis VII. of France, 118-120. + + Lichfield, see of, 17, 18; + made metropolitan, 26-29; + removals of, 82. + + Lincoln, parliaments of, 178, 183. + + Lindisfarne, see of, 7, 13, 17, 19, 35. + + Lindsey, conversion of, 5; + bishopric of, 18. + + Lisbon, taking of, 128. + + Llewelyn, prince of Wales, 167. + + London, proposed as a metropolis, 2, 3; + see of, 4. + + Lotharingian bishops, 64-66, 68, 84. + + Lyons, council of, 165, 168. + + + Manfred, 155. + + Manumissions, 73. + + Marriage, the Church and, 45, 49, 151, 169; + clerical, 39, 45, 48, 82, 96, 98, 151, 167, 210. + + Martin, papal envoy, 152. + + Martin IV., pope, 168. + + Maserfield, battle at, 7. + + Matilda, empress, 106, 108. + + Melrose, 11. + + Mercia, conversion of, 8; + diocese of, divided, 17, 18; + predominance of, 26, 213. + + Merton, council of, 150, 159. + + Missionaries, early English, 32, 54. + + Monasticism, Celtic, 8, 14; + Benedictine, 38, 43, 46, 47, 53. + + Montmirail, conference at, 119. + + Mortimer, Roger, 187. + + Mortmain, statute of, 165, 166, 172. + + Myton, the chapter of, 188, 198. + + + Nevill's Cross, battle of, 198. + + Nice, second Council of, 33. + + Nicolas of Tusculum, 141. + + Nicolas II., pope, 69. + + Nicolas III., pope, 163, 164. + + Nicolas IV., pope, taxation of, 171. + + Nidd, the, council held near, 20. + + Northampton, council of, 117. + + Northumbria, conversion of, 5, 6; + two kingdoms, 6; + division into dioceses, 17-20; + literary splendour, 21, 33; + ruin of, 34, 35; + conquest of, 42; + revolt of, 46. + + Norwich, see of, 82. + + + Oath, coronation, 51, 120, 129, 136; + in suits, 50; + a false, taken cognizance of by spiritual courts, 169. + + Offa, king of Mercia, 26, 27, 32, 33. + + Olaf, king of Norway, 57, 60. + + Ordainers, the lords, 183. + + Ordeals, 43. + + Orkneys, bishopric of the, 80, 107. + + Orlton, Adam, bp. of Hereford and Winchester, 185, 187, 195, 196. + + Osbern, bp. of Exeter, 86. + + Oswald, bp. of Worcester, _see_ York, abps. of. + + Oswald, king of Northumbria, 6, 7. + + Oswiu, king of Northumbria, 6, 7, 10-12, 15. + + Otho, legate, 150, 160. + + Otto the Great, king and emperor, marries a sister of Æthelstan, 44. + + Ottoboni, legate, 158, 160. + + Oxford, 106, 108, 125, 149, 151. + + + Pall, archiepiscopal, 2, 6, 24, 30, 61, 71, 93. + + Pandulf, legate, 140, 144, 145. + + Parishes, 23. + + Parliament, clerical representation in, 172-174, 189, 204. + + Parliament, the Good, 211. + + Paschal II., pope, 96, 100. + + Paulinus, _see_ York, bps. and abps. of. + + Peerage of bishops, 197. + + Penda, king of Mercia, 5. + + Penitentials, 23, 30. + + Peter des Roches, bp. of Winchester, 140, 142, 143, 149. + + Peter's pence, 36, 40, 49, 61, 84, 181, 204. + + Philip II. of France, 139, 141. + + Philip IV. of France, 177, 179. + + Pilgrimages, 25, 32, 36, 69, 70. + + Plague, the great, 198, 199, 205, 208. + + Plurality of benefices, 41, 63, 164, 206. + + Pontigny, 118, 119. + + Præmunientes clause, 173, 189, 190. + + Præmunire, statute of, 193, 203, 218. + + Provisions, 147, 150, 184, 201, 202, 210, 211, 218. + + Provisors, statute of, 193, 202, 218. + + + Quare impedit, writ of, 202. + + + Ralph Flambard, bp. of Durham, 88. + + Ramsbury, see of, 42. + + Reading, provincial council at, 165. + + Reginald, abp.-elect, 137. + + Regulars and seculars, struggles between, 48, 51, 85. + + Remigius, bp. of Dorchester, 79. + + Reservations, 184, 201, 202, 211. + + Rheims, council of, 110. + + Richard I., 129-133. + + Ripon, 10, 19, 57, 187. + + Rochester, see of, 4, 6, 52. + + Rockingham, council of, 92. + + Roger, bp. of Salisbury, 103, 107, 108. + + Rome, "Saxon school" at, 32, 36. + + Rustand, papal envoy, 156. + + + Sæberct, king of the East Saxons, 2. + + Saladine tenth, 124. + + Salisbury, see of, 82. + + Scandinavian invasions, 34, 56, _see_ Danes. + + Schism, the Celtic, 8-14, 16, 17, 25, 212. + + Schools, 21, 25, 49, 53. + + Scotland, relations with York, 3, 80, 101; + papal dictum concerning, 102; + Church freed from dependence, 102; + a fief of Rome, 178; + wars with England, 107, 178, 187, 197. + + Scottish missionaries and clergy, 4, 6, 8, 9. + + Scutage, 113, 146, 147. + + Sees, removals of, 65, 82. + + Selsey, see of, 19; + removed, 82. + + Sergius, pope, 19, 26. + + Sherborne, see of, 26; + removed, 82. + + Sherburn, northern parliament of, 188. + + Sidnacester, see of, 18. + + Simon de Montfort, earl, 156-158. + + Simony, 63, 64, 67, 89, 144. + + South Saxons, conversion of, 19. + + Spearhafoc, bp.-designate, 67. + + Standard, battle of the, 107. + + Stapleton, Walter, bp. of Exeter, 187. + + St. David's, see of, 128. + + Stephen, king, 106-112. + + Stephen, papal collector, 148. + + Swend, king of Denmark, 57, 60. + + Swithun, bp. of Winchester, 35. + + Synods and ecclesiastical councils, 11, 17, 29, 31, 55, 80, 91, 97, 98; + _see_ Whitby, &c., also Convocation. + + + Taxation, ecclesiastical, 74, 75, 113, 124, 146, 147, 152-154, 171, + 174-177, 200, 205, 209. + + Templars, suppression of the, 125, 183. + + Tenths, 147. + + Testa, William de, 181, 182. + + Thurkill, 58, 59. + + Tithes, 23, 24, 43, 49, 61, 98, 169, 204, 205. + + Tostig, earl, 69. + + Transubstantiation, 54, 86, 87. + + Translations, episcopal, rule concerning, 184. + + Tribute, papal, 140, 182, 204. + + + Ufford, John, archbishop-elect, 198. + + Ulf, bp. of Dorchester, 64, 66, 67, 70. + + Urban, II., pope, 91-94. + + Urban IV., pope, 157, 158. + + Urban V., pope, 200, 204. + + + Vacarius, 111. + + Vercelli, council of, 66. + + Vézelay, abp. Thomas at, 119. + + Vicarages, erection of, 151. + + Victor, anti-pope, 118. + + + Walchelin, bp. of Winchester, 85, 86. + + Wales, church of, not in communion with Canterbury, 3, 8, 10; + joins communion, 25; + in S. Wales bishops profess obedience, 42; + independence of church, 80; + dependence, 102; + character, 127, 177, 168. + Alfred's power in, 42. + Conquest of, by Edward I., 167. + + Wallingford, treaty of, 112. + + Walter Map, 133. + + Walter of Cantelupe, bp. of Worcester, 156-158. + + Waltham, 68, 71. + + Wedmore, peace of, 37. + + Wells, see of, 42, 82. + + Wessex, conversion, 6, 8; + diocesan division of, 18, 26, 42; + gains supremacy, 28. + + Westminster abbey, 69, 71, 85; + councils at, 24, 98, 116, 124; + convocation of Canterbury meets at, 98, 191. + + Whitby, synod of, 11-13, 16, 29, 213. + + Wighard, abp. designate, 15. + + Wight, Isle of, conversion, 19. + + William the Conqueror, 71, 72, 77-87, 92, 105, 215. + + William Rufus, 87-95. + + William, bp. of London, 67, 68. + + William Fitz-Osbert, 133. + + William Longchamp, bp. of Ely, 129. + + William of Saint-Calais, bp. of Durham, 87, 88, 92. + + William Wither, 148. + + Winchester, see of, 26, 42; + councils at, 83, 108. + + Wini, bp. of W. Saxons, 8. + + Witchcraft, 39. + + Worcester, see of, 18; + held with York, 69. + + Wulfstan, bp. of Worcester, 63, 70, 71, 84. + + Wyclif, John, 193, 211, 212. + + Wykeham, William of, bp. of Winchester, 207-212. + + + York, see of, founded, 2, 5; + overthrown, 6; + restored, 13; + metropolitan dignity restored, 22, 24, 212; + period of greatness, 25; + of obscurity, 34, 35; + special position of, 35, 46, 74, 79; + claim to obedience of Scottish bishops, 80, 101, 102; + disputes with Canterbury, 79, 100, 101, 199. + + York, bps. and abps. of-- + Paulinus, 5, 6, 12, 13, 24. + Wilfrith, 10-14, 17-20, 31, 213. + Ceadda, 14, 16, 17, 29. + Ecgberht, 22, 24, 25, 30. + Æthelberht (Albert), 25. + Eanbald, 34. + Wulfstan, 43, 46. + Oswald, 44, 48. + Ealdred, 63, 66, 69, 78. + Thomas, 78-80, 85. + Thurstan, 100, 101, 107. + William, 109, 110. + Henry Murdac, 109, 110. + Roger, 120, 124. + Geoffrey, 122, 130, 131, 138, 216. + Walter Gray, 144. + Sewal de Bovil, 155. + William Melton, 187. + William Zouche, 197. + John Thoresby, 199, 208. + + +THE END. + + +PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. 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