The English Church in the Middle Ages

Front matter

OOA

The English Church in the Middle Ages

©pocI)S of Cljurcl) l£)is;t0rp

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

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

X Contents.

CHAPTEK III.

Ruin and Revival.

PAGE

Ruin of Norfchumbria — ^thelwulf 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 — ^Ifric the Grammarian 34

CHAPTER lY.

Exhaustion.

Characteristics of the Period — Renevs^ed Scandinavian Invasions — Legislation — Archbishop JElfheah : 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

Contents, xi

CHAPTER YI.

Clerical Pretensions.

PAGE

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 YIL

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 .

CHAPTER YIII.

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 xii Contents.

CHAPTER IX.

The Papacy and the Parliament.

PAGE

Ecclesiastical Character of the Reign of Edward III. — Archbishops and their Ecclesiastical Administration — Provisions — Statute of Provisors — Statute of Praemunire — 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

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTEEBUEY

Accession.

Death.

Augustin

Lauren tius .

Mellitus

Justus .

Honorius

Deusdedit .

Theodore

Brihtwald .

Tatwin .

Nothelm

Cuthberht .

Brecgvvin

Jaenberht .

^thelheard .

Sos

Wulfred

Feologeld

Ceolnoth

^thelred .

Plegmtind

Athelm

Wulfhelm

Oda .

Dunstaii iEtbelgar

Sigeric .

^Ifric .

^Ifheah

Lyfing .

^thelnoth

Eadsige

Kobert .

Stigand

...

Lan franc

Anselna .

1 109

Ralph .

William of Corbeuil

Theobald .

"39

Thomas [Becket] .

1 162

1 170

XIV

Archbishops of Canterbury.

Accession.

Death.

Richard .....

1 174

1 184

Baldwin

1 185

1 190

Hubert Walter .

Stephen Langton .

Richard Grant

Edmund Rich

Boniface

Robert Kihvardby

John Peckham

Robert Winchelsey

Walter Reynolds .

Simon Mepeham .

^ZZZ

John Stratford

Thomas Bradwardine

Simon Islip .

Simon Langham .

William Whittlesey

Simon Sudbury .

BISHOPS AND AECHBISHOPS OF YOEK

Accession.

Death.

Paulinus

Wilfrith

Ceadda .

Bosa .

John of Beverley .

Wilfrith II. .

Ecgberht

^thelberht (Albert)

Eanbald

Eanbald II. .

812 ?

Wulfsige .

831 ?

Wigmund

Wulfhere .

^thelbald .

Redewald .

Wulfstan .

Bishops and Archbishops of York,

XV

Accession.

Death.

Oskytel

Oswald .

Ealdulf.

Wulfstan II.

^Ifric .

Kinesige

105 1

Ealdred

Thomas

1 100

Gerard .

IIOI

1 108

Thomas 11. .

1 109

III4

Thurstau

III9

1 140

William

1 143

1 154

Henry Murdac

II47

II53

Roger .

IIS4

Geoffrey

I2I2

Walter Gray

Sewal de Buvill

Godfrey

Walter Giffard

William Wickwair

John le Roman

Henry Newark

Thomas Corbridge

William Greenfield

William Melton .

William Zouche .

John Thoresby

Alexander Neville

THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

CHAPTER I.

ROME AND lONA.

ST. augustin's mission— pope Gregory's scheme of organization— CAUSES op its failure — FOUNDATION AND OVER- THROW OF THE SEE OP YORK — INDEPENDENT MISSIONS — THE SEE OF LINDISFARNE — SCOTTISH CHRISTIANITY — THE SCHISM — THE SYNOD OF WHITBY — RESTORATION OF THE SEE OF YORK.

The Gospel was first brouglit to the Teutonic conquerors of Britain by Roman missionarieSj and was received by the kings of various kingdoms. From the first tlie Cliurcn 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

C. H. A in 597 to preacli the Gospel to the English people. St. Augxistin's They landed in the Isle of Thanet. The

landing at Ebbs- "^

fleet, 597. way had, to some extent, been prepared for them, for ^thelberht, 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 Aries, ^thelberht gave him his royal city of Canterbury, and built for him there the monastery of Christ Church, the mother-church of our country.

Gregory organized the new Church, in the full belief that it would extend over the whole island. Gre<^ory's He seut Augustiu the " pall," a vestment orgaSzaUon, denoting metropolitan authority, and con- ^^'" stituting the recipient vicar of the Pope.

Two metropolitan sees were to be established — the one at London, the residence of the East Saxon King Saeberct, who reigned as sub-king under -^thelberht, 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

Rome and I on a, 3

suffragan bislioprics, 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 Galilean or any other use, he might adopt it, and so make up a use collected from various sources.

Excellent as Gregory's scheme would have been had Britain still been under Roman rule, it was un suited Causes of its ^o a couutry divided as England then was failure. ^^^^ Several rival kingdoms. London did not

become a metropolitan see, probably because ^thelberht was unwilling that the seat of ecclesiastical authority should be transferred from his own kine^dom 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 Koman 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 countiy 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.

Although the king of the East Angles received baptism in Kent at the bidding of ^thelberht, he fell back into idolatry on his return to his own land. And as ^thelberht's son, Eadbald, was a pagan, many of the Kentishmen and East Saxons also deserted Christianity when he became king. Eadbald was converted by Lauren-

Rome and Ion a. <,

tius, and did what lie could to forward the cause of Christ. With ^thelberht'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 Foundation failure. The Northumbrian king, Eadwine, ^otthellTot^ ^^^ reigned over the two Northumbrian York, 627-633. l^ingdoms, Bernicia and Deira, from the Forth to the Humber, and gradually established a supremacy over the whole English people except the Kentishmen, married .ZEthelburh, the daughter of ^thelberht. 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 ]\Iercia, and Cadwallon, the Briton. Heathenism was already triumphant in East Anglia, and on Eadwine's death many of the Northumbrians relapsed into idolatry, .^thelburh and her children sought shelter in Keut, and Paulinus fled with. them. Only one Eoman 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 Kochester.

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 indeindependent pendcut of it. East Auglia was finally missions. 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 Eome and Canterbury. About the middle of the sixth century the Irish Scot, Columba, founded the monastery of lona. He and his companions preached the Gospel to the northern Picts and the Scots of the western isles, and lona became a centre of Christian light. During the reign of Eadwine, Oswald and Oswiu, princes of the rival Bernician line, had found shelter in lona. Oswald returned to become king of Bernicia shortly after the death of Eadwine, and before lonsr brouorht Deira also under his dominion. As soon as he had gained possession of the kingdom of Bernicia, he sent to lona for

RoAJB AND Ion A. 7

missionaries to instruct his people. Aidan, a missionary from Columba's liouse, 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 Foundation of Holv Isle, not far from Bamborouo;h, where disfarne, 635. he rcsided ; for though he ruled over both the Northumbrian kingdoms, and completed the minster at York, he made his home in the North, among Lis 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 E-oman 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 lona. 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 Fame Island, Aidan beheld the thick clouds of smoke rise from the country round Bamborough, and cried, ^' Behold, Lord, the evil that Pcnda 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 liouse and the house of Penda led to the evangelization of the Mercians and Middle Angles by the monks of lona. 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 Eomaa Mellitus.

By the middle of the seventh century only Kent and East Anglia remained in full and exclusive com- Scottish Chris- ^lunion with Eome ; for Sussex was still tianity. 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 influencino^ their conduct. It was well that the Ens:- lish 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

Rome and Ion a. g

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 Fame 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 Eoman 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.

It was, indeed, impossible, from the very nature of

things, that Celtic Christianity should long prevail in

Eno'land, for its arransfements were based

The schism. . . . . ^ ,

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 Eoman 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, Eanfl^ed, 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 reiofned as under-kin o^ in Deira, left the Scottish conimunion 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 EanflaBd, that she might decide what he should do. Eanflfed 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 fellowcountrymen, partly in the company of Benedict Biscop,

Rome and I on a. i i

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 fullyconvinced 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.

Before long Wilfrith, who was a good preacher and charitable to the poor, became exceedingly popular. The Synod of ^he ecclcsiastical dispute was evidently \\'iaitby, 664. 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 Strenseshalch, 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 Casdmon 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 Eoman side were Agilberctj Wilfrith, James the deacon of Paulinus, and Eanflced'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 ho 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. i8). 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 Eoman usages. James the deacon saw the reward of his lono- and faithful labour ;

Rome AX D Ion A. 13

lie was a slvilfLil singer, and introduced tlie Komau method of chanting into Nortliumbria.

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 linorered a little lono^er amonfsf 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 aofCTression.

^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 the see of of Ms 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 Eoman customs, had been appointed bishop in his place. He retired to Eipon, 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 DIO- CESES— WILFRITH'S APPEALS TO ROME— LITERARY GREATNESS OF NORTHDMBRIA — PARISHES — TITHES — THE CHURCH IN WESSEX — A THIRD ARCHBISHOPRIC — THE CHURCH IN RELA- TION TO THE STATE — TO ROME — TO WESTERN CHRISTENDOM.

Amoxg tlio victims of the plague of 664 was Archbishop Deusdedit, the first Enghsh successor Theodore, of Augustiu. 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, w4io 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, tliat he might prevent him from teaching any wrong doctrines. Theodore was consecrated by the Pope in 66 S, 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.

As the Church was now rapidly passing from the missionary to the pastoral stage of its existence, it His ecclesiastical needed organization as a permanent instiorgauizatiou. tutiou. 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 " m.asters 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 Eoman Easter was to be observed everywhere ; tliat 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.