•5*-X«S '' THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES y H 'eA €poci)S of Cfnttci) Enstarp EDITED BY THE Right Hon. and Right Rev. MANDELL CREIGHTON, D.D. IjATB LOUD BISHOP OK LONDON THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES Epochs of Church History. Edited by MANDELL CREIGHTON, D.D., LL.D., LATE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON Fcap. 8vo, price zs. 6d. each. THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN OTHER LANDS. By the Rev. H. W. Tucxkr, M.A. THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. By the Rev. George G. Perry, M.A. THE CHURCH OF THE EARLY FATHERS. By Alfred Plummer, D.D. THE EVANGELICAL REVIVAL IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. By the Rev. J. H. Overtcn, D.D. A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. By the Hon. G. C. Brodrick, D.C.L. A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. By I. Bass Mullinger, M.A. THE CHURCH AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By the Rev. A Carr, M.A. THE CHURCH AND THE PURITANS, isTO-teoo. By Henry Offley Wakeman, M.A. THE CHURCH AND THE EASTERN EMPIRE. By the Rev. H. F. Tozer, M.A. HILDEBRAND AND HIS TIMES. By W. R. W. Stephens, B.D. THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By the Rev. W. Hunt, M.A. THE POPES AND THE HOHENSTAUFEN. By Ugo Balzani. THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. By A. W. Ward, Litt.D. WYCLIFFE AND MOVEMENTS FOR REFORM. By R. L Poole, M.A., Ph.D. THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY. By II. M. Gwatkin, M.A LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY THE ENGLISH CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE ACES BY WILLIAM HUNT NEW IMPRESSION LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, NEW YORK AND BOMBAY. 1903. All rights reserved. PEEFACE. /?#3 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 condi- tion 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. vi Preface. 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 six- teenth century, and will afford a complete safeguard against the vulgar error of regarding the Church as a Preface. vii creation of the State, an institution established by the civil power, and maintained by its bounty. Those who are acquainted with our mediaeval 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 Canterbdry and the Bishops and Archbishops of York to 1377 xiii CHAPTER L Rome and Iona. St. Augustin's Mission — Pope Gregory's Scheme of Organiza- tion — Causes of its Failure — Foundation and Overthrow of the See of York — Independent Missions — The See of Lin- disfarne — Scottish Christianity — The Schism — The Synod of Whitby — Restoration of the See of York , . . CHAPTER II. Organization. Archbishop Theodore — His Work in Organization— New Dio- ceses — 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 x Contents. CHAPTEE III. Ruin and Revival. PAGB Ruin of Northumbria — ^Ethelwulf s Pilgrimage — Danish Inva- sions 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 Adminis- tration — Coronations —Dunstan's Last Days — ^Elfric the Grammarian 34 CHAPTEE IV. Exhaustion. Characteristics of the Period — Renewed Scandinavian Invasions — Legislation — Archbishop ^Elfheah : 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 Strug- gles — 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 CHAPTEE V. Royal Supremacy. The Conqueror and Lanfranc — Canterbury and York — Sepa- rate 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 VI. 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 — A rchbishop Hubert Walter — Character of the Clergy .... 105 CHAPTER VIL Vassalage. The Alliance between the Church and the Crown — Coronation of John— Quarrel between John and the Pope — The Inter- dict — Vassalage of England — The Great Charter — Papal Tutelage of Henry III. — Taxation of Spiritualities — Papal Oppression — Edmund Rich, Archbishop— Robert Grosse- teste, 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— Arch- bishop 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 Pro- vince of York — Parliament and Convocation . . 161 xii Contents. CHAPTER IX. The Papacy and the Parliamknt. PAOK Ecclesiastical Character of the Reign of Edward III. — Arch- bishops and their Ecclesiastical Administration — Provisions — Statute of Promisors — 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 — Con- clusion ... 19 2 INDEX 219 AECHBISHOPS 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 Tat win . 731 734 Nothelm 735 739 Cuthberht . 740 758 Brecgwin 759 765 Jaenberht . 766 791 ^Ethelheard . 793 805 Wulfred 805 832 Feologeld 832 832 Ceolnoth 833 870 iEthelred 870 889 Plegmund , * 890 914 Athelm 914 923 Wulfhelm 923 942 Oda . 942 959 Dunstan 960 988 iEthelgar 988 989 Sigeric . 990 994 ^lfric . 995 1005 /Elfheah 1005 1012 Lyfing . 1013 1020 jEthelnoth 1020 103S Eadsige 1038 1050 Robert . 1051 1070 Stigand 1052 ... Lan franc 1070 1089 Anselm . 1093 1 109 Ralph . 1114 1122 William of Corbei ail 1123 1 136 Theobald "39 1161 Thomas [Becket] 1 162 1 170 XIV Archbishops of Canterbury. Accession. Death. Richard ..... II74 1 184 Baldwin 1 185 1190 Hubert Walter 1 193 1205 Stephen Langton . 1207 122S 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 Simon Islip . 1349 1366 Simon Langham . 1366 res. 1368 William Whittlesey .368 1374 Simon Sudbury 1375 1381 BISHOPS AND AECHBISHOPS OF YORK TO 1377. Accession. Death. Paul inns ..... 625 Wilfrith 664 709 Ceadda . 664 res. 669 Bosa 678 705 John of Beverley 705 res. 71S Wilfrith II. . 718 732 Ecgberht 732 766 /Ethelberht (Albei •t) 766 780 Eanbald 780 796 Eanbald II. . 796 812 ? Wulf.sige 831 ? Wigmund 837 Wulfhere 854 900 ^Ethelbald . 900 ■ ■ . Redewald cir. 928 Wulfstan cir. 931 956 Bishops and Archbishops of York. XV Accession. Death. Oskytel 95 8 971 Oswald . 972 992 Ealdulf . 992 IO02 Wulfstan II. 1003 IO23 ^Elfric . IO23 I05 1 Kine.sige 105 1 1060 Ealdred 1060 I069 Thomas 1070 I IOO Gerard . rioi 1 108 Thomas II. . 1 109 III4 Thurstan 1119 1 140 William H43 IJ 54 Henry Murdac 1 147 1 153 Roger . 1 154 11S1 Geoffrey 1191 1212 Walter Gray 1215 125s Sewal de Bovill 1256 1258 Godfrey 1258 1265 Walter Giffard 1266 1279 William Wickwaii t 1279 1285 John le Roman 1286 1296 Henry Newark 1298 1299 Thomas Corbridge 1300 '303 William Greenfield 1306 J 3 l S 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. AUGUSTUS'S MISSION— POPE GREGORY'S SCHEME OP ORGAN- IZATION — CAUSES OP ITS FAILURE — FOUNDATION AND OVER- THROW 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. The Gospel was first brought to the Teutonic con- querors 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 C. H. A 2 The English Church in the Middle A ges. in 597 to preach the Gospel to the English people, st. Augustin's They landed in the Isle of Thanet. The landing at Ebbs- fleet, 597. way had, to some extent, been prepared for them, for iEthelberht, king of Kent, whose supe- riority 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. Neverthe- less, he received the Gospel from Augustin, and was baptized with many of his people. By Gregory's com- mand, Augustin was consecrated " archbishop of the English nation " by the archbishop of Aries. ^Ethel- berlit 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. Gregory's He sent Augustin the " pall," a vestment o*aiTiza°tion, denoting metropolitan authority, and con- 6ou 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 iEthelberht, a crowded mart, and the centre of a system of roads ; the other at York, the capital of the old Roman pro- vince 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 thev were to consult together and act in unison. Both the provinces were to be divided into twelve Rome and Ion a. 3 Buffragan 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 Canter- bury. Moreover, the clergy of the Welsh or Britons were to be subject to him and to the future arch- bishops of the English Church. Augustin endea- voured 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 in- structions 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 arch- bishop 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 col- lected from various sources. Excellent as Gregory's scheme would have been had Britain still been under Roman rule, it was unsuited causes of its to a country divided as England then was failure. - n £ severa ] r i V al kingdoms. London did not become a metropolitan see, probably because iEthelberht was unwilling that the seat of ecclesiastical authority should be transferred from his own kingdom to the chief 4 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 re- inforce 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 suc- cessor at Canterbury. Thus the metropolitan see re- mained 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 de- velopment of the Church ; for the Roman mission received a series of checks, and the work of evangel- ization 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 fol- lowed tribal lines, and for sixty years after Augustin 's death the tendency of the Church was towards dis- union. Although the king of the East Angles received baptism in Kent at the bidding of iEthelberht, he fell back into idolatry on his return to his own land. And as iEthelberht'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 Iona. 5 tius, and did what he could to forward the cause of Christ. With iEthelberht's death, however, the great- ness of Kent passed away, and Eadbald could not in- sist 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, of tii e v |eeof OW wn0 reigned over the two Northumbrian York, 627-633. ki n gd omSj Bernicia and Deira, from the Forth to the Humber, and gradually established a supremacy over the whole English people except the Kentishmen, married j35thelburh, the daughter oi /Ethelberht. 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 hus- band, 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 (York- shire) 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. ^Ethelburh and her children sought shelter in Kent, 5 The English Church in the Middle A ges. and Paulinus fled with them. Only one Roman clergy- man, 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. After the success of the Kentish mission had re- ceived this terrible check, the work of evangelization was carried on by efforts that were more or less inde- independent pendent of it. East Anglia was finally missions. converted by a Burgundian priest named Felix, who was consecrated bishop by Honorius, arch- bishop 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 pos- session of the kingdom of Bernicia, he sent to Iona for Rome anS I on a. 7 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 Foundation of Holy Isle, not far from Bamborough, where disfame, 635. he resided ; for though he ruled over both the Northumbrian kingdoms, and completed the min- ster 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 pi"actised 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 Northum- brian king was defeated and slain at Maserfield. As his foes closed round him he prayed for their con- version. His words sank deeply into men's hearts. " ' May God have mercy od 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 Penda doeth ! " Still the work of God went on ; and when Oswiu came to the throne the prayer of Oswald received its 8 The English Church in the Middle A ges. 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 Oedd, an English monk of Lindisfarne, was consecrated to the bishopric that had been held by the Roman Mellitus. By the middle of the seventh century only Kent and East Anglia remained in full and exclusive com- scottish chris- amnion with Rome ; for Sussex was still tianity. heathen, Wini, the West Saxon bishop, acted with British bishops, and Scottish Christianity pre- vailed in all the rest of England. The Scottish mission- aries 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 vary- ing 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 Eng- lish Church turned away from them, for their religious system could never have produced an organized eccle- siastical society.. It was monastic rather than hierar- chical, and a Celtic priest-abbot was a far more impor- tant 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. 9 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 monas- ticism 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. Cuth- berht, 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. It was, indeed, impossible, from the very nature of things, that Celtic Christianity should long prevail in England, for its arrangements were based The schism. , , . „ , on the loose organization 01 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 io The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 re- gards 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 con- sequence. The points at issue began to be much de- bated 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, Eanflsed, 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 nnder-king in Deira, left the Scottish com- munion 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 hand- some, clever lad of thirteen, to Queen Eanflajd, that she might decide what he should do. Eanflasd 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, 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 fully convinced of the excellence of the Roman Church, and found in Alch frith 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 monas- tery to Wilfrith. Before long Wilfrith, who was a good preacher and charitable to the poor, became exceedingly popular. The Synod of The ecclesiastical dispute was evidently whitby, 66 4 . c l 0S ely 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 Prank, who had held the West Saxon bishopric, and had since returned to Gaul, gave Alchfrith an oppor- tunity 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 Strenaeshalch, 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, 12 The English Church in the Middle Ages. and others. The leaders on the Eoman side were Agilberct, Wilfrith, James the deacon of Paulinus, and Eanflasd's chaplain, Romanus. The question was de- cided 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 obstinacv of " a few Picts and Britons " in set- if ting 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. I 8). 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 deci- sion, and declared for the Roman usages. James the deacon saw the reward of his long and faithful labour ; Rome and I on a. 13 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 cus- toms 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. Neverthe- less, 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. 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 uf the see of 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 Northum- brian witan, and Wilfrith was chosen bishop. The victory of his party was further declared by the resto- ration 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 14 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 eccle- siastical 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 Bipon, acted as bishop in other parts, and helped forward the introduction of Roman monasticism into monasteries that had hitherto followed the Columban model. ( i5 ) CHAPTER II. ORGANIZATION. ARCHBISHOP THEODORE — HIS WORK IN ORGANIZATION — NEW DIO- CESES — WILFRITH'S APPEALS TO ROME — LITERARY GREATNESS OF NORTHUMBRIA — PARISHES — TITHES — THE CHDRCH IN WESSEX — A THIRD ARCHBISHOPRIC — THE CHURCH IN RELA- TION TO THE STATE — TO ROME — TO WESTERN CHRISTENDOM. Among the victims of the plague of 664 was Arch- bishop Deusdedit, the first English successor Theodore" 1 * 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 1 6 The English Church hv the Middle Ages. Niridan monastery, near Naples, that he might prevent him from teaching any wrong docti'ines. 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 num- ber 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 Eng- lish, 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 m s ecclesiastical needed organization as a permanent insti- organization. tution. 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 virtu- ally 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 readi- ness to resign ; he had ever, he said, deemed himself Or g an i z a tion. 1 7 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 magni- ficence. 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 ecclesias- tical 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 recom- mendation ; 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. Instead of the symmetrical arrangement contem- plated by Gregory, certain bishoprics were of immense Creation of s i ze 5 f° r the diocese, in each case was simply new dioceses. ^ Q k m gd om looked at from an ecclesias- tical point of view, and as the boundaries of a king- dom wei'e 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 Wil- frith. Theodore saw that it was necessary to subdivide C. H. B 1 8 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 Lind- sey 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. 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, appeaito ' and ho appealed to the judgment of the Apostolic See. This appeal to Rome against the decision of a king and his witan, and of an arch- bishop acting in concert, the first that was ever made by an Englishman, is a notable event. It was greeted Organization. 19 with the jeers of the great men of the court. Wil- frith 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 de- crees with their bulls (seals) attached. A witenagemot 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 seek- ing 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 re- quest 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 is driven ne an d Ealdfrith had a dispute about the Becondtlme, rights and possessions of his see. He was 6rjI ' again driven from York, and again appealed to Rome. Pope Sergius took his part. But Eald- frith, though a religious man, was not more in- 20 The English Church in the Middle A ges. clined to submit to papal interference than his prede- cessor. 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 unfa- vourable to Wilfrith, for he was not restored ofHexham, to York, but ended his days as bishop 7 ° 9 ' 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 in- sisting 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. Org A NIZA TION. 2 1 From the time of its conversion by Aidan to its devastation by the Scandinavian pirates, Northum- Literary great- bria excelled the rest of England in arts unrabrfa?" an( ^ literature. Another volume of this 664-782 series will deal with the fatuous monas- teries 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 csedmon, tue point of yielding to Roman influence, d. 680. Casdmon, 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 con- formity with Rome. This part of the work of James ^ddi [Eddius], the deacon was carried on by ^Eddi, a fl - 7I °- choirmaster of Canterbury, whom Wilfrith invited into Northumbria. yEddi became the bishop's companion, and wrote a " Life of Wilfrith," a work of considerable value. Shortly afterwards Baeda composed his " Ecclesiastical His- tory." Bseda 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 pre- served 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 be derived 22 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 biogra- phical books, he wrote treatises on chronology, astro- nomy, mathematics, and music. From boyhood he spent all his life in the monastery of Jarrow in reli- gious exercises and in literary labours, that he under- took 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 ho 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. One of Baeda'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 Basda 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, monas- teries were useful as missionary centres, and a single church served for a large district. Now, however, men no longer needed missionary preachers so much Organization. 23 as resident priests and regular services. Accord- ingly, the parochial system came into ex- istence 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. Bseda urges the bishop to for- ward this change. He points out that it was impos- sible 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 pay- ments were obligatory, and were enjoined first by the law of the Church, and then by the civil power. It is evident from Basda's letter that, even before the parochial system was established, a compulsory pay- ment 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 Tithes. the service of God was held to be a Chris- tian duty, and the obligation is recognized in Theo- dore'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 24 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 de- clared in 1 200 by the Council of Westminster, the constitution was often evaded. Many monasteries had in Basda's time fallen into an evil condition, and as the Church needed an efficient Restoration diocesan organization, he advised Ecgberht bLhopricof to strive for the fulfilment of Pope Gregory's York, 734 . scheme as regards the Church in the north, which provided that the see of York should be metro- politan, and that the province should be divided into twelve bishoprics. The new bishops should, he pro- posed, 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 prede- cessors 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 Or ga niza tion. 2 5 declaration of its separate national life. Under Ecgberht and his successor, iEtbelberht (Albert), the Northum- brian Church was famous for learning, and the arch- bishop's school at York became the most notable place of education in Western Christendom. iEthelberht'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 dis- appears amidst anarchy and ruin. In Wessex the work of Theodore was carried on by Ealdhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, one of his most dis- tinguished scholars. Ini. the West Saxon Ealdhelm, . & ' bishop of siier- king, had conquered the western part 01 Somerset, and ruled over a mixed popula- tion. 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 pre- sent Wales the Roman Easter was universally accepted about a centurv later. Ealdhelm, who was a kinsman of Ini, was much honoured by the king, and used bis influence to further the spread of the Gospel. Churches rose rapidly in Wessex, and he journeyed to Rome to 26 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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. In the latter half of the eighth century Offa, king of Mercia, was the most powerful monarch in England, The arch- an( ^ among other conquests, subdued Kent ilohfidd COf an d added it to his dominions. The course 786-802. f 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 Canterburv and York thwarted the ambition of the Mercian king. Northumbria had already sealed its policy of separation by the restoration of the arch- bishopric 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 Organiza tion. 27 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 re- gards 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 witenagemot, of the whole nation was as yet possible, the Church met in national councils ; its head, the arch- bishop of Canterbury, might be a native of any king- dom, 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 juris- diction and dignity as mere appendages to a political division. Happily there was no second archbishop of Lichfield. OfiVs successor, Cenwulf, found iEthelheard, 28 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 import- ance. 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 iEthelwulf, 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. 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 The Church J . . r ' in relation to spiritual dignity, formed part 01 the witan, first of the several kingdoms, and then of the united nation. In the witenasremots 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 evan- gelization of the people caused some modification of their ancient laws and customs, and ^Ethelberht 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 witenagemot. Wil- frith was elected, " by common consent," in a meeting Organ iza tion. 29 of the Northumbrian witan, and the election of Eald- helm 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 ob- served ; for, to take a single instance, Ceadda's appoint- ment 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 amic- able 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 Hat- field, or, after the restoration of the northern archi- episcopate, 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 king- doms. 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. 30 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 juris- diction, 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 con- tained in the Penitentials, or codes in which a special penance was provided for each sin. These compila- tions 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, Basda, 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 adminis- tration of penitential discipline. His chief officer, the archdeacon, first appears under that title, though with- out 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. While, however, the Church had this strongly national character, it was in obedience to the Roman The church aud see - Archbishops did not consecrate the Papacy. bishops until they had received the pall from the Pope. At first the pall was sent to them, Or ganiza tion. 3 1 but by the beginning of the eighth century they were expected to fetch it, and this soon became an invari- able rule, which strengthened the idea of the depen- dence 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, arid published a body of canons, which the kings and their thegns, the arch- bishops, bishops, and all who attended pledged them- selves 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 32 The English Church in the Middle Ages. set aside the decision of national councils. The com- promise that was at last effected was not a papal triumph. Nevertheless the authority of the Pope was generally acknowledged, and the most powerful kino-s thought it needful to obtain the sanction of Rome for ecclesiastical changes, such as the erection and suppression of the Mercian archbishopric. More- over, 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, Cead walla, 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. The missionary labours of Willibrord, of Winfrith or Boniface, and other Englishmen brought our Church into close relationship with other Churches 2dw5m of Western Europe, for a constant corre- spondence was kept up between the mis- sionaries and their brethren at home. The con- nexion between the English and Frankish Churches was strengthened by the residence of Alcuin at the Organiza tion. 3 3 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 North nmbria, the home of Alcuin. C. H. ( 34 ^ CHAPTER III. RUIN AND REVIVAL. RUIN OF NORTHUMBRIA — ^ETHELWULF'S PILGRIMAGE — DANISH INVASIONS OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND ; THIS PEACE OF "WED- MORE — Alfred's work — character of the church in THE TENTH CENTURY — REORGANIZATION — REVIVAL — ODA — DUNSTAN — SECULARS AND REGULARS — DUNSTAN'S ECCLE- SIASTICAL ADMINISTRATION — CORONATIONS — DUNSTAN'S LAST DAYS — iELFRIC THE GRAMMARIAN. Before the end of the eighth century the Northmen laid waste Lindisfarne, Jarrow, and Wear mouth. Civil Ruin of Nor- disorder, however, was well nigh as fatal tuumbria. ^ ^ e q^j-q^ { n 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 R uin and Re vi val. 3 5 Hatfdene 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. Outhberht. They found shelter at Ohester-le- Street, which for about a century became the see of the Bernician bishopric. North umbria 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 communi- cation 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 sym- pathies and, in more than one instance, direct the action, of the northern people. 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 states- men. iEthelwulf 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 36 The English Church in the Middle Ages. equipped armies, joined in leading them in battle, ecclesiastical legislation, which had ^'nusucai in the preceding age been provided for in courts. |.j ie na t{ ona i 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 Royal Supremacy. 8i 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 tempora- lities as baronies, and sat in the council as barons ; for the old witenagemot 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 pro- vided 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. c.h. F S2 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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. Among the more important sy nodical decrees of this reijm is that of the council held at London in Removal I0 75> which ordered that bishops' sees of 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 Salis- bury (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 Chiches- ter ; 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 Thet- ford, 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. Gregory had reason to congratulate himself on the part he had taken in forwarding the Conquest. The Extent of papal 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 amen- able to papal influence than the native bishops had l«!en, and the changes effected in the government of the Church were generally such as he approved. Royal Supremacy. 83 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 judg- ment. While Lanfranc cordially sympathized in Gregory's attempt to root out the custom of clerical marriage, his action was governed by the circum- stances 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 ex- ample 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 mar- ried 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 obtain- ing the Church's blessing in matrimony. The absolute supremacy of the Conqueror in ecclesi- astical matters is expressed in three rules which he is said to have laid down, and which define his Its limits. ... . . rights m relation to the papacy. He would have no Pope acknowledged as apostolic without his bidding, and no papal letters brought into his king- dom unless he approved them. Sy nodical 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 84 The English Church in the Middle Ages. a legate to admonish him to be more punctual in for- warding 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, liven Gregory was forced to suffer this; he seems to havo blamed Lanfranc for the king's independent answer, bade him come to Rome, and urged him to bring: William to obedience. Lanfranc defended him- self in becoming terms, but stayed where he was, and at last the Pope threatened to suspend him if he did Dot obey his summons. Gregory, however, had power- ful 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. With the exception of Worcester, no English see was left in the hands of a native bishop. They were Norman ne ld either by Normans or by the Lotharin- gians who had been appointed in the Con- fessor's reign. At Worcester, Wulfstan, though not a man of learning, was allowed to retain his bishopric Royal Supremacy. 85 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 per- suaded the townsmen to give it up. Most of William's bishops were men of high character, for his appoint- ments 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 con- trast 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 monk? was extremely rare except in England, but as the Normans generally were strong supporters of monasti- cism, 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 86 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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. indig- nantly 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 Eng- lish mode of life. Lanfranc despised the national saints, and doubted the right of his predecessor, M\i- heahj to the title of martyr, until he was taught better by Anselm, abbot of Bee. The admiration of the Nor- mans 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. 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 The national \ r ° charactei of was drawn more closely to Home, and legates the Church. . * _ 1 , . 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 transubstan- tiation, of which Lanfranc was the special champion. was now universally accepted, and the archbishop's Royal Supremacy. 87 eagerness in this matter is reflected in the many stories of miracles connected with the Holy Elements which appear in contemporary litei'ature. Yet the Church re- mained the representative of English nationality ; her influence at once began to turn Normans into English- men ; 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 establish- ment of a separate system of ecclesiastical administra- tion 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. The first William, if an austere man, was a mighty ruler, who loved order and valued the services of good wiiiiam Rufus, men : t ne second was a braggart and a blas- 1087-noo. phemer, 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 dis- turbed. Early in the reign the change in these rela- tions 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 88 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 re- fused 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 ap- pear to have prosecuted his appeal. The special danger which threatened the Church in this reign arose from the attempt to treat it as a Feudal feudal society. Ralph Flambard, the minis- tyranny. ^ er Q f R u f USj ra i se <} money for his master rhiefly 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 t«i t he Crown from Church lands, such as were gathered from lay fiefs in the form of reliefs, a payment made Royal Supremacy. 89 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 com- pensate 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 re- ceived a large sum for them. Simony grew prevalent and the character of the clergy declined ; they en- gaged in secular pursuits, farmed the taxes, and sought in all ways to make money. After the death of Lan- franc 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 arch- bishop was the spiritual head of the nation, and con- stitutionally the chief adviser of the king and the fore- most member of his court, as he had been of the witenagemot. 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 arch- bishop 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 90 The English Church in the Middle A ges. they sent for Abbot Anselra, who chanced to be in England. 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, ai-chbish™'), 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 learn- ing was renowned through Europe, and by Lanfranc's advice he entered the monastery of Bee, 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 suffi- cient 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 Royal Supremacy. 91 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 be- tween the two claimants for the papacy. 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' bull and the 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 Nor- mandy. 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 arch- bishop ; 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 in- fected the land, and named the special vice of the king and his court. " What good will that do you ? " asked 92 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 metro- politan. 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 Royal Supremacy. 93 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. As evil ever strives to master good, so the Red King was set on mastering Anselm. To this end he acknow- ledged 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 serv- ing 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 94 The English Church in the Middle A ges. 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 sup- port, 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 kiriir did as he had said. Urban received the arch- bishop magnificently, styling him the " pope and patri- arch of another world," and promising to help him. council of At the Council of Bari the Pope called on iia.i, 1098. fo m to d e f en( j the Catholic faith against the Greek heresy. His speech delighted the council ; the conduct of Rufus was discussed, and it was decided that he ouofht to be excommunicated. Anselm, how- ever, 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. lie left Rome convinced that he could never Royal Supremacy. 95 return to England while Rufus lived, and was dwelling at Lyons when he heard of the king's death. 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 Ansel ra 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 per- sonally 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 en- couraged 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 96 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 pre- decessors possessed in this realm are mine." Anselm wonld neither do homage nor consecrate the bishops elect who had received investiture. Yet the dispute was conducted with moderation on both sides. The arch- bishop in person brought his men to defend the king against the invasion of Eobert ; 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 pre- sence, 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 Royal Supremacy. 97 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 1 107, 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. Through- out 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 satis- factory 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 prin- ciples. 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 supre- macy. 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 C. H. G 98 The English Church in the Middle Ages. synod, held at Westminster in I 1 02, 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 Synodical ucti- . „ -,. , ,. -■ ,-i viiy under 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 conse- quent on the separation of the courts. Archdeacons had now become judicial officers over distinct terri- torial 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 ad- mitted 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 1 127, 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. Henry, like his father, aimed at establishing per- fect 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 Royal Supremacy. 99 the Church. Early in the reign a Burgundian arch- bishop landed here without invitation, claiming lega- tine authority over the whole kingdom. His claim was pronounced " unheard of." Although the Con- queror 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 inno- vation to nought," and the king prevented the legate Anselm from landing. In the time of the next arch- bishop, William of Corbeuil, Henry was, for political reasons, anxious to stand well with Rome, and ac- cordingly 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 ioo The English Church in the Middle Ages. honour at the council of I I 2 5 , 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 inhe- rent dignity of his see and the independence of the Church. In spite of various efforts, the archbishops of York had hitherto been unable to evade the profession of Thurstan obedience to Canterbury. Thurstan, the of C York' op fourth since the Conquest, was a man of 1119-1140. different mould from his predecessors, and refused to make the profession. Archbishop Ralph accordingly refused to consecrate him, and the king up- held the right of the primatial see, bidding Thurstan do what was due according to ancient usage. Thurstan was encoui*aged 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. Never- theless Thurstan received consecration from Calixtus, Royal Supremacy. ioi 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 king- dom 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 in- terests 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 obedi- ence by a bull of Calixtus. 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 and Welsh Scots, Was induced tO Write tO Ralph Of Can- bishoprics. .... -. terbury, 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 re- verse 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 Canter- bury, 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 bisbops to revolt against Thurstan, whose authority was io2 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 Scot- land, and not, as the Scots held, merely for Lothian or any other fief: in other words, he declared Scot- land a vassal kingdom, a decision that became of importance later on. The question of canonical sub- jection 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. 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 llufus 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 Royal Supremacy. 103 character of the Church. Nevertheless the new rela- tions 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 uphold- ing 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 con- tempt 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 him- self 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 Ansel m ; 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 likelv 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 104 The English Church in the Middle Ages. that was destined to revive her spiritual character, and by that revival to increase her power and dig- nity. This quickened influence was due to the higher life that followed the introduction of the Cistercian rule. ( io5 ) CHAPTER VI. CLERICAL PRETENSIONS. STEPHEN AND THE ENGLISH CHURCH — ARCHBISHOP THEOBALD AND HENRY OP WINCHESTER — THOMAS THE CHANCELLOR — THE SCUTAGE OF TOULOUSE — THOMAS TH1C ARCHBISHOP — CLERICAL IMMUNITY — THE ARCHBISHOP IN EXILE — HIS MAR- TYRDOM — HENRY'S GENERAL RELATIONS TO THE CHURCH — CONQUEST OP IRELAND — RICHARD'S CRUSADE — LONGCHAMP — ARCHBISHOP HUBERT WALTER — CHARACTER OF THE CLERGY. Under the Norman dynasty the natural results of the Conqueror's ecclesiastical policy were controlled by the power of the Crown. Appeals to Stephen's _r . , . . . . accession, Rome were almost unknown ; the principles which the Conqueror had laid down as defin- ing 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 io6 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 espou.sing his cause. Clerical Pretensions. 107 For a while the Church remained faithful to Stephen. The statesmen-bishops, Roger, the justiciar, and his nephews, the bishop of Ely, the treasurer, The Battle of \ . ... „ \- . . , ,. .,, the standard, and the bishop 01 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. 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 Win- chester. 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 Canter- bury naturally drew the Church into greater depend- ence on Rome, and appeals, which had hitherto been almost unknown, became of constant quarrel with occurrence. Equally unlike the justiciar, Roger of Salisbury, who devoted himself to secular administration and ambitions, and the io8 The English Church in the Middle Age churchmen who, full of the new fervour of the Cis- tercian 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 colli- sion 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 Clerical Pretensions. 109 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. Hitherto Archbishop Theobald had generally fol- lowed the legate's lead, and had played a secondary The dispute P ar ^ m the affairs of the Church. In bishfpricoT 11 " II 4 I > however, a cause of difference arose York - 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 archbishop- ric. His request was refused, and his legatine com- mission expired in 1 1 43, 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 guid- ing spirit of the papacy at this time, threw all his weight on their side. He disapproved of the diminu- tion 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 lega- tine commission to Theobald. Enraged at the opposi- tion offered to Archbishop William by Henry Murdac, abbot of Fountains, his partizans sacked and burnt the abbey. As an answer to this outrage, Eogeniua 1 10 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 I 148. 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, out- lived 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 consult- ing. The archbishop escaped across the Thames in a boat, and went abroad, and the king again seized the temporalities of the see. Unlike Henry of Winchester, Theobald was guided by the new ideas which were born of the Cistercian revival. While desire for the secular great- Archbishop, ness 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 Clerical Pre tensions. i 1 1 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 j another was John of Salisbury, who held a new office, that of the arch- bishop'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 secre- tary 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 Koine gave it a special importance. In 1 1 49 he brought over from Italy a doctor named Vacarius, and set him study of civil to gi ye lectures at Oxford on the civil law - law, which supplied the method of pro- cedure in ecclesiastical cases. In the next reign the study of the canon law, which was first systematized by G-ratian 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 1 1 2 The English Church in the Middle A ges. 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 con- vinced 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. The young king chose for his chancellor Thomas, the archdeacon, to whose good offices he was much Tho.„a.s the indebted. Thomas's father, Gilbert Becket, Chancellor. 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 intro- duced 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 king- dom, and his duties brought him into constant com- panionship with the king, who treated him as an in- Clerical Pretensions. 113 timate friend. He was diligent in his secular work ; he loved magnificence, and lived with grace and splen- dour. 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 direc- tion was made in 1 I 56, when Henry laid a Taxation of _., ,._.._ ecclesiastical 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 call- ing upon them to go to the war. The general import- ance 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. When, in 1162, Henry bade his chancellor accept the primacy, he hoped to find him a powerful ally in Thomas, arch- carrying out the reforms he contemplated. cantCTbury, Thomas assented unwillingly, for he was 1162-1170. 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 C. H. H 1 14 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 be- coming in a churchman and an archbishop he prac- tised 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 re- gardless 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 be- came 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 Clerical Pre tensions. i i 5 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 Eng- land. 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. A greater conflict between the claims of the Crown and of the Church was at hand. The Conqueror had Ecclesiastical strengthened himself by increasing the power discipline. f t k e dergy ; Henry could only establish the strong and orderly government he aimed at by lessening it. We have seen how rapidly clerical influ- ence had grown during the anarchy owing to the sus- pension 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 j urisdiction ; and it is evident, though this was a matter of less consequence, that 1 1 6 The English Church in the Middle Ages. all offences against the clergy were also claimed as belonging to the province of the ecclesiastical courts. 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 Constitutions -i -i i -i i .i> j_i p of clarendon, already degraded should tor another of- fence be punished by a lay judge. Henry asked the bishops if they would obey the " cus- toms," and their reply, " Saving our order," was vir- tually a refusal. At a later interview he persuaded Archbishop Thomas to promise obedience to the cus- toms unreservedly. He then summoned a council at Clarendon, and there, under strong pressure, the pri- mate 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. Ap- peals 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 Cleric a l Pre tensions. i i 7 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 Con- stitutions he refused to set his seal to them, de- clared 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 abso- lution from his hasty promise. The Constitutions, which were founded on the relations existing be- tween 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 re- lations that had hitherto been continually changing, and to establish a system which, however generally excellent, was contrary to the spirit of the age. Archbishop Thomas twice tried to flee to the Pope, and failed through stress of weather or because the council of sailors were afraid of the king's anger. In Northampton. 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 chancellor- ship, 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 1 1 8 The English Church in the Middle A ges. the pretensions of the Church limited the power of the Crown, and though Anselm and Becket each in his own day struggled for those preten- sions, 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 for- bade 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. Alexander III. was in exile in France, for his rival, Victor, who was upheld by the Emperor Frederic L, The archbishop was powerful in Italy, and he naturally in exile. ^eld 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 schis- matical Pope. Accordingly ho 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 an- other Pope, and made alliance with Henry, who was, perhaps, only saved from actively espousing the cause Clerical Pretensions. 119 of the imperialist antipope by the wisdom of his justi- ciar, the earl of Leicester. Indeed, the ambassador he sent to the Emperor's council at Wiirzburg renounced the Pope in his master's name and promised that Henry would help Frederic's antipope. That year, however, Alexander returned to Borne, and felt himself strong enough to send the exiled primate a legatine commission. In virtue of this commission, Thomas in 1 1 66 went to Vezelay, and there, in the abbey church, in the presence of a large congregation, excom- municated 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 1 169. The archbishop, however, would not be content with anything less than a complete surrender on the king's part, and the conference ended 1 20 The English Church in the Middle A ges. fruitlessly. Alexander sometimes upheld, and some- times thwarted Thomas, just as his own interests dic- tated, 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 arch- bishop just as he supported the lords of Henry's vassal states against him. A new phase of the dispute arose from Henry's wish to have his eldest son crowned. The archbishop The arch- °f Canterbury alone had the right to per- martyrdom, f° rm the ceremony ; and when Thomas in- II7 °- sisted 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 threat- ened war, and the Pope's advisers urged him to vindi- cate 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 antici- Clerical Pre tensions. i 2 1 pated and even aspired to martyrdom. When the king, who was still in Normandy, heard of his pro- ceedings 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 Can- terbury, 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 feel- ings 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 at- tacked him with their swords, and he died with holy words upon his lips. He fell a martyr to the privi- leges or " liberty " of the Church. That these privi- leges 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. 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. 122 The English Church in the Middle Ages. Although his murder did not cause the revolt that fol- lowed it, the disorganization it produced made revolt Henry's opportune. The only bishop concerned in bishops. ^- g m0V ement was Hugh Puiset of Durham, a crafty and powerful prelate, who had some under- hand 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 king- dom 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 Clerical Pretensions. 123 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 beg- ging, 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 elec- tion, 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. Although the Constitutions of Clarendon were no- minally abandoned, they had considerable effect on the future relations between Church and His general . relations to State, and indeed determined their develop- the Church. ' . _ , r ment. Lven in Henry s reign the privileges which Archbishop Thomas had claimed for the Church were slightly curtailed. With the papal sanction, 124 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 pro- perty both of clerks and laymen was assessed by a jury- 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 anew dispute between Canterbury and York, and from him the king obtained leave to bring the clergy under the forest laws. So far had the mar- tyrdom 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 1 176, Roger of York tried to squeeze himself into a more honourable seat than the archbishop of Can- terbury. 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 autho- rity in England," soon went his way. A few months later Henry showed that, in spite of his late humilia- Clerical Pretensions. 125 tion, 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 with- out his leave," and exacted a promise from him that he would do nothing here without his will. 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 Flan- ders, 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 1 1 66 ; 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 126 The English Church in the Middle Ages. and its punishment is of no practical importance until the appearance of the Lollards. While the Scottish bishops were, as we have seen, released by the Pope from dependence on the see of conquest of York, the influence of the Church of Eng- ireiand. ] an( j 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 arch- bishops, 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 Lanfrauc and Anselm. St. Bernard and Eusrenius 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 pro- posal to invade Ireland, and in 1 1 5 5 sent him the bull " Laudabiliter," bidding him conquer the land for the increase of the Church, together with a ring con- veying 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 Clerical Pretensions. \2"j 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 re- mained 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, how- ever, was virtually unaffected by the Conquest, and equally unaffected by the Council of Cashel. Nor did it become thoroughly papal until Henry VIII. quar- relled 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. 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 English , , . , , -,, -, -, churchm 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, arch- deacon of Brecknock, a young man of a noble Nor- man 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 128 The English Church in the Middle Ages. Church. He was brave and energetic, very learned and very witty, and most of his books, and espe- cially his " Topography of Ireland " and his " Eccle- siastical 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. Among the causes that magnified the papal power here and elsewhere must be reckoned the crusades. Richard's '^e Pop e alone could release from their crusade. yow £h ose ^q h a( } 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 1 1 8 5 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 Clerical Pretensions. ■ 129 tho 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 ex- pedition. 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 pur- chasers for. Richard left the administration in the hands of churchmen, and all through his reign the affairs of wmiam Long. * ne kingdom were managed by bishops. of mf,^$£* 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 insig- nificant 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 C.H. \ 1 30 The English Church in the Middle A ges. 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 be- came 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 Prance 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 con- stable 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. Richard was made prisoner as he was returning Clerical Pretensions. 131 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 dis- tinguished 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 Hubert, 1 1 93- to the archbishopric in 1 193, and shortly afterwards Richard appointed him chief jus- ticiar. A relation of Ralf Glanville, the famous jus- ticiar 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 Win- chester, and the king obtained the legatine commis- sion 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. More honourable to Hubert than this almost personal triumph is his administrative work. Of this it will 132 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 1 198 the arch- bishop, on the king's behalf, proposed to Bishop Hugh , /' -i 1 • 7 ■ 1 ^ ft 1 n of i.incoin the barons and bishops that they should constitutional maintain three hundred knights for a year to serve across the sea. Then Hugh of Lincoln answered, that though he had come to Eng- land 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 build- Clerical Pretensions. 133 ing 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 1 198, wrote to Richard urging him to dismiss his minister, and commanding that for the future bishops and priests should not take part in civil admini- stration. 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 greedi- ness of the archdeacons and other officials, the world- liness 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 134 The English Church in the Middle Ages. life ; worldliness and evil are represented as trium- phant in Christendom. Yet there were some church- men 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. ( 135 ) CHAPTER VII. VASSALAGE. THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE CROWN — CORO- NATION OF JOHN — QUARREL BETWEEN JOHN AND THE POPE — THE INTERDICT— VASSALAGE OP ENGLAND — THE GREAT CHARTER— PAPAL TUTELAGE OP HENRY III.— TAXATION OP SPIRITUALITIES — PAPAL OPPRESSION — EDMUND RICH, ARCH- BISHOP — ROBERT GROSSETESTE, BISHOP OP LINCOLN — ALIENA- TION FROM ROME — CIVIL WAR — INCREASE OF CLERICAL PRE- TENSIONS—THE CANON LAW. For nearly a century and a half after the Norman Conquest the Church was in alliance with the Crown. x. For, though Anselm and Thomas withstood Alliance be- > o churchand tne V0 J^ P ower w ^en it threatened to over- the crown. throw 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 1 36 The English Church in the Middle A ges. 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. While the accession of John was strictly in accord- ance with constitutional usage, it brought the elective coronation of character of the monarchy into special John, 1 199. 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 iEthelred, he foresaw the consequences of his act, and strove, as the repre- sentative 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 Vassalage. 137 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. Before Hubert was buried the younger monks of Christ Church met by night, and without waiting for Quarrel be- tne king's leave, elected their sub-prior, andTnnoce't Reginald, archbishop, and sent him to 111,1205. 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 arch- bishop-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 con- siderable 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, com- manded the monks, whom John had sent over to up- hold his cause, to elect Stephen Langton, an English- man, and a cardinal of high position and character. John bad 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. Tnnocent wrote to 138 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 Eome 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 autho- rity, 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 Nor- thern metropolitan also. Many heavy taxes had been laid upon the country, and his brother, Arch- bishop Geoffrey, refused to allow a new subsidy, de- manded 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. When every attempt to persuade John to receive the archbishop had failed, the Pope bade the bishops of interdict, London, Ely, and Worcester lay the king- 1208-1213. ^ Qm un( j er 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 (focarice) were Vassalage. 139 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 unprosperons 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 121 2, the Pope published his sentence of special excommu- nication 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. 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 John becomes , . •, -i . t r i i 1 J the Pope's him that his barons, many of whom ne nad vassal. ~ , . . -, . . , 1 • deeply injured, were conspiring against him. Besides, he was much frightened by the prophecy of a certain hermit of Wakefield, who in 1 2 1 2 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 en- tirely; he agreed to receive the archbishop, and to recompense the exiled prelates and the Canterbury monks. On 15th May, 12 13, he made submission to 140 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 iooo marks for the kingdom of England and the lordship of Ireland. Thus the king of England declared him- self the Pope's vassal, and it became the interest of the Pope to uphold his authority. The ecclesias- tical 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. 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 The primate _. , , . ... . / and the were disgusted at his pusillanimous sub- mission to the Pope. At a council held at St. Alban's, the j usticiar, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, spoke of the oath the king had taken at his absolu- tion 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 Win- chester, a Poitevin, whom John chose as his suc- cessor, was no friend to English freedom. The arch- bishop 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 Vassalage. 141 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 re- newed his submission to the papal legate, Nicolas of Tusculum. This Nicolas filled up the many eccle- siastical 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 Inno- cent, 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 de- feated at Bouvines, and he came back to England in the autumn of 12 14 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 ven- geance, entered into a fresh bond of confedera- tion. Accordingly John endeavoured, with some skill, to divide his enemies, and above all to per- suade Stephen Langton to desert the common cause. He issued a charter granting full freedom of elec- tion 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 142 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 vir- tually 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. A list of demands, based on the charter of Henry L, and evidently the result of the conferences between The Great * ne archbishop and the barons, was pre- charter, 1215. sente( j to t h e j^g. 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, 12 15, imme- diately 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 1 5 th June. On that memorable day the archbishop and several bishops stood by the king as his counsel- lors, 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 Wor- cester, 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 Vassalage. 143 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 char- ter 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 import- ance 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. Innocent came to the help of his vassal, and, at John's request, annulled the Charter and pronounced Annulled by sentence of excommunication against the the Pope. 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 Eome. 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 con- firmed by the Pope, and excommunication was pro- nounced against the barons by name and against the 144 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 pre- sence 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 1 207. The chapter received leave to elect in 121 5, 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 bind- ing himself to pay no less than;£io,ooo to the Roman court for his office. Greatly to the Pope's chagrin, he was unable to prevent Lewis from invading Eng- land ; 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 Vassalage. 145 follow in his steps. In a few weeks his vassal, John, likewise died. 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 Papal tute- ° _ . 3 lags of Great Charter was twice reissued, the r rench 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 de- prived 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 suc- ceeded by Pandulf. Stephen Langton had now re- turned, 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 need- less. 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. C. H. K 146 The English Church in the Middle Ages. [t 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 gra- titude 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. Eccle- siastical 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 autho- rity, 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 Christen- dom, 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. The demands made on the clergy in this reign have Taxation of an important bearing on the history of the spiritualities. 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 cha- racter, and the taxation of spiritualities, or tithes and Vassalage. 147 offerings, for national purposes cannot be said to have begun until the Crown and the papacy had become allies. When the Popes demanded money of tho 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 with- out the discussion of grievances and petitions for redress. And as the levying of scutage on epis- copal 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 taxa- tion 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 sometiir.es obtained the papal authority to demand them for his own use. Among the evils that the Popes brought upon the Church at this period, none were so serious as those r-apai oppres- ^ na ^ proceeded from their interference with 61on * the rights of patronage. This was ordi- narily effected by " provisions " or simple announce- ments that the Pope had provided a person, named or unnamed, for a vacant benefice. The light in 148 The English Church in the Middle Ages. which English benefices were regarded at Rome was shown as early as 1226, when Honorius sent a de- mand, not indeed confined to England, that two pre- bends 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 Eng- land — 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 Vassalage. 149 have been concerned in the movement, and the accu- sation hastened his fall. Still, the Pope saw that it was advisable to give way, and sent letters confirm- ing the rights of private patrons. On the death of Stephen Langton the Pope took a further step to- wards 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, be set aside the choice of the chapter and nominated Richard Grant to the archbishopric. When Richard died in 1234, Gregory confirmed this precedent by quashing three successive elections of the chapter, and compelling the monks Edmund Rich, -m t-. • i archbishop, 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 head- ship 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 per- manent 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. t 50 The English Church in the Middle Ages. These efforts caused much displeasure ; and when it was proposed at the Council of Merton to bring the Council of l aw °f legitimacy into conformity with Merton, I23 6. ^e j aw Q f R omej 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, fort he Pope was upheld by the king. Never- theless 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 king- dom 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. Vassalage. i 5 1 The noblest figure in the history of the Church at this period is that of Eobert Grosseteste, bishop of Robert Grosse- Lincoln, and master of all sciences, as Roger of S Llncoin° P Bacon declared him to be. He was also a 1235-1253. man Q f ac tion ; 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 repent- ance 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 popu- lous 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 drink- ing 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 152 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 bene- fices 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 I 244 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. Innocent IV. made at least as large demands on England as Gregory had done, and treated her with Extortion and more cynical insolence. His envoy, Martin, remonstrance. wag ]^ Q j^ an( J ^ ] ast goa ded the long- suffering nation to violence. Fulk Fitz-Warin catne to him with the short message, " Leave England, and Vassalage. 153 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-con- duct ! " 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 remon- strance, 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 under- taken 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. Henry soon returned to his old relations with the Pope, and matters went from bad to worse. A grant 1 54 The English Church in the Middle A ges. of the tenths of spiritualities was made him by Inno- cent 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, say- ing, " 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 Robert Omsse- troubles that it had brought upon England. tolnnocenf Innocent ordered him to induct one of his iv., 1253. nephews into a prebendal stall at Lincoln, adding a clause by which the Popes used to over- ride 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, say- Vassalage. 155 ing 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. Matters were brought to a crisis by the offer of the crown of Sicily to Henry for his younger son, The English Edmund, first made by Innocent IV., and a£d r fram ien ' confirmed by his successor, Alexander IV., papacy. j n ^ e ]2 p e f 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 Provencal 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 1 2 5 6, an Italian cardinal ap- peared 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 canon- ized, and was a friend of the famous Oxford Fran- ciscan, Adam Marsh. He successfully resisted the 156 The English Church in the Middle Ages. intrusion. His courage brought excommunication on Death of sewai mm an ^ an interdict on his church, and bfsho°p of Yo°rk, ne died broken-hearted, after sending a Izs8 - 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, Alex- ander'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 Wor- cester, 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 disap- peared, 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 per- secuted and degraded. 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 Vassalage. 157 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 The Church . , \ r , , , , , . . . , , . and the Barons' Adam Marsh had been his spiritual adviser. \V«ir 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 1 26 1, 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 ecclesi- astical 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 Can- telupe 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 158 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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. 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 Higher idea . J ofthecieri- led to a higher idea of the dignity of the cal office. ° . clerical office. Partly from this cause, and partly owing to the religious revival effected by the Vassalage. 159 friars, the feeling gathered strength that it was sinful for ecclesiastics to hold secular posts, a point for which Grosseteste contended with much earnest- ness. 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 con- trol 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 tri- bunal. 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 aggres- sive, and the party devoted to the increase of clerical Rival systems dignity and power strove to displace the of law. 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 Grosse- teste 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 through- 160 The English Church in the Middle Ages. out Latin Christendom. What may almost be de- scribed 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 T. in assigning the clerical estate its place in the scheme of national government, in forc- ing it to bear its own (often an unduly large) share in the national burdens, and in limiting and defin- ing the area of clerical jurisdiction and lawful pre- tensions so as to prevent them from trenching on the national system, will form the main subject of the next chapter. ( i6i ) CHAPTER V11I. THE CHURCH AND THE NATION. CHARACTER OF THE REIGN OF EDWARD I. — ARCHBISHOP PECK- HAM — STATUTE OF MORTMAIN — CONQUEST OF WALES — CIR- CUMSPECTE 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. In the reign of Edward I. the relations between the Church and the Crown were defined and settled Edward i. on a constitutional basis, and the clergy 1272-1307. 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 pur- poses 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 c. H. l 1 62 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 con- siderable 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 his- tory of his struggles with the clergy assumes two dis- tinct 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 preten- sions 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 suc- cessfully maintained the rights of the Crown over the Church, and punished the archbishop for the part he The Church and the Nation. \6 5 had taken against him. The clergy equally with the laity had to bear their share of the national burdens ; the claims of Eome were defeated, and the parliament set out on the course of resistance to the papal usurpations which found its completion in the six- teenth century. 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 chan- cellor was Robert Burnell, a churchman of great ability and wisdom, who thoroughly understood how to for- ward his master's ecclesiastical policy. Before Ed- ward 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 Archbishop . -it, i Kiiwardby, an end to the vacancy, appointed Kobert ' Kiiwardby, a Dominican friar. Kiiwardby, 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 164 The English Church in the Middle Ages. not assent to his request, and appointed John Peck- ham, the provincial of the English Franciscans, laying down the rule that, as the death of a pre- Peokham, late 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 ex- treme 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 digni- ties 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 with- out 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- The Church and the Nation. 165 minded bishops, and when Edward procured the elec- tion 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 excom- munication should be pronounced against all who obtained the king's writ to stop proceedings in eccle- siastical 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. Edward further rebuffed the archbishop by publish- ing the statute " De Religiosis " or " of Mortmain." This statute, though, as regards the date of its pro- mulgation part of Edward's answer to Peckham 's Assumption, was directed against an abuse of long 1 66 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 Mortma?n, 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 de- frauded 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 I 2 8 I to remove suits con- cerning patronage and the goods of the clergy from the royal to the ecclesiastical courts. Here, however, the king interfered, and peremptorily forbade the The Church and the Nation. 167 council to meddle in matters affecting the Crown. Peckham was forced to give way, and shortly after- wards sent Edward a letter asserting in the strongest terms the liberties of the Church as agreeable to Scrip- ture 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. When Edward invaded Wales in 1282, Peckham, moved with a desire for peace and with compassion con uestof f° r tne Welsh, endeavoured to persuade Wales, 1282. 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 1 68 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 in- dustries, 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 Peck- ham'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 Eng- land. 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. Undismayed by his previous failures, Peckham, in 1285, made another attempt to secure the indepen- dence 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 : The Church and the Nation. 169 some concessions were made which failed to satisfy tho bishops, and a reply was sent criticizing the chan- cellor'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 impri- soned all the judges and officers of the Limits of spiri- . . . . . , -i c tuai jurisdic ecclesiastical courts who were convicted 01 having fined laymen too heavily, and had declared that these courts could not claim as of right the cognizance of any save matrimonial and testamen- tary 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 par- liament, 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 ques- tion of money. This writ, then, ascertained the limits between the areas proper to the secular and the eccle- siastical courts, settled the relations between Church and State in England as far as jurisdiction was con- cerned, and declared the triumph of the principles which Henry II. had laid down in the Constitutions of Cla- rendon. 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 170 The English Church in the Middle Ages. used their spiritual power to defend their temporal rights, they executed justice on offenders against mora- lity without respect of persons. Peckham gave a signal instance of this by condemning Sir Osbert Gif- fard, 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 gentle- man 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 im- posed on him. Although the expulsion of the Jews is chiefly a matter of economic and constitutional importance, it has also Expulsion of an ecclesiastical bearing. In spite of Ed- the Jews, 1290. war( j' 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 cere- monies. 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 cru- sader 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 The Church and the Nation. 171 extortions. While the king treated them with much severity, he seems to have been anxious for their con- version, 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. Ed- ward, who, soon after he had taken a second crusading vow in 1287, had ordered the Jews to leave his con- tinental dominions, at last, in 1 290, 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. During the early part of Edward's reign, the clergy had no reason to complain of excessive taxation. Some clerical taxa- discontent was, indeed, felt at the new and tion. 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 uncon- stitutional 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 172 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 wincneisey, Roine, whither he had gone for consecra- tion. 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, Ed- ward 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. Edward's need of money led him to perfect the organization of parliament as an assembly of estates Parliamentary competent to speak and act for the nation, representation. j n t ^ s assemD ly 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 pro- vincial convocations, the clergy met in diocesan synods, and also in assemblies of archdeaconries or other dis- tricts. The diocesan synods, the cathedral chapters, and sometimes the smaller clerical assemblies, were The Church and the Nation. 173 consulted as to proposed grants, and acted indepen- dently 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 convo- cation. 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 Parlia- ment, 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 " prcemunicntes" clause, to be inserted in the writs, directing each bishop to order the elec- tion 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 sue- 174 The English Church in the Middle Ages. ceeded in establishing the custom of making their grants in their own convocations. The submission of John to Innocent III. had estab- lished an accord between the Crown and the papacy that had in the last reign been fraught with Breach between ^ -. the crown and 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 i 296 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 de- termination the following January. The archbishop The Church and the Nation. 175 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 perse- vered in their refusal ; and on the 1 2 th 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 difficul- ties 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. In spite of the threatening attitude of the malcon- tent lords, Edward could not refuse to fulfil his engage- 176 The English Church in the Middle Ages. ments to his allies. He raised supplies and a force by means which, though unconstitutional, were justified wincheiseyand ^>J necessity, was reconciled to the arch- the charters, bishop, 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, de- manded 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 cer- tain 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 Ci'own to levy any taxes or imposts, save those anciently pertaining to it, without the con- sent of parliament. In November the ecclesiastical dispute was brought The Church and the Nation. 177 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 Mar- shal, 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 hence- forth the Church generally found the State ready to protect her liberties from papal invasion. After Edward's return fresh demands were made upon him, and a long struggle ensued between him and the parliament on the subject of dis- poiicyofop- afforestation, or the reduction of the royal forests to their ancient boundaries. Win- chelsey evidently continued in opposition, partly with the view of increasing the papal authority by embar- rassing 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 C. H. M 178 The English Church in the Middle Ages. claim to the crown of Scotland was alternately ad- mitted and rejected by the Scottish lords, who sub- mitted 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 1 3 00 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 bid- den 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 touch- ing 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 The Church and the Nation. \jg 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 proc- tors 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. The overthrow of Boniface by the French king, Philip IV., involved the failure of his attempt to clement v. establish the dominion of the papacy over 1305-1316. 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 institu- 1 80 The English Church in the Middle A ges. tion. 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 char- acter 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 wincheisey Winchelsey of having engaged in treason suspended. - n 1301, and added other causes of com- plaint 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 tobk the administration of the see of Canter- bury 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. While, however, the king and the Pope were thus The Church and the Nation. iSi 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 Remonstrance afforded an opportunity. In a parliament t$£*v£* held at Carlisle in l 3°7> statutes were pub- exactions, 1307. \{^q& 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 reser- vation 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 1 82 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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 posi- tion, and complained that they had been hindered in the execution of their duty. Before these matters were brought to a conclusion the king died. Immediately on his accession, Edward II. recalled Winchelsey, and imprisoned his father's minister, Edward ii Walter Langton. The resistance to papal 1307-1327. 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 tri- bute 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 Win- chelsey acted with the king, but Edward's carelessness and evil government drove him into opposition. While The Church and the Nation. 183 the country at large had much to complain of, the Church had her special grievances. In 13 09 the archbishop held a provincial council to decide on pro- ceedings 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 ecclesi- astical 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 1 3 1 2, 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 131 6. 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 184 The English Church in the Middle Ages. articles the rales laid down in the writ " Circum- specte agatis" were re-enacted, and various rights and liberties, touching matters of jurisdiction and sanc- tuary, 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. Throughout the whole reign elections by capitular bodies were constantly set at nought. Sometimes the Pope appointed to a bishopric on the king's Bishops ap- x rr . r . . . ° pointed by recommendation, and sometimes in spite or provision. . . . . „ _ . T nis wishes, r rom the time 01 otepnen Lang- ton 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 bishop- rics, their interference was often exercised owing either to the death of a bishop at Home, or to appeals. Be- sides, 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 The Church and the Nation. 185 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 1 3 1 3, the monks of Christ Church chose a new archbishop of high repute for learn- ing 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 Provencal, 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. 1 86 The English Church in the Middle Ages. Pope John reserved the see, and appointed an Italian. However, in 1320, the Lincoln chapter elected Burg- hersh 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. When the barons formed a league against the king's favourites, the Despensers, in 1 3 2 1 , they were joined by Burghersh, who followed his kinsman Bad- and secular lesmere, by Orlton, and John of Drokensford, bishop of Bath. The victory of Borough- bridge 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 arch- bishop. 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 Mm, 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 ob- tained 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 The Church and the Nation. 187 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, Strat- ford, whom he had forgiven and trusted in spite of his having deceived him, and Orlton, his avowed enemy, took active part in his deposition. Meanwhile the province of York had been exposed to the ravages of the Scots. Edward prevailed on The Battle of John XXII. to command a truce and send My ton, 1319. QVer ] e g a £ es w ith authority to excommuni- cate Bruce. The legates' envoys were robbed and ill- treated, and the sentence was accordingly pronounced. It had no effect on the war, and in I 3 1 8 the Scots broke into Yorkshire. They made a savage raid, and did much damage to churches and ecclesiastical pi'operty. Ripon paid them ^1000 for its safety. A new arch- bishop, William Melton, had lately been consecrated. 1 88 The English Church in the Middle Ages. He had served the king and his father well, and Edward, after some trouble, had obtained the Pope's confirma- tion 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 un- disciplined 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 Lancas- ter. 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 The Sherburn mi t* n. i. • ~ ~ ~ Parliament, estates at Sherburn, near romtret, in I 3 2 1 . 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 parlia- ment, so that, by God's favour, parliament might find The Church and the Nation. 1S9 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. During the reign of Edward II. the clergy showed their unwillingness to attend parliament, and their decided preference for voting their grants Parliament . r . TTT , ° & andconvoca- in convocation. When, tor example, thev tion. _. 11. .1.1 were summoned to the parliament in which the work of the Ordainers was published in 1 3 1 1 , 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. Win- chelsey objected to the writ, and the king issued another, promising that if it contained any cause of offence t it should be remedied. Again, in 13 14 Ed- ward ordered the archbishops to summon the convo- cations of their provinces to treat about an aid. The clergy, however, declared that this was an in- fringement of the rights of the Church, and departed without further discussion. Before the next parliament, besides the regular writ with the " prasmunientes " 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 regu- 190 The English Church in the Middle Ages. larly until I 3 40. Nevertheless in 13 18 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 1 3 1 6, a petition of the clergy touching spiri- tual 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 sup- plies they voted. While they withdrew as far as possible from parliament, they did not do so alto- gether, and in critical times their attendance was specially insisted on, in order that the consent of par- liament might be general. Even at the present clay they are summoned to every parliament by the " prse- munientes " 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 The Church and the Nation. 191 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 neces- sarily concurrent with, nor in any way dependent upon, the parliamentary session, as they became at a later period. ( 192 ) CHAPTER IX. THE PAPACY AND THE PARLIAMENT. ECCLESIASTICAL CHARACTER OF THE REIGN — ARCHBISHOPS AND THEIR ECCLESIASTICAL ADMINISTRATION— PROVISIONS — STATUTE OP PROVISORS — OP PR^MUNIRE — 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 PAPACi' — THE GOOD PARLIAMENT — CONCLUSION. The fifty years of the reign of Edward III. are of special importance in the history of our Church ; for character of they witnessed the restriction of papal the period. authority by parliament, and the rise of a spirit of discontent at evils which existed in the National Church. Prom the time of John's submis- sion 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 The Papacy and the Parliament. 193 enemies, and that French Popes should exercise juris- diction 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 Praemunire. 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 dis- cipline on the clergy, while the abuses of the ecclesias- tical 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 con- cerning 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 CH. w 194 The English Church in the Middle Ages. teach that it would be well for the Church to strip herself of lier 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 I 371, and after some notices of the archbishops and their ecclesiastical ad- ministration 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 move- ment of the last years of the reign. 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 Mepeham, convent, John XXII. confirmed the election. Canterbury, 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 govern- ment. 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 Papacy and the Parliament. 195 the Pope, and the king ordered the archbishop to de- sist 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. John Stratford, bishop of Winchester, of whom we have heard before, was at the king's instance elected John Stratford ^° succeed him, and the Pope provided him, canterbury ° f not i n virtue of the postulation of the chap- 1333-1348. ^ er ^ -JQixt " of his own motion." Although the chapter of Winchester elected, and the king recom- mended, 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 un- successful except at sea. Stratford, who belonged to the old Lancastrian party, disapproved of the con- stant 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 196 The English Church in the Middle Ages. and Orlton, he returned suddenly to England, turned Stratford's brother, the chancellor, and other minis- ters out of office, and imprisoned some of versy with 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 subjec- tion " (Ecclus. xlviii. I 2). 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 arch- bishop. 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. Al- though 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., com- plaining 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 there- upon declared that no peer should be brought to trial The Papacy and the Parliament. 197 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 illus- trates the constitutional position of bishops as of equal dignity with the temporal lords. Meanwhile the king a lay chan- appointed Sir Robert Bourchier chancellor, ceiior, 1340. ^q g rs {. ] avman wno ever held that office. After a little time, however, the office was again held by clerks. 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 eccle- Hisconsti- siastical officials and the secular lives of tutions. 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 wear- ing knives, long shoes, and furred cloaks, should be suspended. Meanwhile William Zouche, archbishop of York, was engaged in the defence of his province. In 198 The English Church in the Middle Ages. October 1345, while Edward was absent in France, David of Scotland led a large army into the bishopric Battle of °f Durham, wasting the country as he ad- ^tho'ctober 3 ' vanced. Archbishop William and the lords 1345- 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 My ton " was amply avenged. On Stratford's death in 1348 the monks of Christ Church, thinking to please the king, and doubtless John of ufford, a ^ so to f° unc l a precedent, elected Edwards ei r e C ^t b ofc°!n- chaplain, Thomas Bradwardine, without terbury, i 34 8. wa iting for the cong6 d'elire. Bradwardine, the Doctor Profundus, as he was called, a famous philo- sopher and theologian, was the champion of the Augus- tinian doctrine of predestination against the Scotists. He had accompanied the king in his victorious cam- paigns 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 conse- Thomas Brad- crated. Bradwardine was then raised to bShopof'uau- tne archbishopric by the common action terbury, i 34 g. f ^ e 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 The Papacy and the Parliament. 199 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. Simon Islip, Bradwardine's successor, endeavoured to remedy ecclesiastical abuses. He founded Canter- simou isiip, bury Hall at Oxford, to enable the clergy 1349-1366. to rece ive 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 with- out 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 j for, while he could not quarrel with the papacy, he would not 200 The English Church in the Middle Ages. uphold it against the will of the nation. While, how- ever, 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 Simon Lang- purveyors. On Islip's death Simon Lang- ham, 1366-1368. k am; 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 arch- bishopric two years, Urban made him a cardinal. The king was displeased at this, and seized his temporali- ties. Langham resigned the see and went to Avignon, wniiam whit- and was succeeded at Canterbury by his bSSTa- kinsman, William Whittlesey, who took I374 - little part in the affairs either of Church or State, for he soon fell into ill health. There was comparatively little direct taxation of the clergy by the Popes during this reign, though first-fruits were still demanded, and the The Church. . • and the Papacy, 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. Eng- lish 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 Papacy and the Parliament. 201 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 car- dinals 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 and pro- 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 the king and provisions led to the promotion of unfit per- sons, who did not understand the language of the country or reside on their benefices, and that 202 The English Church in the Middle A ges. 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 Shore- ditch, 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 con- fusion, and John departed from Avignon in haste, lest mischief should befall him. These remonstrances had little effect, and at last, in i 3 5 i , the statute of Provisors was enacted, on the statute of petition of the lords temporal and the com- Provisors, i 35 i. mons> gy 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 compen- sation to the party aggrieved. To this statute the bishops, who were, of course, hampered by their posi- tion as regards the Pope, did not assent. Its imme- diate 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 The Papacy and the Parliament. 203 liked. The Popes, moreover, still continued to pro- vide 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. The system of provisions increased the number of appeals to Rome, and matters that were determin- able 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 jurisdic- jpramunire, tion of the curia by the Statute of Prae- munire, 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 begin- ning " Praemunire 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 dispen- sations 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 Proviso rs and Praemunire were promulgated in the next reign. The victories of Edward and the Prince of Wales rendered the Popes powerless to resent anti-papal 204 The English Church in the Middle A ges. legislation. France was no longer able to protect them at Avignon. During their residence in that city the papacy had become French, and had Repudiation , . , ■. , ., of vassalage, consequently m 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 sepa- rately and unanimously declared that John had no power to bring his realm and people under such sub- jection, and repudiated the vassalage and tribute that the Pope demanded. For a short time Edward stopped even the payment of Peter's pence. Early in the reign the Pope granted the king a clerical tenth for four years, and later, during the The church in French war, the clergy taxed themselves stat? 11 *° tbe heavily. All attempt to induce them to 1327-1371. make their grants in parliament was dis- continued, and they settled the amount of their con- tribution in their provincial convocations. In convocation they legislated without in- terference on spiritual matters, including those which concerned their jurisdiction. Parliament, however, did not allow them to enact any- thing 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 Papacy and the Parliament. 205 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 counter- part in jurisdiction ; for the common law courts decided questions of right to tithes, while the spiritual courts enforced payment. In matters affecting temporal in- terests, parliament legislated for the Church. This legislation was during this period generally of a favour- able 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 parliamen- tary statute, a kind of " Statute of Labourers " for the unbeneficed clergy. Disputes still went on as to rights of jurisdiction, and in 1 344, after the grant of a clerical tenth, it was enacted, with the assent of the Jurisdiction. 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 " Cir- cumspecte agatis " in the clerical interest. 206 The English Church in the Middle A ges. Nevertheless the nation regarded the condition of the Church with growing discontent. The papal in- Discontent of terference with the rights of patrons, besides the laity. grievously wronging the bishops and chap- ters, irritated the people at large, for they saw eccle- siastical 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 Non-residence. ^ 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 pesti- lence. 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 Pleyned hem to the bisshope, That hire parisshes weren povere Sith the pestilence tyme, To have a licence and leve At London to dwelle, And syngen ther for symoniej For silver is svvete. Somme serven the kyng And his silver tellen In cheker and in chauncelrie Chalangan his dettes Of wardes and of wardmotes Weyves and streyves. And somme serven as servauntz Lordes and ladies, And in stede of stywardes Sitten and dernen. In the absence of the parish priests, or while they were immersed in worldly affairs, the churches fell into decay, secular an( ^ the people were neglected. Wyclif employments. tellg us that secu i ar employment was the only road to ecclesiastical preferment. " Lords," he The Papacy and the Parliament. 207 Bays, " 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. The spiritual jurisdiction for which churchmen con- tended so jealously had altogether failed to preserve Lack of discipline. The secularization of the clergy discipline. rendered this failure specially disastrous ; for a clerk, who had laid aside everything clerical except the tonsure, and had perhaps concealed that, if ac- cused 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 discip- the spiritual line utterly broken down, they found the courts. . , , . spiritual courts strong enough to oppress them with heavy fees, especially in testamentary cases, 208 The English Church in the Middle Ages. and in various other ways, and the cost and vexation entailed by ecclesiastical processes were a constant Decline iu source of irritation. At the same time, cbaricter a df high as the pretensions of the clergy were, the clergy. there can be no doubt that the clerical standard was lowered by the pestilence. Many bene- fices 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 raisTtheir 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. 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 dis- affection. Men saw with anger that, while the nation groaned under heavy taxation, the greater ecclesias- The Papacy and the Parliament. 209 tics 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 mis- managed. An anti-clerical party arose, and an attack was made on the ecclesiastical ministers Attack on the _ . clerical minis- and the wealthier churchmen. When the ters and the . ... wealthy Prince ol Wales returned from Aquitame, clergy, 1371. . m J anuary 1 3 7 1 , 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 ; sud- denly, he said, a hawk appeared, and the birds de- manded 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 dan- gerous 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 convo- c. H. o 210 The English Church in the Middle Ages. cation 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. When John of Gaunt came back from his unsuccess- ful 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 concordat with ^is the king replied that he had already sent the Pope. an em b asS y to the Pope to represent these grievances, probably in consequence of the petition of the year before, and the matter was referred to a con- ference about to be held at Bruges. When the king's demand for a tenth was laid before convocation by Arch- bishop Whittlesey, the clergy declared that they were un- The Papacy and the Parliament. 211 done 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 Cour- tenay, 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 Bruges, i 374 - the following year, Edward sent the bishop of Bangor, Dr. John Wyclif, and others, as his representatives to arrange a concordat with Gregory XT. The immediate results, which were declared in 1375, were unsatisfactory, for they were merely tem- porary 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 suffi- cient time had elapsed for him to hear the result of the capitular election ; that he would respect the elec- tive 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. No parliament met from 1373 until the Good Par- The Good Par- Hament of 1376. In this parliament the uament, 1376. p ar ty 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 ven- 212 The English Church in the Middle Ages. geance 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. Ac- cordingly, he did not come up to the convocation of 1377, and Simon Sudbury, the archbishop of Canter- bury, 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. Each period of the history we have been studying has some special characteristics, and it may be con- summary, venient to sum them up briefly. The par- 601-1066. ^ a } f a ii ure f the Kentish mission and the break-down of Gregory's scheme of government left the English Church in a disorganized condi- tion, 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, Conclusion. 213 and extends from the victory of the Koraan party at Whitby to the end of the greatness of the Northum- brian Church, and the establishment of 66S-829. . 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 hand- maid of Eome, 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 woi*k 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 king- dom ; its failure saved her from degradation, and pro- bably saved the nation from prolonged division. By Archbishop Ceolnoth's alliance with Ecgberkt, the Church adopted the interests of the line of kings under whom the unity of the nation was accom- plished. 214 The English Church in the Middle Agrs. 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 pro- vince, and their work was carried further forward by the great churchmen whose names are con- nected 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 con- ciliar 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. 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 1066-H35. 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 Conclusion. 215 to allow the Pope any authority in his kingdom ex- cepting 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 prede- cessor 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. The conflict came after a suspension of the royal authority. The immunity of the clergy from secular jurisdiction confronted Henry II. as a dan- gerous 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 Claren- don 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 des- potism ; 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 216 The English Church in the Middle Ages. 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, anTl were the earliest assertors of constitutional rights. At the same time, under both the Norman and the first two Plan- tagenet kings, the Church at large was on the side of the Crown, and did the nation good service by main- taining its authority against the feudal nobility. The quarrel between John aud Innocent III. intro- duces a new period in our history, during which the Church was in opposition to the Crown, 1205-1265. _ 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, how- ever, 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 libertv, CD «/ 7 while the Pope again upheld his vassal against his people. The barons' war, however, virtually brought the papal suzerainty to an end. Conclusion. 217 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 mediasval 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 2 1 8 The English Church in the Middle A ges. entirely the success of the policy of Edward I. was the result of his personal character. The weak- ness 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 pro- vision as applied to bishoprics indicates the utter dis- regard with which the rights both of the Church and the king were treated at Avignon. A new and powerful motive for resistance was sup- plied by the French war of Edward III. Parliament and the Crown were at one in refusing to I 34.^ — I ^77- yield to papal pretensions, and the first statutes of Pro visors and Praemunire, 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 exist- ing institutions. The wealth and power of the Church provoked envy ; its abuses were regarded with indigna- tion. 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 Pome, are reserved for another volume of this series. INDEX. Abercorn, see of, ig. Adam Marsh. 155, 157. Adopti.>ni>ts, 33. £Mdi (E.idius), 21. jEifgifu, wife of Eadwisr, 46, 47. jElfheah the Bald. bp. of Winchester, 45. JElfric, arclibp.-elect, 67. iElfric the Grammirian. 53, 54. jEthelberht, king of Kent, 2-4, 28. ./Ethelburh, queen, 5. ^Ethelred the Unready, king, 51, 56, 57. 59- jEthelstan, 42, 43, 44. .ffirhelwold, bp. of Winchester, 48. .akhelwulf, king of W. Saxons, 35, 36. Agatho, pope, 19. Agilberct, bp., n, 12. Aidan, St.. 7, 9, 14. Avignon, 179, 199, 201. Alchfritli, 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' 2I 4- Andover, 57. Andrews, St., see of, 101. Anselm, archbp., see Canterbury, arehbps. of. Anselm, legate, 99. Appeals to Rome, 18-20, 31, 81, 88, 93, 105, 107, 131, 137- i49- Archdeacons, 30, 41, 98, m. Assandnn, battle of, 60, 61, 67. Asser, bishop, 39. Au 8 9> 100-102, 107, 120, 124, 146, 199. Archbishops of — Augustin, 1-3. Laurentius, 4. Mellitus, 4, 5. Justus, 4, 5. Honoring, 6. Deusdedit, 15. Theodore, 15-20, 23, 27, 29, 30. Brihtwald, 20. Jaenberht, 27. .ffithelheard, 27. Ceolnoth, 28, 213. 220 Index. Canterbury, abps. of {continued) — jEthelred, 42. Plegmund, 39, 42. Wulfhelni, 43. Oda, 44, 45, 47. Dunstan, 45-53, 61, 214. Sigeric, 56. iElfric, 74. jElfheah (St. Alphege), 57-59, 86. Lyfiug, 60, 61. .33thelnoth, 61, 62. Hobert of Jumieges, 64, 67, 68, 70, 71, 88. Stigaud, 61, 67, 68, 70, 71, 77. Lanfranc. 78-80, 82-87, 89. Anselm, 86, 90-98, 117, 215. R^lph, 99-101. William of Corbeuil, 99, 106. Theobald, 107-112. Thomas (Becket), m-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 Langhani, 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. Cead walla, 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, '43, 154, 165 ; the Forest, 154. Charters, confirmation of the, 176. Chester-le-Stieet, 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. Clerieis 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. Dcira, kingdom of, 5, 10. Dioceses, organization of, 2, 17-20, 41, 42. Dnrchester, see of, 6, 26, 42. Disafforestation, 177, 179. Drokensford, John, bp. of Bath and Wells, 186. Dunstan, see Canterbury, abps. of. Dnnwich, 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. Eadwaid the Confessor, king, 64, 69, 129. Eadwar.l the Elder, kinsr, 42. Eadward the Martyr, king, 51, 58. Eadwig, king, 46, 47. Eadwine, kiug of Northumbria, 5, 6, 11. Ealdfrith, king of Northumbria, 19. Ealdhelm, bp. of Sherborne, 25, 26. Ealhstan, bp. of Sherborne, 35. Eanflied, queen, 10. Easter, date of, 3, 9-14, 16, 25. Index. 221 East Anclia, conversion of, 4, 5, 6, see Dun wick. East Saxons, conversion of, 2, 4. Ecgberht, king of W. Saxons, 28. Ecgl'rith, king of Northumbriu, 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, fee 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, no, 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 L, 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 Babri (Giraldus Cambren- sis), 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, in. 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 XL, pope, 211. Grimbold, 39. Grosseteste, Robert, bp. of Lmcoln, iS 1 "^. !59- Gualo, legate, 144, 145. Guthred, 42. Guthorm, king, 37. Hadrian, abbot, 15, 16. Hadrian L, pope, 26, 31. Hadrian IV , pope, 126. Harold I., king, 62. Harold II., kins, 68, 69, 71-73. Harthacnut, kin;.', 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, n. Honorius II., pope, 99-101. Honorius III., pope, 144-146, 148. Hubert x 59. 2l6 - Innocent IV., pope, 152-156. Inquisition, the, 125. Investiture, episcopal, 64, 94-97. Iona, o S. 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., pipe, 57. John XXII., pope, 185, 187, 194. John de Gray, bp. of Norwich, 137. John of Crema, legate, 99. John of Salisbury, in. John of Shoreditch, 202. John, the old Saxon teacher, 39. Jurisdiction, ecclesiastical, 30. 43. 81, 88, 98, 115-117, 124, l6 °. l6 5> l6o » l68 i 169, 184, 193, 197, 205, 207, 210. 222 Index. Kent, conversion of, 2-5 ; overthrow uf kingship in, 27 ; end of ealdor- manship of, 52. Kingship, 31, see Coronation. Kingston, council at, 28. Lambeth, Archbishop Hubert's founda- tion at, 133 ; council at, 166. Lancaster, John of Gaunt, duke of, 210. Lancaster, Thomas, earl of, 188. Lang-ton, "Walter, bp. of Lichfield, 179, 182. Lateran council of 1099, 94. Law, canon, 111, 149, 159; civil, in, 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. I.eofiic, bp. of Exeter, 63, 65, 66. Lewes, battle of, 157. Lewis VII. of France, 118-120. Lichfield, see of, 17, 18 ; made metro- politan, 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, n. 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 Winchestei - . 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 iEthelstan, 44. Ottoboni, legate, 158, 160. Oxford, 106, 10S, 125, 149, 151. Pall, archiepiscopal, 2, 6, 24, 30, 61, 7 I >93- Pandulf, legate, 140, 144, 145. Parishes, 23. Parliament, clerical representation in, i7 2 -i74. 189, 2°4- 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 dus 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 Fiance, 177, 179. Pilgrimages, 25, 32, 36, 69, 70. Plague, the great, 19S, 190, 205, 208. Plurality ot benefices, 41, 63, 164, 206. Pontigny, 118, 119. Praeinunientes clause, 173, 189, 190. Praemunire, statute of, 193, 203, 218. Index. 223 Provisions, 147, 150, 184, 201, 202, 210, 211, 2l8. 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 be- tween, 48, 51, 85. Remigius, bp. of Dorchester, 79. Reservations, 184, 201, 202, 211. Rheims, council of, no. 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. SjEBErct, 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, 21a. 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, 173 ; wars with Eng- land, 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. Sberburn, northern parliament of, 18S. Sidnacester, see of, 18. Simon de Montfort, earl, 156-158. Simony, 63, 64, 67, 89, 144. South Saxons, conversion of, 19. Spearhaf oc, 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 Whit- by, tic, also Convocation. Taxation, ecclesiastical, 74, 75, 113, 124, 146, 147, 152-1541 '7*1 174-177. 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. Transubstanti .tion, 54, 86, 87. Translations, episcopal, rule concern- ing, 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, III. Vercelli, cuuncil of, 66. Vezelay, abp. Thomas at, 119. Vicarages, election of, 151. Victor, anti-pope, 118. Walchelin, bp. of Winchester, 85, 86. Wales, church of, not in communion with Canterbury, 3, 8, 10 ; joins com- munion, 25 ; in S. Wales bishops pro- fess obedience, 42 ; independence of church, 80 ; dependence, 102 ; char- acter, 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, 6S, 71. Wedmore, peace of, 37. Wells, see of, 42, 82. Wessex, conversion, 6, 8 ; diocesan division of, 18, 26, 42 ; gains supre- macy, 28. Westminster abbey, 69, 71, 85 ; coun- cils at, 24, 98, 116, 124 ; convocation of Canterbury meets at, 98, 191. Whitby, synod of, n-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, S7-95. 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, 8?, 108. Wini, bp. of W. Saxons, 8, Witchcraft, 39. Worcester, see of, 18 ; held with York, 69. 224 Index. Wulfstan, bp. of Worcester, 63, 70, 71, 84. Wyclif, John. 193, 211, 212. Wykeharu, William of, b|>. of Winches- ter, 207-212. York, see of, founded, 2, 5; overthrown, 6 ; restored, 13 ; metropolitan dignity restored, 22. 24, 212 ; period of great- ness, 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. York, bps. and abps. of (continued) — Ecgberht, 22, 24, 25, 30. .Ethelberht (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, no. Henry Murdac, 109, no. Roger, 120, 124. Geoffrey, 122, 130, 131, 138, 216. Walter Gray, 144. Sewalde Bovil, 155. William Melton, 187. William Zouche, 197. John Thoresby, 199, 208. THE END. Printed by Ballanttnk, HANSON &° Co. Edinburgh d^ Loudon UNIVERSITV OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. DE ;,, "< 7.'68(Jl895s4)--C-:L20 3 1158 00954 8412 /M UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 780 258 o