5. Establishing and endowing new offices for the cure of souls or supervision in thickly populated districts. 16

6. Accepting private benefactions for certain spiritual purposes.17 In the three last mentioned departments of their work the functions of the ecclesiastical commissioners approximate closely to those of the governors of queen Anne's bounty.

3. ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS.

§ 33.

A. ORIGIN OF THE VARIOUS ARCHBISHOPRICS AND BISHOPRICS.

In the period before the Anglo-Saxon settlement, and even later in Keltic districts, the existence of metropolitans cannot be demonstrated with any degree of certainty.'

When Augustine in the spring of 597 came to Britain and took up his abode at Canterbury, he was not yet a bishop. In the August of the same year he crossed over to France again and was there consecrated bishop (or archbishop?) by the archbishop of Arles, permission having been previously obtained from pope Gregory I.3

to the commissioners, notice must be given to them (s 19). The commissioners approve sales etc. by ecclesiastical corporations under 14 & 15 Vict. c 104 (supplemented by 17 & 18 Vict. c 116 and later acts). They further see to the insurance of residences of bishops, deans, canons etc. built under the acts recited in 5 & 6 Vict. c 26 (see s 11 of that act).

16 In the various acts which relate to new foundations of bishoprics and chapters, the collection and the determination of the endowments are entrusted to the commissioners. The surplus in the hands of the commissioners, derived from the sources indicated above, is devoted to the augmentation of benefices. The three classes of grants made are given in Phillimore, Eccles. Law 2106, 7. Statistics will be found in the Church Year-Book, which appears annually. for 1880-90 and for 1891 in the vol. for 1893, p. 528.)

(E.g.

17 By 6 & 7 Vict. c 37 s 22, and 7 & 8 Vict. c 104 s 11, for new churches and augmenting benefices; by 19 & 20 Vict. c 104 s 27, for new parsonages etc.

For more on this point and the probable non-existence of archbishops in Wales see Haddan and Stubbs, Councils I, 142, 148. Cf. also Wilkins, Concilia I, 7. Welsh bishops are in several documents designated archbishops without there being, apparently, any right implied to govern other bishops. On the archiepiscopal sees alleged to have been in existence before Augustine's time, viz. those of London, York and Menevia (St. David's) see Wilkins IV, 699. On Scotland see § 10, note 5; on Ireland, § 11, note 6. Cf. also § 1, note 3.

2

A special right of superintendence over ordinary bishops was recognized as belonging to metropolitan bishops even before the first council of Nicaea (325) and that of Antiochia (341); nevertheless for several centuries to come the position of the metropolitan was not exactly defined. Richter, Kirchenrecht § 13, note 1, § 24, note 15. According to Haddan and Stubbs III, 3 the following designations of Augustine occur: Archiepiscopus genti Anglorum' (Beda Book I c 27) and Britanniarum (Beda Book II c 3)-Episcopus or Frater et coepiscopus and once Episcopus Anglorum (Gregor. Epistol.)-Episcopus Cantuariorum ecclesiae (Augustin. Quaest. in Beda Book I c 27)-Doruvernensis Archiepiscopus (epitaph of Augustine in Beda Book II c 3).

3 Beda, Hist. Eccles. Book I c 27 § 58: Interea vir Domini Augustinus venit Arelas, et ab archiepiscopo ejusdem civitatis Aetherio, juxta quod jussa sancti

Gregory subsequently (601), in reply to a question by Augustine, directed that the latter should have supreme control over all bishops in Britain. At the same time he sent Augustine a pallium and gave instructions for further developing the constitution of the church. Augustine was to consecrate per singula loca twelve bishops who after his death were to be subject to a metropolitan of London, invested with a pallium by the pope; further, he was to send a bishop to York, who also was to be afterwards invested as metropolitan with a pallium and was to consecrate in his turn twelve bishops to be subject to himself; after the death of Augustine the metropolitans of London and of York were to be, in principle, equal, formal precedence being given to the one consecrated earlier. The selection of the towns of London and York is explained by the fact that they were the most notable towns in the country and the capitals of former Roman provinces.

The directions of Augustine were never completely carried out. For London, it is true, Mellitus was consecrated bishop by Augustine (604). But when soon afterwards the latter died (604?), the position of a metropolitan passed to Laurentius, whom Augustine had consecrated as his successor and who kept Canterbury as his see. This deviation from the instructions of Gregory may have been partly due to the fact that at this time Essex and London were politically dependencies of Kent. In 617 or 618 Mellitus was driven from London; at the ensuing vacancies in the see of Canterbury at the deaths of archbishops Laurentius (619), Mellitus (624), Justus (627 ?)

patris Gregorii acceperant, archiepiscopus genti Anglorum ordinatus est; -Greg. Epist. VII, 30 (Haddan and Stubbs III, 12): Qui (Augustinus) data a me licentia a Germaniarum Episcopis (i.e. by the Frankish bishops) Episcopus factus est

Answer of Gregory to the seventh question of Augustine, Qualiter debemus cum Galliarum Britanniarumque Episcopis agere? Britanniarum vero omnes Episcopos tuae fraternitati committimus, ut indocti doceantur, infirmi persuasione roborentur, perversi auctoritate corrigantur. (Haddan and Stubbs III, 22.) This would also imply supremacy over the bishops of the Britons, but these were but slightly connected with Rome and certainly not in subjection to the pope. Compare also another letter about the same time by Gregory to Augustine (Haddan and Stubbs III, 29): Tua vero fraternitas non solum eos Episcopos quos ordinaverit, neque hos tantummodo qui per Eburacae Episcopum fuerint ordinati, sed etiam omnes Brittaniae sacerdotes habeat

subjectos

5 Second letter of Gregory to Augustine, 601 (Haddan and Stubbs III, 29): usum tibi pallii concedimus: ita ut per loca singula duodecim Episcopos ordines, qui tuae subjaceant ditioni, quatenus Lundoniensis civitatis Episcopus semper in posterum a synodo propria debeat consecrari, atque honoris pallium ab hac sancta et Apostolica sede percipiat. Ad Eburacam vero civitatem te volumus Episcopum mittere, quem ipse judicaveris ordinare; ita duntaxat, ut si eadem civitas cum finitimis locis verbum Dei receperit, ipse quoque duodecim Episcopos ordinet, et metropolitani honore perfruatur; quia ei quoque, si vita comes fuerit, pallium tribuere disponimus, quem tamen tuae fraternitatis volumus dispositioni subjacere: post obitum vero tuum ita Episcopis quos ordinaverit praesit, ut Lundoniensis Episcopi nullo modo ditioni subjaceat. Sit vero inter Lundoniae et Eburacae civitatis Episcopos in posterum honoris ita distinctio, ut ipse prior habeatur qui prius fuerit ordinatus:

H.C.

T

and Honorius (653), London was not an episcopal see. A bishop for London was indeed consecrated in 654, but he followed the Keltic use. Not until after the conference of Streoneshalch (664) was this difficulty removed, the bishop of London accommodating himself to the Roman use. But Canterbury had now been so long the archiepiscopal seat, that the possibility of a change was not contemplated. Although it sank afterwards to the rank of an unimportant provincial town, it remained the seat of the archbishop of the southern province."

Gregory's proposal of an archbishopric of York had also difficulties in the way of its realization. Not until 625 was a bishop, Paulinus, sent there; in 627 Eadwine, king of Northumbria, gave the church a permanent endowment so that thenceforth the existence of a bishopric at York was secured.

It was probably in the same year that Justus, archbishop of Canterbury, died. Honorius, chosen by the clergy of Canterbury as his successor, begged consecration of Paulinus, then the sole bishop in England following the Roman use, and the latter granted his request. Palliums were sent for both from Rome by pope Honorius I, who gave authority that if one of them died the other was to consecrate a successor to the deceased; for the distance forbade any waiting for the pope's intervention.8

But in 633 Paulinus had to flee from York, so that it was after his expulsion that the pallium came into his hands. When during the reign of king Oswald, Keltic Christianity became dominant in Northumbria, the see of York remained for the time being vacant. Bishop Aidan, summoned from Iona, settled in the island of Lindisfarne (635) 10 near the northern boundary of the Anglo-Saxon domain; it was from Lindisfarne that he and his successors exercised superintendence over the church in Northumbria.

In consequence of the issue of the conference of Streoneshalch, Colman, the then bishop of Lindisfarne, who refused to submit to the decision reached, left the country. His successor Tuda died a short time afterwards (664). Wilfrid was now elected and repaired In his absence Ceadda was chosen to

to Gaul to seek consecration.

As London became more and more definitely the seat of government, it was felt that the head of the ecclesiastical administration should also be located there or in the immediate neighbourhood. For the steps by which the manor of Lambeth came to be held by the archbishops of Canterbury (twelfth century) see Stubbs in Introduction to Epistolae Cantuarienses (Rer. Brit. Scr. No. 38) vol. II pp. xcii and xciv.

'Haddan and Stubbs III, 82, note a.

8 Letter of pope Honorius I to archbishop Honorius, 634 (Haddan and Stubbs III, 84): Et tam juxta vestram petitionem quam filiorum nostrorum regum vobis per praesentem nostram praeceptionem, vice beati Petri apostolorum principis, auctoritatem tribuimus, ut quando unum ex vobis Divina ad se jusserit gratia vocari, is qui superstes fuerit, alterum in loco defuncti debeat Episcopum ordinare. Pro qua etiam re singula vestrae dilectioni pallia A letter to the like effect written at the same time 91.

direximus

to Eadwine of Northumbria will be found l.c. III, 83.
10 Haddan and Stubbs III,

Cf. § 1, near note 7.

11

the bishopric (also in 664). On Wilfrid's return, Ceadda retired into a monastery, and afterwards became bishop in Mercia. Wilfrid undertook the administration of the diocese of Northumbria, and removed the seat of the bishopric once more to York (circ. 669).11 None of the bishops here mentioned of Lindisfarne or York, including Wilfrid, received the pallium. 12 It was first bestowed after the interval on Egbert, bishop of York (734), and from his time onward regularly on the archbishops of York.

In the eighth century the hegemony passed to the kingdom of Mercia. Hence arose a wish to make that kingdom ecclesiastically independent of the neighbouring countries. King Offa of Mercia induced the pope to consent to a division of the archiepiscopal district of Canterbury and the elevation of Lichfield, the oldest bishopric of Mercia, to an archbishopric. A resolution accepting the scheme was passed by the assembly, at which papal legates were present, of temporal and spiritual magnates at Celchyth (787). The archbishop of Lichfield received the pallium as a third archbishop in England.

About the year 796 disorder broke out in Kent, the agitation being directed against the supremacy of the kings of Mercia; even the archbishop of Canterbury was compelled to take flight. The rising was, it is true, suppressed; yet it was possibly in connexion with this outbreak that Coenwulf, the then king of Mercia, became disposed toward the abolition of the separate archbishopric of Lichfield. By his desire the pope approved the rejoining of the divided parts, and in 802 ordered a reversion to the old state of affairs.1 The union of the archiepiscopal sees received the formal assent of the king and his temporal magnates, and was subsequently ratified at the synod of Clovesho (803) by the ecclesiastical members thereof.15 Canterbury was again made the head of the whole southern province, and Lichfield became, as it had been before, an ordinary episcopal see.

13

From that time there have been only two archbishoprics in Eng

11 Beda, Hist. Eccles. Book IV, c 3 § 259.-In 678 the diocese of Northumbria was divided, Lindisfarne and Hexham being chosen as the seat of the northern bishopric, York of the southern. Beda, Book IV c 12 § 238. Haddan and Stubbs III, 125.

12 A document, professing to be of the year 680, in which is the signature of Wilfrid as archbishop of York,' is not genuine. (Wilkins I, 50; Haddan and Stubbs, Counc. III, 160.)

13 Letter of Coenwulf to pope Leo III and answer of the latter (both in 798) printed in Haddan and Stubbs III, 521 ff.

Annulling of the division by bull of Leo, in virtue solely of his right as pope, and his announcement thereof to Coenwulf (both in 802), Haddan and Stubbs III, 536 ff.

15 Resolution at Clovesho in Haddan and Stubbs III, 542. In the introduction thereto we read of preceding resolutions: Papa... in Britanniam misit et praecipit ut honor Sancti Augustini sedis cum omnibus suis parochiis redintegraretur et honorabili Archiepiscopo Aethelheardo in patriam pervenienti per omnia redderetur, et Coenwifus Rex pius Merciorum ita complevit cum senatoribus suis.

land, Canterbury and York.16 The boundaries of the provinces have, however, undergone changes.

The outer limits were extended in accordance with the advance of Christianity of the Roman use in its struggle with paganism and Christianity of the Keltic use. The progress of Roman Christianity in Cornwall, Wales and, temporarily, in parts of Ireland was to the gain of the province of Canterbury," progress in the border lands of Scotland, to that of the province of York.18 An attempt made by Ethelnot, archbishop of Canterbury (1020-38), who lived during the reign of Knut, to arrogate to himself supremacy over bishops of the Scandinavian church, was thwarted by the resistance of the archbishop of Hamburg.19 In 1152 the three Irish bishops of Dublin, Waterford and Limerick acknowledged the primate of Armagh, thus repudiating allegiance to Canterbury; in 1188 the final severance of Scotland from York took place.

As to internal boundaries, from the end of the eleventh and on into the twelfth century, Canterbury and York were at variance with one another. This dispute was complicated with that to be discussed presently as to the precedence of Canterbury. The archbishop of York raised a claim to the districts of the bishops of Lincoln (Dorchester), Worcester and Lichfield.20 The assemblies of Winchester and Windsor (1072) 21 decided against York and fixed as the boundary between the two provinces the river Humber and the northern limit of the diocese of Lichfield,22 thus practically

16 See also Radulf de Diceto, Abbrev. Chron. (Rer. Brit. Scr. No. 68) I, 255, year 1142: Lucius papa pallium misit Henrico Wintoniensi episcopo, cui proposuerat assignare septem episcopos. Matth. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rer. Brit. Scr. No. 57) II, 176 borrows this and adds: volens apud Wintoniam novum archiepiscopum constituere. Cf. Ann. de Wintonia (Rer. Brit. Ser. No. 36) II, 53.-On fruitless endeavours to raise St. David's to an archbishopric see § 1, note 25.

17 For the older history of the various episcopal sees of Wales, see Haddan and Stubbs I, 142 ff.

18 For an enumeration of the older sees in the province of York see a letter of 1120 in Haddan and Stubbs II, 204.

19 Lappenberg, Geschichte von England, Hamburg, 1834, I, 470.

20 William of Malmesb., Gest. Pont. (Rer. Brit. Ser. No. 52) p. 40, year 1071: In cuius (pope Alexander's) praesentia Thomas calumniam movit de primatu Dorobernensis ecclesiae, et de subjectione trium episcoporum Dorcensis sive Lincoliensis, Wigorniensis, Licitfeldensis qui nunc est Cestrensis Similarly Milo Crispinus (died circ. 1114), Vita Lanfranci (ed. Giles) p. 302. On the condition of the province of York from the tenth to the twelfth century cf. Stubbs in Hoveden (Rer. Brit. Ser. No. 51), preface pp. xxxiv ff. to vol. IV; on the connexion of Worcester with York from the end of the tenth to the beginning of the twelfth century l.c. p. xxxv, note 1.

21 Cf. § 34, note 5.

22 The document is printed in § 34, note 6. But see there the contention of Hugo Cantor that the document professing to give the resolutions of these assemblies is forged.-At any rate the archbishops of York maintained their claim to Lincoln after this date. Henry of Huntingdon, under the year 1087 (Rer. Brit. Scr. No. 74) 212: Provinciam tamen Lindisse_archiepiscopus Eboracensis calumpniabatur ex antiqua temporum serie. Florent. Wigorniensis, year 1092 (ed. Thorpe II, 30): Antistes etiam Remigius, qui licentia regis Willelmi senioris, episcopalem sedem de Dorcaceastra mutaverat ad Lindicolinam, constructam in ea ecclesiam pontificali cathedra dignam