Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/391

Rh CHURCH.] ENGLAND 371 was done by him in the foundation and settlement of parish churches, and the arrangement that a portion of the tithes, previously paid by the Saxon thanes to the bishop and the cathedral, should be paid by them to the priest of their own church. Thus Archbishop Theodore may be said to have been the founder of the national church of England. The his tory of this period and part of the following century is related in great detail by Bieda or Bede, a monk of Jarrow, who took much pains to collect his materials, and is a thoroughly trustworthy writer. Though himself a monk, Bede speaks very strongly against the multiplication of monasteries, and of the dissolute lives often led in them (Letter to Egbert). In the year 73G Egbert, bishop of York, obtained the pall from Rome, and was thus constituted a metropolitan with the three Northumbrian bishops as his suffragans. In 747 a synod of the bishops of the southern province was held at Cloveshoe, and a body of canons was agreed upon, regulating many points of doctrine and practice. Among other things, it was ordered that the clergy should teach the people the creed and the Lord s Prayer in the vulgar tongue (into which they had been translated by Bede), and explain to them the nature of the sacraments. The second canon of this synod indicates a complete independ ence in the English Church, and implies a censure on any who ventured to appeal to Rome, as had been lately done by Wilfrid. The Saxon church at this period was one of the most nourishing in Europe. It sent out missionaries to Germany ; it produced poets of considerable power, as Aklhelm ; it furnished to Charlemagne the most learned and efficient of his instruments for the revival of learning in Alcuin of York. Synods were continually held to regulate mutters of discipline, and though the acquirements of the clergy were but slender, yet they were probably equal, if not superior, to those of the clergy of other churches of the day. But this happy state of things was rudely inter fered with by tie irruptions of the pagan Danes. These barbarous enemies seem to have directed their attacks specially and designedly against the monasteries and churches, either out of peculiar hatred to the Christian faith, or because they expected to find these religious houses the special receptacles of treasure. Thus the great Benedictine abbeys of Winchester, Peterborough, Bardney, Croyland, and all the grand foundations of Northumbria, were utterly ruined by them, the monks massacred, the buildings burned to the ground ; and so complete was the overthrow of monastic establishments by these savages, that not until the time of Dunstan, towards the end of the 10th century, could monasticism be restored in England. The reigu of Alfred was a real boon to the church, not only as breaking the power of the Danes, but as introducing a Btrong stimulus to the cultivation of learning. Whether Alfred is to be regarded as the founder of the University of Oxford or not, he certainly established schools, and induced learned men to visit the country. Amjng these was John Scotus, surnamed Erigena. Erigena is perhaps the most re markable figure in the whole of the dark ages. He was nearly, if not altogether, a pantheist in religion. He wrote both against predestination and the gross material view of tho eucharist then beginning to be set forth by Radbert. His book on this subject still survives under the name of Ratramn. He passed from the court of Charles the Bald to that of Alfred, where he was in high in favour. It may be gathered from this that his opinions were not unaccept able to the king, and this is one of the many indications that the early English Church did not accord with the Roman in the materialistic doctrine of the eucharist. Alfred s own literary labours were considerable. His trans lations of Gregory s Pastoral Care, Boetius s Consola tion, and Bede s History were all calculated to help his clergy in advancing in learning, and in a more especial manner was this the case with his translations of various parts of the Latin version of the Scriptures into the verna cular tongue. After. their decisive, defeat by Athelstan (938), the Danes in England generally began to embrace Christianity, which prepared the way for its reception by the second great series of invading bodies towards the end of the century. The regulations made by Athelstan greatly stimulated the increase of parish churches. Priests were to be legally entitled to the rank of thanes, and a churl or franklin might reach the Witenagemot if, among other conditions, he had a church with a bell-tower on hie estate. Accordingly, there is evidence that about this time the number of parish churches was very considerable, there being in Lincolnshire alone upwards of two hundred. The monastic system was in complete abeyance, and all those who desired to become clerks were attracted in this direc tion. It was the great work of Dunstan, a Glastonbury monk, who rose to be archbishop of Canterbury (959), to undo as far as possible this wholesome state of things. He commenced a crusade against the married clergy, and in favour of celibacy and the cocnobitic life. He built and endowed about forty monasteries, and at most of the bishops sees compelled the secular clergy, who had formed the chapter, to retire in favour of the regulars, who were then constituted the chapter of the cathedral church. This connexion of the cathedrals with monasteries was a special peculiarity of the English Church. The doctrine of the Church of England at this period may be fairly gathered from the writings of the Abbot ./Elfric, which were approved by Sigeric, archbishop of Canterbury. yElfric was the author of an English grammar and dictionary, and he wrote two volumes of sermons or homilies, which are in great part translations from the fathers of the church. In these the eucharist is explained, not as involving any material change in the elements, but as conferring the spiritual presence. At this time the clergy were obliged to possess a consider able number of books, and to expound the gospel every Sunday to the people in English, and the creed and the Lord s Prayer as often as possible. During the sad times which followed, church services were everywhere interrupted and the clergy dispersed. Archbishop Elphege fell a victim to the heathen Danes, but when at length King Canute de clared himself a Christian, things rapidly assumed a more promising aspect for the church. The laws of King Canute are even of a remarkably pronounced Christian tone. When in 1042 the English family was restored to tl.e throne, the church was at its highest point of power and influence. But Edward s long residence in Normandy led him to introduce many foreign prelates, and found alien priories, a policy which not only prepared the way for the great change which was now to come upon the church, but was the cause afterwards of many scandals and abuses. Media-val Period. At the time of the Norman Conquest there were about 4500 parish churches in England, besides numerous monasteries and the cathedral churches of the sees. The number of clergy is doubtful, but it is conjec tured that the small number given in the survey (1GOO) may be accounted for by the fact that when a church if. mentioned the priest belonging to it is implied (Sir H. Ellis). By various laws and directions of the English kings, the clergy had acquired a right to the tithe of all movable goods ; and the gifts of the faithful had enriched the church with lands to the amount of about three-tenths of the whole property of the country. The priest took rani: with the thane; the bishcp ranked with the ealdorman, and presided jointly with him over the shire-gemot. The cor rectional police of the whole population was in the hands* of the church. Civil and ecclesiastical causes were heard in the same courts, and synods adjudicated in cases of property when the rights of the church were concerned.