Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/118

* ENGLAND, CHURCH OF. 96 poralities and supremacy. It became more and the religious function of the State, and at me time furnished the most efficient means for welding the different kingdoms into one. But before this — as has already been shown — it had become the Church of the nation, not by any act of the yet unformed nation, but by the manifold action of various individuals who had converted their several properties, however they lay. into parishes, and had themselves pro- vided for the support therefrom of the required number of elergy. By universal custom, there- fore — not by law — this voluntary support was afforded: sometimes by payment in kind, some- times in land, sometimes in tithes, and after- wards by endowments and entailed tithes and testamentary donations. These benefactions in many instances been preserved and con- tinued through successive generations, and al- -t innumerable similar ones have been added time to time. It follows, therefore, that itirch is no more indebted to the State for it- endowment than for its establishment. The period of the Danish inroads and eon- 5, which began about the close of the eighth century, was one of sore calamities to the Church. These were somewhat mitigated by Alfred, wlio promulgated ecclesiastical laws, established schools, and provided hooks, some of them trans- lation- of his own. During the reign of Edgar (958-975) began the fierce and long-continued li between the monks and the parish clergy the regulars ami the seculars — in which Dun- -tan was bo conspicuous. The influence of the secular clergy began, after his death, to over- shadow that of the monks, who had at first been in tin- majority. Canute did something to re- tore the integrity and prosperity of the Church, which had 1 n seriously impaired by the scan- dalous conduct of bishops and others. With the accession of Edward the Confessor (1042), who had spent most of his life in Nor- mandy, came a great influx of fot at.-, with the habits peculiar to their own countries. This ;ave ri e to much friction in ecclesiastical affairs and disputes arose be- the native and foreign clergy, in which Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury ic.ln.V2- 7o i. took a prominent part. Edward's pol icy tin i nt -till more widely by William i who ullc -l I he I'apal legates ' summoned Lanfranc, one ot ilf ino-t distinguished theologian- ..i hi- day. to the vacant see. II.- and Ealdred, Archbishop of York, had a long and earnest a- to the primacy of Canterbury, all. there was no room for York to iid which was flnallj all. imc. I at a ■ it CVindsoi in 1072, w hen the et i l.-.l. It was during the reign ..f the Conqueror that i ill COUrtS were held tended to the b of both Church .and Slate. The -am,- i t,l >a ..I" the Domesdaj Book, which it half of iill the ill.- lime in (he In main ea-e- the c been the property ..i the I also! rue propel i wa - acquired either ,i hi i lonquest oi Retain I e eleventh century was a period ENGLAND, CHURCH OF. i eat activity in building cathedrals and other churches, among which were those of Canterbury, York, Lincoln, and Saint Paul's. Westminster Abbey was consecrated a few days before the death of Edward the Confessor in 1065. William Ruifus openly encouraged simony, which the Conqueror had abhorred, and thus the Church became greatly demoralized. Anselm ap- peared in due season to arrest its downward course, and by his courageous and notable con- tests did much to prevent the King from usurp- ing its spiritual rights and privileges. To him is due also the credit of an earnest attempt to deal with scandals within the Church. Anselm's defence of the Church against William Rufus was but a prelude to the greater contest in Henry II. 's reign. In the twelfth century the Church began, in imitation of the Code of Justinian, to compile a code for itself. In the middle of the same century the great conflict was fought out between the Church and the State as to the authority of the latter to deal with clergymen guilty of serious offenses. In this bitter contest Thomas a Becket played a very prominent part. He had been the confidential secretary of the primate for some time, and was Archdeacon of Canterbury at the time of the accession in 1154 of Henry II., 'half monk, half soldier,' as he was called. After serving for a while as Chancellor, Becket suc- ceeded Theobald as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, and it was not long before the controversy between the King and himself began which was only terminated by his cruel murder in his own cathedral in 1170. Partly because of the general horror following this crime and of the King's own remorse, and partly because of the elevation by the multitude of the Archbishop into the num- ber of saints, the influence of the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164), which Becket refused to sign as restraining the authority of the Church, in making the clergy amenable to the civil courts, was greatly impaired. Subsequently the King sur- rendered everything in this direction for which he had been contending, and it -reined that strife between the ecclesiastical and civil powers, after so portentous a conflict, was ended. During this century and the following one. the Crusades, which had first been preached in iii - of -< lni. attracted many recruits frcm England, and the monastic spirit was evidenced in the establishment of military religious orders. The Knights Templar and the Knights of Saint John were the only ones that obtained any foot- hold in England. The Crusades led oftentimes to the sale of lands to the monasteries that their owners might obtain the means for their ex- peditions, and not a few churches were built and restored in fulfillment of their pious vows. After the martyrdom of Becket there was a long vacancy in the primacy, caused largely by the claim of i Mo. the prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, that the election should be left to the monks. The power of Rome had meanwhile been "lowing, partly from the de-ire of the kings I., itrengthen their disputed claims to the throne by obtaining the powerful influence of the Pope, . al o from ■■< desire to have him side with them against the recalcitrant bishops and other clergy. During the reign of King John the contest be- tween the Church and I he throne broke out anew over the appointment of Stephen Langton to the See ot Canterbury, John obstinately refused to