coalesced, and were placed under a single bishop, seated at Dorchester in Oxfordshire'. Northumbria became two dioceses, of which a see for the southern was fixed at York; for the northern, eventually, at Durham3. East-Anglia owned subjection to two prelates, during a considerable interval,—an additional see having been established at Elmham. In later Saxon times, this arrangement was overthrown; the bishop of Elmham having under him all East-Anglia. At the Conquest, accordingly, England's ecclesiastical superiors were two archbishops, and thirteen bishops: Wilton and Sherborne having merged in Salisbury, the two sees of Devonshire and Cornwall in that of Exeter.

For such variations in diocesan arrangements as might meet existing circumstances, provision had been made in the council of Hertford. It was there enacted, that as the faithful became more numerous, so should episcopal sees. No prelate was, however, to assume a discretionary power of providing for spiritual wants not placed regularly under his charge. Every one was forbidden to interfere without his own diocese. Precedence among bishops was regulated by the dates of

1 Sidnacester was founded in 678; Leicester, in 737. This was soon transferred to Dorchester. That see was placed over also the diocese of Sidnacester, in the earlier part of the tenth century.-GODWIN, De Præsull. 281.

of archbishops of York properly takes its beginning.

The see of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, was founded in 635; this place having been burned the bishop removed, in 882, to Chesterle-Street. In 995, the episcopal 2 Paulinus was nominally the see was transferred to Durham. first archbishop of York under (LE NEVE, Fasti, 345, 346.) the Anglo-Saxons; but he could During a long period a see was not maintain his ground in Nor- established at Hexham, which had thumbria. After his flight, York under its inspection a large portion remained without a prelate until of the modern diocese of Durham. the appointment of Chad in 664. * Conc. Herudf. can. 9. SPELM. From Chad, accordingly, the series i. 153. WILK. i. 43. 5 Ib. can. 2.

their several consecrations'. Episcopal visitations were to be annually holden in suitable places throughout every diocese. But this provision appears to have been made rather on account of the laity than of the clergy. The visiting bishop was to dispense among his people that sound religious instruction which must have been insufficiently supplied in a country but ill provided with rural churches. Especially was he to warn them against pagan rites, usages, and impostures. On the death of a bishop, the tenth part of all his moveable property was to be distributed in alms among the poor, and every Englishman, reduced to slavery in his days, was to be manumitted". Of these charities, the reason assigned was, that he might obtain the fruit of retribution and indulgence of sins. An additional provision for the welfare of his soul was imposed upon the laity, who were to be summoned to their several churches, and to sing there thirty psalms. Four times that number were expected from prelates and abbots generally. They were also to celebrate one hundred and twenty masses, and to manumit three slaves".

Candidates for the sacred profession were required to spend a month, before ordination, with the bishop, who was allowed this time for examining and instructing them. As to their literary proficiency, expectations were, of course, extremely moderate. But pains were to be taken for ascertaining the soundness of their

1 Conc. Herudf. can. 8. SPELM. | himself. This limitation is most i. 153. probable, but it does not appear 2 Conc. Clovesh. can. 3. SPELM. in the text. i. 246. WILK. i. 95. Conc. Calc.

4.66

Ut per illud sui proprii laboris fructum retributionis mereatur, et indulgentiam peccatorum." here Syn. ap. Celych. can. 10. SPELM.

WILK. i.

every English slave belonging to i. 330. WILK. i. 171. 5 Ib.

belief, and their opinions on the divine attributes. They were also to display their acquaintance with the forms of public worship, and with such mystical significations as approved authorities had imposed upon its various features. Nor were inquiries to be forgotten upon their knowledge of the canons, and upon their competency to calculate the times for celebrating festivals and fasts'. The former kind of skill was requi

1

Se the hades wilnige cume | under the bishop's teaching; and anum monthe ær tham had-timan, let him take care that he have for to tham b. and beo sythan on fan- the time the provision in food and dunge thær se bisceop tace; and fodder which he should have, that gewarnige that he hæbbe to tham he be not troubled about any of face tha bigwiste on fodan and on these things, while he shall be foddre the he habban scule, that examined. If he come to the b. he mid tham thingum nan thing ne with the instruction of a teacher, hefige, thane he his fandian scule. then he is the nearer ordination, Gif he thonne mid thas lareowes provided he is henceforth willing tacne to b. cume, thonne beo he to follow what the b. directs him. hade the nyr, gif he forth on eal- Then is first the beginning of his lum tham fyligean wille the . examination in what belief he may him wisige. Thonne is ærest his be, and what ability he has to thære fandunge fruma on hwil- explain a right belief to other men, can geleafan he sy, and hu he and what he clearly understands rihtne geleafan othrum mannum of that which has been done by geswutelian cunne, and hwæt he God, or yet shall be done: then swutelice understande thas the how is his knowledge of divine thurh God gewearth, oth thon gyt service; and how he understands geweorthan sceall: thonne hu he his baptism; and how he comprehends thenunge cunne, and hu he fulluht the signification of the mass, and understande, and hu he massan also of other church ministrations; getacnunge undergyte, and eac and whether he knows the canons othra cyric-thenunga; and hwa- in any degree: then whether he ther he canon cunne be ænigum knows enough of arithmetic to dæle: thonne hu he on gerim crafte divide the year. If he be acgear-ryne to-sceadan cunne. Gif quainted with all these things, he thissa thinga ealra gewis bith, then is he worthy of the ordination thonne bith he hades the bet wyrthe. that he desires. An incidental -(Be Gehadedum Mannum. Of presumption against the doctrine Ordained Men, f. 34. Bibl. Bodl. of transubstantiation appears fairly MSS. Junii. 121.) Let him who to arise from this extract. If a desires ordination come one month doctrine, so mysterious and inbefore the ordination-time to the credible, had then been received T., and be then upon examination by the English Church, it must

site, both for comprehending the nature of clerical obligations, and for apportioning penances; the latter, for enabling clergymen to act as a sort of animated almanacs. At ordination, the porrection of sacred vessels was used, as it is now in the church of Rome. Simultaneously with this ceremony, when a priest was ordained, the bishop said, "Take authority to offer sacrifice and to celebrate mass, as well for the living as for the dead'." In the imposition of hands, the ancient church of England, like the modern, enjoined all priests present to unite with the bishop'.

After ordination, a priest was to consider himself as wedded to his church, and hence formally precluded from any prospect of changing it for another. He was also to keep clear of interference within the dis

et magna ex parte ante Conqu. Angl. scripti. (HICKES, ii. 220.) Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Tibe

epo eum benedicente, et manum super caput ejus imponente, etiam oms presbiteri qui præsentes sunt manus suas juxta manum epi super caput illius ponant."-Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton, Claudius. A. 3. f. 45.

appear strange that candidates for ordination should not have undergone a particular examination upon it. Instead of this, how-rius. C. 1. f. 158. ever, they were merely to be exa- 2 "Presbiter cum ordinatur, mined as to their acquaintance with the significations of the mass, and other divine offices. It was It was the usage to seek mystical, figurative meanings in all Scripture and religious formularies. To this egregious trifling, the examination, most probably, was to be directed. Cyrice is mid rihte sacerdes In the thirteenth century, how-awe.-(Be Cyrican. Of the Church. ever, when transubstantiation, Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Junii. 121. f. both name and thing, had ob- 58.) The Church is with right a tained a pretty secure establish- priest's wife. Riht is that anig | ment, very particular directions preost sylf-willes ne forlate tha were given from authority for in- cyrican the he to gebletsod wœs, culcating a belief in it. ac habbe tha him to riht awe.(Sinodal. Decret. 8. Ibid. f. 26.) Right is that no priest of his own accord leave the church to which

1

3

"Accipe potestatem offerre sacrificium Do, missamque celebrare, tam pro vivis, quam et pro defunctis, in nomine Dni."-Frag- he was ordained, but keep to it as ment. libri Pontifical. pulcherrime | a right wife.

tricts of brother clergymen'. Nor was he to venture upon officiating in a strange diocese, until he had produced commendatory letters from his own bishop'. Among duties expected of him appears to have been the education of youth. In the exercise of his ordinary ministry, he was restrained from celebrating mass in private houses, unless in cases of sickness. All the great luminaries of his profession most rigorously bound him to celibacy. Sacerdotal marriages were, indeed, commonly branded as execrable breaches of continence, and imaginary revelations threatened them with frightful retribution hereafter. A rigour so adverse to the

some man's over-sickness.

1 Riht is that nan preost othrum | hwilces mannes ofer-seocnesse.— ne æt do anig thæra thinga the (Sinodal. Decret. Bibl. Bodl. him to gebyrige, ne on his minstre, MSS. 121. f. 29.) Right is that ne on his scrift-scire, ne on his no priest mass in any house but in gyld-scipe, ne on anigum there a hallowed church, unless it be for thinga the him to gebyrige.(Sinodal. Decret. 9. in eod. cod. f. 26.) Right is that no priest do any of those things that belong to another, either in his minster, or in his shrift-shire (district assigned to him for receiving confessions, i. e., parish,) or in his guild-ship (sodality, of which he might be a member), or in any of the things that belong to him.

5 Leofan men, in libro visionum, is awriten hu tha masse-preostas and tha diaconas the misleofodan her on worulde wer on witnunge wel hreowlice gesewene, swa swa se encgel geswutelode on thære gesihthe. Hi stodon gebundene, that hi abugan ne mihton, to heardum saglum æt heora hricge on tha hellican fyre oth heora gyrdlas, and tha earman wifmen the hi with forlagon, stodon ætforan heom, fæste getigede on tham hellican fyre up of thone nafdan calle byrnende afre ælgædere, and deofol hi beswang swithe gelome on heora gecyndlimum, swa swa se boc us secgth, and swa swa encgel sæde on thære gesyhthe. Thar waron gemengde massepreostas and diaconas on thære cwylmincge, fortham the hi Criste noldan clanlice thenian on his clanum theowdome.—(Bibl. Bodl.

se