South-Saxons, over which Ecgfrid's influence did not extend, was the first place in which he found permanent shelter. Ethelwald, king of the country, together with his court and all his subjects, were still heathens, and Wilfrid's character rises in our esteem when we find him a second time preaching theGospel to idolaters, and converting them, in great numbers, to the truth. The Monastery of Selsey was founded by Ethelwald, under the direction of his spiritual guide, and endowed with the munificence which characterised the age. Shortly after, Wilfrid's advice and assistance were requested by Cedwal, who claimed and obtained the West-Saxon throne, and did not fail to reward the Prelate who had befriended him during his troubles. The royal gratitude was declared by the appointment of Wilfrid to the office of counsellor and gifts without end or number were bestowed upon him. While things were in this situation, Theo dore, Archbishop of Canterbury, found his life drawing to a close, and expressed a wish to be reconciled to Wilfrid, and to appoint him his successor in the primacy. The latter freely accepted the offer of friendship, and availed himself of Theodore's good offices in the recovery of his lost preferment, but with a degree of prudence and mode ration which he had never before exhibited, postponed the consideration of the archbishop's successor to a future opportunity.

Ecgfrid, king of Northumberland, had fallen in a battle against the Picts, and to Alfred, his successor, and to Ethelred, king of Mercia, Theodore now addressed letters in recommendation of Wilfrid's claim and character. They were attended with complete though not immediate success. Ethelred complied entirely with Theodore's request admitted Wilfrid into his territory, and bestowed upon him several Monasteries. Alfred likewise in vited him into Northumberland, and

restored to him the Monastery and endowments of Hexham. Subsequently he also gave him the bishoprick of York, and Monastery of Ripon: and Wilfrid, after so great a variety of fortune, was placed for a brief space in his original See.

But there was nothing stable or stationary in the life of this extraordinary man. He soon began to disagree with King Alfred, and after several quarrels and reconciliations the Bishop was once more banished from the Northumbrian territory. Mercia, as on former occasions, offered him a place of refuge, and the bishoprick of Leicester having be come vacant by the death of Sexwulfus, Ethelred conferred it upon the fugitive, with many tokens of regard. In a short time however Alfred, with Berthwald, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, assembled a Synod at Onestrefield, or Osterfield, consisting of nearly all the English Bishops, and summoned Wilfred to appear. They charged him with having disobeyed Theodore's Canons respecting the subdivision of the diocese of York, and he answered by reproaching them with their disobedience to the Pope, and asking how they could presume to prefer the Canons of Theodore to the solemn judgment of the Court of Rome, especially as the former had made these Canons at a time of alienation and discord. The Bishops pressed him to declare his readiness to abide by their decision; but this he refused, pretending that it was merely a snare, and that he must insert a salvo for the antient canons, and the authority of the Pope. This conduct had nearly called down upon him a sentence of complete deprivation; but it was determined at the instance of the King and the Archbishop, that Ripon should be allowed him for his abode and maintenance, on condition that he should promise to remain there in tranquillity, to discharge no part of his sacred funcl tions, and to resign his episcopa

rank. This proposal was received with indignation and disdain. Wilfred exclaimed, "I have been forty years a Bishop, I brought back this country from the Scotch mode of observing Easter, I taught your monks to shave their heads in the circular form. I introduced the primitive custom of chaunting with responses from alternate bands; and I was the first to regulate the monastic life by the rule of the holy St. Benedict; and shall I now pronounce a false sentence of condemnation against myself? I appeal to the Apostolic See, and let him who would degrade me accompany me thither to my trial."

This speech would have cost him his life, if the Bishops had not reminded the King that he came to the assembly with a safe conduct. Reproaching him therefore for preferring the opinion of the Romans to that of his countrymen, they suffered him to return unhurt to the court of King Ethelred. Thence he soon departed for Rome, accompanied with messengers from the Mercian King. Berthwald also dispatched ambassadors to the same quarter, praying that the Pope would hear his accusation against Wilfrid. There appears to have been something more nearly resembling a trial upon the present than upon the first appeal. But the argument on Wilfrid's side was precisely the same as before, viz. that he was ready to submit without murmuring to the Apostolic decree; and that he had only refused to obey his national synod and national metropolitan on the points in which they differed from the Canons and the Popes. He prayed in the first place that the original decree of Agatho might be renewed, and that John, the reign. ing Pope, would intercede with Alfred to carry it into effect. But if this should be thought too much, he requested that the monasteries of Hexham and Rippon might at least be restored to him by the assistance

of the Pope's request. Pope John acquitted Wilfrid, and dispatched an epistle to the kings of Northum berland and Mercia, commending their faith, and desiring them to assist him in terminating the dissen sion in the English Church by shew. ing themselves maintainers rather than despisers of the Pontifical decrees. He relates the first appeal under Agatho, to which he asserts that Archbishop Theodore was obedient: and adds that he has admo. nished Berthwald to hold a Synod, in company with Wilfrid, in which the partition of the diocese of York is if possible to be amicably settled; but if the parties cannot agree they are to refer the matter again to Rome. He concludes by denounc ing every description of evil against those who are disobedient to his commands.

In spite of this success Wilfrid was unwilling to return home, and would gladly have passed the remainder of his life at Rome. But the Pope was well aware of the value of his services, and required him to follow up his appeal, by carrying the sentence back to Britain. Upon Berthwald, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ethelred, King of Mercia, the Papal thunders produced the desired effect, and they promised to pay implicit obedience to the commands of the Apostolic See. But Alfred, King of Northumberland, who was the person chiefly concerned, for Wilfrid's diocese was in his dominions, and Wilfrid himself was his subject, received the Bishops' messengers with great respect, and answered to the following effect. "Ask favours for yourselves, and I will readily grant them. But let me never hear another word respecting Wilfrid. His cause was decided by the Kings, my predeces

The words of Eddius are, " ut Regem Alfridum, &c. tranquillissimis monitis obsecretis" and again," per vestræ petitionis auxilium."

sors, and the Archbishop and their counsellors; and that decision has been confirmed by myself, with the consent of an Archbishop, approved of by the Apostolic See, and of nearly all the Bishops of Britain; nor will I ever consent to reverse the judgment in deference to your letters from Rome*." These words furnish a complete proof of the independence of the English Church; and the spirit by which they were dictated seemed sufficient to secure it: but shortly after his dismissal of Wilfrid's messengers, the stouthearted King Alfred died. His successor commenced his reign by renewing the sentence against Wilfrid, but that reign continued only two months-the new king was expelled from the throne which he had usurped, and the crown descended to Osred, the son of Alfred, who was only eight years of age, and under the immediate guardianship of Wilfrid. A tempting opportunity was thus afforded for reconsidering the Appeal to Rome. A Syuod was held in the neighbourhood of the river Nidd, at which were present the young king and his court, three Bishops of the Northern Dio

ceses with their Abbotts, the Archibishop of Canterbury with all his Suffragans, and Wilfrid. The Primate read and explained the Papal mandates, but the Bishops shewed no disposition to obey them. They repeated the unanswerable argument of King Alfred, that the decision of domestic synods and domestic princes ought not to be set aside by a foreign authority. The Abbess Elfleda, King Alfred's daughter, was alone prepared with a replyShe affirmed: that Alfred had repented on his death-bed of his contempt for the Pope, and had charged his heir, in the most solemn manner, to reverse the sentence against Wilfrid. Berechtfrid, the nearest of kin to young Osred, and the regent of his kingdom, credited this statement, and commanded the Assembly to come to terms with Wilfrid. They agreed that he should retain the monasteries of Hexham and Ripon, with all the property attached to them; and on mutual understanding, peace was finally concluded: Wilfrid residing partly at Ripon and partly with his old and most intimate friends the Mercians.

this

He died in the pos

session of enormous wealth, and was buried with characteristic pomp at Ripon.

Such is the history of the first Saxon appeal to the Pope, as related by Eddius, the friend of the appellant, and the companion of his second journey to Rome. It is obvious that Wilfrid failed to accomNeither on his plish his purpose. first nor on his second return, was he put in possession of the See of which he had been deprived by an English Synod. The Pope pronounced the deprivation illegal and unjust; but the effect of his sentence was, in the first instance, the imprisonment and exile of the man in whose favour it was pronounced; and in the second, the restoration of two monasteries and their revenues.

3 P

The latter event is attributable solely to the death of the King, to whom the Pope's Letter was addressed, and to the descent of the crown upon the head of an infant under the controul of Wilfrid himself. The Bishops of the kingdom of Northumberland opposed the measure vehemently, but were silenced by an Abbess and a Regent. A little discreet management turned the case into a precedent. It was pretended that Wilfrid had been restored in obedience to the mandate of the Pope, and restored to all his rights; and future ages were persuaded of the legality of the transaction, and of the propriety of taking it for a model. The whole may be considered as a fair speci

men of the manœuvres and success of Rome.

In spite of the commands of Pope Gregory, the power of English Archbishops, before the arrival of Theodore, did not extend beyond the dominions of their respective kings. Every kingdom and every church had the same limits; and where the church was subdivided into several dioceses, some particular see was made paramount over the rest. Theodore was received and

acknowledged as primate of all England; but this rank did not result from his being an emissary from Rome, but from the circumstance of his being invited over by all the Clergy and several of the kings of the country. Oswy, king of Northumberland, and Ecgbert, king of Kent, with the consent and approbation of the Clergy of England, sent Wighardt to Rome, in the year 1667, to be consecrated a bishop. And this step was taken because both kings had now embraced the Roman customs, and wished to have a bishop whose consecration could not be disputed, and who might consequently officiate as an archbishop throughout the whole of Britain. Wighardt, as

Bede III. 29.

was formerly stated, died at Rome, and the Pope Vilatian sent Theodore to England in his place. The Kings and Clergy thankfully accepted so distinguished a man, and he became primate-not because the Pope declared him so, but because the two most considerable kingdoms wished such a person to be appointed, and consented to this particular selection. The learning and great merits of Theodore procured a general acknowledgment of his authority and this point was no sooner carried, than the Pope claimed his obedience as a subject and servant; and it is probable that Theodore's gratitude inclined him to consent. The consent, however, was withheld as long as he was in activity and health; but on his death-bed, and in his old age, he was persuaded to repent of his disobedience, and to leave the servitude which he had spurned as a legacy to his successors. The first of them was easily induced to submit to the usurped authority of Rome; but the king of Northumberland, and his bishops, opposed a formidable obstacle to its establishment, until Wilfrid took advantage of a minority to trample upon the rights of the crown, and of a despotic Regent to silence and intimidate the Clergy. And, as if success thus obtained, was neither sufficiently disgraceful norsufficiently secure, the writers of the next age, and even Bede himself have the effrontery to assure us that Wilfrid was restored, by the council of Nidd, to all his former dignities. This completes the chain of trickery and imposture, and puts the seal to the fairness and importance of Eddius's Life of Wilfrid. It may not suit the purposes

* "Unde factum est ut regnante Osredi Nidd, post aliquantum utrusque partis confilio ejus mox synodo facta juxta fluvium flictum, tandem cunctis faventibus, in Præsulatum sit suæ receptus ecclesiæ." Bede V. 19. Who could suppose, from this statement, that Wilfrid obtained his two Monasteries-and nothing more?