own lives, solicited, in favour of their religious foundations, the interference of a power, whose influence was believed to extend to the most distant ages. Of the bulls issued at their request by different popes, several have descended to posterity (25), and are conceived in terms the best calculated to strike with religious awe the minds of those, who are predisposed to receive such impressions. In them the pontiff usually asserts the authority, which he exercises as successor to the prince of the apostles; separates from the communion of the faithful the violators of his charters; and threatens their contumacy with the punishments that befel Dathan, and Abiron, and Judas, the betrayer of the Lord.

But the confirmation of royal grants and monastic privileges was the least important part in the exercise of the papal prerogative. By his authority the pontiff-1, established, extended, or restricted the jurisdiction of the archiepiscopal sees; 2, confirmed the election of the metropolitans; 3, enforced the observance of canonical discipline; 4, and revised the decisions of the national councils.

1. In relating the changes, which affected the jurisdction of the Anglo-Saxon metropolitans, it will be necessary to recapitulate what has been already noticed in a preceding chapter. The first ecclesiastical division of

(25) They may be read in the collections of the Anglo-Saxon councils by Spelman and Wilkins. Several of them have not escaped the suspicion of antiquaries, But, if it could even be

proved that none extant are genuine, there is sufficient evidence that it was customary to obtain such charters, from the very commencement of the Saxon church. See Eddius, (Vit. Wilf. c. 49,) Bede, (Vit. Abbat. Wirem. p. 295, 300,) and the council of Calcuith, (Wilk. p. 147, viii.)

the Octarchy was made, not by the missionaries, but by Gregory the great, who, in the plenitude of his authority, fixed with precision the number of the metropolitans, and of their suffragans. When subsequent events had prevented the execution of his plan, the apostolic see was again consulted, and by VitaHan all the Saxon prelates were subjected to the archbishop of Canterbury; by Agatho their number was li mited to eleven (26). At the distance, however, of sixty years, Gregory III. restored the metropolitical jurisdiction to the church of York; and Adrian, not long after, at the solicitation of the king of Mercia, raised the see of Lichfield to the same dignity. Though the superiority of the new primate was borne with reluctance by his former equals, none of them dared to refuse him the respect due to his rank; but submitted in silence to the papal mandate, till Leo III. at the urgent request of Kenulf, the successor of Offa, rescinded the decree of his predecessor (27). These instances may suffice to shew, that

(26) Wilk. p. 46.

(27) Anno 803. It will require some share of ingenuity in those, who affect to assert the independence of the Anglo-Saxon church, to elude the strong language, in which the bishops of the council of Cloveshoe relate the conclusion of this business." Ipse "apostolicus Papa, ut audivit et intellexit quod injuste fuisset ❝ factum, statim sui privilegii auctoritatis præceptum posuit, et in "Britanniam misit, et præcepit, ut honor St Augustini sedis inte"gerrime redintegraretur." The conduct of pope Adrian they ascribe to misinformation. "Insuper cartam a Romana sede "missam per Hadrianum papam de pallio et archiepiscopali sede " in Licedfeldensi monasterio, cum consensu et licentia domni " apostolici Leonis papæ præscribimus aliquid valere, quia per subreptionem et male blandam suggestionem adipiscebatur."

the powers of the Anglo-Saxon metropolitans were regulated by the superior authority of the pontiff; and that every alteration in their jurisdiction was introduced by his order, or confirmed by his approbation.

2. The pallium was an ecclesiastical ornament, the use of which was exclusively reserved to the metropolitans. Its origin is involved in considerable obscurity; but at the period in which our ancestors were converted, no archbishop was permitted to perform the most important of his functions, till he had obtained it from the hands of the pontiff. As soon as Augustine had received the episcopal consecration, he was careful to solicit this ornament from his patron Gregory the great; his example was religiously imitated by all succeeding metropolitans both at Canterbury and York; and with the pallium they received a confirmation of the archiepiscopal dignity (28): whence in the language of the court of Rome, they were usually stiled the envoys of the holy see (29). Before the primate elect could obtain this badge of his

Wilk. p. 167. In Spelman's councils these passages are omitted: but they have been restored by Smith, (Bed. app. p. 787,) and Wilkins (Con. p. 167). On this subject may also be consulted he letter of Kenulf, king of Mercia, and the two answers of pope I eo. Id. p. 164. Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 460.

28) Idcirco ammonemus Brithwaldum præsulem sanctæ Canturiorum ecclesiæ, quem auctoritate principis apostolorum Archiepiscopum ibidem confirmavimus. Ep. Joan. Pap. apud Edd. c. 52.

(29) This title is given to Archbishop Brithwald by his own messengers. Sancti Brithwaldi Cantuariorum ecclesiæ et totius Britanniæ archiepiscopi, ab hac apostolica sede emissi. Edd. c. 51. Yet Brithwald was a Saxon, and owed his election to the clergy of Canterbury.

dignity, he was required to appear at Rome, and to answer the interrogations of the pontiff: but Gregory and his immediate successors excused the Saxon metropolitans from so laborious a journey, and generally sent the pallium by the messengers, who carried the news of their election (30). Later pontiffs were, however, less indulgent. To prevent the highest ecclesiastical preferments from being occupied by men of noble birth, but disedifying morals, it was resolved to recal the former exemptions, and to subject every candidate to an examination in presence of the pope, before he could obtain the confirmation of his election. To this regulation the Saxon archbishops relunetantly submitted; and a second grievance was the consequence of their submission. According to the received notions of the northern nations, they blushed to approach the throne of their superior, without a present (31): but the sums, which at first had been received as gratuitous donations, were gradually exacted as a debt; and the increasing demand was followed by loud and repeated complaints. During the pontificate of Leo. III. the Saxon prelates, in a firm, but respectful memorial, urged the indults of former popes to their predecessors; and requested that the pallium might be granted to their primates, without the fatigue of a jour

(30) Wilk. con. p. 32, 35. Chron. Sax. p. 61, 69, 72:

(31) During the middle ages, men had scarcely any notions of government, which were not derived from the feudal jurisprudence. Its principles not only formed the basis of civil polity, but were also gradually introduced into the ancient system of ecclesiastical discipline. To this source it were easy to trace most of the new. customs, which were adopted during that period.

ney, or the expense of a present (32). The petition was unsuccessful; repeated precedents gave a sanction to the obnoxious custom; and the bishops at last desisted. from a fruitless opposition (33). After the lapse of two centuries, the hopes of their successors were awakened by the pilgrimage of Canute the great, to the tombs of the apostles. The king pleaded with warmth the cause of his prelates; the reluctance of the Romans yielded to the arguments of a royal advocate; and the pontiff contracted his claims to the personal attendance of future metropolitans (34).

3. To preserve the purity of the christian worship, and to enforce the observation of canonical discipline, were always considered by the popes as the most important of their duties. With this view they frequently demanded from the Saxon prelates an exposition of their belief, and admonished them to reform the abuses, which disfigured the beauty of their church. As early as the year six hundred and eighty, when the rapid progress of Monothelitism alarmed the zeal of the orthodox pastors, Agatho had summoned the archbishop of Canterbury and his suffragans to attend a council at Rome (35): but the

(32) Wilk. con. p. 166. Ann. 801. (33) Chron. Sax. p. 126, 129, 152.

(34) Wilk. con. p. 298. Ann. 1031.

(35) Sperabamus de Britannia Theodorum confamulum et coepiscopum nostrum, magnæ insulæ Britanniæ archiepiscopum et philosophum, cum aliis qui ibidem hactenus demorantur: et hac de causa concilium huc usque distulimus. Ep. Agath. ad Imp. apud Bar. ann. 680. Malm. de pont. 1. i. f. 112. Spelman conjectures this council to have been that of Constantinople, but his mistake is corrected by the accuracy of Alford. Tom. ii. p. 368.