CHAPTER VII.

Euchological ceremonies-benediction of the Anglo-Saxon knightsof marriages-ordinations of the clergy-coronation of kingsdedication of churches.

I. THE superstition of paganism had peopled the earth with gods; and the sea and the air, every stream, grove, and fountain, possessed its peculiar and tutelary deity. The folly of the gnostics embraced the opposite extreme. In their eyes, the visible creation was the work of the power of darkness and the saint was frequently compelled, by the unhappy condition of his existence, to an involuntary co-operation with that malevolent being, whom he professed to abhor. To combat these contradictory but popular errors, to teach her children that all things were created by the wisdom, and might be directed to the service of the Almighty, the christian church was accustomed from the earliest ages, to invoke, by set forms of prayer, the blessing of heaven on whatever was adapted to the divine worship, or the support and convenience of man. In this respect her conduct was an exact copy of that, which God had recommended to the Jewish legislator; and was justified by the doctrine of the apostle, that "every creature of God is good, being sanctified by the "word of God, and by prayer" (1). From the sacramentary of Gelasius, these forms of benediction had passed to the sacramentary of St Gregory; and from that work they were transcribed into the rituals of the Anglo

(1) 1 Tim. c. iv. v. 4, 5.

Saxon church. The greater part of them would, perhaps, rather fatigue the patience, than interest the curiosity of the reader: these I shall therefore omit, and principally confine myself to the description of such, as had for their object to implore the divine blessing on the dif ferent states of society.

1. That there existed among our ancestors from the earliest times, a species of knighthood or military distinction, which was afterwards commuted for the more splendid and romantic chivalry of later ages, has been satisfactorily proved by a recent historian (2). But at first it was a mere civil institution, unknown among the rites of ecclesiastical worship (3). Religion was the daughter of peace: she abhorred the deeds of war; and refused to bless the arms, which were destined to be stained with human blood. But in the revolution of a few centuries, the sentiments of men were altered. To unsheath the sword against the enemies of the nation; to protect by force of arms the church, the widow, and the infant, were actions which humanity approved: the warrior, who hazarded his life in such laudable pursuits, deserved the blessing of heaven; and before the extinction of the Saxon dynasty, we behold the order of knighthood conferred with all the pomp of a religious ceremony. The youth, who aspired to this honour, was taught

(2) Mr Turner, hist. of the Angl. Sax. vol. iv. p. 171.

(3) It seems originally to have been conferred by the sovereign, and perhaps the more distinguished among the thanes. Alfred the great is said by Malmsbury to have knighted his grandson Athelstan, while he was yet a child. Quem etiam præmature militem fecerat, donatum chlamyde coccinea, gemmato balteo, ense Saxonico, cum vagina aurea. Malm. de reg. p. 49,

to repair on the preceding day to a priest, to confess his sins with compunction of heart, and to obtain the benefit of absolution. The succeeding night he spent in the church; and by watching, devotion, and abstinence, prepared himself for the approaching ceremony. In the morning, at the commencement of the mass, his sword was laid on the altar. After the gospel, the priest read over it the prayer of benediction, carried it to the knight, and laid it on his shoulder. The mass was then continued; he received the eucharist, and from that moment was entitled to the rank and privileges of a legitimate miles (4).

For this account we are indebted to the pen of Ingulph, where he relates the exploits of an Anglo-Saxon soldier, whose valour deserved and obtained the honour of knighthood. His name was Hereward. In his youth, the turbulence of his temper had alienated the affections of his family; and by Edward the confessor he was banished, at the request of his father, from his native country. In Northumberland, Cornwall, Ireland, and Flanders, the bravery of the fugitive was exerted and admired; his fame soon reached the ears of his countrymen; the martial deeds of Hereward formed the subject of the most popular ballads; and his family were proud

(4) Ingulf. p. 70. I have not met with any Anglo Saxon ritual, which mentions the prayer used on this occasion. In a MS. copy of the Sarum missal written long after the conquest, it is as follows:-Deus . . . . . concede huic famulo tuo, qui sincero corde gladio se primo nititur cingere militari, ut in omnibus galea tuæ virtutis sit protectus: et sicut David et Judith contra gentis suæ hostes fortitudinis potentiam et victoriam tribuisti: ita tuo auxilio munitus contra hostium suorum sævitiam victor ubique existat, et ad sanctæ ecclesiæ tutelam proficiat. AMEN.

of the man, whom they had formerly persecuted. When William the conqueror landed in England, he returned to the defence of his country; and at the head of his followers avenged the injuries, which his mother had received from the invaders. It was at this period that he repaired to Peterborough, to obtain from the abbot Brand, his uncle, the belt of knighthood (5). But the sequel proves, that Hereward was little better than a barbarian. His hatred to the Normans was incapable of distinguishing between friend and foe. His uncle died: Turold, a Norman, was appointed to succeed him; and though Hereward had sworn fealty to the abbey, though the monks were his countrymen, and had been his benefactors, he determined to enrich himself by the plun der of their church. As the gate could not easily be forced, his impatience set fire to the nearest houses; he burst through the flames, despised the tears and supplications of the brotherhood, and carried off the riches of the monastery. The spoils, which he thus sacrilegiously acquired, and the conflagration of the town and abbey, of which only the church and one apartment remained standing, are described with lamentations by the historians of Peterborough (6). Courage appears to have supplied the place of every other virtue in the estimation of this Anglo-Saxon knight; and he is, unfortunately, the only one, who has been transmitted to posterity in that character.

(5) Ing. ibid. In the council of London, held by St Anselm, in 1102, this Anglo-Saxon custom was abolished, and the abbots were forbidden to confer the dignity of Knighthood. Wilk. con. tom. i. p. 382.

6) Hug. Cand. p. 48. Chron. Sax. p. 176.

II. The importance of conjugal fidelity was understood, and enforced by the ancient Saxons, even before their conversion to christianity. The jealousy of the husband guarded with severity the honour of his bed; and the offending wife was frequently compelled to be herself the executioner of his vengeance. With her own hands she fastened the halter to her neck; her strangled body was thrown into the flames; and over her ashes was suspended the partner of her guilt. On other occasions he delivered her to the women of the neighbourhood, who were eager to avenge on their unfortunate victim, the honour of the female character. They stripped her to the girdle, and scourged her from village to village, till she sunk under the severity of the punishment (7). But if the justice of the Saxons was inexorable to the disturbers of connubial happiness, they indulged themselves in a greater latitude of choice, than was conceded to the more polished nations, whom the wisdom of civil and religious legislators had restrained from marrying within certain degrees of kindred. The son hesitated not to take to his bed the relict of his deceased father: nor was the widow of the dead, ashamed to accept the hand of the surviving brother (8). These illicit unions shocked the piety of the first missionaries; and to their anxious inquiries, Gregory the great returned a a moderate and prudent answer. He considered the ignorance of the Saxons as deserving of pity rather than severity; commanded the prohibition of marriage, which was regularly extended to the seventh, to be restricted to the

(7) Ep. St Bonif. ad Ethelbald. apud Wilk. p. 88.

(8) Bed. apud Wilk. p. 20.