from a quarter, where it had been least expected. Leo, who was then invested with the papal dignity, refused to alter a regulation, which, at the general petition of the Saxon nobility and clergy, had been established by his predecessor. To overcome the opposition of the pontiff, it required an embassy from the king, and a journey to Rome by the archbishop Ethelward. But his consent was no sooner obtained, than it was joyfully received by the Saxon prelates, and the metropolitan of Lichfield descended to the subordinate station of a suffragan (15). The event of this contest proved honourable and useful to the see of Canterbury; and so firmly established its precedency, that it has since borne, without suffering any considerable injury, the revolutions of more than ten centuries (16). (15) For this controversy consult Wharton (Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 429, 430, 460,) the Saxon chronicle, (an. 785,) and Wilkins, (p. 152, 160, 1647.) · (16) From the original grants it is evident that the great authority confered on St Augustine and Theodore was meant to expire at their death. (Bed. p. 70, 160. Wilk. p. 41.) Yet their successors often claimed, and sometimes exercised a superiority over all the neighbouring churches. From numerous records it appears that the bishops of Scotland, and even of Ireland, frequently repaired to Canterbury for the sacred rite of consecration, (Wilk. p. 373, 374. Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 80, 81 :) and though the majority of the Welch prelates continued to profess obedience to the bishop of St David's, yet those of Landaff, who disputed the archiepiscopal dignity with the possessors of that see, rather than submit to their adversaries, acknowledged the authority of the English metropolitan. Their celebrated bishop Oudoceus, with the approbation of Mouric king of Glamorgan, had been ordained by St Augustine; and his successors were careful to observe a The first Saxon dioceses were of enormous extent and generally commensurate to the kingdoms in which they were established. The jurisdiction of the see o Winchester stretched from the frontiers of Kent to thos of the Cornwall Britons: a single bishopric comprise the populous and extensive province of Mercia; and th prelate who resided sometimes at York, sometimes in Lindisfarne, watched over the spiritual interests of al the tribes of Saxons and Picts, who dwelt between the Humber and the friths of Forth and Clyde. No power of any individual were adequate to the government o dioceses so extensive; and Theodore, from the momen of his arrival in England, had formed the design o breaking them into smaller and more proportionate dis tricts. But few men can behold with pleasure the dimi nution of their authority or profit: and the duty of transmitting unimpaired to future ages the dignity which they enjoyed, would furnish the reluctant prelates with a specious objection against the measures of the primate Theodore, however, secure of the protection of the holy see, pursued his design with prudence and with firmness. The contumacy of Winfrid the Mercian bishop, he chastised by deposing him from his dignity, and successively consecrated five other prelates for the administration of his extensive diocese (17): and when Wilfrid of York had incurred the resentment of his sovereign, the king of Northumbria, he improved the opportunity, and divided into four bishoprics the provinces of that kingdom. The conduct of Theodore was practice, which had been sanctioned by his example. Langhorn, p. 137. Usher, de prim. p. 85. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 678. (17) Bed. 1. iv. c. 6. Ang. Sac. vol. i. p. 423, not imitated by his immediate successor, and within a few years after his death, the number of Saxon bishops was increased from seven to seventeen (18). This augmentation was not, however, sufficient to satisfy the spiritual wants of the people; and the venerable Bede zealously laments that, in the great and populous diocese of York, there were many districts which had never been visited. by their bishop, and thousands of christians, whose souls had not received the holy spirit by the imposition of his hands (19). To remove so alarming an evil, this enlightened monk earnestly but ineffectually proposed that the original plan of Gregory the Great should be completed; that the church of Northumbria should be intrusted to the separate administration of twelve prelates; and that the new episcopal sees should be fixed in some of the rich but nominal monasteries, which covered and impoverished that kingdom (20). The election of bishops has frequently been the subject of controversy between the civil and ecclesiastical (18) They were, in Kent, Canterbury and Rochester; in Essex, London; in East-Anglia, Dunwich and Helmham; in Sussex, Selsey; in Wessex, Winchester and Sherburne; in Mercia, Lichfield, Leicester, Hereford, Worcester, and Sydnacester; in Northumbria, York, Hexham, Lindisfarne, and Whithern. (19) Bed. ep. ad Egb. p. 307. (20) Habito majore concilio et consensu pontificali simul et regali, prospiciatur locus aliquis monasteriorum ubi sedes episcopalis fiat. . . . Quod enim turpe est dicere, tot sub monasteriorum nomine hi, qui monachricæ vitæ prorsus sunt immunes, in suam ditionem acceperunt, ut omnino desit locus ubi filii nobilium aut emeritorum militum possessionem accipere possint. Bed. ibid. p. 309. The nature of these nominal or lay monasteries will be explained in one of the following chapters. authorities. As long as the professors of the gospel formed a proscribed but increasing party in the heart of the Roman empire, each private church observed without interruption the method established by its founder. But after the conversion of Constantine, when riches and influence were generally attached to the episcopal dignity, the freedom of canonical election alarmed the jealousy of the imperial court: the prince often assumed the right of nominating to the vacant sees; and the clergy were compelled to submit to a less, rather than provoke by resistance a more dangerous evil. However, the occasional exercise of the imperial claim was chiefly confined to the four great patriarchal churches of Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome: and of the eighteen hundred dioceses which the empire comprised, the greater part enjoyed, till the irruption of the barbarians, the undisturbed possession of their religious liberties. But the Saxon church in its infancy was divided among seven independent sovereigns, ignorant of ecclesiastical discipline, and impatient of controul. Their impetuosity was not easily induced to bend to the authority of the canons; and their caprice frequently displayed itself in the choice and expulsion of their bishops. Of this a remarkable instance is furnished by the conduct of Coinwalch king of Wessex. Agilbert, a Gallic prelate, whom his industry and talents had recommended to the notice of the king, was appointed by him to succeed Birinus the apostle of that nation. But the influence of the stranger was secretly undermined by the intrigues of Wini, a Saxon ecclesiastic of engaging address and more polished accent; and after a decent delay, the foreign bishop received from Coinwalch an order to surrender to the favourite one half of his ex- By Theodore the discipline of the Saxon church was reduced to a more perfect form. The choice of bishops was served to the national synods, in which the primate presided, and regulated the process of the election (22). Gradually it devolved to the clergy of each church, whose choice was corroborated by the presence and acclamations of the more respectable among the laity (23). (21) Unde offensus graviter Agilbertus, quod hoc ipso inconsulto ageret Rex, rediit Galliam. Bede l. iii. c. 7. (22) Compare Wilkins (p. 46,) Bede (1. iv. c. 28, v. c. 8, 18,) and the letter of Waldhar, bishop of London, (Smith's Bede p. 783.) (23) Electio præsulum et abbatum tempore Anglorum penes clericos et monachos erat. Malm. de pont. l. iii. f. 157. Plegmund A |