objects of their liberality. In proportion to the diffusion of christianity, parishes were established, and monasteries erected. In every parish a certain portion of glebe land was assigned towards the maintenance of the incumbent ; and each monastery possessed estates proportionate to the number of its inhabitants. As landed property was the great source of civil distinction among our ancestors, the principal of the clergy were thus raised to an equality with the temporal thanes, admitted into the great council of the nation, and vested with an authority, which rendered them respectable even in the eyes of those who still adhered to the religion of their forefathers.

The piety of the converts was seldom content with the mere donation of their property: and the value of the present was generally enhanced by the immunities which they annexed to it. The tenure of lands among the Anglo-Saxons had been established on nearly the same principles as in the other northern nations: and each estate subjected its proprietor to the performance of several duties to his superior lord. But most of the clerical and monastic possessions were soon discharged from every servile and unnecessary obligation (4). By a transition easy to the human mind, they were considered as the property not of man but of God; and to burthen them with the services which vassals were compelled to render to their superiors, was deemed a profanation and a sacrilege. A just distinction, however, was drawn between the claims of individuals and those of the public: and while the former were cheerfully abandoned, the latter were strictly exacted from the ecclesiastical no less than the lay proprietor. To repair the roads and

(4) Wilk. p. 57, 60.

bridges, to contribute towards the maintenance of the fortifications, and to furnish an equitable proportion of troops in the time of war, were services so essential to the national prosperity, that from them no exemption could be granted. Such was the solemn declaration of Ethelbald, king of Mercia (5): but other princes were not always guided by the same policy, and, unless some charters of ancient date have been fabricated in more modern times, we must believe that several monasteries were emancipated from every species of secular service, and permitted to enjoy the protection, without contributing to the exigencies of the state (6).

In addition to these immunities, others equally honourable in themselves, and more beneficial to the public, were enjoyed by the principal of the clerical and monastic bodies. The king, who erected a church or monastery, was urged by devotion, sometimes perhaps by vanity, to display his munificence: and the distinctions, which he lavished on its inhabitants, seemed to reflect a lustre on the reputation of their founder. The superior was frequently invested by the partiality of his benefactor, with the civil and criminal jurisdiction: and throughout the domain annexed to his church, he exercised the right of raising tolls on the transport of merchandize, of levying fines for breaches of the peace, of deciding civil suits, and of trying offenders within his courts (7). These important privileges at the same time improved his fi

(5) Wilk. p. 100. Spel. p. 527. Lel. Collect. vol. ii. p. 54.

(6) See the charters of Ina, (Wilk. p. 80,) of Witlaff, (ibid. p. 177,) of Bertulf, (ibid. p. 183,) and of Edward the confessor, (ibid. p. 318.)

(7) Gale, p. 318, 320, 328, 490, 512. Wilk. p. 80, 177, 256.

nances, and peopled his estates. The authority of the clerical was exercised with more moderation than that of the secular thanes: men quickly learned to prefer the equity of their judgments to the hasty decisions of warlike and ignorant nobles; and the prospect of tranquillity and justice encouraged artificers and merchants to settle under their protection. Thus, while the lay proprietors reigned in solitary grandeur over their wide but unfruitful domains, the lands of the clergy were cultivated and improved; their villages were crowded with inhabitants; and the foundations were laid of several among the principal cities in England.

That spirit of liberality which distinguished the first converts, was inherited by many of their descendants. In every age of the Saxon dynasty we may observe numerous additions made to the original donations: and the records of different churches have carefully preserved the names and motives of their benefactors. Of many the great object was to support the ministers of religion, and by supporting them to contribute to the service of the Almighty. Others were desirous to relieve the distresses of their indigent brethren; and with this view they confided their charities to the distribution of the clergy, the legitimate guardians of the patrimony of the poor (8). A numerous class was composed of thanes, who had acquired opulence by a course of successful crimes, and had deferred the duty of restitution, till the victims of their injustice had disappeared. These were frequently induced, towards the decline of life, to confer, as a tardy atonement, some part of their

(8) Wilk. p. 19. 102, v. 228, lv. lvi.

property on the church: and when they had neglected it, their neglect was generally compensated by the pious diligence of their children and descendants (9). To these motives may be added, the want of heirs, the hope of obtaining spiritual aid from the prayers of the clergy, gratitude for the protection which the church always offered to the unfortunate, and a wish to defeat the rapacity of a powerful adversary; all of which contributed in a greater or less degree to augment the possessions of the ecclesiastics. Had the revenue arising from these different sources been abandoned to the judgment or caprice of the incumbents, it might frequently have been abused; and the abuse would probably have relaxed the zeal of their benefactors. But this evil had been foreseen, and in some measure, prevented by the wisdom of Gregory the great. According to a constitution, which that pontiff sent to the missionaries, the general stock was divided into four equal portions (10). Of these, one was allotted to the bishop for the support of his dignity; another was reserved for the maintenance of the clergy; a third furnished the repairs of the church and the ornaments of* religious worship; and the last was devoted to the duties of charity and hospitality. It formed a sacred fund, to which every man who suffered under the pressure of want or infirmity was exhorted to apply, without the fear of infamy or the danger of a repulse.

In estimating the riches of the Saxon clergy, a hasty observer may adopt the most exaggerated calculations.

(9) This is the meaning of the terms which so frequently occur in the ancient charters," pro remedio, salutę, redemptione animæ "meæ et priorum, antecessorum meorum.”

(10) Bed. l. i. c. 27.

But if there were many circumstances which favoured, there were also many which retarded their aggrandizement and each list of benefactions may be nearly balanced by an opposite catalogue of losses and depredations. 1. The liberality of their friends was shackled by the restraints of the law. As the ecclesiastical estates were emancipated from the services, with which secular tenures were encumbered, and belonged to a body whose existence was perpetual, every donation of land to the church proved a loss to the crown, and was considered as invalid, until a charter of confirmation had been obtained from the piety, or purchased from the avarice of the prince (11). 2. The easy concessions of former kings frequently appeared unreasonable to their successors, whose necessities were more pressing, or whose veneration for the church was less indulgent. Sometimes with, often without the pretext of justice, they seized the most valuable manors belonging to the clergy, and sensible of their power in this world, despised the threats of future vengeance which their predecessors had denounced against the violators of their charters. The first, who thus invaded the patrimony of the church, were Ceolred of Mercia, and Osred of Northumbria. The former perished suddenly; the latter fell by the hands of his enemies : and though their fate was ascribed to the anger of heaven, it did not always deter succeeding princes from copying their example (12). 3. The rapacity of the monarch often stimulated that of the nobles, who viewed with a jealous eye the wealth of the clergy, and considered the donations of their ancestors as so many injuries offered to

(11) See Gale, p. 322, 326, 327.

(12) See Wilkins, tom. i. p. 89, 93.