A.D. MCII. ANSELM'S CANONS AT WESTMINSTER. IN St. Peter's church on the west side of London, (i. e. Westminster,) this Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury,a Girard, archbishop of York, and other bishops and abbots, with the consent of the king and principal men of the whole realm; the archbishop met in synod petitioning they might be present, to the intent that what was done might be more unanimously observed; especially, because for long want of synods Christian zeal was grown cold, says Malmsbury*. In this [Rather Eadmer, followed by Malmesbury. Wilkins, following Cossart in his correction of Binius, shews by quoting the narrative of Eadmer, that the various notices collected under the year 1102 by Spelman, pp. 21-5, belong to one and the same council held in that year at London. "Per idem tempus (inquit Eadmerus, Hist. Nov., lib. iii. p. 67, seqq.) celebratum est generale concilium episc. et abbatum totius regni in ecclesia B. Petri apostolorum principis, quæ in occidentali parte Lundoniæ sita est. Cui concilio præsedit Anselmus, archiepisc. Dorobernensis, considentibus secum archiep. Eboracensi, Gerardo, Mauritio, episc. Lundonensi, Willelmo, electo episcopo Wintoniensi, Roberto, episc. Lincolniensi, Samsone Wigornensi, Roberto Cestrensi, Johanne Bathoniensi, Herberto Norwicensi, Radulpho Cicestrensi, Gundulfo Roffensi, Hervæo Bangorensi, et duobus noviter investitis, Rogerio scilicet Serberiensi, et Rogerio Herefordensi. Osbernus autem Exoniensis infirmitate detentus, interesse non potuit. In hoc concilio multa ecclesiasticæ disciplinæ necessaria servari Anselmus instituit, quæ postmodum sedis apostolicæ pontifex sua auctoritate confirmavit. jus concilii seriem, sicut ab eodem patre Anselmo descripta est, huic operi inserere non incongruum existimaviScribit itaque sic: mus. Cu Anno dominicæ incarnationis MCII, quarto autem præsulatus Paschalis summi pontificis tertio regni Henrici, gloriosi regis Anglorum, ipso annuente celebratum est concilium in ecclesia beati Petri, in occidentali parte juxta Lundoniam sita; communi consensu episcoporum, et abbatum, et principum totius regni. In quo præsedit Anselmus, archiepiscopus Dorobernensis, et primas totius Britanniæ, considentibus venerabilibus viris Gerardo, Eboracensi archiepiscopo, Mauritio, Lundoniensi episcopo, Willielmo, Wintoniæ electo episcopo, aliisque, tam episcopis quam abbatibus. Huic conventui affuerunt, Anselmo archiepiscopo petente a rege, primates regni; quatenus, quicquid ejusdem concilii auctoritate decerneretur, utriusque ordinis concordi cura et solicitudine tutum servaretur. Sic enim necesse erat, quum multis retro annis synodali cultura cessante, vitiorum vepribus succrescentibus, christianæ religionis fervor in Anglia nimis refrixerat. Primum itaque ex auctoritate sanctorum patrum simoniacæ hæresis surreptio in eodem concilio damnata est. In qua culpa inventi, depositi sunt Guido, abbas de Perscor, et Wimundus de Tavestoch, et Ealdwinus de Rameseia, et alii nondum sacrati, remoti ab abbatiis; scilicet Godricus de Burgo, Haymo de Cernel, Egelricus de Middeltune. Absque simonia vero remoti sunt ab abba synod three great abbots were deposed for simony, three that had not yet been consecrated were turned out of their abbeys, and three others were deprived for other crimes, though several of them were afterwards restored by dint of money, and farther it was decreed, Thomas his predecessor attended Lanfranc of Canterbury (in five councils, says a MS. in the Cotton library, Sir H. Spelman, p. 15. In the first copy of Sir H. Spelman, eleven bishops are mentioned; among them, Herveus bishop of Banchor, the first Welsh bishop that I ever observed present in an English council. [We are not to look on this as the beginning of a coalition between the [Addenda.] English and Welsh Church, (which yet seems to have been brought about within twenty-five years from this time,) but Herveus pretended to have come hither as to a place of refuge, having been ejected from his see by secular violence; but he was suspected to aim at an English bishopric, and he obtained one. On the death of the last abbot of Ely the king granted to him the custody of that abbacy; and he so effectually ingratiated with the monks as to gain their consent to have their abbacy erected into a bishopric. The king and pope approve of their design, and confirm it. The bishop of Lincoln would not permit his diocese to be dismembered till they purchased his consent with a good manor. Thus Herveus founded the see of Ely, and became first bishop there. The monks found reason to repent of their easiness, for in separating the estate between himself and them (which was now the general practice) he left only the barren and worthless part of the lands to the monks. In this and other particulars, he shewed himself unworthy of the kindness they had shewed him.] The archbishop ordained two others at this assembly, viz., Roger the king's chancellor to Salisbury, and Roger his larderer to Hereford; but he died at London presently after his consecration. 1. That bishops do not keep secular courts of pleas, that they be appareled not as laymen but as becomes religious persons, and have honest men to bear testimony to their conversation. 2. That archdeaconries be not let to farm. 3. That archdeacons be deacons. 4. That no archdeacon, priest, deacon, or canon marry a tiis, pro sua quisque causa, Richardus de Heli, et Robertus de Sancto Edmundo, et qui erat apud Micelenei. II. Statutum quoque est, ne episcopi secularium placitorum officium suscipiant;" &c. Wilkins, vol. i. p. 382. In the first as well as the remaining canons, Wilkins, quoting from Ead- wife, or retain her if he be married. That every subdeacon be under the same law though he be not a canon, cif he hath married a wife after he had made profession of chastity. b The reader by comparing this and the sixth and seventh canon with the first of Lanfranc's, 1076, will see how the zeal of the prelates of this age against the clergy's marriage was improved in less than thirty years' time. They well knew that a married clergy could never turn slaves to the pope against the civil power, which was the chief aim of Anselm and his adherents. c By this it appears that there were some subdeacons yet alive who had taken that order, before men were obliged to profess chastity at the receiving of it and well might they content themselves with it, while this order qualified them to hold a canonry. But this last clause is not in the other copy. 5. That the priest who is lewd with a woman is not a lawful priest; let him not celebrate mass or be heard by others, if he do. 6. That none be ordained subdeacon, or to any degree above that, without professing chastity. 7. That sons of priests be not heirs to their fathers' churches. d Eadmer, the writer of Anselm's life, tells us that it was forbid by the Church of Rome for the son of a clergyman to be admitted into ecclesiastical offices, but that Pope Pascal dispensed with this in England by a decretal sent to Anselm. I find nothing of this elsewhere, but the reason given by Eadmer for this dispensation is very observable, viz., that "the greater and better part of the clergy in England were the sons of priests +." 8. That no clergymen be reeves or agents to secular persons, nor judges in case of blood. 9. That priests go not to drinking bouts, nor drink to pegs. 10. That priests' clothes be all of one colour, and their shoes plain. 11. That monks or clergymen who have forsaken their order do either return or be excommunicate. 12. That the crown of clergymen be visible. [Ut presbyter quamdiu illicitam conversationem mulieris habuerit, non sit legalis, S. W.] [Eadmer, ad calc. Anselmi, Op. (Par. 1721) p. 76.] * That is, the tonsure or circle on the crown of the head, which was always kept shaved. 13. That 'tithes be not paid but to the Church only. This seems to intimate that the Norman lords had impropriated some tithes, and that the synod intended to resume them. 14. That churches or prebends be not bought. 15. That new chapels be not made without consent of the bishop. 16. That churches be not consecrated till all necessaries be provided for the priest and it. 17. That abbots do not make soldiers, and that they eat and sleep in the same house with their monks, except in case of necessity. [By facere milites here we may understand "creating of knights." [Addenda.] Great abbacies were now baronies, every baron was to maintain several knights; these abbots were bound to do this, as well as other barons. But they are here forbid to invest them in their knighthood, according to the forms and ceremonies used by secular barons. This was thought inconsistent with their character, as they were ecclesiastics.] 18. That monks enjoin penance to none without their abbot's consent, and that abbots give no licence to enjoin it to any but such whose souls are intrusted to their care. 19. That monks be not godfathers, nor nuns godmothers. 20. That monks may not hire farms. 21. That monks do not accept [of the impropriations] of churches without the bishop's consent, nor so rob those which are given them of their revenues, that the priests who serve them be in want of necessaries*. 22. That promises of marriage made between man and woman without witness be null, if either party deny them. 23. That they who have hair be so clipped that part of their ears be visible, and their eyes not covered. 24. That they who are related within the seventh degree be not coupled in marriage, nor cohabit if married; and if any that is conscious to this crime do not discover it, let him acknowledge himself a complice in the incest. 8 See Lanfranc's canon, 6. 1075. [ut presbyteri ibi servientes, in his, quæ sibi et ecclesiis necessaria sunt, penuriam patiantur, S. W.] 25. That corpses be not carried out of their parishes to be buried, so that the priest of their parish lose his just dues. h The canon law in this case obliged those who had buried the corpse in their church or churchyard to take it up and resign it to the church to which it belonged while alive. Decretal, lib. iii. tit. 28. c. 5, 6. 26. Let no one attribute reverence or sanctity to a dead body or a fountain, or other thing (as it sometimes is to our knowledge) without the bishop's authority. 1 This stupid superstition continued down to the fourteenth century. It is complained of and forbid in a diocesan synod at Winchester, A. D. 1308, Sir H. Spelman, vol. ii. p. 456, and is still continued with the approbation of the ruling part of the Church of Rome. 27. That none exercise that wicked trade which has hitherto been practised in England, of selling men like beasts. 28. In the same synod, profligate, obstinate sodomites, were struck with anathema, till by confession and penance they deserve absolution: and it was ordained that if any ecclesiastical person were guilty of this crime, he be never admitted to any higher order, and that he be degraded from that in which he is: if any layman, that he be deprived of all lawful dignity in the whole realm, and that no one but the bishop presume to absolve him, except he be a 'vowed regular. *This is left out in the first copy of Sir H. Spelman, and the reason is plain, viz., that this filthy vice was then so rife that Anselm was forced to forbear the publication of it every Lord's day, according to the decree of council and indeed it is particularly observed, that all these canons were soon brought into contempt, insomuch that the clergy of York province absolutely refused to profess chastity upon their ordinations, and to submit to the other regulations here enjoined: even the most beastly sin here mentioned found its patrons; insomuch that Anselm himself was awed into a connivance at it, till this king about the tenth year of his reign was pleased to countenance the execution of these canons. 1 Vowed regulars were to be absolved by their abbots, or other superiors. 29. That the aforesaid excommunication be published in all churches throughout England, every Lord's day. * [" Vid. Edgar's Canons, A.D. 960. 16." MS. note Wrangham.] |