Churches and Monasteries in Danish and Later Saxon Times
In speaking of our towns and villages we are obliged to make
mention frequently of churches and monasteries. At the time when
Cnut was king, each vill or tun had its church and its priest to
minister in it. There were parts of the land, in the common fields
and pasture, mixed up with the villeins' strips, set apart for
the support of the services of the Church, the maintenance of the
priest, and the care of the poor. In time various dues and customs
were also paid to the priest for certain things which he was
expected to do.
There are very few churches still standing which have any parts of
their structure dating from before the time of King Cnut. In the
early days churches were very simple buildings, built mainly of
wood, and in the Danish wars most of them were destroyed.
In the tenth century there was a very general belief that the
world was coming to an end at the end of the thousand years after
the establishment of Christianity; so there was not much actual
church-building going on. But in King Cnut's time a revival of
interest in church-building took place, and there are in a good
many of the old churches of England little bits of work in the
walls, or very rude carvings over the doorways, which belong to
this time. Unless such work is pointed out to you by one who
understands something about these matters, you will not be likely
to discover it for yourself, any more than you are likely to
discover the traces of the pit-dwellings, of which we spoke in an
early chapter.
These parish churches and parish priests were under the control of
the bishop, who had his chief church or cathedral in some important
place in his diocese. Those cathedrals were generally served by
colleges of clergy, called canons.
[Illustration: _Wooden Church at Greenstead, Essex. Built in 1013
as a temporary shelter for the body of St. Edmund during its
removal from London to Bury. The illustration is copied from an
engraving dated 1748, when the building was entire, though much
decayed_]
These were the public churches. But besides them there were
colleges and monasteries, which were private societies of men
living together. Some of the religious houses were in towns, as we
have seen, and others were in wild desolate places. Every religious
house, whether a monastery for men or a nunnery for women, had its
church, which was the private chapel of the house, and not open to
the public. In the course of years these private chapels were built
as huge churches, much larger than the parish church. Even now you
may see standing close to a big college church a much smaller
parish church; as, for example, St. Margaret's Church, which stands
by the side of Westminster Abbey. As more land came into the
possession of these religious houses, the monks had more business
with the outside world; for, as landlords, they had to see that
their lands were turned to good account, and cultivated according
to the notions of the day.
The monasteries, especially in their early days, were great centres
of good and useful work. Those who founded them, or gave them
lands, did so because they felt they were doing excellent service
for the people, and they wanted to have a share in the work, and to
be remembered in the prayers of the monks. Founders of religious
houses believed that they were getting something worth having in
return for the lands which they gave.
In the wild times of the Danish invasions the monasteries were
looked upon as places of safety for the weak and helpless. But
they were not always safe places. Sometimes, when the country was
in a disturbed state, people would send their valuables to the
nearest monastery. In time the Danes got to know of this, and many
a religious house was attacked and sacked by them on account of the
tales they had heard of the marvellous wealth hidden there.
A story is told of a worthy person living near St. Alban's
monastery at a time when a visit from marauding Danes was expected.
One market-day he sent a number of heavy iron-bound chests, guarded
by armed men, through the market to the monastery. Everybody, of
course, turned to look, and talked about the affair. As a matter of
fact the chests only contained stones; the treasure was carefully
hidden somewhere else, till all danger was thought to be over. That
plan was used to put the Danes "off the scent" as we should say.
All the land that did not go with the tuns and vills in early days
was apparently regarded as belonging to the people, and was called
the folk-land. There was a great deal of this unoccupied land, and
it was not regarded at the time as being of much use to anybody.
The king came to be regarded as the custodian or guardian of these
folk-lands. Little by little they became the property of the king,
until practically he could do what he pleased with them. It was
from these folk-lands--which in early times were probably scraps of
land which nobody thought to be worth very much, since the nearest
vills or tuns had never taken them in--that kings gave land to
bishoprics and monasteries. By and by these rough lands became very
valuable; but in most cases it was the labour, the skill, and the
brains of the monks in the early days which turned the waste lands
into fruitful fields.
[Illustration: _Consecration of a Saxon Church, from an ancient
manuscript of Caedmon's Poems_]