cooled in that age; and no pontiff before Gregory, had ever carried to
greater excess an intemperate zeal against the former religion. He
had waged war with all the precious monuments of the ancients, and
even with their writings, which, as appears from the strain of his own
wit, as well as from the style of his compositions, he had not taste
or genius sufficient to comprehend. Ambitious to distinguish his
pontificate by the conversion of the British Saxons, he pitched on
Augustine, a Roman monk, and sent him with forty associates to preach
the gospel in this island. These missionaries, terrified with the
dangers which might attend their proposing a new doctrine to so fierce
a people, of whose language they were ignorant, stopped some time in
France, and sent back Augustine to lay the hazards and difficulties
before the pope, and crave his permission to desist from the
undertaking. But Gregory exhorted them to persevere in their purpose,
advised them to choose some interpreters from among the Franks, who
still spoke the same language with the Saxons [l]; and recommended
them to the good offices of Queen Brunehaut, who had at this time
usurped the sovereign power in France. This princess, though stained
with every vice of treachery and cruelty, either possessed or
pretended great zeal for the cause; and Gregory acknowledged that to
her friendly assistance was, in a great measure, owing the success of
that undertaking [m].
[FN [1] Bede, lib. 1. cap. 23. [m] Greg. Epist. lib. 9. epist. 56.
Spell. Conc. p. 82]
Augustine, on his arrival in Kent, in the year 597 [n] found the
danger much less than he had apprehended. Ethelbert, already well
disposed towards the Christian faith, assigned him a habitation in the
Isle of Thanet, and soon after admitted him to a conference.
Apprehensive, however, lest spells or enchantments might be employed
against him by priests, who brought an unknown worship from a distant
country, he had the precaution to receive them in the open air, where
he believed the force of their magic would be more easily dissipated
[o]. Here Augustine, by means of his interpreters, delivered to him
the tenets of the Christian faith, and promised him eternal joys
above, and a kingdom in heaven, without end, if he would be persuaded
to receive that salutary doctrine [p]. "Your words and promises,"
replied Ethelbert, "are fair; but because they are new and uncertain,
I cannot entirely yield to them, and relinquish the principles which I
and my ancestors have so long maintained. You are welcome, however,
to remain here in peace; and as you have undertaken so long a journey,
solely, as it appears, for what you believe to be for our advantage, I
will supply you with all necessaries, and permit you to deliver your
doctrine to my subjects [q]"
[FN [n] Higden. Polychron. lib. 5. Chron. Sax. p. 23. [o] Bede, lib.
I. cap. 2 Hunting. lib. 3. Brompton, p. 729 Parker Antiq. Brit.
Eccl. p. 61. [p] Bede, lib. 1. cap 25. Chron. W. Thorn. p. 1759. [q]
Bede, lib. 1. cap 25. H. Hunting. lib. 3. Brompton, p. 729]
Augustine, encouraged by this favourable reception, and seeing now a
prospect of success, proceeded with redoubled zeal to preach the
gospel to the Kentish Saxons. He attracted their attention by the
austerity of his manners, by the severe penances to which he subjected
himself, by the abstinence and self-denial which he practised: and
having excited their wonder by a course of life which appeared so
contrary to nature, he procured more easily their belief of miracles,
which, it was pretended, he wrought for their conversion [r].
Influenced by these motives, and by the declared favour of the court,
numbers of the Kentish men were baptized; and the king himself was
persuaded to submit to that rite of Christianity. His example had
great influence with his subjects; but he employed no force to bring
them over to the new doctrine. Augustine thought proper, in the
commencement of his mission, to assume the appearance of the greatest
lenity. He told Ethelbert that the service of Christ must be entirely
voluntary, and that no violence ought ever to be used in propagating
so salutary a doctrine [s].
[FN [r] Bede, lib. 1. cap 26. [s] Ibid. lib. 1. cap 26. H. Hunting.
lib. 3.]
The intelligence received of these spiritual conquests afforded great
joy to the Romans; who now exulted as much in those peaceful trophies,
as their ancestors had ever done in their most sanguinary triumphs,
and most splendid victories. Gregory wrote a letter to Ethelbert, in
which, after informing him that the end of the world was approaching,
he exhorted him to display his zeal in the conversion of his subjects,
to exert rigour against the worship of idols, and to build up the good
work of holiness by every expedient of exhortation, terror,
blandishment, or correction [t]: a doctrine more suitable to that age,
and to the usual papal maxims, than the tolerating principles which
Augustine had thought it prudent to inculcate. The pontiff also
answered some questions which the missionary had put concerning the
government of the new church of Kent. Besides other queries which it
is not material here to relate, Augustine asked, WHETHER COUSIN-
GERMANS MIGHT BE ALLOWED TO MARRY? Gregory answered, that that liberty
had indeed been formerly granted by the Roman law; but that experience
had shown, that no issue could ever come from such marriages; and he
therefore prohibited them. Augustine, WHETHER A WOMAN PREGNANT MIGHT
BE BAPTIZED? Gregory answered that he saw no objection. HOW SOON
AFTER THE BIRTH THE CHILD MIGHT RECEIVE BAPTISM? It was answered,
Immediately, if necessary. HOW SOON A HUSBAND MIGHT HAVE COMMERCE
WITH HIS WIFE AFTER HER DELIVERY? Not till she had given suck to her
child: a practice to which Gregory exhorts all women. HOW SOON A MAN
MIGHT ENTER THE CHURCH, OR RECEIVE THE SACRAMENT, AFTER HAVING HAD
COMMERCE WITH HIS WIFE? It was replied, that unless he had approached
her without desire, merely for the sake of propagating his species, he
was not without sin: but in all cases it was requisite for him, before
he entered the church, or communicated, to purge himself by prayer and
ablution; and he ought not, even after using these precautions, to
participate immediately of the sacred duties [u]. There are some
other questions and replies still more indecent and more ridiculous
[w]. And on the whole, it appears that Gregory and his missionary, if
sympathy of manners have any influence, were better calculated than
men of more refined understanding for making a progress with the
ignorant and barbarous Saxons.
[FN [t] Bede, lib. 1. cap. 32. Brompton, p. 732. Spell. Conc. p. 86.
[u] Bede, lib. 1. cap. 27. Spell. Conc. p. 97, 98, 99, &c. [w]
Augustine asks, Si mulier menstrua consuetudine tenetur, an ecclesiam
intrare ei licet, aut sacrae communionis sacramenta percipere?
Gregory answers, Sanctae communionis mysterium in eisdem diebus
percipere non debit prohiberi. Si autem ex veneratione magna
precipere non praesumitur, laudanda est. Augustine asks, Si post
illusionem, quae per somnum solet accidere, vel corpus Domine quilibet
accipere valeat; vel, si sacerdos sit, sacra mysteria celebrare.
Gregory answers this learned question by many learned distinctions.]
The more to facilitate the reception of Christianity Gregory enjoined
Augustine to remove the idols from the heathen altars, but not to
destroy the altars themselves; because the people, he said, would be
allured to frequent the Christian worship, when they found it
celebrated in a place which they were accustomed to revere. And as
the Pagans practised sacrifices, and feasted with the priests on their
offerings, he also exhorted the missionary to persuade them, on
Christian festivals, to kill their cattle in the neighbourhood of the
church, and to indulge themselves in those cheerful entertainments, to
which they had been habituated [x]. These political compliances show,
that notwithstanding his ignorance and prejudices, he was not
unacquainted with the arts of governing mankind. Augustine was
consecrated archbishop of Canterbury, was endowed by Gregory with
authority over all the British churches, and received the pall, a
badge of ecclesiastical honour, from Rome [y]. Gregory also advised
him not to be too much elated with his gift of working miracles [z];
and as Augustine, proud of the success of his mission, seemed to think
himself entitled to extend his authority over the bishops of Gaul, the
pope informed him, that they lay entirely without the bounds of his
jurisdiction [a].
[FN [x] Bede, lib. 1. cap. 30. Spell. Conc. p.89. Greg. Epist. lib.
9. Epist. 71. [y] Chron. Sax. p. 23, 24. [z] H. Hunting. lib. 3.
Spell. Conc. p. 83. Bede, lib. 1. Greg. Epist. lib. 9. Epist. 60.
[a] Bede, lib. 1. cap. 27.]
The marriage of Ethelbert with Bertha, and much more his embracing
Christianity, begat a connexion of his subjects with the French,
Italians, and other nations on the continent, and tended to reclaim
them from that gross ignorance and barbarity in which all the Saxon
tribes had been hitherto involved [b]. Ethelbert also enacted [c],
with the consent of the states of his kingdom, a body of laws, the
first written laws promulgated by any of the northern conquerors; and
his reign was in every respect glorious to himself, and beneficial to
his people. He governed the kingdom of Kent fifty years, and dying in
616, left the succession to his son, Eadbald. This prince, seduced by
a passion for his mother-in-law, deserted for some time the Christian
faith, which permitted not these incestuous marriages: his whole
people immediately returned with him to idolatry. Laurentius, the
successor of Augustine, found the Christian worship wholly abandoned,
and was prepared to return to France, in order to escape the
mortification of preaching the gospel without fruit to the infidels.
Melitus and Justus, who had been consecrated Bishops of London and
Rochester, had already departed the kingdom [d], when, Laurentius,
before he should entirely abandon his dignity, made one effort to
reclaim the king. He appeared before that prince, and, throwing off
his vestments, showed his body all torn with bruises and stripes,
which he had received. Eadbald, wondering that any man should have
dared to treat in that manner a person of his rank, was told by
Laurentius, that he had received this chastisement from St. Peter, the
prince of the Apostles, who had appeared to him in a vision, and,
severely reproving him for his intention to desert his charge, had
inflicted on him these visible marks of his displeasure [e]. Whether
Eadbald was struck with the miracle, or influenced by some other
motive, he divorced himself from his mother-in-law, and returned to
the profession of Christianity [f]: his whole people returned with
him. Eadbald reached not the fame or authority of his father, and
died in 640, after a reign of twenty-five years, leaving two sons,
Erminfred and Ercombert.
[FN [b] Will. Malm. p.10. [c] Wilkins Leges Sax. p. 13. [d] Bede,
lib. 2. cap. 5. [e] Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 6. Chron. Sax. p. 26.
Higden, lib. 5. [f] Brompton, p. 739.]
Ercombert, though the younger son, by Emma, a French princess, found
means to mount the throne. He is celebrated by Bede for two exploits;
for establishing the fast of Lent in his kingdom, and for utterly
extirpating idolatry, which, notwithstanding the prevalence of
Christianity, had hitherto been tolerated by the two preceding
monarchs. He reigned twenty-four years, and left the crown to Egbert,
his son, who reigned nine years. This prince is renowned for his
encouragement of learning, but infamous for putting to death his two
cousin germans, sons of Erminfred, his uncle. The ecclesiastical
writers praise him for bestowing on his sister, Domnona, some lands in
the Isle of Thanet, where she founded a monastery.
The bloody precaution of Egbert could not fix the crown on the head of
his son, Edric. Lothaire, brother of the deceased prince, took
possession of the kingdom, and, in order to secure the power in his
family, he associated with him Richard, his son, in the administration
of the government. Edric, the dispossessed prince, had recourse to
Edilwach, King of Sussex, for assistance, and being supported by that
prince, fought a battle with his uncle, who was defeated and slain.
Richard fled into Germany, and afterwards died in Lucca, a city of
Tuscany. William of Malmesbury ascribes Lothaire's bad fortune to two
crimes; his concurrence in the murder of his cousins, and his contempt
for relics [g].
[FN [g] Will. Malm. p. 11.]
Lothaire reigned eleven years; Edric, his successor, only two. Upon
the death of the latter, which happened in 686, Widred, his brother,
obtained possession of the crown. But as the succession had been of
late so much disjointed by revolutions and usurpations, faction began
to prevail among the nobility, which invited Ceodwalla, King of
Wessex, with his brother, Mollo, to attack the kingdom. These
invaders committed great devastations in Kent; but the death of Mollo,
who was slain in a skirmish [h], gave a short breathing-time to that
kingdom. Widred restored the affairs of Kent, and, after a reign of
thirty-two years [i], left the crown to his posterity. Eadbert,
Ethelbert, and Alric, his descendants, successively mounted the
throne. After the death of the last, which happened in 794, the royal
family of Kent was extinguished, and every factious leader who could
entertain hopes of ascending the throne, threw the state into
confusion [k]. Egbert, who first succeeded, reigned but two years;
Cuthred, brother to the King of Mercia, six years; Baldred, an
illegitimate branch of the royal family, eighteen; and, after a
troublesome and precarious reign, he was, in the year 827, expelled by
Egbert, King of Wessex, who dissolved the Saxon Heptarchy, and united
the several kingdoms under his dominion.
[FN [h] Higden, lib. 5. [i] Chron. Sax. p. 52 [k] Will. Malmes. lib.
1. cap. 1. p. 11.]
[MN The kingdom of Northumberland.]
Adelfrid, King of Bernicia, having married Acca, the daughter of
Aella, King of Deiri, and expelled her infant brother, Edwin, had
united all the countries north of Humber into one monarchy, and
acquired a great ascendant in the Heptarchy. He also spread the
terror of the Saxon arms to the neighbouring people, and by his
victories over the Scots and Picts, as well as Welsh, extended on all
sides the bounds of his dominions. Having laid siege to Chester, the
Britons marched out with all their forces to engage him, and they were
attended by a body of 1250 monks from the monastery of Bangor, who
stood at a small distance from the field of battle, in order to
encourage the combatants by their presence and exhortations.
Adelfrid, inquiring the purpose of this unusual appearance, was told,
that these priests had come to pray against him: THEN ARE THEY AS MUCH
OUR ENEMIES, said he, AS THOSE WHO INTEND TO FIGHT AGAINST US [l]: and
he immediately sent a detachment, who fell upon them, and did such
execution, that only fifty escaped with their lives [m]. The Britons,
astonished at this event, received a total defeat; Chester was obliged
to surrender; and Adelfrid, pursuing his victory, made himself master
of Bangor, and entirely demolished the monastery, a building so
extensive that there was a mile's distance from one gate of it to
another, and it contained two thousand one hundred monks, who are said
to have been there maintained by their own labour [n].
[FN [l] Brompton, p. 779. [m] Trivet, apud Spell. Conc. p. 111. [n]
Bede, lib. 2. cap. 2. W. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 3.]
Notwithstanding Adelfrid's success in war, he lived in inquietude on
account of young Edwin, whom he had unjustly dispossessed of the crown
of Deiri. This prince, now grown to man's estate, wandered from place
to place in continual danger from the attempts of Adelfrid, and
received at last protection in the court of Redwald, King of the East
Angles, where his engaging and gallant deportment procured him general
esteem and affection. Redwald, however, was strongly solicited by the
King of Northumberland to kill or deliver up his guest; rich presents
were promised him if he would comply, and war denounced against him in
case of his refusal. After rejecting several messages of this kind,
his generosity began to yield to the motives of interest; and he
retained the last ambassador till he should come to a resolution in a
case of such importance. Edwin, informed of his friend's perplexity,
was yet determined at all hazards to remain in East Anglia, and
thought that if the protection of that court failed him, it were
better to die, than prolong a life so much exposed to the persecutions
of his powerful rival. This confidence in Redwald's honour and
friendship, with his other accomplishments, engaged the queen on his
side, and she effectually represented to her husband the infamy of
delivering up to certain destruction their royal guest, who had fled
to them for protection against his cruel and jealous enemies [o].
Redwald, embracing more generous resolutions, thought it safest to
prevent Adelfrid, before that prince was aware of his intention, and
to attack him while he was yet unprepared for defence. He marched
suddenly with an army into the kingdom of Northumberland, and fought a
battle with Adelfrid, in which that monarch was defeated and killed,
after avenging himself by the death of Regner, son of Redwald [p]: his
own sons, Eanfrid, Oswald, and Oswy, yet infants, were carried into
Scotland, and Edwin obtained possession of the crown of
Northumberland.
[FN [o] W.. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 3. H. Hunting. lib. 3 Bede [p]
Bede, lib. 2. cap. 12. Brompton, p. 781.]
Edwin was the greatest prince of the Heptarchy in that age, and
distinguished himself, both by his influence over the other kingdoms
[q], and by the strict execution of justice in his own dominions. He
reclaimed his subjects from the licentious life to which they had been
accustomed; and it was a common saying, that during his reign a woman
or child might openly carry every where a purse of gold, without any
danger of violence or robbery. There is a remarkable instance,
transmitted to us, of the affection borne him by his servants.
Cuichelme, King of Wessex, was his enemy, but finding himself unable
to maintain open war against so gallant and powerful a prince, he
determined to use treachery against him, and he employed one Eumer for
that criminal purpose. The assassin, having obtained admittance by
pretending to deliver a message from Cuichelme, drew his dagger and
rushed upon the king. Lilla, an officer of his army, seeing his
master's danger, and having no other means of defence, interposed with
his own body between the king and Eumer's dagger, which was pushed
with such violence, that after piercing Lilla, it even wounded Edwin;
but before the assassin could renew his blow, he was despatched by
the king's attendants.
[FN [q] Chron. Sax. p. 27.]
The East Angles conspired against Redwald, their king, and having put
him to death, they offered their crown to Edwin, of whose valour and
capacity they had had experience, while he resided among them. But
Edwin, from a sense of gratitude towards his benefactor, obliged them
to submit to Earpwold, the son of Redwald; and that prince preserved
his authority, though on a precarious footing, under the protection of
the Northumbrian monarch [r].
[FN [r] Gul. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 3.]
Edwin, after his accession to the crown, married Ethelburga, the
daughter of Ethelbert, King of Kent. This princess, emulating the
glory of her mother, Bertha, who had been the instrument for
converting her husband and his people to Christianity, carried
Paullinus, a learned bishop, along with her [s]; and besides
stipulating a toleration for the exercise of her own religion, which
was readily granted her, she used every reason to persuade the king to
embrace it. Edwin, like a prudent prince, hesitated on the proposal,
but promised to examine the foundations of that doctrine, and declared
that, if he found them satisfactory, he was willing to be converted
[t]. Accordingly, he held several conferences with Paullinus;
canvassed the arguments propounded with the wisest of his counsellors;
retired frequently from company, in order to revolve alone that
important question; and after a serious and long inquiry, declared in
favour of the Christian religion [u]: the people soon after imitated
his example. Besides the authority and influence of the king, they
were moved by another striking example. Coifi, the high priest, being
converted after a public conference with Paullinus, led the way in
destroying the images which he had so long worshipped, and was forward
in making this atonement for his past idolatry [w].
[FN [s] H. Hunting. lib. 3. [t] Bede, lib. 2. cap. 9. [u] Ibid. W.
Malmes. lib 1. cap. 3. [w] Bede, lib. 2. cap. 13. Brompton, Higden,
lib. 5.]
This able prince perished with his son, Osfrid, in a great battle
which he fought against Penda, King of Mercia, and Caedwalla, King of
the Britons [x]. That event, which happened in the forty-eighth year
of Edwin's age, and seventeenth of his reign [y], divided the monarchy
of Northumberland, which that prince had united in his person.
Eanfrid, the son of Adelfrid, returned with his brothers, Oswald and
Oswy, from Scotland, and took possession of Bernicia, his paternal
kingdom: Osric, Edwin's cousin-german, established himself at Deiri,
the inheritance of his family, but to which the sons of Edwin had a
preferable title. Eanfrid, the elder surviving son, fled to Penda, by
whom he was treacherously slain. The younger son, Vuscfraea, with
Yffi, the grandson of Edwin, by Osfrid, sought protection in Kent, and
not finding themselves in safety there, retired into France to King
Dagobert, where they died [z].
[FN [x] Matth. West. p. 114 Chron. Sax. p. 29. [y] W. Malmes. lib 1.
cap. 3. [z] Bede, lib. 2. cap. 20.]
Osric, King of Deiri, and Eanfrid, of Bernicia, returned to paganism,
and the whole people seem to have returned with them; since Paullinus,
who was the first Archbishop of York, and who had converted them,
thought proper to retire with Ethelburga, the queen dowager, into
Kent. Both these Northumbrian kings perished soon after, the first in
battle against Caedwalla, the Briton; the second by the treachery of
that prince. Oswald, the brother of Eanfrid, of the race of Bernicia,
united again the kingdom of Northumberland in the year 634, and
restored the Christian religion in his dominions. He gained a bloody
and well-disputed battle against Caedwalla; the last vigorous effort
which the Britons made against the Saxons. Oswald is much celebrated
for his sanctity and charity by the monkish historians, and they
pretend that his relics wrought miracles, particularly the curing of a
sick horse, which had approached the place of his interment [a].
[FN [a] Ibid. lib. 3. cap. 9.]
He died in battle against Penda, King of Mercia, and was succeeded by
his brother Oswy, who established himself in the government of the
whole Northumbrian kingdom, by putting to death Oswin, the son of
Osric, the last king of the race of Deiri. His son Egfrid succeeded
him; who perishing in battle against the Picts, without leaving any
children, because Adelthrid, his wife, refused to violate her vow of
chastity, Alfred, his natural brother, acquired possession of the
kingdom, which he governed for nineteen years, and he left it to
Osred, his son, a boy of eight years of age. This prince, after a
reign of eleven years, was murdered by Kenred, his kinsman, who, after
enjoying the crown only a year, perished by a like fate. Osric, and
after him Celwulph, the son of Kenred, next mounted the throne, which
the latter relinquished in the year 735, in favour of Eadbert, his
cousin-german, who, imitating his predecessor, abdicated the crown,
and retired into a monastery. Oswolf, son of Eadbert, was slain in a
sedition, a year after his accession to the crown; and Mollo, who was
not of the royal family, seized the crown. He perished by the
treachery of Ailred, a prince of the blood; and Ailred, having
succeeded in his design upon the throne, was soon after expelled by
his subjects. Ethelred, his successor, the son of Mollo, underwent a
like fate. Celwold, the next king, the brother of Ailred, was deposed
and slain by the people, and his place was filled by Osred, his
nephew, who, after a short reign of a year, made way for Ethelbert,
another son of Mollo, whose death was equally tragical with that of
almost all his predecessors. After Ethelbert's death an universal
anarchy prevailed in Northumberland, and the people having, by so many
fatal revolutions, lost all attachment to their government and
princes, were well prepared for subjection to a foreign yoke, which
Egbert, King of Wessex, finally imposed upon them.
[MN The kingdom of East Anglia.]
The history of this kingdom contains nothing memorable except the
conversion of Earpwold, the fourth king, and great-grandson of Uffa,
the founder of the monarchy. The authority of Edwin, King of
Northumberland, on whom that prince entirely depended, engaged him to
take this step; but soon after, his wife, who was an idolatress,
brought him back to her religion, and he was found unable to resist
those allurements which had seduced the wisest of mankind. After his
death, which was violent, like that of most of the Saxon princes that
did not early retire into monasteries, Sigebert, his successor and
half brother, who had been educated in France, restored Christianity,
and introduced learning among the East Angles. Some pretend that he
founded the university of Cambridge, or rather some schools in that
place. It is almost impossible, and quite needless, to be more
particular in relating the transactions of the East Angles. What
instruction or entertainment can it give the reader, to hear a long
bead-roll of barbarous names, Egric, Annas, Ethelbert, Ethelwald,
Aldulf; Elfwald, Beorne, Ethelred, Ethelbert, who successively
murdered, expelled, or inherited from each other, and obscurely filled
the throne of that kingdom? Ethelbert, the last of these princes, was
treacherously murdered by Offa, King of Mercia, in the year 792, and
his state was thenceforth united with that of Offa, as we shall relate
presently.
[MN The kingdom of Mercia.]
Mercia, the largest if not the most powerful kingdom of the Heptarchy,
comprehended all the middle counties of England, and as its frontiers
extended to those of all the other six kingdoms, as well as to Wales,
it received its name from that circumstance. Wibba, the son of Crida,
founder of the monarchy, being placed on the throne, by Ethelbert,
King of Kent, governed his paternal dominions by a precarious
authority, and after his death, Ceorl, his kinsman, was, by the
influence of the Kentish monarch, preferred to his son Penda, whose
turbulent character appeared dangerous to that prince. Penda was thus
fifty years of age before he mounted the throne, and his temerity and
restless disposition were found nowise abated by time, experience, or
reflection. He engaged in continual hostilities against all the
neighbouring states, and by his injustice and violence rendered
himself equally odious to his own subjects and to strangers.
Sigebert, Egric, and Annas, three kings of East Anglia, perished
successively in battle against him, as did also Edwin and Oswald, the
two greatest princes that had reigned over Northumberland. At last
Oswy, brother to Oswald, having defeated and slain him in a decisive
battle, freed the world from this sanguinary tyrant. Peada, his son,
mounted the throne of Mercia in 655, and lived under the protection of
Oswy, whose daughter he had espoused. This princess was educated in
the Christian faith, and she employed her influence with success, in
converting her husband and his subjects to that religion. Thus the
fair sex have had the merit of introducing the Christian doctrine into
all the most considerable kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy. Peada
died a violent death [b]. His son, Wolfhere, succeeded to the
government, and, after having reduced to dependence the kingdoms of
Essex and East Anglia, he, left the crown to his brother Ethelred,
who, though a lover of peace, showed himself not unfit for military
enterprises. Besides making a successful expedition into Kent, he
repulsed Egfrid, King of Northumberland, who had invaded his
dominions; and he slew in battle Elfwin, the brother of that prince.
Desirous, however, of composing all animosities with Egfrid, he paid
him a sum of money as a compensation for the loss of his brother.
After a prosperous reign of thirty years, he resigned the crown to
Kendred, son of Wolfhere, and retired into the monastery of Bardney
[c]. Kendred returned the present of the crown to Ceolred, the son of
Ethelred, and making a pilgrimage to Rome, passed his life there in
penance and devotion. The place of Ceolred was supplied by Ethelbald,
great-grand-nephew to Penda, by Alwy, his brother; and this prince,
being slain in a mutiny, was succeeded by Offa, who was a degree more
remote from Penda, by Eawa, another brother.
[FN [b] Hugo Candidus, p. 4, says, that he was treacherously murdered
by his queen, by whose persuasion he had embraced Christianity; but
this account of the matter is found in that historian alone. [c]
Bede, lib. 5.]
This prince, who mounted the throne in 775 [d], had some great
qualities, and was successful in his warlike enterprises against
Lothaire, King of Kent, and Kenwulph, King of Wessex. He defeated the
former in a bloody battle at Otford upon the Darent, and reduced his
kingdom to a state of dependence: he gained a victory over the latter
at Bensington in Oxfordshire; and conquering that county, together
with that of Gloucester, annexed both to his dominions. But all these
successes were stained by his treacherous murder of Ethelbert, King of
the East Angles, and his violent seizing of that kingdom. This young
prince, who is said to have possessed great merit, had paid his
addresses to Elfrida, the daughter of Offa, and was invited with all
his retinue to Hereford, in order to solemnize the nuptials. Amidst
the joy and festivity of these entertainments, he was seized by Offa,
and secretly beheaded; and though Elfrida, who abhorred her father's
treachery, had time to give warning to the East Anglian nobility, who
escaped into their own country, Offa, having extinguished the royal
family, succeeded in his design of subduing that kingdom [e]. The
perfidious prince, desirous of re-establishing his character in the
world, and perhaps of appeasing the remorses of his own conscience,
paid great court to the clergy, and practised all the monkish devotion
so much esteemed in that ignorant and superstitious age. He gave the
tenth of his goods to the church [f]; bestowed rich donations on the
cathedral of Hereford, and even made a pilgrimage to Rome, where his
great power and riches could not fail of procuring him the papal
absolution. The better to ingratiate himself with the sovereign
pontiff, he engaged to pay him a yearly donation for the support of an
English college at Rome [g]; and, in order to raise the sum, he
imposed the tax of a penny on each house possessed of thirty pence a
year. This imposition being afterwards levied on all England, was
commonly denominated Peter's Pence [h]: and though conferred at first
as a gift, was afterwards claimed as a tribute by the Roman pontiff.
Carrying his hypocrisy still farther, Offa, feigning to be directed by
a vision from heaven, discovered at Verulam the relics of St. Alban,
the martyr, and endowed a magnificent monastery in that place [i].
Moved by all these acts of piety, Malmesbury, one of the best of the
old English historians, declares himself at a loss to determine [k]
whether the merits or crimes of this prince preponderated. Offa died
after a reign of thirty-nine years, in 794 [l].
[FN [d] Chron. Sax. p. 59. [e] Brompton, p. 750, 751, 752. [f] Spell.
Conc. p. 308. Brompton, p. 776. [g] Spell. Conc. p. 230, 310, 312.
[h] Higden, lib. 5. [i] Ingulph. p. 5. W. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 4.
[k] Lib. 1. cap. 4.]
This prince was become so considerable in the Heptarchy, that the
Emperor Charlemagne entered into an alliance and friendship with him;
a circumstance which did honour to Offa, as distant princes at that
time had usually little communication with each other. That emperor
being a great lover of learning and learned men, in an age very barren
of that ornament, Offa, at his desire, sent him over Alcuin, a
clergyman, much celebrated for his knowledge, who received great
honours from Charlemagne, and even became his preceptor in the
sciences. The chief reason why he had at first desired the company of
Alcuin, was, that he might oppose his learning to the heresy of Felix,
Bishop of Urgel, in Catalonia, who maintained that Jesus Christ,
considered in his human nature, could more properly be denominated the
adoptive, than the natural son of God [m]. This heresy was condemned
in the council of Francfort, held in 794, and consisting of 300
bishops. Such were the questions which were agitated in that age, and
which employed the attention not only of cloistered scholars, but of
the wisest and greatest princes [n].
[FN [l] Chron. Sax. p. 65 [m] Dupin, cent. 8. chap. 4. [n] Offa, in
order to protect his country from Wales; drew a rampart or ditch of a
hundred miles in length, from Basinwerke in Flintshire, to the south-
sea near Bristol. See SPEED'S DESCRIPTION OF WALES.]
Egfrith succeeded to his father Offa, but survived him only five
months [o], when he made way for Kenulph, a descendant of the royal
family. This prince waged war against Kent, and taking Egbert the
king prisoner, he cut off his hands, and put out his eyes, leaving
Cuthred, his own brother, in possession of the crown of that kingdom.
Kenulph was killed in an insurrection of the East Anglians, whose
crown his predecessor, Offa, had usurped. He left his son, Kenelm, a
minor, who was murdered the same year by his sister, Quendrade, who
had entertained the ambitious views of assuming the government [p].
But she was supplanted by her uncle Ceolulf; who, two years after, was
dethroned by Beornulf. The reign of this usurper, who was not of the
royal family, was short and unfortunate: he was defeated by the West
Saxons, and killed by his own subjects, the East Angles [q]. Ludican,
his successor, underwent the same fate [r]; and Wiglaff, who mounted
this unstable throne, and found every thing in the utmost confusion,
could not withstand the fortune of Egbert, who united all the Saxon
kingdoms into one great monarchy.
[FN [o] Ingulph. p. 6. [p] Ibid. p. 7. Brompton, p. 776 [q]
Ingulph. p. 7. [r] Ann. Beverl. p. 87.]
[MN The kingdom of Essex.]
This kingdom made no great figure in the Heptarchy, and the history of
it is very imperfect. Sleda succeeded to his father, Erkinwin, the
founder of' the monarchy, and made way for his son, Sebert, who, being
nephew to Ethelbert, King of Kent, was persuaded by that prince to
embrace the Christian faith [s]. His sons and conjunct successors,
Sexted and Seward, relapsed into idolatry, and were soon after slain
in a battle against the West Saxons. To show the rude manner of
living in that age, Bede tells us [t], that these two kings expressed
great desire to eat the white bread, distributed by Mellitus, the
bishop, at the [u] communion. But on his refusing them, unless they
would submit to be baptized, they expelled him their dominions. The
names of the other princes who reigned successively in Essex, are
Sigebert the Little, Sigebert the Good who restored Christianity,
Swithelm, Sigheri, Offa. This last prince, having made a vow of
chastity, notwithstanding his marriage with Keneswitha, a Mercian
princess, daughter to Penda, went in pilgrimage to Rome, and shut
himself up during the rest of his life in a cloister. Selred, his
successor, reigned thirty-eight years, and was the last of the royal
line; the failure of which threw the kingdom into great confusion, and
reduced it to dependence under Mercia [w]. Switherd first acquired
the crown, by the concession of the Mercian princes, and his death
made way for Sigeric, who ended his life in a pilgrimage to Rome. His
successor, Sigered, unable to defend his kingdom, submitted to the
victorious arms of Egbert.
[FN [s] Chron. Sax. p. 24. [t] Lib. 2. cap. 5. [u] H. Hunting. lib.
3. Brompton, p. 738, 743. Bede. [w] Malmes lib. 1. cap. 6.]
[MN The kingdom of Sussex.]
The history of this kingdom, the smallest in the Heptarchy, is still
more imperfect than that of Essex. Aella, the founder of the
monarchy, left the crown to his son Cissa, who is chiefly remarkable
for his long reign of seventy-six years. During his time, the South
Saxons fell almost into a total dependence on the kingdom of Wessex,
and we scarcely know the names of the princes who were possessed of
this titular sovereignty. Adelwalch, the last of them, was subdued in
battle by Ceodwalla, King of Wessex, and was slain in the action,
leaving two infant sons, who, falling into the hand of the conqueror,
were murdered by him. The Abbot of Retford opposed the order for this
execution, but could only prevail on Ceodwalla to suspend it till they
should be baptized. Bercthun and Audhun, two noblemen of character,
resisted some time the violence of the West Saxons, but their
opposition served only to prolong the miseries of their country, and
the subduing of this kingdom was the first step which the West Saxons
made towards acquiring the sole monarchy of England [x].
[FN [x] Brompton, p. 800.]
[MN The Kingdom of Wessex.]
The kingdom of Wessex, which finally swallowed up all the other Saxon
states, met with great resistance on its first establishment: and the
Britons, who were now inured to arms, yielded not tamely their
possessions to those invaders. Cerdic, the founder of the monarchy,
and his son, Kenric, fought many successful, and some unsuccessful,
battles against the natives; and the martial spirit, common to all the
Saxons, was, by means of these hostilities, carried to the greatest
height, among this tribe. Ceaulin, who was the son and successor of
Kenric, and who began his reign in 560, was still more ambitious and
enterprising than his predecessors, and by waging continual war
against the Britons, he added a great part of the counties of Devon
and Somerset to his other dominions. Carried along by the tide of
success, he invaded the other Saxon states in his neighbourhood, and
becoming terrible to all, he provoked a general confederacy against
him. This alliance proved successful under the conduct of Ethelbert,
King of Kent; and Ceaulin, who had lost the affections of his own
subjects by his violent disposition, and had now fallen into contempt
from his misfortunes, was expelled the throne [y], and died in exile
and misery. Cuichelme and Cuthwin, his sons, governed jointly the
kingdom, till the expulsion of the latter in 591, and the death of the
former in 593, made way for Cealric, to whom succeeded Ceobald in 593,
by whose death, which happened in 611, Kynegils inherited the crown.
This prince embraced Christianity [z], through the persuasion of
Oswald, King of Northumberland, who had married his daughter, and who
had attained a great ascendant in the Heptarchy. Kenwalch next
succeeded to the monarchy, and dying in 672, left the succession so
much disputed, that Sexburga, his widow, a woman of spirit [a], kept
possession of the government till her death, which happened two years
after. Escwin then peaceably acquired the crown, and after a short
reign of two years made way for Kentwin, who governed nine years.
Ceodwalla, his successor, mounted not the throne without opposition,
but proved a great prince according to the ideas of those times; that
is, he was enterprising, warlike, and successful. He entirely subdued
the kingdom of Sussex, and annexed it to his own dominions. He made
inroads into Kent, but met with resistance from Widred, the king, who
proved successful against Mollo, brother to Ceodwalla, and slew him in
a skirmish. Ceodwalla, at last, tired with wars and bloodshed, was
seized with a fit of devotion; bestowed several endowments on the
church; and made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he received baptism, and
died in 689. Ina, his successor, inherited the military virtues of
Ceodwalla, and added to them the more valuable ones of justice,
policy, and prudence. He made war upon the Britons in Somerset, and
having finally subdued that province, he treated the vanquished with a
humanity hitherto unknown to the Saxon conquerors. He allowed the
proprietors to retain possession of their lands, encouraged marriages
and alliances between them and his ancient subjects, and gave them the
privilege of being governed by the same laws. These laws he augmented
and ascertained, and though he was disturbed by some insurrections at
home, his long reign of thirty-seven years may be regarded as one of
the most glorious and most prosperous of the Heptarchy. In the
decline of his age he made a pilgrimage to Rome, and after his return,
shut himself up in a cloister, where he died.
[FN [y] Chron. Sax. p. 22. [z] Higden, lib. 5. Chron. Sax. p. 15.
Ann. Beverl. p. 93. [a] Bede, lib 4 cap 12. Chron. Sax. p. 41.]
Though the kings of Wessex had always been princes of the blood,
descended from Cerdic, the founder of the monarchy, the order of
succession had been far from exact, and a more remote prince had often
found means to mount the throne in preference to one descended from a
nearer branch of the royal family. Ina, therefore, having no children
of his own, and lying much under the influence of Ethelburga, his
queen, left by will the succession to Adelard, her brother, who was
his remote kinsman; but this destination did not take place without
some difficulty. Oswald, a prince more nearly allied to the crown,
took arms against Adelard; but he being suppressed, and dying soon
after, the title of Adelard was not any farther disputed, and, in the
year 741, he was succeeded by his cousin, Cudred. The reign of this
prince was distinguished by a great victory, which he obtained by
means of Edelhun, his general, over Ethelbald, King of Mercia. His
death made way for Sigebert, his kinsman, who governed so ill, that
his people rose in an insurrection and dethroned him, crowning Cenulph
in his stead. The exiled prince found a refuge with Duke Cumbran,
governor of Hampshire, who, that he might add new obligations to
Sigebert, gave him many salutary counsels for his future conduct,
accompanied with some reprehensions for the past. But these were so
much resented by the ungrateful prince, that he conspired against the
life of his protector, and treacherously murdered him. After this
infamous action, he was forsaken by all the world, and skulking about
in the wilds and forests, was at last discovered by a servant of
Cumbran's, who instantly took revenge upon him for the murder of his
master [b].
[FN [b] Higden, lib. 5. W. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 2.]
Cenulph, who had obtained the crown on the expulsion of Sigebert, was
fortunate in many expeditions against the Britons of Cornwall, but
afterwards lost some reputation by his ill success against Offa, King
of Mercia [c]. Kynehard also, brother to the deposed Sigebert, gave
him disturbance, and though expelled the kingdom, he hovered on the
frontiers, and watched an opportunity for attacking his rival. The
king had an intrigue with a young woman who lived at Merton in Surrey,
whither having secretly retired, he was on a sudden environed, in the
night time, by Kynehard and his followers, and, after making a
vigorous resistance, was murdered with all his attendants. The
nobility and people of the neighbourhood, rising next day in arms,
took revenge on Kynehard for the slaughter of their king, and put
every one to the sword who had been engaged in that criminal
enterprise. This event happened in 784.
[FN [c] W. Malmes. lib. 1. cap 3.]
Brithric next obtained possession of the government, though remotely
descended from the royal family, but he enjoyed not that dignity
without inquietude. Eoppa, nephew to King Ina, by his brother Ingild,
who died before that prince, had begot Eta, father to Alchmond, from
whom sprung Egbert [d], a young man of the most promising hopes, who
gave great jealousy to Brithric, the reigning prince, both because he
seemed by his birth better entitled to the crown, and because he had
acquired, to an eminent degree, the affections of the people. Egbert,
sensible of his danger from the suspicions of Brithric, secretly
withdrew into France [e], where he was well received by Charlemagne.
By living in the court, and serving in the armies of that prince, the
most able and most generous that had appeared in Europe during several
ages, he acquired those accomplishments which afterwards enabled him
to make such a shining figure on the throne; and familiarizing himself
to the manners of the French, who, as Malmesbury observes [f], were
eminent both for valour and civility above all the western nations, he
learned to polish the rudeness and barbarity of the Saxon character:
his early misfortunes thus proved of singular advantage to him.
[FN [d] Chron. Sax. p. 16. [e] H. Hunting. lib. 4. [f] Lib. 2 cap.
11.]
It was not long ere Egbert had opportunities of displaying his natural
and acquired talents. Brithric, King of Wessex, had married Eadburga,
natural daughter of Offa, King of Mercia, a profligate woman, equally
infamous for cruelty and for incontinence. Having great influence
over her husband, she often instigated him to destroy such of the
nobility as were obnoxious to her; and where this expedient failed,
she scrupled not being herself active in traitorous attempts against
them. She had mixed a cup of poison for a young nobleman who had
acquired her husband's friendship, and had on that account become the
object of her jealousy; but, unfortunately, the king drank of the
fatal cup along with his favourite, and soon after expired [g]. This
tragical incident, joined to her other crimes, rendered Eadburga so
odious, that she was obliged to fly into France, whence Egbert was at
the same time recalled by the nobility, in order to ascent the throne
of his ancestors [h]. He attained that dignity in the last year of
the eighth century.
[FN [g] Higden, lib. 5. M. West. p. 152. Asser. in vita Alfredi, p.
3. ex edit. Camdeni. [h] Chron. Sax. A. D. 800. Brompton, p. 801.]
In the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, an exact rule of succession was
either unknown or not strictly observed, and thence the reigning
prince was continually agitated with jealousy against all the princes
of the blood, whom he still considered as rivals, and whose death
alone could give him entire security in his possession of the throne.
From this fatal cause, together with the admiration of the monastic
life, and the opinion of merit attending the preservation of chastity
even in a married state, the royal families had been entirely
extinguished in all the kingdoms except that of Wessex, and the
emulations, suspicions, and conspiracies, which had formerly been
confined to the princes of the blood alone, were now diffused among
all the nobility in the several Saxon states. Egbert was the sole
descendant of those first conquerors who subdued Britain, and who
enhanced their authority by claiming a pedigree from Woden, the
supreme divinity of their ancestors. But that prince, though invited
by this favourable circumstance to make attempts on the neighbouring
Saxons, gave them for some time no disturbance, and rather chose to
turn his arms against the Britons in Cornwall, whom he defeated in
several [i] battles. He was recalled from the conquest of that
country by an invasion made upon his dominions by Bernulf, King of
Mercia.
[FN [i] Chron. Sax. p. 69.]
The Mercians, before the accession of Egbert, had very nearly attained
the absolute sovereignty in the Heptarchy; they had reduced the East
Angles under subjection, and established tributary princes in the
kingdoms of Kent and Essex. Northumberland was involved in anarchy;
and no state of any consequence remained but that of Wessex, which,
much inferior in extent to Mercia, was supported solely by the great
qualities of its sovereign. Egbert led his army against the invaders,
and encountering them at Ellandun, in Wiltshire, obtained a complete
victory, and by the great slaughter which he made of them in their
flight, gave a mortal blow to the power of the Mercians. Whilst he
himself, in prosecution of his victory, entered their country on the
side of Oxfordshire, and threatened the heart of their dominions, he
sent an army into Kent, commanded by Ethelwolf, his eldest son [k],
and expelling Baldred, the tributary king, soon made himself master of
that country. The kingdom of Essex was conquered with equal facility,
and the East Angles, from their hatred to the Mercian government,
which had been established over them by treachery and violence, and
probably exercised with tyranny, immediately rose in arms, and craved
the protection of Egbert [l]. Bernulf, the Mercian king, who marched
against them, was defeated and slain; and two years after, Ludican,
his successor, met with the same fate. These insurrections and
calamities facilitated the enterprises of Egbert, who advanced into
the centre of the Mercian territories, and made easy conquests over a
dispirited and divided people. In order to engage them more easily to
submission, he allowed Wiglef, their countryman, to retain the title
of king, while he himself exercised the real powers of sovereignty
[m]. The anarchy which prevailed in Northumberland, tempted him to
carry still farther his victorious arms; and the inhabitants, unable
to resist his power, and desirous of possessing some established form
of government, were forward, on his first appearance, to send
deputies, who submitted to his authority, and swore allegiance to him
as their sovereign. Egbert, however, still allowed to Northumberland,
as he had done to Mercia and East Anglia, the power of electing a
king, who paid him tribute, and was dependent on him.
[FN [k] Ethelward, lib. 3. cap. 2. [1] Ethelward, lib. 3. cap. 3.
[m] Ingulph. p. 7, 8, 10]
Thus were united all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy in one great state,
near four hundred years after the first arrival of the Saxons in
Britain, and the fortunate arms and prudent policy of Egbert at last
effected what had been so often attempted in vain by so many princes
[n]. Kent, Northumberland, and Mercia, which had successively aspired
to general dominion, were now incorporated in his empire, and the
other subordinate kingdoms seemed willingly to share the same fate.
His territories were nearly of the same extent with what is now
properly called England; and a favourable prospect was afforded to the
Anglo-Saxons, of establishing a civilized monarchy, possessed of
tranquillity within itself, and secure against foreign invasion. This
great event happened in the year 827 [o].
[FN [n] Chron. Sax. p. 71. [o] Ibid.]
The Saxons, though they had been so long settled in the island, seem
not as yet to have been much improved beyond their German ancestors,
either in arts, civility, knowledge, humanity, justice, or obedience
to the laws. Even Christianity, though it opened the way to
connexions between them and the more polished states of Europe, had
not hitherto been very effectual in banishing their ignorance, or
softening their barbarous manners. As they received that doctrine
through the corrupted channels of Rome, it carried along with it a
great mixture of credulity and superstition, equally destructive to
the understanding and to morals. The reverence towards saints and
relics seems to have almost supplanted the adoration of the Supreme
Being. Monastic observances were esteemed more meritorious than the
active virtues; the knowledge of natural causes were neglected from
the universal belief of miraculous interpositions and judgments;
bounty to the church atoned for every violence against society; and
the remorses for cruelty, murder, treachery, assassination, and the
more robust vices, were appeased, not by amendment of life, but by
penances, servility to the monks, and an abject and illiberal devotion
[p]. The reverence for the clergy had been carried to such a height,
that, wherever a person appeared in a sacerdotal habit, though on the
high way, the people flocked around him, and, showing him all marks of
profound respect, received every word he uttered as the most sacred
oracle [q]. Even the military virtues, so inherent in all the Saxon
tribes, began to be neglected; and the nobility, preferring the
security and sloth of the cloister to the tumults and glory of war,
valued themselves chiefly on endowing monasteries, of which they
assumed the government [r]. The several kings, too, being extremely
impoverished by continual benefactions to the church to which the
states of their kingdoms had weakly assented, could bestow no rewards
on valour or military services, and retained not even sufficient
influence to support their government [s].
[FN [p] These abuses were common to all the European churches, but the
priests in Italy, Spain, and Gaul made some atonement for them, by
other advantages which they rendered society. For several ages, they
were almost all Romans, or, in other words, the ancient natives, and
they preserved the Roman language and laws, with some remains of the
former civility. But the priests in the Heptarchy, after the first
missionaries, were wholly Saxons, and almost as ignorant and barbarous
as the laity. They contributed, therefore, little to the improvement
of society in knowledge or the arts. [q] Bede, lib 3. cap. 26. [r]
Ibid. lib. 5. cap. 23. Epistola Bedae ad Egbert. [s] Bedae Epist. ad
Egbert.]
Another inconvenience which attended this corrupt species of
Christianity, was the superstitious attachment to Rome, and the
gradual subjection of the kingdom to a foreign jurisdiction. The
Britons, having never acknowledged any subordination to the Roman
pontiff, had conducted all ecclesiastical government by their domestic
synods and councils [t]; but the Saxons, receiving their religion from
Roman monks, were taught at the same time a profound reverence for
that see, and were naturally led to regard it as the capital of their
religion. Pilgrimages to Rome were represented as the most
meritorious acts of devotion. Not only noblemen and ladies of rank
undertook this tedious journey [u], but kings themselves, abdicating
their crowns, sought for a secure passport to heaven at the feet of
the Roman pontiff; new relics, perpetually sent from that endless mint
of superstition, and magnified by lying miracles, invented in
convents, operated on the astonished minds of the multitude; and every
prince has attained the eulogies of the monks, the only historians of
those ages, not in proportion to his civil and military virtues, but
to his devoted attachment towards their order, and his superstitious
reverence for Rome.
[FN [t] Append. to Bede, numb. 10. ex edit, 1722. Spellm. Conc. p.
108, 109. [u] Bede, lib. 5. c. 7.]
The sovereign pontiff, encouraged by this blindness and submissive
disposition of the people, advanced every day in his encroachments on
the independence of the English churches. Wilfrid, Bishop of
Lindisferne, the sole prelate of the Northumbrian kingdom, increased
this subjection in the eighth century, by his making an appeal to Rome
against the decisions of an English synod, which had abridged his
diocese by the erection of some new bishoprics [w]. Agatho, the pope,
readily embraced this precedent of an appeal to his court; and
Wilfrid, though the haughtiest and most luxurious prelate of his age
[x], having obtained with the people the character of sanctity, was
thus able to lay the foundation of this papal pretension.
[FN [w] See Appendix to Bede, numb. 19. Higden, lib. 5. [x] Eddius,
vita Vilfr. § 24, 60]
The great topic by which Wilfrid confounded the imaginations of men
was, that St. Peter, to whose custody the keys of heaven were
intrusted, would certainly refuse admittance to every one who should
be wanting in respect to his successor. This conceit, well suited to
vulgar conceptions, made great impression on the people during several
ages, and has not even at present lost all influence in the catholic
countries.
Had this abject superstition produced general peace and tranquillity,
it had made some atonement for the ill attending it; but besides the
usual avidity of men for power and riches, frivolous controversies in
theology were engendered by it, which were so much the more fatal, as
they admitted not, like the others, of any final determination from
established possession. The disputes excited in Britain were of the
most ridiculous kind, and entirely worthy of those ignorant and
barbarous ages. There were some intricacies, observed by all the
Christian churches, in adjusting the day of keeping Easter, which
depended on a complicated consideration of the course of the sun and
moon: and it happened that the missionaries, who had converted the
Scots and Britons, had followed a different calendar from that which
was observed at Rome in the age when Augustine converted the Saxons.
The priests also of all the Christian churches were accustomed to
shave part of their head; but the form given to this tonsure was
different in the former from what was practised in the latter. The
Scots and Britons pleaded the antiquity of THEIR usages; the Romans,
and their disciples, the Saxons, insisted on the universality of
THEIRS. That Easter must necessarily be kept by a rule, which
comprehended both the day of the year and age of the moon, was agreed
by all; that the tonsure of a priest could not be omitted without the
utmost impiety, was a point undisputed; but the Romans and Saxons
called their antagonists schismatics, because they celebrated Easter
on the very day of the full moon in March, if that day fell on a
Sunday, instead of waiting till the Sunday following; and because they
shaved the forepart of their head from ear to ear, instead of making
that tonsure on the crown of the head, and in a circular form. In
order to render their antagonists odious, they affirmed, that once in
seven years, they concurred with the Jews in the time of celebrating
that festival [y]; and that they might recommend their own form of
tonsure, they maintained that it imitated symbolically the crown of
thorns worn by Christ in his passion, whereas the other form was
invented by Simon Magus, without any regard to that representation
[z]. These controversies had, from the beginning, excited such
animosity between the British and Romish priests, that, instead of
concurring in their endeavours to convert the idolatrous Saxons, they
refused all communion together, and each regarded his opponent as no
better than a pagan [a]. The dispute lasted more than a century, and
was at last finished, not by mens discovering the folly of it, which
would have been too great an effort for human reason to accomplish,
but by the entire prevalence of the Romish ritual over the Scotch and
British [b]. Wilfrid, Bishop of Lindisferne, acquired great merit,
both with the court of Rome and with all the Southern Saxons, by
expelling the quartodeciman schism, as it was called, from the
Northumbrian kingdom, into which the neighbourhood of the Scots had
formerly introduced it [c].
[FN [y] Bede, lib. 2. cap. 19. [z] Ibid. lib. 5. cap. 21. Eddius,
Sec. 24. [a] Bede, lib. 2. cap. 2. 4. 20. Eddius, Sec. 12. [b]
Bede, lib. 5. cap. 16, 22. [c] Bede, lib. 3. cap. 25. Eddius, Sec.
12]
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, called, in the year 680, a synod
at Hatfield, consisting of all the bishops in Britain [d], where was
accepted and ratified the decree of the Lateran council, summoned by
Martin, against the heresy of the Monothelites. The council and synod
maintained, in opposition to these heretics, that though the divine
and human nature in Christ made but one person, yet they had different
inclinations, wills, acts, and sentiments, and that the unity of the
person implied not unity in the consciousness [e]. This opinion it
seems somewhat difficult to comprehend; and no one, unacquainted with
the ecclesiastical history of those ages, could imagine the height of
zeal and violence with which it was then inculcated. The decree of
the Lateran council calls the Monothelites impious, execrable, wicked,
abominable, and even diabolical; and curses and anathematizes them to
all eternity [f].
[FN [d] Spell. Conc. vol. 1. p. 168. [e] Spell. Conc. vol. 1. p. 171.
[f] Ibid. p. 172, 173, 174.]
The Saxons, from the first introduction of Christianity among them,
had admitted the use of images; and perhaps, that religion, without
some of those exterior ornaments, had not made so quick a progress
with these idolaters: but they had not paid any species of worship or
address to images; and this abuse never prevailed among Christians,
till it received the sanction of the second council of Nice.