THE SAXON CLERGY.
The sources from which we obtain the fullest details of the religious life
of the Saxon priests and people are the laws of their kings and the canons
of their synods; and perhaps the most convenient way of presenting the
information which these contain will be partly to give a series of
quotations from them in chronological order, with such explanations as may
seem necessary; partly to group them according to their subject; using one
method or the other as may seem best to serve our purpose.
Of the earlier part of the period three codes of law have come down to
us--that of Ethelbert of Kent, between 597 and 604; of Ine King of the
West Saxons, probably 690; and of Wihtred of Kent, 696. We must bear in
mind that the bishops and chief clergy of the kingdom were present at the
Witan of the Saxon kings, as well as the chiefs and wise men; and that the
kings and chief laymen were often present at the ecclesiastical synods;
so that both laws and canons express the mind of the whole people.
The laws of Ethelbert are the earliest written code of the English race.
They begin with the enactment, “If the property of God (_i.e._ of the
Church) be stolen, twelve-fold compensation shall be made; for a bishop’s
property, eleven-fold; a priest’s, nine-fold; a deacon’s, six-fold; a
clerk’s, three-fold; church frith, two-fold; minster frith, two-fold.” A
law of Earconbert of Kent (640) commanded the destruction of the temples
and idols in that kingdom.
The laws of Ine, King of the West Saxons (688-725), are said in the
preamble to be made “by the consent and advice of Ceadwalla, his father,
and of Heddi, his bishop, and of Earconwald, his bishop, and with all his
ealdormen, and the distinguished Witan of his people, and also with a
large assembly of God’s servants (the clergy).” The first of his laws is
(1) that God’s servants rightly hold their lawful rule. Then it goes on to
enact (2) that children be baptized within thirty days, under a penalty of
30_s._, and if one die unbaptized the father shall make bôt[45] for it
with all that he has. Then come enactments (3, 4, 5), against doing any
work on the Sunday, on the payments to be made to the clergy, and on the
privilege of sanctuary, which will be more conveniently grouped with
similar enactments later on; (6) if a man fight in a king’s house he shall
forfeit all his property; if in a minster, he shall make bôt of 120_s._;
(7) if a man before a bishop belie his testimony he shall forfeit 120_s._;
(61) church scot shall be paid according to where a man’s roof and hearth
are at midwinter; (76) inflicts a special fine for slaying a godson or
godfather--if it be a bishop’s son,[46] it is to be half the amount.
The preamble to the laws of Wihtred of Kent, in 696, states that they were
made at “a deliberative convention of the great men,” the Archbishop
Birhtwald and Bishop Gebmund of Rochester being present, “and every degree
of the Church of that province spoke in unison with the obedient people.”
The first law (1) gives the Church freedom in jurisdiction and revenue;
(6) a priest guilty of misconduct or negligence to be suspended till the
doom of the bishop; (9, 10, 11) on the observance of Sunday, are the same
as in the laws of King Ine, quoted p. 79; (12, 13) seek to suppress the
old heathenism by imposing on a man forfeiture of all his substance for
making offerings to devils, and the same on his wife if she shared in his
offence; a theowe for the same offence is to forfeit 6_s._ or “pay with
his skin;”[47] (14, 15) impose penalties for not abstaining from flesh on
fasting days; (16, 17) relate to the value of the oaths of various classes
of people, and are dealt with at p. 77. One of the most important laws of
Wihtred is that which is called “the privilege of Wihtred,” given at a
Witan held at Bapchild, attended by the king and nobles, as well as by the
two bishops and clergy, which released the lands of monasteries from gabel
or land-tax, and obliged the tenants only to attend the king in war and to
pay burgh bôt and brig bôt, _i.e._ payments levied for the repair of
town-walls and bridges. This privilege was confirmed in the first year of
King Ethelbald of Mercia at the Council of Clovesho (716). It was granted
by other Saxon kings also in their charters.
* * * * *
The decrees of a council at Clovesho, in 747, require a few words of
preface. In 745 Boniface, “the Apostle of Germany,” had presided at a
synod of Frank bishops, at Augsburg,[48] which had made canons for the
reform of abuses, and had formally accepted the supremacy of Rome.
Boniface sent a copy of these canons to his friend Cuthbert, Archbishop of
Canterbury, clearly wishing him to take like measures.
The first canon of this Synod enacted that metropolitans should be obliged
to apply to Rome for their pall, and obey the orders of St. Peter in
everything according to the canons. Another canon to the same end decreed
that if the people refuse to submit to the discipline of the Church, the
bishops shall appeal to the archbishop of the province, and the archbishop
to the Pope.
Two years afterwards Zacharias, Bishop of Rome, sent letters by the hands
of two legates “to the English inhabitants of Britain,” in which he
admonishes them to reform their lives, and holds out threats of
excommunication against those who neglect to do so.[49]
The Pope’s action was clearly intended to induce the English Church to
imitate the submission of the Frankish Church. A synod was assembled at
Clovesho, A.D. 747, attended by twelve English bishops of the dioceses
south of the Humber and a number of their clergy, and by Ethelbald, King
of the Mercians, who was over lord of all the English kingdoms south of
the Humber. The Pope’s letter was read in Latin and English, and then the
synod proceeded to draw up a number of canons.
[Illustration: A Saxon bishop and priest. (From Cotton MS., Claudius, B.
iv.)]
The omissions, compared with the canons of the German Council, are the
most important part of the document. The first canon decreed that every
bishop should be careful to support his character (_i.e._ his status as a
bishop), execute every part of his office, and maintain the canons and
constitutions of the Church against encroachment; and the second that the
bishops and clergy should be careful to keep a good correspondence with
each other, without any flattering applications to any person, considering
that they are the servants of one master, and entrusted with the same
commission; and, therefore, though they are divided by distance of place
and country, they ought to be united by affection and pray for each other
that every one may discharge his office with integrity and conscience.
Then there follow disciplinary canons: (3) that the clergy should call
together the people of all ranks and degrees in each place, preach to them
the word of God, and forbid them to follow the heathen customs; (2) that
the bishops should visit their dioceses every year; (4, 5, and 7) relate
to monasteries; (6) bishops not to ordain priests without examination as
to learning and morals; (8) priests to abstract themselves from worldly
affairs and give themselves to reading, prayer, etc.; (9) to preach,
baptize, and inspect the morals of the people in those precincts and
districts assigned to them by their bishops--which implies the existence
of subdivisions of dioceses into various jurisdictions, and the existence
of parishes; (10) priests to be thoroughly acquainted with the doctrines
and services of the church, to teach the Creed and Lord’s Prayer, and
explain the sacraments; (11) to be uniform in their preaching and
ministration; (12) regulates church music and ceremonies, canons not to
intrude upon things which belong to the bishop; (13, 14, 15, 16, 18) on
the observance of Sundays, holy days, the seven hours of prayer,
rogations, and ember days; (17) appoints that the days on which St.
Gregory and St. Augustine died shall be kept as holy days, and their names
be included in the litanies.
Canons (21) and (22) enjoin on the clergy sobriety and propriety of
conduct, and ever-fitness for celebration and reception of Holy Communion.
(26) enjoins the bishops to convene their clergy and abbots, and
communicate to them the decisions of the council, and command their
observance; and if there is any disorder too strong for the bishop’s
correction, he is to report it to the archbishop at the next meeting of
the synod--but not a word of a reference beyond him to the Pope. (27) is
on the singing of the psalms with recollection and pious dispositions and
posture of respect, and of prayers--and among them of prayers for the
departed;[50] and those who do not understand Latin are to pray in the
vulgar tongue.
(26) and (27) are specially notable as directed against what seem to have
been growing errors; they explain that alms are not to be given to commute
penance and dispense with the discipline of the Church, and so procure a
liberty of sinning; that those who think that God can be bribed thus, make
their alms useless to them, and add to their guilt. Also that it is folly
and presumption to think that a man condemned to penance may procure
others to fast, say psalms, and distribute charity on his behalf; that if
a man may thus buy his punishment and get others to repent for him, a rich
man would be sure of salvation, and only the poor be in danger. The last
canon enjoins that kings and princes and the whole body of the people be
publicly prayed for in church.[51]
It is to be observed that the Northumbrian king was not present with his
nobles and bishops at this synod; for eleven years previously (in 736) the
Bishop of York had obtained the dignity of an archbishop with the
Northumbrian churches as his province. The Papal legates visited the
north, but we have no account of their doings there.
* * * * *
The laws of King Alfred are prefaced by a recapitulation of the early
history of the Church, and recite the decree of the apostles at the Synod
of Jerusalem. Then the king goes on to say that many synods were assembled
in the old times, among the English race, after they had received the
Faith of Christ, and ordained a “tort” for many misdeeds. Out of those
laws which he had met with, either of the days of Ine his kinsman, of
Offa, King of the Mercians, or of Ethelbryht who first among the English
race received baptism, the things which seemed to him most right he had
gathered together and rejected others. He had then showed them to the
witan, and they declared that it seemed good to them all that they should
be observed. We conclude that the codes of Ethelbert, Ine, and Offa (which
last has not come down to us) were the principal codes then known. We
select several of the laws of Alfred which deal with new matter.
1. If a man pledge himself and break his pledge, he is to surrender his
weapons and goods to the keeping of his friends, and be in prison forty
days in a bishop’s town, and suffer there whatever the bishop may
prescribe; his friends to find him food; if he have none, then the king’s
reeve to do it; if he escape, to be excommunicated of all Christ’s
churches. If a man seek a church and confess an offence not before known,
let it be half forgiven--_i.e._ let him pay half the penalty.
One of the laws agreed upon between King Alfred and Guthrum was, if any
man wrong an ecclesiastic or a foreigner as to money or life, the king or
earl and the bishop shall be to the injured in the place of kinsman and
protector.
Among the laws of Athelstan (925-940), (3) directs that there be sung,
every Friday at every monastery, a fifty (of psalms) for the king, and for
all who will what he wills, and for others as they may merit; (7)
describes the ordeal by fire and by water.[52]
Among the laws of King Edmund (940-946) made at the Synod of London,
“Odda, archbishop, and Wulfstan, archbishop, and many other bishops being
present,” it was ordered (1) that those in holy orders who have to teach
God’s people by their life’s example keep their chastity according to
their degree; (5) that every bishop repair the houses of God in his
[district (?)], and also remind the king that all God’s churches be well
conditioned.
* * * * *
The “Canons of Edgar” (A.D. 959-975)[53] were made under the reforming
influence of Archbishop Dunstan, and were intended as a standard of life
and duty for the clergy. They begin with the recognition, which is
amplified and emphasized in the laws of subsequent reigns, that the great
duty which the order of the clergy perform in the service of the nation is
to celebrate the worship of Almighty God, and offer up prayers on behalf
of the king and people. We give the substance of the canons as briefly as
possible, but without any material omission, so that the reader may feel
assured that he has the whole body of the legislation before him.
They decree that the ministers of God devoutly serve and minister to God,
and intercede for all Christian folk; be faithful and obedient to their
seniors (bishops, abbots, etc.); ready to help others, both Godward and
manward; and be to their earthly lords true and faithful; that they honour
one another, the juniors diligently hearing and loving their seniors, and
the seniors diligently teaching the juniors.
That every one come to the synod yearly, attended by his clerk, and an
orderly man as his servant; that he bring his books and vestments,[54] and
ink and parchment for the constitutions;[55] and food for three days. That
the priest report to the synod if any one has done him any serious injury,
and that all should regard it as done to themselves, and obtain
compensation according as the bishop shall determine. He shall also report
if any one in his parish lives openly against God, or has done mortal
sin, whom he cannot move to amendment, or dare not for fear.
That no dispute between priests shall be brought before secular judges,
but reconciled by their fellows or referred to the bishop; no priest shall
desert the church to which he was ordained, but hold to it as his lawful
spouse. That he do not deprive another of anything which belongs to him
either in his church or parish or gildship; he shall not take another’s
scholar without his leave; that in addition to lore, he diligently learn a
handicraft; that the learned priest do not throw scorn on the half
learned, but correct him; that the well-born priest do not despise the
low-born, for if he will consider all men are of one birth; that he
administer baptism as soon as asked, and bid every one to bring his
children to be baptized within thirty-seven days[56] of their birth and
not defer too long to have them confirmed by the bishop.
That he diligently promote Christianity, and banish heathenism, and forbid
well-worship, necromancy, augury, man-worship, incantations, and many
things which they practise with various spells, and “frithsplottum,”[57]
and wich-elms and various trees and stones, and other phantasms by which
many are deceived, and that devil’s craft whereby children are drawn
through the earth, and the merriment that men make on the night of the
year (New Year’s Eve).
That every Christian diligently train his child and teach him the
Paternoster and Credo;[58] that on festivals men abstain from profane
songs and devil’s games, and on Sundays from trading and folk motes; that
men cease from lies and foolish talking and blasphemy; and from
concubinage, and have lawful wives; that every man learn the Paternoster
and Credo if he desire to lie in holy ground [at his burial], and be
considered housel-worthy [fit to receive Holy Communion], because he is
not a good Christian who is not willing to learn these, nor may rightly be
a sponsor at baptism nor at confirmation; that there be no contentions on
festival or fasting days, nor oaths, nor ordeals.
That the priests keep the churches with all reverence for the Divine
ministry and pure worship, and for nothing else; nor do anything
unbecoming there nor in the vicinity; nor allow idle talking, idle deeds,
unbecoming drinkings, nor any other idle practices; nor allow dogs in the
churchyard, nor more swine than a man is able to manage [or no dog nor
swine so far as a man can prevent it], that nothing unbecoming be placed
in the church; that at the church-wake men keep sober and pray diligently,
nor practise drinking, nor anything else unbecoming; that no one be buried
in church unless he was known when living to be so well pleasing to God as
to be worthy of it.
That the priest do not celebrate the Eucharist in any house, but only in
the church, except in case of extreme sickness, and do not consecrate
except upon a consecrated altar,[59] and not without book and the canon of
the mass before his eyes, that he make no mistakes, and that he have a
corporal when he celebrates, and a _subuculum_[60] under his albe, and all
necessary things rightly appointed, and have a good and correct book, and
not without some one to make the responses; that every one receive fasting
except in case of extreme sickness; that the priest reserve the host ready
for any that need; that he celebrate with pure wine and pure water; that
no priest celebrate mass without partaking, or hallow it unless he is
holy. That the chalice be of molten material, never of wood; that all
things which approach the altar or belong to the church be purely and
worthily appointed, and that there be always lights in the church at mass;
that there be no negligence about anything consecrated, holy water, salt,
incense, bread, nor anything holy; that no woman come near the altar while
the priest celebrates.
That at the right times the bell be rung, and the priest say his hours in
church, or there pray and intercede for all men.[61] That no priest come
into the church or into his stall without his upper garment, or minister
without his vestment. That no man in orders conceal his tonsure, or leave
it badly shaven, or wear his beard long; that priests be not ignorant of
fasts or festivals, lest they lead the people wrong.[62]
That every one accompany his fasts with almsgiving; that “priests in
ecclesiastical ministries be all on one equality, and in a year’s space,
be like-worthy in all ecclesiastical ministries;”[63] that they diligently
teach the young handicrafts, that the Church may be helped thereby.
That priests preach every Sunday, and well explain. That no Christian eat
blood of any kind. That they teach the people to pay their dues to God,
plough-alms fifteen days after Easter, the tithe of young at Pentecost,
fruits of the earth at All Saints, Peter’s penny on St. Peter’s day, and
church scot at Martinmas. That priests so distribute people’s alms as to
please God, and dispose the people to almsgiving; they shall sing psalms
when they distribute alms, and bid the poor pray for the people. That
priests avoid drunkenness, and warn the people against it; that they
eschew unbecoming occupations, as ale-scop or glee man, but behave
discreetly and worthily; abstain from oaths and forbid them; not consort
too much with women, but love their own spouse, that is, their church; not
bear false witness, or be the confidant of thieves; that the priest have
not to do with ordeals or oaths, or be compurgator with a thane, unless
the thane take the first oath; be not a hunter, or hawker, or dicer, but
occupy himself with his books, as becomes his order.
That every priest hear confession and give penance, and carry the
Eucharist to the sick, and anoint him if he desire it, and after death not
allow any idle customs about the body, but bury it decently in the fear of
God. That every priest have oil for baptism, and also for anointing the
sick. Let him promote Christianity in every way, as well by preaching as
by good example, and he shall be rewarded by God Almighty; and let him
remember when he fetches the chrism [at the yearly synod] to say the
prayers for the king and the bishop.
* * * * *
The laws of King Ethelred (979-1016), made with the counsel of both the
ecclesiastical and lay witan, are conceived in a very Christian spirit,
and expressed with considerable eloquence. We think it worth while to give
in full some of them which relate to the general desire of the authorities
in Church and State to promote religion. (1) This, then, is first, that we
all love and worship one God, and zealously hold one Christianity, and
every heathenship totally cast out, that every man be regarded as entitled
to right, and peace and friendship be lawfully observed. (2) That
Christian men and uncondemned be not sold out of the country, and
especially into a heathen nation, that those souls perish not that Christ
bought with His own life. (3) That Christian men be not condemned to death
for all too little, and in general let light punishments be decreed, and
let not for a little God’s handiwork and His own purchase which He dearly
bought be destroyed. (4) That every man of every order readily submit to
the law which belongs to him; above all, let the servants of God, bishops
and abbots, monks and mynchens, priests and nuns,[64] live according to
their rule, and fervently intercede for all Christian people. (5, 6) Monks
are not to live out of minster, but to observe specially three things:
their chastity and monkish customs, and the service of the Lord. (7)
Canons, where their benefice is, so that they have a refectory and
dormitory, are to keep their minster rightly; and mass-priests to keep
themselves from the anger of God. (9) Full well they know that they have
not rightly, through concubinage, intercourse with women; he who will
abstain from this and serve God rightly, shall be worthy of thane-wēr, and
thane-right both in life and in the grave; he who will not, let his honour
wane before God and before the world. (10) Let every church be in grith
(protection) of God and the king, and of all Christian people; let no man
henceforth reduce a church to servitude, nor unlawfully make
church-mongering, nor turn out a church minister without the bishop’s
counsel. (11) God’s dues are to be willingly paid, plough-alms, tithe of
young, earth fruits, Rome fee, and light scot thrice a year,[65] and soul
scot at the open grave, or, if buried elsewhere, to be paid to the minster
to which it belongs. (13-19) Sundays and holy days are defined as in
previous laws, and at those holy tides let there be to all men peace and
concord, and be every strife appeased. (22) Let every Christian man
strictly keep his Christianity, and go frequently to shrift and housel.
(23) Let every injustice and wrong-doing be carefully cast out of the
country, and (26) God’s laws be zealously loved by word and deed, then
will God soon be merciful to this nation.[66] Lastly (34), it is the duty
of us all to love and worship one God and strictly hold one Christianity,
and totally cast out every kind of heathenism; and (35) let us faithfully
support one royal lord, and all defend life and land together as best we
may, and to God Almighty pray with inward heart.
* * * * *
The canons which go under the name of Elfric, and are of the end of the
tenth century, add a little to the knowledge we have already gleaned. The
10th canon gives a list of the seven orders of the clergy under the degree
of bishop, viz. ostiarius, lector, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon,
and priest, and defines their several offices. (17) reckons a priest and a
bishop to be of the same order. (19) requires the priests and inferior
clergy to be at church at the seven canonical hours: _Uhtsang_ (Prime)
about 4 a.m., _Primsang_ (Matins) 6 a.m., _Undersang_ (Terce) at 9,
_Middaysang_ (Sext) at noon, _Nonsang_ (Nones) at 3 p.m., _Æfensang_
(Vespers), and _Nightsang_ (Nocturns). (21) Every priest before ordination
to be furnished with correct copies of the Psalter, Book of Epistles and
Gospels, Missal, Hymnary, Penitential, and Lectionary. (23) The parish
priest, every Sunday and holy day, is to explain to the people in English
the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Gospel for the day. (25) Not to
celebrate in a house except one be sick. (27) No priest is to take money
for baptism or other office. (28) Priests are not to remove from one
parish to another for the sake of advantage, but to remain in the cure to
which they were ordained. (29) Not to turn merchant, soldier, or lawyer.
(30) To have always two oils, one for children, the other for the sick.
(33) Orders the canons of the first four councils to be regarded like the
four Gospels; “there have been many councils held in later ages, but these
four are of the greatest authority.” (36) “The housel is Christ’s body,
not bodily but spiritually, not the body in which He suffered, but the
body about which He spake, when He blessed bread and wine for housel....
Understand now that the Lord who could before His passion change the bread
to His body and the wine to His blood spiritually, that the same daily
blesses, by the hands of His priests, the bread and wine to His spiritual
body and blood.”
* * * * *
An important feature in the administration of criminal law was the
recognition of the right of _Sanctuary_ to the house of the king and the
churches, which had probably been introduced from the imperial law by the
influence of the missionaries. The laws of Ine recognize the right of
sanctuary to a church; a murderer taking sanctuary is to have his life
but to make bôt, according to law, a theowe who has incurred scourging
shall be excused the penalty.
The laws of Alfred allow three days’ sanctuary in the “mynsterham,” which
is free from the king’s farm, or any other free community, with a bôt of
120_s._ for its violation, to be paid to the brotherhood; and seven days
in every church hallowed by the bishop, with the penalty of the king’s
“mund and byrd” and the church’s “frith” for its violation. The Church
ealdor is to take care that no one give food to the refugee. If he be
willing to give up his weapons to his foes, then let them keep him thirty
days, and give notice to his kinsmen (that they may arrange the legal
bôt[67]). King Athelstan’s laws further modify the right of sanctuary; a
thief or robber fleeing to the king or to any church, or to the bishop, is
to have a term of nine days; if he flee to an ealdorman, or an abbot, or a
thane, three days; and he who harbours him longer is to be worthy of the
same penalty as the thief. The king’s grith (protection) is to extend from
his burhgate where he is dwelling, on its four sides three miles three
furlongs and three acres breadth, and nine feet nine palms and nine
barley-corns. A law of Canute already quoted (p. 53) assigns different
values of grith (protection) to the different kinds of churches, the grith
bryce (penalty for violation of grith) of a chief minster is £5; of a
minster of the middle class, 120_s._, and of one yet less where there is a
small parish (lytel þeoþðom, in the laws of Henry I.), provided there be a
burial-place, 60_s._, and of a field-church, where there is no
burial-place, 30_s._
Akin to this privilege of sanctuary is the penalty for acts of violence in
certain places and before certain persons. By the laws of King Ine, if any
man fight in a king’s house he shall forfeit all his property; if in a
minster, make bôt of 120_s._ By the laws of King Alfred, if a man fight or
draw his weapon before an archbishop he shall make bôt of 150_s._; if
before a bishop or an ealdorman, 100_s._ The laws of Alfred enact that if
any man steal from a church he shall restore it and lose his hand, or
redeem his hand at the amount of his “wergild;” it is to be remembered
that churches were used as places of deposit for valuables, and the law
probably is intended to protect these as well as the movables belonging to
the church itself.
The laws of Wihtred of Kent make the word of a king or a bishop
incontrovertible without an oath; a priest, like a king’s thane, is to
clear himself with his own oath at the altar; he is to stand before the
altar in his vestments, and laying his hand upon the altar, to say,
“_Veritatem dico in Christo, non mentior_;”[68] the superior of a
monastery is to make oath like a priest; a clerk, like a “ceorlish man,”
to make like oath at the altar, but to have four compurgators. The rank of
a priest as equal to that of a thane is frequently recognized.[69] The
laws of Ine (15 and 19), make the oath of a man who is a communicant worth
twice as much as that of a man who is not.
It is convenient to gather into one view what the laws say about the
_Tithe and other Payments_ which the people made to the church. The laws
did not then for the first time enact these payments. The first
missionaries had no doubt taught the people that it was the duty of
Christian men to maintain the church and the clergy by tithes and
offerings. If the assertion be true that the people had been accustomed to
pay tithe to their heathen priests, and there is evidence in favour of the
probability, then it came the easier to them.[70] The kings and their
witans, in this as in many other matters, recognized and gave the sanction
of law to existing custom. The payment of tithe was recognized as
obligatory in the Legatine Council of Cealchythe in 785, which being
attended and confirmed by the Kings of Kent, Mercia, Wessex, and
Northumbria, and their ealdormen, had the authority of a Witenagemot, just
at the time that similar measures were being taken in the Frank dominions.
From that time the payment was frequently mentioned in the laws. The laws
of King Alfred define the tithe as of “moving and growing things.” The
laws of King Edmund enact that every man pay tithe, church scot, Rome fee,
and plough-alms on pain of excommunication. The laws of Edgar define to
whom the payment shall be made, viz. to the old minster to which the
district belongs; a thane who has a church at which there is a
burial-place, may pay a third of his tithe to his own priest; if the
thane’s church is without a burial-place, he is to pay his tithe to the
minster, and church scot and plough-alms are also to be paid to the
minster, and the thane may pay to his priest what he will. They also
recite the times at which these payments are to be made on penalty of the
full “wite” (fine to the king) which the Doom-book specifies. They also
prescribe a process for the recovery of tithe; the king’s reeve and the
bishop’s reeve, with the priest of the minster to whom it is due, are to
take the tithe by force, and the rest is to be forfeited half to the king
and half to the bishop, whether the defaulter be a king’s man or a
thane’s. The payment of the “hearth penny” (St. Peter’s penny) is to be
enforced by a very curious process: the defaulter is to be taken to
Rome--perhaps it means to the house of the pope’s agent, for the
collection of Peter pence--and, in addition to what is due, is to pay
30_d._, and bring a certificate of the payment, and then is to forfeit
120_s._ to the king; if he refuse, he is to be taken again to Rome, and on
his return to forfeit 200_s._; and if he still refuse, he is to forfeit
all that he has. The severity of the enactment suggests the question
whether there was at that time on the part of some persons a special
unwillingness to pay the “penny of St. Peter.”
* * * * *
The _religious observance of Sunday_ was the subject of frequent
enactments. The third of the laws of Ine enacts that if a theow work on
Sunday by his lord’s command, the theow shall be exempt from penalty, but
his lord shall pay 30_s._; if the theow work of his own accord (since he
has no money), he shall “pay with his skin,” _i.e._ shall be scourged. If
a free man work on that day without his lord’s command, he shall forfeit
his freedom or pay 60_s._; a priest offending shall be liable to a double
penalty. The laws of Wihtred of Kent contain enactments to the same
effect. The laws of Alfred encourage the observance of other holy days by
the enactment that “to all free men these days be given” (_i.e._ free men
are not to be required by their lords to work on these days): twelve days
at the Nativity, Good Friday--“the day on which Christ conquered the
devil,” St. Gregory’s day, seven days before Easter and seven days after,
St. Peter’s day and St. Paul’s day, in autumn a full week before the
festival of St. Brice (Nov. 13), one day before All Saints, and the four
Wednesdays in the four fasting (Ember) weeks. The law does not free
theowes from work on these days, but suggests to their masters to give
them, in God’s name, such relaxation from work on such of these days as
they shall deserve. The laws of Edgar define that Sunday is to be kept
from noontide of Saturday till dawn of Monday. At the Council of Eynsham
(1009), it was further enjoined that there be no markets or folk motes
(the laws of Canute also forbid hunting) on Sundays; that all St. Mary’s
feast tides be honoured with those of every apostle, and Fridays be kept
as a fast. Festivals of English saints were from time to time added to the
Kalendar. We have seen that the Council of Clovesho (747), decreed the
observance of days in honour of St. Gregory and St. Augustine. In the
decrees of the Council of Enysham we find: “The witan have chosen that St.
Edward’s mass day shall be celebrated all over England on the XV. Kal.
Apr.” (March 18). The laws of Canute repeat the obligation of the previous
holy days, and after mention of the witan’s appointment of a festival of
St. Edward, add a festival of St. Dunstan on XIV. Kal. Junias (May 19).
* * * * *
_Slavery_ was a recognized institution of the society of those times. The
class of “theowmen” was probably made up partly of conquered Britons and
their descendants, partly of captives taken in the mutual wars of the
heptarchic kingdoms, partly of freemen who had been condemned to this
penalty for their crimes or incurred it by poverty. A prominent feature of
the influence of Christianity was the encouragement it gave to masters to
treat their theowes with kindness, and its success in promoting their
manumission as an action well-pleasing to God. Several of the codes of law
deal with the subject. We have seen already how the legislation on the
observance of Sundays and holy days did not go so far as to interfere with
the right of the masters, but did invite them, for the love of God, to
give their theowes some relaxation of labour on the great festivals of the
Church. A law of Wihtred, King of Kent, defines that if any one give
freedom to his man at the altar, he shall be folk-free, though it retains
to the freedom-giver the heritage and wergild and mund of his family. A
law of Ine enacts that he who sells over sea his own countryman, bond or
free, though he be guilty, shall pay according to his wēr.
A law of Alfred enacts that if any man buy a Christian slave, he shall
serve for six years, and on the seventh he shall go out as he came in,
with the same clothes, etc.; if he came in with a wife he shall go out
with her, but if the lord have given him a wife, she and her children
shall still belong to the lord. A law of Ethelred (978-1016) enacts that a
slave (uncondemned) shall not be sold out of the country.
The Church set the example of the manumission of its slaves.[71] At the
Council of Cealchithe (816) it was unanimously agreed that each prelate at
his death should bequeath one-tenth of his personal property to the poor,
and set at liberty all bondsmen of English descent whom his Church had
acquired during his administration, and that each bishop and abbot who
survived him should manumit three of his slaves, and give 3_s._ to each.
The laity followed the example. In the English wills published by
Thorpe[72] a considerable number occur in which the testator gives freedom
to serfs, _e.g._ Queen Æthelflæd sets free half of her men in every vill;
Wynflæd gives a long list of serfs by name who are to be freed, and the
freedom of penal serfs is given in nine other wills.
Still the institution continued. At the end of the Saxon period, a
thriving trade in the export of English slaves was carried on at Bristol,
till Bishop Wulstan put an end to it. The Twenty-ninth Canon of the Synod
of Westminster, held under Anselm in 1102, enacted that there should be no
buying and selling of men in England as heretofore, as if they were kine
or oxen. But this did not put a stop to it. Slaves were bought and sold by
Church dignitaries as late as the fourteenth century, as we shall see in a
later chapter, and the status of serfdom continued to the sixteenth
century.
[Illustration: Coronation of Harold by Archbishop Stigand. Bayeux
tapestry.]