[1] i.e. in the Devereux line.
ESSEX, an eastern county of England, bounded N. by Cambridgeshire and
Suffolk, E. by the North Sea, S. by the Thames, dividing it from Kent,
W. by the administrative county of London and by Hertfordshire. Its area
is 1542 sq. m. Its configuration is sufficiently indicated by the
direction of its rivers. Except that in the N.W. the county includes the
heads of a few valleys draining northward to the Cam and so to the Great
Ouse, all the streams, which are never of great size, run southward and
eastward, either into the Thames, or into the North Sea by way of the
broad, shallow estuaries which ramify through the flat coast lands. The
highest ground lies consequently in the north-west, between the Cam
basin and the rivers of the county. Its principal southward extension is
that between the Lea (which with its tributary the Stort forms a great
part of the western boundary) and the Roding, and east of the Roding
valley. The other chief rivers may be specified according to their
estuaries, following the coast northward from Shoeburyness at the Thames
mouth. That of the Roach ramifies among several islands of which
Foulness is the largest, but its main branch joins the Crouch estuary.
Next follows the Blackwater, which receives the Chelmer, the Brain and
other streams. Following a coast of numerous creeks and islets, with the
large island of Mersea, the Colne estuary is reached. The Colne and
Blackwater may be said to form one large estuary, as they enter the sea
by a well-marked common mouth, 5 m. in width, between Sales Point and
Colne Point. There is a great irregular inlet (Hamford Water) receiving
no large stream, W. of the Naze promontory, and then the Stour, bounding
the county on the north, joins its estuary to that of the Orwell near
the sea. There are several seaside watering-places in favour owing to
their proximity to London, of which Southend-on-Sea above the mouth of
the Thames, Clacton-on-Sea, Walton-on-the-Naze, and Dovercourt adjoining
Harwich are the chief. These and other stations on the estuaries are
also in favour with yachtsmen. The sea has at some points seriously
encroached upon the land within historic times. The low soft cliffs at
various points are liable to give way against the waves; in other parts
dykes and embankments are necessary to prevent inundation. Inland, that
is apart from the flat coast-district, the country is pleasantly
undulating and for the most part well wooded. It was formerly, indeed,
almost wholly forested, the great Waltham Forest stretching from
Colchester to the confines of London. Of this a fragment is preserved in
Epping Forest (see EPPING) between the Lea and the Roding. On the other
side of the Roding Hainault Forest is traceable, but was disafforested
in 1851. The oak is the principal tree; a noteworthy example was that of
Fairlop in Hainault, which measured 45 ft. in girth, but was blown down
in 1820.
_Geology._--The geological structure of the county is very simple: the
greater part is occupied by the London clay with underlying Reading
beds and Thanet sands, with here and there small patches of Bagshot
gravels on elevated tracts, as at High Beech, Langdon Hill, Brentwood
and Rayleigh; and occasionally the same beds are represented by the
large boulder-like Sarsen stones on the lower ground. In the north,
the chalk, which underlies the Tertiary strata over the whole county,
appears at the surface and forms the downs about Saffron Walden,
Birdbrook and Great Yeldham; it is brought up again by a small
disturbance at Grays Thurrock where it is quarried on a large scale
for lime, cement and whiting. Small patches of Pleistocene Red Crag
rest upon the Eocene strata at Beaumont and Oakley, and are very well
exposed at Walton-on-the-Naze where they are very fossiliferous. Most
of the county is covered by a superficial deposit of glacial drifts,
sands, gravel and in places boulder clay, as at Epping, Dunmow and
Hornchurch where the drift lies beneath the Thames gravel. An
interesting feature in relation to the glacial drift is a deep trough
in the Cam valley revealed by borings to be no less than 340 ft. deep
at Newport; this ancient valley is filled with drift. In the southern
part of the county are broad spreads of gravel and brick earth, formed
by the Thames; these have been excavated for brick-making and building
purposes about Ilford, Romford and Grays, and have yielded the remains
of hippopotamus, rhinoceros and mammoth. More recent alluvial deposits
are found in the valley at Walthamstow and Tilbury, in which the
remains of the beaver have been discovered.
The roads of this county with a clay soil foundation were for
generations repaired with flints picked by women and children from the
surface of the fields. Gravel is difficult of access. With the
exception of chalk for lime (mainly obtained at Ballingdon in the
north and Grays in the south), septaria for making cement, and clay
for bricks, the underground riches of the county are meagre.
_Agriculture._--As an agricultural county Essex ranks high. Some
four-fifths of the total area is under cultivation, and about one-third
of that area is in permanent pasture. Wheat, barley and oats, in that
relative order, are the principal grain crops, Essex being one of the
chief grain-producing counties. The wheat and barley are in particularly
high favour, the wheat of various standard species being exported for
seed purposes, while the barley is especially useful in malting. Beans
and peas are largely grown, as are vegetables for the London market.
Hop-growing was once important. From the comparative dryness of the
climate Essex does not excel in pasturage, and winter grazing receives
the more attention. The numbers of cattle increase steadily, and store
bullocks are introduced in large numbers from Norfolk, Lincolnshire,
Ireland and Wales. Of sheep there are but few distinct flocks, and the
numbers decrease. Pigs are generally of a high-class Berkshire type.
_Other Industries._--The south-west of the county, being contiguous to
London, is very densely populated, and is the seat of large and varied
industries. For example, there are numbers of chemical works, the
extensive engine shops and works of the Great Eastern railway at
Stratford, government powder works in the vicinity of Waltham Abbey, and
powder stores at Purfleet on the Thames. The extensive water-works for
east London, by the Lea near Walthamstow, may also be mentioned. The
docks at Plaistow and Tilbury on the Thames employ many hands. Apart
from this industrial district, there are considerable engineering works,
especially for agricultural implements, at Chelmsford, Colchester and
elsewhere; several silk works, as at Braintree and Halstead; large
breweries, as at Brentwood, Chelmsford and Romford; and lime and cement
works at Grays Thurrock. The oyster-beds of the Colne produce the famous
Colchester natives, and there are similar beds in the Crouch and Roach,
for which Burnham-on-Crouch is the centre; and in the Blackwater
(Maldon).
_Communications._--Railway communications are supplied principally by
the Great Eastern railway, of which the main line runs by Stratford,
Ilford, Romford, Brentwood, Chelmsford, Witham, Colchester, and
Manningtree. The Cambridge and northern line of this company, following
the Lea valley, does not touch the county until it diverges along the
valley of the Stort. The chief branches are those to Southend and
Burnham, Witham to Maldon, Colchester to Brightlingsea, to Clacton and
to Walton, and Manningtree to Harwich, on the coast; and Witham to
Braintree and Bishop's Stortford, and Mark's Tey to Sudbury and beyond,
inland; while there are several branch lines among the manufacturing and
residential suburbs in the south-west, to Walthamstow and Buckhurst
Hill, Chigwell, Loughton, Epping, Ongar, &c. The London, Tilbury &
Southend railway, following the Thames, serves the places named, and the
Colne Valley railway runs from Chappel junction near Mark's Tey by
Halstead to Haverhill.
On the Thames, besides the great docks at Plaistow (Victoria and Albert)
and the deep-water docks at Tilbury, the principal calling places for
vessels are Grays, Purfleet and Southend, while Barking on the Roding
has also shipping trade, and the Lea affords important water-connexions.
Elsewhere, the principal port is Harwich, at the mouth of the Stour, one
of the chief ports of England for European passenger traffic. Other
towns ranking as lesser estuarine ports are: Brightlingsea and Wivenhoe
on the Colne, forming a member of the Cinque Port of Sandwich;
Colchester, Maldon on the Blackwater, and Burnham-on-Crouch. The Stour,
Chelmer, and Lea and Stort are the principal navigable inland waterways.
_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is
986,975 acres, with a population in 1891 of 785,445 and in 1901 of
1,085,771. The area of the administrative county is 979,532 acres. The
county contains nineteen hundreds. It is divided into eight
parliamentary divisions, and it also includes the parliamentary boroughs
of Colchester and West Ham, the latter consisting of two divisions. Each
of these returns one member. The county divisions are--Northern or
Saffron Walden, North-eastern or Harwich, Eastern or Maldon, Western or
Epping, Mid or Chelmsford, South-eastern, Southern or Romford,
South-western or Walthamstow, returning one member each. The municipal
boroughs are--Chelmsford (12,580), Colchester (38,373), East Ham
(96,018), Harwich (10,070), Maldon(5565), Saffron Walden (5896),
Southend-on-Sea (28,857), and one county borough, West Ham (267,358).
The following are the other urban districts--Barking Town (21,547),
Braintree (5330), Brentwood (4932), Brightlingsea (4501), Buckhurst Hill
(4786), Burnham-on-Crouch (2919), Chingford (4373), Clacton (7456),
Epping (3789), Frinton-on-Sea (644), Grays Thurrock (13,834), Halstead
(6073), Ilford (41,234), Leigh-on-Sea (3667), Leyton (98,912), Loughton
(4730), Romford (13,656), Shoeburyness (4081), Waltham Holy Cross
(6549), Walthamstow (95,131), Walton-on-the-Naze (2014), Wanstead
(9179), Witham (3454), Wivenhoe (2560), Woodford (13,798). Essex is in
the South-eastern circuit, and assizes are held at Chelmsford. The
boroughs of Harwich and Southend-on-Sea have separate commissions of the
peace, and the boroughs of Colchester, Maldon, Saffron Walden and West
Ham have, in addition, separate courts of quarter sessions. The county
is ecclesiastically within the diocese of St Albans (with a small
portion within that of Ely) and is divided into two archdeaconries;
containing 452 parishes or districts wholly or in part. There are 399
civil parishes.
There is a military station and depot for recruits at Warley, and a
garrison at Tilbury. At Shoeburyness there are a school of gunnery and
an extensive ground for testing government artillery of the largest
calibre.
_History_ (see also below under ESSEX, KINGDOM OF).--ESSEX probably
originated as a shire in the time of Aethelstan. According to the
Domesday Survey it comprised nineteen hundreds, corresponding very
closely in extent and in name with those of the present day. The
additional half-hundred of Thunreslan on the Suffolk border has
disappeared; Witbrictesherna is now Dengie; and the liberty of
Havering-atte-Bower appears to have been taken out of Becontree. Essex
and Hertfordshire were under one sheriff until the time of Elizabeth. At
the time of the Survey Count Eustace held a vast fief in Essex, and the
court of the Honour of Boulogne was held at Witham. Bentry Heath in
Dagenham, Hundred Heath in Tendring and Castle Hedingham in Hinckford
were the meeting-places of their respective hundreds. The stewardship of
the forest of Essex was held by the earls of Oxford until deprived of it
for adherence to the Lancastrian cause. In 1421 certain parts of Essex
inherited by Henry V. from his mother were brought under the
jurisdiction of the duchy of Lancaster.
Essex was part of the see of London from the time of the foundation of
the bishopric in the 7th century. The archdeaconries are first mentioned
in 1108; that of Essex extended over the south of the county and in 1291
included eight deaneries; the north of the county was divided between
the archdeaconries of Middlesex and Colchester, comprising three and six
deaneries respectively. Colchester was constituted a suffragan bishopric
by Henry VIII. In 1836 Essex was transferred to the diocese of
Rochester, with the exception of nine parishes which remained in London.
In 1845 the archdeacon of Middlesex ceased to exercise control in Essex,
and the deaneries were readjusted. In 1875 Essex was transferred to the
newly created diocese of St Albans, and in 1877 the archdeaconry of
Essex was subdivided into eighteen deaneries and that of Colchester into
sixteen.
Owing to its proximity to the capital Essex was intimately associated
with all the great historical struggles. The nobility of Essex took a
leading part in the struggle for the charter, and of the twenty-four
guardians of the charter, four were Essex barons. The castles of
Pleshey, Colchester, and Hedingham were held against the king in the
Barons' War of the reign of Henry III., and 5000 Essex men joined the
peasant rising of 1381. During the Wars of the Roses the Lancastrian
cause was supported by the de Veres, while the Bourchiers and Lord
Fitz-Walter were among the Yorkist leaders. Several Essex men were
concerned in the Gunpowder Plot, and in the Civil War of the 17th
century the county rendered valuable aid to the parliament.
After the Conquest no Englishman retained estates in Essex of any
importance, and the chief lay barons at the time of the Survey were
Geoffrey de Mandeville and Aubrey de Vere. The de Veres, earls of
Oxford, were continuously connected with the county until the extinction
of the title two centuries ago. Pleshey was the stronghold of the
Mandevilles, and, although the house became extinct in 1189, its
descendants in the female line retained the title of earls of Essex. The
Honour of Hatfield Peverel held by Ranulf Peverel after the Conquest
escheated to the crown in the reign of Henry I., and in the same reign
the fief of Robert Gernon passed to the house of Mountfichet.
Essex has always been mainly an agricultural county, and the ordinary
agricultural pursuits were carried on at the time of the Domesday
Survey, which also mentions salt-making, wine-making, bee-culture and
cheese-making, while the oyster fisheries have been famous from the
earliest historic times. The woollen industry dates back to Saxon times,
and for many centuries ranked as the most important industry.
Cloth-weaving was introduced in the 14th century, and in the 16th
century Colchester was noted for its "bays and says." Colchester also
possessed a valuable leather industry in the 16th century, at which
period Essex was considered an exceptionally wealthy and prosperous
county; Norden, writing in 1594, describes it as "moste fatt, frutefull,
and full of all profitable things." The decline of the cloth industry in
the 17th century caused great distress, but a number of smaller
industries began to take its place. Saffron-culture and silk-weaving
were extensively carried on in the 17th century, and the 18th century
saw the introduction of the straw-plait industry, potash-making,
calico-printing, malting and brewing, and the manufacture of Roman
cement.
The county returned four members to parliament in 1290. From 1295 it
returned two members for the county and two for Colchester. Maldon
acquired representation in 1331 and Harwich in 1604. Under the Reform
Act of 1832 the county returned four members in four divisions. Under
the Representation of the People Act of 1868 Maldon and Harwich each
lost one member, and the county returned six members in three divisions.
_Antiquities._--It is supposed by many antiquaries that Saxon masonry
can be detected in the foundations of several of the Essex churches,
but, with the exception of Ashingdon church tower, believed to have been
erected by Canute after his victory over Edmund Ironside, there is no
obviously recognizable building belonging to that period. This is
probably to be in part ascribed to the fact that the comparative
scarcity of stone and the unusual abundance of timber led to the
extensive employment of the latter material. Several of the Essex
churches, as Blackmore, Mountnessing, Margaretting, and South Benfleet,
have massive porches and towers of timber; and St Andrew's church,
Greenstead, with its walls of solid oak, continues an almost unique
example of its kind. Of the four round churches in England one is in
Essex at Little Maplestead; it is both the smallest and the latest. The
churches of South Weald, Hadleigh, Blackmore, Heybridge and Hadstock may
be mentioned as containing Norman work; with the church of Castle
Hedingham for its fine Transitional work; Southchurch, Danbury and
Boreham as being partly Early English; Ingatestone, Stebbing and Tilty
for specimens of Decorated architecture; and Messing, Thaxted, Saffron
Walden, and the church of St Peter ad Vincula at the small town of
Coggeshall, near Colchester, as specimens of Perpendicular. Stained
glass windows have left their traces in several of the churches, the
finest remains being those of Margaretting, which represent a tree of
Jesse and the daisy or herb Margaret. Paintings have evidently been
largely used for internal decoration: a remarkable series, probably of
the 12th century, but much restored in the 14th, exists in the chancel
of Copford church; and in the church at Ingatestone there was discovered
in 1868 an almost unique fresco representation of the seven deadly sins.
The oldest brasses preserved in the county are those of Sir William
Fitz-Ralph at Pebmarsh, about 1323; Richard of Beltown, at Corringham,
1340; Sir John Gifford, at Bowers Gifford, 1348; Ralph de Kneyton, at
Aveley, 1370; Robert de Swynbourne, at Little Horkesley, 1391; and Sir
Ingelram de Bruyn, at South Ockendon, 1400. The brass of Thomas Heron,
aged 14, at Little Ilford, though dating only from 1517, is of interest
as a picture of a schoolboy of the period. Ancient wooden effigies are
preserved at Danbury, Little Leighs and Little Horkesley.
Essex was rich in monastic foundations, though the greater number have
left but meagre ruins behind. The Benedictines had an abbey at Saffron
Walden, nunneries at Barking and Wickes, and priories at Earl's or
Monk's Colne and Castle Hedingham; the Augustinian canons had an abbey
at Waltham (see WALTHAM ABBEY; the portion remaining shows Norman work
of the finest character), priories at Thoby, Blackmore, Bicknacre,
Little Leighs, Little Dunmow and St Osyth (see BRIGHTLINGSEA); there
were Cistercian abbeys at Coggeshall, Stratford and Tilty; the Cluniac
monks were settled at Prittlewell, the Premonstratensians at Beleigh
Abbey, and the Knights Hospitallers at Little Maplestead. Barking Abbey
is said to date its first origin from the 7th century; most of the
others arose in the 12th and 13th centuries. Besides the keep at
Colchester there is a fine Norman castle at Castle Hedingham, and two
dilapidated round towers still stand at Hadleigh near Southend. Ongar,
the house of the de Lacys, and Pleshey, the seat of the earls of Essex,
have left only mounds. Havering-atte-Bower, the palace that was occupied
by many queens, is replaced by a modern house; Wickham, the mansion of
the bishops of London, no longer stands. New Hall, which was
successively occupied by Henry VIII., Elizabeth, the earl of Essex,
George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, and Cromwell, is now a nunnery of
the order of the Holy Sepulchre. Audley End, the mansion of Lord
Braybrooke, is a noble example of the domestic architecture of the
Jacobean period; Layer Marney is an interesting proof of the Italian
influences that were at work in the time of Wolsey. Horeham Hall was
built by Sir John Cutt in the reign of Henry VII., and Gosfield Hall is
of about the same date.
See Norden, _Speculi Britanniae Pars: an Hist. and Geogr. Descrip. of
the County of Essex_ (1594) (edited for the Camden Society by Sir
Henry Ellis, 1840, from the original MS. in the Marquis of Salisbury's
library at Hatfield); Nicholas Tindal, _Hist. of Essex_ (1720); N.
Salmon, _The Hist. and Antiq. of Essex_ (London, 1740)--based on the
collections of James Strangman of Hadleigh (v. _Trans. of Essex Arch.
Soc._ vol. ii.); P. Morant, _Hist. and Antiq. of the County of Essex_
(London, 1768); P. Muilman, _New and Complete Hist. of Essex from a
late Survey, by a Gentleman_ (Chelmsford, 6 vols., 1770-1772, London,
1779); Elizabeth Ogbourne, _Hist. of Essex_ (London, part i., 1814);
_Excursions through Essex, illustrated with one hundred engravings_ (2
vols., London, 1818); T. Wright, _Hist. and Topography of Essex_
(1831); W. Berry, _Pedigrees of Families in Essex_ (1841); A.
Suckling, _Memorials of the Antiquities, &c., of the County of Essex_
(London, 1845); W. Andrews (ed.), _Bygone Essex_ (London, 1892); J.T.
Page (ed.), _Essex in the Days of Old_ (London, 1898); _Victoria
County History, Essex; Transactions of the Essex Arch. Soc._ from
1858. An account of various MS. collections connected with the county
is given by H.W. King in vol. ii. of the _Transactions_ (1863).
ESSEX, KINGDOM OF, one of the kingdoms into which Anglo-Saxon Britain
was divided, properly the land of the East Saxons. Of its origin and
early history we have no record except the bare statement of Bede that
its settlers were of the Old Saxon race. In connexion with this it is
interesting to notice that the East Saxon dynasty claimed descent from
Seaxneat, not Woden. The form Seaxneat is identical with Saxnot, one of
three gods mentioned in a short continental document probably of Old
Saxon origin. Bede does not mention this kingdom in his narrative until
604, the year of the consecration of Mellitus to the see of London. The
boundaries of Essex were in later times the rivers Stour and Thames, but
the original limits of the kingdom are quite uncertain; towards the west
it probably included most if not the whole of Hertfordshire, and in the
7th century the whole of Middlesex. In 604 we find Essex in close
dependence upon Kent, being ruled by Saberht, sister's son of
Aethelberht, under whom the East Saxons received Christianity. The three
sons of Saberht, however, expelled Mellitus from his see, and even after
their death in battle against the West Saxons, Eadbald of Kent was
unable to restore him. In the year 653 we find North-umbrian influence
paramount in Essex, for King Sigeberht at the instance of Oswio became a
Christian and received Cedd, the brother of St Chad, in his kingdom as
bishop, Tilbury and _Ythanceastere_ (on the Blackwater) being the chief
scenes of his work. Swithhelm, the successor of Sigeberht, was on terms
of friendship with the East Anglian royal house, King Aethelwald being
his sponsor at his baptism by Cedd. It was probably about this time that
Erconwald, afterwards bishop of London, founded the monastery of
Barking. Swithhelm's successors Sigehere and Sebbe were dependent on
Wulfhere, the powerful king of Mercia, who on the apostasy of Sigehere
sent Bishop Jaruman to restore the faith. There are grounds for
believing that an East Saxon conquest of Kent took place in this reign.
A forged grant of Ceadwalla speaks of the fall of Kent before Sigehere
as a well-known event; and in a Kentish charter dated 676 a king of Kent
called Swebhard grants land with the consent of his father King Sebbe.
In 692 or 694 Sebbe abdicated and received the monastic vows from
Waldhere, the successor of Erconwald at London. His sons Sigeheard and
Swefred succeeded him as kings of Essex, Sigehere being apparently dead.
As the laws of Ine of Wessex speak of Erconwald as "my bishop," it is
possible that the influence of Wessex for a short time prevailed in
Essex; but a subsequent charter of Swefred is approved by Coenred of
Mercia, and Offa, the son of Sigehere, accompanied the same king to Rome
in 709. From this time onwards the history of Essex is almost a blank.
In 743 or 745 Aethelbald of Mercia is found granting privileges at the
port of London, and perhaps the western portion of the kingdom had
already been annexed, for henceforward London is frequently the
meeting-place of the Mercian council. The violent death of Selred, king
of Essex, is mentioned in the _Saxon Chronicle_ under the year 746; but
we have no more information of historical importance until the defeat of
the Mercian king Beornwulf in 825, when Essex, together with Kent,
Sussex and Surrey, passed into the hands of Ecgbert, king of Wessex.
After 825 we hear of no more kings of Essex, but occasionally of earls.
About the year 870 Essex passed into the hands of the Danes and was left
to them by the treaty between Alfred and Guthrum. It was reconquered by
Edward the Elder. The earldom in the 10th century apparently included
several other counties, and its most famous holder was the ealdorman
Brihtnoth, who fell at the battle of Maldon in 991.
The following is a list of kings of Essex of whom there is record:
Saberht (d. c. 617); three sons of Saberht, including probably Saweard
and Seaxred; Sigeberht (Parvus); Sigeberht II.; Swithhelm (d. c. 664);
Sigehere (reigned perhaps 664-689); Sebbe, son of Seaxred (664-694);
Sigeheard (reigning in 693-694); Swefred (reigning in 693-694 and in
704); the two last being sons of Sebbe; Swebriht (d. 738); Selred (d.
746); Swithred, grandson of Sigeheard (succ. 746); Sigeric, son of
Selered (abd. 798); Sigered, son of Sigeric (reigning in 823).
See Bede, _Hist. Eccl._, edited by C. Plummer (Oxford, 1896), ii. 3,
5; _Saxon Chronicle_ (Earle and Plummer, Oxford, 1899), _s.a._ 823,
894, 904, 913, 921, 994; William of Malmesbury, _Gesta Regum_, Rolls
Series (ed. Stubbs, 1887-1889); _Simeon of Durham, s.a._ 746 (ed. T.
Arnold, 1882) and appendix, _s.a._ 738; Florence of Worcester (ed. B.
Thorpe, London, 1848-1849); H. Sweet, _Oldest English Texts_, p. 179
(London, 1885). (F. G. M. B.)
ESSLINGEN, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Wurttemberg, in a
fertile district on the Neckar, 9 m. S.E. from Stuttgart, on the railway
to Ulm. Pop. (1905) 29,750. It is surrounded by medieval walls with
towers and bastions, and has thirteen suburbs, one lying on an island in
the river. On a commanding height above the town lies the old citadel.
The inner town has an old (1430) and a new Rathaus, the latter, formerly
a palace, an exceedingly handsome edifice. The church of Our Lady
(Frauenkirche) is a fine Gothic building of the 15th century, and has a
beautifully sculptured doorway and a lattice spire 240 ft. high. The
church of St Dionysius dated from the 13th century, and possesses a fine
screen and a ciborium of 1486. Esslingen possesses several schools, a
theatre and a richly endowed hospital, while its municipal archives
contain much valuable literature bearing especially on the period of the
Reformation. The town has railway, machine and electrical works; cloth,
gloves and buttons are also manufactured here, and there are
spinning-mills. There is a large lithographic establishment, and a
considerable trade is done in wine and fruit, the wines of Esslingen
being very famous.
Esslingen, which dates from the 8th century, became a town in 886. It
was soon a place of importance; it became a free imperial city in 1209
and was surrounded with walls by order of the emperor Frederick II. Its
liberty was frequently threatened by the rulers of Wurttemberg, but it
did not become part of that country until 1802.
See K.H.S. Pfaff, _Geschichte der Reichsstadt Esslingen_ (Esslingen,
1852); and Strohmfeld, _Esslingen in Wort und Bild_ (Esslingen, 1902).
ESTABLISHMENT (O. Fr. _establissement_, Fr. _etablissement_, late Norm.
Fr. _establishement_, from O. Fr. _establir_, Fr. _etablir_, Lat.
_stabilire_, to make stable), generally the act of establishing or fact
of being established, and so by transference a thing established. Thus
we may speak of the establishment (i.e. setting up) of a business, the
"long establishment" of a business, and of the manager of "the
establishment." In a special sense the word is applied, with something
of all the three above-mentioned connotations, to certain religious
bodies in their relation to the state. It is with this latter that the
present article is concerned.
Perhaps the best definition which can be given, and which will cover all
cases, is that establishment implies the existence of some definite and
distinctive relation between the state and a religious society (or
conceivably more than one) other than that which is shared in by other
societies of the same general character. Of course, a certain
relationship must needs exist between the state and every society,
religious or secular, by virtue of the sovereignty of the state over
each and all of its members. Every society must possess certain
principles or perform certain acts, and the state may make the
profession of such principles unlawful, or impose a penalty upon the
performance of such acts; and, moreover, every society is liable before
the law as to the fulfilment of its obligations towards its members and
the due administration of its property should it possess any. With all
this establishment has nothing to do. It is not concerned with what
pertains to the religious society _qua_ society, or with what is common
to all religious societies, but with what is exceptional. It denotes any
special connexion with the state, or privileges and responsibilities
before the law, possessed by one religious society to the exclusion of
others; in a word, establishment is of the nature of a monopoly. But it
does not imply merely privilege. The state and the Church have mutual
obligations towards one another: each is, to some extent, tied by the
existence of this relationship, and each accepts the limitations for the
sake of the advantages which accrue to itself. The state does so in view
of what it believes to be the good of all its members; for "the true end
for which religion is established is not to provide for the true faith,
but for civil utility" (Warburton), even if the latter be held to be
implied in the former. On the other hand, the Church accepts these
relations for the facilities which they involve, i.e. for its own
benefit. It will be seen that this definition excludes, and rightly,
many current presuppositions. Establishment affirms the _fact_, but does
not determine the precise _nature_, of the connexion between the state
and the religious society. It does not tell us, for example, when or how
it began, whether it is the result of an unconscious growth (as with the
Gallican Church previous to the French Revolution), or of a determinate
legislative act (as with the same Church re-established by the Concordat
of 1801). It does not tell us whether an endowment of the religious
society by the state is included; what particular privileges are enjoyed
by the religious society; and what limitations are placed upon the free
exercise of its life. These things can only be ascertained by actual
inquiry; for the conditions are precisely similar in no two cases.
To proceed to details. At the present day there is no established
religion in the United States, the German empire as a whole, Holland,
Belgium, France and Austria-Hungary (saving, indeed, "the rights of the
sovereign arising from ecclesiastical dignity"[1]); whereas there are
religious establishments in Russia, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Denmark,
Prussia,[2] Spain, Portugal and even in Italy, as well as in England and
Scotland. These, however, differ greatly amongst themselves. In Russia
the "Orthodox Catholic Eastern" is the state religion. The emperor is,
by the fundamental laws of the empire, "the sovereign defender and
protector of the dogmas of the dominant faith, who maintains orthodoxy
and holy discipline within the Church," although, of course, he cannot
modify either its dogmas or its outward order. Further, "the autocratic
(i.e. imperial) power acts in the ecclesiastical administration by means
of the Most Holy Ruling Synod, created by it"; and all the officers of
the Church are appointed by it. The enactments of the Synod do not
become law till they have received the emperor's sanction, and are then
published, not in its name but in his; and a large part of the revenues
of the Church is derived from state subsidies. In Greece "the dominant
religion ([Greek: Eh epikratousa threskeia]) is that of the Eastern
Orthodox Church of Christ"; and although toleration is otherwise
complete, no proselytism from the Church of Greece is allowed. The king
swears to protect it, but no powers pertain to him with regard to it
such as those which the tsar enjoys; the present king is not a member of
it, but his successors must be. In Sweden, Lutheranism was adopted as
the state religion by the synod of Upsala (_Upsala mote_) in 1593, and
the king must profess it. The "Lutheran Protestant Church" retains an
episcopal order, and is supported out of its own revenues. Archbishops
and bishops are chosen by the king out of those names submitted to him,
and he also nominates to royal peculiars. The ecclesiastical law
(_Kyrkolag_), first constituted in 1686, is part of the law of the
state, but may not be modified or abrogated without consent of a General
Synod; and although _ad interim_ interpretations of that law may be
given by the king on the advice of the Supreme Court, since 1866 these
have been subject to review and rejection by the next General Synod. In
Norway the "Evangelical-Lutheran" is the "official religion," but the
Church is supported by the state, its property having been secularized.
It is also more subject to the king, who by the constitution is to
"regulate all that concerns divine service and the clergy," and to see
that the prescribed order is carried out. It is much the same in
Denmark, where, however, the "Evangelical-Lutheran Church" has since the
fundamental constitutional law of the 5th of June 1849 been officially
described as the National Church (_Folkekirche_) instead of the State
Church (_Statskirche_) as formerly, and the constitution provides for
its regulation by further legislation, which has not yet been passed.
For Prussia, see under that heading; it need only be added that
self-government still tends to increase, but that the emperor William
II. has exercised his office as _summus episcopus_ more freely than most
of his predecessors. In Spain the "Catholic, Apostolic and Roman"
religion is that of the state, "the nation binds itself to maintain its
worship and its ministers," and the rites of any other religion are only
permitted in private. The patriarch of the Indies and the archbishops
are senators by right, and the king may nominate others from amongst the
bishops; only laymen may sit in the chamber of deputies. Convents were
suppressed, and their property confiscated, in 1835 and 1836; in 1859
the remaining ecclesiastical property was exchanged for untransferable
government securities and the support of the clergy of the State Church
is assured by an unrepealed law previous to the present constitution. In
Portugal it is much the same, but all the home bishops sit in the upper
chamber as peers (_Pares do Reino_) by right, and there is no
restriction on membership of the chamber of deputies. A more important
point is that the king confers all ecclesiastical benefices and
nominates the bishops, instead of their being chosen, as in Spain, by
agreement between the civil power and the papacy. In Italy, in spite of
the feud between the papacy and the civil power, the fact remains that,
by the _Statuto fondamentale_, "the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman
religion is the sole religion of the state," and the king may nominate
"archbishops and bishops of the state" to be senators. The _Legge sulle
prerogative del Summo Pontifice_, &c., or "Law of Guarantees," by which
the papal prerogatives are secured, has been declared by the Council of
State to be a fundamental law; and while many civil restrictions upon
the activities of the Church are removed by it, outside Rome and the
suburbicarian dioceses the royal _exequatur_ is still required before a
bishop is installed. Moreover, the bulk of Church property having been
secularized, the Italian clergy receive a stipend from the state.
Church and State in Britain.
Establishment is, of course, a distinctively English term, but it
implies precisely the same thing as "Staatsreligion" or "eglise
dominante" does elsewhere, neither more nor less. It denotes the
existence of a special relationship between Church and state without
defining its precise nature. The statement that the Church of England or
the Scottish Kirk is "established by law" denotes that it has a peculiar
status before the law; but that is all. (a) There is no basis whatever
for the once popular assumption that the word "established" as applied
to the Church means "created," or the like; on the contrary, the modern
use of the word in this sense is a misleading perversion. To _establish_
is to make firm or stable; and a thing cannot be established unless it
is already in existence. A few examples will make it clear that this is
the true sense of the word, and that in which it is used here. "Stablish
the thing, O God, that thou hast wrought in us" (Ps. lxviii. 28, P.B.;
A.V. and R.V. "strengthen") implies that the thing is already wrought;
it could not be "stablished" else. "Stablish your hearts" (Jas v. 8)
implies that the hearts are already in existence. "Until he had her
settled in her raine With safe assuraunce and establishment" (_Faerie
Queene_, v. xi. 35) would have been impossible unless the reign had
already begun. This is the meaning of the words in many Tudor acts of
parliament, "be it enacted, ordained and established," or the like (21
Hen. VIII. c. 1; 27 Hen. VIII. c. 28, s. 9; 28 Hen. VIII. c. 13
[Ireland]; 28 Hen. VIII. c. 18 [Ireland]; 33 Hen. VIII. c. 27; 1 Eliz.
c. 1, ss. 15, 17; 1 Eliz. c. 4, s. 4); that which is then and there
enacted is to be valid for the future. (b) Nor is it necessarily implied
that establishment is a process completed once for all. Every law
touching the Church slightly alters its conditions; everything that
affects the relations of Church and state may be regarded as a measure
of establishment or the reverse. When the two Houses of Parliament, in
an address to William III. after his coronation, spoke of their proposed
measures of toleration, the king said in his reply, "I do hope that the
ease which you design to Dissenters will contribute very much to the
establishment of the Church" (Cobbett, _Parl. Hist._ v. 218). And Defoe
(in 1702) published an ironical tract with the title, _The Shortest Way
with the Dissenters, or Proposals for the Establishment of the Church_.
(c) Nor is it necessarily implied that there was any specific time at
which establishment took place. Such may indeed be the case, as with the
Kirk in Scotland; but it certainly cannot be said that the English
Church was established at any particular time, or by any particular
legislative act. There were, no doubt, periods when the existing
relations between Church and state were modified or re-defined, notably
in the 16th and 17th centuries; but the relations themselves are far
older. In fact, they existed from the very first: the English Church and
state grew up side by side, and from the beginning they were in close
relations with one another. But although the state of things which it
represented was there from the first, the term "established" or
"established by law" only came into use at a later date. Until there was
some other religious society to be compared with it such a distinctive
epithet would have had no point. As, however, there arose religious
societies which had no status before the law, it became more natural;
and yet more so when the formularies of the Church came to be
"established" by civil sanctions (the Books of Common Prayer by 5 and 6
Edw. VI. c. 1, s. 4, &c; the Articles by 13 Eliz. c. 12; the new Ordinal
by 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 4, title). Accordingly the Church itself came
to be spoken of as established by law; first, it would seem, in the
Canons of 1604, and subsequently in many statutes (Act of Settlement, 6
Anne, c. 8 and c. 11, &c). In all such cases the Church is described as
already established, not as being established by the particular canon or
statute. In other words, the constitutional status of the Church is
affirmed, but nothing is said as to how it arose.
The legislative changes of the 16th and 17th centuries brought
"establishment" into greater prominence and greatly modified its
conditions, but a moment's thought will show that it did not begin then.
If, e.g., all post-Reformation ecclesiastical statutes were
non-existent, the relations between Church and state would be very
different, but there would still be an "establishment." The bishops
would sit in the House of Lords, the clergy would tax themselves in
convocation, the Church courts would possess coercive jurisdiction, and
so on. The present relations of Church and state in England may be
briefly summed up as follows:--(1) _The personal relation of the crown
to the Church_, including (a) restraints upon the action of convocation
(formulated by 25 Hen. VIII. c. 19); (b) nomination of bishops, &c. (25
Hen. VIII. c. 20); (c) power of supervision as visitor, long disused (26
Hen. VIII. c. 1; 1 Eliz. c. 1, s. 17); (d) power of receiving appeals as
the fount of civil justice (25 Hen. VIII. c. 19, &c). In connexion with
these, it must be borne in mind that (a) the holder of the crown
receives coronation from the church and takes an oath having reference
to it (1 Will. III. c. 6), and (b) the crown is held on the condition of
communion with the Church of England (Act of Settlement; the conditions
of communion are laid down in the Prayer Book, which itself is
sanctioned by law). (2) _The relation of the Church to the crown in
parliament._ No change has been permitted in its doctrine or formularies
without the sanction of an act of parliament. (3) _Privileges of the
Church and clergy._ Of these may be mentioned (a) the coercive
jurisdiction of the Church courts; (b) the right of bishops to sit in
the House of Lords. It need hardly be said that establishment in England
does not include an endowment of the Church by the state. Nothing of the
kind ever took place on any large scale, and the grants for Church
purposes in the 18th century are comparable with the _regium donum_ to
Nonconformists.
The position of the Church of Ireland until its disestablishment (see
below) was not dissimilar. With Scotland the case is different. The
establishment of the Kirk was an entirely new process, carried out by a
more or less definite series of legislative and administrative acts. The
Convention of Estates which met at Edinburgh in 1560 ordered the drawing
up of a new Confession of Faith, which was done in four days by a
committee of preachers, and on the 24th of August it passed three acts,
one abolishing the pope's authority and all jurisdiction of Catholic
prelates, another repealing the old statutes in favour of the Old
Church, the third forbidding the celebrating and hearing of mass under
penalty of imprisonment, exile and death. The intention was to make a
clean sweep of the Old Church, which was denounced as "the Kirk
Malignant."[3] The new model thus set up was confirmed by the Scottish
act of 1567, c. 6, which declared it to be "the onely true and halie
kirk of Jesus Christ within this realme." Again, after the revolution of
1688 had put an end to the attempts of the Stuart kings to impose the
episcopal model on Scotland, by the act of 1690, c. 5, the crown and
estates "ratifie and establish the Confession of Faith, ... as also they
do establish, ratifie and confirm the Presbyterian government and
discipline." The "Act of Security" of 1705, as incorporated in the Act
of Union 1706, speaking of it "as now by law established," says that
"Her Majesty ... doth hereby establish and confirm" it, and finally
declares this act, "with the Establishment therein contained," to be "a
fundamental and essential condition of the Union." Nevertheless, the
conditions of establishment in the Scottish Kirk are much easier than
those of the Church of England. It is bound by the statutes sanctioning
its doctrine and order, but within these limits its legislative and
judicial freedom is unimpaired. A royal commissioner is present at the
meetings of the general assembly, but he need not be a member of the
Kirk; and there is no constitutional tie between the crown and the Kirk
such as there is in England. There is what may accurately be described
as a state endowment, the bulk of the property of the Old Church having
been conferred upon the Scottish Kirk.
The Colonies.
Not unnaturally the organization of Anglican Churches in the colonies
was followed in some cases by their establishment, which included
endowment. It was so, for example, in the East and West Indies; and the
disestablishment of the West Indian Church in 1868 was followed, in
1873, by a re-establishment of the Church in Barbados by the colonial
legislature. India is the only other part of the empire (outside Great
Britain) in which there is to-day a religious establishment.
Disestablishment.
_Disestablishment_ is in theory the annulling of establishment; but
since an established Church is usually rich, disestablishment generally
includes disendowment, even where there is no state endowment of
religion. It is, in short, the abrogation of establishment, coupled with
such a confiscation of Church property as the state thinks good in the
interests of the community. The disestablishment of the West Indian
Church in 1868 has already been referred to; in 1869 the Irish Church
Disestablishment Bill was passed. Private bills relating to Scotland
have more than once been brought forward. In 1895 the Liberal government
introduced a suspensory bill, intended as the preliminary step towards
disestablishing and disendowing the Church in Wales; it was withdrawn,
however, in the same session, and the question of Welsh disestablishment
slumbered until in 1906 a royal commission was appointed by the Liberal
government to inquire into the subject, and in 1909 a bill was
introduced on much the same lines as in 1895.
The case of the Irish Church will illustrate the process of
disestablishment, although, of course, the precise details would vary in
other cases. The Irish Church Act was passed in 1869 by Gladstone's
first government, after considerable opposition, and provided that from
January 1, 1871, the union created by statute between the Churches of
England and Ireland should be dissolved, and the Church of Ireland
should "cease to be established by law." Existing ecclesiastical
corporations were dissolved, and their rights ceased, compensation being
given to all individuals and their personal precedence being secured for
life. All rights of patronage, including those of the crown, were
abolished, with compensation in the case of private patrons; and the
archbishops and bishops ceased to have the right of summons to the House
of Lords. All laws restraining the freedom of action of the Church were
repealed; the ecclesiastical law, however, to subsist by way of contract
amongst the members of the Church (until altered by a representative
body). Provision was made for the incorporation by charter of the
representative body of the Church, should such a body be found, with
power to hold landed property. All existing ecclesiastical property was
vested in a commission, which was to give compensation for life
interests, to transfer to the new representative body the churches,
glebe houses, and L500,000 in compensation for endowments by private
persons since 1660, and to hold the rest for such purposes as parliament
might thereafter determine.
AUTHORITIES.--F.R. Dareste, _Les Constitutions modernes_ (Paris,
1891); H. Geffcken, _Church and State_, trans. by E.F. Taylor (London,
1877); P. Schaff, _Church and State in the United States_ (Papers of
the American Hist. Association, vol. ii. No. 4), (New York, 1888); L.
Minghetti, _Stato e Chiesa_ (Milan, 1878), French translation, with
Introd. by E. de Laveleye (Paris, 1882); C. Cadorna, _Religione,
diritto, liberta_ (Milan, 1893); F. Nippold, _Die Theorie der
Trennung von Kirche und Staat_ (Bern, 1881); W. Warburton, _Alliance
between Church and State_ (London, 1741) (_Works_, vol. iv., ed. Hurd,
London, 1788); _Church Problems_ (ed. by H.H. Henson) (London, 1900);
Essays on "Establishment" and "Disendowment"; W.R. Anson, _Law and
Custom of the Constitution_, vol. ii. chap. ix. (Oxford, 1892);
Phillimore, _Ecclesiastical Law_ (London, 1895); J.S. Brewer,
_Endowments and Establishment of the Church of England_ (ed. by L.T.
Dibdin, London, 1885); A.T. Innes, _Law of Creeds in Scotland_
(Edinburgh, 1867); E.A. Freeman, _Disestablishment and Disendowment_
(London, 1883); G. Harwood, _Disestablishment_ (London, 1876);
_Annales de l'ecole libre des Sciences politiques_, tom. i. (Paris,
1885), art. "La Separation de l'Eglise et de l'Etat en Angleterre," by
L. Ayral. (W. E. Co.)