[329] Atton. Vercell. Epist. ix.
[330] Enarratio eorum quæ perverse gesta sunt, etc. (Muratori, Antiq.
Med. Ævi Diss. LXII.).
[331] Institutes of Polity, Civil and Ecclesiastical, c. 19, 23
(Thorpe, Ancient Laws, &c. of England, II. 329, 337).
[332] Ratherii Itinerar. c. 5.
[333] Ratherii Synodica c. 15.
[334] Gunzo the Grammarian, in his learned treatise, makes use of
the recognized celibacy of the clergy as a comparison. “Non enim una
eademque res bona, licet æque omnibus conceditur. Siquidem nuptiæ,
laicis concessæ, sacris ordinibus denegantur.”—Gunzonis Epist. ad
Augienses.
[335] Leon. PP. VII. Epist. 15.
[336] Constit. Otton. ann. 940, c. 12.
[337] Quod si sacerdotes incontinenter propter ipsam continentiam
primam quam sortitus est, separati a consortio cellæ, teneat uxorem; si
vere aliam duxerit, excommunicetur.—Concil. Spalatens. ann. 925 c. 15.
The passage is evidently corrupt, but its intention is manifest. The
reading suggested by Batthyani may be reasonably accepted. “Quod si
sacerdotes incontinentes propter ipsam continentiam quam quis primam
sortitus est, separati a consortio cellæ, teneant uxorem, tolerantur;
si vero aliam duxerint, excommunicentur.” (Batthyani Legg. Eccles.
Hungar. I. 333-4.)
[338] Richeri Hist. Lib. II. c. 81. The canons of the council, however,
as they have reached us, are silent on the subject.
[339] Concil. Augustan. ann. 952 c. 1, 4, 11.
[340] Cod. Bamberg. Lib. II. Epist. 10.
St. Ulric is noteworthy as the first subject of papal canonization,
having been enrolled in the calendar by the council of Rome in 993.
That priestly marriage should be advocated by so pious and venerable
a father was of course not agreeable to the sacerdotal party, and his
evidence against celibacy has not infrequently been ruled out of court
by discrediting the authenticity of the epistle. The compiler of the
collection containing it, made in 1125, prefixed the name of Nicholas
as that of the pope to whom it was addressed, and as St. Ulric was
about equidistant between Nicholas I. in the ninth and Nicholas II.
in the eleventh century, it has been suggested that the epistle was
addressed to the latter, on the occasion of his reforms in 1059, the
use of St. Ulric’s name being assumed as a mistake of the compiler.
That this is not so is shown by the fact that already in 1079 it was
known as St. Ulric’s, being condemned as such in that year by Gregory
VII.—“scriptum quod dicitur sancti Oudalrici ad papam Nicholaum, de
nuptiis presbiterorum” (Bernald. Constant. Chron. ann. 1079). The
authenticity of the document, I believe, is generally admitted by
unprejudiced critics.
[341] Ratherii Discordia c. 1, 6.
[342] Ratherii Epist. XI., XII.—His letter to the Empress Adelaide,
announcing his willingness to retire from the contest, and to seek the
congenial shades of a monastery, is most uncourtly. (Epist. XIII.)
[343] Ruotgeri Vit. S. Brunonis c. 38.—Ratherius consoled himself
epigrammatically by condensing his misfortunes in the Leonine
verse—“Veronæ præsul, sed ter Ratherius exsul.”
[344] De Contempt. Canon. P. II. c. 2.—Præloquiorum Lib. V. c. 18.
The existing confusion is well exemplified by another remark—“Expertus
sum talem qui ante ordinationem adulterium perpetravit, postea quasi
continenter vixit; alterum qui post ordinationem uxorem duxit; et iste
illum, ille istum carpebat.”—De Contempt. Canon. P. I. c. 11.
[345] Atton. Vercell. Epist. 9. In another epistle (No. 10) Atto
congratulates himself on the reform of some of his clergy, and
threatens the contumacious with degradation.
[346] Othloni Vit. S. Wolfkangi c. 15, 16, 17, 23.
[347] “Ad cumulum damnationis suæ, accepit mulierem, nomine
Hildeburgam, in senectute, quæ, ingresso illo ad se, concepit et
peperit filios et filias, &c.” The chronicler makes the end of this
aged sinner an example of poetical justice such as may frequently be
found in the monkish annals of those times—“Qui dum esset flebotomatus,
nocte insecuta dormivit cum Episcopissa; qua de re vulnus cœpit
intumescere, et dolor usque ad interiora cordis devenire.” Finding his
end approaching, he assumed the monastic habit and took the vows, after
which he immediately expired.—Act. Pontif. Cenoman. c. 29 (Dom Bouquet,
X. 384-5).
Fulbert of Chartres has left us a lively sketch of the military bishops
of the period.—“Tyrannos potius appellabo, qui bellicis occupati
negotiis, multo stipati latus milite, solidarios pretio conducunt, ut
nullos sæculi reges aut principes noverim adeo instructos bellorum
legibus, totam armorum disciplinam in procinctu militiæ servare,
digerere turmas, ordines componere, ad turbandam ecclesiæ pacem, et
Christianorum, licet hostium, sanguinem, effundendum.”—Fulbert. Carnot.
Epist. 112.
[348] Chron. S. Petri Vivi (D’Achery Spicileg. II. 470).
[349] This singular oath has been published by Muratori (Antiq. Ital.
Diss. XX.).—“Ego Andrea presbiter promitto coram Deo et omnibus
sanctis, et tibi Guarino episcopo, quod carnalem commistionem non
faciam; et si fecero, et onoris mei et beneficio ecclesiæ perdam.”
[350] S. Petri Damiani Epist. Lib. IV. Epist. 8.—Leo Marsicanus (Chron.
Cassinens. Lib. II. c. 16) asserts that in his youth he himself had
seen and conversed with a priest who had been one of the eye-bearers.
[351] Abbon. Floriac. Epist. 14.
[352] Although Aimoin, who was an eye-witness, does not specially
mention the cause that excited the monks to ungovernable fury, yet a
casual allusion shows that women were responsible for it.—“Cæterum,
tantæ cladis compilatores certissime agnoscentes beatum obiisse
Abbonem, certatim cuncti in fugam vertuntur, ita ut, terris reddito
die, ne mulieres quidam in universis forensibus ipsius villæ
invenirentur domibus”—(Abbon. Floriac. Vit. c. 20)—and the day
after his death “una ex his mulieribus quæ clamore suo seditionem
concitaverant” became suddenly mad, and was struck with incurable
leprosy—(Aimoin. Mirac. S. Abbonis c. 2).
[353] Damian. Carm. ccxxi.
[354] Aimoin. Vit. S. Abbonis c. 9.
[355] Episcopi sui temporis aliqui fastu superbiæ, aliqui simplicitate
cordis, filios sæcularium sacerdotum ad sacros ordines admittere
dedignabantur, nec ad clericatum eos recipere volentes; hic vero
beatus, neminem despiciens, neminem spernens, passim cunctos
recipiebat.—Constant. S. Symphor. Vit. Adalberon. II. c. 24.
[356] Dithmar. Merseberg. Lib. VI. c. 24.
[357] S. Heinrici Sentent. de Conjug. Cleric. (Patrologiæ T. 140 p.
231).
[358] A nullo scriptorum qui de illo sive de episcopio ejus locuti
sunt, laudatus est. Palam memorant quod habitu non opere monachus
fuerit.
Successit Hugo, legis Domini violator
Clara stirpe satus, sed Christi lumine cassus.
—Order. Vital. Lib. V. c. 10 § 41.
[359] About the year 990, for instance, we find Duke Richard reforming
the celebrated Abbey of Fécamp and replacing with Benedictines the
former occupants—canons whose secular mode of life outraged his pious
sensibilities—“contigit Fiscannenses canonicos aliorum canonicorum
mores imitari, latas perditionis vias ingredi, et rerum temporalium
luxus et desidias voluptuose sectari.”—Anon. Fiscannens. c. 17.
[360] Nam conjugem nomine Herlevam, ut comes, habuit, ex qua tres
filios, Richardum, Radulfum et Guillelmum genuit; quibus Ebroicensem
comitatum et alios honores amplissimos secundum jus sæculi
distribuit.—Orderic. Vital. Lib. V. c. 10 § 42.
So in the Normanniæ Nova Chronica, published by Chéruel in 1850, “Iste
Robertus fuit uxoratus, et ex Herleva conjuge sua tres filios habuit,
Richardum, Radulfum et Willelmum.”
[361] Bénoit, Chronique des Ducs de Normandie, v. 32427, 24912. We may
fairly conclude from these expressions that Robert was educated for the
priesthood.
[362] Voluptatibus carnis mundanisque curis indecenter inhæsit,
filiumque nomine Michaelem probum militem et legitimum genuit, quem in
Anglia jam senem rex Henricus honorat et diligit.—Orderic. Vital. Lib.
V. c. 10 § 43.
[363] Concil. Ansan. ann. 990 c. 5.
[364] Concil. Pictaviens. c. ann. 1000 c. 3.
[365] Si clericus superioris gradus, qui uxorem habuit, et post
confessionem vel honorem clericatus iterum earn cognoverit, sciat
sibi adulterium commisisse, sicut superiore sententia unusquisque
juxta ordine suo pœniteat [i. e. diaconus et monachi VII. (annos)
III. ex his pane et aqua. Presbyter x. Episcopus XII., V. ex his pane
et aqua.] ... Si quis clericus aut monachus postquam se devoverit ad
sæcularem habitum iterum reversus fuerit aut uxorem duxerit, X. annos
pœniteat, III. ex his in pane et aqua, nunquam postea in conjugium
copuletur.—Judicium Pœnitentis ex Sacrament. Rhenaug.
[366] Gerberti Sermo de Informat. Episcopor.
[367] Gerberti Opp. p. 197 sqq. (Ed. Migne).
[368] “Taceo de me quem novo locutionis genere equum emissarium
susurrant, uxorem et filios habentem, propter partem familiæ meæ de
Francia recollectam.”—Gerberti Epist. Sect. I. No. XI.—Gerbert’s
reputation for sanctity is not such as to render scandalous the
suspicion that the family thus gathered around him might afford
legitimate occasion for gossip, notwithstanding his abbacy and the fact
that he had been bred in a convent.
[369] Ita ut clerici (quod non absque dolore cordis fateor) impudici,
bilingues, ebrii, turpis lucri cupidi, habentes fidem, et ut verius
dicam, infidelitatem, in conscientia impura, non probati in bona, sed
in malo opere præsciti ministrantes, et innumera crimina habentes,
sacro ministerio adsciscantur.—Gildæ de Excid. Britan. Pt. III. cap.
23—Cf. cap. 1, 2, 3.
[370] “_Unius uxoris virum._” Quid ita apud nos quoque contemnitur,
quasi non audiretur, vel idem dicere et virum uxorum?... Sed quid erit,
ubi nec pater nec filius mali genitoris exemplo pravatus conspicitur
castus?—Gildæ loc. cit.
[371] Modern criticism has raised doubts as to the existence of St.
Patrick. Whether they are well-grounded or not is a matter of little
importance here, as we are concerned only with the institutions bearing
his name, which institutions undoubtedly did exist. Meanwhile I may
add that few remote events appear to rest on better authority than
the conversion of the Gaeidhil, about the year 438, by a person known
to his contemporaries as Patraic, or Patricius; and the name of Cain
Patraic applied to the secular code attributed to him, dates from a
very high antiquity.—See Senchus Mor, Hancock’s Ed. Vol. I. Dublin,
1865.
[372] Synod. S. Patricii c. 9, 17 (Haddan & Stubbs II. 328-9)—Synod.
II. S. Patricii c. 17, 21 (Ibid. 335-6).
[373] Præfat. Gildæ de Pœnitent. cap. 1 (Martene Thesaur. IV. 7).
[374] Lib. de Remed. Peccat. cap. de Fornicat. (Martene IV. 23).—Cf.
Synod. Aquilon. Britan. cap. 1 (Ibid. p. 9).
[375] In this long course of penance, three months were to be spent
in solitary confinement, with bread and water at night; then eighteen
months in fasting on bread and water; then bread and water three days
in the week for five years and three months; then bread and water on
Fridays for the remaining three years.—Gratian. Dist. LXXXII. c. 5.
[376] Arbedoc et Haelhucar Lib. XXXVIII. cap. 7 (D’Achery I. 500).
[377] Haddan & Stubbs, Councils of Great Britain, I. 112.
[378] Bernardi Vit. S. Malachiæ cap. vi.
[379] S. Columbani Regul. cap. vi.
[380] Reliquit (Columbanus) successores magna continentia ac divino
amore regularique institutione insignes ... pietatis et castitatis
opera diligenter observantes (Bedæ Hist. Eccles. Lib. III. c. 4,
cf. also c. 26). Bede’s orthodoxy on the subject is unquestionable:
“Sacerdotibus ut semper altari queant assistere, semper ab uxoribus
continendum, semper castitas observanda præcipitur” (In Lucæ Evang.
Exposit. Lib. I. cap. 1).—“Quanta sunt maledictione digni qui prohibent
nubere et dispositionem cœlestis decreti quasi a diabolo repertam
condemnant? ... sed magis honoranda, majore est digna benedictione
virginitas.” (Hexæmeron. Lib. I. sub tit. Benedixitque illis.) See also
De Tabernac. Lib. III. c. 9, already referred to (p. 65).
[381] See, for instance, the proceedings of the synod of Whitby in 664,
where the differences between the Scottish and Roman observances were
fully discussed (Spelman. Concil. I. 145). So when, in 633, Honorius
I. addressed the Scottish clergy, reproving their false computation
of Easter and their Pelagianism, he made no allusion to any want of
clerical purity (Bedæ Hist. Eccles. Lib. II. c. 19).
[382] “Opto enim doceri an clerici continere non valentes, possint
contrahere; et si contraxerint, an debeant ad sæculum redire”—to which
Gregory responds with a long exhortation as to the duties of the
“clerici extra sacros ordines constituti”—Gregor. I. Regist. Lib. XI.
Epist. lxiv. Respons. 2.
[383] Si episcopi filius sit, sit dimidium hoc (Leg. Inæ c. LXXVI.).
The rubric of the law is “De occidente filiolum vel patrinum alicujus”
(Thorpe, Ancient Laws of England, II. 472).
[384] Denique promulgatur decretum ... de abdicandis sacerdotum
uxoribus.—Spelman. Concil. I. 216.
[385] Cave, Script. Eccles. Hist. pp. 424-5 (Ed. 1705).
[386] Theodori Pœnitent. I. ix. 1, 4, 5, 6, 10; II. ii. 12 (Haddan &
Stubbs, III. 184-5, 192).
[387] See, for instance, St. Aldhelm’ rhapsodies, “De laudibus
virginitatis,” and “De laudibus virginum.” The orthodoxy of Bede on
this question has already been alluded to.
According to the legend, St. Aldhelm tried his virtue by the same
crucial experiments as those resorted to by some of the ardent devotees
of the third century, concealing his motive in order that his humility
might enjoy the benefit of undeserved reprobation. “Sancti Aldelmi
Malmesburiensis, qui inter duas puellas, unam ab uno latere, alteram
ab altero, singulis noctibus ut ab hominibus diffamaretur, a Deo vero
cui nota fuerat conscientia ipsius et continentia copiosius in futurum
remuneraretur, jacuisse describitur.”—Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles.
Dist. II. cap. xv.
[388] Ecgberti Pœnitent. I. II. 3; IV. 2, 7, 8; V. 1-22.—Ejusd. Dialog,
V. (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 406, 419-23).
[389] Epist. ad Geruntium.—Aldhelmi Opp. p. 83 (Ed. Oxon. 1844).
[390] Johan. PP. IV. Epist. iii.
[391] Bedæ Epist. II.
[392] Bonifacii Epist. 105.
[393] Can. 20 directs greater strictness with regard to visitors,
“unde non sint sanctimonialium domicilia turpium confabulationum,
commessationum, ebrietatum, luxuriantiumque cubilia.” Can. 28 orders
that nuns after taking the veil shall not wear lay garments; and
can. 29 that clerks, monks, and nuns shall not live with the laity.
(Spelman. Concil. I. 250-4.—Haddan & Stubbs, III. 369, 374.)
This demoralization of the nunneries is not to be wondered at when
Boniface, in reproving Ethelbald, King of Mercia, for his evil courses,
could say, “Et adhuc, quod pejus est, qui nobis narrant adjiciunt: quod
hoc scelus maxime cum sanctis monialibus et sacratis Deo virginibus per
monasteria commissum sit.” This sacrilegious licentiousness, indeed,
would seem almost to have been habitual with the Anglo-Saxon reguli
for Boniface instances the fate of Ethelbald’s predecessor Ceolred
and of Osred of Northumbria who had both came to an untimely end in
consequence of indulgence in similar evil courses.—Bonifacii Epist. 19.
[394] Concil. Calchuth. can. 15, 16 (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 455-6).
[395] Haddan & Stubbs, Councils, etc., III. 493.
[396] Propter fornicationem fugiendam unusquisque _laicus_ suam uxorem
legitimam habeat.—Concil. Calchuth. can. 16.
[397] Concil. Celicyth. ann. 816 can. 4 8 (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 580-3).
[398] Goscelini Vit. S. Swithuni c. 1, 2.
[399] Leg. Aluredi c. 8, 18.—Constit. Odon. Cantuar. c. 7.
[400] Leg. Edwardi et Guthrun. c. 3.—Leg. Eadmund. Eccles. c. 1.
[401] Bridfrit. Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 5, 7. Bridfrith was a disciple of
St. Dunstan, and composed his biography but a few years after the death
of his patron. He does not state what was the position of Dunstan at
the time of his betrothal; but Osbern, a hundred years later, asserts
that he had acquired the lower orders only, and that he received the
priesthood and took the monastic vows simultaneously.—Osberni Vit. S.
Dunstan. c. 8, 12.
[402] Osbern. Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 35.—Florent. Wigorn. ann. 964,
973.—Matt. Westmonast. ann. 963.
[403] Vit. S. Æthelwoldi c. 14.
[404] Si ista solerti scrutinio curassetis, non tam horrenda et
abominanda ad aures nostras de clericis pervenissent ... dicam
dolens quo modo diffluant in commessationibus, in ebrietatibus, in
cubilibus et impudicitiis, ut jam domus clericorum putentur prostibula
meretricum, conciliabulum histrionum.... Ad hoc ergo exhauserunt patres
nostri thesauros suos? ad hoc fiscus regius, detractis redditibus
multis elargitus est? ad hoc ecclesiis Christi agros et possessiones
regalis munificentia contulit, ut deliciis clericorum meretrices
ornentur? luxuriosæ convivæ præparentur? canes ac aves et talia ludicra
comparentur? Hoc milites clamant, plebs submurmurat, mimi cantant et
saltant, et vos negligitis, vos parcitis, vos dissimulatis.—Oratio
Edgari ann. 969 (Spelman. Concil. I. 477).
[405] Vit. S. Æthelwold. c. 12.
[406] “Gif preorst ewenan forlæte and oðre nime, anaþema sit” (Leg.
Presbyt. Northumbriens. c. 35). Spelman’s translation of this “Si
presbyter concubinam suam dimiserit et aliam acceperit anathema sit”
(Concil. I. 498) is perhaps hardly correct. Cwene can be interpreted
in either a good or a bad sense, as a wife or a mistress; and the
terms of the law show that the connection was a recognized one, the
sin consisting in disregarding it. If the priest’s companion were only
a concubine, his guilt would not be measurably increased by merely
changing his unlawful consort.
[407] Chron. de Abbat. Abbendoniæ (Chron. Abingdon. II. 279).
[408] Osberni Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 36.
[409] Chron. de. Abbat. Abbendon. _loc. cit._
[410] Vit. S. Æthelwold. c. 14, 15.
[411] Johannis PP. XIII. Epist. xxii.
[412] Concil. sub Dunstano (Spelman. I. 480).
[413] Ædgari Charta de Oswalde’s Law (Spelman. I. 433).
[414] Anglo-Saxon Chron. ann. 964.
[415] Monach. Hydens. Leg. c. 8, 9 (Spelman. I. 438).
[416] Canon. sub Edgaro—Mod. imponend. Pœnitent. c. 28, 29 (Thorpe, II.
273).
[417] Oratio Edgari (Spelman. I. 476).
[418] Spelman. I. 479.
[419] Guillel. Malmesbur. Lib. II. c. 8.
[420] Florent. Wigorn. ann. 975.—Matt. Westmonast. Lib. III. c.
18.—Chron. Winton. (Spelman. I. 490-2).
[421] Matt. Westmonast. Lib. III. c. 18. Henry of Huntingdon, however
(Lib. V. ann. 978), who, as a secular priest and the son of a priest,
did not look upon the labors of St. Dunstan with much favor, insinuates
that the accident was intended to foreshow that the assembled wisdom
and power of England were about to fall similarly from the grace of God.
[422] Haddan & Stubbs I. 286.
[423] Privileg. Reg. Ethelredi (Spelman. I. 504).
[424] Ælfrici Canon. c. i.-viii. (Thorpe, II. 345). “Quasi periculosum
non esset sacerdotem vivere more conjugati. Sed dicetis eum haud
posse carere muliebribus servitiis. Respondeo, quonam pacto vitam
transegerunt sancti olim viri absque femina vel uxore,” &c. (Spelman I.
573).—Spelman’s MS. was defective; that in Thorpe is perfect.
[425] Ælfric’s Pastoral Epistle, c. 32, 33 (Thorpe, II. 377).
[426] Omnes ministros Dei, præsertim sacerdotes, obsecramus et
docemus, ut Deo obedientes, castitatem colant, et contra iram Domini
se hoc modo muniant et tueantur. Certius enim norint quod non habeant
debite ob aliquam coitus causam uxoris consortium. In more tamen
est, ut quidam duas, quidam plures habeat; et nonnullus quamvis eam
dimiserit quam nuper habuit, aliam tamen, ipsa vivente, accipit, quod
nulla Christianorum lege est permissum. Dimittens autem et castitatem
recolens, e cœlo assequetur misericordiam, in mundo etiam venerationem,
adeo ut juribus et tributis habeatur Thaini dignus cum in vita tum in
funere. Qui autem ordinis sui regulam abdicaverit, omni cum apud Deum
tum apud homines gratia exuatur.—Concil. Ænham. c. 2. (Spelman. I.
514-5).
I give the translation of Spelman, as being more faithful in spirit,
although less literal than that of Thorpe; for though the expression
“wifes gemanan” may not be especially limited to wifely relations, yet
the whole tenor of the passage shows that the women concerned were not
merely concubines, but were entitled to the consideration of legal
wives.
The thane-right promised to those who should reform their lives was one
of the recognized privileges of the church. In a list of wer-gilds,
anterior to the period under consideration by about a century, the
wer-gild for the priest—“mæsse-þegnes” is the same as that for the
secular noble—“woruld-þegnes” (Thorpe, I. 187).
[427] “Munecas and mynecena canonicas and nunnan” (Concil. Ænham.
c. 1). Spelman thinks that the mynecena were perhaps the wives or
concubines of monks (Concil. I. 530). Mynecen is merely the feminine of
munuc, a monk; Thorpe translates it as “mynchens,” and suggests that
the “mynecena” were merely the younger nuns, not quite so strictly
governed as the elder “nunnan.” To this opinion Bosworth (Dictionary,
s. v. _nunne_) seems to incline. It would appear to be so from chapter
XV. (be Mynecenan) of the “Institutes of Polity” (Thorpe, II. 322).
[428] Cnutes Domas c. VI. (Thorpe, I. 364).
[429] Cnutes Domas c. v. (Thorpe, I. 362). To appreciate the full
weight of the privileges thus distributed, we should bear in mind
how completely, in those times, the various classes of society were
distinguished by the facilities afforded them of acquittal in cases
of accusation, and by the graduated scale of fines established for
injuries inflicted on them. These were most substantial advantages
when the wer-gild, or blood-money, was the only safeguard guaranteed
by law for life and limb, and were most important privileges of the
aristocracy. This constitutes the thane-right alluded to in the council
of Enham, and retained by the laws of Cnut, as attaching to priests
who preserve their chastity. Thus “sacramentum presbyteri regulariter
viventis tantumdem valeat sicut liberalis hominis” (Cnuti Leg. Sæcul.
c. 128—ed. Kolderup-Rosenvinge)—the expression “liberalis homo” being,
in this version, used for the “taynus” or thane of the other texts.
[430] Cnuti Leg. Eccles. c. 8, 9. (Kolderup-Rosenvinge, Hauniæ, 1826,
p. 12).
[431] Institutes of Polity, &c., c. 16, 19, 23 (Thorpe, II. 325, 329,
337). It is observable that the words _wif_ and _cwene_ are used
interchangeably to denote the consorts of priests.
[432] Lives of Edward the Confessor, pp. 60-1 (Chron. & Memor. of Gr.
Brit.). In the same curious collection there is another life of Edward
by a follower of Queen Edith and dedicated to her, the writer of which
freely attributes the worst motives to the intrigues of the Norman
monks in separating her from the king. See, for instance, his account
of her immurement in the abbey of Wilton (Op. cit. p. 403).
Edward’s virginity is likewise attested by the MS. Monast. Ramesiens.
(Spelman. I. 637)—“Cœlibem pudicitiæ florem, quem inter regni delicias
et inter amplexus conjugales ... conservarat, virtutemque perpetuo
floribus immiscuit paradisi.” In this, however, Edward only imitated
the asceticism ascribed to the Emperor St. Henry II. and his Empress
St. Cunegunda, half a century earlier.
[433] Chron. Centulens. Lib. IV. c. xxii. (D’Achery II. 345).
[434] Orderic. Vital. P. II. Lib. iv. c. 10.—The testimony of William
of Malmesbury (De Gest. Regum Lib. III.) is equally emphatic.
[435] Lives of Edward the Confessor, p. 432.
[436] Burchardi Decret. Lib. III. c. 108-116.
[437] Synod. Ticinens. ann. 1022 c. 1, 2, 3, 4.
[438] Respons Imperatoris in Synod. Ticinens.
[439] Concil. Bituricens. ann. 1031 c. 5, 6, 8, 10.
[440] Quoniam infelicem habuit introitum, infeliciorem persensit
exitum. Horrendum quippe referri turpitudo illius conversationis et
vitæ.—Rad. Glabri Lib. V. c. 5.