INTRODUCTION.

AN eminent and learned prelate has drawn a beautiful analogy betwixt a church, as displaying the admirable effect of the principles of architecture and the Christian religion. "The divine order and economy of the one, seems to be emblematically set forth by the just, plain, and majestic architecture of the other and as the one consists of a great variety of parts united in the same regular design according to the truest art, and most exact proportion, so the other contains a decent subordination of members, various sacred institutions, sublime doctrines, and solid precepts of morality digested into the same design, and with an admirable concurrence tending to one view-the happiness and exaltation of human nature'."

The introduction of Christianity to Britain is repeatedly affirmed on the most respectable authority to have been occasioned by St. Paul the apostle. David, who preached to the Britons in the fifth century, is acknowledged as the patron saint of Wales; St. Cuthbert is called. the apostle of the north; and St. Patrick of Ireland. St. Columba is renowned in Scottish history as the chief agent in converting the northern inhabitants of the British islands, and from the extraordinary number of its monastic institutions England has been called "The Isle of Saints."

In Wales, the best authorities for the more ancient histories of that country, mention with confidence the existence of bishoprics at Caerleon, St. David's, and Bangor; and in Scotland a bishop of the isles is said to have been established within a century after the conversion of Constantine.

The English name of Bishop, seemingly of Greek origin, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon biscop, a corruption of episcopus, and implies the head of the clergy, or persons publicly employed in the church; his jurisdiction was originally of a spiritual nature, and consisted. chiefly of superintendence in religious ceremonies, in the discipline of the church, and the administration of the sacrament. The Bishops, as vicegerents of Christ, and successors of the apostles, claimed the

1 Berkeley.

2 Tracts on the Origin and Independence of the Ancient British Church, by Bishop Burgess; and Origines Britannica, or the Antiquities of British Churches, by Bishop Stillingfleet, both works of great learning, displaying a knowledge of antiquities only to be acquired by deep study of the subject.

a

exclusive privilege of conferring the sacerdotal character in the consecration of ecclesiastical ministers. Their authority is also of a temporal nature, in common with peers of the realm3, and the dignity of their respective sees is sustained by large estates, not only within their own dioceses but sometimes in distant counties.

The hundred of Oswaldslow, in Worcestershire, which lies chiefly in the centre of the county, consists of estates granted by King Edgar in the year 964 to St. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, and contains certain parcels of land separated from the rest of the county, all which as they belonged to the church are included within this hundred.

The Isle of Ely under the abbots of Ely, and afterwards the bishops, held the privileges of a county palatine till the reign of Henry VIII., when they were in common with other jurisdictions of a like nature, considerably abridged by parliament. The bishop is custos rotulorum of the Isle, and has still almost sovereign authority within his franchise, or liberty. Its jurisdiction is distinct from that of the county of Cambridge, in which it is locally situated, in civil as well as in criminal matters; the liberty contains a large district, having more powers and privileges than any other franchise, excepting that of the bishop of of Durham1.

Under the names of plough alms, kirk shot, soul shot, Rome scot, and Peter pence, contributions in the early period of church history, were constantly levied towards the support of the clergy. Whilst Bishop Marshall was engaged in completing the cathedral of Exeter, he required every housekeeper in the city to pay a sum yearly towards it at Whitsuntide: this probably was the origin of the payment of the diocesan farthing, which appears to have been required for centuries from every parishioner throughout that bishopric, and is still collected from the inhabitants of Exeter, although not applied as it formerly was to keep the cathedral in repair".

The principal source of ecclesiastical revenue was tithes, the origin

3 Archbishops and bishops, as well as the great barons, are called Thanes, or nobility, in Domesday Book.

4 The chief justice and chief bailiff, as well as other officers, are appointed by the Bishop of Ely. The office of chief bailiff is one of considerable importance, being equivalent, within the Isle, to that of high sheriff of a county, and the bailiff does every act which a sheriff of a county performs, excepting that he does not account before the barons of the exchequer, and his appointment is pro termino vitæ.

5 It appears that a confirmation of this farthing rate, printed by Thomas Petyt, in the reign of Henry VIII., is pasted on one of the cases in the muniment room of the Cathedral.

of which in England is said to be a grant of King Ethelwolf in the year 855, these were prædial, and arose from the produce of the earth, as corn, hay, and wood, now called the great tithes. About the year 1200, tithes were extended to every species of profit, including merchandize and military service, and to wages of every kind of labour. Sometimes the founder of a church granted a tithe of corn only, and at a subsequent period added to his original donation tithes of cattle, &c. The clergy reached the zenith in respect of territorial property about the conclusion of the twelfth century; they, then, enjoyed nearly one half of England".

The district subjected to a bishop's authority was originally called his parish, which in the early ages of the church implied the same as diocese. It is admitted by the most intelligent ecclesiastical antiquaries, that the distribution of the kingdom into parishes, in the present acceptation of the term, did not originate in any specific decree, but was the progressive work of ages, and nearly completed by the end of the twelfth century. A comparatively few parishes were, it is true, formed in the Anglo-Saxon era, but being too extended in their boundaries for the accommodation of a dispersed population, were subsequently divided in the Anglo-Norman periods.

After the division of the great bishoprics into several dioceses, which was effected by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the seventh century, the churches of the bishops began to be distinguished by the name of Cathedral, from the episcopal cathedra, or chair, in those churches; whence also the seat of episcopal power is called the see9.

The extent and boundaries of the respective dioceses of the English bishops have been variously and accidentally decided, but they all

6 Hallam.

7 Attributed to Saint Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 636.

8 Baker's History of Northamptonshire; the same author mentions Stotesbury, near Brackley, as presenting a singular anomaly of a parish without either church or village.

9 Cader and Caer, the primitive words, were applied to heights, as Cader Idris, as well as to walled cities, as Caer leon, and Caer lyell, or Carlisle. Carew, the historian of Cornwall, says,

"Who knows not Michael's mount and chair,
The pilgrim's holy vaunt?"

Seat, settle, and saddle, have also the same meaning, as high settle, king's settle, and bishop's settle, or see. Sadberg, in Durham, an eminence or seat, part of the original patrimony of the church, was anciently a county in itself, having its own sheriff, coroner, &c.

possess an equal and indelible character, deriving their power from the apostles and from the law. The establishment of a bishop was inferior in splendour only to that of a king. Bishopric is properly the dominion of a bishop, Rie signifying dominion; his appurtenances are all of princely denomination; he has his palace, his throne, his chancellor, &c. The bishop exacts implicit obedience in the government of his peculiar diocese, and observes the same towards the higher authorities of metropolitan and primate, titles conferred on bishops of the principal cities, whose jurisdiction extends over the provinces of Canterbury and York.

The archbishops of Canterbury were anciently nominated by the Pope by bulls of provision; and the pall, an emblem of ecclesiastical sovereignty, was conferred by the Pope, having first been laid on the tomb of St. Peter on receiving it an oath of canonical obedience and fidelity to Rome was required to be made; without the pall, the archbishop could not hold a council, or consecrate a bishop, at which ceremony it was always worn1o.

A very fine intagliated brass figure of Archbishop Waldeby, on his monument in Westminster Abbey, affords a most satisfactory example of the archiepiscopal costume. Waldeby was translated from Dublin to the see of Chichester; and in 1396 he succeeded Archbishop Arundel as primate of England: he was archbishop of York but a short time, dying the very next year, he was buried in the chapel of St. Edmund the King. The full length figure of the archbishop is represented enshrined within a light and tasteful tabernacle; upon his head is a mitre enriched with jewels, which was worn only upon most solemn occasions. In his left hand he bears the pastoral staff sur

10 The precise form with which the insignia were delivered to Archbishop Dene, in the reign of Henry VII. is given in Collier's Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 701. The pastoral staff was put into the archbishop's hands by a monk commissioned by the prior and convent of Canterbury, with these words, “Reverend father, I am sent to you from the sovereign prince of the world, who requires and commands you to undertake the government of his church, and to love and protect her, and in proof of my orders, I deliver you the standard of the king of heaven." After this, the archbishop received his pall by the hands of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, commissioned by the pope for that purpose, which was delivered to him with this form. "To the honor of Almighty God and the blessed Virgin Mary, the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, our lord Pope Alexander VI. the holy Roman church, and also of the holy church of Canterbury committed to their charge, we give you, in the pall, taken from the body of St. Peter, a full authority for the exercise of your archiepiscopal function, with the liberty of wearing this honourable distinction in your cathedral, upon certain days mentioned in the apostolical bulls of privilege."

mounted by a cross, always held by the bishop when giving the benediction, but on other occasions borne before him as a symbol of authority, and implying his pastoral jurisdiction. The two fore-fingers of the archbishop's right hand are extended as in the act of benediction, and upon his middle finger is a ring, which as well as the ornamented gloves was essential to a prelate. The ring was bestowed upon the bishop as a type of the marriage of Jesus Christ with his church, and accepted by him as a pledge of his fidelity to the charge. Over the mass habit, or chasuble, is seen the pall, worn, only by metropolitans, above all other garments; it is in the form of a fillet about the neck, encompassing the shoulders, and having pendents before and behind, kept in their position by little laminæ of lead rounded at their extremities and covered with silk. Sometimes the pall was fastened to the dress by large ornamented pins, which are to be seen on the sculptured effigy of Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, on his tomb. The pall upon the figure of Archbishop Waldeby, is adorned in front by six crosses patteé fitcheé: upon the left arm is the fannel, or maniple, embroidered, and fringed at the ends. Beneath the lower hem of the dalmatic are the ends of the stole, a long ornamented band, worn round the neck and over the alb, an under garment reaching down to the feet, a part of ecclesiastical dress from which the surplice of modern times apparently derived its origin and colour. The intagliated brass plates on the monumental slabs of prelates, would afford a very fine pictorial series of the peculiar costume of the various eras12.

Archbishop Peckham, who had a taste for magnificence, is said to have expended 4000 marks at Rome on his confirmation, and 2000 marks at Canterbury on his inthronization. The following extract from Godwyn's "Catalogue of the Bishops of England," with unadorned minuteness, gives a striking picture of the manners of the age, and shows with what magnificence an archbishop took possession of his dignity. "William Warham, Bishop of London, was translated to Canterbury, November 29, and inthronized March 9, 1504, with wonderful great solemnity. The day before his coming to Canterbury,

li The apostolical sub-deacons of St. John de Lateran, in Rome, possessed the exclusive privilege of making the palls of white wool shorn from lambs, offered annually by the nuns of St. Agnes, on 21st of January, when they were received in form by two canons of the church and delivered to the sub-deacons.

66

12 The figure of Archbishop Waldeby is engraved in Harding's Antiquities in Westminster Abbey."