Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England Part 45

[5] We know very little of the religion of these Teutonic tribes before their conversion, or of its usages. Mr. Kemble had "no hesitation in a.s.serting" that their religion was the same as that of the Scandinavians; he thought that the Mark and system of land occupation which had existed long before in their native seats was introduced in its entirety into their new settlements, and that every Mark had its _fanum_, _delubrum_ or _sacellum_; and, further, that the priests attached to these heathen churches had lands--perhaps freewill offerings, too--for their support.

Under these circ.u.mstances, he argues that nothing could be more natural than the establishment of a baptismal church in every Mark which adopted Christianity and the transference of the old endowments to the new priesthood ("The Saxons in England," ii. 423).

[6] See a list of them at p. 63.

[7] 27th of the Council of London, 1102 A.D.

[8] Coifi asked, _Quis aras et fana idolorum c.u.m septis quibus erant circ.u.mdata primus profanare debet ... pergebat ad idola ... mox appropinquabat ad fanum...._ In King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of Bede, _aras_ is represented by wigbed, _fana_ by heargas, _idolorum_ by deofolgild, a _septis_ in one place by hegum (hedges), and in the other by getymbro. Getymbro may mean a construction of any material, but probably here of timber ("Eccl. Hist.," ii. c. 13).

[9] There is another notice of the existence of temples among the East Saxons, in the narrative of Bishop Jaruman's work of reclaiming the half of those people under the rule of the sub-king Sighere, when they had relapsed to their old superst.i.tions as the result of the great plague of 664 A.D. Bede says that the people "began to restore the temples that had been abandoned, and to adore idols"; but Jaruman "restored them to the way of righteousness; so that, either forsaking or destroying the temples and altars which they had erected, they reopened the churches." At first sight, the narrative gives the idea of a number of temples, and a number of churches scattered over the country; but, on consideration, we call to mind that the East Saxons had been converted by Cedd only ten or twelve years before (653), and that we do not read of his building more than two churches, one at Tilbury on the Thames, the other at Bradwell, at the mouth of the Blackwater, which was probably outside the district in question; and the temples spoken of may not have been more numerous than the churches mentioned in the same vague terms; or Bede may have had in mind the open-air places of wors.h.i.+p of the old religion and the prayer stations at which the Christian missionaries used to a.s.semble their converts ("Eccl. Hist.," iii. c. 30).

[10] Professor Skeat, in letters to the present writer.

[11] Anglo-Saxon nom. _hearh_; dat. _hearge_; pl. nom. _heargas_. Many English words are formed on "dative" types.

[12] In Icelandic, _horgr_ = "a heathen place of wors.h.i.+p, an altar of stone erected on a high place, or a sacrificial cairn built in the open air, and without images."

[13] Whitaker's "Craven," p. 500.

[14] Saint Lewinna is said to have suffered _martyrdom_ for her faith at the hands of the heathen South Saxon, during the time of Archbishop Theodore. "Acta Sanct.," July 24, p. 608, and "Suss.e.x Archeol. Coll.,"

vol. i. p. 45.

[15] Some stories of the introduction of Christianity among others of the rude northern peoples are well worth giving as an ill.u.s.tration, in likenesses, and in contrasts, of our own story, and especially because they give a quant.i.ty of details which will supply the paucity of such details in our own histories. They are later in time, but they belong to a similar phase of manners.

When Harold Klak, King of Jutland, who had received baptism on a visit to the Court of Louis le Debonaire (A.D. 820), returned home and destroyed the native shrines, proscribed the sacrifices, and abolished the priesthood, his people resented it, and drove him into exile.

Hacon of Norway had been baptized at the Court of our King Athelstan. At first he sent for a bishop and priests from England; a few of his intimate companions received baptism, and two or three churches were built in the district more immediately subject to him. Then at the Froste Thing, the winter a.s.sembly of the whole people, the king proposed to them to accept baptism. One of the bonders replied, in the name of his fellow-chiefs, "The ancient faith which our fathers and forefathers held from the oldest times, though we are not so brave men as our ancestors, has served us to the present time. If you intend to take the matter up with a high hand, and try to force us, we bonders," he said, "have resolved among ourselves to part with you, and take some other chief, under whom we may freely and safely enjoy the faith which suits our inclinations." The following winter four of the bonders bound themselves by oath to force the king to sacrifice to the G.o.ds, and to root out Christianity from Norway. The churches were burnt, and the priests stoned, and when the king came to the Yule Thing, he consented to taste the horseflesh of the sacrifice, and drink to the G.o.ds.

When Olaf Tryggveson gained the throne of Norway, having been baptized in England, he began by destroying the temples in his own territory, and declared that he would make all Norway Christian or die. The crisis came at the Midsummer Althing, held at Maere, where was an ancient temple; and thither all the great chiefs and bonders, and the whole strength of the heathen party, a.s.sembled. At a preliminary meeting of the bonders, Olaf proposed to them to adopt the Christian religion; they demanded, on the other hand, that he should offer sacrifice to the G.o.ds. He consented to go with them to the temple, and entered it with a great number of his own adherents; and when the sacrifice began the king suddenly struck down the image of Thor with his gold inlaid axe so that it rolled down at his feet; at this signal his men struck down the rest of the images from their seats, and then came forth and again demanded that the people should abandon their belief in G.o.ds who were so powerless. The people surrendered, and "took baptism." Subsequently, Olaf Haraldson (1015), learning that the old sacrifices were still secretly offered at Maere, and other places, surprised a party at Maere, who were engaged in the forbidden wors.h.i.+p, put their leader to death, and confiscated the property of the rest. Then Olaf went to the uplands, and summoned a Thing. Gudbrand, a powerful chief of the district, sent a message-token summoning the peasants far and wide to come to the Thing, and resist the king's demand to abandon their ancient faith. Gudbrand had a temple on his own land, in which was an image of Thor, made up of wood, of great size, hollow within, covered without with ornaments of gold and silver. At the first meeting, Sigurd the Bishop, arrayed in his robes, with his mitre on his head, and his staff in his hand, preached to the a.s.sembly about the true faith and the wonderful works of G.o.d. When he had finished, one of the bonders said: "Many things are told us by this horned man, with a staff in his hand, crooked at the top like a ram's horn; since your G.o.d, you say, is so powerful, tell him to make it clear suns.h.i.+ne to-morrow, and we will meet you here again, and do one of two things--either agree with you about this matter, or fight you." Accordingly, on the morrow, before sunrise, the a.s.sembly came together again to the Thing-field, Olaf and his followers on one side, and Gudbrand and his men bringing with them into the field the great image of Thor, glittering with gold and silver, to which the heathen party did obeisance. Olaf had given instructions beforehand to one of his chiefs, Kolbein the Strong, who usually carried besides his sword a great club. "Dale Gudbrand," said the king, "thinks to frighten us with his G.o.d, who cannot even move without being carried. You say that our G.o.d is invisible, turn your eyes to the east, and behold his splendour," (for the sun was just rising above the horizon). And when they all turned to look, Kolbein the Strong acted upon his instructions; he struck the idol with his war-club with such force that it broke in pieces, and a number of mice ran out of it among the crowd. Olaf taunted them with the helplessness of such a G.o.d; and Gudbrand admitted the force of the argument. "Our G.o.d will not help us, so we will believe on the G.o.d thou believest in." He and all present were baptized, and received the teachers whom King Olaf and Bishop Sigurd set over them, and Gudbrand himself built a church in the valley.

There was a great temple at Upsala, with idols of Thor, Woden, and Frigga, which was afterwards converted into a church (see Snorre Sturlusun's "Heimskringla," translated by S. Lang, with notes by R. B. Anderson, vol.

i. pp. 103-105, 110, and vol. iv. p. 40).

Temples and sacrifices seem to imply the existence of priests; but it is remarkable that, in the collisions between Hakon and the Olafs and the heathenism of Norway, there is no mention of a single priest.

[16] Bede, "Eccles. Hist.," ii. 14.

[17] Ibid., ii. 16.

[18] Bede, iii. 3.

[19] Ibid., iii. 5.

[20] Ibid., iii. 14.

[21] Ibid., v. 6. There are other indications that travellers sometimes took tents on their journeys through the thinly inhabited country.

[22] Pertz, ii. 334.

[23] Bede, iii. 26.

[24] Bede, iv. 27.

[25] In the life of St. Willibald, we read that "it was the ancient custom of the Saxon nation, on the estates of some of their n.o.bles and great men, to erect not a church, but the sign of the Holy Cross, dedicated to G.o.d, beautifully and honourably adorned, and exalted on high for the common use of daily prayer" (Acta SS. Ord. Benedict, sect. iii., part 2). So it was a custom with "St. Kentigern to erect a cross in any place where he had converted the people, and where he had been staying for a time" ("Vita Kentigerni," by Joscelin, the Monk of Furness). Adalbert, a Gallic bishop, in the time of St. Boniface, preached in fields and at wells, and set up little crosses and oratories in various places.

[26] The church at Bradfield-on-Avon, recently discovered, unaltered and uninjured, was probably the church of one of these monasteries.

[27] Of the early monasteries of the East Saxons, the East Anglians, the South Saxons, and of the Dioceses of Rochester and Hereford, little is known.

[28] "Historical Church Atlas," E. McClure.

[29] Secular monasteries are alluded to in the fifth canon of Clovesho (A.D. 747), and eighth canon of Calchythe (816). A canon of Clovesho (803) forbad laymen to be abbots.

[30] Bishop of Oxford, "Const. Hist.," i. 251.

[31] The Bishop of Oxford, however, says, "Occasional traces of Ecclesiastical a.s.semblies of single kingdoms occur, but they are scarcely distinguishable from the separate Witenagemots" ("Const. Hist.," i. 264).

[32] The 123rd of the novels.

[33] Labbe and Cossart Councils, 9. 119.

[34] Letters of Gregory the Great, lib. xii. ep. xi. (Migne 77, p. 1226).

[35] Another capitulary, dated 832, ordained that if there were an unendowed church it should be endowed with a manse and two villani by the freemen who frequented it, and if they refuse it shall be pulled down.

[36] When Willibrord, a Northumbrian educated at Ripon, was evangelizing Frankish Frisia, 692, etc., Alcuin records that he founded not only monasteries but encouraged the foundation of parish churches. Alcuin, "Opera II.," tom. 101, p. 834. Migne.

[37] Bede, iii. 17.

[38] Ibid., v. 4, 5.

[39] At the same time, to encourage commerce, a merchant who had made three voyages in his own s.h.i.+p was ent.i.tled to the rank of Thane.

[40] The Bishop of Oxford and earlier authorities are of opinion that the "burg geat settl" means the right of jurisdiction over tenants. Sharon Turner conjectures that the place in the king's hall means a seat in the Witenagemot.

[41] Thorpe, "Ancient Laws," i. 367.

[42] S.P.C.K., "Roch. Dioc. Hist.," p. 25.

[43] Ellis's "Introduction to Domesday Book."

[44] Parishes with two rectors continued not infrequently throughout the Middle Ages; there are some even to the present day. The way in which the parochial duties were divided is indicated by two examples given in Whitaker's "Craven" (p. 504). Linton has two rectors, who take the service in alternate weeks; they have their stalls on either side of the choir, and parsonage houses nearly adjoining one another. So at Bonsal each rector has his own stall and pulpit.

Sometimes each mediety had its own church. The churches of Willingale Spain and Willingale Doe, in Ess.e.x, are in the same churchyard. At Pakefield, Suffolk, there is a double church, each with its choir and nave and altar, divided only by an open arcade.

[45] Bot = compensation.

[46] This is the earliest notice (in England at least) of the ancient custom of having a confirmation G.o.d-parent, different from the baptismal sponsors. There are other notices of it in the canons of Edgar (see p. 69) and the twenty-second of the laws of Canute; and in many canons of English Mediaeval Diocesan Councils. Queen Elizabeth and Edward VI. were each baptized and confirmed at the same time, and, according to primitive custom, each had three baptismal sponsors and one confirmation G.o.d-parent.

It is still enjoined by the third rubric at the end of the Church Catechism and by the twenty-ninth of the canons of 1603.