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ANSELM,
Abp. Cant.

Doctor and Student, book 2. c. 18.

Perkins of

XII. That new chapels should not be erected without the bishop's consent.

XIII. That abbots were not to make knights. That they were to eat and sleep in the same house with their monks, unless hindered by emergent necessity.

XIV. That any promise of matrimony made privately without witness, should be void in case either of the parties denied the engagement.

XV. That neither monks or nuns be god-fathers or godmothers. That monks are not to farm any lands.

XVI. That monks should not possess themselves of parish churches, unless by the authority of some bishop, and that they are not to take the profits of those churches put into their hands, to such a degree as to impoverish the priests officiating there.

XVII. That persons of kin were not to intermarry till the seventh generation.

XVIII. That the dead were not to be carried out of the parish for burial, to defraud the parish priest of his due.

XIX. That no person for the future presume to drive that customary ungodly trade of selling men, like horses or cattle in a market. Notwithstanding this canon, the condition of villainage continued upon the constitution; for, by our laws, a villain or slave may be granted for life like a lease; may be attached to a manor, and passed with it like other goods or chattels; and when he is thus attached he may be conveyed away by deed, and made a villain in gross.

XX. To proceed: those that are guilty of sodomy, and such as assist them in that abominable wickedness, are exthe Laws of communicated by the council; and are not to be absolved England, till after penance. And if any person of a religious chaSee 94. 104. racter happens to be convicted of this crime, he is not only Coke Insti- to be barred from any higher degree in the Church, but to

c. 1.

&c.

tut. c. 1. fol.

alib.

116. 120. et lose that which he has at present. And if the criminal is one of the laity, he is to be degraded from his station, and forfeit his quality.

Eadmer,

68.

XXI. It was likewise ordained, that the aforesaid excom1. 3. p. 67, munication should be published every Sunday throughout Malmsb. de the kingdom. But this last canon, concerning the repeating tif. fol. 129, the excommunication, Anselm thought proper to dispense

Gest. Pon

with. It is possible he conceived the frequent mention of HENRYI. K. of Eng. this sin might lessen the hideousness of it, and raise unserviceable images in the minds of the people.

Church

Mr. Fuller observes, that simoniacks, condemned by the first canon," are not taken in the vulgar acceptation, for such as were promoted to their places by money; but in a new-coined sense of that word, for those that were advanced to their dignities by investiture from the king." But this is Fuller, a mistake; for the controversy between the king and Anselm Hist. book concerning investitures, was not yet determined; the con- 3. p. 19. test, by the agreement of both parties, was to sleep till farther application to the pope. And since the matter hung thus in suspense, we cannot imagine Anselm would sign the breach of his own articles; or that the council should decree against the king before they knew how the matter would be decided at Rome. This, I say, is altogether unimaginable, especially if we consider that most of the bishops sided with the king against Anselm.

The thirteenth canon forbids the abbots the privilege of knighting. That bishops, abbots, and sometimes parish priests used to make knights, has been shown already; but the Normans, as Ingulphus observes, were used to another custom, which probably might occasion this prohibition in the canon. However, this privilege was not thought so inconsistent with an abbot, but that a grant from the crown might qualify him for it, as appears by two charters; one of them belonging to Battle abbey, and the other granted by Henry I., and confirmed by king John, to the abbot of Reading, in both which charters the abbots are allowed to make knights under certain rules and conditions.

Selden, Not. ad Eadmer,

p.

William refuse conse

the king's

The king, resolving not to lose any opportunity of push- 3.207. ing the point of investitures, sent to Anselm to consecrate Reinelmand Roger and Reinelm, elected to the sees of Salisbury and Hereford, (for the other Roger was lately dead,) together cration upon Anselm answered, pastoral with William, elect of Winchester. that he was ready to consecrate William; but as for the staff. late articles between the king and himself, he could not depart from them. The reason why the archbishop consented to the consecration of William was, because he refused to act upon the king's promotion, or receive the ring and pastoral staff from him. The king, on the other side,

ANSELM, solemnly declared, that they should either all, or none of Abp. Cant them be consecrated; and Anselm declining this office, the king commanded Girard, archbishop of York, to perform the solemnity. Upon this Reinelm, of Hereford, refused the episcopal character, and returned the ring and pastoral staff to the king. By this resignation he lost the king's favour, and was dismissed the court. However, the archbishop of York went on with his commission, and designed to consecrate William and Roger at London; and when several of the prelates were met to go through the customary scrutiny, and examine the qualifications of the elected, William renounced the authority, and would by no means be passive under it: upon which the rest of the prelates went off, and nothing was done. This disappointment provoked the king to that degree, that he confiscated William's estate, and banished him the kingdom: neither could Anselm prevail for the least mitigation of this rigour.

288.

The following Lent, the king happening to come down to Dover to treat with the earl of Flanders, staid some few days at Canterbury in his passage. During this time he sent to Anselm to give him satisfaction, and not tire his patience any longer, for fear of provoking him to new measures. The archbishop answered, the agents were now returned from Rome with the pope's decision. He desired, therefore, his holiness's letters might be read, and that he was ready to govern himself accordingly. The king replied, he would endure no more of this trifling; that the privileges possessed by his predecessors were parcel of his crown, and that there was no reason he should submit his prerogative to the pope's determination. In short, the court displeasure ran so high, that it was feared some terrible storm would fall upon Anselm. However, he was not to be moved by any prospect of danger. Besides, the king seems to have gone somewhat off from his articles; for, by resting the dispute till Anselm's agents returned from Rome, and by consenting to a farther application to that see, it looks as if he had referred the difference to the pope's arbitration. But now, he would not so much as suffer the reading of the pope's letter. This turn of temper made Eadmer suspect the contents of them had been discovered by one of his agents.

At last the king was pleased to relent, and desire Anselm

K. of Eng.

to take a journey to Rome himself, to try if he could per- HENRYI. suade the pope to relax. Anselm undertook the voyage, at the request of the bishops and barons.

A. D. 1103.
Eadmer,

titures.

Being thus solicited, he embarked immediately for Nor- 1. 3. p. 70. mandy, neither did he think it safe to open the pope's letter Anselm desired to go till he was arrived. His reason was this,-that in case the to Rome to persuade the king had demanded a sight of the letter, and found the seal pope to give broken, he might have charged the agents with forgery, and up the invesquestioned the authority of the instrument. Besides, had the contents been different from the late report of the king's ambassadors, the archbishop would have been brought under a dilemma; for either he must have communicated with those who, in the interim, had given investitures upon the king's pastoral staff, which would have involved him in the censure of the council of Bari, of which himself was a Eadmer, ib. member; or else, by declining their communion, he must have incurred a general odium.

Having now mentioned the reason why he deferred opening the pope's letter, I shall give the reader part of it:

chal's letter

The pope, after some preliminary ceremony and commendation, acquaints Anselm, "How sorry he was that the Pope PasEnglish prelates of the late embassy should misreport him to Anselm. so notoriously to their master. That so unwarrantable a concession, as they mentioned, never entered into his thoughts. That he could not yield the point of investitures with any consistency in his duty to God Almighty. That if the pastoral staff, which is an emblem of spiritual authority, was delivered by lay hands, what privilege would be left to the bishops? If the laity encroach at this rate upon the sacerdotal function, the honour of the Church must sink, the force of discipline be lost, and the Christian religion grow insignificant. It is the duty of the laity to protect the Church, and not to betray her. When Uzziah grasped at a forbidden office, and challenged the priesthood, he was struck with leprosy. The sons of Aaron, likewise, for making use of strange fire, were destroyed by a miracle of vengeance. Now for princes, or secular men, to give investiture, or even over-rule the election of bishops, is destructive of the government of the Church, and condemned by the holy canons." And here, he instances the seventh

ANSELM, general council: from hence he proceeds "to declare those Abp. Cant. bishops excommunicated, who had solemnly attested a falsehood and misreported him to the king. And that all persons that should receive investiture or consecration while the controversy was depending, should lie under the same censure, together with those that ordained them.

Eadmer, 1. 3. p. 71.

The king

sends an

but without success.

289.

The king was resolved to make a farther trial of his interest at the court of Rome. To this purpose he dispatched other embas-one William Warelwast, who had formerly been employed sy to Rome, there in the late reign. This agent arriving at Rome before Anselm, solicited for his master, and, amongst other things, insisted upon the munificence of the kings of England to the Roman see. That upon this score they had a particular regard paid them above other princes. That it would not only be dishonourable to his master to quit the privileges of his predecessors, but the court of Rome would be a great loser by refusing to gratify the king. That if things were once carried to extremity, there would be no possibility of recovering their former ground. The spirit of this remonstrance, with other private methods of application, brought over several of the pope's court, insomuch that the agent was in hopes he had gained the point; and, therefore, finding he had some enemies in the consistory, he told the board, that the debating the point, pro and con, would Id. p. 72, 73. signify little; for his master, the king of England, would rather hazard the loss of his crown than part with the investitures. To this the pope gave him an unexpected answer, and declared, that he would rather lose his life than grant what the agent demanded. However, the pope was desirous not to come to a rupture with the king, and therefore complied with him in some other matters, and wrote him a writes a ce- ceremonious letter. Amongst other things he acquaints letter to the him, the demand could not be granted without great danger king. to the king and himself. That he had no intention to lessen his prerogative, or do the least disservice to his crown; but that the giving investitures was a privilege essential to the government of the Church, and perfectly foreign to the civil magistrate. He entreats him, therefore, to waive the contest, and recall Anselm; and then promises all imaginable compliance in other matters.

The pope

remonious

Id.

p.

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