[EASTER QUESTION.]

A.D.

541. Easter question raised at the 4th Council of Orleans a. CONC. AURELIAN. IV. can. 1.-Placuit itaque, Deo propitio, ut sanctum Pascha secundum laterculum Victorii ab omnibus sacerdotibus uno tempore celebretur. Quæ festivitas annis singulis ab Episcopo Epiphaniorum die in ecclesia populis denuntietur. De qua solennitate quoties aliquid dubitatur, inquisita vel agnita per metropolitanos a Sede Apostolica sacra constitutio teneatur. [Labb.,

V. 381 b.]

Injuriosus of Tours, and Eumerius of Nantes, are among the signatures to this council, but no name of any Bréton Bishop. Nor does any Bréton Bishop occur in Frank councils, except Samson in A.D. 555 or 557,who was a Bishop but almost certainly not a Bréton Bishop, and the questionable Cadoenus, supposed to be of Aleth, at Rouen in A.D. 682. Brittany was evidently becoming severed from Tours, since the establishment of the Frank

kingdom, and the great British immigrations into Brittany, had brought about a difference of race between the two, and continual Frank and Bréton wars besides.

b A.D. 529 x 561, one "Joannes Reclausus, presbyter, natione Britto," is mentioned as having a cell at Chinon, and as being an adviser of the Frank Queen, Radegund (Greg. Tur., De Glor. Confess. 23; Baudoniv. in V. S. Radegund. § iv.).

A.D. 553 × 561. Synod of Bréton Bishops excommunicates Macliaus Bishop of Vannes a.

GREG. TURON., Hist. Franc., IV. 4.—Macliavus, de sub terra consurgens, Veneticam urbem expetiit, ibique tonsuratus et Episcopus ordinatus est. Mortuo autem Chanaone, hic apostatavit, et demissis capillis, uxorem, quam post clericatum reliquerat, cum regno fratris simul accepit; sed ab Episcopis excommunicatus est.

a Chanao, Count of Brittany in A.D. 553, murdered three of his brothers, but failed in his attempt to murder the fourth, Macliaus, who was first hidden in the way above hinted by Count Conober, and then protected by his Episcopate. Upon Chanao's death he seized

the Countship, which he held with his Bishopric, in spite of excommunication, until he was himself assassinated (Greg. Tur., ib.), which must have been before A.D. 577, as in that year one Ennius appears as Bishop of Vannes (Id., V. 25).

A.D. 555 or 557. Welsh or Bréton Bishops at Paris a.

CONC. PARISIENS. III.-[Among the signatures,] Paternus peccator Episcopus consensi et subscripsi.

consensi et subscripsi. [Labb., V. 818.]

a No sees are mentioned. The South Welsh Samson, according to his legend (see vol. I. p. 149), went to Dol, being a Bishop already; and living there until his death, took an active part

Samson peccator Episcopus

in procuring the restoration of Judwal to the Countship of Brittany c. A.D. 550 by the help of King Childebert, and in opposing a usurper called Commorus, mentioned also in the

[ss. MACLOVIUS AND MAGLORIUS.]

Lives of Gildas and of Paternus (=probably Conober, slain by the Franks A.D. 560, Greg. Tur., IV. 20). He was also contemporary with King Childebert I., A.D. 511-558. (See also next article.) His Archbishopric at Dol (which probably was not even a Bishopric until A.D. 845) is a fiction of the same kind with that of the like Archbishopric at S.David's: as are also, it need hardly be said, the story of the York Archbishopric and pall, and the locating S. Samson himself at S. David's. And his connection with Childebert sufficiently accounts for his presence at Paris, without making him a Bréton Bishop. The legend of S. Teilo, which brings him also to S. Samson at Dol for a time, and that of Oudoceus, making him son of one Budic who comes from Cornwall to Armorica to be prince of the latter country, shew at all events a close intercourse in this century between South Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. As does also the legend of Padarn of Llanbadarn (see above,

vol. I. p. 159); to be mentioned here in order to distinguish him, not only from the Bishops of Vannes of the previous century, but from the "Paternus" (of Avranches) above in the text, who was probably a Bréton from his name, but lived and died at S. Pair d'Avranches, not at that time in Brittany (see the V. S. Paterni by Venant. Fort., his contemporary). The Welsh legend of the Padarn of Llanbadarn (Cambro-Brit. SS.), composed after the 9th century (for it speaks of seven sees in Brittany), makes him also Bishop of Vannes, and connects him with S. Samson of Dol. It was obviously written to exempt Vannes from subjection to Dol. See also the History of Gildas for another instance of British and Bréton intercourse. The legends of S. Cadoc and S. Illtyd also take those saints to Armorica (Cambro-Brit. SS.). And although S. David himself is not taken thither, yet his legend and memory were familiar there (see below, Append. D.).

A.D. 561, 566. Further immigration of Britons into Brittany in connection with Maclou, Maglorius a, etc.

SIGEBERT, Chron. ad an. 561.—Machutes, qui et Maglorius b, regulariter educatus et ipsius [sc. Brendani] navigationis socius, in Britannia [i. e. Armorica] sanctitate et miraculis claruit: qui a Britannis exacerbatus, eis maledictis, transivit ad Gallias, et sub Leontio Santonum Episcopo multo tempore virtutibus claruit; Britannis vero propter suam maledictionem variis cladibus affectis, data rursus benedictione, absolvit et sanavit.—ID., in an. 566.—Samson Dolensis Archiepiscopus consanguineus Sancti Maclovii, et successor Samsonis Maglorius, qui de transmarina Britannia ad cismarinam transierunt Britanniam, clarent sanctitate et doctrina.-VIT. S. MAGLORII. (Maglorius) ad prædicandum populo ejusdem linguæ, in occidente consistenti, mare transfretavit, properans finibus territorii Dolensis. [Morice, I.]

a Maglovius became Bishop of Aleth, afterwards (viz. about A.D. 1062) transferred to S. Malo; Maglorius succeeded Samson at Dol: according to their legends, referred to below in Append. B. They were both from Glamorgan or Gwent, and connected with Samson. For the many legendary lives of Britons who came to Brittany, from A.D. 450 to A.D. 600, mainly, but a few also in the following century, see below in Append. B. It really looks possible, that if Dol was at first only a monastery in the see of Aleth, with probably enough (occasionally) episcopal ab

bats (and this is rendered almost certain by Nomenoë's reckoning in A.D. 845, that he found four sees and left seven, viz. by adding S. Brieuc, Treguier, and Dol as a separate see, to Vannes, Quimper, Léon, and Aleth,—and see Stapleton as before quoted, I. xlv. note), then that Maglovius and Maglorius were one and the same person. At any rate Maglorius was probably no more than abbat (perhaps episcopal) of the monastery of Dol.

b The best edition of Sigebert (Pertz, VI. 318) reads Maclovus instead of Maglorius.

A.D. 567. Council of Tours (II.) asserts the Metropolitanship of Tours over Brittany.

CONC. TURON. II. can. 9.—Adjicimus etiam, ne quis Britannum aut Romanum in Armorico sine metropolitani aut comprovincialium voluntate vel literis Episcopum ordinare præsumat. Quod si quis contraire tentaverit, sententiam in anterioribus canonibus prolatam observet, et a nostra caritate usque ad majorem synodum se cognoscat remotum et excommunicatum; quia merito a caritate nostra vel nostris ecclesiis segregantur, qui patrum statuta contemnunta. [Labb., V. 854.]

Signed by the metropolitan of Tours, and among others by the Bishops of Rennes and of Nantes; but by no Bréton Bishop. About A.D. 580, Venantius Fortunatus congratulates Felix Bishop of Nantes, because Insidiatores removes vigil arte Britannos, nullius arma

66

valent quod tua lingua facit," etc. (Carm. III. vi. 40, 41): which doubtless means, that Bishop Felix had protected Nantes, not (as has been imagined) from the Pelagianism, but from the incursions, of the neighbouring Britons.

A.D. 577, 590. Differences of Easter Cycle a.

GREG. TUR., V. 17 [A.D. 577].--Eo anno dubietas Paschæ fuit. In Galliis vero nos cum multis civitatibus quarto decimo kalendas Maias [April 18] sanctum Pascha celebravimus. Alii vero cum Hispanis duodecimo kalendas Aprilis [March 21] solennitatem hanc tenuerunt. Tamen, ut ferunt, fontes illi qui in Hispaniis nutu Dei complentur, in nostro Pascha repleti sunt.-ID., X. 23 [A.D. 590].— Dubietas Paschæ fuit ob hoc, quod in cyclo Victor lunæ decima quinta Pascha scripsit fieri; sed ne Christiani, ut Judæi, sub hac luna hæc solemnia celebrarent, addidit. Latini autem lunæ vigesima secunda. Ob hoc multi in Galliis decima quinta luna celebraverunt. Nos autem vigesima secunda. Inquisivimus tamen studiose. Sed fontes Hispaniæ, qui Divinitus implentur, in nostrum Pascha repleti sunt.

a These seem to be the last (probable) allusions to the Easter dispute in connection with Brittany. The council of Orleans in A.D. 541 had adopted the cycle of Victorinus.

As re

spects A.D. 577, the Spaniards in that year, as is plain by the day named, still kept to the old uncorrected cycle, to which the Britons also adhered. And the "alii," in the neighbourhood probably of Tours, who agreed with the

Ac

Spaniards, were most probably Brétons. cording to our present mode of reckoning, and setting aside new style, April 25 would have been Easter Day in A.D. 577. All three days were Sundays in that year. Columbanus had not yet come into Gaul. As regards A.D. 590, Sunday March 13 was new moon in that year; so that the British rule would have determined Easter Day to March 26,

[LATEST BRITISH MONASTERY IN BRITTANY.]

whereas Gregory kept it on April 2. The history of both differences shews that all these Easter disputes arose merely out of a con

fusion respecting cycles, springing from nothing more than the difficulty in those times of obtaining information.

A.D. 578–586. Intended Pilgrimage of S. Winoch to Jerusalem. A.D. 582. SIGEBERT, in an.-Winochus in Britannia claruit sanctitate.-A.D. 578. GREG. TUR., V. 24.-Tunc [sc. A.D. 578] Uuinnochus Britto in summa abstinentia a Britanniis venit Turonis, Hierosolymam adire cupiens, nullum aliud vestimentum nisi de pellibus ovium lana privatis habens: quem nos [Greg. Tur.], quo facilius teneremus, quia nobis religiosus valde videbatur, presbyterii gratia honoravimus a.

a Greg. Tur., VIII. 34, relates the horrible end of "Vennocus Britto," about A.D. 586.

The Acta S. Winochi belong to a totally different Winoch (see below in Appendix B.).

A.D. 578-590. Saxons on the border of Brittany adopt British

customs.

GREG. TUR., Hist. Franc., X. 9.-Fredegundis

..... Bajocassinos

Saxones juxta ritum Britannorum tonsos atque cultu vestimenti compositos in solutium Warochi abire præcepit.

a The Saxons of Bayeux, who attacked the Britons on the Vilaine A.D. 578 (Greg. Tur., V. 27), as they befriended them in A.D. 590, must have extended into the interior far south of Bayeux itself (see above, p. 72, note). The "tonsure," however, here spoken of, was apparently the lay, not the clerical, fashion among the Britons. So Sidon. Apollin. a

century earlier, A.D. 472-484, Epist. VIII. 9, describes the Saxons as adopting the British custom in the arrangement of the hair. Count Waroch planted Saxon landholders round Vannes as early as A.D. 560 (so Courson, 253, 254, from signatures to Redon charters).

A.D. 600. Another British Monastery founded in Brittany. CHRON. BRITANN., in an. His diebus construxit S. Mevanius a suum cœnobium. [Morice, I. 3.]

a See for S. Méen, a Welshman from Gwent, below in Append. B. And Louis le Débonnaire's letters patent for restoring the then destroyed monastery, A.D. 816, in Morice, I. 225. Judicael gave up the throne of Brittany in A.D. 638, and retired to S. Méen. A story

in Hoveden, II. 136, shews a kind of connection still between this monastery and that of Bodmin so late as A.D. 1177. The next monastery founded in, or in connection with, Brittany, that of Aindre, had a German for its founder, about A.D. 695.

(A.D. 656, Council of Nantes, had no connection with Brittany [Flodoard, Hist., II. 8; Labb., VI. 486, IX. 468].)

[PROHIBITION OF THE SCOTTISH MONASTIC RULE AND TONSURE IN BRITTANY.]

A.D. 786. Brétons submit to Charlemagne at the Council of Worms. REGINO OF PRÜM.-Britonum principes Carolo Regi supplices oblati sunt. [Labb., VI. 1861.]

A.D. 817. Letters Patent of Louis le Débonnaire for the Abbey of

Adopt the Rule

man tonsure in

Scottish.

Landevenech.

CARTUL. LANDEVENECH.-In nomine Domini Dei salof S. Benedict vatoris nostri Jesu Christi, LUDOVICUS DIVINA ORDINANTE (in place of that of S. Columba- PROVIDENTIA IMPERATOR AUGUSTUS omnibus Episcopis et nus) and the Ro- universo ordini Ecclesiastico Britanniæ consistenti. Notum place of the sit, quod, dum Matmonocus abbas ex monasterio Landevennoch nostram adiisset præsentiam et illum sive de conversatione monachorum illarum partium consistentium sive de tonsione interrogassemus, et ad liquidum nobis qualiter hæc forent patefecisset, cognoscentes quomodo ab Scotis sive de conversatione sive de tonsione capitum accepissent, dum ordo totius sanctæ Apostolicæ atque Romanæ Ecclesiæ aliter se habere dignoscitur, placuit nobis ut sive de vita seu etiam de tonsura cum universali Ecclesia Deo dispensante nobis commissa concordarent. Et ideo jussimus ut et juxta Regulam Sancti Benedicti patris viverent, quæ possibilis et laude digna est; et de tonsura capitis juxta taxatum modum cum sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ, quæ per orbem terrarum dilatata est, concordent unitate; et eundem vivendi morem, juxta quod in sancti atque eximii patris Benedicti Regula scriptum est, in hoc monasterio prædicto teneant, et in subjectis ejus cæteris, quæ nostrum plenissimum jussum exequi valuerint. Hæc piissimi Ludovici Imperatoris præcepta de manu ejus roborata a.

Sigillum Ps Ludovici serenissimi Imperatoris.

Hæc eodem anno prædicto cœpta est in eodem monasterio suprascripto Regula Patris Benedicti. [Morice, Mém. etc. à l'Hist. de Brétagne, I. 228 b.]

In the Vita S. Guingaloëi (extr. in Morice, I. 227, 228), this document is prefaced by an account of the rule observed at Landevenech, describing the exceeding austerity of its regulations about food and dress. The exception in the former point is—“ nisi tantum modice de caseo per aquam decocto utebatur

Sabbato et Dominico die," a little fish ("paucos pisciculos") being also allowed on the Sunday: thus proving that Saturday was not a fast with them. Further, "Talis ars unicuique eorum dabatur, ut ex opere manuum quotidiano, sicut Ægyptii monachi, se posset in victu necessario continere: nam non solum