inferior clergy with taking more than their due proportion, and from the sixth century downwards canons were passed in order to restrain them from doing so." Even where the full amount of the clergy's share was fairly paid to them as a body, the allowance of each individual still depended on the will of the bishop, who thus had every clerk at his mercy. Where the tithe was paid in kind, it is probable that some composition was agreed on between the local clergy and the bishops, in order to avoid the inconveniences of removing it. The council of Worms, in 829, ordered that bishops who had a sufficiency from other property should relinquish their canonical share of the tithes for the uses of the church and of the poor.k Capitularies were often passed to prevent the payers of tithes from taking the disposal of them into their own hands, instead of leaving it to the bishops; and from transferring the payment from the church to which it rightfully belonged, to some other, which private reasons might lead them to prefer. In such cases, the missi were to take care that proper restitution should be made.TM There is some inconsistency in the enactments of Spanish councils as to the dues which should be paid to the bishops. The second council of Braga, in 572, forbids them to take the third part of the oblations, and instead of it allows them only a yearly payment of two solidi from each parish." The fourth council of Toledo, held in 633, under a different government, in enacting that the bishop should not take more than a third, makes no reference to the canon of Braga. But another council at Toledo, in 646, re-enacts that canon; and one yet later, in 655, reverts to the system of allowing the bishop a third. The exaction of two solidi afterwards found its way into France; but there, in course of time, the bishops, instead of acknowledging it as a substitute for the third part, required it as an additional due, under the name of Cathedraticum." The burdens imposed on the clergy by the expenses of the 15 (Pertz, Leges, i.). Such passages seem to refute the opinion quoted from Fra Paolo by Archd. Hale (i. 21), that the tripartite and quadripartite divisions did no more than prescribe the appropriation of portions to certain uses, without requiring that the portions should be equal. Conc. Carpentorat. A.D. 527 (Patrol. lxxxiv. 289), and the Spanish councils cited below. See Planck, ii. 601-2. h Planck, ii. 598-600. Ib. 610. Theodulf, bishop of Or leans, A.D. 797, forbids the storing of hay or other crops in churches, c. 8 (Hard. iv. 914). k C. 5 (Pertz, Leges, i.) m E. g. Capit. A.D. 828, c. 6; Capit. Ticin. A.D. 850, c. 17. n C. 2. • Planck, ii. 607-613. P Capit. Tolos. A.D. 844, c. 2. It is here prescribed as a substitute for certain payments in kind. Cf. Ducange, S. v. Cathedraticum; Planck, ii. 617. bishop's visitation have already been mentioned. The new institution of archdeacons, who claimed dues in right of their office, also contributed to impoverish the parochial clergy." (17.) The estates of the church in France, with the exception of the parish-priest's mansus or glebe," were subject to the payment of all the ordinary taxes, unless exempted by special privilege. The case was very different in England, where church-land was exempt from all but what was styled the "threefold necessity (trinoda necessitas)-the obligation to contribute towards the national forces, the building of fortresses, and the expense of bridges and highways.* (18.) As in earlier ages, canons continued to be passed forbidding the clergy to engage in secular employments." In England, the mass-priests were required to learn some handicraft, to practise it, and to teach it to their clerks; not, however, with a view to their own gain, but in order that they might avoid the temptations of idleness, and might have the means of relieving the poor.* And similar orders are found in France and elsewhere. (19.) The high social position of ecclesiastics in the Germanic kingdoms appears from the rates at which their lives were valued. The payment known by the name of wehr, an institution common to the whole German race," was originally intended as a composition which should satisfy the relations of a slain person for his life, and should re-establish peace between them and the slayer, so that the nation might not, on account of private enmities, be deprived of the service of its members. The principle by which the female relations of the slain man were excluded from any share of this payment-namely that they were not capable of carrying on a feud-might naturally have been considered as extending to the clergy; but when these became a powerful order, the church claimed a wehr for their death. In France, the wehr of a presbyter was equal to that of a count; the wehr of a bishop, to that of a duke. In England an archbishop was rated in this respect Ib. iii. 445-6. See below, p. 253. See Conc. Berghamst. A.D. 696, in Wilkins, i. 50; Ethelbald, A.D. 742, ib. 86; Kemble, ii. 436. E. g. Conc. Forojul. c. 5 (Hard. iv. 858); Conc. Mogunt. A.D. 813, c. 14; Conc. Cabil. A.D. 813, c. 12; Conc. Meld. A.D. 845, c. 49. X Canons of K. Edgar (Thorpe, 396); Lingard, A. S. C. i. 169. The Anglo-Saxons gave the title of priest to all the clergy; the presbyters were dis as equal to an atheling, or prince of the blood; a bishop, to an ealdorman, or earl; a mass-priest, to a thane or lesser noble.d In days when the lay nobles were unable to read or write, the possession of learning marked out ecclesiastics as the only persons qualified for many important offices. The bishops, as men of counsel, got precedence of the counts, the men of the sword. It was the policy of Charlemagne to elevate the hierarchy by way of a counterpoise to the power of his rude vassals. He orders that all shall pay obedience to the bishops, and declares that those who refuse it shall have no home within the empire, "even if they were his own sons.”g As the secular advantages of the clerical profession became greater, it was sought by members of the dominant race, who had before left it in the hands of the conquered. The occurrence of barbaric names among the clergy from the seventh century indicates the time when Franks began to enter into ecclesiastical orders;" and very soon after, the effect of the change is seen in the necessity of laws to restrain the clergy from secular habits and occupations. Bishops led to the field the troops which their lands were required to furnish towards the national army, and not only gave their personal attendance (which was a matter of obligation, and might in some respects have been beneficial), but engaged in bodily service. They were unwilling to admit that their spiritual calling could deprive them of the birthright which belonged to every free Frank, to share in the wars of his people; they wished, too, by proving themselves men of action, to show that their property was not to be invaded with impunity by their lay neighbours. Boniface endeavoured to suppress such practices; it was enacted that the clergy should not carry arms; that only so many of them should accompany the army as might be requisite for the duties of chaplains, and that these should confine themselves to their proper office. But the reform seems not to have lasted long; Charlemagne renews the orders of his father's time, and exhorts the clergy, instead of bearing arms, to trust in God for protection." k m A suspected document represents him as explaining that the object of such enactments was not, as the bishops had supposed, to deprive them of their honours." But even during the remaining years of his reign fresh prohibitions were necessary; and when the strong hand of the great emperor was removed, the warlike inclinations of the Frank bishops were displayed in a greater degree than ever." In England, also, the clergy were disposed to bear arms, as a right belonging to their free condition, and canons were passed to check the practice.P With the carrying of arms other secular habits and amusements are forbidden to the clergy-as the keeping of hounds and hawks," games of chance,' noisy entertainments, worldly songs and instrumental music, and the company of minstrels and buffoons.* (20.) The most remarkable regulations as to the marriage of the clergy during this period belong to the east-being those of the Trullan Council (A.D. 691?). This council is strongly opposed to second marriages. Presbyters who persist in such marriages are to be deposed; if the second wife be dead, or if they separate from her, they are allowed to hold their rank, but are excluded from priestly functions. If a priest, a deacon, or a subdeacon marry a widow, he shall separate from his wife, shall be suspended, and shall be incapable of higher promotion." The council forbids, on pain of deposition, the practice of African and Libyan bishops, who were reported to cohabit with their wives; the wife of a bishop is ordered to separate from him, and to go into a convent. censures the practice of the Armenians, who required that the clergy should be of priestly family, and allowed those who were so born to officiate as singers and readers without receiving the tonsure; and it forbids the clergy to marry after their ordination as subdeacons. But in its 13th canon, after stating that the Roman (c. 2) it appears that the clergy had already made a distinction in favour of slaughtering pagans, which was afterwards fully sanctioned in the crusades. The word honores is supposed by some to mean dignities, the prohibition of arms being regarded as degrading to free-born Franks; others refer it to the fiefs held by bishops; as if, by being disarmed, they would become unable to defend these (see Schröckh, xix. 449; Neand. v. 140). But both the petition by which Charlemagne is said to have been requested at Worms, in 803, to prevent bishops from taking the field, and the answer here quoted (Hard. iv. 9413), are omitted by Pertz, and are now regarded as spurious. Rettb. ii. 637. It • Schröckh, xix. 450; Planck, ii. 225. Conc. Turon. III. A.D. 813, c. 5; church exacted of persons ordained as presbyters or deacons a promise to abstain from their wives, it expressly sanctions the contrary practice, and grounds its sanction on the "Apostolical Canons." No promise is to be required, no separation is to be enforced; deposition is threatened against any one who shall deprive priests, deacons, or subdeacons of their wives, and against all members of these orders who under pretence of religion shall separate from their partners. And, while the 29th canon allows the clergy of "barbaric" churches to separate, if they think it their duty to do so, and if their wives consent, the permission is declared to be granted only in condescension to the weak scrupulousness which may be expected in such churches. a A council which in this and other points directly and avowedly contradicted the principles and usages of Rome was not likely to find favour with the popes, and, as we have seen, it was rejected by Sergius I. But the sanction which it gave to the marriage of the clergy has ever since continued to regulate the discipline of the Greek church. In the west, the period presents us with many enactments against the marriage of the clergy. The Merovingian kings added their authority to confirm the ecclesiastical canons which forbade it. But it would seem that, notwithstanding the frequency of the prohibitions, many of the clergy continued to marry-more especially where the authority of the popes was not fully established, as in Lombardy, Spain, and some parts of Gaul and of Germany. The see of Chur, in the Grisons, was hereditary in a family of bishops who combined the powers of spiritual and civil government. The wife of one of these, about the middle of the seventh century, in signing documents, styled herself episcopa or antistita Curiensis; and the marriage of the bishops implies that the clergy were also at liberty to marry.R A question put by Augustine to Gregory the Great seems to show that marriage had been usual among the British clergy.' The law of the Anglo-Saxon church on this subject was the same with that of Rome; but here too there is frequent proof that the clergy continued to enter into the married state; nor was their |