marriage annulled or the issue of it declared illegitimate until the latter part of the twelfth century." h As in the earlier periods, the canons for the enforcement of celibacy are accompanied by many which indicate the disastrous effects of such measures. There are very frequent enactments as to the entertainment of women in the houses of the clergy. The fourth council of Toledo (A.D. 633) renews the orders of earlier Spanish councils that the concubines of clerks shall be sold; the ninth council of the same place (A.D. 655) adds that their children shall be serfs of the church. Some canons forbid the clergy to have as inmates of their houses even those nearest female relatives who had been allowed by the council of Nicæa,*-alleging by way of reason that other persons had often been introduced under the pretence of relationship, and that even the laws of nature had been violated. The councils of Charlemagne's reign in general, however, are content with renewing the Nicene rule.m (21.) An important attempt at reform was made about the year 760 by the institution of the canonical life. The title of canons (canonici), which had formerly been given to all the clergy, on account of their being enrolled in the canon or register of the church, and entitled to maintenance from its funds," was now applied in a new meaning, to designate clergy who lived under a canon or rule, resembling that of the monastic communities." The idea of such an institution was not new; for in earlier times Eusebius of Vercelli, Hilary of Arles, and the great Augustine had shown the example of living together with their clergy; and more recently, a like practice had been usual in missionary bodies, where the bishop lived with his staff of clergy and monks. But it was now reduced to a regular system by Chrodegang, a nephew of Pipin, and archbishop of Metz." Chrodegang's scheme was in great measure an adaptation of the Lingard, A. S. C. i. 176; Kemble, ii. 443-7; Rettb. ii. 655. h C. 43. See vol. i. p. 552. I C. 10. Conc. Forojul. A.D. 796 (?) c. 4 (Hard. iv. 858); Egbert, Excerpt. 15, A.D. 740 (Wilkins, i.); Theodulphi Capitul. 12 (Hard. iv. 905); Capit. Aquisgr. A.D. 801, c. 15 (Pertz, Leges, i.). The third council of Braga, A.D. 675, allows none but the mother, unless with a special license, c. 5. E. g. Capit. A.D. 789, c. 3; Capit. A.D. 806, c. 1; Conc. Mogunt. A.D. 813, c. 49. So Conc. Aquisgr. A.D. 816, c. 39. But the second council of Aix, A.D. 836, Benedictine rule to the different circumstances of the clergy. The bishop held a place corresponding to that of the Benedictine abbot, the archdeacon answered to the provost or prior, the seniors had the same oversight in both systems. Like Benedict, the father of the canonical institute prescribed a common dwelling, an uniform dress, a common table, a common dormitory, unless where the bishop should be pleased to allow an exception. The clergy were required to attend certain services daily." Every day they were to practise manual labour,* and were to devote certain portions of their time to study. The younger members of the society were to show respect to the elders-as by rising and bowing when they passed, by asking their benediction, by standing in their presence, unless permitted to sit down. All were to confess to the bishop in Lent, and again in autumn; stripes or imprisonment were the penalties for going to any other confessor. All who were not prevented by sin were to communicate every Sunday and on other chief festivals. Articles of clothing were to be supplied at stated times; the elders were then to give up the clothes which they had worn, and these were to be transferred to the juniors. All were to take their turns in the services of the house; each was in his order to cook for a week, the archdeacon and the cellarer being the only exceptions. Laymen were not to be admitted, except for some special purpose, such as that of assisting in the kitchen; and they were to leave the house as soon as their work was done." b The dietary of the canons was more liberal than that prescribed by the Benedictine rule. They were permitted to eat flesh, except during penitential seasons. They had an allowance of wine (or of beer, if they preferred it), graduated according to their rankfor priests and deacons, three cups at dinner and two at supper; for subdeacons, two at each meal; for the lower orders, two at dinner and one at supper. There were to be seven tables in the hall,h appropriated respectively to the bishop, to the various orders of canons, to strangers, and to the clergy of the city, who on Sundays and other festivals dined in the college, and partook of the instruction which was given in the chapterhouse. Edifying books were to be read at meals, and, in order that they might be Chrodeg. Regula (ap. Hard. iv. 1181 seqq.), c. 35. i Cc. 3-4. x C. 9. 1 C. 2. b C. 29. 115. g C. 23. f C. 22. i C. 8. The capitulum, or chapterhouse, was so called because among the Benedictines a chapter of their founder's rule was there read every day. Ducange, s. v.; Walter, 308. heard, silence was to be kept, "because it is necessary that, when one taketh his bodily food, then also the soul should be refreshed with spiritual food." "k The most important difference from the Benedictine rule was, that the canons were allowed to enjoy individual propertywhether that which they had before entering into the society, or such fees and presents as they might receive for the performance of religious offices. They were, however, obliged at their death to leave all to the brethren.m q From Metz the rule of Chrodegang soon made its way to other cities." The number of its chapters was increased by additions from 34 to 86. Charlemagne even wished to reduce the whole of the clergy to this system; and, although the attempt failed, and the great majority of the clergy continued to live as seculars, many colleges of canons were formed, under the government of abbots, in addition to the cathedral bodies for which the scheme had originally been intended. The rule was sanctioned for general use by a great council at Aix-la-Chapelle under Louis the Pious, in 816; and by the middle of the ninth century it was established in almost all the cathedrals of France, Germany, and Italy, and had also been adopted in England. The clergy found their account in the apparent strictness of the new system, as a means of recovering much of that popular admiration which the monks had long enjoyed to the prejudice of the hierarchical orders." In consequence of this strictness, donations were largely bestowed on the canonical societies. The cathedral chapters became wealthy and powerful, and soon began to assert a claim to act as the bishop's advisers, and to share in the administration of the diocese.* IV. Monasticism. During these centuries the monks played an important part in Western Christendom. The missions to the Germanic nations were chiefly their work; they planted colonies in lonely places, where towns soon grew up, as at Fulda, St. Gall, Eichstedt, and Fritzlar; and with the knowledge of religion, they spread that of agriculture and civilisation among the people. Through the employment of monks in missionary labour, ordination was more largely introduced into their ranks, as a necessary qualification for missionary duties. In some cases, sees were usually filled with monks from certain abbeys-an arrangement the more natural because learning was chiefly cultivated in the monastic societies. Thus Strasburg received its bishops from Münster, Spires from Weissenburg, Constance from Reichenau or St. Gall." The reputation of sanctity continued to wait on the monks. The term religion, which had been specially applied to the monastic profession by a council at Orleans as early as 549," became more and more restricted to it. Entrance on the monastic state was regarded as a second baptism. Theodore of Canterbury curiously carries out the idea by ordering that the novice shall for seven days have his head covered with the cowl, as the head of the newly-baptised was covered with the chrism or veil; and a like order, although with an abridgment of the time to three days, was made under Louis the Pious in 817. Persons of high rank flocked into the cloisters; it was no unusual thing even for kings and queens to resign their royalty and assume the monastic habit. d During the earlier part of the period there was a considerable variety of rules. That of St. Columban for a time appeared to rival the Benedictine code in popularity. It became not uncommon to combine the two ; but by degrees the rule of St. Benedict triumphed, as being the more practically sensible, the less rigorous, and the more elastic. With slight modifications in particular cases, it was commonly adopted in France, where a great excitement in its favour was produced by the translation of the founder's z Schröckh, xx. 5-7; Planck, ii. 472. a Planck, ii. 470, 520. b C. 19. In Salvian, the term religiosi includes clergy as well as monks (Baluz. in Salv. Patrol. liii. 31, 86, 209). The council of Epaone, A.D. 517, uses the word religio to signify the profession of celibacy (c. 19: see Hefele, ii. 666). It seems, however, to have the monastic sense in Eucherius, who says, in religionis, alius in sacerdotii nomen ascendit" (ad Valerianum, Patrol. I. unus 719: cf. Montalembert, i. 142), although Eucherius is supposed to have died not later than 450. Schröckh, xx. 6. e Capit. Aquisgr. c. 35. d Thorpe, 307. See a list in Schröckh, xx. 10-1. Spanish councils order that the widows of kings shall not remarry, and shall retire into a nunnery. Conc. Tolet. XIII. A.D. 685, c. 5; Conc. Cæsaraug. III. A.D. 691, c. 5. g Nat. Alex. x. 177; Mabill. V. xli., lxxxiv., seqq.; Montalembert, ii. 499. Thomass. I. iii. 24-5; D'Achery, n. in Lanfranc. Ep. 32 (Patrol. cl.); Rettb. ii. 679-682. १ k relics to Fleury in 750. In England, too, where it was introduced by Wilfrid, it soon became general, although not without some mixture of the old national usages. But the Spanish monasteries continued until the ninth century to be governed by rules which had been compiled, partly from eastern sources, by Isidore of Seville, Fructuosus of Braga, and other native bishops." The monasteries in general continued to be subject to the jurisdiction of their diocesan bishops;" but exemptions, of which we have already seen traces in the sixth century, now became more common, and the authority of Gregory the Great had an important share in advancing the practice. It would appear, however, that the reason of such exemptions in this period is not to be sought in any ambition or assumption on the part of the monks, but in the oppressive conduct of bishops. These from the seventh century began to claim a share in the gifts bestowed on monasteries. They exacted unreasonable payments from the monks for the dedication of their churches, for the consecration of chrism, for ordaining their clergy, and installing their abbots. A large part of the revenues was absorbed by the expense of visitations; and, in addition to this, the bishops extorted heavy fees under the names of cathedraticum and the like. Where the choice of an abbot belonged to the monks, the bishops often endeavoured to wrest it from them, and exercised it without any regard to the welfare of the house, or to the pretensions of its more eminent members, who might have reasonably expected to succeed to the dignity. The grossness of the tyranny practised by some prelates may be inferred from the fact that the monastic bodies often appealed against it to synods, and that these, although composed i Adrevald. de Transl. et Miraculis k Lingard, A. S. C. i. 205-6. S. Bened. (Patrol. cxxiv.); Schröckh, m Schröckh, xx. 19-35. Isidore is in xx. 15; Planck, ii. 488. Charlemagne, the Patrol. vol. lxxxiii., Fructuosus in in his capitulary of 811, asks, "Utrum .vol. lxxxvii. Valerius, an abbot in the aliqui monachi esse possint præter eos latter part of the seventh century, gives qui regulam S. Benedicti observant. In- a very unfavourable account of Spanish quirendum etiam, si in Gallia monachi monachism. ib. 437. fuissent priusquam traditio regulæ S. Benedicti in has parochias pervenisset" (Pertz, Leges, i. 166, c. 11): and in another paper, "Qua regula monachi vixissent in Gallia, priusquam regula S. Benedicti in ea tradita fuisset, cum legamus S. Martinum et monachum fuisse et sub se monachos habuisse, qui multo ante S. Benedicto [sic] fuit" (ib. 168, c. 12). These questions prove that in France the systems of the earlier monachism had been superseded by the Benedictine, but the object of them is matter of conjecture. " Capit. Aquisgr. A.D. 802, c. 15; Thomass. I. iii. 27. • Vol. i. p. 559. P See Giesel. I. ii. 426. See e. g. the behaviour of the bishop Sidonius towards the monks of St. Gall: (Ratpert. de Casibus S. Galli, 2, Pertz, ii.; Baron. 759. 9-10); and the privilege granted by Pope Adeodatus to the monastery of St. Martin at Tours. trol. lxxxvii. 1143. Pa Planck, ii. 502-3; Guizot, ii. 92-3. • Planck, ii. 503; Lingard, A. S. C. i. 209. |