A.D. 678. d Leodegar's confinement, had been put to death by the party with which the bishop was connected. He firmly denied the charge, and referred to God as his witness. But his guilt was considered as certain; his robe was rent, in token of degradation from his order; and, although a bright light appeared around his head in attestation of his innocence and sanctity, he was beheaded by order of Ebroin. Leodegar was revered as a martyr, and is said to have performed innumerable miracles after death. Yet among his opponents also were some who are ranked in the number of saints-such as Audoen (or Ouen), bishop of Rouen, the friend and biographer of St. Eligius, Præjectus (Prix) of Clermont, and Agilbert of Paris. Ouen's part in the struggle is celebrated for the short and significant answer which he gave when consulted by Ebroin-"Remember Fredegund," - words which may have been intended only to recommend the imitation of that famous queen's readiness and decision, but which we can hardly read without thinking also of the unscrupulous wickedness by which her purposes were accomplished. IV. The Irish Church, from which Columba had gone forth to labour in Scotland, and Columban in Gaul and Italy, was in these ages fruitful in missionaries, of whom many further notices will occur hereafter. But its internal history, however full of interest for the antiquarian inquirer, offers little that can find a place in such a narrative as this. It will be enough to mention here certain peculiarities of administration which not only throw light on the condition of the Irish Church, but serve also to explain the "unusual arrangement"s of St. Columba's foundation at Iona, and to account both for the commonness of the episcopal title among the Irish missionary clergy, and for the irregular character of their proceedings. In the early Irish Church it was held that the power of ordination belonged to the bishops alone; but the episcopate was merely a personal distinction, which conveyed no right of local jurisdiction.h The number of bishops was unlimited, and, like the chorepiscopi Sismondi, ii. 68-9. d Vita, 14; Pitra, 378. e Vita, 14-5. In the account of his death, Pitra chiefly follows a very legendary"Passion." Rohrbacher even exceeds his usual absurdity of manner in an attack on Sismondi for some inaccuracies as to this saint. x. 327. Gesta Regum Franc. 45 (Patrol. xcvi.). p. 543. g Beda, iii. 4. See vol. i. h For the substance of this paragraph I am indebted to the Rev. R. King's 'Memoir Introductory to the Early History of the Primacy of Armagh Armagh, 1854. Comp. Ware, Antiq. of Ireland,' 232-6. Bernard. Vita S. Malachiæ, 19 (Patrol. clxxxii.); King's Primer, 985-6. m The of other countries, they were consecrated by a single bishop. position of Irish bishops, therefore, was widely different, both in spiritual and in temporal respects, from that of bishops elsewhere. The care of the ecclesiastical property was from early times committed to officers who were styled Erenachs; and, by a remarkable variation from the usual order of the Church, the spiritual government was exercised by a class of persons who, as having succeeded to the churches of eminent carly missionaries, were styled their Coarbs or successors. These coarbs occupied positions which had originally been held by abbots; and while some of them were bishops, they more commonly belonged to the order of presbyters. The office of erenach was not transmitted from father to son, but according to the system of tanistry-a tanist, or successor, being chosen during the lifetime of each holder." The dignity of coarb was not originally restricted to particular families; but from the tenth century it seems to have become for the most part hereditary -passing from a deceased possessor to his brother, his nephew, or (as the marriage of the clergy was usual in the Irish Church) to his son. The erenachs were originally taken from the ranks of the clergy, but the office gradually fell into the hands of laymen; P and at length-probably in consequence of the Danish invasions in the tenth century, when the power of defending the Church's possessions became a chief qualification for ecclesiastical government the laity were even admitted to the office of coarbs; so that, according to a complaint of St. Bernard, the church of Armagh was held by eight laymen in succession." V. The early history of Christianity in the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms is marked by much similarity of circumstances. Missionaries meet with a friendly reception: the king, after some prudent hesitation, becomes a convert, but his successors relapse into heathenism; until, after a time, the throne is filled by a prince who had learnt the truths of the Gospel in exile, and the profession of the faith is restored. Matrimonial alliances exercise the same influence in the spreading of religion which had before been seen among the barbarian conquerors of Gaul, Spain, and Italy. Among the evidences by which the Gospel was recommended, we find frequent mention of miracles, and not uncommonly the argument from temporal interest-the experience of the fruitlessness of serving the pagan deities, and the inference that they had no power to help or to punish." In the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons two rival agencies were concerned that of the Irish or Scottish, and that of the Roman party. Some of the differences as to usage between the Roman missionaries and the native clergy have already been mentionedamong them, the variation as to the time of Easter, produced by the adhesion of the Britons to a cycle which at Rome had long been obsolete. Another subject of contention was the form of the tonsure. It was not until monachism became popular that any tonsure was introduced; nor was it common among the western clergy until the sixth century." But a far earlier origin was now claimed for the fashions which contended in Britain. The Romans, who shaved the crown of the head, in imitation of the crown of thorns, deduced their practice from St. Peter; while that of the Scots and Irish, who shaved the front as far as the ears, in the form of a crescent, was traced by its opponents to Simon Magus-a derivation which the Scots appear not to have disputed, contenting themselves with insisting on the virtues of some who had used their tonsure. The degree in which the Irish were affected by these differences may be inferred from the statement of Laurence, the successor of Augustine, that an Irish bishop named Dagan refused, when in England, to partake of food with the Italian clergy, and even to eat under the same roof with them." Honorius and other bishops of Rome endeavoured to allay these differences by writing to the bishops of the national party." They succeeded in gaining the Irish, and X iii. 69; Villanueva, n. in S. Patric. a Ib. 19. b The Roman Easter was received in even some of the Britons; but the Scots continued obstinately to hold out. d A.D. 633. Paulinus, the first archbishop of York, had, after the defeat and death of his convert Edwin of Northumbria, withdrawn to the bishoprick of Rochester, while the northern kingdom fell back into idolatry. Oswald, who in 635 ascended the Northumbrian throne, had been converted while an exile in Scotland, and, in undertaking the conversion of his subjects, naturally looked to the same Church through which he had himself received his knowledge of the Gospel. At his request a bishop was sent from Iona; but the missionary was a man of stern character, and, after a short trial, withdrew in anger and despair at the obstinacy of the Northumbrians. The fathers of Iona met in consultation, and he indignantly related to them the failure of his enterprise; when, after he had finished, one of the monks, in a gentle tone of voice, told him that he had proceeded wrongly, and ought rather to have condescended to the rudeness and ignorance of those to whom he had been sent. Immediately the brethren exclaimed that the speaker, Aidan, was right; that the method which he had suggested was the true one, and that he was himself the fittest person to execute it. He was forthwith consecrated as a bishop," and was recommended to Oswald, who assigned the island of Lindisfarne for his residence. Here Aidan established a system closely resembling that of Iona; the bishops, with their staff of clergy, living according to monastic rule, in a community governed by an abbot. Oswald zealously assisted his labours in spreading the Gospel; and, as Aidan was but imperfectly acquainted with the language of the country, the king himself, who had learnt the xciv.); Hist. Eccles. iv. 27. See vol. i p. 543. Dr. Lingard speaks of the system of Lindisfarne as identical with that of Iona (A. S. C. i. 154) ; but according to Mr. Grub there was "this important difference, that at Lindisfarne the abbot, who presided oyer the monasstery, occupied his proper place in subordination to the bishop." (i. 77.) Mr. Grub's own quotations from Bede, however, seem to prove that, while the monks were under the bishop's spiritual care, the abbot was supreme in the government of the monastery — the bishop being in this respect under him. The real difference appears to have been that the bishops of Lindisfarne had diocesan authority, which the Scottish bishops of that time (like the Irish) had not. Celtic during his exile, often acted as interpreter while the bishop delivered his religious instructions.i 66 Aidan's settlement at Lindisfarne was followed by a large immigration of Scottish missionaries into England. Bede-Roman as he is in his affections, and strongly opposed to their peculiaritiesbears hearty witness to the virtues of these northern clergy-their zeal, their gentleness, their humility and simplicity, their earnest study of Scripture, their freedom from all selfishness and avarice, their honest boldness in dealing with the great, their tenderness and charity towards the poor, their strict and self-denying life. Hence," he writes, with an implied allusion to the degeneracy of his own time," in those days the religious habit was held in great reverence, so that wheresoever any clerk or monk appeared, he was joyfully received by all as the servant of God; even if he were met with on his journey the people ran to him, and, with bended neck, were glad to be either signed with his hand or blessed by his mouth; and they diligently gave ear to his words of exhortation. And if perchance a priest came to any village, forthwith the inhabitants gathered together, and were careful to seek from him the word of life." Of Aidan himself the historian says that he thoroughly endeavoured to practise all that he knew of Christian duty; and that, even as to the paschal question, while he erred in differing from the Catholics, he earnestly studied to unite with them in celebrating the great facts of our redemption through the passion, resurrection, and ascension of the Saviour." Aidan's successors were of like character. By them Christianity was not only spread over Northumbria; but other kingdoms, as Mercia and Essex, even to the northern bank of the Thames, were evangelised by missionaries who derived their orders immediately or more remotely from St. Columba's foundation at Iona.° m But collisions with the Roman party were inevitable. Oswy, the brother and successor of Oswald, who had learnt his Christianity and had been baptised in Scotland, married a Kentish princess, Eanfleda. The royal pair adhered to the customs of their respective teachers; and thus, while Oswy was celebrating the Easter festival, the queen was still engaged in the penitential exercises of Lent." The king's eldest son and colleague, Alfrid, strongly took up the Roman views, and expelled the Scottish |