The Religion Anciently Professed by the Irish and British, Chapter 10

The Religion Anciently Professed by the Irish and British · Chapter 10

p. 115CHAP. X.

Of the height that the opposition betwixt the Romane party and that of the Brittish and Scottish grew unto; and the abatement thereof in time: and how the Doctors of the Scottish and Irish side have beene ever accounted most eminent men in the Catholike Church, notwithstanding their dis-union from the Bishop of Rome.

IN Colmans roome Wilfrid was chosen Archbishop of Yorke: who had learned at Rome from Archdeacon Boniface,aaPaschalem rationem, quam schismatici Britanniae & Hiberniae non…cognoverunt; & alias multas Ecclesiasticae disciplinae regulas Bonifacius archidiaconus quasi proprio filio suo diligenter dictavit. Step▪ Presb. vit. Wilfrid. cap. 5. See also Bede, lib. 5. cap. 20. the course of Easter, which the schismaticks of Brittaine and Ireland did not know (so goe the words of Stephen, the ancient writer of his life:) and afterward did brag, bbSe primum fuisse, qui verum Pascha in Northanimbriâ Scotis eiectis docuerit, qui cantus Ecclesiasticos antiphonatim instituerit, qui sanctissimi Bendicti regulam à monachis observari jusserit. Gulielm. Malmesbur. lib. 3. de gest. Pontific. Angl.that hee was the first which did teach the true Easter in Northumberland (having cast out the Scots) which did ordaine the Ecclesiasticall songs to bee parted on sides, and which did command S. Benets rule to be observed by Monkes. But when he was named to the Archbishopricke, ccSed perstitit ille negare; ne ab Episcopis Scottis, vel ab iis quos Scotti ordinaverant, consecrationem susciperet, quorum communionem sedes aspernaretur Apostolica. Id. ibid.he refused it at the first (as William of Malmesbury relateth) lest he should receive his consecration from the Scottish Bishops, or from such as the Scots had ordained, whose communion the Apostolike See had rejected. The speech which he used to this purpose, unto the Kings that had chosen him, is thus laid downe by Stephen the writer of his p. 106life. ddO Domini venerabiles Reges; omnibus modis nobis necessarium est providè considerare, quomodo cum electione vestrâ, sine accusatione catholicorum vitorum, ad granum Episcopalem cum Dei adiutorio venire valeam. Sunt enim hîc in Brytannia multi episcopi, quorū nullum meum est accusare, quamvis veraciter sciam, quòd aut quatuordecim anni sunt, ut Brytones & Scotti ab illis sunt ordinati, quos nec Apostolica sedes in communionem recepit, neque eos qui schismaticis consentiunt, Et ideò in meâ humilitate à vobis posco, ut me mittatis cum vestro praefidio trans mare ad Galliarum regionem, ubi catholici episcopi multi habentur: ut sine controversiâ Apostolicae sedis, licèt indignus, gradum Episcopalem merear accipere. Steph. Presb. Vit. Wilfrid. cap. 12.O my honourable Lords the Kings; it is necessary for us by all meanes providently to consider, how with your election I may (by the helpe of God) come to the degree of a Bishop, without the accusation of catholike men. For there be many Bishops here in Brittaine, none of whom it is my part to accuse, ordained within these foureteene yeares by the Brittons and Scots, whom neyther the See Apostolicke hath received into her communion, nor yet such as consent with the sch…smaticks. And therefore in my humility I request of you, that you would send me with your warrant beyond the Sea, into the countrey of France, where many Catholike Bishops are to be had; that without any controversie of the Apostolike See I may be counted meet, though unworthy, to receive the degree of a Bishop.

WhileeeQuo ultra mare moras nectente, Oswius Rex, praeventus consiliis Quartadecimanorum (qui vocabantur ita, quia Pascha in quartadecima Lunâ cum Iudaeis celebrabant) Ceddam virum sanctissimum, tamen contra regulas, intrusit tribunali Eborac…nsi. Gulielm. Malmesb. lib. 3. de gest. Pontif. Angl. Wilfrid protracted time beyond the Seas, King Oswy ledde by the advice of the Quartadecimans (so they injuriously nicknamed the Brittish and Irish, that did celebrate Easter from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moone) appointedffOrdinantes servum Dei religiosissimum & admirabilem Doctorem, de Hiberniâ insulâ venientem nomine Coeodda, adhuc eo ignorante, in sedem Episcopalem Euroicae civitatis indoctè contra canones constituerunt. Steph. presb. Vit. Wilfrid▪ cap. 14. a most religious servant of God and an admirable Doctor that came from Ireland, named Ceadda, to be ordained Bishop of Yorke in his roome.

Constituunt etenim perverso canone Coeddam,

p. 107Moribus acclinem, doctrinae robore fortem,

Praesulis eximij servare cubilia: sicque

Audacter vivo sponsam rapuere marito,

saith Fridegodus. This Ceadda, being the scholler of Bishop Aidan, was far otherwise affected to the Brittish and Irish than Wilfrid was: and therefore was content to receive his ordination fromggAb illo est consecratus antistes, assumptis in societatem ordinationis duobus de Britonum gente Episcopis, qui Dominicum Paschae diem secus morem canonicum à XIIII. usque ad XXI. Lunam celebrant. Non enim erat tunc ullus, excepto illo Wini, in totâ Brittanniâ canonicè ordinatus episcopus. Bed. lib. 3. hist. ca. 28. Wini Bishop of the West-Saxons, and tow other Brittish Bishops that were of the Quartadeciman partie. For at that time (as Bede noteth) there was not in all Brittaine any Bishop canonically ordained (that is to say, by such as were of the communion of the Church of Rome) except that Wini only.

But shortly after, the opposition betwixt these two sides grew to be so great, that our Cuthbert (Bishop of Lindisfarne) upon his death-bed required his followers; that they should hhCum illis autem qui ab unitate catholicae pacis, vel Pascha non suo tempore celebrando, vel perversè vivendo aberrant, vobis sit nulla communio, &c. Id. in Vit. Cuthbert. cap. 39.hold no communion with them which did swerve from the unity of the Catholicke peace, eyther by not celebrating Easter in his due time, or by living perversly: and that they should rather take up his bones and remove their place of habitation, than any way condescend to submit their neckes unto the yoke of schismatickes. For the further maintaining of which breach also, there were certaine decrees made both by the Romanes, and by the Saxons that were guided by their institution. One of the instructions that the Romans gave them, was this: iiJ…stitutio dicit Rom. Cavendum est ne ad alias provincias aut ecclesias referantur causae, quae alio more & aliâ religione utantur: sive ad Iudaeos, qui umbrae legis magis quàm veritati deserviunt; aut Britones, qui omnibus contratii sunt, & à Romano more & ab unitate Ecclesiae se absciderunt; aut Haereticos, quamvis sint in Ecclesiasticis causis docti, & studiosi fuerint, Ex Codice Canonum Cottoniano, titulorum 66.You must beware, that causes bee not referred to other p. 108Provinces or Churches, which use another manner and another religion: whether to the Iewes, which doe serve the shadow of the Law rather than the truth▪ or to the Britons, who are contrary unto all men, and have cut themselves off from the Romane manner, and the unitie of the Church; or to Heretickes, although they should bee learned in Ecclesiasticall causes, and well studied. And among the decrees made by some of the Saxon Bishops (which were to bee seene in the Library of Sir Thomas Knevet in Northfolke, and are still, I suppose, preserved there by his heire) this is laid downe for one. kkQui ordinati sunt à Scottorum vel Brittannorum Episcopis, qui in Paschâ vel Tonsurâ Catholicae non sunt adunati Ecclesiae; iterùm à Catholico Episcopo manus impositione confirmentur Similiter & Ecclesiae quae ab illis Episcopis ordinantur, aquâ exorcizatâ aspergantur, & aliquâ collectione confirmentur. Licentiam quoque non habemus eis poscentibus Chrismam vel Eucharistiam dare, ni antè confessi fuerint velle se nobiscum esse in unitate Ecclesiae. Et qui ex horum similiter gente, vel quacunque, de baptismo suo dubitaverint, baptizentur. Decret Pontific. MS. cap. 9. De communicatione Scottorum & Brittonum, qui in Paschâ & Tonsurâ catholici non sunt.Such as have received ordination from the Bishops of the Scots or Brittaines, who in the matter of Easter and Tonsure are not united unto the Catholicke Church, let them bee againe by imposition of hands confirmed by a Catholicke Bishop. In like manner also let the Churches that have beene ordered by those Bishops, be sprinkled with exorcized water, and confirmed with some service. Wee have no licence also to give unto them Chrisme or the Eucharist, when they require it; unlesse they doe first professe, that they will remaine with us in the unity of the Church. And such likewise as eyther of their nation, or of any other, shall doubt of their baptism, let them be baptized. Thus did they.

On the other side, how averse the Brittish and the Irish were from having any communion with those of the Romane party; the llBed. lib. 2. hist. cap. 4.complaint of Laurentius, Mellitus, and Iustus before specified, doth sufficiently manifest. And the answer is well knowne, which p. 109**Septem Britonum Episcopi, & plures viri doctissimi, maximè de nobilissimo eorum monasterio, quod vocatur linguâ Anglorum Bancornaburg, cui Dinoot abbas praefuisse narratur. Bed. lib. 2. hist. cap. 2.the seven Brittish Bishops, and many other most learned men of the same nation, did return unto the propositions made unto them by Austin the Monk (who was sent unto their parts with authority from Rome:) that mmIlli nihil horum se facturos, ne que illum pro Archiepiscopo habituros e…se respondebant. Id …bid. Tam ipsum quàm ejus statuta, statim reversi spreverunt: nec ipsum pro Archiepiscopo se habituros publicè proclamabant. Girald. Cambrens. …tinerar. Cambriae, lib. 2. cap. 1.they would perform none of them, nor at all adneit him for their Archbishop. The Welsh Chroniclers do further relate, that Dinot the Abbot of Bangor produced diverse arguments at that time, to shew that they did owe him no subjection: and this among others. nnIn a Welsh Manuscript, sometime belonging unto P. Mostein Gentleman.Wee are under the government of the Bishop of Kaer-leon upon Vske, who under God is to oversee us, and cause us to keepe the way spirituall. and Gotcelinus Bertinianus in the life of Austin:ooA…ctorizabant suas ceremonias non solùm à sancto Eleutherio Papâ primo institutore suo ab ipsâ penè infantiâ Ecclesiae dicatas, ve…ùm à sanctis patribus suis Dei amicis & Apostolorum sequacibus hactenùs observatas; quas non deberent mutare propter novos dogmatistas. Gotcel…. monachus, in vitâ Augustini, cap. 32. MS. in Bibliothecâ Cottonianâ. that for the authority of their ceremonies they did alledge, that they were not onelyonly delivered unto them by Saint Eleutherius the Pope their first instructer at the first infancie almost of the Church, but also hitherto observed by their holy fathers who were the friends of God and followers of the Apostles: and therefore they ought not to change them for any new dogmatists. But above all others, the Brittish Priests that dwelt in West-wales abhorred the communion of these new dogmatists above all measure: as Aldhelme Abbot of Malmesbury declareth at large in his Epistle sent to Geruntius King of Cornwall. where among many other particulars hee sheweth, that ppSi quilibet de nostris, id est, Catholicis ad eos habi…andi gratiâ perrexerint; non priùs ad consortium sodalitatis suae adsciscere dignantur, quàm quadraginta dierum spatia in poenitendo peragere compellantur. Aldhelm. epist. ad Domnonios.if any of the Catholickes (for so he calleth those p. 110of his owne side) did goe to dwell among them; they would not vouchsafe to admit them unto their company and society, before they first put them to forty dayes penance. Yea, qqQuippe cùm usque hodie moris sit Britonum, fidē religionem que Anglorum pro nihilo habere, neque in aliquo eis magis communicare quàm paganis. Bed. lib. 2. hist. cap. 20.even to this day (saith Bede, who wrote his history in the yeere DCCXXXI.) it is the manner of the Brittons, to hold the faith and the religion of the English in no account at all, nor to communicate with them in any thing more than with Pagans.

Whereunto those Verses of Taliessyn (honoured by the Britons with the title of Ben Beirdh, that is, the chiefe of the Bardes or Wisemen) may bee added: (which shew, that hee wrote after the comming of Austin into England, and not 50. or 60. yeeres before, as others have imagined.)

**Chronicle of Wales, pag. 254.Gwae'r offeiriad byd

Nys engreifftia gwyd

Ac ny phregetha:

Gwae ny cheidw ey gail

Ac ef yn vigail,

Ac nys areilia:

Gwae ny cheidw ey dheuaid

Rhac bleidhie, Rhufeniaid

A'iffon gnwppa.

Wo be to that Priest yborne,

That will not cleanly weed his corne

And preach his charge among:

Wo be to that shepheard (I say)

That will not watch his fold alway,

As to his office doth belong:

p. 111Wo be to him that doth not keepe

From Romish wolves his sheepe

With staffe and weapon strong.

As also those others of Mantuan; which shew that some tooke the boldnesse to taxe the Romans of folly, impudencie, and stolidity, for standing so much upon matters of humane institution, that for the not admitting of them they would breake peace there, where the Law of God and the Doctrine first delivered by Christ and his Apostles was safely kept and maintained.

rrBaptist. Mantuan. Fastor. lib. 1.Adde quod & patres ausi taxare Latinos;

Causabantur eos stultè, imprudenter, & aequo

Duriùs, ad ritum Romae voluisse Britannos

Cogere, & antiquum tam praecipitanter amorem

Tam stolido temerâsse ausu. Concedere Roma

Debuit, aiebant, potiùs quàm rumpere pacem

Humani quae juris erant; modò salva maneret

Lex divina, fides, Christi doctrina, Senatus

Quam primus tulit ore suo; quia tradita ab ipso

Christo erat, humanae doctore & lumine vitae.

By all that hath been said, the vanity of Osullevan may be seene, who feigneth the Northren Irish, together with the Picts and the Britons, to have beene so obsequious unto the Bishop of Rome; that they reformed the celebration of Easter by them formerly used, as soone as they understood what the rite of the Romane Church was. Whereas it is knowne, that after the declaration thereof made by Pope Honorius and the Clergie of Rome; the Northren Irish were nothing moved therewith, but continued still their p. 112owne tradition. And therfore Bede findeth no other excuse for Bishop Aidan herein; but thatssQuòd autem Pascha non suo tempore observabat, vel canonicum ejus tempus ignorans, vel suae gentis auctoritate, ne agnitum sequeretur, devictus; non approbo nec laudo. Bed. lib. 3. hist. cap. 17. eyther hee was ignorant of the canonicall time, or if he knew it, that he was so overcome with the authority of his owne nation, that he did not follow it: that he did it,ttMore suae gentis. Ibid. cap. 3. after the manner of his owne nation; and thatuuPascha contra morem eorum qui ipsum miserant, facere non potuit. Ibid. cap. 25. hee could not keepe Easter contrary to the custome of them which had sent him. His successor Finan xxId. ibid.contended more fiercely in the businesse with Ronan his countryman; and declared himselfe an open adversary to the Romane rite. Colman that succeeded him, did tread just in his steps: so farre, that being put downe in the Synod of Streanshal, yet for feare of his country (as before we have heard out of Stephen, the writer of the life of Wilfrid) he refused to conforme himselfe; and chose rather to forgoe his Bishoprick, than to submit himselfe unto the Romane lawes,

Colmanusque suas inglorius abjicit arces,

Malens Ausonias victus dissolvere leges:

saith Fridegodus. Neither did hee goe away alone: butyyColmanus qui de Scotiâ erat Episcopus, relinquens Britanniam, tulit secum omnes quos in Lindisfarorum insulâ congregaverat Scotos. Bede lib. 4. cap. 4. tooke with him all his countrymen that he had gathered together in Lindisfarne or Holy Iland: the Scottish monks also that were at Rippon (in Yorkshire) zzOptione datâ, maluerunt loco cedere, quàm Pascha catholicum, caeterosque ritus canonicos juxta Romanae & Apostolicae Ecclesiae consuetudinem recipere. Id. lib. 5. cap. 20. See also lib. 3. cap. 25. where Humpum is …sprinted for Hripum.making choice rather to quit their place, than to admit the observation of Easter and the rest of the rites according to the custome of the Church of Rome. And so did the matter rest among the Irish about forty yeeres after that: untill their own countryman aaIbid cap. 16. & 22.Adamnanus perswaded most of them to p. 113yeeld to the custome received herein by all the Churches abroad.

The Picts did the like not long after, under King Naitan: whobbNec mora, quae dixerat, regiâ autoritate perfecit. Statim nam que jussu publico mittebantur ad transcribendum, discendum, observandum per universus Pictorum provincias circuli Paschae decennovennales; obliteratis per omnia erroneis octoginta & quatuor annorum circulis. Attondehantur omnes in coronam ministri altaris ac monachi. &c. Ibid. ca. 22. by his regall authority commanded Easter to be observed throughout all his provinces according to the cycle of XIX. yeeres (abolishing the erroneous period of LXXXIIII. yeeres which before they used) and caused all Priests and Monkes to bee shorne croune-wise, after the Romane manner. The monkes also of the Iland of Hy or Y-Columkille, ccId. lib. 3. ca. 4. & lib. 5. cap. 23.by the perswasion of Ecgbert (an English Priest, that had been bred in Ireland) in the yeere of our Lord DCCXVI. forsooke the observation of Easter and the Tonsure which they had received from Columkille a hundred and fiftie yeeres before, and followed the Romane rite; about LXXX. yeeres after the time of Pope Honorius, and the sending of Bishop Aidan from thence into England. The Britons in the time ofddId. lib. 5. cap. 23. & 24. Bede retained still their old usage: untilleeSee the Chronicle of Wales, pag. 17. 18. and Humfr. I. buyd. fragment. Britan. Descript. fol. 55. b. Elbodus (who was the chiefe Bishop of Northwales, and dyed in the yeere of our Lord DCCCIX. as Caradoc of Lhancarvan recordeth) brought in the Romane observation of Easter. which is the cause, whyffEgo Nennius sancti Elbodi discipulus, aliqua excerpta scribere curavi. Nem. MS. in publicá Cantabrig. academ. Bibliothecá, ubi alia exemplaria habent: Ego Nennius (vel Ninnius) Elvodugi discipulus. his disciple Nennius, designeth the time wherein he wrote his history, by the character of theggAb adventu Patricii in jam dictam insulam (Hiberniam sc.) usque ad cyclum decennovennalem in quo sumu…, 22. sunt cycli, id est, 421. & sunt duo anni in Ogdoade usque in hunc annum. Id. XIX. yeeres cycle, and not of the other of LXXXIV. But howsoever North-wales did; it is very probable that West-wales (which of all other parts p. 114was most eagerly bent against the traditions of the Romane Church) stood out yet longer. For we finde in the Greeke writers of the life of Chrysostome, that certaine Clergie men which dwelt in the Iles of the Ocean, repaired from the utmost borders of the habitable world unto Constantinople, in the dayes of Methodius (who was Patriarch there, from the yeer DCCCXLII. to the yeere DCCCXLVII.) to enquire ofhhforeign Tom. 8. Chrysost. edit. Henr. Savil. pag. 321. 60 & in Noels. col. …66. 5. certaine Ecclesiasticall traditions, and the perfect and exact computation of Easter. Whereby it appeareth, that these questions were kept still a foot in these Ilands; and that the resolution of the Bishop of Constantinople was sought for from hence, as well as the determination of the Bishop of Rome, who is now made the only Oracle of the world.

Neither is it here to be omitted, that whatsoever broyles did passe betwixt our Irish that were not subject to the See of Rome, and those others that were of the Romane communion: in the succeeding ages, they of the one side were esteemed to be Saints, as well as they of the other; Aidan for example and Finan, who were counted ringleaders of the Quartadeeiman party, as well as Wilfrid and Cuthbert, who were so violent against it. Yet now adayes men are made to beleeve, that out of the communion of the Church of Rome nothing but Hell can bee looked for; and that subjection to the Bishop of Rome, as to the visible Head of the Universall Church, is required as a matter necessary to salvation. Which if it may goe currant for good Divinity: the case is like to goe hard, not onelyonly, with theii… lib. 2. hist. cap. …. twelve hundred p. 115British Monkes of Bangor, who were martyred in one day by Edelfride king of Northumberland (whom our Annals style by the name ofkkAnn. Dom. 612. (vel 613.) Bellum Cairelegion, ubi Sancti occisi sunt. Amlt. Vlton. MS. the Saints;) but also with St. Aidan and St. Finan, who deserve to bee honoured by the English nation with as venerable a remembrance, as (I doe not say, Wilfrid and Cuthbert; but) Austin the Monke and his followers. For by the ministery ofllBed. lib. 3. hist. cap. 3. & 6. Aidan was the kingdome of Northumberland recovered from paganisme: (whereunto belonged then, beside the shire of Northumberland and the lands beyond it unto Edenborrow, Frith, Cumberland also and Westmorland, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Bishopricke of Durham:) and by the meanes ofmmIbid. cap. 21. 22. 24. Finan, not onelyonly the Kingdome of the East-Saxons (which contained Essex, Middlesex, and halfe of Hertfordshire) regained, but also the large Kingdome of Mercia converted first unto Christianity; which comprehended underit, Glocestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolneshire, Huntingtonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Staffordshire, Darbyshire, Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, Chesshire, and the other halfe of Hertfordshire.

The Scottish that professed no subjection to the Church of Rome, were they, that sent preachers for the conversion of these countries; and ordained Bishops to governe them: namely,nnIbid. cap. 3. 5. 17. 25. 26. Aidan, Finan and Colman successively for the kingdome of Northumberland; ooIbid. cap. 22. 25.for the East-Saxons, Cedd brother to Ceadda the Bishop of Yorke before mentioned,ppIbid cap. 21. 24. for p. 116the Middle-Angles (which inhabited Leicestershire) and the Mercians, Diuma (forqqPaucitas enim Sacerdotum cogebat unum antistitem duobus populis praefici. Ibid. cap. 21. the paucity of Priests, saith Bede, constrained one Bishop to bee appointed over two people) and after him Cellach and Trumhere. And these with their followers, notwithstanding their division from the See of Rome, were forrrIbid. cap. 3. 4. 5. 17. 26. their extraordinary sanctity of life and painfulnesse in preaching the Gospel (wherein they went farre beyond those of the other side, that afterward thrust them out and entred in upon their labours) exceedingly reverenced by all that knew them: Aidan especially, whossEtsi Pascha contra morem eorum qui ipsum miserant, facere non potuit; opera tamen fidei, pietatis & dilectionis, juxta morem omnibus sanctis consuetum diligenter exequi curavit. Vnde ab omnibus etiam his qui de Pascha aliter sentiebant, meritò diligebatur: nec solùm à mediocribus, verùm, ab ipsis quo que episcopis, Honorio Cantua…orum & Felice Orientalium Anglorum, venerationi habitus est. Ibid. cap. 25. although hee could not keepe Easter (saith Bede) contrary to the manner of them which had sent him; yet he was carefull diligently to performe the workes of faith and godlinesse, and love, according to the manner used by all holy men. Whereupon hee was worthily beloved of all, even of them also who thought otherwise of Easter than he did: and was had in reverence not only by them that were of meaner ranke, but also by the Bishops themselves, Honorius of Canterbury, and Felix of the East-Angles. Neither did Honorius and Felix any other way carry themselves herein, than their predecessors Laurentius, Mellitus & Iustus had done before them: who writing unto the Bishops of Ireland, that dissented from the Church of Rome in the celebration of Easter and many other things; made no scruple to prefixe this loving and respectfull superscription to their letters.ttDominis charissimis fratribus, Episcopis vel Abbatious per universam Scotiam; Laurentius, Mellitus, & Iustus Episcopi, servi servorum Dei Id lib. 2 cap. 4. To our Lords and most deare brethren, p. 117the Bishops or Abbots throughout all Scotland; Laurentius, Mellitus and Iustus Bishops, the servants of the servants of God. For howsoever Ireland at that time uuGens quanquam absque reliquatum gentium legibus; tamen in Christiani vigoris dogmate florens, omnium vicinarum gentium fidem praepollet. Ion. Vit. Columban. cap. 1.received not the same lawes wherewith other nations were governed: yet it so flourished in the vigour of Christian doctrine, (as Abbot Ionas testifieth) that it exceeded the faith of all the neighbour nations; and in that respect was generally had in honour by them.