he sources from which we obtain the fullest details of the religious life of the Saxon priests and people are the laws of their kings and the canons of their synods; and perhaps the most convenient way of presenting the information which these contain will be partly to give a series of quotations from them in chronological order, with such explanations as may seem necessary; partly to group them according to their subject; using one method or the other as may seem best to serve our purpose.
Of the earlier part of the period three codes of law have come down to us—that of Ethelbert of Kent, between 597 and 604; of Ine King of the West Saxons, probably 690; and of Wihtred of Kent, 696. We must bear in mind that the bishops and chief clergy of the kingdom were present at the Witan of the Saxon kings, as well as the chiefs and wise men; and that the kings and chief laymen were often present at the ecclesiastical synods; so that both laws and canons express the mind of the whole people.
The laws of Ethelbert are the earliest written code of the English race. They begin with the enactment, “If the property of God (i.e. of the Church) be stolen, twelve-fold compensation shall be made; for a bishop’s property, eleven-fold; a priest’s, nine-fold; a deacon’s, six-fold; a clerk’s, three-fold; church frith, two-fold; minster frith, two-fold.” A law of Earconbert of Kent (640) commanded the destruction of the temples and idols in that kingdom.
The laws of Ine, King of the West Saxons (688-725), are said in the preamble to be made “by the consent and advice of Ceadwalla, his father, and of Heddi, his bishop, and of Earconwald, his bishop, and with all his ealdormen, and the distinguished Witan of his people, and also with a large assembly of God’s servants (the clergy).” The first of his laws is (1) that God’s servants rightly hold their lawful rule. Then it goes on to enact (2) that children be baptized within thirty days, under a penalty of 30s., and if one die unbaptized the father shall make bôt[45] for it with all that he has. Then come enactments (3, 4, 5), against doing any work on the Sunday, on the payments to be made to the clergy, and on the privilege of sanctuary, which will be more conveniently grouped with similar enactments later on; (6) if a man fight in a king’s house he shall forfeit all his property; if in a minster, he shall make bôt of 120s.; (7) if a man before a bishop belie his testimony he shall forfeit 120s.; (61) church scot shall be paid according to where a man’s roof and hearth are at midwinter; (76) inflicts a special fine for slaying a godson or godfather—if it be a bishop’s son,[46] it is to be half the amount.
The preamble to the laws of Wihtred of Kent, in 696, states that they were made at “a deliberative convention of the great men,” the Archbishop Birhtwald and Bishop Gebmund of Rochester being present, “and every degree of the Church of that province spoke in unison with the obedient people.” The first law (1) gives the Church freedom in jurisdiction and revenue; (6) a priest guilty of misconduct or negligence to be suspended till the doom of the bishop; (9, 10, 11) on the observance of Sunday, are the same as in the laws of King Ine, quoted p. 79; (12, 13) seek to suppress the old heathenism by imposing on a man forfeiture of all his substance for making offerings to devils, and the same on his wife if she shared in his offence; a theowe for the same offence is to forfeit 6s. or “pay with his skin;”[47] (14, 15) impose penalties for not abstaining from flesh on fasting days; (16, 17) relate to the value of the oaths of various classes of people, and are dealt with at p. 77. One of the most important laws of Wihtred is that which is called “the privilege of Wihtred,” given at a Witan held at Bapchild, attended by the king and nobles, as well as by the two bishops and clergy, which released the lands of monasteries from gabel or land-tax, and obliged the tenants only to attend the king in war and to pay burgh bôt and brig bôt, i.e. payments levied for the repair of town-walls and bridges. This privilege was confirmed in the first year of King Ethelbald of Mercia at the Council of Clovesho (716). It was granted by other Saxon kings also in their charters.
The decrees of a council at Clovesho, in 747, require a few words of preface. In 745 Boniface, “the Apostle of Germany,” had presided at a synod of Frank bishops, at Augsburg,[48] which had made canons for the reform of abuses, and had formally accepted the supremacy of Rome. Boniface sent a copy of these canons to his friend Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury, clearly wishing him to take like measures.
The first canon of this Synod enacted that metropolitans should be obliged to apply to Rome for their pall, and obey the orders of St. Peter in everything according to the canons. Another canon to the same end decreed that if the people refuse to submit to the discipline of the Church, the bishops shall appeal to the archbishop of the province, and the archbishop to the Pope.
Two years afterwards Zacharias, Bishop of Rome, sent letters by the hands of two legates “to the English inhabitants of Britain,” in which he admonishes them to reform their lives, and holds out threats of excommunication against those who neglect to do so.[49]
The Pope’s action was clearly intended to induce the English Church to imitate the submission of the Frankish Church. A synod was assembled at Clovesho, A.D. 747, attended by twelve English bishops of the dioceses south of the Humber and a number of their clergy, and by Ethelbald, King of the Mercians, who was over lord of all the English kingdoms south of the Humber. The Pope’s letter was read in Latin and English, and then the synod proceeded to draw up a number of canons.