[882]. See Leg. Eádg. ii. § 5. Cnut, ii. § 18.
[883]. The ‘Institutes of Ecclesiastical Polity’ are very explicit upon these points. They say:—“To a bishop belongs every direction, both in divine and worldly things. He shall, in the first place, inform men in orders, so that each of them may know what it properly behoves him to do, and also what they have to enjoin to secular men. He shall ever be [busied] about reconciliation and peace, as he best may. He shall zealously appease strifes and effect peace, with those temporal judges who love right. He shall in accusations direct the lád, so that no man may wrong another, either in oath or ordeal. He shall not consent to any injustice, or wrong measure, or false weight; but it is fitting that every legal right (both ‘burhriht’ and ‘landriht’) go by his counsel and with his witness: and let every burgmeasure, and every balance for weighing be, by his direction and furthering, very exact; lest any man should wrong another, and thereby altogether too greatly sin.... It behoves all Christian men to love righteousness, and shun unrighteousness; and especially men in orders should ever exalt righteousness, and suppress unrighteousness: therefore should bishops, together with temporal judges, so direct judgments, that, as far as in them lies, they never permit any injustice to spring up there.... By the confessor’s direction, and by his own measure, it is justly fitting that the thralls work for their lords over all the district in which he shrives. And it is right that there be not one measuring-rod longer than another, but all regulated by the confessor’s measure; and let every measure in his shrift-district, and every weight, be, by his direction, very rightly regulated: and if there be any dispute, let the bishop arbitrate.” Thorpe, ii. 312 seq.
[884]. “Archiepiscopi, episcopi et universae personae regni, qui de rege tenent in capite, habeant possessiones suas de rege sicut baroniam, et inde respondeant iusticiariis et ministris regis, et sequantur et facient omnes consuetudines regias; et sicut caeteri barones, debent interesse iudiciis curiae regis quousque perveniatur ad diminutionem membrorum vel ad mortem.” Rog. Wend. anno 1164. Coxe, ii. 301.
[885]. As late as 43 Edw. III. A.D. 1369, on an alarm of invasion, orders were given to arm and array the clergy, as well as laity. Rym. Foed. vi. 631.
[886]. The Normans adopted a different custom. Many of the cathedrals were transferred from obscure sites to the cities which they now adorn, by the first Norman bishops.
[887]. After the Conquest it did take place: Walcher bishop of Durham was made also count of the same in 1075, upon the capture of Earl Wælþeóf. Hist. Dunelm. Eccl. lviii. (lib. iii. cap. xxiii. p. 208). As late as the time of Richard the First, we find a successor of Walcher, Hugo de Pusac, purchasing the same county of the king, anno 1189. Ric. Divisiens. p. 8. One year later, Baldwin archbishop of Canterbury suspended Hugo, bishop of Coventry, because “contra dignitatem episcopalis ordinis, officium sibi vicecomitatus usurpaverat.” Rog. Wend. an. 1190. Coxe, iii. 18.
[888]. “Hic fecit suspendi latrones volentes infregisse aecclesiam Sancti Eadmundi, qui tamen erant miraculose impediti.” Chron. de Passione S. Edmundi, cited by Wharton. Ep. et Dec. Lond. p. 29. See also Will. Malm. Gest. Pont. lib. ii.
[889]. William of Malmesbury seems to allude to this point, when he says of St. Eádmund: “Latrunculos, noctu sacram aedem expilare aggressos, invisis loris in ipsis conatibus irretivit; formoso admodum spectaculo, quod praeda praedones tenuit, ut nec coepto desistere, nec inchoata valerent perficere.” Gest. Reg. i. 366, § 213.
[890]. By the law of Eádweard the Confessor, “cyricbryce” belonged to the bishop. “Si quis sanctae aecclesiae pacem fregerit, episcoporum tum est iusticia.” Leg. Eád. Conf. § vi. But this seems a different thing altogether, and to be a violation of the “grið” only.
[891]. “But if any of my reeves will not do this, and care less about it than we have decreed, then let him pay my oferhyrnes [that is the fine for disobedience], and I will find another, who will. And let the bishop exact the oferhyrnes of the reeve in whose district it may be.” Leg. Æðelst. i. § 26. Thorpe, i. 212. Again: “And let the judge that giveth wrong judgment to another, pay to the king a bót of one hundred and twenty shillings; unless he will venture to prove on oath that he knew no better. And let him forfeit his thaneship for ever, unless he can redeem it from the king, as he may be willing to permit. And let the bishop of the shire exact the bót into the king’s hand.” Leg. Eádg. ii. § 3. Thorpe, i. 266.