"It iz uncertain at what time England waz divided into parishes," say most of the law writers. Camden, in hiz Britannia, page 104, says, the kingdom waz first divided into parishes by Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury, in 636. This opinion iz controverted. Sir Henry Hobart thinks parishes were erected by the council of Lateran, in 1179. Selden, followed by Blackstone, supposes both to be rong, and shows that the clergy lived in common, without any distinction of parishes, long after the time mentioned by Camden; and it appeers by the Saxon laws, that parishes were known long before the council of Lateran.[74]
The truth probably iz, the kingdom was not divided into parishes at any one time, but the original ecclesiastical division grew, in a great measure, out of a prior civil division. Parish iz the most ancient division of the ecclesiastical state, and originally denoted the jurisdiction of a bishop, or what iz now called a diocese. For this opinion, we hav the authority of the Saxon laws and charters. "Ego Cealwulfus, dei gratia rex Merciorum, rogatus a Werfritho, Episcopo Hwicciorum, istam libertatem donavi, ut tota parochia Hwicciorum a pastu equorum, regis et eorum qui eos ducunt, libera sit, &c." Charta Cealwulfi regis, Anno 872. "Episcopus, congregatis omnibus clericis totius parochiæ, &c." in a passage quoted by Cowel tit. parish. Here the bishoprick iz explicitly called a parish, parochia; and Blackstone remarks, "it is agreed on all hands, that in the erly ages of christianity in this island, parishes were unknown, or at leest signified the same az a diocese does now." Com. Vol. I. 112.
This, being a settled point, wil perhaps furnish a clue by which we may find the true origin of the word and of the division.
It iz certain that there waz an ancient word among the Gothic nations, and probably among the Celtic, which signified originally a man, afterwards a freeman, or landholder, in opposition to that class of men who had no real property. This word waz spelt by the Romans vir, and signified a man, by way of eminence, az distinguished from homo; az also a husband or householder. It answered to the ανηρ of the Greeks, az distinguished from ανθροπος, a word denoting the human race in general. The same word in the Gothic or ancient German waz spelt bar;[75] and probably in some dialects par, for the convertibility of b with p iz obvious to every etymologist.[76] In the Erse language, az Mc Pherson testifies, bar signifies a man. The word iz also pronounced fer or fear, which approaches nearer to the Latin vir: Fergus or Ferguth signifies a man of word or command. In modern Welsh, which iz the purest relict of the old Celtic, bar is a son, and barn a judge. In the ancient Irish, brehon or barhon, which iz merely baron with an aspirate, signified a judge. See Lhuyd, Mc Pherson, Ossian, p. 4. and Blackstone's Commentaries, Vol. I.
This word iz the root of the modern word baron; for in ancient manuscripts, it iz sometimes spelt viron, denoting its derivation from vir. For this we hav the authority of Camden and Du Cange under the word baron.
So far we tred on sure ground. That theze words hav existed or do stil exist in the sense above explained, wil not be denied; and it iz almost certain that they all had a common origin.
The word Baron iz evidently derived from the German bar or par, and under the feudal system, came to signify the proprietors of large tracts of land, or thoze vassals of the Lord Paramount, who held lands by honorable service.[77]
I shall hereafter attempt to proov that several modern words are derived from the same root; at present I confine my remarks to the word parish, which, I conjecture, iz a compound of par, a landholder, and rick or rich, which haz been explained, az denoting territory or jurisdiction: Parick or parich, the jurisdiction of a par or baron. It iz true the words baron and parliament seem not to hav been used among the Saxons before the conquest; but they were used by most of the nations of the same original, on the continent; az in Germany, Burgundy, Sweden and Normandy: And the use of the word parochia in England, before the conquest, or at leest by the first lawyers and translators of the Saxon laws, iz to me the strongest proof that some such word az parick existed among the erly Saxons, or which waz latinized by thoze writers. Even if we suppose the word borrowed from nations on the continent, my supposition of the existence of such a word iz equally wel founded, for they all spoke dialects of the same tung.
The first knowlege we hav of the word parish or rather parochia, iz in the Saxon laws, copied and translated into Latin by thoze erly writers, Bracton, Britlon, Fleta, or others of an erlier date. In that erly period, parochia waz a diocese or bishoprick.
I suspect the jurisdiction of the bishop waz originally limited by an erldom, county shire, or territory of a great lord. This waz probably the general division; for sometimes a clergyman or bishop, in the zerude ages, had cure of souls in two or more adjoining lordships; and it often happened that a lord had much waste land on hiz demesne, which waz not comprehended in the original parish, and thus came, in later times, to be called extraparochial. But whatever particular exceptions there might be, the remark az a general one, will hold true, with respect to the original jurisdiction of a bishop.