THE VINDICATION OF A SAXON SAINT (1072).
Source.—Roger of Hoveden, Chronica, ed. Stubbs, vol. i., p. 126. (Rolls Series.)
At the same time, to wit, when the king had returned from Scotland, he built a castle in Durham, where the bishop and his men might enjoy security from the (Scottish) invaders. And since some of the Normans disbelieved that the blessed Cuthbert was a saint or that his body was preserved there, at the feast of All Saints, while the bishop was celebrating mass, the king ordered two chaplains to enter the sanctuary, and opening the tomb to examine both by sight and touch, whether the holy body was laid there. For the king had already resolved that, if it were not there, all the elders should be put to the sword. So, while all were terror-stricken, the chaplains proceeded to execute his orders. Now at the time the weather was severely cold, but the king meanwhile began to suffer from an intolerable heat and to sweat profusely, and to be smitten with an overpowering horror. He therefore sent quickly to the chaplains and ordered them not to presume to touch the tomb. And forthwith he took horse and galloped at full speed until he reached the Tees, and thereafter held the saint in great honour and confirmed for perpetual observance the laws and customs of that church, to be held as fully as ever in past times. And furthermore he gave and granted and by his charter confirmed to God and St. Cuthbert and the prior and monks there serving God, in pure and perpetual almoin,[4] his royal manor, to wit, the town of Hemingburgh with all the land of Brakenholm and all lands adjacent, with the church of the town aforesaid and all things pertaining thereto in wood and plain, moor and meadow, woods and marshes, waters, mills and fishponds ... and all the right bounds thereof, as well and quietly and freely, with all rights and customs thereof, as ever St. Cuthbert held other his lands, together with all royal customs and liberties which the king himself had therein, when he held the same in his own hand after the conquest of England, and with the same bounds with which he himself or Tostig or Siward held the manor.
ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL TOUCHING THE DISPUTE BETWEEN CANTERBURY AND YORK AS TO THE PRIMACY (1072).
Source.—William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum Anglorum, ed. Stubbs, vol. ii., p. 349. (Rolls Series.)
General Council of the Realm of the English touching the Right and Primacy of the Church of Canterbury.
In the year 1072 after the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 11th year of the pontificate of the lord Pope Alexander, and the sixth year of the reign of William, the glorious king of the English and duke of the Normans, by command of the same Pope Alexander and by assent of the same king, in the presence of the king and of the bishops and abbots, there was debated the cause of the primacy, which Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, claimed in right of his church over the church of York, and of the ordination of certain bishops, whereon there was no certainty to whom they ought specially to pertain; and at length, by divers authorities of divers writings, it was proved and shewn that the church of York ought to be subject to Canterbury, and to obey the rulings of the archbishop thereof, as primate of all Britain, in all the things that pertain to the Christian religion. But the metropolitan of Canterbury granted to the archbishop of York and his successors that they should hold subject the bishop of Durham, that is, of Lindisfarne, and all the districts from the boundaries of the bishopric of Lichfield and the great river Humber to the limits of the border of Scotland, and whatever belongs of right to the diocese of the church of York on this side of the aforesaid river; so that if the archbishop of Canterbury would summon a council wheresoever he should deem fit, the archbishop of York should attend the same at his bidding, with all his suffragans, and obey his canonical rulings. Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, shewed also from the ancient custom of his predecessors that the archbishop of York ought to make profession to the archbishop of Canterbury, and that too with an oath; but out of love for the king he released Thomas, archbishop of York, from the oath and accepted a written profession only, without prejudicing his successors, if they should wish to demand from the successors of Thomas an oath with the profession. If the archbishop of Canterbury should die, the archbishop of York shall come to Canterbury, and, with the other bishops of the church aforesaid, shall of right consecrate him who shall be elected. And if the archbishop of York should die, he who is chosen to succeed him, after receiving from the king the gift of the archbishopric, shall come to Canterbury or whither the archbishop of Canterbury shall please, and shall receive canonical ordination from him. To this constitution assented the aforesaid King, and the archbishops, Lanfranc of Canterbury, and Thomas of York, and Hubert, subdeacon of the holy church of Rome and legate of the aforesaid Pope Alexander, and the rest of the bishops and abbots who were there. This cause was first debated in the city of Winchester at the Easter festival, in the royal chapel within the castle; and afterwards in the royal town called Windsor, where also it was determined in the presence of the King, the bishops and abbots of divers orders, who were assembled at the Court on the feast of Whitsunday....
The profession of Thomas archbishop of York.—It becomes all Christians to be subject to Christian laws, and not to contravene for any reasons the things which have been soundly instituted by the holy fathers. For hence come forth strivings, dissensions, envyings, contentions and the like, which cast down those who love them into eternal pains. And the more exalted be a man’s rank, the more exact should be his obedience to commands. Wherefore I, Thomas, now ordained metropolitan of the church of York, having heard and understood the argument, make absolute profession of canonical obedience to you, Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and to your successors; and whatsoever shall be justly and canonically enjoined upon me by you or by them, I promise to observe. I was doubtful upon this matter, while I was yet to be ordained by you, and therefore it was I promised obedience unconditionally to you, but to your successors conditionally.