No sooner were the good people of this country converted from paganism than monkery began to be in great request among them. Many monasteries were accordingly founded in all parts of England, which were quickly crowded with inhabitants. A fondness for the monastic life is said to have been here very much increased by an impious doctrine which began to be broached and believed toward the close of the seventh century, “That as soon as any person put on the habit of a monk, all the sins of his former life were forgiven.” This is said to have engaged many princes and great men (who are sometimes as great sinners as their inferiors) to put on the monkish habit, and end their days in monasteries; which, whatever it might be to themselves, was, probably, no mighty loss to their subjects and vassals, or to the world.
Another remarkable feature in the character of the English christians of the seventh and following centuries, was an extravagant veneration for relics; in which the Romish priests drove then a very gainful trade, as few good christians thought themselves safe from the perils or disasters of life, and the machinations of the devil, unless they carried about them the relics of some paint: nor could any church be dedicated without a decent or certain quantity of the same sacred and precious ware. [244]
Stories of dreams, visions, and miracles were also propagated without a blush, by the clergy, and believed without a doubt, by the laity. Extraordinary watchings, fastings, and other arts of tormenting the body in order to save the soul, became frequent and fashionable; and it began to be believed in the seventh century, that a journey to Rome was a most meritorious undertaking, and even, of all others, the most direct road to heaven.—Such was the christianity of the good people of Lynn and the rest of their countrymen in those days.
In the eighth century the humour of making pilgrimages to Rome, and of retiring into monasteries, still increasing, Coinred king of Mercia, as Henry informs us, laid down his sceptre, and took up the pilgrim’s staff, in 709, and travelled to Rome, accompanied by Offa, a young prince of the royal family of the East-Saxons, where they both became monks. Not long after, Ina, the warlike and victorious king of the West Saxons imitated their example, and ended his days in a cloister at Rome, where he founded a house for the entertainment of English pilgrims, and the education of English youth.
Great numbers of nuns also, and other English women, were among those devout pilgrims who then travelled to Rome: but we have the testimony of Winfred, alias Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, who lived at that period, that they were generally debauched before they returned, and even that many of them became common prostitutes in the cities of France and Italy: he therefore exhorts and charges his friend Cuthbert, then archbishop of Canterbury, to put a speedy stop to these scandalous female pilgrimages.
The religious prayers and songs, which constituted the church service, were then all in Latin, and so not understood by the common people, who were therefore directed by the 27th. canon of the first council of Cloveshoos, or Cliff, in Kent, [246] held in 747, to affix any meaning they pleased to the words in their own minds, and to pray in their hearts for any or every thing they wanted, no matter how foreign to the real sense of the public prayers. A curious salvo, says Henry, for the absurd practice of praying in an unknown tongue. The same canon contains also the following short form of prayer, for the dead; “Lord, according to the greatness of thy mercy, grant rest to his soul, and for thy infinite pity, vouchsafe to him the joys of eternal light with thy saints.”
Some of the nobility, or great men of that time, not very fond, it seems, of going themselves through all the fastings and prayers enjoined them by their confessors, would fain be allowed to have the service performed by proxy: and it appears that they actually hired and employed poor people to fast and pray in their stead. It was, certainly, a very notable as well as convenient device, and became, it seems, pretty fashionable, though it is said not to have the good fortune of obtaining the approbation of the said council of Cloveshoos. [247a]
A late historian, [247b] alluding to this period, observes, “that long fasting was then ordered frequently; but as the wealthy might abstain by proxy, a seven years fast might be performed in three days, if the principal could prevail with 840 persons each to take his share. This concise plan of atonement for crimes, (he adds) was condemned solemnly at the council of Cloveshoos; but the decree was disregarded.” The practice therefore seems to have gone on unchecked, notwithstanding the decree of that council. It was not to be expected that so convenient a custom could be very easily abolished. It may be worth while to inquire, whether it had in it, after all, any greater absurdity, than there is in the present practice of the infants at the font, making a confession of their faith by proxy.
Towards the latter part of the above period, a law was enacted, enjoining every priest to learn some handycraft, or manual occupation: which might be very useful; at least, it could do no harm. Another law enjoined, that they should all be capable of repeating the Creed, and the Lord’s prayer: which also might be very right and proper; but it indicates that learning was then at a very low ebb among the English clergy. We learn, however, that in the reign of Ethelred, styled the unready, a mission was sent from hence to Norway, at the request of the king of that country, to convert the Norwegians and Swedes to the christian religion, and that the archbishop of York, and other divines, actually went over on that occasion, and met with great success; though some of them afterwards are said to have suffered martyrdom; which seems rather odd, if the king, as above suggested, was their patron. Whatever their learning might be, their zeal must have been highly commendable and exemplary.