Theodore had not long succeeded in effecting this confederation before he began to act al most as an English pope. In Wilfrid. Archbishop of York, he met a prelate of consummate talents and determination, who would not allow the claims of any one to supremacy over him. When .Theodore undertook, without his consent, al though supported by King Egfrid. to carve new dioceses out of his jurisdiction. he at once ap pealed to Rome. This is the first of such appeals from England of which we have any record. He obtained from the Pope an order to Theodore for the rectification of these diocesan lines, with the threat of deprivation or excommunication for any clergyman or layman who might disobey the mandate. The King, however, imprisoned Wil frid, and allowed Theodore to go unchecked in his schemes of organization, for which he scents to have had unconunon genius. To him is at tributed the origin of the parochial, or perhaps, rather, of the diocesan system, as well as the first regular provision for the payment of tithes and offerings, not. to the bishop. but to churches which the laity had built.: and, further, of giv ing to such laymen the right of patronage, or of presenting clergymen to certain cures. After his death, the relations between the Church and the State grew more distinct and defined, the latter agreeing to protect the former in its tem poralities and supremacy. It became more and more the religious function of the State, and at the same time furnished the most efficient means for welding the different kingdoms into one.
But before tins—as has already been shown— it had become the Church of the nation, not by any act of the yet unformed nation, but by the manifold action of various individuals who had converted their several properties, however they lay, into parishes. and had themselves pro vided for the support therefrom of the required number of By universal custom, there fore--not by law—this voluntary support was afforded; sometimes by payment in kind, some tim•s in land, sometimes in tithes, and after wards by endowments and entailed tithes and testamentary donations. These benefactions have in many instances been preserved and con tinued through successive generations, and al most innumerable similar ones have been added from time to time. It follows, therefore, that the Church is no more indebted to the State for its endowment than for its establishment.
The period of the Danish inroads and con quests. which began about the close of the eighth century, was one of sore calamities to the Church. These were somewhat mitigated by Alfred, who promulgated ecclesiastical laws, established schools, and provided books, some of than trans lations of his own. During the reign of Edgar (95S-075) began the fierce and long-continued struggle between the monks and the parish clergy - the regulars and the seenlars—in which Dun stan was so conspicuous. Thu influence of the secular clergy began, after his death, to over shadow that of the monks, who had at first been in the majority. Canute did something to re store the integrity and prosperity of the Church, which had been seriously impaired by the scan dalous. conduct of bishops and others. With the at•cession of Edward the Confessor (1042), who had spent most of his life in Nor mandy. came a great influx of foreign prel ates, with the habits peculiar to their own countries. This gave rise to much friction in oeclesiastica I a Ita irs:mud disputes arose be tween the native and foreign clergy, in which St igand. Arehbi,hop of Canterbury c.1052.
70), took a prominent part. Edward's pol• icy was carried out more widely by William the *otapieror, who allowed the Papal legatos to igand. and summoned Lanf ram.
one Or the lilfe4 distinguished theologians of his day, to the vacant sec. He and Ealdred, \ rchloshop of York. had a long and earnest dispute as to the primacy of Canterbury. which. to.torieally, there was no room for York to dispute, and which was finally allowed at a council held at Wind.or, in 1072, when the preeedenee of other sees was settled.
during the reign of the Conqueror that the civil and eeelesiastieal courts were held •parately a change 111.11 tended to the benefit of both Chureh and Stale. The same monareh edu-ed the compilation of the Domesday Book, .1,med lhat about half of mill the ti tls id the were at the time in the hand., of spiritual persons. hi 111:111V the '11110 In have been of the Chun It for nearl‘ n Ihm..and years. It is also I rue that all its present properly was acquired either Wore the 7Corman Conquest or since the The elcienIll century was a period of great activity in building cathedrals and other churches, among which were those of Canterbury, York, Lincoln, and Saint Paul's. Westminster Abbey was consecrated a few days before the death of Edward the Confessor in 1065.
William Ruins openly encouraged simony, which the Conqueror had abhorred, and thus the Church became greatly demoralized. Anselm ap peared in due season to arrest its downward course, and by his courageous and notable eon tests did much to prevent the King from usurp its spiritual rights and privileges. To him is due also the credit of an earnest attempt to deal with scandals within the Church. Anselm's defence of the Church against William Rufus was but a prelude to the greater contest in Henry IL's reign.
In the twelfth century the Church began, in imitation of the Code of Justinian, to compile a code for itself. In the middle of the same century the great conflict was fought out between the Church and the State as to the authority of the latter to deal with clergymen guilty of serious offenses. In this bitter contest Thomas fi Beeket played a very prominent part. He had been the confidential secretary of the primate for some time, and was Archdeacon of Canterbury at the time of the accession in 1154 of Henry II., 'half monk, half soldier,' as he was called. After serving for a while as Chancellor. Becket suc ceeded Theobald as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, and it was not long before the controversy between the King and himself began which was only terminated by his cruel murder in his own cathedral in 1170. Partly because of the general horror following this crime and of the King's own remorse, and partly because of the elevation by the multitude of the Archbishop into the num ber of saints, the influence of the Constitutions of Clarendon (1104), which Becket refused to sign as restraining the authority of the Church, in making the clergy amenable to the civil courts, was greatly impaired. Subsequently the King sur rendered everything in this direction for which he had been contending. and it seemed that strife between the ecclesiastical and civil powers. after so portentous a conflict, was ended.