CHAP. X. Adelard had been already employed under the Emperor Henry the Third, one of the truest and most enlightened of ecclesiastical reformers, in bringing several of the churches of his dominions into better discipline. He now came over to England, became a Canon and Lecturer at Waltham, and, using his genuine Teutonic liberty, handed on his office to his son.1

Harold a friend of

tinuance

of the struggle between regulars and seculars.

The truth is, as we have already seen several indications, the secular that Harold, so far from being an ordinary founder of a clergy. monastery, was a deliberate and enlightened patron of the secular clergy. He is described in the foundation-charter Long con of his College as their special and active friend. The old struggle which had been going on from the days of Dunstan was going on still, and it went on long after. Harold, like the elder Eadward in his foundation at Winchester, like Æthelstan in his foundation at Milton, preferred the seculars, the more practically useful class, the class less removed from ordinary human and national feelings. In his eyes even a married priest was not a monster of vice. To make such a choice in the monastic reign of Eadward, when the King on his throne was well nigh himself a monk, was worthy of Harold's lofty and independent spirit; it was another proof of his steady and clear-sighted patriotism. In truth, of the two great foundations of this reign, Earl Harold's College at Waltham stands in distinct opposition, almost in distinct rivalry, to King Eadward's Abbey at Westminster. And it is not unlikely that Harold's preference for the secular clergy may have had some share in bringing upon him the obloquy which he undergoes at the hands of so many ecclesiastical writers. It was not only the perjurer, the

1 De Inv. 25.

His son Peter was Master when the author was a boy. He was a "fons uberrimus disciplinis doctrinam scaturiens."

2 Cod. Dipl. iv. 155. "Ut non solùm Dei cultor efficiatur, verùm etiam canonica regulæ strenuus institutor fieri credatur."

HAROLD A FRIEND OF THE SECULAR CLERGY.

445

usurper, but the man whose hand was closed against the CHAP. X. monk and open to the married priest, who won the hatred of Norman and monastic writers. With the coming of the Normans the monks finally triumphed. Monasticism, in one form or another, was triumphant for some ages. Harold's own foundation was perverted from his original design; his secular priests were expelled to make room for those whom the fashion of the age looked on as holier than they. At last the tide turned; men of piety and munificence learned that the monks had got enough, and from the fourteenth century onwards, the bounty of founders took the same direction which it had taken under Æthelstan and Harold. Colleges, educational and otherwise, in the Universities and out of them, now again arose alongside of the monastic institutions which had now thoroughly fallen from their first love. In short, the foundation of Witness of

Waltham, instead of being simply slurred over as Waltham a to Harold's monastic foundation of the ordinary kind, well deserves character. to be dwelt upon, both as marking an æra in our ecclesiastical history, and also as bearing the most speaking witness to the real character of its illustrious founder. The care and thoughtfulness, as well as the munificence, displayed in every detail of the institution, the zeal for the advancement of learning as well as for mere ecclesiastical splendour, the liberal patronage of even foreign merit, all unite to throw a deep interest round Earl Harold's minster, and they would of themselves be enough to win him a high place among the worthies of England. No wonder then that this noble foundation became in a peculiar manner identified with its founder; no wonder that it was to Waltham that he went for prayer and meditation in the great crisis of his life, that it was at Waltham that his body found its last resting-place, that at Waltham his memory still lived, fresh and cherished, while elsewhere calumny had fixed itself upon his glorious name. No

CHAP. X. sorts, some of which he had himself brought personally He founds from Rome on his pilgrimage. Lastly, he increased the the College. number of clergy attached to the church from two to a much larger number, a Dean and twelve Canons, besides several inferior officers. He richly endowed them with lands, and contemplated larger endowments still.

Nature of

his founda

tion.

This is something very different from the foundation of a monastery. Harold finds a church on his estate the seat of a popular worship; he rebuilds the fabric and increases the number of its ministers. The order of his proceedings is very clearly traced out in the royal charter by which the foundation was confirmed two years later. The founder of a monastery first got together his monks, and gave them some temporary habitation; the church and the other buildings then grew up gradually. The church of a monastery exists for the sake of the monks, but in a secular foundation the canons or other clergy may be said to exist for the sake of the church. So at Waltham, Harold first rebuilt the church; he then secured to it the elder endowment of Tofig; he had it consecrated, and enriched it with relics and other gifts; he, last of all, after the consecration, set about his plan for increasing the number of clergy attached to it. Tofig's two priests of course were still there to discharge the duties of the place in the meanwhile. And the clergy whom Harold placed in his newly founded minster were not monks, but secular

1 See Appendix EE.

2 The nature of the foundation, the offices of its several members, and the discipline to be observed, are set forth at large in the 15th chapter of the De Inventione, and are fully commented on by Professor Stubbs in his Preface, pp. xiii. xiv.

3 The charter first mentions the building of the church, then adds, "Primum concedens ei terram quæ vocatur Norðlande, unde ecclesiam villæ antiquitùs dotatam invenit;" then comes the consecration, then the ornaments and the relics; then "Quid plura? suæ denique conditionis non immemor, ibidem quorumdam catervulam fratrum secundum auctoritatem sanctorum patrum canonicæ regulæ [canonical, as opposed to monastic] subjectam constituit." Cod. Dipl. iv. 155.

CONSECRATION OF WALTHAM MINSTER.

447

found it prudent to yield to the prejudices of others. CHAP. x. Stigand was not called upon to officiate. It is not likely that William, the Bishop of the diocese, was excluded on account of his Norman birth, as we find no traces of any such jealousy of him at other times. The occasion was doubtless looked on as one of such dignity as to call for the ministrations of a Prelate of the highest rank. The new minster of Waltham, with its pillars fresh from the mason's hand, and its altars blazing with the gorgeous gifts of its founder, was hallowed in all due form by Cynesige, Archbishop of York.

firmation

1062.

The church was thus completed and consecrated; but it The Conseemingly took Harold two years longer fully to arrange Charter. the details of his foundation, and to settle the exact extent of the lands which were to form its endowment. At the end of that time the royal charter which has been already quoted confirmed all the gifts and arrangements of the founder.

тобо.

The Prelate who had played the most important part Death of Archbishop in the great ceremony at Waltham did not long survive Cynesige. that event. Shortly before the close of the year Arch- Dec. 22, bishop Cynesige died at York, and was buried at Peterborough. Communication between distant places must have been easier in those times than we are at first sight inclined to think, for it appears that the news of the event which took place at York was known and acted upon at Gloucester only three days afterwards. We read that his successor was appointed on Christmas-Day.2

1 Chronn. Wig. and Petrib. 1060. Flor. Wig. 1060. Hugo Candidus (Sparke, 45). This last writer is loud in Cynesige's praise, and records his gifts to Peterborough, which the Lady Eadgyth took away.

2 Fl. Wig. 1060. "Wigornensis episcopus Aldredus ad archiepiscopatum in Nativitate Domini eligitur." It may perhaps be thought that such speed is impossible, and that "eligitur" must be taken of a capitular election at York on Christmas-Day, which would be confirmed by the King and his

CHAP. X. Adelard had been already employed under the Emperor Henry the Third, one of the truest and most enlightened of ecclesiastical reformers, in bringing several of the churches of his dominions into better discipline. He now came over to England, became a Canon and Lecturer at Waltham, and, using his genuine Teutonic liberty, handed on his office to his son.1

Harold a friend of

tinuance

of the struggle between regulars and seculars.

The truth is, as we have already seen several indications, the secular that Harold, so far from being an ordinary founder of a clergy. monastery, was a deliberate and enlightened patron of the secular clergy. He is described in the foundation-charter Long con- of his College as their special and active friend. The old struggle which had been going on from the days of Dunstan was going on still, and it went on long after. Harold, like the elder Eadward in his foundation at Winchester, like Ethelstan in his foundation at Milton, preferred the seculars, the more practically useful class, the class less removed from ordinary human and national feelings. In his eyes even a married priest was not a monster of vice. To make such a choice in the monastic reign of Eadward, when the King on his throne was well nigh himself a monk, was worthy of Harold's lofty and independent spirit; it was another proof of his steady and clear-sighted patriotism. In truth, of the two great foundations of this reign, Earl Harold's College at Waltham stands in distinct opposition, almost in distinct rivalry, to King Eadward's Abbey at Westminster. And it is not unlikely that Harold's preference for the secular clergy may have had some share in bringing upon him the obloquy which he undergoes at the hands of so many ecclesiastical writers. It was not only the perjurer, the

1 De Inv. 25. His son Peter was Master when the author was a boy. He was a "fons uberrimus disciplinis doctrinam scaturiens."

2 Cod. Dipl. iv. 155. "Ut non solùm Dei cultor efficiatur, verùm etiam canonica regulæ strenuus institutor fieri credatur."