H. Claiborne Dixon

IN the hope of making the following sketches of more general interest, it will be as well to review as concisely as possible the progress of Monasticism in connection with the Church from the earliest times, and to renew our acquaintance with the history of the early British Church during those years previous to the coming of St Augustine in 597—a period veiled in the minds of many people in a mist of obscurity. That such a Church did flourish we have the testimony of St Athanasius, St Jerome, St Chrysostom, and of Gildas, a British ecclesiastic of the 6th century, and the only historian up to that time. In the reign of Claudius CÆsar, who, as is well known, expelled the Druids from Britain, our Lord’s disciples were becoming known as “Christians.” To the constant communication between the chief towns of Britain and the imperial city of Rome, and to the intercourse between British prisoners and Christian Romans both in Britain and Rome—(particularly in the case of Caractacus the captive British King, who may possibly have met St Paul in CÆsar’s household)—we ascribe the introduction of Christian teaching in our land.

The earliest introduction into England of Monasticism—originally founded in the East—has been attributed to Joseph of ArimathÆa, who is credited with the founding of the monastery at Glastonbury. If this somewhat mythical statement cannot claim general acceptance on account of its antiquity, it is at least an acknowledged fact that Glastonbury was one of the earliest of monastic houses established in England. Bede tells us also that from the time of King Lucius A.D. 170, until that of the Emperor Diocletian, “the Britons kept the faith in quiet peace, inviolate and entire.” At the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century, Diocletian caused a general persecution of Christians, during which St Alban, proto-martyr of Britain, attested the reality of his faith; but happier days following in the reign of Constantine the Great, the early Church again prospered. We read that British bishops were present at such notable councils as those of Arles, A.D. 314, and Nicea in A.D. 325, etc., and though in 410 the Romans left Britain never to return, the good work, despite many rebuffs, still continued. An appeal was made to the Gallican Church for help and resulted in the mission of Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, to Britain on the decision of the Council of Troyes. Churches were built, others restored, the numbers of bishops increased, and a greater religious devotion promoted in the Celtic race which to this day has never wholly died. St Germanus founded a Bishopric in the Isle of Man in A.D. 447—Glastonbury and St Albans received a particular share of attention from him, and that religious fervour was inspired among the people which later showed itself so strongly against the heathen invaders, and which is so graphically portrayed in romantic song and story associated with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

During the time between the departure of the Romans and the coming of the Saxons, the conversion of Scotland and Ireland was begun by the Celts. Ninian, son of a British chief, after having a foreign education, established a community at Whithorn in Scotland; while a youth named Patrick, stolen from the Clyde by the slave traders, after being taught in the schools of Tours, Auxerre and Terins, was, in due time, consecrated Bishop of the Irish. Accompanied by twelve friends, he landed where Wicklow now stands, in 432, and, after meeting with much encouragement, established the See of Armagh. All this missionary work may thus be attributed to British initiative as it is obvious the See of Rome had little, if any, share therein. Adverse times fell upon the British Church with the arrival of the Jutes in 449, the Saxons in 477, and finally the Angles in 547. The Britons were driven westward, fearful destruction fell on the church, and Paganism reigned again in Britain. But, though scattered abroad, the Celts continued their missionary work—established cathedrals and monastic foundations in Wales, i.e. Llandaff, A.D. 500, Bangor and St David’s, 540, and St Asaph, 570, Sees which have had a continuous succession of bishops to the present day. St Finian of Clonard established communities in Ireland; St Columba landed in Scotland in 565 and founded a monastic house at Iona; and in West Wales (Cornwall and Devonshire), Christian teaching was promoted. A recent writer—F. H. Homes Dudden in Gregory the Great—says—

“The Welsh Church at this time was essentially a monastic church, its whole organisation being built up round the monasteries. Its bishops were members, usually abbots, of monastic establishments, and they seem to have been non-diocesan. Its clergy also were attached to the monasteries, built on monastic land, served by monastic clergy, and called after the saint by whom the monastery was founded.... Further, the constitution of this monastic church was essentially tribal.... Every great monastic establishment was a sort of spiritual clan, in which the abbot was chieftain, the officials represented the heads of the tribal families, and the monks were the tribesmen.... Thus, just as secular Wales consisted of groups of tribesmen clustering round powerful lay chieftains, so ecclesiastical Wales consisted of groups of tribesmen clustering round a few great monasteries founded by important saints.”

So we see that the Anglo-Saxon invasion did not destroy the life of the British Church, but rather that the offshoots in Cornwall, Ireland and Scotland were, in reality, one body, bound together by frequent intercourse. At the end of the 6th century, the figure of St Augustine compels our attention, for through his instrumentality the preaching of the Western Church—at that time reconstructed by Gregory the Great—reached Saxon England, and Benedictine influences were introduced. Augustine converted Ethelbert, King of the Jutes in Kent, and in course of time was made first Archbishop of Canterbury. But though he endeavoured to preach the Gospel further afield, he, like Paulinus, the missionary sent to Britain by Gregory, who subsequently introduced Christianity to the Angles in Northumbria, did not live to extend his work much beyond one province. Augustine met with much opposition from the British bishops on such vexed questions as the tonsure, the date on which to celebrate Easter Day and the manner of Baptism, and Laurentius his successor failed also to ingratiate himself in their favour. For half a century the two Churches—the British and the Continental—worked independently of each other, and it was not until the two collaborated that the conversion of Saxon England progressed uninterruptedly. This came about when Felix, a Burgundian monk, known as the “Apostle of East Anglia,” began to preach in England with the help of a Scottish monk named Fursey, having previously obtained official authority from Rome. After landing at Dunwich, Felix began his mission, and, gaining the attention of the people, built many churches and established schools. Fursey founded several monasteries, into one of which he persuaded Sigberct, King of East Anglia, to retire for the rest of his life—a precedent followed by various monarchs. Oswald’s recovery of the province of Northumbria from Penda, King of the Mercians, who had endeavoured to wipe out the good work of Paulinus in that kingdom, led to the second introduction of Christianity there, and this time by some monks of Iona. Aidan, one of the brethren at Iona, was sent to Oswald in 635, and after being raised to episcopal dignity founded the monastery at Lindisfarne, now called Holy Island, to the influence and work of whose inmates much of the subsequent conversion of England was due. The admittance of the provinces of Northumbria, Essex and Mercia to the Christian faith was directly owing to the work of the Lindisfarne monks. Meanwhile a monk, called Birinus, sent by Pope Honorius, had landed on the south-west coast in 634, and labouring among the people of Wessex had won favour in the sight of Cyengils, their King, who installed him as Bishop of Dorchester in 636. Sussex was the last kingdom to be influenced, its conversion being brought about by St Wilfrid, who founded a cathedral at Selsey and established many monasteries in the district.

At the end of the 7th century we find Christian teaching established throughout the land, and that chiefly through Celtic influence. The consolidation of the Church of England (now recognised as such) began, and in the following years the names of men such as Wilfrid, Cuthbert, Chad, Archibald, and especially that of Archbishop Theodore, come into prominence owing to their work, by which the steady growth of the Church was accomplished. Seventeen bishops took the place of a former nine—all of whom were drawn from the Celtic, Canterbury and East Anglian schools, and monasteries were founded in all parts of the country, such as Hexham, Ripon, Jarrow, Whitby, etc., which houses received careful regulation from Wilfrid, who, by bringing Roman order and culture into the monastic life, helped to further ecclesiastical civilisation, and promoted the love of architecture and art in the Church generally.

“The monasteries,” says Mr Wakeman when writing on the subject of Saxon monasticism, “were not all of one type, nor did they owe their origin all to one ideal. Some, like those at Winchester, Dorchester and Selsey, were chiefly adjuncts to the cathedral, and maintained the cathedral services and institutions. Some, like St Hilda’s great foundation at Whitby and those of Coldingham, Ely, Barking, and Repton, were double foundations for men and women, who lived apart in separate buildings, but used the chapel in common and owed a common obedience to the same superior. Some, like the Benedictine houses of Wilfrid at Ripon and of Benedict Biscop at Wearmouth and Jarrow, were especially devoted to learning.... Hardly second to them, in the veneration of Englishmen, came the foundation of Malmesbury among the WilsÆtas, which trained the poet, the musician, and the preacher St Aldhelm to be the first Bishop of Sherborne and one of the first English men of letters.

“In this use of monasteries as the nursery of Church life we see the practical spirit which is ever characteristic of Englishmen. They were not to be hermitages, nor the abode of recluses, but centres of active usefulness as well as of spiritual growth.”

The names, too, of other writers, namely, Caedmon and the Venerable Bede, add their lustre at this period to those of Church dignitaries. Daily growing more prosperous, the Anglo-Saxon Church reached its golden age in the early part of the 8th century. But we read that—

“Intemperance, impurity and greed of gold soon became rampant. The mixed company of worldly-minded and criminal persons, whose professed penitence gained them admission to those once pure homes of Christian life, defiled the monastic abodes which sheltered them. Many still more worthless men, with no knowledge nor care for the religious life, obtained grants of land from kings on the pretence of founding monasteries, so as to have the estate made over to them and their heirs for ever, gathering together in the buildings they erected all sorts of worthless persons; much scandal and vice resulting,”—English Church History (Rev. C. A. Lane).

The Nemesis soon came in the shape of the Danish invasions which swept away practically all the monasteries in the land—Lindisfarne, Whitby, Wearmouth and Sheppey, in particular, suffering greatly from the marauders. St Edmund endured martyrdom at their hands; Peterborough, Ely, Winchester, London, Canterbury, Rochester, etc., all were pillaged, and the inhabitants massacred; while the whole country became a scene of desolation. Temporary peace was gained in the reign of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex—the Danes being permitted to settle in Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia, and the process of reviving religious life went hand in hand with the rebuilding of the monastic houses. Cardinal Newman gives a wonderful description of this restoration of monastic life—

Dunstan, the great Church reformer and statesman, built and restored as many as forty monasteries; established several schools, and is supposed to have exercised jurisdiction over at least 3000 parish churches. He and Archbishop Odo reinstated the rules of St Benedict in the monasteries which had previously become relaxed. Dunstan had many dealings with the Danes. He allowed them to settle in the north but did not compel them to accept English laws and customs. Had Ethelred the Unready treated these northern people as judiciously, there had perhaps been no such dreadful invasion as that which followed the massacre of the Danes in 1002, and which, under the leadership of Sweyn, ravaged the country for years. Sweyn, after being acknowledged King of England, died in 1014, and after his death many were the battles fought between those who upheld the right of Canute, Sweyn’s son, against that of Edmund Ironside, son of Ethelred. Eventually, as is known, Canute became first “sole King of the English” and in the course of time embraced the Christian faith. He founded Bury St Edmunds Abbey and promoted much missionary work in Norway and Denmark. At the close of the 10th and the early part of the 11th century many churches were built by the converted Danes. These pre-Norman structures had more massiveness, combined with greater elegance, than those of the earlier Saxon and Romanesque period—the latter buildings being chiefly built of wood—and were copies of continental churches with which the Danes were familiar through their intercourse with the Normans. At the English restoration, the cause of Christianity gained a great supporter in that saintly king, Edward the Confessor, who upheld and furthered all Christian works in the land, and was persuaded by the monks to build and endow, at enormous expense, the abbey of Westminster. Harold, his brother-in-law, advanced the cause of the secular clergy by building Waltham as a collegiate foundation, and was buried ultimately there after the battle of Senlac. The Norman Conquest was the means of yet another abbey being founded—that of Battle, built and endowed by William I.

The Conquest did much to promote church interests and introduced a higher standard of religious thought throughout the country. Cathedrals and abbey churches were rebuilt. Norman landowners founded and endowed new monasteries, and monasticism, as a whole, was extended and reformed. New orders sprung up at the latter end of the 11th century, including the military orders, formed in response to the Crusaders and known as the Knights Templar and Knights of St John; also regular orders representing reforms of the Benedictine order. In 1077 the Cluniacs came, but being entirely dependent on the Mother house at Clugny, were regarded as foreigners and did not meet with much encouragement. On the other hand, the Cistercians, or “white monks,” in spite of their rigid rules and extreme austerity, found favour with the people and set up their first English house at Waverly in Surrey in 1129. The rules of the Carthusian monks were not popular—absolute silence, among other severities, was observed by the brethren, and only nine houses of the order were erected in this country. The Black Canons Regular of St Augustine with their branches of the PrÆmonstratensian and Gilbertine orders established many monasteries which flourished throughout the land. This extension of monasticism, which reached its culminating point in the middle of the 12th century, is thus vividly pictured by Mr Wakeman:—

Deterioration in monastic life, however, set in at the opening of the 13th century.

But the coming of the Dominicans and of the Franciscans later in the 13th century brought new light into the Church. These orders differed from the earlier orders in that they had at first no settled homes of their own. The Dominicans inspired the desire of learning, and becoming teachers at the Universities, trained up many of the future clergy of the Church. The Franciscans, though at first professing to despise learning and devoting themselves more to evangelistic work among the poorer classes, soon followed the example set them by the Dominicans and eventually became the most learned body of men in England, greatly extending their influence over political matters. But unfortunately, as time went on, the Friars succumbed to temptation in its various forms, and degeneration set in amongst them as it had in the older orders. The reforms of Wycliffe and his party, known as the Lollards, in the 15th century, are too familiar to need description. In 1416 the alien Priories—houses dependent on foreign monasteries, having sprung up as a result of the Norman Conquest—were suppressed, and as it was deemed politic in the following reign to use the property and money thus gained for religious purposes, Henry VI. founded Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge. University life grew and prospered in the 15th century, and the introduction of printing into England greatly furthered the advance of knowledge.

Public opinion being against monastic life in the 16th century Wolsey’s proposals for the suppression of some of the smaller monasteries were supported by the people. The Cardinal appealed to Henry VIII. saying that there were many “exile and small monasteries wherein neither God is served nor religion kept,” with the result that he was permitted to suppress forty monasteries in various counties, and particularly those of the Benedictine and early orders. The Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536-1540, on the cause and effect of which so much controversy has arisen, and about which difficult subject it is consequently wise not to expatiate, took place in two divisions. In 1536, 375 small houses were dissolved, provision being made for the monks, either by pensioning them or by removing them to other monasteries “where good religion is observed as shall be limited by the King” (27 Henry VIII., c. 28). Unlike Wolsey, who at least used the money gained by the first suppression for the furtherance of Church work in other forms, it is not evident that Henry did anything of the kind. The Pilgrimage of Grace, a movement in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in 1536-37 against Henry’s new laws, led to the final suppression of the monasteries, and by the end of 1538 few religious houses flourished. Many abbots surrendered their houses to the commissioners, and those who did not do so were accused of many offences—the truth of which charges was not critically examined at the time. Of the greater monasteries suppressed, 370 followed the Benedictine, Cluniac and Augustinian rules, whilst 276 belonged to the Cistercian, Carthusian and minor orders. It is said that the annual income of the greater monasteries amounted to £131,607 in the money value of that time, and the capital value of the buildings, etc., was over £400,000—which sums should be multiplied by twelve to find the modern value. Whatever the sins and faults of monastic establishments, there is no doubt their loss was greatly felt by the people generally. The distribution of the monastic estates took various forms. Henry VIII. squandered much of the ready money on personal matters, and the bulk of the real estate passed into the hands of temporal peers, among whom were Lord Russell (the founder of the Earldom of Bedford), the Duke of Norfolk, and Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk. Sir John Byron, among men of lesser note, received Newstead Abbey, and wealthy merchants, in becoming possessed of monastic estates, formed a new landed gentry, many of whose families have since been credited with misfortunes of every kind.

At the Parliament held in 1537, the Pope’s jurisdiction was terminated for ever in England, but it must be remembered that the

The Dissolution brought about the creation of six new Bishoprics—Westminster, Chester, Gloucester, Peterborough, Oxford and Bristol—the old abbey churches of which became cathedrals. Other monastic churches were made collegiate and some parochial—in the latter case the parishioners frequently purchased the church from the King’s Commissioners. There are many instances of the nave only being saved out of the general wreck, and these, to this day, form the bodies of churches so rescued from the wholesale destruction of monastic houses. It must be remembered that though these perhaps salutary changes were going on in the Church, none of the property taken from the monasteries was given to the Bishop or parochial clergy; and “in no one instance were the appropriated tithes restored to the parochial clergy” (Hallam), but, passing into laymen’s hands, have been bought and sold, willed and inherited, like other property, with the result that many parochial rectorial tithes are now in the possession of lay impropriators. During Mary’s reign a great effort was made to restore monasticism—Westminster being placed again in the hands of Benedictine monks, only to be crushed by Elizabeth, in whose reign the English Reformation was finally established by the ratification of the Thirty-Nine Articles, and the Scottish Reformation accomplished by John Knox, the reformer, to whose influence the destruction of the northern monasteries is due. Religious revival under Charles I. in like manner was swept away by the Puritans, who, following the dire example of the Tudor King, laid desecrating hands on cathedral and parish church, extending their destruction to the Crown itself. But the desire for more devotional life again asserted itself later in the 17th century and steadily grew and developed as time went on. During this period the loss of monastic life was keenly felt. In the present day a decided movement is on foot to restore monasticism—many thinkers indeed regard it as the saving and rebuilding of a Church, which, since its earliest times, has been the object of many vicissitudes.

A revival of religious life for women took place in England in 1845, when a few women banded themselves together under certain rules to devote themselves to charitable works. In 1850 Dr Pusey laid the stone of the first house for Anglican sisters since the Reformation, at St Saviour’s, Osnaburg Street. Communities increased and the outcome of Dr Pusey’s “large conceptions and constructive force of mind,” was the subsequent Oxford Movement, which, as is known, resulted in men taking once more the monastic vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. Under the leadership of the Rev. R. Meux Benson, societies were formed, and in these days the Cowley Fathers, the Community of the Resurrection, and the Benedictine House on the Isle of Caldey are familiar names to many.

The spirit of monasticism is the same to-day as in the days of Augustine—the growing need of the Church that the few should sacrifice themselves for the many, and, by their self-effacement, further the spiritual and material work of Christ on earth. Undoubtedly the civilisation of England from the earliest times is largely due to monastic influence. The monks promoted the love of architecture and art in every form; they achieved great things in literature, philanthropy, and agriculture, and furthered the prosperity of the country by their pioneer efforts in trading in wool. Wide-spread relief was extended to the poor, their hospitality to visitors and strangers being well known.

In nearly every instance Dugdale’s Monasticon is the authority used for dates of foundation, monetary value of revenues, etc., and every care has been taken to mention the names of the authors from whose writings many valuable quotations have been drawn.

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