A HISTORY OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. CHAPTER I. SERVICE-BOOKS OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH BEFORE THE Liturgies of the mediæval Western Church appear to be derived from two models, the Roman and the Ephesine. From the latter was derived the Spanish, or Mozarabic Liturgy,1 and also the Gallican, which conveyed the Ephesine Use to the original British Church.2 Of the Daily Offices, in their earliest forms, the leading characteristics appear to have been the same in the East and in the West and hence, in the reconstruction of the Western Ritual, which is supposed to have taken place about the fifth century, Eastern improvements and details were received with great facility. The ordinary service of the British Church in this early period most probably 1 Neale, Essays on Liturgiology and Rome, § IX. Lit. of Gaul, § XI. 2 See Palmer, Antiquities of the also the Preface, by Bishop Forbes, B Uses. Uses. Mission of to the consisted of psalms, hymns, and canticles, sung partly at night, partly in the early morning, and again in the evening; and the change which was introduced in the seventh century was probably no greater than the other churches of the West had already experienced.1 At the close of the sixth century, however, the condition of the ancient Church of this country 2 was most deplorable: the larger portion of the island, afterwards called England, was occupied by tribes of heathen, and the Christians were seeking shelter for their lives and their worship in the wild districts of Wales, Cumberland, and Cornwall, while some had retired to the Scottish Hebrides, and to Ireland.8 At this time (597) Augustine, the missionary from Pope Gregory the Great, arrived, doubtless bringing with him the Ritual which was at that time used at Rome. But, in passing through Gaul, where indeed he stayed some months, he became acquainted with the 'Gallican Use.' Accordingly, when he was allowed to found a church in Kent, he hesitated as to the form of service he should appoint under the ecclesiastical circumstances of the country. His own converts might be willing to receive the Roman Use; but within the limits of his archbishopric, as granted by Gregory, there were, in the western parts of the island, the ancient British churches in communion with their primate at Caerleon, and, on the northern, numerous Irish missionaries had churches of their converts. What therefore was to be the English 1 See Freeman, Principles of Divine Service, I. pp. 234 sqq. 2 See Stillingfleet, Antiquities of the British Churches; Soames, Ang.Sux. Church, 'Introduction;' Carte, Hist. of England, 1. 183. 3 The great monastery of Bangor, a seaport in the County Down, had been founded by S. Comgall, circ. 550. 4 Beda, Hist. Eccl. I. 27: 'Brittaniarum omnes episcopos tuæ fraternitati committimus, ut indocti doceantur, infirmi persuasione roborentur, perversi auctoritate cor. rigantur.' i Use, since the ritual customs1 of the Gallican Church differed from the Roman ? Upon this question he sought Gregory's decision, who allowed him to choose either the Roman or the Gallican form, or to select what he thought most suitable from the various forms used in the Catholic Church.2 The result was that Augustine followed the principle upon which the Rituals of the European churches had been remodelled; and introduced into England a form of Liturgy founded on the Roman model, with ordinary Daily Offices derived from the southern French churches, thus giving to the English Church its own national Use. Certain it is that the entire Roman Ritual was never used, although attempts. were made to force it upon the Anglo-Saxon Church; 4 1 Cf. S. Augustin. Epist. LIV. ad Januarium, § 2: 'Alii jejunant sabbato, alii non; alii quotidie communicant corpori et sanguini Domini, alii certis diebus accipiunt; alibi nullus dies prætermittitur quo non offeratur, alibi sabbato tantum et dominico, alibi tantum dominicototum hoc genus rerum liberas habet observationes.' 2 Beda, Hist. I. 27: 'II. Interrogatio Augustini. Cum una sit fides, cur sunt ecclesiarum diversæ consuetudines, et altera consuetudo missarum in sancta Romana ecclesia, atque altera in Galliarum tenetur? Respondit Gregorius papa. Novit fraternitas tua Romanæ ecclesiæ consuetudinem, in qua se meminit nutritam. Sed mihi placet, sive in Romana, sive in Galliarum, seu in qualibet ecclesia aliquid invenisti quod plus omnipotenti Deo possit placere, sollicite eligas, et in Anglorum ecclesia, quæ adhuc ad fidem nova est, institutione præcipua, quæ de multis ecclesiis colligere potuisti, infundas. Non enim pro locis res, sed pro bonis rebus loca amanda sunt. Ex singulis ergo quibusque ecclesiis, quæ pia, quæ religiosa, quæ recta sunt elige, 3 Supposed to have been compiled 4 The disputed points were, the time of keeping Easter, the form of the tonsure, and antiphonal chanting. Synod of Whitby (664); Bed. Hist. Eccl. iii. 25: Synod of Eastanfeld (701), where Archbishop Wilfrid of York declares 'se primum fuisse, qui verum Pascha in Nordanumbria Scotis ejectis docuerit, qui cantus ecclesiasticos antiphonatim instituerit, qui sanctissimi Benedicti regulam a monachis observari jusserit:' Wilkins, Conc. 1. 65: Council of Cloveshoo (747); 'Tertio decimo definitur decreto, ut uno eodemque modo dominicæ dispensationis in carne sacrosanctæ festivitates, in omnibus ad eas rite competentibus rebus, id est, in baptismi officio, in missarum celebratione, in cantilenæ modo, celebrentur juxta exemplar videlicet quod scriptum de Romana habemus ecclesia. Itemque ut per gyrum totius Uses. Uses. Origin of and although the influence of Augustine's successors1 was doubtless felt in this direction in guiding those changes in rites, and ceremonies, and prayers, which every bishop was empowered to ordain within his own. diocese. The exercise of this power caused, in process of time, a considerable variety in the manner of performing Divine service; and the custom of a diocese in its ceremonial, arrangement of certain portions of its service, introduction or omission of collects, became a distinct Use, and was known by the name of that diocese. Thus gradually the Uses or customs of York, Sarum, Hereford, Exeter, Lincoln, Bangor, Aberdeen, and doubtless others of which the records have perished, were recognised as defined and established varieties of the Ritual of the English Church.2 anni natalitia sanctorum uno eodem- 1 See Hardwick, Middle Age, pp. 2 The Use of a cathedral was not necessarily followed by all the churches in the diocese. The monasteries either followed the Use of their Order, or introduced distinct The most remarkable of these was the Use of Sarum. It was a reformation of the Ritual, based upon the earlier English and Norman customs, especially of Rouen, and arranged about 1085 by Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of England. He rebuilt his cathedral, collected together clergy distinguished for learning and skill in chanting, and took much pains to regulate the ecclesiastical offices; so that his church became a model for others, and his 'custom-book '1 was wholly or partially followed in various parts of the Curie was a shortened service: Aze- 2 Psalm, the Offertory, and the Post- 1 Brompton's Chron. (in Twysden's Scriptores x.) col. 977: 'Hic composuit librum ordinalem ecclesiastici officii quem Consuetudinarium vocant, quo fere tota nunc [circ. 1200] Anglia, Wallia, et Hibernia utitur.' 2 Among the many foreigners who were appointed to bishoprics and abbacies was Thurstan, Abbot of Glastonbury (1083). He attempted to compel his monks to use a style of chanting invented by William of Fescamp. The chroniclers (Simeon of Durham, Scriptores x. col. 212; John Brompton, ib. 978; AngloSaxon Chronicle, ad an. 1083) give a piteous description of the tumult and bloodshed that ensued; for armed soldiers drove the monks from the chapter, and slew many of them in the church. It is supposed that this outrage drew the attention of Osmund to the varieties of Use, and led him to revise the ritual upon the occasion of opening his new cathedral. Palmer, Orig. Lit. pp. 186 sq. Uses. Use of |