Councils of Clovesho
The Councils of Clovesho or Clofesho were a series of
Location
The location of the
The placename, given by Bede as clofeshoch,[2] is Old English. The first element is clof, a variant of cleófa, ‘a cleft, a chasm’,[3] while the second is hóh, ‘a heel-shaped spur of land’.[4] The modifier, clóf, is a rare word in place-names, Clovelly being the only other certain example of its use in a toponym. On the other hand, hóh is more common, with the densest concentration in the south-east Midlands.[5] This pattern suggests that the place ought to lie within south-eastern Mercia, as has been deduced from the historical evidence.
The current favourite candidate for the location of Clovesho is
The dates of several Councils are known, although some references are thought to be spurious, including one mentioned in the endorsement of a fraudulent
The purpose and nature of the councils
When Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus held the Council of Hertford in 672 or 673, he declared to the assembled bishops that he had been "appointed by the Apostolic See to be Bishop of the Church of Canterbury". A canon was passed to the effect that in future yearly synods should be held on 1 August every year "in the place which is called Clofeshoch".[15] This ruling represents the inauguration of the first parliamentary system known to have operated in the British Isles; "there had never before been a parliament with authority enough to decide on matters concerning all the English peoples".[citation needed] Meetings were held at Clovesho for more than 150 years.
The councils at Clovesho, and those generally of the Anglo-Saxon period, were mixed assemblies which included bishops,
Seventy years after the Hertford council, the first Council of Clovesho of which we have an authentic record was held. The Canterbury Cartulary contained a charter stating that in 716 the privilege of
The Council of 742
The first Council of Clovesho was presided over by Æthelbald of Mercia and Archbishop Cuthbert of Canterbury. According to the record of its proceedings, the council "diligently enquired into the needs of religion, the Creed as delivered by the ancient teaching of the Fathers, and carefully examined how things were ordered at the first beginning of the Church here in England, and where the honour of the monasteries according to the rules of justice was maintained".[16] The privilege of Wihtred, which assured the liberty of the Church, was solemnly confirmed. No other provisions were mentioned.
The Council of 747
The second Council of Clovesho was one of the most important such gatherings recorded in the history of the
The acts state that the Council was composed of "bishops and dignitaries of less degree from the various provinces of Britain" and that it was presided over by Archbishop Cuthbert.[citation needed] According to a manuscript preserved by William of Malmesbury, "King Ethelbald and his princes and chiefs were present".[citation needed]
The Acts related that "first of all, the
The thirteenth and fifteenth canons are noteworthy as showing the close union of the Anglo-Saxon Church with the Holy See. The thirteenth canon stated that
[A]ll the most sacred Festivals of Our Lord made Man, in all things pertaining to the same, viz.: in the Office of Baptism, the celebration of Masses, in the method of chanting, shall be celebrated in one and the same way, namely, according to the sample which we have received in writing from the Roman Church. And also, throughout the course of the whole year, the festivals of the Saints are to be kept on one and the same day, with their proper psalmody and chant, according to the Martyrology of the same Roman Church.[citation needed]
The fifteenth canon adds that in the seven hours of the daily and nightly Office the clergy "must not dare to sing or read anything not sanctioned by the general use, but only that which comes down by authority of Holy Scripture, and which the usage of the Roman Church allows".
Other canons required that the
The Council of 794
The record of the third Council of Clovesho is a charter by which Offa of Mercia made a grant of land for pious purposes. The charter stated that it has been drawn up "in the general synodal Council in the most celebrated place called Clofeshoas".
Around the time when the
The Council of 798
A council was held at Clovesho in 798 by
The Council also devoted time in dealing with questions of church property, and producing an agreement of exchange of lands between the archbishop and the Abbess Cynethryth.
The Council of 803
The fifth Council of Clovesho was one of the most remarkable of the series, as its Acts contained the declaration of the restitution of the Mercian sees to the province of Canterbury by the authority of Pope Leo III.
In 798, Coenwulf of Mercia addressed to the pope a long letter, representing "with great affection and humility" the disadvantages of the new archbishopric at Lichfield that had been created eleven years before by Pope Adrian I. In the letter the king submitted the whole case to the pope, asking his blessing and saying: "I love you as one who is my father, and I embrace you with the whole strength of my obedience", and promising to abide in all things by his decision. "I judge it fitting to bend humbly the ear of our obedience to your holy commands, and to fulfil with all our strength whatever may seem to your Holiness that we ought to do."[20]
Æthelhard, Archbishop of Canterbury, travelled to Rome to plead for the restitution of the sees. In 802, Leo granted the petition of the king and the archbishop and issued to the latter a Papal bull in which he restored to him the full jurisdiction enjoyed by his predecessors. The pope communicated this judgment in a letter to Coenwulf.[21]
This decision was duly proclaimed in the Council of Clovesho held in the following year. Archbishop Ethelheard declared to the synod that "by the co-operation of God and of the Apostolic Lord, the Pope Leo", he and his fellow-bishops unanimously ratified the rights of the See of Canterbury, and that an archbishopric should never more be founded at Lichfield, and that the grant of the pallium made "with the consent and permission of the Apostolic Lord Pope Adrian, be considered as null, having been obtained surreptitiously and by evil suggestion".[
Further synods
In 824 and 825 two further synods were held at Clovesho, "
Notes
- ^ Cubbit, C 1995 Anglo-Saxon Church Councils, 650-850. Leicester: University of Leicester (Studies in the Early History of Britain) ISBN 9780718514365
- ^ Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum IV.5 [1]
- ^ Bosworth, Joseph. “cleófa.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014 [2]
- ^ Bosworth, Joseph. “hóh.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014 [3]
- ^ Keith Briggs 2009 'Maps of English place-name element distribution [4]
- ^ R. H. C. Davis (1962) Brixworth and Clofesho, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 25:1, 71, DOI: 10.1080/00681288.1962.11894762
- ^ Leyser, Henrietta (2017). A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons. London, UK: I. B. Taurus. p. 78.
- ^ J. Lingard (1854), The Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, J.Murphy & Co, p.91
- ^ Saxons in England, II, 191.
- ^ W. Bright (1875), Early English Church History, Oxford University Press, p.246
- ISBN 978-1-905313-44-0
- ^ K. Bailey 2000 Clofesho Revisited, Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 11, pp 119-131.
- ^ C. Offer 2002 In Search of Clofesho: the case for Hitchin. Norwich: Tessa Publications, p. 3
- ^ Cubbit, C 1995 Anglo-Saxon Church Councils, 650-850. Leicester: University of Leicester (Studies in the Early History of Britain) ISBN 9780718514365, p. 304.
- ^ Bede, H. E., IV, ch. v.
- ^ Given in Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus Ævi Saxonici, 87.
- ^ Councils, I, 240.
- ^ They are printed in Wilkins, I, 94; in Mansi, XII, 395; and in Haddan and Stubbs, III, 360.
- ^ Lambeth Manuscript 1212, p. 312; Haddan and Stubbs, III, 512.
- ^ Haddan and Stubbs, III, 521.
- ^ Haddan and Stubbs, III, 538.
- ^ Haddan and Stubbs, III, 593, 596.
See also
Further reading
- Cubitt, Catherine (1992). "Pastoral Care and Conciliar Canons: the Provisions of the 747 Council of Clofesho". In Blair, John; Sharpe, Richard (eds.). Pastoral Care Before the Parish. Leicester, UK. pp. 193–211.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ISBN 9780901507563.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Councils of Clovesho". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.