TWELFTH CENTURY.
53
The Cuthnmans practised uncommon austeri- ties; but their chief employment was that of copying books, by which they endeavoured to earn their sut^istence, that they might not be bnrthensometo others. This order, notwithstand- to|^ its excessive austerities, was at one period so extensive, that it possessed one hundred and seventy-two convents, and five nunneries; the nunneries were all situate in the Catholic Nether- lands. By the rules of the Carthusians, the sacrist was ordered at a certain hour of the day, " to deliver out to the monks, inks, parchment, pens, chalk, and books, to read or transcribe."
1 1 0*2. The general manners oftheage, andthe too firequently depraved habits of the monks and priests, proved greaUy injurious both to the cause of reUgion and literature, at this period. The cmsades, were every where preached, pilgrimages were tmdertaken; ceremomes were multipliM; and appeals were made to the decisions of coun- cils, in preference to the scriptures. The canons of synous and provincials, exhibited the lamen- table state of monkish and clerical morality. Of these canons, some of which refer to crimes, " obstinately and profligately" practised, of a nature nnfit to meet the public eye, the following are selected from Anselm's canons, passed at Westminster, in this year.
Can. 9. "That priests go not to drinking bouts, Dordrinli to pegs."*
Can. 27. "That none exercise that wicked tiade,wrhich has hitherto been practised in Eiig- lati, of selling men like beasts. '
1102. Roger, King of Sicily.says, in a diploma vnitten in 1 115, and quoted by Rocchus Pyrrhus, that he had renewed on parclunent a charter that
• Sodi gntt drinken wen the Dane*, who wen In tnclaiKl In the time of Ed^rar, and so much did theii bad fimiiili-i pnrail with the EogliBh, that he, by the advice ot Daaatan, archbishop of Cantertmry, pnt down many ale homea, tafferin; oiilr one to )>e in a Tillage, or small town : and he also further ordained, that ptns or naila ilKald be ftstened into the drinking-caps, or honu, at stated di^aaoea, and whosoever slioiild drink beyond those narki at one draught, should be obnoxious to a severe pralsfament,— Stmtt, in Brand's Mtenatioiu oa Poputar iatjfirilia.
One ancestors wen formerly famous for compotationi thdr ISqncr ms ale, and one method of amusing them- wivet ia this «ay was with the peg- tankard. I bad lately one D( thBs tai my hand. It had on the inside a row of clglit piin, one above another, from top to bottom. It bdd two qoarts, and was a noble piece of plate, so that tlMn WIS a!^ of ale, half a pint Winchester measure, Mween each peg. The law was, that every person that dnnk was to empty the space between pin and pin, so thit the pins were so many measures to make the company •S drink tUSLK, and to swallow the same quantity of liquor. TUi was a pretty son method of making all the company <nmk, cspedally if it be considered that the rule was, that whoever dnnk short of his pin, or beyond it, was obliged to drink again, and even as deep as to the next pin. And it VM for this reason, that in Archbisliop Anselm's canons, nude in the cboncil of London, A. D. 1102, priests are eajoised not to go to drinking bouts, nor drink to pegs.
WilUamofMalmesbury, speaking of Dunstan, Art hbishop of Cuiterburft says, " Ro extremely anxious was he to piTserre peace even in trivial matters, that, as his country- men osed to assemble in taverns, and when a litUe eleva. tfd, qaarrel as to the proportions of their liquor, be ordered ^d or Kilver pe^s to be fastened in the pots, that whilst cYery man knew his just meason, shame would compel each, neither to take more himself, nor oblige others to 4riak beyond their proportional share.— Sharpe's History n^Me Katp 0/ Knglaiui.
had been written on cotton paper, "in eharta cuttunea" in the year 1 102, and another in 1 1 12. 1109. Z>i>(ilngulph, theabbot ofCroyland,an Englishman, and who is chiefly celebrated for his History of the Abbey of Cropland, in which the reader is interested by the simple and ingenius air of his narrative. From this history, it does not appear, that any distinct period was allotted to study ,by the monks of the abbey; but an account is given of apresentofforty large original volumes, of divers doctors, to the common library, and of more than a hundred smaller copies of books, on various subjects. Sometimes, also, the names are mentioned of men, said to have been " deeply versed in every branch of literature." As the transcripts of books multiplied, the permission to inspect them, was more liberally conceded than formerly. The historian gives a specimen of their rule on this point: "We forbade," says he, "un- der the penalty of excommunication, the lending of ourbooks, as well the smaller without pictures, as the larger with pictures, to distant schools, without the abbot's leave, and his certain know- ledge within what time they would be restored. As to the smaller books, adapted to the boys, and the relations of the monks. Sec. we forbade to be lent more than one day without leave of the prior."
1109, v4;>ri/ 21. Died Anselm, archbisnop of Canterbury, in the 76th year of his age. In 1060, he commenced monk, at the age of twenty-seven, at Bea, in Normandy, under Lanfranc. His progress in religious knowledge was great; but mildness and cmirity seem to have predominated in all his vie ws of piety . Lanfranc dying in 1 089, William II. usurped the revenues of tae see of Canterbury, and treated the monks of the place in a most bairbarous manner. On the death of his royal persecutor, (August 3, 1 100) he was invited to England by Henry I. and although he became the strenuous defender of the papal authority, he seems to have been influencedmore by the popu- lar prejudices of his day, than by a spirit of am- bition, which certainly formed no part of his character. Besides the canon which he framed at Westminster,/orW<iiny men to be told <u cattle, which had till then been practised, another in- stance of his humane and pious disposition, is given, which is, that one day as he was riding to die manor of Herse, a hare, -pursued by the hounds, ran under his horse for refuge; he stop- ped, and turning to the hunters, said, "This hare reminds me of a sinner upon the point of depart- ing this life, surrounded with devils, waiting for their prey. The hare starting off, he forbade her to be pursued, and was obeyed. The works of Anselm are partiy scholastic, partiy devotional, and demonstrate him to have been a man of genius, as well as piety. — Butler's History of the Church of Christ.
1110. It has been strongly contended by many writers, that Cambridge had no existence as a school of learning, until this year, in the reign of Heniy II. Others, have contended, that it was founded either by Sigebcrt, or Alfred; and some even go back to the fabulous ages. The fact, however, like other ancient facts, is not so clear
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