314 Thus the council of Mainz in 888—“Quod multum dolendum est, sæpe audivimus per illam concessionem plurima scelera esse commissa, ita ut quidam sacerdotum, cum propriis sororibus concumbentes, filios ex eis generassent, et idcirco constituit hæc sancta synodus, ut nullus presbyter ullam feminam secum in domo propria permittat quatenus occasio malæ suspicionis vel facti iniqui penitus auferatur” (Concil. Mogunt. ann. 888 c. 10). In the same year the third canon of the council of Metz repeats the prohibition; while in 895 the council of Nantes declares—“Sed neque illas quas canones concedunt; quia instigante diabolo, etiam in illis scelus frequenter perpetratum reperitur, aut etiam in pedissequis illarum, scilicet matrem, amitam, sororem.”—Concil. Namnetens. ann. 895 c. 3.

It is true that some authorities, including the great name of Pagi, attribute to this council of Nantes the date of 660, but this is unimportant as regards the canon in question, for its necessity during the period under consideration is shown by its insertion in the Capitularies of Benedict the Levite (Lib. VII. c. 376), and in the collection of Regino of Pruhm (Lib. I. c. 104).

315 Capit. Carol. Calvi Tit. III. cap. 4, 5.

316 Martene Ampliss. Collect. I. 151.

317 Hincmari Epist. XXXII. c. 20.

318 Hincmari Capit. Presbyteris data. cap. XXI.-XXV.

Hincmar repeats his instructions, with some amplifications, in another document, in which he declares them to be the received traditional rules—“a majoribus nostris accepimus” (De Presbyt. criminos. c. XI.-XVIII.). That they were generally practised is shown in their almost literal repetition by the council of Trosley in 909—with the exception that in some cases fourteen or twenty-one witnesses were required for conviction (Concil. Troslei. c. ix.).

319 Martene Ampl. Collect. I. 151.

320 Capit. Synod. Remens. ann. 874 c. 3.

321 Nicholai I. Respons. ad Consult. Bulgar. c. 70.

322 Efficitur ad hæc uxorius, liberos procreans, et ad suæ damnationis cumulum nil sibi clericale præter tonsuram præferens.—Folcuin. de Gest. Abbat. Laubiens. c. 12.

323 Mantion. Episc. Catalaun. Epist. ad Fulc. Remens. (Migne’s Patrol. T. 131, p. 23.)

324 Liutprand. Antapod. Lib. III. c. 43.

325 Liutprand. Hist. Otton. c. 4, 10.—Chron. Benedict. S. Andreæ Monach. c. 35.

326 Concil. Turon. ann. 925. (Martene Thesaur. IV. 73.)

327 Ratherii de nuptu cujusdam illicito c. 4.

328 Ratherii de contemptu canon. P. I. c. 4.

329 Atton. Vercell. Epist. ix.

330 Enarratio eorum quæ perverse gesta sunt, etc. (Muratori, Antiq. Med. Ævi Diss. LXII.).

331 Institutes of Polity, Civil and Ecclesiastical, c. 19, 23 (Thorpe, Ancient Laws, &c. of England, II. 329, 337).

332 Ratherii Itinerar. c. 5.

333 Ratherii Synodica c. 15.

334 Gunzo the Grammarian, in his learned treatise, makes use of the recognized celibacy of the clergy as a comparison. “Non enim una eademque res bona, licet æque omnibus conceditur. Siquidem nuptiæ, laicis concessæ, sacris ordinibus denegantur.”—Gunzonis Epist. ad Augienses.

335 Leon. PP. VII. Epist. 15.

336 Constit. Otton. ann. 940, c. 12.

337 Quod si sacerdotes incontinenter propter ipsam continentiam primam quam sortitus est, separati a consortio cellæ, teneat uxorem; si vere aliam duxerit, excommunicetur.—Concil. Spalatens. ann. 925 c. 15.

The passage is evidently corrupt, but its intention is manifest. The reading suggested by Batthyani may be reasonably accepted. “Quod si sacerdotes incontinentes propter ipsam continentiam quam quis primam sortitus est, separati a consortio cellæ, teneant uxorem, tolerantur; si vero aliam duxerint, excommunicentur.” (Batthyani Legg. Eccles. Hungar. I. 333-4.)

338 Richeri Hist. Lib. II. c. 81. The canons of the council, however, as they have reached us, are silent on the subject.

339 Concil. Augustan. ann. 952 c. 1, 4, 11.

340 Cod. Bamberg. Lib. II. Epist. 10.

St. Ulric is noteworthy as the first subject of papal canonization, having been enrolled in the calendar by the council of Rome in 993. That priestly marriage should be advocated by so pious and venerable a father was of course not agreeable to the sacerdotal party, and his evidence against celibacy has not infrequently been ruled out of court by discrediting the authenticity of the epistle. The compiler of the collection containing it, made in 1125, prefixed the name of Nicholas as that of the pope to whom it was addressed, and as St. Ulric was about equidistant between Nicholas I. in the ninth and Nicholas II. in the eleventh century, it has been suggested that the epistle was addressed to the latter, on the occasion of his reforms in 1059 the use of St. Ulric’s name being assumed as a mistake of the compiler. That this is not so is shown by the fact that already in 1079 it was known as St. Ulric’s, being condemned as such in that year by Gregory VII.—“scriptum quod dicitur sancti Oudalrici ad papam Nicholaum, de nuptiis presbiterorum” (Bernald. Constant. Chron. ann. 1079). The authenticity of the document, I believe, is generally admitted by unprejudiced critics.

341 Ratherii Discordia c. 1, 6.

342 Ratherii Epist. XI., XII.—His letter to the Empress Adelaide, announcing his willingness to retire from the contest, and to seek the congenial shades of a monastery, is most uncourtly. (Epist. XIII.)

343 Ruotgeri Vit. S. Brunonis c. 38.—Ratherius consoled himself epigrammatically by condensing his misfortunes in the Leonine verse—“Veronæ præsul, sed ter Ratherius exsul.”

344 De Contempt. Canon. P. II. c. 2.—Præloquiorum Lib. V. c. 18.

The existing confusion is well exemplified by another remark—“Expertus sum talem qui ante ordinationem adulterium perpetravit, postea quasi continenter vixit; alterum qui post ordinationem uxorem duxit; et iste illum, ille istum carpebat.”—De Contempt. Canon. P. I. c. 11.

345 Atton. Vercell. Epist. 9. In another epistle (No. 10) Atto congratulates himself on the reform of some of his clergy, and threatens the contumacious with degradation.

346 Othloni Vit. S. Wolfkangi c. 15, 16, 17, 23.

347 “Ad cumulum damnationis suæ, accepit mulierem, nomine Hildeburgam, in senectute, quæ, ingresso illo ad se, concepit et peperit filios et filias, &c.” The chronicler makes the end of this aged sinner an example of poetical justice such as may frequently be found in the monkish annals of those times—“Qui dum esset flebotomatus, nocte insecuta dormivit cum Episcopissa; qua de re vulnus cœpit intumescere, et dolor usque ad interiora cordis devenire.” Finding his end approaching, he assumed the monastic habit and took the vows, after which he immediately expired.—Act. Pontif. Cenoman. c. 29 (Dom Bouquet, X. 384-5).

Fulbert of Chartres has left us a lively sketch of the military bishops of the period.—“Tyrannos potius appellabo, qui bellicis occupati negotiis, multo stipati latus milite, solidarios pretio conducunt, ut nullos sæculi reges aut principes noverim adeo instructos bellorum legibus, totam armorum disciplinam in procinctu militiæ servare, digerere turmas, ordines componere, ad turbandam ecclesiæ pacem, et Christianorum, licet hostium, sanguinem, effundendum.”—Fulbert. Carnot. Epist. 112.

348 Chron. S. Petri Vivi (D’Achery Spicileg. II. 470).

349 This singular oath has been published by Muratori (Antiq. Ital. Diss. XX.).—“Ego Andrea presbiter promitto coram Deo et omnibus sanctis, et tibi Guarino episcopo, quod carnalem commistionem non faciam; et si fecero, et onoris mei et beneficio ecclesiæ perdam.”

350 S. Petri Damiani Epist. Lib. IV. Epist. 8.—Leo Marsicanus (Chron. Cassinens. Lib. II. c. 16) asserts that in his youth he himself had seen and conversed with a priest who had been one of the eye-bearers.

351 Abbon. Floriac. Epist. 14.

352 Although Aimoin, who was an eye-witness, does not specially mention the cause that excited the monks to ungovernable fury, yet a casual allusion shows that women were responsible for it.—“Cæterum, tantæ cladis compilatores certissime agnoscentes beatum obiisse Abbonem, certatim cuncti in fugam vertuntur, ita ut, terris reddito die, ne mulieres quidam in universis forensibus ipsius villæ invenirentur domibus”—(Abbon. Floriac. Vit. c. 20)—and the day after his death “una ex his mulieribus quæ clamore suo seditionem concitaverant” became suddenly mad, and was struck with incurable leprosy—(Aimoin. Mirac. S. Abbonis c. 2).

353 Damian. Carm. ccxxi.

354 Aimoin. Vit. S. Abbonis c. 9.

355 Episcopi sui temporis aliqui fastu superbiæ, aliqui simplicitate cordis, filios sæcularium sacerdotum ad sacros ordines admittere dedignabantur, nec ad clericatum eos recipere volentes; hic vero beatus, neminem despiciens, neminem spernens, passim cunctos recipiebat.—Constant. S. Symphor. Vit. Adalberon. II. c. 24.

356 Dithmar. Merseberg. Lib. VI. c. 24.

357 S. Heinrici Sentent. de Conjug. Cleric. (Patrologiæ T. 140 p. 231).

358 A nullo scriptorum qui de illo sive de episcopio ejus locuti sunt, laudatus est. Palam memorant quod habitu non opere monachus fuerit.

359 About the year 990, for instance, we find Duke Richard reforming the celebrated Abbey of Fécamp and replacing with Benedictines the former occupants—canons whose secular mode of life outraged his pious sensibilities—“contigit Fiscannenses canonicos aliorum canonicorum mores imitari, latas perditionis vias ingredi, et rerum temporalium luxus et desidias voluptuose sectari.”—Anon. Fiscannens. c. 17.

360 Nam conjugem nomine Herlevam, ut comes, habuit, ex qua tres filios, Richardum, Radulfum et Guillelmum genuit; quibus Ebroicensem comitatum et alios honores amplissimos secundum jus sæculi distribuit.—Orderic. Vital. Lib. V. c. 10 § 42.

So in the Normanniæ Nova Chronica, published by Chéruel in 1850, “Iste Robertus fuit uxoratus, et ex Herleva conjuge sua tres filios habuit, Richardum, Radulfum et Willelmum.”

361 Bénoit, Chronique des Ducs de Normandie, v. 32427, 24912. We may fairly conclude from these expressions that Robert was educated for the priesthood.

362 Voluptatibus carnis mundanisque curis indecenter inhæsit, filiumque nomine Michaelem probum militem et legitimum genuit, quem in Anglia jam senem rex Henricus honorat et diligit.—Orderic. Vital. Lib. V. c. 10 § 43.

363 Concil. Ansan. ann. 990 c. 5.

364 Concil. Pictaviens. c. ann. 1000 c. 3.

365 Si clericus superioris gradus, qui uxorem habuit, et post confessionem vel honorem clericatus iterum earn cognoverit, sciat sibi adulterium commisisse, sicut superiore sententia unusquisque juxta ordine suo pœniteat [i. e. diaconus et monachi VII. (annos) III. ex his pane et aqua. Presbyter x. Episcopus XII., V. ex his pane et aqua.] ... Si quis clericus aut monachus postquam se devoverit ad sæcularem habitum iterum reversus fuerit aut uxorem duxerit, X. annos pœniteat, III. ex his in pane et aqua, nunquam postea in conjugium copuletur.—Judicium Pœnitentis ex Sacrament. Rhenaug.

366 Gerberti Sermo de Informat. Episcopor.

367 Gerberti Opp. p. 197 sqq. (Ed. Migne).

368 “Taceo de me quem novo locutionis genere equum emissarium susurrant, uxorem et filios habentem, propter partem familiæ meæ de Francia recollectam.”—Gerberti Epist. Sect. I. No. XI.—Gerbert’s reputation for sanctity is not such as to render scandalous the suspicion that the family thus gathered around him might afford legitimate occasion for gossip, notwithstanding his abbacy and the fact that he had been bred in a convent.

369 Ita ut clerici (quod non absque dolore cordis fateor) impudici, bilingues, ebrii, turpis lucri cupidi, habentes fidem, et ut verius dicam, infidelitatem, in conscientia impura, non probati in bona, sed in malo opere præsciti ministrantes, et innumera crimina habentes, sacro ministerio adsciscantur.—Gildæ de Excid. Britan. Pt. III. cap. 23—Cf. cap. 1, 2, 3.

370 “Unius uxoris virum.” Quid ita apud nos quoque contemnitur, quasi non audiretur, vel idem dicere et virum uxorum?... Sed quid erit, ubi nec pater nec filius mali genitoris exemplo pravatus conspicitur castus?—Gildæ loc. cit.

371 Modern criticism has raised doubts as to the existence of St. Patrick. Whether they are well-grounded or not is a matter of little importance here, as we are concerned only with the institutions bearing his name, which institutions undoubtedly did exist. Meanwhile I may add that few remote events appear to rest on better authority than the conversion of the Gaeidhil, about the year 438, by a person known to his contemporaries as Patraic, or Patricius; and the name of Cain Patraic applied to the secular code attributed to him, dates from a very high antiquity.—See Senchus Mor, Hancock’s Ed. Vol. I. Dublin, 1865.

372 Synod. S. Patricii c. 9, 17 (Haddan & Stubbs II. 328-9)—Synod. II. S. Patricii c. 17, 21 (Ibid. 335-6).

373 Præfat. Gildæ de Pœnitent. cap. 1 (Martene Thesaur. IV. 7).

374 Lib. de Remed. Peccat. cap. de Fornicat. (Martene IV. 23).—Cf. Synod. Aquilon. Britan. cap. 1 (Ibid. p. 9).

375 In this long course of penance, three months were to be spent in solitary confinement, with bread and water at night; then eighteen months in fasting on bread and water; then bread and water three days in the week for five years and three months; then bread and water on Fridays for the remaining three years.—Gratian. Dist. LXXXII. c. 5.

376 Arbedoc et Haelhucar Lib. XXXVIII. cap. 7 (D’Achery I. 500).

377 Haddan & Stubbs, Councils of Great Britain, I. 112.

378 Bernardi Vit. S. Malachiæ cap. vi.

379 S. Columbani Regul. cap. vi.

380 Reliquit (Columbanus) successores magna continentia ac divino amore regularique institutione insignes ... pietatis et castitatis opera diligenter observantes (Bedæ Hist. Eccles. Lib. III. c. 4, cf. also c. 26). Bede’s orthodoxy on the subject is unquestionable: “Sacerdotibus ut semper altari queant assistere, semper ab uxoribus continendum, semper castitas observanda præcipitur” (In Lucæ Evang. Exposit. Lib. I. cap. 1).—“Quanta sunt maledictione digni qui prohibent nubere et dispositionem cœlestis decreti quasi a diabolo repertam condemnant? ... sed magis honoranda, majore est digna benedictione virginitas.” (Hexæmeron. Lib. I. sub tit. Benedixitque illis.) See also De Tabernac. Lib. III. c. 9, already referred to (p. 65).

381 See, for instance, the proceedings of the synod of Whitby in 664, where the differences between the Scottish and Roman observances were fully discussed (Spelman. Concil. I. 145). So when, in 633, Honorius I. addressed the Scottish clergy, reproving their false computation of Easter and their Pelagianism, he made no allusion to any want of clerical purity (Bedæ Hist. Eccles. Lib. II. c. 19).

382 “Opto enim doceri an clerici continere non valentes, possint contrahere; et si contraxerint, an debeant ad sæculum redire”—to which Gregory responds with a long exhortation as to the duties of the “clerici extra sacros ordines constituti”—Gregor. I. Regist. Lib. XI. Epist. lxiv. Respons. 2.

383 Si episcopi filius sit, sit dimidium hoc (Leg. Inæ c. LXXVI.). The rubric of the law is “De occidente filiolum vel patrinum alicujus” (Thorpe, Ancient Laws of England, II. 472).

384 Denique promulgatur decretum ... de abdicandis sacerdotum uxoribus.—Spelman. Concil. I. 216.

385 Cave, Script. Eccles. Hist. pp. 424-5 (Ed. 1705).

386 Theodori Pœnitent. I. ix. 1, 4, 5, 6, 10; II. ii. 12 (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 184-5, 192).

387 See, for instance, St. Aldhelm’ rhapsodies, “De laudibus virginitatis,” and “De laudibus virginum.” The orthodoxy of Bede on this question has already been alluded to.

According to the legend, St. Aldhelm tried his virtue by the same crucial experiments as those resorted to by some of the ardent devotees of the third century, concealing his motive in order that his humility might enjoy the benefit of undeserved reprobation. “Sancti Aldelmi Malmesburiensis, qui inter duas puellas, unam ab uno latere, alteram ab altero, singulis noctibus ut ab hominibus diffamaretur, a Deo vero cui nota fuerat conscientia ipsius et continentia copiosius in futurum remuneraretur, jacuisse describitur.”—Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles. Dist. II. cap. xv.

388 Ecgberti Pœnitent. I. II. 3; IV. 2, 7, 8; V. 1-22.—Ejusd. Dialog, v. (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 406, 419-23).

389 Epist. ad Geruntium.—Aldhelmi Opp. p. 83 (Ed. Oxon. 1844).

390 Johan. PP. IV. Epist. iii.

391 Bedæ Epist. II.

392 Bonifacii Epist. 105.

393 Can. 20 directs greater strictness with regard to visitors, “unde non sint sanctimonialium domicilia turpium confabulationum, commessationum, ebrietatum, luxuriantiumque cubilia.” Can. 28 orders that nuns after taking the veil shall not wear lay garments; and can. 29 that clerks, monks, and nuns shall not live with the laity. (Spelman. Concil. I. 250-4.—Haddan & Stubbs, III. 369, 374.)

This demoralization of the nunneries is not to be wondered at when Boniface, in reproving Ethelbald, King of Mercia, for his evil courses, could say, “Et adhuc, quod pejus est, qui nobis narrant adjiciunt: quod hoc scelus maxime cum sanctis monialibus et sacratis Deo virginibus per monasteria commissum sit.” This sacrilegious licentiousness, indeed, would seem almost to have been habitual with the Anglo-Saxon reguli for Boniface instances the fate of Ethelbald’s predecessor Ceolred and of Osred of Northumbria who had both came to an untimely end in consequence of indulgence in similar evil courses.—Bonifacii Epist. 19.

394 Concil. Calchuth. can. 15, 16 (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 455-6).

395 Haddan & Stubbs, Councils, etc., III. 493.

396 Propter fornicationem fugiendam unusquisque laicus suam uxorem legitimam habeat.—Concil. Calchuth. can. 16.

397 Concil. Celicyth. ann. 816 can. 4 8 (Haddan & Stubbs, III. 580-3).

398 Goscelini Vit. S. Swithuni c. 1, 2.

399 Leg. Aluredi c. 8, 18.—Constit. Odon. Cantuar. c. 7.

400 Leg. Edwardi et Guthrun. c. 3.—Leg. Eadmund. Eccles. c. 1.

401 Bridfrit. Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 5, 7. Bridfrith was a disciple of St. Dunstan, and composed his biography but a few years after the death of his patron. He does not state what was the position of Dunstan at the time of his betrothal; but Osbern, a hundred years later, asserts that he had acquired the lower orders only, and that he received the priesthood and took the monastic vows simultaneously.—Osberni Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 8, 12.

402 Osbern. Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 35.—Florent. Wigorn. ann. 964, 973.—Matt. Westmonast. ann. 963.

403 Vit. S. Æthelwoldi c. 14.

404 Si ista solerti scrutinio curassetis, non tam horrenda et abominanda ad aures nostras de clericis pervenissent ... dicam dolens quo modo diffluant in commessationibus, in ebrietatibus, in cubilibus et impudicitiis, ut jam domus clericorum putentur prostibula meretricum, conciliabulum histrionum.... Ad hoc ergo exhauserunt patres nostri thesauros suos? ad hoc fiscus regius, detractis redditibus multis elargitus est? ad hoc ecclesiis Christi agros et possessiones regalis munificentia contulit, ut deliciis clericorum meretrices ornentur? luxuriosæ convivæ præparentur? canes ac aves et talia ludicra comparentur? Hoc milites clamant, plebs submurmurat, mimi cantant et saltant, et vos negligitis, vos parcitis, vos dissimulatis.—Oratio Edgari ann. 969 (Spelman. Concil. I. 477).

405 Vit. S. Æthelwold. c. 12.

406 “Gif preorst ewenan forlæte and oðre nime, anaþema sit” (Leg. Presbyt. Northumbriens. c. 35). Spelman’s translation of this “Si presbyter concubinam suam dimiserit et aliam acceperit anathema sit” (Concil. I. 498) is perhaps hardly correct. Cwene can be interpreted in either a good or a bad sense, as a wife or a mistress; and the terms of the law show that the connection was a recognized one, the sin consisting in disregarding it. If the priest’s companion were only a concubine, his guilt would not be measurably increased by merely changing his unlawful consort.

407 Chron. de Abbat. Abbendoniæ (Chron. Abingdon. II. 279).

408 Osberni Vit. S. Dunstan. c. 36.

409 Chron. de. Abbat. Abbendon. loc. cit.

410 Vit. S. Æthelwold. c. 14, 15.

411 Johannis PP. XIII. Epist. xxii.

412 Concil. sub Dunstano (Spelman. I. 480).

413 Ædgari Charta de Oswalde’s Law (Spelman. I. 433).

414 Anglo-Saxon Chron. ann. 964.

415 Monach. Hydens. Leg. c. 8, 9 (Spelman. I. 438).

416 Canon. sub Edgaro—Mod. imponend. Pœnitent. c. 28, 29 (Thorpe, II. 273).

417 Oratio Edgari (Spelman. I. 476).

418 Spelman. I. 479.

419 Guillel. Malmesbur. Lib. II. c. 8.

420 Florent. Wigorn. ann. 975.—Matt. Westmonast. Lib. III. c. 18.—Chron. Winton. (Spelman. I. 490-2).

421 Matt. Westmonast. Lib. III. c. 18. Henry of Huntingdon, however (Lib. V. ann. 978), who, as a secular priest and the son of a priest, did not look upon the labors of St. Dunstan with much favor, insinuates that the accident was intended to foreshow that the assembled wisdom and power of England were about to fall similarly from the grace of God.

422 Haddan & Stubbs I. 286.

423 Privileg. Reg. Ethelredi (Spelman. I. 504).

424 Ælfrici Canon. c. i.-viii. (Thorpe, II. 345). “Quasi periculosum non esset sacerdotem vivere more conjugati. Sed dicetis eum haud posse carere muliebribus servitiis. Respondeo, quonam pacto vitam transegerunt sancti olim viri absque femina vel uxore,” &c. (Spelman I. 573).—Spelman’s MS. was defective; that in Thorpe is perfect.

425 Ælfric’s Pastoral Epistle, c. 32, 33 (Thorpe, II. 377).

426 Omnes ministros Dei, præsertim sacerdotes, obsecramus et docemus, ut Deo obedientes, castitatem colant, et contra iram Domini se hoc modo muniant et tueantur. Certius enim norint quod non habeant debite ob aliquam coitus causam uxoris consortium. In more tamen est, ut quidam duas, quidam plures habeat; et nonnullus quamvis eam dimiserit quam nuper habuit, aliam tamen, ipsa vivente, accipit, quod nulla Christianorum lege est permissum. Dimittens autem et castitatem recolens, e cœlo assequetur misericordiam, in mundo etiam venerationem, adeo ut juribus et tributis habeatur Thaini dignus cum in vita tum in funere. Qui autem ordinis sui regulam abdicaverit, omni cum apud Deum tum apud homines gratia exuatur.—Concil. Ænham. c. 2. (Spelman. I. 514-5).

I give the translation of Spelman, as being more faithful in spirit, although less literal than that of Thorpe; for though the expression “wifes gemanan” may not be especially limited to wifely relations, yet the whole tenor of the passage shows that the women concerned were not merely concubines, but were entitled to the consideration of legal wives.

The thane-right promised to those who should reform their lives was one of the recognized privileges of the church. In a list of wer-gilds, anterior to the period under consideration by about a century, the wer-gild for the priest—“mæsse-þegnes” is the same as that for the secular noble—“woruld-þegnes” (Thorpe, I. 187).

427 “Munecas and mynecena canonicas and nunnan” (Concil. Ænham. c. 1). Spelman thinks that the mynecena were perhaps the wives or concubines of monks (Concil. I. 530). Mynecen is merely the feminine of munuc, a monk; Thorpe translates it as “mynchens,” and suggests that the “mynecena” were merely the younger nuns, not quite so strictly governed as the elder “nunnan.” To this opinion Bosworth (Dictionary, s. v. nunne) seems to incline. It would appear to be so from chapter XV. (be Mynecenan) of the “Institutes of Polity” (Thorpe, II. 322).

428 Cnutes Domas c. VI. (Thorpe, I. 364).