and cloisters in England and Scotland still remain to testify in solemn silence to the power of
mediaeval Catholicism.
§ 13. Conformity to Row Established. Wilfrid, Theodore, Bede.
The dispute between the Anglo-Saxon or Roman, and the British ritual was renewed in the
middle of the seventh century, but ended with the triumph of the former in England proper. The
spirit of independence had to take refuge in Ireland and Scotland till the time of the Norman conquest,
which crushed it out also in Ireland.
Wilfrid, afterwards bishop of York, the first distinguished native prelate who combined
clerical habits with haughty magnificence, acquired celebrity by expelling "the quartodeciman
heresy and schism," as it was improperly called, from Northumbria, where the Scots had introduced
it through St. Aidan. The controversy was decided in a Synod held at Whitby in 664 in the presence
of King Oswy or Oswio and his son Alfrid. Colman, the second success or of Aidan, defended the
Scottish observance of Easter by the authority of St. Columba and the apostle John. Wilfrid rested
the Roman observance on the authority of Peter, who had introduced it in Rome, and on the universal
custom of Christendom. When he mentioned, that to Peter were intrusted the keys of the kingdom
of heaven, the king said: "I will not contradict the door-keeper, lest when I come to the gates of the
kingdom of heaven, there should be none to open them." By this irresistible argument the opposition
was broken, and conformity to the Roman observance established. The Scottish semi-circular
tonsure also, which was ascribed to Simon Magus, gave way to the circular, which was derived
from St. Peter. Colman, being worsted, returned with his sympathizers to Scotland, where he built
two monasteries. Tuda was made bishop in his place.^40
Soon afterwards, a dreadful pestilence raged through England and Ireland, while Caledonia
was saved, as the pious inhabitants believed, by the intercession of St. Columba.
The fusion of English Christians was completed in the age of Theodorus, archbishop of
Canterbury (669 to 690), and Beda Venerabilis ( b. 673, d. 735), presbyter and monk of Wearmouth.
About the same time Anglo-Saxon literature was born, and laid the foundation for the development
of the national genius which ultimately broke loose from Rome.
Theodore was a native of Tarsus, where Paul was born, educated in Athens, and, of course,
acquainted with Greek and Latin learning. He received his appointment and consecration to the
primacy of England from Pope Vitalian. He arrived at Canterbury May 27, 669, visited the whole
of England, established the Roman rule of Easter, and settled bishops in all the sees except London.
He unjustly deposed bishop Wilfrid of York, who was equally devoted to Rome, but in his later
years became involved in sacerdotal jealousies and strifes. He introduced order into the distracted
church and some degree of education among the clergy. He was a man of autocratic temper, great
executive ability, and, having been directly sent from Rome, he carried with him double authority.
"He was the first archbishop," says Bede, "to whom the whole church of England submitted."
During his administration the first Anglo-Saxon mission to the mother-country of the Saxons and
Friesians was attempted by Egbert, Victberet, and Willibrord (689 to 692). His chief work is a
(^40) See a full account of this controversy in Bede, III, c. 25, 26, and in Haddan and Stubbs, III. 100-106.