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belonged. But the example was never imitated, and Carlisle 
remained to the end the solitary instance of a Cathedral Priory 
which was regular but not Benedictine. These monastic cathedrals 
had certain characteristics which marked them off from their 
fellows. Besides fulfilling the usual duties of Divine service in the 
church, their canons lived together in community, observing a 
special rule of life and governed by their own superior. The 
head of the Chapter was not styled Dean as in the secular 
cathedrals, but Prior, or Cathedral Prior, to distinguish him from 
other priors who were only collegiate. All the members of the 
community were canons. They had the right to elect their own 
prior, and originally the bishop also. In course of time the 
freedom of election in case of the bishop was much curtailed, but 
the choice of the prior remained free and was one of the most 
valued rights of the monastery. Carlisle convent had been liber- 
ally endowed by Bishop Ethelwald and King Henry ; and in spite 
of many losses and the ravages of incessant war it acquired 
considerable property in the course of four centuries. Many 
livings were in its gift, such as Stanwix, Hayton, Thursby, Seberg- 
ham, Dalston, etc. The Austin canons, differing in this respect 
from other religious Orders, used to appoint their own members 
to these parishes; the work of the parent convent being thus 
diversified by parochial duties in the country where the village 
churches, dependent upon the cathedral, were often served by 
small communities of two or three canons. 
The position of Carlisle on the English Border gives it great 
prominence in the annals of the period, a prominence which the 
priory shares with the castle. For instance, during the troubled 
reign of Stephen the city was occupied by the Scots. Thither 
King David fled after the battle of the Standard. There, too, in 
the cathedral he knighted Henry Fitz-Empress, in 1149; and it 
was in the castle that he himself, ‘‘the sair saint for the crown,” 
died in 1153. So disturbed was the country at this time that the 
bishopric was vacant for nearly sixty years, its possessions were 
alienated, and for a time the canons were driven away from their 
convent. A century or so later the cathedral saw some stirring 
