the prk8idbnt*s addbess. 18 



Ecclesiastical Organization. 



The ecclesiastical organisation was formed by side of tlie 

 political body, and was to some extent independent of it. 



Every freeman had the right of sanctuary, and the extent 

 of his sanctuary constituted his lawn. The limit was determined 

 by the cast of his spear from his door. The lowest grade of 

 noble had sanctuary to the extent of three casts. Each order 

 above doubled that below, till the king was reached, whose lawn 

 extended to the distance of sixty-four throws. 



Then, also, as soon as a saint, i.e. an ecclesiastic, was given a 

 habitation, he at once obtained right of sanctuary, and his 

 sanctuary was determined by law to extend a thousand paces 

 from his cell in all directions. Later on, a Bishop was allowed a 

 lawn or sanctuary of two thousand paces. 



The lawn enabled the noble to surround himself with a body 

 of men entitled seneleithes attached to his person, and comprised 

 of foreigners who had commended themselves to him for 

 protection, and of refugees, mostly homicides, for whom he 

 compounded; whereupon they and their descendants became 

 his men. 



The llan or lawn in precisely the same manner served to 

 recruit the clan of the saint. 



Now this privilege of the great nobles tended to materially 

 alter the political and social condition. Instead of the chiefs 

 being elected heads of their tribes as of old, they were able in 

 time, by means of their seneleithes or retainers, to bear down 

 opposition and extinguish rival claimants. 



Precisely the same process went on among the German races, 

 till it reached definite form in feudalism and the disappearance 

 of the freeholder. 



When Christian missionaries obtained grants of land and 

 rights of sanctuary, the numbers of their retainers began to 

 increase and their lands to extend. Their retainers formed 

 assemblages of habitations round the monastery, outside its 

 earthen wall, and this was the beginning of the cathedral or 

 monastic city, precisely as the gathering of military retainers 

 about the fort of the chief of the clan formed the beginning of 

 the hurgh. 



