A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



years before the time of Gildas. It seems, therefore, likely that it formed a 

 part of the legend which was carried back by those who accompanied 

 St. German to Britain in 429 and saw the spot themselves. The existence of 

 a church built by the early Celtic Christians on the site of the martyrdom is 

 hinted at by Gildas, and Bede states that it was standing in his day (731), when 

 miracles were performed there. The tradition persisted at the end of the 

 8th century, when Offa founded the monastery of St. Alban, and so the abbey 

 has kept it alive to this day. There seems no reason, therefore, to doubt the 

 tradition which connects St. Alban with Verulamium." 



After the accession of Constantine the Great in 306, persecutions ceased 

 in the West and Christianity appears to have spread rapidly in Britain. The 

 Church became organized under bishops, three of whom, York, London and 

 probably Lincoln, attended the Council of Aries in 314. Professor Zimmer 

 places a Celtic bishopric at Verulamium," but there is no evidence of such a 

 see, although the importance of the town, the tradition of the martyr Alban, 

 and the existence of an early Christian Church would well adapt it for a centre 

 of ecclesiastical organization. 



As the connexion between Britain and Rome relaxed at the beginning 

 of the 5th century the isolated position of the country caused the British 

 Church to become liable to the influence of heretical doctrines. It is said to 

 have been tainted with Arianism,'*' and about 422 the heresy of Pelagius, a 

 Briton, was introduced by his disciple Agricola." Pelagius denied the doctrine 

 of original sin and asserted the power of free will, whereby a man was in 

 himself enabled ' to sin or not to sin,' thus bringing into question the foun- 

 dation of the doctrine of grace.'" The number of Pelagians quickly increased 

 in Britain, so that the orthodox members of the Church had to appeal to the 

 Continent for assistance to refute the heresy. According to one story, which 

 is perhaps the more probable, at the intercession of Palladius, afterwards, as it is 

 said, the first bishop in Ireland, Pope Celestine in 429 sent German or Garmon, 

 Bishop of Auxerre, to Britain to confute the heretics." According to another 

 narrative the British Church sent to the Gallic bishops for aid, and a council" 

 was called at which German and Lupus Bishop of Troyes were selected to 

 go to Britain.'' In either case German and Lupus came to Britain to preach 

 the orthodox faith throughout the country, and at a place not named, a great 

 multitude of people being brought together with their wives and children, 

 the bishops with much eloquence entirely confounded the Pelagians.'* When 

 the disputation was over, after curing a girl of her blindness, the bishops 

 hastened to the tomb of St. Alban, in which German deposited reHcs of all 

 the apostles and divers martyrs and took away some of the earth still, as it 

 is asserted, stained with the blood of the saint. 



^* Rev. A. W. Wade-Evans is anxious to attach Alban to Wales, and suggests that the site of the 

 martyrdom was at Mount St. Alban, about 2 miles from Caerleon on Usk. His arguments are ingenious 

 but not convincing, and he wishes to rely upon the discredited authority of Geoffrey of Monmouth (' Site of 

 St. Alban's Martyrdom,' Arch. Cambr. [Ser. 6], v, 256 et seq.). 



2' Zimmer, The Celtic Church in Brit, (translated by A. Meyer), 58. He calls the seat of the bishopric 

 St. Albans, obviously an error. ^ Zimmer, op. cit. 5, quoting Gildai. 



2' Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit. i, 15, quoting Prosper of Aquitaine. 



'O The doctrine of the Pelagians is still disputed in the Ninth Article of the Thirty-nine Articles. 



31 ' Chron. of Prosper,' Gallia Christ, xii, 263 ; Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit. i, 16. 



'2 Nothing is known of this council, and grave doubts are entertained as to its having been held. 



'' Constantius, ' Viu Sancti Germani,' cap. xix {Dt Probatis Sanctorum Hiitoriis, iv, 416); Haddan 

 and Stubbs, loc. cit. ** Ibid. 



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