By the Rev. Canon W. H. Jones. 267 



far as they may have been modified by specific enactments of the 

 legislature, or are contrary to the word of God as interpreted in the 

 formularies of the church of England, are binding in spirit, if not 

 in letter, on all the Canons o£ Sarum to the present day. 



There were two kinds of cathedrals in pre-Reformation times : 

 (I) cathedrals of secular canons, and (2) conventual cathedrals; 

 in the former the Dean and Canons, in the second the Prior and 

 Monks, formed the Bishop's chapter. In many of the latter class, 

 it is right to add, there were " canons " at the first, who were after- 

 wards replaced by " monks." 



The cathedral at Sarum belonged to the former class, and it is 

 well, always to recollect the distinction just pointed out. About few 

 matters, perhaps, are there so many erroneous notions as respecting 

 the constitution and real purpose of a cathedral body of secular 

 canons. People will persist in talking about it, as though it were 

 originally some sort of monastic establishment. Never was there a 

 greater mistake, for certainly in the cathedral of Sarum, whether 

 Old or New, there never was a " monk.'''' Those whom Bishop 

 Osmund gathered round him were secular clergy — clergy, that is, who 

 lived in the world, dwelling in their own houses, and who were not un- 

 commonly married. In truth a " Regular " could not hold a prebend 

 in Sarum, and as early as the year 1228 we have a record in what 

 is called St. Osmund's Register (fol. lxxix.) to this effect, that the 

 prebend of " Rotescomb " (=Ruscomb) which was S. de Eketon's, 

 who, as was reported (< habltum religionis suscepit" was conferred on 

 Ranulf Brito. In early documents — in a decree, for example, of 

 the Council of Cealchyth (A.D. 785) 1 — a clear distinction is drawn 

 between u monachi" and " canonici" the latter including all clergy, 

 the former only those who took on them certain vows and were 

 bound by the rule (regula) of their order. In fact, the monks or 

 regulars were men, who, as has been said, " instead of living in the 

 world to look after the souls of others, went out of the world with 



1 The decree of the council runs thus : — " Ut episcopi diligenti cura provideant 

 quod omnes canonici sui canonice vivant, et monachi . . . regulariter con- 

 versentur tarn in cibis quani in vestibus, ut discretio sit inter canouicuni et 

 monachum vel secularem." — Wilkins' Concil., i., 147. 



VOL. XIX. — NO. LVII. Y 



