LANG
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LANG
and he was frequently tempted to retrace liis steps to the cloister, but was urged by pope Alexander II to con- tinue his public labors. The violent disposition of Wil- liam Kufus, who ascended the throne in 1087, was a fur- ther annoyance. Notwithstanding all these difficulties, he lal)ored perseveringly in tlie erection of churches and cloisters, in multiplying correct copies of the fathers and of the holy Scriptures, in the extension of learning and improvement of manners in clergy and people, and in care for the sick and the poor. " Under his spiritual rule," says a noted Church historian, " the Church of England received as strong an infusion of the Norman element as was forced upon the political system of Eng- land by the iron hand of the Conqueror."' His active and iirudent iiiHuence was also often employed in state affairs.
Lanfranc's relation, while archbishop of Canterbury, to the papal chair forms an important feature of his life, lie was on a friendly footing with Alexander II, his for- mer pupil, and went to receive at his hands the pallium of his office, though he had at first desired, in accord- ance with the king's wishes, that it should be sent to him to England. Gregory YII, greatly displeased with William's independent conduct, and his inclination to restrain the bishops from visiting Rome, sharply com- plained to Lanfranc that he had also lost his former spirit of obedience to papal authority. Lanfranc pro- tested his continued atfcction for the Church, and de- clared that he had sought to win the king to conformity in certain {particulars (as specially in the matter of Pe- ter's pence), but said little concerning his general rela- tion to the king, or that of the latter to the pope. He seems to have known that a certain degree of consider- ation, more than he liked dclinitely to express, must be allowed to the royal wishes. The pope's command to Lanfranc to appear in Itome within four months under threat of suspension he openly and without answer dis- obeyed. A letter of Lanfranc to an unknown corre- spondent (£);. 59), who sought to gain his adhesion to the rival pope, Clement II, places him in a neutral po- sition as between the two popes, and as awaiting, with the government of England, further light on the subject. Something of Lanfranc's coldness towards Gregory may perhaps be explained by the fact that he saw in this pope (as is apparent in a letter cited by Gieseler) a pro- tector of his enemy Berengar. Lanfranc died Slay 28, 1089, two years after the death of William the Con- queror.
Besides his work against Berengar may be mentioned liis Decreta pro urdine Sancli Bcnedicti:—Kpistoluru)ii, TAb:-r, containing GO letters, 44 Avritten by him and IG addressed to him : — De celaiida confessione, a fragment of an address in defence of his primatical authority ^ and Commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles. His biography of AVilliam the Conqueror has been lost. The tirst com- plete edition of Lanfranc's writings was published by D'Acher\', a Benedictine (Paris, 1G48, fol.) ; the earliest edition is entitled B. Lunfranci Opera (Paris, 15G8,fol.) ; the latest edition is by Giles (Ox. 1844-45, 2 vols. 8vo).
See Milo Crispinus, Vita. B.Lanfranci; Cadmer, Vita Anselmi; Chronicon Biccense; Malmesbury, Gista Anylo- r«;H, book iii; Acta Sanctorum, '^Isai, torn. \\-, Mohler, Gesamdte Schriften, vol. i; Hasse, Anselm, vol. i; Su- dendorf, Berengarius Turonensis (Hamburg and Gotha, 1850) ; Gieseler, Ch. Hist, ii, 102 -, Churton. Karl/j Emjlish Church, p. 26G, 20! sq., H02-, Palmer, Ch. Hist. p. lOG S(i. ; Milman, Lntiii Christiaiiitij, iii. 4o8-440 ; Hook, IJrcs of the. Archbb<ho]is of Cant('rbunj,yo\. ii (18G1): Hill, ,!/(;- 7iasticism in England, p. 337 sq. ; Herzog, Real-Enciihiop. s. V. ; Wetzer u. Weltc, Kirchcn-Lexikon, s. v. (E. B. O.)
Lang, Gsorg Heinrich, a distinguished German tlipiilogian, was born X(jv. 28, 1740, at Oettingen. He received a scientilic education in his native town, and pursued theology at the University of Jena. In 17G5 he assumed a pastorate at Biihl. and in 1770 accepted a call to Hohen-und-Niedcr-Altheim. From 1774 to 1770 he fflled the position of superintendent and pastor at
Trochtelsingen, and in the latter year returned to his late pastorate. In 1789 he became court preacher and ecclesiastical counsellor to the reigning princess at liat- isbon. He died March 15, 180G. Lang exerted no little influence in the progress and culture of religious learn- ing. His Dictionary of the N. T. ( Worterbuch des ncuen Testamentes), which appeared in 1778, placed him in the front rank of writers on the theory and historj' of the Christian religion. His intense zeal for the practical in later life directed his literary activity to the popular treatment of religious truth ; hence appeared Katechet- isches Maffazi/i; Nenes Maf/azin; Ascetische Bibliothel; and numerous sermons and liturgical writings. In his homiletical writings he developed many new and happy ideas, peculiarly adapted to the exigencies of the times. 3Iany estimable traits of character both adorned his pri- vate life and enhanced his merits as a teacher of relig- ious truth. For a list of his works, see Doring, Gelehrte Theol. Deutschlands, ii, 229.
Lang, Joseph, a German Jesuit, was born in 1746 at Briinn. in Boliemia, and was educated at his native city. The Jesuits then sent him to Olmiitz to pursue philosophy, and linally to the University of Prague, where he completed a course of theology. He v.'as or- dained in 1773. In 1780 he accepted a call to a Catho- lic Church in Leipzic, and in 1783 was chosen court preacher at Dresden. In 1802 he received the office of superintendent of the Catholic inffrmary at the latter place. He died Dec. 28, 180G. Lang acquired the rep- utation of a popular and eloquent pulpit orator. Be- sides frequent contributions to journals, he published several sermons. See Doring, Gelehrte Theol. Deutsch- lands, ii, 233.