794 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
a constant recurrence. By John's charter, the election took place in the chapter house of the cathedral, and the king might exercise the right of nomination and confirma tion.1 In the case of disputed elections, the pope acted as umpire and might set aside all candidates and order a new election, as did Innocent III., in the case of Stephen Larigton. The Fourth Lateran established the rule that a chapter, failing to reach a conclusion in three months, forfeited the right of election.
The law requiring a bishop to be at least thirty years old 2 and of legitimate birth was often set aside. Geoffrey, natu ral son of Henry II., was appointed bishop of Lincoln before he was twenty and for six years he enjoyed the revenues of the see without being ordained priest. He was afterwards made archbishop of York. Gerlach of Nassau WSLS made archbishop at twenty. We have in this period no case quite so flagrant as that of Hugh of Vermandois, about 980, who, after poisoning the archbishop of Rheims, put his own son, a child of five, into the office. Disregard of the age-limit reached its height in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The larger sees were a tempting prize to noblemen, and Innocent III. felt it necessary to emphasize merit as a quali fication for the episcopal office as against noble birth.
The important right of canonization was withdrawn from the bishops by Alexander III., 1181, and its exercise thence forth restricted to the pope. Bishops were not popular material for sainthood. Otto of Bamberg is a shining ex ception.
From the time of Otto the Great, German bishops had the rank of princes.3 In France, England, and other countries, they were raised to the dignity of the peerage. The three German sees of Treves, Mainz, and Cologne probably enjoyed larger revenues and authority than any other sees in West ern Christendom. They gave to the territory along the Rhine the name of the "priests' alley." Their three prel-
1 Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. 303 sq., refers to "the shadowy freedom of election." 2 Third Lat., can. 3. * Hauck, III. 28 sqq.
§ 125. BISHOPS.
ates were among the seven electors of the empire. In Northern Germany, the see of Bremen retained its relative importance. Lund was the metropolitan see of Denmark and Scandinavia. In France, the ancient archbishoprics of Lyons and Rheims perpetuated the rank and influence of an earlier period. In England, after the see of Canterbury, Lincoln was the most influential diocese.
The cathedral and collegiate chapters grew in importance. In the earlier part of this period, it was still the custom for the canons belonging to a chapter to live under the same roof and eat at the same table. In the thirteenth century a great change took place. With the increasing wealth of the churches, the chapters threatened to assert the rights of distinct corporations, and to become virtually independent of the bishops.1 Prebends or stalls — stallum in choro — were furnished with endowments of their own. The sons of nobles coveted and secured these places which brought emolument and influence without work. The canons lived apart by themselves, supported by the revenues of their stalls and their portion of the cathedral income. No places were more often filled by papal appointment in the way of reservation and expectance.2
The archdeacon, still called as of old "the bishop's eye," assisted the bishop in matters of diocesan administration, visited churches, made investigation of the sacred robes and vessels, adjudicated disputes, presided over synods, and, as provided for by the English Constitutions of Otho, in structed the clergy on the sacraments and other subjects. This official threatened to assume the rank of bishop-coadju tor, or even to become independent of the bishop.3 His
1 capitula clausa. Hurter, III. 355, pronounced the change a sign of de cay.
2 The prospective occupants of stalls were called canonici in herbis, canons on the commons ; the actual incumbents, canonici in floribus et fructibus. The Third Lateran forbade the appointment of canons to stalls not yet vacant, but Alexander IV., 1254, sanctioned the appointment of as many as four such expectants. See Art. Kapitel, Herzog, X. 38.
8 Third Lat,, can. 6, Friedberg, pp. 188 sqq. Innocent III. recognized the archdeacon as the bishop's representative. Hurter, III. 362 sq.