GLEBE
582
OLENDALOUGH
flowering twice in the year, first about Christmas
time and again in May. By a curious irony of fate the
first mention of the Holy Thorn flowering at Christmas-
tide is contained in a letter written by Dr. Layton to
Thomas Cromwell from Bristol, dated 24 August, 1535.
" By this bringer, my servant", he writes, " I send you
Relicks: First, two flowers wraped in white and black
sarsnet, that on Christen Mass Even, hora ipsa qua
Christus rmlus fuerat, will spring and burgen and bare
blossoms. Qiwd expertum est saith the Prior of May-
den Bradley." In a life of St. Joseph of Arimathea,
printed in 1520 by Richard Pyerson, a pupil of Caxton,
there is, however, an earlier notice of its coming into
leaf at Christmas:
The Hawthornes also, that groweth in Werall rVVearyall Hill]
Do burge and here grene leaves at Christmas
As freshe as other yn May . . . Later references to the fact abound, e. g. Sir Charles Sedley's verse:
Cornelia's charms inspire my lays,
Who, fair in nature's scorn. Blooms in the winter of her days, Like Glastonbury Thorn and the lines in Tennyson's "Holy Grail":
. . . Glastonbury, where the winter thorn Blossoms at Christmas, mindful of Our Lord. The original thorn tree on Wearyall Hill was cut down in 1653 by some fanatical soldier of Cromwell's army, to the great annoyance of Bishop Goodman of Gloucester who wrote to the Lord Protector complain- ing of the outrage ; but before that date slips had been taken from it, and many specimens now exist which blossom about Christmas time. The blossoms of the Christmas shoots are usually much smaller than the May ones and do not produce any haws. It is note- worthy also that plants grown from the haws do not retain the characteristics of the parent stem, and the Glastonbury gardeners propagate the thorn by bud- ding and grafting only. Botanists are not yet agreed as to the origin of the Glastonbury thorn. Some have desired to identify it with the Morocco thorn, intro- duced into England about 1812, which puts forth its leaves very early in the year, sometimes even in Janu- ary; while others claim it as the Siberian thorn, which begins to produce its shoots in Januaiy. Neither of these varieties, however, has the special peculiarity of the Glastonbury thorn, that of flowering twice. Pos- sibly the truth may be that the Glastonbury thorn was originally an individual or " sport ' ', and not a true variety; but if this is so it is certamly remarkable that for four hundred years the peculiarity of the tree has been preserved and transmitted to its progeny. The legend that the original tree grew from the staff of St. Joseph of Arimathea, which was thrust into the ground and took root, is found before the destruction of the abbey, but the date of its origin cannot now be ascer- tained.
Tanner, Notilia Monaslica (London, 1744), 458-60: Wil- liam OF Malmesbury, De Antiqxtitate Glasicmiensis Ecclesiw in Gale. Scrip/ores XV (Oxford, 1691), also ed. Heabnb (Oxford, 1722); Idem, Gesfn Regiim, ed. Stubbs. in Rolls Series (London, 1887): Idem, Gesta Ponlificum, ed. Hamilton, in RollsSeries (London, 1870); all three works in P. L., CLXXIX; John OF Glastonbury, C/ironica . . . de rebus Glastoniensibus, ed. Hearne (Oxford, 1726); Adam de Domerham, Hisioria de rebus . . . Glastoniensibus, ed. Hearne (Oxford, 1727); GlR- ALDD8 Cambrenbis, Speculum Ecclesiee, ed. Brewer, in Rolls Series (London, 1873); Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. Thorpe, in Rolls Series (London, 1861); Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus win (Saxonici (London. 1839); de Gray Birch, Cartw^anwrn Saxoni- cum (London. 1885); Wharton, Analia Sacra (London, 1691), II; Memorials of St. Dunstan, ed. Stubbs, in Rolls Series (Lon- don, 1874); Leland. Itinerary, ed. Hearne (Oxford, 1710); Idem, De Scriptoribus Britannicis, I, xli, ed. Hall (Oxford, 1709); Idem. Collectanea, ed. Heabne (Oxford, 1715); Idem, Asserlio Arthuri (London, 1544), tr. Robinson (London, 1582); Mabillon, Annnff: O ,s'./f, (Paris, 1703): Yepes, Cordnica gen- eral de la Ordni ./. S.it, H,„,i., ( V.illadolid, 1613), IV; Brown- Willib, History ,.l Miln.l \i,l.i,s (London, 1718). I; Dugdale. Monasticcm Avtjiiriiitutfi iLi>ii(if)n, 1846), I; Reynbr, Apostn- latus Benedictinoruni in AnijUn (Douai. 1626); Cressy, Church Hieiory of Brittany (Rouen, 1668); Eyton, Domesday Studies:
Somerset (London. 1880): Gasquet, Henry VIII and the
English Monasteries (London, 1888); Idem, Last Abbot of
Glastonbury and other Essays (London, 1908); Baumer, Die
Bcnedictiner-Mdrtyrer in England unter Heinrich VIII in
Studien O.S.B.. VIII, 502-31; IX, 22-38, 213-234; Historical
Manuscripts Commission. Third Report, 1S2, 201, 260, 301, 351,
360, 362; Archbold, Somerset Religious Houses (Cambridge.
1S92); CoLLlNSON, History of Somerset (Bath, 1791), II;
Phelps, History of Somersetshire (London, 1836); Robinson,
History of Glastonbury Abbey (London, 1844): Eyston. Little
Monument to the . . . Abbey . . . of Glastonbury, ed. Hearne
(Ox-ford. 1722); Warner, History of the Abbey of Glaston (Bath,
1826); Soc. Antiq., Vetusta Monumenta, IV (London, 1815);
Willis, Architectural History of Glastonbury Abbey (Cambridge,
1866); Guest. Origines Celticw. ed. Stubbs (London, 1883), II;
Inquisition of the Manors of Glastonbury Abbey, ed. Jackson
(London, 1882); Rentalia etCustumaria . . . Monasterii B . M ,
GlastonifE, ed. Elton and Hobhouse (London. 1891); Will-
iams, Somerset Mediaval Libraries, 45-98 (Bristol, 1897); Gas-
quet AND Bishop, The Bosworth Psalter, 15, 18-21 (London,
1908); Marson, Glastonbury , . .the English Jerusalem (Bath,
1909); Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset (1890 — ),
passim. The following are some of the more important articles
in the Proceedings of the Somerset Archeological Society: Free-
man, Presidential Address at Glastonbury, ibid., vol. XXVI;
Idem, King Ine, ibid., XX; Green, St. Dunstan at Glastonbury,
ibid., XI; Parker, Glastonbury Abbey Ruins, ibid., XXVI;
Warre, Glastonbury Abbey, ibid., I; Idem, The Ruins of Glas-
tonbury Abbey, ibid., IX; Jones, The Reputed Discovery of King
Arthur's Remains at Glastonbury, ibid., IX ; Bond, Report cm
Excavation at Glast&nbury in 1908, ibid., LIX; Jackson, Savaric,
Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury: Batten, The Holy Thorn of
Glastonbury, ibid., XXVI. On this last subject see also Loudon,
Arboretum . . . Brifanntcum, II, 833, 838. 839; Gerard, Her-
ball (London, 1597); Camden, Britannia: Somerset.
G. ROGEK HODLESTON.
Glebe (Lat. glmba) originally signified, in common law, any farm, estate, or parcel of land, and the word is so used in the Theodosian Code. But in ecclesiasti- cal law it has become the technical term for land per- manently assigned for the maintenance of the incum- bent of a parish, and is the oldest form of parochial endowment. This u.se of the word is found in numer- ous medieval charters, of which Du Cange gives a few examples, and formerly no church could be conse- crated unless thus endowed with a house and glebe. The fee-simple was held to be in abeyance, that is, without an owner in the eyes of the law, but the free- hold belonged to the incumbent. It could be leased, sold, or exchanged, with the bishop's consent, and was sometimes allowed to be mortgaged for the purpose of repairing the parsonage or church. In England and Scotland, where glebe is held by the established Churches of those countries, there are now special laws regarding the leasing, sale, or exchange of such prop- erty, and all such transactions are subject to the ap- proval of the land commissioners. In the Catholic Church, glebe, where it exists, is regarded as mensal property, and canon law regulates the conditions which govern its possession. The alienation of men- sal property is now held by most legists to require the special permission of the pope, and even then only certain justifying causes are recognized, viz: (1) neces- sity, as when a church is overburdened with debt; (2) utility, or the opening for an advantageous exchange; (3) to redeem captives or feed the poor in time of famine; (4) convenience, as when the land is so situ- ated that its produce cannot be gathered without great expense. Certain specified formalities have also to be complied with. (See Property, Ecclesiastical.)
Bouix, De parocho (Paris, 1852); Ferraris, Bibl. prompt. (Rome, 1886-95): Smith. Elements nf Ecrl. Law (New York, 1877-89). For the English law see Phillimohe. Ecclesiastical Law (London, 1905). See also bibliography under Property, Ecclesiastical.
G. Cyprian Alston.
Glendalough, Diocese of. See Dublin.
Glendalough, School of. — Glendalough (the Val- ley of the Two Lakes) is a picturesque anil lonely glen in the heart of the ^\'icklow Mountains. The fame of its monastic school is chiefly due to its founder, St. Kevin (q. v.), and to Laurence O'Toole, the last of the canonized saints of Ireland. Kevin (Ir. Cocmghen, the fair-begotten) was born near Rathdrum towards the close of the fifth century, and lived to the age of
