churches have become centres of religious activity, and in parish
churches the administration of the Holy Communion and weekday
services are frequent. Many of the laity co-operate in
church work and liberally support it. During the years 1898–1907
598 churches were built or rebuilt, and during twenty-four
years, 1884–1907, the voluntary offerings for church building were
£27,612,709, and for endowments and parsonages £6,116,592, yet
church extension fails to keep pace with the increase of the
population. Evangelistic efforts, the relief of the sick and poor,
and the inculcation of temperance are zealously carried on.
Good work is done by twenty-six sisterhoods and several institutions
of deaconesses, and one or two communities of celibate
clergy. In the British colonies and India the episcopate consists
(1909) of seven archbishops with two coadjutors; there are
also seventy diocesan bishops, and in other parts of the world
thirty missionary bishops. The S.P.G. has 847 ordained ministers,
including thirty chaplains in Europe, besides many female
missionaries; the C.M.S. has 793 ordained ministers, and many
other missionaries of both sexes; the Zenana Missionary Society
has a staff of 1288; other church societies for foreign missions are
vigorous, and the S.P.C.K. in addition to its work at home spends
large sums in furthering the church abroad. The benefits arising
from conference have increasingly been valued since the revival
of convocation. Appreciation of the importance of lay support
and counsel has led to the institution of two voluntary elective
assemblies called Houses of Laymen, one for each province, and in
1905 an association of the four houses of convocation and the two
lay assemblies was formed with the name of the Representative
Church Council. During the last forty years diocesan conferences,
in which the laity are represented, have become universal,
while ruridecanal and other meetings of a like kind are general.
An annual church congress, established in 1861, held its forty-ninth
meeting in 1909. Of wider importance are the Lambeth
conferences, held since 1878 at intervals of ten years, to which the
bishops of the English Church and the churches in communion
with it are invited, and meet under the presidency of the archbishop
of Canterbury. The first of these conferences, which
illustrate the dignity of the see founded by St Augustine and now
the head of a vast quasi-patriarchate, was held under the
presidency of Archbishop Longley in 1867 (see Lambeth Conferences
and Anglican Communion).
Authorities.—General Histories, Narrative: J. Collier, Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain (to 1685), ed. T. Lathbury (9 vols., London, 1852); T. Fuller, Church History (to 1648), ed. J. S. Brewer (Oxford, 1845), valuable near the author’s own time; C. Dodd, Church History of England (to 1625, by a Roman Catholic), ed. M. A. Tierney (5 vols., London, 1839–1843); Dean W. F. Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (to 1663) (12 vols., London, 1860–1879); G. G. Perry, Students’ English Church History (to 1884) (London, 1887), a carefully written book; A History of the English Church, ed. Stephens and Hunt, in 8 vols., noticed below under various periods; H. O. Wakeman, An Introduction to the History of the Church of England (London, 1896), a brightly written manual by a pronounced high churchman. Documents: D. Wilkins, Concilia (446-1717) (4 vols. fol., London, 1737), a splendid work; A. W. Haddan and Bishop W. Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents (3 vols., Oxford, 1869–1873), supersedes Wilkins so far as it goes, but deals with English Church only to 870, with Welsh, Scottish and Cumbrian churches to later dates; H. Gee and W. J. Hardy, Documents of English Church History (to 1700) (London, 1896), useful for students. Constitutional: Bishop W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England (parts of) (3 vols., revised ed., Oxford, 1895–1897), a work of great learning; F. Makower, Constitutional History of the Church of England, from the German (London, 1895); F. W. Maitland, Roman Canon Law in the Church of England (London, 1898), authoritative. (See under Convocation.)
From 597: Bede, Historia ecclesiastica, ed. C. Plummer (2 vols., Oxford, 1896), the primary authority to 731, trans. by J. A. Giles (Bohn’s Library) and others; see also Eddi’s contemporary “Vita Wilfridi,” in Historians of York, ed. James Raine, Rolls series (3 vols., 1879–1894); W. Bright, Early English Church History (to 709) (3rd ed., Oxford, 1897), a learned and beautiful book; articles in Dictionary of Christian Biography (to 9th century), ed. W. Smith and H. Wace (4 vols., London, 1877–1887). Later Anglo-Saxon: In Chronicles and biographies, as Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Two of the Saxon Chronicles, ed. C. Plummer (2 vols., 1892), trans. by B. Thorpe, Rolls series (1861), and others; Asser, Life of Alfred, ed. W. H. Stevenson (Oxford, 1904), trans. by Giles; Memorials of Dunstan, ed. W. Stubbs, Rolls series (1874). Modern: J. Lingard, History of the Anglo-Saxon Church (2 vols., London, 2nd ed., printed 1858); W. Hunt, History of the English Church, 597–1066, ed. Stephens and Hunt (London, revised ed., 1901).
For later medieval times: (1) Chroniclers, &c., after 1066, as Florence of Worcester, ed. B. Thorpe, Eng. Hist. Soc. (2 vols., 1878), trans. by J. Stevenson in Church Historians (London, 1853); Symeon of Durham, ed. T. Arnold, Rolls series (2 vols., 1882); Eadmer (for Archbishop Anselm), ed. M. Rule, Rolls series (1884); William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum, &c. (to 1152), ed. W. Stubbs, Rolls series (2 vols., 1887), and Gesta pontificum, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton, Rolls series (1870); (John of Salisbury?) Historia pontificalis (for Archbishop Theobald, 1139–1161), ed. Pertz, Rerum Germ. scriptt. xx.; Materials for the Life of Archbishop Becket, ed. J. C. Robertson, Rolls series (7 vols., 1875–1885); Giraldus Cambrensis (12th century), Gemma ecclesiastica and Speculum ecclesiae, Works ii. and iv., ed. J. S. Brewer, Rolls series (1862, 1873); Matthew Paris, Chronica majora (to 1259), ed. H. R. Luard, Rolls series (7 vols., 1880–1883), and many more. (2) Letters, as Archbishop Lanfranc, Epistolae, ed. Giles (Oxford, 1844); Archbishop Anselm, Epistolae, ed. Migne (Paris, 1863); Robert Grosseteste, Epistolae, ed. H. R. Luard, Rolls series (1861), and others. (3) Bishops’ Registers, as Registrum J. Peckham (Archbishop of Canterbury, 1279–1292), ed. C. T. Martin, Rolls series (3 vols., 1882–1886); Exeter Registers, ed. Hingeston-Randolph (5 vols., 1889); Registers of Bishops Drokensford and Ralph of Shrewsbury, ed. W. H. Dickinson and T. S. Holmes, Somerset Record Soc. (3 vols., 1887, 1895–1896), and others. For Wycliffe and early Lollards see Wycliffe. R. Pecock, Repressor of Overmuch Blaming of the Clergy, ed. C. Babington, Rolls series (2 vols., 1860); and T. Gascoigne, Loci e libro veritatum, ed. J. T. Rogers (Oxford, 1881), which gives ample notices of abuses, should be consulted for 15th century. Modern books: W. R. W. Stephens, The English Church, 1066–1272 (revised edition, 1904), and W. W. Capes, The English Church in the 14th and 15th Centuries (1900), both ed. Stephens and Hunt (London); J. Raine, Archbishops of York (ends at 1373) (London, 1863); F. A. Gasquet, Henry III. and the Church (London, 1905). Biographical: Dean R. W. Church, Anselm (London, 1870); M. Rule, Life and Times of St Anselm (written from a Roman Catholic standpoint) (2 vols., London, 1883); C. de Rémusat, Vie de S. Anselme (Paris, 1868); G. G. Perry, St Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln (London, 1879); F. S. Stevenson, Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln (London, 1899), and others.
For the Reformation Period: Documentary: Notices in Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., ed. J. S. Brewer, J. Gairdner, R. H. Brodie, Record Publ. (19 vols., 1862–1905), and Calendars of State Papers for Henry VIII., Edward VI., ed. R. Lemon (1856) and M. A. Green (1870), for Mary, ed. Lemon (1856), Record Publ., and for Elizabeth, Hatfield MSS., Hist. MSS. Comm.; Acts of the Privy Council, ed. J. R. Dasent (1890), in progress; Records of the Reformation, ed. N. Pocock (2 vols., Oxford, 1870); E. Cardwell, Documentary Annals (Oxford, 1839); Original Letters, ed. H. Ellis (11 vols., 1824–1846); Zurich Letters (2 vols.), Original Letters (2 vols.), ed. Robinson (1842–1847); Latimer’s Sermons (1844), and Archbishop Parker’s Correspondence, ed. J. Bruce and T. T. Perowne, all Parker Soc. Publ., Cambridge; see also General Index to Parker Soc.’s Publ. (1855); R. Pole (Cardinal), Epistolae, ed. Quirini (5 vols., Brescia, 1744–1757); G. W. Prothero, Select Statutes, &c.; Elizabeth and James I. (3rd ed., Oxford, 1906). Supplementary: Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials (6 vols., 1513–1556); Annals (Elizabeth) (7 vols.); Memorials of Cranmer (2 vols.); Lives of Parker (3 vols.), Grindal, Whitgift (3 vols.), all with a large repertory of documents, also of Cheke, T. Smith and Aylmer (all Oxford, 1820–1824); Burnet, History of the Reformation, ed. N. Pocock (7 vols., Oxford, 1865), with many documents. Chronicles and early Histories: W. Camden, Annales (Elizabeth), ed. T. Hearne (3 vols., 1717); Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, ed. J. G. Nichols (Camden Soc., 1850); E. Hall, Chronicle (Henry VIII.), ed. C. Whibley (2 vols., London, 1904); N. Harpsfield, Treatise on the Pretended Divorce of Henry VIII., ed. N. Pocock (Camden Soc., 1878); J. Foxe, Acts and Monuments (often called “The Book of Martyrs”), ed. S. R. Cattley and G. Townsend (a book with many facts industriously gathered, many documents and some errors) (8 vols., London, 1843–1849); H. Machyn, Diary (1550–1563), and Narratives of the Reformation, both ed. J. G. Nichols (Camden Soc., 1854, 1859); W. Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More, ed. S. Singer (1817), and other editions, a beautiful book by More’s son-in-law; N. Sander, De origins ac progressu schismatis Anglicani, continued by E. Rishton (Rome, 1586), translated by D. Lewis (London, 1877) (Sander was a Roman Catholic priest who wrote in 1576; his language is violent but the narrative generally trustworthy); The Presbyterian Movement in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, ed. R. G. Usher (R. Hist. Soc., 1905). Modern histories: J. H. Blunt, History of the English Reformation (London, 1878), a careful work, though of no great historical importance; T. E. Bridgett, Life of Blessed John Fisher (London, 1888); R. W. Dixon, History of the Church of England from the Abolition of the Roman Jurisdiction (5 vols., London, 1878–1892), a book showing great knowledge and insight; V. M. Doreau, Henry VIII et les martyres de la Chartreuse (Paris, 1890); H. Fisher, History of England 1485–1547, presents a brilliant and trustworthy narrative of ecclesiastical affairs during the reign of Henry VIII.,
