of Salisbury, and in particular what 'dignity' and authority he had in the city of Salisbury. The answer was given in a letter of Robert Warelwast, then dean of Salisbury, who was consecrated to the see of Exeter on 5 June 1155. The dean is said to be in the first place archdeacon of the city and suburb, and then of all prebends within the Salisbury diocese; and to be answerable in no way for this archidiaconate to the bishop, except it be in the matter of Peter's pence, which however the bishop or archdeacon must receive through the dean.[1]
It is interesting to trace the source of this reply. It is plain that in making it Robert the dean of Salisbury referred directly to the Institutio Osmundi, that is, the charter granted by Bishop Osmund in 1091.[2] There we read that 'the subdean is to hold from the dean the archdeaconry of the city and suburb '; and, in an earlier passage, that the dean and all the canons are ' to have their own court in all their prebends within the diocese, together with the dignity of archdeacon'. Here the language is somewhat vague. It might niean that each canon had his own court and his own archidiaconal dignity in his particular prebend; and we shall find it so interpreted in a later Salisbury letter. Or it might mean that the dean and chapter conjointly exercised authority in all prebends: which would be as much as to say that the dean was the archdeacon as representative of the chapter; and so Dean Robert of Salisbury interprets it. Such was the case at Lichfield c. 1190; whereas at Lincoln, and afterwards at Wells, each canon had separate jurisdiction.[3] We may fairly conclude from the nature of the reply that the dean and canons of Wells had not at this time a copy of Osmund's Institutio which they could consult for themselves, though at a later period it formed the basis of their Statuta Antiqua.
It would appear that the archdeacons were still irrepressible; for the next dean of Salisbury, Henry de Beaumont, writes on behalf
- ↑ R. i. 29.
- ↑ See Frere's Use of Sarum, i. 259 ff. 'Dignitas decani est, et omnium canonieorum, ut episcopo in nullo respondeant, nisi in capitulo, et juditio tantum capituli pareant. Habent etiam curiam suam in omnibus prebendis suis, et dignitatem archidiaconi ubicunque prebende assignate fuerint in parrochia nostra, sive in ecclesiis, vel decimis, aut terris; ita quidem quod nulla omnino exigentia in dono vel in assisa, aut aliqua alia consuetudine ab episcopo, vel a quolibet alio, fiat in prebendis eorum ': and lower down, ' subdecanus a decano archidiaconatum urbis et suburbii (possideat)'. The portions italicised occur in Dean Robert's letter.
- ↑ See Lincoln Statutes (H.B.S.), ii. 27 ' Decanus jurisdictionem archidiaconalem habet in prebendis canonicorum et in ecclesiis ad communiam pertinentibus ' (Lichf. c. 1190): and for Lincoln, ibid. 154.
