The Form of the Celtic Tonsure. 325 an Examination
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.THE FORM OF THE CELTIC TONSURE. 325 II. AN EXAMINATION OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS ON THE QUESTION OP THE FORM OF THE CELTIC TONSURE. BY THE RIGHT REV. JOHN DOWDEN, D.D., F.S.A.ScoT. Thoma s amons wa e Innesfirs o th o examingt t wh , e earlth e y ecclesiastical history of Scotland with something of a critical and scientific spirit, discussin difference gth e betwee e Romanth Celtid nan c tonsures, observes,—" Those that followe usage dth Eomf eo othed ean r foreign churches had their tonsure shorn in a circle; whereas the t fulltonsur no e Scot ys th roundf swa eo t reac no ,e hinder anhd th ddi - most part of the head, and therefore resembled a crescent or semicircle, such as Father Mabillon hath caused engrave a model of (Annal. Bened., . 528 tornpp . ,e pictur i . 529th f n Mommoleu,i o )e 1 Bishop of Noyon, who had been bred in the Scottish or Irish monastery of Luxeu." (Civil ami Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, p. 242,—Spalding Club.) This description of the Celtic tonsure, I am satisfied, is the true description. In our own age, however, several antiquaries of eminence have maintaine a ddifferen t opinion I wil. l content myself with referring to som . ToddH e . threJ 2 r r fourwriteso eD . , "The Irish tonsure consisted in shaving all the hair in front of a line drawn over the top . Warren,E hea e . F oth fd r o ear.t n languagfroi 3 M r "m ea e almost identical, says ,Celtie "Th c tonsure consiste shavinn dhaie i n th i r l gal fronlina e heaf eo th t draw df r o ear. o t D fro p r n" mto ea ove e th r Reeves, in his notes to Adamnan's Life of St Colwiiba, states that in tonsure th auremd a ee db e anterioaw " th heae mads r th hald wa f eo f occipue th bare untouched."s t bu t,wa thad tAn Reeve4 s meant thae th t anterior half was made wholly bare may be gathered from another passag same th en e i work. r SkenD 5 e (Celtic Scotland,) use24 s. p . ii 1 There were various ways of spelling this name ; but the final ' u" here is almost certainl ymisreadina Fathef go r Innes' manuscript, who I doub, t not, wrot e' n. ' t Patrick,S 2 Apostle of Ireland, . 487p . 3 The Liturgy aiid Ritual of the Celtic Church, p. 67. 4 Page 350. 5 Page 351. 6 32 PROCEEDING , SOCIETYE 189611 TH Y .F O SMA , language perhapy thama t e construesb n favoudi f eitheo r r view when he says, " their [i.e., the Irish] clergy were tonsured; but at this time there were in the Church various forms of tonsure, and the first form ear,o t ' fro r ' mtha ea , havin is t e haigth r removed froe formth e part e hea od th leavinf dan t gi gro w behin e earsalss th do wa , practisen di Gaul, from whenc probabls wa t ei y derived." I am pleased to find that in our own time I am not singular in the conclusio t whica n hI hav e arrived r DanieD . l Rock a hig, h authority on question f ecclesiasticaso l antiquitie n Britaini s , describe e Iristh s h tonsur s "mada e cuttiny eb g awa haie yth r fro e uppemth e r th par f o t forehead, with the convex side before." (See Church of our Fathers, i. 185-188. r FriedricD ) investigatehs Loofsha o wh , histore e dth th f yo Celtic Church in the critical and historical spirit of modern Germany, decide e samn favoui sth ef o opinion.r d withi An e presen1 nth t year Dr Bright, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford, has given in his adhesio thio nt s view.2 The investigation of this question is no piece of idle antiquarian curiosity moro , indeedn If ed .tha di pictur t o hel,i t o n t s pu e truthfully o ourselvet e outwarth s d figurd presentmenan e e monkth d f o an st clericanciene th f so t Celtic Church e consideret mighb i , t t ye tno s da wholly wasted time. But, as we shall see, if the view here contended for correcte b t i wil, e necessarb l o modift y readjusd an y t some inferences which have bee hastilo nto y drawn from certain figure f ecclesiastico s s (or supposed ecclesiastics) pictured in ancient manuscripts. The same remark would apply f courseo , o figuret , n earlo s y Britis r Iriso h h sculptured fine stonesw d d anywherdi , a representatioe tonsurea f no d ecclesiastic see front. in n suc In heris a cash e (as econtended we ) could not handf of , , decide whethe e figurecclesiastin thaa s th r f wa o et c tonsured more Romano, e tonsure r thaon o f o t d more f Scotieo.o t Bu this something further will be said before the conclusion of this paper. n sucI n inquir ha e presentth s s obviouyi a b i , s thar truou te gtiide should be original sources, contemporary or nearly contemporary with tonsure-controverse th y betwee e Celti nth Eomad can n Churches. 1 Antiques Britoimm Scotwumque ecdesice (Lipsiae• ' , . 1882)21 . p , 2 The Moman See and the Early Church (1896), p. 414. E CELTI 7 E FORTH 32 TH F CO M TONSURE. fortunato s e posseso Nowt ar s e a ew authoritn , sa e firsth t f rankyo , bot regards a h s timfulnesd an e f statemento s e letterth n i , preserved by Bede (77. E., lib. v. cap. '21), written (in reply to questions) by Ceolfrid, Abbo f Wearmoutho t Naitoo t , r Nectan)n(o , Pictse Kinth f go . This lette assignes i r Iladday db Stubbd nan s (Councils, &c., iii. 294p . ) to the year A.D. 710. And it may be asserted with entire confidence that it cannot in any case belong to a date more than a year or two before or a year or two after that time. The receipt of the letter was followe e King'th y b ds e tonsurinorderth e r ecclesiasticth fo s f o g n si his dominion more Romano. The document referred to is the more valuable because the majority of the allusions of contemporary writers are brief d frequentlan , y obscure. e Nowondere b s i thi r o t s . at d The writers of that day were not explaining things for the benefit of after ages t naturallbu , y assume a dknowledg f mattero e f everydaso y observation t possessno , o whicd . e w hCeolfrid' s lette s therefori r e deservin carefua f go l study. e lette Th f Ceolfri o . r 1 s addressei d d "Domino excellentissimt e o gloriosissimo Regi Naitano." It enters at once upon the Easter controversy (with which we are not here concerned); and after dealing with it at length, takes up, in reply to a request of the King, the question of the Tonsure. The letter is written in a conciliatory spirit, commencing with the admission that the Apostles were not all tonsured in the same fashion, and that the Catholic Church had everywhere agreement in faith, hope, and charity, though there were differences in the form of the tonsure. The allusion here is to the then current belief tha e Easterth t n mod f shavineo e wholgth e hea f ecclesiastico d s had its origin from St Paul, while the generally prevailing coronal s authort Pete tonsurit S e Wes r th d fo rf ha .to e Ceolfrid o t goe n o s say that he is free to acknowledge that a difference in the shape of the tonsure is not harmful to those who have a pure faith towards God and love unfeigned towards their neighbour ; and this more particularly as the matter had not (as in the case of the Easter question and questions of faith) been debated by the Catholic Fathers; yet, he adds, among all the tonsures, whether in the Church or among mankind generally, thers nonwa ee that deserve e morb o et d readily accepted 328 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 11, 1896. than that which was used by him to whom the Lord said " Thou art Peter, and on this rock," &c.; and none more to be abhorred than that of him to whom the same Peter said " Thy money perish with thee," &c. Here the allusion is to the opprobrious appellation " the tonsure of Simon Magus," commonly bestowed n i thi, s controversy e Eomath y b n, ecclesiastics on the Celtic tonsure. It would be a mistake to allow ourselves at this point to enter upon the discussion of how this appella- tion came to be given, or what it signified. We proceed with the letter. Besides, adde t tonsured no e a crowforCeolfrid e th f mo ar n i dne w , only because Peter was so tonsured, but because Peter adopted that tonsure in memory of the Lord's Passion. And so monks and clerics ought to bear a crown of the form of the crown of thorns which the Lord bore thao s y ,thei b t r very front (ipso etiam frontispicio) they might show that they bore scoffd derisioan s n wit ha gla d mindd an , were lookine crowth r f everlastinno gfo g life promises , ha whic d hGo d to those that love Him, and for its sake despised both the prosperity d adversitan f thio y s world e readeTh .