Chapter XVIII: Part 18

HEREFORD, a city and municipal and parliamentary borough, and the county town of Herefordshire, England, on the river Wye, 144 m. W.N.W. of London, on the Worcester-Cardiff line of the Great Western railway and on the west-and-north joint line of that company and the North-Western. It is connected with Ross and Gloucester by a branch of the Great Western, and is the terminus of a line from the west worked by the Midland and Neath & Brecon companies. Pop. (1901) 21,382. It is mainly on the left bank of the river, which here traverses a broad valley, well wooded and pleasant. The cathedral of St Ethelbert exemplifies all styles from Norman to Perpendicular. The see was detached from Lichfield in 676, Putta being its first bishop; and the modern diocese covers most of Herefordshire, a considerable part of Shropshire, and small portions of Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Monmouthshire; extending also a short distance across the Welsh border. The removal of murdered Aethelbert's body from Marden to Hereford led to the foundation of a superior church, reconstructed by Bishop Athelstane, and burnt by the Welsh in 1055. Begun again in 1079 by Bishop Robert Losinga, it was carried on by Bishop Reynelm and completed in 1148 by Bishop R. de Betun. In 1786 the great western tower fell and carried with it the west front and the first bay of the nave, when the church suffered much from unhappy restoration by James Wyatt, but his errors were partly corrected by the further work of Lewis Cottingham and Sir Gilbert Scott in 1841 and 1863 respectively, while the present west front is a reconstruction completed in 1905. The total length of the cathedral outside is 342 ft., inside 327 ft. 5 in., the nave being 158 ft. 6 in., the choir from screen to reredos 75 ft. 6 in. and the lady chapel 93 ft. 5 in. Without, the principal features are the central tower, of Decorated work with ball-flower ornament, formerly surmounted by a timber spire; and the north porch, rich Perpendicular with parvise. The lady chapel has a bold east end with five narrow lancet windows. The bishop's cloisters, of which only two walks remain, are Perpendicular of curious design, with heavy tracery in the bays. A picturesque tower at the south-east corner, in the same style, is called the "Lady Arbour," but the origin of the name is unknown. Of the former fine decagonal Decorated chapter-house, only the doorway and slight traces remain. Within, the nave has Norman arcades, showing the wealth of ornament common to the work of this period in the church. Wyatt shortened it by one bay, and the clerestory is his work. There is a fine late Norman font, springing from a base with the rare design of four lions at the corners. The south transept is also Norman, but largely altered by the introduction of Perpendicular work. The north transept was wholly rebuilt in 1287 to contain the shrine of St Thomas de Cantilupe, bishop of Hereford, of which there remains the magnificent marble pedestal surmounted by an ornate arcade. The fine lantern, with its many shafts and vaulting, was thrown open to the floor of the bell-chamber by Cottingham. The choir screen is a florid design by Sir Gilbert Scott, in light wrought iron, with a wealth of ornament in copper, brass, mosaic and polished stones. The dark choir is Norman in the arcades and the stage above, with Early English clerestory and vaulting. At the east end is a fine Norman arch, blocked until 1841 by a Grecian screen erected in 1717. The choir stalls are largely Decorated. The organ contains original work by the famous builder Renatus Harris, and was the gift of Charles II. to the cathedral. The small north-east and south-east transepts are Decorated but retain traces of the Norman apsidal terminations eastward. The eastern lady chapel, dated about 1220, shows elaborate Early English work. On the south side opens the little Perpendicular chantry of Bishop Audley (1492-1502). In the north choir aisle is the beautiful fan-vaulted chantry of Bishop Stanbury (1470). The crypt is remarkable as being, like the lady chapel, Early English, and is thus the only cathedral crypt in England of a later date than the 11th century. The ancient monastic library remains in the archive room, with its heavy oak cupboards. Deeds, documents and several rare manuscripts and relics are preserved, and several of the precious books are still secured by chains. But the most celebrated relic is in the south choir aisle. This is the Map of the World, dating from about 1314, the work of a Lincolnshire monk, Richard of Haldingham. It represents the world as surrounded by ocean, and embodies many ideas taken from Herodotus, Pliny and other writers, being filled with grotesque figures of men, beasts, birds and fishes, together with representations of famous cities and scenes of scriptural classical story, such as the Labyrinth of Crete, the Egyptian pyramids, Mount Sinai and the journeyings of the Israelites. The map is surmounted by representations of Paradise and the Day of Judgment.

From the south-east transept of the cathedral a cloister leads to the quadrangular college of the Vicars-Choral, a beautiful Perpendicular building. On this side of the cathedral, too, the bishop's palace, originally a Norman hall, overlooks the Wye, and near it lies the castle green, the site of the historic castle, which is utterly effaced. There is here a column (1809) commemorating the victories of Nelson. The church of All Saints is Early English and Decorated, and has a lofty spire. Both this and St Peter's (originally Norman) have good carved stalls, but the fabric of both churches is greatly restored. One only of the six gates and a few fragments of the old walls are still to be seen, but there are ruins of the Black Friars' Monastery in Widemarsh, and a mile out of Hereford on the Brecon Road, the White Cross, erected in 1347 by Bishop Louis Charlton, and restored by Archdeacon Lord Saye and Sele, commemorates the departure of the Black Plague. Of domestic buildings the "Old House" is a good example of the picturesque half-timbered style, dating from 1621, and the Coningsby Hospital (almshouses) date from 1614. The inmates wear a remarkable uniform of red, designed by the founder, Sir T. Coningsby. St Ethelbert's hospital is an Early English foundation. Old-established schools are the Cathedral school (1384) and the Blue Coat school (1710); there is also the County College (1880). The public buildings are the shire hall in St Peter's Street, in the Grecian Doric style, with a statue in front of it of Sir George Cornewall Lewis, who represented the county in parliament from 1847 to 1852, the town hall (1904), the corn-exchange (1858), the free library and museum in Broad Street; the guildhall and mansion house. A musical festival of the choirs of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester cathedrals is held annually in rotation at these cities.

The government is in the hands of a municipal council consisting of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 5031 acres.

Hereford (_Herefortuna_), founded after the crossing of the Severn by the West Saxons early in the 7th century, had a strategic importance due to its proximity to the Welsh March. The foundation of the castle is ascribed to Earl Harold, afterwards Harold II. The castle was successfully besieged by Stephen, and was the prison of Prince Edward during the Barons' Wars. The pacification of Wales deprived Hereford of military significance until it became a Royalist stronghold during the Civil Wars. It surrendered easily to Waller in 1643; but was reoccupied by the king's troops and received Rupert on his march to Wales after Naseby. It was besieged by the Scots during August 1645 and relieved by the king. It fell to the Parliamentarians in this year. In 1086 the town included fees of the bishop, the dean and chapter, and the Knights Hospitallers, but was otherwise royal demesne. Richard I. in 1189 sold their town to the citizens at a fee farm rent, which grant was confirmed by John, Henry III., Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., Henry IV. and Edward IV. Incorporation was granted to the mayor, aldermen and citizens in 1597, and confirmed in 1620 and 1697-1698. Hereford returned two members to parliament from 1295 until 1885, when the Redistribution Act deprived it of one representative. In 1116-1117 a fair beginning on St Ethelberta's day was conferred on the bishop, the antecedent of the modern fair in the beginning of May. A fair beginning on St Denis' day, granted to the citizens in 1226-1227, is represented by that held in October. The fair of Easter Wednesday was granted in 1682. In 1792 the existing fairs of Candlemas week and the beginning of July were held. Market days were, under Henry VIII. and in 1792, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; the Friday market was discontinued before 1835. Hereford was the site of a provincial mint in 1086 and later. A grant of an exclusive merchant gild, in 1215-1216, was several times confirmed. The trade in wool was important in 1202, and eventually responsible for gilds of tailors, drapers, mercers, dyers, fullers, cloth workers, weavers and haberdashers; it brought into the market Welsh friezes and white cloth; but declined in the 16th century, although it existed in 1835. The leather trade was considerable in the 13th century. In 1835 the glove trade had declined. The city anciently had an extensive trade in bread with Wales. It was the birthplace of David Garrick, the actor, in 1716, and probably of Nell Gwyn, mistress of Charles II., to whose memory a tablet was erected in 1883, marking the supposed site of her house.

See R. Johnson, _Ancient Customs of Hereford_ (London, 1882); J.
Duncumbe, _History of Hereford_ (Hereford, 1882); _Journal_ of Brit.
Arch. Assoc. xxvi.

HEREFORDSHIRE, an inland county of England on the south Welsh border, bounded N. by Shropshire, E. by Worcestershire, S. by Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire, and W. by Radnorshire and Brecknockshire. The area is 839.6 sq. m. The county is almost wholly drained by the Wye and its tributaries, but on the north and east includes a small portion of the Severn basin. The Wye enters Herefordshire from Wales at Hay, and with a sinuous and very beautiful course crosses the south-western part of the county, leaving it close above the town of Monmouth. Of its tributaries, the Lugg enters in the north-west near Presteign, and has a course generally easterly to Leominster, where it turns south, receives the Arrow from the west, and joins the Wye 6 m. below Hereford, the Frome flowing in from the east immediately above the junction. The Monnow rising in the mountains of Brecknockshire forms the boundary between Herefordshire and Monmouthshire over one-half of its course (about 20 m.), but it joins the main river at Monmouth. Its principal tributary in Herefordshire is the Dore, which traverses the picturesque Golden Valley. The Wye is celebrated for its salmon fishing, which is carefully preserved, while the Lugg, Arrow and Frome abound in trout and grayling, as does the Teme. This last is a tributary of the Severn, and only two short reaches lie within this county in the north, while it also forms parts of the northern and eastern boundary. The Leddon, also flowing to the Severn, rises in the east of the county and leaves it in the south-east, passing the town of Ledbury. High ground, of an elevation from 500 to 800 ft., separates the various valleys, while on the eastern boundary rise the Malvern Hills, reaching 1194 ft. in the Herefordshire Beacon, and 1395 ft. in the Worcestershire Beacon, and on the boundary with Brecknockshire the Black Mountains exceed 2000 ft. The scenery of the Wye, with its wooded and often precipitous banks, is famous, the most noteworthy point in this county being about Symond's Yat, on the Gloucestershire border below Ross.

_Geology._--The Archean or Pre-Cambrian rocks, the most ancient in the
county, emerge from beneath the newer deposits in three small isolated
areas. On the western border, Stanner Rock, a picturesque craggy hill
near Kington, consists of igneous materials (granitoid rock, felstone,
dolerite and gabbro), apparently of intrusive origin and possibly of
Uriconian age. In Brampton Bryan Park, a few miles to the north-east,
some ancient conglomerates emerge and may be of Longmyndian age. On
the east of the county the Herefordshire Beacon in the Malvern chain
consists of gneisses and schists and Uriconian volcanic rocks; these
have been thrust over various members of the Cambrian and Silurian
systems, and owing to their hard and durable nature they form the
highest ground in the county. The Cambrian rocks (Tremadoc Beds) come
next in order of age and consist of quartzites, sandstones and shales,
well exposed at the southern end of the Malvern chain and also at
Pedwardine near Brampton Bryan. The Silurian rocks are well developed
in the north-west part of the county, between Presteign and Ludlow;
also along the western flanks of the Malvern Hills and in the eroded
dome of Woolhope. Smaller patches come to light at Westhide east of
Hereford and at May Hill near Newent. They consist of highly
fossiliferous sandstones, mudstones, shales and limestones, known as
the Llandovery, Wenlock and Ludlow Series; the Woolhope, Wenlock and
Aymestry Limestones are famed for their rich fossil contents. The
remainder and by far the greater part of the county is occupied by the
Old Red Sandstone, through which the rocks above described project in
detached areas. The Old Red Sandstone consists of a great thickness of
red sandstones and marls, with impersistent bands of impure
concretionary limestone known as cornstones, which by their superior
hardness give rise to scarps and rounded ridges; they have yielded
remains of fishes and crustaceans. Some of the upper beds are
conglomeratic. On its south-eastern margin the county just reaches the
Carboniferous Limestone cliffs of the Wye Valley near Ross. Glacial
deposits, chiefly sand and gravel, are found in the lower ground along
the river-courses, while caves in the Carboniferous Limestone have
yielded remains of the hyena, cave-lion, rhinoceros, mammoth and
reindeer.

_Agriculture and Industries._--The soil is generally marl and clay, but in various parts contains calcareous earth in mixed proportions. Westward the soil is tenacious and retentive of water; on the east it is a stiff and often reddish clay. In the south is found a light sandy loam. More than four-fifths of the total area of the county is under cultivation and about two-thirds of this is in permanent pasture. Ash and oak coppices and larch plantations clothe its hillsides and crests. The rich red soil of the Old Red Sandstone formation is famous for its pear and apple orchards, the county, notwithstanding its much smaller area, ranking in this respect next to Devonshire. The apple crop, generally large, is enormous one year out of four. Twenty hogsheads of cider have been made from an acre of orchard, twelve being the ordinary yield. Cider is the staple beverage of the county, and the trade in cider and perry is large. Hops are another staple of the county, the vines of which are planted in rows on ploughed land. As early as Camden's day a Herefordshire adage coupled Weobley ale with Leominster bread, indicating the county's capacity to produce fine wheat and barley, as well as hops.

Herefordshire is also famous as a breeding county for its cattle of bright red hue, with mottled or white faces and sleek silky coats. The Herefords are stalwart and healthy, and, though not good milkers, put on more meat and fat at an early age, in proportion to food consumed, than almost any other variety. They produce the finest beef, and are more cheaply fed than Devons or Durhams, with which they are advantageously crossed. As a dairy county Herefordshire does not rank high. Its small, white-faced, hornless, symmetrical breed of sheep known as "the Ryelands," from the district near Ross, where it was bred in most perfection, made the county long famous both for the flavour of its meat and the merino-like texture of its wool. Fuller says of this that it was best known as "Lempster ore," and the finest in all England. In its original form the breed is extinct, crossing with the Leicester having improved size and stamina at the cost of the fleece, and the chief breeds of sheep on Herefordshire farms at present are Shropshire Downs, Cotswolds and Radnors, with their crosses. Agricultural horses of good quality are bred in the north, and saddle and coach horses may be met with at the fairs. Breeders' names from the county are famous at the national cattle shows, and the number, size and quality of the stock are seen in their supply of the metropolitan and other markets. Prize Herefords are constantly exported to the colonies.

Manufacturing enterprise is small. There are some iron foundries and factories for agricultural implements, and some paper is made. There are considerable limestone quarries, as near Ledbury.

_Communications._--Hereford is an important railway centre. The Worcester and Cardiff line of the Great Western railway, entering on the east, runs to Hereford by Ledbury and then southward. The joint line of the Great Western and North-Western companies runs north from Hereford by Leominster, proceeding to Shrewsbury and Crewe. At Leominster a Great Western branch crosses, connecting Worcester, Bromyard and New Radnor. From Hereford a Great Western branch follows the Wye south to Ross, and thence to the Forest of Dean and to Gloucester; a branch connects Ledbury with Gloucester, and the Golden Valley is traversed by a branch from Pontrilas on the Worcester-Cardiff line. From Hereford the Midland and Neath and Brecon line follows the Wye valley westward. None of the rivers is commercially navigable and the canals are out of use.

_Population and Administration._--The area of the ancient county is 537,363 acres, with a population in 1891 of 115,949 and in 1901 of 114,380. The area of the administrative county is 538,921 acres. The county contains 12 hundreds. It is divided into two parliamentary divisions, Leominster (N.) and Ross (S.), and it also includes the parliamentary borough of Hereford, each returning one member. There are two municipal boroughs--Hereford (pop. 21,382) and Leominster (5826). The other urban districts are Bromyard (1663), Kington (1944), Ledbury (3259) and Ross (3303). The county is in the Oxford circuit, and assizes are held at Hereford. It has one court of quarter sessions and is divided into 11 petty sessional divisions. The boroughs of Hereford and Leominster have separate commissions of the peace, and the borough of Hereford has in addition a separate court of quarter sessions. There are 260 civil parishes. The ancient county, which is almost entirely in the diocese of Hereford, with small parts in those of Gloucester, Worcester and Llandaff, contains 222 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part.

_History._--At some time in the 7th century the West Saxons pushed their way across the Severn and established themselves in the territory between Wales and Mercia, with which kingdom they soon became incorporated. The district which is now Herefordshire was occupied by a tribe the Hecanas, who congregated chiefly in the fertile area about Hereford and in the mining districts round Ross. In the 8th century Offa extended the Mercian frontier to the Wye, securing it by the earthwork known as Offa's dike, portions of which are visible at Knighton and Moorhampton in this county. In 915 the Danes made their way up the Severn to the district of Archenfield, where they took prisoner Cyfeiliawg bishop of Llandaff, and in 921 they besieged Wigmore, which had been rebuilt in that year by Edward. From the time of its first settlement the district was the scene of constant border warfare with the Welsh, and Harold, whose earldom included this county, ordered that any Welshman caught trespassing over the border should lose his right hand. In the period preceding the Conquest much disturbance was caused by the outrages of the Norman colony planted in this county by Edward the Confessor. Richard's castle in the north of the county was the first Norman fortress erected on English soil, and Wigmore, Ewyas Harold, Clifford, Weobley, Hereford, Donnington and Caldecot were all the sites of Norman strongholds. The conqueror entrusted the subjugation of Herefordshire to William FitzOsbern, but Edric the Wild in conjunction with the Welsh prolonged resistance against him for two years.

In the wars of Stephen's reign Hereford and Weobley castles were held against the king, but were captured in 1138. Edward, afterwards Edward I., was imprisoned in Hereford Castle, and made his famous escape thence in 1265. In 1326 the parliament assembled at Hereford which deposed Edward II. In the 14th and 15th centuries the forest of Deerfold gave refuge to some of the most noted followers of Wycliffe. During the Wars of the Roses the influence of the Mortimers led the county to support the Yorkist cause, and Edward, afterwards Edward IV., raised 23,000 men in this neighbourhood. The battle of Mortimer's Cross was fought in 1461 near Wigmore. Before the outbreak of the civil war of the 17th century, complaints of illegal taxation were rife in Herefordshire, but a strong anti-puritan feeling induced the county to favour the royalist cause. Hereford, Goodrich and Ledbury all endured sieges.

The earldom of Hereford was granted by William I. to William FitzOsbern, about 1067, but on the outlawry of his son Roger in 1074 the title lapsed until conferred on Henry de Bohun about 1199. It remained in the possession of the Bohuns until the death of Humphrey de Bohun in 1373; in 1397 Henry, earl of Derby, afterwards King Henry IV., who had married Mary Bohun, was created duke of Hereford. Edward VI. created Walter Devereux, a descendant of the Bohun family, Viscount Hereford, in 1550, and his grandson, the famous earl of Essex, was born in this county. Since this date the viscounty has been held by the Devereux family, and the holder ranks as the premier viscount of England. The families of Clifford, Giffard and Mortimer figured prominently in the warfare on the Welsh border, and the Talbots, Lacys, Crofts and Scudamores also had important seats in the county, Sir James Scudamore of Holme Lacy being the original of the Sir Scudamore of Spenser's _Faery Queen_. Sir John Oldcastle, the leader of the Lollards, was sheriff of Herefordshire in 1406.

Herefordshire probably originated as a shire in the time of Aethelstan, and is mentioned in the Saxon Chronicle in 1051. In the Domesday Survey parts of Monmouthshire and Radnorshire are assessed under Herefordshire, and the western and southern borders remained debatable ground until with the incorporation of the Welsh marches in 1535 considerable territory was restored to Herefordshire and formed into the hundreds of Wigmore, Ewyas Lacy and Huntingdon, while Ewyas Harold was united to Webtree. At the time of the Domesday Survey the divisions of the county were very unsettled. As many as nineteen hundreds are mentioned, but these were of varying extent, some containing only one manor, some from twenty to thirty. Of the twelve modern hundreds, only Greytree, Radlow, Stretford, Wolphy and Wormelow retain Domesday names. Herefordshire has been included in the diocese of Hereford since its foundation in 676. In 1291 it comprised the deaneries of Hereford, Weston, Leominster, Weobley, Frome, Archenfield and Ross in the archdeaconry of Hereford, and the deaneries of Burford, Stottesdon, Ludlow, Pontesbury, Clun and Wenlock, in the archdeaconry of Shropshire. In 1877 the name of the archdeaconry of Shropshire was changed to Ludlow, and in 1899 the deaneries of Abbey Dore, Bromyard, Kingsland, Kington and Ledbury were created in the archdeaconry of Hereford.

Herefordshire was governed by a sheriff as early as the reign of Edward the Confessor, the shire-court meeting at Hereford where later the assizes and quarter sessions were also held. In 1606 an act was passed declaring Hereford free from the jurisdiction of the council of Wales, but the county was not finally relieved from the interference of the Lords Marchers until the reign of William and Mary.

Herefordshire has always been esteemed an exceptionally rich agricultural area, the manufactures being unimportant, with the sole exception of the woollen and the cloth trade which flourished soon after the Conquest. Iron was worked in Wormelow hundred in Roman times, and the Domesday Survey mentions iron workers in Marcle. At the time of Henry VIII. the towns had become much impoverished, and Elizabeth in order to encourage local industries, insisted on her subjects wearing English-made caps from the factory of Hereford. Hops were grown in the county soon after their introduction into England in 1524. In 1580 and again in 1637 the county was severely visited by the plague, but in the 17th century it had a flourishing timber trade and was noted for its orchards and cider.

Herefordshire was first represented in parliament in 1295, when it returned two members, the boroughs of Ledbury, Hereford, Leominster and Weobley being also represented. Hereford was again represented in 1299, and Bromyard and Ross in 1304, but the boroughs made very irregular returns, and from 1306 until Weobley regained representation in 1627, only Hereford and Leominster were represented. Under the act of 1832 the county returned three members and Weobley was disfranchised. The act of 1868 deprived Leominster of one member, and under the act of 1885 Leominster was disfranchised, and Hereford lost one member.

_Antiquities._--There are remains of several of the strongholds which Herefordshire possessed as a march county, some of which were maintained and enlarged, after the settlement of the border, to serve in later wars. To the south of Ross are those of Wilton and Goodrich, commanding the Wye on the right bank, the latter a ruin of peculiar magnificence, and both gaining picturesqueness from their beautiful situations. Of the several castles in the valleys of the boundary-river Monnow and its tributaries, those in this county include Pembridge, Kilpeck and Longtown; of which the last shows extensive remains of the strong keep and thick walls. In the north the finest example is Wigmore, consisting of a keep on an artificial mound within outer walls, the seat of the powerful family of Mortimer.

Beside the cathedral of Hereford, and the fine churches of Ledbury, Leominster and Ross, described under separate headings, the county contains some churches of almost unique interest. In that of Kilpeck remarkable and unusual Norman work is seen. It consists of the three divisions of nave, choir and chancel, divided by ornate arches, the chancel ending in an apse, with a beautiful and elaborate west end and south doorway. The columns of the choir arch are composed of figures. A similar plan is seen in Peterchurch in the Golden Valley, and in Moccas church, on the Wye above Hereford. Among the large number of churches exhibiting Norman details that at Bromyard is noteworthy. At Abbey Dore, the Cistercian abbey church, still in use, is a large and beautiful specimen of Early English work, and there are slight remains of the monastic buildings. At Madley, south of the Wye 5 m. W. of Hereford, is a fine Decorated church (with earlier portions), with the rare feature of a Decorated apsidal chancel over an octagonal crypt. Of the churches in mixed styles those in the larger towns are the most noteworthy, together with that of Weobley.

The half-timbered style of domestic architecture, common in the west and midlands of England in the 16th and 17th centuries, beautifies many of the towns and villages. Among country houses, that of Treago, 9 m. W. of Ross, is a remarkable example of a fortified mansion of the 13th century, in a condition little altered. Rudhall and Sufton Court, between Ross and Hereford, are good specimens of 15th-century work, and portions of Hampton Court, 8 m. N. of Hereford, are of the same period, built by Sir Rowland Lenthall, a favourite of Henry IV. Holme Lacy, 5 m. S.E. of Hereford, is a fine mansion of the latter part of the 17th century, with picturesque Dutch gardens, and much wood-carving by Grinling Gibbons within. This was formerly the seat of the Scudamores, from whom it was inherited by the Stanhopes, earls of Chesterfield, the 9th earl of Chesterfield taking the name of Scudamore-Stanhope. His son, the 10th earl, has recently (1909) sold Holme Lacy to Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth, Bart. Downton Castle possesses historical interest in having been designed in 1774, in a strange mixture of Gothic and Greek styles, by Richard Payne Knight (1750-1824), a famous scholar, numismatist and member of parliament for Leominster and Ludlow; while Eaton Hall, now a farm, was the seat of the family of the famous geographer Richard Hakluyt.

See _Victoria County History, Herefordshire_; J. Duncomb, _Collections
towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford_
(Hereford, 1804-1812); John Allen, _Bibliotheca Herefordiensis_
(Hereford, 1821); John Webb, _Memorials of the Civil War between
Charles I. and the Parliament of England as it affected Herefordshire
and the adjacent Counties_ (London, 1879); R. Cooke, _Visitation of
Herefordshire, 1569_ (Exeter, 1886); F. T. Havergal, _Herefordshire
Words and Phrases_ (Walsall, 1887); J. Hutchinson, _Herefordshire
Biographies_ (Hereford, 1890).

HERERO, or OVAHERERO ("merry people"), a Bantu people of German South-West Africa, living in the region known as Damaraland or Hereroland. They call themselves Ovaherero and their language Otshi-herero. Sometimes they are described as Cattle Damara or "Damara of the Plains" in distinction from the Hill Damara who are of mixed blood and Hottentots in language. The Herero, whose main occupation is that of cattle-rearing, are a warlike race, possessed of considerable military skill, as was shown in their campaigns of 1904-5 against the Germans. (See further GERMAN SOUTH-WEST AFRICA.)

HERESY, the English equivalent of the Greek word [Greek: hairesis] which is used in the Septuagint for "free choice," in later classical literature for a philosophical school or sect as "chosen" by those who belong to it, in Philo for religion, in Josephus for a religious party (the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Essenes).

New Testament.

It is in this last sense that the term is used in the New Testament, usually with an implicit censure of the factious spirit to which such divisions are due. The term is applied to the Sadducees (Acts v. 17) and Pharisees (Acts xv. 5, xxvi. 5). From the standpoint of opponents, Christianity is itself so described (Acts xxiv. 14, xxviii. 22). In the Pauline Epistles it is used with severe condemnation of the divisions within the Christian Church itself. Heresies with "enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, envyings" are reckoned among "the works of the flesh" (Gal. v. 20). Such divisions, proofs of a carnal mind, are censured in the church of Corinth (1 Cor. iii. 3, 4); and the church of Rome is warned against those who cause them (Rom. xvi. 17). The term "schism," afterwards distinguished from "heresy," is also used of these divisions (1 Cor. i. 10). The estrangements of the rich and the poor in the church at Corinth, leading to a lack of Christian fellowship even at the Lord's Supper, is described as "heresy" (1 Cor. xi. 19). Breaches of the law of love, not errors about the truth of the Gospel, are referred to in these passages. But the first step towards the ecclesiastical use of the term is found already in 2 Peter ii. 1, "Among you also there shall be false teachers who shall privily bring in destructive heresies (R.V. margin "sects of perdition"), denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." The meaning here suggested is "falsely chosen or erroneous tenets. Already the emphasis is moving from persons and their temper to mental products--from the sphere of sympathetic love to that of objective truth" (Bartlet, art. "Heresy," Hastings's _Bible Dictionary_). As the parallel passage in Jude, verse 4, shows, however, that these errors had immoral consequences, the moral reference is not absent even from this passage. The first employment of the term outside the New Testament is also its first use for theological error. Ignatius applies it to Docetism (_Ad Trall._ 6). As doctrine came to be made more important, heresy was restricted to any departure from the recognized creed. Even Constantine the Great describes the Christian Church as "the Catholic heresy," "the most sacred heresy" (Eusebius, _Ecclesiastical History_, x. c. 5, the letter to Chrestus, bishop of Syracuse); but this use was very soon abandoned, and the Catholic Church distinguished itself from the dissenting minorities, which it condemned as "heresies." The use of the term heresy in the New Testament cannot be regarded as defining the attitude of the Christian Church, even in the Apostolic age, towards errors in belief. The Apostolic writings show a vehement antagonism towards all teaching opposed to the Gospel. Paul declares _anathema_ the Judaizer, who required the circumcision of the Gentiles (Gal. i. 8), and even calls them the "dogs of the concision" and "evil workers" (Phil. iii. 2). The elders of Ephesus are warned against the false teachers who would appear in the church after the apostle's death as "grievous wolves not sparing the flock" (Acts xx. 29); and the speculations of the Gnostics are denounced as "seducing spirits and doctrines of devils" (1 Tim. iv. 1), as "profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called" (vi. 20). John's warnings are as earnest and severe. Those who deny the fact of the Incarnation are described as "antichrist," and as "deceivers" (1 John iv. 3; 2 John 7). The references to heretics in 2 Peter and Jude have already been dealt with. This antagonism is explicable by the character of the heresies that threatened the Christian Church in the Apostolic age. Each of these heresies involved such a blending of the Gospel with either Jewish or pagan elements, as would not only pollute its purity, but destroy its power. In each of these the Gospel was in danger of being made of none effect by the environment, which it must resist in order that it might transform (see Burton's Bampton Lectures on _The Heresies of the Apostolic Age_).

Gnosticism.

These Gnostic heresies, which threatened to paganize the Christian Church, were condemned in no measured terms by the fathers. These false teachers are denounced as "servants of Satan, beasts in human shape, dealers in deadly poison, robbers and pirates." Polycarp, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian and even Clement of Alexandria and Origen are as severe in condemnation as the later fathers (cf. Matt. xiii. 35-43; Tertullian, _Praescr._ 31). While the necessity of the heresies is admitted in accordance with 1 Cor. xi. 19, yet woe is pronounced on those who have introduced them, according to Matt. xviii. 7. (This application of these passages, however, is of altogether doubtful validity.) "It was necessary," says Tertullian (ibid. 30), "that the Lord should be betrayed; but woe to the traitor." The very worst motives, "pride, disappointed ambition, sensual lust, and avarice," are recklessly imputed to the heretics; and no possibility of morally innocent doubt, difficulty or difference in thought is admitted. Origen and Augustine do, however, recognize that even false teachers may have good motives. While we must admit that there was a very serious peril to the thought and life of the Christian Church in the teaching thus denounced, yet we must not forget that for the most part these teachers are known to us only in the _ex parte_ representation that their opponents have given of them; and we must not assume that even their doctrines, still less their characters, were so bad as they are described.

The attitude of the church in the post-Nicene period differs from that in the ante-Nicene in two important respects. (1) As has already been indicated, the earlier heresies threatened to introduce Jewish or pagan elements into the faith of the church, and it was necessary that they should be vigorously resisted if the church was to retain its distinctive character. Many of the later heresies were differences in the interpretation of Christian truth, which did not in the same way threaten the very life of the church. No vital interest of Christian faith justified the extravagant denunciations in which theological partisanship so recklessly and ruthlessly indulged. (2) In the ante-Nicene period only ecclesiastical penalties, such as reproof, deposition or excommunication, could be imposed. In the post-Nicene the union of church and state transformed theological error into legal offence (see below).

Christian definition.

We must now consider the definition of heresy which was gradually reached in the Christian Church. It is "a religious error held in wilful and persistent opposition to the truth after it has been defined and declared by the church in an authoritative manner," or "pertinax defensio dogmatis ecclesiae universalis judicio condemnati" (Schaff's _Ante-Nicene_ Christianity, ii. 512-516). (i.) It "denotes an opinion antagonistic to a fundamental article of the Christian faith," due to the introduction of "foreign elements" and resulting in a perversion of Christianity, and an amalgamation with it of ideas discordant with its nature (Fisher's _History of Christian Doctrine_, p. 9). It has been generally assumed that the ecclesiastical authority was always competent to determine what are the fundamental articles of the Christian faith, and to detect any departures from them; but it is necessary to admit the possibility that the error was in the church, and the truth was with the heresy. (ii.) There cannot be any heresy where there is no orthodoxy, and, therefore, in the definition it is assumed that the church has declared what is the truth or the error in any matter. Accordingly "heresy is to be distinguished from defective stages of Christian knowledge. For example, the Jewish believers, including the Apostles themselves, at the outset required the Gentile believers to be circumcised. They were not on this account chargeable with heresy. Additional light must first come in, and be rejected, before that earlier opinion could be thus stigmatized. Moreover, heresies are not to be confounded with tentative and faulty hypotheses broached in a period prior to the scrutiny of a topic of Christian doctrine, and before that scrutiny has led the general mind to an assured conclusion. Such hypotheses--for example, the idea that in the person of Christ the Logos is substituted for a rational human spirit--are to be met with in certain early fathers" (ibid. p. 10). Origen indulged in many speculations which were afterwards condemned, but, as these matters were still open questions in his day, he was not reckoned a heretic. (iii.) In accordance with the New Testament use of the term heresy, it is assumed that moral defect accompanies the intellectual error, that the false view is held pertinaciously, in spite of warning, remonstrance and rebuke; aggressively to win over others, and so factiously, to cause division in the church, a breach in its unity.

Schism.

A distinction is made between "heresy" and "schism" (from Gr. [Greek: schizein], rend asunder, divide). "The fathers commonly use 'heresy' of false teaching in opposition to Catholic doctrine, and 'schism' of a breach of discipline, in opposition to Catholic government" (Schaff). But as the claims of the church to be the guardian through its episcopate of the apostolic tradition, of the Christian faith itself, were magnified, and unity in practice as well as in doctrine came to be regarded as essential, this distinction became a theoretical rather than a practical one. While severely condemning, both Irenaeus and Tertullian distinguished schismatics from heretics. "Though we are by no means entitled to say that they acknowledged orthodox schismatics they did not yet venture to reckon them simply as heretics. If it was desired to get rid of these, an effort was made to impute to them some deviation from the rule of faith; and under this pretext the church freed herself from the Montanists and the Monarchians. Cyprian was the first to proclaim the identity of heretics and schismatics by making a man's Christianity depend on his belonging to the great episcopal church confederation. But in both East and West, this theory of his became established only by very imperceptible degrees, and indeed, strictly speaking, the process was never completed. The distinction between heretics and schismatics was preserved because it prevented a public denial of the old principles, because it was advisable on political grounds to treat certain schismatic communities with indulgence, and because it was always possible in case of need to prove heresy against the schismatics." (Harnack's _History of Dogma_, ii. 92-93).

Heretical baptism.

There was considerable controversy in the early church as to the validity of heretical baptism. As even "the Christian virtues of the heretics were described as hypocrisy and love of ostentation," so no value whatever was attached by the orthodox party to the sacraments performed by heretics. Tertullian declares that the church can have no communion with the heretics, for there is nothing common; as they have not the same God, and the same Christ, so they have not the same baptism (_De bapt._ 15). Cyprian agreed with him. The validity of heretical baptism was denied by the church of Asia Minor as well as of Africa; but the practice of the Roman Church was to admit without second baptism heretics who had been baptized with the name of Christ, or of the Holy Trinity. Stephen of Rome attempted to force the Roman practice on the whole church in 253. The controversy his intolerance provoked was closed by Augustine's controversial treatise _De Baptismo_, in which the validity of baptism administered by heretics is based on the objectivity of the sacrament. Whenever the name of the three-one God is used, the sacrament is declared valid by whomsoever it may be performed. This was a triumph of sacramentarianism, not of charity.

Types of heresy.

Three types of heresy have appeared in the history of the Christian Church.[1] The earliest may be called the _syncretic_; it is the fusion of Jewish or pagan with Christian elements. _Ebionitism_ asserted "the continual obligation to observe the whole of the Mosaic law," and "outran the Old Testament monotheism by a barren monarchianism that denied the divinity of Christ" (Kurtz, _Church History_, i. 120). "_Gnosticism_ was the result of the attempt to blend with Christianity the religious notions of pagan mythology, mysterology, theosophy and philosophy" (p. 98). The Judaizing and the paganizing tendency were combined in _Gnostic Ebionitism_ which was prepared for in _Jewish Essenism_. In the later heresy of _Manichaeism_ there were affinities to Gnosticism, but it was a mixture of many elements, Babylonian-Chaldaic theosophy, Persian dualism and even Buddhist ethics (p. 126).

The next type of heresy may be called _evolutionary_ or _formatory_. When the Christian faith is being formulated, undue emphasis may be put on one aspect, and thus so partial a statement of truth may result in error. Thus when in the ante-Nicene age the doctrine of the Trinity was under discussion, dynamic _Monarchianism_ "regarded Christ as a mere man, who, like the prophets, though in a much higher measure, had been endued with divine wisdom and power"; modal _Monarchianism_ saw in the Logos dwelling in Christ "only a mode of the activity of the Father"; _Patripassianism_ identified the Logos with the Father; and _Sabellianism_ regarded Father, Son and Spirit as "the _roles_ which the God who manifests Himself in the world assumes in succession" (Kurtz, _Church History_, i. 175-181). When Arius asserted the subordination of the Son to the Father, and denied the eternal generation, Athanasius and his party asserted the _Homoousia_, the cosubstantiality of the Father and the Son. This assertion of the divinity of Christ triumphed, but other problems at once emerged. How was the relation of the humanity to the divinity in Christ to be conceived? Apollinaris denied the completeness of the human nature, and substituted the divine Logos for the reasonable soul of man. Nestorius held the two natures so far apart as to appear to sacrifice the unity of the person of Christ. Eutyches on the contrary "taught not only that after His incarnation Christ had only one nature, but also that the body of Christ as the body of God is not of like substance with our own" (Kurtz, _Church History_, i, 330-334). The Church in the Creed of Chalcedon in A.D. 451 affirmed "that Christ is true God and true man, according to His Godhead begotten from eternity and like the Father in everything, only without sin; and that after His incarnation the unity of the person consists in two natures which are conjoined without confusion, and without change, but also without rending and without separation." The problem was not solved, but the inadequate solutions were excluded, and the data to be considered in any adequate solution were affirmed. After this decision the controversies about the Person of Christ degenerated into mere hair-splitting; and the interference of the imperial authority from time to time in the dispute was not conducive to the settlement of the questions in the interests of truth alone. This problem interested the East for the most part; in the West there was waged a theological warfare around the nature of man and the work of Christ. To Augustine's doctrine of man's total depravity, his incapacity for any good, and the absolute sovereignty of the divine grace in salvation according to the divine election, Pelagius opposed the view that "God's grace is destined for all men, but man must make himself worthy of it by honest striving after virtue" (Kurtz, _Church History_, i. 348). While Pelagius was condemned, it was only a modified Augustinianism which became the doctrine of the church. It is not necessary in illustration of the second type of heresy--that which arises when the contents of the Christian faith are being defined--to refer to the doctrinal controversies of the middle ages. It may be added that after the Reformation Arianism was revived in Socinianism, and Pelagianism in Arminianism; but the conception of heresy in Protestantism demands subsequent notice.

The third type of heresy is the _revolutionary_ or _reformatory_. This is not directed against doctrine as such, but against the church, its theory and its practice. Such movements of antagonism to the errors or abuses of ecclesiastical authority may be so permeated by defective conceptions and injurious influences as by their own character to deserve condemnation. But on the other hand the church in maintaining its place and power may condemn as heretical genuine efforts at reform by a return, though partial, to the standard set by the Holy Scriptures or the Apostolic Church. On the one hand there were during the middle ages sects, like the Catharists and Albigenses, whose "opposition as a rule developed itself from dualistic or pantheistic premises (surviving effects of old Gnostic or Manichaean views)" and who "stood outside of ordinary Christendom, and while no doubt affecting many individual members within it, had no influence on church doctrine." On the other hand there were movements, such as the Waldensian, the Wycliffite and Hussite, which are often described as "reformations anticipating the Reformation" which "set out from the Augustinian conception of the Church, but took exception to the development of the conception," and were pronounced by the medieval church as heretical for (1) "contesting the hierarchical gradation of the priestly order; or (2) giving to the religious idea of the Church implied in the thought of predestination a place superior to the conception of the empirical Church; or (3) applying to the priests, and thereby to the authorities of the Church, the test of the law of God, before admitting their right to exercise, as holding the keys, the power of binding and loosing" (Harnack's _History of Dogma_, vi. 136-137). The Reformation itself was from the standpoint of the Roman Catholic Church heresy and schism.

Modern use of the term.

"In the present divided state of Christendom," says Schaff (_Ante-Nicene Christianity_, ii. 513-514), "there are different kinds of orthodoxy and heresy. Orthodoxy is conformity to the recognized creed or standard of public doctrine; heresy is a wilful departure from it. The Greek Church rejects as heretical, because contrary to the teaching of the first seven ecumenical councils, the Roman dogmas of the papacy, of the double procession of the Holy Ghost, the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, and the infallibility of the Pope. The Roman Church anathematized, in the council of Trent, all the distinctive doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. Among Protestant churches again there are minor doctrinal differences, which are held with various degrees of exclusiveness or liberality according to the degree of departure from the Roman Catholic Church. Luther, for instance, would not tolerate Zwingli's view on the Lord's Supper, while Zwingli was willing to fraternize with him notwithstanding this difference." At the colloquy of Marburg "Zwingli offered his hand to Luther with the entreaty that they be at least Christian brethren, but Luther refused it and declared that the Swiss were of another spirit. He expressed surprise that a man of such views as Zwingli should wish brotherly relations with the Wittenberg reformers" (Walker, _The Reformation_, p. 174). A difference of opinion on the question of the presence of Christ in the elements at the Lord's Supper was thus allowed to divide and to weaken the forces of the Reformation. On the problem of divine election Lutheranism and Calvinism remained divided. The Formula of Concord (1577), which gave to the whole Lutheran Church of Germany a common doctrinal system, declined to accept the Calvinistic position that man's condemnation as well as his salvation is an object of divine predestination. Within Calvinism itself Pelagianism was revived in Arminianism, which denied the irresistibility, and affirmed the universality of grace. This heresy was condemned by the synod of Dort (1619). The standpoint of the Reformed churches was the substitution of the authority of the Scriptures for the authority of the church. Whatever was conceived as contrary to the teaching of the Bible was regarded as heresy. The position is well expressed in the _Scotch Confession_ (1559). "Protesting, that if any man will note in this our Confession any article or sentence repugning to God's Holy Word, that it would please him, of his gentleness, and for Christian charity's sake, to admonish us of the same in writ, and we of our honour and fidelity do promise unto him satisfaction from the mouth of God; that is, from His Holy Scripture, or else reformation of that which he shall prove to be amiss. In God we take to record in our consciences that from our hearts we abhor all sects of heresy, and all teachers of erroneous doctrines; and that with all humility we embrace purity of Christ's evangel, which is the only food of our souls" (Preface).

Although subsequently to the Reformation period the Protestant churches for the most part relapsed into the dogmatism of the Roman Catholic Church, and were ever ready with censure for every departure from orthodoxy--yet to-day a spirit of diffidence in regard to one's own beliefs, and of tolerance towards the beliefs of others, is abroad. The enlargement of the horizon of knowledge by the advance of science, the recognition of the only relative validity of human opinions and beliefs as determined by and adapted to each stage of human development, which is due to the growing historical sense, the alteration of view regarding the nature of inspiration, and the purpose of the Holy Scriptures, the revolt against all ecclesiastical authority, and the acceptance of reason and conscience as alone authoritative, the growth of the spirit of Christian charity, the clamorous demand of the social problem for immediate attention, all combine in making the Christian churches less anxious about the danger, and less zealous in the discovery and condemnation of heresy.

Persecution of heretics.