This  rivalry  between  the  two  archbishops,
together  with  the  growing  claims  of  the
papacy,  resulted  in  the  introduction  of
national  synods  over  which  a  papal  legate


presided  [Legates]. In  the  twelfth  and
thirteenth  centuries  these  legatine  councils
became  to  some  extent  the  recognised
assemblies  of  the  Church. They  were  re-
garded with  some  resentment,  and  were  not
successful  in  composing  the  differences
between  the  two  metropolitans. At  a  council
held  at  Westminster,  1176,  Roger  of  York,
finding  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  already
seated  on  the  right  of  the  presiding  legate,
rather  than  take  his  place  on  the  left  sat
down  on  his  rival's  knee,  and  an  unedify-
ing  scene  ensued. About  the  middle  of  the
thirteenth  century  the  period  of  foreign
legates  came  to  an  end,  save  for  a  few
unimportant  exceptions. National  Councils
being  thus  rendered  impossible  by  the  mutual
jealousies  of  the  two  archbishops,  the  separ-
ate synods  of  the  two  provinces  became  the
normal  councils  of  the  English  Church  from
the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and
few  attempts  have  been  made  to  revive  the
use  of  National  Councils. The  most  im-
portant was  that  of  Wolsey  (q.v.),  who,  using
his  commission  as  legate  to  supersede  the
authority  of  Canterbury,  held  a  synod  of
the  bishops  of  the  two  provinces  in  1518,
and  in  1523  united  the  two  Convocations  in
a  national  synod. Cardinal  Pole  (q.v.),  as
legate,  held  a  national  synod  in  1555. By
Canon  139  of  1604  '  the  Sacred  Synod  of  this
Nation '  is  '  the  true  Church  of  England  by
representation.'  And  though  this  canon  was
passed  by  the  two  Convocations  separately,
yet  its  wording,  and  its  title,  '  A  Nationall
Synode  the  Church  representative,'  show
that,  in  Dr. Stubbs's  phrase,  'the  idea  of  a
National  Synod '  was  still  '  present  to  the
mind  of  the  Church.'  Since  then  there  has
been  no  National  Council  in  England. There
have  been  joint  action  of  the  two  Convoca-
tions and  more  or  less  informal  meetings  of
their  members,  but  the  most  usual  form  of
co-operation  between  them  in  modern  times
has  been  that  of  simultaneous  or  concerted
action,  as  when  canons  were  enacted  by  the
Convocation  of  Canterbury  in  June  1865,
and  in  exactly  the  same  form  by  that  of  York
a  week  later. 