t. The first archbishop died in 605, and was buried, according to
the old Roman custom, by the side of the high road which had brought him
to Canterbury. A few years later, however, his remains were transferred to
the Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul, which had then just been completed.

Augustine was succeeded by one of the monks who had originally come with
him from Rome. The new archbishop's name was #Lawrence#; he had been
already consecrated by Augustine in his lifetime. This unusual measure was
thought to be necessary, as the Church had hardly yet established itself in
a strong position. Indeed, so weak was its hold over its rapidly acquired
converts, that when Ethelbert's son, who succeeded his father in 616,
backslid into the path of heathendom, the great majority of the people
followed the royal example, and Lawrence, together with the Bishops of
London and Rochester, prepared to leave England altogether, as a country
hopelessly abandoned to paganism. However, the archbishop determined to
make one more attempt to maintain his position, and succeeded in
terrifying the king, by a pretended miracle, into becoming a Christian. He
then recalled the two bishops who had already crossed to France, and on
his death, in 619, was succeeded by the Bishop of London, #Mellitus#.
Mellitus only held the Primacy till 624, when his place was filled by
#Justin#, who also had a brief archiepiscopal life, being succeeded in 627
by #Honorius#. This archbishop held the see for twenty-six years, till 653,
and it was not until 655 that his successor was appointed.

So far the archbishops had all been foreigners who had come over either
with Augustine or with the second company of missionaries who were
despatched by Gregory soon after Ethelbert's conversion. In 655, however,
a native Englishman, named Frithona, was consecrated by the Saxon Bishop
of Rochester, and adopted the name of #Deus Dedit#. He ruled at Canterbury
till 664, and after his death the see remained vacant for four years,
probably owing to the plague which was then wasting all Europe, and caused
the death of Wighard, a Saxon, who had started for Rome to receive his
consecration there. But in 668, #Theodore#, a native of Tarsus in Cecilia,
was appointed, and was welcomed by the members of the torn and divided
English Church. He devoted all his energy to centralizing and
consolidating the power of the archbishop, which had been hitherto largely
nominal. He journeyed all over En