The Council of London in 1075 AD was a council of the Roman Catholic church in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 held by the new Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

 Lanfranc

Lanfranc

Lanfranc was Archbishop of Canterbury, and a Lombard by birth.-Early life:Lanfranc was born in the early years of the 11th century at Pavia, where later tradition held that his father, Hanbald, held a rank broadly equivalent to magistrate...

 five years after his installation. Other attendees included Gisa (Bishop of Wells) and William the Norman (Bishop of London). The Council of London produced several decrees, these were known as the ’'Canons

Canon law (Catholic Church)

The canon law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation. It lacks the necessary binding force present in most modern day legal systems. The academic...

 of the Council of London AD 1075’’.

A number of copies of the acts of the council survive, which derive from two earlier copies, one from Canterbury

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....

 and one from Worcester

Worcester Cathedral

Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, England; situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester...

.

The following ’'Canons of the Council of London AD 1075’’, translated from the original latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, are taken from the old register of the church at Worcester, the original document has a short historical preface followed by the nine canons and then a section with signatures of the two archbishops, twelve bishops, and twenty-one abbots, these being preceded by the Archdeacon of Canterbury.

Canons of the Council of London AD 1075

Letter 11 Council of London 25 Dec. 1074-28 Aug. 1075

In the year of our Lord 1075, in the ninth year of the reign of William, glorious king of the English, a council of the whole land of England was assembled in the church of St. Paul the Apostle in London, namely of bishops, abbots and many ecclesiastics. The council was summoned and presided over by Lanfranc, archbishop of the holy church of Canterbury and primate of the whole island of Britain; the venerable men sitting with him were Thomas, archbishop of York, William, bishop of London, Geoffrey of Coutances, who though an overseas bishop was sitting with the others in the council because he had a great deal of property in England, Walchelin of Winchester, Hermann of Sherborne, Wulfstan of Worcester, Walter of Hereford, Giso of Wells, Remigius of Dorchester or Lincoln, Herfast of Elmham or Norwich, Stigand of Selsey, Osbern of Exeter, Peter of Lichfield. At that time the church of Rochester lacked a pastor. The bishop of Lindisfarne, that is Durham, for a canonically valid reason was unable to be present at the council.

Because the custom of holding councils had been in abeyance in the realm of England for many years, some legislation which is already defined in ancient law was renewed.

1. The first canon decreed where the bishops should all sit. They decided that the Archbishop of York ought to sit at the right hand of Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London on the left, then the Bishop of Winchester should sit next to the Archbishop of York. However if the Archbishop of York was away then the Bishop of London should then sit on the right of York and Winchester on the left.
2. Monks should conform to the rule of St. Benedict. That children and young people should have guardianship in all places and fit masters assigned them. Everyone should carry lights by night unless they have no property allowed by the authorities. If a person dies who is not allowed to have property by the authorities, but on their death is found to have property then let not the bells be tolled for him, nor the saving sacrifice be offered for his absolution, nor let him be buried in the cemetery.
3. By the decrees of Popes Damasus and Leo, and by the Councils of Sardica
   Council of Sardica
   The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sofia and Plovdiv is a Roman Catholic diocese of the Latin Rite, which includes the whole southern part of Bulgaria. The remainder of Bulgaria is comprised in the Diocese of Nicopoli. The seat of the episcopal see is in Plovdiv. The diocese is immediately subject of...
   
    and Laodicea
   Council of Laodicea
   The Council of Laodicea was a regional synod of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor that assembled about 363–364 AD in Laodicea, Phrygia Pacatiana.-Historical context:...
   
   , bishops' sees should not be in vill
   Vill
   Vill is a term used in English history to describe a land unit which might otherwise be described as a parish, manor or tithing.The term is used in the period immediately after the Norman conquest and into the late medieval. Land units in Domesday are frequently referred to as vills, although the...
   
   s, they should be in cities so the Council agreed that three bishops should migrate from vills to cities - those moved were Herman
   Herman (bishop)
   Herman was a medieval Bishop of Ramsbury and Bishop of Sherborne.-Life:Herman was a native of Flanders. As chaplain of Edward the Confessor he was named to the see of Ramsbury shortly after 22 April 1045. He visited Rome in 1050, where he attended a papal council, along with his fellow English...
   
    from Sherborne to Salisbury
   Salisbury Cathedral
   Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....
   
   , Peter
   Peter of Lichfield
   Peter was a medieval Bishop of Lichfield. He moved the see from Lichfield to Chester in 1075.Peter had been a royal chaplain before being nominated to the see of Lichfield. Nothing else is known of his background, although presumably he was a Norman, as were most of King William I of England's...
   
    from Lichfield
   Bishop of Lichfield
   The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
   
    to Chester
   Bishop of Chester
   The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.The diocese expands across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the City of Chester where the seat is located at the Cathedral...
   
    and Stigand
   Stigand of Selsey
   Stigand was the last Bishop of Selsey, and first Bishop of Chichester.-Life:Shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066, there was a purge of the English episcopate, Archbishop Stigand was deposed in 1070 along with four other bishops, including Æthelric II of Selsey, probably because of his...
   
    from Selsey
   Selsey Abbey
   Selsey Abbey was almost certainly built at Church Norton, Selsey, Sussex, England. It was founded in 683AD, and became the seat of the Sussex bishopric, until it was moved in 1075AD to Chichester.-Historical Context :...
   
    to Chichester
   Bishop of Chichester
   The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Counties of East and West Sussex. The see is in the City of Chichester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity...
   
   . The case of some others who were in vills or hamlets, was postponed for the king's hearing, when he returned from a war overseas.
4. By many decrees of the Roman pontiffs and different authorities of the sacred canons, that no one should keep or ordain any clerk or monk without letters dimissory
5. To restrain the arrogance of some unwise men it was decided by general decree that no one speak in the Council, save bishops and abbots, without leave from the metropolitan
   Metropolitan bishop
   In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
   
   .
6. By the decrees of Gregory the Great
   Pope Gregory I
   Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...
   
    and the Less that none take a wife from his own family or that of his deceased wife, or any be has as relation within the seventh degree on either side.
7. That no one should buy, or sell sacred orders or church office to the cure of souls because this crime was originally, condemned by the Peter the Apostle
   Saint Peter
   Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
   
    in the case of Simon Magus
   Simon Magus
   Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, in Latin Simon Magus, was a Samaritan magus or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptised by Philip the Apostle, whose later confrontation with Peter is recorded in . The sin of simony, or paying for position and influence in the church, is...
   
    and afterwards forbidden under threat of excommunication
   Excommunication
   Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
   
    by the holy fathers.
8. Bones or dead animals should not be hung up anywhere to avoid disease. Sooth saying, divination, or any such works of the Devil should not be practiced as all such things the sacred canons have forbidden, and those who practise them will be excommunicated.
9. That by the Councils of

Elvira and
Toledo XI

Eleventh Council of Toledo

The Eleventh Council of Toledo convened first on 7 November 675 attended by seventeen bishops and two deacons representing the sees of Segovia and Ergávica as well as five abbots....

no bishop or abbot or any of the clergy should judge a man to be put to death or to mutilation, nor favour with his authority those who so judge.

[There followed a list of the signatories, these were two archbishops, twelve bishops and twenty one abbots. The last abbots signature was preceded by that of the archdeacon of Canterburys]