The title archbishop was unknown in the Church before the fourth century. At first it was used as a sign of honour without implying superior jurisdiction over bishops. Perhaps Athanasius first used it in speaking of Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. Then Gregory Nazianzen applied it to Athanasius himself. Soon it came to be used in connection with the bishops of the most important sees in the East. Liberatus gave all the patriarchs the title of archbishops. The Council of Chalcedon even applied the name to the mighty patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople. When the Empire was divided into dioceses, which in turn were subdivided into provinces, an exarch or vicar was placed in the capital of each diocese. In conscious imitation, the Church established ecclesiastical exarchs or patriarchs in these local capitals. Archbishop was a common title for this office. The archbishop ordained the metropolitans, convened diocesan synods, received appeals from the metropolitan and his provincial synod, and enforced discipline in his diocese. In the West in the seventh century Isidore of Seville ranked the archbishop higher than the metropolitan. The precise distinction between the two offices, however, was not very clear and, finally, was lost entirely. These officers usually sided with the secular authorities against the Pope and tended to favour the organisation of national Churches with patriarchs at their head. They attempted likewise to subject the bishops and priests to their rule and thus curtail the power of the Pope. The Popes, however, saw the danger and sought to avert it by appointing several archbishops in each country, and bestowing upon one of them the title of "primate" with the delegated powers of the Holy See. Thus England had the archbishops of Canterbury, the oldest (seventh century) and most important,[350:1] and of York (eighth century). Germany was ruled by the archbishops of Mayence, who was "primus" and who served as imperial chancellor until the time of Otto the Great,[350:2] Trier (eighth century), Cologne (eighth century), Salzburg (eighth century), Hamburg-Bremen (ninth century), and Magdeburg (tenth century).[350:3] France possessed the archbishops of Rheims, who was recognised as primate,[350:4] Aix, Aux, Bordeaux, Bourges, and Rouen. In Italy the Pope had a continual struggle with the archbishops of Milan, who claimed as their founder the apostle Barnabas, Aquileia, and Ravenna. The use of the title primate does not come into ordinary use, it seems, until after the appearance of the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. Next in the hierarchy came the bishops. They resented, as a general rule, the pretensions of both the metropolitans and the archbishops and recognised the Pope as their friend and superior. Since all western Europe was divided up into episcopal dioceses, with one bishop in each diocese, they were both very numerous and very powerful, particularly in local affairs.