lodgings, and not finding him there, they seized three JOHN, clergymen of his acquaintance who knew nothing of the K. of Eng. matter, and put them in prison. Some few days after, the king ordered them to be brought out of the town, and executed. This arbitrary severity made the university break The stuup, and about three thousand clerks retired from Oxford, from Oxford. and studied at Cambridge and Reading.

dents retire

Ibid.

cated.

And now the pope was resolved to exert himself farther, and play more of his thunder. To this purpose, by the advice The king of the conclave, a dispatch was sent to the bishops of excommuniLondon, Ely, and Worcester, to excommunicate the king, and publish the sentence every Sunday and holiday in all cathedrals, monasteries, and collegiate churches throughout England. The design was, that by this notoriety of the sentence, the king might be avoided by everybody. These bishops, it seems, had the discretion not to come over themselves; but sent the pope's bull to the bishops in England, and to the rest of the abbots, and dignified clergy. But these men were either not so warm in the pope's service, or at least, not so well furnished with courage as to execute the order in form. However, they took care to whisper the censure in conversation, so that in a little time it reached the whole country, and was publickly known. And now the matter being the subject of discourse, Geoffrey, archdeacon of Norwich, one of the barons of the exchequer, told the rest of the board, that it was not safe for churchmen to attend the service of an excommunicated prince; and upon this, retired to Norwich without leave. When the king heard of it he sent down one Sir William Talbot with a military force to seize the archdeacon, and lay him in irons. Some few days after his imprisonment, the king ordered he should be loaded with a leaden cope. This rigorous Id. p. 228. usage, together with short allowance, sent him quickly into the other world.

416.

Notwithstanding the king was thus carried to some indefensible excesses, he was not deserted by all the clergy. The bishops of Durham, Winchester, and Norwich, to men- Some of the prelates in tion no others, were firm in his service; and one Alexander the king's interest. Cæmentarius, a divine of figure, preached in the king's justification, and maintained his quarrel against the pope; this

ΤΟΝ,

Westmon.

1209.

ful

LANG- Alexander had been a divinity professor in Paris. MatAbp. Cant. thew of Westminster gives him the character of a very graceperson, and a great scholar. To mention something of ad An. his arguing in the king's behalf. He declared, the preAlexander sent calamity upon the country was none of the king's fault; preaches in and that the wickedness of the people had brought it down defence of the king. upon themselves; that the king was God Almighty's minister to punish a disorderly nation; that in such cases he had his commission "to rule them with a rod of iron, and to break them in pieces like a potter's vessel: to bind their great men in chains, and their nobles with links of iron." And as for the pope, he had nothing to do with the disposing of princes' crowns or the government of their subjects, or to dispossess any person of their property and civil rights. That the power of the keys was never designed to reach into men's estates; and that the prince of the apostles, St. Peter, had nothing but spiritual jurisdiction assigned him. Matthew Paris, though by no means pleased with this doctrine, confesses Alexander brought plausible arguments for the proof of it. Matthew of Westminster is of the same opinion with Matthew Paris, and gives Alexander hard words for his heterodoxy. From hence we may perceive how far these two historians were perverted in their principles, and perfectly subdued to the pope's supremacy; to his supremacy, I say, in its most exorbitant extent.

Ibid.

p. 229.

This Alexander was considered for his merit, and had several preferments from the crown. But his prosperity was quickly at an end; for when the pope was informed of his management, he got him ruined immediately, and reduced him to that degree of indigence, that he was forced to turn Matt. Paris, common beggar. To proceed: Hugh, archdeacon of Wells, and chancellor of England, being elected bishop of Lincoln, desired the king's leave to go beyond sea to the archbishop of Rouen for consecration. But upon his arrival in NorA. D. 1209. mandy he went to Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, made his profession of canonical obedience, and was consecrated by that prelate. When the king understood this, he seized the revenues of the bishoprick, and gave the great seal to Walter de Gray, another clergyman.

Decemb.

Next year the king kept his Christmas at Windsor, and

K. of Eng.

tortured.

was attended with a great assembly of nobles, notwith- JOHN, standing the excommunication. It seems they were afraid to do otherwise, for the king dealt hardly with those who declined to make their appearance. About this time the Jews The Jews were seized all over England, imprisoned, and cruelly A. D. 1210. handled, to make them supply the king. Some of them were tortured to that degree, that they gave up their whole estates, and promised more than they were worth, to avoid Matt. Paris, the severity of the usage.

p. 229. June.

The next year the king set sail for Ireland; about twenty A. D. 1211. of the petty princes of that country met him at Dublin, and recognised him for their sovereign. And now he ordered the English laws and customs to take effect in this kingdom, and commanded his judges to govern themselves by that standard. And thus, having made a very successful expe- The clergy rigorously dition, he returned into England in September following. taxed. Soon after his arrival he convened the clergy and religious Ibid. 230. to London, and forced them to part with a hundred thousand pounds.

This year the king marched with an army into Wales, brought the country to a submission, and took hostages. In the latter end of the summer he convened the baronage to Northampton. And here the pope's nuncios, Pandulphus and Durandus, the first a subdeacon, and the other a Knight Templar, had their audience. Their business was to adjust the difference between the king and the Church. The annals of the monastery of Burton sets down the conference at large, which, being somewhat remarkable, I shall give the 4 conferreader part of it.

ence between the

pope's nun

The nuncios, being brought into the presence, told the king and the king they had undertaken a long voyage at his request, and cios. desired to know his highness's pleasure upon the premises. The king answered, he did not know what their desire

was.

They replied, that they should move him for nothing more than common right; that is, that his highness would swear to make satisfaction to holy Church; to return all the effects he had forcibly taken away from the ecclesiasticks; and that Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, the other prelates beyond sea, and all their friends and dependents,

LANG- might have the liberty to return, and live peaceably in Abp. Cant. England.

TON,

417.

Upon this, the king, looking very sternly, told them that he would discover himself wholly to them.

"You may

oblige me," says he, "to swear the returning whatever has been seized, and I will satisfy you. But as for that Stephen, he can never be so secured by a safe conduct, but that I will hang him as soon as he sets foot upon my dominions."

The nuncios, surprised at this declaration, put the king in mind that he moved for their coming over, referred the cause to their decision, and that, if it should appear to them that he had failed in any just regards to his holy father the pope, or done any wrong to the Church, he was ready to stand to their award, to make reparation, and submit to any penance enjoined.

"You say well," says the king; "I grant his holiness is my spiritual father; that he succeeds to St. Peter's authority, and that I ought to obey him in spiritual matters: but that this submission should reach so far as to affect my temporal jurisdiction, and lessen my prerogative, I can by no means allow." The king proceeds to report, how the monks of Canterbury above mentioned had perjured themselves, and betrayed him; and that the pope had abetted their unaccountable practice. His highness urged farther, that his predecessors used to bestow archbishopricks, bishopricks, and abbeys in their bed-chamber. For instance, king Edward the Confessor, of glorious memory, gave the bishoprick of Worcester to Wulstan: and that when William the Conqueror attempted to deprive him of his see, because he did not understand French, St. Wulstan refused to return him the pastoral staff, because he had not received it from him, but carried it to king Edward's tomb; where it stuck so fast, that nobody could pull it away, but that holy bishop. To this he added, that within his own memory, his father, king Henry, had given the archbishoprick of Canterbury to St. Thomas.

Pandulphus replied, that his distinction with respect to his holiness's authority, was unsound: and that he had clogged it with too much limitation. That his highness

K. of Eng.

ought to obey the pope in temporals, as well as spirituals: JOHN, "For," says he, "did you not swear obedience to the pope, and to maintain the rights of the Church at your coronation?" As to the agreement between the king and the monks of Christ's Church, and their breaking the articles at Rome, the nuncio set forth, that the pope had examined that matter to the bottom: that when his holiness had annulled the two first elections, and commanded the proxies upon a third, the fourteen monks who had promised the king to choose none but the bishop of Norwich, cast themselves at the pope's feet, and acquainted him with the tie upon their consciences. The pope chid them for taking an oath to a temporal prince without leave from their spiritual superiors, telling them withal, they had sworn to do that, which nobody living, excepting himself, had power to perform: and, after this reprimand, he absolved them from their oath, and enjoined them penance. "Being thus at liberty," says the nuncio, "they unanimously made choice of Langton, who was presented to your highness before his confirmation: but you were pleased to reject him, without any reason for your refusal. As for your instances from Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror, I answer," continues the nuncio, "that you are no successor to St. Edward, neither do you resemble him in his qualities. For he took holy Church into his protection; whereas you do nothing but harass and disturb it. Indeed, if we consider your arbitrary and oppressive administration, you may be said to succeed William the Bastard, as you call him; for both you and your Norman predecessors have made it your business to strip the Church of her privileges.

"As for your highness's authority from the case of archbishop Becket, I answer, that your father, king Henry, only recommended him to the electors, and did by no means pretend to put him into the see by dint of prerogative. And though the matter was thus gently carried, the archbishop afterwards repented his accepting the king's interest, and resigned the archbishoprick till the pope gave him a dispensation. After the martyrdom of this archbishop, your father, Henry, granted the monks a charter to choose their metropolitan exclusive of the bishops of the province."