K. of Eng. him despair of maintaining his ground against the pope; he was JOHN, forced, therefore, to consent to the proposals of the nuncios, and took a solemn oath to submit to the award of the Church; and sixteen of the principal earls and barons of the kingdom were guarantees for the performance, and in case the king should happen to fail in the articles, they obliged themselves to do their utmost to force him to keep his word. Upon the thirteenth of May, the Monday before Ascen- The terms sion day, the king and Pandulphus, with a numerous assembly commodaof the acof earls and barons, met at Dover, and agreed to the articles tion. of the accommodation. They were drawn up in the form of letters patent, and sealed with the king's seal. And here the king swears to be concluded by the pope's instructions to his nuncio, in all points relating to his excommunication; to permit Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, the other English prelates beyond sea, and their adherents, to return home, and enjoy their property, privilege, and jurisdiction, without any impeachment or disturbance. He promised, likewise, to make full restitution of whatever had been taken from any of the clergy or laity during the late misunderstandings. He likewise engaged to reverse all outlawries occasioned by the dispute above mentioned. And, provided there should arise any difference about stating the damages, that point was to be referred to the legate. 420. Id. p. 236. his crowns Annales 269. This was the main of the articles at the first meeting. He resigns Things being thus far advanced, the king, Pandulphus, and to the pope's the nobility, met two days after, upon Ascension eve, at legate. the Templars' house, near Dover; and here, according to the conditions prescribed at Rome, the king resigned his crowns of England and Ireland to the pope. The instrument is set Paris, ibid. down at large by Matthew Paris and the Annals of Burton. Burton, p. By virtue of this resignation the king was to hold the kingdoms of England and Ireland of the pope, and pay him a thousand marks yearly in acknowledgment of his sovereignty. This grant is said to be made "communi consilio baronum nostrorum," by the consent of the barons. And, what was a particular mortification, the king was forced to say he was willing to submit to all this hardship; that he resigned his kingdoms by the suggestion of the holy Spirit; and that he was not driven to this compliance by the terror of the F f VOL. II. LANG- interdict, or out of any motive of fear, but that he was Abp. Cant. governed in this affair purely by his own free will and in TON, clination. In earnest, this is hard language for his holiness to put upon a prince. To make him a vassal and a hypocrite at the same time, was an odd stretch of the supremacy, by which the pope became no less reprehensible than the king. This charter was signed by the archbishop of Dublin, the Matt. Paris, bishop of Norwich, eight earls, and three barons. p. 237. See Records, num. 31. Chronic. Melrose, p. 187. The king delivered the instrument of resignation to Pandulphus to be transmitted to Rome, and immediately after took the oath of homage publickly to the pope and his successors; the oath runs in the usual form sworn by a homager to a sovereign prince. Pandulphus conducted himself with great haughtiness upon this occasion, and trampled under his feet the money which the king gave him as an earnest of his vassalage. The chronicle of Melrose relates, that the king laid his crown at Pandulphus's feet; and some report that this nuncio did not return it till five days after. After Ascension was over, the king ordered Peter of Wakefield, the hermit, to be executed as a false prophet. This was thought hard measure by those who examined the prediction; they thought the hermit suffered for telling truth for now, to speak properly, the king had sunk his Paris,p.237. title by making the pope his sovereign. Pandulphus, being furnished with the instruments above mentioned, set sail for France, to acquaint the archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the exiles with the terms he had procured for them, and that now they were at liberty to go home. He likewise desired the French king to disband his army, and give over his enterprise. That, since the king of England had made the Church satisfaction, he could not attempt anything against that prince without incurring his holiness' displeasure. The king of France was highly disgusted at this discourse, and told the nuncio that he had undertaken the expedition at the pope's instance, and spent Id. p. 238. above threescore thousand pounds in his preparations: neither would he have dropped the design, nor been governed by any counter orders of his holiness, had he not been deserted by Philip, earl of Flanders; this earl, being an ally of king John's, refused the French service, and de- JOHN, clared against the justice of the war. K. of Eng. The king of France, thus disappointed, ordered his fleet to set sail for Flanders, and make a descent upon the country. The king of England, advertised of the earl's condition, sent him supplies immediately. These auxiliaries, discovering the French fleet on the coast of Flanders, perceived that most of the forces were gone on shore to forage; upon this they attacked their ships, took three hundred, and burnt a hundred. When the king of France understood this misfortune, he drew off his forces from Flanders, and marched home. The nobility tend the excommuni The king of England, informed of this defeat, ordered his troops in Flanders to march into the enemy's country; him- refuse to atself designing to sail into Poictou to attack the French on king till the that side. And for this purpose he had drawn down a con- cation was siderable army to Portsmouth. But here his voyage was taken off. disappointed; for the nobility refused to attend him till the excommunication was taken of. Langton The king, thus distressed, sent a farther security to the Archbishop archbishop of Canterbury and the other prelates beyond ang the sea. The instrument promised them full and immediate re- rest of the prelates restitution, and four-and-twenty earls and barons undertook called. for the performance. Upon this invitation, Stephen, arch- August 26. bishop of Canterbury, the bishops of London, Ely, Lincoln, and Hereford, together with all the clerks and laity concerned in the quarrel of the interdict, embarked forthwith, and, landing at Dover, waited on the king at Winchester. The king, at the sight of the archbishop and bishops, threw himself with tears at their feet, and begged them to have compassion on himself and the kingdom. The prelates, seeing the king thus surprisingly condescending and mortified, raised him with great sympathy and respect, led him to the cathedral, and absolved him in form. The king swore at the They abtime of absolution, that he would cherish and maintain the solve the Church and clergy to the utmost of his power; that he would revive the acceptable part of the constitution, particularly the laws of Edward the Confessor; that all his subjects should have the benefit of law and justice, and not be punished or disseized in an abitrary manner; with some other articles not necessary to mention. king. 421. LANG- Things being thus adjusted, he marched to Portsmouth Abp. Cant. in order to embark for Poictou, leaving the administration to the bishop of Winchester, Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, and the archbishop of Canterbury. Thus Matthew Paris; but the records of the Tower inform us, that the government of the kingdom was left solely to the bishop of Winchester. The archbishop of persuades the king to stop his march against the barons. Matt. Paris, tiones Li- teræ, &c. 181. When the king ordered the army to embark, the barons Canterbury told him, they had been so long in the field that their money was all spent, and, therefore, unless they were furnished from the exchequer, they could not follow him. The king not complying with this condition, the great men disbanded themselves, and thus the expedition into France was postponed. The king, thus deserted by his barons, levied an army to compel them to their duty. When he took the field, the archbishop waited on him at Northampton, and told him, that if his highness rejected the courts of justice, and made use of military methods, such applications would by no means agree with the oath taken by him at his absolution. The king, with an air of disgust, replied, that secular causes were none of the archbishop's business, and that he should not defer the affairs of the government upon his account. The forces marching early the next morning towards Nottingham, the archbishop followed the king, and told him with great freedom, that unless he altered his measures, and put up his sword, all those who attacked any person in a hostile manner before the interdict was taken off, should be excommunicated, excepting his highness: and thus the archbishop prevailed with the king to stop his march, and gained the barons time to appear at the king's court, and take their trial according Matt. Paris, to law. P. 240. He interfar in the business of poses too the state. Towards the latter end of August, the prelates, barons, and abbots, had a meeting at London: and here the archbishop of Canterbury allowed the conventual churches and parish priests to perform divine service, provided it was pronounced in a low voice, the parishioners having the liberty to be present at it: for, by the way, we may observe, that though the king was absolved, the interdict was not taken off. At this meeting, Matthew Paris relates from gested to the common report, that the archbishop of Canterbury had a barons. private conference with some of the great barons, and sug Ibid. An expedient sug gested an expedient to recover the ancient constitution: "I JOHN, K. of Eng. have," says he, "the charter of king Henry the First by me: this instrument will direct you in your demands upon the crown, and put you in a method to retrieve your liberties." When the barons heard this charter read they were exceedingly pleased with the contents, and swore they would venture their lives in the cause when time should serve. The archbishop promised them his assistance: and thus, Id. 241. after they had entered into a sort of association, the meeting broke up. About this time, the errors of the Albigenses began to grow more publick than formerly. It seems, they were now too strong for the discipline of the Church, and excessively profane, unless they are misrepresented. For they are said to have thrown the Gospels into the common sewer before the face of the clergy, and to have abused the communion plate. And when the western Christians undertook a crusade against them, and besieged them in Bourges, they threw the New Testament over the walls, with expressions of blasphemy and contempt. Ibid. Thus Matthew Paris. But it is not improbable he might be misinformed about the Albigenses: for the annals of Waverley report, that they had several bishops and other clergy in their party, which had they deserved so hideous a Annal Wacharacter, one may think, would not have happened. verlens. p. 173. This year, the king sent sir Thomas Hardington, sir The king offers to Ralph Fitz-Nicholas, and Robert, of London, clerk, on a turn Mahoprivate embassy to the king of Morocco: their commission metan, &c. was to make this infidel prince an offer of the kingdom of England, and that their master was willing to hold it of him, and pay a yearly acknowledgment. And more than that, they told him, the king was ready to resign his faith, as well as his dominions, and turn Mahometan. This prince, who was a person of sense and eloquence, after he had paused a little upon the proposal, gave this answer: "I have lately," says he, "perused a Greek book, written by one Paul, a learned Christian: I am very much pleased with the doctrine, history, and behaviour of this man: however, his quitting the religion he was bred in, and revolting to a new belief, does not please me: and I must tell you, your king is much to blame for his inconstancy upon this point, |