III. king, instead of doing himself right, addressed the pope to HENRY secure his authority; which method was thought a remedy K. of Eng. worse than the disease. Canterbury This year, the archbishop of Canterbury entered upon a The archprovincial visitation. The character of this prelate made bishop of people believe this discipline was set on foot more for begins a provincial money than reformation of manners. He began with his visitation. own monks of Canterbury; from thence he travelled to the abbey of Feversham, where he acted very arbitrarily; from Feversham he came forward to Rochester, and carried off above thirty marks from that small convent; and, in all these places, his avarice and rough manner made him very unacceptable. When he came to London, the chapter of St. Paul's refused to admit him; upon which he excommunicated the dean, and some of the canons. This repulse ruffled his humour, and probably disposed him to those extremities of passion he fell into soon after. St. Bartho The next day, he went to visit the regular canons of St. A quarrel at Bartholomew; the sub-prior received him with ringing of the priory of bells and all the respect of a procession. The archbishop lomew. was somewhat uncourtly in his return, slighted their ceremony, and told them that he came only to visit them as their archbishop. To this, one of the convent replied, they were under the government of a very learned bishop, and that to admit any other visitor would be construed a contempt of their ordinary. Upon this the archbishop, falling into a rage, struck the sub-prior, tore his rich cope, and throwing him down, beat him very severely. The convent came in to the rescue of their sub-prior, and fell upon the aggressor; but the archbishop being assisted by his retinue, the monks were ill-handled. They made their complaint to the bishop of London, who sent them to the court for redress, but the king refused to see them. election. The canons, making a lamentable figure in the city, and The archshewing the marks of ill usage, raised the burghers upon bishop reproached the archbishop, who resolved to find him out, and pull him about his in pieces. During this heat, they outraged him to the last degree in their language, calling him bloody harpy, and saying, that God Almighty and a free election never brought him to his archbishoprick, but that he was put upon the see by arbitrary power and court violence. It seems, the people, BONI- at this time of day, had no good opinion of a bishop that Abp. Cant. was forced upon the diocese by the crown. To return: the archbishop escaped the fury of the burghers, got to Lambeth, and made his complaint to the king, who ordered proId. p. 780, clamation to be made in the city, that no man should pursue that quarrel any farther, under the highest penalties. 781. He goes to The king's The archbishop, understanding the dean of St. Paul's, and some others, were gone to the pope to complain of him, fortified himself with the king's letters, and set forward to Rome with a very pompous retinue. This year, Raley, bishop of Winchester, dying at Tours in France, the king sent some of the court clergy to make an of Winches- interest for his brother Ethelmar at Winchester. And soon sermon to the convent ter. after, to prevent disappointment, he went down himself; and, going into the chapter-house, began to preach to the convent upon this text, "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." In this sermon he put them in mind how they disobliged him in the election of the late bishop, and how he had passed over their noncompliance. From hence he proceeds to recommend his brother, from the nobleness of his birth, and that, being a young prince, he was likely to benefit that see a great while; and, to make the more effectual impression upon them, he concludes with this menacing sentence, that unless they complied with his desire, he would make them all smart for their obstinacy. The monks being thoroughly frightened, chose Ethelmar, upon condition the pope thought fit to dispense with him. The king having thus far gained his point, ordered his secretary, Robert de Sothingdon, to draw up a letter for the pope, with all the address and rhetorick imaginable, to persuade his holiness to confirm Ethelmar's election. And, for fear promises and smooth elocution should prove too weak, he ordered him to fortify the application with some threatening expressions. Upon this occasion, the historian breaks out in a satire upon the degeneracy of the times. He is almost angry the world is suffered to continue in so great a moral declension. "What's become," says he, "of that righteousness and peace that the king was pleased to take for his text? What's become of the freedom of elections? Where are the rights and privileges of the Church, which his highness swore to III. was now maintain at his coronation? Alas! the natives of the king- HENRY dom are now set aside in Church preferments: piety and K. of Eng. learning signify nothing in an Englishman: foreigners of no merit are put upon us. Men that have neither sense nor English, life nor letters to recommend them; who are much more disposed to plunder the clergy than to save the souls of the laity. Formerly men of great piety and improvements used to be dragged to preferment, and almost ravished into a bishoprick. But now, courtiers, and men of secular employments and tempers, seize the holy revenues, and invade the church. And when any sees become vacant, they are pillaged instead of being protected by the officers of the crown." From hence he continues his satire, and makes a reprimanding apostrophe to the pope. "Holy Father," says he, "why do you suffer such disorders in the Church? In earnest, you deserve the hardships you undergo and yet further, you deserve to be expelled Rome, and to wander like Cain from one foreign country to another. Your ene- The pope mies in the empire gain ground upon you, and those that driven out pursue you are mighty and swift. All this misfortune ought of Italy, and forced to not to be any surprise, considering the present mismanage- reside at Lyons. ment: the administration of the Church is perfectly unhinged the bishops are checked in their jurisdiction and patronage, by the interposing of provisions; and ignorant foreigners are set over the flock of Christ, who mind nothing but amassing of money. Indeed, under such shepherds the sheep may be said to be rather flayed than fed. And thus England, which has been particularly famous for the flourishing of religion, is used worse than the rest of Christendom, and rifled of her wealth and privilege by the court of Rome. I would gladly know what preferment any Englishman gets in Rome, in Italy, or any other country: what reason is there then for foreigners to prey thus upon our Church, and sweep her revenues? Good God! when wilt thou appear in our defence, and exert thy vengeance upon such criminals as these? But, alas! it is our sins that have exposed us to these insults, and drawn all this calamity upon us." Grosteste, bishop of Lincoln, tired with the maladministration and mercenariness of the Roman see, left Rome, and returned into England; and being dissatisfied with the state of the English Church at his arrival, he designed to Id. p. 802. BONI quit his bishoprick, and retire for study and devotion: but, Abp. Cant. upon second thoughts, he was afraid the see might suffer, both in the vacancy and the next election; this reflection made him alter his mind and continue upon his charge. FACE, Fecit ex primi mamillas earundem. And, soon after, he visited the religious houses of his diocese with great rigour, as Matthew Paris represents it, and made an unusual enquiry into the behaviour of the nuns. And, to make the discipline more solemn, he pronounced all the curses and blessings of Deuteronomy to take place according as they broke or kept the rules of their order. The Lent following, this prelate was suspended for refusing to institute an Italian, who could not speak English, to of Lincoln suspended, one of the best benefices of his diocese. and why. A. D. 1251. 820. This year, the pope confirmed Ethelmar, the king's brother, in the see of Winchester, and gave him leave to hold the rest of his Church preferments in commendam, which amounted to more than a thousand marks per annum. By Id. p. 816. the way, we are to observe, that this Ethelmar, notwithstanding his confirmation, was either not consecrated at all, as is generally reported, or, at least, not till the year 1260. The suffering the revenues to be thus enjoyed without the character and burthen of the office, is deservedly complained of by Matthew Paris; who tells us, it was an abuse but lately practised. Godwin in Paris, p. 816. 459. Ibid. A. D. 1252. The bishop of Lincoln made another visitation, and examined very closely into the conduct of the clergy. And, as for papal provisions, he discovered his dislike of them with all the freedom imaginable, frequently throwing away the pope's bulls, and openly declaring, that to entrust a cure of souls with clerks, who had no better title, was to act for the devil. The next year, upon the quindenes of Easter, the king caused proclamation to be made in London, commanding all the citizens to come to Westminster to receive his instructions. When they made their appearance, the bishops of Worcester, Chichester, and the abbot of Westminster, were ordered to harangue them upon the subject of the crusade; but the court of Rome having disappointed the nation, and misapplied the money collected for that use, the citizens were disheartened, and few undertook the service. However, the king, to encourage the expedition, swore he would III. set forward in person at midsummer next ensuing, unless HENRY prevented by death, sickness, or some other justifiable im- K. of Engpediment. It is observed, he took the oath with unusual solemnity of circumstances; for first, he laid his right hand The clergy and laity upon his breast, which was swearing like a priest; and after- swear with wards, he kissed the Gospels, which was the form or cir- difference cumstance customary to the laity. in the pos ture. Id. p. 841. et Addita The archbishop of Canterbury, who had met with some rubs in his business at the court of Rome, was relieved by the interest of his brother, the earl of Savoy. The pope ended the dispute between him and his suffragans, by determining upon a compromise. He granted the archbishop an authority to visit the province; but then he moderated the demands of procurations, and fixed them at a certain rate. And thus, by giving some sort of satisfaction, both to the archbishop and the other prelates, he made a penny of both parties. About this time, the bishop of Lincoln, notwithstanding ment. p. his late freedom with the see of Rome, procured a bull from the pope to correct the mismanagement of the religious houses. It seems that several of the monasteries in his diocese had converted the profits of the livings under their patronage, to their own use; or, at the best, allowed but a very slender maintenance to those who supplied the cure. bishop, therefore, upon his complaint, had a commission of Lincoln from the pope to augment those vicarages which were too old vicarmeanly endowed, and to settle new ones, and assign them settles new part of the tithes, as he thought fit. The The bishop augments ages, and ones out of the paroSee Re 37. bishop's re The archbishop of Canterbury had lately suffered an af- chial tithes. front by the elect of Winchester, who had treated his official cords, num. very roughly; the case is too long to mention. However, the archbishop thinking it necessary to have some publick satisfaction, took a journey to Oxford to expose and punish The archthe fact. When he drew near the town, the heads, masters, ception at and students, met him on horseback, and made a very Oxford. splendid appearance. In short, they entertained him suitably to his quality and station, and the manner of the reception was performed with great decency and address. It discovered so much of the breeding of gentlemen, the learning of scholars, and the gravity of divines, that the arch- Paris, p. bishop and his retinue confessed that Oxford was not at all 857, 858. |