care of the poor, freely gave over to them the right of patronage in your churches by which they chose fitting parsons for presentation to the bishops, by which arrangement the salvation of souls and the relief of the poor was greatly assisted." This good work you seem to consider as set aside because the religious have obtained permission from the Apostolic See to convert some of these cures to their own uses, and "as your prelates, that is, the bishops of the kingdom, have told you that the correction of all these grievances belongs to us, and since the bishops have written to us on the subject," we will write as to the remedy we propose in the matter.

"You have, moreover, added to your letters many hard and bitter complaints, which ought never to have been written by you to the Vicar of Christ and successor of the Prince of the Apostles." These subjects of reproach regarded apostolic provisions and appropriations of churches, which you complained of, and about which you desired to know what we intended to do. If in all you wrote you were merely actuated by zeal and love, “as we ought to believe and hope, We should rejoice that the Roman Church, your mother, had in you sons so solicitous, so loving, and so watchful" to preserve the honour of the Apostolic See, and to secure the salvation of souls. In all these provisions, the pontiff goes on to declare, he had been solely actuated by his desire to do his best for religion. He thought, and still thinks, he says, that by his concessions he is serving God, by helping the poverty of these religious men, whilst the divine worship in the appropriated church is rather assisted than diminished, and most certainly the poor will receive more from the religious people than they were wont to do. The bishops' rights, too, are safeguarded, since ample provision is made in all these appropriations

for curates with proper means of support, and for all diocesan taxations and rights.

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As for what is said in their letters about the dearth of able men in England, he can only say that in no country in the world, as far as he knows, are there so many learned men to be found as in theirs. "In England resides the liberal art of philosophy, by which the rude minds of men are cultured. From England comes and has come that renowned stock of learned and holy men, in whose company the heavenly hosts rejoice and the ranks of the blessed in heaven are filled; by them the Christian people are made illustrious and the Catholic faith strengthened, whilst from their hearts the deep wells of the Scriptures have sprung and still spring forth and water neighbouring lands by the stream of their teaching." He can assure them, the pope says in conclusion, that he has been mindful of the good of the English Church in what he has done, and he hopes that they will trust him to remedy anything that may be amiss.2

This letter of the pope could hardly have been deemed entirely satisfactory by those to whom it was addressed; since, whilst dealing with one set of acts complained of, it made no mention of other grievances, which to most people were the real cause of the trouble,—the appointment of foreigners to English benefices. Indeed, even before the pope's reply had been received in this country, a disturbance of a most serious kind had happened in regard to this very matter in London. Bishop Fulk, of that See, had, sometime previous to 1260, bestowed a prebend in the cathedral church of St. Paul upon Rustand, the nuncio in England. Rustand became a Franciscan, and died in Italy, whereupon the pope conferred his benefice upon 2 Rymer, i. 392-393.

1 Corantur.

some personal friend. When this was done, the bishop was already dead, and the king claiming the appointment to benefices during the vacancy of the See, and being wholly ignorant of what the pope had done, presented his treasurer, John de Crakehall, to the vacant prebend, and caused him to be solemnly installed.

In a short time, however, there appeared in England the proctor of the pope's nominee claiming the stall for him. The archbishop of Canterbury, seeing that the document nominating the Roman was dated before the king's appointment, decided judicially that the benefice belonged to the foreigner. In spite of this decision, however, the papal claimant was refused admission to the house attached to the canonry, and failed to force his way into it. In the struggle the unfortunate proctor for the pope's nominee and his socius were killed, and the inquiry that followed failing to discover the guilty parties, it was shrewedly suspected that many in the city were not altogether displeased that the foreigners should have received a lesson. For, says the chronicler, "the English were indignant that so many Romans were frequently enriched with some English benefice, whilst no Englishman was rewarded by them (the Romans) once in a year. And because they were wont to walk as if they thought the whole earth belonged to them, the English hoped this might prove a lesson to them, and frighten them in the future from coming so often and so uselessly into the kingdom."

As the year 1260 drew to a close, the pope made a piteous appeal to Prince Edward to try and stir up his father, the king, and the English barons to come to the aid of the Church, and indeed of the civilised world, by

1 Flores Hist., ii. 445.

сс

helping to press back the Tartar hordes which then threatened to overrun the whole of Christendom. He describes them as bursting with irresistible fury over the land, sweeping all before them, and leaving in their train only desolation and ruin. To the Christian people, it appeared as if hell itself had broken loose, and they were inclined to believe the boast of the barbarians that "the God of the heavens had given over to them the entire earth." Some of the most famous Christian cities were already in ruins, and Hungary and Poland were desolated to the very confines of the Roman power. Pope Alexander, therefore, beseeches Prince Edward to consult with the king and his nobles, and to devise some measure by which Europe could be saved, and the tide of barbarian invasion arrested, if not rolled back.1

With the coming of the year 1261, Henry began to manifest impatience at the restraints imposed upon him by the "Provisions of Oxford." In February he had made up his mind once more to free himself from the oath he had taken to the barons. He told them that, although they had professed to act for the good of the country and to free him from debt, his experience had shown them that this was not the effect of the arrangements made at Oxford, and he asked them not to be surprised if he determined no longer to follow their advice. Acting upon this warning, Henry sent agents to Rome to obtain absolution from his oath, and he wrote to his son and the king of France to secure their help for this attempt to recover the mastery in his own country. Alexander IV was not long in coming to a decision upon the royal petition. On 13th April, 1261, he issued a Bull absolving the king from the oath he had taken at Oxford. It had been proved to him, he says, 2 Flores Hist., ii. 468.

1 Rymer, i. 403.

"that you were induced by the pressure of the lords and people of your kingdom to bind yourself by oath to observe certain statutes, laws and ordinances, which they, under a pretext of reforming the condition of the country, are said to have made in your name and strengthened by their oaths." These really are calculated "to lessen your power and to lower your royal liberty." The pope then, out of the plenitude of his power, declares Henry absolved from his oath; but adds that if there should be anything in these laws and ordinances which secures the rights and benefits of prelates, churches and ecclesiastical persons, he has no intention of declaring these void, nor of freeing the king from his oath as regards them.'

According to the chroniclers, Prince Edward at this time also received absolution from the oath he had taken with the barons; but on being informed of the remission, he immediately renewed his promise.' The barons endeavoured to force the king to discuss the special points in their working arrangement to which he took exception, but they failed to obtain from him more than a promise that matters should remain as they were till the return of Prince Edward to England. The pope, however, did not wait; but on 27th April, 1261, he condemned the oath of the barons, and ordered the archbishop to declare that all who had taken it, prelates and nobles alike, were to be declared absolved from any obligation. A week later, on 7th May, Alexander IV directed the archbishop of Canterbury not only to publish this absolution from the oath, but to declare excommunicated any one who refused to return to his loyalty to his prince by accepting this dispensation. In the same month of May, the king caused the papal dispensation of 2 Flores Hist., ii. 466; cf. Ann. Mon., iv. 128. Rymer, i. 406. 5 Ibid.

Va Rymer, i. 405. 3 lbid.

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