to the 19th of the month some additional powers were given to him, and some special points of advice impressed upon him. If England refused to receive him, for example, as it did the pope under similar circumstances, then he was to declare the whole country placed under an interdict, and that the excommunication, already pronounced by the pope himself when legate, against certain barons, and against London and the Cinque Ports, still held good. Further, in the case of the English refusing to receive him, the cardinal was to publish in France a prohibition against anyone marrying into the family of a rebel; to declare that all ecclesiastical elections or appointments to benefices were void, until his orders have been obeyed; to deprive the sons and nephews of all rebel nobles and ecclesiastics of their benefices; and finally to declare that if the people persisted in their rebellion, and did not heed his commands, the pope would give over their persons and their property to others. At length, on 19th July, 1265, Pope Clement told the legate not to delay any longer, but to start at once on his mission,' which, apparently, he did shortly afterwards. When Ottoboni finally reached the sea at Boulogne, in the October of this year, 1265, the situation in England had changed considerably. On 28th May, Prince Edward, whilst at Hereford, had succeeded in escaping from the custody of the de Montfort party, and, on 4th August, had fought the celebrated battle of Evesham, in which Simon de Montfort was killed and his power broken. Though this did not, indeed, end the civil war, which dragged on for a couple of years longer under the three sons of Simon, it rendered the work of the legate very "Historical Review, 1900, p. 87, note from Neues Archiv., xxii. 350. different from what had been anticipated for him. Whilst on his journey towards England Ottoboni sent forward letters to the archbishop of Canterbury, explaining that the Church must regard the rebellion in England as the work of the enemy of man's salvation, and that he, having been sent to try to put an end to the disturbances, would look for help and assistance in the work to the head of the English Church. He trusted that the attitude of the bishops might not oblige him to have recourse to harsh measures, but that by their help he might be able joyfully to return to the mother who sent him, "carrying with exultation the sheaves of salvation and gladness."1 At the same time, from Savoy, the legate wrote to encourage the king. "After the labour, in which mother Church," he writes, "has begot to Christ, her Spouse, the peoples of your kingdom; after she has, by the help of the Holy Spirit, instructed them in the true faith, has filled them with knowledge and learning, and has adorned them with many graces," nothing can be more bitter and grievous to her, than the turn the new disturbances have taken in these late days. The pope, just before his elevation, had sought to probe the wound, but had failed to find a remedy; and now, placed in a higher position, he has felt the matter more keenly, "having to carry on his shoulders this and the other burdens of the world, which he has received from the hand of God Himself." His heart at once turned towards you, and, looking at the desolation of the kingdom, he thought how by an embassy "to the kingdom and Church of England, that great and illustrious member of the Christian world, founded on the faith of the Eternal God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, he might bring consolation in all its troubles, with tranquillity after the storm of 1 Hist. Review, 1900, pp. 87-88. revolution, and rest after the tempest." For this end, the legate continues, the pope had made choice of him, and after a difficult and circuitous journey, to avoid the enemies of the papacy, by the help of relations and friends he has reached Savoy, and he hopes with God's help, to come quickly and to fulfil his mission.1 To the college of cardinals, Ottoboni writes shortly after, that he had reached the French court on 29th August, 1265. He found St. Louis, he says, "like a strong and central column in the deserted house of God." He was received by him with all honour; and whilst in Paris, taking counsel how best to fulfil his mission, letters reached him from the king of England and the king of the Romans, with others from Prince Edward, the heir to the English Crown. Advised by the French king, he sent forward messengers to bring him word if he could safely cross into the country; and they had returned with the account of the "miserable end of the earl of Leicester," contained in the royal letters. Before Ottoboni reached England, it became known to the pope that, by order of de Montfort, a tithe of ecclesiastical property had been collected to help the movement of the revolution. Clement IV wrote at once telling the legate to take possession of whatever portion of this tax remained yet unspent, and by censures and other ecclesiastical penalties to get this money out of the hands in which it was found to be. At the same time, he dispatched a mandate to the English prelates to hand over to Ottoboni whatever of this tax they still had, and forwarded a Bull declaring null and void all conventions or conspiracies against the king, as well as all promises made 1 Hist. Review, 1900, p. 88. 3 2 Ibid., p. 90. Rymer, i. 458. by him whilst in the power of the earl of Leicester and his followers. In this last document, the pope refers to his own experience as legate, and to the sentences of excommunication and interdict which he had, in that capacity, passed upon the rebels. Since that time, he says, many acts had been done, documents signed and grants made, whilst the king was in captivity, purporting to have come from the Crown "freely and spontaneously "; and some of these were given on the promise that the recipients would not ask, or indeed receive, the approval of the Roman See. Some of the bishops, also, had sanctioned these acts by sentences of excommunication against any one attempting to set them aside. "Seeing, therefore," says the pope, "that the Lord, setting our humility over peoples and kingdoms, has committed to our unworthiness the care of all nations and kings," we declare all these acts null and void, absolving the king from all oaths and promises so taken, declaring that the sentences of excommunication pronounced as above by the bishops are without force and effect.' When penning these letters, on 4th September, Clement IV was still unaware of the defeat and death of the earl of Leicester at the battle of Evesham a month previously. He knew that Prince Edward had succeeded in obtaining his freedom, and he added another letter to him, congratulating him on his escape, and exhorting him to do his utmost to rescue his father, the king, out of the hands of his enemies. In a second Bull, addressed to Cardinal Ottoboni, he recites the critical state of affairs in England as he understands them, and tells him to warn all to forsake the party of the earl of Leicester, under the penalties of excommunication. He has, he says, renewed publicly in 1 Rymer, i. 459; cf. Reg. Clement IV, No. 228. 2 Ibid., 460; cf. Reg. ut supra, No. 229. the cathedral church of Perugia, whence he writes, the sentences formerly published by him as legate, on the Thursday in the Holy Week last past, and he desires Ottoboni to publish them in the Church of France, and, as far as possible, in that of England.1 A few days later, these instructions were followed by two letters, written on 13th September, which also show that the pope was still ignorant of de Montfort's fate. In the first, Ottoboni is charged to compel all English ecclesiastics who have preached anywhere in favour of the national movement to unsay their sermons in the same places; and in the second, the legate is told to order the clergy to denounce de Montfort and other rebels as excommunicated, on the Sundays at the usual time and place. In reply to the legate's communication, Clement IV tells him, on 19th September, that he can best learn what to do from Prince Edward. He should apply to the French king for help, and preach a crusade against the rebels. He gives him faculties to absolve the bishops of London, Worcester, Lincoln and Ely, but he is to suspend from office any bishops or ecclesiastics who side with the rebels." A few days later, the news of the king's liberation must have reached the pope; for, on 22nd September, he writes to authorise his legate to absolve Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, who had been expressly named in his sentence, but who was known to have taken a considerable part in obtaining King Henry's liberty. By a Bull, dated the same day, he gives the king the tenth of all ecclesiastical property, which had been levied whilst he was still in the power of the earl of Leicester. Letters of congratulation follow. That addressed to the king on 4th October, evidences in its language 2 1 Rymer, i. 459; cf. Reg., No. 230. Reg. Clement IV, i. Nos. 230, 233. 3 Ibid., No. 956. Rymer, i. 462. 4 5 Ibid. |