CHAPTER XV

HENRY III PREPARES FOR THE CRUSADE

THE king had now reached the middle of his long and troubled reign. His relations with his nobles and his people had temporarily somewhat improved, but the loyalty of his subjects was soon again tested to the utmost limit by the introduction of his foreign relations by marriage, and their friends, into place and power in England, and by his further demands for money to carry out his mistaken policy abroad. Moreover, the feeling of insecurity and distrust was increased in the popular mind by a suspicion that Henry had been working in the Curia for his own end. It was thought, apparently not without some grounds, that he would not be wholly displeased to see English ecclesiastics compelled by papal authority to pay the various sums demanded of them, provided that he could himself gain the pope over to his side, and secure the weight of his supreme authority over churchmen when the time again came, as inevitably it must, for him to seek help from the Church revenues.

Innocent IV had already, on 10th October, 1246, made an Englishman, Friar John, minister of the Franciscans in Provence, his collector in the two provinces of Canterbury and York. To facilitate the collection of the sums of money claimed, he had given him powers to appoint others of his brethren to assist, and they were to use the extreme

penalties of the Church to compel obedience.1 Friar John, acting on the authority thus given him, appointed another English Franciscan, Friar Alexander, as his associate in the unpopular duty set them. From the outset they appear to have rendered the work still more unpopular, by the large sums they everywhere exacted under the head of "procurations," that is, payments for their own support as papal envoys. As soon as possible they made their way to Bishop Grosseteste, who had always in word and deed shown himself a true friend to all sons of St. Francis, and presenting him their letters required the sum of six thousand marks as the contribution expected from his diocese for the papal collection. The bishop was astounded at the magnitude of the demand. Whilst fully admitting the papal right to require assistance, he did not hesitate to express his own sentiments: "This exaction," he said, "is unheard-of and shameful, for it is impossible for us to give what is asked of us; neither does it concern me only, but it affects the whole clergy and people, and indeed the entire kingdom. This being so, it would be rash and silly on my part were I to give you a final reply on so difficult a matter of business, or to consent to it, without consultation in the parliament of the country.""

Failing to secure at once what they had expected to get from the diocese of Lincoln, the two Franciscan friars betook themselves to St. Alban's. Here they did not take up their lodgings in the friars' guest-chamber, which had lately been established in the courtyard of the monastery for the Dominicans and Franciscans asking hospitality, but went to the great guest-house of the Abbey, where bishops and nobles were wont to be entertained, and where they were received with the honour due to the pope's representatives. Additamenta, 119.

2 Matthew Paris, iv. 600.

They at once proffered their demands for an immediate payment of four thousand marks, as the contribution of St. Alban's to the papal collection. But, here, too they were disappointed; the abbot pleaded his inability to meet the unexpected burden thus laid upon his house, and, in spite of their threats of grave spiritual penalties, he refused to satisfy the collectors. So far as St. Alban's was concerned, however, the matter did not rest here. The abbot was summoned to London by the friars to show cause why he did not pay the sum required of him, and, although he had appealed to the pope and the cardinals, he nevertheless put in an appearance by his proctor. Friar John at this court produced a papal letter dated the previous year, 1246, and addressed to the abbot, directly authorising his collector to make these peremptory demands. The sums of money

were intended," the letter said, "to meet the daily increasing pressure of secular difficulties," which made it necessary for the Holy See "to have recourse to the help of its subjects" generally. The Church, in resisting the evil tendencies of the age, was really fighting the battle "of all Churches and of all ecclesiastics."

On the strength of this mandate, Friar John ordered the abbot within eight days to pay over three hundred marks in silver, declaring that if he failed to do so, he would be excommunicated and his house placed under an interdict. To this threat, however, the proctor for St. Alban's replied, that having appealed to the pope personally they would await a personal reply. At the same time the worst was expected, since it became known that the pope was urging his envoy, by every means in his power, to send on the expected subsidy, or at least some part of it. Similar demands upon the Church of France had produced little or nothing, and they had only stirred up St. Louis to make

further protestations to the pontiff, and to take measures to prevent the payments being made by any of his subjects. In England there were many who feared the consequences of these constant demands on the part of the Roman Curia. Rumours were in circulation that princes and magnates whose predecessors, or who themselves had founded and endowed the ecclesiastical and religious bodies by their charters, were talking of resuming possession, now that the revenues were being taken for purposes other than those for which they had been intended, or were being given to foreigners.

Meanwhile the case of St. Alban's was pleaded before the pope at Lyons by a monk possessing the characteristic name of John Bull, who had been accompanied to the Curia by a lawyer named Adam de Bern. Before these proctors, however, had time to present their case fully, Friar John in England again peremptorily summoned the abbot to meet him at Bedford on 17th December, 1247, and there to pay the subsidy demanded. This the abbot refused to do, sending only the same reply as before, namely, that an appeal to the pope in person had been lodged against these demands. At the Curia, Friar John represented that St. Alban's was the only place among the abbeys of England which would not obey the pope. Counter representations were of course made, and, after long delays, the amount demanded was reduced to two hundred marks, but the whole business, with expenses, cost the convent three hundred marks sterling. Apparently before the close of the year 1247 the somewhat irregular papal mission of Friar John came to an end; and Innocent IV dispatched one of his chaplains, named Marinus, with the powers of a legate residing in England, who was to forward to the Curia 1 Matthew Paris, iv. 617-622.

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whatever money he could secure out of the sums declared to be due. The historian, Matthew Paris, says that the people nicknamed him "another Martin," in recollection of the official who a few years previously had won for himself such an unenviable reputation, and who was forced to retire somewhat hastily from the country. This name of Marinus, "the sailor," suggested also the popular saying at the time, that he was "a fisher rather of men's possessions than of their souls." This delegate was not called by the title of legate, though he was armed with all the powers of one, and in this way he was in reality able to effect more in the business for which he had come.'

On 9th February, 1248, parliament met in London. The chief work before it was the consideration of the financial condition of England. The country was undoubtedly being more and more impoverished by the constant drain made upon its resources. The archbishop of Canterbury was still away, but the meeting was attended by Walter Gray, the archbishop of York, and by eight other bishops, besides many abbots and other prelates. The straits to which the king was now reduced were little short of desperate, and he was forced to apply to his subjects for money to carry on the business of the State. Parliament, however, was in no mood to grant him any relief without some security for better government. The nobles reminded him that the last time he appealed to them he had promised by charter not to do so again; they blamed him for bringing over his foreign relations and friends, and setting them in places which should be filled by Englishmen. They complained that he allowed his subjects to be impoverished by arbitrary exactions and impositions, and that he had kept Sees and abbacies in his hands, in order to enjoy their 1 Matthew Paris, iv. 617-622.