CHAPTER XX

THE CHURCH AND THE PROVISIONS OF OXFORD

WITH the retirement of the nuncio Herlot from England, the troublesome business of the Sicilian crown practically came to an end, so far as England was concerned. It was not, however, until the year 1263, that the right of Prince Edmund to the throne was formally renounced at the invitation of Pope Alexander IV's successor, Urban IV. On 25th July of that year, the pope announced to the English king his intention of sending over an envoy to settle the matter,' and the English bishops were warned to assist this mission. Two days later, the letter introducing the embassy was written,' as well as a citation to the king and Prince Edmund, to prove their rights within four months if they still desired to claim the throne of the Sicilies. In this last communication, the pope expresses the disappointment felt generally in the Curia, that "the great power of the royal house and of the English people (which, in bestowing the crown, his predecessor had specially desired to honour), had not long ago come to the help of its mother (the Roman Church)." As nothing, however, had been done, it became necessary to take measures to relieve the Church of its responsibilities and to free the kingdom of Sicily from the many evils from which it was suffering on account of the delay. Understanding, however, that the design he had formed was not

1 Reg. Urbani IV, No. 298; cf. Brit. Mus. Add. MS., 15,360, f. 233. 2 Ibid., No. 299.

3 Ibid., No. 297.

taken in good part by you (King Henry), we think it right to warn you that should you fail to fulfil the conditions upon which you received the crown for your son, within the specified time of four months, we will proceed to grant it to some one else.1

On the arrival of the delegate in this country, the position of the English king was indeed so critical in regard to his own people, that it became clear to the envoy, if not to the king, that all idea of receiving material or financial assistance from England must be abandoned. This practically closed the incident of Sicily so far as the English king was concerned. Herlot, the pope's nuncio, had arrived about the middle of March, and parliament was summoned to meet in London on 2nd April. The object of the nuncio was, it is said, to obtain "a clear and exact reply" as to the intention of England in regard to Sicily. He asked, in the first place, for a vast sum of money to free the pope from the obligations he had taken on himself in behalf of the king and at his request. The amount of this claim far exceeded what the barons had expected, and the meeting broke up without coming to any conclusion; but shortly after, another nuncio, a friar named Mansuetus, sent at the king's request, arrived in England, possessing more extensive papal powers than Herlot. His efforts, and even threats, did not, however, avail more than those of his predecessor to induce parliament to accept the burden of indebtedness in regard to Sicily.

To return to the situation in England in 1258: For a second time Herlot met the parliament at Oxford on 28th April, and whether by design or by accident, the bishops and other prelates were absent from this meeting. In the

1 Reg. Urbani IV, No. 297; cf. Rymer, i. 428. 2 Matthew Paris, v. 676.

3 Ibid., 679.

pope's name Herlot demanded a third part of all goods moveable and immoveable for his master's use. "This

most harsh and unheard-of tax" caused absolute consternation among the nobles, who asked for time for reflection and consultation. To all the expostulations of the nuncio they replied that the immense sum asked would mean ruin to them, and that if the king had obtained the crown of Sicily from the pope for his son Edmund, this was done wholly without their knowledge and consent. It was an evident folly, they said, and had been treated as such by Richard of Cornwall, when the throne had been offered to him. They attended the adjourned meeting at Westminster with retainers fully armed, and they demanded in the first place that the king should at once dismiss his foreign advisers, that he should renew all the charters of liberties so frequently promised, and should take an oath on the gospels to govern henceforth by the advice of a council of twenty-four Englishmen. Henry and his son Edward were unable to resist, and at once took the oath; upon this all the nobles renewed their fealty to the king.2

1

Though parliament was prolonged to 5th May of this year, 1258, nothing more could be done by the papal agents in the business upon which they had come; whilst it became more and more evident that grave difficulties between the king and his subjects were imminent. In view of these internal commotions in England, the Sicilian question remained in abeyance. If pressed it would obviously have tended to alienate the barons from the king even more than they already were; and so, on 15th August, Herlot "quietly and prudently" left England having accomplished nothing by his mission.

1 Matthew Paris, v. 680.

2 Ann. Mon., i. 163; cf. Flores Hist., ii. 417.

Meanwhile the prelates had been summoned to meet the archbishop at Merton to consider the situation from an ecclesiastical point of view. Their deliberations the previous year in the synod at Canterbury had prepared them for this more important gathering, and the resolutions carried at this second meeting traversed the same ground. Matters, they declared, had got to such a state that it was impossible to shut their eyes longer without imperilling their salvation and giving up all their ecclesiastical liberties. But they premised that in reality they asked for nothing new and for nothing that was not covered by the sentence of excommunication pronounced previously by the archbishops and bishops, and indeed for nothing that had not more than once before been approved by the king.'

The barons for their part determined to appeal to the pope, not alone against the exactions proposed by his nuncio, but against what they considered the disastrous influence of foreigners in England, and in order to justify their attitude of opposition to their sovereign. They consequently drew out a long letter and sent it to the Curia by a special embassy. This was followed by a second and even by a third document, which have already been referred to in a previous chapter, where also the gist of the pope's reply was given. The prelates called to meet at Oxford to consider the situation and in particular the position they were to take in regard to the coercion being exercised by the barons on the king, attended in only small numbers, and they separated without coming to any decision, although there was no doubt as to the side they would take, in the event of the relations between the king

1 Ann. Mon., i. 409-422; cf. Wilkins, Concilia, i. 736-740.

2

PP. 321-323.

3 Matthew Paris, v. 707.

and the nation being stretched to the snapping-point. It was at this time, on the very eve of his departure from the country, that the papal envoy Herlot sent a long communication to Pope Alexander IV. He first congratulated him upon the peace which had been made between France and England, and said that in after years it would be pointed to as one of the great works accomplished by Alexander IV. The kings are now united "to serve you in fear and obey you with love. From this time forth like another Solomon you may command kings and kingdoms in the days of peace. Wherefore establish what you have accomplished," he says, "by sending the cardinal we ask you for."1

The writer then turns to what he calls "the second chapter" of the work entrusted to him. "The English king," he writes, "asks for a legate to be given to him in England for the better reformation of the state of his kingdom." For the unfortunate condition of things then existing the nuncio blames the weakness of the king and his arbitrary way of acting, as well as the greed of his foreign relations, who like locusts had followed one another, devouring whatever they could lay hold of in the country. At the time of writing, in the nuncio's opinion, matters had improved, and the king had pledged himself to govern by the advice of a council and had promised on oath to observe and protect the liberties previously granted by himself and his predecessors to the people. The writer then proceeds to explain at great length the advantage to the country of the new arrangement, and expresses his great hopes for the future of the land if governed in this way. He then turns to the chief object for which this letter was penned. "Though you may know," he writes, "both 1 Ann. Mon., i. 463.