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. 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. the lives of all your subjects and the state of the whole world, since it is impossible for the human mind to know everything, it can in no way be looked upon as a negligence or want of care on your part if you do not fully understand everything in the wide and scattered countries subject to your rule." For this reason the writer thinks it his duty to explain some few particulars. For one thing, he assures the pope, "your devoted servant, the illustrious English king and his prelates and nobles ask earnestly for a cardinal legate to be sent to England by the Apostolic See." They are quite aware of the heavy cost of such a mission; but "moved by zeal of devotion and to manifest their faith, they would rather bear the burden of those expenses than witness the rise of scandals." They would never urge this with such persistency if there were not grave circumstances at work in the country, which seem to call for the presence of one possessing full authority to deal with the evils and their causes.' With the beginning of the year 1269, the king's brother, Richard of Cornwall, now king of the Romans, returned to England. He had received a message, whilst still abroad, telling him of the new arrangements as to the government of the kingdom, and asking him to give his assent on oath to what had been done. On the 28th of January the king wrote a letter to await his arrival, urging him to take the oath asked for, and expressing his approval of it. This Richard of Cornwall did, on landing at Dover, on 2nd February.3 The first half of the year 1259 was mainly occupied by arrangements to complete the great work of the peace with France. On 2nd August, however, the question of a legate was again raised, and the king wrote to the pope 1 Ann. Mon., i. 463-466. 2 Rymer, i. 380. 3 Flores Hist., ii. 419. 2 formally asking for one; and he commissioned his agents in the Curia, and Rustand, the late papal nuncio in England, to explain the reasons why the pope should grant this favour for the Sicilian affair "as well as for other business" regarding England. No immediate reply was, apparently, sent to this petition; but on 8th August, Alexander IV wrote to confirm a gift by the king of a certain benefice to Arlotencio, the nephew of the late nuncio Herlot, which he had bestowed upon him to show his favour to his uncle. In this letter the pope says that the nuncio on his return had given the best possible report of the king's piety and devotion, which made him desire to do all that he could to carry out his wishes. In the month of September a Roman official came to England to try and arrange matters in the interminable dispute about the elect of Winchester. Against the action and bearing of this Italian prelate King Henry thought it his duty to protest. He had presented the Apostolic letters appointing him to the king and his council "as a prudent and circumspect man, zealous for peace and concord." In stating the pope's commands he had taken occasion "to declare the innumerable benefits the Roman Church had conferred upon us and our predecessors from ancient times." He had then striven to induce the king and council to receive again into the kingdom the elect of Winchester, threatening them, in case of refusal, with the papal anger. Though having every desire to carry out the pope's wish, and though mindful of many benefits received from him, it was impossible to restore Aylmer as it would not only lead to grave complications, but the king could only do it by breaking faith with his council. The king and his advisers then absolutely declared they could not, and would not, do 1 Rymer, i. 388. 2 P.R.O. Papal Bulls, Bundle xxxv. No. 2. what the papal agent, Friar Velascus, demanded. Whereupon he produced letters "which," says the king, “much astonished us," as they declared the sentence of excommunication and interdict if we failed to do as we were ordered. Thereupon, to prevent this, both the king and his council gave notice of their appeal to the pope, promising to show cause why the return of the elect of Winchester was impossible, and to prove that the friar by proclaiming his sentence would have been acting "against the laws and customs of the kingdom, especially since justice and right reason would not allow any nuncio of the pope, or other messenger, at one and the same time to give a command and to publish an excommunication."1 Early in 1260, Pope Alexander IV replied at length to the letters which had been addressed to him by the barons after the meeting at Oxford to justify their refusal of the demands made by the nuncio Herlot. In his answer the pontiff says: "You have written to us that the kingdom of England, once so rich, and the English people, once so wealthy, have fallen into a calamitous and wretched state of poverty, and the very land which used to boast the number of its wise men, now bitterly laments their paucity. You assert that this arises from the fact that there are no longer in the parish churches rectors such as were previously to be found there, who, living at their cures, used to relieve the needs of the poor, and to assist with their generous aid in the schools such as desired to learn, either in the ranks of the clergy or among their own relations." You have written also that you and your ancestors, seeing the sanctity of the religious men in the kingdom, who appeared to seek after the salvation of souls and the 1 Royal Letters, ii. 139-140. |
