London "as quickly as possible." He adds that each "procuration" need not exceed the amount of two marks, and he begs the bishop to understand that he has no wish, as God knoweth," to make a purse for himself out of these fees, and that they will be spent "on necessities which cannot be dispensed with" whilst he remains in London on the business of the Holy See.' At the beginning of Advent, summonses were sent out to the bishops, deans, archdeacons, abbots, and other prelates, to come and "hear the commands of the lord pope" after Christmas. The assembly met at Westminster, 13th January, 1226, and included the chief representatives of the laity as well as ecclesiastics. The king, however, could not be present. After spending the festival at Winchester, he had gone to Marlborough on his way to London, and here he was seized with an illness which for some days endangered his life. At the opening of the parliament, Archbishop Langton received the news of King Henry's serious sickness, and was summoned away to attend upon him; in his absence and that of the Sovereign, the proceedings were opened by Otho. In the presence of this large body of representative clergy and laymen, the nuncio read the papal letters he had brought to England, which announced in plain terms what the pope asked of English churchmen, and why. They were almost a repetition of the demands which had been addressed the previous January to the archbishop and bishops of the country, but to which apparently little attention had hitherto been paid. Like its predceessor, the document now read by Otho in parliament, began by a general statement that the pope was fully aware that the old scandal and disgrace of the Roman Church 1 Reg. S. Osmundi, i. 372. 2 Ibid., 369. was the stigma of avarice which rested upon it. This was naturally the root of all evils, and for the one simple reason above all others that, without the expenditure of much money and the bestowal of many presents, no one could expedite any business in the Roman Curia. “And," continues Pope Honorius, in his frank exposition of the lamentable condition in which he found the administration of ecclesiastical business in Rome, "since Roman poverty is the cause of this scandal and infamy, all ought to unite as natural children to relieve the needs of their mother (the Church of Rome) and of their father (the pope). For, in truth, unless we receive presents from you and other good and honest men, the very necessaries of life would be wanting to us, which would be altogether unfitting to the dignity of the Roman (Church). In order, therefore, to remove this scandal once for all, by the advice of our brethren, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, we have conceived a certain scheme by means of which-that is to say, if you are willing to accept it-you may free your mother from the breath of scandal, and be able to obtain justice in the Roman Curia, without the need of making presents." 1 The papal plan was the following: in every cathedral church two prebends, one in the bishop's presentation, and one in that of the Chapter, should be set aside for the use of the pope and in every monastery, where the revenue of the abbot and monks was divided, the pope should have what would be a monk's share, if all the revenue of the house was portioned out equally among the community, and a similar amount from the abbatial revenue. The nuncio having read this communication, enlarged upon the advantages that would follow from a loyal acceptance of the papal proposals. When he had finished, the 1 Matthew Paris, iii. 102-103. bishops and other prelates asked leave to retire consider and freely discuss the matter amongst th After some deliberations they agreed upon a jc and appointing the archdeacon of Bedford as their spon man, they returned into the presence of Otho and gave the following answer to his request: "Sir, what you have proposed to us specially touches the prerogative of the English king and generally the interests and rights of all patrons of churches in this realm. It touches, too, the archbishops and their suffragans as well as numberless other English prelates. Since then the king by reason of his illness is absent, and the archbishop and some of the bishops and other beneficed clergy are not here, we neither can nor ought to give you any answer in their absence. Did we presume to do so we should be prejudicing the rights of all the absent prelates."1 Otho was forced to be content with this refusal to give him any immediate answer to his requests, more especially as messengers arrived from the king strictly prohibiting all prelates who held baronies from the Crown, from in any way pledging their lay fees to the Roman Church to the detriment of their service due to him. The nuncio attempted to force the assembly to fix another day, about the middle of Lent, for a meeting at which the king and absent prelates might be present and settle the business; but even to this the assembly would not consent without Henry's direction, and it was finally dissolved without having come to any conclusion.2 Otho never met the adjourned meeting. At the instance of Archbishop Langton the pope recalled him suddenly to Rome. In the Lent of this year, 1226, the nuncio was on his way to the north, for the purpose of gathering in the 1 Matthew Paris, iii. 3. 2 Ibid. fees he claimed as due to him for "procurations," when messengers with important papal letters overtook him at Northampton. These documents told him to return forthwith to the Curia, and took from him all his special powers. 'Looking askance at them," says the chronicler, “ he threw the documents into the fire, and forthwith changing all his plans he left England in distress, and with empty saddle bags." 1 On the departure of the nuncio, Archbishop Langton was directed by the pope to call a meeting of the king and prelates and to send to Rome some reply to the proposals made in his name by Otho. In obedience to the pope, but when the late nuncio was well out of the country, Langton sent out a summons for a council to meet at St. Paul's, in London, on the second Sunday after Easter, 4th May, 1226. In this assembly, at which the king and all the prelates assisted, the archbishop caused the papal letters of demand to be read. This, no doubt, included not only the documents published and commented upon by Otho, in the January meeting, but another letter directed about this time to the bishops and prelates of England, which is found in some of the episcopal registers. This latter document is important. After a preamble on the necessity and duty of keeping his high office unsullied, in name as well as in fact, Honorius writes: "We have often both known of and heard many people murmuring at the expenses they were put to in coming to the Apostolic See. We are, of course, aware that the presumption is that such reports are calumnies, because deceitful lips and evil-speaking tongues, together with flattering words spoken in public, are ever prone to cast secret and dangerous darts in their attempt to injure the Roman Church. Such people are ready by their injurious remarks to deprive that Church not only of what equity, love, and favour would award as its due, but of what strict justice requires.... We have frequently found also that we offend in such matters those who have been sent to expedite business; but who, spending on their own pleasures money given them for necessary expenses, have recourse to the vile help of untruth, and cast upon others the odium of their own guilt. "Seeing, therefore, that by such detractors of the Apostolic See grave injury seems to be done to Churches, prelates of Churches, and others, we have carefully considered with our brethren (the cardinals) by what possible care and means we might before God and man provide a remedy against such evils. In the end, by God's grace and after long and full deliberation, we determined to initiate something, which after all is neither new nor unthought of by our predecessors. Wishing to carry out what our advisers have helpfully suggested, we direct that there be reserved to us in every cathedral and other prebendal church for our own use, one prebend; and that, until such time as this may be arranged, there be assured to us a proportionate revenue. In monasteries also, and all other religious establishments, in collegiate churches, and also out of the episcopal revenues, in place of the prebends, there shall henceforth be reserved to us a fixed income, in proportion to the revenue. The total receipts from these will be applied to our needs, to those of our brethren (the cardinals), and to the payment of the staff of clerks in our chancery, and of the other officials of the Apostolic See. By these means provision will be made for our necessities of life, and all the business of those who come (to our Curia), will be transacted without payment, so that neither openly nor secretly H |
