to bee called at Claringtone concerning the time of which conuocation thus much is rehearsed in the first booke of Epistles The detestable â—onueâ—â—ckle at Claringtonne after the eleuenth epistle In the yeere of our lords Incarnation 1164. the fifte yeere of Pope Alexander and the tenth of the m st famous king of England Henry the second concerning the day this is added in the end These thinges wâ—ere handled the fourth day before the Purification of S. Mary tâ—e perpetuall Virgin to wit the 30. day of Ianuarie For those whoe were present at this assemblie they are recounted to bee all the Bishoppes of Engâ—and together with the Earles Barons Magistrates and nobility For the matteâ—s then in action receiue them thus from the wordes of Vvilliam in Quadrilogus Tâ—e king â—â—erefore as iâ— sâ—emed feruently thirsting after an â—gâ—eement beetweene â—he kingdome and the preistâ—ood but lesse prouideÌ„t for the state of himselfe and his Archbishoppe 1 ParliameÌ„t summoned at Claringâ—onne a Parliament of the whole nation Whither when the Bishopes and peeres were come the King importunately required that thinges promised to him might bee performed But the Archbishop allthough hee promised to consent to the King beeing neuerthelesse suspitions of the promise which the King exacted and beecause Kinges very often exceeding all measure extend their power to thinges vnlawfull rather made choyce to hazard the kinges indignatioÌ„ then to offend the law of God and to breake the brazen serpent in peeces rather then wickednes should bud out among the people of God Now although hee feared banishment and imprisonnement yet preferring God beefore these hee absolutely withstood it The King threateneth he refuseth the King raueth the other in secret craueth Gods assistance In the meane while the Bishoppes of Salisbury and Norwich fearing a new punishment for an old grudge and dreading much by reason of this distempered tyme with weeping words beesought the Archbishop to haue compassion on his Cleargie to relent from the willfullnes of his minde least himselfe should incurre imprisonment his Cleargie banishment themselues the iudgment of an opprobrious death And withall two Earles the mightiest of the kingdome assayling him said that vnlesse hee would conforme himselfe to the kinges pleasure they themselues by his Maiesties commandment should bee constreyned to that violence which would brand the King and themselues which an eternall infamie This man therefore of inuincible constancy The frailty of S. Thomas and grownded in the worke of Christ moued neither with the sunshine of flattery nor the stormes of terrors is notwithstanding in the end pulled away from the bosome of truth and the brest of his mother vnto whose liberty hee had soe louingly cleaued and lest beeing a conquerour in these listes hee should bee puffed vp with pride of mynde fainting then when hee sbould cheifely haue fought is lefte for an hower to fall that after a faulting fall hee might rise againe that falling hee might acknowledge humane frailtie and r seing vnderstand the deuine mercy towards him In like sotte because no man should haue confidence in his owne strength Peeter the prince of the Apostles and holy Dauid fell and soe S. Thomas is lefte destirute to his temptation for a tyme that afterwards beeing mindefull of his frailty hee might arise with more courage to the combate Wherefore beeing the third tyme admonished by Richard a man of great accompt and Prior as then of the Temple of Ierusalem to haue a care of himselfe and compassion on the Clergie hee endured no longer their submissiue petitions their often kneeleinges for they seemed to crye out as if euen now they sawe the very swoardes threatening ouer his head and lamented the intended murder as a present death Whereupon moued rather with commiseration on the Clergie then on himselfe hee consented by perswasion of their counsail to submitt himselfe to the Kinges pleasure And therefor beefore all the rest the Archbishop bound himselfe first in that prescribeb forme that is to say hee would obserue the custome of the Crowne in good faith suppressing those wordes sauing the prerogatiue of his order Adding allso this caution with an oath that hee promised to performe this in the word of truth soe heapeing sin vpon sin And all the Bishops seuerally in semblable manner sware the same And incontinently an obligation beeing drawne in this forme The Recognition and â—ngrossement â—f the Royal â—ustomes by certaine Peeres of the realme who as their offices required were lerned in such proceedings there was made a Recognisance of the royall customes that as publickly soe they might expressely bee recited But when many were now rehearsed and more yet as it seemed to bee set downe the Archbishop interrupting said that hee neither was one of the auncientes of the kingdome whereby hee could knowe the old customes of the Crowne neither had hee continued long in his Archbishoppricke and therefor said hee was in these matters ignorant Moreouer because the day was soe far spent it was conuenient a busines of soe great importance should bee referred vnto the next morning His motion was liked and thereupon they retired themselues to their lodginges Returning on the morrowe to prosecute the busines beegunne the customes of the Crowne which were lefte the day before vnrecited were recounted expressed and reduced into a writing made after the manner of an obligation and styled with the name of the kings customes NotwithstaÌ„ding many of them as it is said were not the kinges but the vomite of emulation and poyson of enuy for hatred of the Archbishop and to bring the Church into bondage yea the king himselfe beeing absolutely ignorant of them because some men intended by this sinfull suttlety to sowe the cocke of dissention betweene him and the Archbishop Neither yet the king who was yet but a yong man nor the Archbishop who was lately elected could know the customes of the kingdome but by their relation And if any one is desirous to see what these kingly customes were hee shall finde them sett forth in the end of the history Wherevpon a litle after hee saith and wee heere will declare them Then hee thus proceedeth in his intended discourse The customes beeing therefore written and drawne into the forme of an obligation the king requireth of the Archbishop and Bishops that for the more surety and confirmation of them they would sett to their seales But the Archbishop allthough exceedingly moued with greife neuerthelesse dissembleth it beeing as then vnwilling to discontent the the king nether absolutely denying said it was awhile to bee delayed and albeeit they were ready to doe it Eccles 32. hee affirmed notwithstanding in reguard of the weightines of the busines it was conuenient to bee deferd a tyme. Since according to the wise man without counsell no matter of importance is to bee performed And afterwards some deliberation beeing had hee and the Bishops might more decently bee required to accomplish it Notwithstanding bee tooke
with Fredericke and Fredericke likewise two Embassadors being Archbishoppes to the Pope Octauian enemy to the Pope ād Cardinalles which Legates and Embassadors meeting together went ioyntly to Fredericke at Viturbi where first Octauian afterwards that firebrand of Christendome began to shewe his turbulent spirit This man nobly borne in Rome and descended from the Earles of Tuscan Preist Cardinall of the title of Saint Cecill like another Iudas euer endeauouring what hee could against the Pope the Church and Colledg of Cardinalls beeing dismissed from his Holynes in regard hee sought to raise a sedition by the Scysmatickes intruded himselfe without commission to confound the peace which was now to bee concluded by the meditation of the Legates and Archbishoppes beetweene the Pope and Fredericke but beeing sharpely reproued by his brethren the Legates hee was for this time with shame repressed and soe suppressed the poyson which since he vomited This beeing thus ouerblasted the king in a great and most solemme assembly of his nobility and knightes caused his fealty to bee sworne by his deputy to the Pope The Empeperours oathe of fealty to the Pope and Church Which was to preserue the Pope and Cardinalles with their state and not to doe any iniury or suffer any iniury to bee donne to them or theires and if any should offer to wrong them hee would withstand it to his vttermost power and if wronges were soe cōmitted hee would by all meanes redresse them Whereupon the Pope beeing satisfyd resolued to inuest him with the Emperiall crowne and a day and place was for their meeting appointed But the king neglecting to hould the Popes styrrup a custome formerly vsed by the Emperors in honor of the Apostles saint Peeter and saint Paule as was presently made manifest by authenticall recorde The cause and custome of the Emperors houlding the Popes styrrup and otherwise the Cardinalls with drewe themselues to places of safety and the Pope beeing left in the power of Frederick and his army would not for all this peryll admit the king to the kisse of peace vntill hee proformed this his duty to him and the Church which the king in the end seeing the ancient practise thereof with humility condescended vnto This Master Camden in his suruey of England noteth of Pope Adrian which hee beeing expert in historys could not choose but knowe to haue bin donne by diuers Emperors and kinges to sundry Popes But to the purpose the king proceeding to his imperial coronation was like to haue bin preuented by the Romane Arnoldistes a scysmaticall faction then swaying in the Common-wealth had not Pope Adrian with his counsell and power made way to him for his coronation in Rome Frederick croumed Emperor by Pope Adriā where hee receaued with all ceremonyes from the Pope the Crowne and Emperiall ornamentes Which finished the seditious Romanes with a sharpe fight assaulted the Germanes in which conflict many beeing killed the Germanes in the end obtained the victory with the slaughter and captiuity of their aduersaries wherein the Pope shewed himselfe to his Citticens a pious father for hee neuer left sollicitinge the Emperour vntill hee had procured their release Soe passing from the Emperour who hy this perfect or politicke amity concluded with the Pope found thereupon good successe in the warres which hee vndertooke in his returne towards Germany let vs see what beefell to William king of Cecyll after hee was excommunicated The king incensed heerewith commanded the Princes of his army to lay a streyght siege to Beneuent the Popes familiar courte of residence Beneuent beesieged by the king of Cecill to repell which iniury the Pope excited the mightyest Earle in his kindome Robert de Bassauyll his cousen-german with many others of the nobility to make warre vpon him moreouer hee called in diuers others exiled The great cōbination in war of Emperors others against the king of Cecyll and spoyled of their goods by the king and his father as Robert of Surent a Prince of Campany and Earle de Rupe canina with others renowned for parentage and power to returne into their Countrey and recouer their lost posessions promising them the assistance of the Romane Sea lastly hee solicited the Emperors both of Rome and Constantinople to inuade the kingdome of Cecyll whereupon the Emperor of Constantinople as strong in men as money tooke Hadrant a sea-towne Apulia the Cittyzens yeelding vnto him Earle Robert also with his followers what for the loue of him ād hatred of the king violently wonne Tarunt and Barum two renowed Metropolitane Seas with all the sea coastes to the very boundes of his kindome The famous and worthy peeres the Prince of Capua and Count Andrew chalenged all Campany commonly named the land of labour euen to Salern Naples and saint Germans soe as the whole region was in a mighty combustion Frederick Emperour of Rome encamping his army about the coastes of Ancon endured soe great a mortality among his souldiers as loseing his most puissant lordes scarce the tenth man remayned aliue whereupon beeing notable to retayne his powers that were willfully bent to returne into their countrey though vnwilling was ready to departe The king of Cecyl ready to submit himselfe to the Pope Now the king of Cecyl thus beegirt with assaultes retyring himselfe with dew repentance and all humility to obedience sent the Electe of Catana with the choysest of his noble attendantes as far as Salerne towards the Pope submissiuely beeseeching absolution from this excommunication and promising to doe homage and sweare Fealty to his Holines and withall to restore all the Churches of his kingdome with ample liberty and giue therefore three Castles called Palud Montfuscal and Muron with their appurtenantes for euer to the Romane Church offering to subdewe the rebellious Romanes to the Popes subiection and if hee could recouer the grace and fauor of the Pope and Church of Rome would beestow on them so much money as the Emperour of Constantinople promised The Pope therefore assured that all these should bee proformed was most willing to embrace these conditions beeing soe honorable and profitable to the Church but the Cardinals that were of the Roman Emperors faction beeing too singular in their owne conceites withstood and reiected all this and did afterwards often the like to the Church of Romes exceeding dommage For heereupon the next yeere à world of miseryes ensued in regard the king of Cecyl gathering a most powerfull army in Cecill and Calabria Anno 2. Hadr. Pa. The king of Cecyl ouerthrowing his enemys besiegeth the Pope with greate iourneys marched into Apulia where Prince Robert beetaking him selfe to flight hee ouerthrewe about Brundusium at the first onset the Grecian Hoste casting their Captayns captiues into chaynes and enriching himselfe with their treasures and bringing the whole countrey into subiection hee went forward and beesieged in Beneuent the Pope with the Cardinals where they and all the Citty being ouerwhelmed in
Acolythy killing some famous man renowned for Religion or dignity should escape free with the losse only of this Order The Clergie therefore vphoulding the Order established from heauen and our Lord the king persecuting only the offence as hee hopeth with a iust hatred and intending to plant his peace more deepely a certaine holy contention arose among vs which wee trust the playne intention of both partyes will excuse with your Holines Heereupon not with any ambition of larger dominion not with any concept of oppressing the Churches liberty but with an affection of confirming peace our Lord the king passed soe farre as hee would produce to light the customes of his kingdome and dignityes anciently obserued and quietly and reuerently yeelded by persons Ecclesiasticall to former kinges in the kingdome of England and to the end no longer thread of contention might heereafter bee spunne hee would haue the same to bee openly knowne Wherefore the most ancient Bishoppes and greatest peeres of the realme beeing first adiured by their faith and the hope which they had in Allmighty God and then making search into the state of forepassed tymes the dignityes of the crowne being sought were layd open and by the testimonyes of men of the greatest accompt in the kingdome were published Loe heere the cruelty of our Lord the king against the Church of God which fame hath soe spread ouer the whole world Lo heere his persecution These are his workes soe diuulged for wicked both heere and euery where Yet neuertheles in all these proceedings if there bee any thing contayned either dangerous to his soule or ignominious to the Church hee hath long since with a most sacred deuotion promised and doth still most constantly continewe in the same mynde especially being admonished and moued with your authority for the reuerence of Christ and the honor of the holy Church whom hee professeth to bee his mother and for the redemption of his soule to reforme the same accordingly as hee shall bee aduised by the Counsell of the Church of his owne kingdome And truly father our solicitation had long since as wee hope obtayned the desired end of this wished peace had not our Father the Lord of Canterbury's bitter prouocations stirred vp anew this discorde now layd asleepe and allmost absolutely extinguished For hee from whose patience wee hitherto expected peace from whose modesty the recouery of the kinges fauor assayled him afresh and without respect of his Maiestie at such time as lately hee led his army against the Peace breakers with seuere and terrible letters no whit sauoring of fatherly deuotion or Pastorall patience but most bitterly threatening him with the sentence of Excommunication and his realme with the payne of interdiction Where as on the other side hee rather ought with admonitiōs to haue mollifyed him and with meritts and meeknes ouercome him whose humility if it bee soe requited what will bee then determined against the stuborne and contumatious if the ready deuotion of obedience bee esteemed soe slightly in what manner shall willfull obstinacy bee reuenged Yea to these soe greuous threates are yet added matters far more greeuous for hee inuolued in his Excommunication some of his Maiesties Liege men most inward with our Lord the king the principall of his priuy counsell who managed the mysteryes of the kinges estate and the affaires of his kingdome and denounced them publickly excommunicate beeing neuer cyted nor defended neyther as they call it guilty of any cryme nor conuicted nor confessing any thing Yea hee stepped farther in soe much as hee suspended our reuerent brother the Bishop of Salisbury beeing absent vndefended neither confest nor conuicte from his Preistly and Episcopall Office beefore euer the cause of his suspension was approued by the aduice of those of the same Prouince or any others If therefore this course of proceedinges in iudgmentes soe preposterous I spare to say inordinate bee followed concerning the king and kingdome what will bee the end considering the time is euill and yeeldeth great occasion of exceeding malice but that the band of grace and fauour whereby the kingdome and preisthood haue bin hetherto vnited will bee rent a sunder and wee with the flocke committed to our charge bee dispersed into exile or which God forbid falling of from the faith wee owe to you into the miseryes of Scysme bee cast downe headlong into the bottomles pitt of iniquity and disobedience for this is the ready way to the ruine of all relligion and the subuersion and ouerthrowe as well of the Clergie as Layety In regard whereof least in soe miserable a tyme of your Apostolicall raigne the Church bee ouerthrowne least our Lord the king with the people subiect to him fall away which God forbid from your obedience least what someuer our Lord of Canterbury by the counsell of priuate men deuiseth bee in his wrath executed on vs wee haue as well by word as wryting appealed to your excellency against him The Bishoppes appeale to the Pope against their Archbishoppe and his Mandates importing any detriment to our Lord the king and his kingdome vs and the Churches committed to our care and haue designed for the day of our Appeale the day of our Lordes Ascension chusing rather to humble our selues before your Holines in all thinges which shall bee pleasing vnto you then to bee daily according to the lofty motions of his mynde whyle our merittes deserue nothing lesse tediously afflicted Wee beeseech our Allmighty Lord most beeloued father in Christ long to preserue your health to his Churches prosperity Thus farre the Bishoppes Pope Alexander neuerthelesse perseuering in his opinion when hee perceaued the Appeale of the Bishoppes to bee voyde by reason the Appellants appeared not at the designed day confirmed the sentence which saint Thomas pronounced against them which is wittnessed by Salusbury in his letter to saint Thomas saying As it is signifyed to mee from the Citty soe I remember I certifyed you by wryting that my Lord the Pope hath now confirmed your sentence yea hee hath challenged it as an iniury offered himselfe There are also extant Pope Alexanders owne letters written to Saint Thomas to the same purpose after hee perceaued the Bishops did not prosecute their Appeale His wordes are these Wee haue had intelligence as well by your letters as alsoe the certaine relation of many that you pronounced the sentence of Interdiction against Ioceline Bishoppe of Salusbury in regard hee was disobedient to you and hee notwithstanding hee appealed heereupon to our audience and assigned for the tyme of his appeale the Sunday wherin is sung Ego sum Pastor bonus next ensuing neither himselfe at that instant appeared neither sent any one vnto vs to answer for him wherefore wee refusing absolutely to maintayne him in his disobedience and rebellion against you will by Gods grace ratify and confirme the sentence which vpon this occasion you haue giuen against him and haue thought good to leaue the whole busines concerning
Norwaye to preach the faith in that Prouince Adrian Apostle of Norwaye and purchase to allmighty God their misdebelieuing soules where hee like a worthie and discreete steward and disciple of Christ diligently instructed that rude and Barbarous nation in the Christian lawe and Ecclesiastical ordinances Pope Anastacius After by the diuine prouidence vpon the death of Eugenius and preferment of Anastacius to the Papal throne hee returned to his mother the holy Church of Rome leauing beehind him peace to the kingdome lawes to the barbarous tranquility to the Churches order and discipline to the Cleargie and a people acceptable to God and fruitfull in good workes Within a shorte tyme after dyed Anastacius and the Bishops and Cardinals assembling together in saint Peeters Church by the dispensation of the diuine counsell speedily chose him Pope Pope Adâ—iaÌ„ and with great acclamation of the Cleargie and layetie as a man elected by Allmighty God allthough hee laboured with all his power to auoyde it they inthronized him in the papal chaire calling him Adrian the fourth 3. Non. Decemb. An. Dom. 1156. He was a man of singular benignity The praise of Pope Adrian meeke and patient learned in the Greeke and Latine tongues eloquent in speech a perfect Orator very skillfull in Church musicke a famous preacher seldome angrie willing to pardon bountifull in beestowing a greate AlmesmaÌ„ and for demeanour and beehauiour renowned This much out of the Vaticane library Now to showe that hee esteemed his honor a burden his dignity a misery and that hee would neuer haue vndergone the weighty charge of this supreme authority but only to satisfie the will of almighty God I doe heere recite his owne wordes spoken to that worthie Iohn of Salusbury in Polichrati lib. 8. cap. 23. Hee confessed hee found in that high estate soe great tribulations as in comparison of them all his former bitter aduersitys seemed sweete and pleasing Hee sayd the seate of the Romane Pope was a thorny throne beegirt with most sharpe spurres of that huge weyght as it was able to presse to bend yea breake in peeces the strongest shoulders and but that said hee I will not struggle against the diuine prouidence I would I had neuer gon out of my natiue soyle of England or else euer lurked in my poore Cell of saint Rufus rather then to bee plunged in these extreame difficultyes yea hee professed that in all his ascentes from his solitarie cloyster to the supreame heygth of the Papacy hee found noe contentment or pleasure yea quoth hee god hath stretched out my whole life beetweene the anuile and the hammer but now if it pleaseth his diuine goodnes let him supporte with his allmighty haÌ„d the burdeÌ„ that hee hath imposed on my infirmity or otherwise it is intollerable Thus hee teacheth from the highest throne of this world to flye honors thus hee preacheth from the greatest eminency to all Potentates not to repose themselues in glory riches and pleasures which are but the shadowes of their seates but deepely to consider the charge that by reason of their authority they vndergoe which is to employ their vttermost forces to honor Almighty god in the ryghtuous gouerment of the people subiected to their powers for otherwise Potentes potenter punientur Nether would I euer haue dilated my selfe soe farre in praise of Pope Adrian but that some of our Chronickles ignorantly others willfully omitt his commendation They confesse hee conuerted Norwaye and gaue the dominion of Ireland to the kinges of England but as the first was only for enlargeing the kingdome of Christ soe was the last as you may see in his Epistle to Henry the second Now crauing pardoÌ„ for my digression in the prayse of this man the glory of our nation who prefered god beefore his contrey and all I will returne to the matter Fredericke king of the Romanes in his first entrance into his royaltie began impiously to encrease his dominion Frederick kinge of the Româ—nes a perpetual enemy of the Church with the suppression of the Church and by how much his power was the greater for hee commanded all Germany and mightily preuayled in Italie so much the more was he enabled to mischeife This wasting flame which soe much endangered the whole Christian world shewed it selfe as a litle sparke in the raigne of Pope Eugenius gathered strength by the conniuancy of his successor Anastacius began to waste the power of our noble Adrian and lastly fired Alexander the third out of Italie and deuoured for the time all his iurisdiction in Germany and had not Christ maintayned his Church against the gates of Hell France England Spayne with all the rest had bene ruinated The original of the discord beetweene the Church and the Emperor The original was the first yeare of his raigne in the Church of Magdeburghe the Metropolitane of Saxony where vpon the death of the Archbishop a dissention aryseing about choosing his successor they appealed to Fredericke then residing in Saxonie who not able to compose the controuersie perswaded the Deane and Chapter of Magdebourghe to accept of Guicman Bishop of Cicens a noble yong gentleman to gouerne their Church pretending that when such questions arose the king with aduice of his counsell ought to dispose therin nether was any Bishop in that case to bee consecrated till hee had receaued his authority from the kingly scepter But all this was a false pretence for it lay not in the kinges or Emperors power causelessly to translate Bishoppes from seate to seate without assent of the Apostolike Sea which holy Pope Eugenius righty considering with singular constancy withstood the kinges vnlawfull attempt sharpely reprouing the Bishoppes of Germany that laboured for him because they rather sought to flatter their prince in concurring with his sinne then to please God and this did hee not only with his learned and pious Epistle but also vehemently persued the same by his Legates But Eugenius preuented by death lefte all to his successour Anastacius a man of a gentle and yeelding disposition For notwithstanding his Legate was disgracefully abused by Fredericke and ended his life in his returne home hee neuerthelesse ratifyd the kinges election and granted Guicman his Pall whereupon Fredericke declining from his religious zeale increased yeere by yeere in obstinacy against the Church And Anastacius not long after departing the world our countreyman beeing instantly elected by the name of Adrian the fourth Pope AdriaÌ„ assaulted by the King of Cecil The king of Cecill excoÌ„municated Pope AdriaÌ„ terrifyed by Fredericke king of the Romanes found the kinges insolency much strengthned against him by his predecessors facility of nature In the beeginning of his Popedome hee was troubled with the inuasions of William king of Cecil wherefore against his temporall sword hee drewe his spirituall sword and excommunicated him Fredericke also king of the Romans with his suddaine approach towarde the Citty terrifyed him whereupon hee sent Legates to treate
as the Churches Aduocate soe long as they dishonored not God but when they could not please the one without offence of the other then they would absolutely preferre God Hee maruayled much hee denyd him the reuerent respect due to his place and summoned a counsell without his authority and aboue all that hee would cyte him to appeare before that Conuentickle The priuiledge of the Church graunted by Christ and continued from saint Peeter to that present age hath euer bin that in Causes Ecclesiasticall the supreame iudgement was euer in the Church and the Church it selfe neuer iudged by any since therefore hee who ought to defend the Church did now offend it and in contemning the Church disparaged his mother hee could not but admire it For appearing at his Courte the Canonicall tradition forbad him And since meaner prelates in matters spirituall doe gouerne they re princes it were intolerable in him to suffer the authority of his place which was purchased with the blood of Christ through his pusilanimity or ignorance to bee subiected to the temporall power Wherefore as his Predecessors had endured death for the Churches liberty soe was hee ready to spend his blood in her cause The Embassadors offended with his answere contumeliously departed comming to Signia adored the the Idoll Octauian The Emperours Embassadors and Otto adore Octauian and soe did Count Otto the Palatine whom the Emperour had sent with his Germanes towards the Citty which exceedingly puffed vp the pryde of this Archhereticke not considering that scysme though at the first it flourysheth yet after a while it vanisheth Thus Fredericke by his Embassadors accepted of Octauian wherefore Alexander had reason to except against Fredericke as no indifferent Iudge The Emperour for aduancement of this Antipope sought to drawe other kinges into his faction The Emperour sought to drawe the King of England into his faction and first vehememtly attempted King Henry of England but in vaine for Arnulphus Bishop of Lexouy a very learned man and of great estimation with the king had soe informed him as hee preuented Fredericke and although there was a firme league of freindship beetweene them yet would king Henry neuer bee induced to yeelde to this scysme but only suppressed The King of England faithfull to Alexander till matters were more ripened his proclamation for publishing Pope Alexander suffering all his subiectes in the meane time to maintayne his right Alexander also vpon the aduice of the Bishop of Lexouy sent his Legates a latere to the realmes of Spayne and France The Bishop of Lexouy most industruous in asisting Alexander and likwise to the Emperour of Constantinople and king of Hungary to make knowne his lawfull election and the wrong hee susteyned by this presumptuous Scysmaticke Whereupon Lewys the most Christian king of France a contrey neuer defyled with scysme together with Henry king of England receaued Pope Alexander as theyr father and pastor of theyr soules All Chrystendome beesides Frederick the Emperialles accept of Alexander moreouer the kinges of Spayne Cecyll and Ierusalem and the Emperour of Constantinople with the Patriarches Bishoppes Prynces Cleargie and Layetie did all acknowledg him the Catholike successor of Peeter Only Frederick with his complices and these fewe scysmaticall Cardinalles the vnlearned children of Belial obstinate still in theyr errour remayning neuerthelesse the cruell persecutors of him and the Church Neyther was this vnpunished in Frederick Frederick vnfortunate after his fall from the Church for euen from the very beeginning of this scysme his successes altered and of a victorious Emperour hee beecame now often vanquished God endeuoring by this discipline to correct him The Popes Legates who went to the kinges of France and England were encountred with some difficultyes becausâ— the Polititians of both kindomes beeing affected to theyr aduersaryes when they could not heerein alter theyr kinges resolutions laboured to deferre the acceptance of Pope Alexander The king of England draweth England France Spayne Ireland and Norwaye to the Popes obedience tyll matters were more fully determynd but the Legates with theyr vertue wisedome and exemplar liues ouercame these assaultes and the king of France referring all to the king of England the king of England drew England France Spayne Ireland and Norwaye to Alxanders obedience And in the kindome of Ierusalem allbeit is whas some wat cuÌ„trouerted because Octauian had there in former tymes won some affection yet preferring the loue of God beefore natures disposition they yeelded to the truth and embraced the lawfull Pope In the yeere of our lord 1160. was held the Conuentickle at Pauy The Conuenticle of Pauy but adiourned from the Octaues of the Epyphany to the Purification of our Blessed Lady William of Newberry our Countreyman wryteth That this controuersy considering the multitude that chose Alexander and the smale number that elected Octauian might easily haue bin ended had not Frederick hated Alexander vpon his old grudge to Rowland Fredericks inueterate hatred to Alexander for Rowland the Chancellor was one of them who did mediate the peace to deliuer Pope Adrian the Cardinalles and the Citty of Beneuent out of the handes of William king of Cecill a matter to Frederick most distastefull and was also one of the Legates sent to Frederick about the sacrilegious abuse offered in Germany to Edward Bishop of London when Count Palatine in the Emperours presence had like to haue murdered one of the Legates these thinges lay vndigested in Frederickes stomacke which made him not endure Rowland now Alexander the thyrd This caused him to assemble his Italians and Germanes at Pauy in showe to determine the controuersy but indeed to crowne Octauian his Victor with the victory according to Newberrys opinion who liued in that age There flocked together the Bishoppes of both Nations with an infinite number of inferiour Prelates vpon the Emperours command who with the Generalles of his armyes strooke a terror into theyr myndes Frederick terrifyeth with power heere in silence were suppressed all proofes and allegatious for Alexander who discreetely absented himselfe and what in truth was wanting on Octauians side was artificially helped Frederick allureth with hypocâ—iticall sanctity Frederick to cast a myste before the eyes of the assembly beegan with fasting and prayer and then with a solemne protestation that hee hauing no authority to intermedle with spirituall matters left all to the iudgment of the Cleargie there present departed the place hauing giuen them beefore examples how to proceede in electing Octauian by his Embassadors and Count Otto After deliberation of seauen days for this Pageant was set out with solemnity they consented as before was conspired to the approbation of Octauian there present The Scysmatickes approue Octauian and condemne Alexander and condemnation of Rowland who beeing cyted refused to appeare beefore them for by these names are they recyted by the author who fauored or feared the Emperour Allthough the diuell in this
Peeter the renowned and holy Archbishop of Tarantasia beeing sent for by the Pope to strengthen the faythfull in theyr true obedience to the Church Herbert the scysmaticall intruder of the Bishopricke of Chrysopolis seeking to disturb him in his iourney was miraculously stroken and dyed desperately An other tyrant likewise as hee attempted to make a prey of the good man his horse running amayne in the very acte beeing spoyled ouerthrewe him which caused him to beecome a penitent and obtayne pardon both of God and the holy Bishop Many oâ—her miracles were moreouer shewed in him which together with his admirable vertues labor and preaching not only enforced that feirce Lyon Fredericke to loue him but also confounded the erronious and established the Catholikes beeing imnumerable multitudes in Italy Burgundy and Loraygne In the same sorte saint Anthelme Bishop of Billicens assisted with one Geffery a learned wise and vertuous man soe perswaded the Priors of the Carthusians and Cistercians who amazed knew not which way to take that as now beeing setled by them in the right they with theyr orders especially the Carthusians through out the whole westerne Church were the cheife publishers and defendors of Pope Alexanders cause Neither thus ended the worthy endeauors of sainct Anthelm and Gessery but they diswaded many other Prelates and theyr subiectes from following the wicked scysme of OctauiaÌ„ and made theÌ„ vtterly detest it Whereupon Fredericke desirous still to dispose of the Papacy although hee neyther had power to blesse nor curse condemned saint Anthelm a firme pillar of the Catholicke Church susteyning the strong frame of obedience through Spaine Gaule and Britaygne Alexander neuerthelesse returning to Rome sound Octauians faction soe strengthened with the power of his noble kindred and such as the Emperour had with his vttermost endeauors laboured on his side as hee could haue there no place of coÌ„tinuance wherefore hee departed thence into Campany and all the Patrimony of saint Peeter and the adiacent territoryes about the Citty beeing allmost wholy possest by the Almaynes and scysmatickes hee determined by the aduise of his faythfull Counsellors to goe by sea with his brethren the Cardinalles into France Leauing therefore the Bishop of Prenestyne his vicar and substitute in the Citty aÌ„d disposing other thinges necessary for the Church hee with the Cardinalles went to Tarana to take shipping where hee found foure Galleys excellently ordered beeing sent by the King of Cecill to serue him Alexander suffereth shipwracke without losse of life or goodes of any Which hee and the Cardinalles had no sooner boarded but that a horrible tempest aysing with the violeÌ„ce of the windes waues and rockes shattered theÌ„ all to peeces yet heere the successor of S. Peeter obtayned at aboue S. Paule at Malta for God graunted to the Apostle the liues of all the saylors and passingers but to the Apostolike Alexander not only the liues but also the goodes of all that were in the Galleys Neither was Alexander vnthankfull to the King of Cecill for this extraordinary fauor The Archbishop of Tarantasia sent Legate into France to make a peace beetweene France and England Peace concluded for when hee was afterwardes sollicited with great summes of money to haue deposed him as a man not able to weylde the state of a kingdome and to haue placed Amirate Maio as an other Pypin of France in his throne the Pope not only refused it but remayned also to death his constant freind soe the King though otherwise ill was heerein worthie and prouident The Pope notwithstanding this resoluing to goe into France heard the countrey was wonderfully imbroyled by reason of warres lately arysing beetweene the kinges of France and England and therefore sent Peeter Archbishop of Tarantasia to reunite them againe in league Which hee happily accomplished and thereupon ensued that both the kinges in theyr seuerall dominions summoned theyr Bishoppes Abbottes and Barons the king of England at * Nouum Mercatum New-Market in Normandy and the king of France at Bewuoys where they treated and concluded about the receauing of Alexander and reiecting Octauian and because the Emperour neuer ceased to sollicite them to ioyne with him in the acceptance of Octauian some what to satisfy him and make a prefect conclusion of the controuersy they called in one a Counsell of both kingdomes where the scysmaticall Cardinalles Guido and Iohn on the beehalfe of Octauian and Henry of Pisa Alexanders title manifested in a counsell of the Clergie of France and EnglaÌ„d Iohn of Naples and William of Pauy Cardinalles for Pope Alexander appeared Heere Guido in the presence of these kinges and Prelates and that great multitude both of the Clergie and Layetie extended for Octauian the vttermost of his witt and eloquence to whom William of Pauy a singular Orator opening his mouth that was shutt at Pauy replyed and soe retorted his owne argumentes vpon him as hee ouercame him with his owne weapons in the conclusion of which conflicte the victory was soe apparant on Alexanders side as both kinges with theyr subiects acknowledged him euer after their spirituall gouernor and therupon was excoÌ„munication pronounced against the Scysmatickes Thus all beesides the Empire yeelded to Pope Alexander who safely reposeing himselfe in the principality of the king of Cecill expected a conueniente tyme to passe ouer into France hauing thus prepared his way by Peeter Archbishop of Tarantasia a man of that singular humility charity and contempt of the world as had hee not bin disswaded vpon vrgent reasons hee would haue sold his horses and beestowing the money on the poore trauelled on foote But happily hindred The Archbishop of Tarantasias humility aÌ„d charity hee was instantly vpon the Popes occasions enforced to vse them in his iourney to France when staying by the way at the Monastery of Pluriack for want of health hee neuerthelesse restored the sicke miraculously to their health and that by the confluence of people flocking to him the prouision of the Religious should not bee wasted The Archbishop of Tarantasias miracles confirming the Popes election hee with the same power multiplied theyr corne and bread where also a knight whose sonne was depriued of sight hoping to recouer by the meritts of the Saint what his child for his owne demeritts had lost carying him towardes the Abbey and meeting by the way with a Catholike who had bread hallowed by the Archbishop applyed some of the crummes thereof to his sonnes eyes whereupon hee did presently see and the father who thought to presse the Saint with his sute did now render God and him humble thanks for this benefit The Gouernor of Corboyle in France hauing a daughter of fiue yeeres old who was borne lame offered the child at the Saintes feete by whose prayer and imposition of his hand shee presently obtayned integrity of her limbes From thence hee passed through Paris with wonderfull expectation of the kinges and princes and exceeding concourse of multitudes of people
euery where honoring him and pressing about him not only for these rare cures soe ofteÌ„ shewed but also to see the Popes Legate the messinger of peace the enemy of warre whose bloody discord was euen now ready to confound both kindomes euery one for reuerence of his sanctity and for remedy of theyr maladyes striuing to gett but some little peece of his garment At the Blaud Mountayne the confine of France and Normandie Henry King of England hasted to meete him and no sooner sawe him but * Alighting leaping from his horse hee ran to him and imbracing his feete instantly got his vpper garment yea although hee refused although hee resisted although hee and others disswaded yet the king persisted and one of the Legates followers saying and what should an old torne cloake doe in akinges royal wardrobe The king answered you would neuer vse these wordes did you but know the great cures that haue bin wrought by his girdle which now some yeeres since was giuen mee About this place rested the Legate treating with the prime men of the kingdomes concerning a conclusion of peace where a poore woman whose daughter was dumb from her natiuity more respecting her childes cure then the glory of the kinges and state of theyr kingdomes could not bee restrayned but that she broke in through the greatest of them leading with her the childe neyther did this humble Legate for all this noble assembly refuse her but praying and putting his thumb dipped in his owne spittle into the childes mouth and then signing her tongue and lippes with the Crosse bad her speake after him which presently shee did and afterwardes continued the vse of her speech And instantly a yong man brought his feeble and lame mother who signed with the Legates benediction recouered The Legate an other tyme conferring with the king of France the young prynce of England and the Earle of Flanders about this weyghty busines a woeman pressed towardes him with her sonne beeing twelue yeeres of age and seauen yeeres blind whom when the Courtyers and attenders would haue kept backe the Legate commanded her weeping as she was to bee brought with her child vnto him and the Legate asking the childe what hee desired my lord sayd he that I may see the Legate put a peece of money into the childes hand and weeting his fingers in his owne spittle signed the crowne of the childes head and his eyes with the Crosse and prayed the princes wondred what the Legate meante thinking hee had iested but the child instantly recouered sight sawe the money in his hand and all thinges else the Princes and all admyred and the deuoute king of France beeing certaynly assured of the miracle falling on his knees kissed the childes head and eyes At the Monastery of Mortimer the legate on Ash-wednesday giuing hallowd ashes to the king of England and others a knight who by reason of a wound receaued in his temples from a Crossebowe had lost now long since the sight of one of his eyes importunately beesought the Legate to restore him his eye the Legate excusing himselfe and intreating the knight not to presse him aboue his power the knight still instantly vrged him till in the end the Legate touched blessed and dismissed him whereupon hee receaued the sight of his lost eye The knight published this to his lord the king and others wherupon God was more praysed and honored and his seruant more reuerenced In all which miracles wrought by this Archbishop the Popes Legate Almighty God did show his approbation of Alexanders election The Emperour and Octauian neuerthelesse desperate in theyr malice Octauians Conuenticles An Dom. 1162 Alexanders voyage into France from the coaste of MouÌ„t Circe to Genua continued theyr scysmaticall Conuenticles beegun at Pauy next at Crema and then at Laude Alexander beeing not able to execute the function of his supreme authority in Italie beecause all that euer had recourse to him there were robbed and imprisoned by Octauians souldiers resolued vpon France and within the Octaues of our Lordes Natiuity taking shipp with his Cardinalles about Mount Circe on the feast of saint Agnes God prospering his voyage came to Genua where contrary to the Emperours command hee was royally entertayned by the Cleargie and Layetie From Genua to an Iland of Liguria Launching from Genua on Passion sunday hee prosperously arryued on Palme sunday in an Iland of Liguria where hee celebrated Easter The Iland beeing not long able to contayne him and beesides a mighty number of Prelates expecting him on the mayne land From the Iland to Mount Pessula hee came towardes a populous village of Mount Pessula where such a presse of people went forth to meete him as clad in his Pontificialty hee was hardly able to take his horse soe great a concurse there was to kisse his feete The Popes entertainment in France and happie was hee thought that could but touch the hemme of his garment The lord of the towne for a myle leading his horse with Barones and a comely trayne of souldiers wayting on him hee entred the village with solemne Procession where among the Christian nobility that humbled themselues at his feete came a Prince of the Saracenes pompeously attended and falling on his knees before him with great reuerence bowing lowe and kâ—ssing his feete A Saracens great reuerence and soleÌ„ne embassage to the Pope deliuered him from his lord a king of the Mahometans an embassage in his barbarous language but expounded by an interpreter whom the Pope courteously answered honorably entertayned placing him at his feete among others of the nobility Soe the infidells reuerenced him whom the scismaticall Emperour persecuted On sunday following the Pope Octauian againe excommunicated A greate famine in Aquitaine declaring openly in the Church before a great multitude of all sortes his lawfull election and the perfidious attemptes of the sâ—ysmatickes solemnly excommunicated Octauian and his complices An outragious famine at that time encreasing and consuming Aquitaine with the adiacent coÌ„treyes threatened all France wherefore the Pope sent two of his Cardinalles to the king of France signifying his arryual within his Dominions and requesting to knowe in what parte of his kingdome hee would appoint him and his to remayne whom the king for the honor of sainct Peeter reuerently vsed returning them backe with all contentment to Pope Alexander whom hee called his Lord father and Pastor of his soule And according to the kinges and his counselles designment Alexander about the month of Iune trauelled towardes Aluerne The Pope resided at ClaremoÌ„t and on the Eeuen of the Assumption of our Blessed Lady came to Claremont The Emperour now seeing the whole Christian world except himselfe followe Pope Alexander was confounded but not conuerted for standing on his owne power hee knewe the limitts of his Empire to bee extraordinarily enlarged and allmost all Italie subiect to his Dominion moreouer hee feared if Pope Alexander preuayled hee
ioy departed The Pope trauelling from thence to towers celebrated there the feast of Christmas This yeere also lewis king of France and Henry king of England meeting Pope Alexāder at Tociacke which is situated on the riuer of Loyre both kinges attending on foote did leade the Popes horse hee ryding thereon That kinges of Frāce and Englād together lead ioyntly the Popes horse The Pope vniteth the kinges of France and and Englād in perfect amity the king of France houlding the right and the king of England the left cheeke of his brydle and soe conducting him to a Pauylion prepared for him where hee by godes assistance vnited them in a perfect leage of amity Soe these two kinges diuided long in bloudy warres agreed both in one to honor in this sorte ioyntly together Christes vicar A thing though often vsed by Emperours and kinges to Popes yet neuer beefore excecuted by two kinges at once Soe God did honor him whom the Emperour sought to depresse rewarded the kinges for theyr humble seruice with a Benediction of Peace Now heere is to bee showed how Waldemar king of Denmark sonne of king Canutus the Martyr beeing deluded by the Emperour and Octauian Waldemar king of Dēmarke deluded by the Emperour beecame his homager yet deliuered by God from his scysme was drawne within the Lyons pawes and soe inforced to bee his homager yet mercifully deliuered by Christ from the contamination of this scysme The king beeing sollicited by the Scysmatickes and not vnderstanding the matter sent Rafe his secretary a man of more wordes then wisedome to the Emperour where ouercome with the curtesies and rewards of Fredericke and Octauian and allured also with large promises made to the king his Master of a Prouince in Italy and the gouerment of Sclauia and beeing moreouer informed how pyous an acte it was and how well beeseeming the zeale and great discretion of soe worthy a kinge to come and yeeld his assistance for vniting the Catholikes thus disioynted neyther yet Octauians humility submitting himselfe to the counsell nor Alexanders refusal to obey their iudgments beeing forgotten was thus perswaded and sent backe to relate all this to his king who more bold heerin then discreete and not soe much vpon a Religious yeale as a curiosity to see the fashons of other countreys entertayned these suggestions At that tyme Octauians Legate was in Denmarke Absolon Bishop of Rochildens a wise and vertuous Prelate but rather scorned then accepted After whose dimission the king went to Absalon Bishop of Roschildens his foster brother and faythful freind a man of rare vertues grauity and wisedome to whom laying all open hee declared his intended iourney desiring the Bishop to accompany him The Bishop discouering Frederickes deceytes condemned them assuring hee could not without violating his religion entertayne the Emperours freindship beeing more passionately then iustly transported with this scysme and for his owne parte that hee was altogether vnprouided for such a iourney The king offering to furnish him with all thinges necessary the Bishop answered hee would not hazard his soule among the professed enemyes of Gods Church The king replying hee therfore desired to haue him along beecause if his conscience should bee any wayes endangered the Bishop might rescue and deliuer him the Bishop ouercome with his importunity happily yeelded whereupon the king with a royal trayne sett forward neyther with any dangers or dissuasiōs of his faythfull counsellors could hee be-recalled but neuerthelesse preceeded on with great iustice and religion which purchassed him in all Countreyes where hee passed both loue and reuerence for though his company encreasing amounted in showe to an army yet would hee not suffer them to offer the least wrong to any The singular iustice of the king of Denmarke yea his seuere equity was such both at home and abroade as when afterwardes vpon want of prouision for his horses complayning to the Emperour hee desired hee might haue the same for money and the Emperour willed that his seruantes as others who followed those warres should gett it by spoyle of the Countrey hee cryed out hee was no theife nor would purchase by robbery and although in eases of necessity this was tolerated yet would hee not allow that in other nations which hee condemned in his owne or suffer his subiectes with forraine offences to corrupt their domesticall lawes Wherupon the Germane Princes admyring protested that happy was the Realme where such a king gouerned But to returne to the purpose After a tedious iourney approaching the Emperiall Campe hee found contrary to his expectation a cold entertaynment For Absolon the good Bishop accompanyd with Rafe that ill Embassador deliuered beefore the Emperour the cause of his lords coming But Frederike condemning first the kinges neglecte and delay sayd that hee who held his kingdome by seruice to the Emperiall Maiestie forgot himselfe much in omitting thus long his attendance Absolon answering The Emperour should haue signifyd soe much to the king before hee vndertooke his iourney and not to inuite him with such faire and large promises The Emperour wondering answered who fed the king with such hopes and promises Absolon produced Rafe saying this is hee who with your high promises abused the goodnes of our credulous king But Rafe abashed at the Emperours denyall gaue the Bishop leaue to vnfould the whole matter The Emperour still gaynsaying all Absolon desired his kinge might haue then a safe conduct backe into his Countrey But Fredericke yeelding to nothing affirmed that as hee medled not with his comming soe hee would not assist him in his goeing Heerupon the king repenting his rashnes sayd allthough the swoard hung ouer his head neuertheles hee would rather dye then inthrall his countrey to bondage And for a remedy to this mischeife lying with the Emperour on the confines of France determined by Absolons counsell to flye thither by stealth for refuge But the Emperour altering his mynde sought to win him by giftes whom hee could not bend by terror and giuing the gouerment of Sclauia allured the king to doe him Homage yet soe as it should neyther preiudice his posterity nor kingdome alleadgeing for example the glorious king of Englād who in like case for his principallityes in France did Homage to the king of France And now to descend to Octauians absurd conuenticle where the Archbishop of Clen declaymed of the iniury offered the Romane Emperour by other kinges who would intermedle with choosing the Pope of Rome where the Emperour on the contrary side neuer interposed himselfe about the elections of any Bishoppes in Cittyes subiect to their dominions And the Emperour saying also that hee doubted not but the kinges there present assembled by him for that purpose would concurre with the Bishoppes in ratifying Octauians authority When Octauian heereupon proceeded in his counterfeit solemnity to accurse Pope Alexander The king of Denmarke by the aduise of Bishop Absolon flyinge Octauian followeth Alexander the king
Archbishoppe was that sainct Thomas would not suffer him to punish a notarious offending Clearke which as shall bee manifested was not the only but one among other most iust occasions that moued saint Thomas to reproue the king whereupon grew this bitter dissention Yet Newborough would haue thus excused the king But let vs now follow the Archbishop returning home to his owne Church from the counsell of Towers that wee may search out the originall of this great controuersy which for seauen yeeres troubling the Romane Church found none effect for vniting this rented discord beetweene the king and him The Translation of S. Edward King of Englād and Cōfessour After the Archbishops returne vntill the translation of sainct Edward the king which was solemnized on the third of the Ides of October there remayned quiet peace and contentment beetweene the king and him but what afterwardes ensued these Authors beeing eye-witnesses of the proceedinges doe testify CONSIDERATIONS VPON the Preface LEt vs now heere behould the Christian world as at this tyme it presented it selfe Where first wee see the Pope Cardinals banished out of Rome Italy and all the mighty Emperour of Rome posessing all theyr dominiōs Ecclesiasticall temporall and mayntaineing Octauian that vsurping Scysmatick in the Papal throne The Emperour of Constantinople not intermedling with the Westerne Church and also lately ouerthrowne by the Ceciliās The king of Ierusalem though acknowledging Alexander his lawfull Pastor yet raigning a far of hardly able to defend the frontyers of Christendome against the Saracens The good king of Denmarke though lately showing himselfe an approued Catholike yet Frederickes Homager and diuorced by all Germany from assisting Pope Alexander Bohemia drowned in Germany and Hungary à remote kingdome and though subiect to the Romane Sea yet not able to succour her The king of Cecill though Alexanders faythfull freind yet soe incumbred with domesticall rebellions as hee could not rayse an army to restore him The kingdomes of Spaine though they wished him well yet soe ouercome with the Mahomet a Moores as they re states were miserable So hee was only left by God to the pious worthie king of France the powerfull king of England and in myne opinion the greatest king of the Norman race that euer swayd ouer this land for as Gilbert B. of London writing in the names of all the English Bishops to saint Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury sayth his dominions reached from the Perinean Mountaines to the Northerne seas and if Edward the III. Henry the V. and Edward the IV. hauing England Ireland Callis rather a tumultuous tytle then any peaceable countreyes or profitable reuenues in France were able to tryumph ouer France then how much was Henry the II. who beesides England Ireland had the Dutchyes of Normandy Aquitaine with the Earledome of Anioue his natiue soyle other honores in quiet possession to omitt Britaine that had a great dependance on him able to ouermatch the puissance of France To passe from this to his great reuerence affection to Pope Alexander I know no king that euer showed more and last to ascend to his actions the effectes of these Henry the II. drewe England France Spaine Ireland Norwaye to obey Pope Alexander and when the Emperour would haue surprysed at Mount Saon the king of France and thereby entralled the Pope Cardinalles spoyled them of all this renowned K. with his couragious army rescued them Now what a terrible attempt was it of the enemy of Mankind to withdrawe if hee could from the Pope such a king from the Church such a child But though the billowes of these seas were wonderfull yet God was more maruaylous in guiding sainct Peeters ship through them Considering all these euery indifferent man may in reading this Epistolary history iudge how great reason the Pope had as far as in conscience hee possibly could to forbeare this king soe well deseruing of the Apostolike Sea And also when inforced through iustice thereunto hee would haue executed against him the censures of the Church what a true heroicall vertuous acte it was to prefer the loue duty hee bore to Almighty God before the fauor of soe great such a deseruing freind And what aboue all others is most to bee marked in the proces of this matter although all the Bishops of this realme fearefully fowly wandred astray yea although saint Thomas of Canterbury himselfe like an other saint Peeter falling recouered againe rose to a glorious Martyrdome yet Pope Alexander whom it cheifely concerned neuer erred eyther infayth or infacte God so directed with his holy Ghost the gouernor of his Church Lastly to conclude with this famous kinge whose faire arysing sunne was soe ouerclowded with his turbulent passions as they molested the whole Church and gaue occasion though vnwitting to him of the Martyrdome of the glorious Saint hee returned neuertheles in the end soe clearly againe to himselfe as hee gaue that great satisfaction indured yea imposed vpon himselfe soe sharpe a pennance as was able to make his very enemys relent and a stony hearte with teares to pitty him Neither doe I thinke but the prayers merites of S. Thomas that conuerting his bloudy executioners to cōtrite penitētes through Christes passion saued their soules did in like sorte yea more effectually helpe to raise to the same eternall blessednes this king after hee departed this world in the Octaues of S. Peeter S. Paul An. 1189. beeing first penitēt cōfessing his sinnes receauing the most B. Sacrament This being deliuered by Card. Bar. out of Roger I haue precisely set downe because it is Cronicled that the king dyed out of charity beeing I thinke as false as that Pope Adrian according to the Scysmatickes fable was choaked with a flye or K. Iohn poysoned by a Monke THE ECCLESIASTICALL HISTORIE OF SAINCT THOMAS ARCHBISSOPPE OF CANTERBVRY THE olde enemie maketh continuall warre against the Church but the sonne of God who hath redeemed it with his owne blood will also by the blood of his owne membres bring the same to true and perfect liberty among which the glorious company of the Apostles and purple coulored army of holy martyrs hath the preheminence by whose doctrine the liuely stones in the building of the body of Christ are confirmed by whose blood as it were with morter and symonde they are ioyned together and vnited that the Church of God goeing forward and multiplying in piety the number of the faithfull might bee made fit for the building of an holy Temple in our Lord. And allbeit all Martirs in generall haue a supereminent prerogatiue of eternall glory The glory of martyrdome yet their title is more glorious and their Crowne more bright that haue deserued double honor by instructing of others making themselues an example to their flocke and laying downe their liues for their sheepe in the time of tryall for like as one starre exceedeth an other in
the poore He was a father to poore people and a conforter of those that mourne Hee reproued liberally the sinne of the nobility knowing that where the spirit of God is there is alsoe liberty yet that hee might not seeme to cast holy things to dogges or pearles before swine hee would first prudently considere the nature of those hee did admonish or reprehend and being conducted by the spirituall vnction his communications and sermons did seeme wonderfully lerned to all sortes of hearers Hee was both learned and eloquent both in the weight of matter and eloquent deliuery After meales and his necessarie sleepe vntill his busines called him away hee passed the time in reading of the scripture or else in honest communication lest the enemy should take occasion there at to deride his Sabaoth All the time which hee could without the great detriment of his body hee did bestowe in prayer teares and holy meditation keeping chastity in his body cleanesse in his harte modesty in his wordes and iustice in his workes that hee might moue those by his example which hee was to teach by his doctrine Hee did without ceasing impugne scysme and heresie Hee greatly impugned scysme and heresies and would neuer bee induced to keepe companie with excommunicated persons for whosoeuer was an ennemy to sound doctrine hee did esteeme him as his enemy in Christ and beeing feruent in the zeale of iustice hee endeauoured that euery man should enioy his owne without respect of persons or receauing of bribes S. Thomas retourneth into Englād from the Counsel at Towers And though at his returne from the counsell of Towers into England being the second yeere after his consecration hee was receiued of the king as a father of his sonne with fauourable countenance a good respect and esteeme yet soone after discontentments beegan to arise whilst Saint Thomas without any offence offered to the king exercised the office of an Euangelicall pastor in vndergoing which charge whilst hee endeauoured to recouer the Graunges of the Church vsurped by the layety and wrongfully alienated from his predecessors hee incurred the displeasures of many and mightie mē Yea whē he touched the kinges exchecker to the quicke by litle and litle the king himselfe was moued to indignation against him For in England had the same vnconscionable custome preuailed that the exchecker couetously challenged to it selfe the reuenues arysing from the vacancyes of Churches Wherefore S. Thomas required that for two seas of Bishopprickes beeing now long vacant there might bee speedily Bishops ordeyned The ground of the discord beetweene the king and S. Thomas It did also somewhat trouble the kinges mind when S. Thomas beeing created Archbishop gaue absolutely ouer the office of Chauncellorship according to that of the Apostle no man fighting vnder the banner of God intangleth himselfe in temporal businesses 2. Timoth. 2 For the king desired to retaine him still in his seruice And for a greater addition of dislike Thomas moreouer forbad the vnlawfull exaction of a Tribute Heerewithall at the same time concurred that hee deliuered not ouer to the secular Courte a Preist condemned of murder but beeing degraded committed him to a Monasterie The like hapned concerning one Phillip a Cannon and yet a greeuous offendor whom the Archbishop enforced not to suffer punishment in such sorte as the king would haue it but only chasticed him with Ecclesiasticall censures The king by reason heerof beecommeth wrathfull The causes of the kinges indignation because there was according to the direction of the holy Cannons à milder proceeding with those of the Clergy whoe offended where vpon they might growe more insolent in wickednes Hee beegan to demanund instantly of Thomas the Archbishop that Clearkes committing such crimes might after the Canonicall punishment inflicted on them bee deliuered ouer to the secular Tribunal But this motion of the king was gainsayed by S. Thomas and many other Bishopps associate with him all of them humblie beeseeching his Maiestie to abstayne from these attemptes but hee was rather more enflamed with anger Whereupon Robert writeth in these wordes but the king somewhat moued heerewith yet much more incensed because hee sawe the Archbishop and Bishoppes with mutuall assent as hee supposed bent against him asked of them presently beeing thus constantly vnited whether they would obserue the customes beelonging to his crowne adding that these beeing in the raigne of his grandfather formerly obserued by Archbishops and Bishoppes by priuate and priuiledged persons ought not by tracte of time with a seuere sentence to bee condemned Whereupon the Archbishop hauing first consulted with his brethren answered Hee and his brethren would obserue them sauing the prerogatiue of theire order and the same euery Bishop being asked one by one did turne by turne seuerally answer only Hilarie Bishop of Chichester hearing the king more enraged for these wordes soe vttered alike by them all without aduise of the Archbishopps altered some saying hee would absolutely obserue in good faith the customes of the kingdome and for a seeming good intent truly as I thinke hee said it that hee might yet soe appease the kinges mind But the king was nothing at all calmed yea he waxed more wroth and turning himselfe to the Archbishop and Bishops vpon the hearing of this vniforme and one answer of them all said A battell was ranged against him and that poyson lurked in this captious word Sauing the prerogatiue of their order Wherefor hee required that absolutely without addition they would promise to obserue the customes of the kingdome The Archbishop answered they had sworn to him fidelitie that is to say life limme and earthly honour sauing the prerogatine of their order and that in this earthly honour the customes of the kingdome were comprehended and hee would not binde himselfe to the obseruation of them in any other sorte then they had formerly sworne Now when a great parte of the day was in this fashion passed The Kinges intemperate anger the king beeing all the while vexed without any farwell to the Bishops suddenly departed the Courte in great wrath and indignation The King was accustomed in the disturbance of his minde through the passion of anger to bee vnreasonably and outragiously altered and transported as by an example or two I shall heere laye open beefore you whereby in the very entrance of this controuersie now raised you may vnderstand how difficulte and dangerous it was to contend with him in any case were it neuer soe iust For in the 44. epistle written to S. Thomas concerning the King thus wee reade The King on a certaine day when hee was at Cane and a busines which hee had with the King of Scottes dealte seriously against Richard de Humet whoe seemed to defend the cause of the King of Scottes brake out into disgracefull wordes and openly called him Traitor and heereupon enflamed with his wonted furie threwe his cap from his heade vngirte his belte
wee see nothing but shipwracke tbreatening instantly to deuoure vs nor any aduise lefte but that with our vttermost ability awakeing Christ Matth. 5. as it were sleeping in the ship wee crye out Lord saue us wee perish And heerin truly iniquity hath got a more fit occasion to vent her malice because hee seeth the state of the Roman Church as now more weakened whereby appeareth that whatsoeuer it bee good or ill sweete or sower which floweth downe on the head the same descending by the beard leaueth not the lowest hemme of the garment vntouched Iesus Christ is despoyled of that which by his blood hee purchased The secular power hath layd hands on his very patrimony Soe as neither the decrees of the holy fathers nor the constitutions of the Cannons whose very name among vs is growne odious are as now of force to patronise the Clergie whoe in tymes past haue bin by speciall priuiledge exâ—mpted from this secular iurisdiction and because it is long and tedious to rechearse or prosecute in writting the iniuryes wee endure wee send to your Fatherhood Master Henry a man both to your Holynes and vs faithfull and familiar to whâ—se relation wee haue commended all things in such sorte to bee declared particularly vnto you as hee hath s ene and heard them and if it pleaseth you credit him as much as you would our s lfe Know you neuerthelesse that if it might bee wee would far rather visit you in peâ—son then by an other wee speake confidently to you as to our father and lord and what wee say wee humbly beeseech may bee concealed in all silence Nothing remayneth safe to vs since allmost all thinges are disclosed to the King which are spoken in our priuate chamber or whispered in our eare Woe bee to vs whoe are râ—sâ—rued to these times in whose dayes these mischeifes are beefallen whoe in our former estate haue enioyed sâ—e great a liberty which now is recompenced with a hard and most vile slauery Wee would at the least haue fledd that wee might not see the patrimony of the crucifyed giuen ouer to spoyle but whither we knowe not vnlesse vnto him who is our refuge and vertue Concerning the Welshmen and Owen who calleth himselfe a prince wee beeseech your Lordship to bee prouident beecause our lord the King is heerewith wonderfully disturbed and moued to indignation And soe deere father and lord wee wish you all felicity To the same purpose and by the same Messinger Lib. 1. epâ—st 19. 20. 21. 82. did hee writte to Humbald Cardinal and Bishop of Ostia hee sent alsoe letters to Bernard Bishop and Cardinall of Portua and likewise to Albert Preist and Cardinall with an other to Hyacinthe Deacon Cardinall all which are reserued intire in the same booke Alexander afterwards somewhat foreseeing these combates to come prepareth himselfe for resistance admonishing as well the Archbishop as all other Bishops of England not to yeeld a whit to the king against the Ecclesiasticall liberty and not to obserue whatsoeuer they had promised theyr prince in derogation of that immunity which was signifyed in writing to Thomas and all the Bishops of England with these words Lib. 1 epist 91. Wee would haue yee knowe that yee haue vndertaken the burden of your pastorall authority to the end yee should gouerne the Churches committed vnto your charge to the honour of God and the profit and saluation of your flockes in such sorte as the Francises of the same Churches should not by your defaultes in any wise bee impaired but conserued still in their estates by your studyes and endeauours whereupon wee will and command your brotherhoode by our Apostolicall letters and enioyne you in the vertue of obedience that if the renowned King of EnglaÌ„d shall at any time require of yee any thing contrary to the Ecclesiasticall liberty yee presume not in any case heerein to satisfy his minde nor yet beecome in any sorte bound vnto him especially against the Church of Rome neither yet bee yee soe bould as to bring in the fâ—rme of any new deuised promise or oath but only to obserue that which Bishops haue bin accustomed to sweare vnto their Kinges And if yee knowe that in any thing of this nature yee haue tyed your selues vnto your King obserue not by any meanes this your promise but bee rather carefull to recall it and endeauour to bee reconciled to God his Church for the lapse of this vnlawfull promise Thus wrote Alexandâ—r the most vigilant keeper of the sacred Cannons admitting nothing that was vsurped against them in fauour of the king allthough otherwise hee were very much beehoulding to the same prince for late receiued benefittes The rest followeth the next yeere Heere followeth the yeere 1164. and the 12. indiction A yeere to the Catholike Church in regard of many aduersities shee susteyned therein replenished with greifes and troubles And first concerning the state of English affaires more dangerous floods were daily there raised tending not only to ouerthrowe the Primate of Canterbury together with the whole Church of England but also to drowne if it had bin possible the holy Catholike Church it seife together with her high Bishoppe Alexander For Henry king of England prosecuting S. Thomas with an obstinate mind turned all his endeauours against the same Pope Alexander to remoue him from his sea But how all these deadly attemptes were managed receiue heere the relation After this turbulent encounter betweene the Bishops and the king and the departure caused by the kinges inraged fury for eschewing the imminent mischeifes whose forces daylie encreased and auoyding farr greater ruines which threatned the ouerthrow of the Catholicke Church S. Thomas is beesieged with the often and sundrie perswasions of many Bishops and Abbotts that hee should not in regard of one only word vnseasonably and vnreasonably cast himselfe together with the whole Church into soe open and apparant danger one Abbot among the rest affirming this to bee the opinion of Pope Alexander himselfe Thomas at lenght perswaded these by reasons sayeth Hubertin Quadrilogus charity enforceing him thereunto came to the King at oxford and promised hee would alter the word which the King tooke so offensiuely Whereupon the King his anger beeing now somewhat asswaged shewed the Archbishop a more pleasing countenance though inferiour to his wonted fashion the King moreouer sayd hee would haue according to this forme an instrumeÌ„t or obligation made for the obseruation of the royal customes in the publicke sight and hearing of the bishops and nobility of the kingdome But when Thomas was aduertised of the gathering together of a general assembly foreseing the ensuing mischeifes hee beegan to recall his consent yet againe hee is assaulted by the intreaty of many whereby hee is enforced for that instant to yeelde Galat 2. by the example of Peeter conforming himselfe to the Iewes with the Iewes at Antioch and of Paule often exercising the same A congregation of Bishoppes is appointed
being very bitterly incensed beegan to vexe him with more greiuous and exquisite molestations in such wise as it was apparant to all vnderstanding men the blood and life of the Archbishop was thirsted after Among other matters the king soe wrought The King incensed against Saine Thomas sendeth an embassage to the Pape as hee sent messangers to Pope Alexander and required two thinges at his hands first that hee would grant the legantine authority which was vsually committed to the Archbishop of Canterbury vnto the Archbishop of Yorke then that the Pope would confirme the artickles of the customes published in the Parliament of Claringtonne Vpon receipt of which message Alexander beeing on all sides beesieged with exceeding extremities seeing this warre now turned on the Apostolicall Sea laboured with his best and most ready endeauours to calme and appease the king and soe to yeeld to him insome what which neuerthelesse should with no preiudice derogate from the Chuch of Canterbury and thereupon did write in this sorte to the Archbishop Lib. 1 epist 4 The Popes epistle to S. Thomas coÌ„cerning the Kinges dedemandes Although in regard of the wisâ—dome of your minde and sincerity of your faith wee would euer loue your persâ—â— with a more plentifull sweetnes of châ—ritie and a more enflamed desire and with a fare more feruent affection seeke the honour and exaltation of you as our most deare brother it is notwithstanding beehoofefull to vs and you who are a greate pillar of the Church warely to weigh the qualityes of the times and with a prouident moderation and dispensation to mitigate the wrath of the incensed king You on whom God hath beestowed a large talent of wâ—sedome and grace doe truly see in your discretion in what sorte our most deare sonne in Christ Henrie the renowned king of England maintaineth an outragious course in the gouerment of his kingdome and desireth to haue the same vnlawfull proceedinges strenthned witâ— the authority of the Church of Rome whereby they may obtaine the greater confirmation and fauour Whereupon when in times past hee more instantly required of vs and our brethren by our reuerent brother the Bishoppe of Lyons and our beeloued sonne the Archdeacon of Poyters that hee might haue the power Legantine of all England graunted to the Arrchbishop of Yorke and beesought alsoe that wee would command as well you as all the Bishops vniuersally to keepe and conserue the ancient customes and dignities of his kingdome because wee did not yeeld to his desire according to his owne will instantly vpon returne of his embassadors scarce hearing the answer receaued from vs hee sent our beeloued sonnes Geffry his Archdeacon and Master Iohn vnto our presence and by them most earnestly required at our handes not only the former but also other far more vnreasonable demands and to the end wee should yeelde an easyer way to his desire hee procured letters vnto vs from your brotherhood and also the foresaid Bishop of Yorke For as hee prayed vs beefore that the ancient customes and dignitys might by our command bee conserued soe now againe of late hee most earnestly requested that in like sorte as your selfe and others had promised to obserue them they might in the same manner bee assured to him and his posterity Hew far the Pope graunted or denyed the Kings requests by the Sea Apostolicke But wee reiected his petition Notwithstanding least wee should incite him to ouermuch bitternes and more passionate trouble of mynde against vs and you least also it might bee suspected that this was any way hindred in regard of your selfe moreouer fearing hee might breake out into a more furious rage against you and beeing therefore desirous to bee more prouident for you and our selues with consideration of the dangerous times wee yealded so far to the king as to grante the Legantine letters to the aforesaid Archbishop And for that subiectes are truly bound to submitt themselues to their Princes desires and obey their wille wee aduise counsail and by all meanes exhorte your wisedome that as a prouident and discreete man measuring the necessity of the time and with faithfull consideration foreseeing what aduersityes may happen by reason thereof to you and your Church you would endeuour to yeelde to your King in all thinges sauing euer the honour of your Ecclesiasticall dignity and instant labor to recouer to your selfe his grace and fauour least in doeing otherwise you disquiet him to the hurte of you and our selues and they who are transported with an other spirit might thereby purchasse power to insult ouer you and vs. And wâ—e truly as oportunity shall serue will diligently and carefully treate with your King for your honor and augmentation and will employ all necessary trauell for conseruation of the lawes and dignityes of your Church and with all conueniency bee watchfull and prouident therein Dated at Senon the third of the Nones of March Reader you beehould Pope Alexander beesett with extremityes either to loose the kinges good will or grante his requestes and yeeld to him who laboureth to extorte a petition against the Churches liberty these two soe intangleing him the one of the kings demaundes hee satisfyed giuing the Legantine authority to the Bishop of Yorke the other hee absolutely denyed beeing the confirmation of the recited customes yea to the end this Legantine power conferred on the Bishop of Yorke might no way preiudice S. Thomas hee thought good soe to restrayne the same in his later letters that hee should vnderstand this Legation of his for England to bee confined with condition that notwithstanding hee should haue no authority graunted him ouer the Archbishop or Dioces of the Church of Canterbury Lib. 1. epist 5 Lib. 1. epist 3â— 40. Pope Alexanders letters importing this restraint are extant which for breuity wee omitt thinking it sufficieÌ„t if wee leaue them heere noted with their numbres in the margent It is alsoo apparant in the same letters of Pope Alexander that hee soe gaue the legation for England to the Bishop of Yorke as neuerthelesse hee would not suffer the Bishopps to bee exempted from the obedience they owed vnto the Archbishop of Canterbury to whom in very true right they were subiecte which rather enkindled the Kinges greater indignation who desired the Apostolicall Legantine authority for the Archbishop of Yorke of purpose to depose the Archbishop of Canterbury For Alexander hereupon inclined more to the cause of Sainct Thomas The Pope endeauoreth to succour S. Thomas and was soe far of from graunting to pleasure the King against him as hee most carefully watched to supporte his prosperity with the libertys of his Church commanding also the principall Monasteries of France to pray for him vnto allmighty God which is witnessed by a messinger sent from S. Thomas to his Holines in the conclusion of whose letter are these wordes worthie of memory Last of all wee petitioning his Holines that hee would commaund you to make your repaire
to him and direct his letters to you for that purpose hee seemed with greife and great affliction of mynd to answer saying God forbid let vs rather dye then beehould him soe departing his countrye and leauing his Church in that sorte soe desolate And a litle after By the mediation of my lord the Pope there is continual prayer made for you and the Church committed by God to your charge at Clareualle and Pontiniacke Monasteries of the Cistercians Pope AlexaÌ„der in the meane time cherished Thomas comforted him with his letters and reuiued his minde when it was depressed with extreme greife Many of his letters remayne worthie of soe noble a Bishop among which receaue you these beeing in contents the shortest Lib. 1. epist 43. How hee ought to proceede with the King Because the dayes are euill and many thinges are to bee suffered in regard of the quality of the time wee entreate aduise counsell and perswad your discretion that in all actions as well of your owne as those appertaining to the Church you beehaue your selfe warely prouidently and circumspectly and that you doe nothing hastely or rashly but all thinges deliberately and grauely whereby you may recouer the fauour and goodwill of the renowned King of England as much as possibly you may without derogation to the liberty of the Church and the honor of your office and authoritye And that by all meanes you endeauour and labour to endure the violence of the same King vntill the next Easter in such sorte as you deuise not to put any thing in execution against him or his land vntill that perfixed tyme for then our lord will graunt à better and milder season whereby as well you as wee may more safely and securely proceede in our affaires Thus Alexander to Thomas of whom as wee haue sayd it is extant that hee did write other letters to the same effect vnto him But in that the Pope did so certainly promise that times would bee calmer at the next ensueing Easter it is apparant hee did with a Propheticall spirit foreknowe the death of the Antipope which at that time hapned as wee shall heereafter declare But Alexander who soe counselled S. Thomas to forbeare the outragious king did not himselfe forbeare to admonish by his letters the same king in season and out of season instantly reprouing rebukeing and beeseeching him as Reader you may vnderstand by this letter written about the same tyme. ALEXANDER THE SERVANT OF THE seruantes of God Lib 1. Epist 42. to Henry illustrous King of England health and Apostolicall benediction ALlthough the deuotion of a dutyfull childe as well towards vs as your holy mother the Church The Popâ— admonishâ—tâ— the King by writing seemeth of late to weare somewhat cold in you neuerthelesse wee haue not at any time omitted our fatherly affection towards you and the kingdome commended to your gouerment wherefore your excellency diligently weighing that the stripes of a freind are better then the kisses of an enemy may more carefully consider and attentiuely vnderstand that as Clearkes are in life and habit distinguished from secular persons soe the iuditial proceedinges with Clearkes are approoued to bee absolutely different from the iudgmentes of the Layetie and therefore if you desorder these otherwise then it beecommeth and vsurping vnder your power those thinges which beelong to Iesus Christ doe at your owne pleasure ordaine new lawes for the opprâ—ssion of Churches and Christes poore flocke and bring in also those customes which as you tearmed them beelonged to your Progenitors your selfe without all question Prouerb 13 will beefore the last terrible Tribunal which you can no way auoyd bee in like sorte adiudged and the same measure whereby you haue measured others bee returned vpon you But least our admonitions may seeme tedious and rigorous to the eares of your excellency remember how it is written that the father chastiseth the sonne whom hee loueth knoweing assuredly that with how much more ferrent charity wee loue you in our lord and by how much more often and carefully wee call to mind the monuments of your most sincere deuotion many ways and most royally heeretofore shewed to vs and the Church of God soe much the more earnestly wishing with the deuoted affections of our harte your spiritual and eternal saluation wee signifie these vnto your vnderstanding For if the last iudgment bee any ways terrible to you or the crowne of rewards in the eternal rest delightfull it is not only beeseeming but also necessarie for your Maiestie to reuerence truth which is God himselfe and also Iustice to giue euery man his right to leaue to the managing of Ecclesiastical persons all matters Ecclesiastical especially criminal which spring from the breach of faith or periury to yeeld to men of the Church the decisioÌ„ of causes concerning goods and posessions of Churches and not to confound the kingdome with the preisthood for if you would bestowe on the reliefe of the poore or other workes of Charity all the substance which by such compulsions you wrest wring from the treasures of the Church vnto your owne vse you should doe no more acceptable an acte in the sight of God then if you should rob one Altar to garnish an other or crucify Peeter to saue Paule from death for you ought to recount and for an exemple of such proceeding to set before your eyes how king Saul because after the ouerthrowe of Amelech Lib 1. Reg. cap 14. hee would contrary to the precept of God reserue the prey when as for his owne excuse hee pretended to retaine the same for sacrifice was as a reprobate reiected by our Lord and hee yet liuing another chosen vnto his honor and kingly dignity Soe whom the sinnes of the people made a gouernor his owne offâ—nces depriued of the kingdomes gouerment And it is conuenient for your soules health to call to minde how alsoe King Ozias 2. Par. cap. 26. whilst hee would offer incense and vsurpe to himselfe the office of a priest was by the iust iudgment of God strooke with a leprosie If truly you attribute your happie successes to your owne forces and power and not to Almighty God and doe not withdrawe your minde and attemptes from oppressing Ecclesiastical persones and Churches hee doubtles whâ— placed you in gouerment ouer others and ordeyned you a great prince in this world for ruling and not for the wrongfull depression of his faithfull people will with a greiuous vsury demand of you againe the talentes committed to your charge and as it is written of Roboam the sonne of Salomon who for his fathers offence 3. Reg 14. was cast out from his kingdome will transferrre and poure out vpon the heires the vengeance of the fathers sinne Harken not therefore to euery ones wicked suggestions nor open your eares to those who murmur euer mischeifes into your head but diligently attend those thinges which are expedient for saluation and endeauour to
rule and commodiously to gouerne your kingdome according as our lord hath appointed you to the honor of God and the peace tranquillity of his Chrch for which only end you haue receiued into your hand the reynes of the realme That hee by whom kings raigne whose seruice is a kingdome may preserue to you your heires a temporal kingdome after the expiration thereof an eternal one without end Thus Alexander to King Henry which is also set forth by Roger in his Chronicle But what Thomas in this passage of time beefore hee fledd into France with patience endured is to bee declared out of the afore-mentioned Authors for thus is it related The kinge in the meane while vnderstood that my Lord of Canterbury would flie off from that promise especially in that hee openly gaynesayd to seale the deede of those conditions in sorte as beefore was appointed Whereupon the Prince inraged more with fury beegan to afflicte my lord of Canterbury with more greeuous and exquisite vexations soe far forth as it was apparant to vnderstanding men that his bloud and life was thirsted after Wherefore Thomas fearing that determined to flie the Realme and comming to his Mannor called Aluter while all the rest were a sleepe accompanyd only with two with drewe himselfe secretly and getting a ship committed himselfe to the seas but long outwearyd with a contrary winde returning backe hee hardly recouered early in the morning the land againe with hazard of his life In the end his departure beeing knowne his familiars and seruantes were thereupon seuerally dispersed Yet one of them boulder then the rest comming to Canterbury S Thomas â—ttâ—mpâ—ing 〈◊〉 passe awâ—â— by seas 〈◊〉 contrary â—indes â—â—â—â—en backe againe retyred himselfe the next night into the Bishoppes owne chamber and supper being ended began carefully with sorrowe to lament the misfortunes and afflictions of his lord and hauing thus spent the beeginning of the night desirous to take his rest Goe quoth hee to his Boy and shutt the vttermost dore of the hall to the end wee may sleepe more securely this seruant therefore comming thither with a candle lighted the dore beeing open sawe my lord of Canterbury sitt alone in a corner terrifyd with which specctacle hee ran away imagining hee beheld a vision and telling his Master thereof this Clearke whom hee serued would in no case belieue it vntill himselfe made tryal of the truth and comming found all in sorte a foresayde My lord of Canterbury calling together some of his brethren of Canterbury Church declared to them what had beefallen him and how as yet it was not Godes pleasure he should departe and beeing refreshed with a light supper rested The next morning came the kinges officers to confiscate the whole estate of the Archbishop as a fugitiue but hearing and seeing hee was present confounded they helde theire peace The kinge therfore with a more heauy hand increased the afflictions of my lord of Canterbury causing him to bee peremptorily cyted for answering his Maiestie at a certayne day concerning matters The Parliament at North-Hampton to bee obiected against him The tyme being come they who were summoned assembled and a Parliament beeing helde at North-Hamptonne my lord is called to answer his cause The Archbishop together with the rest of the Bishops beeing sate and sequestred in a roome a parte the dores by the Kings commandemeÌ„t beeing shutt so as there could be no passage forth it was on his Majesties beehalfe alleaged against him that in the tyme of his Chancellorship hauing many vacancyes of Bishopprickes and Abbeys with great rentes for very many yeeres in his handes hee neuer gaue vp his accompt for the same which now the kinge required of him Heereunto sayd the Archbishop wee will consult with our counsell and answer by aduice While therefore The opinions of the Bishoppes they remayned all in deepe silence Gilbert Bishop of London Deane of the Church of Canterbury and in that respecte cheefest of his Councell in authority next vnder the Archbishop my lord of Canterbury requiring him to speake sayd if father you consider froÌ„ whence the king hath exalted you what hee hath beestowed on you and weygh alsoe the malice of these tymes how miserable a reigne you haue prepared for the Catholike Church and vs by withstandinge the kinge heerein you ought not only to yeelde him the Archbishoppricke of Canterbury but also the same were it tenne tymes better And if perchance hee could but seein you that humility hee would restore you whatsoeuer you haue lost Wee sufficiently perceaue quoth my lord of Canterbury what you haue aduisedly answered Then Henry Bishop of Winchester sayd This manner of Counsell beeing absolutely pernicious to the Catholicke Church byndeth and confoundeth vs all because if our Archbishop and Primate of England should leaue vs such an example as that euery Bishop should yeelde and forsake at the becke and threatning of his Prince his authority aÌ„d care ouer the soules committed to his charge what will bee then afterwardes the state of the Churches but only this that nothing will bee ordered according to law but all will be confounded as the king listeth and such as the Preist such will bee the people Next Hilary Bishop of Chichester a man glorious in wordes adding his opinion sayd if this instant time and the troubles of the Catholike Church did not require at our handes an other course wee ought doubtlesse to assent to your sentence But when the authority of the Cannons staggereth wee ought very much to withdrawe the rigor of seuerity that sweete dispensatioÌ„ may profit there where sharpe correctioÌ„ may otherwise destroy wherefore I thinke wee ought to yeeld to the kinges pleasure yet only but for a tyme least otherwise wee run on rashly to decree that whereupon may followe a more greeuous retractation not without confusion Afterwardes the Bishop of Lincolne a man truly simple and of lesse discretion sayd it is apparant they seeke the life and blood of this man and of necessity one of these must followe that hee must suffer eyther in his Archbishoppricke or in his life now what fruite hee can reape of his Archbishoppricke if hee loseth his life therefore I see not But Bartholomewe Bishop of Excester spoake thus it is playne that these dayes are euill wherefore if wee may vnder the shadowe of dissimulation auoyd the force of this tempest without hurte or losse it were especially to bee procured neither can wee easily attayne thereunto vnlesse there bee a great relaxation of seuerity the instance of this tyme requireth it cheefely since this persecution is not generall but particular It is better therefore one head should in parte bee subiect to danger then the whole Church of England exposed to an ineuitable perill Roger the Bishop of Worcester beeing also asked his opinion soe tempered his answer as in his very negatiue hee made apparant what his minde was In this quoth hee I will giue no aduice
endeauour for her deliuery Vnlesse perchance you will imagin hee leaueth the shipp who entreth the Cock-boate to drawe her into the hauen This and much more in the beehalfe of saint Thomas wryteth his defendant Iohn of Salisbury But heare what the King of England did Cod Vatis lib 1 epistola 23. vpon the reporte of his departure Henry thus deluded hearing by some that saint Thomas was escaped by flight published his Edictes in this sorte against him and the Clearkes his followers Henry King of England to the seuerall Bishoppes ordayned in England Yee are not Ignorant in what euill sorte Thomas Archbisoppe of Canterbury hath proceeded against mee and my kindome and in what bad manner hee is departed And therefore I coÌ„mand yee none of his Clearkes who after that his flight accompanyd him not any other Clearkes who derogated from the honor of mee and the honor of my kingdome receaue any renttes beelonging to them in your Bishoppickes otherwise then by my permission nor haue any assistance or aduice from yee Hee set out also an other proclamation for sequestring the reuenewes of the Archbishoppricke of Canterbury into the kinges handes Likewise hee published other decrees signifyed to S. Thomas from his friend by wryting in these wordes Please iâ— you to vnderstand Ibid epist 15 ibid. ep 14. Lawes on asted after the flight of S. Thamas that this is the tenor of the commissions sent by King Henry into England to wit That euery hauen bee most carefully guarded least any letters of interdiction bee any way brought into the land and if any Reguler person bringeth them in let his feete bee cut of if hee bee a Clearke let him lose his eyes and priuy members if a laye man let him bee hanged If a Leper let him be burned and if any Bishop for dread of this interdictioÌ„ will trauell out of the realme let him cary nothing with him beesides his staffe It is also his will that all schollers bee compelled to returne into their countrey or else to bee depriued of their Benefices and they that stay shall remayne without euer hope of returne likewise for those Priests who refuse to sing let them lose their priuy partes And let all who rebell bee depriued of their Benefices Thomas in the meane while hauing suffered this banishment sent these letters to Pope Alexander which Roger in his Chronickes of England recyteth the yeere following yet truly appertayning to this present S Thomas concerning hiâ— appeal to the Pope written with these wordes I flye for refuge most holy father vnto your audience that you who with soe greate a hazard of your selfe haue rescued the Churches liberty may now consider the only or cheifest cause of the persecution of my selfe who haue followed your example For I greeued to see the state of the Church by litle and litle to perish and her lawes infringed by the Auarice of Princes and thought this danger of sicknes was to bee preuented and by how much I knewe my selfe more bound to that lord of myne vnto whom next vnder God I am most ingaged soe much the more securely I supposed his vniust attemptes were to bee resisted vntill they preuayled who clowded from mee the cleere beames of his fauor Afterwardes as it is accustomed with Princes they raysed against mee slanders and false accusations whereby they might prosecute mee and I rather chose banishment then to yeelde to iniustice and to multiplye these mischeifes I was as a laye man called beefore the King to makâ— satisfaction and where I hoped in my resistance for most assistance there was I especially deceaued for I found my lordes and fellowe brethren the Bishoppes prepared at the pleasure of the Courtiers to punish mee Thus allmost strangled with the inuasions of soe many I haue fled for succour to the audience of your Holines who neglecteth not those who are plunged in extremityes and vnder whom I stand ready to make good that I am nether to bee iudged there nor by them for what is this else father then to diminish and withdrawe from you the authority of your lawes yea what else then to submit spirituall Power to temporal iurisdiction this once suffered would open an example to many and therefore I iudged Christ fauoreth Caesar not a tia tirant it was with more constancy to bee withstood because the headlong way to doe hurte is to see but a weake resistance But they will say Those thinges are to bee giuen to Caesar which are Caesars yet allthough in many matters the king is to bee obeyed hee is neuerthelesse not to bee obeyed in those by which hee ceaseth to bee a king for such appertayne not to Caesar but to a Tyrant wherein the Bishoppes if not for my sake yet for their owne should haue resisted him For if the last iudgment is reserued for him who hath power to iudge both body and soule shall the highest Tribunal among men bee attributed to him who iudgeth according to his owne sense if these Bishoppes mayntaine the parte of iustice why did they assault mee why doe they reproue mee for appealing vnto him to auoyde whose determination of controuersyes is either vnlawfull or not expedient wherefore they haue vniustly accused mee or distrusted of your iustice for otherwise it were a double confusion to mee to bee conuicted before your Holines And haue I deserued persecution at their handes for whose cause I defended the bullwarke against soe greate a battery and had won the victory if only they would haue assisted but in all case is the head beeing left destitute by the members for how would it bee if the eyes should vse the tongue against thâ— head if they had well foreseene it they deuisâ—d but mischeefe to their owne confusion and our principall aduersaryes abused their assistance to bring them into slauery Because they haue accomplished all this How many wayes the Bishoppes of England offended against S. Thomas vpon soe greate a malice that to vndoe mee they would withall ouerthrowe themselues they haue herein neglected spirituall treasures for temporall trifles and fayled in the end of both Againe what an offence was it that when I cryed out against this iniustice and appealed to your audience they durst in iudgment comdemne mee their father what if they conspire with the Prince our aduersary against the whole Catholicke Church and truly most holy father you might haue bin suspitious thereof Yet wille they say they were bounde to their king as their temporal lord but to him in their bodyes to mee in their soules and to whom could they bee more obliged then to themselues Is it not better to lose corporall then spiritual riches But they will againe reply the king was not in this perilous tyme to bee prouoked O how subtilly doe they argue for their owne slauery yea they prouoke him who by their excesses giue winges to his will and pleasure For they might haue bin quiet had they not to quietly
assented And when is constancy more required then in the midst of our persecutors Are not Christes frindes tryed with persecutions If continually they yeelde when shall they ouercome Of necessity sometimes they must resist Condescend therefore most holy father to succour mee in my flight and persecution and remember that once I was in your age an eminent man but now for your sake wearyed out with iniuryes Put your power in execution restrayne them at whose instance the cause of this persecution came slilie creeping in Neither let the fault of any of these bee layde on my lord the King who is rather a practiser then inuentor of this wicked deuice Hetherto Roger but Pope Alexander heareing heereof declared first that S. Thomas was no waye bounde by his condemnation in this Conuenticle writing thus Cod Vatican lib. 1. epist 49. Pope Alexander to Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury That the inferior cannot iudge his superior and him especially to whom in the right of Prelacy hee is knowne to bee subordinate and helde bound in the chaynes of obedience as welle diuine as humane lawes doe showe and this especially in the decrees of the holy fathers is more manifestly declared Wherefore with carefull consideration weyghing this wee to whom it beelongeth to reforme errours and amend that which for want of correction may leaue a pernicious example to posterity and moreouer beecause the Church ought not by reason of the offence of any particular person to sustayne any losse or discommoditie doe adiudge the sentence to bee absolutely voyde and declare by the Apostolical authority the same to bee of no force which by the Bishops and Barons of England in reguard you appeared not vpon the Kinges first summons was presumptiously pronounced against you whereby the sayd Bishops and Barons depriued you of all your moueable goods as well against the forme of law as contrary to the Ecclesiasticall custome and that especially since you had noe moueables but only of the Churches goods Alsoe wee determine the sayd sentence to bee hereafter of no power nor any ability to preiudice or indammage you your successors or the Church committed to your gouermeÌ„t Thus wrote Pope Alexander whoe likewise by other letters commanded restitution to bee made of all thinges taken away from the Archbisgop or any others Ibid. epist 32. vpon any occasion concerning him But that the state of the Church of England may appeare more playnly I would haue you vnderstand how these letters which by the kinges Embassadors where returned backe to his Holines agayne were first imparted to the Archbishop of Yorke vnto whom at the kinges request was decreed the Legantine authority for England but in reguard Pope Alexander had in his later letters as wee see confined him that hee should not by reason of his iurisdiction challenge any power to himselfe either ouer the person of Saint Thomas or the Archbishoppricke of Canterbury the king as frustrate of his intention who was only bent by prerogatiue of this Legate to depose S. Thomas commanded the letters of legation now vnprofitable for his purpose to bee remaunded backe to the Pope by his Embassadors designed thereunto Concerning this there are other letters extant declaring soe much in these wordes To his most beeloued lord his assured sendeth greeting and euer wisheth him well to fare THrough the mercy of Almighty God who neuer forsaketh those Lib. 1. epist 6. who repose theire trust in him it soe fell out as the same day wherein my lord the Pope was certifyd of Octauians death the Imbassadors of the kinges L and H to witt Lewes and Henry came to the Court the English truly pretending on their kinges beehalfe a shewe of exceeding humility both in open wordes and letters consonant to their speech seemed soe far to moue my lord the Pope and some of his Cardinalls that as by reporte of those who fauoured you I vnderstood they hardly could abstayne from teares wherefore after many allegations in what sorte and with what affection the kinges Maiestie receaued Pope Alexander and how great reuerence hee euer shewed to him the which hee would continew during his life these flourishes finished they returned vnto his Holines many letters concerning the legantine power which your Archdeacon obtayned dishonestly for England during the tyme I remayned with you but the condition wheruppon hee procured the same letters my lord the King by the mouth of his Embassadors absolutely renounced as neuer made or desired by him The Popes Holines soe willingly and gladly receaued the same letters back againe as if a thing most wished were now offered him in such manner as some there present maruelled very much You perceaue reader in all thinges hitherto haÌ„dled before Bope Alexander in the case of S. Thomas how hee fauored euer his side Lib. 1. epist 24. and was from the first in the passage of this busines inclined to asist him in regard wherof let Iohn of Salisbury reprou himselfe who in the beeginninge of these tumultes wryting to S. Thomas beecoÌ„meth soe bad a prophet of Pope AlexaÌ„ders proceedinges saying many thinges make against you fewe for you for mightie persons will come who are bountifull in the largesse of money which Rome neuer despised and will bee supported not only with their owne but alsoe my Lord the kinges authority whom the courte ought in no case to displease c. You may see therefore how vntruly and rashly hee censured of Pope Alexanders constancy supposing hee might bee conquered with gould who was stronger then steele Another imbassage also ensued The imbassage of the Bishoppeâ— of England â—hainst Saint Thomas addressed from the keng to Pope AlexaÌ„der by the Archbishops aÌ„d Bishops of EnglaÌ„d who were all admitted to publicke audieÌ„ce wherein the CoÌ„sistory first of theÌ„ all the Bishop of LoÌ„don houlding the first place did first beegin thus to speake Vnto you Father appertayneth the care and watchfull eye ouer the Catholicke Church that both the discreete may by your wisedom bee fostred vp to the exaÌ„ple of manners aÌ„d the vnaduised by the Apostolical authority suppressed and chasticed to reduce them to wisedom But in the depth of your discretion the man cannot bee conceaued to bee wise who presuming in the strength of his owne witt endeauoreth to disturbe the band of vnion among his brethen the tranquillity of the Church and the deuotion of the king A dissention hath lately sprung in England beetweene the kingdome and the Preisthood vpon an occasion but light and of litle importance which might haue bin easily extinguished had a moderate medicine bin thereunto applyed but my lord of Canterbury being herein singular in his owne conceyte and not guided by our counsel insisted seuerely beeyond reason neuer considering this ill affected time or what manner of mischeife may ensue vpon such a headlong entreprise and soe weaued intangling snares for the destâ—uction of himselfe and his brethren and had but our assent fauored his designes the
matter it selfe had now fallen out more fouly But in respect hee could not as hee ought not compell vs to condescend to his intended purpose hee attempted to retorte the blame of his rash presumption on my lord the king on vs yea on the whole nation wherefore to giue a coulor to the infaming of our mutuall brotherhood no man enforcing him no man threatening him hee fled the land Proueâ—b 27. according to that saying the wicked hath fled and no man persecuted him Heere my Lord the Pope interuping him sayd Forbeare Brother and London answered I will my Lord forbeare him Wherunto his Holynes replyed I bid you not forbeare him but forbâ—are to wrong your selfe At the sound of this Apostolicall trumpet Londons senses were soe amaysed by Allmighty God as hee could not after pronounce one word Wherefore Hilarie Bishop of Chichester floweing in eloquâ—nce more confident of his Rhetoricke then of the truth and honesty of his cause as appeared by the sequel pursued the matter saying My lord and father it beehoueth your Holines speedily to reduce to the orderly state of peace and concord whaâ—soeuer is disorderly landled to the destruction of the vniuersall body leastâ— such immoderate presumption may produce with the ouerthrowe of many the scysme also of the whole Catholike Church â—hiâ—h my loâ—d of Canterbury full little considâ—â—eâ—h while leauing all grauer aduice hee buildeth only on his owne braine that thereby hee may rayse more turbulent stormes and anxietyes to himselfe and his the king and kingdome the people and Cleargie and truly in a man of his eminent authority this was not seemely neither was it opportune neither can it heereafter at any time bee euer opportune Soe gaiely Hylary of Chichester played the Grammarian with his opportune adding moreouer neither yet was it opportune to his Cleagie were they well aduised to yeeld in such a case assent vnto him Heareing therefore this gallant Grammarian soe leape from porte to porte by often iterating opportune they could no longer abstayne from laughter among whom one breaking out sayd Now Sir at length you are ill arriued in the porte At which word our Lord soe abashed the Prelate as presently hee beecame silent and dumbe The Archbishope of Yorke seeing them both soe foyled before him endeauored to abate the fury of his minde and in few wordes only taxed the improuidence of the Archbishop and they in like sorte who discoursed afterwardes whom for breuity I heere ouerpasse yet ioyning all finally in this they beesought that his Holines would make a Legate a latere and send him into England to vnderstand the busines beetweene the king and the Archbishop whom they would needes haue returned backe into the same land there to receaue his iudgment which allthough they instaÌ„tly intreated yea and partly threatened that otherwise the king would breake out into scysme the Pope neuerthelesse would not yeelde to deliuer vp into their handes innocent Thomas but that they should expect his Sommons into that Courte there to haue his cause before his Holines determined whereunto they refused to agree and with disdayne departed without receauing his Apostolicall benediction There is among other epistles to bee seene the Libell farced with poyson which these Prelates offered vp to Pope Alexander against S. Thomas S. Thomas came afterwardes vnto his Holines who as saith Alane in Quadrilogus was entertayned coldly by the Cardinalles but admitted freely to my Lord the Popes presence who receaued him with a most kind and fatherly affection casting a tender compassion on his manifould afflictions and his long pilgrimage soe dangerous troublesome and tedious and while these matters were thus to fro discoursed hee was at the length coÌ„manded to lay the next day open beefore his brethren the causes of his banishment wherefore on the morrowe while it was questioned amoÌ„g his associates which of them should first vnfould the cause euery one pretending excuses the bulke of this busines fell on the Archbishop himselfe Instructed therefore by God allthough of himselfe absolutely vnprouided while placed next vnder my lord the Pope hee would for reuerence haue rysen beeing commanded to sit dow againe and soe to pleade his cause hee thus beegan Although not abounding in wisedome yet are wee not soe vndiscreete as for a trifle to leaue the king of England S. Thomas pleadetae his cause in the Consistory his Courte and commodityes for if wee would in all respectes submet our selues vnto his pleasure there is not hee within his dominions or kingdome who would refuse to bee obedient to our will and during the tyme that vnder this condition wee serued his turnes what was there that answered not our wished desires But after wee entred another course of proceedinge thorough the dewe remembrance of the profession and obedience which for the seruice of God wee haue vndertaken his former affection hee bore vs beegan assuredly to wax cold And yet truly if wee would flye backe from our intended purpose wee neede not the intercession of any for recouery of his fauour but because the Church of Canterbury hath bin accustomed in tymes past to bee the Sun of the west and her brightes in this our age is very much clowded wee had rather in thee name of God suffer any torments yea thousand seuerall deathes if soe many were offerred vs then euer with dissimulation to indure the afflictions which at this instant shee sustayneth And that wee may not seeme with curiosity or a pretence of vayne glory to haue beegun this our entreprise it is conuenient that with an eye-witnessing testimony the effecte bee made apparant And producing the writinges contayneing the customes the cause of this contention with teares hee sayd Loe heere what lawes the King of England ordayned The rroyal customes of the kingdome of England examined in the Consistorie against the liberty of the Catholike Church Bee iudges your selues if it bee lawfull to dissemble in matters of this moment without the losse of a mans soule Which once heard they were all moued to the very effusion of teares neither yet could they contayne themselues who before were to their power vehement on the contrary parte all with one voyce praysing our Lord for reseruing yet one person to himselfe who durst in this tempest of persecution stand in defence of his holy Church and they who seemed before to bee in this controuersie deuided now consented in this one opinion that in the person of the Archbishop of Canterbury the vniuersall Church was at this tyme to bee succoured But my lord the Pope hauing read and often perused and with greate diligence and attention heard and considered seuerally these customes beeing exceedingly moued instantly burst out into anger against the Archbishop reprouing him with sharpe reprehension for that yeelding an assent to these vnworthie the name of customes but truly tyrannical vsurpations hee as hee there confessed together with the other Bishops had renounced their preistly dignity and cast
the Church into bondage pronouncing they rather ought to haue vndergone all dangers then euer to giue the least way to such an vtter ouerthrowe of God Almightyes lawe and moreouer sayd assuredly in this rabell so abhominable which hath bin heere both read and heard there is nothing at all to bee allowed as good somethinges only may bee indured for the Church in a sorte to tollerate but the greater parte as reprobate by the ancient and authenticall counsells haue bin euer condemned being directly contrary to the holy constitutions And thus did the Lord and Pope in the open presence of them all reproue and sentence these to bee heereafter euer by the Church condemned These they are and thus sett forth as wee find them recorded in the aforesayd booke of the Vatican together with the addition of condemnation or tolleration according to the censure of Pope Alexander But I feare least the intermingling of wordes and termes only proper to the English should by reason of their obscurity seeme to the reader darke and difficult to vnderstand which are thus recyted The customes of England propounded at Claringtonne 1. Concerning the aduowson and presentation of Churches if any controuersie thereupon ariseth beetweene laymen or beetweene Clearkes and lay-men or beetweene Clearkes and Clearkes let the cause bee pleaded and determined in the Courte of our lord the kinge This did the Church of Rome vnder Pope Alexand. the III. condemne With. this note are they deliuered in the end of euery artickle beeing taken out of the sayd booke of the Vaticane and inserted in the conclusion of the Quadripartite history alià s Quadrilogus the Cronickles of S. Thomas Cronickles of S. Thomas 2. Churches of our lord the Kinges fee cannot bee giuen for euer without assent and consent of his Maiesty This hee tolerated 3. Clearkes cited and accused vppon any cause beeing summoned to the kinges Courte shall appeare before the sayd Courte there to answere in such sorte as to the royall Court shal seeme conuenient for them to answer soe as the kinges Bench shall send into the Court of the holy Church to see vpon what ground the cause shall bee there handled and if the Clearke bee conuicted or doe confesse the Church ought not any longer to defend him This hee condemned 4. It is not lawfull for Archbishoppes Bishopes and Persons of the kingdome to departe the realme without our lord the kinges licence and if they will departe they shall at the kinges pleasure giue security neyther in their goinge staying or comming to compasse any euill or dammage towards our lord the kinge or his kingdome This hee condemned Ad Remanens which is think to the I law 5. The excommunicate ought not to giue assurance for remayning or answering the lawe neither bee sworne but only giue pledge and security to stand to the Churches iudgement and soe obtayne absolution This hee condemned 6. Laymen ought not to bee accused in the presence of the Bishop but by testimony of certaine and lawfull witnesses so as the Archdeacon may not lose his right nor any thing which should thereby acerewe vnto him and if the accused bee such as no man will or dare accuse them the Shyreefe beeing required by the Bishop shall sweare 12. lawufll men of the neighborhood or village before the Bishop to lay open the whole truth according to their conscience This hee tolerated 7. No man who houldeth of the king in cheyfe nor any of his Maiesties househould seruantes shall bee excommunicated nor their landes made subiect to interdiction vnlesse our lord the kinge if hee bee within the land or his Lord-cheife iustice if his Maiestie bee out of the Realme bee first made priuy thereof that hee may therein determine of the delinquent according to right whereby such matters as appertaine to the kinges Court may bee there iudged and what beelongeth to the Ecclesiastical courte returned thither there to bee ended This bee condemned 8. As touching appeales if they arise men ought to proceede from the Acrhdeacon to the Bishoppe from the Bishop to the Archbishop and if the Archbishop faile to execute iustice they ought for theire last refuge to flie to our lord the king that by his commandement the controuersie may bee determined in the Archbishops Courte so as they shall not attempt any farther without the kinges assent This hee condemned 9. If there arise any controuersie beetweene Clearke and a lay-man or contrariwise about any tenement which the Clearke claymeth to bee held in free Almes the lay man in laye fee it shall bee determined beefore the lord cheife iustice according to his discretion in the kinges Bench by the verdict of 12. lawfull men whether the tenement appertayneth to free Almes or to the lay fee and if it bee found to bee free Almes then shall it bee pleaded in the Ecclesiastical court and if of a lay fee then vnless both parties auow the same to bee helde of one selfe same Bishop or Baron the plea shall bee ended in the kinges Bench but if both of them make their auowry of land helde of one selfe same Bishop or Baron then shall the plea remayne in the court of the said Bishop or Baron Allwayes prouided that hee who was first seyzed loose not his seyson by reason of this recognition This hee condemned 10. Any man of citty castle Borough or the kinges Demeasne mannor beeing cited by the Archdeacon or Bishop for any offence wherein hee is bound to answer him and will not giue satisfaction vpon his citation it shall bee lawfull for him to subiect the offendor to interdiction but not to excommunication beefore the kinges cheife officer of the place bee first acquainted therewith that hee may adiudge the offendor to make satisfaction wherein if the kinges officer bee defaulty hee shall fall into his Maiesties mercy and then the Bishop may after punish the accused with Ecclesiasticall censures This hee condemned 11. Archbishoppes Bishoppes and all Persons of the kingdome who hould of the kinge in cheife and haue possessions in his dominion as a Barony shall in reguard therof answer to the kinges iustices and officers and followe and performe all royall customes and rightes and ought to sit with the other Barons in the kinges courte vntill the iudgment come to losse of member or life This hee tolerated 12. When an Archbishoppricke Bishoppricke Abbacy or Priory of the kinges DominioÌ„ shall fall voyd or ought to be in his Maiesties haÌ„des hee shall receaue all their rentes and reuenues as those of his owne royall dedemeanes and when time commeth to prouide princiâ—all persons of the Church and the election ought to bee made in his owne chappel by his royall assent and the counsell of such Persons appertayning to his Maiestie as hee shall call to perfect the same and the Prelate elected shall there doe his homage and fealty to our Lord the King as his Leige Lord of life member and earthly honor sauing his order before such time
darke clowdes of his speech Thus did saint Thomas write to the Pope Whereupon saith Alan my lord the Pope modestly answering the kinge affirmed how it was neuer in any age heard that the Church of Rome at the command of any Prince whatsoeuer forbad any person her presence especially beeing banished for the cause of iustice But that it was a priuiledg authority granted from aboue to the Apostolike Sea to succour the exiled oppressed yea from the fury of their soueraignes the violent rage of their malitious enemys The Embassadors therfore repining departed to deliuer this message to their king and my lord the Pope determining to returne to Rome vndertooke his iourney Thus Alan whom saint Thomas followed as far as Bituricum where taking leaue receauing his blessing hee departed backe to Pontiniake neuer after seeing Pope Alexander in this world AN. DOM. 1166. The yeere 1166. ensueth and the 14. indiction When Frederick the Emperour seeing the prosperitie of the Catholicke Pope Alexander daily more and more to encrease and that his holines was now peaceable setled in Rome beeing enraged with anger and enuie commanded a Conuentickle in Witemberge otherwise called Herbolis at the feast of Penticost where hee meant with his Bishops and Princes to assemble for cōfirming the power of this Antipope Guido Wherefore the king of England beeing by the Emperour inuited to this scysme beecause experience taught him that Pope Alexander inclined to the parte of saint Thomas taking aduantage of this fit oportunitie for his excuse sent an ambassage vnto the Citty to Pope Alexander determining if hee refused to yeeld to his demands then to fall off from him to Guido for the better accomplishment whereof hee wrote these letters to the Archbishop of Colen the cheife ring-leader of the scysmatickes for procurring a safe conduct for his Embassadours I haue long since desired to find out some iust occasion for leauing the parte of Pope Alexander and his vnfaithfull Cardinalls whoe presume to maintaine that Traytor Thomas sometimes Archbishop of Canterbury against mee whereupon by the aduice of all my Barons and consent of the Clergie intending now to send to Rome men of great accompt in my kingdome namely the Archbishop of Yorke the Bishop of London the Archdeacon of Poyters Iohn of Oxenford and Richard de Lucy who openly and manifestly on the beehalfe of my selfe and my whole kingdome with all other landes vnder my dominion shall propound and denounce to Pope Alexander and his Cardinalls that they shall no longer defend my Traytor but soe absolutely discharge and free mee of him as I with the counsail of my Clergie may establish an other in the Church of Canterburie and shall moreouer require that they reuoke and make voyd whatsoeuer Thomas hath done and likewise demand that the Pope in their presence cause it to bee sworne publickly that hee and his successors shall conserue for euer as far as to them appertaineth to mee and all my successors the royall customes of Henry my grandfather inuiolable and vntouched and if by chance they will gainsay any one of my demandes that then neither I nor my Barons nor yet my Clergie will euer heereafter yeeld him any obedience yea wee will openly withstand him and his and whosoeuer vnder my gouermēt shall bee found heereafter to follow his parte shall bee banished out of my kingdome I entreate you as my dearest frend all excuses set aparte to send mee speedily brother Ernold or brother Randulph of the hospitall of saint Iohn whon may on the beehalfe of the Emperour and your selfe giue safe conduct to the afore said Embassadors as well in their goeing as returne through the Emperour's dominion This was the kinges letter An Embassage was also sent to Pope Alexander which London and Oxford only executed But soe far was Pope Alexander from beeing any way moued either by the terrors of the kinges thundering letters or other threates vttered by the Embassadors in the kinges name as hauinge rebuked their rashnes hee returned to the king himselfe againe an answer fraughte with sharpe reprehension wherewith beeing terrifyd hee desisted from his wicked intention and gaue therfore great thankes to his Holines promising heereafter to obey euer readily in all thinges whereof the Bishops of England in their epistle sent the next yeere to Pope Alexander are apparant witnesses which afterwards in place conuenient wee determine to declare Meane while sayth our Author Colen requireth the Emperors aduise in what sorte hee should āswer the king of England whereunto the Emperor replyeth that hee ought to satisfy the kinges desire in reguard with how much the more solemnity this matter is accomplished soe much the greater shall bee the Popes confussion if hee condescendeth to the kinges request and it may bee that secretly by some one of the Temple or Hospital or any other whom they could not preuent the king by corruption of money may otherwise obtayne the same Wherefore brother Randolph of the Hospitall was addressed to the king of England who safely conducted the Embassadors whom the king intended to send to the courte of his Holines through the Emperors dominion Thus much there But soe it beefell that the same Embassadors came first into Germany where they were present at the Conuentickle of Witemberge but what matters were there handled the letters patents of Fredericke the Emperor dated at that place declare where among other thinges is thus written of this Embassage Moreouer the honorable Embassadors of our renowned freind the king of England directed from him to vs Cod. Vat. Epist 70. did on the beehalfe of the same king in the presence of the whole court vpon the reliques of Saintes make their publicke oath to vs that the king himselfe together with all his kingdome should continew faithfull to our side and ioyning with vs should euer defend the Lord Pascall whose parte wee take and neuer heereafter intermedle in mayntaining Rowland the Schysmaticke Beccause also wee who haue euer hitherto bin ready to abyde the examinatiō of the vprighteousnes of our cause which the aduersaries of the Church of God and vs bee it either out of their pride or the distrust of their cause haue auoyded are now by reason of their manifest obstinacy compelled to vnacustomed oathes Let therefore heereafter euery man and estate carefully eschew the Communion of Scyfmatickes for their fury allthough it hath seemed hitherto in some sorte pardonable it will heereafter bee alltogether intollerable c. Moreouer in an other letter written by one affected to Pope Alexander is sayd That Fredericke the Emperor gloryeth in the assistance of the king of England whose Embassadors were sworne to the parte of the Antipope c. In an other place likwise Fredericke Couloreth his busines with false prophesies that Pope Alexander should bee taken captiue whereunto not only the vulgar sorte but the king of England expecting the euent hath allmost giuen credit c. And out of Salisbury The
which the world witnesseth wee neuer deserued at his handes malitiously to depraue and derogate from vs and our renowne But if the sayd Archbishoppe as of his owne accord hee departed the land soe of his owne free will would returne againe and beare him selfe to vs in such sort as he ought to behaue himselfe to his Lord and king wee then would likewise so deale with him as according to the counsell of our Clergie and Layetie as well of our kingdome as our Prouinces beeyond the seas should bee thought conuenient but wee thinke it vnfitting to call him backe whom wee neuer enforced to flye our dominions Wherefore if it â—â—all appeare to vs that wee haue any way offended or exceeded our boundes wee will with the aduice of our Clergie and Barons according to the customes dignityes and excellency of our kingdome willingly satisfy as wee are bound But if any one will attempt to trouble or diminish the lawes customes and dignityes of our crowne wee will esteeme him the publicke aduersary and open enemy of our name honor and kingdome and wee so long as wee liue will neuer endure the least detriment to the dignityes and customes of our regality which the renowned men our Predecessors haue held and inioyed in the raignes of the holy Popes of Rome Lastly in that hee commanded yee to insinuate vnto vs that wee should not afflict the Churches or Ecclesiasticall persons of our kindome or Prouinces nor yet suffer them to bee afflicted God and our Conscience doe witnes that to this very day wee neuer did nor Permitted it to bee donne Hetherto the kinges Apologie to the Cardinalls But as the image of a foule deformed and horrible Monster beeing ouercast with coulors may bee transformed into the showe of a most faire and chaste Virgin and not with standing there lurketh vnderneath what to the eyes would bee dreadfull to beehould yet outwardly it appeareth delectable Soe shall yee playnly see his detestable crymes with a deceytfull style transformed into vertues But what estimation is to bee had of him that which hath allready bin sayd and what heereafter shall bee written will apparently declare There are also other letters extant which passed this yeere in the cause of controuersy beetwene the king of England and sainct Thomas beeing writings truly of great moment and principaly that which Pope Alexander sent to the Bishop of London and is recyted by Roger in these words Alexander Bishop seruant of the seruantes of God to his reuerent brother Gilbert Bishop of London sendeth greeting with an Apostolicall Benediction In that you haue beestowed singular care and diligence about the busines wee enioyned your brotherhood and for that your haue faithfully sollicited and effectually admonished our most deare sonne in Christ Henry the renowned king of England concerning the encrease and exaltation of the Church and vs wee receaue the same as a thing most gratefull and acceptable and thereupon rendring you abundance of thankes wee doe for that cause highly commend and prayse in our Lord your watchfull and endeauouring wisedome And beecause wee loue with a more intire charity this your king as a famous Prince and our dearest sonne therefore wee haue thought good often yea very often to sollicyte and excite him by all meanes to deuotion towards the Church as well by your reuerent brethren the Archbishop of Roane and Bishop of Hereforde and also by our most deare daughter in Christ his mother sometymes the illustrous Empres of Rome And now reioyce and are greatly comforted in our Lord for the godly zeale of the same king signifyed to vs by your letters But beecause wee would haue him as intirely affected to the Church of God and to vs as in the beeginning her was accustomed to bee wee intreate admonish yea command your brotherhood that you will againe and againe both by your selfe and others carefully and diligently stirre vp exhorte and by all meanes perswade him to procure after his wonted manner with his best endeauors the honor and exaltation of the same Church and foster mayntaine and defend with all courage the cause therof that hee would loue and reuerence Churches and Ecclesiasticall persons and conserue their rightes and franchises Likewise that hee would restore to his grace and fauour our reuerent brother the Archbishop of Canterbury and for our parte if hee yeeld to sainct Peeter and vs the respect and honor which heeretofore hee hath done wee will loue him with a most tender affection and labour by all meanes as beeseemeth vs to magnify and aduance him and preserue the kingdome committed to his charge for wee had rather vanquish him with patience and mildnes then any way agreeue him soe long vs wee can possibly forbeare him Dated at Gradus Mercurii XI Kalend. Septemb. Thus wrote Alexander to the Bishop of London who in this manner answered him To his father and Lord the most high Bishop Alexander Brother Gilbert seruant of the Church of London sendeth his dutifull seruice of sincere charity and humble obedience Hauing receaued most deere father in Christ your commandement with dew reuerence wee instantly heard that your sonne our most beeloued soueraigne Lord was leading his army in the confines of France and taking with vs our venerable Brother Robert Bishop of Hereford according to your direction with all attentiue dilligence wee treated with him and laying beefore his eyes whatsoeuer you signifyed to vs by letter partly entreating and as far as beecame subiects to the Maiestie of their king also reprouing wee constantly and instantly perswaded him that hee would bee certifyed in all these pointes and if hee had swarued from the path of reason hee would returne to the way of truth and iustice beeing called backe by your admonition deliuered him by our mouth and beeing piously aduertised by his father 〈◊〉 absolutly desist from wicked actions loue God witâ— a pure harte respect his Mother the holy Church of Râ—â—e with his wonted reuerence and neuer forbid those whâ— were willing to visit her nor hinder appeales made vnto her and reducing charitably from exile our father the Lord of Canterbury hee would remayne constant and vnmoueable in the obedience of sainct Peeter and your Holines and wholy bent to the workes of deuotion would not any way afflict Churches or Ecclesiasticall persons of his kingdome or dominions nor suffer them to bee in any sorte iniured by himselfe or others but with loue defend them vnder his royall protection that hee by whom kinges doe raigne may in this world prosper his temporal Dominion and beestowe on him in heauen an eternall kingdome Otherwise if hee obeyed not your godly and wholsome admonitions your Holines who had hetherto with patience indured could no longer contayne your selfe within the compasse thereof Heereunto wee added that hee was iustly to feare least if hee corrected not his offences hee shoulde shortly incurre the wrath of Allmighty God through which his kingdome would not long continewe nor his bee
suffered to liue in prosperity but that hee who exalteth the humble would throw downe with great ruine them now exalted from the heygth of their dominion But hee accepting most thankfully your fatherly correrection with a maruaylous temperate mynde and exceeding modesty did in order answer to euery particular Affirming first hee neuer alienated his mynd any way from you nor euer had the least conceyte to that purpose but as long as you shewed your fatherly fauour to him hee would affect you as his father and reuerence and tenderly loue the Church of Rome as his mother and humbly obey and submitt himselfe to your sacred bee heastes reseruing euer without impeachment the dignity of himselfe and his kingdome aÌ„d if now for a while past hee hath not respected you with due reuerence hee alleageth for the reason thereof that whereas in your necessityes hee did withall his harte with all his mynd and his most ample power assist your Holines you did not on the other side giue him correspondence answerable to his desertes when as afterwardes hee had by his Embassadors recourse vnto you in his necessityes but with bushing complayneth that allmost in euery petition hee receaueth repulse at your handes and yet beeing notwithstanding all this confident of your fatherly grace which at his pleasure will heare his sonne hoping and expecting alsoe from you a countenance more calme hee remayneth with an immoueable constancy in the fidelity as they call it of saint Peeter and your selfe whereupon it followeth that hee will not any way hinder such as are willing to visite your Holines neither as hee assureth vs hath hee hetherto bin their impediment Concerning Appeales according to the ancient custome of his kingdome hee challengeth to himselfe an honor and burden that in cyuill causes none of the Clergie of the realme doe exceede the boundes of the land vnles first by experience they trye whether by his royal authority and commandement they may at home obtayne their right which if they cannot there procure then may they freely at their pleasures appeale to your holines without any restraint of his Maiestie wherin if there bee the least preiudice to your lawes or honor hee promiseth by Gods assistance out of hand to reforme the same by the Counsell of the whole Church of his kingdome For the Emperour allthough hee knoweth him to bee a Scismaticke neuerthelesse that hee is excommunicated by your Holines to this instant hee is ignorant but if hee vnderstandeth him to bee soe once denounced and then maketh any vnlawfull league with him or others hee vâ—dertaketh to reforme the same also by the iudgment and Councell of the Church of his kingdome Moreouer hee assureth vs that hee neuer banished out of his kingdome our father the Lord Canterbury wherefore as hee departed of his owne accorde soe shall hee bee freely permitted with all peace to returne to his Church whensoeuer it shall please him allwayes prouided that in satisfaction to his Maiestie hee will absolutely conserue those dignityes against which hee now complayneth notwithstanding hee was formerly sworne to them Lastly if any Church or Ecclesiasticall person shall make proofe that they haue sustayned any wrong by him or any of his hee will bee euer ready according to the iudgment of the whole Church to giue satisfaction These are the answers wee haue receaued from our Lord the king and wee wish wee could haue ' gott at his handes any thing more ample to haue satisfyed your pleasure but such as they are wee thought good to informe your Holines of them to the end that out of his answers your discretion may gather what will bee the conclusion of this busines For our Lord the king seemeth much to iustify his cause whilst hee promiseth in all thinges heere recited to submit himselfe to the counsell and iudgment of the Church of his kingdome and no way at all to hinder as beefore hath bin sayd the returne of our father the Lord of Canterbury whereupon wee thinke good humbly to beeseech your Holines that setting the saying before your eyes The brused reede hee shall not breake Isai 42. and smoakinge flax hee shall not quench you would bee pleased for a tyme to confine within the boundes of modesty that zeale which is worthely inkindled by the fire of the holy ghost to reuenge all iniuryes offered to the Church of God least by pronouncing the sentence of Interdiction or that last iudgment of excommunication you suffer thereby the miserable ruine of innumerable Churches and diuert without recouery as well the king himselfe as infinite numers of men his followers which God forbid from your obedience For it is better a lymme bee it maymed should yet remayne with the heade then beeing cut off bee cast away from the body partes wounded may recouer to bee sounde againe but beeing once seperated absolutely from the man cannot returne to their former integrity diuision breedeth desperation whilst the labour of the skillfull surgeon cureth often a greiuous harte If therefore it may please you it is better you should at this instant imploy your trauell for healing this soare if any hee then by cutting of the noblest parte of the Church of God to heape far greater troubles yea more then can bee expressed on the state of Christendome beeing now in such a combustion For what if your speech cannot as yet fully take or bee taken shall wee therefore despaire of the grace of God beecause in an acceptable tyme it may both take and bee taken what Isai 53. is the hand of our Lord shortned that it cannot saue Or is his eare hardened that it cannot heare For that swifte runing speech doth mightely when it pleaseth cleane change all thingcs and granteth to the prayers of the holy eueÌ„ matters beeyoÌ„d expectation The royal blood knoweth then best to bee ouercome when it hath ouercome nor blusheth to yeeld when it hath vanquished in meekenes he is to bee mollifyed by admonishmentes and conquered with patience What if there ensueth a losse of some temporalityes either through patience allready vsed or as yet heereafter to bee practised Ought wee not to sound a retreate to seuerity whom otherwise a greate slaughter hangeth ouer the peoples heades are not many thinges throwne out of the ship into the seas when cloudes and waues confounded with stormes doe menace death Wee speake fondly but out of an vnfayned charity Admitt this bee the end of the matter that our Lord of Canterbury together with his losses doth also endure a continuall exile and England which God forbid obeyeth no longer your command it is neuerthelesse better for a while to forbeare with patience then with soe greate a zeale to vnsheath the swoard of seuerity For what albeeit persecution is not able to separate many of vs from your obedience some neuerthelesse will not bee manting to bowe their knees to Baal and without respect of religion or iustice to receaue the Pall of Canterbury from the hand
same sealed vp to such Messingers as shall bee designed for that purpose And withall commanded to send or deliuer the letters of the sayd Legantyne authority together with the letters of the Archbishop to sundry Bishoppes according to their seuerall directions and not to omitt this vnder payne of infringing the integrity of our state and order Prostrate therefore in harte wee humbly beeseeche at the feete of your Maiestie that you will not in regard of the weighty affaires beelonging to the charge of your kingdome neglect to consyder of vs but to prouide out of your princely piety soe for vs as wee bee not to our eternall infamy throwne from all to nothing which you may conueniently doe if you condescend by your leaue to obey the Apostolicke commandementes and restoring saint Peeters pence and through your mercy the Clearkes to their owne You command all the Bishoppes that if they can finde any thing in the Archbishoppes letters to make against the customes of the kingdome they presently with all confidence appeale vnto the Popes holines or his Legates which are directed vnto vs soe shall you doe a worke of mercy preserue vs from the guilt of disobedience and by the common appeale of all defend our cause from receauing any detriment Our Lord instruct you to doe his will and redeeme vs out of the streightes wherin wee are at this instant plunged Farwell most beeloued Lord in Christ And thus London painting the wall without temperature whilst with the remedy of appeale and not absolute obedience hee counselled the king to redresse this matter But Thomas now strengthened with the most ample power of the Apostolicall Legation setting asyde delay S. Thomas executeth his LegaÌ„tyne authority falled downe what was to bee cult and corrected plucked vp the bastard plantes which had now beeyond all right and reason taken deepe rootes and beeing made a fanne in the hand of our Lord vndertooke with his greate labour to seperate the chaffe from the corne finding in al things not only the kinge himselfe but also the Bishoppes his most bitter aduersaries whom neither by benefitts nor admonitions hee could euer bring to better passe but indured them still as the most vile deprauers of his actions to the king Yet that hee may not appeare negligent in his office hee awaked the slougthfull restrained the wanderers and those whom hee found in regarde of their abhominable crymes altogether vnworthie hee cut them of from the communion of the Catholike Church as rotten members from a sound body All which is signifyed by the letters hee wrote this present yeere out of France into England to the Bishops subiect to his charge which beeing recorded among other his Epistells are to bee read in this sorte Codi Vat. lib. 1. Epist 9â— Thomas by the grace of God the humble seruante of the Church of Canterbury to his reuerent brethren the Bishop of London and other Bishoppes of the whole Prouince of Canterbury wisheth soe to passe through temporall felicity as they loose not eternall My most beeloued Bretthren why rise yee not with mee against the malicious S. Thomas by his Epistel correcteth the Bishops of his Prouince Why staÌ„d yee not with mee against the workes of iniquity Are yee ignorant that our Lord will disperse the bones of them who please men They shall bee confounded beecause our Lord hath despised them Your discretion sufficiently vnderstandeth that an error not resisted is approued and truth not defended is oppressed And by the testimony of saint Gregory Psalm 52. hee seemeth to consent to the erronious who essayeth not to reforme what is to bee amended Heereby is apparant that wee haue too long and too much forborne the king of England nor yet hath the Church of God reaped any commodity by this our enduring It seemeth dangerous and intollerable for vs to leaue any longer vnpunished hetherto wee haue done soe greate excesses of him and his officers against the Church of God and Ecclesiasticall persons especially since wee haue very often endeauored by messangers letters and all manner of meanes as bee came vs to recall him from his peruerse purpose Beecause therefore hee will hardly afforde vs the hearing and much lesse attentiuely listen vnto vs wee haue with inuocation of the grace of the holy ghoste publickly condemned and declared as voyd that deede of wryting together with the authority of that indenture wherin are contayned not customes but rather those wicked deuices by which the Church of England is disturbed and confounded and haue also excommunicated all the obseruers exactors counsellors assistantes and defenders of the same and doe absolue by the authority of God and vs all yee Bishoppes from that promise whereby yee were bound contrary to the constitution of the Church for the obseruation of them For who can make doubt but that the Preistes of Christ should bee esteemed the fathers and Maisters of kinges Princes and all faithfull beeleeuers Is it not a miserable madnes if the sonne should endeauour to bring the father or the scholler the Master vnder his subiection and with vnlawfull bandes to subdue vnto his will the partie by whom his faith telleth him that not only in earth but also in heauen hee may bee tyed and loosed wherefore that yee may not fall into the lapse of this sentence wee haue adiudged voyd the authority of this obligation and the schedule it selfe with all the enormityes contayned therein and haue especially declared it of no force in these thinges ensuing 1. That no man shall appeale to the Apostolike Sea vpon any cause without the kinges licence 2. That it shall not bee lawfull for an Archbishop or Bishop to departe out of the kingdome and come at the calling of our Lord the Pope without our Lord the kinges licence 3. That it shall not bee lawfull for à Bishop to excommunicate any one houlding of the kinge in cheyfe without the kinges licence or to interdict his land or the landes of his Officers 4. That it shall not bee lawfaull for a Bishop to punish any one for periury or profaning his faith 5. That Clearkes shall bee bounde to bee tryed beefore secular Tribunalles 6. That the Layety or kinge or any others shall handle causes beeloÌ„ging to the Church or Tythes or others of like nature Wee denounce also as excommunicate and haue excommunicated by name Iohn de Oxeforde who hath fallen into a damnable heresie by making oathe to the Scysmaticks whereby the scysme allmost extinguished in Almayne reuiued againe also by communicating with that infamous Scysmatick Reynold Archbishop of Colâ—n and lastly beecause against the commandement of our Lord the Pope and vs hee vsurped to himselfe the Deanry of the Church of Salisbury which acte as contrary to law and à pernicious example to the Church of God wee haue condemned and declared as voyde commanding the Bishop of Salisbury and his Chapter in the vertue of obedience and perill of their order that vpon sight
possessions and fortunes to the spoyle of the wicked There came to him not long since two of the Clergy as one then present at Pontiniake made certayne relation to mee publishing these things and appealing the first in the beehalfe of the Lord Bishop of Salisbury the other of his Deane absolutely denying he made euer such oath to the Emperor or in sorte communicated with Reynold â—he Scysmaticke of Colen on of them alon confessing 〈◊〉 was M. Iohn of Oxefordes clearke and familiarly conuersed with him at the table sayd hee had a message from the king to the Archbishop appealing in the name and beehalfe of his Maiesty aÌ„d by his commandement as hee affirmed froÌ„ the Archbishop to Pope Alexanders audience and added The King appealeth that by him the king appealed assigning for the appeale the day wherin is sung Ego sum Pastor bonus To whom the Archbishop replyed thus Since you are altogether vnknown to vs neither yet haue any Mandate or letters from the king and are a person excommunicate by reason of your communicating with your Master Iohn of Oxeford who is apparantly excommunicated by my Lord the Popes letters you are disenabled to vndertake the office of an Appealant and therefore by Gods grace wee will execute and accomplish the commandement of the Sea Apostolicke And a litle after But all France wondred at the dealinges of these Bishoppes saying They must needes assemble to prouide a remedy for their king whom they knewe like the Emperor whose offence was his Scysme to fall daily deeper into the ruine of sinne in regard of the Church and Clergie whose ouerthrow hee wrought Thus Salisbury But the Bishoppes of England The Bishop of England beecome aduersaryes to S. Thomas Suffraganes to saint Thomas beeing netled with the letters of their Archbishoppe who gouernd as Legate a latere flying backe neuer deuysed as they ought to obey his commandementes to receaue profitable admonitions to prouide for the goods of the Catholicke common-wealth by redeeming it from miserable bondage but rebelling contend against him for the king with wrytinges wordes and actions and soe far were they of from defending the Church against the king which was their office and whereunto the holy sainâ— by his letters exhorted them soe far were they I saâ—â— from reprehending and threatening him by setting forth what arrowes were euen now in the bowe ready to strike I meane the Ecclesiasticall censures issuing out with Apostolicall power from the Church of Rome that they raysed rather a terrible warre against this holy Saint who defended the Ecclesiasticall liberty assayling him with the weapons of contentious wordes to the open scandall of all Catholike Bishops that euer heard it especially their neighboring Bishops of France among whom this glorious Confessor Thomas liued as yet securely And first they assaulted him with letters soe terrible as to them the saying of Dauid might rightly sute Psalm 13. The poyson of Aspes lurked vnder their lippes whose mouth was full of cursing and bitternes their feete were swifte for the effusion of blood while in the meane tyme they would dissembling seeme to bee pious to bee peace makers desirous of Charity carefull for brotherly concord imitating such indeede of whom the Psalme aptly sayth Psalm 54. Their speeches are made softer then oyle and the same are dartes All this shall you better vnderstand by reading their owne Epistles written this present yeere The Ring-leader of these disordered Bishops was London for hee penned their letters although written in all their names These letters are extant beeing either recyted by Roger in his Chronickles of England or else gathered out of the booke of the Vaticane where they are set downe at large And first of all receaue these which next ensue after the former recyted Epistles in this manner To the reuerent Father and Lord Thomas by the grace of God Archbishoppe of Canterbury The Epistle of the Bishopp of England to S. Thomas the Suffragan Bishoppes of the same Church and Parsons through their Dioceses in seueral places ordayned doe send their dutifull subiection and obedience Wee hope father that the troubles which were raysed by the new and vnexpected attempt of your departure hence to those forraine countreyes would by the grace of God through your humility and wisedome bee changed into the faire calme of the former tranquility It was truly comfortable to vs that after your departure a publicke fame was euery where reported how you liuing in those partes beeyond the seas did noe whit aspire in high conceiptes nor imagine any enterprises against our Lord the kinge and his kingdome but modestly indured the vndertaken burden of your voluntary pouerty that you were wholy bent to reading and prayer redeeming with fasting watching and teares the lost tyme of your forepassed dayes and soe busyed in sperituall exercises did through the blessed encreasing of your vertues monte to the state of perfection wee reioyced that by such your endeauors you tooke the way to recouer the benefittes of a peaceable reconciliation heereby was conceaued a hope that you could reduce from aboue into his Maiesties harte such fauor that hee would out of kingly mercy relent in his wrath towardes vs and neuer recall to minde againe the iniuryes offered in and by reason of your departure your freindes and well wishers regayned some accesse vnto his Maiestie while these thinges were thus diuulged of you in soe much as hee gratiously admitted all such as were sutors for restoring you into his former fauor But now by the relation of some wee vnderstand which wee cannot but with greife remember that you published against him a seuere threatening of comminatory wherin you let passe all salutation wherin you practise noâ— counsell or petition for pretending grace wherein you neither deuise nor write any thing that sauoreth fauorably but with all extremity doe rigorously menace Interdiction or excommunicatioÌ„ to bee instantly pronounced against him which were it as sharpely executed as it is bitterly spoken wee should not then hope our disturbed estate would bee reduced to concord but should feare it would bee inflamed with an irreuocable and eternall hatred Let your holy wisedome ponder the end of these actions carefully indeauoring that what is discreetely beegun may likewise come to a happy conclusion Bee therefore if it pleaseth you prudently aduised whether you runne and whether you can by these endeavors obtayne your desyred end for our partes wee are fallen downe by these your attemptes from a maruelous heighth of hoppe and wee who conceaued once some likelihood of obtayning tranquillity are now with a kind of heauy despaire cast downe from all hopfull conceyptes and whilst as it were with drawne sword you ioyne battell you haue not left for your selfe any place for petition Whereupon ô father wee charitably imparte to your aduise that you heape not labors vpon labors and iniuries on iniuryes but setting threatinges asyde you would rather embrace patience and humilyty Commend
your cause to the diuine clemency and your selfe to the grace and mercy of your Soueraigne and in soe doing you shall heape and cast together coales of fire vpon the heades of many let charity in this sorte bee inkindled and wherin menaces cannot preuayle by Gods holy inspiration and the perswasiue counsell of good men piety alone may happely conquer It is better to bee highly commended for voluntary pouerty then bee openly taxed by all men of ingratitude for a receaued benefitt It is deepely rooted in the mynds of all how gratious our Lord the king hath bin vnto you vnto how greate dignity hee hath raysed you from poore degree and receaued you into the bosome of his fauor with a mynd soe free as the ample boundes of his dominion reaching from the Northerne Ocean to the Pirenean Mountaynes were by him soe absolutely subiect vnto your power as through all those principalityes they were only accompted happy who could finde but fauor in your sight and that no worldly mutability might ouerthrowe your prosperity hee would lay your foundation most assuredly in possession appertayning to God and notwithstanding his mother disswaded the realme cryd out against it and the Church of God as far as shee could sighed and groaned thereat hee endeauored by all meanes possible to rayse you alofte vnto the dignity of your present preferment hoping hee should heereafter raigne blessedly and enioy your assistance and counsell with exceeding security If therefore where hee expected security to defend him hee shall find a sword to offend him what a rumor will bee spread of you in the mouthes of all men what a reward what a remembrance will this bee of a requitall neuer heard of beefore Forbeare therefore if so it liketh you to wrong your fame forbeare to iniure your renowne and endeauor to ouercome with humility your king with charity your sonne Whereunto if our admonitions cannot moue you the loue and fidelity you beare to his Holines and the sacred Roman Church ought to inclyne you For you ought easily to bee perswaded not to atteÌ„pt any thing whereby to encrease the labours of your Mother who hath bin now long in troubles that her greife which allready lameÌ„teth the disobedieÌ„ce of many her vndutifull children bee not encreased by the losse of those who remayne as yet obedient For what if soe by these your bitter prouocations and endeauors which God forbid our king whom through the Allmightys bounty people and kingdomes doe attend should reuolt from our Lord the Pope and refuse perchance heereafter to followe his Holines Who denyeth him assistance against your selfe wherein with what petitions what giftes with how many and how great promises hath hee bin solicited whereas hee hath remayned hitherto firmly grounded on the rocke and as a Conqueror in the heyght of his magnanimity contemned all the world could offer one only feare resteth as yet least hee whom neither profered riches nor all that in humaine glory is accompted pretious could euer once moue should in the end by the only indignation of his mynd bee ouerthrowne which if by your default it should soe fall out you could neuer after with any reason forbeare to waste your selfe wholy in the Threanes of Ieremy or deny your eyes a fountaine of teares Recall therefore if soe it pleaseth your excellency this counsell which if it proceedeth will by all meanes bee truly pernicious to our Lord the Pope the sacred Romane Church and if it liketh you to vnderstand it alsoe to your selfe But they about you who mount highest in their owne conceiptes will not suffer you parchance to proceede on this way they exhorte you to make tryall what you are able to doe against our Lord the king and to practise the power of your eminent authority against all that lyeth within the compasse of his Dominion A power truly terrible to an offendor and dreadfull to him who refuseth to satisfy but for our Lord the kinge wee will not say hee neuer offended but that hee was and is euer ready to yeelde satisfaction to the Popes Holines wee confidently affirme and pronounce Our king ordayned by God prouideth in all respectes for the peace of his subiectes and to the end hee may conserue the same to the Churches and people committed to his charge hee willeth and exacteth that the dignityes which were due and giuen to the kinges his Predecessors should likewise bee continued to him wherin if beetweene you two here hath arysen any contention beeing heerupon conuented and cyted with a fatherly fauor from his Holines by our reuerent brethren the Bishops if London and Hereforde hee opened not his mouth against heauen but concerning all thinges wherin the Church or any Ecclesiasticall person shall finde himselfe greeued hee humbly and meekely answered hee would not vsurpe on the right of others but submitt himselfe to the iudgment of the Church of his owne kingdome which truly hee is ready in deedes to performe and accompteth it a sweete obedience to bee admonished to reforme himselfe if hee hath any way offended Gods Maiestie Neither only hath hee a mynde pâ—epared to satisfy but also if the law requireth to make herein ample amends But with what lawe with what right with what Cannon can you afflict the person who is willing to make full amends and satisfaction not drawing himselfe in the least point from the iudgment of the Church in such thinges as appertayne to the Church and yeelding his necke to Christes yoke Or with what Euangelicall Axe which God forbid can you cut him of It is assuredly laudable not to bee caryed on with passion but to bee discreetely gouernd with iudgment wherupon wee doe all ioyne in one generall petition vnto you that you would not headlong run onto kill and destroy but with a fatherly loue indeauor to prouide that the ship committed to your charge may enioy life peace and security Wee are all vndoubtedly troubled with the prâ—ceeding which wee haue heard of late to bee as some imagine preposterously carried against our brother the Lord Bishop of Salisbury his Deane vpon whom you haue inflicted the paine of suspension or excommunication beefore the offence was any way called in controuersy giuing therin as it seemeth rather reynes to your wrath then following the path of iustice A new order of iudgment and hetherto in the lawes and Canons as wee hope vnknowne first to condemne and then to examin the offence Which that you may neuer attempt to exercise and execute gainst our Lord the king and his kingdome nor yet against vs and the Churches and parishes vnder our charge to the derogation and detriment of the Popes Holines and the sacred Roman Church and to no litle augmentation of your owne confusion wee doe heere oppose against you our remedy of Appeale and wee who haue heeretofore loÌ„g since in the open face of the Church and in proper person Appealed to the Popes Holines against the feare of these vexations haue now
which hee hath granted authority the other to which hee would haue reuerence yeelded hee then who derogateth from the right of the one or the other resisteth Gods ordination Let not then our Soueraigne Lord disdaine to attribute to them vnto whom the highest of all vouchsafeth to attribute calling them often goddes in the holy Scriptures For hee speaketh thus I haue said yee are godes c. And againe I haue appointed thee the God of Pharao Psal 81. Exod. 9. Ibid. 22. And Thou shalt not detract from the Goddes that is to say the Preistes And speaking by Moyses of him who was to sweare hee sayth Bring him to the Goddes Ibidem that is to the Preistes Neither let our king presume to attempt to iudge his iudges For the keyes of the kingdome of heauen are committed not to powers of this earthe but to Preistes And therefore it is written The lippes of the Preist shall haue the custody of knowledge and from his mouth they shall require the lawe 1. Cor. ◠beecause hee is the Angel of our Lord. And also Paule sayth Shall wee not iudge Angells how much more men Wee would haue you also suggest into the mynde of our Soueraigne Lord that thing worthie of memory and imitation which wee reade in the Ecclesiasticall history of Constantine the Emperor to whom when there were offered vp in wryting accusations against Bishoppes hee receaued the Schedule of the accusations and calling the accused together hee burned it in their sight saying Yee are Goddes ordayned by the true God goe and determine your causes among your selues in regarde it is vnworthy that wee men should iudge the Goddes O mighty Emperor O discreete Gouernor on the earth not fraudulently vsurping on the authority of others and deseruing in heauen an eternall kingdome Let therefore our Lord the king indeauor to imitate soe greate soe discrete soe happy an Emperor whose memory is with prayses renowned on the earth and likewise accounted eternall and glorious in heauen Otherwise let him feare what our Lord hath threatened in Deutronomy Deut 17. saying What man soeuer shall soe deale in his pride that hee will not heare the preist hee shall dye before the iudge For to this purpose is hee called and to this end the tranquility of his temporall kingdome and that magnificency whereof you put vs in mynde are giuē him from heauen Otherwise the king is not saued by his great power although kingdomes are subiect vnto him and nations doe reuerently obey him And thus far concerning these Now whosoeuer haue ioyned with you in the wryting of these afore recyted letters let them knowe that the same answer wee make you the same wee make to them What remayneth brethren wee admonish intreate and beeseech yee that no scysmes may euer seperate vs but that wee bee in our Lord one harte and one soule and that wee harken to him who sayth In the beehalfe of Iustice contend for thy life and fight for Iustice euen to the very death and God will conquer for thee thyne enemyes Eccles 4. Let vs not forget that seuere iudge beefore whose Tirbunal Throne when wee shall appeare Truth only shall adiudge vs all feare and trust of any earthly power beeing then cleane vanished Soe in our Lord wee bid your brotherhood farewell These were this yeere written the rest shall in the yeeres following appeare in their places But the Bishoppes of England directed letters to Pope Alexander inueighing against this afore recyted Epistle written to them by saint Thomas not that they might any way succor the distressed estate of the Church as neede required but only appeale to his Holines against their Archbishoppe For these are their wordes To their father and Lord the high Bishop Alexander The Epistle of the Bishops of England to the Pope the Bishops of the Prouince of their seuerall Dioceses dispersed in sundry parishes as to their Lord and father remember their bounden seruice of charity and obedience Wee suppose father your excellency is not vnmyndfull how you conuented in your letters lōg since directed by the mediation of our reuerent brethren the Bishoppes of London and Hereforde your deuoute sonne and our most deere and renowned Lord the king of England and how with your fatherly compassion you admonished him for the amendment of some matters which appeared to the eyes of your holines as deseruing reformation in his kingdome who receauing your commandement with due reuerence as it is manifest swelled not in anger The Bishoppes commend their king nor with pryde of mynde contemned to obey you but yeelding thankes for your fatherly chastisement humbled himselfe presently to the Churches examination saying that in euery thing which according to the forme of your Mandat was dilligently expressed to him hee would submit himselfe to the iudgment of the Church of his kingdome and what soeuer they should determine to bee amended hee would reforme by their aduise with à commendable denotion and in a Prince worthie great prayse from this purpose hee flyeth not neither recalleth his mynde from his promise but hee who may sit in thrones who may consider and iudge now moued with the reuerence of diuine feare not as a king but as an obedient sonne is ready to yeelde to iudgment obey the lawfull pronounced sentence and as a Prince bounded with lawes shewe himselfe in all thinges a dutifull childe wherefore it is vnnecessary to enforce with interdictions or threates or the spurres of accursinges the man to satisfaction who subiecteth himselfe allready to the censures of the diuine lawes For his actions withdrawe not themselues from the light nor by any meanes desire to bee shrowded in darknes for this king in faith most Christian in the bandes of wedlocke most honest the conseruer of peace and iustice and one who enlargeth the boundes of the same far and neere incomparably indeauoureth with all his power and thirsteth with a feruent desire that scandalls and sinnes together with their fowle followers may bee taken away and rooted out of his kingdome and that peace and iustice may euer take place and all thinges prosper and flourish vnder him in sweete security and quiet tranquillity The Bishops excuse their king Who finding sometimes the peace of his kingdome not a litle molested with the outragious excesses of some insolent Clearkes with due reuerence to the Clergie referred their offences to the Bishoppes iudges of the Church that one sworde might assist an other and the power spirituall ground and establish in the Clergie the peace which hee ruled and fostred in his people Wherin the zeale of thee party came more to light the Bishops persisting in this setled iudgment that murder or any other like cryme should only bee punished in the Clergie by degradation the king on the other syde beeing of opinion that this punishement did not condignly answer the offence neither was it a sufficient prouision for mayntenance of peace if a Reader or
away hath wherewith to restore Whereupon Saint Augustine saith If the thing taken away when it may bee restored bee not restored Pennance is not donne but dissembled And in an other place I haue sayd this most confidently that hee who maketh intercession for a man to this purpose that hee may not restore thinges vniustly taken away and hee who compelleth not as farre as honestly hee may the party that in this case flyeth to him to make restitution is partaker of his deceipte and offence for with far greater mercy doe wee forbeare to helpe such men then assist them Bee assured therefore of this make no doubt at all thereof and if any man preacheth contrary to this yea bee it an Angell from heauen let him be accursed and soe shall hee as long as hee perseuereth in this opinion See therefor renowned Lord that in this case you walke warely least the detayning of a thing euill gotten which is but dust and wormes dryue you headlong which God forbid into impenitency and make you subiect to that danger from which you can neuer be cleansed by fasting and prayer In discretion moreouer you ought to vnderstand that allthough all Bishoppes are not Saintes yet possesse they the places of Saintes and allbeeit they shine not with such meritt of life yet ought they to imitate those who haue shyned before them as farre as Gods mercy will giue them grace Because therefore holy men haue fought for the law of their God vnto death and haue not feared the wordes and threates of their persecutors for hee is absolutely more to bee dreaded who is able to cast soule and body into hell fire wee likewise are of necessity bound as far as God will inspire vs to keepe foster and defend his lawes neyther is this to bee imputed to vs as pryde or malice but is imposed on vs as incident to our office For soe sayth our Lord Keepe my lawes And againe in thee Gospell Hee that breaketh one of these least commandements shall bee called the least in the kingdome of heauen Wee beelieue noble Lord you are sufficiently endowed with wisedome and therefore wee humbly beeseech you as our deerest Lord and that in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that you will vouchsafe to heare vs yea with mercy and to heare vs throughly as God may heare and fully heare you at the day of iudgment and receaue you among his elected when assuredly neyther strengh nor power nor empyre nor riches nor secular lawes nor customes can helpe any man nor any thing else but the mercy of Allmighty God with the fruytes of forerunning workes which would to God it might euer remayne fixed in your mynde and thence neuer to departe Let our Lord and king willingly admitt and heare the counsellors who aduise him heerein that God may prosper him and lengthen the life of him and his heires with the blessings of peace for many yeeres neither let them passe in this world vnpunished who with their falshood and exquisite deceiptes haue endeauored to vndoe and disturbe the worthie and vertuous designes of our Lord and king which from the beeginning of his raigne hee conceaued and continued as wee thinke with a iust sincere deuotion for the honoring of Churches and Ecclesiasticall persons God send our Lord euer to florish and that his Church and wee may thereby liue more blessedly God send him long life And thus Saint Thomas not as a iudge threatening with seuere censures but as a father exhorteh and admonisheth his sonne whom hee desireth to deliuer from the sentence of condemnation allthough in vayne his wicked counsellors withstanding it Cod. Vat. lib. 1. Epist 140. And like to this complainte of the kinges counsellors made by Saint Thomas as you haue heard doth Iohn of Salisbury inueigh also against them wryting to Nicholas de Monte of Roan who was to Saint Thomas a most entire freind which shorte epistle because it containeth much matter appertayning to this time wee thought conuenient to bee heere inserted being thus Our Lord disperseth those nations that would haue warres and they who estrange themselues from the peace of God shall vndoubtedly perish What one of the Persecutors of Gods Church hath bin read to haue eschewed the reuenging right hand of our Lord who punisheth the mighty mightely In regarde whereof which without greife I cannot speake our Lord the king of England whom with his heires God if it bee his blessed will preserue is much to bee feared least their kingdome bee rent asunder and the power weakened which they haue abused against the Churche If reuenge bee deferred for the correction and probation of his children whom the mercifull father chasticeth first that hee may afterwardes crowne it is not therefore taken away but that after the patience of the holy it beecommeth more bitter and terrible against the wicked Why then I pray you doth not this most wise man endowed by God with soe greate vertues soe large a dominion and allmost all singular guiftes returne vnto his harte And why cannot the cōqueror of soe many and mighty cittyes cōquer his owne intemperance Why doth hee persecuting the Church the only beeloued spouse of Christ inkindle him to wrath who taketh away the spirit of princes and with his owne propper power trampleth on the neckes of the potent Vndoubtedly if hee were aduysed hee would turne the fury of his indignation against them who with their guiles and abuses haue thrust him headlong into this not counsell but downefull and would at the least imitate the king of Babilon that hee might not bee found more cruell then hee who cast them into the Lyons denne by whose counsell hee threw Daniel a prisoner thither that the guilty counsellers might suffer the paynes they deuised against the guiltles Then addeth hee examples of Bishoppes restored by kinges to theire proper Seas wryting thus The Archbishop of Saint Iames who liued long in banishment is now restored by his king The king of the Danes calling home his Archbishop gouerneth by his aduice subdueth his enemyes and honoreth him as his father The Archbishop of Lyons hath receaued againe his Sea and reduced his prouince to the Catholike vnity The cittyes of Italy abandoning Fredericke the Scysmaticke haue entertayned their Catholicke Bishoppes God is my witnes vnles our Lord and king recalleth againe his Archbishop I dread to vtter the feare I conceaue of him but if hee will send for him and render peace to the Church of God I doe assuredly hope that in him and his the glory of his former successes will through the Churches prayers flourish againe what say I more There resteth yet for him one apparant aduice which is that hee banisheth his wicked counsellors the Churches aduersarys and endeauoreth to appease Allmighty God whom hee hath offended against whose diuine pleasure hee can neither raigne nor rule God hath yet endured him with vnspeakeable patience but vnlesse hee beeware as the woeman in labor hee will
of Salisbury on whom hee listed and for our dignity that it was in euery point diminished vntill the Legates comming All this did the Bishop certify vs by his Chaplayne beeing a Cannon Regular and a Religious man whom hee sent to excuse his forbearance of comming to vs at our cyting for wee cyted him once and agayne and lastly the third time with a peremptory Mandate to appeare beefore vs beetweene that and the feast of the Purification as a man of great authority the kinges familiar and one who should mediate a peace beetweene his Maiestie and us if possibly it might bee compased All this the Cannon is ready to testify by oath that thus hee receaued the same from the mouth of the Bishop to bee deliuered on his beehalfe to vs. Which if it bee true then doubtles our lord the Pope hath choaked and strangled not our person only but alsoe himselfe with all the Clergy of both the kingdomes yea verily both Churches as well of France as England for animated with this most foule example what will not other Princes of the world dare attempt against Ecclesiasticall persons To whom shall they haue refuge How can they hee confident of the Church of Rome that hath soe forsaken and left destitute vs who maintaine her cause with fighting therefore to the very death What will beefall if these vnspeakeable and detestable priuiledges standing good together with the oppressions as well by the king as others vnder any pretext it should soe happen which God forbid that the Pope should dye or the Citty runne into confusion of troubles All these would then descend on their heires nor would euer heereafter bee wrested out of their hands And what is far worse other Princes stirred vp with this example would extorte the like priuiledges to bring the Church whether shee will or no into subiection Soe shall the Churches whole liberty vtterly decay together with the iurisdiction and power of Bishoppes no man remayning who is able to controule and restaine the outrages of Tyrants whose whole intention is at this day bent to make hauocke of the Church and Clergy nor will they haue brought them like others into bondage What will bee the end wee know not but this wee knowe that our greife exceedeth measure bee these thinges true or false which are thus propounded For wee are neither obeyed nor respected in any thing as wee were wont by Bishoppes or Abbotts or others of the Clergy of England beeing now assured of our deposition But let our Lord the Pope bee perswaded that wee will neuer on any condition passe ouer into the kinges Dominion to haue there our cause decyded nor will wee euer abide the iudgment of our enemyes and especially of Papyan who thirsteth nothing but our blood thereby to obtayne our seate which in truth as wee heare is allready promised him vpon condition the king may bee deliuered of vs. Wee haue also an other exceeding greiuance The nobles as well temporall peeres as Bishoppes with other Prelates of the kingdome of France as it were despairing now of vs shake of and send vs backe againe the Associates of our exile whom they haue heatherto mercifully relieued and what will these but perish heereafter with cold and famyne as others their fellowes haue formerly donne Intimate all these thinges diligently to our Lord the Pope that hee may prouyde vs some remedy against these mischeifes according to our request if as yet any zeale of God remayneth in him as wee hope it doth and wee pray God our hope confoundeth not Farewell and with all speede returne vs backe this messanger againe who may as well in these as other matters certify vs who rest streyghtned in great extremitys if thinges are soe as wee heare them reported And thus Saint Thomas wrote to his agent being lieger for him in the Citty But heere ended not the complaints poured out against Pope Alexander For now remayneth to be recyted an other epistle of Lumbard SubdeacoÌ„ of the Sea Apostolike who liued at this present in France and wrote thence to the Pope for it is first thus intytuled To Pope Alexander Lumbard Subdeacon of the Roman Church And afterwardes beeginneth thus To the reuerent father and Lord Alexander by the grace of God High Bishop Lumbarde his faithfull Clearke remembreth his seruice of obedience Cod Vat. lib. 1 epist 165. Whereas I am seruante to your Holines and in Christ the worke of your handes I neither can nor ought to dissemble the slanders openly spread to the reproch of your renowne and derogation of your name and such mischeifes as are subtilly deuised to the detriment of the whiâ—â— Church For Iohn of Oxeforde insolently vaunteth hee is returned from Rome with the honor of a Deanry and the fullnes of your fauor adding arrogantly withall that hee is fortifyed with your priuiledge against my Lord of Canterbury and euery Bishop and beeing as it were litle inferior to the Courte of Cardinalls that hee is subiect to you only and your Apostolike power glorying moreouer in his pryde hee affirmeth hee hath procured that for the king which neuer kingdome could yet obtayne which is the confirmation of a Mariage by your authority beetweene the king of Englandes sonne and the Earle of Britaines daughter beeing Cosyns in the third degree And lastly that Legates such as he desired were to bee sent to heare and determine whatsoeuer it should please the king to deuise against my lord of Canterbury without any remedy of Appeale All this most holyfather vpon Iohns returne from Rome was diuulged which by how much they were the more vnusuall how much the more rare to bee compased soe much they more amazed the heares myndes whereupon the king of France the deuoute childe of your Holines and of the Church was soe passionatly moued as hee sayd hee would presently addresse a message to forbid your Legates to enter his Realme and more hee did which I willed this Bearer by word of mouth to deliuer Hee resolued moreouer to assemble his Archbishoppes and Bishoppes beefore whom hee would lay open and declare how the Church of Rome rayseth alofte the malicious enemyes as well of him as her selfe endeauoring to depresse his power saying and doth hee not seeke my dishonor who subtelly compasseth to worke the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury an innocent man banished for iustice and the Churches liberty by yeelding him wickedly vp into the handes of his persecuting enemyes whom not in respect of any fauour receaued by him hauing rather bin wronged by him whyle hee serued the king who now seeketh his ouerthrowe but moued with reuerence of the most iuste cause hee mayntaineth with admiration of his vertue and the loue of my Lord the Pope who instantly entreated mee for him I constantly resolued to entertayne honorably and decently as long as hee remayned in exile and to noursih him as it were in my bosome as I haue allready beegunne denouncing to all and openly protesting
it was no lesse greiuous to him that your Holines sent Legates for managing this cause then if you had designed them for depriuing him of his Crowne Neither were they wantinge who ministred fewel to his enflamed mynde Weertupon was occasion giuen of malice and mischeiuous attemptes against vs and the Church of God to them who from the beeginning had myndes and meanes to hurte vs whose wicked purpose your clemency hath nothing changed although your authority repressed their assaultes All this I receaued from a Clearke who is faithfull and deuoted to your Holines who beeing then present did afterwards pruily deliuer the same to mee This one thing most holy father I assuredly know which I wryte not without teares that the glory of your name is somewhat eclipsed because the detraction of your fame is as it were meate and drinke to backbyters and slanderers who like men intoxicated and drunke with wyne teare in peeces your renowne and deuoure it with the iawes of misreportes and these are not the fauorers of my Lord of Canterbury but also his professed foes and that especially since the tyme of his victory and yours as many beeleiued was now at hand for the day of the Appeale beeing past the king was in that feare to see himselfe excommunicated and his whole dominion interdicted as hee sayd openly Hee neither perswaded nor compelled his Bishoppes to appeale and therefore would not intermedle in the matter the Bishoppes themselues were soe mightily troubled and feared soe much to bee interdicted as some of them sent messingers to my lord of Canterbury others were ready to appeare at his summons When Iohn of Oxeforde as your Legate assembling the Bishoppes commanded them by authority from you as it is reported in France that they should not come to the Lord of Canterbury vpon his citation Whereupon Master Robert Bishop of Hereforde beeing at the seas syde ready to passe ouer was recalled againe as in way of excuse was deliuered from him to the Lord of Canterbury by his Messingers beeing religious men and well knowne I beeing then present and therefore soe great a trouble hath inuaded the myndes of many vpon the feare they conceaue of the kinges subtell deuises to the ruine of the Church of EnglaÌ„d and all Churches within his Dominion together with the ouerthrowe of the Ecclesiasticall liberty and the longer and stronger persecution of the Archbishop For whereas it is sayde by many and that very often that the king hath set vp the rest of his hope on your misfortune and deathe which Allmighty God out of his most mercifull clemency long deferre affirming constantly as it is reported by many that hee will neuer admitt your successor vntill hee hath confirmed all the dignityes and customes of his kingdome It is therefore supposed that craftily and fraudulently hee requesteth the Legates for accomplishing his owne endes and desires as well against the lord of Canterbury as all other Bishoppes of his land or if that fayle yet at the least that hee may put of the excommunication against his person and the interdiction of his dominions and thus winning tyme hee may soe auoyde the authority of the Bishop of Canterbury as if in your Popedome hee bee not bounde hee neede not feare the power of your successor since as many say hee hath resolued not easely to receaue him Wherefore most wise father such as thirst after the spirit of God and peace of the Church desire with all the affection of their myndes that our Lord will styrre vp in you the spirit of Daniel to search out the sleyghts of Bell Daniel 14. and to kill the Dragon For which they beseech God with their deuoute and continual prayers God prosper your Holines with many yeeres Thus far Lumbard whom one reporteth to haue bin the renowned diuine who flourished in Paris and beeing properly called Peter Lumbard liued in these dayes You haue heard the complayntes of the king of France and others expressed in Lumbardes letter Heare now the exulting and insulting of the king of England deriued from this vnfortunate fountaine beeing no litle cause of lamentation to all well disposed myndes For there is extant to this purpose an epistle of Iohn of Salisbury written to Iohn Bishop of Poytiers wherin after other thinges hee sayth thus of the king of England Moreouer the king himselfe toulde the Bishop of Worcester that hee and all other Bishoppes were now exempt from the Lord of Canterburys power and commanded him not to feare any threates for hee had now my Lord the Pope and all the Cardinalls in his purse and soe far hee vaunteth as hee sayth openly hee hath now at last obtayned the priuiledge of his Grand father beecause in his owne land hee was a king a Legate a Patriarcke and Emperor and what hee list Cod vâ—t lib. 1. epist 1â—8 and soe would he bee wherin as it is probable hee aymed at the Church of Rome For what could Octauianus or the Archhereticke of Crema haue don more for him How could their Cardinalls haue pleasured him more then the forenamed Cardinalls sent from Pope Alexander who whetted the tongues of England and made them spitt fire and poyson to terrify the Pope and subiect him to their will This will bee regestred in the Chronickles of the Roman Church and doubtlesse God permitting it there will not want Historiographers to recorde that at the petition and threates of the king of England whose intollerable excesses hee had soe long endured the Champion of liberty the preacher of iustice now liuing with an infinite number of Innocents for the cause of Allmighty God as yet foure yeeres in banishment without any respect of reason or lawe as a man guilty was depriued by the Pope of his office not vpon any offence of his but only to please a Tyrant And yet neuerthelesse vnder his letters patents remayning with vs was granted him to exercise in his ample right the power of his office wherein is expressed that hee neither gaue nor restrayned the mandate for the kings excommunication O good God what a nouelty haue wee heere Isaia 58. The holy Ghost biddeth in his lawe Crye out cease not and loe an other spirit of what fashion I knowe not issuing out from the Citty into the world sayeth to the Preachers cease crye not 2. Tim. 4. The Apostle instructing a Bishop commanding biddeth Accomplish thy ministery And lo the Apostolicall man willeth saying desist from the ministery of thyne office Yet perchaÌ„ce hee supposeth hee can with patience mollify his mynde but hath hee not a sufficient tryall to the contrary in the Bishoppe of Canterbury who hauing bin allmost foure yeeres depriued of his Sea hath felt the remisnes of the Sea Apostolicke and the Tyranny of the king beeing all this while exposed to windes Let therefore I pray you my Lord the Pope bee ashamed of such a conscience and haue a care of his fame honor and preseruation of the Church
the matter Concerning those who scorned they re gold The Cardinalls who abhorred those bribes Ibidem epist 54. among others were Humbald and Hiacinth most renowned Cardinalls of the sacred Roman Church the frindes of saint Thomas of whom an epistle is extant written by the Saint wherin is most honorable mention made of their contempt of gold because to their eternall commendation they not only forbare to touch the kind of Englands golde but alsoe bountefully and charitably beestowed their owne on the English being poore banished men suffering for the Churches cause For Saint Thomas sayth others comfort vs with wordes but your bounty releeueth vs with your substance and your workes you haue lamented our misfortune and the Churches calamity and esteemed heere as your owne the miserys of the poore banished for Christ the most iust Iudge â—ender you in that day the rewardes of your brotherly Charity and the 〈◊〉 of your true coÌ„passion which promiseeth to the mercifull abundance of mercy you haue not wandred after gold with the bayte whereof to our exceeding huâ—â—â—e and the confusion of the Apostolike Sea some haue bin caught by whose procurement the king of England hauing receaued the Apostolicall letters which hee caused to bee read in the streetes of either kingdome vaunted that hee had tryumphed ouer the Church of Rome nor without cause for hee hath obtayned his desire and now at his owne pleasure hee maketh hauocke in the Church of God without controulment of any hoping my lord the Pope which God forbid or my selfe should according to his owne wish in the meane tyme dye And afterwardes hauing rehearsed his lamentable distresses hee wryteth thus againe of the gold bestowed at Rome our Lord knoweth who are his and the Church now partly knoweth who are not hers For the king of England boasteth openly who are his neither is it concealed to how many and to whom his gould was giuen but his bounteous giftes were the spoyles of vs the spoyles of the poore of the crucifyed the spoyles of Christ himselfe yea soe great was the least portion of their spoyles And therefore thus beecause the king heereupon sacriligiously vsurpeth the most ample reuenues of the Archbishopricke of Canterbury wee cannot I say nor ought to excuse these offences soe foule and detestable for who are in this sorte enthralled with the royall golde are become therby leaden and in estimation deformed beeing for their leuity flexible they are in the burden of their conscience heauy to God hatefull exposed to the derision of men and to bee troaden vnder foote as salte wanting taste which is afterwards of no value Destroy them ô Goâ— before they infect the holy Church which is without spott or wrickle Confound them ô God beefore they beetray the Church into the handes of the Layety let these errors of their Predecessors bee a greater example and warning to their Successors ANNO DOMINI 1168. The yeere 1168. Legates sent to the King of England together with the first Indiction now followeth in the beeginning of which yeere and the Kalends of Ianuary the Legates a latere designed to goe from the Citty to the king of England vndertooke theyr iourney the exacte tyme of this their voyage is signifyed in the letters written by Iohn Bishop of Poytiers to Saint Thomas in these wordes Cod. Vrt. lib 1. epist 163. these two Legates I meane William of Papia Preist Cardinall of the tytell of Saint Peter ad vincula and Oddo Deacon Cardinall of Saint Nicholas in carcere Tulliano passed on their way in the Kalends of Ianuary making haste to our partes but although they departed ioyntly together out of the Citty yet went they not one but seuerall wayes deuyded in their trauailing vnto France determining to meete together at the Citty of mount Pessulan But beefore wee proceede farther in the history let vs see what letters Pope Alexander deliuered to the Legates that you may perceaue to what purpose hee sent them the letters of the Legacy are yet extant of which some were directed to S. Thomas others to the king of England which heere wee are to recyte out of the same written booke add first these letters to S. Thomas in these wordes Eib. 2. epist 1. The Popes letters to S. Thomas That wee haue not often with our letters visited your owne person the reason as you may vnderstand was in regarde wee haue bin often carefull to make knowne to you by messingers and word of mouth such thinges as wee thought not conuenient to commit to wryting But now wee would haue your discretion to bee certifyed that wee with all our harty affection desiring your peace haue sent our beeloued sonnes William of the Titell of Saint Peeter ad vincula Preist with Oddo of Saint Nicholas in carcere Tulliano Deacon Cardinalles vnto our most deere sonne in Christ the famous king of England to exercise the office of Legates in his Dominions on this syde the seas which is done especially to make a finall conclusion and agreement beetweene you and the king and by the grace of God to bring all to a charitable end Wherfore in regarde wee esteeme your peace to bee all one with that of the Church neither doe for any cause more desire the same then in that wee suppose the vniuersall Church shall receaue greater vtility therby wee doe by these our Apostolicall letters entreate admonish counsell and command your brotherhood carefully to consider how dangerously the state of this presente tyme standeth and how much the Church committed to your charge wanteth your presence and councell and therefore to endeauor a peace and inclyne your mynde and will to lay a sure foundation of concord beetweene you and the a foresayde king as far as may stand with the reputation of you and your Church And although all thinges doe not heerein succeede according to your hartes desire yet wincke at them for a season intending by godes grace in processe of tyme to reduce to the former state such matters as are to bee amended Neither yet in regarde of the worde which according to your petition wee signifyed to our most deere sonne in Christ the renowned king of Fraece doe you in any case fall of or estrange your mynde or will from peace and the benefit of concord so long as in the couenaÌ„tes thereof you may preserue as wee haue sayde the honor of your selfe Church vntouched because you may heereafter by litle and litle with discretion roote out many misdemeanors which if you should at this instant attempt would bee matters of greate moment And concerning these two Cardinalls you may bee confident in them nether ought you any way to mistrust the aforesayde William because wee haue streyghtly and seuerely commanded him to bend his whole power to the compassing of your peace and this hath hee so faithfully promised as wee can neuer misdoubt the contrary Moreouer wee entreate and admonish your brotherhood that you would carefully deale
on our beehalfe with our beeloued sonne that noble Earle of Flanders and instantly perswade him that considering the necessity of vs and the Church hee would endeauor with his liberality somewhat to succor vs for wee doe not thinke hee can doe a more acceptable seruice to Allmighty God then to labor at this present to comforte vs with the worthy supply of his bounty for the defence of the Churches liberty Thus wrote Pope Alexander vnto Saint Thomas and to king Henry of England by the same Legates in this sorte Yeelding gladly to the requestes of your Maiestie and desiring as far as with God and his iustice wee can to satisfy your will in all thinges and showe due respecte to you and your honor wee haue thought good to sende vnto your excellency as Legates into your dominions on this syde the seas our beeloued sonnes William of the tytell of Saint Peter ad vincula Preist with Oddo of Saint Nicholas in carcere Tulliano Deacon Cardinalles men of learning discretion vertue beeing of great authority in the Church of God and well affected to you and your kingdome and whom among the rest of our brethren wee esteeme as very deere and acceptable to vs giuing them absolute power to vnderstand those causes which in former letters wee haue declared to you with all other matters likewise which shall seeme conuenient for them to knowe whom wee haue in all things authorized as vice gerents so far in our steede as euer the Church of Rome was accustomed heeretofore to constitute them or any other Legates of the Apostolike Sea Wherefore wee doe by our Apostolical letters request admonish and in our lord exhorte your Highnes that you will honorably and benignly receaue and as it beeseemeth your royall dignity courteously entertayne them in such sorte as is meete for men of that eminency and Legates of the Apostolicall Sea Soe as the holy Church of Rome may in your beehauiour to her sonnes acknowledge your ancient deuotion to her and your Maiestie together with the landes committed to your gouerment through the goodnes of God reape therby encrease of all thinges and for those matters which they shall propose to your excellency on our behalfe wee doe wish you soe diligently to admitt and promptly to obey them as our lord and his Church may bee therin worthily honored and you with the realmes subiect to your regiment may also thereby gayne abundance of benefits with rewardes from God and prayse and glory beefore men Shewe not the coppy of this letter to any but only Master Gunter because I haue passed therupon as stricte a promise to Master Walter as hee desired Thus wrote the Pope to the king sending likewise an other letter of the same effecte to the Bishops of England which beeginneth it is reported to our eares c. Dated the last yeere in the Kalends of December By all which is euidently apparant that Pope Alexander perswaded a peace in such sorte as no detriment might therupon accrewe to the Church Pope Alexander did wryte withall by the same Legates to the king of France to whom among other thinges hee openeth the desire of his mynde for honoring Saint Thomas with all worthy respectes and decreeing to this holy man the Legantyne authority ouer the whole Church of France if the Bishoppes of that kingdome were soe pleased The letters of his Holines were thus indighted Amonge other renowned tokens of your magnificence and deuotion wee esteeme as cheifest that you haue with so many and soe great honors entertayned our reuerent brother Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury a man most religious discreete and vertuous and to vs and the vniuersall Church in euery respect most deere and acceptable and that out of your boūty you haue vouchsafed plētifully to beestowe soe large and royall benefittes out of your humanity on him for which wee render your Maiestie the greatest and worthyest thanks wee may and for your clemency therin commend you with most exceeding prayses in our lord And this as it is most gratefull to God to whom in his person you haue consecrated the same soe wee accept it as deerely as if you had donne it to our selues and because with all our affections wee desire the peace of the same Archbishop wee haue thought conuenient to send our beeloued sonnes William of the tytell of saint Peter ad vincula and Oddo of Saint Nicholas in carcere Tulliano Cardinalls to our most deere sonne in Christ Henry famous king of England to reforme by the helpe of God all matters beetweene the sayd king and Archbishop indifferently for the honor of them both and for the conclusion of perfect concord and peace and that they may in the same kinges landes on this syde of the seas heare and vnderstand all araysing controuersyes and there inioy the Legantine authority of the Apostolike Sea Wherefore by our Apostolicall letters wee beeseech admonish and in our lord exhorte your Maiestie that for the reuerence of the Church of God and the honor of Saint Peeter and vs you would effectually doe your parte as well with the sayd king as Archbishop and carefully labor in such sorte as to the honor of God and his Church and likewise to the benefit and commodity of them both they may frindly and peaceably agree together and bend their myndes and willes wholly therunto soe it bee donne without impeachmēnt of the Archbishops and the Churches reputation And if by endeauour and labor of the same Cardinalles with your trauell they may returne to peace and agreement the Church which next vnder God is supported with your speciall assistance shall receaue thereby no small encrease and you in the blessed retribution of the iust obtayne of Allmighty God for this a speciall reward But if otherwise which God forbid they cannot accorde soe it may stand with your royall likeing and good pleasure it would bee to vs in euery respect a singular pleasure and very gratefull and acceptable if it may bee without great scandall of the persons of your kingdome that wee might endowe the sayd Arbishop with a particular honor aboue others and make him our Legate vice-gerent in those your partes and therefore doe most earnestly entreate your Highnes if hee cannot a cheyue a peace with reseruation of the honor of himselfe and the Church beeing the thing wee most desire then that you will with all speede signify vnto vs your mynd heerein and in the meane while conceaue this as an exceeding secret Thus wrote the Pope to the king of France The Legates therefore as soone as they touched Frāce presently saluted saint Thomas with their letters and William did in this sorte wryte vnto him Allthough thorough the variable alteration of tymes for doubt least the Church of Rome Cod. Vat. lib. 2. epist 9. beeing distempered with a Scysme should sustayne the greater damages wee seeme in the conceipts of some to decline from you to the aduerse parte hee knoweth notwithstanding who is the
whose snares by the fauor of God are broaken in peeces and wee deliuered And trauelling from Venice not couertly but openly with great ioy and comforte of our fryndes through Marchia Verona and our natiue countrey Brixia where wee made some long abroade by Bergom ad Millane neere Nouaria then by Vercelles not far from Taurin wee attayned to Saint Michaelles de clusa and thorough Prouince to Saint Gyles with safety vntouched following thence our ready way to Mount Pessulan where the lord William our frynde whom our Lord the Pope assigned to bee our associate coasting thorough other countryes in such sorte as wee suppose you haue hearde gaue vs the meeting And now proceeding on farther wee send you this bearer our Chaplayne whom wee would haue you credit as our selues beeing confident in whatsomeuer hee shall on our beehalfe relate vnto you and whatsomeuer you will signify backe agayne to vs trust him therin as you would trust your selfe Thus wrote Oddo the Legate to saint Thomas Who beefore hee receaued the same or any way vnderstood of the Lord Oddos beeing in France saluted him with this respectiue letter Hearing the approach of your excellency Ibidem epist 18. Christes banished flocke our fellowes in exile conceaued a meruellous ioy and as if an Angell were sent froÌ„ heauen for the comforte of the Church and ransoming of the Clergy the whole congregation of Saintes with thankes-giuing tryumphed And although your associate bee held in suspition by many saying hee accepteth of persons and rewardes and is an inward faueror of our Lord the king willing in all thinges to patronize his cause and for vs together with the Church of God to kill and choake yea make vs all his spoyle The opinion neuertheles of your name or to speake more truly of your vertues shyneth soe bright as you are esteemed to haue with Moyses the Angell of our Lord which is the holy Ghoste the forerunner in the lawe who protecteth you euer and suffereth you not to haue new Gods whereby you should preferre either rewardes person or cause before Allmighty God c. Psalm 18. But for his opinion of William the other Legate hee vttereth it afterwardes in these wordes Many insult ouer vs especially our aduersaryes yea the Churches aduersaryes saying truly the Cardinall of Saint Peters chaynes is sent against vs that Peter may by his meanes bee chayned againe Now the reason why the Legates did not instantly vpon their comming into France execute the office of their Legantyne authority for concluding a peace beetweene the king and Saint Thomas was the rysing of a war beetweene the kinges of England and France that hindred their designes of which troublesome discorde Iohn of Salisbury wryteth to Iohn Bishop of Poytiers in this sorte Cod. Vat. lib. 2. epist 31. The confusions of the two kingdomes with mighty earthquakes of immineÌ„t dangers haue long enforced mee to withhould my pen and expect more conuenient tymes for wryting vnto you For the tumultes of warre raging all the whole sommer out off the intercourse of Postes and a rebellion in kindled in the Citty of Rhemes soe disturbed the Prouince as a man could hardly passe in and out of the Citty c. Hee treateth farther of the Ciuill warre of Rhemes which neuer left till it came to the kinges themselues vpon reporte whereof Pope Alexander wrote thus to his Legates Alexander Bishop seruant of the seruantes of God to his beeloued sonnes William of Saint Peter ad vincula Preist and Oddo of Saint Nicholas in carcere Tulliano Deacon Cardinalles and Legates of the Apostolicke Sea sendeth greeting and Apostolicall benediction What exceedinge greate damages and discommodityes may beefall to the vniuersall Church of God Ibidem epist 34. and especially to the Romane and the Church of the Easte by reason of the discorde and dissention which by the procurement of the enemy of mankinde is raysed beetweene our dearest sonnes in Christ the renowned kinges of France and England it bee seemeth vs in wisedome to consider and so much the more dilligently to bend our forces to extinguish theÌ„ the more wee dread which God forbid the greater dangers ensuing theron and therfore by our Apostolicall letters wee admonish charge and command both your discretions that yee endeauor by all meanes possible of your owne and also by other Religious and graue men of either kingdome for restoring peace and concord beetweene them and that heerein yee beestowe all your labors and powers and that yee haue in any case singular care not to determine any thing vpon the request and for the fauor of any one of them whereby the other may bee scandalized or disturbed Moreouer wee streightly forbid yee that neither yee nor any of yee presume to enter the kingdome of England or manage the affayres of that dominion and especially not to compasse or any thing to ordayne concerning the consecration of the Bishoppes vnles our venerable brother Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury bee absolutely reconcyled to the afore sayd king of England which wee hope and wholy trust may bee brought to passe by your industry and â—â—â—el if God câ—â—curreth with all For as wee perceaue by the letters of many iudicious men there hath not bin a greater firebrand to inkindle insurrections and tumultes to the disturbance of the kinge of France with all his countrey then the rumors which Iohn Deane of Salisbury vpon his returne from vs is sayde to haue dispersed in those partes Dated at Beneuent the eleauenth of the Kalends of Septemb. Thus truly the peace which was once or twise confirmed was now cleane dissolued againe But let vs heere sett downe the conuenantes and conditions which were formerly contryued for conclusion of a peace beetweene the two kinges for these are signifyed in an epistle of Iohn of Salisbury sent to the Arch-Deacon of Excester wherin is mentioned how in the assembly at Soisson they proceeded in this sorte concerning the Articles of peace now ratyfied anewe The king of England ought to returne againe vnto the homage of the king of FraÌ„ce and taking a corporal and publicke oathe to professe beefore all men that for the Duchie of Normandy hee would serue him as his Lord in such wise as the Dukes his Predecessors were accustomed to serue the kinges of France That hee was bound to resigne the Countyes of Anioue and Cenomane together with the fealty of the peeres depending on these Signiories to Henry his sonne who therupon was to doe homage and fealty to the king of France against all men neither to owe any more to his father or brothers therfore but what the consideration of nature or meritt required The king of France on the other syde did grant to Richard sonne to the king of England the Duchie of Aquitayne on like conditions giuing him his daughter in mariage without any dowry who was neuertheles at her fathers pleasure to accept any free gifte towardes her mariage These were the conditions
of peace establshed at Easter but vpon new occasions broke out a rupture of warre againe whereupon it was necessary the couenantes after our Lordes Ascention should once more bee reuiued sauing the king of France would not bee obliged to beestowe his daughter on Richard the king of Englands sonne Thus is it there related at large And yet although Pope Alexander as hath bin sayde admonished by letters his Legates who were sent into France that setting other busines a parte they should only bend their forces to reunite the kinges soe rent in warres neuertheles one of the Legates William of Papia not performing as it was beeseeming the office of a Mediator far from indifferency which declineth in affection to neither parte beecame presently an absolute partaker with his frind Henry king of England Vvilliam the Legate taketh partâ— with the king of England Cod. Vat. lib. 2. epist 32. The discourse of the incounter of the two kinges whereupon the king of France was somewhat moued against him There remayneth a perfect declaration of all this in wryting contayning other thinges worth the knowledge and is set downe in the letter of Iohn of Salisbury sent to Master Lumbard in these wordes When the kinges were come to the place appointed for conference Ewdo earle of Britane and Rowland of Dynamen broke into many and greeuous coÌ„playntes to the king of FraÌ„ce against the king of England but Edwo especially beewayled that his daughter who beeing yet a virgen was deliuered into his handes for a pledge of peace was afterwardes gotten with child by him beeing therin a Traytor adulterer and intestious For the king and Ewdoes wife were borne of two sisters But the Earle of Angolysme and Marche with the Vice-count of Doway Robert de Sylly Geffrey de Licimacke Henry de Rancore and the Abbot of Caroffy pleaded for restitution of losses they incurred by the king of England and his subiectes after the truce was taken For the Abbot affirmed his Monastery appertayned to the Dominion of the king of France since the tyme of Charles the greate who was their founder And a little after The king of France hauing there vnderstood that the Cardinall sate in the king of Englandes counsell incensed sayde hee had not deserued of the Church of Rome that the Cardinall as hitherto hee had euer donne should fauor his enemyes and that at this instant hee woulde not receaue any thing for the loue hee bore to the Earle or Cardinall but only for his owne right c. And after many matters hee addeth that the parlee of the kings beeing ended the king of England with greate ostentation vaunting shewed the Popes letters wherby hee had enioyned Saint Thomas not to publish any excommunication or interdiction against the king or any of his English soe long as the Legates remayned there suspending him thus from his authority and boasted that hee had with tryumph in a sorte obtayned of the Church of Rome whatsomeuer hee desired of the Pope The procurer of these letters was one of the Legates William of Papia Iohn of Salisbury openeth and deliuereth the whole matter in his epistle to the Archdeacon of Excester where wee thus reade It is apparant the letters whereby the king gloryeth that hee hath restrayned my Lord of Canterburys power vntill hee reconcyleth himselfe vnto his royall fauor were purchased by this deuice The often mentioned Papia knewe how my Lord of Canterbury had obtayned authority from the Apostolike Sea to publish against the king the sentence of excommunication and against his kingdome the like of Interdiction vnles the kinge within a tyme limited by the letters made full restitution to the Church of all thinges taken away with ample satisfaction wherfore hee wrote to my lord the Pope beeseeching him with a lamentable petition to proceede with the king in a milder fashion otherwise the king to the shame and eternall disgrace of the Church of Rome according as hee hath resolued if hee were more rigorously handled would caste as well himselfe as his Associate Oddo into chaynes and prisons where they should passe a life abridged with miseryes yea a tyme more terrible then death it selfe perswading thefore his Holines that the king intended thus to tyrannize hee obtayned for contenting him and continuing the free liberty of himselfe and his associate whereby they might the easyer trauell in these affaires this Apostolicall letter which hath so much afflicted the myndes of you and all other true Catholikes Soe wryteth Salisbury of this letter so fraudulenty procured from his Holines by William of Papia one of the Legates By reason heereof the king of France grewe wonderfully discontented with Pope Alexander which the elected Bishoppe of Charters perceauing certifyed his Holines thereof wryting thus of the king of France Among all the kingdomes of this world in my opinion there is not one which hath continually shewed a faith more sinceare a charity more feruent a deuotion more plentifull to the Sea Apostolike then that of France There is not one among the kinges and princes who obeyeth your Mandates with more humility honoreth the Church and Ecclesiasticall persons with more deuotion and defendeth them with greater endeauors then our most Christian king There is not a Church which hath bin more seruiceable to the Church of Rome in all her distresses then that of France This Church of France and the king himselfe beecame sutors to your Holines on the beehalfe of my Lord of Canterbury who hath for the Churches liberty and defending the dignity of your Maiestie continued a banished man in exile now fower whole yeeres There pleadeth against him before your Holines a Tyrant a persecutor of the Church and to the kingdome of France open enemy whose iniquity is notorious to all men And yet notwithstanding which I am ashamed to speake and greiue to see malice hath hetherto preuayled in vanity For why when as hee lately came to a parlee with the most Christian king where by the mediation of the Earle of Flanders who inuited my Lord of Canterbury thither The king of England vaunteth of the suspeÌ„sion of S Thomas from proceeding against him there was earnest endeauoring to renew a peace to the Church hee caused to bee read in the hearing of his Bishoppes and Peeres the Apostolicall letters wherin was decreede that the aforesayde Canterbury should not publish any sentence against him or his land nor yet any way molest any person vnder his Dominion untill hee were reconcyled to the king Vpon the hearing whereof the most Christian king was confounded and the whole realme together with all the children of the Church conceaued exceeding greife to see a iust man a reuerent Bishoppe suspended without cause and that there proceeded from the Apostolike Sea a wryting that would proue soe pernicious a President Cod Vat. lib 2. epist â—0 Thus wrote William the Elect of Charters whose singular commendation Iohn of Salisbury in his letter to Iohn Bishope of
Poytiers setteth forth in these wordes A man assuredly of greate hope of high fame of eminent authority And a little after There is not in the Clergy of France I sperke it from my harte who excelled him for wisedome and eloquence Moreouer the king of France sent letters importing as much to his Holines And saint Thomas himselfe hath his letters yet extant which hee wrote to Manfred the Cardinall to Bernard Bishop of Portua and to Humbald and Hiacinth Cardinalles Ibidâ—m epist 52. all tending to that purpose But this concerning the suspencion was graunted by the Pope beefore hee vnderstood the aforesayde deceiptes of Iohn of Oxeforde Ibidem epist 54. Ibid epist 55 which beeing once discouered hee was incensed with such a zeale against this trechery that hee suspended presently the Legates from approaching to the king and with his letters comforted Saint Thomas all which is witnessed in the letters of Iohn of Salisbury to Syluester where first hee wryteth of the most magnificent intertaynement of sainct Thomas by the king of France in these wordes The most Christian king of France receaued my Lord of Canterbury at Senon with royall magnificence in the Church of S. Columb Ibid epist 90 and in all respectes doth soe honor and reuerence him as beeseemeth the Christ or anoynted of our Lord to bee entertayned by a most Christian man yea in the eyes of that most faithfull Prince as himselfe confesseth the dayes seeme few and the expences small in comparison of the great loue which hee beestoweth in the seruice of the Preist of Christ and of this Apostolicall man and therefore this faith which with humility hee practiseth I beeseech God with worthy retribution to rewarde whose bounty it is that liuing in the middest of his enemyes without blood or war hee prospereth in all thinges and which most highly hee esteemeth is beloued and greatly respected by his subiectes 2 Reg. 6. as Obededon the Gethean vpon receauing the Arcke of God found the fruites of a diuine benediction in the fertility of his hand-maydes and flockes together with the multiplying of his whole possession 2. Paral. 34. 35. ibidem 20 and as Olela for receauing the same Arcke being cast out of the Temple of our Lord by Achaz obtayned in the silence of the Bishoppes and Preistes the grace of Prophesy This most Christian king receauing into his realme the Church of Rome in the person of Pope Alexander had by his wife a sonne and by Gods grace heyre of his faith and kingdome a thing which aboue all others he most earnestly desired and now for his charity to the afflicted Church of England hee confidently expecteth an other reward which God of his goodnes giue him My lord the Pope hath of late as well by message as letters recomforted the Archbishoppe of Canterbury and I would to God the world vnderstood with what sleyghtes and deuices the notorious swearer procured that whereof the Aduersaryes of the Church doe soe gloriously vaunte And a littel after These thinges are yet vpon the necessity of obedience concealed from the world but our hope is that all will bee shortly published beecause as wee certainly heare the comming of the Legates which hath by them binne soe gladly expected is now suspended or rather frustrated vpon the discouery of Oxeforde the swearers falshood Thus Salisbury Yet indeede the comming of the Legates to the king of England beeing for a tyme suspended was not suffered to proceede vntill almost the later end of Autumne But Pope Alexander receauing soe many complaintes by the letters of sundry persons for suspending Saint Thomas somewhat moued thereat wryting to the Legates signifyed how hee nothing at all abrogated the authority of Saint Thomas but rather suspended the power of the Legates themselues from intermedling any way as iudges in decyding these controuersyes For the letters hee sent to the Legates à latere Dated 9. Maij are these After your departure came heauy tydinges to our cares how our beeloued sonne Iohn Deane of Salisbury publickly declared that in regarde wee exempted Bishoppes and other Ecclesiasticall and teÌ„porall persons of the kingdome of England from the Iurisdiction and authority of our reuerent brother Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury wee did all this to satisfie the will and pleasure of the king of England and to depose and condemne the Archbishoppe and that wee sent yee purposely to that end It is also insinuated to vs that Iohn Cunim of Oxeforde shewed to Guydo the Antipope of Crema all the letters hee procured of vs whereupon the Archbishop beeing confounded with shame and greife our most dearly beeloued sonne in Christ Lewes the renowned king of France together with his Princes through these reportes are very much troubled and extreamly moued for allthough it was suggested to vs by many and made in a sorte to seeme credible that the aforesayde Iohn did only and so faithfully labor for the honor and aduancement of the Archbishoppe with his Church and for the liberty of the same pretending that at his returne home hee would with his labor and industry procure the deliuery of Ecclesiasticall persons from restraint of imprisonment which they endured vpon the kinges Commitment and last allbeeit the forementioned Iohn signifyed to vs by his letter how the king in the presence of many did publickly say Hee would conserue vntouched to the Clergie of England the selfe same libertyes which they had in the raigne of his Grand-father king Henry yet neuertheles in regarde the fame heereof is soe farre spread as it causeth our good name in those partes to bee consumed with infamy wee admonish and command your wisedomes that yee haue instantly a speciall care to recomforte the sayd Archbishoppe with your letters and clearing his mynd from all sorrowe and suspicion yee endeauor by all meanes to reconcyle him to the king and worke a perfect peace among them and that hereein yee spend all the care and diligence yee possibly can prouyded allwayes that yee preserue pure and vntouched the ancient lawes and libertyes belonging to him and his Church neither doe yee any thing else of importance within the kinges principalityes enter not in any case into his kingdome although himselfe doth neuer soe much entreate yee vnles the Archbishop bee first accorded vnfaynedly with him because it will contract to yee and vs a wonderfull infamy whereby the voyce of the people will rent in peeces your honor with slanderous detractions but for Iohn Cumyn if yee finde the allegations to bee iustified against him censure him with seuerity that hee bee made an example heereafter to terrify others Wee also will that in all your actions and affaires yee beehaue your selues aduisedly grauely and prouidently to the end no cause of reproch bee any way found against yee but that the deuotion of both kingdomes by your trauell and conuersation bee continually encreased as well to vs as the Church wherby yee may gayne to your selues an
which motion retyring himselfe asyde with his freindes after consultation with them hee answered that he had sufficiently humbled himselfe to the king without impeachement of the honor of God the liberty of the Church the reputation of his owne person the possessions of the Churches and lastly the iustice due to him and his these thinges so numbred vp wee seriously perswading him as it was necessary to descend to particulars when hee would alleage nothing either certayne or particular wee consequently demaunded of him if in the matters specifyed in your letters hee would submitt himselfe to our iudgement in sorte as the king and the Bishoppes had allready vndertaken to doe to which our demaund bee presently replyed hee had receaued no Mandat from your holines to that purpose but if hee with all his might first bee fully restored hee would then proceede heerein according as by the Apostolike Sea hee should bee commanded Soe returning from the parlee since his wordes neither â—ended to iudgment nor agreement nor yet hee would by â—ny meane enter into the matter wee manifested vnto the â—ing some thinges knowne to vs concealing neuertheles 〈◊〉 as it was conuenient other passages and tempering what wee heared with discretion Hauing therfore ended â—ur speech the king and peeres there present beegan to maintayne that his Maiestie was now sett at liberty since â—he Archbishop disclaymed from iudgment wherupon after the king had shewed signes of great disturbance the Bishoppes and Abbotts of the kingdome of England togeâ—her with many others of the Clergie demaunded earnestly whether wee could enforce by vertue of any speciall mandate or by our Legantyne power the Archbishop to stand to iudgment and when they vnderstood our facultyes were heerin insufficient least the Archbishop beeing 〈◊〉 not subiect to iudgment should as before hee had done worke molestation to some of the kingdome in regarde that therin our presence could profit them nothing and was not able to defend them against the Archbishop with a generall consultation and consent they appealed to the audience of your Holines assigning the terme of theyr appeale the feast of Saint Martin which shall fall the next winter following flying in the meane tyme for defence of them and theires to the Apostolicall protection and including all the subiectes of the realme with the whole kingdome within the Edict of this appellation Lastly wee knowing this matter euidently to tend to the Churches exceeding detriment did by your and our authority absolutely forbid the Archbishoppe first in regarde hee was restrayned by your letters then because they appealed solemly against him that hee should not heereafter attempt any thing to the aggreeuance of the kingdome people or Churches of the realme It is therfore the parte of your Apostolicall prouidence carefully to foresee that this busines turne not to the greeuous damage of the Church as they who respect the Churches especiall commodity feare and doubt This was the relation of the Apostolicall Legates to Pope Alexander But heere wee are to seâ— downe likewise the epistle of Saint Thomas concerning these matters to his Holines which was thus Cod. Vat. lib. 2. epist 50. The greatnes of our miseryes and bitternes of our greifes confounded the myndes of vs and our fellowes in exile and afflicted with a heauy scandall the most Christian king the peeres of France compassionating the Church which as it seemed in the comming of Iohn of Oxeforde was giuen ouer into the handes of them who sought the depriuatioÌ„ of her life in soe much as with exasperated hartes they complayned that faith and truth were taken of from the earth But for the which the father of mercys reward your pitty most holy iudge most liuing Parent and of the Church of God faithfull Guardian according to the multitude of dolors in our hartes your consolations haue reioyced our soules For now are wee reuiued in hope and the most Christian king with his kingdome yeelding infinite thankes to your Apostleshippe which God most highly blesse and conserue for many yeeres retorte all this their indignation vpon them who gloryed they had with their oathes tryumphed ouer your Maiestie For the king hauing receaued your lâ—â—ters of excuse wrytten by your excellency instantly praysed and magnifyed the grace of your wisedome iustice sanctity and blessednes and with great ioy layd open to the detractors the malice and deceyptes of them who had with false rumors so fowly scandalized the Church of France beating this someytmes into the eares of them if perchance they were present who were vnwilling to harken therunto in regarde they sided with the contrary parte But his ioy was more encreased after his conference with your Legates by whom beeing receaued of him with reuerence as hee confessed hee vnderstood they came not to preiudice the liberty of the Church or vs but to compose a peace beetweene the king of England and vs and if it were possible beetweene him and the Church of God And I pray God they may prosper in this way with his grace v herin they shall finde vs most ready Assystantes for retayning the honor of God and the Churches liberty And beeing inuited by them to a parlee in the confines of the kingdomes the tenth day following wee hauing then wee speake on our conscience but three horses in our stable obtayned a forbearance fer seauen dayes more to assemble together our exiled company beeing poore wretches miserably dispersed heere and there yet necessary as well for comforte in this intended iourney as to helpe vs with they re counsell in the caryage of this busines who albeeit they were hardly able to be called together in a tyme so shorte and penury soe pressing on all sides neuertheles wee gaue our Lord the Legates meeting on the Octaues of Saint Martin The most Christian king by his seruantes appoynted for that purpose for which God in the mercy of his word reward him liberally and bountefully entertayning vs with our fellowes the whole company of Christes exiled whoe flocked together from euery place And as it was signifyed to vs by some our persecutors did all they might to breede vexation in our iourneys and chargeable disbursements to the end they might make vs burdensome and odious by the great weyght and tedious prolonging of our expenses to the king of France who among others the poore of Christ releiueth vs with his almes for they thinke to reape a great benefitt of their malice if they coulde disturbe vs of this habitation which God hath prouyded for vs and depriue vs of the Princes charity 〈◊〉 as they beereaued vs of our assistance among the Cistercians There came only with my Lordes the Legates the Archbishop of Roan the other Bishoppes and Abbots of our prouince whom it pleased the king to call beeing left at Roan They layd therfore open first before our eyes the cruelty of the king the malice of the tymes the necessityes and calamityes of the Churches which in all partes of the
this be dilligent attentiue and marke if there bee a dolor like this of vs and ours who are giuen vp for a prey and spoyle vnlesse thy mercy o God doe presently through the hand of the Apostolike authority succor vs we are made a scorne and derision to those who are about vs being confounded by the authority of your Legates who would to God they had not dealte thus disorderedly and presumptuously with vs and the affaires of the Church for if they haue thus vsed vs in the greene wood what will they doe in the drye wee meane in the continuance of this Legantyne authority which would it had neuer bin They haue suspended vs as much as in them lyeth from all power which wee haue enioyed ouer the Churches and persons of England although neuer by Gods grace nor by your goodnes done at the instance of any Prince or other or by Gods mercy will bee done as your excellency vouchsafed most certainly to promise vs. And why renowned Lord haue you granted this Legantyne authority to such a man let it bee spoken with your pateence in whose first entrance to this busines your Lordship ought to haue bin circumspect what the fruite of this Legation would he and more considerate what the end would proue especially in him whose endeauors were wholy bent from the first and so are still to the ruine of the Ecclesiasticall dignity and alsoe of yours if so he may be gratious therby to the king My Lord my Lord on you are cast our eyes least otherwise wee perish helpe vs my Lord and deale with vs according to your promises which wee would they had not in vayne reioyced our hartes for wee haue endured vpon the commandement of your excellency wee haue endured peace wee say and it commeth not wee haue expected by the handy worke of your Legates good and behould our affliction is more encreased and our troubles more terrible Take pitty on vs therfore my Lord take pitty since there is none vnder God who fighteth for vs but only your selfe with your faithfull Assistantes Haue mercy on vs wee say that God may haue mercy on you in that seuere iudgment when you must yeelde accompt of your Baylywicke for wee haue refuge to none vnder God but your selfe since euen they to purchase she fauor of men oppose against vs who in regarde of piety and iustice and for the reuerence of the sacred Church of Rome ought especially to mayntayne and defend vs. For your estates beeing now consumed and endles vexations assaulting vs wee haue not heereafter any meanes left how to prosecute this troublesome sute and cōtrouersy raysed by them nor the least parte therof Let then your excellency instantly if it please you helpe vs and the Church with making an end of this malitious mischeife that there be heereafter no longer delay because the tyme now importuneth it for hardly are wee able to breath our extremities are soe greate make haste therefore that wee may receaue some benefit of your fauor before wee dye God send long prosperity and life to your holy and bounteous goodnes which wee esteeme most deerely and is next vnder the loue of our Lord for vs most necessary that by your magnificence wee may beegin to reuiue who now beegin to dye Please it your wisedome to bee also informed that three dayes before these mischeifes befell vs we sent messingers with letters to signify to your Holines in what manner we departed frō your Legates For the most Christiā king of France his Queene the Princes and Bishoppes of the kingdome with others of lesser note who loued you did by theer letters congratulate you glorifying Allmighty God and thanking his diuine Maiestie and you because it was manifest vpon the comming of the Legates as they themselues by word of mouth made knowne to my Lord the king that all the rumors were false and most vntrue which Iohn the swearer of Oxeforde and others the kinges messingers had vaunted concerning the aggreiuances and ouerthrowe wee should receaue by the Legates which raysed an vnspeakable scandall throughout the whole kingdome of France and among all who heard this reporte they only excepted who were aduersaryes to the Church and vs But this harpe was turned to lamentation this mirth to morneing and the last error made worser then the first Wee humbly therfore beeseech that it would please your Holines to apply a present remedy to a sicknes yet beeginning and to let men openly knowe according to the truth how all this presumption was without your priuity and contrary to your commandement And soe againe God send your Holines well to doe now and eternally Thus much wrote Saint Thomas to Pope Alexander Which the Saint not satisfyed with this seconded with the ensuing complaintes to the sacred Colledge of Cardinalls To his reuerent Lordes and Fathers the Bishoppes Codex Vatican in the Appendix of the epistles epist 1. Preistes and Deacons by the grace of God Cardinalles of the sacred Church of Rome Thomas by the same grace the humble seruant of the Church of Canterbury a wreched and miserable banished man sendeth gteering with remembrance of his most respectiue dutifull seruice Saint Thomas complayneth to the Colledge of Cardinalls It is not easy for a wreched man to make a gratefull discourse and for the miserable to keepe a measure is speech forgiue therfore wee beeseech yee the wreched and pardon the miserable Wee beelieue most holy fathers how yee are by the ordinance of Allmighty God placed in that your hygth of dignity to this purpose especially that yee should chase away iniustice cut of all presumption gratiously succor the afflicted of the Clergy and neuer suffer them to bee ouerborne with reproches and calamitys but ayde and assist the oppressed and aggreiued suppresse their false accusers and seuerely punish such as worke their ruine For in not chastising the peruerse nor resisting the Persecutors of the Church wee doe nothing but fauor them Hee seemeth secretly to consent who opposeth not himselfe against a manifest offence whereupon wee conclude it cannot bee but that yee are hereafter bound with all your forces and endeauors to assist this cause of ours And a litle after is not our cause also yours yea absolutely yours Will yee not yet seeme to knowe that the king of England hath vsurped and euery day vsurpeth euen still the possessions of the Church how hee ouerthroweth the Churches liberty layeth hands on Gods anoynted tyrannizing euery where and without any respect ouer the Clergie castinge some into pryson dismembring others plucking out the eyes of these enforcing those to vndergoe the combate of single fight and likewise causing Clearkes to endure the tryall of fire and water making Bishoppes to disobey their metropolitan and inferior Clearkes their Bishoppes not to acknowledge themselues excommunicate who are neuertheles truly accursed and in a word which is farre worse that hee cleane abrogateth the whole liberty of the Church not
against mee are all these forces bent and I once taken away there will bee none left to pursue yee further c. Bee therfore comfortable and feare nothing Nay rather quoth they wee take pitty on you not knowing which way you caÌ„ turne your selfe beeing a man of soe greate authority and thus left by your cheifest and last frindes To Allmighty God answered Canterbury I committ the care of my selfe and since the dores of both kingdomes are now shutt against me ah other way is now to bee taken I haue heard that about Araris a riuer of Burgundie and from thence to the countrey of Prouince men are of a more liberall and free disposition to these will wee all trauell on foote who perhaps vpon sight of our afflictions will take compassion of vs and furnish vs with victualls for a tyme vntill our lord shall better helpe vs for God is able euen in the deepest pitt of distresse to releiue vs hee is worse then an infidell who despayreth of Gods mercy And Gods mercy was instantly at hand for a certaine seruante beelonging to the king of France comming to them hastely sayde my lord the king calleth yee to his Courte That hee may quoth one of them banish vs the kingdome you are noe prophet answered Canterbury nor the sonne of prophet doe not then foretell euill tydinges Comming therfore they found my lord the king sitting with a sad countenance and not according to his custome rysing to my lord of Canterbury which was vpon the first sight an vnluckly presage where they sate still after this cold inuitation and remayned long in silence the king hanging downe his head as if with greife and against his will hee deuysed which way hee might dispatch them out of his kingdome and they no lesse fearing the king who breaking out into teares and with sobbing rysing vp on the subdaine did prostrate himselfe at my lord of Canterburys feete all there present being amazed and my lord of Canterbury bowing low to lifte him vp The king of France repenting greatly humbleth himselfe to Saint Thomas the king in the end hardly comming to himselfe soe greate was his greife sayde Truly my lord and father you only did see and redoubling his sighes with sorrowe truly father quoth hee you only did see for all wee were blind who gaue you counsell against Allmighty God that in your cause yea in his diuine cause you should at the pleasure of man neglect the honor of God I repent mee father I repent mee withall my harte pardon mee I beeseech you and absolue mee wretch from this offence and heere I cast at the feete of God and you my kingdome and from this tyme forward doe promise neuer to bee wanting to yoâ— and yours in any thing so long as God willing this life shall last My lord of Centerbury therfore absoluing the king and giuing him his benediction returned ioyfully with his followers to Senon where the king of France maintayned them royally vntill their teturne into England Vpon reporte wherof the king of England sendeth worde to the king of France that hee maruelled very much how or with what reason hee could in iustice maintayne Canterbury against him seing in his owne presence hee soe humbled himselfe with readynes to endure all course of iustice neyther yet that hee was any impediment to hinder Canterbury from recouering his peace which hee proudly and contumeliously reiected wherfore quoth hee the king of France ought not heereafter to yeeld any releife to the disgrace and reproche of his liege man Whereunto the king of France replying sayde Goe messingers and reporte this to your king The renowned answer of the king of France to the king of England that if the king of England will not endure the customes which hee calleth ancient though as some affirme not agreable to the law of God yet as appertayning to his royall dignity to bee any way abrogated much lesse can I of right ouerthrowe that lawe of liberality which together with the inuesture of my Crowne falleth to mee by inheritance for France hath bin of ancient tyme accustomed to receaue all distressed and afflicted persons especially them who were banished for iustice and vntill they recouered peace to fauor protect and defend them the grace of which honor and excellency shall neuer by Gods helpe during my life vpon the request of any man bee diminished or denyed to Canterbury beeing thus exiled And soe far concerning the speech that passed beetweene the king of France and the Agents of the king of England which euery wise man will accompt worthie to bee written in letters of Golde ANNO DOMINI 1169. Now ensueth the yeere of Christ 1169. with the second Indiction when Pope Alexander refusing absolutely to yeeld to the king of Englands requestes propounded in his last Embassage and constantly perseuering in the restitution of Saint Thomas vnto his Church determined yet againe to send other Nuntios for regayning Saint Thomas his Archbishoppricke Whereof meeting to treate it is first necessary to lay open what the king demanded of the Pope which consisted of two principall pointes one that Saint Thomas beeing remoued out of France might bee called by his holines to Rome the other that hee might bee translated to an other Sea But with what trauaile and exceeding cost the king endeauored to bring his purpose to passe and winne the Popes good will certaine letters secretly written to Saint Thomas doe in this sorte declare Cod. Vat. lib. 2. epist 79. In regard that through the Allmighty worke of God the cause of Christe and of his Church is now restored to that security as it cannot heereafter bee endangered because the Ring-leaders of this Scysme are quayled and the hammer of the Church of England beeing taken captiue in the workes of his inuention cannot as now find any on whom hee may relye beeing driuen to the last cast The new and terribâ— attempts the king of England â—gainst Saiâ— Thomas hee made these dangerous attemptes when by solliciting as well the courte as the Scysmaticke Friedricke with his complices hee sawe hee could not that way any whit preuayle against our Lord and his anoynted hee fledd by his Embassadors to the Cittys of Italy promising to those of Millane three thousand mearkes towardes the strong reparation of their walls if they together with the other Cittys which they attempted to corrupt could obtayne at the Popes hands the deposition or traslation of the Archbishopp of Canterbury for the same purpose did hee likewise promise to Cremona 2000. mearkes to Parma a thousand and as much to Bononia But to my lord the Pope hee made offer to deliuer him with a larges of money from the exactions of all the Romans and giue him more ouer ten thousand Mearkes granting beesides that hee should ordayne at his owne pleasure Bishoppes as well in the Church of Canterbury as in all other vacant Seas through out England But beecause his greate
promises extenuated his credit in accomplishments and that hee was in his demandes conuinced of manifest iniquity hee receaued repulse yet what of himselfe hee was not able to procure hee assayed to extorte by the power of the king of Cycillie But neither hee allthough the Bishop of Syracusa and Robert Earle of Bassauile laboured heerin with their vttermost ability and the mediation of many intercessors was heard notwithstanding his royalty power or fauor which hee enioyed amply in the Church of Rome The kinges Embassadors were therfore dismissed and their demandes reiected this only beeing graunted that my Lord the Pope should send Nūtios anew for procuring of peace which were Gratian the Subdeacon and Master Viuian Archdeacon of the ancient Citty who was accustomed in the Courte to execute the office of an Aduocate Thus much was signifyed by secrett intelligence for without expressing any name the Inscription is thus A frind to his frind Saint Thomas vnderstanding thus much and also at what tyme hee should bee called to Rome by Pope Alexander was wonderfully troubled and wryting to Cardinall Humbald Bishop of Ostia after many complayntes speaketh thus of this matter In regarde wee will not transgresse the law of God with giuing place to the iniquity of Tyrantes hee endeauoreth without any necessity beesides all vtility and against authority to translate vs to an other Church and beecause wee refused to followe him when hee allured vs to accompany his sinne hee requireth wee should bee called vp vnto you that in our passage hee might make some bargaine whatsomeuer with the consortes of his iniquity for the effusion of blood for what other meaning can hee haue in soliciting those of Millane Cremona and Parma by corruption of bribes to our destruction Wherin haue wee offended those of Papia or other Cittys of Italy Wee neuer gaue them cause to procure our exile Wherin haue wee aggreeued the sages of Bononie who moued by prayers and promises would yeeld their consent to the cause of our ruine which only by relation they vnderstood Assuredly wee neuer banished Robert de bassauylle and yet hee was by sinister suggestions induced to bee a meane to you for our banishment neuertheles afterwardes peaceauing trechery and repenting this offence he entreated that his vniust petition might not bee admitted Richard the elect Bishop of Syracusa entised with a hopefull bayte of the Bishoppricke of Lincolne assisted our persecutors with money strengthened them with counsell and armed them with power Concerning the king of Cicillie himselfe in whose countrey you lately remayned they promised him in mariage the king of Englands daughter to make him their owne for the ouerthrowe of the Church and vs. Did not they by distributing their bread entertayne as their hirelinges the family of Lyons the nation of theeues and other the most powerfull Romanes not soe much to bowe as to breake the Church of Rome Nay they promise to purchase peace with the Emperor and Saxons and beesides with their bountifull guiftes of many to drawe all the Romanes to doe their fealty to my Lord the Pope if they will but satisfy the king of Englands desire in our ouerthrowe You see how secure a passage what abundant prouision the dilligence of man had heere prepared for vs. Vndoubtedly hee cared not greatly how our Creditors might bee satisfyed how sufficient necessaryes might bee ministred to our companions if any happily might bee found to trauaile along with vs how the charges of the iourney might bee supplyed with sufficient meanes for the banished multitude who now after fiue yeeres exile was to bee lefte poore afflicted and forsaken in the middest of soe great calamityes Truly with the same dilligence of these purueyers and harbingers because wee cannot bee perswaded to call the kinges name into question may the house hould stuffe and prouysion of our hostes bee poysoned and hardly can that man bee secure of his life whom the Commander of the family where hee lodgeth lyeth in wayte to kill And that wee may not heerin bee tedious in circumstances of wordes As long as this life lasteth we will neuer vpon any summons hazard our selues to so many and so great imminent dangers for if a man will vpon euery occasion runne desperately to death hee may with a knife or a halter more speedily finish his dayes Afterwards hee proceedeth to rehearse what in the end of the last yeere is declared concerning the endeauors of the king or England to depriue Saint Thomas of the king of Frances protection which wee may receaue from the reporte of his owne mouth for hee sayth The king of England sent lately his Embassadors the Bishop of Sagia and Archdeacon of Canterbury to the most Christian king soliciting him with entreaty to bannish vs out of his Dominion but the man replenished with God answered that hee receaued by inheritance this law from his ancestors and that it had bin euer the custome of the kingdome of France kindly to entertayne all such as were banished for iustice and afforded them due and cōuenient courtesyes and comfortes and affirmed hee would neuer vpon any occasions whatsomeuer leaue so laudable an inheritance being so acceptable to Allmighty God Adding moreouer that hee receaued vs from the handes of my Lord the Pope whom only in earth hee acknowledged his Superior and therfore hee would neuer for any Emperor king or wordly Potentate desist to fauor vs and our cause so long as necessity required in regard God was on our syde and wee sustayned iniuryes and losses in defence of his lawe With this answer hee dismissed these confounded Embassadors and beecame to vs for which God reward him more louing and liberall then before although hee hath bin euer both kind and bountifull Hee saith beesides hee will in this cause of ours make tryall of the sincerity and vigor of the Church of Rome together with the vertue of our Lord the Pope whose faith and constancy hee exceedingly commendeth beecause hee reioyceth that the king of England hath receaued at his handes a repulse in his vniust demaundes Thus saith Saint Thomas of the king of France wordes worthy to bee engrauen in greate letters of Gould But as the faith together with the constancy of Pope Alexander was hitherto well knowne to continue vnmoueable in the defence of iustice and truth soe did it heereafter perseuer euen to the very end vncorrupted which notwithstanding hee gouerned with sweetenes and temperance leauing nothing vnattempted before hee would denounce the king to bee excommunicate and subiect his realme to Interdiction which caused him to make especiall choyse of men who were most famous for eminence integrity and singular learning I meane the fore recyted Gratian nephew to Pope Eugenius that most renowned Bishop Two Nuntioes send by the Pope to the king of England Cod. Vaet lib. 3. epist 12. for soe much doth Iohn of Salisburyes epistle to the Bishop of Poytiers signify and Viuian a person of excellency as beeing a
discreete and worthie Aduocate of the Romane Church And how far the commission extended which they receaued from Pope Alexander is thus sent in a secret relation of a certayne frind before rehearsed vsing these wordes in the Conclusion Notwithstanding all this the Pope restrayned these Nuntioes with the obligation of an oath to a precise and confyned forme of peace in such sort as they should not exceede their limited boundes commaunding also seuerly that they should abstayne from receauing any rewardes of the king or burdening him with expences vnles the Churches peace were first procured nor yet make any longer stay beeyond the setled day assigned them Concerning the forme of peace as it was expressed for the Bishoppe it contayned nothing dishonorable or derogating either from the Church or his person or in any respect diminishing his authority but that hee might freely without impediment of any occasion or Appeale excercise the Ecclesiasticall seuerity on the king himselfe the kingdome or any persons of the realme in such sorte as hee knewe expedient for the Church of God vsing neuertheles therin the counsell of his freindes and men of discretion that while the treatis of peace continued hee should more mildly proceede and wincke at many thinges but if afterwardes which God forbid they preuayled not for peace hee should arise as one returning to his former strength to prostrate with greater power the Churches persecutors And this was there written concerning the commission giuen by Pope Alexander to his Nuntioes by whom hee sent this letter to Saint Thomas Ibid. epist 1. Wee haue receaued lately the Embassadors and letters of the renowned king of England and wheras hee demanded therin of vs crtayne greate and difficult matters for obtayning wherof they laboured earnestly and vehemently with vs yet neuertheles they could not incline our mynde to satisfy their desire But that they might not haue any reason or occasion to complayne of rigorous proceeding on our parte or that wee refused in any thing to yeeld vnto them following the steppes and examples of our Predecessors who wee doubt not are Saintes wee determined with all kindnes modesty and sweetnes to recall the king from his peruerse purpose to mitigate his mynde and asswage his cruelty wherupon it came to passe that wee by the graue aduise and counsell of our brethren decreede to send to the kinges presence our deerely beeloued sonnes Gratian the Subdeacon our notary an honorable and learned person whom for the memory of our holy father of sacred remembrance our Predecessor Pope Eugenius and in regarde of his owne most sincere fidelity and ready seruice wee esteeme euery way deare and acceptable and with him Master Viuian who for his long experienced frindshippe wisedome and learning wee loue most intyrely by whom and also by our letters wee admonish his Maiestie with all care and dilligence as much as in vs lyeth that restoring to you his peace and fauor hee would recall you honorably to your Church and suffer you and yours to rest in all peace and tranquillity Wherfore wee entreate you and aduise your brotherhood that carefully weyghing the difficultyes and malice of the tyme and considering with your selfe how our forefathers haue beehaued themselues for auoyding such stormes as these in dayes of like extremity you would endeauore by all meanes as far as with preseruation of the honor of your place and office may bee donne to recouer the fauor and good-will of your kinge and labour to mitigate his mynde in shewing such patience gentlnes and meekenes as none may iustly say your selfe was in faulte wherby his loue and kindnesse was not fully obtayned wee request alsoe your wisedome yee wee warne counsell and command you that before the departure of our Nuntioes you proceede not in any sentence against the king or any persons of his kingdome or against the realme it selfe and if perchance which wee beeleeue not you haue allready pronounced any you doe now suspend the same vntill that tyme bee expired all which wee say to the end wee may take away from him all occasion and matter of complaynte and by such meanes ouercome the hardnes of his harte But if it fall out otherwise which God forbid wee will by no meanes depriue you of your authority but rather preserue the same intire and carefully affourd you therin our assistance and counsell The rest which remayneth wee haue left to bee declared by our Nuntioes to whose words wee wish you to giue creditt and also to yeeld to their counsells and exhortations Thus did Alexander wryte to Saint Thomas Ibidem epist 3. The Popes letter sent by his Nuntios to the King of England and likewise to the king of England other letters in these wordes We haue receaued with fatherly loue your Maiesties letters which you sent vs by our beeloued sonnes Reynold of Salisbury and Randulphe Archdeacon of Lauâ— beeing both of them wise and discreete men and withall carefull and diligent in the busines committed to their charge and with attention and consideration haue wee heard the contentes of the same And when wee had fully vnderstood your royall demandes as well out of the substance of your letters as the relation of your Embassadors and had together with our brethren taken long aduice therupon it could not appeare to vs that wee might with our honor and the estimation of the Church yeelde to any of them in such sorte as you required notwithstanding to the end wee may in all thinges so far as standeth with the glory of God and his Church assent to your Maiestie and that you may bee resolued that what wee doe proceedeth not any whitt out of obstinacy but necessity wee haue sent to your royall presence our beeloued sonnes Gratian the Subdeacon our Notary together with Master Viuian beeing both of them graue and discreete men and most deare and acceptable as well to vs as the whole Catholike Church by whom wee haue at large signifyed to your Maiestie our pleasure and will and with all what shall concerne your honor and aduancement and ought truly to bee most conuenient for your royall dignity And wheras wee vnderstood out of your Maiesties letters that you haue soe farre ouercome your will and mynde in the busines concerning our venerable brother Thomas Archbishoppe of Canterbury as for the reuerence you beare to the Church and vs you will suffer him to returne home and quietly enioy his pastorall office in peace yeelding to you what of duty hee oweth wee embrace the same as a thing most gratefull and acceptable to vs giuing therfore the greatest prayse and thankes wee can vnto the diuine clemency which hath heerin vndoubtedly inspired your harte instantly beeseeching your Maiestie yea and inioyning you for the remission of your sinnes that in this importunate matter you will respect rather God then man and submitt your selfe heerin only for the loue of our Allmighty Lord. Concerning that you sayde was signifyed to your Maiestie of
them to absolue the Clearkes without â—endering any oath which when they resolutely denyed to doe my Lord the king hasted to horse and getting vp swoare in the presence of all there that hee would neuer dureing life harken againe to my lord the Pope or any other for your peace or restitution Whervpon all the Archbishoppes and Bishoppes there present came to the Nuntios beeseeching them for Gods loue to accomplish his requestes wherunto with great difficulty they assented which beeing graunted the king alighted and beeganne againe to consult with them and presently after calling all who were in peace together the king beegan to discourse saying Hee would haue them all vnderstand that you departed not out of England at his instance and that he had often recalled you backe againe to returne and giue him satisfaction for such matters as hee alleadged against you and you euer refused but now the case soe stood that hee vpon the entreaty and commandement of my Lord the Pope did fully restore vnto you your Archbishoppricke and peace to all those who for your sake departed his dominion This graunte of peace the king confirmed about nyne of the clocke remayning afterwardes very pleasant and causing certaine other matters to bee handled in his presence which beeing finished hee returned again to the Nuntios desiring them that the Bishoppes might goe ouer into England for absoluing them who were there excommunicate Which when they absolutely denyed the king grew angry and made a new request that at the least one of them would passe ouer while the other remayned there and if that were distastefull to them they would send but one of their Cleakes whom hee would enrich with reuenues beefore his returne all which when Gratian who as wee hope is the sonne of grace againe denyed my lord the king beeing very much inraged departed away saying in their hearing Doe what you like I weigh neither you nor your excoÌ„munication nor prize them the value of an egge and with these wordes hee mounted on horsebacke to gett him thence but the Archbishoppes with all the Bishoppes followed telling him that hee spoake impiously Afterwardes hee alighted and consulted with them in which counsell was concluded that all the Bishoppes should wryte to my Lord the Pope certifying him how the kinge in their hearing offered you peace and was in euery point ready to obey my Lord the Popes commandement but the Nuntios were in fault wherby it was not performed Afterwardes hauing wasted a little tyme in indighting these letters and the king as one enflamed with a wonderfull fury leauing them often the Bishoppes comminge to him sayde what would these Nuntios haue And showing him my Lord the Popes Mandate inioyninge them to accomplish the Nuntios commandement the king answered I know I know they will interdict my land but cannot I who am euery day able to take a most strong Castle take one Clearke who shall interdict my land Yet when in the end they yeelded in some degree to satisfy his desire the tempest of his anger was layde and returning to himselfe hee sayde vnles yee conclude this night a peace yee shall neuer come so neere this point againe and when they had awhile trauelled in the busines assembling them all together hee vsed these wordes It is conuenient I should doe very much at the intreaty of my Lord the Pope beecause hee is our Lord and father in regarde wherof I restore to the Archbishoppe his Sea with my peace and the like to all those who for his sake haue departed the land Wherupon the Nuntios and all there present thanked his Maiestie and then the king moreouer added If I haue not as now donne sufficiently I will to morowe by your aduyse supply what is yet wanting On the morowe beeing the Kalends of September about twelue of the Clocke they assembled together ad hauing long treated aboute absoluing the Excommunicate without obligation of oath it came to that passe as G. Rydell with Nigellus de Sackeuyle and Thomas Fitz-Bernard laying their handes on the Bible there present sayde that in the word of truth they would accomplish the Nuntios commandement Then was it required of the Nuntios that all they vpon whom my Lord the king in this tyme of disturbance had beestowed your Churches might enioy them according to the tenor of his Maiesties guifte but as wee heard the conclusion was that they should bee left free to your disposition Afterwards it was determined the Bishoppes should set downe in wryting the forme of peace which the king had granted And this did the king to the end that one of the Nuntios should passe ouer into England for absoluing the excommmunicate And beeing departed vpon these termes after three howers within night the king sayde hee would haue inserted in the articles of peace these wordes with the reseruation of the dignity of his kingdome wherunto as wee heard Gratian absolutely denyed euer to yeilde and vpon this word as yet they differ determining to returne on the Natiuity of Saint Mary the Virgen to Cane there finally to conclude more fully the whole busines Thus farre concerning the meeting of the Nuntios with the king Gratian is highly commended who would neuer condescend to admitt this forme of wordes coÌ„cerning which Iohn of Salisbury wrote in this sorte to Iohn Bishop of Poytiers Many conceaue a hope that the sonne of grace whose name agreeth with his actions the Nephew of blessed Eugenius will sincerely proceede according to the Euangelicall truth the glory of the Apostolicall Maiestie and the honor and peace of the distressed Church for hee knoweth assuredly that taking this course hee shall purchase to himselfe eternall glory beefore God and men And in regarde hee findeth but few vpon whom hee may boldly rely I beeseech you to coÌ„firme and strengthen in our Lord his constancy The king by Gods fauour is well able to pay and for penitents it is certayne the sinne shall not bee forgiuen vnles what is wrongfully taken away bee restored c. For wheras hee thought there was no reconciliation of peace without restitution of the goodes taken away from the Church Salisbury praysing these his proceedinges sayth The king God willing is well able to satisfy and penitents may bee assured they can neuer obtayne remission of their sinnes if what they haue taken away bee not restored when they haue ability to doe it for otherwise it is not pennance but a fayned Hypocrisy And hee againe as touching absolution giuen without promise of satisfaction and also concerning that clause with preseruation of the dignity of the kingdome beeing the wordes which Gratian reiected sayth moreouer If the king haue his will to inserte in the articles of agreement The preseruation of the dignity of his kingdome hee hath the victory for confirmation of his customes with only alteration of the wordes and hath banished cleane out of England all the Authority of the Roman Church But God forbid that euer assent should
bee giuen to any of these and I am assured my Lord of Canterbury will rather make choyse of banishement during life then for recouering his peace the Church of God should sustayne damage or the Apostolike Sea bee depriued of her priuiledge Perswade therfore my Lord Gratian to proceede warily in all affayres but aboue all in these Articles least which God forbid hee bee deceaued by the suttle wittes of lurking Foxes You see his vnaduised arrogancy hee who the last yeere as you haue heard scorned peace beecause sainct Thomas endeauored to mayntayne that forme of speech which was I commend the whole cause to your disposition with the reseruation of the honor of God for which only wordes hee reuyled the sainct with slanders and reproches now extolling himselfe aboue all whatsoeuer is worshipped hee would not haue the reseruation of the honor of God but the preseruation of his kingdomes dignity concluded in the conditions of peace Beecause therfore the Bishoppes who were elected by the king to penne the forme of peace could not perswade the Nuntios to admitt the forme aforesayde they deuysing with thēselues an other forme of peace A new forme of peace deuised by the Bishoppes did by the Bishop of Roane signify the same to the king in these wordes Wee could by no meanes obtayne of the Nuntios to admitt that forme of peace which you left with vs in regarde of the Clauses that as well by you as them were set downe on either syde both manifould and doubtfull Cod. Vat lib. 3. Epist 13. and for them to departe abruptly and with despaire of peace seemeth neither agreable to your honor or profitt hauing therfore considered many wayes with our selues wee happened in the end on such a forme of wordes wherin there is not the least derogation to your dignity and honor nor yet can bee ministred heereafter to Canterbury any cause of contention which is thus That for the loue of God and respect to our Lord the Pope you giue the Archbishop leaue to returne into England and cause him to haue his Archbishoppricke as amply as hee enioyed the same beefore his departure and also restore to them who either with him or for his cause left the kingdome their owne againe For this shorte and playne forme of wordes pleased vs best because it seemeth not enwrapped in any suttell deuises or suspitions wherupon wee consell and perswade you that you question not to yeeld your assent therunto And thus much Roane deliured to the king But the king vnderstanding by the Bishoppes that the Nuntios would in no case admitt the former clause which was The reseruation of the dignity of his kingdome beeing greatly incensed with anger did instantly heerupon send away two Embassadors to Pope Alexander with letters farced with complayntes requiring also the Bishoppes whom he assembled for this purpose to wryte by the same Embassadours to his Holines word by word to the same effecte all which are yet extant Ibid. Epist. 19.20.21.22 But Viuian one of the Popes Nuntios perceauing how the king addressed Embassadours in this sorte to his Holines fearing they should any way vndermyne him determined instantly to send a messanger Post by whom hee certifyed the Pope in wryting the true and faythfull relation of all their proceedinges hitherto out of the contents whereof besides the fore recyted dealinges let vs heere lay open such occurrences as beefell after the Nuntios fayling of their purpose departed from the king These are the wordes The Bishoppes beeing very earnest on the kings beehalfe that wee would admitte these wordes Ibid. Epist 26. with reseruation of the dignity of the kingdome Wee answered wee will agree to the wordes of the king so as yee will consent to the wordes of our Lord wee meant with preseruation of the liberty of the Church which they would not allowe neither yet the king allthough hee knewe that the liberty of the Church consisted in the honor of God as hee sayd would neuertheles in any case subscribe therunto and beeing not able to preuayle against vs in these formall wordes they made rather choyse that the Archbishop as before is sayd should safely returne to his Church and with good peace and security receaue the same in as ample manner as hee inioyd it before his departure without mention of any condition either on the one syde or the other and his followers in like sorte restored to their owne and at their instance wee condescended therunto Lastly beeing called by the king to Roane wee came thither with a laboursome iourney and to conclude hee signifyed to vs by his Agents in the Courte of the Archbishoppe that hee would neuer bee disswaded from those wordes Sauing the dignity of his kingdome soe as neither the first nor second nor yet the third forme of wordes deuysed by the foresayde persons could on all partes bee approued and in this sorte most blessed father wee departed wherupon wee commanded the Archbishoppes by their obligation of fidelity wherin they stood bound vnto vs to denounce to them whom wee had absolued vpon assurance of the oath which they swore to vs and to declare to their Lord the king that if peace ensued not before our departure they should loose the benefitt of their absolution and bee inuiolably subiect to the sentence pronounced against them by the Archbishop of Canterbury And thus far concerning our proceedinges with the king in these matters Wee signifyed afterwardes the kinges formall wordes to the Archbishop of Canterbury who enduring all with patience was willing also to preserue the dignity of the kingdome so far as it might stand with the conseruation of his order and his fidelity to the Church of Rome and if any one shall certify you to the contrary concerning this busines bee your Holynes perswaded neuertheles that it is no otherwise then wee haue reported neither yet in regarde my Lord Gratians name is not subscribed to these letters doth it therfore followe that hee sawe them not nor carefully perused them but that happened in respect hee hastened to returne and required these letters might bee more breifely contryued All which wee wryte that your Holines may giue no credit to the kinges Agents against vs before our returne And addeth lastly that in the end hee sent a Messinger to the king named Peter Archdeacon of Papia who beeing kindly entertayned by the king but nothing prevayling in his motion of peace was in his returne spoyled of all hee had and one of his campany beeing endangered for his life was hardly rescued The determined day appoynted by Pope Alexander for conclusion of the peace was the feast of saint Michael the Archangell which beeing once passed they who were absolued vpon this expectatiō of peace must now fall backe againe into their former sentence of excommunication inflicted on them by Canterbury Cod. Vat. lib. 3. Epist 36. concerning which the letters are yet extant which Gratian did wryte to the excommunicated
pricke of conscience Cod. Vat. lib. 3. epist 60. and tormented with an endles feare least hee should euery instant receaue the due punishment of his desertes and soe â—s his troubled soule euer oppressed with care as while bee wasteth himselfe in false suspicions of his well meriâ—ing and intirest friends through the defecte of his owne â—alshoode hee deemeth the faith to bee wauering in others which hee knoweth to bee wanting in himselfe Thus the king of England vpon reporte of your iourney as one guilty of his iniquity and dreading the lawes seuerity together with the perseuerance of vertue which you haue and doe excercise in our lord is affrighted exceedingly least your holy selfe should bee armed with Legantyne authority ouer his principalityes on this syde the sea beecause there is not any one beesides your selfe in the whole Church who dareth with stand him in repressing and confounded his malice neither yet in the Church of Rome as his followers witnes doth hee stand in awe of any but my Lord Gratian beecause if his vauntes bee true whosoeuer besides vpon any occasion haue had any accesse vnto him were heeretofore euer bowed to his will yea sometimes with the taynte of a sinister opinion Vnderstanding therfore that you and my Lord Gratian were returned bee was soe much distempered as hee could not dissemble his myndes disturbance saying hee should by yee two bee constrayned to make a peace or sustayne an eternall ignoâ—â—ny with the greate damage of him and his in regarde whereof hee recalled Master Viuian beeing partly by the letters of my Lord of Roane and G. Rydell and as Viuian in the publicke hearing of many confessed gaue him his corporall faith that in the reformation of the Churches peace hee would subiect himselfe to the Popes Mandate and his counsell hee caused moreouer letters to bee signed with his owne seale which Viuian shewed publickly 〈◊〉 his pleasure wherin was promised that for the loue bee bare to my Lord the Pope hee would restore to vs the Church of Canterbury together with all the possessions taken away from vs ours and peace also wich security that by these powerfull meanes he might more easily drawe my Lord Viuian to treate agayne of peace which hee seemed to seeke for feare of you and my Lord Gratian whatsomeuer any other doth glory but concerning things takeâ— away hee made no mention sauing only a showe that if in the Conclusion of peace wee would submitt ourselues to his pleasure hee would make vs the cheifest of his kingdome and neuer suffer vs to want Master Viuian therfore beeing thus recalled and remayning confident in his wordes the king with a fayned pretence of deuotion went to saint Denyses hut in very deede to compasse what hee allmost brought to passe which was to circumuent the most Christian king for they conuenanted in the parlee at saint Denyses that our king should deliuer his sonne Richard into the king of Frances handes to bee brought vp and instructed by him and moreouer hee should summon the Earle of saint Gyles to appeare at Towers there to answer the sayde Richard concerning the Earledome of Tolouse for the place seemed in the iudgment of wise men most conuenient where eyther parte with their assistants might with greatest safety assemble the Aduocates on eyther syde more freely pleade and the iudges without any feare or delay giue sentence against the person whom reason conuinced My Lord the king of France and Master Viuian with some others of great discretion inuited vs to the conference that wee beeing at Paris and our king at saint Denyses our peace by reason of the neighbouring places might bee more commodiously handled where the often named Viuian more earnesty and diligently pressing the king to performe faythfully his promise hee according to his accustomed manner flew of from it beehauing himselfe in such sorte as Viuian returning backe to vs sayd openly in the presence of very many hee could not remember that during his life hee euer sawe or heard of soe deceytfull a person yea hee forbore not to tell the king to his very face beefore diuers as they declared afterwardes to vs his mynd playnly and reprouing openly his double and deceytfull dealing recouered agayne for the most parte his reputation which beefore hee had greatly wronged lamenting much that hâ—â— was euer so entrapped by his suttle fraudes Which wee signify the rather vnto you beecause if in his returne to the Church of Rome hee shall presume to fauor the syde 〈◊〉 couller the wayles of this cunning deceauer your deuotion may lay open playnly before my Lord the Pope and the Cardinalls the whole truth of the busines For euen as it hapned by Gods appoyntment that my Lord Gratian should returne hauing worthely discharged his office and that you whom God wee speeake it prosperously hath placed in his Church as a most constant pillar and to whom the manners of this man are apparantly knowne should hasten your iourney to the Apostolike Sea euen so wee deeme it hath by the same prouidence bin permitted that Viâ—iaâ— contrary to his myndes intention should remayne iâ— France to publish with renowne the iustice of the Church and manifest far and wyde her glory wherin the king of England by the very man who fauored his cause should bee more perfectly discouered to those whom hee commonly before deceaued and the fallacy of his wordes heereafter far lesse beeguyle our Lord the Pope and his courte that heeretofore were too credulous in beeleiuing him When as the king of England departing from sainct Donyses passed on his iourney neere the Montayne of the Martyrs wee presented our selues before him humbly beeseeching him by the Meditation of the reuerent Lordes the Bishoppes of Roane and Sagy with others who assisted in this busines that for the loue of God and my Lord the Pope hee would restore to vs his peace and to ours his fauour peace security possessions with other thinges wrongfully taken from them tendring him our ready seruice so far forth as any Archbishop ought to performe vnto his Prince Whereunto hee answered that for his prate hee forgaue very willingly froÌ„ his harte all offences and quarells coÌ„ceaued against vs and for such thinges as were obiected against him hee was ready to stand to the iudgment of his Lord the King of Frances Courte or the determinatioÌ„ of the Church of the same kingdome or the sentence of the vniuersity of Paris Wherupon wee replyed that if it pleased him wee would no way refuse the iudgment of my Lord the kinges Courte or the Church of France yet if it liked his Maiestie wee had rather haue with him a louing composition then a litigious controuersy and if hee would gratiously restore to vs and ours our Church possessions and other thinges iniuriously taken away and yeelde vs his grace peace and security in the kisse of peace wee were ready to receaue the same desiring hee would restore one halfe of the goods
your neerest seruantes beesides your tyme of respitt is very shorte Thus wrote Viuian to the king of England And soe concluded this Legantine office executed this yeere by Gratian and Viuian being Nuntios sent by Pope Alexander to the king of England Moreouer when in the middest of this serious busines Pope Alexander vnderstood how the king of England would not suffer Bishoppes to bee chosen for the vacant Seas he sent comminatory or threatening letters of great importance vnto the king in the conclusion whereof hee threatened thus And if truly you will as you are bounde haue a care to accomplish that which by our admonitions in the spirit of meekenes and with all humility wee haue forewarned you you shall vndoubtedly procure therby your glory and saluation and performe that which to God and vs is most gratefull and acceptable otherwise allthough wee desire earnestly to loue you as our deerest sonne and a most Christian prince and to augment the greatnes of your glory yet can wee no longer withhould the handes of Saint Peeter and vs from inflicting punishment on you but as wee ought dreading rather God then men wee wil endeauor with the authority graunted vs from heauen to preserue the lawes and honor of the Catholike Church pure and vntouched Dated at Beneuent 7. Ides of Octobr. The Pope beesides did this yeere publish a constitution against such as receaued of the Layety inuestitures of Churches or their goodes dated in the moneth of May and indighted in those wordes to all the Bishops of England Wee haue receaued as well by a vulgar reporte as also the relation of many how since the miserable contention which for your greiuous sinnes was raysed and yet continueth beetweene our most deere sonne in Christ Henry the renowned king of England and our reuerent Brother Thomas Archbishoppe of Canterbury a certayne wicked custome hath growne in those partes for lay-men to beestowe on any at their pleasures throughout the kingdome of England Churches and Ecclesiasticall benefices and to inuest Clearkes by their owne authority wherfore because this is knowne to bee soe contrary to the institutions of the holy fathers as both the giuer and receauer from the lay hand incurreth Excommunication and also in regarde it redoundeth vndoubtedly very much to the ouerthrowe of the Churches liberty wee by the authority of Saint Peter and vs doe abrogate absolutely and denounce for voyde all such Collation made in this turbulent tyme by lay men to any persons of any Churches whatsoeuer and therfore wee seuerely command and in the vertue of obedience streightly enioyne yee all by these our Apostolicall letters that with all care yee admonish diligently and instantly exhorte all such as haue receaued from the handes of the Layety any Churches Prebendaryes or other Ecclesiasticall benefices whersoeuer throughout England especially in this troublesome season to resigne without contradiction or appeale into our handes the sayd Churches Prebendaryes or Benefices together with the profites therof receaued and to leaue the same to their dispositiō vnto whose ordination by the Ecclesiasticall lawes these appertayne which if vpon our commonition or warning they refuse to doe within fourty dayes after the receipt of these our letters then yee by our authority setting asyde the remedy of Appeale and not respecting the feare fauor or forbidding of any doe presently pronounce the sentence of Excommunication against them and cause them throughout your parishes as persons excommunicaed to bee eschewed of all men vntill they shall resigne the foresayde Churches and Ecclesiasticall Benefices freely vp to them vnto whose collation and ordination they appertayne leauing them peaceably and making sufficient satisfaction for the Churches profittes soe taken by them and if yee are negligent or remisse in the execution heereof then wee our selues by the authority wee inioy denounce the sentence of Excommunication against them all and charge that they bee auoyded of all men as excommunicated by vs because they are knowne to receaue as aforesayd Churches or other Ecclesiasticall benefices from the hand of the Layety without assent of the Bishoppes to whom their donation appertayneth vnles they obey our cammandementes within the former appointed tyme. Dated at Beneuent 14. kalend Iunij And foure days after hee wrote to the king of England first commonitory letters of admonition and then comminatory or threatening letters by certaine Nuntios chosen for that purpose called Symon Pryor of Gods-Mount and Bernard of Corilo who were appointed to deliuer vnto the king first the comonitory letters and that done if neede requyred the cominatory Both which to the king of England are yet extant dated this yeere on the eight of the Kalends of Iune the which his holynes cōmended first to the Bishop of Belleten and the Pryor of the Carthusians as it appeareth by the letters but beeing vncertayne whether they wovld cary them to the king or noe hee made choyse of Symon a most reuerent man and Bernard his associate vnto whom the letters are yet remayning wrytten by his holines concerning this Legantyne office imposed on them Ibid epist 1. where hee mentioneth in this sorte of his letters written to the king Deliuer him our commonitory letters instantly adding withall in the spirit of fortitude and lenity our admonition if soe hee will not harken vnto yee but rather continue still in his hardnes and obstinacy giue him then our cominatory letters declaring to him with all constancy on our beehalfe that wee will no longer any way shutt vp the Archbishoppes mouth nor vnles beefore the beeginning of Lent a tyme now neere at hand hee will fullfill what beefore wee haue sayde will wee grant heereafter any inhibition but that hee may by vertue of his office with the swoard of Ecclesiasticall seuerity bouldly reuenge with rigor the iniuryes offered to himselfe his Churches and followers For the king ought not to beelieue or thinke with himselfe that our Lord who is yet sleepeing will neuer bee awaked or Saint Peeters swoard is soe outworne with rust but that it may bee drawne to worke a due reuenge Lastly wee command yee as wee haue sayde diligently to execute these our designes vnles our reuerent Brother the Bishop of Belleten and our beeloued sonne the Prior of the Carthusians doe performe the same in such sorte as wee required them Giuen at Beneuent 8. Kalend. Iunii On which day also were deliuered as wee reade the cominatory letters sent by the Pope to the king of England that are likewise registred in the same booke and dated 11. Kal. Iunij which Roger in his Chronicles recyteth in these wordes Alexander Bishoppe seruant of the seruantes of God to his beeloued sonne Henry the renowned king of England health with Apostolike benediction Your royal wisedome is not ignorant how fatherly and mildly wee haue often perswaded and by sundry letters and Nuntios diuers tymes exhorted your Maiestie to reconcile according as you are bounde our reuerent brother Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury vnto your
and successe heereof answered it was forbidden in his order that any brother should write to you or others about any affayres but promised to declare beefore your Nuntio Master Lumbard who deliuered him your letters the whole state and processe of the cause that hee may signify the same vnto you as faythfully and amply as if himselfe had bin there present And thus did Symon wryte to the Pope But what ensued afterwardes the sayde Nuntio in another relation sent also to Pope Alexander layd open in these wordes According to the commandement of your Holines wee deliuered to the renowned king of England your Comonitory letters doing our vttermost labor and dilligence to perswade him Cod. Vat. lib 4. Epist 10. according to your admonition to receaue my Lord of Canterbury into his fauor agayne to restore him his Archbishopricke with peace and suffer him freely to dispose of his Church wee long expected hoping and praying that Allmighty God would molify his harte But when by our forbearāce wee profited nothing we presēted vnto him in the next parle of the kinges your cominatory letters which hauing at the last with great difficulty receaued vpon the instant entreaty of vs and many noble personages after many wordes too lōg heere to rehearse hee answered thus I neuer banished my Lord of Canterbury out of the kingdome neuerthelesse for the reuerence I owe to my Lord the Pope if hee will performe to mee what hee ought to doe ād obserue to mee what his Predecessors haue obserued to my Progenitors yea what himselfe hath promised hee may returne into England and enioy his peace And after sundry diuersitys of answers hee lastly sayde Hee would assemble together the Bishoppes of England and take their counsell but appoynted no day nor more could wee gett at his handes wherby wee might bee assured of my Lord of Canterburys peace or the execution of your Mandate And beecause wee found him often altering in his answers wee demanded of him if my Lord of Canterbury might returne to his Archbishoppricke and vse it in peace Wherupon hee replyed That the Archbishop should neuer come within his land before hee did to him accordingly as hee ought to doe and had vndertaken to obserue what others had obserued and what himselfe had allready promised Lastly wee beesought him hee would wryte and signify by his letters patents his answer beecause wee ought to declare vnto you a certaynty which hetherto wee had not in regarde hee varyed soe often in his answers wherunto hee would not agree But the Archbishoppe when wee deliuered thus much vnto him sayd hee would bee euer ready to obey the king wherin hee ought and obserue whatsoeuer was observed by his Predecessors soe far forth as hee could with reseruation of his order but to intangle himselfe in new obligations that were neuer offered to his Predecessors and vndertake to performe any such without preseruation of his order was alltogether vnlawfull for him without my Lord the Popes authority first beecause it is pernicious to bring a new forme into Gods Church and then in regarde hee was forbidden by your Holines euer to make any such promise but with the reseruation of Gods honor and of his order And sayde moroeuer your Holines with rebuking tould him that hee ought not for safegard of his life to binde himselfe to the obseruation of such customes but with preseruation of his order Yet if the king would according to your Mandate restore to him his fauor with peace and the free inioying of his Church together with such thinges as were wrongfully taken away from him and his hee would most willingly performe at his pleasure whatsomeuer hee could possibly doe without offence of God and breach of his order and will endeauor most dilligently and deuoutly to serue him with all his power Please it therfore your Holines to succour the afflicted Church and to perseuer in that which to your great commendation you haue allready beegunne beecause as wee haue heard of many and doe certainly beelieue if you perseuer the peace and redresse of the Church is euen now at hand Thus wrote Simon of Gods-Mount after hee had worthily performed his charge and to the same purpose did the Archbishop of Senon who was there present and saint Thomas also Cod. Vat. lib. 4. Ep. 7. Ibidem Ep. 6. signify to his Holines Meane while the king of England dealt by his two agents with Pope Alexander that the authority of faint Thomas might bee suspended vntill this matter were handled by the Popes Nuntios as it appeareth by the Popes letters to the king which Roger in his Chronicles of England recyteth in this yeere beeginning thus Your Maiesties Agētes our beeloued sonne Iohn Cumin c. and written in secret as the Pope witnesseth in his owne wordes which neuerthelesse the king with great vaunting diuulged For as wee see in the first conference of the kinges the king of England protracted the peace least hee should otherwise loose the priuiledge which as hee sayd hee receaueth from the Pope to wit that the Archbishops authority should bee suspended vntill hee had obtayned the kinges peace vpon occasion of which graunt you may conceaue the Pope was hardly spoaken of by many the king of England who was the only procurrer thereof in kindling hatred and wrath against him by showing publickly with great ostentation and kingly pryde the Popes letters and causing them especially to bee read in the last royall conference whereof saint Thomas wrote thus to Conrade Archbishop of Mountes Ibidem Epist 15. The king of England publickly boasteth of our suspension by proclayming the same in the open streetes of either kingdome and for a testimony of my confusion and to make mee more burdensome and odious to the world hee layeth open the Apostolike letters Hee gloryeth also of the terme of the prerogatiue assigned him beeing vntill hee receaueth mee into fauour which if it remayneth in his power shall bee at the Grecian Kalendes I meane neuer c. Wherof hee vaunted vpō this only reason beecause Pope Alexander beeing importuned and deceaued by the king did wryte that saint Thomas should suspend his authority so long ouer the king and kingdome vntill hee purchassed the kings peace which benignity of the Pope the king abusing did of set purpose deferre the peace beecause vntill that was concluded the Archbishoppes authority was suspended by reason whereof the Pope was inueyghed against Cod. Vat. lib. 4. Epist 14. Ibidem Ep. 18.22 Ibidem Ep. 19. Ibidem Ep. 20.23 25.2 Ibidem 16 8 not only by the Archbishoppe himselfe but likewise by the king of France as also his Queene and many others beeing incensed with the zeale of iustice Pope Alexander therfore assaulted with so many and soe greate complayntes by his letters to S. Thomas excused himselfe thus Wee suppose your wisedome is not ignorant how Henry the famous king of England sent his Agents vnto vs and with what vnreasonable and
of Frances daughter being left at Cane to the reproach and contempt of her father as one reiected This childe whom wee haue named will when wee haue named bee vndoubtedly crowned vnlesse our Lord stay his intended passage by sea or restrayne the handes of yorke or the king of France represse it with some manner of prohibition For the sonne hasteneth to the sea and is expected by the father on the contrary shoare and by the kinges commandement the Bishoppes of Bay on and Segien attend his childe And concerning the Popes letters forbidding this same hee addeth thus For my Lord the Popes letters forbidding this consecratiō it was long ere they passed the seas then absolutely cast away to no purpose and perishing in the handes of him to whom they were committed they were shewed to none much lesse diuulged to all how therfore could they preuayle that were thus concealed c. But in regarde of some occasions arysing the new kinges coronation was deferred till saint Iohn Baptistes natiuity whereof William in Quadrilogus wryteth thus in the end of the second The feaste of sainct Iohn Baptist beeing now at hand the king vnder pretence of establishing his kingdome assembling together the nobility of his realme committed to his eldest sonne the raynes of his kingdome And there wanted not some who aduised him to bee very carefull vpon what conditions hee thus admitted his heire and successor others answering and affirming all this was done in hatred of the Archbishop and derogation of the Churches dignity But the Archbishop of yorke imposed handes on him in the Prouince of Canterbury beeing in sainct Peeters Church at Westminster contrary to the dignity and ancient custome of the Church of Canterbury the Bishoppes of London Salisbury and Rochester as suffraganes assisting him nor euer opening their lippes in protestation of the right of Canterbury to whose dignity and prerogatiue the coronation of the kinges of England is of ancient tymes knowne to appertayne In the celebration of the feast after the coronation the king vouchsafed to serue the king the father the sonne and protested that now hee ceased to bee a king But according as God complayneth They raigne and not by mee so how manifestly was it in the end declared that this yong king by this bastardly consecration vnlawfully acted by an excommunicated and accursed person purchassed not a benediction Wheruppon this Author addeth by and by afterwardes thus But let vs a litle consider how profane this vnction was how odious how offensiue this consecration if it may bee termed rather a consecration then an execration beeing absolutely destitute of any Apostolicall benediction yea absolutely done in transgressing against the Apostolicall man which only proceeded out of meere hatred wrath and indignation deuysed by a carnall father in despight of his spirituall father All which is proued by the lamentable euentes that beeing soe detestable to all ensuing ages sprung out of this consecration I meane the Suspension and Excommunication of Preistes the murdering of an Archbishoppe the sundry battayles between the father and sonne and lastly the notorious miserable and vntymely death of this yong Prince soe consecrated beeing cutt of in his prime and left an example for all tymes to come c. This same freind of his sent him alsoe the reporte of the Coronation in these wordes On Sunday last the king beeing at London endowed his sonne with the girdle of knighthoode Cod. Vat lib. 5. Ep. 2. 3. and yorke instantly anoynted him king There the king distributed his landes to his sonnes all men wondering what hereafter hee would doe Hee causeth his iourney into Normandy to bee cōtinually talked of to the end hee may bee the more dreaded but hee will not goe vntill hee hath decently furnished the king of France his daughter remayning now in the company of the Queene at Cane with apparell horse and family conuenient to passe the seas at his appointment and this of purpose that the king of France hearing hereof may somewhat bee pacifyed in regarde of the indignation conceaued for contempt of his daughter c. This beeing done saint Thomas hauing certayne intelligence of all matters which had passed in derogation of himselfe and his Church of Canterbury wrote as the same author reporteth vnto Pope Alexander mournfull letters replenished with complayntes intermingled also with other discontentes which is to say that the cheife Ringleader of all this Scysme together with the Bishop of Salisbury not inferior to the former beeing both excommunicated before by the Pope himselfe were to the reproach of the whole Church loosed from the bands of excommunication by the Bishop of Senon Legate of the Apostolike Sea Heereof saint Thomas especially complayned to Cardinall Albert beeginning thus in bitternes Cod. Vat. lib. 5. Ep. 20. I would my hee loued your eares were open to the tongues of our complayntes that they might then heare what is often sung in the publicke passages of Ascalon to the reproofe of the Romane Church Our last Messingers seemed to bring vs some comforte from the Sea Apostolike in my Lord the Popes letters but their authority is made absolutely voyde by letters sent from the Legate a latere for absoluing Sathan to the Churches obloquy There are now absolued by the Apostolicall Mandate the Bishoppes of London and Salisbury of whom the first is knowe to bee from the very beeginning the firebrand of this Scysme and contryuer of all this malice and to haue drawne as well Salisbury as all others whom hee could into the offence of disobedience I knowe not in what sorte our Lordes cause is handled in the Courte that Barabbas escapeth free and Christ is crucifyed Now for six whole yeeres hath our banishment and the Churches calamity bin prolonged by the Courtes authority c. But how iniustly all this was deliuered allthough to the holy man it seemed most certayne the letters of Pope Alexander to the Bishop of Senon the Apostolicall Legate declare But first let vs heere reporte what the Legate setting downe the same did wryte to that purpose vnto his Holines bIid Ep. 25. Let your excellency most holy father heare with patience what wee say beecause our soule dwelleth in bitternes and as well your devoute sonne the most Christian king of France as also the whole Church of France is troubled with the scandalls which in the days of your Apostolike authority flowe from the Apostolicall Sea For why as our country sayth Sathan is there set loose to the whole Churches destruction Christ is crucifyed againe and the sacriligious wretch and murderer let goe Wee haue laboured with your Holines on the behalfe of the Church of England and supposed in our departure shee obtayned some reliefe But when you caused the Bishop of London without our priuity to bee absolued the matter fell out cleane contrary and hornes are giuen to the sinner For loe that king whom you haue ouer much fauored hath caused his sonne to bee
consecrated king if it may bee termed a consecration which is ministred by the Excommunicate who are odious to the holy Ghost and enemyes to the Church and this with the notorious iniury of the Church of Canterbury and of my Lord the king of France whose Daughter that aduersary of God and man would not admitt to bee partaker of this consecration This consecration or rather execration was ministred by yorke and as they say with your authority where London some others named Bishoppes whose memoryes are buryed in malediction assisted him Haue a care therfore ô father heereafter of this Church which hath perished i◠your handes least the bloud thereof bee required of you which wee thinke cannot bee otherwise done for the redemption of your fame and soule vnles with your Apostolicall power you confound the foresayde Malefactors Thus wrote Senon to the Pope There are letters yet to bee seene written in the Popes name to the Archbishop of Roane for absoluing London on certaine conditions Cod Vat. l. 3. Epist 16. and others likewise sent by Roane to his holines signifying how hee was absolued on Easter day but there is the letter of saint Thomas to Roane affirming the absolution to bee voyd Ihid Ep. 19. beecause the Popes conditions were neuer proformed Ibid. Ep. 24 And moreouer beesides all these an other letter of saint Thomas wherin hee complayneth to the Pope concerning these abuses Yet bee assured all this was but a slaunderous reporte And first as it was false that the Archbishop of Yorke euer consecrated the king by the Popes authority as the letters before recyted written both by the Pope and also by a frind to saint Thomas apparantly declare soe make no doubt it is as manifest a falshood that London and his Associate were euer absolued by the Popes Mandate and therfore loe heere the Epistle of Apologie sent by his Holines to the Bishop of Senon Wee haue gratefully receaued Ibid. Ep. 26. and with dilligente care and attention considered the letters which your deuotion sent as concerning the busines of our venerable brother the Archbishop of Canterbury The Pope purgeth himselfe of a false imputation But in regard the Bishop of London is not yet come vnto vs wee haue determined nothing in the cause If hee had appeared before vs wee would haue endeauored to preserue the iust tytle of the Archbishoppe of Canterbury soe far forth as wee might haue done with the safety of our conscience But yet how far wee haue proceeded in that controuersy wee suppose wee haue made sufficiently knowne to him in parte and also to our most deere sonne in Christ Lewes the famous king of France in such sorte as wee enioyned you by word of mouth to deliuer for wee haue therin altered nothinge since your departure nor haue wee thought good to change any thing heereafter allthough the foresayd king of England did sollicite vs most earnestly by the Consuls of Lumbardy beeing present before vs with his agents as also by the Embassadors of our most deere sonne in Christ Emmanuel the illustrous Emperour of Constantinople to graunt him a longer tyme of repite And in regarde wee esteeme the Archbishoppes cause as our owne and the Churches cause wee command your brotherhood by these our Apostolicall letters that you admonish carefully and instantly exhorte by worde of mouth or otherwise by letters if they are not personally present the Archbishop of Roane and Bishop of Niuers dilligently and speedily to execute our commandement and if as yet they haue no way proceeded in the busines omitt not in any case to reprehend them sharpely and seuerely reproue them But if they haue allready pronounced according to our commandement the sentence of interdiction vpon the sayde kings lands then doe you firmly and streightly obserue this sentence and cause as far as it lyeth in your power the same to bee obserued without any partiality at all throughout the kinges landes which are knowne to ly in your Prouince setting all excuse and appeale a syde Thus far Pope Alexander purged himselfe to Senon and allthough the Pope commanded excommunicated London to bee absolued to the end hee might bee an instrument of peace as in an other place hee sayth what offence was this especially considering hee commanded the same to bee done vpon certayne conditions Nay did not saint Thomas himselfe this very yeere at such time as the Pope commanded the excommunication to bee reiterated on London and Salisbury beeseeche his Holines to forbeare the same for feare of disturbing the peace now vndertaken Soe as it appeareth not only Alexander but also saint Thomas himselfe did vpon diuers occasions command and perswade the Excommunicated to bee bound and loosed for these are his owne wordes Allthough the Bishop of Lomdon hath bin the cheife Leader of this sedition that wee may forbeare to call it Scysme wee neuerthelesse beeseech it may bee lawfull for vs to haue cōpassion on him and Salisbury if they cannot bee punished according to your commandement without renewing of Scisme But the modesty of Pope Alexander was vndoubtedly admirable who although hee felt himselfe ouerladen with soe huge a burden of wrongfull accusations yea and was most vniustly afflicted with the cōplayntes of this soe Saintly a man signifyed by the Apostolicall Legate as also those of the king people and Clergy of France allmost wholy with clamors inueyghing against him beeing made neuerthelesse as a man not hearing nor hauing any refutations in his mouth hee handled his cause with that vnspeakeable myldnes as hee abstayned absolutely from retorting reproofes or any other spytefull replication allbeeit hee was gauled with the spurres of most sharpe letters soe as it may without all controuersy bee affirmed of him which was once sayde of Moyses that hee was of all men the meekest But whence will you say arose then this reporte so bruted in the mouthes of all that the Bishoppe of London was absolued by the Pope It is layde open in the Epistle of Iohn of Salisbury Secretary to saint Thomas wrytten to the Archdeacon of Excester and dated this yeere where among other occurrents 〈◊〉 this tyme hee inserteth this of this same It was commonly giuen out that the kinges Agents had then obtayned absolution for the Bishoppe of London and all others Cod. Vat. lib. 5. Ep. 18. and how the Archbishoppes authority for proceeding against the kingdome with the persons of his realme was withdrawne But they were presently refuted as manifest vntruthes by letters sent from his Holines yea before such tyme as the Bishoppe of London vndertooke his iourney to the Courte who doubtles would haue spared that labor and cost if as some fayned hee might haue bin absolued without soe greate difficulty Thus sayth Salisbury for clearing Alexander from the iniurious slanders raysed of him by the king of Englands Agents Whereunto may bee added the testimony of saint Thomas expostulating with king Henry thus My Lord if you hasten
his former fauor I theruppon complayning before his Maiestie of the iniuryes and insolencyes committed against mee and myne especially by the Bishoppes who in despight of their Mother Church of Canterbury beelonging to my charge were not afrayde to vsurpe hee graunted mee most gratiously his leaue â—o obtayne from my Lord the Pope any censure whatsomeuer to repaire my wronged right soe as not only hee enclined to consent but vouchsafed also to promise mee his assistance And thus publickly professed saint Thomas beefore those cruell kinghtes of the kinges Guarde But let vs pursue the history and especially concerning the tyme when hee tooke shipping for England wherof Herbert in Quadrilogus of the life of S. Thomas discourseth thus In the yeere therfore of our Sauiours Incarnation 1170. and the seauenth yeere of his exile beeing now beegune on the second and third day of our Lordes Aduent the glorious frend of God and most constant defender of the Church Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury with his followers beeing imbarked in the night launched forth and hauing a prosperous wind according to their desire landed in England Soe much concerning his sayling and arriuall And Iohn of Salisbury whom saint Thomas had seâ—t before into England perswaded the people by his letters yet extant Cad Vâ—â— li. 5. 〈◊〉 65. to meete their Pastor according to the example of their ancestors who mett saint Anselme in his returne from exile But therin were they hindred by the enuy and hatred of his aduersaryes Now for the passage of matters after his comming into England thore remayneth a large relation of Iohn of Salisbury to Peeter Abbot of saint Remigius Ibid. â—p 6â— yet let vs neâ—ertheles heare a more certaine reporte of these occurrents written by saint Thomas himselfe to Pope Alexanâ—â—â— beeing the last of all his Epistles for not many dayes after was hee murdered by the kinges Guarde This of his to Pope Alexander was indighted in these wordes Vppon how iust and honorable condicions weâ—e concluded our peace with my Lord the king of England I suppose your Holines is certifyed as well by The 〈◊〉 â—â—â—stle of saâ—â—â— Thomâ—â— to the Pope the relation of vs as diuers others who haue trauelled beetweene neither yet doe wee thinke you to bee ignorant how my Lord afterwardes flewe of from these his conuenants and promises which neuertheles wee beelieue not to bee soe much his faulte as the faulte of the Preistes of Baal and the children of the false Prophetts who from the beeginning haue bin the fewell of this dissention But the cheife leaders of these are that Yorke and London who sometimes when you were at Senon vppon their returne from you hauing neither seene our king nor heard him speake were not afrayde to beereaue vs of our possessions beeing then present in the Courte of your Clemency allthough it was vndoubtedly knowne to them as beeing the parties appealed how mee prosecuted two appeales before your Holines When therfore these Ringleaders of the Baalamites were aduertised of the peace wee made with my Lord the king ioyning to them Salisbury and other their confederates they sought by sea and land to cutt in sunder this knott of vnited peace perswading as well by themselues as others my Lord the king and his counsell how vnprofitable and dishonorable this coÌ„cord should bee to the kingdome vnles the indowments of our Churches which his Maiestie had made should remayne stable and wee also bee enforced to obserue the customes of the kingdome beeing the cause of all this controuersy Wherupon they preuayled soe farre in their peruersityes as my Lord the king by their instigation tooke from vs and ours all our rents from the time of the peace which was concluded on saint Mary Magdalens day vntill the feaste of saint Martin yeelding vs then at last empty houses and ruinated barnes and yet notwithstanding his clearkes G. Rydell and Nigell de Sackeuylle doe at this day withhoulde froÌ„ vs two of our Churches which they receaued from a lay inuesture and the king himselfe denyeth vs many possessions of our Bishoppricke which in the reformation of this peace hee vndertooke to restore But albeeit as it is knowne to many hee beehaueth himselfe otherwise then it beeseemeth against the artickles of peace considering neuertheles the outragious and irreuocable spoyles of the Church and for preuentioÌ„ of farre greater hauing also taken aduise with my Lordes the Cardinalles wee resolued to returne vnto our torne Church thus troaden vnder foote which if wee cannot as wee would rayse againe and repaire yet at the least dying with her wee may more confidently in her presence spend our life for her sake which determination of ours when these our enemys did more certaynly vnderstand I knowe not vpon what feare they consulted with the kinges officers and that most sinfull childe of perdition Raynulphe Broc who abusing the power of the publicke gouernment against the Church of God hath now for these seauen yeeres made hauocke more freely therof Wherupon they concluded to keepe most carefully with armed men and a continuall guarde of scoutes and souldiers the sea coastes and hauens where they supposed wee would arriue that wee might not land beefore they had searched all our lading and taken away all such letters as wee obtayned from your Maiestie But by the goodnes of God it soe fell out that all their attemptes were made knowne to vs by our freindes who suffered not their impudency builded vpon presumption to lurke concealed For these armed scoutes did scoure the sea coastes running heere and there according as the foresayde Bishoppes of Yorke Londom and Salisbury directed them and they made choyse for execution of their malice of such as were knowne to bee our greatest enemys beeing Raynulphe de Broc Reynold de Warrenne and Geruase shyreefe of Kent who threatened openly to cutt of my heade if wee presumed to arriue These afore recyted Bishoppes came often to Canterbury that if this armed route were not outragious enough they might yet more incense them Hauing therefore more thoroughly vnderstood their determination wee sent away your letters a day before wee toke shipping excepting for the suspension of Yorke and the recalling of London and Salisbury into their former sentence of Excommunication which were deliuered to their handes On the morrow wee went to sea and sayling prosperously arryued in England taking a long with vs according to the kinges commandement How saint Thomas was vsed at his landing in England Iohn Deane of Salisbury who not without sorrowe and shame beeheld these armed troupes posting to our shippe of purpose to assault vs in our landing wherfore the Deane fearing least if any wrong should bee offered to vs and ours it would redound to my Lord the kinges dishonor mett the souldiers and charged them in the kinges name neither to hurte vs nor ours because it would taynte the king himselfe beetweene whom and vs a peace was now concluded with some note of trechery and
therfore conselled them that laying armes asyde they would come peaceably to vs. Yet they in regarde wee brought with vs Symon Arch-deacon of Senon who came ouer to visite his freindes in England requyred him to take the oath of fealty to our kings the father and sonne and that against all men not soe much as excepting your Holines vs or any other But wee would not suffer any such oath to bee tendred fearing least the Clergy of the kingdome should bee enforced to sweare in like sorte if those of our owne househould should bee thus intangled in these bandes which Yorke London and Salisbury together with their confederates to the dammage of the Apostolike Sea endeauor to the end the authority therof may bee blowne vp or at the least diminished in the kingdome But the officers who exacted this oath beecause they were not accompanyd with many were not able in that place to inforce vs to any thing otherwise then wee would for the people reioycing at our returne could easily haue ouermatched them if they would haue stood vpon their strength Passing thence vnto our Church wee were with great deuotion receaued both of the Clergie and Layety allthough the intruded incumbentes doe as yet violētly possesse our Churches among which are chiefest as well for the plague as vexation of the Church Gaufride Rydell our Archdeacon and Nigel de Sackeuille his Clearke of whom the one I meane Gaufride Rydel houldeth the Church of Otforde and the other Nigel de Sackeuyle the Church of Berges which together with the fruytes reaped thence they were by your Mandate bounden to restore to vs and our Clearkes the true owners of them for you commanded my Lord of Roane and the Bishop of Niuers to absolue them hauing first according to custome receaued the Sacrament of the Church and then beeing enioyned by your authority to restore vs our Churhces with their commoditys Beeing come to our Church there were presently with vs the kinges officers demanding on his beehalfe as the Lord of Yorke and the Bishoppes of London and Salisbury informed vs that wee should absolue the suspended Bishoppes and the excommunicated beecause whatsoeuer was donne against them redounded to his Maiesties iniury and withall to the ouerthrowe of the regall customes promising how the Bishoppes of our Prouince after this absolution should repaire to vs and with reseruation of the kinges honor willingly obey our iurisdiction Wherunto wee answered that it was not the parte of an inferior iudge to dissolue the sētence of his Superiour and how noe man could infringe what the Apostolike Sea had decreede Yet neuertheles in regarde they vrged more instātly and threatened that my Lord the king vnles wee assented to them would attempt such matters as would amaze and astonish vs wee tould them if the Bishoppes of London and Salisbury would sweare beefore vs according to the forme of the Church that they would obey your commandement wee would then for purchasing the Churches peace and for the reuerence wee bore to the king with the aduice of himselfe my Lord of Winchester and others our breathren by making a tryall vndergoe the danger and doe therin what possibly wee could with preseruation of your reuerence and moreouer loue them as our deerest brethren and vse them with all sweetenes and gentles which beeing declared by Byshoppes who passed beetweene Yorke seeking occasion of dissension answered together with others who blewe the coales of Scysme that such an oathe was not to bee taken but with the kinges consente especially by Bishoppes beecause it was contrary to the Princes dignity and the customes of the kingdome wherunto on our parte wee replyed That wheras the same Bishoppes were beefore excommunicated by vs they could not by vs bee absolued but with the assurance of an oathe after they had with earneste sutes sollicited vs and then if our sentence could not bee loosed but with the caution of an oathe much lesse could yours which is far stronger and without comparaison exceedeth vs and all mortall men in authority Vppon which our speeches as some tould vs who were present the Bishoppes were so far moued as they determined to come to vs and receaue absolution according to the manner of the Church not esteeming it safe to oppose themselues against the Church and impugne the Apostolicall decrees for preseruation of the royall customes But that man the Aduersary of peace and disturber of the Church Yorke I meane disswaded it aduising them rather to flye to our Lord the king who euer hetherto patronized thē and likewise to send Messingers to our new kinge who might perswade him that wee intended to depose him wheras God is our wittnes soe it might bee to the Churches auayle wee had rather hee should possesse not only this one kingdome but also the most and most ample dominions of the world The cheifest medler in this message was our Archdeacon For Yorke with the other two forenamed Bishoppes passed speedily ouer the seas that which God forbid they might inueagle our Lord the king and incense him to bitter wrath against the Church They caused also to bee summoned out of the land six persons of the vacant Churches to the end they might there with their counsell contrary to the Cannons before our king in an other kinges dominiō the rest of their brethren being absent celebrate the electiō of the Bishoppes of our Prouince which Bishoppes soe elected if wee refused to censecrate then seemed they to haue occasion enough for sowing dissention beetwene our Lord the king and vs For there is not a thing which they more feare then the Churches peace least then their workes should bee discouered and their enormityes corrected The rest beeing much more wee referre to his Messingers relation which least it should bee tedious wee forbeare to wryte What appertayneth to your Holines if it pleaseth you vouch safe with clemency to heare our petitions This was his last Epistle written to Pope Alexander taking leaue for euermore to speake by letters Wherin especially beecause there remayneth with such ample notes soe precisely pourtrayted forth the wickednes of most vnworthy preistes and principally of Yorke his most potent and impudent aduersary Cod Vat. lib. 3. Epist 94. the fire and fewell of all these mischeifes A narration of the Archbishop of Yorke to whose counsell and suggestions the king consenting was drawne headlong thorough the craggie rockes of discord to all miseryes and distracted from all peace and tranquility wee intend heere before wee enter farther into this deadly discourse to lay downe of him to the world what his beeginning was all which you are to receaue from the relation of Iohn of Salisbury the most exact wryter of that tyme out of that Epistle I meane which hee sent to the Bishop of Senon after the Martyrdome of saint Thomas where first rehearsing the same hee vseth afterwardes these words The cheife leader of all these was that Yorke whō you beeheld and hearde
openly in the Courte persecuting the Archbishop And againe thus Yea you knowe this Caiphas of our age who vnder the coulor of a Playntiffe perswaded it was conuenient that one man should dye or bee apprehended least otherwise the whole nation should perish you were in England with your vnkle my Lord of Winchester when this same Caiphas then an Archdiuell procured one Walter to bee beereaued of his eyes the beauty of whose youth hee fowly louing was vsually dilighted with the abhominable abuse of his body and this hee did beecause Walter with bitter wordes freely disgorged his stomacke of the fowle reproach hee had suffered to the shame of nature nor yet contented heerewith this Archdiuell corrupting the Iudges who decyded secular causes inforced him to bee hanged for that afterwardes hee reproued his wickednes Soe this man no lesse mercifull then chaste requyted the affection of his Doue soe hee rewarded the wonted seruice of his once beeloued as after the horrible iniury to his miserable body hee punished him more miserably beeing now penitent for consenting to this loathsome sinne with scourging and losse of eyes and lastly most miserably strangled him on the Gallowes beecause with all the clamour hee could hee protested these wronges Wee deuise not this but endeauor to recall it to your memory if perchance that may possibly slippe out of your memory which as with an iron anker vpon the reporte of many ād those of great estimation and worthie of credit hath bin more deepely fixed in your mynde For this sorrowfull history euen to this very day is sung vp and downe to the disgrace yea contempt of the Church But it may bee some will aske how hee could passe vnpunished hauing committed soe greate and manifest an offence especially since blessed Eugenius then gouerned the Catholike Church And doubtles as wee constantly beelieue hee had neuer escaped but by the industry of saint Thomas who wrought thorough the mediation of those reuerent men Hillary Bishop of Chichester and Iohn Bishoppe of Winchester that hee might receaue his purgation beefore Theobalde of worthie memory late Archbishop of Canterbury Yet perceauing afterwardes how the Church of Rome tooke in ill parte the order of this purgation thus secretly caryed as beeing only in a Chapter of Monkes and not in a solemne assembly beeing carefull of his estate hee passed ouer to Rome to that famous Marchant Gregory Cardinall of saint Angelo whom my very soule hath euer hated and by his procurement thorough the multitude of rewardes sowed in the Courte obtayned to returne home iustifyed in his house beeing reserued I knowe not by what dispensation of God to committ farre more heynous offences as wittnesseth this present day wherin the Church is dyed purple with the blood of an Innocent Thus wryteth Iohn of Salisbury of this detestable man whom in steede of an Archdeacon hee termeth an Archdiuell and beeing afterwardes preferred to bee an Archbishop hee calleth rightly an other Caiphas of this tyme the executioner of saint Thomas who perhaps had beefore fauored him too much But how these warring vessells of iniquity incensed the king against saint Thomas is thus described by Herbert in Quadrilogus The king was soe troubled ād deepely offēded by the accusatiōs of these Bishoppes against saint Thomas whom with exclamations they called the Molester of the kingdome the persecutor of Bishoppes the enemy of all good men and the Princes professed foe as outragious with fury hee fell into those most bitter wordes wherby they who guarded his person were incited to attēpt the murder of this most holy man For sayth hee beeing very often enraged with wrath breeaking out into those deadly wordes The king by his rash and vnaduised wordes giueth occasion of the murder of S. Thomas Hee cursed all whom bee had nourished who by the speciall grace of his fauour and larges of his benefittes were bound vnto him beecause they would not reuenge him of one Preist who soe disturbed his person and kingdome and sought to depriue and disinherit him of his dignities And euer breathing out these and such like speeches the king stirred all his followers extremely against him amonge whom fourre knightes more desperate then the rest combining together conspired the Archbishoppes death and passing speedily into England came to the Arch-Bishope where quarrelling with fowle reproaches and rising to contentious wordes they picked their wished occasion out of the Archbishoppes freedome in speaking And then lastly the next day after the feast of the Blessed Innocents they assaulted him in the Church with naked swoardes beeing there at Euensong First the saint reproued the Clearkes beecause they intended by shutting the Churches dores to exclude them saying The Church was not to bee kepte as a castle The whole matter with all circumstances which foreran ād succeeded the Martyrdome are at large deliuered in Quadrilogus and many thinges are there layde open which are omitted in other Authors who haue to their commendation labored in this worke all which Roger in his Chronicles of England hath breifely collected in such sorte as by liuing in that tyme hee knewe them to bee acted which hee lefte wrytten in these wordes Scarce therfore had our Father continued a full moneth in his Church when loe the fifte day after our Lordes natiuity came to Canterbury foure knightes yea rather souldiers of Sathans Guarde The Martirdome of S. Thomas whose names were William de Tracy Hughe de Moruyle Richard Bryton and Reynold Fitz-vrse men truly of eminent familyes but now instantly confounding with eternall infamy for attempting a detestable offence the glory of their knighthoode and tytles of their descents Wherefore entring into the Archbishop beecause salutation was not directed in their handes letting passe all vsuall salutations out of their conceaued malice they burst to wordes of Pride and arrogancy they receaue and retorte answers heaping threates on threates and leauing beehind them despightes and reproaches departe But instantly returning all armed and an armed troupe attending them they entred with force the Cloyster of the Monkes while with modesty and grauity th◠Archbishop passed on beefore them into the Church beeing perswaded yea compelled by the Monkes in regarde of the solemne feaste to solemnize Euensonge when looking backe hee sawe them in armes persuing him amid the Cloysters The horror of the sinne ought to haue restrayned them from entring the Church but neither the reuerence of the solemnity could make thē desiste from this monstrous offence nor the innocency of the Patriarcke could terrify them from shedding his blood yea soe far forth did the impudent resolution of committing this heynous wicked acte possesse and blinde them as they neither respected the losse of their knighthoode nor had the least consideration of any ensuing danger Headlong therfore and senseles of the sinne making after the Archbishoppe with naked swoardes they rush into the Church asking with furious exclamations Where is the Taytor But no man answering redoubling againe they
for that cause his name exalted in the heauenly countrey Soe the Masters our brethren the Cathedrall Monkes now left as Orphans without a father Allmighty God who raysed from the deade the great Pastor of his stocke our Lord Iesus Christ in the bloode of his eternall testament prouyde a man that I may vse the worde of Moyses to bee ouer this multitude Num. 27. For many complayne and indure it most impatiently that Christes coate without seame is now rent beetweene them and the Bishoppes of the Prouince The Scysme raised in the Church of Cāterbury and that not only the Cowe and the Ramme but also the Turtle and the Doue are deuyded and seperated one from an other That Mistrisse of discorde that mother of hatred that presumptious occasion of scandalls that vsurpation I meane of syding and singular election hath presumed to breake in euen to the very professors of Religion so as contemning and casting away the generall counsell of the Bishoppes and Abbottes they haue made a secret and stollen election contrary to customes enemy to lawes condemned by Decrees reproued by practise All others who accompt now this election made by the Monkes to bee to their derogation and disgrace would willingly and with one consent without any diuision or scandall haue conferred their voyces on the person by them named but as this case standeth I feare least this election which God forbid proue his deiection and this attempting of a fayned liberty turne to Christes Church into a matter of thralldome This plague truly and many others doe at this day generally infecte and corrupt the body of the Church Lay-men intrude themselues into the holy Sanctuarys and the stones of the Sanctuaryes are dispersed apparantly in all high streetes Cloysters are now conuerted to Castles and Market-places Religious men to Ethnickes Pastors to Wolues Lillyes to thornes Gould to drosse Corne to Tares Wine to Vinager Oyle to Lees. Let Allmighty God yet cast an eye backe on the face of his Testament neither let him giue ouer to bee troaden vnder foote the Vyne which hee hath planted with his right hand the Church which hee hath purchased with his pretious bloode let him stirre vp the spiritt of Moyses and erect the horne of that Vnicorne that only high Bishoppe and without comparison most vniuersall soe as his hand may execute iudgment that with his horne hee may blowe ouer Siria thunder against Edom send out lightning against the Calfes of Bethel against the Idolls of Egipt against the fatt Cowes of Samaria against the Preistes of Baal against Shepherdes who feede themselues against iudges who enact vniust lawes against dumb dogges which are vnable to barke against the earthen pott of Zacharie against the vessells of the foolish Pastor against the ambition of Simon Magus against the tyranny of the world against the presumption of the Cloyster against deceytfull dealers against oppressors of the poore against disturbers of the Churches peace against the subuerters of fayth Thus wrote Peeter the rest wee refer to their propper place AN. DOM. 1171. Now followeth the yeere of our Lord 1171. with the fourth Indiction When the horrible murder of the most holy Martyr Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury beeing spread farre and neere all the Westerne world was astonished and the sighes of all deuoute people euery where breathed out especially by letters from all partes and those replenished with lamentations and sent to Pope Alexander from sundry persons beeing such and in such sorte as you may well say they were soe many glorious trumppetts and renowned Epithapes to celebrate the funeralls of this most worthie Martyr Among which receaue heere first what the king of France wrote to Pope Alexander To Alexander by the grace of God High Bishop Lewes by the same grace king of the French sendeth salutations with due reuerence The king of Frances letter to the Pope about the death of saint Thomas The childe reuolteth from the lawe of humane pietie who disgracefully abuseth his mother neither are they myndfull of their Creators benefitts who are not moued with sorrowe for the abuses offered to the holy Church whereuppon wee haue now an especiall cause of lamentation and a new cruelty neuer heard of beefore beegetteth a new sorrowe beecause malice rising against the Saint of God hath run her swordes point into the very aple of Christes eye and no lesse cruelly then fowly slaughtered soe great a light of Gods Church Styrre vp therefore some kinde of exquisite iustice and vnsheath saint Peeters sworde for punishing the murder of the Martyr of Canterbury beecause his blood cryeth out for the whole Church not soe much exclayming reuenge for his owne particular as for all And beehould at the Tombe of this Champion as it is reported to vs the diuine glory shyneth with mirackles and God sheweth from heauen where hee resteth on earth who in his quarrell so couragiously fought The bearers of these letters who are beereft of this their father will relate the whole matter to your Holines yeelde therfore a most gentle eare to the testimony of this truth and as well heerin as otherwise beelieue them as you would beelieue our selues God prosper you euer Thus the king The Earle of Bloyes also wrote to the same effect vnto his Holines More ouer the Bishop of Senon then Legate for the Apostolicke Sea sent two Epistles to the Pope about the death of saint Thomas But omitting these as tēding all to one purpose let vs see the rest the messingers I meane sent by the king of England to Rome who offered the vndergoeing of pennance for killing the martyr as also of the diuers and excellent mirackles now beegun to bee published at the Martyrs sepulcher with other things appertayning therunto The Martyr thus killed in the end of the last yeere there was presently great recourse to the Pope lying in Rome of some as you see detesting and complaying of this damnable sacrilege the accusers were pious princes as the king of France the Earle of Bloys and Bishoppes who were Legates especially hee of Senon others excusers beeing an assembly of Bishoppes among whom hee of Lizieux in all their names wrote thus to Pope Alexander At such time as beeing gathered together with our king The assembly of Bishoppes excusing the king of England wee determined to handle great matters concerning both the Church and kingdome a rumor on the suddaine ouerwhelmed vs all in a lamentable confusion of sorrowe concerning our Lord of Canterbury soe far forth as in a moment our calme was turned in to a turbulent tempest our consultations into sighes For by some returning from England wee were assuredly certifyed that some of his enemyes beeing as they say with his sundry and seuere preceedinges against them prouoked to anger and madnes rashly assaulted his person and what without greife wee cannot nay ought not to speake cruelly persisting did strike and murder him This vnhappy reporte came in the end by the
relation of some to the kinges eares beecause it was vnlawfull to conceale from him what by the right of his power and sworde appertayned to him to punish who instantly in the first vttering of this deadly discourse as one changed and giuen ouer to all sortes of compassionate lamentation quite altering his royall Maiestie into haire-cloth and ashes shewed himselfe more truly a freind then a king beeing sometimes astonished and from astonishmentes falling into more greiuous sighes and bitter sorrowe then allmost three days solitary retyred in his chamber hee neither endured to receaue sustenance nor admitt consolation but seemed willfully by a more deadly greife to designe himselfe to a voluntary death Miserable was the face of our mischeifes and our inward greifes fraighted with care beecause wee who first lamented our Preist beegan now therupon to dispaire the recouery of our king and beeleiued that in the death of one both would pittifully perish But his friends and principally the Bishoppes complayninge especially that hee would not suffer himselfe to returne againe to himselfe hee answered hee was in feare least the Authors and complotters of this horrible acte vpon confidence of the olde discorde promised themselues pardon of the cryme allthough himselfe by fresh iniurys and sundry bad turnes had heaped new dissentions and therfore thought the fame and glory of his renowne might bee clowded with the slaunders of his aduersarys and so falsly bruted that this matter proceeded from his owne will But hee protested as Allmighty God should iudge his soule that this accursed deede was neither acted by his will nor consent nor wrought by any deuise of his vnles heerin were perhaps his error that as yet hee was thought too litle to affect him but in this also hee absolutely submitted himselfe to the Churches iudgment and would humbly vndergoe whatsoeuer for his soules health should bee imposed and inioyned him Consulting therfore together wee accorded all in this that his Maiestie should referre himselfe to the wisedome and authority of the Sea Apostolike which the Christian fayth professeth more amply to abound with the spiritt of sapience and fullnes of power and indeauor there by lawfull and canonicall meanes to approue his innocency Wee therfore humbly beeseech that according to the spiritt of counsell and fortitude beestowed by God on you you would with seuerity punish the Authors of soe heynous an offence according to this their enormious deserte and your Apostolike piety would with more singular affection conserue our kinges innocency in his former estate Allmighty God preserue your person very long in health to his Churches vtility Hetherto the Bishoppe of Lizieux in the name of these assembled Bishoppes With these letters were messingers allso sent to Pope Alexander from the Bishopps and others aparte from the king and some likewise beefore these from the Bishoppe of Yorke to sue for absolution from his excommunication of all which there remayneth a relation from the kinges Messinger the Archdeacon of Poytiers in these wordes Who were the first Messingers from the Bishoppes and king of Englād to Pope Alexander and who the second Embassadors of the king and what as well these as these petitioned and in what sorte they departed from the Courte I will as breifely as I can rehearse First were Iohn Cumin and Master B. sent to seeke absolution for the Bishoppes but Iohn Cumin came to the courte fifteene dayes beefore Master B. and after great importunity hauing first made a promise of 500. Marcks was admitted to audience the Clearkes of the Archbishop of Yorke ād the Nuntio of Durhame partaking with him and alleaging much in excuse of the Bishopps and they had I thinke obtayned absolution had not the rumor of the Archbishoppes death come on the heade of it which absolutely disgraced all for my Lord the Pope was therewith soe exceedingly troubled that for allmost eight dayes not so much as his owne followers could haue conference with him and it was generally conceaued that no Englishman should haue accesse vnto him and so all their busines remayned in suspence The next Messingers were the Bishoppes of Worcester and Ewreux the Abbot of Valace the Archdeacons of Salisbury and Lizieux S. Robert of Newborough Richarde Barre Master Henry Pichim and one of the Templars beeing all sent to excuse the king that Canterbury was neither killed by his commandement nor will yet was it not denyed but that the king had giuen cause of his death and spoken somewhat wherupon those Murderers tooke occasion to kill him neither did those Messingers come together to the courte nor yet were admitted by my Lord the Pope nor could appeare in his presence Afterwards vpon sute of some Cardinalls the Abbot and Archdeacon of Lizieux were receaued Thursday before Easter approaching it was generally sayde in the Courte that my Lord the Pope would that day pronounce sentēce of excōmunication against the king and kingdome Wherupon the Messingers stroaken with feare by the intercession of some Cardinalls signifyed to my Lord the Pope that they had receaued commandement from my Lord their king to make oathe in his presence that the king should obey his Mandate and that the king should in his owne person sweare as much The same Thursday about nyne of the clocke as well the kinges messingers as the messingers of the Bishoppes were called in the generall Consistory The kinges Messingers beeing the Abbot of Valace and the two afore recyted Archdeacons Henry and Richarde Barre were sworne that the king should stand to the Popes iudgment and that when his Holines should commande him hee should take thereupon his Corporall oathe Neuertheles the Pope generally excommunicated the same day the Murderers of saint Thomas and all that gaue counsell ayde or assent therunto and all who should receaue them into their land or any way abett them After Easter came the Bishoppes of Worcester and Eureux with Robert de Newboroughe The Relatiō of the Messingers proceedinges with the Pope and whether the sayde oath were required of them I knowe not but that they swore not I am certaine and when they had attended the Courte xv dayes and more they were called in to receaue their answer for they with others agreede as well in excusing the king as in accusing according as hath bin sayde And when it was supposed they should haue caryed backe a happie doome my Lord the Pope confirmed the sentence of interdiction giuen by the Bishoppe of Senon against the kinges dominions on this syde of the Seas with the sentence of suspension and excōmunication which was denounced against the Bishoppes of England adding withall that hee would send his Legates to the king to see and vnderstand his humility Afterwardes at the great instance of the Messingers by the intercession also of some Cardinalls and large sommes of money as it is sayde this was obtayned our Lord the Pope should wryte to the Archdeacon of Bitureux that if within one moneth after these Messingers
generally excommunicated all them who murdered Canterbury and all who gaue counsell ayde or assent therunto and all who should wittingly receaue them into their landes or any way foster them Our Lordes the Bishoppes of Worcester and Eureux Robert of Newboroughe of Eureux and Master Henry were presently to follow vs whom wee lefte exceedingly igreeued and troubled that they could not according to their desire come to dispatch your busines and it was their aduyce that wee should by all meanes make haste before to hinder and auoyde the disgrace and calamity which your aduersaryes had prepared against you For wee were assured the sword was ready in the courte to strike you and wee feared that days woÌ„ted custome God send your Maiestie loÌ„g to prosper and florish Bee comforted in our Lord and let your harte reioyce beecause after this present clowde a faire calme will to your glory ensue On Sattursday before Palme Sunday wee came to the Courte and the Bearer of these letters departed on Easter day from vs. Afterwardes Easter beeing passed Alexander adressed Legates to examine the king of England Concerning this legation from the Pope Herbert in Quadrilogus treateth wryting in these wordes But beecause confession as it neither can nor ought to bee made by letters soe neither can nor ought it to bee made by Messingers and the liuely voyce of the penitent by how much the more it encreaseth deuotion soe much the more hath it of vertue the Apostolicke man Alexander sent two Cardinalls a latere Master Theodinus of holy memory preist of the tytle of saint Vitalis or Vestina for it hath both names and Albert of saint Laurence in Lucina preist Cardinall Chancellor of the Church men truly endowed with all sanctity and knowledge of Religion But what was done by them shall heereafter in the proper place bee declared Legates to the king before the death of S. Thomas Meane while this same yeere an other Legation sent by Pope Alexander to the king of England beefore any thing was knowne of the death of saint Thomas came to vrge with Ecclesiasticall censures the king who as hee vnderstood by the letters of saint Thomas reuolted from his promise What the Legates were and how the king handled matters to euacuate their authority Roger thus deliuereth this yeere In the meane tyme came from Pope Alexander into Normandy two Cardinalles Legates a latere who beefore as hath bin sayde exercised the same Legatine office Gratian I meane and Viuian who assayled the king of England with greate and diuers vexations intending to cast him and his countrey into interdiction But the king forewarned and thereby armed did before their entry into his land appeale to the Popes presence and soe kepte himselfe and his dominions free from aggreiuance but fearing yet the seuerity of the Apostolike Sea hee hasted to the seas syde and passed ouer from Normandy into England giuing a streight command that none who brought any breife from the Pope of what condicion or order someuer hee was should bee suffered to passe from Normandy into England or from England into Normandy vnles hee first entred into good security that hee sought noe hurte nor molestation to the king or his kingdome Hetherto concerninge this Legation sent beefore the Martyrdome of saint Thomas This Author proceedeth to the kinges iourney this yeere into Ireland Ireland yeelded to the king of England which kingdome hee challenged as yeelded to him by the consent of the whole countrey where there was a counsell celebrated of foure Archbishoppes and 28. Bishoppes all which receaued the king and his heires for their kinges confirming the same with their Charters A Counsell in Ireland This Counsell held at Casselen decreed many thinges coÌ„modious to the Church as for Baptisme Tythes and Mariages which the king sent to Pope Alexander The Pope confirmeth the kinges tytle who confirmed to the king and his heires the kingdome of Ireland according to the tenor of the Irish Bishoppes Charters All which Baronius recyteth out of Roger the king remayned in Ireland from the feast of saint Martin vntill the beeginning of Lent AN. DOM. 1172. Heere ensueth the yeere of our Lord 1172. with the fifte indiction Legates soâ—e to the king of England When the Legates of Pope Alexander sent the last yeere to king Henry the father concerning the murder of that most holy man Thomas Archbishop of Chanterbury came into Normandy whom the king returning lately from Ireland into England and thence sayling into Normandy receaued and performed what beeseemed a true penitent king and a most pious Christian obeying in all thinges the cheife Bishoppe of the vniuersall Church who by most choyse persons for soe greate a worke beeing Cardinalls of the sacred Roman Church and most blessed men Theodinus I meane preist Cardinall of the tytle of saint Vitalis called also saint Vestine and Alberinus preist Cardinall of the tytle of saint LaureÌ„ce in Lucina Chancellor of the holy Roman Church most happily finished the whole busines Intending therefore to treate heerof and how these matters soe passing difficult were managed with so great facility God disposing the kinges harte to pennance first of all the tyme wherin it was handled is to bee discouered beeing this very yeere whenas it was accomplished according as Roger an Author of that age hath in his Chronicles of England exactly declared In the yeere one thousand one hundred seauenty two was all this busines concluded after the kinges returne out of Ireland beeing the tyme when hee receaued the same into his subiection as in the former yeere out of the sayde Author is rehearsed As touchinge the passage of matters beetweene the Legates and the king beeing first intangled with difficultyes and after by the inspiration of the holy Ghoste absolutely ended according to the Legates desire there is a relation lefte in wryting among the Epistles of saint Thomas and Pope Alexander sett downe in the often recyted booke of the Vatican The relation of the proceedinges with the kinge in these wordes The king and the Legates first mett at Gorna on wednesday before the Rogation and there mutually were receaued in the kisse of peace On the morrowe they came to Sauiniacke where the Archbishop of Roane withall the Bishoppes and Nobility assembled And after long debate for conclusion of peace beecause the king absolutely denyed to sweare to their Mandate hee departed with indignation from them vsing these wordes I will returne into Ireland where I haue many weyghty occasions to bee dispatched as hee meant for your partes take on your iourney in peace at your pleasures throughout my land and performe your Legation according as yee are commaÌ„ded where with hee departed Then the Cardinalls hauing more aduisedly consulted called backe the Bishoppe of Lizieux Iohn of Poytiers and the Bishoppe of Salisbury by whose endeauors it was agreede that on Fryday following the king and Cardinalls should meete againe at Abrincke where was a
finall conclusion made betwene them soe as the king very mâ—â—dely vnder went and performed whatsomeuer the Cardinalls on their partes proposed to him But in regarde the father would haue his sonne there present that whatsomeuer the father promised the sonne should also make good the determination of the busines was deferred vntill the next Sunday following beeing the Sunday beefore our Lordes Ascention Then in an open Audience The kinges oathe the King laying his hand vpon the Euangelists made oathe that neither by his commandement nor his will the Archbishoppe of Canterbury was killed and that hearing of his death hee rather sorrowed then reioyced Hee added moroeuer on his free will that hee neuer so much greeued for the death of his father or mother as for his and lastly sware that what pennance or satisfaction someuer the Cardinalles would enioyne him hee would amply fullfill Hee sayde beesides before that great assembly that hee was not ignorant hee was the cause of the Arch-Bishoppes death and that whatsoeuer was doâ—â—◠〈◊〉 donne for his sake not that hee commanded it but thâ—â— his freindes and familiars seeing the disturbance of his countenance and lookes vnderstanding likewise the greife of his harte and hearing often his words breaking into complayntes against the Archbishoppe prepared to reuenge his iniury without euer acquainting him therwith And therfore hee professed hee was most ready with all humility and deuotion to accomplishe whatsomeuer the Legates should command Then the Legates declared to him that hee should maintayne vpon his coste 200. knightes for a whole yeere The conditions of the kings absolution giuing euery knighte 300. crownes in the land of Ierusalem against the Paganes in such sorte as the Templars should dispose Secundly hee should absolutely disannull the wicked statutes of Claringtonne beeing the place where they were enacted with all other ill customes which were in his raigne intruded on Gods Church and if there were any vnlawfull ordinances beefore his tyme hee should according to our Lord the Popes Mandate and by the Counsell of Religious men mitigate them Thirdly that hee should restore to the Church of Canterbury all her whole and entire right in landes and other thinges as fully as it was the yeere beefore the Archbishoppe incurred the kinges displeasure and hee should amply render his peace and loue with all their possessions to all those with whom hee was offended for the Archbishoppes sake Fourthly that if neede required and our Lord the Pope commanded him hee should goe into Spaine to deliuer that land from the Infidells They inioyned him also secretly fastes and almes and other thinges not publickly knowne To all these the king with singular meekenes gaue his assent soe as hee sayde in the hearing of all Beehoulde my Lordes and Legates my body is wholly in your handes and bee assured whatsomeuer yee command bee it either my going to Ierusalem or to Rome or to saint Iames or whatsoeuer it bee I am resolued to obey In soe much as scarce any there present seeing his humility and deuotion could abstayne from teares These thinges ended that nothing might bee wanting for the full accomplishment of his good the Legates did leade the king yeelding therunto of his owne accorde out of the dores of the Church where vpon his knees without laying asyde his garmentes and without any showe of disciplining roddes hee was absolued and soe againe brought into the Church And that some of the kingdome of FraÌ„ce might knowe their proceedinges heerin they appointed that the Archbishoppe of Towers with his Suffraganes should personally atteÌ„d on him at Cane on the nexte Wednesday after our Lordes Ascension What the king did sweare the king his sonne coÌ„firmed with his haÌ„d in the haÌ„d of my Lord Albert the Cardinall that hee for his owne parte would obserue aÌ„d if the king preueÌ„ted with death or other casuall meanes could not performe his pennance that hee himselfe would doe it Hetherto this relation Wherunto accordeth the Cardinalls letter concerning this matter and beeginning in these wordes That thinges now hanled may not bee called in question c. Heerunto was added That on the nexte feast of our Lordes Natiuity hee should vndertake the Crosse and for three yeeres make warre in the holy land vnles Pope Alexander or his lawfull successor thought it vnfitting Now for the Oathe it selfe made by the king and his sonne in the hands of the Legates it is reserued intirely among the actes of Pope Alexander in these very wordes I King Henry doe heere take myne oathe vpon these holy Euangelistes of our Lord God That I neither thought of nor knewe nor euer commanded the murder of Thomas Archbishoppe of Canterbury And when I vnderstood the same to bee committed I more greeued therefore then if I had heard of the slaughter of myne owne sonne But heerein I am not able to excuse my selfe that vpon occasion of my turbulency and wrath which I conceaued against that holy man hee was killed In regarde whereof for this offence beeing as it seemeth the cause of his death I will out of hand send to Ierusalem vpon myne owne charges 200. souldiers to serue there for one whole yeere in defence of Christianity or giue soe much money as may there maintaine soe many souldiers for a Twelue moneth I will alsoe vndertake till three yeeres bee expired the signe of our Lordes Crosse and in myne owne person goe thither vnlesse the Pope licence mee to stay I doe absolutely abrogate all those vnlawfull customes which I haue in my raigne ordayned thorough out my land and from this tyme forward decree that they bee neuer obserued I will likewise heereafter suffer all Appeales to bee freely made to the Apostolike Sea and heerein I will not prohibite any man These and other the like are rehearsed out of Roger saying all these matters Actes iterated in the Prouinciall Councell soe handled about our Lords Ascention were recyted in the Councell of the whole Prouince which was helde in the moneth of September where the Legates and both the kinges the father and sonne mett together with the Bishoppes For thus hee wryteth Henry king of England and king Henry his sonne Rotrude Archbishop of Roane with all the Bishoppes and Abbottes of Normandy assembled together at the Citty of Abryncke in the presence of the Cardinalles Theodine and Albert in whose hearing the king of England the father on the fifte Kalends of October beeing Wednesday and the feast of Saintes Cosmus and Damianus Martyrs in the Church of Saint Andrew the Apostle declared his innocency before the aboue named Cardinalls Clergy and people by taking his oathe on the Reliques of Saintes and only Euangelistes that hee neyther commanded nor wished the Archbishoppe of Canterburys death c. As before Adding thereunto the publicke instrument made then to that purpose beeginning with these wordes And that these may bee euer retayned in the memory of the Roman Church the king the father caused his seale
as he bee consecrated This hee condemned 13. If any noble-maÌ„ of the kingdome shall powerfully ouerbeare any Archbishop Bishop or Archdeacon in matter of iustice so as hee cannot obtaine the right beelonging to him or his the king ought to make him haue his owne according to iustice And if any one will ouerbeare our Lord the king in clayming his right the Archbishops Bishops and Archdeacons ought to procure his Maiesties iustice that his aduersary may satisfy our Lord the king This hee tollerated 14. When any shall forfeit their chattells vnto the king no Church nor Church-yeard ought to detaine them contrary to his Maiesties iustice beecause bee they found in Churches or otherwise all is one they are his Maiesties This hee tollerated 15. Pleadinges in matter of debt which are grounded vpon oath as well as others which are without oathe shall bee handled in the king's court This hee condemned I thinke beecause periury was punished in the spirituall courte 16. The sonnes of Villanes ought not to take holy orders without assent of their Lordes of whose landes they are knowne to bee natiues This hee tollerated How the Pope proceeded with S. Thomas Which beeing read and considered Pope Alexander as beefore beeing very much troubled turning himselfe to the Archbishop vsed these wordes Allthough brother the offence of you and your associate Bishoppes bee great and enormious yet ought wee to proceede more mildly with you who albeeit as you confesse haue fallen yet presently after with rising agayne endeauored to repaire your ruine and by reason thereof endured many greeuous and terrible wronges and presently vpon your fall remayning as yet in England did seeke and deserue from vs as proceeding from our clemency the benefit of Absolution whereupon as it is conuenient wee pardon your offence to the end you in this your aduersity may soe much the more fully and effectually feele the consolation and grace of our clemency aboue other Ecclesiasticall Persons by how much the more you haue lost worldly commoditys and sustayned greater afflictions for the liberty of the Church your faith and deuotion towardes vs. And thus the Apostolicke Prelate first rebukeing with a fatherly seuerity and then recomforting with the sweetenes of a motherly consolation dismissed for that time the Archbishop Soe is the matter there discribed But an other speech far differing from this heere recyted and supposed to bee made by sainct Thomas to Pope Alexander is rehearsed in the fore mentioned volume of Epistles Lib. 1. Epist 30. Then our Author preceedeth The morrow after the Archbishop beeing present with my Lord the Pope and the Cardinalls sittting in a withdrawing chamber vsed these wordes My fathers and lordes S. Thomas resigneth his Archbishopprick before the Pope it is vnlawfull for a man to speake vntruly any where much more before God and in your presence wherefore with teares I confesse that my miserable offence was the originall of these agreeuances to the Church of England I ascended into the fould of Christ but not by the true dore as a person not called by Cannonicall election but intruded by the terror of publick authority and although I vndertooke this burden against my minde neuerthelesse the will of man and not of God induced mee thereunto What wonder then if thinges succeeded contrary to my expectation But if I had vpon the kinges threateninges as my associate Bishoppes instantly persuaded mee renounced at the Princes pleasure and desire the prerogatiue of the Episcopal power soe granted mee I had left to the Catholike Church a pernicious example I differred it therefore vntill I came before your presence but now acknowledging myne entraÌ„ce not to bee Cannonicall and fearing therefore my departure will fall out to bee farre worser perceauing also my ability too weake for vndergoeing soe great a charge least I proue to bee preferred ouer my flocke for their ruine ouer whom I am placed howsoeuer for a Pastor into your handes ô holy father into your handes I say I resigne the Archbishoppricke of Canterbury And pulling withall his ring from his finger hee humbly beesought a fit Bishop might bee prouided worthie of that Church in reguard that hee hauing the name of a Pastor proformed not the office of a Pastor And finishing his speech he inforced my Lord the Pope and all present to like sorrowe yea what man hearing this can abstayne from lamentation The Archbishop afterwardes departing asyde together with his followers who were scandalized at his wordes beecause in reguard heereof they began to dispaire My lord the Pope did heereupon enter into conference with the Cardinalls the matter beeing on both sides through sundry opinions diuersly discussed Some thought occasion beeing thus offered the Kinges indignation might bee more easily appeased while the Church of Canterbury by the election of an other Bishop might bee reconcyled to his fauour and sainct Thomas otherwise prouided with more competent meanes These were the Pharisees soe the Author termeth the aduersaryes of S. Thomas Others whose eyes were opened iudged otherwise saying That if hee who for defence of the Churches liberty exposed to imminent hazard and danger not only his riches and glory with dignity and authority but also his very life should at the kinges pleasure bee depriued of his right as hee should bee made a patterne to others in like case for resisting of Princes if the tytle of his iuste cause were mayntayned intire soe on the other side were hee suffered to fall all other Bishopes would fall after him and none in time to come dare to resist the power of willfull Princes whereby the state of the Church would stagger and the Popes authority perish and therefore say they it is expedient that this man although vnwilling should bee restored to his sea and hee who fighteth for vs by all meanes succoured This sentence was approued by all the Pharisies only excepted The Pope restoreth to S. Thomas his resigned Archbishoppricke Saint Thomas with his followers beeing called in my Lord the Pope thus deliuered his sentence Now at length Brother appeareth to vs the zeale you haue had and doe as yet still continew for the house of our Lord with how sincere a conscience you haue opposed your selfe as a bullwarke against her aduersaries how pure a confession you haue made of your entry into your function making a voluntarie resignation whereby the fault of the offence may and ought to bee purged Now may you securely receaue an w from our handes the charge of your Pontifiâ—all authority wee adiudging you to bee intirely restored and out of all doubt worthily whom wee knowe to bee a man approoued with manifold kindes of temptations a person prouident and discreete beeloued of God and man faithfull in all thinges to vs and the sacred Church of Rome And as you haue bin made a partaker and vndeuided associate in our persecution soe by Gods grace can wee neuer in any thing bee wanting to you as long as the