The History of England Part 32

[FN [n] Rymer, vol. i. p. 221. M. Paris, p. 207. Chron. Dunst. vol.

i. p. 83. M. West. p. 278. Knyghton, p. 2429.]

[MN 1216. General pacification.]

The precautions which the King of France used in the conduct of this whole affair are remarkable. He pretended that his son had accepted of the offer from the English barons without his advice, and contrary to his inclination: the armies sent to England were levied in Lewis's name. When that prince came over to France for aid, his father publicly refused to grant him any a.s.sistance, and would not so much as admit him to his presence. Even after Henry's party acquired the ascendant, and Lewis was in danger of falling into the hands of his enemies, it was Blanche of Castile, his wife, not the king, his father, who raised armies, and equipped fleets for his succour [o].

All these artifices were employed, not to satisfy the pope, for he had too much penetration to be so easily imposed on; nor yet to deceive the people, for they were too gross even for that purpose. They only served for a colouring to Philip's cause; and, in public affairs, men are often better pleased that the truth, though known to every body, should be wrapped up under a decent cover, than if it were exposed in open daylight to the eyes of all the world.

[FN [o] M. Paris, p. 256. Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 82.]

After the expulsion of the French, the prudence and equity of the protector's subsequent conduct contributed to cure entirely those wounds which had been made by intestine discord. He received the rebellious barons into favour; observed strictly the terms of peace which he had granted them; restored them to their possessions; and endeavoured, by an equal behaviour, to bury all past animosities in perpetual oblivion. The clergy alone, who had adhered to Lewis, were sufferers in this revolution. As they had rebelled against their spiritual sovereign, by disregarding the interdict and excommunication, it was not in Pembroke's power to make any stipulations in their favour; and Gualo, the legate, prepared to take vengeance on them for their disobedience [p]. Many of them were deposed; many suspended; some banished; and all who escaped punishment made atonement for their offence by paying large sums to the legate, who ama.s.sed an immense treasure by this expedient.

[FN [p] Brady's App. No. 144 Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 83.]

[MN Death of the protector.]

The Earl of Pembroke did not long survive the pacification, which had been chiefly owing to his wisdom and valour [q]; and he was succeeded in the government by Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, and Hubert de Burgh, the justiciary. The councils of the latter were chiefly followed; and had he possessed equal authority in the kingdom with Pembroke, he seemed to be every way worthy of filling the place of that virtuous n.o.bleman. [MN Some commotions.] But the licentious and powerful barons, who had once broken the reins of subjection to their prince, and had obtained, by violence, an enlargement of their liberties and independence, could ill be restrained by laws under a minority; and the people, no less than the king, suffered from their outrages and disorders. They retained by force the royal castles, which they had seized during the past convulsions, or which had been committed to their custody by the protector [r]: they usurped the king's demesnes [s]: they oppressed their va.s.sals: they infested their weaker neighbours: they invited all disorderly people to enter in their retinue, and to live upon their lands: and they gave them protection in all their robberies and extortions.

[FN [q] M. Paris, p. 210. [r] Trivet p. 174. [s] Rymer, vol. i. p.

276.]

No one was more infamous for these violent and illegal practices than the Earl of Albemarle; who, though he had early returned to his duty, and had been serviceable in expelling the French, augmented to the utmost the general disorder, and committed outrages in all the counties of the north. In order to reduce him to obedience, Hubert seized an opportunity of getting possession of Rockingham Castle, which Albemarle had garrisoned with his licentious retinue: but this n.o.bleman, instead of submitting, entered into a secret confederacy with Fawkes de Breaute, Peter de Mauleon, and other barons, and both fortified the castle of Biham for his defence, and made himself master, by surprise, of that of Fotheringay. Pandolf, who was restored to his legateship, was active in suppressing this rebellion; and, with the concurrence of eleven bishops, he p.r.o.nounced the sentence of excommunication against Albemarle and his adherents [t]: an army was levied: a scutage of ten shillings a knight's fee was imposed on all the military tenants: Albemarle's a.s.sociates gradually deserted him: and he himself was obliged at last to sue for mercy. He received a pardon, and was restored to his whole estate.

[FN [t] Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 102.]

This impolitic lenity, too frequent in those times, was probably the result of a secret combination among the barons, who never could endure to see the total ruin of one of their own order: but it encouraged Fawkes de Breaute, a man whom King John had raised from a low origin, to persevere in the course of violence to which he had owed his fortune, and to set at nought all law and justice. When thirty-five verdicts were at one time found against him, on account of his violent expulsion of so many freeholders from their possessions, he came to the court of justice with an armed force, seized the judge who had p.r.o.nounced the verdicts, and imprisoned him in Bedford castle.

He then levied open war against the king; but being subdued and taken prisoner, his life was granted him; but his estate was confiscated, and he was banished the kingdom [u].

[FN [u] Rymer, vol. i. p. 198. M. Paris, p. 221, 224. Ann. Waverl.

p. 188. Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 141, 146. M. West. p. 283.]

[MN 1222.] Justice was executed with greater severity against disorders less premeditated, which broke out in London. A frivolous emulation in a match of wrestling, between the Londoners on the one hand, and the inhabitants of Westminster and those of the neighbouring villages on the other, occasioned this commotion. The former rose in a body, and pulled down some houses belonging to the Abbot of Westminster: but this riot, which, considering the tumultuous disposition familiar to that capital, would have been little regarded, seemed to become more serious by the symptoms which then appeared of the former attachment of the citizens to the French interest. The populace, in the tumult, made use of the cry of war commonly employed by the French troops: MOUNTJOY, MOUNTJOY, G.o.d HELP US AND OUR LORD LEWIS! The justiciary made inquiry into the disorder; and finding one Constantine Fitz-Arnulf to have been the ringleader, an insolent man, who justified his crime in Hubert's presence, he proceeded against him by martial law, and ordered him immediately to be hanged, without trial or form of process. He also cut off the feet of some of Constantine's accomplices [w].

[FN [w] M. Paris, p. 217, 218, 259. Ann. Waverl. p. 187. Chron.

Dunst. vol. i. p. 129.]

This act of power was complained of as an infringement of the great charter: yet the justiciary, in a Parliament summoned at Oxford, (for the great councils about this time began to receive that appellation,) made no scruple to grant, in the king's name, a renewal and confirmation of that charter. When the a.s.sembly made application to the crown for this favour, as a law in those times seemed to lose its validity if not frequently renewed, William de Briewere, one of the council of regency, was so bold as to say openly, that those liberties were extorted by force, and ought not to be observed: but he was reprimanded by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and was not countenanced by the king or his chief ministers [x]. A new confirmation was demanded and granted two years after; and an aid, amounting to a fifteenth of all moveables, was given by the Parliament, in return for this indulgence. The king issued writs anew to the sheriffs, enjoining the observance of the charter; but he inserted a remarkable clause in the writs, that those who paid not the fifteenth should not for the future be ent.i.tled to the benefit of those liberties [y].

[FN [x] M. West. p. 282. [y] Clause 9. H. 3. m. 9. and m. 6. d.]

The low state into which the crown was fallen made it requisite for a good minister to be attentive to the preservation of the royal prerogatives, as well as to the security of public liberty. Hubert applied to the pope, who had always great authority in the kingdom, and was now considered as its superior lord, and desired him to issue a bull declaring the king to be of full age, and ent.i.tled to exercise in person all the acts of royalty [z]. In consequence of this declaration, the justiciary resigned into Henry's hands the two important fortresses of the Tower and Dover Castle, which had been intrusted to his custody; and he required the other barons to imitate his example. They refused compliance: the Earls of Chester and Albemarle, John Constable of Chester, John de Lacy, Brian de l'Isle, and William de Cantel, with some others, even formed a conspiracy to surprise London, and met in arms at Waltham with that intention: but finding the king prepared for defence, they desisted from their enterprise. When summoned to court in order to answer for their conduct, they scrupled not to appear, and to confess the design: but they told the king, that they had no bad intentions against his person, but only against Hubert de Burgh, whom they were determined to remove from his office [a]. They appeared too formidable to be chastised; and they were so little discouraged by the failure of their first enterprise, that they again met in arms at Leicester, in order to seize the king, who then resided at Northampton: but Henry, informed of their purpose, took care to be so well armed and attended that the barons found it dangerous to make the attempt; and they sat down and kept Christmas in his neighbourhood [b]. The archbishop and the prelates, finding every thing tending towards a civil war, interposed with their authority, and threatened the barons with the sentence of excommunication, if they persisted in detaining the king's castles. This menace at last prevailed: most of the fortresses were surrendered; though the barons complained that Hubert's castles were soon after restored to him, while the king still kept theirs in his own custody. There are said to have been eleven hundred and fifteen castles at that time in England [c].

[FN [z] M. Paris, p. 220. [a] Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 137. [b] M.

Paris, p. 221. Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 138. [c] c.o.ke's Comment. on Magna Charta, chap. 17.]

It must be acknowledged that the influence of the prelates and the clergy was often of great service to the public. Though the religion of that age can merit no better name than that of superst.i.tion, it served to unite together a body of men who had great sway over the people, and who kept the community from falling to pieces, by the factions and independent power of the n.o.bles; and what was of great importance, it threw a mighty authority into the hands of men, who, by their profession, were averse to arms and violence; who tempered by their mediation the general disposition towards military enterprises; and who still maintained, even amidst the shock of arms, those secret links, without which it is impossible for human society to subsist.

Notwithstanding these intestine commotions in England, and the precarious authority of the crown, Henry was obliged to carry on war in France; and he employed to that purpose the fifteenth which had been granted him by Parliament. Lewis VIII., who had succeeded his father Philip, instead of complying with Henry's claim, who demanded the rest.i.tution of Normandy, and the other provinces wrested from England, made an irruption into Poictou, took Roch.e.l.le [d], after a long siege, and seemed determined to expel the English from the few provinces which still remained to them. Henry sent over his uncle, the Earl of Salisbury, together with his brother, Prince Richard, to whom he had granted the earldom of Cornwall, which had escheated to the crown. Salisbury stopped the progress of Lewis's arms, and retained the Poictevin and Gascon va.s.sals in their allegiance: but no military action of any moment was performed on either side. The Earl of Cornwall, after two years' stay in Guienne, returned to England.

[FN [d] Rymer, vol. i. p. 269. Trivet, p. 179.]

[MN 1227.] This prince was nowise turbulent or factious in his disposition: his ruling pa.s.sion was to ama.s.s money, in which he succeeded so well as to become the richest subject in Christendom: yet his attention to gain threw him sometimes into acts of violence; and gave disturbance to the government. There was a manor which had formerly belonged to the earldom of Cornwall, but had been granted to Waleran de Ties, before Richard had been invested with that dignity, and while the earldom remained in the crown. Richard claimed this manor, and expelled the proprietor by force: Waleran complained: the king ordered his brother to do justice to the man, and restore him to his rights: the earl said, that he would not submit to these orders, till the cause should be decided against him by the judgment of his peers: Henry replied, that it was first necessary to reinstate Waleran in possession, before the cause could be tried; and he reiterated his orders to the earl [e]. We may judge of the state of the government, when this affair had nearly produced a civil war. The Earl of Cornwall, finding Henry peremptory in his commands, a.s.sociated himself with the young Earl of Pembroke, who had married his sister, and who was displeased on account of the king's requiring him to deliver up some royal castles which were in his custody. These two malecontents took into the confederacy the Earls of Chester, Warrenne, Gloucester, Hereford, Warwick, and Ferrers, who were all disgusted on a like account [f]. They a.s.sembled an army; which the king had not the power or courage to resist; and he was obliged to give his brother satisfaction, by grants of much greater importance than the manor which had been the first ground of the quarrel [g].

[FN [e] M. Paris, p. 233. [f] M. Paris, p. 233. [g] Ibid.]

The character of the king, as he grew to man's estate, became every day better known; and he was found in every respect unqualified for maintaining a proper sway among those turbulent barons, whom the feudal const.i.tution subjected to his authority. Gentle, humane, and merciful even to a fault, he seems to have been steady in no other circ.u.mstance of his character; but to have received every impression from those who surrounded him, and whom he loved, for the time, with the most imprudent and most unreserved affection. Without activity or vigour, he was unfit to conduct war: without policy or art, he was ill fitted to maintain peace: his resentments, though hasty and violent, were not dreaded, while he was found to drop them with such facility; his friendships were little valued, because they were neither derived from choice, nor maintained with constancy. A proper pageant of state in a regular monarchy, where his ministers could have conducted all affairs in his name and by his authority; but too feeble in those disorderly times to sway a sceptre, whose weight depended entirely on the firmness and dexterity of the hand which held it.

[MN Hugh de Burgh displaced.]

The ablest and most virtuous minister that Henry ever possessed was Hubert de Burgh [h]; a man who had been steady to the crown in the most difficult and dangerous times, and who yet showed no disposition, in the height of his power, to enslave or oppress the people. The only exceptionable part of his conduct is that which is mentioned by Matthew Paris [i], if the fact be really true; and proceeded from Hubert's advice, namely, the recalling publicly and the annulling of the charter of forests, a concession so reasonable in itself, and so pa.s.sionately claimed both by the n.o.bility and people: but it must be confessed that this measure is so unlikely, both from the circ.u.mstances of the times and character of the minister, that there is reason to doubt of its reality, especially as it is mentioned by no other historian. Hubert, while he enjoyed his authority, had an entire ascendant over Henry, and was loaded with honours and favours beyond any other subject. Besides acquiring the property of many castles and manors, he married the eldest sister of the King of Scots, was created Earl of Kent, and, by an unusual concession, was made chief justiciary of England for life: [MN 1231.] yet Henry, in a sudden caprice, threw off this faithful minister, and exposed him to the violent persecutions of his enemies. Among other frivolous crimes objected to him, he was accused of gaining the king's affections by enchantment, and of purloining from the royal treasury a gem, which had the virtue to render the wearer invulnerable, and of sending this valuable curiosity to the Prince of Wales [k]. The n.o.bility, who hated Hubert on account of his zeal in resuming the rights and possessions of the crown, no sooner saw the opportunity favourable, than they inflamed the king's animosity against him, and pushed him to seek the total ruin of his minister. Hubert took sanctuary in a church: the king ordered him to be dragged from thence: he recalled those orders: he afterwards renewed them: he was obliged by the clergy to restore him to the sanctuary: he constrained him soon after to surrender himself prisoner, and he confined him in the castle of Devizes. Hubert made his escape, was expelled the kingdom, was again received into favour, recovered a great share of the king's confidence, but never showed any inclination to reinstate himself in power and authority [l].

[FN [h] Ypod. Neustriae, p. 464. [i] P. 232. M. West. p. 216, ascribes this counsel to Peter, Bishop of Winchester. [k] M. Paris, p. 259. [l] Ibid. p. 259, 260, 261, 266. Chron. T. Wykes, p. 41, 42.

Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 220, 221. M. West. p. 291, 301.]

[MN Bishop of Winchester minister.]

The man who succeeded him in the government of the king and kingdom was Peter, Bishop of Winchester, a Poictevin by birth, who had been raised by the late king, and who was no less distinguished by his arbitrary principles and violent conduct, than by his courage and abilities. This prelate had been left by King John justiciary and regent of the kingdom during an expedition which that prince made into France; and his illegal administration was one chief cause of that great combination among the barons which finally extorted from the crown the charter of liberties, and laid the foundations of the English const.i.tution. Henry, though incapable, from his character, of pursuing the same violent maxims which had governed his father, had imbibed the same arbitrary principles; and, in prosecution of Peter's advice, he invited over a great number of Poictevins, and other foreigners, who, he believed, could more safely be trusted than the English, and who seemed useful to counterbalance the great and independent power of the n.o.bility [m]. Every office and command was bestowed on these strangers: they exhausted the revenues of the crown, already too much impoverished [n]; they invaded the rights of the people; and their insolence, still more provoking than their power, drew on them the hatred and envy of all orders of men in the kingdom [o].

[FN [m] M. Paris, p. 263. [n] Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 151. [o] M.

Paris, p. 268.]

[MN 1233.] The barons formed a combination against this odious ministry, and withdrew from Parliament, on pretence of the danger to which they were exposed from the machinations of the Poictevins. When again summoned to attend, they gave for answer, that the king should dismiss his foreigners, otherwise they would drive both him and them out of the kingdom, and put the crown on another head more worthy to wear it [p]: such was the style they used to their sovereign! They at last came to Parliament, but so well attended, that they seemed in a condition to prescribe laws to the king and ministry. Peter des Roches, however, had in the interval found means of sowing dissension among them, and of bringing over to his party the Earl of Cornwall, as well as the Earls of Lincoln and Chester. The confederates were disconcerted in their measures: Richard, Earl Mareschal, who had succeeded to that dignity on the death of his brother William, was chased into Wales; he thence withdrew into Ireland, where he was treacherously murdered by the contrivance of the Bishop of Winchester [q]. The estates of the more obnoxious barons were confiscated, without legal sentence or trial by their peers [r], and were bestowed with a profuse liberality on the Poictevins. Peter even carried his insolence so far as to declare publicly, that the barons of England must not pretend to put themselves on the same footing with those of France; or a.s.sume the same liberties and privileges: the monarch in the former country had a more absolute power than in the latter. It had been more justifiable for him to have said, that men, so unwilling to submit to the authority of laws, could with the worst grace claim any shelter or protection from them.

[FN [p] Ibid. p. 265. [q] Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 219. [r] M.

Paris, p. 265.]

When the king at any time was checked in his illegal practices, and when the authority of the great charter was objected to him, he was wont to reply, "Why should I observe this charter, which is neglected by all my grandees, both prelates and n.o.bility?" It was very reasonably said to him, "You ought, sir, to set them the example [s]."

[FN [s] Ibid. p. 609.]

So violent a ministry as that of the Bishop of Winchester could not be of long duration; but its fall proceeded at last from the influence of the church, not from the efforts of the n.o.bles. Edmond, the primate, came to court, attended by many of the other prelates, and represented to the king the pernicious measures embraced by Peter des Roches, the discontents of his people, the ruin of his affairs; and, after requiring the dismission of the minister and his a.s.sociates, threatened him with excommunication in case of his refusal. Henry, who knew that an excommunication so agreeable to the sense of the people could not fail of producing the most dangerous effects, was obliged to submit: foreigners were banished: the natives were restored to their place in council [t]: the primate, who was a man of prudence, and who took care to execute the laws, and observe the charter of liberties, bore the chief sway in the government.

[FN [t] Ibid. p. 271, 272.]

[MN 1236. Jan.] But the English in vain flattered themselves that they should be long free from the dominion of foreigners. [MN King's partiality to foreigners.] The king having married Eleanor, daughter of the Count of Provence [u], was surrounded by a great number of strangers from that country, whom he caressed with the fondest affection, and enriched by an imprudent generosity [w]. The Bishop of Valence, a prelate of the house of Savoy, and maternal uncle to the queen, was his chief minister, and employed every art to ama.s.s wealth for himself and his relations. Peter of Savoy, a brother of the same family, was invested in the honour of Richmond, and received the rich wardship of Earl Warrenne: Boniface of Savoy was promoted to the see of Canterbury. Many young ladies were invited over from Provence, and married to the chief n.o.blemen in England, who were the king's wards [x]. And as the source of Henry's bounty began to fail, his Savoyard ministry applied to Rome, and obtained a bull, permitting him to resume all past grants; absolving him from the oath which he had taken to maintain them; even enjoining him to make such a resumption, and representing those grants as invalid, on account of the prejudice which ensued from them to the Roman pontiff, in whom the superiority of the kingdom was vested [y]. The opposition made to the intended resumption prevented it from taking place; but the nation saw the indignities to which the king was willing to submit, in order to gratify the avidity of his foreign favourites. About the same time he published in England the sentence of excommunication p.r.o.nounced against the Emperor Frederic, his brother-in-law [z]; and said, in excuse, that, being the pope's va.s.sal, he was obliged by his allegiance to obey all the commands of his holiness. In this weak reign, when any neighbouring potentate insulted the king's dominions, instead of taking revenge for the injury, he complained to the pope as his superior lord, and begged him to give protection to his va.s.sal [a].

[FN [u] Rymer, vol. i. p. 448. M. Paris, p. 286. [w] M. Paris, p.

236, 301, 305, 316, 541. M. West. p. 302, 304. [x] M. Paris, p. 484.

M. West. p. 338. [y] M. Paris, p. 295, 301. [z] Rymer, vol. i. p.

383. [a] Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 150.]

[MN 1236. Grievances.]

The resentment of the English barons rose high at the preference given to foreigners; but no remonstrance or complaint could ever prevail on the king to abandon them, or even to moderate his attachment towards them. After the Provencals and Savoyards might have been supposed pretty well satiated with the dignities and riches which they had acquired, a new set of hungry foreigners were invited over, and shared among them those favours, which the king ought in policy to have conferred on the English n.o.bility, by whom his government could have been supported and defended. His mother, Isabella, who had been unjustly taken by the late king from the Count de la Marche, to whom she was betrothed, was no sooner mistress of herself, by the death of her husband, than she married that n.o.bleman [b]; [MN 1247.] and she had borne him four sons, Guy, William, Geoffrey, and Aymer, whom she sent over to England, in order to pay a visit to their brother. The good-natured and affectionate disposition of Henry was moved at the sight of such near relations; and he considered neither his own circ.u.mstances, nor the inclinations of his people, in the honours and riches which he conferred upon them [c]. Complaints rose as high against the credit of the Gascon, as ever they had done against that of the Poictevin and of the Savoyard favourites; and to a nation prejudiced against them, all their measures appeared exceptionable and criminal. Violations of the great charter were frequently mentioned; and it is indeed more than probable that foreigners, ignorant of the laws, and relying on the boundless affections of a weak prince, would, in an age when a regular administration was not any where known, pay more attention to their present interest than to the liberties of the people. It is reported that the Poictevins and other strangers, when the laws were at any time appealed to, in opposition to their oppressions, scrupled not to reply, WHAT DID THE ENGLISH LAWS SIGNIFY TO THEM? THEY MINDED THEM NOT. And as words are often more offensive than actions, this open contempt of the English tended much to aggravate the general discontent, and made every act of violence committed by the foreigners appear not only an injury but an affront to them [d].

[FN [b] Trivet, p. 174. [c] M. Paris, p. 491. M. West. p. 338.

Knyghton, p. 2436. [d] M. Paris, p. 566, 666. Ann. Waverl. p. 214.

Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 335.]

I reckon not among the violations of the great charter some arbitrary exertions of prerogative, to which Henry's necessities pushed him, and which, without producing any discontent, were uniformly continued by all his successors till the last century. As the Parliament often refused him supplies, and that in a manner somewhat rude and indecent [e], he obliged his opulent subjects, particularly the citizens of London, to grant him loans of money; and it is natural to imagine, that the same want of economy which reduced him to the necessity of borrowing, would prevent him from being very punctual in the repayment [f]. He demanded benevolences, or pretended voluntary contributions, from his n.o.bility and prelates [g]. He was the first king of England since the Conquest that could fairly be said to lie under the restraint of law; and he was also the first that practised the dispensing power, and employed the clause of NON OBSTANTE in his grants and patents. When objections were made to this novelty, he replied, that the pope exercised that authority; and why might not he imitate the example? But the abuse which the pope made of his dispensing power, in violating the canons of general councils, in invading the privileges and customs of all particular churches, and in usurping on the rights of patrons, was more likely to excite the jealousy of the people, than to reconcile them to a similar practice in their civil government. Roger de Thurkesby, one of the king's justices, was so displeased with the precedent, that he exclaimed, ALAS! WHAT TIMES ARE WE FALLEN INTO! BEHOLD, THE CIVIL COURT IS CORRUPTED IN IMITATION OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL, AND THE RIVER IS POISONED FROM THE FOUNTAIN.

[FN [e] M. Paris, p. 301. [f] Ibid. p. 406. [g] Ibid. p. 507.]

The king's partiality and profuse bounty to his foreign relations, and to their friends and favourites, would have appeared more tolerable to the English, had any thing been done meanwhile for the honour of the nation; or had Henry's enterprises in foreign countries been attended with any success or glory to himself or to the public: at least, such military talents in the king would have served to keep his barons in awe, and have given weight and authority to his government. But though he declared war against Lewis IX. in 1242, and made an expedition into Guienne, upon the invitation of his father-in-law, the Count de la Marche, who promised to join him with all his forces, he was unsuccessful in his attempts against that great monarch, was worsted at Taillebourg, was deserted by his allies, lost what remained to him of Poictou, and was obliged to return, with loss of honour, into England [h]. The Gascon n.o.bility were attached to the English government, because the distance of their sovereign allowed them to remain in a state of almost total independence; [MN 1253.] and they claimed, some time after, Henry's protection against an invasion, which the King of Castile made upon that territory. Henry returned into Guienne, and was more successful in this expedition; but he thereby involved himself and his n.o.bility in an enormous debt, which both increased their discontents, and exposed him to greater danger from their enterprises [i].

[FN [h] M. Paris, p. 393, 394, 398, 399, 405. W. Heming. p. 574.

Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 153. [i] M. Paris, p. 614.]

Want of economy, and an ill-judged liberality, were Henry's great defects; and his debts, even before this expedition, had become so troublesome, that he sold all his plate and jewels, in order to discharge them. When this expedient was first proposed to him, he asked where he should find purchasers? It was replied, the citizens of London. ON MY WORD, said he, IF THE TREASURY OF AUGUSTUS WERE BROUGHT FOR SALE, THE CITIZENS ARE ABLE TO BE THE PURCHASERS: THESE CLOWNS, WHO a.s.sUME TO THEMSELVES THE NAME OF BARONS, ABOUND IN EVERY THING, WHILE WE ARE REDUCED TO NECESSITIES [k]. And he was thenceforth observed to be more forward and greedy in his exactions upon the citizens [l].

[FN [k] Ibid. p. 501. [l] Ibid. p. 501, 507, 518, 578, 606, 625, 648.]

[MN Ecclesiastical grievances.]

But the grievances, which the English during this reign had reason to complain of in the civil government, seem to have been still less burdensome than those which they suffered from the usurpations and exactions of the court of Rome. [MN 1253.] On the death of Langton in 1228, the monks of Christ-church elected Walter de Hemesham, one of their own body, for his successor: but as Henry refused to confirm the election, the pope, at his desire, annulled it [m]; and immediately appointed Richard, Chancellor of Lincoln, for archbishop, without waiting for a new election. On the death of Richard in 1231, the monks elected Ralph de Neville, Bishop of Chichester; and though Henry was much pleased with the election, the pope, who thought that prelate too much attached to the crown, a.s.sumed the power of annulling his election [n]. He rejected two clergymen more, whom the monks had successively chosen; and he at last told them, that, if they would elect Edmond, treasurer of the church of Salisbury, he would confirm their choice; and his nomination was complied with. The pope had the prudence to appoint both times very worthy primates; but men could not forbear observing his intention of thus drawing gradually to himself the right of bestowing that important dignity.

[FN [m] M. Paris, p. 224. [n] Ibid. p. 254.]

The avarice, however, more than the ambition, of the see of Rome, seems to have been in this age the ground of general complaint. The papal ministers, finding a vast stock of power ama.s.sed by their predecessors, were desirous of turning it to immediate profit which they enjoyed at home, rather than of enlarging their authority in distant countries, where they never intended to reside. Every thing was become venal in the Romish tribunals; simony was openly practised; no favours, and even no justice, could be obtained without a bribe; the highest bidder was sure to have the preference, without regard either to the merits of the person or of the cause; and besides the usual perversions of right in the decision of controversies, the pope openly a.s.sumed an absolute and uncontrolled authority of setting aside, by the plenitude of his apostolic power, all particular rules, and all privileges of patrons, churches, and convents. On pretence of remedying these abuses, Pope Honorius, in 1226, complaining of the poverty of his see as the source of all grievances, demanded from every cathedral two of the best prebends, and from every convent two monks' portions, to be set apart as a perpetual and settled revenue of the papal crown: but all men being sensible that the revenue would continue for ever, the abuses immediately return, his demand was unanimously rejected. About three years after, the pope demanded and obtained the tenth of all ecclesiastical revenues, which he levied in a very oppressive manner; requiring payment before the clergy had drawn their rents or t.i.thes, and sending about usurers, who advanced them the money at exorbitant interest. In the year 1240, Otho, the legate, having in vain attempted the clergy in a body, obtained separately, by intrigues and menaces, large sums from the prelates and convents, and on his departure is said to have carried more money out of the kingdom than he left in it. This experiment was renewed four years after with success by Martin the nuncio, who brought from Rome powers of suspending and excommunicating all clergymen that refused to comply with his demands. The king, who relied on the pope for the support of his tottering authority, never failed to countenance those exactions.

Meanwhile, all the chief benefices of the kingdom were conferred on Italians; great numbers of that nation were sent over at one time to be provided for; non-residence and pluralities were carried to an enormous height; Mansel, the king's chaplain, is computed to have held at once seven hundred ecclesiastical livings; and the abuses became so evident as to be palpable to the blindness of superst.i.tion itself.

The people, entering into a.s.sociations, rose against the Italian clergy; pillaged their barns; wasted their lands; insulted the persons of such of them as they found in the kingdom [o]; and when the justices made inquiry into the authors of this disorder, the guilt was found to involve so many, and those of such high rank, that it pa.s.sed unpunished. At last, when Innocent IV., in 1245, called a general council at Lyons, in order to excommunicate the Emperor Frederic, the king and n.o.bility sent over agents to complain before the council of the rapacity of the Romish church. They represented, among many other grievances, that the benefices of the Italian clergy in England had been estimated, and were found to amount to sixty thousand marks [p] a year, a sum which exceeded the annual revenue of the crown [q]. They obtained only an evasive answer from the pope; but as mention had been made before the council of the feudal subjection of England to the see of Rome, the English agents, at whose head was Roger BiG.o.d, Earl of Norfolk, exclaimed against the pretension, and insisted that King John had no right, without the consent of his barons, to subject the kingdom to so ignominious a servitude [r]. The popes, indeed, afraid of carrying matters too far against England, seem thenceforth to have little insisted on that pretension.

[FN [o] Rymer, vol. i. p. 323. M. Paris, p. 255, 257. [p] Innocent's bull in Rymer, vol. i. p. 471, says only fifty thousand marks a year.

[q] M. Paris, p. 451. The customs were part of Henry's revenue, and amounted to six thousand pounds a year: they were at first small sums paid by the merchants for the use of the king's warehouses, measures, weights, &c. See Gilbert's History of the Exch. p. 214. [r] M.

Paris, p. 460.]

This check, received at the council of Lyons, was not able to stop the court of Rome in its rapacity; Innocent exacted the revenues of all vacant benefices, the twentieth of all ecclesiastical revenues without exception; the third of such as exceeded a hundred marks a year, and the half of such as were possessed by non-residents [s]. He claimed the goods of all intestate clergymen [t]; he pretended a t.i.tle to inherit all money gotten by usury; he levied benevolences upon the people; and when the king, contrary to his usual practice, prohibited these exactions, he threatened to p.r.o.nounce against him the same censures which he had emitted against the Emperor Frederic [u].