and lasting, we send you this writ open, signed with our seal to keep among your stores. Witness ourself at London the 18th day of the month of October, in the 42nd year of our reign: And this was done before our sworn Councillors— "Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury, "Walter of Cantelop', Bishop of Worcester, "Simon of Montfort, Earl of Leicester, "Richard of Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, Marshal of England, "Peter of Savoy, "William of Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle, "John of Plesseiz, Earl of Warwick, "John Geoffreyson, "Peter of Montfort, "Richard of Grey, "Roger of Mortimer, "James of Aldithel3, and before many others. “And all and each word is sent into every other shire over all the kingdom of England and into Ireland"." Nearly the same names are also found to a spirited memorial, which the barons at this time sent to the Pope in explanation of their conduct, and which their messengers were desired to deliver and then return without entering into any controversy. Among the chief complaints thus embodied, are "the ruinous disorders, the distress, and the decay of learning to which the introduction of so many Italians into English benefices, and the infatuation of the 1 Cantelow. Oxon MS. 2 His arms, in the north aisle of Westminster Abbey, are "gules, a cross potence vaire." He sided with the barons throughout, dying 1263, without male heirs. 3 The curious in surnames should remark that these noblemen, when speaking English, did not prefix "de" to their surnames, but the translation "of." 4 Another copy of this proclamation was found among the archives of the city of Oxford by Mr Joy, and is published in Dr Ingram's Memorials of Oxford, Vol. III. p. 6. It is directed "To alle his holde ilerde and ileawede on Oxenefordeschir." 6 As a palliation of this evil, the Pope, in 1253, had permitted patrons to present at once to benefices, even before vacancies, reserving, however, the life interest of the foreigners.Lingard. A century after this, however (1374), Wicliffe was sent to Rome with the very same complaint. King, by denying justice against his favourites, had brought the country; the manifesto announced that twelve on each side had been appointed to reform all abuses, while the barons at once renounced the crown of Sicily, which had been accepted for Prince Edmund without their consent. The point, however, most strongly urged upon the Pope, as that most within his competence, was the dismissal of Aymer, from the bishopric of Winchester, denouncing him as leading the King and Prince Edward to perjury, unmindful of his own salvation, and watching only for the disturbance and waste of the kingdom. They supposed his deposition would be the easier, inasmuch as he had never yet been consecrated bishop, but even if the King and barons wished to re-admit him, they stated plainly that the community would not tolerate it, and worse would ensue; the officials of Aymer1 and the other aliens had been more like robbers, so plundering the poor and ensnaring the simple, that neither could inferiors live under them, nor equals deal with them, nor superiors check them. The barons, however, were resolved to oppose to the subterfuges of their enemies an union so much the more earnest, as well knowing that no faithful brotherhood could exist, unless where there was an entire agreement of will and a cementing together of the very minds'. The Pope's answer did not come till two years after (1260), and even then declined to discuss any schemes of church reform with laymen; to the complaint of the decay of literature his reply was remarkable, adroitly denying the fact by complimenting England on its poetry and learning: "On the contrary," he remarked, "so far from finding any scarcity of learned men in England, by the grace of God we cannot discover now-a-days any kingdom or province in the whole world, which has a greater, or even so great, an abundance of them. For in this kingdom of England there is found in these present times a most agreeable fountain of Helicon, from the very sweet liquor of which, not only natives, but even foreigners, receive and quaff pleasant draughts, by which their dry hearts and thirsty breasts are copiously refreshed. There reside the liberal arts of philosophy, by which the rude spirits of men are disciplined: from thence proceeds, and has proceeded, an illustrious multitude of learned men, and a succession of saints, in whose company the army of Heaven rejoices, and from the authors of this land also deep springs of writings have burst forth, and are now bursting forth, so as to irrigate the neighbouring provinces with their floods1." What these draughts were of which the Pope had so keen a relish, it is difficult to trace. There were certainly some Englishmen of great learning even in this age, when paper was [practically] unknown and parchment scarce, but they were mostly educated at Paris, such as Archbishop Langton, St Edmund, and Bishop Grethead. The latter, indeed, was partly an Oxford scholar, and was not only a good Grecian, but composed, also, a Romançal poem "on the sin of the first man," of 1700 verses, still extant. There were some other poets of little note: William of Wadding 1 Rymer. 3 2 Even long afterwards the laity were thought unworthy of learning: the enlightened Bishop of Durham, R. de Bury, the great book collector, the author of Philobiblion (finished 1343), the correspondent of Petrarch, the preceptor of Edward III., observes," Laici omnium librorum communione sunt indigni." Hutch. Durh. The Hamaritic Arabians laid the most jealous restrictions on learning their mode of writing, "characteres eorum-vulgo discere non permittebant; nec cuipiam, nisi post impetratam ab ipsis veniam, iisdem utendi facultatem."-Pocock, Spect. Hist. Arab. p. 161. Foster's Arabia. * Archæol.Vol. x. p. 36. [We may perhaps add to these] the twelve lays in French verse by Marie, born in Brittany, but writing in England, and dedicating to a king who understood English. The romances appear taken from Welch or Armoric ones; she introduces English words occasionally, as "fire," translates "Laustic (Arm.) into Nightgale, and proper names into English.-Harl. MS. 978, translated Cotton Calig. A. 11. She is referred by Fauchet (Euvres, 579) to middle of 13th century.-Pasquin, Récherches de la France, 8. 1. She also wrote Fables with some English words: Harl. MS, 978 (104 fables)-the prologue refers to Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, who ton, who translated the poem of "Manuel" into French; the native of Amesbury, who continued Wace's' "Brutus;" Denis Pyramus, the author of some free tales at Henry III.'s court; and the "Roman de la Rose," too, was begun in 1250 by William de Loris. Can the Pope have alluded to the wondrous intellect of Roger Bacon', to whom all the knowledge preceding and succeeding times seems to have been familiar? Many of his greater works, however, had not then been written. The barons, having by their union and courage established the government upon principles consistent with public liberty and their own security, saw England now, at length, restored to a peaceful content, which continued for three years. If they, however, are to be charged as rebels when fighting in the subsequent war, they were so now, for they had changed all the powers of the state, and if not justified by the paramount necessity of the case in the battle-field of Lewes, neither were they so now, in effecting a bloodless, but not less complete revolution. It would be neither easy nor safe to define strictly the point of oppression at which the right of resistance begins"a right," as has been eloquently observed", "terrible and unsocial, for it appeals to force and to war, which is the destruction of society itself, but a right nevertheless which must never be effaced from the inmost heart of man, for its effacement is the acceptance of slavery." No hasty hand, on died 1226; [and she says at the end,] 1 Robert Wace, in 1155, turned the Latin Brutus of Geoffry of Monmouth into French verse, ending with 7th century (Cott. Vitell. A. x.). The continuation carried on the annals to 1241. He lived at Amesbury, and alludes to the death of Princess Eleanor of Brittany at Bristol, 1241. He is supposed to have been of a Saxon family, as his Anglo-Norman history is not exact. He relates the choice of the Conqueror's sons, Robert to be a hawk, William Rufus to be an eagle, Henry to be a starling. (Cott. Cleop. A. xII.) 2 R. Bacon says he only knew four men of his time skilled in mathematics: his own pupil John of London, Peter de Maharn Curia of Picardy, Campan of Novaria, and Nicolas, the tutor of Almeric de Montfort.-Op. Min. Wood, Antiq. Oxon. Guizot, Civilis. en Europe. slight cause, should grasp at even the rightful arms of defence; such weapons may well be suspended in the armoury of the Constitution as a token and a warning, without being handled for every-day use. Though custom has limited the term of rebellion to the opposition of subjects to their King, yet all disobedience to the supremacy of the law' might, on sound principles, be thus denounced, and such disobedience may equally arise from a King, a House of Commons, a selfexempting Church, or a misled people. In all cases where law ceases, disorder begins; and though it may, according to the agent, at times be called tyranny, and at others privilege or rebellion, it is substantially the same, and deserving of the same reproach. In the present case it was not only the feudal chieftain in his castle, but the men of peace, the bishop in his palace, and the monk in his cell, the busy citizen, and the peasant in his cottage, who felt aggrieved, and who all joined heart and hand in the resistance to Henry III. In the words of Lord Bacon', "such men's eyes are upon the business, and not upon the persons, or if upon the persons, it is for the business' sake as fittest, and not for flags and pedigree." Almost all the memorials of the time teem with approbation of the change resulting from the Oxford Statutes, and with well-considered arguments in their support. The reasons justifying the barons were reviewed with ability in a 1 The venerable H. de Bracton, a judge of this age, maintains the same doctrine throughout in [his treatise on the laws of England]: "Lex omnium rex." "Hoc sanxit lex humana, quod leges suum ligent latorem." "Merito debet (rex) retribuere legi, quia lex tribuit ei, facit enim lex quòd ipse sit rex."-1. 3, c. 9. "Sedem ju. dicandi,quæ est quasi thronus Dei, non præsumat quis ascendere insipiens et indoctus."-1. 1. c. 2. "Supervacuum esset leges condere et justitiam facere, nisi esset qui leges tueretur; nihil enim aliud potest rex in terris, cum sit Dei minister et vicarius, nisi id solum quod de jure potest, nec obstat quod dicitur, quod principi placet legis habet vigorem; potestas sua juris est et non injuriæ; quia illa potestas solius Dei est, potestas autem injuriæ Diaboli et non Dei, et cujus horum operum fecerit rex, ejus minister erit, cujus opera fecerit."-1. 3. c. 9. f. 107. "Est enim corona regis facere justitiam et judicium et tenere pacem, sine quibus corona consistere non potest nec tenere."-1. 2. c. 24. Henr. de Bracton, De Leg. et Cons. Angliæ.-Lond. 1569. 2 Essays. |