legate, then, was sent, in the first place, to the king, begging him to do a good turn to the pope, and diligently to use his most strenuous endeavours to persuade the prelates of England to give a general consent to grant this contribution to the pope, or at least to promise a speedy payment of ten thousand marks; to which demand the king replied, that his nobles, prelates and clerks, as well as earls, barons, and knights, had been so often despoiled of their property by divers devices, that they had now scarcely enough left for themselves; and, said he, "They now will not, or cannot, give anything to me their king, or to the pope; however, as I have humbled myself to them, and inclined to their wishes, they reply with more moderation, and have promised me assistance according to their means.' When Master Martin heard this, he went away with a dejected look, not conceiving any expectations from the king's assistance; he, however, summoned the prelates, and showed apostolic letters, in the form contained in the ensuing chapter, first to the archbishops and bishops, and afterwards to the abbats, both those exempt and not exempt.

The pope's letter to the prelates of England, demanding contribution.

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Innocent, bishop, servant of the servants of God, &c. &c., to the abbats, both exempt and non-exempt, and their conventual brethren in the diocese of Canterbury, Health and the apostolic benediction.-In your sincere affection we conceive such hopes and feel such confidence, that when a case of necessity hangs over the Apostolic See, your mother, we can have recourse with all confidence to you, as her beloved and devoted sons, who are always prompt and ready to relieve her burdens. Inasmuch, therefore, as the aforesaid Apostolic See is not yet able to relieve itself from the burden of those debts which it has contracted for the defence of the Catholic faith, the liberty of the Church, and its own patrimony, by means of the sums which have been collected and bestowed for its assistance in England and other kingdoms of Christendom, by authority of our predecessor Pope Gregory, of pious memory, we now, urged by necessity, resort with confidence to your affectionate devotion, and, by the advice of our brethren, ask and warn, and by these apostolic letters command, your community, out of your filial affection, to con

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A.D. 1244.] MESSENGERS ARRIVE FROM THE EMPEROR.

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sider, as becomes you, the urgency of the necessity and the heaviness of the burden by which the Roman church, your spiritual mother, is severely oppressed, afflicted, and almost overwhelmed; to have due compassion towards her in this matter; and, for the payment of the aforesaid debts, to assist us and the said see with such a sum of money as, and in the manner which, our well-beloved son Master Martin, clerk of our chamber and the bearer of these presents, shall think right to express and declare on our behalf. We also command you to assign the money contributed by you to the said Master Martin, or to his messengers, within the period which he shall fix on for your so doing; and so to fulfil our commands, that we may have good reason to commend your devotion, and may not be compelled to have recourse to other means in this matter. Given at the Lateran, the seventh of January, in the first year of our pontificate."

When this was published at London, and was well understood by all the prelates, and abbats in particular, the latter refused to give a reply by themselves alone, but in conjunction with others; for a letter had been written to them in the same style. They therefore held a careful deliberation on the matter, and, giving vent to their complaints amongst themselves, said, "We are placed in a difficulty; our king and patron, the founder and renovator of many of our churches, is helpless, and asks assistance from us for the defence and protection of the kingdom, that is, for the common weal; and the pope also asks the same, on the king's behalf: this is a double petition, and equally valid and effective on both sides. And now another and an unexpected demand on the part of the pope comes upon us. The first, as it is doubly supported, preponderates, and is more worthy to be favourably acceded to. From the king's liberality we may expect some remuneration; from the pope, none. We are assailed and harassed on either side; on the one we are oppressed, and on the other we are bound, and are bruised, as it were between the hammer and the anvil, and are ground as between two millstones."

Messengers from the emperor forbid the English to give this contribution to the pope.

Whilst such events were in the course of occurrence, not

without causing bitter anxiety in the blood-stained hearts of many, and had reached the knowledge of all the nobles, a murmur arose amongst the people, and, not knowing what to do, they all resorted to the prelates, in order that they might adopt the same plan in all things; for this matter concerned the general welfare of the kingdom. On a sudden, however, Master Walter de Ocra and some other special messengers from the emperor, arrived at London, and going at once to the council, produced a letter from their lord, which was, notwithstanding the disapprobation and grumbling of Master Martin, read throughout in the presence of the king and the whole council. In this letter the emperor cleared himself from the charge of contumacy, by which the pope had defamed his character, and declared that he would obey justice with all humility, and would stand by the commands of the Church, and give satisfaction to it. To the truth of this assertion, also, the emperor of Constantinople and the count of Toulouse bore evidence by letters under their seals, which were there publicly produced. In justification of himself, too, the emperor Frederick declared, both in these letters and by the mouth of his messengers, who repeated the same, that the pope imperiously required to be made seised of certain cities, castles, and lands, with respect to which it was not yet clear whether they belonged to the empire or to the Church, and also demanded the liberation of some persons whom he, the emperor, detained prisoners, as being traitors to himself; and this, too, even before he should himself be absolved from excommunication. Fearing, therefore, as he said, that he would be ensnared in the pope's toils, he submitted himself to the opinion and decision of the kings of France and England and the barons of their two countries; for he stated that his genuine humility could never be attended to or properly appreciated by the pope-and of this he complained bitterly to all. At the end of the letter the emperor added a message with something like a threat, that all money sent to the pope's assistance would be added to the imperial treasury. He, therefore, by every means in his power, begged that the English would not contribute anything to his rival the pope, to his prejudice. He also added, that if the king of England would abide by his counsels, he would by force, and justly, free

A.D. 1244.] THE NOBLES CONSENT TO GIVE ASSISTANCE.

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England from the tax which Pope Innocent the Third had saddled on it, and would also rescue it from other burdens with which it was daily oppressed by the pope. By this, the emperor regained the affections of many; for it was also inserted in the said letter, that if the king would not obey his, the emperor's orders, he would visit with heavy vengeance whatever subjects of his he found in his imperial dominions.

How the nobles of England consented to give pecuniary assistance.

The nobles and prelates all assembled in council, at London, on the day appointed, namely three weeks from the day of the Purification of St. Mary, and held a careful deliberation on the matters above mentioned. There were there present the proxies of some absent prelates, namely of the archbishops of Canterbury and York, and of the three vacant episcopal sees, on behalf of the chapters of Coventry, Chichester, and Norwich. The king's request for pecuniary aid was then renewed; and concerning this matter, the king summoned them from day to day, both in his own person and by special messengers, through whom he promised that he would preserve in their fullest force the liberties which he had at his coronation sworn to grant, and for which he had given a charter. And for their preservation, he asked that the bishops, each in his own diocese, would pronounce sentence of excommunication against him and all persons who should in any point oppose the said liberties. length, as they could in no way be bent to any other terms, they granted to the king, for the purpose of giving his eldest daughter in marriage, a scutage of twenty shillings from each knight's fee, from all who held possession in chief of the king, one portion of which was to be paid at Easter, and the other at Michaelmas.

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When the king was told to recall to memory these things, well as past occurrences, he recollected how many times he had relentlessly made similar extortions from his faithful subjects, whom it was his duty to cherish-not to impoverish, and that, too, without any fulfilment of his promises to them. After the capture of Bedford, a carucaget had

* In the original, Coventry occurs twice, which is evidently a mistake. † A tax on plough-land.

VOL. II.

been at once granted to him from all England of two shillings for each plough; in the following year, the fifteenth part of all moveables had been granted to him; again, when he was about to go into Brittany, he received a large sum of money from the prelates and religious men, from the burgesses, and Jews; on his return from Brittany, he took a scutage of three marks from each scutcheon. After this, the fortieth part of all moveable property was granted to him; and again, a thirtieth part. Again, when he gave his sister Isabella in marriage to the emperor, he received as a marriage portion for her, a carucage of two marks from each plough. On the birth of his son, he, to his great disgrace, shamelessly extorted by force many presents, which altogether amounted to a large sum of money. Again, when going into Gascony, he received a large, indeed almost an endless, sum of money from the prelates, religious men, burgesses, and Jews, and from all whom he could scrape it together from. When he returned from Gascony ingloriously, and a deceived man, he ordered the nobles and prelates to meet him at the sea-coast; and after awaiting his arrival there a long time in vain, they received him, when he did come, with many and invaluable presents. The same was done by the London citizens, and others; and whoever was found not to have given a handsome present, was accused on some pretext or other, and punished. And how the king will fulfil his promises and agreements, in return for this present contribution, and for all the others, He alone knows who is not ignorant of anything.

The reply of the prelates to the demands of Master Martin.

When Master Martin, the pope's messenger, learnt that the nobles of England had given a general consent to the contribution to the king, he became more eager to accomplish the purpose for which he had been sent, and which was still remaining in a state of uncertainty; namely, the procuring of assistance for the pope. Having therefore summoned them all together, he said to them: " Men, brothers, and lords, well-beloved sons of the Roman church, in whose bosom reposes all the papal hope, what answer do you give to your spiritual father in the matters of the Roman church,your mother, oppressed as she is, as you are informed by the